NO VITAL WEEKLY IN WEEK 28!
ANEMONE TUBE – DEATH OVER CHINA (CD by Topheth Prophet)
PROYECTO MIRAGE – SLAVES OF CAPITAL (CD by Ant-Zen)
THIS MORN’ OMINA – L’UNIFICATION DES FORCES OPPOSANTES (2CD by Ant-Zen)
ARCHITECT – UPLOAD SELECT REMIX (CD by Hymen)
ILLUSION OF SAFETY – FIN DE SIECLE (CD by Korm Plastics) *
PSEUDO CODE – HUMAN FLESH (CD by Korm Plastics) *
CHICO MELLO & NICHOLAS BUSSMANN – TELEBOSSA (CD by Staubgold)
RAFAEL TORAL – SPACE ELEMENTS VOL.III (CD by Staubgold)
SACHER PELZ & AMUN CELL – HIBAKUSHA (CD by Silentes) *
ANTIKATECHON – PRIVILEGIUM MARTYRII (CD by Silentes) *
CLAUDIO ROCHETTI – EVERY LIVE IS PROBLEM SOLVING (CD by Silentes) *
KONRAD KRAFT – TEMPORARY AUDIOSCULPTURES AND ARTEFACTS (CD by Auf Abwegen) *
SVEN SCHIENHAMMER – ALTOSTRATUS TRANSLUCIDUS (CD by Bine Music) *
JACK CURTIS DUBOWSKY ENSEMBLE – III (CD by De Stijl Music) *
HARLEY GABER – IN MEMORIAM 2010 (CD by Innova) *
PHILLIP SCHROEDER – PASSAGE THROUGH A DREAM (CD by Innova) *
PETER STAMPFEL & THE WORM ALL-STARS – A SURE SIGN OF SOMETHING (CD by Z6)
VRIL – FILMS (DVD by Z6)
KNURL – REACTANCE (LP by Wintage records and Tapes)
YEN POX – UNIVERSAL EMPTINESS (10″ by Substantia Innominata)
IDEA FIRE COMPANY – DAYS (7″ by Plinkity Plonk/Swill Radio) *
DOODSHOOFD/STIRNER/RESONAN – NOIA (CDR by resdatcom)
+DOG+ – FORCED MORALITY (Cd by Love Earth Music)
BOB BLAIZE & JEPH JERMAN – RYTHUMATION (CDR by Ilse) *
ABUSIVE CONSUMER – IT’S DRY (CDR by Ilse) *
LOOPOOL – BREAK, BROKEN, BROKE (CDR by Ilse)
KIRCHENKAMPF & PIXYBLINK – NEVERMORE AND NEVERTHELESS (CDR by Cohort Records) *
ZONNEBRAND (CDR compilation by Lomechanik)
LEONARDO ROSADO – OPAQUE GLITTER (CDR by FeedbackLoop Label) *
GUY BIRKIN – SYMMETRY-BREAKING (CDR by Running On Air) *
MICHAEL ESPOSITO & HEIDI HARMAN – NOTHING BY MOUTH (CDR by Firework Edition) *
HOMOGENIZED TERRESTRIALS – THE LEFT HAND OF DECAY (CDR by 6 On The Dot)
REBEKAH’S TAPE – O.O.’S FIGHTIN’ BORTHDAY BEAR (DVD-R by Intangible Cat) *
FREIBAND – TRANSITION (3″CDR by Kaon) *
LITTLE ORPHEUS AND THE ROGUE LYONS – 7TH GRADE IS A DRAG (cassette by Auris Apothecary)
ANEMONE TUBE – DEATH OVER CHINA (CD by Topheth Prophet)
Anomene Tube is a noise-project formed in the Southern part of Germany in 1996. Strong influences to the compositional approach of the project is the nihilistic rhetoric works of Michael Haneke, Hayoao Miayazaki and H.P. Lovecraft combined with buddhist psychology and concrete sounds from the real world. All tracks of this album titled “Death over China”, are exclusively developed from the use of field recordings. The piece “I shall forever invoke” is the only piece where there are integrations of synthesizer. For this particular piece the synthesizers adds a nice atmospheric soundscape on the background of field recordings. The piece “Prayer walk” is an abrasive beast where the noise drones makes a pure impact on the listener. Screeching noise drills into the ears with additions of distant voices adding a great apocalyptic atmosphere to the piece. Also the piece titled “Brooding haze” drills a deep impression into the listener thanks to the monotonous high frequency noise-sounds operating on top of crushing power electronics and concrete metal sounds. “Death over China” is a part of the so-called “Suicide Series” – a series that aims to express the self-destructive tendency by the modern population due to the social and highly industrialized global development. The album comes in a beautiful art-work in dvd-sized format with early photographs and paintings from early 20th century. Excellent work of noise art. (NM)
Address: http://www.topheth.com
PROYECTO MIRAGE – SLAVES OF CAPITAL (CD by Ant-Zen)
THIS MORN’ OMINA – L’UNIFICATION DES FORCES OPPOSANTES (2CD by Ant-Zen)
Spanish duo Proyecto Mirage has become a legend in the harsher territories of the technoid industrial scene. Since 1999 the band has released albums, characterized by up-tempo rhythm textures and explosive techno-indsutrial. Present album, being the 8th call from the project is no exception. After a three years break the duo has now come up with the album titled “Slaves of capital”. Stylish we find ourselves within an explosive turbine consisting of power noise, technoid industrial and EBM-expressions that will make even the laziest listener want to move. Dominant part of the Proyecto Mirage-universe is the manifesting vocals of Alicia H. Willen. Very nice! Another energy bomb from the technoid industrial scene is Belgium project This Morn Omina. Since the opening album “7 years of famine” in 2003, Mika Goedrijk has released a number of albums under the flag of This Morn’ Omina. Stylishly the project takes its starting point in upbeat industrial textures with strong elements of techno and ambient with touches of trance. Latest album carrying the title “L¥unification des forces opposantes” is a double disc-set. On the front of the cover you find the tagline “This is ritual musik” and this is what you get! The music is repetitive in its nature giving room for hypnotic moments. This time Mika Goedrijk allies with sound explorer Karolus Lerocq to take the listener into a long powertrip of technoid industrial. Excellent (NM)
Address: http://www.ant-zen.com
ARCHITECT – UPLOAD SELECT REMIX (CD by Hymen)
With an existence of thirteen years, Architect must be considered a true legend of the experimental electronic music scene. Behind the project you find Daniel Myer who is apparently a well-acknowledged composer among fellow artists of the experimental scene. Present album is remix album consisting of 14 remixes by stylishly different artists, who make their own interpretations of the universe of Architect. Expressionally the album varies a lot. From the breakbeat-oriented “The beauty and the beat”-remix from Hecq across the minimal techno-remix of “Pure” by “Re-Drum” to upfront breakcore from U.S.-breakbeat-scientist End.user. Also the clubbish remix of “Pure” executed by Repair shines among the many remixes. (NM)
