MACHINEFABRIEK – DUBBELTJES (CD by Zoharum) *
MICROMELANCOLIE – IT DOESN’T BELONG HERE (CD by Zoharum) *
DAT RAYON – MOTOR CITY (CD by Zoharum) *
PHILIP SULIDAE – HISTORY OF VIOLENCE (CD by Unfathomless) *
MICHAEL VLATKOVICH QUARTET – YOU’RE TOO DIMENSIONAL (CD by PFmentum)
MULTITUDES TELEPATHIC – MULTITUDES TELEPATHIC (CD by PFmentum)
RUBIK ERNO QUINTET – TELLING TALES: LIVE AT JAZZAJ (CD by Den)
FLO STOFFNER – NORMAN (CD by Veto Records) *
MANUEL MOTA – ST 13 (CDR by Headlights) *
MANUEL MOTA – 090114 (CDR by Headlights) *
DAVID ROSS & CLIVE BELL – RECOVERY SUITE (LP by Ini.Itu)
ANAPHORIA – ESCARPMENTS (LP by Ini.Itu)
ANLA COURTIS – CASSETOPIA (LP by Ini.Itu)
NINE CIRCLES – NUMBER NOT AVAILABLE (7″ by EE Tapes)
D’INCISE – IMPERMEABILITY (CDR by Consumer Waste) *
NEIL DAVIDSON & MICHAEL DUCH – OERA (CDR by Consumer Waste) *
VERTONEN – SOMA TRIO STUDIES NO. 3 & 6 (cassette by Readmades Tapes – Quality Since 1893)
CRANK STURGEON – LYME’S WIDE INFANCY (cassette by Readmades Tapes – Quality Since 1893)
CRANK STURGEON – KETONE PEKID (cassette by Readmades Tapes – Quality Since 1893)
SWASTIKA NOVELTY CO – ANALOGS/TASTING THE ORDER OF… (cassette by Readmades Tapes – Quality Since 1893)
BALKH – PULLING THE BRANCH OF A TREE/NODDING OFF WHOLE OUT TO SEA (cassette by Readmades Tapes – Quality Since 1893)
SIRR(XT) HEAPPS.DS – [??] (cassette by Readmades Tapes – Quality Since 1893)
AX JEXXIE RIXXIE AJR – THE COMMUNISTS GARDEN EXPANSION PLAN PLUS (cassette by Readmades Tapes – Quality Since 1893)
AT JENNIE RICHIE – LIKE SPAIN, SILVER SPOTS BOIL (cassette by Dead Accents)
PHAERENTZ – III (cassette by Phaerlag)
MACHINEFABRIEK – DUBBELTJES (CD by Zoharum)
MICROMELANCOLIE – IT DOESN’T BELONG HERE (CD by Zoharum)
DAT RAYON – MOTOR CITY (CD by Zoharum)
Here at Vital Weekly a lot of music released by Machinefabriek is discussed, but there is a lot more than doesn’t make it here, as Machinefabriek is also very active in the field of highly limited vinyl, lathe cut and cassette only releases. Luckily he is well known enough to have every now and then a compilation of these rarities, such as ‘Dubbeltjes’ (‘dimes’). Here we have two pieces from compilations plus two 7″s, a lathe cut 5″, a cassette and a 3″CDR, twelve pieces in total. Of these, I reviewed the lathe cut 5″ with the jazz standards ‘My Funny Valentine’ and ‘Oh Doctor Jesus’ (Vital Weekly 789), which didn’t sound like jazz anyway. One of the nicer things about such compilations as this one is that all of these pieces are relatively short and to the point and we hear Machinefabriek occasionally experimenting with form, such as ‘Ontrafelde Tonen 1’, which is more like musique concrete than his signature ambient guitar sound, which are present here, such as in ‘Ax’. All of it gets a place in here, with a nice variety. At forty-eight minutes not the longest of anthologies you could imagine, but it’s compiled to be entertaining, listenable and varied, all of which in the comfort of Machinefabriek’s drone inspired music.
