POPULAR ELECTRONICS (4CD by Basta)
TELEPHERIQUE & MAURIZIO BIANCHI – ZEHN TAGE (CD by Afe Records)
DE FABRIEK – QUARTRO-EROGENIC-OCCUPY THEME’S PART II (CDR by Afe Records)
S:CAGE : REMOTE (CD by Ant Zen Recordings)
ISZOLOSCOPE – LES GORGES DES LIMBES (CD by Ant-Zen)
ROLLERBALL – BEHIND THE BARBER (CD by Silber)
MIKE VANPORTFLEET – BEYOND THE HORIZON LINE (CD by Silber)
BIP HOP GENERATION VOLUME 7 (CD compilation by Bip Hop)
RAMON SENDER – WORLDFOOD (CD by Locust Music)
LETICIA CASTANEDA – ON THE VERGE OF REDUNDANCE (CD by Crippled
Intellect Records)
NAUTICAL ALAMANAC/VERTONEN (split LP by Crippled Intellect Records)
TELEVISION POWER ELECTRIC – 2 (CD by Kuro Neko Music)
BJECT – OBJECT 4 (CD by Locust Music)
LE DOIGT DE GALILEE – OBJECT 5 (CD by Locust Music)
BNSF – OBJECT 6 (CD by Locust Music)
JIM FOX – THE CITY THE WIND SWEPT AWAY (miniCD by Cold Blue Music)
DANIEL LENTZ – LOS TIGRES DE MARTE (miniCD by Cold Blue Music)
MICHEAL JON FINK – A TEMPERAMENT FOR ANGELS (miniCD by Cold Blue Music)
STEVE PETERS – FROM SHELTER (miniCD by Cold Blue Music)
TAMING POWER – AUTUMN WORKS 2002 (LP by Early Morning Records)
PAUL BRADLEY – SEPULCHRAL (CDR by Twenty Hertz)
PHIL MOULDYCLIFF & COLIN POTTER – DRONE WORKS #3 (CDR by Twenty Hertz)
PABLO RECHE – CONSTELACION (MP3 by Con-V)
POPULAR ELECTRONICS (4CD by Basta)
In Vital Weekly 117 I discussed the three CD set of the complete tape
music by Dick Raaijmakers, one of, if not the, most important
composers of electronic music in The Netherlands. He’s now in his
seventies, but not too late to get his cooperation on perhaps the
most importance re-issue of this year – I am not exaggerating. For it
was Dick Raaijmakers who composed the very first electronic pop tune
in 1957: ‘Song Of The Second Moon’. It delt with spacetravel, a theme
that was popular due to the first man in space Yuri Gagarin.
Electronic music until then delt with serious composed music, in
likewise serious studios, in Cologne or Paris. By this time Philips
in Eindhoven also had their electronic studio and composers worked
there. The director asked a young man to compose ‘popular electronic
music’ and ‘Song Of The Second Moon’ was the first tune. It was never
released because on the b-side it had an electronic version of
‘Colonel Bogey’, from the film ‘Bridge Over The River Kwai’, which
the widow of the original composer Alford wouldn’t allow being
released. But maybe the Philips directors didn’t like the song. The
7″ was not released but found it’s way to business relations around
the world. Now the history of ‘popular electronics’ is fully
documented on this four CD set. The box comes with no less than seven
different booklets, about three composers, about the studio, about
film music about the sound restoration and an introduction. It also
contains posters of scores and stickers of original artwork. Besides
Dick Raaijmakers, it also includes works of the lesser known (at
least abroad) composer Henk Badings and composer Tom Dissevelt, whose
‘Fantasy In Orbit’ was bootlegged many times. Pioneering works from
the years 1956 to 1963. Even when it says ‘popular electronics’, it
must be understood that not many were aiming to be a hit. ‘Popular’
in this case should also be understood as music for ballet or
filmmusic. In that respect the second CD contains some really
interesting works by Raaijmakers: music he composed for several short
films, some educational ones, which sort of fall in between the
serious (later) work and the poppy tune of ‘Song Of The Second Moon’.
