Editorial news: we have decided to stop reviewing MP3 releases. Please do not send any discs with MP3 releases. Just send me an e-mail with a link and a short description, so people can download it. The amount of releases pile up every week and I can no longer devote time to MP3s. Whatever you see coming in the next few weeks are the last ones. Please do not send anymore. Also: releases that do not contain the original artwork will most likely be no longer reviewed. The real thing is necessary for a real judgment. If you wish to send us not the real thing, please contact us first. <vital@vitalweekly.net>
CIRCULAR – CYCLES OF REMEMBRANCE (CD by Loki) *
MARK FELL – MULTISTABILITY (CD by Raster Noton) *
GIUSEPPE IELASI – 15 TAPES (CD by Senufo Editions) *
KASSEL JAEGER – AERAE (CD by Senufo Editions) *
JARROD FOWLER – PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE (CD by Senufo Editions) *
VOX: ONE (CD compilation by Ohm Records)
LUTNAHIMAT – EROSIONS (CD by Aural Terrains) *
FOND OF TIGERS – CONTINENT & WESTERN (CD by Drip Audio)
FRANK VIGROUX -BROKEN CIRCLES LIVE (CD by D’Autres Cordes)
EMERGENCY – LIVE IN COPENHAGEN (CD by Jvtlandt)
STATE CHANGES ACCORDING TO A WIND – KING HUSSEIN BRIDGE (CD by Jvtlandt)
STATE CHANGES ACCORDING TO A WIND – ALLENBY BRIDGE CROSSING POINT (CD by Jvtlandt)
TETSUO FURUDATE – WOZZECK (CD by Menstrual Recordings) *
ESPLENDOR GEOMETRICO – PULSION (CD by Geometrik) *
PLAYING WITH WORDS (2CD by Gruenrekorder)
PLAYING WITH WORDS (DVD by Gruenrekorder)
BETTINA WENZEL – MUMBAI DIARY (CD by Gruenrekorder) *
ANDREAS BICK – FIRE AND FROST PATTERN (CD by Gruenrekorder) *
CEDRIC PEYRONNET – KDI DCTB 146 [E] (CDR by Gruenrekorder) *
MIRELLE CAPELLE – ANELLO, NAGA, SUNYATA (3CD by MER Paper Kunsthalle) *
FREDERIK CROENE – LE PIANO DEMECANISE (LP by MER Paper Kunsthalle)
NURSE WITH WOUND – RUSHKOFF COERCION (7″ by Tourette Records)
WOODY SULLENDER – SMELL LIKE TEEN SPIRIT/POLLY (7″ by Dead Ceo)
HWAET – HWAET (CDR by Music Appreciation) *
CHOI JOONYONG – I AM SCRATCHING A CD IN A ROOM (CDR by Reductive) *
DANIEL DEL RIO & ROBERTO MALLO – CIRCULAR (CDR by Reductive) *
GENERIC – COAX (CDR by oBPM) *
THEE VIGINAL BRIDES – STRAIGHT LINES FROM THE BRANCHES TO THE STARS (CDR by oBPM) *
CLINT LISTING – ANCIENT GODS (CDR by oBPM) *
JAN KEES HELMS & AL CONROY & JAN-M IVERSEN – GEEN BLAD VOOR DE MOND (3″CDR by Lor Teeps)
BLIND TAPE QUARTETS TAPE 5 (cassette by Blind Tapes)
BLIND TAPE QUARTETS TAPE 6 (cassette by Blind Tapes)
BLIND TAPE QUARTETS TAPE 9 (cassette by Blind Tapes)
CIRCULAR – CYCLES OF REMEMBRANCE (CD by Loki)
Johannes Riedel is the man behind Circular. I never heard of him. His debut CD is from 2006 and in 2008 he did a split LP with Inade. His background is in classical music, but his instruments are these days all about analogue synthesizers. His music is easily connected to the world of cosmic music, the current darling of underground music. However Riedel finds his own voice in there. Large walls of synthesizer drones, deep bass (from what I gather to be a real bass guitar), rumble of more deep textures of sound effects, the reverb unit being in the firm centre of such activity of course. Circular draws pictures of the sky at night: black with shining stars, cosmic fall out and black holes. He does that in nine distinct pieces of music, which have an almost song like structure. Sometimes small melodies arise from the wash of synthesizers, and things become like a song, rather than a piece, such as in ‘Chromatic Fade’. A pretty dark record, especially created, or so it seems, for long winter nights. Great mood stuff. (FdW)
Address: http://www.loki-found.de
MARK FELL – MULTISTABILITY (CD by Raster Noton)
Over the years I have been growing particular fond of the crazy electronic music of Mark Fell. It started with his SND group, which was neatly rhythmic, but also his many solo works, under many guises was pretty interesting, if not totally chaotic. On ‘Multistability’ he continues this exploration into ‘non-regular rhythmic patterns’. Imagine a pulsating sound being cut-up so that there is no regular rhythm. A cold and clinic sound, and nothing you could possibly dance too. Sometimes this sound resembles a rhythm machine, or perhaps its even a rhythm machine of some kind, but then entirely created in the digital domain. There is a neat variation between the more abstract ‘beat solo’ pieces and the rhythm machine pieces, which occasionally seem to hint at the previous works of SND. Fascinating stuff, its great, but clocking at one hour also perhaps a bit long to proof a point? After about forty-five minutes I must admit I had enough of it, or perhaps I wanted a firm chance of mind, but knowing Fell as the conceptualist he is, you know that is not going to happen. So perhaps for the first time I was not entirely satisfied with the end result offered by Fell. I think its a pretty great CD anyway, just perhaps the idea could have been worked out a bit shorter. (FdW)