Drones are something that is also of interest for Robert Skrzynski, who calls himself Micromelancolie. We know him from the two releases he did with Sindre Bjerga (see Vital Weekly 890 and 906) as well as a solo release on BDTA (see Vital Weekly 902). Here is his first solo CD, although on one piece he receives help from Mia Zabelka, the well-known violinist from the Polish improvised music scene. That piece was build from dark drone sounds and low scratched violin sounds and takes up a bit too much time to be fully interesting. In the two shorter pieces ‘wedding Songs And Funeral Laments’ and ‘Greeting And Farewell Songs (In Three Parts)’ there is a strong influence from Machinefabriek, especially in the way the guitar is used. The final track is ‘Greeting And Farewell Songs (In Four Parts)’, which is thirty-three minutes, and starting out with a more or less ethnic field recording, and then moving over into more field recordings (bicycles, I think at one point) and rattling low percussion samples. There was a nice low-resolution sample pack here, which I enjoyed a lot. It didn’t remind of me anything in particular, and yet a lot of other things. Machinefabriek (again), but also Rapoon, zoviet*france and others from the world of industrialized ambience, or atmospheric mechanizations. Perhaps not really a big new surprise this release, but everything was well-executed and as ambient music it worked very well.
I missed out on ‘Station Wagon’, the first release by Dat Rayon, but apparently their (his? her?) second CD ‘Motor City’ is also based on automobile themes and in motor city you can easily recognize Detroit, once the centre of automobile industry, now an urban wasteland. Oh and birthplace of house music, which is something we must not forget when playing this. Not that is a stomping four to the floor work, but it has rhythm and tons of sound effects. Slow rhythms, taken from the world of dub, ornamented with sound effects from the same world of dub; lots of reverb and delay are used on these pieces. Not music you can dance to, but it connects to some of the Basic Channel/Chain Reaction 12″s and at the same time you have these images of conveyer belts with auto parts. Very minimalist music as you can imagine; usually per track there is very few steady, looped sounds and also in it’s use of effects Dat Rayon stays very consistent; there is no all-out freak-out going on here. A very consistent release of quite dark beat directed music. This is an excellent release for those who dare to hear something new in their digest of rhythm music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.zoharum.com
PHILIP SULIDAE – HISTORY OF VIOLENCE (CD by Unfathomless)
It’s been a while since I last heard music by Philip Sulidae, but some of his newer releases are downloads only, so perhaps that explains, and there also seems to be some time gap between this and the previous. I quite enjoyed his work so far, which sometimes seemed quite raw and at other times very microsounding. This new work surely fits the latter body of works. All of the sound sources were recorded at the Belanglo State Forest in Australia, which is some 150 kilometres to the south of Sydney and apparently a very quiet area, even when it was the “scene for a series of horrific murders in the early 90’s at the hands of one of Australia’s most notorious serial killers”. No doubt that’s one of the reasons to do field recordings over there, and Sulidae is not the first to go to ‘guilty territories’. It’s not something you are aware of when hearing this release, based upon just hearing it. These six pieces are very quiet, high pitched for whatever reason, and it’s unclear to me whether this has any electronic processing, or whether this area is high pitched, insects maybe? I think a certain level of sound processing took place and it’s quite a frightening release, in a curious way. The sheer level of compression, to get all of these sounds together, make a very oppressive release, despite all the quietness that is going on here. But perhaps I am hearing too much in this release, maybe things that are not in there per se. I played this a couple of times, and the more I hear it, the more I like it. It all seems relatively easy made but it unfolds a lot of beauty actually. A great yet very much unsettling release. (FdW)
Address: http://www.unfathomless.net
MICHAEL VLATKOVICH QUARTET – YOU’RE TOO DIMENSIONAL (CD by PFmentum)
MULTITUDES TELEPATHIC – MULTITUDES TELEPATHIC (CD by PFmentum)
