ROBERT PIOTROWICZ – LASTING CLINAMEN (CD by Musica Genera) *
BUCK & FUHLER & ZARADNY – LIGHTON (CD by Musica Genera)
LEHN & GRYDELAND & ZACH – (CD by Musica Genera)
AUTOCLAV 1.1 – BROKEN BEATS FOR BROKEN HEARTS (CD by Hive Records)
ESA – HOW PURE WOULD YOUR UTOPIA BE? (CD by Hive Records)
MEMMAKER – HOW TO ENLIST IN A ROBOT UPRISING (CD by Hive Records)
CRYPTIC SCENERY – ON THE OUTSKIRTS (CD by D’Oorhinge L’Orange)
KONRAD KORABIEWSKI – STATELESS (CD by D’Oorhinge L’Orange) *
HOH – WE CAN WORK IT OUT (CD by Zang: Records) *
KIOKU – BOTH FAR AND NEAR (CD by Quiet Design)
PEDAIR AWR YNG NGHYMRU FYDD/BRAVE NEW WALES (3CD by Fourier Transform)
ELETRONAVN – COSMIC CONTINUUM (CD by Ikuisuus)
OPEN EYE DUO – SEA & FISH (CDR by Ikuisuus) *
MATOMERI – JOYS OF SUMMER (CDR by Ikuisuus)
MY3YEAH (CDR by Ikuisuus)
AARON DILLOWAY / CARLOS GIFFONI – LIVE AT THE NO FUN FEST 2007 (LP by No Fun Productions)
ENEMA SYRINGE – LIVE AT THE NO FUN FEST 2007 (LP by No Fun Productions)
RELIGIOUS KNIVES – RESIN (CD by No Fun Productions)
THURSTON MOORE – SENSITIVE / LETHAL (CD by No Fun Productions)
MENACE RUINE – CULT OF RUINS (CD by Alien8 Recordings)
JESUS OF NAZARETH / KUSARI GAMA KILL – VAIN (Split-Cdr by R.O.N.F. Records)
EXILLON – IT’S OK TO DANCE (CD by Ad Noiseam)
PSYCHIC SPACE INVASION – TRANSITIONS (CD by Persepolis Records)
MIKE BROWNINGS INNER WORKINGS – TRANCEMISSIONS (CD by Pharmafabrik)
MARCHING DYNAMICS – NAILSLEEPER (CD by Hymen Records)
TWINKLE – LE JOUET (CD by Ant-Zen)
BULBS – LIGHT SHIPS (CD by Freedom To Spend) *
ANLA COURTIS & SEIICHI YAMAMOTO & YOSHIMI – LIVE AT KANADIAN (CD by Public Eyesore) *
STEVEN HESS & MILES TILMANN – DEPARTURES (LP by Other Electricities)
AUDIOSCOOP COMPILATION 1 (2LP compilation by Audioscoop)
FREIBAND – CAPTURE (3″ CDR by My Own Little Label)
MOLJEBKA PVLSE – IODE/IVX (7″ by Drone Records)
NOISE DREAMS MACHINE – IN/OUT (7″ by Drone Records)
SHRINE – DISTORTED LEGENDS (7″ by Drone Records)
XABEC – FEUERSTERN (7″ by Drone Records)
MYSTIFIED – SUBDIALOGUE (CDR by Verato Project) *
STEVE PETERS – FILTERED LIGHT (CHAMBER MUSIC 4) (CDR by Dragon’s Eye Recordings) *
OZMADAWN – RISE OF THE MOTH (CDR by Chambara Records)
HORSEFLESH – SYNTHENESIA 1 (CDR by Chambara Records)
K.E. REVIS – BANISHING ANXIETIES (CDR by BXR Records) *
K.E. REVIS – LETTING GO (CDR by BXR Records)
THE LAMB AND THE TYGER (CDR by I Had An Accident Records)
SAM FEMINO – THE ROARKIAN TEMPLATE (CDR by I Had An Accident Records)
TUGBOAT – THE ASTORIANS (CDR by I Had An Accident Records)
BABA LLAGA – GESAMTKUNSTWERK (CDR by Hamaika)
MAIKKO – TLAYACAPAN (CDR by Gruenrekorder)
TBC – PFALZ II (CDR by Gruenrekorder) *
SUSPICION BREEDS CONFIDENCE – THE FAUNA AND FLORA OF THE VATICAN CITY (CD by Gruenrekorder)
LASSE-MARC RIEK – ISLANDS (CDR by Oem Records)
STEINBRÜCHEL & MACHINEFABRIEK – STAUB (3″ CDR by Machinefabriek) *
ORIGAMI BOE – ACOUSTIC LAPTOPS (MP3 by Ambolthue) *
BLINDHEAO – IT’S A BIT LIKE PLAYING A GAME – FRUSTRATING GAME IN WHICH THE RULES MIGHT CHANGE AT A MOMENT’S NOTICE (MP3 by Ruidemos)
ROBERT PIOTROWICZ – LASTING CLINAMEN (CD by Musica Genera)
BUCK & FUHLER & ZARADNY – LIGHTON (CD by Musica Genera)
LEHN & GRYDELAND & ZACH – (CD by Musica Genera)
When I open a parcel with multiple items, like this one I start playing just whatever comes in my one hand first. When it’s on, I start investigating the rest. So while playing the release by Robert Piotrowicz and jotting down on a piece of paper ‘loud drones’, I noticed that the other two would be entirely something different. Interesting. Ok. So writing down ‘loud drones’ was just the first impression of Robert Piotrowicz. I never heard of him. His release was recorded in two days, but then mixed over various dates in 2007. Piotrowicz plays one instrument, the Doepfer A100 modular synthesizer. The loud drone thing only goes for the first piece. The other three are much more subtle. Whoever this Piotrowicz is, he plays his instrument with great care. Building large spaces with a massive, fat, dense sound that is highly minimal, but somehow, somewhere has a great captivate feel to it. Industrial? Perhaps. Minimal? Yes. Ambient? At times. Impressive music.
Now onto the other two. Both are releases are live recordings of a trio playing improvised music. The first is Tony Buck on drums, Cor Fuhler on piano and electronics and Anna Zaradny on alto saxophone. I never heard of the latter, while the other two are all over the improvised music scene. Their recording is from already two years ago, and displays their qualities well – as far as I can judge of course in the case of Zaradny, who seems to me the most regular player in this trio. Her contribution is certainly making this into a much more conventional album. Her playing is quite jazz related and blurs for me at least the playing of the other two, who seems to be doing interesting things on the drum kit and the piano. A bit of a pity but the saxophone playing of this kind is not well spend on me.
