TOSHIYA TSUNODA – SCENERY OF DECALCOMANIA (CD by Naturestrip)
JUNKO & MATTIN – PINKNOISE (CD by W.m.o/r)
BRUCE RUSSELL – LOS DESASTRES DE LAS GUERRAS (CD by W.m.o/r)
HELIOGABALUS – TOURETTE IS NORMAL (EXCERPT 2) (CDR by W.m.o/r)
MARK WASTELL – VIBRA #1 (CDR by W.m.o/r)
LEGENDARY PINK DOTS – THE WHISPERING WALL (CD by ROIR)
LEGENDARY PINK DOTS – POPPY VARIATIONS (CD by Terminal Kaleidoscope)
KLANGSTABIL – TAKING NOTHING SERIOUSLY (CD by Ant-Zen)
CARBON (Compilation CD by Mirex)
BRUCE MOWSON – STATIC TONES (CD by Caijd Media)
PD – INWEGLOS (CD by Absurd)
GREG HEADLEY – IT CAN LEAVE, IT MUST LEAVE (CD by 28Angles)
FE-MAIL FEATURING LASSE MARHAUG – ALL MEN ARE PIGS (CD by Gameboy Records)
LASSE MARHAUG & CARLOS GIFFONI – LESBIAN BRUNCH (3″CDR by Gameboy Records)
SCENIC RAILROADS – WE’RE SERIOUS (CDR by Gameboy Records)
GOAT – REGENESIS: IRON & FLESH (3″CDR by Gameboy Records)
GOEM – ACHT CENTIMETER (3″CDR by Testing Ground)
DIE ENTTÄUSCHUNG (LP by Crouton Music)
AIDAN BAKER – SAME RIVER TWICE (7″ by Drone Records)
HERBST9 – ENENYLYN (7″ by Drone Records)
[AS] (2xCDR by Resonance FM)
METAL DUNGEON – GRIDS (3″CDR by Time Stereo)
SOUND WATCH (Magazine and 3″CDR)
REYNOLS/DAN WARBURTON – I’M NOT SITTING IN A ROOM WITH REYNOLS (CDR by Absurd)
THE MOUNTAIN OYSTERS – BENEATH THE WINGS OF HOPE (miniCDR)
FEEDBACK DISTORTION (CDR by De Hondenkoekjesfabriek)
VION & MEM – ONSET (3″CDR by The Locus Of Assemblage)
BUNNY BRAINS (CDR by Imvated)
GANG WIZARD (Cassette by Imvated)
MARUFURA FUFUNJIRU – FRAGILE (CDR by neus318)
SEB – DO NOT EXPECT (2CDR by chmafu nocords)
SASCHA NEUDECK – KRATZLAUF (CDR by Chmafu nocords)
LALELOO – LOOP POOL (CDR by Chmafu nocords)
KAZUYA ISHIGAMI – UTIAGE HANABI (CDR by Chmafu nocords)
URKUMA – ONOMATOPOEIC CIGARETTES (CDR by Chmafu nocords)
TOSHIYA TSUNODA – SCENERY OF DECALCOMANIA (CD by Naturestrip)
After Toshiya’s recent release which was in many ways different than
so far, he returns to his usual territory. On ‘Kapotte Muziek by
Toshiya Tsunoda’ he doesn’t tell anything about the way he did his
‘remix’, which is something odd for Toshiya, because on every release
he tells us about the process behind each track. ‘Scenery Of
Decalcomania’ is no different: each of the seven tracks is described
at length here. Everything is Tsunoda’s work has to do with the
spatial quality of sound, where to put a microphone (usually a tube
or cylinder) in relation to the sounds that he wants to record, say a
ferry passing or the wind on a bridge. Maybe you think: ah the usual
Tsunoda work, but there are some interesting chances in his work.
There are seven tracks on this CD, much less than on some of his
previous work. Also it seems to me that there is some more electronic
sound, such as in ‘Cut Diagonally’ and in ‘Unstable Contact’ – in
which he returns to using vibrating plates. In some of the other
pieces he deals with more pure field recordings, which makes this
into a much more varied CD than some of his previous works. It works
really well, this variation and this is a very good introduction to
the work of Tsunoda, who is not just a fine composer of field
recording works, but also constructs wonderfull sound installations.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.naturestrip.com
JUNKO & MATTIN – PINKNOISE (CD by W.m.o/r)
BRUCE RUSSELL – LOS DESASTRES DE LAS GUERRAS (CD by W.m.o/r)
HELIOGABALUS – TOURETTE IS NORMAL (EXCERPT 2) (CDR by W.m.o/r)
MARK WASTELL – VIBRA #1 (CDR by W.m.o/r)
Everything seems to go well for Mattin, the man with his feedback
laptop from the Basq land in Spain. More and more one sees his name
popping up in the improvisational music circus and more and more he
manifests his label not just to document his own work, but also to
release works by others.
