ANTHONY GUERRA & PAUL HOOD & JOEL STERN – LOW RESISTANCE GROUP (CD by Paradisc)
STEPHAN MATHIEU – ON TAPE (CD by Hapna)
YANNICK DAUBY – LOW VALLEY – (CD by edition…)
FOURCOLOR – AIR CURTAIN (CD by 12K)
RICHARD CHARTIER – SET OR PERFORMANCE (CD by Line)
RICHARD CHARTIER & IVAN PAVLOV – CHESSMACHINE (CD by Mutek Records)
VROMB/TELEPHERIQUE – PARADIGMA (CD by Fario)
BRETT LARNER & TOSHIMARU NAKAMURA – AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITY (CD by Impermanent Recordings)
CINC – SHINE OF WOT? (CD by Amorfon)
TOM JOHNSON – KIENTZY PLAYS JOHNSON (CD by Pogus)
MICHEAL GRAEVE – SIMPLE METHODS FOR COMPLEX TIMES (miniCD by Megalomania, Micromania)
THE HAFLER TRIO – THE CONCENTRATED RECAPTURING OF THOUGHT (10″ by Slap Art)
V.L.A.D. – XIRINGUITOS PERDIDO (12″ ep by Laboratory Instinct)
PECHUGA – HOVERING SPARKS (CDR by Pitchphase)
GOAT & PECHUGA – MIRROR:MIX (CDR by Pitchphase)
PRICE TAGGERY (CDR by Pitchphase)
HERIBERT FRIEDL – RAUMZITATE (CDR by And/oar)
ALBERT CASAIS & HAL MCGEE – NEW FORMS FOR PIANO AND PREPARED GUITAR (CDR by Hal Tapes)
THE EARWIGS/FCKN’BSTRDS – ZWAKZINNIGE INTEELTNOISE VOOR IN DE PRULLENBAK (CDR by De Hondenkoekjesfabriek)
INVADER FROM MARS & DE HONDENKOEKJESFABRIEK (DVDR by De Hondenkoekjesfabriek)
CARL KRUGER – SOUND TAKES (3″CDR by Tibprod)
CADMIUM DUNKEL – ANXIETY (3″CDR by Tibprod)
IVERSEN – HANKEL ANABAPTIST CONCKLIN ECHO (3″CDR by Tibprod)
LOOP 01 (MP3 by Loop)
UMA01_MOIRA (MP3 by Umatic)
ANTHONY GUERRA & PAUL HOOD & JOEL STERN – LOW RESISTANCE GROUP (CD by Paradisc)
All three of these musicians are well-known the world of improvisation, especially in London, even when they come from Australia. During various sessions in ‘a room in New Cross on a warm summer day’ and at Resonance FM, they recorded a whole bunch of material, which is now edited by Joel Stern for this release. Guerra plays electric guitar and electronics, Paul Hood plays turntables and Joel Stern uses electronics, custom microphones, feedback systems, field recordings and small objects. Their work, either solo or in combination with others, has been released on a whole bunch of labels, including their own TwoThousandAnd label. We are dealing with some hardcore improvisation here, but nevertheless one of the better kind. The guitar tinkles nicely away here, and beneath there is the unearthly rumble of the turntable stylus and the many small objects at hand. A car passes in the background: a field recording or an open window in the hot room? Throughout these forty-five minutes this music is full of these kind of small surprises. Carefully crafted, small, microscopic soundblocks with some more open ended strummings and e-bow doodlings, make this into a highly varied disc of improvised music. Great stuff. (FdW)
Address: http://www.parallaxrecords.jp
STEPHAN MATHIEU – ON TAPE (CD by Hapna)
The title rightly implies the underlying idea for this disc: Mathieu has used recordings of Tape (with saxophone player Magnus Granberg) to create this piece of just over half an hour. Adding a little drums of his own (he is a drummer by origin), Mathieu has created an atmospheric piece, full of wind and other hisses (Tape use harmoniums quite a lot). In this case, Mathieu decided to only edit the recordings, no processing. So the electronics that we hear must originate from Andreas Berthling’s computer, not from Mathieu’s, which is quite a new development for him (if it is not a one time experiment). About halfway through the piece, the hisses make place for percussive and repetitive elements. The whole piece sounds dense, yet open and the atmosphere is light and uncomplicated, much as the work of Tape does. Typically, the disc ends with birds singing and children playing. This is a very strong and evocative work, one that captures the listener without question. (MR)
