earpeace

e a r p e a c e : audio reviews
arnoux
the birdtree
the blithe sons
c.j. reaven borosque
cheer-accident
cotton museum
crank sturgeon
cynthia dall
james davis
aaron dilloway
kevin drumm
kevin drumm/lasse marhaug
brad dutz/jeff kaiser
ent
fennesz
fm3
id m theft able
jandek
kid icarus
mechanik
mimeo/john tilbury
mou, lips!
noiseboat
old bombs
radioshack/radioshock
r.o.t.
savage republic
scenic
shea mowat
stereo minus one
sub aquatics
subarachnoid space
sudden infant
sukora
surgical mental klinik
25 suaves
unwoman
viki
(various artists) assult with insults
(various artists) endless journey phase ii
(various artists) if the twenty-first century didn't exist, it would be necessary to invent it
(various artists) ringtones
(various artists) shooting pool with a piece of rope
(various artists) sounds for collector scum

arnoux when heredity fails you cassette (seagull)

arnoux live cassette (foreign lands)

when heredity fails you is a 1-sided cassette, with a very dense sound, yet the various layers are discernable, rather than obscuring each other. sounds like a lot of work went into this one. i don't know if it is because i am becoming for familiar with lonnie methe's works, or if it is the quality of this release, but i think it is the strongest thing i have heard from him yet. spoken word bits add a level of interest, i can't really hear what he is saying, but it fits, and i enjoy the different timbres of the vox recordings, due to the different recording techniques employed. the recording quality of this cassette is outstanding, not hi-fidelity, but it seems to make use of every bit of sonic spectrum available in a very intelligent and compelling way.

live is another one-sided cassette, with a recording of a 4-piece version of arnoux live in hometown omaha. apparently, not too fond of the nightclub scene there, as a refrain of exchanging "what do you want to do"s with a tape was a recurring motif. the band sounded great when they played, with violin, cello, guitar & clarinet kicking up an ambitious improvised jazz-folk-rock sound. more of a document than a fully-realized work like heredity.

the birdtree orchards & caravans cdr (jewelled antler)

solo project featuring thuja/jewelled antler collective member glenn donaldson. at times eerily reminiscent of television personalities, but venturing into a wider array of sounds, including some experimental collages done on 2, 4 & 8-track recorders. i found this very impressive from the first listen, with more unraveling of contents upon subsequent replays. anyone who is interested in the softer side of experimental/improv/psych-type sounds should find plenty here to dig ears into, without it falling into anything resembling retro genre cliches. this is thoroughly contemporary, yet seems to exist in a time continuum all its own.

the blithe sons waves of grass cdr (jewelled antler)

duo of loren chasse & glenn donaldson, jewelled antler-ites, thujans, recorded live to minidisc in the park, playing battery operated small devices with & without keyboards and inputs. song titles & packaging reference trees, rocks, leaf, sun summer, outdoors communing with the elements without & within. i have been listening to this one for awhile, and it seems to elude me with subtle improvisations & sensitized attunings. i plan to keep listening to this one and keep trying to get there, cuz i have a feeling that there will be a day when it will connect in an essential way. until then i just admire from afar.

c.j. reaven borosque with rent remus' lords of outland the metal quan yin cdr (edgetone)

kinda sci-fi "poems" wurdsmithy meets an out-free-jaaszz backing group every so often. i liked how there was a balance in the delivery of concept vocls & the sporadic outbursts of instrumental landscapings. packaging rendered in a deliberate limitations of the printer format, with design elements that reinforced the overall motif. i'd rather have this than the book it was extracted/derived from. there are potentials suggested, but yet to strike the chord that will swing borosque beyond her influences.

cheer-accident variations on a goddamn old man cd (pravda)

first time thru this the impression that hit me was the touchstones in 70s prog-avant rock influences, particularly robert wyatt, early soft machine and king crimson. i was about ready to file it away as "interesting to read about, conceptually, but uninspired in execution". this stuff takes awhile to get into, tho (at least for me). repeat listens reveal pealing layers of more original confluences, nothing monochromatic about these variations. a variety of approaches & lineups, depicting a glimpse into some of the tactics emplyed by thymme jones, dylan posa & company. the threat to release more of these collected artifacts is expressed. tho, with these guys, you don't want to take anything too literally, becuase it could all be part of a performance stunt. i can see someone writing a chapter about some of the escapades/performances of cheer-accident down the road. i don't think i am any closer to any great insight on this one, but i feel progress towards appreciating it more. something that will come off the cd shelf for more listens, along with the several works of cheer-accident i have been gathering. well done, thymme.

cotton museum this old man doesn't have any hands cdr (ihtr)

