Vital Weekly 1008<\/a><\/p>\ntracklist for Vital Weekly 1008:<\/p>\n
0000 Tune
\n0014 Autistici – Thinking Before Feeling
\n0323 Hopek Quirin – Mata Denwa Samme
\n0628 Machinefabriek & Anne Bakker – Deining
\n0936 Richard Ginns – A Familiar Place
\n1243 Ivar Grydeland – Stop Freeze Wait Sleep
\n1600 Jean-Luc Fafchamps – Beth\/Veth
\n1909 Sleepland – Degree Of Partial Melting I
\n2219 Jacob Kirkegaard – Arc II
\n2526 Rodolphe Alexis – Early Morning For Mudskippers
\n2834 Alfredo Costa Monteiro – Anima
\n3142 Michalis Moschoutis – Nylon Love
\n3437 Christopher Riggs & Carl Testa – Sn
\n3743 Barchan
\n4051 Tune<\/p>\n
[\/rssless]<\/p>\n
AUTISTICI – TEMPORAL ENHANCEMENT (CD by Dronarivm)<\/p>\n
David Newman, who works as Autistici, also has his own label, Audiobulb, and among the
\nreleases you can find a piece of software called ‘ambient’, which I reviewed in Vital
\nWeekly 845 and which is something I like a lot. I might be entirely wrong (or have
\nstrange notions about such things), but I imagine that Newman is still working with
\nthat bit of software, among other things of course, and maybe expanded or enhanced
\nit further, and that he explores his own very personal brand of musique concrete with
\nthis tool; or maybe not at all. On his previous release, ‘Beneath Peaks’, he used
\na bit more piano and guitar, but those seem absent on this new release. On ‘Temporal
\nEnhancement’ we find a ‘sonic exploration of the perception of time’ and as Newman
\nwrites “Each sound is an event. Each event a \u2018here and now\u2019 perception, experienced
\nand consigned to memory. Each sound exists in the \u2018specious present\u2019 and exists for
\na set duration before ending. Temporal space in between each sound populates the
\nnarrative of present and past. The brain relies on memory to bring order and meaning
\nto the sequence and to notice changes across the passage of time. The experience of
\nharmony or disharmony all depends on the placement of events, the spaces between these
\nevents and relation of each event to each other.” This works out into six pieces
\nof microsonic ambient, with lots of small details; there is no doubt some electro-
\nacoustical treatment of sounds taped from hitting, scrubbing, banging objects but all
\nof that is heavily treated with software, spaced out, with gaps between them, which
\nare filled with airy lightness. Sometimes such as in ‘Opened Up Too Quickly’ it is
\nall a bit louder and angular, with a stronger emphasis on the acoustic sounds and
\ntheir multitude of treatments. Throughout however the elements works with quieter
\nelements and the granular stretching of all sort of sounds, forming small loops and
\nbig drones (although never ‘fat’, if you catch my drift). In ‘Thinking Before Feeling’
\nthese small loops all of a sudden seem to be able to form a rhythm of some kind.
\nAll of this makes that this album has quite an interesting amount of variations to
\noffer: there is that rhythm bit, the noisier section and the more obvious microsound\/
\nambient pieces. This is the kind of drone music I very much enjoy; not because
\nit’s very ‘new’ per se, but because there is that oddity, that strangeness, those
\nvariations that makes all of this just a bit more different and exciting, than
\nsome of the others in this field. Nice one! (FdW)
\n\u00a0\u00a0 Address: http:\/\/dronarivm.com\/<\/p>\n
ROOIE WAAS \u2013 ROOIE WAAS (CD by Kaiserlabel)<\/p>\n
The third album of the Dutch trio Rooie Waas (Seeing Red) is released by the Kaiser
\nlabel. Rooie Waas consists of Gijs Borstlap (voice, drumprogramming, cacophonator,
\nweird sound genetaror and more), Gerri Jager (drumprogramming, percussion and voice)
\nand Mikael Szafirowski (synths, vocoder, MS20, drum programming and voice). The album
\nstarts without compromise with the track \u201cDenk aan de Buren\u201d (Mention the Neighbours)
\nand the following eleven tracks continue in a maniacal tempo. The break in the album
\nis called \u201cIntermezzo 3\u201d and has a jazzy atmosphere. After this quiet break the music
\ncontinues with the strong beats of industrial music and free-jazz, I must say really
\nan adventurous combination. The texts of Gijs Borstlap are absurd and straight from
\nthe heart. The musicians pick elements of several music styles and traditions and
\ncreate their own merciless style. I do associate their music with Dadaistic poetry
\nevenings in a noisy bar or as a fast and furious younger brother of the band Arbeid
\nAdelt from the eighties. Rooie Waas is a relief in the Dutch-speaking musical scene
\nwhich gives a rough addition to this scene, a beautiful combination electronic beats
\nand sounds and rhythmical texts. (JKH)
\n\u00a0\u00a0 Address: http:\/\/kaiserlabel.com\/<\/p>\n
MACHINEFABRIEK WITH ANNE BAKKER – DEINING (CD by Machinefabriek)<\/p>\n
Here is more music from the ever so prolific Machinefabriek, who recorded this
\ntwenty-six minute work with Anne Bakker, a violin player from Perth, Australia.
