ERIC LA CASA & CEDRIC PEYRONNET – LA CREUSE (CD by Herbal International)
MAJU – MAJU 5 (CD by Extreme)
CLAUDIO PARODI – A RITUAL WHICH IS INCOMPREHENSIBLE (TO THE SMILE OF PAULINE OLIVEROS) (CD by Extreme) *
LEMKE GWILLIAM – FOURMILL PLUS AQUARTERINCH (CD by Nur Nicht Nur) *
DALGLISH – IDEOM (CD by Record Label Records) *
SUDDEN INFANT – PSYCHOTIC EINZELKIND (CD by Blossoming Noise)
VRIL – THE OBSERVER (CD by Skullnoise Records)
HUGH DAVIES & ADAM BOHMAN/LEE PATTERSON/MARK WASTELL – FOR HUGH DAVIES (CD by Another Timbre) *
HUGH DAVIES – PERFORMANCES 1969-1977 (CDR by Another Timbre)
MATT DAVIES & MATT MILTON & BECHIR SAADE – DUN (CD by Another Timbre)
ESTEBAN ALGORA & ALESSANDRA ROMBOLA & INGAR ZACH – … DE LAS PIEDRAS (CD by Another Timbre)
BRANDON LABELLE – RADIO MEMORY (CD/Book by Errant Bodies Press) *
BRANDON LABELLE – DIRTY EAR (CD by Errant Bodies Press)
ANNETTE KREBS & TOSHIMARU NAKAMURA – SIYU (CD by SOS Editions) *
OLIVIA BLOCK & SANDRA GIBSON & LUIS RECODER – UNTITLED (DVD by SOS Editions)
HUM OF THE DRUID – THE NEW WING BRAIDED INDUSTRY (LP by SNSE)
LE SCRAMBLED DEBUTATE & SURFACE HOAR & KENJI SIRATORI (CDR by Galloping Foxely Recordings) *
SURFACE HOAR – TEASE AND TELL (CDR by Galloping Foxely Recordings)
JLIAT – NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL NOISE VOL. 15 (CDR by Larks Council Of England)
MOUTHS – 3V1/3V2 (CDR by Absurd) *
TASOS STAMOU – ELECTROACOUSTIC IMPROVISATION #1 (CDR by Kukuruku Recordings)
DEMERGO – WESTWATER MEADOWS (CDR by Ahasverus Records)
TRUE SOLACE – BANDONA (CDR by The Art Of Mystification Records) *
INDUSTRIAL PASSAGE FT MELLE KRAMER – KARMA (CDR by The Art Of Mystification Records)
EZRA JACOBS – DIFFUSIEDRANG (CDR by Etherkreet) *
RICHARD JONAS – STEKKERSPEL (CDR by Etherkreet)
BAS VAN HUIZEN – ANACHRONISTENMIST (CDR by Etherkreet)
FORDELL RESEARCH UNIT – REAL MEN DRINK HORSE MILK (CDR by Dead Sea Liner)
EL HEATH – A (RATHER) DEAD SEA LINER (CDR by Dead Sea Liner) *
DEAD WOOD – HARMONIC SECTOR 1-10 (CDR by Dead Sea Liner)
ADRIAN SHENTON – THE MEASURING MOMENTS (CDR by Quiet World) *
IAN HOLLOWAY & DARREN TATE & BANKS BAILEY – SUMMERLAND (CDR by Quiet World)
IAN HOLLOWAY – A LONELY PLACE (CDR by Quiet World)
THIS WINDOW (CDR, private)
THE STRIGGLES – EXPRESSIONISM (CDR by Noise Appeal Records)
SCISSOR SHOCK – SYNONYM FOR THE WORD DECAY (?)
LAWRENCE ENGLISH /JEPH JERMAN (3″CDR by Compost And Heigth)
MICHEAL JOHNSEN – UNTITLED (3″CDR, private) *
MICHEAL JOHNSEN – UNTITLED (3″CDR, private)
HAROLD NONO – THE DEATH OF BARRA (MP3 by Rack & Ruin Records)
SEGUE – A GLASS DARKLY (MP3 by Resting Bell)
ERIC LA CASA & CEDRIC PEYRONNET – LA CREUSE (CD by Herbal International)
As far as I remember I’ve never been to the area where Cedric Peyronnet (also better known as Toy Bizarre) and Eric La Casa recorded their work, the Creuse department in central France – maybe I saw it today when watching the Tour de France. However there is a booklet with this CD with pictures of the area, and in each picture there is a pair of microphones to be spotted. This is as close as you can make field recordings visual I guess. A pity that the booklet, a diary it seems, is all in French, with some general English translation on the cover. The area was divided into several specific sites which were recorded by one, and then sent to the other to work on it, to interpret the place. And vice versa of course. Each piece is started by one, finished by the other. Its not easy to hear who did what, but I think that the pieces finished by Peyronnet have a minimal subtle electronic manipulations, and that La Casa’s pieces are entirely made with field recordings. I might be wrong however and no electronic processing took place. We hear rain, wind, footsteps and sounds from water, objects and other sonic events which are hard to be placed somewhere in terms of what one could recognize. Even when this is divided into nine pieces, it’s best enjoyed as a complete picture: listen from start until the end, sit back and transport yourself through time and space – time is the length of the CD and the place is La Creuse. This rural and forest area is pictured quite well before your very eyes. A very refined work. (FdW)
Address: http://www.herbalinternational.tk
MAJU – MAJU 5 (CD by Extreme)
CLAUDIO PARODI – A RITUAL WHICH IS INCOMPREHENSIBLE (TO THE SMILE OF PAULINE OLIVEROS) (CD by Extreme)
The last few releases by Australia’s Extreme were more in the areas of improvised music, but with these two the label is back to its more original roots of experimental music. Maju, the duo of Hosomi Sakana and Masaki Narita, return to Extreme with their fifth album. The fourth volume was reviewed in Vital Weekly 547 (the previous three didn’t make it to these pages) and this new one sees a steady continuation of the lines set out on the previous volume. Highly ambient music in a highly digital manner. If anything, the name of Stephan Mathieu comes up again. Stretched fields of hissing sounds, loops of grainy textures, hard discs working over time. Like before it’s not music that is in the new age area, as ‘Maju 5’ also works in the experimental/electronic ambient glitch alley. An alley that has been well explored before, and as such ‘Maju 5’ doesn’t necessarily add much new insight, even when Hosomi Sakana plays four solo tracks out of the total of seven. Solo or duo: it hardly makes a difference. Great late night music, nothing new under the moon.
