the sound projector music magazine 6ixth issue (1999)

The Sound Projector 6ixth Issue 1999

The Sound Projector 6ixth IssueOriginally published August 1999

This digital edition published March 2010Made available as a digital download under

a Creative Commons Licence(Attribution – No Derivation – No Commercial Use)

Entire contents ©Copyright 2010 by Ed Pinsent and the respective writers and artists

THE SOUND PROJECTOR, BM BEMUSED, LONDON WC1N 3XX, UKwww.thesoundprojector.com

The Sound Projector Sixth issue 1999CREDITSED PINSENT - Editor, Wrner andPublisher; also typography, design, collagesand drawings

Contributors of long standing

WAR ARROWJOE BANKSEDWIN POUNCEY

New contributors

RTCHARD REES JONESRIK MWLINGCHRIS ATTON

IMAGESlan Middleton: pp 10, 12,52,55,75,79, 107

Rik Rawling: pp 6, 35,42

Ed Pinsent pp 9, 34, 40,48,73, 98, 108, | 10, I 14

Joe Banks: pp 57-e4

War Arrow: p 24

Page l9 depicts DAPHNE ORAM

Page 76 is a 1964 Carrier Receiver Unit intended to givewarning of air attack and nuclear fallout

Page 102 is by Stephen Lawrence (1945)

a ta ta tatafafaL Lfa tatatatatarEntire Contents are @ Copyright | 999 by their respectivecreators

ADDRESS LISTSome addresses arg already supplied with the relevantreview. Here are some more you might find useful.

ACTA, 28 Aylmer Road, London W | 2 9LQ

BETLEY WELCOMES Careful Drivers. 7 Woodside.Madeley, Crewe, CHESHIRE CW3 9HA

BRUCE'S FINGERS, 24 Chauntry Road, Haverhill, CB9 8BE

CAPTAIN TRIP RECORDS, 3-17-14 Minami-Koiwa,Edogawa-Ku, Tokyo, JAPAN

DIRTER PROMOTIONS, PO Box 61, Herne Bay, KentCT6 8GA

DISCUS, PO Box 658, Sheffield, S l0 3YR

EMANEM RECORDS, 3 Bittacy Rise, London NW7 2HH

EREMITE, PO Box 8 | 2, Northampton, MA 0106 | ,USA

FISHEYE DISTRO, PO Box | 10, Farnborough, HampshireGU 14 6YT

FOURTH DIMENSION RECORDS, PO Box 63. HerneBay, Kent CT6 6YU

INCUS RECOROS, 14 Downs Road, London E5 8DS

LOWLANDS Distribution, Hoornstraat 6, 200OAntwerpen, Belgium

OCHRE RECORDS, PO Box 155, Cheltenham. GloucesterGLsI OYS

PARADIGM DISCS, [email protected]

PLATE LUNCH, PO Box 1503.53585 Bad Honnef.Germany

RELEASE RECORDS, PO 8ox 25I , Mi l lersvi l le , PA 1755l .USA

RER MEGACORP, 79 Beulah Road, Thornton Heath,SURREY CR7 8JG

RESPONSE RECORDS, 68 Dalling Road, London W6 OJA

REVOLVER USA,2525 l6th Street, Third Floor. SanFrancisco, CA 94 | 03, USA

SIGMA EDITIONS, [email protected]

THESE RECORDS, I l2 Brook Drive, London SEI | 4TQ

TOUCH. l3 Osward Road. London SW l7 7SS

Editorial Address: THE SOUNDPROJECTO& BM rNDEFrNrrE,LONDON WC1N 3XX, UNTTEDKINGDOM

Visit our new website at-

The SorrndProiector6ixth

Elissue.f.r.r.r.f.r.f.r Issued August 1999 .r.r.r.l

www.su perg ra ph ics.dem on.co. u k/soundprojector

BACK ISSUES AVAILABLE ATIRRESISTIBLE PRICESNumber one THE MICROWAVE MANUAL @ {2

Number rwo BETTER LISTENING THRU IMAGINATION g rz

Number Ttrree TOO MANY CDS 6 r:

Number Four THE ACE OF SPADES MEANS DEATH 6 r:

Number Five DYNAMIC MIDDLE 6 rlPlese add 50p postage per copy in the UK, { | per copy overseas. lf you order allfive back issues postage is free!

Cheques payable to ED PINSENT pbase

Don't miss an issue! Write to get on the FREE mailing list service

a ta ra ra rara L L fa ra L ta tata ra ta rThe Sound Projector is sold mail erder via Fisheye Distribution, Betley WelcomesCareful Drivers, Counter Productions, Slab O Concrete, Compact Disc Services.Stocked in London at Helter Skelter, Rough Trade (both shops), lntoxica,Compendium Books, These Records.

Overseas at Staalplaat, Amsterdami and at Red Eye Records, Australia.

Printed and bound by THE BOOK FACTORY London (Ol71 7OO l0OO)

Special thanks this issue:

IOE BANKS, CARL GLOVER and HARLEY RICHARDSON for Photoshop assist

WAR ARROW for oroo{ read assist

and HARLEY RICHARDSON - Kecper of the website

a LlatatatatataLratatatata ra tarPLEASE NOTE: The Sound Projector is happy to receive:

* Sample CDs and sample tapes

* Submissions from writers

* Picture contributions fi'om cartoonists or illustrators

* Feedback fi'om readers

* Support from advertisers

* Constructive sugestions of any kind

The Sound Projector 6ixthIssue 1999

Table of Contents

TGI tr BEAITTT IN THE POSSIBLEMtrDNESSSonic Boom of Experimental AudioResearch

AT THE MOUNTAINS OFMADNESSSandy Pearlman interviewed byEdwin Pouncey

98

ttl RENDERINGS OF ALERNATTYEWORLDS3randon LaBelle

3 l

TLI rHE MANWHO PIITTITE NOISEINNSW-ucas Abela

47

TU IIEREIN(G) THE SONIC ARTSTINION3y Chrrs Atton

28

THI ANTIPTIONY TRCITITECTT'RTLSI'PPI,EMENTBy Disinformation

57

A SI-I\{PHONY OF HORROR: THETRIIE MEANINGS OFTIIE BLI'E6ysrrRcur.tBy Ed Pinsent

t 00

tGI TRU 2 DA Gf,ME: THE NOI,IMITS STORYBy War Arrow

1 5

I,[VE MUSICAmerican Pioneers Season at theBarbican by Ed Pinsent

7 l

TEI MORE I,rVE MI'$CLabradford Festival Of DriftingBy War Arrow

75

TFI MASONNI: TIIE IERROR SHOITTPortraits / reviews by Ed Pinsentand Rik Rawling

7

TPI SI'N RA COMIC STnIP 40

I,AN MIDDIJETON t 0

TFTMASONNABy Rik Rawling

6

tHI SOT'ND MIRROR PIIOTOGRTPNS3y loe Banks

57

f, GHOST IN AFI,AIVIING HOIISE

3y Ed Pinsent34

BLIIE OYIITER GIILT photo 97

Ict Itv 4lvrll Jv|glEIE

Jy War Arrowz l

rOUCH l 6

DISCUS 56

CAMERf, OBSCI'RA 83

NSEEYE 56

OCHR.E RECORDS 56

f,l.Irrrl fr l] l I r l ] l- lf l i{ aq.I i{ r

I(EYt TTER

FANCIFT'L SE CTION TITI,EActual contents

CDtotal

Page

I IN I'|fE trRT GALLERYContemporary composers; soundinstallation music

7 2 l

G TIIE CRf,CKLING ETHER IElectronic music: Dark Ambient

I 76

lrl TIIE SIGMT,FTgEElectronic music from Australia andNZ

5 79

H THE CRACIrI.ING ETHER2Minimal and severe electronicmusic

I 80

o CUT& PASIETurntablism; computer edit music

4 t 07

J THE MOSSBED OFIMPROVISATION IS KOSMISCITEKrautrock (contemporary)

6 i l l

P rREE IA:zzJaz (contemporary) and John Zorn

4 4 l

K MODERN PSYCHEDEI.If,Born-again psychmerchants 6 t 09

F IAPAX E.f,RS MI](IMI'MDISTRESSNoisy Japan underground music

I 3

E THE DRONING ONESMonotonous droney music

{o 52

D THE IIrIERT'RETK)OMRemarkably bizarre records

11 35

B THE PTIANTOM OFIJBERITlmprovised music

14 t l

A THE DISCI'Rf,TOR'SDENOther Record reviews

25 89

L ATOMS OF PT'RE NOISENon-musicai ear-splitting racket

5 73

a SIqPLOtrD OFTAPESCassette releases

o i l 5

M NOISYROCKRaucuous guitar bands

5 i l 3

c SOT'NDBOMBINGRap and hip-hop

12GRAND TOTIL OF CDs = 1&

TOI ROIIND THINGS ANE BORINGKirsten Reynolds of PROJECTD.AR.K.

43

TII BEAIII'IFI'L FLI'ID GEOMETRIESBarry Nichols of ECM323

84

2

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999

aaoOaaaaiaa

Jtp?n CoAEafs gO+MA)(! MUMD!STRESS

aaaaaaaaaoOptical*8BugGOD MOUNTAIN EUROPE GOCD ort (ND)

Guh-rooo$! Overblown superfast pounding LOUD rock music from thefinest technicians of this in the field today. I suggest for maximum enioymentyou POWER UP on about l0 bars of Bournville Dark chocolate, down a caseof Jolt Cola and iump about the room listening while you simultaneously playsome hyperactive Nintendo punch-up starburst computer game and watch avid of ULTM MAN on fastforward. Yep, some listenersmay find this intense,crowded music objectionable,but I'm not among them.Pompous and didactic it maybe. but it's so utterlYconvincing...l mean if this CDwere an advert for right-wingpolitics I'd probably behanging upside down on ameathook by this point, getmy drift? Better one daylistening to Optical*8 than ahundred dap listening toFaith No More...

So many excellent featuresthis CD boasts - a ludicrouslydense sound: impossibly fastsoloing and plalng; insanecollage and fast ediu: andoutright fun-lovi ng sillinessoffered up without shame orchagrin. I mean the track'Summer

Slave' which quotesboth'Voodoo Chile'and'Born to Be Wild'without anytrace of Guardian-reading Channel-Four viewing irony. And the title trackwhich yawps out'EACH BUG! EACH BUG! EACH BUG!'and'Whole LottaLouse!'with gleeful, buttock-squeezing abandon. Rock music retains its

Jupriter-sized bollock one again, proposing emancipation from a millionHuman League records and the mealy-mouthed politically correct legacy ofthe 1980s. Let Optical*8 take you back to a reinvented universe whereRoben Fripp is not only emperor of the galaxies, he practically designed thegenetic code for the whole human race. Lovely stuff - h deliven'Min4Roasting Grooves', as track eight promises. fuaturing the great Otomoon turntables, the mad cross-dresser Hoppy Kamiyama, and two other Jap

loons, this one recendy came my way thank to a domestic issueplucked from the aluminium racks at Rough Trade CoventGarden. Recommend, in case my overall enthusiastic tonewasn't clear enough from the above drivel...

ED PINSENT

BoredornsSuper Roots 7

ItrPtrN, WTRNER MUSIC ITPAN INC WPC6.852O

!19991Record-buyer, DO NOT hesiate before scooping this din ofdelight out of the racks, rush it right home and include it in yourlistening diet on a daily basis thereafter. This, you will find, is arecipe for true peace of mind, great fonune, health andhappriness, Boredoms, under the watchful eye of Yamatsuka Eye,have succeeded in making something which may be a perfectrecord, perhaps the most uplifting record ever made. Why can'tEnglish people make music like thisl lt would be impossible - as arace, we're far too dour, prim, staid, virginal, class-oriented,stodgy, dull, miserable, repressed, obstructive, unimatinative,backwardlookin& priggish, pompous, philistine, uneducated,uncultured, dull-witted, untrained and generally useless, to everachieve a musical statement of this magnitude.

Super Roots Zis a suite of three or four perfect movements,startint perhaps with a warped rersion of dance music andswiftly passing into psychedelic iamming and pure one-notejamming that'll speed your weary soul to Heaven on wings ofMercury. Guitars, electronics, flawless drumming evoking everygreat record in your memory banks. They make it seem soeffortless, yet here are virtually all the transcendent, ecstatic andeanh-shaking moments you've ever enloyed through hearingmusic, condensed into one per{ect 35-40 minute episode. Animago, a canonisation, a Fftern of rock that redefines thestandard. Significang is it not' that both Otomo and Eye haveprogressed beyond their early messy, sprawling noisy, chaoticwork: both sensing I think that the information-overloadedworld they prophesied some years ago has now come true.Boredoms now, instead of trying to play and say everything at

once, now iust play and say ONE THING.And what they choose to say is so pureand perfec! you can't help but listen.

Oh dammit, l'm ashamed to be Englishwhen I hear this. In fact it would be niceto become somebody else because l'm sofed up with my own life. This could beone good pcychological reason why welisten to music: to create the illusion thatthings are different, that our enemies canbe defeated, that the forces beyond ourcontrol can be suMued, that fonunesmay be reversed and the disenfranchisedmay at last join in with the dance of thehuman race. Oh, brother!

ED PINSENT

GasanetaSooner Or LaterI.f,PAN, POOR STRONG FtrCTORYPSFD-IZ

Loud and shrill punk guitar music with astrong acid-psych infl uence...recorded in| 978 and undoubtedly a big influence onHigh Rise. You may wonder why I keep

bothering with this stuff, even writing about an obscureband/musician which may not even be particularly sitnificant, butI'm just a sucker for the Japanese underground. lf you played methe e)€ct same record and told me it was by a UK punk or NewWave band from the same era I expect I wouldn't even get outof bed. Actually it's far better than that suggese, because you tetsome torteous monotonous one-chord strumming and bleatingfrom a rhphm guitar, pcphedelic feedback soloing thatfrequently explodes into completely manic frenry and to top itoff a string of unintelligible vocal barks, chattering away in

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999demented aliengibbon-speak. To roundit all off you get thisbadly recorded garage{eel from start to finish,and at least two totallyinconsequential trackswhere the taperecorder was leftrunning for no apparentreason. lt's lovely stuff.

EO PINSENT

Hanatarashfranatarash 3us.E, RnnEcoRDs,rrt!!9!9!9rA magnificeng insaneenergy. Why, there aremore ideas in the firstfive minutes of this CDthan...oh. you know howit goes. Hear it andmarvel at the sheermastery of theuncontrollable forces,tornadoes shackled. andtidal waves bound: very dense, penetrative and extreme, an inner space sonicsurgery performed with steel gouges and hot needles. Episodic, shon burstsof activity (as opposed to the lengthy endurance test of a Merzbowonslaught), this amounts to a sheer delight of modernist deconstruction ofrock and performance, executed on the scale of a vast Industrial estate beingwrecked and set afire I an enthusiastic, anarchic teamof hard-hats armed with sledgehammers. See pictureon sleeve for funher details. lf you want to know howit's done, it's mostly to do with capturing the energy inthe very cathanic wild performances, but also in theediting - speeding up tapes, backwards apes, foreigntapes, looped tapes, collaged tapes, degraded tapes,you name them. But no formal arthouse / <oncreteexperiment this, the only aim is to shock and stanleand electrify your ears and brain.

A pre-Boredoms band fronted by the malor playerYamatsuka Eye, Hanatarash (or Hanatarashi) hare anumber of releases dating back to | 982. In their hometown of Osaka they once (according to legend) left thegig stole a small tractor they found in the street, rodeit back and demolished the venue they were plalng in.Pretty irresponsible, eh? You can't tet more PunkRock than that! The live fragment here, one from| 984, indeed convey just such a ioyous release ofcataclpmic enerty via powerful grunting shoutingscreaming and childish banging on sheets of metal.Their first two records came out in | 986 and | 987 onthe Alchemy label in Japan; this one is via theAmerican RRR label, comes complete with hilarioussleeve note by Seynour Glass of Bananafish / Revolrrerfame, and was limited to 1000 cocries. And there arethe usual provocative titles you've all come to love somuch, most notoriously'White Anal Generator', 'Black

Hole Maw','Young Hate' and'God-Noise-God'. SaysGlass:'...a kind of Mount Fuji of poisonous emotion,ahnays erupting exploding and scorching with therhythm of a ra$nt tantrum'. Can't improne on that,really...too bad it's deleted now.

ED PINSENT

Keiii Haino with BorisBlack: fmplication Elooding'APAN, INOXII,RECORTTS IXCD 0002 (1998)

Keiji Haino has turned in not a few collaborativerecordings lately that l've read aboug but neverconsidered 'em fit to lavish my moolah upon (sheer

apathy) ...the/ve been with jazer-improvisers like

Derek Bailey, Peter Brcicmann and Barre Phillip,and are probably all great in their semi-acousticway. This Black Implication Flooding thing howeveris quite a different barrel of lard, being a team-upwith an obscure trio ofJapanese Heayy MetalUnderground players rejoicing in the name of Boris,and it's a meta-monster. From top to bottom thewhole CD is a tothic horror masterpiece, aHammer horror movie with lashings of blood and\rampyres, and lesbians cavortint naked in a bubblebath: an unholy rite, an Exorcism; an H P Lovecrafteoic of madness and doom: the entire works ofBlack Sabbath condensed into one intensely sickrecord.

Sick, sick...this record is diseased. A very heavy Lassguitar played by Ohtani overwhelms your head likea thick blanket of rank decay, and propels all themusic along with a pulsing dynamic - so every trackis like a gigantic worm or snake tunnelling throughthe sand (ie like in Tremors). Wata plap guitar ande-bows, overamped to a blinding degree; loinedwith Atsuo on drums, some blood excellentensemble plalng resula - and even Keiji isn'tshowing off too much (of which more in amoment). Sample track 5, 'lt should be watched...',for a massive dose o{ abnormality...you'll hear a trulydisturhing concatenation of weird suUiminals,howls, strange bending notes, rubbery sguelches,

banshees dying slowly in metal tunnels, torturous shrieks - a fineblend of organised chaotic noises. One of many cuts which are arelentless and doom-laden exorcism for all the players - and foryou too. Rarely hare I heard somethint that makes me feel so ill.Terrific!

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1g9gKeiji Haino's presence is somewhat more, erm...diffused than it has been onother prolects - where, let's face it, it's imperative that he be seen as thestar. His lead instrument, be it voice or tuttar, isn't constantly blundering in,nor is it miked to the front of the mix Paul McCartney style. On the otherhand, his poetic bent is discernible in the abaurd lonttitles, which again arevery reminiscent of the poetry and prose of H p Lovecrafr Especially myfavourite 'Don't

be cheated by the oozing salt from both of tne accuser andthe accused which is alway: tirere, sayinj,'something have to be done',,.Good advice for those tricky'oozing silt momens in your life...