Adress: http://www.hymen-records.com
ILLUSION OF SAFETY – FIN DE SIECLE (CD by Korm Plastics)
PSEUDO CODE – HUMAN FLESH (CD by Korm Plastics)
Behind the legendary project Illusion Of Safety, you find the two sound artists, Daniel Burke and Kurt Griesch. The two main pieces of present album “Fin de siecle”, was created for an American tour back in 1995. Due to the time-limit of the vinyl-media which was the original release format, the pieces were cut and revised to fit the time-span of the vinyl. Now sixteen years later, the two pieces have returned from the historical archives to be presented on this re-issue on Dutch label Korm Plastics. The twosome has for this particular occasion composed two smaller pieces – an epilogue and prologue for the original album. After the abrasive “Epilogue”-piece, we move into first piece of the original “Fin de siecle”-release, simply titled “Part one”. A 22-minutes running piece of ambient tranquility built on repetitive sound-drones until the closing moment where the piece culminates in a harsh grande finale. Second piece of the original vinyl is a lengthy work combining field recordings and trippy sound drones – a subtle piece of an almost inaudible character. Stepping to the last piece of the album, the “Prologue”-track is another recent created work for this re-issue. As was the case with the epilogue, this is a piece of a more upfront nature with long-stretched monotonous tone that because of its repetitive nature create a nice hypnotic atmosphere stretched over the 22 minutes run-time.
Next album is new issue of an earlier work. This time we take the trip to Belgium to find another collaboration this time between the two artists Guy De Bievre and Alain Neffe who operated under the project name Pseudo Code back in the early 80’s. Present album titled “Human flesh” was recorded on September 11th in 1982. The album consists of one lengthy piece running 43 minutes. Instruments utilized for the piece titled “Playing with another guy” is a long line of acoustic instruments plus early electronic equipment counting rhythm box, ring oscillators and synthesizers. Another important part of the album is the spoken word penetrating and disappearing occasionally over the run-time. Stylishly “Human flesh” sounds like something in-between early krautrock (Faust, NEU!) and electro-punk (Suicide, This Heat, Legendary Pink Dots). A very interesting album that definitely belongs to the category of adventurous music. (NM)
Address: http://www.kormplastics.nl
CHICO MELLO & NICHOLAS BUSSMANN – TELEBOSSA (CD by Staubgold)
A very untypical release we have here. Brazilian moods combined with European chamber music. Two very different musical are into dialogue here, which is in itself a interesting and worth trying thing. One of the participants is Brazilian musician Chico Mello, who lives in Berlin since the 80s, being interested in crossing borders between music from Latin America and Europe. This release is another example of this focus. Chico sings in a style that is unmistakably rooted in Brazilian music and met to be more precise in samba and bossa novas. Singing in a very fluent, smooth and emotional style. Nicholas Buschmann plays cello, some electronics, glasses and drums. He is a musician and composer from Berlin. He started as a celloplayer, and studied new possibilities that are offered by electronics and computer. Both are present on the is mini-cd. Mello and Buschmann are assisted by Werner Dafeldecker (double bass) on the closing piece ‘Amoroso’ and Hanno Leichtmann who adds some percussion in two tracks. They combine the evident Brazilian latin melodies with a stripped down instrumentation, relying on minimalistic chamber music and electronics. They interpret traditional Brazilian songs, plus songs composed by themselves that are also in brazilian style. The songs are soberly arranged and orchestrated. The combination of both bring forth contrasts of mixed nature. Sometimes vocals and instrumentation are going well together, but at other moments it sounds a bit like a forced marriage, like in the opening track. Throughout however Mello and Buschmann give an intense and inspired performance of their hybrid and intimate music in seven songs. (DM)
Address: http://www.staubgold.com
RAFAEL TORAL – SPACE ELEMENTS VOL.III (CD by Staubgold)
The third episode in the ‘Space Elements ‘ series of Portuguese musician Rafael Toral. “The Space Program is a long-term project launched in 2004, for performing music with a post-free jazz mind-set but using strange sounds from electronics instruments’, Toral explains in the liner notes. For each episode Toral invites new musicians. This time the crew consists of Afonso Simoes (drums), Riccardo Dillon Wanke (rhodes piano), CÈsar Burago (maracas, tamborim, shakers, cowbell claves, kokiriko), Tatsuya Nakatani (percussion), Victor Gama (acrux), Marco Franco(drums),Toshio Kajiwara (lap steel guitar). All of them play on just a few tracks, in duo, trio and quartet format. Rafael Toral (electrode oscillator, modified MS-2 pocket amplifier feedback, glove-controlled computer bass sinewaves, filtered feedback circuit, modified MT-10 portable amplifier, modulated noise, modular synthesizer, tamtam) plays of course in every track. What wondered me in earlier releases of his happens here again. Toral combines ingredients from jazz, presented by the guest musicians, with his disciplined playing and use of electronics. Each track has a very transparent outlook, even the finest and most detailed sounds and movements are not to be missed. The music is of a static nature, and deprived of the swing and drive we know from jazz. As ever the music is intelligently composed and performed very disciplined. This makes it work! (DM)
