вторник, 30 сентября 2008 г.

Vital Weekly 646

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VITAL WEEKLY
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number 646
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week 40
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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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Submitting material means you agree with these terms.


* noted are in this week's pod-cast


WHISPERING FOR WOLVES - LANGUAGE OF THE DARDS - TAUU AND TWILIGHT SING
100,000 SONGS OF MILAREPA (NOISE NARRATIVES PART 1) (CD by Boring Machines)
EXPO '70/BE INVISIBLE NOW (CD by Boring Machines)
GRETA HOHEISEL & NORBERT LANG - BUKAREST FRAGMENTE (CD + Book by
Gruenrekorder)
CARRIER BAND - VOICE COIL (CD by Deep Listening Recordings)
LOS ANGELES ELECTRIC 8 - PLAYS SHOSTAKOVITCH, MENDELSOHN, BRADDOCK, SIEGEL
AND KOHL (CD by Los Angeles Electric 8)
GREG KELLEY - SELF-HATE INDEX (CD by Semata Productions)
THE EPICUREANS - INTRODUCING (CDR by Semata Productions)
FRANCISCO LOPEZ - TECHNOCALYPS (CD by Alien8 Recordings)
AIDAN BAKER & TIM HECKER - FANTASMA PARASTASIE (CD by Alien8 Recordings)
CHEN SANTA MARIA (CD by GSSD/Shit On Records)
BLACK SUN - PARALYSER (LP by At War With False Noise)
ALDERDEEL - LUIZIG (CD by At War With False Noise)
SHIFT - CREATION & SPACE (LP by At War With False Noise)
STEVE RODEN - A SLOW MOVING BOAT (3"CD by In Between Noise)
NOSZTALGIA DIREKTIVA (7" by Enfant Terrible)
ADOLF FILTER - THE OTHER HAND ON THE KNOB (7" by Enfant Terrible)
Z'EV & BRYAN LEWIS SAUNDERS - DAKU (CDR by Stand-Up Tragedy Records)
JEREMY BIBLE & JASON HENRY - MARKER (CDR by Gruenrekorder)
SNAPPING TURTLE - APRIL THROW (CDR by Savage Yank Records)
TEMPLE MUSIC - THE GREEN MAN PROJECT BETA - GEDNEY - ST. MARY MAGDALENE (CDR
by Shining Day)
THROUROOF - WHALE BONES (CDR by Sentient Recognition Archive)
FABIO ORSI - THE WILD LIGHT OF THE MOON (CDR by Sentient Recognition
Archive)
RP COLLIER - LAMELLAPHONE (CDR, self-released)
D.D. NEWMOLE - THE EARTH TREMBLED (CDR by I, Absentee)
ALPHA AESAR (CDR by I, Absentee)
PLATFORM - EP 1 (CDR by Minimal Resourch Manipulation)
PLATFORM - DISTANCED (CDR by Minimal Resourch Manipulation)
TORTURING NURSE - 192171-200871 (CDR by Why Not Ltd)
JULIEN SKROBEK - VOLATIL (CDR by Why Not Ltd)
GOH LEE KWANG - CICADAS (CDR by Why Not Ltd)
DANNY KREUTZFELDT - ERUPTION (3"CDR by Tib Prod)
TERJE PAULSEN - NOVEMBER X (3"CDR by Tib Prod)
PUIN + HOOP - WAARSCHOONLIJK (CDR by TBFKAGNK Records)
KATCHMARE & ANTLER PISS - AUTOMATIC WEDDING (Cassette by Scissor Death)
SOUND CANVAS VOLUME 1 (MP3 by Mikroton Digital)
KENNETH KIRSCHNER - MARCH 20, 2007 ET AL (MP3 by Mikroton Digital)
PHIL RAYMOND - ABSENCE (MP3 by Mikroton Digital)


WHISPERING FOR WOLVES - LANGUAGE OF THE DARDS - TAUU AND TWILIGHT SING
100,000 SONGS OF MILAREPA (NOISE NARRATIVES PART 1) (CD by Boring Machines)
EXPO '70/BE INVISIBLE NOW (CD by Boring Machines)
When I reviewed Punck's 'Piallassa' in Vital Weekly 637, I mocked with the
label name and some of the band names on the label, including Whispers For
Wolves. Today I have the task of hearing the music and judging it. Melissa
Moore is the woman behind this name. She builds her own instruments,
installations and sculptures. For her music she uses field recordings, voice
and guitar and the label calls this psych/noise/folk, which I can second.
Its not noise for the sake of noise, I recognize bird twitter and voices and
in the opening track 'The Collective Darkness' a guitar. Three extensive
pieces that deal however with quite a minimal approach per track. Minimal
yet full of sound - every hole is cemented with sound here. No effect stayed
behind in the cupboard. When all the machines are set in motion, through
loops, playing or through layering the cake inside the computer, things no
longer evolve, just seem to stay inside what it is, and gradually change
color within the given frame.
Quite nice, this full approach. Throughout I thought this was quite a nice
work, an outsider that is, but doing a great job. Despite perhaps the hippy
undertones.
From Kansas hails Justin Wright, as Expo '70. He
started in 2003 by playing the guitar to create drones with delay and repeat
pedals. Be Invisible Now! is Marco Giotti from Italy, who does perhaps the
same, but has more rhythm to it. They met over the internet and release here
a split CD, two tracks each (divided over a side A and a side B on the
cover, but that was never idea that worked well, I think). With Be Invisible
Now! the drum computers bang their way through the two pieces, with the
instruments being loud and clear present - synthesizers, guitars and more
effects. Its a bit of randomized approach towards what he does, hovering in
a dark world. Maybe there is a cinematic approach to it, but its from a kind
of film I don't see too often. Expo '70 on the hand is much more
concentrated. He starts his 'Heir Of Serpents' with an organ drone and then
slowly an acoustic guitar sounds drop in until there is a solid e-bow solo.
Very retro, very seventies, but very nice. The second piece has a steady,
slow organ pulse to start with,
and then thick slices of synthesizers come in. Klaus Schulze's darkest
nightmare. What Expo '70 does is not new at all, but it sounds damn fine
here. (FdW)
Address: http://www.boringmachines.it

GRETA HOHEISEL & NORBERT LANG - BUKAREST FRAGMENTE (CD + Book by
Gruenrekorder)
Its of course never easy to judge a release that deals with a city that one
has never been too, in this the Romanian capital Bukarest. But the extensive
and beautiful book (bound, bigger size than the average booklet) makes up
for this omission. It contains photography of the places where the
recordings were, with descriptive text in both German and Romanian. Many
sounds of life on streets: cars passing, people trying to sell toys, the
subway, street music (pan flutes of course), and sometimes the rumble
mechanics. It makes all a fascinating trip while flipping through the book
and looking at the pictures. Captivating stuff. Nothing is 'processed' here,
nor does it tell a 'story', it merely takes things as they are. Certainly a
major project for Gruenrekorder, and one of their best releases to date.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.gruenrekorder.de

CARRIER BAND - VOICE COIL (CD by Deep Listening Recordings)
The Carrier Band is a trio of Pauline Oliveros, Peer Bode, and Andrew
Deutsch, formed in 1998 when they performed three improvisations at Alfred
University. Later this music is released as the first Carrier Band CD on the
Deep Listening label, called 'Automatic Inscription Of Speech Melod'. Many
different disciplines are combined in this trio. Oliveros needs no
introduction as she is well-known for her electronic music and music for
accordion. Peer Bode comes from the world of film originally and developed
into an electronic-media artist.
Andrew Deutsch is a sound, video and graphic artist. Since 1998 he has
released over 14 CDRs of solo electronic music on his Magic If Recordings.
For their new cd they again recorded three length improvisations The first
one, 'Voice Coil' was performed in the fall of 2003 at the Deep Listening
Space in Kingston, New York. Pauline Oliveros performed on accordion and
computer based Expanded Instrument System, Peer Bode performed live text
with his Bode Vocoder, and Andrew Deutsch performed live mixing, archival
recordings from the Bode archive, samples, loops and electronics. In 2007
Andrew Deutsch added several overdubs in order to bring to piece more close
to what the audience actually heard in 2003. The piece takes some 40
minutes. It remained. 'Frozen Speaker' is an electronic composition by
Andrew Deutsch. 'Video Voice' uses sounds from Pauline Oliveros electronic
works V of IV, and 'Mewsak', as well as elements of Stephen Vitiello's
'Light Meter' recordings. In all their work they strive to combine analog
and digital systems. In their improvisational activity they introduce
already existing music, old recordings of spoken
word, etc. This way they communicate with other outings from the present or
past. In the way it takes shape however everything remains too amorphous for
my tastes, especially in long title track. (DM)
Address: http://www.deeplistening.org/

LOS ANGELES ELECTRIC 8 - PLAYS SHOSTAKOVITCH, MENDELSOHN, BRADDOCK, SIEGEL
AND KOHL (CD by Los Angeles Electric 8)
First thing that strikes us is the line up of this octet. I am used to
guitar quartets (Fred Frith Guitar Quartet, etc.), but this is an ensemble
of eight electric guitars. For their debut they arranged five existing
compositions that were written originally for organ, classical guitars,
strings and indonesian gamelan. Compositions from very different composers:
Felix Mendelsohn and Dmitiri Shostakovitch, minimal composer Wayne Siegel
and two young american composers Nathaniel Braddock and Randall Kohl. How
this selection came about I don't know, but together they make an
interesting and diverse collection. Also I haven't heard the compositions in
their original orchestration. I can't compare them, and make up my mind as
to whether these adaptations make any sense or not. So let's stay with what
we hear on this exceptional cd. Because of the instrument electric guitar,
the music has the air of rock music, but in fact it isn't rock at all.
Listening to 'Octet op.11' by Shostakovitch I
wished they played it more explicitly with a rock feel. Now it remains a
little academic and cold. Listening to 'Balinesa' by Randall Kohl one can
hear this is written for gamelan. For me their approach worked best for
'Domino Figures' by Wayne Siegel, a 22 minute minimal work of cascading
waves of music and sound. I suppose it is Ben Harbert the leader of this
octet who did the incredible job of arranging all these works for his guitar
octet. What was he aiming at? Maybe he wants to prove that the electric
guitar is fitted for performing classical and other composed music. He
surrounded himself with seven excellent players, and together they do their
job well. It really is a collective work. It is difficult to distinguish the
individual players with their own characteristics and style. All in all it
is a ingenious and impressive work, but not very moving. (DM)
Address: http://www.losangeleselectric8/