Of much more interest is the trio of Thomas Lehn (analogue synthesizer), Ivar Grydeland (guitar, guitar banjo) and Ingar Zach (percussion), with an even older recording, from 2005. All three are also from that ever inspiring improvisation field, working with anybody they can think of. Here they are in full form. They treat their instruments with care and trust. Bent and break the things at hand. This trio offers a very dynamic set of music, going from soft introspective parts to loud, vicious strokes. Their instruments sound usually unlike what they are supposed to sound, save, perhaps, for Lehn’s, but then what does an analogue synthesizer sound like? Exactly. It sounds only like Lehn does. Peeping loud, moaning, grunting. The other two get likewise sounds out of their instruments and make this release an utter joy. (FdW)
Address: http://www.musicagenera.net
AUTOCLAV 1.1 – BROKEN BEATS FOR BROKEN HEARTS (CD by Hive Records)
ESA – HOW PURE WOULD YOUR UTOPIA BE? (CD by Hive Records)
MEMMAKER – HOW TO ENLIST IN A ROBOT UPRISING (CD by Hive Records)
US label Hive records started in 2003 with the aim of promoting “harsh industry-grade frequency manipulation and flowing, dark atmospheric music”. Three albums released early this year show the wide approach to experimental electronics. All three contains their own quality and seems different from each other. First album comes from British artist Tony Young who composes under the name Autoclav 1.1. Apparently he has been on stage enough time, to catch the attention of a wide range of experimental scene’s interesting artists and thus make them manipulate and treat the works of Autoclav 1.1 into their very own. And it does really work great with the stylish variation of remixes. From Oil 10’s emotional IDM-remix of “Fault” to the hyper energetic gabber-like version of “This is untitled” by Wast3 the listener shouldn’t get bored during this trip. Fortunately the main part of the remixed tracks keeps the emotional spheres of Autoclav 1.1. since this is his real treat. A very satisfying remix-album. Next album comes from an artist calling himself ESA being a shortage of “Electronic Substance Abuse”. As you might have guessed thanks to the project name, the style belongs to the harsher sides of electronic music circulating around Power Noise / Industrial. The album opens with a dialogue, slowly moving into the sounds of guitar noises putting an end to the track titled “Dialogue”. Second track opens with blasting beats of Industrial that soon after are followed by voice samples interfering the up-beat expression. On following track the tempo gets even faster with fast rhythm structures and buzzing drones of power noise building a dark and brutal atmosphere. The stylish expression continues in this vein until the calmer track titled “In lust we trust” appears. A more emotional and melodic track with elements of Trance though still kept in the harsh pace. The album goes back to fast mode after this and he keeps the listener banging his head until last track. “You do not belong here” is a very emotional and dark track floating in slow ambience floating throughout its seven minutes running time only interrupted by discreet voices of females and children. A quite emotional album from ESA demonstrating that Power Noise is not only the question of brutality. Where ESA “only” had a few doses of Trance-elements included on the album “How pure would your utopia be?”, the Trance-element is an essential part of the last album reviewed here. The album titled “How to enlist in a robot uprising” is the debut of a project calling itself Memmaker. The project consist of two Canadian sound artists, one of them being Guillaume Nadon and the other one being Yann Faussurier, the latter respected for his unique Trance-based Industrial project Iszoloscope. Memmaker belongs to the same stylish category as Iszoloscope, though with an even more club-oriented pace mixing harsh industrial, EBM and up-beat hard trance – the beat texture never drops below 126 bmp! Thanks to its repetitive nature there is plenty of floor fillers on the album making the album born to the club-scene. Rather than focusing on melody “How to enlist in a robot uprising” concentrates on the dynamical body-appealing edge, and the two members of Memmaker certainly do it well. Three quite intense releases from Hive Records. Check the myspace-address below for more info and music from the label. (NM)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/hiverecords
CRYPTIC SCENERY – ON THE OUTSKIRTS (CD by D’Oorhinge L’Orange)
KONRAD KORABIEWSKI – STATELESS (CD by D’Oorhinge L’Orange)
As reported before, of Christian H. Sötemann we reviewed a couple of solo CDR with shady, hazy post ambient isolationist guitar music, but his main line of work is a band Cryptic Scenery, of which we only heard one track on a split 7″ with Antenne. That failed to make any impression, but that was perhaps it was because it was just one track. Now I know for sure: Cryptic Scenery is not my kind of music. At all. Citing Roxy Music, King Crimson, Ultravox, John Cale, Talk Talk (actually some of these I like too), this band however fails to make much impression. Perhaps because what inspired them I heard when I was much younger, but my taste has progressed, and I play some of that old stuff for nostalgic reasons only. I certainly don’t think this is bad at all. Production wise, music wise, the way things are played, it’s all done with great care and eye for detail. Just nothing for me.
Of Konrad Korabiewski I never heard, although he has done remixes of the Danish band Amstrong, which I do know. Originally from Poland, he know lives in Denmark too. It’s hard for me to understand what he wants with his CD ‘Stateless’. The pieces are based around rhythm, even manage to sound a bit techno like, but somehow don’t sound like floor fillers to me – adding that I am not a DJ, so what do I know? But then there also bits of music around, especially in the built up of some of the pieces that are quite experimental and for which Korabiewski takes his time. Not that they sound super great, but it adds a street credibility with the Vital Street gang. Perhaps music like this better off on a piece of vinyl and being played loud in a club, in stead of this mediocre volume at home. Like Cryptic Scenery something of which I can hear that it well made and with love but perhaps not entirely my cup of tea. (FdW)
Address: http://www.bsbta.com
HOH – WE CAN WORK IT OUT (CD by Zang: Records)
A strange label, Norway’s Zang:, releasing serious electro-acoustic music but then also something like this. HOH (again, not to be confused with the Icelandic guy of the same name) wants to play pop/techno music. Two pieces here, plus of each two remixes. The first is ‘Lovebreak’ in which he is influenced by Cabaret Voltaire and Fad Gadget, mainly through his dark vocals, singing all the dirty words from the book. A simple and effective song. The two remixes didn’t do much for me. The first, by DJ:Woo is a breakbeat like and QRT mixes it like it would be mixed on the dance floor, but doesn’t work on CD. The fourth one is the title and that’s my favorite here. Sparse melodic lines, minimalist techno beat an a sad girl voice singing ‘we can work it out’, which has no relation to fab four song of the same name. Here lies the inspiration in 90s techno, but even at its stretched length this is quite a nice song. Very lush. The ‘P-remix’ entirely destroys the song – big shame and the Radio mix is slightly redundant after the long original. This could have been a great 7″. (FdW)
Address: http://www.zang.no
KIOKU – BOTH FAR AND NEAR (CD by Quiet Design)
