============ VITAL WEEKLY ============ number 461 ------------ week 6 ------------ ANGST (Compilation CD by Spectre) BETA ERKO - I'M OK, YOU'RE OK (CD by Quecksilber) 8ROLEK - UMPOMAT (CD by Mik Musik) PASTACAS - TSACA TSAP (CD by Kohvirecords) RONNIE SUNDIN - HAGRING (CD by Antifrost) XABIER ERKIZIA - ENTRESOL (CD by Antifrost) HIGH MAYHEM FESTIVAL 2003 (CD+ CDROM by High Mayhem) SPIRE - LIVE IN GENEVA CATHEDRAL SAINT PIERRE (2CD by Touch) PIRANDELO - PIRANDELO SUONA (CD by DSP Records) KAMMERFLIMMER KOLLEKTIEF - ABSENCEN (CD by Staubgold) THE AEOLIAN STRING ENSEMBLE - ECLIPSE (CD by Robot Records) SOME PATHS LEAD BACK AGAIN (2CD compilation by Highpoint Lowlife) INTRICATE MAXIMALS (CD compilation by Audiobulb Records) JUNIOR BOYS - HIGH COME DOWN (LP by Kin) ANDREW LILES - DRONE WORKS #7 (CDREP by Twenty Hertz) MORMO - AMOUTH FULL OF SMALL BARKS (CDR by Papergoose) AUBE - PÔLE NORD (3"CDR by Taalem) KAR - SFRIGOR (3"CDR by Taalem) MATHIEU RUHLMANN - SOMNE (3"CDR by Taalem) DRONAEMENT - FUER MUR (3"CDR by Taalem) CHEFKIRK - EXTRA FIRM (CDR by Simple Logic Records) HELLOTHISISALEX - ACROSS THE RIVER TWIN (CDR, self-released) MEGATONE - A JOURNEY TO THE CORE OF REALITY (CDR by Tib Prod) SOUND 00 - SOUND666 (CDR by Tib Prod) TZESNE - TIME OF BONFIRES (3"CDR by Tib Prod) KARL BÖSMAN - DAS KIND IN DER KÜCHE (CDR by Tosom) DAS RÜCKGRAT DER NACHT - SYNTHETISCHE DUNKELHEIT (CDR by Tosom) SHIFTS - VERTONEN 9 (CD by Public Eyesore) ANGST (Compilation CD by Spectre) "Angst" is the title of this double Cd compilation from Belgium label Spectre. Each artist on the album delivers his sonic exploration into the subject "Angst". Not surprisingly we end up with an album that swirls in territories of sheer darkness and disturbing moments. There is a quite varied musical approach to the subject, I must say! A great part of the artists appearing on the compilation have earlier releases on the German labels Ant-Zen Recordings and Hands Productions. Thus we find quite a few musical similarities between this compilation and the style of the two aforementioned labels. In other words the distorted industrial rhythms of technoid Power Noise are represented in several of the 26 tracks on "Angst". The compilation in some aspects is reminiscent of the fabulous second part of Relapse/Release Entertainment's compilation series "Release your mind" (1997). Both compilations seem like working with an interesting progression, opening with dark atmospheric contributions slowly developing more and more brutal ending out with tracks of almost pure Noise. Thus the opening CD first of all floats on soundscapes of horrific atmospheres. The final disc on the contrary reaches aggressive sound levels with a massive storm of claustrophobic noise. One of the highlights on the album is the track titled "Civilisation" built on processed voices and evil drones of subtle noise created by Hypnoskull as an apocalyptic ode to the global conflicts of mankind. Another great moment is the chilling ambient piece "Deserted piece" by Codetripper functioning as a moment of trippy relaxation in a period on the disc where the breathtaking noise seems like the overriding sound factor. Greatest moment on the album though is the short but very intense "Iraque freedom" by MS Gentur. MS Gentur delivers an amazing blend of extreme aggressiveness and beautiful atmospheres ending up with one of the most breathtaking tracks of rhythmic Power Noise heard for quite a while. Overall the musical quality throughout the 145 minutes of "Angst" is impressively high. Thus this double CD compilation certainly proves that Spectre is a label tokeep a close eye on. Highly recommended! (NMP) Address: http://www.spectre.be BETA ERKO - I'M OK, YOU'RE OK (CD by Quecksilber) If I tell you that Beta Erko has people like Martin Ng (of gcttcatt), Robin Fox (the computer guy of the Synaesthesia label), Anthony Pateras (electronics/prepared piano) and MC Vulk Makedonski, then you, like me, think: who is the last one and then slide the CD in expecting some nice improvised music. And well, yeah maybe it's improvised music, but altogether of a different order then you might expect. There turntable scratches, rhythms, musique concrete cut ups and other improv crazyness, but what really makes the difference is the vocal contributions of MC Vulk Makedonski. His singing and rapping sound like David Moss on speed, or a heavily doped... a heavily doped.... well, since I never get around to have even the slightest interest in rapmusic, I can't fill in a single name. I might be wrong of course, but this seems to me the first time that hip hop and rap ever meet up with electronic improvised music. I played this CD a couple of times in a row, trying to figure out wether I should laugh, fall over amazement, thinking: is this great? Is it bad? I couldn't figure it out. It might be easy to say: hearing is believing, but in this case, that is the only true thing. (FdW) Address: http://www.staubgold.com 8ROLEK - UMPOMAT (CD by Mik Musik) This is the first real CD by Bartek Kujawski aka 8Rolek, following two previous CDR releases for Mik Musik. Bartek builts his own software and plays with them on two laptops. As noted before (in Vital Weekly 353), one could say that 8Rolek operates in the fields of clicks and cuts, but unmistakenly he derives his own version out of it. Apperentely not interested