Being thankful for an earful.
Brand new music by Marie Davidson, Niecy Blues (feat. Joy Guidry), CEL, Marisa Anderson and Luke Schneider, Stina Stjern, Carmen Villain, Murcof, A Lily, and Far Golden Pavilions, with music from the vaults by Tomaga, Ozzobia, Jan Jelinek.
Sushi photo by Lindsay.
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This compiles eight rather austere avant-garde guitar works from artists spanning the world (yet featuring a disproportionate number of Texans). Thankfully, one of those Texans is Jandek, who conspicuously counterbalances the somewhat academic sensibility of the album. Despite this aesthetic of high-art sterility, the album has a impressively high success rate.
Quiet Design
While the music represented on Spectra is often excellent, I am somewhat perplexed by the album’s focus and ambition. First of all, all of the artists included are quite similar in sound: only a very specific strain of 21st century guitar music is represented. Namely, guitarists who apply for art grants and describe themselves as composers (with some exceptions, obviously). Secondly, it seems bizarre and misguided to attempt a survey of contemporary experimental guitar without Fennesz, Peter Rehberg, Jim O’Rourke, Stephen O'Malley, Sonic Youth, etc. I demand a title change, Quiet Design. Perhaps Electro-acoustic Minimalism in the 21st Century?
That said, there are several rather exceptional tracks here (despite the absence of the aforementioned luminaries). “Six” (by Sebastian Roux and Kim Myrh) is a slow-building piece erected upon a foundation of wavering drone and plucked harmonics. Gradually, electronically manipulated scrapes, whines, and backwards noises are added until it coheres into a rusty lurching rhythm.
“Nylah” by Texan "surrealist studio sculptor" Mike Vernusky is an excellent drone piece that manages to simultaneously rumble and shimmer. The swelling washes of feedback are nicely complemented by dripping water, creaking, and a metallic industrial hum. This is quite expertly composed and produced stuff. Vernusky has an excellent feel for dynamics and texture. Austin’s Cory Allen also turns in a striking drone piece. “Fermion” begins with an unadorned low droning tone that slowly becomes enveloped in a buzzing and pulsing cloud of textured digitally processed sound and disintegrating washes of static.
Most of the other pieces on the album are chromatic, minimalist acoustic pieces (although Turkey’s Erdem Helvacioglu bucks the trend by occasionally adhering to conventional scales and melody). The notable exception is Keith Rowe’s (AMM) live rendition of Cornelius Cardew’s "Treatise", which sounds much closer to an ambient Merzbow than anything guitar-based. Eventually it winnows down to simple and recognizable feedback, but there is quite a bit of white noise, grinding, industrial roar and clatter, and possible powerdrill usage before that point.
The album closes with a Jandek track (“The World Stops”) that characteristically rides the line between genius and unintentional comedy. It is intriguing that the album's curators chose this particular track, as Jandek’s playing seems to consist solely of arrhythmic open string strumming on a standard-tuned guitar. However, it features some truly demonic atonal harmonica wailing that would make a nice centerpiece for a future Quiet Design survey of harmonica in the 21st century.
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Dukkha traffic in “true Sheffield black psychedelia” and appear to consist solely of an unnamed and enigmatic British guitarist. However, I am deeply skeptical of both his purity (the four tracks are stylistically varied) and his degree of evilness (Buddhist author Alan Watts is listed as his sole influence). He probably actually is from Sheffield though. Regardless, this is some intriguing (if somewhat flawed) stuff.
Peasant Magik
Peasant Magik have provided a cryptic, evocative, and hyperbole-filled description for us: “Endless repetition. Keys spin over down-tuned sludge, FX-ridden guitars suffocate themselves, and utterly massive swells consume all laid before.” Notably, the only one of those descriptors that actually applies to all four songs is “endless repetition.”