New York City is still a place where new musical adventures are born. And not all of them find their way to the Tzadik catalogue. Kioku (japanese for “memory”) is N.Y.C.-based trio who released their new one on the small Quiet Design label. And that is the way I like it. Who are Kioku? The trio is made up of Wynn Yamami (taiko, percussion), Ali Sakkal (saxophones, percussion) and Christopher Ariza (live electronics). Their music is a very unusual blend of influences, unheard before and providing the word ‘worldmusic’ with a new content. Yamami is specialized in playing japanese percussion. Sax-player Sakkal originates from Kuwait. With his eastern background he studied with Branford Marseilles, Oliver Lake, a.o. Ariza is a composer and programmer of sonic structures and systems. He composed for theatre, film, interactive media, etc. With their different backgrounds asian percussion music, jazz and sound art come together for a new adventure. In contrast, most compositions refer to already existing traditional korean and japanese music. ‘Drum Thing’ is a composition by John Coltrane. ‘Spirits 16’ is composed by Keith Jarrett. Over all the music is very powerful and aggressive. In most pieces we hear eastern rhythms and patterns played with much energy on eastern percussion, noisy and abstract sounds, and a jazzy saxophone. But the furious and convincing playing of the three, leaves you no time to wonder about this exceptional combination. They have no time and reason to hesitate. The tapestry of percussive beats is in most pieces very dominant, also because the traditional percussion colors the soundspectrum considerably. But also the saxophone often is in a prominent role. The live electronics of Azira however have a place more in the background, bridging everything effectively and inconspicuous together. An excellent work! (DM)
Address: http://www.quietdesign.us/
PEDAIR AWR YNG NGHYMRU FYDD/BRAVE NEW WALES (3CD by Fourier Transform)
A bit of regional patriotism is something I for one never dislike – Nijmegen rules of course (to remind you once again that Vital Weekly is not, we repeat, not from Amsterdam). But would I want a CD with all sorts of music from Nijmegen only? Perhaps not. Wales is somewhat bigger than Nijmegen, so here’s a triple CD of music from Wales, named after Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’, although the Welsh title translates as ‘Four Hours In Future Wales’, oddly enough. I could only think of one Welsh band, on top of my head, being Super Furry Animals, but they don’t seem to part of this collection (maybe to big?). Glancing at all these names, I only seem to be recognizing one, which is Graham Bowers and Rhodri Davies. Although there are no less than forty-eight pieces in somewhere over 240 minutes of music, some people have various pieces, so it’s not forty-eight different artists. It’s quite a daring move to start with a couple of strong noise pieces on disc one, but as the CDs evolve there are also other forms of music, mostly ambient and field recordings, as this turns out to be a release of music that is nowhere near rock music and that’s the cool thing about this release, it’s all connected to the world of experimental music, in all it shades and colors. Hard to tell track by track what is there, but as a whole, this is an excellent introduction to Wales and it’s musical undercurrent. Including Gimp Nipples, Chuch, Achonry, Rose Heyworth, Gwydion Gruffield, Stereo Minus One, Edwin Pang, Richard Bowers, WHITENOISESOUND, Tatamax, Carrintavy, Min Boyce, Y Phthwng, The Lumpy Choo Choo Band, Carphology Collective, Beautiful Screaming Lady, Simon Proffitt, Angharad Davies/Rhodri Davies, Steve Hubback, Gorwel Owen, Eirwyn Llwyd Roberts, The 14th Century, Y Chwiorydd Marw, Traw, Jim Knight, Fiona Owen, ISG, Nawadaha, Lleu Williams, Hwyl Nofio, Ap Duw, The Master Musicians Of Dyffryn Moor, Perfect Blue, Sound Engineer, Matthew Lovett & Javier Carmona, Strap The Button, Green End Listening Station, Dominic De Nebo and Carrintavy. Extended information on all of these in the booklet. (FdW)
Address: http://www.fouriertransform.com
ELETRONAVN – COSMIC CONTINUUM (CD by Ikuisuus)
OPEN EYE DUO – SEA & FISH (CDR by Ikuisuus)
MATOMERI – JOYS OF SUMMER (CDR by Ikuisuus)
MY3YEAH (CDR by Ikuisuus)
Lots of new names to be explored on Finland Ikuisuus label. Its hard for me to see why something is released on CD and something else on CDR – there must be logic there which I fail to see. From Denmark comes Elektronavn AKA Magnus Olsen Majmon, who plays a whole bunch of instruments, such as clarinet, voice, guitar, organ, flute, gong, harp, percussion and field recordings. The outcome is not easy to lump into some musical category. I think Elektronavn likes drone music, but played on what seems to me be a set of mainly acoustic instruments with hardly any electronically means. Which is fine of course, had it not for the fact that it’s not a great recording. A bit hollow. In some ways I think Elektronavn is a bit of a hippie, scratching, scraping and chanting his two lengthy songs. I wouldn’t be surprised to know that Elektronavn rather would have made a LP, highly limited with hand made covers, which in some circles would give him a legendary status. Free psychedelic music I guess, but not for me.
The other releases are on CDR. Open Eye Duo are Pascal Nichols and Dave Birchall. Dave is the man behind Black And White Cat Press, and has played in bands like Stuckometer, Kalbakken and My Beautiful Ridiculous Plan. Pascal has releases on Rayon Records and played in Stuckometer, Chora, On Fire and A Band. Together they recorded on Pascal’s birthday in his flat with a bunch of instruments such as a floor tom, a guitar and found objects. They have a very direct in your face of scraping, scratching, plucking and hitting their instruments and objects which is actually quite nice to hear. Its certainly is quite raw and untamed, but the fact that the recording is quite nice make this a delight to hear. Some of scraping of strings sound like Agencement, if anyone remembers that. A recording that is very much acoustic, even when there is a bit of feedback in ‘Booted’. Loud acoustic music is what we need.
Something entirely different is Matomeri, which is a band from Tampere and holds one of the directors of the label it’s ranks. Its Timo Puustinen on synth and drums, and Jussi Ahonen on throat and guitar and Simo Pieniniemi on guitar. Together they play loud free improvisation music, through hazes and shades of feedback and distortion in an endless of wall of sound approach. A bit blurry in the recording (where’s the throat, the synth?) and reminded me of some of the Acid Mothers Temple. It’s pretty much o.k. but not entirely my cup of beer then.
Something similar I could say about Argentina My3yeah, a duo of Tomas Muller and gmc. On their self titled CDR they offer five long improvisations, mostly or entirely in the area of electronics. They crash about in a semi noise based way, but things never get too loud or too gritty. That is fine, but in itself I didn’t think these pieces were very good, except for the last one, which was much softer and based around slow samples. A much ambient drone piece at work here, which worked well, despite its length. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ikuisuus.net
AARON DILLOWAY / CARLOS GIFFONI – LIVE AT THE NO FUN FEST 2007 (LP by No Fun Productions)
ENEMA SYRINGE – LIVE AT THE NO FUN FEST 2007 (LP by No Fun Productions)
RELIGIOUS KNIVES – RESIN (CD by No Fun Productions)
THURSTON MOORE – SENSITIVE / LETHAL (CD by No Fun Productions)
The annual No Fun Fest must be one hell of a weekend, considering that many recordings from the festival are later immortalized on disc by No Fun Productions themselves. The bill for each year certainly sounds like it’s the most exciting festival around at the moment, if only it wasn’t that far away for us Europeans. You would therefore think that it’s a small solace that we now get the chance to hear these performances in our own homes, but the question is if it’s such a great curatorial idea to release several individual live releases from each year’s lineup.
