JASON KAHN – FIELDS (CD by Cut) *
GÜNTER MÜLLER – REFRAMED (CD by Cut)
KOJI ASANO – TRIO SUITES NO.1-NO.3 (CD by Solstice) *
MICHEAL EVANS & JEFF ARNAL – MEJA (CD by C3R Records)
JESSE STEWART – MUSIC FOR FOUND OBJECTS (CD by C3R Records)
TAIJI POLE – TAIJI POLE (CD by High Mayhem)
OUT OF CONTEXT – WENOMADMEN (CD by High Mayhem)
GRILLY BIGGS – NEW ORLEANS-KATRINA = SANTA FE + CHICAGO (CD by High Mayhem)
HIGH MAYHEM FESTIVAL 2005 (CD by High Mayhem)
MECHA/ORGA – 56:24 (CD by Absurd) *
SUDDEN INFANT/BILL KOULIGAS (CDR by Absurd) *
CHRISTOF MIGONE – TROU (Book + DVD by Galerie De l”Uqam)
RUNZELSTIRN & GURGELSTOCK/MLEHST (LP by Belief Recordings)
MLEHST – I AM, I WAS, I WILL ALWAYS BE (LP by Belief Recordings)
HAL RAMMEL – LIKE WATER TIGHTLY WOUND (10″ by Crouton)
ANDREW HOCKEY – THERE IS A MOUNTAIN/BUNNY BOILER BLUES (7″ by Static Caravan)
PIPELINE ALPHA – EVOCATION OF SETH (CDR by Triage Industries) *
JOE FRAWLEY – WILHELMINA’S DREAM (CDR, private) *
L. DAILLEAU & KASPER T. TOEPLITZ – TOPOGRAPHIE DES TERRORS (CDR by Tiramizu) *
MUTANT APE – A FINE MEMENTO (CDR by Krakilsk)
SKY BURIAL – OF THE FIRST LIGHT (CDR by Audio Immolation industries) *
PATCHWORK CONNECT – DEADWOOD TRACKS REMIXED (CDR by Dirty Demos)
RED NEEDLED SEA – SIGNAL TRANSMISSION (3″CDR by Dirty Demos) *
MACHINEFABRIEK – CELLO RECYCLING (3″ CDR by Machinefabriek) *
BAI+IAN – ANTI-SOUND (MP3 by AudioTong)
EMITER.ARSZYN – 07.11.05 (MP3 by AudioTong)
KOILON DUO – ELEMENTARE (MP3 by Rudimentale)
CHANCE:RISIKO – QUALTS ART/TEEX DELEO! (MP3 by Rudimentale)
LE GABRE – MANUALE AUDIOFONICO SULL’ASSENZA DI SENNO (MP3 by Rudimentale)
ST.RIDE – CARNE AL FUOCO (MP3 by Rudimentale)
NONO – LA RIPETIZIONE DE LA POINTE (MP3 by Rudimentale)
IL DUO AZURE (MP3 by Rudimentale)
JASON KAHN – FIELDS (CD by Cut)
GÜNTER MÜLLER – REFRAMED (CD by Cut)
These two busy bees from Switzerland are best known from their work inside improvisation, but both present here a solo disc of their own work, which in Müller’s case is an even rarer thing than in Kahn’s work. Kahn presents seven compositions that were created for analogue synthesizer, percussion, short wave radio and field recordings from Croatia, Egypt, Japan, Lebanon and Switzerland. In much of his work, solo and improvisation wise, Kahn loves the stretched fields of sound: long blocks of drone like sounds that only evolve minimally over the course of a piece. On ‘Fields’ this is no different, but throughout it seems as if he uses many layers, as opposed to just a few. All the sounds start at once and then through clever mixing and filtering changes are made. Subtle changes in the work of Kahn, but nevertheless a trademark of his work, a very fine disc.