GREG KELLEY - SELF-HATE INDEX (CD by Semata Productions)
THE EPICUREANS - INTRODUCING (CDR by Semata Productions)
Trumpet player Greg Kelley's previous release was a LP for No Fun
Productions, and even I think Kelley produces some wonderful music, that
album was a bit too much harsh noise for me. I don't mind harsh noise at
all, but I prefer it to be mixed with something else. 'Self-Hate Index', his
fourth CD, is in that respect something that works much better. He returns
here to his trumpet, and works in a 'proper' studio, using pro-tools and
some post-manipulation. But Kelley's main interest is in placing the
microphones all over the place and then to create a mix out of the various
microphone recordings. Close by, far away. Sustained blowing, hitting the
instrument, scraping it, and then using a totally distorted channel which
was also made using an amplifier and a distortion pedal. Its all in here,
and it makes a great cross-over between noise and improvised music. Music
that ranges from the very soft to the very loud. Not a straight line in
noise, but a great balance between the two
extremes in sound. That is the noise that I like. Going from one extreme to
another, which is what makes things extreme and not the full on noise blast.
The seven pieces on this are excellent examples of what is all possible in
this direction, and perhaps 'true noise heads' should take notice. So far,
the best and most complete work I heard by him.
The first release by Semata is a CDR by The Epicureans, of whom I never
heard, but which seems to be a trio of Dave Gross (saxophone), Ricardo
Donoso (drums) and Ryan McGuire (bass), and they hail from Boston. They have
releases on Tzadik, Sedimental and Hydrahead and their music is much alike
that of Kelley: improvised with a strong love for the dynamics of soft
versus loud, silence versus noise. With one difference: they play everything
acoustic with no electronic processing. It makes things perhaps a bit more
'traditional', but that might also be because their playing is a bit more
traditional. No explorations of the instruments as such, but free play of
the instruments themselves, playing their respective instruments as
instruments and not as objects. Quite strong material here with a great
dynamic range and a strong element of surprise. Great one too, but just a
bit lesser than the full blast by Kelley. (FdW)
Address: http://www.semataproductions.com

FRANCISCO LOPEZ - TECHNOCALYPS (CD by Alien8 Recordings)
AIDAN BAKER & TIM HECKER - FANTASMA PARASTASIE (CD by Alien8 Recordings)
You can't say Francisco Lopez always plays the same tune. There is a large
body of work by him which is perhaps 'along similar lines', the field
recordings, but there is also work which is totally different (and also in
the field recordings work there are notable changes - a book about his work
is overdue me thinks). Today's surprise is his soundtrack to TechnoCaylps:
'a three part documentary about transhumanism, an ideology assuming that we
approach an era where humans, as we know them, are no longer the driving
force of civilization. All technological developments seem to converge to
one main goal: to overcome humanity, to try and create something transhuman'
it says on the cover. The Belgium filmmaker Frank Theys interviewed many
people around the globe about this, and Lopez created the music to go with
it. Certainly something to watch one day, as the documentary sounds
interesting, but the music itself is also quite interesting. Its a Lopez
that we don't know. There are fifteen
tracks here, short and long alike, and while probably having the original
sound sources in field recordings, Lopez went to a great length to transform
them into a mechanical, post industrial music. The sound of what the world
may sound like after the apocalypse. Metallic rumble, sonic debris, stale
wind over empty industrial sites, flickering lights. All the cliche images
one could have while thinking of this pass in front of your very eyes.
Cliche's, but Lopez does a fine job here. With lots of imaginative sounds
depicting this new world of transhumans, and its certainly not something to
watch out for. Music that is hardly comforting, but more a warning. An alien
release.
Back to the current world, where things are more comfortable and happy. We
find two masters of guitars and electronics, Aidan Baker and Tim Hecker, two
busy bees also. The have seven titles printed on the cover, but it's divided
into sixty-six tracks on the CD (a nightmare for our podcast). No other info
is provided here, but it's a heavy beast of music. Lots of fuzzy guitar, in
overdrive mode, perhaps even in overkill mode, but Hecker and Baker also
know to pull the strings and enter a textured field, such as in the closing
title piece. Things move between these two extremes: the loud and the quiet.
Its hard to tell which prevails, but my feeling has it that the louder parts
prevail around. Heavy metal without drums, psychedelic noise. Exploding
organ like guitar drones. A short, thirty-six minute, release of hellraising
tones. Cascading and bursting, ripping speaker music. Very fine stuff.
Delicate like a heavy meal. (FdW)
Address: http://www.alien8recordings.com

CHEN SANTA MARIA (CD by GSSD/Shit On Records)
If you play 'outdoor guerilla' shows with bands like Yellow Swans, Hair
Police, Sissy Spacek or Burning Star Core you get probably influenced, and
perhaps Chen Santa Maria was, but only by Burning Star Core it seems to me.
Its a duo of George Chen and Steve Santa Maria, who play with
'electro-acoustic sound sources, samplers, synthesizers, drum machines and
guitars', which are used in seven improvised pieces. I must admit that the
guitar feeding through what seems to me an endless amount of reverb didn't
do much for me. The instrument is played like someone who touch the guitar
for the first, randomly strumming here and there, hit a string. The addition
of reverb makes that it sounds more than what it is. The rest of the
electronic devices also don't play much engaging music. The music is a
semi-noise improvised oriented thing, which sadly didn't do much for me.
(FdW)
Address: <gerardpatawaran@gmail.com> or <rsztherland@hotmail.com>

BLACK SUN - PARALYSER (LP by At War With False Noise)
ALDERDEEL - LUIZIG (CD by At War With False Noise)
SHIFT - CREATION & SPACE (LP by At War With False Noise)
Popmusic has many disguises. One of them is metal, a musical genre I never
fully understood. 'I'm only interested in heavy metal when it's me who's
playing it. I suppose it's a bit like smelling your own fart', John
Entwhistle once said. Perhaps I don't like spending hours in front of a
mirror to dress up properly, or perhaps I don't want to be part of any
musical scene. The whole notion of being 'heavy' is perhaps something that
was never well-spend on me. The boys of Black Sun look heavy - tattoo's
yummy (I never understand those either to be honest). Their 'Paralyser'
comes in a 'prison of the cross' version, 'hammer the nails' (heavy, right?)
and a 'dub mix'. I have no idea why I get this. Its nothing Vital ever
writes about.
'Luizig' by Alkerdeel then. Previously released on a cassette in an edition
of sixty-six copies (oh spooky...) and I have no idea why it deserves to be
released on a real CD. The website says "some of the most filthy, disgusting
stuff I've ever heard", which of course is no sense in arguing about, but
it's quite a low range drum and bass rumble with fuzz and distortion pedals
on, recorded by the side with a stereo microphone. Oh, it's 'DOOM'. Why
didn't you say, so I could feel depressed. Its a ramble on instruments, some
radio/TV spoken word comes on, and that's it.
But not that things are all that unVital. Shift is... well, is... who?
Dunno. Its their second album and this is music that certainly fits these
pages quite well. A dark rumble, like various guitars on fire, stuck on
endless repeat and those who celebrate the burning are heard singing (?)
every now and then. Heavy stuff, what, superheavy load. If I tell you that
Lee Stokoe from Skullflower is part of the festivities, than you know what's
going on here. These boys (hey, girls perhaps), know how to put on a heavy
block of sound that is both drone as well as noise based, and then take
things down into a lull in 'Space', which just is crackle with small drone
underneath. 'Arrive' has chords to it, and seems to be played on an organ
with more 'voices' mumbling on the bottom of the ocean. Certainly one of the
stranger things I heard in quite some time and some captivating stuff. I may
not care for heavy metal or doom, but if the metal is as heavy as a rock as
it is here, then gimme more.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.atwarwithfalsenoise.com

STEVE RODEN - A SLOW MOVING BOAT (3"CD by In Between Noise)
It must have been an odd sight, in April 2007. Steve Roden fits on a ferry
in Norway and he is singing and humming along with the engine of the ferry.
Later on he replaces the engine sounds with that of a bowed banjo, and no
doubt layers his own voice in various harmonic constellations. Steve Roden
has a relatively simple tool at hand - just a few sounds, but as before he
very cleverly knows how to create a great piece of music with it. Minimal,
refined, delicate. His humming in various shades and shapes, with the bowing
of the banjo in the background, makes a nice piece of music that at fifteen
minutes has captured the right length. What else can there be said? A mantra
like piece. Elegant music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.inbetweennoise.com

NOSZTALGIA DIREKTIVA (7" by Enfant Terrible)
ADOLF FILTER - THE OTHER HAND ON THE KNOB (7" by Enfant Terrible)
Someone asked me not to mention anymore 'I am old, I did this or that, when
you still crawled the floor', so I must think of something else then, which
in the case of these two 7" singles is a bit difficult. Both Adolf Filter
(from Sweden) and Nosztalgia Direktiva (from Hungary) play music that is
mainly 'old'. Both use a steady rhythm machine, an analogue synth of two to
play melodies and there is a singer who sings with a dark, sombre voice. The
press text marks the finer differences between the two 'reminiscent of old
industrial music [...] to the elektro side of things' (Nosztalgia Direktiva)
versus 'synth pop influenced by cold wave sounds from the early 80s and old
style EBM rhythms' (Adolf Filter) - this as to show what I said many times
before. In certain, if not all, musical 'styles' the differences are small,
but once you are into it, you know the cold wave from the elektro. Not me,
actually. If I would go to a party where they would spin music like this
(which curious
enough is for people that are dressed in black), I wouldn't be able to tell
the differences, but all I would think is 'oh, that's nice, a bit like Ende
Shneafliet' or 'hey, when I get back home I should A Blaze Colour' again, or
to make things a bit more contemporary (I am not that old) the entire
Suction label catalogue. Of the two I liked Adolf Filter best. A bit more
pop music based, a bit less darker vocals than their Hungarian counterparts,
who weren't' bad either. And what I perhaps liked best: both 7"s had, in
good punk spirit, four tracks - now that is both retro and value for money.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.enfant-terrible.nl

Z'EV & BRYAN LEWIS SAUNDERS - DAKU (CDR by Stand-Up Tragedy Records)
Certainly one of the stranger releases I recently reviewed was Bryan Lewis
Saunders' 'N1-N4 Variations', of him talking in his sleep. Here he has
another set of spoken word - four stories and an introduction of the word
'Daku'. It can be love, time, god or anything. Its meaning is its use,
Saunders says. Saunders recites his texts, or rather tells his stories and
Z'EV uses his voice to create the music. Z'EV's recent outings in electronic
music, say 'Forwaard' and 'Outwaard', where he processes environmental
sounds and which are far away from his usual percussion based work (although
nothing new for him, as Z'EV also created text sound pieces in the earlier
days of his career). Even when following the text is something that I don't
always do, concentrating more on the texture of the voice in combination
with the music, this is a great story telling release. Saunders has a great
voice, telling stories about being sick and pain that grabs the listener,
while Z'EV provides a fine
soundtrack to it. The voices are transformed into animalistic cries and
whispers, adding scary elements to the music. I'm not entirely sure if it is
meant as such but there is an uneasy, horror like element that is part of
this music. Excellent radioplay stuff. (FdW)
Address: http://www.bryanlewissaunders.org

JEREMY BIBLE & JASON HENRY - MARKER (CDR by Gruenrekorder)
Following releases on their own Experimedia label, its now time to expand
the horizon. Music by Jeremy Bible and Jason Henry was already reviewed
before (586 and 638), exploring further what they already started: found
sounds, electronic treatments thereof, acoustic instruments. On 'Marker'
five long tracks, which seem to me be originating in improvisation, but
which perhaps could have used a bit more editing. Once the mighty wheel of
mechanical loops is set in motion, it seems that the end is reached of a
piece, except it goes on for some more time. Throughout it seems that they
are using more rhythm (or easier: repeated chunks of music) than on the
previous releases I heard. Its not dance music in any way, but just
continuos mechanical loops with sounds added to them. Interesting to see
them make this move, but the execution of the five pieces is a bit weak.
Only 'Glacr' which sounded like the previous work worked quite well. Too
long, too many repetitions of ideas, whereas things
could have been much shorter and then it could be more interesting I think.
Brave to step away, but its not enough yet. Explore this route more I'd say.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.gruenrekorder.de

