Albums and Singles
Audiosphere
This collaboration began during a performance at Tonic in NYC celebrating the release of Willits' Folding, and the Tea,still one of my favorites on Deupree's 12k label. Willits' style ofguitar processing, a method he calls "folding," involves the digitalreassembling of plucked rhythms and melodies in a way that resists bothfragment pile-up techniques and a tired glitch aesthetic. Theaccurately "folded" results show evidence of computerized cuts, falsestops, and redirections, but each piece also retains the timbre andirregular sustain of the guitar itself, as if Willits' laptop were justanother pedal at his feet, each uncanny alteration arriving seamlessly,swift as the click of a heel. Folding would not be asimpressive, however, if the guitarist's playing were not sounderhandedly melancholic. Without the rolling minor chords of someonelike Fennesz, Willits brings emotion to his music in a more subtle way,producing fragile, staggered tonal clusters, taking on weight only asthey are creased and misaligned during the "folding" process. The "tea"to which his debut's title refers is clearly not the skyward,psychedelic brew filling fellow lap-tarist Joseph Suchy's glass, butmore like a strong herbal black, the kind meant to accompany sittingand staring into surfaces. Taylor Deupree's earthbound approach tomicro-tonal sound arrangement is a perfect match for the concentrated,tactile element of Willits' work. Fostered by the growth of his 12kimprint, Deupree's now-mature style has developed around a minimalistdissection of sound, a mapping of sound particles in a way that, likeWillits', avoids an obsession with glitch-ist process, ordeconstruction per se. Instead, Deupree, along with the expanding 12kroster, favors a highly suggestive magnification of sound events thatfeels wholly related to human gesture and the surrounding world, fullof miniature drama and plaintive tug. Most of the music on Audiosphere 08comes from live sessions where Deupree uses Willits' guitar, run firstthrough the folding box, as source material for his microsoundinvestigations. The live setup creates a kind of circular dialogueresulting in some remarkably focused compositions. Up close, theproduct of the collaboration is predictable: the dominance of Willits'guitar gives the tunes a buoyancy and a more present melodic portionthan Deupree is used to, and the latter's position in the backgroundsituates the guitar's colorful folds in a crisp stew of tiny sounds,ranging from the static skips and jumps more typical of Deupree's solooutput to assertive drones, pulsing as if stripped from the core of aplucked string. At greater remove, isolating each musician'scontribution becomes not only impossible, but a easily forgotteninterference in the enjoyment of these tracks, so much so that the twosolo live tracks also included make for an interesting look at just howmuch one of these guys brings to the table. As a release, Audioshere 08holds up surprisingly well among the intimidating previous output ofits contributors, and as a collaboration, this music is a stunningachievement, a beautiful rounded sound that leaves me hoping this duowill record again.
This collaboration began during a performance at Tonic in NYC celebrating the release of Willits' Folding, and the Tea,still one of my favorites on Deupree's 12k label. Willits' style ofguitar processing, a method he calls "folding," involves the digitalreassembling of plucked rhythms and melodies in a way that resists bothfragment pile-up techniques and a tired glitch aesthetic. Theaccurately "folded" results show evidence of computerized cuts, falsestops, and redirections, but each piece also retains the timbre andirregular sustain of the guitar itself, as if Willits' laptop were justanother pedal at his feet, each uncanny alteration arriving seamlessly,swift as the click of a heel. Folding would not be asimpressive, however, if the guitarist's playing were not sounderhandedly melancholic. Without the rolling minor chords of someonelike Fennesz, Willits brings emotion to his music in a more subtle way,producing fragile, staggered tonal clusters, taking on weight only asthey are creased and misaligned during the "folding" process. The "tea"to which his debut's title refers is clearly not the skyward,psychedelic brew filling fellow lap-tarist Joseph Suchy's glass, butmore like a strong herbal black, the kind meant to accompany sittingand staring into surfaces. Taylor Deupree's earthbound approach tomicro-tonal sound arrangement is a perfect match for the concentrated,tactile element of Willits' work. Fostered by the growth of his 12kimprint, Deupree's now-mature style has developed around a minimalistdissection of sound, a mapping of sound particles in a way that, likeWillits', avoids an obsession with glitch-ist process, ordeconstruction per se. Instead, Deupree, along with the expanding 12kroster, favors a highly suggestive magnification of sound events thatfeels wholly related to human gesture and the surrounding world, fullof miniature drama and plaintive tug. Most of the music on