i can't sleep. maybe it's this sticky pre-summer humidity.
might as well channel all the energy into something (semi) productive.
so here are another bunch of freeform reviews which try to be everything at
once and (hopefully) end up being (at least) a little more than nothing.
v/a: Twelve Golden Grates (Pi Recording/ T&B UK)
music just keeps getting stranger. this peculiar collection of 'classic' Pi
12" tracks (c/sh)ould be stamped "Export of Finland," as it's right in line
with that wonderful S?kh? gear. Intensive Care Unit (cowton, fergusson, and
eye) open with "brain," a piece of music [sic?] which must be what the fly on
the wall of the Nostromo heard once Ripley primed the ship's self-destruct
mechanism. you can almost hear the red lights flashing and see the sirens
wailing - no drugs required. two tracks from ?'s non-S?kh? "Atomit" 12"
surface here, with "uponut" and "olematon" being genuinely beautiful -
fragile electronics in that Vainio stylee, but kissed with just the faintest
breath of melody. close-seconds for ?'s finest, after "ilta" (_Olento_) and
"radium."
this would be a good place to mention _Tulkinta_ (S?kh? FI) and _Mikro Makro_
(Raster Music GM), as both are superb. the first is a welcome compilation of
Vainio's ? 12"s for S?kh?; the latter is a 'tete-a-tete' with Carsten Nicolai
- with the two musicians alternating tracks. how can you go wrong with
another 80+ minutes of this great stuff? since _Tulkinta_ is earlier
material, it's less refined and more energetic. compare with the quietest
tracks on _Kulma_, but nothing on that album compares to "radium" - a
music-box FUSEd to a +8 beat! Vainio's music is always interesting, but the
most delicious moments are those which juggle noise and sound - using static,
white-noise, and electrified crackles as song elements. the expanded palette
on _Tulkinta_'s new tracks is more impressive than ever, and "kohta"
introduces six tracks which could be ?'s most exceptional material yet. viz:
"s?kh?rausku" - sepulchral chanted drones and an upbeat drum pattern,
haphazard electronics which squiggle and fuss all over the place, and the
occasional blink-and-you-missed-it glimpse of electro. "hy?nteis" has much in
common with Can/Neu!-ifluenced post rockers like Tortoise, especially as the
IDM rhythm opens wide to incorporate steel-drum tones and modulated melodies.
a 'boom-chk (pause)' beat goes quietly nutzoid on "teehetki" before
introducing elements of (s)quashed Deep-Dish House(! - i kid you not!).
"helium" is lighter than.... yeah, yeah, yeah...; it's also the sort of
three-note scrutinization into which Justin Broadrick's most recent Final LP
delved - here set to one of those ether-pale S?kh? beats. the sparklingly
chime-y sounds on "tutka" literally make you feel ten years younger,
fairy-dust and angel-wings and all that other childhood bollocks. all four
tracks from the Tutka 12" are ? in high (for Vainio) gear. excellent - but
i'm sure there's a review of that one floating around in the IDM archives
(E?). So _Tulkinta_ is Mika Vainio at his most delectable - playful and
good-humoured. this would be a perfect entry-point for those who can't see
what all this Panasonic hubub is about. the Noto/? is far more cerebral; both
tracks cross the 11:00 barrier and evolve from coffee-percolator blips or
transmission idlings into sedate and elegant experimental electronics.
Noto's contributions are (marginally) shorter and even more subtle, though
there's a lot of activity under the surface of "6:33." another of those
fascinating 'difficult' listening records.
You can say the same for Wabi Sabi's self-titled album (a-Musik GM). WS is
Marcus Schmickler, Mouse on Mars associate who also surfaces as Mille
Plateaux's musical reconstructionist, Pluramon. A-musik is the K?ln-based
label whose every release (six to date) has been incredible - all are worth
actively seeking out. Wabi Sabi.... six tracks which share two titles ("wabi
sabi" and "param") and 46:41 of uncommon atmosphere. stuck-key synthetics
which recall Asmus Tietchens - or Vidna Obmana in a *very* pissy mood.
