OOIOO TAIGA (CD by Thrill Jockey)
TV POW – TV POW PRESENTS MICHAEL HARTMAN TODD A. CARTER BRENT GUTZEIT AS TV POW (CD by Southport) *
TELEVISION POWER ELECTRIC 3 ARGIIINDAR (CD by Arteleku)
SETH – THE GREEN MORNING (CD by Digitalis Industries)
TIRATH SINGH NIRMALE – BLUSTER, CRAGG & AWE (CD by Digitalis Industries) *
RAFAEL TORAL – SPACE (CD by Staubgold) *
PAUL WIRKUS – DEFORMATION PROFESSIONELLE (CD by Staubgold)
FLIM OHNE TITEL, 1916 (CD by Plinkity Plonk) *
DANIEL MENCHE – CREATURES OF CADENCE (CD by Crouton Music/Longbox Recordings) *
KK NULL & DANIEL MENCHE – RAIJIN (CD by Asphodel)
TRIO VOPÁ – FAUXPAS (CD by Schraum) *
EARZUMBA – BESTIA INFERNAL (CD by Dialsinfin) *
CONSOR – MESANTROPIA (CD by Creaked Records)
FORREST FANG & CARL WEINGARTEN – INVISIBILITY (CD by The Foundry) *
PETER REHBERG KAPOTTE MUZIEK BY (mCD by Korm Plastics) *
DEAD MACHINES LIVE AT TZOMPANTLI (LP by Eclipse)
ALOG – JUST RECORDING (LP by En/Of)
OREN AMBARCHI & MARTIN NG – FATELESS (DVD by Asphodel)
SCOTT FOUST – THE FOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS (DVD-R by Pineapple Tapes)
FREIBAND – ALL IN A DAY’S WORK (Cassette by Pineapple Tapes) *
BERTIN – JOYEUX (CDR, private) *
PBK/ADAM MOKAN (split CDR by Cohort Records) *
SWUNG – VOICE AND KEY (3″CDR by Pseudo Arcana) *
OOIOO TAIGA (CD by Thrill Jockey)
Album number five for these Japanese girls fronted by Yoshimi P-we of Boredoms fame. Over the years they’ve become more and more of a band, and this album even portrays them as a real rock band, with drums and guitars and the whole package. A pretty messy rock band it still is of course, but for some reason it’s not the instrumentation or the structures of the ‘songs’ that are the exciting theme here anymore as they were before. It is the collective singing that are the highlights of most of these tracks, ranging from maddening shrieks to pretty all-girl choruses. In the past they were a pretty singular unit that was hard to pinpoint. Now it’s all jazz, rock, jazz rock, reggae, house and new wave references, mixed up in a varied bag together with some unwanted links to the whole bunch-of-people-jamming-in-the-woods scene. It’s the compelling variation of each track (and within each track) that avoids it from becoming too much of anything though, and each twist and turn adds to the confusion and enjoyment. It seems the central concept of OOIOO is celebration, so hearing them freaking out on bongos or steel drums doesn’t matter as it’s all for party reasons and for The Groove. (RM)
Address: http://www.thrilljockey.com
TV POW – TV POW PRESENTS MICHAEL HARTMAN TODD A. CARTER BRENT GUTZEIT AS TV POW (CD by Southport)
TELEVISION POWER ELECTRIC 3 ARGIIINDAR (CD by Arteleku)
Now this is really something, subtle laptop pranksters TV Pow are back after some time away with a new album for Chicago jazz label Southport. And it’s based mostly around the piano. A real one. For most of these tracks that means some unexpected prettiness, like a soft-focus AMM, interspersed with some delicate instrumentation. They each play the piano on different tracks, and the other ones are mainly credited for computer, but there’s nothing much digital to be found here. It’s all pretty serious quiet improv stuff. Things get started only on the last track, “Sweating Just Sitting Here”, on which there are no computers at all. Nor that ever-present piano that was so present in the first four tracks. The natural drones & scenes created by organs, bells, shakers and some other traditional instruments sounds like fellow Chicagoans/friends Town & Country recording for Erstwhile Records. Not a bad thing at all.
