| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Go HERE. Coming soon we will have the following albums for your listening pleasure and these are available for pre order: Head Resonance Company "19 Tracks for Unknown People" CD/DVD (mid July), Eyeless in Gaza "Summer Salt/Subway Sun 2CD/3CD (late July) & Edward Ka-Spel "Dream Logik Part Two" CD/2CD (late July) (we will announce details soon for a 4LP set with limited bonus album). Coming soon we have these: Textile Orchestra ⌠For The Boss■ CD, Kawabata Makoto & Michishita Shinsuke ⌠Sex, Voyage, and Echo Chamber■ CD/DLP, Troum ⌠Eald-Ge-Streon■ 2CD/DLP, Jazzfinger ⌠The Suns Goldenblod CD, Expo '70 ⌠Black Ohm■ CD, Aidan Baker ⌠Green & Cold■ CD, Brunnen ⌠Swoon■ CD CD, Songs of Norway ⌠Despite the Cloak■ CD, Aritomo "Kawai Komorebi" CD The Legendary Pink Dots ⌠Chemical Playschool 8/9■ 2CD and we will have the last two volumes in the Records are not for Baking LP series (really! really!!).
Nick Mott from Volcano the Bear is selling many original pieces of art that have appeared on VTB albums. Check out these beauties here.
Aritomo *We managed to recently locate a few copies of some amazing albums by Japanese artist Aritomo. Limited to 200 copies each in handmade sleeves - amazing psych-folk that we have been grooving to here at BlRR Centraal for a while now.
New Mailorder Additions Here new additions from Bass Communion "Ghosts on Magnetic Tape" with the bonus Andrew Liles reconstruction CD, Camping Sex, E.g Oblique Graph, The New Blockaders, Colin Potter, S.P.K., Severed Heads, Goz Mongo Alliance/Inyurmania, Experimental Products, Gerechtigkeits Liga, plus numerous restocks. Discount code for 10% off any size order until June 28, 2008: 08260810%
First ed. of 500 numbered copies in a full color book bound CD case and full color booklet. The opening growl is so like a stomache churn that an immediate restart was needed to ensure that the noise was not physiological. And thus unfolds the bizarre tonal kerchief of Nick Grey. A great host of talent was enlisted to complete this project including: Charlemagne Palestine, Martyn Bates, Jean Marie Mathoul, Jessica Constable et al. Fortunately, Nick sidesteps the pitfalls of a multi-vocalist endeavor by sewing the various excursions together to form a united whole. The low spark of fuzzed guitars, married with ecumenical drones, navigates haloed ports, each guarded by its own siren song. Beautiful, subdued vocal performances (some spoken) add colour to the clouds, as do the well drawn-out spaces in between the voices. This method of carving space has a relative in Cindytalk, vis a vis the patient accumulation of sound traveling like a carefully paced broo ding force; un-tethered and given emotional exclamation at cardinal points throughout the album. By the mid section when Martyn Bates’ soulful charms are brought to the breach, Spin Vow’s quiet momentum is unstoppable and seeps in like rain water to hungry soil. There is also a playful Derek Jarman-ness when the recordings intentionally seem a little raw (and with the slight tug at the curtain offered by some well placed drops of studio banter). Sometimes voices really DO carry.
| Tracklist Samples | |
| 1 | Pearls To Swine I |
| 1 | Pigface |
| 2 | God's Own Movie |
| 2 | Pearls To Swine II + III |
| 3 | Pearls To Swine IV |
| 3 | The Blue Waltz |
| 4 | Mother's Song |
| 5 | Church |
| 6 | The White Waltz |
| 7 | Seven Levels |
| 8 | Our Lady Damned |
| 9 | Riversong (He Set Me Free) |
| 10 | i.The Black Waltz ii.The Red Waltz |
2CD edition. Second CD includes an Andrew Liles reconstruction. 300 copies pre-packed into 2CD version of HDBCCD9. Ghosts on magnetic tape is the audio equivalent of an edgar allen poe compendium, ranging from the darkly beautiful... (More Info. Here)
| Tracklist Samples | |
| 1 | Fluxion |
| 2 | RA |
| 3 | LO I |
| 4 | LO II |
| 5 | LO III |
| 6 | Black Om RIsing |
| 7 | Daktari |
| 8 | Tearjerker |
Ed. of 500 copies in a book bound case and 8 page booklet. Audio CD plus region free DVD consisting of songs from “Black Om Rising” album performed live. Don't go round tonight, well it's bound to take your life; there's a black Om on the rise. And that black Om slugs all creation square in the gut. Seven That Spells spells, in this instance, EXPLOSION. Black Om Rising is a tightly-wound precision time piece ringing the hours with an effervescent brutality. The rhythm section growls with a low, mean thudding punch that could give the back end of The Birthday Party or Big Black the business in a street fight. Black Om Rising ascends; a beautifully bejeweled bloody stump of instrumental brilliance. Gilt post-punk edges halo the Kraut-suffused filigree of expert musicianship, that is not only capable of handling heavy progressive payloads, but also of circumventing the trigonometry of wank. Powerful, mellodious, charismatic, dynamic, weird a nd ballsy to the core. STS has compassed an album whose every drone, silence and screech is so slyly crafted that Mozart called from the 18th century demanding amps!
To be released mid July, 2008. No Discounts. A special numbered edition of 400 copies in a deluxe 10 panel book bound case, numbered insert (with the first 100 being signed) and a bonus album "Burning Church (Version Hot)... (More Info. Here)
NO Discounts. The first 400 copies are packaged in a deluxe full color book bound box, 16 page lyric booklet , full color book bound cd cases and the bonus album "Wildcat Fights", numbered and signed insert (for all pre... (More Info. Here)
| Tracklist Samples | |
| 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 2 |
| 3 | 3 |
| 4 | 4 |
Ed. of 500 copies in a book bound CD case.. Kold Krush Groove, y’all. Literally! Individually Liles and Menche have torn the experimental world many new ones, but as a unit they achieve a critical mass so monumental that they deserve their own Hollywood-style canoodling name. That name: Linch-Me-Eels. The graceful ferocity that oozes out within the first few seconds is such that…well, let’s just say that if you called friends and told them you were on the moon, they would believe you. A vicious, celestial-cathedral rumble gapes its maw and spews forth into a sluggish river of electro-magma, reshaping landscapes once carved out by Cremaster Cycles and the gravitational forces of the planet Solaris. While Menche’s test-tones defying low-end slowly compresses the woofers into diamond earrings, an emerging theme for tack piano cautiously stabs at the din. And just before cowboy-robot-gone-mad Yul Brynner shows up to kill all humans, the piano slinks aw ay to make room for the buzzing progeny of the flies, whose crescendo of wing-beats quietly, subtly rises and rises the swarm to Jupiter and beyond the infinite. After multiple listens a Xen(akis)–like state is realized and there should be a giant Star Fly-Child in your living room. Brutally cosmic!!!
