KAMIL KOWALCZYK – AURORA (CD by Prototyp Records) *
KAIBORG – HARVESTING METADATA (CD by Pfmentum) *
KRONOMROFIC – MICRO TEMPORAL INFUNDIBULA (CD by Pfmentum)
PETER BRODERICK & MACHINEFABRIEK – MORT AUX VACHES (CD by Staalplaat) *
THOLLEM MCDONAS – GONE BEYOND REASON TO FIND ONE (CD by Edgetone)
SCOTT R.LOONEY & KLAUS JANEK – 1510 (CD by Edgetone)
THE REJUVENATION TRIO – REJUVENATION VOYAGE (CD by Edgetone)
THE EMERGENCY STRING (X)TET MEETS RENT ROMUS – EMERGENCY RENTAL(CD by Edgetone)
T.D.SKATCHIT & COMPANY – SKATCH MIGRATION (CD by Edgetone)
THE KILIMANJARO DARKJAZZ ENSEMBLE – FROM TE STAIRWELL (CD by Denovali Records)
THE MOUNT FUJI DOOMJAZZ CORPORATION – ANTHROPOMORPHIC (CD by Denovali Records)
IROHA (2CD by Denovali Records)
TEPHRA – TEMPEL (CD by Golden Antenna)
ZANZIBAR SNAILS – CAVEAT EMPEROR (CD by Ikuisuus) *
ARTURAS BUMSTEINAS – MY OWN PRIVATE BAYREUTH (CD by HMK) *
AURAL BOWELS (CD by Latarina Do Chifrudo)
TWO WHITE MONSTERS AROUND A ROUND TABLE (CDR by Latarina Do Chifrudo)
JORG – LOMEK 017 (LP by Lomechanik)
TERUGKLAP – GISTER (LP by Lomechanik)
JELLYPHANT – A ROOM FULL OF TIME (CDR by Lomechanik) *
BLUE SABBATH BLACK FIJI – MISTAKE OF A SMALL BIRD (LP by Feeding Tube
Records)
VERNON & BURNS MEET LIED MUSIC – LOST LAKE (LP by Shadazz)
A SMALL PARTY OF PRESSURE – SOFT ZOO (CDR by First Fold Records)
WASTELAND JAZZ UNIT / TIGER HATCHERY – SPILT 7″ (7inch EP by Gilgongo
Records)
GUITLY C PATO – SPLIT (7″ by le petit mignon)
CANCELLED – FESTINO (CDR by Das Andere Selbst) *
STIG INGE OY – DOMAINE DE LA LUTTE (CDR by Etherkreet) *
NONOTES – THOUGHTS (CDR by Motok) *
PERRY FERYA BAND – BACK OUT (CDR by Recycling Records) *
CLIFF BASTARD – RECONDITE (CDR by Dead Sea Liner) *
ABHORRENT BEAUTY & JAN M. IVERSEN – MOMENTUM (CDR by Dead Sea Liner) *
PHANTOM HERON SEAS – THE UNKINDNESS OF RAVENS (3″CDR by Dead Sea Liner) *
PIERRE GERARD & ANDY GRAYDON – UNTITLED (MAGNETISMS) (cassette by Winds Measure Recordings)
KAMIL KOWALCZYK – AURORA (CD by Prototyp Records)
The cover for this CD is hardly revealing: just the basic information – name, track titles, label’s name and website – and not much else.
From the label’s website we learn that Kamil
Kowalczyk hails from Poland, but now lives in Edinburgh and since eight years works with electronics. First as a kid with an old casio keyboard but since 2002 using computer and ‘some simple software’. Previously his work has been released by the Zenapolae net label in the form of six MP3 albums, but now he’s took the gamble and started his own label, Prototyp Records and he has started to play some gigs. So far the facts. The CD has two long pieces, one of thirty-two minutes and one of twenty-five minutes. Its hard to say wether this is all the result of computer and ‘some simple software’. ‘Model II’, the opening piece, starts out in a nice electrically charged environment of static sounds, but then at one point there is a simple bang against the tea-cup and some cheap delay, which ruins what has been build up until then. The only other significant feature in this track is something that resembles a short sine wave like sound moving in and out of the mix. Without that one silly sound it would have made a fine piece, although perhaps Kowalczyk stretches it a bit too much. ‘Plasma’ is the other piece here and doesn’t have that odd sound gesture, and is a fine dark, moving beast of chords on a synth and has ragged edge to it, but still stays firmly on the side of dark ambient music. This is the better of the two pieces, but for both one could say they are fairly normal pieces of ambient music too. Its a promising start I guess. (FdW)
Address: http://prototyproduktionsltd.net/
KAIBORG – HARVESTING METADATA (CD by Pfmentum)
KRONOMROFIC – MICRO TEMPORAL INFUNDIBULA (CD by Pfmentum)
David Borgo and Jeff Kaiser are the two players behind Kaiborg. Borgo plays the saxophone, as well as such oddly named instruments as the chalumeau, dudukophone, whistlophone, mijwiz and slide whistle while Kaiser has the trumpet, flute and voice, although that wasn’t easy to tell from what I heard on ‘Harvesting Metadata’. Both also play laptops and use those to process their playing through. Their laptops seem to play a major role in their music. Only at selected times we recognize the trumpet and the saxophone. The majority is reserved for a lot processed sound files, which at selected times explode right in your face: Kaiborg aren’t afraid of turning on a bit of noise. This creates altogether a bumpy ride along the highs and depths of improvised music. Music that leaves the listener behind with considerable fatigue, certainly when the listener decides to raise the volume quite a bit. Powerful free stuff going on.
