TILIA – VOUS RÊVES/ VOUS NE RÊVES PAS (CD by Cronica)
SON OF CLAY – THE BIRD YOU NEVER WERE (CD by Komplott)
JOHN HUDAK – ROOM WITH SKY (CD by Spekk)
PAN/TONE – NEWFOUND URBAN CALM (2CD by Bip Hop)
EVIL MOISTURE – KILLER NUTS (CD by Deco)
CO – COMOC (CD by Mik Musik)
MOLR DRAMMAZ – VERY VS VERY (MP3 by Mik Musik)
ILIOS – VENTO ELEKTRA (CD by Antifrost)
MATTIN & DION WORKMAN – VIA VESPUCCI (miniCD by Antifrost)
MJANE – PRAYER FROM THE UNDERBELLY (CD by Pax Recordings)
SOPHIE RIMHEDEN – MISS (CD by Svedjebruk)
SUPERCILIOUS – NEXT TIME WE GO SUBLIME (CD by Monopsone)
VERTONEN – RETURN OF THE INTERROBANG (CD by C.I.P.)
PINEY GIR – PEAKAHOKABOO (CD by Greyday Productions)
BOOKS ON TAPE – THE BUSINESS END (CD by Greyday Productions)
MUSIC FOR BABY (CD compilation by Amorfon)
HEMATIC SUNSETS AND OKKO BEKKER – WEIHNACHTEN IM AROMA CLUB (7″ by Meeuw Muzak)
JOS SMOLDERS – TEXTURES AND MOBILES (CDR by Con-V)
K&A – SUPER PREIS (CDR by Phonoerotic)
ZVUK BRODA – AEROBIK (CDr by Egoboo.bits)
MUGEN – [/END] (CDR by Pachinko Studio)
MING – VERSUS THE GREAT SATAN (CDR by Carbon Records)
HAL MCGEE & RICK FRANECKI – MOON EGG RABBIT STAR (CDR by Hal Tapes)
HAL MCGEE & RICK FRANECKI & BRIAN NORING & CHARLES RICE GOFF III –
EXCURSIONS (CDR by Hal Tapes)
DISSECTING DISASTRATOS (MP3 by Audiobulb Records)
TILIA – VOUS RÊVES/ VOUS NE RÊVES PAS (CD by Cronica)
Cronica, the fine Portugese label, always seems to find artists which
are new to me. Tilia is one Alexander Peterhaensel, a composer from
Cologne, who had various works on labels as 12Rec/Rotesonne, Subway
Records and Rattay, which all have escaped this listener. Originally
‘Vous Rêves/ Vous Ne Rêves Pas’ (meaning ‘you are dreaming/you are
not dreaming’) was a multi-channel piece for the
“Who_Loves2dance.company”. It’s mainly built around piano loops, but
also involves bass and voices. All of these ingredients are mingled
through the use of computer processing, so scratches, clicks and cuts
are all part of the dish. Analogue meets digital here in a rather
nice way. It would be easy to see the minimal piano loops in the
tradition of Steve Reich, but it lacks the overtones. It’s rather
more like Simeon Ten Holt meeting post-rock, especially when the bass
drops in. The mumbled spoken word add an alien feel to it, and the
electronics top things off nicely. Quite atmospheric music. On the
same CD there is also the complete film that belongs to the music,
and here I was quite surprised to see that it consists completely of
abstract images, moving along the rhythms of the music. I expected
something less abstract and more narrative I guess. So in all a nice
surprise throughout this release. (FdW)
Address: http://www.cronicaelectronica.org
SON OF CLAY – THE BIRD YOU NEVER WERE (CD by Komplott)
Much water has passed through the river since I reviewed the debut CD
of Son Of Clay, aka
Andreas Bertilsson (see Vital Weekly 355). I wasn’t too blown away by
the result, even when the concept sounded really nice: sampling
sounds from the environment (windows, doors, balcony), but the result
walked too much common ground. “The Bird You Never Were” however is a
big step forward. Still using field recordings, such as squakey
chairs, are argumented by the use of acoustic instruments, mainly
guitar, clarinet and percussion. These instruments provide gliding
textural tones, which add a nice brooding atmospheric sound to the
music. Among his influences, Son Of Clay sites Talk Talk, and I see a
reference to Talk Talk’s ‘Spirit Of Eden’: similar melancholic
sounds, that sustain all the way, until the end, but with Son Of Clay
even more embedded in a modern classical approach. Small, miniature
like but complex compositions that evoke, each, its own sense of
beauty. On the fringes of sound art (execution of sound material),
modern classical composed music (in it’s complexity) and popmusic
(it’s shortness in music). This new CD blows the previous completely
away. (FdW)
Address: http://www.komplott.com
JOHN HUDAK – ROOM WITH SKY (CD by Spekk)
