Saturday, March 10, 2007
fe-mail
voluptuous vultures cd
[2006, psychform]
this is a cd reissue of maja solveig kjelstrup ratkje and hild sofie tafjord's 2005 10", also on psychform. this shiny version adds on a titular track to make it worth the transition. voluptuous vultures has always been my favorite fe-m
ail release, so i'm more than happy to blab about it.
valkyrie procession begins with a soothing wall of distortion that will slowly dissipate more and more until it's but a mere rumble in the distance, over which there's a good balance of electronic sounds and drones being made. a sterner layer of distortion makes its presence known after four minutes and so do some siren-esque vocals, but anyone with any knowledge of classical mythology knows that sirens equal bad times. that holds true here as things get more violent. they'll settle down soon enough as to make way for maja's crazed, spoken-in-tongues, utterances and then those are pushed back to bring in louder, repetitious vocals. those; however, quickly get manipulated wonderfully beyond all recognition. all the time that this is going on there's roughly ten other layers of sound all co-existing. some more peacefully than others. yeesh. this one's a keeper. noisy and enthralling.
so far, both valkyrie procession and the second track, artbeak, have managed to have trance-inducing backgrounds. in a lot of cases with experimental music, i find that what's going on behind the scenes is just as important as the more prominent layers. there's some vocals that are sharing space with alternately screeching and sputtering noises, and it's heavenly. the bar on blustery sounds has been raised quite a bit since the opener.
after the jittery electronics of dunlin dance, we get to the twelve minute addition, voluptuous vultures. there's a wealth of odd ball noises that i can't describe as well as the first appearance of hild's french horn. vultures, at times, possesses a playful sound to it with the merry-go-round music and various quirky samples, but the overall abundance of noisy things going on at once (despite there being only the faintest of drones in the background) keep this a challenging listen. that's challenging in a good way, even if it doesn't really come close to turbulence of the first two compositions.
with that, i think that i've exhausted psychform's awesome package.
Artbeak
[2006, psychform]
this is a cd reissue of maja solveig kjelstrup ratkje and hild sofie tafjord's 2005 10", also on psychform. this shiny version adds on a titular track to make it worth the transition. voluptuous vultures has always been my favorite fe-m
ail release, so i'm more than happy to blab about it.valkyrie procession begins with a soothing wall of distortion that will slowly dissipate more and more until it's but a mere rumble in the distance, over which there's a good balance of electronic sounds and drones being made. a sterner layer of distortion makes its presence known after four minutes and so do some siren-esque vocals, but anyone with any knowledge of classical mythology knows that sirens equal bad times. that holds true here as things get more violent. they'll settle down soon enough as to make way for maja's crazed, spoken-in-tongues, utterances and then those are pushed back to bring in louder, repetitious vocals. those; however, quickly get manipulated wonderfully beyond all recognition. all the time that this is going on there's roughly ten other layers of sound all co-existing. some more peacefully than others. yeesh. this one's a keeper. noisy and enthralling.
so far, both valkyrie procession and the second track, artbeak, have managed to have trance-inducing backgrounds. in a lot of cases with experimental music, i find that what's going on behind the scenes is just as important as the more prominent layers. there's some vocals that are sharing space with alternately screeching and sputtering noises, and it's heavenly. the bar on blustery sounds has been raised quite a bit since the opener.
after the jittery electronics of dunlin dance, we get to the twelve minute addition, voluptuous vultures. there's a wealth of odd ball noises that i can't describe as well as the first appearance of hild's french horn. vultures, at times, possesses a playful sound to it with the merry-go-round music and various quirky samples, but the overall abundance of noisy things going on at once (despite there being only the faintest of drones in the background) keep this a challenging listen. that's challenging in a good way, even if it doesn't really come close to turbulence of the first two compositions.with that, i think that i've exhausted psychform's awesome package.
Artbeak
at jennie richie
that which blows, that which rolls c14
[2007, psychform]
james decker was kind enough to send me at jennie richie's the bicycle considered 3" cd-r last month, and that served to form my first untainted impression of them. previously, i'd heard the brilliant collaboration with irr. app. (ext.) and then the double one minute cassette split with broken penis orchestra. the bicycle considered showcased the ballard, washington, duo of happiness and forever in very nice experimental noise form, keeping the focus intently on the music. i'd highly recommend getting that one from resipiscent.
that which blows, that which rolls throws us for yet another curve. a toothpick, please eschews anything remotely noise related, nearly including sound itself, and instead opts for surreal ambiance. for being so minimal, it has a real sense of elegance to it.
uncut french girls, sadly, not a reference to hirsute french chicks, is instead, an uncut recording of french girls talking to some guy. i have no idea what they're talking about, but it most be something naughty because at one point the girls burst into a sing-a-long with the refrain being "oh, you make me cream in my jeans". i bet. and possibly something about a "pussy patrol". it's interesting i suppose, but the a side is more cream worthy, in my opinion.
A Toothpick, Please Excerpt (from 0:00 to 1:49)
[2007, psychform]
james decker was kind enough to send me at jennie richie's the bicycle considered 3" cd-r last month, and that served to form my first untainted impression of them. previously, i'd heard the brilliant collaboration with irr. app. (ext.) and then the double one minute cassette split with broken penis orchestra. the bicycle considered showcased the ballard, washington, duo of happiness and forever in very nice experimental noise form, keeping the focus intently on the music. i'd highly recommend getting that one from resipiscent.
that which blows, that which rolls throws us for yet another curve. a toothpick, please eschews anything remotely noise related, nearly including sound itself, and instead opts for surreal ambiance. for being so minimal, it has a real sense of elegance to it.
uncut french girls, sadly, not a reference to hirsute french chicks, is instead, an uncut recording of french girls talking to some guy. i have no idea what they're talking about, but it most be something naughty because at one point the girls burst into a sing-a-long with the refrain being "oh, you make me cream in my jeans". i bet. and possibly something about a "pussy patrol". it's interesting i suppose, but the a side is more cream worthy, in my opinion.A Toothpick, Please Excerpt (from 0:00 to 1:49)
various artists - psychform
(si'ke-del'ik) volume one
[2004, psychform]
this a compilation, no need for an introduction, other than that one, so let's just get down to it.
