============ VITAL WEEKLY ============ number 372 ------------ week 21 ------------ TIDAL/CHAOS AS SHELTER/IGOR KRUTOGOLOV - INGATHERING OF EXILES (CD by Ground Fault) ERIC CORDIER - DIGITALS PURPEREA (CD by Ground Fault) SENILE MUSIC CORPORATION - NO WARNING (CDR single by Six Moon Night) MARTIN HOOGEBOOM - STOCK DOVE (CDR by Six Moon Night) FRANCIS DHOMONT - JALONS (CD by Empreintes Digitales) MONIQUE JEAN - L\\\'ADIEU AU S.O.S. (CD by Empreintes Digitales) DEISON - SCENE MISSING (MP3 by Enough Records) DEISON - ON THE SURFACE (MP3 by Corewatch) DEISON - STILLS (MP3 by Neverkink) TIBPROD (various MP3s) D/COMPUTE - ON MY LEFT HAND (CDR by Mouthmoth) MASSIMO - ABSOLUTELY FREE (mini CD by Cling Film) ASCHE - DISTORTED DJ (2CD by Ant-Zen) SKOLTZ_KOLGEN - HYALIN (CD by Line) MATTIN/ROSY PARLANE - AGUR (3\\\"CDR by Absurd) URE THRALL - PREMONITION 9/11/THE TRAVELER (7\\\" by Drone Records) BARDOSENETICCUBE - RAIN IN JUNE (7\\\" by Drone Records) ECCLESIASTICAL SCAFFOLDING - LUCID DREAMING (7\\\" by Drone Records) TROUM - DARVE SH (10\\\" by Beta Lactam Ring) TROUM - SYMBIOSIS (3\\\"CD by Transgredient Records) EVEREST - INHALIGHT (miniCDR by Everest Records) SUN - SUN (2CD by Staubgold) CIRCUITS OF STEEL (2CD by SSS Records) PANCREATIC AARDVARKS - FEVER DREAMS (CDR by Gnarphlager Records) GARETH MITCHELL A.K.A. PHILOSOPHER\\\'S STONE - AUGUST; SNOW; PIECES (CDR by Absurd) VANCE ORCHESTRA - VANCE PLAYS VANCE (CD-R by Blade Records) .MURMER - DEFINITION (CDR by Absurd) TAMING POWER - SELECTED WORKS 1992-98 (10\\\" by Early Morning Records) TAMING POWER - SELECTED WORKS 1997 (10\\\" by Early Morning Records) TAMING POWER - SELECTED WORKS 2000: EXCURSIONS FOR TAPE RECORDERS (10\\\" by Early Morning Records) ERIC GOLDD & T.B.EGG (3\\\" CDR by Realistic) TIDAL/CHAOS AS SHELTER/IGOR KRUTOGOLOV - INGATHERING OF EXILES (CD by Ground Fault) It\\\'s a little bit of a puzzle, this one. All tracks, save for the first one, were recorded by Tidal, Chaos As Shelter and Igor Krutogolov. The first one is just by the latter two. Tidal is one David Brownstead, whose previous guises include 666 Volt Battery Noise. As Tidal he has some releases on Alluvial and Manifold, but I haven\\\'t heard those. Chaos As Shelter is one Vadim Gusis and hails from Israel, just as Igor Krutogolov. Both have various releases, and none were heard by me. So this CD is the first introduction. The thematic approach for \\\"The Ingathering of Exiles\\\" is when, in the Messianic age, all Jewish people, including the Ten Lost Tribes, would gather from their exile around the world to Israel. The Ground Fault Recordings CD, \\\"Ingathering of Exiles\\\" is an idea that explores the shared heritage of the three collaborators\\\". A lot of words to say that the music was made via the exchange of sounds via (e-)mail. I played this CD a couple of times, but I am not convinced by the material. It\\\'s a sort of ambientesque sound, but seemingely played on acoustic instruments. But it goes on and on, and never reaches a great point or a greater depth. \\\'Resurrection\\\' sounds like Current 93 and Nurse With Wound on a early 80s Maldoror recording. This sort of thing might be appealling to the likes of those good old days, but you can count me out. (FdW) Address: http://www.groundfault.net ERIC CORDIER - DIGITALS PURPEREA (CD by Ground Fault) Eric Cordier is an unlikely player of the hurdy gurdy (introducing the instrument to Jim O\\\'Rourke and Keiji Haino) and was involved in such bands as The Grief, UNACD, Schams, Phéromone, Tore and Enkidu, most of these operating in the realms of improvised music. On this new release he documents four pieces which were made for different sound installations, the oldest dates back to 1993, that is when it was made. Some installations are still being built up by him and some of them consist of hundreds of speakers. It\\\'s of course not easy to translate that back to a stereo mix that I am now hearing. It\\\'s like hearing a soundtrack without watching the film. But in these four pieces things work well for the home consumer. There is a delicacy over the sounds Cordier uses, which are not dissimilar to people like Richard Chartier, Roel Meelkop or Bernard Gunter. Sometimes Cordier slips into something that is barely audible - mainly in the openingpiece - but it\\\'s not one of those releases where one has to crank the volume all the