GAUDI/TESTA – CONTINUUM (CD by Em:t Records)
ADAM PACIONE – SISYPHUS (CD by Elevator Bath)
RICK REED – DARK SKIES AT NOON (CD by Elevator Bath)
O – NUMERO 0 (CD by Antenna Records)
ESTHER VENROOY/FREDERIK CROENE – HOUT (CD by Odradek/Robo Records)
ESTHER VENROOY – TO SHAPE VOLUMES, REPEAT (CD by Odradek/Robo Records)
TOMAS KORBER – EFFACEMENT (CD by Cut Records)
OLIVIA BLOCK – CHANGE RINGING (CD by Cut Records)
JASON KAHN – SIHL (CD by Sirr-ecords)
RUE MORGUE – NIGHTMARE PICTURE THEATRE (CD by Rue Morgue Records)
TOKYO MASK – BACKBONE (CDEP by Low Impedance Recordings)
PRIDON – NEW STEINE (CDEP by Low Impedance Recordings)
KAMOTEK – LOFTWAY (CD by Low Impedance Recordings)
BIRGIT ULHER/GINO ROBAIR – SPUTTER (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
DOUG THERIAULT/BRYAN EUBANKS – BIG CLOUDS IN THE SKY TODAY (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
PETER BAUMGARTNER/CHRISTOPH SCHILLER – SAVAGNIERES (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
AEREA – I TRENI INERTI (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
AXEL DÖRNER/LEONEL KAPLAN/DIEGO CHAMY – ABSENCE (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
BARRY WEISBLAT/ALFREDO COSTA MONTEIRO/ERNESTO RODRIGUES – DIAFON (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
BIRGIT ULHER/LOU MALLOZI/MICHEAL ZERANG – LANDSCAPE: POSSIBLE (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
BIRGIT ULHER/LARS SCHERZENBERG/MICHEAL MAIERHOF – NORDZUCKER (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
NUSH WERCHOWSKA/MATHIAS PONTEVIA/HEDDY BOUBAKER – GLOTOSIFRES (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
GÜNTER MÜLLER/JASON KAHN/CHRISTIAN WOLFARTH – DRUMMING (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
CYRIL EPINAT/MATHIAS FORGE/JEROME BERTHOLON – DUO… (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
TISHA MUKARJI – D IS FOR DIN (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
ANDREW CHADWICK – THE ACQUISITION OF LANGUAGE (CDR by Hymns)
IRONING – LET’S FUCKING GO (CDR by Hymns)
IRONING – GROW MY BEARD LIKE A WIZARD (CDR by Hymns)
IRONING VS. BIGGA BAPHOMET – ULTIMATE SOUND CLATTER (CDR by Hymns)
DJ GODDAMN – NEVER MIND THE STATIC… THIS IS MIAMI! (CDR by Hymns)
TARKATAK – ESCHL HEL (3″CDR by Taalem)
CRIA CUERVOS – DES TEMPES QUI SE VITRIFIENT OU SE MARBRENT (3″CDR by Taalem)
SECHRES MOUND – D2 740M440 (CDR by Kokeshidisk)
CADUCEUS – INFL 01 (MP3 by Caduceus Music)
GAUDI/TESTA – CONTINUUM (CD by Em:t Records)
Of course I don’t know if the guy is really called Gaudi, or that he just got his inspiration from the other Gaudi, but this London based artist and producer teams up with sound therapist Antonio Testa. He plays a wide range of ethnic, homemade and recycled instruments and percussion (stones, drones, textures, bone flutes, Mbira, Kalabash and Stalagmites as it’s called on the cover), alongside Gaudi’s blend of electronica. Seeing this on Em:t Records, it’s very difficult not to think of ambient (with the big A) and dub (with the big D), even when there are also traces of techno here and there. Deep washes of synths, laid-back, dubby rhythms and the sampled ethnic percussion all blend together in a really nice way. Of course all the eleven tracks are blended together to form one large continuous track of seventy-four minutes, like a sonic trip in which drugs are not required: the music itself is spacious enough to carry the listener away to higher planes. Chill out music part how many? That’s perhaps the only negative thing about this record: it would fit nicely along any of the old Em:t Records of a decade ago and as such nothing new under the sun. But a bright star at the known firmament it is. (FdW)
Address: http://www.emitrecords.com
ADAM PACIONE – SISYPHUS (CD by Elevator Bath)
RICK REED – DARK SKIES AT NOON (CD by Elevator Bath)
My first encounter with Adam Pacione was with his CDREP ‘Heat’ on Primary Records, a subdivision of Elevator Bath, who are now releasing ‘Sisyphus’, which works along similar lines of ambient music. Whereas ‘Heat’ was recorded using field recordings, found sounds, samples and keyboards, this new work, with eleven pieces in total, seems to be dwelling on just samples and keyboards. Slowly moving music, with pastoral sounding keyboards. Still along the lines of William Basinski, but it seems to me that Pacione has been a keen listener to Brian Eno too here. By using loops of varying length, the material shifts back and forth, without ever seeming to repeat itself. This highly ambient work could have easily be released by the likes of Hypnos or some such label, as it wouldn’t have been out of place there.
