home > browse > cd-feature > view article

Vital Weekly 675

  Tobias

PIMMON - SMUDGE ANOTHER YESTERDAY (CD by Preservation)
According to the press release it has been five years since we last saw a release by Pimmon, but it seems much longer. Well, perhaps I didn't see that last one, and it was longer for me. Perhaps I thought Pimmon lost interest in doing music and moved on to do something else. However its good to see him back on track, and hear him doing what he does best. Densely layered electronics, guitars, analogue synthesizers and such like. Melted together inside the bit rot of the laptop, creating some highly intense music. There is something happening on every level of the recording, no silence in sight anywhere. Pimmon doesn't play microsound, ambient glitch, but then also no noise or industrial music. Its a highly personal mixture of those two odd ends tied together. Musique concrete? Sure why not, but its never in the acousmatic sense of the word. Pimmon's music is certainly beyond any tradition, except for his own. And that might be the thing that some people wouldn't like about 'Smudge Another Yesterday'. It may seem as if Pimmon still sounds the same, and perhaps he does. That may be one of the disappointing things about this release, and sometimes I would nag about that. But after such a hiatus in recording, in a time of his career when at least I thought I'd like a bit more, this just picks up where he should have continued back then. A fine come back album. (FdW) Address: http://www.preservation.com.au

RAPOON - DARK RIVERS (CD by Lens Records)
Robin Storey, the man behind Rapoon, hails from the northern parts of the England and if I understand well this new album is a 'sonic exploration and reflection' of the landscape. If that is true, I think more of Rapoon albums deal with that subject. But more precisely 'Dark Rivers' is a thematic album about a particular part in Northumbria which was once the border of the Roman empire as well as an army base in the cold war. Out of a previous job, I heard many Rapoon albums and always enjoyed them and after that I lost count of whatever came out, but still enjoying the consistency of his work. Tribalistic drumming, dark ambient soundscapes, sampled voices and objects and for the first time, at least to my knowledge, field recordings of birds. Its music that hardly seems to change. Rapoon every now and then changes a bit, making a particular release a bit more rhythmic, and another a bit more ambient, or, as in the case of 'Dark Rivers' things seemingly in perfect balance, but none of that makes an essential difference. Change is just one of those things that hardly matters to Rapoon. That's a conscious decision of course and makes a consistent body of work. Not something I'd play on a daily basis (but then, what would?), but every now and then, the dark side of ambient meets industrial in a most gently way is fine enough. (FdW)
Address: http://www.lensrecords.com

LEGENDARY PINK DOTS - PLUTONIUM BLONDE (CD by Roir)
Even though it's been out for a little while, nothing has appeared in the Vital pages about the new Legendary Pink Dots CD. This omission is duly corrected here. In the 80s the Dots' music was very important to me. When the line up of Edward, Phil, Barry Gray, Jason Salmon, Graham Whitehead and Patrick Wright exploded in the late 80s, their music changed considerably. And how could it be otherwise? New members were employed and a new course was set. The Dots created The Maria Dimension, which gained them a whole new audience ready to accompany the band on their new journey. They kind of lost me during that journey, even though I think 1994's Nine Lives to Wonder is among the very best of their records. Now we have the new CD Plutonium Blonde on ROIR, which is causing quite a stir among Dots-lovers. Openers Torch Song and Rainbows Too? are based on rhythm loops featuring crunchy guitars, keyboards and saxophones added. They are nice to listen to, but not remarkable or special. A World With No Mirrors is therefore a welcome change with just Ka-Spel's singing, guitars and flute. You either love or hate My First Zonee; an upbeat singalong with deliberately silly lyrics. And then something very interesting happens; somehow the atmosphere of the album completely changes when the utterly beautiful Faded Photograph starts. A slow song with vocoder looping, great lyrics and an interesting end (did I hear echo's of the "hokus pokus" intro from Flowers For The Silverman?). Spoken Word opens with, as one can suspect, spoken word, which is something Ka-Spel's voice is utterly suited for. Add a nice background of small bleeps and bloops ending in an almost early 80's (more echoes) rhythm box song. Mailman with its surprise banjo playing is another lovely small song. At 2.33 this is one of the shorter tracks on the album. Oceans Blue, with its reversed sounds and spoken word, could easily be from one of the early Dots cassettes. The playing is delicate and reflective. Savannah Red is more rhythmic, almost gamelan, and a brief interlude to the closing track Cubic Caesar, which is another beautiful, reflective song with nice guitar playing. This is almost like an album with two faces; out of the first 4 songs, 3 sound somehow out of place. The rest of the album is a fascinating and true return to a form. At 55+ minutes, I personally feel the album could have benefitted from some editing (no prizes for guessed which tracks). This is the best album the Dots have made in years. (FK) Address: http://www.roir-usa.com

