PAUL D. MILLER – DEATH IN THE LIGHT OF THE PHONOGRAPH (CD by Asphodel)
This release is part of a recent exhibition at some NYC art gallery, of, if I understand correctly from the two lengthy booklets that come with this package, mostly paintings from Miller. For reasons I don’t know, Miller has his real name on the cover, and not his alias: DJ Spooky. Both booklets give an interesting insight in Miller’s interests: philosophical aspects of making music, in particular the history of black music. In part one the extensive overview of Lee Perry’s pioneering work in dub music. The studio as instrument, but then in black music. This first booklet must be seen as points of reference in the work of Miller. The second booklet deals with mainly his visual work, set against traditions. Now what about the music? Miller’s main instruments are the sampler and studio treatments. He creates a dark atmospheric sound track breathing life in the big city. The final track of the CD consists of ‘DJ Spooky taking a walk in New York City mix’: undefinable sounds combined with looped saxophones. Despite the interesting starting point one of the lesser tracks on the CD (unless you see the city as a boring repetative entity). Some of the tracks that appealed to me more were ‘Machine Phylum’ (although maybe too lengthy) with it’s treated sound of an mbira, and, maybe oddly enough, the second Zero Gravity Dub: a slow dubby rhythm with a reggae background. Oddly, since it seems back to basics… (FdW)
Address: <asphodel@interport.net>
NON PLACE URBAN FIELD – RAUM FUR NOTIZEN (mini CD by Incoming!)
Finally I can report something good again on the Incoming! label. NUF bring you some new tracks, plus some remixes of his first CD on Incoming! The CD starts with a nice laid back dub piece ‘Whimp’, which hints, maybe far away at some minimalist techno – but much more sweet. The second track is a fine combination of a junglized rhythm with a jazzy touch. Also included on this CD is remix version of ‘Western Dub’, one of my favourite tracks of Nuf Said. Overall the music is warmly played, laid back neo dub stuff. Bring on the new full length please! (FdW)
Address: <100421.647@compuserve.com>
RLW – EYES (7″ by Povertech)
From the ever more profilic composer Ralf Wehowsky two short works on vinyl. He produces such fine dynamics that makes one wonder if they will carry well on vinyl. Normaly RLW’s music can best be heard on CD through a very good set of speakers. It seems though, that he takes advantage of the vinyl, by incorporating scratching sounds (dammit ! is my copy already full of dust). These scratches are set against fragmentary pieces of sound which start as abruptly as they are stopped. Humm… two interesting pieces which give me the idea to invest more in a good record player. (FdW)
Address: <pvrtek@aol.com>
THE HAFLER TRIO – RIGHT HERE WHERE YOU ARE SITTING NOW (7″ by Povertech)
THE HAFLER TRIO – UTTERANCES (LP by Soleilmoon)
Andrew McKenzie has discovered the beauty and power of limited vinyl releases. The pain in the ass of the collector, because the prices are pretty high. But that discussion is different matter. Let’s stick to what is offered here. The 7″ features, according to the cover, guitar, bass, drum and voices. Not that I could have told you, since the trio treated them beyond recognition. I assume the pressing of this record is not very good, or maybe I’m missing a point here. It seems as if both tracks were put together rather hastily. I had much more joy from the LP. Side A builds slowly in ambient spheres with what seems a sampled guitar (but now the cover doesn’t mention it – damm) and somewhere half way through some treated organs take over to close the album in similar ambient textures. The flip side starts out again quietly but somewhere some rhythm is faded up – not as housy as the 12″ The Hafler once did, but a strong continous flow. Added are the well processed sounds that have become a trio trademark. In all it’s minimalist efforts make a strong album and out of the the recent ltd’s from The Hafler Trio this one wins. (FdW)
Address: <soleilmoon@aol.com>
DAVID TUDOR – THREE WORKS FOR LIVE ELECTRONICS (CD by Lovely Music) David Tudor died in August of this year, so I am told. He was a brilliant piano player, performing work by contemporary composers. Tudor was the one that performed the famous 4’33 piece by John Cage (although that didn’t involve much skill I must admit). Maybe lesser known is that Tudor also composed works of his own. Many of these pieces take time to develop themselves and are not easy to access for the ordinary listener. Here the first piece ‘Pulsers’ ‘explores the world of rhythms created electronically by analog circuitry’. Incorporated is a tape of improvised’electronic violin’ by Takeshisa Kosugi and through the pulsating, out of shift sounds, some sort of playing can be recognized. Kosugi is also present on the second piece ‘Untitled’. I must admit I am not particulary fond of improvised vocal stuff, but luckily the noisy electronics play an important role here. The final piece ‘Phonemes’ involves just electronics, and is an improvised piece again. Like I said, this kind of music needs time to develop and is not easy to access. To those who like industrial music, this should appeal throroughly. (FdW)
