ERNESTO DIAZ-INFANTE & ROBERT MONTOYA & RENT ROMUS & MARCOS FERNANDES – REVERBERATIONS FROM THE PAST (CD by PAX) *
ET RET – GASWORKS (CD by Western Vinyl) *
THE UNINVITED GUESTS – LIVE RECORDINGS 01 (CD by High Mayhem)
THIGHPAULSANDRA – CHAMBER MUSIC (CD by Lumberton Trading Company)
RAFAEL FLORES – NUBES RUMORES/COMETAS Y ORUGAS (CD by Monochrome Vision) *
MIGUEL A. RUIZ – GROSOR (CD by Monochrome Vision)
H.H.T.P. & PORTABLEPALACE – [CAVITATION] (CD by Monochrome Vision)
LIONEL MARCHETTI – RED DUST (3×3″CD by Crouton Records)
FEAR FALLS BURNING – THE CARNIVAL OF OURSELVES (LP by Tonefloat/C)
TAMING POWER – THREE PIECES (10″ by Early Morning Records)
INCH-TIME – ICICLES AND SNOWFLAKES (7″ by Static Caravan)
THE STRANGE SOUNDS ORCHESTRA – STRANGE SENSE OF LIBERTY/COME ON DULCIMER PEOPLE/THE ALGORITHM (7″ by Static Caravan)
FORT DAX – HORIZON SEVEN-SEVEN/A BEVERLEY MYTHIC (CD single by Static Caravan)
FERRAN FAGES & WILL GUTHRIE – CINABRI (CDR by Absurd) *
KALORIFEUR – WITHIN THE HERMITAGE (CDR by Absurd)
LO-FI CONFESSIONAL #7 (CDR by Grand Deceiver Records)
VOLLEVOX (2CDR by Komplot)
E/I 6 (magazine)
SIGNALS – HEADPHONE MUSIC #1 (CDR by Authorized Version) *
SSHE RETINA STIMULANTS – GNOSTICK ± AKTIONABLE (CDR by Diophantine Discs) *
CHEFKIRK & CARL KRUGER – THE PLAIN PEOPLE (CDR by Retinascan)
JOSHUA DIPPOLD/TOKTELA – SPLIT (CDR by Cohort Records)
SPIRACLE – ANANTA (MYSTERY SEA MIX) (CDR by Mystery Sea) *
GINGER LEIGH – A TRUE LIFE STORY (CDR, private)
GINGER LEIGH – SPARROW WINGS (CDR by Red River) *
ALKALOID DESPERADO – INDUSTRIAL AMBIENT SESSIONS VOL. 2 (CDR by Hidden)
NO – CAN’T THINK 2 (CDR by Hidden) *
STILLSTAND – SCHAUER (CDR by Tosom)
FLUCHTWACHT – SILENT SALVATION (CDR by Tosom)
HERMIT – ICE-FISHING TALES OF OVER YONDER (CDR by Tosom)
VIVIAN GABIN – NO LOVE, NO STRUCTURE, NO HOPE FOR ALL (CDR by Tosom)
SEPPUKU BOOGIE – SIX SIX SIX SURFIN’S SONGS/PNEUMATIC HELLKITCHEN (2CDR by Tosom) *
[-HYPH-] – IRRELEVANCE.AIF (STEP 2) (3″CDR by Anti Information Conspiracy)
SONATA REC (3″CDR by Anti Information Conspiracy)
SISPRUM VISH – GOWNED MAJESTY (3″CDR by Audiobot)
GLAMOROUS PAT – STARER (CDR by Chocolate Monk)
STIFF RIVER (3″CDR, private)
ALIEN ZONER ENSEMBLE – A NEW DAY – A NEW SMOKE (CDR by Weed)
MACHINEFABRIEK – CHINESE UNPOPULAR SONG (businesscard CDR by Machinefabriek)
CADUCEUS – INFLUENCE VOLUME FIVE (MP3 by Caduceus Music)
ASHER – THREE UNTITLED COMPOSITIONS (MP3 by Earlabs)
ERNESTO DIAZ-INFANTE & ROBERT MONTOYA & RENT ROMUS & MARCOS FERNANDES – REVERBERATIONS FROM THE PAST (CD by PAX)
Listening to this CD I had the idea we have at work here four totally different musicians who try to make some music together. And yes, they come from very different corners from the Californian underground scene. Saxplayer Rent Romus comes from the jazz and improvised music scene and runs Edgetone Records. Marcos Fernandez (percussion, phonographies) performs as a solo-improvisor and as a member of various ensembles. Just as Montoya he is already for some decades active in the scene of San Diego and founding member of the Trummerflora collective of musicians. Robert Montoya (electronics) specialized himself in sample-based electronics. Ernesto Diaz-Infante may be known from many releases on Pax Recordings (the label he founded) with experimental songs, noise, field recordings and lo-fi manipulations. The Spring Reverb Festival 2004 brought them together on stage and in the studio. The question is did they really meet? All four of them have their own distinctive voice. For example the esthetics of jazz-player Romus is totally different from the musical coordinates non-player Diaz- Infante uses. In track one this results in a jazzy solo by Romus over an absolutely non-jazz background that has Diaz-Infante endlessly playing the same chord. He is not making it happen if you ask me. He is specialist in monotonous riffs on this CD. I couldn’t discover what fantasies Diaz-Infante inspire here… The second piece starts with a long intro of electronics by Montoya completed with acoustic playing and noises by percussionist and guitarist. Gradually guitarist and percussion come into the forefront, plus sax. Like most pieces on this CD they create a very unusual and weird blend of musical styles, etc., but fail to create a musical unity of some strength. But they tried and at some moments it really works like in “Who created the canon?” It has nice intimate playing by Romus in an environment of bubbling electronics, with inventive percussion and very linear guitar playing by Diaz-Infante. A courageous effort from these veterans from California, but musically not the most satisfying one. (DM)
Address: http://www.paxrecordings.com/
ET RET – GASWORKS (CD by Western Vinyl)
So, yes, I do like a bit of mellow, atmospherical music, and Et Ret (who he?) comes close. He plays guitar, violin, a bit of organ, a bit of drums and a bit of electronics. Very much along the lines of some other post-rock droners, such as Windy & Carl, Stars Of The Lid or even a reduced version of Godspeed You Black Emperor (because of the various violin and cello parts of this CD). Why is it that after a while, I am slightly annoyed by the album? It can’t be the sweetness of the songs, the warmth and the intimacy of the recording, which are all very nice. Perhaps it is in the fact that after a while the compositions are so similar to each-other, that in the end it seems that all eight tracks are alike, despite minor differences. That is a pity. The homogeneity of this album is a bit too much, even when each track by itself is quite nice. A small dose of say four or five tracks is even quite enjoyable, but after that it is enough. Maybe a bit more variation in the future wouldn’t be a bad idea. (FdW)
Address: http://www.westernvinyl.com
THE UNINVITED GUESTS – LIVE RECORDINGS 01 (CD by High Mayhem)