His ‘Pinknoise’ release with vocalist Junko is the complete opposite
of his ‘White Noise’ release, which he did with Radu Malfatti (see
Vital Weekly 412). That one was rather quiet compared to the all hell
break loose noise of ‘Pinknoise’. This is thirty minute piece of
computer feedback, pitched to the far high end and Junko screaming
her lungs out. Quite an intense album, providing of course you can
sit this all the way through for the full thirty minutes. Not an easy
task.
Maybe I didn’t write this very often before, but I think Bruce
Russell is one of the more interesting improvising musicians there
is. Although he is far away in New Zealand, we don’t see him very
often around in Europe or America and therefore he is not very often
part of the improvisational music circus mentioned before. On his CD
there are four pieces, all dealing with the disasters of war. Three
of them are Bruce solo on his electric guitar and one is a duet he
recorded with Mattin in live concert in New Zealand. For his three
solo pieces, Russell plays electric guitar through some echo unit,
carefully playing around with silence and noise in a very thoughtfull
way. In the duet, Russell extends his guitar playing and serves the
computerized feedback of Mattin who takes in return the room
vibrations to let things explode. This is a very nice release, not
just the music, but also the philosophical texts that are also
enclosed, and which are certainly not easy to understand.
I have no idea who or what Heliogabalus is but his ‘Tourette Is
Normal’ is a lo-fi piece for distorted guitars, cheap organs and
other sources of noise (percussive ones towards the end). Over the
course of some twenty six minutes this rambles on in fiery way – not
like the Junko/Mattin album, but still without any remorse or moment
of contemplation. Quite alright in it’s kind, but not great.
In more quieter areas is ‘Vibra #1’ by Mark Wastell. It’s the first
composition in a series for solo tam tam dedicated to the memory of
Roger Sutherland (see Vital Weekly 411). The tam tam used is from his
collection and used by him when he was member of Morphogenesis. I
have no idea how Mark Wastell plays this tam tam, but the twenty four
minutes that this piece is filled with beautiful humming drone music.
Maybe he feeds signal through the tam tam and picks up the signal of
the vibrations of the surface? A pastoral sounding piece that is not
closely related to that Morphogenesis, but defintely one to
contemplate the unfortunate early death of Sutherland. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mattin.org
LEGENDARY PINK DOTS – THE WHISPERING WALL (CD by ROIR)
LEGENDARY PINK DOTS – POPPY VARIATIONS (CD by Terminal Kaleidoscope)
It took me a while to review The Whispering Wall, the latest studio
offering by The Legendary Pink Dots. I didn’t know what to make of
it. One the Dots strong points is that they refuse to deliver a
carbon-copy of one of their classic albums, no matter if a lot of
fans are aching for it. The Whispering Wall does contain elements
from the past, but almost in a provocative way. Like the heavy
guitars – courtesy of new group member Erik Drost -, that one could
already find in the early eighties (songs like Break Day). Back in
those days, the songs found their fundament in electronics. Those
fundaments are back into the Dots’ realm also (after having been
replaced by drums and bass for at least a decade). On top of that
there’s the return of something else, delivered by taking away the
prominent brass parts from Niels van Hoorn. On the last releases of
the Dots, Van Hoorn seemed to be out of new tunes, repeating himself
over and over, in an annoying way. Now it looks like he stepped back
a little, into the position former brass player Hans Myre once had.
Did a lot of old things return in the texture of The Whispering Wall,
the songwriting is still on the road of psychedelic rock, that the
band started to follow somewhere at the beginning of the nineties.
Its this what makes the album sound out of place. Consider the
experimental soundscape Rising Pleasure now sounding like home
ground, a safe place, where on other albums just these kind of tracks
(strange sounds + singer Edward Ka-Spel telling a confusing and
disturbing story) used to be the weird ones. The world turned upside
down. Now 200% old time Dots are to found on Poppy Variations. Caused
because the group is exploring further down songlines they’ve already
introduced years ago. Part one of the title track, The Poppy
Variations, is founded on the song Poppy Day (from 1984). Other
tracks do contain samples and sounds from the past, somewhere around
the period 1990-1995. First track Krussoe is build around the same
tablas as Stitching Time (from 1992). Drums or rockist guitars are
nowhere to be found, on this disc. Making it connect very well to the
eighties material. (RT)
Address: www.terminalkaleidoscope.com
KLANGSTABIL – TAKING NOTHING SERIOUSLY (CD by Ant-Zen)
Not only has Maurizio Blanco, the owner of Hymen Records, managed to
stay at the forefront of the Technoid underground scene with a quite
impressive catalogue of high quality releases since the birth of the
German label back in 1997. Since the early 90’s Maurizio Blanco have
also had his very own personal sound project in collaboration with
Boris May. Klangstabil may not be the most worldwide known act on the
scene, but they are fully respected for their sound experiments and
personal expressions that have lead the project into many musical
directions. And that is also what remarks this 12th attack that also
belongs to some of the most emotional and personal albums released on
Ant Zen Recordings. Based on what Klangstabil terms “direct talking
lyrics”, the verbal side of the album is quite strong thanks to the
improvised and emotionally affected expression. On the musical side
we are dealing with a dark, desolate and very thoughtful expression.
