Vital Weekly 25 Week 3 BERND FRIEDMANN -LEISURE ZONES (CD by Ash International) DISINFORMATION -GHOST SHELLS (LP by Ash International) B. Friedmann may be known to some for his work as Drome, Nonplace Urban Field and Some More Crime: three sides of the dance ambient coin. 'Leisure Zones' is a different affair. This is just one piece - a soundscape of reverberated noise, like processed traffic or some other kind of environmental like noise. Every now and then there are interruptions of what sounds like violins playing. There are inaudible parts on this CD, and sometimes the noise bursts out. But it is a continuous flow. Recommended if you need a different kind of ambience. Disinformation is one Joe Banks, and he dedicates his record to Heinrich Georg Barkhausen, who was the first person to investigate with natural atmospheric music, like picking up radio signals (hey, I'm just quoting the press info, and with sort of release, you never know it is true or not). The Disinformation record is kinda experimental noise, not unlike Chop Shop. One side is mastered at a low volume and that lasts about 5 minutes. We are asked not play this at a high volume or on headphones. Certainly both an extreme and informative release, and the harshest one on Ash International. // Address: NOISE FACTORY 1995 (CD by Stein Sein) This is an interesting CD, as it is not a compilation, but more a collaboration. Not a collaboration by mail, however, but some 13 people locked up in an old farm, working and exchanging ideas for a week. All the involved musicians are from the current German underground scene, and included people from Templegarden, Maeror Tri, Kernschrott, Para Noise Terminal and Y Ton G. The result of these jams are documented on this CD, well, better outtakes, since the total time of recordings was 13 hours. In one piece, "20 Minuten" (of course with playing time of 20 minutes) all the 13 people can be heard. But, you may ask, was what they produced interesting? I must admit, only in partl. It's all mainly a sort of musique concrete, but maybe too much of a jam: a continuous flow of sound, without too much dynamics. Every piece seems to start at a certain volume, and it stays there. But, overall it is not a bad CD, and certainly deserves your attention. This year, there will be another noise factory, so that could be again of interest. // Address: fax Stefan Rossow: + 49 40 651 4846 ENTERTAINMENT THROUGH PAIN (CD by RRRecords) What is going on? Just saw somewhere a tribute to Joy Division, also one to Death In June and now, here is a CD tribute to Throbbing Gristle. I'm sure I do needto explain who Throbbing Gristle were... I can't remember the last time I played a TG record in god knows how many years, but looking at the tracks, I knew them all.. It would be interesting to see if I could sing along with every track. The short opening noise attack that has to be 'Six Six Sixties' by a band called 'Subtrochanteric Muta Ul Trag lasts only a few seconds and Phlegm's 'united' is also hard to decipher. Both of them could be any piece of music. This goes for some other pieces (like 'Adrenalin' by 7000 Dying Rats, Skullflower's 'Hamburger Lady' , or Paul Lernos 'AB/7A' ) which are not at all bad tracks, but have nothing in common with the original. Merzbow's version of Tiab Guls is likewise difficult, but the steady stream of sound is at least a little bit of the original (I wonder whether Masami reversed his tape, since 'Tiab Guls' is the backwards version of 'Slug Bait' -true devotees know what I'm talking about). Emil Beaulieu has some ordinary everyday working sounds (I guess from one record shop or another), which are then coupled with the original version of 'What A Day' .This track is the only one that appears twice, Violent Onsen Geisha stays close to the original. A surprising original track is the almost spoken track 'Blood On The Floor' by Impact Test. Also appearing are XPXR.XR with 'Subhuman' and Grae Corn with '20 Jazz Funk Greats' . Wherever there is noise on this compilation it is incredible louder and more abrasive then TG ever was -compared to today's standards they were soft. They set the term industrial music, whereas their children expand the term... (FdW) // Address: RRRecords 151 Paige St. - Lowell, MA 01852 -USA DUE PROCESS -COMBINE I-XVIII (CD by RRRecords) Due Process, also known as Ron Lessard's (head of RRReCords) band, has always been a band to keep an ear open for. Many of his recordings are conceptual in a way, even without it being possible to tell what exact the concept is. This CD is yet another proof of that. As far as I can tell, this is some sort of collaboration/recycling carried out by Due Process, using sounds by themselves, Thomas Dimuzio, Ron Lessard and John Wiggins. There are drones underneath and collage like sounds on top, swirling in and out of the mix. Probably some multi-track collage. The sounds are somewhat drowned in reverb, which is a pity. The overall flow is a steady stream that remains at the same volume which I thought was not so good for the attention span. Conceptwise pretty much o.k., but a CD single would have worked as well. // Address: as above SLUGBAIT -MEDIUM TO HEAVY FLOW (CD by Dirter) From UK's guitar noise scene comes Slugbait, a three person band. This 5 track CD is the first I've heard by them. The instruments they use are synthesizer, guitar, radio, metal and voice. Not that it is necessary to know, as none of these are not recognizable in any way. The whole lot sounds distorted, feedback like. If you thought that only the Japanese were capable of doing feedback noise music, then this CD proves you were wrong. If you're looking for more noise in the style of Merzbow or Incapacitants then this is for you. And for me, as I was very impressed by this! (FdW) // Address: Dirter - P.O. Box 61 - Herne Bay - Kent CT6 BGA - UK MERZBOW & JOHN WATERMANN -BRISBANE TOKYO