LONDON ELECTRICS VOLUME ONE (CD by London Electrics Labels)
NIGEL WRIGHT (CDR by CMR) *
INFINITESIMAL – CMR (CDR by CMR) *
SLAP COMBAT – ERADICATED EYE (CDR by Phase! Records)
JLIAT (2xCDR)
THE BEAUTIFUL SCHIZOPHONIC – HYPERBLUE.HYDROPHONICS (CDR by Mystery Sea) *
KOTRA/ZAVOLOKA – UNTITLED LIVE (CDR by Live Reports) *
ELIAS FALKEN – BEHAVORISM (CDR by Retinascan) *
MBAZZY – THE DYSFUNCTIONAL PLAYGROUND (CDR by Retinascan)
GEOCODE – WHITE EP (CDR by Retinascan)
THE ARENTOR ORCHESTRA – THE THIRD ENDING (CDR by Incidental Recordings) *
THE ARENTOR ORCHESTRA – THE FOURTH PLAN (CDR by Incidental Recordings)
DAS ARENTOR ORKESTRAR – THE SECOND COMING (CDR by Incidental Recordings)
IIE – DEFECTIVE/REFLECTIVE (CDR by Incidental Recordings) *
IIE – ABRASIVE SURFACE (CDR by Incidental Recordings)
RU – FADES (CDR by Incidental Recordings)
IGNOR – POETRISM (CDR by Incidental Recordings)
FICKLE/HL – DISTRACTION (3″CDR by No Ground Processes) *
LONDON ELECTRICS VOLUME ONE (CD by London Electrics Labels)
Let’s suppose you read Vital Weekly carefully every week and read about all these artists you never heard off and willing to investigate. The webcast offers only a small section, sometimes. Let’s say labels like Expanding, AI or Highpoint Lowlife caught your attention, but maybe it’s too much to buy a whole album by Vessel, Benge or Bovaflux, and you want to investigate the smaller differences between the lot. ‘London Electrics Volume One’ may be right up your alley. The above mentioned labels, plus Seed, Uncharted Audio, SRD and the MP3 label Bleep.com went to the pub and discussed doing a compilation together, serving as an introduction to their labels and their musicians. Here it is: a mighty twelve track compilation CD with the best they have to offer: Benge, Bovaflux, Fisk Industries, Digitonal and Vessel to name but a few who got mentioned in these virtual pages before. It also introduces new artists, at least for these ears, such as Blamstrain, Jacen Solo, LJ Krutzer, Yellotone, Posthuman, 11t1 and Line. Soft melodic rhythmic music is on offer here: hip hop/techno beats, melancholic touches on (digital) keyboards. Trouble is that many sound alike, and those who stand out to be different, make this into just a varied lot. It could be a great CD if it was just by one person. Now it’s a great CD too by different persons, with only one objection: the material is very similar throughout, making it hard (even harder) to pick out the right band to love and cherish. (FdW)
Address: http://www.londonelectrics.co.uk
NIGEL WRIGHT (CDR by CMR)
INFINITESIMAL – CMR (CDR by CMR)
The New Zealand based CMR label comes out of the ashes of 20city, and have so far released a couple of nice CDs by Kiyoshi Mizutani, Marc Behrens, Richard Francis (the boss here), Roel Meelkop, Jgrzinich and Lugosi, but are now concentrating on releasing just artists from their own country. The two artists featured on the latest CDR releases are new to me. Nigel Wright’s untitled release is his debut release. One piece was recorded in Berlin, the rest in New Zealand. In six pieces he explores the drone side of music, through sound sources undisclosed. It’s hard to tell wether these are field recordings, or guitars or something else, but the result is actually quite nice. No big surprises to be expected in this drone lot, but then it’s not easy to discover something new and exciting, making drone music as ‘dead’ as ambient music, in terms of innovation. But what Wright does, he does good. Minimal pieces, with subtle changes and nice textured sounds, this can meet up with the works of Monos, Ora and Mirror.