contagious orgasm's don't you move it at the end anymore? kicks off with a minimal electronic track, like he's known to do on occasion. it features some cold ambient synth work, reverbed vocal samples (in a similar vein as :zoviet*france:'s fine they're eating the passengers) along with some sporadic guitar tweaking. speaking of stringed instrument fuckery, look no further than noggin's excellent untitled piece. this could be both a violin and a guitar being victimized by some unwieldy fingers. purposely awkward, of course. john wiese's reversed spells is all basement murk. evil as hell, and all the more better for it. rowenta/khan ...the name is vaguely familiar, though i have no idea why, follows. judging by their contribution, i'd certainly like to familiarize myself with them more. giftbiene is breaking into weirdo rock. alternating between a drum propelled jam session and passages with odd ambiance, vocal samples, random synth noises and guitar playing. very nice. it's a shame that it's only two and half minutes long, but going by their seemingly a.d.d. inflicted approach here, shorter probably works to their favor. christian mf'n renou (the mf'n is deserved) makes a great appearance with neustettin, a pleasing trip across an arctic tundra of desolate sounds. i strongly doubt that renou could do anything that i wouldn't like, the man's outstanding, to say the least. grillhaus (beats me) picks up the subtleness of neustettin with their (his?) diamond elevator (stage one). relaxing down tempo electronics at work here until about 2:16 when the diamond elevator reaches the thirteenth floor and shit gets weird. all of a sudden we're at some honky tonk bar where the crowd apparently has little regard for the band. it's incredibly cheesy, yet i'm...strangely drawn to it. fuck me. gx's the haters bring back a sense of normalcy with his terrific sustained drones on audiothecary 8. someone remind me to listen to more of the haters material, every time i do, i'm in love. no exceptions here. while the median of all of the other tracks were near the five minute mark, save for rowenta/khan's one, stan reed's broken penis orchestra and mixed band philanthropist (of which richard rupenus is a member) end the disc, epic style with the forty-five minute polyhymnia and the philanthropist witness the first act of spontaneous human convulsion. this is sound collaging/radio tuning in fine form. merrily skipping their way through a multitude of genres, the placement of classical music is in good taste, along with tongue-in-check references and double entendres. after nearly five minutes of the collaging it gets into a locked groove-esque loop of laughter. after a few minutes of that i begin to suspect that we've been had, and yep, there's a solid forty minutes of that. listening to this in its entirety would be a good idea if you're already kind of crazy, but need that extra little push off the deep end to make it official.
oh, after doing some research, grillhaus is frank rowenta of rowenta/khan, and the khan in in that duo is achim flaam (here as dr. p. li khan). i'm guessing you could play six degrees of nurse with wound and probably get there with less than three links. so, three degrees if you want to be technical about it.
Rowenta/Khan - Giftbiene
[2004, psychform]
this a compilation, no need for an introduction, other than that one, so let's just get down to it.
contagious orgasm's don't you move it at the end anymore? kicks off with a minimal electronic track, like he's known to do on occasion. it features some cold ambient synth work, reverbed vocal samples (in a similar vein as :zoviet*france:'s fine they're eating the passengers) along with some sporadic guitar tweaking. speaking of stringed instrument fuckery, look no further than noggin's excellent untitled piece. this could be both a violin and a guitar being victimized by some unwieldy fingers. purposely awkward, of course. john wiese's reversed spells is all basement murk. evil as hell, and all the more better for it. rowenta/khan ...the name is vaguely familiar, though i have no idea why, follows. judging by their contribution, i'd certainly like to familiarize myself with them more. giftbiene is breaking into weirdo rock. alternating between a drum propelled jam session and passages with odd ambiance, vocal samples, random synth noises and guitar playing. very nice. it's a shame that it's only two and half minutes long, but going by their seemingly a.d.d. inflicted approach here, shorter probably works to their favor. christian mf'n renou (the mf'n is deserved) makes a great appearance with neustettin, a pleasing trip across an arctic tundra of desolate sounds. i strongly doubt that renou could do anything that i wouldn't like, the man's outstanding, to say the least. grillhaus (beats me) picks up the subtleness of neustettin with their (his?) diamond elevator (stage one). relaxing down tempo electronics at work here until about 2:16 when the diamond elevator reaches the thirteenth floor and shit gets weird. all of a sudden we're at some honky tonk bar where the crowd apparently has little regard for the band. it's incredibly cheesy, yet i'm...strangely drawn to it. fuck me. gx's the haters bring back a sense of normalcy with his terrific sustained drones on audiothecary 8. someone remind me to listen to more of the haters material, every time i do, i'm in love. no exceptions here. while the median of all of the other tracks were near the five minute mark, save for rowenta/khan's one, stan reed's broken penis orchestra and mixed band philanthropist (of which richard rupenus is a member) end the disc, epic style with the forty-five minute polyhymnia and the philanthropist witness the first act of spontaneous human convulsion. this is sound collaging/radio tuning in fine form. merrily skipping their way through a multitude of genres, the placement of classical music is in good taste, along with tongue-in-check references and double entendres. after nearly five minutes of the collaging it gets into a locked groove-esque loop of laughter. after a few minutes of that i begin to suspect that we've been had, and yep, there's a solid forty minutes of that. listening to this in its entirety would be a good idea if you're already kind of crazy, but need that extra little push off the deep end to make it official.
oh, after doing some research, grillhaus is frank rowenta of rowenta/khan, and the khan in in that duo is achim flaam (here as dr. p. li khan). i'm guessing you could play six degrees of nurse with wound and probably get there with less than three links. so, three degrees if you want to be technical about it.Rowenta/Khan - Giftbiene
six heads
ether c20
[2007, psychform]
six heads (one of far too many aliases of theirs) are a toronto-based avant-experimental sextet consisting of james bailey, william davison, linda feesey, sherri lyn higgins, colin hinz and pete mosher. according to their website their purpose is exploration of audio surrealism via improvisation, sound collage, experimental instruments and approaches. the surrealist vibe you can pick up on just by looking at the artwork for the tape. as far as their actual musical approach goes, they use a bevy, oh and i do mean bevy, of instrumentation, including found objects, proper instruments and homemade devices.
from what i'd been reading about six heads [only five heads pictured], i was expecting some sort of grab whatever's closest to you and start banging on it at the same time kind of thing, but a side's the fog 
collectors is haunting and wisely held back. the field recordings in the beginning put you right there in the thick of that foggy frame of mind and whatever instrumentation they're adding to it only heightens the sense. the electronic humming and what could either be a whistle or another wind instrument of some sort during the latter minutes is a nice change of pace.
twilight tubing opens up with some memorable, spread out, electric guitar chords over a suuuper minimal backdrop. as it continues along the initial guitar is relegated to subdued background wails as another guitar enters the fray. there's a small bit of crowd noise near the end of the piece, which is an interesting inclusion, but that's over with nearly as fast as it began, then we're back to nice ambiance, easing our exit out of the tape.
out of the entire psychform package that i received, ether was the one i was the most curious about, and i came out of the experience very impressed. six people making not very much noise, but doing a great job of it. if you like atmospheric music with some actual substance that you can latch onto, this should do the trick.