Rick Reed is perhaps more known, for his various releases on Ecstatic Peace, Beta-lactam Ring, Pale Disc as-well as Elevator Bath. In much of his work Rick Reed shows us that he is a true minimalist. He plays sine wave generators, field recordings, short-wave radio and moog synthesizer on all of three lengthy tracks on ‘Dark Skies At Noon’. The title track was used by Ken Jacobs as a soundtracks to one of his recent films and is a highly minimal drone piece. On the next track, the two part piece ‘Ceremony’, he gets help from Keith Rowe on guitar and radio (and remember: Keith Rowe was of AMM when they released ‘Before Driving To The Chapel We Took Coffee With Rick And Jennifer Reed’ – so there is your link). It’s a live piece of a less drone related work, but still on the minimalist edges, with what seems to be insect-like sounds, but in the second half the drones drop back in. In the final piece, ‘Ghosts Of Energy’ everything comes together: the drones become somewhat lighter, field recordings are clearer and the element of improvisation remains a steady feature. Very nice work throughout indeed, perhaps his strongest until now. (FdW)
Address: http://www.elevatorbath.com
O – NUMERO 0 (CD by Antenna Records)
I think it’s ‘ooh’ rather than ‘zero’, but the CD is called ‘Numero 0’ (as in zero). I never heard of O, but apparently they are from the french ‘no audience underground’ and they call themselves ‘orchestra non orchestra’, inspired by ‘archaeology, plastic arts and poetry’. It’s a duo, playing flutes, acoustic guitars, bells but also ‘concrete, numeric noises’ – but their instruments are deliberately out of tune, in order to maintain a naive/child-like/outsider approach to music (fill in whatever is appropriate). Very free music, but for once not in the realms of loud noise, but rather intimate playing, despite the very occasional use of distortion. It’s not the wall of sound approach of outsider music, such as is done by Wolf Eyes, c.s. but more in even more free folky manner (like some of the recent Finnish bands), but with a healthy doses of noise still inside. Quite nice indeed. (FdW)
Address: http://www.antennarecords.com
ESTHER VENROOY/FREDERIK CROENE – HOUT (CD by Odradek/Robo Records)
ESTHER VENROOY – TO SHAPE VOLUMES, REPEAT (CD by Odradek/Robo Records)
The Dutch born but now Belgium residing composer Esther Venrooy has produced a new work, together with Frederik Croene. Venrooy loves to manipulate sound of whatever kind, and she composes that to pieces of music. Croene is a piano-player. ‘Hout’ means ‘wood’ and the piano is made of wood, so the piano is the main source here. Croene plays the piano is conventional as-well as non-conventional ways, such as the prepared piano. These recordings are then treated by electronic/computer means. This is done in a very nice, structured way. Original piano work along the computerized treatments, working on more or less an equal basis. Not unlike Asmus Tietchens’ ‘Notturno’ LP from years ago, this walks a fine line between being serious composed by people with a non-academic background. It includes loops and other forms of repetition, which is quite unusual in the academic world, but it works quite well here. A very nice CD.