A CATASTROPHIC SILENCE (CD by Architectural Association Independent Radio)
Now here's a CD which is a bit hard to follow who did what and where. Apparently its a compilation of some kind, but who did what? Three tracks, three principle names are mentioned: Douglas Moffat, Joshua Bonnetta and Steve Bates plus an extensive list of people being thanked. "Acoustics, Electromagnetics, Cinematic Soundtracks: three ways of listening to the city", in this case the city being London. Big cities can be noisy places, we all know (I think), and possible places for huge catastrophes to happen. I think this is more less the approach for this compilation. Street and city sounds are being processed, and each seem to be working towards a 'collapse', or use a hidden tension underneath. The three pieces are pretty nice to hear, although none of them sticks out, nor to what has happened in the field of microsound. There is a certain cinematographic aspect to these pieces which makes them good candidates for experimental horror movies about the subject of big city destruction. The cover is a mailer, so its like a postcard. Nice! (FdW)
Address: http://aair.fm

ANNETTE KREBS & RHODRI DAVIES - KRAVIS RHONN PROJECT (CD by Another Timbre)
MAX EASTLEY & RHODRI DAVIES - DARK ARCHITECTURE (CDR by Another Timbre)
Somewhere in April 2008 Rhodri Davies packed up his harp and electronics and visited Annette Krebs in her Berlin apartment. There she had set up her guitar, lined up some recordings and a mixing board and the two spend a whole day doing recordings, which were then edited by Krebs into what is now released as 'Kravis Rhonn Project'. Both are accomplished and established players in the field of new improvised music. One of the more surprising elements of this work - spanning three tracks in total - is the presence of voices. I am not entirely sure if these voices are to be understood as 'field recordings' or wether they were accidently picked up in the process of recording. They are not easy to understand, but make a distinctive difference in the music. Of course the two play their instruments on the edge of silence, and thus the leaked voices add just that little bit of extra, which makes this release into quite a joyful thing. Careful, intense, this is of course no easy listening music but the fully required concentration span is needed here. But its a work that unveils a lot of silent beauty.
And Another Timbre, clever as there, also released at the same a CDR with a live recording by Davies on his electric harp which he gave with musician and sculptor Max Eastley. The latter plays arc, whatever that may be, but they are surrounded by four sculptures of Eastley, which produce irregular sounds by using phased motors. It goes without saying that this is a delicate work too, but there are some differences. First of all, this is an unedited live recording, which can be heard and secondly there is a certain continuum in the music that makes this easier to digest. That is, the full concentration aspect required with the Krebs/Davies CD is not really necessarily here. This is music that moves around, with strange intervals in the music, creating an atmospheric texture in the music. This is one that you can undergo, sit back and relax and be amazed, rather than sit upright and do nothing else than listen. Two different sides of the harp playing of Davies, twice nice. (FdW)
Address: http://www.anothertimbre.com

LEVERTON FOX - COUNTRY DANCES (CD by Gravid Hands)
Leverton Fox is the trio of Alex Bonney, Tim Giles, and Matt Groom. The music is situated an an out, out of the way crossroads where electronic, improvised, and collage music meet. Lots of off-kilter loops and unidentifiable electronic sounds along with the occasional trumpet, drums, or guitar. the pieces jump around a lot, but each one has its own identity. this makes Country Dances compelling throughout, rather than a pile of random textures. The trio also play very well together as the pieces never get bogged down or lose steam. Leverton Fox is hard to put in a box, and that is a very good thing. (SF)
Address: http://www.myspace.com/levertonfox