way up. None of the sound sources mentioned on the cover, hurdy gurdy, church organ or field recordings, are easily to be recognized. It\\\'s interesting to see that all of these pieces were recorded between 1992 and 1997, but sound very much like things that went on after that - see the aforementioned trio, whose ultra dynamic work is of a later date. Cordier\\\'s disc is a great example, and may he join the ranks of Gunter et al. (FdW) Address: http://www.groundfault.net SENILE MUSIC CORPORATION - NO WARNING (CDR single by Six Moon Night) MARTIN HOOGEBOOM - STOCK DOVE (CDR by Six Moon Night) It\\\'s been quite a while since I reviewed releases by Martin Hoogeboom(Vital Weekly 227), but here he is again. Martin Hoogeboom is a Dutch guitarist (once of the legendary band Dier) and a painter. I must admit I am a bit clueless why he produces such short CDRs, but maybe it all has a reason. The Senile Corporation might be a band and not a solo project, but it says \\\'featuring Martin Hoogeboom\\\', so let\\\'s assume this is a band. It sort of takes the old sound of Dier into the realms of the new millenium. But you might argue that you never heard of Dier... They combined free rock of the Recommended acts, with the fresh punky attitude of No New York and the Senile Music Corporation has a similar attitude to music. Free in form and spirit, with a dominant role for Martin\\\'s guitar playing and maybe a bit more computerized in it\\\'s drumming (just wildly guessing here). Maybe Martin should release the good ol\\\' Dier stuff on CDR one day? The other release is really a solo one and features Martin on guitar. Eight short improvisations, totalling eighteen minutes. I am not sure if he is playing all of this live along the lines of some effect equipment (delay lines mostly) or if it\\\'s multi-track. Some pieces, like \\\'Kwaaitaal\\\' is defintely live (or better \\\'recorded as one thing\\\'), but for others I am not that sure. Not that it really matters... I like this kind of playing, while it doesn\\\'t easily compare to something or some other guitarist that works in an improvising way. Nice miniature music going on here. (FdW) Address: http://www.hoogeboom.org/ FRANCIS DHOMONT - JALONS (CD by Empreintes Digitales) MONIQUE JEAN - L\\\'ADIEU AU S.O.S. (CD by Empreintes Digitales) These two new CDs on Empreintes Digitales are probably exactely what one should expect from them: Seriously composed electronic music with high brow soft- and hardware. Each piece, on both CD\\\'s, comes with a description of what it is about, in conceptual terms and what has been done musically to realize it. Humour or self-reflection seems not to be the case in this area. Francis Dhomont is a somewhat older gentleman, whose interest in musique concrete and acousmatics dates back to the early 50s. The seven pieces on this CD were not really composed yesterday: some date back to 1985 and the most recent piece is from 2000. Also in length there is some variation: the shortest piece is just over one minute and the longest is fifteen minutes. But the majority of the pieces are over ten minutes, which makes this into quite a lengthy sit through. I must admit I have some trouble with this kind of music. It sounds to me very much like a cliche of things. These sounds that seem to roll over eachother, the software plug ins doing over time, and no doubt the compositions are greatly structured, but the sounds themselves became so digital and form an unrecognizable mass. Somebody should open a door and let some light in. Monique Jean is a composer from Montreal who studied with Francis Dhomont. I thought her work was a bit more interesting, as it seems less drenched in software manipulations and even some sounds and instruments are to recognized. The most interesting piece in that respect is \\\'Low Memory #2\\\', for bass flute, piccolo and four channel tape. Sparse notes on the wind instruments in combination with likewise sparse sounds on the four channel tape. \\\'13\\\'13 Pour Voix Defigurees\\\' is also a work that is of interest: voice treatments in combination with spoken word is quite nice - not shockingely new. Jean delivers a CD that I thought was more listenable then Dhomont\\\'s, but both of them are a tad bit too serious for me... (FdW) Address: http://www.electrocd.com DEISON - SCENE MISSING (MP3 by Enough Records) DEISON - ON THE