in just a bunch of plug-ins or an all to strict 4/4 beat, but he builts out of disjointed elements, something that slowly builts an abstract rhythm, such as in 'Po-chaus'. What is particular noteworthy is the fact that many of his soundsource are really 'dry'. Maybe derived from electro-acoustic sources, sounds picked up by contact microphones or some such, this is for sure another start then many other clicks and cuts musicians would do. This sets 8Rolek aside from the rest and makes for sure an interesting release. Eleven powerful pieces herein, full of energy. Nice indeed. Address: http://www.mikmusik.org PASTACAS - TSACA TSAP (CD by Kohvirecords) Ramo Teder, the man behind Pastacas, is originally from Estonia, but now lives in a small village called Kirjakkala on Finland's west coast, where he made all these tracks. Apperentely mornings last 33.33 minutes longer than in the rest of the world, so that's the reason that this album lasts 44.44 minutes. Does that make sense? Not here. Ramo plays all the instruments (guitar, flute, bass) himself and uses no sampling. And he sings. As much as there is clarity in the recorded instruments, the vocals seem to be heavily processed. Layered, twisted, with hardly any normal line around. The short pieces on this album sound relatively lighthearted, the music is mildly jazzy and poppy, but at the same time there is also a strong electronic feel to it. A singer-songwriter who doesn't use just a guitar and voice, but someone who is well aware of the latest thing in glitch (say Fennesz), and this album could have easily fitted on Häpna, alongside Hans Appelqvist. It has that same intimate tone, another fresh look at popmusic. (FdW) Address: http://www.kohvirecords.ee RONNIE SUNDIN - HAGRING (CD by Antifrost) XABIER ERKIZIA - ENTRESOL (CD by Antifrost) From the microsound people with some name recognition, Ronnie Sundin might be a known name, although there wasn't a new release in some time. His previous works were released by labels such as Fallt, Bake Records, Hapna and Ground Fault. The latter two labels released the previous parts of a trilogy of which 'Hagring' is the final part. A lot of Sundin's work hoovers below earrange, sometimes arising above it. When I pressed 'play' I turned the volume up a bit, expecting things to be soft again. Which by and large was a good thing, since things are a bit soft here. According to the information, though not mentioned on the cover, Sundin uses besides field recordings and computer processed sound, vibrating piano and guitar strings. He could have fooled me, because the covers says 'all mirages by Ronnie Sundin'. 'Hagring' is indexed as one long track, but clearly divided in smaller parts, that is really small parts. Some of the fragmented pieces don't seem to last longer than one minute or so, while towards the end they are much longer until it arrives in this beautiful extended drone piece. They are divided by silence (or so it seems). Thus an interesting play between audible music and silence occurs. When one is listening to this and arrive during a silence, one never knows how long it's going to take. And during this contemplation, a sudden outburst of sound takes you back into the CD. Sundin doesn't go the easy route, and it's more difficult than say Francisco Lopez, where it's mostly silent throughout. Silence is juxtaposed through sound, or vice versa. A complicated work, that however has quite some beauty in it, certainly the final part with all it's drones. It may take a few rounds to discover that, however. On the same label is also the debut album of Basque composer Xabier Erkizia, who has collaborated with people like fellow Basque Mattin, Eddie Prevost, Ilios, TV Pow and many more. Like the title suggests - Entresol meaning between two floors - this is music that is in between something, not focussing on one thing, but rather moves in between musics. This results into quite vague music, I think. Sometimes largely inaudible, but at other occassions it can burst out in quite a vicious way. These outbursts however are quite short. 'Entresol III' is the piece that is troughout audible with vague rumblings. Even after a couple of times listening to this, I don't know wether I should think this music is just unfocussed and dull or that, on the other hand, it's captivating. I haven't made my mind up yet, and that in itself is rather an effort too. (FdW) Address: http://www.antifrost.gr HIGH MAYHEM FESTIVAL 2003 (CD+ CDROM by High Mayhem) Here we have an extraordinary document from a extraordinary festival. High Mayhem is the name of a multimedia art collective that has it?s hometown in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In 2003 they organized their Second Annual Experimental Multimedia Festival. The festival was documented extensively by a crew who filmed, recorded, etc. the entire festival! Through this release this documentation comes available. And even more is available from their site. The doubledisc documents this festival in an excellent way. Disc1 is an audio compilation presenting all 19 musical acts that were featured at this festival. Disc 2 offers videos, photos, graphics and mp3 recordings (10 hours!) of each bands performance. I must admit that it opened a complete new world for me as most acts were unknown to me. Let me mention first all 19 actst: My Country of