HORCHATA – BASIDIA (CD by Ad Noiseam)
JOHN BISSET – SMITHY (CD by 2:13 Music)
THE HAFLER TRIO – THE SEA ORG (CD by Korm Plastics)
ANDREW CHALK & BRENDAN WALLS – THIS GROWING CLEARING (CD by Three Poplars)
HENRIK RYLANDER – TRADITIONAL ARRANGEMENTS OF FEEDBACK (CD by Ideal Recordings)
WILT – AS GIANTS WATCH OVER US (CD by Ad Noiseam)
BLACK DICE – MILES OF SMILES (miniCD by Fat Cat)
PLASTIKMAN – CLOSER (CD by Nova Mute)
EMIT TWO (CD by Room 40/Qut)
MARILYN LERNER – LUMINANCE (CD by Ambiances Magnétiques)
PLANK – ALP+ (CD by Melange Records)
CHLORGESCHLECHT – CHORGESCHLECHT CONSULTING (CD by Melange Records)
CHINA HONEYMOON – OZAWA PRESENTS CHINA HONEYMOON (CD by Melange Records)
SUDDEN INFANT – EAR WASH (CD by Cool Anatomy)
PIERRE LANGEVIN & PIERRE TANGUAY – LA BOULEZAILLE(CD by Ambiances Magnétiques)
RADBOUD MENS – PULSE (CD by Staalplaat)
PHROQ – CONFUSION (CD by Shiver Sounds Records)
TORE HONORE BØE – SUAVE SIESTA (CD by Purple Soil)
SLO-FI – >1>2>3>4 (12″ by Antenne Records)
EVOLUTION GARDEN – SUNSET DREAM (12″)
LAKES – LET’S GO ARCTIC (7″ by Pocket Clock)
TAMING POWER – MEDITATIONS FOR RADIO (10″ by Early Morning Records)
FUTURE REMIX – [EVERYTHING GOES EMPTY] (CDR by Retinascan)
ELLENDE – NATTO (3″ CDR by The Lotus Of Assemblage)
LIQUID SPHERE – DOTS & WAVES (CDR by L.S.I.)
LIQUID SPHERE – HYPOCRACY 2 & 3 (CDR by L.S.I.)
DISISM – ROCK ON BROADWAY, SAN FRANCISCO (CDR by Taped Rug Productions)
CORY THRALL – COLORS (MP3 by Samsa Records)
OPERATION – PROTECTION (MP3 by Samsa Records)
HELMETICRONONAUT – THE HELMETICRONICLES PART 1 (MP3 by Samsa Records)
MR. CHEMICAL – MUSIC FOR A FASHION SHOW (MP3 by Samsa Records)
CHEFKIRK – ATKINS WILL KILL YOU! (MP3 by Samsa Records)
HORCHATA – BASIDIA (CD by Ad Noiseam)
For me, Horchata is a new name, but it’s one Micheal Palace behind
it. He plays music since the late nineties and has as Horchata
another CD available. He has also worked with Twine, Ocosi, Miles
Tilmann, Narc and Zenopede. If these names mean anything to you, you
know which way this goes: illbient, trip hop and dark hop. Slowed
down hip hop rhythms embedded in a much more interesting music
setting and, lucikly no raps. Palace works as a scientist at the New
Hampshire Complex System Research Center and through his work he has
made field recordings in the Amazon forest which are frequentely used
here. In eleven tracks he shows his skills in putting on nice trippy
music, with deep bass sounds and a good sense of extra sounds. A fine
album. However, like so many CDs reviewed in these pages, it’s also a
bit long and that never adds to the quality. Seven or eight tracks
would have been fine too and it would have made the album into a very
strong one, instead of just a good one. Otherwise no complaints!
Great stuff.