SNAPPING TURTLE - APRIL THROW (CDR by Savage Yank Records)
'This project brings the concept album to a different dimension in the space
music genre.' That's always good. Away from the epic twenty guitar and drum
pieces, Snapping Turtle brings twelve tracks in thirty seven minutes. The
snapping turtle is considered a nuisance since it consumes game fish and
ducklings, it says on the cover, but biology is a foreign language to me. I
have no idea how many people are in the band, if in fact there is a band at
all. They are from Honolulu, Hawaii. The twelve pieces dwell heavily on
drones played on organs, with taped voice material from radio or television.
Its because Snapping Turtle doesn't play space rock, just space music. That
is what we would call ambient industrial music. Music that is too soft to be
true noise, and too noisy to be real ambient. Atmospheric music with an edge
that is. The soundtrack of a horror film. Snapping Turtle, with its shorter
pieces does a nice job, but hardly a new one. Its part of a musical
tradition that has been
going since say twenty or so years.
From zoviet France and Illusion Of Safety right
onto say the entire catalogue of Drone Records. The shorter track approach
isn't new either. But it certainly adds variety to the album of Snapping
Turtle, even when some of the piece did sound a bit similar. Throughout a
nice album, not too great, not bad either. On a scale of ten, I'd rank this
with 6. (FdW)
Address: http://www.savageyankrecords.com

TEMPLE MUSIC - THE GREEN MAN PROJECT BETA - GEDNEY - ST. MARY MAGDALENE (CDR
by Shining Day)
Perhaps because this is the second of series that will eventually span seven
CDR releases, it is perhaps released as a CDR, and not like 'Volume 2' on CD
(see Vital Weekly 595). On the cover there is a large text, fine print only,
about the various locations this was recorded in, all dealing with magickal
places no doubt. The instruments used here include treated slide guitar,
various bits of percussion, bass, dulcimer, string machine, bow psaltery,
low whistle and much more. I can imagine these four guys in some cold cave
with their instruments, performing this ritualistik piece of music (see, I
use all the right 'c' and 'k' lingo), strumming their guitars, the bells and
the flutes. Like with their previous release their music is way too
experimental, I guess, to attract the gothic crowd to it, but I'm sure there
is a niche for them in that scene. And that scene is, unfortunately for them
I must say, not my scene. I surely liked what I hear, but churches and
temples are not my thing
but from a musical point of view, quite alright indeed. (FdW)
Address: http://www.shiningday.pl

THROUROOF - WHALE BONES (CDR by Sentient Recognition Archive)
FABIO ORSI - THE WILD LIGHT OF THE MOON (CDR by Sentient Recognition
Archive)
Recently we got various releases by Sentient Recognition Archive, which all
look cool - almost like a real CD. Musicwise they are in the corner of what
one could loosely call 'dark ambient drones', and these two new releases are
no stranger in this land. First we have throuRoof, as they prefer to spell
their name. I have no idea who they are but their release is an 'impro
recorded in Blissland - May 2008', and is divided in two parts, each around
sixteen minutes. Its not easy to tell what they do, but it seems to me a
blend of electronics, effects and guitars, and perhaps a reader's digest
recording of whales - they sound clear at the end of this impro. Things
bounce like the waves - bounce as when a whale is in the waves - mighty up
and down the waves, especially in the first piece 'Humpback Cemetery Blues'.
Maybe its just whale sounds anyway. I don't know. But the drones are high
and mighty, but not restricted to that. There is more happening around this
place, just as percussion
sounds - ok so no 'just' whale sounds then. Animalistic in approach this
music. Quite nice.
Fabio Orsi is more well known, although I only recall his releases on Small
Voices, who presents here one piece of thirty-five minutes. Again we are
left in the dark what he does or uses, sound wise, but it may seem to me as
a bunch of software plug ins to create a delicate piece of drone music. Much
more refined as throuRoof, he comes deceivingly close to the world of real
ambient music, certainly in the second part of his piece with its waving and
meandering synthesizer clusters. Here things too develop in a slow way,
which gives the piece quite a tranquility. I thought it was coming close to
the edge of being new age, but the darker undercurrent that remained present
throughout this piece make the die hard waterfall music lovers probably stay
far away - and that is a good thing. Majestically slow music that could have
lasted a bit longer. Perfect nightfall music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/sentientrecognitionarchive

RP COLLIER - LAMELLAPHONE (CDR, self-released)
The gap between his second release 'Deconstruction Of Twilight' and this,
his third release, is quite small, only a mere twenty weeks, which is
considerable smaller than with his first release, which was reviewed in
Vital Weekly 495. Maybe RP Collier gets more productive? Per album he seeks
one instrument to explore. Before it was thumb piano's and toy synthesizers,
then guitars, now with 'Lamellaphone' he is back at the thumb piano.
'Improvisations with electronic effects'. They surely look amazing (watch
them here: http://www.tinyurl.com/yt8f8j), but musicwise I was less happy.
It seemed more improvised than his previous releases, but Collier didn't get
the same amount of tension across as before, nor did it do much in terms of
ambient music, like with the previous release. The plink and plonk of thumb
piano, meeting up with various sound effects, bumping around a bit (the
effects hardly take over control, which is a nice thing) makes this for me
only remotely interesting. Nice
sounds as such, now we need a nice composition with them. (FdW)
Address: http://www.cdbaby.com/rpcollier2

D.D. NEWMOLE - THE EARTH TREMBLED (CDR by I, Absentee)
ALPHA AESAR (CDR by I, Absentee)
These two new releases on I, Absentee look nice, professional and they
continue the course set out by the label. D.D. Newmole we heard before on a
compilation on this label, and its the name chosen by Dan Petrarca from
Akron, Ohio. His music is inspired by drum & bass, one of the few musical
genres I could never ever get into. I think I called it digital jazz rock at
some point. However what Dan does with it, is not bad at all. Dan uses his
lessons in circuit bending and computer knowledge, along with broken beats,
and drum and bass influences to create music that I may still not like very
much, but at least it sounds 'different' to these ears. It side steps the
regular, dance floor oriented and adds sounds to the genre which I think are
pretty extraordinary. However, I must admit, I might be totally wrong: as
said, drum & bass is not my thing. So, let's say I can see why this is good,
without wining me over.
Warren Kroll and Carl States are behind Alpha Aesar, also from Ohio, Canton
this time. They were inspired by Suction Records, who were interested in
releasing some of the early stuff, but it never happened. They split up in
2002, but their name is still alive and now I, Absentee releases this
self-titled album, which has all fourteen tracks this duo ever recorded,
plus six remixes, including one by Lowfish, the Suction Records act, to make
the full circle. Apparently all tracks were recorded to cassettes, but it
still sounds fine to me. Now this is the kind of electronic dance inspired I
like. It brings back time. The early days when I played music like this on
cassettes, although never as good as its here, but also, oddly enough, the
music of Suction Records (do they still exist? [pause] Hard to tell), the
robotic rhythms, the bouncing melodies. Uplifting stuff, rather than cold
and distant. Robots with a hearth of gold. Fourteen great pieces. I must
admit that after this I didn't
necessarily need the remixes, but seeing the continuation in style, it might
almost sound like its also by Alpha Aesar (except Coppice Halifax). This
should have been a real CD and no doubt a real CD for Suction Records. The
best album I heard that they didn't release. (FdW)
Address: http://www.i-absentee.com

PLATFORM - EP 1 (CDR by Minimal Resourch Manipulation)
PLATFORM - DISTANCED (CDR by Minimal Resourch Manipulation)
From these two releases, 'Platform' is the most
recent one, 'Distanced' is from earlier this year. They are quite different.
The first one, the most recent one, sees them playing broken beat electronic
stuff. A bit of melancholy is employed here, but its kept to a minimum. The
beats in 'Dorsal' are just a bit more heavy weighted than what is usual in
this scene - think Boltfish Recordings. The closing piece 'What We Saw' is
entirely different, sampling apparently Anton Webern violin quartets with
very glitchy beats. That I thought was the best track here, sinister and
spooky.
'Distanced' on the other hand is much more abstract. Rhythms are present
here too, but not as straight forward as on 'EP1'. Here they are clutched,
clustered together, and fed through hungry plug ins. This makes much more
abstract, glitch based music that is not really ambient, but at times more
noise based. I must admit that of the two I liked this one better than
'EP1', which sounded more 'normal' to these ears. Having said that I think
that also 'Distanced' is not entirely original either, but at least its here
that all the glitch influences are bit more covered up. But both directions
certainly have potential to grow to something that can be more of his own.
(FdW)
Address: http://www.minimalsourcemanipulation.co.uk

TORTURING NURSE - 192171-200871 (CDR by Why Not Ltd)
JULIEN SKROBEK - VOLATIL (CDR by Why Not Ltd)
GOH LEE KWANG - CICADAS (CDR by Why Not Ltd)
As jamesy ignored the hun's Flugabwehrkanone he once again banked his trusty
Lanc over the enemy, though this time below him lay the cotton fields of the
deep south, he could hear the gentle strum of banjos as his bomb bay doors
opened... Three disks wrapped in colour Xerox A4 + commercially randed -
Life Tec CDRs - hopefully I haven't mislaid these as no identifying
writing - is this a phaleologocentric trope weeeeeeeeeeee! Booom! Or an
attempt to place oneself before the event, writing, encasing, screening, the
time before the first.weeeeee. boom! Broken bits of banjo and burning Jack
Daniels fills the air.. Volatil uses a picture of a bird -" it's kind of a
pun between "volatilisation" (like the sounds) and the bird, because the
lyrics in Vietnamese mean "I want to be a bird..." eh-hem! Nod nod say no
more- a strange concoction- mix of sounds - found maybe - and dialogue-
effects minimally strung out- like a charm bracelet of 60s avant garde?
Ethnic drums &tc- though once exotic
are now in shops everywhere selling pan-pipes and didgeridoos. so it's a bit
like being in one of those shops. with the kids playing about- only much
more silence on the disk - Goh Lee is echoey industrial, gongy droney single
track which ends in a high pitched thing?... moving on and T.N. - buy this!
It starts as a fairly laid back racket of feedback and clanging - live I
suspect - the guitar needs tuning and there is a serious mains loop hum
(joke) by track 3 they are beginning to wind themselves up - hell they have
what I think is called a groove going- its splendid stuff- the kind of noise
that brings a smile - you just know they are touching 80mph and there is
more power left - this is a fucking Harley Davidson of a disk- they ease the
throttle on 4 only to open it back up into more feedback (excellent) on 5,
6 eases out into a field recording??? Brilliant - see for yourself - and
weep. Chinas rising! http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=HT7WgvzfojQ (jliat)
(clear enough?)
Address http://www.geocities.com/whynotltd/

