ALVIN CURRAN & DOMENICA SCIANJO – OUR UR (CD by Rossbin)
HAUNTED WEATHER (2CD compilation by Staubgold)
PAUL PANHUYSEN – A MAGIC SQUARE OF 5 TO LOOK AT/A MAGIC SQAURE OF 5 TO LISTEN TO (CD by Plinkity Plonk)
FAUST & DÄLEK – DERBE RESPECT, ALDER (CD by Staubgold)
VIDNAOBMANA & DAVID LEE MYERS – TRACERS (CD by Klanggalerie)
NURSE WITH WOUND – SALT MARIE CELESTE (CD by United Dairies)
JGRZINICH – INTIMATIONS (CD by CMR)
GLENN BRANCA – LESSON NO.1 (CD by Acute Records)
MOTION – EVERY ACTION (CD by 12K)
TONY BUCK & AXEL DÖRNER – DURCH UND DURCH (CD by TES/Vitamin Records)
MITCHELL AKIYAMA – IF NIGHT IS A WEED AND A DAY GROWS LESS (CD by Sub Rosa)
HOLKHAM – KOMATTA SARU (CD by Expanding Records)
AMUTE – A HUNDRED DRY TREES (CD by Intr_Version)
DANIEL MENCHE – SKADHA (CD by Antifrost)
CM VON HAUSWOLFF – THREE OVERPOPULATED CITIES BUILT BY SHORTSIGHTED PLANNERS, AN UNBALANCED AND QUITE DANGEROUS AIRPORT AND AN ABANDONED CHURCH (CD by Sub Rosa)
THUMBTACK SMOOTHIE-HOMESTYLE (CD By Quaketrap)
YOKO SOLO-THE FORBIDDEN CHANNEL (CD By Quaketrap)
QUAKETRAP COLLECTIVE VOL. 1. (CD By Quaketrap)
ROBERT LEPAGE – LA MACHIEN A EXPLORERE LE TEMPO (CD by Ambiances Magnétiques)
ALFREDO COSTA MONTEIRO – RUMEUR (CD by Creative Resources)
PUDDLE TOWN (CDR by Taped Rugs Productions)
SCOTT TAYLOR – WINTER SUNDAY (MP3 by Conv)
DELUGE – DEPARTURE IN AFFECTION AND NEW NOISE (MP3 by Thinner)
MANY THINGS WORTH LIVING FOR (MP3 compilation by Audioplate)
ALVIN CURRAN & DOMENICA SCIANJO – OUR UR (CD by Rossbin)
It was only a few weeks ago that I wrote about Alvin Curran’s music, that I didn’t know it that well and that his ‘Lost Marbles’ was a most welcome introduction. And now, merely two weeks, I am reviewing his collaborative work with laptop musician Domenico Sciajno. Don’t believe a word that is written in the booklet – I very much think it’s all a lie (I forgot what it said about people from Sicily being liars, but this is all bullshit). Curran and Scianjo came together in the studios in Rome on January 17th, 2003, armed with laptops (both of them), sampler, acoustic piano (Curran) and Max/Msp (Scianjo). They improvised for some time, and the results are four tracks to be found on this release. The first and fourth piece come close to traditional improvised music, even when electronics play a dominant role – hectic and fragmented, closely to the older Musica Electronica Viva sound. It’s the two middle pieces that I found more interesting. ‘Outer Cities’ uses the acoustic piano and offers a dense atmosphere of electronica which works well in the combination with the ambient approach of the laptops. ‘Anatolia Centrale’ is more noise oriented, but here too the densely layered electronics work quite well. Coupled with the two more regular improvising tracks, this is a collaboration that worked quite well. (FdW)
Address: http://www.rossbin.com
HAUNTED WEATHER (2CD compilation by Staubgold)
Maybe you are a willing but untrained reader of the Vital Weekly pages? Wondering what all this music is about? Who these people are? Where do you step in? Get all the releases mentioned this week and see what it is all about? Maybe the double CD compiled by David Toop might be something to get yourself familiar with. The CD is the audio counterpart of his latest book ‘Haunted Weather’, which I haven’t read so far, but which is about music in the digital age. People working with laptops, downloading MP3s, burning CDRs, running small clubs – the new underground. No less than thirty three tracks are on this release, from Ryoji Ikeda to Derek Bailey, from Toshiya Tsunoda to Evan Parker, from Pan Sonic to John Butcher – David Toop’s power is to connect the most remote sources to a wonderful hybryd of contemporary music. The good thing is that all of these tracks are taken from previously released albums, so if you like a track you can always go back to the original album it comes from. Die-hard collectors of certain artists may feel ripped off, but that’s too bad for them. Time to get the book and read what these people are about. (FdW)
Address: http://www.staubgold.com
PAUL PANHUYSEN – A MAGIC SQUARE OF 5 TO LOOK AT/A MAGIC SQAURE OF 5 TO LISTEN TO (CD by Plinkity Plonk)
