ROEL MEELKOP – ONKYO OK (CD by CMR)
POIRE_Z & PHIL MINTON – Q (CD by For4Ears Records)
NORBERT MÖSLANG – LAT_NC_ (CD by For4Ears Records)
IAN BODDY – CHIASMATA (CD by DiN)
LANGUIS – THE FOUR WALL (CD by Plug Research)
JET JAGUAR – IS LOVE (CD by Involve)
LHD – CURTAINS (CD by Pacrec)
HOLKHAM – KOMATTA SARU (CD by Expanding Records)
CAMPING – SUBURBAN SHORE (CD by Plug Research)
TEARGAS & PLATEGLASS – TEARGAS & PLATEGLASS (CD by Run
Recordings/Waxploitation)
IO CASINO – Cicala (CD by Icones)
VICTOR NUBLA – Neige (CD by Hrönir)
OFF LEM 2002 – compilation (CD by Gracia Territori Sonor)
VIDNA OBMANA – AN OPERA FOR FOUR FUSION WORKS (CD by Hypnos)
MATTIN & TAKU SUGIMOTO & YASUO TOTSUKO – TRAINING THOUGHTS (CD by W.M.o/r)
JAAP BLONK & MAJA RATKE – MAJAAP (CD by Kontrans)
JAAP BLONK & INGAR ZACH & IVAR GRYDELAND (CD by Kontrans)
RAYMOND DIJKSTRA – UNTERMENSCH LIEDER (7″ by Le Souffleur)
TEXTILE RANCH – S/T (7″ by Lykill)
CHEFKIRK – 38-40 CM (CDR by Simple Logic Records)
ZENIAL – HI-PI (CDR by Simple Logic Records)
ALEPH – SPIEW SLONCA 1 (CDR by Simple Logic Records)
JOHN CHANDLER – LOCKED IN HANDS (CDR by Piehead Recordings)
SCHRO – THE RELATION EP (OGG by Observatory)
TEXT ADVENTURE – FANTASTIC DISASTER (OGG by Observatory)
ROEL MEELKOP – ONKYO OK (CD by CMR)
In 2001 Roel Meelkop and his friends of Kapotte Muziek/Goem went off
to Japan to do some concerts and present an installation of work in
the Kawaski City Museum. It was Meelkop’s first visit to Japan and,
probably like many others, he was overwhelmed by some of the sheer
noise, both in nature aswell as in the city. The cars, the patchinko,
the karaoke and the semishigure. Always he keen to record sounds from
his environment, Meelkop went out with a recorder and microphone and
in the following years he worked on a new work ‘Onkyo Ok’. Unlike his
previous work, he now tells us on the cover what he used sound-wise:
‘field recording during the summer of 2001 in Japan’. Of course it
wouldn’t be Roel Meelkop’s music, if you would easily recognize these
sounds: Meelkop is an expert of transformating sounds in his
computer, but he never leaps into the deep, obvious holes of DSP.
Sometimes I think he uses extreme equalization and the methods of
collages. No endless banks of DSP, plug ins and what is there.
However, it must also be said, that the collage element that was so
often present in Meelkop’s music is getting less and less. More so
than before he let’s things happen as they happen. Taking a large
chunck of sound and let it sort of naturally evolve from minor
changes in the sound spectrum. Many of the so-called microsound
composer develop their own style which they hardly seem to get rid
off, but Meelkop, after this previous releases, moves on, in a more
rigid, minimal style. Minimal but not along the lines of Lopez;
Meelkop’s music can still be heard, even at a low volume. The ‘Onkyo’
is ‘Ok’, as long as we are able to hear something – good thinking
there. (FdW)
Address: http://www.cmr.no.nz
POIRE_Z & PHIL MINTON – Q (CD by For4Ears Records)
NORBERT MÖSLANG – LAT_NC_ (CD by For4Ears Records)
For reasons I don’t know this is the last CD by Poire_Z, a group that
ran for some time. A group with ErikM (3K_pad.system), Norbert
Moslang and Andy Guhl (aka Voice Crack on cracked everyday
electronics and Gunter Muller (ipod, minidisc, percussion,
electronics). maybe they had enough of playing together but here
documented is their last concert (already played in 2002) and for
this they invited an instrument that was as far away as possible: the
human voice. Here played by Phil Minton, so it’s hard to tell what
his voice and what are electronics. Poire_Z sound here more furious
than before, and I don’t mean that they became so much more noiser
than before, but rather they are very focussed to what they do. The
addition of Minton’s voice, sometimes dry and recognizable and
sometimes totally drenched inside the electronics add a great
counterpoint to the otherwise electronic sound. Forty some minutes of
intense and concentrated playing.
