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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Noise-based electronic music has been around long enough that now, likeall musical idioms, you have progression on one hand and stylism on theother. Merzbow, having been a pioneer in noise and electronic music formore than twenty years, is one of the most important figures in theprogression of this music. But this Smalltown Supersound collaborationwith Norweigan electronic duo Jazzkammer seems quite predictable withinthe genre. That's not to say it's a bad disc; the music is interestingenough. But it's certainly doesn't make my jaw drop.
Improvised andrecorded live in 2001, the disc is a 40-minute set of processed samplesand electronic noise, split into 3 long nameless tracks. The first twosegments are characterized by layers of frenetic noise over a repeatingprocessed melody or percussion loop; the final track is theleast-structured and noisiest, with cut up samples of heavy metalguitar mixed in with the electronics. Of all three, the first track isthe most interesting: A 5-beat repeating drum sample creates a bed forother drum samples to build upon, which are manipulated to the pointwhere they sound like a free-jazz drum solo. But on the whole, theperformance is a bit less than stunning. Obviously this is not meant tobe the quintessential release for either Merzbow or Jazzkammer. But,like Pan Sonic's live-in-95 CDs released last year, it kind of begs thequestion, Why release this at all? How many live recordings of abstractelectronic noise can a person listen to? The argument can be made thatit's interesting because it's a collaboration. This may be true, butwith the exception of Carsten Nicolai's recent studio collaborationswith Ryoji Ikeda and Mika Vainio, most collaborations of this sort areless interesting than the artists' own works (for instance, Pan Sonicand Bruce Gilbert's "IBM" release from last year). And since it'simpossible to tell which sounds are being created by Merzbow and whichare being created by Jazzkammer, the purpose is somewhat lost. Thoughthe disc is far from mediocre, unless you really enjoy listening to theintensity of Merzbow all day long, I can't imagine this being in heavyrotation in your CD player. There are a lot better discs of electronicnoise improv out there, including by the artists' themselves.
As the title suggests, the direction of this disc is somewhat vague,yet still an interesting listen. Mr. Mazurek's electronic/laptopelements tend to be more experimental then that which we've come toknow from the Chicago Underground Duo.After several listens to thisdisc, I've come to think of it as abstract audio painting as most ofthe tracks tend to have a lot of layering and overlappings happening(at times very subtle) with such elements as cornet, piano, guitar,voice, bass, synth patches and various sound manipulation. Severalcollaborators are featured bringing their angle to the mix. Sam Prekopappears on the opener "Time Coded Single" with prominent and repetitiveguitar lines which flow nicely with a conversing, at times distantpiano. Matthew Lux (bassist Isotope 217) appears on "Strange Logics"providing what at times feels like the percussive element of the trackagainst layered cornet long tones and bursts. He again appears on "TheShaping Light" along with Ken Brown, Tania Bowers, Casey Rice andMichael Kandel. For me, this track has the most direction, perhaps dueto the number of collaborators working together. John Herndon appearson the closing, title track providing background reverby drums againsta subtle, sweeping, rapid tremolo sound, cornet stabs, various swellsand creepy whispers. This disc definitely makes for some cool headphonelistening. -
Having recently taken in the delightful "Alice in Wonderland" box setre-issue, my first (massive) taste of Greif's quarter century plus backcatalog, I became eager for more. And just in time comes a new projectusing another classic as inspiration. Subtitled "An EmergencyBroadcast", Greif specifically borrows from Orson Welles panic inducingradio broadcast version of H.G. Wells "The War of The Worlds". But theidea is expanded, metamorphosed into a metaphor for humanity's warswith ourselves (note the change to singular in Greif's title) andtechnology: disinformation, technological "advancements" and organicversus digital life. And ultimately, someone or something out therewill receive the signals we project into deep space and come todispatch of us with ease. The 55 minutes is conceptually divided intothree 3 track parts - 'exhale', 'meeting' and 'aftermath' - but itflows as one continuous piece. Greif's approach here is similar to"Alice", only far less narrative and far more obscured as his soundcollages characterize the data glut. Often fractured bits of reports,speech and Conet Project style number station transmissions are foldedinto found sounds, static interference and electronic textures. Attimes it's disorienting, frustrating and confusing for you, thelistener, as if you were desperately trying to tune in a frequency tofind out what the hell is going on. Other times it's soothingly ambientand carefree such as the culminating liquid gurgle fade, as though nomatter what, even if they wipe us out or we wipe ourselves out, itwon't much matter. Another great idea skillfully brought to fruition byMr. Greif.
