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CD Eb + Flo marks a number of departures in the work of one of today's most interesting sound artists. The double-disc is Matthews' first solo release using theremin as primary sound source, following her retiring of the violin which had formed the core of her excellent first three discs (recently reissued as a trio). The artist's method remains somewhat constant on Eb + Flo, involving the live sampling and laptop manipulation of sounds created with the theremin and projected via quadraphonic soundsystem throughout a particular room.
Matthews sets up a system of microphones in each performance space (five in total for these discs), enabling the pure tones of her instrument to feed back in a manner unique to the architecture of the room. Environment plays the biggest role in the artist's music and has never been as much of a factor as it is on this release. As with previous recordings, Matthews has placed additional microphones around the room to gather specific pockets of sound, influenced by audience movement, noise from outside etc. However, where on her debut, CD Ann, the artist credited these "hidden" mics with only "the essential wild card," Eb + Flo is more sympathetic, the blank purity of the sine tones allowing for uncluttered, even languid compositions that seem to evolve with an ear trained, more than ever before, on the details and happenings of a particular space. The release's double-length is perhaps indicative of new patience and openness in Matthews' work. The sine tones could not be further from the frayed, "comfortable" strains of her violin, and the individual pieces on Eb + Flo are drastically minimal compared to the warm, droning pile-ups that fill earlier releases. But while these pieces are more demanding, they also maintain a grasp on the ingenuous nature and simple luxury that separates Matthews' work from many similar-minded artists, such as fellow sine-stress Sachiko M. Several tracks take on a playful air, such as the two pieces that open cd eb, "Long Line Starting" and "Clean Tone Falling," whose titles seem to poke fun at the solitary pure tones jetting across both in comical animation. Others bearing titles like "Hallo Vera" and "For Mama" echo Matthews' commitment to keeping personality, and a level of immediacy, in her increasingly abstract style; the latter with its mournful drones and captured bird-songs (via open window?) is particularly subtle and rich with sentiment. Played at a volume high enough to register the intricacies and unique spatial referents of each sound, Eb + Flo manages a unique and fulfilling sound environment, full of movement and mesmerizing activity, and it is an expertly restrained effort as well, allowing the most intimate picture to date, of the artist's process, her degree of involvement and particular response to what a space might offer, or give back.
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The meeting-of-the-minds approach is extremely popular in the remix realm, bringing a new edge and almost rebirth to the music. It's almost designed to backfire on occasion, where the new work is different enough from the original works of the two main ingredients that fans of either are not impressed. It can also be magical, where the new work transcends the original. Unfortunately, this "remix" of Stylus tracks by EAR lies in a third area, where the new work becomes so convoluted and strange that it's almost better used as a cure for insomnia.
 
Though the music does bear a new signature as well as familiar sounds, it doesn't really represent any brave or new shift from the original material, and it tends to reduce the music to a static lull. In fact, I don't really feel like this is a remix at all. The CD is one long track, clocking in around fifty-two minutes, and moving through different Stylus tracks with various additions and effects applied as well as samples, field recordings and other manipulations. The long track approach is not a new one, but where on other remix CDs there's too much happening to split it up effectively, here the tracks could be split as major shifts occur. As it stands, Exposition is a virtual snoozefest, with few peaks and valleys. EAR is led by Spacemen 3 alum Sonic Boom, and it's regrettable that this release is not really all that experimental. The works of Stylus, aka Dafydd Morgan, are usually experimental enough on their own, and the title holds the promise of moving it all to new heights. By reducing those works to their least dynamic elements, EAR has a work of little consequence.
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I'm even finding myself going back to Ende Neu and Silence is Sexy, rediscovering things I might not have fully appreciated at the time of their release, as I will probably do with their new album. With Perpetuum Mobile, the group has made their transition even further away from the post-techno stronghold, with no songs that sound like post-post-industrial Deutche-chants. Without the sing-alongs to latch on to, it makes it a more difficult album to get into from the get-go, however, the atypical instrumentation, ace production, and Blixa's peculiar lyrics and subjects are enticing enough to always want more deeper listens. "Perpetuum Mobile" is the rather jaded perspective of the world by a person who is constantly on the move: with false amenities and the ugliness of reality, while on "Selbstportrait mit Kater," Bliza admits repeatedly "Life on other planets is difficult!" Einstürzende Neubauten has always struck me as a group who's very generous to their listeners: the lavish packages that accompany their standard releases are far more intense than nearly anything else obtainable at regular prices. The music is undoubtedly worked and reworked exhaustively, leaving the lyrics and melodies intact while restructuring everything else to the point of bearing almost completely no resemblance to conventional pop/rock/electronic/whatever songs. Friendly, relatively quiet tunes like the album's bookends "Ich Gehe Jetzt" and "Grunstück" are not foreign for the group, almost meant to leave pleasant impressions while the group pushes the boundaries with songs like the title track, where, for nearly 14 minutes, the underscoring melody rarely moves from the same note (the colorful percussion, lyrics, and samples make the song far less boring than it sounds). Elsewhere, familiar Neubautenisms can be found: homemade percussive instruments lie alongside bossy bass guitar and faint, squealing guitar lines and double-tracked vocals. A DVD is included for a limited time in some of the releases, but it's an audio-only supplement of 5.1 surround mixed versions of only four of the songs on the album. As always, I anxiously await the next Neubauten tour.
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- Colin McLean/Cor Fuhler/Andy Moor - kraak 09.12.2002
- Format Killer - kraak 21.04.2003
- Corkestra - kraak 05.12.2000
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After some research I've learned that someone, or perhaps several nerds, working simultaneously in different countries (as these things usually occur), has developed software for turning Gameboys into sophisticated electronica machines. Ever one to outdo his peers, Matt Wand, former half of genre-defying, genre-destroying electronic duo Stock, Hausen, & Walkman and current Hot Air label head, has taken to eschewing the software altogether and doing live shows with nothing but the hand-held gaming devices and effects pedals in tow.Dekorder
PUBLIC.EXE is a 10", gathering a half-hour's worth of live nerdery from events in Manchester, Utrecht, and Paris at Felix Kubin's Nuit Blanche event. My guess is that this kind of thing has been done many times before, but never done this well. Forget whether he's using the pocket-sizes of today's youth or the VHS-sized machines of yesteryear; it's hard to believe Wand is using Gameboys at all. He produces an energetic, fiercely pulsing brew of darkened electro with only the scattered stair-step breakdown or faint bleep to remind of its origins. Some of the noise squalls and nauseous loops produced make me wonder if Wand specifically chose the most "mature" Nintendo titles for manipulation, or if he opted instead to abuse the machines' innards directly. Several pieces approach the caustic minimalism of early Suicide, while others mine more abstract terrains in the style of people like Pimmon; part of the Nuit Blanche performance even plays on a jazz-ist bent, with twisted gaming noises reaching brass-like pitch in a mind-boggling exchange that somehow avoids repetition. Of the multitude of sounds and stylistic approximations on PUBLIC.EXE, the only impossible source for this music would seem a children's toy. In the face of so many electronic artists vying for the childish, naïve angle with conversely "adult" equipment, Wand pulls the opposite with flying colors, doing it all live, better, and without the hidden laptop.
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