NURSE WITH WOUND – SOUNDPOOLING (CD by United Diaries) *
VIDNA OBMANA – AN OPERA FOR FOUR FUSION WORKS: ACT THREE: REFLECTION ON SCALE (FEATURING KENNETH KIRSCHNER) (CD by Hypnos) *
THOMAS NÖLA ET SON ORCHESTRE – THE DOCTOR : ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK (CD by Disques De Lapin)
LISA ULLEN QUARTET – BIG BANG (CD by Disorder)
JONATHAN COLECLOUGH & MURMER – HUSK (CD by ICR) *
ANDREW LILES/THE HAFLER TRIO/COLIN POTTER – 3 EGGS (CD by Important Records)
RAUHAN ORKESTERI / LAUHKEAT LAMPAAT – SYLISSAIN OOT (CD by Ache Records)
ASHIS MAHAPATRA – ORANGE OF (CD by True False)
PHONOPHANI – PHONOPHANI (CD by Rune Grammofon) *
YOKO SOLO – THE BEEPS (CD By Quaketrap)
ZOMBI – SURFACE TO AIR (CD By Relapse)
DRUM MACHINE GUN (CD by Relapse)
SKOPIC (CD by Lunaticworks)
JAMES HARDAWAY COLLECTIVE – OVER EASY (CD by Lunaticworks)
JASON KAHN & JON MUELLER – SUPERSHELLS (CD by Formed Records) *
WERNER MOEBIUS/JON MUELLER/JIM SCHOENECKER – AMALGAM (CDR by Utech Records)
NMPERIGN & JASON LESCALLEET – LOVE ME TWO TIMES (2CD by Intransitive Recordings)
*
JAMES FIGURINE – MISTAKE MISTAKE MISTAKE MISTAKE (CD by Monika Enterprise)
PETER WRIGHT – RED LION (CD by Digitalis Industries) *
WITH THROATS AS FINE AS NEEDLES (CD by Digitalis Industries)
BEN REYNOLDS – OUTMOSPHERIC ARTS OF THE OUTMOSPHERE (CD by Digitalis Industries)
GRKZGL – ESQUE (miniCD by Angle Records)
VINCENT OLIVIER (miniCD by Loaf Recordings)
ERRATIC – THE INVISIBLE LANDSCAPE (CDR by Mystery Sea) *
JLIAT – WORK AFTER THEORY PART 1 (CDR by Jliat)
HAERETICI 7O74 – HAERETICI, SCHISMATICI, EXCOMMUNICATI (CDR by Some Place Else) *
FRANK DIFFICULT – DIARY PART. 1 (CDR by Retinascan) *
BURKHARD KERLIN/BRIAN KLEIN/CARL KRUGER – SODAPLAY (2CDR by Retinascan)
PABLO RECHE/UBEBOET – DUAE (CDR by Retinascan)
BJERGA/IVERSEN – COMPROMISED SONGS (3″CDR by Retinascan)
MAURIZIO BIANCHI – GENOCIDIO 20 (CDR by W.M.o/r)
BRUCE RUSSELL – 21ST CENTURY FIELD HOLLERS AND PRISON SONGS (CDR by W.M.o/r) *
LA GRIETA – HERMANA HOSTA (CDR by W.M.o/r)
JOSETXO GRIETA – REMINDER OF A PRECIOUS LIFE (CDR by Audiobot)
NURSE WITH WOUND – SOUNDPOOLING (CD by United Diaries)
Apart from two or three concerts in the eighties, Nurse With Wound was never a live band, and probably for good reasons. Whatever Steve Stapleton generated was highly studio based, always with a varying bunch of players on board. Yet in 2004 he over-viewed a live mix, by Colin Potter, of the ‘Salt Marie Celeste’ work for the Dutch Earational festival and that experience was so much fun, that Nurse With Wound are a live band, and for good reasons. Surrounded by players, such as Andrew Liles, Matt Waldron, Colin Potter and Diana Rogerson, Stapleton is comfortable in bringing a live version of Nurse With Wound’s studio trickery. And perhaps technology is easier these days. In May 2005 the group played their first concert in Vienna (and mind you, with a group of such a diverse background, it’s not likely they will play a lot of concerts), which was loosely based on two older Nurse With Wound pieces: the former ‘Salt Marie Celeste’ and ‘Echo Poeme’, two pieces that show the special qualities best: poetic and soft, loosely based on guiding theme’s that give the players the opportunity to let sounds swirl in and out of the mix. An occasional blink here and there, leaving space in between. A bit more loosely organized than on a regular studio work, this is however a particular strong piece. Also strong is the much shorter studio piece ‘In Swollen Silence’ that circles around the voice of Diana Rogerson – just like the good ol’ days.
