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Ampersand Etcetera – 2003_I
taming power & mambo-x p350 & fickle & omnid & formatt/alapranen & krzyosiak/simbelis & hinterlandt/karri o & sonic catering band & licht & moe! staiano & principle of silence
Ambient & microwave & electronica & experimental lowercase & postclassical & minimal & techno & etcetera
The themes – visual & conceptual covers most of the reviewed items. Obviously all art has a 'concept' but here we see musicians with a specific aim: Licht's creations, Sonic Catering, Staiano's improv group, Taming Power's focus and more. Vision on Abflug disks (a concept there too) and Principle's of Silence. And some which I could try and encompass, but who are here because they are here!
Well, I nearly bought an Archos, but balanced the cost and issues of buying from overseas (to get a decent price) and didn't. But did find a sort of reasonably priced equivalent available here – the Mambo-X 350d. It has the same features – hard drive (I went over the top and got 30gigs), USB, direct recording to MP3, and while it is not re-formatable on the Mac (which I hope not to have to do, but can get near a wintel machine if I have to) it is compatible. See the first reviews for initial thoughts. And I would appreciate any advice on good programs to edit MP3s (cut quiet spots, chop up album sides into songs) for the Mac – possibly without decompressing.
To come – two more from Absurd, three from Zeromoon, J.Frede returns, the latest No Type and more.
Jeremy
ampersand@pretentious.net
&
http://ampersandetc.virtualave.net/ampersand.html
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Taming Power
Various Casettes
Early Morning Records
Mambo-X P350
http://www.efx.com.au
Taming Power (Askild Haugland) has been peppering us with his wonderful vinyl releases for guitar, tape and more across this edition. To demonstrate to me that he is more than plastic-mad, he sent me four of his 39 cassette releases (some have also been transferred to vinyl). These have come out in small editions, of 12 to 20, with beautiful covers that include sets of inserts (a series of owl feather photocopies, for example). The series ended because the lack of interest in cassettes for work involved.
Askild described these to me as including 'compilations of leftovers and outtakes …some contain material not considered worthy of large scale editions', however I think he is being to modest – the works complement the vinyl series perfectly. In the group I have there is a very minimal tape work which demonstrates a more restrained and gentle exploration of the theme; some piano works where the looping notes aren't obviously piano but have a distinct difference to the guitar; some more guitar improvs and a couple of long guitar/tape works where a pair of the inserts are maps of the pieces. If you enjoy his vinyl works, it would be well worth contacting him to see which tapes are left – as both audio and visual delights.
As I don't have many cassette players I used these tapes as a first go with my Mambo-X Jukebox/Recorder. When I got it, like many people with these I was surprised by how small and light it is – easily to lose, so will beware. Backlit blue screen is easy to read, and has quite sufficient detail to it. Also easy to use – though the manual could do to be a bit more in depth. Came with a sample MP3 (Windham Hill-ish) and as my 10gig MP3 collection is at work (to be downloaded onto this over some time) tried the record function.
And it couldn't be (much) easier – plug in the line from the amp, press the record button, pause while the cassette gets going, unpause and leave it be. A couple of tests to get the audio level right (level indicators are on my wish list – it has them for playback) and then away we go. The tracks are put into a file, numbered (so need to keep records for renaming when hooked up at work), but the sound quality is excellent as far as I can tell. Next stop – vinyl, all those old favourites – and I have started and it works terifically!
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Fickle
I Can See Through You, Your Drugs Don't Work
Conexistant CoNEX03
http://www.consume.freeserve.co.uk
Consume returns after an extended silence (&etc wise – 2002_17) with a limited edition of 50 from the Conexistant sublabel (the 'limb dealing in the ultralimited'). This lovely package includes a copy of NME reconstructed to be a giant E, a numbered collage-printed 'sleeve', the track list printed on fine paper and a signed prosepoem statement. The 'eerie improvisations created through CD player/radio/sharp stick abuse' are not only titled, but also classified (ambient, techno, chillout etc) as 'Your make believe makes me believe I need your pigeonholes' – I will avoid the classifications and just talk about what I hear.
