Summer schedule! There will be no Vital Weekly in week 34 (18 to 24 august)
RAPOON – CULTURAL FORGERIES (CD by Alrealon) *
BIG BROTHER ON ACID (CD by Alrealon) *
ZEITKRATZER – METAL MACHINE MUSIC (CD by Zeitkratzer) *
TELETOPA – TOKYO 1972 (2CD by Split Records) *
ASMUS TIETCHENS – HUMORESKEN UND VEKTOREN (CD by Auf Abwegen) *
URS PETER SCHNEIDER – KOMPOSITIONEN 1960-2012 (3CD by Cubus Records) *
WANDLUNGEN UNPLUMP (CD compilation by Edition Degem)
RICHARD H. KIRK – THE MANY DIMENSIONS OF (3CD by Die Stadt) *
AI ASO – LONE (LP on Ideologic Organ)
BLIND THORNS (LP by Tandori/Cheap Satanism/Off Set/New Atlantis)
EVA-MARIE HOUBEN & BILEAM KUMPER – FIELD BY MEMORY INHABITED III & IV (CDR by Rhizome-s) *
HORACIO POLLARD – THE EMOTIONAL FREEDOM TECHNIQUE (CDR by Adaadat) *
MAXI BACON – MACI BAXON (CDR by Adaadat) *
SCUMEARTH – ATOMIC PHYSICS (CDR by Luscinia Discos) *
JLIAT – 4.37 GIG OF HNW MP3 (DVDR by Jliat) *
DIKTAT – IN AMERICA (cassette by Staaltape)
SIGTRYGGUR BERG SIGMARSSON – I’M NOT AFRAID OF LO-FI (cassette by Some)
RAPOON – CULTURAL FORGERIES (CD by Alrealon)
BIG BROTHER ON ACID (CD by Alrealon)
Just like Richard Youngs last week with his ‘dub’ record we find Rapoon here also doing something out of his usual ordinary. His ordinary would be to play instruments like a drum, or a stringed instrument and then take samples out of that and play around with those, adding sound effects and mixing these into various configurations. Here label boss Robert L. Pepper (also from the PAS Musique group) invited Robin Storey, the man behind this one-man project, to do an instrumental/acoustic/unplugged album. All of the seventeen pieces were recorded in one take, but Storey wasn’t entirely convinced by the acoustic quality and added some reverb and delay when needed. It’s not a lot, I think. The great beauty of this record lies in the amount of instruments used. We hear a trumpet, a pocket trumpet, bodhran, banjo, pungi, shehnai, Indina flute, chinese flute, Irish tin whistle, hand bells, cello, accordion, guitar, one string slide guitar, ukelele, kan (Thai bamboo harmonica), mouth harps, percussion and voice. Indeed, that much, and with that it comes that none of these pieces seem to be very long; long enough to get the idea across, and keep the piece going, but short enough to present a wide variety of ideas. Sometimes very mysterious like in ‘Bells Temple Ask’, but also jazzy in ‘Donnez-Moi Une Cigarette’ or ‘Glass’, with a smokey trumpet sound. Maybe it’s not the kind of unplugged album you would expect, simply because it’s not entirely unplugged, but it’s surely something different for Rapoon. I’d say it’s certainly a route to explore further.
