Friday, May 19, 2006
maurizio bianchi
plays the clockwork orange 12"
[2003, marquis]
milan born, avant garde/noise musician, maurizio bianchi is a pioneer in his field. he's been making music since the late 70s. originally releasing music under the name of sacher-pelz, he then started using his own name, or m.b. for his albums. this particular release is one of his earlier ones, a private tape from 1980 that was later released on vinyl format a few years ago.
entitled, plays the clockwork orange, this offering is a very unique take on the music featured from stanley kubrick's 1971 film. taking one second long samples from every piece of music from the movie, maurizio then weaves all of these samples into this thirty minute lp. there is no original music by him to accompany these clips. it's an idea that's not only high on concept, but is executed perfectly. everything, from the particular segments of music that he chose to sample to the sequencing and progression of those samples, works in perfect harmony.
as the album starts off, you get the feeling that you're listening to someone flipping though all, and i do mean all, of the stations on a radio as we hear sample after sample of differing music all right after each other. it all comes off as being a bit random and chaotic until, about two minutes into it, you can start to notice a pattern forming. one sample will come through as being the foundation, as other samples are played off of it as the record will start to get into more of a rhythm...so to speak. that's really the gist of how the album works. it's two long pieces of music broken down into distinct movements. all of these movements have their own similiar sound, maurizio does a good job with avoiding conflicting samples. as a transition, one sample is repeated, reminiscent of a locked groove kind of sound, as one piece segues into the next. the seamless transitioning used here is an important part of this album's success.
the last few minutes of the record end in a similiar manner to how it began, only this time serving to recap all of the music, and i liked how it brought the album back full circle.
if you're a fan of the film, or just one of experimental music, you should definitely track down this release. it is still available for purchase, though i do believe that it's around 30 bucks.
Excerpt from Side B (from 7:00 to 10:28)
[2003, marquis]
milan born, avant garde/noise musician, maurizio bianchi is a pioneer in his field. he's been making music since the late 70s. originally releasing music under the name of sacher-pelz, he then started using his own name, or m.b. for his albums. this particular release is one of his earlier ones, a private tape from 1980 that was later released on vinyl format a few years ago.
entitled, plays the clockwork orange, this offering is a very unique take on the music featured from stanley kubrick's 1971 film. taking one second long samples from every piece of music from the movie, maurizio then weaves all of these samples into this thirty minute lp. there is no original music by him to accompany these clips. it's an idea that's not only high on concept, but is executed perfectly. everything, from the particular segments of music that he chose to sample to the sequencing and progression of those samples, works in perfect harmony.
as the album starts off, you get the feeling that you're listening to someone flipping though all, and i do mean all, of the stations on a radio as we hear sample after sample of differing music all right after each other. it all comes off as being a bit random and chaotic until, about two minutes into it, you can start to notice a pattern forming. one sample will come through as being the foundation, as other samples are played off of it as the record will start to get into more of a rhythm...so to speak. that's really the gist of how the album works. it's two long pieces of music broken down into distinct movements. all of these movements have their own similiar sound, maurizio does a good job with avoiding conflicting samples. as a transition, one sample is repeated, reminiscent of a locked groove kind of sound, as one piece segues into the next. the seamless transitioning used here is an important part of this album's success.
the last few minutes of the record end in a similiar manner to how it began, only this time serving to recap all of the music, and i liked how it brought the album back full circle.
if you're a fan of the film, or just one of experimental music, you should definitely track down this release. it is still available for purchase, though i do believe that it's around 30 bucks.
Excerpt from Side B (from 7:00 to 10:28)
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
magic is kuntmaster
nightsongs for ugly children
[2003, nihilist]
magic is kuntmaster is camilla ha from chicago. (she also used to be the vocalist for my name is rar rar).
fans of panicsville or andy ortmann's Nihilist label might not take to this release as much as say a runzelstirn & gurgelstock one, but they'd be missing out on a nice album. nightsongs for ugly children is definitely less noisecentric than some of its labelmates' releases. the songs on here pretty much go back and forth between more accessible moments and chaotic ones that, at certain points, resemble something more along the lines of metalux. i could easily see tracks like hold my scissors, with it's electronic, updated take on shoegaze, having an appeal with a wider audience. that is to say a broader fanbase than panicsville. four out of the seven tracks have singing, and f
or the most part, they're all sung in that whispery, multitracked, ethereal nature, that wouldn't have been too out of place on an early 90s bethany curve record.
i did say that there are some noisier moments on the album and one of these is army of cobras. it's the lone vocal track to forgo the shoegaze aesthetic. with its laser sounds, that could've come from a sci-fi shooting game, the track morphs into a more industrial sound with camilla's vocals overlapping each other to the point of being unintelligible, but it really suits the more chaotic nature of the music.
