\ / | ----- /\ | \ / |== |== | / | \ / Week 37 \ / | | / \ | \ /\ / | | |/ | \ / Number 290 \/ | | / \ |--- \/ \/ |__ |__ |\ |__ | contents: DACHTE MUSIK (CD by Grob) NUISSANCE BEACON (CD by CIP) THE SCHOOL OF VELOCITY - HOMEWORK (CD by Grob) PILLOW - THREE HENRIES (CD by Hapna) STEPHEN VITIELLO - 17:48 AT TEXAS GALLERY (miniCD by Texas Gallery) WILLIAM X - DAWN VARIATIONS (CDR by Public Eyeshore) JORGE CASTRO & CARLOS GIFFONI (CDR by Public Eyeshore) ANALOGOUS INDIRECT (CDR/LP compilation by Public Eyeshore) NAOAKI MIYAMOTO - LIVE AT 20000V (7" by Public Eyeshore) WHAT WOULD JASON DO? GO AND DO LIKEWISE (2CD compilation by !OOT) RROSELICOEUR - DRACHENHOEHLE (CD by Partycul System) ALVA NOTO - TRANSFORM (CD by Mille Plateaux) JAZZKAMMER - ROLEX (CD by Smalltown Supersound) FRANCISCO LOPEZ - BUILDINGS [NEW YORK] (CD by V2_Archief) ERIC LA CASA - LES PIERRES DU SEUIL 4-7 (CD by Edition...) DACHTE MUSIK (CD by Grob) Dachte Musik is untranslatable German and is the name of group of four people. Trombone player Radu Malfatti, Franz Hautinger (trumpett) and the two guitarists Burckhard Stangl and Gunter Schneider. Household names to those who dig improvised music. They offer us over two hours of their improvised music, which deals with a great deal of soft sounds, silences, small events. None of the instruments gets to play a big role, appear for a while in the foreground in order to move back later on, but everything happens on the same level. Occassionally, but very occassionally, there is a short outbrust of sound, but it almost immediately disappears again and everything is back on the same level. Thus it's music that moves by, which you can play without great concentration, as an environment. The problem you might encounter is that you think most of the time nothing is playing, and you miss out on some of the finer details. A more concentrated listening session reveals those beauties. However, listening straight away for over two hours in a very concentrated mood, is something that is not very easy, at least for me. Not very easy listening, but rewarding. (FdW) Address: www.churchofgrob.com NUISSANCE BEACON (CD by CIP) Behind Nuisance Beacon is one Marcelo Cavallari, from the Bay Area. Before Nuisance Beacon he played in Derail and worked solo as Thread. This new project is best described as 'minimal'. In the five extended tracks on this CD he explores tight blocks of sound, which occasionally break together into rhythmic pulses. Closely layered fields of sound. Not a sign of course what the origins of these sounds are, or in what way they were processed. I imagine loops on a powerbook, but who am I? Loops for sure, since the tracks are called 'First Cycle', 'Second Cycle' etc. Each track holds enough variation to be interesting, ie it's minimal yet not static. The music is most of the times quite noisy, maybe even industrial to some, but this is the kind of industrial music that is interesting. Not the usual blend of noise and effects running amok, but well-thought fields of noise. In 'Third Cycle' he dabbles with a jackhammer pulse which gets sauced by hiss and crackles. More the old Esplendor Geometrico then the new Pan Sonic, if you get my drift. Powerful stuff, not for the weak of heart. (FdW) Address: THE SCHOOL OF VELOCITY - HOMEWORK (CD by Grob) The School Of Velocity was founded by Dave Tucker, formerly a member of The Fall, who, after moving to London, started to become a member of the improv scene. The School Of Velocity is Dave's band, with himself on guitar, Evan Parker on saxophone, John Edwards on bass and Steve Noble on drums. Although an improvisation group, there is a certain element of rock hanging over the recordings. Most likely this is due to the guitar that at times howls in feedback and effects, like an ordinary rock guitarist. The saxophone plays those many notes as you might guess in this area, and is like the jazz component of the work. The solid but free backing is provided by the solely played drums and bass. The recordings on this CD, five in total, weren't made at a live concert, but in a studio. The afterward mix certainly gave this music an extra element, that is depth in