JUNJI HIROSE – SSI-5 (CD by Ftarri) *
KHOST – CORROSIVE SHROUD (CD by Cold Spring)
DAVID ROTHENBERG & KORHAN EREL – BERLIN BÜLBÜL (CD by Gruenrekorder)
NATE WOOLEY – BATTLE PIECES SOUND (CD by Relative Pitch)
PETER EVANS & TIM DAHL MIKE PRIDE PULVERIZE THE SOUND (CD by Relative Pitch)
ARKORA – SONGS FROM THE RAINSHADOW’S EDGE (CD by Redshift)
BAD SECTOR – CEPHUS (CD, private) *
MINGLE – STATIC (CD by Kvitnu) *
YAPORIGAMI – A HECTIC TRUER (CD by FF Space) *
SYLVAIN CHAUVEAU – HOW TO LIVE IN SMALL SPACES (CD by Brocoli) *
DARKRAD – LITTLE BLACK WORLD (CD by Audiophob) *
NAM-KAHR & SIELWOLF – ATAVIST CRAFT (CD by Sombre Soniks) *
NEGRU PVLSE – FERVERE (CD by Ur Muzik) *
ARTEFACTUM – ROSARIUM HERMETICUM (CD by Ur Muzik) *
PETER J WOODS – IMPURE GOLD, PT II (LP by Ftam)
ROGER DÖRING & KONRAD KORABIEWSKI – KOMPLEX (LP by Gruenrekorder)
JOCHEN ARBEIT & MICHAEL ESPOSITO – ALL THE FUCKING VOICES (7″ flexi disc by Phantom Archives/Firework Editions)
EMIL KLOTZSCH – GOTT (CDR by Eta Label) *
CECCATO & BABIN & GOLINSKI – TOR (CDR by Edgetone Records)
OA – OA (CDR by Edgetone Records)
DAG ROSENQVIST – THE FOREST DIARIES (CDR by Eilean Records) *
JUNJI HIROSE – SSI-5 (CD by Ftarri)
‘SSI-5’ is the follow-up to ‘SSI-4’, Junji Hirose’s previous solo release (see also Vital Weekly 886), but there are no earlier versions I believe. Hirose is a Japanese improviser, who is best known for playing the tenor and soprano sax, and who influenced by jazz musicians. Hirose is also someone who created his own instrument from junk he found and which put into a frame, so it looks like an instrument as opposed to a pile of junk. This new work sounds quite different from the previous release. We have here one long piece that lasts thirty-eight minutes and one that lasts five minutes. I read that Hirose plays it by ‘bowing, hitting, rubbing and so on’ and that he uses digital reverb. In ‘Part 1’, the long piece, he probably uses a lot of bowing techniques and creates a highly powerful kind of drone music. It’s static yet moving; it’s not some careful examination of the tonal qualities of the instrument but rather an ever changing, machine like sound that we encounter here. It sounds like a microphone in a space is picking it up; this is a microphone recording from a concert in 2014. That space thing is another filter for the music, giving it quite some vibrancy. Hirose keeps moving and changing his sounds and it doesn’t even remotely improvised. It’s more a piece of industrial music I think, with a fine sustaining quality to it. The short ‘Part 2’ doesn’t seem to add much, and is basically more of the same. Perhaps this is the encore to the original concert? It sounds all right though and adds a nice a bonus. Quite some powerful music was found here, and played loud had the most impact. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ftarri.com
KHOST – CORROSIVE SHROUD (CD by Cold Spring)
Khost from Birmingham is the collaborative effort of Andy Swan (Iroha, Atrocity Exhibition) and Damian Bennett (Carthage, Deathless). «Corrosive Shroud» is a follow up to the 2014 album Copper Lock Hell and also on this record we hear slow repetitive industrial doom metal – intense dirges to the grey post-industrial architecture we dwell in and the concrete skeletons that constitute our visual world (at least for some of us). The production sports, unlike your average doom album, a high end, even digital sounding production, which does fit to the industrial profile. The first parallel that came to mind was to the brick walled sound of Author and Punisher, though right away I’d have to say the tracks on this album are much more elementarily metal-based, with those sequenced downbeat drum patters and emphasis on the severely down-tuned / 7 string / baritone guitars. Maybe a more appropriate comparison would be Jesu playing a snail-paced version of the album «Enemy of the Sun» by Neurosis, an octave down from its original tuning. Dwelling on that comparison; there is a similar ritual quality to the album – almost in spite of its obvious industrial nature, one might think – which is for instance to be found in the recurring motif of chanting. Whereas most screamed vocals are almost chemically distorted, the chanting is surprisingly clean and this gives this album an idiosyncratic touch. Also the track «Vmih» has something of an almost primitive locomotion to it that wouldn’t be out of place within the coercive ritualism of a Swedish death industrial set. My favourite track of the album is definitely «Forgery», which is a Sunn O)))-esque tour de force in perfect fifths, accompanied by lashes of guttural growls. The remix at the end doesn’t really add a new take on the whole thing, then again, it does secure the homogeneity of the record. (PJN)