Address: http://www.adnoiseam.net
JOHN BISSET – SMITHY (CD by 2:13 Music)
The title of this disc refers to the location of its recording: a
smithy. At first this goes quite unnoticed and seems pretty
arbitrary, until it becomes clear that there are some background
noises: muffled traffic sounds, a far away voice from the street,
but above all: the crackling of fire. Playing solo acoustic guitar
(metal strings), Bisset improvises on song tunes that have shaped his
musical perception. The originals can be found in the ‘Scottish
Students’ Songbook’ (the title alone is already worth mentioning
this methinks). The recordings are very sober and dry, which only
adds to the intimate atmosphere that this disc creates. Sometimes it
is quite easy to get lost in the music, just sort of dream away,
until somebody walks in the door and interrupts the concentration
(this actually happens). Really, this is easy listening, but meant in
a sincerely positive way. (MR)
Address: <wothirteen@btopenworld.com>
THE HAFLER TRIO – THE SEA ORG (CD by Korm Plastics)
On goes the reissuing of older works by The Hafler Trio with one of
my personal favourites, The Sea Org. Why my fav, you ask? Well, let
me explain. This records more or less contains everything that The
Hafler Trio have done in their long and outstanding career: drones,
cut-ups, layered field recordings and loop-based work. The only thing
“missing” is the spoken word part. One of the first noticeable things
of this release is again the cover: a deep purple is the basic colour
and once again it looks quite stunning. The second thing is that
noise reduction has been kept to a minimum, thank you very much! This
may lack the cleanness of contemporary recordings, but it certainly
has remained clear and crisp and above all: full. About the music I
can be short: it is still as good as it was back then (when was that
again???) and it has lost nothing of its importance to all of the
people who make this sort of music nowadays (I count myself among
them). This has the power and the depth to compel the listener to
what he or she is supposed to do. And that is the most important
quality music can have. Let’s wait for all the other reissues! I
still have a few on my wish list…(MR)
Address: http://www.kormplastics.nl
ANDREW CHALK & BRENDAN WALLS – THIS GROWING CLEARING (CD by Three Poplars)
Three Poplars is slowly growing as a label. Besides releases by Jim
O’Rourke and William Basinski, it’s a label for the musical
activities of Mirror, being Christoph Heemann and Andrew Chalk.
Either they offer their solo works or collaborations with likeminded
third parties. Bredan Walls is one such third party. He had a CD on
Idea Records before and Chalk and Heemann did a remix 7″ of that CD
for the same label. Here they meet up (I assume through mail) in a
joint work of electrifying ambient. Working in the field of
overtones, this is a very richly layered work of drone music. But
it’s not a work that is just one tone for forty minutes. Chalk and
Walls have looked with a careful ear for the smallest details and add
a great sense of dynamics to the recording. Two more than excellent
pieces. For fans of Mirror and all such nice drone music alike! (FdW)
Address: http://www.diestadtmusik.de
HENRIK RYLANDER – TRADITIONAL ARRANGEMENTS OF FEEDBACK (CD by Ideal Recordings)
The work of Henrik Rylander has been reviewed before, via a 10″ (see
Vital Weekly 318 and 413). Rylander was a drummer in a rock band
called Union Carbide Productions, but since 1996 he works inside
electronic music. On his solo release he works with ‘controlled
feedback from different fx-units’. In each of the ten pieces he plays
around with them in a rhythmical way. Each of these pieces is minimal
and in each of the piece I thought: god, this sounds very much like
Pan Sonic area ‘Vakio’ or other works from that period, for instance
the first Noto or the first Goem CD. For this new CD there are also
traces of the 80s industrial music, especially Esplendor Geometrico
springs to mind. It seemed to me that Rylander didn’t have many
original ideas of his own and that he’s years too late with his
sound. I must say that it’s an excellent copy though – in that
respect he did a very nice job. (FdW)
Address: http://www.idealrecordings.com
WILT – AS GIANTS WATCH OVER US (CD by Ad Noiseam)
The work of James Keeler, also known as Wilt has been reviewed
before. His previous CD ‘Radio 1940’ was well received here in Vital
Weekly (see Vital Weekly 344) and this new one, ‘As Giants Watch Over
Us’ goes down well too. Wilt’s music is a fine blend of darker
ambient textures with occassional bursts of noise… or rather
occassional louder parts, as noise is not really the thing going on
here. Rather than playing the drone card in long track, Wilt chooses
to play shorter tracks and per track he has hiw own story. Taped
radio excerpts take care of counterpoints in the music and ultimately
make this music into a fine soundtrack for sci-fi movies or a
radioplay on the subject of deep sea exploration or outer-life.