OK, for all the math freaks out there, this is a must have. This CD by one of the most famous Dutch sound artists with a resume as long as both my arms is one big mathematician’s wet dream. The theory of a magic square is simple enough, but not so simple that I would be able to reproduce it correctly here. What Panhuysen has done is to transpose the theory to image and sound (all the details about this can be found extensively in the booklet). Sounds boring? Well, it may sound that way, but the result is great! Especially the resulting 30 minute sound piece is a sheer beauty. Sine waves are played according to the rules of the magic square and some additional rules and the result is a piece that is hauntingly evocative, yet dry as a desert. This strange contradiction gives the work its strength and tension. The piece was originally conceived as a four channel sound installation but works very well in the CDd format. Together with the booklet and text it is a very hermetic work of art, extremely modernist, and therefore a welcome statement in times of relatively random digital number crunching. A very good work. (MR)
Adress: <http://www.beequeen.nl/plink.htm>www.beequeen.nl/plink.htm
FAUST & DÄLEK – DERBE RESPECT, ALDER (CD by Staubgold)
Maybe it’s hard to imagine, but here Faust teams up with Dälek, a hip hop trio from New Jersey. And if one thinks about it a little bit longer, it may seem no surprise. Both Faust and many of hip hop posses use non-melodical rhythm loops and both bands have sincere anti-establishment attitude. The result is neither Faust, neither hip hop (I can’t write ‘neither Dälek’, since I don’t know their music) – it’s much more vicious, loud, maybe even industrial sounding than much of the previous work. Big city noise music, an apocalyptic vision of a world to come – or maybe of a world already there, but we are afraid to see. Pitch black music. Normally I am not too pleased of rapmusic, but here, embedded in a wall of sound, I must say I quite like it. It’s music to which the word ‘pleasent’ is not relevant, but ‘essential’ is much more appropiate. Music from a big city in decay. (FdW)
Address: http://www.staubgold.com
VIDNAOBMANA & DAVID LEE MYERS – TRACERS (CD by Klanggalerie)
As the dark tones loom ‘Tracers’ is about pure spatial relationships of the how sounds effect the listener’s ear. Breaking new ground vidnaObmana teams up with David Lee Myers (who recent worked with Vidna Obmana collaborator Asmus Tietchens) to create a world of paranormal luminosity. The eight tracks here are separated into “sectors” finished with warm drones and varied organic impulses. The collaboration makes for one of the strongest works by either artist in the past few years, with such intense attention to finite and subtle details you might find yourself in what appears to be a live aural laboratory. This could also be a sacred lunar, inflight guide to dreamy galactic systems travel. The uninterrupted mix has a range of found sound sources emulating bubbling brooks and various croaking water-based organisms. Harmonies range from exploratory upbeat to mysterious low-fi, transitioning slowly and seamlessly. (TJN)
Address: http://www.klanggalerie.com/
NURSE WITH WOUND – SALT MARIE CELESTE (CD by United Dairies)
Another mysterious, profoundly atmospheric journey made by Steven Stapleton. This tale starts off darkly silent, and with the lapping drones of what could be either the natural curve of time, or a smokescreen, the listener is cautioned. ‘Salt Marie Celeste’ is one single long-playing track that rides through rough torrential waves in the murkiest seas imaginable. If I weren’t sitting down I might be infused by its sea-sick producing properties and subtle greenish aura. This could be a metaphor for burial at sea, after all the recording is dedicated to the passing of Daragh Greally. An inherent, albeit ceremonial haze is cast. Beside the bass drone mix a repetitive metallic spinning sample lurks in and out weaving a human cycling gesture in this barren scape. Disturbingly cast adrift, with a bittersweet ambience. (TJN)
Address: http://www.worldserpent.com/
JGRZINICH – INTIMATIONS (CD by CMR)
