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Modern composer Tomas Phillips released this modestly packaged work of classical minimalism "Quartet for Instruments" in 2010. It is a consistently serene but engaging 40 minutes. Phillips' music is not half as minimal as composers like Morton Feldman, and he's unafraid to use a little melody and consonant sonority to make the listening experience pleasant.
Leyland Kirby’s long running Caretaker project has gone from an obscure artefact inspired by a scene in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining to become something of an avant-garde institution. Lauded by the late John Peel, co-opted by the academic exponents of Hauntology, Kirby’s reanimated take on pre-war ballroom and aberrant memory processes could easily have become a gimmick stretched too far. That The Caretaker’s output in the last 18 months constitutes some of his finest and freshest work to date is a testimony not only to the magpie like skills of this antiquarian record collector, but to his ability as a subtle and uniquely captivating composer.
Knurl is a name I recognise from way back, and indeed, the packaging is reminiscent of many old diy records in my dusty vinyl collection: screen-printed sleeves, hand-stamped record labels and photocopied inserts. Its all very evocative of when I started getting into more underground projects and circles. The sleeves of “Reactance” are spartan enough; but from Knurl’s insert, we learn that all the tracks were performed live by Alan Bloor, using metal and violin.
Broken Penis Orchestra is a cut-up noise project from the U.S.A headed by a guy that calls himself Dick Flick, and “Plays Itself” is a reissue of a limited CDr originally released in 2003. The intentions of the tape are very clear from it’s outset , and the artwork is a completely messy color collage of body parts, animal entrails and god knows what else, and one of the tracks is called “Could Someone Please Turn This Off?”.
I couldn't skip a split tape between Vidinè Ramybè and Vomir since they're among my favourite noise acts, so I happily jumped at the occasion to review it.
This Split CDR brings together French progressive & ambient HNW project Ghost, and New York based HNW project The Structure. The release comes sealed inside a specially made & custom marked black tape & cape paper lined folder.
“Torche Blanche”(White Torch) is the second slice of storm bound, raging & dense walled noise from the french two piece HNW project Askell Groc’hen. The project pairs up skull, bone and crypt oppressed Bördel Noïr from western France. And wolf, haunted woodland and Heathen death obsessed Younx Grounioc'h from central France.
“Untitled” finds Vomir offering up four just shy of twenty minute slices of brutal, unmoving & seared walled noise. This new untitled( the 21st vomir release to use this title!) release from the king of crusty & unrelenting walled noise is available in either a four 3ich cdr set or a single cdr- for reference I’m reviewing the single cdr version.
“Journey of One” takes us back to 1996, and the height of Steve Roach’s tribal ambient phase. This two disc set offers up two fifty minute live sets of morphing & swirling tribal ambience at it’s most captivating & enchanting.
Zero Centigrade is the Italian duo of Tonio Taiuti and Vincenzo DeLuce. The duo creates an interesting mix of electro acoustic experimental noise. Unknown Distances is their latest release. What sparks interest are the methods and instruments used. Tonio plays acoustic guitar and Vincenzo plays the trumpet, various field recordings and sound effects are added too. Through the playing of these traditional instruments they are able to make them sound so alien yet familiar also.
Much like the term ‘progressive rock’, the appellation ‘industrial’ is fairly without much meaning these days. In our modern, ultra-commodification culture a band such as Radiohead is ‘progressive rock’ and Machines of Loving Grace are ‘industrial’. Marketing has become the music.
Three tracks of Harsh Noise Wall, on Breaching Static; in a cryptically packaged dvd case which doesn’t give many clues away. This is a good thing, it makes an interesting change from so many HNW releases with explicitly clear themes and “obsessions”. So, apart from the titles, the cover has a crude metal-type logo for Vargrwulf, a negative photo from a women’s clothing catalogue and a couple of small runic doodles/sigils. The listener thus enters into “Elite” with no real preconceptions…
Norweigen artist Fire Under Water's 1st release, a self titled CDr, was released on Twilight Luggage in 2011. There are 2 untitled tracks around 15 minutes long, comprised entirely of low fidelity, crackling ambient noise of an unintrusive nature. There is almost no artwork, only an almost primal symbolic picture of wavy lines (water) with 3 small flame emblems superimposed over it.
