PORYA HATAMI – SHALLOW (CD by Tench) *
ILIOS – NEDIFINEBLA ESENCO (CD by Antifrost) *
NIKOS VELIOTIS – FOLKLOR INVALID (CD by Antifrost) *
COTI – SOLESULSUOLO (CD by Antifrost) *
JANEK SCHAEFER – LAY-BY LULLABY (CD by 12K) *
ILLUHA – AKARI (CD by 12K) *
TROPHIES – YOU WAIT TO PUBLISH (CD by Monotype Records)
TWO AL’S – AND THE COWGIRLS KEPT ON DANCING (CD by Brokken)
FLORIAN WITTENBURG – 17 CLIPS (CD/DVD by NurNichtNur)
SYBELLA PERRY – GREY LADIES (CD by Hideous Strength/Porta) *
ATARAXIA – SPAMS (CD by Infinite Fog Productions)
CISIFNITUM – THE BOG (CD by Infinite Fog Productions) *
DRONE MIND/MIND DRONE VOLUME 3 (LP by Drone Records)
SAM SHALABI & STEFAN CHRISTOFF – RODINA (12”/CDR by Howl Arts Collective)
DUKE ST. WORKSHOP – JOSPITAL/CYCLONE FENCE (7″ by Static Caravan)
ALFRED HARTH – MICRO-SAXO-PHONE EDITION IV (CDR by Kendra Steiner Editions)
THE INFANT CYCLE – POSTHUMOUSNESS NOW (3″CDR by The Ceiling) *
SOMNAPHON – MIDIBENDING (CDR by Amok Recordings)
LOOPOOL/SOMNAPHON (cassette by Welcome To The 21st)
RAZ OHARA – MOKSHA (CD by Album Label)
PORYA HATAMI – SHALLOW (CD by Tench)
This is my second encounter with Porya Hatami, from Sanandaj, Iran, no less one of the more exotic locations to receive a CD from, I should think. I have no idea of Hatami operates in any special circumstances, if he is totally underground or, perhaps, in some way part of any musical establishment. With the kind of music he creates, he could be an entirely solitary composer. The previous release was reviewed in Vital Weekly 855, and I compared this with the work released by others on the 12K label, but then from a couple of years ago. This new one doesn’t see any radical change in that respect. There are no instruments mentioned on the cover, but in ‘After The Rain’ it’s clearly a piano at work, and in ‘Fen’ maybe the heavily processed sound of the glockenspiel. There might also be field recordings somewhere. ‘Fen’ and ‘White Forest’ are the two longer pieces here and more complex than ‘After The Rain’. In these two more seems to be happening, even when it’s all very quiet and calm. ‘After The Rain’ comes closely to the world of new age. If you insist on a point of reference for that piece, I’d say it’s close to the world of Harold Budd. But maybe for all three pieces on this CD goes that it’s all quite sweet and calm. Less crackles and glitches, more sustaining and very mellow. Indeed still something that could have been released by 12K six years ago. That’s of course no problem. If you are looking for anything new in the world of warm glitch music, then this CD by Hatami is the wrong place. If you are looking for something that you already know, but from somebody you may not know, and from an exotic place, then surely Hatami has exactly the thing you are looking for. (FdW)
Address: http://www.tenchrec.com
ILIOS – NEDIFINEBLA ESENCO (CD by Antifrost)
NIKOS VELIOTIS – FOLKLOR INVALID (CD by Antifrost)
COTI – SOLESULSUOLO (CD by Antifrost)
As far as I could see things have been quiet for Greek label Antifrost. Perhaps due to the fact that the proprietor of Antifrost, Ilios, is someone who travels a lot to play concerts, build up installations or to do workshops. Much of his current activity is with a trio called Muhammad, which are Ilios, Nikos Veliotis and Coti. All three have a solo release here. I bumped into one of Ilios’ concerts a couple of years ago, which was so loud in this small room that I fell asleep. Now, I don’t want to make any Cageian remarks, but I thought the experience was very interesting. Fatigue and noise make a fine combination perhaps – and not one that is easy to do at home. There is not a lot of information on either the cover, or the website, which is a pity. There’s a mention for Alice Hui-Sheng (vocals) and Nikos Veliotis (cello) and the fact it was recorded in Korea, Australia and Greece. The opening piece, ‘Spiriti Sen Nomo’, seems to be using field recordings from trains – ever the man on the move, I was thinking. The CD opens with what could be the sound of a door opening. Set your volume to that and you’ll be all right for the duration of this CD. Things won’t get any louder and when it goes ‘soft’ you are still able to hear things. Much of the second piece, ‘La Ponto Kiu Transiras La Abismo’ is very much in the low end of the sound spectrum, maybe 40 Hertz – I don’t know, I am no expert, but it’s something I can still hear. The third piece, ‘La Farja Nubo Kiu Flugas En La Krepusko’ starts out with near silence, but also moves into something more drone like and much louder before going down in volume again. I thought this was a great release. Very powerful; in all its minimalism. Ilios uses his sine wave generators, electronics and field recordings to great effect here. I couldn’t help thinking that all three of these pieces were linked together into one majestic composition. I listened to it as one work, rather than three separate pieces of music. Very strong, mind blowing stuff.
