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Joe Colley :: Anthem: Static For Empty Life (C.I.P.)
Joe Colley (Crawl Unit) releases a limited edition (500) 3″ CD clocking
in at nineteen sedacious minutes. This is the type of recording that
standardizes new genres somewhere ten years down the turnpike from where
we are right now. Eleven minutes into this long player my entire
computer system is rumbling and the volume is only at 1/2 throttle (btw:
no computers were used on his end). Mind you, this disc is not about
shock value noise by any means, it is simply full, jamming with sound at
all corners. His quote “if we were truly healthy, we’d have no need for
art of any kind” is a powerful manifesto to all creatives that struggle
in the constant pursuit to communicate through the sensory realm. There
are a few bare moments that separate portions of Static.. but it is in
the last three minutes that we become the compound inside a spray paint
can, the stretch of the gum you stepped on in the street, the bolts that
hold the railroad ties in place. A reeling pulse of laser like streams
and power hoses, a complete release. Use with caution, but remember to
recycle-renew-reuse!
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Fon :: Tding (Werkzeug)
Obliteration of the word, of imagery, of sexy packaging, Fon has gone
into a plotting and obtuse direction to mount themselves firmly in the
world of nu-code. Even the name of the act was unclear upon receiving
the material (aside from an unassuming press release in accompaniment).
On their latest miniCD Tding this Viennese set has lifted the stakes of
proto logic and slammed its own dimensions towards earth, resulting in
the essence of its own b-side discovery. This is a very serious
conceptual work based in man-made time, man-made space, the generic
future. It marries the Gameboy and the Xbox in dueling descent and
reverie. Improvisation, I think not. This is a fully realized new
language, or I have been taken over by aliens. A buzzing, whirring,
circular interpretation of placement and balance clocks this disc in at
fifteen minutes of noise fame in 2002 (actually it runs 15:08, but who’s
counting?)..
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Richard Francis :: Three Tracks (Horch/CMR)
Richard Francis (aka Eso Steel) has created a fully ambient concrète
recording in the current tradition of Bernhard Günter and Francisco
Lopez. I had to turn off the air purifier and crawl up to the system to
get in tight to experience the intimacy of three tracks. The minute
subsound rumblings can easily be dwarfed by the slightest of street
noise, making this a challenge for any urbanite to hear. For many this
will be a strictly headphone-based experience. I feel as though I am
ignoring the silver screen at the back of a movie theatre and am just
hearing the film reels do their thing from a distance. This co-release
from German label Horch and Francis’ own CMR out of New Zealand, draws
the lines and doesn’t use color. This is as raw as you get with the
barest bones of staticity and foreign mechanics. Bringing the speakers
closer I am now part of the noise, a shower of electricity perhaps, the
transfer of information and/or tiny particles. This is about sensory
perception and depravation, a very physical recording, a question of
ones sense of scale and ability to filter all other noise. This could
be a field recording of a very muted thunderstorm, it could also be an
open mic in a sleeping turtle’s cage. Dull hiss and vague warp bring
rationale to the reinvention of the theremin, though there are no
specific, known instruments in sight (or sound).
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Polwechsel/Fennesz :: Wrapped Islands (Erstwhile)
This hour-long disc comes in eight parts, Framing (1-8). Guitars,
saxophones, computers – oh my! Polwechsel were one of the few
Viennese acts in the mid 90s to cautiously attempt reinventing sounds
that were smaller than themselves. After several years working together
Werner Dafeldecker (a former jazz bassist) along with experimental DJ
come guitarist Christian Fennesz have formed alliances once again with
cellist Michael Moser, saxophonist John Butcher and guitarist Burkhard
Stangl. I can’t tell if Wrapped Islands is a longtime overdue homage to
environmental artist Christo or just a good title. With layers of
constructed sounds and sounds like construction the listening experience
is a play on spatial realization. Fennesz’s six string plucks and plots
and take turns with varied isolated and distracted structures. There is
a sense that parts of this recording were improvised live in an open
studio space and collaged back together through analogue and digital
means. Perhaps this is the equivalent of a field recording of taking in
the laundry in alliance with the scotch tape the Starns once used to
hold together their multi-photo pieces in the late 80s. However random
or not, this disc certainly has a “lab” feel about it. There is a
romantic warmth to Butcher’s tenor on Framing 6 that resonates with
could be missing in folk music these days. Like a good work-in-progress
Wrapped Islands allows you to still see its edges, its forms, its flaws.