Address: http://www.raster-noton.net
GIUSEPPE IELASI – 15 TAPES (CD by Senufo Editions)
KASSEL JAEGER – AERAE (CD by Senufo Editions)
JARROD FOWLER – PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE (CD by Senufo Editions)
Following his first label Fringes, Giuseppe Ielasi now has a new label called Senufo Editions. Here we have the first three releases. The first is by Ielasi himself, and consists of fifteen short pieces (totaling twenty minutes), which, as the title already implies, is edited from improvisations on various tape machines. Like pretty much all of Ielasi’s recent work, this too is a very vibrant set of pieces. Ielasi doesn’t go for the long stretched out sounds, but rather for short sounds, cut and spliced together in a highly rhythmic manner. If you don’t look at your CD player, which I did, then it all sounds like rather one piece of music and not as fifteen separate pieces of music. An excellent excursion into microscopic, detailed debris of sound matter. Very much alive music, very much like good ol’ musique concrete.
Kassel Jaeger has his third release, following one on Mystery Sea (see Vital Weekly 611) and their sub-division Unfanthomless (see Vital Weekly 745). He is a member of the Groupe de Recherches Musicales in Paris. For this release Jaeger works with various instruments, such as koto, rebab, positive organ, Coupigny modular synthesizer and does improvisations on them. I assume that in the process of mixing he adds, subtracts and then put into some form of organization. Very much, says Jaeger, like he would do when using field recordings. The five parts blend into eachother in a rather organic way. The music sounds quite improvised, with scrapings of the koto. Things worked better, I thought when the improvised music elements are pushed away in favor for longer sustaining sounds from the electronic equipment, such in the second part of the fourth piece, or the entire third piece (all untitled of course). The mixture of both ends however works quite well and its great to see Jaeger breaking away from pure electronically field recording work here. An excellent CD.
Jarrod Fowler is a percussionist from Massachusetts, USA. It took some time to realize that, as the disc starts out with some heavy type of noise music. That goes on for about thirty minutes. Drums, metal percussion perhaps and feedback: one giant block of sound, all in a very aggressive mood. It slowly dies out, and then the final twenty minutes start, which I think is the more interesting part of the release. Here we find water like sounds, small percussion and even, perhaps, a guitar. This all goes to… well, pretty much nowhere. It sounds nice, very much improvised, and some of the sounds great are also nice, but its all without too much meaning. More like a thought being played without much thought. Especially the second part had some nice moments, along with the ending of part one, but altogether not entirely my cup of tea. (FdW)
Address: http://senufoeditions.wordpress.com/
VOX: ONE (CD compilation by Ohm Records)
A project that started in 2001 where various musicians received a sound file with the voice of Ellen Aagaard, with the instructions to use solely these sounds, any kind of sound manipulation and that bad tracks would be rejected. Responses came from various parts of the world, such as KK Null, Wilt, Band Of Pain, Kobi, Pal Asle Petterson, Frederik Ness Sevendal, O. Melby (the man behind the label), Mourmasnk 150, Chaos As Shelter, R/A/A/N/, V.V. and John Wiese. A pretty varied bunch of remixes are delivered on this disc. There is noise, musique concrete/sound poetry like electronics, rhythmic reworkings and drone pieces. In some of these pieces its hard to believe just the voice was used, such as in the piece by R/A/A/N/. John Wiese has a very surprising piece of something that is definitely not noise. KK Null’s pieces (he has four) are a bit too easy for my taste. My favorites are the aforementioned Wiese piece, Band Of Pain, the first Wilt piece and V.V.. The other pieces were alright but nothing spectacular. As things go with compilations, some good, some bad, but at least there is a nice thematic edge to this one, so the end verdict: very nice. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ohmrecords.no
LUTNAHIMAT – EROSIONS (CD by Aural Terrains)
Its surely been quite a while, since I first (and last heard of) Lutnahimat, which was all the way back in Vital Weekly 532, when Entr’acte released a 3″CDR with thirteen minutes of music, which was classified as ‘computerized piece of drone music’. This new CD is longer, thirty two minutes with three tracks, and still no information is forthcoming about who Lutnahimat is. The first piece, ‘Snow In Hadal Zone’ is with twenty minutes the longest and could easily classify as more ‘computerized drone music’. A ringing and sustaining piece, buzzing around. Nice minimal drone music. Its followed by the shortest piece, which is a piece build from a bunch of layered violin pieces and a voice in the background. Nice but a bit short. In the final piece, ‘Senescence’ we land in another musical territory again, with synthesizer in a collage like way, inter-cutting eachother, like radio waves, again with some voice material in the background. A bit of curious but nice release, me thinks. My suggestion would have been to make the first track a bit shorter and add a fourth, even different track to this and complete the confusion. But as said, this is nice by itself already. Not too spectacular but nice and entertaining enough. (FdW)