Günter Müller is well-known as a drummer, although he has been known to play ‘electronics, mini disc and ipod’ for some time too alongside his own system of making live transformations of his drum sound. Like said, solo recordings are quite sparse for him. On ‘Reframed’ he has five pieces which he made of processing bowed cymbals. That probably leads the reader to the world of subtle drone music, and so does the music. Deep sounding of faint traces of endlessly sustaining sounds of cymbals. It’s a bit unclear how he did it, which I believe is not really of big importance anyway, but it seems to me various layers of the same sound, which have been subtly treated accordingly. The all sound at the same time, but very carefully Müller changes the mix between the various layers and builds not a very intense piece of music, but rather a highly atmospherical mix of layers. A great disc, and a big surprise. It marks a difference between his solo work and that of Müller as an improviser and should easily appeal to those who love Mirror, Ora and such like. (FdW)
Address: http://cut.fm
KOJI ASANO – TRIO SUITES NO.1-NO.3 (CD by Solstice)
The music by Koji Asano never ceases to surprise me. That would be the classic opening line for a review of his music, hadn’t he been already releasing a couple of classically composed albums by now. So his first trio suite CD, with ‘No. 1’, ‘No. 2’ and ‘No. 3’ is not a surprise, but a nightmare to review, again. Like his previous classical CDs, I have no clue what to say. The trio here is piano, oboe and cello and two of the pieces last ten minutes and one fifteen. My point of reference (and most likely that of my fellow writers) is zero. It’s not that I don’t like classical music as such, although rarely played here, but to ‘judge’ it is something wholly different. To me it sounds a bit baroque rather than romantic, but hey, who am I? I surely liked it when I played it. I read the newspaper, drank coffee, looked outside and thought: well, it’s kind of alright. But will I play it again? Not very likely, as this simply operates too far out of what I usually like and would play for fun. (FdW)
Address: http://www.kojiasano.com
MICHEAL EVANS & JEFF ARNAL – MEJA (CD by C3R Records)
JESSE STEWART – MUSIC FOR FOUND OBJECTS (CD by C3R Records)
Two albums of improvisation and two albums of percussive sounds. And all three are new names for me. Micheal Evans and Jeff Arnal hail from New York where they make their marks on the improvisation scene. They both play conventional drum kits and they play it in a rather conventional manner. I must admit I do like improvised music on compact disc, even when it’s usually better live, but I have a problem with this one. It starts out vivid and wild, but in this endless stream of percussion sounds it needs a point of quietness, but they keep rolling on. Half the tracks would have had the same impact, or perhaps even a bigger one, as far as I’m concerned.
Of more interest I think is the disc by Jesse Stewart (who is from Canada) who plays percussive music on a bunch of found objects, such as metal, stone and objects in water. Moving away from the conventional percussive music, Stewart plays nine short, and highly diverse pieces of music. Carefully strumming the objects, finding sounds and exploring them. Ringing and sustaining by repetitive playing, this is a great work. The works are placed not in three blocks but mixed together, so that the diversity is maintained throughout this work. Not quite onkyo as Stewart doesn’t too much silence or plays the real drum kit in a different way, but Stewart has his own way of approaching the percussion at hand, and in doing so, he is spot on. Great CD! (FdW)
Address: http://www.c3r.ca
TAIJI POLE – TAIJI POLE (CD by High Mayhem)
OUT OF CONTEXT – WENOMADMEN (CD by High Mayhem)
GRILLY BIGGS – NEW ORLEANS-KATRINA = SANTA FE + CHICAGO (CD by High Mayhem)
HIGH MAYHEM FESTIVAL 2005 (CD by High Mayhem)
A new nice bunch of cds from High Mayhem. High Mayhem is a yearly festival for new and adventurous music in Santa Fe. The label by the same name documents these concerts and offers recordings from groups that circle around this festival. The ‘High Mayhem Festival 2005’ -cd may serve as an introduction to this scene. Five musicians that played at this festival were asked to make a mix using all the recordings or the fourth edition of this festival.
For earlier editions of this festival labelboss Carlos Santistevan choose for the cd-rom format, covering all the musical acts as mp3-files. Great documents, and I wished more festivals were doing this. Now however they took the opposite direction and summarize the festival in 5 collages.
