NURSE WITH WOUND – SHIPWRECK RADIO VOLUME ONE: SEVEN SONIC STRUCTURES
FROM UTVAER (2CD by ICR)
SERGE BAGHDASSARIANS & BORIS BALTSCHUN & ALESSANDRO BOSETTI & MICHEL
DONEDA – STROM (CD by Potlatch)
HECQ – SCATTERHEART (CD by Hymen Records)
V.L.A.D. – EMO-DROIDZ (CD by Laboratory Instinct)
REUBER – KINTOPP (CD by Staubgold)
COCK ESP & APPLIANCIDE/WAFFELSPUNG & WAFFELSPUNG – SPLIT LP (CD by
Sunship Records/Roggbif Records)
RANT – SEUMSUND/SUNDSEUM (CD by Schraum)
PHIL RUST – MUSICA ASTRATTA E CONCRETA (CD by Grammatica)
DEPARTMENT – THE TURNCOAT SESSIONS 97-03 (2CD by Laboratory Records)
SYNOMORPH – BRUTALITY (CDR by Apocalyptic Radio)
ANTRACO/FLUCHTWACHT – SPLIT (CDR by Apocalyptic Radio)
FLUCHTWACHT/CROSSBRED (CDR by Apocalyptic Radio)
MORAL FRAKTAL – FEARSCAPES (CDR by Apocalyptic Radio)
BIOLOGICAL TERROR/FLUCHTWACHT – SPLIT (CDR by Nervous Nurse Productions)
MASCHINENPARK (CDR compilation by Pest Beat Productions)
YVAN&LENDL – UNTITLED (3″CDR by Ego Twister)
ANALOG & DIGITAL SOUND (R) – THE RAWHAER GEKYX (CDR by Arbouse)
AIDAN BAKER – ANTITHESIS (CDR by Petite Sono)
MASKINANLEGG – I LOVE PHIL SPECTOR (CDR, self released)
MISERERE – PARANEUROPA (CDR, self released)
CORRUGATED TUNNEL – THE BIONIC HUSTLE (MP3 by The Invisible Agent)
NURSE WITH WOUND – SHIPWRECK RADIO VOLUME ONE: SEVEN SONIC STRUCTURES
FROM UTVAER (2CD by ICR)
For some twenty-five years Nurse With Wound belongs to one of the
more interesting experimental ‘groups’ I know. Their sound ranges
from krautrock to drone to musique concrete, Nurse’s mastermind Steve
Stapleton does all, which ever way his hat is looking. Since some
years he is helped by Colin Potter, musician in his fair own right
since twenty-five or more years and owner of the ICR studios. Their
main 2004 thing was, besides a live concert at the Earational
festival in The Netherlands, a commissioned work at the Lofoten, a
remote part of upper Norway, or more precisely the village of Utvaer.
Steve and Colin spent some three weeks recording sounds there: from
buildings to rocks, ships to local characters and the local marching
band. Back home in the warm studio, the material was processed into
these ‘seven sonic structures’. In some cases this is chilly
procossed voice material, but for instance in ‘June 15’ it’s guitar
loaded piece of music. Overall, and if you were lucky to get the
limited edition CDR ‘Lofoten Deadhead’ you’ll have another hour worth
of material, the lengthy pieces are mostly ambient and drone related,
heavily processed soundsources being placed against the sound of
steady rainfall or birdcall. Much to my surprise there were a good
number of voices to be heard, adding a sort of documentary character
to this. Although the project is quite nice, it’s not something for
which Nurse With Wound needed to leave the studio: something of
similar beauty could have been made there. If ‘Salt Marie Celeste’ is
your cup, then this shipwreck tunes should be yours too. (FdW)
Address: http://www.icrdistribution.com
SERGE BAGHDASSARIANS & BORIS BALTSCHUN & ALESSANDRO BOSETTI & MICHEL
DONEDA – STROM (CD by Potlatch)
The German word ‘Strom’ can be translated as ‘river’ or ‘streaming’
or ‘electricity’ and it seems to me a very apt word for the title of
this CD. Of the four improvisers at work here, I only knew Michel
Doneda (soprano and sopranino saxophones) and Alessandro Bosetti
(soprano saxophone). The other two, Serge Baghdassarians (guitar and
mixing desk) and Boris Baltschun (sampler), are new to me. All four
have a wide reputation when it comes to playinng improvised music,
playing with almost anybody in any combination on the scene. I will
not start again my usual rant against the saxophone, because it seems
to be a common thing these days in the world of improvised music to
play these kind of wind instruments in a totally new way, a way that
is different from the traditional kind of saxophone playing. Another
common thing these days is to play as soft as possible, leaving much
room for silence. In that respect this is no different. But it’s the
balance here between the electric instruments and the acoustic
instruments that is just a mere fine line. The approaches to both are
there to create an almost electro-acoustic thing on both, the
blowing, the saliva, the crackles from the sampler or the soft
rubbing of the strings of the guitar. Everything seems to be closely
knitted together. Of course this is not a work that one simply puts
into the CD player and let go, but one that requires one’s full
attention, 100% and no less. There is, amongst all this silence, a
lot of small things happening that one easily misses out. (FdW)
Address: http://www.potlatch.fr
HECQ – SCATTERHEART (CD by Hymen Records)
“I love everything that seems to be intelligent music” German
electronic composer Benny Boysen once said. He is the man behind the
solo-project Hecq. Two composers, mentioned by Benny as intelligent
composers is Biosphere and Speedy J. Unquestionably these two are
great inspirators on this second album titled “Scatterheart”.
