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Ampersand Etcetera – 2002_16
Ambient & microwave & electronica & experimental lowercase & postclassical & minimal & techno & etcetera
This is something I never dreamed of when I started reviewing in 1994 (my gawd, is it really that long ago) for Vivisect – a vinyl only issue! Admittedly shorter than usual, but a nice feeling about doing it.
What is it about vinyl? CDs are more convenient (to store and carry – I don't have a record player at work or in the car), reproduce more accurately for longer (most of us don't have audiophile ears or high quality systems, and vinyl scratches did get annoying) and carry more music (sometimes a disadvantage when people think they have to fill it up – great for compilations but it does stretch some artists). And yet vinyl keeps going (where 8 track didn't and cassettes seem unlikely to).
There is the sound – to those who can tell it is warmer and 'better'. But I think its as much other sense. There is the feel of vinyl: the size of the disks and the weight, a 12" album is something to hold and admire, and these 7" disks are heavy and thick. The size then travels to the visual side, you can do more with a big cover – big complex pictures, details to explore. Brian Eno's Thursday Afternoon (the first cd I bought before I had a player) used a Tom Phillips' miniature painting full size – something few cd covers do. But then think of some of the album covers – 12x24" canvases to work on (where Tom Phillips King Crimson Starless and Bible Black works so much better than his Eno) intricate details (lovingly described in the Hipgnosis books – or even Roger Dean's collections – showing my age again!). OK cd booklets are interesting, but what about the books that came with Elton John Captain Fantastic or Ringo Starr? Huge folding out triple albums! Or even folding out single ones, like Curved Air's second (age again), let alone coloured vinyl and picture disks.
However, vinyl will never return to that heyday – but we can thanks the people who kept vinyl presses working in various corners of the globe. And thus this mini-special for those who have a record player in working order. (Not that we haven't had a fair smattering of vinyl: elevator bath (2001_01, 08), fat cat (2001_16, 20), disaster area (2001_11), komplo:t (2001_20), mouthmoth (2002_01), frictionfriction/2nd rec (2001_07), peter wright (2002_01) and j.frede (303) have all had vinyl coverage).
Back to usual programming after this! New from Consume and kRkRkRk, Kucharz, Troum, Hinterlandt, [des]integracao and more I should think.
jeremy@pretentious.net
&
http://ampersandetc.virtualave.net/ampersand.html
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Delphium: Snowhill-X ep (DR-24)
Ultra Milkmaids: Jain Umpoulet (DR-25)
Crawl Unit: Tucson Mon Amour (DR-28)
Amon: Aura (DR-29)
Kallabris: 81 n.Br., 178 ol (DR-30)
Alio Die: The Way Of Fire (DR-33)
Craniclast: L.K.A. Sonar Kit (DR-44)
No: Mongoon (DR-52)
EA: 11'00 ((DR-53)
MNEM: Hypostatic Ground (DR-54)
Drone 7" Vinyl
http://www.dronerecords.de
In the Poland issue (2002_11) we looked at EA's release on the German vinyl specialist Drone records – each 7" release comes in a limited edition (250) special packaging clear/coloured vinyl and artwork created by the musicians, and is then repressed if required – still looking very special. The 54 releases since 1993 cover a huge swath of the alternative/experimental music scene. Anyway, following that first review, Stefan sent me a promo package, so away we go in release order!
Delphium: red vinyl – Drone labels are simple star-icons, no sides or titles – for that you need to read the impression on the vinyl. Some disks, like this, have tracks named on the cover or insert, just read A or B; but others have the side title embossed. Another vinyl delight. Anyway, Delphium produce cinematic delightful ambiences. 'Unforgiven' has deep drones, guitar tones, a wind, asynchronous hollow banging, the guitar becomes more obvious, loops and echoes, long tones. The title track layers and develops voiced tones, a light-industrial grinding rhythm, rumble noises, changing dynamic, rumbling and evocative, echoed whoosh to voices fade. Flip over – yes an old time four track ep. 'Stringsong 1' long mellow tones and shimmering metals pulsate, statically ambient with little shimmers drifting across. Tones and a harsher banging on metal for 'Lie to me', almost words forming, layers. Dense complex ambience.
Ultra Milkmaids. On clear vinyl with yellow splotches come two delightful drones. 'The chickens in the mix' has a lightly modulated rising/falling tone which a higher tone and a vibrato join. Tangs, pulses and swirls suck you in as putters pass and phasing and shifting takes this whooshy delicate drama with ringing tones to a simple fade. Even less active 'Lover time (kitchen mix)' emerges as a pulsing tonality with some guitarish note drones, added to which a percussive rhythm (that evolves vocal aspects) complete the quiet minimalism. Quality drone music.
Crawl Unit: green vinyl (2nd edition) – recorded live in Tucson. 'A hole in moving clouds' is a big noisey drone with tings and crackles in, a high tone takes over, rumbling banging continues, hisshigh ends. High ringing cycles in 'Wind through a hole' are subtle, pulse drones, with big bangs increasing loudness, becomes distant. Industrial percussive.
