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Ampersand Etcetera – 2002_14
Ambient & microwave & electronica & experimental lowercase & postclassical
& minimal & techno & etcetera
Hot on the heels of the last issue another set of extended eclectica! Two labels
open proceedings – Orthlong Musork and Humbug; then a series of 3" sounds
(Throat, Remanence); duo Mou, Lips! with their demo; albums from Radulovich, Delayer
and Orchestramaxfieldparrish; and the Fals.ch compilation to end on.
Hopefully &mersand doesn't strike anyone as spam! If it does, let me know
and I can unsubscribe you (or let your hotmail account fill to overflowing, it
has the same affect).
To come? Ones I know are on their way or here already (and some parts of 16 are
done already!) - Improv with Diaz-Infante and colleagues, 2 from Erewhon, Hollydrift,
Niblock, 4 from cd-r label Absurd (Behrens, Stelzer/de Waard, Noise-Maker's Fife,
Gunshop), CyberZenSoundEngine etc
jeremy@pretentious.net
&
http://ampersandetc.virtualave.net/ampersand.html
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Full Swing: [edits] series
Agf: Head Slash Bauch
Sutekh: Fell
Orthlong Musork 05, 08 and 09 cd
http://www.musork.com
Orthlong Musork is Kit Clayton's label, putting out a mixture of vinyl and cd
– the Full Swing album, for example, is a collection from 5 10" eps,
and the later albums here are all available in both formats. I got the cds, which
come in nicely produced digipacks.
Full Swing – Stephan Mathieu – has created a series of edits/remixes/tracks
from a range of bands and individuals – I haven't heard most of the base
material (possibility for a companion disk), but what we have is a wonderful series
of very varied pieces which has given Mathieu full rein to explore in a multitude
of directions, but with some consistency in tone and approach that results in
a coherent album.
Laub. [weit weg] (not really the title of the track, but the background information;
each is referred to as an edit, which will be assumed) opens with a shimmering
ear-to-ear cloud of tap/tones with music hidden in it that emerges as a light
melody with futzing clicks over. A processed female voice, guitar tones make forays
over this surface, a light and delicate construction (like all these edits) that
returns to shimmer and tones for the fade. Two tones loop with thrum and guitar
scrabble in Kit Clayton. [~], scratching emerges and light tones develop from
the underloop, with minimal and subtle changes until about halfway when the tones
seem to increase and the scrabble fades, a soft buzzfuzz builds over mini-siren-tones
and building strings, then long tones take the fade. Each piece is between five
and eight minutes long during which space Mathieu creates dynamic stasis and complex
variations.
Antenne. [going nowhere] (which I realise I have heard with the Antenne release)
has a distorted crackle and snatches of arhythmic drum brush, dropped percussion
and a tone that wavers and pulses, some hints at the original vocal: all unstable
and uncertain, little tittit sounds and shimmering guitar tones build to a shaky
and edgy tone wash. Lots of little activity in Autopoiesis. c[ ] where a held
purring tone runs through changing into a wider tone and back as scratchy spirals
and clicks, ratchets and chitters dance over the top, rumbling to a climax before
fading back to the tone. A continuing of the approach, Raumgestaltung Eins. [070300]
has a soft his with clicks and pops, a bubbling melody within, looping into a
pulsing blips that move in and out of sync, the buzzhiss also pulses and surges
to include a voiced crackle, deep pulse minimal fade.
The rhythm of breathing seems to underlie Autopoesis. D 03 as edgy crackling whoosh
loops, cycled pops and distorted fragments ebb and flow, bursting with occasional
energy, coalescing around a tonal pulse. Ekkehard Ehlers. [spater] opens with
a soft high tone that breaks into modulated pulses and is joined by a dense clicking
which could be rain, a juddering deeper tong and soft swirling musical tones,
clicksblips and percussive taps. A faffing burr clicks taps and a visceral tone
in Monolake. [postcard] and then a high edgy whoosh, light keys and tapping cycles
that build and fall to fade.
The last two tracks are the simplest sounding on the album: Yo Lo Tengo. [Hoboken
Beach Bums] is a jumpy sampled cd sounding cracked assault on the melody, accompanied
by clicks static and washes, delightfully disjointed; and Akira Rabelais. […]
where long resonant ringing tones (some quite high and piercing) are layered on
a hiss and a deeply hidden melody. These two make a lovely relaxed ending to a
highly complex and masterful album. It is a brilliant collection of reworkings
that have allowed Mathieu (as Full Swing) to express his own voice from a variety
of angles which, when sighted along, point directly towards his intense and sensitive
aesthetic. Essential listening.