SURFACE (MP3 by Corewatch) DEISON - STILLS (MP3 by Neverkink) TIBPROD (various MP3s) There is an awful lot of music available on the net. We at Vital Weekly never go somewhere to download and review that. But occassionally we receive CDRs on stuff that is available, usually for free by downloading it. Deison from Italy runs the Loud! label (and released Thurston Moore among others) and his first CD was released by Cionic Mind. For some reason I am now no longer aware of, I assumed that Deison played hardcore industrial noise. Not much so on these fifteen tracks, which is the sum of three different MP3 releases. Apperentely Deison switched the menu of sound and ended up, these days, in the world of microsound, glitches and ambient. Some people would call this laptop ambient (and by classifying it like that, they do not make a very positive remark), but I must say I was pleasentely suprised by this. \\\'On The Surface\\\' is a bit more experimental, but doesn\\\'t reach to noise at all. In some ways I was reminded of the Conrad Schnitzler work. \\\'Stills\\\' is the darkest work, with four unearthly soundscapes and the laptop never far away. Tib Productions is from Norway and have various full length and eps available for download. The best known names featured here are Conrad Schnitzler, Quoit (Mick Harris\\\' drum and bass project), Tore H. Boe and Origami Replika. There is also work by Obscure Tapestries, Jan-M. Iversen, Guignol Dangereux, Scullfaced Moon, Koff Koff and The Ambience Collective Of Norway (and more is added of course). The music is mostly electronic and experimental, and it seems that Schnitzler is somewhat of an example for some of the artists (Iversen, Obscure Tapestries). A bit more noisy is Scullfaced Moon, but as far as I heard they are the only one. The cosmic sound prevails and that\\\'s nice for a change. (FdW) Addresses: http://www.enoughrecords.com http://www.corewatch.com http://www.neverkink.net http://www.tibprod.com D/COMPUTE - ON MY LEFT HAND (CDR by Mouthmoth) This is the follow-up to the debut release \\\'Iwillpushmyselfintotheforestandiwillbedeadthere\\\' which was reviewed in Vital Weekly 252. Behind D/Compute we find Alistair Crosbie, who formed a duo with Brian Lavelle as Inversion and a trio with the same Brian and Murray Johnstone as No Input. For his solo project D/Compute works mainly in the realms of techno oriented music, but within these twelve tracks there is a great variety of influences. Nicely gentle ambient-techno (\\\'Punk/Protest\\\', more experimental sounds (such as in \\\'On My Left Hand\\\') to straight forward techno and electro songs (\\\'Vertical Pavillion\\\', \\\'Pre-Xmas Boy/Over\\\', \\\'Light Owls\\\') and even an acoustic guitar piece/saused with a spicy rhythm (\\\'S(B)C\\\'). One may wonder how this hotchpotch will sound, as on paper it doesn\\\'t seem a very coherent work? Actually, I must say, it makes a lot sense, as it\\\'s this variety that makes this into a very listenable album. It\\\'s variety is a rare thing for a CDR release, and even in most of the CDs nowadays a rare thing. This should have been a real one. (FdW) Address: http://www.mouthmoth.go.to MASSIMO - ABSOLUTELY FREE (mini CD by Cling Film) Ah the young god Massimo is back and in such a fashion we always love. A short CD - fourteen minutes and just four tracks - but that\\\'s good. Massimo will never leave the listener untouched. His brutal sound work can easily compare to the best Merzbow work, except that where Merzbow is king of the analog sound (and I am still not convinced of his recent digital work), Massimo is king of the digital world - and I am pretty sure there was never an analog world for him. Rhythmically Massimo can easily meet the likes of Esplendor Geometrico, but techno is never his thing. Massimo can jump into a nice rhythm, but after a few bars he\\\'s fed up with it, destroys it and continues in a new mood. Always fresh and exciting, always on top (and I am sure Massimo likes to be on top, as much of his work is sexually loaded). Fourteen minutes leaves the listener breathless, maybe screaming or begging for more, but Massimo is very strict - it\\\'s enough, you can\\\'t get more, unless he decides to unleash some more work. Massimo is boss and beast. (FdW) Address: http://www.clingfilm.org ASCHE - DISTORTED DJ (2CD by Ant-Zen) If debut album from Asche, \\\"Distorted