Something else is Infinitesimal. a trio of Mark Sadgrove (otherwise known as MHFS) and Paul Winstanley (aka Sci Hi, Audible 3 and Dial). Sadgrove is the man behind the laptop, playing Csound software and Winstanley dabbles around with digital feedback and other noises coming from an effects processor, EQ and mixer. ‘CMR’ is the title of their third album, following releases on their own Eden Gully and Binary Datum labels and shows them playing with microscopic small sounds and large, amplified textures of the carpet being meticulously being rubbed. The detail vs the greater picture. At times things get pretty noisy, but hey what else did you expect with digital feedback on board? The music is alright at such, but not great. It’s a fairly ok set of improvised glitchy textures and sounds. Nothing more, but certainly nothing less. (FdW)
Address: http://www.cmr.co.nz
SLAP COMBAT – ERADICATED EYE (CDR by Phase! Records)
Slap Combat is (at least officially) two people, Panagiotis of Postblue, Phase! Records etc. and Bill, but, obviously, unofficially other people also join the band, that’s Kostis on this first release. I had a chance to see the band play a quite great gig live, a couple of weeks ago in Skopje (at a place under a bridge), when spontaneously a third person from the audience also joined the band, playing drums. The other instruments are guitar, amplifiers, a bunch of effects, voice sometimes… And they play a kind of free rock/noise improvisations, with a quite focused energy in it. This almost half-hour “studio” release, recorded in July 2005 as a part of a b-day party, is a nice recording of what Slap Combat do, playing around and having fun with the noise, actually squeezing the fun from the noise. In a quite festive way, with a sense of time, when and where to push the sound or end it, they leave you wanting more of it. Curious to see and hear it live and on a cd again. (BR)
Address: http://www.phaseweb.tk
JLIAT (2xCDR)
Just listed are three websites on the cover and nothing else, but unfortunately the websites don’t give any information on what we have here. Certainly something that fits the conceptual work of Jliat. After his drone phase, he became interested in technology, the zeroes and ones of digital recording technique that is, and then in the sounds of war. On both CDrs we find some arabic scribble and a picture of Jezus, but if they bear any relation? Again, we don’t know. The first CDR is filled with a speedy cut-up of radio snippets, for about fifty minutes. The second CDR in this bunch contain similar radio snippets, but longer and all in reverse mode. ‘Revolution No. 9’ by The Beatles (which wasn’t that of a heroic landmark… well maybe it was for popmusic) is what springs to mind, even when the fab’s ‘Baby You’re A Rich Man’ pops up in the mix. I just don’t seem to get the point of all of this. It’s only half half ok to listen to, but dialing the radio knobs yourself can bring an equal amount of fun. I’m afraid Jliat lost me somewhere along the lines. Art or Prank? Could be a good headline for an in-depth article. (FdW)
Address: http://www.jliat.com http://www.jameswhitehead.org http://www.sysyphus.org
THE BEAUTIFUL SCHIZOPHONIC – HYPERBLUE.HYDROPHONICS (CDR by Mystery Sea)
Behind The Beautiful Schizophonic is Jorge Mantas, the Portuguese journalist who plays around with his laptop since 2003, following a few collaborations. His previous releases, three tracks on ‘Symptom Of Thisease’ and a self-released 3″CDR were reviewed in Vital Weekly 462. It was alright, but sort of to lo-fi for me. In that respect this new release, on the vastly expanding Mystery Sea label, is a major step forward. Taking literally sounds recorded from below the surface of water, he transforms these sub-acquated sounds into a deep rumble, in nine relatively short tracks. Short in terms of ambient/drone music, but the conciseness of the pieces is actually quite nice. Over the course of this release the music gets louder and louder, starting out at the threshold of hearing and considerable louder at the end, making this more a release of one track, divided in nine parts, rather than nine separate pieces. The music is much more coherent than his previous releases, and Mantas shows himself an excellent student of drone music. No big new moves inside the world of drone music, but a more than excellent work. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mysterysea.net
KOTRA/ZAVOLOKA – UNTITLED LIVE (CDR by Live Reports)
Live Reports is a not a new label, but a sub-division of Nexsound, run by Dmytro Fedorenko, aka Kotra. On this label they want to present live sessions, improvisations and collaborations of Nexsound artists at various festivals and concerts all over the world. As Kotra, Fedorenko teams up here with Katja Zavoloka, whose album ‘Plavyna’ was reviewed in Vital Weekly 263, and now working together with AGF. The recording here was made at A&T Trade Shop in Kyiv, Ukraine on february 19th 2005. In half hour we are treated with technoid rhythms, sparse ethnic samples and occasional feedback noise. Like with so many of these impromptu recordings, sometimes things are really nice, certainly the techno bit that started at fourteen or so minutes, but it gets destroyed by a wall of feedback noise a few minutes later, but the singing after that is nice again. And so it bounces back and forth, between excellent passages and some lesser. Probably live it was more fun, but I would still give this the benefit of doubt. (FdW)
Address: http://www.nexsound.org/nlr/
ELIAS FALKEN – BEHAVORISM (CDR by Retinascan)
MBAZZY – THE DYSFUNCTIONAL PLAYGROUND (CDR by Retinascan)
GEOCODE – WHITE EP (CDR by Retinascan)
Somewhere along the lines I missed out on Elias Falken’s debut release ‘Musica Gastrica’ last year, which is a pity, since his new one, ‘Behaviorism’ leaves a pretty good impression. I know nothing about Elias Falken, but the twelve tracks here seem to me to be made with the use of a laptop, with software synthesizers running. His music is beeps and bleeps, reduced to a minimum of information to be entertaining. A bit dubby, a bit techno like (although it’s hard to see a crowd going crazy here), sometimes off the lines of real techno music with odd shaped rhythms, but throughout a most pleasant release.