Twilight's Tubing Excerpt (from 0:00 to 2:52)
[2007, psychform]
six heads (one of far too many aliases of theirs) are a toronto-based avant-experimental sextet consisting of james bailey, william davison, linda feesey, sherri lyn higgins, colin hinz and pete mosher. according to their website their purpose is exploration of audio surrealism via improvisation, sound collage, experimental instruments and approaches. the surrealist vibe you can pick up on just by looking at the artwork for the tape. as far as their actual musical approach goes, they use a bevy, oh and i do mean bevy, of instrumentation, including found objects, proper instruments and homemade devices.
from what i'd been reading about six heads [only five heads pictured], i was expecting some sort of grab whatever's closest to you and start banging on it at the same time kind of thing, but a side's the fog 
collectors is haunting and wisely held back. the field recordings in the beginning put you right there in the thick of that foggy frame of mind and whatever instrumentation they're adding to it only heightens the sense. the electronic humming and what could either be a whistle or another wind instrument of some sort during the latter minutes is a nice change of pace.twilight tubing opens up with some memorable, spread out, electric guitar chords over a suuuper minimal backdrop. as it continues along the initial guitar is relegated to subdued background wails as another guitar enters the fray. there's a small bit of crowd noise near the end of the piece, which is an interesting inclusion, but that's over with nearly as fast as it began, then we're back to nice ambiance, easing our exit out of the tape.
out of the entire psychform package that i received, ether was the one i was the most curious about, and i came out of the experience very impressed. six people making not very much noise, but doing a great job of it. if you like atmospheric music with some actual substance that you can latch onto, this should do the trick.
Twilight's Tubing Excerpt (from 0:00 to 2:52)
Friday, March 09, 2007
pcrv & kenji siratori
various speech patterns c18
[2007, psychform]
is mr. taggart no longer going by the full awesomeness of his chosen moniker? pop culture rape victim is too good of a name to hide behind an abbreviation. especially when that abbreviation is also the equivalent of personal computer recreational vehicle.
pcrv does roll off the tongue rather nicely, though, i'll give him that. various speech patterns has matt teamed up with japanese cyber-punk author kenji siratori. check out the review that i did of him and andrew liles if you want some more information about his background. i wonder what kenji's going to do after he runs out of noise artists to collaborate with...try someone in spazz rock? personally, i'd like to hear him collaborate with ocrilim.
matt's spoken like a true gentleman is up first. for starters there's a nice little drone in the background and then we're treated to some short furious blasts of dissonance. after a longer passage of drone only, he turns the thumbscrews on the noise. the base of which is that distorted rumble, but it's joined by some great grinding harshness. while that's over a little too quickly for me, the rest is nicely down tempo, with some squeals and drone added for good measure. this is an all around great track by taggart. there's, a teasing amount of, noise, drone and other interesting elements to give spoken a great balance.
seeing as how my previous experiences in regards to kenji siratori have been of him collaborating with musicians, this is weird. well, weird in that it's not weird. it's just kenji reading aloud one of his short stories, the end to the end. the lyrics, in english, come with the tape and i'd have to immerse myself in the drug culture to wrap my head around any of this. click on the picture above and you can read them for yourself. this is free association at...its finest? most fractured? i don't know how you'd rate a free associative literary endeavor, sorry. anyway, it's for the best that he's speaking in japanese, because it all sounds interesting and you can just pretend that what he's saying is something a bit easier to understand. i still like his vocal delivery, plus it goes really great with tape hiss. what doesn't though?
actually, i just went to ocrilim's myspace page playing the end to the end on winamp and simultaneously played ocrilim on myspace's embedded player and, wouldn't you know, this sounds great with anoint 6. clearly, i am a genius.
PCRV - Spoken Like A True Gentleman Excerpt (from 2:47 to 4:47)
Kenji Siratori - The End To The End Excerpt (from 0:00 to 2:02)
[2007, psychform]
is mr. taggart no longer going by the full awesomeness of his chosen moniker? pop culture rape victim is too good of a name to hide behind an abbreviation. especially when that abbreviation is also the equivalent of personal computer recreational vehicle.
pcrv does roll off the tongue rather nicely, though, i'll give him that. various speech patterns has matt teamed up with japanese cyber-punk author kenji siratori. check out the review that i did of him and andrew liles if you want some more information about his background. i wonder what kenji's going to do after he runs out of noise artists to collaborate with...try someone in spazz rock? personally, i'd like to hear him collaborate with ocrilim.matt's spoken like a true gentleman is up first. for starters there's a nice little drone in the background and then we're treated to some short furious blasts of dissonance. after a longer passage of drone only, he turns the thumbscrews on the noise. the base of which is that distorted rumble, but it's joined by some great grinding harshness. while that's over a little too quickly for me, the rest is nicely down tempo, with some squeals and drone added for good measure. this is an all around great track by taggart. there's, a teasing amount of, noise, drone and other interesting elements to give spoken a great balance.
seeing as how my previous experiences in regards to kenji siratori have been of him collaborating with musicians, this is weird. well, weird in that it's not weird. it's just kenji reading aloud one of his short stories, the end to the end. the lyrics, in english, come with the tape and i'd have to immerse myself in the drug culture to wrap my head around any of this. click on the picture above and you can read them for yourself. this is free association at...its finest? most fractured? i don't know how you'd rate a free associative literary endeavor, sorry. anyway, it's for the best that he's speaking in japanese, because it all sounds interesting and you can just pretend that what he's saying is something a bit easier to understand. i still like his vocal delivery, plus it goes really great with tape hiss. what doesn't though?actually, i just went to ocrilim's myspace page playing the end to the end on winamp and simultaneously played ocrilim on myspace's embedded player and, wouldn't you know, this sounds great with anoint 6. clearly, i am a genius.
PCRV - Spoken Like A True Gentleman Excerpt (from 2:47 to 4:47)
Kenji Siratori - The End To The End Excerpt (from 0:00 to 2:02)
Thursday, March 08, 2007
sid redlin
chimerical chronometer c20
[2007, psychform]
sid redlin, out of kalamazoo, michigan, seems to have more of an artistic background rather than a musical one. the pictures of him on his myspace page are, instead, of his artwork, which is bleak and terrific. he also did some acting in abstraction theatre's production of hamlet, he was horatio.
taking a look at the fancy packaging for this one, i..well, i didn't really know what to expect. i knew what not to expect: noise. no, the velvety pouch, small black envelope with a wax seal and its enclosed drawings did not give off a harsh vibe. something magical? yeah, i guess that would work, or how about whimsical with perhaps a dark undercurrent running through it? let's find out.
well, my powers of deduction are apparently so-so. the a side, goya's dance, starts out with some kränkenkabinet-like whimsy, but that's quickly replaced with some great reversed sounds (the technique seems to be favored by redlin as it makes a few different appearances) coupled with starker music. as goya's dance plays out, it ditches the darker overtones and strives more for sparse minimalism peppered with electronic twitterings and what sounds like the wind. this is really where i think the track comes together. shortly thereafter, all we're left with are some beeps and memorably repetitive chiming. that pleasing moment is aided by, what very well may be, a bass violin, and then some screechy noises, preventing you from getting too comfortable with things, before ending on a mellow note once again.
i can sum up the b side's thalassic melancholia with the following word: cinematic. it has all the feelings of a musical score (not the score to a musical, mind you). this is most evident in the opening minutes. that's followed by a nice segue with more reversed music leading us into a lovely, sorrowful, sounding piece of music. actually, both of these tracks would work perfectly in a soundtrack setting. sid, if the art gig doesn't work out for you, somewhere out there somebody's making a film that could use your knack for conveying emotions and ideas, musically.
