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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These two limited edition releases on Cambridge, MA's Intransitiveimprint both suffer from putting far too much stock in their conceptsand processes than in the music itself, and as a result they are bothmediocre efforts. Marchetti's release, an audio collage of world musicand, to quote the artist himself, "citations" of well-knownexperimental music pieces, hides under the guise of being an"exploration of Shamanism and ecstatic states of mind."Much moreoffensively bad than the M. Behrens' disc, the pastiche of music thatis not even Marchetti's own is pretentious in concept and anunenjoyable listen. Though I understand the irony of using the tool ofan audio collage, which is an important part of the history ofexperimental music, and comprising this collage partially ofexperimental music itself, I find very little value in the year 2002 bylistening to this sort of experiment - if it were created 40 years ago,perhaps, but not today. The disc's pretentiousness is increased bymaking the 9-second silences between pieces their own indexed trackswith titles like "Silence Simple" and "Silence du Chaman Blanc."Marchetti writes, "For a while, I have been reading 'Shamanism andArchaic States of Ecstasy'...in which I found descriptions ofrituals...these were not far from a place of spirit that I have wantedto share. The composition is able to make the listener live with mymythology, more aware of the world's potential forces." I understandMarchetti's wanting to convey his own world to the listener, but bylistening to musics that aren't his own, I don't feel enlightened byMarchetti's world, nor do I feel like I want to be. The M. Behrens disc is less pretentious than Marchetti's, but stillvery self-absorbed. The pieces, which follow some sort of World War IIera technology battle theme, are comprised wholly of Behrens' olderworks that he's re-evaluated and re-processed for this project. Theextensive, personal liner notes by Behrens explain a good deal aboutthe processes used to create these pieces and the concepts which he'sintertwined within them - mostly coming from a book called "The SecretWar." But since most listeners haven't read this book, and a good dealof listeners don't know the early M. Behrens pieces that he's samplingfrom, the concepts and processes become much less important to thelistener than they are to the artist. The music itself is less annoyingto listen to than Marchetti's collage, but on its own it's not verygripping, and its unclear how it fits in with his elaborate concept. Alarge part of the disc is so quiet that it requires serious attentionand concentration for long stretches of time. When sounds finally dorise to a normal level, they're not interesting enough to be worth theeffort. Intransitive should be commended for releasing conceptual workslike these, and much of the rest of the Intransitive catalog is quiteinteresting, but these two discs are too entrenched in the artists'personal worlds to be very interesting, even to a listener who'swilling to give them a try. -
Giant Sand's second release on Thrill Jockey, a record designed to seejust how well this configuration are connected musically as well as achance to bring in more diverse guest collaborators. As always, theringleader is Howe Gelb, this time with his rhythm stalwarts in JoeBurns on bass and John Convertino on drums, and, as the title suggests,covering other artists' songs except for one new track.All songs getthe Giant Sand treatment, though, which makes for capturing music. Noone likes a cover album where the artists try to sound just like theoriginal, and Giant Sand do anything but that. Black Sabbath's 'IronMan' is realized as a loping lament about a lost soul rather than theshredding document of heavy metal it once was. 'King of the Road'becomes a modern lounge track, Nick Cave's 'Red Right Hand' sparserthan the original and therefore infinitely scarier. Every song soundslike the world Gelb lives in: shifting sands in the dark light, dirtycantinas, and hunted men. It's quintessential Arizona desert music, thesoundtrack to the misunderstood outcast movie of our time. As always,there's Gelb's haunting voice, somewhere around the darker part ofBruce Springsteen and the more understandable Neil Young, making themost of every note. And the revolving cast of characters this timeincludes Polly Jean Harvey, whose 'Plants and Rags' is also covered,and Neko Case. The last three tracks are recorded live, including onecomposition from Gelb's album "Confluence" featuring Jim Fairchild(Grandaddy) on guitar and running well over nine minutes. It's a veryexciting record, full of interesting sounds and songs. It's also one ofGiant Sand's strongest records, showing the innovation and range theyare capable of, even with music that isn't theirs to begin with. -
Guitarist Andy Moor is best known for frenetic harrangues in the Ex andDogfaced Hermans. His idiosyncratic six string scratchings getreprocessed via Kaffe Matthews computer on these recordings ofimprovised encounters. Matthews mutates the raw angular attack andchime of Moor's guitar into loops, drones and static buzz which Moorresponds to in turn.