Normally I would complain about the length of things like this, but
here the extended length of the release sort of makes sense. I don’t
think it’s entirely ment to be, but I believe this to be one long
story that for the sake of convience is split up in thirteen tracks.
Much powerfull ambient with a strong idea about the total
composition. Great work. (FdW)
Address: www.adnoiseam.net
BLACK DICE – MILES OF SMILES (miniCD by Fat Cat)
While listening to the miniCD of Black Dice, I was reading the
extensive information that I got along. I learn that this the third
release by this band, consisting of Aaron Warren (vocals,
electronics), Bjorn Copeland (treated guitar), Eric Copeland (vocals,
electronic percussion) and Hisham Bharroocha (drums, percussion). I
think, apart from the fact that they have no bass, it’s a rock band.
But is it the right CD that I am playing? It doesn’t sound like a
rock band at all. There is music in there, but the two tracks (each
around fifteen minutes) are long collages of sound of found sound,
field recordings and maybe this band playing. It’s not the sort of
music I expect from a line up like this. Although the information
also reads about bands like Wolf Eyes or Sonic Youth, I think that
Black Dice are much more subtle and much less lo-fi than those bands
– although I must admit I didn’t hear their previous work of course.
Very seldom I think that the marriage between ideas and techniques of
musique concrete mix well with that of rock music, but here I must
admit it works quite well. The rock band notion has disappeared and
is replaced by an intelligent cross-over composition of rock and
musique concrete. A great surprise this Black Dice. (FdW)
Address: http://www.fatcat.co.uk
PLASTIKMAN – CLOSER (CD by Nova Mute)
We all thought Plastikman is dead. Ok, Richie was still playing and
recording as DJ, but it was well known that Consumed and Artifakts
(b.c.) were the last albums. It seemed that the
minimal-techno/less-is-more ideas were simply consumed and wasted, no
need for more Plastikman music since 1998… Until 2003 (at least for
Richie of course) when the same music is back again with a single and
another new full-length album Closer. The single-track Disconnect is
simply great, minimal of course and with a treated computer-ish
voice. It’s good to know now that Richie Hawtin’s Plastikman is back.
And it’s a bit tricky too. Do we need more Plastikman musick? I
really don’t know… Closer is good album, a little bit dull
sometimes, or at least stretched, often close to ambient even with
the rhythm. The music has progressed and changed in it’s minimalistic
manners and it’s more settled down now. I wish it was more edgy, I
miss tracks like Rekall, Are friends electrik? and Pakard from
Artifakts (‘I don’t know’ comes closer here). But still, I remember
how fascinated I was when I first discovered this plastik-music, to
me it was the bottom-line in music for some time. After all,
Plastikman is my micro-techno hero and Closer sounds ok. (BR)
Address: http://www.mute.com and http://www.m-nus.com
EMIT TWO (CD by Room 40/Qut)
Here’s a mix-compilation done by Lawrence English and John Chantler
who also make music as Warm. It starts nice, with a track from
Puzahki, unknown to me before, but the track is in the dreamy idm
area I’d say. Things get more distorted in the second track by
Timeblind, but the atmosphere calms down with Tim Koch and his more
conventional but nicely done track. There are many artists who are
unknown to me here and make different kinds of music, like Doily,
Molliger, Ubique Trio, Skist, Diaspora, Xanpha, Ai Yamamoto… Some
parts of this mixed compilation are dealing with ambient atmospheres,
like Paul Abad and others… Some tracks are more conventional than
others which are more twisted or leftfield. There’s also some
improvised music from Ubique Trio which is a bit strange in this
context. Or maybe not, because first of all this is a compilation (at
least that’s how I see it), not a dj mix, although the tracks are
presented in a mixed form. It’s nice to hear good music from un/less
known artists, like the fine and kinda minimalistic vocal piece from
Skist, the cracklings from Diaspora, or Gintas K and Sound_00 at the
end with their street-ambient music here. (BR)
Address: http://www.emit.qut.com and http://www.room40.org
MARILYN LERNER – LUMINANCE (CD by Ambiances Magnétiques)
Marilyn Lerner (Montréal, 1957) is pianist and composer and has been
active in the Canadian scene for the past twenty years. She has
performed with a very mixed company of musicians, like Paquito
D’Riverera, Tito Puente, Jon Faddis, Steve Lacy, Christian Escoude,
Jane Bunnett, Vinny Golia, etc. Her jazz work includes the solo cd
‘Miss Overboard’ and ‘Birds are Returning – Marilyn Lerner in Cuba.’