Nikos Veliotis plays the cello in Muhammad, and is also known for doing so solo and in improvisation with others. In May 2013 he recorded his ‘Folklor Invalid’ in Knot Gallery and Camp Gallery in Athens and the cover lists “Screamers: Bella Fuzz, Natasha Giannaraki, Nalyssa Green, Anastasis Grivas, Simos Kakalas, Yorgia Karidi, Thanos Kois, Kouza Dimitra, Elena Mavridou, Danae Stefanou”. This piece starts out very soft, stops for some time, continuous for even longer and repeats that a couple of times, but growing immensely on the volume side of things. This is mostly a work for amplified cello. Up to the minute 22 this is quite alright, but beyond that the sound gets oppressive and loud, very heavy on the low end of things, which makes your house rumble like a madman. In the final ten minutes (32-42) this is even more emphasized and maybe it’s here we have the screamers. It sounds like it at least. It’s one hellish work, a decent straight into the underworld of death. It’s noise for sure, but then a most atypical one. Mainly acoustic, it seems, with some help of electronics, but then very loud indeed. A heavy meal.
Coti also plays a string instrument, but it’s not the cello. It’s the Oniscus (full name: Oniscus harmonicus) and on his website I read it’s “is an instrument I had thought of making for a very long time, it came from my obsession with string bass harmonics. It has 6-7 bass guitar strings tuned in semitones so that all possible notes can be played with harmonics. No fingerboard is present, it is played by lightly touching the strings with the left hand and bowing with the right. It has a playable range of 2 octaves (harmonics 2 to 8), some practicing should allow for another octave up (harmonics 8-16).” Following the Veliotis release this is luckily a bit different. Not exactly ‘light’ but then not as heavy to digest as the Veliotis release. Still heavy on the bass end but with eleven pieces also the one that is perhaps least conceptual. Not exactly ‘song’ material, but in it separate pieces of music. That too is a difference with the other two releases. It’s also less powerful, and deals more with the beauty of sounds, I think. These pieces seem to me made through improvisation and are short (3-5 minutes) and to the point. Solemnly, sometimes mournful and sad music, but with a somewhat rough character. Very nice, and, a fine afterthought for the other two. Almost like a breath of fresh air. (FdW)
Address: http://antifrost.gr
JANEK SCHAEFER – LAY-BY LULLABY (CD by 12K)
ILLUHA – AKARI (CD by 12K)
A few years ago Janek Schaefer presented an installation about the fastness of our daily lives, the hectic work-home-work-home, driving cars etc., called ‘Asleep At The Wheel’. I think I only reviewed the mix tape version (Vital Weekly 775) of this, which I thought was really nice. I could imagine people being lulled to sleep with this music. I was reminded of old (-er) music of Stephan Mathieu, in which he uses heavily, treated radio sounds. Somehow I am reminded of that again today, when listening to the counterpart/contrast piece, ‘Lay-By Lullaby’. It’s based on field recordings of the M3 Motorway, not far away from his Schaefer’s studio in the far west edge of London and, coincidently, also the place where JG Ballard wrote novels on car culture, ‘Crash’ and ‘Concrete Island’. It’s difficult, nay, impossible not to be reminded again of the music of Mathieu here, again during that radio phase. Here, the radio is replaced by street sounds, feeding into the computer and heavily treated so that the outcome is long sustaining sound patterns. Although indexed as twelve separate pieces it seems to me this is one, on-going, long (seventy-three minute) lullaby, with pieces sometimes in the middle stopping, making room for street sounds and then picking up another thread of drones, which may continue in the next piece. This could have been as easily twenty pieces, or four, or one. Hence the title, ‘lullaby’ and not ‘lullabies’. Much music here, but that’s hardly a ‘problem’. You don’t actively sit down and listen, but rather under go it all, preferable on repeat I should think, for a long time. Nothing new under this microsoundsun, but it sounds great.
