\ / | ----- /\ | \ / |== |== | / | \ / Week 6 \ / | | / \ | \ /\ / | | |/ | \ / Number 212 \/ | | / \ |--- \/ \/ |__ |__ |\ |__ | contents: NICOLAS PERRILLAT - VEILLÀ D'HIVÉ PATRICK RUTGÉ - EAUX FORTES (both CD's by Collectif & Cie) DUMMY RUN - PINK POCKET (cd by Hot Air) DUMMY RUN - ICE CREAM HEADACHE (cd by Hot Air) v/a - HALLWAYS: ELEVEN MUSICANS AND HMSL (cd by Frog Peak) ELPH - ZWOELF (20' to 2000) (Minicd by Noton) MUSLIMGAUZE - REMIXES VOL. 2 (cd by Soleilmoon) DIMETRODON COLLECTIVE - Volume One (cd by schmememtone) E-RAX - LIVE AT THE BIMHUIS (CD by X-or) GJ PRINS - SUB 8/9 (12" by Sieben) REUBER - ANNA (LP by Staubgold) MARCUS MAEDER - SOLIPSISTIC MOTION (LP by Domizil) UBSB - TRACEROUTE (LP by Ash[RIP] International) plus announcements NICOLAS PERRILLAT - VEILLÀ D'HIVÉ PATRICK RUTGÉ - EAUX FORTES (both CD's by Collectif & Cie) These are two new CD's in the series 'Musiques Tracées de Savoie', started last year by the aforementioned label. The series deals with 'oral tradition and the handing down of the sensitive memory of a place', the place in this case being the Savoie, a french region in the Alps. Again in the case of the first CD there is quite some spoken word present in the work, which is a bit of a trouble for me, because my french is not so well (I can order something to eat & drink, which is mostly enough). So some of the parts are lost on me, but I am happy to say that there is a lot more to be heard. Actually, Perrillat's CD carries the subtitle 'paysages sonores'(sonic landscapes) of the region, thus also reflecting some of the language, folk music and folk songs. Besides these ingredients we hear a lot of activities going on: scraping, grinding, banging and so on. These sounds probably originate from the handiwork, being carried out by the regionals. These sounds are then processed in several ways to accompany the folk songs, which gives some pretty funny results. The CD has been divided in twelve relatively short tracks, one of them featuring a duet by two Alp horns. In general, processing is kept to a minimum. Which is sometimes a shame, when hearing track six: cow (or sheep) bells are manipulated and constitute a very nice piece. In all I have the impression that too many different choices have been made on this CD, which makes it a little incoherent. But it is nice to hear someone concentrate on the region's folk music so strongly. 'Eaux Fortes' translates as 'strong waters' and is a single piece of twenty-one minutes and forty-one seconds. As one would expect, there's a lot of water sounds in the piece, but without any strong emphasis. This is a true and uncompromising soundscape: no processing has taken place, just editing the raw recordings together into a film for the ears. It's like opening the window and finding oneself in another city, the town of Annecy to be precise (there seem to be canals there). The piece is a quiet one on and tends to let on dream off to almost forgotten moments in almost forgotten places. A delicate work, very well done. (MR) Adress: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/collectif.et.cie/ DUMMY RUN - Pink Pocket - cd by Hot Air DUMMY RUN - Ice Cream Headache - cd by Hot Air I am unabashed and ecstatic when I say that these two recordings are now among my favourite records EVER. Well, up to this point, at least. Of course, there was the 7" of tracks from the "Pink Pocket" (possibly not its actual title but a smasher anyway by proxy, courtesy of the receipt from Aron's Records in Los Angeles) - a money-grab of sorts, but happily residing in the collection of 7"s. Another album on another label is promised - where is this one? And why are they favourites of mine? They remind me of not only being a big goof but also not caring what anyone thinks - just spouting out odd bits (like the R2D2 sample just then on "Pink Pocket") and onomatopoeia and non sequiturs and feeling no sting when others stare at you so strangely. They remind me of the way I think - things leading into ideas segueing into free associations merging into other times which remind me of something else, something else, something that wends its way to another idea I had about that last time keeps on slipping into the fuschia and it is not for nothing that a celebrity gets Parkinson's because he got a certain frank ratio of soft drink for the rest of his life. I can listen to these recordings for hours, and I have, and I do. I hear something new each time I listen to them. Jesus fuck. I like them more and more. They grow on me like the mange. (DC) v/a - HALLWAYS: ELEVEN MUSICANS AND HMSL - cd by Frog Peak Larry Polansky creates piano strains, looking for something. Up and down - but is it a scale? If so, which one? Phil Burk creates an oscillation. Hollow