On the same label a release by Big Brother On Acid “AKA – BBOA, Big Brother, Chris E G, Cooki Sky, Bozo’s Baby, Racer X, and Alan Smithee is a music producer and composer from Brooklyn” – I am quoting the press blurb here, followed by long story about band mates, influences and none of which really meant a lot to me. Their (his?) music is electronic, techno inspired, but throughout the songs are not really that long. Forty-four minutes, eleven songs: that seems all to me average pop length material. It takes inspiration from dubstep – one of those musical genres I can’t seem to figure about what it is – but also from more experimental and older acts like Coil or Meat Beat Manifesto, although all of this is instrumental, save for the occasional voice sample here and there. Sometimes the music is a bit too chaotic, such as the free saxophone blearing over a simple rhythm loop in ‘Saturn’, but most of the times it works quite well. I couldn’t say if I was dancing around, but the general spirit was quite uplifting. Something different too on the daily Vital Weekly platter. (FdW)
Address: http://www.alrealon.co.uk
ZEITKRATZER – METAL MACHINE MUSIC (CD by Zeitkratzer)
Every generation of ‘new’ music lovers discovers Lou Reed’s ‘Metal Machine Music’ at some point. I was, I think, 18 when I borrowed a copy from the music library, having just discovered Glenn Branca via a TV performance. Maybe it was that, or maybe I read about this record that Lou Reed did to get out of his recording contract in the Pop Encyclopedia. I was disappointed from day one. I never got to like Reed’s piece, I’m sorry to say. I tried in various stages later on, probably whenever the discussion comes to that masterpiece again – every decade seemed to have such a discussion at least once. Usually when someone talks ‘noise’, this is heralded as that great noise record, ‘by someone we all know’. I prefer Pete Shelley’s – someone we all know – ‘Sky Yen’ way more as an outing of ‘noise’ by ‘someone we all know’, but it’s hard to get him to that canon of ‘noise by people we all know’. I heard about Zeitkratzer doing Lou Reed’s ‘get the hell out this recording contract’ piece almost fifteen years ago, when they came to play it in Amsterdam but they didn’t do a radio recording of it, sadly, because it wouldn’t be easy to release on CD for the company I was working for. They have been performing it for years and here present a live recording from 2012. But hang on, didn’t we already review Zeitkratzer plays Metal Machine Music? We did, in Vital Weekly 591, and co-writer Freek Kinkelaar was quite positive about it; he may like the original too, I think, stating: “this live version is a wonderful opportunity to get (re) acquainted with one of most adventurous pieces ever composed by a major rock musician.” But that version was somehow shorter than the original four-part work, and this new version is the full work: four pieces of sixteen minutes plus some seconds like the original work. I played the original and the ‘orchestral’ Zeitkratzer version back to back again, and the favour is for Zeitkratzer. Still I don’t get the Reed piece, but maybe the more noise I hear the less I will like it. Do I understand it’s historical significance? Of course I do, nobody in 1975 did this music, this way. But I prefer the scratching and scraping of Zeitkratzer, the endless burst of acoustic noise from cello, clarinet, trombone and all that, still make it noise, but a concentrated burst of acoustic noise that is also very musical. Maybe I find this to have more depth also. Whereas on the original album I find things a bit dull, Zeitkratzer’s interpretation is powerful, varied, dark and playful. An excellent record. (FdW)
Address: http://www.zeitkratzer.de
TELETOPA – TOKYO 1972 (2CD by Split Records)