In the last few weeks we reviewed several CDs from the High Mayhem label. High Mayhem is a not-for-profit emerging arts facility, record label and multimedia production collective based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Carlos Santistevan is one of the driving forces behind this festival. The Uninvited Guests is his own musical project of live improvisation. Originally it started as a trio, but it developed into an improv ensemble with changing members. Like the title of this cd indicates it is a kind of document that contains 5 live recordings made between 2002 and 2005. Each piece has a different line up. But it didn’t gave me the feeling of listening to five totally different groups. Not because Santistevan is at the center in all improvisations. Not at all. But maybe because Santistevan defined the underlying concept or the sort of interplay he wants to realize with his invited guests. In the first two out-takes Santistevan plays acoustic doublebass. In the other tracks he plays upright electric bass. In the first track Tom Brejcha takes the lead on trumpet that he changes halfway for a saxophone. Although it seems that drummer Al Faaet and Santistevan fulfill a minor role it is specially drummer Faaet who brings in a lot of action in this exercise. In the second piece we hear again Faaet on drums accompanied with Chris Jonas on sax and J.A.Deane doing live sampling. They share some nice cacaphonic moments. The other pieces include ultraviolet (turntables), Jeremy Bleich (electric bass), Milton Villarubbia (drums), Joshua Smith (sax, electronics, melodica), Yozo Suzuki (guitar) and Davy Wayne (drums). The last track that has Santistevan playing with Jonas, Faaet and Suzuki worked out the best for my ears. All musicians operate on the same level of intensity and the interact continuously. Here the improvisations are really cooking.
Improvisation can mean a lot. The music of the Unvited Guests surely is a kind of jazz-improvisation. In the last track Ornette Coleman is not far away, but this may be totally different in a next line up of Uninvited Guests. We’ll see. (DM)
Address: http://www.highmayhem.org/
THIGHPAULSANDRA – CHAMBER MUSIC (CD by Lumberton Trading Company)
Last year I confessed not being the biggest fan of Coil, when I first reviewed music of Thighpaulsandra, so I am all to aware of his musical output with Coil, with Julian Cope (but still to my surprise the release by Anal, ‘Zero Beats Per Minute’) or his solo work. ‘Double Vulgar 2’ (see Vital Weekly 467) was a pretty long affair altogether, with an overload of guitar solos, too many drums and all that, and in that respect ‘Chamber Music’ is easier to grasp. Only four tracks, spanning just under fifty minutes. Thighpaulsandra plays the majority of instruments on each track, mainly all sorts of things with keys. Various other people play guitars, laptops, piano, violin and vocals. I must admit that even when I enjoyed this record better than the previous release, I still have to get used to the music of Thighpaulsandra. It’s all a very crowded bunch, with stuff happening on many levels. On the side of instruments, but also computer treatments and in the form of post-production. The semi modern classical approach is no doubt a big influence on Thighpaulsandra, and that’s the nicest thing here. Pieces move back and forth, sounds drop in and out, but there is always ear for the structure of the piece. Unlike ‘Vulgar Music 2’ things don’t seem to be getting out of control or lost in too long space jams. ‘A Blizzard Of Altars’ is the best piece of this lot, with it’s highly concentrated playing and of a great intensity and soundtrack like character. If the recent stuff is more of this, I am surely willing to hear more. (FdW)
Address: http://www.lumbertontrading.com
RAFAEL FLORES – NUBES RUMORES/COMETAS Y ORUGAS (CD by Monochrome Vision)
MIGUEL A. RUIZ – GROSOR (CD by Monochrome Vision)
H.H.T.P. & PORTABLEPALACE – [CAVITATION] (CD by Monochrome Vision)
Russia’s Monochrome Vision is a label ‘devoted to electronic music of XX century. Our contribution to the past days history, the last opportunity to see with your own eyes all that was dissembled by mass culture industry’. They do this by releasing works of forgotten masters of the eighties, people like Rafael Flores and Miguel A. Ruiz. Rafael Flores first came to my attention in 1984 or 1985 when he worked as Comando Bruno, and was featured on many cassette compilations around the world. I even released a cassette of his, I think in 1986. Despite me xeroxing the cover, it had all sorts of stamps made by Comando Bruno, as he was also heavily into mailart. But my contact with Flores was rather small, and in the later half of the eighties we were no longer in contact and when people started to release LPs and CDs, he seemed to have disappeared. His cassette was re-issued on CDR (and sold really few copies, not that I was surprised), and suddenly Flores knocked on my door asking for a few copies. Since then we are not in contact, but it’s good to know he’s back. From the lost years, 1994-2004 he now releases a CD – his first in twenty-five years. It’s great to hear this music without the hiss and static of a cassette. Flores plays industrial music, but one that strictly along the ‘old’ rules. He takes he sounds from rather primitive sources (such as the radio depicted on the cover), feeding them through electronics, chopping them into small rhythm particles (such as in ‘Boucher 2’ which sounds alike Esplendor Geometrico), but never the material dissolves into a mass of noise sound. Crisp clear, layers of electronic sounds, processed field recordings (in ‘Para’), this is music that reminded me of the late eighties Asmus Tietchens. Forceful, yet intelligent industrial music. A major step forward and hopefully much more to come.