Address: http://www.hapna.com
YANNICK DAUBY – LOW VALLEY – (CD by edition…)
Yet another enigmatic disc on this prodigious sound art label from the USA. I am sure that I’ve heard Dauby’s name before, but it escapes me at the moment where that could have been. Low Valley consists of five tracks, ranging from almost 7 to almost 17minutes in duration. Since there is no accompanying information, all explanations about this work stay in the realm of the fantastic. So let’s stick to the audible: small sounds drift in from silence, fading in and out. It must be rain or other water sounds, filtered, manipulated, but recognisable. There are also cicada’s and buzzing insects, birds singing, together with a person doing almost nothing, just being there, electrifying things. Furthermore there are electronic devices going haywire and sinewaves weaving themselves through the fabric of sound. Okay, this may sound complicated, but it is actually not so much so. I believe that Dauby is enigmatic with a good reason: ultimately hte sound sources are not overly important, the result is. And it must be said without hesitation that his compositions are strong and compulsive and deserve all the attention the listener can give them. This work is very well crafted and there is no doubt that Dauby has learned the tricks of the trade very well indeed. Recommended! (MR)
Address: <fenton@stonehenge.wrek.org>
FOURCOLOR – AIR CURTAIN (CD by 12K)
It only seems a few weeks ago that I reviewed a CD by Fourcolor, aka Keiichi Sugimoto. That was the ‘Water Mirror’ release on Apestaartje (see Vital Weekly 430). Sugimoto is also part of Minamo and Fonica; a busy man. Whereas ‘Water Mirror’ is to be understand as an album exploring guitars and drones, this new album is much more diverse in approach. Still Sugimoto plays guitar and runs the stuff through his max/msp software, but the end result is more varied. Besides the more ambient notes played in some tracks, there is also a piece like ‘AE”, which is clearly built around rhythmic elements, even when these elements seem to be broken up and not a strict linear rhythm. This is followed by ‘2 Strings’, a piece in the best Brian Eno tradition, but updated to the new millenium. Quite a nice CD, with mainly one objection: all seven tracks are a bit too long. The pieces are really milked out and every possible variation is heard somewhere. If each track was, say one to two minutes, it would have gained more quality. (FdW)
Address: http://www.12k.com
RICHARD CHARTIER – SET OR PERFORMANCE (CD by Line)
RICHARD CHARTIER & IVAN PAVLOV – CHESSMACHINE (CD by Mutek Records)
Mister Chartier is of course known to be a busy bee, with many releases, sound installations and live concerts, but especially the latter have not been covered via a release. How does Richard Chartier sound live and is that different at all from his studio work? The answer to the last question is yes. Chartier in the studio carefully constructs from maybe a one or two elements a piece of microsound, but in a live concert he plays around with various blocks of sound, either from previous compositions or unreleased works, which he freely plays around with. On this particular concert the concert lasts about forty minutes and displays the usual Chartier minimal microsound, but it’s simply more audible and throughout a lot more is happening. From the high pitched crackles in the beginning to the deep, unearthy droning sound towards the end, this is surely a different look on his material. Deep listening material for sure.