Also before on Extreme has been a release by Claudio Parodi, who back then (Vital Weekly 553) paid homage to Alvin Lucier. Here the bowing goes to Pauline Oliveros and her deep listening music. Parodi plays turkish clarinet for that in a three part (the third includes a coda) work. On this instrument he plays a few lines, which are continuously repeated and layered, but he brings in small variations to the scheme every now and then, like a variety of loops being played. Below this he adds a most curious blend of hard to define sounds – field recordings perhaps, scratching the surface or highly reverbed spaces – its pretty far away in the mix of the Turkish clarinet, so virtually not possible to scan this out. It sounds quite nice as a background, and the solemnly played instrument makes this almost like a requiem piece. Like the Lucier homage this is also a consistent work. Very nice again. (FdW)
Address: http://www.xtr.com
LEMKE GWILLIAM – FOURMILL PLUS AQUARTERINCH (CD by Nur Nicht Nur)
Right across the border, Vital Weekly can almost see it from the HQ, is the small German city of Kleve, and located there is a small but active scene of improvising musicians, who gather around the Nur Nicht Nur label and as such has been a force for many years. One of their members is Helmut Lemke, who has ‘presented the process-based results of his investigations into site-specific sound’ for close to thirty years now. Here he teams up with the much younger Ben Gwilliam, who does likewise work and is more from the improvised music scene. In 2007 they spent time together, using different formats of audiotape: pre-recorded, prepared and unprepared. Together they collected a whole bunch of sounds on various tapes (reel to reel, cassette, micro cassette and what else, 8-track maybe?) which they collage together in quite densely layered pieces of hiss like sounds and obscured sounds. Its not easy to say what the sounds are that they recorded on those tapes, save for some voice material being sped up and slowed down. Otherwise its not easy to recognize much, but that obscurity adds a great texture to the release, I think. It’s a bit like music you could find on cassettes in the 80s, but now with a much better recording quality. Small amplified sounds along the lines of John Cage’s ‘Cartridge Music’. A fascinating, closed cloud of sound is what they produce, with small elements coming in and out, which leaves much to guess for the listener, who is sucked into this swamp. A nice trip down! (FdW)
Address: http://www.nurnichtnur.com
DALGLISH – IDEOM (CD by Record Label Records)
Only recently we reviewed ‘Waetka’ by O.S.T., the long term project of Chris Douglas and after quite a long hiatus, today we read in the press text of Dalglish that Douglas is no longer using O.S.T. as his band name but it’s now Dalglish and also Rook Valard, of which I didn’t hear any music yet. I am not sure why this name shift was necessary, but o.k. it’s there. The first release as Dalglish is a fact and it’s a fine combination of all sorts of influences past and present – the early techno/IDM inspired music, ambient and noise. The main principle behind each track is to present a bunch of loops and see how they work together. Sometimes these loops do not match up together, they bump and collide and just don’t make any sense, such as in ‘Thism’, but it gets kind of hypnotic because it doesn’t work together – odd but true. And sometimes things fall neatly into place and a more steady beat holds the music together – a bit like techno, but this music isn’t something to move your feet too; rather to tap your feet to. Tracks last around five minutes here which seems to me to be the right kind of length. So far so good, I’d say. One complaint however can be made: with fifteen tracks this album is also kinda long. This is the moment when I regret music like this is no longer released on a LP: with four of these tracks per side, this would be a perfect album; now, with fifteen pieces, this is quite a sit through and a certain similarity is moved in. Play one half one day and the other the next day is my suggestion. (FdW)
Address: http://www.recordlabelrecords.org
SUDDEN INFANT – PSYCHOTIC EINZELKIND (CD by Blossoming Noise)
Is or are Joke Lanz, who here is joined by Bill Kouligas and Christian Weber, but has from the website collaborated with most of the people in the known universe. And even here the last three tracks are remixes by Z’EV, Lasse Marhaug and Thurston Moore. Given all that and his support from Pro Helvetia? and the Swiss Arts Council (resist third man quote!!!) I have to admit I didn’t enjoy or like (not the same thing) this release. I know its all my fault.. I’ve been listening to this over and over and it still reminds me of French mime – no doubt both incredibly deep and at the same time funny to the Gallic mind but to me – a WASP – I just don’t get it? Though I do understand the rules of cricket – ‘I don’t like Reggie – I love it’ to quote 10cc.. Well I suppose it has bits of noise but I’m thinking Fluxus does eurovision – and that might prove popular to some. What I would call clanky clank silly rhythms – which naughty Thurston has just run tracks 1+? through a distortion pedal, Lasse’s a kind of coughourama.. or take track 11, its made from zipper noise to sound like small dogs barking. (very funny? Oh how clever – in the accent the pigs use in shrek.) elsewhere bits of guitar and electonica – I’m probably damming my chances with the avant garde – but sorry guys – I don’t get it, maybe – just maybe the first name is a giveaway – emperors new clothes – or maybe not? (Jliat)
