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Ampersand Etcetera – 2002_06
Ambient & microwave & electronica & experimental lowercase & postclassical & minimal & techno & etcetera
Finally! Please excuse the multiple self indulgences that make up this delayed issue.
It is focussed on three releases only – something of a special edition to recognise releases from some friends. All three have been supportive of Ampersand and myself in various important ways, for which I thank them. There are of course others who have and do (Dense, Accretions, Larry Kucharz (one of the first to send stuff out-of-the-blue), and many musicians who entrust their disks to me), but these sets came out at around the same time, prompting this issue.
Issue 2002_09 is underway with a wide selection of audio treats described, and 2002_10 Public Eyesore is also bubbling away.
jeremy@pretentious.net
&
http://ampersandetc.virtualave.net/ampersand.html
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The Witch Haven
Shinjuku Thief
Dorobo 017
http://werple.net.au/~dorobo
Well, finally Verhagen re-dons his gothic garb and presents the final part of the Witch trilogy, long awaited. Across Vivisect, Ambience and Ampersand I have had the pleasure and privilege of pre/viewing Dorobo releases, getting Darrin's musical advice, and collecting oddities
In preparation for this, I have revisited the first releases, through which we can see some developments, such as the more electroacoustic techniques in the second, while maintaining the lush orchestral textures. In light of that development and the range of musics that the various Verhagen personas create (Shinjuku Filth, p3, Prof Richmann and under-his-own-name), where does the new one fit? (Remembering that you can hear touches of all his manners in any one release).
With the Thief, Darrin seems to strike the most melodic directions: using violin, cello, viola, trumpet, sax, bowed bass and clarinet to create the textures, atmospherics and melodies that are so important for these albums. And here I get an impression that there is a shift towards melody, and yet also a greater incorporation of the voice. Some less significant shifts are to albums decreasing in length (by just under 5 minutes per episode) while longer creation times (12, 13 and 66[!] months) and broadening descriptions (all Gothic) but industrial to orchestral, to orchestral soundscape with this one.
Expectations are immediately met with the dense 'Waking at dusk' where an industrial scraping rhythm subdues some simple piano, and then a disconcerting violin while deep tones, strings and horns provide depth. 'Edge of the wilderness/Black cockerel white stick' is the longest piece, but with two obvious parts (so we could say the average track length is around 3 minutes). It opens with a violin playing, under which there are mumbling voices, a dog barks, and the wilderness is envisaged with wind, a string melody slow and melancholy, as dogs and people become more frequent and the orchestration builds. The volume increases and we hear a distant waltz (a totendanz), a strange busker, big drum and piano. This album is clearly a play for the ears and mind. An interesting touch is that many track end on a softer, simpler note that allows for subtle shifts.
A vision of hades in 'The witches' ladder' all mutterings, backwards noises scraping banging and building chimes immediately balanced by an almost pastoral in 'The gestation of elben' with birds, sweet wind melody and a narration (my German is non-existent, so liner notes and passages like these are mood-setting). The electroacoustic side shows in 'A red room/A slow dance' where more muttering is under long metal tones and a distorted choral, joined by increasing chord punctuations with violin and horn solo, which shifts into a melody with pizzicato strings deep tones and a fanfare with more choral layers, followed by the lush 'Five dark corners' with strings, woodwind and distant voices over a rumble and trombone solo which catches into a strident 3 note loop.
An aggressive percussion attack finally arrives in the rolling 'Father of lies' supporting the pulsing orchestration, fading and rising again into an atmospheric 'The spores of death' which sways, with a crackle of fire, distant howls and simple string and piano. A hammering clatter and rising choir lead to a sticking end. Voices drive 'The white lady', a wail that speeds and slows, layered hissing and muttering, abstract and disturbing, screams into 'Procession of souls' where a deep drone and a layered violin lead the slow pulsing movement with atonal harmonies, some singing and noises off. More active percussion at the 'Sign of the black eagle' where deep strings and scraping noises slide into more massive percussion and lovely clarinet.