John Hudak slowly builts a very consistent body of work together,
that by now dates back to the mid 80s and spans many cassette only
releases (and most of them worth a re-issue on CDR, mind you), CDs
and CDrs and some on vinyl – although that is something not happening
a lot. ‘Room With Sky’ is his latest work, I think self-released on
his Chaba Recordings label, a CDR in a small edition. The piece lasts
about one hour, like so many other Hudak pieces. It’s the perfect
length for a Hudak release. Not that there is much development going
on here, but it’s the right length for the listener to forget time
and place and simply to enjoy the sounds. Here it’s unclear what kind
of sounds Hudak has put into his machines (laptop with max/msp
patches, I believe), maybe it’s some natural sound, maybe it’s a
piano? With somebody like Hudak this is never really important – it’s
the result that matters. These simple sound processings move forward
slowly, peacefully – like a mass of ice moving over the course of
thousands years – slowly, without much change on the surface, but
underneath is where the action takes place. To some it might seem
that John Hudak produces ambient music on the fringe of new age, but
this is not so at all. His sounds are too edgy for that. Hudak has
crafted another fine work – another stone in his slow expanding
universe.
The previous lines are what I wrote in Vital Weekly 401, and oh joy,
how nice it is to see re-issue on a real CD by Spekk, in a beautiful
cover and lovingely remastered (going from digital to analogue and
than back to digital for this much needed extra warmth) by Stephan
Mathieu. Great re-release! (FdW)
Address: http://www.spekk.net
PAN/TONE – NEWFOUND URBAN CALM (2CD by Bip Hop)
Despite his various releases on labels such as BacjGround, Onitor,
Neuton, Revolver, SubStatic, the name Pan/Tone (aka Shelbono Del
Monte, aka Sheldon Sidney LeRock) didn’t a bell for me. LeRock
started out playing techno in Windsor (that’s where Plastikman is too
from, so before you know there is a scene doing this), and he played
at Mutek, North By Northwest aswell as in Europe and Japan. He now
lives in Cologne, another mekka for techno. The twelve tracks on CD
one are in a way all inspired by minimalist techno music, out of the
house of Kompakt. Uptempo stuff, minimal yet full of subtle changes.
Nice indeed, but to play all twelve pieces in one go for the full
seventy-five minutes is a bit too much. And then dully move to CD
two, the remixes? I did it… Here ten remixes by the likes of Frank
Martiniq, Falko Brocksieper/mia, Rene Breitbarth, Repair, Losoul,
Adam Marshall, Any Vaz, Jeff Milligan, Suplex 100 and Si-cut.db. I
only recognized the last name – meaning I am probably not closely
connected to this kind of music, or not as much as I would think.
These ten remixes are more variations on a theme, then taking one or
two elements from the original and built something radical new around
it. Now maybe if I was a DJ I could probably spin the whole two CDs
into one long set with a contant beat, but alas, me no DJ, but a
home-spinner who thinks that too much of the same thing is not a
healthy diet. (FdW)
Address: http://www.bip-hop.com
EVIL MOISTURE – KILLER NUTS (CD by Deco)
Just like Smell & Quim a short while ago, Evil Moisture is a noise
name from the early to mid nineties for me, a time when I started to
play less and less noise oriented music. The man behind Evil Moisture
is Any Bolus, who now lives in Paris, where he modifies electronic
toys, rewiring circuits and builts his sound collages (aswell as
playing with others such Yamantaka Eye of Boredoms and Andrew
Sharpley (formerly of Stock, Hausen & Walkman). Apperentely ‘Killer
Nuts’ is his first real album, and the twenty-four tracks run in just
under twenty-seven minutes. It’s one long plunderphonic collage –
ignore the twenty-four track titles there – of popmusic sounds. Many
italo disco and trance move by, along with some noisy intersections.