Television Power Electric is a name used for when the three TV Pow boys end up recording some stuff with other people, who are different for each recording. This time it’s Xabier Erkizia and Inigo Telletxea, two musicians from Spain where this was also recorded in Bera, october 2004. This stays much closer to home, with some typical digital short-circuit drone storytelling, even when the piano (though this time probably not the grand sort that they had in Chicago) pops up again at the end. It’s nice to hear this in connection with the Southport disc, as a sort of analog/digital differentiation of how this group approaches improv tactics. Personally, I got more excited by this disc then the piano-driven endeavor, but both show two great sides of one of the longest standing laptop ensembles. (RM)
Address: http://www.chicagosound.com
Address: http://www.arteleku.net
SETH – THE GREEN MORNING (CD by Digitalis Industries)
TIRATH SINGH NIRMALE – BLUSTER, CRAGG & AWE (CD by Digitalis Industries)
These two new releases by Digitalis Industries both deal with drone music, yet they sound quite wide apart. Of the two, the one by seht, also known as Stephen Clover, is the more traditional sounding. Hailing from New Zealand, and having more than a dozen releases on labels such as Last Visible Dog and Celebrate Psi-Phenomenon, this new one ‘The Green Morning’ is his third real CD. It’s hard to say what seth uses, instrument wise, but we are promised this is a very minimal line up. Perhaps an organ and some effects, and perhaps some sort of computer processing? Who knows, maybe it’s even less. The end result is of course that what matters here, and that is quite nice. Very much along the lines of the UK counterparts such as Mirror and Monos and with a strong nod towards William Basinski, mainly due the somewhat grainy sound he uses. Seth uses many layers of sound, which he peals off and show us during the course of the piece. He shows us a bit, then shows another bit, then the first bit again, slightly changed and then a third part and so on. Changes are of course minimal and sparse, but throughout it all sounds great. In terms of drone music perhaps nothing much news under the sun, but Seth created some very solid pieces of drone music.
I don’t I ever reviewed the self-titled LP by John Clyde-Evans on Fisheye. Which is a pity since it’s a great album. I can’t remember when it was released, perhaps eight or so years ago, but it was an absolutely great album of acoustic drone music. Clyde-Evans also played with Hood but then stopped doing music for about seven years and turned to Sikhism, and changed his name to Tirath Singh Nirmala. When he received some free software from Neil Campbell (of Vibracathedral Orchestra fame) he started working again, and released a whole bunch of CDRs since then. ‘Bluster, Cragg & Awe’ is the first non CDR release, picking the best tracks of the CDRs. Like Seth Nirmale plays drone music, but as said of an entirely different nature. The computer allows Nirmale to staple clear sounds on top of each other and play them around, mixing them, allowing them to shift out of phase and such like. Nirmale chooses various instruments, such as guitars, percussion, flutes, violins but also voices to create music that is not as thickly layered as Seth’s, but a much more open form of drone music, with ethnic influences, such as raga music. Sometimes more sparsely than any other in the field of drone music, such as in ‘Sehaj’, this opens windows to the progress of drone music, taking it further. Definitely a great CD and hopefully not the last one for another seven years of silence. (FdW)
Address: http://www.digitalisindustries.com
RAFAEL TORAL – SPACE (CD by Staubgold)
PAUL WIRKUS – DEFORMATION PROFESSIONELLE (CD by Staubgold)
Music by Rafael Toral didn’t find its way into the pages of Vital Weekly that much, which is a great pity. His music was a fine combination of drone music, frequencies, sine waves and such like, which were woven together into beautiful strings of ambient music. A more musical version of Alvin Lucier, and along the lines of the work of Jim O’Rourke and Phill Niblock. But it struck Toral that he had been doing the same for the last fifteen years and it was time to change in a radical way. The new way is found in jazz and electronics. Not a fusion of jazz and electronics, but jazz played on electronics. In the last three years, Toral played his music on modified or custom built electronic devices, as part of his ‘space’ program: ‘space elements’, focussing each release on a certain instrument, while adding few others and featuring collaborations and ‘solo series’, a solo performance on various instruments. The album ‘Space’ doesn’t belong to these series, but is a stand alone work. Of course it’s easy to see the historical reference in this work: electronic music in the sixties was played to accompany science fiction films, such as ‘Forbidden Planet’. In ‘II’ he uses a brass section, but it’s a bit unclear wether these are recorded by others or by Toral. ‘II’, in three parts, is perhaps the most jazzy piece on ‘Space’, with it’s freaky sounds on whatever electronics and the brass section, but perhaps it’s a bit too freaky for me. The two others pieces seem to be for just electronics, and they are highly improvised too, but much tighter and indeed a bit referring to sci-fi soundtracks. Perhaps I’m not enough a lover of jazz, that i didn’t welcome this album whole heartedly, but in terms of doing something new, I can only say ‘yes yes yes’, this is a great leap forward and a fine break with the past.