You could also, perhap, accuse Haino-san of being a brit pretentious in thechoice of instruments for this trip - including a 'wave

drum', 'ethnic oboe',and'Electronic Sruthibox'. Like an exotic traveller boasting he,s beeneverywhere, seems it's pan of Keili's lile amhtion to put his hands onMrtually every type of instrument ever devised by man. But that s not a badthing. We're on more familiar tur{ when the tuitar comes into play for thelast three tracks, and even here he eschews liis familiar batteryof'FX pedals,in favour of some relatively subdued long and loud tones.

Great sleere art in black and purple, as good as a missing Lp by Blue 6pterCult - looks like a silhouette of Frankenstein's Castle, bui instead it's amenacing wall of Marshall amplifiers. Just as scary, :ls you will find out...

ED PINSENT

Kato Hideki on bass, lmahori Tsuneo on guitar and SotoyameAkira on drums,

Otomo isn't in charge here, and he's relegated to the position ofadding sampled bursts almost as decorative flourishes to thework; he does this with his characteristic humour, but there isn'treally space for anything else. Every other piece steams aheadlike an express train, propelled forwards bythe non-stop drumsand quite breathless vocal spasmic attacks - Tenko straddles theengne like a triumphant Modesty Blaise escaping her pursuers.There may be some midi-work in here too, perhape triggered bya tuitar synthesiser. One hates to carp too much, as its all soexpertly done, and you won't get music of this quality fromanyr,rrhere else in the world today. lf only there were a littlemore fire to the Draton, or a twist of extra weirdness that mysystem cries out for as a daily requirement. Lovely sleeve art(and nicely printed too); probably one of the best erer from lkueMori.

ED PINSENT

.Eltered StatesAltered States 4I.EPtrN, ZENBEI REGORDzEN-003 (r90s)

Altered States 6I.f,P.f,N, ZENBEI RECORnzEN{'os (199?)Souped-up and stripped-downlike a hotrod custom car, fuelledon hi-octane progressive rocLderi\atives, these records speedPast your senses, shut down allthe competition and knock downanything standing in their way.Highly suitable for modern earsof all persuasion. Main manUchihashi Kazuhisa (guitar) withNasuno Mitsuru (bass), YoshigkiYasuhiro (drums) maintains oneof the best Japanese bandscurrendy producing instrumentalguitar music, clearly heavily indebt to | 970s progressive rockand blues-infl uenced musicians,However this power trio attack

Various ArtistsThe Itand of theRising NoiseUS[, CIIARNEL HOUSEPRODUCTIONS CHCD-g

999:)An old one from six yearsago...in fact volume two of thishas been out for monthsalready. and volume three is onthe way, although when itappears it will be the last everCharnel House release. CharnelHouse in San Fmncisco, alongwith RRR in Massachusetts,were two American labels tofirst release Japanese

'noise' andthis is an excellent set of twelvetracks compiled by Mason

Jones, dving you a taste not iustof all-out noiseniks but ofsomewhat more listenablegobbets of goo. Omoide Hatobafrom Osaka are craz,funderyound rockers, proud oftheir high insanity levels, asbefits a band led bv theBoredoms' guitarisg SeiichiYamamoto. The | 970s

their material with such energy and drive, oking everythint at full tilq thatany hint of turgidity is disFelled. Everyone should be amazed, particularly theprecision and accuracy with which these incredible, very fast runs and riffsare executed. Like High-Rise these guys can take the form of the excessiveguitar solo and develop it into a new species of per{ectionism, onecompfetefy free from any self-indulgence or showingoft. Altered States bisnane sumpruous studio tracks cut atJapan's Earth Studio in 1996. AheredSates 4 has little hieroglyphic drawings instead of track titles; it,s a liverecording of pure electricity and should get all the corpses dancing around atyour next zomtie jamboree; it comes from a per{ormance at the New yorkKnittint Factory in | 995. They are a staggeringly good live act as I recall fromthe LMC Festiral in | 997; their cnrtal-clear sound has a frightening puritywhich impresses me to this day.

From their own label, Zenbei Record; hxlapan gt-Zg-291-97j2

ED PINSENT

Dragon BlueEades PatkItrPtrN, f,YINTIVtrN 0t5 0998)-Modern pro6ressive rock songs rendered for I 99Os ears as only theJapanese can do it. Razor-sharp per{ormances and a decent quota of unusualnoises here: yet surprisingly a bit ordinary in the final analy:is, given theexpectations raised by the all-sOr lineup of contemporary Eastern geniuses.Led and produced by vocalist Tenko, y'us Otomo yoshihide on turntables,

progressive rock influence in Japan is detectable with Anggl'lnHeavy Syrup, and Children Coup D'Eot (King Crimson andHenry Cow are two obvious ones here) and DMV whosebeautiful over-arching'Outer Mind' song with water effects andchantin6 comes o\r'er like Popol Vuh and Brian Eno. Then youget tracks which are iust plain odd, like Agencement's 'Tegmen',

a perplexing electronics exp€riment. Skip ahead to the final fivetrack if it's scary noise you're after...here be Merzbow, TokyoDowser, the intensely harsh Hiiokaidan, and what must be thestand-out track here for me - 'Sound

of Bay Area' by C.C.C.C.This is the most chaotic and the most extraordinary music onthe comp, heavenly slow and deep noises along with strangedisjunctive collage, weird beats, alien passions and great beauty.ln 1993 this Yokohama quarret had released CosmicCoincidence Control Center, and were last spotted by thislistener at the Meltdown of Control along with assorted maniacsin London's South Bank in 1998. Also here: Keiji Haino,Dissecting Table, and Aube. With contact addresses, penonnellistings and snapshots of personal histories and discographies.Fine sleeve of an androgyrous ageless courtesan by RyoichiYoshida.

ED PINSENT


MASONNAooooooooooooooThe TERROR SoooooSsHour!

Well, I have read of the hero shout which the ancient lrish warrion used, thatwould drive armies backwards; and did not Hector, the Trolan, have a terrible

shout/ And there were sudden shouts in the woods ofGreece. They wereascribed to the god Pan and would infect men with a madness of fear; from this

legend indeed the word'panic'has come into the English language. And Iremember another shout in the Mabinogion, in the story of Uudd and Uevel2's. kwas a shriek that was heard on every May Eve and went through all heans and soscared them that the men lost their hue and maidens their senses, and the animals

and trees, the eanh and the waterc were left barren. But it was caused by adragon.'

Roben Graves, The Shout(1924\

**#***#*****#**Masonna, Ejaculation GenetaterIAPIN, .ELCHEMY RECORITS IRCD4SZ (1996)

Masonna, Shinsen Na ClitorisIAPTN, VtrNILLr, RECORTTS VANILL[,-6 (1990)

Masonna, Beauty BeastBITAST FIRST BITPI{zCD (1999)

lT WAS CAUSED BY A DRAGON...now here's a true originalprimitive-sophisticate if ever there did b€. lf late 20th century man has absorHevery possible permutation of an idea the ultimate development is to abandonconceptualising and return to the feral roots. lt's not enough to say Masonnascreams at the the top of his voice - the designation 'vocal performer' won't coverit. l've known people faced with Masonna records to burst out laughing and youprobably will too. lt's not the laughter of mockery nor surprised disbelief whenfaced with such extremity, nor yet your own surprise that you can endure suchsonic hell. lt's the laugh of the man glimpsing freedom, faced with the astonishingtruth of another man who has dared to liberate himself from the shackles ofso-called acceptable behaviour, and in so doing has probably re-defined the verylimits of excess. You will laugh with joy as you see a fellow prisoner not onlyescaping from the encampment, but sailint over the barbed wire fence on silverwings as he makes his glorious escape. Better yet if this incredible music can exhortyou to make your escape too. Sadly, listening to Masonna's screech alone won't doit - | expect you must find your own voice to screech in also.

Another route of freedom he proposes is naturally enough, sexual freedom - asthe blatantfy provocative title Ejaculation Generatercelebrates the sexiness ofsheer noise, how it makes your inner being as hard as a massive erect penis, andthe all-encompassing volume can envelop you like an enormous sweet cunt, a vastorgasm-inducing blanket of sweetness. The very noise triggers liberatingpaychological release, gets your rocks off and floods of torrential sperm result.Merzbow too has pointed the way here, emulating Salvador Dali and otherSurrealists who found unconditional freedom in the excesses of sexual fantasy.

Perhaps seeing Masonna doing it live lel& up more answers. Masonna made a rareLondon appearance at the Garage, fubruary 1999. His live shows are basic; theformula transparendy obvious:

l. Present for five minutes on stage,

maximum.

2. Scream unintelligible sweet gibberish into

the mic,

3. Hit FX pedals on the floor with feet by

leaping into air like deranged maniac.

4. Cavort.

5. Swing microphone lead over head so thatyou're in danger of hitting somebody.

6. Assume fetal position.

7. Scream.

8. All this rendered at maximum volume and thensome.

9. Finis. Get off stage.

Now that's what lcall a g$!

A per{ormance like this is a hit of pure musical heroin - hehits you up and hits the road. No black magic mptique tothe ceremony, as Keiii Haino would insist on: no cult ofpersonality. Masonna offers you the real thing 100% uncut.Under the €ircumstances, can't you see why anphing overfive minutes would be excessive? A burst of concentratedenergr and it sears you for life.

As for these freakin' records, they tend I believe to beedited together from a string of unconnected live shows toproduce the effect of a multiple orgirm or a simultaneousdose of treble-strengh speedballs. Eiacis nearly an hour;Shinsenthanldully comes in at less than 30 minutes, but theduration in each case is simply perfect. The first fewseconds are impossible to bear: you're winded, a punch inthe stomach would do less damage. No use reaching forthat volume control; you can't get near the stereo for therush of the wind. Then: either enlightenment kicks in andyou're in for a exhilarating free-fall y'unge into the GrandCanyon of noise; or you decide you'd rather be ridinginside the cone of a gigantic twister. The choice is yours.

To over-intellectualise: if what Masonna does is some formof logical development of every single screaming sounddelivered on state and on record in the name of rockmusic, soul music, RnB, or punk rock then it mitht seemremarkable no-one has ever dared to try it before. Theweird effect it has though is of showing up the hollownessof its predecessors; making even a basic punk rock recordseem a bit too complicated - too pretentious even, inhaving lyrics, a story, a verse-chorus structure. Masonna'sso wild it makes all previous attempts at wildness seem a

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999bit pathetic. lt's not just that he does it louder or harder than anyone else - there'ssomething more weird going on here. Then again, you can divorce it from anysense of music history and accept its primitive brutality for what it is - and enloy it.A scream - what could be more natural, and more simplel But it takes a specialperson to transform this most primordial of urges into the remarkably expressivean form that we hear docrrmented here.

As to the sleeve art of these three,..# shtu""o rtla clitorts 0 O * S *...simply compares a flower to the female genitalia, and also to the smiling mouthwith teeth bared - nothing new there, I suppose. Agirl's period in aJapanese comichas been likened to red flowers, and how hr back does the old castration-fearsharksteeth rragina image gol Nonetheless a dazlingly fine collage of compactedinformation. This Vanilla record is a maior rarity, suckers. Turn green!

Ejaculation GeneraterI seem to recall finding some clues that led me subconciously back to the world ofHans Bellmer. He was the German surrealist who produced exquisite sculptures ofweird dolls in very provocative poses, with impossible limbs. These definitely probean area of the subconcious you'd rather leave alone, which is good; l'm alsoreminded of seeing Alice Cooper on TV recently, who claimed his maltreatment ofdolls on stage betokened a bad attitude towards dolls, not towards girls. Takenote...

BeautyBeast****A Sarage Pencil drawing is magicked into another dimension by the brilliantfull-strength primary <olours. These tend to co:x you into an optical illusion statewhere background blends with figure until you can't tell them apart, makingMasonna an intensely disturbing psychic presence who can exist everywhere atonce. In addition, it connects him visually to Psychedelic art (and by extension tothe music, and the drugs).

Addit ional notes **o0*Besides the Garage, Masonna played another gig at the South Bank this year. Myworthy constituent (who owns more Masonna CDs than you have records in yourentire collection) repors back the adrantages in Ftting a better view of thescreaming man's attacking foot actions - those agile body^swerves, dives and leapcfor the pedals demonstrate what an electric phpical performance the whole thingis, as much to do with dance, theatre, performance an and body art as it is withmusic and sound. So if it comes to the aesthetic charms of phpical movements,then I personally would rather watch l8 hours of Masonna's wired presence thanbe sub{ected to even ten seconds of uncouth jocks y'alng football, snooker orrugby on the television. In this topsy-turvy world however, we're unlikely to seesuch imaginative schedules presented as part of the broadcasting services offeredto us.

You can see a treat picture of Masonna in the Frieze magazine article which RussellHaswell put totether. He's got such long hair that it can at times obscure hisoriental visage, and make him resemble something from the pages of a I 6th centuryNatural History book. I'm still a sucker for the illusory exotica of the East and Iknow it's largely a mental construct, but images like this give me a real charge. lf Ihad to choose between this and a video of Hootie and The Blowfish, I think I knowwhich way my instincts would lie.

ED PINSENT

s+soo**s*Ejaculation Generater(as Rik Rawling seer it...)FIRST CAME MERZBOW (Masmai Akita) and now Masonna (Maso Yamazaki),both solo artists creatint MORE noise than every thrash. speed, grind and deathmetaf band put together ever could. At their lingenip entire Luftwafes of B-52scrash into steel mills, icebergs explode in seas of burning acid and Lovecraftianbeastgods scream in orgasmic ecstacy ?rs they violate black holes behind suns goingsuDerno\a. Forever.

Younger than Akita and with seemingly no consideration for the listener's senses,Masonna is a NO PRISONERS performer and possibly the last true sonic terroristof this century. His stage shows feature himself dressed in Black Sabbath flares,surrounded by effects pedals as he screams into a microphone leaving the audiencewith bleeding eardrums and none of the major questions answered,

On record the experience is perhaps MORE intense. You can turn the sounddown. you can switch it off altogether, but something primal, something deep inthe cerebral coftex staF your hand and insists that you listen ALL THE WAY.Ejaculation Genenter 32 tracks, barely a half hour long no track titles and nobreaks between the tracks. lt is a relentless rush of aural intensiw as the noise

switches from distorted kamikaze screams to bursts ofamplified static, looped feedback and electro pulse thunder.There seems to be no end to it. Unlike Merzbow there'sno discernible 'rhphms' emerging from the chaos, no senseof orchestration - it simply comes at you and comes at youlike a herd of buffallo mifatjnt across a vast field of sheetmetal.

Then suddenly it falls away to a distant hum. The suddenlurch back to screams and thunder is anticipated at anymoment but the near silence goes on and on. For morethan a minute. The lack of noise begins to draw the walls inaround you and you long for the noise to return, to fill thisimplosion. Still there is iust the hum. Please, make it stop!

A Mack Truck loaded with semtex and Marshall Ampstuned to the {requency of Mars's gravitational field crashesthrough the wall and suddenly all is well again.

Normality is restored. The hideous silence is gone. Thelistener is drawn back into the shrieking womb of noisethat is the Heat Death of the Universe transmitted fromthe far future.

This is the loudest and most caustic listening experiencethat I've ever pritted mpelf against. All future attempts togo beyond this are futile. All those eater yount noisefiendsout there hoping to outdo Masonna are wastint their time.The ab'solute limit has been reached.

RIK RAV\IING

ooooaoooIo

ftftfilftfffftfffla t o o a a o i r a a a a o o a a o

IOooooa

The Sound projector 6ixth issue 1999

YYAAAAAAHAARGI+YATr

AA4IIIEEEwvA/ .[iMAR6I{/ATT *N\\i\$1v,/.,

ASZHAAAR

HRAAARR6Hffftffilili!!!!!!!!!AAA

Various.ErdistsFeat No FaIIfeafirring DavidShea, Dirk\lllachtelaer, ZeenaParkins, ToshinoriKondo, DJ Low,

firn O'RourkeBELGII'M,ITOWLENDS LOW0IlNp) [ree8lSeven recordeddocuments here from theKlapstuk improv festival inLeuven from October1997. I think all who tookoart here could count thisan estimable success. In a series of line-uosbetween the six musicians listed above.chosen at random seconds before performing(in the true Company Week tradition),there's enough raw sonic blasting taking placeto blow the roof off your head without toomuch trouble. I think a lot of the power mightbe attributable to drummer Dirk W whodoes more than push the y'ayers along - hevirtually dynamites the first track he appearson with a shocking full-on assault on hissnares. and thereafter assumes the role of afive-by-five truck driver on the motorway

lcking up the other stranded players.Without a doubt this self-taught Belgiandrummer (full time member of Pablo's Eye)gives bones and a steely structure for theother players to freely spread out theirelectronic and sampled goop. I know that atleast two of the American team here - NewYorker Shea and Chicagoan O'Rourke - haveattracted some netati\r'e remarks from cenainquarters, but what they do thistime works perfectly well in the

Sroup context. True, O'Rourkeapp€ar a frivolous upstart andsomethint o{ a post-moderncarrion crow pcking among thecoroses of dead rec.:rds: but intheir favour they'rr bothopen-minded to virtually any formof recorded music. and recordedsound, without erectintmeaningless ideological barriers oftradition, good taste, orself-concious hipness.

The editing process has helped thisrelease. There were seven hours olrecorded concerts from theKlapstuk fest, and this single CDrepresents (one hopes) the best ofit. Needless to remark given thefeatured players, what a mixup ofeverythint there is here - as lleWire magazine states gleefully in itscategory shopping list, set toencourate total global magpieism,'remixology,free improvisation, DIY electronics, avant rockand plunderphonics'. To me that could just aseasily be a recipe for a hideous concoction ofmodernist spew, but here the results areexciting and perfectly coherent. This isespecially true on the lontest track ( | 7minutes) where all six pitch in - and far frombeing the anarchic streak of greasy vomit youmight fear, it winds up as dynamic and punchyas though it'd been directed and co-ordinatedby Stockhausen on a good day. Electronic


puff-clouds float above a sea of samplesspoutint repeated phrases in foreignlanguages; an apt metaphor for the Tower ofBabel that modern music has become thesed"yt.

Toshinori Kondo plays a fine electric trump€t(one of the tentler players in the roster; itseems the American y'ayers are more guilty ofwantint to Eet their balls on display first) - onhis duo with the drummer it reminds me of

Jon Hassell's contributions to the TechnoAnimal CD from way back when. Kondo hasplayed on Paul Schuee recor&.

Plus (inevitably) there's a turntablist - thesampling-looping LP-hoarding music-eatingDJ Low, a pseudonym that conceals thehard-working Tom De Weerdt - the verybroad-minded man who runs the Lowlandslabel that released this. Zeena Parkins plapharp and shortwave frequencies. Shea y'appiano and samples; O'Rourke throws in histrademark aimless meandering acoustic tuitar

fohn Butcher / PhilDutzantSecret lWeasuresryOutstanding example of fresh innorration incontemporary improvised UK music. PhilDurrant performs live electronic manipulationofJohn Butcher's saxophone plalng - thefamiliar skronks of the improviser'sbrass-puffing are constantly and insondypushed completely out of shape, pulled into awonky dimension of otherness, and propelledinto unprecedented spaces they could neverreach alone. SuHime moments of music areachieved when Butcher batdes it out with atitantic wave of white noise, or pipes amelodic parp over random bursts of burring,buzzing and bleeping. This is a bold artisticstatement, a truly experimental testure, andadds extra dimension to the art ofimprovising.