Address: http://www.auralterrains.com
FOND OF TIGERS – CONTINENT & WESTERN (CD by Drip Audio)
A band from Vancouver presenting their third album. Fond of Tigers started in 2003 as a solo-project by Stephen Lyons, but later it expanded to an unit of seven musicians: Morgan McDonald (piano), JP Carter (trumpet, electronics), Dan Gaucher (drums), Skye Brooks (drums), Shanto Bhattacharya (bass), Jesse Zubot (violin) and Stephen Lyons (guitar). For this recording following guests were invited: Mats Gustafsson (baritone sax and live electronics on “Grandad” and Sandro Petri (vocals on ‘Vitamin Meathwak’). What struck me first was the relationship of this music with that of avant rock groups from the 80s and 90s, like The Ordinaries and many groups from the Ambiances Magnetiques-label. For sure they operate in the same territory. And it is nice to come across a group that continues this line. Although it is not very hip to do so nowadays, I guess. The songs are well structured and have nice arrangements, so that everybody can make his contribution, leaving a difficult job for the producer. Incorporating many influences this is in the end pure rock music. Seven tracks, all instrumental except ‘Vitamin Meathawk’ that has vocals by Sandro Petri. The energy and intensity of rock are combined with a collective approach. Jumpy, noisy and melodic, bombastic and ambient. All in one and much more. (DM)
Address: http://www.dripaudio.com/
FRANK VIGROUX -BROKEN CIRCLES LIVE (CD by D’Autres Cordes)
With Frank Vigroux we enter true avant garde territories. Vigroux is a guitarist, turntableplayer, composer tapping from rock, electronic and electro-acoustic music, jazz and modern composed music. Further he is also crossing borders between music and horspiel / audio on the other hand. He leads many projects such as Push the triangle, Supersonic Riverside Blues. He recorded with musicians like Elliott Sharp, Marc Ducret, Helene Breschand, Joey Baron, Edward Perraud, writer Kenji Siratori and video artists Scorpene Horrible, Philippe Fontes, Mariano Equizzi. Just to name a few. Also he is founder of the d’Autres Cordes label. All music on this new release is composed by Franck Vigroux who plays electronics here. Texts are spoken/sung by Philippe Malone. Philippe Nahon is the conductor, GÈraldine Keller, singer. Matthew Bourne plays Fender Rhodes and electric piano and Marc Ducret electric guitar. Plus the Ars Nova Ensemble Instrumental: Eric lamberger (clarinet). Fabrice Bourgerie (trumpet), BÈnÈdicte Trotreau (violin), Alain TrÈsallet (viola) Isabelle Veyrier (cello) Michel Maurer (piano) and Isabelle CornÈlis ( percussion). It is a very powerful work that is catched here in a live performance on a Festival Extension in June 2010. Vigroux has a very eclectic style. Everything ranging from pure modern classical complexity to a simple electronic beat in the rocking finale of the last piece pass by. The classical trained voice of Keller, is combined with the electric guitar of Ducret and electronic sounds. What makes Vigroux interesting is his ability to combine these very different musical worlds, instrumentations and esthetics, in a way that is far more then an outward pastiche of different elements. His strong vision guarantees that all elements make a convincing composition and work. Chapeau! (DM)
Address: http://dautrescordesrecords.com/
EMERGENCY – LIVE IN COPENHAGEN (CD by Jvtlandt)
STATE CHANGES ACCORDING TO A WIND – KING HUSSEIN BRIDGE (CD by Jvtlandt)
STATE CHANGES ACCORDING TO A WIND – ALLENBY BRIDGE CROSSING POINT (CD by Jvtlandt)
Emergency is a Japanese quartet of Otomo Yoshihide (guitar), Ryochi Saito (guitar), Hiroaki Mizutani (bass) and Yasuhiro Yoshigaki (drums), catched in a boiling set played in Copenhagen in 2006. Documenting their first concert outside of Japan ever. It is one of the uncountable projects of Yoshihide (Ground Zero, etc.), formed however in 2001 by drummer Yoshigaki, core member of the modern japanese jazz and improvisation scene. The opening track is a work composed by him, and is a gorgeous and breathtaking journey. The three remaining tracks however come from America’s jazz history: “Sing Sing Sing” by Louis Prima, “Tables of Faubus” by Mingus and “The Inflated Tear” by Rahsaan Roland Kirk. But don’t be afraid, they use each composition as a point of departure for very free and noisy explorations. Delicious!
