Hubback, Steve - “Ambiance De La Cave a Vin ” - [Utech]

This sculptor/musician is known for his metal-working skills as well as his percussion expertise. Here he has set up in a wine cellar in France and is making sounds on three gongs and one steel sculpture, all of which he built himself. There is something profoundly elemental and earthy, yet fanciful -he tends to make cymbals shaped like dragon wings, for example- about his work. It didn’t take long for this listener to become aware that Hubback is reaching for something beyond mere music. Three beautiful sound constructions, well-recorded, on this CD. Utech has limited this fine release to 200 copies.

Cut Chemist - “Garden b/w Storm, The ” - [Warner Bros.]

Two very different flavors here. Side A: a smooth Brazilian-flavored track, featuring traditional instruments (berimbau, drums, whistles, etc) and a little bit of scratching to give it some extra spice. The track gradually develops a big thumping beat and keeps that going until the end. Portuguese vocals by Astrud Gilberto on this one. Pretty sweet. Side B: raps by Edan and Mr. Lif over a crunchy disco beat and various sample, turntable, and electronic effects. While I usually dig DJ Cut Chemist’s beats and production, this particular track doesn’t do much for me. Side A is my pick.

[coll]: Grief [Divine Frequency] {45 RPM}

Only 777 copies exist of this divine split 7″inch. It was released in memoriam on November 13th, 2005, precisely one year after the death of Coil’s exceptional experimental electronic artist, John Balance (a.k.a. Jhon Balance, Jhonn Balance, Geoffrey Rushton, Geoffrey Lawrence Burton). While based in England, Balance collaborated with numerous avant artists including Current 93, Nurse With Wound, Death in June, & Psychic T.V. GRIEF is a limited edition picture disc re-issuing rare & out of print dark ambient works by Tactile (a.k.a. John Everall) and Rosa Mundi (a.k.a. Strawberry Switchblade’s Rose McDowall), both featuring Balance’s haunting voice & vivid poetry. Tactile’s minimal industrial hum buzzes low & thick like some dense supernatural fog while Balance delivers chilling utterances depicting a desolate black world’s pain, sorrow, unrest & agony, destroyed & forsaken by the merciless hands of God. Rosa Mundi’s the Snowman drifts with icy dark ambience as Balance’s deep harmonic chants mystically mingle & flow with the distant buried vapors of McDowall’s own soft tongue. This is absolutely gorgeous and a wonderful acknowledgement of John Balance both as an amazing spiritual individual and a multi-talented, influential & deeply respected artist.

Vitamin B12 “Badges” [These Records] {33RPM}

The fifth solo production, limited edition, & home made LP from Brighton, England’s Vitamin B12 (a.k.a. Alasdair Willis). Badges uses fragmented sounds and abstract improvised noises & samples in the musique concrete vein. Pretty minimal in its undertakings but interesting in that it spans the experimental realm of simplistic electronic beat repetition & irregularity, soft & slow piano meanderings, and strange monologues about sounds and nonsensical ravings. Dysfunctional tape reels slow & speed up, reverse looping and meshing with static interference and spacey ambience. These are very unique recordings that switch between melody and modulated mishaps. Excellent non-abrasive kooky confusion!

Wooden Wand & the Vanishing Voice “Gypsy Freedom” [5 Rue Christine]

You’ve been spiritually blessed with WWVV’s latest improvised experimental acoustics, psychedelic freak folk, subtle noise and free jazz styles reflecting the nomadic and unconventional ways of the Gypsies. Liberation through sounds yet unheard, that’s the Gipsy way! Evolving with each new recording, WWVV is attempting more shamanistic psyche grooves along with their gorgeous minimal audio creeping. Forging ahead into uncharted stereophonic sectors proves no problem for these intrepid thrill seekers. Free-jazz saxophonist Daniel Carter (Other Dimensions in Music) and Peter Nolan (Magik Markers) also joins the caravan into avant garde areas untold. Simple rhythmic ambiences, electronic samples, meditative psych strings strum & pluck through the atmosphere. Additionally, soft inviting vocals, haunting harmonies, wholly mellow progressions and an imaginative touch set the tone. My limited brain capacity doesn’t allow me to fully articulate such wonderful sounds in detail. I can say that these free gypsy folks aren’t bound by borders and ‘Gipsy Freedom? proves they are still an essential asset to New York’s eclectic music community.

