SUB DUB – DANCEHALL MALFUNCTION (CD by Asphodel)
BYZAR – GAAIATRONYK (CD by Asphodel)
Two bands that operate from New York, and that could be classified as
‘Illbient’ (if only we knew what that would be).
Sub Dub have had previous releases, which I associate more with ambient,
then with dub, but maybe I am totally wrong. Most of the tracks on this CD
are deep, dubby rhythms in the best crooklyn tradition. Sometimes even up
tempo, like in ‘Jawbreaker’ which goes into jungle a bit. Funniest
track-title here is ‘Guided By Voices’, carried by a strange voice and
reggea rhythm (so, anything unlike the band with the same name). As a whole
album, I thought it to be more enjoyable then a whole album on Wordsound…
THOMAS DIMUZIO – SONICISM (2CD by RRRecords)
The name of Thomas Dimuzio may not be unfamiliar to anyone with an eye open
for the more serious composing underground artists. I particular liked his
LP ‘Headlok’ which came out years ago. Long droning fields of layered sound
washed from the speakers. Recentely Dimuzio released a CD with
retrospective works (‘Louden’ by Odd Size), and having played that one a
couple of times, I was a bit put off by his sound. It was a bit-outdated
for me. So with some suspicion I started this new double CD.
Dimuzio plays around with a wide variety of sound sources, including things
we would recognize as instruments, like acoustic guitar and clarinet but
also a wide variety of field recordings. It blows me away totally. Great
walls of sounds, slowly building to a high point, to be cut off extremly,
only to be followed by soft, environmental recordings (like on disc 2, with
the fourth track being rain, thunder and bees). If ever ‘ambient’ was
something, this is it. This plays around with droning sounds and ambient
alike.
Address: RRRecords – 23 Central St – Lowell, MA 01852 – USA
TAC – OUT OF CONTEXT (CD by Pure)
AKALA – DELICATE INSTRUCTION (CD by Pure)
MERZBOW – LOVES EMIL BEAULIEAU (CD by Pure)
It’s only a matter of time, but CD’s are going to replace the self-released
cassettes, either a CD-R or a ‘real’ release. The Pure series from
RRRecords releases stuff that in the old days would be on cassette. By
using monochrome covers, the consumer can easily recognize them and they
know it is noisy in one way or the other. Here a couple of recent issues.
TAC’s Tom Cox has been around for several years, and releases many
cassettes and pakages of ‘anti-‘ cassettes. Also he too part in that
‘collaboration’ CD released by Harsh Dept last year. Many of his works
consist of tape-splicing, feedback manipulation and reel-to-reel stuff.
This is noisy collage stuff, a kind of primitive musique concrete that
never is really surprising for as a composition is that stays too much of a
random affair. But no offensive noise here either.
Akala come from Lithunia and is linked to ‘naj’, who had a CD on Pure
before. The music of Akala is rather dark, displaying an interest in both
ambient and noise. Slowly envelopping noise fields, using synths, loops and
radio sounds alike. Again primitively made but with intense.
Merzbow loves Emil Beaulieau – let there be no doubt it. This particular
collaboration (announced to be Vol.1…) takes the collaboration LP that
came in the RRR 5 LP box set and manipulates that again, including new
tapes and sounds. Resulting in the usual fine industrial piece. I wonder
who said: “No more Merzbow, enough is enough”
Address: Pure – 23 Central St – Lowell, MA 01852 – USA
CHARLEMAGNE PALESTINE – GODBEAR (CD on Barooni)
It is mostly due to the efforts of Roland Spekle of Barooni Records that
the name Charlemagne Palestine has been twisting tongues of late. Last year
saw the re-issue on the same label of a collection of works under the title
‘Four Manifestations on Six Elements’ and now it’s time for Godbear. The
title comes from a gigantic sculpture created by C.P. for Documenta 8, an
art festival held in Kassel, Germany ten years ago. The artwork in the
booklet reveals something of this gentleperson’s unusual obsession with
cuddly toys. (Who remembers the artwork by Mike Kelley under the inlay tray
of Sonic Youth’s CD release ‘Dirty’ of several years ago ? Question is :
Who went into the woods and hugged the bears first ?) The liner notes are
written by the man as he would say them…bold, brash, to the point
(whatever it is) stream of consciousness flowing like an oral torrent
manifested as ink on paper. No high-falutin’.
There are three legendary tracks on this CD titled ‘the lower depths’,
‘strumming music’ and ‘timbral assault’. Concerts by C.P. are loud – he
fills the space with his relentless, merciless fisting of the extended
Bosendorfer. However I personally (that’s me) gained optimum enjoyment from
this release by playing it really quietly so that the source of this
shifting palette of sonic colour was totally unrecognisable. The
fluctuations in volume allowed for the surrounding sounds from my fridge,
kids, cars outside, neighbour’s TV and a persistent bird to blend into the
shimmering spirals of hovering overtones. No single colour, but all
colours. The BIG note indeed. (MP)
EBOKA: BAAKA SONGS AND CEREMONIES FROM THE AFRICAN RAINFOREST (CD on
Staalplaat)
The title of this CD ‘Eboka’ is a baAka word which encompasses both ‘music’
and ‘dance’ – and for those of you who don’t know it yet, the baAka are a
foraging tribe who live in equatorial forests in central Africa. And the
music on this CD was recorded between 1986 and 1996 by Louis Sarno, a sound
reporter. The CD book is like a visit to the dentists, or am I the only one
who browsed through the piles of National Geographics while waiting for the
holes in my head to be filled ?
There are copious details included in the booklet which greatly enhance
what is already a beautifully recorded and produced sound document of a
world 99% of us are unaware of. There are descriptions of instruments, song
content, dances and daily life – for all of these are inseparable in the
baAka culture – new songs are received in dreams, news and gossip form the
lyric content of what could be considered musical telegrams and, as it is
just about everywhere, dance is the primary courtship ritual – a time to
display the body, flirt and whisper secret desires. Everpresent is the
jungle itself…frog throats yurp, the twit of birds and the morphing
resonant field generated by scratching crickets.
A powerful, positive release which conveys the joy experienced by these
nomads in their green, breathing domain. (MP)
AUBE – DAZZLE REFLEXION (CD on Releasing Eskimo)
Yet another bunch of tracks by Mr Nakajima whose work now appears with
monthly regularity. Whilst I remain mostly unmoved by his stuff – and this
release is no exception – I do fully appreciate his frequent attempts to
fuse the soft with the hard (the whole of a previous release ‘Metal De
Metal’ exemplifies this with all the subtlety of a high voltage love-in
with some of the machines the Survival Research Laboratories were never
allowed to unchain). One of the obvious drawbacks of continuous emission is
that the quality of the substance tends to pale, become transluscent and
occasionally dry up all together. Sadly this applies to Dazzle Refexion
which has a couple of enjoyable pieces ( ‘Glimmer’ and ‘Afterimage, in
partricular), but otherwise sounds like a recording of a bull in a steel
foundry bunged through a rather nifty effects unit. (MP)