RUIS VOOR THUIS/IETS MET BIETS (2CD compilation by Lomechanik) *
FRANCISCO LOPEZ – LOPEZ ISLAND (CD by Elevator Bath) *
TOKYO MASK – HINTERLANDS (CD by Low Impedance Recordings) *
THE MISSING ENSEMBLE – ZEROPOLIS (CD by Low Impedance Recordings) *
MICHEAL FAHRES – THE TUBES (CD by Cold Blue Music)
CHARLEMAGNE PALESTINE – A SWEET QUASIMODO BETWEEN BLACK VAMPIRE BUUTERFLIES FOR MAYBECK (CD by Cold Blue Music)
BIRCH BOOK – FORTUNE AND FOLLY (CD by Helmet Room)
MIKE HANSEN – AT EVERY POINT (CD by Etude Records)
ANDREW LILES – BLACK PAPER (CD by Beta lactam-ring records)
ANDREW LILES – BLACK HOLE (CD by Beta lactam-ring records)
EARTHMONEY – ANGELMANS SUPERNOVE (CD by Beta lactam-ring records)
DANIEL MENCHE – DELIGE AND SUNDER (CD by Beta lactam-ring records)
CHRISTOPHER DELAURENTI – FAVORITE INTERMISSIONS: MUSIC BEFORE AND BETWEEN BEETHOVEN-HOLST-STRAVINSKY (CD by GD Stereo) *
MATHIEU SALADIN – INTERVALLES (CDR by L’innomable) *
MYO – PROCESS (CDR by MT6 Records) *
FRANK ROWENTA – RAUMSTUDIEN #1 (2CDR by Gruenrekorder) *
NAARMANN & NEITELER – NAARLAND (CDR by Einzeleinheit)
JAN-M IVERSEN – WIEDERKEHRENDE WELTEN (CDR by Einzeleinheit)
JAN-M IVERSEN – CALIGULA SYMPHONY W (CDR by Dim Records) *
ORIGAMI STATIKA – FUCKING HELL (CDR by Dim Records)
MIRKO UHLIG – STORM: OUTSIDE CALM TAMED (CDR by Aal) *
MAURIZIO BIANCHI – MUITNELIS (CDR by Tib Prod)
MIL.ORG – ADMINISTRATIVE (CDR by Tib Prod)
FISK PA DISC – IN SEARCH OF THE HOLY MACKEREL (CDR by Tib Prod) *
CAUSTIC CASTLE – UNTITLED (3″CDR by 804noise) *
TWENTYTWENTYONE – SELECTED PAGES FROM TREATISE BY CORNELIS CARDEW (MP3 by Con-V) *
TWENTYTWENTYONE – HEAP OF LANGUAGE BY ROBERT SMITHSON (MP3 by Mixthemixthemix)
ANTANAS JASENKA – ART ACTION (MP3 by Mixthemixthemix)
RUIS VOOR THUIS/IETS MET BIETS (2CD compilation by Lomechanik)
Obviously I have to be careful when writing about this. One wrong word, and I am a dead man. Why? All almost all of the musicians are from my home-town Nijmegen. A city with 160.000 inhabitants, and yet so many musicians are on this. And even at that I can mention a few who are not part of it. Phew. Lomechanik is a collective of musicians from this beautiful city and all of them dabble in electronic music. No less than thirty-six tracks are delivered here, by at least thirty or so different musicians, or combinations. Hard to translate the title, and which is probably only funny if you speak dutch, but ‘Ruis Voor Thuis’ is filled with music for home listening and ‘Iets Met Biets’ is the uptempo rhythm, the floor music. Although I came across some music here which me thinks it’s a bit hard to dance too, like the totally fucked up beats by Atiq & Enk. On both discs there is a great variety of approaches towards electronic music, with even a few a guitar song here and there, such as by Maersk. From melancholically beats, to straight forward techno, fucked up drum & bass, hip hop beats (although no rapper in sight), fat analogue synths but also digital work: even if one would only be mildly interested in one or the other, but with a keen ear to other styles in electronic music, this is true treasure to discover new names (many unsigned!). (FdW)
Address: http://www.lomechanik.com
FRANCISCO LOPEZ – LOPEZ ISLAND (CD by Elevator Bath)
There is no Meelkop Island or Chartier Island, but there is a Lopez Island – and to send Francisco Lopez there, armed with his microphone and recording device is a stroke of genius. Lopez Island lies in the state of Washington and is an island. Lopez is a composer of natural phenomena, which he transforms in ways we don’t know (computer? analogue? filtering?), and the outcome is always something one needs to hear. The start is very Lopez like: silent. One of those, one might all to easily think. But it’s not one of those. Five or so minutes into the piece (now that is the same as 95% of his releases: they have single track), it’s audible and remains so until five or so minutes before it ends. In the remaining forty or so