Two new releases by the 1999-founded pfMentum-label run by Jeff Kaiser. Both by trombonist Michael Vlatkovich who normally releases his music through his own label Thank You Records. Vlatkovich is a prominent musician from the Californian jazz scene, already for several decades. This time he is featured in two different line ups. As Multitudes Telepathic Vlatkovich (trombone, percussion) is in the company of Clyde Reed (electric upright bass), Dave Wayne (drumset, percussion) and Mark Weber (poem cycle), a Californian poet, writer and photographer with strong affinities to music and especially jazz. His poems, spoken by Weber himself, were over-dubbed and fit in perfectly. Subtle and inspired playing by Vlatkovich and his mates makes this one worthwhile. The other one features Vlatkovich’ quartet, and has Jim Knodle on trumpet, Phil Sparks playing bass, Greg Campbell drums and Vlatkovich again on trombone. All compositions are by Vlatkovich. Again outstanding and inspired playing, not to forget by Knodle on trumpet. This is jazz of a very lively and solid kind, without entering too far into avant garde or experimental territories. No extended techniques, electronics, or whatever. Just very capable players who engage fully in the compositions of Vlatkovich. (DM)
Address: http://www.pfmentum.com
RUBIK ERNO QUINTET – TELLING TALES: LIVE AT JAZZAJ (CD by Den)
A young and interesting Hungarian outfit made up of Ernő Hock (bass), Bálint Bolcsó (live Electronics), UK-born Lawrence Williams (saxophone), Zsolt Sárvári Kovács (drums) and Ernő Zoltán Rubik (piano). They work from an attitude of free improvisation assembling ambiances, grooves, noise, etc. This debut-album captures them in a live concert on a festival in Budapest in 2012. It took some time before this music opened itself for me. We are dealing here with free improvised music that is connected to very different sources. There are many strong moments on this one, where everything is very focused and together. At other moments I was not sure where they were directing. From the many influences one can detect, they succeed in creating a music that stands on his own feet. For sure these guys go for adventure and have a distinct musical vision at the same. A promising quintet. (DM)
Address: http://www.denrecords.eu
FLO STOFFNER – NORMAN (CD by Veto Records)
MANUEL MOTA – ST 13 (CDR by Headlights)
MANUEL MOTA – 090114 (CDR by Headlights)
Three releases dealing with solo guitar music, all from the world of improvised music. Flo Stoffner’s debut album ‘… And Sorry’ was reviewed in Vital Weekly 807 and now ‘Norman’ is his second solo release. In between his label Veto Records released a whole bunch of works in which collaborative improvisations are more the regular digest. Along with his guitar, Stoffner also uses electronics as an extra instrument, but it’s hard to say whether these are stomp box, elaborate synthesizers or laptop mechanics to do this. What I do know is that this is not y’r usual plink-plonk guitar improvisation, but that the used electronics operate as the glue between the pieces. They make sure that there structure, even repetition occasionally, or even a bit of feedback/noise of the long title track. On other occasions Stoffner pulls back down and goes more introspective, such as the lovely piece called ‘Mother’. The volume pedal seems to be playing an all important role on this release, making sure the sound bounces in and out of the mix, and sometimes let the electronics play a fine role of themselves. A highly varied disc once again and another perfect showcase for what he can do. Invite him as your next guest, if improvising is your game. Great silkscreened cover also, but then it’s got some sponsoring too.
Manuel Mota’s music, though not often reviewed, is here for a much longer time; I can’t remember when I first heard his music, but surely close to twenty years ago. Mota has here two highly limited CDR releases and on ‘ST 13’ he offers ten solo pieces for electric guitar recorded in 2013. Now, while this is also improvised to a larger extend, this is also not really the fast, nervous plink-plonk music. Mota plays, and perhaps purists may not agree with me, blues like music. Very quiet, very silent, very sparsely he strums his strings, selects his notes and leaves much space in between those notes. Music of a highly desolate nature, hence my idea that this is indeed a form of blues music. I am playing this with spring bursting through my windows, which doesn’t seem the most appropriate moment for this kind of music. I think it works much better on a grey, depressing day of cold weather. Time seems to passing at half speed when playing this music, and that is, I think, a great thing. So many things are fast and superfluous, let a few things be slow; Mota has here the perfect soundtrack for it.