'An event near the commons at dusk' must have been ominous in this dark track, guitar, doom-tones and tinkles is interrupted by growls and folksy dance tunes, then the growling grows and takes over as strange tone winds whirl and swirl. Which blow into 'A tavern of midwives', a demented dance for pops, keyboards and tones. Did the midwives have anything to do with 'The night child'? Backward growling, then baby noises and nursery melody which is subsumed by the noises – bang growl crash – the melody continues, wins briefly before the darkness reclaims the fear of 'Es ist ein ros entsprugen' where a rapping, tenuously held strings and eruptions of faint keys suggests the rumble of something trying to escape: there is breathing, noises, doors and distant singing. The finale 'Blood and fat' doesn't give us any closure – a lovely violin solo over harmonics is underscored by soft noises: is the witch haven a respite, or is the night child a danger?
Beautifully melodic, with continuity of tune across the set, this chapter seems less dramatic – fewer of those Shinjuku volume/velocity changes – but still full of drama. The whole album is an atmospheric and subtle experience, with enough undercurrents to cause a pleasant discomfit. The three albums together form a deep and satisfying experience, a cycle which compels you to restart playing it as 'Blood and fat' fades.
There was a limited edition release available, which comes in a lovely weathered wooden box that takes all three disks on a red-velvet base complete with red ribbon to ease disk retrieval. As it sits here on my desk as I write this, lid up, red ribbon and velvet, I see Edgar Alan Poe. But the general punter need not despair as the cd and case artwork is up to I+T=R's expected high aesthetic standards that reflect the designs of the previous 2 (including the German inner text) without repeating them. And a vinyl version is on the way.
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E.g. Oblique Graph
Completely Oblique
Pretentious (the label) Gauze1cd
http://www.pretentious-label.net
In 1982/83 before he ‘became’ Muslimgauze Bryn Jones released three tapes and a vinyl single as E.g. Oblique Graph: Extended Play, Piano Room and Inhalt on his own Kinematograph Tapes and Triptych on Recloose. Over the years these have become highly sought after - even Jones didn’t have copies of them all. And for Muslimgauze fans they represent an opportunity to see/hear the earliest available recorded creations.
Fast forward almost 20 years - Terry Bennett (aka Pretentious and The Edge) runs Muslimgauze: The Messenger, one of the pre-eminent fan sites - a complete discography (which for someone as prolific as Muslimgauze is quite a feat in itself), reviews, sonography, press releases, cover images, copies of promotional and insert material. (And here I must reveal my ‘conflict of interest’: I am the ‘official’ reviewer for the site, and for some reason got an acknowledgment on the cover). As part of this undertaking Terry has found copies of just about every releases, including the E.g. material. And while Bryn was apparently not particularly interested in his past, and was focussed on the material he was recording, Terry and those who enjoy the music realise that there is satisfaction and understanding to hear early, formative works.
And after what was extensive negotiation, including with the person who gave him a missing Kinematograph Tape, The Edge is releasing the first Pretentious cd, Completely Oblique - a double cd containing all the tracks from those early years (again, in a labour of love, digitising and cleaning up the material). (Or almost all – just prior to the first release date some earlier unknown material turned up – but their state and substance suggested they wouldn't add to the picture, so they do not appear here, which is when the release changed from Complete to Completely Oblique)
Two black cds, genuflections towards vinyl, come in a cover that uses the original artwork and similar collage techniques together with pictures of the original artefacts to great effect, offering a sincere simulacra (oxymoron, fie) that crosses the decades and enhances this complete package.
The first tape, Extended Play, opens with 'Fall into glass' a bleepy reverbed melody with classical (pop and the classics) suggestions. 'Merge' is darker and experimental, as voices are underscored by a developing swirling tone, more voices join and a shuddering unsettled/ing electro of bebeeps bloobs percussive banging and backwards sounds are collaged together, voices return before a fragment of disco end. With a title that nods to the future, 'Murders linked to gaulist clique' is based on tentative banged percussion, echoed, distant voices or song (perhaps a radio) light synths. The foreground drops briefly and then returns, there is space and lightness, while also a searching quality.
Piano Room was the only full length Oblique release, with 7 tracks - six shorter ones made up side one, while the title track filled all 21 minutes of the second side. I reviewed this some time ago, here repeated slightly refreshed. 'Scar' layers ping and a tictoc loops which subtly change over an extended drone with rhythmically a fired gunshot and some deep voices - an almost Muslimgauze sound which broods intensely. There is a stronger beat to 'Affirm/deny' which opens with rapid swirling phasing poppop rhythm loops, background noises and a twotone synth loopmelody. Near to half way through the ground drops out, leaving the puttering, which then fades and drops out: to be replaced by some space-synth sounds centred by a regular beat (is this section Deny?) that shifts into a longer part where various tones are given a dub-echo treatment in a wild and woolly soundspace.