Anger and manifestation are the keywords that slip to my tongue as I
listen to the album. The remarkable thing is the great variety of
musical expressions that has been created to fully support the lyrics
side. First of all we have the distorted electro-beats saturating and
reminding us that Kraftwerk has been one of the strongest
inspirations for the Klangstabil-project. But during the 45 minutes
playing time we also come around EBM-oriented Industrial,
experimental ambient, synthpop, minimal techno just to name a few
elements. On the aggressive side we are confronted with some power
electronics and even a few minutes of furious grindcore. In fact the
most deeply emotional track titled “Push yourself” on the album have
been based on harsh electronics. It has to be, if not the only, then
one of the very few ballads of power electronics ever created in
music history. Ultimately the album title almost seems ironic when
the last sound has faded away. This is an intense and deeply
affecting sound experience that only can be taken very seriously!
(NMP)
Address: http://www.ant-zen.com
CARBON (Compilation CD by Mirex)
As I was introduced to the album “Revelry and decadence as the right
of slaves” by Scottish artist Fanny released on the label Mirex
Records in 2003, I should have been warned about the “over the
top”-sonic expression characterizing that certain label. Still the
infernal sound explosion from this first label-sampler managed to
blow my head right away. With its 75+ minutes of furious breakbeats,
“Carbon” makes it very clear for us that Mirex is a label putting its
strength into the hard side of electronic music. But despite its
spinning around the breakcore sound sphere there is a great variation
in musical expression throughout the 20 tracks on the album. Opening
with the sinister orchestral sounds of the famous “Shower scene” from
the horror classic “Psycho” infused with some high speed breakbeats
by Blaerg, the speed are soon supplied with heavy bass-lines and
hordes of samples as Hecate enter the stage on second track. Best
moments on the compilation come from Xanopticon with the ultrafast
and furious rhythmic freakout based on sampled Aphex Twin-tracks and
from Undacova with the atmospheric work of classic techstep not to
mention the jazzy breaknoise-track “Get Squirrely” by Terminal11. The
chance of falling asleep under the breath-taking trip through the
“Carbon”-compilation is minimal. But as the trip has ended and the
last sound of the compilation has left the room, the chance on the
other side might be too overwhelming. (NMP)
Address: http://www.c10cl12.com
BRUCE MOWSON – STATIC TONES (CD by Caijd Media)
This is the first time I hear of Bruce Mowson, who is a sound artist
from Melbourne and co-director of the Liquid Architecture national
sound art festival. His musical approach is with ‘static tones’:
taking a whole bunch of small loops (and I mean really small, maybe
1/10 of a second), which are running at the same time, like an
uncontrolled mass, like flies, like insects or bats: loads of black
static sound, in which there seems to be hardly any change. Each of
the three pieces last around twelve and half minute, whereas maybe
one minute would have been enough to do the same time. A loop record
– one with endless grooves – would have been maybe even more
appropiate. Now it seems to miss the point. Three, fairly similar
tracks, both in execution, but also in approach, that start and stop,
but without much development or even the slightest minimalist chance.
Maybe I just miss a point here and there. (FdW)
Address: http://caijd.com
PD – INWEGLOS (CD by Absurd)
Little by little, the musical career of Ralf Wehowsky is unfolded on
CD, either his work with P16.D4 or it’s predecessor PD. Some of these
works were released as ‘EaRLyW’, simple because Wehowsky (aka RLW)
was the main man behind P16.D4 and PD, but here as PD. The band
included members such as RLW, Jochen Pense, Joachim Stender and Achim
Szepanski. PD recorded ‘Inweglos’ LP, but also a 7″ and a flexidisc –
the latter are not included in this release, for reasons I don’t
know. In some of these tracks PD is shown as a typical Neue Deutsche
Welle band: finding their own form within rock music based on punk
and new wave but in a more alternative form and as always with German
lyrics. PD use to quite an extensive part synthesizers and
rhythmboxes, along with bass guitars, guitars and vocals. At times
they sound like a very free form improv band and at other times a
more rock version of the early Der Plan, but without so much of
humour involved in Der Plan. PD is much more political (see
‘Ayatollah Carter’) and also more dark in their lyrics – save for
some hints towards disco in ‘Progressive Disco’. Some of the material
forecasts the later P16.D4 work, such as in the semi cut-up of
‘Kurzzug Nach Frankfurt’, but in general fits the 1980 sound very
