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This music wasessentially the foundation of American minimalism (and influential uponthe subsequently influential Velvet Underground) and has until now gonelargely unheard and unreleased due to credit/ownership conflicts.Recorded live at Young and Zazeela's NYC loft on April 25th, 1965, "Dayof Niagra" is a single 31 minute piece that is unfortunately presentedhere in poor sound quality due to it being derived from amulti-generation tape. This is one reason Young was opposed to it'srelease by Table of the Elements. Cale and Conrad dominate with thecontinuos dueling drones of their respective viola and violin, so muchso that Maclise's hand percussion and Young and Zazeela's vocals areinaudible or inconsequential. The sound is tinny, dissonant and gratingwith a few recorder drop outs and it all comes to a mysteriously butmercifully abrupt end. The result, at least on this disc, is neitherdreamy or mesmerizing or even very interesting. The insert offers onlya very brief group bio and a few quotes from Cale and Conrad, which isvery disappointing considering all that could and should be said.Despite the intriguing and pioneering concepts being explored and thewelcome attempt to document a bit of musical history, one has to wonderif releasing inferior quality packages such as this one does anyone anygood. Hopefully Young will present better quality recordings for futurerelease so myself and others may make a more informed judgment on thismusic ...samples:
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- Mark Weddle
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The 60+ year oldCzukay has been busy as of late with a 2 disc live collaboration withDr. Walker of Air Liquide and 2 solo studio albums, all for the U.S.based Tone Casualties label. "La Luna" (The Moon, subtitled 'anelectronic night ceremony') is a single 47 minute piece recorded livein the studio in 1996. Czukay uses his extensive cut-up skills to laydown a murky, Ovel-esque loop foundation to which he adds a metronomelike beat and sporadic fills, sonic textures, voices and the like. 18minutes later most everything drops out then it slowly rebuilds withglass bottle like percussion and waves of ambient sound and we're backon track by the 23rd minute. By the 30th minute it all drops off againand the vocals / spoken words of U-She debut with lines such as "laluna ... goddess of the moon". The 38th to 42nd minutes are the mostactive with percussion and noise stuff and the final few minutes bringit all to a close in a beat absent cloud. That's a long 47 minutes. I'mthoroughly unimpressed and utterly disappointed, especially consideringCzukay's background. Most of the sounds are generic and dull and whilethe piece as a whole does change over time, it fails to progress ordevelop much and remains lifeless. The lunar themes just seem sillyhere unlike, say, those of recent Coil records. "La Luna" simplydoesn't have the magic. And Tone Casualties - please, I'm begging you -hire someone with a sense of design to handle the artwork for futureinserts.samples:
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"It sounds like a filmscore," I claim, but it's really more than just a film score. It soundslike the bits of the film score which never make it onto the record.(Those bits and pieces of sound effects sans dialogue, coupled withunderlying noises and aural effects.) These noises sometimes are thebest parts of the film's score but for some reason only the played-outorchestral repetitive themes ever make it onto a "score" disc (if one'sever made in the first place). All too often there's scabs of hits fromhip alterna-major label starlets littering a movie CD, with a coupleinstrumental tracks tossed in for good karma. On Purifying Fire,Lustmord has collected recordings from 1995-1999 and pieced themtogether much like a film score of his own. Add some dialogue andInstant Hollywood! The disc is pleasant, sounds are great but in myopinion the themes are rather weak. Sounds like a true Hollyweirdprofessional!samples:
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The CD was originally released in 1993and has just now been reissued by Streamline Germany. Heemann restrainsand refines Akita's normally brutal noise and adds his own collage ofsounds: drones, washes, electronics and samples such as metals andchirping birds. Heemann truly paints with sound and here the Merzbowmaterial is just another shade of audio color for his abstract andimpressionist palette. He then shapes it all into five pieces, eachwith a particular character all it's own, ranging from 1 and 1/2 to 18and 1/2 minutes for just over 41 minutes total. The end result is thesame as everything else I've heard that involves Heemann: utterlybeautiful. Hypnotic passages of waterfall wash, layered electronicdrone, metallic churnings, gurgling static and deep ambiance perfectlyflow into one another. "Sleeper Awakes.." is superb and a very welcomereminder for me to get everything with Heemann's name in the creditsfrom this day forward ...samples:
