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.
Vital Weekly

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Pumice - I'll Take No Chance Near A Volcano (Celebrate Psi Phenomenon, 2001)

1 Vacinity Facility
2 Blood On My Cock
3 Inflected By Devils
4 Vacinity Facility Two
5 Withdrawal
6 The Thing
7 Mullet Mask Replicunt
8 I Could Not Get High
9 I Could Not Get High Two

experimental lo-fi....

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Pumice - Worldwide Skull (Audiobot, 2005)

01 Weird Crab Holy Soldier
02 Goon Gong
03 Ambrace the Place
04 Poin
05 29/Ridge
06 Stars (Grfenzy)
07 Iam
08 Tonight the Kids Sleep in the Car (Gfrenzy)

Disque rassemblant diverses performances live de Pumice, aka Stefan Neville, à la guitare ou au piano... Compositions fracturées mais rien de moins que de la magie.... On est conquis dès le très sombre Weird Crab Holy Soldier...

Pumice truly emerged last year as one of New Zealand's finest with the absolutely stunning, "Raft." Pumice is the brainchild of Stefan Neville. His disjointed compositions often feel held together with masking tape and plaster, decaying at the core and frayed at the seams. There's an instrinsic beauty in the fractured nature of these songs and an inherent intimacy that comes along with them. But Neville's gimmicks are few and far between. What you hear with Pumice is what you get. Luckily, what we get is nothing short of magical.

"Worldwide Skull" is collection of various radio performances Neville has done across the globe over the years. Since these are all live to air, the amount of layering and studio trickery that Neville often employs on his recordings are stripped away. This is what Pumice sounds like with only the most bare essentials. I have to admit, I was reticent to hear this; I was worried the results would be less than what I've grown to expect from Neville's recordings. However, I was simply blown away.

These are beautiful songs. They mostly consist of Neville playing acoustic guitar or piano and singing. There are various rattles and synthetic screes, but at their heart, they are simple folk songs with a decidedly Kiwi bend. The set opens with the dark-infused "Weird Crab Holy Soldier." As Neville plods through various minor chords and wails at the top of his lungs, he manages to mix in an undercurrent of distortion that heightens the tension in the song. Listening to this, I imagine myself in the corner of a smoke-filled bar in Dunedin watching a local legend at his height. This is spellbinding stuff.

The real treat on "Worldwide Skull," however, comes in the form of "Poin" and "29/Ridge." These two tracks clock in at a collective 12+ minutes. The jagged longing tone of "Poin" is magnificent. "You're one of the greats, I'm icing on a cake," Neville croons with his obvious Kiwi accent. This song feels intensely personal with references to the mighty CJA and lyrics like "If I was there, I'd sing right into your belly." All this is happily dropped over a clumsily plucked and strummed acoustic guitar. It's irresistable and easily one of the year's best songs. Neville really hit it out of the park with this.

"29/Ridge" is similar, though the guitar is replaced with piano and vocals are distorted. It's a shambolic piece of history. Every aspect of this song feels like it's from another time - from the feedback and distortion to the slow, gentle howl of the piano. Neville's voice sounds tired and worn, but it adds to the archaic feeling of the music. It's spotless. It really is. You can't help but lean back in your chair, close your eyes, and let out of a big sigh of relief because really, life's not so bad.

I really had no idea what to expect from "Worldwide Skull," but on first listen was pleasantly surprised. Then, as the days passed and I found myself listening to it more and more, it dawned on me how special of a release this is. Housed in Audiobot's typical beautiful and awesome packaging, "Worldwide Skull" shows another side of Neville's project and one that I hope will make more appearances in the years to come. This whole thing feels like a happy accident. But it's a marvellous one and after listening to this CD-R nearly 100 times, I can safely say it's one of 2005's absolute best. Simple, stunning, and honest... you really can't ask for much more than that.
Brad Rose, Foxy Digitalis

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