\nRutger Zuydervelt, the Machinefabriek himself, asked to “bow each string of her
\ninstrument, while sliding slowly from the lowest note to the highest, for exactly
\nfive minutes, as fluently as possible”. That may sound easy, but wasn’t the easiest
\nthing to do; Bakker also recorded the whole thing in reverse. Zuydervelt then
\ndivided the piece into four sections, each for one string and adding a bit of subtle
\nradio statics, pitched down viola and a bit of sine waves for some extra ‘flavour’.
\nWhen the sine waves and viola hit the same pitch, he freezes them and starts working
\nwith another set of notes; the whole thing has an interesting ‘swelling’ character,
\nto stay in touch with the title of the piece. Sounds are accumulated over the course
\nof this piece (a graphic representation of the piece is enclosed as well), and it
\nsounds perhaps a bit familiar of an Alvin Lucier piece for sine waves and strings
\nand\/or a piece by Phill Niblock, then with a lot more happening over the course of
\nthe entire piece; and that perhaps goes for both these references. Machinefabriek
\ntaps here into the world of modern classical music, which is something he does more
\nand more nowadays it seems, but this is one obvious point for a new direction. It
\ncaptures the main interest of Machinefabriek, playing atmospherically, drone-like
\nmusic, but moving it more into something that uses more and more acoustic instruments;
\nplayed by others but with Zuydervelt as the conductor\/composer of the piece. Quite
\na refined piece – I may have used these words before when discussing Machinefabriek,
\nbut this one certainly is very refined. (FdW)
\n\u00a0\u00a0 Address: http:\/\/www.machinefabriek.bandcamp.com<\/p>\n
RODOLPHE ALEXIS – THE GLITTERING THING ON THE MOUNTAIN (CD by Gruenrekorder)<\/p>\n
While listening to this release of recordings made at Iriomote-Jima, the most southern
\nisland in Japan, there is a storm outside the VWHQ. It’s cold, very windy and it rains
\nfrom time to time. So it’s a bit odd hearing these recordings from a place where ‘90%
\nof it ground is covered by jungle and mangrove’ and an island that never had many people
\nliving on it. An island with insects, frogs, birds, flying foxes and ‘the famous leopard
\ncat named Yamaneko, which was only discovered in 1965′, as well as ‘another mysterious
\nbig cat allegedly lived on the island and was much larger than the Yamaneko. At night,
\nhis eyes were said to be the glittering thing on the mountain or Yamapikary?. Some people
\neven claim this creature still exists’, so you have an idea where Rodolphe Alexis got his
\ntitle from. Alexis had a bunch of previous releases on Gruenrekorder solely filled with
\nfield recordings (see Vital Weekly 837 and 909), but also works with musicians, such as
\nValerie Vivancos (as Ottoanna, see Vital Weekly 964) and saxophone player Stephane Rives
\n(see Vital Weekly 936), but this one is strict field recordings again. It is quite
\na fascinating recording of birdcall, chirping insects adding drone like sounds from a
\nhigher pitched perspective. The recordings from day- and nighttime sound absolutely
\ngreat: lots of small details are uncovered here and make a cold and chilly November
\nall sunny again. (FdW)
\n\u00a0\u00a0 Address: http:\/\/www.gruenrekorder.de<\/p>\n
SLEEPLAND – FOR SILENTSEEING (CD by White Paddy Mountain)<\/p>\n
The first time I played this, earlier today, I promptly fell asleep on the couch. Maybe
\nI just had short night or perhaps it was Sleepland’s music? Sleepland is the musical
\nproject of Kengo Yonemura, who has been active since 2011. ‘For Silentseeing’ (which I
\nam not sure is a real word, even when it sounds great) is his second album, following
\nfrom ‘June Forecast’, which Wood Frame released in 2013. Sleepland’s primary instrument
\nis the electric guitar and no doubt a whole bunch of effects. These effects have a
\nguaranteed ‘ambient’ effect on the music, stretching out everything above and beyond the
\nregular sound of the guitar. There are ten pieces on this CD, which lasts in total forty-
\nfive minutes; so one can guess not every piece (the label refers to these as ‘songs’
\nactually) is very long. That is actually quite nice, as while these ten pieces sounds
\nalike, as in dark, atmospheric, ambient, the differences are in the details. Sometimes
\na bit more stretched out, sometimes a bit more guitar like, quieter or more orchestral,
\nand sometimes all of this in combination with each other; it all is part of these songs.