Last year the first solo mini CD by Norbert Möslang was released and
that was remarkable. For maybe close to twenty-five years, Möslang is
a duo with Andy Guhl playing cracked everyday electronics, sometimes
as Möslang/Guhl, sometimes as Voice Crack. Besides Möslang plays with
lots of other people, like Poire_Z, but solo: never. Here, following
that miniCD, is his first full length CD. Do not expect him to pick
up the acoustic guitar for his solo release, as he plays around with
cracked everday-electronics. Studio recordings are processed at home.
In the opening piece he uses loops of sounds, adding an almost
rhythmical feel to the material. Möslang takes the well-known
territory from his Voice Crack work into a new area, by using the
same sounds, but in a new context. Carefull, loaded with tension but
also showing humour. Definetly worth checking out, not just for
improv-heads, but microsounders alike. (FdW)
Address: http://www.for4ears.com
IAN BODDY – CHIASMATA (CD by DiN)
Recorded live at the National Space Center’s planetarium in Leicester
England, DiN Label head Ian Boddy delivers his latest, ‘Chiasmata.’
The third eye beholdeth a wash of mystical sounds, both ancient and
futuristic. ‘Dark Matter’ breathes deep, wheezes, and contains a
sinister ether that will be forced on an imaginary city perhaps. A
dance of tempo tones ensues that are spritely and loosely float like
synthetic dust over a bright forming beat on ‘Ecliptic.’ The tact
it takes postdates some latter Tangerine Dream, but excerpts only the
best bits. The angelic choral addition on “Lightfall” acts as a
conduit to a vortex world called ‘Nucleotide’ into which it streams
gracefully. The pitter-patter melody is completely curvilinear,
taking edges softly and adding some minor twing, pang, plink and
beep. With improv piano mixing with the digital ambient, tribal beat
Boddy addresses the need to create a mythical organicism. Adrift, in
uncultivated outer space, the title track is what could be a
climactic last call, a summons to meet a celestial sense of justice.
The drumming awakens the adroit soul. The clever play on words on
‘Kinaesthesia’ is the endless landline between the listener and ‘the
other’. By designing sound that interwraps, criss-crosses and
otherwise snakes in on itself, Boddy absorbs the transfer between the
inner/outer of aural physics. (TJN)
Address: http://www.din.org.uk
LANGUIS – THE FOUR WALL (CD by Plug Research)
Languis is an Argentinian duo (Marcos Chloca and Alejandro Cohen) who
have crafted a pop album called ‘The Four Walls’. Compared with Can,
I don’t quite connect the dots, though I do hear the glum basslines
of Pete Hook in the feline ‘Never Now’ and the understatement of ‘The
Turning Point’. But it’s the hushed vocals and fine tones of ‘Side
of the Road’ which plays most campily on their circus fare of lost
boys, captured in morose repose. Here they sample merry backing
tracks with the shoe-gazing lyrical content of men coming of age. If
any comparison would be appropriate, it’s clear as day on the
impending grief of the Magnetic Fields-ish ‘A Simple Thought’. It’s
wry, cleancut, and bathed in truisms about love and wasting time.
