HANS GRUSEL – HANS GRUSEL’S KRANKENKABINET (CD by C.I.P.) *
THE MISSING ENSEMBLE – HIDDEN DOORS (CD by Mondes Elliptiques)
RECORDED IN THE FIELD BY… (CD compilation by Gruenrekorder)
GRUENREKORDER: SAMMELBECKEN FUR HORKUNST (CD compilation by Gruenrekorder)
REACTIONS TO THE MUSIC OF DICK RAAIJMAKERS (CD compilation by Strp)
RLW – I.K.K. PURPER (CD by Sirr-ecords) *
LYCIA – THE BURNING CIRCLE AND THEN DUST (CD by Silber Records)
GODDAK – MONUMENT TO A RUINED AGE (CD by Silber Records) *
DAVID CHIESA & JEAN-LUC GUIONNTET & EMMANUEL PETIT & ERIC LE CASA – BELVEDERE (CD by Creative Sources)
DAVID CHIESA – PHONÈMES (CD by Creative Sources)
SASCHA DEMAND – PLAKATION (CD by Creative Sources)
PEDRO CHAMBEL – BRUIT (CD by Creative Sources)
THE NEW BLOCKADERS – VIVA NEGATIVA VOL . 1 (4LP + 7″ by Vinyl On Demand)
THE NEW BLOCKADERS – VIVA NEGATIVA VOL . 2 (4LP + 7″ by Vinyl On Demand)
DONNA PARKER – DEBUTANTE (LP by Twisted Village) *
VIRUS SYNDICATE – READY TO LEARN (12″ by Planet Mu)
MATH HEAD – THE MOST LETHAL DANCE (12″ by Reduced Phat Records)
THE BEIGE CHANNEL – AUTUMN RAIN IN THE YARD (CDR by Happy New Year Recordings)
VHF – STATICS (CDR by L’Innomable) *
CHANDAN NARAYAN – EIGHT VIGNETTES FOR SOLO AUTOHARP (CDR, self-released) *
CTACIK – AMUR REGION (CDR by Verato Project) *
T.M.O.R.O. – SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO <1 (CDR by Desperate Diagram) *
JOHN BARNES – 3 YELLOWS MAKE BLACK (3″CDR by No Ground)
THE MACHINE GUN TV – GO (CDR by Public Eyesore)
EFTUS SPECTUN – THE TOCKS CLICKING (CDR by Public Eyesore)
JORGE CASTRO – CINETICA (CDR by Public Eyesore)
AMY DENIO – TASOGARE (CDR by Public Eyesore) *
EMILY HAY & MARCOS FERNANDES – WE ARE (CD by Public Eyesore)
MONOTRACT – LIVE IN JAPAN (CD by Public Eyesore)
ELOINE – SAGEBRUSH/DEIMOS (Cassette by Stentorian Tapes)
DERECK HIGGINGS – WAY STASIS (CDR by DVH Recordings) *
GINTAS K – LENGVAI/60 X ONE MINUTE AUDIO COLORS OF 2KHZ SOUND (2CD by Cronica) *
WEJDAS – ZEMES ALSAVIMAS (CD by Dangus)
TOMAS DOBROVOLSKIS – THE BRASS GLOBE (CDR, private) *
LONG SEARCH FOR PEGASUS – BEYOND THE BONE FIELDS (CDR by Armantas)
NOVA SAK – SIGNS OF AN UNHEALTHY RELATIONSHIP (CDR by Armantas)
HANS GRUSEL – HANS GRUSEL’S KRANKENKABINET (CD by C.I.P.)