First ed. of 500 copies in a book bound CD case. Anakrid a day keeps the doctor slurred in a trove of fish-tallowed sling slong. This is what it sounds like when doves cry because the mother ship crashes into their nest in the 6th dimension. With this symphony of sickness comprised of scraped palpitations, pitched whooshes, roaring cathodes and syncopated metallics, Anakrid have another breakthrough chart topper on their bruised hands! These avant-garde hit-makers have real crossover potential, combining the best, most dynamic experimental noise with the very latest drones. This exciting NOW sound is OUT OF THIS WORLD!
| Tracklist Samples | |
| 1 | love |
| 2 | survival |
| 3 | obsession |
| 4 | good&evil |
First ed. Of 500 numbered copies. A new landscape is painted out of darkness by progressive strokes of the dawn. The finished piece is neither night nor day, but the transformation itself. Aidan Baker's (Nadja) "Book Of Nods" crests experimental peaks in similarly paced sonic transmigrations. His lustrous chimera blooms open in shifting onion layers built out of slow-moaning guitar, flute, organ and drums. The resonant frequencies of quietly crashing nodes vibrate the ozone with a sub-textural beating of multi-pianic feathers. Baker's prior metallic inclinations lend in heaviness, adding a certain stylistic thud to Terry Riley-like territories, and colouring portions almost as if they were middle passages in some sprawling prog excursion. A soft eruption of synchronous sweet airs.
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!
GIANCARLO VULCANO - VETRO (CD by Innova)
MICHEL BLANC - LES ONZE TABLEAUX DE L'ESCOUADE (CD by D'Autres Cordes)
PIOTR ZABRODZKI - NAMANGA (CD by Vivo)
NEON RAIN - WE ARE MEAT / THE VULTURES (CD by Steelwork Maschine)
SOMATIC RESPONSES - DIGITAL DARKNESS (CD by Hymen Records)
EXOCET - VIOLATION (CD by Ant-Zen)
FRANCISCO LOPEZ - CONOPS (CD by GD Stereo) *
ARSENIJE JOVANOVIC - GALIOLA (CD by FOARM/and-Oar/Alluvial) *
MACHINEFABRIEK & STEPHEN VITIELLO - BOX MUSIC (CD by 12K)
JANEK SCHAEFER - EXTENDED PLAY (CD by 12K)
LIONEL MARCHETTI - ADELE ET HADRIEN - LE LIVRE DES VACANCES (2CD by Optical
Sound)
TSE - LA RALENTIE (CD by Optical Sound) *
FRIA KONSTELLATIONEN - MUSIK OM FRIA KONSTELLATIONEN (CD by Revvega) *
PAR THORN/HENRIK WALLIN & RICKARD DAUN - LIVE AT MOTVIKT (CDR by Revvega)
V-P V-F IS V-N (7" by Winds Measure Recordings)
RICHARD GARET - L'AVENIR (CDR by Winds Measure Recordings)
LAWRENCE ENGLISH - STUDY FOR STRADBROKE (CDR by Winds Measure Recordings) *
WYNDEL HUNT & THOM HEILESON - UNIT OF SELECTION (CDR/DVDR by Dragon's Eye
Recordings) *
PIXYBLINK - CINDER (CD-R, private)
PIXYBLINK - PERIDOT (CD-R, private)
PIXYBLINK - WITHERED LEAVES (CD-R, private)
DAVID LACEY & PAUL VOGEL - THE BRITISH ISLES (CDR by Homefront Recordings) *
ROLAND ETZIN - INDICATOR (CDR by Gruenrekorder) *
FISK PA DISC - THE FISHER PRICE SESSIONS (CDR by Krakilsk)
SEARCH CLICK & DESTROY/WHALE PLATE - PUMMELING PARASITES (CDR by Krakilsk) *
XEDH - KATABOLE (CDR by Krakilsk)
VARIOUS NEGATIVE MESSAGE FROM COLLECTIVE MIND 2 - YOUR TALK MAY KILL YOUR
COMRADES (CDR by Spirals Of Involution)
KENJI SIRATORI - EXQUISITE CORPSE (CDR by Spirals Of Involution)
CRANK SHAFT VS BIOMASS (CDR by Spirals Of Involution)
FEAR KONSTRUKTOR AND MOURMANSK150 - ARSON ACRIMONY (CDR by Spirals Of
Involution)
CISFINITUM - MUSIC OF LIGHT (CDR by Spirals Of Involution)
SUJO DORA (CDr by Inam Records)
WAND. AND PRINCESS - YELLOW SHIP (CDr by Wand. and Princess)
CORNUCOPIA BLACK OPERATIONS (CDR by Sonora)
CORNUCOPIA STAR TRAILS (CDR by Sonora)
BUBONIC HERMAPHRODITE - IDIOTUNDERGROUND01 (CDr by ??)
AKIFUMI NAKAJIMA - WATER 1991 (2CDR by Kokeshidisk)
MOLJEBKA PVLSE - FALL IN WOODLAND CEMETARY (3"CDR by Taalem)
OPIUM - ETERE (3"CDR by Taalem) *
BRIAN LAVELLE - THE PETRIFIED FOREST (3"CDR by Taalem)
LARSGARDEN & ROWENTA - GRDN (3"CDR by Tuguska) *
SLOWCREAM - LIVE LONG AND PROSPER (MP3 by Nonine)
NEUBAU - RYMDMYR (MP3 by Nonine) *
SCOTT SMALLWOOD - 3 SOUNDSCAPES (MP3 by Sijis) *
TOM WALLACE - BLOOD & WATER (MP3 by Sijis)
UBEBOET & CALARCO & RECHE - BIESI (MP3 by Sijis)
GIANCARLO VULCANO - VETRO (CD by Innova)
'Vetro' documents pieces New York composer and guitarist Giancarlo Vulcano
composed between 2002-2005. They make up his first CD of very accessible but
far from superficial music. The pieces are performed by himself on guitar,
Yvonne Troxler on piano, Jesse Schiffrin and Rómulo Benavides both on violin
(on two tracks) , plus Enid Blount playing clarinet, in different
combinations. This work originated from a 'small is beautiful' perspective.
The music is simple, effective, direct and very pure. It is impossible not
to feel the charm of these miniature compositions. They are composed in a
post-minimal tradition. "It was a process of giving the musicians little
phrases to play as I was discovering them. I was finding ideas and my
friends would play them for as long as they interested us, and then on to
the next", Vulcano explains. He is successful in creating some very catchy
and melodic compositions, without becoming sentimental of kitsch. Elegant
and positive music it is, sometimes
reminding of the good old Penguin Cafe Orchestra. The cd opens with
'Portrait of Arthur Rimbaud'. Like the two other portraits on this cd,
'Portrait of Richard Manuel' and 'Self-portrait', the same musical material
is used in all three, but in each track it is differently orchestrated.
Inevitably one asks oneself why one doesn't get bored by these endless
repetitions of simple ideas. Well, it is hard to say. What helps for sure is
the beautiful and warm playing from the musicians. Also the musical
structures may be simple, they are also very consistent and have a strong
inner quality. That must be the secret. 'Piano Death Theme' is a piece that
clearly evokes the world of Satie. 'Music for Fish Tanks' is written for
(multitracked) clarinet, where different melodic lines create a clear
picture. It is impressive how Vulcano tries to maximaze the potencies of
small simple musical melodic ideas by sticking to a minimalist approach.
