BEAUTUMN – NORTHING (CD by Infraction Records)
TETSU INOUE – WORLD RECEIVER (CD by Infraction Records)
Since the demise of Silent Records several years there is a large gap in the world of ambient and related music. It has perhaps also to do with the fact that this kind of music is less popular than in the days of Silent. Several smaller labels keep up the good work and Infraction Records might never be bigger than Silent Records, their small catalogue has a similar interest in ambient, experiment, sound scaping and even an odd bit of rhythm here and there, just as Silent in it’s best days. The previous release by Beautumn was reviewed in Vital Weekly 506, and it is said he hails from Moscow and is one half of Sleepy Town Manufacture. ‘Northing’ moves away from the ‘deep’ ambient territory of White Coffee and adds all of Infraction’s interests: the CD opens with field recordings, which are sampled into a rhythm and embedded in a hot bed of warm, analogue synthesizers. A sort of a programm for this CD, which is a nice flow of various combinations and techniques, both analogue and digital. Not every track is great, since some are a bit directionless and without too much structure, but Beautumn always hints for atmosphere, and as such he does he pretty good job. Not creating some spectacular under the ambient sun, this is just very solid experimental ambient work.
Field recordings are also the opening sounds of Tetsu Inoue’s CD, but he’s excused: it’s a re-issue of a CD from 1996 on Instinct Records. As said I probably said before, I never kept up with his work, and probably for no good reason. This proto-ambient work from the big days of ambient house music is definitely a great CD and a re-issue is indeed much deserved. Soft, not too outspoken, washes of synthesizers, but also the forebode of digital glitch that later on became ambient glitch are mixed with the aforementioned field recordings and bits of soft tinkling rhythms. Timeless and weightless space is captured here. Not too dissimilar from Brian Eno’s work in this direction, both ‘On Land’ and ‘Apollo’ spring to mind, and a definite landmark of it’s own. (FdW)
Address: http://www.infractionrecords.com
FRANCISKA BAUMANN ETERNAL ICE MELTS (Compilation-CD by Soleilmoon)
Ever since the birth of Pierre Schaeffer’s Musique Concrete in the late 1940’s, not to mention the futurist Luigi Russolo’s imitations of concrete sounds with his noise intoners (Intonarumori) back in the early 20 th century, concrete sounds has been fascinating sound artists around the world. From Alan Lamb’s wire-studies on his “Primal Image”-album (1995) across Francisco Lopez’s absolute music of the Costa Rican rainforest “La Selva” (1997) to Chris Watson’s “Weather report” (2003) many parts of the real world has been explored throughout the years. Female sound artist Franzisko Baumann is one of Switzerland’s most important composers to explore the world of field recordings. This new compilation by US-label Soleilmoon Recordings can be considered as a tribute to Franziska Baumann’s explorations of glacial crevasses and grottos’ sound worlds. Using stereo, zoom and contact microphones, Baumann has sensed the dynamics of the melting glacier. The original composition was presented in the fall of 2003 at the Matrix Festival Of Contemporary Music. Franciska Baumann’s manipulated recordings of melting glacier combined with her voice touching the icy crevasse walls gained much attention among the audience of the festival. One of the contributing artists on this present tribute-compilation titled “Eternal ice melts” is Lull ( a.k.a. Mick Harris) who collaborates with Franciska Baumann herself to remix the work titled “Where all the frozen things went” an excellent ambient piece of dark drones combined with creaks, drips, rumbles and shuffles of the melting ice. Other contributions count artists like Seetyca and Clemens Presser and especially for this release: A rather unexpected breakbeat-driven interpretation of the melting glaciers from S.F.-breakcore-maestro Submerged. His remix-version of the “Core anomaly”-work takes the listener back to the real world in the most cool manner after a trip into the deep sonic caverns of crippling concrete ambience. Highly recommended compilation to anyone interested in contemporary electronics from subtle field recordings to expressive breakbeat-science. (NMP)
Address: http://www.soleilmoon.com
MOTHBOY DEVIANCE (CD by Ad Noiseam)