This is among the top most mind numbingly ethereal recordings I have ever heard in my life, ranking high up there with Nurse With Wound’s ‘Soliloquy for Lilith’. The ambient drone is something born out of hyperventilation and cascading emptiness. jgrzinich’s ‘Intimations’ are personal dark entries into the wondrous crossing between vapory industrial sound and delicate field recordings with experimental piano. His past work has included duo recordings with peer acousticians Seth Nehil and MNortham. The hushed ambience of these sounds is actually quite piercing, with just a paranormal presence, only a permeable sense of realism, providing a textural aura. Mute crackle, wispy crunch, still crumble. The track ‘Sun in Hand, Stone in Water’ has a menacing circular tone that curls like chronic vertigo. Oblique mist that snakes as the disc closes with an organic leak of water that sounds as if it is falling atop a glass piano, causing a fountain. (TJN)
Address: http://www.cmr.co.nz/
GLENN BRANCA – LESSON NO.1 (CD by Acute Records)
A very very long time ago I saw a TV programm in which a guy conducted a guitar orchestra, with in his hands a cola bottle. It was quite loud, as members of the real orchestra, who were also on the same TV show walked out. It was Glenn Branca performing his third Symphony. (Later on I went to see a band that two of the guitarists formed, which was more a rock version of Branca – that band was Sonic Youth – but that’s a different story). ‘Lesson No.1’ was Branca’s first record – how appropiate for a start. Unlike his later symphonies, Branca is close to rock music here, but at the same time it forecasts his later more minimalist approach. Branca took the whole minimalist school (Glass, Reich, Young etc) into the world of popmusic and started a whole movement of croos-over between rock and ‘serious’ music. ‘Lesson No.1 For Electric Guitar’ is a startling minimalist piece with hammering guitars and pounding drums and the original b-side. ‘Dissonance’, is more loosely and experimental, less focussing on the minimalist aspect. As a bonus there is ‘Bad Smells’ (with the same aforementioned guitarists of Sonic Youth) from 1982. In less than two years (‘Lesson No.1’ was from 1980), Branca started composing much more serious music, dividing a lenghty piece into various sections, with abrupt changes while in each segment the element of minimalism is much more apperent. The line-up contains at that point five guitars, bass and drums. About a year later he played Dutch television. To get an idea how that looked, there is a quicktime movie of his ‘Symphony 5’, recorded at The Kitchen in 1984 enclosed. Crank up the volume and you have an idea. Essential music from a time full of musical changes and this record surely did make a change. (FdW)
Address: http://www.acuterecords.com
MOTION – EVERY ACTION (CD by 12K)
This is the third album by Chris Coode, aka Motion (who is also Reckon, with slightly different music at his hand). Motion is the perfect example, I think, of a man armed with a laptop producing finely tuned ambient glitch music. In each of the twelve tracks (the thirteenth being a remix by The Deletist) he combines the smallest sound particles, grainy, time-stretched samples that form some sort of small drone (string is a better word) and the repeated action of small residues of all of this (some would call that a loop) into twelve nicely floating pieces of music. So far so good, one says? Yes, so far so good. If this would have been my first encounter with this kind of music, say coming from an interest in ambient music, I’d be delighted. But I know Motion’s previous two albums plus I heard similar stuff before, and this makes it hard for me to be very enthusiastic about this album. After all it’s well-known musical path Motion is walking along. It has no doubt that he is a master at what he does, but I think time has come to reflect on the genre and move forward (or backward, or sideways) and expand on the sound (or limit) and make some sort of progress. If ambient glitch music is a new alienated word, then I’m sure ‘Every Action’ can serve as a fine introduction, otherwise it may be a good idea to check it out first and see if it makes a profound change for you. (FdW)
Address: http://www.12k.com
TONY BUCK & AXEL DÖRNER – DURCH UND DURCH (CD by TES/Vitamin Records)
