THE ETERNALS – RAWAR STYLE (CD by Aesthetics)
LOSCIL – FIRST NARROWS (CD by Kranky)
THE MODERNIST- KANGMEI (CD by Wonder)
JÜRGEN HOGBAUER – FIVE LATE SONGS/LIEBESFEUERTRACKS (miniCD by Niesom)
GHISLAIN POIRIER – CONFLITS (CD by Intr_Version)
VLADISLAV DELAY – DEMO(N)TRACKS (CD by Huume Recordings)
SWITCHES (CD by Audiobulb Records)
AB OVO – LE TEMPS SUSPENDU (CD by Ant-Zen)
ROSY PARLANE – IRIS (CD by Touch)
OVERLAND (CD compilation by Naturestrip)
TARAB – SURFACEDRIFT (CD by Naturestrip)
CHILDREN OF MU (2CD compilation by Planet Mu)
BLOD – MY BELOVED DAUGHTERS (CD by Segerhuva)
STEVE RODEN – IN FLOWS AND SPUNS (LP by En/Of)
TEXT OF LIGHT (LP by En/Of)
BCSM – TWO DIRECTIONS (split 12″ by Seldomtype Recordings)
NICEDISC – UNTITLED (DVD by Rayr)
LUNT – BROKEN WORDS AND LOST ANSWERS (CDR by Hitomi Recordings)
BAKA! – EPHEMERE (CDR by Hitomi Recordings)
YASUSHI MIURA – RYUSEI (CDR by Simple Logic Records)
YASUSHI MIURA – SOCIETY (3″CDR by Instant Construction Series)
YASUSHI MIURA – CAT MOON (3″CDR by Instant Construction Series)
ODRZ – 06-06 (CDR by Tibprod)
ODRZ – 06-03 (CDR by Tibprod)
MIDWICH – MY CLEARING HEAD (CDR by Home-made Audio Recordings)
CHEAPMACHINES – [LAMINA] (CDR by Home-made Audio Recordings)
OPAQUE – WE TOOK HIS LEG OUT INTO THE DESERT FOR A WAKE (CDR by Home-made Audio Recordings)
NEIL CAMPBELL & SARA-JANE GLENDINNING AND JIM PAISTOW – AT THE POWERHOUSE, NOTTINGHAM ON 12 MAY 1995 (CDR by Home-made Audio Recordings)
KARINA ESP – RADIUS OF SOUND (CDR by Home-made Audio Recordings)
VIOLENCE BEYOND THE SNOWLINE – ALL THE BEAUTY AND STRANGENESS OF A FROST-BITTEN FIELD AT MIDNIGHT (CDR by Home-made Audio Recordings)
.MON – MOSAIC (CDR, self-released)
INCITE (CDR, self-released)
GARSO ZONA 2004 (MP3 by Surfaces)
THE ETERNALS – RAWAR STYLE (CD by Aesthetics)
Take Medeski, Martin & Wood, mix a spoonful of 70s Sly Stone and whoop it up Y2K style and there it is. Damon Locks vocal has the bass dialect of John Foxx with a slight ragga edge. Other members of this Chicago-based trio include Wayne Montana and Tim Mulvenna, and among them they have played with Trenchmouth, the genius Vandermark 5, Peter Brotzman and a host of other jazz and rock n rollers. The keys are key here, slapstick funky rhythms with fly attitude, and just all full speed ahead, no hurdles, just out spirit. ‘Rawar Style’ is the group’s second full-length recording full of ska life (‘Space Dancehall’) where they reflect the era of both the Specials and B-52’s respectively. The kookie samplers and effects are cheesey-catchy and pumped full of gushing playfulness. The Eternals sound is sunny side up. ‘Rawar Style’ has a certain timeless something, like being home again, but you’ve heard it long ago – though you couldn’t have, with its hip-hop flippancy minus the bling of golden fillings and tangled spandex thongs. One odd turn is the curiously off-putting Fiddler on the Roof phrasing that takes place on the otherwise tropical ‘Bewareness.’ Listeners will be totally into the typewriter-on-speed beat that kicks off ‘This Here is Megaside.’ But things change and derange in a jazzy pout of unconsciousness, a sort of underdressed male version of Chicks on Speed. The chant stops and poses like Peaches, but is half as creamy and nowhere as full frontal – but its illogical rants are pretty infections and not at all corny like the former can be perceived. The Beastie Boys slack is pulled up from behind on the wavering organ of the ‘Emperor’s New Break’ – keeping the spirit of “On the Street” alive, miles and miles after the original embossed itself permanently in our pavement. Hit it boys! (TJN)
Address: http://www.aesthetics-usa.com/
LOSCIL – FIRST NARROWS (CD by Kranky)
