Vital Weekly 622

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VITAL WEEKLY
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number 622
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week 15
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Vital Weekly, the webcast: we offer a free-to-download weekly webcast as the
audio-supplement to Vital Weekly. Presented as a radio programme with
excerpts from some of the CDs reviewed here (no vinyl or MP3s). It is
available on the site for a limited period of 5 weeks. Download the file to
your MP3 player and enjoy!
Complete track listing here: http://www.vitalweekly.net/podcast.html

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* noted are in this week's pod-cast

FREIBAND & MACHINEFABRIEK - OAHU (CD by Low Point) *
BEEQUEEN - SANDANCING (CD by Important Records) *
JON MUELLER & JASON KAHN - TOPOGRAPHY (CD by Xeric/Table Of The Elements) *
DIANE LABROSSE - MUSIC FOR OBJECTS ON THE VERGE OF EXTINCTION (CD by
Ambiances Magnetics)
JEAN DEROME ET LES DANGERREUX ZHOMS (CD by Ambiances Magnetics)
THE KEVIN FRENETTE 4 - CONNECTIONS (CD by Fuller Street Music)
LISLE ELLIS - SUCKER PUNCH REQUIEM (CD by Henceforth)
ONDO - MAHAVISNU (CD on Paradigm Recordings) *
AKIRA RABELAIS - HOLLYWOOD (CD by Schoolmap) *
NATASHA BARRETT & TANJA ORNING - DR.OX (CD by Cycling 74) *
STEVE PETERS - THE WEBSTER CYCLES (CDEP by Cold Blue Music) *
JESSICA BAILIFF/ANNELIES MONSERE (CDEP by Morc Records)
ERIKM - STEME (CD by Room40) *
BRANDON LABELLE & JAMES WEBB - RADIO FLIRT (MP3 by Room40)
BILLY BAO - ACCUMULATION (7" by Xerox Musik)
MATHIAS DELPLANQUE - L'INONDATION (CDR by Mystery Sea) *
LUGANO FELL - RIGHT SIDE DEFECT (CDR, private) *
AMPUTATION DESIRE & GOGHAL (CDR by Verato Project)
TETSUYA HORI (CDR by Naiv Super) *
ANTOINE CHESSEX (CDR by Naiv Super)
DONINIQUE VACCARO - BASTILLE (CDR by Incudine) *
LUCIANO MAGGIORE - ON GREY (CDR by Incudine)
FRANCESCO CAVALIERE - YOUR HAIR IN MY TRAIL (CDR by Incudine)
ARMADILLO CONCRETO - FUSCIONORON (MP3 by L'Arraskito)
OIER ETXEBERRIA - AVENIDA DEL CANTABRICO (MP3 by L'Arraskito)
ANOREXIA MENTAL - SELFEDITEZ 2007 (MP3 by L'Arraskito)

FREIBAND & MACHINEFABRIEK - OAHU (CD by Low Point)
"Oahu" starts out this Dutch Meeting of the Giants with a introduction only
little more then a minute, but it's important for the rest of the album as
it not only delivers the sound material for what comes after, as also the
title for the album. Oahu is the third-biggest island of Hawaii, and from it
comes an acoustic lapsteel guitar, played on the first track by Martin
Luiten. The two tracks following this are made in email collaboration
between Frans de Waard (Freiband) and Rutger Zuydervelt (Machinefabriek),
with both doing one of the final mixes.
It's great to see these two generations of Dutch sound sculptors on one
album, and I guess they fuel each other's interest in doing something extra
good to avoid looking like the young novice and the old professor. Which is
good for us, the listeners. It takes the 2.1 version about nine minutes
before I can make out the lapsteel source material, and even then it's only
through belief. It comes back clearly at the end, but before that must've
come about ten different passages and intervals that follow each other up
without any obvious structure. Which still doesn't take away any of the
excitement of the track. A sign of mastery I guess.
The last track is more cohesive, and also maybe a bit more contemporary
(although it's a 2001-contemporary maybe, with a sound that is suspended
between Tim Hecker-y ambient grit and almost sacred tonal float). Here also,
after 14 minutes of relative bliss, the guitar comes back in for some
grounding. Especially beautiful is it when the glitchy floor boards fall
away with only the stereo-divided guitar joined by some humming.
Great to see what these two do in their respective final mixes, it might
just be coincidence, but they do stamp their own vision on each of their own
mixes. Amazing material. Now step two would be an album completely done
together. I would be delighted to hear that... (RM)
Address: http://www.low-point.com

