ERIC RANDOM & THE BEDLAMITES – TIME-SPLICE (CD by Klang Galerie) *
ERIC RANDOM – MAN_DOG (CD by Klang Galerie) *
CASEY ANDERSON & JASON KAHN & NORBERT MÖSLANG & GÜNTER MÜLLER & MARK TRAYLE – FIVE LINES (CD by Mikroton) *
ERIKM & MARTIN BRANDLMAYR – ECOTONE (CD by Mikroton) *
FEEDBACK: ORDER FROM NOISE (2CD/1DVD by Mikroton) *
GREGORY BÜTTNER & GUNNAR LETTOW & ERNESTO RODRIGUES & NUNO TORRES – ZWEI MAL ZWEI (CD by Creative Sources Recordings) *
INSANE 80S [EV01-EV10] (CD compilation by EE Tapes)
FIND HOPE IN DARKNESS – LOKED SO TIGHTLY IN OUR DREAMS (CD by Moving Furniture Records) *
ORPHAX – UNDER THE DUTCH SKY (CDR by Moving Furniture Records) *
NURSE WITH WOUND – ADOLF WÖLFLI COURTE (minCD and book by Lenka Lente) *
ANDRE DE SAINT-OBIN – SOUND ON SOUND (LP by Plinkity Plonk) *
AARON DILLOWAY & JASON LESCALLEET – POPETH (LP by Glistening Examples) *
MORRISNERI – CATHEDRAL TAPES (LP by Dead Vox)
ASUNA – 100 KEYBOARDS: 100 KEYS/100 ROCK (7″ by Meeuw Muzak)
KURONEKO – RITUAL OF INVOCATION (CDR by Slightly Off Kilter Label) *
DREKKA – RONJA’S CHRISTMAN WITCH (CDR by Orphanology) *
DREKKA – LIVE 2014 (cassette by Day2 Alliance Product)
MYSTERY DICK – IN THE CITY OF VIOLENT GIANTS (CDR by Aural Detritus) *
JASON KAHN – THIRTY SECONDS OVER (cassette by Aural Detritus)
FRANCISCO MEIRINO – THE AESTHETICS OF EVERYTHING FOR NOTHING (3″CDR by 1000Füssler) *
SETH COOKE & DOMINIC LASH – PACT (3″CDR by 1000Füssler) *
THREES AND WILL & HUEREQUEQUE (cassette by Blue Tapes)
HENRY PLOTNICK (cassette by Blue Tapes)
ROBIN HAYWARD & MORTEN J. OLSEN – SUBROUTINE (cassette by Record Label Record Label)
THE HYDRA – ON TROUBLESHOOTING (cassette by Record Label Record Label)
ERIC RANDOM & THE BEDLAMITES – TIME-SPLICE (CD by Klang Galerie)
ERIC RANDOM – MAN_DOG (CD by Klang Galerie)
As a very young man of 16 years old I religiously studied a Dutch magazine on new music called Vinyl. What seemed interesting needed checking out at the local record store – remember you spend hours and hours over there and in the end bought one 7″ record? I remember. In issue three I read about a young man who went by the name of Eric Random, from Manchester and from what I understood he played guitar on stage, with lots of effects and backing tapes. He had all the right connections with Cabaret Voltaire and A Certain Ratio – names I recognized already – and quickly I found two of his 7″ records, one on New Hormones and one on Les Disques Du Crepuscule. I was stunned: a simple, on-going rhythm and on top guitar playing that was noisy, without any chord structures, a bit of feedback. The Crepuscule 7″ was best played at 33 rpm, I thought. Random also played ‘boite au rhythm’ on another 7″ on Factory Benelux. Credit for playing the rhythm box! If anything, that seemed great to me, thinking myself of rhythm machines and a guitar and some prepared tapes. I played those 7″s to death and quickly got his other release, the miniLP ‘That’s What I Like About Me’ and, a little later, ‘Earthbound Ghost Need’ and a 12″ on Plurex Records. The only disappointment I could hear was his version of Maurice Ravel’s ‘Bolero’ (on ‘Earthbound’) – it seems Random missed the point of that piece. In this phase Random moved over to playing with a band called The Bedlamites and shifted his interest towards using dub techniques, along with a great bass line, but also with his guitar playing becoming a bit more melodic. Then, after that, I kinda lost track of Eric Random. Maybe because I was too much inside the world of cassettes or maybe I just didn’t see the few albums he released on Cabaret Voltaire’s Doublevision label. About nine years ago I saw these three later albums and 12″s at the Worm Shop in Rotterdam for a very low price as second hand records, and one of the Worm people was very surprised I would buy them. On these records Random had once again moved, now in favour of doing a more mid-eighties Cabaret Voltaire sound: electronic dance music. Not exactly my favourite incarnation of the Cabs, but I certainly enjoyed these Random records. In 2005 Les Temps Modernes released a double CD with much of his earliest work, up