Haven’t seen a new release on Quecksilber in some time, so perhaps Staubgold closed that sub-division, and hitherto decided to release the second Paul Wirkus CD on the main division. Who knows. ‘Intelleto D’Amore’ (see Vital Weekly 402) was Wirkus’ first album as a minimal electronic composer’ besides his old career as a jazz and improvisation drummer, still playing an excellent trio as September Collective with Stefan Schneider of Mapstation and Barbara Morgenstern, as well as a trio with Johannes Frisch and Mikolaj Trzaska, both of Kammerflimmer Kollektief. However armed with mini discs, sampler, sound effects and a mixer, he is on his own. Still maintaining to play live, as the ten tracks on ‘Deformation Professionelle’ were recorded live to DAT, without any overdubs. His first album was a manifestation of glitchy electronics, which were all minimal yet warm. For this new album the element of warmth is kept, but the minimal element has becomes a more melodic one. Again Wirkus strives to offer very different tracks, involving rhythm, drones, spliced up concrete sounds, feeding through most a delay machine, plus perhaps a reverb. For him it’s important that tracks do not sound the same, which makes this perhaps an album that limps on more than one foot, but on the other hand the variety is the nice thing about the album. In stead of playing the same thing over and over again, with the same limited means, Wirkus opts for a wide palette of sounds, and that makes this into well made album. (FdW)
Address: http://www.staubgold.com
FLIM OHNE TITEL, 1916 (CD by Plinkity Plonk)
Some of the track titles of Ohne Titel, 1916 bear resemblance to those of F.S. Blumm’s 2001 release Mondkuchen. I’d guess that this is not just a coincidence and it does indeed give some idea of what Flim is up to. But where F.S. Blumm is all candy flavored, Flim’s music is full of deep sadness. The liner notes explain, that the music was composed as an attempt to cope with the loss of a child, trying to find a balance between hope and frustration. To create his music Flim makes use of piano, organ and thoughtful computer processing. Often just single notes are struck on the piano, they keep on resonating and then slowly fade before the next note is played. Rather than forming melodies these notes function as an irregular net of varying density. Other tracks are more drone-related, with the acoustic sounds stretched out into warm, hovering fields.
Quite by chance I played Nico’s The Marble Index right after listening to Flim. Without wanting to compare these two directly maybe it could be said that both share a characteristic insofar as they mark a point where pain and beauty converge in fragile and intimate music. As said, Flim’s music is full of sadness, but then again there is also a stretch of light on the horizon, a short dreamy melody to be discovered here and there just below the surface. (MSS)
Address: http://www.kormplastics.nl
DANIEL MENCHE – CREATURES OF CADENCE (CD by Crouton Music/Longbox Recordings)
KK NULL & DANIEL MENCHE – RAIJIN (CD by Asphodel)
It’s not easy to keep up with the output of Daniel Menche, as it’s enormous and spread out over many different labels. ‘Creates Of Cadence’ is a joint release on Crouton Music and Longbox Recordings, and released on the occasion of Menche’s concerts in the midwest of the USA, later this month. Using various pieces of percussion, cello, horns and zither, his instrument is also his body. I wouldn’t be too surprised if the heartbeat that opens the CD is in fact Menche’s own heart. Whereas we have known Menche as a noise artist who knows how to keep a fine balance between noise and silence, it seems to me that this new CD is more about the quieter moments, more contemplative and more introspective, and indeed also more minimal. The percussive bangs in the fourth piece (no tracklist received) are almost tribal and shifting back and forth. The really loud music that Menche is also known for is hardly present here. Here too Menche is a true master, with evocative music in a, for him, new setting. Absolutely pleasantly surprising music from someone who is always keen to set new standards for his music. Perhaps here and there a bit too long, but throughout a fine release, again!