If you missed the promising debut of Mothboy you now have the chance to listen to this very interesting British composer born as Simon Smerdon. This follow-up titled “Deviance” is a funky experience containing so many layers and impressions making the 48 minutes ride rather breathtaking. Vocals from a number of interesting guest appearances, loads of samples and ultra-cool hip hop-based rhythm texture create the foundation on the album. There is a great variation in expression on the eleven tracks, though a common factor on the overall album is the touch of technoid minimalism. Musically the listener gets through many kinds of sonic landscapes: From the dark and intense “I can see cities” including some excellent rapping by UK-hip hop wonder boy Akira The Don with subtle layers of noise and piano samples across the club-friendly “Selfish plan” of electro-minimalism to the atmospheric and beautiful album closer “Down” reminiscent of “Underworld” as they sounded on their “Second toughest of the infants”-album. Being an excellent follow-up to the debut-album “The fears”, “Deviance” is a personal and superb work by Mothboy! (NMP)
Address: http://www.adnoiseam.net
CDATAKILL VALENTINE (CD by Ad Noiseam)
If you thought that everything coming out of the breakcore-community deals with firestorms of explosive breakbeats, Zak Roberts teaches you quite another lesson on the latest shot from his project Cdatakill. In contrast to most other releases from the breakcore-field the rhythm-texture of breakbeats does not smash the face of the listener from the forefront of the sound picture. It is more integrated in the music as a whole. And the speed of the rhythms does not compete with the speed of sound. More likely we are dealing with textures belonging to the world of dub-based trip hop with rhythmic patterns. Distorted drones of noise launched from a Roland 808 rhythm machine adds a dirty and rough feeling to the complex mixtures of processed voice samples, Middle Eastern percussive beats and weird guitar. From the atmospheric and melodic “You are mine” to the harsh interpretation of Billie Holiday’s “Yesterday”, Cdatakill certainly push the boundaries of the breakcore-scene with this excellent album. (NMP)
Address: http://www.adnoiseam.net
KATTOO HANG ON TO A DREAM (CD by Hymen Records)
German composer Volker Kahl knows how to create sonic visions for the inner cinema of the listener. The ex-member of cutting edge electronica-project Beefcake, impressed with his debut-album “Places” of cinematic beauty. This follow-up album is no exception. With the quite hitting album title “Hang on to a dream” Volker Kahl takes the listener into sound worlds of melancholia and dynamic progression. The album contains a lot of atmospheric and quite emotional moments. The combination of grandiose ambient-scapes and melodic piano-tunes work perfect with the occasional moments of syncopated rhythms and distorted breakbeats. Samples of everything from orchestral passages to processed choir strengths the intensity of the album. “Hang on to a dream” is a deep, very personal album and remarkable album. Highly recommended! (NMP)
Address: http://www.hymen-records.com
HYPNOSKULL PANIK MEKANIK (CD by Ant-Zen)
Take a deep breath before making your way into this latest release from the furious world of Hypnoskull. Belgian composer Patrick Stevens introduced Hypnoskull back in 1993 and have since then released a number of albums both as Hypnoskull on German label Ant-Zen Recordings, and he has been part of other interesting projects from the Ant-Zen camp such as Sonar and Cybernetic: Fuckheadz. With an infernal blend of breakbeats, hard-hitting industrial and power noise the album with the suitable title “Panik mekanik” keeps the pulse of the listener on a dangerously excessive high level. From the horrifying darkstep-track “Basement alpha mission triggerz” to the provocative Gabba-version of the classic “Goldfinger”-theme from the James Bond-movie, Hypnoskull pulls the listener through a world of truly neck-breaking noise assaults. Excellent stuff! (NMP)
Address: http://www.ant-zen.com
THE RETAIL SECTORS – SUBJECT UNKNOWN (CD by Symbolic Interaction)
GRABOIDS – INFINITE DELAY (CD by Stick Figure)
Music by the one man band The Retail Sectors was reviewed here on a split CD with Yaporigami (see Vital Weekly 551) and they themselves (?) describe the music as post post post post rock. Kentaro Togawa calls himself ‘an apathetic Japanese boy’ and he has a guitar and one of the sampling pedals. He receives help from Yaporigami, Sibegg, Maps And Diagrams and Headphone Science. Somebody plays drums. Like before there are no surprises. According to musician Sibegg it’s ‘Radiohead meets Philip Glass’, but that seems to me a bit too much honor. It’s quite alright music, especially when you don’t pay too much attention (I know that’s wrong, but it happens) and do in the mean time other stuff. It’s pleasant music to work by, but hardly gets a price for original thought.