The album opens with “Creswellian” (a British Paleolithic culture), built upon a vaguely medieval-sounding down-tuned doom riff that is very much in the Stephen O'Malley/Sunn o))) vein. As it repeats (endlessly, of course), a great deal of haunting, trebly, chattering weirdness is piled on. Unfortunately, Dukkha’s ambition and imagination are scuttled by his very limited production/recording budget. The main riff should be crushing, but ends up sounding like a muted bass hum and the “black psychedelia” occurring around it is buried too low in the mix to be fully appreciated.
The second track, “Hordron,” works much better. It is based upon a simple, melancholy and undistorted minor chord progression (with some deliberate “wrong” notes thrown in). The production still sucks, but the lack of distortion prevents it from turning completely into frustrating sonic mud. While it may seem like an oxymoron, this song features some beautiful, tasteful, and inventive wah-wah guitar work. (Hordron Edge is a stone circle near Sheffield, if you are curious. I am amused that all I can figure out about Dukkha is that he is a megalith enthusiast and probably a Buddhist.)
“The Finest Clothes Turn To Rags” kicks off side two with some discordant, high-end tremolo picking that sounds like someone just broke open a hive of evil, distorted hornets. This is the only moment of the album where I perceive a palpable Black Metal influence. Notably, it is this point on the album that “guitars suffocate themselves” and “consume all laid before” and the song implodes. Lamentably, the awesomeness of this moment is ruined yet again by sludginess- I am sure that this sounded like a goddamn supernova when it was actually being played. Most unfortunate.
“Chromes Gone Home” closes the album with some dark and eerie droning featuring the sounds of children playing buried in the mix. It is much more spacious than the rest of the album and features some nice impressionistic feedback near the end. There appears to be some underlying concept to this song that involves..um... trucks, which seems like an odd aberration next to the album's other arcane and ancient themes. Dukkha is certainly an inscrutable fellow.
Interestingly, “dukkha” is a Buddhist term that roughly translates as “disquiet” or “suffering.” The goal of Buddhism is (rather notably) the cessation of Dukkha. I hope this guy does not achieve enlightenment before recording an album that better does justice to his vision or before forging a sound that is more uniquely his own. (This cassette-only release is a limited edition of 100 copies)
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Using E-bows (probably) and sculpted feedback, this guitar-based drone duo from Grenoble, France have achieved a masterful balance between womblike bliss and disquietude. This is an understated and obscure gem.
Peasant Magik
This cassette-only release consists of two very similar sounding ambient-drone pieces (perhaps two halves of the same piece) built upon what the label describes as "expertly crafted, drifting guitar feedback. Ranging from Sunroof!-esque shimmering skree to glacial amplifier buzz." It certainly is glacial, no argument there. As for the skree, I am not entirely sure. "Skree" is something of a pseudo-word that is not clearly defined, but I believe in this case it means an insectoid hum. That is equally apt.
Both pieces are based upon a sustained pure, wavering tone and a low drone, and slowly swell and ebb as additional tracks of feedback and hum wash in and out. It never becomes harsh, but abrupt noises intermittently stumble into the mix (backwards chords, radio noises, some vaguely sinister rumblings deep in the mix that may be mangled speech) to keep things from being totally predictable or one-dimensional. Listening to this album is not unlike (I suspect), lying in a field surrounded by crickets whose comforting whine is weirdly shifting in subtly psychedelic ways. Every now and then a darker or harsher tone breaks through the cricket hum, threatening to shatter the nocturnal idyll and remind you that there is an ugly world waiting just outside, but it is always overpowered by your helpful acid-cricket pals almost immediately.
Guitarists Pierre Faure and Thierry Monnier display a striking and egoless command of nuance, control, and patience throughout. The World Upside-Down never escalates, incorporates other instruments, or really changes mood. It just floats. Endlessly and hypnotically. At least, it does if your cassette player automatically flips tapes. Otherwise it only floats hypnotically for two twenty-minute stretches.
This is the first Peasant Magik release that I was exposed to. I have historically not followed the cassette-only noise genre too closely (even after being blindsided by the amazing Natural Snow Buildings). However, I have since heard some other releases from this label and they are also pretty unique and intriguing. This is still my favorite though. It is a shame only 99 other people will be able to share my experience (as it's limited edition to 100).
