home > browse > cd-feature > view article

Vital Weekly 697

  Tobias

ASMUS TIETCHENS - EINE MENGE PAPIER (CD by Auf Abwegen)
RHODRI DAVIES & GREGORY BUTTNER - 3 HARP TREATMENTS (CD by Anthropometrics/Auf Abwegen)
Perhaps I may have this before, but I love the format of a 7", except that I don't think its suitable for a lot of music that lands on the desk of Vital Weekly. Music by the likes of Asmus Tietchens. He released 'Papier Ist Geduldig' in 1996 on a 7" on the Syntactic label (which, I just checked their catalogue, could do a great compilation CD of their 7" releases). Paper is patient is what the title means and it refers to the soundsource used: paper. There was supposed to be another 7" on the same label, but that never happened, however he released a piece made out of paper on a compilation CD, also for the same label. This mini CD, lovely on a big size with a transparent outer ring, collects all the 'relevant' pieces, leaving 'P.I.G. 1' and 'P.I.G. 3' in the archive, but the other five pieces (two from the released 7", two from the unreleased 7" and the compilation) are collected here. As said, how much I love the format of a 7", the music of Tietchens comes better across on a CD. The rustling of paper can sometimes be heard here, while the treatments are crisp and clear. This was recorded in 1996, so it doesn't have quite yet the more silent treatments that Tietchens in his later work uses, and 'P.I.G. 2' is quite crude and loud. The use of reverb is extensive there. Five fine pieces of electro-acoustic treatments, of Tietchens in great shape.
Something else I may have noted before, is that Gregory Büttner from Hamburg might be seen as a student of Tietchens (among others). Its hardly a secret that Tietchens is a teacher for sound and perhaps - I am guessing here - Büttner was a student from him. But if not, then he stands in his tradition of sound treatments using a single sound source. Whereas Tietchens learned his trade in the analogue school, Büttner is the digital man. His single source here is the harp playing by Rhodri Davies. He recorded three short improvisations and mailed them to Büttner, who used them to create three lengthy excursions in sound. The harp as such is something which we no longer recognize as such, but perhaps we can sense a bit of the tonal qualities the harp has, that high ringing sound and the deep end. But perhaps that's just my imagination running wild on hearing these pieces. Büttner too uses quite some reverb, occasionally that is, but we can find him for the major part in the land of microsound. Low humming sound, fine and delicate processings (especially in the third part). As such perhaps not the CD to set out a new course in music, but one that builds on the tradition that is already there. (FdW) Address: http://www.aufabwegen.de

BRUCE GILBERT - OBLIVIO AGITATUM (CD by Editions Mego)
Its been a while since we last heard a solo CD by Bruce Gilbert, former of Wire, and with an almost forty year career span in rock bands, electronic music and art installations. His previous solo CD was 'Ordier', released in 2004, but recorded in 1996, so 'Oblivio Agitatum' is his first CD in the new millennium. His mid 80s solo-albums, made for choreography, are what some call his best. Some of the later, more noise based works, were not that interesting I thought. So with much anticipation I heard this new one, and was not disappointed. Three pieces, two quite short and one much longer, of electronic sound of which the origin is hard to be spotted. Some sort of synthesizer? Just effects? Electro-acoustic sounds? Its all hard to say what it is. Obscure music, that's probably as vague but as clear as it can get. In the title piece this is some sort of tape-loop like repeating sound, and in 'Zeros', a drifting ambient like piece of dark electronics, that slowly starts unfolding in various shades of darkness. 'Isopyre', the closing piece is perhaps the most musical piece of the lot. Throughout are these three pieces quite dark and highly atmospheric. Great music, and perhaps for Gilbert a new path to follow, but not as 'new' as some of his earlier has been. Nevertheless, a damn fine release. (FdW)
Address: http://www.editionsmego.com