‘First Narrows ‘ is named after the entrance gap of the Lions Gate Bridge which is the passage into Vancouver from the Pacific Ocean. Loscil (Scott Morgan) adapts this passage in a way that echoes a cautionary wind, with minimal dub and textures the define and defy ambience. On “Sickbay” his sound is much like an update of S.E.T.I.’s output on Instinct and one cannot mistake ‘Lucy Dub’ for some of Pole’s early work. Loscil plots his compositions slowly before he takes another step, using layers of sequencers and minor, crisp percussion. This time out Loscil is a quartet and accompanying Morgan on ‘First Narrows’ are the ethereal players: Tim Loewen on guitar, Nyla Rany on cello and Jason Zumpano on the keys. Though the addition of acoustic instruments have been folded into the mix, this is strictly an electronic record and all semblances of their instruments have been processed and refined, so you will not really find any breakout solos herein. What happens in the process however, is a distinct warm flow of melancholic meditation. On both the title track and ‘Ema’ the ebb and bow of Loewen’s lucid guitar has a Polynesian hue, imbued with a gauzy mysticism. The shortest track here, ‘Mode,’ is the only portion that misses the mark through its base repetition and antsy clicks over a wash of department store ambidextrous hum and glow. We are invited into a solemn funerary procession that swells and matures into a headtrip with an egg timer on the final track, ‘Cloister’. I imagine cells mutating, and the process of osmosis slowly eroding around our earth. ‘First Narrows’ is a stylish electronica record in the highest regard. (TJN)
Address: http://www.kranky.net/
THE MODERNIST- KANGMEI (CD by Wonder)
Jörg Burger has been hiding out on us. Returning with ‘Kangmei’ he could possibly be crowned king, at least for a day. This is electro pop by one of Germany’s brightest stars to come out of the same scene that spawned Mike Ink, Thomas Brinkmann and Wolfgang Voight. On this third release The Modernist covers territories explored in rhythmic techniques by elders Tangerine Dream and even Giorgio Moroder. The textures are lively, the beats are muted and subdued on tracks like ‘Prozac Europe’ (With the inclusion of vocals by Aquamarine) and ‘When We Were Golden’ (the first single), the thoughts of remixing are endless. This is more of an apprehensive dance record, than previous work on ‘Explosion’, and now as Burger sits at the helm of The Popular Organization he can conduct himself in a way that sees best fit. Using the guitar riffs of New Order, ‘When We Were Golden’ does not rely on the adage of bass to get its funky appeal across, though changes build on the title track, ‘Kangmei Pt. 1 & 2’, where the build up to what could be a big showstopping, dance floor thumping bass romp never takes off, just teases. This is part of the appeal of the disc and what keeps it from preaching to the converted. ‘Kangmei’ has a push/pull quality, one feels physically motivated to act and once you are in the groove, shift happens to encourage a closer listen. ‘Mickey Finn’ starts with two layered tracks, one a warning, thumping alarm, one a warbly marshmallow beat, until the smoky vocal starts referencing, perhaps in a tongue-in-cheek way, “the song remains the same”. This track is blissful even if the singer has ‘gone insane’. The light intro on ‘Magic Lantern’ creates a mystical ambient passage that breaks the upbeat pace and then builds back on the beat in a tempo that is just pure liquid. (TJN)
Address: http://www.popular.org/
JÜRGEN HOGBAUER – FIVE LATE SONGS/LIEBESFEUERTRACKS (miniCD by Niesom)
Now here’s someone from Austria who is not connected to the Mego scene. Jürgen Hofbauer started out with Wolfgang Wiesbauer and Florian Emerstorfer in 1997 as ‘Aber Das Leben Lebt’, but he now presents his first solo album – a short one, just under twenty-four minutes. The album has two parts. First there is ‘Five Late Songs’ and then a short silent piece, followed by ‘Liebesfuertracks’. In ‘Five Late Songs’ he sort of gives his own interpretation of songwriting – singing a long with strange electronica, time-stretched computer sounds. A bit like Craig Burke but in a new, much more digital setting. In ‘Liebesfeuetracks’ he takes his song into a much more experimental area, but they are less worked out and the sound quality (overall) is not very detailled – a bit blurred. In all, the ideas are quite nice, but it’s too chaotic and not done with too great care. A typical underground production. (FdW)
Address: http://www.niesom.at