Also she produced a series of audio art pieces using computer
technology. For the last few years she formed a duo with bass
clarinet player Lori Freedman, named Queen Mab. Together they try to
build bridges between new music and jazz. The last ten years she made
a lot of recordings and wrote music for film, television, theatre,
etc. All this does not have to imply that you ever heard of her
before. In my case ‘Luminance’ is a first encounter.
What may not surprise us of someone with such a reputation and
experience, is the virtuosic playing that illustrates her extensive
knowledge of grammar and repertoire. She is also a very capable and
original composer and improvisor. What is more, her music has also
depth and is passionate.
A great variety of techniques, idioms, color, moods, etc. pass by. In
each track she investigates different aspects of music. In many
pieces she is into timbral possibilities. In other pieces melodic and
harmonic ideas are investigated. In ‘La boxe’ , ‘Glovys’ and other
pieces rhythmic excursions are dominant.
Besides, in one piece, like ‘Plucky’, she uses many extented
techniques, making the piano sound like the prepared piano of John
Cage. Whereas in other pieces she limits herself to the keys of the
piano.
If the idea of a solo piano cd is frightening you, let me assure you
that you won’t be bored by this one. It’s a very personal work on the
borders of new music and jazz by a talented player and improvisor.
By the way, an interesting aspect of this release is the recording
technique. For each track is indicated what microphone is used and
where it is placed (DM)..
Address: http://www.actuellecd.com
PLANK – ALP+ (CD by Melange Records)
CHLORGESCHLECHT – CHORGESCHLECHT CONSULTING (CD by Melange Records)
CHINA HONEYMOON – OZAWA PRESENTS CHINA HONEYMOON (CD by Melange Records)
For me Melange Records is a new label, but they have been around for
a while. Their release by Plank, which should not be confused with an
also UK band called Nacht Plank, is Joe Gilmore, also one half of
Vend and one third of Powerbooks For Peace, who had a CDR release
before on Alienation (see Vital Weekly 365). This ‘real’ CD is a
collection of works from the last three years. Plank is truely a
laptop artist. His music consist throughout of carefully constructed
glitches, which, I must readily admit, sound pretty coherent here.
When a lot a of these computer people are bad improvisers who let
their software go wild without maintaining any control, Gilmore here
presents here thirteen pieces are a true pleasure to hear and who
sound like their have been worked out. Some time and considerations
went into these compositions, which sound like they have been
inspired by Stockhausen rather than Oval. Rather a nice surprise this
one.
Despite their releases on labels such as Planet Mu, Rephlex,
Klangkrieg and WMF I never heard of Chorgeschlecht, a trio of Alex
Kloster, Johannes Malfatti and Olivier Alary who play computers and
traditional trash metal instrumentation and death grunts. What I say
about bands with laptops seem to come true here for Chlorgeschlecht.
A mixture of death metal music with computer processings may sound
like a wacky and funny idea, but it’s quite tiring after a while.
Seventeen such pieces… and an eightteenth piece which is a cut up
of some fake radio programm, which again may be funny and wacky, but
at such time frame is again quite boring. Some knowledge of the
German language is also required to enjoy it. Nice, but not my tea at
all.
