DENEUVE – UGLY (CD by Blowpipe) *
MULLER – WORKERS (CD by Comfortzone) *
SILK SAW – IMAGINARY LANDSCAPES (CD by Kotä) *
THE BALUSTRADE ENSEMBLE – RENEWED BRILLIANCE (CD by Serein) *
RANT – MARGO FLUX (CD by Schraum)
POST OFFICE – THE MARYLEBONE GREENWAVE (CD by Minority Records)
ELEPHANT9 WITH REINE FISKE – SILVER MOUNTAIN (CD by Rune Grammofon)
ESPEN ERIKSEN TRIO – NEVER ENDING JANUARY (CD by Rune Grammofon)
ZENIAL – MINOTAUR (LP by Zoharum)
GX JUPITTER-LARSEN & ACE FARREN FORD/LE SCRAMBLED DEBUTANTE FEAT. EMERGE
(split LP by Attenuation Circuit)
THE NORDIC SOUND ART (compilation LP by Nordic Sound Art)
THE NORDIC SOUND ART (compilation cassette by Nordic Sound Art)
JLIAT – DECEMBER 7 AFTERNOON (CDR by Jliat) *
CREVER – CRVR (CDR by Crever)
DAMIAN BISCIGLIA AND FRIENDS – VOLUME ONE: THE 1980S (CDR by Ri Be Xibalba) *
DAMIAN BISCIGLIA AND FRIENDS – VOLUME ONE: THE 1990S (CDR by Ri Be Xibalba) *
PHAERENTZ – AUTOFINGER (CDR by Phaerlag) *
SLOW SLOW LORIS (cassette by Staaltape)
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Vital Weekly 2012
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DENEUVE – UGLY (CD by Blowpipe)
Sometimes I think I am on a repeat mission. That I am re-writing the same bit
of information over and over. Sometimes it is because releases are sparse, such
as in the case of Deneuve, or as they prefer it deNeuve, and re-introductions
seem necessary. They being Andre Bach and Marc Tegefoss, who have been together
for some thirty-five years now. First they were part of Tox Modell, then
Tecnoville (together with musicians from Dutch punk band Workmates) and for
a long time known as Det Wiehl. In those years (roughly 1985 until 2010) they
more and more concentrated on creating music for theatre and dance performances,
and a lot less on releasing music or in fact playing this music live. As Det
Wiehl their music was mostly abstract but recently Bach and Tegefoss also had
the urge to play something that was more song based; pop if you will, but this
is still quite far off. Anyway, much of this you knew from the previous reviews
(Vital Weekly 831 and 923) of course, nonetheless there you have it (again).
Now back in the day I was a huge fan of Tox Modell and to some extent also of
Det Wiehl, dismissing Tecnoville as too punky for my taste (back then). These
days I am open to anything really and I see no objection to allowing a song
structure here and there. So I was already quite pleased with their first two
releases from the new guise, but this twelve-track album is absolutely excellent.