After Merzbow, Incapacitants and Pain Jerk it’s now time for sets by Aaron Dilloway, No Fun-head honcho Carlos Giffoni himself, and Enema Syringe, all on LP. I always dig Dilloway’s solo stuff, and his side of the split-LP he shares with Giffoni is no letdown either. No need to peak-in if you’re indifferent to the word ,loop’ though, as that is Dilloway’s main feature. He creates repeating patterns of rough sounds from a variety of sources (mostly tapes I guess), but his sound never becomes too extreme, in fact it always stays quite musical, even when he lets go more towards the end. The Giffoni side shows him in the analogue style that we know of him by now. Sputtering synths aplenty here, as if the airconditioning has been turned on max for the No Fun audience during his set, and it must’ve also sounded quite refreshing after hearing 10 Japnoise acts I guess. Both sets have a studio-quality in sound, and both sets are great introductions for these artists.
Enema Syringe is an old noise institution from Sweden, and as it is one of the main objectives of the festival to get an idea of what spectrum of noise acts there have been (as long as they’re still active, and if not, Carlos will probably revive them again for one night). This is the first time I heard this solo-act, but his sweet introduction with the heavy Swedish accent on top of some religious church singing already wins me over. It’s not as harsh as I thought it would be, though its repetition can be grinding, and he mutters and screams unintelligibly over mostly all of it. I’ve never liked screamo-noise, but he does have some interesting sounds going on, especially an electro-like rhythm in the first track of the second side. It sounds like a Ricky Martin cover anyway. No, I didn’t say that. I guess Swedish is just not a good language to scream in. The last track is like the Swedish Chef on a bad acid trip.
Religious Knives just released their first ,real’ album “It’s After Dark”, but this is their second CD for No Fun on which they collect limited material from 12″ and CDR releases. It’s a nice follow-up to “Remains” in that is shows their development towards a more open and melodic side. I tend to like the early material better, especially when I hear the single “In The Back”, which has a certain silly feeling to the way the vocals are delivered. They fare better on the b-side of that 12″ with its gorgeous use of organ and harmonica, but again the singing sounds a little underdeveloped. It’s a recurring problem on this collection, but look beyond it and you get a beautifully sounding set of tracks. The spacious quality of the keys, guitar and cymbals on “Growth” are RK’s biggest strength, even if it can veer closely to times agone, echoeing a languid version of the Doors in almost every track.
Timeless and without comparison though, is the new Thurston Moore solo album. More intricate then, say, his work as Bark Haze, much more listenable too (even if the little girl on the cover doesn’t agree). The first track is layer over layer of guitar, but nothing gets out of hand, it sounds rather balanced. A backbone of acoustic guitar is backing up a frontal guitar freakout, and they work perfectly together. After a nice short middle track the final one rips up the scene to pieces, a quite noisy affair though still very enjoyable. I wouldn’t mind hearing more of this stuff from Mr. Moore… (RM)
Address: http://www.nofunproductions.com/
MENACE RUINE – CULT OF RUINS (CD by Alien8 Recordings)
JESUS OF NAZARETH / KUSARI GAMA KILL – VAIN (Split-Cdr by R.O.N.F. Records)
When I approximately 20 years ago got hold of the extreme metal-compilation “Grindcrusher (Earache records, 1989), I was especially fascinated by a certain track titled “Colostomy Grab-Bag” from a band calling themselves O.L.D. (a.k.a. Old Lady Drivers). The band’s approach to the Grindcore-style was quite unusual with some weird high-pitched screaming vocals and complex rhythmic structures. As I purchased their equally impressive debut-album “Old lady Drivers”, the name “James Plotkin” for the first time hit my mind. Since then that name has returned back to me in connection with a large number of interesting projects throughout the years. Flirting with both the electronic ambient-spheres and the metal-based expressions this guy knows how to melt down the borders between the two quite opposite sonic worlds. James Plotkin is the producer of this present release from the, always exciting Canadian label Alien8 Recordings. The project calling itself Menace Ruine has its roots in the northern parts of Canada. Somehow there must be a link between icy temperatures and frostbitten black metal. Equally to the extreme metal colleagues from the homeland of black metal, the freezing Norway, Menace Ruins creates atmospheres of cynic brutality. With the sound production accomplished by James Plotkin, Menace Ruine pulls the harshness of black metal into the world of electronic ambience. The result is seven tracks of apocalypse that simply kick an impression into the listener. From the relatively controllable opening tracks “Process” and “The sky as a reversed abyss”, consisting of black metal rhythms, soundscapes of electronic ambience to the completely apocalyptic terrorism of “They who enter caves” that manage to compete with maestros of black metal brutalism, Norwegian Immortal, though with the addition of evil bursts of the electronic equipment in the case of Meca Ruin. Buzzing and dark drones of electronic noise push the hyper-fast beat-blasts and screaming vocals of pure wrath to the extremes of expression – my absolute favourite track on the album! On the track titled “Bonded by wyrd” Menace Ruine catches an almost melodic pace with some nice guitar work combined with almost ritual vocals. The end of this certain track has a quite interesting development into Industrial Ambience reminding me of the “Inde$troy” (Manic Ears Records, 1989) from Saw Throat (a.k.a. Sore Throat). With James Plotkin as a producer and with Alien8 Recordings as the open-minded yet quality conscious label, “Cult of Ruins” can only succeed and hell it does!
If Menace Ruine had a balance of 70% black metal and 30% ambient noise, Split-album between US-project Jesus Of Nazareth and Danish project Kusari Gama Kill titled “Vain” has the opposite balance with more focus on Noise but still with a heavy weight on Grindcore expressions. The album is released by the Spanish label R.O.N.F. Records that focuses on extreme expressions of grinding metal as well as of harsh noise. And the expression certainly is extreme on this split-album. “Jesus of Nazareth” opens the jolly show with ten blasting bombers based of hyper-fast drum machines, processed voices and other samples from among others Jap-noise artist Masonna. Despite the hyper-activity of the drum machines the rhythmic texture gives a great solid ground to the nine works of Jesus Of Nazareth. There are lots of interesting interventions in the noisy spheres with among others samples of early Saloon Music mixed up with almost melodic soundscapes on the track titled “Life was perfect”. In other moments the expressions reminds of John Zorn’s Naked City-project thanks to the furious mixture of grindcore, jazzy drum patterns and noise. As Kusari Gama Kill hits the stage the poor listener is completely wiped out by the nasty growling of Janus Blomfrø meanwhile his collaborator Martin Weile demolish any sign of silence with his cynic mistreatments of electronic equipment. As was the case with Jesus Of Nazareth, Kusari Gama Kill uses ultra-fast machine-drumming as a nice underground layer to the symphonies of sickness. Two excellent albums from two different labels revealing the fact that the difference between electronic expressions and extreme metal can easily be melted down – with a quite nasty result!