Thalassic Melancholia Excerpt (from 0:00 to 4:00)
[2007, psychform]
sid redlin, out of kalamazoo, michigan, seems to have more of an artistic background rather than a musical one. the pictures of him on his myspace page are, instead, of his artwork, which is bleak and terrific. he also did some acting in abstraction theatre's production of hamlet, he was horatio.
taking a look at the fancy packaging for this one, i..well, i didn't really know what to expect. i knew what not to expect: noise. no, the velvety pouch, small black envelope with a wax seal and its enclosed drawings did not give off a harsh vibe. something magical? yeah, i guess that would work, or how about whimsical with perhaps a dark undercurrent running through it? let's find out.
well, my powers of deduction are apparently so-so. the a side, goya's dance, starts out with some kränkenkabinet-like whimsy, but that's quickly replaced with some great reversed sounds (the technique seems to be favored by redlin as it makes a few different appearances) coupled with starker music. as goya's dance plays out, it ditches the darker overtones and strives more for sparse minimalism peppered with electronic twitterings and what sounds like the wind. this is really where i think the track comes together. shortly thereafter, all we're left with are some beeps and memorably repetitive chiming. that pleasing moment is aided by, what very well may be, a bass violin, and then some screechy noises, preventing you from getting too comfortable with things, before ending on a mellow note once again.i can sum up the b side's thalassic melancholia with the following word: cinematic. it has all the feelings of a musical score (not the score to a musical, mind you). this is most evident in the opening minutes. that's followed by a nice segue with more reversed music leading us into a lovely, sorrowful, sounding piece of music. actually, both of these tracks would work perfectly in a soundtrack setting. sid, if the art gig doesn't work out for you, somewhere out there somebody's making a film that could use your knack for conveying emotions and ideas, musically.
Thalassic Melancholia Excerpt (from 0:00 to 4:00)
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
attempt
first attempt cdr
[2006, rampart tapes]
apparently a member of hair police and eyes & arms of smoke is behind this one, though rampart doesn't seem to be too quick to say exactly who. you can probably figure it out easy enough if you're so inclined, not that it matters at all; attempt's home-taped venting is far from either band, bashing out hyperactive prog-pop solos with suitably shitty drum-machine accompaniment. first two tracks follow the well-carved riverbed of shifting time signatures and over-th
e-top riffs, while the drum machine clatters away happily enough in the background. the drumming isn't too bad actually, it could even stand to get a little worse: as it stands it's about the level of your local prog-spazz-whatever band. what happened to the black-metal style kickdrum rolls? how can anyone program a drum machine without a shot of double kickdrum action? a final thirteen minute track stretches the exercise out to a relatively epic proportions, smothered in nostalgic fireworks and adolescent melodic noodling. there's actually real talent here, but it's completely bent in service to the turn of the millenium throwback vibe; think the rigor of early trans am, but heavy on the negative ambition. simpler times. there's actually a "second attempt" cdr, now with an expanded band, and some cassette of theirs i picked up, which is seemingly imbibed with enough contrary you-don't-really-have-to-listen energy that my tapedeck chewed it to the point where it had to be pried out with a kitchen knife. regardless, i've run this through a bunch of times and even dripping in irony, still short, satisfying and a good fist-pumper soundtrack for the car tapedeck. plus rampart needs the money. i mean christ, their label page is hosted on geocities.
Lesiure to Explore
[2006, rampart tapes]
apparently a member of hair police and eyes & arms of smoke is behind this one, though rampart doesn't seem to be too quick to say exactly who. you can probably figure it out easy enough if you're so inclined, not that it matters at all; attempt's home-taped venting is far from either band, bashing out hyperactive prog-pop solos with suitably shitty drum-machine accompaniment. first two tracks follow the well-carved riverbed of shifting time signatures and over-th
e-top riffs, while the drum machine clatters away happily enough in the background. the drumming isn't too bad actually, it could even stand to get a little worse: as it stands it's about the level of your local prog-spazz-whatever band. what happened to the black-metal style kickdrum rolls? how can anyone program a drum machine without a shot of double kickdrum action? a final thirteen minute track stretches the exercise out to a relatively epic proportions, smothered in nostalgic fireworks and adolescent melodic noodling. there's actually real talent here, but it's completely bent in service to the turn of the millenium throwback vibe; think the rigor of early trans am, but heavy on the negative ambition. simpler times. there's actually a "second attempt" cdr, now with an expanded band, and some cassette of theirs i picked up, which is seemingly imbibed with enough contrary you-don't-really-have-to-listen energy that my tapedeck chewed it to the point where it had to be pried out with a kitchen knife. regardless, i've run this through a bunch of times and even dripping in irony, still short, satisfying and a good fist-pumper soundtrack for the car tapedeck. plus rampart needs the money. i mean christ, their label page is hosted on geocities.Lesiure to Explore
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
the new blockaders with the haters
this disc marks the first of a very pleasingly large package sent to me by stan of psychform, so expect a steady stream of psychform reviews to close out your week.
zero is the journey
[2004, psychform]
ahh, the mindfuck that is pluralized project names for projects which only have one member. you say two assistant deputy ministers? oh i think not, try one. yes yes, in earlier stages (currently) hollywood's the haters consisted of more than just gx jupitter-larsen. what's puzzling me the most though, is that i thought tnb was still the duo of richard (who's also in nihilist assault group with dom fernow and ron lessard) and phillip rupenus, but the plethora of reviews that i've tracked down for this have either shed little light on the subject, have thought that the haters were more than one person (coughthewirecough), or just said "these two nihilistic ______" (insert your own highly praise-worthy entity for the noun as applicable, or just go crazy with it, madlibs style) in regards to the total sum of members from both projects...also on the cd's cover it credits gx jupitter-larsen (the haters) and rupenus...whiiiich could imply both, right, right?! i'm so over fact-checking at this juncture. if i can't trust the internet to tell me the truth, i..can't even think of what i'll do if i can't trust the internet...scary stuff.
zero is leads off and promptly goes off in a direction that i was certainly not expecting. surely with everyone emphasizing how nihilistic these two (two, three, whatever) are, we should be bracing ourselves for an onslaught...of drone! outstanding drone is far more befitting. the type of drone that if i were to play this at work, everyone would be staring up at the ceiling wondering if the air conditioning system was about to blow up. there's a dominating higher pitched tone being sustained whilst all about there's a buzzing drone that might have you swatting invisible insects. if you've ever had a gnat find it's way into your ear, you know what this sounds like, congratulations. in addition to those main sounds there's a more ambient drone in the background, which will soon become a fixture in the music, too. during an eight minute run near the track's mid-section, the buzz falls back and in its place there's a bit of subdued, scratchy noise and the best comparison i can offer up is what gx gave us on the haters' excellent totimorphous.
the second and final track is the journey. both pieces of music are thirty minutes long. this one is also firmly mired in drone aesthetic, but has more of a noise slant to it. not noisy like either of these projects is known to be, after all, you'd imagine that they didn't garner all the nihilist tags by making drone, otherwise growing must be the most fearsome band in all the land. the journey is noisy in that textured sense. it's interesting to the ear in its untraditional sound, but it's far from making me cringe on impulse. for me, just the drone they're making is great (on both tracks), everything that's happening in addition is simply icing on the proverbial cake.
zero is the journey comes in a square shaped vinyl dvd case with a nice full color booklet full of gx jupitter-larsen's writings which, as cold spring perfectly said, "makes no sense". it looks like extra-terrestrial graffiti to me, but, apparently, it's just encrypted and if you have absolutely no life, you could probably figure it out. after that perhaps you'd be willing to go help catch the zodiac killer.
while damn near every review that i read for this disc (thanks to tnb for having them all on their site) made me want to punch myself in the face, for one reason or another, the one thing we all share in common is that we think this disc rules. anyways, i'm a part of the information superhighway, you can trust me.
