c. spencer yeh, i still don't know what the hell the c stands for, is an experimental musician from cincinnati. violin drones, minimal electronics and vocal noises are his main tools. in addition to his full-time project, burning star core (which is a solo effort, but sometimes he'll collaborate with other musicians live), there's the noisy rock group death beam, solo recordings under his own name (which tend to be droney) and he runs the dronedisco label. spencer's been pretty busy lately, and i've bought a few of his recent releases, and procured another, so i thought that i'd gather some of them up in one review. first up...

burning star core

three sisters who share an eye 12"
[2006, no fun]

if you're familiar with bxc's sound, you can guess what this sounds like. side a starts off with some vocal noise that's buried under a noisier layer. it really gets the album off to a good start. while i don't really care for the vocal aspects of spencer's music, the fact that it's not that distinguishable, but still there, makes it work for me. after a more ambient droning track, the next two pieces go off in a noisier direction, and it's great. the b side starts off minimally, it's made up solely of spencer's manipulated (perhaps?) vocal noises. it's actually not so bad, and the sound is more interesting than it is silly, that's a definite plus. the side ends with a similiarly themed track. in between are two more droney efforts, but thankfully, they all vary in sound, but aren't nearly as noisy as the previous side's. on the third track we have spencer's tried and true violin drone, but that seems to be the only instance of violin, unless he really applied some serious pedal work to it.

overall, terrific album. if you've enjoyed what spencer's done lately under the burning star core name, you won't be disappointed. for anyone else who likes drone, but with a little more umph to it than your average stars of the lid cd, this would do you well.

Untitled Track A2

burning star core

sold alive c12
[2006, tone filth]

the first thing i ever heard of burning star core's was a cd called a definitive party atmosphere, and this was maybe three or four years ago. the disc was something you'd more likely categorize as quirky indie pop. i thought it was okay. then the next release i heard was all droned out, completely sans vocals..and i've been confused ever since. turns out bxc started out as avant pop (i'm borrowing this factoid from blastitude) and the cd was a documentation of the project from 1996-1997. fortunately enough for experimental music fans, c. spencer yeh's music has evolved..or has it devolved? either/or i suppose. what does that have to do with this tape, nothing really, just a history lesson.

as for the sold alive cassette, it's very nice. i've heard quite a good deal of bxc, and i don't think i'm in the wrong by saying this is one of, if not the noisiest thing spencer's put out. this isn't nkondi harsh or anything, but by previous standards, pretty severe. there's a lot of high pitched whining noises happening throughout (this is more the case on the flip side). other than that, there's some rumbling distortion, and various other noises in the background. nice tape, and a nice looking tape, as are most things put out on tone filth. i liked how spencer moved his project in a bit of a different direction. it's not some kind of grand departure or anything, but it's still nice. i think the 3" cd-r, physical culture, put out on chondritic sound was the first album that really captured a different side of bxc (except for the one that came out post-avant pop phase), and this one does it again. with someone who puts out quite a few albums, it's nice to have him show off a little versatility every now and then. i only wish it was a little longer.

Side B Excerpt (from 0:00 to 3:25)

flaherty, corsano & yeh

a rock in the snow
[2006, important]

paul flaherty, chris corsano and spencer yeh manage to cook up a whole lot of noise, without any electronics. let's call it power organics. there's the shrieking, at times strangled, saxophone playing by flaherty, chris corsano's, as always, on point drumming, and yeh's violin playing/abuse and vocal noise/sound effects. this album will definitely strike a chord with fans of the whole free-jazz or nowadays free-spazz movements a la borbetomagus (but with a terrific percussionist). on the whole, the album is musically all over the place. it's improvised and pretty much doesn't ever hit any real groove. like i said, a whole lot of noise here. that could either be the album's strength, or its downfall. with music like this it all boils down to personal perception. while i certainly enjoy borbetomagus, i feel that they have more interesting elements to their music than what was displayed here. sure, there's a few changes here and there, but nothing really happens that makes my ears perk up and want to pay close attention to what's going on and there were several times where i found myself wanting to skim through the longer tracks just to see if anything more interesting would happen at some point. by sheer will power i managed to sit through the whole thing without skipping ahead once. it was actually harder than you might think. while it was the three musicians, it mostly had a very paul flaherty & chris corsano feel to it. spencer's contributions seemed either minimal (in participation, not minimal in sound) or like they were overpowered by flaherty's saxophone blasts. the sax is one of the more obtrusive instruments, especially when played in a manner that only accentuates the fact. his violin addition is enjoyable when it's employed though. elsewhere, his vocal effects never really seemed to add anything to the tracks that they were used on, and, again, a matter of taste here, might've slightly detracted from them. still, damn fine drumming by mr. corsano. depending on what you're into this was either a good release or an okay one. i thought it was okay. not bad by any stretch of the imagination, i just couldn't help but feel like this would've been a better collaboration had it been a bit more composed instead of so scattershot. if, by some rare feat, you haven't heard a flaherty/corsano release, you are missing out, but you can skip this one. pick up either steel sleet or the hated music for a better testament of their abilities as a duo. as for spencer yeh, i'd suggest the two disc album mes soldats stupides (which rounds up a whole bunch of previous released recordings) or sold alive. also, his collaboration last year with the yellow swans, yeh yellow swans, seemed a better fit to me.