GHISLAIN POIRIER – CONFLITS (CD by Intr_Version)
Yo yo, shake it like a polaroid picture… Here’s our ambient-dub hero Ghislain Poirier making some rap/hip-hop, or to be more precise a crossover between hip-hop, dub, broken beats and atmospheres. There’s even mc-singing in 3 tracks, in french! I like it, even though I don’t understand a word, it still sounds amusing. I didn’t expect this from Ghislain Poirier (still haven’t heard his Chocolate Industries album), but it’s good to be surprised when the results are good. But let’s don’t be so extreme about the rapping, ’cause most of the music here is still instrumental break-beat, quite abstract sometimes, even though the beats are much more upfront than on the previous releases from Ghislain on 12k and Intr_Version (Sous le Manguier, that’s great album!). It’s nice Ghislain is going in another direction with this album, and it sounds really good, but I still want more of the classy background ambient-dub sound. Please Ghislain, don’t forget to make more music like that. But sure I’ll listen to this a lot too, when it’s this good! (BR)
Address: http://www.intr-version.com
VLADISLAV DELAY – DEMO(N)TRACKS (CD by Huume Recordings)
Let’s see… This is Vlad.Delay’s new album, the first new studio material since Anima (2001, Mille Plateaux) as far as I know (Luomo had new album last year, and Naima_Staubgold is live), and it’s the first release on his own Huume Recordings. Vladislav Delay’s music is always about improvisations and you can figure that out from the previous releases (even Luomo is improvised in some way and to a certain point, specially live), but on this album that’s even more pointed out. Of all things this music is, like abstract and experimental, I think the most important thing is that it’s improvised. Of course it’s not improvisation like what’s released by Erstwhile, Grob or Improvised Music From Japan (or maybe it could be?), but still improvisation is one of the main parts here. Vladislav Delay played drums in a jazz band before started making his own music, and I guess that’s where the improvisation comes from. There are 13 mixed tracks on this album, 13 sketches (it says 2 of them are variations/alternatives of 2 other main themes!) and all of them are part of the whole soundscape. Unlike Anima which is based on exploring one theme, here many themes shift, the sound is more fragmented and diverse. Yet it is very coherent too. Broken blocks of sound in a puzzle which can’t be solved by now. As much as Fennesz’s Venice (improvisation is important part there too) is very successful follow up to Endless Summer, Demo(n)tracks is an upgrade to all previous releases by Vladislav Delay, or just another great record. (BR)
Address: http://www.huumerecordings.com
SWITCHES (CD by Audiobulb Records)
It’s not an uncommon thing for a new label to start with, and here Audiobulb is no different. While researching information on the net on sound design and the like, label owner David Newman met a whole bunch of musicians and then had the idea to do this compilation with all these young people and present them a bigger audience. He did basically a good research, since I never heard of any of the people on this compilation (but in my defence I must say that I don’t browse the net for music so much). This compilation sums up everything Audiobulb stands for, which is what they describe as ‘glitch and groove, IDM, environmental ambience, microsounds and idiosyncratic dance beats’. Although the CD starts out with the latter and some IDM, the majority of artists here operate in an ambient music setting, where rhythms do play their part, but where the bigger thing is set to create a more relaxing environment. Some of these tracks, like the one from Marion could have been on ‘From Here To Tranquility’, Silent Records’ series of ambient music compilations of a decade ago. In that respect I don’t think this compilation brings any new and innovative artists, but rather offers fourteen nice tracks of chill out music. Perfect for mornings, reading news papers and all that. Nice indeed, not shocking, ok and no big surprises. (FdW)