Great job! (DM)
Address: http://www.innova.mu
MICHEL BLANC - LES ONZE TABLEAUX DE L'ESCOUADE (CD by D'Autres Cordes)
D'Autres Cordes was a new label for me. But since I reviewed the The Story
of Modern Farming CD and more recently the great album of Kolkhoze, I'm
alarmed when a new release arrives. This time it is a cd by drummer,
composer Michel Blanc that is attracting the attention. This rock and jazz
drummer, wrote some very strange music for this cd, I must say. He is
accompanied by Jean-Luc Capozzo (trumpet, bugle), Frank Vigroux (guitar,
electronics) and six other musicians playing clarinet, cello, vibraphone,
and voice. Also he makes extensive uses of prerecorded sounds. Blanc took
inspiration from a diary of the 158th infantry regiment of the french army
in the first world war and uses fragments from this diary. His grandfather
was part of this regiment! In each piece he evokes an episode from the
history of this regiment. Musically, Blancs pieces are open structures
giving room to the aggressive power playing of Vigroux and the rich and
imaginative playing of Capozzo. At first hearing one
is impressed by the power and the strangeness of this music. But after
repeated listening several pieces are a bit too fragmentary, and do not
convince from start to end. Some tracks or parts of them are more about
trying and exploring, but do not reach satisfying end But this may be due to
the fact that this cd at times is more like a radioplay with an important
role for the (french-) spoken text, and 'music' being just one of the
constituting parts. From what I understand from the texts, the dramatic
impact will be increased if you can understand them. Musically spoken Blanc
builds and develops moments with great dramatic power from time to time.
Maybe we should compare Blanc with a composer like Heiner Goebbels who also
combines sound art, radio play and music and fuses these ingredients into
one whole. Anyway, what makes this cd very interesting for me, is that each
track shows that Blanc is very eager to break new ground. We meet unique
structures, strange arrangements and some
very expressive and engaging musical moments. Not all his ideas work, but he
surely is a composer with a vision. Therefore a name to watch! (DM)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/dautrescordes
PIOTR ZABRODZKI - NAMANGA (CD by Vivo)
The catalogue of the polish Vivo label is dominated by japanese artists:
Merzbows, Acid Mothers Temple, Kawabata Makoto, a.o. The label also released
of successful collaboration between Piotr Zabrodzki and Tatsuya Yoshida
called 'Karakany' playing crazy free jazz noise. 'Namanga' is an all polish
affair. 'Zdzislaw Piernik plays compositions of Piotr Zabrodzki' is the
complete subtitle of this cd. Tubaplayer Piernik has a prominent place in
this unusual quartet from Poland. Piotr Zabrodzki plays piano, electric
piano, double bass, bass guitar, organ. He is also the composer of 15 pieces
on this cd. We hear Wojciech Kondrat on violin and Hubert Zemler on
percussion and vibraphone. Their music shows many faces. It is a sort of
chamber music leaning on jazz, and incorporating all kinds of influences.
The CD starts with a jazzy and moody tune with organ and tuba playing
unisono. What follows is a chaotic free improvised piece. The third track is
an improvisation that concentrates on
sounds
and texture. The fourth track has many twists. It sounds like an ensemble of
modern composed chamber music that decided to improvise a bit. The next one,
'Kamrat Zuch', is once more another piece of cake. An electrified wind
instrument and electric bass dominate this short eruption. 'Mikrototal' is
more rock then something else. And so I could continue to characterize all
15 tracks on this cd. All of them have very different things to offer. The
players manage to do their job very well. But it would sound better if it
was recorded more transparent and balanced. The drummer is often too much in
the background. This cd however also proves that incorporating many
different influences doesn't make an interesting album. There are many
convincing moments on this cd. This quartet has a few characteristics
concerning their sound that make it special. On the other hand however, the
music is often structured along well-known lines and is not very surprising.
(DM)
Address: http://www.vivo.pl
NEON RAIN - WE ARE MEAT / THE VULTURES (CD by Steelwork Maschine)
Neon Rain is a French project that has been operating in the underground
since the early nineties, though their officially first release came out a
decade ago. Since the debut-release in 1998, "Early works 1992/1997", Neon
Rain has been releasing five albums, present album out on interesting
compatriot label Steelwork Maschine. The first album on Steelwork Maschine
came out in 2003 and was titled "Dirtier than the dirt". It combined
rhythmic industrial with dark ambient. On this latest effort titled "We are
meat / the vultures", Neon Rain still works in the spheres of industrial and
dark ambient, though with a much wider approach. Expressionally the album
stretches from experimental rock of an almost musical kind to an extreme
contrast of anti-music in the shape of ultra-brutal power electronics. The
cold and cynic expression of the final moment of the lengthy opening piece
"We are meat" turn the memories back to power electronics-pioneers
Whitehouse though even more shockingly
brutal
and effective with crushing electronics interfered with evil human screams
being manipulated and processed into hypnotic sound loops. An astonishing
exploration in sonic extremity. Neon Rain deals with end of the world,
survivalist, and mankind evil side, with this album dedicated to all the
people around the world who lead our societies to more chaos and
destruction. And the dark expressions, from dark ambient to harsh noise,
certainly reveals the fact this is an album dedicated to the dark forces of
human nature. This is black art at its best. (NM)
Address: http://www.steelwork-maschine.com/
SOMATIC RESPONSES - DIGITAL DARKNESS (CD by Hymen Records)
Since I first time fell into the sounds of Irish project Somatic Responses
on Hymen Records' Teknoir-compilation (1999), the style of the two brothers,
John and Paul Healy has fascinated me. The first albums had a sort-of
futuristic atmosphere with almost emotional interventions in-between. On
this fifth CD-release since the debut-album "Circumflex" (1999), Somatic
Responses has taken the full step into, as they call it themselves, "Digital
darkness". Hardly any melody to disrupt the ongoing machine of complex
rhythm textures or the cynic technoid steelscapes, though a few tracks
("Invincible", "Go on" and "Bushido") includes emotional atmospheres showing
that dark age of digitalism is not exclusively harsh and cold, but also has
some sort emotional aspect inside. Another great work by Somatic Responses.
(NM)
EXOCET - VIOLATION (CD by Ant-Zen)
As soon as "Violation" opens the show it seems like it lives its very own
organic life. Listening to the album is like having a nightmare or a dream
if you prefer a more diplomatic word. Abstract signs of atmospheres creates
an interesting ongoing line throughout the 60 minutes. The musical concept
behind the New York-based project Exocet might be familiar to listeners of
German label Ant-Zen Recordings, though the joint venture between Renè
Klimaczewski and Dave Kean still adds something unusual to the scene. That
Renè has collaborated with Scott Sturgis aka Converter in the past isn't
surprising when you listen to a track like "Retar a muerte" that has some
similarity with "Conqueror" from the debut-album of Converter. Otherwise the
album musically swirls in other sound spheres than Converter with the much
more concentrated focus on creating atmospheres rather than the harsh
industrial expressions. The mixture of abrupt sonic textures that
continuously keeps changing directions and
thus keeping the listener attended turns my memories back an album like
Download's "Through the eyes of Stanley Pain". Highly recommended! (NM)
Address: http://www.ant-zen.com
FRANCISCO LOPEZ - CONOPS (CD by GD Stereo)
There is an interesting shift going on in the work of Francisco Lopez. For
many years his pieces were all called 'Untitled' and the minimum of
information on the cover, with a few exceptions, such as 'La Selva' or
'Buildings [New York]'. Black cover, sparse info. But slowly it seems as
more and more the titles and info come in, maybe he feels the necessity to
be more prolific as a composer? I'll ask him next time, as he's moving close
by in, I believe. According to the cover the field recordings were made in
locations in Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Greece, Japan and the USA.
