LEONEL KAPLAN & BIRGIT ULHER – STEREO TRUMPET (CD by Relative Pitch) *
WHOTE – MOONS (CD by VII Sounds Ltd) *
COLOMBO & SCHIAFFINI & MARINO – TOTEM (CD by Zone Di Musica)
SIDSEL ENDRESEN & STIAN WESTERHUS – BONITA (CD by Rune Grammofon)
ALBATROSH –NIGHT OWL (CD by Rune Grammofon)
CELER – SKY LIMITS (CD by Baskaru) *
ACHIM WOLLSCHEID & BERNARD SCHREINER – CALIBRATED CONTIGENCY (CD by Baskaru) *
ARCHITEUTHIS WALKS ON LAND – THE SURVEYORS (CD by Carrier Records) *
MY DAILY NOISE (CD by Zora_Records) *
STEFAN CHRISTOFF & DAVID PARKER – WIRES TONES EP (EP by Howl Arts)
NOVELLINO & ROSI & MAZUREK & BARNES – OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR (CD by Discreet Records)
FE<MALE FOU – SUCKER MULE’S DREADFUL MURDER (LP by Suitcase Recordings)
BLOOD RHYTHMS – ASSEMBLY (LP by No Part Of It/RRRecords)
ARVO ZYLO – FALLING TOWER, TERRIBLE FOUNTAIN (cassette by Side Of The Sun Recordings)
BRYAN LEWIS SAUNDERS & ARVO ZYLO – THE PLEASURE TUNNEL/THE TEMPLE OF PARADISE (cassette by No Part Of It)
DAVE CLARKSON – MUSIC FOR LIGHTHOUSES (CDR by Linear Obsessional Recordings) *
CLADE – KLAVIERSTÜCKE (CD by Clade_Rec) *
BRANDON HURTADO/TANNER GARZA (cassette by Bookend Recordings)
LEONEL KAPLAN & BIRGIT ULHER – STEREO TRUMPET (CD by Relative Pitch)
The first time I ever got a release with split channel audio was a 7″ by John Duncan and Chris & Cosey. One was in the left speaker, and the other in the right speaker and if you would play it hearing both speakers simultaneously, you’d have a ‘new’ piece. I liked that idea a lot; although I never figured to what extent they planned the music, or whether this was a more or less random gathering of sounds. In the case of Leonel Kaplan (trumpet) and Birgit Ulher (trumpet, radio, speaker, objects) it’s easier. They played at the same time and it was recorded with two separate microphones. The first piece was recorded in 2011, and the other three on May 3rd, 2012 and I assumed all recorded live (although the cover says, curiously, ‘mixed and mastered’. What’s there to mix if you separate the channels, I wondered) But I must also admit I wasn’t really paying attention – my bad, I know – to the thing of stereo separation, and just sat back and listened. I couldn’t even tell, interestingly enough, if my system is actually up with the correct left-right separation; that, I guess, also says something about the way these two people play their instruments: maybe a like, or at least it appears so. This is the kind of trumpet-as-object improvisation and as such they are both excellent players. Ulher is better known to me than Kaplan but it seems to me they both work along similar lines; using breathing in a non-ordinary way, the trumpet as a resonating box, and sometimes as a trumpet – hey, why not? – which makes all of this some very intense music. Music that requires your full attention: you can’t do other stuff at the same, like reading a book or hovering the carpet. These forty or so minutes demand your full attention, but only then unfold something of quiet yet intense and very beautiful. (FdW)
Address: http://www.relativepitchrecords.com
WHOTE – MOONS (CD by VII Sounds Ltd)
Thomas Watkiss we best know from the work he releases under his own name (see Vital Weekly 623 and 705), which is to be found in the electronic area. As Whote he works with guitar and sound effects, and writes the name like a hard rock logo. Now, I am well aware that somewhere in the past metal heads decided to like ambient and vice versa, but when and where that was: I couldn’t tell you (maybe I was never a metal head myself). But it happened so now we have distorted guitars playing long form drone music, sometimes with no drums at all, and they have the band logos as a hardrock band. Just as Whote. I wasn’t blown away by ‘Align’ (see Vital Weekly 759), but this new one is more like it. It surely has more of those heavy guitars, but not always as loud and sustaining as you would expect; sometimes the guitar notes shimmer through here, brightly shining at the firmament. It’s these moment I liked best, and could have done without the more monolithic blasts such as the eight track (no track titles provided in this white promo cover), but the ninth was much better; open and spacious, before flying right into that black hole that sucked out all the air. While I liked this CD more than the previous release, I must admit I am not entirely convinced about it either. Like I said, I am no expert on the subject of ambient doom, and maybe I will never be either. Maybe there is a whole genre for which I am blind and probably will never open my eyes for. Some of these pieces by Whote sounded all right, some didn’t. So it goes I guess. (FdW)
