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VITAL WEEKLY
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EDITION #57
WEEK #45
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THE DAUGHTERS OF CONCEPTUAL SEX DEATH (CD by Muzamuza Records)

Humm... as you are may be aware I'm not fond of these kind of names - in away they sound so silly. I hope couldn't say the same of the music, butthis kind of lives up to it's name: synths, dark beats, at times prettynoisy and ugly, at other times gothic like. Not really bad in it's genre,but a bit outdated. (FdW)Address: Muzamuza - 3 Soulby Court, Kingston Park - Newcastle Upon TyneNE3 2TQ - England 

STIMBOX/A.U.M./DEATH SQUAD (CD by Hebi Like A Snake)

Three bands on a joint theme: the sarin gas attacks by Jap metro in 1995.Stimbox have also some tapes out, on the same label (as it is their ownlabel). This is the industrial music side of things, distortion throughout,overload being the concept... on all three bands. The credits say 'hi &thanks & inspiration' and read like a who's who in the Jap noise scene. IfI say that Stimbox reminded me of Merzbow, then you know where to placethis. Not bad actually as they don't fall into mere static, but changes areapparent throughout. The mysterious A.U.M. have one track with distortedradio sound and synths (they have no credits on the cover). Death Squad areon the feedback side of industrial music on one track. Their 'TheologicalGenocide' is a really tense and scary piece of radio snippets that burstinto plain noise. An interesting CD, one of the better in the noise field.(FdW)Address: 

KONRAD KRAFT - ALIEN ATMOSPHERES (CD by Electrosmog)

Actively involved in sound production since the early eighties as part ofthe cassette network, but somehow escaping my attention all those years.This new CD comes with short cover text saying that "Ever since man startedmaking music he has been using the opportunity to influence dynamicbrain-processes by producing sounds, rhythms, noises etc." A highlyelectronic music is what we find on this CD - but how that relates to thehuman brain is not clear to me. Most tracks are flowing textured soundsthat are interwoven cleverly. At times these sounds refer to industrialenvironments, such as in the first track were a drill has been used.Overall an interesting, yet not really surprisingly new CD. (FdW) 

SPLINTERED/RLW (CD by Black Rose)
BAND OF PAIN - YOU'RE MISS FORTUNE (CD by Iris Light)

Two examples of post punk bands that have experimentalism as a form intheir guitar/bass/drum outing. Splintered is already well-known andoperates as the focus of many off-shoots - Band Of Pain is the solo thingby one member. RLW is Ralf Wehowsky, formerly of P16.D4. It may seem an oddcombination for this band and this person to cooperate together, but itisn't. Wehowsky's background is also in guitar oriented bands (PD) for whomexperimenting was a main interest. On this CD they exchange sound materialby one another but the results come altogether to something different.Splintered runs some RLWsound through the sampler and play with guitar,bass and drums on top. A coherent sound inside the rock format. RLW cuts upthe sound of the rock band into a collage form, changes are more abruptly.These two different approaches however work quite well - the extension ofone another. A fine collaboration.Band Of Pain is the project of Steve Pittis from Splintered. The ninetracks on his CD are commented by dry liner notes. Stuff that either'needed more doing' or 'rescued from the bin' to 'I'm at a bit of a loss toknow to what to say about it'... The first track is a great piece of moderncollage techniques: synths and slowed-down backwards choir. In other piecesguitars play a more prominent role, but unlike Splintered, the rock formatis not apparent. This music treats the sounds to a wider extent and hasoverall a more experimental edge to it. Worth mentioning is also theinclusion of '4'33' by John Cage - and now there is something hear... Thecover is a nice rip-off to Deutsche Grammophon.Address: Black Rose - P.O.Box 4581 - London, SW6 4YE - UKAddress: Iris Light fax: + 44 1637 881 543 

TOTEMPLOW - APPLAUD THE EXECUTION (CD by Manifold)

On the mucho sympathico US label a new band. Applaud to them who investtheir money in something we don't know. Totemplow is one Chad Jones who isexploring the guitar sound. This is done by sampling it to death, thuscreating drones and playing the guitar over it. Totemplow creates richtextures of thick ambient sound, not unlike the works of Lull (for thedroning part) or Bill Laswell (for the rhythm stuff that is added in thebackground). If this was Lull or Laswell, then you would have added it toyour favorites but now it's Mr. nobody and you wait until the name buzzesaround. My suggestion: start buzzing now as Totemplow deserves your ears.(FdW)Address: 

O - OLENTO (CD by Sahko)

