Thursday, February 22, 2007
bodyvehicle
i received this from james of black horizons earlier this week. prior to that, the only thing that i knew about the label was that they co-released an oscillating innards 7", apparently his first release on that medium.
being being 2 x cs (c38 & c26)
[2006, black horizons]
here's just a few of the words being thrown at bodyvehicle: "unknown", "mysterious", "obscurity", "trip-hop"..err, that last one is for finer bodyvehicle. seriously hoping these two projects are not related...here's the facts about bodyvehicle a) they are russian b) it's more than one person. for a group that no one seems to know anything about, they've been gaining some exposure with a warmly received cassette on devillock's tone filth imprint. from what i've been reading, they're making fans out of anyone that gives them a listen.
firstly, there's some very eye catching packaging for these cassettes. it has all types of digital fancy pantsness which i can't (or choose not to) articulately describe, so i'll just copy and paste james' words: presented in a black vinyl album, with color art on blue/gold shimmer vellum cover and color on transparent labels. tracks listing is printed on blue shimmer paper, which is glued to the inside. edition of 50 hand stamp #'ed copies on hi-bias chrome tapes. well said.
tape number one opens up with deep strobbing (their spelling, not mine) and right away all of my perceptions about what this might sound like are rendered null. where i was expecting dense, thick and unyielding, i got minimal and ambient. thankfully, no trip-hop. there are; however, slight electronic flourishes here and there, all tastefully done within the structure of the music, so they're not in danger of becoming a distraction. the sight, side b's first offering, aims for more psychedelic ground. there's a very nice use of guitar combined with electronic processing and effects. bodyvehicle have the panning for this one perfectly as it is complimenting the trippy aesthetic marvelously. this side closes with breathable gel filled room, which centers around, what sounds like, an affected sax freakout/one person jam session. while i'm totally into the music itself, there's a lot to be said for these guys' production skills. that's what i'm really loving about this tape, so far. the back and forth channel hopping bass static from 1:25 to about 2:10 is a perfect example. if you're not really paying close attention they're probably not going to stick out, but it's really where they're winning me over. all the while that someone's blowing away on the sax there's a wealth of interesting stuff going on in the background which continually changes. great track that took a few listens to fully appreciate. yes, when i put on the big ass headphones everything became so much clearer.
a dark filled event walks similiar sonic ground as the first tape's track. heavy on atmosphere with some sparingly used electronic work. i'm liking the pulsing electronic hum that serves as the foundation, but outside of that there's just not that much going on. flip the tape over and things get a bit better with shine and princess are watching the lights. this is a pleasant, multi-layered, piece that's rooted, first and foremost, in ambient electronic. there's a lot of interesting and pattern-based sounds that are being employed to hold my attention. at just under six minutes long it's the ideal length. the closer, warm charcoals, is another pleasant and minimal affair.
my overall thought is that the first tape is the clear stand out. it's the least minimal and bodyvehicle was doing more that really stuck with me after i listened to it, but if nice sounding ambient electronic music appeals to you, you won't be disappointed by the second cassette. for what it was, it was well done. fans of the ash international label would likely dig this one.
this is only the sixth release by black horizons but the combination of good music plus thoughtfully produced packaging (the anakrid cassette looks mighty fine, too) is sure to keep me checking out their progress.
Breathable Gel Filled Room
being being 2 x cs (c38 & c26)
[2006, black horizons]
here's just a few of the words being thrown at bodyvehicle: "unknown", "mysterious", "obscurity", "trip-hop"..err, that last one is for finer bodyvehicle. seriously hoping these two projects are not related...here's the facts about bodyvehicle a) they are russian b) it's more than one person. for a group that no one seems to know anything about, they've been gaining some exposure with a warmly received cassette on devillock's tone filth imprint. from what i've been reading, they're making fans out of anyone that gives them a listen.
firstly, there's some very eye catching packaging for these cassettes. it has all types of digital fancy pantsness which i can't (or choose not to) articulately describe, so i'll just copy and paste james' words: presented in a black vinyl album, with color art on blue/gold shimmer vellum cover and color on transparent labels. tracks listing is printed on blue shimmer paper, which is glued to the inside. edition of 50 hand stamp #'ed copies on hi-bias chrome tapes. well said.
tape number one opens up with deep strobbing (their spelling, not mine) and right away all of my perceptions about what this might sound like are rendered null. where i was expecting dense, thick and unyielding, i got minimal and ambient. thankfully, no trip-hop. there are; however, slight electronic flourishes here and there, all tastefully done within the structure of the music, so they're not in danger of becoming a distraction. the sight, side b's first offering, aims for more psychedelic ground. there's a very nice use of guitar combined with electronic processing and effects. bodyvehicle have the panning for this one perfectly as it is complimenting the trippy aesthetic marvelously. this side closes with breathable gel filled room, which centers around, what sounds like, an affected sax freakout/one person jam session. while i'm totally into the music itself, there's a lot to be said for these guys' production skills. that's what i'm really loving about this tape, so far. the back and forth channel hopping bass static from 1:25 to about 2:10 is a perfect example. if you're not really paying close attention they're probably not going to stick out, but it's really where they're winning me over. all the while that someone's blowing away on the sax there's a wealth of interesting stuff going on in the background which continually changes. great track that took a few listens to fully appreciate. yes, when i put on the big ass headphones everything became so much clearer.a dark filled event walks similiar sonic ground as the first tape's track. heavy on atmosphere with some sparingly used electronic work. i'm liking the pulsing electronic hum that serves as the foundation, but outside of that there's just not that much going on. flip the tape over and things get a bit better with shine and princess are watching the lights. this is a pleasant, multi-layered, piece that's rooted, first and foremost, in ambient electronic. there's a lot of interesting and pattern-based sounds that are being employed to hold my attention. at just under six minutes long it's the ideal length. the closer, warm charcoals, is another pleasant and minimal affair.
my overall thought is that the first tape is the clear stand out. it's the least minimal and bodyvehicle was doing more that really stuck with me after i listened to it, but if nice sounding ambient electronic music appeals to you, you won't be disappointed by the second cassette. for what it was, it was well done. fans of the ash international label would likely dig this one.
this is only the sixth release by black horizons but the combination of good music plus thoughtfully produced packaging (the anakrid cassette looks mighty fine, too) is sure to keep me checking out their progress.