State Changes According To A Wind is the name Danish composer and musician Martin Vognsen choose for this project. Vognsen also runs the Jvtlandt-label. The three CDs reviewed here, are the first three CDs of this label. Both albums of State Changes According To A Wind cover the complete project Vognsen worked on in the last few years. Vognsen works since 1998 as a composer and musician creating music for radio plays, theatre, etc. In a gig with Tatsuya Yoshida and Makoto Kawabata Vognsen rediscovered the fun of live playing, which is more his thing now. “King Hussein Bridge” has Vognsen playing electric guitar, semi acoustic resonator guitar, supercollidor, timpani (track seven). Kumiko Takara on vibraphone, prepared timpani and various percussion plus Yasuhiro Yoshigaki on drums, percussion and timpani (track seven). It sounds as one endless jam-session. Riffs and other repetitive patterns are the building stones of this one. Very extended improvisations that hadn’t enough to offer for me.
“Allenby Bridge crossing Point” has again Vongsen in the company of a few Japanese musicians plus the Danish National Chamber Orchestra. This one took three years to complete. Also this one has very extended pieces but of a very different nature and far more satisfying if you ask me. Soundscaping and ambient moods and atmospheres prevail on this one. Sometimes sounding like good old ‘cosmic music’, then like avant-garde procedures we know from Biota. A strange multilayered and at the same time accessible work. An electro-acoustical work that received its final form in the studio. Taking both albums together as they make up one, albeit ambiguous, musical project, I could not grab the musical vision behind this project. So be it. (DM)
Address: http://www.jvtlandt.com/
TETSUO FURUDATE – WOZZECK (CD by Menstrual Recordings)
Although I like to show expertise on trivia, I did know ‘Wozzeck’ is an opera by Austrian composer Alban Berg, but I was unaware that it is (now quoting Wikipedia) “based on the drama Woyzeck left incomplete by the German playwright Georg B¸chner at his death. Berg attended the first production in Vienna of B¸chner’s play on 5 May 1914, and knew at once that he wanted to base an opera on it. From the fragments of unordered scenes left by B¸chner, Berg selected fifteen to form a compact structure of three acts with five scenes each. He adapted the libretto himself, retaining “the essential character of the play, with its many short scenes, its abrupt and sometimes brutal language, and its stark, if haunted, realism…” and the plot summary is like this (more long quotes – sorry) “Franz Woyzeck, a lowly soldier stationed in a provincial German town, is living with Marie, and father of a child not blessed by the church as the child was born out of wedlock. Woyzeck earns extra money for his family by performing menial jobs for the Captain and agreeing to take part in medical experiments conducted by the Doctor. As one of these experiments, the Doctor tells Woyzeck he must eat nothing but peas. It is obvious that Woyzeck’s mental health is breaking down and he begins to experience a series of apocalyptic visions. Meanwhile, Marie grows tired of Woyzeck and turns her attentions to a handsome drum major who, in an ambiguous scene taking place in Marie’s bedroom, arguably rapes her. With his jealous suspicions growing, Woyzeck confronts the drum major, who beats him up and humiliates him. Finally, Woyzeck stabs Marie to death by a pond. While a third act trial is claimed by some to have been part of the original conception, the fragment as left by B¸chner ends with Woyzeck disposing of the knife in the pond, and most renditions extrapolate this with him drowning while trying to clean himself of the blood after having dumped the knife in deep waters.” Seeing Franz Wozzeck and Marie both listed as performed by two actors/singers, I assume Tetsuo Furudate made his own opera based on the same text. I can’t compare it with the original Berg opera, as dodecaphony was not something that was played a lot in the parental residency (preferring late 19th century classicism). But no doubt Furudate has chosen his own music to go with this social drama and his dark textured sound is no doubt perfect to do so. Heavy, far away percussion, dark humming drone textures on a guitar with a load of sound effects and every now and then the spoken words of the actors. Ultra heavy weight music that is very dramatic, even when you are not able to understand the words.
