ANDREW DUKE – DEAD AIR ALIVE (CD by Cognition Audioworks)
WALDCHENGARTEN – ELECTRICAL BONDING (CD by Desolation House)
JASUN MARTZ – THE PILLORY/ THE BATTLE (2CD by Under the Asphalt)
NATASHA BARRETT – KRAFTFELT (CD/DVD by Aurora)
NICKENDES PERLGRAS – MEAT HAT (CD by Konnex)
JOHN WIESE – MAGICAL CRYSTAL BLAH VOLUME 2 (CD by Helicopter)
JOHN WIESE – ARRYTHMIA WAVE BURST AND PANNER CRASH (3″CD by Helicopter)
JASMIN – EP01 (miniCD by 12Rec)
GOH LEE KWANG – CRACK (CDR by Herbal Records)
GOH LEE KWANG & TIM BLECHMANN – DRONE (CD by Herbal Records)
LAU MEN LENG – LIMIT (CDR by Herbal Records)
ENCOMIAST – MERS DE SOMMEIL (CDR by Mystery Sea)
WILL GUTHRIE – SPEAR (miniCDR by Antboy Music)
LAYER – GEROEZEMOES (3″CDR by Tbttba)
MACHINEFABRIEK – ROES (3″CDR, private)
ANDREW DUKE – DEAD AIR ALIVE (CD by Cognition Audioworks)
It’s not easy to outline the concept behind this new Andrew Duke CD,
but it’s part of a bigger work dealing with radio and sound, of which
‘Dead Air Alive’ is the third part. In radio broadcasting terms,
‘dead air’ is the sound when there is a lack of broadcast, which Duke
considers an oxymoron, since no broadcast doesn’t mean no sound. In
this one hour opus he works excuslively with the sound of no sound on
the air. The input is, hardly to believed upon hearing, an hour of
jazz music. The long, stretched out static sound has no resemblance
of anything jazz, and maybe to some people, nothing to do with music
at all. A very minimal piece of work going on here, with perhaps
subtle changes, but for the bigger part hoovering at Lopezian
silence. If the name Andrew Duke only rings bells when it comes to
rhythmic, techno based music, then ‘Dead Air Alive’ proofs you wrong
otherwise (but then you may not heard his ‘More Destructive Than
Organized’ CDR on Bake Records). Duke is a multi-faced talent,
proving to do very nice rhythmic stuff but at the same time, he is
also capable of producing a more than excellent piece of microsound,
along the lines of Francisco Lopez or a less musical, but no less
intruiging Stephan Mathieu. Great ambient music here. (FdW)
Address: http://www.cognitionaudioworks.com
WALDCHENGARTEN – ELECTRICAL BONDING (CD by Desolation House)
Over the years some Waldchengarten releases have been reviewed, and
here is their latest one, maybe their second (the website wasn’t that
clear), but it’s certainly a big leap forward. Until now
Waldchengarten, a Danish duo of brothers lars and Dennis Hansen,
combined their dark ambient with some retro-industrial sound, here
they have moved entirely into the world of dark ambience, maybe under
the influence of Robert Rich who mastered this work. Their machines,
synths, guitars, samplers and sound effects are fully overload with
sound, scraping and sampling the hell out of metallic percussion,
adding bucket loads of reverb and other such studio trickery. A sonic
overload on all accounts, but one that is at the same playing the
ambient card. Silence plays no role in this music, but Waldchengarten
plays a strong (in every sense of the word), the mood card. Music to
put the listener is a hypnotic, trancelike state, stepping outside
the conventional borders of ambient and industrial, by blending
elements of both together. If Troum is up your alley, then check out
this new, to date best, work of Waldchengarten too. (FdW)
Address: http://www.desolationhouse.com
JASUN MARTZ – THE PILLORY/ THE BATTLE (2CD by Under the Asphalt)
With a little exageration one could call Martz a composer of only one
work: The Pillory. Besides this work, almost no other work is
avialable, and listening to ‘The Pillory’ one cannot suppress the
thought that Martz chose to put all his musical ideas into one work
instead of composing an oeuvre. This may explain why in every aspect
this work is BIG.
