THE DAUGHTERS OF CONCEPTUAL SEX DEATH (CD by Muzamuza Records)
Humm… as you are may be aware I’m not fond of these kind of names – in a
way they sound so silly. I hope couldn’t say the same of the music, but
this kind of lives up to it’s name: synths, dark beats, at times pretty
noisy and ugly, at other times gothic like. Not really bad in it’s genre,
but a bit outdated. (FdW)
Address: Muzamuza – 3 Soulby Court, Kingston Park – Newcastle Upon Tyne
NE3 2TQ – England
>STIMBOX/A.U.M./DEATH SQUAD (CD by Hebi Like A Snake)
Three bands on a joint theme: the sarin gas attacks by Jap metro in 1995.
>Stimbox have also some tapes out, on the same label (as it is their own
>label). This is the industrial music side of things, distortion
>throughout, overload being the concept… on all three bands. The credits
>say ‘hi & thanks & inspiration’ and read like a who’s who in the Jap noise
>scene. If I say that Stimbox reminded me of Merzbow, then you know where
>to place this. Not bad actually as they don’t fall into mere static, but
>changes are apparent throughout. The mysterious A.U.M. have one track with
>distorted radio sound and synths (they have no credits on the cover).
>Death Squad are on the feedback side of industrial music on one track.
>Their ‘Theological Genocide’ is a really tense and scary piece of radio
>snippets that burst into plain noise. An interesting CD, one of the better
>in the noise field. (FdW)
>Address: <stimbox@emrl.com>
>
>KONRAD KRAFT – ALIEN ATMOSPHERES (CD by Electrosmog)
>Actively involved in sound production since the early eighties as part of
>the cassette network, but somehow escaping my attention all those years.
>This new CD comes with short cover text saying that “Ever since man
>started making music he has been using the opportunity to influence
>dynamic brain-processes by producing sounds, rhythms, noises etc.” A
>highly electronic music is what we find on this CD – but how that relates
>to the human brain is not clear to me. Most tracks are flowing textured
>sounds that are interwoven cleverly. At times these sounds refer to
>industrial environments, such as in the first track were a drill has been
>used. Overall an interesting, yet not really surprisingly new CD. (FdW)
>
>SPLINTERED/RLW (CD by Black Rose)
>BAND OF PAIN – YOU’RE MISS FORTUNE (CD by Iris Light)
>Two examples of post punk bands that have experimentalism as a form in
>their guitar/bass/drum outing. Splintered is already well-known and
>operates as the focus of many off-shoots – Band Of Pain is the solo thing
>by one member. RLW is Ralf Wehowsky, formerly of P16.D4. It may seem an
>odd combination for this band and this person to cooperate together, but
>it isn’t. Wehowsky’s background is also in guitar oriented bands (PD) for
>whom experimenting was a main interest. On this CD they exchange sound
>material by one another but the results come altogether to something
>different. Splintered runs some RLWsound through the sampler and play with
>guitar, bass and drums on top. A coherent sound inside the rock format.
>RLW cuts up the sound of the rock band into a collage form, changes are
>more abruptly. These two different approaches however work quite well –
>the extension of one another. A fine collaboration.
>Band Of Pain is the project of Steve Pittis from Splintered. The nine
>tracks on his CD are commented by dry liner notes. Stuff that either
>’needed more doing’ or ‘rescued from the bin’ to ‘I’m at a bit of a loss
>to know to what to say about it’… The first track is a great piece of
>modern collage techniques: synths and slowed-down backwards choir. In
>other pieces guitars play a more prominent role, but unlike Splintered,
>the rock format is not apparent. This music treats the sounds to a wider
>extent and has overall a more experimental edge to it. Worth mentioning is
>also the inclusion of ‘4’33’ by John Cage – and now there is something
>hear… The cover is a nice rip-off to Deutsche Grammophon.
>Address: Black Rose – P.O.Box 4581 – London, SW6 4YE – UK
>Address: Iris Light fax: + 44 1637 881 543
>
>TOTEMPLOW – APPLAUD THE EXECUTION (CD by Manifold)
>On the mucho sympathico US label a new band. Applaud to them who invest
>their money in something we don’t know. Totemplow is one Chad Jones who is
>exploring the guitar sound. This is done by sampling it to death, thus
>creating drones and playing the guitar over it. Totemplow creates rich
>textures of thick ambient sound, not unlike the works of Lull (for the
>droning part) or Bill Laswell (for the rhythm stuff that is added in the
>background). If this was Lull or Laswell, then you would have added it to
>your favorites but now it’s Mr. nobody and you wait until the name buzzes
>around. My suggestion: start buzzing now as Totemplow deserves your ears.
>(FdW)
>Address: <vince@ubd1.vdospk.com>
>
>O – OLENTO (CD by Sahko)
>Almost three years after the first O CD, finally the long awaited
>follow-up. Both O and their label have been ground-breaking for their
>excursions in minimalist techno with industrial edges to the house-floor.
