28 April 2006

Administrator

Albums and Singles

As one half of Birds of Delay Steve Warwick makes dirt sediment peppered petroleum noise. With his solo Heatsick project it’s all about exploratory drone, hitting every frequency on his way through. From a growling rusty Harley opening that builds and quickly plummets, scrambling for a handhold, this continues its hi-energy search for the full twenty minutes.

Alcoholic Narcolepsy

It’s the range of sounds and the speed in which they’re found, assimilated, used and streamed out on this release that makes it work. The hand manipulated high-end sorties feel like pillaging punk attacks on a white canvas. A sense of watchfulness and hand-manipulated purpose goes into the strings of tones and pulse lashing whines, with no movements feeling like tea break feedback accidents. When, for a few short seconds on Submerged, the drones’ shift into a mechanoid altered feel, the feel is short-lived, blanching winds give nothing the chance to settle here.

Even tough a few of these skinny throbs transform into siren calls through thirty cubic feet of transparent oil the sounds are far from being submerged into the mix or waterlogged down with effects. They are free to lash, splurge, spread and blast across the record; slashes of swooping violence that scream and whinny. More than just a series of rise and fall patterns, this grinds against sleek surfaces sounding both flustered and direct as it splinters, melts and pierces.

samples:

• Submerged

 

Read More

28 April 2006

Administrator

Albums and Singles

On this four song EP, Tartufi finds a safe formula and sticks to it. Unfortunately, the formula only succeeds on the first song and makes clutter of the others. "Midnight Tracks" has it all—the back and forth fuzzed guitar interplay, the dual vocals, and the multiple changes in direction. The song is performed well, though it’s somewhat standard fare. Those that follow are essentially more of the same.

Acuarela

Almost every track on this EP runs at least five minutes yet never manages to say much. Not that the group isn’t trying. "Slow Man" spends the first two minutes building up to a climax that stops shy of its mark and doesn’t quite satisfy. "Ashes" ends with a meandering jam that dilutes the impact of the rest of the song. The best parts of every song are the instrumental sections. Not that the vocals are bad, but they’re not a highlight, either. Gruzden and Angel’s voices harmonize well but they don’t venture outside of their limited comfort zone. The melodies themselves aren’t particularly memorable, nor are the lyrics. In fact, the middle two songs have such similar arrangements that they are difficult to tell apart. Rather than exploring different ways of singing or different styles of playing guitar, the band simply adds sections onto the end of each song to cumbersome effect. They seem uncertain as to what they want to say or how they want to say it, using addition when subtraction might best reveal their intentions.

 

Maybe live these songs feel more inspired, but recorded, the band’s calculations are their undoing.

samples:

• Midnight Tracks
• Ashes

 

Read More

28 April 2006

Administrator

Albums and Singles

An original Hook & Hastings tracker-action (non-electric) pipe organ originally constructed in 1881 owns the entirety of this record. The chanting, reminiscent of what Native American and Indian chants I've heard bend space-time, revealing an ether of energy and ideas coursing beneath the visible spectrum. Performed live, this album sounds more like a ritual than a product; it is a distinct and meditative experience that pounds down the doors of the visceral and floods the extended world with a pure, white light.

 

Beta-lactam Ring
 
Beta-lactam's website provides an excellent and brief history of the Old Church's unique instrument. Installed in 1883 in Portland, OR, this mechanical pipe organ has seen multiple restorations since the 1960s, but was not satisfactorily restored until 1997. The instrument's voice, a soft and powerful bellow, has thankfully survived over 100 years to make this recording. I always enjoy hearing unique and strange instruments and though pipe organs are not difficult to find, one of this caliber, still resting in the church it was constructed in, is an apparently rare find. On top of that, its sound is distinct from many pipe organs I've heard, resonating with a wooden, hollow timbre unlike the tones generated by electric pipe organs I've had the pleasure of hearing.