The other new release by 12K is the third album of Illuha, the duo of Corey Fuller and Tomoyoshi Date, following ‘Shizuku’ (Vital Weekly 801) and ‘Interstices’ (Vital Weekly 886). Date we also know from his work with Opitope (recently had a new CD out) and Fuller from his work by Dragon’s Eye. This new album was recorded in their home base in Tokyo, with a whole bunch of stuff, such as analog electronics and treatments, Mini Moog, Memory Moog, Prophet 08, Pro One, Six-Trak, Nord Lead, DX-7, Blofeld, OP-1, Grand Piano, Rhodes, Pianet, Wurlitzer, prepared and hammered piano, pump organ, acoustic and electric guitars, upright bass, vibraphone, drums, percussion, field recordings, found objects, cassette tapes and reel to reel tapes. Phew. That must be one hell of a studio, I was thinking. ‘Akari’ means ‘light’ in Japanese and that is surely something to jeep in mind when playing this music. It’s delicate, vulnerable music, yet not ’empty’. Take for instance the seventeen-minute opening piece ‘Diagrams Of The Physical Interpretation Of Resonance’ (all five pieces have these Alvin Lucier like titles) which seem to contain all of these instruments, not at the same time, but carefully placed over time on a multi-track, popping up, disappearing. It’s not an album of one drone per piece and that’s it. There are a lot of small events happening in each of these pieces. Delicate and vulnerable, but I may have used those words already. Very rich music, thanks to all of these instruments – many of which are from an electronic nature, which is great, I think. Many of the current releases on 12K deal with (seem to deal with) acoustic sounds, but here we have a lot of electronics, not hidden away, but out in the open, making a great interplay with the acoustic instruments. Illuha play their music rather open and free, almost, it seems, improvised but going through various stages to get there, adding sounds to the tape. Quite a unique way of working, I should think. I think this is their strongest work to date. (FdW)
Address: http://www.12k.com
TROPHIES – YOU WAIT TO PUBLISH (CD by Monotype Records)
I remember being very impressed by this trio after visiting a concert in Extrapool, Nijmegen somewhere in 2010. Trophies is Alessandro Bosetti (voice, electronics), Tony Buck (drums) and Kenta Nagai (guitar), with Hillary Jeffrey (trombone) and Els Vandeweyer (vibes) as guests in several of the tracks. Australian drummer Tony Buck is a long member of the international improvised music scene. You may know as a member of the trio the Necks. His collaborations are too many to summarize here. Alessandro Bosetti, Milan-born and Berlin-based performer and sound artist has an interest in the musicality of spoken language and sound aspects of verbal communication. This is also the focus of this trio, a project initiated by Bosetti in 2009. Bosetti builds most pieces around repeated spoken lines. This has a strong effect on the listener. I felt sucked into the music and absorbed by it. Bosetti uses several languages and their sound aspects, like Italian and English. For example, on ‘Matta Clark’, Bosetti performs an English text, with unison playing by Nagai on guitar. Great! I remember an impressive album by Rene Lussier that was focused on unison guitar playing with spoken text. A comparable experiment. In the case of Trophies the music also reveals a hypnotizing and compulsive effect of the human voice. Often the music reaches a high intensity, showing the power of human speech. A very convincing and satisfying release. (DM)
Address: http://www.monotyperecords.com
TWO AL’S – AND THE COWGIRLS KEPT ON DANCING (CD by Brokken)
The two Al’s are Alan Purves and Albert van Veenendaal. Purves set foot on Dutch territory in 1975 together with Sean Bergin as members of the Django Edwards Friends Roadshow. He as well as Bergin, became remarkable members of the Dutch improv scene. Pianist Albert van Veenendaal is a pianist of a younger generation playing in combinations of Corrie van Binsbergen, Meinrad Kneer, Yonga Sun, etc. He plays also solo-concerts with a self-built prepared piano. This instrument is also central on this album full of witty and humoristic music. Alan Purves plays percussion, and all kinds of little instruments and objects. No wonder the music is predominantly percussive. At the same time their exuberant music contains many melodic miniatures, all worked out in a varied palette of sounds. There are hints of blues, jazz, etc. It reminded me of old stuff of Steve Beresford-involved projects as The Alterations, 49 Americans, etc. All fourteen tracks result from spontaneous improvisation. This makes it even more impressive that most pieces are crystal clear in structure and arrangement. In one word, very uplifting colourful music. A totally charming work! (DM)
Address: http://www.corrievanbinsbergen.com
FLORIAN WITTENBURG – 17 CLIPS (CD/DVD by NurNichtNur)