I really am clueless why this is called ‘Ugly’ as it comes with a great fold out
leporello (144 cm!) booklet and digipack, and the music is awesome. The music
has very little to do with their earlier work as Det Wiehl and all the more with
Tox Modell and Tecnoville. Rhythm is for one something both these earlier bands
used; Tox Modell via repeating guitar patterns (they had no drummer) while
Tecnoville (and, come to think of it, the short-lived Scratch, of which Bach
and Tegefoss were also part in the early 80s) were their most conventional bands,
including a drummer. With deNeuve the rhythm comes out of a box, and it hammers
away mechanically, playing at times almost techno based 4/4 rhythms. To that
Bach and Tegefoss add their trademark guitar sound: full of feedback and
distortion, howling nicely about, but unlike Tox Modell, pushed to the background,
forming a wall of sound. Also new is the addition of sampled voices, which I think
are sampled from movies, such as ‘2001’ and ‘All Quiet On The Western Front’ –
song titles are indications in that respect. Quite rocky, quite dancy, but above
all: great music. These are songs by mature (older!) man, so it’s very unlikely
they will score a big hit out of this, but I can easily see a great video,
sampled from those movie influences to go a long and making some novelty thing
out of this. I believe deNeuve will start playing live as of next year, so it
would be good to see that. I have no idea if their music could easily be
translated to the stage, but they should really do and make sure their music is
heard to a wider audience. The funniest piece, for me at least, was ‘1980 Anger’,
in which they ‘remix’ Tox Modell ‘Numbers Two’ (I think!), including the feedback
guitars, Xavier Martin’s super angry vocals but set to a fast almost gabber like
rhythm. That said, this isn’t about fun as such, but this ain’t 1980 no more:
you can’t be angry all the time. Excellent release, and hopefully something that
will pick up more audience. (FdW)
Address: http://www.blowpipe.org
MULLER – WORKERS (CD by Comfortzone)
There was once a time that Oval was a band with a massive influence. Their broken
CD sound provided glitch music, skipping and bouncing with ‘wrong’ sounds, which
certainly on their second and third CD found it’s peak. It has been a copied a
lot since then, hardly surpassed by at best applied and incorporated in other
musical forms. Lots of the copyists missed out on the musical edge of the first
Oval records, maybe including Oval themselves on the works that came after that,
all ambient or noise and no longer pop sensitive (that is altogether a different
story). Ryuta Mizkami, who works occasionally with Yui Onodera, but solo as Mulllr
took up the Oval inspired cut-up sound, no doubt these days something that is a
plug-in or a max/msp patch, but not only lacks the pop sensibility, the melodic
touch, it lacks also ideas and composition. Here we have twenty-one tracks/songs,
some quite short, which essentially all sound the same: chopping up techno beats
into break core beats, laced with delay pedals and ambient textures, randomly
dispersed all over this. Everything gets the same treatment, nothing is different
or standing out. It would seem that much of this was generated in the one hour
this album lasts. Put up some track markers here and there and sell it as a
twenty-one-track album. I have no idea why I am playing this for a second time
and thinking about it. This is no good at all. (FdW)
Address: http://comfortzonemusic.com
SILK SAW – IMAGINARY LANDSCAPES (CD by Kotä)
It’s been nine years of silence since we last heard from Silk Saw, a duo of Marc
Medea and Gabriel Severin, from Brussels. I have no idea why things were quiet
for such a long time. I must also admit I never heard much of their music, even
when this is their 11th album. Their last CD, ‘8 Reports’ was released by Ant-Zen
Recording, and reviewed by NM. I must have heard their earliest work by Sub Rosa
in the years I worked in a record store, but it didn’t leave a lasting impression.
One could think ‘Imaginary Landscapes’ is a tribute to John Cage, and maybe it is,
but then it’s not to be heard. It’s probably also my introduction to their sample
heavy music. In the middle of everything they do is rhythm, which is partly owing
to the world of techno and part-time more drum & bass. I am not a big fan of the
latter genre, but what Silk Saw does is not something that is very strict in the
drum & bass department, plus they add a bunch of different instruments all together:
guitars, a piano, some voice material, string instruments and such like. Throughout
these eight pieces, clocking in at one hour, there is a strong cinematic approach
and it’s not a bright movie they show us. Overall I thought the mood was quite
depressing, such as in the opening piece ‘Lonely Planet’, with its dark string
section, beats that sound like pouring rain and insect sounds from a synthesizer
or two. Big city speed comes in ‘Torment For Some People Is A Need’ (see: no fun!)