Almost three years after the first O CD, finally the long awaitedfollow-up. Both O and their label have been ground-breaking for theirexcursions in minimalist techno with industrial edges to the house-floor. Ois the solo project by Mika Vainio, also member of Panasonic. Both the workof Panasonic and O change courses: Panasonic on their latest a minimal,almost gabba style, O goes into a much more somber style, perhaps darkerthen previous works. The minimal, down to earth beats are still there, yetunmistakably there is also a darker tone involved. The beats are out ofsync, and each seem to follow their own track. Each of the tracks areexecuted with care and yes: O's second CD is a classic too. (FdW)Address: Fax: 350-0-628870 

EYEPHONE - EVERGREENS (CD by Hypnotism)

Eyephone is the name chosen by Marc Behrens to bring the dance music to thesitting room ambiance, taking advantage of his background in industrialmusic. The music Eyephone produces neither one nor the other. I don't seethis being played at the Saturday night rave, but the industrialists willhave surely problems with this too. I have no problems with this at all.It's good to see that we have arrived maybe in a true post-modern society,where you play house music, next to post-rock, electro-acoustic music orwhatever. Stylistic boundaries apparently have disappeared. Eyephone somevery intelligent dance music and has made an album that is even better thenhis first one ('Reductive'). If this was on Warp, this guy would have beenbig! (FdW)Address: <100660.1760@compuserve.com 

JOHN DUNCAN & BERNARD GUNTER - HOME, UNSPEAKABLE
ROEL MEELKOP - 9 (HOLES IN THE HEAD)
FRANCISCO LOPEZ - BELLE CONFUSION 966(three CD's by Trente Oiseaux)

Three new releases on that label that is 'to avant-garde to put theiraddress on it' (quote from EST) and by others hailed as 'test CD's forhigh-end equipment'. Trente Oiseaux is your next hype. All their CD's havewell-designed, utterly minimal covers and the info is still barelyreadable.Let's kick off with the collaboration work by John Duncan and label ownerBernard Gunter. Two negative points first: why does this CD have atransparent tray (as this breaks with the image of the label) and why is itso short (just over 30 minutes)? "The music on this CD was inspired bySamuel Beckett's libretto for Morton Feldman's chamber opera Neither. It isconstructed as a series of musical 'places' which in their entirety formthe topography of a 'landscape' we feel might be described by the finalwords of Beckett's text: unspeakable home" (wow how often do we reproducecomplete cover texts?). Silence takes us within 5 minutes to crackles allover and end abruptly to take the sound volume back up again. The sound nowtakes the form of stretched out samples. The third part (if of course one speak of parts) consists of loose acoustic sounds, again by means ofsampling put in the 'right' place. Another part seem to consist of Duncan's trademark, shortwave sounds. In general these two don't seem to give away very much of their sound sources, as most of the sounds are treated to awide extent Overall this is not an easy CD, but one that deserves your fullattention span, but there is a lot of discover in there, as some of thesounds seem very well hidden. 

Roel Meelkop was (maybe still is?) a member of a legendary Dutch electro-acoustic music group THU20 (whose third CD is never finished, or soit seems) and who produced some solo cassettes as Mailcop. Besides he worksas a visual artist and is a member of Kapotte Muziek whenever there is alive concert. His nine piece CD is different from that Trente Oiseaux stylein the sense that every piece is recognizable as a new piece and the CD isvery well playable on a normal audio set. Meelkop takes the advantage ofsampling acoustic sounds and stretches them, thus collaging thecomposition. Most of the tracks start with either low end bass rumbling orhigh pitches crackles. But everything added on top is recognizable. Thefifth track, the center of the CD, is the soundtrack to a video of JosMoers and the use feedback tones seemed some what out of place. However itdoes break the CD. The sixth track 'vergeten' one hears the human voicemaking a sound, and shows the humorous side of this kind of serious music.In all a varied CD which everyone should cherish.Those who read my reviews of Trente Oiseaux' first batch of releases,remember I was quite negative about Lopez' first CD for this label. Over the year I gave it some more try, and actually I like it. 

I notice different tracks of a varying intensity and volume. Here is a new one, withone piece in two version. The first one is the studio version of acomposition performed live during the Trente Oiseaux Alpine tour 1996. Ashort (17 minute) live version is also included. The studio version (some50 minutes) takes again a microscopic view at sound. Small, almostinaudible sounds are used in this piece, and it only gradually opens up(i.e. becomes more audible) to end beyond ear reach. The live version comesa total surprise: totally audible and almost an industrial piece withsamples throughout of almost factory like noises. Just getting used toLopez' approaches, this was not so much of my liking, however I may havechanged my opinion by the time the next Lopez CD comes out. (FdW)

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