Address: http://coldspring.co.uk/
DAVID ROTHENBERG & KORHAN EREL – BERLIN BÜLBÜL (CD by Gruenrekorder)
Rothenberg we have met earlier on Gruenrekorder releases, like ‘Bug music‘(2013) and ‘Cicada Dream Band’ (2014), that he recorded with Pauline Oliveros and Tomithy Hill. From that you may remember that this composer takes inspiration from nature. It is here that Rothenberg likes to find his fellow musicians. For instance he composed several works that depart from sounds produced by insects. But let us not forget that he also played with Marilyn Crispell, Jan Bang, Scanner, Glen Velez, Peter Gabriel, a.o. and has twelve cds out under his own name. On his new recording he collaborates with Berlin-based Turkish electronic musician Korhan Erel. Computer musician, improviser, sound designer Erel was one of the pioneers of the free improvisation scene in Turkey. He works in very different contexts (dance, video, installations, theatre, etc.). On ‘Berlin Bülbül’ Rothenberg and Erel report from their midnight sessions with singing nightingales. Rothenberg plays clarinet and bass clarinet plus effects. Erel uses samplers. Everything we hear is recorded live in a park in Berlin. Rothenberg and Erel interact with nightingales. “What is it like to play along with a nightingale? It becomes a direct window into the unknown, a touch of communication with a being with whom we cannot speak. The play of pure tones jarring against click and buzz, it all becomes not a code but a groove, an amphitheatre of rhythms in which we strive to find a place”. Of course there are also some other environmental sounds in the background, like a siren of an ambulance for example. It is difficult to determine from the recording whether the nightingale’s are stimulated in whatever way by the playing by Rothenberg and Erel. Both gentlemen however are, which makes this an interesting and pleasant experiment. (DM)
Address: http://www.gruenrekorder.de
NATE WOOLEY – BATTLE PIECES SOUND (CD by Relative Pitch)
PETER EVANS & TIM DAHL MIKE PRIDE PULVERIZE THE SOUND (CD by Relative Pitch)
Two new releases for Relative Pitch Records, a relatively young label from New York. Pulverize The Sound is a trio featuring Peter Evans (trumpet), Tim Dahl (electric bass, electronics) and Mike Pride (drums, percussion). The name of this trio is programmatic and describes adequately what they are doing, especially in the hammering passages that in most tracks occur. The trio is operating since 2010 in the New York scene, and seeks to combine improvisation and composition using characteristic elements: repetition, unison and very precise playing creating massive wall of sounds contrasted by silence, drones. Yes, they execute their attacks from a clear aesthetic viewpoint. Impressive, and resulting in a musical experience of great intensity. Like Peter Evans, Nate Wooley is a young and fresh trumpeter, an omnivore combining traditional and avant-garde jazz, rock, noise, overviewing some of his latest releases. Wooley is accompanied by saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock (Anti-House, Paradoxical Frog, Mary Halvorson Septet), vibraphonist Matt Moran (Claudia Quintet, Slavic Soul Party, Dan Levin), and pianist Sylvie Courvoisier (Erik Friedlander Trio, Herb Robertson Quintet, and duo with Mark Feldman). All of them excellent and reputed players. ‘Battle Pieces’ is a composed work by Wooley. The cd contains four extended ‘Battle Pieces’, and three so called ‘Tape Deconstructions’, condensed versions of the ‘Battle Pieces’. Composed on the one hand, but defining a space for optimal improvisation on the other. We hear cyclic patterns, subtle textures, dense and concentrated parts close to silence, exuberant interplay, extended techniques, etc. Not a dull moment. (DM)
Address: http://www.relativepitchrecords.com
ARKORA – SONGS FROM THE RAINSHADOW’S EDGE (CD by Redshift)
A release by Red Shift Music, who are in business since 2007 and with a focus on the works of young composers. Arkora is an ensemble dedicated to contemporary vocal chamber music based in the Vancouver-area. The ensemble started as an initiative by Kathleen Allan and Benton Roark in 2012 at the premiere of the work that is now released on cd. ‘Songs from the Rainshadow’s Edge’ is composed by Benton Roark and is performed by: Kathleen Allan (soprano), Amelia Lukas (flutes), Brendon Randall-Myers (electric guitar), Jonathan Allen (percussion), Anne Lanzilotti (viola), Samuel Suggs (double bass), Mary Barry (narration) and Maya Levy (narration). The work is a song cycle in five parts. The music is pastoral and poetic. Melody and harmony are important elements. Texts