ILSE Label: Dave Fuglewicz, Billy Gomberg, Anne Guthrie, Nick Hoffman, Half An Abortion, Richard Kamerman, Hal McGee, Violent Pink, Aaron Zarzutzki

DAVE FUGLEWICZ / HAL MCGEE (Ilse, 14) Synergistic Reconstruction (2011) CDR

One of the foremost American noise artists, the superhumanly prolific Hal McGee, teams up with another stalwart of the U.S. cassette underground, Dave Fuglewicz, to create "Synergistic Reconstruction". The original sound source material by Fuglewicz, composed on software synthesizers, was remixed and added to by McGee on a bunch of analog synths and circuit-bent instruments producing all manner of electronically derived sounds. McGee, as mixer, really sticks to his Burroughsian guns on this one, using chance tactics to slam sound fields against one another, creating their own unintentional logic. These compositions (there are four) are built from such disparate sonic events that they seem to be always moving towards some impossible destination. Fuglewicz's looping textures reign in McGee's more excessive tendencies as, amidst all the chance happenings and bombardments, a directional line will emerge moving towards a cohesive structure, centering the composition with McGee's squabbling sweeps and chattering seeming less reckless and more integral to the overall fabric. Fascinating and recommended! Get it HERE.

HALF AN ABORTION (Ilse, 11) Naked Math Machinery (2011) CDR

With astonishing power, Pete Cann, aka Half An Abortion, creates nightmarish paintings from the colours of his sonic palette. The images conjured on "Naked Math Machinery" are fantastic, though completely abstract and  from unrecognizable sound sources. These are very harsh, caustic sounds with little low-end, feedback-derived noise possibly composed using contact mics and no-input mixers. Whatever the humble, or not-so-humble, origins of these sounds, they create structures where every event is magnified to monstrous extremes and unleashed with blistering savagery. The second track, "Paused Growl", with its false ending is particularly dynamic, and the final track titled "During The Swim" has a more varied structure, with its stop and start framework, but it's still a very stern sound and an engrossing one. Cann is onto something here, he's found a new way of expressing the  noise paradigm. No cliches, just a beautiful cacophony! Get it HERE.

AARON ZARZUTZKI / NICK HOFFMAN (Ilse, 4) Lost Corner (2011) CDR

The pure sound invention of Aaron Zarzutzki and Nick Hoffman using various noisemakers on this album, "Lost Corner", is quite remarkable. Looking at the inner sleeve photo it appears the compositions were created using synthesizers, (circuit-bent?) drum machines, fx pedals, and contact mics on various objects, including a sewing machine. These improvised environments are created from small sound events that overlap, many of the sonics have percussive qualities and appear for a few seconds in the mix to disappear or come back later. Reminds me of Roscoe Mitchell's "The Maze" or some of Anthony Braxton's more esoteric compositions for percussion. The two improvisers are throwing a lot into the mix, but never latch on to a theme, the whole thing plays like Dadaist poetry à la Kurt Schwitters, but not having any crescendos wears on the concept by the end. Through and through its directions seem tentative. Still remarkable if only for the sheer scope of the varied palette. Get it HERE.


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BILLY GOMBERG, ANNE GUTHRIE, RICHARD KAMERMAN (Ilse, 10) Blue & Gold, Delicate Sen (2011) CDR

Billy Gomberg collaborates with french horn player, Anne Guthrie (Director of the S.E.M. Ensemble in Brooklyn) and Richard Kamerman in the trio project, Delicate Sen. "Blue & Gold, Delicate Sen" is a superb album of beautiful sound worlds created by these artists. Four long tracks of improvisation, similar in intent to the Zarzutzki/Hoffman release reviewed above. Both albums are made by artists who are, apparently, very familiar with improvisation and have the daring to pull off what they attempt. It's a fine line and doesn't take much, in either case, to succeed or fail aesthetically, but where this album succeeds in a stronger way, for me, is by finding correlations in the audio stream between the improvised parts that cements their structure. These compositions are not extremely driving, or dynamic, but the languid flow of ideas across the sound field is, nevertheless, very satisfying. Whatever themes appear are very minimalist, usually a fluxing note, or multiphonic, that slowly stretches the composition as other quiet strands enter and dissolve. An absorbing listening experience. Get it HERE.

