Saturday, October 06, 2007
id m theft able
dang, i've had this package from scott for awhile now. i've got a couple of cds from his maine-based mang-disc imprint. one of the things that i loved about this package was the little oddities that he sent like: a crumpled up paper towel with this written on it, "welcome to the real pity party... it's alisha's" in one corner, and down at the bottom, "welcome to my pity party... alisha wasn't invited". quirky, interesting and amusing. much like his music.
star guts
[2006, mang-disc]
for those of you who may not know anything about this project, let me say that it has nothing to do with the pretentiously named genre of idm. i just wanted to get that out of the way beforehand. id m theft able is the project of windham, maine's scott (skot) spear. based on the various websites that skot's (de)constructed, it's safe to say that he's one of the more colorful individuals in experimental music and it should come as no surprise that he's also collaborated with fellow atlantic northeasterner crank sturgeon.
variation is the key ingredient to star guts. there are ten tracks totaling fifty minutes and spear won't spend too much time within one particular sound. his bread and butter is vocal noise. i want to say it's similar to jaap blonk, but i've only heard a small bit of music from him, and that was a few years ago. i really enjoyed the presentation of said vocals, since they were used in differing manners, it made them a lot easier to enjoy. fifty minutes of someone making strange noises with their mouth holds about zero appeal for me, so that's good.
the cd starts off with star gusts, and it's one of the more uniquer of the vocal noise pieces. skot will weave together his random noises with a skipping cd, creating a very jerky sound. i like the frequent pauses in between the sounds. also, the fact that the vocals were in a complimentary vein as opposed to a quirky one; lots of hissing sounds like steam from a pipe. the following track, sun frictions, sees the mouth noise taking on a more maja ratkje-like approach. that is to say that it's random, strange, slightly silly and spastic. this is offset by a good deal of scratchy noises and racket.
you'll see is my favorite piece on the cd and it's also the most straight-forward, showing that he can still capture your attention even when he plays it a little closer to the vest. it's slower experimental noise, with wavering drones in the background, a louder repetitious mechanical noise up front, and some really great singing. i can't make out what he's singing, but it provides a beautiful human touch to an otherwise inorganic composition.
feminine hygiene isle rainbow goes back to the vocal noise, and that's just about the sole focus of it for its six minutes. he'll pretty much run the gamut of sounds you can make with your mouth. while normally, i'd view it as kind of ho-hum, there's a few great saving graces. skot will repeat something (it sounds like yeah over and over) and then he'll slam down a telephone receiver onto a rotary base creating that great ringing sound. it's completely out of left field, but genius.
while everything's been of a more experimental nature up to this point, it'll start to get noisier with hot star splayed and cooling. there's still some vocals, but they're a lot less spastic, and the semi-whispering of them gives cooling a great base. shortly into it, things will get really clamorous, i can't imagine what the fuck he's doing to make all that noise. it'll get even better once it starts to sound like we're in a torrential downpour of cutlery. wonderfully clangy.
id m theft able will revisit the skipping digital sounds for a w is just 2 v's to v w's with. no vocals during these five minutes as he goes back and forth between different sources and in and out of sound like a radio with shitty reception. it's a nice deviation. the track that follows, menstrual coax, what rainbow monthlies (pleasant), retains some elements from 2 v's but fattens it up with crackling static, frequency modulation and multiple layers of vocals.
star guts will end with the uncharacteristically musical moon pulls. this is not easy listening, by any stretch of the imagination, as theft able's albumlong fascination with clamorous noise is still evident, he just happens to be making that racket over the top of a hypnotic loop. added to that are more samples (sounds like they're from an old tv show) and a bit of formless singing. not as enchanting as it was in you'll see, but great (in a spacey way, true to its title) amidst everything else. strange piece of music. i loved the static build up at the end.
the main issue that i have with vocal noise is a lack of replayability. it sounds interesting, but after i hear it, i don't have a desire to listen to it again. rhy yau's an exception, but he mixes it with harsh noise. after hearing star guts, i'll add id m theft able to that short list. his combination of vocals with outstanding experimentation, diversity and noise was perfect. the noise, wasn't harsh, which i'd imagine would overshadow what he's trying to do, but can definitely get loud.
