REVIEWS

maksymenkoSeit nun mehr 25 Jahren existiert das im südlichen Stadtteil von London, in Thornton Heath gelegene Label ReR Megacorp (Recommended Records) um Henry Cow, das sich auf recht sperrige Veröffentlichungen aus den Genres Musique Concrete sowie dem erweiterten Rahmen des Post-Punk bemüht und dabei ein Niveau hält, das sich nach Klasse und nicht nach Masse orientiert. Über die Niederlassung ReR USA, und in Zusammenarbeit mit Frith dort selbst, erweitete sich das Label um Ad Hoc Records, um avantgardistisch angehauchte Ensemblemusik von The Work, N.I.M.B.Y., The Blitzoids oder Avi Belleli, sowie um den Labelableger Points East, der sich ganz aufs Vinyl spezialisiert.

Nun erscheint THE MOST OF NOW von Nikola Kodjabashia, dieses Album vereint 20 wunderbare MusikerInnen, um innerhalb eines traditionellen Kompositionszirkels ein aufeinander aufbauendes Werk ineinandergreifender Variationen um ein einzelnes Thema zu schaffen – und damit einen fließenden Hörgenuss durch verschiedenste Kulturen und Lebenssituationen.
THE MOST OF NOW knüpft an die vorangegangene CD REVERIES OF THE SOLITARY WALKER an, basierend auf das gleiche Variationsthema THE LITTLE REQUIEM. THE MOST OF NOW erinnert an Goran Bregovics wehmütige Heiterkeit, an Tango Argentino, an Oriental-Elemente und Free-Jazz; sie alle verschmelzen im überbordenden Pianospiel, den fächernd perkussiven Elementen sowie den hausgemachten Samples zu einer Klangreise, die Tagträume bewegt.

Auch Michael Maksymenkos neues Album BUSINESS CIDE ist bemerkenswert, wo doch dessen erklärtes Ziel es stets war, Musik zu machen wie andere Eishockey spielen. Seine Präsenz bei der Schlagzeugbeherrschung scheint ihn zuweilen über sämtliche Gesetze der Physik zu heben - so schnell wechseln Tempi, Akzentuierung und Konnotation zwischen den Takten hin und her, ebenso verblüffend wie unabsehbar. Maksymenko hatte bereits in den 80ern mit Henry Kaiser gearbeitet (der spielte u.a. im Oktober 07 auf dem Loopfestival in Santa Cruz) und war auch an dem Album von Simpson Matt Groening "Crazy Backwards Alphabet" zusammen mit Bill Frisell beteiligt.

Die Tracks auf dem Maksymenko Album BUSINESS CIDE halten sich weitgehend über 5 Minuten Spielzeit, BENEATH THE VALLEY OF THE DROPPED D. kräuselt erfrischende 23 Minuten die Ohren mit allem an Input, das ein Schlagzeug überhaupt hergeben kann. Michael Maksymenko, Henry Kaiser sowie die Zwillingsbrüder Stefan und Thomas Agaton dehnen subjektiv das Zeitempfinden, während die Originalität und das Vergnügen and der Verzettelung sich kurioserweise doch immer wieder neu zusammenfinden. Dazu wird im CD-Booklet das bandeigene musikalische Selbstverständnis von Michael Maksymenko selbst detailliert und humorvoll beschrieben. Zweifelsohne liegen die musikalischen Wurzeln dieses lebendigen und erweiterbaren Projektes, das mit "En pansarfjant" und "Ghost" auch die Zeit mit Crazy Backwards Alphabet zitiert, in der 60er Rock-Avantgarde, bei Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa & Co. - aber auch Rocker wie ZZ-Top haben hier wohl Eindruck hinterlassen.

BUSINES CIDE ist nicht etwa ein weiterer, beliebiger Mix aus Free Jazz und Progressive, sondern eine autarke Rock-Erscheinung innerhalb der Musique Concrete, und ich liebe es! Maksymenko spielt mit den Elementen des Jazz, aber auch mit jenen aus der schwedischen Folklore. Wobei "Frân Högre Ort" mein persönliches Lieblingsstück geworden ist – das liegt u.a. an der Stimme von Eva Sonesson, die jazzig wunderbar harmoniert, denn„The kind of music I want to play is unpopular. There is no market for it.”