well: distorted, free form music, taking punk and new wave in a much
wider field of music. Maybe I didn’t play the LP in many years, but
the renewed apparence is for sure a good one. It was indeed one of
those more obscure classics waiting to be re-issued. (FdW)
Address: <absurd@otenet.gr>
GREG HEADLEY – IT CAN LEAVE, IT MUST LEAVE (CD by 28Angles)
After a couple of CDRs and one ‘real’ CD, this is the fifth solo
release of Greg Headley, who is a guitarist cum computer musicians
from the USA. If you think this leads to a lot of crackle and hiss
with no resemblance to any guitar sound than you are wrong. Headley’s
music is not just the computer processed guitar sounds, but it also
includes some ‘real’ guitar playing, such as in ‘Burst Sideways’. In
general Headley moves a little bit away from his early, more drone
related music, into a slightly more rhythmic area of music, taking
little bits of real guitar playing in account. It’s hard not to think
of some of Fennesz’ work, because it involves guitar playing and
computer processing, but to open up the sound, move away from the
more closed microsound/glitch guitar sound, is surely one of the
stronger points of this CD. It’s good to see that Headley cares about
development in his style, and not continues to release similar music.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.28angles.com
FE-MAIL FEATURING LASSE MARHAUG – ALL MEN ARE PIGS (CD by Gameboy Records)
LASSE MARHAUG & CARLOS GIFFONI – LESBIAN BRUNCH (3″CDR by Gameboy Records)
SCENIC RAILROADS – WE’RE SERIOUS (CDR by Gameboy Records)
GOAT – REGENESIS: IRON & FLESH (3″CDR by Gameboy Records)
Only very recent (Vital Weekly 429) I reviewed a collaborative CD by
Lasse Marhaug and Maja Ratkje, now it’s followed by Marhaug and
Fe-mail, a duo of Maja Ratkje and Hild Sofie Tafjord. The recordings
are not very recent (from feburary 2002) but maybe only recentely
mixed, by ‘The Swine’, as the cover says – and me thinks they mean
Marhaug. If they can put one man on the moon, why not all of them? is
probably the motto of this CD. The CD starts out with ‘Oh, You Gritty
Thing’, a full noise blast, but luckily the album has also some more
contemplative moments – for whatever that’s worth of course – such as
the vinyl abuse of ‘In The Slicer With Lasse Neuf’ or ‘Charmed’. For
the bigger part this is of course an ear-splitting collaboration,
worthy for the son of Merzbow, and as far as I know not really a pig
at all.
On CDR in a small size, Marhaug teams up with Carlos Giffoni, one
third of Monotract and recentely reviewed with his trio 3″CD with Jim
O’Rourke and Lee Ranaldo (see Vital Weekly 430). The recording was
made in july 2003 in Antwerps Stereophonics and is a session of
improvised laptop noise in combination with electronics and towards
the end even some guitars. Of course the two boys play a full on
noise thing here, but with enough variation and skill to keep things
interesting for the full twenty minutes.
On the same label there is also a release by Scenic Railroads, a
collaboration of labelboss Mike Shiflet and Joe Pazner, which I
happen to have seen playing live (but my memory has faded a little
bit). It’s a duo of laptops and electronica (objects, radio). In the
five pieces on this release they cover what some people would call
microsound: crackling fields of static noise, but played by Scenic
Railroads in a somewhat improvised manner. Sparsely layered white
noise and field recordings of a rather undefined nature. Quite nice
this stuff, but maybe not totally fresh and new. Good passtime music,
I’d say.
Goat hails from Texas and looking at the cover I fear some gothic
noise. Apperentely this is a field recording made inside an
industrial factory. It doesn’t say which kind of factory but it is
for sure a noisy place. I once visited a cement factory and the sound
was simply overwhelming, much better than any so-called industrial
record I ever heard. It’s hard to record, but I think Goat are fairly
succesfull in making such a recording: the fifteen minute blast of
noise is a truely captivating one – but maybe it’s because I was
reminded at my own visit to a factory. It’s rather uncomposed noise,
but taken face value and quite nice at that. (FdW)
Address: http://www.gmby.net
GOEM – ACHT CENTIMETER (3″CDR by Testing Ground)
Finally, a chance for me to review a Goem release in Vital! After my
reviews of the Freiband and Kapotte Muziek releases (in Vital 413 and
419), I have to review a release from (as you may already know if
you’ve read the previous reviews:) one of Frans de Waard’s bands I’m
most familiar with. The sound here, which is made, as expected,
mainly of smaller looped sounds, left an impression on me like a kind
of music that can be released by Raster Noton. That’s probably
because of the minimalism in this music. It was nice to hear this EP.