It all happens in a high speed collage tempo. You may recognize some
things (“Last Night A DJ Saved My Life” or Sabrina’s “Boys”), but
most of the times it’s too weird to recognize anything for real. The
whole combination of noise versus popmusic works in a funny and
hilarious way, but at the same time much of this has been said before
by other plunderphonica artists, perhaps in a less noisy setting.
Spin this at your party and you definetly have a floor killer. (FdW)
Address: http://www.w-deco.com
CO – COMOC (CD by Mik Musik)
MOLR DRAMMAZ – VERY VS VERY (MP3 by Mik Musik)
This Co should not be confused with Co Caspar. Instead this is one
Maciek Kujawski from Poland and he is a man of hiphop, instrumental
hip-hop that is. And thank god it’s instrumental, as I don’t like rap
at all. Not at all. Full Stop. But when it gets instrumental, there
is room for much more music, extra noise and jampacked with samples.
This is what Co does very nicely. Each track is built around hip-hop
rhythms, that usually start out the track, and then samples are
added, slowly building up the piece and bringing it to it’s orgasmic
end, and then start all over again. For some reasons which are not
very clear, the fourteenth track is a silent one of two minutes,
before the last six tracks start. Why this is done in this way I
don’t know. Maybe Co wanted to bring in some rest for the listener,
because the full sixty minutes at once isn’t that easy to swallow.
The Mik Musik label stopped releasing CDRs in order to move towards
real CDs, but at the same they also start releasing MP3s. The first
one is by Molr Drammaz, the band of labelboss Wojtek Kucharczyk
(electronics and production) and Macio Moretti (drums). On their
‘Very Vs Very’ MP3 release, they offer fourteen tracks that have been
recorded over a period of two years, and mainly in a concert
situation. The music is a rather wild festival of sampled sounds,
wacked electronica and likewise wild drumming. Not every moment
captured here is great, mainly because much of this was generated, I
think, through improvisation. But it captures with style the spirit
of elektro, punk and improvisation in a very nice. It’s mostly
up-tempo, a tad bit aggressive and sweet throughout. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mikmusik.org
ILIOS – VENTO ELEKTRA (CD by Antifrost)
MATTIN & DION WORKMAN – VIA VESPUCCI (miniCD by Antifrost)
Obviously I didn’t recognize Vento Elektra to be esperanto for
Electric Wind, but then that one afternoon of lessons was enough to
leanr fluent esperanto. Illios is man whose biggest ambition is to
have some sort of anti-career. It may therefore be no surprise that
Ilios is not a man that tells us much about what he does, and that
leaves, unfortunally, a great deal of guessing. So here’s my ample
guess: Ilios uses field recordings or maybe long wave radio
recordings and stretches these around, attacking them with a
truckload of plug ins and then smears it out over the course of
forty-minutes. The way it’s described here may sound like I think
this is a dull release, but mind you: it’s not. It takes a course
that is slightly similar to that of a Francisco Lopez work: building
a slow crescendo that keeps on building until maybe ten minutes
before the end and then a recording of plane comes in at a rapid
speed (rapid by these standards) but flies over until it is
disappeared. CD finished. Microsound at it’s very best going on here.
Not really anticareer, but certainly belonging to a similar world of
radical composers are Mattin and Dion Workman. Both have a strong
love for extreme sounds in a minimal context, using their powerbooks
to generate extreme frequencies. Mattin more than Workman is an
improvisation guy, and he succeeded in taking Workman to the
improvisation ideas. Over the course of nineteen minutes they start
from a soft but high frequency and built it up (in a much faster way
than Ilios does) by continuously adding layers of mid to low
frequencies to the table. Hard to tell what it is, but I assume they
are the processed sine waves found on test CDs. The result is a very
varied and rich recording, with a lot of space for the captured
ambience of the space this was recorded in. (FdW)
Address: http://www.antifrost.gr
MJANE – PRAYER FROM THE UNDERBELLY (CD by Pax Recordings)
Another hard to classify CD by Pax Recordings. Some facts first:
Mjane is an ensemble led by conductor, performer and composer Molly
Sturgess, founded in 2003 in New Mexico. The ensemble has six
musicians together combining an usual set of instruments: Molly Jane
Sturges (conduction, composition, vocals, harmonium), CK Barlow
(sampling/live sampling), DJ Ultraviolet (Shawn O’Neal)(turntables),
Moustafa Stefan Dill (Oud) and Jefferson Voorhees (drums/percussion).
