BASTRO – ANTLERS: LIVE 1991 (CD by Blue Chopsticks)
CHRIS BROWN – TALKING DRUM (CD by Pogus Productions)
ANTIGEN SHIFT – THIS MOMENT OF COLD REMEMBERING (CD by Spectre)
ASMUS TIETCHENS – LITIA (CD by Die Stadt)
ASMUS TIETCHENS – EINE GANZE MENGE (3″CD by Tausend Fuessler)
SWEETNESS WILL OVERCOME (CD compilation by Segerhuva)
OMMM – TESTING THE EQUIPMENT (CD by Adaadat)
DACM – STÉRÉOTYPIE (CD by Asphodel)
ORGANUM/Z’EV – TOCSIN -6 THRU +2 (CD by Die Stadt)
RICHARD RAMIREZ & SKIN CRIME – PLEASURE, COMMERCE & DISEASE (CD by Pacrec)
THE RITA – BODIES BEAR TRACES OF CARNAL VIOLENCE (CD by Pacrec)
GRUNTSPLATTER – PEST MAIDEN (CD by Pacrec)
YELLOW SWANS – DREAMED YELLOW SWANS (CD by Pacrec)
BIANCO-VALENTE/MASS – SELF ORGANIZING STRUCTURES (CD+DVD by DSP Records)
VA – CONTEMPORARY CULTURE CONVENTION COMPILATION IV (CD by Everest/Randomacoustics)
DAVID LAST – THE PUSH PULL (CD by the Agriculture)
THE BROKEN TALES ISSUE 2 (CD compilation by Vibrofiles)
MIRROR – STILL VALLEY (LP by Die Stadt)
(1.8) SEC (Compilation LP by (1.8) Sec. Records)
STROMBA – GIDDY UP (12″ by Fat Cat)
Y CREATE/FEVER SPOOR – NIGHT WORDS (CDR by Anima Mal Nata)
CONCRETE VIOLIN & FEVER SPOOR – A REBOURS (CDR by Brise Cul Records)
SWAMPS UP NOSTRILS – MASS DELUSION (CDR by Tib Prod)
TIVOL – TEEMA: LASKIPAA (CDR by Tib Prod)
CADMIUM DUNKEL – OCEATEUM (CDR by Tib Prod)
MALKYL – TID FOR MALKYL (3″CDR by Tib Prod)
HOWARD STELZER – CASSETTE RECORDINGS 98-04 (CDR)
DONNA PARKER – REACHES OUT (CDR)
HOWARD STELZER & THE CHERRY POINT – GROSS (CDR by Carbon Records)
AUGSBURGER TAFELCONFECT – HAMBURGER 8 EP (CDR by Ultra Eczema)
LUCKY DRAGONS & YACHT – RADIO SESSION (CDR by Ultra Eczema)
DENNIS TYFUS (CDR by Imvated)
DRAWINGS AND SOUNDS KIDS CAN EASILY RECOGNIZE (book/CDR by Ultra Eczema)
GREGORY BUTTNER – 3/1 (3″CDR by Tausend Fuessler)
STEFAN FUNCK -TAU (3″CDR by Tausend Fuessler)
FÜR DIESEN ABEND (CDR by Tausend Fuessler)
MHFS – A NELSON CITY HYMNAL (CDR by A Binary Datum)
BRUME/TBC/MNORTHAM (CDR by Wachsender Prozess)
FIGURE – WHEN THE ALPHABET HIDES IN YOUR MOUTH (CDR by Static Signals)
UBEBOAT – BLEAK EP (MP3 by Test Tube)
BASTRO – ANTLERS: LIVE 1991 (CD by Blue Chopsticks)
Though maybe a lot of people come to experimental and electronic through rock music, in my case it was a long time ago and for a short period only. In the late seventies and early eighties I listened to punk and new wave for short while, but got turned to electronic music quite quickly. In the late nineties somebody from a dutch music distributor said they had a massive selling album by a band named Tortoise. Since they sold rock music I thought it wouldn’t be something for me, but it turned out a great rock record. A post-rock record. Since I play more rock music than say in the late eighties. Thus I found that some people of Tortoise where before in a band named Bastro, together with David Grubbs, who was already a highlight for me with his Gastr Del Sol band (and to be honest, I get to learn that because I was already fairly acquinted with the work of Jim O’Rourke. So this anthology of Bastro live recordings, just before splitting up is my first encounter with how Bastro sounded. Bastro were a trio of Grubbs, Bundy K. Brown and John McEntire (the latter two later on in Tortoise). From the earlier punk days, Bastro grew into a heavy three piece group, playing complex songs, with songs changing all the time, improvisation coming in but mainting a strong power in the music itself. Like I said, this is my first encounter with Bastro and I am quite blown away by it. Strong powerful and imagenative music, that made me curious hearing their other work. The end as a good start. (FdW)
Address: http://www.bluechopsticks.org
CHRIS BROWN – TALKING DRUM (CD by Pogus Productions)