Address: http://www.suddeninfant.com/
VRIL – THE OBSERVER (CD by Skullnoise Records)
“The Observer” es la “antimúsica”, la descomposición y el desorden donde la estructura musical es el mismo caos. Intento romper con todas las normas y crear unas texturas y atmósferas ruidistas e inquietantes en algunos casos..” Well you can say that again – and they do in English – “The Observer” is “anti-music”, the decomposition and disorder where musical structure is chaos. I attempt to break with all norms and create noisy textures and atmospheres, even disturbing in some cases. 58 minutes of pulsating brutality where the tone generator and distortions merge in a vortex of high voltage frequency.” Yep – does what it says on the can- as the Ronseal ad goes (I love that expression but imagine others hate it. Especially the swiss) Its noise (jim – but as we know it) slow – drawn out like things being fed through some giant electric saw and slowly shredded into oblivion – well into bits at least- and not on all the tracks – the persistence and single minded stupidity of noise is I know at times hard to maintain. Another point I’d make Paco (Rodríguez) is the artwork is dull – I’m thinking. (ad man type voice.) princess leia as the slave girl in SW5 perhaps? A thinly disguised rouse to intellectualize pathetic sexism. By calling it ironic. oh come on- 7 of 9 – searing indictment of post-modern cybernization of humanity or what! (jliat)
Address: http://www.vrilnoise.com
HUGH DAVIES & ADAM BOHMAN/LEE PATTERSON/MARK WASTELL – FOR HUGH DAVIES (CD by Another Timbre)
HUGH DAVIES – PERFORMANCES 1969-1977 (CDR by Another Timbre)
MATT DAVIES & MATT MILTON & BECHIR SAADE – DUN (CD by Another Timbre)
ESTEBAN ALGORA & ALESSANDRA ROMBOLA & INGAR ZACH – … DE LAS PIEDRAS (CD by Another Timbre)
Of course I could make a joke about mafia money running out and Another Timbre now also doing CDR releases (see Vital Weekly 619), but the reason for releasing a CDR is probably more archival than economical. Hugh Davies, a builder and inventor of sound devices, died in 2005. He played his instruments since the sixties, and belonged to the ‘first wave’ of improvisers (along with Derek Bailey, Evan Parker) as well as playing music by Cage and Stockhausen. On ‘For Hugh Davies’ there are a six solo improvisations from 1969 to 1977 which are played back to three players, Mark Wastell, Adam Bohman and Lee Patterson (all of them influenced by Davies), to which they added their own playing, as well as one homage to Davies without Davies. A bit complex I’d say, and perhaps a bit blasphemous. Wastell plays the cello, while Patterson and Bohman use a table full of small, amplified objects. If you are aware of say the works of Patterson or the Bohman Brothers, then you might have an idea of what this is about. Lots of scraping, touching, scratching etc of objects, in a hectic manner, or if Wastell plays a bigger role, with some more emphasis on longer, sustaining exploration of the instrument. Certainly not easy music, and certainly not quiet music, but throughout a highly concentrated affair.
How it sounds without the players, the real solo thing as it were, there is a CDR of the original Hugh Davies live recordings available too. Maybe it’s better to hear that first, to get the impression of the original thing first, which of course I didn’t, so maybe my judgment is a bit clouded. On this CDR the live sound of Hugh Davies is a more direct in your face sound. His self-built instruments rattle in your face in a direct way, like when things are picked up with a microphone close by. It was a bit hard to believe that these recordings were the foundations of the release I just heard, as at times this sounds much more loud and present. It’s not the easiest disc, since, with six tracks that span almost eighty minutes, this is a bit too much. But it surely gives you a very fine impression of how this great man sounded.
Also on Another Timbre are two trio discs. The first is by Matt Davies (trumpet and field recordings), Matt Milton (violin) and Bechir Saade (bass clarinet and flute). This is a live recording from November last year. I never heard of Matt Milton, whereas the other two already have a rising reputation in the world of improvised music. Improvised music from the world of sound, rather than from the world of instruments. The world in which silence, or sheer near silence, is as important as producing a sound. Here is where a sound is produced, left by itself and then the wait starts for another sound: the three players watch eachother, in full concentration and then a new event happens. Certainly not music to put and leave on, and do something else, but very much like the players to be listened with full concentration. No easy listening here, but one that unfolds its beauty in a similar peaceful way as it is produced.
