Vital Weekly 610

============
VITAL WEEKLY
============
number 610
------------
week 3
------------

Vital Weekly, the webcast: we offering a weekly webcast, freely to download.
This can be regarded as the audio-supplement to Vital Weekly. Presented as a
radioprogramm with excerpts of just some of the CDs (no vinyl or MP3)
reviewed. It will remain on the site for a limited period of 5 weeks.
Download the file to your MP3 player and enjoy!
complete track and list here: http://www.vitalweekly.net/podcast.html

* noted are in this week's podcast

ANGEL - KALMUKIA (CD by Editions Mego) *
M.B. - E.D.A. - REGOLELETTRONICHE (CD by Baskaru) *
THE STORY OF MODERN FARMING - SOMEONE NEW - (CD by D'Autres Cordes)
MATHIAS DELPLANQUE - LA PLINTHE (CD by Optical Sound) *
KAPITAL BAND 1 - PLAYING BY NUMBERS (CD by Mosz) *
MERZBOW - HIGANBANA (CD by Vivo Records) *
KK NULL - BARYO GENESIS (CD by Vivo Records) *
DE RAASKAL BOM FUKKERZ - VENNOTEN IN DE SCHADUW (CD by Toztizok)
MICO NONET - THE MARMALADE BALLOON (CD by Mico Nonet Records) *
MICO NONET - MALOJA PASS/HAMMOCK (7" by Mico Nonet Records)
CRITIKAL - GRAPHORRHEA (CD by Kvitnu) *
KRAKEN - DRIFT (CD by Spectre Records) *
SKINCAGE - THINGS FALL APART (CD by Spectre Records)
THE [LAW-RAH] COLLECTIVE - ...AS IT IS... (double 3"CD by Spectre Records)
ASMUS TIETCHENS - TEILS TEILS (LP by Swill Radio)
FEAR FALLS BURNING - FIRST BY A WHISPER, THEN BY A STORM (LP by Tonefloat)
FEAR FALLS BURNING - WHEN MYSTERY PREVADES WELL, THE PROMISE SETS FIRE (LP
by Tone Float)
STAPLERFAHRER - TREETOPS (LP by Heilskabaal Records)
KASPER VAN HOEK - NP3 (businesscard CDR, private)
LOGOPLASM & PUNCK - DRUNK UPON THY HOLY MOUNTAIN (CDR by Setola Di Maiale
Records) *
Z-ARC - ACCUMULATIVE EFFECT (CDR by Boltfish Recordings) *
KIRAMEKI (CDR by Bearsuit Records)
SPIT - LITTLE KING ANNUAL (CDR by CLaudia) *
PLAYING SOUND (3"CDR compilation by CLaudia)
HEARING MUSIC (3"CDR compilation by CLaudia)
METEK & JLIAT - PINGUU++BONDAGE (3"CDR by Jliat) *
IN THE EYE OF VISION (tape by Dreamtime Taped Sounds)
GAS SHPEHERDS (tape by Dreamtime Taped Sounds)
FRICARA PACCHU - KLEINSTEIN & CO (tape by Dreamtime Taped Sounds)
HENRY KUNTZ - SPEED OF CULTURE LIGHT (4 tapes by Dreamtime Taped Sounds)

ANGEL - KALMUKIA (CD by Editions Mego)
The word 'hobby project' is a word I don't particularly like. It sounds like
something is not serious or for plain fun, without too much effort. With
various releases as Angel, it's probably safe to say that Angel is no longer
the hobby project of Ilpo Vaisanen (from Pan Sonic), Dirk Dresselhaus
(Schneider TM) and since their last CD also Hildur Gudnadottir (Lost In
Hildurness, she also plays on the latest Pan Sonic release) - it's as much a
real thing as their 'main' occupations. Four lengthy cuts here of guitar,
cello and loads of electronics - loads as in many, but they are not used all
the time and to the same extent. The pieces are rather empty, like a dessert
can be empty, yet full of sand, if you look at the detail. 'Kalmukia' seems
like a concept album, with the four pieces linked together. It moves away
from the previous, much louder and fuller releases. More is less it seems.
The empty music is not always bright, or rather: hardly bright. This is not
black but grey music -
an area in between the sun doing down, or autumn changing for winter. In
between space music. The music howls about like cold wind over the tundra -
perhaps a better reference than a hot dessert. Cello and guitar strum about,
while the electronics shiver in the background. A bit of raw and a bit
quiet. Very nice, this grey and cold winter music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.editionsmego.com