Pogus Productions in recent years offer CDs by serious composers, but usually not people I heard of before. Chris Brown is no different. He composes electronic works aswell as for ensembles, is a teacher, founded The Hub and recorded music of John Zorn and Luc Ferrari. ‘Taking Drum’ is a work that started ten years ago and is an interactive installation that connects four laptops, programmed ‘to explore cyclical polyrhythms in large acoustic spaces’ […} and ‘each computer station generates independent results using genetic-programming algorhithms which are affected by acoustic musicians’ performances’. They play African drums but Brown also throws in a couple of ethnic recordings, thus adding more layers to the already dense music. This CD documents various concerts with this installation, by moving around through the installation wearing a binaural microphone. There is indeed a lot of action going on on this CD, with traditional ethnic percussion, field recordings and electronica moving in and out all the time, in various configurations, but the density was also the main reason that I found it hard to get into this recording. It certainly has it’s nicer moments but overall it was hard to follow any interesting trail in these recordings that made it an interesting piece to hear and not an endless stream of sound. Also with the length it has (almost seventy-three minutes), this is many respects a heavy release. But it bursts under it’s weight. (FdW)
Address: http://www.pogus.com
ANTIGEN SHIFT – THIS MOMENT OF COLD REMEMBERING (CD by Spectre)
If hell exists, this is probably what it sounds like! Canadian sound artist Nick Theriault returns into the dark territories of nightmarish sonic expression on his 18 minutes mini-CD titled “This Moment Of Cold Remembering”. Divided into three phases there seems to be a nice conceptual progression on the album, making it sound like a singular piece of sinister art. Musically we are dealing with an album that operates in cinematic spheres of flowing hostility. Phase one opens with spine-chilling deep rumbling drones surrounded by atmospheric synthlines and distant repetitive voices. “It Was An Accident” is repeated several times assisting to create this strange sort-of-David Lynch-feeling on this first part of the album. With the second phase slowly taking over the work becomes noisier meanwhile the first signs of rhythmic chaos occur. As the middle phase peaks we are confronted with passages of breakcore noise until the third and final phase brings us back into the moments of disturbing dark ambience with only a few rhythmic penetrations left. The distant voices from phase one returns only to put an end to this impressive trip to the caverns of hell. Highly
recommended! (NMP)
Address: http://www.spectre.be
ASMUS TIETCHENS – LITIA (CD by Die Stadt)
ASMUS TIETCHENS – EINE GANZE MENGE (3″CD by Tausend Fuessler)
With the release of ‘Litia’ on CD, the end has come for Asmus Tietchens Sky phase re-issues. Although towards the end of ‘In Die Nacht’ Tietchens became tired of working with synthesizers and drumcomputers and had a growing interest in industrial music and musique concrete. However through contractual obligations towards Sky Records he needed to make a fourth LP and at the same time he had two favourite tools to work with: a drum machine and a Korg Polysix synthesizer, even when the possibilities didn’t seem to good. Although I have the original LP, I can’t remember hearing this in ages, but now I am playing the CD version and realized that things sound so much more mechanical than on the three previous Sky albums. Although it might not be true, one can see traces of later works such as ‘Geboren Um Zu Dienen’: the strict mechanical rhythm and the somewhat colder and abbrassive tone of the synths. It misses it’s warmth of the previous works and also of the later work as the Hematic Sunsets. It’s a nice work still after all those years. As a bonus here one gets the fifth planned album for Sky, or at least what was done. The five tracks were previously released by The Bog on 10″ in 1996 (and re-issued on ‘Das Digitale Vertrauen’ by Soleilmoon in 1997 on CD) and form the missing link between the older Sky phase and the latter day Hematic Sunset albums. An archival found of a cassette copy of a track from 1980 is also enclosed on this CD and Tietchens assures us that the entire Sky Records phase is herewith completed.