An older release by Esther Venrooy, which escaped the attention of Vital Weekly, is ‘To Shape Volume, Repeat’. Here she plays around with similar notions as on ‘Hout’, but here her sources are unknown, except for the use of voices, which may or may not be derived from films. Maybe it has to do with shortness of the tracks, but it’s a bit of scattered CD. Not because it goes in many different directions, but because the tracks are short it’s hard to form any sort of solid opinion about them. Most of the tracks are built around just a few sounds, which are treated with a rather minimalist result. When a track is longer, such as the seven minutes of ‘Derbyshire’, one notes that there isn’t too much happening. Somewhere between half-academic composition and glitch, this is however something that deserves to be heard. Ideas are there, but in the result stage something more could be done. Clearly a work from before, compared to the much better ‘Hout’ release. (FdW)
Address: http://www.freaksendfuture.com http://www.odradek.net
TOMAS KORBER – EFFACEMENT (CD by Cut Records)
OLIVIA BLOCK – CHANGE RINGING (CD by Cut Records)
JASON KAHN – SIHL (CD by Sirr-ecords)
Three new releases that are related to each-other, due to the involvement of Jason Kahn, who is the label-boss of Cut Records and has just released a new solo CD on Sirr-ecords. The first new release on Cut Records is by Tomas Korber (and not Thomas Körber, which I think I wrote in the past), who has played with Jason Kahn, Norbert Möslang, Dieb13, Dropp Ensemble, Keith Rowe and many more, aside his solo work (on such labels as w.m.o/r and Kissy Records. Korber plays guitar, electronics, field recordings and computer. ‘Effacement’ is his latest work, composed over the last two years and has six tracks. In ‘Thermo’, the opening track, he starts out with crackles of what could be the guitar, but the piece ends with what could be the heavily processed sound of rain, presented with an ear piercing volume. All of which happen in the course of some fifteen minutes. Korber’s music is one that deals with extreme dynamics. Things can be quiet for some minutes and then slowly work it’s way to a loud crescendo. One should be warned not to start the CD at a too loud volume: your neighbors will not like this. Guitar sounds that sound like a guitar can’t be found on this release – everything moves in a highly electronic way, except in ‘Fred Austere’, in which the guitar acts as percussion instrument. Not exactly easy listening music here, and perhaps a bit long, but quite nice indeed.
With the release of ‘Change Ringing’ by Olivia Block, she completes her trilogy that started with ‘Pure Gaze’ (see Vital Weekly 167) and ‘Mobius Fuse’ (see Vital Weekly 285), both on Sedimental Records. There are similarities to be drawn now: all the three works are around thirty minutes, and all three use extensively sound material Block composed, played by others and used in the compositions. Here no less than fifteen musicians play trombone, oboe, percussion, clarinet, voice, saxophone, trumpet, bells and viola. All of these sounds, as-well as field recordings and electronics, make up a minimal sound – strangely enough, despite the unearthly rumble somewhere half way through. Instruments and sounds alike work here closely together to such an extent that it is hard to tell the difference. The instruments play sustained lines at times, and there is the addition of sustained field recordings. Everything moves in a slow way; slow but moving. Together with the previous parts, this is a more than excellent work, and a pity they didn’t fit all on continuous CD.
