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HERIBERT FRIEDL – TRAC[K]_T (CD by Line) *
TAYLOR DEUPREE & CHRISTOPHER WILLITS – LISTENING GARDEN (CD by Line) *
NID – PLATE TECTONICS (CD by Auf Abwegen) *
A_DONTIGNY – GEISTESWISSENSCHAFTEN (CD by No Type) *
JEAN-MARC HÉBERT & CHRISTOPHE PAPADIMITRIOU & PIERRE TANGUAY & MARIE-SOLEIL BÉLANGER – L’AUTRE (CD by Malasartes Musique)
CÔRDAME – SAME (CD by Malasartes Musique)
PAU TORRES – HOSTILE (CD by Testing Ground)
V-A BABY GODZILLA (CD by Daly City)
MATTHEW DEAR – ASA BREED (CD by Ghostly International)
ANNEA LOCKWOOD – THOUSAND YEAR DREAMING / FLOATING WORLD (CD by Pogus)
IRR.APP.{EXT.} – COSMIC SUPERIMPOSITION (CD by Holocene Sound) *
RLW – AN ARCHIVIST’S NIGHTMARE (CD by Beta-lactam Ring Records) *
CALIKA – SEEDLING MOTHER (CD by Audiobulb Records)
ANTHONY PATERAS – CHASMS (CD by Sirr-ecords)
HUMAN FLESH – PENUMBRA (CD by EE Tapes) *
MAL – EIGHTIES (CDR by EE Tapes)
ETTRICK – FEEDERS OF RAVENS (LP by Not Not Fun Records)
ZACK KOUNS/GAYBOMBS (LP)
ABIKU/KID CAMARO (7″ by Automation Records)
RED SQUIRRELS – ACICORN TWIRL (7″ by Automation Records)
MATHIEU RUHLMANN – THE EARTH GROWS IN EACH OF US (CDR by Afe Records) *
BOOK OF SHADOWS – THE INNER WORLD (MP3 by Artificial Music Machine) *
KALEKA – U.K. (CDR, private) *
JLIAT – NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL NOISE VOL. 5 (CDR by Larks Council Of England) *
KOYUKI – RANDOM ANTENNA (3″CDR by Shin)
HERIBERT FRIEDL – TRAC[K]_T (CD by Line)
TAYLOR DEUPREE & CHRISTOPHER WILLITS – LISTENING GARDEN (CD by Line)
When I first played the Heribert Friedl CD ‘Trac[k]_t’ I must admit I felt a bit annoyed, a bit tired. Another one of those microsound releases of one ‘instrument’ recorded and then making endless computer processings, in this case the cymbalon, an instrument that was extensively explored by Friedl before on MP3 releases by Con-V, or releases on Trente Oiseaux and his own Nonvisual Objects label. But upon hearing this work a couple of times, there is some interesting things to be noted. One of them is that it seems to be more or less a live album of sorts. Perhaps I am entirely wrong, but I mean that much of the pieces sound a bit improvised, while it feeds through various stages of computer processing. Delay, reverb are perhaps common places, but there is a sine wave undercurrent to be noted in this music, which makes this somewhat more irregular in the micro-field, although he never leaves the field entirely. At times a bit more loud, more angular and less ‘flowing’ than his contemporary friends, this is quite a nice release, but one that gives away it’s own character after a few rounds of intense listening.