Address: http://www.audiobulb.com
AB OVO – LE TEMPS SUSPENDU (CD by Ant-Zen)
Fourth album by French duo Ab Ovo is probably some of the closest German Power Noise-label no. 1 will come to New Age-music. Back in 1991 Jérôme Chassagnard and Régis Baillet introduced their collaboration-project “Ab Ovo”. What makes this album different, is that is does not scream for attention. Rather it is an album that works well as background listening without losing the intensity. In fact the label claims that “Le temps suspendu” is best enjoyed at the borderline between sleep and awake. That might be true! The eclectic atmosphere on the album definitely calls for the late night hours. Slowly evolving waves of sound and subtle rhythmic textures creates a nocturnal sound expression. Only small doses of samples occur in the sound sphere and those who appears seems distant and abstract helping to create the dream-like atmosphere. Listening to the tranquillizing sounds of “Le temps suspendu” makes me think of chill out-milestones such as Brian Eno’s “Apollo” (1983) and Global Communication’s “76:14 (1996). The album contains a bonus disc with transformations of Ab Ovo-tracks into to other soundworlds that despite their quite different sound expression manage to stay true to the original versions. Highly recommended! (NMP)
Address: http://www.ant-zen.com
ROSY PARLANE – IRIS (CD by Touch)
Maybe you know the name Rosy Parlane from his previous solo releases on Sigma, or his work with the rockgroup Thela (with Dion Workman and Dean Roberts) or with the soundscape based Parmetier (also with Dion Workman). Now he releases his third full length CD on Touch and it takes the sound from the previous solo work, aswell as his work with Parmetier more and more into the digital domain. Ambient inspired soundscapes is what Parlane interests most. In three lengthy tracks he depicts what can be seen on the cover: icy trees and an icy city. Glacier-like music, mainly in the higher spectrum of the sound. Despite some outbursts in sound, the overall sound can be described as ambient. It seems to me that Parlane is processing field recordings, through a whole bunch of computer plug ins. Certainly not a bad release by the standards of microsound and lowercase, but at the same time it’s also not a release that really stands out of the flood of microsound and lowercase releases. The paths chosen by Parlane sound ‘regular’ and ‘common’ and just do not stand out of the ordinary. But as said, in its genre it’s not a bad CD at all. (FdW)
Address: http://www.touchmusic.org.uk
OVERLAND (CD compilation by Naturestrip)
TARAB – SURFACEDRIFT (CD by Naturestrip)
Until recentely Joel Stern lived in London where he was actively involved in the local improv scene. Upon returning to his native Australia, he and partner Hamish Sinclair founded a new label, Naturestrip with whom they just released two CD’s. One is by Tarab and one is a compilation. Maybe, like so many other new labels, the compilation is a statement of intent. It includes four artists, of which Toshiya Tsunoda rings most bells, although I must say he doesn’t produce a very strong piece here. His ‘Reclaimed Land’ is just a field recording and it seems as if nothing else was done to it, no special microphone treatment. But maybe I’m missing the point. On the other Joel Stern’s piece ‘Saltwort’ is a very nice piece of two bottles of soda water, damaged cables and speakers. Using feedback aswell as field recordings he crafts a very nice piece of soundscaping and musique concrete. Tarab is one Eamon Sprod, who has been producing music for some six years now, and he is from Melbourne. His piece is a mixture of field recordings and found objects, which sounds alright, but maybe lacks the good idea to remain a good piece throughout. Finally Lawrence English starts out with plain field recordings, but as his ‘Overland’ progresses electronics are used to process the sounds and the piece evolves from densely layered to a point when it seems to vanish. A fine piece. Ergo: two really good pieces and two lesser ones, though both are not bad at all. Not a bad score.