First it is a piece with a long history. Martz started composing the
work in 1976. In that same year it was performed life in Los Angeles
by an orchestra he assembled: The Neoteric Orchestra. In 1978 it
surfaced for the first time on vinyl as a private release. Martz
worked in those years as synthesizer programmer for Frank Zappa. In
1981 a release on Martz’ Neoteric-label followed, famous for its
cover by Jean Dubuffet. For the 2005 release a detail from this cover
is taken. In 1994 the swedish label Ad Perpetuam Memoriam delivered
the first cd-release. They included three trio-pieces that were
originally released on the “American Music Compilation” on Eurock(
1982). And now some 10 years another recording and release of this
masterwork sees the light. The fact that the original composition
goes back to the 70s doesn’t that the work sounds dated. This is
absolutely not the case. It still is a work of great power and
complexity.
What did Martz do all those years? Concerning his musical activities,
over the years they moved to the background, not succeeding to make a
living out of it. He plays synthesizers on a couple of t Michael
Jackson songs, and did some gigs with the Far East Family band. Also
some production work for a few bands.
Secondly, for this new recording Martz invited musicians from all
over the world for his Intercontinental Philharmonic Orchestra and
The Royal Intercontinental Choir. They are to many to mention. Over
hundred musicians are involved and make up this virtual orchestra and
choir. All of them send their contributions to Martz who completed
the puzzle in the studio through an endless assembling process. He
must have spend many many solitary hours in the studio. An enormous
undertaking that makes clear that Martz did not chose the easy way.
This new recording is also longer than earlier versions. Two 74
minute cds are needed to embrase the new ‘The Pillory’-project
completely. So the original concept is extended and enriched, making
gratefully use all the computer facilities that are available
nowadays.’The Pillory/The Battle’ is an orchestral work of
megalomanic proportions.
In interviews Martz speaks of his eclectric interest in music. In
‘The Pillory/The Battle’ he blends of the music he likes into one
work: symphonic parts, ambient, experimental, percussive interludes,
choir, electro-acoustic, freeform, noise, ethnic, soundscapes. The
work is a perfect mixure of all these influences. The work is divided
into seven parts, called ‘battles’. Each battle is built around some
of these influences. ‘Battle 7’ for example, that takes up the entire
second disc, is a monumental piece of ambient and noise. At the base
are acoustical instruments but treated intensively into a richly
layered stream of sound that reaches hallucinatic heights and
incredible dynamics. If you need a comparison, Biota often came to my
mind.
‘Battle 3’ is the part that comes most close to rock. A long
percussive intro develops into progressive rock with a strong beat.
It culminates into a very cacaphonic fourth battle. ‘Battle 5’ is a
much calmer piece dominated by some pipe organ. ‘Battle 6’ brings
back the quietude of ambient music. As a composer Martz is a special
one because of his enormous synthetic power. He can cope with all
these varied influences and use them to build an impressive and
enjoybale composition. Also he is in control with all the technology
involved. Absolutely an incredible tour de force! (DM)
Address: http://www.undertheasphalt.com
NATASHA BARRETT – KRAFTFELT (CD/DVD by Aurora)
Natasha Barrett’s previous album ‘Isostasie’ was reviewed in Vital
Weekly 357, but not by me, so I can’t compare this new one to the
previous one. Barrett was born in England, but moved to Norway in
1999. She has also won several prices for her work, among others in
Bourges. Those initiated know that we are dealing with serious
electro-acoustic music here. The music is presented in two versions
here, one is a stereo version and one a surround sound, but
unfortunally such a set up is not present here. ‘Kraftfelt’ is German
and means force field and the music is strongely narrative, even
without any spoken word. Her sampled material includes voices as the
most obvious sources, but also many other sounds, which are not easy
to locate to original sounds. But somehow she creates narrative
music, even within the relatively known field of acoustmatique music.