The complete anti-thesis of all of this improvised/constructed mayhem is the release by Kronomorfic, an ensemble with David Borgo, but also with Bill Barrett (chromatic harmonica), Paul ‘Junior’ Garrison (electric guitar), Nathan Hubbard (vibraphone and marimba), Danny Weller (double bass) and Paul Pellegrin (drums and hand percussion). They play jazz music. I know, I should have left this for Dolf Mulder to discuss, but since I already discussed the Kaiborg one, I decided to play this and actually liked, despite the fact that I don’t like jazz and also the fact that I don’t know much about it. There are some extensive liner notes to be read here, but hey are quite technical. Lots of nice jazzy drumming, soft playing on vibraphone/marimba and wind instruments that play similar tunes before one of them does solo. Which I guess is what jazz is all about. Sometimes Kronomorfic slips into a more free jazz styled playing, usually at the beginning or the end of a piece, but throughout this all seems fairly traditional jazz to me. Not something I would hear a lot, but which gave me certainly a pleasurable time this night. (FdW)
Address: http://www.pfmentum.com
PETER BRODERICK & MACHINEFABRIEK – MORT AUX VACHES (CD by Staalplaat)
The Mort Aux Vaches recordings, made at the Dutch radio station VPRO under the guidance of Berry Kamer, started out as gig recordings. You know, a band passes through town and play their live set in the afternoon in a radio studio, tape an interview and a program is dully made. After all those years (close to fifteen I reckon), and all those releases, a few weren’t made like that. In fact only a few are ‘specials’, recorded the occasion, such as Pan Sonic’s meeting with Charlemagne Palestine. And perhaps this one. At the core we find Rutger Zuydervelt, also known as Machinefabriek, who gathered a few of his guests from various areas to play together: Peter Broderick (violin, piano, saw and voice), both on all three tracks, and on the second piece Jan Kleefstra (words), Romke Kleefstra (guitar, effects), Anne Chris Bakker (guitar, effects, laptop) and Nils Frahm (piano), all on the second piece. I choose ‘Broderick & Machinefabriek’ as the main artists to headline this review. This extended line-up makes this altogether quite a more musical release, than the solo work of Zuydervelt sometimes is. Atmospheric piano tones throughout all three pieces, meandering violins, layered singing on ‘Session III’ (which is actually second track on the CD). Everybody join in ‘Session II’, the third track on the CD, although the cover might be wrong, as they are all credited to playing on track two, which clearly isn’t the case, hearing Jan’ Frysian poetry here, but perhaps the cover should have read not track 2 but session 2? Almost chamber music like, reminding the listener to play some older records of the Obscure label again. Partly improvised by some of the players, while the real instruments – piano mainly, violin partly – keep it together as an almost classical piece music of music. Maybe the third session could have been edited down a bit, as it meanders a bit too much, but it certainly has that great afternoon live feel to it. An excellent work throughout. It would be great to see more of these sessions of (un-)expected collaborations. (FdW)
Address: http://www.staalplaat.com
THOLLEM MCDONAS – GONE BEYOND REASON TO FIND ONE (CD by Edgetone)
SCOTT R.LOONEY & KLAUS JANEK – 1510 (CD by Edgetone)
THE REJUVENATION TRIO – REJUVENATION VOYAGE (CD by Edgetone)
THE EMERGENCY STRING (X)TET MEETS RENT ROMUS – EMERGENCY RENTAL(CD by Edgetone)
T.D.SKATCHIT & COMPANY – SKATCH MIGRATION (CD by Edgetone)
Five new releases by Edgetone that have in common that improvisation is the main ingredient.