That Fence Behind the Windham Goodwill
id m theft able live in de living
star guts
[2006, mang-disc]
for those of you who may not know anything about this project, let me say that it has nothing to do with the pretentiously named genre of idm. i just wanted to get that out of the way beforehand. id m theft able is the project of windham, maine's scott (skot) spear. based on the various websites that skot's (de)constructed, it's safe to say that he's one of the more colorful individuals in experimental music and it should come as no surprise that he's also collaborated with fellow atlantic northeasterner crank sturgeon.
variation is the key ingredient to star guts. there are ten tracks totaling fifty minutes and spear won't spend too much time within one particular sound. his bread and butter is vocal noise. i want to say it's similar to jaap blonk, but i've only heard a small bit of music from him, and that was a few years ago. i really enjoyed the presentation of said vocals, since they were used in differing manners, it made them a lot easier to enjoy. fifty minutes of someone making strange noises with their mouth holds about zero appeal for me, so that's good.
the cd starts off with star gusts, and it's one of the more uniquer of the vocal noise pieces. skot will weave together his random noises with a skipping cd, creating a very jerky sound. i like the frequent pauses in between the sounds. also, the fact that the vocals were in a complimentary vein as opposed to a quirky one; lots of hissing sounds like steam from a pipe. the following track, sun frictions, sees the mouth noise taking on a more maja ratkje-like approach. that is to say that it's random, strange, slightly silly and spastic. this is offset by a good deal of scratchy noises and racket.
you'll see is my favorite piece on the cd and it's also the most straight-forward, showing that he can still capture your attention even when he plays it a little closer to the vest. it's slower experimental noise, with wavering drones in the background, a louder repetitious mechanical noise up front, and some really great singing. i can't make out what he's singing, but it provides a beautiful human touch to an otherwise inorganic composition.feminine hygiene isle rainbow goes back to the vocal noise, and that's just about the sole focus of it for its six minutes. he'll pretty much run the gamut of sounds you can make with your mouth. while normally, i'd view it as kind of ho-hum, there's a few great saving graces. skot will repeat something (it sounds like yeah over and over) and then he'll slam down a telephone receiver onto a rotary base creating that great ringing sound. it's completely out of left field, but genius.
while everything's been of a more experimental nature up to this point, it'll start to get noisier with hot star splayed and cooling. there's still some vocals, but they're a lot less spastic, and the semi-whispering of them gives cooling a great base. shortly into it, things will get really clamorous, i can't imagine what the fuck he's doing to make all that noise. it'll get even better once it starts to sound like we're in a torrential downpour of cutlery. wonderfully clangy.
id m theft able will revisit the skipping digital sounds for a w is just 2 v's to v w's with. no vocals during these five minutes as he goes back and forth between different sources and in and out of sound like a radio with shitty reception. it's a nice deviation. the track that follows, menstrual coax, what rainbow monthlies (pleasant), retains some elements from 2 v's but fattens it up with crackling static, frequency modulation and multiple layers of vocals.star guts will end with the uncharacteristically musical moon pulls. this is not easy listening, by any stretch of the imagination, as theft able's albumlong fascination with clamorous noise is still evident, he just happens to be making that racket over the top of a hypnotic loop. added to that are more samples (sounds like they're from an old tv show) and a bit of formless singing. not as enchanting as it was in you'll see, but great (in a spacey way, true to its title) amidst everything else. strange piece of music. i loved the static build up at the end.
the main issue that i have with vocal noise is a lack of replayability. it sounds interesting, but after i hear it, i don't have a desire to listen to it again. rhy yau's an exception, but he mixes it with harsh noise. after hearing star guts, i'll add id m theft able to that short list. his combination of vocals with outstanding experimentation, diversity and noise was perfect. the noise, wasn't harsh, which i'd imagine would overshadow what he's trying to do, but can definitely get loud.