The second piece (although more like an encore it seems) takes Furudate in a slightly different field. Metallic sounds, which we knew from his earlier works, being played minimally. It takes a while before there are any words, and seeing this is a separate piece on the CD I am not entirely sure if this part of the Wozzeck piece, or perhaps indeed an encore. This piece is louder at times, with heavy blocks on sustaining organ, the aforementioned metal debris and curiously enough perhaps not as heavy weighted as the first piece, and also less dramatic, but with still a great impact. Although not entirely my of cup of tea, this is quite nice. (FdW)
Address: http://www.menstrualrecordings.org
ESPLENDOR GEOMETRICO – PULSION (CD by Geometrik)
A few weeks I bumped into some people whom I knew for a long time, but never met. Andres Noabre from the Spanish Geometrik label and the two members of Esplendor Geometrico, and all three praised Vital Weekly. They gave me this CD, didn’t mention ‘review this’, but I will. My first encounter with Esplendor Geometrico was their first cassette ‘EG1’ and their first, self-titled LP. For the young me, highly impressive music, and one of the epiphany moments (and I was surely be happy to be instrumental at a later date to get them on CD). But over those almost thirty years I didn’t always keep up with their work. Probably entire my fault, but some of the more techno inspired moments which I remember from the nineties weren’t perhaps my cup of tea then. Maybe it would be now. So I have no idea how ‘Pulsion’ fits in their catalogue so far, but it sounds pretty good. The hard industrial may no longer that much present – no less thanks to more sophisticated equipment I’d say – but the minimalist pulses still work great. It sounds a bit like Pan Sonic, with slightly more variation and certainly more ‘dressing up’. One feature that is still very much present, certainly in the first few pieces on this CD: voices. Esplendor Geometrico use voices from what seems to me political rallies and add a brutal, somewhat unusual setting to the pieces. It also sets them firmly apart from many others in this field of hard rhythmic electronics. It doesn’t beat, at least for me, the classic ‘EG1’ release, but I thought this was damn fine hard hitting album. (FdW)
Address: http://www.gemeotrikrecords.com
PLAYING WITH WORDS (2CD by Gruenrekorder)
PLAYING WITH WORDS (DVD by Gruenrekorder)
BETTINA WENZEL – MUMBAI DIARY (CD by Gruenrekorder)
ANDREAS BICK – FIRE AND FROST PATTERN (CD by Gruenrekorder)
CEDRIC PEYRONNET – KDI DCTB 146 [E] (CDR by Gruenrekorder)
Maybe Gruenrekorder hit on a pot of money, or perhaps they have co-sponsors for these releases, but they release five new releases at once. Three of them deal with words and voice and two with sound art. To start with the voices, there are two called ‘Playing With Words’. The double CD seems connected to a book of the same name, and has music that has been made with the use voice, leading to sound poetry, speeches, narratives, abstract pieces, solo and multiple voices. Forty one relatively short pieces by people who have a reputation to keep up in this field such as Sten Hanson, Pamela Z, Brandon LaBelle, Alessandro Bosetti, Jaap Blonk, Barry Truax, Jorg Piringer, Trevor Wishart, Julien Ottavi, Lina Lapelyte, Leigh Landy, Lars Gunnar Bodin, Paul Lansky and Iris Garrelfs. These are the names I recognized, so that means that the majority of names I didn’t recognize. The music is indeed all over the place, from straight abstract mumbling, spoken words which seems to be taken from the radio and more song like pieces. A decent compilation, maybe altogether a bit long, and the cover could have been designed better, i.e. better to read.
I assume that the DVD holds the documentation of the presentation of the double CD. It has six performers of sound poetry: Nye Parry, Sianed Jones, Ansuman Biswas, Jaap Blonk, Jorg Piringer and Dirk Hulestrunk (who is also the organizer of the event). Piringer has a nice piece of rhythmic sounds from the mouth and computer animation. Biswas plays without words for a while, and then starts singing (?), Huelstrunk uses a bit of electronics. Jones plays a bit of violin and also ‘sings’ and at times comes closer to traditional music, whereas Parry is more narrative but very funny and very short. Jaap Blonk closes the (long!) evening and proofs to be the master of the genre of sound/text/voice/poetry, a class actor at that. So this is what sound poetry looks like. Curious.