Nikola Kodjabashia/The Most Of Now - Michael Maksymenkos/Business Cide - ReR Megacorp.

vainio/haswellThe opening sequence to Werner Herzog’s Aguirre is not something you forget in a hurry. It must have been four years since I saw it, but I can still see as though it were yesterday: the rolling fog, the stone-faced conquistadors, their descent down the mountain into what you already know, just a few seconds into the movie, would be a kind of hell. Leaving aside, for a second, Herzog’s Promethean skills as an artist, these opening frames, it seems, get into your bones largely because of the music. Popol Vuh’s cavernous, immense drone is foreboding, as you would expect, but, pieced together from loops of a choir, it is also possessed of an otherworldly, almost transcendent quality, one that elevates the film into greatness before the conquistadors even reach the river. If there has been a better contribution to a film soundtrack since, or a better collaboration between a filmmaker and musician at the peaks of their respective careers, I haven’t heard it.
Popol Vuh began as an electronic group, making what some consider to be the first New Age/ambient record, Affenstunde, in 1970. Soon after, bandleader Florian Fricke abandoned electronics in favour of a kind of piano-led, spiritual, ethnic folk, becoming, in the process, a progenitor of modern ambient and world music. Popol Vuh, who are often lumped in with Krautrock simply by virtue of making unique music in the ‘70s and being German, made vital, sometimes profound records that, in the 70s at least, bear little trace to the tackiness ambient and world music would often come to embody in the coming decades.
Despite giving away their Moog before 1972’s Hosianna Mantra, Popol Vuh have proved a lasting influence on modern electronic artists of all types. Now seven years since Fricke died and the group disbanded, Mego Editions have brought out a 12” remix of two classic Popol Vuh songs, both of them taken from soundtracks to Herzog films. The first track sees Haswell & Hecker, the collaboration between British electro-noisenik Russell Haswell and German sound artist Florian Hecker, take on ‘Aguirre I’, an act I first saw as sacrilegious, but now, having given the track some time, have since come around to. Hecker & Haswell recast Popol Vuh’s masterwork into something gloomier and less immediate—as a soundtrack, it seems, to darker times. The opening drone is still there, but it seems buried, emerging only after a few minutes, covered in grime and a husk of white noise, beaten but somehow still triumphant. As the track gathers steam, the choral drone becomes static, stuck almost, as Haswell & Hecker fill the foreground with ruined electronics and busy squall, paying homage to one of the band’s greatest moments by toying with its destruction.
The second track works in gentler hues. Mika Vainio, one half of Finnish minimalists Pan Sonic, takes on ‘Nachts: Schnee’, from the soundtrack to Herzog’s Cobra Verde, shifting and clipping the original’s New Agey synth washes into a slow-burning ambient piece, at once hesitant and insistent, with each drone coming and going at volume, seemingly without beginning and end. Vainio’s touch is sure, though, and the lack of constancy he works through his patchwork reconstruction of the original becomes a rhythm in itself. The track’s slowly evolving drones bring to mind the static, spacious works of the Kompakt Pop Ambient series, or Ekkehard Ehlers’ excellent Plays suite: a shifting series of resonant chunks of noise, gently undulating into new shapes and back again, bringing a small piece of the legends’ work into new voice.

:: POPOL VUH: MIKA VAINIO / HASWELL & HECKER REMIXES 12" - Editions Mego 090/Groove Attack

THE HAFLER TRIO - DISLOCATIONAcknowledging psychoacoustics is a weapon held by sonic arts to be used in a no-way-out for the listener intelligence. Taking the example of Andrew M. McKenzie a.k.a. The Hafler Trio, it is obvious that taking into account perspectives of the listening activity and the sounds’ impact on the listener is valuable not only for making music but also for socio-psychologically observing the reception of it by individuals. McKenzie’s work has been like that from its mid 80’s beginning holding a place in the always-contemporary list of audio art.

This H3o re-release of the original 1986 Staaltape (former subdivision of Staalplaat for tape releases) cassette release named Dislocation is an originally all-in-tape audio documentation compiled work of a trip. Better understood by the text accompanied in the CD current release packaging, the alternative view of the human quest is being expressed by a general juxtaposition of symbolisms borrowed from religion and astronomy as well as relative text by no means explanatory. In personal experience and search for the meaning, there is an Odyssey resemblance. The quest journey of the new humanoid who has no gender or substantially objectified shape is not after “home” but “self”. The vessel of the “Tourist with a Pendulum” instead of a Dictaphone in this case, is not hope but unawareness of location.

Calling upon the simplicity of elementary facts about the Universe, symbolism here is used as the path through the ego fusion; with text and sound forming a solid unit of a theatrical play studying existence alone, amongst others and within the All.

Precisely using symbols to dislocate audience, pointing at celestial locations and sighting various religions’ icons this album is to indulge the effort for one to locate their sonic sailing progression on the Dislocation map. Helpless as it may sound, it IS a journey through nothing to nothing for something, without that degrading it in significance.