The other releases that kicks of Naturestrip is by Tarab. His CD is along similar lines as his piece on ‘Overland’, but I thought these pieces were better worked out. The four pieces each have a theme (entitled ‘Surface’, ‘Iron’, ‘Leaf’ and ‘Bottle’) and within each piece Tarab explores the various possibilities given by the material. ‘Iron’ takes the sound of rain falling down on iron objects, but at the same time it seems like there is also people walking over the same pieces of metal. Electronic processing doesn’t seem play a very role in his music, but I might be very wrong. All four tracks are lenghty excursions into the world of soundscaping, and are a true pleasure to hear, with for me the mysterious soundworld of ‘Leaf’ as the highpoint of this CD. To get to know the work of Tarab, one better start here than with the piece on ‘Overland’. (FdW)
Address: http://www.naturestrip.com
CHILDREN OF MU (2CD compilation by Planet Mu)
Did I ever tell you how great compilations are? I sure did. They offer an overview of a label, a movement, an introduction with young artists, exclusive tracks of your favourite artists and the like. And did I ever tell you they are a nightmare to review? Which tracks to highlight? Who do we not mention? Not an easy task, certainly not when it’s a double pack and certainly not when the label is called Planet Mu. They were down in my book as a label for all sorts of dance musics, but the inclusion of such people as Jap noise makers Guilty Connector or improviser Steve Beresford proved me wrong. Of course the majority of the works here are techno or drum & bass influenced, ranging from Luke Vibert and Jega to Lexaunculpt and then to Frog Pocket – the whole spectrum is indeed included. All of these are very nice and pleasent tracks, but it’s the mixture of these pieces with tracks of other musics that make this an even nicer compilation. The wacky popmusic of Patrick Wolf, the singersongwriter qualities of Leafcutter John and the not even so strange noise by Guilty Connector which make this is into a very nice compilation CD. (FdW)
Address: http://www.planet-mu.com
BLOD – MY BELOVED DAUGHTERS (CD by Segerhuva)
Alright, so I never heard of Blod, and I just know they are from Sweden. They play ‘hardened sexnoise extremist’. The word noise is right, but I don’t know about the other qualifications. They play eightteen tracks of noise noise and noise. Full speed ahead, with vocals mixed in somewhere in the back. A cross-over between Merzbow and Masonna, plus maybe a host of other Japanese noise acts. Maybe there are people out there who miss Masonna or who think there isn’t enough Merzbow; I assume they can get Blod without any trouble. It’s your disc. If you think there is enough Merzbow, or that his talents are enough to fill your entire collection of noise – and I am one of them, then there is no need to get this. (FdW)
Address: http://www.segerhuva.se
STEVE RODEN – IN FLOWS AND SPUNS (LP by En/Of)
TEXT OF LIGHT (LP by En/Of)
Two new releases on the slowly expanding En/Of label. It seems as though more and more ‘famous’ boys and girls are lined up to join the label – both musician and artistwise. In case you forgot: En/Of presents records in an edition of 100 copies and comes in gatefold sleeve, with the record on one side and an original, signed and numbered artwork on the other. With Steve Roden’s record you get a photograph by Doug Aitken. Aitken and Roden met before, as Roden did music to an installation of Aitken in 1999. This record reworks that music again: sources being a super 8mm camera and Indian film singer Mohammed Rafi. If you kept up with the recent work of Roden, than this record will be greeted wholeheartedly. It expands on the sound palette and techniques of sound processings like on his recent CDs. Stretched patterns, shifting sounds which are multi-layered and move in and out of the mix, and to which the dust covered sound of Rafi can just be heard – and most of the time not at all. Great stuff.
The record by Text Of Light is served a photograph with white paint by Tacita Dean. Text Of Light you may ask? That’s a new improvisation group with Lee Ranaldo, Alan Licht, Ulrich Krieger, DJ Olive and William Hooker. Their record was recorded at two concerts, one in 2002 and one in 2003. The 2002 show starts intense with solo guitar and some sort of arab singing, but slowly unfolds into a noisy, feedback guitar and feedback saxophone thing, but due to the recording not being tip top, it’s a rather lo-fi affair. Side two is even more unfocussed in a rather directionless freeform composition. Maybe just for the die hard fans of the artists involved. (FdW)
Address: http://www.bottrop-boy.com
BCSM – TWO DIRECTIONS (split 12″ by Seldomtype Recordings)
For their second release, Seldomtype Recordings moves towards two musicians who release much of their music on the internet. Bad Comfort is one Konrad Behr from Dresden, who released before on Retinascan. His two dubby tracks are warm and slow – like hot weather. Sweaty stuff of which ‘August 2002’ is the better one.