His other release lasts just under twenty-six minutes and has one piece and it’s a slightly different one also. The website calls this ‘feedback guitar piece’ and don’t mistake this for something to do with noise. Of course there is feedback and when played loud this is probably ear piercing, but don’t play this loud. Play this at a rather moderate volume level and let it fill up your space, carefully, slowly, like you would do with a drone record, or maybe an Alvin Lucier piece. Mota here doesn’t play anything that is endlessly sustaining on one level, but something that moves back and forth, back and forth, etc. Sometimes it seems to be disappearing but it always seems to return; one has the idea that this is a guitar piece. For all you know this might be something that is not unlike primitive synthesizer music, or something that is derived from the world of computer filters. It has distinct parts and it’s getting sparser towards the end. The last six minutes are probably the one in which you may recognize a guitar as it’s not unlike the pieces we just heard on the other release. While this piece certainly has a desolated feel also, it seems less depressing or grey as the other release, I think. It was, maybe, easier to listen to this than to the complete ten pieces of the other release in one go. Both are essential and great releases from someone who I think is highly underrated. (FdW)
Address: http://www.veto-records.ch
Address: http://headlightsrecordings.blogspot.com
DAVID ROSS & CLIVE BELL – RECOVERY SUITE (LP by Ini.Itu)
ANAPHORIA – ESCARPMENTS (LP by Ini.Itu)
ANLA COURTIS – CASSETOPIA (LP by Ini.Itu)
It’s not easy to decide what to play first if a parcel arrives from one of your more favourite labels, but I decided to start with the one that I was least familiar with. Here we have Clive Bell and David Ross, the latter also works as Twinkle3 (raise that 3 a bit please, editor) with Richard Scott and as such already delivered a LP on Ini.itu. When Scott had a back injury, Ross worked furthe1r on music and the material he recorded solo turned out to be a playground for Clive Bell. The instruments are limited to a ‘drosscillator’ for Scott and the shakuhachi for Bell (who played this instrument also on records by Jah Wobble, Paul Schutze, Jeff Beck, David Sylvian and Bill Laswell). Many of the records on this label deal with some Indonesian aspect, but that’s something that is not apparent on this record, it seems. Here we have music that owes more to the world of improvisation than ethnic music perhaps. The drosscillator takes care of some of the more nasty tones, but the flute makes this all a bit lighter, even when he doesn’t seem to appear on every track. They play relatively short (-ish) pieces here and it has an odd, but perhaps jazz like feel to it. I am not too sure about this whole excursion. It seems very hard to get in to this. I don’t think it’s bad and I think they do something that is worthwhile, but somehow I don’t think I feel I am the intended audience. It’s maybe all a bit too free form for my taste and perhaps a bit too much jazz like. I was reminded of some of the latter day works of Rafael Toral and I had trouble with these too.
Behind Anaphoria we find Kraig Grady from Australia (although born in California of Ojibwe Indian descent) and he too had an album on ini.itu before (see Vital Weekly 699; it’s great to see artists returning to this label, I guess). Here he has album under the name Anaphoria, like before, but I am not sure when he uses this name or his own name. Grady explores microtonalism with exotic instruments. They are not mentioned on the cover, but the press release mentions the Kalan, a trapezoid-shaped instrument resembling a hammer dulcimer or santur for ‘Cliffs, Crags, Gravel’, which reminded me of the LP by Michael O’Shea on Dome or Laraaji on Editions EG, but I believe Grady doesn’t use any electronic treatment. In the two other pieces on side A it’s not easy to say what kind of instruments are used, but their sustaining character made me think of an organ, or sine waves or something like that. On side B we have one long track make the ‘Meta-Slendro metallophones’ and has a watery feel to it, which I believe to be the intention of this piece. A minimalist outing too, with the singing and ringing of overtones working very nicely around here. An excellent record and a further expansion of the musical field of Grady.