minutes we hear the falling of rain in the first part and electrical sounds (engines? ventilators? boats?) in the second part. At one point there are even audible loops used, which is rarity (but not an unknown) feature in the music of Lopez. As said everything is derived from the environment, but it’s put together as a piece of music, not a documentary of the island. You don’t have to be there or know the place, to enjoy this piece of music. It fits the more recent works by Lopez, which are more audible than his works of say a decade ago, and is another strong work from this undisputed master. (FdW)
Address: http://www.elevatorbath.com
TOKYO MASK – HINTERLANDS (CD by Low Impedance Recordings)
THE MISSING ENSEMBLE – ZEROPOLIS (CD by Low Impedance Recordings)
Following the ‘Backbone’ EP (see Vital Weekly 497), and another which didn’t make it into these pages, there is now a full length by Tokyo Mask, also known as Kostas Karamitas from Greece. Music wise he continues the path taken on ‘Backbone’: deep dubby and trippy rhythms and a throbbing bass, which form the backbone of the compositions, and the guitar, sampler and synthesizer get a more free role. The more loosely organized sounds make the music, the rhythm carries it around. Music that can best be enjoyed in the total dark, to let the scary monsters out in a real big way. Not smooth enough to be a true trip hop album, but more top heavy, and therefore all the more interesting, me thinks. Again, quite good!
Behind The Missing Ensemble we find John Sellekaers of Xingu Hill and Dead Hollywood Stars (and responsible for mastering music from many others), Daniel De Los Santos of Tamarin) and our recent discovery Mathias Delplanque. No beats here, but it hoovers around in a similar territory as the Tokyo Mask release. Dark, unsettling atmospheres of desolated cities at night. An empty city, with some flickering lights. A chilling event, driving in this city. Music of a highly sound track like nature, but is it a film that you want to watch on your sofa, sipping wine? Or does it depict a world that we rather not want to see? I assume it’s the latter. But The Missing Ensemble is something we want to hear. Ambient industrial at it’s most scary. Perhaps not the most original kind of music, but it’s done with great care. (FdW)
Address: http://www.lowimpendance.net
MICHEAL FAHRES – THE TUBES (CD by Cold Blue Music)
CHARLEMAGNE PALESTINE – A SWEET QUASIMODO BETWEEN BLACK VAMPIRE BUUTERFLIES FOR MAYBECK (CD by Cold Blue Music)
A long long time ago I was off and on in contact with Micheal Fahres. He was a composer of electronic music, but I usually met him in his capacity of radio producer making programs of experimental music, or when he was director of the Cem studios in Arnhem (later Amsterdam, now Rotterdam). I never encountered that much of his own music, but it involved natural phenomena and electronic sounds. His music moved outside my perception of CD releases, and was in the world of official serious avant-garde. There are three pieces on this CD. ‘Sevan’ opens us with the vocals of Parik Nazarian, who signs Armenian music, but here wordless music through massive pipes at Lake Sevan, Armenia. Quite atmospheric, but also having something quasi religious. The title pieces explores the sound of waves of the Atlantic Ocean at the Island of El Hierro – once the edge of the world at the western most part of the Canary Island), to which Jon Hassell plays trumpet and Mark Atkin didgeridoo. The waves rise and go away and the wind instruments play their bit, but it’s all a bit too sweet for me. The final piece is ‘Coimbra 4, Mundi Theatre’, a collage of field recordings from the Portuguese city, but sadly also doesn’t leave a too big impression. I must admit I had a hard time with this. Knowing Fahres as a serious composer, none of these compositions could enjoy me very much. It seemed all a bit too regular for me, also a bit too sweet and perhaps a bit too meditative.