The third release using voice is by Bettina Wenzel. She was in Mumbai where she did some field recordings and played some sounds. These are a quite alright, but it eludes me why she wanted to add her abstract use of the voice to these, other than perhaps that just the field recordings and played sounds aren’t the strongest in the world. But the addition of voice however adds an odd ball to these recordings, and doesn’t say much about Mumbai itself. Or maybe after a double CD and a DVD I am just a bit tired of abstract long voice material. Even then it would probably not be thumbs up, but not really down either.
Onto the sound art. First Andreas Bick, of whom I think I never heard. He is scientist, but also an artist with field recordings, and he has two pieces here, ‘Fire Pattern’ and ‘Frost Pattern’. As you may have guessed these pieces deal exclusively with either warm and cold sounds. Bick describes these in the booklet and has some interesting pointers, for instance on how to record snow (and incidentally I’ll try as the first snow will apparently fall today). This is some excellent piece of musique concrete in the best Luc Ferrari tradition. Its not easy to tell the pieces apart, but throughout the geyser explosions on the ‘fire’ piece sounded a bit more dynamic and the ‘frost’ piece more subdued. That might be just my perception, culled from daily life. In the winter time I always think its quieter outside than in the summertime. Two excellent pieces, well presented here, with extensive liner notes.
Cedric Peyronnet, also known as Toy Bizarre (but here on a rare occasion under his own name), releases a series of 3″CDRs on his own Kaon where he invites people to work with sounds he recorded at the Thaurion valley in France, but for this work on Gruenrekorder he allows himself to use his own material. Originally a four channel piece, but here reduced to stereo. The use of river sounds may work a bit on the bladder, but Peyronnet knows how to construct a fine piece of music and there is also the sounds of birds and insects. This too stands in the best Ferrari tradition of a natural soundscape, and Peyronnet brings an almost sunny feel to a grey day. I have no idea what the weather conditions were when these sounds were recorded, but it made me wanting to pack up my suitcase and go to a sunny place – and that is a rare thing! An excellent fifty-five minute piece of soundscaping. (FdW)
Address: http://www.gruenrekorder.de
MIRELLE CAPELLE – ANELLO, NAGA, SUNYATA (3CD by MER Paper Kunsthalle)
FREDERIK CROENE – LE PIANO DEMECANISE (LP by MER Paper Kunsthalle)
Obviously I can’t review this 3CD by the for me unknown Mireille Capelle. Let me explain. Each CD has one piece of music, but to play the complete piece you will have to play two CDs on four speakers at the same time. Such elaborate set up is not allowed here in the Vital HQ building, but I understand that each can also be heard individually. Phew, that’s a relief. From the extensive booklet I gather Capelle, who has a training in classical music, in singing, as well as appearing in various films and she composes her ‘Sonic Architectures’ with natural elements and this three (two?) works are part of that. It all sounds very zen inspired, both the music and the written aspect of this. I’m not sure how her compositional techniques work, but on ‘Naga’ I think she uses mainly laptop and perhaps some sort of Max/msp patch, in a very tranquil way. A bit like Christoph Charles on his Ritornell CD. On ‘Anello’ the sound sources seem to be more of an acoustic nature, but also treated with the aid of the computer. It has, like ‘Naga’, a fine open sense of open space. ‘Sunyata’ is on the other hand a very closed work. It takes a long time before one hears anything at all, and it slowly turns out to be a work for flute and cello. Each of the three pieces has an entirely different length, so I’m not sure what the idea is when you are playing these together, but I could very well imagine that playing all three at the same time might bring further enlightenment. Nice one.
Likewise I don’t think I heard of Frederik Croene, also from Belgium, before. He performs his music on a ‘dismantled’ piano, which, if I have to believe the cover of this record, looks like a drum set. It seems to me that much of the music has been played in an improvised manner, but perhaps with his classical training in mind. Also, again, I am not sure but it could very well be that Croene also takes his inspiration from Zen. Sometimes, like in ‘Gonflammation’, the piano actually sounds like a piano, which is odd if it has been dismantled, but in ‘Postludium ‘pour le piano’, Croene allows external piano sounds in his music. Overall the music has a very contemplative and percussive nature. Either with hands, sticks or bows, he gently approaches the piano and works on it, very much like both a composer, an explorer and an improviser. Croene explores the possibilities in a careful way, almost like a scientist, and let’s the results speak for themselves. Hard to place on the scale composition versus improvisation, but throughout very nice. (FdW)
Address: http://www.merpaperkunsthalle.org
NURSE WITH WOUND – RUSHKOFF COERCION (7″ by Tourette Records)
A 7″ by Nurse With Wound, these days old master Steven Stapleton and ‘young man’ Andrew Liles, its always a good idea. They can create a short piece of music that works well on this format. On the a-side we have a piece for drums, bass and guitar in a proggy style and some spoken word (female of course, courtesy of Liles no doubt, and with a sexual explicit content – the old in-out). It makes an excellent Nurse With Wound piece combining their ever (but not always) present interest in krautrock textures and a fine spoken word cut-up thing. That’s how to do a great a-side of a 7″.