Remarkable, since when you play this it sounds like one ongoing piece. It
moves through different parts, with lots and lots of insect sounds,
chirping, singing, moving. Only the final movement seems to be made of rain
sounds. Unlike many older Lopez albums, this one is entirely 'present', no
threshold of inaudibility, but present from the very first second until the
very last. I am a big fan of his work, and
'Conops' is another great work. (FdW)
Address: http://www.gdstereo.com
ARSENIJE JOVANOVIC - GALIOLA (CD by FOARM/and-Oar/Alluvial)
The name Arsenije Jovanovic I heard before and perhaps even his music -
vaguely I remember a CD for La Legende Des Voix - but somehow, somewhere it
didn't really stick in my mind. He creates music, film and writes books. I
have no idea which is his most well-known side, but the four pieces on this
CD might serve as an introduction to his work with music, through pieces
composed for radio. That previous La Legende Des Voix CD is no longer
available, so this may bring new interested to his work, like me, I guess.
Two old works from 1967, one from 1990 and one from 2000. There is of course
a slight problem with this, which is that the texts are sung or spoken in
Serbian or Croatian (is there a difference?), which makes it hard to follow
what it is about, and that seems to be a bit of a problem with pieces of
music in which texts are important. I thought that 'Tombstones Along The
Roadside' sounded like a religious work, with the chanting of monks, but
then I read in the booklet that its
about the tombstones of soldiers who died in the Balkan wars in the 19th
century (this is a 1967 piece). However listening to this I'd say it's
hardly a problem, since sound wise this is all great stuff. Jovanovic
creates very imaginative pieces of sound - that transports the listener to
another world - using field recordings and lots of voices in the older
pieces. The later pieces are instrumental and have still a great power. Here
the mind wanders out further and can freely make associations with the music
on offer. Like I said, I heard of this composer before, but never could pin
him down to something - now I can think and I think its great. (FdW)
Address: http://www.foarm.artdocuments.org
MACHINEFABRIEK & STEPHEN VITIELLO - BOX MUSIC (CD by 12K)
JANEK SCHAEFER - EXTENDED PLAY (CD by 12K)
Noted before: following his fly start career with a vast output of 3"CDR
releases, leading to 'proper' releases, 2008 will be the year in which
Machinefabriek's Rutger Zuydervelt expands to working with others.
Steinbruchel, Freiband and Jan Kleefstra paved the way, now it's time for
Stephen Vitiello. He ordered some CDs from Rutger and one thing lead to
another. But it was not a matter of simply sending each other some sound
files over the mail: in stead they mailed eachother boxes of objects to
create music with. The titles of the pieces tell us what was in there:
bells, book, tin foil, buttons, crackle box, thumb piano, egg cutter, rice,
plastic bag and so forth. Its not easy to recognize these sounds in the
music presented here. The treatments are wide and extensive. There are two
solo piece by Rutger, two by Stephen and one collaborative, started by
Rutger, finished by Stephen. I haven't kept up with Vitiello's work, so it's
a bit hard to say wether his pieces are like his other
music, but this is a great collaboration. Very delicate sound processing
going on here, subtle crackling of sound, the best of ambient glitch music.
Machinefabriek has found a sound of his own, but that he did for more than a
year ago, and now it's time to deepen that sound. This is certainly a
highlight in his career.
On 12K's sub division Line, a new CD by Janek Schaefer, based on his sound
installation 'Extended Play'. Like with many other things by Schaefer there
are many ends to this: his mum's Polish background, the secret musical
messages of the BBC in World War II (the 'Jodoform'), Polish music, old
vinyl and old turntables playing records, nine in total. They play three
cello ep's, three piano ep's and and three violin ep's, in varying speeds.
The music was taken out of a 1918 song and re-arranged and recorded on the
vinyl, so it's new vinyl with old music. To view what it looked like go
here: http://www.audioh.com/projects/extendedplay.html. The CD is what it
sounded like. The first three pieces are a cello duo, a piano trio and a
violin duo, whilst the 'acoustic ensemble' takes up twenty-four minutes.
Since this deals with war, death and also life, it's all quite solemn, slow
music. It has nothing to with electronics, processing or field recordings,
but it's gentle, minimal music. Music
however that is not composed but rather played by itself. The stop gap that
happens every now and then is part of it, and adds a strange element to it,
but one that works well. This music, had Schaefer been born 50 years ago,
could have been easily part of Eno's Obscure Music series and has a similar,
great quality to it as say Gavin Bryars 'Sinking Of The Titanic'. Similar
free form modern classical approach, great conceptual edge and great
execution. Highlight all around here too. (FdW)
Address: http://www.12k.com
LIONEL MARCHETTI - ADELE ET HADRIEN - LE LIVRE DES VACANCES (2CD by Optical
Sound)
TSE - LA RALENTIE (CD by Optical Sound)
Sometimes I regret I didn't pay much attention in high school learning
French. Now it's quite rudimentary, if present at all. But Optical Sound
doesn't provide any press information in English and the cover text is all
en Francais. 'Le Livre Des Vacances' are the holiday books, I think. The
holiday books of two children, Adele and Hadrien, who are followed by Lionel
Marchetti and his microphone, taping their activities, among the two, but
also with other friends. 'Deux Livres Et Dix Cahiers' are two books with ten
chapters - that is the double CD with ten pieces to which this has expanded.
Say the holiday diary of two children, built into pieces of electro-acoustic
music, them talking, sobbing, giggling, but also the campfire or a river
stream, vague music somewhere in the background, horses. Some of it sounds
'staged' but no doubt lots of this is culled from 'real life'. It sounds
like a holiday (as far as I remember them, as these days holidays are no
longer my kind of fun) with
children, and I love children. Their total spontaneous action, honest
response and imaginative talking make this is into something I can very much
relate to. Although I couldn't understand anything of the talking, the total
picture of field recordings and Marchetti's sound collage, made from
slightest processing of sound (merely editing, it seems, however I may
insult his work here) and the voices, make this into a highly evocative
sound picture. However, two discs is a bit much if you don't understand much
of it.
On the same label, who also deal with true art installations and release
DVDs as well, the work of one Tse. 'composed and built with a laptop and a
microphone during March-April, 2007, in a noisy room in Berlin, Germany'. I
have no idea why the noisy room is relevant, as it doesn't seem to be a live
recording of any kind, or the live recording be influenced by a 'noisy room'
of any kind. Tse seems to be one Guillaume Ollendorff, who uses his laptop
to create music with beats, rhythms, and repeating blocks of noise, but
which never seems to be very 'danceable' and to which tse sings. The beat is
usually 4/4 one, with bass, but the sounds he adds to it will not make it on
the dance floor - too dark, too noisy and too alienated. Here too the lyrics
are party in French and it's hard to understand what he sings about - but it
seems to me all a bit dark. I found it hard to be very enthusiastic about
this lot. Some of it was alright, some was a bit tedious, but throughout it
didn't really
grab me. (FdW)
Address: http://www.optical-sound.com
FRIA KONSTELLATIONEN - MUSIK OM FRIA KONSTELLATIONEN (CD by Revvega)
PAR THORN/HENRIK WALLIN & RICKARD DAUN - LIVE AT MOTVIKT (CDR by Revvega)
From Sweden hail Fria Konstellationen, who
describe themselves as being on 'the outskirts of psychedelic folk, drone
and free form sound experimentation'. Not much further information is given
here, but we hear guitars, drums, vocals, bass and electronics. So far they
release three CDRs, and this is their first real CD. They say they play long
tracks, but that's not entirely true: three pieces that in total last just
under thirty minutes, but it's the perfect length I think to catch what this
Swedish answer to the No Neck Blues Band does. They improvise around a given
set of sounds, wether that is the repetition of the guitar or a drone.
Everybody else improvises around that, by using smaller repetitive sounds.
Just like the No-necks do. Which means I quite like it, since I like the
Neck's, without keeping up with everything they release. This is a very nice
alternative.