Jason Kahn solo on ‘Sihl’ playing percussion and analogue synthesizer. Studio recordings made in 2004 and 2005. The most striking thing is that Kahn has twelve tracks here, in forty-six minutes, so that is somewhere between three and four minutes per track, which may seem odd for someone who is known for his somewhat longer, improvised pieces. In each of the twelve tracks, Kahn explores one or two tones of his analogue synth (sometimes high pitched frequencies, some more mid range), which stick right into your ear, and to that extent he uses the somewhat more softer rumble of his percussion – although it’s hard to tell what this percussion is all about. Maybe small amplified objects or gadgets? Maybe parts of a drum-kit? It really doesn’t matter. The pieces are most delicate, even when some of the tonal qualities go right into your brain, of static and minimalist music. One point of objection, perhaps: two tracks too long for my taste. (FdW)
Address: http://www.cut.fm
RUE MORGUE – NIGHTMARE PICTURE THEATRE (CD by Rue Morgue Records)
The horror genre in film (or books) is in general not very well spend on me, perhaps it has to do with my lack of believe, lack of religion and therefor superstition. Occasionally I’d like a film, or a book, but it’s not a genre I need to investigate a lot deeper. So the release by Rue Morgue Records by one James Fischer, called ‘Nightmare Picture Theatre’. Which is a stage show of ‘instrumental audio horror, tailored for Halloween events, haunted attractions and uneasy listening’. It ‘tells the story – through music – of a child who is tormented by a sinister Bedside Presence into having nightmares of his future life’. No matter what the story would be (when set aside from the theatre, it can be virtually any kind of soundtrack to any kind of horror film), I am looking outside, see the sun, some people across the street working in their garden, and I’m inside listening to this ‘gruesome’ music. Somehow it doesn’t work. Somehow it doesn’t match. Fischer on his darkest setting, piano tunes of suspense coming aside to samples of chain rattling and doors squeaking, performs a smooth (!) job – everything seems to be conceived by digital means, which makes this into a good but standard soundtrack. Maybe I could suggest a remix project? Why not let people make their own horror films to this music (meaning everybody would use the same music), and see how they would match? (FdW)
Address: http://www.rue-morgue.com
TOKYO MASK – BACKBONE (CDEP by Low Impedance Recordings)
PRIDON – NEW STEINE (CDEP by Low Impedance Recordings)
KAMOTEK – LOFTWAY (CD by Low Impedance Recordings)
Low Impedance Recordings is a new label from Greece, who start in a big way: professional digipacks, printed promotional copies and three releases to start with. The problem is a bit that I don’t know who is behind any of these bands and that the press information isn’t that clear, nor are the CD covers. So Tokyo Mask, you may ask? Mastered by John Sellekaars, so perhaps there is some involvement from him? Tokyo Mask deals with heavy dubdustrial (that’s industrial dub) and trip hop beats, but embedded in massive wall of sound. Top heavy and bass-loaded with a big role for distorted guitars, also presented as another wall of sound. Hardcore tip hop stuff that makes the inside crumble. Good stuff indeed.
Behind Pridon is one Petros Voudouris, I assume from Greece. One his CDEP six tracks, of which one is the remix of the previous track, by one Peekay Tayloh). He likes the music to be analogue, the retro style of the future – or the futurist style of retro? Who knows. In the opening piece he has electrified tubelar bells going on, along with nice up-tempo rhythms. The other tracks are nice humming techno pieces, with quite fat bass line running along. Groovy bass and sometimes a somewhat darker tone on the synths. Perhaps not the most engaging new music for the new millennium, but executed with love and care.
On his lengthy release ‘Loftway’, Kamotek moves along side many different styles of dance music. Starting out with some kind of almost ‘reggae’ tune, Kamotek moves along break-beat, dub, techno, crossing bridges and gaps in between. Overall, the music is touched a bit of darkness as the keys are in minor most of the times and it doesn’t breath much fun, but also it’s not the usual doom or gloom either. Although Kamotek plays his tunes with great skill, the album is too varied to be strongly coherent, and with clocking in just under one hour, it’s also a bit long. A big long showcase of what Kamotek can do, but we are already convinced after three-quarters of the album.
So three times a varying bunch of dance related music and with a forthcoming two CD set Francisco Lopez/Scott Arford, certainly a new electronic label with an expanding horizon. (FdW)
Address: http://www.loz-recordings.net
BIRGIT ULHER/GINO ROBAIR – SPUTTER (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
DOUG THERIAULT/BRYAN EUBANKS – BIG CLOUDS IN THE SKY TODAY (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
PETER BAUMGARTNER/CHRISTOPH SCHILLER – SAVAGNIERES (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
AEREA – I TRENI INERTI (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
AXEL DÖRNER/LEONEL KAPLAN/DIEGO CHAMY – ABSENCE (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
BARRY WEISBLAT/ALFREDO COSTA MONTEIRO/ERNESTO RODRIGUES – DIAFON (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
BIRGIT ULHER/LOU MALLOZI/MICHEAL ZERANG – LANDSCAPE: POSSIBLE (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
BIRGIT ULHER/LARS SCHERZENBERG/MICHEAL MAIERHOF – NORDZUCKER (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
NUSH WERCHOWSKA/MATHIAS PONTEVIA/HEDDY BOUBAKER – GLOTOSIFRES (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
GÜNTER MÜLLER/JASON KAHN/CHRISTIAN WOLFARTH – DRUMMING (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
CYRIL EPINAT/MATHIAS FORGE/JEROME BERTHOLON – DUO… (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
TISHA MUKARJI – D IS FOR DIN (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
This is no even funny… no less than twelve new releases on Creative Sources, the artists co-funded label from Portugal. As before we start we the duos and work our way up to the bigger groups, and end with the solo releases.