M.B. - E.D.A. - REGOLELETTRONICHE (CD by Baskaru)
Twenty years of silence is made up in a few years via an endless stream of
releases from our beloved Maurizio Bianchi, also known as M.B. who teams up
here with his twenty year colleague Emanuela de Angelis, who was the lead
singer and guitarist of Joyce Whore Not and who founded later Mou, Lips!.
Since 2004 she works solo. Like with a lot of collaborations that Bianchi
undertook in recent times, it's pretty unclear how things were made, who did
what. Bianchi gets credit for 'rulelectronics', loops and waves and De
Angelis for drones, re-echoings and also 'rulelectronics'. 'Electronic rules
for reflecting disciples' it says on the cover. The four pieces are pretty
minimal affairs of shifting layers of drones of similar yet detailed
differences. The whole things hums, vibrates and shakes on all sides.
Ambient industrial at it's very best, steady moving, slowly changing. Very
cleverly things get stretched throughout a piece, to make more space, which
works best in the opening piece
'Earthly Principle'. This is a pretty strong collaborative disc, of highly
unsettling ambient drone music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.baskaru.com

THE STORY OF MODERN FARMING - SOMEONE NEW - (CD by D'Autres Cordes)
This obscure french label is new to me. It is, in their own words, a
"post-radiophonic, avant-jazz, electronic, pop rock label. So be it. Their
small catalogue concentrates on french musicians, but with The Story of
Modern Farming this is not the case. It is a duo of two young female
talents.
From Denmark comes Loise Dam Eckardt Jensen,
playing alto-saxophone, xylophone a.o., Jessica Sligter is from Holland (but
living and working in Oslo). We hear her on keyboards, electronics, guitar,
and above all vocals. On their debut they present a collection of 10 songs,
most of them built around the vocals of Sligter. Most compositions were
composed, improvised together. Sligter wrote the vocals. It is obvious she
listened a lot to jazz and soul vocalists, and in a way she stays close to
this tradition. The difference however is that her singing is not
accompanied by a swinging jazz band. In stead electronics dominate, together
with the subtile saxplaying by Jensen. They create an minimalistic and
ambient-like background, with, from time to time, loud eruptions produced by
the free-jazz playing Jensen, or freaky playing on the keyboards. Altogether
it is strange slow music, open and poetic in nature, evoking dreamy
atmospheres, meditating on themes that come from daily life. 'Kenny Gsus' is
the exception, and has a nice
instrumental battle between the ladies. Throughout the album Sligter and
Jensen give an emotional and inspired interpretation of their songs. An
unusual and interesting release it is. (DM)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/dautrescordes

MATHIAS DELPLANQUE - LA PLINTHE (CD by Optical Sound)
Like many other musicians, Mathias Delplanque works under different guises
to present different kinds of music. As Lena he plays dub like music, and
under his own name things are more microsound. I wasn't blown away by his
previous 'Le Pavillon Temoin', but this new one, 'La Plinthe' (meaning The
Baseboard) is better. Although, I readily admit that the differences aren't
that big. Again, Delplanque seems to be using various acoustic instruments
(such as guitar, piano, drums etc.) but treats them to such an extent that
that can be no longer traced back to the original source, so I must admit I
am guessing here. It's a bit hard to say why I like this album better than
the previous. Maybe it's because there are lesser attempts to create small
melodies and overall it seems that album is more abstract, working more
along the lines of say Richard Chartier or Roel Meelkop. The pieces are more
worked out, and have tension throughout, which grabs the listener more than
before. Throughout 'La
Plinthe' is a pretty strong album. Maybe not in its genre per se, but quite
a leap forward. (FdW)
Address: http://www.optical-sound.com

KAPITAL BAND 1 - PLAYING BY NUMBERS (CD by Mosz)
It's been a while since we heard first about Kapital Band 1 (Vital Weekly
404), but no doubt Micolas Bussmann and Martin Brandlmayr have not been lazy
in the past five years. There seems to have a second album, which I missed
out upon. On this new album, the two extend beyond their usual instruments
(bass and drum) and add cello, guitar, vibraphone, marimba, voice and flute,
all but the latter played by them. Their background in other bands, such as
Beige Oscillator, Ich Schwitze Nie, Radian and Trapist can be heard in their
playing. The partly improvised music has, certainly in the title track, a
strong jazzy feel to it, mainly through the use of drums and the cello. The
long 'Playing The Night In Vienna' is based on a street recording to which
they add sparse instrumentation, but which give a very nice environmental
nocturnal feel to it. That feel is continued 'Counting The Waves' which has
more 'musical' information, including a voice reciting the title. Highly
comfortable, easy
music, with strong melodic music that works best sipping a glass of red wine
in the evening. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mosz.org