DANNY KREUTZFELDT - ERUPTION (3"CDR by Tib Prod)
TERJE PAULSEN - NOVEMBER X (3"CDR by Tib Prod)
'Eruption' is the fourth and final in Danny Kreutzfeldts 'Ruptures' series,
following 'Disruption', 'Corruption' and 'Abruption'. Kreutzfeldt plays
various kinds of electronic music, from deep ambient to noise and sometimes
even rhythmic stuff. Here it's noise. An eruption of noise, like the hot
lava bursting out of the core of the earth, coming towards us in various
waves. Things melt under this hot mass, but, going back to the music, is
great? This cascading, giant mass of sound? I must say I thought it was so
so, not really bad, but certainly not good either. One of those things that
could leave you quite neutral. Its there, its ok, and if it wasn't there,
then it would have been ok also.
In that respect the release by Terje Paulsen, the upcoming man from
Nor-noise land is more interesting. He plays guitar I think and manipulates
it through effects and adds some other sounds (flutes?). In 'November X' the
guitar pops up somewhere half way through the piece, when we heard highly
obscured sound sources rumbling about. Despite the fact that we have no clue
what is going on here, it sounds in all its obscurity and lo-finess quite
nice. A fascinating trip through rumble and debris. It turns out to be this
is lasts for the whole piece, including some of those guitar sounds. A small
captivating journey through the dust bin. (FdW)
Address: http://www.tibprod.com

PUIN + HOOP - WAARSCHOONLIJK (CDR by TBFKAGNK Records)
The third release by this Dutch trio this year. 'Headphone Sessions' was a
great start, but 'Tirtekl' didn't do much for me. Perhaps inspired by
Machinefabriek's way of giving song titles, they now have a twenty-four
minute track, which sees them on the way back. Starting out with some vague
loops and TV talk, guitars slowly come in and start strumming. Then slowly
the guitars takes over and Puin + Hoop find their roots in post rock
strumming. There might be something that we could 'drums', but it might also
be vague rumble on a table. Longer sustaining sounds come in, forming drone
like material, and making this into a very nice track which comes to
grinding collapse at the very end. Much better than the previous release,
less in a free spirit and surely a way to go. (FdW)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/puingeefthoop

KATCHMARE & ANTLER PISS - AUTOMATIC WEDDING (Cassette by Scissor Death)
Not much info on this release, but apparently its a collaboration between
Katchmare and Antler Piss, two bands I never of. They collaborated by
exchanging files through e-mail and the two pieces on this twenty minute
tape is the result. Two quite different results actually - I could easily
believe that each participant did his own version, but we don't know who did
what here. 'Kettles Of Horn' on the a-side is a distorted piece of drone
music. Not really over the top noise, but certainly quite a heavy beast and
not relaxing in terms of drones. 'Ancestor' on the other side has that
quality - it's drone based and ambient, and works much better. Its much
softer also with carefully processed sounds. Not that we know what it is
that they do, or what kind of instruments they are using, but certainly the
b-side is quite beautiful. (FdW)
Address: http://www.scissordeath.com

SOUND CANVAS VOLUME 1 (MP3 by Mikroton Digital)
KENNETH KIRSCHNER - MARCH 20, 2007 ET AL (MP3 by Mikroton Digital)
PHIL RAYMOND - ABSENCE (MP3 by Mikroton Digital)
These are the first three releases on the new Mikroton label from Moscow,
all three in the digital domain, although physical releases will follow
later on. They open up with a compilation, perhaps the programm of things to
come. Its a meeting of some well-known people in the field with some
introductions. I have no idea how he did it, but he managed to get new (?)
pieces by Alva Noto and Frank Bretschneider, and some more usual suspects as
Lawrence English, Heribert Friedl and Sascha Neudeck, Lawrence English,
Freiband, Sawako, Alexei Borisov and Anton Nikkilä, Kenneth Kirschner and
introduces Wouter van Veldhoven, Zenial, Knuf Aufermann, Sawako and Kurt
Liedwart (the man behind the label). As one can imagine, lots of digital
manipulations around here. Some without too many surprises, like Alva Noto
or Bretschneider, but its the variety of approaches that makes this into
quite a nice dish. Ranging from the noise of Borisov & Nikila and Auferman,
to the crystal clear beats of Alva
Noto, Bretschneider towards the more ambient approaches of English,
Liedwart, Friedl & Neudeck, Sawako, Van Veldhoven and the odd acoustic
guitars of Freiband. Kirschner is also ambient, and his twenty-six minute
piece is great and he steals the show by his sheer length.
He also delivers four long pieces on the second release by Mikroton Digital.
In the pieces 'March 20, 2007' and 'December 18, 2004, he uses his trademark
piano sounds with lots of hiss, which is nice but also common ground for
him. The other two pieces (all between thirteen and twenty-three minutes)
are more interesting, since they sound like something which I haven't heard
from him. 'January 13, 2007' is a rhythmic piece, full of sampled sounds,
forming a heavy (for Kirschner at least) piece of phase shifting sounds.
Maybe a bit too much in the field of computer work here. 'September 10 2006'
is a very soft, ambient piece built around sine waves from all over the
frequency range. Great stuff, fine release.
For me Phil Raymond is a new name, and he presents two pieces of a total
length of seventeen minutes. He too works with sine waves and crackles in a
more ambient direction. Not too outspoken music here, not bad to hear but
also something that is a bit too much in the middle. Certainly someone to
keep an ear open for. (FdW)
Address: http://www.mikroton.net


1. From: Eric Mattson <oral@videotron.ca>


OCTOBER 28 & 29 /

Montréal, Québec

Please Welcome

Oren Ambarchi
(Australia)

ANGEL
(Dirk Dresselhaus (Schneider TM) + Ilpo Vaisanen (Pan Sonic)
Germany/Finland

+ Guests :

Aun, Edgar Olivier charles (Pas Chic Chic), Érick Dorion, Michel Langevin
(Voivod), Alexandre St-Onge,

+ en première MONDIALE : Martin Tétreault, le Quatuor de tables tournantes
et Michel Langevin (une ouvre commandée à Martin Tétreault par Eric Mattson,
avec l'aide du Conseil des arts du Canada)

2 days of concerts, SOLOS by each artists + stunning collaborations

TICKETS pre-sale : 12 $ (1 show, 1 night), 20 $ ( 2 shows, 2 nights)
At the door : 15 $

at Atom Heart, Cheap Thrills , Casa del Popolo

Presented by Minute in collaboration with the Canada Council for the Arts,
Sala Rossa, Send+Receive festival (Winnipeg)

2. From: Sindre Bjerga <sindrebjerga@hotmail.com>

SINDRE BJERGA & HOH (individual sets)
"STRANGE COMBINATION" - UK TOUR OCTOBER 2008

OCT 4TH - Ashley Road Methodist Church, POOLE (7PM, FREE ENTRY)
SINDRE BJERGA
HOH
NO CONTEXT

OCT 6TH - Red House, SHEFFIELD (8PM, £4)
SINDRE BJERGA
HOH
CAM DEAS
FOREST CREATURE

OCT 7TH - Bar Santiago, LEEDS (7:30PM, £4/5)
SINDRE BJERGA
HOH
LANTERNS VS SPOILS & RELICS
JOHNNY SCARR

OCT 8TH - Boathouse, HULL (8PM, DONATION)
SINDRE BJERGA
HOH
ELEKTRODIESEL

OCT 9TH - Telegraph, NEWCASTLE (8PM, £4)
SINDRE BJERGA
HOH
FORDELL RESEARCH UNIT
WAZ HOOLA

OCT 10TH - At War HQ, GLASGOW (8PM, FREE ENTRY)
SINDRE BJERGA
HOH
REJECTAMENTA
CHEER
(email bringmecoffeeortea@hotmail.co.uk for details)

OCT 11TH - 13th Note, GLASGOW (8:30PM, £4)
SINDRE BJERGA
HOH
LANTERNS
NOMA

OCT 12TH - Canon's Gait, EDINBURGH (7PM, £4)
SINDRE BJERGA
HOH
JACK WEIR
PLAYGROUND MELTDOWN

3. From: Yiorgis Sakellariou <yiorgisakellariou@yahoo.gr>


MECHA/ORGA
Concerts is Russia
@ Long Arms festival
Moscow (2/10)
Alexandrov (6/10)
Nijni Novgorod (8/10)
Yaroslavl (10/10)
@ Aposotion festival
St.Petersburg(4/10)

http://www.longarms.net
http://www.aposition.org
http://www.mecha-orga.com

4. From: o*tannenbaum <herrkock@gmail.com>

Tuesday 30. September (Concert: psych. experimental blues)

Ignatz + LSD March

+ DJ Insultor

open 20.00h starts at 21.00h

http://www.myspace.com/ignazt
http://www.myspace.com/lsdmarch

Thursday 2. Oktober (film + dj)

open 20.00h starts at 21.00

Friday 3. Oktober (elektronic music and Accordion)

Erich elektrifiziert

+ Cirkus Apraxie


http://www.myspace.com/cirkusapraxie


Alle reden über Energie und Erich ist wieder unter Strom.

Sein neues Programm ,elektrifiziert' setzt sich mit alltäglichem (Barfuss
durch die Hölle), politischem (Mir doch egal wenn der Wald verreckt), sowie
urbanem (Endstation Krefeld) auseinander. Mittels Akkordeon, Synthesizer,
sowie einer ganzen Batterie von Effektgeräten werden die Themen musikalisch
verarbeitet, und für den musiktheoretischen Laien mittels einprägsamer
Geschichten vorab kurz erläutert.

open 20.00h starts at 21.00h

O Tannenbaum, Pflügerstrasse 79a, Neu Kölln Berlin, U8 Schönleinstrasse.

http://www.o-tannenbaum-berlin.de


--


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понедельник, 29 сентября 2008 г.

Connexion Bizarre News

 

Connexion Bizarre

Greetings,

Connexion Bizarre was updated on 2008-09-29 with new content. New reviews, a new interview, a new installment of the "Business Traveller" ongoing fiction series and new links. A quick overview of this week's updates:

Webcast: ""Maschinenfest 08 Special" with music selection by DJ Jana Dark and "Naïve Hallucination" with music selection by M.
Reviews: Renfro "Mathematics", Nicholas Szczepanik "Iomicin", V/A "Rückwärts Im Uhrzeigersinn", Kiethevez "Non-Binary"
Interviews: Aleksey Chechulin "Cold Graey"
Media: a new installments of Business Traveller
Store: be the envy of your peers by getting a set of exclusive Connexion Bizarre badges!

All the best,
Connexion Bizarre
(www.connexionbizarre.net)




Connexion Bizarre events


Bodypop @ "Era Uma Vez No Porto" bar (1st floor)
18/10, saturday, 11pm-2.30am; Rua do Passeio Alegre 550, Porto (Portugal) - map location.
The "usual selection and latest news" of synthpop, electropop, robotpop, 8bitpop and bodypop!