VIOLENT PINK (Ilse, 5) Propaganda Of The Deed (2011) CDR

Violent Pink is the noise project of Tyler Keen, from Augusta, Georgia, active since at least 2009, with several CDR's and cassettes to his credit, including one on AMK's Banned Productions label. This album, "Propaganda Of The Deed", starts off with an old-school, industrial style sound-clip montage, then speeds off like a rocket into a violent world of noise. His feedback based vocal approach is familiar, from Masonna to Prurient to Torturing Nurse, calling forth the psychedelic elements of this style as well as, in this case, the more dominant metal origins. The two tracks with Pete Cann, aka Half An Abortion, whose contributions are easily discerned, are the high points of this album as the heavy solidity of Cann's source material anchors the compositions. It's quite a trip, one that noiseheads will love. Get it HERE.

SPLEENCOFFIN Label: Embarker, GX Jupitter-Larsen, Arvo Zylo

The sPLeeNCoFFiN label, out of Baltimore, MD, has been releasing limited edition noise on cassettes, CDR's and vinyl since 2003. Co-founded by Marlo Eggplant and Timothy Wisniewski, the label's philosophy of releasing albums of "raw experimentation in diverse forms" endears me to them right away. Their discography is extremely diverse and many of the out-of-print items from their catalog are now available as free downloads (including several by Marlo Eggplant, one of my favorite women on the noise scene). Some of their recent releases look really interesting, several Hazardous Guadalupe albums (an early Marlo Eggplant band project); Kreace Peeps, described as "crudely recorded and sloppily improvised excursions into tropical free-jazz, inept folk, harsh world beat, dissonant new age... (etc.)"; and Arrington de Dionyso's "Music For Two Tape Recorders", a 2 tape set that is meant to be played simultaneously on two separate cassette players to achieve it's effect. Give this label a visit HERE.

EMBARKER (Spleencoffin, no cat. #) Big Gary (2011) Cassette

Embarker is the solo project of audiovisual artist, Michael Barker, from New York. This tape, "Big Gary", comes packaged in a very unassuming lined yellow legal-pad cover that looks to be hand typed. The cover, even with the fine line-drawing, provides no indication of what this will sound like, so I push play and the tape begins with a synth filter slowly widening, moving up in pitch, rising like that for a while, then abruptly ends. Sounding for a moment like the tape is being eaten by the cassette player, but then a strange pattern of synthetics emerge forming another composition, adding glitched, out-of-key elements, high-pitched exclamations, sample & hold overloading of repetitions. All these sounds overlapping and building slowly into new arrangements. Then the patterns draw apart, becoming separated from their origins. Like random machine sounds convening, or music created by coordinated mechanical events. The B side begins more rhythmic, with a bass drum/cymbal, filtered and banging over and over while making slight timbral changes. This rhythmic structure is built up with random-sounding synths that often move in to the mix for a moment only to disappear. Definite link here, sound-wise, to the early cassette underground stuff like that of Carl Howard's NoMuzic. In the more recent context maybe this is a sort of minimal breakcore. Difficult to define, yet very interesting and unexpected. Get it HERE.

GX JUPITTER-LARSEN / ARVO ZYLO (Spleencoffin, SP-27-CS) Xylowave/Zylowave (2012) Cassette

GX Jupitter-Larsen needs no introduction, to anybody even in the periphery of the noise scene, Larsen's project, The Haters, is legendary as one of the defining artists of the genre, up there with the likes of Hal McGee, Merzbow, Whitehouse, etc. This split tape with Arvo Zylo, titled "Xylowave/Zylowave", is a 2012 release on Spleencoffin. The first side belongs to GX and here he creates an urgent sound, though to the ear the basic patterns do not change and there are no clever editing tricks, there's something beautiful in these long stretches of wind-licked, barren machine-noise. This is crushing, bruising, yet when listened to in a certain way can be heard as ambient sounds. Rising frequencies punch holes in the structure, power tools shower sparks, until in it's final incarnation it becomes crunching rhythmics that descend to an abrupt ending. As awesome as you'd expect!