We mitht want to point out (allseasoned troop€rs will know thisanyway) that this ain't necessarily acompletelynovel strategr, and in

h*.r ,,.1..,.

and a hard-hitting analogue synthesiser - tothe fore I suspect on the opening duo withParkins which is a trap for the unwary. ltappeareth tentle and doe-like, yet soonreveals jaws of steel and a roaring bass thatbreaketh thy specacles and rattles thy molarsin thy mandible.

ED PINSENT

L F * might be one of the earliest

(t4 , Serendipity Music (lCA 02), it?rf$ a contarns'lnfraudibles', a concen of. t 1- . r

music commsed with theassistance of computers, generatedby Herbert Brun of the Universityof lllinois. He used as sourcematerial an improvisation by ErnanParker, Derek Bailey, Gavin Bryars,Richard Hower and Bernard RandsErran Parker's commitment to sax

and electronic pairing is a challenge he hascontinued to follow in his latter career; notonly with Paul Lytton, but with Walter Pratiand Lawrence Casserley too.

There is an LP issued by The Alan DavieMusic Workshop label in 1975, where TonyOxley and Alan Davie \ary the sound ofacoustic percussion instruments withferocious live electronic manipulation - usingring modulator, compressor and octavesplitter. American free jaz of the | 970s sawRichard Teitelbaum producing LPs of moog

.L

11

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999synthesiser work with Anthony Braxton (egTime Zonesin 1976); and there's JoeMcPhee's live recording of sax blowing withEuropean John Snyder on the synth, IheWillisau Concert..

But it's a gauntlet which hasn't been picked upas often as it might. Indeed in the UK aschool o{ thought emerged that insisted uponnothing other than acoustic recording of animprov performance as it happened, with nopost-productlon. By extension, this seemed tomean little or no live electronic rariationwould be permitted - although of coursethere were some exceptions (Bailey and hisvolume pedal). Apan from the occasionalsynth player or sampler being admitted to aCompany Week bash, {ew have attemptedthis live electronic transmutation of anothermusician's plalng. And yet Secret Measuresismore than simply adding electronic effects toenhance the sound: as Richard Sandersonstates on the sleeve note here.it is 'a real time duo recordingas nlid as any acoustic duo inthe improVsing sphere'. Therules of this game demandimmediate responses, fromboth players: Durrant isreactint to a sound fromButcher. who in turn has tocontribute more to work withthe changes Durrant proposes.How can players get closerthan this? An uncanny hybridresults, a real blending of thecolours in a box of plasticine.

Who better to do this thanPhil Durrant a man withexoerience in the world ofmaking electro records,including collaboration withFabio and Grooverider(whoever they may be) ontheir first single. He has usedelectronics to modify his ownviolin plalng. However, thisrecording used a comparativelysimy'e set up, modelled moreon the equipment that DavidTudor (John Cage's partner incrime) used to modulate live

fano per{ormances...onlypartially controllable. Wisely,Durrant also eschews livesamples (which would onlylead down the Stock Hausenand Walkman cul-de-sac).Startling and powerful, this is atruly excellent record. lf theyever Dut a drum beat behind itthen current media darlingslike Add N to X might stanlooking for another iob (let'shope).

ED PINSENT

Roger SmithExtended PlaysryggJMglRoger Smith is an improvising acoustic

tuitarisq who's been compared to DerekBailey (with whom he studied) and HansReichel. the German artist who rebuilt theguiur, several times, alont his own radicallines in the 1970s. Actuallv. it doesn't take

much to make a comparison like that, becausehow many otherimprov guitarists can younamel (ust kidding...don't bother to send mea lisq spor15 fans). This is a exceedinglypleasant CD - sometimes perhaps a bit toopleasan! but it is very intimate and warm, andfull of light and space. l'll probably get introuble for safnt this, but it reminds me inplaces of Testcard music - if any of you are oldenough to remember that - and seriously thatisn't intended to be insulting or derotatory toSmith's music. I have passed many blamelesshours in front of a TV screen with Testcardmusic plalng.

Smith's plalng is gentle and quiet - he's no

John Fahey, that's for sure! These discursive,rambling and very extended solos take sometime to unfold, but still work their way underyour skin. All home recordings; the titles'Summer Afternoon Sequence' and'EarlySummer Mornin{ refer to the time they were

put onto tape, and the ambience of this balmyatmosphere transfers to the disc. There areopen windows, birdsong traffic noise andcoughing by the artiste - all of which producerMartin Davidson prerceives as being intrusive,extraneous noises tettint in the way of themusic. Hyself, | find they enhance the overalllistening experience no end - making itintimate and rsal. Essential listening for thosewispy and ethereal moods, and I know you'veall experienced the like.

ED PINSENT

Spontaneous MusicEnsem.bleI'owkofrIeIryg9ll999)Three good long tracks, one short one, allrecorded in London in 1977, 1984 and 1988.

John Stevens - the eulogies for this UKoriginal continue to pour in. More than just adrummer, he wielded a Guru-like benigninfluence over whatever teams of treatplayers joined him to form The SpontaneousMusic Ensemble. 'The

Only Geezer anAmerican Soldier shot was Anton Webern' is3 | minutes of exquisitely bleak whining andscraf ng plaintively whimpered by amini-string section of Nigel Coombes'Molinand Colin Wood's cello. Stevens'cornet, andhis own intoning voice, have rarely soundedso good to me. This rs uplifting music, finally,despite the slightly mournful pallor, because

it's a wail of comoassion in the hceof the ooindess miseries all humansare faced with in the sad and wearypilgrimmage through life. lf you needa good arm around the shoulder.listen here, and wait'll you hearStevens' moaning voice over thenervous strint Plucks and theparanoid guitar scrabblings of RogerSmith.. Boniou r La Ten s ion !

In fact the knittin$a-20-foot scarfstyle of Roger Smith's plalnt makesa deal more sense when propelledby the gentle but very intricate fastpifter-patterint of Stevens'drumming. All-acousticperformances, all very much ofapiece, and plenty of room tobreathe within the generousparameters of the long CD format.Can't really fault this CD then,unless you're a listener who prefersthe more extroYert uofront SMEplalng of. say, a Trevor Watts orErnan Parker, but Low Prolile byname and by nature is a comfoftingnoise for intro\€rts, maladjusts andthose who live by the full moon.Actually the CD is less dramaticthan that but if there was a fullmoon every single nitht it wouldn'tbe romantic, would it?

ED PINSENT

Abe / Yoshizawa /Kondo / BaileyEida's CaIIUSII, STtrRLIGHT TURNIIUREcoMPrrltY *9 (1998)Aquirax Aida is the man

immortalised in a Bailey solo guitar LP calledAida he wzs a Japanese promoter of singularvision who arranged unique concerts ofimprov in his home country in April-May| 978. Bailey was one such beneficiary of thisstrateg;r and it's fair to say he remembers theman with warmth and affection. Pan of thistour also included the musicians MototeruTakagi the tenor player, and ToshiyukiTsuchitori the oercussionist neither of whichis on this recording - but it does feature thesax player Kaoru Abe (now dead) whosework has been documented bv labels like PSF.

L2

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999Tokuma and Kojima; and MotoharuYoshiwaza, the superlative bass player who isalso no longer with this wodd. Bailey playedwith them all of them in Japan and, with Aida'shelo. made a record called Duo and Triolmptpvisations originally issued on the KittyLabel (very rare on viny'), reissued by DIW onCD. At that time he also made a solo guitardoubfe LP called Old Sights, New Sounds onthe Morgue label.

fhis Aida's CallCD is therefore a welcomeand essential document of this period. lt mightbe a slightly grubby audience recording butthis matters not a iot - the work still shines,and the intimacy of the venue comes overalso. The long track 'Administratio' is the bestone for me, immediately kickint into high gearto show how the international language ofimprovisation works. Bailey only had abouttwo words ofJapanese at hiscommand for the whole tour:conversationally he may harrebeen a bit lacking, but musicallyhe's holding fonh like a visitintacademic at a lintuisticsconsonium. Half of this 23minute track is very slow andsonorous playtng by allmusicians. There i: e lumberingm4esty to the priece, broughtabout by the assurance anddepth of the players' mastery.True spontaneous<ommunication, resultint insome glorious long howls ofmusical agony and lamentations.It builds up in tempo creating afine madness of cat-calling andinterchange of ideas, yet neYeronce does the recording fail us -

and all players remain distinctand audible throughout. Ofoarti€ular note is Moto's hasspl"ynt - he's working overtimeto hold everythint totether.Not that anyone needspropping uP or suPPort sinceKaoru's inventive sax work keep forgingahead into unexplored territory all the time.When Bailey warms up he moves fromelectronic moaning into vitourous atonalstrummint and plucking moves, while thetrumpet of Toshinori adds melodic andmelancholic touches throughout. Recorded atMichada-Karalinka on 3 May 1978, now finallyissued by a Revolver subisidary label in SanFrancisco. Excellent.

ED PINSENT

RakeResume the CosnostrUSTRf,IJIf, , CTMERT, OBSCURtr.

ryThis interesting collection, featuring five longtracks by a mysterious combo from VirginiaUSA might be hely'ul to non-initiates orother civilians who have tend€d to give theworld of improvised music a wide berth.Though no data is promulgted about Rake,my tuess is the/re youngish fellows with theusual healthy appetite for collecting weirdrecords who have now decided to try theirhand at emulatint the sound of some of theirfavourite viny' treasures in the homerecording studio. So, although they probablyhave no iaz experience to feed into their

improv (like Eran Parker and many othersassociated with the UK scene do), they havean innocent feel for free plafng. Their plalnglimitations become evident fairly early onunfortunately, because they usually play at onetempo - very slowly - and tend to tet stuckwhen seduced by the textures of their ownlanguid drones. But in their favour they d€ployan interesting mix of instruments, combiningthe modern (moogs) with the ethnic (Africanshells, Dijembe) with all forms of percussion(especially wind chimes. scrap metal, and thatold favourite, the bowed c/mbal), to offsettheir hooting and wailing clarinets andsaxoDhones. These mournful blurts are oftenenhanced by studio effeccs, a light touch ofecho here and there, but never swamped;Rake hvour making rich sounds firsqexy'oring the possibilities of ensemble plalng

second. Even without the peudo cosmichoo-hah of the sleeve notes (very like TheMahavishnu Orchestra in the 1970s) there's adose of sufficiendy opaque mptery andatmopshere here to reain interest.

ED PINSENT

Tony BevanThree OrangesFOGEORN RECORDS FOGCDOOI

!19991A solo set from the reliably enthusiasticBeran pumping his huge bass saxophone.After starting off with a semblance of atouncy j"z tune, Bevan tets down tobusiness with some serious long blowingtones which are full of overtones and soundlike a giant ogre sretching himself beforeeatint you alive for breakhst. Towards theend he livens up so much you can hear everybreath, errery click on the keys, impassionedscat-sintint into the mouthpiece, a manthrowing himseff into his work and making asmuch racket with his honks and growls as anyheavy metal guitarist. You'll be twitching alongin time to this goovy improv skronk. Actuallythe name of his record label should tell you alot also. Short and sweet. Recorded live at aLondon venue in July | 998 and presented as it

happened, unedited, on this'fat-free' 3-inch

ED PINSENT

Anilable for {5.50 incl p & p front TonyBeuan 2 Yew Tree Cotage Manor Road,Rowsham, Ayslebury, Eucks HP 22 4QS.

Evan Parker with PaulLytton, PauI Rutherforderrd Hans SchneiderWateiloo 1985!ry:9:9!gg9lA single hour-long piece, 'Dark Interior'.Played by an all-star quartet, E n Parker withhis friends Rutherford and Lytton joined by

Schneider on the double bass.Recorded live at a European Jazfestiral in 1985. More of a jazzy outingthan a free improv one, but Parker sdistinctive attack on the tenor sax isahaap recognisable in whatever idiomhe chooses. Ruther{ord blows thetrombone with a distinctly'Englishaccent', accordint to the sleevenotes.Lytton plap a smaller scale o{ hiselaborate drumkit set-up, andcontributes live electronics.

ED PINSENT

fohn Butcher, PhilDurrant, fohn RussellThe Scenic RouteEMtrNEM 4029A showcase CD, as good as modernUK improv can be, in a razor-sharprecording of these three players, froma live setting, y'alng all-acoustic. Therewards of listening are to be found asusual in the interaction between theplayers, noteworthy on the spacey

friendliness of the first four tracks (recordedat a French music festiwal) and on the longtrack'Climate Change' recorded in London.Here, Davi&on (who was there to witnessand make the recording) reports how 'the

atmosphere was highly strun$ in the RedRose that nitht, but the three musiciansresoonded to the tension with calmundery'alng rather than opting for thehysterical opposite.

Underplaying this may be, but they each maketheir instruments work overtime, subtlydeveloping the range of noises you can wrintfrom the constructions of wood and metaldespite their possible limitations; Butcher hasto take th€ prize this time, with suckintnoises and sneezes that sound like he'ssuckling the last known species of a rare bird.Durrant runs a close second, showing ovo ofhis violin bowing technique specialities, thepiece of rubbery llesh stretched umil breakintpoint effecc and the one-man phase pedaleffect - fast motion wavering in the air does iqplalng pure vibrations. Both of thesestratedes carry on what I perceive (probablywrongly) to be one of the agendas amongsome (not all) UK improv players, the attemptto undermine the overfamiliar sound of amusical instrument. Throuth transcendingthis, one transcends the expected, getsaround the banal. OK, it may be argued that if

13

you listen to enouthimprov some of thesounds start to acquirea clich6dness of theirown - but at any ratethe players are dealingin their own currency,a unigue coin minted inthis country somethirty years ago, rightllf you can only bebothered to hear onetrack, make it'Belayed'- a sublime example ofbrttersweetmelancholy, andconsiderable empathybetween the musiciansto share the sorrowfulburden. lf you wanthostile or angry music,look elsewhere.

ED PINSENT

Graharn Halliwell andSimon H Fell9 Points in AscentBRUCE'S FINGERS BF 2t (1998)

lnexplicably missed this one out from our bitSimon H full retrospective last issue. lt's aspirited and punchy studio set of acoustic duoimprovisations, Halliwell on the alto sax, Fellon the double bass, natch...blastint out thesort of committed and fiery plalng that givesyou renewed hope in British jaz. Bothplayers give an excellent account ofthemselves - GH's fluid sax leaping up intonew realms of freedom, pausing for someund€rstated sucking-squeaks, and generallychattering like a demented gibbon as itcavorts around the room. SHFs bass not onlyprops up, it dides, supports, troans,plucks...vast range of exciting effecs pourfonh from the instrument...all adding to thetwo-way crosstalk in these conversationsthat shows the constant sparking off of ideasbetween these two...a real musicaldialogue...can only result from years offriendship and compassion, but also trainintand discipline in plalng and mastering yourinstrument. And it inspires the listener too,not just to join in the music but to go andexercise some free-thinking strategies ofone's own. Beautifully recorded by Halliwelland edited by Phil Darke, a key technician inthe realisation of Fell's last double CDmasterpiece. lf you haven't bought a copy ofthat yet' then keep looking.

ED PINSENT

Rottor (Paul Rutherford,fulie Tippett, KeithTippett, Paul Rogers)The First FaII TurnEMANEM {026 (1998)I love Keith Tippett - he's a grand master ofthe j-z i6lp,pet;ted piano - alive withinvention and energT, he's this countrys CecilTay'or, as Edwin Pouncey has rightly claimed.I'd do everything in my power to see a sologig by this man, because the times l've seenhim play are lodged in my memory as not


VERYANWESTON JOHNEDWARDS MARKSANDERS

MERCUR|'CO:V(-|Rr mE-nEd 402s

only treat musical events (which they were),but as warm encounters with humanity andcompassion, delivered by a man who speakswith quicksilver fingers of love! Thesememories I treasure - as much as theshopping list of LPs l'm about to raftle off toyou. Only to add that Tippett signs off most ofhis CDs now with the legend'May musicnever just become another way of makingmone/, a sentiment I trust we all endeavourto live by. At any rate my suggestion is yougrab any of these with Tippett's nameattached: Solo piano - Muiician, SAJ 37. Duos- No Gossipwith Louis Moholo, SAJ 28; fNfwith Stan Tracey, SJ 104. Large groupensemHes, 2 of which were released(amazingly) on protressive rock labels andgarnered a nod of attention from MelodyMakerin the 1970s: Dedicated To You, ButYou Weren't ListeningYERTlGO 636@24:

TL\

fairly earlyDEREKBAILEY

withpostscripts

IffiFfrFMI4427

t4

Keith Tippea's A,rk, FnmesOGUN OGD003-004; Centipede, Septober Eneryy RCADPS 2054. Ovary Lodgewith Harry Miller,Frank Perry and Julie Tippett OGUN OG 600.With Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean and the synthplayer/drummer Joe Gallivan: Cruel But hir(FIDADRO 4) and Hercy Dash (CP 200 | ).I don't know how well Keith Tippett isrepresented here, where he plap somemuted piano on a very low-key set recordedat Le Mans an 1998. But he's not the star: it'san ensemble set. The players are all highlyrespected and long-serving members of theUK laz and improv scene. Julie scat-sints.Paul Rutherford plays the trombone, and PaulRogers plucks and bows his double bass. Theyhave y'ayed together previously in manyvarious combinations, etJulie and Keith haveperformed as Mujician for over thirty years,and they made the Couple in SpiritLP lorEditions EG in 1988. Rutherford and Rogersrecorded a duo concert issued as Roguesin1988. Rutherford brought in Keith T andtoured in 1996 as ROTOR, but when Julieioined the troupe they adapted the name toROTTOR. The bonus track is l2 and halfminutes of Paul Ruther{ord, playing atrombone solo piece, and recorded in aLondon Church.

ED PINSENT

Veryan Weston,lohnEdwards, Mark SandersMercuty ConcertEMINEM {028 (1999)

Excellent, high-quality recording of a fine,straighahead 6t ol iazy improvising from thisEnglish trio. The sleeve notes say this as goodas the Bill Evans trio, and that Venen Westonis also influenced by the piano works ofStockhausen and Boulez. Whatever, hisplalng is very precise and he's ably supportedby the bass and drums supplying enerteticscrapes and thump. Throughoug strongevidence of group interaction and carefullistening to each other, without any fudging orfalling back on clich6s that I can hear - and thecrptal clear recording doesn't miss a thing.Three tracks, one of which is virtuallv thelength of an LP!

