the absolute tradition of no traditions
[2007, psychform]

this is the third solo disc from manteca, california's staiano, who was once a member of sleepytime gorilla museum. i've seen moe live twice, when i was living in sacramento, and i also bought his 1997 disc, the non-study of first impressions. while i liked that album, i was a bigger fan of his live performances, at that point. non-study was a combination of avant-garde instrumentation, jazz and junk percussion (rounded out by a few guest musicians), but it struck me as more of a novel thing. it was interesting to hear it all; the way that he utilized certain objects and such, but after i heard it i never really had the urge to throw it on again.flash forward to ten years later (well, for him; more like a year and a half for me) and it's a whole different story. for one thing, it's a great deal subtler. no overdubs plus no extraneous musicians makes for a more stripped down and focused album. he was gentle, even to small rocks builds off of a repetitious phased rhythm with sporadic chiming percussion and will eventually add various free form drum hits towards the end. opener a certain subtlety ranks among my favorites on no traditions. as the title indicates, this is an exercise in restraint, until it gets near the end. scattered throughout the track are a variety of tinkling metal and concrete noises but the real masterstroke comes by way of a high pitched resonance from what sounds like a tuning fork. i'm really captivated by its drone amidst the other random sounds.

the inclusion of electronics on a couple of the tracks is a welcomed one. the brief bit of jarring static on subtlety being a good example. the best usage is on the following piece, ode to ubu-o. this is easily the most straight-forward piece of music on the cd, but it won't suffer because of it. the sum of it is moe rocking out behind the drum kit (yes, rhythmically), but it wouldn't be nearly as interesting if it weren't for the terrific electronic loop. motor-form play is practically all electronic, but probably not in the way that you're thinking. after opening up the first minute or so with a percussive array we're eased into a wind-up alarm bell, then some buzzing and now it sounds like staiano's doing his ol' vibrators in the cymbals trick. it's very clever.
i'm thankful for the fact that he'll also use the drums in a traditional manner (which he didn't do on non-study), along with more experimental ones. the excellent rhythmic metallic percussion on forfeit breathing is wonderfully aided by the occasional kick drum and crashing cymbal. as for the non-traditional means, well, you can bow the rim of a drum, the cover has a picture of moe bowing a cutout section of a drum, but on three legs he'll use the rubber stoppers on the legs of a drum by creating friction with the floor in order to produce a lovely feedback-like screechy howl. while i'm sure that i could play different instruments in a variety of unconventional ways, they would all sound like crap. moe doesn't seem to have that problem as his ingenuity (in tandem with execution) is really his calling card.

WWLHD?

moe!kestra: the death of a piano

the facts c30
[2007, dreamtime taped sounds]

while i doubt that the name of new zealand's pat kraus will instantly ring many bells, i'm sure that a couple of you have heard or at least heard of futurians, a band that pat drums for. perhaps a bit more obscurely (to those outside of nz) were the aesthetics, for which he did the same.before i listened to this tape, i went to discogs to see if maybe someone had posted the track titles (because i can't decipher most of them), and while that didn't turn out to be fruitful, something else caught my eye: the notes, which seem like the label's description. "a 30 minutes book on tape, explaining the link between atlantis and u.f.o.'s.". i also wasn't assuaged by the fact that one of the genres listed was non-music and the style, book on tape. suffice to say, i didn't know what the fuck this was going to sound like, maybe that was the point? if so, congrats on a job well done.

i can cheerily report that the books on tape / whole non-music thing, just a goof. this tape, however, is not. the facts is a very impressive, slightly schizophrenic (okay, maybe more than slightly), trippy journey. contrary to kraus' propensity for noise rock in a band setting, this particular solo affair balances out catchy guitar and synth-driven instrumental songs with spacier electronic ones. huh, maybe the discogs notes weren't so far off base then?