Illusion, Zimbabwe Nkenya Contrabas Quartet, Doublespeak, Claudia Quinet, D Numbers, Ava Mendoza Quartet, Iot, Molly Sturges? mJane Ensemble, Derail, Menage a Un, The Late Severa Wives, Birth, Things of that Nature, Ben Wright Rumble Trio, Out of Context, Stefan Dill? Love Unfold the Sun, Chris Jonas? ARC Ensemble, Invisible Plane, Lid 13. Alas line-up information is lacking. But a little research learns that several acts have personal connections. It?s one big family. The mJane Ensemble of Molly Sturgess is a good starting point. Vital readers with a good memory may remember that a few weeks ago I wrote a few lines on the cd "Prayers from the Underbelly" by this ensemble, containing a live recording from the High Mayhem festival. Member of this ensemble is DJ Ultraviolet who compiled the cd of this release. With his band Invisible plane he contributed also musically to the festival with unsatisfying soundimprovisations and sound collages. More focus is needed here, in my view. Member is also Stefan Dill who appears also with his own act Love Unfold the Sun. He tries to link free improvisation with the sound of the oud and the eastern music that is usually played on a instrument like this. He playing is acompanied by drums, bass, drums, etc. Also Dill returns in a piece to the guitar, the instrument he used to play in earlier days. If I'm not mistaken Dill also participates in Out of Context , an ensemble of J.A.Deane (remember Indoor Life?). mJane members Jefferson Voorhees, CK Barlow and Sturgess herself participate also in this project. With this ensemble Deane experiments with conducted improvisation. We hear violin, cello, guitar, oud (or something like that), voices, percussion, etc. Must be quite a big ensemble. Very engaging music. Molly Sturges? husband Chris Jonas played also on the festival with his ARC Ensemble. Saxplayer Jonas may be known for his work with Anthony Braxton and William Parker. For his ARC Ensemble he composes a music that is somewherre between jazz and new music. Jonas is also connected with Birth. This Ohio-based group around saxplayer Joshua Smith. Completed with bass and drums this group received good reviews. But their set on High Mayhem didn?t work for me. The set starts with a long noisy electronic intro that changes into a unsignificant jazzy kind of music with drums, bass and sax in the center. The music has its interesting moments when electronic devices lift up the jazz in more abstract regions. My Country of Illusion and D Numbers both work with slow electronic beats with a role for guitars in the forefront. In the case of D Numbers it results in a very funky ambient music. Very nice. Zimbabwe Nkenya premiered with his Contrabas Quartet. They play a piece by Anthony Braxton, so you know what kind of jazz/modern music they play. Things of that Nature from Los Angeles works with indie pop melodies in a style that is so close to the new wave of the 80s that it is probably meant so. Doublespeak and Ava Mendoza Quartet play a kind of impro-rock. Both groups center around guitarist Ava Mendoza. Especially Doublespeak plays an intense free-rock for electric guitar, drums and electronics. Great unit and Ava Mendoza surely is a name to watch. One of the highlights of the festival - in my view - is the Claudia Quintet. This group has two albums out ont the Cuneiform label, which is some indication for the music the make. Composer and drummer John Hollenbeck is the frontman here. The line up includes accordion, vibraphone, bass and saxes. Like most acts from this festival their music is an example of jazz and ?beyond?. In the case of the Claudia Quintet the result is comparable with groups like Curlew, Samla, Hamster Theatre, etc., but with more room for improvisation. Are you still there dear reader? I will not go into the other acts on this compilation. By now you may have an impression of the music that is covered by this festival. A very interesting mix of improvisation, rock, jazz, beats, influences of worldmusic, etc. I hope there will be future editions of this festival, because it is important to have these platforms! Most acts meet considerable musical standards and have an original approach. So if you are into this kind of music this is an very interesting release. The release of this cd and cd-rom itself is a true labor of love of some very dedicated people. Chapeau! (DM) Address: http://www.highmayhem.com/ SPIRE - LIVE IN GENEVA CATHEDRAL SAINT PIERRE (2CD by Touch) Last year Touch finally realized their first double CD with works dealing with the king of instruments: the church organ. The only organ to show the right love of God, perhaps, but for some others also the instrument that brings on a massive drone, that perhaps can take the listener to different levels - in anyway. Many of the works on the first Spire CD were treatments in some way of organ like sounds, not just church organs, but also for instance a hammond organ. For the second Spire CD, again a lenghty double one, the church organ plays the central role. And an organ in one place, being the Saint Pierre Cathedral in Geneva, where all these pieces were recorded. Three groups were performed here. The first group of five pieces are by contemporary composers, such as Andre Jolivet, Liana Alexandra, Marcus Davidson and, perhaps, best known Henryk Gorecki. Here the massive density of the