Arvo Zylo is a distinctive noise artist, though not yet well known, I've reviewed his work favorably HERE. This is quite different from the crazy combination of prog, krautrock and industrial forms I heard in Zylo's other work. His B side, "Zylowave", starts with staccato 8-bit repetitions, charged electrons fluxing throughout, then partial dropouts in the mix on one side of the stereo frame or the other. My Sansui S930's are put to the test, but they're used to this kind of noise abuse, since I've had 'em for 30+ years! Midway through, it all becomes hissing and constant crescendos with no means of resolution. Another wondrous slab of power electronics!

Finally let me say this has one of the better conceived cover graphics I've seen of late, handsomely printed in black and silver, a nice art package. Recommended! Get it for $5 (!) HERE.

MOONLIT SUN - Transmissions From Beyond, 2011

MOONLIT SUN (Night Of Solitude, No cat. #) Transmissions From Beyond (2011) Cassette

 Moonlit Sun, from Canada, is the industrial noise project of Jason Mauricio, a committed artist of the younger noise generation. Not a lot of material is available currently from this artist, but Mauricio has been primarily dedicated to recording for several years now, with less emphasis on releasing his work. Taking a purist approach, he often works with raw sound sources, recorded electroacoustically with contact microphones and little, if any, post effects. This tape, "Transmissions From Beyond", was created using scrap metals and, as it points out in the liner notes, "no computer based synthesizers or effects were used" in all but one of the 13 tracks here. Unlike fellow Canadian, Knurl, whose junk metal compositions explore  microbic/geologic worlds, or Hal Hutchinson's "Taste of Metal", which embodies the ancient ritualist aspect of scrap-metal, Moonlit Sun stands apart for it's stern metaphor of a dystopian society and the post-modern artist living in a complex but outwardly superficial environment. The vocal work on this is really interesting, only snatches of lyrics are readily discerned, so a lot of the overall vocal effect is that of another instrument in the mix. The strong use of live echoplexing creates in many tracks a sort of shuddering, warbled sound. Sounds move about freely in their environments. Often the tracks center on rhythm but these aren't drum machines playing samples, it's Mauricio bashing away at metal sheets or barrels. So there is a definite DNA here from classic 80's industrial music, like Test Department, except in this music the lyrics aren't rallying cries, but ghostly warnings, barely emerging from the surrounding mist, these cryptic and covert admonishments. Beautiful cover graphics inside and out. Recommended! Get it HERE.

ACCLIMATE - Songs For The Dead, 2011

ACCLIMATE (Samboy Get Help! Recordings) Songs For The Dead (2011) CDR

Acclimate's last album, "World's End", released early in 2011 (and reviewed HERE), displayed composer, Artemis K's, talents for creating lush soundscapes sandwiched between dynamic rhythmic sections. On this new release, "Songs For The Dead", the rhythms are, largely, foregone but replaced by a richer exploration of the cinematic aspects of his music. These deeply atmospheric sound worlds are created by all means of invention, synthesizer pads are drawn out into swelling ambient textures, samples are piled up, noises throb, drones seem to form out of these varied sounds but all around the stereo field are sonic events morphing into the aural equivalent of some kind of closed-eye hallucination. Indefinable, cutup voices frequently become a part of the textures, whispering, begging you to listen, small segments of emotional outbursts, sometimes the voices chastise and warn against an inevitable future. It occurs to me that these songs are not, so  much, "tributes" to the dead, as nothing sentimental can be found. Ending the album with the track, "Silence", however, cements the whole concept so perfectly, and it's a point well made.  Fans of Dark Ambient/Industrial genre will love this album. Limited to 100 copies. Get it HERE. 

CEREBRO MORTO Label: Andrew Coltrane, Gianluca Becuzzi, N.

Cérebro Morto, based in Portugal, is releasing some very interesting exploratory sounds these days. As label owner, Tiago Jerónimo says: "Cérebro Morto is interested in manifestations of the so called experimental, unconventional, or exploratory music, with special focus on electronics, electroacoustics, and improvisation." I like everything about this label, the sounds they are putting out, the snap-shut plastic cd cases, the artwork graphics, even their logo! Not to mention their name translates to "Brain Dead", one of my favorite over-the-top horror movies ever (early Peter Jackson). Besides the three excellent albums reviewed below, this label has also released another favorite noise project of mine, Pregnant Spore, and very soon Maurizio Bianchi. Cérebro Morto is one to keep an eye on.

