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Merzbow
Merzbow (Masami Akita) is one of the most prolific artists around, with a discography stretching into the hundreds. He's always pushing the limits of noise and music, so the line between the two blurs. His first release of this year was the 6 cd box set Houjoue, it's one of the most consistent larger releases in terms of quality and sound variation I've come across. Masami was kind enough to give me the email interview you find below.
2005
Slightly delayed but no less inevitable it’s finally time to collect the assorted views of musique[machine] contributors, to file, arrange, sequence and sort a years worth of experience and re-experience into a little compact article for your digesting pleasure.2005 has seen the usual deluge of desirable material that threatened to break the bank, and if lucky our hearts. The media decided to stay faithful and ignore the vast majority of great music released this year and instead worry about how downloading is going to put P-Diddy on the bread line. Fortunately here at musique[machine] our battle hardened group of intrepid reporters have braved the elements to bring you the cream of new music, stimulating the parts other webzines just do not reach. Browse the MM archives for reviews of many of the records seen listed here and may 2006 be a most beneficial year for all without and within.
Asva
Dronewise my personal favourite release of 2005 was the debut-cd by American group Asva. Ranging from drone and doom to medieval chant-like female vocals made this album an extraordinary trip. Bandfounder and bassist Stuart G. Dahlquist, who formerly played in Burning Witch with doompope Stephen O’Malley, answered some questions regarding this enrichment to the dronescene.
Dose One
Dose One is one of the most recognisable and prolific of the Anticon-collective. He was part of the most well know Anticonn avant-rap group cLOUDDEAD. He has collaborated with many artist’s in and out of the collective. Two of his most recent release have been a new solo album called Ha and the great 13 & God album , which was a collaboration between Anticon’s Themselves and Germany post rock popster The Notwist. I was lucky enough to have a brief chat with him at the 13 & God London show. Where he kindly agreed to give me a email interview.
Bohren & Der Club of Gore
Bohren & Der Club of Gore play wonderful atmospheric slow/horror jazz, taking their love of extreme metal into a jazz format. They have been together since 1992 and have released 5 full-length albums so far, including the critical acclaimed Black earth, which landed them a USA deal with Mike Patton’s Label Ipecac. They have just released a new album Geisterfaust which strips their sound down and slows their material down even futher and it’s one of my highlights of this year. I reviewed it here. Christoph Clöser (sax, piano, Rhodes) and Morten Gass(piano , fender Rhodes piano, Mellotron) kindly agreed to give me an email interview.
Ulver
Light seeps through. Yours truly has been patient, doctor G. has answered my call to tell us what it is all about.
Irr.App.(Ext)
Certainly one of the most interesting musical anomalies in recent times to rise from the ether that is the experimental electronic underground is Irr.App.(Ext). This surrealism influenced San Francisco based act is fronted by the multi-talented Matt Waldron, who like fellow travellers Steve Stapleton, Andrew McKenzie, and David Tibet also produces a fine line in highly personal fantastical artwork. The bands moniker is not some bizarre computer script short hand, it is in fact an abbreviation of Irrational Appendage (Extending) a metaphor for their working and recording practices. They have a number of available releases, Ozeanische Gefuhle on Helen Scarsdale, and The dust pincher appliances on Crouton, to name but two.Their most recent release is a collaboration with Nurse with wound on their triple LP/CD set Angry Eelectric Finger. Matt Waldron has also just returned from a series of shows with NWW in Vienna. I caught up with him just before he set off for more shows in Toronto
Michael J V Hensley
Michael J V Hensley has over the last ten years or so produced some of the best dark Ambient/ drone music around. Under his solo project name Blood Box. And with Steven Hall in the much praised Yen Pox, as well as a few other collaborations.Towards the end of last year he released his second Solo album The Iron Dream (which I reviewed here ). He kindly agreed to give me an interview via email.
Meshuggah
With Meshuggah’s latest album, Catch Thirtythree, the band seems to have made their best album to date. Composition, performance and production all come together perfectly to form a metallic beast that still is very metal but at the same time defies the boundaries of the genre. Drummer Tomas Haake updates musique[machine] on the current state of affairs with his band.
Roger Doyle
For well over thirty years now Roger Doyle has been composing some of the most unique electro-acoustic and concrete music to be found. From his first scores and experiments with cut and splice tape manipulation, to his more recent work with software and live electronics there has been a seam of the epic and the transendal running through his compositions. A seam which had led Doyle from futuristic worlds of vast towers to the more internalised dreamscapes of his Passades. His most ambitious project the vast Babel construct which eventually manifested itself as a 5CD box set to celebrate Doyle 50th birthday in 1999, involved 48 collaborators and took ten years to compose. It was with this landmark in his career that I began the interview.
Prana Trio
A while ago a young band released their debut After Dark. With influences from drum ‘n’ bass, Björk and Billy Holiday and inspired by poets like Rûmi, Hafez as well as the Chinese Tao Te Ching, branding Prana Trio’s style ‘jazz’ would be too limiting. Bandleader and drummer Brian Adler tells us more about his band.