As a bonus, there is a limited amount of CDs to go with the first few hundred, called ‘A Handjob
From The Laughing Policeman’. ‘Conceived by Nurse
With Wound. Mixed by Colin Potter’, is the only thing on the cover. Drums play an important role throughout these forty some minutes, and miniature electronics swirl in and out. A much more forceful work than the ‘Soundpooling #3’, but essentially the idea is the same. Despite this being a studio-work, there are some crudities built in, and thus forms a good pair with the live CD. With Nurse With Wound you are in for surprise, but it never fails the listener. (FdW)
Address: http://www.icrdistribution.com
VIDNA OBMANA – AN OPERA FOR FOUR FUSION WORKS: ACT THREE: REFLECTION ON SCALE (FEATURING KENNETH KIRSCHNER) (CD by Hypnos)
The fact that Dirk Serries, for twenty or so years, the man behind Vidna Obmana, started a new ‘band’ (again of just himself), did lead to the conclusion that Vidna Obmana was dead, or on hold at least. But it’s not. Or perhaps it is, and is Hypnos just a bit late, releasing this album. It’s the third act in a series of four. The first one was by Vidna Obmana himself, and on the second he transformed the saxophone sounds (see Vital Weekly 420). For the third act Vidna Obmana treats the piano sounds, played by Kenneth Kirschner, who is perhaps best known for similar collaborations with Taylor Deupree. The piano playing of Kirschner is quiet, just a few notes every once in a while, and the recordings he makes are usually finely treated with small clicks and hiss. This is excellent music for Vidna Obmana to expand his ambient tapestries on. Vidna Obmana adds guitar and synthesizers, after which he locks the music into his chamber of sound effects, looping all the sounds, making small shifting changes while certain elements keep returning ad infinitum. The piano sounds by Kirschner remain audible throughout this work, it doesn’t seem that they are treated to such an extent. In the warm ambient bath created by Vidna Obmana they find a good home. Soberly orchestrated, the dedication to Morton Feldman is no surprise (although perhaps many more notes are played here than on average Feldman composition). Vidna Obmana doesn’t necessarily add something new to ambient, but his music still belongs to the best the genre has to offer. (FdW)
Address: http://www.hypnos.com
THOMAS NÖLA ET SON ORCHESTRE – THE DOCTOR : ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK (CD by Disques De Lapin)
If All Movie Guide-contributor Jason Buchanan has hit the bull’s eye with his description of the movie as being “a surreal landscape of paranoia and despair”, then there simply couldn’t be made a more suitable soundtrack for this movie by Thomas Nola. Not really surprising since Thomas Nola, both functions as the director of the movie and as the composer to this magnificent sonic exploration into human darkness. The fact that the director has the best inside knowledge of the emotional state represented in the movie of course gives him the perfect starting point for the creation of the musical part of the story. In 1975 David Lynch demonstrated the same fact with his amazing soundtrack (composed as a joint venture with Alan R. Splet) for his debut movie “Eraserhead” (1975). The “Eraserhead”-soundtrack still ranks among one of the ultimate drone-based ambient albums of all time if you ask me. Thomas Nöla’s movie “The Doctor” tells the story about a man haunted by his seemingly dead former patient Miss Marilla Huxley and mournful over the death of his deceased wife, the doctor is locked in a constant state of fear. As madness begins to take hold, the frightened doctor will attempt to break the invisible chains that bind him and look inward to discover the secrets of death and nature. Musically “The Doctor” is a tour de force into a great span of sonic expressions. The atmosphere on the album is satirical in a very dark and somehow grotesque manner, because of the theatrical cabaret-like feeling that saturates a major part of the 60 minutes running time of the album. Thomas Nöla and his orchestra nicely balance between acoustic expressions based on a number of instruments like trumpet, cello and piano and eerie electronic soundscapes sometimes floating in tranquilizing ambience other times falling into dark spheres of unpleasant drones of subtle noise. An important element in the music is the Orchestra’ cooperation with Death In June-vocalist Douglas P (aka Douglas Pearce) contributing with some of his readings and lullabies. This vocal part from Douglas P. adds an excellent feeling of cynicism to the quite tense and disturbing atmosphere. Everyone interested in electronic experimentalism should check this out. Especially listeners of Coil and Legendary Pink Dots might find interesting things on this album. Highly recommended! (NMP)
Address: http://www.eskimofilms.com
LISA ULLEN QUARTET – BIG BANG (CD by Disorder)
From Sweden comes the Lisa Ullen Quartet who
recorded their first cd in january this year. We hear Ulf Akerhielm on bass, Lisa Ullen on piano, Andreas Axelsson on drums and percussion plus Mats Aleklint on trombone. Listening to these Scandinavian sounding names you will not doubt that they come from Sweden.
