\ / | ----- /\ | \ / |== |== | / | \ / Week 16 \ / | | / \ | \ /\ / | | |/ | \ / Number 77 \/ | | / \ |--- \/ \/ |__ |__ |\ |__ | Q.R. GHAZALA - REQUIEM FOR A RADIO (CD by Realization) Q.R. GHAZALA - THRENODY TO THE NEW VICTIMS OF HIROSHIMA (CD by Realization) Ghazala builts his own instruments through 'circuit-bending' (the creative short-circuiting of various electronic devices) and is now presenting two works on CD. To aptly describe the concept of 'Requiem' I should re-write the extensive liner-notes, but in short: a radio is destroyed, then smashed in an ice crusher, then melted, and then sawed into chunks. Each of these actions result in a 15 minute music piece. The destruction of a small plastic radio is performed with great precision, a slow process, but delivering a great, concentrated musique concrete piece. The contact microphone is then attached to the ice crusher. There is machine drone in the background and small sounds of falling objects. In the third piece the radio pieces get thrown in a metal container before they are cremated. I suspect some studio treatments are added here, since there is some stereo echo used. The sawing piece is the most 'industrial' piece with its heavy backdrop of rhythmic machinery. Of course there is a lot more to it, than I could describe here, but it remains a fascinating requiem. The 'Threnody' is a 5 piece work recorded for the 'insect voice synthesizer'. Long sustaining drones make up what could be a requiem as well. The drones are high pitched, thus giving the work a rather dark meaning: it sounds like an air raid siren going off during a bombardment. This ain't pleasent listening, but a rather powerful work that, in all it's harshness, does make sense. (FdW) Address: 9452 Telephone Road #116 - Ventura, CA 93004 - USA ONOMATOPEIA - IRRELEVANT (C45 cassette by Perverse Series) Just what is irrelevant? This release? Or the fact that Onomatopeia tells us what the ingredients are in every track? Onomatopeia is one of those active musicians who still releases on various formats, including cassettes. Each of the 5 tracks on this tape is recorded by using one soundsource: hunting horn, cymbal, piccolo, bass guitar and home-made zambomba. These instruments are fed through a whole bunch of effects and samplers. I can't recognize the piccolo or the guitar in amongst all the disturbing sound effects. The resulting pieces can easily be described as industrial, but the kind of industrial that is put together with more skill then the average 'how do I set my cassettedeck in all the wrong connections'. (FdW) Address: P.O.Box 62140 - 15201 Chalandri - Athens, Greece WE - AS IS (CD by Asphodel) We are a bit of everything. We are trip hoppy. We are breakbeat. We are jungle. We are a bit of ambient. We are a bit techno. We may ask: do We have a face, or are We as blurred as the images on the cover? We made a nice entertaining CD, but maybe a bit too faceless. We are puzzled. (FdW) Address: MARNIX DE NIJS - THE SOUND OF NEIGHBOURS (CD) When reviewing this CD, one has do some name dropping. Marnix de Nijs is a visual artist from Rotterdam and for an art project he attached a microphone to the wall of his neighbours. He taped some of their daily events of his neighbours, like them watching soccer, enjoying family Life, having a telephone call, while fucking and pissing. An invasion of their privacy. Just like, here comes the name dropping as promised, Scanner. When hearing and reading the liner notes, we can't find out whether they knew they were taped (or wether they gave permission to release a CD). Now what in terms of music? Is it music at all? I would say it is. In musical terms this is just as much as soundscaping as, say, recording birds or water. Of course everything sounds cranked (recorded through walls, remember), but this CD raises once more a lot of questions, such as: how far can one go, in terms of privacy (if such a thing still exists), how far can we go, what is music? Address: PHTHALOCYANINE - NAVY WARSHIP (CD by Plug Research) With CD production prices dropping all the time, everyone can make a CD. This one of those really low-budget products. No info whatsoever on the band, just hand scribbled titles and address. The music is a lot of rhythms layered over each other, which in some way are borrowed from all those dance