\ / | ----- /\ | \ / |== |== | / | \ / Week 46 \ / | | / \ | \ /\ / | | |/ | \ / Number 103 \/ | | / \ |--- \/ \/ |__ |__ |\ |__ | MAZK - SPL (CD by Or) Ash International is dead - long live Or! The catalog number is IF 2, so we can wonder what IF 1 is. Mazk is short for Masami Akita (aka Merzbow) and Zbigniew Karkowski (known from his sound/performance work around the world, and is works with Duncan and Hafler Trio). This CD has three tracks, one solo by each and a collaborative mix. That one opens the CD, with a low drone, with the noise being gradually faded up. All the aspects of Akita's and Karkowski's solo work are in there. Noise, feedback, droning sounds - the whole lot. Masami's piece is the usual onslaught of white noise, feedback and loops, with the recent touch of psychedelic noise. A raw piece which could have used a bit more variety. Karkowski finds himself in similar noise territory as Masami, unlike some of his previous work which were more drony in nature. To me this piece has more power and drive then Akita's one. But alas, this is a fine disc of harsh noise, not seen on Ash or Touch before. (FdW) Address: AUBE & LASSE MARHAUG - NEW FORMS OF FREE ENTERTAINMENT (CD by Jazzassin) Another hard working jap bloke with Norway's most active networker on a collaborative effort. Packed in a cute little carton box full of cassette-images - to commemorate the sound carrier used for the exchange. This disc cleverly runs from ambient noise to noise noise. There is a certain industrial quality to this CD, even when the sound gets ambient or rhythmical, like in Aube's piece 'Morpheus'. The tracks by the two are cocktailed, i.e. not one half by each, but there is a small block of Lasse and a block by Aube and then Lasse. As they both display the aforementioned variety, it is a varied CD. For me the most interesting parts are the more ambient ones, and since they make up the majority of the CD I'm more then happy with this release. (FdW) Address: MARK MANCHA - MASTER OF DECEPTION (7" by LeBo Disques) Dance music least favorite format is the 7". The bass response on 33 rpm is not really great and DJ's will find it hard to play around with. But hey what the fuck, it is my favorite vinyl format (along with the 10") - but of course I'm no DJ. This dude is playing around with various stolen samples in 5 tracks - all credited on the cover (Dum, K. Kieslowski, Jon Hassel, John Peel and Autechre). The opening piece is over before you know it has begun. Dum are sampled in the second piece on side A, and as you may recall, they are from Finland, and run connection to Panasonic. I am not sure whether it is the sample, but this runs similar musical connections. Slowly building in sounds, with factory like droning underneath. 'Blue' are sampled piano sounds. 'Laut' has a low fi beat again with some stretched samples and 'Room's Next Door' takes the beat and shortwave. So a kind of lo-fi minimal techno sound - you wish the sound was a little bit better. (FdW) Address: 21 Rue Des Chandeliers - 1000 Brussels - Belgium FRANCISCO LOPEZ - UNTITLED MUSIC FOR GEOGRAPHY (CD by Sedimental) Lopez' latest work is music made for a choreography piece called 'Geography'. Of course we have no clue what this dance is about. There is just one piece, of 46 minutes. It starts out with a low drone with an occasional glitch somewhere. There is of course a Huge bass response - not to be fully reproduced on my plywood playback (though I'm sure it sounds great on a proper installation). Eventually the piece grows, very soft, very organic into bigger walls of more drones. At 20 minutes there is break and the whole piece starts building again. Samples take over at 28 minutes and come off like a rhythm... maybe... without ever being a rhythm of course. The piece ends the way it started - with drones. A fine work by a composer who is setting new boundaries of minimal music. (FdW) Address: Sedimental - P.O.Box 4144 - Austin, TX 78765 - USA CHAIR (CD by Jack & Elsie) Here is a new label, introducing themselves with a compilation, which maybe called 'Chair. This CD must be a showcase of what is forthcoming on this label - and it looks most promising. The kick off is Crawl Unit with a noisy ambient - or was it ambienty noise? - piece of musique concrete. Shifts has two tracks, the first is metallic guitar piece which a study in minimalism and gradually eroding feedback. The second track (at place 27 of the CD), is a remix with various bit of the forthcoming, first CD by Shifts. Rapoon treats the atmospheres in his usual ambienesq style. More treated guitars are played by Totemplow, again in a drony style. Fuxa are to some the most known band, since they are 'big' on the post-rock-moog scene. Their psychedelic piece of triggered sounds and bass would fit well on their own studio CD. Brume might be the odd ball in this collection, but his piece of rhythms (reminding me of his