Breathable Gel Filled Room
cluster duo
dances
[2006, qbico]
ah, the danger of scribbled and detached nonsensical strings of words. for months i assumed "cluster duo dances" meant qbico were back onboard the schnitzler wagon, and that for some reason, despite never really having listened to a kluster/cluster record, this was exciting enough that i'd written it down. strange mixture of confusion, disappointment and relief then, when it turned out the cluster in question were in fact a couple of advocates of the new feral finnish free-jazz, a field thus far seeming to specialise in translating the healthy, thigh-slapping, foot-stomping, lederhosen-wearing traditonal aryan volksgeist into the muddier spiritual realms of american free-jazz.
though, the square-waltzing choreography of the cover aside, you won't find much for the
ländler enthusiast in dances. first track in and unleashing the fury takes centre stage; even the relatively calm lead-in has a building epic quality to it, suggesting a lo-fi hyperagitated soundtrack to lawrence of arabia or suchlike, before the floodgates break and control is lost. once the heat's on the duo aren't so much playing off each others line and approach as simultaneously flailing and hacking away at whatever's in front of them, driving the rolling mess towards a violently smeared keyboard-n-drums analogue to takayanagi's wall o'sound, before veering off wildly from the madness, cancelling itself out in a jarringly coherent headbanging groove for the climax.
the majority of the rest of the disc is a little nervier, alternating between short lego-like melodic blocks stacked on top of hesitant drum work or the kind of squiggle-lovin' synth blurts last heard on the likes of klondike and york's holy book lp. for all that, the two central tracks do sound the most conventionally jazzy to my ears, albeit with a charmingly reckless disregard for some kind of redeeming, logical arc to it all. comparisons to some of sun ra's more keyboard-unfriendly sides are obvious enough, but worth making. wrapping up with a short dip back into the furiously manic style that kicked it off, its harder than i'd intially assumed to tie these guys in with the whole finnish jazz crowd. in fact (oh sweet, fresh irony), in the shadow of rauhan orkesteri, braspyreet and lauhkeat lampaat, dances may take the crown for the least danceable of the lot. still, an addictive brew in its own impulsively mindless way.
as for the standard coloured vinyl approach of qbico, their website claims dances is blessed with "24-carat gold vinyl" which is a laugh. mine just looks like petrified mustard. no biggie, but panhandlers best be warned.
cluster duo's dances sampler mp3
[2006, qbico]
ah, the danger of scribbled and detached nonsensical strings of words. for months i assumed "cluster duo dances" meant qbico were back onboard the schnitzler wagon, and that for some reason, despite never really having listened to a kluster/cluster record, this was exciting enough that i'd written it down. strange mixture of confusion, disappointment and relief then, when it turned out the cluster in question were in fact a couple of advocates of the new feral finnish free-jazz, a field thus far seeming to specialise in translating the healthy, thigh-slapping, foot-stomping, lederhosen-wearing traditonal aryan volksgeist into the muddier spiritual realms of american free-jazz.
though, the square-waltzing choreography of the cover aside, you won't find much for the
ländler enthusiast in dances. first track in and unleashing the fury takes centre stage; even the relatively calm lead-in has a building epic quality to it, suggesting a lo-fi hyperagitated soundtrack to lawrence of arabia or suchlike, before the floodgates break and control is lost. once the heat's on the duo aren't so much playing off each others line and approach as simultaneously flailing and hacking away at whatever's in front of them, driving the rolling mess towards a violently smeared keyboard-n-drums analogue to takayanagi's wall o'sound, before veering off wildly from the madness, cancelling itself out in a jarringly coherent headbanging groove for the climax.the majority of the rest of the disc is a little nervier, alternating between short lego-like melodic blocks stacked on top of hesitant drum work or the kind of squiggle-lovin' synth blurts last heard on the likes of klondike and york's holy book lp. for all that, the two central tracks do sound the most conventionally jazzy to my ears, albeit with a charmingly reckless disregard for some kind of redeeming, logical arc to it all. comparisons to some of sun ra's more keyboard-unfriendly sides are obvious enough, but worth making. wrapping up with a short dip back into the furiously manic style that kicked it off, its harder than i'd intially assumed to tie these guys in with the whole finnish jazz crowd. in fact (oh sweet, fresh irony), in the shadow of rauhan orkesteri, braspyreet and lauhkeat lampaat, dances may take the crown for the least danceable of the lot. still, an addictive brew in its own impulsively mindless way.
as for the standard coloured vinyl approach of qbico, their website claims dances is blessed with "24-carat gold vinyl" which is a laugh. mine just looks like petrified mustard. no biggie, but panhandlers best be warned.