or slowed techno stomping in both part of ‘The Decision To Exist’. I wasn’t in a
particular good mood this morning and you would expect grim music like this to be
even more depressing, but that didn’t happen. There is now a bit of sunshine
outside, neatly warm inside and the darkness of Silk Saw effectively lifted the
mood quite a bit. Quite an excellent first impression, or maybe that should be:
a re-acquaintance? (FdW)
Address: http://kotaerecords.com
THE BALUSTRADE ENSEMBLE – RENEWED BRILLIANCE (CD by Serein)
After I played this the first time round, I started reading the press text and
looking at the cover. Upon first hearing I expected this to be a solo project
from someone who enjoyed calling himself ‘an ensemble’; people do like that
sometimes. It sounded, again, upon first hearing a guy with a guitar and a bunch
of sound effects, or perhaps sound-processing using max/mps, stretching out
these guitars. But lo and behold, this is an ensemble indeed, led by composer
and guitarist Grant Miller, also including Liam Singer on piano and organ, Wendy
Allen on voice, Erik Friedlander on cello, Monika Warchol on French Horn, Zeena
parkins on harp and there are credits for ‘vintage manuals’ (which are orchestron,
mellotron and dulcitone) by Matt Henry Cunitz while there is an important role
for Scott Miller, for recording, mixing and ‘tinted vapors’. Upon a second
(third, fourth; I like to obscure such facts) listening I started to hear
all of these instruments, especially as the CD continues to play (and evolve).
There is a sensitive modern classical sound to this music; not academic, serial
or whatever goes in the official classical world, but these songs (are they
called songs?) are quite dreamlike and introspective pieces of music. What’s
even more curious is the fact that most of these pieces are rather short and
to the point. Something between just under the three minutes and just over four
minutes. This is music to dream by, sleep by, meditate by but it also functions
very well as music requiring your full attention. You can sit and listen and
notice all the finer nuances this music has. Maybe some of the melodies are
a bit tacky (such as the opening notes of ‘Aerial Verandis’, bordering close
to the world of new age), but there is also some nasty sounds thrown, towards
the end of ‘Processionary’ for instance, in order to keep this balance right,
even when the overall spirit of the album is atmospheric. Great music for a
cold winter’s day! (FdW)
Address: http://www.serein.co.uk
RANT – MARGO FLUX (CD by Schraum)
Rant is a duo of Merle Bennett and Torsten Papenheim. They released three albums
on Schraum: ‘Seumsund/Sundseum’(2004), ‘A Direct Sensuous Pleasure’(2006) and
‘Land’ (2011). So these two musicians know each other very well and enjoy making
a statementfrom time to timer. Yes, they have created their very own little
musical universe that is worthwhile visiting. As a composer Papenheim produced
works for several ensembles. As a performer he often plays solo, but he is also
busy with his ensemble Tru Cargo Service. Bennett comes from Hamburg. Moving
to Berlin she studied Jazz and Popular Music, and worked for a long time with
a modern dance ensemble. Pop she plays with the band Eric and Me. With her duo
Rant she is more into unusual instrumental music as this new release proves.
Influences of pop, improv and minimal music can easily be detected. They play
amplified cymbals and drums, bells, bottles, dictaphone, guitars, drum set,
inside piano, minidisc recorder, piano, zither. Contrast is a word that describes
their music well. In each track they chose for a different sound, although
dominated by guitar and percussion. Also the tracks differ a lot in structure.
What they have in common is that the music is always stripped down to its
essence, and transparently recorded. Each piece breaths a sympathetic simplicity.
Their music sounds fresh and engaging, and has a positive, sometimes even
childlike, atmosphere. (DM)
Address: http://www.schraum.de
POST OFFICE – THE MARYLEBONE GREENWAVE (CD by Minority Records)
This one is already some time on my desk. A difficult one. A line up of seventeen
musicians is at work in this typical English work. The ensemble Post Office
invites us for a trip that lasts about 65 minutes. Music that is closely related
to UK progrock tradition. Eddie Stevens and Daniel Darriba are the central forces
as they wrote and produced this album. Stevens worked with Freakpower, Fat Boy
Slim, a.o. Together with Darriba he worked with Irish singer Róisin Murphy, Moloko,
and recently with Danny Valentine & The Meditations. So both have a background
in pop. With ´The Marylebone Greenwave´ they debut with their own project. A very
ambitious one. The title of this concept album refers to a London myth ´where taxi
drivers try to drive through King’s Cross to the Marylebone flyover in one attempt,
without stopping at any red traffic lights`. Performance, arrangements and
production are absolutely top and very professional. But the music somehow fails
to make any impression on me. Too many clichés. Can´t relate it to the here and
none of my musical tastes. So I might me the wrong guy to review this one. (DM)
Address: http://www.minorityrecords.com
ELEPHANT9 WITH REINE FISKE – SILVER MOUNTAIN (CD by Rune Grammofon)
ESPEN ERIKSEN TRIO – NEVER ENDING JANUARY (CD by Rune Grammofon)
Elephant 9. What a band. What a players! Gorgeous. Their progrock inspired music
is very convincing in some aspects and for sure very powerful. Especially the first
track ‘Occidentali’ appealed to me. In the other tracks I found myself asking what
are they heading at. They seem to lose focus and just keep going on for some reason.