disco\\\" was a good album, this new double-disc follow-up titled \\\"Distorted DJ\\\" is nothing short of excellent. The power of Asche is Andreas Schramm\\\'s (a.k.a. Asche) ability to create catchy rhythmic textures, which balance cleverly between danceable appeal and dark brutality. \\\"Distorted DJ\\\" is generally more aggressive than its predecessor. The album opens with a psychedelic cut-up mixture of voices and processed samples reminiscent of Download (especially closing title track on \\\"The eyes of Stanley Pain\\\"-album comes into mind). From second track forward the introverted nightmarish sound texture disappears and the rhythmic inferno opens once in a while turning into catchy deep house rhythms. Second disc contains fourteen remixes of \\\"Distorted disco\\\"-tracks created by different artists from inside as well as outside the Ant-Zen camp. Highlights are Xingu Hills\\\' energetic breakbeat-freakout and the death industrial-remix from Institut. Two discs of high musical quality make \\\"Distorted DJ\\\" a great investment for listeners of rhythmic noise! (NMP) Address: http://www.ant-zen.com SKOLTZ_KOLGEN - HYALIN (CD by Line) Dominique Skoltz and Herman W. Kolgen hail from Montreal and are both musicians and visual artists. Their work is usually a cross-over between sound into image and image into sound. For this, their debut full length CD, they are \\\"transposing certain optical attributes of the photographs onto audio sources and assembling them in multiple layers, the results are a micro-system of isomorphic tones\\\" - that is certainly a mouthful. There is one long piece of music, which certainly in the opening part (say the first fifteen minutes) result in quite some feedback like sounds, and cover a harsher territory then we are usually common from the world of 12K/Line. After that the sound sinks for a while below the audible range. Later on the balance between the high end and the low end is restored and even a sense of rhythm may occur. It\\\'s hard to tell what these boys use soundwise or what their input might - field recordings, just laptop doodlings? - I think it\\\'s mainly just the latter. This CD covers many territories where others were before, and in that respect there might not be too much new things going on. But as a whole and by itself it is quite a decent CD. Austere sounds from an interesting concept. (FdW) Address: http://www.12k.com MATTIN/ROSY PARLANE - AGUR (3\\\"CDR by Absurd) Two boys - two laptops. Mattin (from Barcelona) and Rosy Parlane (from Down Under) both reside in London these days where they are actively involved in the lively improvisation scene by organising their own concerts. Of course the two meet each other during a concert, like on October 26th 2002 at the Oligarch Shit Transfusion (I mean what\\\'s in a name). Armed, as said with two laptops, they work their way through a strange set. High beeps and soft crackles mingle together until after some fifteen minutes, they reach a climax and some sort of rhythm has occured. I wouldn\\\'t say necessarily a good set or concert, but one that is highly typical of the laptopscene: experimental and improvised, not always \\\'there\\\' and sometimes a hit and miss. But it\\\'s good to see the action being documented. (FdW) Address: http://www.anet.gr/absurd URE THRALL - PREMONITION 9/11/THE TRAVELER (7\\\" by Drone Records) BARDOSENETICCUBE - RAIN IN JUNE (7\\\" by Drone Records) ECCLESIASTICAL SCAFFOLDING - LUCID DREAMING (7\\\" by Drone Records) It\\\'s been a while since I last reviewed 7\\\"s by Drone Records. They are now up to release number 58 to 60. In case you don\\\'t know. Drone Records is a label that only releases 7\\\"s of drone music - although that has gotten an extended meaning these days - in an edition of 250 copies with a handmade cover by the musicians themselves (maybe by now worth an exhibition?). Ure Thrall is somebody whose name keeps popping up since the early days of cassette business, but whose music I never could really capture. \\\'Premonition 9/11\\\' is an anti-war song, both against the people who flew plans into the WTC and the US response to it. Pounding rhythms and e-bowed guitars produce quite a psychedelic piece and even mixes in some recorded sounds of the second plane hitting the WTC. Good cause of course such an anti-war song, but maybe a bit over done. \\\'The