01 Worried About Heaven (2:47)
02 Muscles In Your Head (4:11)
7” released 1993 on Fourth Dimension Records, UK
Radical ethnic drone/noise music by the duo of S. Wickham-Smith (b&w picture above) and Richard Youngs, working as a duo – also known as R!!!S!!!. – from 1992 to this day. On this 7”, track one is a dense, admitedly brief, noise assault. Only if you have the guts to crank the volume up, you will notice the different layers of noise, the exotic instruments, and the achievment in blending the different sounds together. The result is not subtle, but the process definitely is. Side 2 is quieter, overtly ethnic sounding, drone music.
01 Auf Der Wiese (04:24)
02 Die Seele Baumeln Lassen (07:11)
7” single released 2006 by Klang Galerie (ref. gg103)
Austrian cello player Noid (real name Arnold Haber) tend to shy away from any improvisation music clichés on this engaging, debut single. Wether finger-picking or playing with a bow, the range of sounds he emits is nothing short of arresting. On side one, Noid sounds as if he learned to play the cello from a Xenakis noise piece while being no stranger to William Parker’s dirtiest tricks. The instrument is a mere noise machinery in his hands, you’d swear you’re hearing the pipes and mechanical parts being fixed by a giant technician. On the flip side, an altogether more relaxed affair, varied textures are created with the use of the bow until, near the end of the side (starting 05:50), the sound gets so weird you can’t help believe it must be electronically produced, or at least electronically processed. Elsewhere, Noid is exploring the fluttering harmonics of bass strings through small gestures from his bow and close recording. A rather dry-sounding recording only adds to the dessicated atmosphere. ‘Ausflug ins Grüne’ is a solo cello disc that will appeal more likely to concrete music fans than improv devotees.
Piotr Tchaikovski ‘Marche Slave’, opus 31
by Witco Desparadoes (9:56)
Nicolai Rimski-Korsakov ‘Scheherazade’, opus 35
by Tropical Angel Harps (13:45)
Richard Wagner ‘Rienzi Overture’
by Solo Harmonites (12:05)
Carl Friedman ‘Slavonic Rhapsody n°2′
by Valley Harps (10:06)
Total time: 45;40
Recorded live in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, 1988.
Re-issue on Tropical Music, Germany, 1989.
Richard Wagner on steel drums, anyone? Arguably, the weirdest music you’re likely to hear this week, this CD gathers 4 competitors to a Trinidad steel drum gathering, the 1988 ‘Pan Is Beautiful V’ contest. Two of the bands on World Steelband Festival vol.1, namely Witco Desparadoes & Solo Harmonites, were created in the 1960s and are still active today, taking part in all the yearly competitions. I assume the choice of 19th c. classical music was decided by the organizers of the contest, to help them sort out the best orchestra with difficult music. The quality of the arrangers is key – each orchestra has one – and may also be taken into account in the final note. Most striking in the music on this CD is the tonal range of all orchestras, from low drum rumbles to high xylophone-like sounds. Each band has a regular drummer as well, helping in the fortissimo passages. And nothing can prepare you to the deluge of sounds on some tracks here, produced by tsunami-like orchestras unrelentlessly striking their steel pans. But musicians are also able to conjure mysterious, ambient passages of subtle intricacies. Incredibly strange music for my most jaded readers.
The Twins:
01 Dance With A Fish (1:28)
02 Man In Green (2:03)
03 Brother Be (2:06)
04 Man With The Toothpaste Head (2:02)
05 Down (1:57)
06 Trapeeze (2:22)
07 Fuisha (1:54)
08 Hundred Hollowhorses (2:28)
09 Here/Come Again (2:09)
Rig Veeda:
10 Never Seen That Girl Before (3:05)
11 Richard Said (2:06)
12 Red (1:55)
13 I’m All Messed Up (2:23)
14 Casa Milo (2:24)
15 Into The Dark (2:51)
16 Nails (2:37)
17 A Wet Night In Brighton (0:46)
+ Rig Veeda and The Twins flexidisc:
18 Creep (1:42)
(From By Joopiter flexidisc)
Total time: 38:00
LP released 1986 on Illusion Production IP026
Somehow, french label Illusion Production got some british connections in the 1980s. They issued a Kevin Harisson tape (see here) and this LP by Rig Veeda and The Twins, the latter also appearing on several Illusion compilation tapes (Sensationnel #3 & 4). There was, I assume, a kinship between Illusion and The Twins’ own By Joopiter independent label. The Twins was the duo of Paul McTell (also in the band The McTells) and Gillian. Rig Veeda were the same plus David and Lesley. All play highly idyosyncratic rock in a skeletal, surrealist way. The Twins’ side is a collection of short Velvet Underground miniatures, reminiscent of the Lemon Kittens or Jad Fair. No doubt their nonsensical lyrics appealed to the Illusion Production members. While being a quartet, Rig Veeda’s sound is no less minimal than The Twins. Admitedly, some songs almost approach a guitar+bass+drums+vocals equation, but the majority of songs are build from a minimum of means. The adjunction of xylophone and female backing vocals on some tracks add innocence and mystery to the formula.