That Fence Behind the Windham Goodwill
Friday, October 05, 2007
white heterosexuals
this is the first of two tapes sent to me by travis h. of portland's negation is freedom label.
maiming of the 72 virgins c23
[2007, negation is freedom / the terrorists win!]
ah, everyone's favorite majority: white heterosexuals. these caucasoids hail from portland, oregon, and there's three of them. the only person that i know for sure is in the group is dennis naslund. he of many a dennis naslund and the _________ projects. he also of the terrorists win! along with a few other non dl named things including: they found my naked corpse face down in the snow (tfmncfdits, for short), soliah shawcrass, crude drawings and ith/ist/ism. no clue who the other members are, but i have a feeling that one of them is travis.
checking out this group's myspace page, it was abundantly clear that they held older english noise and power electronics groups in high regard. let's see, there's ramleh, pure, sutcliffe jügend, grey wolves and even some italy love by way of mauthausen orchestra. despite the fondness for burgeoning pe acts, white heterosexuals won't just regurgitate the past.
there are quite a few different facets to modern power electronics. you've got guys like slogun and control who take the verbal hate approach, but offset that with harsh and dense noise. then there's projects like taint, survival unit, bloodyminded and green army fraction which work within the slower pace of pe but deal more in electronic (periodically rhythmic) texturing, for the most part, but both of those first two artists can get noisy. white heterosexuals are neither here, nor there, but somewhere in the middle.
the tape will begin with crazysexycoldclammy. i could make a lisa lopes reference, but that seems in poor taste. this one opts for the slow and deliberate approach and is repetitious to the point of being rhythmic, but also feels more like noise than say, bloodyminded's mothercare. the jügend-esque feedback in this one is killer. the other thing that i appreciate is the fact that the vocals are heavily manipulated and come across a lot better as an additional layer of sound than they would if they were simply an unaffected manifesto. that holds true for omnipresent white woman syndrome, which actually has some interesting lyrics, that you can find on their myspace. again, there's terrific use of feedback, like taint's hel-lo business card cd-r, held in check this time by undulating loops of sound and light static. it's white heterosexuals' avoidance of that digital synthesizer along with not feeling the need to bury everything under an onslaught of harsh noise that appeals to me, as well as nods to their european predecessors.
that strength sees the noise level drop, at least early on, as the vocal work assumes a more prominent role. i really like the revving / dropping synth sound. at about the midway point, the noise picks up; no feedback this time, but plenty of nice clamor to support the vocals and clash against the slowness of the main layer. the tape will close with rouse, which centers around a sputtering foundation and also has a number of digital manipulations added onto it. it's a bit different from the other tracks on the tape, and that works to its advantage. it is also the only time that you can clearly make out the vocals, as they're delivered rather plaintively. the only thing that i can hear perfectly is "you do know that you're better off waiting in the cold", so that's not too bad. i like it when that line is repeated, only in exclamation. it just sounds good.
i liked maiming of the 72 virgins quite a bit. thankfully, it's not stereotypical power electronics. the subject matter, while aggressive in nature, is more sophisticated than your average tough guy reproaches and is also masked, making it sound even more interesting. i'm also a fan of the packaging done by these guys, it looks really sharp. limited to one hundred copies.