Webcast & Radio Show


Part 1 - Click here to stream or right-click to download
("Maschinenfest 08 Special" with music selection by DJ Jana Dark)
Flint Glass - Connexion Bizarre Webcast identifier
[exclusive]
Ah Cama-Sotz & Iszoloscope- Irion-Estytion (04:54)
[Camanecroszcope:Echoes Ov Who Lieth Dead But Ever Dreameth - Spectre]
The [Law-Rah] Collective - De Gesloten Steen (06:31)
[Inspiration - Ant-Zen]
Vromb - Dans La Maison (03:49)
[Jeux De Terre - Ant-Zen]
Xabec - Sonar (09:15)
[Seelenschiff - Hands Productions]
Contagious Orgasm - Invisible Mass (05:57)
[The Cause of the Flow - Ant-Zen]
Architect - Colorfusion (04:45)
[I went out shopping to get some noise - Hymen Records]
Monolith - Danger! (04:32)
[Talisman - Alpha Matrix]
Config.Sys - Himmelstuermer (05:32)
[Propaganda - CDR]
Klangstabil - Gloomy Day (Album version) (05:34)
[Taking Nothing Seriously - Ant-Zen]
Hypnoskull - Murderer Dub (Weapons, Derivates And Assaults Remake (05:28)
[VA - TanzFront - Tesla - Indiestate Distribution]
Proyecto Mirage - Sexual Assault (04:23)
[Do Not Look At Me - Hands Productions]
Sonar - Consume (03:37)
[Alien Overdrive - Ant-Zen]
Winterkaelte - Stop Climate Change Now (04:06)
[VA - TanzFront - Tesla - Indiestate Distribution]
Imminent - Padam (04:57)
[VA - TanzFront - Tesla - Indiestate Distribution]
Ambassador 21 - Dogma (05:46)
[Justified Thirst For Blood - Invasion Wreck Chords]
Punch.Inc - Survive (05:31)
[Freak Time - Hands Productions]
Mono No Aware - Tepalock (04:38)
[Kitanai Yatsu - Hands Productions]
Roger Rotor - Doom with a view (05:22)
[Malleus Maleficarum - Ant-Zen]
P.A.L. - Move (05:38)
[Release - Ant-Zen]
Asche - Dist DJ Pt 1 (03:04)
[Distorted DJ - Ant-Zen]
Kirdec - Dist DJ Pt 1 (03:29)
[VA -The Scariest Weapon - Invasion Wreck Chords]
Enduser - Pushing Chaos (06:57)
[Pushing Back - Ad Noiseam]
Bong-Ra - Crack In The Mirror (04:56)
[I Am The God Of Hellfire - Very Friendly]
Larvae - Banjos & Brimstone (05:23)
[Dead Weight - Ad Noiseam]
Orphx - Circuit I (Enclosure) (03:04)
[Circuitbreaking - Hymen Records]
Ms Gentur - First Chapter (04:30)
[Selfconstruct - Hands Productions]
Kraken - Connections (05:48)
[UDFR004 - Underfire]
Rasputin - Disziplin/Explizit (03:56)
[Maschinenfest 2005 - Pflichtkauf]
Morgenstern - Requiem 2008 (05:28)
[VA - TanzFront - Tesla - Indiestate Distribution]
Config.Sys - Sateliten (Ahnst Anders remix) (06:01)
[Back And Forth - Pflichtkauf]
Monokrom - WRS (05:27)
[Untitled -Ant-Zen]
Mimetic - Frosted Box (07:18)
[The Changing room - Hands Productions]
Ars Moriendi - When we two parted (13:46)
[Schlachtgesaenge - Fich-Art]

Part 2 - Click here to stream or right-click to download
("Naïve Hallucination" with music selection by M.)
Flint Glass - Connexion Bizarre Webcast identifier
[exclusive]
Thermostatic - A Quiet Deal
[Humanizer - Wonderland Records]
Ganymede - Perfect Target (feat. Paul Parker)
[Operation Ganymede - Cohaagen]
Hong Kong Counterfeit - Frantic Love
[Counterparts LP - Kinetic Media]
4-D Mode1 - Goodbye My Machine
[Rekonnekted - 4-D Label]
Rubikon - With Love
[Wonderland - Substream]
Midnight Resistance - Second Skin
[Remote - A Different Drum]
The Echoing Green - Sanctuary
[Sanctuary EP - A Different Drum]
Nebula-H - Prince Of Darkness
[rH - Alfa Matrix]
Prospero - Let the Planet Burn ("Still Burning" mix feat. Battery Cage & Terrorfakt)
[Folie à Deux - Artoffact Records]
K-Bereit - Hu(a)ngry
[V/A - Machines Against Hunger - SigSally]
Birmingham 6 - Mindhallucination 2
[Assassinate - Cleopatra Records]

Listen to the Webcast

Subscribe the Webcast - http://feeds.feedburner.com/connexionbizarre

Connexion Bizarre radio show @ Radio Zero
The Connexion Bizarre radio show can be streamed every Friday at 23:00 GMT and Wednesdays at 10:00 GMT from Radio Zero.


Interviews

Aleksey Chechulin - Cold Graey
Cold Graey is one of those cases which proves that talent and creativity are not the exclusive of established record labels, thriving equally well in a do-it-yourself setting. With a roster of very talented artists, this obscure Russian label is worthy of note for the the care which they put into their extremely limited editions, as each superbly handcrafted release is a work of art on its own.
Read more


Reviews

Renfro - Mathematics
Renfro's music in "Mathematics" must be appreciated like a fine wine: with time and without worries. As well as a great soundtrack for moments of solitude it is also something to be enjoyed in the company of a special someone. It is an amazing piece of work, surely bound to become a timeless and unforgetable classic for those who listen to it.
Read more

Nicholas Szczepanik - Iomicin
Judging from "Iomicin", mr. Szczepanik definitely is a creative individual and goes about his music in a unique way that keeps you guessing and keeps things interesting.
Read more

V/A - Rückwärts Im Uhrzeigersinn
With sixteen exciting, genre-bending, atom-splitting cuts of the juiciest contemporary electronica this is a fairly laidback release overall but everything is just so damn listenable, you can easily forgive the artists for not kick-drum-blasting your eardrums out of the sides of your head.
Read more

Kiethevez - Non-Binary
"Non-Binary" offers up eleven tracks of quality synthpop the likes of which the Swedes seem to be born to write, with no confusion about meaning or intent. A very accomplished and mature sounding record, where the years of experience are evident in the skilful combination of subtle synth work, considered guitar playing and clean, melodic singing.
Read more


Media

Carlos Ferrão - Business Traveller
Chapter 25 of the ongoing suspense/bizarro fiction series Business Traveller".
Read more


Store

Connexion Bizarre Pins
State your indivuality and rhythmical reverberation with this set of five one-inch Connexion Bizarre buttons! One featuring the main C.B. logo, three featuring the alternative mascots/logos and one featuring the Connexion Bizarre "reverberate rhythmically" motto.
Price: 6.00 Euro (worldwide shipping included)
Read more


Links


Recently added
Mastertoaster Recordings, netlabel

Netlabel releases spotlight
Various "Outono" (Beats Play Free)

Recommended
The Corpus Clock & the Chronophage
Golden Age Comic Book Stories (artwork for H.P. Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness" and "The Shadow out of Time" in Astounding Stories)
Does ideology trump facts? Studies say it often does (Ars Technica)
Fake popup study sadly confirms most users are idiots (Ars Technica)
'Pre-crime' detector shows promise (New Scientist)
Simple device which uses electrical field to boost gas efficiency developed by Temple University researcher (Temple University)
Riding the Caspian Sea Monster (BBC)
Despair, Inc., demotivational posters for all your needs.



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четверг, 25 сентября 2008 г.

Tomlab label News


 


Newsletter


NEW RELEASES:

--------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

  • Artist: Casiotone for the painfully alone
  • CD-EP: Town Topic EP
  • Release: September 09, 2008

 

The Town Topic EP is the soundtrack to video artist and photographer Laurel Nakadate's debut feature film, 'Stay The Same Never Change'.  Laurel commissioned CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE's Owen Ashworth to provide all of the music for 'Stay The Same Never Change', right down to the character's ring tones.  Laurel's original intention was to use previously released CASIOTONE FOR THE PAINFULLY ALONE songs for the film's soundtrack, but Owen opted instead to re-construct the pre-existing material and blend it with a number of new pieces to create a cohesive score specifically for the project.


Stay The Same Never Change - Trailer

Casiotone For The Painfully Alone Homepage

 




FORTHCOMING RELEASES:

--------------------------------------------------------------------


 

  • Artist: Simon Bookish
  • Album: Everything/Everything
  • EU Release: October 07, 2008, US Release: October 28, 2008, 

 

An unpredictable and dramatic "big band song cycle about science and information", Everything/Everything is a new departure for Simon Bookish, being his first album for TOMLAB.

Scored for an ensemble dominated by saxophones, brass, piano, harp and Farfisa organ, it features luminaries from both the jazz and experimental classical music scenes. Whilst this is almost certainly his most pop-oriented release to date, Everything/Everything, as it's name suggests, finds room for moments of racing Philip Glass minimalism, lopsided disco, expressionist cabaret, and even an eerie ambient interlude.



Simon Bookish Homepage




 ----------------------------------------------------------------

 


 

  • Artist: Skeletons
  • Album: Money
  • EU Release: October 28, 2008, US Release: November 04, 2008

 

Skeletons were hibernating in the safest, quietest, warmest place in the world: Times Square, New York. In a haunted WWII-era ballroom they recorded through the wintry nights when the studio was on fire. Taking breaks at 5am, standing under heat lamps listening to Hot Jass outside the Time Warp Hotel, soaking up the the empty streets with the leftover creeps while the tourists sleep. It's just the same struggle any old human has to go through to make anything: make it to work on time, make an excuse, make babies, make war, make breakfast without getting into a fight. The child of this struggle is MONEY.



Skeletons Homepage





ON TOUR

--------------------------------------------------------------------



DOG DAY: USA

NO KIDS: US Tour

PARENTHETICAL GIRLS: US Tour

SIMON BOOKISH: UK Dates

SKELETONS: US Tour

THEE OH SEES: US Tour

WHY?: Europe


 


 

 

Dog Day


10/11/2008 USA San Luis Obispo (Steynburg Gallery)




 


NO KIDS

No Kids

15/10/2008 USA Chicago IL (Epiphany)
16/10/2008 USA Pontiac MI (The Crofoot Ballroom)
17/10/2008 USA Columbus OH (Milo Arts)
18/10/2008 USA Buffalo NY (Big Orbit's Soundlab)
20/10/2008 USA Northhampton (Iron Horse)
21/10/2008 USA Boston, MA (Museum Of Fine Arts)
24/10/2008 USA Philadelphia, PA (First Unitarian Church Chapel)
25/10/2008 USA Washington, DC (Black Cat)
26/10/2008 USA New Jersey, NY (Maxwells)
27/10/2008 USA Providence RI (Club Hell)





PARENTHETICAL GIRLS

Parenthetical Girls

25/09/2008 USA Rochester, NY (Bug Jar)
27/09/2008 CANADA Toronto, ON (Sneaky Dee's)
01/10/2008 USA Cambridge, MA (Middle East)
02/10/2008 USA New York (Cake Shop)
04/10/2008 USA Washington DC (Rock and Roll Hotel)
08/10/2008 USA Mt. Pleasant SC (Village Tavern)
09/10/2008 USA Atlanta, GA (Drunken Unicorn)
14/10/2008 USA Denver, CO (Hi Dive)
17/10/2008 USA Seattle, WA (Vera Project)
18/10/2008 USA Anacortes, WA (Department of Safety)

 


 


SIMON BOOKISH

Simon Bookish

09/10/2008 UK Birmingham (Custard Factory)
11/10/2008 UK Bristol (La Cota)







SKELETONS

Skeletons

30/09/2008 USA New York (Zebulon)
04/10/2008 USA Brooklyn, New York (Paris London West Nile)
22/10/2008 USA Manhattan, NY (Cake Shop)
31/10/2008 USA New York (Zebulon)
02/11/2008 USA Pittsburgh, PA (Garfield Artworks)
03/11/2008 USA Cleveland, OH (Beachland Ballroom & Tavern)
04/11/2008 USA Ann Arbor, Michigan (Arbor Vitae)
05/11/2008 USA Chicago, Illinois (Av-aerie)
06/11/2008 USA St. Louis, Missouri (CBGB)
08/11/2008 USA Denver, Colorado (Glob)
09/11/2008 USA (Kilby Ct.)
10/11/2008 USA Portland, Oregon (Someday Lounge)
12/11/2008 USA Oakland, California (Mag's)
13/11/2008 USA San Francisco, California (Eagle)
14/11/2008 USA Los Angeles, CA (The Smell)
16/11/2008 USA Austin, Texas (Scoot Inn)
17/11/2008 USA Dallas, Texas (Club Dada)
19/11/2008 USA Atlanta, GA (Eyedrum)
20/11/2008 USA Athens, Georgia (Secret Squirrel)
22/11/2008 USA Columbus, Ohio (skylab)
23/11/2008 USA Cincinatti, Ohio (The Gypsy Hut)





THEE OH SEES


25/09/2008 USA Memphis, TN (Goner Fest V !!!)
27/09/2008 USA New York, NY (Awesome Vistas Festival)
30/09/2008 USA Annandale, NY (Smog/Bard College)
01/10/2008 USA Cleveland, Ohio (Pats in the Flats)
04/10/2008 USA Minneapolis, MN (Treehouse Records)
04/10/2008 USA St. Paul, MN (Turf Club)
06/10/2008 USA Minot, ND (The Red Carpet)
09/10/2008 USA Seattle, WA (The Sunset Tavern)
10/10/2008 USA Portland, OR (Slabtown)


 


WHY?