A more unusual line up is on ‘… De Las Piedras’ with Ingar Zach (percussion), Esteban Algora (accordion) and Alessandra Rombola (flutes and tiles installation). Here the improvisation is of course, like all releases on this label, the starting point, but the outcome is not like that of the previous three. Indeed careful playing, silence plays a part, but throughout it seems to me that these three are aiming at something else. It seems that things are more planned around here, with Algora’s accordion at the centre playing Oliveros’ like drone music, and the other two are more in a free role. This trio stays more close to the original improvisation but offers likewise strong, intense listening music. Certainly it’s not easy to play all four of the new Another Timbre releases in a row – I certainly didn’t – but each of them has their own view on the subject of improvisation and proving the endless amount of possibilities are available. (FdW)
Address: http://www.anothertimbre.com
BRANDON LABELLE – RADIO MEMORY (CD/Book by Errant Bodies Press)
BRANDON LABELLE – DIRTY EAR (CD by Errant Bodies Press)
Perhaps I once stated that I have no radio. It’s not entirely: next to my bed I have radio, to wake me up in the morning with the 8 o’clock news (days at Vital HQ start early), and then I shut it down and get up. I don’t know what else is on the radio anymore. I don’t mind either as through the door much music arrives. As a young man, with no money, enough time on my hand (being a student), I used to listen to radio in the evening. Several good programs in The Netherlands (‘Spleen’, ‘Radionome’ anyone) gave me my first steps in strange music. I did tape stuff from radio back then, and in some cases it too me years to find a record that I known for so long (‘Nyrabagia’ anyone?). I wonder if anyone who downloaded a MP3 these days has that same feeling – but I am getting old, I know. All of this rambling about radio is all hardly of interest I guess, but it could have been part of the installations that were conceived by Brandon LaBelle. A couple of years he invited a whole bunch of people to write him about their first memories on radio. That can be a song, or a situation in which radio played some role. It’s an interesting read, as they are collected here in the book, which brings back other memories of the same songs here or which made me curious to hear some of the ones I don’t know. Part of the book is devoted to the installations that resulted from these memories, and is thus an art catalogue. And of course there is a CD, in which LaBelle works with four memories and builds a script around them, have them spoken by some people and adds music to them. The result are four radio plays about memories, dreams or nightmares about radio, locations and people. A very strong and coherent work, even when you won’t be playing this on a daily basis.
At the same time there is also the release of ‘Dirty Ear’, which has no book which seems to be a rare thing for LaBelle these days. It uses ‘dirty field recordings, found sounds, sound effects, archives and sonorous dramas. Composed as a series of micro-narratives each designed to intervene onto imagined settings or spatial locations, as counter-sonorities’. Although that last bit is a bit of abacadabra to me, the actual music is quite interesting. They are indeed micro-narratives, on quite an abstract level it seems, or at least most of the times. Hard to tell what those ‘dirty’ sound sources are, but there is a certain muddy aspect to the music which makes it actually quite nice. Good to hear LaBelle’s doing a more regular release again. (FdW)
Address: http://www.errantbodies.org
ANNETTE KREBS & TOSHIMARU NAKAMURA – SIYU (CD by SOS Editions)
OLIVIA BLOCK & SANDRA GIBSON & LUIS RECODER – UNTITLED (DVD by SOS Editions)
These two releases look beautiful, no doubt about that. The DVD is a box which holds the release and the CD is a cut-out, pop-up, fold out thing. That is amazing, and no doubt expensive to make. But why oh why would you want to release such beauty and hardly any information on either cover. I found out that the label is called SOS Editions, and no information yet on their website about these two new releases, which I culled from another site. The CD is by Siyu, or perhaps the title is ‘Siyu’ and it’s performed by Annette Krebs and Toshimaru Nakamura. Krebs plays guitar, mixing board, tapes and objects and Nakamura plays no-input mixing board. As minimal as the cover is the music. Stretched out sine waves, produced by the no-input mixer mingle together nicely with the overtones produced the guitar, in which we sometimes recognize the guitar and most of the time nothing at all. Contemplative music – like staring at a white wall with sunlight on it (or perhaps the white cover with it’s geometric holes). A work of peace and quiet, even when I can imagine this working on the nerves if you are not initiated in this kind of music. But me thinks this is quite nice indeed.