Whereas the Ross/Bell and Grady records might still be ‘exotic’ – mainly in the use of instruments, I should think – such a thing is not the case on the record by Anla Courtis. This former member of Reynols harks back to the days before Reynols, and re-explores sound material recorded back then. The only vaguely exotic thing is the country from which Courtis is, Argentina, but by now he’s very much part of the world of experimental music, traveling annually the world and playing with virtually anybody he comes across. On this solo LP however he relies on using the guitar, synthesizers, tapes, bags, bells, pipes, turntable, violin, plastic trumpet, music box and electronics, and apparently this was recorded in 1990-1992 on a four-track cassette. It’s somewhere along the lines of drones, guitar noise, psychedelics, cosmic music and occasionally sounds rather simple, but throughout I think it works quite well. Courtis has here an interesting amount of variation on offer and in these eleven pieces he bounces back and forth between hard-core minimalism, brave improvisation and noisy electronics. I’m a bit in the dark as to why this had to be released now, but it’s also a brave attempt at moving away from the ethnic feel and expands more into a label with a broader interest. And at that this is surely one fine move. (FdW)
Address: http://www.iniitu.net
NINE CIRCLES – NUMBER NOT AVAILABLE (7″ by EE Tapes)
Probably the first time I heard Nine Circles was when I taped a concert of the radio, which I think was on ‘Radionome’: two hours of unusual music on a Friday night. That was in 1982, if I recall well. Maybe a bit like John Peel, but then in Dutch. This concert is probably well received by the producers of the program as they include two pieces of this band on a commemorative LP that marks the end of the show (last year Blowpipe re-issued this now legendary LP as a LP, and instantly sold out again, so it’s that much a classic – a side story). I quite enjoyed those two pieces, but Nine Circles seemed to have vanished entirely, until somewhere in the mid 90s I see a CD listed somewhere. A short and expensive CD, but with all the great pieces, which I have been playing from the rusty live cassette I still, have. Then again quietness, but since 2009 vocalist Lidia Fiala discovers people actually like her old music very much, and that the CD was released without her permission. A proper double retrospective LP was put out in 2012, and Fiala teams up with a new partner, Per-Anders Kurenbach (of Psyche, Shock Therapy, The Eternal Afflict), as original partner Peter van Garderen is no longer interested in doing music. New music is recorded and concerts are being played. I think this new 7″ is the first time I hear the new music. Nine Circles was always an electronic act with the dark voice of Fiala singing, supported by sequencers and rhythms of Van Garderen resulting in a very open, but also romantic style. It had a very naive approach and I guess that’s what appealed to me. Here the music seemed to have matured, drifting into more regular dark wave and Fiala’s singing is more parlando, hiding perhaps she doesn’t have the most strongest voices. These two pieces, I assume, would do well in those circles where all those who are dancing are dressed in black, which is not really my crowd. I liked the more open, naive sound of before; maybe I simply need to adjust to the new sound? I’d be very curious to hear whatever else Nine Circles are doing. Over the years they earned enough credit with me not to be left that easily. For now I am not entirely convinced, or perhaps I expected too much? (FdW)
Address: http://www.eetapes.be
D’INCISE – IMPERMEABILITY (CDR by Consumer Waste)
NEIL DAVIDSON & MICHAEL DUCH – OERA (CDR by Consumer Waste)
Two quite different releases on Consumer Waste, but both of them in their usual very nicely home spun letterpress covers, and both in an edition of 100 copies.