There is, I’m sure, tons of stuff buried in archives, garages, attics waiting to be heard when someone at least finds it. Stuff from people I never heard of, like Teletopa. David Ahern, Peter Evans and Roger Frampton in Sydney founded this group in late 1970. By 1972 Geoffrey Collins was also a member. Ahern studied in Germany in 1968 with Stockhausen, and he met Cornelius Cardew, with whom he performed in London later on, such as in ‘The Great Learning’. We can see Teletopa along the lines of such legendary improvisation bands AMM (especially them) and MEV, but less electronic than they were. Here we have improvisation and no rules, even when the band also performed pieces by Cardew, Stockhausen and themselves, following visual scores. The instruments are flute, percussion, electronics (Collins), percussion and electronics (Evans), violin, percussion and electronics (Ahern) and percussion, electronics and saxophone (Frampton), but they also incorporated non-musical instruments. As Teletopa they never released much work, but in 1972 in Tokyo they recorded two fifty-minute pieces of improvised music. Tapes of these recordings have been unearthed recently and now released on this double CD with some excellent liner notes about this group. The music is very strong. It’s not very silent, but very loud and perhaps also not very musical, in the traditional sense of the word. Sometimes all of this seems closely to feedback, with lots of scrapings on the violin and the saxophone sounding like a balloon being rubbed on end. The second disc is perhaps a bit more introspective than the first disc, at least for the first thirty or so minutes, allowing space between the notes, before the overall sound gets a bit more thicker and richer. Here Teletopa seems to be in almost Zen like mode. This is some strong 100 minutes of improvised music. Music that comes like an endless stream sound, subconsciously improvised on a wide variety of instruments and objects. If AMM and MEV were already on your list, then this double CD by Teletopa should not be missed. An essential historical release. (FdW)
Address: http://splitrec.com
ASMUS TIETCHENS – HUMORESKEN UND VEKTOREN (CD by Auf Abwegen)
The previous release by Tietchens which I discussed was ‘Fast Ohne Title, Korrosion’, which blew me away (see Vital Weekly 907). He seemed to be back at analogue synthesizers, using them almost in a Pan Sonic like way. A strong move, away from the work that came before that, the very quiet, glitch based music. On this new release he moves again. In 2010 Tietchens took part in a compilation DVD in which he had to supply thirteen two-minute pieces, and here he recycles these pieces. No doubt 99% of mankind would call it remixing, but Tietchens still refers to these as recycling – re-using sound again and again, a very common practice for him. This resulted into eight pieces, four of which are called Humoreske and four are titled Vektor. In between there are short pieces called ‘Tristia’, bridging the pieces. These ‘Tristia’ pieces are very nice. Very subdued and quiet, like a recording of some far away music, a residue of what is possible, maybe stemming from the other pieces, but for all we know maybe not. The Humoresken pieces I am not so sure about. Here Tietchens goes back to his own early work, when sampling was in its primitive stages and that’s what is basically applied here too. Tietchens manages even to sound them he would have done in the late 80s – a bit damp sound. Hard to understand what is the motivation behind these pieces? The four Vektoren pieces are different. They seem to be extensions of the ‘Tristia’ pieces in a way that they are also quiet and subdued, but perhaps they are also bit louder. Maybe here too he uses similar sampling approach, but the result is much more of my liking. Perhaps the similarity with the ‘Tristia’ pieces works well, even when one could argue they are alike. Tietchens does surprise here again, and for about 3/4 I think this is a great CD and it has four pieces, which gave me a hard time. That would probably rank to my least favourite of his releases. (FdW)
Address: http://www.aufabwegen.com
URS PETER SCHNEIDER – KOMPOSITIONEN 1960-2012 (3CD by Cubus Records)
Despite his 75 years of age, I never heard of Urs Peter Schneider from Switzerland, a composer covering all genres of music, including opera and operetta and his work has been released on some twenty records. For his 75th birthday there is now a three CD set with various pieces that stand by themselves, as opposed to his previous releases, which were usually one work. The first CD is with works for organ and electronics and voices. These eight works are quite dark; especially the organ pieces with its heavy clustered tones make a heavy impression. The best piece on the first CD I thought was the longest, ‘Senfkorn’, an electronic pieces with voices, whispering, transformed as well as natural sounding, and has a great spooky texture, and is not unlike ‘Gesang Der Junglinge’.