In a way totally totally unrelated, but working in similar territory are Graboids. They are a real band, with the line up of two guitars, bass and drums and they have been around since 2000, in various forms and shapes, due to members moving in various territories. Following their ‘Pure Noise EP’, ‘Infinite Delay’ is their debut. And oh, they play post post space rock, and that is what ties them into a review with The Retail Sectors. Eight instrumental space jams of post post krautrock, which sounds quite alright, but bear nothing of originality of their own. From Hawkind to F/i, this is ‘heard it all, seen it all’. One track is worth mentiongmentioning, which is (if I counted right), ‘Top Of The Network’, which has a rap by one Jeremiah (author of bible books?), which fits along nicely the space rock. Now maybe a silly combination, but it works quite nicely. Maybe that is a road to explore. (FdW)
Address: http://www.symbolicinteraction.net
Address: http://www.stickfiguredistro.com
BASTARD NOISE & GOVERNMENT ALPHA – RESURRECTION (CD by Thumbprint Press)
A quick scan before I forward this to Jliat, I thought. Ok, so Government Alpha do noise. They are among the many noise artists one of the better ones. Their feedback onslaught is always quite alright and on their six tracks are no let down in that respect. Jliat stuff indeed. Let me quick check to make sure I make no mistake the Bastard Noise side, three tracks in total. Hold on, something is wrong here. I hear… nothing. Is my CD player fucked up, tired and /or overworked? Once I put the volume up, there is indeed something to be heard. Very soft and very low end. Very intense, very slow, and very low rumble. Also the next two tracks are very much unlike what one could expect from a band like Bastard Noise. Not the real true unrelentness noise, but somewhat louder than the first piece, organic masses of ‘noise’, changing shape, color and intensity throughout the course of these pieces. If I ever thought noise has no future, than these three tracks by Bastard Noise proof me wrong (once again?). There is still a lot that can be done in the realms of noise, and followers should get this an example.
I can’t read the cover at all, but it’s also available through:
Address: http://www.housepig.com
DAVID GRUBBS & SUSAN HOWE – SOULS OF THE LABADIE TRACT (CD by Blue Chopsticks)
Somehow the previous collaboration between David Grubbs and Susan Howe never reached me, but I believe it’s also a work of sound and poetry. Subject here are the Labadists, an Utopian Quietest sect that moved from The Netherlands to Maryland in 1684 and dissolved in 1722. “Labadists believed, among other things, the necessity of inner illumination, diligence and contemplative reflection. Marriage was renounced. They held all property in common (including children) and supported themselves by manual labor and commerce”. Howe reads poems, I assume writing by Labadists. Grubbs plays a khaen baet, khaen jet, VCS3 synthesizer and computer. Howe has a pleasant voice that is nice to hear, but also intense. Grubbs waves patterns of sounds below it, usually drone like buzzing of insects, rising and falling every now and then. It’s a bit like Phill Niblock but with poetry reading. The whole thing breaths indeed contemplative reflection, even if one chooses not to follow the reading quite close. I sort of tried both approaches, listening closely to the text and then to the overall texture of the pieces and found both highly enjoyable. A fine work throughout. (FdW)
Address: http://www.bluechopsticks.org
IRVINE & VERNON – HAIRWAVES (CD by Freight)
