Darwinsbitch - Ore
(Digitalis Industries ACE016)
CD
Behind the immaculately named Darwinsbitch is one Marielle Jakobsons who, on this, her debut solo seedee, has assembled a many layered monolith of sound.
Taking elements of drone, folk music and melancholic sacramental music, jakobson (who is also part of the duos Date Palms and Myrmyr) has focused them into a most intriguing whole. There is a deceptive ease to the music. It's far too easy to slip comfortably inside the ambience and miss the sheer quality of the music. Her instrumentation is dense yet unobtrusive and drenched in the white heat of her drones.
Ore is a beautiful piece of folk music that is equal part utterly familiar, utterly alien and utterly compelling.
Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words - A Line: Align
(Mystery Sea MS42)
CDR
Swedish musician Thomas Ekelund is the man behind the enigmatic nom-de-plume and here produces a set of fragile and absorbing recordings. Indeed, so fragile that often other unavoidable ambient noises (passing cars, local wildlife looking for a shag, an unexpected sneezing fit) can completely overwhelm and destroy the ambience that he is working to create. As the album progresses Ekelund takes a more muscular approach allowing his drones to build until they begin to dominate the aural landscape rather than being subservient to it before once again retreating into it's more introspective ambient form. I have to admit to a slight frustration with very quiet and sparse music simply because my lifestyle precludes the option of wearing headphones and so much of the time the music I am listening to has to compete with the myriad distractions of everyday life. For music as delicate as this it is a daunting task and one that it often doesn't achieve. Having said that however one should note that on the times where the distractions are few and the music is able to breath and expand to fill the space then it succeeds admirably.
Death Qunt - Now 69 / Shit In Your Bed
(Big Filthy Records)
CDR
Ok, just so you know, the following review is split into two distinct parts. The first part is a minor rant about that awful name they've saddled themselves with whilst the second part is a major rant about just how good this album is. Okay? Got that? Right, here we go.
Death Qunt??? Death.......Qunt......? What can the thought process behind a name that bad be. Funny? Well no it's not, obviously. Or, is it for controversy? Well, the only people who could possibly be offended are your average Daily Mail readers and they're never going to hear it. It's the type of name 13 year olds with mullets, spectacles and mascara call their first death metal band. They even carry this over into their individual names which I really cannot be bothered to type out.
Then, there's the music, and what glorious music it is! Think Naked City, think the jazzier end of Zappa, think The Residents, think about getting a copy. DQ (I'm not typing it again) are a three piece (saxophone, drums and guitar) of ex-music students based in Leeds, UK. They produce a deeply (and unconventionally) groovy jazz skronk that's as addictive as sin. Like the above list DQ mix elements from a variety of genres, fusing metal, lounge, noise and jazz with a healthy avant-garde sensibility to produce music that sends shivers to the tips of your toes. They're at their best on the longer tracks (Voodoo Fire & Slam the Ham) when they can get a real hold on the piece, fire off each other and head into outer space but be aware that the quality of songwriting and musicianship never, and I really do mean never, drops from tracks one to eleven. As is often the case with small releases 'Now 69' was recorded at different times and by different people so the production values dip and dive a little through the album but that's a petty quibble about what is easily one of the best albums I've heard this year.
Dead Wood - Harmonic Sector 1-10
(Dead Sea Liner 18)
CDR
The understated and slightly clumsy fractal-esque cover art tells a subtle truth about this album from Dead Wood (Adam Baker) as it gives a first glimpse into the retro-primitive electronic soundworlds produced by this artist. Composed from a cavalcade of tones and drones Baker avoids the pitfall of cold electric paralysis that often accompanies releases of this sort by keeping his sounds in constant motion. They tumble over each other, albeit at a very leisurely pace, and tracks are developed with a keen ear for structure. What is missing for me however, and this I find is often the case with music that pursues this entirely electronic avenue, is any sort of emotional attachment to the sounds. I can appreciate the skill involved in their generation and in their construction and it makes for excellent background ambient music but in true listening terms it is lacking that indefinable something that grabs your attention and holds you rapt for the duration.
The Declining Winter - Goodbye Minnesota
(Rusted Rail RRI4)
CD
Mellow post-rock with added singing from this UK one man band (Richard Vincent Adams) that's very nicely packaged and with some really quite beautiful melodies floating around. I'm less taken with the vocals though which are generally flat and lifeless and ranged from being mildly irritating to downright annoying depending on my mood. The music though is where the appeal lies and Adams writes a nice tune although the lack of dynamism on display means Goodbye Minnesota is a slightly one dimensional listen but one that was enjoyed with reservations.
Deep & June Paik - I Mog Deep (deepinjune - the abraxus tapes)
(Verato Project)
3" CDR
Tiny little cd documenting a live collaboration between these two German (I think) ensembles both of with are new to me. It's a set of Sunno)) style deep and dark drones but without the American's intensity (and stupid robes, fortunately). I like this very much. For the majority of it's 16 minute runtime it's so slow as to be practically comatose and when it does wake up it does so with a blearily weary inevitability that perfectly suits what has gone before.
Well worth tracking down.
Mathias Delplanque - L'inondation
(Mystery Sea MS45)
CDR
If my reading of the press statement is correct then at least the bare bones (if not the entirety) of this remarkable album consists of a recording (or recordings) made from sounds filtering up from the lower floors of Delplanque's apartment building. L'inondation consists of all those sounds that are so exotic and disturbing in a 'silent' house - drips, hisses, clangs & taps. Sounds that are both amorphous and mundane. For Delplanque they are the building blocks from which he creates his soundworld. As you'd expect from that premise there isn't huge scope of material to be had but those sounds that are available are used to their utmost and to spellbinding effect.
Dinosaur Jr - Farm
(Jagjaguwar JAG150)
CD
When Dinosaur reformed the other year it wouldn't be fair to say I didn't care, their music gave me too much joy through the 90's for me to be so shallow, but by that time my musical tastes had wandered far from the particular path they tread. I didn't begrudge them another go either. None of them particularly seem the types to go after a quick profit so they obviously felt they had something valid to say. Good luck to them I thought and then cheerfully ignored them.