The weak spot is that their compositions don’t have that much to offer. Srlokken
plays old keyboards and synths (mellotron, fender, Hammond, minimoog, etc). It is
a tribute to these ´old´ instruments. If you love their sound, this one is for you.
But also the guitars played by Reine Fiske are impressive as is the intensive drum
work by Torstein Lofthus. Nicolai Haengsle completes the crew playing mainly bass.
Elephant 9 are around since 2006 and are not to be missed live on stage I think.
Must be a joy to lose oneself in their spun out instrumental wanderings, as part
of the audience. This is neo-progressive music of a highly technically advanced
level. But personally I hope to experience more necessity in their structures
next time.
The Espen Eriksen Trio bring us to other territories. Melancholic, jazz-oriented
music is what they offer on their third release, demonstrated in eight well-defined
compositions by the hand of Eriksen. Pianist Espen Eriksen has a background in jazz
and pop. Lars Tormod Jenset plays bass, also in other Scandinavian projects like of
Hot n Spicy, Bendik Giske Kvintett and Rodent. Andreas Bye is a much asked drummer
and worked with Bugge Wesseltoft, John Scofield, Joshua Redman, among others. As a
trio they exist since 2007. Eriksen plays his piano with an elegant touch. Bass
and drums complete the sound of this trio that focuses on accessible, introspective
instrumental music where harmony, melody are important. No avant-garde manoeuvres
here. But music of a quiet and balanced nature, that will bring your mind to
peace. (DM)
Addresss: http://www.runegrammofon.com
ZENIAL – MINOTAUR (LP by Zoharum)
Luksz Szalankiewicz’ project Zenial has been going for quite some years now and in
the last years it has been mostly by the Zoharum label. Much of the material on his
latest LP ‘Minotaur’ has been recorded at Stockholm’s EMS studios, where one can
find analogue beauties such as a Bucla and Serge synthesizers. It’s a place where
people usually tape a bunch of sounds to take home, and use it there to create new
compositions. Judging by the sound of the new Zenial record, that’s also something
he did. He samples the sounds of those synthesizers, and adds field recordings and
EVPs (not that I heard that a lot in here; they are probably heavily transformed).
There is also a DVD of films to each of these pieces, by such artists as W?adys?awa
Szulca and Mariana Kraczkowskiego. I haven’t seen that DVD, so I can’t comment there.
The music is quite what we expect from Zenial: a deep electronic sound, with lots
of dynamics going. The drone plays an important role in this music, but Zenial has
quite a vibrant sound. Sounds move in and out of the mix, maintaining an excellent
level of tension throughout these seven pieces. One could say this is dark ambient
music, but there is more happening than just that. As easily it refers to modern
electronica, but lacks, thankfully the notion of being academic. The music is quite
intense, but also cinematic; one could easily envisage a horror movie to go along
with these pieces. In the opening (title-) piece I was taken off guard by the sound
of running water, and thought my heating system was breaking down. It’s this sort
of use of sounds that make this into quite a powerful record. Maybe this is his most
powerful statement to this date? If you like your music to be all dark, electronic,
at times to be ambient, but also maybe a bit more industrial, then this one surely
is worth your time. (FdW)
Address: http://zoharum.com/
GX JUPITTER-LARSEN & ACE FARREN FORD/LE SCRAMBLED DEBUTANTE FEAT. EMERGE
(split LP by Attenuation Circuit)
Both sides were created by way of collaborations. I started with the side that is
credited to Le Scrambled Debutante feat. EMERGE (i.e. the band behind the label).
