for those who enjoy PimmoN_______philippe
Ampersand Etcetera - 2001_07
ambient & microwave & electronica & experimental & lowercase &
postclassical
& minimal & techno & etcetera
I first got the idea for this when I saw that Pimmon had a disk in the
lovely Material series from Staalplaat, and confirmed I would be getting
one. So I started listening to my downloads, getting some other stuff,
emailed Paul, drafted and waited. And waited. And still nothing from
Staalplaat: in the interim I had also had my brief flirtation with
shutting
down, so maybe they didn1t send it or maybe it got lost in the mail
(which
is why its a good idea to let me know if something is on its way).
Anyway, with issues 08 and 09 already sent, and 10 and 11 in drafting, I
thought I would get this off. I have a copy of the new one on order at
Dorobo, so perhaps there will be something in a later issue.
And as a teaser, 10&11 will cover document03, tennis, andrew garton,
aranos
et al, trummerflora, when, bone, martindx, bergman, disasterarea vinyl
and
maybe more.
jeremy@pretentious.net
&
http://ampersandetc.virtualave.net/ampersand.html
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Pimmon
MP3
Top Forty Fodder falsch (
http://fals.ch)
For .tiln .tiln (
http://www.tiln.net)
InvalidObjects: While Fallt (
http://www.fallt.com)
Assembler MP3 Fallt F.0012.0002 (
http://www.fallt.com)
Vinyl
James Plotkin v Pimmon FatCat
VPE ERS 12/01
?? Plate Lunch
CD
Copper Hats freedomfrom CDr
Waves and Particles Meme meme015cd
Assembler Fallt F.0012.0001
(
http://www.fallt.com)
(!!!!Orquestra del Arrurruz Staalplaat nonumber)
Kinetica (K-raa-k) k021
(
http://www.kraak.net)
My focus has finally settled onto Pimmon - Australian Paul Gough - who
has
been bobbing up and making a name for himself over the last couple of
years.
My first contact was during and through my net music gathering: there
are
some minialbums at a number of my favourite sites; but the sight of a
Staalplaat Material disk made me get out and look more broadly at his
material. This will be a somewhat superficial overview and I1ll start
with
the net stuff, briefly (as you should already have them on my earlier
advice!)
Thanks to Pimmon/Paul Gough for his assistance in clarifying some points
in
the review (though he in no way affected my response), answering some
questions and giving me access to the vinyl material on cd-r.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Pimmon on the Net
Like many of the current experimental electronic artists these tracks
tend
to be short - the longest are a couple over 2 minutes, a few between 1
and
2, and threequarters of the 43 works are a minute or less (great for
downloading). The Falsch collection is diverting but somewhat indistinct
from a consumer point of view - it has the feel of a series of
experiments
(I had trouble with the descriptor: I started with irrelevant1 but that
was
too harsh, possibly less engaging1 would do, but engagement is a very
varied activity, so by indistinct1 I am trying to get a feeling that
there
is an introspective air, that this is even less for the consumer than
normally). Each track is named after a musician (Kylie Minogue, Perry
Como,
Barbara Streisand, Pat Boone) and appears to be a piece of music
(possibly
by the title artists) on which a modulation has been done: some loop,
most
are speeded up beyond recognition, minimal clicks, bubbling - each
slightly
different and focussed on one technique. The tracks spin past you, bring
up
a wry smile, and fade. The five parts making up For .tiln1 are among
the
longer tracks, and more along the lines of abstract glitch ambient -
Prosepect1 has a simple rhythm with a pulstaing metallic drone, while
Regnar1 is a machine clicking away with clicking over the top.
Datasolm1
is uncertain and searching, with a fast forwarding section, and in both
Hymn for h1 and Stirmidleton1 there are high singing tones and
scratchy
noises, more detailed in the second: five nice pieces
As with all the InvalidObject releases (24 in all: and still available
for
download as I write this) While1 consists of 15 oneminute tracks. There
is
a more worked feeling to the collection, perhaps reflecting the fact
that
this is a commercial1 album (200+ copies for sale) (not that I want to
suggest that web stuff is less worthy: there is crap available for money
and
good free sounds on the web [and vice versa] - just if its coming out
commercially, at least one other person has to think it is good, and put
their money up). The structure follows a line I1ve seen or imposed in a
number of releases - the first tracks are more active and complex with
lots
of clicks, machine rhythms, whirrs, burring and noises (some even sound
like
ducks or subdued voices), moving towards a stiller centre - While8 is a
very
drone based ambience, and is followed by some more restrained, steady
tracks, such as While141s tonal ambience, before a final explosion in
While15 (although While2 is also a more ambient piece, stuffing up this
easy
categorisation!). A couple of the pieces also seem to use the technique
played with in Top40 Fodder1, speeding and cutting.