But in the case of Lisa Ullen, I’m not sure. She got her education at the Royal Music Academy in Stockholm and at Chapel Hill University, NC, USA. So she may be american, but that is not interesting in the end. Amongst her activities in Sweden are her collaborations with the Great Learning Orchestra and the trio Inner Out. That about all I can trace about her. Let me be honest to you about this cd. It is a disc of very civilized – okay boring – sounding improvised music. Not exactly a big bang. The quartet fails to create many interesting moments. The playing of Lisa Ullen is very hesitating and limited in my view. Lacking of power and energy. The drummer and trombone-player are the most accomplished musicians. Aleklint plays nice solos in tracks 5 and 6. Overall, the drummer tries to make the best of it. Of course there some nice moments on this disc, but in general this disc suffers from the lack of technique and ‘bravoure’ of the players. The music remains too much under the surface. (DM)
Address: http://www.disorder.se/
JONATHAN COLECLOUGH & MURMER – HUSK (CD by ICR)
Perhaps its intended, perhaps not, but this is the second collaboration of Jonathan Coleclough, following the one with Lethe (see Vital Weekly 468) with no solo Coleclough in between. Here he teams up with Murmer, aka Patrick McGinley, who had releases on Ground Fault, Bake Records, Absurd and S’Agita. McGinley hails from the USA, but moved to the UK and since recently lives in France. Both McGinley and Coleclough are men armed with microphones. You can see them crawling behind refrigerators, admist sheep or out on the street capturing the traffic. Of the two, McGinley is usually the one with a lesser extended sound treatment and leaving sounds as they are, whilst Coleclough is the man is our man to treat the sound to such an extent that nobody can recognize the original. That is already a most promising start. Much of the material on this CD (or two, if you are lucky to catch one of the first two hundred with a bonus CD) started as a live improvisation, at least that is what we are told, as it certainly doesn’t sound like it. After careful editing, which seems to me the work of Coleclough, the rest is spread over four long pieces. The first time around I was listening to this CD in a totally new house, in a new house block, with some work being carried out still. The occasional drilling outside interfered nicely into the music, which had a similar drone like character, but was in the end the whole thing is less rigidly orchestrated than the usual drone record. Field recordings of all sorts drop in and out with irregular intervals, thus creating a slow by lively mixture of drone like sounds that go on, but change to quite an extent, and sounds dropping in out. Bell like sounds, engines or whatever is hard to identify. This is quite a beautiful CD. And with a limited edition of two CDs you can’t be wrong. Another fine addition to the small but great catalogue of both artists. (FdW)
Address: http://www.icrdistribution.com
ANDREW LILES/THE HAFLER TRIO/COLIN POTTER – 3 EGGS (CD by Important Records)
Once three men wanted to go to America to play some music. A big country, alas but not with much money for three men to get everything they needed to get to this big country. So they decide to create a CD of pieces of music that are generated through the mail. A most common practice to make music these days. But then, for whatever reason, the whole tour fell through. And someone sat on this music created for this tour support CD. It’s good to see it released, even when the content is puzzling. Apparently it’s Liles playing Potter and Hafler Trio, Hafler Trio playing Liles and Potter, and Potter doing something similar. Perhaps there is something solo by each as well. All clear, except the order of the proceedings and why three times three make eight and not nine tracks. My estimation is that the first track is indeed by Liles. Adding a bit of trademark collage music stuff in a somewhat synthetic field of sound, there is some little surprises. The second piece seems to me The Hafler Trio, with also a trademark sound: the wind like sounds we remember from ‘Inoutof’. Colin Potter must be the author of the third track, with it’s cymbals being played and a faint trace of digital distortion. Nicely drone related. After this things get a little bit more difficult. They are less trademark pieces, and it’s more difficult to decipher the codes of the specific drone in this. Of course it’s not worth fighting over who did as it’s the result that counts. And the result is surely just right up what you’d expect from the three man. Drone related, stretched out, atmospheric, spacious or whatever qualifications one can think of, this is a very fine disc of mood engineering. Perhaps it’s a pity that the tour fell through, but on the other hand, we have another treasure to add. (FdW)
Address: http://www.importantrecords.com
RAUHAN ORKESTERI / LAUHKEAT LAMPAAT – SYLISSAIN OOT (CD by Ache Records)
This is a new release on the certainly interesting Canadian Vancouver-based label Ache Records, which have also released music from Secret Mommy, Kid606, Hrvatski, DFA, Matmos, Four Tet and other artists before. Rauhan Orkesteri / Lauhkeat Lampaat are kind of a jazzy band (from Finland), playing their music on reeds, percussion, bass and possibly other instruments which are not mentioned on the cd-cover. They do that in a rather freestyle improv way. What’s most amusing about this album and music is that the players are pushing the sound to the limit where it’s no longer recognizable which instrument is played. Also sounds as electronic music in some moments. It sounds very adventurous, playfull and festive, but also never too (classical) jazzy. It’s a kind of jazzy-flavoured music which crossovers with improvised music, in many of the 10 pieces. All is well played, in good atmosphere and vibe and it’s a pleasure listening to this album by the free-improv-jazz outfit Rauhan Orkesteri. (BR)
Address: http://www.acherecords.com
ASHIS MAHAPATRA – ORANGE OF (CD by True False)