Audiosphere 08comes from live sessions where Deupree uses Willits' guitar, run firstthrough the folding box, as source material for his microsoundinvestigations. The live setup creates a kind of circular dialogueresulting in some remarkably focused compositions. Up close, theproduct of the collaboration is predictable: the dominance of Willits'guitar gives the tunes a buoyancy and a more present melodic portionthan Deupree is used to, and the latter's position in the backgroundsituates the guitar's colorful folds in a crisp stew of tiny sounds,ranging from the static skips and jumps more typical of Deupree's solooutput to assertive drones, pulsing as if stripped from the core of aplucked string. At greater remove, isolating each musician'scontribution becomes not only impossible, but a easily forgotteninterference in the enjoyment of these tracks, so much so that the twosolo live tracks also included make for an interesting look at just howmuch one of these guys brings to the table. As a release, Audioshere 08holds up surprisingly well among the intimidating previous output ofits contributors, and as a collaboration, this music is a stunningachievement, a beautiful rounded sound that leaves me hoping this duowill record again.
samples:
- Parent Category: Reviews
- Category: Albums and Singles
- Hits: 2913
Dekorder
Dekorder is a new label/distributor based in Hamburg and founded by thesame people behind the now-defunct Disco Bruit imprint. Kicking offwith an impressive group of 3" discs and 10" records, the label seemsto pick up where Bruit left off, furthering its juxtaposition of thebubbly, cut-and-paste electronica dominating labels like Sonig anddarker digital landscaping characteristic of groups like Jazzkammer andnew Hafler Trio. Dekorder's first release comes from Barcelona-basedmulti-instrumentalist Un Caddie Renvers? Dans l'Herbe who has justreleased a full-length CD on the label, breaking up their 3"/10"streak. If this mini-disc is any indication of the sound of his newermaterial, I can comfortably recommend hunting it down. The music flowsfrom an impressive range of sources, including a number of Sub-Saharaninstruments, cello and guitar, all fed through software to createsparse but effective compositions that develop in a deceptive,half-improvised manner sometimes reminiscent of the work of Sack &Blumm. The sound of the Mbira (thumb-piano) dominates much of thedisc's 20 minutes, cut into elaborate chiming patterns, never gaudy,and invaluable to the continental vibe drifting off most everything.The laptop thankfully sticks to the background of Weird Taste,performing cutting and looping functions almost exclusively, lettingthe soul of the instruments and Un Caddie's breezy playing do most ofthe talking. Even at their most repetitive, the artist's piano andguitar figures maintain a hypnotic, truly cinematic bent thatimmediately separates the music from the majority of small-formatlaptop productions. Un Caddie has many more releases, including severalthrough his own Ooze.Bap label and the newer Dekorder release Like A Packed Cupboard But Quite?, making this 3" the perfect introduction to a refreshing new face that will undoubtedly provide for future discoveries.
Dekorder is a new label/distributor based in Hamburg and founded by thesame people behind the now-defunct Disco Bruit imprint. Kicking offwith an impressive group of 3" discs and 10" records, the label seemsto pick up where Bruit left off, furthering its juxtaposition of thebubbly, cut-and-paste electronica dominating labels like Sonig anddarker digital landscaping characteristic of groups like Jazzkammer andnew Hafler Trio. Dekorder's first release comes from Barcelona-basedmulti-instrumentalist Un Caddie Renvers? Dans l'Herbe who has justreleased a full-length CD on the label, breaking up their 3"/10"streak. If this mini-disc is any indication of the sound of his newermaterial, I can comfortably recommend hunting it down. The music flowsfrom an impressive range of sources, including a number of Sub-Saharaninstruments, cello and guitar, all fed through software to createsparse but effective compositions that develop in a deceptive,half-improvised manner sometimes reminiscent of the work of Sack &Blumm. The sound of the Mbira (thumb-piano) dominates much of thedisc's 20 minutes, cut into elaborate chiming patterns, never gaudy,and invaluable to the continental vibe drifting off most everything.The laptop thankfully sticks to the background of Weird Taste,performing cutting and looping functions almost exclusively, lettingthe soul of the instruments and Un Caddie's breezy playing do most ofthe talking. Even at their most repetitive, the artist's piano andguitar figures maintain a hypnotic, truly cinematic bent thatimmediately separates the music from the majority of small-formatlaptop productions. Un Caddie has many more releases, including severalthrough his own Ooze.Bap label and the newer Dekorder release Like A Packed Cupboard But Quite?, making this 3" the perfect introduction to a refreshing new face that will undoubtedly provide for future discoveries.