Apparently Hans Grüsel hails from former East-Germany and was smuggled out of that country in a barrel and moved to the USA, where he now lives in San Francisco being a sound artist. Since this is his first CD, we wonder what he was done in all those between leaving former East-Germany and this CD. We are not told. ‘Krankenkabinet’ means ‘sickness show’ and consists of three pieces, which are divided into separate tracks. The cover lists extensively what kind of instruments are used, such as guitar, moog synthesizers, electronics, piano, Steim crackle box, bass and much more. All three sections list a variety of people playing the music – so me thinks Hans Grusel’s Krankenkabinet is just the name of a band. I must admit the whole thing is not so much my thing. There is west-coast (read LAFMS) madness in there, many elements from the world of improvisation, and also elements of the current noise hype in the USA, although Hans Grusel stays away from the world real big noise. All fine, but it’s all a bit too chaotic for me, things don’t seem to have a beginning or end, but move on without too much structure or idea. Occasionally this works fine, but sometimes it just doesn’t much at all. And oh yes, I think it’s a band, rather than a person and the East-Germany thing is a hoax. (FdW)
Address: http://www.cipsite.net
THE MISSING ENSEMBLE – HIDDEN DOORS (CD by Mondes Elliptiques)
The Missing Ensemble is a trio of John Sellekaers (Xingu Hill, Dead Hollywood Stars), Daniel De Los Santos (Tamarin) and Mathias Delplanque (Lena, Bidlo), who released the album ‘Hidden doors’ as a first release on Mondes Elliptiques, a label run by the people of Angle Records, who release similar kinds of atmospheric, noise or drone related music. The Missing Ensemble have a rather minimalist approach to their music, which is drone related, but not in a usual atmospheric-ambient way, but rather as exploration of sound. The sound slowly develops and unfolds in space, or in the silence, which is cleverly set as a background. Or as empty white canvass on which the painting is to be made. The sounds are used as colors, or rather as subtle nuances, in shapes of tiny noises, pulsating atmospheres, scratchy surfaces… As special guests are mentioned: Ernst Karel (on trumpet, which is not recognizable as such), Eric Heinroth (synth) and Masami Akita with, of course, noise. But this is not a harsh cd at all, in fact it’s very subtle, a kind of droney music that can be related more to The Hafler Trio’s sound, than to Troum’s ambience. Very nice album with subtle sound designs. (BR)
Address: http://www.angle-rec.net/mondes
RECORDED IN THE FIELD BY… (CD compilation by Gruenrekorder)
GRUENREKORDER: SAMMELBECKEN FUR HORKUNST (CD compilation by Gruenrekorder)
Two releases on Germany’s Gruenrekorder label, that specializes in releases with field recordings, amongst various other kinds of experimental music. One seems to be a compilation of just various field recordings and one a more general kind of compilation of experimental music. On ‘Recorded In The Field By…’ there are nineteen tracks by well-known people such as Chris Watson and Yannick Dauby, to lesser known ones as Derek Holzer, Dronaement, [sic] to the majority of people I never heard of as Aaron Ximm, Dallas Simpson, Gabi Schaffner, Maksim Shentelev and people behind the label such as Lasse-Marc Riek and Costa Gröhn. Each of the pieces is described in the booklet, which is probably the nicest thing about it. It gives the listener the idea that it’s not just a random set of recordings, but actually a part of a bigger whole, cut out and made into a composition. Which is nice, since I believe all of these pieces have no electronic treatment afterwards. Besides the usual wind and water recordings, there is also a short piece of children singing or the tunnel sounds behind the Niagara Waterfalls. All in all quite a nice compilation.
The other compilation is more or less a showcase of whatever Gruenrekorder wants to release, music-wise, and therefore is less coherent in approach. There is quite an amount of noise related musics to be found on this compilation, but unfortunately not always of a great kind. Polystore or Roland Etzin for instance use extensively feedback and distortion, but it leads to nowhere. Dirk HülsTrunk’s sound-poetry cut up pieces are much more interesting, or Lasse-Marc Riek’s soundscaping material. I must admit I wasn’t too particular fond of this release. Too many weak tracks and not enough true diamonds. (FdW)
Address: http://www.gruenrekorder.de
REACTIONS TO THE MUSIC OF DICK RAAIJMAKERS (CD compilation by Strp)
Perhaps the name Dick Raaijmakers is still not very known, but then you haven’t been paying attention. Not to the excellent three CD set covering his electronic work (Vital Weekly 117) or his popular electronic work compiled on a four CD set, along with the works of Henk Badings and Tom Dissevelt (see Vital Weekly 433). That last set had a CD with lots of sounds used in various of Raaijmakers’ popular works (which all date back to the late fifties, early sixties). I suggested a remix CD of this work, and no doubt they didn’t listen to me, but here it is. Although it’s not just a remix CD of Raaijmakers’ popular electronics, as some people also pay tribute to his more serious work. Many of them use the popular song ‘Song Of The Second Moon’ in a more modern fashion, adding a brand of rhythm-machines, like Isolee, or even real drums, like Mouse On Mars. They are sort of alright, but at the same time also one expects. The more interesting pieces are the more conceptual pieces such as Edwin van der Heide or Taeji Sawai, taking the idea of Raaijmakers a bit further in the modern age. It’s however the odd balls here that are most interesting: Thurston Moore’s noise explosion on ‘Pianoforte’, improvising along with the original and David Grubbs string/piano quartet, both taking the music into an entirely different realm. Overall it’s a highly varied bunch of music, but I am not sure who this will appeal to. (FdW)