Traveler\\\' is on the other hand a much lighter song. Flutes sounds, a loopy old piano and haunting atmosphere. Also in psychedelic atmosphere, but more weightless space here. I can tell you much less about Bardoseneticcube. They are from St. Petersburg, Russia and have some releases on the Ultra label and a real CD on Athanor. Apperentely this 7\\\" is more ambient then their previous work. Indeed it is. The a-side has rain sounds, some sort of metallic scrapings (but remotely away) and mumbling voices. It\\\'s not really good or bad - it sort of stays on one level without really moving. Much the same can be said about the b-side, except that things a tad bit louder on this side. Like Ure Thrall, the name Ecclesiastical Scaffolding is such a name one has heard before, but maybe not the music. They/he are from Australia and have one or more releases on cassette by Extreme - so go figure how old that must have been. Ah \\\'Lucid Dreaming\\\' - didn\\\'t hear much about since the time Aphex Twin raved about it. If I do recall correctely, it\\\'s about being half awake and half asleep, so that by the time you are really awake you can remember things. So you think up a great composition and then record it afterwards. Both pieces on this 7\\\" have a dream like atmosphere. Since whenever this guy has been doing music, his equipment certainly improved as the production of the 7\\\" is very nice. Great depth on the sounds, small tinkering of chimes and reverb. It\\\'s the usual flock of ritualism, but at least it sounds good. (FdW) Address: http://www.radiantslab.com/DroneRecords/ TROUM - DARVE SH (10\\\" by Beta Lactam Ring) TROUM - SYMBIOSIS (3\\\"CD by Transgredient Records) I fear a bit that Troum had reached the boundaries of their sound and that it would proof difficult to change it from the heavy dreamlike, organic tapestries of sound to something that would be similar but different, if y\\\' catch my drift. But then they come with \\\'Darve Sh\\\', a 10\\\" for the Lactamase series by Beta Lactam Ring records, and I am wrong. Within their context they can change the sound to something new. Both sides are just one piece. Both sides have pounding rhythms as a starting point. But both sides are different. The a-side is layered with, besides the drums, a whole bunch of guitars which almost sound euphorical - a celebration of life. Not as darkly loaded as much of their previous work, but almost light - maybe I shouldn\\\'t overdo this - lighter dark as opposed to darker dark. The b-side on the other reflects their more darker dark side and the drums sound a little bit further away and the occassional lift comes from processed voices and more recognizable mumblings. To be noted here is that the production is really nice, more depth then ever. Maybe Troum will turn to professional studios now? It would justify their sound. At the same time Troum releases on their own label a 3\\\" CD, which contains solo tracks by the two Troum members Glit[s]ch and BarakaH. Here we find them in their \\\'older\\\' style, with a strong emphasis on guitar sounds. Five relatively short pieces for Troum standards, but with their usual sense of drones. Played with bows and e-bows, drenched out in sound effects they are all quite enjoyable, but I think they would have made more sense if they were a bit longer. Now they end abruptely, before the drones can really stick in your mind. Maybe the 3\\\" format is well suited for one Troum track, and not five. They shouldn\\\'t be afraid of doing just one or two for such a length. (FdW) Address: http://www.blrrecords.com Address: http://www.radiantslab.com/DroneRecords/ EVEREST - INHALIGHT (miniCDR by Everest Records) As you might have guessed, Everest are the group behind Everest Records, aswell as the organisation r3s3t, who organise concerts in Switzerland. Everest are Matu and Meienberg. They record everywhere and always, taping whatever sounds they think is necessary for their music. Don\\\'t really understand why it results only in a four track cdr, but the extensive CD rom part makes things quite ok. Included are a whole bunch of sounds and computer tools which allow you to play around with the stuff in a really friendly way. I don\\\'t think you could re-create the music part of the CD, but that might not be the idea either. The four pieces are electronic, covered in nicely packed