The b-side is more contemplative and a duet for two guitars – duelling guitars even? – but sampled and spliced together and slowly building in rhythm and intensity, and with weird ending – like cut from something bigger. Nice enough, but not more than just that, a nice piece of music. I reminded of someone who once released an one-sided 7″ ‘as no-one ever listens to the other side anyway’. I’d rather a have piece then that is just below par than nothing. (FdW)
Address: http://www.touretterecords.com
WOODY SULLENDER – SMELL LIKE TEEN SPIRIT/POLLY (7″ by Dead Ceo)
One of the things about lathe cut records is that they wear out more over time than vinyl. Woody Sullender, originally a banjo player, applies all sorts of methods of erosion here. He uses two (great) Nirvana songs, ‘Smell Like Teen Spirit’ and ‘Polly’ and feeds them through a series of band-pass filters, removing most of the frequency spectrum. This leaves a high end sound, in which, if you didn’t know, you could never recognize the original Nirvana songs. Quite mysterious songs, these two, rendered way beyond the way they sounded. A highly conceptual approach and worked out in a great way. From the choice of music, the execution of the concept, choice of sound carrier and cover: well thought out and a great record. (FdW)
Address: <orders@deadceo.com>
HWAET – HWAET (CDR by Music Appreciation)
Vanessa Rossetto and Steven Flato are the two people behind Hwaet. Music by Rossetto has been reviewed before (see Vital Weekly 690), and she uses objects, electronics and field recordings. Flato is from New York and works in both composition and improvisation, using broken electronics, small objects and guitar. They have been working together in 2007 and 2008 and recently started again, culminating in the pieces on this release. Its a work of improvisation as well as composition. They tape their improvised pieces (well, that’s the improvised side obviously) and then edit these into the pieces we hear – the composition aspect. This doesn’t mean that things are very tight here: its quite obvious that their heart is with improvisation. A curious mixture of scraping objects (and the surface, no doubt), electronic sounds (lots of small feedback like sounds, buzzing and such like) and microphones wide open to capture the environment. It works best when they focus, such as in ‘Hjubin’, and concentrate the sound action into a shorter time span. Like I said, its an interesting and curious mixture of acoustic sounds, electronic sounds and has a great warmth to it. (FdW)
Address: http://www.abrash.org/hwaet
CHOI JOONYONG – I AM SCRATCHING A CD IN A ROOM (CDR by Reductive)
DANIEL DEL RIO & ROBERTO MALLO – CIRCULAR (CDR by Reductive)
Reductive is a new label from Spain for ‘actual music’ and ‘reductive art’. ‘I Am Scratching A CD In A Room’ by Choi Joonying has a nice title of course, but scratching a CD? Isn’t that not done since the days of Oval? Perhaps, but Joonying, I must admit, does a great piece of a scratched CD which actually has a build up, a compositional feel to it. Over the course of twenty minutes the action and intention grows and then slowly seems to be reducing the action towards the end. A vibrating release, a simple idea, excellently executed. Right length for such an excursion. Lucier would be proud.
The other release, not to be confused with the band Circular reviewed elsewhere is a duet for turntable (Daniel Del Rio) and saxophone (Roberto Mallo), who play improvised music, and obviously in a reduced manner. The saxophone plays like a bunch of sine waves but never really loud and the turntable ‘scratches’ the surface. Metallic like, scratches and hiss. Yet all of this sounds remarkably like an improvised record in the best current tradition of the scene. Lots of careful placing of sounds, a bit of silence, small outbursts, traditional playing of the saxophone and throughout done with great care. Nice one. (FdW)
Address: http://reductivemusic.com
GENERIC – COAX (CDR by oBPM)
THEE VIGINAL BRIDES – STRAIGHT LINES FROM THE BRANCHES TO THE STARS (CDR by oBPM)
CLINT LISTING – ANCIENT GODS (CDR by oBPM)
If I understood correctly, oBPM is part of the House Of The Last Light label, of which I also never heard. Three releases here. Generic is Adam Sykes, whom I am not sure if I know. The cover doesn’t list much information on what this is all about and the music leaves the listener also a bit clueless. Minimalist sketches with sound sources of unknown origin, I’d say. Metallic samples, field recordings perhaps, electronics, lo-fi sample keyboards and such like create a mildly disturbing form of ambient music meeting up with industrial music in an empty warehouse. Quite raw and primitive these six pieces, and they are all a bit on the lengthy side of things. It could have been more concise and to the point I guess, but it makes excellent stuff for a CDR release.
