Taiga Remains - Obelia (Barl Fire Recordings, 2007)

1 Absence-Frost 17:40
2 Shining Metal Spheres 12:59
3 Radiolaria 3:10

Another lost recording from aQ faves Taiga Remains, one of two unearthed releases that have been lurking on the shelves but have somehow made it unreviewed until now.
This one came out on Barl Fire a while back, and since then the label has called it quits, so these are absolutely the very last copies, so act fast. It's too bad cd-r releases like this are so limited, when you think about the time and care and love that went into beautiful sounds like these, it seems almost criminal that they might only be heard by 50 or 100 people. And these are beautiful sounds, Taiga Remains, aka Alex Cobb, is as comfortable weaving haunting noisescapes as he is unfurling sweet minimal Appalachia, this one is begins as the latter, a spacious reverb drenched chunk of Fahey-esque soft strum, notes and chords drifting in a wide open expanse of reverby shimmer. So delicate and soft focus and lovely.
This is quickly followed up by a bout of extended buzz. A prickly electronic hum, the excited vibrations of steel strings rendered in a subtly undulating layer of insectoid whir, cloaking a deep rumbling drone and mysterious barely audible melodies. The closer is a 3 minute reprise of the opener, more delicate harmonics and fluttery strum, quivering like a dew dappled spider web spun across a sun dappled sonic glade. So so so nice.
Hopefully this will get reissued one of these days, but for now, a handful of you can feast on these lovely sounds.
Aquarius Records

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Praxinoscope - Praxinoscope (Opax, 2005)

01 Untitled 39:10

Oklahoma is full of open spaces and windswept plains. People often underestimate how much beauty there is in these simplistic landscapes. The majesty is derived from the serenity. My favorite moments driving from St. Louis back to Tulsa is the transition from the Ozark hills of Missouri to the endless open spaces, covered in green grass and wildflowers, that dominate Eastern Oklahoma. It's magical to me and ridiculously inspiring.
What does any of this have to do with Praxinoscope? Everything and nothing, really. First off, Praxinoscope is a new Italian duo featuring Roberto Opalio (1/2 of the the space-brother duo, My Cat is an Alien) and long-time MCIAA collaborator, Ramona Ponzini (the two also have a project with the other Opalio, Maurizio called Painting Planets on Petal Ghost). This project traverses a similar terrain as MCIAA, but is perhaps closer to Roberto's brilliant solo album, "Chants From Isolated Ghosts."
Opalio's vocals star here, taking the limelight and thriving inside it. Effects drench his voice making it something truly not of this world. These lunar oceans of sound are magnificent and totally enthralling. It's as though he's a cosmonaut trapped inside a glass box, unable to travel the reaches of space. Such confinement derails your mind and Opalio sounds like a person struggling against himself. At times, hearing this is almost too much - there's simultaneous discomfort and exorcism happening and you can't quite focus intently on either. You are a passive player in this exercise, lost in the crevices Opalio and Ponzini create.
I cannot discount Ponzini's contributions to this 40 minute piece, either. While it may seem minimal on the surface, her various "Japanese percussions" (mostly chromatics, cymbals, and the like) add a great deal of needed texture to counterbalance Opalio's haunted wails. It is reminiscent of the way Finnish master, Keijo, works in a lot of percussive elements to his tracks. And it has the same effect.
Praxinoscope is a great new project from the always wonderful My Cat is an Alien. This is one of Opax's finest releases. Bringing to mind the vocal transcendence of the Skaters, Praxinoscope are proof that you don't need any instruments to make amazing sounds. This is wonderful, wonderful music.
Foxy Digitalis

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Pita - A Bas La Culture Marchande (No Fun Productions, 2007)

A1 PK II 7:20
A2 Atrackals 10:47
B1 1127429874 10:35
B2 1134 Parts 1+2 6:48

It's a real joy to see one of computer music's outstanding talents in such prolific form at the moment. Peter Rehberg first turned heads (or rather blew them clean off) with a number of releases through his own, pioneering Mego imprint. These were compositions which alongside labelmates Farmers Manual and Hecker innovated a new form of glitch music informed as much by techno and punk as they were by the more academic disciplines evident in this highly ornate, elaborate music. Rehberg is currently to be found alongside Stephen O'Malley working on their ongoing KTL project, but away from the doom-heavy dark circuitry that goes into those recordings, he's dropped this stunning LP for Carlos Giffoni's No Fun imprint. The four pieces here take in some brain-meltingly obscure digital music, with first track 'PKN' blasting out some seriously eviscerated audio, stretched into remorselessly hammering beat structures. That's about as straight-forward as this album gets however. Later on you can expect a dense tapestry of concrète sounds shrouding deep, shadowy drones, while at other times there are moments of near silence, with only the faintest murmuring of field recordings to be detected. In amongst all this is Rehberg's persistently fresh-sounding approach to digital sound design, and as you'd expect from an artist of his pedigree there's plenty here that will take you by surprise. Props to Carlos Giffoni for putting this out - there's plenty here for the current generation of noise scenesters to learn from. Highly recommended.
Boomkat

