LUNCHBOX – ANYWAYS (CD by The Agriculture)
DOOFGOBLIN – ALBUM-RL (CD by Unschooled)
INTRANSITIVE TWENTY0-THREE (2CD by Intransitive Recordings)
TAYLOR DEUPREE & CHRISTOPHER WILLITS – MUJO (CD by Plop)
KLAUS FILIP/RADU MALFATTI/MATTIN/DEAN ROBERTS – BUILDING EXCESS (CD by Grob)
MÜLLER_MÖSLANG – BOOM_BOX (CD by Grob)
SI-CUT.DB – OFFICES AT NIGHT VOLUME 1 – ORIGINALS (CD by Fällt)
MAX EASTLEY/DAVID TOOP – DOLL CREATURE (CD by Bip-Hop)
PETER SZELY – WELCOME TO MY WORLD (CD by Mosz)
VIDNA OBMANA – ANTHOLOGY 1984-2004 (CD by Ikon/Projekt)
MINIT – NOW RIGHT HERE (CD by Staubgold)
OUTPOST – TIME-BASED LANDSCAPES (CD by Institute For Transacoustic Research)
KAMMERFLIMMER KOLLEKTIEF – HYSTERIA (CD by Quecksilber)
ALEXEI BORISOV & ANTON NIKKILÄ – TYPICAL HUMAN BEINGS (CD by N&B
Research Digest)
IZDIUCZ (miniCD by Staubgold)
METRO STARMAN – THE DAY I DISCOVERED MY DOG WAS REALLY A FISH (CDR by
Piehead Recordings)
AGONOST’IKON – TEOFOBIA (CDR by Musically Incorrect Records)
NORTHERN UNLIGHTS: MUSICALLY INCORRECT COMPILATION VOLUME 3 (CDR by
Musically Incorrect Records)
UTON & CLAY FIGURE – ESCAPE FROM THE UGLY SPIRIT (CDR by Haamumaa)
SKULLPTURE – 4 (CDR by Digitalis Industries)
VERDE – VUORONUMERO (CD by Ruma Puulaaki/Karkia Mistika)
CHEFKIRK – TAX CUTS FOR NOSE JOBS (CDR by Snse)
CAESAR URSIC – LITHOPHONIA (CDR by Mystery Sea)
LUNCHBOX – ANYWAYS (CD by The Agriculture)
This is one of those albums which you will listen to in your most
relaxing moments. You’re lying lazily, totally cool and indifferent
in the context of the most positive mood. This is that state of mind
that usually happens after a very drunk night, so after the morning
hangover passes the most relaxed post-hangover state comes. Well just
then you’re in the mood to simply lie down, listen to nice music,
cool down and be completely listless. The lazy beats and the laid
back atmosphere relax you even more. Soothing guitars, strong bass
lines and childlike vocals. All of that in a completely pleasant
lounge feeling. Jazzy sounding and sounds that come from the over
populated urban suburb of some of the biggest metropolis in South
America. I think somewhere in Argentina or Brazil. Even though the
music has nothing to do with the typical Brazil sound in any context
whatsoever. It is the voices which call out that indicate some of
those places. Yes, this is quite a nice album. (TD)
Address: http://www.theagriculture.com
DOOFGOBLIN – ALBUM-RL (CD by Unschooled)
John Guilino is an artist from the USA who develops his sound through
his continuous moving homes, influenced by Flesh, The Residents,
Matmos, Electric Birds… After adopting the moniker Doofgoblin he
constantly develops his experimental electronic frequencies,
regularly updating his equipment. After 3 cd-r releases of his album
Marble Barrel he made his debut appearance at unschooled 2003, while
album-RL ep material was waiting for the release dates. This release,
which is actually an ep, although with six tracks, in its 17 minutes
it abruptly tends to slide through styles, between the experiment and
the concrete, between the ambiental and the rhythmical. The first
track ‘lovar’ is a repetitive glitchy noise in constant reverb.