On the first release we find D’Incise from Switzerland, who by now has a nice impressive list of releases to show, and on this new one, he has one piece of music, that lasts very close to forty minutes and is ‘composed from recordings of sparkling liquids and gases’. When I started this, I thought these were long wave radio sounds, not too dissimilar to the earliest works of Disinformation. I assume all of these sounds are sampled (computer no doubt) and treated, one way or another. It’s not always easy to say to what extend these sounds are treated and what exactly is the original; I believe some of the original sounds are still included in this. It bubbles, fizzes, sparkles and it sound like being a chemistry lab. Gasses all around you, and these flasks – or whatever they are called; I failed hopelessly on chemistry in my school days – emitting clouds and sparks of liquid are all around you. A high pressure-cooking buzz of music. At a few points you can easily tell that it is highly processed – towards the end for instance. Despite the fact that it’s one idea, I must say I very much enjoyed this work. It’s very conceptual, but highly listenable and with a great amount of variation in all of these sounds being treated and played, mixing them together with the original recordings. You may pardon my pun, but there is a fine chemistry in this music! A great release by D’Incise, one of his best so far.
On the other new release we find music from Neil Davidson on acoustic guitar and Michael Duch on double bass. They have four pieces of improvised music on offer here, and most likely I would think they are recorded live with maybe a bit of editing – but for all I know: maybe not. I don’t think I heard of them before and I know nothing about them. But I must say these four pieces sound quite interesting. These musicians are both into playing minimal music, using both bows to play the strings. They use all sort of techniques in doing that, but it’s not exclusively this. Plucking, especially the double bass, and strumming the guitar are also part of their approach. They play sustaining music, perhaps drone like, but it’s not of the the kind where it all seems to be on auto-repeat. This seems all manually played with hand movements, rather than loop devices and such trickery. That makes up music that is very ‘human’, with all of these gentle movements, which not always work out in exactly the same way, but which altogether create a vast, shimmering introspective piece of music. The two pieces that are well under ten minutes are more like a fixed piece, and the two longer than ten are more textured and perhaps also a bit more dense (and intense?), and it showcases two sides of what they can achieve when playing this. Introspective in the first longer piece, and more nervous and hectic in the second one. Quite a varied bunch altogether but all four pieces are of a great quality. (FdW)
Address: http://consumerwaste.org.uk/
VERTONEN – SOMA TRIO STUDIES NO. 3 & 6 (cassette by Readmades Tapes – Quality Since 1893)
CRANK STURGEON – LYME’S WIDE INFANCY (cassette by Readmades Tapes – Quality Since 1893)
CRANK STURGEON – KETONE PEKID (cassette by Readmades Tapes – Quality Since 1893)
SWASTIKA NOVELTY CO – ANALOGS/TASTING THE ORDER OF… (cassette by Readmades Tapes – Quality Since 1893)
BALKH – PULLING THE BRANCH OF A TREE/NODDING OFF WHOLE OUT TO SEA (cassette by Readmades Tapes – Quality Since 1893)
SIRR(XT) HEAPPS.DS – [??] (cassette by Readmades Tapes – Quality Since 1893)
AX JEXXIE RIXXIE AJR – THE COMMUNISTS GARDEN EXPANSION PLAN PLUS (cassette by Readmades Tapes – Quality Since 1893)
AT JENNIE RICHIE – LIKE SPAIN, SILVER SPOTS BOIL (cassette by Dead Accents)
Why we put on top of every Vital Weekly our submission guidelines? I don’t know. I could try and study all 8 of these releases which came in one box, to see if these are older than six months, or perhaps randomly pick three for review. But then, people would hate me for doing that, obviously as postage costs are high in the USA these days (please be welcome: it’s been on a similar level for years in Europe, I should think – and high postal rates are the real danger for the music market) and nobody wants to waste a promo. But 8 releases, say 6 hours of music, playing them three times in a row… that’s about two days of listening and that’s a bit much, certainly if others decide to drop off three releases as requested. People tend not to see the danger: there is a risk of being snowed in. With 8 releases, that might easily happen, and a different review strategy is necessary.