It's a couple of years later and everywhere I look I'm seeing not just good reviews for this second post reformation album but absolutely glowing reviews. It's summer, I'm all rocked up as Sonic Youth have just put out their best album in an awful long time and so it's time to revisit an old friend.
So, the question is, are those glowing reviews overstating things, can this new album really be as good as Bug as they all seem to boldly claim. Yeah. It is. It's superb! An absolutely mind-blowing set of Live Rust era Neil Young style jams that manage to be both madly psychedelic and grimily earthy. There are moments of heartfelt poignancy (Said The People) and others of wild eyed pop fire (Over It) and linking them all is some of the best songwriting it's been my pleasure to hear in a long time.
Album of the year? Possibly.
Album of the summer? Definitely!
Dissecting Table - Why
(Verato Project)
3” CDR
Teeny weeny cd of utter raucousness. All tracks date back to between 1995 and 1998 and Ichiro Tsuji’s bronchitis vocals are very much of their time. This harks from when the UK crust scene of Napalm Death and Extreme Noise Terror, et al started to morph into the industrial noise scene of more recent years. The speed, aggression and grind are there but it’s tightly controlled and played with mechanical precision.
It’s been a long time since I’ve listened to anything that sounds even remotely like this and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Dissecting Table - No Longer Human
(Suggestion Records, Verato Project sug022)
CDR
The eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed a large number of Verato Project CDs featured in WWR over the last 3 months. I have no information on this project other than it's an off-shoot of Suggestion Records and is mostly concerned with the noisier end of this beautiful thing called noise. The huge box of seedees they gifted to me came with no info at all on any of the featured musicians so I'm pretty much at a loss as to who most of these cats are. So, I'm writing blind here, diving into each album with no preconceptions which has to be good.
First impression of Dissecting Table is favourable. Opening track, 'No Longer Human' is a slow moving guttural rumble which sounds a little like a lawnmower. I like it but it does make me feel guilty about not being out working on the garden on this mild summer evening. Track 2 is an eardrum clearing total noise assault of piercing screes of noise and relentless panned shouting. Track 3 (Devadatta) continues the assault by combining swooping mid and high range frequencies with lower range pulsations that alternates between slowly deteriorating into a violent cataclysm of gritty noise and reassembling itself into psychedelic swoops.
Final track, 'Thrasymachos', is a relief after the all out attack of the previous two tracks and is probably my high point of the album. It's staccato 'melodic' rhythms are littered with shards of noise and disembodied bleeping and the whole thing seems the most deliberate and thought through of all the tracks.
As seems to be the case with most of these Verato releases this one is a thoroughly entertaining listen but is lacking that little bit of individuality that would bring me back for more.
d.n.s. - dunes
(Perineum Productions #16)
CD-R
Arma, the person behind Perineum Productions, has a nice touch when it comes to packaging. Almost all the releases I have from his label are in hand made slipcases. Nothing flashy, just simple and very nicely put together. Of the four that I have this one is my favourite. Folded card wrapped in brushed leather. It's the most tactile sleeve I've ever recieved. I just don't want to put it down. With this in mind please realise that d.n.s. now have a job on their hands to be as good as the sleeve their seedee comes wrapped in and for a large portion of the album they manage just fine. A low, slow, hissing start gives way to a low, slowish, hissing, rhythmic middle which subsequently explodes into shards of electrifying noise. They lose me at around the 40 minute mark when things get drowned by, what sounds like, backtracked voice samples. A disappointing end to a good album.
Eric Dolphy - Eric Dolphy at the Five Spot, Vol. 1 & 2
(Original Jazz Classics)
2 CDs
I claim no expertise in the world of Jazz (or anything else for that matter). I do, however, know what I like and one of the things I like most is listening to Eric Dolphy wail. I'm absolutely besotted with this guys playing, particularly his flute. Throughout this two (seperate) CD live session he's on fine form and alternates between alto saxophone, bass clarinet and flute. He's joined by a soaring Booker Little on trumpet who locks seemlessly with Dolphy right from the off trading the call and response theme of opener 'Fire Waltz'. Behind the two soloists is a rock solid and quietly inventive rhythm section of Richard Davies (bass) and Ed Blackwell (drums) who, alongside Mal Waldron's piano (who i do find to be a little heavy handed), create a vivid canvas upon which the horns can work. The great tradegy of this release however lies not in the music you hear, which is exemplary, but in the music you never will hear as a few weeks after recording these shows Booker Little was to die with Dolphy going a mere three years later. What could have been we'll never know, what was is a worthy legacy.
Doses - Doses
(Summersteps Records Handmade SUM-HM 007)
CDR
I'm in the mood for some punk rock! 3 chord, primitive, sneery, punk rock. I'm working on the new issue of WWR though so I've gotta take what's next on the pile (it's a rule I've made myself). So, Doses it is then. There's one chord...there's a second....there's the first again....and the second. I'm starting to think the universe is smiling at me. The first chord makes a third appearance before the drums start up followed by the rest of the band. It's a pretty trashy affair. Not particularly the punk I had in mind but close enough. Track two pulls off a pretty solid imitation of The Fall which sets the theme for most of the remaining 4 tracks. I think it's fair to say that this isn't the most original music I've ever heard but then again that's not always what I'm craving. Sometimes I just want to be entertained and right now I most certainly am. I was in the mood for some punk rock and I definitely, and surprisingly, got it.
Droughter - Obscure Uniforms For Mammals
(Heretic Records HC07)
CDR
Packaged to look like a 7 inch single Droughter's release on Heretic Records fires abrasive shards of sandpaper noise into the ether. Unlike many of it's contemporaries Droughter's take on the genre is positively sedate choosing careful construction and slow development over balls out attack. This is both the albums most intriguing factor and it's prime drawback. Simultaneously giving the album a platform upon which it can take it's time and build it's monoliths of sound whilst losing the sheer visceral pleasure that comes with some of the best noise albums. Some tired and clichéd rrrrrrooooooaaaaarrrrrrrr style vocals only add to the disappointment before the album is once more enlivened by some interesting sonic architecture on the final track. I have to say that on the whole this is a release for the most ardent of noise fans only as it shows an interesting and valid new take on the genre but unfortunately, for me, these are too few and far between and I'm afraid it mostly just felt a little hackneyed.