organ collides strongely on walls the of the church, but at the same time can move the listener to a more contemplative moment. Best this works in the piece by Gorecki, who works with both contrasts very well. The second group of works, being two in fact, is were the organ meets itself or other instruments. It meets itself in the piece by BJ Nilsen, who is playing around with sounds from the organ (such as the mechanism that sucks air into it) and electronical treatments thereof, in quite a shimmering and moody piece. In Philip Jeck's 'The Crypt', the organ meets the king of sound recording - that is what vinyl is to some - but the marriage is not always a fruitful one. The king of instruments is like a monarch, and doesn't allow rock records in it's kingdom. In the final piece the church organ is no longer touched, but forms the basic of perhaps Fennesz's most ambient moment. His computer treatments are very subtle, the soundmaterial c an still be recognized but is also unmistakenly in the digital domain. Despite the fact that there are three different groups of works on this double CD, it is a well-succeeded compilation and the best is kept to the end - the twenty-five minute shimmer by Fennesz. (FdW) Address: http:///www.touchmusic.org.uk PIRANDELO - PIRANDELO SUONA (CD by DSP Records) Pirandelo is a new Italian group around Andrea Gabriele of Tu'M, writer and photographer Marita Cosma and filmmaker Claudio Sinatti. Together they use software, guitars, bass, vocals and field recordings and the music should be seen as 'the medium of a journey that start from an organic and tangible astraction to a cinematic and synaesthetic narration'. Quite a mouthful for something that in my book sounds a glitch music. The traditional instruments are all warped, twisted, reconfigured and what else have you in the digital domain and it is served again in the form of slightly chaotic tunes, but of which an influence of pop, or even jazz can be noted. The nine tracks are indeed quite nice to hear, especially when some sort of vocal sip through the electronica, but on the other hand the paths taken by Pirandelo aren't exactely new. Influences of Fennesz, Oval or somesuch, albeit with maybe a little bit more poppy result, are clear traces here. No big deal, since Pirandelo has a nice debut album with this anyway. And I believe they take this on the road, adding live visual elements, so who knows: maybe soon in your area too. (FdW) Address: http://www.dsprecords.com KAMMERFLIMMER KOLLEKTIEF - ABSENCEN (CD by Staubgold) I think I mentioned before that a while ago I saw Germany's Kammerflimmer Kollektief live, but that I wasn't blown away by them. Their new CD 'Absencen' however has been spinning around for days and I still have trouble finding out what I think about it. The collective is a group of six persons, playing drums, harmonium, double bass, cello, violin and varioous windinstruments. I think many of their works are generated through improvisation, maybe along some fixed points. A typical point of departure is some sort of drone related sound that sets thing on or maybe a drum pattern, over which the other instruments improvise their sound, mainly the wind instruments and the strings. The result is quite diverse. Sometimes they manage to sound like a jazz band, sometimes they play a spaghetti western tune including a slide guitar and sometimes field recordings are used to make additional sounds. But the main feature seems to be the total free role of the wind instruments, which sound to my ears always a bit traditional in their improvisations. The music of the Kammerflimmer Kollektief works best when they play a longer tune. As some of the pieces on 'Absencen' are a bit short, the album as a whole doesn't work that well for me. I think it would have been better to pick lesser tracks and work them out a little more. But having said all of this, I took out quite some pleasure of this too. It formed a nice backdrop to some of my daily acitivities, such as reading the newspaper... (FdW) Address: http://www.staubgold.com THE AEOLIAN STRING ENSEMBLE - ECLIPSE (CD by Robot Records) The first time I got across the name of Aeolian String Ensemble was perhaps twenty years ago. Despite all the hiss on a tape it was nice ambient guitar tracks that was on one of the 'Rising From The Red Sand' compilation cassettes. I liked it, and wished I could hear more, but the information was sparse and in none of the fanzines they were ever mentioned. A couple of years ago, Robot Records released, rather out of the blue, a full length CD by them, which I heard in passing. Not bad, but not something I needed to add to my collection. Still we are left clueless as to the ensemble is, but somewhere along the lines there is some involvement of Steve Stapleton and Christoph Heemann (who drawn some of images on the cover). The three pieces on the new release were made over a couple of years, the oldest is from 1981 and the most recent was completed in 2003. The Aeolian String Ensemble sound like their name, like wind. I believe the ancient greeks used wind instruments (aeolian is greek for wind), strings that were blown and resonated by the wind. Probably one of the more purer forms of ambient music. The oldest piece here 'K1' sound quite similar to the 'Rising From The Red Sand' track: processed guitar sounds (or any kind of