Releases by Daniel Menche in collaboration with others are pretty scarce: I only recall his releases with John Wiese and Kiyoshi Mizutani. But here he teams up with somebody who loves to play his music with other people: KK Null. Both are now leading ‘older’ gentlemen of the noise music scene. On their joint release, named after the thunder god of Shinto belief, they offer five tracks of ‘percussion, concusion, trumpet, electro-percussion and electronics’. ‘Raijin’ finds itself much more in the storm and thunder of noise, than inside anything ‘calm’ or ‘relaxing’. It’s a highly percussive release, being the main instrument, whilst the trumpet takes a smaller role and electronics seem to be present to control, amplify and exemplify the percussive sounds. They are foremost part of KK Null’s trademark sound: short loops of sounds, feeding through an array of piercing electronics. It makes the whole release a bit more violent and aggressive than ‘Creatures Of Cadence’, but it has also a high level of energy. Both artists make a loud point here, and it’s long in duration, but well worth it. (FdW)
Address: http://www.croutonmusic.com
Address: http://www.asphodel.com
TRIO VOPÁ – FAUXPAS (CD by Schraum)
It took three years of playing together to finally record a debut album, in two days. Such, I guess, is the life of an improvising musician. Trio Vopá consists of Roland Spieth on trumpet, Cornelius Veit on guitar and Axel Haller on bass. They play as a trio, but sometimes also as a duo or just solo. Like with many of the releases on Schraum, the emphasis lies on more traditional lines of improvisation, even when Trio Vopá uses extended techniques to play their instruments, such as playing with paper, brushes, brackets and postcards. Of the fifteen pieces here, there is one that is really long, almost nineteen minutes, in which Trio Vopá plays a very dense cloud of sound, almost like a piece of drone music. In the other fourteen tracks, ranging time-wise from twenty seconds to four minutes, they display all their techniques via short, almost sketch like pieces, which rather than fourteen tracks, could better be seen as one long piece, then as separate pieces of music. Sometimes dense, but silent, almost in an audible way, but at other times, perhaps a bit too regular improvised. This disc seems to be jumping all over the place, with the long ‘Dans’ piece being the major tour de force. Nevertheless a most enjoyable album. (FdW)
Address: http://www.schraum.de
EARZUMBA – BESTIA INFERNAL (CD by Dialsinfin)
It looks like a CDR release, with all the information pressed on a small card, but it’s really a CD. ‘Hellish Beasts’ is the title, but it could have easily been ‘the two faces of Earzumba’ as the first twelve tracks are something entirely different than the thirteenth track – which wouldn’t be easily to notice if they all had the same length, more or less. The thirteenth track, called ‘El Mundo Como Estrella Muerta’, is a thirty minute ‘bonus’ piece, recorded in Bremen, Germany. It consists of a powerful drone piece, working around a set of overtones (very occasionally leaping into a bit of feedback), slowly evolving and unfolding. It’s highly different than the twelve pieces of mayhem, chaos, plunderphonics that we get served first. The sampler is still the main instrument of Earzumba (despite the notion of ‘piano vertical out of tune, voces, piston flute, found objects, field recordings y maus’). Earzumba, once a member of Reynols, throws everything into his sampler and spits it out. Sometimes it’s recognizable pop tunes, such as the opening by Reg Dwight, appearances by Johnny Cash and a whole bunch of poppies that I didn’t recognize – one can’t simply have the same collection as Earzumba. False starts, laughter, bpm’s going up to at least 1000 – again, Earzumba allows no silence in his music. ‘Bestia Infernal’ is a fine new album, if only for that bonus piece that shows there is more life than just a sampler. (FdW)
Address: http://www.earzumba.com
CONSOR – MESANTROPIA (CD by Creaked Records)
Behind Consor is one man: the Swiss-French artist Samuel Vaney, who plays a variety of instruments, such as piano, guitar, violin but also all things electronic. He spend two years recording all over Europe and released a 12″, before ‘Mesantropia’, his debut album. The music found here is mainly built in the electronic domain, even when there is a couple of acoustic instruments transformed. It seems as if Consor couldn’t make his mind up. He wants to play a pop tune, throw some bit of techno, a bit of the hard experimental sounds, something ambient and oh yes, a bit of field recordings here and there. His guitars sound like good ol’ shoegazing, which is nice, but also a bit outdated. And that is a bit of the problem I have with this release: it all sounds like it could have been done ten years ago, and released by Staalplaat back in that time. Slightly experimental, a bit poppy and a bit of weirdness. It surely has nice tracks, but they are not easy to find. (FdW)
Address: http://www.creakedrecords.com
FORREST FANG & CARL WEINGARTEN – INVISIBILITY (CD by The Foundry)