The release by Mbazzy is a debut. Behind Mbazzy is one Didier Legein, who plays around with his game-boys and other low technological means. Apparently he improvises his tracks together, but he keeps his stuff short and to the point (perhaps due to some post-production?). No less than seventeen tracks on ‘The Dysfunctional Playground’, the shortest being just over one minute and the longest is nine and half minute. I could mock about the fact that Mbazzy doesn’t know what he wants, since his music is all over the place. Weird and chaotic might be the only true thing about this release, from glitches to techno to down right chaos. Some of the ideas are throwaways indeed, but the shortness of most tracks make up. And with a nice package (like usual with Retinascan, who have a reputation to hold in this world).
In Vital Weekly 445 I first wrote about Geocode, mentioning this was a project by Konrad Behr, otherwise known as Bad Comfort. But on the press release for ‘White EP’ I read it’s one Micheal Richters, who stopped Geocode in order to concentrate more on EBM and industrial. The recordings on ‘White EP’ stem from 2003. Don’t let the word ‘EP’ fool you, with an hour’s worth of music this is the longest of the three new Retinascan releases. It’s also the most coherent album in terms of directions, as Geocode plays some very nice ambient music on his synths. Sometimes cold and alien, such as in third, untitled, track, but especially in the longer pieces Geocode breaths warmth, through melodic textures on pianos and even some watery rhythms to keep some structure, such as in the excellent second and fifth, again untitled, pieces. Great late night listening music, which unfortunately shows what dead end alley ambient music is, but it’s played with care and precision. Too bad he moved to EBM and industrial rhythm stuff: that is not my area, I guess and prefer this, the not so hip ambient. (FdW)
Address: http://www.retinascan.de
THE ARENTOR ORCHESTRA – THE THIRD ENDING (CDR by Incidental Recordings)
THE ARENTOR ORCHESTRA – THE FOURTH PLAN (CDR by Incidental Recordings)
DAS ARENTOR ORKESTRAR – THE SECOND COMING (CDR by Incidental Recordings)
IIE – DEFECTIVE/REFLECTIVE (CDR by Incidental Recordings)
IIE – ABRASIVE SURFACE (CDR by Incidental Recordings)
RU – FADES (CDR by Incidental Recordings)
IGNOR – POETRISM (CDR by Incidental Recordings)
A massive parcel here, with releases from the Belgium Incidental Recordings label, who release their material in very small editions, sometimes even just twelve copies. Why review this, since it’s perhaps not available anymore? Maybe if they get a few orders they will repress? Who knows. I think in one way or the other the bands and projects are related to eachother, although I’m not sure.
There are three releases by The Arentor Orchestra (although one lists them as Das Arentor Orkestrar). Their music is inspired by soundtracks of Dario Argento and John Carpenter movies. On ‘The Third Ending’ they use tapes, environmental sounds, digital effects, feedback and a roland W30, and has three tracks of which the title piece is the most complete piece; the other two are aborted versions of the same piece. Everything is recorded straight to CDR. The piece is a densely layered but obscured sound piece of a mistreated organ sound and somewhere a throbbing bass, along what could be a mass of dish-washers. Nicely obscured drone music. It’s a bit unclear though why the two aborted versions are also included here, as they don’t seem to be adding something to what we already know.