Line boss Taylor Deupree teams up with Christopher Willits, who himself is also a big shot in the world of ambient glitch or whatever one calls it, for a work which they composed for two ‘quiet indoor/tea spaces installed at the Yamaguchi Center For Arts and Media in Japan in June of 2004. This is ambient music in the sense that Eno intended it to be when he first thought of it. Music that wouldn’t be really present but fill the ambiance in a nice way. Deupree and Willits recommend the listener to hear this in a similar situation, low background level and without headphones. Tea drinking is not too well spend on this coffee junk, and actually I must admit that I found more pleasure in turning up the volume quite a bit and listen quite carefully – quite the opposite to what they want, but I found their music more enjoyable that way. The details come out much better of course, and one hears all the subtle differences of environmental recordings, Willits guitar and Deupree’s synthesizer humming. Even then things are quite textured, but quite rich. It has moved away from the old Eno sound (which I only enjoyed on ‘Music For Films’ in his first ambient phase) into richer musical tapestries. Quite nice, even when not entirely new. (FdW)
Address: http://www.12k.com
NID – PLATE TECTONICS (CD by Auf Abwegen)
It may have passed by without notice, at least it did here, but NID has split up after twelve years of existence. NID was a German duo of Jürgen Eberhard (who is and was before active as Feine Trinkers Bei Pinkels Daheim) and Chris Sidgell (solo known as B’Tong). As NID they played mostly around Germany and they released a couple of CDRs, of which I only seem to remember ‘Solar Flare’ (see Vital Weekly 460). ‘Plate Tectonics’ is said to be the only real CD – although you never know, if they reach the same mythical status as Maeror Tri, that might change. It’s not by accident that I mention Maeror Tri, as NID’s music from the same musical family: dark ambient industrial, built around sampled bird calls, deep synthesizers and utterly slowed down percussive sounds of heartbeat like thunder. Minimal changes in the low frequency range. A choir from the world of short waves, like a transmission from beyond. All of these usual ingredients are there, and it’s mostly alright, this music, but it’s never a big surprise, nothing out of the ordinary and it never beats say Maeror Tri or Troum. But for lovers of the genre, and they are plenty in the worlds of Old Europa Cafe, Cold Spring or Cold Meat Industry, this is absolutely worth checking out, and perhaps launch them into mythical heights.
The label Auf Abwegen is also connected to the magazine of the same name (or was that vice versa?) and the latest issue, number 36, is out now. The cover lists Fear Falls Burning, Bill Viola, Coil, Mira Calix, Earth/Sunn O))), Ronnie Sundin and Six Organs Of Admittance, but they are sometimes merely a small piece. The main power of the magazine lies in the endless amount of reviews, covering a much wider territory than say Vital Weekly, even when there is a page in which everything is done in one line only. You need to brush up your German though. (FdW)
Address: http://www.aufabwegen.com
A_DONTIGNY – GEISTESWISSENSCHAFTEN (CD by No Type)
The A in A_dontigny stands for Aime, and he is free noise composer from Canada. His name may ring a bell or two for his involvement in Napalm Jazz (not reviewed in Vital Weekly), Morceaux De Machines (see Vital Weekly 338 and 454), or his duet CD with Diane Labrosse (see Vital Weekly 384). Quite a busy man, but he never made a solo recording and ‘Geisteswissenschaften’ is his first solo excursion. He gets help from various people on guitar, cello and bass, but by and large it’s a solo work indeed. What exactly A_dontigny plays himself then? That is perhaps a bit harder to answer, but perhaps it’s safe to say that it’s a multitude of precorded sources – meaning vinyl, CDs, mini discs, computer files of existing material that he treats through further computer processing, electronic effects and such like. He may add highly fucked up rhythm machines and/or samplers of any kind, but the end result is quite a fascinating journey through the world of today: we zap around, on TV, on the net, and we get a true bombardment of sound and images – here only sound. A world that would drive a lot of people crazy, or in fact it perhaps already did. Much better it would be to sit down and enjoy A_dontigny’s release. Turn off the TV, switch of computers and let yourself sink back in this crazy world that is madness enough for those who really want to listen. A_dontigny crosses the world with crazy sounds, and an interesting mixture of techniques to approach the world: musique concrete like, noise based and improvised in playing. It all can be done. If the previous releases by Morceaux De Machines were something you liked, then this new release by one half will appeal to you too: it’s by no means half as good; it easily matches the duo. (FdW)
Address: http://www.electrocd.com
JEAN-MARC HÉBERT & CHRISTOPHE PAPADIMITRIOU & PIERRE TANGUAY & MARIE-SOLEIL BÉLANGER – L’AUTRE (CD by Malasartes Musique)
CÔRDAME – SAME (CD by Malasartes Musique)
The young Malasartes Musique label, is an initiative by Damain Nisenson, a composer and saxophonist from Argentina who settled down in Canada some years ago. The second release was a CD by a trio of Jean Félix Mailloux, called ‘Aurores boréales’. Mailloux now returns again in trio format with Côrdame. Himself playing doublebass, the trio is completed by marie Neige Lavigne on violin and Julie Odile Gauthier-Morin on cello. Tanguay helps out on percussion, plus Guillaume Bourge on clarinet on track 8 and Anit Ghosh on Viola in track ten.
