This disc is the latest in Atavistic's "Unheard Music Series" of CDreissues of rare and otherwise unavailable improvised music LPs. Itpurports to be a reissue of two LPs from 1980 and 1981, originallypublished on the Y Records label, which was better known for itsrecords by punk/dub groups like the Slits and the Pop Group. Inreality, the disc contains not even a full side of the "DoubleIndemnity" LP (a total of twelve minutes, to be precise), all the musicfrom the "Imitation of Life" LP, and twenty minutes of previouslyunreleased piano and cello duos by Beresford and Honsinger,respectively.The best stuff on here is the first two duo tracks, quite tasteful iftypical for free improvisation, but I can't say any of it is goodenough to recommend purchasing the disc. The duo's tendency towardssilly clowning overshadows otherwise inventive improvisation and marsmost of the tracks, leaving lots of great moments but no great completepieces. The short tracks taken from "Double Indemnity" are acacaphonous flurry of notes, crashing fists of piano, and dramaticshifts in mood and texture. However, Honsinger's ridiculious speechesabout salad dressing and declarations like "Do you think it's allright?" and "What does it mean, anyway?" seem to be apologetic at timeswhen the music finds an uncomfortable space which would have beenstronger if left alone. Why he makes animal sounds, or referencesmusical styles like film music and military marches, or lapses intojokey yelping right when an improvisation is getting good is beyond me.
Nowhere is this more distracting than on the tracks taken from thequartet LP, which I was excited to hear because of the inclusion ofKondo from before he added that wretched delay-pedal effect to histrumpet. Aside from the sections in which someone (hard to tell who isto blame for this) beats out a galloping 4/4 beat (why??) or when themusicians do the obvious and lazy gimmick of trading a melodic lineback and forth (surely the players are better than that), there areintense sections here that work for minutes at a time. Then someonemakes opaque quacking noises through his fluegelhorn, or plays"Revelie" or scales, or recites film dialogue, and the music becomes sogrounded that it cannot get back up.
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The most striking feature of z.e.l.l.e.'s debut CD is not its exceedingly low volume (barely audible music has become its own genre, so we should all have gotten past that shock by now), but its magnificent use of stereo seperation.
Bablicon are a Chicago-based trio of curiously monikerd multi-instrumentalists: 'Blue Hawaii', Marta Tennae and 'the diminisher'. This is their 3rd album, apparently conceived as a double album, tracks 1-6 under the "The Cat That Was a Dog" title and tracks 7-15 under "a Flat Inside the Fog". Most songs are rooted in piano composition, which all 3 members play, but vary widely in style and additional tone coloration: voices, various basses and saxes, electronics and all sorts of percussion and other odds and ends like theremin, melodica, 'friendly bird tinkles' and 'electric ghetto duck'.
'The Lovers' first appeared on LP in 1984, side one was recorded at aconcert earlier that year while side two were all new tracks recordedlive for VPRO Radio in Holland. When the CD was first manufactured in1991, both tracks from the "Curious Guy" 12" single were included.While the disc is often not considered to be a truly bonafide LPDalbum, it contains some of my favorite LPD songs. The four songs fromside one had only ever appeared on compilation cassettes (if anywhereelse). The excitement about the band's current lineup can be observedsimply by the volume of material that surfaced in that year (whichincluded both 'The Tower' and 'Faces in the Fire') and here they wantedto treat the older tunes to a newer live arrangement. Side two startsand ends with the timeless emotional, violin and piano heavy classics"The Lovers" parts one and two. It also features the entertainingclassic, "Flowers for the Silverman" right in the middle. Thefeverishly catchy "Curious Guy" is cute and always a crowd-pleaser andthe disc ends appropriately with the complex 11½ minute opus"Premonition 16". Bonus bits for the new reissue include a restoredcover (which includes all five faces through the flowers), printedlyrics and a thumbnail for the 'Curious Guy' 12" release inside thetray.
'Island of Jewels' on the other hand is one of my least favorite LPDalbums. Recorded and released in 1986, it was the first full-lengthalbum recorded with Edward living in Holland and the rest of the groupliving in England. Incidentally, the album seems fragmented andunconnected, while the production seems rather sterile and thin. Theband sounds like a group of musicians not paying attention to eachother, all clamoring for attention without letting each other'sinstruments have a life of their own. It's somewhat painful to listento as the songwriting really isn't bad at all. Songs like "The Shock ofContact" and "Jewel in the Crown" would probably have benefitted from acompletely different recording approach. This reissue is probably oneof my favorite improvements on the other hand. The back cover has beenadopted from black and white images from inside the original gatefoldLP issue, photos have been included as well as lyrics—none of whichwere on the original PIAS CD release.
With only a single and a few collaborations out this year, Chicago's Locrian have been rather quiet, with this being their first (and so far only) full-length release of the year. The Clearing both recalls their earliest, noise-addled drone work while still looking forward to their current unique take on metal/prog/kraut rock.
Recorded inside a 100-year-old Washington state church, this duo of Japanese residents Corey Fuller and Tomoyoshi Date, utilizes the natural reverberations and ambience of the space in which it was recorded to craft a melancholy, emotional work that uses electronic and acoustic instruments together seamlessly.
Carsten Nicolai's latest album returns to the themes and concepts that he explored on 2008’s Unitxt (which has been reissued in a limited, artist edition to mark the release of the new album). Combining the ideas of a universal language, repetition and the relationship between data and sound, Nicolai has come up with a stunning collection of electronic music that bridges another one of the gaps between audio and visual art.
Industrial Records’ reissue series begins with the album that set the tone for a short but potent career. The group’s first album (mischievously titled in order to make people go looking for a non-existent First Annual Report) is a master class in subversive anti-music that still packs a punch. Remastered and released as an LP and also in an expanded CD edition; all the gory details have been put into sharp focus, reanimating the still warm corpse of Throbbing Gristle’s glory days.
Twenty years into Tom and Christina Carter's rich partnership, it has become next to impossible to identify outside reference points in their work. Charalambides exists in its own universe—insular, curtains drawn. Exile, their first release in four years, begins with "Autumn Leaves," a wordless prelude of Tom's austere guitar playing, setting the tone for the band's most laser-focused album since 2004's Joy Shapes.