cluster duo's dances sampler mp3
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
xome, ecomorti & tralphaz
battle of the primordial energy manifesting in matter
[2006, resipiscent]
alright, i saved the big names for last. you should already know about tralphaz and xome, if not click on the "older reviews" 2007-02-11 link to the right, read about their respective cds and get up to speed. ecomorti, amanda hendricks, also from san francisco, is a name that's probably unfamiliar to most. i saw her with sacramento homegirl leporidae at noisefest and i walked away from that extremely impressed. i'd suggest checking out her contribution to deathbomb arc's fruit will rot ii compilation. great stuff. here's amanda's take on her own music: "endangered species sounds. in pairs. disturbances and lullabys (sic)." infer from that what you will, or keep reading and i'll actually tell you what it sounds like. your choice.
in terms of artwork, this one takes the cake. it features a terrific colored drawing by bonnie banks (there's also artwork on the disc itself). needless to say that i was impressed enough by it to try and dig up some information about banks and unfortunately, all i could find was an art exhibit by bonnie at seattle's electric heavyland. here's where the fortunate part comes in, wm. has all of the artwork for your perusal right here. as far as feel goes, this stuff's dark as hell, but that's then combined with a nice use of color. i'm hoping more labels will showcase bonnie's talents as they're definitely appreciated here.
after three minutes of trying to figure out how to open up the case (it slides out like the cd drive on your computer), i was finally able to get down to business. the first two tracks are a meeting of minds (and pedals) between xome and tralphaz. who's doing what, who knows, who cares? not me! well, i do know that david's behind the occasional vocal noises. the first piece, the thought-provokingly titled, escaping the 984, 849, 503 claws of space chum, showcases the duo in attack mode. there's a few times that they pull back on the reigns, but for the most part these guys are keeping themselves busy. as far as noise goes, this is pretty mild considering everything that's going on. they steer clear of the high pitched piercing sounds and loud feedback that tend to push listeners to the brink of listenability. interspecies arrival at the colony dining hall follows. what happened to classically titled noise tracks like blod's "she says, "spunk on my tits, then my face, make my hair all sticky""? ah well. this one's toned down a bit in comparison to what was previously heard. slower, more methodical, equally awesome. like these two together could possibly disappoint me. psshaw.
xome, ecomorti and tralphaz, as xomecophaz!, are next and i can sum it up like this, unbelievable. and i'm saying that because it's only eight seconds long. this is giving me the cold-sweat inducing flashbacks of god willing and lazy magnet's ten second sets at audio waffle last year. the horror, the horror! actually, it takes longer for me to say the track's title "interfeces kunghytofory meld in the pit of feurre" than it did for them to perform it. amazing. it took me eight seconds just to enunciate kunghytofory.
that exercise in dirty, dirty deception/brevity segues perfectly into ecomorti's wwOLVERinepantherrrrrr. with this track all of my bitterness seems to h
ave subsided as miss hendricks is slaying this one. i'm not sure if she's using samples of a panther's..what the fuck is it that panthers do..growl, roar, i don't know, but this one sounds pissed...or she could be making the sounds herself. now that would be even more impressive. regardless of method, i do know that the results are fan-tastic. i love her use space in the first half, before getting a bit denser as the piece plays on. if ecomorti doesn't make a pretty decent name for herself soon, i'll be shocked and maybe, just maybe, i'll lose my faith in humanity. and jesus. and the tooth fairy. cougArrrrRbatTssssssss closes out the disc and, while not quite as memorable as her first track, it's still excellent. this is a bit more in the dense rumbly neighborhood, but ecomorti's using that to her advantage, rather than allowing it to choke the entire thing into submission. i thoroughly enjoyed her use of panning and how she has different noises in each channel. top notch head-phone material this is.
great artwork, great music, what's not to love?
also, will someone tell me whether this bonnie banks is an actual factual lady or a guy who took his artistic name from loch lomond. it's driving me crazy. update: bonnie is a lady, yay! apparently, enterruption's got some projects from her lined up including the artwork for an upcoming sun city girls 12" as well as an artbook. keep a look out for these. update: now i don't know if bonnie's a she or not. conflicting stories...where's robert stack when you did him..what? he's dead? oh, ok. fuck it.
Ecomorti - CougArrrRbatTssssssss
[2006, resipiscent]
alright, i saved the big names for last. you should already know about tralphaz and xome, if not click on the "older reviews" 2007-02-11 link to the right, read about their respective cds and get up to speed. ecomorti, amanda hendricks, also from san francisco, is a name that's probably unfamiliar to most. i saw her with sacramento homegirl leporidae at noisefest and i walked away from that extremely impressed. i'd suggest checking out her contribution to deathbomb arc's fruit will rot ii compilation. great stuff. here's amanda's take on her own music: "endangered species sounds. in pairs. disturbances and lullabys (sic)." infer from that what you will, or keep reading and i'll actually tell you what it sounds like. your choice.
in terms of artwork, this one takes the cake. it features a terrific colored drawing by bonnie banks (there's also artwork on the disc itself). needless to say that i was impressed enough by it to try and dig up some information about banks and unfortunately, all i could find was an art exhibit by bonnie at seattle's electric heavyland. here's where the fortunate part comes in, wm. has all of the artwork for your perusal right here. as far as feel goes, this stuff's dark as hell, but that's then combined with a nice use of color. i'm hoping more labels will showcase bonnie's talents as they're definitely appreciated here.