The ensemble Out of Context is one of ensembles that played at this festival, and with their cd “Wenomadmen” they present the most interesting release of these four. Out of Context is a big ensemble of ten musicians. Leader and conductor Dino J.A.Deane successfully keeps together this group already for several years. “Wenomadman” is music for a theater production. The piece starts starts with a climaxing drumsolo, that opens the door for deep resonating sound improvisations. The music progresses slowly, waves of sound come and go. Then with a flute as the dominant instrument, at other moments the bassoon or trumpet. At times it is as if you are finding yourself amidst of the jungle, listening to a cacophony sounds of the most exotic birds. Great! Don’t expect drastic manoeuvres, or unexpected twists in this kind of improvisation. These guys have lots of time and patience, and allow the music to develop and expand. The ensemble is conducted effectively by Deane in a Butch Morris style, so that the ensemble is not lost in space and time, but remains focussed and concentrated. In the second part Sam Rhodes sings in a tuvan throat singing style, that gives the music a very meditative feel. It was a surprise to find Joseph Sabella (vibes, percussion) in this ensemble. It must be one of the oldest mates of Deane, as they were both in the ‘new wave’ group Indoor Life, somewhere in the early eighties.
Taiji Pole is like a stripped down version of Out of Context. It is a new trio with the curious line up of J.A.Deane (vertical flute), Carlos Santistevan (vertical bass), and Matt Deason (horizontal bass), all of them members of Out of Context. We hear the same kind of improvisations: sonic textures that are built with great care and with a good sense for development and time. A difference with Out of Context: this trio plays in a much darker mood. The music is noisy and loud. In two spacy and very lengthy improvisations, sometimes with the allure of early german cosmic music, they tell their story. Another very satisfying cd!
Concerning Grilly Biggs, I have to say that it didn’t sparkle between us. Grilly Biggs is a quartet: Matthew Golombisky (electric bass, electronics), Matthew McClimon (vibes, organics), Milton Villarrubia III (drumset, electronics) and Quin Kirchner (drumset, electronics). They mix improvisation, electronic sound excursions with jazzy sections of drum’n’bass like music. So they absolutely try to create something new. But the concept and musicians are not very convincing. Especially you have to like vibraphone, as this instrument is constantly taking part. Alas the player of it, is the weak spot in this combo. (DM)
Address: http://www.highmayhem.org
MECHA/ORGA – 56:24 (CD by Absurd)
SUDDEN INFANT/BILL KOULIGAS (CDR by Absurd)
The name Mecha/orga keeps popping up in Vital Weekly and though not entirely a household name, it should be one, at least some day. His new CD could be of great help to achieve this. Mecha/orga is the name chosen by Yiorgis Sakellariou from Greece, who works since time under this guise (and plays regular music as well under various other guises and in various other capacities). The work, indicated by it’s length, was created one afternoon in february last year, and played live there after a couple of time. No bullshitting about. The length becomes the title, and the listener can come up with his or her own story. Mecha/orga plays drone music. On a laptop. How much more simple can it get? Or rather does it have to be complex? No it doesn’t. Over the course of the fifty-six minutes and twenty-four seconds Yiorgis Sakellariou plays a slowly unfolding piece of drone music, which seems to be growing in intensity throughout. When you think nothing more can be added, he adds another layer. And another. And another. Most suitable to play in the dark, at night and ghostly activities will surely occur. Or during the day, outside and watching plants grow. Multi-purpose music, I’d say. Great stuff. Powerful music.
On the same label a split CDR release by Sudden Infant and Bill Kouligas. I never heard of the latter, but apparently he is the new partner in Joke Lanz’ Sudden Infant project and also a member of the Greek duo Family Battle Snake. Sudden Infant has been running for close to twenty years now, but in recent years I haven’t been keeping up with his recorded output. The five pieces captured here were recorded live in 2004 in London. Sudden Infant combines noise and performance, and captured on a disc, it leaves us with noise. It’s hard to tell what he does, but it seems to me a handful of analogue sound effects and a bunch of toys, microphones and perhaps a turntable. Not uninteresting, but it sounded a bit like I thought it would. And pretty much the same goes for the five pieces by Kouligas, but it’s slightly more boring, or perhaps less imaginative. A barrage of noise, feeding of through echo and reverb units and some clattering of objects. (FdW)
Address: http://www.void.gr/absurd
CHRISTOF MIGONE – TROU (Book + DVD by Galerie De l”Uqam)
