Plenty of new music to be had this week from Laetitia Sadier and Storefront Church, Six Organs of Admittance, Able Noise, Yui Onodera, SML, Clinic Stars, Austyn Wohlers, Build Buildings, Zelienople, and Lea Thomas, plus some older tunes by Farah, Guy Blakeslee, Jessica Bailiff, and Richard H. Kirk.
Lake in Girdwood, Alaska by Johnny.
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For the most part recorded live in Vienna, this album is a consolidation of Nurse With Wound’s most recent output into one piece. The results speak for themselves; the different resources integrate with each other perfectly to give an exceptional piece of music.
Soundpooling contains two tracks. The first, “Soundpooling #3,” is the performance from Vienna. The performance is described as an improvisation on Salt Marie Celeste and the Echo Poeme releases. There are also elements of Angry Eelectric Finger scattered throughout the performance. The combination (or pooling to use the language of the album) of these different compositions works extremely well; the whispered intonations from the Echo Poeme material sounds like they were made to accompany the creaky, creepy drones of Salt Marie Celeste. In fact, the vocals sound much better here than they do on the “proper” releases; the oceanic background makes them sound erotic and mysterious.
As the improvisation progresses, it moves into completely new territories with only odd bits of sound acting as points of familiarity. The music is far more active and engaging than I was expecting. Explosions of noises that sound like they were spliced from a number of old records and cultured on a dish in dark, damp basement rock the atmosphere. I can only imagine how uneasy the audience must have felt listening to this in the flesh considering the lab coat uniform of the performers and the fact that the venue was an anatomy museum.
The second track is a new studio recording named “In Swollen Silence.” It is an almost calming break after the tension of the live recording. Freida Abtan’s performance and text is evocative and for the most part very beautiful, there are moments where the beauty is shattered by the sentiments of the words: “your shadow ripped from you.” Stapleton throws a few curveballs during this piece that take me by surprise each time I listen to it (I won’t elaborate as they are best experienced first hand). Soundpooling would have been a fine release if it just contained the live performance but the inclusion of “In Swollen Silence” caps off the album nicely.
The bonus disc that came with initial copies of Soundpooling is a one track studio piece with the delicious title of A Handjob from the Laughing Policeman. It contains a lot of the material recorded by Stapleton and Potter in Utvaer for the Shipwrecked Radio albums. It opens with a busy array of electronic noises, processed voices and before a groovy drum beat fades in and slows the pace down. This drum beat disappears and is replaced with an exotic, tribal beat. All the while, typically Nurse With Woundish noises, ranging from sea gulls to indefinable tones, eddy and churn around the beats. It is a nice companion to the Shipwrecked Radio discs but not something I’d be kicking myself for missing.
artist: Alasehir title: Sharing The Sacred catalog number: imprec101 format: cd release date: July 25, 2006
John Gibbons-Guitar, Tamboura Michael Gibbons-Guitar, Sitar Michael Zanghi-Drums, Percussion
Alasehir is the project of Bardo Pond brothers John and Michael Gibbons with drummer Michael Zangha. Unlike the Gibbons' project Alumbrados, also being released on Important at the same time, Alasehir is more rock oriented, establishing a heady, heavy groove and jamming on it throughout.
“The ear of the musician detects a certain musical note in every city which is different from that of another city. He hears in each street a new melody, and to him the sound of wind in the treetops of different forests gives a varying sound. In the Desire World, seemingly, SOUND PROCEEDS FROM FORM. But in the music of ALASEHIR it is different, for while each form occupies and obscures a certain space there, form is nonexistent when viewed from the standpoint of ALASEHIR. Where the form was, a transparent vacuous space is observable. FROM THAT EMPTY VOID COMES A SOUND which is the "keynote" that creates and maintains the form whence it APPEARS to come, as the almost invisible core of a gas-flame is the source of the light we perceive.” Michael Gibbons
artist: Alumbrados title: A Garden Of Vipers catalog number: imprec102 format: cd release date: July 25, 2006
Much different than the lumbering jams of Alasehir are the drenched ethno-drones of Alumbrado. Featuring Bardo Pond's John & Michael Gibbons on guitar, sitar, cumbas and various percussive instruments as well as Michael Zanghi and Aaron Igler with additional electronics and percussion. Alumbrados is a beautiful, rhythmic and tremendously arranged psychedelic experience.
