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Vital Weekly 689

  Tobias

DARWINSBITCH - ORE (CD by Digitalis Industries)
CONCERN - TRUTH & DISTANCE (CD by Digitalis Industries)
BLACK TO COMM - CHARLEMAGNE & PIPPIN (CD by Digitalis Industries)
Marielle Jakobsons is one half of Myrmyr (with Agnes Szelag) and one half of Date Palms (with her partner Gregg Kowalsky), but solo she works as Darwinsbitch, which in the year of Darwin seems to be an appropriate name. I have no idea if she works longer under this disguise, or if its something for the occasion of 2009. Apparently she uses sine oscillators and violin, and, not mentioned on the cover, no doubt an array of sound effects. The music she creates is best lumped into the world of drone music, but there is a bit more happening than just that. Jakobsons doesn't go for a steady, minimal stream - one piece per half hour, but there are two longer ones and five shorter pieces. Its this variation in length that makes this a CD in which variation is important. Jakobsons explores various territories per piece, and once fully covered, she let's go. If a handful of minutes is enough, then its enough. That's what makes this a great release. Drone music that is to the point and not droning for the sake of it.
Also Gordon Ashworth, also known as Concern, is a new name for me, who delivers three pieces on his 'Truth & Distance' release, which are alike Darwinsbitch in the field of drone music. He uses zither, lap harp, mbira, banjo, piano, clarinet, alto horn, trombone, accordion and lots of reverb. His instruments are scanned with vibrating objects in order to create overtones and it makes this almost a modern classical release. Somewhere in between music for an installation and Phill Niblock, I'd say. This is more the territory where things are on endless sustain, but perhaps due to the variety of sources and the relative shortness of the pieces things don't leap into static, but are vibrating, changing throughout its minimalist approach to keep things fascinating. Ashworth has plenty of skills to deliver three fine pieces. Not a second too long, not a minute too short. Very nice work.
Behind Black To Comm is Marc Richter, also the man behind the excellent Dekorder label from Hamburg, plus Renate Nikolaus and Ulf Schütte. They have a couple of releases before, which I really liked, and this new one is no disappointment either. I am not entirely sure what or who Pippin is, mentioned in the title, but it seems to me that Charlemagne is Charlemagne Palestine. Black To Comm are armed farfisa organ, tapeloops, metal percussion, violin, toys, water, shruti box, whistle, feedback and more, but it seems to me that the farfisa plays the leading part, and is a tribute to Palestine. The drone is the backbone here, and over that Palestine like drone they more or less improvise their way about. Electronics, feedback, metallic rumble, they all find their place under the drone sun. Not always as meditative as the previous two releases on Digitalis Industries, I guess one could best start with Black To Comm, for its fiercely packed drones are the heaviest of the three. A fine but massive set. (FdW)
Address: http://www.digitalisindustries.com

FABIO ORSI & SEAWORTHY - NEAR AND FARAWAY (CD by Lowpoint)
Both of these artists have delivered works that cross the boundaries of ambient, field recordings and glitch, and their respective discographies read like a who's who in label-land, Small Voices, 12K, Sound & Fury and Celebrate Psi Phenomenon. Here they deliver a CD of three pieces, each a solo one, and one collaborative (something which Low Point does quite a lot actually). Orsi's piece is entirely built from heavily and heavenly layered guitar sounds plus some bird calls. It floats nicely about in the best Brian Eno tradition. This approach is continued in the collaborative, title piece. Stretched out tones of gliding and endless sustaining guitars. That perhaps is nice for the listener, but one could also see this as too much of a continuation of the Orsi solo piece, and wonder what Seaworthy does. The Seaworthy solo piece is more sparsely orchestrated, bathing in empty and silent space, with single tones on the guitar popping up at the end. That marked indeed a difference. Both Orsi and Seaworthy are quite equal partners in this particular musical field, which of course is fine enough, but perhaps a somewhat sharper distinction between both would have resulted in a somewhat more sharper collaborative effort. Aside from that this is quite a great work, filled with ambience, tranquility and spacious music. (FdW)
Address: http://www.low-point.com