When it comes to the avant-garde, one of the more well-known composers is John Cage. John Cage over the course of his life expressed himself in myriad ways and one of the more famous was through the use of ‘prepared piano’. Such a piano would have bolts, foam, and other objects wedged between or placed on top of the piano strings, along with other modifications to expand the range of sounds that could be achieved. Over the years, ‘prepared piano’ modifications and techniques have extended resulting in the piano almost becoming a musical universe unto itself. A related stream of musical creation is the ‘inside piano’ methodology where the strings within the piano are plucked, rubbed, scraped, and caressed to produce sounds and tonalities that most listeners would not recognize as coming from the familiar keyboard instrument.
“Des Araignées Cherchent Mon Coeur”(roughly translated to “Spiders Seek My Heart”) is a forty minute slice of desperate, bitter and unmoving HNW. Ruine is the new project from highly talented French HNW maker Julien Skrobek of Ghost & The Sandman Wears A Mask.
“The Dark Is Death's Friend” is a c36 tape that offers up two sides long tracks of weathered, lo-fi and brutally walled noise from this mainly giallo themed HNW project. Last Rape is one of the more known of Richard Ramirez’s giallo influenced projects, and the current line-up takes in Ramirez & Sean E. Matzus.
"Four-String Guitar & U" 's cover features a picture of a guy in collants crawling on the floor, reaching for something in a fridge with a bunch of cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon resting on a table to his right. This beautiful image sets the mood for a big feast of totally retarded four-string guitar and vocals improvisation with-in, that’s seemingly trying to be as annoying as possible.
Swedens Flagellant (not to be confused with the other Flagellant from Germany) began back in 2007 releasing one demo. 2010 found them releasing their debut Monuments. The threesome (composed of members J, S, and E) are quite capable musicians and composers; creating a black metal sound that while familiar, is at the very least excellently played.
Despite its cover photo implying a modern day version of the famous painting by Grant Wood (after which the album is named), where a lone child in Hallowe’en costume now holds a plastic pitchfork in front of an apartment block or commercial building, the music contained within is far from traditional. Forged between their home studios situated nearly 800 miles apart, Jenks Miller’s in North Carolina and Nicholas Szczepanik’s in Chicago, the duo explore combining layers of concrète, electronics, organ and occasionally percussion to produce five suspenseful works of introspection and instability.
“The 99 Names Of God” offers up a c32 worth of often detailed static texturing and minimalistic HNW from this US act who themes all his work around the Islamic fundamentalist world.
“Dead Zone” was mixed on the day the first explosion at the Japanese Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in March 2011, and the album finds Merzbow creating a seared yet often atmospheric tribute to both the Chernobyl & Fukushima disasters.
“Espírito Santo” is a very dreamy, melancholic and drifting slice of guitar, analogue electronics & subtle percussive based quiet jamming/improv. The release brings together Lisbon based guitarist Manuel Mota- who has been actively creating since the early 1990’s, and has received praise from the likes of Derek Bailey. And Zürich based Jason Kahn- whose a highly respected percussionist & electro improviser whose been working in the field since the mid 1990’s.
It’s difficult to downplay the importance & influence of "The Secound Annual Report"- the first slab of sonic terrorism and audio depravity from Throbbing Gristle. It created & influenced the original industrial scene, it went onto influence and inform the noise scene & it’s many facets, and it has gone on to be a reference point for all manner of extreme, experimental & creative acts. And this reissue proves that the album is still as powerful, unbalancing & shocking as it was 34 years ago when it original appeared.
Russian group Phurpa practices a traditional form of Tibetan throat singing called Bon, characterized by lethargic pacing and intensely deep octaves. "Trowo Phurnag Ceremony" is the 2nd of 3 albums, originally released in 2008. In his blurb about the album, Stephen O'Malley of Sunn O))) refers to Bon as a 'polyphonic style', but really it's more like a rough unison between several singers.