22/10/2008 FRANCE Poitiers (CONFORT MODERNE )
23/10/2008 FRANCE Saint Etienne (Le Fil)
24/10/2008 FRANCE Dijon (La Vapeur)
25/10/2008 FRANCE Paris (BB MIX FESTIVAL )
27/10/2008 FRANCE Amiens (Pirates Cabaret)
28/10/2008 FRANCE Le Havre (ELECTRIQUE )
29/10/2008 FRANCE Rennes (L'Antipode)
30/10/2008 FRANCE Nantes (FESTIVAL YAMOY )
31/10/2008 FRANCE Vendome (Rockomotive Festival)
01/11/2008 UK Dublin (Andrew's Lanes Theatre)
03/11/2008 UK Oxford (Regal)
04/11/2008 UK London (Scala)
05/11/2008 BELGIUM Brussels (Botanique)
06/11/2008 FRANCE Massy (Centre Culturel)
07/11/2008 FRANCE Metz (MUSIQUE VOLANTE )
08/11/2008 FRANCE Colmar (Super Sound Festival)
10/11/2008 GERMANY Hamburg (Übel Und Gefährlich)
11/11/2008 GERMANY Berlin (Maria)
12/11/2008 GERMANY Leipzig (UT Connewitz)
13/11/2008 CZECH REPUBLIC Praha (007)
14/11/2008 GERMANY Dresden (Beatpol)

среда, 24 сентября 2008 г.

Vital Weekly 645

============
VITAL WEEKLY
============
number 645
------------
week 39
------------


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

Before submitting material please read this carefully:
http://www.vitalweekly.net/fga.html
Submitting material means you agree with these terms.


* noted are in this week's pod-cast

CELER - DISCOURSES OF THE WITHERED (CD by Infraction Records) *
CELER - THE EVERYTHING AND THE NOTHING (CD by Infraction Records)
CELER - NACREOUS CLOUDS (CD by And/Oar)
PIERRE BASTIEN - VISIONS OF DOING (CD by Western Vinyl) *
"BLUE" GENE TYRANNY - THE SOMEWHERE SONGS (CD by Mutable Music)
NILS BULTMANN - TERMINALLY UNIQUE (CD by Mutable Music)
FULMINATE TRIO - SAME (CD by Generate Records)
DANIEL PADDEN - PAUSE FOR THE JET (CD by Dekorder)
AUDELA - NOW ALL IS SILENT / INITIATION (Double CDR by Plague Recordings)
MANIFESTO - CORE (CDR by Plague Recordings)
SWARMS - THE SILVER HOUR (CD by Vendlus Records)
PRONOUNCED "SEX" - XXX (CD by Interregnum Records)
STAG HARE - BLACK MEDICINE MUSIC (CD by A Star Records) *
WOO - COME BLUE (CDR by A Star Records)
WYLD WYZRDZ - WE ARE EVERYONE (CDR by A Star Records) *
ANDERS DAHL - RGB TAPES (CDR by Con-V) *
AMK/JEPH JERMAN - SPLIT (CDR by Cohort Records) *
LUGANO FELL - RUN TEENAGERS, RUN (CDR, private) *
DOORNEN - AIDS LOVES YOU TO DEATH (3"CDR by Scrape) *
XABIER ERKIZIA - [SPAM DETECT] (CDR by Hamaika) *
THE DEAR LISTENERS - VALLEN (3"CDR, private) *
.CUT & MAGGOT BREEDER - LA VOIE SACREE (3" CDR by Walnut + Locust) *


CELER - DISCOURSES OF THE WITHERED (CD by Infraction Records)
CELER - THE EVERYTHING AND THE NOTHING (CD by Infraction Records)
CELER - NACREOUS CLOUDS (CD by And/Oar)
On the risk of sounding like a real old man, I have this small story. When I
was young (yes, Granddaddy, go on), you'd save up all your money, bought the
first LP by The Undertones and listened to that single LP for weeks, until
you had enough money to buy something else. Years later I bought that
Undertones LP on CD and found out it was only twenty-eight minutes. Perhaps
that's why I could still sing along every song and knew which was the next
song in line, even when I hadn't heard it for years. That seems light years
away from say receiving promo's from Celer, the duo of duo of Danielle
Baquet-Long (pianos, words, custom electronics, tape-loops, theremin) and
Will Long (pianos, custom electronics, tape-loops, arrangement diagrams and
splicing), who just send me three CDs at once. I checked out wether they
were all in our six months range, and not trying to pass one new and two old
releases, but they are all indeed released in last two months. Beats me
where all the confidence
comes
from, or perhaps they have paid along with releasing this. The one time
before I heard of Celer, was when I reviewed their collaborative release
with Mathieu Ruhlmann (see Vital Weekly 628), but now, three more hours of
Celer, I know almost everything. By and large there are strong similarities
in these three releases, as well as some differences. The two albums for
Infraction reflect the first four years of Celer, and the (limited to 300
copies) 'The Everything And The Nothing' is the more experimental work, of
the 'Discourses Of The Withered' (which is limited to 500 copies).
Throughout both of these (earlier) works long, sustaining sounds play an
important role. Highly atmospheric, with deep shifts in sound, all built
around long, repeating loops. On 'The Everything And The Nothing' this is
sometimes interrupted by samples that are of an ethnic nature, apparently
field recordings from India and Nepal, or clearly instrumental breaks. That
may add to the more experimental tag, that
die hard ambient lovers would no doubt put on this, but I think it nicely
breaks with the tranquil character of the music.
In a way, music wise, its not much different with their 'latest' (released
one month after the previous two) release 'Nacreous Clouds': here too highly
ambient loops are created to make the music. Its played by cello, violin,
piano, bells but also household sounds, the wind, walking gravel streets and
such like, but if you wouldn't know this, you could as easily mistake this
for a bunch of slow arpeggio's played on an analogue synthesizer. But it's
not. Celer created loops of everything and playing three to six on their
reel-to-reel recorders, 'connected to both our laptops and channeled back
out into a Kaiser filter', they say. Perhaps the 'Kaiser filter' makes that
these thirty-seven (!!) tracks sound quite similar with sonic differences to
be spotted through a microscope. It moves like the clouds, like those
mentioned in the title, which occur in winter time. Not entirely winter time
here (will it ever be again?) yet, and not many clouds on a beautiful autumn
day (my kind of
weather), but if I would open up a window things would certainly get chilly
in here, and this could be a great sound track. I must admit that I thought
all three albums were beautiful examples of somewhat darker ambient music,
but after more than three hours I had a strong urgency to hear something
entirely different. Maybe The Undertones come in handy. (FdW)
Address: http://www.infractionrecords.com
Address: http://www.and-oar.org

PIERRE BASTIEN - VISIONS OF DOING (CD by Western Vinyl)
Despite his releases on Rephlex, the Aphex Twin label, I must say I'm not
too familiar with the music of Pierre Bastien. I believe it was last year
when I first a concert by him, which was indeed very nice to watch the
interaction between the player of the trumpet (Bastien) and his mechanical
orchestra surrounding him. I think there was a visual component to it, but I
don't remember it very well. I usually tend to focus on the music itself.
Maybe the visuals were by Karel Doing, a dutch film maker. Bastien and Doing
have been working together since close to twenty years, both in the studio
and in concert, so Bastien wanted to say thanks by dedicating this record to
his friend. Nine pieces, created for films. There is indeed a strong, sound
track like quality to be spotted in these pieces. The trumpet plays an all
important role in the pieces, usually adding that lazy, jazzy texture to the
music, but whatever happens in the background is hardly jazz like. The
mechanical orchestra,
created with rotating devices and mecano, add a nice atmospheric texture,
like an early black and white film on industrial life. Relaxing music that
also without the visuals works rather nicely. Music to sit back and relax
and enjoy. Warm mechanics at work. (FdW)
Address: http://www.westernvinyl.com

"BLUE" GENE TYRANNY - THE SOMEWHERE SONGS (CD by Mutable Music)
NILS BULTMANN - TERMINALLY UNIQUE (CD by Mutable Music)
Two new CDs from the Mutable Music label of Thomas Buckner. One by veteran
'Blue, Gene Tyranny', the other one by the young talent of Nils Bultmann.
Tyranny is presented here by two of his compositions: 'The Somewhere Song'
(1987-2001) and 'The Invention of Memory' (2003-2005). The first one is
written for baritone (Thomas Buckner), environmental and electronic sounds
(Tyranny), plus wild sax played by Peter Gordon. The second work is again
for baritone (Thomas Buckner), and string ensemble, guitar and piano. Both
compositions have a strong narrative line. "The Somewhere Songs" concerns
friendships in or undergoing difficult circumstances" and "The Invention of
Memory" is about the behavior and physiology of the brain." Tyranny is a
typical american composer with an extensive output of tonal works, like so
many of the american minimal and post-minimal composers: Laurie Anderson,
Robert Ashley, and others. So these two works are very accessible and are
very close to popular american
music culture. In contrast Buckner sings intestering thought-provoking
texts, so that one could ask what is more important for Tyranny: music or
text. Music only as a vehicle for the text is far from the truth. But, on
the other hand, these works are fully appreciated only when you give full
attention to the texts that are sung/spoken by Buckner, as they make up the
starting point for the compositional work by Tyranny. Like in "The Invention
of Memory" that is divided into nine parts. "For each of the nine movements,
musical material heard in an initial Song is scanned to describe a specific
type of memory and its parallel musical procedure". So how accessible the
music may sound, it is the result of a complex search for transposing
non-musical ideas into music. The texts spoken by Buckner may remind you of
this. Both works are tastefully and effectively orchestrated.
With 'Terminally Unique' something else is going on. A series of
improvisations, compositional sketches and field recordings are the
constitutive parts of this music. Nils Bultmann is a classically trained
violist and composer, with roots in Germany. Besides playing classical
music, Bultmann engaged himself more and more in avant garde and improvised
music. His new CD is convincing proof of this. Bultmann presents 14 short
pieces, most of them played solo by Bultmann on viola, keyboards, Wurlitzer,
breath and vocals, with the help of multitracking. In four tracks Roscoe
Mitchell assists on tenor sax and flute. In three tracks we hear Parry Karp
on cello and Paddy Cassidy plays djembe on 'The Madness', the only tracks
where all three guest-musicians participate. In most pieces the viola is the
central instrument. Bultmann plays it with verve and soul. In the background
we often hear voices, undefined sounds, etc. It gives the effect of the
viola being located at a certain concrete
space. He creates in each composition a very strong atmosphere. This music
really goes deep, and deeper after each listening. The compositions are
accessible but far from superficial. At several moments I found his music
very comparable to the music of Iva Bittova: inspired on folk music and
played with great concentration by a gifted musician who knows what he wants
to tell. Fantastic! (DM)
Address: http://www.mutablemusic.com/