“Alumbrados investigations are as thorough and as reliable as researches by material scientists, but not as easily demonstrable to the general public. Spiritual powers lie dormant within every human being, and when awakened, they compensate for both telescope and microscope, they enable their possessor to investigate, instanter, things beyond the veil of matter, but they are only developed by a patient application and continuance in well doing extended over years, and few are they who have faith to start upon the path to attainment to perseverance to go through with the ordeal. “ Michael Gibbons
artist: Daniel Menche title: Jugularis catalog number: imprec103 format: cd release date: July 25, 2006
Imagine yourself riding on cells coasting through your body's veins. The sound of the heart grows stronger like a beating drum as you're pulled closer. Suddenly, you're embraced by this giant pulsating muscle and when you're finally released back into the veins you can hear it's sound fading slowly, but still growling with the same intensity that it has beat with for eternity. Jugularis is the soundtrack to this ride and like your heart it's packaged in blood: the ultimate symbol of life and intensity. Recently Daniel Menche has embraced more percussion based sound to create music that manipulates the listeners blood flow and intensifies the listening experience. Jugularis still contains a distinctly Menche sound yet being that it's intensely rhythm and percussion based it's extremely different from anything that he has created prior.
Never before has Daniel Menche's mantra of "If Music is like blood then make the speakers bleed" been so appropriate.
artist: Mudsuckers title: Mudsuckers catalog number: imprec104 format: cd release date: August 22, 2006
Swamp noise drone. Feedback is layered like mud on the carcass of song structure. Robert uses primitive cassette manipulation as well as digital processing to thicken the sound into a swamp. Think Credence Clearwater Revival without the one chord they knew. On three of the songs, Pete uses his analog reel-to-reel wall-of-sound processing apparatus. Longjaw Mudsuckers was inspired by a mid-eighties cassette where Merzbow mixed John Hudak’s nature sounds into a screaming mass of sonic debris. Robert recorded a stream after the huge New Year’s Day storm and Pete plugged it into his system, making it sound at times like a stream, an ocean, and robots whispering mechanical secrets. This CD contains some of the first recordings of Tom Carter’s circuit bending. Individual attributes of Gabe Mindel’s guitar roar, Tom Carter’s ebow laptop whirl, and Horton’s clanky homemades merge into the mud stew. Driving the swirl are samples of boogie woogie piano, riffs from the session, and pounding drums of guests Michael Donnelly and Doug “Moonshine” Jin. The last number, SWEET, conjures the bar room sound of Kansas City, 1920, but recorded inside a thermonuclear reactor. The sounds created are so raw and tormented it’s hard to believe they were having a good time. Must have something to do with the times, the war and the general vacuity of that season’s holidays.
How did these recordings happen? During the torrential rains of December 2005, caused by global warming, Robert Horton invited Tom Carter, Gabe and Pete of the Yellow Swans, and Glenn Donaldson up the hill to his home in El Cerrito for food, drink, and music-making. As it turned out, Pete and Glenn couldn’t make it, so Gabe, Tom, and Robert vibrated the peaceful El Cerrito neighborhood to mud. We had beer, wine and much feedback. The turbulence of the sounds matched the late December weather. The following week when Pete came over to overdub his sounds, Robert had found an article on mudsuckers in the Berkeley Daily Planet. The headline was “Mudsuckers may be ugly, but they have value.” A band was born.
A mudsucker is a fish that’s mostly a mouth, which spends its whole life on one patch of mudflat. Scientists use these fish to monitor carcinogens, endocrine disrupters, and other toxic chemicals in coastal waters. The group’s name as well as some of the song titles were taken from this article. The second song, Here Come the Mud Dragons was a phrase spoken by three kids splashing in the mud in a local park. Another song Electric Sunflower, was named by Glenn Donaldson in an email explaining why he couldn’t be at the session.
artist: Grails title: Black Tar Prophecies Vol 1,2,3 catalog number: imprec105 format: cd release date: August 22, 2006
Important is proud to release The Black Tar Prophecies in it's complete form including two tracks not available on the limited edition European vinyl only releases.