Packed in a very nice carton digipack comes this CD which I put immediately on my pile of improvised music. Both musicians are known for their improvising duets with lots of other people, aswell as their solo work. Tony Buck plays drums with The Necks and Axel Dörner plays trumpet and computer. As a duo they played live in Germany, Czech Republic and Switzerland, but one day in July 2003 they went into a studio in Berlin to record ‘Durch Und Durch’ (‘through and through’). But being on the pile of improvised music might only be right from the outside, looking at the parameters (label, musicians, one day in a studio). When I was playing this CD, one piece, forty minutes, I didn’t had the idea that I was playing a work of improvised music – certainly not the first thirty minutes. The way it starts out it seems to be a field recording of flies in a craftmanshop on a hot day. As the piece progress elements of sounds played on instruments pop in, but everything plays a slow pace, unfolding calmly. Towards the end things evolve more into improvised music areas, but throughout the entire work Buck and Dörner maintain a minimalist playing that most of the time doesn’t sound like drums and trumpet, but instead is a much more abstract sort of sound on those instruments. This is a CD that could appeal to people who are in general not very fond of improvised music. Maybe something to put on the pile of composed music? (FdW)
Address: <re_drum@hotmail.com>
MITCHELL AKIYAMA – IF NIGHT IS A WEED AND A DAY GROWS LESS (CD by Sub Rosa)
On his fourth solo release Mitchell Akiyama returns to his classical roots of playing the piano. The eight pieces on this CD were derived from four piano compositions, which (with the addition of trumpet and cello) were transformed in the computer, using all the usual plug ins, max/msp, or what have you got. The idea is nice indeed and one hears the computer struggle with the piano (or maybe vice versa), and there is certainly a hint of Akiyama’s Desormais duo with Joshua Treble and Fennesz looks around the corner to see if everything is still ok. I assume you get my drift? Piano sounds are still to be recognized around here, but they are slightly transformed – maybe in these cases not over the top – in all the usual fashion. Does this make a fine CD? I must admit it left me with mixed feelings. The idea is nice of course, but the outcome didn’t do much for me. The compositions as such didn’t work really well, were a bit on thin side (minimal, but not really interesting) and overall the pieces sounded like a raw version for the next Desormais CD, or maybe the first steps in the process of generating sounds for the next Desormais. (FdW)
Address: http://www.subrosa.net
HOLKHAM – KOMATTA SARU (CD by Expanding Records)
Simon Keep is Holkham. He has mainly worked as a sound designer on feature length/short films but also on an environmental sound project at the Royal London Hospital and research towards the issue of noise pollution and silence. His CD on Expanding Records sounds a bit different than I would have expect from the label. The tracks tend to be short and are less focussed on rhythms. Instead what Holkham does is trying to set about a small atmospheric ambience, before moving into the next atmospheric. Some of these are lighthearted, but overall there is a dark atmospheric tone over this album. If rhythms pop up, such as in ‘Juv3_1’, they are of an utter minimalism. In a way ‘Komatta Saru’ sounds like the digital follow up to Aphex Twin’s ‘Selected Ambient Works 2’ from so many years back. Similar mood, similar minimalism, but now taken to the digital context. Quite a nice one at that. (FdW)
Address: http://www.expandingrecords.com
AMUTE – A HUNDRED DRY TREES (CD by Intr_Version)
Another example of Intr_version recent cross-over from techno oriented music towards more rock oriented music. Behind aMute is one Jerome Deuson from Belgium and he plays guitar, feeding it through the computer, but always keeping in mind a rock-like approach. Unlike Mitchell Akiyama’s CD on Sub Rosa (see elsewhere; Akiyama is labelboss here), the eight pieces here sure sound attractive. More song like structures, even when the pieces are not really short. Deuson’s music comes as close to Fennesz but at the same time he finds his inspirations in the Montreal guitar scene, Mogwai or Tarantel. Only when he adds vocals to his music, even so sparesly as his does, I am not that much interested. They don’t sound particulary fitting the sound tapestries of the total and maybe his voice isn’t really good (from the few mumbled lines it was hard to get a clear picture). But that’s only detail critique: throughout this sounds like a more than excellent CD, fitting Intr_version’s recent change. (FdW)