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Reynols :: Pacalirte Sorban Cumanos (Beta-lactam Ring)
I am being haunted by an Argentinian trio named Reynols (Miguel Tomasin,
Robeto Conlazo and Anla Courtis). I first discovered them a few years back when Bernhard Günter was quick to capture their tape hiss collage of 20 year-old blank cassettes on Trente Oiseaux. This is certainly a round about recording in terms of distorting genres. Here we witness a very sonically charged live ensemble feel of clashing psychedelia and pomp in the fist of noise and imagination. There are
overtures of Edward Kaspel and Pink Floyd alongside more traditional folk percussion and the voice of naiveté. These almost anonymous players give weight to the ancient practices of music from the soul, the spirit and the hereafter. Beta-lactum Ring Records deserves a nod for not sacrificing another divergent recording from their ongoing roster of truly challenging avant garde experimentalists. The band plays handmade instruments (Colibri Secret, Snofer Pinchers, Marmonio) tugging at the channels of mono, low-fi cut and paste with a sincere warmth and guts to spare. It’s like being hung by one leg atop a speedway while the world peels by your head. There are prayer-like ramblings that are as lulling as they are disturbing. Tomasin, who is weighted with Down’s Syndrome, channels the vigorous tongues of David Tibet and Tibetan Monks all at once. Beyond the raucous frequencies and moments of cacophony there is a sentimental, almost saddening account of a man in pain. There are subliminal messages herein, a modern day “Lucy in the Sky”, flying high and low.
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Taa-Pet :: taaPet Sounds (Fact Records)
Jerusalem’s Taa-Pet (Binya Reches and Aviad Albert) take the live
experience to the people on their latest studio release, taaPet Sounds .
With clear references to Oval and other artists of the Source and Sonig
camps these guys make a home of their own in the world of tiny sonics.
In the continuous play of Cold Sweet Potato (parts 1 to 3) we experience
an alert form of semantic sirens and dark alley drone. Not a casual
listen, this is a physical disc, where rumbles, vibrations and playful
things await inside. I can’t help imaging Hitchcock for some reason.
Barely lit corners with a razor sharp outline of cast streetlight and
asphalt complete with a vague newsprint scented air. This is a
soundtrack, plain and simple. Though these two have played forms of
rock and electronica – this disc (their 2nd full-length), for sure,
should put them on the world map of highly formed digital
experimentation. Taa-Pet performs live in museum environments and are
currently collaborating with fellow Israeli artist Uri Tzaig on an
upcoming video project. Keep your eyes and ears peeled.
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Keith Fullerton Whitman :: Playthroughs (Kranky)
Guitars abound in a recording of flowing sequences and string drone
meets symphonic digital feedback. Playthroughs has Whitman (aka
Hrvatski) using a full bank of tech wizardry to superimpose and
reiterate the voicings of both electric and acoustic guitars in a
balanced improvisation clearing the air of all surrounding ambience.
There is a pure, almost white noise effect that bellows from feedback
“Zwei” (composed of 34 channels of feedback) filtering residual sounds in
the immediate space and breathing a new appreciation into statics and
quietude that follow in fib01a. Closing with lengthy “Modena” Whitman
takes a repetitive Reich-like phrasing and builds a space-age free-form
idea. Tonal introductions are fabricated serendipitously to effect.
You have to get the LP version for the secret bonus track (lucky dogs)!
A beautiful noise, indeed.
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Links ::