'Choir-screen' treads new ground - either samples of choirs or an effect on the synth create a spooky haunted music from these almostvoice-sounds which sweep and swirl ethereally through the track, joined by a doomleaden beat later: the method will appear in the title track. The short (just over 2 minutes) 'Human rights' follows and features a simple melody phased and echoed and seemingly played with backwards tones, a knocking percussion echoed below (it reminds me of some backward King Crimson mellotron I heard on a mangled tape). The structure of 'Scar' returns with 'After commentary' - layers of electronica - looping simple percussive sounds, a deep drone, recurring backward pulsing tones. The various looplengths play against each other, and tweaks are made here and there.
E.g Oblique shifts into extended gear with 'Off chance' (eight+ minutes), in which you can almost extract a Middle Eastern ambience. A quite rapid popping loop is joined by a sinuous synth line which has some presentiment of the later sound. This runs for about 3 minutes, phasing and changing, before it fades and a new sound replaces it - abstract and angular, noises emerge from a pulsing drone, phase and echo, retreat. A voice then a simple regular strike, a beat and backwards sounds play around it, but the beat remains a focus, a strange oblique sound. Sounds echo, then a dark machine drone builds, accompanied by echoes and noises to fade.
The collaged sequence which was the structure of 'Off chance' is taken further in the title track, which is more like a series of tracks which have been edited together. It opens with a jittering echo waving behind a synth-harpsichord melody, slips to a siren-tone and the echo. This gives way to a wavering-drone over which rapid beaty clicks loop grow shift and fade; reverbed voice fragments phased over an air-vent crackle, with clicks and backward tones have a dubby concrete feel; an announcement signals the return of a beat with swirls over; random noises - highpitched, crackles, spring tapping - and a tone similar to one in 'Off chance'; a whipwhip beat with radio tones and clicks; echoed backward tones; hollow shaking and boings; a more complex climax of a phutphut looped beat and backwards sounds manipulated and joined by the choir from 'Choir-screen' but more consistent and pulsing, leading into an extended sequence of voices at a party; then some final tinny music. Linking the whole together are three main elements – vocal samples which are woven throughout and the use of echoing: in this rewrite I have tried to reduce the number of times I described something as 'echoed' as it is laid on thickly.
There are four tracks on the Recloose EP, also recorded/released in 1992. 'Black cloth behind de gaulle's wax head' is a complex electronica, opening with layers of spiralling down synths and a metronome sonar, dark synth lines join in together with more spirals and swirls, into which a beat delves. In settles into a multilayed complexity, gradually changing, before a swirling whipt conclusion. After some swirls, a simple pulse gradually phasing and reverbed opens 'Triptych', joined by a futz, then twangy flange and deep synth notes – it feels like a gradually accreting tape loop. Warbling noises, banging and distorted slowed voices on the surface, fade back to the pulse, which the disappears to make way for a soft tonewash and more played with vocal samples.
German sample over light synth tones opens the titled-after-Bacon 'Study of red pope (innocent X)' creating a spacious ambient mood to soft music with pulsing tones, undermined by a crackling that drifts over (voices?). It then shifts into a longer period with samples (manipulated as usual) and a mechanically looping percussive sample that dominates most of the remainder of the track. Layers build over it, including some of the early tones and whips, then it all fades to short softness. A final brief excursion 'Castro regime' with sample and synths; high tone loops then a rapid strange (sampled?) music; voice fragments and swizzling buzzes, distorted bangings creating a multilayered noise. A very impressive single that would have intrigued or dismayed people in 82 and still has the power to excite.
And finally, the third Kinematograph tape Inhalt (1983, the same year that Muslimgauze appeared), containing two tracks with names that are even more suggestive of that future. The first side is 'Islamic Koran in camera dome' which is driven by a fast pulse and tushtush, with talking that segues into French singing and into more vocal samples throughout. There are tones squiggles crackles additional beats and ringing that come in bursts, modulated and manipulated and becoming exciting before simplifying to the tonal end. Then 'Rapid white flag on snapshot blur' which has an almost Human League opening then echoed cut&pasted voices into a more pulsing blip and squirls techno, with some electro radio squiggles play over, modulating and cycling. The echoed voices return, before a longish finale with long cycling bleeps and burrs, some computer tones and deep flourishes of music.