Sole
Sole is one of the founders of the indie avant white rap collective/label Anticon. He's more angry and straight forward in his delivery than a lot of his Anticon-brothers. He has just released his 3rd album Live from Rome, which lyrical is a heady and aggressive ride into inner and outer Armageddon. With a varied musical backing from Eerie down beat to twitching off-kilter analogue electronics to stripped-down guitar. I was lucky enough to him see live in London at the launch party for this album. The show featured the whole of the new album. Which was played in a wonderful, powerful form with the help of his live band. Without doubt one of the most intense (rap or otherwise) show’s I’ve been to. He kindly agreed to do an e-mail interview with me.
2004
Here we go again. Second year in a row that we submit to the trend: here's what rocked the musique[machine]'s writers world in 2004! Each contributor thought about his individual list, and we left it that way because we are very lazy, and we like it. Browse our archive for reviews and may 2005 be good for all of you, for all of us.
Confessor
In the early nineties Earache, back then an underground label specialised in death metal and grindcore, signed a band called Confessor. The quintet from North Carolina wasn't typical for the label and even in a broader sense rather unique. Their complex structures with prominent places for intricate drumpatterns and very high vocals quickly condemned Confessor to the 'love 'em or hate 'em'-section.
And Then You Die
I was quiite taken by surprise when I got Abuse Park, And Then You Die's latest full-length more than one year ago (review here). One of the best albums of the year, limited to 500 copies. One year later I understand it's not sold out yet. Surely there is omething wrong? You just can't let it pass you by...
The Melvins
It promised to be a very special evening in Middelburg, The Netherlands. The European tour planned for The Melvins was cancelled, but for three shows in Vienna, Paris and Middelburg they agreed to play anyway, as a soundtrack to three short movies by Cameron Jamie. The music-, art- and movie-lovers were treated to something nice here.
Project: Failing Flesh
The Canadian/American Project: Failing Flesh recently released their debut which offers a creative mix of thrash metal with electronic and other genredefying sidesteps. Tim Gutierrez, responsible for the instrumental side of Project: Failing Flesh along with Kevin 131 with whom he founded the band, informs us on the who-where-why-what of their CD A Beautiful Sickness.
Rodney Hunter
The downtempo genre has a new star and his name is Rodney Hunter. Growing up with Peter Kruder (from Kruder & Dorfmeister fame), one can wonder why it took so long for the Austrian to complete his album. And that was exactly my first question when I had the opportunity to interview Rodney.
Tchando
I was most impressed by Bliss’ latest album, Quiet Letters. As you can read in my review here, the multi-cultural influences on that album are essential to Bliss’ sound. A lot of that multi-cultural aspect comes from the African singer & composer Tchando.
Secret Chiefs 3
Guitarist, arranger, producer and composer Trey Spruance presented on his fourth Secret Chiefs 3 the ambitious plan of a trilogy called Kitab al Haqq, the Book Of Truth. The answers he returned to my queries may seem rather cryptic sometimes, like the whirlwind of symbols and references found in his musical and visual concepts. I will make no attempts at explaining them as they are true to the whole Secret Chiefs 3 mystique. Read with the right eye this article can be enlightening as to what Trey is trying to convey and by this the article sets itself apart from the 'common' interviews to be found elsewhere on the web. I leave it up to the reader to decide if it's an open book or just a bunch of mumbojumbo. The Web of Mimicry provides suggested readingmaterial regarding the subjectmatter in the Museum Without Walls for those who choose to investigate.
Meridiem
American singer and composer Percy Howard started a career in rockmusic in 1992 with Sway. Inspired by Swans, Dead Can Dance and Joy Division they released a CD in 1993. After the demise of that band Percy moved on with the ambient rock band Nûs in 1994 with whom he released two albums. When that band too collapsed in 1997 Percy's current project Meridiem came into existence whose wonderful second album called A Pleasant Fiction has just been released. I wanted to inquire about this project and Percy was so kind to answer a couple of questions:
Mono
After a failed attempt at interviewing them in July 2003, I finally managed to do it last April in Brussels. Mono, the very interesting Japanese post-rock quartet was travelling with an interpreter… All of a sudden, everything made sense… The interview took place the day after the incredible live set they performed as Shellac’s opening act. Check the reviews of the new album Walking cloud and deep red sky, flag fluttered and the sun shined and of the previous one, One step more and you die, in our archive. The interviewee is songwriter and guitarist Goto Takahira.
Spastic Ink
This year Spastic Ink's second album Ink Compatible finally saw its release and it's shown worth the wait. Complex metal with a lot of ideas thrown at the listener at a fast pace. I hooked up with guitarist Ron Jarzombek to get to know more about him and music. He kindly and enthusiastically answered my questions.
2003
A must for every webzine: the top of the year. Perfect way for us to tell you what you have to have, perfect way for us to tell you “you’re so stupid for not having this godly CD”. Well, not really… We’re just taking this opportunity to let you know what rocked our writers world. What you get: individual takes on 2003 by the M[m] staff. We couldn’t be arsed to make a general M[m] best of 2003 list. We gladly leave that to Pitchfork…