ED PINSENT

Derek BaileyFatrly Early withPostscriptsEl|I'f,NEM {02? (1999)

Very fine, highly recommended as ever -almost a retrospective survey of the works ofthe founding father o{ the improvising guitar inthis country. With founeen tracks it's actuallyvery good rralue for money, which isn'tsomething you hear said about improvrecords very often; it reissues an out-of-printEmanem LP with bonus tracks culled fromother sources, dus funher unreleased cuts. Awhistlestop tour through Baile/s magisterialpluckingsfrom l97l upto 1998 inclusive,which means we hear early pedal-xsistedsolos right through to a snapahot of hisnotorious drum'n' bass exy'oits in 1998.Husically, the 'Six Fairly Early Pieces' whichkick off the CD with a bold l2 minute segr.re

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999of work, are my faves - being as how thevolume pedal wins me over any time, but it'sthe sheer lucidity of his craft which shineshere. and the non-stop production of ideas.It's been said of RobertJohnson the bluesguitarist that some listeners can't believe it'sone p€rson plalng everphing on one guitar inone take; the same applies here, emphatically.Bailey sounds like at least four tuitaristsy'ayrng at once, that many styles, that manysounds. that much invention. The more youlisten the more unbelieveable it becomes.

Two rehearoal extracts from the 1974concert with Anthony Braxton remind us ofhow great are the issued recordings of thisland they are documents of a significantmoment in time. Here you had the meeting oftwo players who had grown through post-wariarz music. but in different countries and withdifferent traditions, and had evolved into quite

distinct entities. In this panicular joiningtogether, whatever debt was owed by UKimprov to US {ree l'- is paid in full: whileAfro-American Braxton forged anotherimDortant link in his chain of reconciliationwith European musical strands. That's mystupid theory, anyhow...what I like on'Area 8'here is the way Bailey's badtemperedstring-scraping is exactly the noise of the sonof clapped-out motor car he would own (if hedrives) failing to start on a cold morning.

Couple of great jams with John Stevens thefantastic drummer and Kent Caner on bass.These are from 1973, and Baile/s o'ddlyjoy'ess whoopc of joy can be heard, indiatintwhat a great time was had by all. And there'sthe hilarious throwaway ioke

'ln WhoseTraditionlF, which mercilessly ripe the lss outof virtually any label that has ever beenthrown at Bailey's unique music in iust over30 seconds. An impolite raspberry to thecritics, albeit ani ntel lectual one...goodi&a.

We learn a hit also aboutthis business ofconversational s peakingwhile /alng, a routineoften employed by Baileyon recordings tohumourous effect, eitherintentional or not - hesoun6 so world-wearyand wry as befits thisshrewd Yorkshireman.On 'Tunnel Hearing'thehabit of yattering isalmost exolained assomethint the musiciandoes to occupy the otherhalf of his brain while he'sengaged in the act ofi m orovisation...we'readvised to pay noattention to the contentof his wittering. Othertracks, pieceing togetherthe stages in an ongoingtaped correspondencebetween Bailey and fellowSocialist Martin Davidson.are selected here to chanthe misery of the Thatcher government years'We must be a nation of bleedin' masochists',he laments. at the 1987 re-election.'She'sdone it again! No way out, no way out...' Asyou know. Bailey was working nights as an

apprentice y'umber at this dme, and fearedthe new tax budget would not foster anenvironment conducive to the smallbusinessman. He should only have knownhow things would turn out. For funher detailson this little-known chaoter of lfie musician'slife, wait until the new Liography appears inprint.'As we used to say,' Bailey remarks inhis | 998 post-postscrip! 'There's nothing toplay, and we're plalng it.' He's talkint abouthis musiq but hey - it might just as well be themotto of New Labour too.

ED PINSENT

CONCEPTS OFDOING

Alexander Frangenheim has started hisown label in Germany and issued fourCDs of European improvisation to date.He's based in Stuttgart where since1988 he's been the organiser of manyinteresting and important concerts ofimprov and contemporary music. andmulti-media happenings involving dance,film, video, poetr/ and painting. TheConcepts Of Doing festival started in1992 and he managed to persuade not afew international big names from themany strains of improv in England,America and mainland Europe. Since hedecided to start taping some of the stuffhe's come up with these four releaseswhich are not only good CDs, but alsopromote the man Frangenheim and hisactivities - because let's hce it" it'salways tough going promoting this

music, finding the money, Eime, energy,venues, and once again the money!

Some of these releases are prettyessential, a real shot in che arm for the

improv form and scene. Here Now,COD 003, features Evan Parker andGunther Chriscmann, in a combinationof solo and duo works recorded live in1998. lt's a fantastic recordin& over 70minutes of premium quality improvmusic. and taped with awesome sonicclarity. Leading off with the monumental32 minute soprano sax solo 'Cone ofThe Future', which documents EvanParker doing what (in my opinion) hedoes besL delivering a continuouscircular-breathing intenso-marathonwarbling baroque blast ofcomplicated-repetitive free playing.No-one else in the world can do thisand it's the sound of a unique identiry,unmistakable, immediately recognisable.Free Jarz it is not, but Evan had his lifeturned around from seeing Cecil Taylorplay in 1962" and a solo like this is adistillation of that emotional thrill whichstill fuels him to this day, at the sametime a reinvention of Cecil Taylor'sunique music without any discernibletraces of an American idiom within it.Mastery and control are ideas whichspring to mind when you hear Evantruly on form like this - the piece couldsail virtually anywhere, like a hugeschooner guided across the ocean by aveteran mariner. Not a single mistakeor fluff in che very precise breathing andfingering in the entire long piece - andthe recording wouldn't let a single errorslip by unnoticed. And there's more -

Stungart

some excellent interplayduo oieces with Euroveteran GuntherChristmann (played with theGlobe Unity Orchestra inthe 1970s) on the cello andtrombone. Parker may havefound one of his oerfectfoils in this musician,sensitive and supporcive acall times - and yet theynever played togetherbefore this recording.There's that very delicate,fast-moving and instantresPonse that improvdemands - creating the tinydeailed structures of musicand sound that vanish assoon as they appear. HereNowis destined to becomea 'classic' in the field onesusPecEs.

ED PINSENT

Alexander Fnngenheim,Concepts Of Doing, lmkhellenkonp 56d, 70184

Germany.

15

e ma i I fia nge n h e im@a la. d e

The Sound Projector Sixth issue 1999

Antitrad eAn Ash In te rna t ionaI Compi ta t ion

Ash In te rna t ionat [R . l .P . ] # Ash 4 .1CD

memory

' r -3 hhh wouLD Y0u4 . Le r f E [gg ren MOTHER! !?5-8, hhh HAVE KNOWN ME9. Hazard PEENET'/UNDE

soace

10 . wH tTE11 . S .E .T . I AURORA12 . I Don ' t Know13. Dis informat ion 9v DC Suppty wi th Homemade Copper Sotenoid lUnident i f ied VLF Radio Noisel

tnner

14. AER Recorded at the Inner Garden. the Mei j i Shr ine, Shibuya-Ku, Tokyo, October 199015 - , ] 7 . hhh IN THE STREET?18. ln a Constant State of Rebett ion19 . B ruce G i t be r t THE BOOK ' {w i t h t hanks t o Dan ie t Menche l

20. A Happy Betgrade Recorded on Guy Fawkes night at Pr imrose Hi t t . London, November 1987

' 'The sharp-tooking packaging lwi th, as always, int r iguing photography and cr isp typeset t inglworks extremety wel [ wi th the music i t 's

designed to wrap. Ash reteases excet [ in th is aspect and I th ink i t 's a point that deserves wider at tent ion. . . The sound i tset{ is cur ious:dense wi th informat ion i t has at the same t ime a s impte, a lmost organic feel to i t . Maybe i t 's my organism that is humming atong?Anyway, th is CD is more than a sum of i ts parts - i t 's t ike a music insta l tat ion where one is exposed to d i f ferent facets / d imensionsol a g iven piece. ' ' ISonic Cairo]

Fen nesz_Ha rd i ng_RehbergL i ve a t The Ga t te ry Ke t te r , The Hague , The Ne the r tands

0 n e - s i d e d v i n y t o n t y . 2 0 : 5 9 A s h # 4 . 8 .P r e s s e d o n 1 8 0 g r a m h e a v y w e i g h t v i n y l a n d d e s i g n e d b y m i n i t r o n

T h t s r s a o n e - s t d e d " t i m i t e d e d i t i o n v r n y t . r e c o r d e d l i v e b y F e n n e s z _ H a r d i n g _ R e h b e r g a p p e a r i n g f o r t h e f i r s t t i m e t o g e t h e r . A b e m u s e da n d v e r y c o L d - a u d i e n c e w t t n e s s e d t h e A u s t r a n p a r r p u t t o t h e s w o r d v a r i o u s s a m p t e s f r o m t h e A s h c a t a t o g u e . I t w a s p r o c e s s o r s a -g o - 9 o ; R e h b e r g s I a p t o p w o r k i n g o v e r t i m e a n d F e n n e s z s b o x o f t r i c k s g e n e r a t i n g t h e o n t y h e a t i n t h e c o n c r e t e b o x

Chr i s t i an Fennesz i s a r eco rd i ng a r t i s t w i t h r e l eases on Mego {Mego 01 6 ) and sho r t t y Touch , t o be re l eased i n Oc tobe rMSCHard ing i s t he p rop r i e to r o f t he [ abe t . Ash I n te rna t i ona t IR . l .P . lPe te r Rehbe rg i s one o f t he f ounde rs o f Mego , and one ha t f o f Rehbe rg & Baue r . r eco rd i ng a r t i s t s f o r Touch lT0 :32 and

For fur ther In lormatton contacr:

Ash Internat ionat IR. l .P. ] 13 Osward Road London SW17 7SSashr [email protected] www.touch.demon.co,uk/ashr ip.htmCredit Card HolLone: +44 l0l 2OB 355 9672 Fax: +ttt l0l 208 682 311t

ffi*n*t

1 999

T0 :391

D ISTR i B UT I 0N ,

UK, Kudos > Pinnacle 10171 t82 45551 & These Records [0171 587 5349]Europe: Target l+L9 241 8710951 Benetux: T.E.C. Tones [+31 20 684 4153] l taty: Demos [+39 81 459021] France: Metamkine [+33 4 76 65 27 73]USA; Dutch East India IFreephone +1 800 759 0007] & Sotei tmoon [+ ' l 503 335 0706]Japan: Digi taI Narcis Ltd. [+81 6 6321 57921

16

'A@inthe PossibleMadnesslt


SONIC BOOM talks about the newPESTREPELLER TecoTd,electronic equipment, the RadiophonicWorkshop and the EMS Studio

SONIC BOOM HAS PROGRESSED LIGHT YEARS beyond the extended druggiepsychedelic ioms he used io ploy in his bond Spocemen 3. Now o col leclor ondsiudent of vintoge electronic equipmenl (ond highly confideni when i i comes 1ooperol ing lhese devices in o l ive environment, so soy lhose who hove ployedolongside him). he showcoses ihis inleresl in o project col led E.A.R. (ExperimenlolAudio Reseorch). Sonic is olso occosionol ly ossocioted wilh releoses ondcompilot ions by new psychedelic bonds. Through Ochre Records, he releosed inJune 1999 his reworking of on obscure noise record by the English power-noisetr io Ullrosonic Ai lock Wove Pestrepel ler - oko Pesirepel ler for short. Peslrepel lerore Ed Pinsent. Horley Richordson ond Sovoge Penci l - the lost being o fr iend ofSonic Boom ond {he odmits} the only one in the bond he's heord of l

GA Ga Fr Fi Fi Gi g s s a rq o s e s s

6655565XXXXXXXXXEP How and when did you hear the Pestrepeller CD Rodent and Insect Eliminator/ k14iarattracted 1ou to it/ Wtat things could you hear in it?

SB I first heard the Rodent and lnsect Eliminator CD on its release. lt was given to me by LongGone John at Sympathy [For The Record Industry] who knew I was friends with and a fan ofEdwin (Sawage Pencil)'s work. lt sounded to me like a bunch of people getting off on noise andsound and texture with lots of guitar feedback action. And most interestingly (to me) itsounfu like 'non-muso' anti-musicians not letting any theory get in the way of a bit ofsoundskaping. lt sounded like people were really free-forming. lt was just this raw noise andno-one was trying to throw a solo in and do anything at all musical. lt was just sound forsounds sake. I was iust looking for something that was very rich and dense in sound to sculptinto something else.

EP How is it possible to 'remix'a record like that/ Firsily itb a dense wall of noise andfeedback throughout, with very little space for interyolations. Secondly, it was recorded usingone mic (therefore a mono source). Did these things present significant obsacles/

SB Obviously. this new piece is not strictly a remix I wouldn't call it that. lt is a new feceusing the rich and varied tonal source of the original CD. But processed and overlaid into anew cacophony of sound, by usingautomatic electronic systems tocontrol volume, timbre and Ditch.One of the higgest problems wasthere was quite a lot of noise onthe original tape. I was using theCD and overdubbing it severaltimes, going through differentprocessin& and getting quite abuilduo of hiss.

EP The finished product has lourfingerprina all over it - verT hardto trace any of the original sourcemarerial, Was this what youintendedl

SB Yes and no. The whole thingwas. as usual with EA.R.. anexperiment. There was no definiteend product perceived, but Iwanted to experiment with longramps of sound, each building to acrescendo and then immediatelyfinishing. lt was mainly processint itwith filters so that it was slowlyrevealing more and more of theoriginal. Much of my work has

UL]RASONICAITACK WAVE PESTREPELLER

involved crescendo as a musical metaphorlbr more tangible human moods, feelingsand emotions. The piece consists mainly ofvolume crescendos, tonal crescendos andpitch crescendos, some more sub'tlemodulations, cross-modulations andinterpolations of control signals.

My biggest obstacle was the inherent hiss inthe source material and the noise generatedby overdubbing multiple takes on 30year-old eguipment. I managed to contain itto a degree where I think it contributes tothe overall ambience ofthe piece in anunobtrusive way.

l've been doing it as live shows in Bristoland then in London. lt works really nicelybackwards! | put the tape in backwards bymistake at the soundcheck and it soundedso good I did it at the ti8.

EP ln principle, do you think remixing is agood ideal

SB No, not panicularly, but in some casesyes. A lot o{ remixes I hear sound like they(the remixers) could care less for theoriginal song and only seek to remould iqhowever unrecognisably, into their ownsong/piece. My intention was alwala tocreate a new piece, merely using existintsource material as a sound source, rrariedand randomised, to construct the Diece inhand. I would have egually liked to properlyremix the Pestrepeller source CD but asyou point out this wa5 (a) impossibletechnically, and (b) would be pointless interms of the original piece's intent anddelivery.

EP What! your idea o{a successful remix/

SB A successful remix, to meshows some fingerprint of ttreremixer, but primarily must standwith the rest of the artist's oeuwewithout too much discord, Aremixer should, I think, offer afresh set of mixing ears, a perhapsdifferent perspective, but above allrespect the work they seek toremix. For ocamole. Nurse WithWound's Stereolab remixes.

Just to reiterate, remixing wasdefinitely not my intention withthis Diece,

EP lf your sleeve an is anyhing togo by, you're tenibly pleased wirhyour VCSS syrth. What is soattractive about this panicularmodel/ Wat can it do that othersynths cant/

SB Yes. the VCS3. and itsportable non-identical twin theSynthi A which are bothelectronically identical if notvisually, presents a useful study inlimited resources. The instrument

v@"s@

17

is a modular synthesiser and sound processor allowingmany different possible treatments and control s)Etems.More information is available from the company that hasmanuhctured them, since 1969 to the present [email protected]

But in briel the instrument features three oscillators(audio or control), a ring modulator, a voltage controlledfilter, three voltage controlled amplifiers, voltagecontrolled spring reverb and a noise tenerator. Theseseparate modules, alont with sitnal inputs and outputs,remain unconnected until pins are y'aced in a patch bayto connect the modules for the particular use in hand. Inthis way, as with most modulars, there is no pre-definedusage and all the sound manipulatint possibilities arefreely controlled by the user.

The VCS3 / Synthi ,\ while being in some wals a limitedresource, is beautifully designed to enable and invitemany non-standard and unusual routings of signals andcontrol voltages. There is a definite beauty in thepossible madness contained in this unique instrument.

The complexities and eccentricities of this instrumentare outsi& the scop€ of this short interview, but to givesome idea of its range, it is possible with lust threeconnections to make over l6 million different rariableroutints - mind-boggling in Vew of the fact that it allowsyou to use up to 256 connections - giing infinitepossibilities from fairty limited resources.

EP Wat other interesting electronic equipment do youhavel Are you a collector of vinage eguipmenc/

SB l'm very fortunate over the y€ars to have been ableto accumulate a nice collection of analogue sound

tenerators and modifiers. (See lisc opposite).lt is easilypossible, with a little inpnuity, to make very cool FXboxes from rarious children's top by simple addition ofsignal input and output jack sockets - e"sily added, andcan often be internally customised to produce uniquesoun&. Likewise, many cheap keyboards, such as CasioSK I samy'ing keyboards provide many high-qualityusable sounds - l've been using one on records on andoff since | 989 - for 'pocket-mone/ price.

EP Do you use these devices balll intuitiveh, or are you interested in methods likecomposition, using graphic scores/

SB l'm interested in probabilistic and heuristic composition methods, and of course a lartedose of intuition and non-tuition! Graphic scores are an integral pan o{ EA.R.'s liveperformances, but only on a hirly simple, improvisational basis. l'm a big fan of the beautifulscores of people like Cornelius Cardew, but am more drawn to the openness andimprovisational intention of it as a guide, not in a literal scored 'written in stone' type way.

I also am attracted to the idea of found scores. such as circuit boards, map perspectives,mountain ran8e outlines and city s(y'ine silhouettes, but rarely do I work in this way. I think myposition is somehow to try and break the divide between modern classical (high brow) andmore rock-based (low brow) music arenas. lt seems at the moment that there is a growingopenness of both high and low-brow areas to each other and any truly modern experimentalbased soundscapes or 'music' must address both arenas if seeking to be in any way'utopian' or'communal'.

The Radiophonic Workshop and EMSStudiosEP I believe you've done some research in the area of the BBC Radiophonic Wo*shop.Would you say this is currently a neglected area of the historT of electronic music and musigueconcdtel Such recordings as were issued are now rare and expensive, Are S'ou in e position toinstigate a reissue programmel Do you know if any of the creatorc still alive, or active in makingmusic/

SB The story of electronic music and music concnite in this country is woefully underexposed.

The VCS3 was designed primarily by a bunch of inventors and composers, the main guy ofwhom, who owned the compeny, was called Peter Zinovieff. The groundbreaking work doneby peode like Peter Zinovieff, the man originally behind E.M.S., is still yet to be properlyrevealed in all its glory. Actually, Space Age Recordings, the label I work with most, is issuint aseries of recordings made at Zinovieffs incredible music and sound laboratory - Musp.