Taken as a whole this record is pretty flat in depth, but high on
emotion, yeah, high in general. Languis have a somewhat homegrown
Beatlesesque in the 21st Century kinda thing going on as heard on
‘Constellations’ and in other riffs throughout. ‘Morningside’ is a
gone-with the-wind roaming theme cloaked in velvety ambience and
plush sensuality. But these gents plan on going quietly as they are
‘Chained to Always Changing’ in the best J. Spaceman vocal impression
I have ever heard cut completely from the annals of buzz n’ hum
bellows with peaked mock hyper-psychedelia all fitted and factored.
Great Sunday morning alarm call. (TJN)
Address: http://www.plugresearch.com/
JET JAGUAR – IS LOVE (CD by Involve)
Well, I guess you really could say that Wellington New Zealand’s Jet
Jaguar (Michael Upton) ‘is Love’! A dub-ambient infused joy ride
into a peach colored abyss. Recorded between 1999-2001, these pastel
tracks have a few segregated beats, but “is Love” is all about tonal
rhythm. Tracks like ‘Constant Breakdown’ attempt to add to sparse
percussion, but throughout it’s a smooth ride. Quirky electronica
with a wiggly wash of spirited microjazz for good measure. Jet
Jaguar creates a mellow, chill atmosphere with an animated edge. The
purity of ‘News’ just encourages you to get naked under a thick
comforter and stare at the shapes your ceiling makes. Delicately
minimal these wistful themes are rich in hue and elongated pacing.
Upton has a knack of wrapping his tracks snugly around you with
enough flexibility built-in to enable your own natural movement,
which makes the physical connection with the music pretty tight.
Other than the out of sequence micro hip-hop of ‘Now Serving’ with
cuts by Vee, ‘is Love’ plays like dream come true, only much more
vivid than the real thing. (TJN)
Address: http://www.involverecords.com/
LHD – CURTAINS (CD by Pacrec)
An ancient cat fight, a bomb on a screeching-to-a-halt luxury train,
a falling star in the Andes? ‘Curtains’ sounds like the collection
drain, supermic’d at the bottom of Niagra Falls. LA’s LHD (Phil
Blankenship, John Wiese) pops the cork far from the bottle. The
feedback is reckless and somehow cordoned off. If you like it loud,
meaty and proud – this is the record missing from your collection –
otherwise take an Alka Seltzer before you lie back in your easy
chair. As the infinite fire rages and burns, supersized Tonka jeeps
bust a move through gun-metal alloyed crevices lined with Crisco.
The soul of noise has lifted from the grave. (TJN)
Address: http://www.iheartnoise.com/
HOLKHAM – KOMATTA SARU (CD by Expanding Records)
Holkham (Simon Keep) delivers an ambient-techno hybrid that has just
enough real drum sound to keep it docked at that edge. ‘Komatta
Saru’ has some beats per minute, but its primary focus is the
entwined striations of shape-shifting that occur between cymbal
slams. ‘Bose Bose’ is a slow-motion recital for the nuclear age – a
digital aurora bourealis. Here we have a collection of seventeen
tracks in all – each shorter than seven minutes (with tracks as short
as twelve seconds), each a brief story like ‘juv3_1’ which reminds me
of a duo sitting in a white room, one sliding his heels on the
textured floor, scraping, the other sitting still and just nodding.
Keep is creating visual sound, not something revolutionary, but more
for the everyday. This would be a great soundtrack fro supermarkets.
I think people would shop faster, and buy more. The structured
patterns of ‘Tam’ dig a digital ditch (say that three times fast).
Holkham’s sparse use of glitch and groovy beats keep the sharp-witted
melodies from bleeding too distant from the formula. Call it
subliminal, but all he seems to be selling is conscious spirit, or
maybe I’ve been nigh on duped? (TJN)
Address: http://www.expandingrecords.com/
CAMPING – SUBURBAN SHORE (CD by Plug Research)
Camping (aka Chessie – Ben Bailes and Stephen Gardner) takes the
memories of Astrud Gilberto to test on the track ‘This is Where We
Live’ and throughout their newest ‘Suburban Shore’ release on Plug
Research. Syncopatic drum clicks have layered shades of warm tones
with brassy horns and a spoken Germanic voice that speaks with
Beck-like sneer and stand-offishness. The sing-song bossanova wave of
rhythm is like a campfire, bright and communal – and a bit 70s,
especially heard on ‘Fotografie’. But the proceeding era of love
children, peace signs and ‘Laugh-In’ are a delicate wash on the
Velvet Underground-tinged ‘Mit Dir Mit Mir (With Me With You).’