are either sung (beautifully!) by Allan, or recited by Barry and Levy. Some if it is poetry by the hand of Benton Roark, combined with fragments taken from Sartre, Eckhart, Borges, Huxley, a.o. This romantic, delicate music strongly reminded me of the dreamy chamber music of someone like Hector Zazou. Along similar lines Benton Roark paints colourful and evocative songs that deal with depersonalization from diverse psychological and philosophical perspectives. The work is composed very consequent from a clear, classical viewpoint, and shows a deep unity of music and text. So a very convincing work, although it may be perceived by many as bit out of phase with time, considered what one generally expects from ‘avant-garde’ composers. (DM)
Address: https://redshiftmusicsociety.bandcamp.com/
BAD SECTOR – CEPHUS (CD, private)
Over the years, and I must told you this before, but over the years I followed Bad Sector a bit, even when much of what they do seems to be a bit ‘gothic’, if of course I am allowed to say so. There is always some kind of darkness in their songs, but then there is also always that twinkling spark of experiment in this music. And it’s right because of that I am always keen to hear whatever they do; Bad Sector is anything but a formulaic darkwave group. The main man, nucleus one might say is Massimo Magrini, who gets credit here for analogue, digital and SW instruments, electric guitar. Besides that there are acoustic drum samples by Alessandro Baris and the sampled voice of Corsica S. Magrini says of these songs that they are special in that way that they are less experimental and more ‘song like’, but also tied into some conceptual edge. Each song started with the next letter for the alphabet, so ‘Austen’, ‘Breana’, ‘Cephus’, ‘Darion’ etc, until ‘Kamora’, but it’s hard to see the edge there, at least not an obvious one. However in many of these songs Bad Sector the sounds of number stations, you remember perhaps ‘The Conet Project’? These were recordings of shortwave radio sounds that were used in the Cold War to communicate between secret agents. Fascinating to hear, music wise and always a great source to plunder for your own end. That’s what Bad Sector also did and the guests seem to be limited to a few pieces only, such as the title piece, with it’s endless guitar solo and analogue drums quite a weak brother. The music works best when Bad Sector maintains an electronic sound, cold and distant, without guitars but with the sampled number stations providing alien and likewise robotic vocals it makes quite a curious of electro-pop. A bit slow perhaps for these days pop market, but some of these tunes are great, such as ‘Darion’ and the jumpy skipping techno of ‘Electa’. ‘Kamora’ is the only song (I think) in which the voice of Corsica S sounds, and she adds the human element to the music. That was a fine ending, a different ending also; I enjoyed this best when served cold and distant. Robot pop? Not yet. (FdW)
Address: http://bad-sector.com
MINGLE – STATIC (CD by Kvitnu)
YAPORIGAMI – A HECTIC TRUER (CD by FF Space)
Many, if not all of the releases on Ukranian Kvitnu deal with music that is very rhythmic and usually highly minimal; in many of the reviews of their releases Pan Sonic is a reference, and they themselves are also present with a release. This new release is something different. Andre Gastaldello is the man behind Mingle and in the 90s he worked for dance labels in Italy and had a trip hop band called AG Project, while also being a pianist and guitarist in De Curtis band. His instruments aren’t just anything electronic, but also piano and guitar. The eleven pieces on this CD show something else. Surely, there is some kind of rhythm in most of these pieces, but just as easily it is also not present in some pieces. Ambience is a keyword for Mingle. Lots of spacious keyboards and guitar drones are also part and parcel of this; sometimes there is some intelligent dance rhythm, such as in ‘Sevi Lwa’ or slowly fading in, or in a true minimal fashion, such as in ‘Dummies’. There is more to this music than many other releases on Kvitnu. In some way one could say it’s a pity that they diverge into more regular IDM music and distract from the pure minimal beats and sine waves, but it’s good to hear there are more roads to travel in the world of rhythmic music; to expand the Pan Sonic styled minimalist and dress it up with spacious sounds, melancholic pianos and even all out drone piece, sans any rhythm, as in ‘Too Late’. It all makes up for a very musical release, perhaps more musical than many others by this label (depending perhaps on your definition of what musical is), and in all its variation it works really well.
