lidingö
[2002, erstwhile]

deutschland's andrea neumann is an experimental artist who works mainly with the piano. well, the insides of a piano anyhow. after stripping the instrument down to resonance board, metal frame and strings, she applies various forms of manipulation to enhance, change or amplify it's original sound, yielding interesting results. in addition to her solo works and various collaborations, she's in the group phosphor with beins, axel dörner, annette krebs, michael renkel and ignaz schick.

andrea's joined by fellow german, and percussionist, burkhard beins. beins began his musical career by drumming in several rock bands in the 1980s, but during the latter part of that decade he shifted his focus towards improvisation and composition. a few of the projects that beins has been involved in are: polweschel (a quintet with werner dafeldecker, michael moser, john butcher and martin brandlmayr), trio sowari (with phil durrant and bertrand denzler), das kreisen (with annette krebs and robin hayward), perlonex (with jörg maria zeger and ignaz schick) and the sealed knot (with mark wastell and rhodri davies).

okay, first off, i apologize for the flood of erstwhile releases lately (as well as two reviews by men named burkhard), but in my defense, it's hard to cover avant-garde music without coming across something that jon abbey didn't put out. also, i hadn't tagged the folder with label info after downloading it, so i didn't even know it was an erstwhile album until i started to write the review.
lidingö is an album that's centered around sonic experimenation rather than concerning itself with adhering to the idioms of modern or classical composition. sure, there's instruments at work here (and at times they even use them normally, well beins with the guitar and cymbals on rare occasion), but for the most part burkhard and andrea strive to get more from them, whether it be through manipulation or unconventional means of playing those instruments. having said that, this isn't some unlistenable exercise in self-indulgence. both artists conjure up some unique sounds, to be sure, but it's interesting and in more than just a mere curiosity sense. the sound here is attention grabbing. what andrea manages to produce from her piano is awe-inspiring. there were several points during the album where i would've thought that they were using found objects and elements to come up with some of this, but not at all, it was just their creative imaginations at play. play might not be the right word since the tone of the album is a joyless one. predominately, lidingö is minimal, but there are quite a few more jarring moments over its course. the first two tracks, approaching lidingö and lidingö are the noisiest of the six. the former, while relatively calm for the most part, save for a bit of feedback and high pitched tones, has a brief period of clanging percussion. the latter kicks it up a few notches though. that twenty-four minute piece has a noisy little two minute stretch with some blown out rumbling bass noises and cymbal crashing from burkhard. that's really about as noisy as it gets, and that's just fine. the louder moments provide the vibrancy needed to keep things from getting too somber and plodding.

Bron

back together again
[2004, thrill jockey]

fred anderson is a chicago residing, louisiana born, tenor saxophonist. along with being one of the founding members of the association for the advancement of creative musicians (which, amongst many others, included anthony braxton, wadada leo smith and the art ensemble of chicago), he also opened up the velvet lounge, a key spot for improvisational and jazz music in chicago.

hamid drake came to chicago by the same route as fred anderson. he's a jazz drummer and percussionist, also a frequent collaborator. some of the better known people that he's worked with are peter brötzmann, ken vandermark and william parker.

i'm more familiar with hamid drake's output than with fred anderson's, and the majority of my experience with drake's music has been in more improvisational ensemble settings. while those offerings firmly cemented the fact that he's a great talent, i longed to hear something a bit more rhythmic, something that i could see myself listening to over and over. back together again is just what i needed to hear. after a decent opening song, the album really gets its feet under it with black women, apparently a reworking of a previous anderson tune, this version is a tribute to both musicians' mothers. it really rides on the strength of anderson's sax, while his playing is a bit loose at times, he holds it together with a terrific recurring melody. with that in mind, hamid's no slouch, and he brings some of his mastery to the piece with some very nice, and varied, drumming. he makes you take note of the percussion as well as the catchy saxophone melodies. the near fourteen minute long titular track is next and it has the same feel to it; memorable sax playing paired with excellent drumming.

the greatest assets to this album are its rhythm and melody. when anderson's not regaling you with some catchy notes on the sax, drake's either got you bouncing or tapping your foot right along with him. it's always one or the other, and in most cases it's both congruently. the best example of this is louisiana strut. if you can listen to that song and not be moved by the music, there's a strong possibility that you're tone deaf, or dead.

disc-closer lama khyenno (hearts beloved) is an obvious departure from the overall sound of the album. it features some mellower sax playing which seems more complimentary, rather than being a key component as was previously heard. there's also some tribalesque hand drumming by drake, along with his vocals, sung in an african language. half of the song's twelve minutes hamid spends singing different lyrics, but the latter half he keeps repeating lama kheynno over and over like a mantra to the repetitive rhythm of the slapped drums. while it's certainly different for this cd, lama khyenno is quite enjoyable.

if you've been jonsing for a jazz album that you can listen to for pleasure as well as mood, here it is.