The second CD has six pieces for ensembles and soloists. Here we also enter the section of modern classical music, a field in which I have hardly expertise and always find it hard to judge. If I was to judge this purely on what I hear here I must admit I don’t like it very much. A piece like ‘Androgyn’ I like, with its prepared piano and strangely mutated voice. But when it comes to a bigger ensemble I just don’t seem to get into it. This is not my world. The third CD has works for clarinet and piano as well as works for ‘talker’. The latter are pieces for a speaker, reciting a text, but as ‘Kerker’, it might also be multi-tracked. The texts are by Rainer Maria Rilke, Rudolf Steiner and Thomas von Aquin. Knowledge of the German language I think is a requirement if young want to understand these pieces. These are nice pieces, but not something I would play on a regular basis. The pieces for clarinet and piano are also from the world of serious modern composing and I liked these better than the ensemble pieces, with the minimalism of ‘Ewiger Schnee’ being a particular highlight. I quite enjoyed the first disc and some of the rest and thought it was fine introduction to a composer I never heard of. (FdW)
Address: http://www.cubus-records.ch
WANDLUNGEN UNPLUMP (CD compilation by Edition Degem)
Following ‘Replace’ (see Vital Weekly 818), here is another compilation by Degem. This organisation is dedicated to electro-acoustic music in whatever form it presents itself. Michael Hoeldke curates this compilation. His cue was ‘anything but “plump” meaning loutish, crude, ungainly, clownish. He himself provides the spoken word intro. The only other name I recognize is Robert Henke, better known as Monolake. The other composers involved in this are Stefan Schulzki, Denise Ritter, Ralf Hoyer, Brian Smith and Julia Mihaly. The booklet gives introductions to all of these composers, in German and English (just like it did last time, but sadly overlooked by me). Indeed in all of these works we have something quiet, as all of these pieces seem to be on silent front. Lots of sustaining crackles and pops, an occasional louder bit, and all such like, but this is not in the world of microsound, click n cut, but still firmly rooted in the more traditional world of electro-acoustic music. You can hear this in the way these people treat their sound sources with granular synthesis. All tracks are great and none of these leap out of the pack. A fine introduction to a bunch of new names I’d say. (FdW)
Address: http://www.editiondegem.de
RICHARD H. KIRK – THE MANY DIMENSIONS OF (3CD by Die Stadt)
More old masters here (see also Lou Reed), but I always had lots of respect for Cabaret Voltaire, even though I got some of it much later. Tight money dictating records collections, and such like. One of the early CV records I had was ‘Johnny Yes No’, because it was on sale, but I always liked the minimalism of that record. In the mid 90s I found Richard H. Kirk, long time one half of the cabaret, again after having lost track for a few years (their EMI years I guess) through a timeless classic, Sandoz’ ‘Digital Lifeforms’; timeless for me that is, and excellent masterpiece of dance music, dub, world music and ambient. Perfect for it’s time and still on repeated play on my ipod. Then I kept up with his work for a while, but Kirk is endlessly productive, so it was never easy. These days he IS Cabaret Voltaire, but handles a plethora of aliases too. The three CDs in this box set were recorded in between 2010 and 2011 and had some delay because it was to be co-released by Czech’s Nextera, but label boss Kristian Kotarac died early 2013. Like much of Kirk’s work there is always social and political commentary here, student protest in London, Arab revolt, more riots in London etc. and events like that inspire Kirk. The first disc is under his own name and is called ‘Reality Is Opposite’, which features lots of guitars, dressed up with sound effects and breakbeats. There is also quite some electronics involved, which make this somewhere between ambient, dub and breakbeat. Some of these songs sound a bit too haphazard, too loosely improvised over some idea, such as ‘The Future Rising’, but in general it has a nice drift to it. The second disc is as Orchestra Terrestrial, under which guise he had an album before on Die Stadt. This is tagged as ‘classical analogue mood music’, in which I believe the analogue aspect is in the use of instruments, and