kraus starts off strongly on the a side with dual memorable layers of guitar. i like the balance of one being tinny sounding while the other is fuzzed out and more assertive. on the heels of a downtempo segue comes the killer sebastian. it's lead by an outstanding main organ synth. the percussion does a great job of enhancing the already wonderful music. the track's breakdown, when the synth is swapped out for some rad guitar playing is another highlight. real nice. after two of the more conventional songs on the cassette, pat will start to get into the spacey electronic work. for me, these pieces come across as interlude-like diversions. most of them are warm, have an extra-terrestrial feel, are repetitious, but they can't quite get of the shadow which is the actual songs. due to that reason, it's hard to think of them as anything other than transitory. that's not a bad thing, they just don't leave a lasting impression on me. after that, it's back to the tunes. i love the bassy throbs. for some reason this makes me think of a 60s spy film that takes place during a beach party in california. beautiful. the real winner on this one, though, is the back and forth trade-off between a ? and the mysterions-esque synthesizer sound and guitar jamming plus clanging cymbals. the drastic shifts in sound, all while retaining that central rhythm, is remarkable. the side ends with a more somber keyboard-led instrumental.
the second side is the more electronically-inclined of the two. interestingly enough, the second piece has a dolphins into the future feel to it. next, kraus revisits his sunny, 1960s place. the draw here is the scaling guitar chords in tandem with the successive snare hits. the track that follows is my favorite of the electronic pieces. there's not very much going on; it centers around two looped pulsing tones, but what makes it interesting are the brief, but frequently recurring, drones which waft about the coldness.

good news for you kiwis, kraus will gladly hook you up with anything he has for free. you lucky devils. for everyone else, if you want more kraus, but are too cheap to buy anything, he has quite a few full song downloads available on his website. also worth checking out while over there are his interviews that he conducted with himself. well, not quite with himself, he just used other people's interviews, and responded for the artist. i found it pretty amusing.

Sebastian

höyryveturi
[2007, cut hands]

cahier is marko neuman, from tampere, finland.

what strikes me first about this disc is how textured the music is. marko certainly has layering down, but it's his (occasionally) conflicting overdubs which most strongly appeal to me. höyryveturi's diverse range of sounds is also a nice selling point.

the beginning track hulissihaari wastes little time before encircling you with terrific loops of drone and static swells. i'm really into how the noisier elements create a flurry around the hypnotic loops. työntötanho seemingly retains the actual noise from the opening track, but leaves out the distortion. here's a great example of cahier's juxtaposing as the additional layers are pleasant (though not necessarily warm) electronic loops. it's a shame that this one's only a touch over two minutes long. niveltuhi is a beautiful minute and a half of stringed instrumentation. deep down i want to say that it's a harp of some nature, but i really don't have a clue. the main repetitious sound on its own is great, but there are also two auxiliary layers of the same instrument being panned in the left and right channels. the one in the left is a bit more serene, while the right channel is just solitary string plucks and all of the layers compliment each other perfectly. two tracks later, marko will reprise the sounds from niveltuhi for the much longer (seven minutes) vastahampi. in its resurrected state it'll find itself amidst pervasive distortion and white noise. once past the halfway point, it seems like the dissonant elements are threatening to take over, but then they just drop off, allowing the beautiful acoustic layers to carry the weight. it seems like there's also a guitar joining the fold, this time, which is audible up until the harp-like music gets amplified, nearly drowning out the accompanying layers. silinterihappale is the stark oddity of höyryveturi. for one, there's drums. for two, they're rather thrashy drums; multiple layers of distorted and otherwise manipulated percussion. thankfully, i suppose, there's also an attention-shifting drone which will pop up in the right channel later on. interesting, but i think i like it, too. much like its brethren interlude työntötanho, työsilinteri will mesh the noisy with the non. this time out the non is a much warmer layer being played backwards. it's a nice piece of music which fittingly sends the album off.
the only other thing that i should let you know about höyryveturi is that it's pretty brief, clocking in at only twenty-five minutes. obviously, i could've stood to hear more of this, but i think the length is ideal. this is experimental music, but it's best to remember that it is actually music and neuman won't rely on extended drones or unfocused meandering. yeah, i am a fan of both, but i like cahier's focus here.

Hulissihaari