HANS VAN ECK – BASSBOX (CD by Audiobulb) *
MICHEAL SNOW – TWO RADIO SOLOS (CD by Blackwood Gallery) *
TELEPHERIQUE – ZIVILISATOSE (CD by Diophantine Discs) *
MOTH ELECTRET – TOCASEN (CD by Diophantine Discs) *
BEFORE WE MELT (Compilation CD by IVDT)
BLEEDING HEART NARRATIVE – ALL THAT WAS MISSING WE NEVER HAD IN THE WORLD (CD by Cold Spring)
SISTRENATUS – SENSITIVE DISTURBANCE (CD by Cold Spring)
TENHORNEDBEAST – MY HORNS ARE A FLAME (CD by Cold Spring)
PHROQ – HALF-ASLEEP MUSIC (CD by Entr’acte)
CHEAPMACHINES SECEDE (CD by Entr’acte)
RONNIE SUNDIN – SEVEN YEAR SILENCE (CD by Fang Bomb)
CHIHEI HATAKEYAMA – SAUNTER (CD by Room40) *
TEMPLE MUSIC – INCOMPLETENESS (CD by Shining Day/Faria) *
ARTURAS BUMSTEINAS – UNIFORMS (CD by Bölt) *
SONUS AKROBATA – MANDRAGORA (CD by Bölt) *
CHFS – AUS(R)ASTEN (3″CD, private) *
PICK UP – MOUTHLESS (LP by Important records) *
IAN MIDDLETON – TIME BUILDING (LP by Entr’acte)
BADUN – TANDOORI TENTACLE EP (12″ vinyl / FLAC / MP3-format by Merry-X-Mas Records)
REVERSE MOUTH – THE CONFUSION OF THE SOUND OF CONFUSION (CDR by Primecuts Recordings)
KUSARI GAMA KILL – NOISECORE EXTRAVAGANZA (CDR by R.O.N.F. Records)
BISTURI VRIL/MIXTURIZER – BVM SPLIT (CDR by R.O.N.F. Records)
+DOG+ – HOT BORDERS (CDR by Love Earth Music)
ATMEN IM ATOM – ATOM HEART NOISE III (CDR by Why Not Ltd)
DELPLANQUE & OLDMAN – CHAPELLE DE L’ORATOIRE (CDR by Eh? Records) *
PLURALS – HALF REALITY (CDR by Dead Sea Liner) *
GOLDEN OAKS THREE BILLION – SUMPTUOUS HAMPER (CDR by Dead Sea Liner) *
MAX BELLANCOURT – THE STONE TAPE (CDR by Dead Sea Liner) *
FEU FOLLET – NUAGES SUR LA NOIT (double CDR by Tosom) *
CRYPTIC SCENERY – THE RADAR SOCIETY – A SONIC DYSTOPIA (CDR by Tosom) *
ELECTRIQUE NOWEGIQUE – MIR07DEC08 (CDR by Tib Prod) *
N.STRAHL.N – GRAUER RAUM/BLAUE STILLE (CDR by Tib Prod) *
GOH LEE KWANG – WAVER (CDR by Appel Music) *
ALEXANDRE BELLENGER – PERLABORATION (CDR by Appel Music) *
GILLICUDDY – THE REPEATING THOUGHTS OF OLD ZINNG-ZANNG (MP3 by Resting Bell)
FILTHY TURD -COCK DOLLAR ON AMBULANCE TIME (Cassette by poor little music)
HANS VAN ECK – BASSBOX (CD by Audiobulb)
It doesn’t happen a lot, the excitement of mail arriving and then there is the new work by *** (fill in the blank), the much rumored new work. At the Vital HQ lots of mail arrive, and mail means work, its that simple. You may find it hard to believe but there was some old fashioned excitement when opening a small parcel by Audiobulb, which contained, much to my surprise, a CD by Hans van Eck. Who? His name popped up in the announcement section a couple of times, as part of the Schreck Ensemble, with whom he performs works of twentieth century serious composers. My first encounter with his music was a cassette only release in the late 80s, ‘Blind Area’ (which I think you can download on the Schreck website) of works created when studying sonology. Serious electronic music, but which sounded to my ears great. Never heard much of his music again, so that may explain some of the excitement. Here he works with a bassbox, ‘an electronic air pump which pumps wind in measured quantities through flutes, giving rise to rhythmically fascinating sounds’. The vibrations of bass escape through two small holes and go into bamboo flutes. A simple and effective idea. And that brings me straight to the problem I have with the CD. There are seven pieces on this CD, and there is only one, ‘Rivieren’, which sound distinctly different than the other six. The six pieces are variations to a theme it seems. Maybe the speed changes a bit, the amount of air blown into the bamboo (even within a piece, which makes this sound like Reich’s phase shifting), but after the third piece I had enough. I took it off, highly disappointed, but when I started to review the review I went back, and it seemed the fourth piece ‘Rivieren’ was different, more like sine wave like experiment. Maybe I was wrong and I played the CD to the end. But no. That track is the odd ball, and the rest is standard. That I think is a great pity. I can imagine the bassbox is a nice thing to see in action, but as a whole the CD is a bit disappointing. Having said that, the pieces as pieces are actually nice. Nothing wrong with them as such, but to play it in one go, is just a bit too much. Hard to imagine, but play one or two pieces of this and then move to something else and then back to here. Seems like a lot of work. Audiobulb took a brave step by moving away from their usual musical releases and that’s great too. (FdW)
Address: http://www.audiobulb.com
MICHEAL SNOW – TWO RADIO SOLOS (CD by Blackwood Gallery)