Undermining the developed expectations 'Mothmyths' is a darkly ambient whirling swirl (or swirling whirl) of choppers chitters percussive loops and string drones that reaches a buzzy climax. The expected collage comes in 'Locking horns' with a bible reading, chopped/ing music that gains a rhythm, still jumps and varied, then into mechanical loops, bubbling bleeps and a soft 'boo boo' loop that schwashes into a driving minimalism with irregular beats and sweeping crackles, builds, fades, returns then ends with more radio. Samples of a film set in a school open 'Decon/recon' overtaken by claps, pulsing and mumble synth, radio sqrls and interspersed rap, the thud beat and some of the singing, reflected further in a slow distorted 'is ya is ya' sample and a high bleeping that sounds like distorted phonemes.
Reflecting it’s extended title, 'A week walking with the whale thief' is a messy burring drone, crowd, film loops, long tones, settling beats, extended song samples and birdsong (R2D2?) that never quite coheres, though the terminal reference to Mazar I Shariff could reflect some of the concept. Things get back together with 'Drive-by shouting' which is fast and exciting, beats and scifi squiggles, chopped and filtered music and singing that gradually winds down through beats to minimal pulses, tentative but collected. More minimal is 'Cold player' with industrial pulsing scrapes with distorted muzak through. 'E's aren't so good' as tones and rapid pulses are joined by a slow thud (that speeds a bit) with jittering and radio sweeps that stop for some extended spoken parts, there is some music including trumpet, beat varying and adding cymbal ending in phone tones and crackles.
A short collage of spoken word seems untitled, then 'I'll slap yer' is a weird and dangerous piece, demonic laughs as jittery music and stuck burring, scrapes and stutters, radio jumping. Finally 'Go back t'sleep' continues the anger with a sample that sounds like a therapists tape as a person talks about someone being a 'pig, drunken bastard' and more – this will recur – and seems heartfelt. We then get an edgy ambience with radio, music, voices that develops a slow beat, stabilising with bits of music and scratching as a dense sine tone recurring overwhelms it, a guitar strum loops, gets choppy, ends to hiss – a noise which opens the first track and creates a circularity.
Within the context of the whole album, the lesser coherence of the week walking is part of the overall development, and becomes less distracting with each relisten. It is good to see Consume back, and I hope that they can continue their resurgence as their releases are consistently interesting, enjoyable and confronting.
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Omnid
Live @Akosm
SPRC SPRC003
Omnid@optonline.net
Following 'Thermo' in 2003_I we have a live album from Omnid, recorded in July at a skate shop on guitar, electronics and laptop.
The two pieces are restrained and delicate explorations – in the first twangs and plings are surrounded by electronica – fast twinkles, scrabbles and smurrs. The guitar is generally foreshortened notes but adds through the interplay with the glitch. Plops and chitters, it becomes faster but still small and delicate placement of sounds; even becoming somewhat strident – twangy scraping loops, quite diverting. Buzzing, soft drone, skitter guitar, buzz fade.
The second sitting starts with an ear-to-ear crackle, noisy squiggles and looping flutters, buzzing. Some twangy percussive strings, scrabbly, more actively glitchy. Hissing bursts, clatter, swoops. Percussive and scraping guitar is also more actively pursued, fluttering hiss rapid, percussive, to quite a storm, relatively, then a fade.
Only 30 minutes but an intense and yet restrained playing playfulness that is a pleasure to hear.
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Formatt/Samuli Alapranen: Connections/Apinavideo
Verhaverbeke Krzyosiak/Vygandas Simbelis: Ikkuna/In Army Of Lovers
Hinterlandt/Karri O: Sitting, Going Places/Departures and Arrivals
Abflug abcd01, 02, 03
http://www.abflug.com
New label Abflug has an interesting take on the split-disk genre. The split is between an audio and a visual artist. On each release there is an aural component and a video, playable through the cd-rom, which has an original soundtrack to it.