Already in the second ’round peg’ you can notice the crystallizing of
the sound. The track gains a slightly more solid structure and shows
signs of rhythm. The noise bits are still present; however the delay
bits that enter in the middle of the track capture a serious dub
impression. Undefined short shouts appear in several returns. At the
very end the rhythm specifies to be lost in the noise and the dub
delay. Then starts ‘standards last raze’. Although it begins as
abstract for a very short time in its two minutes and five seconds it
completely turns into a rhythmical piece with a noisy melody. The
atmosphere of the next track (‘bells and allusions’) calms down.
Ambiental subtle brassy and vibrating melodies. Bells and allusions.
Everything is perfectly clear. In the longest track the rhythm is
abstract. This ambiental predecessor mixes into ‘woodroof solution’
which from quiet ringing is transformed into a rhythmical noisy
dimension, as it suddenly gains a dark ambiental mood. And then again
rhythm and distortion… Short ambiental comedown and a noise ending.
Everything in three minutes. Short and fast. The next and last track
‘Saturdam’ is a reminiscence of all the previous tracks and
everything which was already used. At the same time, raised at a
higher plateau. Strong melody, rhythm and noise. With a quite decent
production, this album concerning its style, floats somewhere between
rhythm and experimentation. Tending to grab every aspect of sound,
yet it remains unclear where in all those styles he really wanted to
be, and where he actually is. (TD)
Address: http://unschooled.com/
INTRANSITIVE TWENTY0-THREE (2CD by Intransitive Recordings)
The set is launched with a scrawling old banjo in heat provided by
Birchville Cat Motel on “Endless Cassette” which triumphantly flows
freely into “3:45” by Berlin-based saxophone contortionist Thomas
Ankersmit. Breathing circular life into his instrument the crisp hiss
is minimal and transcendent. What follows is the cavalcade of frenzy,
a brightly distorted underground shell game by players Das
Synthetische Mischgewebe on “Leisure Time for Max in the Arteries of
his Past Dominion.” A cryptic metal gate gaping slightly ajar swings
from its hinges and illustrates the story far better than I could.
Taking the metal revel one step further Hideaki Shimada, who seems to
be taking a fragile bow to some heavy metal and defying gravity in
the process. Milano Giuseppe Ielasi (Sedimental, Absurd, Fringes) is
one of those artists who is just now bursting into his own, with a
sound that is full and pretty maximal. On his “Two Chords” a drone of
friction baits and switches with a channel of icy naturalism. Hapna’s
Ronnie Sundin offers “Seismo 3” which harkens back about a half dozen
years to minimalist tactics taken on by John Duncan or Francisco
Lopez. His quiet vinylisms are like fine raindrops. The year, 1980,
the place, Prague –and so we have the warming buzz of Artificial
Memory Trace. “Blue Reverie/Fragment” is a reverberating, manipulated
metallic clang, with all the fixins; Deep, dark and brooding all the
way. Frans de Waard (Korm Plastics, Plinkity Plonk) presents
“Balloon” – airy humor, to the point, a bit gaseous and somewhat
twisted, the track expands and contracts into something of a broken
down engine in a winterized garage somewhere in a higher altitude.
Up, up and away! “AKS21” is the piece by Sensorband’s Atau Tanaka.
It’s a sound assemblage, real physical sound, layers, so thick, like
lost telephone signals and meteorites appearing at the bottom of your
cereal box. I think it scared my cat. Olivia Block’s “Untitled Piece
for Analog 4-track, Tapes” is like a romantic rain shower, a mic’d
umbrella. Its restless fiction undulates below the translucence of
the skin’s top layer. “Interlace of Life” by Nerve Net Noise (Meme,
Intransitive, Zero Gravity) is the symphony for the end of the life
of a mosquito. The Japanese duo’s cryptic style for mixing wildly
curvaceous playfulness with poker-faced pitch makes them two of a
kind. French sound artist Eric La Casa keeps his ears open and his
mind free from debris. On “Ici 1” the clear and distant blur of
industrial concave pluralism stagnates the air, but like a slow
moving virus. (Bernhard) Gal’s “In Fusion” is a split screen
asthmatic wheeze at a rural construction site. The whistle is pretty
down to earth, the overlapping of foreground and background seems
inadvertent, though there is a tension between the two between the
silences.