after three minutes of trying to figure out how to open up the case (it slides out like the cd drive on your computer), i was finally able to get down to business. the first two tracks are a meeting of minds (and pedals) between xome and tralphaz. who's doing what, who knows, who cares? not me! well, i do know that david's behind the occasional vocal noises. the first piece, the thought-provokingly titled, escaping the 984, 849, 503 claws of space chum, showcases the duo in attack mode. there's a few times that they pull back on the reigns, but for the most part these guys are keeping themselves busy. as far as noise goes, this is pretty mild considering everything that's going on. they steer clear of the high pitched piercing sounds and loud feedback that tend to push listeners to the brink of listenability. interspecies arrival at the colony dining hall follows. what happened to classically titled noise tracks like blod's "she says, "spunk on my tits, then my face, make my hair all sticky""? ah well. this one's toned down a bit in comparison to what was previously heard. slower, more methodical, equally awesome. like these two together could possibly disappoint me. psshaw.xome, ecomorti and tralphaz, as xomecophaz!, are next and i can sum it up like this, unbelievable. and i'm saying that because it's only eight seconds long. this is giving me the cold-sweat inducing flashbacks of god willing and lazy magnet's ten second sets at audio waffle last year. the horror, the horror! actually, it takes longer for me to say the track's title "interfeces kunghytofory meld in the pit of feurre" than it did for them to perform it. amazing. it took me eight seconds just to enunciate kunghytofory.
that exercise in dirty, dirty deception/brevity segues perfectly into ecomorti's wwOLVERinepantherrrrrr. with this track all of my bitterness seems to h
ave subsided as miss hendricks is slaying this one. i'm not sure if she's using samples of a panther's..what the fuck is it that panthers do..growl, roar, i don't know, but this one sounds pissed...or she could be making the sounds herself. now that would be even more impressive. regardless of method, i do know that the results are fan-tastic. i love her use space in the first half, before getting a bit denser as the piece plays on. if ecomorti doesn't make a pretty decent name for herself soon, i'll be shocked and maybe, just maybe, i'll lose my faith in humanity. and jesus. and the tooth fairy. cougArrrrRbatTssssssss closes out the disc and, while not quite as memorable as her first track, it's still excellent. this is a bit more in the dense rumbly neighborhood, but ecomorti's using that to her advantage, rather than allowing it to choke the entire thing into submission. i thoroughly enjoyed her use of panning and how she has different noises in each channel. top notch head-phone material this is.great artwork, great music, what's not to love?
also, will someone tell me whether this bonnie banks is an actual factual lady or a guy who took his artistic name from loch lomond. it's driving me crazy. update: bonnie is a lady, yay! apparently, enterruption's got some projects from her lined up including the artwork for an upcoming sun city girls 12" as well as an artbook. keep a look out for these. update: now i don't know if bonnie's a she or not. conflicting stories...where's robert stack when you did him..what? he's dead? oh, ok. fuck it.
Ecomorti - CougArrrRbatTssssssss
Monday, February 19, 2007
earwicker
the all seeing ear
[2006, resipiscent]
san francisco's earwicker seems to primarily be chris cones (subarachnoid space, le flenge du mal, content provider), as he's credited for contributing to each of the fifteen tracks on this cd. the rest of the group is flushed out by these characters: chris rolls (kimosciotic records, zeigenbock kopf, le flenge du mal, content provider), seofon (content provider), josh wilson, dave wright (not breathing) and jason stamberger.
as far as judging a book by its cover goes, earwicker must be aiming to set your expectations at a damn near unattainable level. awesome artwork by one j. runcio which is modeled after a dollar bill and it's silk screened with reflective ink. very fancy. it took me a few minutes to figure out where all of the track titles were on the inside cover, but i'm slow like that, so it's okay.
musically, this disc is the most curious of the lot that decker sent me. let me blurt this out before we go any further...noise techno! noisetronica? i'm not quite sure what to call it. ack, noise techno makes me think of alec empire and "digital hardcore" and this is so much better than that. realicide's rad though, so they're exempt from my slagging of digital hardcore. while the all seeing ear has elements of techno/electronica all over it, there's such a great balance of other elements whether it's the sound bytes on the watcher (reminiscent here of zoviet*france), the noise of claritas cluster fuck or the coldness of e-dna. ultimately, earwicker's strengths lie with the more beat-centric songs, such as the first one, very large array. it has a catchy rhythm to it, but with just enough distortion and various noises to keep most sane people from dancing to it. that really holds true to all of the songs of that particular nature.
all seeing ear is loaded with memorable bits scattered throughout its playing time, and manages to be both accessible and not very. some of the rhythms at times can really work their way into your head, but like i said, there's just enough discordance thrown in that's sure to keep the casual electronica fan away. thank god for small miracles, eh?
surprisingly, this album's pretty free of kitsch. though, the closer, the desert is a horrible place to die, wouldn't have been too out of place of enon's believo! (think in terms of songs like rubber car.) i say that not because i think all techno is corny, but because of some of the people in earwicker, or associates of: ezee tiger (on chris rolls' label), crack: we are rock (also on kimosciotic), plus the gay themed techno of zeigenbock kopf (of which the coachwhips' john dwyer was a member of). i'm very grateful that they kept their focus on the music, not on being jokey. though, they do have, quite possibly, the most intentionally horrendous myspace layout ever.
for a further exploration into why i hate dusted, possibly more than pitchfork, read emerson's review of earwicker here.