McDonas presents his second solo album for Edgetone. He offers three solo piano pieces recorded at different occasions in 2009 and 2010. The first and most lengthy one accompanied some short films of Martha Colburn (‘Triumph of the Wild’, 2009). ‘For all those who have gone before’ starts very quiet and peaceful. Gradually the piece becomes more dynamic and very captivating. The closing piece ‘For all those yet to come’ teases you with dissonant clusters and ends with a remarkable finale. This release shows McDonas from a serious side. In all its dazzling movements this is heavy music. Like the title of the cd suggests McDonas is always reaching for something that transcends the maximum of this possibilities. And as always, in the playing of McDonas you can feel the streaming of blood and life. But life is not always easy.
The Rejuvenation Trio is Hasan Abdur-Razzaq (alto sax, saxello, tarogato, bamboo flures, cello, tongue drum, bells), Ryan Jewell (drums, vocals, special effects) and Tom Abbs (bass, cello, effects), joined by Jenna Barviski (violin) as a guest. Formed in 2007 they present now their first effort. The most traditional record if you ask me from these five releases. They play there thing very rough. Jewell is a fantastic drummer with a prolific style. Their improvisations turn out as continuous heavy streams of jazz-oriented improvisations. Fine interplay between sax and drums. Some of the improvisations fail to make any impression on me, but others really touch upon something. ‘Strings and Things Suite’ by far the most extended improvisation on this record, opens with a nice duet of violin and bass.
T.D.Skatchi & Company is a collaboration between Tom Nunn and David Michalak, both playing the so-called skatchbox. A newly invented electronic instrument. No idea how this instrument looks like and how it functions. But from what I hear I think there are similarities with the electronic means developed by Waisvisz. For each of the 15 tracks they interact with one other player. Along the guests are Kyle Bruckmann, Gino Robair, Bob Marsh and many others.
Results are very weird: absurd soundpoetry in one piece. Dadaistic and full of humor in another.
In 2009 Looney and Janek decided for a duo project that came about in studio 1510 in Oakland. Looney plays prepared piano and electronics. Janek double bass and electronics.
Their experimental improvisations are worked out in nine examples. All of them somewhere between free improvised music and electro acoustic music. They create interesting and engaging textures sometimes mixed with melodic and harmonic elements. At other moments pure sound improvisation. They had for sure a good time and I also in listening to these focused excursions.
I felt immediately absorbed listening to ‘Vanishing to the point’, the opening track of the new Emergency String (X)tet release. Instantly I was thrown into a beautiful musical adventure.
Alas I lost this feeling at other moments during this trip. But there are few albums of improvised music that satisfy me from beginning to the end. The instrumentation is as follows: violins are played by Adria Ott, Angela Hsu and Jonathan Segel. Bob Marsh and Doug Carroll play cello. Kanoko Nishi bass koto and Tony Dryer plays contrabass. Guest Rent Romus plays alto and soprano sax. He did his best in and adapting to an environment dominated by strings. Maybe I’m completely wrong, but from what Romus contributes in ‘6th Street’ and ‘Dark Shadows’, I think he is a player who normally stays more close to the jazz-idiom, where as this ensemble moves into free improvised territories, leaving behind all conventions. As the work of McDonas this is very passionate music. (DM)
Address: http://www.edgetonerecords.com
THE KILIMANJARO DARKJAZZ ENSEMBLE – FROM TE STAIRWELL (CD by Denovali Records)
THE MOUNT FUJI DOOMJAZZ CORPORATION – ANTHROPOMORPHIC (CD by Denovali Records)
IROHA (2CD by Denovali Records)
TEPHRA – TEMPEL (CD by Golden Antenna)
Four cases of mailing to wrong persons, well, perhaps. ‘Oh Vital dabbles in music reviews and we get Creative Eclipse PR deal with music too, so let’s send them a bunch of stuff’. First we have the Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble, of which I name checked Nina Hitz on cello and Hilary Jeffery on trombone (whose presence may have lead to me getting this). Other instruments around here are doublebass, piano, vocals, piano, guitar, violin and beats/fx/processing. There is a notion about this band being tied to films. Film noir I suspect. It has all the cliche’s from that world: the spooky slow moves, dark alley, smoke, shadow, men with hats, petty criminals. ‘The mood is what TKDE are aiming at. The mood’. Unfortunately that mood is a sugary cliche. No doubt something that goes well at the after party of say the Rotterdam Film Festival or some such arthouse do. Yuk.
But we move to the Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation, in which several members of the Darkjazz ensemble return (hence a likewise silly name? What’s next, The Saturn Spacejazz Quintet?). The non-human entity ascribed to a human form is anthropomorphic, and this case its the music. Let’s not be negative throughout. This is an hour long work in several parts of improv jazz/drone/doom music and culled from three concerts, cut together into a single track. Now, this is at times pretty good, thanks to the doom influence, sizzling electronics, but also lengthy passages of symphonic playing of violins and celli and free jazz moves of the wind instruments. Sometimes (around the forty minute break) with lots of reverb, which ruins it is a bit for me, but throughout this release was pretty much alright. It would be nice, I guess, to put this ensemble in a studio and see what a proper recording would do, instead of three glued together live recordings.