16 short tracks of theremin & effects pedals, improvised by chris "cotton museum" pottinger, bookended by an even briefer percussion experiment & a longer circuit-bent toy exercise. i am impressed by his attention to focus by presenting this half-hour of noise pieces in such concise bits. small bits of rhythms dissolve in a spray of spinning electro manipulations. the theremin tracks revolve largely around processed high-mid range sounds, but nicely soupy. my fave track is the extended finale which seems to drive the deconstruction deeper & further. nice cdr featuring chris's touch with sound shaping.

crank sturgeon pod for accoutrement cdr (mang-disc)

also listed in the mang-disc style as cr ankst urge on. a not-unknown artist in the independent-underground noisier sound afficianado circles, this cdr largely consists of cut & pasted, layered sounds having little to do with traditional concepts of music, with some spoken word mixed in. there is attention to pacing, high quotient of rhythmic components, so taken as a percussive set of compositional experiments you might be able to bend your ears around it. i found the words on the first piece "leavy leir" to be witty in their use of verbal contradictions and plays on meanings to be very engaging, i could tell there was some thought into this (sorry to notice). pieces like "miro for the lull" would not be out of place in a set of serious microsonic electronic music, imofwiw. that the next peice immediate jumps into v/vm type deconstructed pop processing is representative of the effectively applied sense of humor, which most microsound seems to be short of. which is why i do appreciate listening to this, because the ability to puncture any facade of overly serious presentation is refreshing. again, a big thanx to the folks at mang-disc for sending this one in. hook up with them at kraag.org, they love trades, just don't tell 'em the ole b.wildered 1 sent ya.

cynthia dall sound restores young men cdr (drag city)

i really looked forward to this one, after enjoying the mid-9os untitled cd. this one is appreciably different, with the drums way in the background or absent altogether, mostly strummed guitars carrying the rhythm, and dall's doubletracked vocals chillingly converging on a spiraling tack to that deadly destination, where the distance between one & another is measured & described within melody that insinuates itself into your internal playlist. when the guitars crank up fuzzy and monolithic the whole thing has a nico-esque grandeur which washes over you like fresh bitter snow when played loudly.

james davis human abstract music for room travelin yume dream distracted by, cdr (no label)

cdr with penis drawing given to me by james davis as we were exchanging cdrs the day following the ill-fated human abstract show at detroit art space. i say ill-fated only because human abstract never actually got to play due to lateness of equipment arrival & such. they did get to play only as part of the arnoux collective (review of show here). this cd contains a selection of instrumental pieces ranging from acoustic banjo, guitar, percussions to severely processed sounds of bells, samples, etc. all with a very distinctive dynamic of moody, introverted & deeply melancholic attitude. more human abstract to be found at mp3.com/humanabstract & yume at mp3.com/yume.

aaron dilloway inside dead bird cassette (hanson)

i've enjoyed aaron's work in wolf eyes, violent ramp and solo as often as i could over the last year. i was still pleased & impressed by the depth of ideas & sounds explored within this recording. the sound of a record buttons being pushed starts off the recording with a very organic feel, lo-fi drum machines & oscillators heavily processed with effects come in, setting up for a bit, then changing into something else well before the sounds get tiresome. after a couple of these evolutions, the mix has developed into departures from the starting point. i was thinking of something more like a large body of insectoid reverberations, rather than flesh & blood and decay. i am very impressed with this work, well worth searching out, and interesting enuff that further recordings sound like a promising bet.

kevin drumm sheer hellish miasma cd (mego)

kevin drumm/lasse marhaug frozen by blizzard winds cd (smalltown supersound)

taken one way, sheer hellish miasma could be perceived as an apt descriptive title for this release. most of this consists of oscillating guitar drone monoliths that compelling demand to be cranked loud. i guess that would be hellish for unappreciative neighbors. but the work contained herein is so well-constructed that the effect is cathartic, releasing, like standing in a wicked windstorm. i found myself completely enraptured with the sounds happening within the drones. thanx for the final heaven-like piece, "clouds", which allowed me to come down from the high i was experiencing as i let the waves and yes, sheer force of the preceeding "hitting the pavement" & "the inferno" wash thru me. the opener is another quieter one, "turning point", that seems to hark back to digital-sounding manipulations of the first two drumm records. sheer hellish miasma seems like an inversion of the structure of his previous solo cd, comedy, which was bookended by loud pieces. even the packaging is heavily evocative, old english letters in gold on black, right down to the disc itself, black on top & gold on the playing surface.