samples:
- Parent Category: Reviews
- Category: Albums and Singles
- Hits: 2722
Lexicon Devil
With the homemade aesthetic as marketable as ever, and luminaries of the cassette noise underground priming for the next JANEmagazine feature, it's a surprise the 80's industro-punker annals havenot yet been thoroughly stormed for reissue. Digitizing the past can befun and will sometimes produce a posthumous legend, but all too oftenthe process does nothing more than make undeserving, even undesiringheroes of the old, and uninspired imitators of the young. At presentit's hard for me to listen to a Wolf Eyes record without hearing aco-worker rattle on about the glory days of SPK, and my enjoying SPKgets complicated by a guard against someone else's glamorization. Mysalvation comes with reissues that can show me "new" things, like alost inspiration or the missing link in the evolution of a style, butwith an added suspension of recognition. In other words, the best musicmust allow me to lose myself, must first lead me astray, or wipe theslate clean, before revealing its true character. Luckily, this BoyDirt Car reissue, containing the group's best full length and theirside to a split with fellow Milwaukians F/i, is forged of such raresteel. Wintershows me a time when bands playing indulgent static dirges or whistlingthrough vocal effects formed just another dark corner of the localhardcore scene, a time when anyone could plug in a broken keyboard,start mumbling about the highway at night, and become genius for a day.Formed from a couple members of Die Kreuzen and some like-minded,Branca-inspired youths, Boy Dirt Car was fertile ground for a marriageof punk and industrial philosophies, coming to climax in '86-'87 withthese two releases. The unfortunately-named band took its blueprintfrom the slowed-down doom punk of bands like Flipper, shattering it toinclude the open spaces and electrified edges of early Neubauten. Oneof the most striking qualities of the music is how little the grouprelies on anything more than guitars to construct their elaboratetapestries of noise. Songs like "Forms Forced Surrender" and the brutaltitle track show evidence of either several moments of collectivebrilliance, or several dozen painstaking overdubs. Elsewhere, tracksrange from the Null-ian meltdown of "Invisible Man" to the opening"Smear," a delicate wound of crisp delay, amp buzz, and metallicpercussion. While the homemade vibe exists throughout, it neverencourages a preoccupation with process, instead reinforcing a sense ofyouthful exuberance in the music. Listening to Winter, thisexuberance and a kind of punk-ist abandon are hard to ignore, makingthe few moments of lyrical cheese, bad poetry, and guitar wank easy toswallow. As with any great punk band, clich? and indulgences soonbecome part of Boy Dirt Car's rather addictive appeal, and ultimatelythese humorous missteps help to form more of an accessible foundationfor the group's frequent excursions into righteous, blistering noise.