MERZBOW - HIGANBANA (CD by Vivo Records)
KK NULL - BARYO GENESIS (CD by Vivo Records)
One undisputed king of noise, and one that could be king if there wasn't one
already. Merzbow, the unstoppable, is the undisputed king of noise. This is
release number 'I long forgot' and harks back to so many of his recent
computerized noise releases. Playing 'noise, computer and EMS synthi A' this
is all known territory. At times it seems like there is no progress in
Merzbow's sound, and this one is one of those 'more of the same'. Its great
of course, and I really like it. I have been collecting Merzbow for twenty
years until a few years ago, when I found myself playing a lot of them only
once, which I believe should not be the point of collection music.
Collecting music by a certain artist means you have to play it. If you can't
find the time anymore to hear things more than once, one should stop
collecting. Since then I only hear new Merzbow when it lands on my doorstep
and all the others are missed out upon. No problem, because since then the
occasional Merzbow is much better
than the one time only Merzbow. 'Higanbana' is fine disc, but a stand still.
i don't believe the fans would care about that.
KK Null would have been king of noise if Merzbow wouldn't be on the throne.
Ever since his work with ANP and Zeni Geva he loves to work with the raw end
of music and sound, which has become increasingly more abstract and less
rock based than say in his Zeni Geva days. Unlike Merzbow there is a
stronger rhythmic component in his music which forms the backbone of his
music. It's however not a rhythm of stomping kind, techno like or any such
like, but more the repeated action of highly splintered sound fragments,
which are looped. On top KK Null plays a brand of harsher noise textures of
freaked out psychedelic electronics. Other than Merzbow - again - KK Null's
sound is much more detailed and clearer, even in the endless stream of
information that his music is. Four strong heavy blasts of noise, and the
tracks are pretty long, but in order to get this music working right, it
only seems natural to give it such a length. Here too we can wonder about
the progress of the music, since it's
certainly not Null's first CD, but with a discography that is considerable
smaller than Merzbow's that is hardly a problem. (FdW)
Address: http://www.vivo.pl

DE RAASKAL BOM FUKKERZ - VENNOTEN IN DE SCHADUW (CD by Toztizok)
"Hi Frans, hey man cool that you gave me that CD. Is it because I'm 20 that
you want my opinion, or because you know I like rap music? Or perhaps both?
Well, these are cool dudes playing rap music with wacked out Dutch lyrics -
a bit like De Jeugd Van Tegenwoordig, but more heavy and strange. It's not
the usual shit I hear, because they sound a bit heavy on the music bit - you
know a bit like that crazy junk you always play when I am around. Well, of
course not as extreme, but this lot is not like the regular TMF stuff. No
doubt, the people that read your thingy Vital something that you do, will
like this, but if you print these words, I can keep the CD, because you have
a review, right? Love - A"
Address: http://www.toztozok.nl

MICO NONET - THE MARMALADE BALLOON (CD by Mico Nonet Records)
MICO NONET - MALOJA PASS/HAMMOCK (7" by Mico Nonet Records)
Always I believed that a nonet is an ensemble of nine people, and Mico Nonet
has five, so that should have been quintet? Or perhaps I am all wrong - and
I didn't pay attention when my father tried to teach me classical music
terms. The five musicians at work here all have day jobs with symphony
orchestra's, all over the world: from Berlin, Richmond, Baltimore to
Philadelphia. Only their leader, one Joshua Lee Kramer (who is a member of
Matt Pond PA) is not, and he's also the only one who plays synthesizer. He
describes Mico Nonet as 'ambient chamber music' and quite right it seems to
me. French horn, oboe, cello and viola are the other instruments and they
play quiet chamber music that you could easily define as ambient. 'The
Marmalade Balloon' is their debut album with thirteen relatively short
pieces that glide by like a cold winter, sun-covered day. It's cold outside,
warm inside, and this music is the perfect soundtrack for such a day.
Sustained tones, glissando and pianissimo
with the synthesizer very much pushed to the background, producing an
overall color, rather than adding sound. Highly atmospheric music that could
come straight out of the Cold Blue Music catalogue. Peaceful music, without
being a cliche or new age.
It's a bit unclear why they also release two tracks from the album on
transparent 7" vinyl, as the charts seem far away, but played separate from
the album, this proofs that a single song the music works well too. 'Maljola
Pass' is a sad song while 'Hammock' is a bit more 'experimental' and free
flow. Nice indeed, but as a whole I prefer the album. (FdW)
Address: http://www.micononet.com