Maybe, in that respect, is the music from Japanese Yaporigami, also known as Yu Miyashita, more fitting on Kvitnu, but in stead released by another label from the Ukraine, FF Space. Yaporigami is active since 2005 and has had releases on Hz Records. All of the seven pieces use the word ‘Fragment’ in some way, and it could make that the listener thinks of these as being linked together. The way they sound they certainly do. That is perhaps a pity, I think. It makes that these seven pieces sound very much alike. There is the strong, almost minimal industrial beat that underlines all of these tracks, in a tempo that isn’t too fast, but still in some way a bit dance like. On top there are the time stretched sounds that are made to measure the beats. It refers to the sound of the holy trinity Pan Sonic, Alva Noto and Ryoji Ikeda, but it sounds even more sterile and cleaner than those bands. Although it’s not a bad release, I must admit I have some doubt about all of this. Due to the uniformity there is certainly something lacking in the variation department. It’s more like a CD single with seven variations, then a full-length album with seven new pieces. But if a bit of mixing is your thing and you like it all minimal then this is certainly the place to be. (FdW)
Address: http://www.kvitnu.com
Address: http://www.ffspace.info
SYLVAIN CHAUVEAU – HOW TO LIVE IN SMALL SPACES (CD by Brocoli)
The name Sylvain Chauveau, I must admit, I know better than his music. He has had releases with Stephan Mathieu and on Type Records, Fat Cat and Les Disques Du Soleil. I know he also uses vocals. His work with groups such as 0 and On (with Steven Hess) I know better. This new album contains four instrumental pieces, so perhaps also not the best way to start. These pieces were composed for dance performances by Christian Rizzo and Cecile Loyer, and contain mostly piano music. Pieces one and three are piano solo (for Rizzo) and are the two chapters of the title piece. It’s music with lots of silence. Chauveau plays a few tones, and waits until the sustain has fully died out and then some more before he strums another few tones. It’s like an extremely slowed down version of Erik Satie, but the silence of Morton Feldman is also something to keep in mind, even when the pieces by Chauveau aren’t that long. In the two other pieces (two and four on the disc), Chauveau plays around with electronic sounds. In ‘The Metaphysical Side Of Wabi sabi’ he uses quite abstract electronic tones to create a likewise minimal piece but it’s never something that goes below the threshold of hearing. In ‘On The Time Suspended’ Chauveau uses various string instruments, which seem to be strummed in random way, like they are being hit with objects flying in a mild breeze. These signals are picked up and fed through the computer, effectively re-modelled into static hiss; this happens twice in this piece in almost similar configurations. Whatever piece enclosed in this week’s podcast: keep in mind that the other half of the CD is totally different. Which makes that is a greatly varied release with music of high quality. Minimal throughout but of a different nature in both pieces (times two). (FdW)
Address: http://www.brocoli.org
DARKRAD – LITTLE BLACK WORLD (CD by Audiophob)
NAM-KAHR & SIELWOLF – ATAVIST CRAFT (CD by Sombre Soniks)
NEGRU PVLSE – FERVERE (CD by Ur Muzik)
ARTEFACTUM – ROSARIUM HERMETICUM (CD by Ur Muzik)
Last week I was away, still in The Netherlands but with some very bad weather. Now I’m back and I am listening to the music of Darkrad, while it’s all sunny again. Darkrad is Jana Komaritsa, born in Russia and living in the USA. Her debut was released by Cold Meat Industry in 2012 and two years later she released ‘Little Black World’ as a limited edition cassette on her own Mrakmur label. This CD version has all of the pieces, plus a five bunch pieces (curious: one of these is the title piece!) and two remixes, by Dirk Geiger and Spherical Disrupted). This is not music one enjoys with blazing sunshine and a cocktail. It’s all very dark, very obscure, gloomy and atmospheric. Audiphob informs us that this all of this is dark ambient and noise, but it’s more of the industrial variety than of the ambient, me thinks. Darkrad uses electronics, sometimes very droney and ambient, but also piercing straight into one’s brain and everything comes with vocals buried just beneath the surface of hearing. Whispering maybe but, and surely the music is a guide here, it all sounds very oppressive and dark. Not exactly fun and sun music, but something to put aside and play in those days where the nights are longer than the days. Cold and distant music, sinister even; hardly the kind of ambient music that sets a fine homely atmosphere, but that might not be the intention anyway.