Musically the album finds itself in the borderlands between
isolationist ambient and electro-inspired IDM. Opening with dark
waving drones of floating melancholy, the thoughts first of all head
towards Biosphere’s ambient-milestone “Substrata”. As the album
slowly develops rhythms begin to penetrate. At this point the
associations of Speedy J occur, thanks to a rhythmic texture more
likely built on hissing machines than just following any traditional
beat pattern. The hissing machinery noises have been beautifully
structured to provide a perfect backbeat for the eerie soundscapes of
Mr. Boysen. Raw samples of spoken words help to create some sort of
bizarre emptiness and thus assist in fulfilling the overall nocturnal
atmosphere of the album. Highly
recommended! (NMP)
Address: http://www.klangstabil.com/hymen
V.L.A.D. – EMO-DROIDZ (CD by Laboratory Instinct)
This is second V.L.A.D. release on Laboratory Instinct. First was
single and this can be counted as full-length. Laboratory Instinct is
label that is interested in more break/drum n bass/jungle oriented
sound with contemporary production of course, because all of this
sounds in their pure form are passed a long time ago. Xiringuitos
Perdido (previous single) was more into oldschool electro sound.
Danceable we can say. New one is also danceable but with more
experimentations in it. There are still electro moments, a bit hip
hop, a bit break rhythm, warp like melodies. but there are also some
glitchy moments as well as distorted melodies that makes sound more
abrasive. Tracks are short, exact and they are telling exactly what
they should. I’m continuing to follow this label. (TD)
Address: http://www.laboratoryinstinct.com
REUBER – KINTOPP (CD by Staubgold)
‘Kintopp’ is Berlin slang for cinematography and Reuber’s (aka Timo
Reuber) new album with such a title should be seen as a soundtrack
without a film. The thirteen pieces go by in one flow, just under
forty minutes. Reuber, otherwise known as half of Klangwart (together
with labelboss Markus Detmer), breaks away from his previous
releases, which had mainly lengthier pieces of ambient electronics
and steps more into the world of electronica and sampling to create a
more collage like album. In these thirteen pieces he wanders around
in various moods and atmospheres. From melancholic tunes, such as
‘Tangwald’ to more joyous pieces as ‘Der Geheime Garten’, or the
desolate city scape of ‘Unterseeglaskuppelstadt’, followed by the
tribal ‘Tanz Mit Mir’: as you can see it moves about. It’s hard to
tell wether Reuber thinks of this as a soundtrack for one movie or
for various movies; I think it’s music that deals with images for
headspace and for a ‘real’ movie anyway. No need to pull out your 8mm
films from under the dust and play them along the music. The music
itself is nice enough to be by itself. (FdW)
Address: http://www.staubgold.com
COCK ESP & APPLIANCIDE/WAFFELSPUNG & WAFFELSPUNG – SPLIT LP (CD by
Sunship Records/Roggbif Records)
Roggbif and Sunship Records sell Cock ESP as ‘krautnoise’ – whatever
that may be. Just like Smell & Quim and Evil Moisture, Cock ESP are a
recent noise band, but which exist for twelve years now, and are
still true to their noise beginnings. Kraut or not. Whoever
Appliancide (great name!) are, I don’t know. The ten tracks on this
CD, which is called ‘Split LP’ (?), are relatively short and to the
point. It’s hard to guess what the input is of Appliancide in this
mayhem, but maybe they are responsible for some of the more quieter
moments in this. Turntable abusing and piercing electronica mix up
nicely in this bunch. It sounds like a solid good ol’ Cock ESP here.