BEEQUEEN - SANDANCING (CD by Important Records)
Beequeen is the long running collaboration between Dutch music veterans
Frans de Waard and Freek Kinkelaar. The duo mainly focused on ambient and
industrial music during the nineties, until their album 'Ownliness', back in
2002, which marked a more or less radical break with Beequeen's past. Since
'Ownliness' the music of Beequeen has shifted to well crafted electronic pop
songs. 'Sandancing' is no exception. It's an atmospheric and dreamy album
due to the beautiful (female) vocals of Olga Wallis.
The songs are built on electronics, guitar and keyboard, combined with fine
microsonic details, pulsing drum machines and subtle field recordings. It
can easily be seen as a rather accessible record, especially considering
Beequeens past, but 'Sandancing' hides enough surprises to keep it exciting.
It somehow reminds me of the early works of Piano Magic, the project of Glen
Johnson, who also used to work with different vocalists to transform his
electronic instrumentals into songs. Being aware of the adventurous approach
of these experimental wizards, you immediately wonder what Beequeens next
record will be like. But you certainly hope that Olga Wallis will be
involved again as 'Sandancing' is definitely their best record to date. (MW)
Address: http://www.importantrecords.com/

JON MUELLER & JASON KAHN - TOPOGRAPHY (CD by Xeric/Table Of The Elements)
It went a little past by me, but Jon Mueller is now fully signed up to Table
Of The Elements, so they already released in the last six months eight
titles that include his work. Either solo, or with his band Collections Of
Colonies Of Bees, or such as here in collaboration with the like wise
prolific Jason Kahn. Together they have been on the road about a year ago in
the North-east area of America. This CD is a documentation of that tour,
spanning five tracks. Of course you do realize that both are drummer boys,
but with an added extra. Kahn plays percussion and analogue synthesizer and
Mueller plays percussion and cassettes. He places this cassette players
below the skin of his percussion and through the rumble of the cassette the
skin starts vibrating, making a rattling sound. Over the years Kahn's
playing has turned more and more subtle and delicate and is much drone
related these days. His synthesizer hums away, while I could never figure
out what he does with his percussion, to
be honest. These five pieces which flow nicely into eachother, thus perhaps
presenting a concert as it could have been, displays very well what they. I
believe this is a microphone recording, rather than a line recording, which
adds a certain nice quality to the atmosphere. Drone like, and hardly
percussive, but with great depth. Minimal in approach, maximum in the way it
sounds like it. Great stuff, but I hardly expected anything different. (FdW)
Address: http://www.croutonmusic.com