Hard Scramble For Kids And Cul-De-Sacs
[2006, resipiscent]
san francisco's earwicker seems to primarily be chris cones (subarachnoid space, le flenge du mal, content provider), as he's credited for contributing to each of the fifteen tracks on this cd. the rest of the group is flushed out by these characters: chris rolls (kimosciotic records, zeigenbock kopf, le flenge du mal, content provider), seofon (content provider), josh wilson, dave wright (not breathing) and jason stamberger.
as far as judging a book by its cover goes, earwicker must be aiming to set your expectations at a damn near unattainable level. awesome artwork by one j. runcio which is modeled after a dollar bill and it's silk screened with reflective ink. very fancy. it took me a few minutes to figure out where all of the track titles were on the inside cover, but i'm slow like that, so it's okay.
musically, this disc is the most curious of the lot that decker sent me. let me blurt this out before we go any further...noise techno! noisetronica? i'm not quite sure what to call it. ack, noise techno makes me think of alec empire and "digital hardcore" and this is so much better than that. realicide's rad though, so they're exempt from my slagging of digital hardcore. while the all seeing ear has elements of techno/electronica all over it, there's such a great balance of other elements whether it's the sound bytes on the watcher (reminiscent here of zoviet*france), the noise of claritas cluster fuck or the coldness of e-dna. ultimately, earwicker's strengths lie with the more beat-centric songs, such as the first one, very large array. it has a catchy rhythm to it, but with just enough distortion and various noises to keep most sane people from dancing to it. that really holds true to all of the songs of that particular nature.all seeing ear is loaded with memorable bits scattered throughout its playing time, and manages to be both accessible and not very. some of the rhythms at times can really work their way into your head, but like i said, there's just enough discordance thrown in that's sure to keep the casual electronica fan away. thank god for small miracles, eh?
surprisingly, this album's pretty free of kitsch. though, the closer, the desert is a horrible place to die, wouldn't have been too out of place of enon's believo! (think in terms of songs like rubber car.) i say that not because i think all techno is corny, but because of some of the people in earwicker, or associates of: ezee tiger (on chris rolls' label), crack: we are rock (also on kimosciotic), plus the gay themed techno of zeigenbock kopf (of which the coachwhips' john dwyer was a member of). i'm very grateful that they kept their focus on the music, not on being jokey. though, they do have, quite possibly, the most intentionally horrendous myspace layout ever.
for a further exploration into why i hate dusted, possibly more than pitchfork, read emerson's review of earwicker here.
Hard Scramble For Kids And Cul-De-Sacs
tarantism
stuck to the bottom
[2006, resipiscent]
tarantism is tyler harwood and angie, formerly from texas, currently san francisco residents. they run the boc label (bent over cowboy). tyler moonlights as anti-ear, and i have a couple of his cassette splits, one with sixes and the other with vertonen, i'd recommend both. he also does some film and performance work. i was fortunate enough to catch him "dj'ing"/doing soundwork at a halloween show in oakland with panicsville, t/r and 16 bitch pile-up. very nice stuff. weird, gory, druggy, sleazy visuals with the sound to match. the femme half of tarantism
has her own solo project, sharkiface and she was involved in, what was surely an electronic wankfest, the beast. this seems like a one-off super collaboration which transpired at no fun fest. here's the rest of that line-up: michael lastra (dr id), aaron dilloway, conroy, rock and roll jackie (of smegma), john olson, joseph hammer, ju suk reet meet (smegma), mike connelly, nate young and tovah olson. yikes. nate's aryan asshole imprint put out the dvd-r.
stuck to the bottom kicks off with the two and a half minute mood-setter echoes of the underbrush. it's a creepy crawly piece that serves as an inauspicious opener. immediately after that comes the cowl apparatus, its combination of tyler's manipulated vocals and repetitious noises, really gets things going. the fourth and fifth tracks, transmissions from the xerophyte and krötetreffen tron, respectively, take up the majority of stuck's running time, combining to be around thirty two minutes long. the great thing about these two tracks is that the duo has a lot more freedom to let the music build, and they do a great job of making the most of that time. transmissions opens with some bleak, minimal sounds which slowly work their way to terrific bit of cacophony, starting at around five minutes. three minutes later, silence. quickly we're ushered back to the spooky ambiance, now there's some electronic dissonance all over the top, culminating in a grin-inducing noise finale, replete with panned blasts of static. so very wonderful. krötetreffen tron is less creepshow, more guitar. the first half of it, with it's repetitious nature, guitar and other more musical elements, stands out a lot. then it all goes horribly wrong! there's no longer any music, it's de-evolved into static and sweet, sweet distortion. oh i meant to say that it all goes horribly right. next is the "holy fuck" moment of the album, occam's razor. this features a ridiculously terrific use of sound tones, combined with tyler and angie's overlapped vocals, which i can't make out, but they do sound ever so sinister and mal-intentioned. this alone would be fine but the real key is the brief blasts of noise that they pour over the top of it, say every thirty seconds or so. these interludes last for no more than five seconds, if that, then the track continues on like nothing happened. i love this.
stuck to the bottom should be the album that firmly cements tarantism into everyone's collective consciousness. they've done their part in making that happen by putting together a great album, now it's up to you to listen to it.
lovely silk screening job on the album's cardboard cover. the cd itself has a picture of a muddy trash filled landscape, makes me think of what new orleans must've looked like post-katrina.