Address: http://www.staubgold.com
SACHER PELZ & AMUN CELL – HIBAKUSHA (CD by Silentes)
ANTIKATECHON – PRIVILEGIUM MARTYRII (CD by Silentes)
CLAUDIO ROCHETTI – EVERY LIVE IS PROBLEM SOLVING (CD by Silentes)
For the third week in a row, new releases by Italy’s Silentes label. The first one is the for me unknown Amun Cell, who does a collaboration with Sacher Pelz, which is an early incarnation of Maurizio Bianchi. I am not sure why that name was revived, although it has been used before in recent years. Originally this was released in an edition of fifty copies as a CDR in 2009, but apparently Silentes regarded this work ‘good’ enough to be issued on a real CD. I may not necessarily agree. The seven pieces on this album are all based around loops and electronics. A bit messy and a bit noisy here, like the whole thing was made without too much effort. We have a bunch of sounds going and treat them a bit with of sound effects. I am not entirely sure what it is that they are trying to achieve here, but my best guess would be some form of alienation. In that case they succeeded quite well. I feel like an alien listening to something I may not understand. Not every re-issue is necessary.
Churches, crosses and titles in latin, one in russian: welcome to the world of gothic on the release by Antikatechon. I am slightly exaggerating the case of course, but its partly true. It opens with a mass of organ sounds and later on we find the slowed church bells and heavily layered voices, like at least four choirs humming and chanting. Vague rumble of percussion (metal perhaps). It may seem I didn’t like this, but in fact I do. Small melodies pop up every now and then in this black mass of sound – with a double meaning here. Swirling layers of heavily processed sound – voices, instruments, field recordings – make a very dense work. Quite nice.
The final new release on Silentes is by Claudio Rocchetti, whose name I spelled wrong before, but who is also a member of 3/4Hadbeeneliminated and as such someone I like. He had various solo releases (see Vital 474, 624 and 629), which hovered on all the edges of music: very quiet, very loud, using a variety of sound sources: cassettes, turntables, objects and sound effects. I am not sure why Rocchetti choose to release a live album, which is, effectively, one unreleased piece, and three that have been released before. So the unreleased one is from 2010, the others from 2006 (1) and 2008 (2). It shows, and that is great, the development of Rocchetti: the Brussels concert is quite a careful outing for electronics, low end sound, maybe even something that sounds like a guitar. Occasionally bursting out into a more noise oriented direction. An excellent piece. The ‘Berlin 2006’ is an early blast of noise, whereas the two 2008 pieces are more raw shaped drone excursions, which already hint to the 2010 style, but isn’t quite there yet. These are however fine pieces too. I think they were released on cassette before, so its good to have these in CD quality. Delicate music needs a better medium! (FdW)
Address: http://www.silentes.net
KONRAD KRAFT – TEMPORARY AUDIOSCULPTURES AND ARTEFACTS (CD by Auf Abwegen)
The name Konrad Kraft sounds from way back, but not, as I thought from the world of cassettes, although he started in those, 80s, days. Between 1988 and 1994 he had a label called SDV Tontrager, and had a CD, which I am surely but entirely forgot with Dino Oon. He has been producing music all these years but never released that much. In 2004 he resumed his work as a visual artist, and perhaps its there were we see his latest release, which deals with temporary audiosculptures and artifacts. I am not sure, as this is not clear from the press text, wether these are real sculptures or that he sees his pieces of music as sculptures in ways that others refer to them as ‘compositions’, ‘pieces’ or ‘songs’. I understand that Kraft (real name Detlef Funder) uses electronic sounds as well as field recordings, which he breaks up to an extend where they become particles that hold themselves together, in a strange sort of twist of gravity. Sometimes there is some drone or hiss like sound in the background which hold these things together, and sometimes not at all. If anything, and here I don’t agree with Auf Abwegen who compares it to Illusion Of Safety, Controlled Bleeding and Cisfinitum, I think Kraft uses the ideas of Asmus Tietchens: sounds are being micro-ed, atomized, and then put together in constellations of some kind. Constellations which we could call sculptures, or compositions – ‘songs’ just doesn’t seem to fit this. Two things to complain about however: the sculptures are all a bit long, and thus the whole album is a bit long. It then lacks some necessary variation. In that sense Tietchens works are shorter and more to the point; something Kraft should consider too. (FdW)
Address: http://www.aufabwegen.com
SVEN SCHIENHAMMER – ALTOSTRATUS TRANSLUCIDUS (CD by Bine Music)
Recently I put some old stuff on my Ipod, compilations from the hey-day of ambient house. Perhaps because I predict a return to ambient house? Or perhaps because I liked some. I also put on some of Wolfgang Voigt’s old music on there, and when I was on the train, I found it hard to fully enjoy his old Gas releases. Maybe its something for speakers only? I come to all this because of Sven Schienhammer’s new CD. Its been a while since I heard a so blatant copy of the Gas sound. Highly compressed sounds, creating a thick, fat mass of sounds, feeding through a bunch of computer plug ins, amplifying the hiss like elements in the sounds, layering and bouncing them around. It takes a while to arrive, but towards the end the rhythm machine is added, in that dubby lazy vein that, damn, we also know from Gas, as well as some of Voigt’s other musical incarnations. Minimalist and dubby dance rhythms. What’s the point of re-creating something that was good so many years ago, copied already a lot and now sounding a bit worn out? I haven’t a single clue. While reading the morning paper, sipping coffee and such things, it made some great music however, as this is not bad. Just not very original. Not at all. (FdW)