Chao Organica in A Minor could properly be considered a historical document if it weren't for the unusual chants and didgeridoo-like echoes that spread across its belly. The album is split into two tracks: one over 20 minutes in length and the other over 40. Both tracks are undeniably minimalist in nature, utilizing nothing more than the organ and a solo vocal performance. As much of a treat as the organ is, the vocals are a key element to the performance, lending it a supernatural and religious tone appropriate to the environment it was recorded in. Given the right circumstances and frame of mind, it seems like that supernatural contact could've been made with the help of this performance. Each track generates slow, extended melodies. The focus is almost obviously on the textures that the vocals and the organ produce. It's hard not to think of Coil's Time Machines when listening, but the inclusion of the wordless chants adds a dimension to that comparison that renders it null and void. Far from sounding like an improvised performance, every minute of each track provides carefully constructed moments of brilliance.

It's difficult to imagine that this isn't an esoteric recording of a ritualistic performance meant to summon the will and power of every audience member. The music acts like a camera, focusing my thoughts and ideas into coherent wholes. It organizes moments and slows them down, making them visible, available for careful analysis and steady meditation. Around the 22 minute mark in the second, untitled track, near silence falls. A space is opened up for due consideration, for analysis and repose. It's a striking bit of silence that seems to last forever. As the track continues and the faintness hint of organic wind begins to creep over the album, a feeling of renewal washes over the music. It's one of those excellent silent moments in music, where the silence makes just as much difference as the music itself does. The only difference is that, as the album begins, a strange new element strikes me; there are now vocal samples bleeding through the hum of the organ. It is difficult to hear, even more difficult to understand, but it nearly dates the album. Suddenly there is a significance lent to the album.

I imagine a sepia toned desert and a plot of land occupied only by a church. The fear of the outside world crowding in around the congregation and a speaker in charge of exorcising all the negative aspects of what lay outside the fellowship's grasp. The album pulses to a silent end, leaving things uncertain, but somehow more bold. The grass and leaves outside look greener, the sky a deeper shade of blue. The world seems to resonate with the vibrations of the album's closing aura, removing this music from performance and fixing it in the realm of pure existence.

samples:

• Untitled 1
• Untitled 2

Read More

28 April 2006

Administrator

Albums and Singles

This is another outstanding emission, the best to date, from the increasingly obviously talented Black Sun Productions collective. With the help of draZen there’s a process of musical distillation going on that sees Massimo and Pierce channelling a sound that’s definitively theirs.

Sheela Moon

A sense of otherness saturates Im Gegenteil (meaning ‘in the opposite direction’ or ‘the wrong way’) which sees a fine balancing act of elements with one distinctive mood. The tribal rhythms, melodic electronics and deft use of space combine with a sense of loneliness creating an air of solipsistic solace. The lone piano notes of "A Well Hung Monk" sit untouched within the whines of streaking sound trailing around them and the last minute’s muffled percussion. Both "Clear Skies and Dark Skies" and "god?" are perfect bindings of draZen’s wide screen world and Pierce’s underground delicate menace.

The closing track "Das Gegenteil" subtly moves in increments through metal and plastic cylinder violence. Tablas reverberate into an industrialised pelvis grind that speeds from a bubbling pulse towards some messy sweat flecked end. Throughout "god?," the most accessible track with its catchy daylight hook and countering synth, a sample cries out in German ‘Is there a god for us as well?’. If Black Sun Productions do have a god it’s likely to be an old and licentious one; the black sun slowly continues to rise.

samples:

• Clear Skies and Dark Skies
• Das Gegenteil
• A Well Hung Monk

 

Read More

25 April 2006

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Yay, more prog-punk from Ft. Thunder; this stuff never gets old!Wizardzz features the bassist from Lightning Bolt playing drums and Rich Porteron some retro-futurist keyboard strata, playing into a miniaturized, cartoonversion of L’Bolt doing abbreviated Yes-ian sci-fi vista burners.