Chartier has in the past collaborated with various people, such as Taylor Deupree, William Basinski and *0, on ‘Chess Machine’, it’s a game of music against Ivan Pavlov, the man also named Coh. Here the two play with their usual blend of microscopic crackles and deep bass beeps, in relatively short pieces. I must admit I had some trouble with this. Some of the tracks don’t seem to be worked out enough, and the potential that is there is not fully explored. Somehow the pieces didn’t want to stick in the head. I am not sure what the reason is, but maybe it’s all a bit regular for me. The sounds, they way they are processed; it’s not something that I haven’t heard before. It’s too normal maybe, too average. On a scale of 1 to 10, I’d rate this with 6. (FdW)
Address: http://www.12k.com
Address: http://www.mutek.ca
VROMB/TELEPHERIQUE – PARADIGMA (CD by Fario)
Fario is a sub-division of Fear Drop magazine, whom just produced their eleventh issue, complete with CD, including BJ Nilsen, Rafael Toral, Cordell Klier, Daniel Menche, Beequeen but also Vromb. On the Fario imprint, Vromb teams up with German’s Telepherique. On Fario’s CDs you’ll find a few solo tracks by two artists aswell as some collaborative tracks. Both Vromb and Telepherique have been around since umteenth years, and the work of Telepherique has recentely got a big boost, but somehow the work of Vromb escaped me over the years. I am sure I heard it of and on, but I couldn’t possibly say how it is sounds. In a way the collaboration between Vromb and Telepherique fits very well. Both of these artists use rhythm to a great extent, but with some differences. Vromb’s rhythms are mechanical, almost machine like, Telepherique on the other hand plays more on psychedelic rhythms. When these two interests collade in the two collaborative tracks, things start to move in a really nice way. The addition of many synthesizers, make the whole thing into a mighty spacey affair. A collaboration of two of a kind, that somehow wonderfully work together. (FdW)
Address: <fear-drop@wanadoo.fr>
BRETT LARNER & TOSHIMARU NAKAMURA – AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITY (CD by Impermanent Recordings)
From the world of microtonal improvisation comes this duet of koto and no-input mixer. Two of the three improvisations were recorded live without audience, whilst the third was recorded on Artship. Here the location and the sounds a location also produces (rather than a ‘clean’ studio) becomes an important feature in the music. As you probably know, a no-input mixer is a mixer with no input but producing sounds by connecting the outputs to the inputs, thus creating feedback. Nakamura is an excellent, but utter minimalist on this trade. His highpitched tones are hard capture and one can only hear them here if the volume is right up. Brett Larner plays the koto, a Japanese string instrument. He produces sparse notes on his instrument and the gaps in between are sometimes filled with Nakamura’s high pitched, sometimes deep end sound, but also sometimes with silence. This makes this into a highly fragile, onkyo styled work, which is not something to play and do a lot of other things. Concentration is required. The third piece that includes a lot of ‘other’ sounds, real time field recordings I’d say, is perhaps the most interesting piece, in which a lot happens. Quite a stunning CD. (FdW)
Address: http://www.impermanent.info
CINC – SHINE OF WOT? (CD by Amorfon)
Cinc are a Serbian band from Belgrade and their album Shine Of Wot? is the third release on the new label Amorfon run by Yoshio Machida. It’s explained by the label that Cinc are psychedelic folk ensemble and I think that’s a fine explanation (just not so psychedelic), though it might be called avant-folk also. Their initial influences come from Joy Division, Cocteau Twins and R.E.M., their music is in a form of songs or tracks and has elements of Balkan traditional folk but put in a different context.