Address: http://www.binemusic.de
JACK CURTIS DUBOWSKY ENSEMBLE – III (CD by De Stijl Music)
What have the following in common: Neu!, Toru Takemitsu, Monolake, Cluster, Philip Glass, John Zorn, Thomas Ades, The Residents, John Cage and Cabaret Voltaire? Hard to say, I would think, but if you like any or all of this, you may dig, according to the label, the Jack Curtis Dubowsky Ensemble. Ensemble is a rather big word for this duo! It has Dubowsky on Roland Jupiter Six and bass and Fred Morgan on drums and percussion. They have been together since 2008, and this is already their third album. To make things even more complex: they performed Depeche Mode’s ‘Violator’ to mark the 20th anniversary of that record. And then we have to discuss the music, which I would mark as complex too. Complex in what it is, and what they want. Sometimes non descript ambient pieces, (free-) jazz pieces or opening up the post-rock/krautrock book. Sometimes with easy pieces and sometimes displaying their skills on their instruments. Confusing? Yes, absolutely. Is it good? Well, that is a difficult question to answer. Yes, I think its not bad, and these men surely know how to play their instruments, but that is not to say that I liked every piece. Sometimes it just stays too much in a free form doodle, such as in ‘Iris’. Odd was also ‘Wobbly’, which had more or less the same opening as ‘Depth Perception’. Hard to tell what they want to do with their music, as if they haven’t made their mind up, unless of course ‘confusion = sexy’? (FdW)
Address: http://www.destijlmusic.com
HARLEY GABER – IN MEMORIAM 2010 (CD by Innova)
PHILLIP SCHROEDER – PASSAGE THROUGH A DREAM (CD by Innova)
After a hiatus of many years Harley Gaber recently returned to the world of music, after being active in the artworld since 1978. His ‘I Saw My Mother Ascending Mount Fuji’ was reviewed in Vital Weekly 737 and was received with mixed feelings. I liked some of the pieces but not the more modern classical pieces. Apparently 2010 was a ‘tumultuous’ year for Gaber which resulted in all new music. The ‘in memoriam’ refers to the mother of Dan Epstein of the Dan J. Epstein Family Foundation, who commissioned this work. All six pieces were constructed from samples from the works of people like Philip Blackburn, Kenneth Gaburo, Verdi, Beethoven, Werner Durand, Paul Paccione and Morton Feldman. I guess of this stretched out beyond recognition. Its six parts to one piece and not six separate pieces, as they flow into eachother. This is much more like something I really like. Drone like sounds, atmospheric and peaceful, perhaps even contemplative, fitting such themes as ‘Cataclysm And Threnody’, ‘Threnody And Prayer’, ‘Coalescing’ and ‘…With Completion’. Certainly not easy listening music by any standard, but perhaps more like a modern version of requiem, or a zen-like version of it. I have no idea what was ‘tumultuous’ about 2010, but it surely lead to some excellent music.
Also contemplative is the music of Philip Schroeder, of whom, I think, I never heard. He played trumpet and bass in jazz and rock bands, but also composes works for orchestras and ensembles, as well as being a concert pianist. When I read all the bio stuff and what this music was about, I thought it would be one of those modern classical music CDs which I am never particular fond of. But lo and behold, its not. It opens with the title piece and I go back to the first time I heard music by Harold Budd and Gavin Bryars: ‘From Brussels With Love’, a compilation cassette from 1980 and Schroeder’s piece for clarinet with delay and multi-tracked four hand piano and digital delay, sounds very much like that. Introspective playing, with repeating chords; minimal and melodic, but not working like raga’s or sustaining sounds. This continues in the following three pieces. Only in ‘Sky Blue Dreams’ we have a soprano voice, which adds a Gorecki’s like singing, but perhaps not as sorrowful. All in all I was quite surprised by this. This is a CD that would have fitted perfectly on Cold Blue Music: a great west-coast minimal music sound: sweet and nice. Like summer sun. (FdW)
Address: http://www.innova.mu
PETER STAMPFEL & THE WORM ALL-STARS – A SURE SIGN OF SOMETHING (CD by Z6)
VRIL – FILMS (DVD by Z6)
Peter Stampfel is half of the legendary The Holy Model Rounders, a folkduo that started in 1963 (!). Over the years they specialized in a deranged form of folk, similar to what Chadbourne and others were up to. In 2007 Stampfel was on a Rotterdam where a film on the Rounders was presented. For the occasion Stampfel played with Purves, Hitz and Simonis as the Worm All-Stars. This worked out well and so Stampfel invited the three to New York for rehearsing and recording songs. This took place in 2008. Now 15 of these songs made it this new cd ‘A Sure Sign of Something’. They choose old american folk and country songs, as well as old songs from the Rounders, completed by compositions by Simonis. Traditional material for the most, but played in an unconventional, low profile way and catching the right spirit. Stampfel is not a great singer and probably never was. Purves uses a lot found objects for percussive purposes. Hitz plays cello, keyboards. Simonis guitars. Stampfel wrote liner notes on all songs and how the project came into being.