We leap forward to this day and on the new Hamburg label Tausend Fuessler there is a 3″ CD by Tietchens with three pieces. ‘Teilmenge’ is a term he uses for his recent works, which started with a series of CDs for Mille Plateaux, and in which Tietchens connects his own to that of the microsound lot. Worlds apart from the ‘Litia’ CD of course, Tietchens here works in his recent sparse approach to sound, recycling his own previous work (without leaving a clue which works that’ll be). Music comes almost to a half in these three pieces: sparse and loose sounds with big empty spaces between them – not that these spaces are long but they act a strong counter points for those moments in which there is music. On the cover of ‘Litia’ there is a review printed of someone who absolutely hates the LP. I wonder what he would think of this 3″CD. I know I like it, as it’s of an austere beauty. (FdW)
Address: http://www.diestadtmusik.de
Address: http://www.tausend-fuessler.de
SWEETNESS WILL OVERCOME (CD compilation by Segerhuva)
In the past I reviewed a couple of Segerhuva’s releases (by Jarl, Moljebka Pvlse and Blod), which were all a bit outside my common territory (dark, almost gothic industrial and heavy type noise), but they were nevertheless quite alright. This compilation sums the label up, presenting artists new and old – known or unknown (at least by me). It has it’s darker moments in stuff by Jarl, Irgun Z’Wai Leumi and Skin Area but it’s the noise by Government Alpha, Blod, Moljebka Pvlse, Institut, Treriksroset, IRM, Ochu, Barrikad and Koeff that prevails here. In between we found Sharon’s Last Party with a strange but groovy piece and Martin Bladh pretending to be old Current 93. Dwelling a bit top heavy on noise artists Segerhuva has made a decision to work into that area. Their selection shows that they have a keen ear on choosing the right noise artists. (FdW)
Address: http://www.segerhuva.se
OMMM – TESTING THE EQUIPMENT (CD by Adaadat)
Maybe the title ‘Testing The Equipment’ is a bit of a let-down title: why would you want to hear a CD with the testing the equipment? Ommm is one Edmund Davie from Lancashire and this is his debut CD, after playing in a couple of noise groups, including Z’ot with DJ 10000000. The sixteen tracks on this CD fit very well the label’s policy to release some of the wickest electro stuff (or perhaps ‘shit’ in their own speak) around. Composed on a wide array of cheap instruments, lo-fi recording equipment and electronic toys. His beats and melodies are crude to the bone, brought with considerable speed and aggression, but there are also moments of peace and quietness, such as in ‘All Day Template’ or ‘Yoyo’. Ommm’s CD is one of surprises and variety. A rare thing for a debut, but his music is sort of everywhere and there is not a dull moment around this one. Breaking away from the strict breakcore templates and taking over various electronic music grounds. Quite nice indeed. (FdW)
Address: http://www.adaadat.com
DACM – STÉRÉOTYPIE (CD by Asphodel)
In Vital Weekly 328 I noted that ‘Showroom Dummies’ was credited to DACM, but that all the music was made by Peter Rehberg. Here, on the second release by DACM, this is no longer the case, as two of the eleven compositions are by Tujiko Noriko. DACM is a theatre company, but they include also puppets and fine arts. Of course we know Rehberg as Pita, the undisputed hero of digital noise, but right so he is not listed here as Pita, but rather as ‘one of many’ to work on DACM’s productions. The music here has nothing to do with his Pita monniker. Like ‘Showroom Dummies’, ‘Stéréotypie’ is much rhythmical music, of course all built in the digital realm of computer techniques, with again somewhat orchestral samples, but also musique concrete/acousmatic sounds, such as the rubbing of latex in ‘Latex’. It’s hard to tell what the choreography is about, as the music is just one part. It would be an idea for DACM to think about releasing a DVD, so things will be become clearer. Having said that, I think the music stands pretty much by itself though. It can very well be enjoyed without seeing the whole picture and would probably bring more fans to the Rehberg sound. Although different than his Pita work, this is well-enjoyable work, showing his craftmanship in a different way. The two Noriko tracks sort of break the Rehbergian flow which is sad. Her singing and music always sound a bit sad, and unfortunally never seems to appeal to me. (FdW)
Address: http://www.asphodel.com
ORGANUM/Z’EV – TOCSIN -6 THRU +2 (CD by Die Stadt)
When I reviewed the ‘Tinnitus Vu’ CDEP in Vital Weekly 411, I noted the strange connection of Z’ev and Organum. An unlikely pair, but after hearing the CDEP I wished to get a double portion. It took some time, but here is the double portion. Together they went in the studio one day in 2004 and each played an instrument: Z’ev played a stainless steel instrument, built in 1989 and Organum played piano. They improvised for several hours and then each return home to work on their own mix of the material. It’s hard to believe that these are two sides of the same coin, really. One of he two lengthy Organum pieces dwell heavily on sparse piano sounds, with vague rumblings in the background. Maybe the plucking of the stainless steel instrument, but it’s kept to a strict background. The other piece shows similar piano notes but with bowing sounds and long sustains on metal. Z’ev on the other hand has seven shorter pieces and each seems to rely heavily on sustaining sounds, scraping sounds with piano notes forming a much looser connection to the whole. It seems to me that Z’ev added more electronic processing to the sounds, such as the use of reverb and delay. Unlike what you could easily believe is that the drone like pieces here are by Z’ev and not by Organum. Z’ev’s pieces are more along the lines of the previous Touch release. Quite a fruitful collaboration and hopefully more to come. (FdW)
Address: http://www.diestadtmusik.de
RICHARD RAMIREZ & SKIN CRIME – PLEASURE, COMMERCE & DISEASE (CD by Pacrec)
THE RITA – BODIES BEAR TRACES OF CARNAL VIOLENCE (CD by Pacrec)
GRUNTSPLATTER – PEST MAIDEN (CD by Pacrec)
YELLOW SWANS – DREAMED YELLOW SWANS (CD by Pacrec)
The latest pack of noise from Pac Rec, the label of Phil Blankenship. Noise artists old and new find their way into this label. Old such as Richard Ramirez and Skin Crime. Both are actively involved in the US noise scene since more than a decade now, either as artists and labelowners. Ramirez as a solo artist aswell as a Black Leather Jesus and Skin Crime with his Self Abuse label. The material on ‘Pleasure, Commerce & Disease’ is the result of a collaboration through mail, sending each other the meanest noise around with the open invitation to add more to the already full material. The highly Merzbow like stuff here is one thick cloud of noise, full of distortion and mayhem and certainly not for the weak of heart. Nothing new under the noise sun, but executed with a great sense of love for true noise.
