On Sunday, March 25th, Coil played to about 600 people at the Lieu
Unique in Nantes, France. We sat right in the middle of the room under
the mixing board for the first performance, Charles Hayward. This
incredible drummer surprised everyone when he fell onto the stage in a
big clash and slowly started creeping towards his drums. I had never
heard the Coil and Bill Laswell collaborator before, but his impressive
drumming on backing tapes will remain in my memory.
The audience was then asked to leave briefly after Hayward's
performance in order for the stage to be prepared for Coil, allowed to
return 30 minutes later. On stage, technicians were setting up the gear
and dispensing a row of lights, each one hanging from a long rope
coming from the ceilings. A big screen was floating high on the wall
behind the stage. Someone brought a white chalice and lit the incense
inside it. The incense smelled like the kind used in churches, and it
slowly started filling the concert hall. On stage were two Dutch-built
Fenix modular systems, an EMS vintage synth, an analogue synth, and a
digital Kurzweil keyboard.
Right on schedule, a uniformed four-member incarnation of Coil entered
the stage, greeted by an appreciative audience. John Balance was on
vocals, Thighpaulsandra on synthesizers, Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson
performing 'manipulations', and Ossian Sex/Shop (Simon Norris?) was on
keyboards. Balance addressed the crowd with a "bonjour", and
immediately the opening mantra on Music to Play in the Dark 2 started:
something, something, something, something,... The light accompaniment
produced a tranquil visual rhythm.
The video show held the audience's interest, perfectly matching the
music for the entire night, despite an alleged disappointment from
Coil, due to the lack of a professional beta machine at the venue. The
graphics evolved in captivating paths, including the proverbial sloth
slide show which premiered in September at the Royal Festival Hall.
Balance questioned the audience with: "What kind of animal are you?".
Later, he informed us at that he was personally a dog!
The set continued with the same songs reported from the London show,
including the much appreciated classics "Titan Arch" and "Blood From
the Air." Classical percussionist Tom Edwards briefly joined Coil
onstage to play marimba and various other percussive instruments, then
slipped away just as quietly as he had entered when he finished.
Balance, Thighpaulsandra and Ossian Sex/Shop kept the audience
entertained with their stage movements, by either dancing or walking to
the row of lights to make them go on. Thighpaulsandra frequently
visited the chalice between songs to re-light the incense. When he
wasn't singing, John was either dancing, taking prayer poses, moving
his hands around his body, or playing with the lights. I feared he
would end up burning himself at some point, as their movements were
quite unpredictable. Later in the show, Thighpaulsandra jumped on
Balance's back, and the two rolled onto the floor, playfully fighting
like puppies, strangely reminiscent of John's earlier
self-identification with dogs.
An impressive rendition of "I Am The Green Child" was prefaced by John
announcing that he was going to assume another personality. Indeed, his
voice became decidedly lower as he adopted the 'Green Child' persona.
After this finished, "CONSTANT SHALLOWNESS LEADS TO EVIL" flashed on
the screen, noise blared, and the lights intensified, creating new
patterns. Coil began flashing us with big strobe lights that were
dispersed all around the back of the stage. Balance shouted a couple
times that he needed it louder. Phrases pulsated one after the other on
the screen, such as "GOD PLEASE FUCK MY MIND FOR GOOD," "PERSISTENCE IS
ALL," "RESIST THE THINGS YOU CAN NOT FIGHT," and a looped repetition of
"COLOR, SOUND, OBLIVION." Around the end of "Constant Shallowness Leads
To Evil", John seemed to be experiencing a lot of agitation, smashing
his microphone support to the ground and re-positioning it. At one
point, the white chalice was struck and fell, the incense spilled out
of it into a pretty line of powder on the stage floor. The chalice
rolled towards the front of the stage, precariously approaching the
edge when John Balance stopped it with his foot. He stood there for a
moment, striking a memorable pose.
As the end was approaching, the bright lights dimmed. I wondered how my
vision would readjust to the normal lighting of the room. Waves of
applause and shouts burst out. The musicians came to the front of the
stage and John took their hands. They briefly saluted us and then
quickly vanished, visibly happy.
Slick Idiot is En Esch and Guenter Schulz, the other half of KMFDM thatdidn't become MDFMK, and this is the mail order debut from their ownItchy Records. Surprise! It sounds an awful lot like KMFDM and that'sfine with me. And goofy band name and album title aside, it sure isgood to hear these guys again. The basic formula is the same: Esch'sdistinctive deep growl, Schulz's metal riffage, dance beat and synthprogramming (less flashy and complex than KMFDM/MDFMK), some femaleco-/backing vocals and sing-along choruses. Lyrically Esch foregoes thesociopolitical rabble rousing of his former band in favor of moreemotional and interpersonal topics. "Lazy" is the most humorous withEsch and a female trading off old school rap styled boasts such as"yeah I'm En Esch and you can't fuck me - I got my shit on your recordand shiny CD". "Forgive Me" drops the guitar while the following tracks"Idiot" and "Get Down - Give In [Sex Song]" provide the heaviest andsexiest riffs of the disc, as well as the barely adequate rapping ofone Middleman on the former. Pretty good, though I know they're capableof more judging from Esch's superb '93 solo album "Cheesy" and Schulz'sremixes for KMFDM. Full length mp3s and video clips are available atslickidiot.com ...