01 In The Desert Where There Is No Silence (3:54)
02 Moving As Silouettes (9:12)
03 Afternoon Circular Night (5:57)
04 I Don’t Know If You’re Still There (3:32)
05 Little Red Shoulder (1;15)
06 Thunder Caravan (2:21)
07 Symbol (4:39)
08 Tomohawk Diplomacy (30:37)
Total time: 60mns
Cassette released 1991 by Joy Street Studios.
Mike Shannon started making music in the late 1960s in Florida, before moving to San Francisco in 1977. There he joined forces with The Appliances, Plateau Ensemble (Robert Horton), Animist Orchestra (Jeph Jerman) or Earnerve, taking part in multifarious improv/noise sessions. I previously posted his first released tape, ‘Into a deeper unknown’ (1979), a flute+percussion+voice recording in the reverberant spaces of an abandonned bunker on the West Coast. ‘Tourniquet of Roses’ was created with real instruments as well (flute, bass and electric guitar, ethnic violin, percussion, gongs), and most of side A sounds like a one-man Zoviet-France, for its ethnic, pseudo-primitive, unceremonious live sessions. Several tracks have a cold-wave bass guitar backbone giving depth to the ethnic elements. The track called ‘Symbol’ reminds me of Max Neuhaus’ Earle Browne Realizations on amplified solo cymbal (pun intended, maybe). Side B is a tape collage from found sounds, interviews and documentary films. Reminiscent of Frazer Hall’s project Blackhumour, in his use of massage parlor tapes (see ‘Penetration’ cassette, 1989), ‘Tomahawk Diplomacy’ soon gets hypnotical to this listener. ‘Tourniquet’ is a great tape by an under-documented musician.
01 Oiseaux Exotiques (15:24)
02 La Bouscarle [from Catalogue d'Oiseaux] (11:46)
03 Réveil des Oiseaux (20:53)
Yvonne Loriod: piano
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Vaclav Neumann cond.
Total time: 48:00
LP released 1959 on Candide Records, USA
(recorded between 1956 and 1959).
This LP gathers 3 compositions entirely based on bird songs, as collected and notated by Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992). Birdcalls were collected in the field (picture above) and notated at a slower speed and several octaves lower than the original. Messiaen also used LP recordings and urban birding. The ensuing melodies are then arranged for the soloists and orchestra’s instruments, a mix of flutes, horns, percussion and violin. The compositions include many bird-calls perfectly recognizable as such, since the works are actually a succession of bird-calls set to avantgarde contemporary music. In ‘Des Canyons Aux Etoiles’, 1974, Messiaen also composed a famous calling movement: ‘Appel interstellaire’ – or Interstellar Call – a solo movement for french horn, the solitary instrument trying to reach the stars and left unanswered (see YouTube video). I assume, for Messiaen, birds’ singing is directed at the heaven, hence sacred melodies. The clarity and precision of Messiaen’s compositions is striking, possibly because of his use of complex rhythms and sublte, intertwined melodies. ‘Réveil des Oiseaux’ and ‘Oiseaux Exotiques’ have many musical references to Stravinski (Histoire du Soldat, 1918, Les Noces, 1923), another devilishly precise rhythm composer. ‘Réveil des Oiseaux’ was commissioned by Heinrich Strobel for the Donaueschingen Festival and premiered October 1953 in West Germany with Hans Rosbaud conducting - CD available on Col Legno or Hänssler [see Peter Hill's article for detailed description]. This US LP was the first officially available LP of ‘Oiseaux Exotiques’, composed 1956 – and later revised in 1988, but that’s another story. Track #2, ‘La Bouscarle‘, is from Catalogue d’Oiseaux for solo piano. This recording is not available on CD, as far as I can tell. The cover features a pretty impressive bird from Le Louvre Museum: an egyptian, basalt statue of a hawk, from the 30th Dynasty (4th c. BC). Why would a graphic designer chose such a picture for Messiaen’s agile music just escapes me. The choice of Eurostyle typesetting is interesting, though. [See previous Messiaen post as well.]
The unusual pairing of Charlemagne Palestine and french avant-concrete group GOL was exciting and raised justified expectations. GOL recently announced a CD collaboration with Iancu Dumitrescu on Algha Margen. This concert was pretty intense, with Palestine on full-blast organ washes and shamanistic vocals and GOL trio on concrete sounds, bass guitar drones and a pastoral flute trio to end the show. GOL’s music included electronic drones, bell sounds cut-up and concrete noise, and matched Palestine’s perfectly. There was some confusion at the beginning and I couldn’t decide when the sound balance was over and the concert actually started – so much so that my recording probably missed a few minutes, the show probaly amonted to 40-45mns. I wrote about both in previous posts (see here and here).
10” marble-blue vynil
Released on Drone Records
Substantia Innominata sub-series, SUB-05, 2006
Another perfect cut on Drone Records’ Substantia Innominata sublabel.
Big City Orchestra is a communal, shoe-gazing noise collective from San Francisco, Calif., with a pretty varied and large output. Side A is a pastoral, collective improvisation where BCO plays repetitive, spacey ethnic music with percussion, flute and female vocals a la Gong. Side B is a darker affair, with droning electronic, low rumbles and a liberal use of reverb. On this ten inch, Big City Orkestre were: Ninah Pixie, Jesse Burson, Kerri Pidnow, Peter Martin, Melissa Margolis, Mike Dringenberg and Das.