&
Agf is Antye Greie-Fuchs, and that’s about all I can say. The liner information
is printed on the cd (hard to read and play!) and is mainly written in German,
and the track titles and lyrics are also on the disk. There are 23 tracks, so
each has only a minute or three to make itself known, and makes reviewing harder
– a blow-by-track account is a bit of a drainingbore.
So a more impressionistic version. The album is a musique concrete electronica
intermeshing. Over half the tracks have a 'vocal' line which extends from simple
phrase ('Shumine' has the lyric 'I show you mine') to extended sound-poems such
as the long opening text ('Liniendicke') or the final instructions ('Specify u'
which includes 'in a system … just to be played by u'). However, the vocals
are used as instruments and loops more than anything – they are chopped into
repeated phonemes, cut and pasted, interleaved – creating a very nice affect.
The voice is mainly female, a little bit sultry but also distant, almost mechanical.
At times, such as in 'Impuls' she sounds a little like Bjork and drifts into almost
singing: and when Agf cuts and burrs the phonemes it creates melodies of its own.
Behind, around and between the voices is a subtle and sensuous ambience –
composed of clicks, crackles, tones, deep rumbles, industrial soundscapes –
that varies across the tracks. Never particularly harsh, it is always interesting
and complex. Sometimes rhythms are more important (approximating a perverse D'n'B
occasionally) and at others the tonal play, and it varies within tracks.
An album of short cuts can sometimes suffer if there is too much movement, but
the style, method and content of Agf's work provides a focus and continuity across
the album, presenting it more like a suite than a collection. There is a lot to
like and a lot to discover on this intriguing disk.
&
The Sutekh (Seth Joshua Horowitz) album has a collage of small images on its cover,
they are repeated but there does not seem to be a pattern. Horowitz's visual design
is similar to his approach to music – the tracks are composed of smaller
elements, mainly in a concrete sort of fashion, but with periods of melodiousness
and rhythm. They are complex and delicate structures, but with structural integrity.
A brief collage of wild percussion and applause – 'Anatomy of a splinter'
– before 'Gospel train'. A deep pulse and scrabble ringing builds (as a train
passes through), a buzzy distorted voice, clicks and a light rhythm, shifting
scraping tones; the sound suddenly cleans up, clicks increase, pulsing and rhythm
again becomes distorted, drops again to pulse and high ringing, clicks dancing
around, a crackling distorted sample start to nudge in; computer blips, a stutter-pulse
and finally a wurlitzer. Nine minutes have passed in a finely balanced momentum.
The 'Slow toy medley' seems to be created from toys – metallic percussion
and motor whirrs, clatter, and warm tones (a melodian?) that dominate, then drops
back for a light last section.
The groovy side emerges in 'Fire weather' where after an opening of crackles,
the fire, little rhythm loops and tuned percussive, it breaks into a nicely rounded
beat, then adds more elements such as voice tones and extra loops, plays around,
then drops down to a simple pulse beat and ends with the crackling fire, percussion
and a deep rumble that become swirling tones. The mellow mood continues through
'Privacy' as a rhythm created by page turning has a nice guitar solo, accompanied
by some developing percussion, and drifting high tones, sliding into a harsher
side with an edgier noise over, but still warm. 'Rustle the bush rat' pulses deeply
with bursts of tone, semi-random, with some tinkly undercurrents, building to
computer noise then suddenly back into the deeps.
In 'Coma waiting' edgy belligerent tones in a clicky white noise, a kind-of beat
that comes in bursts, with some deep piano ending in some site recordings. 'Recession
clouds' as crackling distortion voice samples burst into a vibrant shifting rhythm
and pulsing noise state, with some water samples in there. Finally a wavering
drill opens 'Wings over kansas' with light ringing high tones and vibrations –
these burr and purr, wavering stability; then an organ tone enters that builds
to mournful wails, buzzing almost harsh, then mellows and descending tones, fade,
end. Or almost end, as about five minutes later there is a crowd and an accordion/drum
melancholy French duo for a while, and then very edgy harsh phone-like tone piece
that extends and softens and is strangely attractive.
A complex album that combines a range of moods and styles, demanding and repaying
close listening with a lovely light touch.
&
Orthlong has obviously been around for a little while – and from the evidence
of these three releases, it is one worth exploring the back catalogue of (mainly
vinyl). Coming soon is a reissue of Mathieu/Ehlers Brombron album 'Heroin' (see
2001_15) with some remixes.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Anders Gjerd: Kylling Smask/Klunk Berry (humbug001)
Vehiculos De Occasion: Winter Smog II (humbug004)
Continental Fruit: Gently Carved Into Sound (humbug005)
Witcyst (humbug006)
Fibo-Trespo: 8.01% Action (humbug007)
Humbug
tchartan@yahoo.com
Anders Gjerde runs this hand-made cd-r label from Scandinavia – each disk
is in a delightful handmade sleeve – lets hope the music is as good.