classical? I am not sure there. Maybe it’s the pre-set sounds from the analogue, imitating a cello? But throughout the mood is here a bit darker and reflective. But the six pieces here are more coherent than on the first disc. Especially ‘Zivil’, with it’s bouncing rhythm, works very well. The third disc is ‘Anonymized’, even when the credit is for Richard H. Kirk And The Arpeggio 13. I am not sure if you ever sat behind a classic synth, maybe the Juno 60? They have this great button called ‘arpeggio’, which means that “musical technique where notes in a chord are played or sung in sequence, one after the other, rather than ringing out simultaneously”. You strike a chord on the machine and then it will repeat it self and you can fiddle with all the other buttons, changing the sound. That’s what Kirk does here, thirteen pieces long, fifty-one long minutes. If you would do this one afternoon, I am sure no-one will want to release it. Slow arpeggio’s, fast one’s, lots of changes, zero changes: yes all of that is indeed possible. Let’s regard this the bonus disc nobody wants. Two fine CDs in this three-way package. (FdW)
Address: http://www.diestadtmusik.de
AI ASO – LONE (LP on Ideologic Organ)
Any pretty girl with a Rickenbacker guitar is able to steal my heart (and maybe yours too). But form and content are two very different matters indeed. Japanese singer-songwriter (for lack of a better word) Ai Aso adds beautiful songs to her carefully constructed image (think a Japanese Björk without all the makeup). Aso’s songs somehow take me to what I like to think is a rainy, but still hot afternoon in Tokyo, where I lie down with my latest Haruki Murakami novel and contemplate the state of our world (which, at this time, is about as sad as some of Aso’s songs). Ai Aso has been recording since the late 1990s and her music has been available on somewhat sporadic releases. Her first album, ‘Umerumonoizen’, was a collection of 1997 demos, where Ai’s hesitant singing and guitar playing felt almost like an intrusion to the hiss and background noise of the album. Released on Tiliqua records in an edition of 250 copies, the album was re-released by Pedal records a few years later. In 2004 Ai released her second album, ‘Lavender Edition’. Her third album Chamomile Pool was released 2007 on both CD as DVD. The live album, Aida, was released two years later. Over the course of these releases, it seems not much has changed in the style, songs and delivery of Ai Aso. The songs are mostly based on simple chord structures, loosely strummed on her Rickenbacker guitar and sung in an almost hesitant, unobtrusive style. This latest album, ‘Lone’, is another live recording and features more of her typically whisper-thin songs. This time, Aso plays not only the guitar, but also keyboards. This is a welcome addition to her small musical palet and gives the songs a Reiko Kudo/Noise-like feel. The recordings are intimate and direct, giving you the feeling you are there on that hot post-rainy afternoon in Tokyo. This world so often seems to be all about progress, change, moving forward, and development. Either you swim along or drown. Sometimes I prefer to drown – with Ai’s music in my head. (FK)
Address: http://editionsmego.com/
BLIND THORNS (LP by Tandori/Cheap Satanism/Off Set/New Atlantis)
Four labels working together on one LP release. Wow. And why? Is this some hot super group that requires specific sales in specific territories? Maybe, but I don’t think I ever heard of Blind Thorn, a trio of Antoine Lang (voice, electronics), Shane Perlowin (guitar) and Ryan Oslance (drums) – although I readily admit me not knowing doesn’t mean anything at all. I learned from the mighty Internet that Blind Thorns is a collaboration between singer Lang and a band named Ahleuchatistas, the other two guys that is. The music is strange, to say the least. It’s beyond something I could easily label, that’s for sure. Beyond my references. I hear a bit of very wild rock, a bit of free rock, improvised rock, noise, a howl that could be voices. And then things can be quiet for a while, turned down, maybe introspective of some sort? I am sure this belongs in a world of rock music that I may not be aware off. Or maybe jazz I am not aware off? Damn. Despite all of this, I think (?) I quite enjoy this record for its vividness and raw and untamed energy. Very nice. Whatever it is. (FdW)
Address: http://www.cheapsatanism.com/
EVA-MARIE HOUBEN & BILEAM KUMPER – FIELD BY MEMORY INHABITED III & IV (CDR by Rhizome-s)