DIANE LABROSSE - MUSIC FOR OBJECTS ON THE VERGE OF EXTINCTION (CD by
Ambiances Magnetics)
JEAN DEROME ET LES DANGERREUX ZHOMS (CD by Ambiances Magnetics)
Two veterans from the Montréal musicscene present their newest work.
For her new project Diane Labrosse invited the following musicians:
Marie-Soleil Bélanger (violin), Jean Derome (flute, fake trumpet), Bernard
Falaise (electric guitar), Lori Freedman (clarinet), Jean René (viola),
Pierre Tanguay (percussion). Labrosse herself plays accordion. It is a sort
of conceptalbum. In 8 compositions she makes use of concrete noises we all
know from our daily lives: clocks, telephones, printers, answering machines,
etc. Without any manipulation these sounds are integrated in a musical
background, by which she tries to evoke a story and atmosphere around these
sounds. One could call it a non verbal radioplay, a sonic story that in a
way moves along a narrative line. In each composition we hear only one or
few musicians. We never hear an ensemble playing. "This disc was entirely
assembled without the consent of the musicians playing on it. I thank them
for agreeing to record "blindfolded" and let me manipulate them as I
pleased" Labrosse explains. So these
compositions are probably the result of a lot of editing, etc. This way she
has built nice impressionistic, soundscaping pieces. They are carefully
structured, with a good feeling for balance and atmosphere.
Jean Derome returns with another CD with his Dangereux Zhoms. After a
silence of ten years, now the fourth cd by this ensemble sees the light
after 'Carnets De Voyage' (1994), 'Navré' (1995), and 'Torticolis' (1998).
With Tom Walsh (trombone), Guilaume Dostaler (piano), Pierre Cartier
(electric bass) , Pierre Tanguay (drums) and Derome himself on saxes and
flute, we are 65 minutes entertained with new compositions by Derome. A
music that is most close to jazz, but that is above all in between
everything. With plenty of room for improvisation the music always stays in
the neighborhood of the themes that Derome composed. After so many records
out Derome does not surprise with something completely new, but satisfies
with a very well-crafted new work by a fine ensemble. Impressive I found the
solo of Derome in the last 24-minute composition 'Prières', were he cries
his heart out. Honest music. (DM)
Address: http://www.actuellecd.com/

THE KEVIN FRENETTE 4 - CONNECTIONS (CD by Fuller Street Music)
A new CD from the small Fuller Street Music label, specialized in jazz and
improvised music. This time they give room to guitarist Kevin Frenette to
make his first step with his quartet. It has Andy McWain on piano, Todd
Keating playing bass and Tatsuya Nakatani on percussion. Frenette studied
guitar, composition, and music theory and has performed throughout the
Northeast of the USA with people like Jack Wright, Dan DeChellis, Michael
Snow and many others. Always in the corner of modern improvised and avant
garde music. With his quartet he presents seven collective improvisations,
recorded in august 2006. Their music is constantly moving with a restless
speed and intensity and seems to drift in every possible direction at first
hearing. Especially the guitarist tries to play as many notes as possible.
But repeated listening makes clear that these improvisations are very
focused and that the improvisors know where they are heading at. All the
lines and patterns they play are woven
into consistent improvisations. In many surprising ways, this is
intelligently interconnected music. Technically all of them are very
advanced and the interplay of the four is very good. All four play in
function of the whole. Bassist Keating is not very prominent but probably
essential in holding it together. Percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani, originally
from Japan, uses, so to hear, an extended set of percussion and learned his
techniques from very different backgrounds: folk, jazz, new music, etc. Of
all four, his playing surprised me most. He has always an answer, and always
a different one. He adds many colors and makes these improvisations
multi-dimensional. The playing of Frenette on the other hand could be more
pronounced from time to time. His style comes definitely from the world of
jazz, which is also the case for the pianist. But as the percussionist
abandoned the swing, these improvisations never become pure jazz. To
conclude, this quartet offers some very rich
improvisations. There is a lot to hear and to discover. An excellent work.
(DM)
Address: http://www.fullerstreeetmusic.com/

LISLE ELLIS - SUCKER PUNCH REQUIEM (CD by Henceforth)
For some 25 years Ellis is active in the world of jazz and improvised. He is
featured on at least 40 CD's. He lives in New York where he leads his own
ensemble Audible Means.
His new CD is meant as a homage to artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. For this
occasion Ellis recruited the following musicians: Pamela Z (voice,
electronics), Holly Hofmann (flutes), Oliver Lake (saxophones), George Lewis
(trombone), Mike Wofford (piano) and Susie Ibarra (drums, percussion). Ellis
himself plays bass and electronics. In 16 short compositions Ellis tries to
translate the work of the visual artist Basquiat with whom Ellis felt
himself deeply related. For this project he listened to many requiems, and
from this research he took the traditional six part Mass of the Dead of the
Roman Catholic Church as a point of departure.
The CD opens with an experimental intro of electronics and singing, with
short breath takes on saxophone. Also the following piece 'Incantation and
Ascent' opens with electronic manipulations with voice, before the piano
sets in. The compositions however do not often surprise, and stay within
what we know and expect from jazzmusic. But the playing of Lake and Lewis
and the others is okay. Only the electronic intros and interludes bring in
something new, and are well integrated with the acoustic part. So,
thoroughly composed and played jazzmusic it is, but alas with very little
unexpected moves and twists. (DM)
Address: http://www.henceforthrecords.com/