AIDAN BAKER - GATHERING BLUE (2LP by Equation Records)
Somehow, the theme for this review appears to be "blue". It's not just because of the title. For one, this Aidan Baker album arrived the same day I picked up a second hand copy of Oren Ambachi's In The Pendulum's Embrace 2LP, which was pressed on gorgeous blue vinyl and, whilst I opened the door for the mailman, Dennis Wilson's Pacific Ocean Blue LP (also pressed on blue vinyl) was playing. Much to my happiness, the Baker album is also pressed on blue vinyl and gorgeous it is too; 93 of the 499 copies are pressed on marbled blue. Add to this the fact that the only other Baker release I have in my collection, an early Drone records single, is also pressed on blue vinyl and you get the picture. Baker's latest album, a double one no less, comes in a gatefold cover with color still-life photography by Alan McClelland. It just looks great. Now on to the music. Somehow, here the theme "blue" also persists; as this is downbeat music, played in minor keys. Hailing from Toronto, Canada Baker is an accomplished and inventive guitarist (another parallel with Oren Ambachi, though admittedly not with Dennis Wilson who was a drummer) working in the field of drones and ambient reworkings. He has also published a number of poetry books. On this largely instrumental album the ardent Baker-fan might recognize The Cicadas Sing Our Love Song as that is a remix from an earlier version. Baker's music luckily never falls into the trap that is computerized/filtered guitar droning. His music is more like structured/composed sound (rather than just washes of guitar) mixed in low, deep drones. With Baker's music I get the feeling actual composing is the basis of his songs, rather than just letting drones do their work. Occasionally lighter sounds and recognizable guitar patterns protrude the atmosphere. The tracklisting on this album is a bit confusing, with only 5 tracks identifiable on the albums themselves and 9 listed on the cover. Oh dear. Still, in the end this doesn't matter as this is an album you probably listen to as one whole. The vocal tracks are on side two, including a surprise soft haunting version of Joy Division's 24 hours. The final (side long) track adds some drumtracks, but somehow I found this a bit of a distraction to the general feel of the album. In all, a wonderful album. (Freek Kinkelaar).
Address: http//www.Chronoglide.com/equation

EDWARD KASPEL - DREAM LOGIK PARTS I-III (4 LP set + 2 CD by Beta Lactam-ring)
Brand new is the very luxurious boxset by Edward Kaspel, even though part of its contents has been available. Dream Logik Part I was released on CD a while ago and starts off with the Twin Peaks-like spoken introduction Threshold. From that point on Dream Logik part I is a rollercoaster of sounds and ideas. Songs like Harvester with its slow rhythm and spoken word, the beautiful yet harrowing songs Good Life and And The Stars are among Ka-Spel's best. I still don't quite get The 9 O'Clock Train To Oblivion or Revolution 834, which are tracks where Ka-Spel runs electronic amok, but somehow appears to lose control in the middle. As a whole, Dream Logik Part I is a bleak and highly personal album, full of confusion, that makes a fascinating listen. Dream Logic Part II continues this theme, but here Ka-Spel seems more in control of his sounds. If you know and like Dream Logik I, you will surely love the music as presented on parts II; a collection of great songs and soundscapes. The real beauty, for me personally, lies in Dream Logic Part III; two long spacious tracks of beautiful restrained ambience. Absolutely amazing! The boxset also includes a bonus CD with an alternative version of Burning Church (from Part III) and, if you're lucky, your set also comes with yet another bonus CD, this time with 3 additional tracks, including a beautiful spoken word track. A few final words on the packaging: this set spells l-u-x-u-r-e-o-u-s. The box is embossed with silver colored lettering and artwork. Inside are the 4 discs in high gloss color sleeves, a numbered insert and the bonus CD(s). All artwork is by Jesse Pepper who is rapidly turning into BLRR's house art-madman. His tense paintings fit the music well. In all, a great looking and great sounding boxset. There are 400 copies available of Dream Logic Parts I-III and they retail at a very fair price. Now go out and buy one! (Freek Kinkelaar) Address: http://www.blrrecords.com