I said it before, and will say it today and probably many more times: I have a big problem when it comes to reviewing video. I am afraid I just don’t know too much about it. To be honest: I stuck this DVD on, and didn’t look at it. The reason was perhaps that the music is by Olivia Block, someone whose work I admire a lot. She composed a ‘site specific’ which doesn’t sound like much I heard from here before. The forty some minute piece is quite noise based with distorted sounds of unknown origins. In the back there is the mighty drone, rolling about for what seems to be the entire length, but on top there is all sorts of glitchy sounds moving in distorted way, especially as the piece progressed. Kinda like latter day Oval – and that’s something that didn’t bother me much. I must say that this is the first Block work that didn’t work very much for me. The video footage, with its flickering images however fitted the scene quite well I thought. In that sense this worked well, even when I’m no specialist at all (I might have said that already). (FdW)
Address: http://www.soseditions.com
HUM OF THE DRUID – THE NEW WING BRAIDED INDUSTRY (LP by SNSE)
I’m having to fix my deck (yo man respect?) for this one so while we wait just some words of warning to Eric (Stonefelt) that the druids are in the UK a bit of a joke – though they pratt around at Stonehenge the said circle predates them by hundreds if not thousands of years, plus Ken Barlow of Coronation Street is a famous! druid. Nuf said? – (not from the UK? then Wiki said Ken..) OK – elsewhere a reviewer talks of the Bass on this – and its there at first simply like the amplified rumble of the deck- but then what appears as a rooftop flyover of a Hercules transport – I say this from experience – you know – what the FCUK was that! There is some processed “scary” vocal – but we will let that go . What is *particularly* good about this release is that given its on vinyl at times you cant help but think the stylus is simply running over a slab of rusty metal, and that any artifacts of the actual medium are instantly part of the piece. (That’s a good thing children, as it relates to McLuhan’s dictum – I said dictum!) Anyone who is into vinyl (resist slutty joke) should check this out. OK vinyl and noise – got to be a sex thing here? Ken certainly wouldn’t like any of it. “Soooooo I’m thinking noise…. vinyl….. ken…. & then Barbie! . and.” oh getoutahere – actually “Kenanbarbi” – got to be better than H o t D – so – what do you think – kind of japanesse sounding.. no?.. sorry – anyway – nice release – nice (jliat)
Address: http://snse.net/
LE SCRAMBLED DEBUTATE & SURFACE HOAR & KENJI SIRATORI (CDR by Galloping Foxely Recordings)
SURFACE HOAR – TEASE AND TELL (CDR by Galloping Foxely Recordings)
From the department of puzzles and riddles, comes
a release of six people working together. Only Kenji Siratori is a name I know, but Sir Bear Trapper, Le Chat Du Noir, Sid Redlin, Kensaku Nishizato and Matthew Amundsen are new names to me. Apparently some work as Surface Hoar and some as Le Scrambled Debutante. They thank Nigel Ayers (now him I’m know!) for samples. One piece, forty five minutes, of processed voices (hard to say wether that is singing, chanting or speaking), set against an old school industrial rhythm backbone and some sounds that are hard to define, but all of an electronic nature. I expected, perhaps for no good reason, this to be quite noise based, but it’s not. It has even some techno inspired rhythms here and there, and lots of electronic sounds to go along. The voice, I think Siratori’s, is pitched up and sounds like he took some helium, and perhaps pitched down too, who knows, is a bit in the way of the music at times, but it also hides the fact that the music is not always that varied, if not too say a bit boring. But throughout this release was quite alright, even when it’s all a bit puzzling as to who did what around here.
On the same label, apparently without a website, also a new release by Surface Hoar, in a nice recycled package. Surface Hoar is Matthew Amundsen (the man behind the label actually) and this release was made of electronic improvisations. I assume this is all computer/laptop generated stuff (though I might be wrong of course) of loud mean sustaining sounds and minimalist beats. Loops of all of these fly about in eleven relatively short pieces. Surface Hoar seems, at least seems to me, to like music which is carried by beats, be it any beats. Click n cut like rhythms are employed quite a lot around, with fuzzy electronics playing steady sine wave like structures. Think a very rough version of early Pan Sonic, but more generated through improvisation, rather than fixed compositions – ‘Scrapper 3’ is a perfect example of this. Sometimes a bit too stripped down for my taste but this music certainly has potential to grow into something more structured. Once there, anything could happen and the sky will be the limit. But me thinks it should not be limited to improvisation and ‘see what happens’. That we know, now get the real thing. (FdW)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/lescrambleddebutante http://www.myspace.com/surfacehoar http://www.kenjisiratori.com
JLIAT – NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL NOISE VOL. 15 (CDR by Larks Council Of England)
For a moment I thought of sending this to Jliat, the current reviewer for Vital Weekly of all things loud noise concerned, and see what he has to say about this consistent body of work. Number fifteen in an ongoing series of ‘sampled noise, guitar effects and distortion pedals’, with each track being three minutes and fifty-nine seconds in duration, repeated eight times. There is, me thinks, not really difference between these eight and the previous 112 tracks that were released, and perhaps that’s the whole conceptual idea. Maybe there is a theory behind it, a notion that I am missing, but I can play this once, write a few lines (or invent them) and then move on. Maybe that is the whole idea behind it. I don’t know. That’s why I should have mailed to this Jliat. (FdW)
Address: http://www.jliat.com
MOUTHS – 3V1/3V2 (CDR by Absurd)