CRITIKAL - GRAPHORRHEA (CD by Kvitnu)
The internet is a community - well, that is to say, some people like to
believe that. It works for small groups but not for the big mass, all the
facebook and myspace and what have you is not a community at all. You may
disagree. Critikal is a group of people who may meet up every now and then,
because the music of Vital Weekly is also about tourism, but not doubt they
meet more in the digital area. It started out with Jeff Surak, Andrey
Kiritchenko and Jonas Lindgren; the latter left and now it's also with
Dmytro Fedorenko and Tobias Astrom. Each of them plays a variety of sound
sources, usually ending with a laptop. Kotra's Fedorenko is the main creator
of the music on 'Graphorrhea', 'transforming' the sounds supplied by the
others. It would be nice to hear what those sounds were, so we could 'check'
as it were what Fedorenko transformed, or perhaps even try our own hands on
the material. Fedorenko created thirteen short pieces of what might be
called 'laptop doodling'. As Kotra he
likes things to have some volume, and for this work it's not different.
Short explosions of distorted sound, with his own bass at times dominant
present, this doesn't always leave a good impression. It seems to me that
some of the tracks have more potential than what is offered here, and some
tracks have no head or tail. They just happen, as a block of noise, for the
sake of noise. That's too bad, since, as said, the full potential has not
been explored here. A more balanced product could have been the result.
(FdW)
Address: http://kvitnu.com

KRAKEN - DRIFT (CD by Spectre Records)
SKINCAGE - THINGS FALL APART (CD by Spectre Records)
THE [LAW-RAH] COLLECTIVE - ...AS IT IS... (double 3"CD by Spectre Records)
Releases by Belgium's Spectre label always look great - a sort of cross-over
between Staalplaat and Ant-Zen, and also the music they release may be found
in similar areas. Kraken is a stall artist for Spectre Records, but I don't
have much further information about who, what and why. Judging by the
various titles of the pieces it's more or less a concept album about fish
and how their caught. Sushi is murder is one of the tracks (well, a
translation of the title that is). It seems to me that this album has a
highly political meaning - the advocate of vegetarian life style, and to
that end they use on one hand synthesizer, sound effects and voices and on
the other hand what seems to me field recordings recorded on board of ships.
The end result however sounds less political - rather than a pamphlet its
more a poetic rant against the inhuman action of fishing. Dark ambient is
stamped all over this. Deep drone like, drenched in a lot of reverb,
screaming sounds of seagulls and other
underbelly underworld rumble. An unsettling work that however has more power
than say Merzbow's actions for animals. Darker than dark this hörspiel.
I don't think I ever came across the music of Skincage's Jon Ray. His debut
CD is from six years ago, so maybe I have forgotten about it. His music is
created with 'broken or somehow manipulated selfmade instruments', which he
seems to have sampled together. Music wise is a bit atonal, with nasty high
end sounds, lo-fi samples, percussive elements, strange drone intersections.
You guessed it: I thought this album was not very good. Despite working on
it for six years, it sounds like created in a couple of days, with half
ideas and not much thought to make his pieces interesting or create an
overall atmosphere. It's all rather unsurprising and dull. The sort of thing
which you can make yourself and better at that.
The [Law-rah] Collective did pop up in Vital Weekly before, but usually for
events they organize in Utrecht. Events that deal with ambient music, and
their own music is never far away. Their previous release, '1953' (also on
Spectre) was a conceptual, narrative piece on the flood of the same year
that hit the Netherlands. This new work, divided over two 3"CDs seems to
have less of a conceptual edge to it, or at least less obvious. The first CD
is has one piece called 'Water Torture' and the second has two pieces
'Heaven' and 'Hell'. Important for the The [Law-rah] Collective is the use
of voices, especially female. Not singing, but reciting text, poetry or
words. What they are about is not really important I think, since they are
embedded strongly in the music. The music itself is created through analogue
synthesizers and sound effects and have quite a strong ambient industrial
character. Not 'easy' background wallpaper ambient music, but one of a more
unsettling kind. Very nice.
Packed in a 7" sleeve with die cut. No doubt the owner of Spectre Records
has good connection to a fine printer. (FdW)
Address: http://www.spectre.be

ASMUS TIETCHENS - TEILS TEILS (LP by Swill Radio)
Now that Die Stadt is half way through re-releasing all the LPs by Asmus
Tietchens on CD, which I believe is a format that fits his music much
better, the anti-naturals of Swill Radio come with a new LP by him. Although
it seems, we are not entirely certain here, Asmus' music works in a sort of
digital environment these days, which makes it more delicate than before,
this LP is crisp and clear. Still derived from his 'Menge' series, resulting
in a whole bunch of CDs and some off shoot to vinyl (called 'Teilmenge'),
here are three more examples, plus a piece that is called 'Ein Weiteres
Leben Geht Zu Ende', which refers to a title on 'Notturno' if I'm not
mistaken. 'Teilmenge 20' is on the entire first side, and has a crackle
rhythm throughout, and underneath there are various blocks of sound which
are moved around, softly. It's like objects being pushed around through the
room and it makes a pretty unsettling atmosphere. Quite mathematical in a
way, but it has great warmth. On the
other side there are three tracks of which are two more pieces of
'Teilmenge', which have the same high pitched sound as we know from the
other pieces, the ring modulator working over time. In the middle there is
the 'Ein Weiteres Leben Geht Zu Ende' which could be a heavily treated piano
piece (if it is at all linked to 'Notturno'), slow and peaceful. Excellent
pressing this record, great minimal cover, fine music. What more do you
want? Something special. And be sure to turn up the volume for this LP!
(FdW)
Address: http://www.anti-naturals.org