Along similar lines move The Rita, somebody from Canada, who has two long tracks of violent noise stuff that is a little bit more low end that the Ramirez/Skin Crime collaboration, but likewise an hour long cascading wave of noise. The resolution of the samples seems to be 0.5K bitrate and the sound is fed through two distortion boxes before being recorded on a cassette – everything is done to keep the original rough spirit. The second track is a collaboration with Mania, aka Taint. Not that it made any difference to sound and approach. But actually it’s not bad at all this massive attack.
Although Gruntsplatter isn’t exactely new either, it’s a new name for me. They had previous releases on Relapse Records, but ‘Pest Maiden’ compiles his early 7″ and a cassette release on Troniks from 1999. This is noise of a different order. It’s not some over the top feedback howl, but darker than dark atmospheric doom death rattle. Everything moves in the darker edges of the sound spectrum – just much low end, a little bit of mid end and no high end. Moving slowly forward in these pieces, like some alien beast, just landed on earth and seeking human life in order to destroy it. Music like that of Gruntsplatter reminded me of Brighter Death Now or some other Swedish groups along the lines of that, which is good. Horror B-movie stuff here.
The most varied thing here is the CD by Yellow Swans, aka GMS (guitar, electronics) and Pete Swanson (electronics, vocals). Two of the pieces on this CD were previously released in an edition of 30 copies lathe cut LPs and two tracks are from an unreleased split LP with Nice Nice. The music of Yellow Swans might be down to noise, but it’s an altogether different kind. It has much more to do with free improvised stuff than the straight forward attacks of The Rita. Improvising freely on guitar, electronics and rhythmmachines, Yellow Swans are all over the place: noise, old school industrial but also musique concrete or even anything rhythmic. After the blasts of The Rita, Ramirez/Skin Crime and the unearthly sounds of Gruntsplatter, these lo-fi experimentalists come as a fresh bath. Not a bad pack at all, even for someone like me, whose love of noise is a bit less than it used to be. (FdW)
Address: http://www.iheartnoise.com
BIANCO-VALENTE/MASS – SELF ORGANIZING STRUCTURES (CD+DVD by DSP Records)
Music and visuals meeting up is of course nothing new, and this is no different. Mass (the man behind the small but excellent DSP label) teams up here with Bianco-Valente, an Italian visual arts duo. The DVD has the same music but comes with a film. Mostly these contain pictures in one or two colours, of driving around in a car, wandering through a landscape or a close up of a face. It’s not really a story that is being told here, rather an abstract set of images that slowly changes. The music is alike and therefore fits the images quite nicely. Seemingely random bleeps make sense over the course by which they are played. It’s only the course of action which makes the whole musical picture clear. Although listed as six tracks, it’s one organic flow of sound that slowly unfolds, changing colour and shape. Strictly made in the digital environment one could think this is cold and alien music, but it’s not. There are traces of techno to be found all around, but Mass doesn’t make things easy for the dancefloor. The rhythms are oddly shaped and for sure feet tapping, but not floor filling. Highly abstract and highly captivating at that. (FdW)
Address: http://www.dsprecs.com
VA – CONTEMPORARY CULTURE CONVENTION COMPILATION IV (CD by Everest/Randomacoustics)
This is the first release that I’m reviewing from this label. Exactly the first release that I’m getting in touch with from Everest records which means that I didn’t have any idea about their sound before this moment. The name of the compilation is ‘contemporary culture convention compilation IV’, and sometimes the name is just enough to help you get an idea about their sound. This name fully shows the intention of the compilation and it is really an index of what is inside. Generally we can say that the content is contemporary electronic sound in various directions, mostly melodic and rhythmic variations from it. From idm and instrumental hip hop/break combinations, deep and slow housey variations to pure alternative hip hop moments and ambiental/clicks n cuts production. >From this compilation I can highlight the track of Agnes named ‘tedoua, mace’ that irresistibly reminds of Jan Jelinek’s work of course this is all positive. Than I would like to mention track ‘weardless’ by Babychlor that when I listened to I had a feeling that I know it very well, but have no idea where from. The hip hop manner is incorporated into the track ‘time capsule’ by En sayne. Good rhythms, rhymes and MCing. As a whole this is another compilation that wants to present some particular choice of contemporary electronic music, music that has already been presented with many compilations and releases so far, so obviously its intention is not to bring something revolutionary and inventive but simply to present part of the scene again, into a different direction with a different choice, new artists and tracks. Presenting a part of the scene again through nice tracks and music. (TD)
Address: <http://www.everestrecords.ch> or <http://www.randomacoustics.com>
DAVID LAST – THE PUSH PULL (CD by the Agriculture)
Here is one label that I follow continuously. I’m talking about Brooklyn based label The Agriculture. It is pretty hard to explain what sound Agriculture treats. It’s some broken beat chill out and lounge music with some Asian or ethno moments incorporated into contemporary electronics. Anyway, maybe you’ll get a basic idea if i try to explain their latest release, debut album by artist David Last. On the other hand basically this release is still chill out relaxing and loungey like any other Agriculture release. The rhythm is breakey with a small amount of those recognizable ‘world music’ or ethno elements in a contemporary context. David lives in Brooklyn and according to that his sound is influenced by many overlapping worlds found in NYC. All that is incorporated in his sound that should represent diversity of cultures, sounds, people and scenes mixed in NYC. His vision of that life is calm or we can simply say slow, but of course not down or lifeless. He is still happy, but sometimes you need some rest. Take a break, have rest and think about things. Of course you can take this release after some tiring party, to chill out, have a rest or simply when u need to think about things· (TD)