\nI guess for fans of Machinefabriek or Dirk Serries (in whatever guise), this is might
\na welcome addition as a related new artist. Sleepland’s music might not be something
\none hasn’t heard before, but it is all created with a refined sense for detail. Music
\nto dream by, sleep by and also to be entirely awake by. (FdW)
\n\u00a0\u00a0 Address: http:\/\/whitepaddymountain.tumblr.com\/<\/p>\n
IVAR GRYDELAND – STOP FREEZE WAIT EAT (CD by Hubro)<\/p>\n
The second solo CD by Huntsvile, Ballrogg and Dans Les Arbres member Ivar Grydeland
\nis called ‘Stop Freeze Wait Eat’ and follows ‘Bathymetric Modes’, which was reviewed
\nin Vital Weekly 850. This new album is entirely solo (unlike the previous one) and
\nGrydeland plays here acoustic and 6 and 12-string electric guitars, banjo, electronics,
\ndrum scope, pocket piano and Rhythm 77, the latter being a very simple drum machine.
\nNot that he uses it a lot, or to produce very coherent rhythms. Much like before the
\nmusic is very minimal in approach, and emphasis on the use of the guitar. Some of this
\nis extensively layered, such as the two parts of ‘Lag, Accumulated’. Here Grydeland is
\na bit more hectic, and layers various guitar parts together. Throughout however the
\nminimalism prevails here and I’m reminded of Oren Ambarchi’s work, but Grydeland keeps
\nhis music to a more concise, concentrated effort: his pieces aren’t very long, except
\nfor the opening one. Quite abstract at times, but also very pleasant to hear; it’s
\nrather a culmination of both ends. The sound on this new solo CD seems to me to be
\nricher, especially with the use of electronics, which in ‘Stop Freeze Wait Run’ and
\n‘Stop Freeze Wait Sleep’ reaches for some very low-end bass sound. Grydeland’s music
\nis on this solo work hardly ‘jazz’ or ‘improvised’, which he is best known for when
\nplaying with other people, but this intimate, austere yet rich music is surely very
\nmuch the result of composing; most likely using elements of improvisation when playing
\nbut nevertheless. Excellent release. (FdW)
\n\u00a0\u00a0 Address: http:\/\/www.hubromusic.com<\/p>\n
JEAN-LUC FAFCHAMPS – GENTLE ELECTRONICS (CD\/DVD by Sub Rosa)<\/p>\n
Somewhere in the far end of my mind I remembered the name Jean-Luc Fafchamps. He is
\na piano player (playing works of Bowles, Liszt, Feldman, Duchamp, Scelsi and Berio),
\na member of the Ictus Ensemble and a composer in his own right. In this last capacity
\nwe should see this new release, with two works. In both of these pieces he uses
\n‘electronic means – the kind that are commonplace, accessible, cheap and easy to use’
\nand he put ‘them to work in a mostly-theatrical way: a situation of representation,
\none that is unique, new and creative, where the focus lies in aesthetics and poetics
\ninstead of in technological prowess’. If I understand well, he wants the listener to
\nthink that the sounds might be coming from the instrument, or perhaps from electronic
\nsources, or both. ‘Beth\/Veth’ is a forty-eight minute piece for piano, metallic
\npercussion and electronics. The first two I think I could ‘easily’ detect, but the
\nelectronics is an altogether different story: these aren’t as easy to discover, but
\nif you listen carefully they are surely electronics. This piece has a very modern
\nclassical feel to it, with a very light touch at the piano most of the times, and
\nthe percussion being somewhat oriental in approach. The pianist (Stephane Ginsburgh )
\nof duty here plays these. A piece that moves through various sections and which is
\na true beauty.