Montrealer sound sculptor Alexandre St. Onge creates a tearing,
pouring, moving set of sound on “Ma Contrebasse Ou L’Invention de la
Machine A Ecrire.” The delusional “Theremin Radio 00” comes from
Japanese improv artists Haco/View Masters. This may define a space
age love song. Canadian Magali Babin, recently seen live at Mutek,
offers her homemade, creaking “Thermidor”. For fear of tipping, top
heavy, this craft keeps mindful the dangers of not mixing metaphors
with physical realities. The whisper of Jonathan Coleclough and Colin
Potter’s “Leaves on the Track” brings to mind essential purity of
basic colors in sound. Their slowly shaped work is drenched in
isolated atmosphere and unknown. The simple, subtle elegance of
Nmperign’s “Mhere’d” leaves a lot of room for interpretation, a full
breath of continuity only tampered with slightly to futz with wind
briefly. Even a sneezy grunt seems quite fitting in the full flow of
this centered mix.
In conclusion, Francisco Lopez’s “Untitled #134” seems appropriate.
It strikes the ear as a Kubrickian styled epic, in light of the fact
that we have, as a civilization, surpassed “2001”. (TJN – reprinted
from Igloo Magazine with permission)
Address: http://www.intransitiverecordings.com
TAYLOR DEUPREE & CHRISTOPHER WILLITS – MUJO (CD by Plop)
This is the follow up to their previous collaboration on sub
Rosa/Audiosphere and is another showcase of their many talents. Both
Willits and Deupree are very active with their solo music but also
find time to play around with together, jamming about with their
laptops but also guitars, synths, accordion and melodica. What
strikes me is the shortness of the tracks. Twelve in total, with a
total length of forty-seven minutes: this is almost like a popalbum
length here. Soundwise it continues say with Willits recent solo
album ‘Pollen’ (see Vital Weekly 410), but here the sounds are even
more broken down than before. Sometimes it is held together by some
sort of rhythmbox, such as in ‘Grounding’, but sometimes this is also
not the case and things are held together by the repeated stuttering
of some undefineable sound. This is where Deupree and Willits touch
upon the early Oval sound (circa ‘Systemisch’ and ‘Diskont’) and they
have a similar poppy edge to it (unlike so many copy-cats who just
took the Oval idea without the power). This music is at the same time
loosely constructed but one that works out quite well. Here is where
experience is at work and that can be heard from every spark of the
disc. (FdW)
Address: http://www.inpartmaint.com/plop/
KLAUS FILIP/RADU MALFATTI/MATTIN/DEAN ROBERTS – BUILDING EXCESS (CD by Grob)
MÜLLER_MÖSLANG – BOOM_BOX (CD by Grob)
Although this is a four piece improvisation, it’s the elderly
statesman of improvised music that inspires the recording: Radu
Malfatti, a trombone player with a free jazz background, but
currentely playing very quiet improvised music, has a decisive
influence over the other players. Mattin on his computer feedback,
Dean Roberts on guitar and Klaus Filip, the unknown one for me in
this quartet on computer. As said, Malfatti’s ideas about quiet music
is very strong here. Most of the time nothing much seems to be
happening here. Very silent stuff, with some occassional tones here
and there. When they happen they are usually sustained ones, until
they die out after a while. Just very occassionally something more
happens, just around the thirty-fifth minute, but those eruptions are
only short. This is a recording of a highly delicate nature, which
forces the listener to pay attention throughout. There is a lot of
things happening here, but one should concentrate to find them out as
they all appear on a small, microscopic level. Great minimalist but
powerful recording here.
Another two big shots from the world of improvisation and electronics
are Norbert Möslang and Gunter Müller. For more than thirty years
Möslang was half of Voice Crack together with Andi Gühl, but after
their split Möslang seems to be much more free and joyful in his
playing. In his duo recording with Gunter Müller the full box of
tricks is opened. The cracked everyday electronics, percussion,
minidiscs, ipod and electronics form a nicely interwoven pattern of
rhythms, cracks and noise, but played with lots of joy throughout.