>O is the solo project by Mika Vainio, also member of Panasonic. Both the
>work of Panasonic and O change courses: Panasonic on their latest a
>minimal, almost gabba style, O goes into a much more somber style, perhaps
>darker then previous works. The minimal, down to earth beats are still
>there, yet unmistakably there is also a darker tone involved. The beats
>are out of sync, and each seem to follow their own track. Each of the
>tracks are executed with care and yes: O’s second CD is a classic too.
>(FdW)
>Address: Fax: 350-0-628870
>
>EYEPHONE – EVERGREENS (CD by Hypnotism)
>Eyephone is the name chosen by Marc Behrens to bring the dance music to
>the sitting room ambiance, taking advantage of his background in
>industrial music. The music Eyephone produces neither one nor the other. I
>don’t see this being played at the Saturday night rave, but the
>industrialists will have surely problems with this too. I have no problems
>with this at all. It’s good to see that we have arrived maybe in a true
>post-modern society, where you play house music, next to post-rock,
>electro-acoustic music or whatever. Stylistic boundaries apparently have
>disappeared. Eyephone some very intelligent dance music and has made an
>album that is even better then his first one (‘Reductive’). If this was on
>Warp, this guy would have been big! (FdW)
>Address: <100660.1760@compuserve.com>
>
>JOHN DUNCAN & BERNARD GUNTER – HOME, UNSPEAKABLE
>ROEL MEELKOP – 9 (HOLES IN THE HEAD)
>FRANCISCO LOPEZ – BELLE CONFUSION 966
>(three CD’s by Trente Oiseaux)
>Three new releases on that label that is ‘to avant-garde to put their
>address on it’ (quote from EST) and by others hailed as ‘test CD’s for
>high-end equipment’. Trente Oiseaux is your next hype. All their CD’s have
>well-designed, utterly minimal covers and the info is still barely
>readable.
>Let’s kick off with the collaboration work by John Duncan and label owner
>Bernard Gunter. Two negative points first: why does this CD have a
>transparent tray (as this breaks with the image of the label) and why is
>it so short (just over 30 minutes)? “The music on this CD was inspired by
>Samuel Beckett’s libretto for Morton Feldman’s chamber opera Neither. It
>is constructed as a series of musical ‘places’ which in their entirety
>form the topography of a ‘landscape’ we feel might be described by the
>final words of Beckett’s text: unspeakable home” (wow how often do we
>reproduce complete cover texts?). Silence takes us within 5 minutes to
>crackles all over and end abruptly to take the sound volume back up again.
>The sound now takes the form of stretched out samples. The third part (if
>of course one speak of parts) consists of loose acoustic sounds, again by
>means of sampling put in the ‘right’ place. Another part seem to consist
>of Duncan’s trademark, shortwave sounds. In general these two don’t seem
>to give away very much of their sound sources, as most of the sounds are
>treated to a wide extent Overall this is not an easy CD, but one that
>deserves your full attention span, but there is a lot of discover in
>there, as some of the sounds seem very well hidden.
>Roel Meelkop was (maybe still is?) a member of a legendary Dutch
>electro-acoustic music group THU20 (whose third CD is never finished, or
>so it seems) and who produced some solo cassettes as Mailcop. Besides he
>works as a visual artist and is a member of Kapotte Muziek whenever there
>is a live concert. His nine piece CD is different from that Trente Oiseaux
>style in the sense that every piece is recognizable as a new piece and the
>CD is very well playable on a normal audio set. Meelkop takes the
>advantage of sampling acoustic sounds and stretches them, thus collaging
>the composition. Most of the tracks start with either low end bass
>rumbling or high pitches crackles. But everything added on top is
>recognizable. The fifth track, the center of the CD, is the soundtrack to
>a video of Jos Moers and the use feedback tones seemed some what out of
>place. However it does break the CD. The sixth track ‘vergeten’ one hears
>the human voice making a sound, and shows the humorous side of this kind
>of serious music. In all a varied CD which everyone should cherish.
>Those who read my reviews of Trente Oiseaux’ first batch of releases,
>remember I was quite negative about Lopez’ first CD for this label. Over
>the year I gave it some more try, and actually I like it. I noticed
>different tracks of a varying intensity and volume. Here is a new one,
>with one piece in two version. The first one is the studio version of a
>composition performed live during the Trente Oiseaux Alpine tour 1996. A
>short (17 minute) live version is also included. The studio version (some
>50 minutes) takes again a microscopic view at sound. Small, almost
>inaudible sounds are used in this piece, and it only gradually opens up
>(i.e. becomes more audible) to end beyond ear reach. The live version
>comes a total surprise: totally audible and almost an industrial piece
>with samples throughout of almost factory like noises. Just getting used
>to Lopez’ approaches, this was not so much of my liking, however I may
>have changed my opinion by the time the next Lopez CD comes out. (FdW)
>Address: <trente_oiseaux@online.koblenz.com>