Occam's Razor
[2006, resipiscent]
tarantism is tyler harwood and angie, formerly from texas, currently san francisco residents. they run the boc label (bent over cowboy). tyler moonlights as anti-ear, and i have a couple of his cassette splits, one with sixes and the other with vertonen, i'd recommend both. he also does some film and performance work. i was fortunate enough to catch him "dj'ing"/doing soundwork at a halloween show in oakland with panicsville, t/r and 16 bitch pile-up. very nice stuff. weird, gory, druggy, sleazy visuals with the sound to match. the femme half of tarantism
has her own solo project, sharkiface and she was involved in, what was surely an electronic wankfest, the beast. this seems like a one-off super collaboration which transpired at no fun fest. here's the rest of that line-up: michael lastra (dr id), aaron dilloway, conroy, rock and roll jackie (of smegma), john olson, joseph hammer, ju suk reet meet (smegma), mike connelly, nate young and tovah olson. yikes. nate's aryan asshole imprint put out the dvd-r.stuck to the bottom kicks off with the two and a half minute mood-setter echoes of the underbrush. it's a creepy crawly piece that serves as an inauspicious opener. immediately after that comes the cowl apparatus, its combination of tyler's manipulated vocals and repetitious noises, really gets things going. the fourth and fifth tracks, transmissions from the xerophyte and krötetreffen tron, respectively, take up the majority of stuck's running time, combining to be around thirty two minutes long. the great thing about these two tracks is that the duo has a lot more freedom to let the music build, and they do a great job of making the most of that time. transmissions opens with some bleak, minimal sounds which slowly work their way to terrific bit of cacophony, starting at around five minutes. three minutes later, silence. quickly we're ushered back to the spooky ambiance, now there's some electronic dissonance all over the top, culminating in a grin-inducing noise finale, replete with panned blasts of static. so very wonderful. krötetreffen tron is less creepshow, more guitar. the first half of it, with it's repetitious nature, guitar and other more musical elements, stands out a lot. then it all goes horribly wrong! there's no longer any music, it's de-evolved into static and sweet, sweet distortion. oh i meant to say that it all goes horribly right. next is the "holy fuck" moment of the album, occam's razor. this features a ridiculously terrific use of sound tones, combined with tyler and angie's overlapped vocals, which i can't make out, but they do sound ever so sinister and mal-intentioned. this alone would be fine but the real key is the brief blasts of noise that they pour over the top of it, say every thirty seconds or so. these interludes last for no more than five seconds, if that, then the track continues on like nothing happened. i love this.
stuck to the bottom should be the album that firmly cements tarantism into everyone's collective consciousness. they've done their part in making that happen by putting together a great album, now it's up to you to listen to it.lovely silk screening job on the album's cardboard cover. the cd itself has a picture of a muddy trash filled landscape, makes me think of what new orleans must've looked like post-katrina.
Occam's Razor
critical monkey
(james) decker from san francisco's resipiscent label was nice enough to send me this pleasingly large package with four of his releases. the first thing that i noticed was how great the artwork and packaging is for everything, that's always a plus, and going by what i've read about resipiscent on discogs.com, the packaging is just as crucial to the album as the music is. i like this philosophy. two of the cds i received are by artists i'm familiar with (hell, two of the artists i just recently did reviews for), the other two were unfamiliar to me. i'm not sure if it was by design or not, but each of the discs has its own distinct sound to it and are all quite different from each other, which will make reviewing them a more enjoyable experience for me. also, i'm breaking form here and deciding to give each album it's own post, mostly due to the fact that i don't want to have to proofread four albums worth of reviews by myself all at once, so, here we go:
failure by an intelligent design
[2006, resipiscent]
alright, let's file this under "well, ain't that somethin'?" critical monkey is the artistic nom of one robi kauker. if the name isn't ringing any immediate bells, how about this, he's the audio director for the pc game phenomenon the sims. how he ended up on a record label alongside smegma, hans grüsel, sixes and noel von harmonson (comets on fire) is a story i would love to hear sometime.
my pre-listening thoughts about this one were a) very nice artwork on the cover (and the cd) by theresa kauker, and then when i opened up the case b) the words "pedal steel" were right there in the middle of the liner notes, and since i was on a susan alcorn kick yesterday (pedal steel guitarist from texas), i'm heading into this one with some nice expectations, oh, and this was also before i knew that robi had anything to do with the sims.
wss mixedUP opens up the album and within those first few seconds, that's when you realize that you need to disregard robi's day job and accept that is an experimental album. i'm assuming that he made mega cash off of his work with the sims and that's why he can afford to make an album that maybe fifty or so people might ever listen to. which, when you think about it, is pretty damn admirable. doing what you enjoy doing regardless of commercial viability or even visibility. chalk the lack of listeners up to this being released on a smaller record label and not having any real press exposure outside of resip's website. the cd has been played on stanford's (seemingly) excellent kszu, so that's good. back to the music, the first two tracks are slow moving electronic pieces, heavy on atmosphere, and good for what they are. track three, friday nite, signals a departure in sound, as this is strictly an instrumental affair. here's where the pedal steel makes its first and (sadly) last appearance. friday nite is the most memorable song on failure. there's a beautiful piano melody paired with m. cormier's pedal steel guitar, and i believe i'm also hearing a violin in there, too. this is something that i'd expect to hear john zorn putting out (especially if you swapped the guitar for a saxophone, but in this case, that would be foolish), so i was pleasantly surprised when this piece popped up. the sixth track is solely performed on the piano and seems like an improvisation. the ten minute album closer vessel (artship) marks another change in sound as this is the noisiest piece of the bunch. the first half has some loud, abrupt noises coming in randomly which shake up the minimal foundation, while the second half is focused on an engine-like drone.
while failure's surely nowhere near as noisy as some of its labelmates' albums, that doesn't mean that it's any less worthy of your time. it caught me by surprise and has quite a bit going on with its sound. i'd say that about two thirds of the cd's fifty-one minutes are devoted to experimental electronic works which are punctuated by ambiance, drones and the occasional noisy outburst. the rest concerns itself with more organic instrumentation.