Sounds of open space, rather than a closed one. They smear their
sounds on the canvas in a very expressionist way, using lots of
colour. There isn’t hardly a moment of introspection or quietness,
things bounce in all directions, at all times. Two masters at work
here, two guys that created a large scene of improvisation with
electronics. Beautiful stuff. (FdW)
Address: http://www.churchofgrob.com
SI-CUT.DB – OFFICES AT NIGHT VOLUME 1 – ORIGINALS (CD by Fällt)
Douglas Benford, aka Si-Cut.db is a busy bee, either with his solo
project, his collaborations with Scanner, or the more ongoing one
with Ben Edwards under the guise of Tennis, but also running the
Sprawl club and label. I lost a bit of count but this is another fine
work by Benford. In case one in is unfamiliar with his music, look
under ‘dubby minimalist techno’. Lenghty and spacey pieces going on
here. Benford takes his time to develop a piece. Starting with a
simple beat, a hi-hat and a bass, he will add small synthesized
sounds to the piece over the course of the next, say 5 minutes. This
procedure is repeated ten times, so it’s hardly a surprise to learn
that this CD lasts of seventy minutes. That is simply too much for a
critical mind, but I was reading the newspapers from last week, when
I was away on holiday. The sun shines, the airco is on and coffee is
within reach. It means that this was, despite it’s length, a nice sit
through. Although it’s to be hoped for that after several similar
sounding CDs, Si-Cut.DB will take a different course in the future.
Nice so far, time for a chance.
Volumes 2 and 3 will be MP3 only, and can be downloaded from the
Fällt website. Volume two will see remixes of Volume one by the likes
of Stephan Mathieu (with whom Benford made an excellent CD),
Mapstation, Tu M’, Sebastien Roux, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Sogar and
Mitchell Akiyama. On Volume three the remixes will be remixed in
return by Benford and thus the circle will be completed. (FdW)
Address: http://www.fallt.com
MAX EASTLEY/DAVID TOOP – DOLL CREATURE (CD by Bip-Hop)
Some people make an album every three days (maybe even every three
hours, who knows), but there are also some who take more time. ‘Doll
Creature’ is an example of a late album – the third collaboration
between musician David Toop and soundsculptor Max Eastely in thirty
years (following their release on Obscure in 1975 and ‘Buried Dreams’
in 1994). It’s not that they are lazy or uninspired people: they have
so many other things at their hands that they simply don’t meet up
too often to do their work together. On ‘Doll Creature’ the roles are
strictly divided. Eastly produces the sound in his sculptures and
Toop processes the sound via means of computer and adds a small bit
of his own sounds (through guitars, flutes, tubes, organic matter
etc.). It is often forgotten that Toop is an improviser and here he
is in his element: taking the sounds of Eastley and loosely processes
them in a rich tapestry of delicate sounds. Small particles fly
around, loosely organised within each of fifteen miniatures on this
CD. And although indexed at fifteen, it’s also possible to see them
as one long piece, as pieces seem to chance texture in a rather small
way and a new piece starts out by simply leaving the previous one
behind. This is a very fine disc, crossing the lines of ambient,
improvisation and sound sculpture. (FdW)
Address: http://www.bip-hop.com
PETER SZELY – WELCOME TO MY WORLD (CD by Mosz)
Despite the fact that Peter Szely is from Vienna, I don’t blame you
for not recognizing his name. His work is mainly in the field of
sound installations, radio art and sound interventions in public
spaces. I don’t know if he has other releases at hand. For ‘Welcome
To My World’ (which sounds like the title of a debut album) he plays
around with poppy elements of electronic music. Most of the seven
tracks are held together with a dubby bass line and some form of
rhythm. On top he improvises with electronics, guitar and field
recordings. It’s all quite alright, but some of the tracks are pretty
long for the sparse ideas that each track has. Some of the tracks
could have easily been stripped and cut to maybe four minutes in
length. Szely looses himself in freaky sounds that makes one loose
concentration on the actual piece. That is a pity because in itself