It has been a long time since I last heard music by Forrest Fang, whose music is an ambient cross over between world music and synthesizer stuff. Many of his releases were on Cuneiform. I don’t recall hearing any music from Carl Weingarten, even when I came across his name before. He plays guitar here. His playing gets transformed by Fang. The liner notes tell me that both artists have their directions in ambient music, but I can’t second that. What is on offer is an album of nine pieces of ambient music with a very big A, and perhaps also with a very big N of new age, as some of these excursions go way out into the land of a new age. A bit too slick for me. The guitar plays the right notes, the electronics take them up and swirl them around, but it’s all a bit too regular for me. When, such as in ‘Solar Rain’, there are elements of metallic percussion and more angular electronics, things start to work better, at least for me, being a not too big admirer of all things too slick. While sound wise this is an excellent produced album, and very suitable for any modern living room, with a book and a glass of wine within reach, this is all a bit too clean for me. (FdW)
Address: http://www.foundrysite.com
PETER REHBERG KAPOTTE MUZIEK BY (mCD by Korm Plastics)
When I became aware of experimental music in the 1990s Peter Rehberg/Pita was among the first people whose work I strongly admired. But about three or four years ago I lost track of what he was doing. So when I received this new release and read, that Peter Rehberg had recently moved away from his trademark digital noise, I got really curious and played it immediately. As it is probably well known among the readers of Vital Weekly “Kapotte Muziek by” is an ongoing series of recordings by Kapotte Muziek that are reworked by various artists. The material that Peter Rehberg presents here reveals that hazy quality of concrete sounds, which can be recognized as such, but whose origin cannot be traced back beyond that point. I don’t know if this is characteristic of Rehberg’s new approach or just due to Kapotte Muziek’s original sounds, but it came as a great surprise to me. The piece starts with a low, vaguely metallic rumble that stays present throughout most of the track, gradually undergoing various transformations. Other sounds drop in and out of the mix, and in general things move at a rather slow pace. At one point the tension is raised, but it stays on a micro level and instead of reaching a climax it just fades. Towards the end the dark rumble disappears and there are some moments of silence, interspersed with isolated throbs. Then a shimmering mid frequency drone sets in, accompanied by tinkling bells. All of a sudden this stops and the piece is over. There is a dark feeling in this music, however it is not the aggressive type of darkness, but rather the cozy one. With this exploration of concrete sound sources Rehberg enters a territory that is usually mapped by people like Michael Northam, and Rehberg does succeed well. Indeed this is a good occasion for giving his older works a listen again as well as a reason for keeping an eye on his new releases. (MSS)
Address: http://www.kormplastics.nl
DEAD MACHINES LIVE AT TZOMPANTLI (LP by Eclipse)
Dead Machines are John and Tovah Olson of Wolf Eyes and Wooden Wand respectively and, as the title indicates, these are live recordings. The album opens with a weird spoken comedy intro and audience reactions. Then the noise sets in and won’t stop until the end. Raw screeching electronics are joined by likewise raw saxophone playing and augmented by crude effects and manipulations. It’s all about loudness and intensity, with the saxophone playing sustained squeaking tones over and over again and the electronics in a continuous process of uproar and collapse into chaos. This pairing of high-energy playing, non-virtuosity (or rather the fact, that virtuosity is superfluous) and those quirky, flickering and shimmering sounds makes up for a releases that is as aggressive as it is beautiful, as nerve-wrecking as it is stimulating. It must have been some evenings of blissful sonic mayhem and lucky enough the LP makes the Dead Machines’ wonderful lo-fi wizardry also available to all of us who weren’t there. (MSS)
Address: http://www.eclipse-records.com
ALOG – JUST RECORDING (LP by En/Of)
In previous years, the German (or should that be Dutch?) label En/Of used to release records in trios, but since last year or so they arrive one by one. Which is fine of course, so people like me can spend longer time investigating them. Their latest, thirty-fifth, release is by Espen Sommer Eide, who also works solo as Phonophani, and Dag-Are Haugan, otherwise known as Alog. Before their music was released by Melektronikk and Smalltown Supersound, not all of them were heard by me. As much as I like the music of Alog, I find it also very hard to make up my mind about it. To grasp what is they are doing. It’s surely experimental, playing around with computers and/or samplers, in a very chaotic cut-up way. But underneath there is always a few lines of sound which are continuously running and which provide some backbone to the music. There is a certain sense of naivety about this music which makes this sounding quite childish, but in a very positive manner. Music that easily defies any categorization (micro sound, folk, experimental, musique concrete – you name it, it’s in there), and is certainly unbeatenable nice.
