e a r p e a c e : audio reviews
richard cholakian/philip gaylecodec scovill
james coleman
destroy all monsters
the fountain of youth
philip gayle
hans grüsel's kränkenkabinet
james twig harper
loess
metalux
microwaves
kiyoshi mizutani
nautical almanac - meerk puffy
pink & brown
pink and brown|death drug
c. ptak
the red krayola
marina rosenfeld
teamshadetek
u can unlearn guitar
wolf eyes/black dice
(various artists) we're twins sampler 2oo1
(various artists) you're all over the map...putting flesh on the bones of the dirty work
- codec scovill clinical imperfections cd (nonresponse)
a slow unwinding stun of a recording, predominantly processed electro-acoustic sounds, minimal in use of sources, more heavily emphasizing the processing, resulting in brief drones that didn't hang around too long, or long enuff to bore. plenty of changes, as if the foursome wanted to keep it moving, yet working within a subtle improvised ensemble form. effectively recorded direct to 4-track by this foursome. engagingly sincere, to my ears, and my pick of the litter i received from philadelphia's nonresponse label.
- james coleman: theremin zuihitsu cd (sedimantal)
this one keeps slipping away from me after repeated hearings. i was pleased upon first listen to discover that the theremin is integrated into complex settings of other instruments, including trumpet, percussions, cello, sax, electronics & voice. sounds are carefully used so as to be part of the ensemble, without calling much attention to their sources. i really didn't hear this as a "theremin" record, which is to say it did not indulge in any "forbidden planet" cliches. in keeping with the art & quoted passages decorating the cover and inserts, the overall feel is very japanese and very minimal, with maybe a light touch of contemporary euro-improv jazz seasoning in there somewhere. i'm impressed.
- destroy all monsters swamp gas cd (the end is here)
strange cd... this is the destroy all monsters i bought at atp (all tomorrow's parties in la)... all about paranormal stuff... called swamp gas, songs (hmm, not really) about automatic writing, flying saucers, stuff like that... more like random instruments with spoken word bits being read over the top... weirdness... most recount incidents that have occurred in michigan (birthplace of d.a.m. and still home to member cary loren). package contains a newsprint edition of the "swamp news gazette", dated march 1966-march 2oo2. 8 pages of lyrics and articles explicating the obtuse subject matter for this artifact. which is as it should be, i feel that this is a return to form for the collective, made up of loren, mike kelley and jim shaw (minus famed bigfishinnasmallpond-artist niagara). the supernatural conspiracy stories are juxtaposed with bits of singsong versions of pop songs from the timeframes of the "articles". the essential work remains of course the 1974-76 3 cd set (see review, good luck finding it, cary might be able to get you one for $150 or so at www.thebookbeat.com). have i mentioned that the credits for this one also include sun ra, violent onsen geisha & warn defever? imagine the kind of story sun ra would contribute, being from saturn, as i am sure you know.
- the fountain of youth 4 cassette handmade box set (american tapes)
i hope my cassette machine survives playing these spraypainted tapes. released in a micro-edition (of 10? and one of the 4 tapes in mine has nothing audible on it at all), this selection features john olson (of spykes, wolf eyes) in an intimate setting, usually using only one or two of his favorite devices at a time, including (found?) tapes, percussion, various synthetic sound sources (who knows what they were before he got his hands on them) & reeds. no real melodic content, but much contrast in sound colors, rhythms and textures. the packaging is obviously done with care, as is most all of the stuff i see from american tapes. this one features an elaborately & pasted box with the tapes attached with various colors of pipe cleaners. made me hate to open it up. was i even supposed to?
- richard cholakian/philip gayle hud pes cd (yabyum)
- philip gayle solo live '98 cd (yabyum)
double cd of improvised guitar (+ similar instruments) and percussion. file under "guess you hadda be there". well-nuff played, but ignites no burning desire to hear more. in fact, a real good, pointed, exquisite 5 minutes would have done me just fine. based around a 78 minute piece which gayle felt couldn't be edited. he also concluded that it wouldn't fit on one cd (i guess 80 minute cds are illegal in texas or something). so he brought richard c. back to record some additional pieces to "bookend" this, then puts the former piece ("ok") on different cds in 2 parts. if only this one could had been a 20 minute 3" cd, i might have been able to digest it. as it is, the events that i remember after several listens are the accidental sounds (like the phone) that occurred.
the solo live '98 is less of the same, so i count my blessings there. i can listen to john fahey, derek bailey or eugene chadbourne play for over an hour with guitar-like sounds, but the essential spark i find in their work never manifests itself here. there are explorations, but i can not say gayle has found much of anything here. unfortunately lacking of inspiration.