Also a trio but then from Japan is China Honeymoon. They play
keyboards, computers, bass, drums, sampler and such like. Their CD
doesn’t kick off very well. The first (untitled) track seems to go
nowhere really. More laptoppy doodlings. But as the CD progresses the
pieces get better and become more coherent, until the final eighth
(and longest) piece which is a dark and moody piece of electronics
and musique concrete sounds. This CD, at twenty-six minutes, is a bit
too short too form a well founded opinion about, but the final piece
is definetly something that is a direction to go to. (FdW)
Address: http://www.melangerecords.com
SUDDEN INFANT – EAR WASH (CD by Cool Anatomy)
Before putting on this CD by Sudden Infant I turned the volume a bit
down, because Sudden Infant is all about noise. I thought. But the
first two pieces are actually much softer outing than I anticipated.
Joke Lanz, since many many years the main man of Sudden Infant plays
turntables, electronics, sonic trash and sings, while being aided by
Franz Liebherr on trombone, flexible pipe and voice. Occassionally
Sudden Infant explodes in the usual feedback mood, but overall I must
say this was quite a pleasant form of noise. ‘Zombie Lullaby’ is for
instance centered around a rhythm, with delay machines and noise
pushed around in the background. A version of ‘Ne Me Quitte Pas’
(from Jacques Brel) is also included and renders the original beyond
recognition. This is quite an original work of noise, which goes all
over the place and doesn’t stay just in the areas of pure feedback
noise. Here an experienced noise artist is playing around and it
shows. (FdW)
Address: http://www.geocities.jp/coolanatomy
PIERRE LANGEVIN & PIERRE TANGUAY – LA BOULEZAILLE(CD by Ambiances Magnétiques)
Pierre Langevin studied clarinet and chamber music in Québec,
Cleveland and New York. For some years he played bass clarinet in the
Orchestre Symphonique de Québec. Later he developped himself into a
multi-instrumentalist with a special interest in medieval music. In
1986 he formed the Strada Ensemble. He is memeber and the artistic
leader of the this ensemble. This ensembles focuses on medieval
folklore music from Europe.
But Langevin feels also attracted to new music and worked together
with René Lussier and collaborated on many musical productions for
dance and for film. Pierre Tanguay is also member of the Strada
ensemble since it originated in 1986. It makes sense to memorate this
common background of Langevin and Tanguay, as in their duo production
‘La boulezaille’, influences of medieval music are evident, like in
‘Danse du vent comme dans le temps’. Old traditional instruments are
used as well. But among them also many of exotic origin. And this can
be explained from another part of Tanguay’s background. As a
percussionist he did additional studies in Africa, India and gathered
(percussion) instruments from all over the world. Tanguay is a busy
bee. He is co-founder of member of groups like Mara, Ogane Song, Trio
Marc Villemure, Pierre Cartier Ensemble, Icarus, etc. Composed for
theatre, film and danse productions and played with Nana
Vasconcellos, Noma, Tim Brady, John Surman, Barre Philips, and many
more. The Ambiances Magnétiques catalogue shows that Tanguay likes
the duo-format as he worked together with Rene Lussier, Jean Derome
and Tom Walsh. And now a work with Pierre Langevin. Like on his
solo-album ‘La musique de mon disque’ Tanguay brings a great
diversity of percussive instruments to the studio as well as some
self-built instruments. The last category show Tanguay’s interest in
noise and sound. Langevin plays wind instruments like a duduk,
bagpipes, pipe, recorders, a.o. and brings in themes reminiscent of
medieaval times. Time and space barriers are broken down here,
melting together in a very sympathic music that can be of no other
age then ours. All eight pieces show the wit and humour both Pierres
must have experienced. Surprises and inventive improvisation make it
sensitive and enjoyable record. Both gentlemen use the great many
instruments in order to ‘colour’ a music that shows love for detail.
Well done! Jean Derome and Jean René both guest on one piece: ‘La
scie voleuse’. The cd seems to carry two titles: ‘La Bouzaille’ and
‘Le boulezaille’. Don’t know if is intentional wordplay of a
mistake…. (DM).