the live cd with lasse marhaug is packaged similarly, same old english fonts & black (with gray, or is it meant to be silver?) cover. clocks in at just under 30 minutes, quite a ride tho. cruises with the more atonal sounds for a bit, then events of various tonal colorings suddenly occur fast & furious. a good pairing for drumm, the results are very inventive, something i find myself thinking and saying often about his work. my awareness of lasse marhaug, is less, i am only slightly familiar with his 1996 science fiction room service cd (which was tossed in as a bonus on an ebay sale- thanx paul). he is from norway, has collaborated with merzbow & a slew of others. apparently, this cd is intended as a tribute to scandinavian black metal, tho how its advanced sonic experimentalism intersects with that genre i have yet to figure out. i do enjoy hearing it repeatedly, as it unwinds witso h stretching strings, scratching computersounds and ambitiously idea-rich textures. not loud, but intense. more than well worth tracking down.

brad dutz/jeff kaiser the order of her bones cd (pfmentum)

brass & percussion duo. jeff kaiser on trumpets & flugelhorn is nice and calm and jazzy and smooth, but brad dutz on about 7 pages of percussion instruments is the ringer here. the horn parts kind of hold down a center and the percusion sounds orbit around in unusual and interesting ways. this cd reminds me of that dessert pizza that pizza hoot puts on on the lunch buffet which is a nice way to top off the meal... nice & sweet, and different tasting, an attractive combination of sweets. and this cd has that sweet, smooth, quiet miles davis-y vibe early-7o's thing going on. just the thing to kick back to after a long day at the all-that-can-eat-you stress bar.

ent cohai cdr (ent-love)

short cd-ep, at about 28 minutes, but a nice selection of pieces working that intersection of pop & experimental. while the resemblance is not obvious, i am reminded of gastr del sol when grubbs & o'rourke were working their collision & passing of the more accessible and more difficult directions. the 1st piece "my avatar is a normal guy" features a lightly strumming guitar that is accompanied by some digital burbles here & there. by the 4th song, "stop stealing cds from my car", the ratios have been reversed, and whats ounds like possible guitarist sources are corrupted, compounded and filtered thru some breaking-up processes. since this cdr hasn'[t been released on a label yet, that i know of, those who might be interested in hearing more can go to www.ent-love.org for sound samples & contact infos. thanx to the ents for sending this my way.

fennesz field recordings 1995:2oo2 cd (touch)

features in its entirety the highly sought-after 1995 mego ep intrument, long out of print, vinyl-only, long promised as a reissue on jim o'rourke's moikai label, now all moot, cuz here it is. another several tracks are incuded from various compilations (rkk13, clicks & cuts 2, etc), plus the cd begins with a completely new track recorded just for this. the record store guy wondered aloud about a track from another compilation's absence here, my response: "to include all the tracks fennesz puts on comps, you would need a 5cd box set." aside from hopefully deflating the ebay prices on the instrument 12", there is primo fennesz material here. right out of the gate, he took an approach to microprocessing guitar source material with an ear to creating new sounds that have crosswinds of melody, rhythm & noise elements. unlike a lot of abstract current-day electronic sound, this works as music, it is fun to listen to. and while his improvised contributions to the many projects he is involved in (mimeo, orchester 33 1/3, fennoberg, numerous other documented live collaborations), the studio works, instrument, hotel paral.lel, +47 degrees 56'37" -16 degrees 51' 08", plays, endless summer, all sparkle with sounds mostly created with guitar & powerbook, that breathe life into what seems like it might be a played-out vein of technologically adaptive music.

fm3 ambience sinica cdr (fm3)

received this cdr this summer in the fallout of the demise of a taiwan label's failure, so no release for this (yet- stay tuned). hailing from beijing, staking a claim to being china's "foremost glitch-ambient band". fortunately, the music is less derivative than their self-promotional shtick. definitely ont he ambient side, in terms of receding into the background as you listen. i was caught, however, by some memorable melodic fragments contained therein. there is very little abrasion here, the production is clean & the sounds are smooth, sleek & richly detailed. pleasing to hear the chinese folk instruments appear in the midst of the digital realm. seems to inspire patience. i found myself being able to remember sounds from this one, something that doesn't happen often, considering the volume of the aural flow areound earpeace world hq. apparently, they are out touring the world, so don't be surprised if they appear in your neck of the woods. this one might show up as a limited edition release on bai mei guei wang before the end of the year.

id m theft able chants & mantras of munjoy & big boy cdr (mangdisc)

flagship artist of the mang-disc fleet. found cd case, found picture, found liner notes, found sounds. how to describe? a track of mouth, chewing sounds as if miked from within... a perspective on gumchewing? then a track of phone messages layered plus what sounds like some found lecture. followed by a 20+ minute track of lunatic sounds, sounds like instruments and voices being played while losing sanity, gibbering music? then, someone's moaning singing over what sounds like a recording of a package being wrapped & unwrapped or thrown down a flight of stairs... next track is someone doing their best frog imitations, multi-tracked, of course... track 6 aka "islanders birth island births islanders" is another 21.5 minutes of mayhem featruing gusts of voices, distortion, guitar noises, cut-up and pasted together to put the bend on your mind... next is some very field-ly recording city sounds, kids, trucks into a vaguely oriental keyboard riff, the first musical fragment (i think?) on the cd... then some weird speaking-tongues mongoloid declaiming "save the baby" voice piece... finally a short found piece of what sounds like people trying to make sure the recorder is on... not for the faint of 'art.