Dirty Firetrucker

when fact threatens belief
[2005, longbox recordings]

chicago's longbox recordings is a pleasantly blurred little mishmash of releases split between the playing and the sounding camps of modern improv. civil war's the trio of labelhead adam sonderberg (who's down on "bass" but sounds closer to vibrating metal sheets a la mark wastell), theoretically fleshed out with amy cimini on viola and katherine young on bassoon. theoretically so, but despite their insistence on being a trio, none of the players actually perform together; viola, bassoon and "bass"/metal sheets are all sealed off from one another in each of the three tracks.

maybe the decision had to do with the on-site (site-specific, or what have you) recording style, here in the fairly ubiqutous surrounds of a grain silo, though the different registers of the instruments seem to suggest they just wanted to toy with expectations. regardless, you don't have to cringe if "site-specific" brings to mind the sounds of cars idling and tumbleweed; the locale seems to have been chosen more for practical resonance than an attempt to whip up some home-spun american gothic mystique.

cimini steps up to the plate first and conjures up a code-straddling run on viola, tapping a vein somewhere between mark feldman and tension-mongering european composition. it's perhaps the most traditional performance of the three, but fits beautifully thanks to her pacing which seems set on coaxing the timbres out for as long as possible without losing the familiar lilting quality of the instrument. sonderberg follows up on bass, which despite an initial jarring high frequency whine or two, settles into a cloudy harmonic cross-sweep akin to ellen fullman's mammoth long-stringed instrument. surprisingly soothing, despite the fact i still have absolutely no idea what the hell he is or isn't playing. giving in to a knee-jerk, i'm tempted to make some sort of reference to the deep listening crew, an impression not entirely flung off by young's bassoon on the final track hooting and drawing long, distinct melodic breaths, before a slight shift into more restless modern improv territory.

overall, not a bad disc, which'll no doubt do enough to burrow into the heads of a fairly diverse crowd, given half a chance. the only obvious drawback here (other than the pain in the ass of having to track down small run 3" cdrs) is that there isn't nearly enough space on the disc to fit satisfying portions of it. interested parties might want to check out the latest full-length offering, the brutality of fact, which apart from carrying on a bleak obsession with certainty, also features the three of them playing as a bona-fide trio.

Katherine Young

after reviewing music that i've either purchased or downloaded, i've recently been contacted by a few labels expressing interest in having their music reviewed on this site. it's pretty exciting for me to think that people value what we have to say here. while originally i set out to review things that i felt people should check out, i can't guarantee that these albums will be appealing, but i'll give you objective reviews as always. without further ado, the first review from magnanimous, aaron lennox's sibilance.

aaron lennox

sibilance
[2005, magnanimous]

aaron lennox is an ambient/experimental musician. his music encompasses a broad range of sounds, from drone, ambience/minimalism, field recordings, guitar, sitar, piano and possibly other instrumentation, and it's definitely a pleasure to listen to.

sibilance follows in the footsteps of 2004's highly regarded aellakai, released on foxglove. i'd have to say the biggest differences between the two albums are that aellakai felt more like an ambient album with field recordings. those were the two biggest factors, there was some guitar, but it was definitely less of a feature than on here. another key difference is that the pieces of music on sibilance are far more dynamic. it seems like every two minutes or so, the composition is slightly shifting in sound or changing completely. the changes are never jarring, it's all done very smoothly. the last major difference i noticed was that aaron seemed to be going for more musical territory this time around. the guitar and piano are far more of a presence, it's a very nice addition.

the album opens up with a pretty minimal piece with a persistent drone all the way through, with various other sounds added in the background, possibly the album's most static movement. the second track opens up with a field recording that sounds kind of like a rollercoaster crusing on its tracks, that fades out about a minute and a half into it and then it gets a bit more musical with some acoustic guitar and an ambient background sound. the piece then switches gears once more to a bit of a darker sound about four minutes in. it continues changing shape all the way through, and ends with two minutes of some percussion and piano playing that gives a more memorable quality. since six out of the album's eight tracks (including the 5 second untitled track segueing into the following and etc. movements) are over seven minutes long, you can really appreciate the way aaron keeps the pieces of music constantly changing, for the most part anyway. that's really the way that the album goes. field recordings, instrumentation and ambience, all beautifully crafted and executed. i'd definitely recommend sibilance to anyone who's a fan of the field recordings/ambient style of music, and really anyone who enjoys listening to lush, interesting, music.

