REVIEWS

lemurA melancholy runs though these seven pieces like a thread of the deepest blue. Whether combining together to conjure long, darkly-luminescent arcs of sound or bursting into flurries of sharply-attacked tones, the overwhelming sense of sadness borne with dignity never falters. A four piece (Bjornar Habbestad, Hild Sofie Tafjord, Lene Grenager, Michael Duch) consisting of flute, french horn, cello and double bass, Lemur create an exquisitely-controlled music, drawing abrasive sounds from their instruments as frequently as beautifully-rounded tones. Notes are used with such care that one might imagine the players are drawing on a limited supply. The double bass and cello are frequently bowed together to create a rich fabric of sound, subtlety embellished by the wind instruments. The result is more an aural texture than anything to do with conventional melody or harmony. Each segment of playing broods its way slowly into existence and then, just as slowly, fades into nothingness. The scrapes and crackles Lemur produce often sound more like an abrasive kind of ambient electronica than anything produced by instruments whose design has not fundamentally changed in over 100 years; but listening to highly skilled musicians create these textures in (presumably) real time lends both a warmth and a spontaneity to this recording that would be difficult to reproduce artificially. Ultimately, however this music was created, its restrained misery reveals a lot of soul. --nick ilott.

:: Lemur/IIIIIII - +3dB Records.

rehabSqualling feedback, clanging strings and machine-like chuntering and chugging assault the ears ... and then silence, subtly decorated with high-pitched drones that create an aural itch just at the edge of perception ... and then back to the assault: an abrasive grinding for all the world like a black metal band being fed into a woodchipper, member by member. The last guitar player, his legs only partially-mangled, picks disconsolately at his shattered instrument before finally passing out due to loss of blood. And did I mention there's flute? John Hegre (Jazzkamer/Noxagt) and Bjornar Habbestad (Pho/Lemur) here as Rehab make music that is thoughtful like a serial killer in a blockbuster movie, carefully placing each element of their plan to achieve the maximum devastation and then sweeping everything off the table in a sudden violent impulse. The tracks on this disc are not sandwiched between outbursts of insane cackling, but they might as well be. The long passages of subtle, near-silent textures make the raw noise sections of Man Under a Train Situation hit all the harder. The sense of unease builds and builds as it becomes harder to distinguish recorded sounds from the crackle and scrape of one's surrounding area. With baited breath the listeners wait for the attack to come, their hands compulsively twitching towards the volume control ... Louder! Louder!  ... A few distant notes from the flute once more and then all that remains is a sense of foreboding; the sneaking suspicion that something evil lurks outside. -- nick ilott.

:: Rehab/Man Under Train Situation - +3dB Records. 

Office-R(6)Recording the Grain plays like the soundtrack to an imaginary cartoon. An invisible menagerie of animals creep, shuffle, and chase each other wielding giant mallets and lightsabres across an equally-invisible landscape of mad-scientist's laboratories, rabbit holes, wide open plains and hissing and crackling power plants. Office-R(6) create a canvass of silence or very quiet drones and then punctuate this space with an array of atonal noises derived from both the unconventional use of traditional acoustic instrumentation and electronic sounds, treatments and manipulation provided by laptops. The structure of their music is highly non-linear and studiously avoids any sense of logical development or of obviously pressing the listeners' emotional buttons. There is a palpable sense of purpose to Recording the Grain, all six musicians seem intensely focussed on close listening and are highly restrained in their contributions. As hinted above, in many ways this recording sounds like an improvised take on the music of Warner Brothers composer Carl Stalling, filtered through the postmodernist sensibilities of Derek Bailey and John Zorn. The results are unsettling, but paint some rather wonderful primary-coloured pictures on the inside of one's head. -- nick ilott.

:: Office-R(6)/Recording the Grain - +3dB Records. 