The first one is by Birgit ulher on trumpet and one Gino Robair on what sounds mysteriously as ‘energized surfaces, voltage made audible’ – what it is, I don’t know, but assume it has something to do with contact microphones scratching surfaces and some sort of synthesizer. It was recorded on November 1st, so one can assume it was recorded during a day of improvising together. This is, right from the start, demanding improvisational music. ulher plays here trumpet in true modern fashion, although it can sometimes be recognized as such, and Robair has a true love of synthesized sounds and overtones ringing from playing a bow on surfaces, adding sometimes a bit too much reverb to the party. But it’s demanding music that requires full attention. Nice work, but at just under one hour, a bit too long.
The next two are both unknown to me: Doug Theriault plays ‘sensor guitar controlling and live electronics’ and Bryan Eubanks ‘open circuit electronics’. The two tracks on their ‘Big Clouds In The Sky Today’ were recorded live in Portland, Oregon on the April 16 and 23rd 2005. Their music is by and large electronic, and although it has some improvisational elements, like abrupt cuts and changes, it’s much more electronic than the usual releases on Creative Sources. At times the music is pretty noisy and disorganized, and it seems as if there is no goal or perhaps no idea behind it. It’s sort of half-half ok, not great and way too long.
Also Peter Baumgartner (powerbook) and Christoph Schiller (spinet) are new names to me. If I remember well, a spinet is a sort of harpsichord, but I forgot what the exact difference is. In a Swiss place called Savagnieres, they recorded together. It’s hard to tell wether this is a laptop transforming the sound of the spinet, or the two playing together. I assume the latter. The spinet, an instrument with strings, is played like a prepared guitar with ebows, objects, fans, but also loose objects. The laptop provides a nice backdrop of likewise continuous sounds. This brings quite an intense release, a combination of drone related sounds and the more free improvisation music, which could appeal to fans of micro-sound and improvisation alike. The first highlight so far.
If improvising musicians choose a name to work under, it probably means that this is something to last for a longer time. Behind Aerea is Ruth Barberan on trumpet and Alfredo Costa Monteiro on accordion. Their interest lies in playing sustained sounds, of course with the accordion that is a thing to expect. Barberan plays sustained tones on her trumpet, which works really well alongside the accordion. In ‘Ici’ they almost play an electro-acoustic work, with working the surface of both instruments. In the final piece things return towards sustaining sounds in a nice, shrieking substance. Very nice stuff.
Then onto the trios, of which the first one has the well-known Axel Dörner (trumpet), Leonel Kaplan (trumpet) and Diego Chamy (percussion). As this was recorded (in 2003) in Buenos Aires, Argentinia, I have reasons to believe that Kaplan and Chamy are from Argentina. This is top of new improvisation. Dörner continues to explore his techniques of trumpet playing, which has nothing to do with the trumpet as such, but everything with the instrument as an object and Leonel Kaplan proofs to be a good student (assuming of course it’s not Dörner who nicked the technique!) and the percussion of Chamy can be anything that has a surface to hit. Very intense playing by all three players on board and an even more demanding release that the previous highlight of this bunch.
Labelboss Erneste Rodrigues (violin, pick-ups and objects) is less active as a musician compared to the early days of the label, but on ‘Diafon’ he turns up again with Alfredo Costa Monteiro (pick-ups on turntable) and Barry Weisblat (electronics) – the latter being a new name for me. Their almost thirty-six minute work was recorded in a studio and is a fine work of electro-acoustic music/improvisation. Very tight and intense playing here, not really soft or something that, but the music remains audible throughout. Another highlight.
Birgit Ulher plays trumpet again on ‘Landscape: Possible’ along with Lou Mallozi (turntables, cd’s, microphones, organ pipes and amplified voice) and Micheal Zerang (friction drum, wind whistle, xylophone bars/snare drum, bird calls and metal/snare drum). This work was recorded in Chicago in 2004. This is quite a nice, but sort of average release of improvised music with both ties into the ‘modern improvisation’ and the other being a bit more traditional. Alright, without leaving a too big impression.