In terms of ‘poppyness’ only the first CD shows an overview of such
works, even when the two Henk Badings pieces sort of fall outside.
The shorter Dissevelt pieces on this CD predate Kraftwerk by 10 or
more years and techno music by at least 30 years. Short witty tracks,
with a pumping rhythm. The third CD in the box is just filled with
Dissevelt’s ‘Fantasy In Orbit’, which remains after all these years a
truely fascinating piece of electronic music. It clearly stands aside
from the serious electronic music, because it uses repeated sounds,
maybe even loops of sound. The bass sound he achieves in this music
clearly forecasts techno.
Some people will find perhaps the fourth CD the most interesting, as
this contains from many of the works of the other three CDs the
sounds used, but also TV and radio tunes composed. Rather than a
music CD, this is almost like a sound effects CD. I think this is
very nice of Basta and it could surely lead to an extended remix
project of say ‘Song Of The Second Moon’ or a tribute to Tom
Dissevelt. A box of treasures is now in your store, and I’d say: tap
into musical history and benefit from it. This is landmark in
electronic music, and not just the Dutch electronic music scene, but
should be heard by all. (FdW)
Address: http://www.basta.nl
TELEPHERIQUE & MAURIZIO BIANCHI – ZEHN TAGE (CD by Afe Records)
DE FABRIEK – QUARTRO-EROGENIC-OCCUPY THEME’S PART II (CDR by Afe Records)
The ten days referred to here, are the ten days lost in 1582 when the
calender was revised by Pope Gregorius XIII. The concept at work here
is the ‘uselessness of time calculation compared to the precision of
time itself’. Telepherique are of course main players in the
underground for many years, releasing a wide stream of CDRs, CDs and
vinyl. Maurizio Bianchi was one of the main players of industrial
music as MB, but in 1984 he left music suddenly. All of his previous
records from the early 80s have been re-issued and are a must have.
His return however didn’t bring much interesting new music, at least
what I heard of it. It’s interesting to notice that this new CD is
Bianchi’s first collaboration ever. From purely judging from what I
hear, is that Bianchi has made ten different sound pieces in his
recent, more new agey style of synthesizer playing: the area that I
didn’t find of much interest in his recent music. But the addition of
more synths, guitars and slow percussion really lifts this music up
and actually makes it quite enjoyable. Slow peaceful music, with the
new age element a bit removed, or say, enhanced. More to the credit
of Telepherique than of Maurizio Bianchi, me thinks.
Also since many, many years active are De Fabriek and they are never
the same. They have sounded noise like, psychedelic, electronic,
techno and, due to the open membership, here they go into more
hippy/psychedelic areas again. Thanks, me thinks, to the member that
is called The Use Of Ashes, a , for me, local guitar group with a
very recognizable guitar playing style. It’s this guitarsound that
plays an important role here. The role of other members include
mixing in their own field recordings, ethnic music, synth sounds and
maybe more guitars. This makes this release into a nice psychedelic
affair and of course a totally alien work in the ever expanding
catalogue of De Fabriek (but that can of course be said of almost all
recordings of De Fabriek, hardly two are alike). This is one of the
better ones. (FdW)
Address: http://www.aferecords.com
S:CAGE : REMOTE (CD by Ant Zen Recordings)
Apparently there are a growing number of sound artists that find
their way into the border between harsh electronics and gently
floating ambient-scapes. Especially German label Ant-Zen Recordings
seems to sign quite a few great artists working in these areas.