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Rosenberg - Single (Bottrop-Boy, 2000)

A1 Untitled 2:55
B1 Untitled 2:28

Peter Rehberg & Rosy Parlane

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Loren Boyer - Des Parasites Risquent De Se Produire (Intransitive Recordings, 1999)

1 Au Peche Mignon 3:35
2 Bon A' Rien 1:41
3 Il Ne S'Agit Plus 1:41
4 Au Fait 4:50
5 Que L'On Bat 13:05
6 Il N'y Avait Pas A' Discuter 0:12
7 Segue 3:08
8 De Moins En Moins 5:32

A native of northern Florida, recently relocated to Boston, MA, guitarist Loren Boyer presents nine homemade electro-acoustic compositions on his first widely available recorded work. "Des Parasites..." downplays guitar in favor of amplified toys, tapes, bizarre atmospheres, and electronic drones. The result is an introspective, claustrophobic album of melancholy song-like forms, at times innocent and naive, or oppressive and raw. From the gritty, distant percussive opening to the majestic tape-squeal finale, "Des Parasites..." is a concise and intensely personal statement from a unique and underdocumented artist. Includes introductory essay by Davey Willams.
Boyer currently performs both solo and with Harvey Benschoter as the electronics duo Horse Sinister.
"Immediately impressive... Time, or maybe time pieces, could play a part in the construction of this series of (mostly) guitar compositions, nearly all of which have something curious ticking inside them. Elsewhere, subterranean drones and radio squeal add thier atmospheric weight to the proceedings until, finally, Boyer's pecking guitar style emerges fleetingly before being gobbled up in a storm of sonic flak. Great stuff." -Edwin Pouncey, The Wire.
"The music is throbbing and ominous, subterranian and seditious. It is sleepwalking at noon with civil defense sirens going off all around you. In short, this music is disturbing." Glenn Engstrand, The Improvisor.
"A perfect companion for everything but sleeping. Decidedly great." Nirav Soni, Ink 19

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Af Ursin - Hauskaa Joulua! (Meeuw Muzak, 1999)

A1 Tonntujen Jouluyö 1:20
A2 Jouluyö, Juhlayö 1:09
A3 Kulkuset 1:24
B Valkea Joulu 3:50

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Asmus Tietchens & Jon Mueller - 7 Stücke (Auf Abwegen, 2003)

1 1 9:37
2 2 5:35
3 3 6:25
4 4 4:54
5 5 18:34
6 6 3:15
7 7 6:57

Fidgeting and burrowing, digging and scraping. At once 7 Stücke reminded me somewhat of the work of jazz drummer Matt Wilson, but with a curious proclivity for not piecing things together after experimenting. And curiously going into finite corners does duo Tietchens and Mueller go. Cologne-based label Aufabwegen has pretty much been Tietchens home label - and on this 500 copy pressing I am proud to purify my live-work space with this latest playful and elemental endeavor. From hollow metallics and very tactile movements the formula here is as if they were taking found objects and transforming them into creatures. There is a level of anticipation
which is articulated in Mueller's prepared’ drum kit. The silences are weighty here as we are purely indulged by the awkwardness of improvised and unexpected happenstance. There are unexpected distances, play with fore and background and muffled, muted dragging and manipulation of materials. The eighteen minute long untitled track five is the centerpiece of this hour long disc, giving proper way to atmosphere and layering it with austere stillness and timing.
To some degree these gentlemen are going where the conceptualists had gone and yet could not possibly have ever ended up. It is in the outcome, which is so patient, that makes a collaboration like this so powerful.
Vital Weekly

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Reynols - Blank Tapes (Trente Oiseaux, 2000)