This is the first release from Text Records (not to be confused withFridge's own UK-based label), a sub-label affiliated with TinmanRecords, devoted to electronic experimental and ambient music. Thealbums released on Text heavily depart from the more straightforwardindustrial found on Tinman, such as early Crocodile Shop and I,Parasite. Presentperfect uses loops in order to illustrate theimperfections of analog. From the band's website: "Even the sine wave,and the seductive curvature of science, in its universe of ideals, cannot be considered analog. For every complete cycle there isdiscontinuity and interruption. It is not the amount of something butthe amount of nothing that distinguishes pitch." While the idea isintriguing and the music attempts to explore and express some of thescience and mathematics behind electronic music, in the end, it's notfocused enough on the music itself. I found little here to beemotionally, or intellectually, engaging. The first track, "WintersTuesday," at about sixteen minutes, could easily have been pared downto half that time and managed to make it's point—the drones becomeexcessive and border on monotonous, the kiss-of-death for ambientmusic. The same can be said for many of the other tracks, whoseexcessive length create a sense of detachment, you wait for it to moveon, hope it moves on, and it rarely does. But there are some greatmoments on this CD. It may be worth picking up solely for theunfortunately too short "Digital Bath," which actually moves toward abeat-oriented and noisier realm. It was enough to make me wonder howgreat a rhythmic Presentperfect album would sound. The surroundingtracks just do not sustain a momentum that propels me through the albumas a listener. In the end I felt much like the drones on this CD: flatand distant.
Maenad is the second release on Text Records(http://www.tinmanrex.com/text.html), and favors dark drones, ghostlysinging and subtle atmospherics. Samples and found sounds perfectlyblend and eventually any distinction between them becomes unimportant,such as when rain almost imperceptibly turns into the crackle of fire."a thousand petals" is not an album about dichotomies though, it is analbum about transmutation. All of the album's elements work in unisonto create an evolving aural landscape. Even things one would think tobe cliché, such as the thunderstorm on "in within" and the speech fromthe crazed Satanist on "pigs my fly," sound fresh as they'recomplimented with washes of sound and mood-altering rumbles. Vocalsamples, if not shrewdly buried, are processed, slowed, and distortedto become unrecognizable and camouflaged in this bleak terrain. Attimes the production sounds a bit muddy, as if too much noise islayered upon a track, but in the end the great moments of clarityillustrate glimpses of brilliance. "a thousand petals" is evocative andcompelling. Seek it out.
It seems that anger and post-rock go hand-in-hand with a lot of bands.The power of Mogwai, menace of godspeed you black emperor! and rawdestructive force of Explosions In The Sky all suggest some kind offrustration and anger with the systems and forces in place. And theyshould be angry about that. But San Francisco's Mirza took it to awhole new level.
Raised from the ashes of Ursa Minor by that group'sSteven R. Smith, Mirza drew positive notices for their last record,1999's "Iron Compass Flux," but eventually called it quits. Ba Da Bing!brought this collection of their hard-to-find 12" EP release onAutopia, as well as unreleased tracks, in 2001, and it's an amazingglimpse of their early work as well as some of their best music ever.All the unreleased tracks are captured on 4-track cassette save the EPrecorded on 8-track, so all of these tracks are very gritty-sounding.And the music is purely punishing. And yet strangely delicate. Nicelyplaced horns and odd sounds bring out a variety seldom heard on otherreleases, and despite the lo fi recording the music never sounds blandor cacaphonous. Instead, it's some of the most melodic and structuredmusic Mirza ever did. As always, the playful bass makes for a greatanchor as the wild and destructive guitars play above it, and the drumsurge and drive the music faster and harder. At just over 64 minutes,"Last Clouds" is a spectacular posthumous nod to an underappreciatedand dynamic band.