FEAR FALLS BURNING - FIRST BY A WHISPER, THEN BY A STORM (LP by Tonefloat)
FEAR FALLS BURNING - WHEN MYSTERY PREVADES WELL, THE PROMISE SETS FIRE (LP
by Tone Float)
March the 1st 2005 was a historical day: for the first time Fear Falls
Burning is mentioned in Vital Weekly (in 463), with his first release 'First
By A Whisper, Then By A Storm'. That was a self-released CD which he sold on
a tour which kick started his career. Recently he found some more copies of
that CD along with the very first recordings he made as Fear Falls Burning,
which are now sold together. For a review of the CD go back to Vital Weekly
463, but the LP is pressed in a very limited edition. There is of course
nothing amateur about these recordings, as Vidna Obmana came out of Vidna
Obmana, which had be Dirk Serries' main project for twenty years, but with
hindsight one can see that these are the first sketches. Things are alright,
but not yet as refined as his later stuff. Dirk here tries to play in
real-time longer pieces, while applying all these effects to create an
interesting piece of music. This works best with the second piece on the
second side with its shifting
pitches. Quite one for the fans I think, but they are plenty by now.
Today, in Vital Weekly 610 it's the twenty-fourth time Fear Falls Burning is
mentioned and no doubt it's mostly about new releases. So let's say twenty
or so releases in three years - you could do worse. 'When Mystery Prevades
Well, The Promise Sets Fire' is a beautiful gate-fold sleeve LP with two
pieces, one per side. Glacier like music in which it seems that the effects
have a bigger role than the guitar. It's quite hard to recognize the guitar
in this music, with moves in a minimal way. More Eno)) than Sunno)) I'd say,
although there is a creepy undercurrent in Fear Falls Burning's music. This
record sees Dirk moving away from the signature sound from before: the
endless crescendo wall of sound building up, suddenly collapsing and stays
more on the ambient side of things. Maybe a bit more Vidna Obmana than Fear
Falls Burning - but I'm sure that would not be his intention. Very nice!
(FdW)
Address: http://www.tonefloat.com

STAPLERFAHRER - TREETOPS (LP by Heilskabaal Records)
KASPER VAN HOEK - NP3 (businesscard CDR, private)
One of Eno's 'Oblique Strategies' is 'to honor thy mistake'. I had to think
of that when listening to the very first LP by Steffan de Turck's
Staplerfahrer project. So far he came from the crude noise to more
sophisticated microsound, but due to some mistake in mastering this LP isn't
cut too well, which distorts in various places. So it has become a different
record than what he had in mind, I think. What was supposed to be a record
of more microsound like structures, became a more noise related item. On
side A there is long 'Soundtrack to Treetops For The New Millennium' a film
by Mahatma LeRoi, which has nice parts of seagulls, musicboxes and distorted
low and high end passages. It's of course hard to tell how this is related
to the film. On the other side there is 'Lover's Breath', which starts out
in a softer tone too, but when things reach their peak it's loud and
uncontrollable. I think this album displays well the possibilities of
Staplerfahrer to generate music that is
interesting, even given the technical problems surrounding this record and
surely cries for more like this in the future, but then exactly as intended.
Labelboss Kasper van Hoek released a business card CDR, for whatever unclear
reasons not on his own Heilskabaal label, but as a private thing. Three
pieces which were made as part of an exhibition in NP3, where he found all
the sound. Kasper's music so far has not been the most quiet, but it was
never as noisy as it is here. Loud distorted, chopped to pieces, with
feedback and scratching the surface. The brief character of this makes this
a lovely little item. Not a second too long, or too short. (FdW)
Address: http://www.heilskabaal.net

LOGOPLASM & PUNCK - DRUNK UPON THY HOLY MOUNTAIN (CDR by Setola Di Maiale
Records)
Two active members of Italy's microsound scene, each with a long discography
to their names, mainly in the areas of MP3 and CDR. Logoplasm is the duo of
Laura Lovreglio and Paolo Ippoliti and Punck is Adriano Zanni and the three
of them love to record the field and feed it to their laptops. Here things
are processed, treated, mixed and constructed into one long track, which
falls apart in various distinct different sections. The drones they built
something reminded me of The Hafler Trio in the early nineties, while they
use extended techniques to change the field recordings: cow bells, rain,
voices, sea gulls and such like. Together that makes a lot of sense and they
created a most interesting piece of music, compelling and intense as well as
relaxing at times. Perhaps not the most innovative things around, but surely
their most refined work to date. It's about time for a real CD or real piece
of vinyl. (FdW)
Address: http://www.setoladimaiale.net