Behind Iroha we find Andy Swan, once with Justin Broadrick of Final, then more dance oriented with DKZ but returning to a more shoegazing sound as Iroha (named after a Japanese poem), with the help of Diarmuid Dalton and Dominic Crane. The first disc contains eight originals by Iroha and the second disc eleven remixes, mainly by Broadrick, but also Transitional, Jesu and Black Galaxy. Shoegazing indeed. Eyes gazing towards those pointed shoes, with a slow, heavy drum sound, whispering vocals and lots of guitars, drenched with reverb and chorus. Template shoegaze stuff I think, and perhaps quite nice, but it seems out of place in Vital Weekly. I am a bit clueless why we have the whole album again on the second disc, but then as mixed by Broadrick, so we can wonder what the re-mix aspect of it all is. Was Swan not satisfied with his own mix? Or did the label think someone else could do better or different? Spot the differences is a difficult game here. That might be said of the two remixes by Jesu and Transitional. Only Black Galaxy try to break away from the shoegaze sound with more electronic beats. Nice, but not my cup of tea, certainly not if the two cups taste the same.
From the same PR company, but different label,
comes Tephra and ‘Tempel’ is the third release of ‘experimental rock’. They have their origins in doom-metal, but sound more like heavy math rock band, without the many chord progressions. But the vocals remind us of their heavy doom metal days. I have no idea why I’m hearing this. Its music I don’t like at all, and I do think its nothing for Vital Weekly. (FdW)
Address: http://www.denovali.com
ZANZIBAR SNAILS – CAVEAT EMPEROR (CD by Ikuisuus)
Buyer beware is what ‘Caveat Emperor’ means, and I am not sure if Zanzibar Snails refer to their release? They hail from Denton, Texas and are a band, primarily around Nevada Hill and Michael Chamy, along with various guest players. Apparently ‘Caveat Emperor’ is their sixth full length release, but my first encounter. Quite a surprise. The label places them on a map where Organum/Nurse With Wound could meet up with various releases of the Corpus Hermeticum label, and damn me, if I hadn’t read all of that information, I would have thought they would be from New Zealand anyway. Metal percussion plays an all important role for these noise-boys and girls. Think perhaps any lo-fi release of improvised noise on Corpus Hermeticum (or some of Black Petal, come to think of it): banging the steel, free-improv like, a moderate recording, with not always that many details, noise based throughout, but then never that heavy, ear shattering kind of thing, but more gentle and spacious. Its been a while since I last looked at my collection of Corpus Hermeticum releases, but its probably to re-investigate them, along with anything of Sandoz Lab Technicians. Firm, solid underground music that owes more to New Zealand then Organum, I should think. It simply lacks the latter’s refinement. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ikuisuus.net
ARTURAS BUMSTEINAS – MY OWN PRIVATE BAYREUTH (CD by HMK)
A friend of mine wanted to buy his father tickets for the opera, in Bayreuth. There was, I could have told him, a queue of several years if you want to see a Wagner opera perform there. Now Bumsteinas also knows. He applied for tickets in 2009 and got a letter that his application was moved forward to 2010, and then to 2011 until perhaps one day they would find time for him. Bumsteinas came up with a creative answer to that letter (and he stresses its not an attack on the Bayreuther festspiele): he took lines from the works of Wagner and has them played by a group of musicians, repeat them and thus create new music, loosely based on Wagner. Now I am not the biggest Wagner fan, but even if I would, it would still be impossible, I think, to recognize anything from the original. The players here are all from the conservatories of The Hague and Amsterdam, as well as the electronics of Jos Smolders. The music is totally deconstructed and put together as new. That is great news, I guess, especially if you don’t like Wagner. But this method of recomposing Wagner leads to modern classical music, which I guess is fine, but not really the speciality of any of the contributors of Vital Weekly. Of the pieces I liked the opening piece (all eight are untitled), with its multi-layered wind-instruments, or the fifth and eight with its extended computer processing. But there are also pieces, like numbers two, three and four, which are absolutely not my cup of tea of modern classical doodling. This makes that this CD is diverse, but also a bit long. (FdW)
Address: http://www.bumstein.com/art
AURAL BOWELS (CD by Latarina Do Chifrudo)
TWO WHITE MONSTERS AROUND A ROUND TABLE (CDR by Latarina Do Chifrudo)
Aural Bowels is a compilation of musicians who performed during the “MatanÁas Festival” in Porto. This is ritual, occult music from the depths of this city. This compilation shows a large variety of experimental music and it is a showcase for the musical scene from Porto. The CD is a coproduction between Latarina Do Chifrudo, Soopa and Let’s Go To War. The CD contains tracks from Satan?s Zombies Paranoid, Besta Bode, New Traditional Fang Music, Pvppa, Caverna, Brutos da Natureza, Filigranas Negras, Tendagruta and Sparagmos. The CD starts with a bombastic church-organ piece by Satan?s Zombies Paranoid. It reminds me to the Sundays when I was a child. Two times a day we went to church and meanwhile my parents play organ music of J.S. Bach. And this composition is stronger and powerful, there is no way back? Just listen ! New Traditional Fang Music From Porto discovered the music of the ancient Fang culture. The track at the CD is recorded in 1954 and now remastered. The music has a high ritual sphere and has a nice balance between rhythmical rituals and high tones of bowls. Fang is an ethnic minority from Gabon, and used to be one of the African tribes known for the practice of cannibalism. The music, played with a variety of unusual instruments (glasses, balloons, saws, marbles, boxes), is the soundtrack for these long lost rituals. Most of the other tracks are like the music of Coil and Psychic T.V. in their early years. Not as a copy, but with the same sinister beats, electronics, loops and voices. Just one track I what I do not understand, Besta Bode is inspired by Black Sabbath and of course, lot’s of metalbands are into death, rituals etcetera. Their music is like an experimental metal band, but for me it doesn’t fit on these great aural bowels.