Bruno Duplant delivered the score for these two pieces, or perhaps two versions of that piece? Houben plays piano on the first and organ on the second piece, while Kümper plays viola and tuba. I always think that if you mention a score if would be great to see the actual score, maybe just only on the website. These two pieces last about forty minutes each and deal extensively with carefully placed sounds on the instruments, and with the score probably instructing for sounds that may or may not constitute musical, like banging the lid of the piano. In the first piece it’s not easy to recognize a piano at all, most of the time it sounds like something else. This is all very subtle music, close to edge of hearing not a lot. In ‘Field By Memory Inhabited IV’ the sound is continuous, whereas in ‘Field By Memory Inhabited III’, there are also large portions of (near) silence. I think I preferred the more continuous sound actually to the more silent treatment. That piece had a fine notion of drones, field recordings (did they record this outside, I was wondering) and a very mysterious approach to their instruments. A release that left me quite tired in the end: a matter of concentrated listening! (FdW)
Address: http://rhizome-s.blogspot.pt/
HORACIO POLLARD – THE EMOTIONAL FREEDOM TECHNIQUE (CDR by Adaadat)
MAXI BACON – MACI BAXON (CDR by Adaadat)
From Berlin, but half English and half Argentine, is Horacio Pollard, whose real name is Leon Barnett. Le Petit Mignon, Wrong Music, Twilight Luggage, Gaffer Records, Altered Tapes and Drid Machine have released his work. He is also a member of Clifford Torus (along with Anders Hana and Kjetil D Brandsal) and Fully Blown Dental Reform with Danny O’Really and Marc Fantini. Here he uses a Korg DDD1 sampler and a Tascam recorder to record his madness on. Because madness it is. Whatever he samples is unclear; maybe something of his own playing, or something from other records, he cuts and pastes this together in ten relative short pieces; well under thirty minutes. One of things he likes to play around with is the notion of jazz drums, along with strange keyboard riffs and a nod towards the distortion of noise. Demented pop music. Think very early The Residents. Great stuff.
The other new release by Adaadat is even a minute shorter and is by Scott Sinclair (also known as Company Fuck) and Freeke Tet (aka Squre) who call them selves Maxi Bacon. They have their custom build software to create their music, inspired by computer glitch, grindcore, breakcore, cartoon music and karaoke. I can imagine this music will be a great show live. It’s very noisy, and it’s very cut up; it’s all pop parody. Literally pop parody in ‘Careless Sniffle’, with it’s ‘vocals’. I don’t know if I like this. As said, I think this would be hilarious to see live, providing it’s not longer than fifteen or so minutes, but just on disc I think the material isn’t as strong. It’s loud for sure, but does it stick? I mean does it stick beyond the occasional laugh you may get out this? Not for me. Adaadat should have invested in a DVD-R release, I think. (FdW)
Address: http://www.adaadat.co.uk
SCUMEARTH – ATOMIC PHYSICS (CDR by Luscinia Discos)
With a name like Scumearth you may expect some blast of noise, right? This is not the case. Behind Scumearth we find Spanish graphic designer Alsonso Urbanos and this release uses ‘only analog and hybrid of digital-analogs hardware as used’. Three pieces, plus a very lengthy live bonus pieces. I assume this means old analogue synthesizers, computers and software? For his inspiration Scumearth delves into the mines of cosmic music from the seventies and dark ambient of the 90s. Tangerine Dream meets Lustmord/SETI/Arecibo. Lots of space created (suggested?) through the use of reverb on said synthesizers. It’s a great fluid style, moving from section to section, maybe also, come to think of it, inspired by sci-fi soundtracks, Planet Of The Apes again. Sometimes there is something that reminds me of computer treatments, especially in the live piece, but oddly enough it says that this piece doesn’t use any ‘overdubs nor computers’. All right, if you say so. There isn’t a space reference through any spoken word samples, but the whole sounds like a transmission from beyond, but titles suggest something more down to earth: ‘Atomic Bomb’, ‘Atomic Wave’, ‘Hydroatomic’ and ‘Atomic Energy Operator’: rather bleak perhaps and surely pitch black. Not pitch black as nothing moves in here, as it always seems to be on the move. Great cover also: silver on black and it tops a fine release! (FdW)