Address: http://www.theagriculture.com
THE BROKEN TALES ISSUE 2 (CD compilation by Vibrofiles)
Apperentely this is the second volume of ‘Broken Tales’, a compilation in which some form of narration plays a role, either spoken word, film quotes or plays. Many of the pieces use text in some form, but that’s not the only thing that is common for these tracks. There is a sense of ambient music throughout these pieces, delicate sound processing going on, and voices in general end in some cut up form. Just the track by one Globi is quite loud and distorted. The tracklisting includes usual suspects such as Scanner (with a nice track), Alejandra & Aeron, Aki Onda and much to my surprise Ryoji Ikeda, but also lesser known, at least in these areas, people like Radio Mentale, Goran Vejvoda, Michel Guillet, Jopo Stereo (with a nice piece for violin and marimba, and one of the few not having voices), Serge Comte and William Furlong. Music to close your eyes and open your ears for an ongoing dialogue. (FdW)
Address: http://www.vibrofiles.com
MIRROR – STILL VALLEY (LP by Die Stadt)
Of course it nonsense, but recentely I was thinking that Merzbow, Muslimgauze and Mirror are all bands starting with the letter M, and that they are all very productive. Luckily I only collect two out of these three, and Mirror is one. I gave up counting but this must be their fifteenth or so LP, aswell as a handful of hard to get CDR releases and the next thing you know is getting your next mortgage. More and more Mirror becomes a more open group, with Andrew Chalk and Christoph Heemann being the core members. Last year saw some concerts with Timo van Luijk and Vicki Jackman and on ‘Still Valley’ their irregular guest Jim O’Rourke is present. I played this record a couple of times in a row and I was thinking, wow that is really a nice piece of music – and not ‘pieces’ of music, as side one and side two sort of belong to eachother. No doubt this will be released on CD somewhere in the future, as seems to happen with more and more Mirror records, but turning the record somewhat broke the flow. The reader that is aware of what and how I discuss music, may ask me this: does record fifteen sound much different than record one, and if no, doesn’t that bother you? Of course to a certain extent it does bother me, because I like bands to develop, and seemingely Mirror doesn’t develop that much, but sometimes I am just a regular ordinary listener too, and late at night I like to play a record too. Those are the times I can grab blindly a Mirror record and sink deep into their underworld of hauntingely beautiful drone music. ‘Still Valley’ is a must worthy addition to that collection. (FdW)
Address: http://www.diestadtmusik.de
(1.8) SEC (Compilation LP by (1.8) Sec. Records)
Packed in a horrible cover comes this concept album. Eight artists were asked to submit a lockgroove, that is 1.8 seconds of sound, which were then given to another participating artist. This new artist was asked to use this lockgroove as the basic sound material for a composition. Now these eight pieces are released, each ending of course in a lockgroove (which is a drag because you’d have to get out of your chair to turn on the next piece). The eight participants are all from a similar area: micro glitch, microwave, microsound: whatever you want to call it. Roel Meelkop, Taylor Deupree, Tim Hecker, Duul_DRV, Richard Chartier, Mitchell Akiyama, Kim Cascone and the relatively unknown 3×3=9. All of these have carefully constructed pieces of silence, ambience and of course a touch of rhythm, since this is of course a record of lockgrooves. But it’s a rather uneasy marriage here. The detailled compositions probably work better when played uninterrupted by lockgrooves – or for that matter on CD. It also seems that everyone works his way into something rhythmical because a lockgroove is waiting at the end. For the microsound DJs and such like, ideal working material. For home consumers perhaps not the most ideal object to play. (FdW)
Address: http://www.1pt8.tk
STROMBA – GIDDY UP (12″ by Fat Cat)
There was a time when I actively sought out every new record by Fat Cat, but as I am no DJ, my interest in buying every 12″ on that label slowly vanished. But I do remember the Stromba 12″ full of light dance floor material. I’d probably all forgotten about this, until the day that I got their next 12″ ‘Giddy’ – a time gap of several years! Stromba are James Dyer and Tom Tyler, two producers who are aided by various people on drums, bass and importantely a trumpet. The music is again light of heart, I think. It has an eighties feel to it, ESG meeting A Certain Ratio (trumpet!) and 23 Skidoo (the dubby ‘Septic Skank’). Dubby lines, much echo on the trumpet, the whole percussion set being played. Rather than just another complicated studio record, this music has a rare live feeling to it. On a dark day, like this, this is pure sunshine in your house. A CD by Stromba is to appear soon. Can’t wait. (FdW)
Address: http://www.fat-cat.co.uk
Y CREATE/FEVER SPOOR – NIGHT WORDS (CDR by Anima Mal Nata)
CONCRETE VIOLIN & FEVER SPOOR – A REBOURS (CDR by Brise Cul Records)
This is something that will of course always happen: once a long lost band returns on the scene, the activities will be massive again. Y Create recentely returned with a CD on EE Tapes and here they team up with Fever Spoor, the band of Marcel Herms (also the labelboss of Anima Mal Nata). Y Create has three tracks, of which two are modest length, but ‘Chinatown’ is the longest of the entire CD. They continue where the left with the CD on EE Tapes: spacey rhythms, walls of synth noises and small melodies, and in ‘Chinatown’ ultimately re-creating a sense of outdoor recordings, like a walk through any sort of Chinatown around the world.