It’s maybe not something new under the sun, as one of the band
members would say, but that’s also not so important about this
release I think. I see the sound of Goem like a continuous
soundscape, split on various releases, and this one is a part of that
soundscape of minimal loop variations. In that way it also reminded
me of Frank Bretschneider. Plus in a way Goem’s music here is filled
with distant blurry and very abstract dubby flow, with the silent
bass and the smallest crackling sounds. The soundscape nature of this
music makes me think that adding more bass to it might make it sound
droney, and adjusting the sound like that to release a Goem 7″ for
Drone Records sometime in future could be a nice idea. Well, sorry if
this is too freely written review, but I enjoyed writing it as much
as I enjoyed listening to this EP. Keep the faith! (BR)
Address: http://www.testinground.com
DIE ENTTÄUSCHUNG (LP by Crouton Music)
Sometimes I am reviewing records that are so outside of my normal
digest for Vital, that I purely like them, because they are so
different. Die Enttäuschung is one such record. The band consists of
Rudi Mahall on bass clarinet, Uli Jennessen on drums, Jan Roder on
bass and Axel Dörner on trumpet. Ah Dörner is a name that I
recognize. His CDs of trumpet playing (either solo or with others)
displays an original technique, in which the trumpet as such is hard
to recognize. But none such here, as Die Enttäuschung is a modern
jazz band. They play thirteen short compositions in jazz style. I
read that this explores the tunes of Thelonius Monk, but sadly enough
I’m unfamiliar with jazz history to relate to that. What I do know is
that this is far away from any music that I normally hear. I am
reading a book meanwhile, while the airco tries to get rid off of
some of the summer heat. My feet tap along the groove rhythms –
rather unnoticed, and I imagine myself in a very hot, smoke filled
jazz club. Luckily I smoke pipe, like a true jazz lover would do. The
beard and black cloths lack, but otherwise I would have been in true
jazz style. Good to know such music exists, good to play on such a
hot day. (FdW)
Address: http://www.croutonmusic.com
AIDAN BAKER – SAME RIVER TWICE (7″ by Drone Records)
HERBST9 – ENENYLYN (7″ by Drone Records)
It’s nice to follow Aidan Baker’s releases, a Canadian musician and
writer. Some time ago (in Vital 425) I mentioned that he’s releasing
a 7″ EP for Drone Records, so here it is. It’s also nice to follow
the new 7″s from Drone (and search through the older ones), so this
is a double pleasure for me. And having heard enough good droney
music from Aidan Baker so far, I’m happy he’s on Drone Records now
too. There are 2 tracks, each on one side of the blue water coloured
vinyl with yellow spots, and the label says: “filed under: poetic &
trancy day-dream-drones”. The title-track ‘Same river twice’ on side
A is much lighter than the track on the second side, which has a
distant tribal side to it, because of the percussion sounds in it.
Besides that, Aidan also uses guitars, flutes and loops in the music
here, but flutes and percussion are only in the track on the side B I
think. The title-track, with layers of loops and guitar sounds
pointed out, is much closer to the calm warm ambience of the other
Aidan Baker’s releases on Taalem and Locus Of Assemblage from this
year. A bit simple but effective, well done and nice.
That was the 68th drone, and the 67th 7″ from Drone Records is a
white vinyl from Herbst9 who have made some more music before as
Loki, but I haven’t heard about them before. Here they’re filed
under: sacrificial / shamanic drones. And it’s nice, and that’s also
a bit strange to me because I never liked shamanic things before. But
now it’s in the more specific context of this music, which is in a
wider context of post-industrial ambience. Also like Aidan Baker,
there are 2 tracks here too, each on every side. ‘Mletkin’ on side A
sounds really good, it takes some time to develop, it’s like hearing
a (sub?)consciousness of some strange ancient creature from the past
awakening very slowly, surrounded by trees in a wood on a desolate
mountain, it’s daytime and it opens it’s eyes but then the track
ends, leaving you with an anticipation or asking for more. The same
feeling I had after seeing Bertolucci’s ‘Dreamers’. The shamanic
elements in this music are very light and transparent, so don’t worry
if you’re like me, not big fan of that stuff. In the other track
‘Tynemlen’ the voice sound is important. Both very nice tracks, kinda
archaic sounding. (BR)
Address: http://www.dronerecords.de
[AS] (2xCDR by Resonance FM)
In Vital Weekly you sometimes see the announcements by Ben Green for
his radio programm ‘[as]’. In this hour long programm, sound artists
present their more conceptual work. In Vital Weekly we usually
reprinted the conceptual outlines written by some of the artists (see
last week for a fine example). I must admit it made me think that Mr.