ANDROMEDA MEGA EXPRESS ORCHESTRA - TAKE OFF (CD by Alien Transistor)
An exceptional release, especially for the fact that a complete orchestra of some 20 young musicians is involved. Just imagine what a hell of job it is to synchronize agendas with so many people. Well Daniel Glatzel - also very young (25) - did it. So he must be a fantastic animator and very convinced of his musical projects. In the recent past the orchestra worked with the rockband The Notwist and with Herbert Grönemeyer. With "Take Off" they stand on their feet. It is a suite of eight compositions by Glatzel that impress above all because of their clever and professional arrangements. But I really wished everything was musically more interesting. In my ears it sounded all very conventional, lacking personality and originality what the compositional side concerns. He uses many melodic ingredients that sound very familiar but that are not treated originally in order to compensate this fact. He plays with idioms coming from film music, jazz, easy listening, etc, in a very open-minded way. It results in an album that is more about pleasing then about demanding. Nothing wrong with this. But just listen to any album by Van Dyke Parks and you get the point I want to make. In "Cotton Candy Nebula" and at the end of "Asteroids" the music becomes a bit experimental, cacaphonic and non-melodic, but still within borders. The surprises we find in the arrangements and the breaks and twists from time to time. But again, never over the top. This entertaining album proves from beginning to the end that Daniel Glatzel is a very capable composer and arranger. I hope he will show more of his own face in the future and will develop a more personal voice. The orchestra does a very good job. The pieces are performed very enthusiastically with drive and much energy. And everything is recorded nice and clear. A courageous undertaking from a promising talent! (Dolf Mulder)
Address: http://www.alientransistor.de/

TORSTEN PAPENHEIM - SOME OF THE THINGS WE COULD BE (CD by Schraum)
Papenheim is a guitarist and composer from Berlin. Besides his solo work he performs mainly as a member of Rant with Merle Bennett on drums. With "Some of the Things we could be" however Papenheim takes another direction. He presents 12 new compositions played by Dave Bennett (guitar, clarinet), Merle Bennett (drums), Christian Biegai (altosax, bassclarinet), Axel Haller (bass), Christian Marien (drums), Matthias Muller (trombone), Derek Shirley (bass), Roland Spieth (trumpet), Michael Thieke (altosax), Clayton Thomas (bass), Gerhard Uebele (piano) Ute Voelker (accordion) and Torsten Papenheim (guitar, banjo, piano). The musicians recorded in small subensembles. And they had no idea of the compositions they were contributing to. Later the recordings were assembled into complete pieces by Papenheim according to the ideas he had in mind. Through this procedure Papenheim realized this project, getting inspiration from very different corners: chambermusic, jazz and improvised music, non-musical approaches, soundcollage, etc. Dave Bennett is the right producer and partner Papenheim needed for this avant garde project. All pieces have the same charming simpleness and primitiveness that make up their identity. The pieces are very open with sparse instrumentation. Many pieces have an almost weird Residentslike strange atmosphere because the musicians are not playing in tune with the compositions as Papenheim had them in his mind, causing an alienating effect. Also because some instruments are out of tune from time to time (piano). All this is done deliberately by Papenheim. It seems he seeks for a musicality by including disturbing and non-musical elements. This makes "Some of the Things we could be" an interesting and satisfying release. (Dolf Mulder) Address: http://www.schraum.de/

FREDDY STUDER - VOICES (CD by Unit Records)
Freddy Studer is a self-taught drummers and percussionist from Luzern, Switzerland. He started his career in the early 70s playing with people like Christy Doran, Urs Leimgruber, Stephan Witwer. Later also with many musicians from outside Switzerland. The duo-format, especially with women, is what Studes seems to prefer. Between 1996 and 2004 he recorded six CDs with duets by Robyn Schulkowsky (perc), Jin Hi Kim (komungo), Joelle Léandre (bass), Dorothea Schürch (vocals), DJ M. Singe (turntables) and Ami Yoshida (vocals). For his new project made up of duos, "Voices", Studer invited three women to sing and improvise: Lauren Newton, Saadet Türköz and Ami Yoshida.. Well maybe it is better to replace 'sing', by 'screaming', 'yelling', etc, etc. The vocal work from all three ladies has little to do with what we usually call singing. The CD opens however with a solo piece by Studer called 'Sound Intoxication', a richly textured improvisation. The dialogues between Studer and Newton I found the most engaging and appealing, like in "Axis" where Newton sings with a jazzy phrasing. The improvisations with Saader are often softer and more introspective, whereas the exercises with Yoshida move on the other side of the spectrum. Yoshida like in "Nakae" makes explores extreme use of her voice. Studer feels at home with all three vocalists. And the duets with all three women show his ability to co-create rich and strong interwoven improvisations by voice and percussion, using many different techniques. (Dolf Mulder) Address: http://www.unitrecords.com