The art part of this En/Of release is by Anri Sala and is a photograph. Perhaps it’s shown on the recently entirely revised website of En/Of and Bottrop-boy. Well worth checking out! (FdW)
Address: http://www.bottrop-boy.com
OREN AMBARCHI & MARTIN NG – FATELESS (DVD by Asphodel)
Its been ages, it seems, that we last heard from Oren Ambarchi and Martin Ng. Their previous albums, ‘Reconnaissance’ (Vital Weekly 260) and ‘Vigil’ (Vital Weekly 398) were excellent, minimal sets of improvisations of sine wave like sounds, small static crackle and deep hum. When reviewing ‘Vigil’, we already noted the visual quality of the music, via two quicktime films by Tina Frank, the in house designer for all things Mego. I doubt wether that review stirred the events captured on this DVD (Asphodel’s first, much to my surprise). If I understood correctly the video side of this DVD was recorded live by Tina Frank, but I am not sure if the music is also played live, which seems to be the case with the video made by Robin Fox. Both pieces last just over forty minutes and are excellent displays of all talent involved. Ambarchi and Ng are at the very best with slowly evolving drones, waves, hiss and static, in ‘Vigilance’ there seems to be more action than in ‘8 Seconds Of Weightlessness’, which seems a bit more static. As far as the visual side matters, Tina Frank brings her cover artwork for Mego alive: lines that spread out, fold about and has a very spacious sense to it. The geometry of the sky, or rather: the universe. An abstract science fiction movie, which moves nicely along the various changes of the music. Robin Fox on the other hand keeps things much more down to earth, with more grainy textures and images that spiral around and that works with repeating elements, circles and such, to create an imagine that is not unlike the feedback quality of the music. Great stuff. For ‘Vigilance’ there is also a 5.1 version, which I haven’t seen, but which should be worth checking out. (FdW)
Address: http://www.asphodel.com
SCOTT FOUST – THE FOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS (DVD-R by Pineapple Tapes)
‘The longest half hour in show business’ is not the subtitle of this DVD-R, but it could be. Scott Foust is well-known from his work as Idea Fire Company (since this year on both sides of the pond), Tart, The Bracelets, his Swill Radio label, his Pineapple Tapes label, soon a full feature film ‘Here’s To Love’. He hasn’t yet written a novel, so perhaps not entirely the homo universalis, but certainly the genius of his own universe. ‘The Four Accomplinemts’ is a documentary of a performance in four ‘lessons’, performed by Scott Foust at The Lucky Cat in Brooklyn, in august last year. Seeing is believing, I guess. Would it make much sense if I’d say that there is a lecture, a dance piece, sound poetry piece and a theatre piece? Just what would you know then? Perhaps as much as I do, but I watched the whole thing with some amazement. There is of course Scott, a microphone and a backing tape. The tape stores the lecture, music, sound poetry and more music. I am clueless what it is all about, but I guess that’s just my trouble with these kind of things. I can watch it, laugh about, put a face of sheer amazement, or look puzzling, but in the end I’m nothing wiser (better? worse?) than before. Do I like it? Oh yes, I do, I love it. Very witty. But perhaps I stayed a bit too long in the presence of Scott some time ago. (FdW)
Address: http://www.anti-naturals.org/swill/
FREIBAND – ALL IN A DAY’S WORK (Cassette by Pineapple Tapes)
In the historic year 2006 when large record companies decided to stop their production of pre-recorded cassettes, it is good to see that there are still independent labels out there willing to produce tapes. Lest we forget that before the advent of the compact disc and, worse still, the recordable compact disc the cassette was THE format for independent music and a very valid alternative to records. Swill Radio’s Pineapple imprint presents ‘All In A Day’s Work’ by Freiband (Frans de Waard). The cassette contains two long continuous pieces based upon live recordings by Idea Fire Company when they did a short tour in The Netherlands in March 2006. Frans de Waard accompanied Scott Faust and Karla Borecki on stage for this tour. In May 2006 De Waard re-mixed the live recordings for this cassette-release in one day (hence the title). The first piece Faster But Slower is a constant drone, which seems to be built in two frequencies; one higher, one lower. There are only very minimal changes, making this side a nice but also slightly long listen. The second side, A Solo Duo, is more interesting; here too, we are treated to one long drone piece, but this one has more slight, almost subliminal, changes and a few more abrasive bits mixed in making making this the better of the two tracks. The cassette comes in a high quality color cover and is well produced. As the edition is probably very limited, you better order while it is still available. As an aside: Swill Radio will release a live CD with recordings from the Idea Fire Company 2006 tour. (FK)