However Ashis Mahapatra is, we don’t know. His CD was recorded over the course of the last four years, while living in New York, Berlin and Delhi. Among his influences he mentions My Bloody Valentine, Glenn Branca, Oval, Christian Fennesz but also Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma. A combination of guitars and computers are at work here, along with samplers, field recordings, sine waves and sculpted feedback. Mahapatra doesn’t work according one specific plan: he does whatever he feels necessary, he says, which might be true, but throughout these seven tracks, there is something similar to be noted. Largely layered patterns of sustaining guitar sounds, that sounds like the shoegazing of My Bloody Valentine, and a very mild Glenn Branca indeed, combined with some of the computer mindedness of Oval and Fennesz – or rather Fennesz and Oval. He does a good job at creating his own version of influences he likes. A bit drone related, a bit computer related: it’s all fine, but at the same time, nothing much new under the sun. It’s beyond the microsound stages, as the sound is always there, a bit thick, and not always refined. It’s ok, but without much of his own. (FdW)
Address: http://www.true-false.net
PHONOPHANI – PHONOPHANI (CD by Rune Grammofon)
Behind Phonophani is one Espen Sommer Eisde, one half of Alog. Eisde released two albums on Rune Grammofon but with his self-titled album he adds a third one. It’s a re-issue, of an album originally released on Biophon, indeed Biosphere’s label. Its from 1999 and was released in a small limited edition of 500 copies. And that was indeed a pity. As one can expect from a release on Biosphere’s label, this album also deals with ‘ambient’ and ‘electronica’, but it’s something that is beyond the usual textured, atmospheric patterns. Phonophani uses a fine blend of computer techniques, mainly of treated orchestral instruments, sometimes recognizable and sometimes entirely abstract, to which he adds a blend of synthesizer-like sounds, that is highly atmospherical but doesn’t take the listener to an easy ride in the sky. Doom loaded in ‘No Strangeclock’, this is even vaguely industrial sounding, bringing the album to a somewhat odd, but captivating mix of ambient, electronica and industrial music, without falling in the trap of being too dark or showing the inhumane. Warm music from a chilling country (climate wise, that is). Great music, and good to have back in print. (FdW)
Address: http://www.runegrammofon.com
YOKO SOLO – THE BEEPS (CD By Quaketrap)
This is Yoko Solo’s second full-length album of experimental electronic music. He continues with the mad, groove laden music that was very apparent in his first release, The Forbidden Channel (Vital Weekly 421). But I do not want you readers to think it is just the same old Yoko Solo music. In this venture, Yoko Solo prominently brings to the forefront his love for old school Hip Hop drum breaks and synth-bass lines to the mix. By doing this, I feel it reinforces the cohesiveness of his already creative electronic music project and adds strength to the melodies of each track. To be sure though, this is still Yoko Solo and experimentation still reigns supreme. The first track, “Kluge (?!)” starts things off nicely with a brief bass drum machine intro followed with an echoed vocal snippet and what sounds like a synthesizer whose settings are configured to resemble at first guitar feedback but quickly shifts down in pitch shortly after the main beat kicks in. From then on, there is some nice synthesizer and beat interplay with effect trickery and more vocal snippets added in to keep it trippy and interesting. Track two, “Pigbucket Blam Blam” features creative utilization of an electric jazz guitar chord sample along with some big sounding beats and more extensive synthesizer programming. By track three, ‘Don’t Fall Asleep, I’m Warning You” things get a little more bizarre. The track is built around some odd dialog and is quite brief but interesting nonetheless. Track four, ‘Infinite Collapse Pt. One: I Blew It (Infinite Undo)” is where you first start hearing the Hip Hop influences. It reminded me of some Nightmares On Wax material because the way the song was built up and the way the pleasant sounding melody played out. It is a standout track. By the time you get to track five, the Hip Hop beats; bass synthlines and stuttered vocal snippets are in full effect throughout the remainder of the album, meshed together with Yoko’s mischievous and creative experimental electronic tweaking. Altogether, this is a great and solid album and I look forward to hearing more from this artist. (Craig N.)
Address: http://www.quaketrap.com
ZOMBI – SURFACE TO AIR (CD By Relapse)
Zombi continues their audio homage to horror soundtracks and adds progressive rock flavored excursions to the mix. Surface To Air is their second Relapse release, and they continue delivering the goods with their instrumental synthesizer laden music. One also cannot help noticing the evident nod toward science fiction type atmospherics as well. It’s great journey music and a worthy addition for those who enjoy Tangerine Dream, Goblin and other ambient/movie score material that is primarily electronic. My only gripe is the length of the album. At roughly forty five minutes, it feels more like an E.P. rather than a full-length album. (Craig N.)
Address: http://www.relapse.com
DRUM MACHINE GUN (CD by Relapse)
This is what you get when you cross Fantomas with death metal and use extreme software editing techniques. Drum Machine Gun is one of the most interesting albums I have come across in a long time. It’s fast, ever changing, brutal, experimental and sometimes humorous because of certain movie samples used. It is a compilation of artists but remains a cohesive release of unique extreme music. Forget about deciphering any of the vocals, as they sound like a rapid delivery of down tuned belching. At 74 minutes, the album can become overbearing. I would suggest listening to it in brief chunks to avoid becoming overly sensitized. It is by far one of the most unique albums I have heard from Relapse. I recommend it when it is released on June 27, 2006. (Craig N.)