Fever Spoor on the other hand are a much more noise inspired project by Marcel Herms. The five tracks on this split release show a love for lo-fi sampling methods and droning sounds, but Fever Spoor adds a whole bunch of processed musique concrete sounds to it, scraping metal tins or marbles rolling on the table. Nice but maybe it’s executed a bit too simply for my taste. It reminded me a bit too much of early experiments of someone who acquired his first low resolution sampling machine and his quadroverb unit.
A long long time I read ‘A Rebours’ by Joris-Karel Huysmans, a French novelist from the late nineteenth century, but I only vaguely remember what the book was about: I believe some dandy for the nicest things in life, but never satisfied. Or some such (no doubt someone will e-mail me the link where I can read the summary). I am not sure how it inspired the ten noisy blasts on the CDR, but it sees a continuation of the Fever Spoor stuff on the split with Y Create, but taken to further extreme. Adding more sound effects, more noisy and more decay. Maybe that is indeed along the lines of ‘A Rebours’, in which decay played a big role I believe. Maybe the noise additions is Concrete Violin’s part (I am clueless who that is). It’s an ok release as far as noise concerns. Not great but certainly not bad either. (FdW)
Address: <mherms@home.nl>
Address: http://www.brise-cul-records.cjb.net
SWAMPS UP NOSTRILS – MASS DELUSION (CDR by Tib Prod)
TIVOL – TEEMA: LASKIPAA (CDR by Tib Prod)
CADMIUM DUNKEL – OCEATEUM (CDR by Tib Prod)
MALKYL – TID FOR MALKYL (3″CDR by Tib Prod)
Tib Productions are always on campaign and blast here with four new releases. A newcomer is Swamps Up Nostrils, aka Arnfinn Killingtveit, aka Helmetricon, Synkopat or Malebarisk. The cover is hardly readible, so I will not begin to try and read the titles of the tracks. This is debut CDR release and I must say I am not blown away by it. The music has references to techno, drum & bass and to a greater extent even loads of ambient/noise music, but in general this was put together in rather great haste it seems and no great attention had been giving to organising and structering the matrial in anyway. Machines can be produce lots of sounds, but it’s matter of organising them.
Tivol is also something new to me and seems to be a four piece group from Finland, with previous releases on Time-Lag Records and 267 Lattajjaa. Here they present one piece of twenty two minutes, recorded when it was so cold last year that the guitar player poured coffee over his fingers. Tivol play free rock in a nice way. Sometimes hammering freely a few chords around and then quickly changing the scenery to something new. Quite alright I’d say. Things move along well-covered grounds, but it’s thumbs up.
The name Cadmium Dunkel was already around in the areas of Tib Prod, but usually in MP3 or 3″CDR format, now with a full-length release. Although all six pieces here lurk around in the darker corners of ambient, the first piece is quite open with sparse piano notes being played whereas in the long ‘Mecanic Mantra’ a hypnotic rhythm plays the lead in the piece and in ‘Dark Soul City’ they even manage to come close to popmusic. Quite a diverse release.
The men behind Malkyl are Sven Ove Toft, who operates under such guises and Norwegian Noise Orchestra, Waffelpung or his own label Roggbif Records and Anders Gjerde of Humbug Records. ‘Tid For Malkyl’ is a sort of rework of a release with the same name but that was not commercially available. The two play around with over the top noise aswell as some Steve Reich like phased loops of voice stuff. Not brilliant, but in it’s concise approach it’s nevertheless quite enjoyable. (FdW)
Address: http://www.tibprod.com
HOWARD STELZER – CASSETTE RECORDINGS 98-04 (CDR)
DONNA PARKER – REACHES OUT (CDR)
HOWARD STELZER & THE CHERRY POINT – GROSS (CDR by Carbon Records)
Recentely Birchville Cat Motel toured the North-East coast of the USA with the ever active Howard Stelzer and Donna Parker, and for this occassion the latter two produced tour only CDRs, which are also available post tour.
Howard Stelzer is probably best known for his (no longer existing) duo with Jason Talbot. or his improvisations with others, or maybe his label Intransitive Recordings. Or perhaps for his instrument, which he might be the one of the few players of: cassette tapes. He has a whole bunch of cassette players and he plays his own recordings with great skill and care. Carefully manipulating the play-back heads by pressing play, fast forward or rewind, he has developped his own style. For his tour CDR he grabbed five historical pieces from 1998 until 2004. There is most of the time an element of noise in his pieces, but a piece like ‘rex’ shows us differentely: for minutes on end, Stelzer moves around in an infinite weightless space, before finally going into his more usual tape manipulation. Other pieces are also executed with great care, always with a keen ear for small details, subtle variations and generous outbursts. I am not sure, but there might not be that many Stelzer solo releases, so this is worth y’r while.
