REVIEWS

riccardo wankeThere's a whole lot going on in these five tracks. Their short, simple names disguise their complexities and depth. Using acoustic and electric guitars, saxophones and natural sound elements, Riccardo Dillon Wanke creates a sound sensation to compete with the taste of any flaming drink. Despite this, the overall mood of 'Caves' is minimalist and is totally captivating for the senses. Wanke makes full use of binaural beats and experiments with a range of sounds to create unusual and unexpected landscapes. The long long tracks become more interesting and reveal more depth with each and every listen. The bold start in 'E' entices you in and leaves anticipation, the long tones and long tracks test your ability to remain attentive and then you are rewarded with fine, wandering melodies on guitar in 'Jest' and 'Old man'. The familiar and unexpected sounds combine to evoke emotional recoil and response. I find it overly experimental at times and the mood is sometimes interrupted by oddness but I find something new with every play. The last two tracks bring to mind the music from a couple of films, but they are great films so I'm certainly not complaining.

:: Riccardo Dillon Wanke/Caves - Sedimental sedcd 051.

giant sandWith echoing guitars and bouncing two note basslines, "proVISIONS" has its basis in country music but fuses those traditional roots with the kind of curled lip insouciant swagger perhaps derived from Dinosaur Jr. or Sonic Youth's first couple of Geffen albums. The production has an almost luminous clarity as lap steels, strings and a host of other instruments swoon in and out of the mix. Howie Gleb's clearly enunciated, deep vocals and the rich production bring to mind Leonard Cohen and Phil Spector's strung out masterpiece "Death of a Ladies' Man" and this record is shot through with a similar kind of wasted resignation. Gelb's lyrics are a highlight, often somewhat bizarre or surreal, but always strangely emotionally affecting. On the extended duet ' The New Romance of Falling', which seamlessly includes and almost motorik mid section, the singers sound as if they are holding each other up in the studio. I'll have some of whatever they are having.

:: Giant Sand/Pro-Visions - Yeproc Records/Cargo. 

bodiesofwaterThe four voices of Bodies of Water blend together to make a rich, heady sound. Guitars, keyboards and brass add further depth to an already flavoursome noise. Occasionally the tendency towards grandiosity on this album verges on parody. The opening of 'Under the Pine' brought to mind Spinal Tap's timeless classic 'Stonehenge', while the end strove for the kind of gothicized gospel perfected by the Bad Seeds. Unfortunately Bodies of Water lack Nick Cave's hairy cohorts' sense of restraint as well as the group's lithe, muscular musicianship. When things head in a rock direction the result lacks the raw energy necessary for that type of music to truly satisfy. 'Water Here' is a highlight, a Robert Wyatt-like trumpet introduction leads into some spirited singing and dexterous guitar. At one point the track threatens to slip into a faux-folk oblivion, but is saved at the last minute by some funky guitar chords and some more trumpet. Bodies of Water have a magnificent album in them, "A Certain Feeling" isn't it, but if they steer their music towards rawer, looser territory they may just blow our minds next time around.

:: Bodies of Water/A Certain Feeling - Secretly Canadian/Cargo Records. 

waetkaWhen you walk around a city, sounds often blend, meld and mould themselves into one nondescript noise which threatens to block or numb the senses. Christopher Douglas has taken said sounds, gently prised them apart and given them each a new definition without removing their original soul. After five years hidden in darkest shadows, he gives us a work of outstanding quality. His previous records have been described as " a work of art and a piece of history" and "electronic music therapy". We can say the same of 'Waetka' on which Douglas worked with Joachim Nordwall, who he met at All Tomorrow's Parties in 2003. It is named advanced post-techno - where the beats are replaced by the darkest of atmospheres. The sound is well balanced and expertly produced throughout. From the beginning, we are taken down to the pace of a long slow breath. The white noise of death rises to an awkward panic which rises and falls with distant sounds which seemingly travel across planes and deserts to rest where ever we may be. Industrial undertones echo, fall and hover on the edge of time. The sounds become an extention of life and death and everything around and inbetween. Listen, just listen.
:: O.S.T. /Waetka - iDeal/A-Musik.
 

nu & apaVery complex manufacturing of music here, I use the word manufacturing because I can imagine a quite complicated and convoluted creation process. The sense and feeling of the record is very east, obviously so as this is a Romanian group that list their influences as ranging from Romanian and Asian folk music but here we have a heavily nod to "Krautrock". This record is very trippy and somehow settling whilst at the same time unnerving, the mix of Asian sounding flutes and delicate bells with strong electronics is very complimentary and emphasizes the overall trippy-ness. The 70’s vibe is strong and characterised in many places by the reversing of recorded guitars and other string instruments - a beepy, eastern, pulsey, reversy krautrocky trip factory indeed. My highlights include "Pneumatic Cobzar Player" with it’s looped, obscure vocals and shawm sounding instrument at the start. The electronics then drop in to dislodge whatever our preconceptions of these traditional sounding instruments were. Titletrack "Omag" is super tasty as well. The structure is pure scenic, it played in my head a scene from some sort of eastern horror film, not the scary monster kind of horror film, but the psychological, mind-fuck thing. The contrast between the distant vocal and the bubbling arpeggiator is just sublime, all other electronics gradually thicken the audio texture and close in on the gap between the vocal and themselves. We then move back into the park and something’s brewing, I’m never sure what but the mood is definitely unsettled. Sometimes I felt safe but then times the tides are turned and it’s back to the unknown. Silence seems so far away. This record is definitely one for the hemp trouser wearers and the smokers. Or alternatively of course for those that would like to reminisce about those crazier days that the 70’s inspired. One negative point is the way the tracks end, mostly with a fadeout and mostly in an undefined way but the fadeout is a moot point and a separate debate in itself. One for another time methinks.