\n\u00a0\u00a0 On DVD we find ‘Street Music’, for ‘plugged viola’ (played by Vincent Royer),
\nand recorded, I assume, on the streets of Brussels,. The viola is plugged into an
\namplifier and loop\/effect pedals, just as they are used for performing in public
\nplaces, such as streets. There is a slow 360-degree panorama shot of the environment
\nand shots of the violinist himself. He plays a very vibrant, wild piece, reading
\nfrom a score with instructions (I guess) and he keeps on layering his sounds until
\nhalf way through they all die out and everything starts all over again, very quietly,
\nwith the same themes played again, albeit in a somewhat different pattern. The music
\nis very loud and wild, but looking some of the bystanders\u2019 reactions, it seems it
\nwasn’t that loud on the street itself, but judging the applause, people enjoyed it;
\nso did I, a lot actually. (FdW)
\n\u00a0\u00a0 Address: http:\/\/www.subrosa.net<\/p>\n
CHRISTOPHER RIGGS & CARL TESTA – SN (CD by Gold Bolus Records)<\/p>\n
If one reads the liner notes on the cover of this CD before actually playing the
\nmusic, which is something I did, one could easily expect something else. Christhoper
\nRiggs plays prepared electric guitar and Carl Testa, who played with Anthony Braxton,
\nplays live electronic processing and he created a system in SuperCollider with various
\ndelay patches. Now, I assumed, wrongly, that this would be some sort of ambient drone
\nthing, but after I played some of the other enclosed releases by Gold Bolus I knew
\nthis was going to be more in the field of improvised music (the other releases will
\nbe reviewed due time by someone else). But then I probably read over the bit that said
\n‘prepared’ guitar, which means that the strings are played extensively with objects
\nand it sounds quite wild. No drones were formed in the creation of this forty-minute
\npiece. This is not easy music; not in terms of electronic music, or in terms of
\nimprovised music. It’s throughout quite loud and upfront. It bounces and leaps around,
\nand the various delay effects sound like that: various delay effects. I quite enjoyed
\na fair bit of this, but I found the whole forty minutes, in all it’s minutia variations
\nof objects on strings feeding through a bunch of delay patches on the laptop a bit
\nof long stretch; too long for my taste, even when it sounds well-made and definitely
\nhas something of it own. The rough improvisations played by Riggs fit the similar raw
\ncomputer techniques (which never leap of into noise or distortion – mind you) of
\nTesta quite well. But after about two-thirds I also felt that I heard it all. (FdW)
\n\u00a0\u00a0 Address: http:\/\/goldbolus.com<\/p>\n
BARCHAN – SOLITON (CD by Silken Tofu)
\nALL SHADOWS AND DELIVERANCE – PARTUS (LP by Silken Tofu)
\nONRUST – TAGORE\/LUTHULI (LP by Silken Tofu)
\nK\u00d6HN\/FILIP GHEYSEN – TUSSEN DE PLATEN EN DE IJSKOFFIE (cassette by Silken Tofu)<\/p>\n
We continue our exploration of the Silken Tofu label with the final CD for now, by
\na duo calling themselves Barchan: Tomas J\u00e4rmyr on drums and James Welburn on drones.
\nThe first one is perhaps known for his work with Zu, Yodok and The Void of Expansion,
\nwhile the latter has played with Miasmah, Tony Buck, Transmit and more. I am not sure
\nhow long they have been working together, but in May 2014 they recorded for two days
\nand the result is a fifty-seven minute piece that we find on this CD. Captured by an
\narray of vintage microphones, and this release is surely something else for the label,
\nat least so it seems, based on what we heard last week. There is an element of drones
\nin here, obviously, generated by a wall of effects which are applied to the bass
\nguitar and who knows what else (or perhaps: nothing else than just a bass guitar,
\neffects and an amplifier); Welburn plays an impressive piece in that respect, but
\nit’s perhaps also something one would expect on this label. It’s however the drumming
\nof J\u00e4rmyr that marks the difference I think. He plays in quite an improvised manner,
\nbanging and hitting the drums, never short on abusing his cymbals and making throughout
\none hell of a racket. It’s sometimes quite ‘easy’ and ‘supportive’, but most of the
\ntime the playing is rather free and uncontrolled, almost like free jazz, but then set
\nin a pitch-black nightmare scenario. This is a most enjoyable release, and something,
\nor so it seems, out of the ordinary.
\n\u00a0\u00a0 Fr\u00e9 Decruyenaere is behind All Shadows And Deliverance. He also has his own label,
\nUsain Bolt Records and is a co-host of the Noisefest in Kortrijk (Belgium). Decruyenaere
\nwas a member of Galatasaray, a Belgium cultband, but as a solo-musician he is not very
\nactive, as it takes him time to work and re-work his pieces. Side one has a single piece,
\nspanning the entire side, and the other side has two pieces. Here Silken Tofu releases
\nsome true industrial music. They refer to Cold Meat Industry, which I can see, but All
\nShadows And Deliverance seems to me more abstract in their noise approach. Lots of
\nfeedback crashing, along with rambling contact microphones, scratching rough surfaces,
\nbit of metal being thrown around and even vocals, which were very hard to decipher (and
\nwhich are by Jenci Vervaeke of Vvovnds). This is all quite grim music, thanks to all
\nthe sound effects used on virtually everything that Decruyenaere uses around here.
\nSick sounds for the mentally disturbed, but I quite enjoyed it. This is the kind of
\nmusic that perhaps I just don’t hear a lot these days and which reminds me of the good
\n‘ol days of doing cassettes and listening to power electronics and industrial music was
\njust part and parcel of every day live. It brings back happy memories, oddly enough,
\nconsidering the oppressive bleakness that this music has on the listener. Sometimes
\nI think it’s great to create this kind of music, but no doubt musicians like this can
\nalso be jolly fun types. I hope Fr\u00e9 Decruyenaere is.