From our friends at Karaoke Kalk (a label that has begun to make a namefor itself in the land of lush electronic music) comes German duo DonnaRegina's equally lovely (if not somewhat stylistically different)follow-up to their 1999 release 'A Quiet Week in the House_. 'NorthernClassic', as its title suggests, gives its listener the sonicequivalent of a wintery landscape view through snow-dusted eyelashes. Regina Janssen's fragile, whispered vocals are a shiver amongst thelargely electronic backdrop. "Let's Get Slow" makes for a strong startto the album, with its low bass throbs and twangy guitar, the latter ofwhich featured heavily on their previous release. The other tracks onthe album take a more subtle approach, and tend to be not nearly asengaging. "Favourite Human" is the notable exception to this, throwingpolished record scratches and vibraphone into the mix, to create whatis one of the poppiest songs the band has done in recent years. My onlycomplaint is in regards to the uninspiring lyrics: much of the band'searly material was sung in French, and it is in those songs that theyare lyrically much more effective. 'Northern Classic', sung entriely inEnglish, lacks sophistication in this department, and unfortunatelypartially suffers for it. For the most part, however, the album iswell-produced and will likely delight fans of charming, uncomplicatedelectronic music who can overlook banal lyrics.
Along with playing various instruments and contributing organic sounds,Bastien builds Meccano machine robots to "play" instruments to buildhis soundscapes on. He calls it both "acoustica" and "mechanica," andgives each song a palindromic title, as the robots "understand" thismusic the same forwards and backwards. It may seem a bit pretentious,but the music is phenomenal. It's simple, as his robot orchestra (the"Mecanium") play simple loops that Bastien adds flavors to, but it's anamazing listen considering the concept. The robots play realinstruments: castanets, marimba, and the clearly favored "discs."(They're on 8 out of 10 tracks) Bastien's background is in composingmusic for ballet and string quartet. It's wasy to picture a ballet tothe music he creates now, as it encourages movement and choreography.Plus, since it is mechanic in nature, steady rhythms abound. Bastienalso uses non-standard instruments, making for interesting colors on analready oddly charming canvas. The music is groovy, it is jazzy, and itis covered in earth tones, which is especially ironic considering itsgenesis. Ultimately, the music takes on a life of its own, eclipsingthe author's and robots' intentions, changing directions and rhythms onthe fly. I cannot describe this music and do it any justice. Listen foryourself and you'll get a taste for how truly original and stupefyingit all is.
The first sentence of the 40-page booklet that accompanies this discreads "This record features the groups that grew out of punk in the UKand embraced Dance music." Yeah, right, that's exactly how I'd [not]describe Throbbing Gristle and This Heat. Souljazz Records,self-proclaimed re-releaser of hard-to-find dance music, has expandedtheir dub-and-reggae filled catalog by compiling 11 songs from 9 late70s UK bands, including the two bands mentioned above, Gang of Four,early Human League, Cabaret Voltaire, 23 Skidoo, A Certain Ratio, theSlits, and the Pop Group. The music is great, there's no doubt aboutit, but at the price this disc is going for ($18 in New York) it'sreally not worth buying, especially since the tracks are mostlyavailable on other discs (I think This Heat's first album, whichcontains "24 Track Loop," is still out of print, but you can find itused for $10 if you try). Maybe this is an OK comp for someone who'snever heard of any these bands, but I wouldn't recommend "20 Jazz FunkGreats" as quintessential Throbbing Gristle or "To Hell With Poverty"as a good start to your Gang of Four collection. The most infuriatingelements of this release, though, are the ridiculous liner notes, inwhich everything is talked about in terms of its relation to "Punk,"which is always capitalized for some reason, and its treatment of JohnLydon as some sort of musical god. Example: "Whilst appearing tocelebrate chaos, or rather because of it, [the Sex Pistols] inspiregroups to form wherever they play." That doesn't even make grammaticalsense, and it's an absurd statement to make. Incidentally, the word"whilst" is used about 20 times throughout the booklet, and the writer(Stuart Baker) changes tense from past to present every few sentences.From the section about Throbbing Gristle: "Although Throbbing Gristlecome into existence at the same time as many Punk bands such as The SexPistols and The Clash, and indeed share some of their values, the musicis a million miles away from them. Often described as anti-music,Throbbing Gristle experimented with sound like no one else beforethem." It's quite frustrating. You can get better ideas about the bandsfrom allmusic.com, and if you gave me an hour and the internet I couldmake a better, more thorough intro to the "second wave of Punk." Theonly good thing that might come out of this release is if people whobuy it actually follow through and buy these bands' actual records. Butif you are curious about any of these bands, forget this disc, pick oneor two of the bands you're really interested in and go buy theiralbums. It will be time and money better spent.