Earzumba - Bestial Infernal
(Dialsinfin 003)
CD
I'm a complete novice to the whole plunderphonic or sampladelia genre, my one and only encounter was with a sole People Like Us album. So, fresh ears and an open mind leads me to Earzumba. Bowie, Elvis, harsh noise, voice samples, pounding beats and a hell of a lot more besides all meet in a riot of overt editing prowess. It's enjoyable enough but ultimately it just passes me by and leaves me feeling slightly uninspired. Until, that is, track 13 (El Mundo Como Estrella Muerta) arrives. A 30 minute throbbing, iridescent, fluctuating live drone recorded for Radio Bremen showcases another side to Earzumba and it's a side that desperately needs to be explored further.
Ecoute La Merde & Some Asian Female Bodybuilders - Kanda Tomoko
(Verato Project)
CDR
There's very little info accompanying this cd apart from the names and contact addresses of those involved so i don't know if this is a split album or if it's a collaboration.
Knowing SAFB's predilection for sinewaves however I'm going to assume that tracks 2 to 10 are him and that the long opening track is ELM.
I've been falling out of love with ELM's sort of muscular noise music - all shrieking swoops and grinding tectonic rumbles - but occasionally a day comes along that just needs to be soundtracked with music that sounds like God's diarrhoea. Today the sun is shining on a beautiful spring day. There are children playing in the street and outside my window there a birds singing in the tree. At least I'm assuming they are because all I can hear is EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHZKZKZKZKZKZKCKCKCKCKCKCKCK RRRRRRRRRRPRRRRRR RRRRRRPRRRRRRRRRRRRRPRRRRRRRRRR.
SAFB are that more sedate affair here his slow, overlapping wave forms are a nice counterpoint to ELM's mania. I really like the ideas and the execution behind SAFB's music but my one complaint is that I do find his total reliance on electronic soundsources a little cold but you have to admire the way he embraces his muse and the skill with which he constructs his music.
Two contrasting styles making one good album.
James Edmonds - October
(wflctn005)
CDR
7 track album of glitch and loop based ambience bestowed with a dynamic that allows the inherent rhythms of individual sounds to propel the tracks along avenues of their own making. There is a warm and earthy quality that gives the album a worn-in feel allowing the listener to wrap themselves in the sounds and be swaddled in their embrace.
Swirly, compulsive, absorbing and recommended.
James Edmonds - Wood and Concrete
(Heretic Records HC08)
CDR
This is my second exposure to Edmonds' music, the first time on the very mellow and swirly October sometime last year. This time out on Italian label Heretic Records Edmonds has assembled a sumptuous array of warm and introspective loop based compositions. His palette is a rich, inviting melange of colour and texture used to great effect to create a series of immersive soundworlds that I cannot recommend highly enough.
Einsturzende Neubauten - Liebeslieder
(K7)
DVD
Originally commissioned, by the WDR architecture department no less, in 1993 this is an in-depth look into the formative years of one of the most unique bands on the planet. Did you notice that word back there, formative, you see that's where the problem lies for me. With the exception of the wonderful 'Patient OT' I find a lot of the early stuff unlistenable. Great ideas, great noises, great lyrics, great visuals, abound but, put it together and it all sounds like shit to me. Where this disc comes good is with the live tracks from the 1993 tour which is right at the point where I started paying attention. Most tracks featured in the documentary are paired up with film of earlier versions of the same song but it's the versions of 'DNS-Wasserturn' and 'Salamandrina' that steal the disc certainly taking honours over the, frankly, cringeworthy Twin-Peaks inspired video for 'Blume'. The documentary is a series of talking heads (mostly belonging to the band) and some trips around old haunts and friends. You never really get a feel for the group though, it all feels like it was done at a very reverential arms-length. You never fully get to appreciate them and the space they inhabit within the world. Their motivations, aspirations, inspirations and even their innovations get lost in the mix. The only times I can truly say it engaged my full attention was during the aforementioned live footage, the rest just got tuned out after a while. For fans of the early years only I think otherwise interesting but not essential.
Einsturzende Neubauten - Alles Wieder Offen
(Potomak)
CD
After 20 odd years on the cutting edge of musical experimentation it seems EN are as hungry and as innovative as ever they were. A string of experimental subscriber only releases (the Musterhaus series) has seen the band exploring the outer reaches of musicality before feeding some of the results back into this the latest of their commercially available albums.
Alles Wieder Offen (All Open Again) continues very much in the style of Perpetuum Mobile, Ende Neu and Silence is Sexy in that it sees EN once more exploring a sophisticated and deeply intimate song style that has them melding the 'orthodox' with the 'Einsturzende Neubauten'. Recent years have seen EN mature into a band whose scope, vision and oeuvre is unmatched in modern music. On Alles Wieder Offen they have simultaneously retained the angular dissonance upon which they made their name whilst embracing a song-craft that also values enchanting rolling melodies, chiming instrumentation, immaculately positioned guitars, hypnotic rhythms, vocal lines that are often almost nursery rhyme like in their deceptive simplicity and a dynamism that can leave the listener battered and breathless.
Elapse-O - Elapse-O
(Records On Ribs)
CDR & Download
Oxford two-piece who produce a shimmery and bludgeoning shoegaze haze very much in the tradition of Suicide and Spaceman 3 and that my friends is never, ever a bad thing. Elapse-O's sonic turbulence isn't going to be to everyone's taste but then some people wouldn't know good music if it was slapping them in the face with a month old haddock. The album is short and sweet clocking in at twenty and half minutes and the lovely folks at Records On Ribs have made it available as a free download via their website. Personally though I reckon you should show some love and send them some cash for an actually, exists in the real world, copy. You won't regret it.
El Heath - A (Rather) Dead Sea Liner EP
(Dead Sea Liner 17)
CDR
One of the gems of this months issue of WWR is this short ep of quiet noise and melody from El Heath - about whom I know absolutely nothing. The recording is coarse and the instruments are played often (but not always) with seemingly little effort or attention yet it all works wonderfully well. Almost everything about this recording reminded me of the work of UK drone maestro (and WWR friend and fave) Darren Tate in particular the work he has been producing of late such as Strange Artifact. It has that casual, sitting room psychedelia feel that makes his work - and this - so very appealing. It really took me by surprise how much I like this one - bravo to El Heath and bravo to Dead Sea Liner. I look forward to the album.