SOON KIM & TETSUYA HORI - NON-TRANSPOSED SENSE (CD by Konnex)
Tetsuya Hori is musician and composer from Japan living in Berlin. For this project he joined forces with Soon Kim, who also lives in Berlin. Kim plays sax, Hori laptop, beer bottle, toy piano, melodeon. Before moving to Berlin Soon Kim lived in New York since 1987 where he took lessons from Ornette Coleman in harmolodic theory. In 2007 he released a CD containing pieces of his trio and quartet. Hori moved to Berlin in 2003 and in the years before he got his education in Japan (composition). In 2008 he released a solo-album. He has a love for waterlike sounds. The four pieces we find on their CD were composed, arranged and produced by both musicians. Their music is hard to describe. They paint captivating atmospheric soundscapes. The saxplaying is effectively embedded in nice soundtextures that come from Hori. The music sounds very transparent and spacy. Sometimes however it is losing itself in space and it is leading nowhere. The second piece is built around a spoken (japanese) voice, and we miss the point here if you don't understand japanese. Hori proves himself as an interesting and capable soundmagician with a good taste for how to color and combine sounds. Kim and Hori move along very well together, leaving room for each other, and taking time to develop a conversation. Their conversations are never boring, however it is evident that both musicians come from very different musical backgrounds and speak with very different musical vocabulary. (Dolf Mulder)
Address: http://www.konnex-records.de

SUI (CD by ZUFALL3177)
Zufall3177 is a very young label, with only two releases by now. The label started with the recording of Coincidenzia, a collaboration of 24 musicians from Rome who never had played together before. This is also the leading concept for 'Sui'. So 'Sui' does not refer to a band, but to a - by definition- one of project. Of course there needs to be an organizer behind this, a genius who coordinates this formula. Otherwise it is difficult for it to come into being. Also I can't imagine the musicians were invited purely on a at random base. So there must be a mastermind behind this project who pulls the triggers. From the information included I cannot conclude however who this person is. Probably the folks who run this label. It is evident that these people are charmed by the concepts of coincidence, synchronicity and I Ching. Through these principles they search for "the essence of music" in their projects. For 'Sui' this exercise is executed by the following musicians from Germany, Swiss, France, Italy and USA were invited: Agathe Gizard ( violin, voice), Chad Popple (drum), Frank Szardenings (guitar, bass, sax), Gastone Lagaffe (tenor sax, guitar), Hans Hartmann (doublebass, chapmanstick), Jeff Gburek (guitar, mixer, laptop), Jean Hervé Peron (voice, guitar, bass, trumpet, psalter, bohrhammer, chain, horn), Mat Pogo (voice, mixer radio station set), Peter Schlewinski (drum), JD Zazie (CDs, turntable, mixer), der Himmel (bass, voice, drum, horn, bohrhammer, chain). Only the of Peron (Faust) did ring a bell. In many different small line ups we find them at work in 21 short musical escapades. All of them recorded in two days in february 2007. Although a wide range of music emerged in these two days, there is some mysterious unifying factor at work. The music ranks from song-structured pieces, sound and noise collages, free rock and improvisations. Some of the pieces sound very tight, others are a collage of loosely assembled ingredrients. Of course one piece is more successful then another. Maybe because of all musicians vocalist Agathe Gizard is involved in most pieces, it is that I'm impressed by her vocal acrobatics. Whether the essence of music is captured here, I don't know, but it is a successful concept resulting in a multisided whole of very different improvisations. (Dolf Mulder)
Address: http://www.zufall3177.com

MIRKO UHLIG - GYOKURO (CDR by Gears Of Sand)
It has been remarked in the pages of Vital Weekly before, but the man to watch when it comes to producing some interesting drone music is Germany's Mirko Uhlig. Recently he did a 7" with [N], and already has a small catalogue of works (of which the great 'VIVMMI' will soon be re-issued on LP) and 'Gyokuro' is the latest in a series of these works. Again he works with relative minimal means to generate the pieces of music. An organ perhaps in 'In The Gardens Of Gyokuro'? That seems to be it. Maybe the processed bird call in 'Do Birds' (actually the title for these six pieces can be read as one sentence: 'Do Birds Practice Their Songs While They Sleep In The Gardens Of Gyokuro'). Uhlig knows how use a few sounds and still create a great piece of atmospheric music. And, you may ask, does it sound like anything else, or is it completely new? Well, no. In this particular line of music, nothing much new is done. That is perhaps also not the goal of this kind of music. Does it produce a great piece of music? Yes, it does. Whereas some of the current drone artists take too much time or use too much sounds, Uhlig knows how to play a few delicate sounds and set the tone right. Short pieces, each with their own character, yet as a whole, the album has a great distinct sound, an uniformed entity. Another fine work. (FdW)
Address: http://www.gearsofsand.net