At the start of 2005 Grails returned to the US from a month long European tour. Stepping off the plane most of the band walked in one direction and the violinist strayed off in another. It ended up being the last time most anyone would see or talk to him. A bandmate of 3 records and 5 years had vanished only to exist in the form of vague rumors (violin hocked for petty cash, living on the streets, etc). As the varied reports of brief encounters and sightings grew stranger and darker, the band started a series of recordings called Black Tar Prophecies. The remaining members had particular dissatisfactions with how the band had been grouped into the innocuous contemporary 'post-rock' movement. This frustration, combined with newly liberated instrumental roles, introduced new possibilities for the band's sound. In this way the collected Black Tar Prophecies ends up being a more idiosyncratic mission statement for future Grails recordings, revealing their fondness for the groundfloor 60's and 70's experimental artists that saw music as a process of discovery as opposed to the pre-conceived, pre-parametered, commodified sport that underground music has become. A parallel is now forming between Grails and old-school experimental bands like Faust who, rejecting their past, started over from the beginning to build new languages in music.Grails third full length recording, and first full length since leaving Neurosis' label Neurot, is The Black Tar Prophecies. Seven of these nine tracks from this full length were released in small highly sought after pressings of 12” vinyl on two European labels. . The Black Tar Prophecies is a massive evoltionary step in the established Grails sound and it is shrouded in change and pain. The somewhat clinical studio sound and recording style which has established them a tremendous following has been replaced with a much more free and conceptual recording style. This method liberated the group in the studio and these recordings feel much more open, heavy and for lack of a better term “psychadelic.” We're not talking about the cliché co-opted psychadelic fashion, but psychadelia as a reckless embrace of new states of mind and possibilities. This sound has always existed within a Grails song but now it's been heavilly pushed to the foreground. Perhaps even more elloquently and simply stated, Black Tar Prophecies 1-3 is their best record yet.
artist: Merzbow title: Minazow Volume Two catalog number: imprec107 format: LP release date: August 22, 2006
Not to be confused with Merzbow's recent cd release on Important titled Minazow Vol 1, this is Minazow Volume 2 featuring new tracks dedicated to the memory of the mighty Minazow. This release is on vinyl only, housed in a deluxe heavy duty textured tip-on gatefold sleeve and pressed on green vinyl. Limited edition of 1000.
Minazow Vol 2 is Merzbow's tribute to the beloved male elephant seal who lived life in captivity at a Tokyo aquarium. Masami Akita often visited the seal at the aquarium and was allowed to access Minazo behind the scenes.
Minazo, an Elephant seal, died at 5:15 pm on October 4, 2005. He was 11 years old, still young for an elephant seal whose life expectancy is 20 years on average. Whatever the cause of death, I feel sad and angry each time I hear about animals dying in captivity far away from their natural habitat. Minazo was raised at the Enoshima Aquarium in Kanagawa Prefecture. With a strong build, 5 meters in height and 2 tons in weight, he was the only male elephant seal in Japan. Director Yukiko Hori said in her book "The Story of An Aquarium" (published by Iwanami Shoten) that Minazo was brought to Japan from Uruguay in 1995. His name, which consists of three kanji characters meaning "beautiful", "male", and "elephant", was chosen from 1,500 public suggestions. The aquarium had raised male and female elephant seals called Daikichi and Omiya, who had been brought from the Antarctic island of South Georgia in 1964. After they died in 1977 and 1979, specimens were made using their skins, which are currently displayed at the aqarium. Hori said that the previous experience with the two seals was of help in raising Minazo. Minazo became popular through TV appearances. He was once introduced on a variety show as a look-alike for wrestler Bob Sapp, an insult to Minazo. Elephant seals have far greater strength than humans, and can even crush a car when they get really mad. Bob would have been beaten in a second. Minazo was forced to perform various stunts before audience at each mealtime, such as holding a bucket with one flipper, bending back like a prawn, and standing still while a keeper jumped and clung on him. The hard work made him exhausted and might have caused his early death. Many of the aquariums in Japan have become mere amusement establishments. If their mission includes breeding and protecting endangered animals, they must continue feeding the animals in captivity responsibly. I, however, believe that they should eventually end the exhibition of animals in the name of academic research, and instead start functioning as animal shelters only. - Masami Akita, Tokyo 2006
artist: Flaherty/Corsano/Yeh title: A Rock In The Snow catalog number: imprec095 format: cd release date: July 25, 2006
Together Chris Corsano and Paul Flaherty have re-written the concept of modern free-jazz with their post-hardcore punk style approach of euphoric togetherness. Ferocious, spontaneous, explosive and aggressively lyric they've established their groundbreaking duo with loads of shows and a host of tremendous recordings.