the Plurex 12″, which, sadly, wasn’t included. I always felt that was part of the first phase. From the liner notes I learned that Random travelled a lot and only did a 7″ for Syntactic in the mid-90s. Klang Galerie, effectively the same label as Syntactic but releasing CDs, released an entirely new work as well as a re-issue of ‘Time-Splice’ from the mid-80s. To start with the latter. It contains the ‘Mad As Mankind’ 12″, a 2012 version of that song and the whole of ‘Time-Splice’. Here we have Random working with electronic music, the mid-80s alternative dance version on the 12″ and on the album with more sophisticated reggae/dub music than on ‘Earthbound Ghost Need’ as well as ethnic music inspired tunes and instruments – one could probably easily link this to Muslimgauze in a more sophisticated mood. The vocoder of the 2012 version of ‘Mad As Mankind’ uses a vocoder and a stricter 4/4 time signature and forecasts his ‘Man_dog’ album. Recorded in the last couple of years and the whole instruments are stripped down electronic sounds. No more guitars, just synthesizers, drum machines, samplers and vocals on three songs and bass on one. Random samples ethnic chanting in ‘Knock Yourself Out’ and it reminds me of Greater Than One, another old favourite – that’s a different story. Random playfully uses techno rhythms, dub techniques, a bit of hip hop and more exotic rhythms and creates some very pleasant tunes with it. The early stuff might have sounded all a bit darker but all of us who survived the 80s know life is not that bad, and then you start making some more cheery music. ‘Man_dog’ is such a fine album to pass this cold and grey day. Time to dig out all music from Eric Random and have a jolly relaxed Sunday. Hopefully Klang Galerie will re-issue the missing bits on CD too. (FdW)
Address: http://www.klanggalerie.com
CASEY ANDERSON & JASON KAHN & NORBERT MÖSLANG & GÜNTER MÜLLER & MARK TRAYLE – FIVE LINES (CD by Mikroton)
ERIKM & MARTIN BRANDLMAYR – ECOTONE (CD by Mikroton)
FEEDBACK: ORDER FROM NOISE (2CD/1DVD by Mikroton)
Sometimes it seems that there is tons of archive material waiting to be released. On the quintet CD by Casey Anderson (computer, objects, radio), Jason Kahn (analog synthesizer, radio, mixing board), Norbert Möslang (cracked everyday-electronics), Günter Müller (ipod, electronics) and Mark Trayle (computer, guitar) we find a recording from September 5, 2010 from Los Angeles. I never heard of Anderson and Trayle (I think), but whatever it is they do, it fits nicely along with the three Swiss masters of improvisation. Surprisingly (well, or not), this album sounds very electronic; lots of shortwave like sounds, piercing electronic sounds, scratching, oscillations and even something that one could say is some kind of rhythm – odd as it may seem, and very un-dancelike as it is. These forty minutes are quite intense and dynamic. There is always something happening somewhere and the listener never gets a moment of rest, which in this work is actually something very nice. It goes on and on, and it bursts with energy. Best crackle crackled improvisation I heard in a while!
More traditional, it seems, in terms of improvisation is the release ‘Ecotone’ by erikM (cdj & electronics) and Martin Brandlmayr (drums). It’s especially the latter that brings this into the realm of jazz, free jazz and regular improvisation. His playing is hectic, nervous and all the usual banging that comes in this world, but always recognizable as playing a drum kit. Nothing wrong with that of course, but for me, a lover of more weirder and irregular improvisation, the spicing comes from erikM, who delivers a very vivid set of electronics. Drone like, noise based, ambient, clicks, cuts, crackles, erikM uses the entire spectrum of possibilities to effectively change moods and textures played by Brandlmayr into some even more abstracter and wilder. Don’t get me wrong: this is a great release too – not as great the other one I just heard from the same label, I must admit – but this too is a fine addition to the world of improvisation and an excellent release on Mikroton.