rhythms, but at the same time unfamiliar sounds creep in, sounds that one usually doesn\\\'t find on an average Warp record. Street sounds, environmental recording: that sort of thing. This adds a strange atmosphere to the music, which makes it altogether more interesting to hear, certainly in the good ol\\\' home situation and not on the dance floor. Intelligent dance music for people that don\\\'t dance, I\\\'d say. (FdW) Address: http://www.everestrecords.ch SUN - SUN (2CD by Staubgold) If you thought that everything Oren Ambarchi ever did was to play a bunch of drones and related music, then his new duo \\\'Sun\\\' proofs you wrong. Sun is Oren and Chris Townend. Of course you know Oren Ambarchi from the lines of Vital Weekly, his drone releases and his collaborations. Chris Townend might be less known. He played once with Kiss My Poodle\\\'s Donkey and now works for films (Dead Poets Society and Dead Calm for instance) and runs a studio. That all doesn\\\'t say that much about Sun. Well, Sun is different from anything else I heard by Oren Ambarchi. There singing on this CD, there is guitar playing, there\\\'s drums. Is this a rock record? Yes, so it seems. What do I know about rock music? Let\\\'s just easily state: nothing. It\\\'s not that I never heard any, but somehow I never know what is hip, good or bad. I think I heard Low, but didn\\\'t like it for one minute. I heard and liked Tortoise - but are they a rock band? I have Pet Sounds - was that rock? Enough rambling. I think Sun is great. Some of the songs remind me of the Beach Boys, like \\\'Reach For The Sky\\\'. Some other pieces remind me of those bands whose singer (m/f) you can never understand hearing what they sing, but with Sun you can. Most of the songs are down to mid tempo, the atmosphere is always a bit clouded here. A bit sad and melancholical. Personal and warm. At least that\\\'s what I think about it. The nice thing about this release is that Staubgold commissioned remixes for each track, so on the second CD, you hear the entire CD again and in the same order but then dramatically remixed by some. With people like Pimmon or Mapstation taking just a tiny fragment and building their own thing, one knows one is in remixing land. But Pluramon stays very close to the original (and I mean very close), but also Rafael Toral and Hvratski incorporate much of the original work into it. Most surprising remixers here are, however, Norbert Moslang and Christoph Heemann, both hoovering on the more abstract side of things, but especially Heemann\\\'s dreamy guitar mix is very nice. But it\\\'s altogether even more surprising seeing these guys doing a remix. Sun is great. If I was into rock music, I\\\'d say the best rock record of 2003. (FdW) Address: http://www.staubgold.com CIRCUITS OF STEEL (2CD by SSS Records) PANCREATIC AARDVARKS - FEVER DREAMS (CDR by Gnarphlager Records) Pittsburgh is a nice city, somewhere in Pennsylvania. Nice, if you like old factories and steel mills. That\\\'s why this double CD compilation of electronic music from that city is called \\\'Circuits Of Steel\\\' - steel from the city\\\'s old industries and circuits for all the electronic wizzardy going on on this CD. This is an overview of no less then thirty bands and individuals from Pittsburg playing electronic music and I am pretty sure a lot of them sound pretty new. In fact I recognized four names: Jeremy Boyle (who had a very nice CD on Southern a couple of years ago), Powder French, Impercept and Tentatively, A Convenience. Most of the music goes about in techno and drum & bass areas, and sometimes the results are pretty painful, but sometimes they are pretty nice too. Names included: Zombi, Automatic Matty P, Climax Street, Syne Lapse Variate, Micheal Johnson, Luxe Robotica, My Boyfriend The Pilot, Telesysm, Geobot, Manherringbone and more and more. No particular standout track, some losers, but defintely worth checking out if you look for something out of the ordinary. One of the few bands that is not featured on Circuits Of Steel and that do some sort of electronic music is the Pancreatic Aardvarks. I saw them (or better him) playing live sometime ago and quite like the ambient patterns played on a bunch of keyboards and guitar. Some parts of his guitar playing reminded me of Durutti Column. After the concert I got this release, which was according to the Aardvark