Vril is musically a more accomplished project by Bob Drake, Chris Cutler and Lukas Simonis. Originally Peter Omer was part of the gang, replaced later by Alan Jenkins. Similar to the cd of Peter Stampfel Vril connects to music from the past. Vril is in love with the genre of straight guitar rock instrumentals in the tradition of the Shadows, surf music and – much later – The Raybeats. With long pauses they release an album every now and then. ‘Films’, their newest, is like the title indicates a dvd. Each of the 17 tracks is accompanied with a specially made video by different filmmakers, including Chuck O Meara, Stella van Voorst van Beest, Daniel Zimmer, Pieter Jan Smit & Nino Purtskhvanidze, Marit Shalem & Lenno Verhoog, a.o. The tracks are composed by themselves. I didn’t recognize any old tune anyway. Some of the tracks sound as if they come literally from the past without sounding nostalgic. In most tracks however unusual things happen without stepping to far out of the guitar instrumental format. Tight and tough playing. Both releases exemplify it is possible to update ‘outdated’ musical formats, without being nostalgic, retrospective. Not just for the sake of updating, but out of love for this Music. (DM)
Address: http://www.z6records.nl
KNURL – REACTANCE (LP by Wintage records and Tapes)
Knurl = “Harsh Noise made from found objects and constructed metal sculptures” & “Knurl’s objective is to take music and strip it entirely of what we know music to be: it’s rhythm, melody, vocals, even production quality”… there- I’ve said this before BUT NOBODY BELIEVES ME! Sorry its very hot, and that just gotta way from me… I’ll take a shower. Its as if …. Quoting myself” Its perfectly possible to listen to and enjoy the aesthetic sound of noise- though this is not new, one can and others have enjoyed noise- sounds of fireworks, thunderstorm, waterfall, sea breakers… Its perfectly possible to enjoy noise as an anti-music anti establishment – punk – nihilist rhetoric… but again that’s not new or particular to noise or punk- i.e. rock and roll… BUT a third option – which doesn’t exclude the previous two – is to see how its disengaged from the “perceptual” – and is engaging then “as the turn from “appearance” to “conception” Joseph Kosuth, from the era of taste to the era of meaning – Arthur Danto, from the specific to the generic (Thierry de Duve) …” But now slightly damp and much cooler – this is an excellent “performance” of more violent than harsh, but one suspects not in an overtly politico way? Five performances which if not moving towards the conceptual will be faced with the failure of (Clem Greenberg) “Formalist art (painting and sculpture) (is) the vanguard of decoration..” which Clem has since reneged on in favor of Fantin Latour- true! – in favour of vases of flowers or Mantovani I suppose. Moral, though this is excellent Harsh Noise, practitioners should be aware of such harshness like minimalism can become-” so minimal that for all functional purposes it is not art at all, but pure exercises in aesthetics” (jliat)
Address: http://www.pantarheirecordings.com/
YEN POX – UNIVERSAL EMPTINESS (10″ by Substantia Innominata)
Some ten issues ago I reviewed a CD by Blood Box, the solo project of Michael J.V. Hensley, who is a member of Yen Pox, and I wondered: do they still exist? It has been a while since I last heard Yen Pox, but they still exist: here is a brand new 10″ with two pieces, ‘Above’ and ‘Below’. Apparently with some problems to get it pressed, since the music of Yen Pox deals with much low end. Despite the alchemical titles (‘as above so below’, remember), I think this music is otherwise free anything remotely ‘occult’, ‘magick’, ‘gothick’, which sometimes sips in with this kind of music. Two pieces of utter dark ambient music, reverberating drones from the underworld. Hard to say what Yen Pox are doing though. Are these highly processed field recordings? Lots of analogue synthesizers? Digital ones? Just sound effects? Or, and that is perhaps the most likely thing, a combination of all of this. Slowly moving, hypnotic, trance like. Yen Pox sound like Troum here, and that, I think, is a big compliment. Very fine record indeed. Why is there so little Yen Pox out there? (FdW)
Address: http://www.dronerecords.de
IDEA FIRE COMPANY – DAYS (7″ by Plinkity Plonk/Swill Radio)
Karla Borecky and Scott Foust are members of Idea Fire Company from the U.S.A. The First Days on side A is played by the Borecky on piano and Foust on synthesizer. The repetitive melody on piano is as pure and simple as it can be. The repetition is luckily not straight and the listener can hear the nuances in the touch of the piano key. The synthesizer supports the piano melody in a subtile way. The piece of music has an intimate character which is calming me down. The other composition on side B called The Last Days has been played on Borecky on piano, Foust on tapes and voice, Graham Lambkin on tapes and voice and Matt Krefting on tapes. The composition has again the intimate character because of the piano playing, but it has more layers. Noise sound layers and fire-cracking come and go. It is like New Years Eve sitting in a dark room, everyone is hanging around and the party is somewhere else and they are waiting for nothing. Just touching the piano and play around. Great 7″ and it is a pity that it is so short. (JKH)