Lastly there is a three disc set by Feedback ‘Order From Noise’, which is a bit unclear what it is, but if I understand things correctly this was a tour of people playing all things feedback like, including video mixers, as a sort of modern music ensemble. They toured in 2004 and the recordings on this release are from that tour. As a proper modern ensemble they don’t play a bunch of noise pieces, but compositions, such as ‘Bird And Person Dyning’ by Alvin Lucier or ‘Pea Soup’ from Nicolas Collins. Sometimes a piece may be performed solo, sometimes by more people. Involved are Knut Aufermann, Xentos Fray Bentos, Nicolas Collins, Alvin Lucier, Toshimaru Nakamura, Billy Roisz, Sarah Washington and Otomo Yoshihide. It’s quite interesting to hear and see this. The DVD part is not a concert registration as such but video feedback material generated with the feedback music. This is certainly something different from Mikroton: it’s at times quite loud – and I am the first one to admit I may have lost a bit my hearing over the years – and piercing, but it’s also quite a fascinating selection of works, sometimes working it’s way down in the very low ends of hearing. It’s quite a long ride, this release, and perhaps one to be doing in parts only, but it’s a great release. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mikroton.net
GREGORY BÜTTNER & GUNNAR LETTOW & ERNESTO RODRIGUES & NUNO TORRES – ZWEI MAL ZWEI (CD by Creative Sources Recordings)
A quartet of improvisers, and I am not entirely sure why it says ‘Zwei Mal Zwei’, meaning two times two. Maybe it’s a reference to where these people are from? Two from Germany and two from Portugal? Or perhaps there is a regular duo for each of Büttner/Lettow and Rodrigues/Torres? I don’t know. The recordings were made on the 3rd of April 2014 in Hamburg and credits are thus: Ernesto Rodrigues (viola), Gunnar Lettow (prepared bass, guitar, electronics, objects), Nuno Torres (alto saxophone) and Gregory Büttner (computer, loudspeakers, objects fan). This is the department of careful improvisation and much of this works in the area of electro-acoustic sound treatments, even when it comes to playing the instruments as such. Each of these players consider his instrument(s) as a an object, a piece, an element that generates sound and together they craft some pretty intense stuff; they always listen closely to what the others are doing and respond and react when needed or simply do nothing when required. Quite intense at various times, due to the amount of sound information and sometimes because due to it’s absence. That it perhaps contains all the usual things around such improvised matters, but in fact this is a great release. Intense, concentrated, but also playful and not entirely without humour. Quite a nice release indeed. (FdW)
Address: http://www.creativesourcesrec.com
INSANE 80S [EV01-EV10] (CD compilation by EE Tapes)
There are lots of ways of approaching this compilation. Here are a few:
Approach #1: since lots of people no longer have a record player, and EE Tapes did a whole bunch of great 7″ releases, all from people that started their career in the early 80s and inside electronic music, it’s good to have a selection of pieces on a CD, inc. five bonus pieces not on 7″.
Approach #2: same as #1, but what a pity that it’s one piece per band only, except Nine Circles, and so we miss out on many other great tracks, which were on the 7″ too.
Approach #3: what a rip-off. I spent so much money on those 7″s and now I have bought them again on CD, just to get them digitally and for those few extra pieces.
Apporach #4: This is an excellent overview of home-made electronic music, with lots of Belgium bands (Berntholer, Human Dance, The Misz, Pseudo Code, Kloot Per W, MAL, Bene Gesserit, Subject, Human Flesh), but also foreign acts as Nine Circles, Nostalgie Eternelle and Opera Multi Steel. This is the ‘pop’-end of the whole 80s cassette culture, but with many of these people playing new songs from the current days. If you would not know (or care) about the fact they were previously released as 7″ records, and treat this as a compilation, you’d find some excellent music on here. It would rank, in my opinion, alongside the more legendary 80s compilations, such as ‘Three Minute Symphony’ – incidentally ‘L’Ultima Storia’ by Subject was on that record too, except then credited to Human Flesh, although I don’t think that mattered a lot as it’s pretty much the same people anyway.
I am with approach #4. (FdW)
Address: http://www.eetapes.be
FIND HOPE IN DARKNESS – LOKED SO TIGHTLY IN OUR DREAMS (CD by Moving Furniture Records)
ORPHAX – UNDER THE DUTCH SKY (CDR by Moving Furniture Records)
Somewhere we have the thirteen-year-old Henry Plotnick and his synthesizer music, now it’s time for Glenn Dick, aged 15, from Ghent, Belgium who works as Find Hope In Darkness. The kids have arrived. Apparently Dick released two download releases, in which he combined broken beats and post-rock, but for his first official CD release – there is some confidence here – he explores the world of ambient and drones. Two pieces of music each around twenty minutes. The cover doesn’t indicate what instruments are used here, but it could be field recordings, guitar and/or lots of sound effects and/or computer treatments. I also have no idea what Glenn Dick heard as inspiration – I don’t believe that this sort of thing comes out of nothing – but surely he has been hearing some of the old ambient/drone/isolationist music, say early Jim O’Rourke, Thomas Köner, Lustmord and Lull. He uses those inspirations to create something which I don’t feel is entirely his own making, but which is, nevertheless, quite a good copy of the old masters. In ‘Last Breath’ we hear some sort of sampled breath and maybe its a bit tacky – angelic choirs and such like – it has a fine pastoral quietness and moves slowly back and forth. ‘Fading Memories’ is more a monolithic mass of sounds, thickly layered and spread out over the course of the piece, like vast glacial landscapes. I quite enjoyed both of these pieces and with some more development and adding more his own voice, this guy could go places.