Address: http://www.bastamusic.com
RLW – I.K.K. PURPER (CD by Sirr-ecords)
Our man of sound recycling, Ralf Wehowsky, delivers solid quality for the last twenty-five years, first as PD, then P16.D4 and since many years as RLW. Here he works with a Christmas tune, as sung by his daughter and a version of ‘Ihr Kinderlein Kommet’, a song from 1794, and as released by Meeuw (see Vital Weekly 394). After making this christmas 7″ RLW felt there was more life in the material and recorded a piece of fifteen minutes. That piece is the basis of this new CD, as-well as six versions composed by others (of which one is a piece by Wehowsky, Johannes Frisch and Bhob Rainey). In RLW’s composition the gliding tones of organ sounds and crackles play a nice game together. It’s hard to tell what Dan Warburton does to the original, perhaps replacing the whole thing by his violin playing? Perhaps the sound trigger the violin? A curious piece. In the pieces by Andrew Deutsch and Stephen Vitiello the colliding processing’s of max/msp play the central role. Of an entirely different nature is the turntable procedure of Stotter Inc, who, perhaps, uses the original Meeuw 7″, of which the rhythm is decided by the RPM – not my favorite around here. Chris Halliwell has something of more interest to offer: humming vocals open up here in an almost Stockhausen way, but as the piece progresses they fade in favor of a more subdued improvised playing. In the final piece everything comes together again: the original recordings by RLW, the other versions, along with bass improvisations with Johannes Frisch (with whom RLW made a very nice CD last year) and saxophone sounds by Bhob Rainey. Thus are the ways of recycling of sound: it never stops, and new possibilities open up. Great CD of imaginative pieces. (FdW)
Address: http://www.sirr-ecords.com
LYCIA – THE BURNING CIRCLE AND THEN DUST (CD by Silber Records)
GODDAK – MONUMENT TO A RUINED AGE (CD by Silber Records)
For me the name Lycia rings bells of earlier days, when I spend my days inside a record store, which used to carry Lycia. I do recall they were on labels such as Projekt and Hyperium, and in general their darker than dark pop-music was not well spend on me. Apparently a lot of their older stuff is sold out, reason enough for Silber Records to re-issue five of their albums, and this ‘The Burning Circle And Then Dust’ is the second. It dates back from 1995 and Lycia was then a three piece group (well, perhaps they still are, as I’m clueless where they are now), of Mike van Portfleet (guitars, vocals, synth and drum programs), David Galas (bass, synth, drumprograms, audioengineering) and Tara Vanflower on vocals. Much water has passed under the bridge, since my stubborn ‘no’ to this kind of music, and I even started playing many records by The Cure and Cocteau Twins since some time (which no doubt is an age thing), so perhaps I am looking differently to this kind of music now. Actually I do. I don’t dislike it as much as I expected when I started playing this, and I can see the quality of the music. It’s not bad indeed, but to be very honest I prefer ‘Pornography’ by The Cure over this Lycia, even when it has similar heavy rhythms, similar tons of reverb on the guitar and doomed vocals. It’s not bad indeed, but with my small Cure and Cocteau Twins collection, I think I have enough.
The same Cure album is mentioned in the press blurb of Goddakk’s debut album ‘Monument To A Ruined Age’. Martin Newman was thinking of forming a band that could similar music, but decided to keep it a solo project and be in total control himself. I assume that somewhere along the lines he abandoned the idea of doing songs along the lines of ‘Pornography’, since ‘Monument To A Ruined Age’ sounds quite unlike that. Goddak plays around with loops of sounds, played using a six string bass guitar, guitar, keyboards and vocals, to create songs that are somewhere half way through ambient soundscaping and real songs. The same press blurb mentions influences of Colin Newman (not related, but of Wire fame), The Legendary Pink Dots and Coil, but I must admit I can only see the influence of the latter. Despite the fact that there are voices used, it’s hard to detect them. That makes the idea of popsongs a bit more difficult. Quite ‘present’ ambient music or quite ‘lush’ pop-music, and whereas not always the newest or hottest thing in town, it’s surely executed with great care and imagination. (FdW)
Address: http://www.silbermedia.com
DAVID CHIESA & JEAN-LUC GUIONNTET & EMMANUEL PETIT & ERIC LE CASA – BELVEDERE (CD by Creative Sources)
DAVID CHIESA – PHONÈMES (CD by Creative Sources)
For ‘Belvedere’ the involved musicians were invited in one house. What happened in that house is clearly explained by Guionnet in the liner notes: “A bunch of all kinds of microphones are divided in the house and among the landscape around the place. Each of them is plugged into a mixing desk that Éric La Casa is using in real time. The duration of the mix is more or less pre-decided by the 4 of us. During this amount of time, the 3 instrumentalists are going around, in and out of the house, following their own improvised sounds and courses through this open expanse filled by sound-catchers thus we all are working on the construction of a sort of abstract and tentacle-like belvedere plunged into the acoustic space of the place. This cd is the direct result of one of those mix-experiences.”