Address: http://www.intr-version.com
DANIEL MENCHE – SKADHA (CD by Antifrost)
More and more new Daniel Menche releases coming our way. His come-back is a fact, I think. It seems, so I’m told, that this new work is Menche’s most ‘electronic work’ to date. Until now the physical element of generating sound (rubbing salt against the body, picking up with contact microphones for instance) was an important feature for him, but here indeed it sounds all much more electronic. I can’t define this as ‘analogue’ or ‘digital’, but I think it’s a mixture of both. Analogue generated sounds which are processed further in the computer. It certainly is not a standard Menche work, and I must admit I had some troubles with it. The length of the pieces for instance. Some of these tracks seemed quite long without too much development or too many dynamics. Noise peaks are generated but then stay inside in there and do not take the material elsewhere. The physical approach of Menche which makes his music so identical for him is not present here, and this can be too easily mistaken for a CD by some other artist. In the fifth track, the shortest here present, Menche shows an interesting built up in the piece, dynamics are present and the element of noise music is also a factor of importance. It would have been good if Menche followed that line more. (FdW)
Address: http://www.antifrost.gr
CM VON HAUSWOLFF – THREE OVERPOPULATED CITIES BUILT BY SHORTSIGHTED PLANNERS, AN UNBALANCED AND QUITE DANGEROUS AIRPORT AND AN ABANDONED CHURCH (CD by Sub Rosa)
The three cities mentioned in the long title are Tokyo, Bangkok and Mexico-city, the airport is that of Lagos, Nigeria and the abandoned church is to be found in Chicago. Big cities appeal to a lot of people, because that’s where the action is. But at the same time it’s also too crowdy and dangerous. That’s the topic Carl-Micheal von Hauswolff discusses on his second Sub Rosa CD. I don’t think that if the CD had no cover, one would grasp the same idea though. Hauswolff is a highly conceptual composer and visual artist. In so many of his musical works (either solo or with others, like John Duncan, The Hafler Trio or Phauss), he works with extreme frequencies. Very low end rumbling, the utter minimalism of a tick, high end peeps. All of these set in a minimalist vein. One could argue that nothing happens, and if one has heard two minutes of one piece, the entire piece is known. Might be so, but there is a strange hypnotic thing happening in this music that justifies such lenghty approaches. At that least, that’s how it works for me. It’s certainly not easy-listening hypnotic music going on here, the material is way too extreme for that. Hauswolff’s music is very presently there all the time and by it’s titles aswell as his music, offers way more questions than answers. That sets the difference between Hauswolff and a lot of wannabees. Strangely captivating material. (FdW)
Address: http://www.subrosa.net
THUMBTACK SMOOTHIE-HOMESTYLE (CD By Quaketrap)
YOKO SOLO-THE FORBIDDEN CHANNEL (CD By Quaketrap)
QUAKETRAP COLLECTIVE VOL. 1. (CD By Quaketrap)
Quaketrap Recordings sent me these two highly experimental albums along with a compilation album to listen and immerse myself in their artist’s auditory madness. The album Homestyle is the more bizarre of the two. What I found on this release may be music for individuals with a taste for oddly processed experimental electronic music that, according to the CD sleeve, was manipulated with infrared D-beam controllers. It’s a 54-minute journey to a world you have never been to. A world that was uniquely created and belonging solely to the mind of the producer. Thumbtack Smoothie has given this world a tangible form in the likeness of a CD for people who desire to explore this realm but do not realize it yet. This is Thumbtack Smoothie’s third release and it continues his science of melding drum & bass with eccentric sample material and fleeting appearances of I.D.M. as well as plenty of reverb, filtering, modulation and ring modulation. Notable tracks are: ‘Never At Dusk’, ‘June Louder’, ‘Moondoggy’, ‘Sore Eye Sore’, ‘Scrunchie’, ‘Misplacement Incident’ and ‘Lil’ Dropper’.