Address: http://www.relapse.com
SKOPIC (CD by Lunaticworks)
This is some quality, laidback downtempo music to groove out on in headphones. What makes it more excellent is the experimental elements blended in that gives the album a psychedelic flavor. It’s the kind of music Lunaticworks specializes in. Skopic utilizes live instrumentation mainly which testifies to his song writing abilities. Track seven, ‘Verbatim’, has a vague Radiohead-like quality to it that has to be mentioned due to Skopic’s vocal work. It is an excellent choice of music for some downtime. (Craig N.)
Address: http://www.lunaticworks.com
JAMES HARDAWAY COLLECTIVE – OVER EASY (CD by Lunaticworks)
An album of so-so jazz-funk made under whelming by the vocals. In my opinion, Lunaticworks missed the mark releasing this. There is nothing really interesting here by way of electronic music. Apparently, there is an instrumental version of this album that I would have preferred to this. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t have a bias toward jazz-funk music. This album barely makes an average to below average grade for me, primarily because of the forgettable vocals. (Craig N.)
Address: http://www.lunaticworks.com
JASON KAHN & JON MUELLER – SUPERSHELLS (CD by Formed Records)
WERNER MOEBIUS/JON MUELLER/JIM SCHOENECKER – AMALGAM (CDR by Utech Records)
Two drummers, although each with a different background. Jason Kahn was originally a rock drummer, before moving to Europe and moving towards percussion and electronics. Jon Mueller always had strong ties in the world of improvisation. In 2005 they met up and played a concert at Hotcakes Gallery in Milwaukee. The recordings were later on mixed by Jason Kahn. Both play percussion, and Kahn adds analogue synthesizer and Mueller cassettes. It’s hard to say that this is an album of all things percussive, for it doesn’t sound like that. Rather it’s an album of dark rumbles and hummings. The music sounds a bit ‘far’ away, like it was made with microphones from some distance, but perhaps it’s part of the esthetic. It lets me a bit down, recording-wise. I would think (or perhaps it’s wishful thinking) that music like this is recorded through mixing boards (wether or not with microphones), but it doesn’t entirely justify the music. Whatever there is in it, I don’t think it’s fully explored.
Of an entirely different nature is the recording made by Jon Mueller (percussion), Jim Schoenecker (analogue synthesizer and shortwave radio) and Werner Moebius (computer and devices). This one is really ‘there’. The music is improvised but walks the edges of minimal like Alvin Lucier type of material towards quite fiery noise related banging. And almost every line in between. The static crackling of the radio and synth, versus the live sound of the drums and the computer generated and processing both ends of the sound spectrum. A very vibrant and lively recording. This is the kind of improvisation that is highly appreciated. (FdW)
Address: http://www.formedrecords.com
Address: http://www.utechrecords.com>
NMPERIGN & JASON LESCALLEET – LOVE ME TWO TIMES (2CD by Intransitive Recordings)
A lot of collaborations are one-off affairs, but ‘Love Me Two Times’ marks the follow up to ‘In Which The Silent Partner-Director’ from 2000 (see Vital Weekly 200). Its not an improvisation version of the piece by The Doors of the same name, but a collection of live and studio collaborations of Nmperign, aka Bhob Rainey on soprano saxophone and Greg Kelley on trumpet, with Jason Lescalleet, who is known for his tapeloop work (having done solo work as well as collaborations with Joe Colley, Jason Kahn and John Hudak). The word tapeloop doesn’t easily relate to improvised music, but in the set-up created by Lescalleet is probably of a more flexible nature, so that he can pick any signals and loop them on the spot. Very much like a sampler would do, but that would do it in a much more refined way. The crude qualities in Lescalleet machine had a lo-fi hum to the sources and thus becomes an additional sound source. Nmperign on the other hand are all about flexible playing and have developed their own style in playing: sometimes they sound like good ol’ fashioned improvisers, but the main thing is the ‘instrument as object’ playing, and create something that sometimes is as crude as the tapeloops. At times it’s hard to hear the separation between the two, but at other times they are wide and far apart. Spread out over two discs is perhaps a bit too much of it, certainly if played in one go, but throughout there is a lot of variation in what they do. As such it’s very fine documentation of six years of intense playing. (FdW)
Address: http://www.intransitiverecordings.com
JAMES FIGURINE – MISTAKE MISTAKE MISTAKE MISTAKE (CD by Monika Enterprise)
For me this is the first introduction to the work and world of one James Figurine, who has had some releases before on Monika Enterprise. The label supported a tour of him and Lali Puna, and their driver took only three or four tapes to listen on those endless German autobahns. All of these tapes contained techno music, mainly from the more poppy areas of the Kompakt label. Inspired by this, James Figurine, wrote pieces in that style, minimal techno with a popedge, but also adding vocals. Voices of his own, as well as Sonya Westcott, Morgan Nagler, Erlend Øye and Jenny Lewis. Figurine succeeded in what he wanted. The poppy side of Kompakt is well represented in this minimal techno like pieces, and whilst he doesn’t have a particular strong voice, his more or less held back singing fits nicely to the music. A bit early summer like music, which fits perfectly the mood of the day. Lazy at times, cheery at times and joyous at times. I must admit I didn’t pay much attention to the lyrics, but the overall summer mood brought a smile to this face. (FdW)
Address: http://www.m-enterprise.de
PETER WRIGHT – RED LION (CD by Digitalis Industries)
WITH THROATS AS FINE AS NEEDLES (CD by Digitalis Industries)
BEN REYNOLDS – OUTMOSPHERIC ARTS OF THE OUTMOSPHERE (CD by Digitalis Industries)
So far the Digitalis Industries label released mainly CDRs in small editions, but perhaps the stumbled over some cash, and release now three CDs. Musicwise all three are somewhat related. Two of them hail from New Zealand, our beloved country of lo-fi drone music. The name Peter Wright might not be altogether well-known, but he released a whole bunch of CDRs on various labels. He plays guitar – a 12 string Danelectro to be precise – effects and field recordings. Usual ingredients for the work of Peter Wright, but, and perhaps it’s just my twisted mind here, it seems that things matured over the previous work. Careful strumming, just the right amount of reverb and delay, all sparsely humming along with likewise sparsely used field recordings. Never over the top, but in stead, held back and finely coordinated. Good to see such a thing on a real CD, at last.