Wright, Peter “Pariahs Sing Om” [Last Visible Dog]

Peter Wright’s ambitious three disc undertaking drifts through meditative ambient psych sounds and abstract noises. He loves integrating found sound textures, environmental field recordings, multi-layered echoing delay, and myriad pedal effects into light ether tones. Pariahs Sing Om was recorded in various locations around the world, primarily around his home in New Zealand. Using various electric guitar treatments, sitar, e-bow, chiming forks & spoons, electric razors, clarinet, and cymbals Wright creates spacious & powerfully soothing movements in primordial audio. His glowing compositions are innately spiritual, relaying celestial invitations to receptive spirits. Droning, humming, vibrating, deeply resonating, flowing, growing? it’s all encompassing. Beautiful poetic works and that’s a fucking understatement. All instrumental & enjoyable.

Rothkamm ” FB01 [Flux]

Oscillating low frequency modulations & pitch shifts entirely made using a first generation digital Yamaha synthesizer module the size of a car stereo called the FB01. It has only eight buttons, an 8 bit arcade game sound chip, and a midi-data processor but it can compute highly elaborate and intricate sound waves and sequences quite easily. The German born ‘pure electronic? music composer Frank Rothkamm used computer algorithms as an ‘instrument? for creating digital sounds and both irrational & binary rhythms that toyed with flux inversions of complexity and primitive technology. My understanding is that the FB01 was a conduit environment that allowed these ambient avant digital schemes to play out. It creeps at a relatively slow pace, has brief electronic bleep interludes, and cascades in a gently rotating spacey movement through your speakers. It comes across like looming vibraphone tones, phasing with sci-fi sound effects, and Atari Pong blips. No actual melody is reproduced, just intelligent programmed atmospheric electronic sounds in its most basic, albeit unpredictable and incomprehensible, form. FB01 is highly cerebral, both in its presentation and composition. You’d have to at least understand advanced arithmetic and sophisticated computer program methodology to fully appreciate this recording? or you could just listen in sheer amazement.

Odd Nosdam “Burner” [Anticon]

Odd Nosdam (a.k.a. D. Philip Madson) is a prime instrumental & unpredictable constituent within the Anticon collective. Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, he exhibited early music fixations and prowess with samples & sound manipulating machinery. Odd Nosdam later relocated to the S.F. Bay Area in Berkeley to form the hip hop influenced but predominantly ambient & experimental trio cLOUDDEAD. Under his solo alias, he began expanding his compositions, structuring them into seamless low fidelity sound movements. Burner broadens Odd Nosdam’s horizons even further using Micro Moog, source material from obscure records, cassette 8 track tapes, found sound & field recording collages along with numerous instrumental contributors & vocalists including Dosh, Jel, Jessica Bailiff, and Mike Patton to name only a few! It’s an extremely well executed integration of pleasing ambient experimentalism, hissing strange samples, and dubbed druggy trip hop production. These soft psychedelic grooves periodically wade into shallow discord just long enough before eventually introducing more unusually rhythmic pleasure tones & textures. Connecting captivating & synthetic reproduced sample sounds with live artists & music instruments is a challenging art form; one that proves no problem for the unconventionally shrewd & ever-scheming Odd Nosdam.
3WR: Odd Burning Sensations

Nordine, Ken “How Are Things In Your Town? [Blue Thumb] {33 RPM}

Ken Nordine is world renowned for his sensational spoken words delivered through powerful baritone diction. He’s the most instantly recognizable voice personality in both broadcast radio & commercial television history and his articulate vernacular & dramatic vocalizations earned him the apt title of ‘King of the Voice-overs.’ Following his popular on-air career in Chicago, during the early 50’s, Nordine would later progress into supplemental studio recordings as an influential artist featuring his unusual stories, beat poetry, and spoken word efforts over smooth free jazz sounds and occasionally bizarre soundscapes & sound effects. The 1972 release ‘How Are Things In Your Town?’ (deriving its title from Nordine’s spooky tale about a tall stranger in ‘Flibberty Jib?) is a rather nice collection of Nordine’s early seminal works. Although not cohesive in its presentation it is a solid representation of Nordine’s creative range. His speech method encompasses you completely demanding strict attention to his timeless social commentary and even the more strange scenarios and nonsensical utterances. Nordine is very effective at invoking descriptive imagery that chaperons you through numerous portraits of unstable men and journeys through their nerve wracked minds on ‘Looks Like Rain,? obsessions with clocks & time in ‘What Time Is It?,? the ‘Original Sin’ of vermin killing and rat poison disposal, and how ‘You’re Getting Better? by just avoiding conformity. This is excellent material and essential listening for everyone!

Neanderthal Youth “Electric Uprock” [Filthy Habits] {33 RPM}

Nobs, Eibol, and Losaka roam the inner city jungle of upstate New York as the eccentric Neanderthal Youth. Their limited 7″ was put out by Filthy Habits (U.K.) who is pioneering the next era of underground hip hop and one of its multiple independent home bases.