The work of Christof Migone has been reviewed before in Vital Weekly, but it dealt always with one aspect of that work: the music, released on the compact disc that was reviewed. Migone however is also a visual artist, and much of his work is shown in his home town Montreal, so its likely that you or me didn’t see that work. Until now that is. With ‘Trou’ we don’t get the real thing, but it gives the idea. ‘Trou’ is compiled by Nicole Gringas and is an exhibition of various Migone multimedia works, such as films, installations and sound work. I could try to explain what his work is about, but it would mean I would have to retype Gringas book. In short, many of the works by Migone deal with body, with sound and with language. The body farts, makes the sound of cracking bones (both of these were used to make music), but also produced the installation ‘Spit’, which is a bottle of collected spit. Conceptual work, but it has a great visual and audio power. To make things more complete this hardcover book has DVD of various works. Of these all of them, except ‘P’ and ‘Surround (360 objects)’ deal with the human body. In ‘Poker’ we see two faces at the time and they are being ‘touched’ (‘poked’) for sound, which is kinda poetic. In ‘Snow Storm’ dandruff produces the title and in ‘Evasion’ we are confronted with the human tongue, but no doubt the small screen at home works less effective than the full screen in the gallery space. The films are quite short (ranging from less than a minute to twelve minutes), and open up the fascinating world of Christof Migone. Still not the real thing, as the exhibition is the real thing, but it’s a fine substitute. (FdW)
Address: http://www.galerie.uqam.ca
RUNZELSTIRN & GURGELSTOCK/MLEHST (LP by Belief Recordings)
MLEHST – I AM, I WAS, I WILL ALWAYS BE (LP by Belief Recordings)
Mlehst is back and we should take notice. Two pieces of 12″ vinyl, filled with three sides of Mlehst and one with Runzelstirn & Gurgelstock – another legend. To start with the latter. ‘Sex’ is the theme here, but luckily it’s not the usual cut up of porn movies. Sound wise this is an unusual Runzelstirn & Gurgelstock record. Some elements are still in there, like the extensive use of voices and shouting, but the hasty cut-up/collage work is not really present here. Instead they use samples of an orchestral nature and sounds go on instead of being fractured and scattered. It departures from their previous work, but still maintains a high quality. On the other side there is Mlehst with a highly interesting piece of musique concrete type of collage. Electronic sounds fly about while there is also cut-ups of acoustic sounds. It seems, but I may be wrong, that Mlehst returned to using reel-to-reel machines to chop up, speed up those sounds. Quite a vibrant piece of music.
On ‘I Am, I Was, I Will Always Be’ Mlehst takes things into another direction. The title track is the source of all the music on this album. A layered drone of synthesizer sounds, quite simple. It is the starting point of the ten tracks that follow. Each is treated in a different way. Sometimes working the higher regions and sometimes only the lower regions, which are the first four steps taken on side a. On side B things are expanded. A rhythm occurs, basically a simple loop, or becoming more noise related. Less vibrant than the piece of the split LP, each of these pieces is a monochrome composition in itself. Though not entirely a new idea at work here, Mlehst does a fine job. Certainly the second side has to offer some interesting pieces. Crude, rough but it stays on the more interesting side of noise. (FdW)
Address: http://www.freewebs.com/mlehst
HAL RAMMEL – LIKE WATER TIGHTLY WOUND (10″ by Crouton)
Musician and visual artist Hal Rammel has been involved in art, and I know he has released a CD or two in the past, but somehow they didn’t stick in my mind. Rammel is the inventor of the Sound Palette. This is a construction made of wood and metal which he plays in an improvising manner. He has built several ones in various shapes and sizes. A strange sort of hectic sound occurs when these are strummed or stroked, but even more odd is that there is a calm and relaxing texture to these recordings. Minimal but in a non-repetitive way. Perhaps the closest thing to say, is that there is something ethnic about these recordings, a bit like gamelan, but then in a more random, chaotic way. The b-side ‘
is more about rubbing the sticks and is even more chaotic. A nice record, but I wonder if a whole CD could be of similar interest. Perhaps seeing it live would be the real thing. (FdW)
Address: http://www.croutonmusic.com
ANDREW HOCKEY – THERE IS A MOUNTAIN/BUNNY BOILER BLUES (7″ by Static Caravan)
Ah the simple but so effective popsong. A guy with a guitar and nothing else. Oh there is bird twitter and a marimba on the a-side. Andrew Hockey is such a guy. I know nothing about him, except that he released two 10″ records, called “Songs from the Dandelion Clock, Vols 1 & 2” and that he is from Cornwall. I am never good at reviewing music like this, since my references towards popmusic are really sparse, but it all sounds highly folk like to me and also very sixties, for reasons that I can’t explain myself. Both tracks have an early summer feel to them. The a-side should be a big underground hit, but it probably won’t. The b-side is indeed a blues piece. Singer-songwriter stuff in optima forma and for once one I really like. He can sing, unlike many others in this area. Music to make you happy. It did to me. (FdW)
Address: http://www.staticcaravan.org