Waffelspung are a duo from Norway, and are new to me. Apperentely
they have released some albums and singles and offer one sixteen
minute live concert here. Their instruments are a piano, organs,
theremin, electronics but also beer-barrells, bread, a car-door, a
piano harp, cardboard and field recordings. The music is made through
improvisation, usually quite and free playing with occassional hits
on pieces of metal or a bang on the piano. These quiet pieces usually
last longer than the also occassional outbursts of electronic noise.
Towards the end the noise entirely takes over the quiet stuff. Seeing
my reservations against most noise these days, I must say that this
fine balance, from all three (or four, whatever) bands, is quite
fresh but raw look upon the subject of noise. (FdW)
Address: http://www.freenoise.org or http://www.roggbif.com
RANT – SEUMSUND/SUNDSEUM (CD by Schraum)
The second release on Schraum is again improvised but it takes the
genre into a different territory than before. Rant is a duo,
consisting of Merle Ehlers on drums and Torsten Papenheim on guitar
(and both are also the responsible people behind the label). The
press text raves about this focussing ‘on forms and patterns of
popmusic’, which might be true but in a very abstract way. Rant
strips down the notion of popmusic to the bare essentials: simple
strummings and bangs on the tom tom or a sparse hi-hat. The drummer
here is much more playing around with various techniques of playing
the kit, like the movement of objects over the various parts. The
guitar improvises too, but usually its based around chords and
plucking the strings, no such thing here as objects on strings or
other unusual techniques. Of course this is not MTV popmusic, but
rather post-rock of a very naked form. Feelings of desolation and
melancholy that fits the grey winter day. Even when it’s just eight
tracks and just under forty minutes, I think it’s a bit too uniform
in execution to maintain my full attention throughout. But a couple
of songs here and there are quite nice indeed. (FdW)
Address: http://www.schraum.de
PHIL RUST – MUSICA ASTRATTA E CONCRETA (CD by Grammatica)
The CD by one Phil Rust is probably one of the stranger affairs I
have encountered recentely. Phil Rust was one of the drummer of TNT,
a punk band from Zurich, worked together with Gabi Delgado (from
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft) and now has a hip hop label in
New York. However ‘Musica Astratta E Concreta’ is his first solo CD,
and I really don’t know what to think of it. Everything was recorded
on a computer and behind each of the pieces there is a conceptual
idea. For example ‘Chinesische Schriftzeichen’ uses chinese writing
translated to a sequencer which plays piano sounds. It sounds nice
too. But there is also a lot of plunderphonica on this release,
collages of sound (mostly relating to artworks) or a drone piece.
This means that the music on this CD is widely varying, ranging from
very serious classical music to wild plunderphonica and therefore
it’s not an easy CD to digest. It moves in too many territories for
me. Conceptually this is a very nice CD, with lots of interesting
approaches, but maybe that’s not enough… (FdW)
Address: <info@musicfamily.com>
DEPARTMENT – THE TURNCOAT SESSIONS 97-03 (2CD by Laboratory Records)
It’s been awhile since the first two CDs by Department, being
reviewed in Vital Weekly 306. Those two previously released CDEPs are
now being re-issued on the second disc of this pack, thus completing
the years 1997-2003. Department are Delov and Gatz from a land
downunder and working in complete isolation, away from the industry
(Laboratory Records being their own label). It’s not easy to describe
the music of Department, because it’s so full of sounds and
atmospheres. There is the use guitars, drumcomputers, bass and
samplers/synths but also clouds of sounds swirling by in a dazzling
speed. Department takes the listener into various moods, from
melancholic, atmospheric pieces to more joyous feasts of sound
outbursts. The overall tone however is a bit darker, even for sunny
Australia life looks grim, at least on the inside. The production of
the music is excellent; it seems to me that many hours of editing in
the studio went into this CD, with great care for detail, subtle
changes and sudden movements. Maybe it’s a bit much to play all of
this at once (like I did three times in a row) but there is a lot to
discover in here. (FdW)
Address: http://www.dept.com.au
SYNOMORPH – BRUTALITY (CDR by Apocalyptic Radio)
ANTRACO/FLUCHTWACHT – SPLIT (CDR by Apocalyptic Radio)
FLUCHTWACHT/CROSSBRED (CDR by Apocalyptic Radio)
MORAL FRAKTAL – FEARSCAPES (CDR by Apocalyptic Radio)
BIOLOGICAL TERROR/FLUCHTWACHT – SPLIT (CDR by Nervous Nurse Productions)
MASCHINENPARK (CDR compilation by Pest Beat Productions)
Welcome to hell: the world of Apocalyptic Radio. Their covers are
simple black and white and band names indicate the more gloomy
industrial aspects of society. Bands such as Synomorph, whose seven
tracks are loaded with industrial bangs, piercing analogue synths and
howling vocals. Taking the listener back with their time machine to
the early 80s when this sort of music was released en masse on badly
hissing cassettes. That’s the good thing: it sounds much better
thesed days.