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Two of the disks feature artists previously reviewed. Formatt was last here in 2003_d, and again gives us an enjoyable glitch-techno. 'Circular lounge' crackle drips into deep pulse tones and shimmers with drifts over, some almost voice, and long echoed percussives, settling into a groove. More crackle scrabble on 'Rerender' with bloopy noises and long tones, no beat but there is a rhythm and a semi-ambient drift with twangy metal highlights. Percussive sounds open 'Local frames' – chimey echoes, a match strike, rain-stick patter and a deep resonance. Crackles zings sonars and the like accrete to a peaceful techno slide, with some bigger shivery tones in the conclusion.
'Retain' is seemingly on the edge of becoming as active crackles, big thud beats, echoes and a high sine play around and almost cohere, and then big percussive loops, clicky and hollow, floor 'Urban pleasure concept', adding warm echoed tones, static humming and final ringing tones. The Remote Mix of 'Glazed' has a pulsing tone, chattering percussive with a vibratone keyboard melody over rumbly clicks and tones.
As with Formatt's previous releases, this is not long, but carefully blends glitch and warmer techno to a satisfying brew.
Alapuranen's video combines an interesting bloopy synth with drone underlay, adding some backward tones later, with black and white pictures of a tree (possibly with a monkey in) but also others which are more obviously monkey pictures (some seem like stills from films, looped back and forth). These are shaky, jiggling around, moving in and out of focus, and quite disorienting. An odd movie.
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Pulsing white noise develops to a deep pulse with shimmers and long wash tones in 'Ovi' that opens Krzyzosiak's disk. This is replaced with clicks and key notes loops, and ringing, developing a lovely rolling almost-world rhythm with higher (horn) tones cycling in, then fading. 'Matto' – guitary tones and distant dirty looping, shifting; little breaks and clicks, rhythm in the last quarter, quite a grungy piece. Backward tones, chopped and shifting ear-to-ear, a rumble then a melody over. There is a threatening mood as a slow beat with clicks and highlight creates a static soundplace in 'Seina'.
Soft tones build and vary as 'Katto' opens, rumbling, There is a scrapey voice over and held strings, building layers with an intense wavery tone that changes pitch. This is full on and yet minimal. Then drops to a rumbling and scrape with a driving pulse, then a soft squiggle and fade. Finally 'Ikkuna' where picked notes echo chords, reverbs (reminding me somehow of Art of Noise), a click loop and dolphin calls, a rhythm guitar loops extending the opening sounds, a chopper building, slows and is gone.
This is Krzyzosiak's first release, and is apparently guitar based (but like many guitar albums, not so obvious). It slips refreshingly between rhythms and ambience and its 28 minutes passes all too quickly.
Then Simbelis gives us another jumpy video with 'In army of lovers' where the soundtrack is a rhythm loop (sounds like a camera motor), hiss, creaks in an auditory empty space. A sample of groovy music kicks in, then echoes and sirens. The images are of toys – dolls, fluffies, mickey mouse, sesame street characters – close up faces, zoomed in and through focus to blurs. Midway through some video chopping and cutting starts to happen, with some rapid cutting at the end, before a long shot of a doll that cuts off. Again, a difficult video to watch but quite fascinating.
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Hinterlandt (last here 2003_b) has compiled the longest release, and each track suggests a journey, though not necessarily related to the title city! Some buzz crackles and we aloft to 'Taiwan' as loose cable judder segues to a slow vibratone melody with a few clicks, and higher more dominant notes emerge, an almost random tune, with some deep visceral subsonic pulses. Long tonal strings provide an ambient flight until a bubbly little melody builds over, hiding most other elements though there is still a drone base, drops to a slower pace but with fast clicks and calling tones before returning to an ambientish mood. A beep loop becomes melody with deep wavers, clatters and builds before ending with a Tony Soprano loop with bloops.