1 Untitled 3:32
2 Untitled 10:59
3 Untitled 11:06
4 Untitled 10:08
5 Untitled 6:22
6 Untitled 8:28

Explorations in silence and electrostatic sounds from this Argentinian trio consisting of Miguel Tomasin, Roberto Conlazo and Anla Courtis. Six tracks "made only with analog and digital processings over selected blank tapes dating from 1978 to 1999". The first piece consists of barely audible hiss, with only slight variations. This is the most "blank" of all the tapes presented here. The second piece builds on the same foundation as the first, but quickly becomes much more audible with high pitched hiss and whistling. The third piece flutters comfortably at a low volume (very nice!), while the fourth begins in silence and slides in and out with variations in tape hiss. The fifth piece startled me out of my complacency with its more intrusive sound barrage, and the sixth returns again to subtler shifts and variations. Of course, descriptions of these pieces are a far cry from being an adequate response to this recording. It's the total experience of listening to this disc that really matters, and requires an account that is less descriptive and more impressionistic. The tabula rasa that is the foundation for each of these pieces is a medium we are all familiar with. The way Reynolds builds on this foundation is remarkable - sometimes barely noticeable and at others unmistakable and startling. As an aside, I recently became aware that they are performing some live shows in Argentina. I wonder what a performance by these artists would be like? Blank Tapes is an excellent addition to the Trente Oiseaux catalogue, worthy of much attention, that should be welcomed the world over by fans of this label's activities.
Incursions

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Marcus Obst - Trafic Tonalité (Field Muzick, 2006)

1 Trafic Tonalité 21:46

“Trafic Tonalite” was inspired by a trip to the IRCAM in Paris, which saw Marcus’ equipment melt away and him travelling home without the wished-for results. On this twenty-minute long composition, he sets out to explore, when traffic noise ends being a pain in the ear and starts being agreeable (or the other way round). Well, as long as the street noises are integrated into a hazily floating surrounding like this one, they can stay. “Trafic Tonalite” drifts off on the wings of a happily babbling sequencer line and warm harmonies, with some hardly traceable effects and a steady rhythm providing diversion. Nothing really happens, but suddenly this track reaches a point of total immersion, when you don’t want to let go and keep on driving along for ever. Like a sky-coloured Sunday-morning version of Kraftwerk’s "Autobahn". Absolutely magnificent – and unfortunately limited to 50 copies only.
Tokafi

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Olivia Block / Petra Klusmeyer - Untitled (Boxmedia, 2001)

1 Olivia Block - Oil And Water 19:54
2 Petra Klusmeyer - Pandora's Box 19:57

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Peter Wright / The North Sea / Agitated Radio Pilot - Split (Deserted Village, 2005)

1 Peter Wright - Plume
2 Peter Wright - Coruscation
3 Peter Wright - Heat Haze
4 The North Sea - Embroidered Copper
5 The North Sea - Batik
6 The North Sea - Kaleidoscope Silk Print
7 The North Sea - Ferns Pressed In Paper
8 Agitated Radio Pilot - Broken Hill
9 Agitated Radio Pilot - For Karen Ava
10 Agitated Radio Pilot - Umberumberka

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Peter Wright - Syncopate (Apoplexy, 1998)

1 Sync I 8:20
2 Sync II 6:50
3 Sync III 2:49
4 Sync IV 8:23
5 Sync V 7:02
6 Sync VI 5:50
7 Sync VII 6:33

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Pelt, Keenan Lawler & Eric Clark - Keyhole II (Eclipse Records, 2003)

A1 Untitled
B1 Untitled
C1 Untitled
D1 Untitled

On May 13, 2001, at the Louisville (KY) Visual Arts Associationís gallery at the Water Tower was host to the Keyhole ensemble. Ensemble members include Eric Clark, a metal worker who made some of the singing bowls and the bronze didgeridus played here, Patrick Best, Mike Gangloff, and Jack Rose, who also play as the trio Pelt, and Keenan Lawler, who is known for electronically modifying the sounds of a cello and National steel guitar. This performance was completely acoustic, however, with the only sonic treatment being the reverb lent by the galleryís high ceiling.
"My memories of this show are of the incredible resonance of the Water Tower gallery, just an amazing alive quality to the air that let each note linger on and on and that filled the quieter moments with breath and inevitability. At one point I remember being lifted, compelled to climb to a balcony over the room and lean out to play a singing bowl. If this drops, I recall thinking as I stirred the heavy brass, we may lose an audience member...but this sound is necessary. Awhile later, a man fell out of his seat and a woman who had been lying on the floor sat up suddenly and cracked her head on a glass table." Mike Gangloff.
Eclipse Records

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Pelt, Keenan Lawler & Eric Clark - Keyhole (Eclipse Records, 2000)

A1 Untitled
B1 Untitled

This album is drawn from a pre-dawn session in a stone silo at Mount Saint Francis, a Franciscan friary just north of the Kentucky-Indiana state line. Four of the musicians, Keenan Lawler and Pelt members Patrick Best, Mike Gangloff, and Jack Rose, had played earlier that night at Rudyard Kipling's Café in Louisville. They were joined by Eric Clark, a multi-instrumentalist and metal worker who makes musical instruments, such as singing bowls and bronze didgeridus. Mikal Dimmick used a stereo microphone to capture events as they unfolded in the early morning hours of 12 July 2000. Only acoustic instruments were played and no electronic effects or processing were used.
Eclipse Records

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My Cat Is An Alien - Alien Dissolving (ZZZ Production, 1999)

1 Alien Dissolving 14:06

CDr not for sale, given away to the first 100 attendants of the Larsen/My Cat Is An Alien concert in Torino, Italy, July 1999.