ONDO - MAHAVISNU (CD on Paradigm Recordings)
Recently (Vital Weekly 617) we were introduced to the music of C-J
Larsgarden, also known as Ondo, through a 3"CDR called 'Shields', a piece
for drone like guitars and a bit of drums. Now, on a real CD, released by
Paradigms Recordings (not to be confused with Paradigm, I guess, UK's home
of improvised music) eight new tracks, which Ondo describes as a fusion
between 'Earth, Raison D'Etre and a touch of Fennesz', which is certainly
nice found and also not much beside the point. Larsgarden's music is quite
dark, with lots of deep, atmospheric sounds, running like undercurrents
underneath (let's say the Earth influence), but on top there is always a
small melody or small melodic touch to be found. Sometimes on piano,
sometimes on guitar - that might be the Raison D'Etre influence (if anyone
remembers this Cold Meat Industry band). Fennesz is a bit harder to spot but
with a certain flair you find it through the some of the production,
certainly when it starts to sound a bit more digital
.
Quite a nice soundtrack to a horror film this one, to which I have one minor
objection: the tracks sound a bit too similar at times. The heavy banging,
the dark drone, the melodic touch, the built up of tracks and the noise
bits - there is a bit too much uniformity in these pieces. But served in
smaller portions: quite nice indeed. (FdW)
Address: http://www.pactasuntservanda.se

AKIRA RABELAIS - HOLLYWOOD (CD by Schoolmap)
As far as I remember, we drove through Hollywood once, but perhaps not on
Hollywood Boulevard, so we didn't see the star pavement. It wasn't, for
sure, on August 26th, 2006, when Akira Rabelais stood between the stars of
Betty Grable and Rod Serling and made this recording. Grable was an American
dancer, singer and actress who died in 1973 and Serling was a screenwriter
from the sixties, who died in 1975. Not really iconic names these days, me
thinks. But in the work of Akira Rabelais almost anything is possible. Not
visible on the surface, but hidden somewhere deep down, with all sorts of
meaning and various layers of that preferably. So Rabelais stood there for a
solid hour with his recorder and recorded the street, people passing and
talking. Bits of music flash by, various languages and all the time the
listener, not present there, in some if not many cases even never been there
at all, keep wondering: why? Why am I supposed to be hearing this? What is
the significance of me
hearing this, and why these two stars? Is there going to happen anything at
all here or is this it? (I won't spoil the fun there). Much of what Rabelais
does is a big mystery. Visit his website and you know what I am talking
about. The modern day minimalist and conceptualist, infiltrating on all
levels (music, art, website, but also building his own eccentric software),
makes another point. It's up to you whether to make up if you think it's a
good or weak point. I made up my mind, but not giving it out in print. (FdW)
Address: http://www.schoolmap-records.com

NATASHA BARRETT & TANJA ORNING - DR.OX (CD by Cycling 74)
Hardly a surprise, I guess, but music released by Cycling 74 deals with
software that is also available there, like various Max/msp things. The
latter is also at work on the CD by Natasha Barrett and Tanja Orning. The
latter plays cello and the first one uses the computer to transform the
improvised cello playing. 'Dr. Ox' is a character from a Jules Verne story,
though not as well-known as some of the other character, and I believe the
main protagonist of this music. I must admit I had a hard time listening to
this music. The improvised playing of Orning is pretty standard in the world
of free improv, and whatever Barrett adds through the use of computer
doesn't get me very excited either. It all sounds like a common place to me.
There is a fair amount of dynamics on this release, which is fine but not
enough to get fully excited. Occasionally nice, but throughout a bit too
regular. (FdW)
Address: http://www.cycling74.com