:: The Hafler Trio/Dislocation - Korn Plastics/A-Musik

coh plays coseyThe affiliation of speech as verbal self-awareness and sound editing as a little boy’s childplay with one option of the female he has never been introduced to before comes through listening to this album and considering who plays who. COH plays COSEY is a platform of dialogue between the literature brilliance of COSEY’s written mental secrets and COH’s teenage-laboratory sonic explorations.
COH wonderfully guides us from “Crazy” to “Mad” (2nd and 3rd track). Getting suspicious from the “aware of” state of being lost when phrases of that assert are being repeated and whispered to the ears the self-evolving composition continues to the hedonistic state of “Mad” where things turn out more intense, more personal and mentally sensual, reaching peak when both male and female cut up vocals hold the backdrop rhythm to COSEY’s, rare in this album, crystal clear singing of what she is. “Mad”. “Not”.

The shifts from dialogue to monologue throughout the album, as well as the question/statement quality of the text are the first instance of how correctly and carefully this collaboration has developed. Pavlov’s aesthetic character of sound economy for material as precious, fragile, Pandora box – like and content – loaded as Cosey Fanni Tutti’s vocal reading recordings is an impressively architectured mindtrip that has managed to avoid pompous digitalisms yet is flirting the beyond. Concurrently, these compositions have taken into full respect the differentiations of COSEY’s aspects of character and have equally given audio emphasis to all. Performer, sexual nymph, poet, lecturer, singer and icon of the artistic past’s obscurity. Even more impressively, with subtly obvious the COH personal involvement.
As, for example, from “Lost” to “Near You” the advance of sentiment starts with the ethereal vocal lightness of COSEY and conducts its way to COH’s brick-built industrial with her protracted screams being the sole statement.

Approaching the end, “Fuck it” is the track closest to the current human nature. A track full of panic, indecisive, having escaping claustrophobia tendencies, spontaneous combusts, a pit of verbal swearing and offensive plethora.
Still exploring the schizophrenic zeitgeist of art and humans “Inside” is an explicit track with magical sexual intimacy as giving in to the last temptation before “Lying”, the sad conclusion that sounds a lot like dark, untold history where a brass, train-like sample is the vessel through it.
Anticipating for the next step of this collaboration, this album is to be repeatedly listened to and familiarise with until COSEY plays COH strikes and turns the next page of this multi personated study.

:: COH plays COSEY- Raster Noton/A-Musik/Kompakt.

machinette"Machinette" is an album of very catchy tunes. I find myself singing them at the most inopportune times. I am reminded of 'Oveja de van Gogh' and 'The Corrs' – with a twist of lemon. Common theme is the underlying urgency. "So Leight" gives us an insistent repetitive vocal line, which is nicely contrasted by a lovely piano score. "Kill your Idols" is initially fairly laid-back but the guitar riff intensifies the atmosphere without remorse. No doubt Mrs La Hengst has something to say but it is difficult to decipher over the happy beat, obvious rhythm and undeveloped melody which prevails. The music darkens a little towards the end giving a clouded image of the previous sound. And the very last song is a whole ten minutes wait from the penultimate one, on the same track. Is there a reason? Is it a message? I'd rather just listen to some music.

:: Bernadette La Hengst/Machinette - Trikont (CD)/Ritchie Records (LP).

A Storm Of LightThis is the soundtrack of your demise. It’s the story of how you were murdered and thrown in the deep dark water. The debut of A Storm of Light brings us a narrative piece of aural doom called "And We Wept The Black Ocean Within". A heavy, brooding, ten-track assault that takes us to the bottom of the sea on a waves of guitar, the beating of drums and the traumatized howling of lead singer and guitarist Josh Graham (Blood and Time, Battle of Mice, visual director of Neurosis and formerly in Red Sparowes).
On bass and additional vocals is Domenic Seita (ex-Tombs, ex-Asea), drumming by Pete Angevine of Satanized and recently, killer drummer Vincent Signorelli (Unsane, ex-Swans) has joined the band.
The opening track starts the journey with the crashing of waves and a low pulsing drone. Imagine you are alone on a tiny rowboat, lost at sea, in the darkest of night. In the distance you see a glow and hear a heavy pulsing heartbeat. As the light grows closer and closer you discover an ancient ship roaring towards you, it’s massive wooden hull splitting the icy waters. On the front deck is Josh Graham, bellowing into the night; is he your sea-faring savior or the pirate captain of a doomed ship? The earsplitting drums that open “Vast & Endless” catapult you on board, consumed and hypnotized by the layers of sound produced by this motley crew. “We will kill for blood and money, day and night, the hunt goes on”. The nautical theme in heavy music gets its due service on And We Wept the Black Ocean Within. Each song takes us a step further on a condemned voyage across and through the water. Like a ghostly Moby Dick, a dark tale of the deep, the slow and solid progression, marked by beautiful currents of deafening highs and measured lows, will absolutely seduce you. Halfway through “Thunderhead”, Grahams vocals drop so softly it’s like a demon siren calling from a ship. Or is it the sea itself begging for respite from the tyranny of mankind? “To the gods of the sky and the sea, death to man, the earth may live and breathe, take them, free us all.” In the 10-minute closing track Iron Heart, metallic drums maintain a constant cadence with the swirling keyboards, moaning guitars and lyrical growls that tell the story of a sinking ship. By the end of the track the drums have ceased, the guitar fades away and only the underwater creaking of a metal carcass pulls us down to the bottom of the sea. It’s a horrifying conclusion that seems to mirror the inevitable fate of all men. Whatever the message you will feel it in your bones when the thunderous drums beat you into submission and you must bow your head over and over in deference to this heavy, rock-hard sound. A Storm of Light may not be revolutionizing heavy music but like the sea that they revere, they are a mighty and overwhelming addition to the pantheon of doom core.