Schmickler's Microstoria and NUF remixes reflect the WS style - slow and
tortured sonics which come across as a room full of Stockhausen-treated modem
signals. barely-distinguishable voices and samples drift in and out of the
thick, bubbling Sch?{l}tze-ian air. not a beat to speak of (sorry for wasting
IDM space on this one, folks. but it really is wonderful) - and track 4 is
little more than feathery organ chords suspended from clouds; but it all
coheres by track 6 - where the vista recalls ECM album covers, Sand (the
phenomenal German soundsurfers, not Creation's unrelated Sand), and your most
treasured dreams. mmmm..... if Alec Empire's _Les Etoiles..._ sounded too
disjointed, it's because it was. here's a much more effective and
compulsively enjoyable post-Karlheinz record.
the flipside of Wabi Sabi's Biospheric drift is a truly horrifying 12" slab
of noise concentrate called Bruessler Platz(?) (a-Musik GM). two sides, one a
performance of Schmikler, MoM's Jan Werner, and some[one/thing] called Odjik,
recorded live @ Stollwerck. this is a Germany rarely-heard, piercing
ultrasonics which make certain Merzbow and Aube records sound like
featherdusters. scrambled rhythms and radio broadcasts break the skree but
are either consumed or corroded. FX Randomiz sticks with the program on his
live(?) b-side, a very dark and garbled track which reveals him (them?) to be
more than mere Oval clones (as recent remixes might suggest). Wherever and
whatever the Stollwerck is, bring earplugs if you find yourself in the
vicinity. the Surgeon General will someday announce that pregnant women and
epileptics should avoid this sonic abbatoir at all costs. :)
as a sop to IDM-L... L@N's s/t album (also on a-Musik) is the most
untraditional 'traditional' record to emerge from K?ln since early Kraftwerk.
the duo (Rupert Buwa Huber and Otto M?ller) sound like Mouse on Mars produced
by Mike Ink (not to be too Cologne-centric...), but they definitely have
their own character. the CD adds live tracks (from '95-'96) to the studio
material on the LP version. L@N (Local @rea Network?) is a schizophrenic
beast, divided between juggernaut percussiveness and stillborn ambience ("L@N
master-4" is too portentous with little reward). "L@N L-8" takes the most
banal synth program you could bear to imagine and kneads it into 11+ minutes
of twiddly electronic bizarreness with a b-line that is lifted from the
Silver Apples (and, by associated guilt, Folk Implosion). some of this music
takes a while to find its feet, but the cheerful blips, whirrs, thumps, and
hums are almost viral once they penetrate your head.
very strange European music seems to be the topic, and _Frantz_ - the General
Magic album (Mego AUS) can't escape mention. you can always expect the Mego
guys to deliver... what you least expect. nothing prepares you for this
record, though. the Farmers' Manual and Pita recordings are tearfully normal
in comparison. i'm surprised that Irdial's stamp is nowhere to be found on
_Frantz_. "tyrell" is the strangest 3:40 you've spent in your life -
guaranteed. burn a CD of Irdial's Electric Family LP and send it over to
Oval. you might want to include another disk in the package, one containing
samples of bullroarers, wristwatch alarms, and field recordings made at Nazi
rallies (i'm guessing here). IF- and it's a big 'if' - Popp & Co. don't puree
the sounds into homogenized mash like _Diskont 94_, you might end up with
"tyrell." "take the bus" distills House through an aqueous solution of
Kosmic Kommando acid. "rollen rink" has wheels spinning, drums thundering,
and victrolas playing '40s film music, all screened through the audio
equivalent of sandpaper mesh. so much for tracks 1-3... only ten more to go!
i won't even try to break it down, just try this one if you want some
unparalleled weirdness. but don't be scared off, because "The Official GM
Ski-WM Theme" (ahem!) is the best track Bochum Welt and Cylob never
(co)wrote... positively cuddly!
wasn't there a review of some other record buried in here? _12 Golden
Grates_?
ah me. okay... 6K's "fatality" is a sputtering Cesna tailspinning into Basic
Channel central, and "tighten" is an excellent piece of quasi-"Didgeridoo"
analogue bubblebathtub fun. the two Agent Random tracks are very odd,
"cinders, blades and wings" tumbling into a rising/falling organ groove and
"continuum" sticking out as 11 minutes of guitar/bass/drums/electronics
noodlery which is more Rawfr?cht (read: strange) than Tortoise. a L?SD remix
of Muslimgauze's "bandit queen" is actually a paragon of normalcy compared to
the other tracks here - sweet desert-wind electronica with a dance beat.
another ICU track, "voyager," this one sounding very Fred Giannelli-esque
(that's Superstition-style FG, not S?kh?-style FG). The P Man's lone entry,
"discotasm" is too fucking bent for words. starts like Mike Ink, mutates into
a People Like Us track, and finishes somewhere at the H3O/NWW line. uh...
yeah. MP Lancaster's "macaddict" is a driving chugger whose belly-dancing
beat is buried under foghorns which are buried under fork-and-spoon
percussion which is buried under... you get the picture. very layered stuff.
Redeye Kidz wrap up this baffling comp with "radio hamz,"
maniuplated/fugged-with sound. nothing special and too damn short.
okay. i'm tired.
anon!
BR VII / BloodRush7@aol.com
np: ?