A mention of the Assembler tracks - the album is accompanied on the
website
by companion pieces: graphic scores created with the Faalt designer
Fehler
(F.0012.0004) which were used and modified during the composing process;
60
1 second SimpleText audio works, created by Otaku Yakuza (F.0012.0003
with
Pimmon, based on text versions of the music files) which are gradually
accumulating on site and are, not surprisingly, very brief fragments;
and 10
sixty second Pimmon pieces which are like sketches or ideas for the
album,
mainly working on a single idea - billowing drone clouds, dancing clicks
over whistling winds, strident controlled fast forwarding followed by
spooky
slowed voices, and so on. While I don1t know how they can be listened
in
conjunction to1 the album, they make a nice accompanying minialbum, and
reflect some of the themes of the main work.
Putting all these tracks in one playlist, or burnt onto a single disk,
gives
you a nice varied 48 minute album of moments.
&&&&&&&&&&&&
Vinyl
A problematic medium: fewer people now have/use their equipment or
listen
where its not possible (like the car), reproduction becomes degraded
over
time (sometimes an added attraction), fewer stores stock it. But it is
still
attractive to many people, the problems can be overemphasised, and small
scale productions meet a market niche. Balancing these issues, a look at
three vinyl works Pimmon sent my way.
&
Pimmon has the second side of the FatCat disk, and opens it in a medium
referential way with a stuckrecord orchestral loop on serenade sedan1,
which shifts into some metallic ambience as long tones shimmer, scratchy
crackles ply and a shaky flute attempts a melody as the tones well
behind
and around it, ending with a slowsung tone. Fictitious cells1 develops
slowly, a breathing pulsewave, wavering and resonant tones, creaking and
scratching, squeaks and clicks accreting: then switching to a morsecode
beep
over sustains and surrounded by clittering and unstable connections -
quite
a dramatic change. Seen again in Better kempt1 which shifts from a
scratcy
industrial ambience to a pulse/beat driven crackling before another slow
fade.
&
The album on ERS is, unfortunately, out of print - and contains some
very
different and very ambient Pimmon. The first three tracks are about 6
minutes - VPE1 cycles some complex beats which vary and shift in each
audio
track, rapidly static and subtly dramatic, over which some burbling and
clicking develops in the last third; Frouquuenzen1 is an icy visage of
a
very quiet deep rumbling with clicks and pops on the surface - again
playing
with what use will do to the vinyl - dense and dark; and torn zeta1 has
a
sustained pulsing loop - possibly strings - slowly changing with more
interference clicks over it, and some deeper sounds underneath:
reminiscent
of some of the more ambient Assembler1 tracks. And then Watch the
step,
mind the gap1 the second longest Pimmon track, and probably one of his
livestudio tracks (see Copper Hats1). A slow breathing tone, echoing
pulses, passing sonars opens this expansive landscape, and these
elements
gently and slowly interreact and change, occasional new elements passing
by.
A lovely album.
&
With the Plate Lunch 72 we get four shortish tracks - it looks like
about
seven minutes a side. bent waxes1 is quite upbeat and jazzy, a
backwards
groovy tone (it reminds me of something - work brain work - fripp or
nelson-ish) with a beaty accompaniament of clicks like a brushdrum, a
talking chitter, and some wooshing backdrops and tone washes. Things are
even more backwards on went baxes1 - quite possibly the previous track
played in reverse - anyway it is definitely Pimmon showing us the lack
of
devil messages in his pieces (and with the vinyl you could play it
forwards
to see what it was). Witty. Post-dry1 is a big tonal synth piece, quite
forceful and dramatic which slides into a tapdance rhythm and looping
vinyl,
followed by car park1 where the tonal ambience is continued and
maintained,
deep softly swelling tones rolling beside each other.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&
CD
And into the disks - all of these have been/are available (though like
many
releases these days in limited numbers), and though Copper Hats1 is a
cd-r
release, it does appear in the Staalplaat catalogue, so must be
commercially available1 at a reasonable level.
The Meme release was the first full length appearance by Pimmon and
revels
in its variety: etude per.dll1 opens with an aggressive attacky click
like
a match strike surrounded by flocks of twittering, into disturbed
keyboards,
then a buzzing end, while zwischen die sprunge1 is fast, chittering
over a
back pulse, stable but slowly building, cracks and sqrls making it
noisy,
squeeking then a hammering end. Things become more static with @ five 2
six1 with layered squeeks, birds and an almost melodic loop, and lime
min1
and sakas1 both of which are longer slowly shifting pieces, the first
looped high tones, scratching and a slow machine, the second placing
blurts
and squarks over deep layered loops, both adding and modifying
components.
