Alial Straa - Tunnels / Stairwell (Alluvial Recordings, 1996 (2001 reissue))

1 Tunnels (14:18)
2 Tunnels (15:10)
3 Stairwell (16:07)
4 Stairwell (13:50)

Some great work is being done in the vast silence of this under-distributed, experimental frontier, particularly on cdr. Its like the taper underground of the 80's that involved Illusion Of Safety, Tietchens, Greif, Jeph Jerman and countless others is starting silently again but with new artists and perspectives. Seth Nehil and John Grzinich work with Mnortham on this one, a grey, naturalist work in two sections. Struck stones, rubbed sticks, pale, ragged instrumentation as minimal ornaments in the background. We go from lair to city, cave to tunnel, sky to stairwell in sound. All progression and change, but staying within a composed Jeph Jerman/His Masters Voice sound, natural and barely affected. Like being hypnotized by the wise ghosts of ancient animals, moving with them in spirit through the structures of humankind, feeling the smooth stone and concrete of sidewalls, nature badly transformed into temporary spaces. A hard one to describe, but one that promisesmany plays before its secrets even begin to be revealed.
Manifold Records

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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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Akio Suzuki - Résonances: Akio Suzuki - Ossip Zadkine (Paris Musées, 2005)

1 Stone Flute (7:40)
2Stones (5:08)

Oto-Date [Listening Points] Parcours Diurne [Daytime Trail] [10 a.m. - 6 p.m.] (12:42)
3 1 (1:23)
4 2 (0:38)
5 3 (0:39)
6 4 (0:29)
7 5 (0:43)
8 6 (0:51)
9 7 (0:43)
10 8 (0:48)
11 9 (1:18)
12 10 (0:48)
13 11 (0:42)
14 12 (0:59)
15 13 (0:39)
16 14 (0:45)
17 15 (1:17)
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18 Analapos (4:26)
19 From One Bamboo (5:05)

Oto-Date [Listening Points] Paris, Parcours Nocturne [Nighttime Trail] [9 p.m. - 4 a.m.] (18:11)
20 16 (0:44)
21 17 (0:35)
22 18 (0:42)
23 19 (1:14)
24 20 (0:49)
25 21 (0:52)
26 22 (0:43)
27 23 (0:47)
28 24 (0:33)
29 25 (0:34)
30 26 (0:44)
31 27 (0:44)
32 28 (0:55)
33 29 (0:39)
34 30 (0:40)
35 31 (0:45)
36 32 (0:48)
37 33 (0:42)
38 34 (0:43)
39 35 (0:44)
40 36 (0:42)
41 37 (0:43)
42 38 (0:47)
43 39
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44 Suzuki Type Glass Harmonica (14:03)

At first impression there might not seem to be much in common between sculptor Ossip Zadkine (1890 – 1967) and Japanese sound artist Akio Suzuki (born in Pyongyang, 1941), but just as music was a recurring influence on Zadkine – he sculpted no fewer than nine versions of Orpheus – the deceptive simplicity of Suzuki's work is as much about space and light as it is about sound. "Come and see," wrote Zadkine, inviting a friend to the studio on rue d'Assas he moved into in 1928, now the museum bearing his name: "You'll understand how a man's life can be changed by a dovecote, by a tree." Or by a piece of bamboo: Akio Suzuki's "From one bamboo" and "Bamboo Harp" occupy a bright, spacious room in the museum's secluded gardens. Visitors are encouraged to pick up and put down (gently) the 25 irregular bamboo cylinders on their concrete plinths to discover their individual sonic identities. "It is very important that each segment is different," Suzuki comments: "People are different, one from another; each comes with his/her imagination and sensibility. Everyone becomes a musician." A basic human gesture – what could be more commonplace than just picking something up and putting it down again? – becomes a rich aural adventure, and the space soon fills with the delicate clatter of wood on stone.
Suzuki's second contribution to the Résonances exhibition is in the form of a soundwalk or oto-date, the third such event he has been invited to curate in France, after similar outings in Enghien and Strasbourg. Oto-date roughly translates as "open air sound ceremony" – so the distinctive forlorn echoes of the Métro and the crisp, metallic chatter of Montparnasse's bustling cafés are, sadly, excluded – and the map provided by the museum retraces Suzuki's exploration of the district around Zadkine's studio. Walkers are invited to head southwards, skirt the Montparnasse cemetery (appropriately, Zadkine's last resting place) and cross the Jardin Atlantique, a rooftop garden built above the platforms of the Gare Montparnasse, eventually ending up in the narrow streets between Saint Sulpice and the Jardin du Luxembourg. Along the way fifteen specific listening points are identified, a pair of ears in a circle painted on the pavement to indicate the precise location of the listening point and orientation the listener is to adopt. Though several of these are time-specific – the schoolyard on rue Joseph Bara is best appreciated at playtime – and others light-specific – the Place des 3 Martyrs seems to have been included for the spectacular view of the Eiffel Tower it affords at night time (during the day it's a particularly noisy traffic intersection), Suzuki has found some extraordinary spots, from the Jardin Atlantique's surreal sound window opening from leafy tranquillity and birdsong onto the roaring trains and blaring loudspeakers of the station below, to the traffic island between rue Falguière and rue Armand Moisant, where a magical acoustic reveals itself, the resonance of the crossroads and a nearby playground amplified and focused by adjacent high-walled buildings. Suzuki himself, however, would be the first to recognise that some of the most memorable experiences in life occur along the way, between the oto-date, in those fleeting moments that only chance can throw your way: a concierge sweeping dry leaves across the yard of the Musée Zadkine, a furious cavalcade of police cars in the Avenue du Maine road tunnel, a cat yawning and stretching on the gravel path of the Musée Bourdelle. And, "a song wrapped in dusty gas rises towards me from the street [..] the hot, heavy breathing of thousands of cars, fleeing, colliding, a mighty exodus." Not Akio Suzuki's words, but those of Ossip Zadkine, on his first visit to Tokyo in 1959.
The Wire