Anyone interested in Noise created by drum machines should also check out the “Drummachinegun” released by Relapse Records in 2006. (NM)
Address: http://www.alien8recordings.com
Address: http://www.ronfrecords.com
EXILLON – IT’S OK TO DANCE (CD by Ad Noiseam)
House-Techno seems like having a revival at the moment but separate to the original scene of the peaking 90’s there is a much more experimental edge to a great part of what is being released, for instance on labels like Kompakt and Get Physical. Third shot from the exciting sound artist from the Bay Area, Exillon, seems like moving in the same direction. Jay Fields a.k.a. Exillon impressed with his earlier releases, especially the “Keening Dithers”-album, thanks to a nice combination of good composition skills as well as skills for creating awesome melodic atmospheres. This latest album titled “It’s OK to dance” also contains some great musical moments, though the real gem of this album is the lightness and the boiling energy that makes even the laziest body want to move. Compared to earlier efforts the album puts much weight on the up-beat style and less on the atmospheric ambient-scapes. The expression varies from minimalist techno reminiscent of Richie Hawtin (a.k.a. Plastikman) with TR-808-sounding interventions and sharply cut beat structures. Other tracks like the “Hairyback acid” has the ritual acid-style Goa Trance. My personal favourite track on the album is the alluringly happy piece titled “Office work” that nicely balances between Technoid House and a more experimental edge. A very interesting development for Exillon, that with this new step proves his ability not only to feed the brain of the listener but also the feet. Highly recommended! (NM)
Address: http://www.adnoiseam.net
PSYCHIC SPACE INVASION – TRANSITIONS (CD by Persepolis Records)
Ian Holloway, the man behind Psychic Space Invasion, started the Elvis Coffee Records label, then Quiet World, and now is perhaps behind Persepolis Records. It may seem confusing, all this label work, but ‘Transitions’, the new release by his own Psychic Space Invasion, is on a ‘real’ CD, as opposed to the previous releases, which were all on CDR. That is perhaps the only break, since the music is a continuation from what we know and heard before. At the bottom of the music there is a drone. That’s however in a constant movement, a flux, a flow. On top Holloway waves together sounds, clearly divided into various parts. There is a part with humming, chanting voices and towards the end there is a long passage with loops of piano playing. Loaded with effects this release, mainly in the area of delay and reverb, which gives the music a somewhat muddy character, whereas it could have been more open. That’s perhaps the only thing that is a bit less about this release, but otherwise I thought this release, while offering more of the same, is quite a nice release, and should appeal to those who love the Uk drone scene of Monos, Ora, Mirror, Andrew Chalk, Colin Potter and Paul Bradley. (FdW)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/persepolisrecords.com
MIKE BROWNINGS INNER WORKINGS – TRANCEMISSIONS (CD by Pharmafabrik)
People, who followed the heydays of death metal, would have heard of the Dutch project Nocturnus that revolutionized the scene with its use of synthesizer to create sinister atmospheres in the symphonies of grinding metal. As soon as I saw the cover of this present CD-album by Mike Browning Inner Workings, I was reminded by the debut-album of Nocturnus, “The key” released on the legendary Earache label back in 1991. The doomy dark blue colors on a bizarre sci-fi monstrous world from “The key” remain on this solo-album of ex-Nocturnus vocalist/drummer Mike Browning titled “Trancemissions”. Mike Browning was the man with the strange robotic talking vocals of Nocturnus, thus responsible for the strange expression that led to the success of the band. Now Mike Browning has left the harsh expression behind and moved into the world of electronics to explore new sonic borderlands. In the electronic world Mike Browning focus on dark nocturnal atmospheres with the exclusion of any kind of rhythmic texture. From the opening track titled “Inner workings” consisting of threatening thick drones and buzzing noises swirling in the background to the more melodic yet sinister work “The edge of the universe” that almost reminds of the John Williams theme to Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. A radical change by the ex-drummer and vocalist of death metal projects that apart from Nocturnus also counts Morbid Angel and Incubus – a radical change that actually does quite well on this debut album. (NM)
Address: http://pharmafabrik.com/
MARCHING DYNAMICS – NAILSLEEPER (CD by Hymen Records)
TWINKLE – LE JOUET (CD by Ant-Zen)
Despite the fact that Ant-Zen Recordings traditionally has more focus on the harsh Industrial-related expressions with Hymen Records putting more focus on less harsher and more IDM-based expressions there is some similarity between the two legendary labels run Stefan S. Alt. The two present albums from the two labels are by artists that certainly know how to create excellent club friendly rhythm textures. “Nailsleeper” from L.A.-based project Marching Dynamics and released via Hymen Records, proves that the brain behind, S. Talada, has a sense of creating beat textures cut sharp into an almost militant pace. Thus the project name suits perfect to the style. Take for instance the club-track titled “Un fall able” with dark technoid atmospheres not far away from early Biosphere, circa “Novelty waves”. Another perfect moment is the ultra-cool track “Stoic” based on old-school electro-beats reminiscent of early pioneering electro-tracks such as Hashim’s “Al-Naa-Fiysh (The Soul)” and Africa Bambaataa’s “Planet Rock”. The album moves in a nice balance between dreamy ambient-techno, breakbeats and a few moments of Industrial interventions. No really harsh moments on this one. Harshness on the other side is found on the next album released via Ant-Zen Recordings. French project “Twinkle” has gained cult status for their live shows around Europe. Therefore the debut album titled “Le Jouet” from the duo has been long awaited. Expressionally Twinkle varies from a downbeat Industrial-style of great atmospheres to pompous melodies of floating orchestral ambient as on the excellent track “Ton style”. On a track titled “Les voies infectees” the expression turns more abrasive with a number of voice samples and strange synth-lines moving above very cool downbeat yet rather complex rhythm textures. Awesome track! The combination of experimental electronics and catchy Industrial-textures works great. Two awesome albums from Ant-Zen recordings and Hymen Records. (NM)
Address: http://www.ant-zen.com
Address: http://www.hymen-records.com
BULBS – LIGHT SHIPS (CD by Freedom To Spend)
Bulbs is the new duo of William Sabiston (drums), who was former in Axolotl, together with Jon Almaraz since 2005, when they both moved to San Francisco. The label Freedom To Spend (which perhaps says something about their resources?) speaks of ‘an odd space between the gloss of Kompakt records minimalism, the glue huff ambiguity of a band like Mouthus and the stuttering clicks and confusion of a Han Bennik [sic]/Derek Bailey duo’. It’s not references I fully understand. Bulbs is certainly a duo who love to improvise, but me thinks in a pretty chaotic way, more Bennink/Bailey or Mouthus, but I can hardly see the connection with Kompakt. The drums are at times sound quite muffled in the way they are recorded and are not really open sounding. The guitar does lots of crazy things, feeding through distortion, chaotic strumming but throughout I must say I didn’t particular enjoy this, mainly because the production is something that could be better. One can sense there is more to it than this, but it has not yet come to entirely to life yet. (FdW)