the tracks contain very nice sounds and ideas. Some more structure
and would have been a really great album, me thinks. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mosz.org
VIDNA OBMANA – ANTHOLOGY 1984-2004 (CD by Ikon/Projekt)
A long time ago I was in Antwerpen, Belgium at a noise festival. A
young man stands behind a korg synth and puts on some vicious loud
noise music. Afterwards he introduced himself as Dirk Serries, the
man behind Vidna Obmana. Some years later I see him playing again and
his music has changed radically: he plays smooth ambient music, but
with an edgy touch. In 2004 it’s twenty years ago that Dirk founded
Vidna Obmana and to celebrate this, he releases an anthology of his
works, and for the first time some of his noise music is released on
CD. Music that was released in his early years on cassette. I am sure
it will be a surprise to many and for few a renewed encounter with
the noise of years past. Vidna Obmana has released many CDs in those
twenty years and many were based on one idea, say ‘transforming
guitars (or saxophone, or church organ) into music, and he developed
a great skill in doing so. The power of this anthology is the
variation. From the noisy works of the early days to the ambient
sounds of the mid-nineties to some of his combined works of
electronics and instruments, it’s all there. In that sense it is by
Vidna Obmana standards a really varied CD (maybe even too much
variation), but for those who don’t know much about the historical
development in Vidna Obmana’s music, this is certainly a worthwhile
item to get. (FdW)
Address: http://www.projekt.com
MINIT – NOW RIGHT HERE (CD by Staubgold)
The first time I saw Mimit was in a live concert. I can’t remember
which year, but it was probably 1998 or 1999. They had rather
primitive equipment, cheap samplers, four track cassette player, but
managed to come up with some tensely layered ambient industrial drone
sound. After that I heard one LP and thought they disappeared, but
here is a new CD. Minit, a duo of Jasmine Guffond and Torben Tilly,
are originally from Australia but re-located to Berlin these days. On
their new CD they continue where I left them off: four lengthy cuts
of sound tapestries. The title and opening piece is from the start
the best piece of the CD. Over the course of twenty minutes they
depict a tapestry of processed french horn playing which reminded me
of PFN’s ‘Akasa’ (see Vital Weekly 349). Slowly developing a very
rich sound, with subtle and minimal changes. The three other pieces
are also nice but somewhat stay behind ‘Now Right Here’. Overall the
sound has become more detailled and more rich since my first
encounter with them. Music with a highly trance like atmosphere,
maybe even psychedelic. Quite nice indeed. (FdW)
Address: http://www.staubgold.com
OUTPOST – TIME-BASED LANDSCAPES (CD by Institute For Transacoustic Research)
Releases by the Austrian label Institute For Transacoustic Research
all deal with ‘transacoustics’ ‘which researches the theory that by
permanently changing the auditory angle and continually
reinterpretating conventional manners of hearing, the borders of the
acoustic and the audible can be expanded beyond the threshold of
perception’. Quite a mouthfull, but basically much of their music
deals with electro-acoustic elements being transformed electronically
or digitally. Outpost is a four piece group of Nikolaus Gansterer,
Matthias Meinharter, Jörg Piringer and Ernst Reitermaier. They play
among other things tinfoil, styrofoam, bass, modified walkman,
prepared sax, objects but also laptop, voice and kaosspad. I believe
the music was generated through improvisation. In their pieces they
keep a fine balance between the original acoustic sounds and the
processed electronic sounds. In a way it reminded me of some of the
BMB con work, but Outpost sounded more open. Not every track sounded
great, but something like ‘Ho To E’ with it’s crackling, sine waves
and object playing was certainly quite intense. Quite nice and fresh
indeed. (FdW)
Address: http://www.transacoustic-research.com
KAMMERFLIMMER KOLLEKTIEF – HYSTERIA (CD by Quecksilber)
The Kammerflimmer Kollektief started out as an one-man band, by
Thomas Weber, but is now a six piece group. Their sound ranges from