strings really). It's stretched out, slow and peaceful. That can also be said of the other two pieces, of which one was recorded during the eclipse of the sun on August 11, 1999, using Air Harps and Wind Vanes, all fed through a whole bunch of sound effects. The music of the Aeolian String Ensemble is close to that is populair right now from bands like Mirror, Ora and Monos. Sonically deep ambient music, made in a rather unconventional way, avoiding the cliches that sometime lurk around the corner of this kind of music. (FdW) Address: http://www.robotrecords.com SOME PATHS LEAD BACK AGAIN (2CD compilation by Highpoint Lowlife) To me the Marcia Blaine School For Girls is just a band, of whom I reviewed a nice 7" before (in Vital Weekly 371), but I would never expect that they would curate a double CD cmpilation for Highpoint Lowlife. But hey, what do I know? Maybe they are famous? This compilation deals with Scottish electronica artists, who are all but two, unknown to me. But they play quite diverse stuff here. From the dreamy ambientesque guitar doodlings by Daigoro in 'Sleepy Fish' to the uptempo, aggressive Izu, or low bit Tersh Jetterax. On disc one the highlights are by The Marcia Blaine School For Girls themselves, the a-cappella song about fear of flying by Chris Dooks (quite nice on an electronica compilation) and the track by Daigoro. On disc two Feld is quite nice and the Pan Sonic sounding Daigoro (again). Also enclosed is are three quicktime movies, which are all highly abstract VJ like material, of which Somniscope was the nicest one, up to the point when it got too new agey for me. This electronica scene from Scotland is probably not as big as the Franz Ferdinand scene, but nevertheless one that with all his side acts and collaborations, is one that is vibrant enough to stay around longer than the hype of Franz. (FdW) Address: http://www.highpointlowlife.com INTRICATE MAXIMALS (CD compilation by Audiobulb Records) The young Audiobulb label is both active on the front of releasing CDs aswell as offering their releases for download, sometimes even for free. Following 'Switches', their first compilation (see Vital Weekly 422), they now offer another compilation under the banner of 'Intricate Maximals'. Musically they move away from the ambient chill out music of the previous compilation, and the eightteen pieces on this new one are all in the areas of intelligent techno music. All of these bands (probably, rather, all of these one-man bands) are new to me, even when some of them have releases on other labels, such as Ochre for Toytronic or Another Electronic Musician for n5md. There is a great sense of homogenity on this CD, which is nice, but there are also some disadvantages to it. Firstly many of the tracks sound alike, and with nineteen in just under eighty minutes, this is a bit long. Then some of the tracks are also a bit long, and after a while you may be fed up with melancholic piano chords and stuttery beats. But it serves as a good introduction to a lot of new names (even when it's hard to pick out that one sublime track), so maybe this is not one of those compilations that should be played back to back, but rather a small portion here and there. It's music that holds no surprises, but brings nice music on a boring sunday afternoon. (FdW) Address: http://www.audiobulb.com JUNIOR BOYS - HIGH COME DOWN (LP by Kin) I've been listening (again) this EP on repeat and thinking: damn, this is so fine music and a great EP, the whole release. Starting with the amazing single-track 'High come down', which is also a part of Junior Boys' album 'Last exit'. It's a wonderful track, with kinda transparent beats and a perfect electro flow. Then comes the Manitoba remix of 'Birthday', more upbeat, but quite chilled again. At first it was difficult for me to get into it, but even when I'm not the greatest fan of this indie-electronic master, I think he's done an amazing thing remixing this tune. It's even dance-floor friendly to some extend. 'Under the sun' is seemingly monotonous at first and a bit longer, great electro-romantic landscape. At the end is the shortest atmospheric excursion 'A certain association', as a fading out off this impressionistic world. Junior Boys have made some of the most amusing pop music with this EP and previous year's album 'Last exit' (see Vital 426). Why they are not on Wire's front-page yet? (BR) Address: http://www.electrokin.com ANDREW LILES - DRONE WORKS #7 (CDREP by Twenty Hertz) Unfortunally the name Andrew Liles is not very well-known, despite his albums for Nextera and Infraction. Maybe things will change with this release on the Twenty Hertz series, home of many nice names and certainly something to collect. The twenty some minute piece by Liles is among the most minimal work I have encountered from him in quite some time. Two or three gliding tones, maybe synths but it might also be feedback gently collide on eachother throughout this piece, although half way through some nastier sounds bump in (making me think this is a live recording of sorts). One of Liles' trademarks, the extensive use of reverb, only appears at the end, with some highly reverbed cymbals kicking in. It's good to see that kept to a minimum. The last four minutes of this release have more musical action that the previous eightteen, but it's a suitable ending. Liles comes close