Hunter SIDE A: - Electric Uprock: A modernized stereo show with dope 60’s sample that give’s way to live rockin’ hi-hat cymbal crashing, repetitious bass licks, and organ tones and scratch cut samples. Confrontational lyrics straddle the indecent and the obscene. Second cut reveals the first on the street installment of ‘What IS a Neanderthal Youth?’ followed by some tight raps and nice production.

Gatherer SIDE B: - You Oughtta Promote: 3 heads spew volatile vulgar verses over dope beats with melodic piano chords, upright bass bump & fluttering flute floats extremely similar to Jurassic 5’s EP classic ‘Jayou.’ Rhymes about know nothing emcees incapable of rocking the show and that is the reason that ‘You Ought to Promote.’ Second cut features more hilarious random interviews on what would happen if you saw a Neanderthal Youth before sliding into a swaying mid tempo bass beat with brief lyrical finesse.

[coll]: Kilt By Death: The Sound of Old Scotland

The Sound of Old Scotland certainly isn’t wheezing out tired bagpipe tunes. This outrageously killer collection is for those ultra -savvy music aficionados & poor saps that ‘huvny a scooby? ah’boot Scotland’s amazing underground D.I.Y. punk, pop, post-punk, new wave, and art rock scenes that were flourishing between 1977 - 1984. Kilt By Death features eighty three eclectic bands playing eighty seven essential songs that thrived well outside the U.K. pop charts. The compilation bears strong resemblance to the equally excellent Hyped 2 Death ‘Messthetics? series but with a strict emphasis on strictly Scottish contributions versus the surrounding United Kingdom. Chock full o? solid contributions throughout and not a stinker in the whole lot. Upbeat, rowdy, & rockin’! This consistently brilliant collection has rare and out of print home studio cuts, demos, and live tracks you sadly won’t find elsewhere! It’s the ultimate insider scoop on the Scottish underground, PERIOD! Unbelievable to think this is only a small sampling! Lift yer kilts lads & lassies and let the Sound of Old Scotland smack ye hard on yer bare bottom!

Final “Final 3″ [Neurot Recordings]

Final is the exclusive solo project and first incarnation of multi-talented versatile musician, Justin Broadrick. Throughout the 80’s & 90’s, his diverse talents lent themselves to the extreme grinding black metal thrash, dark electronica, noise rock & industrial subgenres while performing in bands such as Napalm Death, Fall of Because, Godflesh, Ice, Techno Animal, Jesu, and Painkiller. As Final, Broadrick pushed for more dark ambient & experimental spaces and occasionally melodic sound realms using tape loops, synthesizers, layered guitar treatments, and sampled field recordings. Final 3 narrowly enlists the aid of Jesu bassist Diarmuid Dalton on several selections but the main compositions are Broadrick’s harrowing & spellbinding creations. These two discs compile his works devised from 2001 - 2005. Final rumbles low, emitting both massive, lethargic, evolving, immersive, and hovering waveform trembles as well as more delicate flowing movements through filmy atmospheric condensation. Subtle abrasive textures periodically pour through the harmonic ethereal drift while other peculiar pulsations offer unique spectral signal combinations and slight rhythm patterns. Broadrick has manifested a wondrous culmination of superior sounds devoid of rock’s rambunctious upbeat influence but never lacking its sheer malignant magnitude. Mesmerizing from start to finish and that IS Final!

Enablers “Output Negative Space” [Neurot Recordings]

Sophisticated spoken word spiels narrated by the distinguished journalist & seasoned poet Pete Simonelli underscored by oblique guitar melodies, emphatically dramatic drum beats, and Hammond organ subtleties. Splendid dusky sounds sweep across the empyrean heights as descriptive dramas play out. Guitar driven dreaminess floats forth from the collective efforts of former Swans, Tarnation, Nice Strong Arm, and Toiling Midgets members & collaborators. Somber structures with slow building intensity and gentle melodic moods set the tone. Spoken word and thoughtful angular music aren’t always the easiest combination but Enablers were endowed with enough striking narrative and talented instrumental output to make this ‘negative space? appealing. Not too shabby.

[coll]: Cruevo - Brainoil

Splitting two of Oakland’s crustiest & super sludgy hardcore bands on the same recording was a fuckin’ killer idea! Death & doom stoner metal on both fronts with Cruevo (ex-members of Squat, Medication Time, and El Dopa) blazing out slow hard hitting brutality and long thematically epic onslaughts while Brainoil (former members of Lana Dagales, Grimple, and Destroy) drastically pick up the pace and rip fuzz heavy raucous riffs with what appear to be buzzing humming experimental interludes by Greg Brainoil himself. Outrageously out-of-print and essential S.F. Bay Area sludge-core at its most volatile!