Donna Parker is a female noise artist, who in general plays short but powerful concerts of feedback treatments with guitar effects. Short, powerfull and at times witty. In ‘I Become Enamoured Of A Repetitive Beeping Around’, she built up in slow peace, moving minimally forward, but in her duo with cello player Vic Rawlings things are unmistakenly directed towards some heavy type of noise. Distorted and dirty. The final piece is ‘Quiet Now Please’ is more along the first piece with a slow crescendo until it reaches its peak and then moves descrescendo again. Nice showcase of what Donna Parker does.
On an entirely different note – literally – is a collaboration of Howard Stelzer with somebody called The Cherry Point, aka Phil Blankenship, the man behind Pac Rec. ‘Gross’ is a full 46:45 minute blast of noise. The delicate noise of cassette manipulations that Stelzer is known for is completely gone. I am not sure, but here is my guess: I think Stelzer put a whole bunch of his improvisations on tape (well, maybe CDR) and that The Cherry Point in return manipulated the whole thing with a bunch of guitar effects. Very much along the lines of Merzbow circa ‘Scum’ – A highly distorted but analog and dirty sound. In terms of noise nothing new under the sun, as an endless stream of noise quite alright.
Address: http://www.howardstelzer.com
Address: http://www.donnaparker.com
Address: http://www.carbonrecords.com
AUGSBURGER TAFELCONFECT – HAMBURGER 8 EP (CDR by Ultra Eczema)
LUCKY DRAGONS & YACHT – RADIO SESSION (CDR by Ultra Eczema)
DENNIS TYFUS (CDR by Imvated)
DRAWINGS AND SOUNDS KIDS CAN EASILY RECOGNIZE (book/CDR by Ultra Eczema)
Belgium’s Dennis Tyfus is foremost a well-known visual artist, but also with a strong taste in weird music and running his own label, Ultra Eczema. Releases on his label are sometimes at his radio show for Radio Centraal. Like Augsburger Tafelconfect, the duo of Jyrgen Hall (computer, synth, keyboards) and Sebastian Reier (computer, guitar, AK drummer). They had a mini CD before on Nneon (see Vital Weekly 426) and they improvised in the radio studios four pieces which continues the style adopted for that miniCD. Going all over the place with their music from microsound to noise to a wicked form of techno or some wacky guitar improvisation. Ausgburger Tafelconfect couldn’t convince me in concert when they were around, somehow it seems to be working better on their releases.
Also recorded in the radio studio is a session by Lucky Dragons and Yacht, two American bands which I never heard of. They improvise in a less strcutured and a somewhat unfocussed way on electronica and samplers (I think), which freely plunders old records and new electronica. But as said it’s all a bit unfocussed, seemingely going nowhere. The best thing is the sort of ‘interview’ Dennis does in Anglo-Dutch with the members.
On another label but by the same Dennis Tyfus is a solo release from him. On the nicely printed (Knust/Extrapool) cover I couldn’t find a title, but there are no less than thirty-two or so short tracks on total madness and insanity to be found. Noise, spoken word, shouting, phonecalls, improvisations and more such crazyness all follow in a great speed and energy. This sort of music lies outside any strict musical genre and is best classified as outsider music. Captivating strangeness.
The final new release by Ultra Eczema is a book and CDR called ‘Drawings And Sounds Kids Can Easily Recognize’. The Drawings are all by Dennis Tyfus and depict things that kids indeed recognize and like (tested by one objective viewer, aged 5): bears, dogs, lions and children’s like depictations of humans. On the enclosed CDR no less than forty four recordings can be found of children making music. Either well-known underground musicians with recordings from the start of their careers or their children. People like Gintas K, RLW, DDV, Lucky Dragons, IDM Theft Able, Kevin Blechdom or simply Elise de Waard singing about a kitten being sick. Very nice indeed, but some love for children seems required. Those who hate them, should stay away. (FdW)
Address: http://www.dennistyfus.tk
GREGORY BUTTNER – 3/1 (3″CDR by Tausend Fuessler)
STEFAN FUNCK -TAU (3″CDR by Tausend Fuessler)
FÜR DIESEN ABEND (CDR by Tausend Fuessler)
Elsewhere we review a 3″CD by Asmus Tietchens on the Tausend Fuessler label. They have also three CDR releases available, which are connected to eachother. Für Diese Abend is a duo of Stefan Funck and Gregory Büttner, both from Hamburg and they have a release together aswell as one solo.
Gregory Büttner’s solo release has three pieces, which seem to me connected to eachother and which are best described as ambient music. A far away sound – maybe the wind licking the permafrost – almost hidden in your speakers have a dark and glacier like feel. Looking outside at the same time, and seeing the little bit snow, this music sort of perfectely matches the season. The best reference to this would be the early Thomas Köner music.