Amon: orange vinyl with greenblack radial smears. The most ambient so far (in my listening order). 'Aura rhanes' is rising and falling wooshy soft drones, a wind, some high tones in there, rumbles more and builds: mysteriously wonderful. 'Rhauna ares' is similar, perhaps more rumbling and active (but still not much), higher tones again, mystery industry, shimmers, deep reverbs with voice washy sweeps. A minimal ambient delight.
Kallabris: The map suggestions from the title are carried into the music. 'Mme de Stael on treasure island' has sonar pings, crescendo scrapes, and crackling in a mysterious and minimal ambience into which an echoed faint voice impinges. Slowly building, an underlying humm with voices and spaces in it, a whistling wind. Opening 'Lob dem technischen personal' is a sea-shanty accordion, which returns for the fade. A high tone and swirls and then again, a submerged voice with echoed metallics over and spooky little noises, slow and dark, high scrapes before the accordion returns. The co-ordinates from the title don't seem to be anywhere – far into the Russian arctic, but the music creates a country of intelligent dark ambience.
Alio Die: On lovely speckled blue vinyl, the sort of dark ambient you would expect from Alio Die. 'The way of fire' is a dark sustained drone with rumbles and crashes over it, extended slow drill sounds clarify into horns that accompany a gentle clatter and the voice that intones the ceremony. Or at least that is how it feels as the slowed deep voice wells through, and a drum beat begins. These increase and intertwine with the horns and distant voices, mesmeric. As is 'Thank you lucky star' a ringing warm conjunction of long tones, distant noises, rumbles (thunder, banging), prayer bells, blowy tones, soft horns and shimmers that capture the senses. Lovely.
Cranioclast: the most intricate cover – the disk is a picture disk - strange starfish on one side, eye-anenome on the other, the cover art is intricate geometric/repeating line drawings on tracing paper, the image showing faintly through. The start side ('Non, l'etoile de mer ne regrette rien' has guitar drone, soothing spooky voice and drum (more voices throughout), a theremin sound, increasing pulses edgy guitar and longer backwards tones, distant echoed voice, skittering over shouts, a female voice that distorts to a high tone, lower male over long drone and sitar, with the Theremin and voices for the fade. Over to 'He never told the anemone about the stars in her eyes' a little lighter with a seaside whoosh, gulls and boat horns into which a lovely piano drops. There is a pulsing 'doingdoing…' through (becoming more prominent later), the horns shift and various voices enter, most obviously one like an announcement. Metal shimmers pass over, some manipulated voices, and the air is relaxed. Changes in focus, playing with pulsing tones and echoed voices carry us to the end. Two active and intriguing soundscapes.
No: Moongoon is side one, a shifting piece opening with crackly voice throb and shimmer, shakes then hum distant music and hollow noise with birds, the music builds shaking. Then a sonarish beep and a rapid crackle that drops into slowed rumbly music with organ pulses fade to shimmer, reeds crackle and usic is back. It is like a mirage, distant but graspable, distant throb and music on the edge,; builds with tones, rattle and fade. Side two opens with 'Our little secret' is a more minimal quiet jumpy rumble click into which electronica shimmers, echoed crackles, pingy edgy noises emerge and rapidly fade, bitey and eruptive. It is fragmented as vinyl crackles, hollow whooshes, silences. Unsettled. And the 'Verlust'a lovely piano solo – either played or sample/compiled, with slow melody and fuller bursts. Complex varied electronica.
MNEM: black vinyl, unique photo on front. 'Grund auf der erde' has crackly static with music/sounds in, a boing-tone emerges briefly, there is buzzing (active noise), rhythmic clicks, noise and drone are alive yet also sound almost lock grooved. Active rumbling percussive, scrabbling to hissy over it in 'Erdereich unter tage', modulation and phasing, and again exciting things within the sound (looped noises rhythms crackling life). This dark industrial mood softens to a rumbling fade before an active metallic climax. Dense ambient active stasis.
Each disk is 10 to 15 minutes of condensed pleasure – the format requires an intensity and focus that works really well. &etc has tasted less than a fifth of the catalogue, and is mightily impressed. Anyone with a turntable and an interest in sampling known and new artists presenting intense musical manifestos (and much pleasure) should look seriously at this series.
Drone also provide an excellent mail order catalogue covering similar artists and tastes – so while picking up some of these vinyl releases you could also use the opportunity to pick up some other stuff!
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Various Artists
Granulat-Compilation
Electric Transfusion e-trans012
http://www.desert-engine.ch/groundzero
A double album of live electronica from Zurich, recorded over 12 months in 1999/2000 (album 1 across the whole period, number 2 from an Allstarnight) featuring 5 different artists – including Roger Rotor (we reviewed his Morte aux Vache: 2001_17) who runs the label.