Green must by now sit on this enormous pile of exclusive sound
material by some of the nicest sound artists around – maybe he knew
that aswell, because he compiled this double CDR release in an
edition of 200 copies with excerpts of some of the contributions –
well, that is twenty-eight of them, and the CDRs are really packed –
160 minutes full on. Since we are dealing with some highly conceptual
works here, it is sometimes enough to hear two or three minutes to
grasp the idea. In some cases, the work is conceptual too, but there
it’s nicer to hear the textures of sound a little bit longer and see
how they develop. That is the case with people like Christophe
Charles, Brendan Walls, Loren Chasse etc. In general I must say I was
quite surprised by the quality of these works and I think it’s a good
oppurtunity to find out more about these works. Since ‘[As]’ is an
ongoing affair, may I ask for a second volume of highlights? (FdW)
Address: http://www.resonancefm.com/shop.php
METAL DUNGEON – GRIDS (3″CDR by Time Stereo)
In Time Stereo’s new series of 3″ CDR comes an obscure release by
Metal Dungeon. I have no idea who he or she is, but “Grids” is a firm
excercise in feedback noise. The backdrop is made of an ongoing
rhythm low end noise, over which the feedback does their
improvisational thing. A ten minute travel into hell. Furious but
nice anyway. And long enough to hold ones attention, and short enough
to think there might have been more in there. Comes with an army
patch for your own noise camp uniform. (FdW)
Address: http://www.timestereo.com
SOUND WATCH (Magazine and 3″CDR)
Taiwan is of course not a country that one easily associates with
modern music, but the label and magazine Noise tries to change that,
either by releases or concerts. Their recent project is Sound Watch,
a full colour magazine, with articles on Christina Kubisch, Carsten
Nicolai, Felix Hess but also on labels such as Mego or Digital
Narcis. Both in english and Chinese, this may offer no real new
insight in what’s going on if you are an investigator yourself, but
it’s nicely printed and presented. Unfortunally I couldn’t access the
3″CDR on my apple computer, but it features documentation on
‘Sounding Taipei 2004, with Francisco Lopez, Kit Clayton, Scott
Arford and more. (FdW)
Address: http://www.noisetw.com
REYNOLS/DAN WARBURTON – I’M NOT SITTING IN A ROOM WITH REYNOLS (CDR by Absurd)
Maybe you are familiar with Alvin Lucier’s ‘I’m Sitting In A Room’,
in which he speaks a short text and then plays it back in the room,
and re-records it with the room acoustics, and then repeats this a
couple of times? Something similar is done here. Dan Warburton
interviewed Reynols and subsequentely adds sounds from other tapes to
it, until he has about twelve different recordings on one cheap
cassette, which he edits into a 43 minute piece. At the same time a
recording arrives from a Reynols concert in France, which lasts also
about 43 minutes and then the two recordings are joint on this
release (I recall Lucier’s original on Lovely Records also lasts
about 43 minutes). The resultant release is indeed a most strange
recording. It has the usual ingredients of Reynols live, the
improvised rumbling on guitars and drums which never get me going
really, but in combination with the tapes provided by Waburton this
is an even stranger recording of outsider music. Noises that seem to
swirl in and out all the time mix nicely with the original Reynols
recording. Now things make more sense… (FdW)
Address: <absurd@otenet.gr>
THE MOUNTAIN OYSTERS – BENEATH THE WINGS OF HOPE (miniCDR)
A follow up to Anders Ostberg’s previous release ‘Tonrum’ (see Vital
Weekly 387) is a rather short release, just under ten minutes. Nicely
packed in a jewel case and printed insert, The Mountain Oysters are
Anders Ostberg on ‘pulsar trains, recording and development’ and
Conney Berg on ‘lyrics, voice and percussion’. Less minimal in
execution as ‘Tonrum’, the four small pieces here are more poetic in
approach. ‘Inland’ is the opening piece of processed electronica:
lighthearted but fitting the ideas of microsound. ‘Tears Of Silver’
and ‘Breating Space’ however are more dark pieces, of rather badly
spoken word and organlike sound, with a background of humming organs.
‘Outland’ closes the CDR with semi-distorted noise and percussive
rumbling. As much as I enjoyed ‘Tonrum’, I thought this was a rather
disapointing release. The music didn’t seem well-recorded for any
unclear reason and I just seem to miss a point somewhere. I wish I
knew where. (FdW)
Address: http://www.andersostberg.uni.cc
FEEDBACK DISTORTION (CDR by De Hondenkoekjesfabriek)
The two man behind Feedback Distortion are Marcel Herms and Marc van
Elburg, the latter also runs De Hondenkoekjesfabriek, not just a
label that releases music, but usually in combination with comics.
This release comes with a nice comic book too: not one that tells us
a story of some kind, but rather just a bunch of drawings. As usual
with a nice full colour cover and in a plastic bag. Marc van Elburg
is also the man behind the Fucking Bastards, one of the leading young
noise bands from The Netherlands. Feedback Distortion however is,
despite it’s name, not just about feedback and distortion, although
there are moments in these thirty minutes in which they life up to
their name. It’s mainly the more quieter parts of this CDR which
shows us that the two are more than noise artists, there is even some
touch of melancholy to be heard in here. It’s here where I think the
release is most interesting, were they expand their ideas of noise
into something wider. One of the better releases on the label. (FdW)
Address:
http://www.angelfire.com/stars3/fcknbstrds/de-HONDENKOEKJESFABRIEK.html
SINDRE BJERGA – GETTING JIGGY WITH IT (CDR by Absurd)
Sindre Bjerga is probably best known for his work with Fibo Trespo, a
Norwegian duo of improvised musics, but also for several solo
releases. His ‘Stavanger’ release, together with Anders Gjerde was a
true masterpiece (see Vital Weekly 378). This new work was ‘recorded
and realized at Kevin’s House, june 2004′, and that’s about it we
come to know about it. It sounds to me like a recording of some lo-fi
recording being played and fed through some computer processing, but
everything in a rather improvised way. I must admit I wasn’t blown
away by it. It sounded alright, but it never lifted itself above the
ordinary. A standard nice recording of things that I heard elsewhere
and otherwise do better already. (FdW)
Address: <absurd@otenet.gr>
VION & MEM – ONSET (3″CDR by The Locus Of Assemblage)
A collaboration that could also serve as an introduction. The disc
opens with the two bands from Poland playing a nice introspective
track together of vaguely glitchy elecronica and field recordings. It
is then followed by two solo pieces by Vion, whose noise sadly didn’t
make any impression on me at all. Mem, whose CD ‘It Was A Good Year’
was a nice one (see Vital Weekly 390), has a much better solo track a
vague percussive rumbling with some reverb like sounds added on top.