the recordings, as opposed to some more flat live recording. It makes this music rather energetic, without losing any of the rawness that is so present here. Wild, rocking free stuff. Address: www.churchofgrob.com PILLOW - THREE HENRIES (CD by Hapna) Pillow is another group from Chicago with an all acoustic line up: Michael Colligan on dry ice, reeds, tubes, Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello and nyckelharpa, Liz Payne on bass and Ben Vida on guitar and accordion. Their CD was recorded in a day early this year, and contains fragile improvisations in which lik///ewise fragile drones are created by those instruments that can do so (cello, accordion) and careful loose strummings are played on the other instruments. This stuff doesn't deal with silence, as there is enough happening throughout the CD, but it's rather an intimate atmosphere that is created. It sounds like Pillow is in your room, sitting next to you, playing their instruments. Sometimes they players get into frentic arguments, such as in the sixth piece when the sounds get a bit nastier and meaner, but in the end they solve their indifferencies and leap back into delicacy. Very fragile, delicate and intimate... (FdW) Address: www.hapna.com STEPHEN VITIELLO - 17:48 AT TEXAS GALLERY (miniCD by Texas Gallery) Stephen Vitiello is an electronic musician who is known for his solo work, aswell as his collaborations with Francis Marie Uitti and other musicians and choreographers. This miniCD holds two pieces, recorded when he did a live solo performance at Texas Gallery in Houston. The first piece, called Gallery Mix, is a studiomix of various sounds Stephen recorded for an installation at the gallery. Using photoelectric cells, he measured the different light qualities and translated that into sound. A fairly high pitch sound and almost hiss like sounds open here, until after seven minutes a low end rumble kicks in. Also included are sounds by Pauline Oliveros, but I fail to understand what her involvement is in the installation. The second piece here is a live recording at the gallery, using the lights as sound sources. Dark end rumbles that slowly change position. Nice sounds but the result sounds a bit unfocussed to me. It sounds like a random set of sounds playing, and not very structured in the end result. Maybe nice to see, but by itself it's not very strong. (FdW) Address: www.texgal.com WILLIAM X - DAWN VARIATIONS (CDR by Public Eyeshore) JORGE CASTRO & CARLOS GIFFONI (CDR by Public Eyeshore) ANALOGOUS INDIRECT (CDR/LP compilation by Public Eyeshore) NAOAKI MIYAMOTO - LIVE AT 20000V (7" by Public Eyeshore) Public Eyeshore is a noise label and these releases are some examples of what they do. The collaborative efforts between one Bryan Day and Jorge Castro (who you might know from his ambient releases on Eco label) as William IX is loud noise. Fucked up sounds from radio, feedback, synth noise, the whole lot is there. Nice? Humm maybe. I heard worse in the genre, and the big pro about this release is the total absence of concentrationcamp/sex/nazi imagery. So one can do noise without those quasi shocking images. Jorge's work with the for me unknown Carlos Giffoni is more interesting. I am not sure wether the 'Guitarras Del Olvido Y Pensamientos Dimensionales' is the title or the programm of the work, but anyway the two play the guitars in a semi ambient, semi improvised, semi noisy way, going through a bunch of effects (delay mainly) and it creates overall a nice atmosphere. Under the title of 'Analogous Indirect' we find a whole bunch of noise makers, who present their own view on the subject matter. Available as LP and CDR. The noise found here operates more in the lo-fi improv areas. Scratchy guitars, fuzzy guitars, crashed cymbals, tweaked drums and of course the real noise. We welcome Solmania back on the front in very noisy outing. Other fine moments are by Flying Luttenbachers in a total free improv mood, Thurston Moore's unnoisy guitar pluckings, Jonas Lindgren's cracklings and hiss. Most of the tracks on the second side (even the CDR lists them as 'front' and 'back') are more in the noise/industrial vein (with people