Related to this is a CDR release by Pär Thörn and Henrik Wallin/Rickard
Daun. They are a member of Fria Konstellationen, but here play solo/duo.
Thörn is a writer, conceptual-performance artist and plays here with
sinewaves, field recordings and voice samples. The latter he takes from
'Dial A Poem', a record by John Giorno, with Burroughs and Sinclair, among
others. Someone says 'We never heard of Buckminster Fuller or any of his
friends' which became the title of the Thörn piece. The sinewaves are quite
loud, but not really noisy, more nicely pressing and the voice samples work
cinema like. Nice piece. Wallin and Daun do an improvisation with tapes,
turntable, radio and effects, mainly using found sound. Here I'm less
enthusiastic. They improvise for sure, but without seemingly any concept or
idea behind it. Sounds feed through some delay machines and the two sit and
watch it all happen. That is a mighty fine machine, the delay and it seems
to be playing by itself. But what about us
,
the listener, not present at this event, listening at home? This piece
couldn't interest me very much. (FdW)
Address: http://www.revvega.tk
V-P V-F IS V-N (7" by Winds Measure Recordings)
RICHARD GARET - L'AVENIR (CDR by Winds Measure Recordings)
LAWRENCE ENGLISH - STUDY FOR STRADBROKE (CDR by Winds Measure Recordings)
One of my more favorite microsound labels, Winds Measure Recordings, three
new releases, of which one is on 7", so perhaps they are slowly expanding
their imperium. The 7" is a compilation with twenty tracks, of which five
are lock grooves and fifteen are about minutes. Usual suspects are here,
such as Jeph Jerman, Richard Garet, Alfredo Costa Monteiro, Lawrence
English, Ben Owen, Ilya Monosov but also mpld, Tommy Birchett and Ben Scott.
A 7" full of miniatures, very much unlike the musical scene where this comes
from, when pieces are much longer. However the musical elements are there,
of crackling, motorized drones, hiss and obscured tape and field sounds. I
am not sure why this was made or what the idea behind is, but in all its
briefness it sounds it sounds very nice. Strangely coherent, like a
microsound collage cut-up.
On CDR we find Richard Garet, whom we know from his various releases for
Con-V, Non Visual Objects and Winds Measure themselves. His music was
received here with mildness: if you have never heard this, then you'll love
it, but otherwise it's something that has been said and done before. This
new work, 'L'avenir', which means 'to come', rather than the 'future' (there
is an interesting quote from Jacques Derrida on the cover), should still be
approached with the same care. Garet loves space and spatial approaches of
sound, and 'L'avenir' is a work that plays well in 'your space'. I had it on
a mild volume, walked around a bit, adjusted the volume some more, and the
waves gently filled my space. Like Eno wanted it with his original ambient
music concept. Garet uses processed sine waves, perhaps, I am not sure here,
and in forty-nine minutes transports the listener on his gentle waves. Nice
music no doubt, but like I said, its very much part of a tradition and not
something radically
new.
Lawrence English is perhaps a bit better known for his releases on labels as
Cronica, and his own label Room40, regular guests in Vital Weekly. Here he
presents 'hydrophonic recordings made january and august 2007, Stradbroke
Island, Queensland'. Recording windlike sounds, which perhaps come to us in
an unprocessed form, save perhaps for some extreme filtering. Crackling
high, deep bass ends, water sounds and wind sounds. Here the role of the
composer seems to be reduced to merely making a registration of the sound,
and, more importantly, selecting them as musical pieces. Great record of
pure field recordings. (FdW)
Address: http://www.windsmeasurerecordings.net
WYNDEL HUNT & THOM HEILESON - UNIT OF SELECTION (CDR/DVDR by Dragon's Eye
Recordings)
Upon reading the text that came with these release, a big ? arrived over my
head. 'The process began with Hunt's sound compositions, which are motivated
by an unstructured emotional template. This template, combined with the idea
of an "anonymous force that shapes", determined the aesthetic order of
pitch, tone and volume' it says, but what does it mean? I must admit I am
bit clueless, also after the hearing the music. Hunt's music before on 'Nk
Ak' (see Vital Weekly 577) was what I described as computerized blissful
drones', and this new one in as far goes in a similar direction, but things
seem to be louder, more present here, certainly in the first six tracks. The
mass of sound seems a bit amorph to me, almost like an industrial/factory
like sound. I must say I am not impressed, but as the disc progresses it
becomes much more interesting. Not fresh and new, but within the given theme
of microsound, ambient, drone and glitch quite interesting.
Together with Thom Heileson, Hunt also created pieces of music that go with
film (or perhaps the other way around). 'Unit Of Selection 2' and 'Oov' has
that same fast, industrial sound with rapid changing images, and its through
that combination that it works fine. Light and changes also form the basis
of the other two films, in which the music has slowed down in speed and
volume and create more dream like images. In all four things fit well, and
like said, here the music makes more sense (but then of course sound is
usually not perceived like images, which have a stronger impact on the
brain). Nice release throughout. (FdW)
Address: http://www.dragonseyerecordings.com
PIXYBLINK - CINDER (CD-R, private)
PIXYBLINK - PERIDOT (CD-R, private)
PIXYBLINK - WITHERED LEAVES (CD-R, private)
Three home produced CD-Rs from Californian sound artist Pixyblink, labeled
by hand and just a plain thin jewel case for packaging. But it's not how the
discs are packaged that's important it's what's recorded on them, and what
is recorded on these is a rare treat. Created employing computer processed
field (and other) recordings (a recipie that, for me, usually spells
unending "experimental" tedium)
Pixyblink's work is overflowing with imagery, emotion, and atmosphere. These
pieces explore various levels of a dark underworld - some have the qualities
of disturbing fairy tales, some centre around "forbidden" areas of
sexuality, others venture into the distorted visions of the insane, and a
contemplation of death. The opening track of Peridot emphasizes the idea
that I'd had previously, that this is some eldrich radio broadcast found
during a night of insomnia and never rediscovered. Whilst many tracks simply
try to paint a picture or create an atmosphere, others contain elements of
fiction or documentary with the inclusion of pieces of recorded speech,
occasionally from other sources, but mostly using her own narration, singing
and other vocalizations. It is her virtuosity in using her voice that makes
her work so unique: sometimes mature, sometimes childlike, sometimes
naturalistic, sometimes highly camp; she uses it very effectively to
emphasize and create an atmosphere of
unease and foreboding to such a degree that on some tracks the other
elements of the recording are reduced to the function of background sound
effects. But I'm not meaning to belittle the quality of her sonic
manipulations, these are also executed with great attention to detail, from
simple but still very effective speech reversal to complex treatments and
musical fragments. All these elements come together into a carefully crafted
journey into the strange and spooky midnight world of Pixyblink. (EE)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/pixyblink
DAVID LACEY & PAUL VOGEL - THE BRITISH ISLES (CDR by Homefront Recordings)
According to the label David Lacey and Paul Vogel played with the likes of
Mark Wastell, Keith Rowe, Annette Krebs, Martin Küchen and Erik Carlsson and
that this is their first duo release, but both info and cover do not mention
any instruments used and I must admit I never heard of them. But upon
hearing this, I think they play saxophones and perhaps use electronics
and/or field recordings. Certainly in 'The Matter Of England' this seems to
be the case as to where things are saxophones. Perhaps that's why I didn't
like that track very much. As opposed to the other three, which work around
overtones and spatial routes of whatever space they recorded this in. 'Soft
Houses' is in that respect the best of the four: very intense working the
different qualities of the space, like waiting for some gigantic explosion -
or feedback to arrive. That doesn't happen, and the track moves into some
metal scraping sound and more highly amplified emptiness. The saxophone
returns in 'Just Like
America
At Home' along with a densely shaped sample (thereof). Quite an intelligent
release of improvisation meeting electro-acoustic music. More please! (FdW)
Address: <d_lacey@yahoo.com>
ROLAND ETZIN - INDICATOR (CDR by Gruenrekorder)
The name Roland Etzin we have heard before, mainly through compilations on
Gruenrekorder, where he was noticed for the some more noisy end of field
recording. On 'Indicator', which is one track in eight parts, the field
recordings seem to merely serve as pieces in between the parts, when Etzin
moves through various stages of highly processed electronic signals. Those
might have found their origins also in field recordings, but then Etzin
knows how to hide that. It's not music that moves me, but what I do like
about it, is that it's something that you don't hear very often: the
combination of field recordings with noise elements. It needs further
shaping but it's quite nice. (FdW)
Address: http://www.gruenrekorder.de
FISK PA DISC - THE FISHER PRICE SESSIONS (CDR by Krakilsk)
SEARCH CLICK & DESTROY/WHALE PLATE - PUMMELING PARASITES (CDR by Krakilsk)
XEDH - KATABOLE (CDR by Krakilsk)
The ever so strange and rather uninformative label Krakilsk from Norway
releases another CDR by Fisk Pa Disc, the duo Willy Koperud and Roar Borge,
who are both responsible for the vocals and instruments. Again they
improvise their music, singing, chanting, speaking and playing all sorts of
instruments, like drums, flutes, guitars and without noting things that
could essential music like time or structure. Taken from probably even
longer excerpts, things start, things stop and that's it. The novelty of the
first release has worn out I think, and therefore this could not fascinate
me as much as the first. I still think it's nice, complete outsider music,
but to sit through the entire release is a bit too much I thought.