the one that sounded the most like the concert. Josh, whose project this is, is a guy that likes lenghty music and ambient textures. In \\\'Looking Down\\\', this results in some guitar playing echo, or echo playing guitar, and maybe the eleven minutes are a bit overdone, but it\\\'s nice piece. I was a bit put off by tracks with his vocals, but they are kept to a minimum. Nice work with room for progress. (FdW) Address: GARETH MITCHELL A.K.A. PHILOSOPHER\\\'S STONE - AUGUST; SNOW; PIECES (CDR by Absurd) Philosopher\\\'s Stone have come a long way from the Kranky album to this. Former member of AMP Gareth Mitchell produces an album of post rock for Kranky, but in the last two or so years, he moved to using laptops to create a much more experimental kind of music. On this new CDR with three pieces, the first and the last, are really quite radical laptop doodlings. Cracklings, noise, plug ins running amok. It\\\'s the sort of thing the uniniated might except (and maybe those who know too). The nicest piece on this CD is \\\'Snow\\\', the second or middle piece of the release. Lengthwise it\\\'s the longest with it\\\'s twenty minutes. It starts out really slow, but then looped insect like sounds drop in and as the piece evolves, the whole is lifted and thick layers of what seems to me bell sounds are created. Drone music but then much more in the areas of digital sound processing. This is the stuff I think Gareth should be doing more and leave out the quasi composed pieces of randomized sound events. The cover certainly fits the idea of the \\\'Snow\\\' more then it does for the other pieces. (FdW) Address: http://www.anet.gr/absurd VANCE ORCHESTRA - VANCE PLAYS VANCE (CD-R by Blade Records) Vance Orchestra may not exactly be your average household name, but they have been around for quite a while now. Releasing their music from the eighties untill now on all the usual media, they have by now established a large catalogue. Their music is hard to define because it is a mix of styles, all belonging more or less in the underground genres: industrial, ambient, electroacoustic, you name it and it\\\'s there. Aside from their own musical undertakings, they are also active as organisers of concerts and other events in Arnhem, in the east of The Netherlands. Well, so much for introducing Vance Orchestra (if at all necessary) and on to the CD at hand. The title already suggests what this is about: Vance Orchestra have been digging in their archives and have sort of remixed their own material. Nothing new obviously, but the good thing here is that Vance have decided not to freshen up the sound or digitally remaster old stuff. They have simply taken old sound material and made new tracks with them. The result is refreshingly \\\'old fashioned\\\': two long tracks with loops, needles in grooves and lots of other sounds mixed into drone pieces with a lot of atmosphere. The pieces flow through the speakers with subtle changes and a certain scenic quality, enabling the listener to sink away in sound induced dreams. All sound elements are present really: loops, field recordings, electronic drones, electroacoustic crackles. All blended wih an ease that betrays their years of experience in the field. Just sit back and enjoy. And another thing: regular listening enhances the experience. (MR) Address: http://web.tiscalinet.it/bladerecords .MURMER - DEFINITION (CDR by Absurd) This is, I believe, Patrick McGinley\\\'s a.k.a. .Murmer, third release (after one on Bake and one on S\\\'Agita). He\\\'s one of those blokes that always wears headphones and has a microphone as a third arm: always hunting for sound. The pieces on this CD include such sound sources as water bottle, bicycle wheel, freezer, rain, fluorescent lighting, airplane landing gear, shop alarm but also a synth loop, trumpet and feedback. When done with recording, Murmer sticks his sounds on his analog four track machine, adds a bit of distortion, reverb and/or delay, and that\\\'s it. Life is that simple. And maybe it is. .Murmer\\\'s music is of course one of lenghty pieces, in which sounds get to develop themselves. Rather then expanding just one sound like so many others, .Murmer rather layers different sounds over eachother to make a nice atmospheric mix of sounds that seemingely have no relation to eachother, but that just work nice. In \\\'Spoke Speak\\\' he may use just