Mjane offers a blen d that is typical for modern music: composition
and improvisation are interwoven; acoustic and
electronic/electro-acoustic instruments and soundsources are used.
From time to time the music comes close to idiom taken from all kinds
of ethnic music. Besides we hear traditional playing of the oud but
also turntables and samplers.
What is Mjane aiming at with the help of all these different means
and influences? Liner notes give some explanation: “Prayer from the
Underbelly is one long performance broken by conducted pauses. It is
a piece which addresses the concept of duality and was inspired by by
Sturges’near death experience during the birth of her daughter.
Approaching voice as instrument, Sturges expresses herself through
vocables with limited use of lyrics. Drawing from vocal resonance in
the body, Sturges seeks to get beneath traditonal constructs of
emotion into less interpretable areas of expression and
communication.”
True, despite the fact that Mjane is a melting pot of all kinds of
influences, the music is very personal and emotional and has great
impact. Specially because of the singing by Molly Sturges and Julie
West. Nice surprise from Pax! (DM)
Address: http://www.paxrecordings.com
SOPHIE RIMHEDEN – MISS (CD by Svedjebruk)
Sophie Rimheden is one of the best female producers at the moment
(together with Tujiko Norico, AGF, Miss Kittin.) and that’s not
because there are not a lot of female producers in the experimental
music scene but because she is really good. Her last year’s album,
the first under her own name (before this she had released an album
under the name Hayce on the label Memento Material, and had also
worked as Ban Ham), on the Swedish label Mitek called HI-FI was one
of my favorites for that year. And now, with her new album released
on Swedish label Svedjebruk, the case is similar. This Swedish artist
(and also a film student living and working in Stockholm) wants to be
short and tell as much as she can with fewer words. The album names
are short, the track names are short, the lyrics and all tracks.
Among all this
perfect minimalism, the cover design (by Mr Elg Himself) is also
quite minimalistic, without giving much info. And everything
functions perfectly. Her sound is also minimal. There are 20 tracks
on this release of which one is short intro from around forty seconds
and the next is the real, longer track not more than four minutes
long. Her perfect female voice, subtly vocoded and glitched is
implemented in glitchy variation of contemporary electro, eighties
disco, funky basslines and melodies. which gives completely pop
feeling formed into distorted glitchy disco pop. Male vocals (by
Johan Sigerud) are also combined with her heavenly voice, which
combines perfectly into a whole. Also there is another female guest
singer here (Beki). The mastering is done by another Swedish legend
Andreas Tilliander. Not so much different from HI-FI, Miss is maybe
not a revolution (because she’s already made one) but it’s another
perfect contemporary pop album, perfectly comfortable for listening
and enjoying. At least it will be one of best albums for this year.
(TD)
Address: http://www.svedjebruk.se
SUPERCILIOUS – NEXT TIME WE GO SUBLIME (CD by Monopsone)
This is a new label to me. The label itself is not new because this
is their tenth release but I haven’t heard anything from them till
now. They are from France and as it seems they release melodic
electronics with a glitchy and contemporary production. And Alexandre
Vaudin aka Supercilious is trying to deal with these sounds. His
first track on this album is a melodic but dark track with hip hop
like rhythm slightly reminding of Scorn but just with some singing on
it. In second track the melodic aspect is more visible. There is some
subtle ambient melody supported with more contemporary glitchy rhythm
and some noisy parts implemented, all that covered with hypnotic
female singing by Yucky Yummy. The next track is also dark with a
hard rhythm but as we approach the end of the album, the dark
perspective changes into more melodic and electronic pop oriented,
reminding of City centre offices or Morr music stuff. Despite
everything, the melancholic vibe is still present. Various textures
are combined into one track. Field recordings like samples, vocals,
basses, calm melodies, break or idm rhythm. make the complex
structure. At moments disturbing at moments relaxed. On one hand hard
and broken on the other hand, calm and poppy. Fine, interesting and
listenable, yet nothing new and inventive. Currently waiting for the
album of remixes that various artists are already working on. (TD)
Address: http://www.monopsone.com
VERTONEN – RETURN OF THE INTERROBANG (CD by C.I.P.)