I cannot tell a lie, this collection is seriously borderingpointlessness. Pointless to a rabid music fan like myself and pointlessfor just about anybody other than a coffee shop or convenience storeowner. Yes, this is truly elevator music for Generation Y. Even AmandaPalmer commented that the packaging and the cleverly typeset tracklist(which separated artist from song title) "reeks of pretention." And itis quite pretentious. According to the booklet, all of these 39 artistsare part of a "new movement in music" (not a genre) where they're allworshipping glitches, expanding on the concept of a mistake. DoesPanacea, Kid 606, or Ryoji Ikeda consider themselves as makers ofglitch music, exploiting mistakes, eager to be lumped in with AlvaNoto, Vladislav Delay or Fennez? If I were any of these artists I wouldseriously question Mille-Plateaux's motives. Reading onwards in thebooklet, one would interpret this collection as a concept of mistakes.Disc one is truly a mistake with an abhorring mastering job which jumpsin volumes from track to track, clumsily unbalanced tracks haphazardlywhipped up on a computer. By track 10, the cleverly named Random_Inc.makes me almost cry to realize there's another couple hours of thisleft to go. Disc two luckily is a different take, but unfortunately thetake wears weak shortly. The artists here like Brinkmann or Kid 606 arebig disco fans who don't want to pay for or lug around a keyboard. It'slittered with thumpy bumpy artificial bass drum kicks, tacky cheap drummachies, and songs absent of concept, melody, or structure.Unfortunately these "artists" generally end the track two minutes afterit becomes completely unbearable. Disc three has the mostmusically-oriented pieces on here, with contributions from Matmos,Pansonic, CAT Politics, M2,Cyclo (Ryoji Ikeda with Carsten Nicolai) and Kit Clayton. Not only isthe collection on the third disc musically charged, it sounds likeserious, calculated tunes as opposed to accidental sounds over the lastcouple hours. I'm impressed with the opener from Twerk, as well as thewarm sounds of Fennesz, and the comical album closer from DAT Politics.Matmos of course are the A-team of electronica. As far as I can tellthese tracks are exclusive, which is good for fans as the disc doescome at a very reasonable price, easy to skip over the crap. Okay, somaybe I was harsh at first, but if this were reduced to the last CDonly in the set, I'd be behind it 100%.
A family group that includes five actual siblings (actual surnameSmith) and three "adopted" members, Danielson Famile was originally thecollege senior thesis of oldest brother Daniel. Their bizarre mix offolk and gospel influences, cacophonous circus-clowns-gone-amok tootand squeal, and Christian message enchants and unnerves listeners ofall and no faiths. Think vocals like Frank Black at his most unhingedand music like the psycho-psychedelic lurch of Captain Beefheartapplied to merry-go-round tunes. Its heavy dosage of sweet and surrealsilliness may make it more of a novelty than a standard in my cdplayer, but the Secretly Canadian re-release of 'Tri-Danielson [Alpha]'includes songs that everyone -must- hear. In fact, I've played"Pottymouth" for just about everyone I know. The majority of the songis a spoken conversation between two girls, in which one of themrelates an unsuccessful first date. Apparently the bad boy is also abit of a klutz — while changing a flat tire, the car falls on hisfoot... which he later drops a bowling ball on. After each incident theunfortunate suitor speaks in a "strange language" (cursing representedby emphatic gibberish in the background of the track, of course).What's a girl to do when, at the end of the night, the loser tries tosteal a kiss? The screeching sing-song tell-off is: "WON'T KISS NOPOTTYMOUTH! AWAY WITH POTTYMOUTH! ZIP UP THAT POTTYMOUTH!" Otherhighlights include "Rubbernecker," a rollicking indictment of lecherousmen, and "Between the Lines of the Scout Signs," which reclaims themiddle finger from its social stigma. Yup: "Shake hands with thatmiddle finger! Put 'em up right now, you heard me! Put 'em up rightnow! I SAID PUT 'EM UP!" If you're not yet enthused, check out aDanielson Famile show, in which the band regularly sports homemadenurse uniforms that symbolize "the spiritual and emotional healingtaking place" and Daniel has performed from within a 9-foot-tall,homemade papier-mache tree.