Gridlock is one of the best examples on how brilliant that certain
mixture might sound. With the debut album titled “Remote” from
S:Cage, the seeds for another heavyweight could have been laid. Where
Gridlock mostly works in a sound sphere similar to Aphex Twin, S:Cage
on the ambient side more relates to darker ambient scene around Steve
Roach and Robert Rich, thanks to his majestic soundscapes of soothing
atmospheres that slowly builds up and fades out only to give way for
the next wave of dark sounds. Powerful rhythm textures filled with
overdoses of heavy bass-lines have been sent towards territories of
deep floating ambient. The atmosphere nicely changes from threatening
towards more gentle territories. Though not quite reaching the level
of Gridlock, S:Cage definitely works on a very high quality level
that could make him end up as one of the important names on the
future Ambient-Industrial scene. (NMP)
Address: http://www.ant-zen.com
ISZOLOSCOPE – LES GORGES DES LIMBES (CD by Ant-Zen)
In the first place Canadian project Iszoloscope came out as the
collaboration between the two Canadian sound artists François Bénard
& Yann Faussurier back in 1999. Originally the project was focused on
a pure ambient-like expression. But with the farewell to Francois
Bénard as an Iszoloscope member, Yann Faussurier made a turn towards
the power noise-scene around German label Ant Zen Recordings. One
year ago Iszoloscope had its first release on Ant-Zen Recordings. The
album that was titled “Au seuil du néant” greatly balanced on the
edge between dark ambient and Industrial-based power noise. As a 5th
anniversary celebration of Iszoloscope Yann Faussurier has now
released the album “Les Gorges Des Limbes” which is a collection of
the earliest ambient works of Iszoloscope back in the period around
1999/2000. Compared to “Au seuil du néant “, the album musically is a
radical movement into the deepest ocean of ambient sounds. The one
hour long journey brings us into the deepest and darkest territories
of ambient, territories that first of all have been successfully
explored by artists such as Inade, Lustmord and Yen Pox. The
atmosphere is dark and threatening with only a very few signs of
rhythm texture. And the few rhythmic movements that appear are only
discreet loops created on clicking micro sounds. The sounds are
echo-ish and first of all built around low speed drones of
claustrophobic isolationism. After the rhythm based “Au seuil du
néant”-album it is a remarkable experience, diving into the deepest
areas of Iszoloscope where there isn’t any rhythm texture to avoid
you from sinking deeper and deeper into the black soundspace.
Listeners of dark ambient should take notice here! (NMP)
Address: http://www.ant-zen.com
ROLLERBALL – BEHIND THE BARBER (CD by Silber)
I’m constantly following this label through their releases. Their
sound differs from release to release. From post punk and guitar
oriented sound of Lycia and Twelve, acoustic indie pieces of Jamie
Barnes to ambient and dark electronic variations of Small Life Form
and Mike Van Portfleet. Here we have release by Rollerball. Another
project on Silber records that gives completely different sound
perspective from before mentioned styles. “Behind The Barber” is
follow up of their previous Silber release “Real Hair” (silber 28)
and it’s their tenth album release. “Real hear” was combination and
exploration of classic jazzy trumpet and piano flows, cabaret sounds,
ska and duby experimentation, hip hop wannabe moments and real noisy
and psychedelic improvisation. With this latest release (silber 33),
very similar like on its predecessor, they are again playing with
jazz forms and psychedelic atmospheres. All that versatility and
mishmash of, on first look incompatible and eclectic sounds, is
connected again, mixed with more mood and new aspects to develop the
totality one level higher. Dark and ambient moments, free jazz
reminiscence, much improvisation, noisy elements, half broken
melodies, arrhythmic falls and dissonances, electro acoustic
minimalism from one side as their dark face and funky bass lines,
melodic vocals, slow and calm atmospheres, dub combinations,
electronic layers from the other, just to show their sweet side…
This eclectic collective (featuring impressive names of
collaborators: Portland electronica genius Nudge, Italian avant stars
OVO, spastic celebralists Point Line Plane, improvisational icon Bill
Horist and tenor sax maniac Jef Brown of Jackie-O Motherfucker) at
this time again emerge with another combination of chaos and harmony,
disturbance and mood, presenting their both sides showing that they
are equally good in both. All aspects of their versatility are
exposed. (TD)
Address: http://www.silbermedia.com
MIKE VANPORTFLEET – BEYOND THE HORIZON LINE (CD by Silber)
I already mentioned Lycia in previous review for Silber records
earlier release (silber 33). It was mentioned as one of projects that
gives one of various perspectives in sound that Silber releases. This
time we have Lycia’s founder Mike VanPortfleet with his solo release.