Guitarist Andy Moor is best known for frenetic harrangues in the Ex andDogfaced Hermans. His idiosyncratic six string scratchings getreprocessed via Kaffe Matthews computer on these recordings ofimprovised encounters. Matthews mutates the raw angular attack andchime of Moor's guitar into loops, drones and static buzz which Moorresponds to in turn.
Matthews sometimes just loops a two tone fragment,at others crushes the guitar into thin spidery high pitcheddigi-screech. Veering from rattling unwinding machine cog splintersthrough short patches of sparse plucking hum calm to loose freeformthunderous excavation textures, they stay just ahead of thrummingabstraction with some odd but simple rhythmic moves that skip merrilyaround complex dissonant edges, unfurling repetitive patterns,coalescing and fragmenting. They make a fine unfettered noise and knowhow to effectively build and release tension. Whilst "She Is Nice"charges forth in hectic flux, "Builder Bloomsberg" opens with arepeated dipping strum over click clack loops that slowly morph into afluctuating bipolar drone where the sound sources seem to merge. ThenMoor builds an ever more discordant fractious guitar onslaught overMatthews' pulsating loops. The track climaxes with the computer rippingthe strings from the guitar and strangling an unsuspecting studioengineer. So that didn't really happened but since this is a recordingimagination can color the events it portrays. Kaffe Matthews' last solorecording to reach these ears 'CD Cecile,' seemed to dispense with theviolin that she'd previously used as a sound source, at least in anyrecognisable form, so it's quite good to hear her take on the guitarhere. Mostly guitar remains recognisable as such, but occasionally, ason the low drone eerie ambience that concludes "Here Is Your Coat," thelaptop textures seem to hold sway. This would probably be much more funif you could see how Andy Moor's attacking the guitar as he's quite avisual performer if his days in Dogfaced Hermans are anything to go by.Something I find a little strange about recordings of improvisation isthat they often grow with repeated listenings. This might seem tocontradict the essence of improvisation, which is instantaneous actionand reaction, but perhaps makes sense of the point of actuallyreleasing improv recordings in the first place. At first this CD seemedto out stay its welcome at almost the full seventy minute mark, butafter a few plays seemed to be over in a flash. Maybe the machine cogswere the atonal sounds of time compacting and unravelling.Occasionally, as on the Instant Chavires gig segment of "Here Is YourCoat," it's almost like a lighter fleet footed cousin of the heavyrecord shop emptying storm of the FM Einheit / Caspar Brotzmannencounter preserved on 'Merry Christmas.' If you ever wanted to hearthe spikiness of the Ex in a much less anchored setting then this issomething you should hear and I'd also recommend that fans of SonicYouth's more wayward freakout tendencies check this out. -
samples:
For sound samples go and have a look at unsounds.com as Graeme's feeling especially lazy this week.
Those hungry for a new knock-em up/knock-em down Chicks On Speed product might be slightly let down by the laid back nature of this four-tracker. The album comes out of what appears to be (from the accompanying video) a day-long session in Kreidler's studios. Musically, this is probably the most advanced and intricate stuff their vocals have accompanied, but the lyrical context seems rather unplanned and uninspiring, however. Could it be possible the Chicks have run out of things to say so soon?
The opener is probably my fave track on the disc, noted as "Polar Love," I think it's actually, "Sliding Down Your Rib Cage" as the girls graphically describe close, intimate experiences up against a distincly Kreidler low-cool moving tune. The third track, "Frequent Flyer Lounge Song" is perhaps the most irritating original song on here with the overrepetition of "dance music, dance music, dance music" completely ruining the track. The last song will surely make a number of people severely hate them, as both Kreidler and the Chicks horribly sing on a cover of Nick Cave's "Where the Wild Roses Grow." Their singing voices are so incredibly unbearable at this point, the 17+ minute disc can't end soon enough. While I'm a fan of both Kreidler and Chicks, their styles seem somewhat mismatched, almost like the Freddie Mercury/Monsterrat Caballie catastrophe. For me, the Chicks seem to sound most natural with thumpy bass, tacky keyboards and dancefloor parody, not necessarily introspective popcorn beats and timid sounds. Fear the video component as the included software "PROJEKTOR" will most certainly crash any non-German PC.