Address: http://www.kormplastics.nl
DOODSHOOFD/STIRNER/RESONAN – NOIA (CDR by resdatcom)
A split, a dangerous acrobatics which exposes the genitalia to risk.. or the division of a living thing across the alter where the blood of life which is God’s is given back, or offered up is not a history but an act of non-time, split time…however 10 tracks on this “split” the 4 from Stirner certainly qualify for noise, preoccupations with pulses, I’m trying to formulate a non rational critique of the pulse, the repetition along the lines of the “identity of indiscernible” but that too falls into the aporia of the rationalist idea of equality, that is how can two things be the same… you might like to re-read this to get the feel for the nonsense out of which sense is built, i.e. that the a priori is an a posteriori production… the four Resonan are micro electronic noise…with the final Noia track set in an industrial landscape. Played in reverse order this CDR could map out the trajectory of noise over the last decade or so, like a missile shedding at each stage, atmosphere, techniques, until either an ordered equilibrium – or orbit- rhythm is attained or as in the case of HNW (Doodshoofd) the final product is a never ending? journey into a void without differentiation, beginning, middle, end, or meaning. (jliat)
Address: http://www.resonan.com/
+DOG+ – FORCED MORALITY (Cd by Love Earth Music)
A clichÈ regarding Birmingham (England) is that it has more miles of canal than Venice, though narrow canals, navigations, hence the navvy – manual laborer canal digger- or cut… on an early Monday morning due to its non flow sports all the flotsam and jetsam of the weekend, bottles, plastic bags, styrene fast food boxes.. a poetics of another hedonist weekend, and/but strangely just below the brown surface perch swim, and a squadron of Canada geese patrol, while on the bank goslings graze… another more modern navvy is fishing out the debris with a net, while outside the cafÈ tables are arranged… such is post-modernity an eclecticism hard to define and so critique, one in which human and inhuman nature and the synthetic have despite all the ideologies, Marxism, Environmentalism, Socialism, Capitalism, Democracy, simply got on with life. A morality forced by an evolution which though may not have any cause certainly has an effect, which in turn is the bleak yet lively recordings found here of polluted/pure electronica sound – affect… (jliat)
Address: http://www.loveearthmusic.com/
BOB BLAIZE & JEPH JERMAN – RYTHUMATION (CDR by Ilse)
ABUSIVE CONSUMER – IT’S DRY (CDR by Ilse)
LOOPOOL – BREAK, BROKEN, BROKE (CDR by Ilse)
Its not easy to find this label, but eventually I did. Why not put your website on the cover? Maybe its some sort of art thing? The first release is by Jeph Jerman, whom we best know as Hands To, but also from the Animist Orchestra and Blowhole, who teams up with one Bob Blaize, of whom I never heard, but apparently is from Tonsil Dove Choir. They have been recording music since many years and ‘Rythumation’ is collection of pieces they recorded in 1990s, but which were never released. Blaize plays sampler, synth, flute, piano and drums, while Jerman plays percussion, concussion and strings. Guest on one track is Rick Tamura (from I.A.M. Umbrella)on saxophone. An interesting work, especially for those who thought they knew Jerman’s work – like perhaps I would like to think. It has lots and lots of sound effects and throughout sound very improvised but usually evolving around more or less steady rhythms. It seems occasionally even rock like, or tribal/ethnic like. Only in the last pieces, which includes the one with Tamura, they go out all the way into free jazz land, including a Cecil Taylor tribute in ‘Cecil Play’. That makes it an entirely ‘different’ scene compared with the rest of the disc, but shows their talent and skill I guess. Nice one.
One J. Morales is Abusive Consumer and is inspired by the ‘entire history of electronic/electroacoustic music from the pioneering tape experiments of Schaeffer and Henry to the present day masters of microsound and electroacoustic improv to create these six sublime works.” He has released a couple of works himself, but this is album brings him a bit further. To that end he uses synthesizers, samples and sound effects. What he does is actually quite alright. It has indeed that old school mentality of bouncing pure electronic tones (more German than French, me thinks), spiced with some more sixties styled synthesizers (Switched On Planet Of The Apes), and to a lesser extent the current wave (the new millennium) of lowercase electronics. Within Abusive Consumer things are always present and do not move beyond the surface of audibility. It works best in the five studio pieces. The longest one, is a live piece, and here it seems that Abusive Consumer looses control over his material and ends up with some freak out in a mild noise way. That’s not very much my cup of tea, but the rest I thought to be very strong material. Quite a promise for the future.
