Daniel Menche - Blood Forest (Trickhouse, 2010)

Daniel Menche's sound is a bridge. One made of stone, bone, blood and wire. It is solid enough to build eons of civilizations upon, yet high enough off the floor of the canyon to give you the chills should you peer over the edge.

With performance tools such as contact mics adhered to self constructed instruments, or more famously, his own body, Daniel sculpts systemic waves found within and brings them pulsating, shaking, and exploding into our audible state. His live performances constitute some of the most physical music being performed today. At his most intense, you will feel as if the piece is about to pulverize you, while he leaves just enough breathing room for you to witness it happen to yourself.

What we have here though is another aspect to his well-honed craft. Assembled from field recordings made in the Pacific Northwest, Daniel carefully brings out the rhythm and spacial textures of the region's natural settings and presents us with an iconic piece that spans the awe of the raw forest and the reassembled/re-purposed contemporary age.

Walk fully onto the bridge. Take a look over the side.

Eric Jordan, Trickhouse Curator

little reminder: Daniel Menche just released "Silver Hell" cassette on Banned Productions so order it...

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Daniel Menche - Concrushing Beasts (self release, 2006)

1 Concrushing Beasts 75:07

Subtitled "2006 European Tour CD", this recording is a non-stop 75 minute remix of two different full length albums, "Beast Resonator" and "Concussions".

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Daniel Menche - Concussions (Asphodel, 2006)

1-1 CD1 Track 01 8:26
1-2 CD1 Track 02 2:33
1-3 CD1 Track 03 2:29
1-4 CD1 Track 04 8:26
1-5 CD1 Track 05 7:49
1-6 CD1 Track 06 11:20
1-7 CD1 Track 07 4:52
1-8 CD1 Track 08 8:03
1-9 CD1 Track 09 3:15
2-1 CD2 Track 01 3:04
2-2 CD2 Track 02 1:44
2-3 CD2 Track 03 7:43
2-4 CD2 Track 04 8:16
2-5 CD2 Track 05 11:56
2-6 CD2 Track 06 3:31
2-7 CD2 Track 07 6:05
2-8 CD2 Track 08 2:14
2-9 CD2 Track 09 7:08
2-10 CD2 Track 10 3:14
2-11 CD2 Track 11 2:09

“All percussions and concussions created by Daniel Menche.” So says the inner sleeve and truer words were never spoken. What starts out sounding like a cover version of Steve Reich's Drumming—layer upon layer of pulsating percussion patterns—rapidly escalates into a thunderous inferno of Dionysian proportions. Once a gargantuan level of density is reached and the listener finds him/herself wholly trapped at the center of the vortex, the relentless onslaught becomes a Rorschach, its pummeling throb resembling the amplified patter of pelting rain at one moment and the violent thrum of rabid animal scratching the next. Disc one's track seven sounds as if the Portland-based sound artist placed a microphone at the center of a roaring fireplace or a hornet's nest (no surprise that the title of Menche's 1993 debut is Incineration).

Still, though Concussions adheres to its strict conceptual principle throughout, contrasts regularly emerge during the twenty untitled tracks. Patterns mirror one another in disc one's track three as their repetitions alternate from left to right while track four gathers them up and drops them into the center of a hellish cauldron, reducing them to a howling mass. It's at such moments that Menche's repudiation of the label 'noise artist' for 'sound sculptor' has merit and his so-called quest for 'vehement beauty' achieved. Interestingly, though the churning Concussions generally makes Reich's Drumming seem a microsound outing by comparison, Menche's drumming patterns move in and out of sync with one another in a manner that's not wholly unlike its renowned precursor. Yes, it's an overwhelming experience—literally so when the two discs total 114 minutes—and not a ride I plan on taking more than once, yet incredible nonetheless.
Textura

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(well if asphodel is a dead label, it seems this release can always be purchase here: http://asphodel.com/releases/view.php?Id=89)

Daniel Menche - Beast Resonator (Roggbif Records, 2006)

1 Untitled 25:43
2 Untitled 21:45
3 Untitled 24:54

Before mankind dedicated music to the "gods" there was music dedicated to the beasts and Daniel Menche's "Beast Resonator" carries that aim and inspiration. Massive bombastic drums, pounding relentless percussion, merciless beats and hypnotic destruction - "Beast Resonator" is boldly dedicated to the beasts and strictly for the beasts. 3 untitled tracks mixed continuously to make a relentless hour long primal attack of the senses to resonate the beast within. This is Menche's strongest percussion work to date and is sonically and brutally animalistic. Pure power tribal noise to resonate the beasts.
Cold Spring

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Daniel Menche - For The Beasts (P-Tapes, 2006)

1 For The Beasts 19:56

percussive noise...