like Kazumoto Endo/Yoko Sato, Cornucopia, John Wiese) and Sickness. The shortness of the tracks create a variety that makes this more enjoyable then the usual one hour feedback orchestra. Also Naoaki Miyamoto is somebody of whom I never heard. He/she presents two cuts from a gig at 20000V, a club in Osaka. I think the prime source of the noise here is guitarfeedback. Very stretched out and the guitar is hardly recognizable as such. The recording is a bit flat and lacks depth. (FdW) Address: www.sinkhole.net/pehome WHAT WOULD JASON DO? GO AND DO LIKEWISE (2CD compilation by !OOT) "After waiting ages (and ages and ages) for Mild Man Jan's fabled boxes, we asked ourselves "What Would Jason Do?" These are the introductionairy words to this double CD. Jason painted two lovely ceramic pigs and while doing that he recorded his environment. CDR copies were send out to a handful of friends to remix it, and the remixers gave the material further. Apperentely 4 or 5 CDs worth of material is what has been generated from this, excuse me, 'silly idea'. Now a selection is available on two CD's, and a wide array of remixers take their changes on the material. From the noisy outbursts of Wagstaff or Ashtray Navigations to more rhythm inspired material by Multipara, Radboud Mens or Persona and then it spirals down to the ambient of 87 Central. It's quite nice to see that the same material leads to so many different kinds of music, even when I doubt all the music actually uses the material as given. This variety is like a showcase of possibilities of music and possible ways to do remixes and can therefore alone be welcomed as a nice CD. Also it will introduce some people to some new names. A pity though from the naive title... (FdW) Address: RROSELICOEUR - DRACHENHOEHLE (CD by Partycul System) Three multi-instrumentalists here: they play guitar, drums, samplers, cornet, bass, piano and organs. Despite their gothic name and title, Rroselicoeur play rock music, or even to be more precise, post-rock. Most of the times this is instrumental music, sometimes with some taped conversation being mixed in (like in 'Hotels Et Palaces') with minimalist changes. The guitar play repetative tunes, occasionally howling through distortion and returning to their usual tunes. Less jazz inspired then Tortoise, to mention one of those unavoidable references. However, the main difference lies also in the fact that Rroselicoeur are much more raw. Take for the instance the very very normal rhythmbox used in 'Hotels Et Palaces', which sound so dull that it becomes nice again. Due to this naive and raw character, it is less worked then say again Tortoise, but still has that strange lo-fi appeal to me. (FdW) Address: www.chez.com/partyculsystem ALVA NOTO - TRANSFORM (CD by Mille Plateaux) Alva Noto, aka Carsten Nicolai, aka Noto, is a very precise man. With a limited pallette of sound, a couple of sine waves, some clicks, he produces, or rather he transforms into music. The CD starts out like he is searching for a groove, but which doesn't seem to arrive. Dance music that is not dance music. But as the CD progresses, you realize that this is the programm of the CD. After track 4 the beat is there in a 'correct' order, quantatized to a 4/4, and the sine wave swirl in and out. Module 7 is a fine cross-over using Pan Sonic like beats and Ikeda like sines. After that the three remaining tracks transform in a more abstract direction again, and the circle is closed. What is fascinating here that all of these tracks seem to contain the same sound sources, but that none of these tracks sound the same. Also Alva Noto doesn't show off all the plug ins, but keeps things at a minimal end in this regard. Very good release. (FdW) Address: www.mille-plateaux.com JAZZKAMMER - ROLEX (CD by Smalltown Supersound) The title of this CD is actually sort of misleading, because not only is Jazzkammer on it (twice), but also Zbigniew Karkowski, Maja S.K. Ratkje, Merzbow, Reynols, Thurston Moore, Pita, Alexander Rishaug, R. Sundin, T.H. Boe, TV Pow, Jørgen Træn and Francisco Lopez. All of these have been invited by Jazzkammer to remix material from their two first albums. Of