Address: http://www.freedomtospend.net
ANLA COURTIS & SEIICHI YAMAMOTO & YOSHIMI – LIVE AT KANADIAN (CD by Public Eyesore)
Two members of Boredoms, Yoshimi (voice, keyboard and percussion) and Seiichi Yamamoto (electric guitar & percussion) team up with former Reynols member Anla Courtis (e-guitar, toba violin & tapes) on a night in Osaka in 2005, at a place called Kanadian. I must admit straight away that I am not the man who knows Boredoms very well. I expected a bunch of free noise rocking about, but whatever happens, and however free things get, things aren’t free rocking noise. This trio plays around with their instruments in a total free manner, and the take back down the volume if needed, which is a fine thing. However this is an unedited live performance, which no doubt is much appreciated by completists of the work of these people, but I think it could have certainly been a bit more stripped down and be a bit more in shape. Not every single second is interesting, especially in the all out fourth piece, clocking at twenty-six minutes, this becomes clear. It’s a fine piece, but it could have been improved if trimmed a bit. What I thought was nice is the fact that they move all over the place, from the outbursts to the more quieter moments, and that really saved the CD. (FdW)
Address: http://www.publiceyesore.com
STEVEN HESS & MILES TILMANN – DEPARTURES (LP by Other Electricities)
By now, the name Steven Hess could be well-known. Whenever I see something with his name attached to it, like Pan American, Fessenden, Haptic, Dropp Ensemble or collaborating with say Robert Hampson, it’s time to open the ears and listen. Hess is a drummer who can play jazz, electro-acoustic sound and improvisation. Here he teams up with one Miles Tilmann of whom I never heard, but who works, apparently, with ambient, experimental and dance music. Here he plays electronics, while Hess plays drums and vibraphone. The six pieces are richly layered, textured pieces which are one foot in the ambient music and one foot in laid back, groovy rhythms. Hess plays with a great jazzy feeling, with brushes and such like and Tilmann adds a fine blend of textured electronics to it. There is an influence of Pan American to be traced throughout these pieces which is quite nice. A great pairing of improvisation, musique concrete, dub, ambient in six particular strong tracks. (FdW)
Address: http://www.other-electricities.com
AUDIOSCOOP COMPILATION 1 (2LP compilation by Audioscoop)
FREIBAND – CAPTURE (3″ CDR by My Own Little Label)
Since 2005, “Audioscoop” is an ongoing series of musical events, held in the lovely soundworkplace “Intro In Situ”, in Maastricht, the Netherlands. Kim Laugs, member of Feedback Society and who I suspect to be the brainchild behind Audioscoop, invites artists to “explore the boundaries in sound and music”. This double LP contains a selection of artists who where part of these events, between 2005 and 2007. They were asked to deliver exclusive material or edits from their live performances at Intro In Situ. Quite some pioneer explorers are to be found here: Asmus Tietchens, Das Synthetische Mischgewebe, Aube, Kapotte Muziek, Sudden Infant and the late MSBR (sadly, one of his last concerts was the one in Maastricht). They are placed, fittingly well, together with some new kids on the block: Arnoud Rivière, Meta Orcha, incite/, Thuth, Ex.Zero and (of course) Feedback Society. I should also mention the fieldrecording composition made by Rinus van Alebeek: it deals with chocolate and is really funny (with an odd erotic twist). In conclusion: highly enjoyable record that gives a nice overview of what has been so far, and makes you look forward to the events to come.
Freiband (aka Frans de Waard) was present at the release party for above mentioned double LP. He was asked to speak some words on the history of Audioscoop and the to-be-presented compilation. After the words, followed a Freiband performance and for this event he made a remix of the material present on the double LP. Since I was present at the event I started off with hearing the remix, before I had actually heard the compilation itself. Not that that is very essential, but at that moment I had no recognition of the individual elements – I wasn’t even aware of hearing myself back in the live remix! Now that I have notion of the tracks on the double LP I do. To some extent, this composition (divided in three recognizable parts) also follows the mood line of the compilation; changing from subtle sound experiments in the beginning, to a growing noisier outburst in the middle and collagesque elements throughout and towards the end. Quite an exciting piece and a nice accompaniment to the compilation! (SDT)
Address: http://www.introinsitu.nl
Address: http://www.kormplastics.nl/moll.html
MOLJEBKA PVLSE – IODE/IVX (7″ by Drone Records)
NOISE DREAMS MACHINE – IN/OUT (7″ by Drone Records)
SHRINE – DISTORTED LEGENDS (7″ by Drone Records)
XABEC – FEUERSTERN (7″ by Drone Records)
With something of pure amazement I can look at the releases of Drone Records, now up to their 7″ number 89 to 92! And what’s also amazing is the fact that Drone always seems to be able to find names I never heard of, except, in this case, Moljebka Pvlse. To start with what we know. Mathias Josefson has already a bunch of releases at his name (his latest was a very nice project that included a CDR in an edition of 10 copies of processed singing with his mother!), but here on ‘Iode/Ixv’ he returns to the full form drone music that Moljebka Pvlse is best known. Two introspective pieces of music that move like lazy, slow animals. That, or it’s the slowed down pastoral chords on a church organ. A drone records blue print this one. Dark, atmospheric and highly drone like.
Noise Dreams Machine is one Oscar Martin from Spain, who is partly based in Berlin and partly in Barcelona, working on homemade software for ‘sound deconstruction and realtime performance’. Here Drone Records moves away from the pure drone music field into electro acoustic music. It’s very hard to tell what it is that Martin does here, or what sounds are used in this input. They are all blurred somewhere in the computer into a somewhat harsher set of sounds, but that also works well as a piece of drone music. Very nice one, this.
Shrine hails from Bulgaria, not a likely place for the avant-garde, but perhaps things are growing over there. Here too it’s not easy to tell what is done, but my best guess would be that Shrine has some analogue gear which he recorded on a four track to create a little more melodic version of drone music on the a-side. On the other side he puts on some more noise and to that end he uses a guitar. Shrine makes things a bit more ‘gothic’ style, with hummings created by the presets of his synthesizers, but he cleverly manages to stay on the right side (of the brain?).
The best package is kept until the end. Xabec has two versions of his ‘Feuerstern’ (Firestar), which is ‘a choreographed performance featuring music and fireworks’. The studio version of the main them has a lush ambient texture to it, with some deep end sound and faint sounds of things falling. That could be fireworks but perhaps its something else. On the other side there is a live version that includes Micheal Northam moving around with microphones and Xabec also adds some pre-recorded material by Northam. It starts with fireworks, but it turns out to be an entirely different piece of music. Moving around with a harsher texture and even some rhythm this is also a great piece, albeit a big more rough. This 7″ comes in a cardboard box with embossed gold printing. The best of the otherwise not bad either rest. And now Drone Records is reaching number 100, isn’t it time for a 10 CD (well, or so) of all the releases so far?