Jean-Luc Guionnet crossed the house with his alto saxophone, Emmanuel Petit with his guitar and David Chiesa carried his double bass with him. If I understand the words of Guionnet correct the musicians did not interact with each other. It is Le Casa behind his mixing desk who blends the solo improvisations into one whole, completed with environmental sounds (birds from time to time). The result is a massive piece of 70 minutes. Yes, they do not only make a good use of space but also of time! Alas it is a very static and amorphe piece and because of this it fails to carry away the listener in the direction of its possibly aimed imagination or vision.
More musicality is experienced on the solo-album by David Chiesa. He started as an electric basssplayer in rock bands, but changed to improvised music and the acoustic bass. In a duel with silence quiet and loud parts succeed each other, illustrating in the meantime the considerable technique of Chiesa. (DM)
Address: http://www.creativesourcesrec.com
SASCHA DEMAND – PLAKATION (CD by Creative Sources)
PEDRO CHAMBEL – BRUIT (CD by Creative Sources)
With these two discs Creative Sources present two solo-works both for electric guitar, by two unknown players/composers. For those who know this label it is clear that we are in the zen department of improvised music. Music that concentrates on sound in a non-rhetoric, ego-less way, often very near to silence. This is also the case for these two albums. Demand is one of those musicians who work as a performer of serious modern composed music on the hand, but develop themselves as improvisers, or better in the case of Demand, as a conceptual artist. With Boris D. Hegenbart she forms the duo 9khz, who have a cd out on Bottrop-Boy. With sound-artist Ralf Kleinemas she made an album for Nurnichtnur. On her solo album ‘Plakation’ Sascha Demand plays 39 miniature compositions in 55 minutes, only a few lasting longer then 2 minutes. In it,s totality the make up a mosaic of small, slightly different sound-paintings. Minimalist and sparse pieces on timbre and texture and sound. They were recorded at her home in Hamburg in the spring of 2005. Both Demand and Chambel make use of unusual guitar techniques. In the case of Chambel you almost forget at moments that you are listening to a guitar. Chambel was one of the first musicians to appear on the Creative Sources label. His debut-album ‘Anamnesis’ (2001), also a solo-ablum for guitar, was the fourth release by this label. With ‘Bruit’ recorded in Lisbon (2005) Chambel presents his second work. Typical for this cd is the use of long sustained flows on the one had, and short, ever changing, little sounds on the other. The last ones make you attend for every little nuance and subtlety. In tracks 2 and 4 we find both elements combined. It didn’t work for me, I must say. Compared with the album of Demand this one has more dynamic. It is a kind of electro-acoustic work because of the way Chambel makes use of microphones. The result is a very abstract music. Keith Rowe-like. All tracks start very silent. You have to become silent yourself in order to come into contact. This music works only if you want to change your listening habits. Well, may be not only these habits. (DM)
Address: http://www.creativesources.com/
THE NEW BLOCKADERS – VIVA NEGATIVA VOL . 1 (4LP + 7″ by Vinyl On Demand)
THE NEW BLOCKADERS – VIVA NEGATIVA VOL . 2 (4LP + 7″ by Vinyl On Demand)
The massive tribute project is no longer a stranger in the world of music. Why do something small if you can make it big? RLW’s ‘Tulpas’ was just a start, The New Blockaders make it bigger. No less than eight LPs, divided over two box-sets. Did The New Blockaders ever exist? If they did, it was only for a short time. And then started their ‘final’ phase. The final concert, the final release, and then again, the final concert, and another final release. Let’s safely say they never ceased to exist, or that they never existed. These eight LPs are somewhere between a tribute project and a remix project. In some of these tracks there are original sounds of The New Blockaders to be spotted, which is usually a fine blend of crashing metal plates and distortion and some others are similar sounds, but perhaps of the artist’s own making. The eight LPs read also like a who’s who in experimental music: if you are not on there, then you are nobody. That’s a too bold statement, for I can easily name twenty great musicians who are not part of it, but there are also people on here who never expected. Scanner, to name one, to be part of a noise monument. Controlled Bleeding are part, which is a rare name these days. It also contains people of whom I never heard of before, like Spiracle, Eshak, Bloxus, Art Break, Embudagonn 108, Plexia, \\\, Silvum, Nobuo Yamada, Komafuzz, Benzo and Treriksroset. The ‘laptop’/microsound scene seems to be to a lesser extend be represented (Pita, Jason Kahn, Massimo, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Cheapmachines, Freiband) and the overall pressure lies on the world of noise. It’s funny to see some musicians doing whatever they always do, and exactly live up to their expectations: AMK’s vinyl cut up, Achim Wollscheid’s stutter cut-up or to see people applying their working method to the world of noise, like Scanner or Mnortham. Unfortunately I must say there are no real surprises, like a string quartet version of The New Blockaders to mention one (except maybe the crazy almost acoustic improvisation by RLW and his children), but the good thing is there aren’t that many weak brothers there. They are there, but they are washed away in the vast amount of good tracks. It’s an overwhelming project, by it’s size, it’s quality both in music and cover art. A compendium of international noise music, a bold statement, which should belong in every home and an excellent example of how these things should be made. (FdW)