If anyone out there saw a recent concert by Charlemagne Palestine, one knows what to expect. Mister Palestine telling the audience a (hi-)story, a tale about his own past and then plays a piece on the piano. Having lived in California almost forty years ago, he has a nice (and short!) story to tell here on ‘A Sweet Quasimodo Between Black Vampire Butterflies For Maybeck’, recorded in Maybeck in Berkeley. Palestine strums his piano in a rhythmic vein, repetitive, like Fahres’ waves: coming and going, coming and going. Not a spectacular great performance, but quite a nice one indeed. (FdW)
Address: http://www.coldbluemusic.com
BIRCH BOOK – FORTUNE AND FOLLY (CD by Helmet Room)
The name Jon Michael B’eirth (also known as B’ee) may not be as well known as say Leonard Cohen, but musically this album leans quite close to the USA gruff folk man. A follow up to The Wheel Of Fortune, this album, full of folky, “introvert” tunes a la Michael Gira and the before-mentioned Cohen, is a pleasant surprise. There is nothing “new” or revolutionary on this album, but it’s a nice comfortable listen on a rainy evening all the same. B’eirth builds some his own instruments, including the leaf cittern and guitar cither, whatever they may be. He has also studied the music of troubadours, whose traditional story-telling style resonates on Fortune and Folly. Starting and closing with the instrumental Birch Sap, the album starts off promising with well-recorded and well-balanced tunes like New Song and Whisper In The Pine. For Young Souls the harmonica is introduced, which give the song a Dylanesq Americana style, which you either love or hate. As a non-stop listen this album might be a bit monototous, but with its simple and direct arrangements and mostly acoustic instruments (with the odd electric guitar thrown in), this album might well be of interest to lovers of neo-folk and Current 93’s later incantations. (FK)
Address: http://www.helmetroom.com
MIKE HANSEN – AT EVERY POINT (CD by Etude Records)
The name Mike Hansen was new to me, but Hansen is certainly no newcomer to the world of music. Previously known for his turntable antics, this is Hansen’s first CD for Etude records, which is a brand-new label specializing on experimental, improvisational, field recordings, minimal music and sound archives. The five compositions on this 50-minute disc are made out of raw sound material using guitars and amps, cowbells, harmonicas, Vietnamese drum and of course processing from Hansen’s turntable installations. Sounding both soothing and disturbing with plenty of dynamics, At Every Point is actually a fine improvisational album, with highlights like Tidying Up After and The Day Before The Day. With this first release by Mike Hansen and planned albums by Tomasz Krakowisk and Augusti Martinez, Etude records looks like to be an interesting new star on the firmament of experimental music. (FK)
Address: http://www.etuderecords.com
ANDREW LILES – BLACK PAPER (CD by Beta lactam-ring records)
ANDREW LILES – BLACK HOLE (CD by Beta lactam-ring records)
EARTHMONEY – ANGELMANS SUPERNOVE (CD by Beta lactam-ring records)
DANIEL MENCHE – DELIGE AND SUNDER (CD by Beta lactam-ring records)
Chris Mc Beth from Beta Lactam-Ring Records is a busy boy. With BLRR-albums coming out all the time, he has still found time and space to embark on a new and exiting venture: The Black Series. This is a series of CD’s by various artists, all packed in neat cardboard gatefold cover with black inserts (signed in black of course) and black wrap-around obi’s. Judging by the long list of proposed artists (see the BLRR website) this will be an intriguing and possibly historic series of CD’s. Last week we received four CD’s in the series.
Andrew Liles, Brighton’s wonder man, who’s quite a busy bee himself, starts off the reviews. With his CD Black Paper he kicks off his The Vortex Vault series, a series of no less than 12 CD’s of both archive and new recordings plus the odd collaboration thrown in. On Black Paper he collaborates with Japanese artist Kenji Siratori, who contributes spoken word and whisperings, delivered in an urgent and dynamic fashion. As my Japanese is poor, I have no idea what he’s talking about, making the voice sound more like an additional instrument, which perfectly suits Liles’ collage-like style of music. Black Paper is a great CD (though at 30 minutes a bit brief), which made me want to listen to the second Liles CD in this series even more.