Z-ARC - ACCUMULATIVE EFFECT (CDR by Boltfish Recordings)
Boltfish Recordings seems to have an endless stream of musicians that from
the outside - my side that is - are interchangeable, but no doubt in the
language of Boltfish are all highly unique. Z-arc is one Kris Derry, who has
releases on October Man and Clickclickdrone since 2005, but before played
with 'pop-rock' groups and has been DJing with a 'battered old MC303', but
these days he is an advocate of 'virtual studio technology' - meaning, I
think, he uses lots of software to create his music. This software imitates
analogue synthesizers and rhythm machines to create that fine IDM styled
music. His inspiration comes from novels by Asimov and popular science
concerned with universal atomic expansion. I'm quoting the press text here,
since I wouldn't have guessed by just listening to the music. That could be,
as far as I'm concerned be about anything - from a science fiction movie
soundtrack ('Transbeam' would be a good one for that) to travel music when
crossing the Orinoco. Which
means that like much of the artists, also the music they present is a bit
interchangeable. I hear only minor differences between this and other
artists on Boltfish. It's surely nice, entertaining and sometimes that is
all that is required. Not bad at all, but also something you might forget
when done with it. (FdW)
Address: http://www.boltfish.co.uk

KIRAMEKI (CDR by Bearsuit Records)
Two Japanese musicians, Harold Nono and one that goes by the symbol of _
form the duo Kirameki. I have no idea when and how this CDR will be released
by Bearsuit Records, as it all seems rather sketchy, but perhaps this
sketchy-ness fits the music quite well. Sketchy and vague. A bit of
breakcore at times, sampled together bits of pop and bits of computer
processing. It makes that this release is a bit all over the place, but
somehow never in the right place. Sometimes it's alright, but it seems that
they don't know what they want. Breakcore, disco, plunderphonics or
macrosound? I think it would have been better to find a direction first,
then create some songs and then release a work. Sometimes things do need
their time. (FdW)
Address: <bearsuitrecords@hotmail.com>

SPIT - LITTLE KING ANNUAL (CDR by CLaudia)
PLAYING SOUND (3"CDR compilation by CLaudia)
HEARING MUSIC (3"CDR compilation by CLaudia)
Three new releases on CLaudia, one of New Zealand's finer CDR labels. The
big one is by Spit, also known as Ryan Cockburn, who moved from Dunedin to
Melbourne, where he recorded this album. Cockburn has been turntable and was
a member of EYE, but for this album he picks up a wide variety of
instruments. On the CLaudia website you can find detailed notes on all
instruments used, which include anything from cheap toy guitars, mixers,
microphones and computer. The result is, despite the use of a computer, a
pretty lo-fi affair, but also a pretty varied affair. From strumming the
guitar, feeding the boxes on the floor, to pieces that include drums, such
as the rock like opening 'Etude Pour Un Derive'. The pieces are pretty long
and one could wonder if they aren't too long at times. It could have been
better if Spit would have trimmed things down a bit. But when he bumps in
some variety inside a track, like in 'Cheesegrater For The Knuckles' things
are pretty nice. One geographically very
well defined product.
The other two releases by CLaudia are compilations. 'Playing Sound' has four
pieces of each five minutes of guitar music. That is to say: music that is
made with guitars but do not necessarily sound like guitars. Un Ciego, Ben
Spiers, CJA & Jani Hellen and Pumice do the job well. There is the wall of
noise approach by Un Ciego in a deep down mood, while with Spiers the guitar
still sounds like a guitar, albeit on fire with the blues. Something
similar, a guitar to be recognized, is the piece by CJA and Jani Hellen, but
with a lot more effects to create a semi-psychedelic mood. Pumice's guitar
is highly distorted through use of some very crude computer processing. Four
approaches with four times a fine result.
The other compilation deals with field recordings and is a re-issue of four
individually released business card CDRs, compiled here so 'all the better
to collect their similarities and compare their differences'. It starts out
with Jane Austen playing the piano in a room with sleepy animals (or so it
seems), but it's not the best piece around. C. Cotrell has five short pieces
(here as one piece) of field recordings and computer processing, which is
quite nice. Yek-Koo also has field recordings, which he recorded "onto
home-made audio loopers. Then performed and mixed live with the addition of
two digital effects pedals." Automated music that works nicely in a raw but
ambient music way. Mark Sadgrove has 'Supoutso No Koe', a.k.a. sport songs,
recorded in the tennis court. Pretty much unprocessed, this is not exactly
music to sweat by, but provides a nice ambience and some Japanese intensity.
Nice compilations! (FdW)
Address: http://www.halftheory.com/claudia