jandek blue corpse cd (corwood)

cd reissue of a 1987 lp oft-cited as either the high point or low point of brother jandek's career. some personal relationship distress pushes the emotive content well into the syd barrett lost in misery area. the vox is way out front, swathed in echo, while the acoustic guitar carries the backing with simply chorded rhythm blues parts. lots of moaning, as if in expression of the aforementioned painology. i s'pose that would make this something a little too obviously intimate for many, but i think it kicks the hell out of that emo crap. extremely successful in conveying the abject feeling of isolation & rejection. (not that i know anything about that) . nice to see this one readily available and no longer in the exclusive domain of those willing to pay exorbinant collectors prices.

kid icarus be my echo cd (summersteps)

mr kid icarus has great ambitions of being considered in the same way as some of his idols, like roky erickson & jandek. i dunno about that. basically, i hear way too much folky strumming acoustic guitar which plants this seedee smack in the drabbest part of the seventies. things do perk up a bit when electricity is applied, as i guess the fuzz is more forgiving of the technique & the roughness moves it closer to a more listenable garage dumbed-down rock turf. the best song here is one of roky's, and it just makes me miss the way roky would trip along the too-many syllables in a phrase. it isn't awful, it's just forgettable.

mechanik this damn planet cd (scratch and sniff)

eccentric west michigan project which has been playing a few shows around the area over the past few months. synthy-sequencer 80s recalling popsongs telling the story of space traveller who is marooned on earth by his nemesis, kinahcem. the performance is explained as a fund-raising venture to fix the broken-down spaceship. i have to give this guy credit for working those keyboards. it is not really a kind of music i have much interest in, and at this point in the journey the package has not yet developed into anything compelling. if you miss the days of gary numan and want something simple & danceable, here ya go. i wouldn't be surprised if he attracts some more help & builds upon this beginning. there is a calculated focus here, and i could see it becoming something that might make some money.

mimeo/john tilbury the hands of caravaggio cd (erstwhile)

i didn't even know this existed until i found it used on a trip to chicago, but am i glad i did. i think tilbury's involvement gives the mimeo aggregation a counterpart to react with, and the result is a strong, beautifully classical, electronically flavored, group outing. well-thought-out conceptual underpinning described in the online liner notes. the 13 musicians, including kevin drumm, jerome noetinger, peter rehberg, marcus schmickler & rafael toral follow a graphic score by keith rowe, using piano, , analog synths, electronics and amplified metal within a truly orchestral form. no question, receives my highest recommendation.

mou, lips! peanuts and shells geometria cdr (mou-lips)

demo cdr from this duo comprised of former member of tu'm (see review of o.o1) andrea gabriele & emanuela de angelis (also of double lady-bug, who have a forthcoming appearance on the stalking shekinah international female experimental artists compilation). mou, lips! also operates the clara! online arts project. a very open sound, combining electronic computer sounds & various objects & instruments. the resulting mixture is rhythmic without beats, experimental without being annoying, and clever without being obvious about it. i would expect a release by mou, lips! to appear on a "real" label before too long..

noiseboat cdr (no label)

subtitled: "a collection of 4 track recordings from 2ooo-o2". having just seen alex boardman playing solo at the detroit art space as noiseboat, and also having had him play a session at my house the following day, i knew pretty much what to expect. a very sensitive touch & ear, with acoustic guitar foregrounds layered over various sounds, some ambient-environmental, some more of the household improvised backing variety. like what sounded like ball bearings rolling around in a bowl, for instance. from my brief personal contact with alex, i get the idea that he likes to have a sound, often a drone, to play off from with his guitar. the untitled track 1o uses electric guitar and provides an excellent contrast, with improvised sounding slide-riven creations, even sneaking in some acoustic guitar behind it at the end. nicely loose & fraught with emotive content. i can hear him saying again "i was just beginning to feel it." a very gentle and charming recording.

old bombs zero cdr (veglia)

oh yeah. very tightly wound little (about 30 minutes) cdr of stuff with some kinship to wolf eyes (similar antecedents, mebbe? & didn't they do a split with 'em?). whatever sound devices they are using, they are definitely being put together & torn apart in non-intended usages. the bits & pieces are thoroughly worked up & down, panned in & out, for maximum appreciation. sounds like some kind of alien communications devices trying to pour thru your synapses. rough-sounding, but tickles the need for some ragged burned out sounds. i find myself hitting replay incessantly. perfect length, leaves you hongry for more. add veglia to the american tapes-like circuit of subterranean "labels" tearing huge chunks out of the planet. absolutely recommended, if you can find it.