Black Hole has Liles all on his own. Much more contemplative by nature, this 14 track CD is less outspoken than Black Paper. The 40+ minutes of Liles-material, full of loops, found sounds and strange effects, will surely please his ever-growing army of fans. In fact, interest so far in the Andrew Liles’ Vortex Vault series has been so high, that BLRR has made it possible to buy the whole set in one go at a reduced price. Highly recommended!
Earthmonkey is Peat Bog’s alter ego, who previously worked with Steve Stapleton. After some successful earlier CD’s for BLRR, he now presents Angelmans Supernova and, I have to be honest here, I have two problems with this CD; one objective, the other subjective. The objective problem is that this is a 20-minute album, yet it retails at the full price. The subjective problem is that this is not really my kind of music. The three songs on this “album” sound like krautrock with free form avant-garde rock thrown in. Using traditional instruments like guitars, keyboards and drums, the music is repetitive and groovy, but not as adventurous as you might want it to be.
Daniel Menche is also a busy-bee with no less than 7 CD’s released or planned for release in 2006! His latest one, Deluge and Sunder, has been released as part of BLRR’s Black Series. Noisy at times but by no means classifiable as “noise” his music has a distinct quality and identity of its own. Deluge And Sunder is a re-released (remastered and expanded) of Deluge (with Sunder 1 and 2 added as bonus material). Four long tracks make up this wonderful album, which is one of Menche’s best (not that I pretend to know all his works, but still). Using acoustic instruments like accordion, bass guitar and melodica) Menche weaves thick layers of processed sound, often drone-like of character but more dynamic than you’d expect. The Deluge-tracks from this album have also been made available as a limited edition vinyl LP, but the vastly expanded CD version (which is also cheaper) is the best buy. (FK)
Address: http://www.blrrecords.com
CHRISTOPHER DELAURENTI – FAVORITE INTERMISSIONS: MUSIC BEFORE AND BETWEEN BEETHOVEN-HOLST-STRAVINSKY (CD by GD Stereo)
Of course the joke about modern classical music is that once the orchestra is done tuning, someone applauds for it as being a serious composition. But to hear an orchestra tuning up is always nice. Apparently I am not the only one who thinks so, as Christopher deLaurenti made a bunch of field recordings of orchestras tuning up. DeLaurenti has made more work that involves social action, such as at WTO protests. He is also involved in improvised music, but here doing something entirely different. It’s a bit difficult to tell how this was made. I doubt wether these are all real time recordings, unedited. Sometimes it seems that certain phrases return, or am I hallucinating. Does it take seventeen minutes to tune up in ‘Holst, Hitherto’? Or is it a recording of people entering too? We hear snippets of conversations, random instruments playing random notes. It’s a highly conceptual recording, six pieces in total, and I must admit I played this with some fascination, but at the same time, I wondered how many more times I would play this. Like with all great concepts – and this is surely one of them – you rather talk about it, then actually play it all the time. It may serve as an interesting DJ tool also… (FdW)
Address: http://www.gdstereo.com
MATHIEU SALADIN – INTERVALLES (CDR by L’innomable)
The name Matthieu Saladin popped up in various past issues of Vital Weekly, most notably for his work with Herve Boghossian as Plateforms. Saladin plays bass clarinet and soprano saxophone, but these are fed through electronics, or, more precise as indicated on the cover, ‘improvisations processed by computer’. I think we are to believe this to be done in real time. It’s a highly interesting release. Perhaps I expected a bit too many sine wave like excursions, but that’s perhaps my superstition. I was pleasantly surprised by this release. A lot careful sounds, that are sometimes not easy to trace back to wind instruments and the computer treatments sound quite interesting. Not the usual bed of cracks and hiss, but rather a deep end hum of ringing sounds that form quite an unified part with the real time instruments. Each of the nine pieces explores a world of its own and it’s all throughout a highly varied work of onkyo like improvisation but taking it in the field of live computer music. Very nice indeed. (FdW)