Another trio involving Birgit Ulher is, here together with Lars Scherzberg on saxophone and Micheal Maierhof on cello. Much along similar lines as the two other releases mentioned here with Ulher, this is pretty free music playing, but also it stays very much on the traditional side of improvisation. Nice for sure, but no highlight.
The for me unknown Nush Werchowska (piano), Mathias Pontevia (drums) and Heddy Boubaker (alto saxophone) have three pieces, both from concerts from 2004 and they operate on similar lines as the previous release by Ulher c.s.: much regular free playing on their instruments, which is alright for what it is, but not really outstanding.
More along the lines of Vital Weekly is the trio of the ever so active Günter Müller (ipod, electronics), Jason Kahn (laptop) and Christian Wolfarth (percussion). I am not sure wether they try to produce a cover of Steve Reich’s piece of the same name, but my best guess it’s not. In their session recorded on October 29th, 2004, they play percussive music, as opposed to rhythmic music, which sound so much more electronic. I realize that this a contradiction, seeing the use of ‘electronics’ and ‘laptop’, but in an odd way this is highly percussive music. Careful and delicate, just as we would expect from people like Kahn and Müller. Slowly evolving but with always with a touch of percussive elements. Next highlight.
Oddly enough the disc of the final trio is called ‘Duo…’. Here we find Cyril Epinat (acoustic guitar, objects), Mathias Forge (trombone, objects) and Jerome Bertholon (recording, electric lighter, quartz clock). This is the longest CD of the lot (clocking over seventy minutes) and at times also the most silent CD. One has to crank up the volume quite a lot to grasp some of the music. In true onkyo style they produce very careful and delicate music, in which the various instruments function as objects. If I understand well, the music was recorded outside, in a grove, in a leafy forest and a big field pond-side, which makes this incorporate fields, rather than field recordings. Another highlight.
The only solo CD here this time is by Tisha Mukarji, who plays ‘square piano frame’ – that is the inside of the piano where all the wires are. He (she?) rubs, scratches, hits, uses bows etc to play the four pieces presented on this CD. It’s nice enough sound material, but it’s mostly material for further use (for instance by Esther Venrooy, see elsewhere, or Asmus Tietchens). Perhaps to see all of this being made in a concert situation would be thrilling, but on disc it sounds rather ok, but not too great. Nice enough, and plenty of raw material to be used. (FdW)
Address: http://www.creativesources.com
ANDREW CHADWICK – THE ACQUISITION OF LANGUAGE (CDR by Hymns)
IRONING – LET’S FUCKING GO (CDR by Hymns)
IRONING – GROW MY BEARD LIKE A WIZARD (CDR by Hymns)
IRONING VS. BIGGA BAPHOMET – ULTIMATE SOUND CLATTER (CDR by Hymns)
DJ GODDAMN – NEVER MIND THE STATIC… THIS IS MIAMI! (CDR by Hymns)
These five CDRs all have the involvement of one Andrew Chadwick from Florida. He works as Ironing as-well as DJ Goddamn. He works on four of the releases with cassettes, old, slowed down reel-to-reel machines and micro-cassettes – one could say a bit like Howard Stelzer does, but then not as refined (yet). I believe the oldest one is the one by Andrew Chadwick, before he called himself Ironing. The sounds used here are from ‘German homework assignments’ as the only sound source. Some of these pieces are simply too straightforward in noise that they didn’t do much for me, but the quieter pieces were alright. Silence, an occasional bump or outburst, but in general ‘silent’. After this release he started to work as Ironing and ‘Let’s Fucking Go! is a thirty minute excursion of noise and cut-ups of various sources, including hip-hop and punk songs being ruined to death. Something similar is going on on ‘Grow My Beard Like A Wizard’, with the exception that this lasts over sixty minutes. Sources are obscured here, with lots of slowed down tapes. Lots of alienation going on, but a little bit too lengthy and therefore unidirectional for my taste.