 ANDREW COLTRANE (Cérebro Morto, CM007) Urge To Kill (2011) CDR

I've favorably reviewed Andrew Coltrane's music before (HERE). His work is always fascinating, recorded under a variety of guises and informed in equal doses, it would seem, by the noise movement, free jazz and the German electronicists (TD, Klaus Schulze, etc). It would be damned near impossible to hear everything he has released over the last ten or more years, just due to the huge scope of it, numerous small run/limited edition releases in various formats, but noise fans/collectors should do themselves a favor right now and acquire all they can of his varied and inventive discography.

His new release on Cérebro Morto, titled "Urge To Kill", is another superb effort, this time with Coltrane putting his stamp on the "horror noise" sub-genre. The nearly 18 minute (untitled) opening track begins with grim electronics and voices like out of a Fulci movie, frantic, strained emotives, fever rising, and then jump cuts into a sweeping synth filter opening and closing ever so slowly. Small events happen within this minimal structure, echoey noise attacks poking, phased and pitch-shifted voices droning almost invisibly in the background. The synthetic tones become more assertive as analog textures modulate and recede. Essentially what I would call a "noise-ambient" composition, forbidding but with many interesting sounds happening inside the dense sound structure. A palpable metaphor of a lunatic mindstate on the edge and about to do something terrible. The second track is shorter, about 11 minutes with a more propulsive sense, an unfurling center that seems to burn, random high pitched whistles flying past like harpies. Only more volume can do this track justice as it rushes along breakneck, all hissing and frenzied. This is the point where rationale has become undone by a compulsion too great. What was foreshadowed on the first composition becomes real, with a malevolent ending dead-end cutoff. RECOMMENDED! Get it HERE.

GIANLUCA BECUZZI (Cérebro Morto, CM008) Haunted (2011) CDR
 

Gianluca Becuzzi has been around since the early 80's working in the areas of electroacoustic and noise music. His creative activities under such guises as Kinetix and Noise Trade Company, in collaboration with industrial band, Pankow and with another Italian noise composer, Fabio Orsi, have resulted in a wide range of experimental releases. "Haunted" consists of four untitled tracks, the middle two longer compositions are the same length, 12:48, and they are bookended by two shorter compositions also both the same length, 2:33, creating a sort of magickal symbol, or equation. The longer two compositions inhabit a similar space, long reverbs and expansive ambient textures rising/falling in the mix with striking atmospheric punctuations and scraping sounds. Even with a flair for the cinematic touch, the clanking of chains, pots and pans rattling, junk metal being dragged around, are typical filmic devices that create a "haunted" ambiance. In correlation to the title, however, this seems a little shallow, it's got all the trappings right, but it doesn't scare, so the payoff isn't quite there for me personally. But when considered apart from the album title's allusions, this is still an interesting, even extraordinary, excursion into electroacoustic soundscaping. Get it HERE.

N. (Cérebro Morto, CM006) Macabre Lust/Destination Morgue (2011) 2xCDR

The mysterious N., aka Davide Tozzoli, has been active in the Italian noise community since the late 1990's. Known for his work in the death industrial/noise genres, one look at his discography and such titles as "Hospital Murders", "Asphyxiating" and "Born To Die", you know what to expect. My expectations were confounded, however, on this release because, where one would expect clichés, there are none. This is an inspired approach to the noise aesthetic.

Macabre Lust, recorded in 1998, begins with a synthetic loop, repeating rhythmically, very minimal, the changes in the structure are small and happen incrementally which makes for a good sport of active listening. The second track lets you know that the rest of the album is not going to follow along the same sort of repetitive approach as the first. All the voices are up close in this environment, with distorted synths talking, singing, sometimes mourning, other times clutched in fear. These sound structures have a twisted, chattering life to them. The heavy (digital?) distortive processes wrenching the subtext here, each composition is it's own holographic image of a world that may be a part of the one we are in, or may not. The second half of this set, consisting of a single 22+ minute track titled "Destination Morgue", was recorded live at a 2007 festival of the same name. Seems to me the mysterious N. has not significantly changed his approach in the nearly ten years that separate the two discs. This noise shows possibly more of a debt to MB in it's stern conception. It is very strange to hear audience members having what sounds like casual conversation during N.'s live set. As it went on, the voices captured became another element of the experience and I found it quite invigorating, the ending applause is enough to realize there were many who really were listening! Much recommended. Get it HERE.