On the b-side is Sascha Müller, who sometimes works under the alias of Pharmacon. His three tracks are not really danceable, although it plays around with the notion of techno music in a dubby context. All three pieces are kinda slow in tempo and minimal in execution. It’s one of those things that I think is neither good nor bad – just regular ok stuff. (FdW)
Address: http://www.seldomtype.net
NICEDISC – UNTITLED (DVD by Rayr)
Film in combination with music: maybe it’s not my thing. Probably my fault. I have seen some interaction of both disciplines and very seldom they work out in the right way. I think I fail to see the relation. But here, on a DVD by Nicedisc, things work out rather well. Nicedisc is a laptop duo of Jeff Pash and Nick Phillips, who are both responsible for the video and the music. The three films here are all highly abstract: they use, in various way, flickers. Full screens of one colour, which are going fast or slow, thus invoking flickers. In ‘Fade’ these flickers are going in a rather steady (ie not slow or fast) way and the music is rather dark atmospheric. Not unlike the music of Lustmord. In the end this is the least interesting soundtrack. ‘Flicker + Fade’ is a reinterpretation of Tony Conrad’s film ‘The Flicker’ and here the patterns change slowly and together with the sinewave music, it works really well. Quite gentle hallucinating (drugs and alcohol don’t sound like a good idea here). ‘Flicker’ on the other hand is a fast moving film of colour patterns, which go so fast that lines also appear. But maybe it’s an illusion? The soundtrack here is of a glitch origin – like a slowed out Oval. I think the abstract images work really well with the music and the non-narrative aspect is something that appeals to me very much. Great disc – there is always the good exception to the statement in the first line I wrote. (FdW)
Address: http://rayr.net
LUNT – BROKEN WORDS AND LOST ANSWERS (CDR by Hitomi Recordings)
BAKA! – EPHEMERE (CDR by Hitomi Recordings)
Hitomi Recordings is the new sidelabel of Unique Records and they kick off with two releases of people I never heard of before. Behind Lunt we find one Gilles Deles, who is sometimes the producer for the, for me unknown, Melatonine and Angel. On his solo release he plays the guitar, using ‘loopers and infinite delays, no post overdubs’ as it reads on the cover. He improves quite freely on the guitar, making all sorts of sounding, which are captured in a string of sound effects. The music is best desribed a vaguely atmospheric, playing the overtone card in most of these tracks, set about to create a somewhat dark mood. Nice music for sure.
Likewise I never heard of Baka! before. It seems to be a duo, consisting of Franck Lafay (electric and acoustic guitars, sampler, delay) and JL Prades (electric guitar, sampler, delay, mix and live sampling). This release, one track of 40 minutes, was constructed out of many of improvisations from 2002 and 2003. Like Lunt they aim for the dark atmospheric side of music, but their sound is much more densely layed, based around multiple layers of guitar sounds and many other, more obscure sound sources. Throughout these forty minutes it shifts back and forth from pastoral ambient guitar rumblings to ambient industrial tapestries. At various moments maybe to vaguely esoteric, but overall quite enjoyable, though not shockingly new. (FdW)
Address: http://www.hitomirecordings.com
YASUSHI MIURA – RYUSEI (CDR by Simple Logic Records)
YASUSHI MIURA – SOCIETY (3″CDR by Instant Construction Series)
YASUSHI MIURA – CAT MOON (3″CDR by Instant Construction Series)
Three releases by one Yasushi Miura. The website link provided doesn’t work, so I don’t know much about him. His Simple Logic release has twelve tracks of minimalist techno music, but not stripped to it’s bare bone. Miura adds a dose of dubby sound effects over these tracks, which for instance in ‘Yamanotesen’ makes it into a very spacey hyper nervous journey. Things work best when he is keeping things at a rather slower speed. His use of effects work then much better. Unfortunally these tracks are not in a majority here…
On the two mini CDRs that Yasushi released himself the sound is again hyper nervous with loads of things happening everywhere, all set against a pounding beat. I made the mistake of playing all three releases in a row, which had the same effect on me as drinking five espresso’s in thirty minutes. Just a bit too much. (FdW)
Address: http://www.simlog.republika.pl
Address: http://www.karidome.hp.infoseek.co.jp
ODRZ – 06-06 (CDR by Tibprod)
ODRZ – 06-03 (CDR by Tibprod)
Music from ODRZ was reviewed before and back then we learned that one Massimo Mascheroni is the guy behind ODRZ. I don’t know that much about him.