Know Your Advantage

...and the demon smiles 3" cd
[2005, audiobot]

devastation duo is chuck bettis and carlos giffoni.

chuck bettis is a new york transplant, formerly out of d.c., i believe. he began his career with the d.c. no-wave band, meta-matics. while still with meta-matics he began releasing solo electronic work under the name trance and the arcade. next, he was added into the collective of the all scars. another d.c. project that featured quite a few bigger name local artists coming together to create experimental music, most notably it had members of fugazi and the make-up. recentish, he's done some work with nautical almanac and was in measles mumps rubella. presently, he has a few projects: mudang rouge and brown wing overdrive. he also released a cd under the name chuck bettis & friends, amongst those friends were tim barnes, ikue mori and mick barr (octis, ocrilim, orthrelm, quix*o*tic, crom-tech, the flying luttenbachers).

carlos giffoni is another new yorker who keeps himself very busy, typical. in addition to countless solo releases (i'm sure i could count them if i wanted to), he's collaborated with dylan nyoukis (on several occasions), everyone in sonic youth who isn't kim gordon or steve shelley, lasse marhaug, nels cline, fe-mail, smegma & metalux, chris corsano & trevor tremaine (death unit), mike connelly and astro (hiroshi hasegawa). outside of collaborations, he's currently in monotract (atleast i think they're still playing) and he was in old bombs.

...and the demon smiles opens up quietly enough with some nice sounding electronic music. as it was playing i couldn't help but feel like i was being lulled into a false sense of ease. it's a bit too nice, there has to be a catch, i mean the track's titled and the demon smiles, yet, after a few minutes it manages to get even prettier sounding. there's a slight drone in the background that's coupled with music that could be from a music box. three minutes in and it's getting a little weirder. the music box sounds are still there, only now they don't sound quite as nice, plus there's also some noisier forces at work here. then, relatively quickly, all of the prior prettiness is pushed out of your memory as the duo get down to business with chuck busting out his best nate young vocal stylings, going for the angry and sinister, while carlos increases the noise output. at around thirteen minutes the piece lessens in intensity. while there isn't anymore yelling, there is still some noise, so to speak, but, for the most part, it's lap-top twitterings though the last little bit has them ending on an excellent noise note.

this was a live collaboration by the two artists, but i'm not sure when it's from. also, for a recording from a live set the sound is incredibly good. you can't even tell that it's live until the faint sound of applause at the end of the disc.

...and the demon smiles was a terrific performance that fans of giffoni's work won't be disappointed with. it's definitely one of my favorite releases that he's been involved in. remarkably, there's still copies of this cd available, out of the original edition of 100.

...And The Demon Smiles Excerpt (from 8:40 to 11:06)

the next two reviews are cds from individual artists that emailed me asking if i would review their music. the first is a folkier selection, while the latter is rooted in electronic with pop sensibilities.

unlucky atlas

self-titled
[2006, self-released]

unlucky atlas are a chicago-based four-piece consisting of erica burgner (vocals & autoharp), terence hannum (twelve string guitar, vocals and four-track), kelly rix (cello) and andre foisy (fiddle, mandolin, guitar and violin).
i've heard it said that unlucky atlas would fit nicely on secret eye's roster, but personally i don't think that they have the requisite weirdness to join the ranks of artists such as kathleen baird and larkin grimm, and the comparison is a bit unfair. not all folk musicians are striving to be among the new weird americans. ua's sound is more like garage-folk. musically, i think that they're on point. it's pretty straight-forward, no effects or tinges of psychedelia, but it's pleasing to the ear. the only thing that i take issue with is erica's vocals. stylistically, she's comparable to yo yo records' rebecca pearcy, though less world weary, and that's probably her shortcoming. instead, erica comes across more like a juliana hatfield, giving unlucky atlas a coffee shop open mic night vibe. i could easily see this playing at borders. the lyrics have a heavy anti-war message behind them, but the singing lacks the sick-of-it-all sound and passion that's really required to bring that idea home. their message just seems to fall a little flat. with different subject matter, less serious in tone, i think that erica has the potential to do an album justice. i'm not saying that she should care less about what's going on in the world today, but a change would do these guys wonders. whether it be by adapting the vocals more to the subject matter or vice versa. there's definite promise here, but it seems like they're just scratching the surface. it would be nice to see them release an album along the lines of greenpot bluepot, who put out one of the better folk albums of last year, and i feel like it's within their reach.