Address: http://www.vinyl-on-demand.com
DONNA PARKER – DEBUTANTE (LP by Twisted Village)
Behind Donna Parker is Boston born Mary Staubitz, who has been playing around her town a lot, doing short surprise full gigs. She stands armed with a couple of guitar effects, switching knobs and making a hell of rattle. But it’s rhythmical rattle, heavy loaded with distortion but totally captivating. Besides she is together with Jessica Rylan Secret Diary and soon on tour with Lisa Suckdog. After a couple of CDR releases, ‘Debutante’ is her debut vinyl release on Twisted Village and she surely doesn’t disappoint the listener. Her six tracks are a bit longer than usual, but she also brings in an amount of variation in each of the pieces, which we haven’t seen before. It’s still raw and dirty, using feedback and distortion, but she surely twists the material around and make it into something of her own, especially because of the more rhythmical outings. Very nice indeed, and surely the good start for a female noise artist. (FdW)
Address: http://www.twistedvillage.com/
VIRUS SYNDICATE – READY TO LEARN (12″ by Planet Mu)
There is only so much music one can hear and like, I assume. I missed out on Virus Syndicate’s ‘The Work Related Illness’ and that was not really problem, at least judging by this new 12″. Virus Syndicate are DJ/producer M.R.K. 1 and MC’s Goldfinger JSD and Nika D from Manchester. It’s not particular happy dance music, this is a rather dark and grim record, of raps about drug abuse. Great production, with a likewise great bass sound. But rapping is just not my thing. Never was, never will be. (FdW)
Address: http://www.planet-mu.com
MATH HEAD – THE MOST LETHAL DANCE (12″ by Reduced Phat Records)
Break-core is not something I count to my daily digest. It’s not that I don’t like it, as occasionally I do. It sometimes gives me energy and a shot of adrenaline, but sometimes the hyper active beat material makes me hyper nervous. Math Head, aka Mr. Deitz, is no different. It has speed, ultra speed in fact, it’s loud and it’s dirty. Drums roll over like when in a too great hurry. Samples are cut short, and there are elements of dub (really), ragga or even techno, but they are all covered in this ultra energetic mix which is a full blast. Today, while cleaning up the house (it’s spring time after all), it works well to get me through the boring job in a fast way. (FdW)
Address: http://www.reducedphat.com
THE BEIGE CHANNEL – AUTUMN RAIN IN THE YARD (CDR by Happy New Year Recordings)
Although the name Micheal Farley popped up as a curator of a compilation ‘Tensile’ (see Vital Weekly 385), but despite his extensive discography I never heard his music. Farley is also the proud father of Mia, who, when seventeen months old, played the piano to an extent that proud fathers like and recordings of that are now processed and all present in the latest release of The Beige Channel, the name under which Farley works. In his playing around with the material, Farley wanted to have the same sort of spontaneous playing as his daughter, and I must say he succeed well in this. In each of the twelve compositions the original piano playing pops up, but throughout it’s an excellent work of careful micro-sounding crackles, static hiss and all sorts of granular synthesis. Most of the time this is quite drone/ambient related music, even when there at times a sense of collating the material. Farley creates a dense pattern throughout the material of finely interwoven sounds – this accounts for the some what drone related material. Altogether this is a highly fine work. Delicate, thoughtful and filled with love. Original sources are also included, so if someone out there wants to give it ago… (FdW)
Address: http://www.thebeigechannel.com
VHF – STATICS (CDR by L’Innomable)
Out of two duo’s came one trio. Graham Halliwell and Simon Vincent, and Graham Halliwell and Simon Fell joined forced and became VHF in 1998. Their first release, ‘Extracts’ launched Erstwhile Records (see Vital Weekly 207). The line up may seem rather regular free jazz: Halliwell on alto saxophone, Fell on double bass and Vincent on electronics. All three have an extended reputation in the world of improvised music and their first CD was rather free jazz related, if I recall well. This new work however sees them moving in an altogether different world of improvised music. Foremost it’s a very soft release in terms of volume. One has to crank it up to quite an extent. What unfolds then has not much to do with the world of free jazz, but it’s rather a much more electro-acoustic work, touching the surface and carefully producing sound. It’s hard to recognize any of the instruments they are supposed to play here, certainly not saxophone or bass sounds. They force the listener to drop all activity and sit back and listen. Concentrate. And listen, and probably listen again once it’s over, since it’s highly likely you missed out a few things the first time around. But if you do, a simply beautiful world unfolds for you and it’s certainly a most rewarding thing to hear. Very onkyo ok! (FdW)