No such lengthy recollections about Miguel A. Ruiz, but he’s like Rafael Flores active since the early eighties in electronic music. His work was mainly released on Spanish cassette labels in the eighties and in 1991 he released a LP on Hamburger Musikgesellschaft, a short lived label by Asmus Tietchens. Unlike Flores he never was really away, and these days he releases his own stuff on his Batan Bruits label. The music on ‘Grosor’ is from the years 1989-1990, included four tracks of his LP for Asmus Tietchens. Ruiz’ music is much more cosmic in nature than the industrial carpets of Flores. On his beloved Korg MS-20 he plays stretched melodies, that slowly alter in sound color, creating a floating sense. Sometimes he uses other sounds, such as the choir like sound in ‘Sin Apenas Coxis’ (which sadly is a bit short) or environmental sounds. Ruiz likes to create dark atmospheres, with a true love for the German music of the seventies, but not as lighthearted as some of Tangerine Dream material. It makes his music, how nice it is, how well is played and recorded, also a bit dated, and perhaps it was already dated in the late eighties. Having said that, it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be heard. Those who love Conrad Schnitzler or Asmus Tietchens could certainly find this to be great, and me… well for me, it’s listening to a time machine, music of years ago, which I still happen to like.
The last release is by three guys I never heard of: Dmitry Gelfand (aka Portablepalace, although I believe it’s a bigger group of people) and Andrey Savitsky and Kirill Domnich (aka H.H.T.P.). These are not so much eighties, but rather ‘new’: this work was recorded in 2002. Gelfand plays prepared piano, Savitsky electronic sound and Domnitch special effects, whatever that may, but it’s the latter who composed the whole work. I assume the others send it their work through (e-) mail. Three long pieces, in which again the cosmic music sound is alive, but on a slightly different level. Sounds are played rather staccato (as opposed to long and sustained) but due to the constant feeding through reverb and delay, an artificial space is created, that unfortunately by the third piece wears out. It has become a gimmick, and one that we know by now. Three long pieces of this highly moody music, that certainly in the third piece (‘Session 03’) has an improvised feel. Maybe two pieces would have suited me as-well. (FdW)
Address: http://www.monochromevision.ru
LIONEL MARCHETTI – RED DUST (3×3″CD by Crouton Records)
There is a strong love for the 3″ format with Lionel Marchetti, as many of his works are released on this format. I am not sure why this is, really. The length of these three 3″ CDs could easily fit on one full length CD… There is a strong difference between the live and studio works of Marchetti. Live, when Marchetti plays with Jerome Noetinger, he uses microphones, loudspeakers, prepared CDs, motors and radios, things are pretty noisy, but in the studio he crafts quite poetic music. ‘Red Dust’ was made partly with Yoko Higashi, who uses the voice. One CD is entirely by the two and that is the least collage like work: ongoing crackles, rhythm particles, a guitar and percussive sounds make up an intense atmospheric piece of music. The two other discs are more collage like works, using sounds submitted by others (such as percussion player Jon Mueller), put together in likewise intense collages of sound. Marchetti however stays away from the strict rules of acousmatic music, and does whatever is necessary to play the right piece, careless if he does things that are not ‘allowed’. Ultimately for him the result is more important than the rules to achieve that. The whole thing has a strong poetic character: it’s not a work to think about a lot, but a work to go through. Lie back and enjoy. It’s a pity that you have to get up every twenty minutes to change the disc… (FdW)
Address: http://www.croutonmusic.com
FEAR FALLS BURNING – THE CARNIVAL OF OURSELVES (LP by Tonefloat/C)
Vidna Obmana is dead, long live Fear Falls Burning – or some such. After twenty or so years Dirk Serries, the man behind Vidna Obmana, want to break away from the strict confinement of Vidna Obmana and the ambient world it was part of, and return to simplicity of making live music. I assume he already had much of the gear he now uses, guitar and sound effects, but he now just plays his things live. Tinkling on the guitar, feeding it through his bunch of sound effects and record it all. That simple? Yes indeed, that simple. That is what Dirk Serries now does as Fear Falls Burning, and so far he produced a CD, a double CD and now a highly limited LP on a new imprint of the Dutch Tonefloat label. The music of Fear Falls Burning has connections to the world of post-rock, a particular area of post-rock, that of slowly moving sounds – no drums (although that would be an interesting thing to investigate for Fear Falls Burning). A highly ambient form of post-rock. Both sides have just one long piece. The one on side A starts out with mere tinkling, and over the course piece slightly atonal resonances are dropped in, which work their bit on the background, and once all the elements are in place things slowly built in power and crescendo. Maybe the quick fade out at the end is a pity. The piece on the other side is more on one level. All the elements are in place from the beginning and modulations take place in the various sounds, sometimes fading in a bit more of one or the other, but it’s throughout a solemn piece of music. This is the better piece of the two. Slowly meandering about, like a walk in a rain covered forest on a cloudy autumn day. So far the best thing I heard from Fear Falls Burning! (FdW)