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Pelt - Snake To Snake (Klang Industries, 1996)

A Sun Is Apart No. 2
B1 Gavanji I
B2 Gavanji II

Good God, where did this record come from? I've listened to the thing about ten times now and I'm still beside myself. I guess I should've paid a whole lot more attention to Brown Cyclopaedia so I would've had some inkling of the shape of things to come. Max Meadows finds Pelt exploring the inner- and outermost reaches of avant-flipped psych-noise like an evangelical preacher studies the four gospels. The band hops on somebody's magic carpet and takes the rug for a very heady ride across no fewer than three continents and at least a dozen time zones. I hear bits of Ash Ra Tempel, Charalambides, Agitation Free, Ya Ho Wha 13, and Skullflower, along with a heaping dose of cracked invention straight from the digits and crania of Pelt. Max Meadows features a wonderful blend of high-octane drones, quixotic eastern boodle, and freedom-grasp histrionics that combines to form one of the better listens I've had during the past six months. It's quite heartening to know this Virginia troupe is tending shop in the here and now (as opposed to across the drink and/or 25 years ago in time) and I might even have a chance to see 'em live if I play my cards right. And speaking of their "live" performance, Snake to Snake captures Pelt on two separate occasions during the '95-'96 basketball season that display the band in exceptional form. I'm thinking the resplendent stigmas of the desert Crocus must have been carried across land and sea on these particular nights because the music sounds as if it was bathed in a warm orange dye and hung out to dry beneath the starlight. Of note is side two's "Gavanji II," a Fricke-meets-Radeulescu eastern-fuelled power summit that'll have you floating above the shifting sands before you can exchange your nickels for rupees. Max Meadows and Snake to Snake make for perfect sonic companions while enjoying a casual read through the Koran -- and hey, even if you can't read Arabic, the music will make all that crazy writing look just that much cooler. I believe it's time to turn my answering machine back on and re-establish contact with the disjected minions of the drug-plugged hinterland -- cuz if I don't, Pelt are liable to release another three albums of prime cosmic huff right under my nose and I'll no doubt be the last poor bastard to smell 'em.
Opprobrium

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Pelt - Skullfuck / Bestio Tergum Degero (VHF Records, 2006)

1 Calais To Dover 20:34
2 Bestium Tergum Degero pt. 1 17:26
3 Bestium Tergum Degero pt. 2 5:10
4 Bestium Tergum Degero pt. 3 1:56

Limited edition live CD released for the band to sell on their 2006 European tour. Contrary to the Grateful Dead reference in the title, “Skullfuck” is a tight recording of a single, intense November 2005 performance from NYC’s Knitting Factory. The set begins with an epic group arrangement of Jack Rose’s “Calais To Dover,” (from his Kensington Blues LP) with Jack’s 12 string shadowed by Mike Gangloff’s fiddle, and the thick drone of Mikel Dimmick and Pat Best’s Harmonium and Sruti’s. The three part “Bestio” suite follows, with the group moving to Tibetan bowls and gongs, building up a huge sheet of sound which peaks in a brief “encore” of wild gong smashing.
VHF Records

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Pelt - Ayahuasca (VHF Records, 2001)

1-1 True Vine 16:42
1-2 Deer Head Apparition 26:57
1-3 The Cuckoo 6:06
1-4 Deep Sunny South 4:33
1-5 Raga Called John, Pt. I 12:10
2-6 The Dream of Leaping Sharks 21:06
2-7 Bear Head Apparition 10:48
2-8 Will You Pray For Me 3:29
2-9 Raga Called John, Pt. II 25:39
2-10 Raga Called John, Pt. III 6:12