FULMINATE TRIO - SAME (CD by Generate Records)
This New York-based trio features Anders Nilsson on electric guitar, Ken
Filiano on double bass and Michael Evans on drums. All three of them also
make use of some electronics.
First some words on the musicians. Andera Nilsson moved from Sweden to New
York eight years ago, and developed himself further in the world of free
improvised music. He played with Raoul Björkenheim, Matt Heyner, Kermit
Driscoll, Evan Gallagher, Jeff Arnal, William Parker, Eugene Chadbourne. In
the same time his continued his group Aorta in Europe. Bassplayer Ken
Filiano feels at home in the worlds of classical music, jazz, improvised
music, etc. He toured and played with Warne Marsh, Bobby Bradford, Vinny
Golia to name a few.
Michael Evans is a drummer and composer. He uses found objects, homemade
instruments, in order to create unusual sounds and music. He worked with God
is my Co-Pilot, Evan Parker, etc. All musical experience of these three
musicians now culminates in this new outfit. They choose in day in march
2007 to record their first cd. The cd opens with a composition by Carla Bley
called 'Floater'. A quiet, moody but fascinating piece that you
don't expect as an opening track. All four other compositions are composed
by Evans and/or Nilsson. Their music is very open and in an way laid-back,
how complex it may be on the other hand. It is difficult to say what use of
electronics they make, but it is a functional and modest one as they sound
above all as a trio of acoustic bass and drums plus electric guitar.
Like in the middle section of 'Tiger Variations' when they pull up the music
to more abstract heights, electronic means come in. Nilsson is an
interesting player, and he has a nice and very sharp sound on his guitar.
From time to time I wished Filiano and Evans would cross swords more
intensively with mister Nilsson. More energy and tension could be generated
if you ask me. (DM)
Address: http://www.generaterecords.net/

DANIEL PADDEN - PAUSE FOR THE JET (CD by Dekorder)
Daniel Padden is a member of Vulcano the Bear since 1995. After moving to
Glasgow in 2000 his solo-work became more prominent. First as The One
Ensemble of Daniel Padden with releases on Catsup Plate, Secret Eye and
Textile. As this ensemble became a real band, Padden decided to release his
solo-work simply under his own name. First result was 'The Isaac Storm' CD
on the Ultra Exzema label. With 'Pause For The Jet' we have his newest solo
effort on our hands. It is the first cd with Padden that enters my
CD-player. His music shows many influences: british folk and world music,
krautrock, collage techniques, etc. 17 short 'songs' pass along in these 36
minutes of Renaldo & The Loaf/Residents-inspired madness.
Also there is a echo of the experiments of the Homosexuals. Instrumental
soundscapes, improvised interludes, tape manipulations, strange sung
melodies, etc. are loosely pasted into one whole. Because of this procedure
you stay tuned to this CD. Padden takes continuously a different direction.
Just when you are used to a certain piece, a new totally different one
begins. This is surely the power of this music, because most of the
individual pieces don't have enough content to stand on their own feet. It
is difficult to trace how Padden chooses his fragments and combines them.
What 'laws' are working here? But for sure he understands his art and offers
a nice and diverse kaleidoscope of musical ideas. (DM)
Address: http://www.dekorder.com/

AUDELA - NOW ALL IS SILENT / INITIATION (Double CDR by Plague Recordings)
MANIFESTO - CORE (CDR by Plague Recordings)
Plague Recordings is a Belgian label that focuses on releases in the field
of ambient and abstract electronics. First release from the label came out
two years ago, since then the label has released a number of CDRs of limited
editions. Quite a few of the releases from the label have been released by
the project Audela. The name "Audela" refers to the French pronouncement of
"other world", Au-Delà. The name fits well to the expression of the two
present albums released as two-in-one album. First disc titled "Now all is
silent" is a dark hypnotic beast, that works well as atmospheric background
listening. Buzzing drones of deep rumbles create some trance-inducing
spheres saturating the five intersections on the album. Field recordings
recorded by Joos Carpentier assists in giving a great organic feel to the
drones of deep darkness. Second disc is the album titled "Initiation". As
was the case with aforementioned album "Now all is silent", "Initiation"
belongs to the ambient
territories, though "Initiation" has a more melodic approach to the
shimmering ambience. Choirish samples in combination with grandiose
dronescapes assist to create a beautiful expression sometimes turning
associations towards the ambient of Norwegian maestro Biosphere. Next
release from Plague Recordings is by the project Manifesto. Manifesto has a
number of releases in its catalogue but present release is the first on
Plague Recordings. Behind the project you find M. Zetterberg and Alex van
Heerden using among other things the sound of a trumpet and a theremin to
create ambient-spheres. Compared to first artist reviewed Audela, Manifesto
has a more cutting edge approach to the ambient scene, with a more frequent
use of noises and industrial sounds to create this slightly more harsh
approach to dark ambient. Still the album is chilled enough to let the
listener drift into a state of trance. Two quite interesting CDR-releases
from Plague Recordings that comes in a DVD sized cover of
tasty black art-design. (NM)
Address: http://www.plaguerecordings.com

SWARMS - THE SILVER HOUR (CD by Vendlus Records)
PRONOUNCED "SEX" - XXX (CD by Interregnum Records)
Norwegian artist Kim Sølve is the brain behind a number of visual artworks
within the black metal scene, counting cover arts for important bands such
as Darkthrone and Mayhem. Beside his working on visual artwork, Kim Sølve
also has a foot in the sonic arts. Two new albums demonstrate the musical
approach of the artist. First project is called Swarms. As the name
suggests, the style is drone ambient on this latest album titled "The silver
hour". Apart from Kim Sølve, Swarms consists of Peter Berntsen, Bjeima and
Qeriq. The expression is extremely dark turning associations towards
classics such as Lustmord's "The place where the black stars hang"
(Soleilmoon, 1994) and Inade's "Aldebaran" (Cold Spring, 1996). Five
intersections, with titles such as "Asleep in silver residue" and "Children
mimicking shadows", floats in atmospheres of deep rumbling drones sometimes
sounding like the buzzing of heavy bee swarms. With the addition of
Industrial noises and strange otherworldly sounds,
especially final track "He came as swarms" pulls the listener into an
hypnotic state of listening with its almost half hour runtime. Next project
PRONOUNCED "SEX" , is a joint venture between Kim Sølve and compatriot
artist Zweizz. Again the musical direction is pointed towards dark ambience.
Compared to the aforementioned, this album has more noisy interventions and
with more weight on field recordings. That part of the album has been used
as the soundtrack for underground zombie-flicks makes sense, since the
atmospheres invites the listener into soundscapes of creepy darkness. Two
interesting releases with Kim Sølve being part of the musical brain. (NM)
Address: http://www.vendlus.com
Address: http://interregnumrecords.com


STAG HARE - BLACK MEDICINE MUSIC (CD by A Star Records)
WOO - COME BLUE (CDR by A Star Records)
WYLD WYZRDZ - WE ARE EVERYONE (CDR by A Star Records)
Looking at the website of A Star Records, it seems to me one big family,
over there in Utah. A community of musicians playing together in various
combinations, silk screening covers and such like. There is a strong sense
of unification among these three releases, certainly musicwise.
The first is a real CD by Stag Hare. I tried deciphering the handwritten
cover to see who is a member of this band, but I failed. But unlike the
other two releases, this a group. Judging by the music and the cover it
seems to me that these are, how to put this nicely, hippies. Their music is
raga drone rock. Rattling percussion in 'Holy Quinn', mumbling voices on
top, and a wailing drone sound from sources unknown. I normally would start
off by ranting something about hippies not being cups and tea, but I won't.
I don't know for a fact that they are hippies, but perhaps more important: I
really liked what I hear. The monotonous, mechanic rhythms, the whispering
voices, the reverb (yes yes) on the harmonica in 'Crystal Dust Dream' or the
triumphant finale of 'Oz'. This might very sixties in musical approach and
perhaps even in execution (quite direct in your face recording), but perhaps
I'm getting now old enough to enough such things. Stag Hare is a great place
to do such discoveries
.

WoO is perhaps a one-man band, playing electric guitar, mobile phones,
remote control and effects. Here too the drones prevail, but WoO plays them
a little bit more sweeter, softer, maybe even more melodic. Things meander
nicely about, in weightless space. The guitar doesn't sound like a guitar in
say 'Sky Over Oslo', but it sounds more like a synthesizer. Maybe
occasionally things may sound a bit too sweet here, but the balance is still
positive. Light shades of dark colors, clouds passing - all the usual images
that one can have with music like come around. A sweet, sugary release.
The perfect antidote to this is Braden J McKenna's Wyld Wyzrdz release. His
'Slope'will put you back to earth, with grainy textured guitars. Don't get
me wrong. McKenna doesn't play a noise tune. Its just that after WoO his
music is a bit louder on the drone hill, playing more angular tunes. Here
the guitar is a guitar, even when he plays it with an e-bow. But strumming
it is his favorite tool. The magnum opus here, the eighteen minute 'I Am
Ocean' is quite a psychedelic journey of the endless strum. Three different
sides of the drone coin. Three times lovely at that. (FdW)
Address: http://www.astar-recs.net

ANDERS DAHL - RGB TAPES (CDR by Con-V)
Hot on the heels of his album on Bombax Bombax, which was reviewed here last
week, there is now a new album, again with three pieces. Like the press text
doesn't explain, I too have no idea what RGB Tapes are, but in his usual
style, Dahl tells us per track what he does: in track one on its RGB Tapes
plus Tape Rewinder and Electronics, in number added with springs, spokes,
electronics, tapes and tape rewinder and in third one plus electronics,
tapes, guitar and clarinet. So we don't know what RGB Tapes are, but they
are surely tools that have possibilities. The first track is mechanically
rotating, moving about, vibrating and alive, like a bunch of insects eating
away the hard disc of a computer. The second piece sounds alike, but is more
raw, with improvised elements of the springs and spokes as elemental
percussion on the floor. For what things are worth, the last track seems the
most quiet one, with soft parts being bombed by short loud parts. This makes
three pretty strong and
varied pieces of vibrating matter, bouncing and jumping about. An excellent
ride. (FdW)
Address: http://www.con-v.org