Address: http://www.linnomable.com
CHANDAN NARAYAN – EIGHT VIGNETTES FOR SOLO AUTOHARP (CDR, self-released)
If you don’t know what an autoharp is and you type in some search engine and look for images of it, you are bound to see some musicians of a folk type and although I am not sure what Chandan Narayan looks like, his solo autoharp has nothing to do with folk music. Narayan is also a member of Glass Plates (see also Vital Weekly 478), where he also plays ‘extended autoharp’. On this somewhat short release (eight tracks which last twenty-three minutes) he displays his various skills in playing this instrument. Amplifying it with a contact microphone, rubbing the case, plucking the strings, playing it with a bow or some such: each track is a showcase of possibilities. Everything was played in an improvising manner, without any overdubs edits or fades. It’s a short release, but long enough. To concentrate on this may take some effort, as it’s sometimes not easy to hear, but throughout it’s a well-done disc. With a nice cover in an edition of 100 copies. (FdW)
Address: <cnarayan@umich.edu>
CTACIK – AMUR REGION (CDR by Verato Project)
The second release of Ctacik a.k.a. Stanislav Popov for Verato Project (see also Vital Weekly 486) and it’s nicely packed inside a wooden frame, like a small painting. ‘Amur Region’ is a major step forward from the previous ‘Ego-generocity’. Whereas that one was loaded with a lot of noise, signaling from various radio waves, this one goes into the direction of ambient music. Still of course this not ambient music with the big A spelled out, as the sonic pictures Ctacik depicts for us are way to dark, bleak and post-nuclear warfare like, this is a major step forward in the development of his sound. Working with analogue of digital synths, the radio waves seem to have vanished, well perhaps, they are still there, but we aren’t know. New is the addition of field recordings, which make up a big part of the long ‘WED66F6’ piece, which is the major tour de force of this release. Not dissimilar to many other dark ambient cum drone projects, but Ctacik does a rather nice job. Roads to explore, me thinks. (FdW)
Address: http://www.verato-project.de
T.M.O.R.O. – SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO <1 (CDR by Desperate Diagram)
The name stands for The Math Of Reflection, a duo of Adam Kail and Hyde Mercer and this three track EP is their first release, but it’s the first in a series of six. T.M.O.R.o (as they spell it) see the world and it’s future not very positive, but they hope that their music will bring out a more positive future. Their three tracks all have a forceful loud rhythm and relatively sweet synthesizer lines. It crosses the boundary between IDM and industrial and sounds through out not really bad, but also not very exciting. It’s good, sturdy stuff, well produced, but perhaps with not yet original ideas, but who knows: it may come. (FdW)
Address: http://www.desperate-diagram.com
JOHN BARNES – 3 YELLOWS MAKE BLACK (3″CDR by No Ground)
John Barnes is not the real name of the man behind this project. John Barnes is apparently a football player and also the name chosen by Sam Arnold. He used to be in Mountain Man Anonymous, who split up in early 2005 and Arnold was the guitar player. His other solo releases where on Machine Records. In his solo project as John Barnes Arnold mainly plays around with electronic music, except for the into piece ‘#’, which is introspective guitar piece. The other tracks are electronic and above all chaotic. Drum & bass, orchestral samples, piano’s and sometimes even a quieter moment: everything passes by with great speed. A pretty wild release, but it’s all pretty well made. Tracks have variety, a good structure and the whole bunch is pretty varied but coherent. A great introduction. (FdW)
Address: http://www.noground.co.uk
THE MACHINE GUN TV – GO (CDR by Public Eyesore)
EFTUS SPECTUN – THE TOCKS CLICKING (CDR by Public Eyesore)
JORGE CASTRO – CINETICA (CDR by Public Eyesore)
AMY DENIO – TASOGARE (CDR by Public Eyesore)
EMILY HAY & MARCOS FERNANDES – WE ARE (CD by Public Eyesore)
MONOTRACT – LIVE IN JAPAN (CD by Public Eyesore)
ELOINE – SAGEBRUSH/DEIMOS (Cassette by Stentorian Tapes)
DERECK HIGGINGS – WAY STASIS (CDR by DVH Recordings)
A whole bunch of new releases on the Public Eyesore label, and some more which are connected to the label, like label bosses playing in bands and such. First there is The Machine Gun TV, a trio from Japan. They are Jun Masumizo, Hidekazu Miyano and TV – let’s safely assume that the latter is a real TV as this six pack (although the cover lists only five tracks) of madness contains many samples sounds from the (idiot) box. Regular, but Japanese pop-music, and on top the other two members play their brand of heavy guitar sounds, rhythms and other madness. Crazy wild high adrenaline music is what the Machine Gun TV is all about. Play this after a hard day’s work and you feel reborn – at least I felt like that.