the sound of the a bicycle wheel, he still go by with the same method of layering sounds and then do a mix of it. The best piece on this release is \\\'Liquid Solid\\\', which uses the freezer, rain, fluorescent lighting, airplane landing gear, shop alarm. A bubbling piece of dark sounds, lighter crackles and an overall dark atmosphere. Here .Murmer can easily meet with the likes of Mirror, Ora or Jonathan Coleclough. (FdW) Address: http://www.anet.gr/absurd TAMING POWER - SELECTED WORKS 1992-98 (10\\\" by Early Morning Records) TAMING POWER - SELECTED WORKS 1997 (10\\\" by Early Morning Records) TAMING POWER - SELECTED WORKS 2000: EXCURSIONS FOR TAPE RECORDERS (10\\\" by Early Morning Records) Three more 10\\\" records by Taming Power, the work of Askild Haugland of whom we reviewed a record in Vital Weekly 365. These three are older, but worth reviewing. For his music, Askild uses guitars and tape recorders. The tape recorders aren\\\'t just there to \\\'record\\\' but are also and mainly used as musical instruments, ie they are prepared to record the feedback also. Such wonders you can\\\'t do that much on a laptop... \\\'Selected Works 1992-98\\\' contains mainly shorter pieces, most of which use feedback like sounds. Maybe a bit like the old Arcane Device music, but recorded in a lesser quality. Some of the pieces are not really great, but due to the fact that they are quite short it\\\'s still a pretty varied record. Instruments on this record include guitar, casiotone, circular saw, radio and various types of tape recorders. The 1997 work is just two long pieces spread out over the two sides of the record. Here things don\\\'t work at all, I think. The pieces are both quite noisy and seem to be recorded in a manner of improvisation. These pieces don\\\'t go anywhere. Similar thoughts I had about the 2000 work. Again longer pieces that do not capture the real feel of drone oriented music, but instead sound like a badly recorded Tod Dockstader. That is a pity. I think Taming Power\\\'s music works best in short, sketch like pieces and not in longer, unstructured pieces. (FdW) Address: ERIC GOLDD & T.B.EGG (3\\\" CDR by Realistic) A self-released 3\\\"CDR by Eric Goldd who plays guitar here and T.B. Egg who is processing it in real time. At times it seems that the real time processing takes over the guitar playing, or it must be that the guitar playing as such is not easy to recognize. The two boys go for the more continous, yet rhythmic sound experience. Sounds appear looped and are slowly transformed via the means of powerbook processing. Sometimes the metallic string sounds pop up, especially in the third piece. It\\\'s altogether a well done improvisational set of recordings. Address: Correction: The Marcia Blaine School For Girls, reviewed last week, is not an one man band, but in fact a three piece group. 1. From: \\\"Angelo Filippo Jannoni Sebastianini\\\" \\\"IL TEMPIETTO\\\" INVITES MUSICIANS TO PLAY AT THE \\\"FESTIVAL MUSICALE DELLE NAZIONI\\\" SUMMER SEASON June 16st ˆ September 28th 2003 ROME - ITALY \\\"CONCERTI DEL TEMPIETTO\\\" ARCHELOGICAL PARK OF MARCELLUS\\\' THEATRE GARDEN OF \\\"CASINA DELLE CIVETTE\\\" - VILLA TORLONIA Every evening (8.30 p.m.) two Classical Music Concert \\\"The Tempietto\\\'s CONCERTS - Music Festival of Nations represent a PERSONAL PROFESSIONAL PROMOTING SERVICE offered on request by Cultural Association IL TEMPIETTO to musicians and artists from all over the world\\\" http://www.tempietto.it APPLICATION FORM for music proposals: http://www.tempietto.it/programmazione/IscrizioneMusicistiEnglish.htm 2. From: thilges3 thilges3 - live AD/DA thilges3 - live at Lifeball 2003 24.5.03 rathaus wien thilges3 - radio noire schauspiel frankfurt 5. - 8.6.03 thilges3 - live 11.6.03 fluc wien www.thilges.at 3. From: gert-jan prins may 23, 24, 25 festival musica genera @ stettin, poland see: http://rwert.art.pl/festival_2002/festival_2003.html 4. From: LAMPO THIS SATURDAY, MAY 24 LAMPO PRESENTS ILLUSION OF SAFETY - 20TH ANNIVERSARY 6ODUM - 2116 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago, Ill. 9PM - Admission open to all ages. Dan Burke premieres two new solo pieces ... -- 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 - Acaciastraat 11 - 6521 NE Nijmegen - 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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