ANTOINE CHESSEX - TERRA INCOGNITA (LP by Absurd)
AL MARGOLIS & DAN BURKE - LIVE APRIL 5, 2008 - LE BONHEUR, BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (CD by Absurd)
LARRY GUS - IASMOS (CDR by Okko Records)
NIKOS VELIOTIS - CELLO POWDER (CDR by Absurd)
Recently I found that Antoine Chessex is/was a member of a band who I actually saw a couple of times: Monno. He told me that himself, when he played at Extrapool. That concert was short, powerful and noisy, but it worked really well, with Chessex using the dynamics of the space. Here he has a solo one sided LP, but with a hidden track (think New Order's 12" on Touch) on the other side. It is a kind of documentation of stuff he has done recently, using saxophone and electronics. It starts out in known land (nodding to the title here), of heavy noise: piercing electronics and sustained saxophones. Then there is a somewhat quieter piece of saxophones in a larger hall, which create a kind of strange atmosphere. Nice as well. So it goes for the final track of the one side which some heavily controlled playing. In between there is a noise blast and so is the main part of the hidden track. I think I expected a bit more of this, based on what I heard live, but this fits the saxophone brut that he is known for.
I guess Dan Burke and Al Margolis don't need much introduction, because if they do I'd be asking: where have you been? Or perhaps you know them from their 'band' names, Illusion Of Safety and If, Bwana. If not, I'd say go back in time and read the preceding 674 issues of Vital Weekly and discover their long history in real underground music. Both have shifted a bit towards music that might be less industrial by some standards these days, and tending towards serious musique concrete, but what they recorded on April 5 in 2008 in Belgium, seems to these ears harking back to the older days of crude looped material, processed clarinet and field recordings. Maybe it has to do with the fact that this is a microphone recording, in stead of a line recording (the popping of beer bottles is a present feature), but it gives the music a very nice sort of retro feeling to it. Modern classical music, meets industrial, meets musique concrete. Maybe a bit more editing could have been in place, but its nice as its crude.
Somewhere in the more remote area of Xanthi there is family who treat their two children with unusual birthday gifts, usually specially played recorded CDs. One Larry Gus played some music for the second birthday of Orion (who I saw being baptized, but that's another story), which seems partly based on field recordings of a children's party and, for a larger part, on electronic keyboards, loop devices and a bit of vocals. Eighteen short pieces here of highly improvised music - there is a story about the original master being and it had to be restored or recreated in a short time span, but it sounds quite nice altogether. Childlike, obviously I'd say, intimate and also at times joyous. At thirty two minutes also having the right length for such a thing.
And finally the last and/or latest release by Niko Veliotis, the cello player from Greece. He recorded 100 one hour drones of 'every possible pitch on the cello' which were subsequently mixed into a work of one hour and released in an edition of 100. After that the cello used on the recordings were turned into powder and put into 100 jars. Welcome to the concept land. The work can be downloaded for free. The music sounds like a motor in a turbine hall in a factory at full works. Nothing much seems to be happening and that is probably the downside of concepts in music. What sounds (!) like a great idea may not always be a great piece of music. And that's the case here: its not a great piece of music. Like stale wind in an empty hall. Lots of engines at the same time. That sort of thing, but certainly not worthwhile for a complete hour. (FdW)
Address: http://www.noise-below.org
Address: http://www.cellopowder.com

VERY FRIENDLY #1 (book + 7" by Komplott)
The first time I saw a friend of mine depicted in a comic I was quite pleased. Somebody from Rotterdam did a short comic on a concert by Roel Meelkop, which was quite funny. Ronnie Sundin is these days lesser known as a composer, or rather, we don't hear much from him, but he is busy doing books with drawings, which may count for comics. In the second issue called (following issue 0), we have three comics: Ronnie Sundin goes to Trondheim to visit Lasse Marhaug, the premiere of 'Deserts' by Varese and Throbbing Gristle at the Crypt One Club (the concert where Genesis was brought to hospital after an overdose) and various portraits of female composers. I thought this was pretty funny stuff, and a highly original thing to do. Sundin has a nice realistic style in drawing, although I am hardly an expert in the field of comics (owing just all Tin Tin books). The 7" has music by Lasse Marhaug, who heads back to his Trondheim Tape days and builds two different sound collages out of that. One is well balanced on soft versus loud and the other one is mainly loud. Altogether the funniest package of the week, which put a big smile on my face. (FdW) Address: http://www.komplott.com