Throughout the record that is primarily focused on Henning
Fritzenwalder’s German vocals – but it could be a background for your
next fiesta, pass the salsa! I just love the horns, ala ‘These Boots
Were Made for Walking’ as ‘Sie Sagt (She Says)’ concludes. But the
lackluster, sappy ‘Schneesturm (Snowstorm)’ just drags and moans like
a half-hearted, canned greeting from Hallmark. The percussion keeps
this above the waterline, not to mention the sultry, sensual vocal
and street smarts as they saved the best, “Streets” for last. With
its gritty guitar edge and bossa-rap. Sensible, subtle, suspended.
(TJN)
Address: http://www.plugresearch.com/
TEARGAS & PLATEGLASS – TEARGAS & PLATEGLASS (CD by Run
Recordings/Waxploitation)
Starting at the top, ‘A Book of Black Valentines (with Lil Gong)’
establishes Teargas & Plateglass as a somewhat dressed down version
of Meat Beat Manifesto of yore. Another wannabe (quote) outsider
artist is a cheap shot to others who explore the harder edge of dark
beats but without that 808 blast from the past that is now quite
tired. Drawn out tracks like the nearly nine minute (six too long)
‘An Adagio for Tandems Stacked’ sound rightfully dull. The beats are
bland and overkill repetitive, though in the last three minutes there
are some harmonic strings that cover whispery undertones that are
buried and secretive. Though they wait to long to add this effect,
the beats are still in your ears once you’ve arrived at this more
alluring melodrama. I feel as though I have heard the echo and sway
on ‘Borrow the Beloveds Eyes.’ Maybe it sounds like some of those
promo only DJ call-outs that just showcase the drum machine effects.
Now when the whole thing gets slightly more funky on ‘Adam’s Lullaby
(Remix)’ the curvature of Natacha Atlas’ voice adds a bit of
pick-me-up to the proceedings. Her ebb and flo coo has the flavor of
Lisa Gerrard with a world sensibility, though she deserves a more
lush melodic rapture to attain further clarity. The channeling
‘Seduction of Canned Laughter’ is agog with flustered Ali Baba beats
and black light risers, high as night, getting a groove on. ‘911
(Remix)’ features the stretched vocals of Zap Mama and Oba Funke.
Starting out like an homage to Sinead O’Connor, their voices are used
as yodeling instrument to curl around the tweaked engine drone. One
of the standout tracks herein are
‘Consoling Past’ and ‘The Fury of an Aroused Spectator’ full of
mutated bullhorns, contemporary string arrangements and other
original ideas, good timing and a clean mix that provides a great
bass for darker music that isn’t so tongue-in-cheek faux sounding
like much work in this hybrid goth genre. This self titled disc does
much to illustrate the shortcomings and possibilities of an emerging
artist. This could go in the polar reaches of either Craig Armstrong
or Eminem…you take your pick, but don’t settle for either/or. (TJN)
Address: http://www.runrecordings.com/
IO CASINO – Cicala (CD by Icones)
VICTOR NUBLA – Neige (CD by Hrönir)
OFF LEM 2002 – compilation (CD by Gracia Territori Sonor)
Gliptoteka Magdalae is the intriguing name of a distributing
initiative from Spain, that concentrates on a few small labels like
Icones, Hrönir, The Gracia Territori Sonor.
Icones released ‘Cicale’ , a mini-cd by Io Casino. It’s her third
solo-effort. In 1999 she released her first one, followed by ‘Mundo
das ferramentas’ in 2001.