music areas, but it never reaches jungle, trip hop or (fill the rest in yourself). There is also a lot of organ-like sounds, echoes to go along with, but these 10 tracks have too much hit andlack character. None of these tracks really go anywhere, and sound like a random mix of sounds stapled on the multi-track. I prefer to pass on this. (FdW) Address: telephone & fax: + 1 714-552-6954 SHIFTS - SUPERIMPOSED (7" Vinyl) ULTRASOUND - LOOM (12" Vinyl) BRUNNEN - GOODBYE BY BRUNNEN (12" Vinyl) ALL ABOVE ON KORM PLASTICS Every two or three months Korm Plastics, Amsterdam based label, releases a bunch of records of different sizes and playing speeds. They are all limited editions, which makes them quite snaffable anyway, and usually score about 2 out of 3. The first of this new batch to come under the needle is the 7" ' Superimposed' by a person called ' Shifts', and he works from the premise of guitar as source of ambient. Not a new idea, and hardly worth mentioning. But I have. So there. This is the 2ND 33RPM 7" by this composer, and as I found one of the tracks on the previous record absolutely excellent, I thought I'd better give this some time. It is much more aggressive than the last disc, opening with a severely stressed bell-like sound which almost strobes out of the speakers. Low tones slowly encroach but never come close enough to shatter the weird web that these bells carve out of space. This is followed by a white heat roar, the sound of something big falling down. Track 3, Side 2...knock on wood, bouce the delay, bright chords burst forth and perhaps resurface in the next track which might be later on in the take. Those bells are getting LOUDER, as they ricochet off sonic walls. The LP by Ultrasound is a much more intense kettle of fish...instructions on the back of the sleeve suggest splitting the outputs from the turntable to two amplifiers and four speakers. Having listened to this on a normal stereo system I can easily associate with this idea. The group is mostly R.F.Olvelz, occasionally accompanied by members of Stars Of The Lid. It is a massive drone, produced by godnosewot, which sounds like pure waves bunged through a bunch of filters and the obligatory 'verb units. It is similar to an exploration of a room filled with wires which, once brought into vibration, rub against each other producing accidental crashes and harmonics which spin off into the corners of the space. It is relentless, demanding and a perfect aid to interdimensional travel. Last up is my favourite of this series of records, probably because it is completely unlike 99.9% of what I have on my shelves. Brunnen is Freak Kinkylaar, half of Dutch duo Beequeen. The source tapes for this LP were recorded about two years ago (just after the 'Queens' finished 'Sugarbush'), during a concert in France. The Kink was accompanied by Ryan Moore, bassist for the Legendary Pink Dots and several and a half months after recording this, handed it over to two blurks who did the final production. It is a beautiful, personal and completely whimsical collection of tracks, none of which try to be anything more than what they are. There are no disguises here. There are some love songs, simply executed with guitar, voice and one or two other sounds, which are separated by weird atmospheric instrumental pieces. Names that came to mind were Julian Cope and Syd Barrett (and that's a compliment, Jules!), mostly because of the completely other-world (beyond the fourth, the fifth and even the sixth) vocal takes and stuttering instrumentation. A fragile, delicate and refreshing addition to my vinyl piles. (MP) 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), The Square Root Of Sub (MP), Ching-Chong Jing-Jong (CP), Radboud Mens (RM), Sister Clika (RTH) http://www.compusmart.ab.ca/tbennett/staalplaat/st-home.htm. -- 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: Vital Weekly/Frans de Waard -P.O.Box 11453 - 1001 GL Amsterdam - The Netherlands All written by Frans de Waard (FdW), The Square Root Of Sub (MP, ), Heimir Bjorgulfsson (HB), Dolf Mulder (DM), Meelkop Roel (MR), Brian Lavelle (BL, ), Gerald Schwartz (GS), Niels Mark Pedersen (NMP), Henry Schneider (SH), Jeff Surak (JS), TJ Norris (TJN), Gregg Kowlaksky (GK) and others on a less regular basis. 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