&
The only disk which Anders seems to be on is the first one – packaged in
an inside-out recycled sleeve with new adhesive labels – the cover image
is of some graffiti which gives the album its title. Originally an edition of
50, I got a promo copy, so I can't be sure its still available (it will be reissued)
– but listening to the label boss may give some pointers for other releases.
Cluttery percussive noise on 'Blanna sho' lead into a buzzing pop/scrape with
shimmers and soft clatter in 'All I ever wanted was you' that brings in a high
tone and putters along into a more stable spiralling tones and tapping before
ending with a zippy scritch. The noise/experimental/improv mood continues with
'Chicken smack' where a noise undercurrent (like a concourse of windy juddering
and chittering machines, is the base for repeated occasional drill buzzes, a clatter
like a bashed guitar, hisses, little squeaks and a hum – free form light
assault. A demented child seems to jabber over other kids on 'Dens hale til as
logre faae'. A choppy guitar solo over an edgy distant whoosh suddenly changes
into a folkloric band of horns strings and bells during 'A bingo gaga'. Back to
scraping and banging about, accompanied by some guttural sounds, building statically
in '[Alle kvinners kaker]'. The first snail ('A snail and another snail') works
stridently around a squeaky violin with a dripping noise (or something attached
to a fan), a tapping and scrabble; the second has string tapping with a soft buzz
and bursts of static-whoosh. Noise in 'Klunk (kort version)' of guitar drones
(edgy harsh) bangs percussive layers and suggestions of voice. Finally 'Medley'
is a rhythmic weaving of children's voices playing (probably) little noises, banging,
spirals of sound, seguing into an older woman talking to us.
Simple structures, lofi, leanings to noise and light industrial, acoustic rather
than synthetic: well handled and varied, restrained but forceful – accurate
precursors of the labels direction.
&
Vehiculos (Steiner Sekkingstad & Andre Algoy) recorded this guitar duo on
23/03/01 to be used as the basis of a live remix that night, and comes in a blue
card sleeve with a colour image, repeated on the disc-label and a simple sheet
insert. This short solo (22 minutes) moves through a whole host of guitar based
sounds, almost as if the Vehiculos wanted to get a little bit of everything for
the night's work. Percussive delicate glitchy, echoed strum, scratchy, a bit of
feedback, distortion, hiss and crackle, some high ringing, voices through the
wires, quieter, tinny, choppy wahwah, short notes, drone-like air noises, edgy
into some almost playing, weird and wooshy, atonal runs over the whoosh, choppy
extended electric, gonglike, moving to a climax, then wind down into gongy with
crackles and distortion, soft runs, shimmer and fade with extended soft reverberations.
A packed and hyperactive duet that traverses most of the sounds extractable from
the guitar, and yet quite simple and straightforward for all that. It's a shame
there isn't a companion disk/track of the results that night, but a nice guitar
diversion.
&
Jon Oyvind Loerum recorded the tracks that are Gently Carved Into Sound over the
period 1995-2002 (with accompaniment on two of them), and it comes in a crushed-leatherette
thick paper cover, the details on an adhesive sticker on the plastic bag which
also has a hand-drawn gold apple on it. The lushest cover also contains the most
melodic music.
The albums is divided into sides A and B – possibly reflecting a design for
different medium, but also there is a difference in mood. 'Hodeln hymn' is a simple
organ melody with reverb and deep undertones, a mood carried into 'Set the standards
for me' where the organ is joined by a rustling modulated interference and softly
intoned English lyrics. Thick extended chord tones (that are layered and swirl)
juxtaposed with scrabbly metallic phone noises (squeaks and blips) in 'Ich weiss
jetzt was kein engel weiss', inspired by Wim Wenders and finely judged. 'Time
alone' is another 'song', the vocals slightly modulated at the ends, but with
more slow deep tones and a faster melodic line over, slow stately and pulsing
it builds quite actively for the album so far.
Side B opens with a 2 note piano loop, long tones and an analog-synth melody –
this is not XTC's 'I have difficulty'. There are scrabbles and machine rhythms,
a different feel to Side A – denser, more complex and active. There are lots
of sounds, including a nicely integrated guitar part: a mysterious soundtrack.