- hans grüsel's kränkenkabinet das boot - early works ('??-82) cdr (no label)
this retrospective cdr came in a hand-colored, drawn on and ripped packaging that was a good precursor of what was inside... a wide variety of electronic sounds ranging from playful to seriously aggressive damage-inducing frequencies. i can't help but try to imagine how this will relate both to his upcoming live performance at the detroit contemporary and with his new release, which has yet to arrive here at the earpeace clearance outlet. pretty imposing, as an introduction, strong & varied, even including some minimally-applied instrumental sounds among the electronix, as the cd progressed. i wonder if these are older, as per the subtitle, tho curiously, some of the dates are obliterated. parts of the 6th track, "grund-planke-feld" had me thinking i was aboard a rollercoaster at one point, continuing the funhouse feel of this cdr. stay tuned, kiddos...kränkenkabinet is one to watch.
- james twig harper brainwave cdr (heresee)
another in the vein of interesting packaging approaches that seem to be a common element running thru some reviews this issue, combining printing on mylar (i think?) folded and taped with the credits somewhat obscured and somewhat visible, and if you try to remove the tape you are doomed to destroy the reproductions of harper's hand drawn art. which reflects, i 'spose, his often apocalytic worldview, or at least my interpretation of his posts on a variety of online bulletin boards i have frequented. "protest music" indeed, but the ill-fated resistance is given by quasi-experimental tools in the hands of the obviously quite mad doc twig. find the use of the c
ommodore64 computer admirable, being a user of aftermarket technology myself (amigaby necessity, not by design). other elements include "homemade & patchsynth sounds", yielding a mixture of feisty frequencies that hit me in a good place. credits for remix/additions by s.glass, rick weldon & anne eickelberg ensure that these 47 minute were not so casually selected, but instead were bounced off a few different sets of sensory inputs to giving it additional gluey properties. it seems to proceed in a series of sticky steps, with every stride triggering some unknown outburst of alienated sonic flypaper. tho track #8 brought it all together very catchily, & did have me hopping around the house in the throes of some sub-dancefloor dervishness. like the squirrel at work who escaped from the adhesive trap, i am feeling the rawness of torn-loose body hair after hearing this. playing this could work as a deterrent to braindead pests. - loess cd (nonresponse)
hmmm, well, starts out as decent idm (intelligent dance musik). gawd, i hate that term, i mean, it seems like the oxymoron emblematic of smart-asses trying to say they can skank it too. maybe my problem with it is that i just don't like beats too much, unless they are severely broken or otherwise put thru some kind of distressed wringering. luckily for me, by the latter part of this cd loess have dispensed with the dj source material and have started to defy gravity and liftoff into some more attention-saturating sound-teknics. too bad this couldnt be a 2-sided cd, so's i could just skip right to the non-idm quotient stuff. there's always the track skip button, tho.
- metalux fluorescent towers lp (hanson)
take 2 brides and 1 nautic and u get metalux. hmm, not really a fair recipe, but i was just pointing out the members other associations. any intermarriage here is more like mutating gene-splicing with liberal doses of radiation. which might explain the post-meltdown wardrobe. vocals are warped, distorted and variable-speeded up & down over an accompaniment of unabashing drums/guitars & gurgled synths/c64. evokes a sci-fi post-nuclear art-kitsch impression. a comfortable fit into my headspace, both retro in tools and futuristic in vision, charmingly schizophrenic in the combination of heavenly and heavy.