JAY CLOIDT & AMANDA MOODY - D,ARC- WOMAN ON FIRE (CD by Minimax)
The name of Jay Cloidt appeared earlier in Vital Weekly. We reviewed an album be him called "Kole Kat Krush" released by Starkland. On that album Cloidt profiled himself as a composer with an interest in popular music. Not so strange as Cloidt started as a blues and rock musician, before studying composition by David Berhmann and Robert Ashley. Starkland now distributes this new album by Cloidt and Amanda Moody, released through MiniMax a recordlabel run by Paul Dresher. Again an album with strong ties to popular music. 11 songs this time, with texts written and sung by Amanda Moody. Moody is a multitalented writer, actress and singer who gained success with her music theatre work ("Serial Murderess", 2001). For this project she reworked and updated the Joan d'Arc-legend. Not so strange the music, written by Cloidt, evokes medieval atmospheres. He creates effective musical environments for the different episodes by electronic and acoustic means. Concerning the acoustic part it is interesting to mention that we can enjoy the celloplaying of Joan Jeanrenaud of the Kronos Quartet plus two other celloplayers (Elaine Kreston and Danielle DeGruttola). Apart from piano (Jon Herbst) and guitar (WillBernard) and cello everything else - mainly electronics - is played by Cloidt himself. The vocals and text are on the forefront in this narrative work. Moody is a very capable and expressive singer and reminded sometimes of Diamanda Galas. In "Born in Blood" she combines singing in a rockmanner with opera. In "10.000 Silver Doves" she is inspired by gospelmusic. With her impressive voice she puts a lot of drama in the songs. And when we realize that the cello is coloring most of the songs, you can imagine that we dwell around in dark and emotional corners of the human soul. Not so strange when you revitalize the Joan d'Arc legend. A very intense experience. (Dolf Mulder)
Address: http://www.dresherensemble.org/

ANTOINE CHESSEX/ARNAUD RIVIERE (7" by Le Petit Mignon)
My one- and only- criticism of this release is that it's limited to only 300 copies. (though I get to keep my promo) The artwork is stunning - someone knows what they are doing! A coarse and beautiful silkscreen sleeve which could have been a woodcut, the disk itself clear, with "clever" labels identifying the polish and pill sides respectively. You can check this out on the website (and hear mp3 extracts which saves me detailed description) - of Le Petit Mignon "a gallery and a music label located in the mighty specialist of experimental and avant-garde music record store Staalplaat" Which explains the quality? Just in case you might think its all packaging - well no- the two pieces complement each other and the whole production. Antoine Chessex's sax sounds like an alarm until its swamped in HWN - in which tide it rises and falls, Arnaud Rivière's electronics are equally brilliant and harsh - though much more sporadic. I should also name check designer, printer and regurgitater Mounir Jatoum of La Commissure & mastering by Rashad Becker at Dubplates. Vital does not give stars - so I'll say 5, and I'm just left wondering how and why Frans let this one go. I could say much more regarding the detail of both the sound and whole production but just end by saying as clearly as I can if anyone is into noise or art or just beautiful things - get this or weep. (jliat) Address: http://www.lepetitmignon.de/

EARLY HOMINIDS - METATARSAL (CDR by Music Mundane)
FOLDHEAD - DRUGS PAINT ALCOHOL (CDR by Music Mundane)
Paul Walsh was once half of Smell & Quim, and released music as Swing Jugend. For whatever reason he doesn't tell us, he started creating music for his own pleasure rather than for releases. For another reason he doesn't share with us either, recently he decided to release music again, and play live. Partly this has to do with the encouragement of Neil Campbell, our man of Vibracathedral Orchestra and Astral Social Club. Its on Neil's label Music Mundane that the two release a CDR of joint music. As you can of course expect this is noise music. I do seem to remember Smell & Quim as a noise duo which weren't exactly the loudest in town, but they used a nice combination of shaking metal, distortion pedals and old fashioned tapeloops. Here Paul and Neil use mainly analogue synthesizers, distortion pedals and old fashioned tapeloops. Unlike some of Campbell's own work in this area, he opts to do shorter pieces here with Walsh, and they are of course trademark noise bits in what is now a classic Campbell fashion. Many dirty but spacious synthesizers, sometimes feeding through distortion pedals, but it never is that true type noise thing. Which makes this actually quite a nice release, for those who love to have their noise with a bit of extra.
True type of noise can be find in the last, long piece by Foldhead, Walsh' new solo name. As said, I am not to keen of a lover of that sort of thing, and I'd gladly leave would have left that for Jliat, but its the two other tracks that are quite nice. In the opening piece (all three untitled of course) things are quite soft with stretched tones that have a nice creepy undercurrent. In the second piece this creepy sense is continued, but things are already a bit louder, but still on the right side. For me that is. Its a pity that both of these nice tracks last about the same length of the third piece. I don't mind noise, but it could be shorter and perhaps the others could be longer and more pieces alike that. I thought this was a pretty great come back album, in fact two of them! Address: <foldhead@hotmail.co.uk>