Also rock-like is Eftus Spectun from Bath/Bristol (UK), trio of Kieran on drums, Sam on lead vocals, bass and Oliver on guitar and vocals. They call themselves an ‘angular math pop trio’ ‘developing a unique blend of dissonance, dislocated rhythm and infectious pop melody’. But that’s only half their sound, as they also use extensively samples, perhaps of their own playing. I must admit that their regular rock songs didn’t do much for me. It sounded very 80s, and very serious. But their sound collages of sampled rock sources sound quite fresh and exciting. Witty, varied and full of surprises. A strange mixture this release.
Jorge Castro is known for his solo work under his own name or his Cornucopia moniker. The three tracks on ‘Cinetica’ were already recorded in 2004 and consist of his electric guitar playing along with digital processing. In the first two pieces it’s hard to realize that it is actually a guitar sound that we hear, but in the third its clearly so. Here the slightly distorted guitar working its way through some muffled digital effects is not so nice at the start, but towards the end it becomes more crispy clear. The other two tracks have similar effects, but were captivating and more intense. Quite dark this trio.
The only time Amy Denio was reviewed in Vital Weekly was a long time ago, with her ‘Greatest Hits’ CD (see Vital Weekly 189) that was already devoted to her long standing career, but I must admit I missed out on both that CD as-well as many things from her past. Here she plays one track, forty-five minutes, and it’s subtitled ‘music for Yoko Murao’s dance piece’. Denio plays accordion and voice and gets help on viola by Eyvind Kang. But he comes in way when things are well under their way. This piece is a beautifully enveloping piece of drone music, in which the solitary plucking of the viola comes in rather gently and elegantly. Most of the time it seems nothing much changes here, but that’s only deception. Things move like a glacier mass, slowly but steadily. Quite a beauty this one.
For reasons unclear to me the release by Emily Hay and Marco Fernandes is a real CD. Hay plays flute, voice, piccolo and piano and Fernades plays percussion, field recordings and samples. Some other people play some tracks such as guitars, bass, sax and electronics. Hay played with U Totem, Motor Totemist Guild and many more and Fernandes we mostly know from his work on Pax Recordings. On seven tracks there is Lisle Ellis on bass and electronics, and I must admit I liked these tracks best of this CD, as they were more richer and fuller than the duo pieces, the addition of the extra instruments pays off here. Also Hay’s improvisations for voice are not so well-spend on me. Altogether a CD received with mixed feelings.
The Montract ‘Live In Japan’ CD is a co-release by Public Eyesore and a handful of other labels, such as Carbon, Humbug, AudioBot and Breaking World Records (great name). Monotract are Carlos Giffoni, Nancy Garcia, and Roger Rimada (on drums, electronics and guitars) and have been around for some time. This particular release was recorded in 2002 and apparently has more to do with electronics than their regular live work. Of course there is the usual amount of distortion and noise, but it dwells on rhythm, even including a very nice cover of Throbbing Gristle’s ‘United’. Of course this is not head-nodding, hip shaking music, but through it’s a fine mixture of noise, noise and a nice bit of rhythm. Especially for those who love the current wave of US noise. Great cover also.
Can’t remember reviewing an audio cassette, but here’s one: by Eloine, a solo project of Brain Day, the man behind Public Eyesore. Two sides of improvisation music that may or may not include guitars, short-wave radio and percussion. All of the sounds seem to work on the same level, with none really jumping out of it. This works in a really nice way. Unlike it’s predecessor ‘Short Community’ (see Vital Weekly 438), the separate tracks don’t have a leading instrument, but the end result can be compared. Nice lo-fi improvised music in a calm manner.