Loopool is a project of Jean-Paul Garnier from the U.S.A.. He is active since 1988 and released about 40 CD?s. He plays several synthesizers, bass, drums and programms his music. The CD-R contains eight tracks in 35 minutes. The CD-R starts like a circuit of speed cars of a highway, but with a threatening atmosphere. The second track Irruption-Death Mix was part of a live collaboration with Danse Perdue. The track has a repetitive melody with an old organ sound, supported by bells and industrial sounds. A great piece of music. Danse Perdue is a dance group which is highly inspired by names like Jhon Balance, Peter Christopherson, Bataille, Marquis de Sade and William S. Burroughs and uses music of loopool, Hipster Death and Joy von Spain. I must admit the music of Jean-Paul Garnier reminds me a lot to work of the early Coil and Psychic T.V. and I mean that as a great compliment. Maybe it is because of the use of synthesizer and the repetive and mystic elements in his music. Maybe it is because of the dark atmosphere with some light elements in it. The The last track is created with Mikko Freeman on guitar. The combination of the sounds of Garnier and the riffs of Freeman fits well, but I am more amused by the solo-work of Garnier. He knows how to create a dark surrealistic musical atmosphere which leads me to the deeper parts of the musical environment. (FdW) (JKH)
Address: http://ilsemusic.info/
KIRCHENKAMPF & PIXYBLINK – NEVERMORE AND NEVERTHELESS (CDR by Cohort Records)
John Gore’s Kirchenkampf teams up with Pixyblink, of whom I never heard and whose website is just on facebook. Its one Kyra from California, and her side projects include Winter Umbrellas, AnotherAntidote, Cave Dwellers, Saint Francis Amongst The Mortals, Starblood plus she has a radioprogram. No mentioning of any instruments, but actually none for Kirchenkampf either. Seven quite long pieces of electronic sounds, or electronically altered sounds from field recordings. Quite lo-fi also, as the sound seems quite distant and far away, but surely that’s a deliberate thing by whoever did the final mix. In ‘Enfant Terrible’ I was reminded of the old Arcane Device sound of howling feedback, which returned in some of the other pieces but not always as clear. Sometimes the music got stuck in some endlessly playing of sound effects and then the length of tracks worked against it. Here some more editing could have taken place. It left me with mixed feelings, this one. Some of it, like the aforementioned ‘Enfant Terrible’ sounded pretty good, but other such as ‘Viva Voce’ went on too long. But certainly half of it was quite nice indeed. (FdW)
Address: http://cohortrecords.0catch.com/
ZONNEBRAND (CDR compilation by Lomechanik)
Following nearly two months of extremely good weather in this area, it rained last weekend. No big deal, except of course if you plan an evening with DJ’s on the small beach near the river, and call the evening ‘Zonnebrand’ – sunburn. It was organized (and cancelled) by the local Lomechanik label. I got the announced and forgot all that played, but the souvenir is something that they can’t take of you and one that comes in handy when the summer will return. Lomechanik means beat music, but local youth dabbling in techno, house, trip hop, electro, dub step or whatever tagline they came up now. Many of these have more than one track, and makes a very nice showcase of local talent in this direction. There is a bit of rap, but I skipped that. Strangest tune, and out of the tune with the rest, is acoustic sampled guitars of Frenkey’s ‘Pigeons Of Peace’. Otherwise all of these acts use rhythm in one way or another, fast, slow (Raadsel’s ‘Not From Earth’ in a great Gas mood) and anything in between. The more weirdo bits are the end, which is a pity for me, but then I don’t have to contemplate how to DJ with this kind of music. Not a very smooth compilation and that’s one extra reason why I like this a lot. And its local, pluspoint two! (FdW)
Address: http://www.lomechanik.com
LEONARDO ROSADO – OPAQUE GLITTER (CDR by FeedbackLoop Label)
A new name for me, Leonardo Rosado, whose album ‘Opaque Glitter’ was chosen by listeners from votes on the labels website. Ninety minutes cut down to forty, which made me wonder who decided that. There is no mentioning of instruments, but Rosado calls his music ‘wordsoundscapes’, which means exploring ‘the collision between sound, poetry and everyday life by using automatic expressions’. So perhaps, I was thinking, is a lot of based on heavily treated vocals/voices/reciting of poetry? Swirling and captured in a mass of electronics and likewise heavily treated field recordings? Well, actually that last ‘?’ could go: that is what I hear. Not too outspoken, this can be best seen as a version of ambient meets computer treatments, ambient glitch but then hardly without a glitch. Friendly drones, with the rattling of forks and knives at the restaurant in ‘Amidst The Crowd A Love Story’, and sometimes I think there is some treated guitars, such as in ‘Dancing And Falling’ and ‘For A Moment There’. Although nothing on this disc wasn’t heard before by others, and sometimes better, but it all sounds gentle and nice, with an occasional louder bit. Great music for a quiet afternoon. (FdW)
Address: http://feedbacklooplabel.blogspot.com
GUY BIRKIN – SYMMETRY-BREAKING (CDR by Running On Air)
A real Dr., that is what Guy Birkin is. Currently employed as Research Fellow in the school of Art & Design at Nottingham Trent University. “His research investigates complexity as an aesthetic property, using information theory as an approach to understanding the complexity of artworks”. I strongly suggest you read more on the label’s website, since quoting the entire biography is a bit much. But music-wise he is interested in digital music, granular synthesis and from there he builds his pieces of music. To that end he uses piano, pipe organ, steel drums, church bells, guitar, bass as well as field recordings. Complexity is not a word that I would use for this music. Its quite common sounding microsound based music, with glitchy drones and likewise small glitchy rhythms, based on transformations and mutations of real life instruments. Not bad for some atmospherics, but also something in a field that has been explored well enough before. Take the majority of the 12K catalogue and there you are. Very much like what I thought of the CD by Sven Schienhammer: why would you want to repeat things in such way? Why not find your own path? (FdW)