A sprawling follow-up to 1999’s critical and commercially successful release Empty Bell Ringing In The Sky, Ayahuasca represents the most comprehensive survey of Pelt activities to date. Recorded over a period of more than two years at various live and studio sessions, the double CD shows the heavily-bearded trio broadcasting from some lesser-known and newly-discovered corners of the drone-omniverse. Most striking about the record is the inclusion of several traditional tunes, arranged for the group’s eclectic instrumentation. While the band has been performing some acoustic material for several years and let some sneak out on the limited edition For Michael Hannas CDR, Ayahuasca is the first release to fully explore this part of their repertoire. "The Cuckoo" and ‘Deep Sunny South" are traditional Appalachian numbers, played and sung with considerable skill and feeling. The sawing bowed acoustic guitar on "The Cuckoo" and the rolling banjo and Tibetan bowl accompaniment on "Deep Sunny South" draw a direct line between raw/folk music traditions and the deep, visceral drone music that Pelt have specialized in over the past several years. Combining the two styles neatly, "A Raga Called John" features Jack Rose’s very, very fine country-blues/Fahey-influenced fingerstyle guitar over a shifting backdrop of hurdy-gurdy and concertina, before giving way to tanpuras overrun by fretless banjo. Of course, on top of all of this easily comprehensible music there’s plenty of ear-cleansing ecstatic drone, from the two long flotation-inducing trios for bowed electrics and Esraj to the wall-shaking electric hurdy-gurdy mania of "Bear Head Apparition." Truly a record for our times, such as they are.
VHF Records

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Sad New: Jack Rose RIP

Jack Rose s'en est allé, hier, à l'âge de 38 ans / Jack Rose passed away, yesterday, at the age of 38, he will be missed...

Aube - Ricochetentrance (Lunar, 1999)

1 Move From Drop 7:04
2 Ricochet 13:34
3 Flow Into Foam 12:54
4 After The Stream 17:53
5 Entrance 22:02

Japan's Aube (Akifumi Nakajima) has carved out his own niche in the ambient/exploratory listening realm by focusing each of his many releases on a single sound source. His latest (on Lunar, an offshoot of Italy's esteemed Amplexus label) is an exercise in long-running, meditative textures, subtly shaped using water as his source material. Ricochetentrance is by no means his first dip into the aquatic.
His other water-borne recordings include Hydrophobia, Spindrift, Drip, Submerged Tension, Aqua Syndrome, Flush, Healsonar , Across The Water , Spiral Tricle Distillation and more I'm sure amid his vast catalog of many sounds on many labels. (See at least a partial discography here.) And those are only some of the water-sampled works... Nakajima's dozens of additional recordings use other source materials such as metal (see Metal De Metal in this month's Overviews), fluorescent & glow lamps, voltage controlled oscillators, steel wire, cans, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, female voice, the lungs, brain waves-electroencephalogram, heartbeats, glass, telephones, bells, fire and even The Bible.

Bubbly/clunky sounds ooze from the obviously aquatic Move From Drop (7:04); headphones are recommended for this aural bubblebath. Largely formed by binaural metronomic ticks and driblets, Ricochet percolates and grows considerably louder in its course... building, echoing, then abruptly cutting off. After a long fade from silence, Flow Into Foam slowly displays a sonar-like quality which radiates through the gurgly aquasphere, splashed with further accentuating splishes and bloops.

The splattery start-and-stop bursts of After The Stream sound alarmingly like the noises one might hear during a bathroom excursion, though certainly more prolonged! That disturbing notion slightly mars my listening enjoyment, I must say... though the 18-minute track develops further, leaving those "streams" behind, becoming a minimalistic rhythmic cycle which passes through various (rather quiet) phases and subtle forms. The disc exits with Entrance (22:02); hypnotic patterns of drips and blips, eventually coalesce into something like a tiny, tinny, subaquatic techno rhythm.

To further explore this enigmatic recording, I contacted Akifumi Nakajima with three questions and received the following answers.

AmbiEntrance: Aube has used water as a source many times before... How is Ricochetentrance different from the others?

Aube: The water as a source is not so different in all, but in Ricochetentrance, I manipulated it more minimal and rhythmical than before.

AmbiEntrance: What was your goal with this release and how did you achieve it?

Aube: There were not exact goal I wanted to be. It achieved by natural.

AmbiEntrance: Can you give us some insight to the processes/processing you used here?

Aube: I use several analogue & digital effects all the time.
AmbiEntrance

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Kontrast (Duebel, 1997)

A Aube - Cleft Tubing 7:28
B Aube - Flutter Collop 7:28
C Contagious Orgasm - The Spot 09:32~09:39 6:32
D Contagious Orgasm - The Spot 10:56~11:03 6:32
E MSBR - The Eyeball Gravitation 7:48
F MSBR - Thumbing Abstraction 7:05
G Schloss Tegal- Collapse Of The Wave Function 5:15
H Schloss Tegal- The Hidden Variable 5:03
I Toy Bizarre - KDI DCTB 44A 7:25
J Toy Bizarre - KDI DCTB 44B 7:29

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Medroxy Progesterone Acetate - Supplications (Black Horizons, 2007 reissue)