This is not a Muslimgauze album and, while it has similarities to the 'Hammer and Sickle' single (which I have heard: but I cannot comment on the early Limited Edition (and other) releases, although that gap in many fans' pleasures may soon be overcome), it would be hard to hear the future sound in much of this - though some of the techniques are there and there are indications of some paths he would take (though it is possible to re-hear some later albums through these sounds).
Rather it is the sound of someone enthusiastically experimenting with sounds and technology. It is impossible to say how I would respond if I had come to this out of the blue - it is fairly crude, but also interesting, surprisingly varied, and very much of its time. You can feel the music which was being made around him - mainly the early industrial of the likes of Cabaret Voltaire and the pre-split Human League, but also early synth rock and minimalism. Spacious rhythms, sparse melodies, looping sounds, sampled voices. On listening to this format – hearing all these pieces together – I am even more impressed than I was on hearing some of it in parts. The sense of adventure and excitement is palpable through its variety and consistency. In the final event, an album interesting and enjoyable of its own terms, though I imagine most who buy it will know Muslimgauze. Fans of the early-Northern sounds should try and get a copy too.
Anyway, a welcome entrance of a new CD-r label – I know there are interesting plans afoot for Pretentious, which will also reflect the broader interests of The Edge as seen in all the rest of the discographies available on the site (which, by coincidence, includes Darrin Verhagen).
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Various Artists
Lost and Found: A Foundry Anthology
The Foundry/Hypnos Fou10
http://www.foundrysite.com
Michael Bentley's The Foundry label issued a fascinating range of material, from Bentley in various disguises and collaborations, in the fading years of the last century (doesn't that sound a long time ago!), most prominently as eM. A recent teaming up with Hypnos has provided a valuable fillip in terms of marketing and distribution that has allowed the label to continue with a bright future and without affecting Bentley's artistic independence. Already there have been 5 co-releases which have demonstrated that the vision is still there (and the sixth, Trillium, will be reviewed in 2002_09), and has in fact broadened as the label roster expands beyond Bentley. This latest release, a double album, is an opportunity to reflect on the labels past and future, underscoring the strength of the label, and will perhaps stimulate latecomers to the venture (mainly through Hypnos) to delve into the back catalogue.
The first disk is the pre-Hypnos Foundry, and while not Lost, it is probably less well known. All the releases have been discussed here over the course of &etc history – Michael was among the first people to send me stuff as Ampersand directly. I see this disk as an Exploration – into the nooks of the Bentley musical persona (all the tracks are either by him or in his collaboration with Nathan Kreisberg as Rhomb). It is Rhomb who open the set, with three tracks from across releases – including a rerecording of 'Above the earth' which leads off, a nostalgic wistful combination of music box, tones and percussion which seems on the edge of becoming – the littoral that Mollusk will explore. As the Rhomb tracks proceed a wider structure to Bentley's music becomes apparent – a mixture of this edge-ness and a play of finer lighter components over a deeper base. 'Occluded forms' has a big base with keys skittering and tones over, snatches of melody passing, 'Empty roads' prefigures Mollusk with call like twinkles over a slow pulse with layers of melody, a bending noise and later an organ. The mood and method continue into eM's three in row: crackling pulse over a low murmur and organic mellowness in 'Chasm', a vinyl runout groove and strange organ is edgy in 'Edison naps' and 'Temple ghost simoon' with long keening scratchy tones, scratchy crackle and skitters, adding a big rumble and tush later: the second is from a non-Foundry release, the 6mini-cd collaboration Archipelago, whose participants pointed at The Foundry's future.
The disk then switches between various artists: The Apiary give us 'Dreams of ragnarok and sysiphus' with stepping portentious synths, horncalls and a clattercrackle that sounds suggestively voice like and eventually does become clear (what are you afraid of), and 'Repeat (part three)' an extended play of a slow deep stately melody of long tones with clatter and whirl over, becoming stringlike and changing feel throughout. EM return with 'Shoals of stars' long fuzzy tones, echoed percussion squiggles and pulsing burr in a melancholy drift, and Rhomb have two more: the deep rumbles, tuned percussion and high tones of the 'Ice fields' and mysterious rhythmic taps and noises juxtaposed with a melody in 'Darkened'. And finally in this half, two from M Bentley – 'Flora' with fast pulses, rapid taps, strummed guitar and voice tones, and a journey through 'The space between the stars' with sonarish bleeps, long tones, metallic edges and whistly animals.