The great thing about cassette releases in the 1980s was the fact that you could do anything, then release it and still no money, no risk was involved. The radio was a popular instrument back then. Context from Germany released ‘Schnitte’, a collage of radio sounds cut into a thirty minute work. To mention an example not on the press text. Micheal Snow released ‘Two Radio Solos’ as a cassette in 1988 on Freedom In A Vacuum, and its now re-released on a CD and I may wonder why. Maybe Snow has the potential to sell CDs? Why not stick to the old cassette format – these days a hipper than hip thing? The do-it-yourself musical approach probably comes best alive when using a radio. No more three chords, or one for that matter, just dial the knob on a radio. Anyone can do it, most likely everyone should do it (impossible with all these automatic channel searching these days), but no one should release it, in its pure form on, CD anymore. That was done in a time when the format fitted the music, but not the CD. Or perhaps I have just an old-fashioned idea about CD releases; that might actually be true also. Its nice to play for the entire seventy-seven minute, but perhaps I like to hear something done with the radio sounds. (FdW)
Address: http://www.blackwoodgallery.ca
TELEPHERIQUE – ZIVILISATOSE (CD by Diophantine Discs)
MOTH ELECTRET – TOCASEN (CD by Diophantine Discs)
Maybe this a bit of German humor, but Telepherique are asked by the US label Diophantine Discs and they think about US overweight and unhealthy food. It seems that ‘Zivilisatose’ is a concept album by the band about this, including voice samples of people ordering cheese burgers, super size (maybe from the movie with the same name, more or less? – I saw that movie, but don’t remember this particular quote). The funny thing is that the music that Telepherique adds to this is kinda light, certainly in the somewhat darkened world of Telepherique, and bouncing. Sequencers and rhythms always have played a bit role in their music, but it seems it does more here. Or perhaps this is their ‘work out music’, music to move too, to loose that extra weight? Don’t expect a full techno or house record, that’s at least three bridges away from what they do here, but I was tapping feet along with this. If this comes close to anything I’d say ambient house, say at times Pete Namlook in his very early days. Ambient house with a strong political motivation, which is perhaps an odd combination, but if Herbert can do it, why not Telepherique? Very nice work here, very light yet well-thought out.
The second new release by Diophantine Discs is also the second for Stig Berg’s Moth Electret project which debuted on Mystery Sea with ‘III’ (see Vital Weekly 571). Berg is also a member |A|A|N and Aesthetic Meat Front. Whereas on ‘III’ he seemed to work with field recordings, processed by the usual digital means, it seems to me that this new work is a bit more part of the world of electronic generated sound, rather than processed field recordings, but then I might be entirely wrong here. There is however, as before the influence of Tietchens, era ‘Hydrophonien’ and Werkbund to be noticed: the aquatic theme that was so present on ‘III’ is also present here. Music that moves like water – sometimes like a mighty ocean, full of storm and fear, sometimes like a mild stream in the mountains. No real big surprise here, but executed with great care. (FdW)
Address: http://discs.diophantine.net
BEFORE WE MELT (Compilation CD by IVDT)
Sitting here in the Northern Hemispheres’ warm days of spring it is quite a pleasure watching the snowfilled landscape presented on the artwork of present album from the Oakland-based label IVDT. Since the opening three pieces on this 45-minutes running compilation titled “Before we melt” have a quite dark and melancholic nature, I had the idea that the titled refers to the global warming crisis but the theme on this compilation is simply the cold winter. Most tracks on the album has a title referring to the winter-time and the musical quality of the compilation is quite high. Opening with Bitcrush a.k.a. Mike Cadoo (former member of IDM-project Gridlock), the track titled “Glacial” is a beautiful and quite dark drone-based ambient-work followed by another melancholic drone-based work by the composer Electricwest. Downbeat rhythm-textures gently follows the distant drones on this IDM-based work by Electricwest. Third track is my favorite piece of the compilation: “Kontulalibrarytrack” is a grandiose downbeat piece of sheer beauty created by Lackluster running approx. 6 minutes and with the same longing melancholy of the opening two pieces. From this track forward the atmosphere changes into a slightly more light and lush with a number of IDM until the second final track by Headphone Science that moves back to the melancholy of the opening three tracks. A pleasant album that for the main part circulates in the downbeat/ambient spheres of IDM. And the best thing: The album can be downloaded for free from the the website mentioned below. I highly recommend you to do so… (NM)
Address: http://ivdt.net/
BLEEDING HEART NARRATIVE – ALL THAT WAS MISSING WE NEVER HAD IN THE WORLD (CD by Cold Spring)