Zinovieff, an eccentric genius inrentor and composer, of royal Russian descent, was the manresponsible for such in\€ntions a5 the tirst portable synth, the first digital music seguencer, thefirst guitar multi-FX pedal, as well as some of the most interesting and early sequencers,vocoders, video synthesisers. He had this incredible comprter which I think he bought in | 966,and this incredible analogue / ditital computer studio, where he did very adranced sound

teneratint and manipulating techniques. His studio was unique for being the only prirate studio


A NICE COLLECTION...* EMS VCSS

* I\ryo x EMS Synthi As, with 49 x 49 super matrix)* 3 panels of Serge Synthesiser and modifyingeguipment+ O.S.C. Oscar* Moog Opus 3

+ EMS Polysynthi* Yamaha TX 812 Module* Largeish collection of guitar FX pedals

* Various sound generating Children's toys, usuallymodified and customised

Car boot sale finds* 1960s Hammond oreJan, with bass, drums andreverb (given free!)

* Roland MC202 Synthesiser and sequencer, S17.00(worth about S300)* Korg Latin Percussion drum machine, S6.00 (worthover f,100)

* Casio sampling keyboards - from SZ - tl0* Older Casio and Yamaha keyboards - from 50p tos l 5

in the world to have all this equipment. Allthe rest of them were funded by Bell Labnor by some big University. The way heoperatd his studio was as an experimentalstudio, which he would make available topeople tfiat he felt would use it in aninteresting way. A couy'e of years bac( he

tave me all the tapes for all of this stuff.There's Harrison Birtwisde, Hans WernerHenze, a lot of his own music, people like

Jonathan Harris, a whole load of peoplewho have now become Dart of therespected modern classical scene, who intheir day were, I suppose, much morestudents of it.

EP: These are unreleased apesl

SB: Well, Chronometer\y HarrisonBirtwistle was released - but it was deletedvery quickly, and it's a really amazingrecording. There was Peter Zinovieffs

January Tensions, which was also releasedas a rery limited record run. So a couple ofthem were released for a very shon periodof time. So this is coming out - it's been areal labour of love in that it was quite acomplex scenario. The guy who ran thestudio was quite a mercurial character, andhe had no interest in making money, he wasjust a mad inventor kind of gul In hct, theywere the first people to bring out thingslike a digital music sequencer, and aportable analogue synth. Everyone thinksAmericans invented everything from thecomputer on, which of course they didn't. ltse€ms, throuth my research, that this guyalso did a lot of things which have been for

18

The Sound Proiector 6ixth issue 1999

years credited solely to Robert Moog or Donald Buchla" things that he was aaually doing in

parallel. He was working on analogue synthesisers from 1962, which was quite early on.

The Radiophonic Workhop guestion is more complex. funnily enough, I have tried to license

stuff from the BBC. A friend of mine who lives in kotland, [Drew Mulholland] who is l*4ount

Vernon Arts Lab, put out a CD called The Tomb Of The Cybetmenwhich was the Cybermen

music, I think from about 1964 or 1965. I don't know how he went wrong with that. He had it

in his head that he could sell 10,000 of these things, because of the Dr Who connection. Then

he brought it out, and the cover....although it had pictures of Cybermen on it it didn't actually

say Dr Who anywhere on it. Which I think was a big [mistake]...it was certainly his main

market. ft just said The Tomb of The Cybermen, and even that was written on the back card. lt

was very obocure. I don't think it sold anything like he expected it to.

EP Has the BBC been co-operativel

SB Well, no, unfoftunatety. The story of it is, I tracked down Delia Derbphire. And she

happens to lirre very close to me, she lives about | 9 miles away. I've been working with her

lateiy. She dropped out. She did this thing called White Noise, the first White Noise LP in the

late f960s I, and I think in about 1970-1971 she left the BBC in disgust at the way they were

treatint people there. And she stopped making music, which is sad. You probably know she

was the Dr VVho theme woman. She realised the original and best-known Dr Who theme with

tape loops and manipulation.

She's back on track now, and doing stuff. Unfortunately, the BBC when asked about stuff...the

woman in charge of licensing didn't know who the Radiophonic Workshop was! And then they

didn't know about the composers...well, they didn't like to call them comPosers, people like

Delia Derbyshire and Malcolm Clarke. They didn't have any clu€ about these peoy'e, and it was

a bit of a nightmare being there. I know when Drew licensed, on his Mount Vernon Arts Lab

CD, it's got the original Dr Whotheme, and they charged him f | | 5 for the license of what

must be one of their most famous pieces ofmusic ever. Which seems a big mistake!Then he went back to them and said,'WellOK, l'd like to license these tracks - thisone's 20 seconds, this one's 30 seconds,this one's | 5 seconds', and they wantedabout {400 [each] for these | 5-20 secondsetments. Which is from one extreme to

the other. The woman in charge of licensingsaid that she only ener dealt with John Peelsessions, and that was the only thing people

ever wanted to license from the BBC.Hence it would have to be f400 a track.

But I've iust found that Delia did thesebeautiful pieces in 1963 and 1964, wherethey took a whole load of vox-pop stuff,with lots of different people talking abouttheir dreams. And common dreams, like

falling drowning which seem to occur inpeoy'e's dreams a lot. And she edited it allup into a collage - well it's not a collage, thevoices don't ovedap. but it's a son ofmonophonic collage of peoy'e talking about

their dreams. And then she's underlaid it

with all this electronic stuff, and these are45 minute oteces that were done for theBBC. So at the momenq as a first thinf, l'm

I The White Noise, An Electronic StorrllSLAND ILPS 9099 (1969). David Vorhaus was Production Co-Ordinator, with Electronic

Sound Realisation by Delia Derbphire and Brian Hodgson.

19

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1g9gtryint to license those. lt seems that, as it's onry one piece, they won't be able to charge somuchl

EP, we// / really suppon you for doing this, r think that's excellent wodc. rt akes somebodywhob keen enough to do it - you have to be a real hn.SB Delia is one of the unsung heroines of British electronics and was yery instrumental in thecross-polination going on in the UK and European scene - for exampre it was Deria whointroduced both stockhausen and pink Hoyd (amongst many othenj to the wonders of E.M.S.equrPment.

The other person l've been trying to do some releases of is Daphne oram, another significantpioneer of electronic music. she was the woman who set up the Radiophonic worksh?f butthen went off to set up her own synthesising system, cailed oramics. Fier oramics Maciin.was a uniquely British invention to.control sound parameters in a kind of synthesis. you drewpatterns and waveforms and what have you, on reels offilm. And then as the waveform waspulled over a light-sensitive reader, it would read the waveforms and synthesise tr," ,ouno.Quite a lot is known about her, she's been pubricised and influenced aiot of p"opr. on ih"English electronic music scene, but none of her music's arrailable. So l,m tfing to do J"a

",well' But she's on her deathbed at the moment" very ill after a stroke and seems to be close toher end. So it's not easy trying to work stuff out.

EP A shame ' .l think this is pan of our heritage. k's rike so many things at the BBC, the civil

setwice menaliy seems to prevaiL

lB ph.ps, and it's_all changed again since. rt ran down and down over the years and they ranthe. Radiophonic Workhop down to nothing then crosed it. As you say - particurarry the BBCand what they claim to be, they should institate their own series of archive rereases. Butunfortunately they don't.

Delia is still in touch with a rot of the Radiophonic Workshop peopre, most of them are stirlalive. There's.been a couple of peoy'e over the rast few years who have supposedry beenarchiving all the stuff and finding out what they kept, anj what they threw away. And theythrew a lot of stuff away, apparentry, in the earry i9got. Bri"n Hodgson, who was head oi the

Workshop at the time, was given the lob ofdeciding.

Like the EMS stuff, it would have been fairlyeasy to wham out a CD - there's loads ofbeautiful photos and stuff. So I feel that thewhole history of it is woefrilly undenold andis very biased against what happened in thiscountry. lt's just not been documented well,

EP Are you rhinking of doing a bookl

SB Funnily enough, the guy who did The Ato Z of Analogue Synthesisercl- when hefound out I was doing all this stuf{, I gottotether with him to help him with hisbook and get all the EMS stuff right. Whenhe realised how much info and howinterestint the stories were behind thewhole thing, he said'Let's do a book'. Myother problem is I'm not really a writer. Ihave done stuff for Record Collectorandother peofe before that [but] it's hardwork for me. Primarily it's not what I do. Ican do it but I have to think long and hardabout i! and rehash it. So with the EMSthing I should just put the music out but Iwanted to really make the booklea withthem just full of information and picturesand scores and stuff. And that's been theslowing-down pan of it really.

The E.M.I . PortableRecorder trIodel 2JC0

Peter Forrest. The book is available from Star House, Sandford, crediton, Devon EX | 7 4LR

20


rltiltt [llTRY Ei; ri {fi ffi Iaffi d;li;?; il Fd$i*'|

I -r r'|= i' iTpsychic

Maps- VCreakf Acoustic Instruments Ii"zDoomy

-electric filttr-Uursts VA floating Question Mark -V

V EftiSiV of Tra nsl ucence t"z E I a borately Faiterned ch aos t'ziTThe Ghosts of Penitent Soulst'z

Brandon taBellelYlaps of Tenderness

A recent one bv LaBelle, who is one half of idbattery with Loren Chasse. Chasse hasexpounded in the current issue of Halanamatazine on the theoretical dialectic behindtheir work. This release, besides inserting abunch of confusing diagrams, includes somedense conceptual texts in the CD bookletprinted on bible paper. One of LaBelle'sinsfrations was the French philosopher GuyDebord, who proposed that we all make'Psychic Maps' of the cities we live in. Theunder5inning idea is, I think that most peopleare alienated from modern life, and chieflythrough living in cities - which are little morethan huge soulless machines intenton sapping the very marrow fromour lives. A bande desin6e bv

Jacques Carali pictured this verynicely, in the 1970s. Adisenfranchised character in his taleAbiiiiiimeses a vision of urban lifein a fantasy daydream. A sinistermachine dominates the ciq6cape,parasitically feeding off theinhabitants through a network oftentacles. 'C'est bien ce que iepensais!' he snarls, 'Cette grandesalope de machine nous pompeI'esprit! (Just as I thought! Thatfucking bitch of a machine is drainingour spirit!')

So far, so good - nobod coulddispute rlraras an accurate fctureof modern life. So, to undermine andresist this dehumanising process,Debord proposed walking aroundthe city on a 'd6rive' - aimless imaginativedrifting, not allowing oneself to be guided byany of the physical or sociological tramlines putin y'ace by the establishment (roads,pavements, tunnels, bus routes, walkways,signs) or by any of our usual purposes(shopping business, finance, work). By keepingan open mind the ramHing philosopher orartist would find the crack in the fabricthrough which the true soul of the city couldbe found - and in time, reorganise reality tosuit him/herseff.

Enter Brandon LaBelle, with his Maps ofTenderness! Have a good listen to this CD andtry and get past the enigmatic, almostpery'exing surface - h may appear at first to belittle more than an anonymous grinding. Butsurrender to the flow and you can begin to

discern the suLatomic panicles of these noises. You're seeing the very molecular structure ofmodern life, revealed in sound. And I'm most encouraged to find, from this title, that LaBelle'smaps have a compassionate dimension: he's not here to wallow in the soullessness of theshopping mall or tower block rather his project is to restore humanity to these zones.

In his unplanned, spontaneous rambles about the diseased alienated urban environments thatmight be found around Los Angeles, he discovers, I assume, some exremely unlikely soundevents waitint to happen. lf he's lucl<y, he's on hand in time to tape them with his recordingdevices. \A/hen I say unlikely, one thinks of the old Zen riddle of a tree falling in the forest andwhether it makes a sound. That's a very pastoral image, so extend it and update it to refer tothe urban possibilities we might be more familiar with; and think of all the undocumentedpossibilities transpiring around us all the time. And not simply the interestint ones like trainsgoing by at night - that's positively romanticl I mean something dull, like a tin can in a garbageheap falling over, the spontaneous combustion of a wooden palette in a warehouse yard, aconsignment of aluminium pipes shifting slightly in their packing cases at 2 am in a disused lot.Leonard Cohen sang this son6 since taken to the bosoms of a million acoustic tuitarists, aboutSuzanne who would'show you where to look among the garbage and the flowers'. Showing uswhere to listen among the garbage (there are no flowere left) is pretty much what LaBelle is

about, I think. Even if you don't agree with thetheory, you don't need it to enioy these utterlybizarre and compelling sounds. lt mitht as wellbe fragments from an alien planet soundtracl<,but it isn't - it's the sound of the modern world.

For more explorations in this area. try and findthe sixth LP in the Center of the Ass Runseries, issued out of Massachusetts by By'onColey on his Ecstatic Yod label. No titles onthese LPs with their uniform sleeves andstickers, but this one is credited to id batteryand bears catalogue number FfPL 35 #97,which translates a: Father Yod LP 35, [releasedinl 1997.

ED PINSENT

Malcolm GoldsteinThe Seasons: VennontUSA, EXPERIMENT.f,L INTERMEDI,AFOUNDATION Xr r20 (1998)

Enjoyed this one very muchly, thanks. A very organic recording a very treen recording theecology and sensiti$ty to the changing of the seasons is written all over it. Also a palpable senseof, erm, very good indigenous American crafumanship, like perhaps a piece of Shaker furniture.Goldstein composed and recorded this piece in the early l98Os. lts a combination of composedmaterials (though the scores require the players to interpret and improvise quite freely) with alarge amount of tape collage work. The tapework appears to have evolved first, out ofGol*tein working with the sounds of nature much like Chris Watson and Luc Ferrari andothers, but Goldstein took it specfically from the environs of his house in Vermont. The idy'licrural li{e was the inspiration - the very sounds drifting in through his window, or discovered onhis walk in the countryside, becoming the fabric of the work. He devoted ten years to thisproiect! The length ofthese creative processes means the work has fermented well, like goodwine sealed in oak cask. You can tain further insights by reading his iournal extractsreproduced in the booklet - how he was thinking of'a new sound orchestration, a newharmony of ltch and non-pitch elements'. His gra/ric scores indicate the struggle he's had torealise this strante new vision - interestingly the score for 'Sprint' resembles a river, while theone for 'Winter looks like a map of open fields.

He clearly became aftuned to the rhythms of nature and the specifics of his environment andthis organic, ecological quality shines throughout the whole record. There's a tremendous

2I

amount of space andfreedom in every piece.Along with the veryeccentric and wonderfulplalng by the team ofmusicians, all played oncreaky acousticinstruments, the very airand space and sunlight ofhis field recordinF opensup the field of play to anunfathomable degree. Ofcourse, the live musiciansare interacting with therecordings in exciting andsubtle wap. Just put it onand you'll create an instantatmosphere in your room;thus making real therecord label's missionstatement'to extend theexperience of theseenFtint and pioneerintworks beyond theperformance space intothe home.'

The first track 'Summer' is my favourite, a very

eraentful one with I think sounds of workmensawing crickets, brooks babbling, athunderstorm, tractors goint by - veryeventful, episodic, narrative and user-friendly.A kind of arant-garde version of Song Crylathe 1967 Warner Brothers LP by Van DykeParks with its tremendous use ofstudio soundeffects. The whole suite is good though, andthe long track'Winter' (summoning up visionsof the long and hard Vermont winter) has veryharrowing and dissonant violin textures. Agood one from this American composer,previously unknown to me, but he's been aveteran of New Music and experimental dancetheatre in his home country since the early| 960s, as composer, violinist and presenter.This record was originally issued, somewhatabbreviated, on the Folkwa)6 label in 1983;this CD offers the whole hour-long suite, plusa ten-minute bonus track 'Soundings

for SoloViolin', a more recent cut from 1997.

ED PINSENT

Xl Records, PO Box I 754, Canal StreetSation, New Yo*. NY 100 | 3. USA

Etant DonnesIWortEux VachesSTLf,IJPLtrLT, NO NUMEER CD

Hideous beyond even the fevered imatininpof an Edgar Allen Poe, this CD lelds a drearyspewing of portentous, vile hench poetry,declaimed in utterly humourless echoed voicesover blankets of doomy electric filth-bursts.About as much fun as drinking a glass full ofmuddy tapwater, and it leaves you with aghastly sense of claustrophobia which you canonly shake off by booking a three.month stayin the Sahara. I wonder if these guys have anyson of a following anpvhere; perhaps somediehard Goth-mode axe-murder fans wouldenioy it. The wo French numbakullsresponsible for this atrocity are Eric and MarcHurtado. who have been releasing casseftessince the early 1980s, and have apparentlymade music with fellow masters of theself-important pompous outpourin& namelyMichael Gira, Alan Vega, Lydia Lunch and goodold Gabi Delgdo from DAF. NB - not sure

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1g9ghow reDresentative this is of their othermaterial. There are earlier CDs whichapparently put nature and field recordingsto the fore, but still include whisoeredpoetry snippets. Guess they decided to stopwhispering and start shouting...reach foryour earplugs, folks.

ED PINSENT

Stephen VitielloThe ligrht of falliag carsfeaturing Pauline Oliveros,Halur Rowe, Rebecca Moore,Paul GelueoNETHERITNDS, 'DKPRODUCTTONS IDK 02 TT998I

A very creditable collection of shon tracksby this young anist who is 'an emergingtalent on the New York Scene', it saphere...Nam June Paik the video maker andbig guy in the Fluxus Mafia has taken Vitiellounder his wing and I think encouragementfromJohn Zorn was also forthcoming. Here,he's extending his interest in creating film

soundtracks, and plalng live music with his guior and sampler, to producing an entire CD ofvery e\@cative electronic instrumental music. For the most part it's all very good - a brightsound, never murky, and the ensemble performances are aided considerably by the presence ofthe treat Pauline Oliveros. She's an electronic composer veteran, transDlanted from the WestCoast, where she now lives inside a mountain and eats topazes for breaKast (not really). Shemeditates and plap music with her very spiritual Deep Listening Band, and continues toexplore the possibilities of the amplified accordion. That's the instrument she plap here and itwork a treat, panicularly on the incandescent title track which, at times, bears a superficialresemblance to the recorded music of Harry Partch. Another fatuous ob6ervation for you...

vitiello's best move is how he combines his tape samples with real-time plafng; the choice ofloopo and samples is inspired, as they always add a (slighdy grimy) patina of otherness to thewhole performance, which tinctures the inflections of the other players, try as they may toignore it. Hahn Rowe adds some very romantic melodic violin sweeps, while Rebecca Moorecontributes Theremin, voice and violin. Paul Geluso plays bass. Vtiello's other wise move is tokeep each track relatively short, rather than swooning into e€stasies by preserving everyprecious moment of bliss - it certainly left me wanting more, and it's good to end each pieceperplexingly hanging in the air, like a floating question mark.

In all this record might be a bit tentative, a hit precious; and never does it run wild or stanlethe listener - but maybe it isn't intended to. There remains a good deal of high quality listeningpleasure to be gained here. Good cover arr too: a photograph of an art insollation? Plastercasls of memento moriand graveyard angels and cheruhm, whh a superimposed eerie humanface bearing its teeth.