SWAMP HORSE - Subtle Dementia, 2012

SWAMP HORSE (Husk Records, H#102) Subtle Dementia (2012) EP, Ltd. 100

Swamp Horse, the co-project of Josh Lay and Morgan Rankin, has gained a lot of recognition over the last couple of years. After a handful of superb, but now hard to find, cassette releases, they put out the brilliant "Perpetual Drip" (3" cd-r), one of my personal top ten of 2010. Their style of synth-drone noise sounds primal, yet unearthly, and just when you think you know them, Swamp Horse will defy expectation. Theirs is an enigmatic sound world, not locked into any kind of self imposed dogma, each new manifestation another facet of their combined, twisted visions.

This new 7" single, "Subtle Dementia", does not disappoint. Here Swamp Horse have created a bizarre little tribute to the horror soundtrack genre. A comparison has been made elsewhere to the group, Goblin, and I hear that, but where Goblin couldn't really reign in their dazzling prog-rock excesses, this minimalist thing is just black... and bleak. For me a better comparison is the Nekromantic soundtrack, or even Coil's "Unreleased Themes for Hellraiser".

Side one begins more synth than drone, with a repeating melodic pattern, the tension in the piece building through a repetitive process, with sustained notes wavering sickeningly, the track pulsing as more synthesized elements enter one after another, then a psych-guitar buzzing like some krautrock track minus the drums. Whereas side one seems to take as it's starting point the soundtrack music of 80's/90's horror films, the flip side is a different beast, starting at the point where sound effects become soundtrack. There is still a circular effect to the composition, samples/synthetics piling up, water sounds(?), voices(?),  indefinable sounds, the structure becoming more and more dense. Detached synth lines float through the mix, remark on it for a moment, then disappear until the next exclamation. A fantastic howling, rattling, wind-blown harbinger of terrifying events to come, like some scene from Fulci's "Gates Of Hell".  Although filmic, there is no pretense in these compositions of dramatic tension and release. It's ALL tension, NO release, in a perfect lo-fi mix that is compressed and claustrophobic. This bleak sound establishes, just as the title implies, a world where thoughts, or remembrances, are indistinct, out of focus, yet perched on the outskirts of some kind of dread comprehension. The same song playing over and over through a fog bank of mental deterioration, the sensations burying themselves in the ooze of decaying cerebral tissue, this is the sound of Swamp Horse trudging through your brain. You're gonna love it.

Limited edition of 100 copies on colored vinyl, this will sell out fast. GET IT HERE.

Animal Machine, Avrorin, Booby Mason, Brent Gutzeit, Buoyhood, Dmitriy Zubov, Frans De Waard, Merzbow, Mystery Hearsay, Troj

MERZBOW (Green Records, GR146) April 1992 (2011) Cassette

Here's a very nice tape from Michigan label, Green Records: Masami Akita, aka Merzbow's "April 1992". This has all the characteristics of Akita's work from that time period, the skittering, slashing, pounding, ear-splitting violent sounds, overloaded energy dynamics with random plosives. A crushing live session, remixed in 2010 by Akita, who also created the effective cover graphic. This is a great example of how Masami Akita has applied the ideas of Kurt Schwitters' concept of the "Merzbau", a structure that grows and changes constantly, to his own musical expressions. There is no beginning, no end, no recurring theme, just one boundless wave of noise after another, washing senseless over the senses, unfinished yet somehow complete. A must-have for noise freaks! Get it HERE.

MYSTERY HEARSAY (Mystery Hearsay, no cat. #) Flesh Tomb (2011) Cassette

Flesh Tomb was released in 2011 as a CD on Dmitry Vasilyev's label in Russia. Mike Honeycutt, the mastermind behind Mystery Hearsay, sent me this cassette version, I don't know if it's available for sale/trade or what, but one can still obtain the digital version through Monochrome Vision. Mike has been making experimental sounds since the early 80's and if this album isn't proof of his mastery of soundscaping I don't know what could possibly be! It starts out spacey and ambient, and from there traverses all manner of atmospherics, weird rhythms, cinematics, deep reverberations, electroacoustic textures, deafening crescendos, you can easily get lost in this filmscape for the ears. This is a superb and brilliant work of art, the stories told are fascinating and each composition offers it's enigmatic riddles as their own answers to penetrate the mystery in every possible combination of sounds. A real treat for lovers of dark ambient music and film soundtracks.