Behind Le Scrambled Debutante we find Allan Zane and a rotating cast of musicians
such as (in this particular case) Kimathi Moore and Ms La-Dee-Dada & Her Pet Eye
Ov Tomato, plus sound input by Emerge. There have been various releases by the
Debutante by Attenuation Circuit before, which I quite enjoyed. I have no idea
how they generate their music, even when I can wildly speculate about that. One
of my favourite theories is that they have an ancient 8-track reel-to-reel machine
which they load up with sounds, spinning the speed control freely when recording,
and when it comes to mixing this down, they take mixing inspirations from The
Beatles and Nurse With Wound, and probably also a similar diet of hallucinatory
drugs. A hit or miss, and I always like the more or less free aspect of the music.
Here on ‘Electric Jackass’ it is not always a hit, I must say. It’s quite loose
on the compositional aspect, as expected, but it also seems a bit too ‘easy’ for
me. The bit of drum & bass cut-up at the end of the piece just doesn’t have it;
other parts before that work better, but overall it is a bit thin, this collage
of sound. More sounds, more layers are required; make it more trippy guys.
The big surprise is on the other side where we see Haters frontman GX Jupitter-
Larsen work with Ace Farren Ford, of Smegma fame, but also known for his work with
The Los Angeles Free Music Society, The Mystery Band, The South Pasadena Free Music
Ensemble, Super Heroines and The Child Molesters. Previously I was aware of his
work with Jupitter-Larsen and The New Blockaders (see Vital Weekly 991), but don’t
know much of his other work. Their piece ‘Vertigone’ also fills up the entire side
of the record but it’s not the blast of noise one would probably expect. I never
know what the difference is between Jupitter-Larsen when he works under his own
name versus his work as The Haters, or what in fact Ford’s part is here, but this
is a twenty-minute drone piece that holds a firm middle ground, frequency-wise,
and below there are some darker frequencies happening, which are also a bit more
muddy and mildly distorted. It works however very fine here, the cleaner mid-high
and the muddy low mid creating some excellent piece of drone music. Think perhaps
Phill Niblock but much cruder or Alvin Lucier testing out his sine waves, but
fine-tuning them as he is already recording them. This is a piece I enjoyed very
much and wished was a bit longer than the side of a LP. Quite a surprise; maybe
the virtue of getting older is that noise isn’t always necessary. Maybe it’s
time to move on and do more of this? (FdW)
Address: http://attenuationcircuit.de
JLIAT – DECEMBER 7 AFTERNOON (CDR by Jliat)
“Are you sure this is the same Jliat?” When I worked in a record store I managed
to sell the very first releases by Jliat to one of those lovers of drone/ambient/
cosmic music lovers that was one of our best customers, but once Jliat started to
poke his nose into counting bitrates and thinking about digital silence, this
customer’s love affair was cut short. I am pretty sure he never returned as I do
occasionally speak this gentle older man and never again Jliat is mentioned. He
might surely not have liked those harsh noise wall releases or the conceptual
releases, but all the same he might be interested in ‘Days’, which is apparently
a new series of works by Jliat, returning to the world of drone music. All of
this was recorded in real time, using equipment by Nord, Yamaha, Roland, Boss
and Korg, looping and delaying the material, taking in account the work of
messrs Fripp, Eno and Riley. These are limited to twenty copies and while creating
the music on an endless sustain, the twenty covers are hand drawn (and there is
a free download on soundcloud possible). This sounds like a project that Jliat
could do for some time to come. This brings back happy memories of ’16:05:94′,
‘The Dancing Horse’ or ‘The Ocean of Infinite Being’: one long form synthesizer
piece, with everything on ‘endless sustain’, creating beautiful overtones, slowly
mingling together. Upon the surface nothing much seems to be changing, and perhaps
one is not required to ‘listen’ as actively as one would perhaps do with any other
piece of music; maybe one is to ‘undergo’ this rather than actively listen. But
even when listened to closely this offers enough small changes to enjoy this.