to Eliane Radigue here and is a major step forward. (FdW) Address: http://www.twentyhertz.co.uk MORMO - AMOUTH FULL OF SMALL BARKS (CDR by Papergoose) I got this release a while ago and among lots of other releases I've received, it's been lying by my laptop for some time with the other cds waiting to be listened. Now I finally found time and space to listen to it concentrated enough to write a review about it. It is the first time I meet this label which seems to be interesting. As you can see from their qute site its a small cdr label that has three artists in its roster and three releases so far. This debut ep is one of them. It's made by Tomasz Kaye aka Mormo who is doing interesting music that is a combination of glitch, broken rhythms connected with subtle melodies. Generally, some kind of melodic electronic music bordering IDM, but of course more interesting than both. The glitchy aspects dominate, and that gives the release even more dynamics and contemporary aspects. Darker and ambiental parts, as track three, are combined and connected with female speech. Then in the next track a delicate glitchy and noisy machine rhythm continues. Likewise in the following tracks? A short but really interesting release, whose combination of styles still sounds fresh and not boring at all, which is not case if they stand alone. (TD) Address: http://www.papergoose.net AUBE - PÔLE NORD (3"CDR by Taalem) KAR - SFRIGOR (3"CDR by Taalem) MATHIEU RUHLMANN - SOMNE (3"CDR by Taalem) DRONAEMENT - FUER MUR (3"CDR by Taalem) The Taalem label, subdivison of Harmonie, is by now bigger than the mothership and more and more they attract well-known names. There was a time when Aube circulated in these pieces almost every week (the press release talks about more than 160 releases in fourteen years), but I can't remember when was the last time. Maybe about a decade or so ago, Aube released a lot of singular works, all dealing with one sound source (say a lightbulb, metal, glass etc) but in retrospect many of his compositions sounded singular too. Somewhere along the lines I lost interest, but I was keen to hear what he is up to these days. Still he uses one single soundsource, feedback in this case, but not, as one could expect, a loud one. In the four pieces, Aube shows his usual minimalist interests, but his compositional structures have changed a bit. These four pieces are less based on rhythms and layers, but rather layers of sound. Quite an interesting come-back (don't know if he was away, but at least for me it's a come-back). Kar, from Italy, had a few self-released CDRs and a few on S'Agita (a label that recentely stopped their acitivities), have just one piece, circa twenty minutes. The opening sounds made me think of Organum, but then some sort of trumpet sound kicked in and things sounded a bit more free form improv, but half way through the piece, things gradually changed electronic - I wouldn't be surprised to learn that this is the same piece but then fed through a couple of max/msp patches. The other two new Taalem releases are by artists who had recent releases on Mystery Sea. Mathieu Ruhlmann continues in his own style: processing field recordings (here of an unknown source) and by adding layers of processings, he creates his own deep listening ambient. The rumblings of the original sounds leak through these dense clouds of sounds, but altogether it's a well-crafted piece of dark ambient music. Dronaement has a lot of previous releases (Drone Records, Dachstuhl, Mystery Sea or on his own Field Muzick) and here has two pieces showcasing his two different approaches to ambient music. 'Fuer Mur' is a soft and subtle one of shimmering sounds, birdcall-like piano notes and much delay and reverb. Very lighthearted ambient of a pastorale nature. 'Immer Da' on the other hand is much noiser and less subtle (to say the least), with similar sound sources sounding much more distorted. It's nice to hear both approaches, but I rather had a full twenty minute version of 'Fuer Mur'... (FdW) Address: http://taalem.free.fr CHEFKIRK - EXTRA FIRM (CDR by Simple Logic Records) If the title of a CD should mean something, than I am not sure what 'Extra Firm' means in the case of this new CDR by Chefkirk. Chefkirk, aka Roger H Smith, is a man who has come a long way from his earliest noise doodlings, which didn't really impress me, to his recent somewhat more balanced style of rhythm and noise, in that order. So I feared 'Extra Firm' would see his return to his old noise style, but this is not the case. His continues his recent route of exploring short, repeated sounds and takes his sources, I think from field recordings. Rumbling in the basement on a stack of metal or wood, and upstairs the computer is waiting to treat these into smaller blocks of sound. Occassionally leaping into a Pan Sonic like rhythm. Less refined than our Finnish friends, Chefkirk never comes close to any sort of techno rhythm, but at least he manages to sound like something of his own. The progress forward and upward continues. (FdW) Address: http://www.simlog.tk HELLOTHISISALEX - ACROSS THE RIVER TWIN (CDR, self-released) Hellothisisalex is a young electronic duo from Canada, consisting of Mark Prier and Melissa Creasey, who both share a strong love of analogue synthesizers, aswell as 'pots, pans, plates, voices, guitar, melodica, saxophone