Address: http://www.linnomable.com/
MYO – PROCESS (CDR by MT6 Records)
Behind Myo is one Cory O’Brien from Baltimore, Maryland. Before being Myo he played ‘trip-hop/dark ambient’ taken from classical and jazz records but has now moved to ‘electro-acoustic/noise/glitch/drone/whatever’. ‘Process’ is his second release, following ‘Atari Sky’ (unheard by me). For his music he uses voice, field recordings (of power hums and industrial heating boilers), found objects which are fed through synthesizers and Pure Data (the PC version of Max/msp). Myo moves away from the microsound and offers in stead macrosound: the more upfront, present form of microsound. Louder, dirter, gritty and angular, but still with ingredients of microsound: drones, crackles and hiss. Myo amplifies these more than others would do and that makes it all the more interesting. It can surely be put down in the noise section, but there is a lot more interesting things happening here than on a regular noise release. A bit raw and untamed this release, but at least something is going on here! (FdW)
Address: http://www.mt6records.com
FRANK ROWENTA – RAUMSTUDIEN #1 (2CDR by Gruenrekorder)
Somehow somewhere the name Frank Rowenta is associated here with HNAS, but I believe he was not a member. Together with Dr. P. Li Khan he produced various records for Dom, the HNAS label, but somehow somewhere I can’t say they really stuck in my mind. I was quite surprised to see this double CDR release on Gruenrekorder. It’s a recording of a highly conceptual nature. In a room there are ‘two automatic working rhythm devices’ which ‘modify themselves in a period of hours’ – otherwise there is no action going on in the room. Recorded to a c120 basf cassette (the orange ones for those who remember), so guaranteed also present is tape hiss. And that’s it. It’s music that one can stick on and leave it as such. It doesn’t require much concentration from the listener. It’s a study for your own space. As such it’s quite nice, but the full two hours is a bit much. Or perhaps not enough. Why not a MP3 CD with six hours of this? Quite ‘nice’, perhaps. (FdW)
Address: http://www.gruenrekorder.de
NAARMANN & NEITELER – NAARLAND (CDR by Einzeleinheit)
JAN-M IVERSEN – WIEDERKEHRENDE WELTEN (CDR by Einzeleinheit)
JAN-M IVERSEN – CALIGULA SYMPHONY W (CDR by Dim Records)
ORIGAMI STATIKA – FUCKING HELL (CDR by Dim Records)
The previous release by Naarmann & Neiteler I didn’t hear, but ‘Sister Thelesitis’ had flutes, choral voices and spoken word. With some delay the new one ‘Naarland’ is now released, and seems to be moving into a new territory. Whoever Neiteler is I don’t know, but behind Naarmann we find Tobias Fischer, the man behind Einzeleinheit. No more flutes, chorals or speakers, this album is entirely electronic in approach. Synthesizer, probably out of a computer and drum computers paint a melodic and harmonious atmosphere. The percussion takes hold of the atmosphere with trance inducing rhythms, and the synthesizers and sound effects forming the ornaments, but it’s a bit too sweet for me. I was thinking of pseudo-ethnic music while listening, thinking of Desaccord Majeur or their various off-shoots and of ambient house of many moons ago. The two longer pieces are the more sweeter ones, and the three shorter are somewhat darker and go a bit further. Surely entertaining but no big surprises are to be found here.
Iversen needs no introduction, as he is the active man behind Tib prod (see also elsewhere in this issue) and one half of Bjerga/Iversen and an active solo force himself. He recorded ‘Wiederkehrende Welten’ (‘returning worlds’) especially for Einzeleinheit, which proved to have a keen ear for atmospheric drone music with a small dash of rhythm here and there. As such Iversen does a fine job. Highly atmospherical, mirco processing of sounds that form digital drones and the smaller left-over, the residual particles fall to earth like rhythm. In the vast catalogue of Iversen this is not a stand out release, but one that falls in his main section: quite good, nothing spectacular.