New names are Search Click & Destroy and Whale Plate. The first has seven
tracks on their split release of computerized noise music. Highly distorted,
loud recorded, but it has something that made me keep listening. Reminding
me a bit of Farmers Manual, and whatever side project came off that, things
are also ever changing, hissy, moving and quickly edited. Maybe a bit long,
but a 3"CD edited out of this could have been a masterpiece. Whale Plate at
the end offers eleven minutes of more 'pure' noise and has everything that I
don't like about this kind of music. Loud, distortion, no ideas, just keep
on banging. I don't see why this had to be included, as Search Click &
Destroy was long enough and could easily stand by themselves.
The most interesting one is by Miguel A. Garcia, also better known as Xedh.
By now he has an extensive discography of net releases and some CDRs, which
in recent times get better and better. This is surely one up again. In the
early days he played less interesting noise, then turned to microsound, and
works towards a synthesis of both ends on this release. At times things are
calm, deep and glitchy whereas things can easily explode into noise. But
Xedh composes (!) with the elements at hand. He makes decisions what to do,
how to do it, what works and what doesn't and that's what makes him quite a
promising artist in the world of CDRs. Not a free run of sound, to fill
another disc, but thinking what is needed to shape the music. The meeting of
noise and microsound works well here, culminating into a highly varied disc
of music. Keep a close ear to this name - you'll be hearing more from him
soon, and perhaps someone should think of a real CD for him. (FdW)
Address: http://www.krakilsk.org
VARIOUS NEGATIVE MESSAGE FROM COLLECTIVE MIND 2 - YOUR TALK MAY KILL YOUR
COMRADES (CDR by Spirals Of Involution)
KENJI SIRATORI - EXQUISITE CORPSE (CDR by Spirals Of Involution)
CRANK SHAFT VS BIOMASS (CDR by Spirals Of Involution)
FEAR KONSTRUKTOR AND MOURMANSK150 - ARSON ACRIMONY (CDR by Spirals Of
Involution)
CISFINITUM - MUSIC OF LIGHT (CDR by Spirals Of Involution)
A set of disks only identified by the Tatlin tower logo - from Russia - in a
variety of packages and graphics. Use of small black text on black images,
broken DVD cases and jewel case inserts without cases - well they also
break- makes identification difficult. Perhaps the EU could issue a
directive re a standard of using the card - digi-pack - blanks now
available - and a proforma contact sheet- identification would be a simpler
task- though we would sadly become even more homogenised. The distinctive
lo-fi packaging and printing prejudices the Russian releases with taints of
former USSR collapse, so when Various opens with an industrial landscape
"Verterno" by "Misery" (sic) I thought nostalgic field recordings of
bankrupt soviet industrialisation and collapse was going to unfold - and
does to an extent (Out Of Focus Moloko, Frozen Ocean Myrmekos Fear
Konstruktor Dead Space, Circle Of Iron Tape Quella Villa Accanto Al
Cimitero ) - but tracks 10 - 14 explore the noise
genre- ranging from heavy bass (Biomass, Necrasota and various others in
cyrillic only) through high pitched stuff (Organoid Like Fly In Spider
Web ) - noise feedback (Maaaa Karelia) etc. - if anyone from Spirals reads
this - could I suggest a coherent website with information in English and
some mp3s? I checked out the Russian section of chondriticsound.com/forum/
without luck, discogs gives their site - barely discernable on some disks
as - http://fnord.lenin.ru/soi/
- punch in this and you get - "404: LOVE
ALWAYS YIELDS Alas! your file is forfeit" Hummm? Is this diss-information
intentional? Exquisite Corpse by *The* Kenji Sirtori *is* extreme noise -
extreme as it consists in the main of electronics pushed to the extreme -
that is over modulated and so falling into hypersonic feedback - which no
doubt resists capture in 44100hz PCM. Live one would I suspect be more
aware of this inaudible feedback - the piece is extreme rather than harsh
in its rhizome structure - or
de-structuring - and a particular example for this listener- where
meta-sonics are employed rather more than the rumble and white noise of
atypical harsh noise. I hope such work within the Russian context can remove
the temptation of a self indulgent introversion of a potential nostalgic and
closed retreat into nationalism - and history. Tatlin's tower had non
parochial ideologies! But at times pieces on the comp are over played
industrial or elsewhere on other CDrs "spacey" and "cosmic" landscapes of a
future predicted in the last century but which never happened - at best?
tangerine dream 20 years ago on vinyl- well no! and certainly not on an
ipod. Biomass (who runs the label) & Crank Shaft's CDR is heavy noise with
strong rhythms and pulses, a re-release of previous material - the more
recent work of the compilation lacks this structuring agenda - is more
de-focussed and de-structuring- that is ideologically more noisy.
The last two Cds, Sci-Fi reverbry - Music of Light (!), unfortunately
resorts to close to the edegry glissera + noise? synthed reverb washes of
70s / 80s anthemic freakery, Arson Acrimony more industrial
spacey-wailing-beats- with dialogue samples - Russian? French and English
expletives. Certain soviet sc-fi masked or metaphored criticism of a
regime, but this fiction is redundant. Perhaps involution is a dangerous
thing - paranoia after all was the disease of modernity - but this "now" is
the future and our disease is schizophrenia, not to be confused with
eclecticism and third worldism - the noise genre is in each successful piece
a demonstration of schizophrenic sound - madness rather than gladness. It
might be that the Russian consciousness has to overcome the vestigial
proclivity to hierarchies, structures, rhythms, tunes which (they can learn
from) Japanese noise has accomplished without regard to some primitivism or
fake occultism of western noise's bare chested
shenanigans. (jliat)
Address: http://atherisieren.kulichki.com/soi/
SUJO DORA (CDr by Inam Records)
"four new tracks of lo-fi noise, drone and distant shoegaze" Yep!