A1 The Mars Hill Halfway House Talent Show
A2 Corrupted Mirror-Trap
A3 They Will Never Find My Body
A4 Vons Serin, Hidden In Soil
B1 The Hudson Working (They See You With Three Eyes)
B2 Little Pieces
B3 Melusine Shoreline

A reissue of a tape that was initially an edition of only 5 copies. Blending homemade synths, field recordings, and vocals, an epic recording that requires a closer listen. Buried under the tape hiss and piercing highs there is many details that could easily be overlooked, minimal beats, cryptic vocals, radio interference and insect song. Isolationist psychedelic noise. Color cover on black shimmer cardstock, with an insert containing texts / collage, on silver paper, clear labels. Hi-bias chrome tapes in an edition of 56.
Black Horizons

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Jefre Cantu Ledesma - Voice Sutra (Root Strata, 2005)

1 Voice Sutra 28:36

A dreamy and tranquil, but still think and fuzzy, slowly shifting soundscape that spends the first fifteen minutes writhing and squirming like a downed electrical wire, buzzing with electronic fuzz and spitting sonic sparks, emitting a thick wash of sonic skree not unlike Total, eventually calming down into a more tranquil ambience, shimmering and simmering and slowly fading to black. Quite nice. Droneheads obviously need this.
Aquarius Records

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Wooden Wand & The Vanishing Voice - Town On The Edge Of Darkness (Audiobot, 2006)

1 Red Night Red Night Red Night Red Night 4:45
2 Satya Sai Baba Conquers The River Rangers / Babylon The Great 11:34
3 Floating Pharmicist Encounters The Witches Of The Wood And Stunned, Heels Backward Into The Sea 3:49

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Mathieu Ruhlmann - Every Vein Leads To My Heart (Somne Recordings, 2004)

Part I 15:18
Part II 11:17
Part III 13:16

every vein leads to my heart is a dark, often cinematic journey through three years of mathieu ruhlmann's life. delicately bowed cymbal and metal objects layered over pieces of field recordings, gentle scrapings, distant birds singing and the occasional piano note...
petite sono] (for their 2006 reissue)

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Stephan Mathieu - Kapotte Muziek By Stephan Mathieu (Korm Plastics, 2003)

1 A Microsound Fairytale 20:58

Le label néerlandais Korn Plastics édite, sous l’impulsion de Frans De Waard (Staalplaat également), dans les cadre de ses Kapotte Muziek By (série), l’enregistrement d’un concert de l’allemand Stephan Mathieu qui a eu lieu le 10 août 1996 à Berlin, mais retravaillé par ce musicien l’an passé. Usant du bug informatique comme d’une source créatrice et hasardeuse, Mathieu aurait réouvert des fichiers audio dans une autre système d’exploitation et aurait découvert lors de cette manipulation l’enregistrement dans le résultat publié aujourd’hui à savoir : 20 minutes de harsh noise, où les sons sont inlassablement lacérés, déchiquetés, désintégrés. Permet de relativiser la son d’un vinyle laissé sur une plage arrière en plein soleil. Vive les laptops.
Autres Directions

An unintentional destruction occurring to a wilful obliteration of destroyed music. That's the gist of the tenth in the ongoing commissioned series of reworkings of Kapotte Muziek, one of the many projects fronted by Frans De Waard. Stefan Mathieu is no stranger to the art of abstracting somebody else's music, as his Full Swing recording Edits aerolised Yo La Tengo, Kit Clayton, Akira Rabelais and others into dreamy vaporous clouds of digitisation. However, no such bitmapped ambience is found within his processing of Kapotte Muziek, as Mathieu's computer crashed very hard as he neared completion of this piece. After wrestling with his technology for a short time, the computer spat out this medley of his Kapotte Muziek material. The lines between the destructo-loops of faulty musique concrete and Kapotte Muziek's original erratic turntable skitter, Mathieu's shattered thoughts and the computer authored collage, are thoroughly smeared to produce a noxious and thankfully short assault of jittery noise and barking squeals.
Jim Haines, The Wire

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Alial Straa - The Lumbering Intransitive Dream Of The Alial Straa (Alluvial Recordings, 1997 (2001 reissue))

1 Amness 9:42
2 Solace 24:40
3 Lastic Sted 13:47
4 Tenge/Orr 9:11

This release begins a series of releases for Alluvial in which we will be reissuing old cassette materials and other rarities. The packaging is simple, but attractive and available at a lower price. Each will be available for one year from its date of issue, which is indicated in each release. This particular project stems from the Orogenetic Collective of artists involved in many facets of sound, the physical arts, theory and installation. For this release, AS is Seth Nehil and John Grzinich. It is a more electronic work, rather than incorporating the usual field recording methods and manipulation of physical materials usually associated with them. At 57 minutes, it is a set of compositions which are primarily made up of long, shifting drones, very satisfying. Roughly 200 of these where printed.
Alluvial Recordings