In an act of altruism, LTM Records has begun to remaster and reissueThe Wake's albums, starting with this early record, a smattering ofearly singles and a peel session. It's easy to dismiss The Wake, tooeasy. At a cursory listen one might be tempted to shrug them off as aJoy Division clone (of which they've been accused), or as a pop-likehybrid of Joy Division and the Cure. But like I said, that's too easy.The Wake may share similarities with these bands, especially since theysigned to Factory Records and therefore were label mates with JoyDivision, Section 25, and Cabaret Voltaire. But infusing all of thetracks on "Harmony & Singles" is a jangly post-punk, almostsynthpop, sensibility that the other bands, thanks to their emergencein the midst of first-wave punk, lack. While some of the lyrics mayfall a little flat, such as laments against god ("a fear of god / thegod of love") in "Judas" there are plenty of more powerful moments thatallow you to overlook these small missteps, such as the immediate punchof "Testament", whose strong bass line and catchy riff will getanyone's, even the most forlorn cooler-than-thou goth's, head bopping.Then, there are times, such as in "Patrol" or "Something Outside" thatthe synth elements may dominate and yet still keep those beguilingbeats and melodies fresh and fun enough to make you smile. And that'swhat separates The Wake from their more famous label mates: infectioussongs that are anything but oppressive, songs that strip away themelancholy, songs that border on love songs, to create strong post-punkpop. One of the best forgotten bands of the 80s, and we're lucky tohave them back. More reissues are on the way.
Possibly one of the most anticipated follow-ups is finally available. If you thought the eponymous debut double CD was mindblowing, you ain't heard nothin' yet. 'The Trial' once again sees the four core members playing songs together with strong improvisational origins, but this time it seems the emphasis has gone from astral exploration to an almost surrealistic horrific earthly adventure.
The same instrumental lineup forms the sounds (bozouki, guitar, tablas, electronics) but everything builds from an opening with field recordings into a maniac frenzy of electronic low bass rumbles, mad tablas and post drum-n-bass electronic whackery by the third track, "Mr. Titz (The Revelator)" (picture a call back to "First Dark Ride" with bozouki and tablas). With the accompanying visuals, the mental imagery I'm faced with is one of a surrealistic futuristic chase scene through a haunted rainforest.
Things calm down immediately after and the quartet return to more organic sounds with outdoor rain sounds, scraped violins and sparse guitars. Long, delayed guitars, electronic and acoustic noises follow in the beat-absent subsequent tracks. A crackling fire, guitar loops, bozouki and whispers through what's most likely a guitar pickup permeate the disc's last song, the colossal "A Glow in the Dark". After a miniature half-lullaby motif, some drone and bozouki interplays and about 17 minutes, silence falls. A minute later a brief but sweet guitar melody closes the disc. I still don't understand why bands choose to do "hidden" songs like this separated by a silence, but whatever.The rest of this incredible second album more than makes up for that.