- microwaves system 2 cd (cenotaph/version city)
or should i say (((microwaves)))? at 1st listen, their press sheet comparisons with bands like mx-80 sound seem appropos. i hear mid-to-late 70s king crimson tho, in the "thinking man's angry guitar showcase" attitude. there is more here, especially the synth/loops percolating under and around the compositions. a lot to admire, from the packaging (i especially like the graphic on the cd itself) to the clear sound and concise, well thought-out (3 years worth) arrangements. hmm, kindred spirits with the flying luttenbacher's maybe? there is a resonance with the midwestern aggressive rock sounds that seem to radiate around chicago (tho microwaves hail from pittsburgh), increased by the mention of dazzling killmen (skin grafties, anyone?). no "damaged, sensitive, misunderstood artistes" here, more of a display of instrumental/arranging prowess. all well & good, i suppose, hard-working musician-types need love too, even if their songs are hookless musclecars. i imagine that, if i were to produce them, i would try to put them in an unexpected, disorienting, unpremeditated as possible of a situation, and then let them try to use their instrumental proficiency to fight their way out. and revel in the tension... but that's me. very well done, for fans of seriously visceral neo-prog rock. i guess i just keep thinking that i wanna add a little "out of control" to the equation...don't feel at-home without some chaos. more stuff like "1983" (++abandonment quotient) would be good for me.
- kiyoshi mizutani yokosawa-iri cd (cmr)
first release on cmr, formerly associated with the 20city label, working that japan-new zealand experimental axis. subtitled "12 pieces of mixed soundscapes", this is a work created from sounds recorded at a "satoyama", a very specific and traditional japanese form of farming community. all of the mixes were created using environmental found sounds from that setting. an interesting premise for a recording. as a listen, it ushers in a relaxing feeling, as nothing is too rushed or clashing. the various sound events are arranged to flow with a minimum of discontinuity. quite a contrast from much of what i listen to, most of which seems to revel in disruption. sounds of insects and small animals, including what sounds like monkeys at one point. periodic occurences of rain, wind, dripping & flowing water, and distant voices. a good recording for putting oneself into a different space. well-captured and clearly recorded by kiyoshi mizutani. very meditative, as thoughts tend to unwind off into the atmosphere while listening to coins and other objects striking surfaces in a natural randomness. an extremely evocative, peaceful recording.
- nautical almanac - meerk puffy cdr (veglia)
wow, expecting a lo-fi tour document, instead i get my stuffing knocked out by the first coupla tracks, phreaking great recordings of live matter from a duo that is a "must-hear" in the flesh. i am enjoying the level of abandonment that careens thru these tracks. makes my geeking level increase at getting to see them in 2 days (see review of the show). a tip of the mask to whoever culled these from what musta been a shiiteload of tape (or disk?). something vital happening here, imhofwiw... meerk puffy's contributions include intensely erected monoliths of drum/synth beats building into askew gnawheeze.
- pink & brown final foods cd (toyo)
- pink and brown|death drug load split 12" ep (load)
final foods is a decently recorded set of tunes which succeeds in conveying p&b as an over-the-top act with a kinda latter-day buttholes feel of contained threat. i get the impression that some of the lessons coming out of the
now waveschool are being applied with a level of self-consciousness that prevents true abandon from piercing thru the cover of the routine. having seen these guys play, we know they are damn good musicians, tending towards an audience interacting good-natured "look at us crazy musicians" thing, but i sense there might be more under the masks. not sure if they have found it yet.i much prefer the "puke and burn" side of the load split 12". even the briefly worded insert slip hints at the concept of having the bunny-eared pink & his tinny mask-mic squalling, taunting vocalizations represent a flame-y kind of overt sexuality, while the open-shirted & pictorially invisible (gender indeterminate? howzat?) brown smolders in a more hirstute manner. their side of this exudes a fresher, less rok(is-more) substantial delivery of the goods than the relative conformity of final foods. i loved the string-stroking part pink does in "prison in my eye", which exploits the area left open due to the absence of bass. the death drug side of the platter, a single side-long track, comes off as a roughly-recorded live tribute to a 1986 (or 1978?) angel dust scare-flick. seems like a throwaway track with soundtrack samples sprinkled among the chanted refrain of "part-eee" and a repetitious instrumental grind.
- c. ptak prepare your self cdr (heresee)
a strange, peculiar bird of a recording, emitting an untamed pallette of sounds derived from tormenting small electronic creatures. or the other way around, if you go by the cover photo. there are quite a few recognizeable remnants of the source materials (in that way reminiscent of general magic) and an overall adventurously playful attitude. i have noticed how this cd provides a clear contrast to other works i have played alongside it, by which i mean that it has its own identity, which stands out among other impressive artists such as marina rosenfeld & her nautical almanac collaborator, twig harper.