Which can also be said of ‘Caligula Symphony W’, even when the start of it is more noise related than we are used from Iversen. But after some six or so minutes the piece moves into more known territories of ambient and drone. Slow and minimal developments, but throughout it keeps changing shape and color and makes this into another quite good release, but not the best by him. Can’t understand why this is released in an edition of 18 copies only.
On the same label and with a slight Iversen connection are Origami Statika, which is a collaboration of Resin and Swamps Up Nostrils, whom both had releases on Iversen’s Tib Prod label. Here they use the noise idiom to create five dense pieces, which start out nice in ‘Buffering’ and the following three pieces of digital noise assemblages, but the final ‘Reading Between The Lines’ is not very well spend on me. Volume goes down and nothing much is done to make this into an interesting piece, but still it takes up half the release. Just the first four would have made a nice, not great, noise statement. (FdW)
Address: http://www.einzeleinheit.com
Address: http://www.dimrecords.tk
MIRKO UHLIG – STORM: OUTSIDE CALM TAMED (CDR by Aal)
As soon as the mail arrives it’s like boxing day. And of course the struggle what to play first. Charlemagne Palestine or Mirko Uhlig? Since his debut as Mirko Uhlig (his previous releases being as Aalfang Mit Pferdekopf), I am keen on his music, so his ‘Storm: Outside Calm Tamed’ goes in first. His ‘VIVMMI’ was a highly appreciated work of careful selected drones, so I expected something along similar lines here. How wrong can one be? It’s an electric storm indeed of heavily layered guitar (or so it seems at least) mass mounting up to a hellish form of noise. Definitely not what I expected, but is it bad therefor? It surely is not. It’s minimally changing the patterns throughout, until it’s conclusion is reached, after which follows a coda of likewise power. Maybe Uhlig listened to a bunch of Sunn 0))) records before deciding to do lay down his own version on his computer. It’s a powerful work indeed, the total opposite of the previous release, and that in itself is a most daring decision. (FdW)
Address: http://www.exovo.org
MAURIZIO BIANCHI – MUITNELIS (CDR by Tib Prod)
MIL.ORG – ADMINISTRATIVE (CDR by Tib Prod)
FISK PA DISC – IN SEARCH OF THE HOLY MACKEREL (CDR by Tib Prod)
Perhaps attempting to catch up for years of no music making, Maurizio Bianchi works like a madman these days. The good thing is that he doesn’t care about his star status, but likewise releases his music on CDR. Apparently having a good relationship with Tib Prod, there is a now a full length release by Bianchi, although it might be better to say ‘Maurizio Bianchi remixed by Siegmar Fricke. ‘Muitnelis’ deals with ‘concrete sounds and magnetic oscillations’ – in Fricke’s hands they are transformed and re-shaped, but I must say: it doesn’t justify Bianchi’s music very much. His harsh tone, somewhat unfixed direction of music, slightly hypnotic becomes in the no less capable hands of Fricke something else. Ambient industrial music no doubt, sampled and electronically shaped, but it stays also a bit too much on the safe side. Relatively short pieces of electrically charged sounds that are quite static, it’s only a faint trace of Bianchi’s original. Not bad at all, but it would be better to give more credit to Fricke when releasing this.
Behind Mil.Org is one Tor Frøseth, who composed all of the fifteen tracks, except one with Sivert Solum who plays guitar on that piece as well. I must admit I am not very much impressed by this. The pieces are short and sampled together from all sorts of media, such as radio and TV, fed through a bunch of electronics to make a chaotic and incoherent sound that has no head or tail. Perhaps I miss the point entirely here.
