Brendan Murray - Ocean Of Dirt, Mountain Of Steam (Gameboy Records, 2006)

1 Ocean Of Dirt, Mountain Of Steam 40:00

Brendan Murray isn't perhaps as well known as we'd hoped for. But his small discography is hailed here at Vital Weekly with some praise, but perhaps and unfortunately only well-known to the insiders. I think that 'Ocean Of Dirt, Mountain Of Steam' is the follow-up to 'Resting Places' (see Vital Weekly 480), but perhaps we missed out on a release. In any case, also in terms of music this is a follow-up, but in stead of five pieces, Murray offers here one forty-one minute piece of drone music. Still we are left in the dark as to the origins of the soundscources Murray uses, but he crafts a very beautiful piece of drone music of it. Sounds move on all sides of the spectrum, at the low end as well as the high end, in various layers organized. Half way through the piece more or less 'explodes' and moves to higher tension level, like being in the middle of factory. That also disappears as suddenly and things move towards the end at even more gentle level. Not the most 'new' direction in drone music, but it's certainly well made and should appeal to all fans of the genre, who dare to hear something just a little bit louder.
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Howard Stelzer - This Map Is A Gift (Gameboy Records, 2006)

1 This Map Is A Gift (39:02)

Howard Stelzer, .... Just like a turntablist, he plays around with cassettes. Using the fast-forward button, but also by placing the cassette players on metal plates, he creates a world of his own. But he works best when playing improvised music with others. As this is one piece, recorded '2004/2005', I assume it's a collage of various recordings, including pieces he played with Richard Francis (laptop), Stefan Neville (drums and tapes) and Clinton Watkins (guitar). Stelzer creates thick, densely sound fields of highly obscured sounds. Rather lo-fi in approach, but it's an intense sound, one that has many detailed sounds that work together on many levels. It's hard to categorize this as noise (although it has elements thereof), improvisation (but it's certainly more composed by collating the various elements together) or as drone music, even when it has a certain drone like quality. As references to the latter, one could think of people that use close miking, such as Af Ursin, Yannick Dauby or Micheal Northam. Played loud, this is certainly an intense affair, growing into a menacing affair.
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