With Throats As Fine As Needles is a new name for me, but it’s a four piece of well-known New Zealand musicians: Campell Kneale of Birchville Cat Motel, Antony Milton, James Kirk (of Sandoz Lab Technicians and Gate) and Richard Francis of Eso Steel. They don’t record their music inside a studio or some such, but they drag out their stuff into odd places and work with battery powered devices to record their stuff, using the space as an extra instrument to add to the proceedings. Mildly drone music of guitar feedback, metal plates crashing and other sorts of humming birds are dragged into the scenery, and the natural reverberation of the cage does the rest – although it’s not always that well recorded, but that’s part of the game, I think. It sounds a bit like Sandoz Lab Technicians, which is a good thing (i can’t remember hearing anything new from them). Vague, disoriented, lo-fi: all terms that perhaps sound negative, but it has a strong intensity of it’s own.
According to the label, Ben Reynolds is ‘one of the prolific contributors to the UK ecstatic-drone scene over the past year’, but this second CD (following various CDR releases and a CD on Ikuisuus) is my introduction to his work. He plays guitar, synthesizer and perhaps other instruments which are perhaps too obscure to recognize. Just like Wright, his music is vaguely related to neo-folk, with pluckings that hint in that direction and some of the scraping and tabla-like playing, such as in the title track, refer to Vibracathedral Orchestra. Its certainly music that fits the style of ecstatic drones, but many of the eight tracks were just a bit too loosely improvised for my taste. ‘Classic At The Sound World’ is such a piece: with a synth set on ‘bubbling’ and the guitar just randomly plucking its way, but it takes too long for what it tries to tell us. Its sort of alright, not too bad, not too brilliant. (FdW)
Address: http://www.digitalisindustries.com
GRKZGL – ESQUE (miniCD by Angle Records)
‘Esque’ is the first 3″ mini-cd ep release on Angle Records. To create the music Grkzgl uses laptop, synths and bass, plus there is metal percussion on the last 6th track, which is the most noisy of all. Otherwise, the sound is in the atmospheric glitchy areas, loosely improvised but with a clear direction of where it’s going, sometimes even a rhythmic patterns appear. Grkzgl is obviously inspired and influenced by the post-industrial ambience, not being too minimal or too harsh, but still merging all those styles into one whole piece, divided in 6 tracks which are mixed into each other. Very nice ep for this artist and hopefully more releases in the same format to come on the label. (BR)
Address: http://www.angle-rec.net
VINCENT OLIVIER (miniCD by Loaf Recordings)
Not often the artists in Vital Weekly cite glam rock, Marc Bolan, Steve Harley or David Bowie as their inspirations. But our man from Newcastle does. He is Vincent Olivier, musician and visual artist. He has four tracks on a new imprint by Lo Recordings, LOaF, meaning LO Alternative Frequencies, on a limited 3″ format, but housed in a 12″ sleeve. In his first piece he sounded like the elsewhere mentioned Ashis Mahapatra, but then with soft mumbling vocals, which moves over into ‘A Piece Called Bad Ending’, of which Olivier says ‘it gets me to sleep’. Spacious ambient of a rather unnerving kind. But ‘So Big Eyes’ is actually a song again, again with vocals, but through a vocoder. A love-like song, of tinkling synths, which fades over in a song alike that ‘If Yellow Were Sad’, with similar vocals (layered in separate voices), but the instrument is a sampled one note from an orchestra. These four track rather only vaguely hint at what Vincent Olivier can do, but don’t a solid impression on the listener as to which direction he would like sail. Let’s wait for something more substantial then. (FdW)
Address: http://www.lorecordings.com
ERRATIC – THE INVISIBLE LANDSCAPE (CDR by Mystery Sea)
Of all the names used by Jan Robbe, I only name-checked Idle Sunder, and not Undacova, Duncan Avoid, Xe Phalanx, nor Erratic, which we are dealing with today, with his contribution to Mystery Sea. Unlike many others on the Mystery Sea label, Robbe plays not the usual, one or two long pieces, but has seven tracks to offer, in some fifty minutes. It’s unclear what his sound input is, perhaps field recordings of sea and wind, or a rusty analog synths, but before it is put put out again, it went through a myriad of sound effects, perhaps analog, perhaps digital. The sub-aquatic theme that runs through all the Mystery Sea releases (thirty-one and counting), is also present on this one. It gives the listener the idea of being under water, hearing everything like through a haze, a blurr. A ship passes overhead, metal collides, that sort of thing. Erratic plays the trick according to the book, making no mistakes, making no exceptions. This is drone music that is exactly what it is. Fine stuff, but with no real surprises. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mysterysea.net