Much better than Vion’s rather simplistic noise. Mixed feelings here.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.assemblage.freeuk.com
BUNNY BRAINS (CDR by Imvated)
GANG WIZARD (Cassette by Imvated)
The first time I heard Bunny Brains was on their ‘Holiday Massacre’
release (see Vital Weekly 385), where they played, as I described it
‘country rock or swamp rock’. For their recent, untitled CDR release
on Imvated they play a much wilder form of free rock, using samples,
guitars, drums, more guitars and oh yes, also guitars. Fierce and
noisy material going on here. Nice, especially when played loud.
I don’t think I ever reviewed Gang Wizard, which is a name I vaguely
remember from the world of underground noise releases. To play this I
had to hook my cassette recorder again, which is a truely long time
ago. Soundwise Gang Wizard sound a bit like Bunny Brains: freerock,
less the samples and maybe less some of the refinement, maybe it’s
more free punkrock, which goes on and on, like an avelanche of sound.
I thought it was quite nice, but wished it was on CDR… (FdW)
Address: http://www.imvated.tk
MARUFURA FUFUNJIRU – FRAGILE (CDR by neus318)
We know Marufura Fufunjiru by his work on small label Chmafu nocords.
He is living in his apartment in Graz, Austria, but he is Venusian.
That’s what he is saying about his origins. Or that’s just his way to
resist unintelligent and imperfect human politics. Anarchist in his
convictions, he is trying to change the world. On better for sure.
And all that with his music. He has couple of releases by now and
this is his last, released on Japanese label Neus 318 owned by Kazuya
Ishigami’ (who for instance have release on Chmafu). “Fragile” is
consisted of five tracks, every in different experimental direction.
First track is starting as simple sinewave oscillating tone in which,
constant crackle flow slowly is penetrating, vibrating and evolving
together in noisy drive. At the end it is fading out till its total
silence. Second track is another long piece, in which eleven minutes,
cold, dark, ambient sound continuously is blowing as wind, frosting
all around it self. Shimmer and icy sounds of that freezing process
are attaching to the main structure, plus some short noise and glitch
cut ups are applied. Third song has also something with sinewaves.
More clear and stronger sinewave parts are changing their pitch
constantly on various time intervals. Microscopic glitches and
crackles are offering microsoundish dimension. First of last 2
shorter tracks is glitchy cut up piece with much silence between
small noisy parts. And last piece gives finish to the release with
combination of before used styles and sounds, including sinewaves,
noise and calm micro glitchy elements giving peaceful, calm and
listenable end. As the whole release is.
Address: http://www.neus318.com
SEB – DO NOT EXPECT (2CDR by chmafu nocords)
I am watching over this guy for couple of years in the past. He sent
me couple of tracks via net during our regular communication just to
hear his sound, despite I asked him for more tracks or a CD so I can
get better idea of his work. I really liked what he produced and what
I have heard from those tracks. And he is cool indeed. I was asking
him for more tracks, so he was sending me his latest material;
despite I didn’t get any CD with his music for intention to maybe
release it on my label. In the meantime I realized that my friend
maru from Chmafu nocords will release his stuff. I was glad that
someone will release his music because it is pretty good and worth
for that. This release is collection of his material probably done by
years and applied on two CDRs placed in nice DVD cover. Both of them
are produced by Sebastian Alvarez AKA SEB AKA spirit elevating brains
(as he is also signed on this cover). The sound on this album is
sound that I expected to hear. His recognizable sound of pseudo
rhythmic glitchy arrangements speeded up and slowed down is fully
present. Unusual sounds appear in moments when you don’t expect.
Unexpected cuts and drops are also here just to make disturbance,
change the atmosphere and make it more dynamic. First CD is probably
the main, full length album, named “Do Not Expect” and it is
collection of fifteen tracks. And second CD “Evidence And Process” is
(as it stands) EP collection but contained of eight tracks which
means it can be another full length. According to the sound, this EP
is similar to first CD and these tracks can be counted as some kind
of follow-up or maybe even predecessor. They are just a bit rawer and
harder but also full with inspiration. If this guy continues from
where he began and with his initial idea he will definitely have
future.