radioshack/radioshock split 7" (breathmint/ignivomous/carbon/sunship/roger)

strange little record, altered retail packaging. not sure of what the distinction between the radio shack & radio shock is, but ok. the a-side consists of a series of short-ish noise experiments in lo-fi mode, squeals, clunks, rips & tears to the eyes. i kinda liked how it sounded in 33 best. the b-side is a pair of "rock" songs, with the second kicking up a racket very reminiscent of one of the drunks with guns illegitimate off-shoots, with sludgy guitar riff crawling thru barbecued vocal groans that might wake up mike doskocil, if he cared.

r.o.t. r.o.t.2. cdr (veglia)

sounds like a live room recording of drones. the first couple of pieces made me wish i could hear more of what was going on, some of the sounds seemed obscured by the fidelity of the recording. the rest of the cdr features prominent accordion sounds, resulting in a more peaceful, calm presentation. the noisier elements then fall into the background, which works well within the sustained accordion tones. i enjoyed the better recording of these pieces. a lot going on in here, not a quick sonic meal. closer listening reveals interesting forms within the relationships between instruments, reminding me of the old french curves i used in drafting class.

savage republic tragic figures/ceremonial/jamahiriya democratique et populaire de sauvage/customs 4cd set (mobilization)

these reissues give me a chance to reassess the studio recordings as a body. my pleasure, entirely. tragic figures is invigorating, exuberant, clattering metallic percussives, some recorded in tunnels underneath ucla, clean, almost surf-ish guitars, flirting with drone, with tribal, punk-inspired patterns. for me personally, this is the shit. so much so that this is my 3rd version of this record that i own, throwing in some single and compilation tracks making it somewhat justifiable.

the second one is actually a combination of the trudge ep & the ceremonial lp, albeit in an instrumental version, stripped of the vocals that were present on the original release (tho subtracted previously upon reissue). the group adds a core trio of thom fuhrmann, greg grunke & ethan port, and savage republic begins its tension-filled evolution towards even more emphasis on the ethnic classicalist structures and away from the "art-punk" of its origins. the result is smoother, but i really miss the abrasion. it seems that the dichtomy that would lead to the eventual end of the band was very present here. bruce licher conceived the band as a democracy, so the input of the various members changed the direction of the band greatly. just reading the descriptions of the reissue on mobilization.com, it seems obvious there are some serious misgivings about vocals & contrasting directions. some of the result is pretty successful, especially "ceremonial" & "land of exile". not nearly so exhilirating as the tragic figures record tho. cited as a chief influence upon godspeed you black emperor, which should give you an idea of the atmosphere here.

the intriguingly-titled jamahiriya democratique et populaire de sauvage adds brad laner (electric company, medicine, collaborations with vas deferens organization). this record contains some vocals that sound pretty unsure of themselves, unlike the full-throated bellows that did not distract on tragic figures. there are bits of realized ideas here & there ("lethal musk"), but often this sounds less like a band on a mission and more like a band in the process of reforming. given the tales that emerge from the subsequent tour, the lack of passion & frisson seems confirmed. not a bad record, but one that is unsettling and less than fully realized.

customs, recorded on borrowed equipment during an unplanned delay in the bands departure from greece, due to customs problems, manages to overcome the lack of band unity, perhaps via projecting the understandably emotions into a set of music that harks back to the abrasion & intensity of the early days. ethan port is absent here, which subtracts one guitar, bass, percussion layer from the sound (as licher, fuhrmann & jackson del rey all are credited as playin, plus brad laner returning from jamahiriya). the result is much less crowded, less conflicted, ironically, and the use of the borrowed greek instruments seems more integral to the sound. i like this savage republic record better than any since tragic figures. the return of the more aggressive sound & sweetly applied drones makes this a fitting bookend to the studio set of recordings.

scenic the acid gospel experience cd+ emigre magazine (emigre)

i have been looking forward to another release from scenic, bruce licher's successor project to savage republic. featuring stately instrumentals, evoking a soundtrack noir of southwestern desert vistas, scenic has continued the impressionistic guitar textural windings that were sometimes displaced within the oft-conflicted savage republic. this release came in a package with emigre magazine #63, with whom licher has worked previously, contributing some of his trademark letterpress print graphics works. i understand that there is a somewhat revised edition of the acid gospel experience due shortly, but i was eager enough to hear this that i gladly ordered the emigre edition. the main development in this cd from the previous incident at cima & aquatica cds is the arrival of former sr collaborator robert loveless, who contributes keyboards that deepen the sound and give another texture for licher's guitar drones & figures to react to, in addition to retaining the strong percussion of brock wirtz and james brenner on bass. this cd is definitely flavored with some spacey elongations and despite the improvisational origins of the compositions, the structures seem considerably well-developed and thought out.