Edgy vocals in 'Unter uns gesagt' surrounded by high pinging tones, a dirty buzzsaw
and echoes – a pulse building to beat, clear high tones sweep in. Erupting
metal tones, shimmer, crackle and zips never quite coalesce in the 'Phonomanuel',
creating an uncertain tension that is resolved to some degree in the music of
'Lancelot' where a fast pattering tone rises and falls through long overtones
and deep whooshes. And finally melancholy layered tones with harmonising harmonica,
soft vocals woven through, some higher and louder tones in the beautiful 'C.F.'
A subtle and delightful album.
&
Less than no info about Witcyst – who what or when! The cover is a collage,
on a heavy floral card, two inserts – one a picture of an alien one side,
a devil the other; the other some Arabic/Chinese script and Mrs Birch's world
record club card.
There are 44 tracks in 72 minutes on the album – which gives some indication
of the work – 10 are longer than 2 minutes (one is nearly 8); and the whole
has a feel almost of a compilation it is so variable. There are guitar solos (distorted,
acoustic, loose), noise works, a couple of fast dirty punk pieces, electronica-noise,
softer tonal pieces, greeting card melodies, a beaty blippy piece that sounds
out of place, some ambience, chimes and melody, growling voices, pieces with voice
samples (straight and processed), computer voices, Monty Python's Philosophers
Song at the end of one track, rhythmic, atonal, industrial. You get the idea –
a wild grab bag.
At times there seems to be some thought to the sequencing – the opening set
are gruff industrial gothic growly noise, there is a guitar-based set, electronica
together. Mainly low-fi collages, as noted there are some surprisingly melodic
pieces – the long track 43 is one example, spiralling tonal loops, subtle
noises and interesting synth melodies. The album hangs together through its diversity
and also in the general tenor and approach. Short dramatic experiments in sounds
which will be gone soon if you don't like them. A sort of sound-bite sized soundtrack
for the modern world (even some of the short tracks have subcomponents), it would
actually suit a shuffle play quite well and amuses and diverts.
(A google-search turned up one Witcyst – on a compilation from New Zealand.
This could then be a 'temporal' compilation from a NZ lofi experimental band.
This was confirmed by Anders 'About the Witcyst, yes Michael Veet is producing
all this work, I have some 20-30 tapes of his (there are hundreds more) and maybe
10 CDs. Some of them are really amazing, but to get the point of Witcyst one has
to have one from the horse's mouth, i.e. his packages he sends are amazing.' There
are apparently some booklets too.)
&
Not much information about Fibo-trespo: brown card sleeve with diatom etching
cover, colour collage insert, and the only details on the copyright edge of the
cd label – Kjetil D Brandsdal and Sindra Bjerga recorded this in 1996, originally
released as a tape, Humbug reissued (Again a web search, but this time indications
of a more extensive presence). It is a lo-fi collage – the main elements
are a soft slow piano solo which ranges through most of the track, coming in and
out of focus, sometimes disappearing completely. Over this is the next layer,
a variable series of field recodings – crowds, machinery. And finally noises
– inappropriate to call it music – but a range including tones, processed
piano samples, oscilloscope whirrs, drill, guitar (acoustic & electric), scraping
of strings, taps, a phone, stretched metal tones, toys, melodian, accordion, vibrations,
clatters – this has taken most of the track, ebbing and flowing, dropping
out at times to allow a focus on the other elements. There is a shapelessness
to it all that has the feel of a live construct, or of something laid down and
then worked on in the studio. But the track ends with a focus – an extended
delicate tonal section that fades to a gentle ambience of hiss and tapping then
silence. A space at 37 minutes tricks you into thinking the piece was recorded
onto one side of a c90 minute cassette and then dubbed direct to the cd (which
is 45 minutes long). But no, after a couple of minutes another work – building
from harmonium and or accordion it adds radio, scrabbles, a bit of distortion
and drum to create a nicely focussed shorter track. The sonic quality of the cassette
have been carried over to the cd – lofi, but the layering and rhythms that
the track develop hold and centre the listening.
&
Humbug appears to be part of that tape/cd-r under-industry that supports musical
experiments and explorations which are centred less on the recording quality and
more on the quality of the recording and the whims and interests of the musicians
(such as Freedom-From or Public Eyesore). Not to be listened to for the crispness
of the tone or the microsonic subtleties, but for the possibilities and the edges.
Anders presentation of the albums adds to the pleasures – email him to buy
any - $5 each.
&&&&&&&&&
Remanence
Lamkhyer
MPATH Records MRCD2
http://www.remanence.org
Brian McWilliams and John Phipps have been working together for almost a decade,
and have put out this ep as a prelude to a new album A Strange Constellation of
Events. When Brian emailed me he said it was 'decked out in artsy packaging' and
he is right. A tracing paper band encloses the brown card sleeve, which has a
soft printing of reeds in water that looks like pencil strokes; two panels open
up, details printed on one, to an essay on Lamkhyer, with the cd in a sleeve which
has been folded down over the middle panel with a Tibetan mandala – the website
has images which are probably more fulfilling than my poor description, either
way it is a very attractive package designed by Phipps using a photo by McWilliams.