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
(jliat) This does an injustice to this release, the music is finely balanced
and crafted, as is the mix, depth is created by skillful use of reverb and
what sounds like carefully controlled guitar feedback and distortion -
rhythmic drones and slowly evolving abstractions - with this Sujo manages to
create a work of merit and anyone interested in this kind of thing should
try to get to listen if not actually buy a copy. (jliat)
Address inamrecs@yahoo.com
WAND. AND PRINCESS - YELLOW SHIP (CDr by Wand. and Princess)
W. & P obviously have a massive P.R. and publishing deal, I like this kind
of stuff, so low fi its nearly dirt, the corporate info sheet is a page torn
out of an exercise book with a biroed "Hello there .." same money, time and
care was spent on packaging the CDr- hand painted blue card - well a few
brush strokes of yellow and maroon - with again hand written text- cut no
doubt by a pair of scissors with the precision of a drunk. A white label
stuck to the cd is blank - they lost their biro perhaps. And what on the CD
you ask - what you would expect - one track of lo-fi noise - they might call
drone but I wouldn't- of appalling quality - brilliant stuff - the only
pity is the myspace site gives more - too much information- and is almost
professional in appearance! - it needs the biro and paint job. Anticipating
cries of hypocrite - as in my critique of the lo-fi Russians - I think you
need to be competent or totally incompetent , as W Blake said - if a fool
persists in his folly
he shall become wise. And such in-competence and apparent carelessness
should not be used as a pretense, the beauty lies in its worthlessness to
the point of bored meaningless which describes life itself and a survival
mechanism for it without - hope. (jliat)
Address http://www.myspace.com/wandandprincess
CORNUCOPIA BLACK OPERATIONS (CDR by Sonora)
CORNUCOPIA STAR TRAILS (CDR by Sonora)
Claudio Chea & Jorge Castro - live recordings from 2005/6 B Ops recorded
in San Juan the other across the Netherlands. Synth Noise Box, field
recordings and other data - I précis . S.T. 17:53 - reverb - reverb -
everywhere And all the boards did shrink ; reverb reverb every where, Nor
any one to think.. The very deep did rot : O Christ !That ever this should
be ! Yea, synthy things did crawl with legs Upon the slimy sea.. B. Ops
32:07 - here the things chatter and chrip - the doses of spring-line,
focusrite, Bucket Brigade, Lexicon . "The classic mistakes of the novice
are using too much reverb return on everything and allowing reverb tails to
be too long. Reverb generally needs to be subtle.." Hugh Robjohns - Sound on
Sound Magazine. That agony returns :And till my ghastly tale is told..
"Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and
Grooving with a Pict" is a track written and performed by Roger Waters from
the two-part 1969 Pink Floyd album,
Ummagumma. The track consists of several
minutes of noises resembling rodents and birds simulated by Waters' voice
and other techniques, such as tapping the microphone played at different
speeds, followed by Waters providing a few stanzas of quasi-lyrics in an
exaggerated Scottish brogue. There is a "hidden message" in the song at
approximately 4:34. If played at a slower speed, Waters can be heard to
say, "That was pretty avant-garde, wasn't it?". Also, at the end of the
rant, Waters is heard to say "and the wind cried Mary", referencing the Jimi
Hendrix song of that title". Ay! and the wind cried Mary. (jliat)
Address
BUBONIC HERMAPHRODITE - IDIOTUNDERGROUND01 (CDr by ??)
Is it true in every household there is a draw - or more- of stuff, we have
one, ball of string broken can opener, lawnmower blades (used) several
boxes of matches, those things used to assemble Ikea furniture, several
bent drawing pins, an incomplete set of playing cards, a chopstick, bits
of strange shaped plastic and metal, screws of various sizes, mains adaptors
for what we have forgotten. the list could run to pages- well imagine the
sonic equivalent and that what I'm listening to. Such a strange
conglomeration of noises which organically shift in waves like a migraine-
oh and a shelf of tins of paint most either half or fully used- the detritus
of life which somehow no matter how often you clear - returns - or if you do
throw them all out you immediately need that alan key - or realize the
purpose of that bit of plastic is vital to your continued life and
happiness. only with death is such ephemera finally thrown out - to surface
years later I suspect in an antique shop -
my junk draw in 100 years time will be no doubt of great interest and value
to some avid collector - and maybe they might also find this CDr and play
it - and think how it summed up the pervious eras taste in music - which
of course it doesn't but splendidly resists categorization like the contents
of the "junk draw" - some how junk - yet important and annoyingly
autobiographical - like the broken flash light you one day will fix, and the
tube of super-glue which might come in handy - though of course its set
solid in its tube. On the last track they sing badly to a broken harmonica -
"brown nipple" - deep or what? (jliat)
Address: non given - try http://www.myspace.com/bubonichermaphrodite
AKIFUMI NAKAJIMA - WATER 1991 (2CDR by Kokeshidisk)
MOLJEBKA PVLSE - FALL IN WOODLAND CEMETARY (3"CDR by Taalem)
OPIUM - ETERE (3"CDR by Taalem)
BRIAN LAVELLE - THE PETRIFIED FOREST (3"CDR by Taalem)
Before Aube, Akifumi Nakajima was just Akifumi Nakajima, a designer with a
strong interest in music. He didn't release that much under his own name,
and they were not on his G.R.O.S.S. label. Kokeshidisk already released
'Water 1990' (see Vital Weekly 486) and of course 'Water 1991' is the
follow-up and again of course uses just water sounds as its sound source.
The difference here is that there were two tapes, which the listener could
decide to play simultaneously or separate. I have no DJ set up, so I have to
play them one by one. Other similarities are that the music is much softer
than the early Aube releases. I think the sound is fed through an analogue
synth and some delay pedals, but throughout things are very ambient like on
the first disc and things get a bit louder on the second disc, which also
seems to be the more musical one of the two. I can imagine that they would
go well together. Still in a more free fall these four pieces, but
nevertheless good to hear again, after
all these years.
On the sub-division for 3"CDR releases, Taalem, three new releases, and two
by people whom we already know from much of their previous work. Mathias
Josefson's Moljebka Pvlse has had many releases on various labels,
displaying his sense for all things dark and ambient. Taalem says it's a
'field recording' and who are we to disbelieve, but it sounds like an
orchestral pieces of many strings, playing overtones in a cave while
Josefson stands outside. Throughout the course of this piece, things fall
back in volume and the night sets in. Nice one.
I don't think I ever heard of Opium from Italy, also known as Teo Zini, who
has had releases on Hic Sunt Leones and Silentes. Here too I have not much
idea how things were made, but my best guess is a bunch of analogue
synthesizers and some machine to imitate ethnic percussion. More synthetic
than Moljebka Pvlse, and more from the world where they spell magic as
magick. A bit of a cliche world, but Opium knows how to avoid the various
traps and makes quite a nice piece.
Brian Lavelle recently surprised us 'Supernaturalist', and the two pieces
here were recorded just before that and show the best side of his:
manipulating field recordings and very much altering them into microscopic
detailed pieces of ambient drones. Slowly changing patterns of what seems to
be rain fall, deep bass sounds in 'The Wood Turned Dark And Silent' and more
synthetic in 'This Twisting Glade', which sounds like a church organ being
dissected. Very nice. (FdW)
Address: http://kokeshidisk.free.fr
Address: http://www.taalem.com
LARSGARDEN & ROWENTA - GRDN (3"CDR by Tuguska)
Frank Rowenta's musical history goes back to the 80s when he recorded
various albums with one Kahn and with Grillhaus. In more recent years he's
more concerned with field recordings and has had a release on Gruenrekorder.