shea mowat ghost rituals off sacred sealand cdr (mang disc)

interestingly titled cd from the memorable mang-disc care package, tho this one has only permanent marker on jewel case & cdr art, as if daring you to dismiss without investigations. straining sustained tonewave collides with the junk percussion patrol. varies between extremes of angry bees on ecstacy to creepy banging & rattling wanderings thru a condemned spookhouse. i like how it makes nice patterns inside my earholes like watching the crayons melt into the clothes in the dryer.

stereo minus one lie alone on the floor wearing headphones cdr (machine records)

stereo minus one he made strange noises cdr (machine records)

cardiff, wales' dan haines sent in a couple of recent releases. i know him both from his previous release the sound inside sound (reviewed in earpeace8), which i liked well enuff to include a piece on the you're all over the map... compilation earlier this year. dan works in the electronic medium, but avoids the dance arena thru the use of broken rhythms & sounds frought with tension and unease. the deluge of synthetic electronic sounds was broken up here & there with some guitar & drum segments, seemingly used as a bridge between pieces. (he made strange noises). this stuff is spacey, in a way, totally introspective, with some abrupt transitions between the instrumental sources & the pure electronix.

lie alone on the floor wearing headphones is very short, more of an ep, at about 23 minutes. mostly consists of drum machine sounds which are processed & layered with synthetic sheets of sound to create an atmosphere of spare spaces. i felt some sensation of movement, as if the room i was in was travelling while my perspective remained motionless. seemed underdeveloped, but perhaps that was the intent.

sub aquatics shopping cart sensation cassette (heresee)

belated release of project featuring n8 young (of wolf eyes) & sol meltzer that was recorded in michigan in the mid 90s. according to the heresee website, "they filled a tape full of music meant to sound like it was made and performed underwater: crude electroniex, vocals, organ and one feedback-circuit junk drum set." released as the first in the pssst series, to provide an outlet for things like this that were "never released, but should have". starts off with a drumset solo piece, then the additional keyboards/electronix/vox & what sounds like banjo or something piles up, until, by the last song you have a freakin' monster of a recording on your hands here. builds up and just gets better & better, more intense & demento sounding, with the big drum presence it reminds me of that early panther burns record with the marching band drum corps. very lo-fi cassette recording, but that suits the buried sounds well. i dunno about underwater, but the thing sounds like it was taped deep in some basement lab somewhere. the drums are often in the foreground, the vox is completely unintelligible, just kinda ranting & muttering away down there, and the layers of other sounds, when present, usually at least a couple at once, are quite twisted and wrecked-sounding. another bullseye from heresee

subarachnoid space play nice cdr (subarachnoid space)

tour cdr i picked up after their show at the detroit art space earlier this year. i enjoyed this one, both because it was comprised of relatively short bits (clearly edited from longer rehearsal & performances by someone with a good ear & blade) & because the pieces were very much different from each other. not at all like their live show. odd to find yourself enjoying the disowned stepchildren more than the prides of the litter.

sudden infant sudden infant's turntable cookbook cdr (gmby)

solo turntablisms & processing from joke lanz. a little hard to enjoy because, hmmm, maybe he takes himself a little over-seriously in a medium where a more relaxed sense of humor would help the meds go down. skirts into v/vm/evolution control committee cut-up irritant as art territory. technically well-done tho, and the pieces are very short. i just am not very high on work that uses the turntable almost exclusively, and keeps the pieces more as recognizeable samples, rather than as abstracted sounds. i got tired of sample, speed shift, scratch sound, repeat with another sample, like an old dickie goodman comedy record. just as i wanted relief, the final 12 minute track appears with a dose of what i saw them do live... totally deconstructed sounds which succeeded in creating their own reason for existence.

sukora oeo lp (ignivomous)

hard to explain my affection for sukora's recordings. to many, it would seem like not much is happening here. there is an atmosphere of an unattended recording mic left open, of a capturing of both room noise & then an exaggeration of the noise floor further along in the process. this brings to mind the sounds made when a recording tape is edged along the play heads. or the rumbles made by a turntable cartridge when it is over-amplified and footsteps cause rumbling noises. sounds are reduced to blocks of undefined events at low pitch. i like anything that causes me to really listen, and there is enuff going on that i don't feel like i just bought a blank. actually, the mor ei listen the more i hear things happening at a very deliberate pace. it doesn't seem too precious to me, but more solidly valuable.

surgical mental klinik tranquilizer cdr (pale mother)

unrelenting white-noise application of brutal theremin & laptop electronics from japan's own shunichi imako. once you become acclimated to the sheer onrushing deluge, you can start to discern the different elements and how they play off each other. also good for repelling pesky pets & neighbors.