The other solo release, by Stefan Funck, is much more audible and entirely based on field recordings. Recordings of water (rain? melting ice? drain system) form the basis of this recording, which seems to undergo some computerized manipulations. ‘Tau’ is divided in two parts. The first one is the field recording with hardly no processing and in the second part of the composition, things are unmistakenly based on the field recordings but totally transformed by computer treatments. An interesting piece, which shows an influence of Asmus Tietchens.
So how does this work out for the duo? Although a band, they work seperately, at home, on processing sounds from glitches, field recordings, electronics and such like, which somewhere along the lines gets joined together, don’t ask me how and where. When I played this CDR, with one piece for thirty minutes, I couldn’t resist to think of the solo works. Both interests, Büttner’s ambient and Funck’s microsounding processings are both present in this music. The basis is drawn upon lenghty stretches of ambientesque sound and on top small, microscopic variations by Funck. These sounds move along the well-known structures of microsound, but lucikly enough they have enough of their own to be interesting. The dynamics of the whole stays maybe a bit too much on similar grounds, but throughout it’s an enjoyable release for sure. (FdW)
Address: http://www.tausend-fuessler.de
MHFS – A NELSON CITY HYMNAL (CDR by A Binary Datum)
MHFS is Mark Sadgrove, an Auckland-based physicist currently working on a doctorate in
experimental quantum dynamics. In his spare time he makes sound with open source software tools.
The source material for “A Nelson City Hymnal’ was recorded in Nelson, New Zealand in January 2004. The label website says that the Nelson summer never sounded so sweet, I’ve got to disagree…the Nelson summer never sounded so far, far away. An amazing quality of Sadgrove’s music is his ability to sound like he is a million miles away, almost like your catching glimpses of the fragile music as it unfolds. Tape hiss, static, electric buzzes and pops spin beautifully in the front of the mix while underneath, and i mean way underneath, are simple folk songs. The fact that you have to strain to hear them is one of the more endearing qualities. A few quick cut (Mego-style) edits between songs keeps things interesting. This is true folk music, simple, and unassuming. (CJ)
Address: http://atom2.phy.auckland.ac.nz/binarydatum
BRUME/TBC/MNORTHAM (CDR by Wachsender Prozess)
This is a rather hard to decipher thing, but I’m told that the first three tracks are by MNortham and the other six tracks are by TBC and Brume together. All nine are in the realms of soundscaping. The three MNortham tracks are of the usual high MNortham quality: long sustaining sounds of bowed metal string objects, with field recordings softly rumbling in the background. Great stuff as usual.
For the other six tracks, Brume delivered the basic material, being water sounds which are then processed by TBC (of labelowner Thomas Beck), who apperentely is in love with water sounds (see also his ‘Eileithyia’ release, reviewed in Vital Weekly 457). Unlike that previous release, TBC keeps things shorter here, chopping up the material and over the course of the six tracks a gradual erosion takes place: the source material gets more and more alienated from the original until the original has disappeared. All done in the usual somewhat raw TBC manner. A well varied disc with delicate sounds of MNortham and the rawness of TBC/Brume. (FdW)
Address: <thomas@fsk-hh.org>
FIGURE – WHEN THE ALPHABET HIDES IN YOUR MOUTH (CDR by Static Signals)
Maybe the name Figure rings a bell here and there for their previous CD release on Multimood, many moons ago, or maybe even the fact that the main figure, Brannon Hungness, had a solo release on Multimood before or that he was once a member of the Glenn Branca ensemble. But in the recent years, Figure is much more underground, with CDR releases, such as ‘When The Alphabet Hides In Your Mouth’. Figure, probably more than just Brannon, plays a wide array of percussion, flute, guitar, samples and voices. Ah yes, voices. Maybe the seven pieces were put together through improvisation on a multi-track recorder. That’s the way it sounds at least. Mixed well, but sometimes the pieces drag on a bit too much. Instrumental this is quite a nice release, but then there is the vocal parts. I just had a big problem with that. Maybe the nature of the lyrics made it necessary to sing it in such a pathetic way, but it just gave me a bad feeling. Totally over the top with bendings of the voice and all that. There is no way I can relate to this very much. The music needs some cuts to make it more concise and to the point, but the vocals should be, as far as I’m concerned, be cut out entirely. That would make a nice release. (FdW)
Address: http://staticsignals.com
UBEBOAT – BLEAK EP (MP3 by Test Tube)
Every day sees the arrival of new artists and today it’s (a.o.) Ubeboet, aka Miguel A. Tolosa from Spain. He has five interesting pieces of soundscaping. Hard to tell what kind of field recordings went into producing this EP, because the treatments are numerous. The resultant five pieces are quite drone related, with lots of time stretching and plug ins. The darker undercurrents in this release are alike say the works of Jonathan Coleclough, although not enirely there yet. Isolationist music at it’s best. Maybe not entirely new thoughts going on here, but I thought it was quite enjoyable, appealling to me as a fan of Mirror, Coleclough, Ora or any of those drone meisters. (FdW)
Address: http://www.monocromatica.com/netlabel