Domizil
Steinbrüchel zooms in from Zurich weaving unique cyclical digitalhisscapes. On this 3" CD he repeatedly unwinds a coiled wire ofimmersive hi-tone ambience in exponentially swelling chunks. Betweeneach are short silent gaps which have been given their own track ID.The first track is seconds of silence and each odd numbered track lopsa couple of seconds off its silent spell. Each time round more isrevealed, until track 18 the full eight minute masterpiece unfurls.This might seem a bit of a pointlessly conceptual approach, but itworks brilliantly, as each new track paints in a little more detail.About halfway through it's evolution, a bass drone undertow bolstersthe meticulous circling scatter-glitch'n'sinewave. Steinbrüchel israising the stakes for anyone trying their hand at 21st century ambientcomputer music, and my powers of description seem utterly inadequte toconvey the mysterious alien beauty of 'zwischen.raum.' The shortduration of the 3" disc works in his favour, leaving me curious to hearmore. This CD will probably appeal to those who enjoy the fine honedtones of Fennesz, Thomas Köner, Ryoji Ikeda, Mika Vainio and OrenAmbarchi. Words are not much use here, I've been trying and failing forweeks now to do this CD justice. Just try the sound samples.
Steinbrüchel zooms in from Zurich weaving unique cyclical digitalhisscapes. On this 3" CD he repeatedly unwinds a coiled wire ofimmersive hi-tone ambience in exponentially swelling chunks. Betweeneach are short silent gaps which have been given their own track ID.The first track is seconds of silence and each odd numbered track lopsa couple of seconds off its silent spell. Each time round more isrevealed, until track 18 the full eight minute masterpiece unfurls.This might seem a bit of a pointlessly conceptual approach, but itworks brilliantly, as each new track paints in a little more detail.About halfway through it's evolution, a bass drone undertow bolstersthe meticulous circling scatter-glitch'n'sinewave. Steinbrüchel israising the stakes for anyone trying their hand at 21st century ambientcomputer music, and my powers of description seem utterly inadequte toconvey the mysterious alien beauty of 'zwischen.raum.' The shortduration of the 3" disc works in his favour, leaving me curious to hearmore. This CD will probably appeal to those who enjoy the fine honedtones of Fennesz, Thomas Köner, Ryoji Ikeda, Mika Vainio and OrenAmbarchi. Words are not much use here, I've been trying and failing forweeks now to do this CD justice. Just try the sound samples.
samples:
VOE is the new project of Paul Browse (ex-Clock DVA, T.A.G.C.) withNirto Karsten Fischer, composer and producer of successful commercialfilm scores and modern choreographies. Therefore, it's not toosurprising that the whole album leaves me with the impression of havinglistened to a soundtrack. The songs mostly flow into each other but thename Visions of Excess could be misleading, as the trance,techno-resemblant mood more closely resembles Clock DVA's 'BuriedDreams' phase. The rhythms are updated breakbeats, but the generalfeeling of an urban late night / early morning Metropolis is evoked bymetallic edged electronic sounds with loads of delay, reverb and anoccasional isolated human voice lost in a cyberspace wasteland (aseemingly stylistic trademark unexclusive to Adi Newton). If you'venever been into DVA you might remember the much over-hypeddrum-and-bass act Photek (where is he now?) and his first releases, ifnot try the samples. A special guest featured in three tracks (amongthem, "Transvaluation") is Robert Anton Wilson who met VOE in theirstudio. But sadly only a few snippets appear, not a whole reading likewhen Paul Browse's early 90's project System O1 featured Dr. TimothyLeary. Paul Browse himself takes over vocals successfully on four othertracks including, "The Hibernation Man" most notably. I've got somewhatmixed emotions about this album as I do like the style and the moodhere a lot, but I actually had hoped for something more well-developedand can't get rid of the feeling they're playing more safe thanneccessary.
Queen Elizabeth is Julian Cope and Thighpaulsandra's ongoing "sonic ritual" project. Birthed in 1993, the first album was released in 1994 and the second double album, newly reissued, in 1997. Well over three hours of improvised music is spread over the three discs, the "shortest" of the seven tracks being thirteen minutes. As one might expect from these two space cadets, languid analog ambience (or "Ambulence" as Cope refers to it) via Mellotrons, Moogs and ARPs is the primary mode of space-time travel here, though percussion, guitars and miscellany also play a part.