A small but true story. A long time ago I was living in an empty room, with just a sleeping bag, a matrass and a chair. In the morning I looked in a CD to comb my hair and shave. That small memory came back when I opened the truly beautiful package of Zoe Irvine and Mark Vernon. The latter you may know from his work as Vernon and Burns, radioplay makers and of Hasslehound. Irvine has had a release on 7Hings of her found sound work (see Vital Weekly 543). Subject here is hair: human, pets, hairdressers, barbers and wigmakers. They are interviewed or tell about style, fashion, cutting and the sounds of scissors and razors is present. For someone like me, who never spends much time with his hair, or goes to a hairdresser, it’s an almost otherworldly listening session. It’s not that I don’t like it, au contraire, it’s a fascinating world that I don’t feel part of in anyway. That makes this all the more fascinating. To talk as much and as diverse about something I would consider highly trivial. It’s radio play production that is excellent made. A true story, but otherwise it can be compared to Gregory Whitehead’s ‘Dead Letters’ epos. Perhaps not something to stick on every day, but every now and then (just like you should do with a radio), is not bad at all. And, like said, a great package. (FdW)
Address: http://www.freightdesign.co.uk/hairwaves/
KAI FAGASCHINSKI & MICHEAL THIEKE – THE INTERNATIONAL NOTHING (CD by Ftarri)
Music by Kai Fagaschinski has been reviewed before, for instance the Los Glissandos CD on Creative Sources (see Vital Weekly 480) or his work with Bernard Gal (see Vital Weekly 506). Here he presents a work with Micheal Thieke, who is a member of Hotelgäste (see Vital Weekly 494) and who has otherwise strong ties in the world of improvisation. The curious thing is of course that both play the clarinet. Since 2000 they operate as a duo, and after a while of improvising, they now want to play as if they sound like one instrument instead of two. On ‘The International Nothing’, they have five tracks of this kind of playing together, which are great works of sustaining sounds. Introspective, quiet, minimal. Great pieces. They also have some tracks with guest players, such as a piece with Margareth Kammerer on vocals and guitar or a piece with the double basses of Christian Weber and Derek Shirley and I must say that they sort of break the tranquil character of the other five pieces. It’s not that they are bad, but are perhaps too distinctly different from the other pieces, which form a very homogenous part of this CD. Throughout it’s a very good CD of music that crosses the line of composition and improvisation. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ftarri.com
ON ISOLATION (CD compilation by Room40)
AVANTO 2006 (CD compilation by Avanto)
TEXT OF LIGHT – ROTTERDAM 1 (CDEP by Room40)
Reviewing compilations is just one of those things I never really like. You can describe the intentions of the label, the thematic approach or say something nice about one or two tracks and that’s it. Even when the past seventy minutes or so were filled with nice music. Listening to music is usually an isolated affair, and creating often too. Certainly for the people on this compilation, whom work alone (at least 14 out of 15). Isolation is the point of departure, in ‘social, geographic and virtual settings’ and the fifteen pieces were created for a conference in Hobart at the University of Tasmania. Oddly enough silence plays a big role. You might think that’s obvious, but in isolation no one can hear you, so you could scream really loud, or make a hell of a noise. No one took that road into/outof isolation. People like Stephen Vitiello, Steinbruchel, David Toop, Dale Lloyd, Richard Chartier, Jeph Jerman, Seb Roux and all that, all play their games of careful producing sounds, be it entirely digital or partly or entirely acoustical, like Toop’s flutes. It all ends with Greg Davis playing the game of total silence, an empty room, and if you are prepared to take the risk and crank the volume all the way up: maybe, just maybe there is something happening in that room. Throughout thematic approach works well, all tracks are good, no standout, the usual qualifications for a good compilation.