Load

Punk ascendants in the stripped-down indulgence of theiraesthetic only, Wizardzz are for anyone who always wanted Lightning Bolt to putmore of the airy shimmer in their melodies and maybe get a little disco in thebackground.  Brian Gibson is surprisinglyas chop-ful a drummer as Brian Chippendale of the Bolt, giving every one ofthese songs the propulsive, stomping edge they need to stay fun and keep out ofretro-wank regions.  This record shouldbe essential for anyone who loves Lightning Bolt drumming because Gibson’sstyle is so similar to that of Chippendale while also opening up a bit, pushinginto lighter, more infinity-tinged acid patter under the washing electric coolof the keyboards. 

Porter nearly outshines the drumming, dropping gliding,shimmering melodies in addictive, reductive homage to synth heroes likeTangerine Dream, while at once charging ahead into spacey dance beats that aresometimes neck-and-neck with Gibson’s pulse-playing.  Unlike some Lightning Bolt, everything soundsthoroughly composed, never pursuing freak-outs that might boil over and ruinthe cartooned mood.  True, some of thisstuff sounds very video-gamey and ‘twee’ in that sense, but once you’re insideit’s hard not to deny that kind of adrenaline fully its work.  As a cornerstone, Wizardzz end the album witha particularly energetic live song recording, proving that just the two can doit all in real, kept time—pretty damn ecstatic and fun.  Also, if you’ve ingested this one and wantmore Wizardzz, know that a short live video recording comes included with theDVD release of Gibson’s animated feature Barkley’sBarnyard Critters: Mystery Tail(Load), which may or may not include scoringby the band.

samples:

• Glimpse of the Hidden City
• Jellipper Lilly Field
• Mimi Vivian Sunrise Live  

Read More

25 April 2006

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Looking back on her fascinating but uneven back catalog, it struck methat the pixie-ish, world-weary chanteuse known as Little Annie "Anxiety" Bandez has pretty much always been at themercy of her producers. Throughout her career, the one constant hasbeen Annie's voice—that smoky, Marianne Faithful drawl andsardonic, campy delivery—but the sound settings in which her vocalshave been placed have been wildly variable, depending upon the producer.


Durtro Jnana

Penny Rimbaud's approach was to weave a ragged punk collage of dirtymusique concrete and industrial noise to match Annie's apocalyptic beatpoetry. Adrian Sherwood took the On-U-Sound approach to a new level forMs. Anxiety, placing her brutal and pithy hysterics amidst a baffling,complex network of techno and dub mutations, bursts of noise andunexpected audio collisions. Guest spots on other artists' workproduced varied results, but Annie often still sounded lost inhostile surroundings, with the notable exception of her hilariously disturbingmonologue on Coil's "Things Happen" from Love's Secret Domain.

Starting in the mid-'90s, Annie's new team of collaborators andproducers put the singer on more solid, less experimental footing. Can"Khan" Oral and Kid Congo Powers of Gun Club sexed it up and camped itup for their Legally Jammin' releases. Larry "Electroclash" Tee andJoseph Budenholzer used traditional instruments to cushion Annie'sincreasingly more understated vocals, lending the singer asophisticated, downtown NYC jazz-room feel. This new album, Songs From the Coal Mine Canarytravels down this same path, with sophisticated jazz ensemblearrangements for every track, placing Annie's voice front and center,with all of its wounded imperfections and evocativeness intact.

A sticker proudly proclaims "Produced by Antony," perhaps trying to catch the eyeto Mr. Hegarty's newfound legion of rabid fans for album sales, asLittle Annie herself remains unjustly obscure. To be fair, this isn'tjust a cynical sales tactic, as Antony's presence is felt throughoutthe album, which features his piano playing, backup vocals, andsongwriting skills on several tracks. The tracks that Antonyco-wrote with Annie, especially "Absynthtee-ism" and "If I Were a Man,"have very much the same quiet torch song vibe familiar from Antonyand the Johnsons material, but the spotlight here belongs to Annie.This is simultaneously the album's biggest weakness and its greateststrength. Those who don't connect with Annie's subtly disarming lyricsor her savvy, time-ravaged vocals might find the album a bit slight.It's probably true that songwriting has never been Annie's strength,and though she is bolstered here by very talented collaborators, therearen't really any showstoppers on the album.  Attentive fans willeven notice some repetition, a couple of songs that are reworked frompast releases.