H.S. Ziegler began flooding the German underground scene withself-released home-produced cassettes in the 1980s. Particularlyannoying naive and dada-esque, he used every style and toy instrumenthe could get hold of to develope his ways of expression. Throughout the1990s, he released a wide variety of stuff in nearly any possibleformat on a wide selection of independent labels, teamed up with Blummfor more than 3 CDs and making regular guest appearances on Mouse OnMars releases, starting with 'Iaora Tahiti'.
Randall Nieman cut his teeth in the Michigan space-rock scene playingwith Windy & Carl (then a quartet). Moving on to start a newproject, F?xa, with former Asha Vida member Ryan Anderson, Nieman wasable to fully explore the electronic counterpart to his interests, inaddition to guitar and bass work. Although Anderson his since departed,Nieman has continued with rather prolific output ('Supercharged' marksthe sixth full-length release). The array of instrumentation on thisalbum is all in dreamy hints and touches. The theremin, Moog and synthsnever overpower the guitar, bass and drums, or vice versa. Less trippythan previous efforts like 'Very Well Organized' and less airy than '3Field Rotation', 'Supercharged' draws from both styles, but infusesthem with darker, milder overtones. The first of the eight tracks,"Hide Away" is a prime example. Smoky and magnetic, this song featuresassistance from The Telescopes'/Unisex's Jo Doran and Stephan Lawrie,who lend their low, sparse vocals (something new to F?xa's mostlyinstrumental repetoire), which are submerged into the waftingelectronics. Then, later moving on in a different direction, the thirdtrack "420" is distorted and noisy. 'Supercharged' has a lot ofvariety, but still manages to retain a sense of balance, and is verypolished and even. "It Was You" is another outstanding track,highlighting Nieman's skill for handling analog electronics as well asthat of drummer Drew Peters (another figure in the burgeoning Michiganscene). The result is simple and charming. Unfortunately, thecharismatic beginning of the album just doesn't follow through to theend: "The Formula", "We Could Be Together" and "In Your Dreams" arepretty and quaint, but become difficult to distinguish after the albumreaches its midpoint and lack the character of the songs which preceedthem. That said, I still wouldn't hesitate to recommend 'Supercharged'to fans of F?xa's previous work or anyone who has an appreciation forthoughtful, introspective instrumental music, such as The Album Leaf(on whom F?xa are clearly an influence). Plus, the sublime artwork byMartin Andersen (ex-v23) is an excellent bonus.
Anyone who mourned the passing of Otomo Yoshihide's incendiaryplunderphonic rock improv explosion Ground Zero should give 'Anode' ablast now! The opening and closing highly percussive attacks arecomparable to the middle section of Ground Zero's 'Last Concert'recording, where the duelling drums let fly, however these are morechaotic and loose, multi-layered and free. Perhaps this is no surpriseconsidering Ground Zero demolition drummers Uemura Masahiro andYoshigaki Yasuhiro are once more punishing the skins. 'Anode' wasimprovised under the conditions that the twelve musicicans do notrespond to each other, do not plot an obvious course and do not playregular rhythms or melodies. The ten and sixteen minute variations of"Anode 1" are as raucous and cacophanous as you might expect, but arealso more uplifting and joyful than anything I've heard all year. Sixpercussionists skitter and tumble thunderously foot over head as sinewaves wail, an empty turntable buzzes and electric guitar feedbacksings dissonant voids. Sandwiched between are two calm and reflectiverealisations of the 'Anode' game, which nod to John Cage's aleatorycomposition. "Anode 2" is the calm after the storm, as slow randomtrickles bounce off each other in curious lines. It segues neatly into"Anode 3" on which Nishi Yoko's prepared 17-string koto looms into theforeground pursuing a more climactic feel. Familiar names from theJapanorama tour such as guitarist Sugimoto Taku, sine waver Sachiko Mand percussionist Furuta Mari are on board, and in Liverpool a fourplayer version of "Anode 1" was the highlight. Otomo Yoshihide hasreleased a mind boggling number of CDs, usually of very high qualityand originality but some more essential than others. Alongside theI.S.O. CDs, this is the most assured and fascinating he's sounded sincethe demise of Ground Zero in 1998. Half of it's Otomo and friends attheir noisiest, and few kick up such a glorious racket.