JLIAT – WORK AFTER THEORY PART 1 (CDR by Jliat)
The conceptual nature of the work of Jliat should be known by now, but it’s not always clear what it tries to communicate. Today, June 19th, I receive this new work by Jliat, entitled ‘June 10th, 2006’, which clearly shows the marketing principles of releasing your works on a CDR. ‘Dedicated to and inspired by the remarkable work of Ad Reinhardt’, who was a painter painting one color per painting. The source material is ‘white noise 1000 hertz 36 db’. There is a whole list of gear used on this hour long piece, but it’s hard to decipher any more definitions in this howl of noise. It’s one long rumble of noise, which hardly changes over the course of the piece. In a way it returns to the first beginnings of Jliat: a monochrome piece of music, but whereas the old work is all about harmonious playing, this is the total opposite, and a black painting by Reinhardt is set perfectly to music. This could have lasted one minute or five hours and it wouldn’t have made any difference. Musicwise I prefer the old monochromes. (FdW)
Address: http://www.jliat.com
HAERETICI 7O74 – HAERETICI, SCHISMATICI, EXCOMMUNICATI (CDR by Some Place Else)
Behind Haeretici 7o74 are Ovro and Niko Skorpio. The first is foremost known as the Finnish answer to female glitch, and Skorpio, who recently delivered another fine album of his dark, rhythmic music. Ovro and Skorpio recently started to play as Haeretici 7o74 and on this CDR is a recording of a concert they recently did in Tampere, Finland. Three pieces of dark humming of voices- the monks that are inevitable which such a title humm in the beginning, but also the dark humming of analogue and digital synths, with an occasional rhythm and noise outburst. I must say I didn’t hear much Ovro in this, and it sounded more like Niko Skorpio, but throughout I wasn’t altogether too convinced about it. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I am also somewhat allergic to all these mediaeval references, but music-wise it sounded a bit too easy and according to the book of music according to Cold Meat Industry. (FdW)
Address: http://www.someplaceelse.net
FRANK DIFFICULT – DIARY PART. 1 (CDR by Retinascan)
BURKHARD KERLIN/BRIAN KLEIN/CARL KRUGER – SODAPLAY (2CDR by Retinascan)
PABLO RECHE/UBEBOET – DUAE (CDR by Retinascan)
BJERGA/IVERSEN – COMPROMISED SONGS (3″CDR by Retinascan)
Of the four new releases on Retinascan, there is one new name for me, Frank Difficult. He is from Providence, Rhode Island, where he performed with V. Majestic and he is loosely connected to Mudboy, whoever they are. All the tracks on this release were written in October last year, but how this music is generated in a bit unclear. It seems that Difficult tapes his sounds from whatever source (radio, TV, internet) and collates them together, adding a bit of distortion to it, or perhaps this distortion comes from scanning other radio channels. Its probably the simplest form of making music, but there are examples of this kind of music playing in the past that showed that with some imagination it could be done. Difficult however doesn’t always succeed. Sometimes his pieces he derail a bit too much and becomes a blurr of noise. However ‘Sorrowful Moon Lamp’ should be mentioned: this is a more electronic piece of music of a more introvert character, a bit like older Nurse With Wound. A very fine piece.
Just exactely what Sodaplay is, I am not sure after deciphering the info in the booklet, but its some sort of sound application found in computer games, that with some imagination can be rebuilt into a more complex sound machine. Burkhard Kerlin, the label man of Retinascan, recorded some pieces with this and mailed this onwards to his friends Brian Klein and Carl Kruger, who did remixes of these tracks. The final result are fifteen tracks that are not far away from eachother. Of course the originals are the most minimal, but essentially they aren’t that different from the remixes: minimal drone like pieces, very occasionally with a rhythm, and very occasionally quite a bit of noise related. Too crude to be downright ambient, but too soft to be noise. A bit forceful, present mood music for the more daring minds. On a second CDR there are more versions and one can see the complete development of the cover.
Pablo Recho from Buenos Aires has a long string of releases available, and some are in collaboration with other people. ‘Duae’ is his second collaboration with Madrid based Miguel Angel Tolosa, aka Ubeboet. He is perhaps less known, but he has releases on Non Visual Objects, Zeromoon and Earlabs. For this new work they solely use field recordings made in their home cities, but they are transformed to a point in which they are hard to recognize. Perhaps the heavily treated sound of rain and thunder? The end of ‘Natura Duce’ hints to that. Throughout the four tracks are low end humming birds for which the volume has to be put in a much higher fashion (it’s mixed in true Lopezian tradition), but it’s a solid, good work that can easily meet with the better in the field.