’06-06′ has one piece of vaguely rhythmic electronics, that is buit in various layers. Sometimes the synthesizer part is stronger and sometimes the rhythm machines take over. The sound is a bit outdated, I must say. I am strongely reminded of the old Clock Dva and Hafler Trio sound, era ‘Masturbatorium’ and ‘Fuck’. Ongoing, semi-industrial rhythms, with thick interwoven layers of synthesizers in the back. But outdated as it may seems, it’s still quite a nice release.
Of exactely the same length (60 minutes) is the release ’06-03′. Here too rhythms are explored, but of a more harsher industrial kind: stuff falling on the floor are sampled and looped and then added with synthesized sounds presented in a likewise dark collage. Here the same problem pops up as with ’06-06′, but I must say I enjoyed the first one better. It seemed a bit more focussed and worked out. But maybe the whole industrial machine music is even more dated, and that’s why I am not interested in it anymore: who knows? (FdW)
Address: http://www.tibprod.com/odrz/index.htm
MIDWICH – MY CLEARING HEAD (CDR by Home-made Audio Recordings)
CHEAPMACHINES – [LAMINA] (CDR by Home-made Audio Recordings)
OPAQUE – WE TOOK HIS LEG OUT INTO THE DESERT FOR A WAKE (CDR by Home-made Audio Recordings)
NEIL CAMPBELL & SARA-JANE GLENDINNING AND JIM PAISTOW – AT THE POWERHOUSE, NOTTINGHAM ON 12 MAY 1995 (CDR by Home-made Audio Recordings)
KARINA ESP – RADIUS OF SOUND (CDR by Home-made Audio Recordings)
VIOLENCE BEYOND THE SNOWLINE – ALL THE BEAUTY AND STRANGENESS OF A FROST-BITTEN FIELD AT MIDNIGHT (CDR by Home-made Audio Recordings)
Home-made Audio Recordings is a small CDR label from the UK, and their packages look like low but nice level origami work. Their releases are usually not very long time-wise and the whole thing looks so far intimate and cosy. That can certainly be said of the music of Midwich, aka Rob Hayler, aka mr Fencing Flatworm. His release is a twenty six minute piece of organ music. Not of an ambient kind, but more of a unsettling, and a bit nerving kind. But it’s at the same time an unsettling that appeals to me. Midwich’s music doesn’t change much throughout the years and the lo-fi electronics has become his trademark.
Another active force in the UK CDR business is Cheapmachines, aka Phil Julian aka Authorized Version. I believe it’s his intention to release a CDR on every CDR label in the world. Though I must say I am not particular fond of all of his works, ‘[Lamina]’ is one of the better works. The elements of noise are there, but somewhere half way through this release, it becomes one of the Organum works that Organum never made. Loud and piercing, bow on metal (who knows?). But before this all happens, there is, after the piece opens with some random noise, the rather music interlude of piano/guitar hammering which is rather musical for Cheapmachines standards. I must say I was quite pleased with the highly varied result.
Also Opaque are regular visitors in Vital Weekly. They are a duo from Scotland, and also offer one track on this CDR. Opaque are a noise duo, operating with guitars and tapes. I assume the recording here is a live concert. A rather monotone affair this is. A wall of sound, brought alive by two guitars, feeding through multiple distortion boxes. But somehow it doesn’t work, hence I use ‘monotone’, rather than ‘minimal’. Maybe if I would have been present at the concert and experience it under loud volumes it would have worked. But now the spark isn’t alive here.