Maybe I am wrong but the Mouths release I reviewed before was perhaps the only thing I reviewed by this band, which was then Jon Mueller (percussion, cassettes, vocals), Jim Schoenecker (analogue synthesizer, shortwave radio, vocals) and Werner Moebius (computer, devices). It seems now that Mueller is the constant factor of Mouths, now that he presents another release, which is one track with vocalist Carol Genetti and one with her voice material and Jim Schoenecker. Both pieces were recorded live and use ‘mouths’ – vibrations of air made using voice and which sets other instruments in motion. In the duo piece with Genetti things start out in a gentle manner, with long sustaining voice sounds, until everything seems to have disappeared. That however doesn’t really happen because when things return they return for good: nervous hectic voice sounds, the rattling of bows against cymbals. Its almost like a New Blockaders piece. The piece with Genetti’s voice on tape is ‘3v2’ (I am sure the titles work out in some chronological way) and it seems to be, to me, the same voice material as from the first track, but it’s a much more quieter piece, starting out low and slow and works some quicker to a peak. I think the voice material is fed through Schoenecker’s synth who creates a fine, slightly distorted drone and Mueller’s resonating drum skins. I thought this was the better piece of the two, a bit more concise and structured. (FdW)
Address: http://www.void.gr/absurd
TASOS STAMOU – ELECTROACOUSTIC IMPROVISATION #1 (CDR by Kukuruku Recordings)
A new label from Greece is Kukuruku Recordings, which have as their first release a CDR by Tasos Stamou, of whom we reviewed ‘Infant’ in Vital Weekly 581. Like the title implies these are electro-acoustic pieces for sampled instruments and objects, like bamboo flutes, kalimba, cymbal, singing bowl, souvenir whistle, alcohol test-whistle and maraka, which are sampled and looped around. Even Stamou takes the listener on multiple journeys, it’s cut as one twenty-four minute track. He feeds the playing – samples, loops and real time playing through some delay pedals but unfortunately the word ‘improvisation’ here is used to let things go without too much structure and sort of try to create a semi/quasi piece of atmospheric electronics, but the end result is a muddy affair of flute like sounds, delays on end, and kalimba rattle. Leave of the improvisation part I’d say and start composing. (FdW)
Address: <greekoolo@yahoo.com>
DEMERGO – WESTWATER MEADOWS (CDR by Ahasverus Records)
Behind Demergo is one Patrik Muhr, who produced ‘soundscapes’ for this release. It comes with a story, on the cover, not spoken as text on the release but as text you can read while hearing the music. Its a text about events in the future: a piece of science fiction, in the year 2145. Of course our grand-grand children will laugh at this story and at the music and ‘how wrong we were in those days’ with our concept of the future. But we shouldn’t care about that at all, and enjoy what is on offer now. Muhr has six pieces of digitally manipulated sounds, using time stretching, plug ins to create deep end bass sound and high pitched peeps and moves away from the microsound posse with something that owes more to the world of industrial music – post industrial music. Some of the ideas sound alright, and on other occasions things sounds like worn out ideas. Sort of alright when you a shooting a home made version of ‘Metropolis’ and want to use something else than ‘Forbidden Planet’, if you catch my drift. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ahasverus.se
TRUE SOLACE – BANDONA (CDR by The Art Of Mystification Records)
INDUSTRIAL PASSAGE FT MELLE KRAMER – KARMA (CDR by The Art Of Mystification Records)
Always nice to see a new label from The Netherlands, even when a blink on their myspace site things seem to be a bit too gothic for my taste. The art of mystification Records was started in 2006 by one Ewell Juliana and we read that the label is ” self- release Ambient Drone Avant-garde music with a black dark spiritual charisma and occult films. Music feels like entering the Eden of disharmony and enlightenment, exploring both spiritual and the unknown activities inside your deepest unwanted feelings.” The first release is by Ewell Juliana himself (herself perhaps, as I never heard the name Ewell before) under the banner of True Solace. Five lengthy pieces of music which are made with guitar, spoken voices, hummings and lots and lots of effects at which reverb is at the very centre of the chain. The guitar is strummed and played with a bow, while the singing is more like chanting. Quite ethereal – certainly for my taste. True Solace works in atmospheres that aren’t mine – too closed, too confined, too directive. Things work best in those pieces in which the chanting is less dominant or absent, such as ‘Skuridat’ or in ‘Panorama’. Maybe the music relies a bit too heavy on the use of reverb, but throughout it’s quite a nice work, if a bit too closed for me.
The other release features on Melle Kramer who plays drums and percussion and a group called Industrial Passage who are responsible for guitars and vocals. The ‘theory of Karma is central on this album. No time to think or analyze, doing is the main word of this theory. By reunite these spiritual & musical friends you will discover this kind of music with art structures’ it says on the website. The guitars are loud, slow and heavy, they sustain and drone nicely along in bath of reverb and distortion. The drums play a more free role in the music and seem to be recorded as part of an improvisation. Heavy free improvisation rock with strong drone like qualities, but because of the free role of the drums, the two long pieces are also a bit like various loose ends stuck together, and sometimes the power of the recordings get a bit lost in a dark forest. One can hear what they are aiming at, yet it’s not always reached. A bit shorter next time and keep more consistency in the drumming and it’s a rocking formation to clean those stuffed ears. (FdW)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/theartofmystificationrecords
EZRA JACOBS – DIFFUSIEDRANG (CDR by Etherkreet)
RICHARD JONAS – STEKKERSPEL (CDR by Etherkreet)
BAS VAN HUIZEN – ANACHRONISTENMIST (CDR by Etherkreet)
Another new label, hand delivered since they are from Nijmegen is Etherkreet. Nijmegen isn’t that big, but that doesn’t mean I know each and everyone playing music. The three names here don’t mean much to me, but who knows: if I see them, I may know them. They might not be locally, since the label is based here and in Amsterdam. The first release is by Ezra Jacobs, who uses ‘manipulated shortwave recordings’ which were recorded during storm and heavy rain, which I thought was a good starting point. I am clueless as to what kind of manipulations is used in these six tracks, but my best guess is lots of layering. Large chunks of radio sounds are layered and stacked together of unequal lengths, so that there is no apparent element of repetition. The one thing that put me off a bit is the extreme variation in volumes. The first two pieces are very soft, while the third one bursts out at one point. No doubt intended as such, but it breaks the gentle flow of the first two pieces and things could work better if the flow was more constant. But this is a most enjoyable album of ambient sounds, atmospheric in every sense of the word.