Two White Monsters Around A Round Table is a duo from Porto and consists of Joao Filipe on drums and Henrique Fernandes on electric double bass. The music is raw, jazzy, punky and very powerful. Just four track fill the CD-R and that is a pity, because this introduction to this wild experimental duo tastes for more. The diversity between nice beats with ongoing bass-riffs and improvisation trips flow into each other. The lay-out of the CD-R is like the music, if you push the play-button the music will come as a bomb-attack, short and effective and the only thing is to listen and experience it. Two great release of this label from Porto. (JKH)
Address: http://latrinadochifrudo.tumblr.com/
JORG – LOMEK 017 (LP by Lomechanik)
TERUGKLAP – GISTER (LP by Lomechanik)
JELLYPHANT – A ROOM FULL OF TIME (CDR by Lomechanik)
Two weeks ago I about a compilation CD with new techno (etc.) talent from the part of this beautiful country I live in, and now its time for some more local techno (etc.) talent who gather around a label called Lomechanik. Basically a whole bunch of musicians who organize concerts and their own releases. Of these three new ones, I believe Jorg is one of the main men behind the collective. For his 12″, Jorg goes through a whole bunch of old vinyl and samples whatever he likes and builds new hybrids of electronic music with those. I may have expected some techno like music, but Jorg’s music is actually not like that at all. The press text raves about all sorts of dance music (IDM, trip hop, glitch, hip hop, dark ambient, techno and plunderphonics), and for once I might agree. There is indeed a bit of all of that in this music, but never together and never disturbing the album as a whole thing. There are specific styles that prevail here, such as ambient and plunderphonics, with rhythms being applied quite sparsely throughout the music on the first side, but on the second side come more to the foreground. Here the good ambient house thing comes to my mind again – The Orb with their techno rhythms and many plundered voice samples. Melodic, spacious, rhythmic (yet not always aiming at the dancefloor, or perhaps hardly): an excellent record altogether. And the blue vinyl sounds for one good too.
Terugklap also presents his first record. I never heard of him. Now, this is more like the kind of music I would expect on Lomechanik: dirty, grainy beats, created from/with glitchy beat material, with bouncing synths and occasional vocoder thrown in for robotic effect. Seven tracks (so a LP, rather than as 12″ I figured) of music that may also not always be straight forward digestible on dance floors around the globe. The material has too many angles to be mixed in a steady flow of continuos dance drive, which makes it actually for me is more nicer. The comedy bit he could have left out, as far as I’m concerned.