All compositions and arrangements are again from Mailloux. In many tracks there are influences of folk music to be traced, especially from the middle east as title as ‘Au bord du Nil’ and ‘Valse hébraique’ suggest. Some of the compositions lack a own face and are a bit stereotype, others however are very good. The musicians give a dedicated and warm interpretation of the pieces. Similar in mood and atmosphere is the music on “L’autre”. At work is now a quartet of Jean-Marc Hébert (electric guitar), accompanied by Christophe Papadimitriou (bass), Pierre Tanguay (drums, percussion) and Marie-Soleil Bélanger (violin, ehru). All compositions come from Hébert, who studied guitar and composition in Toronto. With his group Skalène he already released three CDs. Also he participated in a project with indian musicians. Like in the compositions of Mailloux we hear influences from other parts of the world, but, again like by Mailloux, the music breaths an unmistakably francophone atmosphere. This is due to their lyric and sensual approach. Melancholy comes from the ehru, a chines violin, played by Bélanger. We first heard this instrument on the duet cd of Bélanger and Norman Guilbeault, reviewed earlier for Vital Weekly. The playing of Hébert is sober but effective, and reminds sometimes of Antoine Bethiaume. Both Mailloux and Hébert make no drastic maneuvers as composers. They are not into avant garde, rather they are engaged in an intelligent play with of all kind of influences in a music that always remains very accessible and enjoyable without becoming ‘easy’. (DM)
Address: http://www.actuellecd.com
PAU TORRES – HOSTILE (CD by Testing Ground)
The atmosphere on the album ‘Hostile’ by Pau Torres is not settled down within the realm of only one musical style or genre, but it can be said that it hovers around the crackling ambient mood that’s mostly characteristic about the music on this album. It’s obvious that the general atmospheric and a bit quiet mood is present through the whole album, but it’s not like a kind of, let’s say, space ambient music. What’s also present in this music is a specific jazz sense, but it is very discrete, a bit hidden beneath the surface of the silence, which somehow takes too much space in the music on the album. It’s a bit vague to be pure ambient and there are specific aspects in it that are usually common in improvised music, but probably that improvised approach should be more pointed out, as a contrast or opposition to the ambient sound. Occasionally various field recordings are used (more of them may bring in more diversity in the sound) and also sounds of acoustic percussive, string or wind instruments are appearing (sampled or maybe played by guest musicians; in the tracks: ‘Brown dog’, ‘Banjo insult’, ‘Haunted chuck’, ‘The girl who’, ‘Booth’, ‘M’ and ‘Frank’s’) and those moments, when the sounds of those instruments interfere with the electronics, are most attractive and should be further explored and combined more often, so that way the music would sound more full and the tension might be greater. Jazz and improvisation vs ambient is a nice musical territory, when all styles are equally present, while here it seems there’s a bit of lack of jazz in the improv (or the other way around), for the sake of the atmosphere of ambience, that’s mostly present on this release. (BR)
Address: http://www.testinground.com
V-A BABY GODZILLA (CD by Daly City)
‘Baby Godzilla’ is a new compilation release on Daly City, the label that also released a nice full-length album by Mochipet, who runs the label and is featured on this compilation with five tracks, of which, if I understand well, four are collaborations between Mochipet and these artists: Mikah 9, Taiwankid, Ray Barbee and Machinedrum. Of all the artists that Mochipet collaborates with here and of all the others on the compilation, I’m familiar with few of them: Machinedrum (of Merck Records), Daedelus, Edit (Planet Mu) and Bloodysnowman (who also has a full-length on Daly City). All 20 tracks on this compilation have a very similar sensibility and sound, the instrumental (and in some pieces vocal) hip-hop sense of a more mellow kind is obviously present through the whole cd, then there are glitched-out drills and basses (in the tracks by Edit, Eustachian and Bloodysnowman); and plus there’s also a specific and refreshing jazzy sound (when there are acoustic instruments mixed with the