The name Vertonen, alter ego of Blake Edwards from C.I.P. label,
might be a known character by now, I hope, at least by some. But of
course it’s possible that people don’t know who he is or what
Vertonen is about, and maybe for those there is this ‘Return Of The
Interrobang’ CD. It’s not a best-of, but rather a showcase of what
Vertonen does. In ‘Toroidal Ascension’ he brings his drone-related
music. Bass to mid-range tones collide and bring out a nice
atmospheric piece of music. On the other hand, there is ‘Burn The
River’, which is a much more rhythmic piece of music, of minimalist
pulses which are attacked by piercing electronics and turntable
variations. The final three tracks are much shorter than the first
two and there are turntable variations. These are open, spacious
tracks of rhythmic layers of similar sounds. Vertonen sees them as a
hommage to Boyd Rice and Tom Recchion, and especially in ‘Deplete To
Ruination, The Wide Shift’, the exotica of Recchion is brought back
to memory Five altogether varying tracks, and indeed the perfect
showcase for the great talents of Vertonen. (FdW)
Address: http://www.cipsite.net
PINEY GIR – PEAKAHOKABOO (CD by Greyday Productions)
BOOKS ON TAPE – THE BUSINESS END (CD by Greyday Productions)
Another new label, with two new releases, one of the for me unknown
Piney Gir and one by Books On Tape. The one by Piney Gir is a great
surprise. This woman moved to London from Kansas, armed with nothing
than songs and her casio keyboard. There she wrote the thirteen songs
on this CD, well in some cases she covers. Her ‘Que Cera Cera’ is
hilarious and so is her rendition of ‘My Generation’ – never sounded
better, the both of them. Styllistically she moves into various
corners: from Peaches’ like pieces (like ‘Jezabel’) to gentle
romantic songs like ‘Ruth Is Coming To America’ or crooning with
Simple Kid in ‘Nightsong’. Despite the various styles she is working
in, I think it’s Peaches or the recentely Lesbians On Ecstacy that
this can be best compared with. Some of these tunes are really nice
sing-a-longs such as ‘Jezabel’, proving she is already fit to enter
the charts. I’d say go for it.
To play Books On Tape right after Piney Gir might not be a wise
decision. Not because this is a bad CD, not at all, but it’s
definetly boys with toys music. ‘The Business End’ is the third
official Books On Tape CD, apart from dozens of CDRs, remixes and
EPs. Up tempo, punk inspired techno music going on here, but all
instrumental. Unfortunally no sing-a-longs here. Music with a high
energy drive here. One that leaves you breathless after you heard it
– and probably even sounds better when you hear this live. Distorted
rhythms and guitar samples thrown around with not a moment of
tranquility insight. Maybe all the better. Forty minutes fully loaded
here. Next time throw in a singer and hit charts are lurking around
the same corner. (FdW)
Address: http://www.greydayproductions.com
MUSIC FOR BABY (CD compilation by Amorfon)
When I had the chance to play music to my baby, I didn’t it do it
that much, other than some regular popmusic. Now that she is older
she would probably like more of this ‘Music For Baby’ CD. Fact is
that most CDs that contain music for babies contain usually soft
music, in order to keep the baby all quiet and somehow I don’t think
that would happen if they would exposed to this CD. A up-tempo track
by DAT Politics will probably disturb the little creature too much.
Likewise something can be said of the track by Toshiya Tsunoda, whose
feedback will maybe cause a small ear defect in the harmless little
one. This may sound as if I don’t like this CD. That’s not the case.