Address: http://www.whote.org
COLOMBO & SCHIAFFINI & MARINO – TOTEM (CD by Zone Di Musica)
Eugenio Colombo (sax alto, sax soprano, flute), Giancarlo Schiaffini (trombone) and Luigi Marino (zarb, cymbals, portable electronic devices, objects). Let me start with a few lines on their backgrounds. Colombo operates mainly in the field of avant garde jazz and is one of the founding members of the well-known Italian Instabile Orchestra. Trombonist Giancarlo Schiaffini comes from Rome and made his mark in both Italian new music and the European improvised music scenes. Played with Evan Parker, Maarten Altena, Barry Guy, Andrea Centazzo and Lol Coxhill, etc. Also he has one interest for electronics. Schiaffini and Colombo are mates since the 70s and had the SIC-trio with Iannaccone in these days. ‘Totem’ is in some respects a continuation of this trio. Marino is of a younger generation. He is from Rome and studied electronic music at Mills College and also took lessons in zarb. He has a special interest in interaction between computer and acoustic sources. As a trio they recorded 11 improvisations, ‘Tanz 1’ up to ‘Tanz 11’at Totemtanz, in Rome on September 1st 2013. The improvisations are of a solemn and cerebral nature. But it’s also very full-grown and mature. No easy, take away improvisations. But music that reveals its beauty after repeated listening. All players contribute equally with ideas for their improvisations. Marino brings in lots of colours because he plays numerous instruments and objects in one improvisation like in ‘Tanz 8’. In ‘Tanz 5’ he produces harsh percussive textures where sax and trombone have to deal with. A piece like ‘Tanz 6’ is a meditative nature and fascinates because of the combination of flute, trombone and percussion. How different the pieces may be, they are always in a beautiful balance. This is truly a solid and inspired work. (DM)
Address: http://www.zonedimusica.com
SIDSEL ENDRESEN & STIAN WESTERHUS – BONITA (CD by Rune Grammofon)
ALBATROSH –NIGHT OWL (CD by Rune Grammofon)
Endresen is a Norvegian composer, actor and above all an extraordinary vocalist. In the 80s she worked mainly as member of the Jon Eberson Group. At the end of the 80s she started her solo career and released numerous albums under her own name, including for the prestigious ECM label. Also she was involved in many different collaborations. Her work with Stian Westerhus being one of them. In 2012 they released their first album ‘Didymoi Dreams’. Guitarist Westerhus is known for his work with Jaga Jazzist and Puma, as well as his collaboration with Jan Bang, Arve Henriksen, Nils Petter Molvaer. He developed a very experimental style, using lots of extended techniques, making you forget your are listening to a guitar.. This is again very evident in this new duo work with Endresen, called ‘Bonita’. And it is substantial part of the fun concerning this record. Westerhus plays wild and captivating, creates amazing, unheard soundscapes. The ‘songs’ are very abstract and out on the one side, but very emotional and beautiful on the other side. Everything was improvised live in the studio. The non-verbal singing by Endresen is also a joy to listen to. Very evocative. As a duo effort however I was not completely convinced. Their daring improvisations do not always make a unity on all levels in my perception. But an amazing work it is! Albatrosh is Eyolf Dale and André Roligheten. ‘Night Owl’ is their fifth album, being their second release for Rune Grammofon. Both players come from Skien and had their education partly at the Norwegian Academy of Music. In 2008 they won the prestigious JazzIntro award. In 2009 they released their first album. So we are talking of a established collaboration, that is still musically fruitful for both players. For ‘Night Owl’ they choose the Fattoria Musica Studio in Osnabrück, Germany to record their new creations. They take their influences from American as well as European traditions of jazz and improvised music. Roligheten composes some of the tracks, some by Dale and others by both of them together. But in all compositions there is room for improvisation. Their music has a very jazzy feel, but offers far more than the usual schemes. They place remarkable accents in their excursions. They create unusual patterns but never completely far out. Jazz is always very near, the music is always accessible I would say. Sometimes the players create contrasts at other moments they go – unison – the same route. They offer fine interplay and interaction., and travel through different moods and emotions. Although they are only two, often one has to keep attention in order to register all movements. They are not into investigating sound, but into creating exciting new structures. All is played with ‘souplesse’ and virtuosity. Very transparent self-conscious music.(DM)