electronics), characteristic mostly about the tracks by: Daedelus, Spaceheater (who uses a saxophone, a flute and a conga drum, combined very well with the amusing and moody instrumental hip-hop music), Mochipet, Delux, Mophono and Mitsakos. Some different tracks by same artist (there are more tracks by one artist) sound diverse and are an intricate mix of jazzy, glitch and idm sensibilities. Maybe some of the tracks sound similar and it’s a bit lengthy, but the whole release is enjoyable, fun for listening and it’s a nice and interesting contrast to the hype of minimal-techno, which is seemingly fading out. More various approaches to the music might bring more diversity in the sound of the compilation, or maybe even more of the jazz sound would break some of the idm-hip-glitch-hop (or break-hop) cliches. But nevertheless, the general atmosphere never crosses over into the harsher digital hard core territory and mostly stays safely and cleverly in the areas of the various jazzy-hop styles, that sound best in the tracks on this compilation. (BR)
Address: http://www.dalycityrecords.com
MATTHEW DEAR – ASA BREED (CD by Ghostly International)
Listening the new album ‘Asa breed’ by Matthew Dear is a real pleasure, probably and mostly because of the various styles that are successfully merged in the music on this release. It’s a kind of music that can’t be pigeonholed as only techno, because on ‘Asa breed’ there are various influences and approaches to the music that are characteristic about many different genres and styles. The most obvious and very refreshing atmosphere on the album seems to be the resonating sense of a charming idm sensibility, that’s present through the whole release. Then there’s the guitar sound in some of the tracks (‘Give me more’, ‘Midnight lovers’), vocals and singing in all tracks, which inevitable associates to songwriting (sometimes even sounding like country music) and it’s interesting that many of the tracks or songs on the album are done in a songwriting style, but still not in a classic way. Think more – songwriting in techno style, often not sounding as techno at all. With ‘Asa breed’ Matthew Dear offers a new perspective for techno music in general and for his own music, adding specific existential moments in the songs, which is another interesting moment and phenomenon, how a wide range of existential themes (characteristic usually about literature or other art) are finding their place even in some of the contemporary production of techno music. Listening and comparing the previous release ‘Backstroke’ with the new album, it’s noticeable that now, coming out of the minimal-techno cliches, Matthew Dear likes to play more with the non-linear and not uniformed approaches to the songwriting inclined techno tracks, which is a good direction. It’s interesting how on the layered and well thought out ‘Asa breed’, Matthew Dear manages to bring in a lot of the songwriting sense in some of the techno and club oriented songs, which is well done in: ‘Neighborhoods’, ‘Deserter’, ‘Shy’, ‘Don and sherri’, ‘Pom pom’… (BR)
Address: http://www.ghostly.com
ANNEA LOCKWOOD – THOUSAND YEAR DREAMING / FLOATING WORLD (CD by Pogus)
Annea Lockwood is a composer from New Zealand, who got most of her education on the European continent, and lives and works since in 90s on the american continent. She worked with sound poets, wrote music for theatre productions, for live electronics, piano, etc. With ‘Thousand year Dreaming / Floating World’ it is the first time for me enjoying her work. The cd opens with ‘Thousand Year Dreaming’ that was released several years ago by the What Next label CD. The cd closes with the previously unreleased piece ‘Floating World’. ‘Thousand year Dreaming’ (1990) is a sort of modern cave music. The piece is written for a diversity of wind instruments, like didjeridu, conch shell, trombone, oboe, etc., plus percussion. We also hear the voice of Lockwood. Besides her, 9 musicians are involved in the performance of this dreamy, meditative piece that consists of 5 parts. Central is the didjeridu that represents “the sound of earth’s core pulsing serenely, and expression of the life force”. This modern cave music needs repeated listening before its reveals its beauty that is at the opposite of striking. For ‘Floating World’ (1999) Lockwood invited friends “to make recordings for me in places of personal, spiritual significance to them”. Through editing and adding new sounds Lockwood linked these different places into one floating world. So a piece results that mainly consists of environmental sounds of mother earth. A nice collage. (DM)