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Anyone who has ever run a label, booked a venue, or reviewed a record knows what its like to be overwhelmed the volume of music vying for your attention. Between day-jobs, time-out, and catching some shut-eye, there isn’t enough time in the day to give every artist out there exposure, regardless of whether they deserve it or not. Faced with that dilemma, Cardboard Records decided to err on the side of generosity in the process of compiling this double CD.
 
Billing scene-makers alongside basement-dwellers, this compilation aims at representing the current music underground as whole. A quixotic goal perhaps, but the sheer volume of artists (57 in total) gives a good overview current experimental rock. Though most of the songs on the compilation are previously unreleased, many of the more familiar bands opted to throw an album track. For instance, the Fuck Buttons contribution is just a truncated version of "Ribs Out" which appeared on Street Horrrsing.Yet for those small disappointments, completists looking for and exclusive track by their favorite band won't all be disappointed. My highlights include Gowns' mournful ode "What if not You" or Shooting Spires' cover of the Bad Brains tune "Sailn' On."
Thrown in with these prominent names are dozens of groups seemingly pulled at random from anonymity. Nice as the gesture is, the unknown bands contribute most of the weak tracks on the compilation. Whether Fat Day or Mr. Baby deserve obscurity is a decision that Cardboard has handed over to the listener. I'm flattered that they assume so much patience on my part, but some editorial restraint would have made the compilation flow a lot better. Listening through the whole thing can be a frustrating exercise, depending on your ability to take wild jumps in genre and recording fidelity. Over just a few tracks, the CDs will cycle between atonal drone music to political punk to folk music to noise rock.The songs are arranged alphabetically by artist name, preventing any sort of thematic cohesion. While listening to the completion, I often skipped forward in search of something better.
Though the intention behind Love and Circuits is good natured, the quality of the tracks varies too wildly. Camaraderie is great behind the scenes, but hard choices need to be made once you think about an audience. As much as I like Cardboard Records, I think some thinning would have made this compilation a lot better.
A series of improvisations based on the sea, Low Cloud Means Death sees guitarist Tetuzi Akiyama, percussionist Kevin Corcoran and accordionist, pianist and general musical mastermind Christian Kiefer engaging in some sparse instrumental dialogue that falls somewhere between Morton Feldman's glacial compositions and the patient interactions of Henry Threadgill's Air while maintaining a subtle, near folksy chordal palette.
If the ocean is indeed the inspiration here then this is an awfully loose interpretation aside from the track names. Where the ocean is an intimidating force whose scope is vast and untamable, this work is actually quite intimate and delicate in feel. Each sound is given ample space to make itself known before the ever-present silence (maybe this is the oceanic representative...) makes clear its presence once more, infusing the work with an atypical warmth and physicality rather than its standard role as an evoker of tension.
The lengthy "Drowned Arch" opens the disc by setting up its loose and relaxed sonic environment. Kiefer's piano trickles its notes about with clean flourishes that ring in near classicist drama while Akiyama's guitar floats beneath with angular, folkloric storylines somehow simultaneously reminiscent of Loren Connors and Derek Bailey. Given that the approach of the group is as spare as it is, Corcoran's percussion is often limited to brief punctuations and soft textural statements, a task which he approaches delicately and with a fine ear. Despite its length, the work has the same sense of drifting mobility as the rest of the album.
There is a near lazy approach here, never rushed or alarmed but always steeped in strange dissonances and eerie sonic spaces. "The Vision Ship" sees Kiefer pumping his accordion to create a voluminous, undulating drone for Akiyama and Corcoran to dabble atop on. The song's ship makes itself apparent in the form of slow wooden creaks that are perhaps a bit obvious; conversely, these are wholly submersive sounds immediately and easily associated with that very specific sonic moment, and the trio keeps the sound from becoming trite with their continuous interactions atop it. Kiefer's accordion improvisations around the creaks are as odd and intriguing as anything on here, often sounding nearly electronic.