and clock radio. Not that's easy to hear all of this, but I'm sure it's somewhere in there. Hellothisisalex like their pop to be electro. The album is inspired by fires that raged in the early 20th century across the river from Hull, Quebec to Ottawa, Ontaria. This may explain just a little bit the somewhat darker tone that hoovers around in the nine tracks on this release. A somewhat somber tone on this album, which has mid-tempo electro songs, fuzzy analogue sounds coming from likewise buzzing synthesizers. Nicely executed, Hellothisisalex could have been released by Suction Records or maybe some of the older Morr Music releases. Despite their young history, Hellothisisalex managed to deliver a nice album of mildly somber tracks, without getting too gloom and doom, but inventive enough. (FdW) Address: http://www.hellothisisalex.com MEGATONE - A JOURNEY TO THE CORE OF REALITY (CDR by Tib Prod) SOUND 00 - SOUND666 (CDR by Tib Prod) TZESNE - TIME OF BONFIRES (3"CDR by Tib Prod) More and more releases by Tib Prod, but they will slow down a little bit for the next few months, in order to work on some changes for the label. Marel Gherman is the man behind Megatone. He works as a radio DJ and did a lot of music, which he never released. But for his first release, he starts right away with almost seventy-eight minutes of music, and we could wonder wether this is a bit overlong. Some of these tracks (even when there are seventeen in total) are really just too long, such as the twelve or so minutes of 'Universe'. Overall, Megatone uses a hard rhythmic sound, over which he puts his plug ins, or maybe even real instruments. It would have been a better idea to trim this release with at least half its length and to make some of the longer pieces much shorter. I doubt wether that will be a good, strong release, but certainly somewhat better. A regular guest for Tib Prod is Sound 00, aka Every Kid On Speed (or Acid), the noise side of Toni Dimitrov. His two previous releases were 3"CDRs but here he goes for the full blast. Although the Merzbowian influence is never far away, more than the Japanese master of noise, Sound 00 operates entirely in the field of laptop and an enormous amount of plug ins, which he plays in real time, as something tells me that this release was generated live. A full forty minute blast here, which should appeal to more adventurous noise heads. I never heard of Tzesne, from Spain, but he did a release before on the Series Negras label. The cover doesn't tell much about how and what, so we are left in the dark here as to what is done, but Tzesne makes drone music. There is a little bit of distortion in this work, which makes this not entirely a strict ambient work. It's hard to tell wether this is all computer manipulation of whatever kind (field recordings? synths?), but after the sheer violence of Sound 00 this is surely a much more relaxing release. Quite promising and intelligent drone music here. (FdW) Address: http://www.tibprod.com KARL BÖSMAN - DAS KIND IN DER KÜCHE (CDR by Tosom) DAS RÜCKGRAT DER NACHT - SYNTHETISCHE DUNKELHEIT (CDR by Tosom) Two debuts on the Tosom label, the German label dealing with the more experimental things in ambient music. 'Das Kind In Der Küche', meaning the kid in the kitchen, by Karl Bösmann has three lenghty pieces and the basic material are atmospheric soundscapes, but by adding sound effects, other sounds and more electronica, Bösmann moves away from the usual dark ambient music and goes into a slightly more rhythmic mood. His use of percussive sounds are minimal, but also a bit ethnical. In 'Begegnung Mit Verachtetem' things are a bit more 'normal' again, but in the title piece, we hear a somewhat distorted organ and far away child cry. Although this is fairly interesting stuff, the pieces are a bit overlong with not always enough variation to keep up the tension of a piece. But it's a promising start. I don't know how to translate Das Rückgrat Der Nacht (didn't learn that in school), which is mainly the project of Martin Besig, although other people play on 'Heaven', the final track of this release. The music here is fairly rhythmic, made with drumcomputers and samples, set against a wall of droney synthesizer sounds. Although this is another lenghty release, there are eleven tracks, like eleven different variations on a theme. Much more than the Karl Bösmann release this is entirely synthetic release, entirely made with machines. It's nice that the tracks are somewhat shorter and more focussed. (FdW) Address: http://www.tosom.de SHIFTS - VERTONEN 9 (CD by Public Eyesore) The new release by Shifts, a sideproject of Frans de Waard takes us on a 70-minute journey. From beginning to the end we hear a fast pulsating sound in the forefront. In the background slower cylces of atmospheric sounds come and go. In fact 'journey' is not a correct metaphor. It suggests development, starting a point A and slowly progressing towards a climax. But that?s not where ?Vertonen 9? is about. As other Shifts releases this one showes de Waards love for pure sound. And it?s on this aspect that he built his music. If you share this love, you will enjoy this one, because de Waard has a good taste for sounds. The sounds he creates are carefully chosen and contain an intrincic richness that is revealed when you listen attentively. Its because of this quality