Labelboss Sietse van Erve, working as Orphax, is slightly older and already has an impressive series of releases. On December 2nd he recorded a thirty- two minute piece at home using audiomulch and casio sa-10, looked out of his window and saw a grey, Dutch sky and found his title. Or perhaps he looked out of the window first before recording the music, as listening to these dark sounds might suggest such a thing. With the weather conditions being shit, one could rather stay at home and record some nice music. I can understand that completely. The music of Orphax as we know it deals with ambient and drones and within that Orphax offers small variations. In his more recent releases he seemed to tend towards a more refined, quieter sound, but in this new work it goes back to his earlier work, and sounds a tad more industrial. Especially in the first half of the piece this is the case, with a motorized drone sound that falls apart after sixteen minutes and undergoes various treatments in the next few minutes, before settling down upon a very deep bass drone towards the end. Here too it’s a bit more menacing than in other recent works. Maybe this has to do with the fact that this is improvised, played on the spot, but maybe it’s a deliberate choice of Orphax. As this is a further exploration of his interest, a deepening of his sound world, I think this is a great Orphax release. Maybe the grey day, a little further down in December, clouds (!) my judgement also. (FdW)
Address: http://www.movingfurniturerecords.com/
NURSE WITH WOUND – ADOLF WÖLFLI COURTE (minCD and book by Lenka Lente)
When I studied at the Academy of Arts, which is a long time ago, I did my thesis on ‘outsider art’ or, to use Jean Dubuffet’s perhaps more appropriate term, ‘Art Brut’. Not exactly an art movement, Art Brut is a term used to describe individual artists who create art inspired by their own world, language and themes, ignoring the traditional world of art, academies and its (unwritten) rules. Nothing new you’d say, but there is a catch: many of these artists suffer from psychic disorders and were/are outcasts from society, often living in mental institutions or even prison. One of the most famous and inspiring of the Art Brut artists is Swiss-born Adolf Wölfli (1864-1930). Abused at an early age and orphaned at the age of 10, Wölfli worked the land as youngster, but was convicted when he tried to molest a girl. He spent some time in prison and, after a second attempt, was admitted in 1895 to the Waldau Clinic in Bern – a psychiatric hospital, where he would spend the rest of his life. Wölfli suffered from psychosis, which would lead to frequent intense hallucinations. Using drawing and writing as methods to get to grips with these hallucinations and his often-violent temper, Wölfli would work obsessively, going though reams and reams of paper per day. To illustrate his work rate: his semi-autobiography eventually stretched to 45 volumes, containing a total of over 25,000 pages and 1,600 illustrations! In his works Wölfli would often incorporate musical symbols and in his cell at Waldau he would make paper trumpets and hum through them hours on end. One of the people fascinated by this musical side of Wölfli’s works is Graeme Revell of SPK, who released an LP featuring music inspired by Wölfli on his Musique Brut label in 1987. Titled Necropolis, Amphibians & Reptiles: The Music of Adolf Wölfli, the album included works by Revell himself, DDAA and Nurse With Wound. The two tracks by NWW (Lea Tanttaaria and Great God Father Nieces) have now been re-released on this mini CD (a little under 10 minutes of playing time) that comes with a booklet featuring an excerpt of Wölfli’s autobiography, which is as mini as the CD itself. I have to admit I’m slightly puzzled by this release. A full re-release of the Musique Brut album would have been most welcome. The CD version of the album dates from 1994 and has been out of production for many moons. Is this product aimed at newcomers to Wölfli’s world? Then they must be able to read French, as the booklet is in French – why not English? However, Steve Stapleton’s brief description of Wölfli’s music, taken from the 1987 Musique Brut LP, is in English. The Lenka Lente booklet does not contain any illustration (other than the cover) of the works of Wölfli. That leaves us with an extract of an autobiography, which is, I suspect, incomprehensible to many Vital readers and two beautiful ambient musical pieces. Do I recommend this release? Yes, if you speak French and yes, if you don’t own the NWW tracks. But most of all I’d recommend you to find a copy of the Necropolis, Amphibians and Reptiles album and a decent book on Wölfli. As it is, the Lenka Lente release seems a bit like a missed opportunity. (FK)
Address: http://www.lenkalente.com
ANDRE DE SAINT-OBIN – SOUND ON SOUND (LP by Plinkity Plonk)