I am surprised that Cinc are released by Amorfon, I thought the label will be for music with more experimental touch, but they’re Yoshio’s friends from Belgrade and their music is alright, and that’s fine, although I’m not the best fan for their music. Cinc remind me of the Macedonian band Foltin (I’m much more their fan, specially with the first 2 albums), both bands are quite different, but they meet at some common places, like the use of traditional folk elements, or the way of singing (playing with words) sometimes, or with the general appearance. Still, Foltin are more jazzy and direct in their music and Cinc have more intellectual approach, in the academic way. Maybe these differences have something to do with the places they’re from, Cinc might be the Serbian counterpoint of Foltin. Belgrade is much bigger city than Bitola and more things are going on there, so Cinc members have had much more chances to be exposed to wider and various influences (like the Ring Ring festival etc…). The lyrics of Cinc are mostly in Serbian and a little English, there are 12 songs (mostly shorter miniatures) and the whole album is almost 38 minutes. All 8 members listed on the cover play these instruments: acoustic/electric guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, bass drum, violin, viola, vocals, piano and accordion. The sound is still more light than heavy. Often the most present and main instruments are the guitars, with their clear and clean sound, building the spine of the song like in simplifyed rock music. Cinc’s approach to folk can be compared with Gastr Del Sol’s or David Grubbs’ seeing of rock/alt.country music, with a strong accent on the folk this time, and more ordinary. (BR)
Address: http://www.amorfon.com and http://www.cincplug.com
TOM JOHNSON – KIENTZY PLAYS JOHNSON (CD by Pogus)
Maybe the name Tom Johnson rings no immediate bell, but since he is the writer of the excellent book ‘The Voice Of New Music’, he is for me a true hero. In that book he collects his reviews from the Village Voice, a New York magazine, in which Johnson wrote about his contemporaries. In fact, he is the one who coined the term minimal music for the music of Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Charlemagne Palestine, Phill Niblock and many more. The fact that he is also a composer might be lesser known. On this CD saxophone player Daniel Kientzy plays some of his pieces. On ‘Narayana’s Cows’, Johnson recites a text on the number of cows in various generations, but it sadly breaks the minimalist music too much for me. Played on the contrabas saxophone is ‘Tortue de Mer’, based on the work of mathematician Marc Chemillier. A short piece that couldn’t fascinate me. More interesting are the four piece pieces ‘Infinite Melodies’, with repeating melodies and finally in ‘No.1’ with longer silences, thus adding to the strength of the piece. The best piece on the CD however is ‘Kientzy Loops’ which is a mix of six alto saxophones played in continuous blowing, with one more alto saxophone playing the principal lines. A very minimal piece, in the best minimal music tradition – almost like ‘violin phase’ by Steve Reich, but much more richer in sound. Maybe, and let’s hope this will be, Johnson will reach a wider audience and get some more recognition with his music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.pogus.com
MICHEAL GRAEVE – SIMPLE METHODS FOR COMPLEX TIMES (miniCD by Megalomania, Micromania)
Unfortunally I didn’t go to Melbourne to pick this miniCD up, but instead Toshiya Tsunoda did and send it over. It’s a self-released miniCD (although 5″) with a nicely printed cover, displaying oil paintings by Micheal Graeve. Who, you may ask, just like me. He’s a painter, gallery-owner (where this CD can be had, due to lack of distribution) and constructs music with a record player and loudspeaker. Seven short sketches that were presented at an exhibition in 2000. It’s not a very recent CD, but interesting enough to mention (and maybe get some distribution moving). In all of these pieces the music sounds noisy, but gentle, not really industrial, but more like the sound of arts and crafts machines. A kind of conceptual noise that makes it for me no wonder that it is recommended by Tsunoda. Even when it differs from his own work, soundwise, there are strong similarities in sound approach. An event is being recorded, the sound of a record player with no disc spinning. Short and to the point. Once he made this point he will move over to the next piece. Jean Tinguely meets Merzbow meet Tsunoda. Very nice indeed. (FdW)