'What's going on in the world today' continues into 'Oslo' along with a deep drone, pulse and crackle-shake. A slow deep tone play and chittering phasers, some looped phenomes, rhythm and melody loops – very layered, many rhythms but differentiated, slowing and paring to some lovely ambient techno. Then bips create a tune and rhythms drop in before some lyrics, ending with echoes and the lyrics line slowed and reversed, messed around.
Then on to 'Santiago' with light looping ringling, crackles and twingles in a slow drift with a light beat. Gradually building keys and twangs, then some guitar drones and voices, slowing and speeding, as some trumpet drifts across the airs. A collage feel to the beginning of 'Cologne' – concrete from tapped glasses, scrapes, doors, hisses, organ, mumbling – a dreamy pre-flight state. A choppy uncertain rhythm is incorporated and a motivational speaker, looped to 'chase the blues away' which is played around with over some piano and rhythms. Becoming a gentle bleepy ambience, crackling and melody and then a final section of water dripping, a radio perhaps, which suggests our traveller is home, in the bath, and a final rubber-duck squeak is a farewell. Overall a very accomplished album.
Karri O's video takes film from an airport – baggage handlers, a plane at night, a Virgin takeoff and overlaps them messes around with some images (the takeoff has a few versions) and includes brief views of clouds, over a slow tonal ambience – perhaps the 'easiest' of the videos.
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Beyond the enticing concept Abflug has produced three very nice albums, all techno-ish but eschewing dependence on beats and nodding agreeably towards ambience. I hope (and expect) the label to take off.
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Sonic Catering Band
Live From The Canteens Of Atlantis
Absurd #30
http://www.anet.gr/absurd
Sometimes a bunch of stuff will come at once, and a disk will jump out and ask to be played first – there are two other Absurd releases which I will hold for the next edition, in addition to a couple of other things that arrived around the same time. Absurd are keeping up a fine rate of production – the last three were reviewed in 2003_h.
This one stood out as a double, in a different sleeve construction to either of the Absurd streams, and the disks are screen printed (with images of hotplates). But more important was the title and content. For many people cooking is an art form of itself, and gets taken further in the performances and filming of television cooking programs. A question that few people have asked is 'why not make it into an audio visual art form?' The Sonic Catering Band worked in restaurants and galleries, preparing food (stir fries, popcorn and milkshakes were on the menu) and working with electronics (wah wahs, loops etc) to create a soundtrack. These two disks document their 12 shows in just over 3 years of activity – they are honest enough to admit that it often didn't work, and the first disk is a compilation of highlights. But their penultimate gig seemed to transcend the difficulties and is presented in its entire 60 minutes on the second disk.
I listened to this one first. It opens slowly quiet eventually some chopping, close miked, gets a rhythm. There is whisking, and you start to realise that the electronics is used to sample, loop and echo/process the sounds, layering and building them, extending the pieces. Other sounds come in – strange empty rolling, splatches, cutlery jiggling, a rumbling building to a first noisy climax before dropping back to gentle sizzling and chopping, then a reverbed slightly noisy fry up. Drops back to cutlery loops and chopping, building to another whooshy looping musical segment, scrape and thud. You hear different vegetables – carrot versus cabbage, note the sound selections and layers. It gets edgy, looping waves of sound. Soft cooking, drone, frying – wah wah peddles. Builds and the drops to puttering looped percussives, gentler chopping, a gonging (bowl) modulates. It extends, with echoey scrapes, glass tapping, a whirring and a spiralling rumble travel on, into an extended release of delicate taps, whirrs, gradually changing, peaceful soft edged clatter and chop, hissing to fade. There is a strong structure to the night, moving through quiet periods to building momentum and complex climaxes, that maintain your focus. After the initial novelty of the sound source has been overcome, the piece develops its own focus and works as a concert.