The 80s. A decade well worth plundering for some great music you never heard of. One of its stars was André de Saint-Obin, at the time student at the Arnhem academy of the Arts and part time DIY-musician. His musical legacy is small: one cassette, one single and some stray tracks on compilations. The single and cassette were both released on Arnhem’s Ding Dong Records and Tapes in 1982. As such, André’s star shone bright – but brief. As you are probably aware, much of what has been made in the 80s DIY-scene has been made available on CD or LP. Then why did it take such a long time for this groovy cassette to be published? Well, one is André’s elusiveness – the man was seriously hard to track down. Secondly, André is a perfectionist. It shows in how Sound on Sound was recorded (more of which later) and if there was to be a reissue, it would have to be perfect. So, yes, this release on Plinkity Plonk took a long time to materialize, but how great it is to finally be able to play his powerful and innovative music again! In the mid 80s, I spent enormous amounts of time at the Ding Dong store in Arnhem and I remember both the single and cassette on display. Oddly enough, I never bought them at the time. Only years later I re-discovered the La Voix Qui Rit single*, which featured two tracks Human Machine and Cassette Gazette (both unfortunately not on the Sound on Sound album). You could get it in a 7” cover or, if you paid a few Guilders more, in a more elaborate 12” packaging. It made me want to own the cassette as well and this proved annoyingly difficult, as copies were, in that pre-internet age, quite hard to locate. Me and Frans (who runs Plinkity Plonk these days) used to discuss Sound on Sound “Why is such a great album not available on CD?”. We just couldn’t get it. Because great it is! On this album, André uses his knowledge of making tape loops (at times stretching over 3 minutes!) using the process of bouncing: recording a loop/rhythm or guitar groove on one channel of a stereo Revox tape recorder**, recording another instrument on the other channel, bouncing it back to one channel and record over the ‘free’ channel. That not only sounds like a lot of work but it actually is. Plus it’s a process of trial and error. Not that you could tell from the results: yes, the album is mono (obviously), but it sounds really good. Clear and edgy – much like the music. There is an angular and awkward edge to Sound on Sound, which makes it perfect to dance to – I wanna dance till I die André sings in his at times awkward English pronunciation. There are a few instrumentals too and girls singing backing vocals. Sound on Sound is a perfect example of the 80s as a musical, political and societal decade. It is also a perfect example of the DIY atmosphere that surrounded that angst. As a bonus, the LP includes a CD with the full album and five additional tracks. The insert features a cover to that CD that you can cut out – what a brilliant idea! There are also pictures of André’s live set up on the insert and an appeal to return his stolen Fender Stratocaster guitar. There is so much to enjoy in this release. And now, at a few clicks of your mouse, you can own this album too. There is nothing to hold you back. Treat yourself to a near-forgotten master of sound – on Sound! Brilliant! (FK)
* André if you are reading this: my copy of La Voix Qui Rit features a handwritten letter in pencil from you to a German girl on the inside cover. Obviously I cannot reveal the content of the letter, but I have been wondering ever since I bought the single – did it ever work out and did she bring her sleeping mat?
** The Revox tape machine pictured on the cover looks suspiciously like the one I used to work with in the 80s after having ‘borrowed’ it from the Arnhem academy of the Arts (where I studied).
Address: http://www.kormplastics.nl/plink33.html
AARON DILLOWAY & JASON LESCALLEET – POPETH (LP by Glistening Examples)
This was a little confusing to start with: the mail brought in a lovely pro-printed CDR and almost at the same time, Jason Lescalleet tells me this is a promo for a limited LP he’s doing of this. Usually CDR promo’s of LPs are shabby affairs and put aside, but this looked intriguing. Maybe partly because the work of Lescalleet is not strange in these quarters and such things need further investigating. So, assuming the LP sounds the same as the CDR (probably the latter sounds better: crackle free and such). This LP has three pieces of highly interesting electronic music. One could easily think these men dabble in noise, and surely some people would find the enclosed music to loud (in case they would ever find out about this), but the balance is actually very careful here. I assume they use their lo-fi set-up of reel-to-reel machines to create long loops of sounds played with crude electronics, cheap keyboards and some stomp boxes. How things are made is perhaps not of real interest around here, I would think, but rather how it sounds; and that’s great. These three pieces have a fine sensibility, a nice collage like compositional structure. Not that sounds are crudely cut together, but rather flow in a very nice, gentle manner from point to the next and new sound events turn up and take over the piece and bring it somewhere else entirely. A great record of absolutely great music. (FdW)
Address: http://glisteningexamples.com/
Address: http://glisteningexamples.bandcamp.com/album/popeth
MORRISNERI – CATHEDRAL TAPES (LP by Dead Vox)