Opposite from his Lycia work (Empty Space, silber032) where he was
combining cold, dark and pure ambient post-punk from late 80’s up
through the late 90’s in influential hybrid that had never existed
before, here he is extracting just finest ambient moments isolating
them from any classic guitar influence. Pure calm frosty polar sound
made in sandy desert south-western Arizona. Layers of long, calm,
shadowy haystacks are mixing one over another. Traditional rock
structures are morphed into shimmering, crystalline soundscapes and
much of his glass-cutting guitar work is replaced by loop
manipulation with just small parts of beautiful ambiental guitar
trails. Those moments are angelic guitar tone breaks through the ice.
Dark and at all ambient sound nowadays is becoming somehow passé.
VanPortfleet succeeded to translate and modify dark ambient and post
apocalyptic sound without loosing its basic aim, integrity and depth
as well as to sound fresh and exciting even today. “Beyond The
Horizon Line” is work that merges majestic misery, tension and
darkness from one and glacial beauty, clarity and contemplation from
other side. It is work that mirrors tone and alienation of the
desert. Work that can only be earned by years spent in solitary
isolation and contemplation and yet somehow to be filled with
humanness and beauty. (TD)
Address: http://www.silbermedia.com
BIP HOP GENERATION VOLUME 7 (CD compilation by Bip Hop)
After releasing six volume of ‘Bip Hop Generation’ it was time for a
break. A new design had to come in place and the label had to take
things quieter for a while. Now they are back with the seventh volume
of the series and with a fresh design. The series plays around with
the notion of new electronic music, that is rooted in techno, ambient
and glitch. One can find well-known names, here Taylor Deupree,
Ghislain Poirier or Janek Schaefer and some lesser knowns as Fonica
or entirely new ones such as Emisor or FM3 (there are always six
artists on each compilation). Taylor opens up with three pieces of
Ovalesque electronica that are along the lines of his recent
collaboration with Christopher Willits (see also last week’s issue).
Good pieces, of course I need to say. Deupree is a master in what he
does. Emisor is one Leonardo Ramella from Buenos Aires, who sits more
in the techno-glitch corner of music, but I can’t say I am too
impressed by his work. Fonica are from Japan and play one long pieces
of current day glitch and ambient. Maybe sounds boring on paper, but
actually works out really fine.
Fm3 are a Chinese group around long term China resident Christiaan
Virant. In his group he combines cleverly traditional instruments
with electronica, in two very nice pieces of improvised acoustic and
brooding electronics. Ghislain Poirier’s music is also not always
convincing me, but the three cuts here are sort of alright – although
not brilliant. Janek Schaefer closes the compilation with a very nice
composition based on street sounds from six different cities. Quite a
nice example of soundscaping.
A booklet with information is of course still part of the deal, so
this ‘encyclopedia electronica’ is growing again. (FdW)
Address: http://www.bip-hop.com
RAMON SENDER – WORLDFOOD (CD by Locust Music)
Besides releasing CDs of current day improvisation, Locust Music has
some great access to the archives of electronic music. They release
some mighty strange works by people that, at least I think, are
mighty unknown. I never heard of Raymon Sender. His two works on this
CD date from 1965 – which in my case is a life-time ago – and though
I read the liner notes, I must admit it didn’t mean much to me.