Present album was originally released as a limited edition of 200 copies on Tataruga Records. One year after the original release British label Cold Spring Records now gives a wider audience the chance to get introduced to this interesting project. Behind the name Bleeding Heart Narrative, you find the London-based composer Oliver Barrett, who proves his insight knowledge in the world of acoustic sounds. Important elements on the album titled “All that was missing we never had in the world” is the sound of acoustic instruments such as cello, piano and guitar. Sometimes these acoustic sounds live their very own life in the music, other times the sounds are woven into electronic dronescapes, giving the music an ambient feeling. Musically, the album floats in-between ambient and postrock, mostly kept in trance-inducing atmospheres. A central part of the album is the excellent vocals of Alastair Bailey, that makes the overall style remind of the excellent joint venture-project between ambient-maestro Robert Rich and guitarist/bassist Rick Davies, Amoeba. As the album-title and the project-name suggest, the feeling on the album is melancholic and fragile. A beautiful and emotive experience that will appeal to listeners of dreamy postrock and acoustic based ambient. (NM)
Address: http://www.coldspring.co.uk/
SISTRENATUS – SENSITIVE DISTURBANCE (CD by Cold Spring)
A couple of years ago I had the pleasure of reviewing the debut release of Canadian project Sistrenatus. The overall expression on the album titled “Division one” was tense spheres of harsh industrial-noise and orchestral black ambient. The same unsettling expression saturates this third shot from Sistrenatus, where the atmospheres of eeriness are intact, but this time accompanied by distorted guitar drones and brutal swarms of power electronics, as on the piece titled “Slow wave”. On the lengthy track titled “Echoes from the past” a distorted male voice assists to create the feeling of hostility. The listener won’t leave this album in tranquility, the feeling of darkness and depravity saturating the album keeping the listener in constant awareness of what will come next. Dark and great work! (NM)
Address: http://www.coldspring.co.uk/
TENHORNEDBEAST – MY HORNS ARE A FLAME (CD by Cold Spring)
There isn’t much light at the end of the tunnel on this latest effort from the legendary artist calling himself Tenhornedbeast. British artist Christopher Walton is a legendary artist that started the joint venture project Abraxas with compatriot artist Stephen Pennick in the early nineties, until the twosome changed into the more well-known project Endvra. In 2004 Christopher Walton established his solo project as Tenhornedbeast, present album being the seventh shot under this name. As Tenhornedbeast, mr. Walton finds his way into the darkest caves of electronic expression, making the works of Lustmord and Inade almost sound like New Age music. Utterly dark buzz drones creates a thick fog of apocalyptic atmospheres sometimes strengthened by slow and heavy rhythm-textures. Ghoulish sounds cries from the deep holes of sonic darkness meanwhile an echoed sound production on the album adds a great grandiosity to the album. As the fourth track opens the first sign of distant melodic beauty cripples, otherwise the listener is left alone in this isolated satanic universe of the beast. Alluring and hypnotic piece of black ambient. (NM)
Address: http://www.coldspring.co.uk/
PHROQ – HALF-ASLEEP MUSIC (CD by Entr’acte)
This was recorded by Francisco Meirino on the edge of sleep in order to tap into some sub-conscious brain stuff/nonsense. Why – god knows – as the surrealists did this back in the middle ages. What do we do with it- do we listen to it half asleep or write a Phd doctorate on it. We could move on to examine the lint in trouser pockets- or explore the back of the sofa for signs of extra terrestrial life. What does it sound like – all sorts – tracks of different length – some totally empty. It’s the kind of concept musical idea that even Brian Eno would give up after a few days thought. “Mystifying snippets of pragmatism and bewitching sonic pictures of seductive stimulation form a somewhat disjointed narration, where both condensed fragmentariness and surrounding spheres of nerve-tickling frequencies have the same right of citizenship.” Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz (obvious!) (jliat)
Address http://www.entracte.co.uk/
CHEAPMACHINES SECEDE (CD by Entr’acte)
“These recordings were made as part of a proposed file-sharing collaboration with Austrian sound artist Helmut Schäfer. The recordings were abandoned after Schäfer’s death in April 2007..” And continues “Schäfer does not appear on these recordings” what we have are 8 beautifully constructed tracks of abstract sound. They have poise poetry and deliberation – others take note. I need not say much more – than they utilize with what I think is both wit and skill the audio media of the sound artist. Not noise then as much as abstract musical compositions. (jliat)
Address: http://www.entracte.co.uk/
RONNIE SUNDIN – SEVEN YEAR SILENCE (CD by Fang Bomb)
