TENTATIVELY, A CONVIENCE -USIC, SQUARE ROOT 1 (LP by Wafer
Face Records)
There are at least 3 things to write about this before saying
one word about the music. It’s a picture disc, but the actual
picture has the size of a 7″ record -the rest is transparent.
One side is ‘double grooved’ (haven’t seen that since M doing
‘Popmuzik’ ) and the other is single grooved. Both sides open
and end with lockgrooves. To explain each track on the
record, Tentatively, need 6 LP sized papers filled with
words. See folks? I still didn’t say anything about the
music. I really shouldn’t waste too many words on that -not
that is bad (au contraire), but to describe the dadaist
inclinations on this record would be too much. There are
pieces made up of broken records, weirdo tunes like the
Residents meeting up Half Japanese, a lockgroove of a female
voice saying ‘boo’, clocks (some of which are also locked in
a groove). This record must be seen as a historical document,
as some of this stuff dates back to 1979. A slightly negative
is that the texts have been printed by a poor matrix printer,
and can’t thus be easily read. But alas, this Concept Art
with capital C & A. But great C & A! (FdW)
Address: Wafer Face -P.O. Box 4272, Station A, Portland,
Maine 04101 -USA
LASSE MARHAUG -SCIENCE FICTION ROOM SERVICE (CD by Jazzazin)
After having himself launched into the world of
industrialists with a split 7″ with king of noise Merzbow,
here a full length CD with overtop industrial stuff, with the
instrumentarium including tapes, electronics, vocals, bass,
guitar, scrap metal and treatments. Well done stuff, which
should appeal to Merzbow devotee’s (in case they have any
money left this week -but the CD is offered cheap). (FdW)
Address: Jazzazin -P.O.Box 1402 Leangen -7002 Trondheim –
Norway
THURSTON MOORE -PLEASE JUST LEAVE ME (CD by Pure)
Now here is a boy with Attitude! Recording for majors,
playing the masses in a stadium, but doing solo stuff for
Pure, your beloved noise label from RRRecords. Much of the
solo stuff (as well as the sonic adults on stage so I’m told)
is captured in the noise improv field. On this CD you’ll
find1 track, just under 32 minutes of guitar noise feedback
handled with care. Only for listeners with an attitude, I’d
say. It’s only noise, but I damn well like it. (FdW)
Address: Pure -151 Paige St. -Lowell, MA 01852 -USA
AUBE -MAZE HEAD SHIFT (7″ by Pain Art/Bawler)
Let’s say you got some money, and you had been releasing
tapes for a while, but then the money comes in and you can do
a record… A situation that often occurs. Usually you do the
obviousl ask Merzbow or Aube to do a work for you, and
probably within the month you have your limited vinyl sellout
thing. O.k. I’m cynical here, but why just these two? The
world is full of great bands, great music, and they all
deserve your attention. Not that Pain Art/Bawler did a lousy
jobl neatly packed, limited to 500 and Aube delivers a fine
excursion into noise field with brain
wave/electroencephalogram recordings. Let’s hope for a quick
sellout and let’s hope their second vinyl outing will not be
Merzbow, but something you could never think of. (FdW)
Addressl T. Gith -Marienhof 18 -24939 Flensburg -Germany
CM VON HAUSWOLFF -PLAYS JOHN CAGE CRAWL UNIT -REMAINS HANDS
TOI CIPHER
(three 7″s by Povertech Industries)
Some weeks ago I reviewed a 7″ by MNortham. His record is
part of a larger series to which all of these belong, and who
need your attention. CM Von Hauswolff (known from the
Radium/Anckarstrom labels and his work with Phauss and The
Hafler Trio) pays tribute to one of the most inspiring
composers of this century. Imaginary Landscape #5 is ‘for
tape and sinus tones through walkie-talkies’ and has
distorted synth sounds that sound through the walkie-talkies
as guitars. Voices are in there as well. A nice tribute to
the man who loved noise too. The other side is 4’33 with no
grooves and etched in there 4 feet 33 inches of silence and
is one of the better conceptual approaches to the famous
silent piece. Crawl Unit is the band behind the Povertech
label and go also in the concept areas with a sound track for
any portarit of Mayakovsky’, ‘study for damaged speaker’ etc.