Along similar lines of all things creepy and sinister is the release by Nam-Khar and Sielwolf. Of the first we reviewed a privately released CDR back in Vital Weekly 704, and of Sielwolf I am pretty sure we never reviewed anything. It’s the musical project of Peter Trochir, and somehow, from my record shop(ping) days I remember Sielwolf as an industrial band. Nam-Khar is a trio from Frankfurt, Germany, and their first release didn’t do much for me, but wasn’t bad either. In this collaboration they explore their mutual love for ritual music. Perhaps I see this as an extension of the music presented by Darkrad, except that this is the more rhythmic variation of industrial music. These four people use percussion, singing bowls, analogue synthesizers and field recordings. The end result is five long pieces, spanning some fifty minutes in total. Here too, but then a lot less, we have whispering, creepy vocals. As said rhythm plays a big role and it is usually slow, while percussion instruments are also used to create drone like sounds, using bows to play cymbals. In ‘Amei’ the rhythm is very continuous and a bit faster. The atmospheric, mood card is also played in this release, but throughout less creepy and sinister. Here the intention to play music that could be used in some or another form of ritual is quite clear and it works well. Also too dark for a hot day, it nevertheless makes up a refined release. Perhaps not entirely my cup of tea, but also totally enjoyable if rituals is not really your cup of tea.
Lines connect, perhaps, in the release by Negru Pvlse. You may remember Moljebka Pvlse, the musical project of Mathias Josefson and behind this Pvlse he works together with Peter Nyström (Negru Voda, ex-Megaptera), hence the new band name. ‘Fervere’ means, apparently, to cook in Latin and maybe that reflects something of the music: the cooking of sounds? I am not all too sure. It is their second album, following ‘Madeira’ on Old Europa Cafe in 2002. Indeed a long wait, and I can’t say a long awaited one, as I haven’t heard ‘Madeira’. I know quite a bit of the music of Moljebka Pvlse, but I am not well versed in the music of Megaptera, let alone Negru Voda. Through the music is as dark as the other releases in this section, and it seem to combine the darkness of both, the noise of Darkrad and occasionally the rhythms of Sielwolf/Nam-Khar. The analogue synths howl and hiss, while the distortion and other stomp boxes work overtime. The nine pieces are untitled (so discogs tell me, as I have a hard time reading in circles), but I think some of this is recorded in concert, as some of these pieces flow into each other, but also the sound quality seems to suggest in that direction, which makes. It’s quite an industrial music tour de force here in which the dark ambient of Moljebka Pvlse plays a more modest role but it’s unmistakably in there somewhere. When it comes out we see that there is a bit more variety, which works very much in favour of the release.