Omnipresent White Woman Syndrome
white heterosexuals @ the porrhouse; portland, oregon 7/20/07
maiming of the 72 virgins c23
[2007, negation is freedom / the terrorists win!]
ah, everyone's favorite majority: white heterosexuals. these caucasoids hail from portland, oregon, and there's three of them. the only person that i know for sure is in the group is dennis naslund. he of many a dennis naslund and the _________ projects. he also of the terrorists win! along with a few other non dl named things including: they found my naked corpse face down in the snow (tfmncfdits, for short), soliah shawcrass, crude drawings and ith/ist/ism. no clue who the other members are, but i have a feeling that one of them is travis.
checking out this group's myspace page, it was abundantly clear that they held older english noise and power electronics groups in high regard. let's see, there's ramleh, pure, sutcliffe jügend, grey wolves and even some italy love by way of mauthausen orchestra. despite the fondness for burgeoning pe acts, white heterosexuals won't just regurgitate the past.there are quite a few different facets to modern power electronics. you've got guys like slogun and control who take the verbal hate approach, but offset that with harsh and dense noise. then there's projects like taint, survival unit, bloodyminded and green army fraction which work within the slower pace of pe but deal more in electronic (periodically rhythmic) texturing, for the most part, but both of those first two artists can get noisy. white heterosexuals are neither here, nor there, but somewhere in the middle.
the tape will begin with crazysexycoldclammy. i could make a lisa lopes reference, but that seems in poor taste. this one opts for the slow and deliberate approach and is repetitious to the point of being rhythmic, but also feels more like noise than say, bloodyminded's mothercare. the jügend-esque feedback in this one is killer. the other thing that i appreciate is the fact that the vocals are heavily manipulated and come across a lot better as an additional layer of sound than they would if they were simply an unaffected manifesto. that holds true for omnipresent white woman syndrome, which actually has some interesting lyrics, that you can find on their myspace. again, there's terrific use of feedback, like taint's hel-lo business card cd-r, held in check this time by undulating loops of sound and light static. it's white heterosexuals' avoidance of that digital synthesizer along with not feeling the need to bury everything under an onslaught of harsh noise that appeals to me, as well as nods to their european predecessors.
that strength sees the noise level drop, at least early on, as the vocal work assumes a more prominent role. i really like the revving / dropping synth sound. at about the midway point, the noise picks up; no feedback this time, but plenty of nice clamor to support the vocals and clash against the slowness of the main layer. the tape will close with rouse, which centers around a sputtering foundation and also has a number of digital manipulations added onto it. it's a bit different from the other tracks on the tape, and that works to its advantage. it is also the only time that you can clearly make out the vocals, as they're delivered rather plaintively. the only thing that i can hear perfectly is "you do know that you're better off waiting in the cold", so that's not too bad. i like it when that line is repeated, only in exclamation. it just sounds good.i liked maiming of the 72 virgins quite a bit. thankfully, it's not stereotypical power electronics. the subject matter, while aggressive in nature, is more sophisticated than your average tough guy reproaches and is also masked, making it sound even more interesting. i'm also a fan of the packaging done by these guys, it looks really sharp. limited to one hundred copies.
Omnipresent White Woman Syndrome
Thursday, October 04, 2007
rk faulhaber
bathyscaphe and other electronic works c20
[2007, psychform]
i don't know anything about richard karl faulhaber. for some reason neither his myspace account, nor his website at holoscene sound are working at the moment. lovely timing. it appears that he's loosely connected with both irr. app. (ext.) and nurse with wound, and may reside in southern california.
if minimal music is played in a room where no one's paying any attention, does it make a sound? to its credit, bathyscaphe isn't so easy to dismiss. the main reasons for that are the closing parts of each of its three tracks, as the amplitude will raise to silence shattering degree. perhaps a fuck you to background music enthusiasts. after eight and a half minutes of pleasant, faint electronic swirls, bathyscaphe (aphotic and benthic zones) will muster up a wee bit of noise, including three seconds that would have you reaching for the volume knob... if it weren't so brief. as it stands, it comes across more as a slight nuisance (in conjunction with the rest of the track's ambient electronics). ln=2:48 is, as a whole, more involved. it will begin with growling and crunching sounds which give off a pretty sinister vibe. the second half won't play up to that at all, and focuses on a slightly dense noise which will get softer and softer and softer as it goes, until you can't hear anything anymore. shortly thereafter, a new layer of sound will come in, this time it will gradually build up and promptly cut off before getting too loud. three asymptotes is the most minimal work of the three. again, slow and quiet to loud(er) is the formula.