MIRKO UHLIG - SUPPER (CDR by Afe Records)
This new release by Mirko Uhlig is a sort of 'conceptual reference album', dealing with music Uhlig heard in the past. But which record it is? Hard to tell. 'Old Clouds' anyone? Uhlig has become one of the more interesting sound artists from Germany. His first main work, the self-released 'VIVMM' CDR (this year to be re-issued on LP I believe) was an exercise in drone based music, but he also dabbled with noise, and with this new album he expands his horizon a bit further. The main backbone is ambience and drones, but there is also bits of guitar music popping up from the world of folk. It seems to me that the main thing here is generated from processed guitars anyway. Uhlig creates highly atmospheric music, but avoids the pitfalls of regular drone music. He knows how to add surprise elements, interesting changes and sudden moves, and lifts his music out of ordinary and do something that is at large not a new thing, but surely is new exciting enough. Uhlig doesn't produce that many works but when he does, its a great one. (FdW)
Address: http://www.aferecords.com

GARY FISHER - BROKEN CYMBAL MUSIC (CDR by Found In A Skip)
So I never heard of Gary Fisher, and his release is quite poorly packed, which is a pity, since I think a somewhat attractive cover is a pleasure to open up and enjoy the music. As his music is quite interesting I think its a bit of a pity that the presentation is so lo-fi. I assume that Fisher plays a broken cymbal on these recordings, and the titles indicate what he uses to that end. 'Beater, skewer, hands', 'Rice', 'Coin', 'Foil', 'Shoelace, hands' - that sort of thing, and he plays with these objects his broken cymbal in an improvising manner, carefully exploring the objects at hand. Occasionally he bursts out in louder bits, but throughout he manages to keep things well under control. Especially in 'Shoelace, hands' this leads to interesting results of low rhythm based music. Although not entirely 'silent' as some of his peers would do these things, Fischer created an interesting solo work that should put him a bit on the map of improvisers and hopefully some fine collaborations. This release is a fine introduction to the qualities his work has. (FdW) Address: http://www.myspace.com/foundinaskip

NIGHSHIFT (CDR by 267 Lattajjaa)
From Moscow and Yaroslavl (two places quite apart) comes a trio called Nighshift, who are "Self-proclaimed punk-ambient" as it says on the website of 267 Lattajjaa. Four tracks of ambience that much is sure, and why not: played with the attitude of a punk band. They sound very much present and alive, say the punk element of this, which is pretty much due to the nature of the recording I guess, and on other hand they create some highly atmospheric music, with the use of field recordings and electronics. The four tracks have exactly the right length to be entertaining and surprising and the only thing about this release that let me a bit down is the fact that's pretty short. Four track, totaling twenty minutes, whereas I could have easily liked another three pieces, another fifteen minutes, and see what else the have under their hat. But this is a fine start. (FdW)
Address: http://www.dlc.fi/~hhaahti/267lattajjaa

ORPHAX - TURN LOOSE THE GOOSE (3"CDR, private)
Behind Orphax we find Sietse van Erve who recently started Moving Furniture Records, but for whatever reason this new release is just 'self-released'. Maybe because its a 3"CDR? The foundation of this recording is a live recording he made in Tilburg, using geese recorded in Hungary, along a bowed thumb piano, a bowed plastic cup, an electric razor, an electric toothbrush and his voice. Later on this piece extended with more field recordings - the tram in Amsterdam and the garden of his parents. All of these together make a multi-layered piece of sounds. Lots and lots of layers are used and the high end part is bit harsh on the ears (some compression would have been in place), but throughout it makes a good Orphax piece. Dense, atmospheric, but not just quiet. Contrary I'd say. Orphax uses some more uptight noisy textures, but knows how to keep things under control and not leap into mindless noise. Orphax has found a great balance between both ends. (FdW) Address: http://www.orphax.com

The complete "Vital Weekly" is available at: Vital Weekly