Zero Is Excerpt (from 14:28 to 19:53)
zero is the journey
[2004, psychform]
ahh, the mindfuck that is pluralized project names for projects which only have one member. you say two assistant deputy ministers? oh i think not, try one. yes yes, in earlier stages (currently) hollywood's the haters consisted of more than just gx jupitter-larsen. what's puzzling me the most though, is that i thought tnb was still the duo of richard (who's also in nihilist assault group with dom fernow and ron lessard) and phillip rupenus, but the plethora of reviews that i've tracked down for this have either shed little light on the subject, have thought that the haters were more than one person (coughthewirecough), or just said "these two nihilistic ______" (insert your own highly praise-worthy entity for the noun as applicable, or just go crazy with it, madlibs style) in regards to the total sum of members from both projects...also on the cd's cover it credits gx jupitter-larsen (the hater
zero is leads off and promptly goes off in a direction that i was certainly not expecting. surely with everyone emphasizing how nihilistic these two (two, three, whatever) are, we should be bracing ourselves for an onslaught...of drone! outstanding drone is far more befitting. the type of drone that if i were to play this at work, everyone would be staring up at the ceiling wondering if the air conditioning system was about to blow up. there's a dominating higher pitched tone being sustained whilst all about there's a buzzing drone that might have you swatting invisible insects. if you've ever had a gnat find it's way into your ear, you know what this sounds like, congratulations. in addition to those main sounds there's a more ambient drone in the background, which will soon become a fixture in the music, too. during an eight minute run near the track's mid-section, the buzz falls back and in its place there's a bit of subdued, scratchy noise and the best comparison i can offer up is what gx gave us on the haters' excellent totimorphous.
the second and final track is the journey. both pieces of music are thirty minutes long. this one is also firmly mired in drone aesthetic, but has more of a noise slant to it. not noisy like either of these projects is known to be, after all, you'd imagine that they didn't garner all the nihilist tags by making drone, otherwise growing must be the most fearsome band in all the land. the journey is noisy in that textured sense. it's interesting to the ear in its untraditional sound, but it's far from making me cringe on impulse. for me, just the drone they're making is great (on both tracks), everything that's happening in addition is simply icing on the proverbial cake.
zero is the journey comes in a square shaped vinyl dvd case with a nice full color booklet full of gx jupitter-larsen's writings which, as cold spring perfectly said, "makes no sense". it looks like extra-terrestrial graffiti to me, but, apparently, it's just encrypted and if you have absolutely no life, you could probably figure it out. after that perhaps you'd be willing to go help catch the zodiac killer.while damn near every review that i read for this disc (thanks to tnb for having them all on their site) made me want to punch myself in the face, for one reason or another, the one thing we all share in common is that we think this disc rules. anyways, i'm a part of the information superhighway, you can trust me.
Zero Is Excerpt (from 14:28 to 19:53)
Monday, March 05, 2007
interview! david reed
david reed is the man behind the superb luasa raelon and envenomist projects, alongside a few others that you may not know about. he also operates snip-snip, which, if you're unfamiliar with the label, offers three discs for ten bucks total or one at four bucks a pop. easily one of the most wallet friendly noise imprints around. oh and black sand desert, ahlzagailzehguh, maim, goat, pulse emitter, cheap machines, women in tragedy, mike shiflet, pop culture rape victim and xome all have releases on snip-snip. so there's a little built-in quality assurance for you right there. plus, nearly all of the albums are still available.
recently i became intrigued by the increasing number of envenomist releases combined with the dwindling amount of luasa raelon ones. when i added to that the shift of musical focus of raelon's work, i had good reason to investigate. plus, i thought that maybe i'd ask about some other things too while i was at it. get the scoop.
recently i became intrigued by the increasing number of envenomist releases combined with the dwindling amount of luasa raelon ones. when i added to that the shift of musical focus of raelon's work, i had good reason to investigate. plus, i thought that maybe i'd ask about some other things too while i was at it. get the scoop.
pulse emitter
planetary torture
[2007, housepig]
yeah, yeah, another review for a project out of portland, yes, consecutively. these things just happen randomly. i just had back-to-back reviews of japanese artists last week. deal. pulse emitter is daryl groetsch. he also recently joined forces with glamorous pat to create shitty vibe smasher. love the name. i've only heard pat's starer cd-r, as transparent pat, and honestly, it wasn't really my thing. nevertheless, i'll probably buy something of theirs because i like having shit. it's true. plus, maybe the combination of the two working together could produce good things. i'm keeping my fingers crossed.
alright, so we're not even one full week into march and i'm going to go out on a very small limb and proclaim this to be one of my favorite noise releases of the year. as laughingly lame as i feel about saying that right now, it's 100 percent fact. now i'm the kind of person who can find appeal in most things noise related, but liking and being impressed with are two very separate things.
the only bad noise i can think of is from those who have an affinity for fifteen minutes of dense, untextured, dynamic disregarding tripe. the noise that i get excited about is layered, complex, unexpected, engaging and focus shifting. plus feedback! the sweet, sweet feedback always helps. planetary torture eschews said feedback but is one of my embodiments of impressive noise.
planetary torture is just four tracks clocking in at a shade over half an hour. ape shit starts us off and the funny thing is, when i had just blindly queued this up in winamp and was listening to it, i thought, these synth noises kind of sound like a gorilla, and then i see the track title and suddenly the big picture presents itself. at least i know that i wasn't imagining things. there's some distorted synth noise is the middle section and then an unexpected thick slab of loud distortion for the last minute.
true to form, warming rays opens up with warm synthesized drones coupled with electronic pulses. huh, this is rather pleasant for a disc with the word torture in its title. oops, spoke too soon because half-way through this daryl's swerving down noisier avenues. the interesting thing to note here is how he keeps the nicer pulsing drone in the background as he's applying a steaming pile of ugly over the top of it. let's see, drone with noisier tendencies? that's a plus in my book.