25 suaves 1938 cd (bulb)

a lotta buzz for this one. seems that there are groups now overtly reinvesting in the hard rock sounds that littered the 70s. the logo on this one even nods to (or flips off) the venerable aerosmith. velocity hopkins & dj party girl manage to recreate the effect & sounds of 70s hard rock without sounding too retro. i suspect the speed is faster, and i know the lineup of the band is smaller, but the attitude & in your face riffs on gtr & drums nail it. it seems that after years of making experimental, difficult noise music, what is left to do except rock out & try to cultivate more of a connection with a greater audience. all of which is meaningless if the music is not fun to listen to. i was reminded of long gone days of nugent & ac/dc and more bands that prodded my adolescence with dramatically cartoon-enhanced big rock. another ironic thing is that the "new rock" radio stations are playing a recycled form of the hard rock cliches from the 70s, but i have my doubts that bands like 25 suaves & andrew wk are going to grab this crowd. some will be heard by the locals as a bar band routine, and some may well find some very young people looking for something to bite down on. i guess you choose your compromises... either you play to a pretty diminished audience and hope for a run as flavor of the minute, or you play to the crowd and hope you don't find yourself believing in & become a caricature of yourself.

unwoman knowledge scars cd (unmediated)

articulate female voice, cello & various midi devices deliver a forceful set of musical messages. not afraid to confront, sometimes using sampled voices to turn words patriarchal words back on themselves. i especially liked the intensely remixed pieces such as "subsistence" towards the end of the cd.

viki perfect strangers 7" (scratch and sniff)

i actually have been listening to this one after the most recent show i saw her play (reviewed here). was hoping for more of the deadly throwdown she exhibited at the detroit art space. some parts/elements of that show were here, but the beats were much more overly normalized, without the busted-upedness. the voice is back in the mix, recorded with distortion (or a really cheap mic) but it just couldn't level the impact that her open throated yowls did live. there are some cool sounds littered around here & there, but it seemed as tho they were a little too carefully placed. i miss the chaotic expulsion all over the place. the b-side little ricki remix was a slight variation, worked as a b-side, maybe. one interesting thing i noticed is how fuggin' loud the a-side is mastered.

(various artists) assult with insults cassette (unread tapes)

interesting lo-fi cassette sampler that includes impressives works from mammal (noiser and more chaotic that what i had heard before- i liked that), naturaliste remixed by james davis, arnoux (freeform noise string abuse) + more. interesting mix of strange noisy pieces, such as "a draining tub vs. a game of yahtzee" (which is exactly what the title says) by sistrum and some more conventional instrumentals. charlie mcalister's "gurgling frog conveyor" was a grabber, also hunneymuzzle's "oven". also includes decaer pinga (prick dacay?), will simmons, king frog, mattin, church of gravitron, the thunder perfect, smack music 7, nutrition fun, the mikroknytes, a john henry memorial and das torpedoes. the cassette underground lives & thrives yet in the age of the cdr.

(various artists) endless journey phase ii cd (chocolate firequord)

german reissue of a compilation series i first ran across during one of the 80s 60s revivals, not sure if this one is phase 2 or phase 11. apparently, some of the original vinyl volumes are being combined. doesn't matter, because what you get is primarily texan garage-psyche-punk of the better than most variety. i continue to have a weakness for this era, due to my feeling that it represents some of the earlier manifestations of the tendencies that would later be branded "punk". i like the idea that these kids would hate being called punks, as in being "punked out" (i.e. beaten up) or being some guy in jail's "punk" (submissive homosexual partner) as the likely associations, rather than punk = cool street hood. anyways, amateur sociology aside, this music is made with directness of intention, without calculation, with very primitive tools, and scads of energy. the drug references do not often wear well, but i am forgiving of this artifact of the times, in favor of the spirit of the times. these folks could expect to maybe get recorded, if real lucky, get some pressed on some no-name label, then within a couple of years (if not months) have to get real and find jobs driving buses or working on cars. not a lot of intellectual pretense, just a bare nerve-touched with the basics: drums, bass, guitars, keyboards washes & some lunatic vocal antics. it is fortunate to find one of these collections that have been culled to the point where you get to hear some of the better works in the sub-genre, and in my opinion, the endless journey series has done a good job at that.