DENIS KOLOKOL - ILY (CDR by Audiotong)
Oh maybe this is the place where I should have something about CDRs and MP3s, but then again, this cover looks OK. It could have been a real thing. Or perhaps I like Audiotong as a label (no bribes, I think). Or perhaps its the fact this label also does real CDs. They enclosed a compilation they produced for The Wire with the current state of affairs in Poland, which contains names like Emiter, Robert Piotrowicz, Anna Zaradny, known from Vital Weekly reviews. A nice bunch of electronic, avant-garde and improvised music. But today we only deal with Dennis Kolokol, who deals with serious electronic music, created with the means of a laptop. One of the three pieces is recorded, 'Go Find Yourself In My Dream' was recorded at the Studio For Electroacoustic Music in Krakow and that can be heard. Maybe its the environment of such a studio, but the opera like voices, and jumpy electronics smell like serious academic music, but Kolokol does add a bit of spice to it, that faint trace of industrial music. In the opening piece things are much wilder and it almost seems the opposite thing: industrial, almost noise based music with the ideas of musique concrete as its starting point. In the closing piece 'Chasing 43', there is apparently the guitar of Alexander Chikmakov, but it takes some time before we hear it. A soft, non rhythmic click piece, with the guitar, when it finally comes on, play a melancholic touch. Three quite diverse pieces of music, that show a fine display of quality. Serious but not so serious, humorful and above all skilled. (FdW) Address: http://www.audiotong.net

DOC WOR MIRRAN & TESENDALO - MOMENTUM 2 (CDR by Mirran Threat)
DOC WOR MIRRAN - GUITARRED & FEATHERED (CDR by MissmanagemenT)
Hardly recovered from Doc Wör Mirran's previous release, a 10CDR set (see Vital Weekly 666), here are two more releases. The first one can be seen as a sort of extension of that, or perhaps as an extension of 'Momentum 1', which was reviewed back in Vital Weekly 379. Back then it seemed to be influenced by Conrad Schnitzler's analogue electronics, here its more along the lines of drone works. Behind Tesendalo we find Peter Schuster, who has a fine string of drone based releases throughout many years, and I was thinking its no doubt his presence here that the six tracks have the heavy stamp of drone all over them. Deeply atmospheric, with the analogue synthesizers on endless sustain. Humming ad infinitum. Some bird calls are mixed in, an occasional far away melody is faded in and there is a minor threat in 'Momentum 6'. A very fine release that not necessarily holds anything new under the drone sun, but fits a great summer day of rain and clouds.
With all this drones being ambient one could easily forget that Doc Wör Mirran is so much more. They started a new side label of Empty (MT) records, being MissmanagemenT (MT again, get it?), of which I don't understand much. It has something to do with being independent (but that accounts for the majority of bands in Vital Weekly), and free distribution of music. If you want a release, you can get one - but it doesn't seem to be a revolutionary thing. The cover looks nice, with a real cigarette, also a nice treat. Doc Wör Mirran is here a band, with Joseph B. Raimond on guitar, synth, bass and drum programming, with contributions in the studio and by mail by Ralf Lexis, Adrian Gormley, Frank Abendroth, Laurent Gabiot and Jeandra Raimond. Doc Wör Mirran sound like a rock band here. Lots of guitars, bass and drum computers are used here, with some spoken word material by Abendroth. Not in a real heavy rock way, but gentle, floating, a bit post rock like but played in naive manner. A bit Durutti Column like, but perhaps that's because I don't know many guitarists. Sometimes retro, seventies rock like, but also with a touch of experiment in 'Shitkicker Industrial'. Doc Wör Mirran is a mighty diverse band. I can't believe there is someone in the world, other than Joseph B. Raimond himself I guess, who likes all the releases by them, but its nevertheless always in for a good surprise. (FdW) Address: http://www.empty.de

KK/KK / POLDR (cassette by Razzle Dazzle)
The world of cassette is even more than the world of CDR, the place to experimental with sound. That was the case thirty years ago, and still is the case today. Poldr's label Razzle Dazzle released a whole bunch of them and here its a split with KK/KK, which is one Chris Kalafatis who recorded two parts of 'He Had LSB' in April of this year, using an EMS AKS, which seems to me more pieces of improvised electronics - 'let's see what this bugger does', which also harks back to thirty years ago, when people freaked out for an hour and released the results on a cassette. Its not bad this one, don't get me wrong.
Poldr, also known as Benjamin Laurent Aman has one twenty minute piece of what also seems to be improvisations, but more in the field of drone music of a more uptight character. A bit noisey, but perhaps that's due to the fact that the recording is a bit distorted. Guitar is at the basis, but everything is smeared together through extensive use of effects. The piece is actually quite alright if you like your drones to be somewhat louder and more with a bite and could have been equally released on a limited CDR. Why not, I wonder? (FdW) Address: http://www.razzle-d.com

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