:: A Storm Of Light/And We Wept The Black Ocean Within - Neurot/Cargo.

SmileBoris once produced an album called "Amplifier Worship" and this title explains a lot about their sound. Stacks of crusty old valve amplifiers cranked to the point of exploding are at the core of everything they do. Initially they focussed on producing long droning waves of distortion and freeform open-ended song structures. More recently, with their last album "Pink", they have moved towards traditional song structures and with more focus on vocals. "Smile" continues this trend, but with a more metallic thrashy guitar sound on some tracks replacing the looser more Stoogey vibe of the shorter songs on the previous album. There are some long, droney tracks on "Smile", with the final clocking in at over 15 minutes, though maybe not enough to appeal to some fans of their earlier work. "Smile" is about big dumb rock thrills, playing as loud and as wild as possible, something Japanese bands like High Rise have been doing better than anyone else in recent years. Boris continue and expand on this tradition, they are versatile and skilled enough to play in a variety of styles from trippy to brutal and make them work. -- Nick Ilot

:: Boris/Smile - Southern Lord/Soulfood.

D. Redford TriadThe Davis Redford Triad is predominantly a vehicle for Steven Wray Lobdell (occasional Faust-member) to showcase his echoplex-soaked guitar work. Funnily enough, the first track pays homage to the 60’s analog delay unit. Entitled ‘Echoplex Orchestral Movement Part 1’, it is, particularly as a first track, a rather seductive gradual build of noise-based textures which are sporadically penetrated by a very carefully chosen handful of pitches which add a subtle but needed contrast to the increasingly violent screeches and gratings of the surrounding material. ‘Apocalypse Greeting Card’ is the only track on the E.P which features some vocals. Although predominantly restricted to lyricless melismatic vocal melodies, there are a couple of instances of spoken word: “you say you’re a Hippie, you never say what you mean,.. just another blob in the sludge machine”. Not particularly enlightening, but it definitely contributes to the sound and atmosphere of this hypnotic track!
This rhythmically hypnotic quality is something that is evident in all but the two Echoplex Orchestral Movements. It allows Lobdell to weave and slide his Eastern-inspired melodic lines over the top of the surrounding material without a particularly intruding second idea. Unfortunately this is probably the major problem with the epic 18 minute ‘Plum Village’. Things start out interestingly enough with a slightly (I presume intentionally) out-of-tune guitar playing a slow arpeggiated chord whilst what might be a harmonium pulses and throbs in a contrasting rhythmical way setting up an intriguing cross-rhythmical feel which is impelling and delicate. Apart from some additions of some rather poorly recorded percussion (which stands out as the rest of the disc is of a good recording quality – particularly the guitars which soar majestically at times), the only really other thing that happens is that Lobdell comes in with some meandering distorted guitar lines. They sound effective at first but after a while it loses direction and energy and turns into a guitar-noodlefest. It is obvious that Lobdell is influenced heavily by Eastern music; however, I think that his melodic lines lack direction and consistency of idea when placed next to the well known masters such as the Indian Mandolinist, Upalappu Srinivas, for example. This means the music deteriorates and no musical idea is expressed or even showcased for any significant amount of time. It’s a shame on what is otherwise a pretty good offering. The highlight probably being, ‘Rabbit Love Call’ which starts out with a similar atmosphere to ‘Echoplex Orchestral movement Part 1’, but then expands into energetic throbbing noise with very creative use of sound layers which continually charge and flex the music.
The disc is rounded off with ‘Echoplex Orchestral Movement Part 4’ (don’t get confused – there are no parts 2 and 3!). More subdued than its partner track, it is one of the most successful balances of The Davis Redford Triad’s sound manipulation with Lobdell’s guitar work. It’s a nice way to end this EP which, although overly self-indulgent in one or two places, has just enough interest and skilful execution to make it worth a listen. 

:: Davis Redford Triad/Ewige Blumenkraft - Holy Mountain, 2007.