I understand however that the release strategy of this label is to work with six artists and release their music in one batch, so that the fans don’t have to search for releases elsewhere. That’s commendable: where do you find these days a label with a roster?
I started flying over Vertonen, mainly because upon first glance this seemed to be the name I know best. From the various shades and shapes Vertonen, which is Blake Edwards plus devices, can take, be it noise, drone, musique concrete, we find him here in a drone mood. The tape is a bit hissy, and I can’t seem to make up my mind if I like that or not. The ear piercing, mid-range drone sound is perhaps something that would be too ear piercing when delivered on a hiss-less CDR release, so maybe it makes sense to put it on a cassette. What starts as a single sine wave like suddenly seems expanded into a stereo split tone poem and a great use of effects. On the other side we find ‘Soma Trio Study 6’ and here it starts with a whole bunch of electronically processed sounds and to quite a great effect. Almost melodic, almost like an ambient guitar ensemble. What devices does he use? Very dreamy stuff, especially on the second side of the cassette. This is the first winner.
I then moved to Crank Sturgeon, mainly because it’s also a name I know and which I associate with the world of noise and for once (?) I seem to be right. This is not one of those tapes that have a lot of information, just the title and band name and the catalogue number. This is all about the destruction of a contact microphone, a normal microphone, shouting and screaming voices, but it’s not strictly locked into the world of harsh noise walls, and bounces back and forth between the very loud and the more introspective (?), quieter side of noise, which, in this book is always a good thing. It seems as someone has put some time into thinking about this, and not just another random noise execution. Thirty minutes seemed enough for me, today.
Slightly older might their cassette ‘Ketone Pekid’ and it seems less noisy and less chaotic, less bouncing all around, but here the chaos seems to be more under control. Lots of voice material again, gurgling, bubbling, shouting and at the same time a fine abuse of voice material on cassettes and dictaphones. Both sides are variations of the same theme and are not unlike each other. More consistent noise music from Crank Sturgeon here and I may prefer this one to the other. I may, but am not sure just yet. It’s too early to tell.
Likewise sparse on the information side (cover and website) is the new name (for me) Swastika Novelty Co. Here we have thirty minutes of the more obscure forms of drone music. Some kind of apparatus that brings forward drone like sounds – a synth perhaps – is set up in a room and a microphone is picking this up, so it sounds a bit remote, pushed away and more obscured sound events are spun around it. Very occasionally you hear the clang of metal but most of the time this somewhat oppressive, piercing drones. Play loud and you feel the pressure on the eardrums even better. It’s quite a lo-fi form of drone music. Not the best there is, but it sounded quite all right, I think. I was wondering what else these guys would do.
Balkh is a new name too, but no wonder I haven’t heard of them before: this is their first release. Balkh is a duo of Eriijk Ressler and Doriandra Smith and each side has a fifteen-minute piece of music. Quite a curious bunch of loops here, mainly from ‘voice’ sources, maybe taped off the radio, but for all we know this could also be from old vinyl. It doesn’t make a piece of sound poetry, nor radio art, as a narrative of some kind doesn’t seem to be part of it. Maybe, to a certain extend, I was reminded of the earliest experiments carried out by Severed Heads, certainly on the B-side here. The whole thing reminded me of an 80s cassette anyway: made with the easiest means – loops of voices – without many electronics and such like, but the end result was quite captivating, certainly if you had a drink or two this can have a nice hallucinatory effect on the listener. Another winner.