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(well in fact this release is not sold out, i checked too quickly the label site, so you can purchase it from P-Tapes usual distributors)

Daniel Menche - October's Larynx (Alluvial Recordings, 2001)

1 Untitled (22:50)
2 Untitled (6:28)
3 Untitled (4:06)
4 Untitled (7:40)
5 Untitled (16:12)

The first new full length release from Menche in more than two years. Here, Daniel presents five untitled pieces of powerful sonic continuity. From the beginning of the first track, we hear richly layered electronic drones that echo amid
buzzing, furious textures built around his signature, playful darkness. Over the entire hour, the intensity builds in a dense ebb and flow until the pinnacle is reached at the beginning of the last track- a single bell chimes and continues to grow into a massive, overpowering Zen- like hum. With this release, we are undoubtedly hearing one of Menche's finest moments thus far. A beautiful edition of 500 with artwork from Erik Stotik.
Alluvial Recordings

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Aube / Small Cruel Party / Daniel Menche / Kiyoshi Mizutani - Shiroseasons (Shirocoal Recordings, 1996)

First Season - Spring
1 Aube Awakening In The Pool (16:49)
Second Season - Summer
2 Small Cruel Party Home Borders: Circling Outward Past Edge To Rest, Awaken (17:26)
Third Season - Autumn
3 Daniel Menche Hand Against Her Sand (17:30)
Fourth Season - Winter
4 Kiyoshi Mizutani Infusion (16:36)

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Kiyoshi Mizutani & Daniel Menche - Song Of Jike (Niko Recordings, 2004)

1 Song Of Jike 1: Kiyoshi Mizutani Mix (21:04)
2 Song Of Jike 2: Daniel Menche Mix (19:56)
3 Song Of Jike 3: Kiyoshi Mizutani Mix (10:29)

Les field recordings sont de Kiyoshi Mizutani, Daniel Menche y rajoutant tout un tas d'instruments (violoncelle, guitare, phonographe, etc). Bien plus apaisé que ce que fait Menche habituellement...

This is the second release by Kiyoshi Mizutani (one time collaborator of Merzbow) and Daniel Menche, following 'Garden' on Auscultare Research (see Vital Weekly 400), and like 'Garden' this is based on field recordings made in a village called Jike Yokohama. These recordings were made by Mizutani and Menche adds a cello, acoustic guitar and an antique phonograph player to the scene. Two tracks here were mixed by Mizutani and one by Menche. The first piece, by Mizutani, is a strange affair: the dry field recordings are only occassionally intercepted by a likewise cello drone and towards the end vinyl crackles sounding like crickets. Much more dense is the mix Menche did. He 'thickens' the material by layering various field recordings over each other and adding bits of sound effects. Despite the density of the recordings, Menche creates a very minimal mix too, but one that has more musical events than the first Mizutani piece. The third piece, again by Mizutani, but here with more additions of 'other' sounds, such as the rumblings of metal. Again a very peaceful piece of music. All three tracks are very subtle, even with some of Menche's more piercing sounds half way through his piece, and minimal. Probably just as peaceful as sitting in Japanese garden.
Vital Weekly

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Daniel Menche - Creatures Of Cadence (Crouton / Longbox Recordings, 2006)

1 Untitled (14:50)
2 Untitled (8:48)
3 Untitled (19:59)
4 Untitled (21:06)

Enregistré l'été 2006, ce 'Creatures of cadence' ouvre de nouvelles directions dans le travail de Daniel Menche. Loin des performances ultraphysiques suramplifiées, ou des accumulations de feedbacks, il travaille ici avec des instruments acoustiques (violoncelle, cors, cithare, percussion, voix) passés à la moulinette électroacoustique pour fabriquer des trames, des séquences répétitives qui viennent s'entremêler et s'accumuler, dans un univers fantasmatique très joliment illustré par la pochette.
Metamkine

Despite what the title might suggest, “Creatures of Cadence” is not about endings, completion, or finality. Instead we find Menche inviting a slew of new mediators into his cathartic miasma. The medium now extends beyond the rich and unfathomable depths of somatic sound. His ongoing dialogue between body and mind has found sympathetic resonators in a myriad of instruments (percussion, cello, horns, and zither) that have proven through the ages of being capable of channeling both our most ecstatic joy and profoundest grief.

“Creatures of Cadence” finds Menche in full exploratory mode; excavating well-concealed networks of sonorous information through a systematic deconstruction of drone and pulse. In the process, he further erases any perceived division between hearing / feeling and performer / instrument. The result, if consumed at the appropriate amplitude, is nothing less than a sixty minute journey through a voluptuous and pristine mania.

“Creatures of Cadence” is a work commissioned by Crouton and Longbox Recordings and published in conjunction with Menche’s first Midwest U.S. concerts: in Chicago and Milwaukee, September 29 and 30, 2006. Released in an edition of 500, including three full color inserts and overwrap with images of detailed bird drawings peppered with a whisper of the disturbing by Eric Stotik. It is our sincere hope the listener will find the packaging for this release a fitting visual analogue to the vehement beauty of the aural.
Crouton

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