William Elmore - Folk It Up In Wiltshire
(Cream of the Crop creamcropzine/2007a)
CDR
William Elmore - Time To Reflect
(Cream of the Crop creamcropzine/2006i)
CDR
I feel the need to make something clear right at the start of these reviews. I really hate Nick Drake's music! I despise, deplore and detest everything he ever recorded! The sound of that horrible lisping middle class accent emotionlessly vomiting those pitiful, inane lyrics can ruin my day. I firmly believe he got exactly the career he deserved.
This makes reviewing the more recent of these two albums by William Elmore difficult as I strongly suspect he doesn't share my views on this matter. A love of Drake rolls through the album (vocally, musically, lyrically) and permeates many of the songs. There is a charm and playfulness here that helps keep things afloat along with occasional moments where Elmore displays some his musical chops to fine effect (Soul Journey) but on the whole it moved me not.
Time to Reflect on the other hand is a thoroughly entertaining and very listenable different cafetiere of haddock. Mixing whimsical melodies (from a variety of instruments) with trippy beats and portentous keyboard lines Elmore produces a work that is unlike anything I have heard before and truly stands on it's own merits. I hope he explores this facet of his music more in the future.
Empress - Malleable Shore
(Halved Tapes)
CDR
Slow and almost suffocatingly dark set from canadian musician Adrian Dziewanski of guitar, ebow, vibrators and scrap metal constructions. When I read that list I must admit I was expecting droning guitars over Neubauten style rhythms but instead Dziewanski follows a different muse. Instead his music resonates with the metallic resonances of Organum and it’s slow burn development is reminiscent of Andrew Chalk’s Ferial Confine. It’s isolationist post-industrial minimalist drone at it’s finest. If you’re a fan of either of the above named then you’d do a lot worse than checking this out.
A very limited number of copies of the album (10) come with a bonus album called ‘fission / maroon’ it’s a different animal to ‘Malleable Shore’ with the sharp tonalities replaced by a softer, lethargic, swoon of sound. Again, it’s terrific stuff but maybe a little too static - I’d have liked to see / hear / feel a more conscious sense of movement - and definitely too short, which is something you don’t often get to say about a 26 minute long track.
Released in a micro edition this may be a difficult one to track down but will definitely reward the effort spent.
Empress - Movements of the Hand
(halvedtapes #1)
First recording from Canadian dronescaper Adrian Dziewanski under his Empress guise but not the first of his albums that I've reviewed in WWR. With my usual carelessness I reviewed his second album first but that's ok cause now we get to see where he's coming from as opposed to where he's going.
Musically, 'Movements of the Hand' is far closer aligned with the 'fission / maroon’ bonus cd that came with limited copies of the ‘Malleable Shore’ album. It's rounded tonalities immersing vague field recordings in a gentle, opiate calm. I've been playing this on repeat for the last week or so. It's quite short and a single listen isn't enough to fully immerse yourself in but played on repeat it's easy to lose a couple of hours in it's labyrinthine depths.
Emulsion vs. Nookleptia - Erosion
(Perineum #18)
CDR
As ever with Perineum releases this one comes in a handmade sleeve courtesy of label head Arma. His singular take on packaging being as much a signature feature of Perineum as is the quality of the music.
I've very little (read that as 'no') info on who either Emulsion or Nookleptia are or even if they're the same person and while we're, sort of, on the subject why 'versus'? They sound in perfect harmony to my ears. Why not 'Emulsion with Nookleptia' or 'Emulsion loves Nookleptia'? I don't understand the use of the negative connotations of 'vs.'
Anyway, metronomic pulses and tones form a melodic base that is augmented by washes of sandpaper noise to create a sumptuous befuddlement of rational thought whilst electronic constructs run rampant through a heartbeat of drums. Throughout, Erosion regularly flirts with the idea of introducing melody, regularly veering away at the moment of consummation. Indeed the one instance where they do embrace their melodic side is a slight disappointment as it wallows in a 'pseudo-goth' lament.
Whilst some of the tracks do end rather abruptly making them feel more like sketches than fully illustrated and annotated pieces generally this has been constructed with a deft hand and a sound ear. Erosion is the exact opposite of what the title implies as Emulsion & Nookleptia (see, there's another option) build whole worlds within your speakers. Very recommended.
Ensemble Economique - At The Foot Of Nameless Roads
(Digitalis DIGI053)
CD
you know how sometimes you listen to an album which you're thoroughly enjoying but the little voice at the back of your head is nagging at you that it sounds like something else. Well, it took over a month of steady listening to 'At The Foot Of Nameless Roads' for me to finally work out what it is that this album reminds me of and it's NWW's 'Salt Marie Celeste' in particular the segment where the rigging starts creaking.
Ensemble Economique's Brian Pyle (also of Starving Weirdos & RV Paintings) has on his debut solo album created a set of organic & ethnographically vibrant drone pieces. You get the impression that Pyle has scoured the globe amassing flutes and pipes in all manner of exotic guises that he's woven together to create an album of sumptuous textures. Further into the album modern technology arrives on the scene with the addition (or the wider participation) of electronic sounds including beats. This does nothing to mar the beauty of the album it simply adds a extra, harsher dimension.
I think my preference would have to be for the earlier parts of this album, just due to my fondness for acoustic drones, but that's just me trying to find something less effusive to write as, when all is said and done, this is an immaculate album that should be hunted down at all cost.
Ensemble SP - Live At Klaipeda 20040309
(Perineum Productions #13)
CD-R
40 minute live set of fractured electronics and roadside ambience. Disembodied voices, unidentified sounds and scratchy rhythms meld beautifully to produce a wonderfully uncomfortable mood. Too often noise music is concerned with power and with bludgeoning the listener with it's macho posturing (it's the heavy metal of experimental music) and that's fine but it's also cool when an outfit, like this one, comes along and adds a different dimension to the genre. There's a huge variety of sounds encased within the 40 minutes with each evolving out of or interacting with the others so smoothly that it takes several listens to fully appreciate just how well constructed this is. Recommended.