Hold My Scissors
if you're looking for something different, but still a little accessible, i'd recommend giving this album a listen. i really enjoyed the meshing of industrial sounds with camilla ha's dreamy singing style. i'll try to get around to reviewing her newest album, virgin ghost soon.
[2003, nihilist]
magic is kuntmaster is camilla ha from chicago. (she also used to be the vocalist for my name is rar rar).
fans of panicsville or andy ortmann's Nihilist label might not take to this release as much as say a runzelstirn & gurgelstock one, but they'd be missing out on a nice album. nightsongs for ugly children is definitely less noisecentric than some of its labelmates' releases. the songs on here pretty much go back and forth between more accessible moments and chaotic ones that, at certain points, resemble something more along the lines of metalux. i could easily see tracks like hold my scissors, with it's electronic, updated take on shoegaze, having an appeal with a wider audience. that is to say a broader fanbase than panicsville. four out of the seven tracks have singing, and f
or the most part, they're all sung in that whispery, multitracked, ethereal nature, that wouldn't have been too out of place on an early 90s bethany curve record.i did say that there are some noisier moments on the album and one of these is army of cobras. it's the lone vocal track to forgo the shoegaze aesthetic. with its laser sounds, that could've come from a sci-fi shooting game, the track morphs into a more industrial sound with camilla's vocals overlapping each other to the point of being unintelligible, but it really suits the more chaotic nature of the music.
Hold My Scissors
if you're looking for something different, but still a little accessible, i'd recommend giving this album a listen. i really enjoyed the meshing of industrial sounds with camilla ha's dreamy singing style. i'll try to get around to reviewing her newest album, virgin ghost soon.
Monday, May 15, 2006
sunshine california
leavin' on a jetplane c40
[2006, ghost dad]
sunshine california, is gary wilson, and he's not from the sunshine state, but rather the gloomy pacific northwest, the seattle area to be more precise. sometimes he's joined by chris ando of mikaela's fiend, but not on this release. gary wilson makes noise. his particular brand of noise is not in the thick, dense, harsh type like the cherry point, nor is it the rumbling staticky kind of noise, like prurient's history of aids. this is more like miminalism with feedback. over most of the 8 (excluding the 2 second track two) pieces there are stretches of quasi-silence, and then shrieking feedback. i say quasi because it sounds like you're listening to the sound of something that's plugged in, but not doing anything. an electric hum. the notable exceptions to this are the opening and closing tracks, which feature a more constant noise, abandoning the frequent periods of nothingness. that's not to say that sunshine california is boring, actually i really enjoyed this cassette and think that it's more interesting than a lot of the plain, full on, harsh noise releases out there. variance is a nice concept. this was put out by wilson's own Ghost Dad imprint, and has a hand painted plastic case by chris ando and is quite nice looking.
Untitled Track 6
[2006, ghost dad]
sunshine california, is gary wilson, and he's not from the sunshine state, but rather the gloomy pacific northwest, the seattle area to be more precise. sometimes he's joined by chris ando of mikaela's fiend, but not on this release. gary wilson makes noise. his particular brand of noise is not in the thick, dense, harsh type like the cherry point, nor is it the rumbling staticky kind of noise, like prurient's history of aids. this is more like miminalism with feedback. over most of the 8 (excluding the 2 second track two) pieces there are stretches of quasi-silence, and then shrieking feedback. i say quasi because it sounds like you're listening to the sound of something that's plugged in, but not doing anything. an electric hum. the notable exceptions to this are the opening and closing tracks, which feature a more constant noise, abandoning the frequent periods of nothingness. that's not to say that sunshine california is boring, actually i really enjoyed this cassette and think that it's more interesting than a lot of the plain, full on, harsh noise releases out there. variance is a nice concept. this was put out by wilson's own Ghost Dad imprint, and has a hand painted plastic case by chris ando and is quite nice looking.
Untitled Track 6