Sounds glide up and down the scale, various pitches move in and out
throughout a rather vibrant mix. Like the previous reviewer said,
there is room for ‘breath’ in: moving somewhat louder passages, there
is also space for more quieter moments, making this better than most
other works generated in this field, which has come, I think, to a
dead end street. But still there are nice pieces being developped and
the three on ‘Kraftfelt’ are perfect examples of the better kind.
(FdW)
Address: <aurora@grappa.no>
NICKENDES PERLGRAS – MEAT HAT (CD by Konnex)
Nickendes Perlgras is the prosaic name from a berlin trio: Michael
Thieke (clarinet, alto clarinet, alto sax), Michael Anderson
(trumpet) and Eric Schaefer (drums). The name of their second cd is
less prosaic: ‘Meat Hat’. In 2000 this trio released their debute
‘Die hintere Vase’ that received positive responses from the press.
All three of them are top musicians of the Berlin scene and work
within in a diversity of musical contexts. First their is of course a
variety of berlin-based projects that they are involved in. All three
for instance are members of Demontage, a group led by drummer Eric
Schaefer. Schaefer and Thieke also paricipate in Unununium, etc.,
etc. In various formations they played at numerous festivals, working
together with many international musicians. So no question that they
are experienced musicians. But this is also immediately evident when
you listen to ‘Meat Hat’.
What would be a correct description of their music? Well, maybe ‘new
jazz’ is the most fitting label.You can compare their music with that
of New and Used (an early Dave Douglas project) or with numerous
dutch new jazz-outfits that are characterized by a same sober and
disciplined style. For their second one they recorded 16 compositions
between august 2003 and september 2004. Most compositions come from
Thieke and Schaefer. There happens a lot here. With each listening
you hear new things. What the music characterizes above all is its
clear and transparant forms and compositions on the one had, but its
complex structures on the other hand. This proves their great skill
in transforming their musical ideas into compositions. The musicians
play with great precision and discipline. They make good use of
soundexploration through their instruments that gives nice colours
and accents to the music. But this is not their dominant focus like
on recordings of the portugese Creative Sources label that functions
also as an outlet for new music from Berlin (they have a solo album
by Thieke available and many more). All three have many more extended
techniques on their instrument within reach. But they make a thrifty
use of their technical skill and possibilities. No overacting here,
everything is in function of the compositions. If this makes you
think its a little ascetic or academic, this is absolutely not the
case. The music is very joyfull, full of wit and soul. All the
qualities that are united here make this a very complete and human
music. (DM)
Address: http://www.konnex-records.de
JOHN WIESE – MAGICAL CRYSTAL BLAH VOLUME 2 (CD by Helicopter)
JOHN WIESE – ARRYTHMIA WAVE BURST AND PANNER CRASH (3″CD by Helicopter)
It’s hard to tell why one CD gets the remix treatment and the other
one doesn’t. John Wiese’s output is quite extensive, but for some
reason he choose ‘Magical Crystal Blah’ (see Vital Weekly 438) to be
remixed by several of his fellow noise makers and not his other
releases. Wiese, occassional member of Bastard Noise aswell as a
being prolific solo musician, belongs, at least as far I’m concerned
to the more interesting noise makers around, combining his laptop
techniques with lo-fi contact microphones and such like. Wiese choose
eleven musicians who are all well-known in the fields of the more
serious noise, except maybe Gerrit and Raionbashi. Of course some of
these people make more noise out of the already loaded material
provided by Wiese, such as Panicsville, KK Null, Damion Romero,
Karkowski or the scrap metal of Christian Renou. Mike Shiflet of
Gameboy Records has an aggressive ambient piece, whereas Freiband is
the only one to turn the volume down via subdued cracklings. RLW adds
frentic bass playing to a likewise frentic cut-up of the material.
The prize winner is at the end: Joe Colley pays tribute to the old
and perhaps forgotten master of industrial music, Vivenza, by
offering a piece of machine loops, just like the old master but with
new means.