On the same label we find Artefactum, with a re-issue of 2006’s ‘Rosarium Hermeticum’, which was the second release by Merissa d’Erlette. The differences between all of these releases are very small and may lie in the smallest detail. A more feminine aspect perhaps for Artefactum? Whatever that may be, but here and there we hear the whispering; like in a fairty-tale? A cloud covered swamp? Who knows, but this music too is loaded with darkness, rhythm, voices and a bit less on the noise side and a bit more dominant on the ambient side. This all makes the music of Artefaktum perhaps the darkest of this lot, very much like the fine horror music. Moody whispering voices, slowed down acoustic objects, a bit of synthesizer here and there, found voices from beyond (most likely films of course), this is some very interesting music. Especially the use of field recordings and acoustic objects is something we don’t hear used in this way: Artefaktum is quite original in that and seems less to dwell on the use of electronics and effects. Not every composition is equally strong here, but throughout this was all a very refined work. (FdW)
Address: http://www.audiophob.de
Address: https://sombresoniks.bandcamp.com
Address: http://ur-muzik.blogspot.com
PETER J WOODS – IMPURE GOLD, PT II (LP by Ftam)
Music by Peter J. Woods has been reviewed before, and the last bigger release was the first part of ‘Impure Gold’, reviewed in Vital Weekly 941. Woods curates also a music festival in Milwaukee, and runs the Ftam label. He was a member of such punk and metal bands as Galactic Cannibal and Mountain Language, but in his solo work he uses ‘noise’, ‘silence’ and spoken word, all, more or less, to an equal extent. It reminds me of Eric Lunde, but it’s most of the time not that noisy and Woods is not so much into altering his own voice. He says his interests come from the world ‘harsh noise and absurdist theatre’. When I say ‘equal parts’ it doesn’t mean that there is some kind of mathematical division between these bits of noise, silence and spoken word. In ‘Skin And Movement’, the piece that fills up the first side of this record, noise prevails. Noise of the variety with tons of distortion pedals being pushed through the floor, but it opens with stringed instruments, drums and voice, almost in an improvised manner. When the noise wall comes in, I thought it was less interesting. On the other side we have two pieces. ‘Comedy’ (maybe inspired by Kevin Drumm I wondered) is the noise piece here, but with a lengthy block of sheer silence. ‘Seeking Grace/Rattling Teeth’ is something different. Compiled from a bunch of loops, which could be a telephone lines and the crackling of plastic shopping bag, there is some highly subtle sounds woven through it. There is little of spoken word here, but musically the most interesting piece, along with ‘Comedy’ finer moments. ‘Comedy’ is clearly divided into four sections, each with its specific character of silence and noise. (FdW)
Address: http://experimentalmilwaukee.com
ROGER DÖRING & KONRAD KORABIEWSKI – KOMPLEX (LP by Gruenrekorder)
This collaboration by multimedia artist Korabiewski and saxophonist Döring was realized over a period of two years in Iceland and Berlin. Korabiewski is a sound-artist, composer and media artist, plus director of a centre for experimental music in Iceland. Berlin-born Döring is a musician but also working as an actor in film and theatre. Since 1999 he is one half of the German duo Dictaphone. On this album Döring plays baritone sax, tenorsax, clarinet and dictaphone. In each track only one of these instruments is played. Korabiewski adds a live electronic treatment, with a special attention for the acoustics of the recording sites. But also dubbing Dörings playing. His treatments are of a minimal and sober kind, but also unmistakably present, giving the sound its definite shape. Döring plays long notes, musical lines that meander slowly forward. So their musical dialogues are overall of a meditative and reflective nature. It like their improvisations most all because of the physicality and concreteness of the sounds produced. Very pure and with an emotional content. Very impressive is also the picture on the cover of this album. Two people in the front seats of an automobile, photographed from the back. Just seeing the silhouettes of both persons. Intriguing. (DM)
Address: http://www.gruenrekorder.de
JOCHEN ARBEIT & MICHAEL ESPOSITO – ALL THE FUCKING VOICES (7″ flexi disc by Phantom Archives/Firework Editions)
It’s been a while since I last saw a flexi from Michael Esposito, but he is still releasing them. In all of these releases the use of Electronic Voice Phenomena play an important role – the voices from unexplained areas, or as some would say ‘beyond’. Esposito no longer has a fixed label to release these, but who ever he works with get a label mention. Perhaps a bit chaotic for true fans, but all the nicer. He handles the graphic side of things and the gives the raw EVP sound material to be used to the artist. In this case Jochen Arbeit, erstwhile member of Einsturzende Neubauten, Die Haut and such like, but here he has some electronic rhythm going on, which holds up surprisingly well in the format of a flexi disc. A strong minimal beat and bass rhythm and the EVPs coming to us loud and clear, and in an ever-growing majority. Limited copies come with the same music but then pressed onto an x-ray disc, in true ancient soviet style. An excellent piece of music. It’s a pity (but this is what I always think when I review these) that these pieces are so short and limited to one side only. And hopefully one day a collection of all of these pieces would be great! So far: an excellent series, and this is another great addition. (FdW)