The third release by local musician Florian Wittenburg, following ‘Arte-Facts’ (Vital Weekly 825) and ‘Sympthatetic, (A) Symmetric’ (Vital Weekly 863) and it’s again a different work. The first one reminded me of Thomas Köner and the second one of Morton Feldman. On this new release we see him explore the world of modern classical further, but then not restricted to one instrument. He also returns to the computer, using a language called Kyma, and in the first piece, he offers a Steve Reich like piece, using the same pattern as ‘Drumming’, but then using phase shifting techniques he created on the computer. Yet it remains very ‘human’ and ‘warm’, as well as minimal. With a marimba styled sample the CD closes with ‘2nd Patch For Steve Reich’. Two long pieces, which capture Reich’s phase shifting pretty well, make it yet a bit different. Great music. The second and fourth pieces are two versions of ‘Für Alina’, from Arvo Pärt, played by Wittenburg on the vibraphone, and have that wonderful empty bell like sound that is so common in the work of Pärt. The longest piece is the one in the middle, which is the title piece. In 2005 Wittenburg worked together with Stephen Froleyks, right across from the border here in Nijmegen, who is a composer and improviser on the cello and accordion, who recorded twenty clips of sound to be used by Wittenburg, only using 17 in the end, hence the title of the release. Wittenburg ‘convoluted the original acoustic fragments with a pulsed Gaussian curve, which made it more orchestral sounding’, which is what we have indeed here. Very slow yet very majestic flowing music, with on the DVD – the only piece that has a film images to it, by Marcel Wierckx, with equally slow changing patterns, which follow the music quite well. It has a fine modern classical feel, both the music and the images, reminded me of serious academic backgrounds, which is certainly the case with Wittenburg. My favorites here are the two Reich pieces, but then the rest is as equally good, I should think. A fine release of modern minimal music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.nurnichtnur.com
SYBELLA PERRY – GREY LADIES (CD by Hideous Strength/Porta)
A highly limited CD (not CDR), in an edition of 100 copies, of somebody of whom I never heard before. She studied fine arts from 2005-2008 and since then was involved in various projects dealing with sound and visuals. Her CD is rather short, just under eighteen minutes. It was commissioned by Octopus Collective “as part of a series of new works for radio exploring notions of space” and this piece is about field recordings that “documents a series of attempts to resonate a stone circle”, to which end she uses the unamplified voice of Sam Ayre as pure sine wave tones at the Grey Ladies stone circle in Derbyshire. We hear the voice along with the sine wave(s), sometimes in unisono and sometimes with a bit of ‘extra sound’ from the location. I don’t think what to make of this, if I can be honest. The whole package is quite nice; it includes pictures of the process of recording this work, but as a piece of music I am less intrigued. It seems to be a rather interesting idea, but perhaps the idea is more interesting than what the end result sounded like. Lots of wordless chant, a bit of sine waves, but all not enough to hold my attention, even when I played this three times in a row. (FdW)
Address: http://hideousreplica.co.ukhttp://portaaaa.com
ATARAXIA – SPAMS (CD by Infinite Fog Productions)
CISIFNITUM – THE BOG (CD by Infinite Fog Productions)
From Discogs I copied a bit: “Ataraxia is an Italian neoclassical band who combine modern technology with archaic instrumentation over various media. They describe their music as a cross “between sacred and profane, ethereal and neo-classical, contemporary and early music”. They make researches into the European legends crossing the Greek and Latin myths. Their lyrics are written in many ancient and contemporary languages. Many of their performances take place in locations the band believes to possess specific spiritual qualities. Since the beginning of the group in the late 1980s, they have released more than 20 original LPs.” Partly laziness of course, or to show I do research stuff, or perhaps while I was scratching my head while hearing this. Is this something that belongs in Vital Weekly? I honestly don’t know. I don’t think one of our reviewers would be very happy with this release. It’s very common orchestral sounding pop music with thirties cabaret voices singing a menacing song. Musicianship wise this is all right, they know how to play an instrument, but I prefer the Doors singing the ‘Alabama Song’, or ‘Whisky Bar’ as it’s called here. It has more emotion with Jim, I guess, than this more Weill inspired version. Lots of reverb is applied on the voices, which I find a nightmare. I guess I am not your man for gothic tunes. I am sure many people would like this, and there are dozens of platforms to discuss such music; Vital Weekly is not one of them.