Address: <tonefloat@crazy-diamond.nl
TAMING POWER – THREE PIECES (10″ by Early Morning Records)
A while ago, between Vital Weekly 365 and Vital Weekly 433 we reviewed a great of music by Taming Power, of self-released on his Early Morning Records label, in various formats, although the 10″ was a popular one. Since then things have been quiet for this man from Norway. I am not sure why this long period of quietness happened, but let’s make an assumption here: I think Askild Haugland invested in getting different equipment, maybe even a computer, even when it’s not mentioned on the otherwise detailed cover. Apparently he uses a drilbu (whatever that is), singing bowl, voice, tape-recorders, cassette recorders, keys, electric guitar and field recordings, but the overall sound of these three pieces is less muddy than much of his older work. In all three pieces drone music plays the leading role. Big cascading waves of sound, in which all of the elements to produce sounds are used, but nothing as such can easily be recognized. But still all three pieces sound nicely produced (hence me thinking about the use of a computer in the final stages of mixing this record) and the sound is not at all muddy or blurry. After such a long pause, this is a great come-back record, re-defining his old music and ready to walk new paths. (FdW)
Address: <earlymrecords@yahoo.no>
INCH-TIME – ICICLES AND SNOWFLAKES (7″ by Static Caravan)
THE STRANGE SOUNDS ORCHESTRA – STRANGE SENSE OF LIBERTY/COME ON DULCIMER PEOPLE/THE ALGORITHM (7″ by Static Caravan)
FORT DAX – HORIZON SEVEN-SEVEN/A BEVERLEY MYTHIC (CD single by Static Caravan)
Although name-checked a lot in Vital Weekly, the releases of Static Caravan aren’t found very often in these pages. Here are three new ones, two of which are on Static Caravan’s favorite format: the 7″. Inchtime is one Stefan Panczak and his ‘Icicles And Snowflakes’ is a nicely wintertune. A pretty straightforward, but not all to present beat forms the backbone over-which a piano nicely tinkles away. More melancholy is to be found on the b-side, where we find ‘Almond Eyes’. Again a straight forward techno inspired rhythm, but with a deeper bass-line and some dub like influences. The keyboard lines are soaked with melancholy. Two very nice tracks.
The Strange Sounds Orchestra ‘was formed in September 2004 to write and record a musical soundtrack for the book, Strange Sounds’, we read on the cover of the 7″. The usual suspects from popmusic (guitars, drums and keyboards) are replaced by test oscillators, dulcimers, melodicas, theremins and others – the complete list is found on the cover. Does that mean the music is difficult? Hell no, it’s still popmusic, and one of a highly quirky nature, especially the a-side. The b-side is a bit more downtempo, with a jew harp backing and a dulcimer playing the solo parts.
The catalogue number of the Fort Dax CD single is ‘christmas van 84’, so let us assume we have a belated christmas release (and for the ease of mailing on CD, rather than a 7″?). Not that I recognized much christmas feel in these pieces. ‘Horizon Seven-seven’ is almost like a progressive rock piece, hammering it’s way with guitars and loud drums. Also vague traces of the same kind of music can be found on the more melodic ‘A Beverley Mythic’, presumably also with dulcimers. Symphonica and the intelligent dance music merging together? Perhaps on this, as an one-off? I don’t know. The second piece was alright, but the first was a bit too much pathos for me. Maybe it’s just an uneasy marriage. (FdW)
Address: http://www.staticcaravan.org
FERRAN FAGES & WILL GUTHRIE – CINABRI (CDR by Absurd)
KALORIFEUR – WITHIN THE HERMITAGE (CDR by Absurd)
More Ferran Fages and again an on Greek label. Only two weeks ago, we discussed his Fagus release, which he recorded with Pascal Battus. Also from France (at least these days, since he is originally from a land downunder) is Will Guthrie and he and Fages recorded in 2004 in Paris and Barcelona. Fages is still on his acoustic turntable and Guthrie is on amplified percussion – that is a guarantee for some mayhem, I would think. The four pieces here display a strong love of electro-acoustic noise improvisation music. It has the power and aggression of noise music, but it appears here in a collated form, with sounds bouncing all over the place, most of the time loud and forceful, the quieter moments are less present (of course, I hasten to say), but they form important counterpoints in the total work. With it’s twenty-eight minutes not a minute too short or too long, and it’s a pretty strong affair of solid improvised music.