STEVE PETERS - THE WEBSTER CYCLES (CDEP by Cold Blue Music)
Last week we had a Steve Peters release to review and here's another one.
Long time nothing and now a small flood. Which is great, since 'The Webster
Cycles' couldn't be much further away from 'Filtered Light', from last week.
That was an entirely electronic work, whereas 'The Webster Cycles' is
'intended for any combination of wind instruments or voices', and is here
performed by J.A. Deane for six trombones. The work was already composed in
1980-1981 and this recording is from 1998 - but music is timeless, I guess.
Through overdubbing, Deane recorded this almost thirty minutes of music.
Inspired by Webster's dictionary, words become pitch sequences or melodic
phrases that are to be played within the duration of a long breath. Deane
plays long sustaining sounds on his trombone, I guess with a long breath,
and the result is a gorgeous, minimal piece with very slow changes. Unlike
say Phill Niblock, the sounds are there to die out, beyond their sustain.
Breathing space is kept inside,
which adds a solemn character to the piece. Solemn and spacious, this is.
Ambient music without any electronic means (rather than multi-track
recording that is), or so it seems, close to the original ideas of Eno.
Subtle music for late evenings. (FdW)
Address: http://www.coldbluemusic.com

JESSICA BAILIFF/ANNELIES MONSERE (CDEP by Morc Records)
The one time Jessica Bailiff played in Nijmegen, I missed out, so I never
heard her music, which has been around for a decade or so. Apparently she
plays drone like music and very slowfolk songs. Here she teams up with the
for me likewise unknown Annelies Monsere who is a multi-instrumentalist from
Gent, Belgium. Each of the women supplies two songs. Sparsely instrumented
these four songs, only in 'Shadow' there seems to be more happening than
just a bit of guitar strumming. They sing their songs rather held back, not
shouting their emotions out, but distilled, frail and no doubt very
personal. Music like this, which reminded me of Fovea Hex, but a lot
simpler, more sparse, is never really my cup of tea but these four tracks,
however brief they are, is something I quite enjoyed. A great relaxing
atmosphere comes from these four songs and as such they were refreshing or
uplifting. (FdW)
Address: http://www.morctapes.com

ERIKM - STEME (CD by Room40)
BRANDON LABELLE & JAMES WEBB - RADIO FLIRT (MP3 by Room40)
Foremost we may know ErikM as an improviser, using recorded media, such as
vinyl, CDs and mini discs. But he's also a composer and we should see
'Steme' as a composition. It uses ten, one minute long sound pieces which
were burned to CR that was deliberately damaged. This was fed through ErikM
set up including a '3k-pad system, Minidisc, CD-DJ and electronics). From
these improvisations he recorded a whole bunch of sessions, which he then
mixed. That is easy to hear here, I think. The sound of scratching is a
definite feature on this release, but ErikM takes the most out of it. Unlike
say Oval, ErikM is not interested in creating some new (old?) form of
popmusic out of it, but rather tries to use all these blocks in a large
composition of a highly delicate, electro-acoustic nature. With the
exception of 'White Out' which operates more from the drone end, and there
for seems a bit out of place here, all the seven other pieces are of a
collage like nature, which adds a great vibrancy
to
the material, bouncing all over the place while the listener only can submit
to this with full attention. That 'White Out' piece could have been easily
left of from this, and it would have been a perfect CD, now it's near
perfection.
Same label but in digital distribution only comes a collaboration between
Brandon Labelle and James Webb. Its been a while since we last saw Labelle
in these pages as a musician and more as a publisher of books on his own
Errant Bodies Press. Webb is from South Africa, where he works as a composer
and organizer. Together the two of them produced an installation for
'(In)visible Sounds' at the Media Art Institute in Amsterdam in 2007.
Afterwards they expanded on the material produced for the installation and
that has become this release. It deals with various spaces of a house (?),
and each piece called after a particular part, like foyer, staircase, front
room, hall and back room. Perhaps these pieces were recorded in these parts
of the house. Much of the music consists of field recording, which in this
case consists of heavily amplified action of what happens inside but even
more so, outside the house. Deep rumbling sounds, to which the two added
whispering voices which recite texts
,
poetry, dreams outloud, or any some such, which was something I could not
very easy relate to. It sounded alright, sound wise, with, I assume, quite
an amount of post production to make these sounds even more heavy based
(bassed?) but the voices put me a bit off. As a radiophonic work however
this sounded quite nice, however, I'm not sure if a receiver would indeed
receive all the musical information. (FdW)
Address: http://www.room40.org