PIPELINE ALPHA – EVOCATION OF SETH (CDR by Triage Industries)
Housed in a really nice and professional package, comes Pipeline Alpha, the third release on Triage Industries. The first was ‘hardcore roots reggae’, the second ‘ambient electro drone doom metal’ and Pipeline Alpha is ‘sophisticated psychedelic drones’. Whoever Pipeline Alpha is we don’t get to know, but he works with voices, primitive synthesizers and analogue effect machines. This implies a kind of lo-fi recording, and perhaps that is what it is. Pipeline Alpha’s pieces are cut outs of bigger live sessions; the more interesting bits, or what he defines as such, are cut from them and presented as finished pieces. It’s a bit hard to make up my mind on this. Some of the pieces were alright, some were too dark, ritualistik, almost gothic like. Sometimes it lacked structure, but some were alright. And definitely too long for what it brings. But I would still give him the benefit of doubt. Let’s see where it grows into. (FdW)
Address: http://www.triage-industries.de
JOE FRAWLEY – WILHELMINA’S DREAM (CDR, private)
Behind the work ‘Wilhelmina’s Dream’ is one Joe Frawley from Norwich, Connecticut, who is both a composer and a visual artist. This is my first encounter with his music. Frawley plays piano and electronics on this release, but that’s only half the story. Frawley is also an expert of stealing interesting sounds from others. Much of the material we hear on this release is lifted from classical sources, such as Maurice Ravel, Sergeij Prokofiev and some Meredith Monk. Frawley blends these sources together in quite a beautiful way. Plunderphonics is never my thing very much, but Frawley does a fine job. He loops around small specific parts, intercepts them with taped voices and his own piano playing, as well as his own careful blend of electronics and field recordings. Soft and not very outspoken, Frawley plays a nice play of mood music. I was reminded of some more of the spooky recordings of Nurse With Wound, but Frawley keeps things on a more quiet level. The fact that he lifted a few sound sources here and there doesn’t bother me at all, as they are all cleverly intervowen into the overall music. Mood music of a highly original kind. (FdW)
Address: http://www.joefrawleymusic.info
L. DAILLEAU & KASPER T. TOEPLITZ – TOPOGRAPHIE DES TERRORS (CDR by Tiramizu)
By major exception a somewhat older release by Laurent Dailleau and Kasper T. Toeplitz. Both are known as composers of electronic music by way of computer techniques. In this hour long work, they pay hommage to the Velvet Underground’s piece ‘The Gift’, in which John Cale recites the text on one channel and on the other the band plays. That is exactly what Dailleau and Toeplitz do, except that they both make music, no words here and that they cross channels. Who starts left, ends right and vice versa. Without hearing each others work it was put together by the label, which if one hears the end result is a bit hard to believe. It’s a powerful work of static computer drones, with some extreme filtering going on, moving on all dynamic levels of the piece. A work that has a menacing sound and that is probably best played in the dark to get the full haunted experience. Maybe a bit long, clocking at sixty minutes, whereas perhaps forty-five would have been suited as well, but it’s a fine work in which the concept doesn’t stand in the way of the listen-ability of the piece. (FdW)
Address: http://www.tiramizu.net
MUTANT APE – A FINE MEMENTO (CDR by Krakilsk)
“These banal objects, technological objects, virtual objects, are the new strange attractors , the new objects beyond aesthetics, transaesthetic, these fetish- objects with no signification, no illusion, no aura, no value that are the mirror of our radical disillusionment of the world. There lies the pataphysical irony of the situation. All metaphysics is brushed aside by this reversal of the situation where the process no longer originates with the subject .. the object refracts the subject and subtly, using all our technologies, imposes its presence and its aleatory form..” this is such bad academic practice but I was almost tempted to pass of the above without reference to its subject – Jean Baudrillard – as it precisely elucidates the problematic regarding ‘noise’. It removes the problematic completely – and reverses the process – noise represents the fetishisation of music. Its tones and themes and technologies both sexual and technological fetishes / bondage et al. arises from the object – of the post modern world and locates itself – creates the subject – in vast quantities – via typically the CDR – (Mutant Apes over 100 already). The review therefore must start and end in my opinion in the fetishisation of the object – brilliantly realized by Merzbow – but brilliantly realized here again. (jliat)
Address: http://www.mutant-ape.co.uk
SKY BURIAL – OF THE FIRST LIGHT (CDR by Audio Immolation industries)