Of much more interest for this rag is the music from Cisfinitum, the musical project of E. Voronovsky and for this new release he invited a bunch of friends to send him field recordings of frogs, toads and swamps. Friends such as Mars F. Weillink (x-Vance Orchestra), Andrea Marutti (Amon) and Roman Voronovski (Rombix) but he himself taped also some of these during his travels in China, India and Kavkaz. The cover mentions several references towards toads, mushrooms and the Princess Frog myth. That too might by a bit gothic, one could think, but the music is quite nice. There is talk, on the website, of various pieces, but there is one long piece on the CD itself, and with some good will, you can dissect that to smaller parts, slowly merging into one another. Heavily processed field recordings, created by means of computer treatment, time stretching, lots and lots effects, mainly reverb, stretch out this like a moist swamp land, sucking the listener inside, but as the piece evolves, and certainly the end bit, the last ten minutes, are very light, like a siren from the swamp singing for us. It’s actually “pitched loops of my violin and sounds from Mars. No any pre-set sounds/ synths used on this record”, which I thought was a nice bit of information. In terms of ambient, drone, soundscaping and such like, there is, perhaps, nothing new under the sun, but I thought this was not really a problem (if such would be a problem at all), as I wasn’t looking for any of that. A highly enjoyable dark ambient album by one of Russia’s best assets in this field. (FdW)
Address: http://infinitefog.ru/
DRONE MIND/MIND DRONE VOLUME 3 (LP by Drone Records)
The third volume in Drone Records ‘new’ series of ‘drones of the world and drones of our minds’ (see also Vital Weekly 813 and 869) as a follow-up to 100 7″ records they released before. If ever there was a label living up to it’s name than its Drone Records. Each LP in this new series has four artists, so each has about ten minutes to fill up with drones. The good thing is that Drone Records, also acting as a mail-order, can serve you with a fine blend of new and established names. That’s one, and the other is that, since they know their way around town, they have an interesting variety of drone artists on offer, not being restricted to one kind. The record opens with Jim Haynes, who has had some interesting releases before (on Helen Scarsdale and Intransitive, for instance), and here works with field recordings from a World War 2 era radar outpost (near the Golden Gate Bridge), shortwave, motors, wire-tapping microphones and analogue electric sounds and create a very noisy piece of drone music; quite loud, quite dirty and far from something that lulls you to sleep. It’s followed by Sergey [S] from Moscow, who works here as Exit In Grey, but is sometimes known as Sister Looloomie and Five Elements Music, with a fine piece – much softer – of guitar drones mixed field recordings. Vast and spacious as a total opposite of the Haynes blast from before. Dream music, especially when it’s all down to the guitar in the end of the piece, you may find this to be more your traditional drone music. Also from Russia is Kshatriy, from St. Petersburg to be precise and their drone is less open and spacious, but also less noisy than Haynes. It’s maybe somewhere in between both these ends, with an overload of reverb (which, I must admit, is not so much of my liking) and I think, even when it fits a compilation LP of drone music, is the weakest link of these four pieces. It threads too common ground, I think. The record closes with Maninkari, twin brothers from France, who had a couple of releases on Three:four and represent the percussive part of drone music I gather, certainly in the first part of ‘Enstate’ (they are the only ones to have a two part song), while the second is also rhythmic, but more ringing and singing, whereas the first part is all out about rhythm. Two sides of the coin from one band, but in total this compilation is all about various shades and different colours of the world of music that expands your mind. Another most welcome edition. (FdW)
Address: http://www.dronerecords.de
SAM SHALABI & STEFAN CHRISTOFF – RODINA (12”/CDR by Howl Arts Collective)
‘Rodina’ is the second release from the St. Laurent Piano Project, a recording series initiated by musician and activist Stefan Christoff. The first one, ‘Temps Libre’, was recorded late summer 2012, featuring Brahja Waldman on sax, Peter Burton on contrabass and Stefan Christoff on piano. ‘Rodina’ features again Stefan Christoff on piano in collaboration with Sam Shalabi on oud, a traditional Arabic string instrument. Both met before. ‘Duets for Abdelrazik’, an album of duets with Stefan Christoff contains a duet between Christoff and Shalabi. Christoff is a community activist, writer, photographer and pianist. He’s related to the Howl Arts Collective, a Montreal-based collective of artists and activist, doing their best for social justice via artistic expression. This new release is an example of this intention as it is centered around the concept of “an imagined homeland, an endless question that plagues most of us living in the colonial nations of North America”, Christoff explains. Both discussed this subject extensively and these improvisations became part of it in a natural way. Christoff is a capable improviser on the piano, and creates meditative structures of a melancholic nature. His open and slowly moving patterns, are filled with the detailed and more complicated lines, improvised by Shalabi. Both players create their own intensity and dynamics in their playing that sometimes results this in fine interplay, and sometimes has them move along their own paths. As far as I can judge Shalabi plays the instrument in a traditional eastern style, and with verve and competence. Christoff plays in a western style, so that this recording is also a meeting of very different musical worlds. (DM)