Yoko Solo’s release: The Forbidden Channel, grooves things up a bit and moderates the mad experimentation. This album will have your head nodding in agreement and in time with the myriad infectious beat configurations. What I liked about this album from the get go is Yoko’s interesting and humorous spoken dialog samples. In a way, they reminded me a bit of the plunder-phonic mischief People Like Us is well known for. I was very impressed to find out that this album was Yoko Solo’s first release and in my opinion, Yoko has a winning formula with this brand of beat alchemy. It is difficult to pick any certain track, as they are all brilliant in my book, but if I had to, I would pick track four ‘Purple Bruise’. I highly recommend The Forbidden Channel.
The Quaketrap Collective Vol. 1 is a roster of the label’s talent and from the sound of things coming off this compilation, it is evident that Quaketrap likes not only experimental electronic music but rap music as well since a big part of this CD is just that – which is not really my cup of tea. In my opinion, rap is just tired and this compilation would have been better served without it. Aside from this minor infraction though, I like what the Quaketrap label and its talent is doing with its electronic agenda. There are a few great tracks on this compilation of the non-rap variety but I would recommend the above two releases instead of this. (Craig N.)
Address: http://www.quaketrap.com
ROBERT LEPAGE – LA MACHIEN A EXPLORERE LE TEMPO (CD by Ambiances Magnétiques)
‘La Machine à Explorer le Tempo’ is an epic and narrative work. Cinema turned into music. Not so strange since Lepage wrote soundtracks for over hundred films and documentaries. The work is performed by the La Nef Ensemble. A suite in three parts, each part subdivived in 6 minor parts. This ensemble is specialised in playing early and traditional music, as well as new music. Founded in 1991 developped into a very dynamic and eclectic ensemble. Here they play a new work on new and traditional instruments: Stéphane Allard (violin, baritone violin), Ganesh Anadan (percussion), Nicolas Boucher (sampling and live sound treatment), Nicholas Caloia (double bass), Yanik Cloutier (guitar, banjo), Claire Gignac (flutes, ritual flutes, tenor saxophone), Patrick Graham (percussion), Betsy MacMillan (viola da gamba), Alain Trudel (trombone, sackbut) and Samuel Vero (trumpet, piccolo trumpet). Together they give away a very joyfull and fresh rendition of ‘La Machine’, recorded during concert on march 8th, 2003.
All three parts are introduced by Lepage and evoke different aspects of time: the time that passes, the time that hurries by and distorted time. Lepage is inspired by the novel of H.G.Wells ‘Time Machine’. The three parts differ in many respects. We hear different types of music and musical styles. Nice melodies and themes where you immediately ask yourself where did I hear that before, but that are impossible to identify. As a consequence the music often sounds ‘familiar’ and ‘safe’. The instrumentation ranges from traditional instruments like viola da gamba to live sampling. Beautiful banjo playing by Yanik Cloutier and extravagant trombone playing by Alain Trudel, etc. Considering this great diversity we should compliment Louis Babin for the arrangements, because the work changes colours very naturally. A nice work by workaholic Robert Lepage (DM).
Address: http://www.actuellecd.com
ALFREDO COSTA MONTEIRO – RUMEUR (CD by Creative Resources)
A solo accordion cd. Not the Guy Klucevsek kind of thing. Monteiro choses for a totally different and far more radical approach of the instrument. In some pieces it is – for me – almost impossible to recognize the accordion. I suppose some treatment was done, although the information doesn’t tell. In the case of track 4 I’m almost sure some string instrument is involved, but again nothing of the like is indicated. ‘Rumeur’ is subtitled ‘for solo accordion’, so I will stick to that.
One way or the other, Monteiro delivers one of the most radical accordion records I have ever heard. Players like Guy Klucevsek and Lars Hollmer always play in the context of folk music. And compared to the drones of Pauline Oliveros, Monteiro is much more obsessed with concrete sounds that can generated from this instrument.