Address: http://www.runegrammofon.com
CELER – SKY LIMITS (CD by Baskaru)
ACHIM WOLLSCHEID & BERNARD SCHREINER – CALIBRATED CONTIGENCY (CD by Baskaru)
For a while I assumed that Celer was no more, due the passing of one half of the duo, but since 2009 Will Long also uses this name as a solo vehicle. He has released his music on many labels, such as Experimedia, Glacial Movements, Spekk and now Baskaru. Here we have a new album of eleven pieces, which all have a title and not necessarily form one long piece but could also be treated as such, of music that is very ambient mixed with a bit of field recordings. From his current location, Tokyo, he offers what seems to be the entire opposite soundtrack of a busy city. Much of this sounds like processed string music, not unlike the kind of strings processed by Marsen Jules. Music that floats by, really, really gentle and calm. Not the kind of stuff I would let pass without looking out the window and think of some weather related metaphor. It fits this sunny yet cold (how would I know: I haven’t left the house all day) January day, and now, especially at the end of the afternoon, the evening starts to fall and lights begin to fade: this seems to be the perfect time of the day to start this CD and then, about an hour later, it’s most likely dark and we have moved to a variety of moods here, all from the various possibilities on offer from the string sounds (light, dark, somewhere in between, together, alone), which he mixes with very quiet field recordings from Tokyo, just faint traces it seems of someone talking, some sparse sound, the rumble of far away traffic; Tokyo has quiet areas too, I know. This is Celer the way we like it; it’s not the kind of music that Celer wouldn’t do, and that’s perhaps the downside of it. It doesn’t seem to be something ‘new’, for whatever that is worth. But perhaps that’s reviewer talk; maybe the fan wants more of the same?
And when was the last time I typed the name of Achim Wollscheid? I can’t remember. He’s one of those musicians for whom releasing a record seems a by-product to doing art installations, being a philosopher, be a teacher or anything else that we don’t write about. But I do love his conceptual work a lot, ever since the early days when he worked as S.B.O.T.H.I., and his later work, under his own name, both for his label Selektion. The sound rattling teacups, we’d never forget. Wollscheid is a computer musician and he works here with Bernard Schreiner, who likewise doesn’t release a lot of music (see Vital Weekly 456 or 484 for instance), but has more interests in exhibitions also. In 2011 they played a concert together, using a computer and ‘minimal external input devices (a boundary microphone, an induction coil, a radio) and during the performance, each had a pair of stereo speakers and all four speakers were arranged in a single line’, although the CD is a stereo mix. The players where divided by a wall. The recording here is done with a microphone, so picking up some audience as well, at the start. All of that (players not seeing each other, small input from other sounds) is something one doesn’t notice when playing the music on the CD. Although perhaps it’s not as alien either, as this sounds very much like a very interesting disc of improvised, electronic music. Perhaps a bit too much along the lines of ‘laptop music’ meeting ‘musique concrete’, but again maybe that’s reviewer talk? I could say, rather more positively, that this is music that a very good concert of crackling electronics, deep bass humming, obvious delay settings, processed radio noise, the occasional blast of noise and very seldom something that is very quiet and remote. They take the listener on a nice trip throughout the highs and lows of computer music through an imaginative ride through the architectural inside of the computer. Quite nice. More so, because sadly we don’t hear enough of either of these musicians. (FdW)
Address: http://www.baskaru.com
ARCHITEUTHIS WALKS ON LAND – THE SURVEYORS (CD by Carrier Records)