The Exploits of Elaine / Glissando - Tour Split
(Loom Records)
CDR
Wrapped in handmade paper (and, like Laura Palmer, in plastic) this is a sexy, black disc, two track tour CD featuring, in turn, one piece of improvised noodling (T.E.O.E.) and one drone piece (Glissando). The first has an almost ritualistic feel to it's murmurings, it's hiccupping and it's swaying guitarline and is reminiscent of the outer (freer) edges of post-rock and the new wave of Americana that's been appearing over the last few years. 5 minutes and 43 seconds however is nowhere near long enough to fully appreciate what T.E.O.E. are striving for so it didn't blow me away but it did leave me curious to hear more. Glissando offer up a shimmering, static drone interlaced with a vague melody that winds and contorts itself through the track. The production is a touch too muddy for this to really shine but again what is there is definitely intriguing and will reward repeated listens and further investigation.
Explosions in the Sky - All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone
(Temporary Residence)
CD
New album from my favourite of all the 'post-rock' bands (if you'll excuse the crass label), so with that in mind please realise it hurts me to write these words...this album isn't particularly great! It's not bad, not by a long way. All the things you've come to expect from E.I.T.S. are here - the slow build to the explosive fireworks, the high-end guitar work, the plaintive melodies - but that's where the problem is...ALL the things you've come to expect are here and there's not really anything new added to the mix. It's not a bad album, it's just the same album.
Explosions in the Sky - The Rescue
(Temporary Residence)
CD
Released as part of the Temporary Residence, Travels in Constants series of mail order releases (#21). Right from the off this has a more engaging feel to it than 'All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone'. The melodies are grander, the ambience is deeper, the tone is more measured, generally speaking it's just better. It's still easily recognisable as E.I.T.S. but here that recognition feels like an asset rather than a burden. A warm, all encompassing hug of an album.
Far Black Furlong - Far Black Furlong
(ICR 65)
CDR
It has to be said that whilst I have a fondness for reading poetry I really dislike listening to it so the opening track of this album from UK folk / drone ensemble Far Black Furlong is a real miss. Fortunately it's the only miss on what is a very fine listen indeed. Composed entirely on acoustic instruments and primarily outdoors (it's at this point that my inner punk starts ranting about 'bloody hippies' but we're going to ignore him) RBF produce a form of folk music that is rooted in the amorphous melodies that make up the great outdoors. The music is to a large extent formless, shapeless and directionless (are all intended here as positives) seemingly taking its structure from the movement and flow of its surroundings. Occasionally things meander too far for my liking and become slightly cluttered but this usually happens when the ensemble try to add a touch of 'structure' or 'convention' to the mix but a willingness to change should always be applauded and doesn't really mar ones enjoyment of a beautiful set of compositions.
Faust - Collectif Met(z) 1996-2005
(art-errorist)
3CD & 1DVD box
A new Faust album is always cause for much rejoicing in this house (on my part at least). So, in the spirit of honesty and fair-play I make no attempt to hide my abundant joy at the prospect of new Faust music. And does it disappoint? Well, no, obviously. A live set from 1996, a disc of rehearsals from 2005, a disc of home recordings and a, frankly, inconsequential eight minute dvd which I'm going to ignore because it's a bit of a waste of plastic.
We'll start with the live disc, a recording from the Musiques Volantes Festival on 8/11/96 that showcases what I assume was, at the time, a new look Faust. Also, a very industrial sounding Faust with a set marrying abstract guitar noise and electronics with pummelling metallic rhythms. Occasionally a melody, or at least the promise of one, breaks through and shifts everything onto a new plateau but on the whole this is pretty uncompromising and intense.
By 2004 the (same) players have mellowed out considerably. Gone(ish) are the punishing rhythms and guitar squalls and in their place is a band that has matured into each other. The arrangements are looser, it's got a real feel for vintage era Faust and the band sound like they're thoroughly enjoying just playing. Raga style drones, string bending and repetition are in ascendence and abundance here.
The third disc features 9 home recordings by Zappi Diermaier and Jean-Herve Peron. More so than you'd imagine, each person's recordings reflect very strongly their place within the group being, in turn, very percussion centred and then very vocal orientated. As songs Zappi's contributions are the most fully realised although the drums are a bit too loud in the mix for my taste. JHP's 'Rund ist Schoen' worked far better in concert than it does here but his 'Melancholy on Three Strings' is beautiful.
Think of this album as the three sides of Faust. The overtly experimental side is here on the 'Personal' disc, The rehearsals disc brings us the hippy, folky, citizen of the world side and the live in 1997 is Faust at it's most industrial. What is present on every disc however is the all-encompassing joie de vivre and good nature that characterises every note as being uniquely Faustian. While it's not the best thing they've ever done, if you're already a fan then it's definitely worth picking up otherwise try an early album first, 'So Far' or 'IV' would be my recommendation, and come back to this once you're hooked.
Faust - Coal Exchange, Cardiff 31/10/05
Midway through this gig Jean-Herve Peron, Faust's permanently smiling bassist / singer / trumpeter / horn player / cement-mixerist / etc / etc, relates a story of a friend who 'Buries metal in the ground. He waits 25 years. He is very patient. Then he digs it up and it is art.' (or words to that effect). This could almost be a metaphor for Faust itself only it was 35 years ago (or so) and rather than waiting patiently for their metal to rust they have been busily battering it into whatever shape takes their fancy. As a result, unlike that of the metal burier's, Faust's art is vibrant with the patination of a lover's touch.
In a set that lasted around the two hour mark we were taken on an excursion through both the band's back catalogue and the distant reaches of their collective improvisations. At times the proceedings threatened to disolve into farce (Peron ironing a shirt and yelling 'This is not music!' (he's right, it's definitely ironing) amongst collective banging, clanging, moaning, whooping and angle grinding) only to be brought back from the brink by the sheer good nature of the thing (he gave the shirt to an audience member). Delicate psychedelic ballads are followed by pummelling one chord industrial assaults and shrieking noise attacks which in turn give way to a drone piece that had the hairs on my arms standing on end as it reverberated around the enormously high (in every sense of the word) room and then the cement mixer kicks in before we're back to ballads again. The encore of my dreams - It's a Rainy Day - was never likely to send me home unhappy but there were at least three points in the set where if they'd stopped I would still have gone home happy. Highlight followed highlight followed highlight in a set that was an absolute joy to behold. Wish you were there.