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"Multila" is 1 of 2 full length cds so far this year, the other,"Entain", on Mille Plateaux (see The Brain volume 3, issue 18) and thisone on Chain Reaction. The sounds within Multila's 7 tracks (73 minutestotal) are similar to Entain's but here most feature a more definedrhythm. Delay's compositions aren't quite techno, dub, glitch, ambientor anything else for that matter. He has a very distinct sound all hisown. And describing this simply as 'techno' would be as misleading asdescribing Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew" simply as 'jazz'. Delay lets histracks flow and grow with a mutating sea of grainy audio fragmentsfreely rubbing up against one another and all anchored by the bass andbeat. He carefully controls the random nature of the heavily effectedsounds to shape them into gorgeous, deeply moody songs that are equallyat home on the dancefloor or in the bedroom. And it's the lengthiesttracks such as the 22+ minute "Huone" where he fully displays hisability to develop a piece and maintain your interest in it. Part ofthe text on the front of the digipack says "Multila is a soundtrack forvision". I'd say it's more a soundtrack for all of the senses -conscious and unconscious. It's a masterpiece. Next up is LUOMO"Vocalcity" on Force Inc. due out September 19th ...samples:
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Each track stretches over 35 minutes and are fine examplesof improvisational electronic noisemakers at play with each other. Thewonderful menu of sound exhibited here includes spacious depths,orchestral manipulations, spoken samples, clangs and clicks,percussion, guitar drones, delayed chimes with low rumbles andelectronic squeals. Each sound grows and builds, without eclipsing theothers, and has an identity each that is all their own. With 35+ minutetracks, it's difficult to capture the feeling of each piece as a wholein mere samples. For fans of depth-charged improvisationalists, this CDis an excellent document to own.samples:
- Illusion of Safety + Life Garden - track 1 part 1
- Illusion of Safety + Life Garden - track 1 part 2
- Illusion of Safety + Voice of Eye - track 2 part 1
- Illusion of Safety + Voice of Eye - track 2 part 2
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All the while, Eleventh Dream Day have albumsscattered through the years and haven't given up with their brand ofstraight-on rock nor have they changed for whatever the latest flavormay be. The current lineup features Rick Rizzo, Janet Beveridge Beanand Tortoise/Isotope bassist Doug McCombs. The latest CD was producedby John McEntire, and while he has given the songs more depth than mostrock bands can come up with on their own, he hasn't left any muddyfootprints. There's nothing hiding Rizzo's or Bean's direct lyrics,fuzzy guitars and driving tunes. For those Sonic Youth rock fans and YoLa Tengo listeners out there, lend an ear to this record.samples:
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It makes sense reading this after the first listen through, asit was difficult to pick out which track was which artist, or evenwhere the track ends and the new one begins. The package is wire boundand has stiff die-cut pieces of cardboard, black pages with amberprinting. The artists featured include Scorn, Tactile, Aube, NigelAyers, and many others. The music is dark and rich, full of dubinfluenced rhythms and noise influenced frequencies. The disc can serveboth as backround music or for deep listening purposes, and shoulddefinitely be played in the dark.samples:
- Nos - Difetto
- Obsequie - Flipbeat
- Scorn (featuring David Knight) - Stinger
- Tactile - Growth and Form
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Loads of screaming vegetables saying, "help, let me out ofhere, it's dark, I can't see!!!" This collection features songsbasically of that nature, muted sampled voices taking center stage withthe musical backing from some of the more buzzworthy electronica twerpsaround. Featured performers include Kit Clayton, Ectomorph, andPhonecia. The collection starts off rather weak, full of predictablemusic and obnoxious vocals taking center stage. About half-way through,things pick up and make the disc worth at least half its price. Themost entertaining bits include a tune by Chicks On Speed Vs. Potuznik& Bauer (of Mego fame) and a nearly 10 minute submission from BlackFaction.samples:
- Patrick Pulsinger - Strong Desire
- Black Faction - Modanese
- Chicks on Speed vs. Potuznik & Bauer - Lisi, This is House Music
- Kit Clayton - Casting Nets
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Songs of the Geographically Challenged has finallybeen issued on CD, collecting all but one track that was issued on the12" single series which started way back in 1997. Those limited 12"singles all sold out very quickly and featured a number of excellenttracks by some of the best indie type post-rocking artists around.Artists included Continental OP (Will Oldham and David Pajo of M),Retsin, Fuck, The For Carnation, Ruby Falls, Songs: Ohia, Windsor forthe Derby, and the Sonora Pine. So, if you don't mind missing the onlycontribution Jeremy did on his own, get this disc, otherwise good luckfinding any of the old 12" singles!samples:
- Continental OP
- The For Carnation - The Joys of Fever
- Ruby Falls - Turtles
- Windsor for the Derby - Sleeping in My Car
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