I can’t quite see (hear) “the densest, most dynamic and near-impenetrable blasters I’ve yet heard to be issued in the name of electro-acoustic noise” of The Sound Projector’s review – it arrives in an A5 booklet of ink drawings – with the text “God is Silent no more” -(have I missed something?) Anyway Ronnie began life as a visual artist – how is that relevant? the ink drawings are not particularly hard hitting – though what do I know. The two tracks are again abstract electronics, a move from it seems work that was almost silent – but I’m not aware of that. I think as in the Cheapmachines release there is careful delicate location of the compositions sonic elements but the device of slowly complicating a simple and fairly quiet beginning is I think both clichéd – and animalistic – in the rising drumming which flows out of Africa and into Stravinsky- and though there is nothing wrong with that, the dynamics of focused force, it runs the risk of re-introducing narrative where its
perhaps not required. (jliat)
Address: http://www.fangbomb.com
CHIHEI HATAKEYAMA – SAUNTER (CD by Room40)
The press text doesn’t mention any instruments for this release, but me thinks its all made with guitar and heavily processing going on, either with boxes on the floor or inside the bytes and bits of the computer. Six pieces of that long sustaining tones and notes, sometimes with a nasty angle to it, such as in ‘Images Of Broken Light’, which in the high end bumps into almost feedback like waves. That makes this album for me not the ambient record that it probably should have been. Even when I like the genre quite a lot, I must admit I am not too keen on ‘Saunter’. Its hard to say why. That happens at times. There is something about an album, and you don’t know what it is. Maybe its that slightly rough edge, maybe its the slightly chaotic way of composing, but there is something here which didn’t make the album grab me very much. It wasn’t too bad either, but it stayed a bit remote for my taste. (FdW)
Address: http://www.room40.org
TEMPLE MUSIC – INCOMPLETENESS (CD by Shining Day/Faria)
The word ‘incompleteness’ doesn’t refer to the music by Temple Music, but to the ideas of Kurt Gödel, who ‘demonstrated that within any given branch of mathematics, there would always be some propositions that couldn’t be proven either true or false using the rules and axioms of that mathematical branch itself’ (I am quoting the press text here, I am not that clever myself). Temple Music used this to create their music, using Indian harmonium, shruti box, plucked and hammered dulcimers, bodhrans, mosenos, synthesizers, guitars, voices and much more, to connect old and new, past and future. I played this CD twice in a row. Not because I liked it that much but more because I was reading a nice book and the music created some nice backdrop to continue reading – perhaps not the best to do when listening to music, but it sometimes happens. Maybe some of the undercurrents of Temple Music is not for me, this I noted before. Music that is ‘magickal’ is usually not well spend on me, but the drone like sounds of Temple Music, the tinkling of guitars and the whispering voices, the harmonium being played and the excellent clear production of the music, makes this altogether into something I even like. Superficially listening this has not much to do with the world of Current 93 and such bands a like, but is highly melodic drone music. Very nice, the best I heard so far by Temple Music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.shiningday.pl http://www.faria.ru
ARTURAS BUMSTEINAS – UNIFORMS (CD by Bölt)
SONUS AKROBATA – MANDRAGORA (CD by Bölt)
It seems that the new Bölt label, whose motto is ‘new music in Eastern Europe’, is part of Polish Monotype Records, but perhaps they are not. The two releases that open up the label – at least for me – are two different affairs. First there is ‘Uniforms’ by Arturas Bumsteinas, from Lithuania, and who can easily be regarded as one of the more interesting players, bridging various points, such as improvisation, electronic music (laptop) and serious composed music. In the booklet (both CDs have extended liner notes), there is an interesting text about Lithuanian minimalism and American experimental music and how they link up. I think if you listen to the five pieces Bumsteinas has to offer here, we can spot some parallels indeed. The almost title ‘This Uniform’ are laptop like pieces of slowly shifting sound patterns – say the Steve Reich, like his tape pieces but with what seems to be real instruments and some computer working. This is a great piece, and such is ‘Glockenspiel’, which is a pure computer piece of slowly shifting sounds. In the other three pieces it seems that they are more build around a small chamber ensemble, which in ‘Second Sequentia’ makes a nice combination with the computer based sounds, and which more makes a connection with West Coast minimalism of the Cold Blue label. If you heard the name Bumsteinas before and you are curious to hear what he does, I’d say this is an excellent place to start to exploring what his music is all about.