Address: http://www.pogus.com
IRR.APP.{EXT.} – COSMIC SUPERIMPOSITION (CD by Holocene Sound)
The cover says ‘2005’ but I am assured that this was released only recently; sometimes things go very slow. The cover also says: ‘Cosmic Superimposition is a revisitation of the sources used for the ‘Ozeanische Gefühle’ release unravelled, altered, reconfigured and then woven around a framework of five field recordings made during five different periods of the day over five consecutive days in November 2004′. The ‘Ozeanische Gefühle’ release dates from 2004 (and was reviewed in Vital Weekly 430) and that one had quite a big role for drones, more than on Matt Waldron’s previous work, but on ‘Cosmic Superimposition’ things are taken further in the field of drone music. Whatever he did on ‘Ozeanische Gefühle’ in terms of processing, he takes it a bit further here. Nothing as such that could possibly be traced back to it’s original sound, with massive drone sounds being developed out of almost nothing, rain drops sounding like metal percussion (or vice versa), this is quite a strong work, and a great counterpoint, or rather companion album to ‘Ozeanische Gefühle’. It bears not much relation to his work of late, or Waldron’s involvement in Nurse With Wound. It similarities could be drawn from here this work comes close to The Hafler Trio’s ‘Kill The King’ period. Drone heavy, but adding much more to it, in terms of percussion like sounds, the collage element and the constant flow and change of the material. (FdW)
Address: http://www.holocenesound.org/irr
RLW – AN ARCHIVIST’S NIGHTMARE (CD by Beta-lactam Ring Records)
Some years Ben Green organized an interesting radio program, called ‘One Hour As…’, in which a sound artist got the freedom to make a conceptual work being something or somebody. If you read Vital Weekly for some time, you may remember the announcements and think, just as I did, ‘wow, wouldn’t it be great to hear them all?’. A double CDR set which acted as a kind of best of was released, and some made their way to CD/CDR, for instance the Roel Meelkop hour. Here RLW presents his ‘An Archivist’s Nightmare’, which is, unlike Meelkop’s noise music, and other more musical works in the series, a highly conceptual work. In one hour, RLW reads titles from records from his collection. He has an interesting collection, that’s one that is sure. His kids and wife give a hand reading a few, and the microphone is cranked up high, so a bit of feedback occurs, but that’s about the extent to which the ‘musical’ part goes of this. You could wonder how often you want to hear this, once might be enough, but with a clever edit on the computer you could even make your own radioplay. This is work of conceptual art, a nice one, not great. And oh, one of the few RLW solo recordings, but I think I prefer the one from last week. (FdW)
Address: http://www.blrrecords.com
CALIKA – SEEDLING MOTHER (CD by Audiobulb Records)
It seemed like a few months that i reviewed Calika’s ‘Small Talk Kills Me’, but it was already in Vital Weekly 494. Now Simon Keoloha delivers his second album under the banner of ‘Seedling Mother’, and it an interesting forward he makes here. Whereas his previous one was a bit too scattered in various styles for my taste, this new one works much better, even when it still has that wide variety of styles. We leap frog into ambient textures, post rock mathematics, techno, IDM and back again. It’s a bit hard to say why it works here better than before, but I think it’s partly because tracks are a bit longer than on the previous one. This room in a track is used to expand on themes and explore them better. Even when a lot things happen inside tracks, there is enough space to explore each aspect and that is what makes this into a most enjoyable CD. (FdW)
Address: http://www.audiobulb.com
ANTHONY PATERAS – CHASMS (CD by Sirr-ecords)