The recording acts that are part of the Elephant 6 collective all havetheir own idiosyncracies, their own elements that you either love orhate. I don't think I know anyone who loves all of these bands,including Beulah, Neutral Milk Hotel, and also the Olivia TremorControl. The Sunshine Fix is the solo project of the latter's BillDoss, and, included in the Elephant 6 collective or not, it's one ofthe recordings of that type of music I haven't really enjoyed.
True,it's more straightforward pop than the OTC, and I never really likedthem, either, but this release just seems like it's lacking somethingall the way through. From the opening title track, the vocal harmoniesand treated guitars greet you and prepare you for the journey. And youwould get the impression that this is what you can expect for most ofthe record, which would make it pretty boring. Unfortunately, thatisn't the case here: it's worse. There are moments of other soundsentering the picture, but they are few and far between, and they don'tlast long. Then it's right back to the same old shtick. Layers ofguitars and vocals that are treated with different effects, clearlyrecorded drums, and occasional bouts of handclaps. Ho hum, yawn. Andthe subject matter, mainly dealing with themes of light and the sun (afixation with sunshine = The Sunshine Fix. How clever.), is verysimplistic. It could be flushed out and explored more, but it's verysurface level. Towards the end of the release, I realized what wasmissing: the rest of the Olivia Tremor Control. Now that that group isdefunct, the members are revealing that their music was a great case ofthe whole being greater than the sum of its parts. There is a twinkleof hope on tracks like 'Everything is Waking,' and I can only hope theyuse that twinkle to greater effect and explore wider themes on futurerecordings. This got real stale real quick. -
Sedimental released this collection of theremin-based explorations fromBoston improviser James Coleman last year. The theremin is not aninstrument that has been associated with improvised music all that muchin the past. Most often James plays alongside the finely focusedelegant percussion of Tatsuya Nakatani, but there are alsocontributions from other improvisers singing and playing cello, trumpetand saxophone.
James is curator of the lowercase sound email discussionforum, so it's not surprising that 'Zuihitsu' is a fairly quietcollection that works up to occasional skittering resolutions relyingon fast paced interaction but mostly squeaks and gurgles in a playfulbut subdued manner. One track is titled "Zwittering Maschines" andzwittering seems a good word to describe the sound of 'Zuihitsu.' It'sdifficult for me to hear this CD without being reminded of the voicesof classic cult BBC kids TV show The Clangers, the moon dwellingwoollen puppets with squeaky voices. Perhaps that's appropriateconsidering the influence of bird sounds on James Coleman's improvisingtechnique, and the image the theremin has as a kitsch sci-fi soundtracktool. "This Castle Keeps Me" opens with a low drone that eventuallyswoops off over sparse and slow atmospheric drum beats. "Burial of theCombs" is a more dissonant follow up with slow scraping cello from VicRawlings. On "Katydid" the theremin conspires with Bob Rainey's sax tosound like a dog whining in curiosity at odd percussive occurrences.Greg Kelley's trumpet brings a strangled gurgle to "Muddy Kemaris" forbird like twitters to flit around, before launching drawn out keeningsover drum rolls. "Lady of the Combs" adds some stuttering jerky vocalsfrom Liz Tonne which instantly lifts the music into a more tense mode,as she sounds quite distraught. Her vocals on a handful of later tracksare much more subdued and merge organically. Although the album is made up of fifteen tracks with variouscombinations of improvisers, with only the theremin constantthroughout, the album merges seamlessly into a whole which could easilyhave been one long session. The final track "Released to the Stars"brings a low key resolution with Rawlings droning cello underpinningTonne's choking ululations which seem to suggest death and rebirth asthe sounds dissolve to silence. The sleeve is a an imaginitively elegant affair which allows thelistener to choose one of three covers featuring different abstractoriental style art under tracing paper and quotes from William Blake,Kimo no Chomei or Elizabeth Millard. The quotes are spirituallysuggestive and compliment the intent of the music neatly. - Read More
For the first ever two disc Mort Aux Vaches, Raster-Noton's foundingfathers - Carsten Nicolai as Alva Noto, Olaf Bender as Byetone, FrankBretschneider as Komet and the trio as Signal - provide over 136minutes of "live" digital minutiae for the ever-growing archive.Chances are, you've already decided what modern minimalism does ordoesn't do for you and if the answer is "not much", there's nothinghere out of the ordinary that's going to change your opinion.