Address: <info@lovely.com>
LULL – CONTINUE (CD by Relapse)
This was announced as part of Relapse’s campaign for uneasy listening, but I don’t quite understand why. Lull produces some fine dark ambient music. One long piece, just over one hour and it takes you on dark clouds. It sets your mind awandering, it puts you in dream-like states. Maybe as dark and grey as the cover, but it is a strong work, perhaps the best Lull I’ve come across. What do I need to add? (FdW)
Address: <relapse@relapse.com>
THE LEGENDARY PINK DOTS – PRAYER FOR ARADIA (CD by Terminal Kaleidoscope)
Finally, the Pink Dots have begun to re-issue their vast back catalogue of cassette only releases on CD. The demand must be immense, since their popularity has risen after many of those releases have been out of print for years. This particular release is from 1985 (if I remember correctly), but was recorded 2-3 years before that. When I played the CD, I realized that I still remembered the tape so well. I could sing a long with ‘Outsider’, ‘Purity’, just as I did 10 years ago. As it was a relatively short cassette (30 minutes), they have added two unreleased tracks plus Premonition 5 (from Rising From The Red Sand – that damn historical tape compilation of which a selection will finally appear on a double CD soon) and outtakes from Chemical Playschool 1 and 2. I don’t think it is just plain nostalgia here, but I still like the vivid cut-up technique the Pink Dots used back then in combination with their psychedelic popmusic. ‘Crucify the heretic, the fanatic…’ (FdW)
Address: LPD – P.O.Box 38253 – 6503 AG Nijmegen – The Netherlands
CIRICIRCUS (3×7″ by Petri Supply)
Once upon a time and grand daddy is talking about the 80’s – there was a label from a sleepy US city, Seattle, that released some interesting records in wild silk-screened covers by bands such as Yeast Culture and Kapotte Muziek. Announced were a Seattle compilation 7″ project, Hands To LP and some extensive collaboration project. None of these ever emerged – however out of the blue came one of them: the Seattle compilation project. One 7″ is covered with paint and is unplayable: the Dada Action Group (I suggest playing it as long as it takes for the paint disappear – maybe there is music underneath?). Also involved are Yeast Culture, Smegma, Strength Through Joy and C. Martin – well, I guess, since the handmade package lacks information throughout. Dada is the keyword to all of them: Yeast Culture’s rapid cut-ups or the more ‘normal’ (if ever the meaning of that word is appropiate here) weirdness by the others. A circus indeedwhere screams and movements come from all directions – from the lion’s roar to the clowns juggling. Get this package now, cherish it as it may take another 6 years before anything might be coming your way from this fine label. (FdW)
Address: schomburg@worldnet.att.net
PALM SKIN PRODUCTIONS – REMIXILR (CD on Virgin)
Here’s a CD I was expecting much more from – the latest issue of The Wire comes with a free CD which features some of the more tasteful stuff on Virgin and it includes a track by Palm Skin Productions. (Incidentally this great audio showcase shows up the appalling Bim Sherman promo included with the previous issue to the extreme… the sound of people applying their lips to their own hips, as it were – an unbelievably crass exercise in hype by Bim, Mr Sherwood and the others – horrid !)
Anyway, now I’ve got that off my chest, back to Remixilir. Simon Richmond (for it is he) recently signed to Virgin subsidiary Hut and explores several and a half musical styles on this CD. Apparently Simon plays most of his stuff live with minimum sampler involvement. This CD starts off on a jazzy island somewhere where hips hop and vocalists are kept at a distance. It then moves into ‘Fair Siren’ (the track off the Wire freebie) which features a chronically mashed-up saxophone solo by somebody else. ‘How The West Was One’ is a great aural pushsuck, pulsing in and out of an endless compressed tremelo, moving the room. ‘Trouble Rides A Fast Horse’ into chiller zones. ‘Flipper’ sounds lopsided like it lost a fin and I loved the inclusion of vinyl surface noise on track 7. ‘Kitty’s Adventures In Meat’ is very weird and creepy and how do I get to join in. Big things move past quite slowly conversing in tongues of sliding tape.
Some tracks, 11 (it’s not even funny) for instance, start off hmm and end somewhere sufficiently odd. The CD concludes with ‘Beethoven Street’, an excessively cool numba with a cello bunged in on top, which left me largely unmoved, as did most of the rest, unfortunately. (MP)
STORM OF DRONES – VARIOUS ARTISTS (3CD on ASPHODEL)
Fine. Okay. I’ll admit I was sort of sold on this one before I saw it – my dealer phoned me up and told me how interesting his latest consignment was, mentioning this compilation and making a point of telling me that CD 1 was ‘mostly Empreintes Digitalis stuff’. This got me going immediately…so with all the speed of allah on a vespa, I leapt on my penny-farthing and dashed off to score.