Address: http://www.dronerecords.de
MYSTIFIED – SUBDIALOGUE (CDR by Verato Project)
While doing so many small things around here, I played ‘Sub Dialogue’ by Mystified twice in a row. Perhaps I was not entirely convinced what I heard, or some such reason. Or perhaps I wanted to double check things. Mystified belong to the sort of musicians who play music as a hobby. Switch on the machines, create some music through sound manipulation and see who is going to release it. No plan, no grandiose schematic to change the world of music. Just do whatever needs to be done. Nothing wrong with that. But on this end, the reviewer’s end, things aren’t that easy. First of all there are so many things by one and the same artist that it’s hard to see what is going on and secondly, for some of the people goes, heard one, heard all. Actually I do like Mystified low resolution sampling ambient industrial wall paper. Not a lot, but it’s nice and it reminds me of say City of Worms or some early Hands To, and ‘Subdialogue’ is no different. No development and interchangeable. Its something you hear and go ‘oh nice’, but you wouldn’t necessarily play it again (unless of course you are reviewer). (FdW)
Address: http://www.verato-project.de
STEVE PETERS – FILTERED LIGHT (CHAMBER MUSIC 4) (CDR by Dragon’s Eye Recordings)
Part four in an ongoing series of site-specific sound installations ‘derived from recordings of the empty rooms in which the work is exhibited’. Here it’s the turn of Steve Peters, whom we know through his releases on his own Nonsequitur as well as for other labels. Sitting in an empty room is something we hardly do of course, filled as they are with furniture, music and activity. But should you have the possibility to listen to empty spaces than you would realize there is a lot to hear. Peters recorded the room for an hour and selected fourteen frequencies between 70Hz an 3Khz. The hour was divided into thirty-two segments of varying length, played at random on a four channel installation. As such that what we get here is just one possible interaction of this. Cut as one track, leaving no room for us to further randomize the event, this is an absolute great piece of music. Very microsound of course, but things move around, change color, change shape and keep evolving throughout the course of the piece. Music to be played in a full room, sit back, relax and enjoy. It’s very much a Brian Eno piece updated to today’s technology. What else can I say? Simply gorgeous. (FdW)
Address: http://www.dragonseyerecordings.com
OZMADAWN – RISE OF THE MOTH (CDR by Chambara Records)
HORSEFLESH – SYNTHENESIA 1 (CDR by Chambara Records)
With titles like – Synthenesia 1, tracks called The Breath Of Orion and notes” For the Ra of the Sun and the Eye in the Pyramid” its difficult to be serious – or should it be ‘Sirius’ (boom boom). Actual I think Stockhausen (R.I.N.) claimed he hailed from the neighborhood of said star and spoke approvingly of 9-11 – both facts kept quiet by his minders- I digress, Freudian avoidance- Synthenesia has fairly straight FM sounding works – long quite sparse – and well – I just don’t get the point? – The Rise of the Moth (there is nothing more dangerous than a cornered moth) is a little more interesting as Dereck Donohue has support from Jonah Rust, he really does spell his name Dereck. and reading on “Recorded at Vahalla Summer 2007 Post Production by Skozey Fetisch” – umm two things – its sounding like a Douglas Adams hitch hiker cast list – so the whole thing might be a giant pun (to set the controls to the heart of..) and I recently got flak for commenting not on the music but extraneous detail- as if it matters what planet they think they are on to criticizing the music, but Hitler’s watercolors are still crap- so TROTM – more interesting frippery but the opening track sounds a little like the theme music to Marathon Man – sets your teeth on edge then? is it safe – yes very- Actually an old Aunt of mine (RIP) was once bitten by a moth which drew blood. So careful with that moth Eugene? ..oh and “Style: Krautrock, Drone, Space Rock, Noise, Experimental” …..(jliat)
Address: <dereckdonohue@htomail.com>
K.E. REVIS – BANISHING ANXIETIES (CDR by BXR Records)
K.E. REVIS – LETTING GO (CDR by BXR Records)
Only two weeks ago we were introduced to the music of K.E. Revis, who started to release his music for the first time in 2007, but who had been around for years dabbling around. Here he sent us a slightly older release, the first from 2007 and a most recent one. ‘Banishing Anxieties’ is the older one, and has four super long tracks, almost spanning the entire eighty minutes of the CDR. Revis tells us that ‘both (are) quite different from each other and from the previous one you reviewed’. That is true, but the differences are not that big. Come to think of it: I am not sure if I could tell they are from Revis, if you wake me up and asked me this all important question. On the 2007 release there is a touch more ambient sounds going on. But it’s ambient with a small ‘a’ and a lot of industrial music influences. Using keyboards, sometimes to be recognized and sometimes not, as the main source of music, there is also quite a lot of sound effects applied here, which is of course o.k. had it not been that the sound gets quite blurry. That is a pity since with some more creative mixing guess things would have certainly improved, as the fourth (untitled) piece proofs – the best of the lot.
On ‘Letting Go’, Revis explores the noise route more. Shorter tracks and more this time around. Here too things dwell extensively on the use of sound effects, albeit in a more gritty manner. Right from the start things explode, rumble and distort, but in an odd way Revis actually composes more with the sounds at hand. On his other releases it’s more like a free flow of sound, here he tries to compose music with the components at hand. Perhaps I heard a bit too much noise in my days to get overtly excited about this, but this is actually his best release yet. Maybe apply the composing methods to his other, more ambient oriented music, and turn out a really great release. (FdW)
Address: http://www.bxrrecords.com
THE LAMB AN THE TYGER (CDR by I Had An Accident Records)
SAM FEMINO – THE ROARKIAN TEMPLATE (CDR by I Had An Accident Records)
TUGBOAT – THE ASTORIANS (CDR by I Had An Accident Records)
As long as the promotional budget is spent it’s all fine. It really doesn’t matter where things go. The Lamb And The Tiger is described as ‘indie rock from Gettysburg, PA. Two boys Joe and Rob write/sing about liberal arts’. Music with balls by and for boys. ‘Powerful’ indie rock, latin text in the opening ‘The Tyger’, which is like a prog rock piece. Then things slow down, a ballad even, and it stays there for much too long before speeding up in ‘Cellblock’. All the time I was thinking, why did I get this. But I wasn’t prepared for Sam Femino, ‘a folk singer from New England’, which starts out a cappella, but then straps on his guitar and mumble/sings his way through a bunch of songs. Cheap low recording, false singing and playing the guitar. Perhaps I’m missing the outsider point entirely here, which might happen, but I’m prepared to take that risk. One to forget.