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The North Sea & Hush Arbors - Singing Through Moss And Mist (Foxglove, 2004)

** sorry, no artwork **

1 Hush Arbors I Will Carry Bones In My Knapsack (11:37)
2 Hush Arbors Wasp Of Leaves (12:01)
3 The North Sea Spiralling Timbers (7:28)
4 The North Sea Another Birdsong Ministry (10:26)

brothers in feeling and spirit, the north sea and hush arbors parallel paths come to a head on their first split release. each offers up two tracks of organic drone, extracted from the depths of the earth and released into the air, captured on tape. at just over 40 minutes, the density and texture on each track is introspective and free. while there are obviously differences, these two projects share a commonality that cannot be simply explained through words. one must not just hear these groaning extolls, but must listen to their fledgling grace.
Foxglove

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The North Sea - The Oscelot Chronicles Vol. 2 (Foxglove, 2004)

** sorry, no artwork **

1 Emeralds And Rubies (4:19)
2 Mississippi Sings (2:57)
3 Moth Wings (2:12)
4 Cherry Blossom Mosquitos (4:09)
5 Stainless Steel Waterfall (9:30)
6 Limestone Fields (3:00)
7 Cellophane Dragons (1:44)
8 Forcefield (5:42)
9 Covering Our Tracks With Crusted Jewels (13:15)

they say, "it's an organic world, and we can only hope to survive," to which i respond with indifference. it makes no sense. but in this landscape where guitars sink in the ocean and where the blues are the only real heart ache left, i present the second installment of the tribute to the most underrated of the big cats. glockenspiels whir, bowed guitars assault flutes and recorders, thunder dances with piano, and mississippi? oh, it sings. you better believe it sings.
Foxglove

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The North Sea - The Oscelot Chronicles Vol. 1 (Foxglove, 2004)

** sorry, no artwork **

1 Drinking Gallo By The Seaside
2 Ghost Robotics
3 Nothing But Rust
4 Rainy Day In April
5 Clandestine
6 Old Buildings Come Down
7 Telefilm
8 Vegas
9 Sinking Poseidon

the debut of the north sea. the first of three odes to the oscelot, the most underappreciated of big cats, in some way? not sure, but running the gambit between improvised ambient guitar drones to acoustic meanderings mixed with field recordings to noisey assaults, there's something for everyone here. this cd-r has the distinction of being the only album i've ever mixed mere hours before nearly getting killed in a tornado. ah, how the birds were singing that afternoon.
Foxglove

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John Duncan - Crucible (Die Stadt, 1999)