Nine 18
failure by an intelligent design
[2006, resipiscent]
alright, let's file this under "well, ain't that somethin'?" critical monkey is the artistic nom of one robi kauker. if the name isn't ringing any immediate bells, how about this, he's the audio director for the pc game phenomenon the sims. how he ended up on a record label alongside smegma, hans grüsel, sixes and noel von harmonson (comets on fire) is a story i would love to hear sometime.
my pre-listening thoughts about this one were a) very nice artwork on the cover (and the cd) by theresa kauker, and then when i opened up the case b) the words "pedal steel" were right there in the middle of the liner notes, and since i was on a susan alcorn kick yesterday (pedal steel guitarist from texas), i'm heading into this one with some nice expectations, oh, and this was also before i knew that robi had anything to do with the sims.
wss mixedUP opens up the album and within those first few seconds, that's when you realize that you need to disregard robi's day job and accept that is an experimental album. i'm assuming that he made mega cash off of his work with the sims and that's why he can afford to make an album that maybe fifty or so people might ever listen to. which, when you think about it, is pretty damn admirable. doing what you enjoy doing regardless of commercial viability or even visibility. chalk the lack of listeners up to this being released on a smaller record label and not having any real press exposure outside of resip's website. the cd has been played on stanford's (seemingly) excellent kszu, so that's good. back to the music, the first two tracks are slow moving electronic pieces, heavy on atmosphere, and good for what they are. track three, friday nite, signals a departure in sound, as this is strictly an instrumental affair. here's where the pedal steel makes its first and (sadly) last appearance. friday nite is the most memorable song on failure. there's a beautiful piano melody paired with m. cormier's pedal steel guitar, and i believe i'm also hearing a violin in there, too. this is something that i'd expect to hear john zorn putting out (especially if you swapped the guitar for a saxophone, but in this case, that would be foolish), so i was pleasantly surprised when this piece popped up. the sixth track is solely performed on the piano and seems like an improvisation. the ten minute album closer vessel (artship) marks another change in sound as this is the noisiest piece of the bunch. the first half has some loud, abrupt noises coming in randomly which shake up the minimal foundation, while the second half is focused on an engine-like drone.while failure's surely nowhere near as noisy as some of its labelmates' albums, that doesn't mean that it's any less worthy of your time. it caught me by surprise and has quite a bit going on with its sound. i'd say that about two thirds of the cd's fifty-one minutes are devoted to experimental electronic works which are punctuated by ambiance, drones and the occasional noisy outburst. the rest concerns itself with more organic instrumentation.
Nine 18
Sunday, February 18, 2007
mattin
proletarian of noise
[2006, hibari music]
mattin's in germany and he runs the excellent w.m.o./recordings label as well as the 'net label desetxea. he's written essays on aspects of music as well as the industry and he also dabbles in some visual art (animation). in regards to his music, aside from his solo work, there's sakada, with eddie prévost and rosy parlane, billy bao, la grieta, josetxo grieta, nmm, belaska (mattin & mark wastell) and deflag haemorrhage/haien kontra . one of the more interesting aspects of mattin's musical personage is his philosophies. for instance, all of his w.m.o./r releases are available for free to download. granted, those downloads are only available in .ogg format, but that's a minor detail when you consider what he's offering. here's some of the artists whose albums are available: bruce russell (the dead c), maurizio bianchi, tomas korber, taku unami, julien ottavi and mark wastell. additionally, mattin opposes copyrights and intellectual properties and supports copying/file sharing/downloading. it's always nice to come across artists whose views on the free exchange of music coincide with my addiction to downloading music for free. this way everyone's happy!
proletarian's title, as well as its cover, pay homage to hijokaidan's 1985 release king of noise. in fact, the cover is essentially the same. while the nods towards the japanese legends seem playful, the music itself is anything but. two of the three songs with vocals are venomous rants against consumerism and capitalism. attitude fetishist is first and opens up with some nice feedback over static with some repetitious percussion. soon the feedback dies down as mattin breaks into his diatribe. lines like "keep listening and i'll make you feel like a piece of shit" and "you are a fucking passive endless consumer" do manage to come off being less reprimanding and more aggressive due to the multi-tracking and manipulation of the vocals in combination with the rawness of the music. mattin's choice of a static-filled base and the single loop of percussion work great in relation to his biting lyrics. the next track, you are stuck as a free human being is my favorite, though. a lot noisier and musically overpowering. screams from mattin, feedback, vocal manipulation...you really need the lyric sheet in front of you for this one as there's clearly a lot on his mind, but you won't understand a word of it without reading this. "your mind is nothing but the cunt of capitalism" and my favorite "your careful listen is fully appreciated, thanks to you i feel like the best whore in this brothel." beautiful. his lyrics are damn good, vulgar, yes, but there's a great deal of intelligent thought amongst the resentment and frustration. on you are stuck the vocals themselves become part of the noise, preventing the whole thing from being a soapboxesque preaching session. i've oft wondered why people who have thought provoking socially-aware, or political, lyrics bury them under noise or by screaming unintelligibly. it seems like the point would get lost in doing so, but i imagine, that's why the lyrics are printed. the last piece with lyrics is the thirty-one minute closer, thesis on noise. thesis is what it says it is, a spoken word dissertation on what noise is and what it should be. it's definitely interesting as there's some embraceable or alienating ideas on the subject such as: "the identity process that occurs as people are making noise must be constantly rejected. to be a "noisician" is even more pathetic than to be a "musician"". with thesis, which was spoken by lisa rosendahl, mattin's clearly drawn a line in the sand. as for me, i've got one foot in each side, but i can respect where he's coming from. the most curious thing about this track is that it's so long. each 'section', of which there are ten (correction, ten listed in the cd notes, but eleven being said), is spread out over the duration, but if you were to just read them, they wouldn't take more than two minutes or so to go over. there's around a three minute pause between each part, maybe for you and your friends to discuss each point amongst yourselves, who knows?