If I understand correctly, this work by Anthony Pateras is a homage to a work by a similar by Ligeti, but I must admit I don’t know that work. Pateras is a player of the the prepared piano. The cover and booklet shows detailed close up pictures of the elements he uses to prepare his piano, like coins, bolts and carton. These are put inside the strings of a piano, so that the sound changes as the player plays the keys, or uses the strings to bow, pluck or hit. What the cover doesn’t tell us is wether this was played in real time or that this is the result of studio multi-tracking. But looking at Pateras career so far, I am pretty sure it’s the result of live playing. Pateras has played improvised with a bunch of people from down under where he is from, but ‘Chasms’ is his solo debut release. And what a great release it is. With prepared piano’s the music has an unmistakably percussive feel to it, but unlike some of Cage’s pieces, it’s not entirely purely rhythmical. Pateras plays the piano like a percussion instrument, going through loud and heavy passages but also knows how to take back control and contemplation in the title piece. Sometimes it sounds like a frog choir, or ethnic percussion, or like a lone bang on a can. Pateras opens a fascinating world. Highly (modern) classical in approach, but throughout also highly enjoyable. Great debut. (FdW)
Address: http://www.sirr-ecords.com
HUMAN FLESH – PENUMBRA (CD by EE Tapes)
MAL – EIGHTIES (CDR by EE Tapes)
In the early to mid eighties I was a big fan of Insane Music, an indeed crazy label from Belgium. Their releases either worked around the various musical disguises of Alain Neffe, who played as or with bands as Pseudo Code (the biggest favorite here), I Scream, Cortex (which was poetry read by women, set to music by Neffe), Subject and Human Flesh. The latter was his most serious and also most open project. People from around the world mailed Neffe music and voices/vocals, to which Neffe added his own blend of music, made on violin, saxophone, synthesizer and piano. The fifteen pieces on ‘Penumbra’ were all recorded between 1985 and 1995, a period of silence for Human Flesh releases, but down in his basement Neffe continued to play music. There is something quite distinct about the music of Human Flesh. The way the saxophone is played, the voices (of Deborah Jaffe, Tara Cross, Nadine Bal, Anna Holmer) reciting rather than singing and the way other instruments are used. Right from the start this is easily to recognize as Human Flesh music. Maybe fifteen pieces is a bit much for what it is, but in terms of serious dramatic, melodic but also partly experimental music, Human Flesh has still an unbeatable style to it.
Related to the world of Insane Music is Daniel Malempre, also known as MAL. On many of the old compilation cassettes of Insane Music he had a track, which usually consisted of pleasant guitar music, backed with a quirky rhythm. If I remember the story correctly he had invented some system to play his guitar and control it with reel to reel tape decks to make echo. He mailed a demo to Ohr Records with the explanation how he made the music and then Manuel Gottsching did use for his famous ‘E2-E4’ record. As said I remember this correct. On ‘Eighties’ he presents a whole bunch of pieces he recorded in that decade on a 4 track cassette recorder, all but one of which were released on cassettes. MAL plays yamaha CS5, Realistic Moog, Korg Poly 800, spanish guitar, electric and bass guitar. His music is quite cheerful, with uplifting rhythms, though not fast, with the guitar spiraling around it. It’s really nice, for a couple of tracks. You can easily make a great selection of ten out of the eighteen pieces, but all of them is a bit too much. Some of these pieces sound like a more or less copies of the others. That is a pity. Also it would have been nicer if they were a bit longer. The sketch like pieces that some are, is just a bit too short. Things could develop a bit more given the right time frame. I am not sure how his more recent music sounds, but it should be something to consider for him. These minor complaints aside, this is a nice retrospective release and anyone who has place in their hearts for old music released on cassettes, should get it. (FdW)
Address: http://www.eetapes.be
ETTRICK – FEEDERS OF RAVENS (LP by Not Not Fun Records)