ED PINSENT

Ragnar GrippeSandGERMf,I'IY, STRE.f,MLINE IOI I

Soothing and strange. One from Christoph Heeman's fairly reliable label of moderninstrumental musics. This one is not quite contemporary having first been issued as an LP in1977 on the Shandar label...this French label, I need hardly remind you, was behind a whotestring of excellent 20th century music releases, including rtne work by Stockhausen. TerryRiley, Charlemagne Palestine, La Monte Young and Alben Ay'er. This one is a solo record bySwede Grippe produced by'consecutive overdubbin{. He recorded a series of mostly acousticinstruments and developed chain-of-thought ideas in sound, each piece slowly growing into amesmerising and compelling effigy of translucence. The echo e{fect creates similar sensations tothe best work of Terry Riley, while the overall technigue reflects Grippe's hackground as astudent of Luc furrari,

The work is inspired by the sand paintints of Viswanadhan, who I take to be a modern artistworking in that medium; the cover probably shows him in action. smoothing over a huge redcircle with his special monar-board glove. sand art is presumably ancieng still practised to acertain extent by Australian aborigines, Native American Narajos, and Tibetan monks; and youcan hear Grippe's ambitions to forte a palpabte link with their ancientness, throuth his music.Other parallels might be found; the simplicity of the actions in sand painting and its presumablylimited colour palette, are emulated by the simplicity of the music. As is the nature of themedium itself; you tet the feeling this music, by its very aetheriality, is in danger of being swepaway by the first sandstorm that whipa up its wind of cruel indifference.

ED PINSENT

22

Carl StoneIllyadaryllggAJter my massive disappointmentwith Hom\, I found a copy of thisCD by this American composer whowork chiefly with old records andsamplers, to generally pleasanteffect. Actually this is the one l'dheard on the radio that got meinterested in the first place. ltsanother dance related worlccommissioned for a Japanese dancer,since extended to CD length.Actually it does manate, in y'aces, tosustain a fairly eerie mood andsmuggle in that elusive feel ofexoticism - possibly through atreated ethnic drum sound, anobamboo flutes vying with electricpianos and muted trumpets, CarlStone's one strentth is his verysubde shading effects - listenattentively, especially in the earlypassates, for pastel nuances of lightand tone, minute constandy-shiftingchanges in the background. Stone is capable ofconstructint a fairly credible sound world withfully realised backdrops; while in theforeground, sad to say, not a whole lot is goingon, although he manages to keep looping aseries of non-matched sounds and rhythms to

Senerate some elaborately-patterned chaos.Some of his constantly-repeated sounds maygrow a tad wearisome and annofng (they dofor me at any rate), but it's because they seemclofng sentimental, and appealing. This is Ithink only another sign of rhe composer'sover-eaterness to please. There's a b*t of aparadox in there somewhere.

ED PINSENT

Terry FoxAtaraxiaGERIVIANY, EDITION S PRESS / PIfiTELUNCE PLO6 (1998)

What solace here for a laboriousmind!

Whar a redoubqble and singletask

One might anempt here,

Threading a logic bgtween walland weIL

Ceiling and llqon,mone accutateD Y N T

Than the cob-spiderb.

Breathakingly, achingly beautifulmusic for the most part

teneratd by wires, fano wiresstrung up inside unusualperformance arenas and spacesand plucked by Terry Fo>q aperformance artist - theimportance of whose work isonly beginning to surface abovethe cognisance of a small elite.Fox's installations and art-actionsare perplexing, remote,inaccessible. For any who doub,tthe importance of executing suchapparently futile and marginalactions, I refer you to a poem by

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999Robert Graves 'The Philosooher'of which I quote a couple ofrelerant stanzas above. Of theextraordinan/ pieces on offer here,I call your attention to a fewexamy'es:'Suono Interno' is anextract from a D€rformance in adesened church in ltaly, infestedby vermin. Fox strung twolSOJeet long wires (NB - how canyou get piano wires that long?) thefull length of the church, attachedto the door and presumablypassing near the altar; from theastonishing sounds that resulted,projected out on the streetoutside, you mitht iust catch theghosts of penitent souls on thearway to take Holy Communiongiving voice to the Christian hope.On the other hand, you probablydon't believe in God, so forget it.

Two longer pieces closing the CDresult from a slighdy less transientinstallation in the attic of theKunsderhaus Bethanien in Berlin.

An attic space is no less resonant than a church to the human soul, well known as a repositoryof memories and sad souvenirs; Fox must have found it a therapeutic ritual, entering such aspace to beat or bow out a series of explorations into his inner mental-mush, utilisint thesewires as a novel aid to pcycho-therapy...he admits after all these acfions were 'meant only forhis private experience'. You've only to look at the photo of his enlightened face to taute thesuccess of these sessions. The full significance of this is probably kept quiet in the world ofpsychoanalysis, as it mitht put 100 followers of Sigmund Freud out of a day iob.

It gets even more intense. 'Lunar Rambles' begins as metal bowls - iron and aluminium, bowedby the artist out on the streets of New York. Had Moondog happened to pass by, anunforgettable duet may well have resulted. 'Culvert' comes from another metal talisman, thisone a rowboat model planted in the middle of a 100-foot long tunnel in the middle of a river inthe USA. Fox gets his sound by hshing the darn thing with a pnoply of grotesque utensils,

ioined in that absurd pass-time by two other ninnyhammers he managed to persuade to joinhim one sunny afternoon for a live improvised session. \A/hat a striking image that rowboatp'resents; if there's a more apposite metaphor for the futility and loneliness of existence, l've yetto find one.

As you may have gathered, I like this music immensely. Terry Fox is an American performanceartist and hai a strint of impressive credentials in the field ofthe visual arts, and his interestapp€ars to lie primarily in weaving his sculptural webrs in odd corners of the world, like somemetallic spider. Vvhatever sound-documents may result from this activity have been issued inminuscule editions by artiss' magazines or fine an editions, in 1970 and 1977, then fairlyregularly from | 979 onwards. lt would be nice to think he has no interest in music at all; hischoice of sound sources is taken from his studies of John Tyndall, the | 9th century scientist.

Apparently this esotericpursuit has led him to usenot onlv the wires. butalso Bunsen burners, forhis work. Another artistwho has used wires isAlvin Lucier, but thats apretty fatuousobseryation on my part.l'm just grateful for thechance to hear somethingso deeply moving and in away a testimony to someheroic struggle against thewap in which the modernworld is ordered: a bitlike Christo, only TerryFox wraps the world withsounds, not withpolphene. All praise toanyone who helpedrelease this CD, aco-edition with a Germanart gallery to coincidewith an installationexhibition.

ED PINSENT

23

DA Atrutrtrtrtrtrtrtr The Rise and Rise of

NO LIMITREGORDS

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999York's finest (and I don't mean theNYPD) have taken to emulating thecharacteristic Southern drawl. DownSouth hustlers of note includeOrganized Noise, Sleepy's Theme,Suave House, OutKast, Young Bleed,and Goodie MOb. From Virginrathere's Timbaland, Missy Elliot, andtheir cast of associates. New Orleansis a place sometimes erroneouslyanthropomorphised into achicken-sacrifi cing drag gueen,swapping gumbo recipes with SwampThing in fluent French at the MardiGras, whilst batting away mosquitoes

B.G., Cashwith an accordion. What mugs we are. From New Orleans come Juvenile,Money Records, and...(dramatic pause) the No Limit empire.

It's normally mighty oaks that spring up from tiny acorns, but in this case it's a wholeforest. In 1989 No Limit Records was a shop specialising in hip-hop and the like, set upin Richmond, California by owner, Percy Miller, a young black man brought up in the3rd Ward Calliope Projects of uptown New Orleans, which Silkk The Shockerdescribes as 'a small place where death occurs a lot'. By March | 990 he'd done enoughbusiness to finance a four-track cassette of his own take on the mp tame, and so withWhat\ The Dealbeing snapped up from the shop's shetves, Master P was born. At first,promoting his own music, and that of his group The Ral Untouchables, was an uphillstruggle. St Charles Thurman, head of the Solar Music Group says at the time 'P couldn'tsell a fart. No-one wanted him. They said he sounded like some country fool.'Nevenheless, this was one good man who really couldn't be kept down. In 1995 adistribution deal was struck with L.A.'s Priority Records and No Limit took off as a labelin its own right. And it hasn't stopped since, proving the name to be propheticallyaccurate. That'country fool' is now the big cheese of a company worth something inthe region of $300 million. No Limit have branched out into clothing, sportswear,training sho€s, real estate, sports manatement, stand up comedy, films, books, gasstations, fast food restaurants, and even (brace yourselves) toys. Yes, Master P can beyours in the form of the talking Master P Action Man style doll. Wearing the combatcamouflage that is synonymous with No Limit, he says a nnte o{ phrases which I'd guessinclude'ya heard mel'and'Uhhh', which will make more sense if you're familiar withMaster P's approach to the microphone. In addition, P now plays professional basketballfor The Fort Wayne Fury in the CBA league, which isn't exactly the big one, but neitheris it small change. All this and he's not yet 30. I don't know if any attempts to put No

Lrmit soldiers intospace are planned,but I wouldn't besurprised if P has awhole crew ofhomeboy scientistsbuilding rockets andlunar landers even asI write.'Countryfool' indeed!

Rap has often beencriticised for itsrampant materialism,and as one examplethere's littleevidence to sugSestthat No Limit as alabel holds withanything that couldbe mistaken for aBuddhist approachto worldly riches.Mia X's claim towear 'more ice thanan igloo' kind of tellsyou where they'recoming from, as ifthis wasn't glaringlyapparent from thecovers. Much of NoLimit's recent coverdesign is the work ofthe Pen and PixelGraphics company,who aren't shy ofportraying theirsubjects as themillionaires some ofthem undoubtedly

by War Arrow

FOR A LONG TIME THE STATE OF US HIP-HOPWAS dominated by rivalry between the East and\ryest coasts. This ms a war waged largely withturntables and microphones, but occasionally mattersescalated into exactly the kind of tragedy thatresulted in the deaths of 2Pac Shakur and NotoriousB.l.G. The loss of two fine young rappers, neither ofwhom could be described as oerioheml to the wholescene, caused shock waves that are still felt today.There's been a whole lot of sobering up going on,and thanKully the East-West divide is not so treat orfraught with tension as uras once the case. Whilst alleyes were focused on the big two, few noticed that aclich6d redneck prophesy was coming true. Theclaim on the bumper sticker that'the South will riseagain' has been borne out, although thankfully not inthe way hoped for by the guy behind rhe wheelwearing the Confederate pin on his stonewasheddenims. Southern hip-hop, the proverbial quiet one atthe back has grown up to be the one that hits thehome runs and leaves the others on the startintblock wondering what happened. Even some of New

.T,.re,rc.fflr"flfTftrftr-*,mntfr!,,rcryYiil!.r?gryffi

ffi,ffi

f,qfiIr?wYffiEC!ryfifrytrwffin

25

are. One of my own surreal favourites is the cover toC.Murder's Bossaliniealbum. Under yer man's namepicked out in golden superhero lefters, encrusted asalw'ays with diamonds, stands the ghetto millionairehimsei{, cigar in hand, dressed so sharply in bestMafiosa pinstripes as to make Bryan Ferry look like apiss-stained greaser. in the baci,ground there's rhepristine collector's car with door open spilling amountain of rubies, emeralds and sapphires out ontothe gravei drive oi the mansion. O{ course it'srnatet'ialistic. But it's no different from the Mod thingof the 1960s where kids from impoverished homeswould turn uD to work dressed smarter than theboss, riding a ton of gleaming chrome with a scooterhidden somewhere beneath. Admittedly, with a seriesof covers featuring ever treater numbers ofiimousines, helicooters and mansions, No Limit takethe aesthetic a bit further, until it finds its greatestexDression in the diamond-studded tank which,piloted by mobsters, forms the No Limit logo,threatening to crush the opposition beneathcaterpilfar tracks of solid 24 carzt

Some may find all this a little pompous, but it alwaysseems to be folk who've grown up in a safe andcom{ortable enyironment, who can afford the luxuryof pointless moral superiority. Master P and hisyounger brothers C-Murder and Silkk The Shocker,grew up in a place where sushi restaurants andvegetarian wholefood collectives were probably notso commonplace as crack dens or shootings, andjndeed it is the place where Kevin, the fourth Millerbrother, lost hrs li{e. So the opponunity to acquire abit of wonga and get the hell out of there may nothave presented itseH as much of a quandary. Most ofthe world's problems seem to result from one haffprescribing what they think is best for the other haff.

No Limit's roster comprises artists from in andaround the New Orleans area. Joining the threeMiller boys are Mia X and Mystikal, and from LongBeach California, Snoop Dogg. Mia X was discoveredby P in 1994. He met her working behind thecounter of a record shoo in downtown NewOrleans. Mia. C-Murder, and Snmp are reviewed indetail elsewhere, so for the moment l'l l focus moreclosely on the others.

Silkk The Shocker is the youngest Miller brother andthe one who, much to his bewilderment, has of latebeen saddled with the mantle of No Limit's residentheart-throb, on which subiect he says'l'm not tryin'to be that. l 'm tryin' to be myseff, and if y'all like tall,skinny, thuggish niggas, whatever, then l'm cool. l'min. But if not, then I'm still gonna rely on my rappin'. '

With multi-platinum sales under his belt one can'treally argue. His nom de rap was changed from justplain Silk after it turned out that this was already

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999t-aken, and had TheShocker epitaphadded by the publicmasconception thatthe first album's trtlewas actually part ofnrs name.

Mystikal was the {irstNew Orleans MC toachieve widerrecotnrtion outsidehis home state ofLouisiana, which isnot surprising givenhis bizarre talent,beside which evenmasters of theapeshit-crazy- bonkersschool of mictechnique like BustaRhynres soundpositively sedate. Hislyrics are intelligible,but not always on firstlisten. With his fluent New Orleans intonation and unorthodox sense of volume, it's notso much that he raps as explodes in time to the music. I am never less than startledwhen l'm listening to someone's album, getting into the lyrical flow of it all, and Mystikalsuddenly makes a guest appearance in the same way that B-52s made a guest aPPearancein Vietnam. Each time he does his thing, it's hard not to visualise the complicated systemo1 gates and cages originally designed {or the velociraptors o(.furassic Park, now adaptedin the seruice of getting Mystikal into the studio without loss of human life or hatf of thesurrounding land being vapourised in a scafterburst of armour-piercing lyrics. He dropsrhymes onto tape like Enola Gay dropped bombs on Japan.

All of which may leave the reader wondering what it actually sounds like. No Limit areoften described as purveyors of languid shuffling beats, and certainly they are nostrangers to the mh-wah guitar, slow squelchy Roland 303 style bassline, or brushedsnare drum. What with this being about New Orleans and all, it 'd be a bit obvious to goon about'a rich musical gumbo of spicy Southern grooves', but only because in part it'strue, although that isn't the whole story. Centml to No Limit are Craig 8., KLC, Mo B.Dick, O' Dell and Carlos, collectively known as Beats By The Pound. This inventivecrew are responsible for much, although not all, of the No Limit sound. You'd think thatwhat with more than twenty tracks a CD, and an album from someone or other comingout at least once a month, they'd be spreading themselves a bit thin by now. lf this is thecase, I've yet to hear the artist who ended up with their duff numbers. Aside from theSouthern fried gumbo stuff mentioned above, they've been to some pretty unusualplaces in their time during the pursuit of travelling beyond hip-hop's final frontrer. Thefact that this happens most notably on Mia X albums is also a good indication of howeach piece is tailored to suit the individual artist. I can't see Mia being much of a bigLaibach enthusiast but'Let's Get lt Straight' ftom Untadylike and the title track of herlatest, certainly makes you wonder. 'Let's Get lt Straight' builds up an orchestral tsunamiover a bed of foreboding kettle drums as Mia raps and Mystikal achieves critical mass ina nearby lead-lined studio bunker. Mia X's fine albums being a subject I find it hard totear myself away from, her earlier Good Girl Gone Badis equally notable for its denseatmosphere. Although no doubt done in a recording studio, it's so intense as to suggestthe whole album took place on an urban street corner under a baking midday sun,

about thre minutes before a fuil-scale riot kicks off.

Leaving musical style aside for a moment, there are other non-geographicalfactors which unite those who ride the tank. An underlying flirtation withmilitan/ imagery for one, manifested in the camouflage fixation, dot tags, andfrequent references to Colonel Master P and his No Limrt soldrers. Perhaps inMystikal's case this stems from his panicipation in Operation Desen Storm, andit's a little worrying to consider what he'd be like on a battlefield, given that hedoesn't exactly take prisoners in the recording studro. Beyond the surhceappearance however, there is a more disturbing common ground: the death tollthat rs a terrible inevitabitity of living in young black America. As was mentionedearlier, the three Miller brothers lost Kevin, the founh of their number, to the3rd Ward Prolects. Similarly Mia X and Mystikal's albums are haunted by thedeaths of loved ones, and every year the lists of RlPs that appear among thesleeve notes of No Limit releases seem to have a few extra names added.

This is probably sufficient grounds for paroxysms of smug self-congratulationamongst the'gangsta rap breeds violence'crusaders, and this in itseH illustrateswhat danterous imbeciles these people are. In recent years there's been a strongtrend towards blaming acts of violence on sometlring heard on a record,whether by Judas Priest, N.W.A., or Joy Division. The whole idea is{undamentally absurd. Perhaps it's true that few people have gone on a killingspree after listening to John Denver, but then someone with a fudge and thewill to carry it out isn't likely to do so just because of a record. Probably theymight listen to music that in some way appears to understand their madness,

*\ 1 4

26

fhe Soundoften authored by someone who knows what it's liketo live on the fringes of maiilstream society,surrounded by bad shit. Charjes Manson loved TheBeatles and The Beach Boys, but only an idiot wouldsuggest such music inspired the murders he waseither directly or indirectly responsible for. Trueenough, Manson read bizarre conspimcies into TheWhire Album, which are alleged to have promptedwhat ensued. lf you firmly believe that civrlisaoon willend in a bloody race mr, {rom which you can onlyescape by hiding underground, emerging later to lordit over the dumb black victors who realise they stillneed whitey to rule them, then you'll probably becrazy enough to read affirmation of this intowallpaper patterns, the sound ofgurgling water pipes,or Arthur Askey routines. Music can't be used as ascapegoat. Gangsta rap talks about the world it sees,and is a way of escaping the ghetto before your headgets blown off. Nenher is it good enough to claimthat hip-hop glorifies violence. With both her bestfriend and the father of her children dead fromshootings, is it surprrsing thar rhe subiect crops up inMia X's lyrics! ls it really likely that she raps aboutthe tantsa lifestyle or contemplating murder becauseshe thinks drive-by shootings are iust too much funlWhen C-Murder talks us through some act ofrandom violence and the subsequent adrenalin rush,too many of us take it on face value. Sure he's beenthere, it comes with the territory, which isn't a placeyou can easily run away from if that's where yourroots are buried. lf you live in gangland then you havethe choice of living by those rules, or probably notliving very long. To say that gangsta rap encouragesviolence is to make the tedious and disgustingassumptton that rappers, being black, are notintelligent enough to discuss anything on any but themost rudimentary level. When Freddie Mercury sang'Mama, I just killed a man', was there a policeenquiryl Gangsta rap, like all good literate dialogue,coyers its subject on many levels, with charactersgoing through different situations irrespective of theauthor's take on the matter. By placing the listener inthe centre of the story and asking 'how d'ya like themapples?', Rap is largely a realist medium. Songs by Yes,Caravan and Gong have no direct equivalent withinhip-hop. lt's not often thar you'll hmr a rapper talkingabout anythint he doesn't have direct experience of,and this is the key to hip-hop's appeal. As Silkk TheShocker says: 'l know people gonna feel this music'ctrz they iust like me. I'm willin' to bet that whereveryou from, you seen something I seen. Or if you ain'tseen as much of it, you know it exist. And that's whatyou gotta realise when you makin' music - we allalike'.