Still on the compilation front, is a three person CD. Does that still count as a compilation? I think so. The three pieces on this disc were presented as tape pieces during the 2006 edition of the Avanto festival. This is a film festival, but I have no idea wether these were presented as soundtracks. Ralf Wehowsky is the man in the middle, and on opposite sides we find two minimalists, Tony Conrad and Jim O’Rourke. To start with the latter, Jim does no longer make music, but in his archive there is much stuff hidden that can be released, as suggested by ‘Out With The Old’, a pure drone piece recorded in 1990/1991/1994/2006, much along the lines of his ‘Two Organs’ record. Beautiful, textured music. On Wehowsky’s other side we find Tony Conrad, who is of course also a minimalist, but I didn’t keep up with his total output. Here he plays violin (obviously, I’d say), which starts out in a regular manner, but as the piece evolves, it gets transformed, with what could be computer techniques. That makes this quite a nice one, updating minimalism. There are others of the same age, whom wouldn’t be doing that. Sandwiched between these minimalist giants is Ralf Wehowsky, and one could expect him to go along a similar trail, but his piece is rather the more obvious (for him that is) sound collage, although it starts out with deep end tone piece. Guitar, violin and oud are played by various people and set in a pretty intense piece of electro-acoustic music. Throughout a more than excellent compilation.
To go back to Room40 but to stay on the front of films, Text Of Light is an improvising bunch of musicians (Alan Licht, Lee Ranaldo, Ulrich Krieger, DJ Olive and Tim Barnes), who play sets of improvised alongside film projection, mostly twenty century abstract and experimental film. Here they have a piece that lasts some nineteen minutes, recorded at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in January 2005, starting out in a very soft and controlled manner, but over the course of the next ten minutes explodes in a big way, due to the saxophones of Krieger, and lands in the last four minutes nicely on the ground, with dust falling electronic sounds. Of course all through methods of improvisation, but these five big shots of the rock/improvisation scene can be trusted to do a good job. It’s a pity we don’t get to know which film was used. Otherwise: top. (FdW)
Address: http://www.room40.org
Address: http://www.avantofestival.com
ENGLISH HERETIC – WYRD TALES (CD & book, private release)
This package blurs the tenuous boundaries between art and magick. With a 92-page A5 format booklet and a 70 minute CD, it documents English Heretic’s research into the magick of sound or the sound of magick. The book contains a series of essays and stories which explain (or further mystify!) the process by which the tracks on the CD were created. The CD itself is a blending of neo-folk and ritual instruments with field recordings and electronically processed sound. Drawing inspiration from local folk tales, medieval and recent history, the magick of A. O. Spare, supernatural fiction, and the consumption of hallucinogens – it takes us on a journey through the more sinister realms of occultism. Some of the tracks are pure sound-experimentation – layering processed sounds on top of field recordings, others are ordinary (although it seems wrong to use the word “ordinary” in this case) songs, there is also a “pathworking”, where a sonic-collage is accompanied by a narrator guiding the listener through a series of ritual visualisations. Over the years, I’ve listened to quite a lot of work that attempts to blend occultism with various forms of electroacoustic work, but
never before have I heard it done quite as well as it’s done here. (EE)
Address: http://www.english-heretic.org.uk
MICHEL HENRITZI – KEITH ROWE SERVES IMPERIALISM (CDR by W.m./or)
This release raises a few interesting questions about improvisation and recordings thereof. Is a recording of an improvisation still an improvisation, or has it become a composition, frozen in time, put out on vinyl or CD (or in fact any other sound carrier)? Or is it simply a documentation of an event? The booklet comes with some interesting notions about it, which I won’t spoil here. The concept behind the music is interesting. Michel Henritzi invited four improvisers to send him a recording of improvised music which is placed on the right channel and on the left channel we hear improvisations by Henritzi. None of this was made with hearing what the ‘other’ was doing. “It’s an arbitrary collage between two distinct digital channels”. Divided into four strict tracks of ten minutes, each deals with a certain aspect of sound. ‘Feedback’ explains itself through the guitars of Henritzi and Bruce Russell, ‘Independance’ has Mattin on guitar and Henritzi on hammer, electric saw and acoustic guitar and is indeed two very distinct channels of Fluxus like happening sound, mixed with noise. A jack is played on ‘Action Directe’ while Taku Unami plays computer in a slightly rhythmic fashion, with electric disturbance on the other speaker. The most pure improvisation piece comes from Shin’ichi Isohata on an acoustical playing on an electric guitar, while Henritzi plays a turntable. Pure improvisation, perhaps, because it sounds like it to those who are only slightly familiar with the genre. Throughout I thought all four tracks were great, and wether they are composed or improvised is something I don’t care about that much. The result, the artifact, the residue or the conservation in time is what matters. And that is great. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mattin.org
LOUKIA KATSIMERI (22/6/1963 – 22/12/1991) (CDR by Editions_Zero)
ROEL MEELKOP – NUMBERED FOUR (CDR by A Question Of Re-entry)
It’s no shame if you never heard of Loukia Katsimeri. She was a member of ‘Oi Mihanologoi’, a Greek experimental group which had a track on a compilation LP called ‘Apo Mihanis Music’ (alongside the Hafler Trio), years and years ago. Katsimeri got killed in 1991 in a cycling accident in Paris, and the age of 28. She liked to travel to collect sounds from around the world, and in the village of Sohos in 1991 she recorded during carnival this sound piece of dressed up people running and walking in goat shaped customs and large cowbells. She made this tape, which lasts about thirty minutes, which was recently discovered by the people of Editions Zero. I have no idea wether or not this is a straight recording or not, but it actually sounds quite nice. The sounds swell in intensity, seem to die out, but then return again, and this goes on. Recorded as such? Or re-created? I think the first, as we hear the irregular voices and some far away sounds too in there somewhere. It’s not a top quality recording, but the somewhat clouded sound that is now part of the recording, makes it all quite nice.
The name Roel Meelkop is often cited in this pages as a point of reference in the world of microsound, but perhaps outside these pages he’s not too well-known. Which is a damn pity of course. ‘Numbered Four’ was originally intended to be a 3″ CDR for Kissy Records (which I believe no longer exists), but now comes a single, twenty minute piece on A Question Of Re-Entry, which is closely connected to Editions_Zero. Knowing mister Meelkop just a little bit, the cover stating, ‘put together in two thousand five for my boys’, perhaps hints towards the sources of the sound: either echo recordings of his unborn children (the last one was born in 2005), or perhaps, running around the house, stumbling over toys and making field recordings out of that. But as always, one doesn’t have to think about this too much, as Meelkop treats his sounds beyond recognition and here it’s no different. Crackles, hiss, static sound, loops of mechanical objects, are all used to craft a highly intelligent piece of music, in which silence plays the usual role (roel?) of importance but there are elements of surprise too. Collage methods are also important. Simply a great piece, much along the lines (insert more name dropping here) M. Behrens and R. Chartier. (FdW)
Address: <planitis_miden@yahoo.gr>
TAUMSAUK – TAUMSAUK (CDR, private)
A new name for me, Taumsauk, an odd one too. It’s a duo of Chicago based musicians Mike Snodgrass and Eric Busiek. Nicely packed, twenty-one minute only, which is a bit too short, me thinks. Although there is no mentioning of instruments, I assume that drums, keyboards and guitars are their main ones. Drums play the most important, it seems. All six of them bring the drums loud and much to the foreground. Guitars and/or keyboards complete the wall of sound approach that they like. A bit post-rock/krautrock like, but unlike the others mentioned elsewhere in this issue, I actually thought this was quite nice, even when not entirely original, their drive to make music seemed more genuine and the approaches inside a track change throughout a piece. Pounding and fierce, this is the kind of rock music I think should sound like. (FdW)
Address: http://www.taumsauk.net
PULSE EMITTER – PLANETERY TORTURE (CDR by Housepig Records)
BJERGA/IVERSEN – COSMIC SURGERY (CDR by Housepig Records)
Two new releases on Housepig Records and of an varying quality. Pulse Emitter is one Daryl Groetsch from Portland, who plays music as such since 2002. ‘Pulse Emitter played modular synthesizer to magnetic tape’ it reads on the cover. And so it sounds. Turning knobs is fun indeed and with perhaps some imagination one could relate this to the ‘non-keyboard electronics’ of Conrad Schnitzler, but the four pieces in the end are too noisy and too chaotic, or perhaps too haphazardly improvised to make any serious waves around here. More torture than planetary.