\n\u00a0\u00a0 Onrust means in Dutch ‘unrest, turmoil, agitation and disquiet’ and it’s the solo
\nproject of Wendy Mulder, of whom I never heard. So far she has released music on a 3″
\nCDR “Nelson\/Marquez” (Usain Bolt Records) and a split tape with Belgian droner Monnik
\n(Wool-E Tapes\/Consouling Sounds), and here presents two side long pieces, in which she
\nplays around with her collection of analogue synthesizers, drum machines, pedals and
\n‘cable spaghetti’, no doubt something to do with a modular synthesizer or such a beast.
\nShe is inspired by the likes of Orphx, Esplendor Geometrico and Pan Sonic, and you can
\nguess quite rightly this music goes into a rhythm that sounds like a conveyer belt or
\nsledgehammer. It’s not easy to recognize the ‘distinct feminine subtlety and attention
\nfor detail’, as the label puts it, but I think to believe what that means. Things bang
\naround here in mid-tempo, and changes are minimal, but they do happen. But ‘Luthuli’
\nhas certain playful elements that I can see where that come from. In the end it is
\nperhaps all a bit too long for my taste, but there is a fine sense of minimalism about
\nthis. On the bandcamp page of the label there is as a bonus a bunch of remixes by Anus
\nNocturnum, Orphan Swords and Noseda for this record.
\n\u00a0\u00a0 Silken Tofu’s imperium also stretches out towards cassettes and in a limited edition
\nthere is a split cassette by K\u00f6hn and Filip Gheysen, both from Belgium and it might
\nbe some time ago since I last heard their music. Traceable in the VW archive is the
\n‘Tabletop Guitar’ CD\/DVD\/book by Gheysen (Vital Weekly 891), but nothing shows up for
\nK\u00f6hn (maybe the search function isn’t working). The recordings were made as part of
\na series of concerts by Consouling Store and Wool-E Shop – just also shows how much
\nthere is going on Belgium: labels, shops and musicians. K\u00f6hn, aka Jurgen de Blonde,
\nplayed for forty minutes but just this cassette has half of that (the bandcamp also
\nhas the complete thing), and in terms of light versus dark, this surely tends towards
\nthe lighter side of things. K\u00f6hn plays keyboards and rhythm machines and has an airy
\nlight sound, cosmic but then close to the sun, if you catch my drift. I quite enjoyed
\nthis after all that was grim and gloomy. Filip Gheysen on the other side plays guitar,
\nflat on it’s back, with lots of guitar effects and the result seems a bit less refined
\nthan on his studio recordings. Towards the end it seems he even picks up the guitar
\nand that he is strumming it. This is quite drone like at the start and lands in a
\ndifferent drone towards the end. That is a nice shift. Great to hear something new
\nby these musicians again. (FdW)
\n\u00a0\u00a0 Address: http:\/\/www.silkentofu.org<\/p>\n
JACOB KIRKEGAARD – ARC (LP by Holotype Records)
\nMICHALIS MOSCHOUTIS – NYLON (LP by Holotype Records)<\/p>\n
The last time I reviewed a release by Danish composer Jacob Kirkegaard was ‘Conversion’,
\nback in Vital Weekly 877. I guess much of what he does moves out of sight of the world
\nof Vital Weekly, away from releases, and inside the world of sound installations, video
\nart and soundtracks. This happens to be the case with the release of ‘Arc’, which is
\nthe soundtrack to Carl Th. Dreyer’s film ‘The Passion of Joan Of Arc’ from 1928. Last
\nmonth I was in France and saw a statue of Joan of Arc, and I remarked to my travel
\ncompanion that if one could go back in time, I surely would witness this woman in action.
\nNot because she is some kind of pre-feminist hero of mine; I’d be interested to know
\nwhat he motivation was to do what she did (and meet of course her brutal companion
\nGilles de Rais, but that’s a different story). Traitor or saint, we will never know.
\nKirkegaard takes music from the time of Joan of Arc and stretches these out into two
\nbeautiful pieces of ambient music. It spans eighteen minutes per side and majestically
\nunfolds right from the start until the very end. I am strongly reminded of Stephan
\nMathieu’s work in this respect, and while I must admit I heard very little new music,
\nI think this a wonderful record. ‘Arc 1’ is the quieter of the two pieces, staying on
\na similar, with a spooky dark undercurrent, while ‘Arc 2’ ends louder and much more
\norchestral; the whole notion of stretched out sounds is something once doesn’t notice
\ntoo much I think. As said: in terms of something ‘new in music’, you won’t find it
\nhere, but let that not distract you: this is lovely drone music.