that I have no problem in listening to it from start to finish, and even enjoying it. The work as a whole impresses because of its consistent sticking to one idea for some 70 minutes. He is not afraid to give the sounds time to last. He creates an immense space for a limited set of sounds that are simply there (DM). Address: http://www.publiceyesore.com/ 1. From: "phsimon@voila.fr" Sat. 12th February, 8.30pm HARSH SOUND POETRY Night at Les Voûtes, Paris 13ème, FR ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ featuring Maja RATKJE (Fe-mail / Spunk) Joachim MONTESSUIS (Erratum) "Ruderal Project": Eric CORDIER & Satoko FUJIMOTO (Kokeko) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Les Voûtes - www.lesvoutes.org Entrance: 6 euros Advance tickets: Wave & Bimbo Tower ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Supported by Mouvement (www.mouvement.net) & 75Hertz (www.75hertz.com) thanks & cheers. phill S. ------------------------------------------ 2. From: "-the dead texan-" the dead texan on tour february 15 cologne, de : kulturbunker-muelheim http://www.kulturbunker-muelheim.de 16 hamburg, de : weltbuehne http://www.weltbuehne-hamburg.com/ 18 berlin, de kino krokodil http://www.kino-krokodil.de/ 20 dresden, de : scheune http://www.scheune.org/ 23 malmo, se inkonst http://www.inkonst.com/ 24 Varberg, se: Musikteaternlokaler@Caprinus http://www.nitanaldi.nu/ 25 gotheburg, se. neferiti http://www.nefertiti.se 26 stockholm, se. fylkingen http://www.fylkingen.se/ 27 oslo, no. chateau neuf http://www.studentersamfundet.no/ march 9 Bologna @ Club 74 10 Monza @ Libreria Acustica 11 Tarcento(udine) Hybrida 12 Castelfranco Veneto (Treviso) @ Buenaventura 13 Ferrara @ Circolo Zuni 14 Torino @ Café Procope 16 Genova @ Madeleine Café tbc 17 Pescara? Roma? tbc 18 Pescara? Roma? tbc 19 Salerno @ Salone Pia Casa tbc april 2 brussels, be. @ theatre marcelis (ixelles) don't forget... http://www.brainwashed.com/deadtexan http://www.kranky.net 3. From: Don Sigal/Opposite Records It's my pleasure to announce the first-ever North American tour of Thirdorgan. Akihiro Shimizu is the man behind Japan's Alienation Records, a long-time favorite of noisehounds who know. 2/12 - Los Angeles - The Smell w/ Knives, Damion Romero, Impregnable, Gerritt, Stimbox 2/13 - Chicago - The Empty Bottle w/ John Wiese, Emil Beaulieau, Jessica Rylan (Can't), Insect Deli, Panicsville 2/14 - Detroit - Behind the Green Door w/ Death COMM, Black Sand Desert 2/17 - Kingston, NY - Third Floor Underground w/ Vegas Martyrs (FFH/Prurient), Moe Greene, Ken Timber 2/18 - Montreal - Casa del Popolo w/ Wapstan 2/20 - New York - Knitting Factory Old Office w/ Nightstick, Dataclast, the Alienist/HVEXAS Trio 2/21 - Providence - Living Room w/ Nightstick, I Destroyer, Pleasurehorse, Bereft 2/22 - Boston - Midway Cafe w/ Nightstick, White Mice 4. From: andrés krause Sunday, 13th of february Loft-Ehrenfeld, Wissmannstr. 30, Köln 8.30pm / 7.50 Euro MIRROR Christoph Heemann Andrew Chalk Vikki Jackman Timo Van Luijk infos: andres@softlmusic.com 5. From: "Kirsten Reynolds" The LONDON DIRTHOLE COMPANY (formerly DIRTHOLE) featuring members of PROJECT DARK, MEMBRANES, and TINDERSTICKS play live as special guests of Low (USA) at the Royal Festival Hall, South Bank Centre, London SE1. (tube Waterloo) Friday 18 February 7.30pm £12.50 - £20.00 Box Office: 0870 401 8181 LONDON DIRTHOLE COMPANY 'Greetings from...' limited edition 3 inch CDR in postcard packaging out on 18 February on PHONO EROTIC available from www.posteverything.com www.dirthole.org www.phonoerotic.org 6. From: extrapool Live Cinema (reSort off-production) (audiovisual/performance) Optical Machines and Grains fr 18 februari 20.30 4 euro Optical Machines is Rikkert Brok (prepared projectors) and Maarten Halmans (sound). Grains is Maurits Fennis and Léon Spek. concert (micro-music, electro, bitter poetry) in cooperation with reSort off, Doornroosje and Rawpikzl. MIKMAK: Miss Hawaii, UM, Fokuda en Jeroen Opstelten (D, UK, N, NL) sa 19 februari open 20.30 uur 5 euro Exhibition (multimedia, installations) Time Out Machine (ES, D, NL) opens thursday 24 feb. at 20.00 hours, friday to sunday 27 feb open 15.00 to 18.00 hours. Short filmprogramm sunday 16.00 hours. free entrance concert ((minimal) electronics, video) Incite Axiomatic Integration GradCom vr 11 maart zaal open 20.30 uur entree 5 euro concert in kader van reSort off (electro-acoustics, laptop) Instant Music met Anders Hana, Morten Nottelman, Philipp Weies en Fritz Stolberg ./morFrom/. vr 18 maart zaal open 20.30 uur entree 5 euro -- 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 ), Dolf Mulder (DM), Meelkop Roel (MR), Gerald Schwartz (GS), Niels Mark Pedersen (NMP), Henry Schneider (SH), Jeff Surak (JS), TJ Norris (TJN), Gregg Kowlaksky (GK), Craig N (CN), Boban Ristevski (BR), Maurice Woestenburg (MW), Toni Dimitrov (TD ), Chris Jeely (CJ) and others on a less regular basis. 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. Announcements can be shortened by the editor. Please do NOT send any attachments/jpeg's, we will trash them without viewing. There is no point in directing us to MP3 sites, as we will not go there. Any MP3 release to be reviewed should be burned as an audio CDR and send to the address above. the complete archive of Vital Weekly (1995 onwards) can be found at: http://staalplaat.com/vital/