EDWARD SOL/ANLA COURTIS - SUBBURST LUX (7" by Quasipop)
Analogue sounds rule on the Edward Sol side. He uses cassette tape loops, polyvox and pedals, all recorded to a four track cassette machine. A crude piece somehow, but it works wonderfully well. Sounds roll over eachother, like a rusty rollercoaster rolling at night. Small thunder storms are depicted here, an industrial site at night, desolated. Nice stuff, great noise.
Anla Courtis on the other side just uses geyser sounds for his piece. It doesn't say what he does to process those sounds, but likewise this could very well some sort of analogue treatment. Over the course of six minutes sounds well until they are cut when reaching their peak. An effective treatment and imaginative piece of the violent forces of nature. (FdW) Address: http://www.quasipop.org

BAS VAN HUIIZEN - FIDUCIEFRET (CDR by Etherkreet)
Hopefully, perhaps, Bas van Huizen is no longer really unknown, for his releases on his own Etherkreet label. He plays guitar of his own making, voice and a Chinese gourd flute, which he feeds through 'spectral manipulation software', which is funny, since upon my first listening I thought Van Huizen used some old analogue synthesizers and many sound effects. His previous, MP3, release 'Ontgalman' seemed to dwell a bit too much on prog rock guitars, this one harks back to the cosmic music of the seventies, but then the pitch black nightmare variation. Dense walls of layered sounds, scraping of objects, mucho reverb create dark atmospheric music - remember the cosmos is black? Van Huizen has the perfect soundtrack for it. Its good to see him changing direction, almost with every release; or rather perhaps he is exploring various lines of possibilities he has set out, before deciding on which direction to go. In either case this particular line of investigation is a great one. Think again Asmus Tietchens, Nurse With Wound's drone excursions, Mirror, but then a bit more spiced up. And where on earth does he get those strange titles from? I tried to think of an appropriate translation for the title, but failed. (FdW)
Address: http://www.etherkreet.com

PIVIXKI (CDR by Sabbatical Records)
Busy bee Anthony Pateras, whom we know from various excellent improvised music releases teams up as Pivixki, where he plays the piano and meets up Max Kohane, who is a 'punk/grind royalty from Agents Of Abhorence, Cut Sick, George W Bush and Far Left Limit' - none of which rings any bells here. They cut eight tracks together of total improvised mayhem. Loud for sure, but not throughout. Insane playing but these boys know what they are doing. There is some excellent timing between them, where one plays something and the other responds in a great, making room for a new change, a sudden movement, or a dramatic built up. At just twenty-four minutes, this is the perfect blast of music. They are touring Europe soon, sadly not very around where I live, but maybe in your area? I'd imagine this to be very good live wise. The disc is already a fine appetizer. (FdW) Address: http://www.sbbtcl.com

JAN KEES HELMS - 5 (3"CDR by Lor Teeps)
Another short album by Jan Kees Helms, who is pretty active since his come-back earlier this year. Here he presents five pieces created for a fashion show. Fashion with a ? meaning perhaps its not fashion. Inspired by skin covering by water, sand and ash, and the five colors of the Tibetan flag, he created five short pieces. We hear bird calls, water, marbles, fire and other acoustic sounds of which I can't trace the origin easily being processed into five short delicate pieces of music that is somewhere in between ambient and industrial music. Helms uses computerized effects, but its too raw and roughly shaped to be thoroughly microsound, and that's perhaps a fine thing: it sets him apart from the other lot. Things could have been a bit longer and maybe a bit worked out, but again its a small step forward. (FdW)
Address: http://www.jankeeshelms.nl

The complete "Vital Weekly" is available at: Vital Weekly