\n\u00a0\u00a0 From Kirkegaard to Michalis Moschoutis is a giant step. I never heard of Moschoutis
\nbefore and this is debut album, although he had a digital release on Echo Music two
\nyears ago. He’s the man behind the Holotype label. The title, ‘Nylon’, refers to the
\nstrings of his classical guitar, which he plays quite radically. Not a chord in sight,
\nnever a simply strum, and that’s great. The bow is a particular favourite and Moschoutis
\nuses it very well to bend those strings on the hollow, wooden body. In these pieces,
\nsuch as in ‘With A Strong Sense Of Purposelessness’, he records various layers of
\nhis playing and creates a sound that almost sounds like electronic processing of
\nthe acoustic guitar. The press text suggests that this record is ‘entirely acoustic,
\ntracked in just eight improvised takes’, so perhaps there is none of this layering
\nI believe to hear. In other pieces he may pick up an object and play these on the
\nstrings, brutally, scratching, hectic, nervous and above all: intense. Moschoutis’
\napproach isn’t careful or delicate, but it almost sounds like he wants to destroy
\nthe guitar and the strings, but no doubt he embraces and loves his instrument and
\nshows us this is in quite a remarkable way. If you like Bill Orcutt, then search
\nalso for Michalis Moschoutis. An excellent debut record. (FdW)
\n\u00a0\u00a0 Address: http:\/\/www.holotype-editions.com\/<\/p>\n
RICHARD GINNS – UNTIL THE MORNING COMES (CDR by Eilean Records)<\/p>\n
Over the years I didn’t review much music by Richard Ginns, but ever since his
\nfirst release in 2010, his output was small anyway: ‘Until The Morning Comes’ is
\nhis sixth album. Two of his previous releases were reviewed in Vital Weekly (789 and
\n941) showed a strong love to play acoustic instruments and use analogue treatments.
\nOn the cover of his latest release it reads that he uses ‘tape loops, reel to reel
\ntape machine, cassettes, electric guitar, classical and acoustic guitar, music box,
\npedals, electronics, op-1, found-sounds and field recordings. Like with his two
\nprevious releases I was again reminded of many 12K releases; Ginns doesn’t seem to
\nhave his own voice in that respect. Much of his music is very quiet, with lots of
\nsmall tinkling guitar sounds, careful field recordings, very little processing
\n(more colouring of ambience than actually engaging in the composition), and one
\ncould easily think this is a mere copy-cat. Maybe it is, but I was reading an
\nexciting new detective book on this very quiet afternoon and the music of Ginns
\ndoesn’t force itself upon the listener and just softly drifts by, hanging freely
\nin my space, almost weightless. No heavy listening, nothing weird, strange and also
\nnowhere exciting. It pleases the listener in a very non-demanding way: that’s what
\nambient should be all about I should think. (FdW)
\n\u00a0\u00a0 Address: https:\/\/eileanrec.bandcamp.com\/<\/p>\n
HOPEK QUIRIN – 6 OR 7 (CDR by Hak)<\/p>\n
A rather lo-fi affair when it comes to cover and design, but Hopek Quirin, who plays
\nbass, radio and dictaphone, gets help from Jochen Arbeit (guitar, electronics, loops)
\nand Jacki Engelken (guitar) on a couple of tracks, but also from a bunch of people
\nreading texts for him. Qurin’s earlier releases (see Vital Weekly 884 and 888) showed
\nus an interest in more improvised music, but here it’s all a bit more electronic and
\norganised but perhaps that’s also because of the reciting of texts. I am not sure what
\nthese texts are about, relation stuff I imagine at times, but there is a variety in
\nthe voices used here, which makes it all the more listenable. Usually with reciting
\ntexts I must admit that I think it’s fine to hear once or twice, but for me not
\nsomething to play a lot. If the voice changes, I think it’s all more interesting.