I was cooking dinner, reading a bit and simply enjoying this as it was. That is
sometimes the best. On Jliat’s website one can find a short video clip from that
very afternoon this was created; if I would post a video of the day this review
was written it would be very much alike. That probably ties it all together.
A great return to something old. (FdW)
Address: http://www.jliat.com/
CREVER – CRVR (CDR by Crever)
Crever is a project of the Dutch musician Joey Beentjes and exists since 2011.
The album “Venus in White” was his first release in 2012 at Het Donkse Oog.
Crever has been influenced by the sound of machines and industrial music from
the eighties. CRVR is a CD-R of about 17 minutes and consists of three tracks.
“N250” is a ongoing edited industrial and minimal beat. There is hardly any
development in the sounds and that’s the strength of this composition. “Husslage”
starts with a flowing pulsating noise with some minimal rhythms in the background.
Some layers are added and the track becomes more and more intense. The last track
“E” is a more abstract dark ambient track and has some more experimental moments.
CRVR is a beautiful follow-up of the first two albums and Crever is a master in
creating a maximum result with a minimum of sounds, especially in the first two
tracks. (JKH)
Address: http://crever-industrialnoise.blogspot.nl/
DAMIAN BISCIGLIA AND FRIENDS – VOLUME ONE: THE 1980S (CDR by Ri Be Xibalba)
DAMIAN BISCIGLIA AND FRIENDS – VOLUME ONE: THE 1990S (CDR by Ri Be Xibalba)
Ri Be Xibalba? Isn’t that the current guise of Anomalous Records, once a mighty
mail-order, and slightly less successful label, and these days still selling old
stock and occasionally releasing a piece of vinyl by the likes of Sun City Girls
and The No-Neck Blues Band? I must admit I gave up following all of this some
time ago, mainly because I am not a big fan thereof and maybe I thought there
was an element of snobism in the releases, very limited, arty and no doubt (a
bit) more expensive. So much to my surprise then I received these two CDRs,
which I would assume a label like Ri Be Xibalba would think as a highly inferior
medium, with music by Damian Bisciglia, whom you may also know as Agog. From
the mid-80s to 2004 he released a handful of cassettes and a CDR, and also had
two releases under his own name. He was also a member of Points Of Friction.
In December 2012 he took his own life. I must admit I never heard a lot of his
output, as certainly in the 80s there was so much to hear and evidently so much
you’d miss out upon, so I hardly have an idea what his music was about. On these
two CDRs we find stuff from two decades of music, recorded with friends such
as J. Alexander, T. Alexander, Rick Potts, Adam Bohman and others. However the
majority of the pieces are solo pieces. Only for one piece on Volume Two there
is an indication towards instruments used, but not for the other pieces on both
discs, unless, also on the second disc, the title of pieces give away something:
‘Guitar Stuff’, ‘Guitar Improv’ or ‘More Turntables, Etc’. There is one piece
that is credited to Points Of Friction. A large on the first disc is for ‘The
Gods Speak January 1981′, an early piece of six people and a bunch of microphones,
using mainly the mouths to make wordless sound poetry before exploring the living
room with a bunch of sticks: one large percussion instrument, with more burping
going round than strictly necessary. For it’s time, 1981, surely a radical piece
of sound art/voice poetry/non music. This is followed by the Points Of Friction
piece, which uses improvised electronics. Then there are four short pieces of
acoustic sound treatments, which are not bad, but maybe a bit too haphazard.
I prefer the two longer on this disc, which combine the banging around the house,
wordless sound poetry with a bit of electronics. Especially ‘Dinosaurs With
Horns’ (together with Jeannie Cohen and Rick Potts) is a very fine piece in that
respect. The second disc had more musical variation to it. Not just the ‘living
room’ music approach of the other disc, but also pieces that deal with turntable
abuse, ‘multi-tracked zither, etc’ and more extensive improvisations with others.