The softer pieces by Minamo, Alejandra & Aeron, Cinc or Fitz Ellarald
(is that the first of the ‘Trois Gymnopedies’ sampled in there, or
played on a guitar?) make up nice music anyway. Music that would not
just please adults (as in the case of reviewing, it’s an adult who
takes on the experience) but would probably be enjoyed by babies and
small children alike. For me the whole compilation consists of nice
pieces, but some trained ears are required in this. Even by adults.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.amorfon.com
HEMATIC SUNSETS AND OKKO BEKKER – WEIHNACHTEN IM AROMA CLUB (7″ by Meeuw Muzak)
“Remember that Christmas is not a problem-solving session. Deal with
your family issues another time.” –Dr. Phil. A better idea is to
stay away from your family at all, lite a big cigar, pour yourself
you’re favourite brandy (vecchia romanga in my case) and surround
yourself with some nice alternative christmas songs. Dutch radio
programm ‘De Avonden’ commissions every year a whole bunch of them
(sadly putting them on an all to small edition CDR, but they might be
somewhere on the www.3voor12.nl site) or, and that’s an even better
idea, to take all the previous Meeuw Muzak christmas 7″s and spin
them, to end with the best one to date: ‘Leise Rieselt Der Schnee’
von Hematic Sunsets. Sadly one side only, but with a gorgous little
tune. Soft as the snow (I bet the Hematic Sunsets stay away from
anything overtly religious). Soft as the snow that in these areas is
quite rare. Maybe that makes christmas a little bit more bareable.
For me it does at least. (FdW)
Address: http://www.meeuw.net
JOS SMOLDERS – TEXTURES AND MOBILES (CDR by Con-V)
Jos Smolders might be more known these days as the driving force
behind the Earlabs site, a true online goldmine for electronic music,
both old and new, but many forget that he is also a composer in his
own right and for a very long time. He earliest releases were
released on cassettes on labels such as Midas Music (where are the
CDR re-issues, please?) and Korm Plastics. Then he produced two more
than excellent LPs in the early nineties, and some more conceptual
works for CDs on Staalplaat. Those are more ‘create your own thing
with this’. Jos Smolders is also part of the never really ceasing to
exist group THU20 (who are preparing for a new project next year).
Since some time Jos Smolders is back at composing music himself, and
for no other purpose than to create beautiful music. On ‘textures And
Mobiles’, the first CDR release from Con-V, otherwise known as an
online label, Smolders finds his inspiration in two visual artists.
For the textures he is inspired by the paintings of Mark Rothko and
the mobiles by the mobiles of Alexander Calder, using CCITT ringtones
(mobiles getit?) as sound sources. Of the nine pieces, five are from
the texture series, and here Smolders uses static tones that are
similar but not the same to create a richly varied elegant tapestry
of sound. The sounds glide and pass by, move gently through space.
The connection to Rothko is indeed present, and musically it relates
to the work of Alvin Lucier. The mobiles are shorter tracks of
shorter sounds that sound unlike anything those annoying ringtones I
hear on the street or in the train. Maybe bythemselves the ‘Mobile’
pieces aren’t that convincing, but they form an interesting
counterpoint to the longer ‘Texture’ pieces, which if only present on
this release, would maybe a bit too much also. Now the balance is
just perfect. Moving along the lines of his previous release ‘Music
For Kalx.com’ (on ERS Records), this is a more than excellent
release. For those who love Lucier, Asmus Tietchens and 12K, this is
definetely a must have. (FdW)
Address: http://www.con-v.org
K&A – SUPER PREIS (CDR by Phonoerotic)
Nice logo hacking here: K&A present themselves inside the C&A logo.
But who are K&A anyway? They are Kirsten Reynolds and Ashley Davies,
both known from their work with the turntable band Project DARK. But
they like doing other music, moving away from turntables and armed
with two drummachines and effects they travelled Europe. Playing in
six different places they made the recordings for this limited CDR
release (housed inside a jewel case with a cutup of C&A adds). No
less than sixteen tracks with a duration of some thirty-three
minutes: that means short tracks and much to my surprise variation.
The idea of using two drummachines and soundeffects seems maybe
limited, but the first around when I played this I didn’t have the
idea of listening to ‘just’ two drummachines and soundeffects.