Faust - In Autumn
(Dirter)
3CD + 1 DVD box
A beautifully produced box set consisting 3 CDs and 1 DVD all recorded live on the October / November 2005 UK tour of a band I am utterly besotted with. No-one and I mean NO-ONE does it for me quite like Faust. Bear that in mind when reading this.
Upon opening I went straight to the DVD for the simple reason that 5 of the 15 songs featured are from the gig I attended - Cardiff, Coal Exchange. Imagine my joy as these turn out to be the highlights of the disc being both well lit, reasonably well shot and with clear sound. Surely this gig deserves a DVD of it's own (hint hint). Some of the other tracks suffer somewhat in the production stakes but the sheer joie-de-vivre of the performances carry them through admirably.
These same issues apply to the audio discs with the sound quality dipping and rolling throughout. Be aware however that I'm only mentioning this for the sake of completeness because it really doesn't impact on the listening pleasure to any great degree. The 'rough and ready' quality found on many Faust releases is a great part of their charm - here it's just slightly more apparent. The opportunity to hear new versions of many classic Faust tunes (Rainy Day, Chromatic, It's a Bit of a Pain, Talk to the Fish & J'ai Mal Aux Dents amongst many others over the 4 discs) played loud and live (and well) is a joy that's just too good an opportunity to pass on.
The sun is shining, the birds are singing and I'm listening to Faust.
Life is good.
Faust - In Autumn (Taster CD)
(Dirter)
CD
The 'In Autumn' taster cd consists of 5 live tracks (Chromatic (from London), Skinhead (from Newcastle), Caruso (also Newcastle), Baby Is Blue (from Bangor) & Slide (also Bangor)) the last two of which are exclusive to this CD. It was originally intended as a promotional item given away at the London screening of the Faust concert film 'Nobody Knows if it Really Happened', the book 'Stretch Out Time' and the box set. Those not at the launch will have to pay inflated prices from greedy shops or be really lucky and rely upon the kindness of strangers (you know who you are and you have my thanks). My advice would be if you're the obsessive completist type (cough) then invest in this little gem. If not just buy the box set as it's worth every penny.
Faust with Nurse With Wound - Disconnected (limited edition)
(Art-Errorist)
CD
Wow! Talk about dream pairings. The two 'bands' that have been at the centre of my musical tastes for the last 10 years and they do not disappoint in the slightest. Disconnected (the limited edition version at least) is a stunning album of two unequal halves. The first half being the actual album wherein the NWW duo mixed, produced, augmented a set of Faust recordings to create what is possibly the finest work either outfit has produced in recent years (and that's not intended as a slight on either outfits recordings either. It's just that good). The second 'half' comes in the shape of a contentiously included live Faust track.
I had read, on the NWW Myspace, that the NWW twosome were unhappy with the inclusion of the bonus track on the special edition version of this album on the grounds that it "destroys the concept and atmosphere they have tried to create". I don't really want to go into any detail on this issue but I will say that I think the use of the word 'destroys' is a little strong. It's true that the first four tracks have a cohesion and flow to them that excludes utterly the final live track with it's crashing atonalities, but to my mind this has always been a characteristic of Faust, albums full of beautiful and unexpected jarring inconsistencies. From a purely listener based standpoint I really don't think the inclusion of this track detracts from the album in the slightest. The collaborative tracks are a complete article. Taken as a whole they are compelling and compulsive, a fact which nothing can demean. The bonus track is individual from the others in terms of it's sonorities and it's execution and as such becomes simply the next (very welcome) piece of music on the playlist.
Faust - Od Serca Do Duszy
(Lumberton Trading Company LUMB2CD008)
2CD
The last few years has seen this current incarnation of Faust (JHP, Zappi & Amaury Cambuzat) reinvent the band for the 21st century as a prolific live entity. Re-discovering themselves as a band unafraid to play and play with the music that established them alongside some very challenging experimental forays into the outer limits of live music. This CD, following hot(ish) on the heels of the 'In Autumn' box set (on Dirter), was recorded live in Krakow in November 2006 and in many places ploughs the same ground as those shows that made up the earlier box. This slightly stripped down line-up however offers an even rawer take on the music than that played on the UK tour. There is a gloriously shambolic feel to the proceedings with the trio trading sounds, riffs, rhythms, ideas and words. Occasionally things do get a little too 'out there' to be fully appreciated on record (I'm sure live it was a different matter) but on the whole there is an admirable collective consciousness on display that allows the interplay to create such gems as the improvisation that opens CD2 as well as the reinterpretation of The Sad Skinhead. As with all live albums, this should probably be treated primarily as a collectors piece. This recording, I suspect, isn't going to bring anyone new into the fold but for established fans it holds another fascinating snapshot of 21st century Faust.
Faust - Trial and Error: Audio und Video Experiments 2005
(Funfundvierzig)
DVD
The title clearly states that these are 'experiments'. If you are looking for 'polished' professional videos then you'll need to look elsewhere. This is Faust at play.
On a music level what we find here is Faust at their most wilfully obtuse. Atonal, angular, precocious and always gloriously anarchic. The very idea of 'song' is pushed to it's limits taking all preconceptions with it. As ever Faust are willing to go (boldly) where others do not. Even the familiar (Rainy Day, Rondo) are taken out of their bodies and transformed into something that is essentially 'other'.
Whilst musically this is really quite excellent, visually it's maybe a different case. I think another subtitle might have been 'Faust have fun with effects' as for the most part it consists of a static shot being slowly played through a series of image warping doohickeys. As such it isn't the most interesting thing in the world to watch and I found myself staring out the window for much of my initial play and subsequently I have been treating it more like an album than a DVD.
Trial and Error is Faust being the Faust I fell in love with via the Faust Tapes album. This is the sound of ideas in constant forward motion and it's fabulous.