1 Crucible (23:11)

CRUCIBLE is a 23 minute sound installation recorded at an outdoor concert in the tiny village of Topolò on the Italian-Slovenian border in July 1997. Its thunderous opening is literally the sound of a downpour which Duncan harnesses and treats to produce something elemental yet edgily unnatural. Bruce Gilbert's work springs to mind though Duncan has a less synthetic touch. The aquatic theme continues as water drains down pipes, gutters and sewers. Thereafter an eerie quiescence pervades. There is still static in the ether, the ebb and flow of mountain air currents and the occasional chance human or animal intervention, but it is the calm after the storm.
How Duncan actually achieved this process is ... ultimately inconsequential. Presented in a neat wooden box, the results reveal little but yield something fresh with each listen.
The Wire

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Ultra United - Research 1 (Drone Records, 1999)

A1 Achtung! (1:02)
A2 Execution 2 (6:02)
A3 Scrape In The Sky (1:02)
B1 Physical Initiation (1:09)
B2 Arrival (Excerpt) (3:25)
B3 The Volunteer (Excerpt) (3:41)

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Sandoz Lab Technicians - Let Me Lose My Mind Gracefully (Corpus Hermeticum, 1998)

1 Let Me Lose My Mind Gracefully (36:53)

Live recording of a concert held in Dunedin, New Zealand on August, 17, 1997 as support for Tony Conrad.

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Noise-Maker's Fifes - Morfogenesi (Beta-lactam Ring Records, 2001)

1 Morfogenesi (66:21)

Performed live at the Canturali Alla Zisa-Palermo.

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Luc Ferrari - Les Anecdotiques: Exploitation Des Concepts N° 6 (Sub Rosa, 2004)

1 Numéro Quatro, Ronda Espagne, Juin 2001 (Un Groupe De Touristes Espagnols Dans Un Musée) (4:50)
2 Plaza De Toros, Ronda (L'Arène Est En Réparation) (5:14)
3 Le Ciel De Toscane Italie, Août 2001 (4:30)
4 Essayage, Saint Jean D'Angélys, France, Juillet 2001 (Pendant Une Répétition, Les Comédiens Essaient Leur Costume) (4:05)
5 Superstrada N° 2, Toscane (2:28)
6 Un Cyprès Au Coucher Du Soleil, Toscane (1:48)
7 Mer D'Eze, France, Septembre 2001 (2:43)
8 Les Vendanges, Saint-Laurent D'Eze, France (4:59)
9 Le Ranch, Texas USA, Octobre 2001 (2:28)
10 Chicago USA, Octobre 2001 (Répétition Pour Un Concert) (5:39)
11 Promenade Du Dimanche Dans Un Village (Harley Davidson, Texas) (1:49)
12 Les Chaussures Rouges, L'Estaque, France, Juillet 2002 (Visite À La Cimenterie Lafarge) (2:38)
13 Trou De Mer, L'Estaque, Juillet 2002 (2:07)
14 La Joliette, Port De Marseille, France (Embarquement Des Containers) (6:46)
15 Les Portes Du Rove, L'Estaque, Même Période (Le Rove Est Un Tunnel Maritime Qui Donne Dans Une Calanque À L'Est De L'Estaque) (2:33)

Credited as his final composition, Les Anecdotiques sees one of the truly great masters of musique concrete assembling a cinematic sequence of auditory vignettes, drawing on location recordings, environmental sounds and the most delicate of electronic touches in post production. As you'd imagine, there's a considerable weight of authority to this album, which elevates it far beyond the usual field recording travelogue. The pieces here are derived from a wide variety of locales throughout Europe and America, each handled with the utmost creative vision, with Ferrari reshaping the documentary sounds into vivid sonic portraits, covering topics ranging from the mighty percussive workings of a harbour and clanking construction work to more pastoral nature-themed recordings and even the harmonically-pleasing creak of a rusty gate. Wonderful.
Boomkat

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Eliane Radigue - Σ = a = b = a + b (Povertech Industries, 1969 (2000 reissue))

1 Untitled
2 Untitled
3 Untitled
4 Untitled

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Crawl Unit - Stop Listening (Ground Fault Recordings, 2000)

1 Overload Harmonics (15:39)
2 (Untitled) (5:31)
3 Empty Sound (14:22)
4 Study For 3 Speakers (13:22)
5 Wake Up You're Alone (5:51)

A pioneer in sound event constructions, Crawl Unit (Joe Colley) has been releasing material since 1992 on labels around the world, including Drone, Manifold, G.R.O.S.S., Ant-Zen, Chocolate Monk and Self-Abuse, among others. Crawl Unit has also appeared on over a dozen compilation recordings, composed sound for dance and performed live nationally and abroad.