Address: http://www.westspace.org.au/archive/2003/11michael_graeve.htm
THE HAFLER TRIO – THE CONCENTRATED RECAPTURING OF THOUGHT (10″ by Slap Art)
One could wonder if the vinyl format suits the delicate music of The Hafler Trio very well. Unplayed, out of the cover, it still skips once on one side, thus breaking the delicate sounds pressed into the grooves. Why not a series of 3″ CDs (housed as 5″ CDs, just like Important Records already did twice with The Hafler Trio)? That aside, this is another puzzling release by The Hafler Trio. It doesn’t come with much text or any other reference, but somehow I think it’s connected to the performance The Hafler Trio did at Earational 2003 festival. The a-side consists of waving drone like tones, that swirl around eachother and show that the The Hafler Trio, when using digital techniques, have mastered the same quality as before. The b-side opens with far away bell-like sounds, which gradually fade over in a set of dark drones, which are more uniform in approach, but remain a dark feature throughout. Here The Hafler Trio sound like a very dark but subdued version of Organum, which is not bad at all. Certainly a nice addition to the previous 10″ releases by The Hafler Trio – and more to follow. (FdW)
Address: http://www.slapart.com
V.L.A.D. – XIRINGUITOS PERDIDO (12″ ep by Laboratory Instinct)
V.L.A.D.’s music emerges from the death of new wave and electro body music. And yeah it really seems that its inspired from 80’s acts like Human League, New Order or Fad Gadget. But V.L.A.D.’s history is more complicated than just copying 80s music today. His influences go back to late eighties taking hardcore culture, clutching his guitar and setting on a solitary trip. His early music was hardly influenced by delirious groups like Obituary, Mr Bungle or Suffocation, but the only mark he preserved from that period was the hairstyle. In 1996 he quit playing guitars and started working on a sampler in his own built studio set up in store selling toys, comics and other artifacts of pop culture. So his music is getting dimensions of the 80’s sounds and video games using all those synths he lay his hands on. His metal roots sometimes emerge through distorted sounds and drilled rhythms typical for German drum n bass acts. More electro oriented from previous Laboratory Instinct releases (but still around here) which also means more contemporary and fashionable oriented in today’s complete 80’s electro/electro pop revival. Plus somewhere around interests of labels like Artifact, Angstrom and Warp. Short, hard, intense and interesting. (TD)
Address: http://www.laboratoryinstinct.com
PECHUGA – HOVERING SPARKS (CDR by Pitchphase)
GOAT & PECHUGA – MIRROR:MIX (CDR by Pitchphase)
PRICE TAGGERY (CDR by Pitchphase)
In general CDRs have a bad reputation, mediocre music, xeroxed covers etc – basically the same arguments as some many years ago against cassettes. Which is a pity because there is also good stuff around. Even when the covers of the Pitchphase label are not my thing – in fact, if I would see such gothic font in the record store, I would probably ignore it -, they are nicely printed and the CDRs look done quite nice, even when this is presumably an edition of 50 only! And the music is quite alright too. Pechuga is one Carlos Pozo, who also run the Pitchphase label and the Angbase webzine. His ‘Hovering Sparks’ was made with analog sound sources, which were digitally edited and multi-tracked. Quite intense drone music is the result of these processings, that ranges from quite soft spoken (such as in the fourth track) to more louder and abrassive soundmaterial, such as in the fifth track. Quite a varied release that will certainly appeal to drone lovers around
The same Pechuga teams up with Goat, aka Andy O’Sullivan for ‘Mirror: mix’, which has nothing to do with the band Mirror, but everything with Klaus Schulze and Fast Eddie Clarke (the former guitarist of Motorhead, I believe). Noise and drone meet up here. Goat is responsible for the noisy part of the music, and Pechuga for the drone sides of the affair. This may sound like an odd combination, but the elements of drone and noise are not placed next to eachother, but right after eachother, so the more contemplative elements of Pechuga fade over in the fiery noise of Goat which eventually move over again in Pechuga – etc. A very nice work, of which of course the more droney elements works best for me.