The first disk is opened by Anselm Caminda who works with skittering scrabbles pops and noises: 'Gambare' various crackles rhythmically, deeper bloob, high tones become more prominent and a slow bent descending tone moves in, then empty crackle and distortion; similar squeaks and rising tones in 'Stratzla' with longer tones and chitter buzz build and become a cloud of sound, as binaural squeaks pulse and a higher joins and slow whooo-sht loop provides a solidity, as the fast chattering lends support, easing towards the end.
The rhythmic minimalism is taken further by Steinbruchel: 'E5' is soft whooshes and thuds with a tappity click that slowly builds, introducing a soft crackle, and is rhythmically complex but minimal, while 'X X6' is a sparse desert as a wind blows through, causing hollow taps, a soft deep boom cycles and chittering clicks echo. Two lovely tracks. The side is completed by the set of Margaritas, Schallbetter and Kalabrase. Their 'Wandern' is a complex DJ-driven and concrete piece: steps, a bell ting and whoosh open, voices behind, when a loop of 'Listen up' emerges and is player with. A piano loop joins the voiced ones, a drum kicks in and a driven scratchin' ensues with a guitar loop (also messed with sped, slowed). Some angry drilling noises, cards shuffled, whispering and then flute and water crackles end a dense piece.
Side 2 takes off from this complexity. Ramon Orza offers up 'Bar-b-q' where harsh scratchy metallic tones, a whine and cycling ringing settle down with softer scraped noises around with clicks and pops, a phasing futzy beat emerges more playfullness to the fade. A ticking beat supports an introductory sample then a pulsing hiss and beat and 'Allessexy' is away. The title comes from the soft-porno sample which is used nicely, the 'rainbow' phrase stretched judiciously. A stronger beat (some breathing in there?) and a dark bloopy techno results, stripping (!) back at times but rolling along nicely.
A humming drone, rapid chick-tick and Roger Rotor's 'Napalmvalley' rumbles over a sussurus of samples. Loops and tones form a lovely full droney rhythm base, and then distorted elephant tones blow through becoming more tonal. Then the highlight of a very enjoyable album. 'Lunarorbiter' opens with atonal spirals, a heartbeat throb and some distorted phased and modified tones (horns). Underneath is a sample that runs through the whole track, about 'QXQL calling PQ, New York; is anyone on the air'. The 'horns' drop and there is a period of increased washing and crackling buzz before the tones emerge again. They gradually come in phase with the sample and you realise that they are the same sound one straight, the other distorted and echoed. They fall nearer and nearer to each other until you hit another beauty of this set – a lock groove (each side ends with one) and the desperate enquiry can run on forever. There is something about this track which really appealed.
The second disk takes a different form as an artist has a solo track, is joined by another for one or two, and then they go solo (none of the tracks are titled). Anselm Caminda's rhythmic pulsing buzz with radio washes opens, with a hiss and deep beat. Two pulses slowly move into sync, an empty scraping noise panes, fade to two clicks plus a rumble. When joined by Steinbruchel there is an assault of sirens putters scrapes and buzzes, an undertone builds with swoosh and descending tone, a buzzy cloud of backward tones and ear-to-ear buzzes that change pace and space with rapid dits and motor rumble. Hardly a pause into layers noises – whooshes crackles gulps, little sirens, buzzes and then a strong bass. On his own Steinbruchel provides a subdued and suggestive mix of soft whirr machines, clicks ticks and pulses in a retrained rhythm loop, tones create a light melody over that takes foreground as other sounds drop away, leaving it with a static and ringing into the click-scratch lock.
Ramon Orza uses a lot of samples, and a jolly rhythm with clicks and pops over lays a party-like complex bed, some echoed cycling noises over with a few dubby effects, sirens pass through the crowds and a female voice emerges to end the track. A brief rising and falling buzz crackle, strange woobles and more talking is his piece with Roger Rotor. One his own Roger then creates a ticktick percussion buzz and bass drum which are joined by a developing tonal substrate adding layers and rhythm through crackles and clicks. A similar slow burn follows – doof-tick and fast click build, soft tones, soft melody loop added then a manipulated drum loop (all restrained – RR's trademark it seems) growing enticingly to a slightly-noised end.
Finally, the Allstars (everyone, I assume) for spooky choral voices, rising and swelling, hiss, metallic eruptions, voice samples thrown in and played with, shutter motors, long edgy tones, beeps, sirenysonars, layering, more voices into the infinite loop.
A brave release, in terms of being both vinyl and live electronica, this is a very successful one. It impresses in both the range and depth of the Zurich scene which is willing to place abstract & generally unbeated electronica in the clubs, and would be enjoyed by a wider audience than the vinyl will reach.
Again, using the medium, great use of lock grooves – each side ends with a wonderful apposite loop – and the vinyl clicks and pops will add to the tracks over time.
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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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