The music is appropriately delightful. 'Lamkhyer' opens with soft deep pulses
of sound with light clattering that grows into a slow ambience – deep tones
well, a high tone melody wanders over with a gentle percussion and water sounds.
A beat enters and provides a restrained push as it moves nicely to a slow fade.
It suggests the album will contain some well constructed tribal/ambience.
With 'K'an (the abyss)' a third member enters – EM who is the Experimental
Method, applying some random events. There are animal sounds and lovely deep building
tones and crackles and percussive bells – the random aspects is not overt,
but seems to be in the appearance of some of the highlights. 'The leftward path'
gradually emerges with a high tonal wash and a rolling beat that is relaxed and
moving.
A tempting taste of future releases, the non-album half of this, together with
its lovely presentation, makes this a very appealing object.
&&&&&&&&&
Sawako: Nana (Throat 3)
Cal Crawford: Colorless In Small Amounts (Throat 4)
Various Artists: 60" Somewhere (Throathz 3)
Various Artists: 60" Somewhere Else (Throathz 4)
Throat
http://www.throat.org
V.V.'s Throat 3" cd-r label continues its real and virtual/real sides going
– the Hertz sub-label offers on-line treats, the two reviewed here also available
as limited edition cds (see 2001_19 & 2002_08 for previous Throats).
Sawako deals in small noises and events: the opening track scrabbles and chimes,
leading into a pulsing. Then a twangy buzz comes and goes, shifting around the
sound space from ear to ear and near and far, a scrabbling joins ending with a
distant loop. Almost silent, the third track is a soft buzz with crackles in it
and pauses, while more minimalism in the tapping machinery of four. Space in the
next track as a buzz cycles through, disappears and returns as extended pulses
and crackles, then a brief sine tone which degrades to crackling and returns as
a pulsing alarm for some time occasionally distorted before a few final seconds
of soft putz. Birds and ringing noises, gentle tones open the sixth (and longest)
piece which grows into a swirling tonal atmosphere, pulses and edgy tones developing
later before fading back to the birds. An alarm and field noises end the disk
– which has intrigued through its involvement of delicate and intimate sounds,
approaching the background at times, but never merging into it.
&
Quiet events from Crawford too – in one extended piece that shifts through
periods of activity and almost silence. A warm tone is the first sound which falls
away to empty soundspace. Then a developing crackle/scrabble soft at first, becoming
more intense in both volume and density, though never aggressive, builds together
with a high tone, falters then returns with the initial rumble. A space, and then
the rumble together with crack scratches on microphone and little eruptions. Some
more quieter minutes, occasional rumbles, watery sounds bobbing up, then a very
distant sax solo leads into another crackling noises (is it rain, electrical,
walking on branches? There seem to be birds in there) that builds, drops and then
returns. Underneath is a rising and falling sine wave - a pulsing machine, which
then stands alone and with tapping, fading. A nice interplay of sound & silence,
together with clever use and layering of interesting sounds makes this an effective
use of the available 20 minutes (a small amount that used to be the length of
half or more of an album!)
&
The first Hertz release is a compilation of pieces based on a metronome sample
– quite rhythmic as expected, then came an on-line sound-art piece, and now
this pair. On the first a stellar list provide 20 60 second field recordings,
while on the second a different (but not exclusively) group of 20 reworked whatever
attracted them from the first set into a 60 second piece. I won't list all 31
participants, nor describe each track – but here's a feel.
Somewhere combines a range of situations, some explicable, some mysterious: there
are people talking or arguing, travel on public transport, strange squeaking taps
and machines, dogs barking, church bells ringing, crackly noise and dropping metal,
storms, water running, outdoor nature noises, indoor watching television, distant
rhythms and windy mikes. Most pieces are not surprisingly static – the site
varies over the period within constraints – while a few include some variation
– crackling to dropped metal in one. The volume shifts – a couple are
almost silence.
From this varied selection an even more varied series of creations occurs in 60"
Somewhere Else. Some take a few components and boil them down, others take many
and concoct a complexity, and while you can play the 'spot the originals' game,
the reworking reconstructing reconsideration and renewal make it a pointless exercise.
There are buzz crackles and birds, droning loops, hum tones voices, added noises
and talking, rubbly, softer or louder, rhythmic or noisey. In the space of 20
minutes, a great and interesting variety, grabbing and holding your attention
and requiring revisitation. A fabulous concoction well worth downloading or buying
the limited edition real-version of the double album.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Mou, lips!