More whipping scratchy randomness in moosehoch1 where ringing and tones
surround what could be a fals.ch-like record manipulation. In cafu1 a
whrring drone and some speaching computer noises (that bubbling babble
sometimes seen on films) dominate the first half before blurts,
squeaking,
phasers play over before a fade which sees the drone and a soft
squeaking
voice take us out with some gentle shimmering added. Some ambience in
little fleet1 with an organ pulsing and some woodblock clutter, but
behind
are some hidden voices and groans - this track slowly develops over its
8
minutes, softly changing. Speed and clicky change return with eeleemon
scheme 31 along with a buzz, vinyl scratches and submergd voices, all
bubbling softly along and into depended on[off]1 a swirling collage of
various elements - voices, fast disk, popping, helicopters and more -
which
provides an active conclusion
&
Copper Hats1 was the first full album that I got, and is rather unusual
for
Pimmon - it has one track 18 minutes long and 3 others 8 or more. It was
recorded before and after Waves and Particles1, but has more pieces
Pimmon
describes as live studio works1 - presumably where he works the pieces
in
the studio, recording the variations and shifts, and leading to
generally
longer, more static pieces. It opens with Jaipur hobo1 a complex
layering
of clicking crickets, buzz, soft percussive hammering forming a bed for
the
whole track and bells, high synth notes and tones and chings weaving in
and
out over the top. And like many of these tracks, it has a great, long
fade.
Olda waba1 runs over a phone-tone sequence with an aching pulse with
harmonic pulses around it, long tones shimmer and metallic notes join a
slow
pulsation. This more minimal tonal approach continues with Radiates,
codes
locked1 where a runoff groove crackle underpins the whole ten minutes, a
dark ambience developed from shimmering tones which are hard to focus:
high
ones like voices and deeper chants. Gradual changes are made, and
occasional
metallic noises roll through. Vinyl crackling in Sel1 with soft
machinery,
almost melodies, squeaks and microphone brushes are mysterious; is that
a
guitar? Then the second half is a different direction, percussive
splinters,
sustained organ tones all building to the conclusion.
Vodrats1 is short, for this album - 4 minutes - as sounds cut and sped
shimmer against each other in a voicey swirling to a bleepy pulsing end.
An
overwhelming 18 minutes is provided by Don1t fence me in1 where a harsh
buzzing seems to conceal a melody: metallic and subtly noisey it builds
tones and buzzes, subsumes some singing and works towards some melodic
lines
near the end. A static shifting metal storm, to be followed by
Pareelcorte1
deep tonal ambience, tuneful, with clattering and scratches, deep and
distant. Some of these lodes will be mined and developed further, but
the we
will never again visit lots of land under starry skies above1 or the
wide
open country that I love1.
&
Kinetica1 follows the pattern I have mentally imposed on some releases
- a
varied opening track/s followed by more sustained pieces: this opens
with
Hexham scent1 which shifts through a variety of phases in its course:
cycling mechanical loops, riverruns of dense glitch over that, breakups
and
dippy note runs, into a stuttering angelic computer choir, deep rumbles
and
clattering balls, electronic sparking, and finally a topfortyfoddered
singing underneath and into the fade. And it is followed by more static
pieces: Between the heart1 is machine room with blips, deep rumbling,
subtle whips, crackling and high tones like distant voices; while in
Circumlocution1 a pulsing drone, a high tone that occasionally develops
notes and stuttering crackles form a long ambience out of which more
melodic
notes emerge, returning to a more stripped down conclusion.
Emapanar:redacter1 is quite melodic as various cycles of shimmering
notes
dance behind sustained organtone tunes creating a soft sensuousness (for
this genre!) And is followed by a darker piece - Froda1 is a gloomy
landscape of scratches, clicks and buzzes, while computer tones and
whistles
pass over a low background of churning machinery or stuttering
electronics
which rises to the surface with a sustained tone.
There is a tentativeness to the opening of Lime pow1 as high shimmers,
deep
woobles and chattering computers gently jockey beside each other, with a
greater spaciousness than much Pimmon. Some crackling static, processed
voices and choppers enter about halfway in, but still not crowding the
soundspace, allowing it to remain 7+ drifting minutes. Appropriately
named
Buzz like blue children1 is built from variously harsh, edgy, resonant,
suggestive buzzingtones, layered as background and a descending
foreground
motif, focussed for its whole length. Space returns again with
Indigo_upper1 as a echoing gong, occasional crackles and interference,
and
a soft light squarrling slowly build without overwhelming. And into
West
spaghetti west1 densely layered crackling loops, which like much Pimmon
suggest their origin without revealing it, sustained tones within their
strata, crackling developing, and a feeling that this could run forever
-
and that we have just been given a glimpse. A nice mix of dense and
spacious, active and more ambient, which we have come to expect from
Pimmon.