Sender describes his time at the San Francisco Tape Music Center and
how he dabbled around with reel-to-reel machines, creating tapeloops
of orchestral pieces which he then layers on end. If you are familiar
with ‘Come Out’ or ‘It’s Gonna Rain’ by Steve Reich, you can sort of
grasp the idea. The two pieces are lenghty (29:32 and 43:15) and from
the series of pieces called ‘Worldfood’. In ‘Worldfood VII (To See
Him With My Eyes), he chooses a soprano singing a Bach cantata, which
is on at least sixteen different loops of different lengths. The
result is a massive, dense sound field, in which the vocal is quite
distorted, but nevertheless recognizable as such. Due to minimal
mixing of the loops a hallucinating sound mass is pictured.
‘Worldfood XII’ takes it’s source from an ‘FM modulator with a square
wave generator’ in varying octaves and different speeds of playback
and is a more synthetic piece of music. It may start out sounding a
boring piece of synthesizer sounds, but of the lenghty course of this
piece, things really develop and again the slight hypnotic patterns
evolve. Very nice works of a long time ago, which made me wonder: who
is this guy anyway? (FdW)
Address: http://www.locustmusic.com
LETICIA CASTANEDA – ON THE VERGE OF REDUNDANCE (CD by Crippled
Intellect Records)
NAUTICAL ALAMANAC/VERTONEN (split LP by Crippled Intellect Records)
In this day and age it becomes more and more difficult to put new
artists on the market, but Crippled Intellect is one of those rare
labels who actually keep on trying. They now come up with Leticia
Castaneda, who hails from Los Angeles and plays her music live with
people from Solid Eye and the Los Angeles Free Music Society. This is
her very first CD and it turned out to be a great one. Her music
stands in the tradition of musique concrete recordings of the sixties
and seventies, but maybe with today’s technology. That is something
of importance to realize since some of the material hoovers at a low
volume level. She uses organ sounds next to the amplified sources of
say a comb and craftes five delicate pieces together. Each of these
five compositions is a pleasure to hear, with the Lopezian ‘Statue’
as the most radical encounter here.
On the same label, but different medium and also different music is a
split LP by two, by now, veterans of underground music. Nautical
Alamanac has a side full of really fucked up electronica and even
more fucked up musique concrete. It seems like they use analog tape
recorders and about every sound it played in a different speed than
any of the other sound that is used at the same time. Slowed down and
sped up tape mayhem of analogue synths versus raw abuse of acoustic
sounds. On the b-side there is Vertonen, CIP labelboss Blake Edwards’
solo project. He has a couple of releases and much to my surprise
more than before, he returns to a more raw and noisy sound,
especially in say the first half of the side. A rhythmic noise and
feedback make up this sound, before moving over into more droney
material towards the end and a sample of piano playing ends the
piece. Despite these totally different tracks, this works however
quite well and is one of the best Vertonen pieces I heard so far. The
cover is a silk-screen thing, which definetly give this a true
eighties feel. (FdW)
Address: http://www.cipsite.net
TELEVISION POWER ELECTRIC – 2 (CD by Kuro Neko Music)
I am a bit puzzled why TV Pow are called Television Power Electric
here, but I think it has to do with the fact that there is an
extended line up here. Besides core members Todd Carter, Micheal
Hartman and Brent Gutzeit, we also find Boris Hauf, Ernst Karel and
Toshimaru Nakamura. TV Pow, as I prefer to call them, are a laptop
band with strong ties in improvised music. They are also a bunch of
sturdy minimalists. ‘Title Track’ consists of twenty three minutes of
miniature crackling of radiophonic static. In ‘Storks International:
Chicago Chapter’ things are overtly more dark, but still likewise
minimal. TV Pow are rightly so a microsound band – rather than so
many others microsound solo. In their playing together they really
feel how to add and adjust their individual sound to that of the
whole group. That makes this into a really interesting CD and sets TV
Pow apart from so many others in the same field. (FdW)
Address: http://www.kuronekomusic.com
BJECT – OBJECT 4 (CD by Locust Music)
LE DOIGT DE GALILEE – OBJECT 5 (CD by Locust Music)
BNSF – OBJECT 6 (CD by Locust Music)
Sometimes I have the best jobs: sit at home, stare out of the window
and listen to music. When the music comes in all forms and shapes
it’s even more nice. But sometimes they come en masse in similar
forms, like no less than three discs of improvisational music on the
Locust Music label. I played them in a row and then again. Then I
slowly went crazy. Does this mean they are bad discs? Of course not.