Numbers


naing naing

toothbrush fever
[2004, (re)aktion]

parisian françois l'homer makes up naing naing (pronounced like nine nine). he describes naing naing's sound as concrète pop or organic electronic music. his sound is crafted by using non-traditional instrumentation such as: ice cubes, toothbrushes and diesel generators as well as by utilizing field recordings of animals and insects. those sounds are then processed over the computer to sound like actual instrumentation.
while i truly appreciate the unique aspect of françois's music, i couldn't really get into it. maybe it's due to the fact that so much, if not all of it, was processed, and that, in conjunction with the sounds chosen, give it more of a novelty feel, rather than sounding like something i would actually listen to for pleasure. i'd say that some artists who are similiar-minded, though not aurally alike, would be: dragibus, neon hunk and rose for bohdan. dragibus; however, manage to achieve a very poppy sound, while still firmly maintaining the idea that it's all for fun. naing naing touches on catchier territory as there are rhythmic elements peppering the album, but the theme is never fully explored. the most blatant pop sounding song would have to be the first proper track, brosse a danse. françois uses the sound of a toothbrush in action paired with the upbeat feel of some club-ready techno. it's easy to see how a song like this can have a broader appeal, but it was my least favorite. i would've liked to see more classical concrète ideas (such as tape manipulations and minimalism) versus the slickness (with the processing and sequencing). the twelfth track, ice cube music #2 is the most pleasant sounding of the bunch. it's probably the most understated as well. it consists of ice, being used who knows how, to create a nice subdued clinking sound. for the most part, it's almost chime-like, at times, it's also vaguely reminiscent of bird calls. there are other complimentary sounds at work here as well, while they're still subtle, they give it just a hint of rhythm, fleshing out the sound quite nicely.

Greensleeves

thin skinned c46
[1989, sssm]

japan's contagious orgasm is the long, loooong, running experimental/noise/industrial/ambient/et al project of hiroshi hashimoto, who also runs the sssm label. he's definitely got one of the more interesting projects in those fields i just mentioned. hiroshi has a penchant for throwing in beats or other percussion sounds to his dark and often sinister music, creating a unique combination. i can draw a few parallels between contagious orgasm and christian renou's brume project, but where renou leans more towards experimental electronics, contagious orgasm goes more for the noise and bleakness.

thin skinned is broken into two tracks, each side is one track. while twenty-two minutes (and some change) does make for a time consuming listen, both of the pieces of music are distinctly broken down into sections, which usually last for, say, five minutes before smoothly ushering in the next movement. as always, it's nice to have that change of pace when you're expected to sit and pay attention for that much time.


side a's side show, after a noisy beginning it shifts into what sounds like brass instrumentation (trombone maybe?) and some subdued creeping noise, a definite highlight. the next movement is a bit noisier as there's far more going on with sound samples and lots of different layers of noise all being applied simulatenously. the foundation of it is this ominous, echoed, banging sound. as the other layers slowly fade out, we're left with that repetitious banging. hiroshi then adds some background music that sounds like it could've come from the exorcist, all the while there's additional echoed banging noises going on in the background, but the main one stopped as soon as that music started up. at just around eighteen minutes we get some rapid fire drum hits (like a double kick drum), paired with background noise. it's a rhythmic, if not odd, way to end the side.

while the a side was good, and parts were great, side b, peep show, blows it away. the thing that i liked the most about it is that it has more cohesion to it. there's still movements and everything, but they stay truer to a singular feel. that feeling is dark as hell. peep show starts off with some nice, memorable, ambient music, a little bit of noise, a repetitious ticking sound (like a metronome) and some sound samples. the samples are a woman's panicked shouts and its clashing with the ambience makes for a beautiful (disturbing?) moment. the next two movements are both eerie and sparse. while the second one is especially subdued, it manages to be even more harrowing. the last six minutes of the tape could be the score to a bdsm snuff film. starting out with some synth playing, then there's sound clips (sounding like a police offer relaying something about a voyeruristic peep show), then these dark sounding, repetitious, but spaced out, drum hits. there's some maniacal laughter in the background, too. soon the laughter turns into the sound of a man grunting and then that's paired with a woman screaming. here, hiroshi does a great job of using the different voices, male and female, in the different stereo channels. all the time that this is going on, the drums and synth music continue. it's disturbing, a little terrifiying and utterly brilliant. he ends the piece by throwing on some samples of church choirs. nice touch.

Side Show Excerpt (from 5:07 to 8:58)