Monteiro studied sculpture and multimedia at the Fine Art School of Paris with Christian Boltanski. Since 1995 he is involved in improvised music, and listening to this cd it is evident that investigating sound is his thing.
In the past he played with musicians like Peter Kowald, Manuel Mota, Burkhard Beins, Phil Durrant, Jakob Draminsky, Annette Krebs, Nikos Veliotis and many others. Monteiro was also member of Superelvis a band from Barcelona. Today he participates in Cremaster with Ferran Fages and I Treni Inerti. ‘Rumeu’ ‘is not the first solo work of Monteiro. It is preceded by ‘Rubber Music’ (Hazard Records. 1999), ‘Les silences de la BnF’ (Labofar. 1999) and ‘Paper Music’ (Hazard Records, 2001). I’ve heard none of them. So I can’t make any comparison. But ‘Rumeur’ is the product of a very capable musician. Nice sculpting with rich sounds. Delicate and elegant if you can say so (DM)
Address: http://www.geocities.com/
PUDDLE TOWN (CDR by Taped Rugs Productions)
Here he is again: Charles Goff III, now with a band called Puddle Town, together with Eric Matchett and Johnatan Sielaff. I think they play guitar, saxophone and bass, but I don’t know who is playing what. The music was recorded a year ago in Portland, Oregon and there are six tracks, two are edited improvisations by Goff and Matchett and the other four are unedited improvisations by the three of them. In each of the improivsations they play around with minimalist guitar chords and a saxophone blowing mildly aswell as vaguely atmospheric notes. Overall they try to bring in tension in their playing but, and this probably due to the nature of improvised music, they don’t always succeed well. Some of the pieces, like ‘Lariat’, enroll in some uninspired playing. A pair of scissors to edit these recordings would not have been a band idea. The two edited pieces, one at the start and one at the end, show that this music would surely benefit from that. They belong to the better ones on this release. (FdW)
Address: http://www.geocities.com/padukem
SCOTT TAYLOR – WINTER SUNDAY (MP3 by Conv)
Music by Scott Taylor was reviewed before, in Vital Weekly 387 and 412. This new work, downloadable from the new Conv net label, continues where ‘Leaving Eden’ left us. Taking field recordings from Barcelona, Paris and London, he crafts five relatively short pieces together, which are all very coherent ambient music. Tracks cross fade in each other and have a majestic feel. The centre piece is ‘Vespers’, which has processed choir voices. For the first time I could resist thinking that Scott Taylor’s music comes closely to that of Hazard. Glacier like soundscapes, derived from field recordings – music from big cities made quiet. Like the two previous releases this is a very short release, way too short I haste to say. For the first time I was thinking: I’m done with the introduction, now present us a full length release. It’s about time. (FdW)
Address: http://www.con-v.org
DELUGE – DEPARTURE IN AFFECTION AND NEW NOISE (MP3 by Thinner)
MANY THINGS WORTH LIVING FOR (MP3 compilation by Audioplate)
The music by Jean-Sebastian Roux has attracted many hand-claps in the world of netaudio. As Tion he already produced a nice release (see Vital Weekly 398) and now he comes back, again on Thinner as Deluge. I have no idea why he changed names, as again Roux is in the territory of minimal techno-dub music. Lovers of Chain Reaction or maybe a more dubby approach to the Luomo material will surely like this aswell. The tracks here are inspired by the poetry of Arthur Rimbaud – a relation that I don’t dig very much, but I’m sure it’s there somewhere. The ten tracks offered here are lighthearted, sunny and relaxing. Great chill-out.
On Thinner’s sublabel Audioplate we find a very nice compilation of more experimental music, which includes some known Audioplate conspirators, such as Gultskra Artikler, Off The Sky, Tion and Marsen Jules, but also known outsiders such as Mitchell Akiyama, Osso Bucco, Novisad and Flim. The music is less oriented around rhythms and more about experiments and ambients, such as the almost classical approach of Infra Red Army. This compilation is a very fine introduction in the world of experimental, glitchy music that is somehow warm and intimate. Great work and all free for download. (FdW)
Address: http:/www.thinnerism.com