While minimal improvisation has surely been done before—often with mixed results—this trio seems to have found their own angle on it. It is refreshing in these experimentally fertile times to hear a group doing something of this ilk without electronic assistance, a quality which allows for maximum control and instantaneous response times. The result is an intimate and, apparently, oceanic affair. Let's just take their word on that if it creates music this good.
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Culled from recordings discovered by member Klaus Freudigmann, this disc represents a crucial bit of evidence in the lesser known manifestation of Kluster. Recorded live in 1971, Vulcano sees the trio of Conrad Schnitzler, Wolfgang Seidel, and the aforementioned Freudigmann engaging in far more experimental electronic excursions than their counterparts, Roedelius and Mobius, would ever delve into.
The concert is, as near as I can tell, a continuous improvised work, though the label makes the wise choice of splitting the work into 23 short tracks, each of which bleeds into the other effortlessly while still managing to present individual ideas within them. This is clearly a carefully appreciated sonic artifact.
That said, the work's continuous nature allows for the band to take their sound into pockets that fit well in this format; one minute the piece is filled with metallic synth attacks, and the next it submerges into echoing vocals and the hum of telephone wires. While this schizophrenic approach is often disastrous however, Kluster have the curious creativity and improvisational prowess to prevent the work from being crushed under its own weight. With ample space left between most of the proceedings, every sound becomes its own piece as it slides out across the room. The textural richness of each sound is given its due, allowing the whole to remain absorbing and interesting throughout. One can picture the trio hunkered down in wonder as they manipulate their homemade gadgets, only to be met with a sonic environment that appears as exciting to them as to any audience that may have been present.
It is this sense of genuine experimentation that pervades these recordings and makes them so exciting. Light percussive taps appear only to be supplemented by flute meanderings and mumbling synthesizer lines. Swampy decrescendos slip downward into static fuzz. Gentle whispers ride among circuit-bent punctuations before looped vocals decay across barren industrial soundscapes. This sort of brave, even reckless interplay fills the entire performance with strange and intriguing delights that remain unique, even by today's standards.
Perhaps Kluster's strength lies in their distinctly German stance. Far enough removed from the Haight-Ashbury scene, Kluster was able to partake in a musical realm that was open to those working in the relatively flowerless environments that they did without losing any of the social implications of a fully improvised electronic music. Pulling as much from Don Cherry as Karlheinz Stockhausen, the work represents a critical piece of German music at a time when the country was filled with it. That Schnitzler's Kluster remains as overlooked as it does can hopefully be remedied by loving and deserved reissues such as this.
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Artist: Sistrenatus
Title: Sensitive Disturbance
Catalogue No: CSR108CD
Barcode: 8 2356647112 7
Format: CD in jewelcase
Genre: Black Ambient / Industrial
Shipping: Now
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Blurring the lines between Dark Ambient, Industrial and Noise, Sistrenatus storms forth, shifting between oppressive aggression and unsettling atmospheres. "Sensitive Disturbance" is the third offering from this now legendary Canadian act, whose debut "Division One" was issued on Cold Spring in 2007. An aural journey through the urban decay of abandoned factories, scorched landscapes and underground passageways. "Sensitive Disturbance" is an abrasive rendition of the industrial revolution in its darkest phases.