AMK/JEPH JERMAN - SPLIT (CDR by Cohort Records)
For the latest installment in the Split series, Cohort asked two veterans
from the world of experimental music. Both Jeph Jerman and AMK have been
around since many, many moons in the musical underground and both run/ran
cassette labels, released limited vinyl, CDs and CDRs and still operate in
the same world of do-it-yourself. AMK has two tracks here of skipping vinyl.
Originally the Split series started out as a drone series, but these two
tracks aren't anywhere close to drone music. A collage of vinyl sounds,
weird music, off centre spinning and such like. It seems that time stood
still in the work of AMK. I must admit it sounded nice to me, but I failed
to see much difference from work I heard from him twenty years ago. Jerman
is much closer to the world of drone music with his piece for a 22inch wind
gong, played by a small fan and amplified with cheap mic and battery powered
amp. It doesn't sound like the old Hands To work, nor his recent
electro-acoustic work, but deeply
resonating sounds. Vibration music of an easy kind, but humming oh so
nicely. Perhaps also nothing new under the mighty drone moon, but this space
is a great place. (FdW)
Address: http://cohortrecords.0catch.com

LUGANO FELL - RUN TEENAGERS, RUN (CDR, private)
Earlier this year, in Vital Weekly 622, I reviewed Lugano Fell, also known
as James Taylor, for the first time. I was pleasantly surprised by his
music, which sounded like shoegazing meets glitch. Back then I thought that
whatever instruments were used, they were well covered in the dust of the
computer. On 'Run Teenagers, Run' however it says 'seems to be kind some
kind of a guitar record, though deeply buried in drones, skipping CDs and
hiss', which seems like a highly accurate statement. The shoegazing effect
is a bit less than on the previous release, but it still firmly fits the
world of microsound, ambient glitch but as before always just a bit louder
and with more bite than what the usual suspects have on offer in this field
and that's what makes this release probably more attractive to me. The organ
like drones are just a bit louder than with others, the skipping make nice
sine wave rhythms and every now and then one can hear the guitar, in
whatever form it has been morphed
into. Its not by any standard new or innovative what he does here, but like
before (again) what he does is very nice. I'd say this guy should stop doing
these things as private CDRs but rather try and find labels and get some
recognition. (FdW)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/luganofell

DOORNEN - AIDS LOVES YOU TO DEATH (3"CDR by Scrape)
XABIER ERKIZIA - [SPAM DETECT] (CDR by Hamaika)
This weekend I had some time to think about the subject of noise. Because of
my persistence in filling these pages with words about music, and sometimes
even noise, one can all to easily assume that I do have an opinion about
music, sometimes even noise. As such I was asked to be the judge in the
Eurovision Noise Contest in Tilburg, The Netherlands. My job was to judge
the music, and not the performance or the 'fashion', as they called it.
Which was quite nice, because it turned out that those who have a great
performance, usually don't have that much time for some solid music, and
vice versa. The sixteen (or so, or so) acts all played about ten to twelve
minutes, which in some cases was too long anyway, but the variety was big,
although one perhaps need to be an insider to spot the finer differences.
Sheik Anorak from France was the winner, and his CDR for Vatican Analog will
no doubt be reviewed one day. Doornen was also part of the action, when we
were all quite fresh, at the
beginning, and he was the only one to try and bribe me with handing this
CDR. I don't quite get the title and cover of this, but sex and noise have
been connected since Throbbing Gristle played the 'Prostitution' at the ICA.
Two long pieces here of straight noise, but with enough things happening
inside to make things interesting enough. A bit less than his concert, which
I ranked with a seven (on a scale to ten), but perhaps the deafening volume
in concert and the controllable volume at home marks the difference. So, I'd
say, still a seven.
There was no entry for the Basque country, which is perhaps odd, since the
country has a lively noise scene. More than Doornen, it seems to me that
Xabier Erkizia deals with a conceptual approach to the noise at hand. I must
say 'seems', since I can't read any of the liner notes. So my best guess is
that spam, in whatever form, is the basic material to generate the sounds
here. Loud noise, lots of earpiercing feedback, dirty and gritty, but
occasionally Erzikia takes back 'control' and things move into an area which
is less 'noise' - tranquility even? Whatever it is that he does - opening
spam in a sound editor seems one logical starting point - he does it with
great style. Tracks ranging from a handful of seconds to eight minutes with
enough variation and speed keeps things going. Think Mattin meeting Ikeda -
if that would make any sense at all. For me it does. (FdW)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/doornen
Address: http://www.gatza.org/hamaika.html

THE DEAR LISTENERS - VALLEN (3"CDR, private)
The new name The Dear Listeners is a tale of two cities - Nijmegen (Vital HQ
main stay) and the close by city of Arnhem, and marks the meeting of two
busy bees from the respective local scenes. On one hand there is Robert
Deters, from the now defunct Vance Orchestra and occasional Machinefabriek
collaborator, and from around my corner Martin Luiten, former guitarist of
Girlfriends, these days of Uw Hypotheekadvies, Pick-up and various impromptu
collaborations. Together they now give birth to The Dear Listeners via this
first release, 'Vallen' ('falling' or 'fallen'). Deters plays a blend of
electronic devices and Luiten picks up his guitar and feeds it through a
string of devices and amplifiers. 'Vallen' is one, nineteen minute of
concentrated drone music with a nice live feel to it - even when it is
recorded in the studio - building up from what seems to be some electrical
currents into a dense pattern of swirling sounds, with minor details popping
in and out of the mix. When the
proceedings are coming towards a halt, things hum like a choir in a wide
open space. This a very nice start indeed. The Dear Listeners have plenty
more material recorded, and no doubt they are open for your offers.
Address: http://www.myspace.com/thedearlisteners

.CUT & MAGGOT BREEDER - LA VOIE SACREE (3" CDR by Walnut + Locust)
One Aberick (laptop, effects) is behind .Cut and Reuel Ordonez (guitar) is
Maggot Breeder. Both live in Montreal and both have released before on
Walnut + Locust. Together they played some music in April 2008 on a four
track machine, which, melted together, makes up 'La Voie Sacree'. They like
their drones to rough and unshaped, like a diamond waiting to be polished.
The guitar wails about, and below and above things rumble like there is no
tomorrow. Somewhere after two-third of the twenty-one minutes things turn
around and all of sudden we find ourselves in a much more mellow field.
Humming voices, mildly distorted guitars, hiss amplified. Whereas the first
was o.k., I thought this last part was the way to go, roads to explore. More
depth and composition. A promise for the future it seems to me. (FdW)
Address: http://www.walnutlocust.com


1. From: Martijn <Martijn@universaal.nl>

Saturday september 27 2008

GELUIDPOST 2008 - curated by Martijn Hohmann.

Third installation: "Untitled 0908" by Francisco López.

incl. Live performance by Francisco López @ 20:00 sharp.
admittance: free

Lokaal01
Kloosterlaan 138
Breda The Netherlands
http://www.lokaal01.org

2. From: incite@gmx.de

Hoerbar Hamburg presents:
September 26
Hati (PL)
Renoise (DE)
21:00 Hoerbar (5?)
Brigittenstr. 5
Hamburg, St. Pauli
http://www.hoerbar-ev.de

3. From: zeromoon <zeromoon@gmail.com>


September 26th, 8pm
dub-ber-vie - Bernhard Gal with Jennifer Walshe
Dead Violets
(Thomas Ekelund / Jeff Surak / Bethany Moore)
Diapason Gallery, New York City
882 Third Avenue, between 32nd and 33rd Streets BROOKLYN (Sunset Park)
10th floor
http://diapasongallery.org

bernhardgal.com
deadviolets.org

SONIC CIRCUITS FESTIVAL 2008, September 28 - October 5
WASHINGTON DC
COMPELLING, UNEXPECTED MUSIC.THE PERFECT ANTIDOTE TO FORMULA ENTERTAINMENT!
http://www.dc-soniccircuits.org

Sunday Sept 28
Velvet Lounge
7pm | $8
DC CD release party
The deep end ensemble
Ben Miller
Blue Sausage Infant
Corpus Callosum
Hume
Tone Ghosting
Cutest Puppy in the World
Janel & Anthony
Echolalia
Insect Factory
Twilight Memories of the Three Suns
This bag is not a toy
Kohoutek
Bonnie Jones
Chris Grier

Monday Sept 29
Pyramid Atlantic
7pm doors | $6
Mieke Lambrigts
id m thef table
Jeroen Vandesande
BLK w/ BEAR + VJ Poppins
DC Listening Lounge Installations

Tuesday Sept 30
Pyramid Atlantic
7pm doors | $6
Pauwel De Buck
Bernhard Gal
Ginger Wagg Dance Ensemble
Jeff Carey
DC Listening Lounge Installations

Wednesday Oct 1
Velvet Lounge
9pm | $8
Paul Flaherty/Randall Colbourne
Elliott Levin/Dan Scofield/Aaron Martin/Britton Powell/Scott Verrastro
ride the big bull w/ marty mccavitt
KBD

Thursday Oct 2
Velvet Lounge
9pm | $8
Pacific 231
thenumber46 (Suzanne Thorpe & Philip White)
el mapi+matterlink
Northern Machine
Worms in Dirt

Friday Oct 3
Velvet Lounge
9pm | $8
Dead Science
Food for Animals
ok|ok
Equinox
Mind Over Matter Music Over Mind

Saturday Oct 4
Velvet Lounge
3pm doors-2am | $10
Jason Kahn + Jon Mueller
Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words
Mattin
Matmos
Haptic
Andrea Parkins
David Watson
Trio Chroch
Jozef Van Wissem
Phog Masheeen
RDK
Second Land
Caustic Castle
Myo
Polyphasic
Soft Pieces

Sunday Oct 5
National Museum of Women in the Arts
3-5pm | $10
Baby Dee
Burbuja
Michael Oliva & Carla Rees

Velvet Lounge
9pm | $8
Skull Defekts
Preliminary Saturation
Talk Normal
Silvum

4. From: itah <itah@o2.pl>


HATI :EUROPEAN TOUR:

-24.09: Pila (PL) - NOVA CLUB, ul. Kossaka 16, door: 8 zl, 7:00 PM

-25.09: Berlin (D) - O TANNENBAUM, Pflügerstrasse 79a, door: 3 euro, 9:00 PM

-26.09: Hamburg (D) - HOERBAR, Brigittenstrasse 5, door: 5 euro, 9:00 PM +
RENOISED (D)

-27.09: Leiden (NL) - tba (!!!)

-28.09: Utrecht (NL) - DE VECHTCLUB, Brailledreeft 9, door: 5 euro, 8:30 PM
+ Robert Curgenven (AUS)

-30.09: Brussels (BE) - INFORMATION OFFICE, Avenue de Tervuren 84, 7:30 PM
+ R.Curgenven
(please send the confirmation of your attendance on e-mail address:
a.marecka@um.torun.pl)

-01.10: Brussels (BE) - SOUNDS AND EMOTIONS (live in the radio), no audience
+ R. Curgenven

-02.10: Liege (BE) - L'AN VERT, 4 Rue Mathieu Polain, door: 5euro, 8:00 PM +
IDIOSYNCRASIA (BE)+ R. Curgenven

-03.10: Gent (BE) - CROXHAPOX, Lucas Munichstraat 76/82, door: 5 euro, 8:00
PM + R. Curgenven + Peter Puype

-04.10: Berlin (D) - GALLERY WALLYWOODS, Berliner Allee 125, Weissensee,
door: 5 euro, 8:00 PM + LAMPLIGHT (AUS)


HATI :trans-gong-drone-muzik:
www.myspace.com/hatitah

Robert Curgenven:
www.myspace.com/recordefieldslabel

--


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