Untitled Track Three

polyphasic

petit somme
[2005, magnanimous]

polyphasic are a conceptual ambient techno duo, consisting of west virginia's lincoln miller and lars wigren. i'll say conceptual because the cd's liner notes read as such: "The movements of this composition are engineered to affect brainwave patterns of polyphasic sleepers. Although intended to accompany a power nap, this recording may be enjoyed as an ambient composition for waking hours." i listened to this while wide awake, just to be specific.

this album is definitely of an ambient techno nature. the opener somnolence is the album's most minimal piece, it's really just an eight minute exercise in ambient electronic music. the following pieces add more technoish aspects. i.e. electronic beats, but still maintain a very laid back vibe, it kinda reminds me of a combination of the prettier electronic flourishes of yellow6 and the colder, ambient, soundscapes of zoviet*france. the ending bit of the second track, hypnogogic hallucinations begins what's essentially one eleven minute track that's broken down into three movements, with each subsequent movement adding something new to the piece as it moves along.

polyphasic aren't breaking any new ground in the genre, but i could easily see petit somme appealing to fans of downtempo electronic music.

Brain Wave

red rayon flower, night beneath the sea
[2006, foxglove]

montreal's emanuel côté is the man at work here. while live i know he plays by himself, i'd have to think that he had some session help with all of the instrumentation going on here, if not, hey, that's pretty damn impressive. emerald cloud cobra has a real heavy indian (as in the country) vibe to it. plenty of sitar and indian flute being put to use, but there's also the acoustic guitar, keyboard and emanuel's processed vocals to compliment his eastern obsessions.

red rayon, etc. starts off unassumingly enough, after the first three tracks pass by you think, well that's nice and all, but by the fourth one, the album really starts to hit its stride. built around catchy, repeating acoustic guitar strumming, there's some affected moan-like vocals in the background, some chiming noise, the sitar played over that and the whole thing has a very hypnotic quality to it. the preceding track keeps the stride going, this time marrying some infectious metal percussion with some catchy guitar playing. the seven minute sixth track is next, and makes the most of its time with alternating guitar and sitar to glorious effect. the seventh track is, i think, a vocal sample (which first appeared at the end of the third track). the rest of the album has emanuel making some very memorable tunes. the album is mostly instrumental. when there are vocals, they're usually more like a background layer, as is the case with the fourth track. though, on rare occasion, they are featured more in a normal sense.

after listening to the first, oh, ten and a half minutes of this album, you really don't expect the greatness that's to follow. the first three songs aren't bad, not at all, but they're just kind of there, while the later tracks leave indelible impressions. i haven't heard the first album that ecc put out, but i read the review for it on foxy digitalis and the only real complaint was that it was around seventy-three minutes long. perhaps brad rose had something to do with this one only sticking around for forty-two minutes. if so, it was a great decision, that's the perfect length for this release.

recently, i've shied away from listening to foxglove releases since it was all kind of sounding like the same album being released over and over, thankfully, this changes that and maybe we can look forward to better and more varied releases being put out them. i'd easily consider red rayon flower, night beneath the sea to be one of the better releases of 2006.

Untitled Track 11

heat
[2003, old europa cafe]

hh9, or hydra head 9, is just one of many projects from swede kremator nordvargr, real name henrik nordvargr björkk. in addition to this one, there's (past and present), let's see...mz.412, folkstorm, toroidh, incinerator international, nordvargr/drakh, d.i.n., econocon, körperwelten, muskel and lorv. kind of makes the rest of us look like lazy bastards. dang. most of his projects don't venture too far from the noise spectrum and i'm pretty sure that hh9, folkstorm, and mz.412 are/were henrik's main projects. when i was trying to dig up some more info about hh9, i saw that nordvargr also credits an s. halibot as being part of the project, yet i can't find any info about him anywhere, nor does anywhere else mention that anyone other than henrik is involved here. i know that the two did work together on 2002's power display..it doesn't seem like it on this one, though.

prior to randomly adding heat onto my ipod, i'd never heard of hydra head 9, but i'd downloaded it because it was put out by the wonderful old europa cafe label. i'm glad that i was feeling like listening to something new because heat is, without exaggeration, one of the best noise albums that i've come across in quite some time. the album starts off with one of its better feet forward with fire in a hole. the track starts off with two minutes of repeating background loops and then gets progressively more noisy. roughly five minutes later the background loops are gone and it's just noise and yelling with differing, multiple layers of noise being used in the different stereo channels. the background later comes back as there's now noise alternating between the left and right channels in three to five second blasts. that really typifies what's excellent about the album, henrik's production. he's definitely proficient in straight up harsh noise, but there's enough studio wizadry at work here to keep things interesting all the time. there's two intermission type tracks, titled 1 and 2, and these little numbers do a great job of combining different aspects of henrik's range. there's noise, to be sure, minimal electronic, guitar, effects, drone, samples and piano and they do a good job showing off a prettier side to hh9's music, that's lurking just beneath the surface. the remainder of the album branches off less, but each of the tracks have enough going on that the sound stays interesting for the duration. there's never too much going that you'd feel any sense of claustrophobia and everything works marvelously. another draw to heat is the fact that nine out of the ten tracks on here aren't over eight minutes long. the only exception is the untitled bonus track, which clocks in at nearly twenty-four minutes, but, fortunately enough, it's at the end of the disc, so it doesn't throw off the album's momentum.
i wish i was more acquainted with henrik's music so i could draw comparisons between this and his other projects, or even this and the other two hh9 albums, but all i have to go off of is what i've heard on heat, and what i heard was damn impressive. i'd highly recommend tracking this one down.

Frankata.M