Among his influences as Sky Burial, another project by Micheal Page (whom we usually find under his Fire In The Head guise in Vital Weekly and Irukandji, which was never reviewed), he cites Skullflower, Lustmord, Controlled Bleeding, Zoviet France, Nocturnal Emissions and Final, but not Throbbing Gristle, which is odd, since that’s where he got the idea for the artwork from for this cover and CDR print. Perhaps just graphically influenced? It seems to me The Gristles could have been a musical influence as well. The title of the release refers to the Wampanoag tribe, who lived in Cape Cod (where Sky Burial is from) originally and where one can see the sunrise first in the USA. It has been noted before, but Sky Burial’s work might be ‘softer’ than Fire In The Head, it’s still a furious loud beast. His guitar howl about through a long line of sound effects, set against a dark dirge of samples and synthesizers (as opposed to Fire In The Head, where is a wall of feedback). Unlike some of his influences, Sky Burial’s tracks are short and to the point. Sometimes I think perhaps a bit too short, as this music needs the right amount of time to develop beyond what it is. I have the impression that inside Sky Burial’s music there is more hidden, which is not entirely revealed, due to the shortness of the compositions. Again, a very fine disc, and again surely one that should go down well with the lovers of Old Europa Cafe and Cold Meat Industry. (FdW)
Address: http://www.collectivexxiii.com/sky
PATCHWORK CONNECT – DEADWOOD TRACKS REMIXED (CDR by Dirty Demos)
RED NEEDLED SEA – SIGNAL TRANSMISSION (3″CDR by Dirty Demos)
My first encounter with Deadwood dates from not so long ago, but it turns out that it exists since quite some time, in fact since 2003 and that a remix album is already in place. In a world were exchange of sound material and composing of sound is dead easy through the internet, these things happen quick. Today you start and tomorrow there are nineteen people with a remix of your work. The usual suspects that usually find their place on labels such as Tib Prod are also present here, such as Swamps Up Nostrils, Sound_00, Sindre Bjerga, Iversen, Every Kid On Speed and Bjerga/Iversen – yes, I do realize that is the same guy more than once. Especially the beginning of this release is quite relaxed, in a sort of ambient glitch manner, with some extra spices. In the second half things are a bit more noise related, but it nowhere gets loud or harsh. Of course you get no clue as to how Deadwood sounded back then (the day before yesterday), but altogether it makes quite a nice compilation, even without knowing it’s a remix.
The second release by Panos Alexiades, also known as Red Needled Sea (see also Vital Weekly 555) and this time it seems to be without the guitar. The title seem to hint to the use of radio signals being transmitted, or at least transformed. Going through a bunch of sound effects, such as echo and reverb, this piece takes a lot of time to get started. By the ten minute mark, things are finally altered into a pure digital glitch noise. When things that finally go crescendo it would have made a nice ending, but Red Needled Sea takes up matters again and the final three minutes seem to me a bit superfluous. With some more strict editing, this could be a great say eight minute piece, now it’s a bit too long with not enough exciting events. (FdW)
Address: http://www.dirtydemos.co.uk
MACHINEFABRIEK – CELLO RECYCLING (3″ CDR by Machinefabriek)
For those who are not in the direct area of the Dutch Breda and therefor missing out on Machinefabriek’s ‘luisterpost’ music, there is this little CD. I have no idea what ‘Luisterpost’ is, but I assume it’s some nice environment where a specially composed piece of music is heard. Curated by Martijn Homan, Machinefabriek is the first in 2007 to do one. He takes the cello, as played by Aaron Martin, and feeds it through his array of electronics and create a dense, layered piece of electronics in a deep, atmospheric mood. Slightly distorted, so that it doesn’t entirely hit the ambient wall, this is a sturdy Machinefabriek piece. The original sound pieces by Martin are also present on this disc, although I’m not sure why. Perhaps a ‘do-it-yourself’ intention? Or perhaps a show-off: see what I can do with the original? Let’s say, the first option, to stay on the positive side. There is some mighty transformation done on the original. And if in Breda hop by the gallery to see what it sounds like (see announcement section). (FdW)
Address: http://www.machinefabriek.nu
BAI+IAN – ANTI-SOUND (MP3 by AudioTong)
EMITER.ARSZYN – 07.11.05 (MP3 by AudioTong)
Bai+ian is a young sound artist from Chengdu/China and although he has already participated in various events (among others an exhibition in London) this EP is his debut release. The main ingredients here are sine waves and processed field recordings, and obviously this positions Bai+ian’s work in territories that have been explored in depth by others before. But this is not necessarily bound to be a bad thing, on the contrary. Bai+ian cleverly juxtaposes contemplative moments and harsher passages, mixing city sounds like birds, cars and children with bleeps and abstract textures and keeping the material minimal, yet in steady motion. The EP reaches its best moments in the last two tracks, when it gets all quiet, with flowing sine waves, subdued field recordings and a gentle humming drone setting in later. Clocking in at about 20 minutes in total, this is a nice and fully coherent introduction to a new artist from a country that is still a little known area on the map of experimental music.