Address: http://www.howlarts.net/
DUKE ST. WORKSHOP – JOSPITAL/CYCLONE FENCE (7″ by Static Caravan)
Back in Vital Weekly 888 I assumed, no doubt wrongly, that Duke St. Workshop was more a concept than a band, but lo and behold here is a 7″ by them, on the ever so lovely Static Caravan. Apparently not a concept, but a group of some kind and in their home studio they recorded two new pieces of some highly loveable synth music. I was watching Doctor Who back when I heard their CD, and quite oddly enough, I watching Doctor Who these weeks again, and not in between. Maybe that is one of those strange things in life? Lots of nice, old analogue synth sounds, a great melody, ticking rhythm machine and sequences. Pianos like sound on ‘Cyclone Fence’. Both pieces have this fine soundtrack quality over them. Nice electronic ditties. Perfect soundtracks. (FdW)
Address: http://www.staticcaravan.org
ALFRED HARTH – MICRO-SAXO-PHONE EDITION IV (CDR by Kendra Steiner Editions)
Harth is a Frankfurt-born musician who started of in the field of improvised music. His first mark was a record with free music ensemble Just Music, released on the pretentious ECM-label. He had a successful collaboration with Heiner Goebbels for years, participating in Cassiber, Gestalt et Jive, etc. Many other bands and projects followed over the years. Besides he worked on solo projects. His Micro-Sax-Phone series is one of them. On Kendra Steiner Editions the fourth step in this adventure is now available. The album consists of 25 short pieces. The title ‘Micro-Saxo-Phone’ says it all. Harth is exploring all the sounds that all possible from this instrument. Every piece is a detailed study with its own focus. Harth uses extended techniques, electronics, recording techniques, etc. to create his fascinating world of sounds. Several of the pieces are pure and abstract sound explorations. Others are experimental jazzy pieces. The results are definitely unique and worthwhile. If you are interested in detailed sound paintings this will surely interest you. (DM)
Address: http://www.kendrasteinereditions.wordpress.com
THE INFANT CYCLE – POSTHUMOUSNESS NOW (3″CDR by The Ceiling)
After twenty years of existence The Infant Cycle is no more. It’s a bit unclear why Jim DeJong decided to call it a day, except that he found The Infant Cycle ‘itself in the odd position of not existing at all’. Now there is this farewell EP with five pieces and a ‘mysterious’ bonus disc – which is not part of the copy I got, but maybe that’s the mystery of it? The five pieces here are variations of pieces which were recently released by Zhelezobeton and Diophantine Discs, and maybe that sense of reworking, rather than doing something new, is what caused DeJong to call it a day. In these five pieces we hear his love of all things drone like, have heavily processed bass guitars, acoustic sounds and field recordings – except perhaps in ‘Excedrin Ave’, in which a turntable grooves around a slow rhythm. Nice, but I prefer the humming violence of ‘C No. 4’, which is an organ like menace. This is a nice release for sure. But am I now to say: ‘I’m so sad The Infant Cycle stopped’? I am not sure about that. If energy and steam run out it’s best to stop and concentrate on doing something else, I think. Maybe that time has come for The Infant Cycle, I was thinking. (FdW)
Address: http://theceiling.ca
SOMNAPHON – MIDIBENDING (CDR by Amok Recordings)
LOOPOOL/SOMNAPHON (cassette by Welcome To The 21st)
Although copied on a 5″CDR, the music here is rather of a 3″ length: four tracks by August Traeger’s project Somnaphon. On the accompanying piece of paper two tracks are under ‘side A’ and two under ‘side B’, but I can’t find any evidence this also available on vinyl. Maybe I noted this before, but I was under the impression that Somnaphon was a bit of a noise act. These two releases proof me wrong. The four tracks on ‘Midibending’ are all about rhythm, stretching these sounds out to make them work inside the time signature appointed to a piece. A bit like IDM, but perhaps even less dance oriented and maybe a bit more rough round the edges. It’s recorded quite loud and very direct, which reveals a bit of his noise credentials, I should think. At the same time I must say this is not really the kind of music I like very much. I can’t dance to it, it’s not always too pleasant to hear but it’s also without a certain level of being different and/or difficult, and as such maybe not something I would easily play again.