Whereas the ‘1980s’ disc seems to be more a statement of ‘non music, any sound
goes’ and that sort of Cageian approaches, the ‘1990s’ disc is more a matured
disc of experiments that make up music people find more easily to identify
with in terms of engaging experimental music. It’s good to see some of Damian
Bisciglia’s music become available again. (FdW)
Address: http://www.ribexibalba.com/
Note!: I am asked to point that the Ri Be Xibalba label as run by Eric Lanzillotta has
nothing to do with these releases, and it’s unclear where they originate from. We at
Vital Weekly also don’t know where they are from.
PHAERENTZ – AUTOFINGER (CDR by Phaerlag)
It’s been quite a while since I heard ‘III’ by Petr Ferenc, who calls himself
Phaerentz when it comes to doing music (see Vital Weekly 925). Besides being
a promoter (Stimul Festival, Wakushoppu concert series) and journalist (HIS
voice magazine), he’s also part of Birds Build Nests Underground, Radio Royal,
Z Veseleho Sveta, Prkvoj, MCH Band, PPPP, Biokovo. Back then he had a one-sided
cassette, now he has a single piece that lasts forty-nine minutes on a CDR.
This work was recorded in various places and that is something one can hear.
The piece has three sections and slowly crossfade into each other. It opens
with a twenty-minute section of electronic sounds and some highly obscure field
recordings, mingled together. These could be synthesizer tones, but just as
well something processed from those field recordings. The middle part is a loop
of percussive sounds, very slow and shifting from left to right in the stereo
spectrum, growing slowly in intensity. Gradually a piano sound is added, in
similar slow-motion, but it takes over from the percussive sounds and becomes
the third piece. The piano is played, chord by chord, slowly with spacing in
between, and here to the most curious kind of sound processing is going on,
like there is something burning (maybe the piano, I was thinking). Phaerentz’
music is, as before, quite slow and sometimes a bit too slow, I think. Especially
the opening part is quite long but does not necessarily stay interesting for all
this time, or it doesn’t captivate enough to be hallucinating. In that respect
some of this work needs a bit of re-thinking, but the sounds he uses are quite
good; all of this has the potential to grow and bloom further. (FdW)
Address: http://phaerentz.bandcamp.com
SLOW SLOW LORIS (cassette by Staaltape)
On Staaltape something is a somewhat bigger edition this time: fifty copies.
There is an A6 sized booklet, partly full colour and the cassette all wrapped
up in a magazine with lots of tape. Behind Slow Slow Loris we find Angie
Yeowell, who was a ballerina, who lived in Ostrava (Czech Republic), Prague,
Amsterdam and New York. After leaving the world of ballet she went on to live
with Buddhist beatniks in Colorado and once that ended she started to play music.
Yeowell recorded ‘From Monster Till Morning’ with her partner Robert Heim in
Berlin. There are no instruments mentioned on the cover, but judging by the
music there is all electronic set up; a few synthesizers, all connected to each
other, so that everything remains in sync, and on top there is Yeowell’s voice.
There is a fine element of repetition in this music; a cold and clinical bang,
reminding this listener of the cassettes he heard in the 80s. Slow Slow Loris
is an ancestor to that old school industrial sound. I was thinking of the
Inner-X label and all those offshoots of Sleep Chamber (and curious enough
perhaps not a lot of Sleep Chamber themselves). I am not sure if the lyrics
had any significance, but if they did I must admit I found them hard to
understand. Having said that (I shamefully also admit I never listen to lyrics
that much anyway), I quite enjoyed this dark synth-heavy industrial pop noir.
It along the lines of many current dark-wave acts, except that Slow Slow
Loris still sounds old-fashioned, with their analogue synthesizers in what
sounds like a basement studio. Powerful! (FdW)
Address: http://staaltape.wordpress.com/
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