The compilation disk collects together more focussed moment, almost an exemplar of the Bands move, with more appliance work. The opener is rhythmic, chopping and whoosh, like a machine, bubbly frying, another rhythm loop, drones noises and a puling milkshake mixer. After this dramat comes one of three tracks from the final sitting at The Moloko Restaurant – an ambient recording of people, distant clattering (some looped) and general emptiness. Then an extended sampling of appliances and drones, rumbles and mellow music, whirring hums and voices, fast chopping, audience sounds, edgy to noise, a sequence that is more centred on machines. After another Moloko a more clattering cutlery track, beats and percussives as other cooking noises surround, ending with a quite playful almost rocky development. Then a final sampling of the final concert. As long as the other disk, this is more focussed on the highlights and drama rather than the full movement from the concert, and makes an exciting and still varied drive.
I have to admit that this is one of the wilder concepts to have come my way – but the important thing is does it work as an independent unit, rather than as a record for those who saw the Band and want a record. And I think it does – you do get past the source and listen to it as a musical construction, an intriguing and involving sound work. And always sitting at the back of your mind, wonder at its origins. A combination improv and conceptual artwork.
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Alan Licht
A New York Minute
XI Recordings XI128
http://www.xirecordings.org
Another in XI's wonderful series of double albums of contemporary artist-composers aimed 'to extend the esperience of these engaging and pioneering works beyond the performance space and into the home'.
Licht has only released 4 albums, but has worked with an extensive range of people, as improviser or band member, done installations, written extensively. Here we have 6 pieces, two live, very varied.
The title track opens and is initially a pasting together of a daily weather report for New York in January that runs for about 10 minutes: there is variation in the weather, the presenters, the detail, and is surprisingly engaging. It ends with Ground Hog Day, which seems appropriate as for nob-US listeners the loop movie is the main reference point. The second part is a ten minute recording at (I understand) Grand Central Station.
From there we move to a more musical 'Freaky Friday' which is 19 minutes of multi-tracked electric guitar and base – though the first half sounds more like an organ with varied short tones, evolving into a piano accordion sound as the notes become shorter, the redrones with guitar strumming over. The guitar becomes more obvious as electronic droning with a simple solo over before a final bass drone. An indicator of Licht's guitar skills.
A collage 'Muhammed Ali & the Cricktes' has eponymous insects, then adds a little musical loop, a thwapping sound, distant chatter, some fast guitar and finally an African based chant for Ali. Finally on the studio side another multi-tracked piece 'Another sky' is a delightful evolving drone chord pulse using a chord organ.
The live side has two long guitar pieces, recorded at the 2000 Experimental Intermedia with 'no overdubs'. '14, seconds, fifth' uses a tape loop of a perfect fifth (apparently) drone with a puttery scratching and a couple of picked notes in the final seconds. These 14 seconds loop throughout the 37+ minutes. Over this Licht demonstrates his guitar skills – all manner of guitar sounds work through the solo: long tones, picked, layers, a sound like a mellotron, deep tones, feedback, Frippery, big power guitar, fuzzy-distorted and finally a simple gentle picked section that ends with ringing melodic playing.
Then there is the 39 minutes of 'Remington khan' which starts very soft (this is the hearing test mix) but after about 3 minutes becomes audible and is some delightful 12 string playing. There are multiple melodies and rhythms, again changes in mood from strident to lyrical at times even folky, dronal segments and then in the final quarter a fuzzy distorted guitar (almost like a separate electric guitar) duets with the 12 string and eventually goes solo. I don't know how he plays these two solos – first of all the focus but then what pedals and effects, but they are amazing both technically and musically and don't seem over stretched.
The XI series has been fascinating so far, and this is a very musical number and a great release – check it out!
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Moe! Staiano's Moe!Kestra!
Two Forms Of Multitudes: Conducted Improvisations
DKM/Pax/Edgetone DKM06/PR90261/EDT4021
http://www.paxrecordings.com
In my exploration (guided) of improvisation I have tended to find larger ensembles easier to digest, because of the range of sounds available I think. However, as groups get bigger the sound gets denser also and less 'controlled' – everyone trying to fill in the silence. A surprisingly infrequently explored territory is the improv orchestra, as in this one controlled by Moe Staiano – large numbers of people conducted by him and given, I presume, some indication of how to interpret his signals and determine what to play how – conducted (controlled) improvisation.