On cassette a split of Traeger with Loopool, also know as Jean Paul Garnier. Much of his previous work was reviewed by JKH, so perhaps this is my first proper introduction. It doesn’t promise it doesn’t deliver. This is indeed looped music. It starts with a loop of an orchestral nature, not unfamiliar to say Laibach, Autopsia or such of a more gothic nature (think Current 93 era ‘Dogs Blood Rising’ – my favourite era of theirs). This loop is played through a sampling device and sometimes the chords change a bit. Sometimes particular phrases get more emphasis than others and the whole thing has a hallucinatory effect. It’s full of pathos and perhaps that’s all to be taken very seriously? Maybe not? Maybe it is a joke, or perhaps Loopool wants to be a serious modern composer? I must say I am not sure what the intentions are here, but I quite enjoyed it, actually. I was thinking of Autopsia’s first cassettes and the some of the late 80s work of -1348; who remembers that, these days? The title is ‘Red Flag On The Red Planet’
The Somnaphon side is something entirely different than the pieces on the CDR. Just like Loopool, Traeger is also busy with loops but of a more ambient nature. A few of these loops are long form, sustaining drone sounds, while he also waves together a fine pattern of crackles and something that could be found in the world of field recordings. Here too one piece, that lasts thirty minutes, and it’s perhaps a bit long; not something I noted with Loopool that much actually, but with Somnaphon the sound information is a bit more sparse and spaced out. Like with his CDR release, I think Somnaphon uses Ableton Live, but now loaded with a whole bunch of different sounds. It ends with a spoken word bit. But yeah, actually, as a back drop piece, a piece of ambient music, it’s actually quite all right. (FdW)
Address: http://www.amokrecordings.com/
Address: http://welcometothe21.bandcamp.com
RAZ OHARA – MOKSHA (CD by Album Label)
Not a lot of front covers of releases that reach me have a picture of the artist on the front. This one has. Recently I was at a concert and out of the 25 or so men present, only 4 had no beard, and all were well over 40. I don’t understand the nature of facial hair, but it seems that it’s something alternative to set yourself apart from the common men, but it’s not really of course – a bit like a tattoo’s. If everybody in trailer park has one, it’s surely not really underground anymore. Raz Ohara is 24 and has a beard and makes music that sounds he’s young and has a beard. Troubled young man music with modern beats, borrowed from the world hip hop and rap and a tormented voice. It reminds me of that other guy have great trouble with (and everyone else seems to like): Stromae from Belgium. Partly because I really, really, really don’t like rap, nor do I like troubled young men music, incoherent songs and such like: music with the big E of Emotion. But please don’t get me wrong; in fact don’t listen to me anyway. I will never ever make it anywhere and this guy might be going places. His fans probably don’t read this troubled old man’s words anyway. Pop music is still for young people, who consider them to be hip, bearded and alternative. Surely, as someone corrected me a while ago, this is art (too). I surely, however, live on an entirely different planet, and really don’t get all of this. I have no idea why this was send to me and not a place where they have hip bearded young people writing funny blog spots in the form of lists – 10 reasons why these young musicians make it.
Oh, don’t get me started. I need to return to something else. (FdW)
Address: http://www.randomnoizemusick.com