With the homemade aesthetic as marketable as ever, and luminaries of the cassette noise underground priming for the next JANEmagazine feature, it's a surprise the 80's industro-punker annals havenot yet been thoroughly stormed for reissue. Digitizing the past can befun and will sometimes produce a posthumous legend, but all too oftenthe process does nothing more than make undeserving, even undesiringheroes of the old, and uninspired imitators of the young. At presentit's hard for me to listen to a Wolf Eyes record without hearing aco-worker rattle on about the glory days of SPK, and my enjoying SPKgets complicated by a guard against someone else's glamorization. Mysalvation comes with reissues that can show me "new" things, like alost inspiration or the missing link in the evolution of a style, butwith an added suspension of recognition. In other words, the best musicmust allow me to lose myself, must first lead me astray, or wipe theslate clean, before revealing its true character. Luckily, this BoyDirt Car reissue, containing the group's best full length and theirside to a split with fellow Milwaukians F/i, is forged of such raresteel. Wintershows me a time when bands playing indulgent static dirges or whistlingthrough vocal effects formed just another dark corner of the localhardcore scene, a time when anyone could plug in a broken keyboard,start mumbling about the highway at night, and become genius for a day.Formed from a couple members of Die Kreuzen and some like-minded,Branca-inspired youths, Boy Dirt Car was fertile ground for a marriageof punk and industrial philosophies, coming to climax in '86-'87 withthese two releases. The unfortunately-named band took its blueprintfrom the slowed-down doom punk of bands like Flipper, shattering it toinclude the open spaces and electrified edges of early Neubauten. Oneof the most striking qualities of the music is how little the grouprelies on anything more than guitars to construct their elaboratetapestries of noise. Songs like "Forms Forced Surrender" and the brutaltitle track show evidence of either several moments of collectivebrilliance, or several dozen painstaking overdubs. Elsewhere, tracksrange from the Null-ian meltdown of "Invisible Man" to the opening"Smear," a delicate wound of crisp delay, amp buzz, and metallicpercussion. While the homemade vibe exists throughout, it neverencourages a preoccupation with process, instead reinforcing a sense ofyouthful exuberance in the music. Listening to Winter, thisexuberance and a kind of punk-ist abandon are hard to ignore, makingthe few moments of lyrical cheese, bad poetry, and guitar wank easy toswallow. As with any great punk band, clich? and indulgences soonbecome part of Boy Dirt Car's rather addictive appeal, and ultimatelythese humorous missteps help to form more of an accessible foundationfor the group's frequent excursions into righteous, blistering noise.
- Parent Category: Reviews
- Category: Albums and Singles
- Hits: 3773
MIO
Another piece of the art-rock puzzle is uncovered with the release ofthis three-disc box set containing the entire recorded output ofMexican progressive band Decibel. Part of the Rock In Opposition (RIO)— a South American political movement utilizing art and music asaesthetic protest — Decibel never gained the recognition of theirEuropean art-rock contemporaries. Considering the band's exclusivelyMexican membership, Decibel's sound is surprisingly informed solely bytheir European counterparts, namely bands like Art Bears, Art Zoyd andMagma. It's a shame that the influences of indigenous Mexican cultureand music haven't seeped into Decibel's intellectual Euro-prog in anyrecognizable form, as this would easily set them apart from theirpredecessors. But who am I to question their aesthetic choices? Thefirst disc contains their first LP El Poeta del Ruido(The Poet of Noise), and it's quite an impressive debut. The firsttrack lands right in the middle of some overly familiar jazz-rockterritory: guitars, drums, keyboards and saxophone running aimlesslythrough high-velocity, complex chord changes, showing off theirinstrumental virtuosity. It's all technically impressive but not veryemotionally resonant, the same criticism that could be easily leveledagainst a lot of late-70s art-prog. Quickly and quite unexpectedly,however, the band ushers us the two-track song suite "OrgonPatafisico," a tribute to the Orgone theories of Wilhelm Reich thatbegins with a demented music box melody and soon gives way to a dark,psychedelic soundscape populated by eerie synthesizer swoops andskeletal guitar deconstructions. It's a beautifully realized track,holding the same fascination as early Nurse With Wound material. Infact, if Steven Stapleton had heard this album back in 1979, I'm quitecertain Decibel would have been on the infamous NWW influence listright between Decayes and Dedalus. The rest of the album is similarlyunhinged, proficiently played jazz passages floating around in strangecosmic byways and dark catacombs. "Terapia de Fakirato" is a standouttrack, beginning with an achingly fragile piano refrain before the restof the band join in, transforming the track into a hauntingly beautifuldirge. The rhythm section of Decibel deserves special credit,delivering the propulsive backbone upon which the players bounce andswerve. "Manati" is pure ensemble insanity, a dense jungle swamppopulated by strange birds and pygmies tripping on yage. The rest ofthe first disc is taken up with live material from their early period,proving that Decibel knew how to recreate their studio magic in aconcert setting. Lap dissolve to 12 years later, it's 1992 and Decibelhave reformed and recorded a new LP Fortuna Virilis, which isworthy, but never really recaptures the enigmatic brilliance of theirearlier material. Still, it's hard not to appreciate "Maldoror,"Decibel's ode to Isidore Ducasse's surreal masterwork, a slowlysimmering track decorated with the random squeals of an infant. Discthree consists of live material from a 2000 concert, which begins ingrandiose Magma style before morphing into the future-primitive improvsof "Suite Safari." The rest of disc three contains demos from as earlyas 1977. These are poorly recorded but allow us to hear songs from the PoetaLP in their nascent form. It should also be noted that this box set isbeautifully packaged, containing all of the Goya-esque corpse portraitsthat adorned Decibel's original sleeves, along with informative linernotes. Taken together, Fiat Lux: The Complete Recordings is an impressive listen, and the definitive career retrospective of this unjustly obscure band.