out of the three tracks, side a's bathyscaphe was the one that i found the most interesting. while it was sparse, the layers that were audible, i felt were enjoyable. the others didn't really do much to make an indelible impression. i was also a little bummed out by the soft to loud dynamic in each piece. while that template is pretty much the post-rock holy standard, i just didn't feel a "payoff" with its incorporation here.
it might help if i could compare this to either nurse with wound or irr. app. (ext.)'s work, but i don't listen to either. if you like ambient (as in background) music that's not afraid to break its own protocol on occasion, you might be interested in this.
Ln=2:48
[2007, psychform]
i don't know anything about richard karl faulhaber. for some reason neither his myspace account, nor his website at holoscene sound are working at the moment. lovely timing. it appears that he's loosely connected with both irr. app. (ext.) and nurse with wound, and may reside in southern california.
if minimal music is played in a room where no one's paying any attention, does it make a sound? to its credit, bathyscaphe isn't so easy to dismiss. the main reasons for that are the closing parts of each of its three tracks, as the amplitude will raise to silence shattering degree. perhaps a fuck you to background music enthusiasts. after eight and a half minutes of pleasant, faint electronic swirls, bathyscaphe (aphotic and benthic zones) will muster up a wee bit of noise, including three seconds that would have you reaching for the volume knob... if it weren't so brief. as it stands, it comes across more as a slight nuisance (in conjunction with the rest of the track's ambient electronics). ln=2:48 is, as a whole, more involved. it will begin with growling and crunching sounds which give off a pretty sinister vibe. the second half won't play up to that at all, and focuses on a slightly dense noise which will get softer and softer and softer as it goes, until you can't hear anything anymore. shortly thereafter, a new layer of sound will come in, this time it will gradually build up and promptly cut off before getting too loud. three asymptotes is the most minimal work of the three. again, slow and quiet to loud(er) is the formula.
out of the three tracks, side a's bathyscaphe was the one that i found the most interesting. while it was sparse, the layers that were audible, i felt were enjoyable. the others didn't really do much to make an indelible impression. i was also a little bummed out by the soft to loud dynamic in each piece. while that template is pretty much the post-rock holy standard, i just didn't feel a "payoff" with its incorporation here.it might help if i could compare this to either nurse with wound or irr. app. (ext.)'s work, but i don't listen to either. if you like ambient (as in background) music that's not afraid to break its own protocol on occasion, you might be interested in this.
Ln=2:48
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
jon borges
goodbye, take me with you c15
[2006, monorail trespassing]
the first thing that i noticed about this cassette was how closely the cover art resembled caen's. whereas the blue and white hues of surroundings projected an image of tranquility, borges' cover features a blood red sky. this is decidedly more foreboding, at least as far as visual imagery is concerned. it also creates a stark contrast from the title of these recordings.
with two clear avenues that he could (logically) go down, he'll choose the more forlorn path. his frequent deviations throughout this fifteen minute tape will make the journey far less of an expected one. goodbye will begin with a sputtery synth foundation (and what sounds like cricket chirps, but aren't), switch into a not so sputtery one, and then the lush keywork provided by gordon wilson ashworth's fender rhodes electric piano makes its entry. i enjoy how the prettier piano music perched atop of the emotionless droning background. things will change again, three minutes into the tape, and actually, there are several points during this where it will feel like we're listening to more than one track, within each individual one. this next segment will start off with warmer atmospheric sounds (which will transition into more despairing ones), vocal field recordings and sparse noises (completely innocuous). from there it will revisit analog synth buzz, but also throws in some brief guitar, before killing both off in favor of more pleasant piano playing. one of the most interesting things that i'm finding throughout goodbye, is how quick jon is to abandon certain elements before they can become fully formed focal points. they stick around just long enough for you to develop an appreciation for them, before they dissipate as other sounds pop up in their place.