Locust Music have a good sense for good music. But it was just a bit
too much to take in at once.
Bject is a Japanese trio of Masahiko Okura (tubes and alto sax),
Tetuzi Akiyama (turntable without records, contact microphone on
electric guitar) and Utah Kawasaki (analog synthesizer, cellular
phone and contact microphone). Their four pieces are mostly evolving
around electronic sounds (crackling, hiss, static noise) and
improvised doodlings on the guitar. Though not every moment is great,
like the fourth tracks which takes too much time, me thinks), it’s
the sort of improvised music disc that is alright.
A strange duet is put on by Le Doigt De Galillee, aka Nicolas Field
and Jaime Fennelly – they play bass drum, drums, percussion and
electronics. Strange because I noted this half way through the CD,
but it doesn’t sound like pure drumming CD. I noted the percussive
elements in there, but there is a great deal of electronics, feedback
and electro-acoustic sound (the picl up of sounds with contact
microphones) in there, which makes this into a pretty varied CD.
Maybe at some sixty minutes in total, maybe a bit lenghty too, which
could have used some more editing to make it stronger, but a fine
disc anyway.
Behind BNSF we find one Adam Diller (saxophone, timbales,
microphone), Matt Crane (drums, percussion, samples) and Jason E
Anderson (guitar, laptop, electronics, harmonica, microphone). In
general they play shorter pieces (anywhere between 29 seconds and 11
minutes) of more regular improvised music. The techniques used on the
saxophone don’t seem to extend beyond the regular playing and also
say the drums are used in a rather normal free improv manner. The
most interesting parts are played on the guitar, laptop and
electronics, such as in ‘Domani E Troppo Tardi’, with it’s slow built
up. Sort of alright, this disc. (FdW)
Address: http://www.locustmusic.com
JIM FOX – THE CITY THE WIND SWEPT AWAY (miniCD by Cold Blue Music)
DANIEL LENTZ – LOS TIGRES DE MARTE (miniCD by Cold Blue Music)
MICHEAL JON FINK – A TEMPERAMENT FOR ANGELS (miniCD by Cold Blue Music)
STEVE PETERS – FROM SHELTER (miniCD by Cold Blue Music)
Under the banner of ‘Complete One Course Meals’, Cold Blue Music
releases four CD singles – well, packed in digipack and looking like
a big CD anyway, it’s hard to tell they are CD singles – by four
different composers.
The first one is by Jim Fox and turned out to be the only one in the
series which uses trombones, but also (as usual for so many Cold Blue
releases) violins, piano and cello. The sound of the trombone and
bass trombone add a haunting, dark effect to the music, over which
the piano and the strings play their more lighthearted tunes. The
main instrument is the piano however, playing the main lines and
everything swirls around it – desolated music, or rather the music of
desolated places – maybe the sound happening when a city is indeed
swept away by the wind.
‘Los Tigres De Marte’ by Daniel Lentz is a piece for clarinet,
electronic keyboards, violins, viola and cello and is a rather lively
piece, quite tonal too with some shimmering of Lentz’ old influences
(which he says are serialism and bebop). Although this is a nice
piece, I must also say that it’s not a piece made for me. Too regular
orchestral sounding, without too much of sharp edge in there, maybe
too sweet and smooth. But nevertheless pleasent to hear.