Jelle Haagsma is behind Jellyphant. He studies music and technology and plays piano, guitar and electronics. His ‘A Room Full Of Time’ is a story, literally, in seven chapters – short ones, it fits on the enclosed paper – and he’s also reading it, in between the musical bits. Now that for me wasn’t necessary. From these three new releases on Lomechanik, this is the one that is furthest away from anything to do with electronic beats banging in 4/4 time signatures to get your feet moving. When there is rhythm, its slow and carrying the melodic piano and gentle guitar waves around. Unlike that darkjazz ensemble reviewed elsewhere, I think Jellyphant plays more the film noir soundtrack than they do, or perhaps its the alternative Twin Peaks soundtrack. Simple, sparsely orchestrated tunes for a few instruments. Singing is done in ‘These Are Headaches’, but I could do without. So apart from that and the talking, a pretty fine release of moody stuff. (FdW)
Address: http://www.lomechanik.com
BLUE SABBATH BLACK FIJI – MISTAKE OF A SMALL BIRD (LP by Feeding Tube
Records)
A rock pop album of 8 tracks, despite what you may read elsewhere, dominated by a drum beat and cymbals, four four on the floor, metal guitar riffs and crescendos an attempt- only that, worthwhile of any Kerrang reader. Eight tracks of what could be just another rock and roll jam session, but angst free, the blurb says you could dance to this, and you could, even hoedown to it, slapping thighs, but tastefully, nothing to do with noise, more to do with a good session in the pub after football, Chas and Dave rather than Gilbert and George… Of course the whole thing could be a post-modern ironic gesture – ‘Gertcha’!!!! (jliat)
Address: http://www.feedingtuberecords.com/
VERNON & BURNS MEET LIED MUSIC – LOST LAKE (LP by Shadazz)
A SMALL PARTY OF PRESSURE – SOFT ZOO (CDR by First Fold Records)
Two releases that involve Mark Vernon, plunderphonic artist best known from the duo Vernon & Burns. Two different meetings here. First Vernon & Burns meet Lied Music, a duo of Luke Fowler (once of the Scratch Orchestra, working with Xenton Jones of The Homosexuals) and who is also a film maker) and John W. Fail (from Estonia). Vernon and Burns as two masters of radiophonic cum sound-collage cum plunderphonics. An odd pairing, these two duo’s, but it works well. On one hand we have that improvised musical weirdness from Fowler, but which also has a home in Burns’ side project Hassle Hound, but also shades of noise, musique concrete montage, radiophonic montages and such like. It results in an interesting mixture of lo-fi musics, all around actually, wether it is pop music, radio collages, electro-acoustics or anything that makes these paths cross. But its this curious mingling of styles that makes this into a rather nice record. You never know what’s next for them, even after a few times spinning this record. Quite odd, but quite compelling too.
The second meeting involves just Vernon, who exchanged music over a period of four years with Justin Wiggan (one half of Dreams Of Tall Buildings and a whole bunch of other projects), Anders Gjerde (Norwegian noise musician), Hilde Sofie Tafjord (of Fe-mail, Lemur and Spunk fame) and Lois Laplace (a.o. of Aarde). They don’t all meet up in a space to create music together but, as said, exchange music through mail and file sharing. A meeting of five different people with various backgrounds, some in improvised music and some in field recordings and organizing sounds in a non-musical way. I must admit I had a bit of trouble with this release. It wasn’t bad or something like that, but somehow I had a bit of trouble getting the right focus on this. What is it that they want, I wondered? A montage like music hybrid of electro-acoustic sounds, improvisations on instruments (Tafjord’s horn for instance), slices of cut up sounds, a bit of noise thrown in for good measure, but somehow somewhere the thing doesn’t seem to grab me very much. Its, as said, not bad, but somehow it stays a bit distant from the receiver/listener: someone knows how to montage a bunch of disparate sounds together, but to what end? Where it works with Lied Music it doesn’t, at least not to similar extent with A Small Party Of Pressure. (FdW)
Address: http://www.liedmusic.co.uk
Address: http://www.firstfoldrecords.com
WASTELAND JAZZ UNIT / TIGER HATCHERY – SPILT (7″ by Gilgongo Records)
An interesting disc as it shows a drift, evolution, devolution in free Jazz towards noise, though this would be a mistake, mistakes of appearance in nature also can fool the evolutionist. Tiger Hatchery is unmistakable free jazz in the tradition and recognition that makes it hard to say why the term “free” can now be applied, as its anything but free, as specific as a Big Mac rather than a Whopper… though I suspect the term is one of difference from what was once a more tight musicology, in pushing freedom we can arrive at something which sounds like noise, Wasteland Jazz Unit’s drums and reeds have almost but not quite disappeared into a miasma of sound. I say sound and not noise, just as a triceratops is no relation to a rhinoceros or a whale shark is far removed from a whale, though appearance and diet might hide the biological fact, noise is not a release from the constraints of music, even though it is free of them, its freedom is not an evolutionary step but a radical alternative… Still enjoyable listening is to be had here, but its music and musicians, all the way down, or rather still pretending that horizons can be traversed… cutting edge… etc. High Modernism at its best. (jliat)