experimental to free jazz and ‘Hysteria’ is one of their previous
records but now released with an additional fifteen minute track. The
band combines drums, ambient noise, guitars, strings, bass and
keyboards, but somehow I don’t get very impressed by it. Maybe I’m
blurred by their recent concert, which was my introduction their
work, but the free jazz blowings and guitar playing, set against a
bed of ambientesque dronings just don’t seem to work for me very
well. It seems all a bit too haphazard for me, grabbed together
styles, without a really pre-conceived plan (which is good for
improvisation of course), but ends in this rather blurry sound. Maybe
some music is just not made for me. (FdW)
Address: http://www.quecksilber.com
ALEXEI BORISOV & ANTON NIKKILÄ – TYPICAL HUMAN BEINGS (CD by N&B
Research Digest)
Although this is the first CD by Finland’s Anton Nikkilä and Russia’s
Alexei Borisov, the two have been making music since 1998, and have
played live a couple of times. Both are also active with solo
electronic musics. For this new CD the two dwell heavily on the
lyrics written by Borisov, which are a ‘panorama of everyday life’
and find their way in a rather twisted set of music, reflecting
almost anything alternative: improvisation, electronical glitch, rock
and noise. The texts are all sung/spoken in Russian (translations are
in the booklet) which add a sort of alienated feel to it, in case you
are not aware what is being said here. Together with the somewhat
alienating sounds covered as the music on this CD, this is an highly
original CD that hasn’t met his counterpart yet, at least not by me.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.nbresearchdigest.com
IZDIUCZ (miniCD by Staubgold)
It has been quite for Thilges3 for some time. The Austrian trio
playing analogue modular synths and laptops, but they have a new
project: Izdiucz. This is Thilges3 plus Asim Al Chalabi on the Oud
and Zohreh Jooya on vocals. Ethnic music meeting electronic music.
This CDEP is a forecast of their forthcoming full length CD. Although
on paper this looks like an odd combination, it works out quite
well. The oud plays minimal melodies on this (string-) instrument
and the synths produce a rather nice rhythmic back drop. In ‘Hijaz On
D’ it seems that oud is partially fed through the synth and both
processed and natural sounding, making quite a natural combination.
Only in the third track the voice can be heard and here it seems to
be the most traditional track of the three and is least interesting.
However, this CDEP forecasts a very interesting album. Albeit in
2005… (FdW)
Address: http://www.staubgold.com
METRO STARMAN – THE DAY I DISCOVERED MY DOG WAS REALLY A FISH (CDR by
Piehead Recordings)
Rik Maclean is the man behind Metro Starman, but he is also of Mara’s
Torment, a band of whom I never heard. There is not much to say about
Rik, besides him liking cats and tofu, but something similar can be
said about his music: there is not much to say about it. Quite
rhythmical and glitchy in approach, with a lot of minimalism
involved, but I am afraid it all sounds rather uninspired. The twelve
tracks sounded rather dull in approach and execution and is
unfortunally one of the weaker brothers around in the world of
rhythmical glitch music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.pieheadrecords.com
AGONOST’IKON – TEOFOBIA (CDR by Musically Incorrect Records)
NORTHERN UNLIGHTS: MUSICALLY INCORRECT COMPILATION VOLUME 3 (CDR by
Musically Incorrect Records)
UTON & CLAY FIGURE – ESCAPE FROM THE UGLY SPIRIT (CDR by Haamumaa)
SKULLPTURE – 4 (CDR by Digitalis Industries)
VERDE – VUORONUMERO (CD by Ruma Puulaaki/Karkia Mistika)
The world of Musically Incorrect Records is slowly expanding, not
just by their own releases, but also of their bands being released by
other labels.
‘Teofobia’ is the debut release of Agonost’ikon, and is described by
the label as a black/sludge metal band, but for their release they
move closer to ‘monotic space/noise rock’. Their debut lasts about
thirty minutes in which they only play one track. I must agree with
the label here – it’s indeed rather monolithic space/noise rock, but
the tag ‘lo-fi’ should also be attached. The whole things sounds
recorded in someone’s shed. A sort of primitive version of F/i or
Vocokesh, but quite nice in their proceedings.