For the first ever two disc Mort Aux Vaches, Raster-Noton's foundingfathers - Carsten Nicolai as Alva Noto, Olaf Bender as Byetone, FrankBretschneider as Komet and the trio as Signal - provide over 136minutes of "live" digital minutiae for the ever-growing archive.Chances are, you've already decided what modern minimalism does ordoesn't do for you and if the answer is "not much", there's nothinghere out of the ordinary that's going to change your opinion.AlvaNoto's 38 minute "Prototypes" diligently maps out searing waves, pops,clicks, pings and deep bass for a rather relaxing, almost funereal attimes, piece. If you really concentrate on it, especially withheadphones, it's fascinating how Nicolai skillfully arranges eachlittle speck of sound throughout the stereo playground. Signal's threetracks are rooted more in repetition and comprised of the most curiousbut mildly annoying sounds, the fluttering low end throb of "IndexArea" being the closest to Scorn these guys will probably ever come.Byetone's five ratio titled tracks flow as one. Bender loves quietsparseness using swooping tones, soft pitter patters, hissing dronesand simple techno beats. Komet's seven tracks gather up micro soundsinto playful techno pop rhythms, beginning and ending with the ambientaura and appreciation of an audience, the only audible indication of atruly live experience on either disc. Not that that matters. Justconsider this another compilation in line with the '20' to 2000'series, 'New Forms' and the '(O)acis Box'. -
Certain General were a living contradiction of a band. They were bothahead of their time and perfect for the time they were a band. They hadpunk rock energy for a post-punk alternative sound. And, as thiscollection shows, they were at the top of their game even when itseemed like it was all falling apart."An Introduction To War,"available at the Sourmash Records USAwebsite, is a 2CD deluxe set featuring completely unreleased CertainGeneral material. The first CD, "Dead Rabbit Gang," would have been theband's second album, culled from recording sessions that took placeupon their return from a successful UK tour. This material wasprevented from release by internal band turmoil, as the liner notesstate, but you couldn't tell by listening to it. All fourteen trackspulse and crack with raw energy: the mark of a band at their absolutepeak. There's so much to hear in these tracks to prove what an affectCertain General had on the musical landscape of the time. You hearelements in these tracks that definitely reveal the Generals'influences, such as the Velvet Underground-esque melodies andbasslines, but there's so much more in what influence the Generals hadon bands of that timeframe. It's in the vocal delivery tried by justabout every 80s band, and the power in the drums, and the wailingguitar. These bands may not be trying to rip off Certain General, perse, but after hearing this collection in comparison to other bands,it's hard to deny that they at least heard the music and appreciatedit. It would have been a fine proper album at the time, and now it's atimeless classic heard finally. The second disc, "Savage YoungGenerals," captures the band live on tape at several shows at CBGB andCity Gardens over a 13 month period. If the raw energy present on thestudio material doesn't grab you, the live album will definitely blowyou away. The showmanship on display for these recordings is the kindmost bands would die to have. Sixteen of these songs have never beenreleased in any format, and it's good to hear them alongside the oddcover and the traditional but higher energy interpretations of thesongs off their releases. 77 minutes of pure sonic delight. Takentogether, these two discs represent a fine document of a, as theirwebsite puts it, "criminally overlooked" band. Try out the soundsamples if you don't believe the hype, but anyone would be impressed bywhat they'd find here. -
Prior to hearing this it seemed that the idea of remixing the densejuggernaut of an album which was Faust's 'Ravvivando' would be at besta bit tricky, at worst utterly pointless. That album from 1999 saw the'krautrock' legends at the pinnacle of their powers and any remixer wasalways going to fail to equal the original's overwhelming apocalyticfreedom. Whatever their difference in approach the thirteen remixerscan't help but lighten the mood as they take turns in remodelling'Ravvivando' in various shades of toetapping dancefloor friendliness.