Address: http://www.anti-naturals.org/swill/
BERTIN – JOYEUX (CDR, private)
Somewhere during the long hot month of July I saw the local band The Hitmachine at one of the local do’s for electronic music, and for the occassion they were just two: Taco on drums and Bertin on two keyboards. Their music couldn’t be hardly more out of place in this techno filled (filth?) place, but their instrumental set was certainly quite poppy, being a meeting of The Doors and Suicide. So, ‘Joyeux’, Bertin’s latest solo release doesn’t come as a real surprise – for me that is. His love of anything low and technical is known for quite some time. Here seems to be playing around with just his latest toy, a cheap organ with one of those built in rhythm things. But that’s only outside, as upon closer inspection, there is a lot more happening: bass lines, rhythms that are bit more complicated, humming voices (fake russian) in ‘Traffic’ and even words (two words actually) sung in ‘Videorecorder’. Sometimes, actually most of the times, quite upon and playful – to live up to it’s title. ‘Boating’ offers a moment of contemplation, and perhaps takes the speed out a bit, but the other eight tracks are the right shot of adrenaline. Very playful indeed. (FdW)
Address: http://www.bertin-nijmegen.nl/
PBK/ADAM MOKAN (split CDR by Cohort Records)
Perhaps Cohort Records found the way to do it. After teaming the well-known Andrew Duke with the lesser known Akumu, here is PBK and Adam Mokan in the same role. But perhaps I am all wrong? Who remembers PBK? Well, I do, from many many years ago. I don’t recall reviewing any of his music in the last ten years, say the life time of Vital Weekly. In the 80s he was very present and active and released a whole bunch of cassettes and even a 3LP set on the RRRecords label. For whatever reason I may have forgotten by now, or perhaps never knew, he disappeared somewhere in the nineties, but somewhere returned along the lines. On this split release he has four lengthy pieces of what I could call PBK trademark sound. Using found sound, mainly old vinyl, a bunch of analogue synthesizers and sound effects, he creates his music. For me it works best in the very chilly, ambient piece ‘Event Lurkin Pristine’, whereas the other three pieces are more chaotic, densely layered patterns of vinyl skipping and effect hunting. At times perhaps a bit too chaotic for my taste, but good memories return of hissy cassettes, when total mayhem was the way to go. A nice come-back.
I have no idea who Adam Mokam is, other then that he has a couple of releases on Russolo (also home of Roxanne Jean Polise) which I never heard. His music is also noise related, but in a more linear fashion, less chaotic. Thickly layered sounds, warped around each other, built from radio waves, analogue synths, sound effects and distortion. Perhaps a bit lo-fi, but it leaves a solid impression on me. Heavy, minimal and yet with enough surprises. Nice one this. (FdW)
Address: http://cohortrecords.0catch.com
SWUNG – VOICE AND KEY (3″CDR by Pseudo Arcana)
This is my first encounter with Swung, also known as Zoe Drayton. Apparently she is the “chief archivist, promoter and all round lynchpin of the New Zealand ‘new music’ scene” but also playing her own music. The title ‘Voice And Key’ says it all, I guess. Drayton plays keyboards and sings, although that is kept to a minimum. All five tracks are short and at times sound like found sound, such as the piece ‘Hik’, with someone coughing and some sparse piano notes, and the microphone being put back in place, almost like a private sound picture. Her singing is more like humming and not really using words. The voice is a texture, just the piano or the accordion, which she uses. Folk noir with a touch of electronics. But a pretty interesting and varied bunch of pieces. Would have loved a bit more of this. (FdW)
Address: http://www.pseudoarcana.com
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