\ / | ----- /\ | \ / |== |== | / | \ / Week 19 \ / | | / \ | \ /\ / | | |/ | \ / Number 79 \/ | | / \ |--- \/ \/ |__ |__ |\ |__ | TRANSIENT WAVES - TRANSIENT WAVES (CD by Che/i) Che calls it ''astral" rock, other people call it space rock, or post rock or post kraut rock. Current hype from the USA: bands that play long spacey pieces with guitar drones, a simple set of drums and no vocals. Recentely I had the oppurtunity to find out a lot of these bands, and the majority is quite interesting, but if one hears an overkill, bands become interchangeable. I didn't hear Transient Waves before, but their 6 track CD (lasting in total 50 minutes) is quite alright. Slowly envelopping pieces of guitar music, hughly drenched in reverb and chorus, and the same set of minimal percussion. Other drones are played on cello, clarinet and violin. The calm music is at times pastoral in tone, but it never gets pathetic. Address: GEORGE SMITS - ZBOLK NIGHT RADIO (CD by Audioview) Audioview is linked to the fine Belgium distributor Lowlands, and hail hail: they release 'serious' electronic music from very unknown musicians (no Merzbow or Aube on this label). If I understand the liner notes well, Smits is a visual artist in which the interest in sound vibrations play an important role. The sound from interacting long strings, glass rods, bamboo sticks in being amplified through styrofoam. How exactely that is possible is puzzling to me. Smits plays his inventions and mixes recordings of it on Radio Centraal in Antwerpen, where is from. In a track like 'Station Call', there is the rubbing sounds, tikling sounds, andthey are mixed with some samples. Once this feature is introduced, a lot of the material on this CD is alike. The majority of the tracks on this CD is electronic and are out-takes from larger sections. Overall an interesting CD, but maybe it could have been a shorter to remain interesting throughout. (FdW) Address: AUBE - CARDIAC STRAIN (CD by Alien8) This latest Aube CD (well last weeks latest) is entirely made by using solely the sounds of heartbeat. Each of the 6 tracks on this CD is drenched in effects, samples and noise. But this release is not as noise as some japs can be, as Aube manages to get in a particular drive of his own, a heartbeat that lives in each track. Not really ranking among the best Aube release (which is still 'Metal De Metal'), but quite an alright release. (FdW) Address: KILLING ME SOFTLY WITH NOISE (CD by Noise) Horrible title! Seven bands get their oppurtunity to play 'soft noise' - which is opposed to 'harsh noise', the feedback areas. Some people call it ambient industrial. Syllyk opens up with one of his known collages of environmental sound, intercepted by... ooops feedback sounds. Crawl Unit has a droning back drop and some close miked sounds. The larger part consists of sounds that just drone along, and slowly develop. Small Cruel Party has a reputation of amplifyng small sounds and is of course not to miss on this one. His piece is what you could expect from him. A rarity on compilations is Strafe F.R., with a track that opens with pigs screaming, a fake preacher and guitars (like on the much ignored 'Pianoguitar' CD). The for me unknown Ching-Shen-Ching researches in four minutes the beauty of stereo spectrum. CM von Hauswolff has the longest piece and sound (almost) like an excirse in minimalism with a Korg machine. Hybryds at last position offer something that is more musical then any of the other six, and seem a bit out of place. (FdW) Address: L@N - L@N (CD by A-Musik) WABI SABI - WABI SABI (CD by A-Musik) Watch my words: A-Musik is going to be the next most interesting label in daring electronic music, crossing noise to dance music. The L@N (which stands for Local Area Network) was partly released on vinyl before, but is now completed with some extra tracks. Five tracks are recorded live, and two are from the studio. The starting point of every track is a basic sound, a rhythm loop etc., and L@N improvises over the basic loop with synthesizers and drum computers. In general a minimal affair. The strangest thing however is that in each track the stereo is used. A lot of the sounds either exist just on the right or just on the left channel. Duble listening fun! Wabi Sabi is something different. This is Markus Schmickler, who of course you know from his eclectic CD on Odd Size, and his work in the Cologne music scene with people like POL, Kontakta and Mouse On Mars. "The Pair of terms Wabi and Sabi are expressions of an attitude towards life that draw the power of artistic creation from silence and decay". The main part of the Wabi Sabi CD consists of the piece with the same title, which is a 2-channel version of some spatial composition. It starts out with feedback like sounds and transposing synths. In the second track a train-like rhythm is added and shortwave like sounds are thrown in the mix. From there the result is actually a swinging piece of music, without any obvious reference to dance music. Then in the track indexed as 4 and 5 the composition is slowly built to a conclusion. Index number 6 is Param, also a 2 channel version of the electronic music from 'Drift/Dense' (probably an installation or something). Long droning tones, like sirens, intermix with eachother. Quite some serious composing on this CD, which breathes atmospheres of serious electronic avant-garde. (FdW) Address: A-Musik - BrusselerPlatz 10a - 50674 Koln - Germany BRANDON LABELLE - PRIMA MATERIA (CD by Unique Ancient Tavern) ID BATTERY - LILY EVENTS (CD by Unique Ancient Tavern) Labelle is a visual artist and musician whose aim it is to draw attention to the dynamics of sound and listening. He amplifies walls, floor and places contact mics on objects. The seven untitled pieces on his CD sound like recorded live, with machine humm here and there, and reminded me in some spots of Small Cruel Party. Of course one could wonder if this kind of music works without its visual aspect. But for me it worked fine: nice dronig atmospherics, no noise bursting out of your speakers. Relaxing experimental, ambient industrial music. Id Battery is a group with Brandon as one of its members. 'Lily Events' was released last year, but shamefully ignored by us. The difference between Brandon's solo work and Id Battery lies for me in the fact that Id Battey operates more from a musical background. There is rhythmical banging on various metallic objects, tapes played backwards, sea sounds etc. But alike Labelle: relaxing experimental. Both worth checking out! (FdW) Adress: PENDLER (2CD by Skraep) To pendle is to travel from your home to your work, and who else at Vital Weekly then me should write about it (Pendling takes me 2 hours a day). This double CD is an interesting concept: basic recordings at the train station of Kopenhaven, Denmark were send to artists around the world, and they were asked to produce a piece of music. The result is, as you may have suggested, quite divers. Ruelgo (known front-man of Le Syndicat) produces a lot of bangs and rhythms and Francis Dhomont comes up with a strict soundscaping piece. Otomo Yoshihide emphazises the pain to the daily travel, by juxtaposing the chaotic character. Another surprising contribution is by UK guitar noisists Headbutt in which the railway station sounds are hard to recognize. Dr. Mengelhause's contribution comes right after that and is like 80's cassette-network music: rather simple rhythmbox and synths. Other participators to be found here: Barry Truax, Anton Ignorant, Per Buhl Acs, Yasuhiro Otani, P.O. Jorgens, Jakob Brandt and Jorgen Teller, the man who set this to work. (FdW) 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), 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 . 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