There are two pieces here, one for a radio broadcast, and are based on identical 'notations and preparations', and some similarities can be heard – though the differences are more striking. As usual these are hard to describe in detail, so some impressions will be the order of the day.
The two orchestras have over 20 people each, but have a different composition – more strings and brass in Piece No. 5, more guitar in No. 4 and also voice, lots of percussion and woodwind in both (though recorder and flute in 4, and electronic drum pad in 5 but 4 drummers in 4 to 1 in 5) etcetera. What this means is that the tenor and timbre of the two pieces differs as more horns wail or more drummers push the rhythm. The numbers also mean that some individual sounds are lost – I'll have to relisten again to try and catch the Theremin in 5. The mixing is also different – it seems to me that the piece recorded for the radio (No. 4) has a more 'considered' mix, with some instruments brought to the front and others pushed back. But both sound great.
The music works through repetition of phrases in quite a minimalist fashion – presumably phrases prepared by Staiano – accreting to extended louder components with other instruments highlighting or peeping through. Underlying it is a significant and important bedrock of percussion, whether drums or lighter instruments, that set a steady pace for the works and maintain that magnificently. The piano is prominent in No. 4, and all through different instruments have periods of almost solo or duet, though the percussion maintains its role. There is a carefully controlled movement from simple repetition through development to pulsing climaxes before dropping back again. Horns honk, drummers go beresk, the strings are plucked or bowed, guitars thrash.
But, what could be an awful cacophony is actually very listenable and melodic at most times, there is nice balance in contrasts, and even the wild climaxes are not too harshly dramatic. I had this running through a couple of times in the car and really enjoyed it – the different instruments, the control and the planning make this an exciting and enjoyable powerful journey.
(I think Pax and co are trying to set a record for multilabel releases – I have only given the Pax web address as that's who sends them to me, but three catalogue numbers is going a bit far!) And Ernesto Diaz-Infante, (amongst other 'known to us') is in one of the ensembles.
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Principle of Silence
Live
(no label)
http://www.principleofsilence.be
From out of nowhere comes this simply gorgeous disk representing a collaboration between vidnaObmana on atmospheres, electric guitar, fujara's and voice and Joris De Backer, double-bass, strings and chanting. Part of a series of concerts, this was recorded on the winter solistice (December 21) in a chapel in Belgium.
Divided into a number of tracks, this is in effect a single 48minute take of a flowing combination of improvisation and atmospheric electronics that is both meditative and stimulating at the same time. 'Solstice' is slow and languid as bowed bass and hissy pan-pipes drift through, higher tones join in, some twangy (treated guitar is the basis for some of the drones) and deep deep bass. The bass goes for a plucked melody while the drifts pass, some shimmering and stringish before bowing returns. The opening dream develops a percussive three beat (with an intervening shiver) loop for 'The underneath' with more pipes, some lightly distorted, and a strong bass pluck that follows the rhythm. It is more driving, but still at a slow pace, with some voice tones and long tones that overwhelm it and stretch into.
'Choral' with layered woven tones, possibly including the bass but it is not clear. A chant runs within the tones, which are quite dense although they ease a little. There is a pulsing, and eventually the bass emerges from the choir. A two note picked loop underscores 'Netherworld' with long wind and string tones, and then a plucked melody. With the blowing pipes and free flowing melody, this is the most 'jazzy' section, gaining some momentum before slowing for 'The fall'. Here the bass continues with sound scapes surrounding it, the guitar more obvious again and pipes, with drone voices. Some lovely bowed strings and pipes and then a dancing melody before easing for the applause. Which is well deserved – it would have been wonderful to hear these rich sounds in a chapel's acoustic space.
There is also a video on the disk of 'The fall' which gives you a clearer idea of who is doing what in the sounds, and has some dreamy images of candles and the space.
A fabulous disk for those who enjoy Obmana's free flowing soundscapes which a touch of rhythm and some wonderful double bass.

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