At the same time a new 3″ CD by Wiese is also released, with four
tracks recorded live throughout 2004 in various concerts throughout
the USA. In these four pieces, Wiese goes out all the way, noisewise.
In between all the sonic overload and distortion, there is not much
room to breath. A thunderous storm of sound. Live Wiese is less
subtle than in the studio, but he still knows how to present an
intelligent set of noise material, which is far more interesting than
many others in the field, and which ranks him next (or better right
under) Merzbow, Jazzkammer or Lasse Marhaug. Short but powerful. (FdW)
Address: http://home.earthlink.net/~johnwiese
JASMIN – EP01 (miniCD by 12Rec)
Alexander Peterhaensel’s project Tilia recentely delivered ‘Vous
Revez/Vous Ne Revez Pas’ on Cronica Electronica (see Vital Weekly
451), but what I didn’t know is that he is also a member of Jasmin,
together with Andreas Bernard (guitar) and Christian Schwenkmaier
(bass, guitar), whereas Peterhaensel plays drums and electronics.
Jasmin came together in 1992, and since 1998 in this line up and in
2001 they released ‘EP 01’ on Rotesonne Records, which is now
re-issued by 12Rec. Like his Tilia project, Jasmin deals with
post-rock, only here much more straight forward in their influences.
‘EP 01’ has three tracks of melodic post rock tunes. That’s it, nice
stuff for sure and I can’t remember the last time I played a Tortoise
record, but however nice this is, it’s also a bit dated. For one of
the tracks there is also a video, which comes on a seperate DVD-R
(maybe not with every copy), but it’s actually a nice video, short
from the backside of a tram, giving the whole thing a nice hypnotic
feel, of going backward by going forward. Make more sense with the
music, I guess. Would have loved a video for all three tracks
though… (FdW)
Address: http://www.12rec.net
GOH LEE KWANG – CRACK (CDR by Herbal Records)
GOH LEE KWANG & TIM BLECHMANN – DRONE (CD by Herbal Records)
LAU MEN LENG – LIMIT (CDR by Herbal Records)
Not so long ago, Goh Lee Kwang was on tour in Europe, and I had the
pleasure to see him play at Extrapool. His CD, reviewed in Vital
Weekly 436, was alright, but didn’t leave a big impression. His
turntable cum no-input mixer in the live event, was likewise: ok,
without being great or very original. I didn’t pick up the ‘Crack’
CDR that he sold on this tour. The seven pieces, ‘Spallatrion i to
vii’, continues to explore his turntable and mixer, but I must say
now it’s much more interesting. These seven pieces are minimalist
excursions into the world of crackles and static noise, without being
very noise as such. It’s an relatively nice exploration into the
world of turntablism.
The same Kwang works together with Tim Blechmann, of whom also a work
was reviewed in Vital Weekly 436 (both releases arrived from Kwang as
a matter of fact). Their one piece for turntable and laptop is called
‘Drone’, but don’t let this title deceive you, as this is not y’r
regular drone work along the lines of Mirror or Ora. The music is a
rather hectic and nervous, yet dense field of sound. Small crackles
appear in overload mode, in the back held together by likewise dense,
repeating fields of sound, maybe the processing of the turntable
cracklings by Blechmann. The work doesn’t have the relaxing mood of
most other drone musics, and sounds like the result of an hour long
improvisation. Half way through the work changes and becomes more
’empty’ and minimal, with an ongoing fast rhythm and a little later
high piercing sounds.
Some of the photography for Herbal Records is done by Lau Mun Leng,
who has also does audio work. ‘Limit’ is a forty-one minute work on
the same label and is an ‘analog recording’. That is a bit of
puzzling remark on the cover, as it doesn’t say what it is that
recorded analogly. But somehow I think this has also do to with
turntable sound. Here however things work a little bit different.