Address: http://www.gilgongorecords.com/
GUITLY C PATO – SPLIT (7″ by le petit mignon)
Another wonderland of vinyl and graphic screen printing in a series which if you are not collecting for its aesthetic you should just for its particularity, an investment in jewelry as this is again a sparking thing as well as ‘musical’ release. Half musical half noise, Pato’s contribution is a delightful mix of electronics and sound structures, (remember the word) electro tapas in a delightful sunny setting… constructed… whereas Guilty C is harsh white noise with underlying hum – a kind of AC mains, the sound unrelentingly spirals towards nowhere, literally, though noise is of course illiterate, as if you didn’t know, a phenomenological actuality rather than a metaphysical father Christmas, Husserl wouldn’t like it – which is a pity as it achieves something he failed to, you know, produces an epochÈ. (jliat)
Address: http://www.lepetitmignon.com
CANCELLED – FESTINO (CDR by Das Andere Selbst)
This was already released in September 2010, so perhaps a bit late for Vital Weekly and Das Andere Selbst is a netlabel – so perhaps someone not reading our guidelines, but then the website says this was released in an edition of 200 copies (how many are still there if you start promoting this in February?) and it surely has a nice cover. Cancelled are a duo of Mischa Good and Annely Steiner. Otherwise no information is given about this duo, who play electronic music which is partly rooted in experimental music and partly in popmusic. There is rhythm, mainly through the use of loops rather than rhythm machines it seems, although not exclusively, occasional attempts at melodies, and ‘treated’ vocals of some kind or another and sometimes real vocals, such as in ‘Was’. Then there was also some sequencer bouncing around. It makes altogether a nice varied bunch of tracks, a nice melting pot pop and experiment. Some of these pieces are a bit long, such as the loop piece ‘Girl From Glicynes’, which is just too easily made. Here goes that the more concise the track is, the better it works. Pretty raw stuff, which have room for improvement here and there, but its throughout a nice release. (FdW)
Address: http://www.dasandereselbst.org
STIG INGE OY – DOMAINE DE LA LUTTE (CDR by Etherkreet)
So far the Dutch Etherkreet label seemed to be releasing music from a close circle of friends, like Bas van Huizen and Ezra Jacobs, solo and sometimes together, here they expand to a foreign release. Stig Inge Oy may sound like someone from, let’s say, Norway, but its the name chosen by Maciej Miskiewicz. There is besides artist name and title of the release, absolutely no information on the cover of this release (not even the label name), but on the label’s website we read that the music was created using ‘prepared’ vinyl records and three turntables, which are used to generate sound material which Miskiewicz then uses in his music. Occasionally we hear indeed the rotations of the vinyl, but by and large loom also the electronics which are in place to transform the material. They add a vague industrial notion to this otherwise drone like affair. There are of course traces, otherwise, from people like Philip Jeck to be spotted here. The ‘old’, nostalgic sound of an ancient melody leaking in, among the glitch and crack of rusty vinyl. Sometimes a bit louder, such as at the opening sounds of the fifth track, which makes it altogether quite a varied disc of music. Perhaps not the most original disc in the world, but certainly executed with great care and style. (FdW)
Address: http://www.etherkreet.com/
NONOTES – THOUGHTS (CDR by Motok)
Nico Selen, front man of ORDUC and a plethora of other bands, is getting quite busy. He’s now planning to take his music on the road – good for him, I’d say, as that’s where you get to make the new crowd these days – and he choose his NoNotes project to do that. I can see why: in NoNotes he plays with sounds and textures, rather than fixed pieces of music. Yet he feels its necessary to rehearse his music and that’s what we find on this highly limited release (13 copies, mind you – might be a good item to sell on the road too). The music harks back to a soundtrack Selen made in 1980, and which was partly used for an exhibition of Andries D. Eker (of De Fabriek fame) in 1982. Maybe the schematics of the Korg MS-10 were kept all those years and could be repeated. I have no idea if its Selen’s intention to play all of this live, because that seems all a bit long to me. There is a difference between listening at home to music and in a concert situation. In ‘Train Of Thought – Consideration’, Selen adds guitar like sounds to the synthesizer, but somehow its not an easy marriage – something to re-think before playing live. The core piece – thirty eight minutes – is ‘Train Of Thought – Decision’, which might be the sort of thing to be played live. Heavily on the MS-10 with train like sounds, oscillations, LFO’s and all such like, I think a proper concert length should be more around the twenty-five mark, in order to maintain interest throughout. These start-up procedures are nice, certainly if, like me, you know a lot of the other music by Selen. I don’t think its necessary to release every rehearsal though – the next one should be the real concert registration. (FdW)
Address: http://www.motok.org
PERRY FERYA BAND – BACK OUT (CDR by Recycling Records)
From Central Pomerania comes Perry Ferya, a folk