Also strange and unfocussed is the release by Fisk Pa Disc, which is a duo of Willy Koperud and Roar Borge, who are both responsible for the vocals and instruments. They improvised the music, using a lot of acoustic instruments and in the next stage they did a bit of sound treatment on the computer. However unlike Mil.Org this sounded quite interesting, if you’d regard this as outsider music. Going on without a real beginning or end, this reminded me of some of the music released on cassettes in the 80s, like Paul Kelday. This free floating bunch was mind inducing and quite nice. I am not sure if the lyrics played any significant role or if the fish in band name and title had any meaning, but throughout it was very pleasant indeed. (FdW)
Address: http://www.tibprod.com
CAUSTIC CASTLE – UNTITLED (3″CDR by 804noise)
804noise is a collective of noise musicians from Richmond, Virginia, who organize their own concerts and release their own music, all since 2001. One of the founders is Kenneth Yates, whom we came across in Insects With Tits, his collaboration with Chefkirk, and Harm Stryker. But solo he works as Caustic Castle, using the ‘no input mixer’ to create feedback, which is equalized and fed through pedal boxes. I could say something about ‘seen that before’, but I still see people strumming six strings on a piece of wood, so why not a no input mixer? Essentially there are two types of musicians who improvise with no input mixers: those who play them with care and those who play the with the love of noise (and very few with a sense of rhythm, some old Arcane Device comes to mind and Marko Ciciliani). Caustic Castle belongs to the noise types. The three pieces on this release span twelve minutes of brutal noise, feedback flies about, alongside dark tones and more crude distortion. Perhaps all a bit too noisy for me, but the good thing is that Caustic Castle keeps things to the point, and as such as the 3″ format is the right one, and that’s something more people should do. (FdW)
Address: http://804noise.org
TWENTYTWENTYONE – SELECTED PAGES FROM TREATISE BY CORNELIS CARDEW (MP3 by Con-V)
TWENTYTWENTYONE – HEAP OF LANGUAGE BY ROBERT SMITHSON (MP3 by Mixthemixthemix)
ANTANAS JASENKA – ART ACTION (MP3 by Mixthemixthemix)
The person connecting these three MP3 releases is Arturas Bumsteinas, who is part of Twentytwentyone, a quartet of laptop musicians performing graphic scores as well as running the mixthemixthemix label, who releases the work by Antanas Jasenka. As said the quartet performs graphic scores, and limit themselves to a few, like works by La Monte Young, James Tenny and here by Cornelius Cardew and one by Robert Smithson. The nice thing of course of graphic scores is that they are very open ended. In Cardew’s score, some 193 or pages of lines, symbols and circles, one can select one or more pages and ‘do whatever comes to mind’. In Smithson’s piece, words play a big role. In the latter’s case, Twentytwentyone play around with recordings of those words, and give them a big time treatment, so that none of the words can be easily recognized. In their Cardew interpretation they use various sources, including sine waves, crackles and what seems to be classical instruments. Personally I liked this better than the Smithson piece, showing a greater variety in approaches.
Lithuanian composer Antanas Jasenka played in a small village in Tirol, Austria in 2003, together with G-Lab doing the visual stuff but in 2006 he decided to rework the material. Jasenka used a triple DAT, max/msp software and acoustic sources for these pieces, which are more than before a musical unity. Strictly working inside the world of glitch music, there are lengthy pieces of drone like sounds, but also fierce collage like sounds, such as in ‘Slater’. Before he showed an interest in drum & bass, techno, glitch and noise, but here it’s just glitch and noise. Six tracks spanning thirty minutes which is the right length for this kind of music. Asked before: more coherent and shorter and now he did that, it works. (FdW)
Address: http://www.con-v.org
Address: http://www.mixthemixthemix.com
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There is no point in directing us to MP3 sites, as we will not go there. Any MP3 release to be reviewed should be burned as an audio CDR and send to the address above.
Some people think it’s perhaps ‘cool’, ‘fun’, ‘art’ or otherwise to send something to Vital Weekly that has no information. Don’t bother doing this: anything that is too hard to decipher will be thrown away. Also we have set this new policy: Vital Weekly only concerns itself with new releases. We usually act quick, so sending us something new means probably the first review you will see. If we start reviewing older material we will not be able to maintain this. Please do not send any thing that is older than six months. Anything older will not be reviewed. In both cases: you can save your money and spend it otherwise.
Lastly we have decided to remove the announcement section of Vital Weekly that is archived on our website that is older than five weeks. Since they 95% deal with concerts that have been, it’s gentle to remove the announcement and more important the e-mail addresses coming with that.
the complete archive of Vital Weekly (1-494) can be found at: http://staalplaat.com/vital/