A bit unusual I guess is to call a duo of improvised music as a real band name, but then, why not? Behind Sonus Akrobata we find two Polish musicians, Andrzej Izdebski on fretless baritone guitar and Michal Gros on timpani. This is free jazz in optima forma. I am a bit lost here, as this pure, acoustic free jazz has never been that much of anything for me, let alone a cup of tea. Also I am a bit lost about the historical significance to release this ten years after it was recorded. Again, I am no expert on this, but it seems to me that the playing of Sonus Akrobata is good, solid, but also not much new under the free jazz son. But having said all that: I am hardly the expert here. (FdW)
Address: http://www.monotyperecords.com/bolt
CHFS – AUS(R)ASTEN (3″CD, private)
You don’t see many pressed up 3″CDs these days, its all CDR. I don’t think I ever heard of Christian F. Schiller, also known as CHFS, who plays bass drum and piano on ‘Aus(r)asten’, which I can’t translate. Certainly one of the more curious records of this week. It seems to be a kind of improvised piece, or perhaps sketched out along various paths Schiller wanted to follow. Playing sustain like chords towards the end for instance (think Palestine), or the solitary bangs on piano and bass drum in the beginning, or, at the very start some low frequency sound (fast playing on the bass drum, I imagine, rather than something electronic). Like I said a most curious piece that seems to be coming from nowhere and packed as a small ‘arty’ release. (FdW)
Address: http://in-dust.org
PICK UP – MOUTHLESS (LP by Important records)
Hot on the heels of their first album comes this bright orange-colored vinyl follow up. ‘Mouthless’ however was recorded prior to their first release, so this is really – with some delay – Pick Up’s debut. The concept of Pick Up is simple; the music is based upon the (resonator) guitar playing by Martin Luijten, which is reworked via Frans de Waard’s laptop. At times field recordings are added. ‘Mouthless’ contains 4 long tracks. The title tracks opens the proceedings with gentle John Fahey-ish picking. Luiten uses a resonator guitar (also known as a Dobro) on this album. The body of this guitar contains one or more metal cones, instead of wood, which makes the sound louder and gives the guitar a distinctive blues-grass sound. The style of Luiten’s fingerpicking is friendly and traditional, using the occasional slide. After a while looping and gentle feedback sets in, which makes ‘Mouthless’ a wonderful, restrained track. In contrast, the second track ‘Klemmend’ is far more chaotic with dominant field recordings of what sounds like a kindergarten. In the background the guitar is fighting to be heard. Side two opens with ‘Magnifying Glasses’, which features reflective guitar playing by Luiten only, showing his versatile skills. Very nice. If you like this sort of guitar picking I can highly recommend any of the early Takoma LP’s by John Fahey. On the second track, ‘Tracing’, the electronics set in again with looping. A mirror image of side two, here too the sound is less structured. As a whole, this is a very fine album (with an original combination of electronics and resonator guitar), even though you could argue that it would have been an idea to put the two more quiet tracks on one side and the more chaotic tracks on the other. But that is just a thought. Packed in two heavy cardboard sheets (like the previous Pick Up album) with a hand-colored paste-on sheet, this looks very sturdy indeed. And, if you’re lucky, you will find the album in luminous orange vinyl (the first 100 of a total of 300 copies) inside. (FK)
Address: http://www.importantrecords.com
IAN MIDDLETON – TIME BUILDING (LP by Entr’acte)
Only a few weeks ago, in Vital Weekly 570 I reviewed ‘Aural Spaces’ by Ian Middleton, the man who was behind Remora in the nineties. Now he returns with a LP on Entr’acte, and that usually means liner notes, and that’s the case here. He writes about the equipment he uses, mainly analogue synthesizer (the Korg MS10 if you must know), sound effects and some acoustic sounds in one piece. Before recording he sets himself to work to find the sounds he wants and then, when found, he will press ‘record’ and the piece plays itself, perhaps only changing one or two knobs. But since a certain cycle found on the synthesizer can never be easily repeated, there is lots of small changes in the sound. That’s where Middleton’s love of drones comes from as Middleton is a man of drone music, and the six pieces on this album sound as nice as on ‘Aural Spaces’, even when they are bit longer here, leaving room for development within a given set of sounds. Maybe ‘Aural Spaces’ at times sounded a bit more ‘digital’, and ‘Time Building’ is very analogue, there is an overlap in the two. The approach stays the same and it makes up some fine pieces of drone music. Small changes in the sound, a highly minimal approach – slow music for times that should be slow, but which aren’t. Middleton plays music that is perfect remedy for fast times, but I guess not many people would be open for that. That is a pity. Again I think the young kids of jumped the bandwagon of cosmic music recently should again pay notice. (FdW)