Address: http://www.actuellecd.com
RADBOUD MENS – PULSE (CD by Staalplaat)
Following his debut on Staalplaat from a couple of years back, here
is the second, now really full length CD by Radboud Mens. Once known
as Hyware, also record boss for ERS Records aswell as the CDR imprint
Hond In De Goot, Mens works under his own name since a couple of
years. He is clever in keeping in mind on which format his music is
released. His three 12″s for Audio.NL are minimal techno stompers of
an utter reduced techno beat, but highly danceable. The previous CD
‘Sine’ and this ‘Pulse’ take the experience of dance music into the
realms of much more subdued music. Rhythms do play a role (of course,
I’d say, if you call your CD ‘Pulse’), but they are embedded in
sizzling, cracking and foremost deep bass structures. Mens is
somebody for whom technology hardly has a secret and he uses all the
possibilities sound have. Playing this music softly is one listening
to maybe a quarter of it. The low end is there on a very present
level, presumming you want to open the volume. I strongely suggest to
do so. Each of the six pieces is a lengthy excursion which will take
you through a variety of moods and tonal shifts. Maybe it would have
been better to cut some of these pieces into smaller pieces, since
some of the changes are so radical and going into something entirely
different, it’s almost like a new song. It not necessarily adds to
the composition of the whole track. Otherwise: an excellent CD and to
top it off, the jewel case is printed with concentric circles and the
CD itself too. It sure adds to the hallucinating character of the
music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.staalplaat.com
PHROQ – CONFUSION (CD by Shiver Sounds Records)
In Vital Weekly 408 I discussed a previous release by Phroq, the
monniker of Francisco Meirino. That concerned a live concert in
Japan, but here, I believe we are dealing with a studio work with the
total of nine tracks over some forty five minutes. Still Phroq is in
noise territories here, but I must admit it’s noise of a much higher
interest for me. He plays around with contact microphones on objects
and surfaces and processes the resultant sound into quite an
interesting body of work in which dynamics play an important role.
Sometimes things are on the silent edge, such as in the nineth piece
but sometimes they burst out in full noise blast. It’s quite a step
forward from the previous work I heard from him. If he would succeed
in transforming his studio sound into a live concert, I’d be
interested in hearing that concert. (FdW)
Address: http://www.phroq.com
TORE HONORE BØE – SUAVE SIESTA (CD by Purple Soil)
Our man Bøe is a regular guest in these pages, although usually under
the guidance of reviewer MR. On this new CD Bøe presents two related
works. Both deal with field recordings and both are merely collages
of sound, rather than altered field recordings. The first five pieces
deal with field recordings made in 2003 in Bøe’s new house in Gran
Canaria and in general they are quite peaceful and quiet. Wind blows
by, sand falls down on the microphone. The only thing that Bøe does
here is a little bit of editing. The other five pieces are from 2000
and were made in Agadir (Morocco) and we are told that these also
don’t use any electronics, but that seems hard to believe. In some of
these pieces there is electro-magnetic hum and crackle which the
normal ear wouldn’t pick very easily (I think, but maybe I am deaf by
now?). All ten tracks make up a nice soundscape work, which is quite
pleasent to hear as a background hum. On a rainy day like this, the
warmth has to come from field recordings from the hotter parts of the
planet. (FdW)
Address: <purplesoil@centrum.cz>
SLO-FI – >1>2>3>4 (12″ by Antenne Records)
Antenne Records is foremost a nice shop in Tilburg, one of the bigger
cities in the southern part of the Netherlands, but also a nice small
label. Their first release, a 7″ with one minute tracks by various
Dutch artists (entiteld ‘Dutch Fidelity’) wasn’t reviewed here, but
now the second release is available. It’s a 12″ by >slo-fi, sometimes
known as )slo-fi_, or *slo-fi. Other than he is Dutch and has a two
12″s on Audio.NL and a CDR on the Microwave label, nothing much is
known. Nothing much is needed to know really. >Slo-fi concerns
himself with techno music. On his first Audio.NL 12″ this was really
slow techno, the second one went into Chain Reaction styled, but here
he seems to finding his own style. On a superficial level this seems
to be straight forward techno, but way down there are all sorts of
strange processings going on of stretched out sounds, workings with
overtones. Overall there is a joyous character to this music with a
spooky undertone, especially towards the end of each track. So far
the best >Slo-Fi record. (FdW)
Address: http://www.antenne-tilburg.nl
EVOLUTION GARDEN – SUNSET DREAM (12″)
Things have been quiet for Evolution Garden for a while. After a
whole string of CDR releases with work from the rehearsal room – work
in progress – they are now ready to release their first 12″.