Antraco’s five tracks on a split with Fluchtwacht are also harsh
noise based, but stay more in the realms of synth abusing. Set the
controls for the more radical frequencies available in these
machines, be it either low or high end. Quite dark and disconformting
atmosphere. Fluchtwacht has four tracks, titles such as ‘Fatal Razor
Club’, ‘To Hell…’ and ‘Murderer’. The latter is the ‘softest’
moment here, the others are indeed razor sharp noises from hell.
More Fluchtwacht can be found on another split disc, this time with
Crossbred. I assume Crossbred are Japanese, since it concerns a
recording made in Osaka. It’s a rather unfocussed slab of badly
recorded noise on synths and shortwave. After which the fury of
Fluchtwacht comes as a relief. Here they sound like a full blown
Merzbow copy.
Less harsh is the music of Moral Fraktal (you can imagine that I
don’t know much about these bands or projects). Even when they use
also a fair portion of analogue synths, there is also some electro
rhythmboxes involved here, making this into a less industrial affair
and more a bridge between industrial music and electro. Quite nice
stuff.
Related by on a different label is the split disc by Biological
Terror and Fluchtwacht. Biological Terror is one Luciano Hunter from
Brazil. His three tracks are untitled. These pieces are the most
interesting so far, in terms of musical approach. Biological Terror
uses concrete sound sources (clocks or bells) and takes these into
the noise areas. Of course it isn’t as sophisticated as say a
recording on Empreintes Digitales, but it’s certainly quite nice.
Fluchtwacht also has three tracks, now a cross between his previous
pieces, the longer and shorter noise furies.
Also related is a compilation on Pest Beat Productions. It has a lot
of new bands for me, such as Traumschwinge, Sadism Unbound or Pioneer
Of Tschernobyl. The only names I recognized was that of Every Kid On
Speed and Sound_00. The music is less the old school hard noise but
ranges from atmopsheric dark ambient to fucked up techno stuff. It’s
a quite varied compilation, of course with some lesser moments, but
throughout quite nice, but also with no particular standout track.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.apocalyptic-radio.de
Address: http://pestbeat.de.vu
YVAN&LENDL – UNTITLED (3″CDR by Ego Twister)
ANALOG & DIGITAL SOUND (R) – THE RAWHAER GEKYX (CDR by Arbouse)
The French music scene these days is one of the most interesting for
me. From experimental to dance, with the labels Bip Hop, Adult Only,
Active Suspension, List etc., and the artists O.Lamm, Davide Balula,
Hypo and others attracting the worldwide attention in the last year
or two. And also many lesser or locally known artists and labels
there that deserve more attention, like Ego Twister, Analog & Digital
Sound (R), Arbouse, dDamage, Pricilia Records, Mechanoise Labs etc…
Yvan&Lendl comes from Switzerland. He has just began a radio show
called ‘la Youtze’ (http://www.layoutze.best.cd) on the French
webradio Warum Net Experience (www.radiowne.org) where he asks
different musicians to compose short and crazy tracks with “limits”
(specific time, or a sample to use, ect.). Maybe I should do that in
my radio program too sometimes, sounds funny. Yvan&Lendl’s take on
techno is parodic. Not serious (or it is, like serious fun), cartoon
technoid tracks, even trancy sometimes in a hilarious ways. An Ego
Twister party ruiner! Or perhaps a saver, if the party gets too
serious or boring.