It has been ages since I last heard the name Jen Morris, who went by the name [Sic]. I didn’t find it easily in the Vital Weekly archive. She is from Montreal, but these days she is partly also based in Lausanne, Switzerland and from there she has played various prestigious festivals in Europe, although I am not even sure what she did. She teamed up with Stephane Neri to record an album in the cathedral in her Swiss hometown, going in there with string instruments, pedals, microphones, field recordings, organ, voice and Neri armed with a guitar, walkman, pedals, organ, synths with the cathedral as one big resonant chamber. Both a studio and instrument, although I am not sure one can always hear the vast spatial quality of the church itself. As a duo they carefully work their way through improvised drone music. Sometimes creating a vast space with lots of reverb (natural or otherwise), but sometimes also with scraping and bowing, like they would do in a fine record of improvised music. It’s a fine record, but I must admit not a great one. It walks paths that have been walked before in the field of drone/noise/rock/improvised music and while Morris and Neri do a fine job, it’s at the same time not something that makes a significant difference or something entirely different, even with the added value of the cathedral, which has been done before (a lot, just like bunkers have been used for this sort of thing), so I’d say, if we did that, a 6 out 10. (FdW)
Address: http://www.deadvox.com
ASUNA – 100 KEYBOARDS: 100 KEYS/100 ROCK (7″ by Meeuw Muzak)
Last week you saw in the announcement section that Japanese musician Asuna is touring part of Europe to celebrate the release of his 100 Keys/100 Rock 7″, just released by Meeuw Muzak. I already had the 7″ on my desk, but I didn’t get around playing it. I realized too late I could be advertising the early concerts. I’m sorry. Not a lot is known about Asuna, except that he is from Kanazawa and that he has, apparently, 100 keyboards. They are listed on the insert, which makes up a cool list (and I’m sure this was thought of before the new Aphex Twin came out). In both sides there is a mass of sound. In ‘100 Keys’ (I assume that’s it), we recognize the drones of keys hold down and recorded together, but I wouldn’t be too sure if these are indeed one hundred keyboards – not that’s important. Pretty much the same concept is applied on the other side but then with the rhythm from these machines and here I easily believe they are a hundred of them as it becomes an amorphous mass of sound, but not too alien or distracting; it works rather well. A rather odd conceptual work and, perhaps, not something I would have expected from reading the announcement. I was thinking Meeuw found the equivalent of Felix Kubin, but then Japanese. I have no idea how this is going to work out in concert, but rest assured I will when this tour is over, as they hit my hometown too. (FdW)
Address: http://www.meeuwmuzak.net
KURONEKO – RITUAL OF INVOCATION (CDR by Slightly Off Kilter Label)
Behind Kuroneko we find Adam Lygo on processed vocals and Ortolan Blackyatt and Ruse23, both on electronics. They have been going since earlier this year with a couple of performances and some recording. The latter, which is the thirty-five minute piece on this release has Ed Pinsent on moog, and is the first of four pieces to be released. Kuroneko are ‘reminiscent of Attila Cshiar, the Carnival of Souls soundtrack, Kluster’s Eruption 2, Skull Defekts or KTL. Powerful music that is of a darker and intense kind. It’s not something I necessarily understand, I must admit. This is quite noisy, quite heavy, but the music lacks a bit of power I think. It surely could have benefitted from some additional mastering. Everything on this CDR is a bit on the low side, volume wise, which takes away some of the sharpness of the music I would think. But even then I doubt if I would enjoy it very much. Lots of distorted sounds from sound effects, heavily processed vocals, which are supposed to evoke nightmare type of stuff, or some sort of obscure ritual. Maybe, just maybe I saw this being played live, and providing there was no blood spatter ritualistik on stage, and with an appropriate volume, I may even enjoy this. But now, cramped together on this CDR, I am hardly convinced at all. Maybe if you are a noise head with a satanic obsession you could tell me what I fail to see. (FdW)
Address: http://www.slightlyoffkilterlabel.blogspot.com
DREKKA – RONJA’S CHRISTMAN WITCH (CDR by Orphanology)
DREKKA – LIVE 2014 (cassette by Day2 Alliance Product)
Michael Anderson and friends is Drekka, always busy touring or playing concerts, it seems has probably more music under his belt than I will ever discover. So, occasionally I get something new, and here’s a thirty-two minute EP recorded in Iceland, a few months back. Already dark enough over there to start thinking about Christmas, as Silber Records asked them for a download only with the idea of that season in mind. The results are also available as a highly limited CDR on the bands own ‘Orphanology’ label. Twelve pieces, from a handful of seconds to almost nine minutes, there is a bit of field recordings in here, which have a lot of guitar and electronic sounds, along with whatever field recordings were used in this. This is Drekka at their finest ambient rock/post rock incarnation. Lots of spacious stuff flying about in this dark days, but I wonder where the component Christmas fits into this, other than perhaps some more desolate playing, but hey, that can be done anytime and anywhere. It’s a fine release with some highly atmospheric tunes and textures and given the fact that the rain pours down today, just before Christmas; this is probably the right bunch of tunes for the right time indeed.