- the red krayola free logo 7" (ruminance)
when i spoke to mayo thompson about this, he said, "it's albert (oehlen)'s thing. i never met the guy," (referring to frédéric d'hérouville of ruminance records). this single contains 2 "wendy gondeln" remixes of "stil de grain brun" (a song originally released on the amor and language cd ep back in '95- wendy gondeln is a psuedonym for albert oehlen) plus iconic picture sleeve art (by albert?). the song is treated to some additional synth sounds and a heavy-ish percussion part near the end, plus the addition of radio samples on the flipside. while i find them interesting, i would say this is an item for completists only (like me). tho it's not likely you will be running across too many copies of this at the local cdmart, since the only vendor i have found is other music in new york, and even they weren't listing it due to the limited supply. seems destined to be another one of those krayola kurios which are practically impossible to find. this does make an interesting counterpart to the 12" remix ep drag city released (containing versions of "father abraham" off hazel).
- marina rosenfeld the sheer frost orchestra - drop, hop, drone, scratch, slide & a for anything cd (charhizma)
seems like some of the things i really decide i want to hear are just about impossible to find in distribution. thanx to christof kurzmann of charhizma for sending this to me, since there is no us vendor handling this (that i could find). it is interesting to finally be able to hear documantation of the sheer frost orchestra, which i had read descriptions for a few years now. comprised of a fluctuating lineup of female artists handpicked by marina rosenfeld, various incarnations of this project have manifested on both coasts. the words in the title of the cd "drop, hop, drone, scratch, slide & a for anything", refer to the instructions/suggestions used in the score which guides the players in performance. guitars are played "tabletop"-style, laid down on the floor, using such impliments as bottle of nail polish ("sheer frost" is evidently a descriptive color term used on one of those products). the resulting guitar emanations were then also subjected to laptop computer processing in performance by additional orchestra members. it comes out sounding maybe like improvisational jazz played by people who haven't gotten too used to playing that way, giving it a freshness & unexpectant air of surprise, as if to say "you mean i can do that?" here's hoping christof and marina can hook up with a real distributor.
- teamshadetek natural selection - md sessions 6.o1-9.o1 3" cd (nonresponse)
another of those square little 3" mini-cd things that seem to be becoming more & more prevalent. maybe a desire to return to a shorter format, with the length of a full cd being too much of even a good thing... which this is, by the way. especially at the start of the cd, there are some intriguing sounds being incorporated into the dreaded idm form, but overcoming that with the depth of the offerings. it does progress towards a more formulaic involvement in that style after awhile, tho, which is kinda disappointing. a good start, now i would hope for a movement away from the genre as a direction, rather than into the constraints of the beat.
- u can unlearn guitar what a load of fucking shit cdr (no label)
i'm not sure i was supposed to review this, since it was sent in response to my call for submissions to a comp i was putting together, but since when should that matter to me, eh? i was impressed by some tracks i heard on
empee3dotcom - wolf eyes/black dice [black eyes] vol. 1 chimes in black waves cdr (american tapes)
apparently roughly recorded on minidisc (rough cdr xfer, too) during sessions for some other project (here & there you can hear talking?), sounds like bad drugs, long late-night sessions and an obsessive urge to document everything. the title is accurate, as the melancholy does roll off this one in "black waves". i hear chimes, clicking recording faults and what sounds like the occasional sound of lonely birds surrounding the stops & starts of percussion and barely functioning electronics.
- (various artists) we're twins sampler 2oo1 cdr (we're twins)
picked this one up after hearing this ann arbor local release discussed with some humor at an after-show confab. the works here seem to be pretty much the same few people, along with some imaginary entities (state & william?). there is a kinda twee aesthetic at work, evoking the child-like, naive artist effect. which is not altogether a bad thing, as it is presented in an unassuming manner, and a willingness to not take itself too seriously, which gives it some substance. i mean, the black cdr must have cost as much as the 2 bucks i paid for this. definitely not a career move, so we have here people making music, songs, art-noise, found sound for the sake of the act. in that light, isn't labeling the thing in crayon the right way to go? either that, or they have more money (or access to recording equipment) than sense. i'd pay 2 bucks for that, and wouldn't despise you if you did too...
~ b . w i l d e r e d (except where noted)
d e s i d e r a t a number ten front page | previous page | next page |