Address: http://www.discogs.com/artist/1214261-Michael-Espositohttp://www.fireworkeditionrecords.com
EMIL KLOTZSCH – GOTT (CDR by Eta Label)
Here’s a new name, for me at least (oh, I am not allowed to say that anymore, as it seems to make this all algorhythmic writing), who started this work in a small chapel. There he recorded his instruments, such as a kalimba, voice, melodica and an old harmonium, using the chapel as a reverb box. All of this material was cut into loops, which he, back home, fed through his modular synth, and then ‘synth drones were flattering and bashing the instrument loops. A symbiosis of two elements was held, the marriage of electricity and organic sound’. That is something that remains to be seen. When listening to these six lengthy pieces it’s not easy to spot those original recordings. It could perhaps be anything that is fed into the modular synth, as what we hear best is just the modular synth, except in ‘Böse’ we hear a bit of the kalimba. It makes all of this together quite a bit of a noise-based release, which is perhaps kind of surprising. Recordings in chapel are something that one could perhaps all too easily expect to result in ‘ambient drone’, but that’s not the kind of music Klotzsch plays. His drones are on the contrary a bit louder and a bit meaner than the usual thing; ‘Amen’, the closing piece is more the usual thing with a somewhat dreamier atmosphere for the bigger part, but then this too has some distorted sound in the end. All of this makes that the music is quite unusual; it’s maybe a pity that the balance between electronics and organic sounds is a bit in favour of the electronics, but these power drones in it make up some interesting minimal soundscapes. A beautiful release! (FdW)
Address: http://www.etalabel.com
CECCATO & BABIN & GOLINSKI – TOR (CDR by Edgetone Records)
OA – OA (CDR by Edgetone Records)
We find two extended improvisations, Starch’ and ‘Grit’ on this album by the trio of Drew Ceccato (tenor sax), Tommy Babin (bass) and Chris Golinski (drums). Ceccato is a recognized improviser from the west coast who worked with Roscoe Mitchell, Henry Grimes, Fred Frith, Karl Berger, Mark Dresser a.o. Besides tenor sax, he is an electronic musician. Golinksi feels at home within different musical contexts like rock, contemporary composed music and improvised music. Babin is a bass player from the Vancouver–scene and is around with his own Babin’s Benzene. The three develop some engaging, narrative excursions, with a central role for Ceccato. They show a balanced and fine interplay, and know where to go. Matt Davignon and Hugh Behm Steinberg present their first work and choose OA as their name. Davignon is from Oakland and is into experimental music, specialized in manipulating sounds of acoustic origin. Not in an academic sense, but through years of trial and error he gained his skills and shaped his ideas. Behm Steinberg is a writer. So we have here a project that combines text and sound. They use spoken stories, phrases, words and phonemes as the building blocks for their improvised music. Besides Matt and Hugh themselves, Mary Behm-Steinberg (who also did the artwork), Bob Marsh, Gretchen Jude and Denise Newman lend their voices. Once more two free, experimental works as we are used from Edgetone. (DM)
Address: http://www.edgetonerecords.com
DAG ROSENQVIST – THE FOREST DIARIES (CDR by Eilean Records)
Sometimes known as Jasper TX and sometimes as Dag Rosenqvist, here under the latter banner. I am never sure what the difference is, as in both guises he seems to tap in the deep seas of ambient music. There is no list of instruments mentioned on the cover, but I recently read an interview with him and especially on his studio, where he keeps his guitars, keyboards and piano. I was impressed by his words that he uses cassettes to record music on and use these as an extra tool. It was something I could have never told you based upon listening to the music. This is something that also happens here. The instruments are easily to be recognized: various bits are played on the piano, and then some on guitar and the harmonium is never far away. In ‘VIII’, the longest piece here, there are indeed the drones of harmonium and lots of (cassette?) hiss, but it’s the exception here. Most other pieces are quite ‘clean’. Clean as in the way one recognizes the instruments yet all highly atmospheric. Drone- and dreamlike, but in the capable hands this all comes with a lot of variation. This variation comes via the use of the instruments – one takes the lead per track and another one in the next, but also the use in dynamics. Some of these pieces are significant lower in volume than other, with ‘IX’ being almost inaudible. This is an excellent release. Maybe not with the newest of insights on the matter of drone and ambience, but it’s all executed with the greatest care. (FdW)
Address: https://eileanrec.bandcamp.com/