‘Northern Unlights’ is the third volume in Musically Incorrect
labelsamplers, featuring some of the finest tunes from the
Scandinavian underground. It includes some known stars such as Sindre
Bjerga (of Fibo Trespo), Iversen, Gelsomina and Ovum but also Perkust
and Lokustus. Although there are some noisy brothers here, the
overall sound is not really harsh at all. Ovum plays around with
vague notions of a slowed down techno beat, and Iversen plays around
with notions of musique concrete in his ‘RMBEXTRA 1’ and ‘RMBEXTRA
2′. Perkust is the noisy one here, and has a similar sound to the old
New Blockaders sound. In all quite a varied compilation.
The release by Uton and Clay Figure is on Haamumaa, the label run by
Uton (the guy that names himself Clay Figure is the head honcho of
Musically Incorrect Records). Their duo release was recorded live in
march of this year and they play electric guitar, keys, violin,
flutes and everything is send through a wide bunch of sound effects.
In two lenghty pieces they deliver a rather noisy set of improvised
lo-fi guitar music, which is closely related to the similar sounds of
the New Zealand scene. Maybe a tad more wild than some of the stuff
on Corpus Hermeticum, but it could have been easily released by that
label.
On a different label, but with the same people of Musically Incorrect
Records, is the band Skullpture. Their fourth release was recorded
during three sessions of improvisations earlier this year. The music
of Skullpture relies heavily on stretched out, distorted guitar
patterns and metallic percussive sounds. Top heavy sound going on
here. Lengthy, slow improvisations that reach their peak in the final
piece, with feedback bursting out of the speakers. Nice one.
To continue pushing CDRs around is helpful, as is shown by Verde.
After numerous releases on that medium, Mika Rintala now releases his
first full length CD. Rintala builts his own synthesizers (according
to the sleeve notes out of vacuum cleaners and sewing machines), but
also uses guitars on this release. The leap forward into the ‘real’
thing, certainly did him no harm, as this thirteen track release is
certainly in for a few musical variations. Using the ideas of
improvisation he plays around on guitars and synthesizers but also
dabbles around with the notions of musique concrete, such as in
‘Ultrakapeat Hippahousut’, which sounds like a sewing machine
sounding like a sewing machine. At times some of these pieces leap
into some boredom, but throughout this turned out to be a very nice
varied CD, and for once the tag ‘lo-fi’ doesn’t seem appropriate.
(FdW)
Address: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/musically_incorrect
Address: http://personal.inet.fi/koti/caddy
Address: http://www.digitalisindustries.com
Address: <mika.f.rintala@nokia.com
CHEFKIRK – TAX CUTS FOR NOSE JOBS (CDR by Snse)
More music by Roger Smith, aka Chefkirk, who apperentely knows more
small CDR labels than anyone else does in this world. In a rather
short (twenty six minutes) release he rambles through nine slabs of
rhythmical noise. The noise element in Chefkirk’s work is always
present, but more so than before he adds glitchy rhythmical stuff to
his music, that brings him close to the work of say Pan Sonic meeting
Merzbow. Nowhere close to being dance music of course, but
nevertheless I thought this was one of the best Chefkirk releases I
heard so far. There seems to be put some thought in the seperate
tracks and they are kept to the right length to carry out the ideas
they have. Short but to the point. Way to go for Chefkirk. (FdW)
Address: http://www.snse.net
CAESAR URSIC – LITHOPHONIA (CDR by Mystery Sea)
A new name of the front of drone music is Caeser Ursic who is a
surgeon. Not unimportant to know, because he made field recordings
during his work and the processed results are to be found in his
debut release. The field recordings are not so much the actual
cutting but more the sounds of the hospital. In the four lenghty
pieces Ursic uses the paths of deep drone music, filled from top to
bottom with sound effects, to create his own field of drone music.
Rumblings in the far end of the soundspectrum, with the sound of
humming machines in the foreground. Although I would label this as an
ok release, I didn’t think I heard much many new things in the field
of drone music. Nice stuff as said but not a surprising new voice in
the matter. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mysterysea.net