From Public Eyesore we also received a CDR
release by one Dereck Higgins. Well into playing this disc, which has some nice ambient like pieces made out of electro-acoustic sources, I decided to look at his website and see who this for me unknown man is. Much to me pleasant surprise, Higgins is an afro-american gentleman who has been active in music since the late 70s, playing in punk bands, new wave and reggea bands, like Digital Sex (on Sordide Sentimental) and also played with Disco Ranch, Elvis & His Boss, The High Voltage Jammers and RAF. In the new millennium he plays these very nice calm pieces of sampled ambience, touching objects, mixing it with field recordings and transforming into very nice sketch like pieces of music. Great music with a fresh look on ambient music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.publiceyesore.com
Address: http://www.dereckhiggings.com
GINTAS K – LENGVAI/60 X ONE MINUTE AUDIO COLORS OF 2KHZ SOUND (2CD by Cronica)
WEJDAS – ZEMES ALSAVIMAS (CD by Dangus)
TOMAS DOBROVOLSKIS – THE BRASS GLOBE (CDR, private)
LONG SEARCH FOR PEGASUS – BEYOND THE BONE FIELDS (CDR by Armantas)
NOVA SAK – SIGNS OF AN UNHEALTHY RELATIONSHIP (CDR by Armantas)
This bunch has just one common factor: they are all from Lithuania, and were handed to me during a too short visit to Vilnius. Gintas K is perhaps the best known of this lot, or perhaps to the readers of Vital Weekly. He has released a whole bunch of CDRs before, and I believe this is first real CD, a double right away. It displays both sides of his work. ‘Lengvai’, which translates as ‘easily’, shows his more up-tempo, almost techno like work. In each of the tracks he takes a lot of time to build up the pieces, but when he is there, things really rock the house. I was reminded of PWOG’s ‘Record Of Breaks’, as Gintas K has a similar long built up per track, and the tracks have that similar groovy sound, that isn’t exactly techno, but are rhythmical as hell. The second CD is made out of a 2Khz frequency, which is transformed in all sorts of ways, and cut into sixty different pieces, which make a good flow. This material, deals with the idea of changing colors, and therefore could be seen as ambient music, although I think the high pierced sounds are a bit far off for the ambient posse. But those are in favor of the works of Ikeda and Alva Noto, and especially the non rhythmical side of it, may surely know how to appreciate this, even when Gintas K occasionally cuts the material up and brings out small microscopic rhythms.
Wejdas are also well-known but for whatever unknown reason never reviewed in Vital Weekly. Their new album title translates as ‘breathing of the world’. These days Wejdas is a two piece band: Darius Gerulaitis (voice, synth, sampling, delay) and Donatas Bielkauskas (programming, keyboards, sampling, horns). There are two works on this CD, the lengthy ‘Klinciu Sluoksnis’, one track of thirty minutes and the seven parts that form ‘Angliu Sluoknsnis’. Wejdas plays dark ambient industrial music that has many ancestors, mainly those who write ‘ritualistic’ as ‘ritualistik’ – it’s utter dark music, with occasional rhythm that is vaguely ethno related and spoken word sections (as opposed to singing). Sometimes thing may be a bit too pathetic, too gothic as I would have said in a different life, but when things become less self-serious and more experimental, its certainly enjoyable. For those who love all things bleak and ambient industrial, for the fans of Hybryds and Schloss Tegal, but a bit more ambient, than this is certainly to check out.
Tomas Dobrovolskis has built his own percussion instrument, called The Brass Globe, which indeed looks like a globe and which is played in various percussive ways (such as the conga, djembe or tabla), feeding the sound through various sound effects. On his self-produced CDR we find examples of this instrument in various ways, as-well as a large data portion. The music is a bit ethnic like, but due to the electronic effects also more western like. There are faint traces of Muslimgauze, certainly when it comes to playing it like a tabla. Overall the pieces are a bit too long for my taste, but it’s an good display of what this instrument can do. The data portion contains much more music, including duets with other people, such as Andre Pabarciute and Eugenijus Kanevicius. Since they are more varied, I must say I like them better. But overall this release is a good place to start if you want to know about this man.
The final two releases are not by Lithuanian artists, but the label is from Vilnius, first called Red Brick, now Perineum Productions. Long Search For Pegasus are Iain Travis and David Johnson and this my first encounter with them. Just like Wejdas they like their things dark, but operate in a less ambient fashion. Samples of orchestral movements, pipe organs and rhythms make this music much more ‘poppy’ (although I realize that may sound odd), sometimes a bit like the more psychedelic old Legendary Pink Dots sound, but at the same time embedded in a more gothic like sound. Influences are Ain Soph of even Sigilum S me thinks. At times quite nice, at other times a bit tedious, but throughout a positive feeling.
The final release is by US’ Nova Sak. They operate in the realms of noise, by using feedback on four of the five tracks, but not really in a harsh way. It’s rather a suppressed sound. One track has also some doodling of a contact microphone. It’s all a bit too lo-fi for me, the easy way into making noise, without much thought. Covers for this label are actually quite nice. (FdW)
Address: http://www.cronicaelectronica.org
Address: http://www.dangus.net
Address: http://www.freewebs.com/tomasdob/index.htm
Address: <kachifugetsu@yahoo.co.uk>
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