England's Pork Recordings is home to many a mellow, pleasant andpolished, jazz inflected electronic downbeat. Tetris are a trio fromRussia, also home of the inventor of the addictive game from which theytake their name, and there's nothing remotely Russian about theirmusic. It fits well within the Pork mind-set with shades of techno,funk, latino, disco, big band, swing, easy listening, porno soundtrackand kitsch. The programmed bass and beats are bright, clean and peppyand are dressed up throughout with horns, organ, female vocals andvocal samples, jazzy guitar licks and vibes and synth stuff. The 9tracks are between 4 and 8 minutes with the exception of the morespacious and slower paced "Recordsman" which lazily sprawls for over 11minutes. I don't feel compelled enough to go into any more trackspecifics, it's not really necessary, suffice it to say it's 'same-y'but with variation. This is happy-go-lucky dance music. "Tetris" isfine but too streamlined, predictable and a bit bland for my personaltastes. I need something more daring, deep and soulful. Or moreamusing. Perhaps the most amusing item is the instructions for making aWhite Russian drink on the jewel case spine ...
Penumbra is Mark Warren, one half of UK ambient pioneers Zoviet France,and this album on Iris Light is the follow-up to last years solo debut"Anoraks" on Universal Egg. "Skandinavien" explores - for exactly 74minutes - similar dark ambient terrain with the aid of repetitive beatsand natural and not so natural field recordings from the region."Welcome to Skandinavien" quietly drifts for awhile then adds in flightinstructions from a flight to Copenhagen. "Deep Listening" churns withsteady layers of electronic drone wave, reversed audio bits, rattles,bells and a deep percussive thud, a lovely female voice loop beingintroduced by the 10th minute. "Another Rainy Day" features a constantcascading beat pattern and, of course, trickling water by the end."Input from Origin" builds upon a never ending beat with synth swirland mildly annoying sporadic notes. Ditto the never ending beat, onlymore frantic and heavy, on "A Week in the Black Box" as steam hissesand sine waves drone incessantly. "Living on the Borderlines" calmsthings down again ... static sea waves, bird calls, a simple hi-hatrhythm, native bellowing and the gentle hum of an engine (plus 6minutes or so of hidden track - field recording of people conversing,traffic and construction). Relaxing. "Penumbra" is pleasant and sits inthe upper middle of my quality scale for these type of albums ...
You've all read the story by now. In a dream, David Tibet wasinstructed to release all his material together in one collectionbefore he died, echoing the old wives' tale that when you die your lifeflashes before you. Prior to its release, there was much speculationfrom fans on various email lists, would it be MP3 files? Could itmanifest as another greatest hits? No, the secret is finally out. 'TheGreat in the Small' is one long track of everything playing at the sametime, from 1984's 'Lashtal' single through 2000's 'Sleep Has His House'album. At the helm mixing the balances between everything was Stapletonand Tibet, who according to Tibet had a methodical mathematical systemof doing things. While they may have carefully and meticulously decidedwhere to begin and end tracks, equilizing the amount of sources playedat one single time, the gimmick of this release wears rather thin goinginto the 10th minute. To its credit, the mix is carefully constructedand is truly an adventure either in a properly setup room with loudspeakers or with headphones, listening and picking out popularfavorites as they fade in and out in a tapestry of noise. In total, itstretches over 61 minutes: which can be a true test in patience. Andwhat happens at the end of the journey? Sorry, I can't give that oneaway. Thankfully the release is mid-priced, as it probably won't getheavy rotation in most players.
Something I've learned over the past few years is to get anything withSteven Wilson's name attached to it - Bass Communion, Porcupine Tree,IEM and now No-Man. No-Man is the UK based duo of Wilson (instruments)and Tim Bowness (vocals, also of Samuel Smiles, Henry Fool) and this istheir 4th album in a decade. Here they are aided by 8 other playersincluding Colin Edwin of Porcupine Tree on bass and Steve Jansen (DavidSylvian) on drums and percussion on several tracks. The focal point isBowness' warm voice and poetic words, soft and heavy with aquintessential singer songwriter melancholy and yearning. This isadorned with piano, synth, saxophone, trumpet, flugelhorn, acoustic andelectric guitars and percussion, which is more of an accessory than adriving force. The result is a lush organic balladry with an ambientsheen, crossbred between acoustic and electronic sounds, and blessedwith perfect production. The songs are essentially pop but draw uponlight jazz, classical, psuedo-tribal and experimental influences. I'mespecially enamored with "Carolina Skeletons" (also title track of a1998 EP). It's utterly emotive with forlorn piano, crumpled sound loop,Floydian guitar and Bowness relaying the sad story of 'Cowboy Kate'(Kate Carpenter perhaps?) ... "it's carolina skeletons that make herstranger when she eats". "All That You Are" is another crowning jewel,ending the album on a note of romantic resolution ... "let me take yourhand and love all that you are". "Returning Jesus" is gorgeous,addictive and timeless. It's like a shared bed you never want to getout of ...