Strangely recorded ambiences with an industrial edge to them.
Hands To have been around for long and released a vast amount
of tapes, vinyl and CO’s. The eroding/erosion sound approach
should appeal to anyone with an interest in the recycling of
sound. The title track is quite harsh and distorted, whereas
the other Bide is more concentrating on sounds, like a cart
riding along a sand path. Keep your ears open for other
releases in these ‘Artifact’ series. (FdW)
Address: <pvrtek@aol.com>
PSYCHOPHYSICIST -NEWTON/MCKENZIE (CD on SIDE EFFECTS)
Take a few slightly technical pamphlets with a load of multi-
syllabilic terminology, add some sine tone generators, stir
in some synapses from Adi Newton and Andy HcKenzie and voila,
another pseudo-scientific CD which does little to stir the
stumps or put spurs in yer stirrups. Apparently the Ircam
facilities were persuaded into letting these twins of fire
fiddle with their computer systems…Pierre was no doubt on
holiday…and the result is this rather tired, dated sounding
product masquerading as research. The usual names are
mentioned in the booklet in an attempt to give this an air of
authority…roll out Nicky Tesla, Hans Jenny and Professor
Gavreau. If this last is unfamiliar to you, don’t feel
inadequate…he’s the bloke who designed the low-frequency
sound cannons for the French ubercops in the sixties, which
were the final solution to dispensing with unruly long-haired
students, as they are extremely effectively at re-arranging
internal organs without requiring invasive surgery. Anyway.
Enuff I. The tracks yield no surprises which is a pity as I
would have thought any collaboration between these two would
have been slightly more dangerous. Fortunately we are spared
any vocals ( by either of them) as we plough through the
predictable fade-ups/fade-downs and occasional abrupt
endings. The sound-constructions may be more effective if the
listener is in the right mood…perhaps acres of trendy
chemical amusement aids or a crash course in Yogic technique
will help. (HP)
STARGATE by DISINFORMATION (LP by Ash International)
A short while ago I came across the CD ‘Voice Of The Earth’,
a NASA space recording of our glowing orb. It is one in a
series of five or six similar recordings made by the Voyager
and a bunch of other space probes, which record the
electromagnetic vibrations of the various planets as they
pass them, transmit this information back to earth where it
is decoded and becomes audible as the music of the spheres.
Kepler, of course, pursued this music in another way,
utilising science and it’s formulations to calculate tones
from a planet’s rotations around it own axis in relation to
the length of time it takes to revolve around the sun.
His investigations produced some rather satisfying results,
currently being promoted by Joachim Ernst Berendt as a Gnu
Age product (sadly). Disinformation is one Joe Banks, a
persistent surfer on the extremes of the radio wave spectrum,
who has re;leased one LP and a CD on Ash, as well as
contributed to at least one of their compilations. In a way I
consider him something of a shaman…skirting the edges of
our information frequencies, capturing something previously
unheard and then returning with his prize, for delectation
and delight. The first side of this long-player is a
recording of ‘Type II radio emissions from the sun’ and is a
soft sparkling floatscape and by far the best of the three on
this release. Side 2 starts with a shorter tr ack titled
National Grid, which I found a bit jarring. It is sourced
from a 50Hertz Extra-Low Frequency signal plus it’s
harmonics…something like that penetrating mains hum that
rears it’s ugly bum when you’ve plugged in the last of your
gear and are ready for a take.
The final track appeared as an analogue version on the Ash
Compilation ‘A Fault In The Nothing’ .which was considerably
shorter and more preferable than this vinyl version. It is
derived from ‘Lightning induced high frequency atmospherics,
electrical storm recorded at 3.95MHz’ . Personally, the first
side of this release does me good and I look forward to
hearing it off a CD sometime. (HP)