Richard Jonas recorded sound material in the analogue studio of the Institute of Sonology and from these sounds built his own work called ‘Stekkerspel’ (which is a funny word play as a ‘stekker’ means plug and ‘spel’ is game or play), referring to the plugs old analogue synthesizers have. He creates nine relatively short tracks with this material, which takes him all over the place. As easy going from serious ‘Forbidden Planet’ alike material, he can suddenly create a beat or two or leap into music for sci-fi computer games. As the pieces are short and joyful, this is a very nice release to hear. Jonas keeps his material fresh by not exploiting them to the hilt. A fine combination of styles mixed into something that might not be entirely unique, but which is refreshing to hear.
And finally there is one Bas van Huizen, with ‘his processed guitar and voice sounds’. Van Huizen may be regarded as the most musical release of the three, using layered guitar sounds in which both drones and shimmering melodies play a role. The drones provide the mighty backdrop for the tracks, the guitar feeding through endless delay pedals, with additional computer processing to top things of. The voice I didn’t recognize in this swirling mass of sound. Bas van Huizen likes moody tunes of a darker kind. Elegantly produced, perhaps a bit long here and there, but quite nice. (FdW)
Address: http://www.etherkreet.com
FORDELL RESEARCH UNIT – REAL MEN DRINK HORSE MILK (CDR by Dead Sea Liner)
EL HEATH – A (RATHER) DEAD SEA LINER (CDR by Dead Sea Liner)
DEAD WOOD – HARMONIC SECTOR 1-10 (CDR by Dead Sea Liner)
Of these three new releases on Dead Sea Liner, I only recognized the name Dead Wood. Behind Fordell Research Unit is “the mighty Fraser of pjorn72 & linwood flats”, whatever that may mean to someone. He plays seven short tracks of distorted drone music. Loud most of the times, using guitar (it seems), but the tracks are way too short to say anything decent about it. More a sketchbook than a well rounded CDR I’d say. Sometimes its not necessary to release everything one does.
Of much more interest, I think, is the also quite short release by Eric Heath. He plays also drone like music, but much more calm and relaxing, be it that he is inspired by singer-songwriter material by say the likes of Richard Youngs. Guitar plays an all important role, the singing is reduced to humming and in the five pieces he puts on a beautiful atmospheric sound. Sustaining sounds, fed through a bunch of delay pedals create rich tapestries of sounds. This could have been a bit longer to please my appetite.
Dead Wood’s work has been mostly released by his own Dirty Demos label, but various pieces of his ‘Harmonic Sectors’ ended up on compilations but they are here compiled, along with six more, unreleased pieces. Adam Baker, for it is he behind the controls of Dead Wood, seems to have discovered Ableton Live and plays around with a minimal set of sine wave like loops per track. They loop around, in varying lengths. Highly minimal in approach, but it works out pretty well. That is: most of the times. Named ‘Harmonic Sector 1’, ‘Harmonic Sector 2’ and ‘Harmonic Sector 3’ etc, there is a strong sense of homogeneity among the tracks, which makes that sometimes one has the idea one is listening to a similar track made from the same source material. That is a pity, since it has some nice ambient glitch music throughout here, albeit with some repetition among the tracks (FdW)
Address: http://www.deadsealiner.co.uk
ADRIAN SHENTON – THE MEASURING MOMENTS (CDR by Quiet World)
IAN HOLLOWAY & DARREN TATE & BANKS BAILEY – SUMMERLAND (CDR by Quiet World)
IAN HOLLOWAY – A LONELY PLACE (CDR by Quiet World)
Of the three new releases on Ian Holloway’s Quiet World label, two new names. The first one is Adrian Shenton, whose music on ‘The Measuring Moments’ isn’t exactly quiet, even when he gathers much of his inspiration from the world of drone and ambient music. It seems to me that Shenton wants to create well rounded pieces rather than a free flow, long term ambient piece. He plays ten relatively short pieces, which owe, structure wise more to a ‘song’ than to a bigger ‘piece’. Shenton doesn’t always succeed in what he wants and some pieces are a bit too easily made. But on other occasions he manages to play a nice piece of ambient music, mainly using (software?) synthesizers, of a somewhat darker kind. I am not sure if this is his first release, but (hope no insult is made here) its a most promising start.
Labelowner Ian Holloway has two releases. The first one is a work he created with Darren Tate (of Ora fame) playing guitar and one Banks Bailey providing him with field recordings. They don’t play together as such but Holloway uses recordings of both to create five pieces of ambient drone music, even when the opening piece has a glitch like rhythm. Don’t let this fool you, as this disc is mostly made of ambient drones, duck recordings and, perhaps a second surprise and one that fits the scope, a more improvised guitar playing by Tate occasionally. Quite a nice release, with some surprises and stepping away, even just a little bit, from the world of ‘just’ drone music. That’s something I always like.
On Holloway’s solo release ‘A Lonely Place’ he continues his previous releases of drone music, but here too a small shift can be noted. Holloway plays guitar here and mixes them with manipulated sounds thereof into a single piece of thirty-nine minutes of music. Here too a certain element of improvisation seems to leap it, making this is a little bit – but only marginally I’d say – different than the other work that is available under the banner of ‘ambient drone’ music, even when this comes closer to it than the release with Tate and Banks. Certainly it seems to me that Holloway is somebody who looks beyond the horizon and is eager to make small but necessary changes in ambient drone music – and it’s about time, I’d say. (FdW)
Address: http://www.quietworld.co.uk
THIS WINDOW (CDR, private)
THE STRIGGLES – EXPRESSIONISM (CDR by Noise Appeal Records)
SCISSOR SHOCK – SYNONYM FOR THE WORD DECAY (?)