collaboration with Nomuzic) fits actually quite well. Monera is new to me and is a rather primitive experimental thing of sampled sound, with piano tinkling in the back. With Mlehst we finally enter noise and feedback areas, which is put together in a collage way. The man behind Pregnant Pause is R. Kitch, of IAM Umbrella and His Master's Voice fame. The sampled voices and sounds is slightly reminiscent to Randy Greif. Flutter is again new to me, and are like Mhlest in noise territory. After that something that is called FM Synthesis, stretched out over 14 or so tracks of bleeping test-tone - but with a playing time of 1 minute. The last four tracks are tasters of upcoming releases, one of them the above mentioned Shifts tracks. The other 3 are by, the guitarist of Zeni Geva. His guitar works are much more recognizable as the six strings and might be more post-rock, and less noisy then what one could have expected. In all a compilation of varied music, which somehow fits together quite well, and with those upcoming releases, Elsie & Jack is certainly a label to watch out for. Address: A SMALL GOOD THING - BLOCK (CD by The Leaf) You may remember ASGT as an off-shoot project of O Yuki Conjugate? It seems that OYC is dead - long live ASGT and of course the other off-shoot Sons Of Silence. The first three ASGT CD's were all by Soleilmoon, but at long last they have releases out in their own God saved queen country (which certainly benefits the sales). This album is step forward - the Ry Cooder slide guitars are left of for a more dance oriented production. The rhythms are trip hop based with a sometimes darkly set synth and samples, like in 'Babywalker'. And this is quite exemplary of the whole CD: dark, brooding atmospheres, set against nice laid-back rhythms. There is a touch of experimentalism to be found here also., like the train-like sounds of ' Short History Of Underlinen'. A whole atmosphere makes this probably suitable for film, and I can imagine someone invites them for a film soundtrack one day. Nice arty package this one too. (FdW) Address: TONI POLSTER FAN CLUB ERDBERG (miniCD by Mego) This may come as a shock if you seek hip industrialist techno. Three tracks clocking at a length of just over 7 minutes, all dedicated to Anton Polster. Anton who? That the Austrian son of football, you ignorant soccer. Set in a trip hop tune, we hear the official Fan club hymn, along with taped football comments. A production by DJ DSL - who gave up music to be the Anton Polster fan club chairman and helped by The 45 King - another hip hop big shot. Good? Don't ask me - but if you go out to prank on a party, then be sure to have this in your DJ bag. (FdW) Address: LABRADFORD - MI MEDIA NARANJA (CD by Blast First) Labradford is another one of those blend of bands that Rae sometimes called 'post rock', 'lounge', 'cocktail' or what have you got today rock. I wasn't to particular fond of their first bunch which had vocals I didn't like. This is largely instrumental - very laid back music of guitar's tinkling and an occasional strum on strings, piano and organ. Drums are not present. There is a sense of desolation throughout the entire CD - Ennio Morricone looking out of the prairie. This music won't cheer you up, that's for sure, but if lid the candles right and watch the snow falling outside, then you might find this a comfortable ride through a cold and lonely night. And with those tinkling sounds in the fifth piece it feels like almost Christmas. (FdW) Address: Blast First - 429 Harrow Road - London W10 4RE - UK SUB ELECTRONICA CHAPTER 1 (CD by Minus Habens) This is not exactly a new Minus Habens compilation, but the first to launch off a new side label of Minus, called BetaForm. This division deals with all sorts of new electronica music and is willing to promote 'only unknown and obscure electronic bands/musicians'. According to the cover they would very much like to hear new stuff. The 14 tracks are an excellent showcase of young Italian (including one from Spain and one from Serbia) bands and it offers a wide variety of the music styles mentioned on the cover ('ambient, drum 'n bass, electrofunk, experimental, jungle, industrial, gothic, techno, trip-hop') - everything is to be found here. Now of course there is the usual track that I don't like (mainly towards the end there is some horrible gothic stuff), but the up tempo piece by Wool is on the other hand a winner. If you are seeking out some new names, then this is a good place to start. If you, and I'm talking to the record labels here, can't afford to release the Aphex Twin, but you would like to get some exciting new dance music, this is a must-have. (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), BAraka[H], (BAR), Howard Stelzer (HS) webpage: www.staalplaat.com -- 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. 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