AVRORIN (Pekopa Records, no cat. #) Untitled Split (2010) Cassette

G. Avrorin is a noise musician from St. Petersburg, Russia, active since 1997. Other than a MySpace site, there is little else to be found on the web about Mr. Avrorin, although Discogs lists several split releases with some interesting younger artists such as Torturing Nurse, Vomir and Booby Mason (see review below). This tape begins with sheet metal noise performed during a live show with a very excited audience in attendance. Feedback-based, screeching, shredded, droning scrap-heap noise breaking for a moment into media clips, continues into choppy sounds with moments of silence, then blasting back with more synthetic thunder. Use of contact microphone and over-amplification turns every small sound into something monstrous and animalistic. Everything stops suddenly to applause and a heated conversation, in Russian, between artist and audience. Avrorin doesn't break any new ground here, but it certainly is one hell of an exhilarating listening experience! To obtain this and other recordings by Avrorin, email: kuhelgarten (at) gmail.com.

AVRORIN & ZUBOV / BOOBY MASON (Pekopa Records, no cat. #) Untitled Split (2010) Cassette

On side one of this split cassette, the aforementioned Avrorin collaborates with Dmitriy Zubov, better known for his dark ambient sound-project, Hypnoz. The sound here is feedback-based harsh noise with vocals, think Whitehouse, or Prurient. Sounds like some possible contact microphone use as well. Whirling noise vortexes, looped voices, high-pitched squeals, a fairly brutal, in-your-face mix. Since the point of view is largely missed on me due to my lack of knowledge of the Russian language, the sounds considered on their own would merit a heads-up for harsh noise fans, but there's certainly nothing unique here. Crashing, unrelenting noise crunch goes on for about 20 minutes or so. I like it.

Booby Mason is 24 year old Anton Gudkov, from Omsk, Russia, who began his noise project in 2009. He makes trashy collages in the vein of Hanatarash, utilizing both analog and digital noise and mixing it with recordings that have been made using a dictophone. Booby Mason has about 30 or so, recordings under different names and in different genres, from harsh-noise and lo-fi electronics to dark ambient and primitive techno styles. His side of this split tape has a more varied approach, adding what sounds like incorporation of sheet metals, the vocals are more shrill and less hidden behind walls of static than the Avrorin stuff. The ear starts to long for anything but this barrage when it shifts gears abruptly, into a standard rock trio with vocals! Of course, the vocals are still maniacal, laughing, hissing... The second track is a sound collage that contains all manner of pre-recorded ephemera: a Russian television announcer, children's songs, pop music, even a Madonna commercial(!) which then evolves into drone put through a phaser, abstracted underwater sounds, ending in an English language news report about illicit drugs. Another weird lo-fi band track with devolved vocals closes the side out, sounding nothing if not like a bootleg Suicide recording. Very strange and convoluted stuff from the Russian scene! To obtain this and other recordings by Avrorin, email: kuhelgarten (at) gmail.com.

BRENT GUTZEIT (Neon Blossom Records, NBR23) Rocks And Blows (2010) Cassette

This cassette, released on Neon Blossom in 2010, limited edition of 50 copies, is now sold out but deserves more exposure. (i.e. hopefully there is a re-release on the horizon) My friend and collaborator, Brent Gutzeit, a stalwart of the Chicago improvised music scene, is one of the founding members of TV Pow, has collabed and performed live with numerous experimental musicians and has many solo releases to his credit. This tape, "Rocks And Blows", an extremely diverse collection of improvised compositions, cannot be encapsulated as belonging to one certain style, or genre. There are elements of drone, space rock, world music here and all are knit into a quilt of invention that captures the mystifying essence of his sound world. The first side is more diverse, almost eclectic, beginning with stringed instrument sounds, otherworldly exotica, gaining cohesion as it develops into a spacey, pitched drone that hovers and continues to add to the structure in very subtle and beautiful ways. Side two creates a drone out of fractured organ textures reverberating and echoing around, still has that hovering feel, with ingeniously crafted twists entering at different moments, sounding something like Terry Riley, or La Monte Young. An abstract painting that transcends it's minimalist structure in a mosaic of complex hues.