This triple pack completes the ‘Drone Trilogy’ curated by Naut Humon and is a worthy successor to both (especially the second) of it’s predecessors. There was so much I liked about Vol.2 -‘The Swarm Of Drones’…contributions from Michel Redolfi and Bobby Fripp and amazing material from Ned Bouhalassa and the rest of the Sound Traffic Controllers. There’s was also a contribution by Maryanne Archer who provided the best track on Vol.1-‘The Throne Of Drones’. She appears twice on this new collection… more later…
Disc 1: Well, my dealer didn’t lie… this first CD is indeed comprised of excerpts from material previously made available on the great Canadian label ’empreintes digitalis’. I rarely come across a company that is so consistent when it comes to quality. I have most of their stuff at home (and when will they release something by Hildegard Westerkamp for gawd’s sake). The first track is an excerpt (well half of the original track really) from ‘Tangram’ by Robert Normandeau – off his double CD of the same name. The next is an excerpt from ‘Valley Flow’ by Denis Smalley and his endlessly unfurling glissandos (check out the CD ‘Neve’ on a label whose name eludes me for the moment) and he’s followed by the first of two tracks by Francis Dhomont, a recognised pioneer in electroacoustic music. Patrick Ascione’s ‘Lune Noire’, first availible on a CD documenting the ‘Prix Internatinal de Noroit 1989’, then on empreintes digitalis as part of a larger collection of his work, remains an exercise in the sinister… one of my favorites, as is most of the work by Belgian Annette Van DeGorme. Stephane Roy’s track – creepy sounds swept around in very strange places before being flung out of the speakers,followed by mechanical madness by Gilles Gobeil. A gorgeous liquid flow by Mario Rodrigue precedes experiments with ‘Hot Air’ by Jonty Harrison…rubbed balloons and heavy compression. Paul Dolden ends CD 1 with ‘Veil’.
Disc 2 is titled ‘Environmental’ and opens with Michael Stearns who takes us through a thunderdrone. Steve Roach gets deep and dark (I quite like him like this) and there is an excerpt from Alan Lamb’s outstanding Dorobo release ‘Primal Image’. There are two pieces by Darren Copeland (whohe?), which are absolute highlights of this package… strange events in stranger places. Stuart Dempster and nine other trombonists cacophonise in the Cistern Chapel (also used by Pauline Olivieros and her Deep Listening Band). The Chapel is an underground water storage facility with a 45 second reverb time…! Fred Szymanski lets the monsters out to puff and stamp. Ellen Fullman releases spiralling overtones with her long string thing and Maggi Payne carves huge colourful sonic crystals. Aloof Proof work with treated piano sustain and there is an excerpt from the latest release (on Asphodel – see elsewhere in this issue) by DJ Spooky aka Paul Miller aka as Subliminal Kid aka as aka as aka! Naut Humon provides the closest (in sound and proximity) to a bee so far on this collection.
Disc 3 starts with the first of two tracks by Maryanne Archer (told you ’bout her earlier). This also sound a bit like a long string drone (but who can be sure these days?), which builds up in thick waves plus some. Feedback rollers lurk offshore. There are fine filaments of feedback by David Kwan (beautiful). More processed piano by the unpredictable Elliot Sharp. The ISO Orchestra, who also contributed to the last two compilations, simmer and surge. Xopher Davidson’s track ‘Flyback Transformer’ certainly sounds like the hum in the basement. Gregory Lenczyski applies filter constructions based upon overtone analysis of someone else’s music as modulation on his own sounds. The results from this interesting idea sound like big clouds moving slowly.
Mortal Engines create bagpipes out of guitars and cross fade into ‘Ephemera’ by Bob Rich, who characteristically fills the room with warm chill. There is an excerpt from the CD ‘Changing Skies’ (Multimood) by Jeff Greinke and Voice Of Eye take a look at the ceremony of propolis extraction – long horn sounds and distant bass gravel swell and shudder as the ritual occurs. Vidna and Asmus provide an alternative and very high mix of a track off their collaboration on Syrenia and Maryanne returns to end 3hours40minutes plus of one of the most intense listening experiences ever. If this lengthy review reads like a who’s who of dronemeisters, then it’s because this compilation represents them at their best. Mixed right this packet of three should effectively propel even the hardiest interdimensional traveller to the most outer limits. One of the most important releases of this year in my book. Reasonably priced and fucking well worth it. (MP)
Address: as above