In addition to recording and performing as Crawl Unit, Joe Colley also runs the renowned label Povertech Industries, releasing material by sound artists such as Michael Prime, Hafler Trio, Hands To, Crawling with Tarts, Francisco Lopez and many others.

With Stop Listening, Joe Colley, aka Crawl Unit put together a beautiful sound art record, one of the finest productions on the Ground Fault label. Five works make up the 55-minute program. Most of the material is related to ambient drones, the purest and most soothing example being "Empty Sound". "(Untitled)" sounds like a treated hurdy-gurdy, at least something more metallic. But the highlight is the first piece of the set, "Overload Harmonics" (15 minutes). Sitting on the fence between avant-garde minimal drone music and noise, it takes the shape of a slowly evolving piece punctuated with strange pollutions -- totally entrancing. The same comment cannot be applied to "Study for 3 Speakers", a "live" recording of a 3-channel speaker installation. There are interesting ideas, some rattling sounds seem to indicate the use of objects and contact microphones in the speakers (a technique better exploited by Xavier Charles in Silent Block), but overall the piece remains more technical than absorbing. The main reason for that is the distance kept between the music and the listener. A more binaural recording may have done the trick, although the piece also lacks a bit of cohesion, its segmentation failing to bring something more to the table. Still, Stop Listening is a strong album.
Ground Fault Recordings

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Klood - Gag-Hamin (Drone Records, 1999)

A Eagla (6:33)
B Juste De Passage (6:00)

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Osso Exótico - VII (Drone Records, 1999)

A Untitled (9:00)
B1 Untitled (8:05)
B2 Untitled (0:30)

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Spear - Not Two (Drone Records, 1999)

A Not Two (6:20)
B1 The Names - Low Frequency Silence (5:30)
B2 Equilibrium (4:10)

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The Blithe Sons - Rooms (Chocolate Monk, 2004)

1		Room One (27:38)
2		Room Two (2:58)

The third Blithe Sons album is a CDR released by Chocolate Monk. It's largely a single live recording from a performance in Sacramento, CA. The live track, "Room One," is just over 27 minutes long. It begins with a buzzing drone, which gives way after 10 minutes to the shimmery pluck of a stringed instrument (bouzouki perhaps?), only to succumb to screeches and bowed hums. In the last few minutes an electric guitar comes in, meandering between two chords. Glenn's voice soon joins in and the drones fade for a few minutes. In the background, Loren Chasse plays very subtle percussion on a cymbal before building up a minimal droning pulse. The CD is rounded out by a 3-minute song, "Rooms Two," which was recorded someplace called "The Sun Room." It's a nice folk song with fuzzy acoustic guitar and organ, which plays well off of the epic and largely blissed-out first track.
FakeJazz

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Christoph Heemann / Andrew Chalk - Cassia Fistula (IDEA, 2002)

A Christoph Heemann Cassia Fistula (3:11)
B Andrew Chalk Cassia Fistula (3:21)

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Organum & The New Blockaders - Pulp (Aeroplane, 1984)

A		Pulp Pt.1
B		Pulp Pt.2

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John Duncan - Phantom Broadcast (Allquestions, 2002)

1 Phantom Broadcast (47:08)

At one point in an artist's life there's a sort of revelation, something telling him all the routes took so far have finally fused in a single course, lightened by a "north star" indicating all his next choices and moves. In John Duncan's case, I feel his continuing exploration of frequencies' manifestations has lately yielded a music that reaches a calm detachment, even when emotionally charged at its most. Now, what do I hear in the 47 minutes of "PHANTOM BROADCAST"? The answer is: powerful harmony (both in musical and "inner self" sense), shifting orchestral chordal streams, a stretching tubular bell sound, male and female voices, a trembling cello in the realm of low notes, a couple of jet engines during a slow transit towards somewhere I could not figure out, a pumping, massive breathing by all human beings remaining alive despite ongoing tragedies; all in all, I felt wrapped in sound and protected. Were all these things really there? Of course not, as this record was made with modestly treated shortwaves only - just like that, but it's maybe one of the best, if not THE best among Duncan's "static" releases. I'm afraid I'm forever trapped in your radio frequency, John - but please don't show me the way out.
Massimo Ricci, Touching Extremes

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