BILLY BAO - ACCUMULATION (7" by Xerox Musik)
The fact that Billy Bao is a band is something that might not have escaped
you. It's the man with the same name on vocals, Mattin on guitar, Xabier
Erkizia on guitar and Alberto Lopez on drums. Ten one minute tracks on the
7" 'Accumulation', dealing with excess richness and the growth of capital.
Like a flow chart, the titles get longer and longer, until 'While Watching
Their Stocks Rise, Your Miserable Fucking Life Dies' - welcome to
politically inspired music. The band plays minimal strokes, but banging
rather than introvertly played, but don't sound like a punk band. Their
recording seems to be of an even more lo-fi nature than what is common in
this area. There is a very consistent element through running through this
music, with is more like a piece of 'art', than a 'political' statement,
despite what the liner notes try to tell you. Quite a nice piece of
gesamtkunstwerk. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mattin.org/2_Billy_Bao.html

MATHIAS DELPLANQUE - L'INONDATION (CDR by Mystery Sea)
Some people use various artist names, but then some of them do manage to
sound the same throughout. There is also somebody like Mathias Deplanque who
various incarnations manage to sound very differently. There is the dub of
Lena, the glitch of Bidlo and the electronics of The Missing Ensemble. Under
his own name Delplanque does the 'serious work', dealing with field
recordings and such like such as his great, delicate work 'Ma Chambre Quand
Je N'y Suis Pas', dealing with sound of empty spaces (see Vital Weekly 539).
He lives in Nantes and down in his basement is where he taped all the sounds
for 'L'Inondation', which first presented as a sound installation in 2005.
The sounds are, probably, heavily processed affairs of low humming
vibrations and on top various sorts of machinery, with soft, breaking
sounds. Perhaps I'm all wrong. Perhaps it's the radiator sounds, insects and
cars passing in the background. The forty-seven minute piece is best seen as
a piece of ambient music - music
derived from the ambient, using the space as a resonator and to play his
sound. The low mechanical humming is best played at a lower volume, so that
it incorporates your living area perfectly. I can imagine if you play this
at full volume, the music will be too industrial. At home, a quiet home, the
soft sounds from outside will match Delplanque's perfectly, providing a
lower volume. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mysterysea.net

LUGANO FELL - RIGHT SIDE DEFECT (CDR, private)
Not much is known about James Taylor (assuming it's not the older one),
which is "50% of the mature house duo Swayzak", and who here operates as
Lugano Fell, as there isn't much on his website at myspace. He could do with
some more friends, I think, and his release 'Right Side Defect' is worth
hearing. The six pieces here show a distinct love for digital sound
manipulation that includes tags as 'drone', 'glitch' and 'shoegazing'. No
instruments were to be detected here as they are all dully transformed using
the computer. Sustaining sounds, clicks that work as rhythms and lots of
effects (outboard or inboard) to feed them through. A gritty, granulated
sound with small melodic blocks that work well in their warm bed of drones.
The shoegazing aspect lies more in the extensive use of distortion an chorus
effects. It's not really ambient glitch like: the music is too loud to pass
on as such. Think Tilliander's later work and you get the idea. Not really
top new, but executed with great
care. It would have been nice on a real label, and not disappear as a
private release. (FdW)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/luganofell