For reasons unknown, also Bjerga/Iversen refer to the cosmos, and by now they have released over thirty CDRs. Their quality went up for a while, after what was perhaps a too quick of a start, but since time they are quite solid. Much of their work is generated through live improvisation on ‘amplified objects and electronix’ (hence the many releases) and ‘Cosmic Surgery’ is not the strongest work I heard by the two, but in their vast career, this is not a bad one. Dark drones played on a guitar and sizzling, sparkling electronics to go along. As said not entirely cosmic in a krautrock sense either, but when noise, drone and psychedelics meet up it could be here. (FdW)
Address: http://www.housepig.com
SUN CIRCLE (CDR by Lichen Records)
Still no address for Lichen Records or it’s owner Zach Wallace, so you might have to do a bit of research your self to find this. Besides playing in rock bands (such as His Name Is Alive) and improvisational bands, he also plays drone music, which he releases on his own Lichen Records. Sun Circle is Wallace teaming up with Greg Davis, with whom he released before on Davis own Autumn Records. Here they offer two tracks, which according to the Autumn Records website are called ‘Golden 1’ and ‘Golden 2’. They use singing, farfisa (that is an organ in case you don’t know), bells and gong. It seems to me that the first two are used in the first piece and the second two in the second piece. ‘Golden 1’ sounds like a very raw version of La Monte Young’s early minimalist excursions. Pretty loud, but highly minimal. It seems to me that some of these voices were layered in the computer, whereas ‘Golden 2’ seems to be a more of live piece. The ratting of bells, repeated with intervals after the sustain died out, have a highly meditative feel to it. Two opposite examples of what minimal music can be, and both are great pieces. (FdW)
Address: not given
THE DOMESTIC FRONT – DATENSCHUTZ (3″CDR by Dirty Demos)
Hot on the heels of last week’s review of their full length album, there is now a new release on CDR format by The Domestic Front, a.k.a. Thomas Transparent, from Chicago and it’s something of a small conceptual album here. Transparent fed all sorts of data files from his computer – which were all but sound related – into a wave editor and created music out of that. You could try this at home too, but you will see it’s easier done than said. Much of the data will be just noise. The Domestic Front is not afraid of noise, but he knows how to carve some interesting music out of these files, or perhaps many hours of careful throwing away, and looping the interesting bits around. It’s throughout noisier than ‘Having Achieved Balance’ from last week, even linked to Chefkirk’s work, but throughout I was more convinced about this one than many of Chefkirk rhythm ‘n noise excursions. (FdW)
Address: http://www.dirtydemos.co.uk
ST.RIDE – SUCKS (MP3 by St.ride)
Following ‘Piume Che Cadono’, reviewed in Vital Weekly 527, St.ride now arrive with nine tracks that are freely to be downloaded from the bands website. St.ride are from Genova, Italy and play laptop, CD players, microphone and mixer. They continue much along similar lines of their previous CD. A wild bunch of improvised tracks, based on their laptop and whatever CDs they bring along. It seems to me that voices play quite an important role too, perhaps a bit more than before. None of the material found on CDs can be recognized, at least not by this reviewer, which means they put on a great amount of processing or perhaps clever playing of the material. At times a bit too loosely improvised me thinks, but throughout they walk the boundaries of improvisation, electronics, plunderphonics quite nicely. (FdW)
Address: http://www.st-ride.it