Address: http://www.nocords.net
SASCHA NEUDECK – KRATZLAUF (CDR by Chmafu nocords)
This is another Chmafu nocords release. Small label positioned in
Graz, Austria, but organized by Venusian guy maru. Probably he is
also from graz but just wants to present that he is from Venus. But
who knows. This is at the moment one of latest releases and
developing of the sound of the label can be obviously noticed. Sascha
Neudeck is playing with squashing bananas, popping balloons,
scratching metal sheets, whale grunting in the belly, snapping wood,
crackling aluminium… All these sounds can be recognized in fourteen
tracks that can be found on this release. Produced partly using
vintage synths and partly a laptop, without using microphones, this
sound collages are playing with noises creating subtle melodies and
fine ambient textures. Noise burst are interrupting into soft noisy
soundscapes constructing fine floating sound collage. Sometimes
appears rhythm constructed out of clicks. Amorphous beat can be also
seen. On moments esoteric, calming and harmonic, on moments concrete,
dynamics and uncertain this release gives us nice and calm
perspective of experimental noisy music. Cover, designed with nice
pictures including junkyard littered with crushed cars, gives one
another beautiful dimension.
Address: http://www.nocords.net
LALELOO – LOOP POOL (CDR by Chmafu nocords)
LALELOO is an electronic improvisational duo (Laleloo are: Robert
Lepenik (tapes, loops, guitar, delays), Bernhard Lang (sampler,
notebook, delays, synthesizer), Edda Strobl (video – loops)) that
works exclusively with different kinds of loops. And the title of the
release tells that too. The subtitle of the release is ‘live in
concert’ because tracks are recorded live on concerts on various
locations between 2001 and 2003 so Loop Pool is release designed out
of excerpts of live performances. In their performances they
interweave these loops (played from tape players, samplers,
notebooks, and such) in several layers. Sources for this are
pre-recorded material (samples and tapes) on one and live played
sounds (radio, guitar, microphone…) on other hand. All pieces are
based on improvisation and all that combination and gluing, copying,
cutting and pasting of sounds results in experimental noise art
textures and sound collage. Ambiences, pads, noises, short cuts,
sampled instruments, skipping, vibrating sounds, sinewaves, signals,
cut ups are making randomly oriented electronic structure. You can
recognize that all tracks are recorded live because sound is a bit
weak. But that’s not disturbing the enjoyment of noisy but organic
feel and combination of the recordings.
Address: http://www.nocords.net
KAZUYA ISHIGAMI – UTIAGE HANABI (CDR by Chmafu nocords)
Kazuya Ishigami is evidently Japanese artist. He runs his label neus
318 and this is his Chmafu release. Utiage Hanabi actually means
fireworks on Japanese. Sound of “Utiage Hanabi” does not associate of
fireworks, no matter what’s the connection between fireworks and this
release or its sound. It seems that it’s all about urban living,
living in urban areas, feeling its consequences and hearing sounds
from urban places. Distant delayed voices, dark ambiences, some
traditional Japanese instruments, metal hits, cracks, city
soundscapes, running water, fabric noises, announcements on train
stations can be recognized in five longer tracks included here.
Probably sounds and field recordings were taken from urban places,
industry zones, train stations and other urban places giving to the
atmosphere more vivid sensibility. Layers of those sounds and noises
are placed one over another making rich ambient structure. As the
release is coming to its end it’s becoming noisier and delayed
varying in its level. Nothing new but very beautifully, calming and
subtle.
Address: http://www.nocords.net
URKUMA – ONOMATOPOEIC CIGARETTES (CDR by Chmafu nocords)
Onomatopoeic Cigarettes shows the connection between cancer and
cigarettes and how that problem is less banal than what it seems. But
let’s put the idea on side and explicate the problem of the sound on
this release. This chmafu nocords release consists of 15 under one
minute sonic sculptures, plus 3 extended-pleasure remixes by Urkuma’s
friends (Purusha, marufura fufunjiru and !((Corkzal). here we r
talking about the first edition of this release which comes with a
special onomatopoeic cigarette for your smoking pleasure. But
unfortunately this edition is already sold. You can now find second
edition with more remixes but without cigarette. Second edition
includes many new remixes by experimental artists like: Horror Media,
Andrea Valle, eien, Sparkle in Grey, Guignol Dangereux, SEB…, every
kid on speed, Kilroy, dayeight and Granuloid666. For your pleasure
only of course. This short tracks, named as cigarettes (also written
as gicarette, gigarette, gigarelte, gigarelle, gigareve, gigarexe,
gigar.exe, cigar.exe or cigarelle), are short noisy and glitchy
pieces; some more powerful, loud, noisy and harsh, some totally week,
quiet, calm and sinewavish, microsoudish or static. First part of
remixes (included on first edition), despite not so different in
sound, gives another perspective of original cigarettes. Second part
of remixes is also around here, orbiting through microsound, sinevawe
and noisy styles, but there r some weirder, dynamic and concrete
remixes that moves this release a bit from its motionless. For
instance, eien remix is melodic, including piano, giving reminiscence
to the only one track on this album that have piano in it self (8#
gigarelte). Sparkle in Grey remix is mellow and melancholic piece,
and daylight is trying to put concrete melody in its remix. All here
is about cigarettes as well as the cover and its design with all hand
written letters. And again, all that for your pleasure only.
Address: <http://www.nocords.net>