On the much calmer side are Analog & Digital Sound (R) aka Amnesie
and his friend Atone, who (sometimes called Lady Atone) has also
released music on the nice French net label Autres Directions In
Music. Their sound is completely different, serious musical approach,
no irony, sarcasm or parody here. Damn, this is so fine music. A
completely fresh take on the ambient idm sound. A distant reference
can be Seefeel. Analog & Digital Sound (R) are still so much original
and on their own ground of music. Pastoral watercolour sounds of the
most finest kind. Music with constant imaginative feel through all
tracks, even touching perfection in the last genious track ‘…il est
parti’. This music is as good as all best stuff from Warp, Neo Ouija
or Skam! Simply excellent! (BR)
Address: http://www.egotwister.com
Address: http://www.arbouserecordings.com
AIDAN BAKER – ANTITHESIS (CDR by Petite Sono)
And even more music from Aidan Baker. This time a CDR album limited
to 100 copies, on the relatively new label Petite Sono (their second
release). Here we encounter Baker’s droney ambience in it’s most
stripped down form. Not much bass, instead there are smaller tiny
sounds stretched, at least in the first track, that’s the first 12
minutes. However, more bass appears in the second track, but it’s
still very tamed and quiet down. A good reference for the atmosphere
of this album can be Biosphere’s later albums Substrata, Cirque etc.
With the difference that Baker is in the droney areas of ambient. All
4 tracks are mixed and that way they form a longer soundscape of
northern ambient. All sounds here too (as on the other releases
reviewed in Vital 452 and 447) are produced by electric guitar. One
of the nicer of the quieter Baker’s releases. (BR)
Address: http://www.petitesono.com
MASKINANLEGG – I LOVE PHIL SPECTOR (CDR, self released)
Somewhere in the mid-seventies, the Beatles’ record label Apple
re-launced the career of Phil Spector by a ‘Back To Mono’ campaign
(in fact I once saw someone with the original badge for it, can I
have it, Andrew?). Now Maskinanlegg, aka Bjørn Hatterud, from Norway
pays tribute to both Phil Spector and you can find his ‘I Love Phil
Spector’ in full mono glory. Maskinanlegg is a man of noise and noise
and noise, and to this end he uses turntable craziness and feedback.
This may sound boring and ‘been there, done that’, but actually it’s
quite nice, fitting along nicely along the lines of people like Cock
ESP. It’s noisy throughout, but it has enough variation to keep
things interesting throughout the forty minutes this fury lasts. (FdW)
Address: <megaeldar@hotmail.com>
MISERERE – PARANEUROPA (CDR, self released)
The first self-released CDR by Danmark’s Miserere is a concept album,
that is: you can only know this because i tell you so, it’s in the
press text. The world is infected with the Ebola virus and dies out,
and what happens in between. Miserere cites as bands of interest
Ulver, MZ412, Brighter Death Now, Megaptera but also Merzbow and
Aphex Twin. All of this music is played on a bunch of old analogue
synthesizers and drumcomputers, with the darkest setting possible.
Pitchblack music, which for me, and simply because I lack a better
word, can be described as gothic. Although this is his first product,
the sound of Miserere sounds well-produced, with care for detail and
variation throughout. But since I am not that familiar with this kind
of music, I don’t know if it’s following the current fashion in that
scene or something new. Maybe he should try to get his music released
by the likes of Ant-Zen or Cold Meat Industry. (FdW)
Address: <pineogplage@hotmail.com>
CORRUGATED TUNNEL – THE BIONIC HUSTLE (MP3 by The Invisible Agent)
Only four weeks ago I reviewed the CDEP by Corrugated Tunnel, aka
Edwin James. I don’t know if I’m dealing here with something even
more new or maybe somewhat older stuff. This online release (in the
air early 2005) has three tracks of fat bass lines, old school
electro and bits of acid house. Oh yes and vocoded voices. Not
unpleasent to hear I’d say, but also maybe a bit too much middle of
the road techno for me. Pretty straightforward and ok, but nothing
special. (FdW)
Address: http://www.invisibleagent.com