(various artists) if the twenty-first century didn't exist, it would be necessary to invent it cd (5 rue christine)

gotta hand it to 5rc for putting together this lineup of current interesting bands that may not have a descriptive monker to toss at 'em (& if there was one they would start fighting over how meaningless it was--rightly), but they do play the same or similar venues & have a d.i.y. approach to music making. no rock stars here. not yet. some of the folks i have gone out of my way to see live included here are young people, wolf eyes, pink and brown (r.i.p.), quintron, lightning bolt, total shutdown & deerhoof. some i would like to see & hear more from are hella, orthrelm, bottled og & vv & hotel. the quality & diversity of this collection make it easily recommended for someone who wants to see what the hubbub is about (what hubbub?). somep people who usually are quite irked by the sounds being emitted from my player have asked about this one while it was on. infiltrate, then double cross.

(various artists) ringtones cd (touch)

intriguing little concept novelty item, having a who's who of touch-related artists submit potential ringtones as alternatives to the current downloadable options. as far as i can tell, there is no way to actually use any of these, but the idea seems laudible. 99 tracks, containing 177 prospective ringtones, everything from a phone sex to bird calls. this cd reminds me of the rrr500 lp release awhile back, in that the roster of artists is impressive, and the idea (on rrr500 it was 500 locked grooves) is something to contemplate, but once you have it in your hand, and listen to it once, why would you do anything but put it on your shelf and admire your taste in compilations? it is not something you would play for enjoyment, tho perhaps you might stick a couple of these on a mix tape. my question is, ok, we have the idea of either being able to recruit someone to make a custom ringtone, or even better, to create one ourselves, but has anyone figured out how to hack into an actual cell phone & download one or more of these into it? could be fun to do it to someone else's phone, as a prank. especially if they are someone who seems a bit too attached to this little piece of tech that is wrinkling up the social interaction fabric of our society.

(various artists) +shooting pool with a piece of rope cdr (mang-disc)

sometimes, treasures arrive in my mailbox, from unexpected directions. the package i received from mang-disc with the polaroid of the senior citizen seemingly in bed in a hospital or retirement home, attached to the outside of the mailer, was one such find. inside i found 4 cdrs; crank sturgeon, id m theft able, shea mowat & this one. the predisposition to using found media was continued thru the packaging (see individual reviews for details). this one is in a clear jewel case & tray, with 3 strips of kodak film negatives in the tray, a very dirty/damaged pic of a pair of young kids & their dog and an insert printed on two sides of someones very pretty embossed stationery. credits are given to a b.r. garm for 4 found tracks, all the rest found by id m theft able. in case you haven't experienced "found" art, the idea is that you present (presumably lost or discarded) pictures, writing, videos (see memorial day 2ooo) or, as in this case, tapes of sound recordings, as art work. there has been a burgeoning movement towards collecting found work in magazine form (ohio magazine, for instance- i am sure some of you readers can post loads more- do so, & i will post them). the result is a out of context voyeuristic kind of look into the lives of complete strangers, behaving as humans do, often strangely, sometimes downright creepy, but definitely unabashedly at home & in a distinctly non-performing mode. so, to the specific contents of shooting pool with a piece of rope: 24 pieces are presented, ranging from a cute mission: impossible-style invitation to a childrens birthday party, to the very creepy 17 minute finale, "bryce", where a young woman records her reactions to a young man's unwanted attentions, thru warnings about a restraining order, complaints of him having bit her, a phone message from some one of bryce's relations begging for a chance to talk to her about what is going on, "bryce's parents are here", to bryce himself whispering from outside in the corridor, "who are you talking to? there's no one here." a good one to hold for last. more of the pieces are people singing along with the radio, or trying to get answering machines or tape recorders to work, some are answering machine messages, both outgoing & incoming. a couple sound like recordings of presentations of the new age spiritual variety. while it isn't all that outrageous, listening to this is a reminder of our spotted humanity. when we hear someone absent-mindedly singing the "double double your enjoyment" chewing gum theme, or joining in to the chorus of a maudlin country song, or even repeating some really crappy line out of a tv movie, aren't we listening to ourselves? or am i the only one guilty of doing these things? excluding, of course (so far) the stalking behavior of the "bryce" piece. thank you to the folks from mang-disc for sending this to me. for more info kraag.org.

(various artists) sounds for collector scum 2cassette (seagull)

thanx to lonnie methe of the seagull label for bringing this to me. 33 artists, exclusive tracks, on two tapes, including such strange bedfellows as arnoux, new faggot cunts, naturaliste, honeymuzzle, phill niblock, rose for bohdan, mammal and carlos giffoni. i have been listening to these in the car for a few days now, and i am never quite sure who i am listening to, so all i can really convey are overall impression. seems like several of these tracks sound like some electronic compositions that might have emerged from various university music labs around the country. mostly abstract noisy electro-acoustic experimental pieces here, so the common element is an adventurous approach to sound creations. either that, or they are all people who lonnie knows or met in his travels and convinced to submit tracks. for more info see seagull tapes.
~ b . w i l d e r e d (except where noted)
contact: b.wildered@white-rose.net
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e a r p e a c e : audio reviews