The selection of tracks, and their sequencing, emphasises the continuity across the releases and Bentley's personae and collaboration, in producing a satisfying dreamy drifting ambient that does 'provide a coherent listening experience'. Some tracks and moods are missed to emphasise an ambient mood, but it is a great entrance-way. There is an indication of more 'lost' material in fou07 an Apiary MP3 release, hopefully posted later in the year), but eM 'Telecom' – abstract telephonics (fou08) is lost to us, though it has 'mutated into another project altogether'.
If the first disk is an Exploration, the second is a Celebration – of the combination with Hypnos and the flowering of the Foundry. The numbering – as Fou10 it 'predates' the Hypnos collaboration and is a hinge between the two periods. There are tracks from all the Foundry/Hypnos releases: two instrumental selections Dean Santomieri's Boy Beneath The Sea, emphasising the cool guitar, percussion and synth mellow jazzness of the album; a drifting space ambient track from eM's All The Stars Burning Bright with emerging long burr-edged tones, mysterious spaces; Seofon et al give us 'Lessons in being nothing' where long wavering layered ringing tones and a shimmer provide an opportunity for bells and voices to join an increasing beat; an intriguing track from Jonathon Hughes' Trillium will be reviewed in the next &etc (by date, not number) and whose sensuousness fits here. And Mollusk (now revealed that Malcolm Bly is another M Bentley persona) has a lovely track from Accretions, with washing undercurrents, soft processed echoes floating on the surface, scratchy horny noises: it builds into orchestral and then strangely vocal forms.
Mollusk leads on the non-album material, appropriately as this is his final dive (unfortunately, though the processes and tricks that Bentley has pursued here will inform his later work, and have been prefigured in earlier releases, and I was sure I could hear some Bly in All The Stars). The tracks are collaborations – with Jonathon Hughes on 'Argonautica: four' (which was available on the Mollusk site) with loud upfront calls building over deep tones and is very Mollusk, and with Santomieri in the 'Farewell to the deep' where a slow deep resonant drift is the sea for washes and calls. A grand farewell. An outtake from eM's All The Stars Burning Bright is spacious drifting ambient dotted with bright brittle stars, and an alternative version from Seofon's album dreamy rhythmic marvellous melange that induces a hippy trippy air. 'Bertram's room' which eM created for the No Compression Festival, and was on the compilation reviewed here, is a tale (for which there is a video) where after some voices, various clicks, blips, voice sounds slowly loop over a melancholy sustained chord bed, some becoming more active, and accreting before some final voices. For the Foundry aficionado the most exciting track on the anthology is one from eM which provides a fascinating glimpse of a 'forthcoming Foundry project' with 'Piano ship' where a slow rhythmic creaking is the bed for a slow piano, animal calls (post-Mollusk) and strange washes: an enticing new direction.
Reflecting Bentley's and The Foundry's multimedia side, there is an indispensable PDF file available on site with more of the evocative photos and notes on the label and tracks (it is interesting to read my poor descriptions against Bentley's revelation of the source material, and has made me relisten to some tracks) plus a couple of extra MP3s.
This 'sampler' release faces all the usual problems: readers of Ampersand will have purchased the full Foundry catalogue by now anyway, on my glowing and honest recommendations; while newcomers may think twice as once they listen to this they are likely to want to buy all the originals, perhaps making this a redundant purchase. However it comes at the right time in The Foundry's history, offers sufficient new or less available material, and has been lovingly chosen and sequenced (and also completely remastered to great effect) to provide a self-sufficient and different enough listening journey to make it a valuable addition to your collection.
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And of course, all past issues, with hundreds of reviews, on site.
Copyright for these reviews remains with me, Jeremy Keens. Artists and labels are free to use and quote them as long as they acknowledge Ampersand and don’t mess with my words! And if anyone else happens to mention one of these reviews, do pass on the web address or my email address so new readers can find me. Thanks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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