The same instruments are listed on ‘The Fourth Plan’, but the outcome is entirely different. The bass-like sounds play a bigger role here, along with a somewhat feedback-like textured sound played on the synth and some of the digital effects. The fact that it is recorded live shows here. Although it’s an ok piece, I found it a little bit less exciting that the ‘The Third Ending’. It was a bit too raw and crude, without being noise, but made without too much of a plan. Despite it’s title.
‘The Second Coming’ (I always start imitating Whitehouse when I hear these words, but I’m sure that’s my mistake) has two tracks, of which ‘Death By Petrol Fire’ was recorded live at the Deathpatrol festival in Antwerpen, last august. The music has been processed with a ‘resonator bank’ to make the audience part of the noise. Although there is no information available on the cover, we could assume the same equipment was used here, but then the outcome is much more noise related than the other two. A deep end rumble and some higher frequencies on top of that, which work their way into feedback. The title track is much shorter and has a beautiful deep textured drone rumble, which gets gradually destroyed by menacing tones. Nice but not as a nice as ‘The Third Ending’, again.
IIE, or iie, is an off-spring of The Arentor Orchestra and “solely using digital effects feedback layered through analogue multitrack”. ‘Defective/Reflective’ is mounted on a mirror tile, and that reflects the music: it uses the same tape, but in reverse for the second piece. For this release the music uses the simplicity of digital feedback, layered and mixed out. Although iie claims to be inspired by Ikeda, Otomo Yoshihide and Sachiko M, this is a somewhat cruder and rawer work than the Japanese counterparts, mostly, I think to the use of analogue equipment. It’s minimal alright, but bears enough variation to be interesting. Quite nice.
The other releases by iie is ‘Abrasive Surface’ and comes on sandpaper (these releases are part of the Material Series, in which the concept of the package deals with the music – something I heard before, erm… in Staalplaat’s ‘Material Series’). The music however is not abrasive, but sounds a bit different than the ‘Defective/Reflective’ release. More dark and less open, this comes soundwise closer to his own Arentor Orchestra, and more special with ‘The Third Ending’ than his own ‘Defective/Reflective’. Darker, more drone, this is an atmospherical release that is nice too, much alike his other releases, although sounding entirely different.
Rû are Gart and Seekatze and their music is inspired by Taku Sugimoto, that’s what they say themselves. Also in the material series, this jewel case comes with tea leaves. ‘Fades’ is a short release, just over thirteen minutes. In the background buzzes a guitar amplifier and two guys play electric guitar (or maybe amplified acoustic guitar). Lots of silence, sparse tones: yes, most certainly inspired by Taku Sugimoto. It doesn’t hide but it’s ok, due to the amp-noise there is certainly something to hear throughout. Good copycats.
Ignor, or igNOr as they prefer to spell it, has a re-release of tape from 2002, and is the closest thing to music as people know it. Bass, drums and a distorted clarinet, playing three times three tracks that relate together: ‘relay/layer/ayler’, ‘restless/wrestle/lester’ and ‘a/aa/aaa’, making their tribute to Albert Ayler and Lester Bowie. The rhythmsection plays a tight structure and clarinet plays rather freely on top of that through his distortion pedals. It’s a ok for a while, but for the entire length of this release it’s a bit long. (FdW)
Address: http://www.incidentalrecordings.tk
FICKLE/HL – DISTRACTION (3″CDR by No Ground Processes)
It’s been about two years ago that I reviewed a CDR release by Fickle on Consume (see Vital Weekly 489). Fickle comes from Stoke On Trent, which is about the only thing known. Here he teams up with HL, who plays laptop and guitar here on this recording which is a concert they did together in support of Mountain Men Anomymous and Epic 45. A short, ten minute, audio track on this 3″CDR, but a second portion has the whole concert as MP3. Vaguely obscure rhythms and glitchy ambient passages is the most apt description of this, me thinks. The music leaves not a very impression on the listener. It’s sort of alright, but nothing else. (FdW)
Address: http://www.noground.co.uk