INTERLACE (CD by Cold Spring) A surprising combination one might say! Merzbow is king of noise, and maybe so is Watermann, but the latter on another level. This CD has solo tracks by both of them as well as a collaboration piece. Merzbow opens solo, with a sample of a violin, but the noise onslaught bursts open, to develop into some rhythm after a few minutes. A recent feature of Merbow's recent releases. The second piece is the collaboration If I'm the one to tell, then each of these two are set after each other: a few seconds of Waterrnann, to be followed by a few second of Merzbow. Probably following some compositional idea, which I haven't discovered. This gives the piece a collage effect that is interesting as it shifts back and forth between noise and ordinary, unprocessed sounds. The Watermann solo is built from small samples that are noisy, but never go over the top, but keep flowing on a constant volume level. Not a bad piece. Nice carton sleeve (though I saw it before) and the only point of criticism is that I missed more collaborative stuff, as the CD remains quite short (at just over 35 minutes). (FdW) // Address: Cold Spring - 87 Gloucester Avenue - Delapre - Northampton - England NN4 9PT ULTRASOUND.WOONSOCKET (LP by Another Autonomy Recording) Ultrasound. Woonsocket are from Texas and advertise themselves as a sonic infusion of 'Flying Saucer attack, Main, Jim O'Rourke, Galaxy 500, Stars Of The Lid, Eno and Popol Vuh' .One of them is a member of Stars Of The Lid, who surprised us last year with an outstanding CD of guitar ambient. The B-side of this record is built up of one long, continuous track of dripping-like water sounds in a cave (catching up with the reverb of that cave). A huge dark ambient sound. The guitarish drones open up side A, but more lushly played. Then the big disappointment: a guitar chord with girly vocals.. which every once in a while gets into noisy drones. Boring and out of place. Both sides end in lockgrooves, so there is some DJ fun in there too. Anyway: great 2/3 of a record (let that be enough to get it). // ddress: GREGORY WHITEHEAD -SHAKE,RATTLE & ROLL/DEGENERATES IN DREAMLAND (CD by V2 Archief) Here's a new release by Gregory Whitehead. It includes some older material placed into new contexts and of course, some new stuff by this linguistic wizard from Nantucket. I am still in awe of 'Dead Letters' , released on Staalplaat last year. Some of the characters on that disc reappear here to unravel more of their yarns. There are two pieces on this CD but I hardly notice the dividing announcement. Indeed the owner is encouraged to shuffle-play ( more and more shufflin' every day) thus participating in the joy of de- and re- contextualisation. Hear Gregory manipulate his live audiences with as much skill as he does his larynx ( or not as the case may be ). Listen while a pathologist at a military hospital displays specimens with the conviction of a salesperson as she anticipates the delivery of 2500 brains dating from before 1880... something she was particularly pleased about as pre-1900 medical treatment of schizophrenics ( another Whitehead fetish) was obviously quite different to that of the present day. Another woman relates the details of her first sexual encounter as an extremely innocent 13 year old... it spills out of her like a confession. Saxophones accompany her juggling the themes from an earlier Whitehead composition 'Fever'. Once again Greg touches on amputations -those performed medically with permission and those performed by an ex-Mrs Bobbit. The lady with her shattered and blackening fingers who contributes so much material on 'Dead Letters' shares more of her own experience of dismemberment. Her fingers, unable to speak, however cannot relate their own feelings of dismemberment as they pickle in her fridge. Gregory is enraptured with language and it's mysteries and he shares this love infectiously. It's flawless editing shines through - jumpcutting with as much speed as the early surrealists dodged the other pedestrians as they cantered from cinema to cinema in an attempt to try and watch as many fragments of 7 or 10 films in the same night and then try to make sense of it all. Or not, as the case may be. Congratulations are also due to V2 and especially Joke Brouwer who is responsible for the outstanding package and booklet design. Full marks. (MP) // Address: MICHAEL FAHRES ZOOPHONIA (CD on Valves) Here's a strange item which is rendered all the more incomprehensible to me because I do not understand the lingo what the book is written in, like. My fault. But it does mean I can assess the material without being influenced by the information. Is this a good thing ? Hmm... Anyway, the first three tracks failed to impress me, something to do with using animal sounds as source material and arranging them according to a score by a bloke with the monniker Hercule Florence. I think. The last and longest track Fenix managed to catch my attention while I lay listening to it in a half-sleep state. It starts as an uneasy collage gradually unfolding into an impressive array of sounds which swell up or barge through swirling around each other in an unusual and seemingly endless procession. The piece becomes more and more clever as we journey through a kaleidescope of found field recordings and invented and fabricated places where Charles Ives might well have taken a vacation or indeed, have sold insurance. There are a few and a half too many treated choral/orchestral bits which result in the idea wearing thin. (MP) // Address: Vital Weekly is published by Frans de Waard and submitted for free to anybody with an e-mail address. If you don't wish to receive this, then let us know. Any feedback is welcome . Forward to your allies. Snail mail: Frans de Waard -P.O.Box 11453 -1001 GL Amsterdam -The Netherlands All written by Frans de Waard (FdW) and The Square Root Of Sub (MP)