BUOYHOOD (NNN Coalition, NNN#24) The Seance Of Nonchalance (2011) Cassette

Buoyhood is the experimental sound project of Zach Katonik, a young artist from the Pittsburgh area. Little is known about Zach, his work is not listed at Discogs, this is likely one of his first releases and a good one at that. Beginning with a lo-fi, sparse rhythm and spacey synthetics, the beat persists as the mix becomes aquatic. Some very snaky synths and patterns move in and out, only to reappear in severely altered form. The structure is constantly evolving, after a while seeming like a megamix of rhythmic evolutions. The drum patterns are skewed, but also organic sounding, possessing a similarity to some of Eno's, or Jon Hassell's work. This is some sort of post-modern exotica, with side one ending in a cartoon orchestra hit. Side two starts out with more orchestral samples building up into a classical motif, rhythms hover and struggle to emerge through the mix until, finally, an urgent machine beat comes to the fore against the nearly melancholic textures. A variety of exotic sounds and voice snippets combine, so lo-fi and compressed that they merge together creating a sonic fabric that somehow becomes progressively spacier and more atmospheric as it (d)evolves. This tape reminds me of classic 80's-era cassette network stuff like Nomuzic or If, Bwana. The definition of homemade experimental music.Get it HERE.

FRANS DE WAARD (Banned Productions, BP151) Arrel/Juur (2010) Cassette

Here's a quite unique cassette release by Frans De Waard, whose long career in noise and experimental music includes such crucial projects as Kapotte Muziek (begun in 1984!), Beequeen, (more recently) Freiband, and many others. This tape is part of AMK's "Banned Cassette Series" on the Banned Productions label. Using synthesized sounds, radio waves and, perhaps, field recordings, this is probably the quietest tape I have ever encountered. Normally I would say such a work requires the pristine digital format for it's best representation, but in the case of "Arrel/Juur", De Waard has cunningly used the cassette format as one more sound source, incorporating tape hiss into the compositions. The mix on both sides are extremely low volume, raising the level reveals the inaudible sound sources but also raises the tape hiss, which I found very interesting. Small squiggles of sound, especially evident on side two, enter a little at a time, as well as many indefinable frequencies. A fine work of art release that requires active listening and ends the way it started: quietly. Get it HERE.

TROJ / ANIMAL MACHINE (Kifrecording, Kifrec-91) Structural Failure (2011) Cassette

This is a one-sided split tape between Troj and Animal Machine, limited edition of ten, so you'll likely never obtain a copy of it, but it's a fantastic release with two distinctly different approaches to a single idea. The first track is by Troj, also known as Man Troj, a newcomer on the international scene hailing from Singapore. I love everything I've heard by this artist, his work traverses between industrial, noise, dark ambient and breakcore. This track, titled "Santet", begins with pitch-shifted vocals and ambient drone slowly rising and falling while digital fluctuations and rapid-fire repetitions loop over and over in momentary exclamations against a spacey backdrop. This creates a beautiful effect where the soundscape never lapses into meaningless atmospherics, since there are plenty of variants entering the mix at all times. These sonics are best for late night listening. Metaphorically, in relation to the album title, this "structural failure" results in a craft floating through space in a vacuum, time running out for the crew, who are left dreaming as death approaches. Abstract vocal samples appear from afar mixing with gamelan orchestra type sounds, manipulated to become alien and, as the spacey sonics fade out, we find ourselves in the midst of some ancient/future ritual... very beautiful, very satisfying.

The second track here is by Animal Machine, an extremely prolific Polish noise artist. This is the title track and also the exact opposite, in sound, of Troj's composition. As the metaphor for "Structural Failure" reveals another possibility, this time of a spacecraft slamming into some planetary atmosphere, the sound of the satellite burning on re-entry. Heavy, heavy noise! Slamming, slashing, descent into maelstrom that ends abruptly after 13 minutes. Equally as beautiful, in it's own way, as the Troj track but infinitely more destructive.