More Bjerga/Iversen, here with a selection of a session recorded in 2005. Although it’s indexed as four separate tracks, it’s in reality one long tracks. It builds from a low minimalist pulses to a large field of static crackling, feedback humming about in the background and analogue piercing sounds, all fed through a long line of sound effects. As noted before, this duo has a good deal of releases, and though not very convincing at the early beginning, they have certainly grown into something great, and their current releases are many (too many perhaps), but recently of a consisting quality. (FdW)
Address: http://www.retinascan.de
MAURIZIO BIANCHI – GENOCIDIO 20 (CDR by W.M.o/r)
BRUCE RUSSELL – 21ST CENTURY FIELD HOLLERS AND PRISON SONGS (CDR by W.M.o/r)
LA GRIETA – HERMANA HOSTA (CDR by W.M.o/r)
JOSETXO GRIETA – REMINDER OF A PRECIOUS LIFE (CDR by Audiobot)
We might be surprised to see names such as MB or Bruce Russell appearing on W.M.o/r, the label that usually releases many Mattin related works (live works, collaborations, studio works), but his constant traveling lets him meet other people, and keen networker, he knows how to tie them to his label. I have no idea when Maurizio Bianchi’s ‘Genocidio 20’ was recorded but for various reasons it could be an old work, or perhaps something new, but if that’s the case than he’s playing some old tricks. The first of the six tracks starts out with a nazi speech (not Adolf, but somebody else, I think Rudolf Hess, but identifying voices of nazi idiots is not my science) and quite quickly piercing electronics. Other nazi people also have their say. This could be MB’s ‘Weltanschauung’ record from a quarter of century ago. I believe he lost interest in this kind of stuff, hence me doubting the recentness of this release. But the fourth piece starts out really soft, and that is very unlike early 80s recordings, so perhaps this is recent? I don’t think I care very much about all of this, as I must say I am glad he left the path of new age musics, which he marked his return to the world of music, and he is back on track with some experimental noise. The whole nazi thing, limited to the first track, is not my coffee, but throughout I thought this was a fine disc of electronic noise, skipping records. Industrial music at it’s most conservative, but M.B. still does a great job, old or new.
Bruce Russell’s ’21st Century Field Hollers And Prison Songs’ ties in blues, dub and musique concrete. The blues came in through his album ‘Midnight Crossroads Tape Recorder Blues’ (see Vital Weekly 471), which Russell made with Ralf Wehowsky. He played guitar and did some tape-splicing and Wehowsky his usual computer wizardry. On this new CDR, Russell returns to his own playing for that record and he uses his own elements again to create a new work, just like is done in dub music or musique concrete. The improvisational element is still present in this recording, but it is combined with loops made of the material and the crackling of recorded media, vinyl and acetates. The material is composed in a rather loose way, which keeps the spirit of both improvised music and dub alive. I think it’s quite a fine work, showing another, sometimes ignored skill, by Russell.
Whatever La Grieta is I don’t know. The work is recorded using a GNU/Linux computer but it’s not computer music. It’s rather punk related, lo-fi affair, with songs in the basque language. Drums, guitars, vocals. Only the title track is a strange affair of speaker hum, feedback and ghosts moving about. It’s the odd ball in this collection, but for the more experimental minds, like me, also the best track.
Whatever the relation is of La Grieta with Josetxo Grieto, I don’t know, but it lists Josetxo Anitua on vocals and lyrics, Mattin on guitar and noises and Inigo Eguillor on drums and percussion. This is a like the La Grieta work, except that its heavier and more related to free rock versus improvisation. Recorded with much distortion, both during the playing and probably some added afterwards, this is a more powerful work than the La Grieta release. Quite intense and furious. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mattin.org
Address: http://www.freaksendfuture.com
PODCAST announcements
From: Kosten Koper <kostenkoper@gmail.com>
I have a podcast archive of my weekly Brussels radio show L’étranger (Radio Panik, 105.4FM). Cut price plastic noise, trashy sex wave, splice and dice brutism, evil grrrrllll/booyy twinkles, latest show has Metalux, Shearing Pinx, Youth Of Togay, Ungh!, Not Flipper, Astral Social Club, Die Todliche Doris, Jasabird etc. If you are passing by please drop in to play or talk.
http://letranger.podomatic.com/
From: “framework” <framework@talk21.com>
framework – phonography, field-recording; contextual and decontextualised sound activity
presented by patrick mcginley
framework, broadcasting for the last 4 years on resonance104.4fm in london, uk, and at http://www.resonancefm.com worldwide, is pleased to announce we are now offering the show as a podcast, approx. 1 hour long, weekly, at 192kbps (so about 85mb). for information on subscribing go to http://www.resonancefm.com/framework and click on <<podcast>>, or paste the following url into your podcast program: http://www.cloudmirror.org/murmer/framework.xml.
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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
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