Peanuts and Shells Geometria
Demo
http://www.mou-lips.com
An interesting demo from France – Mou, Lips! (for some reason I love the
name) is Emanuela de Angelis and Andrea Gabriele on computer, guitar, objects,
turntable, sounding table, double bass and voice.
The title track shifts clicks into a tappy percussion, adds a cycling tone melody
which is layered and slightly distorted, echoes the percussion, dits and a whistling
over and a voice that breaks up to allow the melody to return before a clicking
fade. A soft keyboard tune-fragment loops in 'Ai's pureness', increasing as zips
and a wind instrument (melodian? clarinet? bagpipe end) adds some tones for a
tune - a loop sticks and percussion with clicks shifts around voice parts, a complex
and varied piece.
Slow tones and a vinyl click in 'Sri>zawore 5:28 PM' are joined by a warm accordion-ish
tone loop, soft and slow, and a high squiggleing whine, restrained; processed
voice eruptions and ratcheting slip in for the later stages. The short 'Sounding
table in vaticano (corsair cbn 43041)' is putteringly percussive keys noises and
voices. A pulsing tone is surrounded by ticking metallics that move into phase
with the pulse for 'Plie, plie as you said "it's all in honesty"' then
a rustle and key-bursts and trills. The bursts become longer, sticking, and a
layer of soft noises is overlaid – voices tones squirl – and then a
computer voice and a Emanuela 'sing' the lyrics (related to the extended title)
in a piece that is dense and lush, but not rhythmic or really melodic. The final,
'Letter from home' is a buzz shuffle scrape with deep sine waves, pops and a sticky
organ tune, over which clicks and tongs drift over; it starts to tap dance before
delicate oral sounds enjoin.
This disk is a demo, available from Mou, Lips!, but it ought to be more available
than that – this is a really enjoyable disk in the genre where softer more
organic sounds are integrated with the click/pop coldnesses. It would sit really
nicely in the Bip-Hop roster for example (hint hint) or with any other label interested
in bringing out approachable experimenta.
The web-site has some downloadable tracks – such as 'Let her sleep' which
is a good example of Mou's style as high tones shimmer over a deep puttering sine,
a modulate organ stutters its stuff, sounds spiral, sudder and buzz with a Casio
tune, to a distorted climax.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Marcelo Radulovich
Hello
Accretions ALP 029
http://www.accretions.com
http://www.titicacaman.com
Other than the base allusions of the names construction (furthered by pictograms)
the Titicacaman is a strange late 20th century figure who you can read about on
the cover and on his own site, a mixture of parallel history, mysticism and science
fiction. The material on Radulovich's album furthers his interest, expressed over
a number of albums reviewed here (208, 210, 2001_11) in sample and improv based
studio manipulations.
I just changed music to material in that last sentence – because from some
angles or views the album is a fairly noisey and confusing collection of sounds.
This is a view that I would expect few readers of &etc to take (though their
friends and family might!) From most angles there is, though, little 'music' here,
though there are many musical moments. No, this is a carefully and delightfully
constructed work, electroacoustic musique concrete whatever, that uses a variety
of sounds to create dense and delicate works of art. Aspects of sound or construction
recur to provide an over-arching structure to the work.
While the whole is to intricately intertwined to fully describe, some of the shorter
tracks are more easily entered – 'Greeter' is fast and beaty with chopped
voices forming a rhythm loop (a method used quite often, and of the linking themes)
while a sampled laughter and percussive tones run through, or the more serious
'Amp' with slow rolling loops, voices saying 'close' (I think – variations
on 'hello' form another anchor through the set) with serious and moody piano.
'Cante marito' is a short burst of squeaky squarrly spooks.
Use of site recordings are a feature of a number of tracks – crowds and noise
or local musicians – and are placed judiciously within the context of Radulovich's
manipulations. 'Rice and beans' places a street person in the context of the voice
rhythms and tones, or in 'Discoteca' which shifts into some wild loops, piano
and mad rhythms. These were recorded mainly in Costa Rica and provide a South
American atmosphere that reflects the cover story.
Complexity and density are the main roads travelled with tracks exploring diverse
regions. 'Ziplock tub' opens with strings and percussive tata, a scream of 'hello'
(or is it 'help'?) leadds to zithery noises and chopped voices, the components
merge and we are then in a market with vocal/nasal chant that takes us into 'Earthworm'.
Here we get closer to music, as singing and Hawaiian guitar hide behind clattering
machines, that shifts into mixing around percussion, sax and trombone components
with sqrls and tones in a dense crowd. In 'Extract hell out of o' there are wing
flutters and bird calls, crackling, a sitar-like tone and voice loops which create
a lounge-hell weirdness.