course, with so many people involved, this is a CD with many sides and many approaches. Some are close to the original Jazzkammer style, others are way off and some are basically themselves. The disc opens with a very crunchy track by Karkowski, very digitally distorted, that gets denser all the way through. No telling what he did to the original piece(s), but it sounds good. Maja Ratkje seems to be more in tune with the original material, using voice with FX, nifty cut ups and some funky loops. Someone is actually laughing until noise blasts in. A very exciting track. Next up is Merzbow with a very quiet start (for his standards, that is): some rumbles and hisses are looped and are getting louder and then here's that typical Merzbow sound cutting in. But then he goes quiet again, just a low rumble and then new cuts. From here the piece builds up steadily, but dynamically. Jazzkammer have probably used the same material for the next part as Merzbow did, but obviously it sounds very different. More distant and atmospherical and with a slower build up. Even more so is the track by Reynols: crackles, distant guitars and maybe a voice? This could almost be considered an ambient version. Interesting, to say the least. Thurston Moore blasts us right off our feet with overload noise, cut with dance beats and other turntable samples. Pretty exciting stuff, although the scratching in the end could have been better. Pita's track consists of a relatively small number of samples, but they are used to their full extent, which makes this piece a pleasure to listen to. Jazzkammer again, using old vinyl to start a track of loops and cuts with subtle drones underneath, followed by tones and weird sounds, followed by field recordings, followed by loops, followed by cuts, and so on. A very good and rich track. Alexander Rishaug's piece is a very quiet one, with beeps and buzzes, and a strong sense of suspense. Very well done. R. Sundin's track is also of a quiet nature, starting with environmental recordings of someone doing something (?), but with a glitch once. Then a door closes and there is a short silence ad then the real thing starts: a gentle drone layered with crackles and other short sounds. And then the glitch again. Short, but good. The fourth and last scandinavian in this row is T. H. Boe with some kind of feedback piece, but the feedback sounds kind of funny and quiet. Note the bass drone underneath! Another good piece. TV Pow appear with a digital version of the tracks before, it seems. Also pretty quiet, but certainly with a tension that rises slowly and with a superb last part. Jørgen Træn gets back to Jazzkammer basics again: cuts of noises and crackles, but with some very very nifty beats and tunes. Last one up is Francisco Lopez with a track that starts with a very slow fade in to what is probably a mix of Jazzkammer tracks, layered on top of each other. There is an eerie and desolate feel to this piece, that builds up gradually to high pitched tones, with a distant drone underneath, and ends with a volume cut and a very slow fade out. This is defenitely one of the better compilations, partly because there is a coherent source of material and partly, of course, because of the invited artists. (MR) Address: www.smalltownsupersound.com FRANCISCO LOPEZ - BUILDINGS [NEW YORK] (CD by V2_Archief) Considering the tragedy that happened only a few days ago in New York, the release of this CD comes at a somewhat unhappy moment. But that is of course something that nobody could have anticipated in advance. Again the CD comes with a closed booklet, to be read only if one desires so. So I didn't. These recordings are the direct result of a commission by Creative Time for a project in and around Brooklyn Bridge Anchorage. Lopez has recorded sounds of buildings in New York, much as he recorded sounds in the La Selva Forest in Costa Rica for the CD La Selva, that was released by V2_Archief as well. The design of both is very similar and so is the approach of the work. As with La Selva, Buildings is one long piece, that slowly evolves and changes over time. One big difference is the nature of the sounds; on La Selva it was