Faust - Kleine Welt (Live)
(Ektro Records ektro-046)
CD
Opening with an uninspired and rather lumpen bassline (from the normally thoroughly reliable Michael Stoll) this new live album from the Hans Joachim Irmler version of Faust gets off to a inauspicious start. The band seem ill at ease, the music restless and strained. It isn't truly until the albums 17 minute centrepiece of Crawling Wax that things really start to gel, although every step forward from that opening is a step forward.
This Faust is a more straight-ahead beast than the Zappi / Peron faction. It's every bit as obscure but it's obscurity lies very much in a musicianly dynamic as opposed to the dada-esque industrial willfullness of the other. My preference is for the latter but that does not in any way preclude the former. When they are searching for the heart of the music (like on the afore-mentioned Crawling Wax) they are painstakingly and absorbingly methodical in their excavations and when they are simply rocking out (Thru & Jet Set Lady) they are great fun. But what's missing for me though is the beautiful laughing goddess of chaos who dances through the best of the Faust albums; everything here seems rather serious. I can't hear any smiles and it's the smiles that make a Faust album better than anyone else's.
It's good but it's not fabulous.
Faust - C'est Com...Com...Compliqué
(Bureau B bb21)
CD
Brand spanking new album from the Zappi / Peron version of Faust and it's an absolute corker. Here accompanied by guitarist Amaury Cambuzat (from excellent French post-hardcore band Ulan Bator) this is a set of 9, almost restrained sounding, cuts. Please though, realise that when I say restrained sounding I am talking about a band with a penchant for chainsaws, threshing machines and angle grinders so it's all relative. For the most part here though the trio seem content to explore the looser, jamming, sides of their musical personalities and that's fine by me. This is a side that doesn't often come out to play these days and it's always been a big part of the charm of the band in my eyes.
Peron's voice oozes an easy charm that is perfectly at home singing over acoustic instruments and 'traditional' drums (Petits Sons Appétissants) as it is yelling over freak-out instrumentation and scrapyard percussion. His musicianship bold and assured.
Zappi is, as ever, at the heart of each piece augmenting with percussive flurries and providing a solid backbone upon which the others can explore. His drums have never been anything as mundane as a rhythm instrument but if that is the role that is called for (En Veux-Tu des Effets, en Voilà) then he delivers with aplomb. Cambuzat (as he did on the 2005 UK tour) proves himself to be the perfect foil for the two original members. His guitar playing is lyrical, melodic, razor-sharp and coruscating. Like the others his playing perfectly compliments the compositions never dominating or intrusive. It's a shame he no longer seems to be part of the band.
This is the sound of a band at the top of their game and you'll be hard pressed to hear a better album this year.
Faust - Schiphorst 2008
(Salamanda)
2CD
Produced as a benefit CD for the Schiphorst Avant-garde festival this nicely packaged double CD is a recording of Faust's set from the 2008 festival with the addition of both the sound of Steve Stapleton painting along to Jean-Herve's chainsaw (film of which can be found on youtube) and also a rousing version of Rock 'n' Roll Station by Nurse With Wound with Jean-Herve hollering along.
This is Faust at their most experimental and dadaist as you'd imagine as it's an avant-garde festival. The recording is fairly primitive but doesn't detract from the performance or the listening pleasure. The set is a fairly free rolling affair with only occasional forays into established Faust compositions. I like this very much. It's beautifully haphazard and genuinely honest. It feels as though the band have rehearsed just enough to get the structure of the song but not so much that they are locked into any preconceived notions.
It's not as essential a listen as the new album 'C'est Com...Com...Compliqué' but if your a fan then this should be high on your wants list.
Ferial Confine - First, Second and Third Drop
(Siren Records 014)
CD
Ferial Confine is the name under which Andrew Chalk released his records back in the day. This release is a return to those early recordings (some in a slightly modified state) because hardly anyone has ever got to hear them and they really are rather terrific. They are also very much a product of their time and the 'scene' from which this ascetic emerged. Considerably more metallic and abrasive sounding (think Organum) than the work Andrew would later produce. These recordings do still very much have the sound and feel of his later music along with the painstaking attention to detail apparent in their execution. A factor that is essential to this release avoiding any sort of nostalgia allegations.
Released on Japan's Siren records in the Faraway Press packaging (that we've all come to love so much) this is a timely and compulsive listen that is, as ever, hugely recommended.
Feu Follet & Miina Virtanen - The Icicle Lectures - Vol.1
(Ex Ovo EXO002)
Feu Follet is the pseudonym under which Ex Ovo founder Tobias Fischer produces his music. Here he teams up with Finnish composer and pianist Miina Virtanen. Track one (Silence Thoughts II) is solo Virtanen and is nice enough, technically proficient and musically engaging but nothing you haven't heard before. However, track two brings the two players together to produce a simply beautiful fusion of the organic and the electronic. Virtanen's playing is delicate and lyrical and matched with Fishers deft touch and feather-soft drones they create a wonderfully immersive soundworld reminiscent of Eno at his finest. Here's to volume II.
Fordell Research Unit - Real Men Drink Horse Milk
(Dead Sea Liner 14)
CDR
Every few months a package lands on my threadbare blue doormat from the Dead Sea Liner label. This is always a good thing but some months it is a very good thing. This is one of those months. Quite apart from the casual psychedelia of El Heath, the enigmatically named Fordell Research Unit produce a racket that is guaranteed to shake your head bones until they rupture. FRU are a breath of fresh air in a stagnating noise scene. Their compositions are razor sharp and avoid the banal homogeneity of sound and (lack of) vision favoured by many of their contemporaries. 'Real Men Drink Horse Milk' (if this is true then I'll happily remain a fraud) is a short but ferociously effective excursion into their music that'll leave you breathless and demanding more.
I really have no idea what they are researching though.
Formication - Icons for a New Religion
(Lumberton Trading Company LUMB007)
CD
Almost exactly one week before this (and one other (see next months issue)) album hit my doormat a friend sent me a cdr of an earlier Formication release called 'Pieces for a Condemned Piano'. It is exactly what the title implies and is a bold, unique and really quite fantastic musical statement. As a result I had huge hopes for 'Icons for a New Religion' (their first non-self released album) which unfortunately it didn't really live up to. In place of the naturalistic textures and melodies of the earlier release is a move towards a more beat laden and ritualistic Coil-esque pallete. For me it's a move that is ill-advised. Formication are undoubtedly good at this sort of thing, they create some mighty fine dark(wave) soundworlds, and if you've a propensity for black candles, black clothes, black hair and black nail varnish you'll find much to enjoy here but personally it moves me not at all. For every aspect of '...Piano' that I found warm and engaging there is an equal one in 'Icons...' that I found cold and distancing. Recommended for fans of the darker side of life only.