Even a little bit longer is his collaboration with Bigga Baphomet, who plays laptop. This work was, just as the previous two, recorded live in concert. Here Ironing plays also records. Although this is pretty much noisy, the music gains more depth from the addition of the laptop. In terms of noise this is the loudest release of the lot. Not great, but quite alright for the noise thing it is.
As DJ Goddamn he plays around with more clear samples of CDs, vinyl and radio, messing them around in a giant mega mix – nice, but this clocking at just under seventy minutes, is perhaps a bit too long. (FdW)
http://www.myspace.com/ironing
TARKATAK – ESCHL HEL (3″CDR by Taalem)
CRIA CUERVOS – DES TEMPES QUI SE VITRIFIENT OU SE MARBRENT (3″CDR by Taalem)
SECHRES MOUND – D2 740M440 (CDR by Kokeshidisk)
Germany’s Tarkatak is, unfortunately, the lesser known drone meister, compared to Troum, but by now Tarkatak has some following and previous releases on Drone Records, Prion, Bake Records and Blade Records, but sadly all of them on 7″ (which doesn’t justify the music too well, because of it’s shortness) and CDRs, which are probably sold out. Here on Taalem, it’s also a CDR, a 3″ with just one piece ‘Eschgl Hel’ of field recordings and drone music, most likely played on guitars. Slowly moving and evolving in a pastoral way, this comes closer to Mirror or Ora than Troum’s more psychedelic ambient sound. Nice. It’s about time for a real CD.
Cria Cuervos is from Italy and has had a couple of releases on Thisco and Mystery Sea. For reasons I don’t know, I think Cria Cuervos works entirely with computer generated drone music. In the first half this is rather light of tone, in the higher regions of the frequency spectrum, but in the second half the dark, deeper side shows up, bringing a new edge to the music. A more violent edge. Nice stuff indeed.
On Taalem’s side label Kokeshidisk there is Sechres Mound, which was the collaboration between Cedric Peyronnet (aka Toy Bizarre) and Cyril Henry (aka Lecanora, Ninth Desert, Exotoendo). In 1995 they discovered unused and monumental tanks, in which they recorded by using metal, wood, pipes, wires and nails to play around one particular tank, ‘no D2 740mm440’, using the natural reverberation. They play the material with care, even when it’s all improvised. One gets a pretty clear picture of the size of the tank. No further sound treatments have been made. It lacks the aggressiveness of say Einsturzende Neubauten, but it reminded me of some of the ABGS stuff from years ago, while it maintains a strong beauty of its own. Maybe the sound as such sounds a bit outdated or too industrial for the current standards, I’m sure there are fans out there who dig this. (FdW)
Address: http://www.taalem.com
CADUCEUS – INFL 01 (MP3 by Caduceus Music)
Everybody who deals with music (or art in general) is influenced by someone else. Sometimes the influences are hidden, and sometimes they are clear. That the duo Caduceus was influenced by Rehberg and Bauer is a surprise to me. Caduceus offer on their website six interpretations of the Rehberg and Bauer CD ‘Passt’; it’s their first in a new monthly series of free MP3, created new music out of their influences. Not remixes, as the original merely serves as a template. So it’s the digi-terror of Rehberg/Bauer, originally released by Touch Music in 2001 (see Vital Weekly 297). The first two tracks take the glitch of back then a bit further, but in ‘Infl 0103’, the minimal techno of Caduceus comes back again. Highly digital due to the nature of sampling whatever digital material, the material gets clinical and cold. In some of the other tracks, they use repetition, but in a more collage like manner. It’s a nice tribute to one of their influences. I wonder whose next? (FdW)
Address: http://www.caduceusmusic.net
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All written by Frans de Waard (FdW), The Square Root Of Sub (MP <sub@xs4all.nl>), Dolf Mulder (DM) <dolf.mulder@hetnet.nl>, Meelkop Roel (MR), Gerald
Schwartz (GS), Niels Mark Pedersen (NMP), Henry Schneider (SH), Jeff
Surak (JS), TJ Norris (TJN), Gregg Kowlaksky (GK), Craig N (CN), Boban Ristevski (BR), Maurice Woestenburg (MW), Toni Dimitrov (TD <info@fakezine.tk>), Chris Jeely (CJ) and others on a less regular basis.
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the complete archive of Vital Weekly (1995 onwards) can be found at: http://staalplaat.com/vital/