“The story begins in 1999 when the river of Pinios threw out of the water on its muddy bank, a Kalorifeur in a state of progressed oxidation {which had} the engraved ancient worship symbols and the astronomical maps reflecting the sky as it was 14.000 years ago” – a somewhat shorter text than what we can read on the cover, but whoever are in the band Kalorifeur is not said. The material on this CDR was recorded from 1999-2002 in Larissa, Greece. For reasons that I myself am not sure of, I think Kalorifeur is an one-person group, who plays rather lo-fi music on keyboards, percussion and in the second track the background drone is provided by a vacuum cleaner. The recording quality is rather lo-fi too, sort of direct with a simple microphone laid to tape. Given that some of these tracks are too long for the little amount of ideas it has to transport, I am not sure what this vaguely ritualistic music is about. Maybe something is celebrated, but it remains quite unclear what it is. In the eighties this would have a strange, limited cassette but in this millennium it’s hard to see who is waiting for this. (FdW)
Address: http://www.anet.gr/absurd
LO-FI CONFESSIONAL #7 (CDR by Grand Deceiver Records)
VOLLEVOX (2CDR by Komplot)
E/I 6 (magazine)
A magazine about music is of course nice, but it’s hard to know what it writes about if you don’t hear the music (hence the reason why Vital Weekly has podcasts). In the eighties various attempts were made to create magazines on cassettes, but it’s hard to skip what you want to hear (unlike a magazine where you can flip the pages you don’t want to read). Now with the advent of podcasting, the magazine on CDR is of course a bit outdated. But ‘Lo-Fi Confessional’ is a magazine on CDR which can also be downloaded as a MP3. Easier to skip the tracks you don’t like, but I strongly recommend to hear all tracks on the seventh issue of ‘Lo-Fi Confessional’. It features artists I never heard of, such Don Limpio (who has the main feature here, playing his casio’s, 8 bit samples and gameboys in strong electro-punk fashion), a spotlight on The Square Root Of Evil, who gets interviewed about her work, and some samples of her like-wise manic gameboy music. Shorter introductions are there to Cutup Corner (voice cut-ups), Phongraffiti (recordings from Thailand) and Yer Favorite Anecdote (eaves-dropping in home situations) and curiously named section ‘From The Vault’, consisting ‘The Strange Sounds Show’ by Norman Scott, aged 9. A strange collection of music and sound, but it works well as a magazine. Some you like, some you don’t, but you are glad to take notice of them all.
Also a magazine and also with CDRs, two in this package in Vollevox from Belgium. I am not sure how other issues work, but this issue has the voice as the guiding theme. It’s not so much ‘just’ a magazine, but it’s kinda of mixture of an art-catalogue and a well documented CDR compilation and less of an informative magazine. Each track is described in the booklet. Some pieces are pure sound-poetry, that is reciting poetry such as Freek Lomme, Marcelline Delbecq and Alain Geronnez, voice cut-ups from various media sources (such as Madonna saying ‘What The Fuck Are You Doing?’ when you try to download a track from her), installation music and some are even real music. As such we find Dominique Petitgand (of whom we didn’t hear much lately, sad to say), Jacques Andre, the very funny piece by Sophie Nys (who sings ‘You don’t need to be on a tree to be an acorn’) and the prizewinning opening of CD one, Eva Goresse & Quentin Legrand doing a very nice, intimate version of Cher’s ‘Bang Bang’. Some tracks are a bit too long in what they are trying to tell, such as Nurse & Harrison, but throughout a well varied work, which got a beautiful presentation.
The most traditional magazine is E/i, now up to issue six (in what is E/i’s second life). Nicely printed with stories on Vidna Obmana vs Bass Communion, Kompakt, Philip Samartzis, Raz Mesinai, Thom Brennan and shorter pieces on John Hudak, Giuseppe Ielasi, John Wall and Klinik. And of course many pages of intelligent reviews. Deeply into the more atmospheric parts of music, this is well written magazine. (FdW)
Address: http://www.granddeceiver.com
Address: http://www.kmplt.be
Address: http://www.ei-mag.com
SIGNALS – HEADPHONE MUSIC #1 (CDR by Authorized Version)
A new name, but with two old cats at the controls. Signals is the new ‘band’ of Phil Julian, aka Cheapmachines and aka Authorized Version, and Christopher Gowers, aka Karina ESP. Both have an extensive list of releases at their hands, but here work together for the first time, even when these recordings are from 2004. It’s a live in studio recording of the two, rehearsing for their debut concert at the 2004 Placard Headphone festival. Perhaps they recommend playing this headphones, but I didn’t (I never do, really). Julian plays oscillators, effects and electronics and Gowers bowed guitar and electronics. Over the course of twenty minutes they play a very nice piece of drone music, with lots of sustaining sounds that go straight into subconsciousness mind. Guitars, oscillators and all blend together perfectly to create a vast dark landscape of music. Quite an enjoyable start. (FdW)
Address: http://www.a-version.co.uk
SSHE RETINA STIMULANTS – GNOSTICK ± AKTIONABLE (CDR by Diophantine Discs)
The name of Sshe Retina Stimulants has been around since 1994, and I am sure I heard some of his releases, but I could never pin it down to what it is. Sshe Retina Stimulants is the solo project of Paolo Bandera (or rather P.NG5361.B as he is called on the cover) of Sigillum S. Maybe that’s where my problem lies: I was never a big fan of Sigillum S, so I missed out on many of Sshe Retina Stimulants releases on labels as Bloodlust!, Old Europa Cafe and Self Abuse or his collaborations with Aube, Bad Sector and I Burn. So ‘Gnostick ± Aktonable’ can be regarded as my first proper introduction and even when the label information says he is moving in a new direction, that of ‘experimental drones of ambience and noise’. More noise than ambient I’d say, as the four pieces here are loud. Certainly working from angles of drones and ambient, but throughout this material is much louder than anything else that would normally qualify as ‘ambient’ or ‘drone’. Violent drone music. However it’s not entirely noise related in the sense strict conservative noise manner, as the material maybe loud but its not distorted or chaotic. It’s pretty much ok stuff, I gather. Not great, not bad, but throughout a pleasant hear. (FdW)