We came across Ettrick before, loud and clear, one could say. ‘The Infinite Horned Abomination’ (see Vital Weekly 500) was their entrance, Jacob Heule and Jap Korber, playing drums and saxophones and sometimes switch roles. Here they return with a likewise slab of energy, power and noise, this time in the form of a LP. The previous releases were recorded live but here’s the turn to the studio. Recording noise is not always a thing many people do right, but in the case of Ettrick, hats off. Clear, crisp and deep playing of drums and saxophone in the same unrelentness spirit as before. Total free music of total free form mayhem. No electronics are used in this recording, yet it sounds like a big crash course in noise. Some tracks are dueling saxophones, or dueling drums or a battle between both ends. It’s the kind of noise I like, because it sounds so different than the regular noise assault which land on this desk. Quite hard hit to the face and play loud is more than recommended. (FdW)
Address: http://www.notnotfun.com
ZACK KOUNS/GAYBOMBS (LP)
It’s a bit hard to imagine but for whatever reason one J.A. Barranca mailed this LP in an oversized LP box and then in a separate mailer bag, but there is no information on the LP, not a press text, not even a website. Nothing. I think I said I wouldn’t do obscure stuff anymore, but what can you do if someone just paid 32 dollar to mail this. The vinyl is red and on one side there is written Zack Kouns, let’s say the artist. Nothing else. Kouns plays bass, guitar and the smallest form of sampling, sings and occasionally let’s the reverb go beserk and feedback occurs. Desolate music from a tormented soul, even with 4800 friends on myspace. True outsider music, beyond any style or definition, but it’s indeed quite nice.
I could google Gaybombs (that what is written on the other side, along with ‘186/206’, so there aren’t many around) but I am a bit afraid of what is to be seen then, so I didn’t do that. Gaybombs play an odd kind of noise on an ancient synthesizer, which is fed through an amplifier in the basement, with the microphone picking up the signal of the amplifier as well as the basement itself. Quite a loose set of sounds, also, perhaps, involving a reel to reel recorder or a turntable. The recording quality is no doubt part of the fun, or hey even concept (how would I know), but it could perhaps be a bit better than this. A fascinating record this one, perhaps one that will pop in a blogspot in a few years as one of those lost treasures.
If you want to get it, buy a stamp and write a letter. That’s something I like but hardly do. (FdW)
Address: J.A. Barranca – 369 N. Nassau St – Charleston, SC 29403 – USA
ABIKU/KID CAMARO (7″ by Automation Records)
RED SQUIRRELS – ACICORN TWIRL (7″ by Automation Records)
Two 7″s with all new names to me. Abiku is a synth punk band, with drums, keyboards and bass. Hard driven rhythms, screaming vocals and overall not really too catchy tunes, but with the right spirit. This might be music that would work even better in a live situation, me thinks, but here on record, with a nice three tracks per side, it’s quite alright. On the flip is one Kid Camaro from Virginia, who plays more easy to access music on a gameboy (well just guessing here about it) with a nice set of broken beats to accompany things. More techno than punk, with here too the hearth is in the right place.
It’s a bit hard to say anything about Red Squirrels, which is a solo project of one Jason Young. He plays some lo-fi music, involving, well perhaps, voices, guitars, field recordings, and apparently it’s all recorded to a laptop, but it still sounds pretty lo-fi to me. The five pieces are quite unfocussed pieces of music, which don’t seem to go anywhere, and left me a bit clueless. A bit of outsider music, that would be safe to say. (FdW)
Address: http://www.automationrecords.com
MATHIEU RUHLMANN – THE EARTH GROWS IN EACH OF US (CDR by Afe Records)
Throughout the years Mathieu Ruhlmann has proved to be an interesting composer of ambient music, which sadly was released on CDR labels, and thus may not have gained wide attention. His latest release. ‘The Earth Grows In Each Of Us’ is released on Italy’s finest current home for ambient and experimental music Afe Records, and it’s a conceptual work. It was recorded in 2006 when Ruhlmann turned 30. The first four pieces refer to his year of birth, 1976, while the fifth piece is thirty minutes long, with three segments of ten minutes. Ruhlmann uses a whole bunch of instruments, such as violin, piano, autoharp, accordion, bell, shruti box, voice, vinyl, wasps, seafoam, glass, tiles, fireworks, water, tree branch, metal, seedpod, pine cone, tone generator and stones. Normally I wouldn’t mention all of this, but it’s good to know. I think I would have all too easily refer to this music as ‘analogue synthesizers and perhaps piano’; now, with this extended list of instruments I listen with different ears. Indeed elements of vinyl static, radio speech and concrete elements do form a part of this recording. It makes a pretty strong release of highly atmospheric music. Quite dark at times, this is certainly not music for the new age of mind. This space is top heavy, but also well-balanced and well-executed release of rich sonic tapestries. (FdW)