For me, this explains admirably why No Limitrecords contain more than iust funky tunes. ln mysecret identity ofJoe Lunchpail, the overworked andunderpaid blue collar schmoe, although l've nevereven seen a gun, I know too well what it's like todesperately NEED to fuck someone's shit up in orderto stop them continually doing the same to yours.Several years ago a colleague, having been pushed toofar by an unsympathetic manatement, attacked theboss with a broom handle. Robbie (as I'tl call him),although sacked, was well remembered, euloglsed byshop-floor song for years to come, notably thestirring refrain of 'Robbie

_ - he's our mate!He's our rnate! He's our mate! Robbie _ - he'sour mate! He smacks guv'nors!'

The No Limit crew have lived through much worsethan I, but we seem to speak the same language. Weall know what it's like to be forcibly introduced torealities far more unpleasant than not tettint a goodenough seat at the opera. This particular cast of quitea few have found a way of dealing with ghetto living,whether it be as lyricai educators telling the storiesthat desperately need to be told, or as the generationthat has shown there is a way to escape from alifestyle that will kill you sooner rather than later. In

Projector 6ixth issue 1999the process they'vemade some trulyincredible records ofwit, anger, humourand profoundintelligence; retainedtheir independenceand artistic credibility(No Limrt is cne ofthe world's largestindepencient recordcompanies, and isentirely black-owned)and made a ton ofmoney, some ofwhich is paying forthe construction inBaton Rouge of whatwill be America'slargest recordingstudio. ln otherwords, like the albumtitle says, they'vestayed Tru 2 DaGame.

I riena

n Kale and

n st oop Dogg

I rtr.

Selected No Limit Discography

n c-Murder Life orDeath'98Bossalinie'99

There's One fn E?ety Fantily'9$Street Life'99

Abel The 7 Sins'96Ant I My Brother's Keepet?,gg

n Master P fce Creant j|/an'gSl

Ghetto D'97n nniax Good CirI Gone 8ad'95

Unladylike'97Manza Dranna'98

n fVft Senr-On Life fnsurance'gzDa Next l*yer'99

I Mystieal Anpredictable'97Ghetto Fa.bulous'98

I Sif*t The Shocker The Shocker,g6Charqe it 2 Da Gante'9&Made Jltfan'99

I)a Gante fs To 8e SoId,Not To Be ToId'98No Limit Top Dogg'99

Ttae'95Ttr 2 Da Gatne'9TDa Critne Fanily'99

Other No Limit artisrs have been: Big Ed; Da 504 Boy-z; DJ KLC; Full Blooded: GambinoFamily; Ghetto Commission; King George; Lil Soldiers; Mac; Mercedes; Mo B. Dick;Porsha; Prime Suspects; Q.B.; Shon Circuit; Skull Dugrey; Sons Of Funk Soulja Slim;Steady Mobb'n; Tank Doggs; Two For One.

Sources: Vibemagazine, Rap hges, XXLmagazine, No Limitwebsite

Note: the curious are best advised to vtsit their nearest specialist hip-hop retailerif seeking No Limit releases, as generalfy they will only charge normal CD prices.Unlike, off the top of my head, HMV and Virgin, who want { l8 and upwards foraf bums by C-Murder and Mia X (Hama Drama was going for a wallet-bashing{ | 9.99 in one of these naughty shops), presumably on the grounds that we cin befooled into thinking we're gerting some obscure and costly import.

27


Herein(g) the SonicArts Union: anAntholory of

Transforni€itions

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999\Z\Z\Z\Z\Z\Z\Z

Teenbeat IntroductionTHERE THEY ARE ON the dust jacket of Michael Nyman'sExperimenal Music Alvin Lucier and Gordon Mumma half of the SonicArrs Union, the first group I ever wanted to loin. Deep inside thebook a fuller photograph also depricts Ashley, insouciant and sullenwith citarette in mouth and Behrman as a lab technician. At the age ofl5 | discovered Nyman's book in the library where I worked as ashelver. Nyman's book dealt with the music of the US and Europe thathad been born from Cage's crucible. More so than Cage, the SonicArts Union appealed because | ) they were a troup - and I was intogroupc; 2) they used electronics most of the time (like the tone

tenerators used by Egg andHawkwind? Like Eno's VCS3 inRoxy Music? | wondered): 3) noneof my friends - even those who haddiscovered The Faust Tapeswithme - would have heard anythinglike them.

And yet (in reverse order): 3)hadn't heard them either and wasnot toint to hear them (inensemble) for another 25 years; 2)their use of electronics was amillion miles from Hawkwind anoEgg, where it was a little bit ofdressing - though their processingwas comparable to Eno's workwith Roxy, certainly live and inradio sessions); and mostimportantly l) the Sonic ArtsUnion was not a troup. Rather, asDavid Behrman has encouraged usto consider it the Sonic ArtsUnion was an 'antholog/ - a choicecollection of opportunities for fouryoung experimental composers inthe 1960s to have their musicplayed by synpathetic musicians

tro[lu.dcbaBIl

/MNLI.,CIERE[,D,4\DPE tU "rm D4\l\G

these themes in his music most single-mindedly up to the present day.Where the other three have moved to other {ields of musicalexpression (Ashley to avant-garde opera of which more later;Behrman to more sophisticated, computer-mediated systems; Mummablending conserratoire form and open form with the chamber workthat he calls 'six-pack sonatas'), Lucier is relendessly, calmly pursuingsonic experimentation that has a clarity of purpose and outcome thathas changed hardly at all in the intervenint 30 years.

Recent works such as Wind Shadows (1994) tenerate interferencefringes and beating patterns from the intery'ay of microtonal scalesplayed on a trombone and the unchanging frequency of a sine wave

tenerator. Music on a Long Thin l44iedispenses with musiciansaltogether: the Lovely Music recording offers four twenty-minute

excerpts from his oscillating wireinstallation. As a member of theSonic Arts Union. his oieces lheDuke of York (1972) and Bird andPercon Dyning (l 975) areexemplary. The first he describesas a lrotesque jukebox' andfeatures Lucier intoning readingand 'singing a mess of popularson& oPereta ancl Poetry,sounding for all the world like anexoerimental drunk on a streetcorner; his voice is progressivelytransformed electronically until it issemantically unintelligible - yet itsrhythm remains. Lucier's classicwork with the Union must be /rmSitting in a Rom. This alsotransforms the voice. this timethrouth a record-playback sptemthat imprints the resonantfrequencies of the room in whichthe tap€ is played and recordedonto Lucier's voice. His reading ofa text (which comprises theinstructions and purpose of thepece - the 'score') is progressively

destroyed; what remains is a disembodied, floating pulse of vocal'sheen' in which during one per{ormance, Lucier claims he could hearthe melody of a Charles lves tune. As Ky'e Gann has noted, listeningto AlVn Lucier's music is not about listenint to the notes, it's aboutlistening to how Lucier's methods sculpt the very air and transform thesPace arounct us.

Gordon Mumma's work with the Sonic Arts Union was similarlyinterested in resonance and transformation. Whilst Lucier's hesitancywith electronic construction impelled him to seek out simple systemsand the minimum amount of equipment (Nicolas Collins has arguedthat Lucier's technical limitations resulted in very austere, but elegantsolutions to his problems and draws comparisons with the minimalistart activity of the time), Mumma was the Union's electronics expert,building his own synthesisers from surplus store equipment andcatalotue components - the precursor surely of much of the currentinterest in low-grade electronics amontst both improvisers and theelectronica crowd (whoever they are). His 'Hornpipe' ( 1967) feeds ahorn through his self-built'cybersonic console'that mapE the resonantfrequencies of the room as they are 'signalled' by the horn. Theresonant circuits of the console then attempt to complement thosefrequencies. The sound produced moves funher from the sound of ahorn and further to the 'ideal sound' of the room. Later works alsouse <ybersonics; in the case of Mesa the characteristically richharmonies and rhythmic drive of a bandoneon are, um, squeezed outthrough the circuitry to create large, discreet slabs of noise,surrounded by a desen of quiescence.

David Behrman acknowledges that everythinE he learnt aboutelectronics he learnt from Mumma. specifically from a series of lettersMumma wrote to him in 1964, the first letter containint a circuitdiagram for a ring modulator: Behrman was off. Behrman's Wave Train( | 966) demonstrates his Sonic Arts Union work to best effecq I think.The piece brings together two of dominant Union interests: resonanceand feedback. Microphones are y'aced on the strings of a grand priano.The gain is turned up until the system feeds back and excites the pianostrings . Over fifteen minutes, the per{ormers attempt to control thefeedback sy:tem and, in Behrman's words 'uy to shape the rawfeedback into large- resonant overlapping waves.' Once again, we are

(themselves), even if it was to tiny audiences. Common aims therewere, it seems, in their approach: compositions as experiments inacoustic phpics and through those experiments the transformation ofsounds both natural and electronic through electronic processes.There was a funher rewritint of the book on what comprised musicalcomposition and what comprised a musical score. 'Established

techniques were thrown away and the nature of sound was dealt withfrom scratch,' is how David Behrman has spoken of the early days ofthe Sonic Ans Union. 'From scratch' in more than one sense: not onlyin regard to technique, but in terms of what constitutes musical activity(much of the Union's work was part-acoustical experiment,part-performance arE part-musical composition), what constitutes thescore (instructions for performers, circuit diagrams, maF showing howinstruments and electronic sptems would be disposed in aperformance space: all could be - and were - scores). 'From scratch'also in scratch-built instruments, specifically electronic instruments andsound processing equiprncnt In an age where the synthesiser was aroom-sized monster with a price tat to match, home-made syrthswere cheaper and portable; essential for a group tiat needed to gotravel compactly and continuously there to get it music heard(founded in 1966, the Union toured extensively in Nonh America andEurope until, it seems, as late as 1976).

The home-made also contained within it what the commercially madeMoog didn't: uncertainty, alont with modularised and randomisedmetho& o{ construction and deployment. All of which afford apleasingly unsafe haven for the fundamental practices in post-warmusical experimentalism ushered in by Cage whose {amous doctrine ofexperimental music ('as an act the outcome of which is unknown') maybe comfortably apy'ied to the work of the Union.

Material themes and appurtenancesBeing primarily the natural resonant characteristics of musicalinstruments (pianos, snare drums) and environments (typically, rooms)along with a fascination with feedback. Finally, the Union soup wasthickened by the essential flour of electronic transformation: of naturaland electronic sounds. Of them all, it is AlVn Lucier who has oursueo

29

ProjectorThewitness to an acousto-phpicalexperiment that employs simpletechnology, yet results in a music ofremarkable gnce and poise: theNew Age surf breaking over thegravel-laden cement mixer ofsympathetic resonance (as they say).More recent works by Mummafocus on the interaction betweencomputer-teneratecl tones andinstrumentalists. Unlike much of therather sterile manifestations of thistechnique (such as much of thework from IRCAM), Behrman's Onthe Other Ocean (1977) finds fluteand bassoon improvising around sixpitches to which a computerresponds, offering the players'harmony-changing messages.' Aswith all of Behrman's work -

including those emplolng feedback -

there is a stront interest in the

Sound

more reflective - dare one say contemplative? - use of electronics.

\Z\Z\Z\Z\Z\7\ZA Theatre ofSound?That cover photo of the Union on Nyman's book wouldn't fill thestadium rock enthusiast with much hope: Lucier standing ratherawkwardly gazing into space; Mumma behind him almostabsent-mindedly blowing his horn (as it were) - not a dynamicentrance. Ten years on and Lucier still appears ill at ease in a review ofhis work by Charles K. Noyes (writint in ly'usrbs), where hecharacterises Lucier as 'a very old and tired businessman,' No suchproblems for Robert Ashley whose performances with Union were, byall accounts, melodramatic in the extreme (if only at times bycomparison with Lucier's shuffling). Nyman describes his lhe Wolfinanas ( 1 964) 'a

highly projected "theatre of etrect"' evoking a 'sinister

night-club atmosphere.' The lece is a vocal improvisation that dey'opfeedback controlled by the vocal cavitp I haven't found a recording ofthis, but its technique suttests sonic parallels with Henri Chopin'saudio poems. What we do have, however, is the tape collage used byAshley as a background to the piece. The collage is called 'Wolfman'

(no definite anicle) and it app€a6 as such on the first BobJamesrecord, Explosion5 recorded in 1965 for ESP'-DISK. BobJames wenton to write the theme to Taxi and pursue a very profitable career incocktaif i"z; Explosionsis his finest moment, naturally, the onlyfree

i'- he ever released and the only collabontive work the Unionundertook with jazz musicians. 'Wolfman' begins with a distortedmelange of speeded-up Arnerican adverts and racing cars whilst Jamesand his trio swing out atonally, clearly oblivious to the mayhem withwhich Ashley is obliterating them. He succeeds: the closint minutes ofthe lece find the tape alone, blurting out its hysterical motor racintcommentary to fade. Mmmm, that's nice. The best thing that enerhappened to Bob James. I'll go further: one of the best things tohappen to ''2.

Elsewhere the trio work out over the elecronics of Gordon Mummaand Roben Ashley. There's some fine Ashley feedback in UntitledMixeswhich is sadly spoiled by Barre Phillipc's (bass) attemptedmimicry. Mumma's contribution is muted, comprising an all-too-briefbluning of what sounds like a tape-manipulated rrersion of 'Hornpipe'

through 'Peasant Boy, the CD's opener. Still a fine curio for UnionarchiMsts and guaranteed to up6et later BobJames fans (wherever theyare).

Ashle/s theatricality has since been channelled into his intimate operasof which the 3 hour Perfect Lives (1983) remains his chef d'oeuwe.Even more intimate - and more successful, because of that - is hisPriuate Parts rsord of 1978. which previews the opening and closingscenes of Priuate Lives- Ashle/s low-key, laconic recitation draws youinto the ordinary but skewed world of his protagonist, lsolde: 'she

leads a double life: she makes two from one and one', replete witharcane philosophical allusion: 'Giordano Bruno comes to mind,whoever he is.'

\Z\Z\Z\Z\Z\Z\Z

6ixth issue 1999DiscographisingThe twenty-five years that haveelapsed since my first encounter withthe Sonic Arts Union have found mepiecing together an audio history oftheir work through a small but steadynumber of releases. To approach themusic through recordings alone ishardly to tell much more than a partialhistorv. the more so when I focusedhere on recordinp that (l trust) arestill on catalogue, to avoid frustrationin that rare reader stimulated enoughto seek out the examples forthemselves (there may be otherexamples I'm ignorant o{, I grant you).

W}tere two dates are given, the first ische date of the original (viny') release.The second the currendy-anailable CDreissue. I believe that all items arecurrendy available.

\Z\Z\Z\Z\Z\Z\Z\T

flRobert Ashley, hiv-ate Patts (The Record),LovelyMusic LCD 1001, l9Z8/90

lRobert Ashley, Perfect Live4 LovelyMusic CD 491?(3) (3 GD a), l99l or as acheap double cassette on Lovely Music CA4913-4?

nDavid Behrrnan, On the othet ocean,Lovely Music LCDl04l, 19Z8/96

nDavid Behrrnan, Wave Train" Alga Margenplana-B 5NMN.020, t998

! Bob |annee, hplosions, ESP 1009-2,reiaaue on ZYlK-Music, 1965/no reiesue date

nAkin tucier, Bird aad Petson Dyaiag/TheDuke oftork, Crarnps CRSCD lll, l9?5/noreirsue date

DAfvh Lucier, f ant sitting ia a room LovelyMusic tCD 1013, f 981,/90

trAlvin Lucier, Music oa a I'ong Thin Wirc,Lovely Music LCD l0l I, 1980/92

n AIvfur Lucier, Panonnta, tovely Music,LCD 1012, 1997 - on which you'll find 'Wind

Slradows'

\Z\Z\Z\Z\Z\Z\Zfhe Wave Tnin CD also contains the only performance by all fourmembers of the Sonic Arts Union I have been able to find. This isBehrman's 'Runthrough' ( 1967-68), an electronic duo improvisationmediated by the other two performers operatint photo-sensors thatdistribute the sound in spa.ce. These Records are the place to go forAlga Marghen stuff. Alga Marghen themselves are at: c/o EmanueleCarcano, v ia Frapol l i 40,20133 MILANO, l ta l ia.

No recordings by Gordon Mumma are currendy arrailable - save for thefragment on that Bobjames CD - but I bought a copy of Pontpoint,Mesa, hgyn (Lovely Music LP 1092, 1984 from Lovely Music a coupleof years ago. Not listed as arrailable on their catalotue, however theymight have an odd copy still around if you writey'email them: LovelyMusic, Ltd., l0 Beach Street, New York NY | 00 | 3, USA Email:[email protected] Lovely are planning a CD release of Mumma'selectronic work, including'Pointpoint' from that LP, but not 'Mesa',

sadly. Alga Marghen, I believe, are also planning a Gordon Mummarelease.

30


ranontaBelle"renderings ofaltematiYe wodds"Interview by ED PINSENT

oo

oO

BRANDON LABELLE IS A SOUND ARTISTBASED lN LOS ANGELES. HIS work hosinferested me ever since he firsl sentCDs 1o the mogozine - slorting wilhPrima Moterio, releosed in 1996.Without understonding how therecords were mode, ihey olwoysfixed my qttention ond mode medrop everything, iust io relox ondl isten. When LoBelle visi led the UK in,1999

the chonce to interview him inperson seemed to good 1o miss.Needless to soy, I did miss it - ond sowe ended up'chott ingelectronicolly', os he colls it. A littlebockground obout the fel low beforewe drop in: he is o curolor of ortsound evenis, editor ond wriler forEnonf Bodies, Feed /nk ond Coi/; inloococjemic iheory, writing obout'sound offeciing subjectiviiy'; olsoperforms with Forflung; his id botteryprojecl is o duo with Loren Chqsse;lhe work results from wolks ondinvesi igol ing the environment; hecreotes deliberoiely unrecognisoblesounds, o process compounded bythe mechonics of recordino.