Formication - Agnosia
(Dark Winter harmful005 / dw041)
CD
My previous exposure to the work of the Formication duo of Alec Bowman and Kingsley Ravenscroft has led to mixed feelings - one album I liked very much and one just wasn't my particular cup of tea. The quality of their work however is undeniable and always shows a scope and maturity of song-writing that is to be admired. So, Agnosia has a heavy burden to carry. Can it swing my opinion one way or the other? And the answer? Yes, it most certainly can, and, I'm extremely happy to report. it's a very fine album. Gone is the 'ritualistic' nature that, for me at least, marred their previous album (Icons of a New Religion) and in it's place is an openness of scope that allows Agnosia the room to breathe and expand to fill every corner of the room.
The driving force behind Agnosia is the sublime use of contrasting yet complimentary rhythms that propel the music along it's chosen path. Often these rhythms are hidden within the melody itself and only really become apparent once Formication let you realise they are there. Further to this is the bewildering array of crisp, coruscating noise tones with which Bowman and Ravenscroft enhance their compositions. Utilising a battery of sounds that rub and grind pulling the listener along in their unsettling and turbulent wake.
Agnosia is a beautifully mature album beholden to no one genre or influence and as such it is heartily recommended.
Forms of Things Unknown - Cross Purposes
(Panaxis Records
CDR
Forms of Things Unknown is the work of San Franciscan composer, the eccentrically named, Ferrara Brain Pan and Cross Purposes is an apt title for what emerges to be a diverse but slightly frustrating journey.
Stylistically this ep wanders a meandering path and instrumentally there is much to recommend. F.B.P.’s (primarily) breath powered instrumentation is engrossing particularly on the vocal-free sections of the album. As is often the case for me it is the vocals that push me away. Here they are contained to two consecutive tracks that dominate the middle of the CD. The first attempts a sort of medieval troubadour kinda thing that while being well enough done moved me not. The second vocal track is more…well…I’m not sure what it’s trying to be really. Again, I like the music but the vocals and the lyrics are just piffle.
I really do think FOTU have got something interesting going on here but I don’t think I’m the one to elucidate on just what that is. It all hovers a little too close to the Current 93 & Coil end of the spectrum which isn’t really my cup of tea but it is extremely well made and if you are a fan of the aforementioned bands then you should do yourself a favour and check this out.
Forms of Things Unknown - Black Trenchcoats & Swastikas 'n Shit
(Panaxis Records)
CD
The last FOTU album I heard wasn't really my bag. There were a couple of tracks that I liked but on the whole it skirted too close to genres I take little interest in and as such moved me not. This one however is an absolute corker.
A compilation of tracks created between 2003 and 2006 this is a varied beast containing sparse electronica, dada-esque songcraft and european folk tunes amongst others. Almost entirely the work of the, lets say, uniquely named, Ferrara Brain Pan (he has assistance on two tracks (Ure Trall on one track and the assorted members of Nurse With Wound on his remix of Two Shaves And A Shine). Even with the disjointed nature of it's creation this has a far more cohesive feel than the 'Cross Purposes' album. FBP's trademark wind instruments are in full flight but wrapped around them and threaded through them are a plethora of drones, effects, field recordings and inexplicable noises. He does occasionally dip into the ye olde worlde type stuff that I really disliked on the other album but this is kept to a minimum and easily ignored. The rest though is really very good indeed and I've found myself returning to this album often over the last couple of weeks. Although why he would saddle an album this good with such a dreadful title and horrible sleeve art is beyond me.
Joe Frawley - The Hypnotist
(JFM-CD03)
CDR
Frawley's 'The Hypnotist' is the third in an ongoing series of piano and samples collages that are, in his words, 'exploring interior worlds of dream and memory'. Having not heard the previous two I cannot really comment on the cohesiveness of the over-arching concept he outlines in the press notes but what I can comment on is the breathtaking quality of the music. Frawley's piano underlies everything here with a series of gently unfurling loops of melody. Intertwined with this is a simply bewildering array of immaculately placed sound effects and voice samples. It is these disembodied voices that take the lead throughout, pulling and guiding us through the twisted and tortuous dream logic inherent in the compositions. An eerie and utterly compulsive listen that is wholeheartedly recommended.
French Crips - French Crips
(Palmetto Records No 2)
CDR
Also recording (with others) under the name Hearts of Palm whose album of the same title was raved over in these pages recently French Crips is the Cincinnati based duo of Jay Wilson and Mike Hancock. In contrast to the abstracted psychedelia of that ensemble this, their duo project, is a much noisier and more (and I use this term loosely and with large reservations) structured set. Far more electronic, rhythmic and downright noisy, French Crips' improvisations are a more aggressive and industrialised beast than that of their counterpart. For me it is HoP which is the more successful project but that is not meant to detract from FC in the slightest as what we have here is a tumultuous noisescape that drags you along in it's wake; bruised, battered and bewildered but also breathless with anticipation as to where they are going to (or through) next.
From The White Chimneys - Nautilus With Wings
(Mystery Sea MS49)
CDR
The gentle opening to this new release from the Mystery Sea label belies the dark heart which subsequently reveals itself. One of the noisier releases I've heard from the label and the one with the most obvious and direct reference to the watery theme of the label, From The White Chimneys (Ben Fleury-Steiner & Danny Kreutzfeldt) have created a nicely sub-aquatic set of powerful and dark drones. Isolationist to the point that it leaves you with a sense of being cast adrift in a Victorian diving bell, the sounds you are hearing emanating from the oceanic press that surrounds you and cuts you off from all external stimulation. Every wash, hiss, creak, rumble and rasp takes on an ominous undertone that add to the overall sense of trepidation that simultaneously feels both meticulously planned and utterly natural.