Charles/YoshihideDer Bühnenraum als Klangschale - kein Problem für den Multi-Instrumentalisten Otomo Yoshihide, auf  "Difference Between The Two Clocks" im Duett (Klarinette/Gitarre) mit Xavier Charles, live mitgeschnitten im Kid Ailach Arts Center Tokyo, im Freiforschungsauftrag der Oberflächenvibration sozusagen, April 2005. Die 4 Stücke zwischen 3 und 28 Minuten Länge liessen sich unter "Meditationsstudie" oder "Vibrations-Exercise" ablegen, in der Tat, wer gleich schnell noch etwas zu erledigen hat, sollte diese Scheibe besser später spielen. Extrem reduzierte Tags, minimal und abstrahiert, sich am Schienbein des Equilibriums wiegend, eine zurückhaltend auslotende Resonanzstudie mittels Feedback und Crossfading, wobei sich das Mundstück der Klarinette und die Gitarre den Amp zum eigentlich klangproduzierenden Werkzeug wandeln. Ab der 15ten Minute im ersten Stück bildet sich eine Klimax heraus, unbändig und eruptiv - mit Blaulicht und Sirene volle Fahrt in die  Raumkrümmung hinein - verfremden, verfangen, keine Ankunft vor morgen früh, okay? Yoshihides Aktivitäten bezogen und beziehen sich weiterhin häufig auf Kooperationen, von dem in den 90ern aktiven Projekt Ground Zero bis hin zu I.S.O. (mit Sachiko M/Yoshimitsu Ichiraku). Bei der Verbindung Otomo Yoshihide zu Xavier Charles wahr die Schnittstelle wohl Martin Tetreault, Montreal Dj und Improviser, der schon mit Kevin Drumm und Ikue Mori gearbeitet hat. Soweit mir bekannt, waren sowohl Xavier Charles als auch Otomo Yoshihide schon mehrmals mit Tetreault im Studio, siehe deren releases bei z.B. Ambiances Magnétiques sowie natürlich auf Textile selbst. 

:: Otomo Yoshihide/Xavier Charles - Difference Between The Two Clocks  - Textile/Cargo.

starvinhungryStarvin Hungry raise a game enough racket, mostly using the tried and tested formula perfected by the Pixies and popularised by Kurt Cobain: tightly wound verses exploding into screaming noisy choruses. The agile guitars fizz rather than roar and drums clatter away underneath it all. Starvin Hungry certainly could not be accused of calling in to question their underground status employing grandiose 'rock god' production. Fortunately the song writing on "Cold Burns" is strong enough to mitigate the occasionally one dimensional grind this band whip up once they get going. Underneath the unappealing surface are pop hooks aplenty with nods to the genius of Velvet Underground era Lou Reed on 'More' and a fully-developed understanding of 'classic' rock songwriting in evidence throughout. There is nothing new here and the guitars occasionally stray dangerously into 'boogie woogie' territory, but that's been a weakness of punk bands from the Sex Pistols onwards. Starvin Hungry are a fine example of the more musicianly type of punk rock and I imagine they would be as bracing as an early morning dip in an ice cold lake live. If you like your rock music noisy, well executed and cleverly structured this might be for you. I'm off to listen to something a bit more adventurous. -- nick ilott.

:: Starvin Hungry/Cold Burns - Signed By Force/Cargo. 

midori hirano"Klo:Yuri" is a myriad of sounds interwoven like fine lace. Classical piano is Midori Hirano's musical background. This is clear in her music yet she develops it with improvisation and computer work. In addition to piano there are other instruments, electronic sounds and field recordings. Vocals are also fairly prominent on album and give an ethereal elfin quality. It has delicate moments with a dash of sternness beneath, which provide a fantastical essence - like gliding over unknown yet familiar landscapes. It can be a little pink and fluffy at times with pop overtones but the fairy charm and dreamy rhythms give it divergence. Previously Hirano has worked with many other musicians and written music for film. Last February she participated in the "Berlinale Talent Campus". Each piece is self-contained and complete yet the album flows well. Flow and attention to detail make this a satisfying record to listen to. -- anna johnston.

:: Midori Hirano/Klo:Yuri - Noble/A-Musik. 

mosz 016This a two CD release is the result of of four years work by three well known and respected Austrian musicians (of Autistic Daughters/Polwechsel/Radian/Trapist). Till The Old World`s Blown Up And A New One Is Created - Christian Fennesz on guitar, Werner Dafeldecker on bass and Martin Brandlmayr on percussion (with all three using computer) came into the project with three separate tracks. These three pieces, heard on the second CD, have been moulded, pulled and broken in to the title track: 'Til the Old World's...' and as it is blown up, the fragments are formed into something new and utterly different. Space and time is re-configured as the sounds are placed, timed and set back on each other over 34 minutes of captivating, understated music which incorporates sound and silence over long periods. It is abstract but not to the point where form is completely lost. Their working process "is one of sudden flash and meltdown, followed by a gradual process of cellular division". This is clearly felt through the pull lingering in the notes and the subtle repetition with modifications. As abstract as it is, it is no effort to listen to and will no doubt be appreciated by many ears. -- anna johnston.

:: Till The Old World`s Blown Up And A New One Is Created - mosz.org/Groove Attack.