propaganda machine begins with a barrage of squeals sounding much like a thousand electronic crows cawing all at once. for some reason here, in midtown sacramento, the amount of those beasts feels hitchcockian, so i can easily envision how that might sound. shortly thereafter, things start to get into a nice rhythm with the synth (in case you couldn't tell, this is pulse emitter's instrument of choice), but then that gets sped up until it eventually breaks down into mere electronic bleeps and blips. this is reminiscent of that series of tones which preceded the music on old cassettes. anyways, it's pleasant to the ear. while that sound was once the focus, it becomes a loop in the background for additional squeals and distortion to run rampant over.
blasts of static along with very brief passages of nothingness mark the terrific onset of ash. the swirling noises that come in later are just as good, but when that huge wall of noise unexpectedly slaps us silly further down the road, bee-autiful. let's go over the checklist: layered, complex, unexpected, engaging and dynamic. yep, daryl didn't miss a step.
i've seen adjectives like dark, brooding, foreboding, ominous, et al, used in conjunction with pulse emitter's music, and while they do apply to some of his output, none of those are applicable this time around. nevermind the atmospherics, this is straight up experimental noise by a guy who clearly thinks before he pushes a button, or turns a knob. the sporadic occurrences of outright noise aren't the focal points and really seem to be used more as an additional element thrown in to keep things interesting, rather than to simply test your aural fortitude.
Propaganda Machine
[2007, housepig]
yeah, yeah, another review for a project out of portland, yes, consecutively. these things just happen randomly. i just had back-to-back reviews of japanese artists last week. deal. pulse emitter is daryl groetsch. he also recently joined forces with glamorous pat to create shitty vibe smasher. love the name. i've only heard pat's starer cd-r, as transparent pat, and honestly, it wasn't really my thing. nevertheless, i'll probably buy something of theirs because i like having shit. it's true. plus, maybe the combination of the two working together could produce good things. i'm keeping my fingers crossed.
alright, so we're not even one full week into march and i'm going to go out on a very small limb and proclaim this to be one of my favorite noise releases of the year. as laughingly lame as i feel about saying that right now, it's 100 percent fact. now i'm the kind of person who can find appeal in most things noise related, but liking and being impressed with are two very separate things.
the only bad noise i can think of is from those who have an affinity for fifteen minutes of dense, untextured, dynamic disregarding tripe. the noise that i get excited about is layered, complex, unexpected, engaging and focus shifting. plus feedback! the sweet, sweet feedback always helps. planetary torture eschews said feedback but is one of my embodiments of impressive noise.planetary torture is just four tracks clocking in at a shade over half an hour. ape shit starts us off and the funny thing is, when i had just blindly queued this up in winamp and was listening to it, i thought, these synth noises kind of sound like a gorilla, and then i see the track title and suddenly the big picture presents itself. at least i know that i wasn't imagining things. there's some distorted synth noise is the middle section and then an unexpected thick slab of loud distortion for the last minute.
true to form, warming rays opens up with warm synthesized drones coupled with electronic pulses. huh, this is rather pleasant for a disc with the word torture in its title. oops, spoke too soon because half-way through this daryl's swerving down noisier avenues. the interesting thing to note here is how he keeps the nicer pulsing drone in the background as he's applying a steaming pile of ugly over the top of it. let's see, drone with noisier tendencies? that's a plus in my book.
propaganda machine begins with a barrage of squeals sounding much like a thousand electronic crows cawing all at once. for some reason here, in midtown sacramento, the amount of those beasts feels hitchcockian, so i can easily envision how that might sound. shortly thereafter, things start to get into a nice rhythm with the synth (in case you couldn't tell, this is pulse emitter's instrument of choice), but then that gets sped up until it eventually breaks down into mere electronic bleeps and blips. this is reminiscent of that series of tones which preceded the music on old cassettes. anyways, it's pleasant to the ear. while that sound was once the focus, it becomes a loop in the background for additional squeals and distortion to run rampant over.
blasts of static along with very brief passages of nothingness mark the terrific onset of ash. the swirling noises that come in later are just as good, but when that huge wall of noise unexpectedly slaps us silly further down the road, bee-autiful. let's go over the checklist: layered, complex, unexpected, engaging and dynamic. yep, daryl didn't miss a step.i've seen adjectives like dark, brooding, foreboding, ominous, et al, used in conjunction with pulse emitter's music, and while they do apply to some of his output, none of those are applicable this time around. nevermind the atmospherics, this is straight up experimental noise by a guy who clearly thinks before he pushes a button, or turns a knob. the sporadic occurrences of outright noise aren't the focal points and really seem to be used more as an additional element thrown in to keep things interesting, rather than to simply test your aural fortitude.
Propaganda Machine
Sunday, March 04, 2007
portland bike ensemble
portland bike ensemble 12"
[2004, olde english spelling bee]
for some reason it's hard as hell to track down complete info for these guys, but here's the skinny; at their core pbe are an oregon three-piece consisting of kelvin pittman, craig burgardt and quite possibly someone named john. they kinda seem to have that "hey, come jam with us" vibe as i've seen quite a few other names in association with the ensemble. on this record they were joined by jim altieri (who did that drowning yellow swans
3" cd along with gabe and pete), mark kaylor (cells, ghost to falco, super dupity, oregon artificial limb company), jean-paul jenkins (peevish, $uper unity), morgan hobart, argon, and shane schnieder. kelvin was a part of the avant noise group with the either eww or wow inducing name, depending on how uptight you are, rocket science and the nigger loving faggots. i laugh when i think of exchanges like this taking place: "what's the name of your band again?" "rocket science and the nigger loving faggots" ...uncomfortable silence... "okaybyebyethen!" good times.
when it comes to musicalgeniusdom, geniusness, geniusity...when it comes to bright ideas, musically, this has to rank way up there. take a few bikes, in this case, centurion, schwinn, univega, cannondale, nishiki and bueoings (get your huffy the hell out of here), flip them sumbitches upside down, wire them for sound with microphones, effects pedals and other gadgetry and have a ball. it's mind-blowingly brilliant. they use techniques ranging from plucking the spokes to playing the spokes like a triangle, cranking the pedals, rubbing the tires with mics, amongst other ones that i'm incapable of fathoming. lest you get to assuming that this is a noisy affair, i'll have you know that it's actually fairly restrained and minimal.
portland bike ensemble, which is a recording of two separate shows, begins with 411 i, being that it's the shortest track on the record, it makes sense that it's the least minimal. there's some great drumstick(?) spoke playing amongst less discernible background noises. while my
attention lies with the spoke action, the contrast with what's going on in the back makes for great listening. the seventeen minute and change 411 ii finishes out the side. this one's way more on the atmospheric side of things. it's very creaky sounding. like a huge old wooden ship floating in the middle of the bermuda triangle, at midnight, kind of creaky. i think i hear someone bowing the spokes now, awesome. there's a few more involved segments during the piece, especially at the beginning and then towards the end. even when there's not a lot of different things all happening at once, the more subtle sounds that they're making are more than capable of keeping me involved. the opposite side is house at commercial and failing and it's just one long, twenty-three and a half minute track. one of pbe's greatest strengths is how well they mask the fact that they're playing bikes. whether it's through electronic or their own physical manipulation, it's hard to pick up on what they're actually doing just by listening in. at around three minutes into this it sounds like they're trying to saw through one of the bikes, i guess someone's walking home. commercial and failing is still on the minimal side of things, but it sounds a lot different than the a-side did. there's plenty of even more unique sounds to be had, the sporadic amplified spoke plucking is excellent as is the catchy percussion applied to the last minute of the album. damn, it really makes you wish they did more of this, ahh, oh well. it's still great.