Address: http://discs.diophantine.net
CHEFKIRK & CARL KRUGER – THE PLAIN PEOPLE (CDR by Retinascan)
So I wonder if anyone who will get this release, reads the titles, such as ‘The Plain People’, ‘Jacob Amman’, ‘Menno Simons’ or ‘Dordrecht Confession Of 1632’, will understand that this is a release about the Amish. The Amish live outside ‘our’ society and rely on nobody. Hence Chefkirk and Carl Kruger saw a connection, as the ‘noise’ community is also outside the standard of music society. A bit far fetched if you ask me. Chefkirk more than Kruger has earned some recognition in the world of noise, mainly due to his endless stream of releases, of which not all were great. But here in his collaboration with Carl Kruger, things work quite well. There is of course feedback, heavy type digitally distorted rhythms and vague rumbles of electro-acoustica, but throughout it’s well enjoyable. There is variation among the lot, among the tracks and even inside the tracks. Perhaps one or two tracks are bit too long, but otherwise: thumbs up! And of course, nice cover, but that’s hardly a surprise for this label: they are always nice! (FdW)
Address: http://www.retinascan.de
JOSHUA DIPPOLD/TOKTELA – SPLIT (CDR by Cohort Records)
If I’m not mistaken this is the fourth in a series of split releases on Cohort Records, and each artist delivers a piece of, give or take, thirty minutes. Here Cohort Records comes up with two artists of whom I never heard before. Whoever is behind Toktela is a mystery, there are no liner notes. His piece ‘… And Who Keeps Moving The Moon’ fits the loosely drone theme of the previous releases, with a beautiful drone piece, sound slow, majestic sounds moving in and out of the mix, with a dark undercurrent that is a constant feature in this piece. Perhaps there is a slight addition of field recordings, but they too are heavily processed in this highly isolationist music. Joshua Dippold has ‘Two Bit Argument (Rehearsals I & II)’, and that gives away a bit what it’s about. To me it seems that Dippold recorded a whole bunch of sounds from the radio, at the lowest bit of 2K, which gives the whole thing a raw touch. Perhaps he uses the low bit resolution samples of an old casio keyboard.
From all these recordings he produces a piece of
collated sounds, that is quite dense, but in all it’s lengthyness is too long to keep the listener’s full attention, who will reduce it (pun intended) to background hiss. (FdW)
Address: http://cohortrecords.0catch.com
SPIRACLE – ANANTA (MYSTERY SEA MIX) (CDR by Mystery Sea)
Hitoshi Kojo is the man behind Spiracle, although you may know him as Kodama, his collaboration with MNortham, or his work with John Grzinich and Loren Chasse. Or perhaps his label Octpia? To me this is all new, but his work for Mystery Sea is quite nice. It starts out with a forceful set of organ like sounds, and over the course of this piece, which lasts over an hour, sea like sounds wash in and out, whereas the organ sounds are pulled apart and start to modulate. Maybe I have had the volume more cranked up on this one, but it seemed to me a very ‘present’ release, unlike some other releases on this label (or in the genre of drone music as such), things don’t drop back in a level of inaudibility. Having said that, things aren’t very noise either, just present throughout this piece. One could wonder if things aren’t say ten to fifteen minutes too long, but otherwise this is a pretty strong release, another one in the mighty Mystery Sea catalogue, and one that, with all it’s washy sounds, fits the label’s concept very clear. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mysterysea.net
GINGER LEIGH – A TRUE LIFE STORY (CDR, private)
GINGER LEIGH – SPARROW WINGS (CDR by Red River)
Quite some ago I reviewed ‘If I Should Die Tomorrow’ by one Ginger Leigh (see Vital Weekly 443) and the two releases are from before and after ‘If I Should Die Tomorrow’. ‘A True Life Story’ is from 2003, currently sold out, but will be in print again soon. Both releases are again strong statements of bombastic music. Sampling the hell out of classical music, re-organizing them into rhythmic loops and attacking them with electronics of sometimes a rather piercing nature, this reminded me of the old In Slaughter Natives sound, but less the vocals. Sometimes he throws in a bit of eastern rhythms or quite moments. To compare the old and the new, I’d say that ‘A True Life Story’ is a bit more meaner and more aggressive than ‘Sparrow Wings’, which sounds throughout a bit more musical, with samples from other places than just classical music. Also ‘Sparrow Wings’ sounds bit less aggressive and a has bit more humor. Playing both of these releases in a row gives the listener not just an idea of the development of the composer Ginger Leigh, but it is also a highly varied bunch of musics, that from a single idea is worked out in many ways. I think it’s about time that someone offered Ginger Leigh a real CD deal, and make his work more widely known. (FdW)
Address: http://www.gingerleigh.com
ALKALOID DESPERADO – INDUSTRIAL AMBIENT SESSIONS VOL. 2 (CDR by Hidden)
NO – CAN’T THINK 2 (CDR by Hidden)
Only recently we reviewed Alkaloid Desperado’s ‘Industrial Ambient Sessions Vol. 1’ (see Vital Weekly 501) and here is already volume 2. Stylistically they are still on the same space voyage: five long cuts of cosmic synthesizer sound. Sounds are fed through a bunch of synthesizers, looped and treated with the same amount of delay and reverb as before. Hardly ambient in some parts, for the ear-piercing frequencies they sometimes visit, is hardly to be called mellow, but on the other hand, industrial is also a term that hardly fits the score. As said, best to regard this cosmic music, music that can serve as a soundtrack for your home made science fiction movies (or perhaps while reading a novel on the subject).