:: Nu & Apa Neagra/Omag - LSCD 08/lollipopshop.de.

pita - get outMego was on of the unique labels for experimental electronics during the 90's. During the last year the label was closed and re-opened by Peter Rehberg as Editions-Mego, taking care of the back catalog of the former label and releasing major body works for the creme de la creme of nowadays electronica artists. Still, the main catalog leans on Rehberg (and Fennesz) works. This release is a re-issue for the 1999 masterpiece "Get Out" by Reherg himself, under his Pita moniker. Back then, no one could ignored the amazing step of puting aside the samplers, guitars and the analog equipment in favor of (just) a laptop. Nowadays, people get cynical for the "cold" and "i'm actually checking my emails" live laptop performances, but we tend to forget that in the end, the output is all that matters, specially when documentized. "Get Out" is a breaking point for this process, combining all the right influences from Controlled Bleeding, Throbbing Gristle, Nurse With Wound and Mika Vainio, compressed together into a versatile fuzzy, crunchy and ear-splitting noise motivated by minimal harmonics and clicks-and-cuts craziness. The rough changes between the tracks isolate the supposed-to-be cleanness of the computer work and create hypnotic journey around new-era electronic compositions. The nice thing about it is that almost ten years after, it still sounds fresh and exciting. Next to Fennes'z "Endless Summer" this is a true pioneering art-work.

: : Pita/Get Out - Mego 029/Groove Attack.

purientNoise music has reached the point when all frequencies are well used, from near to complete silent pieces to extreme clouds of white noise. Dominick Fernow is dealing with this range of frequencies for over a decade, creating a postcards-from-hell-one-man show. Amazingly, this guy is getting precise and interesting from one release to another, and he`s already got over 100 releases so far, for his solo work and many other collaborations (with Kevin Drumm, Wolf Eyes and John Wiese to mention a few). Mostly releasing his stuff under his own NYC label "Hospital Productions" this release delivered by the Austrian label E-Mego. The album opens with very high, painful and loose frequency, a total anti-thesis for the mediative droning you get this days, so you find your self trying to dive into the music and concentrate, but with prurient it never easy. Random drumming and far-reached moaning comes from the back of the speakers. This track has no solution, you get all lost, just one second before a blast of power electronics attacks for another 14 minutes. Feeling lost is the core of this release, this is not uplifting noise. This is desperate crying. The last track though is a perfect closer for this work-body, leaned on repetitive tribal drumming swimming in a pool of glittering noise that slowly taking over every inch of space, until you cannot breathe anymore. This unique moments when noise albums gets emotional and physical at the same time are rare to find, and "Arrowhead" is one of them.
: : Purient/Arrowhead - E-Mego 091/Groove Attack.

Poesis AthesisPoesis Athesis was originally written to accompany Chi Kung Master Terrence Dunn’s video series, eventually culminating in more than ten hours worth of music. Here however we have the music separated away from its original functional context and exposed in a purely aural format. Having listened through this album, I can say that this casual extraction and re-positioning of what would have been an originally a contributory and essentially secondary component to being the sole point of interest is an action which should have never been allowed to happen with this music; it has no substance at all.
   Frankly it is a shame that Mr Thompson decided (if he did) that this album should be released when ripped from its original intentions – each track becomes tiresome after about half a minute (sometimes less) and then becomes increasingly annoying as it stumbles or floats along with absolutely no variation or architectural formal ambition at all. With titles like ‘Paradigm as Supergenre’ and ‘Gold Flowers Bloom Mercury Petals’, one may expect some kind of Buddhist-Nietzschian (!!) aesthetic ideas to be explored. It quickly becomes obvious that these florid and ‘intellectualish’ sounding titles have been apparently plucked at random and have no correlation as to what may happen, or even could happen, in any of the music. ‘Could’ being an important word here as this music does not attempt to do anything; it starts, drifts - and ends.
     So perhaps this could be used for meditation, in which case I would have to make a case for saying that when trying to be calm and introspective, something continually repeating itself in the background would only result in having less ability to attain a higher and deeper sense of calm.
On one good note, it is superbly manufactured: coming in a very sleek fold out case and with everything on the album being immaculately recorded, even if bubble-wrapped in a huge amount of reverb.  