The text/story/myth about what the Alial Straa is found on the card inside the jacket is great, I love it when releases have pointed, relevant literature that succeeds in directing my imagination as I listen to the work. Like some surreal Tolkien/Native American myth….Alial Straa is a collaborative venture of Seth Nehil and John Grzinich. You might remember Grzinich from a colab with Mnortham, Stomach of The sky to be exact. I love this stuff; organic, spooky, sheltered natural-ambient. Struck stones, wind, rustling leaves and groaning gritty ambient swells and waves. A recording that reads like a deep, dark river, currents changing, scenery changing, sounds steady and physical but subtly different in each channel and inlet. Put this right next to IAM Umbrella, Augur, maybe a Rapoon with no beats? Great stuff. In a basic brown sleeve with card inside.
Manifold Records

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Phéromone - Disparlure (Corpus Hermeticum, 2000)

1 Disparlure Part 1 32:10
2 Disparlure Part 2 40:44

Eric Cordier et Jean-Luc Guionnet nous ont donné à entendre quelques unes des propositions expérimentales les plus intéressantes de ces dernières années, avec " Tore " paru sur Shambala et Synapses sur le label Selektion. Aujourd’hui Corpus Hermeticum sort le disque de PHEROMONE, trio avec Eric Cordier (vielle à roue et traitement électronique) et Jean-Luc Guionnet (citera, chiftelia, bois, métal et micros contact), auxquels s’est joint Pascal Battus (guitare environnée). Trio d’improvisation définitivement sorti de l’approche old school, sans pour autant sacrifier à la tendance minimaliste actuelle. Comme la plupart des disques parus sur Corpus H. celui-ci est traversé par l’énergie du rock. Pour PHEROMONE le petit Robert donne cette définition en biologie : sécrétion externe produite par un organisme, qui stimule une réponse physiologique ou comportementale chez un autre membre de la même espèce. L’ improvisation jouée comme réponse à une stimulation sonore de l’autre. Ce qui semble dire qu’il n’y a pas de réponses imaginaires mais seulement antérieures (de l’ordre du réflexe, codifiée). Ce qui pourrait être une remise en cause (ou tout au moins un doute émis à propos) du caractère déclaré libertaire de l’improvisation ou des musiques improvisées, une façon de dire qu’elles comportent un caractère idiomatique, un déterminisme culturel ? Mais il resterait du désir, du collectif, de la circulation, de l ’échange, de l’un à l’autre, l’improvisation comme érotique. Longue pièce enregistrée par Eric La Casa et Pierre-Henri Thiebaut Disparlure ", développe des paysages sonores bruissants, sons éclatés dans l’espace se répondant à la façon de ces phéromones, atteignant une apparente cacophonie de nuit d’été. Les textures sont denses et travaillées de torsions et de déchirures, de brûlures et d’implosions, la matière ne reste jamais inerte, le travail incessant. Disque de grincements, de matières ferrugineuses, lourdes, très denses. On y entend quelque chose de l’ordre de l’animalité, un peu à la façon d’une nourriture que se disputeraient des coléoptères voraces, déchiquetant, amputant, déchirant cette masse sonique. L’intérêt pour les sources sonores (de la guitare environnée ou de la vielle à roue) disparaît, semble secondaire, une belle confusion règne là, riche et non maigre, mais pourtant coupante, dangereuse. Les mains tremblent, cherchent, fouillent dans la matière à la recherche de ce son d’or qui fascine tant Charlemagne Palestine, mais ici comme pris dans le déchet, le rebus de la chose musicale. Quête alchimique de la merdre en or. Disparlure ", un bégaiement à la Christian Prigent, il y a de l’anamorphose dans la musique du trio, une torsion du musical dans le bruit monstrueux, comme une mise en vibration du réel. Prigent parlant de l’anamorphose en dit : " Son intérêt réside dans ce geste symptomatique, qui désavoue implicitement la réalité que serait censée figurer la représentation codée " . Est-ce de la musique (cette grande écriture codée des sons d’une société à un certain stade de son développement) ou plus simplement un moment de vie, du temps parlé ? Après le trio Noetinger / Marchetti / Werchowski, Bruce Russell continue d’ ouvrir son label aux expériences de l’improvisation de la vieille Europe, sortant la musique de l’impérialisme culturel anglo-saxon. Il y aurait un autre monde ?
Michel Henritzi