I believe No are from the UK, but that merely guessing. This is their second release for Hidden, but I didn’t get the first one. Firstly I thought No was along the lines of Alkaloid Desperado, certainly in the first few tracks, but it turned out to be a slightly more complicated affair, with various musics. The cosmic synth like pieces are one, although a bit tighter in structure than Alkaloid Desperado, but also techno inspired rhythms dropping by, as-well as some pieces in which the melancholic side of electronic music peep around the corner. In general way too experimental to fit on such labels as Expanding Records or Highpoint Lowlife, but it’s a highly varied disc of electronic music tunes, and even when it goes into various directions, this is altogether a pretty homogenous disc. Daring music for daring listeners, who want to broaden their horizon. (FdW)
Address: http://www.hidden.be
STILLSTAND – SCHAUER (CDR by Tosom)
FLUCHTWACHT – SILENT SALVATION (CDR by Tosom)
HERMIT – ICE-FISHING TALES OF OVER YONDER (CDR by Tosom)
VIVIAN GABIN – NO LOVE, NO STRUCTURE, NO HOPE FOR ALL (CDR by Tosom)
SEPPUKU BOOGIE – SIX SIX SIX SURFIN’S SONGS/PNEUMATIC HELLKITCHEN (2CDR by Tosom)
On the now more than active label Tosom, no less than six new releases, all with great packages. The Stillstand release, in a DVD box with five photo’s as inserts, is a conceptual release. Martin Steinebach, the man behind Stillstand, recorded one hour of rain pouring down (which in German is called a ‘Shauer’, which can be translated as a shower – of rain). We hear human activity, which stops as the rain approaches and when it is gone the activities start again. It sounds like a tropical thing, with a short but powerful rain, stopping human activity, but I’m not sure if that is what it is. Steinebach adds a little bit of electronic manipulation to the matter, partly obscuring the material, so that it sounds like an echo from a far away distance. Something that has happened once, somewhere, captured dust and is now presented again. A pretty fine work, hovering the thin line between ambient and soundscaping.
Fluchtwacht is also German, and have had a couple of releases before. They (or he/she?) operate in the realms of noise. Although their first release were the all-out Merzbow like blasts, the latter releases incorporated more rhythm and noise – in that order, and that’s still a route they explore on their latest release ‘Silent Salvation’. Minimal tracks of machine like rhythms, sometimes even a tribal, but with piercing sounds in the background. Less disturbing than some of the previous releases, but quite alright. You could wonder if eleven tracks, spanning just under seventy-five minutes isn’t a bit too much, but certainly half of it would make up a pretty decent release – and it would be an idea to chop some tracks in half too.
The name Hermit I associate with true noise, along the lines of Bastard Noise, but I must admit I only heard a few of his works. Eric Boros, the man behind Hermit, toured Europe in 2002 and played various shows in conjunction with others, such as Fritz Welch and Marylise Frecheville and some were solo shows. If you have no visual connection to the shows, like me, than it’s hard to form an idea how it looks like. In the two collaborative pieces, we are loosely played acoustic objects, like small metal plates, glass or any others. Sounds fascinating; would have loved to see that. In ‘Cabaret Experimental’ we hear laughter, Boros telling a joke and some noise, but also moments of quietness. Then there is a short remix of Gordon Lightfoot, which has a dense psychedelic synth and rhythm and a longer remix made by Karl Mohr, whoever he is, of likewise disco rhythms mixed with noise. These last two pieces are a bit out of line with the rest, and for reasons unclear to me included here. Otherwise a fine example of what noise can also be, a bit along the lines of the old Schimpfluch records.
I never heard of Vivian Gabin, who found her inspiration with Georges Romero, of whom I never heard either. She (assuming it’s a she!) uses samples of a rather low resolution, feeding it through a bunch of delays and reverb machines to create an ambient texture. Pretty dark altogether and also fairly alienated music, like the collapse of space shuttles in weightless space. Throughout these pieces were fairly ok, but nothing spectacular. At eleven pieces, which are all pretty long, another release that is too long for the amount of ideas it is trying to get across.
Also a new name is Seppuku Boogie, an off-shoot of Tscheljabinski 65). On these two CDRs we find some fine ambient industrial meanderings. Seppuku Boogie samples sounds and feeds them through a bunch of sound effects. Perhaps one could say, a bit like Vivian Gabin, but the material is much more engaging to hear. The samples don’t sound as low resolution as the Vivian Gabin stuff, and have throughout a slightly rhythmic, as in pulsating, feel to it. Just like Gabin the tracks are pretty long, but have much more structure to it, and then length turns out to be no problem. Pieces evolve slowly around a limited set of sounds, but are carefully built, adding and stapling sound effects, creating dark atmospheric and intense sounds. Maybe two CDRs are a bit too much (unless we regard disc two, with it’s one piece, spanning fifty-four minutes, as a bonus disc), but it’s certainly worthwhile throughout. (FdW)
Address: http://www.tosom.de
[-HYPH-] – IRRELEVANCE.AIF (STEP 2) (3″CDR by Anti Information Conspiracy)
SONATA REC (3″CDR by Anti Information Conspiracy)
Overlooked last week, these two 3″ CDRs by Anti Information Conspiracy. Another release by labelboss Nicolas Wiese, aka [-Hyph-], with a piece that was originally used for an installation. It uses, I think, the sound of an accordion, which play drone like sounds, but not of the continuos kind, but rather various blocks that get repeated. Voices leak through, but we are not to understand them. Where they are from we don’t know, perhaps television. This piece doesn’t have the collage like form that was so present on <Breathing Gadgets>, reviewed here last week, even when ‘Irrelevance’ has a collage form too. Somewhere half way through the piece rhythms come in, but working in similar ways as the accordion sounds. Quite a nice piece.