'Caterpillar' is a long and slowly developing piece from a limbo of voices and
swirls through percussion and squeaky toys into a metallic ambience and voiced
rhythms. A Theremin-tone controls the 'Dervishes' who are surrounded by barking
dogs and a calypso influenced rhythm. The final track, 'Version 115B' is something
of a summary overview that has similar structures but more flow in the musical
elements (driving bass, twangy guitar, sax and drums) which ends rather anticlimactically
with some trombone burbles. But then it opens into an unlisted 7 minutes of Radulovitch
playing around with 'Hello', different intonations stresses etc, while also playing
with the tape – echoes tones little loops layers – that become a word-poem-song
that makes a perfect closing statement for the work.
Radulovich spent around 15 months on this project, and the results demonstrate
that. It is an intricate work that makes gestures towards accessibility but is
not a simple listen, while never straying into thoughtless confusion or ill-considered
confrontation, and provokes in the best possibly ways. Another powerful release
from Accretions.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Delayer
Breath By Breath By Breathing
XZF 01
http://www.x-zf.net
The second front opens for Pretentious – the :Zoviet*France: axis! The X-ZF
sublabel is a vehicle for ex-members to release material through a like-minded
cd-r label: Terry Bennett has maintained a :Zoviet*France: discography that is
as masterful as Muslimgauze: The Messenger. Delayer is Andy Eadley, and I must
admit that it is my loss that I was not a follower of ZF and have not had a chance
to 'get into them'. X-ZF will be an opportunity to explore some of their branchings.
Taken together with my experience of Rapoon and some other members, the quality
of this disk suggest some fascinating times ahead.
A message to the Pretentious list (I would advise subscribing to get updates on
releases – yes, I have connections via an e-friendship with Terry and my
role with the Messenger) indicates that the album title reflects the voice focus
of the pieces, some of which were originally created for Zoviet. A warbling whistle
noise and didgeridoo-like pulses run with click-tap rhythms and pulses, driving
the 'Leave the streets' along. There are little building waves, a mixture of tribal
and mechanical, dramatic, moving through the scale. Simpler approach in the second
track 'As you let go', which takes a self-hypnosis tape and echoes and reverbs
it, layering at times with parts forming a basal loop, some wooshes derived from
the sounds adding to the structure, losing contact with the base as it pulses
along. In 'Feel the warmth' long backwards tones, whipping at the end, build and
shimmer, ringing and clanking running through, a melancholic tone as it drifts,
resonant and haunting, a phasing beat under the latter part. The voice is obvious
in 'Process purce' as chant-like voices, highly processed, within deep tones and
spirals, a full and active track that surges with the voices, whips and tings
echo around – a spacey mystical mood of extended ambience as sounds spiral
off.
A hiss with echoed percussive sounds opens 'Accord', then big bellowing deep resonant
tones and rich cello-like ones form a stately tone progression, bell-like shimmers
in there. And then 'Daisy gun three', is a swirly miasma of rumbling machanicals
with long voiced tones and short high whippings.
When I first listened to this I hadn't checked the track times – it is useful
when you are listening for a review to know how long pieces are – whether
a quiet passage is the end or a hiatus. The final track 'Urban chant' was a huge
surprise - a 37 minute piece based around a chant, an extended mooo-wang sound:
the moo becoming a pulsing percussive loop; the wang echoing and metallic. Overtones
and harmonics develop, the density ebbs and flows a little, and melodic lines
develop. I was reminded obscurely of the Fripp&Eno albums, in structure and
some sounds. As the track kept going and going I just got more and more impressed
with it, with Delayer's willingness to keep it going and the strength that that
extension creates. An (en)chanting track.
A lovely album that is a great opening gambit from this label – for Zoviet
France fans of old (I would imagine) but also for the general punter
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Orchestramaxfieldparrish
Tears
Faith Strange Recording fs2
Orchestramax@earthlink.net
Mike Fazio is the Orchestra, and has been around since 1987 – the sleeve
includes a useful bio: Black 47 prominent for over a decade amongst other gigs,
various production. Among the enthusiasm of a pr insert, the references to Bill
Nelson and David Sylvian strike a chord at first listening (celebrated by the
cheeky sampling of samples from the Orchestra Arcana for one track).
'Beauty and wonder' is that, echoed and delightful backwards and forwards guitar
tones, reminiscent of Bill Nelson, which is furthered by the choppy Chinese chimes
and sweeping guitar in the first half of 'Dorothea gets her wish' but then a big
percussion enters with voice tones and piano and OMP is finding its own voice,
perhaps symbolised by the squeezed guitar at the end. But the Nelson sampled samples
of '…and then a crowd, impossible to number…' surrounded by long tones
and washes, sounds swirling around the slightly echoed voices.