Tracks: 1. Disrepair | 2. Frequency Contamination | 3. Rusted Earth | 4. Echoes From The Past | 5. Slow-Wave | 6. Lost Transmission | 7. Forgotten
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Artist: Bleeding Heart Narrative
Title: All That Was Missing We Never Had In The World
Catalogue No: CSR106CD
Barcode: 8 23566471325
Format: CD in digipak
Genre: Orchestral / Avant-Garde
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Reissue of the stunning debut BHN album from spring 2008 (Ltd x 200). Working with a constantly evolving autumnal orchestra of layered cellos, repeating piano melodies, hushed vocals and mutant textures of sound and noise, Bleeding Heart Narrative has constructed a unique, haunting and compelling album. BHN is the work of sole composer, artist and producer Oliver Barrett, working in the live spectrum as a septet. Presented in a digipak with the new and exclusive bonus track 'Blueskywards'. We can't recommend this highly enough!�
Tracks: 1. BHN | 2. As If Yearning Was All And More Than Enough | 3. Black Glass | 4. Braids And A Necklace | 5. Blueskywards |
6. A Nest | 7. This Is The World Before This Is | 8. Discovering Abandoned Houses | 9. Nothing Is Out In The Yard
10. Though Your Feet Have Left Footprints | 11. Finding The Door | 12. Lillian Gish
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Artist: TenHornedBeast
Title: My Horns Are A Flame To Draw Down The Truth
Catalogue No: CSR106CD
Barcode: 8 2356647092 2
Format: CD in digipak
Genre: Guitar Drone / Doom / Dark Ambient
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The TenHornedBeast rises again. Five new compositions from black ambient / doom overlord Christopher Walton - three remixes / expansions / contractions of songs from the debut album "The Sacred Truth" and two totally new pieces that are in a similar style to this dark masterpiece. Walton has stripped some of the songs to their bare bones and allowed them space to breathe again. This album is all-new but continues the atmosphere of the debut and can be considered a companion piece. Presented in a matt-laminate, spot-varnished digipak.�
Tracks: 1. Ruins Son | 2. Black Wals Rusing / Black Stars Falling | 3. My Horns Are A Flame To Draw Down The Truth |
4. The Sword Was Our Pope | 5. Fenris Wolf
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Artist: Anni Hogan
Title: Kickabye
Catalogue No: CSR99CD
Barcode: 8 2356648862 0
Format: 2CD in jewelcase
Genre: Murder Ballads, Funeral Pop, Experimental
Shipping: 30th March 2009
Buy CD
Tracks:
Disc 1: 1. Vixo | 2. Burning Boats | 3. Just Like Drowning Kittens | 4. Marat | 5. Kickabye | 6. Delirious Eyes | 7. Hope And Fears | 8. Wasting Time | 9. Senseless | 10. Fleurs Dolls | 11. The Frost Comes Tomorrow | 12. The Hustler | 13. Blood Tide |
14. Margaret | 15. Burning Boats (Foetus Drum Version)
Disc 2: 1. A Place To Belong | 2. Everything We Do | 3. Self | 4. Story So Far | 5. Each Day | 6. Blue Nabou
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Born out of improvisations and a drawn-out postproduction, this album could have been an overworked mess. Instead, this is one of those occasions where slow and steady wins the race. After four years working together, these three collaborators have created a serene collection of gentle music. Fragile melodies and ghostly atmospheres are balanced by blissful jams, all coming together to make a truly remarkable release.
The three pieces on the second disc (one of those neat 3” CDs embedded in a 5” CD) were assembled from raw group improvisations, each member of the group making one piece each. It does not say in the sleeve notes who has assembled which track but judging from the amount of glitchy computer noise, “Tau” is the work of Fennesz. It could very easily fit on to one of his solo albums but is not the most captivating work of his I have heard (provided it is him!). “Me Son,” on the other hand, has a very different feel to it. The electronic treatments are kept to being background texture and the instruments are left clean. It is not a million miles away from Autistic Daughters (Dafeldecker and Brandlmayr’s band with Dean Roberts). The end result is a nice, clear rock improvisation that is packs large amounts of joy into its five minutes.
These three pieces were then taken, re-edited, augmented, changed and processed over the course of four years to give the album’s title track, a long and spacious piece that little resembles the raw materials, much like the ingredients of a cake are very different from the cake itself. New additions, such as Brandlmayr’s piano and more guitars courtesy of Fennesz, add further flavour to the piece. Large spaces of silence punctuate the delicate and largely sedate musical passages; the mood of the piece is a million light years away from its volatile title.
Considering the length of time it has taken to create these two discs, it is unlikely that there will be another release soon but the depth and accessibility of these four pieces will entertain me for a long time. Till the Old World’s Blown Up and a New One is Created is a wonderful aside from three excellent musicians, showing themselves in a different light to usual and creating beautiful music in the process.
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