Obviously there is a techno connection in ‘Auch In Schwarz Und
Weiss’, but in general they move into all sorts of different places,
techno, dub and industrial. Sketch like seems to be the right
approach to present a live documentation like this. Nice one indeed.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.phonoerotic.com
ZVUK BRODA – AEROBIK (CDr by Egoboo.bits)
I heard some releases of Zvuk Broda a couple of years ago but I
didn’t give them attention as much as I should have. So I didn’t get
a complete idea about their sound then. A couple of years after that,
I played with them at Progress ex. 04 festival in Ljubljana so I had
the chance to see them live. Before that I had read in the program in
their biography that their music can be defined as deep house. They
were formed in 2000 by Ivan Slipchevich and Tomislav Domes in
Zagreb/Croatia as a studio for sound and image that would perform
music supported with visuals. Zvuk Broda (which means the sound of a
boat) are also resident artists of net.culture club Mama. They’ve
already released a couple of album releases under GNU GPL (copyleft)
licence for their label EGOBOO.bits and some vinyl on other labels.
But they are more than that and more than deep house. I saw their
performance in semi filled hall – an old electric plant completely
renovated with a perfect sound system. The atmosphere was calm so it
was possible to hear every single sound, the clean production and the
simple basslines. I was really curious to hear this on a CD so I got
this release called Aerobik. Similar like their live performance
their music is really minimalistic, clean and completely bare, free
of unnecessary sounds, but it is still dancey, deep and fresh.
Production can be compared to something between early Scsi-9
danceable perspective and Snd’s clearness and simplicity. Female
vocals appear here and there just to sweep you off your feet for a
second. The tracks are short, precise and simple, enough to tell you
what they have. Their simplicity is their beauty. You just need to
lie down, relax, listen, let your mind float down stream and
surrender to the flow. One of my favorite listens for this week and
maybe year. And it was a good thing to experience their music live
first, before hearing the recording. I am looking forward to hear
their other releases and see them live again. Really, really
beautiful experience. (TD)
Address: http://tamtam.mi2.hr/EgobooBits/EnZvukBroda
MUGEN – [/END] (CDR by Pachinko Studio)
Mugen is one Alessandro Canova, who releases his own Pachinko Studio
label. To date he six releases on offer, of which ‘[/End]’ is the
latest. He works with a limited set of soundsources: sine waves and
white noise. That may sound a bit too much like Ryoji Ikeda, and yes,
Mugen seems inspired by especially the ‘Matrix’ release of Ikeda, but
luckily enough he finds enough ways of his own to create something
that may indeed not be top-new and innovative, but nevertheless he
has a couple of interesting pieces to offer. Maybe eleven is a bit
too much, even when the tracks are rather concise, but sometimes the
pieces are a bit ambient, hoovering in various frequencies available
in his sine-waves, but there are also pieces of rhythm, and here
Mugen seems to expand his ears to the world of minimal techno, such
as in ‘[/dub]’, which seems to be a pastiche of Pan Sonic rhythms and
Ikeda sine waves. Mugen’s sound might be a bit too late, but a couple
of years ago it would have fitted nicely along the microwave tag –
which nobody uses anymore, so that might be a bit of a dead-end.
However, he presents enough variation in his pieces to make ‘[/End]’
a very nice CDR indeed. (FdW)
Address: http://www.pachinkostudio.com/
MING – VERSUS THE GREAT SATAN (CDR by Carbon Records)
It might be a secret to some who Ming is, at least according to the
Carbon Records website which states “the anonymous force of Ming, in
the great battle for the hearts and minds of all beings everywhere,
from the Great Satan. the battle rages on….” Who it is doesn’t
matter nearly as much as what does
it sound like? Well, the instruments used on this release are;
turntables, live loops, tapes, field recordings, ukelele, and ebowed
strings. The ebowed strings are the most cognizant feature as this
starts out as a windswept drone. Cold, lonely, desolate, but somehow
beautiful. Some odd clanking (very distant) accompanies and the drone
slowly evolves and takes on a more musical character with a sort of
melody plucked out by the ukelele. A wordless vocal loop gives the
track a bit of motion, as the tones grow louder. At the 2 minute mark
(this is a 40 minute single track) some odd vocal loops enter,
(someone speaking through a mega-phone, a crowd chanting) it isn’t
until after awhile that you realize the crowd is chanting “No blood
for oil” or the person with the mega-phone is counting off in a sing
song tone leading the crowd with new phrases, some of which i cant
quite make out, but the crux of it sounds like a anti-war rally
against the USA’s unlawful invasion of Iraq (which time you ask?),
but back to the music. The overall feel is tense, not angry but very
tense. And there is a transient quality making you feel like this
music is just a snapshot of a larger picture that is fading. Later
there enters a marching band, which you realize has been pulsing all
along, gently nudging the pace. And then as soon as you notice it, it
disappears, but the pulse remains. There are a couple of more things
added to the mix, some things fade out only to return later. Despite
its length Ming never loses sight of the narrative of the song. Some
percussive loops enter at the halfway mark, and the track unfolds and
sounds like its winding down until bursts of feedback grab your
attention again.