METEK & JLIAT - PINGUU++BONDAGE (3"CDR by Jliat)
Our man of noise, busy with many volumes of 'Now That's What I Call Noise'
teams up with the for me unknown Metek and 'the process of exchange on 3inch
and 12inch vinyl', here only arrives in the form of a 3" CDR. Twelve minutes
of loud and vicious noise. My brother once asked me wether I was recording
the brushing of my teeth, when I was playing noise. The sound produced by
Metek and Jliat sort of reminded me of brushing teeth - but then with a
microphone, amplifier and a distortion box. For this release Jliat processed
fourteen one minute tracks by Metek, who reprocessed this later again, while
Jliat edited the whole thing. Pretty straight forward as one piece; that
whole process information is a bit lost in this endless stream of noise. For
the amount of musical information - twelve minutes in total - it's perhaps
even not necessary to know all of this. Long enough to hold the attention,
even for those who only mildly love noise. (FdW)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/jliat

IN THE EYE OF VISION (tape by Dreamtime Taped Sounds)
GAS SHPEHERDS (tape by Dreamtime Taped Sounds)
FRICARA PACCHU - KLEINSTEIN & CO (tape by Dreamtime Taped Sounds)
HENRY KUNTZ - SPEED OF CULTURE LIGHT (4 tapes by Dreamtime Taped Sounds)
Belgium's Dreamtime Taped Sounds loves the sort of mystery that I don't
love. Of these four (!, no seven!) tapes two of them come with a printed
cover that has absolutely no information on it. No artist name, no titles,
no label. Why that is so great simply eludes me. In The Eye Of Vision is one
of them (I got a letter saying which artist belong to which cover, and the
rest is on the website), which is a 'collection of edited jams between 1/2
ZIM ZIM ZIM and 1/1 DOLPHINS INTO THE FUTURE', whoever they might be. For
thirty minutes they dabble around with electronics in a sort of lo-fi
manner. Perhaps lo-fi is not the right word: no fidelity can be found here.
Perhaps it was fun to create this, but why share it?
Also no information whatsoever on the cover of Gas Shepherds, but again
according to the website they are 'two Birmingham druids that speak their
language with an odd dialect' and classified as "english autodidacts and
"musique concrète" - whatever all of that may mean. Tape loops in the old
meaning of the word of instruments, some feedback, and perhaps some
'concrete sounds' - that's about what I could detect through the hiss that
seems to be the main instrument of this release. Better than 'In The Eye Of
Vision', but also one that deserves better attention when it comes to
recording and mixing. One feels the ideas buried in there, but not fully
explored in the release.
More 'information' is on Fricara Pacchu's 'Kleinstein & Co'. It's recorded
in Turku, Finland. One Kevin Regan is behind it, and he is a member of
Avarus and Maniacs Dream and the label Lallallal - none of which ever washed
upon this shore. Much better recorded, much better music - maybe that's what
prompted Dreamtime Taped Sounds in spending more time on the cover? Wildly
improvised music at work here. It's hard to tell wether this is the work of
a band or just a crazy guy and a computer, but things rock out for sure.
Space rock like, but with healthy, firm dose of noise thrown in. Very nice.
This should have been on CDR - at least!
The best bit we have saved until the end. Liner notes! In Vital Weekly 579
we reviewed for the first time music by Henri Kuntz, but he has been around
for a long time. That previous CD showed his interest in saxophones an
wayang puppets, this new release spans his career from the last thirty years
and has a lot more to tell. Kuntz is foremost an improviser, the saxophone
is main instrument, but over the years he has also played violin, ethnic
instruments, vocals, solo and in duo, trio or larger groups with others,
such as with his band Opeye (which takes up the second tape in this box).
This boxset lasts four hours and is best listened in one go, uninterrupted.
The whole picture will then unfold for you. It will no doubt leave you very
tired behind, certainly when listened with full attention, and this is music
with lots and lots of sonic information, but fans of regular improvisation
will certainly want to investigate this. If I had to choose one of the four
as my favorite - they
are
all divided in various categories - then it'll be number four which extends
from his previous reviewed CD, solo saxophone and gamelan. (FdW)
Address: http://www.breadandanimals.com