\nWhile these might be very well eleven songs, unconnected to each other, the whole
\nthing has quite the quality of a radio drama to it; it could very well be a story
\nall together. The music by Quirin and his occasional buddies provide some great
\nelectronic music: partly rhythmic with clicks and cuts, synthesizer sounds,
\nexperimental bass heavy at times and throughout played freely, but always perfectly
\nsupporting the music. With all of these voices, and some of these taped in curious
\nways, it reminded me of the early releases by Scanner. Maybe it’s a bit of a pity
\nabout the artwork, as with some more effort in that respect, everything about this
\ncould be just really good. For now, the most important thing: the music surely
\nis. (FdW)
\n\u00a0\u00a0 Address: http:\/\/hakrecords.blogspot.com<\/p>\n
ALFREDO COSTA MONTEIRO – ANIMA (CDR plus book by Lenka Lente)<\/p>\n
Although I didn’t receive the carton box that this comes in, I did receive the CDR
\nand the roughly forty pages of this sound poem, and this is my second encounter
\nwith Monteiro doing sound poetry. The first time was in Vital Weekly 995, when
\nI reviewed his 7″ lathe cut for Ger\u00e4uschmanufaktur. That too came with a sound poem,
\nand lasted about ten minutes. I am not sure if Monteiro recites the text that is
\nenclosed, or how he sets to work anyway, but there is an excellent multi-tracked
\naspect about this work that I really like. Monteiro uses Portuguese, French and
\nSpanish here and throughout these fifteen minutes there is hardly any use of
\nelectronics but just his voice, and in some instances a bit layered. Still half
\nspoken, half whispered, and without the initial surprise I felt a few weeks ago,
\nI must admit I found this totally captivating. Towards the end there is a bit
\nof far away, high piercing sounds, but that’s the extent of the electronics around
\nhere. Last time I wrote that I wasn’t sure I would like a whole album of this,
\nnow I think: bring it on! Combined with the somewhat more noisy efforts on the 7″
\nand the austerity of this piece, I think a whole album of this would be a great
\nidea, along with a book of similar quality as Lenka Lente presents, and one has
\na true beauty! Great release! (FdW)
\nAddress: http:\/\/www.lenkalente.com\/<\/p>\n
THORSTEN SOLTAU & J. ADOLPHE – RED CLIFFS (cassette by Ger\u00e4uschmanufaktur)
\nCREATION THROUGH DESTRUCTION & MAURIZIO BIANCHI – DEFUNCTION & ANNULMENT
\n(cassette by Ger\u00e4uschmanufaktur)
\nSTERILE GARDEN – DELIVERANCE IN DISTURBANCES (cassette by Ger\u00e4uschmanufaktur)
\nRE.PRO.GOR – KURSABH\u00c4NGIG (cassette by Ger\u00e4uschmanufaktur)<\/p>\n
Some of these new releases by Ger\u00e4uschmanufaktur are quite short. The first one I
\nheard had two songs and lasted ten minutes in total. Thosten Soltau’s music has been
\nreviewed before – pretty much a lot of what he put since starting to play music in
\n2009. He teams up here with J. Adolphe, who has already a whole bunch of releases
\non Ger\u00e4uschmanufaktur, but I have no idea who he is (and I may have missed out his
\nprevious releases). The two songs they recorded are electronic, with a slow rhythm,
\ndeep and dark synthesizers and especially on ‘Eulogy For Tramadol And M\u00e4dchentraube’
\nsome dark vocals. Life is grim in these songs. With my limited knowledge of such
\nmatters, I would compare this to the angst pop of Distel, but Soltau & Adolphe have
\nnot yet the same production level. Here it’s all a bit on the low side of things,
\nmore 80s perhaps in approach when it comes to recording, but I very much enjoyed
\nthis. I wished there was a bit more than these ten minutes.
\n\u00a0\u00a0 Also short, but a bit longer is the cassette by Maurizio Bianchi, who has here
\n‘damaged loops (defected piano as sound source) and compact stereo’, and he teams
\nup with A.N., also known as Creation Through Destruction, for a fifteen minute
\nfestival of good ol’ noise. I have no idea if there is any defective piano in here,
\nbut in ‘Annulment’ that could very well be the case, in what we hear behind that
\nwall of noise, which is actually a bit less on this piece, than on the other side,
\nwhich is called ‘Defunction’. In both one can perhaps hear some sort of damaged
\nloops, but it’s mostly a lot high piercing that form an uneasy marriage with those
\nloops. But I guess that’s what noise should be all about: uneasy sounds and uneasy
\ncircumstances for the listener? I quite enjoyed this; maybe because of it’s brief
\ncharacter too. Nothing that went on for too long, which I think for noise is the
\nbest route.
\n\u00a0\u00a0 With Sterile Garden we plunge back into something combines noise with stuff that
\nis less harsh. On their thirty-minute cassette we have two sidelong pieces, according
\nto the cover, but it might very well be that these pieces are build from various
\npieces stuck together. Sterile Garden (who had previous releases reviewed in Vital
\nWeekly 932 and 978) is a trio from the USA and their music is a mixture of feedback,
\nnoise and metal clutter set against tape manipulations from broken cassettes and
\nerased reel-to-reel tapes. The recording quality is kept low, from an aesthetic
\npoint of view. There is not always much detail in this music, and that’s deliberate.
\nIt hides the fact that these boys are banging around in open air, at an abandoned
\nindustrial site, recording their crashing of objects and hand held Dictaphones as
\nbackground tapes. One could easily think from my descriptions that I don’t like
\nthis. That is not the case: I very much enjoyed this! Especially because it all
\nsounds at times disorganized and dirty, uneasy and plain noise music: it’s the
\ncomplete package for this kind of thing.