Address: http://www.aferecords.com
BOOK OF SHADOWS – THE INNER WORLD (MP3 by Artificial Music Machine)
Quite hot on the heels of their CD ‘… And Then We All Woke Up’, there is this MP3 only release on a new initiative Artificial Music Machine by Book Of Shadows. The core members are Carlton and Sharon Crusher, who have been playing music for a long time already, and they get help from various people on guitars, synthesizers and electronics (theremin for instance). Vocals are pushed to the back, luckily, since that’s what I didn’t enjoy very much from their previous release. Otherwise there doesn’t seem to have been too many changes in the music. The delay is a machine they seem to enjoy very much: it’s used to a wide extent, unfortunately. All the sounds seem to be fed through that, from guitars to voices, and electronics. Quite psychedelic, but it’s hard to lit a joint for every release of this nature as we wouldn’t be able to continue writing. Spacious music for those who wish to join the flight, otherwise it seems a bit too hard to access. ‘Ring Chaos’, with its ringing sounds, metallic clatter and sort of arabic guitar tunes was an odd ball, and while not great, at least offering something different. (FdW)
Address: http://www.artificialmusicmachine.com
KALEKA – U.K. (CDR, private)
Even when the cover to this release contains information, it’s still a pretty obscure release, but perhaps it has to do with the fact that my knowledge of Polish is not great, or rather nonexistent. Kaleka is a duo of Focu on radio, synthesizer and antennas and Brombox on PC, electronics and voice. The release starts out quite promising: percussive sounds, distorted shortwave sounds and irregular synthesizer sounds. Perhaps a bit like good ol’ Esplendor Geometrico but then played in a more improvised manner. Something similar happens in the second piece, but here the lack of organization in the music fails to make any impression. The final piece ‘III’ is the longest one, and here they sink back into pure improvised noise. At times I was reminded Gert-Jan Prins with his radio wires and broken cables, but it lacked his power and energy to some extent. This sort of improvised noise music, not too dissimilar to that of Merzbow, perhaps works best live or when it’s recorded much better. (FdW)
Address: http://kaleka.net
JLIAT – NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL NOISE VOL. 5 (CDR by Larks Council Of England)
bince Jliat board of the review oh for a popnois posse, feel relieved. Noiseenre is mea dead end, even when I play a bit of noise and n eabif eeky: many are follwer ad few are chosen as trendsetters. Which is no big d, it’s like real life. Whe Jliat is nil England he relases with a rip off cod it on. It soe of te oder Merbow work, a bit more in lo-fi territory Not ebut hin totxt of noise. ueight tracks of exactly three minutes anse is thirty nine secoweekhve peard volme one of tto th ones) and things explode, eight times. And augmentof volume two, it doesn’t iffer from volume one very. Volume five in a series of eight, that will form in total 64 tracks of pure and unrelentness noise. (FdW)
Address: http://www.jliat.com
KOYUKI – RANDOM ANTENNA (3″CDR by Shin)
Shin, a small label run by the same people as Microsuoni, has some Japanese fixation. Their first artist was one Shinkei, and now we get Koyuki. The information for these releases is non existent. ‘Created using shortwave radio as source material’, is the total extent of the press blurb. I must say it sounds a bit like things like this should sound: hissy, crack-like, careful, and somewhere a deep sonic rumble. A bit low in volume, but that is also something that comes free with the game. It’s throughout not unpleasant to hear, but at the same time I couldn’t help thinking: so what? It’s also music you could easily be without (but perhaps that goes for so much music anyway). Labeled: alright anyway. (FdW)
Address: http://www.microsuoni.com