&
With Assembler1 Pimmon once again shows his control of the medium in
tracks
ranging from 2 to 12 minutes, and also the reviewer-annoying track
titling
so popular among electronic artists: very hard to type, often impossible
to
say, conveying nothing. The titles were preset, though, as the music was
created to represent the graphic scores created by the Fallt artists
Fehler
- it was an iterative development as Fehler responded to Pimmon1s tracks
and
Pimmon to the scores. The 12 tracks are grouped into three sets
typographically on the cover, and some similarities or continuities can
be
ween within them, but not striking.
The components are much the same, and again assembled with skill.
%macro.prologue1 shifts beween buzzing and a crackling squeak through a
bleepy section into long metal chords to close, and metal shimmers to
open
rotate_11 with chordal tones and where a hint of voices seems certain
later
in the track, an atonal passage, chittering pulses and a quiet end. Two
complex tracks to open followed by the simple layers of squeak, rumble
and
ratchet which build in Lp1 or the simple crackle and pop and shaky wind
over risingfalling cimetone loop of random n1. The long repeat1 passes
through a number of stages - there is some music under a swirling
rumbling
noise, a clickety passage, the loop develops to become like a stuck
record
then builds to a sustained scratchy tone, through which a squeaking
intrudes
gradually building to dominate, although the loop is still vaguely
present,
to end suddenly.
The second group opens differently with xlat1, a subtle clicky softness
with looped music below, gentle and subdued, fairly static until
suddenly
replaced by buzzes, clicks and a high intrusive sine tone. A short
clicking
metal swirl based around a similar tone in dt 3.14159265358979523841
moves
into asm volatile1 where an interesting stasis of components -
squiggles,
birds, whistles, a record loop - weave around each other before a soft
clicking ending. There is a continuity between these three, so perhaps
they
do form something of a larger unity suggested by the cover.
With not_PATH1 a pulsing organ-like music is lightly touched by vinyl
pops,
while an almost Bachian passage dominates number_overflow1 where
crackles
and scratching try to intervene but unsuccessfully. Its stuttering end
continues into int 31 but fades as a deep engine purr takes over, shot
through with phaserguns and then hightones and stuttering machines, and
into
more areas as the track rapidly shifts grounds - some subtler ambient
phases, scratchy records, tones - a kaleidoscope. A contrast to the
stability and sensitivity of %macro.end1 almost 5 minutes of gentle
shifting drone with light glitch interruptions - a beautiful conclusion
to a
strong album.
&
And from Staalplaat the cd that stimulated this exploration: Orquestra
del
Arrurruz1 (arrowroot orchestra) is a Material release (clear green case
[printed with the details, not engraved this time], inserts of
astroturf,
green ab-cd - two from the series looked at in 2001_05) and thus S
&&&&&&&&&&&&
After all that, any chance of a conclusion? Not likely! Pimmon knows
what he
is doing and does it well - his appearance on a range of exemplary
labels is
no coincidence (and there is more than I have reviewed, and much more
coming, such as an appearance on Bip-Hop Generation v3 [which I hope to
get]or Diskono 07, scheduled for a future review). He uses interesting,
intriguing and complex sounds in ways which make you want to listen to
each
component and hear if you can extract its origin, plus to the whole
piece to
find the rhythms, movement and interactions of those sound components,
and
provides contrasts between activity and stasis, sensitivity and
aggression.
And as the above shows - it is very hard to pigeonhole him, as I found
out
while doing this. The click/cut artist I first heard (and expected) then
transformed into a dark ambienteer and then mixed it all up again,
finally
congealing in my head into a seriously interesting and intensely
satisfying
experimental/electronic composer/creator.
If we are looking to suggestions, the InvalidObject:While1 release if
still
available as MP3 is a great example - if you like that you will probably
enjoy the others (you may even want to buy the actual CD, and others
from
the set). Copper Hats1 is fascinating for its difference, VPE1 should
be
reissued on CD, and each of the commercial1 cds has much to offer, with
different moods and directions. Anyway, a very interesting artist.
&&&&&&&&&&&&
And of course, all past issues, with hundreds of reviews, on site.
Copyright for these reviews remains with me, Jeremy Keens. Artists and
labels are free to use and quote them as long as they acknowledge
Ampersand
and don1t mess with my words! And if anyone else happens to mention one
of
these reviews, do pass on the web address or my email address so new
readers
can find me. Thanks.