When tales of C. Spencer Yeh's Burning Star Core project reached Corsano/Flaherty the duo were eager to see him jam. Fortunately, fate brought them together at the DeStijl/Freedom From festival where Corsano/Flaherty were playing in the Dream/Aktion Unit (with Thurston Moore) and Yeh was there with Burning Star Core. His performance caught the Corsano/Flaherty duo on fire and Yeh's temperature was raised (literally) when he suddenly came down with the flu following his show. Fortunately for Yeh, Flaherty packed him in ice down in the festival hall basement and a solid relationship was forged. Lives were saved. Jams ensued. The power trio of Flaherty/Corsano/Yeh was formed. Liner notes by John Olson aka Johnny Coors.
various artists: IMPREC100 title: A Users Guide To The First 100 Important Records Releases catalog number: imprec100 format: cd
Celebrating the first 100 records on Important is IMPREC100. This a free sampler containing tracks from Anoice, Ocean, Citay, James Blackshaw, Diane Cluck, The Dresden Dolls, Barbez, Muslimgauze, Beequeen, Larsen, XXL and many more. While all tracks have been previously released, The Dresden Dolls and Ocean tracks were both exclusive to very limited edition vinyl releases and have not been issued on cd until now.
artist: Boris title: Vein catalog number: imprec100 format: Picture disc lp release date: sometime between now and Aug 22, 2006.
Japan's Boris has chosen to follow Pink (Southern Lord) with this deluxe vinyl only offering. Vein is a completely transparent picture disc lp with a border image on the outter perimeter of the vinyl which is actually screen printed on the clear mylar "picture". The grooves begin within the image and this record is housed in a transparent picture disc jacket affixed with two custom cut stickers.
Japan's highest ranked ampgods Boris have created Vein; an exploding singular monolith rooted firmly in all of Boris' sounds. Opening hard and heavy with more guitar feedback than you'd think a thick chunk of vinyl could hold they proceed to plunder the Boris audio-vaults bringing out and incorporating all of the elements that make Boris. Vein has massive methodical low end guitar drone, explosive thrash metal, sound samples and plenty of feedback to go around. Bow down fellow worshipers and let this thick chunk of sound explode around you. This record is so heavy you're going to blow your speakers just thinking about listening to it.
Recorded in one day, then processed over three years, here is an orgasmic maelstrom. Transmitting as much calm unease as bewildering force, Aufgehoben's third release is beautifully fleet-footed, intensely musical, tantalising ugly and almost tangibly sexual. As if a winged piledriver were coupling with a steel drum, in a furnace.
The dynamic of controlled rage and loose agility in these sounds allows distortion and crushing weight to convey structure (of sorts), suggest tension, power, struggle, and ecstacy. It's left for us to decide when it is tender or violent, casually murderous or lovely. In the swirl, stutter and slam of twin drummers, electronics and guitar, I hear irritation, the layering of musical nacre, and formation of pearls. Surrendering to the implausible rhythm (it's pointless to tap your foot) allows for a strange relaxation to occur in the listener.
Far from creating contrived sterility, the three-year attention to detail pays off, with Aufgehoben appearing to never indulge in bloodless thrash or plodding wankery. No cliche distracts the listeners from organic engagement with the energy, sweetness and integrity of this music. Equally, they don't tip into a parody of extremity, and deserve to avoid attracting jaded evocations of darkness, evil, or aggression. Sure, at times the volume goes up to 11, but it's timed to perfection and a fine balance is undisturbed.
Like discussing past liaisons with a true love, it seems improper or gratuitous to liken "Anno Fauve" to past proponents of anything similar. Suffice to say, comparisons favor Aufgehoben's (mainly) unknown players. In truth, the identity mystery pleases me, probably more than it should. I listened to the CD and was gobsmacked. Apparently there is a different version with some changes in content, track order and packaging. Taking fetishism further, 200 are available (hand-numbered) in clear vinyl, for those who find that sexy. I must confess, I do.