The wrong corner this is: Vital Weekly doesn’t review demo’s for a start. The only reason why I mention This Window is that I remember reviewing them in the days when Vital Weekly was a magazine and that I used some kind words on it. But This Window is a rock band and unfortunately Vital Weekly has drifted far away from music like this. They will have two new CDs in the future, but this is not the place to see a review of them, nor of the demo.
Then there is The Striggles, ‘Expressionism’ on Noise Appeal Records. They don’t play noise, even when perhaps they might think otherwise. Captain Beefheart like ‘madness’, oops ‘expressionist’ music of free form rock music. Also nothing for these pages.
On the Scissor Shock page there is a lot scribbled and if mister reviewer is prepared to do a course in reading handwriting? No he isn’t. One Adam Cooley and Aaron Booe play twelve tracks of improvised drum machine beating and adding weird sounds from guitars, xylophone, marimba, trombone, double bass and such like, all in a totally free mode. Actually this is ‘Vital’ music indeed, but the presentation is so lame that it should be ignored, me thinks. Release it properly and send me a new copy so I can check it. I have not even clue wether this is a CDR or a MP3 release. I think the latter. (FdW)
Address: http://www.m4tr.co.uk
Address: http://www.noiseappeal.com
Address: http://www.myspace.com/scissorshock
LAWRENCE ENGLISH /JEPH JERMAN (3″CDR by Compost And Heigth)
A new label this Compost and Height, with a simple but effective packaging. They kick off with a release by Lawrence English and Jeph Jerman. English continues his explorations of the sea started (?) on ‘Study For Stradbroke’ (see Vital Weekly 631) with another piece for hydrophonic recordings, with a strong focus here on the grain of the ocean. Water collides against the surface and the microphones pick it up in a somewhat crude way, making this less of a subtle piece of soundscaping but all the more interesting. Jeph Jerman’s piece is something different than his usual line of work too. Normally he plays small objects without amplification, but here he created a piece using recordings of meteorities, sferics and radio emmissions from Saturn. Sounds from space set into a piece of dark drone like material which could be a plane coming over, along with crackle and rattle. Air and ground make a great pair on this release. Seems like an appropriate start for a label called Compost and Height. (FdW)
Address: http://www.compostandheight.blogspot.com
MICHEAL JOHNSEN – UNTITLED (3″CDR, private)
MICHEAL JOHNSEN – UNTITLED (3″CDR, private)
From Pittsburgh is one Micheal Johnsen, who
privately released these two 3″ CDR releases, which are kind of hard to separate – just the cover and information on it, make them different, but neither one has a title or even a proper artist name on it – room for improvement there. The first one is ‘live electronic sound made by the tuning and spatial manipulation of two closely spaced portable AM radios having loopstick antennae, the resulting signal undergoing mild output processing, primarily filtering and gating’. Even when the result is easily described as ‘mild noise’, it’s a little bit more than just that. The sound reminded me of old David Tudor or Gordon Mumma – complex (or perhaps simple) electronics set in motion and then tweaking and twichting starts; like those electronic birds you can built from the do it yourself electronic magazine.
The other one is just ‘live electronic sound’, a twenty-three minute unedited recording, and sees a continuation of the other one, but it’s a little less in quality also. Squaking electronics, wires being hit, feedback like sound, but the end result is a little less focussed than the first one – or perhaps it’s a bit too much to swallow right after the first one? Could also be. Both of them use improvisation and electronics as a starting point in a modern classical, but very sixties sort of way and that’s quite nice, simply because it’s rarely done these days. (FdW)
Address: <johnsenmm@yahoo.com>
HAROLD NONO – THE DEATH OF BARRA (MP3 by Rack & Ruin Records)
Its easy to make jokes about the name, or say wether or not he is inspired by Luigi (which he is not), but Harold Nono appears here on a Dutch MP3 label called Rack & Ruin, which may suggest noise, but it’s not. Nono before had tracks on Bearsuit Records, works together with Me Raabenstein and with Hidekazu Wakabayashi. Four tracks here, an extended play that is, of tracks made electronics and a sampler. Quite dramatic playing with sounds that come of like film soundtrack, the silence before the killer strikes soundtrack in ‘Ham’, sampled strings and such like. A bit swollen, this sound, but it works well in a cinematic approach. Nice stuff, but perhaps at four tracks its not easy to form a thorough opinion on his music. But nice enough to want to investigate further. (FdW)
Address: http://www.rackandruinrecords.com
SEGUE – A GLASS DARKLY (MP3 by Resting Bell)
Jordan Sauer is behind the moniker Segue and he hails from Vancouver, Canada. He plays a variety of instruments, such as 12-string guitar, piano, violin, melodica, glockenspiel and percussive instruments. His ‘A Glass Darkly’ is one twenty-two minute track, which seems to be falling apart in various parts, sequenced into one track. That is a nice thing, since it makes a continuos listening, but it also gave me the impression that they were various pieces ‘glued’ together as it were. Segue operates in a micro glitch ambient style, that is represented by labels as 12K/Line, and as such Segue offers not really much news, but his piece is well produced, with the all the usual ingredients of hiss, drones, tinkling bells and careful selected glitches. Nice enough indeed to stand on its own. (FdW)
Address: http://www.restingbell.net