There's a definite tendency for chaos to be reigned in, as thesprawling goliath is chopped into neat digital byte sizes and spat outin a more ordered frenzy of a very different hue. It's appropriate thatthe cover is predominantly a becalmed green as opposed to the fieryorange glow of the original. However enough of the massive rollingmetal percussion and layered keyboards and guitars remains to give mosttracks a bit of edginess, even if some mixers such as MathiasSchaffhäuser and Sofa Surfers program happy stomps with the merest hintof a Faust shadow. Likewise the Kreidler and Funkstörung tracks don'tgive away many clues as to the original tapes and wouldn't sound out ofplace on albums by either artist, but there is a drone running throughmuch of the Kreidler track which rises in intensity, pushing up fromthe underworld. Perhaps it's this often subtle use of the originalFaust tapes that makes this such a surprisingly well rounded listen.The Gel mix of possibly my favourite Faust track ever, "Wir BrauchenDich #6," performs the bizarre feat of making it sound like Neu!covering Can's "Mother Sky" and is frighteningly addictive enough forthree versions to run together without tiring as they did on thesingle. The single also included the original, which showed just howthe rolling thunder had been fine honed to a robotic precision. Surgeon builds a slow guttural whirlpool vortex of sound that cuts deadfor vocal sample snippets and is one of the few tracks that soundsunmistakably Faustian, being perhaps the only track that looks the darkapocalyptic heart of 'Ravvivando' right in the eye. Now that heart hasmany eyes all peering at different angles. Other remixers which spy themost sympathetic views of Faust's drum driven behemoth are the lastthree: the Residents, Dax and Pieper and Dead Voices On Air. It'stelling that there are three very different tracks assembled from thesolo organ spot "Carousel II." Adriano Lanzi and Omar Sodano seem tomix in chunks of noise from other parts of 'Ravvivando' and leave alarge part of the organ motif untouched, icing the cake as opposed tothe full scale retooling of most mixes. Trillian approaches the sametrack by homing in on one fragment of its fairground feel, whilstSunroof take it on a low key stuttering cut up ambient loop trip. HowieB also opens out the hidden ambient side of Faust, making "Four PlusSeven Means Eleven" sound like an out take from Immersion's 'LowImpact,' pinging harmonising close ups of electron drones off of atoms.This is perhaps the album's most beautiful mix, although Dead Voices OnAir give Howie some competition on that score. Dax and Pieper's take on"Four Plus Seven Means Eleven" is almost the opposite, stompinghyper-beats into focused spiralling mania. The Residents countdown toignition with a rocket lift off that brings the circus to town in awarped vaudeville machine chrome showtune that made me grab the sleeveto find out who it was the first time I played the disc. That rocketblast is really the closest anyone comes to the sheer power of Faust infull flight, but whether this arose from Residents knowing cheekycleverness or is just coincidence is moot. Dax and Pieper sound almostlike they've remixed the Residents, even though they take on anothertrack, as they follow the mood so perfectly. This is another strengthof "Freispiel" - these mixes haven't just been slung together but itsounds like Faust keyboard player Hans Joachim Irmler, who is creditedwith production, spent a while making sure the sequencing flowedperfectly as an album. Dead Voices On Air summon the perfect mood toclose 'Freispiel' accenting the intact hopefulness of "Du Weisst Schon"with slowed mammoth clomp drums. Don't let memories of all thedeadweight on the Can 'Sacrilege' remixes put you off - this isactually that rare thing, a remix project without duff tracks. Thenagain perhaps that isn't so surprising as the only album I can think ofto have a remix album made from it which is on a par with the colossalmajesty of 'Ravvivando' is Ground Zero's 'Consume Red.' -