as for the non-vocal tracks, first would be the opener computer music/post-fordism and it sounds like someone typing away on a keyboard that, judging by what i hear, is a hell of a lot nicer than mine. maybe it's an apple. the seven minute desecration of silence keeps the noise going. this one's loaded with shrill piercing sounds that'll probably have the dogs in your neighborhood going crazy if you turn this up too loudly. i'd have to say that the title is extremely appropriate.
i like this cd quite a bit, the only real qualm i have is with it's running time. yes, it's an hour long, but only a half hour of it is actually music or should i say "music". while that might be a sticking point for some people, thankfully the music is worth it. should you not have the money to shell out for this one, mattin's got you covered, just click here and start downloading.
if you're looking for other noisy explorations by mattin i would strongly recommend his collaborations with tim barnes as well as his one with junko (of hijokaidan). that pairing is easily my favorite album that she's done outside of hijokaidan. both are also freely available to download from w.m.o./recordings.
this is the first cd in a package of two that mattin sent me, i'm sending the second disc to blackandgold, so look for that review..sometime soon.
Attitude Fetishist
[2006, hibari music]
mattin's in germany and he runs the excellent w.m.o./recordings label as well as the 'net label desetxea. he's written essays on aspects of music as well as the industry and he also dabbles in some visual art (animation). in regards to his music, aside from his solo work, there's sakada, with eddie prévost and rosy parlane, billy bao, la grieta, josetxo grieta, nmm, belaska (mattin & mark wastell) and deflag haemorrhage/haien kontra . one of the more interesting aspects of mattin's musical personage is his philosophies. for instance, all of his w.m.o./r releases are available for free to download. granted, those downloads are only available in .ogg format, but that's a minor detail when you consider what he's offering. here's some of the artists whose albums are available: bruce russell (the dead c), maurizio bianchi, tomas korber, taku unami, julien ottavi and mark wastell. additionally, mattin opposes copyrights and intellectual properties and supports copying/file sharing/downloading. it's always nice to come across artists whose views on the free exchange of music coincide with my addiction to downloading music for free. this way everyone's happy!
proletarian's title, as well as its cover, pay homage to hijokaidan's 1985 release king of noise. in fact, the cover is essentially the same. while the nods towards the japanese legends seem playful, the music itself is anything but. two of the three songs with vocals are venomous rants against consumerism and capitalism. attitude fetishist is first and opens up with some nice feedback over static with some repetitious percussion. soon the feedback dies down as mattin breaks into his diatribe. lines like "keep listening and i'll make you feel like a piece of shit" and "you are a fucking passive endless consumer" do manage to come off being less reprimanding and more aggressive due to the multi-tracking and manipulation of the vocals in combination with the rawness of the music. mattin's choice of a static-filled base and the single loop of percussion work great in relation to his biting lyrics. the next track, you are stuck as a free human being is my favorite, though. a lot noisier and musically overpowering. screams from mattin, feedback, vocal manipulation...you really need the lyric sheet in front of you for this one as there's clearly a lot on his mind, but you won't understand a word of it without reading this. "your mind is nothing but the cunt of capitalism" and my favorite "your careful listen is fully appreciated, thanks to you i feel like the best whore in this brothel." beautiful. his lyrics are damn good, vulgar, yes, but there's a great deal of intelligent thought amongst the resentment and frustration. on you are stuck the vocals themselves become part of the noise, preventing the whole thing from being a soapboxesque preaching session. i've oft wondered why people who have thought provoking socially-aware, or political, lyrics bury them under noise or by screaming unintelligibly. it seems like the point would get lost in doing so, but i imagine, that's why the lyrics are printed. the last piece with lyrics is the thirty-one minute closer, thesis on noise. thesis is what it says it is, a spoken word dissertation on what noise is and what it should be. it's definitely interesting as there's some embraceable or alienating ideas on the subject such as: "the identity process that occurs as people are making noise must be constantly rejected. to be a "noisician" is even more pathetic than to be a "musician"". with thesis, which was spoken by lisa rosendahl, mattin's clearly drawn a line in the sand. as for me, i've got one foot in each side, but i can respect where he's coming from. the most curious thing about this track is that it's so long. each 'section', of which there are ten (correction, ten listed in the cd notes, but eleven being said), is spread out over the duration, but if you were to just read them, they wouldn't take more than two minutes or so to go over. there's around a three minute pause between each part, maybe for you and your friends to discuss each point amongst yourselves, who knows?as for the non-vocal tracks, first would be the opener computer music/post-fordism and it sounds like someone typing away on a keyboard that, judging by what i hear, is a hell of a lot nicer than mine. maybe it's an apple. the seven minute desecration of silence keeps the noise going. this one's loaded with shrill piercing sounds that'll probably have the dogs in your neighborhood going crazy if you turn this up too loudly. i'd have to say that the title is extremely appropriate.
i like this cd quite a bit, the only real qualm i have is with it's running time. yes, it's an hour long, but only a half hour of it is actually music or should i say "music". while that might be a sticking point for some people, thankfully the music is worth it. should you not have the money to shell out for this one, mattin's got you covered, just click here and start downloading.
if you're looking for other noisy explorations by mattin i would strongly recommend his collaborations with tim barnes as well as his one with junko (of hijokaidan). that pairing is easily my favorite album that she's done outside of hijokaidan. both are also freely available to download from w.m.o./recordings.
this is the first cd in a package of two that mattin sent me, i'm sending the second disc to blackandgold, so look for that review..sometime soon.
Attitude Fetishist