Carlos Pozo is also involved in the last new release, by Price Taggery, duo of himself and one Steve Striklan. The sounds here were recorded over the period of 2002-2004, and ‘recorded, edited and composed by Steve Striklan’, so it says on the cover. No drones as such here, but Price Taggery finds their glory in using microsound-like music. Rumblings with contact microphones are processed here with computer techniques, even when it seems to me that the balance is still fifty-fifty. This makes this into a very nice work of electro-acoustic music. All three are packed with the same brown card stock and are well presented: definetly a mark of how these things should be done. (FdW)
Address: http://www.pitchphase.com
HERIBERT FRIEDL – RAUMZITATE (CDR by And/oar)
Debut release for this Austrian sculptor/sound artist, of whom I know nothing else. The work is subtitled ‘… to reserve the necessary space’ and since the title can be translated as “room quotations”, everything here deals with the spatial quality of sound. It’s hard to tell what it is excately that he does here, but let’s assume that Friedl is using field recordings which he processes with a lot of computer techniques. That sounds like a lot, but in fact, Friedl plays on the edge of softness here. A sound sounds for a while, and then it dies out, some new sound comes in, dies out, silence etc. But each new sound that comes in shows a distinct development to previous sound. The sources are only used sparsely, maybe like the recording of a rolling marble, or the sound of door being closed. Friedl’s work comes close to that of Richard Chartier, Marc Behrens or Roel Meelkop, but is even more, and yes, that is possible, more austere and silent. In that respect there is nothing new under the micro-sun, but nevertheless the material is interesting enough in itself. A most promising start. (FdW)
Address: http://www.and-oar.org
ALBERT CASAIS & HAL MCGEE – NEW FORMS FOR PIANO AND PREPARED GUITAR (CDR by Hal Tapes)
Of course this is a very clear title: ‘New Forms For Piano And Prepared Guitar’ – at least the second part of the message, I am not sure yet about the ‘new forms’. Hal McGee is that veteran when it comes to making and releasing experimental music, since the mid 80s and recentely re-surfaced with his many CDR releases of varying quality. As opposed to playing so many electronic stuff, he plays piano here. Albert Casais is sometimes also known as Omnid (see Vital Weekly 390), and he is responsible for the prepared guitar. Upon hearing this, I think Casais plays his guitar mainly with objects on the strings, which remove the whole idea of string sounds and the raw crackling of contact microphones is what remains. Maybe not really ‘new forms’, but nevertheless quite nice. McGee’s piano playing has nothing to do with new forms, as he plays the keys in a rather ordinary fashion, in a free fashion, without too much melody or composition, but still conventionally played. I think it would have been a good idea if the piano was already ‘prepared’ here and played a much stronger ‘new form’ duet of two prepared instruments. Unless of course this release is tongue in cheek (looking at their serious jazz-inspired cover, this might be the case), but then much of my comment towards the musical content remains. (FdW)
Address: http://hometown.aol.com/haltapes1/index.html
THE EARWIGS/FCKN’BSTRDS – ZWAKZINNIGE INTEELTNOISE VOOR IN DE PRULLENBAK (CDR by De Hondenkoekjesfabriek)
INVADER FROM MARS & DE HONDENKOEKJESFABRIEK (DVDR by De Hondenkoekjesfabriek)
More incestnoise for the trashcan, as this roughly translates. I never heard of the Earwigs and apperentely their material was recorded in 1997, but that doesn’t make any difference in sound from the good ol’ Fckn Bstrds. Eleven tracks in total of some very distorted noise jams, feedback waves and screaming vocals of agony (or pleasure, more likely). Maybe the whole thing is a bit too rough edged for my taste, but at least the Fckn Bstrds have some nice lyrics, but some understanding of the Dutch language is required.
Language is not required for the DVD-R with music by Invader From Mars and video by De Hondenkoekjesfabriek, who are a true multi-media collective. On the ten short animation films they produce films for ten short, mechanical songs by the Invader From Mars. Songs is the not the right word, it’s more loops of dry machine like sounds, which maybe by itself would not have been very interesting. But in combination with the lo-fi films it does make sense. De Hondenkoekjesfabriek carefully analyzed the sounds and sought for appropiate images, that sometimes works that good that one could think the films were made first. Only mildly noisy and therefore maybe more interesting. (FdW)
Address: http://www.xs4all.nl/~tellab/
CARL KRUGER – SOUND TAKES (3″CDR by Tibprod)
CADMIUM DUNKEL – ANXIETY (3″CDR by Tibprod)
IVERSEN – HANKEL ANABAPTIST CONCKLIN ECHO (3″CDR by Tibprod)
The short press text for these new Tibprod releases rave about the ‘typical Carl Kruger-style’, but since I never heard the mans music, I can’t say wether that is false or true. On ‘Sound Takes’ he presents a couple of pieces that were previously released on various websites. Kruger shows an interest in technoid rhythms and the world of digital cut-ups. Cut and paste instruments, no doubt lifted from obscure sources on the internet, with some dance rhythm in the background. I don’t think I describe it very well, but the result is not bad at all. Not startling new either, but nevertheless quite nice.