AMPUTATION DESIRE & GOGHAL (CDR by Verato Project)
Neither Amputation Desire and Goghal ran any bell in this dazed head that is
here today, and from the cover I understand that this is a matter of
bouncing back and forth sound material. The result is two long tracks of say
twenty some minutes each which are very opposite works to eachother. The
second piece is a long noise beast, but lacks any imagination to make things
even remotely interesting. Which is a pity since the other track is a nice
dark ambient industrial piece of music, which isn't entirely new either but
at least sounds pretty decent, shifting through various textures and moods
in the darkest realm of life. Like said, nothing new under the sun either,
but it's a nice piece. For my part they could have easily made two such
pieces. (FdW)
Address: http://www.verato-project.de

TETSUYA HORI (CDR by Naiv Super)
ANTOINE CHESSEX (CDR by Naiv Super)
I never heard of Tetsuya Hori, who was born in Sapporo, Japan, where he
studied and teached piano and composition. Since 2003 he lives in Berlin
where he composes and improvises. The three compositions here all deal with
laptop and real time sounds: one with a beer bottle, one with a glass of
water and one with flute. Only the latter is played by somebody else that
Hori.
From whatever he does with the objects or
instruments, the sound is being picked up by the laptop and processed as
such. He does that in a very gentle way. It's not hard to recognize the
original source - if you ever had a glass of water or ever blown into a beer
bottle, but the sounds that are unfolded from the computer are delicate and
elegant. Hori is not a man to blow you to pieces, unlike some of his country
men. Surely this can be easily classified as microsound and as such is not
necessarily offers a new strategy, but within the field he certainly does
some interesting things. Ambient laptop doodling with a strong love for the
electro-acoustic treatment.
Saxophone player Antoine Chessex has been reviewed here with some pretty
strong improvised playing recorded in a live situation. Here too its a live
recording, made in the Electronic Church in Berlin. Chessex technique is
circular breathing so that he can make sustained tones that make small
drones. When he and the Naiv Super team went into the church it was stone
cold and it took him an hour to warm up the saxophone, but the recording
session was too cold, so every caught a cold. However what was recorded
sounded great and that is what we find on this tape. Five pieces of nice
deep drone like saxophone sounds, which keep on evolving. Although no doubt
one instrument is heard at a time it sounds like more. Chessex moves around,
slightly thus cleverly using the space he's in to alter the sound. Move
around your own space for more alterations. This is a great work, strong
music with a conceptual edge. Should be good to see this live one day. (FdW)
Address: http://www.maivsuper.de

DONINIQUE VACCARO - BASTILLE (CDR by Incudine)
LUCIANO MAGGIORE - ON GREY (CDR by Incudine)
FRANCESCO CAVALIERE - YOUR HAIR IN MY TRAIL (CDR by Incudine)
The new Italian label Incudine Records just released three CDR releases, on
5" CDR, but none of these last longer than twenty minutes, which made me
think: why not on 3" CDRs, or perhaps all together on one CDR. Their mission
statement seems to be written with the dictionary at hand: "It deals with
hybrids, with solitary places kept hidden, intimate and solipsistic
environments to which look as small treasures to protect". The first release
is by Dominique Vaccaro with an improvisation, based on some precorded
cassette tapes with short wave, vocals, motors, objects and guitars (at
least if I understood the press text correct), which are mixed with the use
of sound effects (mainly reverb). It's quite a nice piece of ambient
industrial music, which hardly shows the improvised character, which is good
I think.
Much louder is the music of Luciano Maggiore, whose 'On Grey' is the
'recording on tape cassette of a performance held inside a broadcast program
in Bologna in May 2007'. So the sound going from the radio to cassette to CD
is what is the central focus is here. It has 'recordings of arcs and organs'
and is quite drone like but pretty harsh at the start, getting 'softer'
(relatively speaking) as the piece evolves. Nice but a bit too single minded
for my taste.
The best is kept until the last. One Cavaliere (never heard of, just as the
other two), combines two recordings: one of swinging bushes in a large space
and a metallofono, an electric guitar and a piano. They are combined in
various possible combinations. The swinging of the bushes make a strange but
effective combination with the sparse tonal qualities of the other
instruments. Great intimate music with a nice starting point. (FdW)
Address: http://www.incudinerecords.com