The release by Emiter.Arszyn documents a concert the Polish duo played in Prague in 2005. Although both of them have a background in more ‘traditional’ music (as a guitarist and a drummer), their music is of an abstract, highly electronic nature here. Rhythm, in the form of a constant pulse, plays the main role, and at times the music is vaguely reminiscent of SND’s static funk or a less bleak and less minimal version of Pan Sonic. However, these mentioned names are just loose associations, since Emiter.Arszyn succeed very well in developing their own position. Going from the delicate to (almost) full-range noise, the duo uses a rich and well-balanced palette of electronic sounds, from which they craft three warm, pulsating and ever-evolving pieces. The harsh moments come in about halfway through the disc, disrupting the overall mellow flow, yet still blending perfectly in the composition. Only towards the very end the music tends loose its focus, but this is not really a problem, since all the rest is high quality material. (MSS)
Address: http://www.audiotong.net/
KOILON DUO – ELEMENTARE (MP3 by Rudimentale)
CHANCE:RISIKO – QUALTS ART/TEEX DELEO! (MP3 by Rudimentale)
LE GABRE – MANUALE AUDIOFONICO SULL’ASSENZA DI SENNO (MP3 by Rudimentale)
ST.RIDE – CARNE AL FUOCO (MP3 by Rudimentale)
NONO – LA RIPETIZIONE DE LA POINTE (MP3 by Rudimentale)
IL DUO AZURE (MP3 by Rudimentale)
As promised last week, here’s a quick look at the various MP3 releases by Rudimentale, the Italian net label.
Koilon Duo is not a duo, but a trio: S. Sciarratta on “contrabbasso, looper, elettronica, concrete sounds’, F. Branciamore on drum set and M. Carlentini on ‘basi elettroniche’. Their release ‘Elementare’ has one track, recorded live. It’s a work of improvisation, based around a set of loose end sounds that flow freely around. In the end it doesn’t give the piece much structure, but rather a random set of sound segments that go into each other. It’s o.k. I guess, but not really great.
Chance:Risiko is a duo from Bologna, who improvised work falls in the categories ‘wild electronic’ and ‘wild plunderphonic’, sampling rock music, classical music and sauce them up with electronics. Quite alright this, and quite wild.
Behind Le Glabre we find Luca Sciaratta of L’Addimmuru (see last week’s issue), who plays solo guitar, which he built himself, through a bunch of sound effects, or even, perhaps, a computer. A furious style, which sound alright on the part of electronics, but the guitar part is not always to my liking. Too regular sounding even when fed through the possible distortion.
Nono is Giuseppe Cordaro who originally plays guitar, but as Nono he plays the piano. On ‘Manuale Audiofonico Sull’assenza Di Senno’ four melancholic pieces of slow piano notes and field recordings. Budd/Eno like, certainly in the first two pieces, and a bit more experimental in the other two, this is actually quite nice, after the improvised mayhem of the others.
St.ride have been reviewed before, and here continue their explorations of plunderphonics of CDs, microphones and computers, but they never give away their sources. It’s all highly abstract, once again.
Less abstract is the work of Il Duo Azure who play their own wild version of folk music, using their own voice, electric guitars and electronics. Improvised folk music with something wild going on. Short as in punk rock, and probably as wild and quite nice indeed. (FdW)
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