Probably there are more releases by Cadmium Dunkel, but this is the second one I encounter. He thinks himself to be a painter in sound. The first three tracks are quite dark, haunting images of desolated cities, that idea of spooky stuff springs to mind. Atmopsheric stuff, but unfortunally the chain is broken by the final track, the shortest here fortunally. Drums and vocals present a sort of gothic to which I am slightly allergic.
The final new Tibprod is by label boss Iversen, who presents a work in progress. Mainly live work in progress, or something that is to be extended for a live show. Embedded in thick clouds of layered noise, suddenly music swirls about, classical music. No doubt the mass of noise is processed classical music too, me thinks. Quite a nice start for something that could easily be expanded, and maybe could played live. Interesting noise. (FdW)
Address: http://www.tibprod.com
LOOP 01 (MP3 by Loop)
A compilation free for download from the Chilean website loop. The title is probably programmatic, but the loops are used in different ways. The dense drone piece by Pablo Reche for instance consists probably of a lot of loops, carefully placed on top of eachother to create this dense mass of sound. On the total opposite side is Receptor with their (his?) Chain Reaction inspired tune. In between a lot more loose loops are used, in various guises, but the overall ambient character of the pieces are to be noted here, such as in the pieces by Gustavo Lamas, Vadislav Delay, Coti or Richard Chartier. Also includes Kim Cascone, Longina, Acpluslia, Denzel & Huhn, Lame Gold, Dub Tractor, Luis Marte and Coeval. Very nice compilation. (FdW)
Address: http://www.loop.cl
UMA01_MOIRA (MP3 by Umatic)
Umatic is a new label where one can download the ‘whole package’: not just the music, but also a cover and a CD print. Umatic also organises events, and on the first release we find some collaborations recorded at the first event in March 2004. The first piece is by Christian Toonk (of whom I never heard) and Bas van Koolwijk (whose name I heard before, but I don’t think I ever heard his music). Their piece starts out with some deep end laptop rumble, but over the course of the piece, rhythms flow by which adds a nice Pan Sonic/Ikeda character to the music. Quite a nice, yet not suprising piece of music. The second piece is by Yannick Dauby and 87 Central, and here we enter the world of field recordings and sound processing. Dauby and 87 Central go through various sorts of fields here, both in their recording and processing and this makes this piece a well varied, but maybe also a bit disoriented place, but certainly towards the end it builts up quite nicely. (FdW)
Address: http://www.umatic.nl/label_release01.html
Correction to Vital Weekly 436:
Greg from Piehead Records here. I have a comment/correction regarding your recent review of our latest release…
ML – MAN IS THE WARMEST PLACE TO HIDE (CDR by Piehead Records)
Of course you’ll have to excuse me for I’m not very familiar with the works of John Carpenter (you know: of The Carpenters), and certainly not his early scores. The band ml (underscore intentional), being Rian, Tanner and Laird from Oregon and Washington, asked themselves the question: “What would John Carpenter do?” – but the resultant CDR release has very little to do with John Carpenter.
John Carpenter has nothing to do with the musical group The Carpenters – that would be Richard Carpenter.
John Carpenter is instead a director of horror films who is also a very talented composer & performer. He wrote the music scores for most of his films, and was one of the first film composers to use electronic & digital instruments to allow him to perform most or all of the music himself.
If you are interested, you can find out more information at http://www.theofficialjohncarpenter.com