Address: http://luscinia.ruidemos.org
JLIAT – 4.37 GIG OF HNW MP3 (DVDR by Jliat)
One of my friends likes to watch movies, even though when his verdict can be harsh. “That’s two hours of my life I will never get back”. I was thinking about him and how he would feel listening to the entire 4.37 gigabyte of Harsh Noise Wall, as presented by Jliat here. Now, of course, he’s also our weekly man to talk all things noise, so who is going to do the honour for him? I randomly opened one of the forty-nine MP3s on this DVDR and that lasted about two hours (not opening it, but the actual length of the song) and in the mean time read the booklet ‘Harsh Noise Wall #1’ – what’s next? ‘#2’ being a two terabyte drive with MP3s? Apparently the “storage space at Facebook data warehouse as of April 2014, growing at a rate of 0.6 PB/day”, Jliat lets us know. This simple DVDR lasts about seventy-two hours. Would it be really nice I could say “oh 13a07b2014c15d35e10 has a nice solo in it”? Vomir, one of the masters at the forefront of Harsh Noise Wall music says that HNW has ‘no dynamics, no change, no development, no ideas’, and I am sure anyone will agree, even if you wouldn’t listen to this at all, there is much truth in this. I could say I liked the lot, I could say I hated, but both is not true. I very much liked the consistency of this project. I played music from Kiss while writing this. I was reading Paul Stanley’s biography. Their discography isn’t as lengthy as this single release. I prefer Jliat. (FdW)
Address: http://www.jliat.com
DIKTAT – IN AMERICA (cassette by Staaltape)
Staaltape labelboss Rinus van Alebeek finally sat down to edit down recordings he made with his band Diktat when they ‘toured’ the USA in September 2012. Diktat is a quartet of Harold Schellinx, Emmanuel Rebus and Van Alebeek on dictaphones and Jean Borde on double bass. That I may not understand. Why not just a trio on dictaphones? This tape is not a live recording of any particular concert. It’s an audio travelogue of their weeklong stay in America, with snippets from concerts (Washington DC, New York, Bethlehem), but also outside the Watergate precinct, a Turtlebaum square and on the Williamsburg Bridge. Somewhere there is Glenn Branca and David Thomas talking – fans take notice. The great thing working with dictaphones is that you can play back sounds as well as use one of them to record whatever you are doing, and make a micro cosmos of low technology. You can’t discuss this in terms of a musical release per se, but who cares? This is an audio travelogue. You listen to a trip and fascinating that is. The sheer vagueness of whatever it is that is going. Music snippets, conversations on the road, things getting lost in translation. That sort of thing. You don’t need to be a touring artist to understand this. Just simply enjoy this trip. It’s a radio play turned into a music piece. (FdW)
Address: http://staaltape.wordpress.com/
SIGTRYGGUR BERG SIGMARSSON – I’M NOT AFRAID OF LO-FI (cassette by Some)
Following his recent releases (Vital Weekly 933, 935 and 939) this is Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson’s third cassette release in a very short time (the other one was a CDR), which again comes with an extensive booklet of his drawings. The previous cassette was all to do with voices, but none here, it seems. It’s hard to say what he does use then. Maybe Sigmarsson is back at his old computer tricks of transforming field recordings? Maybe he’s down in the basement playing around with a guitar and an amplifier and slowing things down on an ancient reel-to-reel recorder? Whatever is the case: I don’t know. This music is not unlike some of his other more known work: dark, broading ambient soundscapes. This is what he does best and the sort of thing I like best from him. Slow in development, minimal in changes, vague with its sound sources and where the hell it comes from. That last thing of course doesn’t matter very much; it’s the execution that counts. In the hands of Sigmarsson you can be sure it works out very fine. Very refined in fact. It shows his earlier work with Stillupsteypa and learning from Andrew McKenzie (The Hafler Trio) in his formative years. This is the final release for a while he wrote me. Perhaps I secretly think that is a pity. (FdW)
Address: <stilluppsteypa@gmail.com>