Tugboat are two boys living in Portland, Oregon and deliver ‘the most intriguing music to date. Very deliberate material’ we are promised. They two have a guitar, an amplifier, the same cheap microphone, but there is some feedback and a whole bunch of obscured sounds, which make it more nicer than the other two releases. Intriguing perhaps for what they want to do, but otherwise it sounds like another attempt at being outsider, strange or such like, which is also, at times, an excuse for mediocare ideas and likewise playing. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ihadanaccidentrecords.com
BABA LLAGA – GESAMTKUNSTWERK (CDR by Hamaika)
You can watch at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpfOSehym9c and get some idea of the sound/concept – but on this recording they play magnificently with the stereo field and excellent sound qualities – samples – voices clips etc.- this is a very peculiar disk – the cut ups are short clearly and cleverly defined – you’ll get a better idea of the sound @ http://www.myspace.com/baballaga – the work despite the youtube extravaganza is remarkably refined – almost a genre of its own though not surprising – not being in the mainstream of LA or even perhaps not their native country – are- (they deserve a name check!) miguel a garcía (mixes, effects, feedbacks, rhythms), raul dominguez (metallic percussion, radio, musical instruments) daniel llaria (voices, shouts, thrash drums, performance) itziar markiegi (mediatic sampling, effects pedal, ixi software)- from Bilbao – and produce really excellent and original material -after listening to just too much pretentious industrial clankery from across the pond this makes a very refreshing change – well *novelty* – it reminds me of some strange animations of the 60s – pop/fast frame – BABA LLAGA – could be considered pop at times – avant garde at others- all I can say in closing is I recommend you take a listen – if only to see how reverence and pretension can make for pretentious crap which is a polite way of referring to some other recent material I’ve been listening to. And if any A&R people read this – god why- sign this group- the next Autechure or Pansonic? Brilliant- neo-fluxus. marx bros meet Stockhausen.. off the wall out of the frame leftfield.. (I must stop- but track 16 baba llaga though it’s just aaaa- scream!. jliat.)
Address: http://www.xedh.org/baballaga/
MAIKKO – TLAYACAPAN (CDR by Gruenrekorder)
TBC – PFALZ II (CDR by Gruenrekorder)
SUSPICION BREEDS CONFIDENCE – THE FAUNA AND FLORA OF THE VATICAN CITY (CD by Gruenrekorder)
LASSE-MARC RIEK – ISLANDS (CDR by Oem Records)
I believe I never heard of Maikko, who is from Italy and is a co-founder of Otolab and works with electronic music and visuals. He is also a member of Newtone2060, with Cristiano Calcagnile and turntablist MM. He has some solo releases, on Polarity Records and Stasisfield. On his third solo release he works with field recording – putting the kettle on – along with highly processed computer generated music and sound. All in quite a minimal fashion, but not very coherent. Sometimes he tries to be microsound, then field recording and then even a bit of rhythm is used, but it fails to impress me. Overall it’s not unpleasant to hear but nothing really sticks.
Thomas Beck has been around for a long time. I never knew he was behind H64, which I once called the loudest in Europe. He’s also responsible for the Wachsender Prozess label, Odradek magazine and his own radio programm. These days his solo project is called TBC and as such he has done already a couple of releases. For Gruenrekorder he made a work that falls in the section of field recordings (the label works with various categories). We hear TBC mostly dealing with wind sounds, out there in North Germany’s cold forest in one piece that lasts about thirty minutes or a bit less. Cleverly divided into smaller blocks with silence in between, this is almost like a Lopez like work and certainly the best work I ever heard coming out of his hands. Away is the roughness of the electro-acoustics of before and replaced by a subtle piece of field recordings most easy to capture event: wind. Very nice indeed.
I am a bit puzzled by fact why the release by Suspicion Breeds Confidence, a.k.a. Tobias Schmitt and his friends is released on a CD. Maybe the band had money to spend. They play electronic music, based around slow rhythms, that, well why not, could maybe be described as dub rhythms. Around these float a whole bunch of sounds, but I must admit it all sounds very tame to me. None of the pieces could really interest me or grab me. I have no idea what inspired them to make this, other than perhaps the smoking of cannabis while recording this.
Labelboss Lasse-Marc Riek goes away from his own label to Oem Records for the release of his ‘Islands’ CDR. Recorded on two small islands, Amrum and Poel in the northwest and northeast of Germany. This is a work of pure phonography: take a microphone into the country side and record whatever happens there. We hear seagulls, cows, sea, wind and human activity, most likely farming, I think. Riek takes all of these sounds and presents them as pure blocks of untreated field recordings. Nice to hear, but probably nicer to record while there. He does a fine, but not great job. Stuff like this has been done before, better or, if you want the real thing, go out and listen.
Address: http://www.gruenrekorder.de
Address: http://www.oemrecords.net
STEINBRÜCHEL & MACHINEFABRIEK – STAUB (3″ CDR by Machinefabriek)
Following his long string of 3″ releases Machinefabriek is now expanding more and more his horizon and ready to take over the world. To reach that goal, Machinefabriek collaborates with others, such as Freiband, Stephen Vitiello or in person with Ralph Steinbrüchel. A mere two weeks ago, Rutger Zuydervelt was in Zürich to play a concert and did a concert with Steinbrüchel, all based on samples from Machinefabriek’s ‘Stofstuk’, of which he also released a double CD with remixes. In twenty two minutes the two stretch out the music into a wealthy tapestry of sound, with a big gigantic flow underneath and on top things flow in and out of the mix. There is a certain roughness to the music that no doubt has to do with the fact that this is a live recording, but its a roughness that I quite like. It keeps the listener attention, and presents him from lulling asleep, which might have done when it was a more subtle studio version. Heavy mood music for heavy moods. Spacious but with a strong bite. (FdW)
Address: http://www.machinefabriek.nu
ORIGAMI BOE – ACOUSTIC LAPTOPS (MP3 by Ambolthue)
Just what is an acoustic laptop? Its a suitcase of objects that can be played, by hand, with sticks. It has a contact microphone so that the box can be amplified. It’s an invention that is made by Origami Boe and which he used to play concerts with throughout Europe. Since Origami Boe is a visual artist these boxes look like art objects and since he has made various, there is now an exhibition of them in Oslo. On Ambolthue you can make this download and there is a nice booklet (full color, glossy printed) booklet available. In the booklet photo’s and information on these laptops and some background. The music is highly acoustic. Boe uses no electronic processing, but the sounds are as clear as possible. Pieces of metal, glass, strings, bolts and egg slicer are played with great care and style, solo or with others, making a fine delicate electro-acoustic sound play that owes more to Kapotte Muziek than Merzbow. More than the music, the booklet is the real treasure of information and inspiration. Do it yourself didn’t came much closer to you than this. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ambolthue.com
BLINDHEAO – IT’S A BIT LIKE PLAYING A GAME – FRUSTRATING GAME IN WHICH THE RULES MIGHT CHANGE AT A MOMENT’S NOTICE (MP3 by Ruidemos)
It’s a bit hard to write the name correct of this band, as the ‘a’ and ‘e’ should be together and the ‘o’ has something to it. It’s all Icelandic and means blind spot. I type Blindheao, if you don’t mind. I don’t know where they are from, but perhaps not Iceland. Some of the pieces on ‘It’s A Bit Like Playing A Game – A Frustrating Game In Which The Rules Might Change At A Moment’s Notice’ were presented at Cinema Nova in Brussels and for its source the band (?) used field recordings made in Brussels, Komarom, Bamberg, Jakarta, Bandung and Makassar. Not that is possible to recognize any of that, since they are all electronically transformed, beyond recognition. Throughout Blindheao creates a fine microsound like work, which only very occasionally goes to a bit more noisy and/or rhythmical area of work. Not really the most surprising piece of work, but it works quite well as a backdrop for music while you work. Very electronical in approach, a sort of experimental ambient. (FdW)
Address: http://ruidemos.freelinuxhost.com