Here he teams with C.J. Larsgarden, who sometimes works as Ondo, A Perfect
Friend and Pacta. Together they recorded a bunch of pieces since 2006, of
which five found there way to this 3" on Larsgarden's own Tuguska label.
It's an interesting, intimate piece of work where field recordings and
acoustic guitars meet half way through - in a garden (see title) perhaps -
where each of them holds a small sampler to give some very basic sound
treatments to the events at hand. Intimate, like recorded in a garden, or in
bar, minimal and cleverly mixing microsound and outsider music. Nice one.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/ljudet
SLOWCREAM - LIVE LONG AND PROSPER (MP3 by Nonine)
NEUBAU - RYMDMYR (MP3 by Nonine)
Nonine lets us know that the 'connection between classical and
minimal-electro is saturated with spaces of re-definition" and that
'Slowcream smears the frames of classical music with a funky delicious
fringe, polarizing certain fragments of its best qualities", but surely I am
missing a point here and there. Slowcream is Me Raabenstein and he plucks
'classical' music and set something electronic against it. But its neither
something classical, nor something techno like. Its instruments used in
classical music, like piano (lots of them around here), a bit of strings and
the electronic sounds are sometimes cut into a rhythm, but I never had the
feeling I should start to dance to this music. It seemed to me like loose
ends stuck together, except for 'Wife's Tales', which seemed to have a good
amount of tension in it, but that was the only diamond around here.
One Arno Steinacher is behind Neubau, who started composing at the age of
12, played the guitar, did improvisations and now works in the electronic
music field. It seems to me that his main input is the voice and perhaps
field recordings, which is then treated inside the computer. I might be
entirely wrong here, but I don't think he uses any instruments. No rhythm as
such here, not like Slowcream. Neubau's music is more microsound, but at the
same time things sound also very digital. Throughout the music is highly
atmospherical, ambient inspired, but also dark at times. Nevertheless quite
pleasant if somewhat unsurprising music. Not something that hasn't be said
or done before, but Neubau executes his ideas with care. (FdW)
Address: http://www.nonine.com
SCOTT SMALLWOOD - 3 SOUNDSCAPES (MP3 by Sijis)
TOM WALLACE - BLOOD & WATER (MP3 by Sijis)
UBEBOET & CALARCO & RECHE - BIESI (MP3 by Sijis)
Sijis is perhaps not the most active label when it comes to releasing music,
but when they do it's usually high quality. Scott Smallwood for instance,
released work on Autumn Records, Deep Listening, Simple Logic and Static
Caravan, is someone who loves the sounds to come from the fields and he
loves them to drone. He has three soundscapes here, two of which include
people playing instruments 'Colton Swarm' is an intense piece of clustered
sounds from an 'electric plastic harmonium' and sounds heavily drone like,
but it's very nice. No field recordings there, but they seem to be present
in the other two pieces, most notably in 'Stay', where he uses sounds from
the Brooklyn Bridge along with the contrabass of Mark Dresser and the cello
of Francis-Marie Uitti. 'Still In Here' is an ensemble piece, performed by
the Now Ensemble, but it's a pretty sketchy piece. I don't know whether it's
the recording or that it is intended to sound so far away, but it's the
least appealing work of this
new Sijis lot.
A student from Denis Smalley is one Tom Wallace, who recorded the basic
sound material for his piece 'Blood & Water' at King's College Hospital,
Denmark Hill, especially at the haemodialysis unit. Sister Rachel Mwansa
gives a tour before the piece starts. When it gets going it seems like a
pure field recordings piece of hospital sounds, or perhaps a collage, but
with much treatment, in sound that is. Machines of all sorts hiss and peep
and in general it has that claustrophobic feeling that at least I get when I
visit hospital - definitely not a place to be. Can you say nice in this
context? Perhaps not, but I'll do it anyway.
The final new release is a collaboration between Miguel Angel Tolosa
(ubeboet), Juan Jose Calarco and Pablo Reche, who take the Russian idea of
Biesi - demons - who act as part of life, rather than something from another
life. I have no idea wether this was recorded through mail or in person.
They seem to be using field recordings of a rather flowing, vague kind.
Machines? Motors? Ventilators? Any of those will probably do. Slowly the web
thickens as more and more field recordings and derivations thereof come in.
Just when you think the sound dies out, things return for a creepy ending of
the proceedings. Nice one too. (FdW)
Address: http://www.sijis.com
1. From: Novi_sad <novi-sad@novi-sad.net>
- Novi_sad will be performing live at Observatori festival, Valencia, Spain.
Sunday 22nd of June | 17:00 hrs
A set previously commissioned by the National Dutch radio VPRO will be
presented at Centro del Carmen C/ Museo, 3 ('Carmen' Quarter).
Also appearing in the festival:
Jacob Kirkegaard, Chop Shop (Scott Konzelman), Sudden Infant, G*Park,
Michael Prime, Francisco López, Paul Bradley.
More info: <http://www.observatori.com>www.observatori.com
2. From: "Caustic Castle" <causticcastle@gmail.com>
Insects With Tits & Nernes/Skagen are on tour from June 23rd - July 7th
June:
23 - Richmond, VA @ Gallery5 w/ Anduin, Tone Ghosting
24 - Washington, D.C. @ Velvet Lounge
25 - Baltimore, MD @ Scary Studio's w/ Ami Dang & HexSpeak
26 - Philadelphia, PA @
27 - New York City, NY @
28 - Lowell, MA @ 2008 Noise Axis Festival (Day 2)
29 - Montreal @ Suoni Per Il popolo Festival - Casa Del Popolo with
Brooklyn's Blues Control, Butt Savage and Wapstan [
<http://www.casadelpopolo.com/suoni/about.htm>http://www.casadelpopolo.com/suoni/about.htm
]
30 - Toronto - @ the Renaissance Cafe 1938 Danforth Ave. Toronto, On
July:
1 - Rochester, NY @ Potential Life Studios
2 - Cleveland, OH @ Bela Dubby
3 - Chicago, IL @
4 - Lansing, MI @ 517noise
5 - Allentown, PA @ Muscle Beach
6 - Pittsburgh, PA @
7 - Charlottesvile @ The Bridge
3. From: "> vertigo" <herrkock@gmail.com>
O Tannenbaum presents:
Thursday:
Finnisage Maura Exhibition
short movies, analogue vj-ing and dinner.
19.00 hours
Friday:
Live: Fyoelk and GTUK.
dj Hitmachine
and dinner
20.00 hours
<http://www.o-tannenbaum-berlin.de>www.o-tannenbaum-berlin.de
Pflügerstrasse 79a
Berlin
U Schönleinstrasse
4. From: Frans de Waard <frans@beequeen.nl>
This Saturday Beequeen @ Worm, in Rotterdam. Evening starts at 20:30, and we
first watch football on the big screen. If The Netherlands loose we play our
sad songs and if they win we play the same songs, but then a bit more happy.
Also a film by Barbara Meter. Opposites attract, I guess.
--
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), Steffan de Turck (SDT)
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.
the complete archive of Vital Weekly including search possibilities:
http://www.vitalweekly.net
Flying Lotus: L.A. EP 1 X 3 (Warp)
O (Mika Vainio): Oleva (Sahko)