Address: http://www.runningonair.com
MICHAEL ESPOSITO & HEIDI HARMAN – NOTHING BY MOUTH (CDR by Firework Edition)
With this, I got a handwritten letter, of which I like to quote a big portion: “I released it as a short run CDR because the first track was in such a demand from the ghost hunting community. I created the test composition from sounds of actually equipment used at the old South Pittsburg Hospital during its high point in the 70s and 80s. While playing the track at the Hospital lights would flicker, video camera’s would distort and turn off and on, a laptop slid across the floor on it’s own (I was sitting next to it) which we have on film and a tool we use, the Frank’s box, which is an Am/fm radio scanner, that doesn’t stop when it locks onto a signal, was, screaming ‘stop, stop, please help help, stop, stop’. The second track was built from the EVP captured during these experiments”. Nothing much else, beyond the niceties belonging to letters, so that would leave me with a few questions. To what extend is this captured in situ in the 70s and 80s, or does it just uses sounds from the hospital? And what are the EVP we are supposed to hear? Aren’t they also part of the first piece? The two pieces sound quite similar, which I why I consider this. Its all quite scary music anyway. The peeps of heart machines, flat liners occasionally, sighing and breathing makes some high and mighty horror movie music. It bleeps like the whole ward is immediate threat (aliens?, zombies?) of utmost danger. Maybe I’m hearing too much in this. Maybe this much like a performance documentation thing, of which we don’t get to see what it looked like. Maybe that’s alright, I thought, since it leaves so much more to guess. Maybe two similar recordings of exactly the same length is a bit much? (FdW)
Address: http://www.fireworkeditionrecords.com
HOMOGENIZED TERRESTRIALS – THE LEFT HAND OF DECAY (CDR by 6 On The Dot)
The one-man Homogenized Terrestrials have been reviewed before; not a lot, although there have been plenty releases. I once saw him play live, in Pittsburgh, although I don’t remember much about it. This new one comes in a nice printed poster like cover and we see mister Homogenized Terrestrials in action, with some keyboard and mixer in front of drum kit, which surely hasn’t been used in the four tracks on this release. Maybe its a picture of the concert which is the fourth piece on this release? Again through methods of improvisation on the electronic equipment, creating moody pieces of music, which these days seem to lean towards a more cosmic, oscillating and bubbling sound. The live cut, lasting over thirty minutes, is the one which has the most rhythmic tendencies on it. Also like before I think Homogenized Terrestrials should be a bit more into editing and not release things as the end up on the recording. Essentially he plays interesting electronic music, but the pieces would gain a bit more strength if they would be a bit more concise and to the point, i.e. where composing takes place instead of improvising. Maybe something to consider for the future? (FdW)
Address: http://www.homogenizedterrestrials.com/
REBEKAH’S TAPE – O.O.’S FIGHTIN’ BORTHDAY BEAR (DVD-R by Intangible Cat)
This DVD-R was sent to me by a fan of Vital Weekly and who edited this video of a live concert by a band called Rebekah’s Tape, who also have a download release available. I was doing my quarterly accounting mess at the same time, while glancing at the video every now and then. It made me think, without hearing the music first (as I got also a copy of their download EP on CDR), if the music would make a great impression on me, if I didn’t see the band play. Probably it wouldn’t. Its a sort of rock band with humor, new wave like and that’s sort of thing Vital Weekly may not be about. But looking at the weird theatrics, including a character called Stevell Larbjiv, that the band also employs makes up quite a bit. Included extras include Stevell Larbjiv’s Thailand vacation footage, for those who care about that. Weird shit man! After which I played the download thing and all of a sudden I could appreciate that more. Still music wise, not entirely my cup of art-rock/post-rock cup of tea, but surely nice enough. (FdW)
Address: http://www.intangiblecat.com
FREIBAND – TRANSITION (3″CDR by Kaon)
Water inspires artists. How many drawings and paintings have been made of oceans, sees and rivers? How many musicians sing about the sea which takes the seamen? How many movies have been made about the strength of water and the life which is living in it? La riviere is an ongoing project of Kaon. Every two months another sound-artist edit the source material of the Taurion River and its valley in France, which is recorded by CÈdric Peyronnet. Transition is the interpretation of Freiband, a project of Frans de Waard. Frans de Waard has a great experience with reconstruction basic sound material and has been worked with this for long period. This composition starts which high pitched sounds which remembers me to the old Kapotte Muziek tapes in the eighties. Soon the abstract sounds develops into noise and edited water streams. Freiband surprises with upcoming dark tones with a great distance to looped sounds to noise and more and more abstraction. The concept of reconstructing reality has been performed in many ways and has been composed in a adventurous ear walk through this area of France. (JKH)
Address: http://www.kaon.org
LITTLE ORPHEUS AND THE ROGUE LYONS – 7TH GRADE IS A DRAG (cassette by Auris Apothecary)
Aaron Neveu is 13 years old and not the youngest composer ever featured in Vital Weekly (see Vital Weekly 605), but surely quite young. No doubt he is Little Orpheus and the Rogue Lyons are Doug Truttle (25) on drums and Rachel Neveu (19) on Vox Jaguar Organ. Aaron plays guitar and sings. The two pieces here were already recorded in 2006 and have a great garage feel to it. Badly recorded but with a great drive. Think Suicide with real guitar and real drums. Same energy and same drive. Two excellent songs which you should leave on repeat play (despite the thirty second pause after each track): they last no more than over a minute each and would have made a great 7″. And not the one that was melted to pack this tape in. Excellent naivety. (FdW)
Address: http://www.aurisapothecary.org
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