You never know. That’s what I always think when I open a parcel from Carrier Records; while some of their releases are a bit too jazz or too improvised for me, others proof to be more up my alley. The oddly named duo Architeuthis Walks On Land has such a release, even when Itunes labels this as ‘jazz’. The longest piece, ‘The Assayers’ has very little to do with jazz and more with improvised acoustic drone music. Architeuthis Walks On Land is duo of Amy Cimini on violin and Katherine Young on bassoon. Maybe that explains the nature of a major acoustic drone piece in the middle of their album ‘The Surveyors’. For whatever reasons I no longer recall, I gave their previous release to review to Dolf Mulder, but the five pieces on this new CD is something I enjoy a lot. It’d hardly anything standard jazz like, or regular improvised even when we can recognize the violin and bassoon from time to time. I believe they also work with electronics of some kind or another, and perhaps that’s what makes me (more?) enthusiastic. There is a certain tension in all of these five pieces that makes quite a variation, from the more conventional title piece, to the dark and dense ‘The Speculators’. In between we find pieces with map references, and these pieces act as interludes; one regular improvised leading up to the ‘The Surveyors’, while the other one, the shortest on the release, works up to the title piece, via a very odd sort of field recordings piece. It makes that these five pieces, in this order, work very well as a dramatic build-up. Excellent album. (FdW)
Address: http://www.carrierrecords.com/
MY DAILY NOISE (CD by Zora_Records)
When one doesn’t see a release for sometime from a certain musician, it doesn’t mean that said musician is lazy or any such thing. Most people get by simply by playing concerts and the like, and just don’t care – perhaps luckily enough – about a new CD every week. I’m sure Kasper T. Toeplitz is such a musician who concentrates more on playing concerts, such as with one Daniel Buess. He plays electronics and percussions (he’s also part of the Phoenix Ensemble) here and Toeplitz is at bass and computer. My Daily Noise is their duo together and they play ‘loud, aggressive music which sometimes is very peaceful’. I am not sure if this is recorded live or perhaps is the result of various sessions stuck together to make one long piece of close to forty minutes. There is lots of deep end rumble, with lots and lots bass end scraping the floor, with rattle of metallic percussion on top, distortion being present and all that; but that’s only one half of what’s going on here. The sound cuts out and nothing remains, after eleven or so minutes but from simple bump in a very slow interval, it slowly starts to build again. But before we are anywhere really noisy again, easily another eleven minutes have passed, and the bass end, the percussion – timpani like – start growing and growing again and then arrives at something quite demanding again. This is not the kind of noise that you find filled under ‘harsh noise wall’ but at times the distortion that takes place here is quite overwhelming. It does not always too well spend on me, since it sometimes takes too much time and may not always have enough variety. I rather prefer my daily noise to be a mixture of low and loud, quiet and harsh, cut together in a more collage like way, and spread as thick as it is here. Having said that when My Daily Noise take control over what they are doing more and pull back in volume, let sounds breath a bit more, then it’s surely my cup of tea; say about one half or just a bit more of this, which is not bad. But with one track on the CD it’s a bit hard to skip around. (FdW)
Address: http://www.sleazeart.com
STEFAN CHRISTOFF & DAVID PARKER – WIRES TONES EP (EP by Howl Arts)
Christoff is a journalist, social activist, visual artist and musician from Montréal. Initiator of the Howl Arts Collective. I don’t know if this summing up is in order of importance. But of course we are talking here of Christoff as a musician, which is not his main activity I assume. Crystal clear is that he sees his art as a means for political and social action and expression. This new release is no exception. “This recording is inspired by the struggle against the current expansion of the prison industrial complex under the conservative government in Canada”, Christoff and Parker state. In the fall of 2013 they recorded three instrumentals. Christoff playing piano, Parker contrabass. I could not trace much about David Parker, but he seems a Howl Arts associated artist and has duo with K.L. Sealegs, named Fire Moss, performing live improvisational soundscapes. Thinking of leftwing, politically inspired music I imagine up-tempo, marching music with great importance for the texts that contain the entire critic. Nothing of this is the case in the music of Christoff. Except for an outtake from a speech by Kim Pate from the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies in ‘Beyond Injustice’. Her critical remarks on the prison system illustrate the statement Christoff and Parker want to make. The music however is of a different nature. Passionate, comfortable music that inspires to think and meditate, but not triggers to climb barricades. Especially ‘Shafts of Light’ I enjoyed as a spirited duet by two sensitive musicians. (DM)