This is real mind-bending stuff, built on some really simple elements
all stitched together to create a release that is both delicate and
ferocious. (CJ)
Address: http://www.carbonrecords.com
HAL MCGEE & RICK FRANECKI – MOON EGG RABBIT STAR (CDR by Hal Tapes)
HAL MCGEE & RICK FRANECKI & BRIAN NORING & CHARLES RICE GOFF III –
EXCURSIONS (CDR by Hal Tapes)
This is the second time the name of filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky
pops up in Vital Weekly (see also Vital Weekly 408), and still have
to not seen a film by this underground filmmaker of a more
psyechedelic. But his films are inspiration enough for Hal McGee and
Rick Franecki to compose fifteen pieces of music inspired by his
films. McGee might be known by now (that is after his return to the
music world after a long period of inactivity) but maybe the name of
Rick Franecki is new to you. I believe he was once a member of F/i
and then of Vocokesh, both rock bands to explore the psychedelic
edges of music. Together they play a wide range of synthesizers,
expensive and cheap, but also guitar, bass, piano and shortwave. In
general the two guys set a sound going, sometimes a rhythm, and then
start to improvise on top of that. This brings a full and spacey
psychedelic sound alive that probably works even better with all the
right substances (which of course lack here). Think of seventies
krautrock, cosmic synth and the free improv meeting industrial: a
hotchpotch of so many underground musics.
The two boys return on ‘Excursions’, which they recorded together
with Brian Noring and Charles Rice Goff III. Whereas on ‘Moon Egg
Rabbit Star’ the tracks are short, here they are lenghty, five in
total, ranging from nine to almost seventeen minutes. Another major
difference is the extended use, or rather sole use of synthesizers.
These make long patterns, usually in the darker side of things,
setting black holes to music. All the obvious space references can be
made here, but this space journey is rather an alienated (pun
intended) one, a trip into the unknown, but an unknown evil kind. In
that way this cosmic music is different than the usual cosmic
doodlings, and makes it into something of far more interest for those
who love the more experimental kind of music. (FdW)
Address: http://hometown.aol.com/haltapes1/index.html
DISSECTING DISASTRATOS (MP3 by Audiobulb Records)
From the recentely established Audiobulb Records comes this EP to
download with two tracks, one being a new track by Disastrato and one
a remix of that project by Room. Not having heard any music by both
before, it’s a bit in the dark for me. But it seems that Disastrato
uses beats, ambient sounds, found sound and traditional instruments.
In the remix that Room did, this unfortunally leads to nothing. It’s
called ‘How To Make Beats (Room’s pot-pourri)’, and that sums it up
quite clearly. Taking samples ad infinitum from Disastrato’s work,
Room makes rhythms out of these, but never takes the song anywhere,
which might be hard also seeing the length of almost thirteen
minutes. The Disastrato track ‘Desirez Rien (After A Rice Kick)’ is
much more interesting. About half the length, this moves from a heavy
percussive intro towards the introspective and doomy sobbing of
somebody. Quite an intense piece there. (FdW)
Address: http://www.audiobulb.com
Corrections: A lot of mistakes in the last issue! The Pita CD last
week is called ‘Get Off’. ‘Get Out’ was released by Mego in 1999. The
band on ‘Sin #06’ is called ‘o.m.s.-n.m.a.’ and not O.M.S.
In the En/Of review there are three mistakes: the Jazzkammer LP is
called ‘All Men Are Brothers’, Andrew Zealley was part of Green Buck
and the art edition to his record was made by AA Bronson. Smell &
Quim’s ‘Cosmic Bondage’ was not their first cassette. Sorry about all
this!