musician who recorded with his band ‘Back Out’. According to the cover, ‘Back Out’ “reflects tradition of collective music playing ‘under the influence’ our of the longing for the big world and reflections on human fate. If there’s still anyone with undisturbed joy of playing, it’s for sure the Perry Ferya Band”. It draws their inspiration from experimental improvisations of the 60’s and 70’s. They jammed together, selected the best bits and mix those together and use them again in new live improvisations. An interesting, yet not entirely new approach to creating music. The music here is an interesting collision of free folk music, post rock and improvisation and studio techniques. Think No Neck Blues Band – although I have no idea what happened to them. A free reign of improvised rock like sounds, minimalist, sustained wind instruments, sometimes leaping almost into song-like structures. Music that is made with an absolute love for music and not so much anything else. No big, large theories, but jolly good fun and at that excellently done. Maybe not so much inside the world of Vital Weekly, but nicely done. (FdW)
Address: http://www.recyclingrecords.com
CLIFF BASTARD – RECONDITE (CDR by Dead Sea Liner)
ABHORRENT BEAUTY & JAN M. IVERSEN – MOMENTUM (CDR by Dead Sea Liner)
PHANTOM HERON SEAS – THE UNKINDNESS OF RAVENS (3″CDR by Dead Sea Liner)
Behind Cliff Bastard we find one Lee Husher, of is a member of The Mylar Blackout and Nepalese Temple Ball, both of which I never heard. Dead Sea Liner says that the music is in “isolationist mode”, which I very much welcome, the term that is. I have no idea what the exact sound sources are of Lee, but they are heavily treated with an extended use of reverb. It reminds the label “of Thomas Koner’s better moments but gnarlier and with more meat on the bones”, but that’s not something I necessarily agree with. Koner’s music is far more subtle then the orchestrated nightmares of Cliff Bastard, which sound like a post nuclear attack soundtrack, but then of course the whole issue of Isolationist music was never the beauty of ambient, but the darker side of beauty. As Cliff Bastard succeeds well, I think. Maybe that last long piece is a bit superfluous.
First time around when I played the collaboration between Rune Martinsen, also known as Abhorrent Beauty and Jan-M Iversen (he of Bjerga/Iversen and of the Tibprod label), I played it relatively soft. My mistake I guess. The sound (four pieces in total) seemed very far away, almost in an early Lopezian mood. When I turned up the volume really, more was revealed to me. A likewise Isolationist approach, but in some pieces the bass is kinda distorted, which takes some of the elegancy away from whatever else is happening here. I suspect this is all a bunch of field recordings being heavily processed. The best piece here is the closing piece ‘Stalking’, which has a gentle flow over it, slowly moving and seemingly with small melodies lurking underneath. At some twenty-some minutes this track by itself would have made a fine release I think. The other three pieces were alright, but perhaps a bit too far away when played softly and too bass-end when I turned up the volume.
Phanton Heron Seas is the solo project of Alan Upton, the boss of the label. He has had a few previous releases and here presents a two part composition, which he describes as ‘phase shifting mandolin pulses and and speaker cone manipulations from the resonant bird’. Now I didn’t hear a mandolin too easily here, but of course that doesn’t necessarily be the case. It continues his previous interest in applying computer based methods to layer single instrumental sounds into a vast pattern of multi-layered sound events, which can sometimes be tagged as ‘drone’ music. Phanton Heron Seas does that from a more digitally perspective. In ‘Part 1’ it sounds like stones being rubbed against eachother, while in the second part this is all more like very light spark particles spring off the sun. Both parts have an extended gentle backdrop drone setting. Two utter lovely pieces of sheer, light minimalism. (FdW)
Address: http://www.deadsealiner.co.uk
PIERRE GERARD & ANDY GRAYDON – UNTITLED (MAGNETISMS) (cassette by Winds Measure Recordings)
An obscurity here. An split tape, with one piece by Pierre Gerard and one by Andy Graydon and in one way or another I think this all has to do with ‘magnetic’ sound waves, music recorded on cassettes, rather than anything digitally. According to the website this is a collaborative work. Gerard was reviewed before in Vital Weekly, and his twenty minute piece is called ‘Orientation (Magnetite Crystals)’. Highly obscured sounds, which are not easy to recognize: “Andy sent a recording of bamboo in the forests outside his childhood home on Maui, Hawaii. Pierre recorded “a wooden table located outside a house in the French village EspËre. The table is directed towards the horizon which becomes bluish”. They could have fooled me. Its very hard to say what kind of “processing” took place on the Gerard side: lots of silence and an occasional bump in the road. At one point a more continuos electronic (?) sound comes in, irregularly. Odd but compelling. Graydon’s side is a more continuos sound affair. He seems to apply methods of recording and re-recording similar sound events and pick them up in the same room: say a version of ‘I’m Sitting In A Room’, but then for acoustic sounds and collaged together, rather than presented one after another. Personally I preferred this side to Gerard’s piece, I must admit. Quite intense, lo-fi scattered magnetic fields, rusty to the core, and an excellent example of fine almost drone like music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.windsmeasurerecordings.net