Leng uses much more ongoing rhythmic sounds, clicks of skipping vinyl
perhaps, over which she improvises quite freely with much more
musical elements. Sounds pop in and out of the mix, in a rather
unfoccused mixture of improvisation and electronica. Alright, but not
great. (FdW)
Address: http://www.geocities.com/herbalrecords
ENCOMIAST – MERS DE SOMMEIL (CDR by Mystery Sea)
When I reviewed Encomiast in Vital Weekly 271, they were a trio, but
over the years only one member survived, Ross Hagen, who is a
graduate student at the University of Colorado College of Music. It
might be this particular information that made me think that Ross is
not using synthesizers here, but samples of instruments, mainly
strings. Taking these violin or cello strings and layering them on
the computer and then fiddling about with them, although not that
much, except maybe for some reverb and equalization. Each of the six
pieces is dark in nature, with long sustaining sounds of held notes,
a bit muffled sound (which is my only complaint really) to add to the
somewhat dark and sombre tonal qualities of this release. Maybe
throughout the various pieces these austere tones are a bit too
similar (which wouldn’t have been a problem, if it was one long
track, or perhaps two), but now it doesn’t provide too much
distinction between the seperate pieces. That’s a pity, since the
material and ideas have enough potentional in itself. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mysterysea.net
WILL GUTHRIE – SPEAR (miniCDR by Antboy Music)
The name Will Guthrie pops up more in our announcement section than
in our review section. No big surprise there, since Will is mostly an
improvising drummer who plays solo and with other a lot. Originally
from Australia, he is a lot in Europe and while staying here he
visited the studios of APO33 in Nantes to work on this expressive
short piece. Lasting only eight minutes and twenty-seven seconds,
Guthrie uses various live recordings in here. The basis is a
recording from a London concert, which was used again in a concert in
Bologna and then the whole things was altered in the studio. For his
concerts he uses percussion, radio, sine-waves, noise, electronics
and ‘cheap concrete-sound’. The result is a pretty strong sound
collage, bearing some noisy elements of a dynamic electro-acoustic in
which noise is the strongest element, but the overall dynamics make
it for more interesting than the usual omnious noise thing. The only
thing though: why such a short thing? (FdW)
Address: http://www.antboymusic.com
LAYER – GEROEZEMOES (3″CDR by Tbttba)
‘Geroezemoes’, in case your Dutch is below par, means nothing else
but Hum, and it’s subtitled ‘the constant drone of human activity’.
Layer is a member of TBTTBC, whose CDR was reviewed in Vital Weekly
378. On this 3″CDR there are seven short tracks, all performed on a
fender four string fretless guitar neck, picked up by minidisc and
computer and contactmicrophones and guitar pick ups. Despite the use
of computers, the whole things breaths lo-fi all over. Short sketchy
pieces of simple strummings, with some sort of likewise simple
processing in the background, at least on some of the pieces, such as
the third – of course all untitled. Pretty straightforward although
slightly vague in its approaches, this is a cute little thing of just
the right length. (FdW)
Address: http://www.tbttba.tk
MACHINEFABRIEK – ROES (3″CDR, private)
‘Roes’ is best translated as ‘intoxication’, but it’s not clear
wether this describes the state this music was recorded in. Probably
it does. This is already the sixth release by Dutch Machinefabriek,
and not live this time, so no noise here. That is to say, only
partly. In the nine pieces here, which are to be heard as one piece
(non-intoxicated by this reviewer), noise plays a small role, but is
much more manipulated and worked out in the form of a sound collage.
Through some of the muffled hiss and distortion, we hear the far away
play on a piano and some electronics. Everything sounds like
well-processed by computer means, and Machienfabriek places itself
along the lines of a noisy version of Richard Chartier or Roel
Meelkop, but with much shorter tracks but not to dissimilar dramatic
built ups and changes. So far the best release to come out of this
machine factory. (FdW)
Address: <machinefabriek@chello.nl>
correction: a correction to a correction: Andrew Zealley’s band
‘Green Bucket’ (Vital Weeklly 450) was corrected to ‘Green Buck’ a
week later, but I’m now informed it should have been ‘Greek Buck’.