Another piece of the art-rock puzzle is uncovered with the release ofthis three-disc box set containing the entire recorded output ofMexican progressive band Decibel. Part of the Rock In Opposition (RIO)— a South American political movement utilizing art and music asaesthetic protest — Decibel never gained the recognition of theirEuropean art-rock contemporaries. Considering the band's exclusivelyMexican membership, Decibel's sound is surprisingly informed solely bytheir European counterparts, namely bands like Art Bears, Art Zoyd andMagma. It's a shame that the influences of indigenous Mexican cultureand music haven't seeped into Decibel's intellectual Euro-prog in anyrecognizable form, as this would easily set them apart from theirpredecessors. But who am I to question their aesthetic choices? Thefirst disc contains their first LP El Poeta del Ruido(The Poet of Noise), and it's quite an impressive debut. The firsttrack lands right in the middle of some overly familiar jazz-rockterritory: guitars, drums, keyboards and saxophone running aimlesslythrough high-velocity, complex chord changes, showing off theirinstrumental virtuosity. It's all technically impressive but not veryemotionally resonant, the same criticism that could be easily leveledagainst a lot of late-70s art-prog. Quickly and quite unexpectedly,however, the band ushers us the two-track song suite "OrgonPatafisico," a tribute to the Orgone theories of Wilhelm Reich thatbegins with a demented music box melody and soon gives way to a dark,psychedelic soundscape populated by eerie synthesizer swoops andskeletal guitar deconstructions. It's a beautifully realized track,holding the same fascination as early Nurse With Wound material. Infact, if Steven Stapleton had heard this album back in 1979, I'm quitecertain Decibel would have been on the infamous NWW influence listright between Decayes and Dedalus. The rest of the album is similarlyunhinged, proficiently played jazz passages floating around in strangecosmic byways and dark catacombs. "Terapia de Fakirato" is a standouttrack, beginning with an achingly fragile piano refrain before the restof the band join in, transforming the track into a hauntingly beautifuldirge. The rhythm section of Decibel deserves special credit,delivering the propulsive backbone upon which the players bounce andswerve. "Manati" is pure ensemble insanity, a dense jungle swamppopulated by strange birds and pygmies tripping on yage. The rest ofthe first disc is taken up with live material from their early period,proving that Decibel knew how to recreate their studio magic in aconcert setting. Lap dissolve to 12 years later, it's 1992 and Decibelhave reformed and recorded a new LP Fortuna Virilis, which isworthy, but never really recaptures the enigmatic brilliance of theirearlier material. Still, it's hard not to appreciate "Maldoror,"Decibel's ode to Isidore Ducasse's surreal masterwork, a slowlysimmering track decorated with the random squeals of an infant. Discthree consists of live material from a 2000 concert, which begins ingrandiose Magma style before morphing into the future-primitive improvsof "Suite Safari." The rest of disc three contains demos from as earlyas 1977. These are poorly recorded but allow us to hear songs from the PoetaLP in their nascent form. It should also be noted that this box set isbeautifully packaged, containing all of the Goya-esque corpse portraitsthat adorned Decibel's original sleeves, along with informative linernotes. Taken together, Fiat Lux: The Complete Recordings is an impressive listen, and the definitive career retrospective of this unjustly obscure band.