quite clear that the sounds were recorded in a natural environment. On Buildings the sounds have a somewhat more abstract character: whizzing and whirring and other obscure sounds are less easily related to concrete (living) objects such as birds or cicadas. On the other hand it could be said that most people are probably just as familiar with these sounds as with natural ones, which might reduce the abstraction. So, back to the piece. I think that it would not go too far to state that Lopez again offers us a total listening experience. It is very easy to get completely immersed in the world that he puts before our ears, drifting from one space to another in anonymous buildings, that have actually become huge machines for living (or should I say: living machines?). In all its richness, this work is pretty overwhelming and once more Lopez has proven his artistic capacities. (MR) Address: www.v2.nl/archief ERIC LA CASA - LES PIERRES DU SEUIL 4-7 (CD by Edition...) Water seems to be the main ingredient in this new release by Eric La Casa. The CD comes in a plastic wallet, together with several photographs of water and the sounds listed in the liner notes mention a lot of it too, besides some instruments and electronics. The disc contains four tracks that are all strongly based on field recordings, much as in Lopez' work, for example. One big difference between the two is the addition of instruments and electronics in the work of La Casa, although one would have to listen extremely carefully to recognise them. I consider this a strong point, because it tends to make wonder about the nature of sound and all its qualities. Another difference between Lopez and La Casa is the structure of the pieces: in general Lopez takes a long time (however subjective) to develop his pieces smoothly, whereas La Casa builds his pieces up faster and with more dynamics (when speaking about volume). ALso La Casa uses more cuts and shorter 'interfering' sounds. It is acctually a very nice experience to play these two after each other. It shows how composers work in a very personal way with similar material. La Casa is just as able as Lopez in keeping the listener captivated in an 'inner outside world'. (MR) Address: fenton@stonehenge.ohr.gatech.edu correction: last week's review of Mollusk listed the wrong title of the CD. The CD is is not called Tracks and Defintions but Accretions. 1. From: Francisco Lopez absolute Norway sept. 1st > Teaterhuset Avant Garden, Trondheim sept. 5th > Music Conservatory / Art Academy, Trondheim sept. 7th > Black Box Theatre, Oslo sept. 8th > Kunstforening, Bergen 2. From: "JANEK SCHAEFER" Janek Schaefer upcoming concerts and installations. > CONCERTS: + SEPTEMBER 8th La Batie Festival Alhambra 10 Rue de la Rôtisserie Geneva, Switzerland www.batie.ch Philip Jeck Janek Schaefer Thomas Brinkmann Project Dark Erik M DJ Goo + + + SEPTEMBER 15th MONASTERY OF SOUND 4_festival of electronic music Abbaye de Blanchelande Neufmesnil 50250, Normandy, France *** Weekend bus trip from London and Ireland details available at: www.lawandauder.co.uk/monas.htm/ *** Janek Schaefer (UK) live Andrea Parker (UK) live Mix Master Morris (UK) dj D-fuse (UK) vj Batofar & the Otocar (France) Caspar Pound (UK) dj Normal Position (UK) live Cold Fusion (UK) live Addictive TV (UK) vj Bovaflux (UK) live Ardisson (UK) - live Ben Bayliss (UK) live Dinahbird (plunderphonics) Blam-Blam (UK) live Bloom (UK) live Dancon One (UK) dj Café Curieux (France) djs Cartesian Lover (live) Fluid (UK) dj Cinifeel (France) vj Friends Lovers & Family (UK) live Solea Amphibia (?) live Residual darkness vj Paul New House (Ireland) dj Phil Summit (UK) dj Magz Hall & Jim Backhouse (UK) dj MAk und PrtSc* (France) live Seedpod (UK) vj Kumo (France) live Laura B. (France) live Ollie Brooke (Ireland) dj OOZE BAP (Spain) live Osymyso (UK) live PCM (UK) live Cursorminer (UK) live Léa (big booty bass) Mafucage (France) live FuturJLook (France) live Icarus (UK) live Koru (New Zealand) live Ryo Co (Japan) live Fallen Angel (UK) live Subculture (UK) live Fuel (UK) Prophane (France) dj Ramjac (Interface Radio) dj SolarX (Russia) live Rocket (UK) dj Reverbaphon (Scotland) live RGB invaded (UK/Japan) vjs Saturne Khan (China) dj Si Beggs (UK) live Sgt Wilco (UK) dj Summit (UK) live The JupiterCollision (UK) liv Wheel (France) + + + SEPTEMBER 25th Les Seances d'Ecoute 4 av de la division Leclerc Paris http://www.metafort.org/ecoute Janek Schaefer solo concert + + + SEPTEMBER 30th Earational Festival Het Muziekcentrum 's-Hertogenbosch The Netherlands http://www.earational.org/ COMAE [Janek Schaefer & Robert Hampson] Also at the festival SEPTEMBER 30th - October 7th Charlemagne Palestine Christian Fennesz Kaffe Matthews Fuckhead Brian Lavelle THU 20 David Stevens marc McNulty Christa Van Santen + others + + + OCTOBER 7th Elektronikaldia Festival Gazteszena Aretoa, Kursaal Aretoa San Sebastian, Spain. www.elektronikaldia.org/programa.html Jaki Liebezeit & Burnt Friedmann Janek Schaefer Mastretta Rosy Parlane Mattin Cosmican El Gran Lapofsky Tzesne + + + OCTOBER17th The Michael Tippett Centre, Bath Spa University College, Newton Park Campus, Newton St Loe, Bath, BA2 9BN. Booking tel UK 01225 463362 Janek Schaefer solo concert + + + INSTALLATIONS: + August 24th - September 20th Triskel Arts Centre Tobin St Cork Ireland E: triskel@iol.ie Janek Schaefer - installation "SKATE" Taking the anti-skate function of record players as its starting point this installation breaks down the nature of the record as a continuous terrain. By cutting only small isolated arcs of texture/sound into the record [achieved by forcing sound backwards through a wind up 78 player], the needle is free to roam either where it likes across the surface or it's user determines. Using Schaefer's various home made and manipulated record players including his three arm Tri-Phonic Turntable the resulting pop and click cycles are recorded as short rhythmic and textural sound events. Played on 3 random play CD players, these short cycles and events in turn trigger a corresponding light bulb placed adjacent in the darkened space. The 3 lights flicker randomly and each event then becomes a component of a dense continuous and random play soundscape in the gallery. Finally a video projection flickers in and out of the darkness to show abstract movements of the record itself which resemble stars caught on long exposure circling the earth. [Transparent LP to be released sometime soon on K-raa-K3] [Not sounds of skaters as written up in The Wire, but it had crossed my mind!] + + + SEPTEMBER 29th - October 6th Earational Festival Het Muziekcentrum 's-Hertogenbosch The Netherlands http://www.earational.org/ Janek Schaefer - Installation "ON/OFF TWIN" One sided, two track Concentric & Eccentrically cut full frequency tone LP played together on my Twin tone-arm turntable. [Transparent release of this disc will be released soon on my label, AudiOh Room] 3. From: Dan Burke Illusion Of Safety performances Europe Fall tour Sept 24 @ Porgy & Bess, Vienna, Austria w/ TV POW www.charizma.com Sept 26th Podewil, Berlin Germany as part of the x-tract CHICAGO festival Lou Mallozzi - electr (USA)/Mats Gustafsson - saxophone (S) Lou Mallozzi - electr/Michael Vorfeld - drums(D) Illusion of Safety (USA) Dan Burke - electr Sat Sept 29th Allhuset/ Stockholm Univeristy Campus. the event is called Mutation2001. organized by THE NURSERY october 1: Sardinen, Bergen, Norway (organized by http://www.safe-as-milk.org and http://pilota.fm) october 2nd: BLÅ, Oslo, Norway W/ Zoviet France (organized by http://www.safe-as-milk.org and http://www.blaajazz.com/no) october 3rd: Klubb Kanin, Trondheim, Norway (organized by the great Lasse Marhaug!) 4. From: robert ovetz --- ultrasound (usa/the netherlands) + troum (germany) october 2001 tour 16-18 october open for additional shows in the uk or benelux countries Amsterdam, The Netherlands, date tbc @ Cafe Sonore Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Friday, 19.10 @ WORM Leipzig, Germany, Saturday, 20.10 @ festival with various groups Berlin, Germany, Sunday, 21.10 @ Prater Würzburg, Germany, Wednesday, 24.10 @ Nulldrei Rostock, Germany, Thursday, 25.10 @Stubnitz Utrecht, The Netherlands, 27.10 Saturday @ Theater Kikker Drones Festival -- 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