Evolution Garden is now a four piece group of guitars, bass, drums
and synthesizers. Over the years they have grown from an ambient two
piece band into a psychedelic rock band, who use to a great extend
guitars played with e-bow and solos and is, I am afraid, much less
than I hoped for. The three cuts here are well-played and even well
produced but they are also pretty straight forward psycho rock songs.
I can see clearly their development, but it also seems to me that the
adventure is gone and now it’s unfortunally more of the same in an
area that has been well exploited by others. (FdW)
Address: http://www.evolutiongarden.com
LAKES – LET’S GO ARCTIC (7″ by Pocket Clock)
This band started as two piece band from California but now is only
Sean Bailey. On this 7″ he displays his love for early 80s synth
music. All three tracks (total length: 5.35 minutes) have robotized
rhythms with singing and little synth humm in the back. The melody is
brought in minimalist vein through the lyrics mostly. If you wouldn’t
know better than it could be a 7″ from 1981, like a stripped down
version of the Screamers or Primitive Calculators. Rather now cashing
in on the electro-clash hype, this stays much closer to the original
and a clever deliberate lo-fi recording certainly enhances the fun.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.pocketclock.org
TAMING POWER – MEDITATIONS FOR RADIO (10″ by Early Morning Records)
Things have been quiet for Taming Power after the whole string of 10″
records which I reviewed late last year. Here he turned on his radios
and left the guitar unplayed. Using radio waves and transmissions, he
made a collage on his four track recorder without any manipulations,
filtering or alterations. Just the plain radio sounds in collage
form. The a-side is quite open with repeating blocks of sounds. Of
course it’s hard not to think of John Duncan’s old work for shortwave
radios here. The b-side is much denser and darker, with voices
leaking through. From some of the previous albums I wasn’t too
pleased but this one is actually quite nice, maybe not the sort of
meditation that is required for new age therapy, but nevertheless
ambient industrial enough for me. (FdW)
Address: <earlymrecords@yahoo.no>
FUTURE REMIX – [EVERYTHING GOES EMPTY] (CDR by Retinascan)
It’s totally pointless finding information about Future Remix. As far
as I can tell it’s someone who loves remixing other people’s music –
on his website I found eleven MP3s of remixes of Throbbing Gristle’s
‘Beachy Head’. On his (her? their?) ‘Everything Goes Empty’ they call
it ‘mutant techno mantra and urban industrial noise merge.
Everything’s getting very mixed up’. Indeed. Their samplers or
computers do not seem to contact much music, just very static,
minimal hiss which is fed through some effect units. In a way very
old school industrial – maybe MB would have sounded like this if he
had access to computers in his days – and indeed very much not like
any sort of techno music. It’s very simple music indeed, but
strangely enough it’s also quite captivating. Changes are there, I
know it’s hard to believe, but yes, they are really there and operate
on a very very microscopic level, but that makes it all the more
captivating. One could argue if one should hear similar tracks a
couple of times, as the conceptual ideas are limited, but it’s a nice
urban decay thing anyway. And of course it’s nicely pack in a tin
can. (FdW)
Address: http://www.retinascan.de
ELLENDE – NATTO (3″ CDR by The Lotus Of Assemblage)
By now Ellende seems to appear in every new Vital Weekly, here with a
release on the excellent Lotus Of Assemblage label, who have a series
of 3″ CDRs. Ellende presents two tracks. ‘Summer Child’ is an ambient
piece with a shimmering melody on top of a bed of drones. In the
longer title piece the same synth drones start the piece but this
piece has less melody and is much darker of tone. Dark atmospheric
ambient music is the thing here. Two very nice pieces of isolationist
music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.assemblage.freeuk.com
LIQUID SPHERE – DOTS & WAVES (CDR by L.S.I.)