- Parent Category: Reviews
- Category: Albums and Singles
- Hits: 4625
0101
Eric Aldea and Ivan Chiossone originally intended Narcophony to be an adaptation of Nurse With Wound's classic 1986 work Spiral Insanafor strings. As the project evolved beyond its original genesis, theydecided instead to create a work that was inspired and suggested by theSteven Stapleton masterwork, rather than a true adaptation. What hasresulted is an album of quiet intensity and true beauty. Spiral Insanastands as Nurse With Wound's most emotionally affecting work; the oneinstance where Stapleton abandoned the clinical distance with which heusually approaches his soundscapes. Narcophony is a similarlyaffecting work; a five-part chamber symphony that envelops the listenerin a spectral wasteland of dread and beauty. Using an ensemble of threeviolins, a viola, a clarinet, a bass and a flute, and Aldea on acousticguitar and "machines," these two artists have created a compellingorchestral work that is all the more amazing for its intense subtlety.The first track places the listener into the moody ambience of a darkforest at night, the distant echoing cries of a sad bird, the pregnanttwilight pushing down on the soul of a lone wanderer. A chorus ofghostly creatures cry out, desperately attempting to push their wayinto cohesion. Their cries fade into the distance. Extinguishedbonfires curl and billow fragrant smoke. The slick surface of wetbranches appear shiny in the moonlight. The forest is a dead museum. Iam reminded of the hauntingly spectral sound design and darksynthscapes that accompanied the night scenes in David Lynch's Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.By the time I reach the third track, I am absolutely transfixed by thisquiet drama; the flutes and synthesizers are sculpting nonsensicalheiroglyphs into my brain. The synthesizer arpeggiations and chirpstake precedence on track four, before being jaggedly torn from the pageand replaced by a series of bubbling electronic swells. After thefive-part song suite of "Petit Buddha," there are two additional songson the disc: "Leo," a lovely ethnic-inflected excursion by IvanChiossone and "Hasmig," another collaboration that highlights Aldea'sguitar and swooping string arrangements. The fragile and sonorous musicmade by Aldea and Chiossone's chamber ensemble is remarkable for itsincredible poise, deep passion and enigmatic resonance. Narcophony is the sound of mystery in motion.
Eric Aldea and Ivan Chiossone originally intended Narcophony to be an adaptation of Nurse With Wound's classic 1986 work Spiral Insanafor strings. As the project evolved beyond its original genesis, theydecided instead to create a work that was inspired and suggested by theSteven Stapleton masterwork, rather than a true adaptation. What hasresulted is an album of quiet intensity and true beauty. Spiral Insanastands as Nurse With Wound's most emotionally affecting work; the oneinstance where Stapleton abandoned the clinical distance with which heusually approaches his soundscapes. Narcophony is a similarlyaffecting work; a five-part chamber symphony that envelops the listenerin a spectral wasteland of dread and beauty. Using an ensemble of threeviolins, a viola, a clarinet, a bass and a flute, and Aldea on acousticguitar and "machines," these two artists have created a compellingorchestral work that is all the more amazing for its intense subtlety.The first track places the listener into the moody ambience of a darkforest at night, the distant echoing cries of a sad bird, the pregnanttwilight pushing down on the soul of a lone wanderer. A chorus ofghostly creatures cry out, desperately attempting to push their wayinto cohesion. Their cries fade into the distance. Extinguishedbonfires curl and billow fragrant smoke. The slick surface of wetbranches appear shiny in the moonlight. The forest is a dead museum. Iam reminded of the hauntingly spectral sound design and darksynthscapes that accompanied the night scenes in David Lynch's Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.By the time I reach the third track, I am absolutely transfixed by thisquiet drama; the flutes and synthesizers are sculpting nonsensicalheiroglyphs into my brain. The synthesizer arpeggiations and chirpstake precedence on track four, before being jaggedly torn from the pageand replaced by a series of bubbling electronic swells. After thefive-part song suite of "Petit Buddha," there are two additional songson the disc: "Leo," a lovely ethnic-inflected excursion by IvanChiossone and "Hasmig," another collaboration that highlights Aldea'sguitar and swooping string arrangements. The fragile and sonorous musicmade by Aldea and Chiossone's chamber ensemble is remarkable for itsincredible poise, deep passion and enigmatic resonance. Narcophony is the sound of mystery in motion.
- Parent Category: Reviews
- Category: Albums and Singles
- Hits: 3227