    Apparently, Thompson’s has been heralded as “A composer of the highest caliber” and that his “creativity has NO ceiling” (not my capitals). The sources of these quotes are not sited in the blurb that came with the CD and therefore I have to strongly call into question their authenticity as, on this offering, I would vehemently disagree. I presume this is exactly what was needed for a Chi Kung video but it is well out of its depth in the CD market.     

: : Robert Scott Thompson/Poesis Athesis  - Boomkat/iTunes.
 

howlin rainMy first time listening to "Magnificent Fiend" the new album by Howlin' Rain was a revelation. After years of skimming thrift shops, digging through flea markets and wrestling junk in Ameoba for all the 70’s gold I could find it was like discovering a band that had somehow slipped through the cracks. Like the time I bought DUST’s "Hard Attack" because it had a cool cover. When I got home and threw it on the record player I almost had my own heart attack. This eight track, second album is an aural tour through 70’s rock, jam, country, gospel and psychedelica. And that’s just the second song. Fronted by Ethan Miller from the psychedelic experimental freak-out that is Comets On Fire, this album feels like his ultimate indulgence. Crooning and wailing over a band of expert musicians, it feels like Ethan has side-stepped from the technical and chaotic noise of Comets to take it easy and make some smooth, rockin’, crucial grooves. Where as Comets have always thrilled with dissonance, it is Howlin’ Rain’s elegant unity in a band that makes these songs so lush and wonderful. This is striking, soaring music utilizing organs, grand pianos, harmonies, electric phasers, trombones, trumpets, slide guitar, saxophone, and tambourines in addition to the usual suspects, guitars, bass and drums. Every player gets his moment to shine, we are not dealing with straightforward woo-woo ditties, lasting up to eight minutes, the songs take you on a journey through sound. Each instrument deftly picks up where the other left off to curl around, wander off - but always returning to the story at hand.
There is a point in ‘Lord Have Mercy’ where the Faustian narrator sings to the girl he is trying to seduce “…Lucy, my love, climb into my Grand Torino…” that is accompanied by a filthy little Hammond Organ riff. It’s a perfect moment, capturing the sexy, 70’s rock vibe and the lurking danger posed by rock’n’roll. The power to seduce, trick and absolutely possess its listeners. And about a minute later the song breaks into the cacophony of a gospeleqsue chorus that makes you want to throw your hands up and shake down your hair.
If nature and wonder is the god you worship than Howlin’ Rain is the gospel band tearing the church down with the frenzy of adoration. Each song captures a moment of love and anxious energy that bursts through in spurts, punctuated by the intake of breath and cradled by a guitar solo. Ethan’s sexy smokers rasp is the perfect compliment for the rolling, gorgeously conducted songs and the eerie, romantic lyrics. This is an album best listened to loudly while driving a pickup truck, barefoot, on a dusty country road, on your way to a party at the quarry.
The resurgence of interest in the 70’s rock sound has been accompanied by a rebirth of the nature conscious, science fiction and fantasy loving rock enthusiast, and "Magnificent Fiend" crystallizes the concerns and dreams of the movement. These are songs full of peacock feathers, fire, insect wings, thunder and love-makin’ nomads. The natural world is full of danger and mystery and man is but a delicate and brittle visitor. Which is why it’s absolutely perfect that Arik Roper, fabulous fantasy rock painter, did the delicate and dark watercolor art for the cover.
To carry this tone, the album opens with a short instrumental Requiem, as if to say “Folks it’s already over, we are now celebrating what once was.” And the second song, "Dancers at the End of Time" is homage to Michael Moorcock and his books about the end of the universe and the strange beings that live there. This apocalyptic tone is carried through the whole album with beautiful songs about adventure, war, death and letting go. Which is not to say this a pessimistic album, in fact it’s almost religious in it’s acceptance of the cycle of life and the beauty inherent. And all that accompanied by bitchin’ organs, Floyd Meddle-era breakdowns, Eagles harmonies, soft-rock sighs and Weehoo rock outs. Bless us all, this album is far fucking out!

:: Howlin Rain/Magnificent Fiend - Birdman Records/Rough Trade.

scorch trioThe first track is the weak point on this album, over ten minutes guitarist Raoul Björkenheim adopts a variety of ugly guitar hero poses ranging from Hendrix through John Mclaughlin and Sonny Sharrock to Frank Zappa. Björkenheim's technical ability is jaw dropping, but the ideas he spits out are never really developed. Instead the guitar moves restlessly from phrase to phrase, neither managing to stun the listener with sheer aggression or seduce them with his originality. 'Basjen', the second track is much stronger, with eerie bowed-guitar noise and sensitive drumming evoking an atmosphere reminiscent in places of a less tensely wound version of Naked City's album "Absinthe". The remainder of the disc continues to flit between hectic jazz rock tracks and more considered exercises in drone and silence. The latter excite me far more: crackling arcs of electricity rub against each other and it is clear that the group is listening deeply to each other. When things build up to a crescendo from this point, as on the track 'Gaba', the results are far more satisfying; even the '1983...' style bird calls work in this context. Scorch Trio are clearly incredible musicians and I imagine that the more up-tempo tracks work well live, but their more thoughtful side makes for much better recordings.

:: Scorch Trio/Brolt - Rune Grammofon.