Address: http://www.entreacte.co.uk
BADUN – TANDOORI TENTACLE EP (12″ vinyl / FLAC / MP3-format by Merry-X-Mas Records)
Many times the borderlands between jazz and electronica have been explored but too often the two styles doesn’t seem to melt. Danish trio consisting of Aske Krammer, Oliver Duckert and Brian Møller has been working in this particular area for almost a decade by now. This long practice was easily heard on the bands debut as it was released in the early spring of 2007. The album titled S.T. was an experimental fusion of acoustic instruments and textures of rhythmic complexity. It was a demanding but rewarding experience. Now two years later Badun is ready with the follow-up to the debut. The album titled “Tandoori tentacle” stays in the avantgarde approach to jazz/electronica. The album contains of four pieces that generally floats in nocturnal sound spheres. As was the case with the previous effort the compositions of the three members are extremely organic. Multi-layered breakbeat textures swirls in nocturnal soundscapes of acoustic instruments where first of all guitar and electric piano plays an important role. Despite its hypercomplex and futurist nature integrating elements of fusion jazz, breakbeat science and cinematic ambience, the music has an interesting retrospective 70’s character drawing association towards the dramatic soundtracks of Lalo Schifrin. This “hard-to-categorize” and unpredictable nature is what makes this ep such an alluring experience! (NM)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/badunband
REVERSE MOUTH – THE CONFUSION OF THE SOUND OF CONFUSION (CDR by Primecuts Recordings)
KUSARI GAMA KILL – NOISECORE EXTRAVAGANZA (CDR by R.O.N.F. Records)
BISTURI VRIL/MIXTURIZER – BVM SPLIT (CDR by R.O.N.F. Records)
Reverse mouth AKA Panagiotis & Spoulos CDR in barely legible grey print on grey paper fold and nothing much more to find for this particular release on the web. Two tracks with perhaps vocals but what seems in the main distorted guitar more on the second track – repetitive machine like industrial feedback and white noise. Organically flowing, too much of a narrative going on for me here. Kusari Gama Kill is 99 tracks of I suppose “noise core” – found recordings processed screaming and vocals. Even a robot on track 99.
The BVM split was more industrial – aural landscapes in which noisy objects emerge. The Mixturizer track (4) being the more substantial wall of (fairly) harsh noise. For some reason I cant get enthusiastic over these – I suspect its more my own depressive state rather than the snippets of over enthusiasm in which these releases seem to float. “irreverent orgy of guitar noise, tightly controlled feedback…. to make the dead walk full of mean and sick killer energy perfection…16 minutes of audio agony dealing with harsh feelings and clinic methods…”? (jliat)
Address: http://www.microearth.com/jackson
Address: http://www.ronfrecords.com/home.php
+DOG+ – HOT BORDERS (CDR by Love Earth Music)
This was more of a surprise (or surprise under erasure!~) as the usual industrial rumblings of other releases which *have* to evolve here – do not. Its consistently un-dynamic and choked in bass frequencies to rarely do anything. The titles which promote some politico ideas seem to have absolutely nothing to do with the sound(s). Which appear to have absolutely nothing to do with anything else. Oh very much then in the zeitgeist – well in my own – “Nihilism lite” (Jliat)
Address http://www.geocities.com/loveearthmusic/
ATMEN IM ATOM – ATOM HEART NOISE III (CDR by Why Not Ltd)
The art work for this is an A4 photocopied sheet wrapped around a CDR. If you folded the sheet so as to insert it in a jewel case then the cover would be the wrong way around. Doris Boeker gets the credit for this, the text also has the caution that the CDr contains extreme Frequencies and unexpected Dynamic Processes. Well it (Track 1) starts in the bass – with a bubbling sounds (custard?) then slowly and predictably moves up the spectrum. Track two is whistles and hisses and crashes with reverb – as opposed to rhubarb. The other tracks continue in this industrial vein – with the occasional high pitched noises but never more than 22khz (which would be something?) Not that its particularly relevant but the worst/best thing on Audio CDs is fairly fixed high DC offsets – which can in some cases burn out speakers. (jliat)
Address: http://www.whynotltd.tk