and echoed, warbling in tight and when a mirror is put in front of a mirror, what does it see? It seems to be swallowing its own tail. David Fuqua creates a guitar - from the inside out, and it stops and starts in odd spaces that fall in on themselves - and is it self-examination? Larry Polansky returns to the fore with piano styled of early rocknroll, which is the say, that it comes at both ears from different places and stays relatively stolid. John Bischoff creates a storm of frazzled static hassling each of the speakers. But it is complex than metaphorical alignment - just as the weather itself is. Now it is something, again, it's something entirely other. Larry Polansky, again with the piano that follows in its own footsteps - this time, tentative and is the instrument a mood-ring of sorts? It would be interesting to know the time span in which his respective pieces were recorded for this compilation. David Rosenboom creates a woodland of sound, with curls and caverns from which extrude the soft and grotty calls of several instruments in conversation. Phil Burk creates the glinting of stars fading in and out of sight - some brown dwarfs; others - black holes. But, again, sounds that are neither here nor there - and that is meant in the cosmological sense. Larry Polansky creates a piano atmosphere that is not to be mist - it crawls like mustard gas, eventually to catch up. Let us now praise all sustain-pedals! Nick Didkovsky creates a curving slice of guitar and drums, harrowing in its narrowing individuality arrowing along. Straight. And. Carter Scholz creates the sound that moves on water slowly around an airplane crash. Larry Polansky returns again, creating a piece that seems much like what has come before but is this to emphasize how little my ears have been trained as yet? Jeanne Parson creates a piano piece that sounds lovely yet which I cannot notate worth beans. Robert Marsanyi creates a descendant drone, low and gliding in just beneath radar. And UP comes the high pitch! Pink noise, white noise, black noise? Very faintly reminiscent of the stereo test records that are yet to be unearthed from this world's yard sales. And it's Larry Polansky, again, creating the piano. (DC) Address: ELPH - ZWOELF (20' to 2000) - (Minicd by Noton) Is the express inclusion of the element of time in a recording - a way to destroy the sound by human meddling? Is the perception of that time element damaging to a fuller listening to the recording itself? Another perception - fading gently but still present - is the scent of maple syrup that wafts from the disc itself. Getting closer, boys... A movement of winds passes through and around and diagonally gone - filtering through the philtrum of the clock's face. Is the idea to conquer time through measuring, and then to approach from behind with the soul of the artist? Perhaps it isn't as strategic as all that - but there is a sense of winding-down, of nostalghia, of winding-up nostalghia and moving on, recuperating by returning. Re cycling. A slightly human keening pops up, here and there - but only just; perhaps it was hiding in the space between the "t" and the "h" in "there." The chattering natters on, and there is... something moving - a rodentia? Does time keep its eggs like animals? The sounds grow, afflicted with giantism, expanding sand in/out the hourglass. Each grain falls with the beat of a groovy guru, hypnotising and pushing that slow motion into measured treasures. One. After. An. Other. Is waiting a music in itself? Not on the street or in public, but...the tapping of the foot, and the looking-out for something. The keening returns, and a song from earlier in the century is slown, shambled and sharded... (DC) Address: MUSLIMGAUZE - Remixes vol. 2 - cd by Soleilmoon A young Chicano alpha-male at my former place of work responded quite well to these recordings. The titles meant nothing to him, nor did the political theses behind these pieses. The events surrounding Bryn Jones' death - and a certain mesmerising quality to the music - did, however. What was more captivating? I don't work there anymore - beats me. And yet the question of "response" is something yet-to-be-examined when it comes to MUSLIMGAUZE, and the attendant world he built for himself. What are people responding to, concerning MUSLIMGAUZE? Is it the numerous releases? The unusual packaging? Is it the voices from worlds away; the overriding rhythms? Open forums for such things amongst his peers are lacking - fuck, most forums amongst people creating experimental music are few and far-between the cracks. And yes, that's an obscenity you see. Qualifying the sounds of a MUSLIMGAUZE album is a done deal. A bag of adjectives is rife and rifled through; parallell criticisms