TCH – SINFLOWER (CD by Iridium/Dorobo)
This new release, on Dorobo’s techno imprint Iridium, is the second TCH
album. I must admit that the first one didn’t struck me so much. TCH (which
stands for This Crepuscule Hour – not a name to get really excited by) is
one Peter B., and in 10 tracks he manages to produce some clever techno
music, loaded with samples throughout. More armchair then floor related if
you ask me and it is definetly quite alright. The problem is that none of
these pieces will struck you, it stays too much easy music for working
people wanting to relax with some half up-tempo music. And that is not a
bad thing, but maybe there is so much of this already… (FdW)
Address: <dorobo@darkwave.com>
DARRIN VERHAGEN – SOFT ASH (CD by Dorobo)
Darrin is a busy bee – besides running the highly aclaimed Dorobo label, he
produces music with Shinjuki Thief, as Professor Richman, and as far as I
can remember this is his first outing under his own name. Subtitled ‘Seven
Treatments Of Lethal Atmopsheric Inversions (With A Drifting Narrative
Sense)’. This is not a pleasent release! All seven pieces deal with
pollution, radio activity causing death (Bhopal and Chernobyl for
instance). Each track seems to be a continuation of the previous. Some kind
of inhalation sounds, breathing or otherwise air escaping from the mouth
seem to be the backbone of each track. There is a lot of time stretched
sampling going with clicks and tweeks every now and then – no wonder that
Bernard Gunther gets a mention on the cover. Although most of the tracks
have the remark to play at medium to low volume, I suggest that the full
impact can only be heard at high volume. The occasional outbursts have a
higher impact. Ambient this might be, but it’s for sure one with a high
emotional one. Sudden devastation can come without any warning. Another
landmark in Dorobo’s catalogue. (FdW)
Address: <dorobo@darkwave.com>
FENNESZ – HOTEL PARAL.LEL (CD by Mego)
Another highly aclaimed cult label, this time from Austria, is Mego. They
present that truely exciting mix of techno and industrial music (although
they would say it is not one nor the other). Fennesz had a 12″ before and
now present a full length CD. Before this he played guitar in a largely
ignored Austrian rock band and made movie soundtracks. This CD is a fine
showcase of what Mego stands for. The opening track (sorry I have no titles
here) is a damm noisy one, followed by a nice moody computer piece. The
fourth track is built of loops of guitar playing, but sped up and sauced
with rhythms which turns out in a digitalized distortion dance track. The
track after that is more distorted rhythms with an industrial edge to it.
And so forth. A varied album that will never hit the dance floor obviously,
but who cares about that? (FdW)
Address: <pita@mego.co.at>
MERZBOW/THE HATERS (LP by Old Europa Cafe)
I hear you moan: another one! Well, this time Merzbow is different. Masami
is heading for analogue stuff, being a moog, two rhythm machines and
effects. The rhythms tick away nicely and Masami is in good psychedelic
mood here. So it is noisy, but it has a wacky sense of humour to it. The
titles refer to old MB records and this must be thought of as a kind of
tribute
The Haters present another version of Drunk On Decay, the “Toast to MB
version”. G.X. was one of the last people to meet MB before he turned into
a jehova witness. This is much noisier then Merzbow and greets MB as a
founding father of industrial music. A record side of static noise. Great
tribute record. (FdW)
Address: R. Protti – Via Marconi 38 – 33170 Pordenone – Italy
BILL HORIST – SOYLENT RADIO (CD by Unit Circle Rekkids)
Bill is an improv guitarist who played with many people – just like Bill
unknown to me. This CD with seven pieces of improvised music is partly
solo, and partly duets with people playing moog, fuzz keybass, sharp metal
objects, corpus collosom (what is that!!!?! and electronics. Sound rather
dull writing this, but I enjoyed playing this. Bill shifts through many
styles and genres, one time being really improv and noisy, and on the other
hand ambient and quiet. And at times it even hints to ‘pop melodies’ –
remote but apparent. If you are into improvised guitar playing from Henry
Kaiser or Jim O’Rourke, then this is not to be missed. (FdW)
Address: <rekkids@unitcircle.com>
V.A. – FURNITURE FUN (Cassette by Dhyana Records)
The small label DHYANA comes from the very south of Germany and is also the
home of DEEP, an interesting group that creates a kind of experimental
doom-rock. This low-priced compilation is nicely styled and comes with a
very informative booklet. It’s aim is to present new and unheard projects
from the large fields of DIY – recording. Many of the tracks go into the
ambient / techno – direction, but there are also more rock- &
Noise-oriented styled tracks, although everything on this cassette has an
experimental edge. The most well known group here might be DE FABRIEK,
these Industrial-veterans can still often be found on tape-compilations.
They present a very nice atmosperic droning track. Other very good tracks
come from FEINE TRINKERS BEI PINKELS DAHEIM, TE ILD, TARKATAK (the
highlight for me) and RAUMERKUNDUNG (these are the groups I know), followed
by lots of totally unknown groups, which come with one exception all from
Germany. The label has planned to do these kind of tape-compilations on a
regular basis as a kind of series. A great possibility to inform oneself
about new developments in the underground cassette-scene. (BAR)
Address: DHYANA RECORDS – Bernd Spring, Carl-Schurz-Strasse 29A, 86156
Augsburg – Germany
PAIN JERK – V (Cassette by Amp)
The theme that unites this tape is… all tracks start with the letter “V”!
Really, I can’t make this stuff, folks. Once I got past the silliness of
the “concept”, this noise is really interesting. The blast has the cold,
well-produced sheen that can only be the product of computers, which
immediately seperates Pain Jerk from his geographical peers. Much of the
music is rhythmic, but that rhythm is buried beneath outrageous amounts of
twisting skronk. It isn’t a dinky drum-mavhine rhythm, though, seems like
tape-loops, or a repeated sample. A neat, unusual quality and a nice
contrast to the rougher sounds it is used to propel. Better keep an eye on
this guy.
PAUL SCUTZE – THE ANNIHILATING ANGEL (CD by Tone Casualities)
Here’s a true story.I was listening to this CD a few minutes after I bought
it, and my friend comes into the room. He says, “Oh, is that your music? I
thought you were watching Miami Vice”. (I know, you Europeans don’t know
what I’m talking about. Don’t worry, the rest of the review is
self-explainatory) He’s right, too. All I had heard previous to this was
Paul’s track on the excellent “Endless” compilation CD a few years ago. His
track on that was a flowing, dark mass of synth goo, real pretty
dark-ambient stuff. This Cd is nothing at all like that.
A reissue of a 1990 Cd on Extreme, “The Annihilating Angel” is an
uncomfortable mix of TV theme music, muzak, and stilted world-beat that
would embarrass David Byrne. Every track is plagued by a silly beatbox and
fake-jazz trumpet solo. It so desperately wants to come off as “serious”,
that no less than FIVE of these titles are names of Burroughs or Ballard
novels. The other two titles in the series, “Deus ex Machina” and one other
whose name I can’t recall, are also being reissued by this same label.