Address: http://www.howlarts.net
NOVELLINO & ROSI & MAZUREK & BARNES – OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR (CD by Discreet Records)
Attilio Novellino and Saverio Rosi are soundartists from Italy. They joined forces on several projects in the past, some of them released by Discreet Records. A label and network for experimental, electronic and improvised music, they started in 2013. At the basis of their new project are field recordings from the wooden mill “Lanificio Leo”, the oldest textile factory active in Calabria, Italy. The sounds come from machines from the late 19th century. The recordings were sampled, processed, etc. by Novellino and Rosi. Also sounds of other origin and instruments (guitar, organ, bass, synthesizers) were added. The two lengthy electro-acoustic pieces that resulted both had rhythmic and droning qualities that asked for supplementing additions in order to complete the works. So their work served as a departing point for Rob Mazurek (cornet, electronics) and Tim Barnes (drums, percussion). The trumpet contributions are easy to detect, the percussive additions by Barnes however are more difficult to trace. I expected the music to be very rhythmic as the original sounds come from machines, but this is not the case. We hear drones with a beat sometimes deep inside, or abstract sound textures from well-balanced input by acoustic and electronic sources. Just two excellent and extensive journeys in the world of sound. (DM)
Address: http://www.discreetrecords.it/
FE<MALE FOU – SUCKER MULE’S DREADFUL MURDER (LP by Suitcase Recordings)
The American label Suitcase Recordings moves in mysterious ways: there always seems to be long gaps of silence between releases. I am not sure if this out of aesthetical or economical reasons. But when something arrives it usually is from someone I haven’t heard of before such as Filomena Rubino, who is a guitarist and vocalist, from Italy I believe, and she works as Fe<Male Fou. I never heard of her before. Suitcase describes this “lo-fi ambient/drone with overtones of early industrial noise and no wave avant-garde experimentalism”, which could be a lot of things, I guess, but I can see where such a description is coming from. It has indeed a bit of that early industrial, mainly in the use of reverb, and no wave avant-garde experimentalism might arrive through the way she plays the guitar: rather improvised and with lots of other effects thrown in for good measure also. There is also some occasional singing in here. While I enjoyed most of this, I must also admit I wasn’t too overtly impressed. It was good, it was experimental, it was solid, but did it stand out from other experimental musicians who do improvisational guitar noise, with occasional singing? Say, the sort of more adventurous singer-songwriter, which of course would never make it in the world of ‘real’ singer songwriters, for whatever that is? Perhaps this is more the kind of thing to witness in concert? I am not sure about all of this. I enjoyed the record for sure, played it a couple of times, but is that enough to back to it in, say, a years time? I am not sure. (FdW)
Address: http://www.suitcaseaudiovisual.com/
BLOOD RHYTHMS – ASSEMBLY (LP by No Part Of It/RRRecords)
ARVO ZYLO – FALLING TOWER, TERRIBLE FOUNTAIN (cassette by Side Of The Sun Recordings)
BRYAN LEWIS SAUNDERS & ARVO ZYLO – THE PLEASURE TUNNEL/THE TEMPLE OF PARADISE (cassette by No Part Of It)
Before playing all of this I read the press message, typed on an old fashioned typewriter, and was charmed by the fact that No Part Of It, ‘does not operate as a merchant on the worldwide web. Money orders and mail boxes only’; there are 200 copies of this record, one hundred available by No Part Of It and the other hundred from RRRecords, all with handmade covers of collage like material. It looks all a bit noisy, but here’s the more interesting part: ‘the debut LP finds five people (Bruce Lamont, Dave Purdie, Brian Klein, Andy Ortman and Arvo Zylo) in a neat locker with mostly untrained brass instruments (I am copying here – FdW) and a 15 foot long tube, with directional recordings happening in each corner. The recordings were then cut into hundreds of layers and loops, and juxtaposed to excessive degrees’ – now that’s something I find