'Pell mell' means "in mingled confusion or disorder", a prettybefitting title for this unnecessarily full priced (maybe it's due tothe hand made, compressed paper digipak?) mini album. The disc iscomprised of just two tracks, under 20 and over eight minutes apiece,respectively. With these pieces Robin Storey explores contrastingprocesses. "Trace Area" begins with a mild drone loop which is thenaltered on the fly as additional layers are applied and peeled away. Ittakes a good eight minutes for something really interesting to takeshape - a deep, distant, meditational bass pulse jarred by percussiveracket - but it unfortunately regresses soon after. Near the end of thetrack, effected broadcast voices are tacked on as an afterthought.Compared to the bulk of Storey's work as Rapoon, "Trace" is the closestof these two to the "typical" Rapoon sound. "Pulse Codec" is much morerigid as a programmed rhythm provides the framework for electronicsounds. The beat is rather generic and off-putting right from thestart. Pretty stereo panned piano notes bounce around inside the frame,but the damn drum machine relentlessly overpowers everything else,including your concentration. 'Pell Mell' is the most disappointingRapoon disc I've encountered to date. At least half a dozen newStorey/Rapoon releases are on the horizon from Soleilmoon andKlanggalerie, including collaborations with Victor Nubla (Macromassa)and Andy Diey (Black Faction).
It's nice to be completely surprised and wrong footed once in a while.Until about halfway through the second track "Cricket," I mistakenlythought ol' Derek Bailey was duetting his instantly recognisable(ir)regular angular electric guitar chops with some German laptopboffin. Murky low end rumblings and gurglings form a bedrock for Baileyto ponder pluck loose on top of and around. Then the realisation dawnedthat Franz Hautzinger was getting brooding motormachine revs out of thetrumpet that most lung honkers wouldn't break wind for. There is arange of flatulence in his quartertone that is as amusing as it isuniquely odd. Anyway, three hours of farting about with intent wereedited down for this disc, which is quite likely the first I've everpicked up on the back of the Bailey name alone, despite his uniquestatus in improv lore. Bailey has continually sneaked into my CD pilevia the likes of collaborators such as Ruins, John Zorn, Evan Parker,Matt Wand, Pat Thomas and Thurston Moore, but he's always been welcome.Franz Hautzinger can come back for a rum splutter anytime too. Why doimprov reviewers so rarely mention the funny side?
"Going out intending to Dig." My first encounter with VibracathedralOrchestra was one of those wonderful moments when music materialisedfrom nowhere to blow my mind. I'd travelled over the Pennines to Leedsto hear New York saxnoise insurrectionists Borbetomagus lock horns andattempt to raze a pub, but first these five scruffy looking localurchins picked up battered old acoustic guitars, switched on an oldradio, bowed cymbals and swapped instruments whilst slowly unfurling arapturous improvised clatter that recalled the early Velvet UndergroundAMMing it up with shards of warped minimalist reflection. "FingernailR'n'B." They've since put out quite a few albums, CD-Rs and singles butthe ones my ears have been most happy to vibrate to have been the onesfor the excellent quirky vhf label. This latest is their most melodicand beautifully mind altering dose of hypnotic freedrone folk yet.There's a celebratory Eastern whirling dervish feel to much of it, butas if the dancer was caught in slow motion. "Mystical Coughing." Theentire recording is permeated with joyful abandon as whistles blow lovecries to drone boxes over clumping Maclise beats and atonal "EuropeanSon" monochords, whilst everything that can be bowed will be bowed!Chains rattle and break. The mood shifting splices between tracks arethe most dazzlingly effective edits they've yet employed. When Iinterviewed them just prior to a gig supporting Low at ManchesterUniversity the most talkative Vibracathedralist Neil Campbell floatedthe notion that every time they play they just carry on from where theyleft off the last time, so it's just one long ever changing lifepathjourney: "He Play All Day Long." However it was Bridget Hayden who hadthe perfect word to describe what their music: "Magic."
"Wow." "Weird." "Jesus Christ." "I can't believe somebody took the timeto make this." Those will probably be the first things that passthrough someone's head upon hearing Osymyso's debut (I think?)'Introinspection' - an incredibly intricate, massive, and cool exampleof the phenomenon known as "mash-up" or "bootlegs." If you've neverheard the term(s), they're being thrown around to describe what isprobably one of the most recent new music genres - songs made entirely,or almost entirely, from cut-up pop songs, as Osymyso demonstrates, orby "mashing" two or more of them together, as those fucking hundreds ofBritish whitelabel 12"s featuring Missy Elliot or Kylie Minogue and atrance/drum'n'bass producer demonstrate. What's interesting, though, isthis genre's reliance on the Internet - obviously something that RELIESon sampling, or outright stealing, is not going to fly with too manylabels. (For another good bootleg mix that's actually legallysanctioned, check 