HAIKU REVIEW:
Provocative sludge
Screams out sounds primordial
Crusty Oakland favs

Chronicles of Lemur Mutation “Ones Last Thoughts Documented” [Self-Release]

The sequel to his debut recording, ‘4 Lost Documents,? and the second proper solo release from Greg ‘Gandolf? Brainoil (founder of Boredom Noise Records and member of Brainoil, Laudanum, I Will Kill You Fucker, the Malnourished, and Lana Dagales). What menacing mutating sounds has COLM concocted herein’ Shift slowly as a shadow through its dank narrow alleyways to discover dense heavy gloom. Instantly perceive the dwelling dark ambient thoughts chronicling the final moments of some unsuspecting victim. The prey is studied, stalked, confronted, attacked & battered by a predator, and left anticipating death’s open arms. Such spine-tingling scenarios are fully documented using thick hovering soundwave vibrations, pummeled chamber pulses, glitch static feed, and metallic cortex pentetrating oscillator shrill. Ancient tribal drums offer brief subtle warnings about the lurking agressor’s clandestine injurious intentions. Reluctant water drops pitifully drip into idle pools, surrounding the damp dreary atmosphere. Field recordings intensify when drooling streams become saturated with acute high-pitched noise and deep low end trembling. COLM sets a fearful tone that need not delve into paralyzing psycho acoustic discord. It aims instead to prick the hairs on your neck and make your flesh crawl. Should you be slightly alarmed friend? Abso-fuckin’-lutely!

Small Life Form - “One ” - [Silber Records]

Seven rich, deep drone pieces of varying lengths by SLF, aka Brian John Mitchell, the man behind the Silber label. The tracks sound to me as though many layers were painstakingly assembled and mixed to get the textures just right. However, we are assured that all pieces were recorded in real time without overdubs, which certainly impresses me. Typically dronelike, each track sticks to one basic note or chord, except #4, a two-note droner that eventually settles down to one. The track titles give clues as to the origins of the sounds (cymbal, organ, horns, etc) though most listeners probably wouldn’t be able to identify, for example, the melodica, which has been processed so that it sounds more like a harmonium. No relaxing ambient background stuff here, not with that sense of tension one can feel under the thick textures. A nice addition to our ever-growing drone library.

Guillotined at the … [coll] - [Dionysus Records]

Volume Two in the ‘Shielded By Death? punk archive series brings us 15 obscure 1979-83 acts from Massachusetts and Connecticut. Lumped together under the punk rock umbrella is: power pop from The Reducers and International Q, thrashcore from The Outpatients and Chronic Disorder, lowlife scum-rock from Jack Tragic, silly punk spoofing from The Vandelz, The Not Quite, and The Foreign Objects? I particularly enjoyed the catchy weirdness of The M-80s on their two tracks. Everything weighs in at around the 2 or 3 minute mark, with the exception of the 5 minute final track. The sound quality ranges from not too bad to not so good. A mixed bag, mostly fun.

Opium - “Opium ” - [Creative Improvised Music]

Jazz-informed instrumental improvisation on the fine and busy CIMP label. Guitarist Bruce Eisenbeil is listed as leader on this quartet date, but he’d be the first to tell you that Opium is a band and this CD is a collaborative effort. Eisenbeil’s guitar is teamed up with saxes, bass trombone, and percussion. No working things out beforehand; they just walked in, turned the recorder on, and, in Eisenbeil’s words, “the shit clicked”. Some nice dialogs going on, especially between the sax and trombone. Alongside, the guitar and percussion maintain a scattered approach, contributing jagged things where called for. A few loudish sections, but not many. Dynamics stay mostly in the quiet to medium range. A colorful ride.

Mazing Vids - “Are You Ready for Insects? ” - [Stricken Records]

Two guys named Ryan, playing guitar, synth, and a drum machine, make up this NYC avant-rock project. Sort of a Suicide-meets-The-Fall thing going on here (I didn’t make that one up, but when I heard it I thought yeah, that sounds about right?). Underneath, the beats are simple, and on top, guitars and synths poke around doing various things, just one of which is some Arto Lindsay-style guitar-mangling. All tracks have vocals, some intelligible, some not. I read that the name MAZING VIDS is an anagram of something, but of what I have no idea? NAZI DVMIGS? SZVING MAID? I can’t come up with anything. Anyway, cool music on this CD.

Hall of Fame - “S/T ” - [Amish Records]

A hodgepodge of lo-fi styles from this NYC trio. There are droning raga-like things, found sounds, atonal jams with guitar, violin and low-budget percussion, and some attempts at real songs that have words. Sometimes this music reminds me of an unplugged version of PIL’s early material, at least in attitude if not in the actual sound; it’s not pop music, and the group probably doesn’t care whether you like it or not. I do like parts of this record, and am not quite sure what to do with the other parts. I do have the feeling, though, that the more I hear from H of F, the more I’ll appreciate whatever it is they’re trying to do.