interesting. The insert says – printed – that one side is to be played at 45 rpm and one at 33 rpm, but handwritten, maybe because someone later on suggested such a thing, ‘playable at any speed’, always something I like very much. There are no blood rhythms to be found on this record, but the two sides are quite different. Of the two, ‘Cutter Magnolias’ is the louder piece, with recognizable, shorter loops, which seems to be amass to a lesser extent than the piece on the other side, ‘Coarse Land’. This means that ‘Cutter Magnolias’ is the noisier piece, and ‘Coarse Land’ is very quiet. The latter is an almost Phill Niblock exercise in slow monotone sounds, swarming around like a giant mass of drone like sounds. An excellent piece of music. ‘Cutter Magnolias’ is a fine one, though, perhaps, a bit lesser of the two but it had an interesting, direct in your face approach, even a rhythmical aspect to it all. A great record by all accounts, and you should get at least two copies so you an spin them at the same time at different speeds, and further enhance the mass aspect of this. Great ‘noise’.
It made me all the more curious about the two cassettes. The first is by Arvo Zylo solo and has two sidelong pieces. Here we find him in a more much noise mood, noise in the traditional sense of ‘harsh, unpleasant, machine like’ music, at least much of the tape. ‘Falling Tower’ starts out interesting with tape manipulations before landing in noise land, while the other side does this in reverse. It starts out noise based and then goes very quiet. Now, I don’t mind a good bit of noise, and the LP already convinced me that Zylo has some fine tricks up his sleeve, but maybe this noise goes on too long, without an interesting interjection. The quieter bits are much more interesting and show an interesting way of manipulating sounds using the same crude techniques, but without exploding necessarily into a wall of power electronics. A somewhat crude tape with some fine moments.
The other cassette is a split channel release (again! See also the top of this weekly) with in one channel sleep/dream recordings from a lung infected Bryan Lewis Saunders (who by now has a lot of releases which include his dream material) and Zylo on the other. The inside cover has a transcript of these dreams. This is another of those more conceptual recordings which you can easily dismiss as ‘rubbish I can do too’, but which I think are pretty fascinating all together, especially as there is some sort of electronic manipulation going, which effectively ruins any good night sleep: a motor like onslaught of sound effects takes place, but sometimes these effects are also kept to a minimum. Here I’m lost about the split channel thing. Maybe this is only for the opening section and when the transformations come in the same some process takes place for both channels? Curious enough to know how that worked out. I liked this tape even more than the other one, perhaps because the noise seemed more spaced out and it worked in quite a captivating manner. Great release! (FdW)
Address: No Part Of It – 1002 W Montrose Ave – Box 130 – Chicago, IL 60613 – USA
DAVE CLARKSON – MUSIC FOR LIGHTHOUSES (CDR by Linear Obsessional Recordings)
From the press release I was attracted by the fact that Dave Clarkson has a solo project called Illuminati, which, at one point, provided incidental music to the film of the media art installation ‘Human Avatars’ together with Vini Reilly (Durutti Colum). Always a good name to read and it made me curious about that while I was listening to his most current solo release, which contains field recordings made at Leasowe Lighthouse, the oldest brick built lighthouse in Britian. He recorded these onto cassettes and perhaps (the promotional text suggests so) adds some electronics, percussion and guitar to them – although I seriously doubt ‘percussion’. The opening piece is a very low end rumble, hardly above the threshold of hearing, while the second piece deals with a blot of bird sounds, but there might be, pushed all the way to the back some faint electronics (but for all we know this might also be some residue of a previous recording on the cassette). Some of these recordings were made in 1983 or so I read, perhaps using some old ferro tape? The cover mentions also some software, which might be used to further transform these recordings. ‘Lantern To Black Sea’ is another dark (nay, black!) piece, nearly inaudible, while ‘Longing And Loneliness’ is more alike the second piece but with some delay effects and surely a synth burping in the background. I thought this release was quite all right. ot great, not bad.