This is the first release from the French Trio Pheromone, released on Bruce Russell's Corpus Hermeticum label. This trio makes spare and expansive soundscapes using guitar, hurdy gurdy, electronics, contact mics and various electro-acoustic devices. This single piece (tracked as 2 tracks) was recorded live and mixed by Eric La Casa and Pierre-Henri Thiebaut at home. The band sets up in the corners of the room and surrounds the audience, while enveloping them in an abstract cloud of stuttering samples, rhythmic pulses, clicks and scrapes, hums and whirs, buzz and skree, strum and clatter that all seemingly follow some mysterious and non linear-narrative. Gorgeously difficult.
Aquarius Records

The analogy is with the functioning of the eponymous insect hormones, which transmit messages to other insects at a distance. The audible messages of the three musicians transmit signals from one player to the next, with the audience hearing the interaction of the signals in 'surround sound'. This is particularly apt as the overall effect of the music is of a darkened environment full of animal calls, as unseen predators stalk small mechanical prey and flocks of metal birds perch in the tinfoil trees.
Discogs

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Dan Warburton, Jean-Luc Guionnet & Eric La Casa - Métro Pré Saint Gervais (Chloë, 2002)

1 Untitled 20:47
2 Untitled 43:23

Late in the evening of July 10th 2001,Dan Warburton took Jean-Luc Guionnet and Eric La Casa down into the depths of Pré Saint Gervais, a Metro station in the quiet north-east of Paris. Following no pre-determined plan, the three musicians - Warburton on violin, Guionnet on alto sax, La Casa on portable DAT recorder with stereo boom mic - explored the acoustics of the station, riding the elevators, taking the stairs, producing a rich and fascinating sonic map of the space through environmental improvisation. "Metro Pré St Gervais" is a unique and remarkably accessible aural document of free improvisation and sound art.
Chloë

This trio follows an approach similar to Afflux (of which Jean-Luc Guionnet and Éric La Casa represent two-thirds): make a piece of a location. While Afflux uses electro-acoustic devices to interact with a specific location, here Guionnet and Dan Warburton play their respective alto sax and violin. Éric La Casa is recording while staying mobile (unless the musicians are the ones moving around; it is hard to tell). Listeners are in a Paris subway station at a slow time of the day (or night?). Subway trains coming and going and the conversations of passersby provide colors to the piece. Violin and saxophone are mostly used to produce fragile drones, especially in the first of these two untitled pieces. For the first three-quarters of the album, the musicians let the subway tell its story, stepping in whenever things get dull. At times it sounds like a game of cat and mouse, the improvisers hiding the second a person walks by. Their more noise-based sounds (sax gurgles, string scratching) become the sounds of creatures crawling from under the bed when no one is watching. At one point in the last 15 minutes, Warburton and Guionnet engage in a more vehement exchange, spicing things up before simmering down to long, quiet notes again and giving the subway a chance to reintegrate this unusual quartet. Recommended to deep listeners.
All Music Guide

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Jonathan Coleclough & Tim Hill - Beech For John And Miho (Seal Pool, 2003)

1 Beech For John And Miho 74:32

"Beech for John and Miho," another collaboration for Coleclough with saxophonist Tim Hill, does nothing to change our high opinion of this composer, and we highly recommend everybody who has been interested in Coleclough to pick this one up!
Coleclough was originally commissioned to construct a short piece for a private wedding CD compilation alongside Joe Weismann, If Thousands, Jliat, and Space Machine. From what I can gather, there were a few copies of that compilation circulating around eBay at extremely high prices; thus, the release of "Beech" at this normal price should be a welcome relief for die-hard collectors. Furthermore, Coleclough has unravelled the original 15 minutes of sound into an epic 74 minutes, a time frame much better suited to the material at hand. Despite the lack of information about this composition, the sounds that Coleclough and Hill have been able to muster resemble those found on their previous collaborative album with Nurse With Wound's engineer Colin Potter entitled "Low Ground," opening up the possibility that the sources for "Beech" are saxophone and cello. Regardless of origin, Coleclough has stretched out the source material's intrinsic tonalities into a Phill Niblock-meets-Organum piece of maximalism. Coleclough presents a steady flux of sustained drones that may have been doubled, tripled, and quadrupled from a bow rippling across the strings of a cello. It's a beautiful hum that waxes and wanes on top of a constant background field of rapidly streaming glistens, shimmers, and miniature ruptures. This undercurrent of sound clangs like a distant school bell that rattles indefinitely, but situates itself as a transcendent, environmental complement rather than a toxic abrasion. "Beech" ultimately is an exceptional piece of dronemusic that is as good as Coleclough's universally acclaimed collaboration "Sumac" with Andrew Chalk.
Aquarius Records

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