She comes from plastic arts originally but got involved in musical
projects like the trio Leonidas with Victor Nubla and Anton Ignorant,
NublaFelizPezZush + Casino, Dedo (with V. Nubla). In all her work the
electric bass is at the center. But for ‘Cicala’ also voice,
recordings and laptop make their contributions. Casino composed,
mixed and produced the three pieces that are on this small item. Saw
her music described as ‘post ambient-muzak zen’. Victor Nubla needs
no further introduction. He is a veteran of the underground scene in
Spain, or Barcelona to be more exact. Over the years he developped
his own style. As a consequence his recent releases contain no real
surprises anymore but are of a constant quality as is the case with
his new cd. Allthough it’s titled ‘neige’, the music is as dark as
you can imagine. It is one piece, lasting some 35 minutes, recorded
live at the contemporary art museum of Barcelona at 30th may 2002.
All sounds come from his MCO portable unit, a self-built
samplingsystem (“Metodo de Composicion Objetiva”). Let’s say for
Nubla-fans only.
The ‘OFF LEM 2002’-compilation gives some insight in the Barcelona
scene. It features music performed at the Off-Lem 2002 Festival by
Osso Bucco (Gregg Kowalsky), Sonora Mty, Marc Egea, CD, Don Simon y
Telefunken, Buick, Heidi Mortenson, Blue, Alvaro Cabrera, Aries and
Mazza. Most of them offer ambient electronics. Marc Egea is the
exception here, playing a folk-like piece on a traditional instrument.
All three cds failed to impress me. It’s more of the same and of a
mediocre quality. I know this is an easy thing to say, but I can’t
help it this time (DM).
Address: http://www.gracia-territori.com/
Address: http://www.hronir.org/
Address: http://usuarios.lycos.es/iocasino/
VIDNA OBMANA – AN OPERA FOR FOUR FUSION WORKS (CD by Hypnos)
Our friend Vidna Obmana has produced a great deal of albums by now,
and to be noted is that a lot of those are in conjunction with
another player. Here it is saxophone player Bill Fox. To be strictly
honest: I am not known for being the biggest lover of saxophone as
an instrument, so you can imagine that I started this CD with some
reservation. Of course unnecessary reservation since it also involves
Vidna Obmana, a man who knows his skills on the synthesizer and, no
doubt, on the computer these days. He transforms anything into large
washes of… I was going to write ambient music, but is it ambient
music? Some of the textures Vidna Obmana puts on, can hardly be
described as ambient music. His music is maybe ambient inspired, but
it’s too angular to end up on a pile of new age shit. Here he offers
five pieces in which the saxophone is still to be recognized, but at
the same time it’s also too much changed and embedded in a warm of
bed of electronic transformation, that the whole notion of a
saxophone is not really there. In a way this reminded me of the more
than excellent collaboration between Niels van Hoorn and Mark Spybey
(see Vital Weekly 332). Electronics and saxophones do seem to be a
good match and Vidna Obmana is just of the better recyclists
available. Moving more and more out of the territory of ambient
music, Vidna Obmana has developped a truely personal style. (FdW)
Address: http://www.hypnos.com
MATTIN & TAKU SUGIMOTO & YASUO TOTSUKO – TRAINING THOUGHTS (CD by W.M.o/r)
More and more Mattin goes all the way for real CDs of his improvising
duets with well-known people. Here he teams up with guitar player
Taku Sugimoto and Yasuo Totsuka, who plays mixer. Quite a recent
recording (from February 3rd 2004) of the softer edges of music.