Address: http://www.linearobsessional.org
CLADE – KLAVIERSTÜCKE (CD by Clade_Rec)
More mysterious music by Clade, whose bandcamp these days says they are from Edinburgh these days – although maybe they always were? The cover and CD print look like a nice modern classical recordings rip-off and we find here twelve pieces, called ‘Klavierstück’ (piano piece, in case you were wondering), of which the last four are four parts of ‘Klavierstück IX’. The first four pieces are dedicated to Harold Budd, the second four to David Jackman, and the last four to Otto Totland. Apparently recorded over a seven-day period in March 2012, and a further seven in Oakland in December 2013. The first seven to record the piano sources, the next seven to ‘cajole, caresse and genetically modify’ them. Not unlike their previous, ‘Vietnamese Piano’, this is a further exploration of the world of quiet music; highly atmospheric and sparse. The treatments are kept to an interesting minimum, or perhaps they are done to such an extent that we no longer recognize them as treatments; maybe the treatments are kept more natural? Like being played in a large and natural reverb becomes part of it? All of these things you could wonder about while listening to this music. But better is to sit back and enjoy. I am not sure if the three dedications are reflected in the music, even when I know Jackman’s best and Totland’s music not much, but it seems to me that all twelve are along similar lines. Much reverb suggests much atmosphere, and it works very well. Sometimes it sounds like a William Basinski piece, but then trimmed down a lot in length and there is quite an amount of variation in these pieces also which makes this a most enjoyable album. An excellent album in fact of some imaginative ambient music. (FdW)
Address: https://cladistic.bandcamp.com/
BRANDON HURTADO/TANNER GARZA (cassette by Bookend Recordings)
It comes with the territory, I guess, but the first thing I thought was: Brandon Hurtado? Is that son of one of the Hurtado brothers, also known as Etant Donnes? One sees all sorts of things that are probably not there. On this very limited tape (thirty copies only), Hurtado has the first side. He’s from Richmond, Virginia and describes his own music as “Wavering and blurry. Internal issues and conflicts viewed through a variety of lenses”. The four pieces are short, around five minutes, and contains a nice blurry, weazy, fluffy and eerie sound. There is a bit with field recordings from a construction site, some guitar sounds on a wooden floor and lots of effective electronics to melt all of this into moody ambient music. Great stuff, although perhaps not the most ‘new’ one. Who cares about that, anyway?
Labelboss Tanner Garza is on the other side of the tape and he too taps in the ambient well of sounds with his sparse synth/guitar (both or just either of these) sounds. His almost sixteen minute ‘Strigoi’ is minimal in development, with sounds coming in very slow, but with an interesting linear development. His more estranged ambient music of before – I must admit I didn’t hear all of his vast output – is now replaced by more gentle, sustaining sounds. ‘Lonely Days’ is a shorter piece of field recordings and doesn’t necessarily adds something. Maybe he should have extended the other piece on the entire side of the tape and make a more spacious ending – a cycle perhaps? (FdW)
Address: https://bookendrecordings.bandcamp.com
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All written by Frans de Waard (FdW), Dolf Mulder (DM) <dolf.mulder@hetnet.nl>, Niels Mark (NM), Jliat (Jliat), Freek Kinkelaar (FK), Jan-Kees Helms (JKH), Michael Tau (MT) and others on a less regular basis.
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