More angular is the work by Micheal Jon Fink. Also scored for violins
and cellos, but also cymbals and sampler keyboards, the piece evolves
around sustained pitches of sound that are closely related, but
played with some pastoral touch. A bit microtonal in approach and for
sure highly minimal. Over the course of the piece sounds are added by
means of sampling until towards the end they make a crescendo and
fall back into quietness. Nice piece!
Along similar lines is the CD single by Steve Peters, whom you may
know for his more electro-acoustic work. Unlike the others, this
contains four shorter pieces and it’s primary instrument is the
viola, but there is also piano and voice. In ‘Three Short Stories’
the violin plays the important role, gliding gently around. The
fourth piece, ‘My Burning Skin To Sleep’, is for voice and piano, but
the ‘ooohhhh’ singing is just not ok, at least for me. (FdW)
Address: http://www.coldbluemusic.com
TAMING POWER – AUTUMN WORKS 2002 (LP by Early Morning Records)
It seems as if Taming Power sits on an endless pile of recordings,
and has enough money to make them all public on vinyl. All of his
records are limited to say some 200 copies and each has a photograph
and some text on the back. The eight pieces here are all played by
guitar, feeding it through some distortion and delay and putting it
to four track cassette recorder. Except the first piece which also
contains some ‘reversed guitar and some stop motion recording’
(whatever that may be). This is very minimal concept, and I couldn’t
help thinking that I was listening to eight or more less similar
pieces. The guitar is being strummed, some delay (where’s the
distortion) and that’s about it. The guitar sounds the same through
out each of these eight pieces – slightly high pitched. I think more
could have been of this simple idea and it’s a pity that Taming Power
didn’t do that. One of the weaker brothers in his vast catalogue.
(FdW)
Address: <earlymrecords@yahoo.no>
PAUL BRADLEY – SEPULCHRAL (CDR by Twenty Hertz)
PHIL MOULDYCLIFF & COLIN POTTER – DRONE WORKS #3 (CDR by Twenty Hertz)
On his latest CDR release, Paul Bradley (one of the rising stars from
the UK drone music scene) processes the sound of guitar. Nothing new,
this guitar as the source of drone music. But unlike many other,
Bradley had composed a strange work that lasts about thirty minutes.
Strange in the sense that it is not one long drone from start to
finish, but it moves between strong drone passages, but then things
slip back and it seems to be starting again. There is a slightly
metallic sound to these recordings, a bit harsh at times. But
overall, this is a fine work that fits the tradition (Ora, Monos,
Mirror etc) quite well.
On the same label comes the third part of ‘drone works’, a series of
CDR’s that roughly last twenty minutes. Of course one knows the work
of Colin Potter, but Phil Mouldycliff might be lesser known. The two
worked together before (see Vital Weekly 388) and it was said back
than that Mouldycliff plays ‘audio debris field’. In the meantime I
still don’t know what that is. Their piece lasts almost twenty three
minutes and contains some very strong hypnotic drone music. Set
against a wall of sound, it seems that in the foreground there is the
sound of papers flying about, but it might as easily be the edges of
sound effects of some heavily processed field recordings. Like with
many recordings by Potter, this is loaded with sound effects, but he
is a genius with these things. Very nice work. (FdW)
Address: http://www.twentyhertz.co.uk
PABLO RECHE – CONSTELACION (MP3 by Con-V)
The name Pablo Reche is already quite know from various releases,
mainly on Spanish labels such as Gracia Territori Sonori. On this new
MP3 he offers five pieces of music, which are fine examples of the
sort of music he makes. Taking field recordings of a highly minimal
character, knitting all the sound together into a very dense, closed
field of sound. Utterly minimal in approach, but the result is great.
It’s both ambient and industrial, for some of this sounds like
nuclear rainfall on the desert, with contact microphones slowly
decaying under the fall-out. ‘Agua (Medio)’ shows us water life as
seen from the bottom of the ocean, everything happens above somewhere
and down there not much is going on. Five pieces of some intense
sound processing. (FdW)
Address: http://www.con-v.org