Sometimes we nothing for a quite a while, and then sounds burst out:
an occassional tick here, some static hiss there and every once in a
while a train passing (I still haven’t figured out wether that last
thing is something that has to do with the recording (maybe made
under a railway arch) or is a mixed in fieldrecording. Beneath all
that there is hiss and crackles, actually a lot of those hoover about
in the unterwelt of this recording. Sugimoto’s guitar playing is
really really loud – expect of course that he only plays on just very
few occassions. But once he does the sound bursts out. Most
definetely one of the stranger works of improvised music I heard in
some time. Very quiet throughout, carefully played tones but with
alienated outbursts (train sounds, guitar). Great redefenition of
ambient music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mattin.org
JAAP BLONK & MAJA RATKE – MAJAAP (CD by Kontrans)
JAAP BLONK & INGAR ZACH & IVAR GRYDELAND (CD by Kontrans)
By entering these two CDs were enter the world of improvised music,
the world of voice artist Jaap Blonk. On ‘Majaap’, he has a duet with
Maja Ratke, one half of Fe-Mail (female harsh noise electronica duo),
which they captured in a studio in Oslo, Arnhem (in The Netherlands,
where Jaap lives) and in Amsterdam, the latter in concert. If one is
familiar with the work of Jaap Blonk, then this release will be a
double pleasure in hearing. Maja Ratke is the female counterpart of
Jaap: their voices are capable of producing virtually any sound, from
whispering soft to shouting a loud, producing onomatopeia of fantasy
animals and a deep howl from beneath. Certainly not an easy to access
disc. Despite the fact that there are no less than eightteen short
tracks on this CD, I never looked once at my CD player and somehow
played it as one long, continuos track.
In his other Norwegian connection, Blonk teams up with one Ingar Zach
(percussion) and ivar Grydeland (banjo, guitar). I never heard of
them, but they play along with Blonk rather well. The drums are
played with stones, plastic, the guitar with bows and other objects
and the voice of Jaap Blonk is in his usual unusual mood. The five
pieces of improvised music are played rather well, but also, it seems
to me, stay on the safe side of things. I don’t know if such a thing
exist, but I thought this to be good but rather ordinary improvised
music. I assume die-hards may hear the differentations with other
works, but for the only superficially trained ear, like mine, I
thought there to be no real surprises. Not a weak spot either, so
that’s of course the good thing about it. (FdW)
Address: http://www.toondist.nl
RAYMOND DIJKSTRA – UNTERMENSCH LIEDER (7″ by Le Souffleur)
The name Raymond Dijkstra may not be sparkling alive, but the man has
been around for some time, and he has released many works, under his
own name, aswell as Dadaphon, Razoul Uzlu, Ky Sinc Pulse, Asra (a duo
with Af Ursin) and at one point one-third Indra Kamurka. On this 7″
he doesn’t return to the noise work he released before under his own
name, but rather continues paths taken by the work as Dadaphon:
amplifying objects, layering them and making a collage out of it. On
the a-side there is the scratch of glass on metal sound in the
foreground and osbscure, semi-percussive rumbling in the back.
Similar scratch is on the b-side but the percussive element is louder
here. Not dissimilar to Organum, Raymond Dijkstra however likes his
sounds to be free of any electronic treatment, rather keeping in
close contact with the original sounds. The treatments are played and
not generated. A rather solitary voice in this kind of music. Should
appeal to more people than it does by the name and that’s a pity.
Check it out, will y’a? (FdW)
Address: <souffleur@xs4all.nl>
TEXTILE RANCH – S/T (7″ by Lykill)
Here’s something for the die-hard fans of Piano Magic, if there are
some among the people who read Vital Weekly? Textile Ranch is Glen
Johnson from Piano Magic who makes some solo music occasionally and
releases it on some very small and quite obscure labels, like Lykill
this time. There are 2 (in a way) electronic tracks or songs on this
release. Both very much in the most wonderful (even fetishist)
tradition of the handmade electro-melodic music which sounds like
it’s coming from a nice music box. The first track ‘Girl with
numbered heart’ starts from one point but from the middle it
continues in a different way. The similar thing happens in the other
track ‘Boys Climbing Skull’, the main theme goes through few changes.
When I played this track on radio once, one of the people who work
there asked me if I made this track myself!? That’s a compliment to
me, although he didn’t say it in that way, he thought something like:
“Aw c’mon, this is not serious music…”. What he knows… I think
Global Goon should hear some Textile Ranch music. (BR)
Address: http://www.zone51.com/lykill and
http://www.piano-magic.co.uk/textile_ranch
CHEFKIRK – 38-40 CM (CDR by Simple Logic Records)
ZENIAL – HI-PI (CDR by Simple Logic Records)
ALEPH – SPIEW SLONCA 1 (CDR by Simple Logic Records)
The Polish label Simple Logic Records have some nice cover: thick
oversized carton sleeves with nice photography. That is a good start.