But that's not the whole story, as Songs From the Coal Mine Canaryis much more than just the sum of its parts. There is something aboutthe way in which the introspective love ballad "Diamonds Made ofGlassine" merges with the dark, Angelo Badalementi-style jazz backingthat makes it sound like liquid city moonlight poured into a cocktailglass. The upbeat but devastatingly apocalyptic "End Is Near" explodesinto being and careens towards a thrilling Nine Simone-styleconclusion, with Annie giving an impassioned vocal performance, toughfor a singer who can't help but sound languorous and tossed-off. Thereare moments that hint at the scathing punk screeds of her past, butmostly this is a mature, sophisticated Annie, an impossibly coolcharacter, a lady of the evening haunting an out-of-the-way gay bar inNYC, filling everyone's ears with stories of past exploits and bitterregrets.

samples:

• Freddy and Me
• Absynthtee-ism
• If I Were a Man

Read More

24 April 2006

Administrator

Albums and Singles

Om isn’t looking to approximate thebombast of their father band Sleep.  Although Sleep made at least one epic-length stoner metal anthem, Om triesto jump right for primordial spiritual minimalism, composing albums from 20minute undulant bass and drum dirges, ridden by bassist Al Cisneros’ chant-singingof nonsense adjectives and Tolkienian compounds that are luckily not loudenough in the mix to rise into meaning.

Holy Mountain

Something about the strictness or the purposefulness of the form turnsme off.  Everything is heavily composed,tight as a drum, to the point where, played loud, the instruments churntogether rather than rocking forth, a suitable aesthetic for Om’s purpose, butat odds with the notation and timbre of the sounds played, which are still verycaustic, attacking, very metal, full of laboring, intricate hammer-ons...lotsof notes played, not a lot of space between them. 

I expect that if they are going to play thisway, with this same Sleepiness, then a logical progression exists leadingtowards freak-out, towards frayed edges, squalls and randomized sound, toward adopesmoker’s predictable decent into hands-up surrender to impulse.   Ican’t ignore a degree of excess in the band’s execution; no matter theall-over-ness of the compositions, they teeter into a stubbornness thatdegrades their mood. …And they just plug away. I am no metalhead, but I enjoy my share of that, and certainlyminimalism, as a descriptor and genre-type, but I gained nothing from theseveral times I sat with this.  It’s likelistening to a metal record skip mid-verse; the crescendos are surprisinglysmall and uninvolved, the bass distortion gathering everything into a blanketof sleepy sameness. 

Though I hesitate todescribe something with such grounding in minimalism as predictable, it’s aword that communicates the dysfunction between Om’smethod and what I gather as their purpose. Granted, this purpose might feel served for someone who listens only tometal; however, I’ve never met such a person, or at least one whose taste was indiscriminantenough to let this stand for some kind of holy minimalism.  Also, though I tried to turn it up, I’ve neverseen Om live, a potential mind-changer, as this kind ofmusic is always better when it’s shaking your chest.  That said, maybe live is the only way theycan be appreciated; at barely over 30 minutes and boring, Conference of the Birds offers little argument. 

samples:

• At Giza
• Flight of the Eagle

Read More

24 April 2006

Albums and Singles

SubRosa continues to delve into the hidden history of electronic musicwith the fourth instalment in this series. This is the most accessiblevolume so far with less emphasis on pure noise, the compilers stickingmainly to less abrasive pieces and brooding electronic pieces from thelast seven decades.

Read more …

24 April 2006

Administrator

Albums and Singles

SubRosa continues to delve into the hidden history of electronic musicwith the fourth instalment in this series. This is the most accessiblevolume so far with less emphasis on pure noise, the compilers stickingmainly to less abrasive pieces and brooding electronic pieces from thelast seven decades.