As said Drekka play a lot live and their Christmas EP was recorded in Iceland while on their ‘Don’t Make The Drugs Live To Regret This’ tour, which also went over the USA and maybe even Europe. Since much of their music is generated through improvisational means and via rehearsed songs, everything is recorded and a tour document is assembled by using these recordings to create something new, most likely by creating a collage of these recordings. It’s probably not very likely to say: oh this bit they played in my town. Everything is source material for something new. I have a feeling this cassette deals with some of the more experimental music of Drekka. Nicely obscured sounds from playing around with contact microphones, vocalisations from humming around and spacious yet lo-fi electronics. This is away from the constructed songs I just heard on the CDR or some of their earlier, perhaps also less rock like. Drekka remains something of an unclassifiable musical act, and that’s a great thing.
Address: http://orphanology.bandcamp.com
Address: http://drekka.bandcamp.com
MYSTERY DICK – IN THE CITY OF VIOLENT GIANTS (CDR by Aural Detritus)
JASON KAHN – THIRTY SECONDS OVER (cassette by Aural Detritus)
Aural Detritus Recordings is the label by Paul Khimasia Morgan and connected to The Slightly off Kilter Label (see also elsewhere) and they intend to release recordings from events that are also called Aural Detritus.
Mystery Dick is the duo of Ed Pinsent and Harley Richardson and if you stick the CDR in the computer Gracenote tells me this ‘Handling and Overcoming Objections: Becoming a Sales Professional’, which I think is very funny. Of course it’s ‘In The City Of Violent Giants’ by Mystery Dick, a live recording made in Brighton in 2012. This may all suggest a bit of noise, but it isn’t. Here we have a duet for two keyboards and maybe some effects, or maybe one keyboard and a guitar. For just over thirty minutes they improvise together and it’s never noisy or such like, but in the earlier part of the it’s a bit more psychedelic, but as the piece evolves, it becomes gentler and spacier, until at the very end it’s almost like cosmic music. After the twenty-minute mark it seems to be just keyboards. It’s all together not really a gentle flow, and perhaps somewhat loosely organised and not entirely flawless (but: it’s a live recording) it actually works quite well. Of the two releases with Ed Pinsent this week this is the one that I like way better. It’s something I wouldn’t have minded seeing in concert myself.
On cassette we find Jason Kahn with two live recordings from 2012, one from Brighton and one from Ghent, Belgium. Kahn plays analogue synthesizer, mixing board and short wave radio. In both of these concerts we find Kahn at his more experimental doing. In his usual work he displays more of love minimal and sustaining sounds, but in these two pieces everything buzzes and hisses, scratches and bumps. The shortwave radio even leaks ‘real’ music, effectively killed by Kahn after a few moments. I am not sure but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that these two concerts were chosen for this release because of the similarities in approach. If it sustains, it probably comes from the shortwave radio and/or the synthesizer. It’s all quite dark I thought, obscured and/or vague, no doubt deliberately. Kahn always knows how to surprise the listener and this cassette with live recordings is no difference. (FdW)
Address: http://auraldetritus.blogspot.com
FRANCISCO MEIRINO – THE AESTHETICS OF EVERYTHING FOR NOTHING (3″CDR by 1000Füssler)
SETH COOKE & DOMINIC LASH – PACT (3″CDR by 1000Füssler)
On Gregory Büttner’s label 1000Füssler two new 3″CDR releases. The first one is by the recently very prolific Francisco Meirino, who besides producing music is also a father. And kids have toys that make sound, which in the hand of Meirino is another instrument. In the eighteen-minute piece he uses binaural microphones to record some of the toys and their sound qualities: rattling, buzzing and shaking, the outside as well the inside – motors and such. Meirino then creates a piece of music with all of these recordings. He layers them together and edits them into what one could perhaps call a typical Meirino composition. Sharp, brittle sounds, many layers together but so that are still defined and with a couple of sharp edits: cutting out and make a completely different changeover. Unlike many of his other pieces it takes a while before electronics are in play – assuming actually these a motor sounds – only after twelve minutes this happens. Before that it’s a lot of crackling, making this more of an acoustic thing. It’s a fine work, something that is a bit different from his other work but not his best. Maybe some of the sounds in the earlier part of the piece could have used a bit more variety.