Now, of course, the name Irr. App. (Ext) is not a name I would easily expect here, but at the same I must say I haven’t heard or seen his name in some time, so maybe I have no idea what he has been up to. Here Matt Waldron – he who is Irr. App. (Ext) – manipulates, constructs and adds material to the music of Six Heads, a band from Canada of whom I haven’t heard before (I think). Now, sometimes, Irr. App. (Ext) has been called the US equivalent of Nurse With Wound, but that may not cover it although it’s not difficult to see that the studio trickery to transform the sounds from what seems to be a rock band is in good hands here too. If that is the case – on both accounts. I have no idea if Six Hands is a rock band or if this is a studio de/re/construct of their recordings. It’s not easy to say what is what here, additions or re-constructions. However I think it doesn’t matter either that much. Waldron comes up with a great tape, of some highly varied music, rooted in some form (or another) of rock music and his deconstructions do not derail from the original – or at least: not a lot. The rhythm machine remains a rhythm machine and effects are used to transform voices, whereas guitars and such like owing to the world of musique concrete. More winners here!
Behind Ax Jexxie Rixxie we recognize of course At Jennie Richie, a duo of which one half is from France and of whom we reviewed a collaborative effort with Vertonen before (see Vital Weekly 830), and this tape is a re-issue of a download only release from 2012 plus two more pieces. There is material input from irr. app (ext.), Magnetic Lucifer and others. Much of their music is quite ‘vague’ (keep reading) but not so much here perhaps. It’s still not easy to say what it is that they are doing here, but it involves a lot of electronics of some kind, a fair amount of rhythm, but it also appears to be recorded in some free-form, improvised put together. It’s nice but not something that you easily pin down.
And finally, from another label, but no doubt connected to Readymades Tapes – Quality Since 1893 more music from At Jennie Richie. “‘Like Spain, Silver Spots Boil’ is a collection of new material, alternate versions and remixes of previously released material, and one compilation track”, and spans the years 2004 and 2011. The cover indicates for the a-side a lot of titles, which makes it hard to say what is what – not an uncommon problem for the world of cassettes. Obscurity is taken here to the next level. A very lo-fi sound, especially on the fist side of this cassette, which makes it almost impossible to say what it is that is going on here. The opening of the second side bursts out, like an old 23 Skidoo piece, but it’s not very long. Despite all the obscurity that goes on in the world of At Jennie Richie I must say I quite enjoyed it: there is certainly always something new to discover here. I think I preferred this one to the other, but again, for no good reasons. (FdW)
Address: http://readymadestapes-qualitysince1893.blogspot.com
Address: http://deadaccents.bigcartel.com/
PHAERENTZ – III (cassette by Phaerlag)
Very much like the one-sided piece of vinyl, I am never a fan of the one sided cassette either, even when it offers the possibility to record your music on there (which I very much did in the old days). Here’s a single sided 90-minute tape by Petr Ferenc, who calls himself Phaerentz. Besides being a promoter (Stimul Festival, Wakushoppu concert series) and journalist (HIS voice magazine), he’s also part of Birds Build Nests Underground, Radio Royal, Z Veseleho Sveta, Prkvoj, MCH Band, PPPP, Biokovo. In his solo work he “focuses on physical qualities of sound and its reaction with space and listeners‘ bodies and minds. By phase shifting of short loops he creates surprising acoustic and polyrhythmic phenomena that cannot be fully anticipated beforehand. The result is a psycho-acoustic minimalist experience that focuses on extended repetition as a means to discovering motion in static. It’s psychophysical!”, as he says on his website, which is indeed what we hear on ‘Monochrome’, the opening piece. A short repeating sound, going on and on and on. The most confusing part was the liner notes: ‘recorded on 21 June 2013 at the Kunsthallen in Hamburg where the floors creak so nicely. The recording was made during a spontaneous sound walk with a mobile phone in my hand and then applied to monochrome rules which are very strict as for the number of edits, tracks, their sequence etc.’, which sounds like something different than what I just heard. That was a piece of nerve racking repeating short blocks of sound. An interesting take on minimalism, but perhaps a bit too long. The other two pieces are more interesting; also quite minimalist, but less nerve racking, I guess. They seemed rather short, but comparison. Maybe I drifted off into the world of hypnotic states by then? Quite a nice release I thought. Certainly a name to remember and look out for. (FdW)
Address: http://phaerentz.bandcamp.com