i'd highly recommend portland bike ensemble to anyone who considers themselves a fan of minimal or avant-garde music. the things that they're doing are not that noisy (this time around, but their tour double cd-r was a bit noisier, but good luck finding that one!) and it's a completely unique and refreshing experience. this 12" is still in print and each lp has its own different hand-painted/silk-screened artwork. now go give these guys money so they can upgrade to the portland vespa ensemble.
House At Commercial And Failing Excerpt (from 9:56 to 16:02)
[2004, olde english spelling bee]
for some reason it's hard as hell to track down complete info for these guys, but here's the skinny; at their core pbe are an oregon three-piece consisting of kelvin pittman, craig burgardt and quite possibly someone named john. they kinda seem to have that "hey, come jam with us" vibe as i've seen quite a few other names in association with the ensemble. on this record they were joined by jim altieri (who did that drowning yellow swans
3" cd along with gabe and pete), mark kaylor (cells, ghost to falco, super dupity, oregon artificial limb company), jean-paul jenkins (peevish, $uper unity), morgan hobart, argon, and shane schnieder. kelvin was a part of the avant noise group with the either eww or wow inducing name, depending on how uptight you are, rocket science and the nigger loving faggots. i laugh when i think of exchanges like this taking place: "what's the name of your band again?" "rocket science and the nigger loving faggots" ...uncomfortable silence... "okaybyebyethen!" good times.when it comes to musical
portland bike ensemble, which is a recording of two separate shows, begins with 411 i, being that it's the shortest track on the record, it makes sense that it's the least minimal. there's some great drumstick(?) spoke playing amongst less discernible background noises. while my
attention lies with the spoke action, the contrast with what's going on in the back makes for great listening. the seventeen minute and change 411 ii finishes out the side. this one's way more on the atmospheric side of things. it's very creaky sounding. like a huge old wooden ship floating in the middle of the bermuda triangle, at midnight, kind of creaky. i think i hear someone bowing the spokes now, awesome. there's a few more involved segments during the piece, especially at the beginning and then towards the end. even when there's not a lot of different things all happening at once, the more subtle sounds that they're making are more than capable of keeping me involved. the opposite side is house at commercial and failing and it's just one long, twenty-three and a half minute track. one of pbe's greatest strengths is how well they mask the fact that they're playing bikes. whether it's through electronic or their own physical manipulation, it's hard to pick up on what they're actually doing just by listening in. at around three minutes into this it sounds like they're trying to saw through one of the bikes, i guess someone's walking home. commercial and failing is still on the minimal side of things, but it sounds a lot different than the a-side did. there's plenty of even more unique sounds to be had, the sporadic amplified spoke plucking is excellent as is the catchy percussion applied to the last minute of the album. damn, it really makes you wish they did more of this, ahh, oh well. it's still great.
i'd highly recommend portland bike ensemble to anyone who considers themselves a fan of minimal or avant-garde music. the things that they're doing are not that noisy (this time around, but their tour double cd-r was a bit noisier, but good luck finding that one!) and it's a completely unique and refreshing experience. this 12" is still in print and each lp has its own different hand-painted/silk-screened artwork. now go give these guys money so they can upgrade to the portland vespa ensemble.House At Commercial And Failing Excerpt (from 9:56 to 16:02)
ag - for openers, what's the status of luasa raelon?
dr - luasa raelon is going strong. the next three releases are in various stages of development (story, textures, general track ideas...). i haven't started doing any recording yet but am going to start as soon as i finish a couple other things with my other projects and be able to devote my time and energy to a new luasa raelon release. i have enough ideas for the next couple years, now it's only a matter of getting down to realizing them. in any case there are four unreleased albums out there so i am not in any hurry, along with the fact season of the witch hasn't been out for that long and i am trying to keep from flooding the market with material. i now look at luasa raelon as my flagship project and want to make sure every release has something new to offer the listener.
ag - ah, awesome, i was under the impression that luasa might've been ditched due to the (seemingly) increased focus on envenomist. just where did the name luasa raelon come from?
dr - no. i just have had more requests for envenomist material lately so (i) have been concentrating on that project.
things also go in cycles for me. when I am feeling burnt on one of the projects, i work on another one. keeps things fresh for me and keeps me active. the pendulum is swinging back to luasa raelon now. i did generate material for the live shows last summer and fall but haven't gotten around to recording it.
as for the name. i made it up. i had been using another name but on doing an internet search, found that it was being used and decided to make one up. i was going for a lost/fantastic city-sounding name akin to some lovecraftian locale or a mysterious place like nan matol.
ag - and here i was convinced that there was no way anyone could come up with the name luasa raelon on their own.
dr - HA!
ag - envenomist seems to have started around the same time frame as luasa's poison city. that cd, in particular, seems to share some common ground with your work as envenomist. what spawned the decision to start envenomist in the first place?
dr - well, the decision to start envenomist kinda evolved over several months. i was getting tired of the electribe synth I had been using forever, prompting me to acquire a few new synthesizers. at the same time, i had been on tour with hive mind, been introduced to the work of maurizio bianchi, and become really obsessed with the intrinsic action 2 disc. having a few new (for me) analog synths to work with combined with my interest in the above artists pretty much brought about envenomist, which did start around the same time as i began work on "the poison city" so there is a lot of common ground there. ideas from doing the envenomist material bled over into luasa raelon. i have a specific sound in mind for envenomist, but it happens where my projects will converge like that, i will bring an idea from something to another thing. i do try to keep them separate with each having their own identity but as it is all me, things overlap, especially if i am working on different things at the same time.
ag - m.b. is great, for sure.
dr - totally.
ag - i definitely get where you're coming from in terms of having a unique sound in mind for envenomist. it seems to have less of a dark vibe that luasa'd been leaning towards in later releases, and more of a colder sound to it. the name of your gameboy disc "delving glacial" couldn't be more appropriate. as far as drone goes, it's great. it reminds me a bit of some of anla courtis' work, primarily "albúmina blues".
dr - thanks. yeah, the envenomist sound is aiming to be more cold and ambient. things move slower and are more static. i want the sound to convey the effects of an altered state of consciousness where reality seems to slow down.
ag - overall, it seems like you've moved away from the more noise-based sounds (avarice, detonator...), was that a conscious decision or a natural evolution for you as a musician?