Sub Rosa

The first thing (and probably the most superficial thing) that I noticed about this volume is the lack of the big names that the series has seemed to sell itself on (previous volumes included Cage, Merzbow, Neubauten, Beefheart, Autechre and so on). Volume 4 focuses more on obscure and/or serious artists. Browsing through the tracklisting for the first time, there were few names I recognised (on further investigation, this volume is dedicated to the unknown and unrecognised pioneers). Anyway, time to move on to the music itself.

Most of the tracks across the two discs are rhythmic drones, many ofthem very relaxing, with only a small few "difficult" pieces. Some ofthe music could be seen as boring and predictable as the ideas exploredin it have been reused and improved in the years since these particulartracks were recorded. The majority still sound extremely fresh andsometimes frighteningly contemporary.  The opening track by Halimel-Dabh, an Egyptian composer dabbling in musique concrête beforemusique concrête existed,  has a haunting quality which astoundsme by being over sixty years old. This small piece of electronic magicis followed by the much duller “Pièce Électronique #3” by György Ligeti(of 2001: A Space Odyssey fame). No doubt it sounded otherworldly at the time but it is lacklustre both in the context of this compilation and in the context of his other works. At the end of the compilation is a beautiful piece by Olivier Messaiaen for the Ondes Martenot, similar in sound to a theremin, which pairs off perfectly with el-Dabh's piece. Both are early examples of using electronics to make sounds that sound far more contemporary than they are (Messaiaen's "Oraison" is from 1937).

Reich’s “Pendulum Music” is included here. I like it but Ulrich Krieger’s interpretation didn’t do much for me. However, like a lot of the music here, the random nature of pieces like “Pendulum Music” means that it’s very hard to enjoy every version of a particular piece. The very nature of noise is its randomness. It shouldn’t be either likeable or dislikeable; it should just be what it is. If it’s aesthetically appealing then that’s just a happy accident (I think there’s a distinction between a piece being aesthetically and conceptually appealing).

One band I’m delighted to hear on this compilation is Japan’s criminally obscure Les Rallizes Denudes. Personally I think they fall firmly in the realm of rock as opposed to noise (and definitely not electronic music). Granted they were a noisy band, “Fucked Up and Naked” demonstrates this, but the noise seemed more like a by product than an actual goal. In a similar way “River Blindness” by Andy Hawkins is an example of how noisy rock can be. Feedback and volume have always been standard issue in rock’s arsenal and Hawkins seems to be stockpiling both. These two tracks show how noise isn’t just a pastime for the avant garde composer. Of course they also demonstrate how you can over intellectualise rock and I feel that the compilers have slightly shot themselves in the foot.

The concept of the cut up in music is well worn at this stage. In this day of sampling and easy editing, it’s hard to think of it as an art form as opposed to a tool. Listening to some of the tracks on this album brings home how revolutionary cut ups once were. “Broken Music Composition” by Knizak shows how physical the act of cutting up was; Knizak would break up records and reassemble them in new combinations to make random compositions. It sounds like someone trying to tune in stations on an extremely unreliable radio. The Burroughs tape piece is not strictly a cut up but works on a similar principle. “Present Time Exercises” is a collage of radio and television recordings mashed together. It sounds hackneyed now as dozens of “edgy” artists have done the idea to death but it is still a fascinating window into Burroughs’ unique mind.

There is a lot of material contained here and most of it isfascinating or at the very least of some historical importance. Thereis little to no filler: the people at Sub Rosa have done a sterling jobof picking out nuggets.  It is especially impressive consideringthe Anthology project now spans eight CDs. I am impressed to say the least by their continuing high standards.

samples:

• Halim el-Dabh, "Wire Recorder Piece"
• Les Rallizes Denudes, "Fucked Up and Naked"
• Olivier Messaiaen, "Oraison"

Read More