I have often wondered about track lengths – and there does seem to be a pointed
nature to 'A lot like you' being 8:01 long (we are the 801, we are the central
shaft). But it opens in an un-Eno way with a couple of minutes of tidal crackle
rumbles before a very nice guitar solo with piano accompaniment that fades back
into the rumble that is extended to fill the time. Some echoes of Windham Hill,
but there seems to be a little more edge. Unstable and phasing surging and pinging
tones (including some high guitar) grounded by drum and rubbery bass are 'Where
the angels crash and die'.
The lush echoed and reverbed guitar provides a varied density melody surrounded
by restrained chimes and soft scraping noises in 'Bow' after which long tones
in 'Waiting for twilight' form embracing and warm clouds of sound, with room for
a bass solo and then some edgy guitar. The Fripp-ish nature of that sound is echoed
in 'The tears of christ' a 17 minute soundscape that is a spacious work with phasey
looped and delayed guitar, lyric chromatic clusters that nod towards Fripp's soundscapes
but develops OMP's own sound. Finally 'Music from the empty quarter' is a contemplative
piece for gongs and deep rumble, chimes and tones drifting and surging, some larger
echoed sounds, but generally relaxed. Or almost finally, as there is a brief extra
piece of backward and ringing guitar to balance the opening track.
This is one of those albums which is going to get replayed because it is full
of timeless pleasure – from the more dramatic guitar pieces to the extended
spacious contemplations a musical suite to savour (especially if you like Bill
Nelson).
&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Various Artists
Fb.50
Fals.ch fb50
http://fals.ch
In some special editions during volume 3 I looked at a number of MP3 sites, including
Fals.ch and their previous real world release fb.25. These disks present a sample
of what has been released on the net (this one has one track from most releases)
with some additional stuff (other MP3s, Lopez and Merzbow movies on this) presented
on a 3" cd-rom. It gives those without net access a chance to sample the
wares and others a solid copy. I must admit I haven't visited fals.ch much lately
for three reasons: they introduced a registration and I kept forgetting my id,
work was getting a bit edgy about downloads, but mainly the site was redesigned
and I couldn't work it out (the complexity is echoed in the html-index here of
shifting colours and fonts). So here is my chance to re-taste the label.
The cover lists 41 tracks, their length in seconds, file size, title and artist:
most of the music ones clock in at under 3 minutes or about 4-8 except the first
by B.Low at almost 40; there are a couple of indefinite pieces, one mixes internet
MP3 (but doesn't work either from here or the actual site – even after upgrading
to the preferred shockwave), the other by Gescom is a strange virus-like screen
image inverter.
The music runs a gamut of styles and moods. B.Low's is a wonderful collage of
music, politics and atmosphere that wanders through its extended length and justifies
the MP3 format – to get such a long piece is great. 0* produces a nicely
balanced minimalism; Bilting&Karkowski complex orchestral and piano pieces;
cartoon wackiness and rapidity from Shoticker; crackly noise from Pain Jerk; then
some of Gordon Krieger's wonderful Mac sonatas – he gets macintalk voices
to speak his texts which have been cleverly written to produce absolutely amazing
Dada works (the texts for the 5 sonatas are on the disk, all the texts are on
the site: try different voices, enjoy the visual poetry).
A little light echoey music from Zz(etc) before Joke produce some groovy percussive
electro and Ng&Denley briefly improvise in a manner similar to their Grob
release. Metzger clicks loops and chords gently and Poire_z develops some quiet
musique concrete. Then back to groovy click pops with Sony Mao, rather cute and
delicate tings, swirly noises and bleeps on three short COH pieces and fast buzzy
stuff passes (Max) Muster, Asanu's noise and a couple of shimmer and buzz by Pix.
Kent delivers some nice ringing tones after which Runzelstirn & Gurglestock
provide some more vocal material with a range of strange pieces, Fast click pops
from cd_slopper, the Lutsch Symphonic Orchestra weaves appropriate samples and
noise. The new material sees General Magic blend music and cars. I.d. delve back
into crackling hard drives, Gcttcatt also work in randomly crackly sample buzz
and Evol rapidly whizzs whirs and glitches.
Merzbow's film is few seconds long and cycles wildly away, while Lopez has ambient
film images and music/sounds from Athens (20/10/2001).
Yes, a minimal overview – but if you have an ability to play MP3s, an interest
in them but not in searching the net, and most importantly a desire to listen
to some varied cutting edge music, this is a really great release.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
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