take me with you starts off with a great loop of haunting music (reminds me a bit of warmth's she went. speaking of which, expect a warmth cassette on monorail trespassing by winter). true to form, that won't last for long once it's joined by field recordings of a motorcycle. taking its place will be a much more ambient drone. this will all seamlessly transition into this tape's noisier moment, as there's a nice static treatment in addition to a bunch of different layers that all start to swell up, but promptly dip as soon as it sounds too threatening. once the commotion has passed, it's back to faint vocal field recordings along with isolating synth music
, a more rigid layer of background sound and light noise (sort of like affected clicks and taps; real minor and complimentary). much like its predecessor, take me with you will close out with a few minutes of unadulterated melancholic music.
one of the things that i loved about the caen tape was its simplicity. conversely, it's the complexity and dynamism of goodbye, take me with you which i find myself drawn to. for being of a more serene nature, borges wasn't content on sticking with one or two ideas. the navigation through different moods, within the same piece of music, was harmonious, despite the prevalence of elements coming and going. it seemed very organic; in lesser hands, the flow of the music would've been compromised by the abundance of ideas. i also loved the collaboration between gordon and jon on side a (ashworth's sole contribution). i have little doubt that they could create an exceptional project if they both focused on this kind of material. beautiful.
Take Me With You
[2006, monorail trespassing]
the first thing that i noticed about this cassette was how closely the cover art resembled caen's. whereas the blue and white hues of surroundings projected an image of tranquility, borges' cover features a blood red sky. this is decidedly more foreboding, at least as far as visual imagery is concerned. it also creates a stark contrast from the title of these recordings.
with two clear avenues that he could (logically) go down, he'll choose the more forlorn path. his frequent deviations throughout this fifteen minute tape will make the journey far less of an expected one. goodbye will begin with a sputtery synth foundation (and what sounds like cricket chirps, but aren't), switch into a not so sputtery one, and then the lush keywork provided by gordon wilson ashworth's fender rhodes electric piano makes its entry. i enjoy how the prettier piano music perched atop of the emotionless droning background. things will change again, three minutes into the tape, and actually, there are several points during this where it will feel like we're listening to more than one track, within each individual one. this next segment will start off with warmer atmospheric sounds (which will transition into more despairing ones), vocal field recordings and sparse noises (completely innocuous). from there it will revisit analog synth buzz, but also throws in some brief guitar, before killing both off in favor of more pleasant piano playing. one of the most interesting things that i'm finding throughout goodbye, is how quick jon is to abandon certain elements before they can become fully formed focal points. they stick around just long enough for you to develop an appreciation for them, before they dissipate as other sounds pop up in their place.
take me with you starts off with a great loop of haunting music (reminds me a bit of warmth's she went. speaking of which, expect a warmth cassette on monorail trespassing by winter). true to form, that won't last for long once it's joined by field recordings of a motorcycle. taking its place will be a much more ambient drone. this will all seamlessly transition into this tape's noisier moment, as there's a nice static treatment in addition to a bunch of different layers that all start to swell up, but promptly dip as soon as it sounds too threatening. once the commotion has passed, it's back to faint vocal field recordings along with isolating synth music
, a more rigid layer of background sound and light noise (sort of like affected clicks and taps; real minor and complimentary). much like its predecessor, take me with you will close out with a few minutes of unadulterated melancholic music.one of the things that i loved about the caen tape was its simplicity. conversely, it's the complexity and dynamism of goodbye, take me with you which i find myself drawn to. for being of a more serene nature, borges wasn't content on sticking with one or two ideas. the navigation through different moods, within the same piece of music, was harmonious, despite the prevalence of elements coming and going. it seemed very organic; in lesser hands, the flow of the music would've been compromised by the abundance of ideas. i also loved the collaboration between gordon and jon on side a (ashworth's sole contribution). i have little doubt that they could create an exceptional project if they both focused on this kind of material. beautiful.
Take Me With You