I am not sure if I heard of Seth Cook and Dominic Lash before. The latter is a double bass player (also regular bass and guitar), active as an improviser and composer, while Cooke is normally a percussionist playing traps and waste disposal sink, but in this duo he takes up a role as a recordist. Check out some videos of their concert on Vimeo and you know what I mean. By scanning various reflections and surfaces he picks up the bass close by and a bit further away. Here we have two pieces of nearly twelve minutes each in which the double bass mainly plays drone like sounds with the bow on the strings and with lots of spatial qualities to it. Everything seems to be resonating, but rather in a beautiful way, especially in the second track, which is my favourite here. Some very intense pieces of music indeed. The first piece seems to be a bit more loosely organized and owes more to ‘regular’ improvisation: maybe it’s harder here to figure about what the role of Cook is. Altogether I’d say a pretty interesting release. (FdW)
Address: http://www.1000fussler.com
THREES AND WILL & HUEREQUEQUE (cassette by Blue Tapes)
HENRY PLOTNICK (cassette by Blue Tapes)
Cassettes by the Blue Tapes label are obviously copied on blue tapes but not always have a lot of information on the package itself. Nothing, for instance, on the tape by Threes And Will & Huerequeque, of whom I never heard before. If I understood well from the press text, a duo from Estonia, one being Threes And Will and the other Huerequeque. They have three lengthy cuts on this thirty-minute of excellent noise rock. Their drums might be coming out of a box, or played on a drum kit, but the guitars are surely played through lots of stomp boxes to create a lovely psychedelic and minimal noise rock. The references here are to Skullflower, but I would think the whole genre of noise rock meeting krautrock is as much a valid reference. Play Loud music would be the best tag for this music. A heavy rolling rock of music. Me being a sucker for Skullflower in whatever incarnation thinks Threes And Will & Huerequeque deliver a more than excellent job in copying the original sound, and while not making it entirely their own, are ear cleansing enough for this early morning.
Henry Plotnick is thirteen years old, still not the youngest ever artist reviewed in Vital Weekly. His music is something entirely different. In all the quoted reviews on the press text (Vital Weekly is surely not the first to review this) we read he’s eleven years old, but maybe they refer to earlier releases? Plotnick plays the synthesizer – check out the labels’ website for some pictures – and the names that are dropped include Cluster, Terry Riley, Brian Eno, a lighter William Basinski or David Lynch, which surely made me curious (having played a load of Cluster records just the other day). He plays his keyboard along with a loop pedal and that’s it. Of all the references I can see most clearly the link with Cluster – perhaps having just heard them – in most of these pieces. It has a similar Farfisa organ sound, put on endless repeat and Plotnick adds some weird, percussive sounds to it. Sometimes a bit too naively, or a bit too long for my taste, but somehow it works quite well. It’s certainly all oddly free music, recorded in some rather lo-fi way, which seems to fit the mid-seventies Cluster vibe. I think this guy can go places, given some (self-) help on a bit more structuring and composing. Nice one! Oh, both of these tapes actually. (FdW)
Address: http://bluetapes.co.uk/
ROBIN HAYWARD & MORTEN J. OLSEN – SUBROUTINE (cassette by Record Label Record Label)
THE HYDRA – ON TROUBLESHOOTING (cassette by Record Label Record Label)
Record Label Record Label is a great name for a record label and here they have two new cassette releases. On the first we find two microtonal improvisers at work: Robin Hayward who plays tuba and Morten J. Olsen the well-known percussion player from Norway. Here he plays rotating bass drum, and Hayward the microtonal tuba, so everything is quite low end. It’s a work of improvisation but they have been putting it all together through means of layering – more bass I would think – to generate a complex web of sounds that may remind the listener of drone music made with a bunch of low filters from analogue synthesizers. Sometimes the bang on the drum reminds us this is in fact something else, which is quite nice. This is music that sucks you into it, the sort of acoustic noise that I like. It sounds very electronic, and yet it isn’t. Very dense and very intense and (thus?) a great release.
I am not sure if I know whom Dimitris Papadatos is, who has been working with sound since 2002, playing everything from hardcore gabber to space folk, from free form noise to library music and techno. As The Hydra he releases his first work with ‘On Troubleshooting’. One side was created using a modular synth, while the other side he uses turntables. The a-side is heavy beast of piercing loud electronics but which have an excellent ambient industrial ring to it. Loud but not noisy, just singing and ringing, working it’s way through all these oscillations. Somewhere at the start of the food chain field recordings are worked into this, which on the output side is a great mass of sound. The turntable side is a pastiche of what seems orchestral sounds and sound effects records, but also with a fair amount of electronics worked into the mix and has rather vivid wild passages worked into longer stretches of deep ambient drones, drenched in all the usual sound effects. Maybe it’s all a cliché, but I must admit I thought I quite enjoyed this. Excellent releases. (FdW)
Address: http://www.rlrl.info