dr - well, when I first started doing noise, i was pretty much listening to merzbow and wanting to do something harsh. as things progressed and i delved deeper into the whole noise scene, i gravitated to the darker things more so than the harsh noise that had originally attracted me. the vision of what i want to do with luasa raelon became more clear to me and over time, i have worked to refine this vision. so, it has been a mixture of evolution and conscious decision and this continues. i try to keep the sound of luasa raelon developing with new textures and new forms like for instance the use of beats and rhythms on "season of the witch", and the new synths.
ag - in terms of the darker sounds that appealed to you, were there any artists in particular that you heard that kind of steered you towards that direction?
dr - gruntsplatter, brighter death now, vedisni, lull, ruhr hunter, yen pox, inade, sator absentia, that triage disc, and melek-tha were all pretty early on in my exposure to the dark ambient and death industrial genres. also started listening to a lot of black metal at about the same time.
ag - very nice, troum would fit in there nicely, too.
dr - yeah. i heard troum later on with the release on desolation house. i know there are a few artists that i didn't list that i heard later on like lustmord and megaptera.
ag - i'm completely ignorant of black metal (outside of burzum, but everyone knows about burzum), any recommendations?
dr - xasthur, leviathan, early emperor, darkthrone, bathory, early mayhem, celtic frost, manes, satyricon, and marduk are good bands to start with i think along with burzum.
ag - brittle foundries, which i'm the least familiar with, seems to have stopped right around when envenomist began. what was your particular direction with that project and are you planning any further releases under the name?
dr - brittle foundries was what i considered my more academic project. i was using more organic sounds, working in the way i do when i am part of an improv ensemble, and doing some experimentation. there is one more release coming out on chondritic sound but i haven't done anything further for the project as named. i have been recording material in the same vein though and am going to release it under my own name (david reed) pretty soon. it just seems to take forever. i had planned on doing this over a year ago and actually recorded some material but it wasn't working for me and i scrapped the tracks and then it took me a year to get back to working on things. i know it's all confusing but i wanted to do material under my own name. that is the academic thing to do. heh.
ag - ha, this is true. nothing says artistic credibility like using your own name. well, it either says that or that you're a guy with an acoustic guitar, but so far it's worked for keith rowe and most of japan.
since you touched on ensembles, is starlight fleecing your first recorded group effort?
dr - no. there are a few other things out there. i have performed works by rocco di pietro, some of which has been recorded and released with more on the way. i have been part of his performing ensemble for a few years. check di pietro editions for more info. there is also an older cdr by the avant collective out there. the avant collective was the first thing i was involved with (it is also how i met rocco) where i used a sampler and we did a bunch of different things like free improv, game theory pieces, working from member's original scores, and doing original film scores. i learned a ton from being a part of this and it really helped me in doing my solo work. it played a huge part in my development. i actually started doing solo work as a side project to the ensemble. i would have people ask me all the time what exactly i was doing on stage cause i was hunkered down over a couple boxes as opposed to an instrument and thought i would do something on my own. i also had ideas that weren't fitting with the group's aesthetic. things rapidly avalanched from there as i became more and more consumed with recording/producing noise.
starlight fleecing is a pretty good example of how i work with other people in an improvisational context. i have done performances quite frequently in a variety of groups but the recorded output has been real slim.
ag - i'll have to look out for that avant collective disc, it sounds really interesting.
dr - it is pretty old and i think i have gotten a lot better since then but it is a document of that time with the group. interesting aside: we went in to a friend's studio on and off for a weekend recording a ton of improvisations then a couple members went through and took what they liked the best and made the final release. well, a little later we actually learned what we had done as an improv and would play them as pieces. weird times.
ag - who are the other members of starlight fleecing and how did that project come together?
dr - larry marotta on guitar and ryan jewell on percussion. basically ryan asked larry and i if we would like to get together and jam and see what happened. one evening larry and i went over to ryan's and we recorded what is on the disc. i had worked with larry in several groups before this. ryan has come out and been real active in columbus recently, the guy is a monster. we are planning on playing out more here and there.
ag - when you decide that your spur of the moment music is worth using as more concrete material, that has to be a positive sign. there must've been some good chemistry.
dr - yeah. there is always the possibility of failure when you get together and do an improv. session. it is so rewarding when it works out. i think for it to work, everyone needs to actively listen, work to make things a cohesive whole, and allow enough space to let everyone else involved be able to add to the music. larry and i have played together in numerous projects over the years so we both had an idea of what the other would be doing and ryan is just so great that it fell together.
ag - in regards to columbus, are there any locals that you think might be on the verge of making larger names for themselves? or at the very least, are they any artists that we should be more aware of?
dr - there are a bunch of projects and bands going on in columbus right now. the scene keeps growing. tom derwent, ryan, and matt griggs (sp?) have all made their presence known in the past year and just killed consistently. mark of sword heaven and his fiancé, jen, have an awesome project called face place. aaron quinn is studying jazz guitar but also does amazing noise work. it's so great being able to interact with all these people and have a rotating line-up for shows.
ag - very cool. there's only a few names there that i recognize, aaron quinn's awesome. does he still play with realicide at all? i'll have to keep a look out of for mark and jen's project. i haven't really heard much out of sword heaven in awhile.
dr - aaron is still working with realicide. he is real busy with school fall through spring with jazz and then over the summer goes total noise. sword heaven are pretty active. they play a ton in the area and have a few releases in the pipeline, including the new 7" on bloodlust!.
ag - i really need to pay closer attention to bloodlust!'s activity, they put out a ton of great stuff, yet i can never remember to check up on them.
dr - mark (solotroff) releases so much great stuff on a monthly basis, it is hard to keep up. the man is on fire. he is a totally great guy and (has) been involved in the scene FOREVER.
ag - are there any upcoming releases planned on snip-snip?
dr - yes. a release by teeth collection and a david reed release are forthcoming. keep an eye out for those two and more in the future.
ag - hmm, i've never heard of teeth collection before, who's behind that?
dr - matt reis. there is a myspace page for it. the guy is from dayton, ohio and also runs the epicene sound label.
ag - now i don't have a complete discography of snip-snip's to go off of, but it seems like in the early stages of it you put out cassettes, but now it seems you deal predominately with the cd-r format. do you see yourself going back to tapes or even branching out into vinyl in the future?
dr - i have given serious thought to doing vinyl and/or tapes. i am planning on co-releasing a couple lp's in the near future but it is still up in the air for snip-snip-only releases. i think it will happen eventually, although it will take some time to get around to doing. vinyl sells well in the noise community and there is a pressing-plant here in columbus and both of those factors are real incentives in doing an lp. the cassette-culture in noise seems to be pretty strong and i might do some cassettes. basically the only thing stopping me now is the fact that my dubbing deck has broken and i need to get a new one.
ag - ha, that sounds like it would be a bit of problem.
i think that about does it for me. i just wanted to say thanks again for taking the time to talk to me, and i look forward to hearing more from you and your label!
dr - cool. you are welcome.