DELPLANQUE & OLDMAN – CHAPELLE DE L’ORATOIRE (CDR by Eh? Records)
Quite a surprise to see Mathias Delplanque working with someone else. I didn’t know he did that. Its one Oldman, who plays acoustic bass, electric guitar and objects, whereas Delplanque plays laptop and objects. This album contains recordings made in September 2007 and has no overdubs. An album of improvised music, which may also be something different for Delplanque. I have no idea if his laptop picks up the sounds produced by Oldman or wether the two plays by themselves, interacting to eachother playing. In either case the end result is a mixed bag I think. The third and fourth part for instance is a mix of various objects being played and with some distant reverb makes a nice piece. However the first two parts were not that well spend on me. It seems to me that they are searching here, getting at ease with eachother, finding the boundaries. Free music, with cymbals being played, adding field recording like sounds and its a bit of a long stretch to follow these pieces. Not bad, half of it at least, but not great either. Probably the format of CDR suits this best. (FdW)
Address: http://www.publiceyesore.com/
PLURALS – HALF REALITY (CDR by Dead Sea Liner)
GOLDEN OAKS THREE BILLION – SUMPTUOUS HAMPER (CDR by Dead Sea Liner)
MAX BELLANCOURT – THE STONE TAPE (CDR by Dead Sea Liner)
There is not a lot of information available on the Dead Sea Liner website about these releases and projects – well, nothing at all on the artists really. Take Plurals. Nothing on the cover and only a small description on the release. They (?) are a drone band, with two pieces, in total around twenty-five minutes. Organ or guitar like at the beginning but somewhere half way through ‘Air Yet To Touch Skin’ a voice with reverb and delay comes in, shouting but pushed to the background. That continues into ‘Hanging Bar’, which make Pluralis make sound like a toned down version of early Ramleh. Nice enough if hardly a big surprise.
Perhaps the same could be said from the release by Golden Oaks Three Billion, likewise never heard of, but who is said to use, ‘antique clarinet vibrations’, along with ‘primitive tape loops, guitar and electronics’, which seems a lot for the stale mass of sound, in which somewhere at the end of ‘Damp Patch Plaza’ two notes are blown on the clarinet. Lots of speaker hum too as to underline the ‘lo fi’ character of the music. Of the two long pieces I liked the other one better, ‘Grenadine Cosmos’, since it was a bit more open, with room for the various sounds to develop in, but throughout I thought was the weakest of the trio. A bit too easy to produce altogether and not enough worked through.
I never heard of French composer Max Bellancourt, who produced, according to the label at least, ‘a vaguely conceptual album’ with ‘Glitchy textures, abstract field recordings and Jules Verne noise combine’ – although I am a bit clueless what the latter should sound like, not even after hearing the disc. I can agree with the rest. The field recordings are indeed pretty abstract in a way that its not easy to hear where the find the origin. The computer takes care of the processing thereof, as well as the glitchy textures. I think I heard water sounds, the surface of sounds being picked up with contact microphones, shortwave radio and such like, and the whole thing had a nice noisy edge, without being the real noise thing and at the same time that makes this stay away from being all too microsound. I assume this rawness is intended as it is, but it bridges the world of noise and microsound quite nicely. (FdW)
Address: http://www.deadsealiner.co.uk
FEU FOLLET – NUAGES SUR LA NOIT (double CDR by Tosom)
CRYPTIC SCENERY – THE RADAR SOCIETY – A SONIC DYSTOPIA (CDR by Tosom)
Behind Feu Follet is Tobias Fischer, perhaps you recall this from previous reviews, but he is also a writer for the excellent Tokafi site, which is not unlike Vital Weekly, but then also with interviews. Go check that out. Its nice to see that as Feu Follet he releases this double CDR, which seems to me very uncommon in the world of CDR where more is certainly more and others would have opted for 2 releases. Feu Follet is an ambient/drone based project, that much we learned in the past, but we are pressed against that fact here, in this 108 minute lasting trip. A long ride. Long pieces of what seems to be synthesizers (analogue? digital?) waving nice tapestries of sound, sometimes underlined with a simple mechanical rhythm, as such in the ‘Promesses Vaines’ piece or even ambient house alike in ‘Elemental’. This is great music, be it that nothing much new happens under the big Ambient umbrella. This is music to undergo rather than to get through by listening thoroughly concentrated. Great late night music to dream by, to read by or perhaps even to sleep by.