Also Neil Campbell should be known to the readers. Here he plays with Sara-Jane Glendinning and Jim Plaistow in a short release: fifteen minutes only. The concert of which this is taken is from 1995. There is rumbling of amplified objects, a distant saxophone, feedback. A bit unfocussed, it doesn’t seem to go anywhere, but at the same, as with so many of Campbells music, it’s also captivating in it’s arbitrary use of instruments, sounds and moods. I wonder: why not the entire concert recording? Or is this it?
The last two releases are less known, even when Karina ESP was reviewed in Vital Weekly 288 (with a split release with Midwich). There are similarities between Midwich and Karina ESP as both have similar low level keyboard sounds. But whereas Midwich operates in the higher end, Karina ESP is at the opposite side of the keyboard: low end drone music, probably aiming at some dark atmopsheric music. Minimal is a keyword here too, and so in lo-fi. Here is where the label name really becomes alive.
The most unknown band is Violence Beyond The Snowline. They offer seven tracks in thirty minutes and from all the releases on Home-made Audio Recordings, this is musicwise the most varied one. There are noisy bits (such as in ‘Afterthoughts’), collage like sounds, dark ambient music, Pansonic like beats in ‘Space Is Filled With Orbiting Children’ and more. The variety can be boring but in this instance it’s quite nice. Whereas the other releases opt for one sound, Violence Beyond The Snowline is joyfull varied and even when the lo-fi home-made element is present here, it’s a very nice release indeed. (FdW)
Address: http://www.nidnod.blogspot.com/
.MON – MOSAIC (CDR, self-released)
On this self-released CDR by .Mon, aka Sander van der Linden, there is some truely sad music. Sander is also the singer and guitarist of Dutch ’emo-band’ Vladimir, and, even when I never heard them, I think on his solo CD he takes the ’emo’ thing a bit further. As .Mon he started out in 2002 playing with acoustic instruments and transforming them on his computer. Delicate and careful melodies is what he plays here. Stretched out lines, played on the guitar, to which he adds a buzz, a crack and some hiss here and there, form the main ingredients in this music. Maybe it’s not the newest of musical developments going on here, as this could have been easily by Stars Of The Lid or some such similar Kranky bands, but the whole thing is performed with great care and style. Lenghty, dreamy, atmospherical: that are the common words needed to describe this kind of music, and often they are used to easily, but in .Mon’s case I think they are more than appropiate. This should have been a real CD, on a fine, specialized label. (FdW)
Address: http://www.vladimir-web.com/dotmon/
INCITE (CDR, self-released)
Incite is for me also a new name, but checking this release and their website, they have been around. These Germans have recorded the five tracks in New York, Boston, Chicago, Madrid and Berlin and their website lists more exotic places. Incite plays around with the notion of rhythms and beats. Simple, minimalist beats are created and fed through a bunch of synthesizers, oscillators and possibly home made apparatus. This results in highly rhythmical but not so danceable music. It’s kinda reminds me of some of the Goem stuff, but that was more minimal. In Incite’s music there is more stuff happening, small breaks, sudden changes. This makes this also in a bit nerving music, but the tracks are not very long and there is variation throughout. Nice one. (FdW)
Address: http://www.incite.gradcom.org
GARSO ZONA 2004 (MP3 by Surfaces)
Finally part of the EU, Lithunia’s music scene is of course part of the glitch movement since time, mainly due to the activities of Gintas K, the minimalist technoid. One of the things he does is organising Garso Zona (which means audio zone) for audio and video – all in the digital domain. This downloadable album presents six cuts by people who performed there, of which I only recognized the name Gintas K. All six operate on the microscopic levels of sounds. Things crack, buzz and beep, with differences appearing below the surface. Skardas’ piece is kinda like Vladislav Delay and Audio_Z more like a multi-layered, stripped down version of Chain Reaction. Other tracks, like those of Arturas Bumsteinas or Darius Ciuta are more collaged together of computer processings. Maybe not the most world-shocking tracks but never theless a very nice collection of music coming from a country that is lesser known for it. (FdW)
Address: http://www.smic.lt/gz