Chefkirk, the man whose music I never seem to dig very much, has a
release and it’s the first time I actually like quite a bit. Not so
much the noise elements that are again omnipresent on this disc, but
at the same time, maybe even in the same amount, there are rhythmical
and more ‘silent’ sectors to be found here. It seems to me that for
the first time dynamics do play a role in this music. Even something
like compositional structure can be found around here. Things built
up, break down and it’s done with some care. Hurray.
Just what Zenial, aka Sennik Androda, is, is not very clear. At least
to me. He is connected to Palsecam whose work was reviewed before. If
I understood right, he uses text files which are converted to music,
set against a backdrop of hip hop styled beats and raps, but the
blurr that come alive from his converted text files, make the whole
thing more noisy. Add to that the not very well sound quality and
this remains a typical lo-fi CDR release.
Even less information is known about Aleph. He lives by the sea,
records sounds since November 4th 2002 and will stop recording when
he finds sound that turns mind off”. On ‘Spiew Slonca 1’, a fourteen
minute work of delicate ambient music. It starts out a loud(er)
volume but over the period of the work things drop volume wise and
hoovers at the edge of silence. Darkly toned, greatly atmospherical.
Nice work, maybe a bit too short. (FdW)
Address: http://www.simlog.republika.pl
JOHN CHANDLER – LOCKED IN HANDS (CDR by Piehead Recordings)
Don’t know where they find them, but Piehead Recordings usually has
musicians I never heard of, like one John Chandler. The recordings on
his release where made between Japan, Australia and England and is,
as far as I understand a combination of field recordings, aswell as
outtakes of sessions he did with other people, like drummer John
Parker of Ubique Trio. Chandler cleverly combines post-rock
instrumentation (guitar, bass and drums) with laptop techniques and
finds himself, as far as I can see, in similar areas as some of the
current Intr_Version releases (not by coincidence also a label from
Canada). Sometimes the whole electronica is stripped down to just
post rock, as in ‘These Nines Years Will Last Five Minutes Or More’
but sometimes they keep up a fine balance, such as in the closing
‘Organ Music’. Only in the lenghty opening piece things enroll too
much in improvised music areas, and couldn’t bother me very much.
Otherwise I must say I was quite pleased with this release, which
by-passed well-known paths of post rock, IDM and microsound and
instead has a home brew of his own mixture of all of these. (FdW)
Address: http://www.pieheadrecords.com
SCHRO – THE RELATION EP (OGG by Observatory)
TEXT ADVENTURE – FANTASTIC DISASTER (OGG by Observatory)
Schro (whoever that is, please check Observatory’s very nice site for
all the info) gives us some great dreamy post-rock music here, in the
best tradition of that expression, sounds like it might have been
done by Tristeza or Tortoise. Very much like Tristeza. This EP is
made of 3 tracks, I especially like the 2nd and the 3rd. All music is
quite typical post-rock thing with, of course, guitar, bass and
drums. There are also some voices in Do I, used more as a sound, and
a little bit of vocals and singing in the last song She Winged Me,
but that’s short, somehow abstract and not so much important, in
the-sea-and-cake way. Schro’s music can also be related to Slowdive
from more aspects. Pure ear-candy lo-fi guitar music.
Along the similar lines are Text Adventure, that’s David Roy and
Steven Scott from Glasgow. Their music here is even more in the
songwriting area than Schro. There’s also some more traditional
singing here by Steven. Really cute music. Trickery childish
electronics in form of casio keyboard and amateurish beat programing
mixed with singing and a folky guitar from time to time. Sounds good.
It ends with a cover of Silver Jews. I haven’t heard the original
song ‘Tide to the oceans’ but the cover here sounds very good. Text
Avdenture should release their debut album this year on the german
label Mira Records. (BR)
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