ARMADILLO CONCRETO - FUSCIONORON (MP3 by L'Arraskito)
OIER ETXEBERRIA - AVENIDA DEL CANTABRICO (MP3 by L'Arraskito)
ANOREXIA MENTAL - SELFEDITEZ 2007 (MP3 by L'Arraskito)
In between doing releases as Xedh, Miguel A. Garcia found time to start a
new netlabel, L'Arraskito, together with Alejandro Duran. All three releases
are available in either flac or MP3. The first release is by Armadillo
Concreto, a project around one Raul Dominguez, but also people like Garcia,
Elena Aiztkoa, Alba Burgos, Laura Fernandez, Alfredo Rubio and Natalia
Vegas, among others. This 'big' band plays improvised music on analogue
synthesizers and 'real' instruments like violins, trumpets and guitar. The
realm of their music can easily be called free floating improvisation, which
aims for higher atmospheres. Occasionally I was reminded of AMM, but
throughout it lacked the attention, or better: to hold my attention. Maybe a
touch of too many hippies?
The second release is a short one, only four minutes. Oier Etzeberria is the
the guitarist of Akauzazte, but solo he is armed with a sampler and guitar.
Inspired by a poem by one Pedro G. Romero, he samples classical music with a
strong edge (Prokofjev?), while strumming his guitar and reciting the poem.
Quite a low affair throughout here.
Daniel Llaria and Itziar Markiegi are both members of Baba Llaga, but here,
with a little help from Garcia in the mix, Anorexia Mental. Another example
of lo-fi noise, with 'vocals', 'voices' or what they should be called. Short
tracks of around three minutes, which also failed to make any impression on
me.
So the first three aren't that great at all. Nice, but there is plenty of
room for improvement. (FdW)
Address: http://www.xedh.org/larraskito

1. From: Joachim Nordwall <joachim@nefertiti.se>

iDEAL ZEHN

at
Maria am Ostbahnhof
12.04.2008
23.00

Live action from

MIKA VAINIO & JOACHIM NORDWALL
(Pan Sonic member meet iDEAL boss, SF/S)

KID606
(presents his new works, US)

O.S.T.
(release for his new album on iDEAL! D)

HENRIK RYLANDER
(feedback architect and The Skull Defekts member, S)

DEATH DUB
(new advanced electronics and analog sickness, S)

JEAN-LOUIS HUHTA
(techno and sludge legend, S)

Dj sets from

ALVA NOTO (D)
JEAN-LOUIS HUHTA (S)
THE IDEALIST (S)
DIMITRIOS K (S)

http://www.clubmaria.de
http://www.idealrecordings.com

2. From: "arturas bumsteinas" <bumsteinas@gmail.com>

APRIL 24, 19:00
Jauna Muzika Festival (the biggest festival of experimental music in Baltic
states)
SMC/CAC, Vilnius
http://www.mxl.lt/en/events/view/562

In a feature concert Quartet will perform new soundtracks for visual works
by Robert Smithson, Marcel Duchamp, Christian Frosi, Viking Eggeling, Skip
Arnold, Martin Arnold and Norman McLaren.
Extremely boring and long (in other words - hypnotic). Bring your own
beverage.

MAY 7, 19:00
Skanumezs "Sound Forest" Festival (another biggest festival of experimental
music in Baltic states)
Grivas Mebeles, Riga
<http://www.skanumezs.lv/>www.skanumezs.lv/

Line up of the night:
KSPRS, mar.core, Quartet Twentytwentyone, Alva Noto.

In this concert Quartet will perform around 40 minutes of graphic scores and
moving image by James Tenney, Marcel Duchamp, Christian Frosi and premiere
of a graphic score by Frans de Waard called "7 constructions".

http://www.myspace.com/laptopquartet/
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