Christian H. Sötemann is someone we also know for some time with his project Cryptic Scenery. I would have probably called Cryptic Scenery ‘ambient’ and ‘drone’ too, but listening to ‘The Radar Society – A Sonic Dystopia’ I wouldn’t be that sure. It seems that this opens up a more darker side in the work of Sötemann, with strange metallic samples, more abstract drones than pleasant ones and throughout a somewhat unsettling mood. Only in a piece like ;Glittering Figment’ we recognize the music of Sötemann: sustained guitars with much sound effects. I must say that this new album is quite nice. It breaks with the ‘old’ work, even when not fully, and expands the musical horizon with a varied album of textures, moods, experiments and ambience. Unsettling but therefore quite nice. (FdW)
Address: http://www.tosom.de
ELECTRIQUE NOWEGIQUE – MIR07DEC08 (CDR by Tib Prod)
N.STRAHL.N – GRAUER RAUM/BLAUE STILLE (CDR by Tib Prod)
Recorded on the same night as the previous Lydhode release, is the project called Electrique Norwegique, normally a duo of Øyvind Hellner and Roar Borge, but on this occasion also with Arnfinn Killingtveit. On the photo on the cover we spot a drummer and two laptops, but it seems one of that is analogue synth(s). I must admit I had some trouble with this. The twenty-seven minute piece drags on, on end. An improvisation no doubt but is it interesting? Hardly I’d say. Its a muddy sound, and nothing seems to be done to make things engaging for the listener.
N.Strahl.N, being N. Löhr from Germany, has been going for some time now and already has had various releases out. I believe ‘Grauer Raum/Blaue Stille’ is from his earliest works and Löhr uses synthesizers, field recordings, voice, tape manipulations, amplified metal and such like. The material isn’t as refined as some of his later work (this work dates from 2006) and in general the pieces are too long, even when they try to generate this feeling of ‘ambience’, albeit in a more unsettling environment. In ‘Kern’ some of this tension comes alive in the form of a sound collage, but the rawness of the recording certainly is a bit in the way to become really alive. Its not bad and from a historical perspective rather nice to hear these early experiments, but I prefer his more recent work. (FdW)
Address: http://www.tibprod.com
GOH LEE KWANG – WAVER (CDR by Appel Music)
ALEXANDRE BELLENGER – PERLABORATION (CDR by Appel Music)
The work of Goh Lee Kwang has been reviewed before, with a variety of enthusiasm. His work for no input mixer was at times unlistenable, and at other times quite nice. Its however with ‘Waver’ that I can fully enthusiastic for the first time. Still there is an extensive amount of feedback used, but it seems that Goh Lee Kwang has fully mastered the potential of the sounds he is working with and he knows how to keep gentle control of what he does. Things not just buzz around like they did before, but there is silence throughout, peace and quietness, deep bass end and occasional outbursts in the mid/high range of frequencies. There is a great sense of control in these improvisations which makes it, easily, his best work to date.
Recorded with an analogue modular synthesizer is the work ‘Perlaboration’ by one Alexandre Bellenger. The cover text tells us where he got his inspiration from (literature, musical domain and psychoanalytical vocabulary), but its hard to see where that would fit in this thirty-one minute piece. Nothing is mentioned, which books, which music, which makes this improvisation merely a doodling on some analogue synthesizer and nothing else. Twiddling the knobs on the machine, creating a dense noise based pattern, without compositional structure or improvisational tension. I am quite in the dark as the intentions of the composer or the purpose of this work. For all I know he’s perhaps trying out the machine. (FdW)
Address: http://www.appelmusic.org
GILLICUDDY – THE REPEATING THOUGHTS OF OLD ZINNG-ZANNG (MP3 by Resting Bell)
An odd release for Resting Bell, I think. Gillicuddy from a ‘place which will soon be flooded by the north sea’ (The Netherlands?), but his real name is Andi Rohden which sounds German. Five short pieces, in total under nine minutes, of him playing and singing in a folky mood. Certainly in the first two pieces. Then there is the third track – ten seconds of silence – and then the two first pieces are repeated again. Maybe there is an interesting concept behind all of this, but then I am certainly missing the point. Or if its a joke, I miss the pointe. In every way not well spend on me. Why do people release this? Why would I want to pay attention? (FdW)
Address: http://www.restingbell.net
FILTHY TURD -COCK DOLLAR ON AMBULANCE TIME (Cassette by poor little music)
The cassette came wrapped in newspaper and fried rice which was quite disgusting, which is I suppose the general intent? It begins with a rather clichéd 50s sci fi clip about being turned into jelly, then obviously breaks into harsh noise, however after awhile there are more sampled vocals – Islamic singing noise etc. Side 2 captures more the ambience of tape with its saturated clips and distortions. (Women screaming men vomiting sex film clips chanting .violence. noise . film clip loops.noise etc) Also included was a 10000 dollar Heaven Bank Note, a bribe? Apart from having to wash the rice off the cassette and the fact I laid out money on a CD player for the Micra, and the nice metal walkman packed up so I had to nip down to argos to buy a cheap Sony Cassette player WM – EX194. this is rather a good tape. Why – well though not inventive – because it denies invention and novelty which so many seem to think possible (too many and not thinking that much) – this whole project is prolific and reminds me of the smell sound and images of an open dump of household waste- then it achieves its goals goal – in sound form content and presentation- well done. (jliat)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/poorlittlemusic