I have no idea what Sonata Rec. is about. It seems to be the project of one Heidrun Schramm. The two pieces on this 3″CDR are two entirely different things, but perhaps related. ‘Past Futura’, the second track here is all about violin and cello sounds, which are stapled together in such a way that the original is still be recognized, but still quite a nice piece of real instrument drone music. Which brings me to the first track, ‘Herzmaschinenchor (LEM version 1)’. Perhaps LEM from Brussels? Who does a remix of the violin and cello playing, feeding it through a bunch of plug ins, creating a lengthy affair of repeating tones, that far away sound familiar to a violin. Maybe a bit too long this one. All in all, quite nice. (FdW)
Address: http://www.0000.anti.info
SISPRUM VISH – GOWNED MAJESTY (3″CDR by Audiobot)
GLAMOROUS PAT – STARER (CDR by Chocolate Monk)
STIFF RIVER (3″CDR, private)
ALIEN ZONER ENSEMBLE – A NEW DAY – A NEW SMOKE (CDR by Weed)
I got these four handed out on an evening a while back which had a lot of noise, so I may not have understood correctly if these were to review or just my private pleasure. ‘Sisprum Vish was Glamorous Pat’ it says on the cover of the 3″ ‘Gowned Majesty’, which contains a mixture of live recordings from January 2006. Noise stuff, but quite nice. Short, intense and chopped up, but it’s not an over-the-top wall of noise thing. And as Glamorous Pat he recorded ‘Starer’ between 2003-2005, taking things even a bit further. Here too we find noise, but of a more alien kind. Slowed down vinyl, water running, bits of feedback and digital manipulations (or it seems) of voice stuff. Not the traditional noise stuff, but certainly also not music for the light hearted. Quite crazy stuff, quite raw and untamed too, but certainly all enjoyable.
From the Netherlands is Stiff River, I believe a
duo from The Hague. Their 3″CDR has two long pieces of highly tortured guitar sounds, that occasionally leap in the areas of feedback, but don’t stay there that long. A highly primitive version of Skullflower without the drums on the first track, and with drums on the second track. Play loud is not written on the cover, but it could have been. I am sure in a live context this would be great.
The strangest of the lot, is also the one I don’t have an address for, which is Alien Zoner Ensemble. ‘A New Day – A New Smoke’ is a twenty-eight minute piece which starts out quite noise, but leaps into noise related improvisation until they (he?) looses their way in the piece and the thing collapses. I’d say be careful with that new smoke… (FdW)
Address: <notactuallyglamorous@gmail.com>
Address: <stiffriver@gmail.com>
MACHINEFABRIEK – CHINESE UNPOPULAR SONG (businesscard CDR by Machinefabriek)
Ah, businesscard CDRs: unfortunately we don’t get them a lot, but here’s one, by our beloved Machinefabriek. Two tracks here, a Chinese Popular Song, which is exactly what it is: a popular song from China. Not my thing, but the remix Machinefabriek does, under the banner of ‘Chinese Unpopular Song’ is nice. He takes the original apart, and makes quite an intense piece of music out of it. Working with near silence in a collage style, in an almost Roel Meelkop like manner, he crafts a more than excellent piece of music. After the noise of before, which was alright, this marks certainly a new step for him and hopefully a new path to explore. (FdW)
Address: http://www.machinefabriek.tk
CADUCEUS – INFLUENCE VOLUME FIVE (MP3 by Caduceus Music)
Ok, so their influence doesn’t have to be mine. The Black Light District album ‘A Thousand Lights In A Darkened Room’ on Eskaton went by me unnoticed, so it’s a harder job for me to comment on the five pieces created by Caduceus in their ongoing remixes of influences. I must admit, they are nice pieces of organic music, sampled together, with a slight touch of rhythm. The Coil influence is never far away here. Dark and moody music, but always with a bit of light shining through. But as said, as I don’t know the original it’s hard for me to comment on that. But based on these remixes, I think I should seek out the original, as they are quite nice. (FdW)
Address: http://www.caduceusmusic.net
ASHER – THREE UNTITLED COMPOSITIONS (MP3 by Earlabs)
In a short time span already the third release by New York’s Asher. No conceptual theme as on ‘…And Invariably The Blue’ or exploring an instrument in a world of decay as on ‘Graceful Degradation’. No such thing here. In a fine Lopezian tradition, Asher calls his three pieces ‘Untitled’, two with a date and one ‘for f’, but nothing else. Three lengthy pieces also which take the listener into the world of ambient glitch, the world of dark rumble and the world of silence. The volume needs to go up quite a bit, to hear what is going on. Utter mood music, which sounds nice, maybe a bit uniform throughout, maybe a bit long, but, in my case, excellent music to wake up by on a grey day. Sometimes things doesn’t have to be cutting edge. Being nice is sometimes also good enough. (FdW)
Address: http://www.earlabs.org/label/lm/lm033.asp?titleID=1554
correction: Totstellen doesn’t mean ‘to kill’, but is ‘a word used for areas without any radiosignals, or numb areas of a living body, but it is also a verb “to
feign dead” or an imperative “feign dead!’. The text that comes with the release isn’t by Edgar Allen Poe ‘but an excerpt of an text about the urban myth ,which says that the face of most common used cpr-dummy is the one of the the dead female found in the seine at the turn of the century and which gathered a huge posthumous fame as somekind of morbid souvenir’
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