\n\u00a0\u00a0 ‘Play this tape quietly’ it says on the cover of the ‘Kursabh\u00e4ngig’ by Re.Pro.Gor,
\nof whom I never heard, and about which there is no information on the cover. According
\nto the website, this is the project of Tony Ennis, who has a “unique Ghost Recording
\nTechnique”, but it’s not said what that technique is. I would assume they would love
\nto have their stuff played loud. Well louder than ‘quiet’, judging by some of the
\nmore noisy stuff on this cassette. It seems to me that Re.Pro.Gor isn’t afraid to
\nuse quite a bit of feedback like sounds, along with some kind of field recordings
\nrecorded in a lo-fi manner, thus making all of these also quite noisy. The overall
\nsound of the music is shrill, with not a lot of low-end material. I must admit this
\ndoes not blow me away. It sounds all a bit too easy for my taste, in terms of noise,
\nquiet music or otherwise. Maybe the ghost recording technique has a different effect
\nupon this listener? (FdW)
\n\u00a0\u00a0 Address: http:\/\/geraeuschmanufaktur.bandcamp.com<\/p>\n
STEFAN CHRISTOFF\/POST MORTEM – TAPE CRASH #12 (cassette by Old Bicycle Records)<\/p>\n
This is already the twelfth split cassette Old Bicycle Records releases and here we
\nfind Stefan Christoff, of whom I recently reviewed an excellent work of electronics
\nand piano which he recorded with Nick Schofield (see Vital Weekly 999) and Post Mortem,
\nwhich is the musical project of Jan Kees Helms, who sometimes works as StringStrang,
\nwhich I thought was his main musical enterprise these days, and that Post Mortem was
\nno more, after twenty-five years of activities. Christoff has two pieces in which
\nthe organ plays an important role. I am not sure what kind of organ that would be:
\na farfisa, bon-tempi or small church organ? It might very well that this is a software
\nthing, which is plays over a small speaker and is picked up with a microphone. Two
\nother pieces deal with the guitar, played in an even bigger space, with quite some
\nreverb, but it didn’t do much. His final piece is a gorgeous piano piece: intimate
\nand small.
\n\u00a0\u00a0 Post Mortem fills his side with one piece of music, entirely created with the use
\nof field recordings and piano. The first seems to be more upfront than the latter,
\nbut then the 88 strings might appear also very heavily processed. I am not sure. It
\nsometimes sounds in the distance, as a piano. The field recordings however form the
\nmain portion of the music, and they appear to be mildly processed and layered together
\nto create a flowing collage of sounds. Not in a very ambient sense of the word, but
\nrather bumpy and crashing together, with occasional leaps into mild distortion, which
\nis quite nice. Not an easy going ride this one, but it works very well. It seems
\nquite apart from his old days of noise treatments, which I guess is great thing.
\nGood to see this is something else; may he be exploring this route further. (FdW)
\n\u00a0\u00a0 Address: http:\/\/oldbicyclerecords.bandcamp.com<\/p>\n
RED BRUT – REBIRTH (cassette by Cold Milk)
\nMS. BLUEBALLS – RADIOBALLS (cassette by Cold Milk)<\/p>\n
From the people that make up Rotterdam’s finest no-wave band Sweat Tongue we have here
\na new label, Cold Milk, and the first two releases are more or solo works by their
\nmembers. Behind Red Brut, we find Ma Verbiesen, drummer of Sweat Tongue, who, as we
\nlearn now also sings and plays synth in JSCA (see Vital Weekly 970 and 1003). In her
\nsolo work she uses ‘crude tape collages’, a Korg MS-10, small keyboards and household
\nobjects. These are looped and collaged together. It all sounds very lo-fi, which I am
\nsure is the entire point of this work. The whole release, music and cover, has this
\nexcellent 80s underground cassette feel to it, which is of course something that I
\nenjoy very much. The are three tracks on this tape, simply called ‘I’, ‘II’ and ‘III’,
\nbut it seems there are more pieces than that, or perhaps it is not easy to say where
\na piece starts and ends. Red Brut has different interests than Sweat Tongue and
\nJSCA; maybe more song like, but than all of this much more abstract and alien.
\nVery enjoyable.
\n\u00a0\u00a0 Which qualification also goes for the cassette by Ms. Blueballs, which might very
\nwell the singer of Sweat Tongue? Her thirty-minute cassette is filled with pieces
\nthat use a lot of loops. The cover (cassette in an oversized plastic box, which
\ndamages easily in the mail) lists a whole bunch of titles per side so pieces are
\nshort. I have no idea where the loops were generate; stolen from movies is likely,
\nor otherwise found somewhere in a thrift store, they are crudely put together into
\nsweet brutal sound collages, in which not necessarily the composition is very
\nimportant, but rather the energy of creation; something that is also very 80s,
\nI would think. Excellent start for this label! (FdW)
\n\u00a0\u00a0 Address: http:\/\/coldmilkrecordings.com\/<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.vitalweekly.net<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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