LIQUID SPHERE – HYPOCRACY 2 & 3 (CDR by L.S.I.)
If you paid attention before, than you would have noted the name
Liquid Sphere before. They had a 3″ CDR on Taalem before and also a
CD on DoctSect, which I didn’t hear. The man behind Liquid Sphere is
one Laurent Guerrier and he now offers two, self-released CDRs. ‘Dots
& Waves’ has four tracks which were created spontaneously in december
2003 and deals with loops and drones which get the full sound
treatment. Liquid Sphere puts them through a whole bunch of effect
boxes (maybe plug ins) and leaves them running for a while. Not as
ambient as his Taalem release and unfortunally also not always very
interesting.
In that respect the ‘Hypocracy 2 & 3’ is much more interesting. Here
the drone related material is indeed drone-like. Processed field
recordings , of sea waves washing ashore, and highly processed hums
make a dark atmospherical and intense soundscape. Sometimes a
mechanical rhythm pops up. A nice release but nothing beyond the
ordinary really. (FdW)
Address: http://www.membres.lycos.fr/zuhll
DISISM – ROCK ON BROADWAY, SAN FRANCISCO (CDR by Taped Rug Productions)
More music by Charles Rice Goff III, here in a band guise with Killr
“Mark” Kaswan. As Disism they play guitar, cello and singing, fed
through a bunch of reel to reel recorders which have tape-loops on
them. Kinda like Eno/Fripp loop system from the seventies. The
recordings on this release stem from the second concert as Disism
from 1986 and now made public for the first time. Music, despite the
tape-loop system applied, of great freedom in playing. Traces of
Residents or Eugene Chadbourne are to be found here but the tape-loop
system adds a strange quality of repetition to it. Not every moment
is great and the recording is quite crude, but overall it’s a nice
release of free improvised music anyway. (FdW)
Address: http://www.geocities.com/padukem
CORY THRALL – COLORS (MP3 by Samsa Records)
OPERATION – PROTECTION (MP3 by Samsa Records)
HELMETICRONONAUT – THE HELMETICRONICLES PART 1 (MP3 by Samsa Records)
MR. CHEMICAL – MUSIC FOR A FASHION SHOW (MP3 by Samsa Records)
CHEFKIRK – ATKINS WILL KILL YOU! (MP3 by Samsa Records)
Music launced on MP3 deserves of course everyone’s attention, and
most certainly by those hooked on the internet and without too much
money in their pockets. Samsa Records is one such label who offers
music for free to download. Other than Chefkirk I didn’t recognize
any of the other names. People like Cory Thrall (who runs the Samsa
Records label), who apperentely have another EP on Samsa Records,
which was well-received. On ‘Colors’ there are eight tracks, which
are mostly based on digital noise. Not of the most entertaining kind,
I must say. A bit too simple for my taste.
More noise comes from Operation, although his variations are more in
the old school, analogue vein. Bashing white noise around, fed
through a whole bunch of effect boxes, this is me thinks a Merzbow
imitation of a rather weak kind.
Studies in feedback and noise are to be found in the work of
Helmeticrononaut (who also record as Swamp Up Nostrils). Although
this is pretty regular noise too, I thought it was much to digest
than the Operation release. Shorter tracks of varied noise character.
A rough version of very old Arcane Device leaks through.
The music put on by Mr. Chemical was actually used in a fashion show
and is a nice, highly energetic plunderphonic thing. Pounding rhythms
and nagging keyboards fill in the gaps (if there any) leftover by the
sampled popmusics. Highly distorted music, almost punk rock in
approach, this is a very nice release.
So far I haven’t been the biggest fan of Chefkirk and I am afraid
this release won’t change that much for me. Chefkirk, aka Roger
Smith, plays the noise card again and I just won’t get excited by it.
Densely layered noise patterns with not much development in each
track and it’s not the greatest thing in the history of sound
recording either. A pity. (FdW)
Address: http://www.samsarecords.com