1. From: "Zipo@AA" <zipo@aufabwegen.com>

Di. 15.01.2008
doors: 20.00h, first show: 21.00h

aufabwegen presents:
<<<gerauschwelten>>>

John Wiese
(Hollywood, Teenage Noize Angst, see: Sunn O))), Wolf Eyes, Yellow Swans,
Bastard Noise)
&
Paul Devens
(NL, Noise compositions & real time live video)
&
DJ Kim Laughs
(NL, ausioscoop Maastricht)

studio 672 @ Stadtgarten
Venloer Str. 40, 50672 Koeln
http://www.geraeuschwelten.de

-----------------
a u f a b w e g e n
p.o.box 100152
50441 cologne
germany
http://www.aufabwegen.com

2. From: ironing <ironingmusic@gmail.com>

Hal McGee's 50th Birthday shows:

Friday, January 18, 2008
Gainesville, FL

Hal McGee -- [Gainesville, FL]
If, Bwana -- [Chester, NY]
Charles Rice Goff III -- [Lawrence, KS]
Little Fyodor & Babushka -- [Denver, CO]
Homogenized Terrestrials -- [Princeton, IL]
Aaron Zarzutzki -- [Chicago, IL]
Mark McGee -- [Indianapolis, IN]
Buzzsaw -- [via phone, Norco, CA]
Fiver's Stereo -- [Jacksonville, FL]
Pax Titania -- [Tallahassee, FL]
Otolathe -- [Tampa, FL]
Ironing -- [Gainesville, FL]
Masik -- [Gainesville, FL]

8PM
Tim & Terry's
1417 NW 1st Ave
Donations accepted

-----

Friday, January 19, 2008
Tampa, FL

Hal McGee -- [Gainesville, FL]
If, Bwana -- [Chester, NY]
Charles Rice Goff III -- [Lawrence, KS]
Little Fyodor & Babushka -- [Denver, CO]
Homogenized Terrestrials -- [Princeton, IL]
Aaron Zarzutzki -- [Chicago, IL]
Projexorcism -- [Hickory, NC]
Pax Titania -- [Tallahassee, FL]
Otolathe -- [Tampa, FL]
Ironing -- [Gainesville, FL]
Free Space -- [Gainesville, FL]

7:00 PM
Transitions Art Gallery
4215 East Columbus Drive
$6

-----

3. From: marc <m@dekorder.com>

Dekorder 5th Birthday Bash

with

FELIX KUBIN
KUUPUU
BLACK TO COMM
AOSUKE

Thu. 17.01.2008
Hafenklang, Hamburg, Germany
(+DJ Der Samtbody)

Sat. 19.01.2008
West Germany, Berlin, Germany
(+ DJ Guido Möbius)

http://www.dekorder.com
http://www.myspace.com/dekorder

4. From: "ILIOS mail" <iliospost@gmail.com>

upcoming shows:
18 January ILIOS live at Small Music Theatre, in Athens, Greece
27 January ILIOS live with Yelp Dance Company "Scale 5:1" at Megaro
Mousikis, Athens Greece

--

Vital Weekly is published by Frans de Waard and submitted for free to
anybody with an e-mail address. If you don't wish to receive this, then let
us know. Any feedback is welcome <vital@vitalweekly.net>. Forward to your
allies.
Snail mail: Vital Weekly/Frans de Waard - Acaciastraat 11 - 6521 NE
Nijmegen - The Netherlands
All written by Frans de Waard (FdW), Dolf Mulder (DM)
<dolf.mulder@hetnet.nl>, Robert Meijer (RM), Niels Mark (NM), Jeff Surak
(JS), Craig N (CN), Boban Ristevski (BR), Maurice Woestenburg (MW), Jliat
(Jliat), Freek Kinkelaar (FK), Magnus Schaefer (MSS) and others on a less
regular basis.
This is copyright free publication, except where indicated, in which case
permission has to be obtained from the respective author before reprinting
any, or all of the desired text. The author has to be credited, and Vital
Weekly has to be acknowledged at all times if any texts are used from it.
Announcements can be shortened by the editor. Please do NOT send any
attachments/jpeg's, we will trash them without viewing.
There is no point in directing us to MP3 sites, as we will not go there. Any
MP3 release to be reviewed should be burned as an audio CDR and send to the
address above.
Some people think it's perhaps 'cool', 'fun', 'art' or otherwise to send
something to Vital Weekly that has no information. Don't bother doing this:
anything that is too hard to decipher will be thrown away. Also we have set
this new policy: Vital Weekly only concerns itself with new releases. We
usually act quick, so sending us something new means probably the first
review you will see. If we start reviewing older material we will not be
able to maintain this. Please do not send any thing that is older than six
months. Anything older will not be reviewed. In both cases: you can save
your money and spend it otherwise.
Lastly we have decided to remove the announcement section of Vital Weekly
that is archived on our website that is older than five weeks. Since they
95% deal with concerts that have been, it's gentle to remove the
announcement and more important the e-mail addresses coming with that.