ensue. But what of the political agenda of Bryn Jones? What do his sounds represent? What do they re-present? There was a time when much was made about the money from these releases going towards pro-Arab organisations - Hamas, Hezbollah, PLO, etc.. Have these claims been substantiated? To what extent was the aid accepted, and was the source of that aid revealed to the recipients? Was there a will, bequeathing subsequent monies accured from releases to those pro-Arab insurgencies? It is rare for music in this field to carry such an openly political slant - and not have those politics openly questioned. Was Bryn Jones' final re-mix that of expectations? (DC) DIMETRODON COLLECTIVE - Volume One - cd by schmememtone Hiss and ululating guitars mirror the shaking language of fire. It is a mystery as to what instruments could approximate such natural events - and is it a natural event, to try to pin the sounds down to one source? Another call for order in the court? As suddenly as a fire extinguishes - so do the sounds evaporate - and how sudden can an ending truly be? How many effects are left behind? One raft of trees floats by as the lowing of a machine urges speed on, on, onward into a gravel-field of moving stones and whatever else rhymes with drones. Flayed by the flange, the sizzling fades and again, and again. Now into a fuckworthy soundscape. When will come the cd to exude scents while it's playing? Subetage indicates that the long-term olfactory memory cannot be erased, and they should know. Ding ding of bells, measuredly, and synthsounds. Drumming. Four four. The final piece wends into the distance - not stopping, but staring to consider the blur of earth as it slides gradually past... (DC) Address: E-RAX - LIVE AT THE BIMHUIS (CD by X-or) GJ PRINS - SUB 8/9 (12" by Sieben) And so you see particular names everywhere... names like Thomas Lehn (whom we featured before in the last weeks) and Gert-Jan Prins, who is never tired of mailing us his concert info. Prins' background is in (free-) jazz and rock, so playing concerts is for him like breathing. Countless are the duets and group improvisations they are involved in. Here they team up with a Dutch guy, Peter van Bergen, who plays a curiously called instruments Electronic Wind Controller, my imagination goes wild here. Lehn is of course at the analogue synth and former percussionist Prins at electronics and radio. Much of this music consist of three seperate layers: crackles (Prins), synth bleeps (Lehn) and percussive sounds of some kind (I pressume played by Van Bergen). Quite a noisy outing, which might have upset the crowd at the Bim huis, who are not really known to be lovers of free electronic music. This more in the Mego areas of laptopimpov, but then less the laptop. Nevertheless a fascination journey in sound. And when said noisy, it's not as noisy as Prins' solo 12" which is released on A-Musik Sieben imprint, home of the noise workers that inspire noise DJ's. It seems as though Prins takes the piss out of some DJ's, as it appears to be that he uses skipping vinyl to produce side A. Despite the noise there is even a groove to be noted down there, but noise rules here. However, the B-side is much more my thing: highly rhythmic, highly noisy and sounds like train that refuses to take off. A noisy variation to Pan Sonic, Goem or Ikeda. Great side b, mediocre side A. (FdW) Address: Address: REUBER - ANNA (LP by Staubgold) Klangwart have been presenting them in concerts a lot in the last year or so and their records, even when varied in content, are well received. Probably not the foreboding of a split, here is a solo LP by one of the two members. Even when indexed at 2 tracks per side, there are seperate tracks to be noted. Reuber, which is the last name of the guy who did this music, takes off where the Klangwart LP 'Koln/Olpe' ended: a mixture of krautrock and minimal music. Mostly played at arpeggio synths, Reuber also uses voice, percussion, bass and trombone. The result is a cosmic trip with sounds moving everywhere, very vivid. With some of the overtones I was reminded of Steve Reich on acid with electricity up his you know what. It's very pleasant music to sit through, read the newspaper and enjoy life. The only thing I am not sure about, is that if this LP is called 'Anna', we may also get the rest of the alphabet. That has been done by Thomas Brinkmann, and should not be done again. Even when this 'Anna' turned out to be a beautiful baby! (FdW) Address: MARCUS MAEDER - SOLIPSISTIC MOTION (LP by Domizil) Of course I have no clue who this Marcus Maeder is, other then being a swiss guy releasing music on a new swiss label Domizil (who will soon release a CD by the guy from Das Erdwerk). It turns out to be a most curious record: sounds from daily life (which are hard to trace back to their origin) are sampled and distorted, keyboards are playing almost childish melodies (as in 'Kleinigkeiten') and rhythms are built from mistakes. In all, a modern record, which excentely displays the qualities of modern technology and still maintains, important for us, an experimental character. Maeder is definetly redefining both popmusic and electro-acoustic music. Strange easyness or easy weirdness... (FdW) Address: UBSB - TRACEROUTE (LP by Ash[RIP] International) UBSB are Ulf Bilting, Edwin van der Heide, Zbigniew Karkowski and Atau Tanaka (or Sensorband featuring Ulf Bilting?). The Sensorband people, and more special Zbigniew and Edwin, are conceptualists: they think of a way to generate sound, perform it and then the release is ready. Onwards to the next one. "You open a computer, connect the wires to a mixing boards and then you mix it" is one of them. Here they get data from the internet and translate it with audio software into music. No wonder this ends up on AshRip, who brought us more obscure aswell as challenging audio information. How does the internet sound when translated in audio software? Harsh noise and I am not surprised, because most of the concepts performed by Zbigniew and Edwin end in a noise orgy. Side A spins at 45 rpm (although 33 is nice too) and is rhythmical (it could go well with the GJ Prins record mentioned elsewhere), but at full volume. Side B is at 33 rpm (although 45 is nice too) and is more a continous noise affair. Not a bad record at all, but I wonder why such different concepts as 'Voltage' (the previous release by Zbigniew and Edwin) and 'Traceroute' end up sounding so similar? However with such great stories they are allowed to present their thing over and over again. The only thing I haven't figured out, but hey I am an internet nerd so pardon me, is what UBSB means...? Address: 1. From: "_>>>____Barnes Advocaat" ::Diskono>> present ::Verbrechen ::Thursday 17th February 2000 @ 13th Note Cafe, King Street, Glasgow ::7pm-12pm>> 97p entry Performance courtesy of : ----------------------------------- ensemble (new signing to Rephlex Records) Sandy Guy & Athena (Rockabilly Duo) Diskono in-house pre-tension DJ crew Additional Attraction : ------------------------------- Reinstatment of 'Physical Remix Decks' mutilate / transform / participate Diskono w: http://www.onoksid.freeserve.co.uk e: lis_n58@onoksid.freeserve.co.uk Tel / Fax / Ans : +44 (0) 1259 724525 Review of Verbrechen 14.10.99 http://www.onoksid.freeserve.co.uk/gh.html Rephlex : http://www.rephlex.com 13th Note : http://www.13thnote.com *we are seekin g artists to perform @ Verbrechen in March & April, if you are in the UK around the middle of each respective month then let us know* 2. From: xorgj@xs4all.nl (Gert Jan Prins) _____________________ Friday 11th TOON FESTIVAL @ Nieuwe Vide Minckelersweg 6 sub,Haarlem: 2000h ;http://www.vide.demon.nl The Nose Works: Gert-Jan Prins & Manel Esparbé i Gasca (live) ; & Cologne Electronic Scene: Staubgold: Klangwart, Reuber,Jyrgen Hall, Wolfgang Brauneis & Markus Detmer Lichtbad // exhibition of Edwin van der Heide, Peter Luining, Sasker Scheerder and Rob Groot Zevert ____________________ Wednesday 16th TRY TONE Festival @ Zaal 100 , de Wittenstraat 100,Amsterdam, 2100h Gert-Jan Prins , Paul Pallesen, Jorrit Dijkstra 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 - Fagelstraat 40 - 6524 CE Nijmegen - 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), Heimir Bjorgulfsson (HB), Dolf Mulder (DM), Meelkop Roel (MR), David Cotner (DC), Rene van Peer (RVP), Jos Smolders (IS) This is copyright free publication, except where indicated, in which case permission has to be obtained from the respective author before reprinting any, or all of the desired text. The author has to be credited, and Vital Weekly has to be acknowledged at all times if any texts are used from it. Backissues may be found at: 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. 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, ), Radboud Mens (RM), Sister Clika (RTH), BAraka[H] (BAR), Howard Stelzer (HS), Heimir Bjorgulfsson (HB), Dolf Mulder (DM), Meelkop Roel (MR), David Cotner (DC), Rene van Peer (RVP), Jos Smolders (IS), Brian Lavelle (BL, ), Gerald Schwartz (GS), Niels Mark Pedersen (NMP), Henry Schneider (SH) This is copyright free publication, except where indicated, in which case permission has to be obtained from the respective author before reprinting any, or all of the desired text. The author has to be credited, and Vital Weekly has to be acknowledged at all times if any texts are used from it. Backissues may be found at: www.staalplaat.com and www.earlabs.org (this one includes a search engine)