Thee Virginial Brides have been reviewed before, but that was by Jliat (as far as I could see). They are a trio – from the UK, I assume for no good reason – and have their disposal some synthesizers, a sample device of some kind and taped spoken word, which are not easy to understand what its all about but perhaps they are just there to enhance the mood of some kind? And perhaps that mood of some kind might be some kind of (pseudo/quasi) religious experience of another kind? The humming voices that open ‘Straight Lines From The Branches To The Stars’ could be from the street of Marrakech, with some slow tribal bang in the background. In the other two pieces (the whole thing being around twenty-six minutes) the voices seem to be taken from movies, but I am clueless which, what or why. Both tracks have some sparse rhythm and likewise sparse synthesizers. Moody music, like Generic, but less simplified and more worked out.
We end with the true noise. One piece of noise, of about twenty five minutes from one Clint Listing. He takes credit for ‘all sounds and manipulations’ as it says on the cover and it seems hard to figure out what those sounds are as the manipulations are extensively. A combination of analogue and digital gear, with the sounds being sometimes entirely pushed aside by the digital overload. Yet this is not entirely just a load of feedback, but a crumbled up kind of sound. Nicely done actually, but it could at least been half the length and it would have twice the impact. Perhaps. (FdW)
Address: <house_of_the_last@yahoo.com>
JAN KEES HELMS & AL CONROY & JAN-M IVERSEN – GEEN BLAD VOOR DE MOND (3″CDR by Lor Teeps)
Every month Jan Kees Helms organises an exhibition in his home town Amersfoort and invites other artists. In November the theme was ‘Geen Blad Voor De Mond’, which roughly translates as ‘you can say it all’. Helms produced two video’s and on this 3″CDR you’ll find the soundtracks, one by Jan-M Iversen and one by Al Conroy (whom we remember from a previous life as Not Half). Iversen’s piece deals with sounds recorded from Norwegian woods, with the addition of some sounds of unknown origin. A nice piece of drone music. The same piece is also the starting point for a piece by Iversen with extra sound material by Helms, supposedly with voices from a heavy debate in Dutch parliament, but that was something hard to tell. The three pieces by Conroy are all short based on the voice of Geert Wilders, again something I couldn’t know if I wasn’t presented this information. I am not sure, although I can guess, what this all has to do with ‘you can say it all’, but even without the political connotations quite a nice release. Small but nice, and check out Helms’ Youtube also for some excellent short films. (FdW)
Address: http://www.jankeeshelms.nl
BLIND TAPE QUARTETS TAPE 5 (cassette by Blind Tapes)
BLIND TAPE QUARTETS TAPE 6 (cassette by Blind Tapes)
BLIND TAPE QUARTETS TAPE 9 (cassette by Blind Tapes)
A Dutch label (?) this Blind Tapes, who mailed three cassettes, all with music on one side of the tape (the other side being blank), all with one ten minute track by four artists. I assume all of these people play together as each lists a place where things were recorded. I see some names which I recognize, such as Will Greesson and Ohm Noise, but the other ten don’t mean a thing to me (Zora Off, Zaikon, Votiv, Joe Foss,Manovski, Krapoola, A Blue Stork Is Born By A Moonlight Tower, Jarneaux, Ingrid, Laurent Bruttin). I have no idea how the music was created. It could be through some random process of mixing sounds together, which seems very much the case on Tape 5, or perhaps its a blind quartet that people are in separate rooms mixing sounds together. That would explain some of the randomness of Tape 5 and Tape 6. I must say that this kind of improvisation is not particularly well spend on me. Though not bad, its also not very engaging to hear. Tape 9 seems to be a quartet of people that actually listen to eachother, and respond to what others are doing. I hear micro cassettes and electronics and some obscured rumbling of contact microphones. Of this trio this was the best quartet. But a little bit more information, anywhere (on the net, on the cover) would be quite helpful. (FdW)
Address: <blindtapes@gmail.com>