^'^' '^, ,

EP Letb san wkh Ylaps Of Tenderness.-./iust read Umbeno Eco s novelThe lsland ofThe Day Before.. Readerc will know olachapter with this exact same heading. Anyconnection there/

BLB 'Maps of Tenderness' actually comesfrom an lTth century writer namedMadeleine de Scud6ry. She was an aristocratwho wrote novels as well as made drawings.These drawings often related to narrativesand were basically conceived of as imaginarymaps, or renderings of alternative worlck.

oo ooThese mapo depicted a land full of sentiment. Places names such as 'The Lake of Hope', 'Unknown

Lands of Passionate Love', etc. What intrigued me about her maps is this relationship betweenreality and the imaginaryr how the two are made up of the other, continually interface andinfluence the other. So, a map refers to a space and also abntracts it, imaginint it from a certainpersp€cti\€. I think its an interesting graphic form, or symbolic syrtem which is also about'organising'this

imaginary-real material. Maps of Tendemess, the release on SELEKTION, I think ofin this wap it entates with the materials of particular spaces and at the same time, through the actof recording, of'composing', it proposes an ortanisation, or imaginary relations--it fantasises yetretains an interest in the real.

EP What is your background, eg in training or basic grounding in an. Have you always lived in lA/

BLB I pretty much grew up in Los Angeles, though travel as much as I can. I had the opponunityto live in London in the early 90's which thoroughly changed my attitude towards music, or rather,brought me back into considering it as a practice. This was when a lot ofgreat alternative punkmusic was happening in Camden Town (particularly at The Falcon--maybe you were there?). ltbasically inspired me to get back into drumming. So when I got back to LA the following year Ihooked up with a group of artists and musicians while studying at Cal Arts and started a bandcalled Helianthus. This was quite an experience--sort of an industrial jarz, very free form andintense. I started using contact microphones in relation to drums, which was quite interestint.Then, of course, I started considering the contact microphone in itself, as an instrument to usewith other objects and digital effects, etc. This was quite a radical moment for me. lt opened a lotof mental and imaginary doors, which are still in the process of opening. But it was alwap inrelation to art more than music. As an art student I interacted very litde with the musicdepanment, even though Cal Ans has an incredible history and curriculum. lt just didn't seem likethe right context. Art I think in general is much more about ideas, ideas which expand outwardand hare a relation to the world, social and political concerns (at least this is part of its history anddiscourse) whereas music seems to often close in on itself, remain within its own confines andconcerns. This of course is a generalisation, but it led me to feel more stimulated by the context ofart, or maybe, more at home. Though I feel that the experimental music scene is much morealigned with concerns and interests outside of itseK and ideologically engaged. This | find verypromisint.

EP What is it about the environment that inspires and interests you/

BLB For me, it is above all a social question: how am I aHe to live in the location that I find myself?How can I position mpelf so as to enSate with my surroundings in a way which will haveinteresting and positive effects. lt is also political--how can I act, how can I understand thedeterminants which shape my y'ace in the world and funher, how can I contribute to thesedeterminants consciously. Yet this relationship is sensual also, in tha! as a body, as a physical beingI am moved by the perceptual intensities of the world around me. ln essence, I am compelled bymy surroundings as they stir and direct me. This is both beautiful and terrifying in that I am held inthis medium of the percepual. So I think my interest in the environmenq in context, is an interestin undentanding how I am held. how I am a part of relationships, and further, to involve mpelf inthis process critically and creatively.

EP ls it primarily the urban and modem environment rather than rural that you're concernedwhh/

31

BLB Oh, l'm not sure. I have a mixed desireto both live in an urban environment--to bea pan of a greater social contex--and todrop out, to give up participatint andretreat, lose myself in the forest.

EP Do you see yourcelfas pan ofanytndition of lield rxordings - eg LucFernri's Presgue Rien, or development ingellery erc conceptual arc insallations/

BLB I'd say you prettymuch nailed all myinterests in onesentence! Or at least ahandful.

The act of fieldrecording has taqht mea treat d€al: aboutmusic, about theenvironment" about thequestion of my place asa listener, a participantin a greater context. lthas taught me a lotabout composition, howthe process of'framing' asound leads one tomusic, to a sociallanguage. Working withsoundinstallation, with'gallery-art as a culturalinstitution has led me toan understanding of theconditions of a givenspace--:is an anrst onealwap has to confrontthe context in which thework is Vewed andexperienced. This iswhat conceptual art wasso poantedly entatedwith. And thiswork--that is. workaround the mid-60s toearly 70s-l still find sofresh, so compelling inits form. its orocess andcreativity. Musiqueconcrdte I also feel isstill such a compellingmusic, because it alsosought to question itsown medium(recording) and its placewithin a broaderenVronment, lt wasself-reflexive.

EP The sounds onrecord are alwaysimpossible to identify. lsthis deliberate, anconcealing art/

BLB No, not really. Often I am surprised bysounds, panicularly if they originate from anordinary obiect or event. The mediation ofthe microphone and the recording devicealters the original sound, and this can bequite interesting in that it presents one witha 'strante'

sound, or an interestint auralexperience, But I don't think its an imemionfrom the start. I find that I work by beingdirected by what is alread occurring. So his more a question of following what I amgiven, and allowing it to compel the creativeproc$s, to be revealed in a way.

EP Wat is rhe intended effect, if any, onthe listener - to show us how to connect

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999tnore to the space around us/ To stimu/ate ideas and propose actions, nther than just make asoothing noise/

BLB I think the question of 'audience' is a difficult one. This guestion is something I am interestedin considering more directly, somethint which an artist like Achim Wollscheid is answering in veryinterestint and provocative ways.

For now, I have to say that often it is about directing one's attention to somethint overlooked, tobring something from the background to the foretround, and to present an opportunity to 'hear'

this background in order to understand the details of one's surroundings. So, in essence, musicoffers the opportunity to explore this process--it allows access to this opportunity.

iIil

EP Wto is AchimWollscheidl What arehis interesting andprovocative walal

BLB Achim Wollscheidis an artist fromFrankfurt who has beenworking with soundsince the early 80s. Hisearly recorded workswere released under thename S.B.O.T.H.l., andhe was also involvedwith P l6.Dt. He is alsoone of the main peoplebehind the labelSELEKTION, alont withRLW.

Achim is very involvedwith working directly inrelation tocontext'-looking at thespecifics of a space, etcand responding to this,either throughpermanent installationsor performative

testures. One thingabout a space which Ithink does tetoverlooked is thequestion of people--themultitude. A space isnever neutral, it iscontaminated byinterferences, and one ofthe maior interferingelements is peoy'e.Achim has a great way ofworking with thepreence of an audience,or passers-by, byincorporating theirpresence into the work,either by using sensingdeVces that triggersounds and lighs inrelation to themovements ofindividuals, orincorporatint an

audience into creating th€ performance piece itself--reactions and responses become pan of thevery mechanism of the work. So, as an audience member one becomes aware of oneself in aninterestint way, how one is caught up in the processes and compositional tools at work.

EP lalwals frnd it compelling enough to listen to the entire wo* all the way through. why shouldthis be/ There are changes, though not dnmatic ones - yet nothing seems to be revealed orexplained by the conclusion, yet I come away oddly satisfied.

BLB For me, there is a sense about a work being 'whole', that it consists of smaller elements all ofwhich contribute to a treater flece. This is how I hear recor&, how I hear music--that whateverelehent is presented it is part of a greater work--again, maybe its about detail.

EP Would you care co describe some ol the technigues you use in recording and editing, unlessyou prcfer to keep it mlsterious.

BLB There really is no m)Etery. The thing to emphasise I think is that more and more I aminterested in a very technically'unelaborate' means of working. That is, that the finished product isquite raw and direct, minimal and untreated. I am not one to tet caught up in treatint sounds.effects and such. lt remains incredibly lo-fi. This has been important in that ir has taught me agrear

$

32

deal about sound itself, as it exists initially,phenomenally. Of course I realise thatthings could develop. But for now ir hasbeen important to strip things down ratherthan build them up.

EP Do the linished products satis, ),ou asrecords; were they inended as documentsof something interesting that )'ou heard endwanted preseving or as an assembledstatement in iu own rQhc

BLB So far, the records have been vervsatisfyin& both as documents of events andas 'music'.

For me a record is anopportunity to present something and thisis guite a special presentation because it hasthe ability to be transplanted, reproducedand manipulated according to each listening.It is a very direct and intimate presenrason,both social and yet very personal. This iswhat I like about making recordings, howthey touch someone and at the same timecan be referred to again and again, stimulateideas and propose relationships.

EP Can you explain GuS' Debord to ne -have read about it and understand verTlittle. What is a diive / driftingl Does itstem from feelings of alienation in the city?

BLB Guy Debord and The Situationistswere an interesting group of artists andpolitical renegades in the 50s and 60s. But itis also tied to a very specific cultural andhistorical moment when Paris after the warwas beint reconstructed, influenced by theMarshall Plan of the US. The Situationistsattempted to thwart this reconstructionwhich they felt was dictating a new way ofliving determined by a more open shifttowards capitalism. Their projectsdeveloped as a way to both combat thisbureaucratic imposition and to proposecreatiye alternatives to living. Pan of thisresulted in architectural plans and ideas topractices such as the d€rive which wasmore an attempt to disrupt one's ownpsychology in order to envision new formsof productivity, ones more connected tothe imagination, spontaneity and creativeplay, as opposed to pre-fabrication andadvanced industrialisation.

So, yes, l'd say the d6rivecomes about paftly from asense of alienation, not somuch from the city itself, butfrom the bureaucratic projectof urban design andarchitectural visions thatimpose a plan onto the massesas opposed to arisint fromwithin the masses.

The Situationists above allwantd to €mPower theindividual to determine his orher own reality as experiencedeveryday--and to createsituations where this couldhappen.

Their project has been ofinterest to me for some time,and | find there is a lot to learnfrom how they approached theconditions of theirenvironment ooliticalfrustration, and social spacqand southt alternative means.

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999l ive work:

tour of Germany and Sweden, 1999-this tour went extremery welr, and deverooedout of my recent felease on the SELEKTTON label, rnaps of tenderness. I wanted to develop liveperformances in relation to this release. So I compiled a series of sounds/objects which I felt Icould'perform', manipulate creatively and present improvised work. Each performance was quiteunique, especially as each space wis so individual, from clubs to taileries to other spaces.

Sonic Perception conference, Tokyo Japan, 1999-this was organised by MinoruSato from the WrK group in Tokyo. The conference is both academic and exoerimental.presentint performances and lectures. lt was quite a challenge. I presented lectures andpedormances and tried to conceive of how they might reht- to each other, expand the other ininteresting wap. lt also revolved around t}re idea of language having a relationship to sound.

exhibitions:Most of these exhibitions were installation based on and involving the amplification of ambientsounds occurring in the space. These sounds were used as a kind of art material or obiecq anocomplemented by otfier visual and sculptural elements. They are related to the recorded worksand at the same time are distinct from them.

1999 exhibitions'Book

of Vowels', Sig-Alen group show, Arizona State Univercity An Museum'Tender

Buttons: a transcription of Stein through Scriabin,, \Ar'ENZ tallery Tokyo Japan'Music

Box', Post office Box Mail Art projecr Museum of lnstallation, London England'SoundBoard'

(walking a square block in santa Ana), Sig-Alen 2, cal state Fullerton, cA

1998 exhibitions'Ear as Eye', Tokyo University an gallery Tokyo Japan'Tender

Buttons', Second Nature group show, ucLA New Wight Gallery Los Angeles, cA'Writing

Aloud', Sound group show, Refusalon Gallery San Francisco, CA'Untitled

1998', Beyond Music Sound fustiral, Beyond Baroque, Los Angeles, CA'Genius

Loci', Cal Arts, Los Angeles, CA'Transmission',

Reverb group show, The Brewery proiect, Los Angeles, CA'roseisaroseisarose',

Incredibly Soft Sounds group show, Gallery l0l, Ottawa Canada'The Pleasure of the Text', Text-An group show, Cal Arts, Los Angeles, CA

publications:I run a small press periodical called Ernnt Bodies. We published a literary/ars journal of the samenamefrom'92-'9S.Thisyearwepublishedourfirstbook,called siteoisouni:ofarchitectureand the ear I edited this with Sterc Roden. The book focuses on the relationshiD between soundand space, music and architecturdenvironment. lt is a really wonderful anthology including worrsby about 30 artists, architects and theorists. l'm very happy with this proie€t and am planriingfunher publications.

33

,3 ,.

F;lr3 lt13|3t ThelJtter r3 ll

REAKD O MlRonnn**n"*hnvO*cn**d[iuh ]Roo"odlu

rt::lltxtr


The Ghost Orchid: .[n introduction to Electronic YoicePhenornena (EVP)TOUCE / THE PTRTPSYCHIC ACOUSTTC RESETRCR COOPERATIVE. PTRCglll999lEVPs, put simply, are weird voices you hear on the radio. Since a friend of mine has his ownstory of a'my:ter/ voice captured on a tap€, I was intrigued by news of this CD. When hismum and sister y'ayed back a tape recorded on an apparently empty beach, the calmatmosphere was suddenly interrupted by a strange voice babbling in a Gaelic tongue. Whatcould have caused it? Stray radio wavesl Ghosts? Aliens?

This CD mostly represents the fruits of the labours of one Raymond Cass, and also of anotherteam of researchers. They both have one thing in common - they think their radio sets arespeaking directly to them.Cass in particular has spenthours monitoring the airwavesand taping the results, and hasthus captured lots of examplesof phantom voices which, weare told, shouldn't be there byrighs, and are possibly ofunknown origin. Cass goesfurther and speculates thatthere are not only hiddenmeanings in the snippets hehears, but that in some casesthey could be the voices of thedead, or even - you guessed it- aliens from outer space.

Sounds great, doesn't itl I wa5looking forward to plalng thisoddity, and have to say I wasmassively disappointed. Farfrom lengthy spells ofinexplicable alien babde, orpoltergeist-like messages fromthe Phantom Zone, we getonly micro-second samy'es ofs hortwave radio fragments(repeated a few times for easeof use). They are for the mostpart presented without anycontext irs to their source, anyconnective tissue; there is noevidence at all that thevactually are what they arepresented as; and besides,many of them are Vrtuallyunintelligible. The researcherhowever has conVncedhimself that the voices aresafng something andinterprets the {ragments forus. This is where it getscompletely dotty.'We can seeEdith by radio,'sap one voice,which Cass assumes isreferring to his wife and takesit as eVdence that someall-seeing higher power is

monitoring hisl i fe. 'He' l l beready to be anero,speaker', saysanother,which Casstakes to referto hiseventualcareer as alecturer onthe Psychicstudies circuigplalng hisstacks oftapes.'Deadmachines',intones a

mechanical voice, which Cass concludes refersto an alien spaceship - he calls them 'probes' -

whose batteries have run down.

Worse yet are the so-called'pol16lot' examples,where these strante entities are deemed topick and choose which language they willchoose to address the world, often changingtongue within the space of one utterance. Theinterpretations behind many of these EVPs is sotortured as to beggar belief...Cass applies theexact opposite of the Occam's razor principle,in that he makes the solution as comDlex as

possible, rather thansimple. lf you'reprepared to accept hisfar-fetched theories onthese, then you're wellon the way to makinganythint meanwhateYer you want itto mean.

Actually this is all a bitsad, This issymptomatic of a verycommon oaranoiddelusion for whichtnere are manvrecorded orecedentsin psychological history- that delusional statewhere the sufferer isconvinced the TV iswatching him, or thenewspapers are writingabout him. I proposethat Raymond Cass,harmless and likeablethough he be, issuffering similardelusions, and is findingmeaning in radio voicesthat simply is notthere. The otherresearchers, MargotTschapke and JohannesHagel, have similardelusions o{ grandeur,proposing astonishingleaps in hith in theirreadings of the mostmeaningless scrap,s ofinformation - whichthey somehow take tobe propheticnewscasts on the mosttrivial details of theirlife.

3s

The Sound Projector Sixth issue 1999This silly CD, with its extensive sleeve notes, aPPears to lend some letitimacy to all this

nonsense, so thank heavens for Joe Banks, whose level-headed sleevenote (included here in

the lengthy explanatory booklet) restores sanity to the proceedings. ldentifring this delusional

state as 'Rorschach Audio', he sets {orth similar rcorded cases where listeners have sworn

blindly that they can hear clear voices emerging fi'om tape loops of meaningless babble (and

see below for more on this). Banks refers to the artistic side too; Dali's famous

pamnoiac-critial images, where the artist played the game of seeing hidden faces in other

irn"g"r, o, in abstract shapes; seeing shapes in the fire is so common to us all it's likely to be a

pririordial human activity. The Surrealists, indeed, tried to live their lives by it; Andre Breton

I think got married as a result of convincing himself that the chance words and sights he saw

in the street on his promenade would act as auturs, signs and meanings to guide his decision.

Don't misinterpret me, though. I believe there are more things in heaven and earth, and I

often get a secret thrill from watching documentaries with what PurPorts to be UFO photos

and footage. Without a doubt there are many inexplicable forces in the universe. But why

must we always tie them down to the same stermtyped, predictable narratives every timel

Any X-Files hn knows that there's a discernible pattern to every single alten abduction story,

and even a low-grade social historian knows that this mass-hypnosis effect has manyprecedents throughout man's rcorded history. The belief in Witchcmft is one of the best

examples of a delusional narrative system, and that was in an age before mass

communications!

Nonetheless, I thought to myself this Ghost Orchid could be an enioyable listen - because it

has moments of real frisson and weirdness. tust take it all with a pinch of salt', I thought. 'lt's

all harmless fun, right?'Well, maybe not. I mentioned this toJoe Banks, and he reminded me

that this Rorschach Audio effect can be put to rather sinister uses. Remember the'backwards-masking scare of the 1980s in America! Religious right-wing Pressure grouPs

were genemttnt hysterical scare stories, convinced that etanic messates were concealed in

the grooves of Heavy Metal LPs. Play certain tracks backwards, they claimed, and you'd

discover concealed messages either filled with poisonous sentiments that undermined

society's conventional values - or worse still, specific messages directing youngsters to take

their own lives. A spate of youth suicides was thus ascribed to this Patently nonsensical

theory.

There is a history of that same pattern o{ hysteria attached to certain rock records. The most

notorious, ofcourse, are attached to records by The Beatles; the inane cut-up ofstudio

chatter in the run-out groove o'( Sergeant Pepper has been 'revealed' to say 'WE LL FUCK

YOU LIKE SUPERMEN' if played backwards. And in California' a cult dedicated to the

misguided notion that Paul MacCartney was dead, discovered hidden messages that narrated

the entire circumstances concerning his demise, in the mysterious cut-ups of 'Revolution

Number Nine'. And if you mnt the popular manifestation of the same thint, tune in to Never

Mind the Buzzcocks and sit through the 'Unintelligible Lyrics' round. A serious article is

waiting to be written on this subject, but you'll have to wait for it'

Still. with brrlliant couplets like 'Put it On lce and l'll Mend Your Feet', you can treat this as a

spoken word CD of absurdist poetry.

ED PINSENT

Anal Magic and Rev Dwight FrizzellBeyond the Black Crack3rrl9tg99l1999tGenuinely odd and genuinely obscure, at first this strikes you as an astonishing blend offreejazz, acid-addled psychedelia, industrial taPe constructions, political Protest Poetry readings,found recordings and field recordings, satological humour, elec$onic music, Mothers ofInvention styled absurdity...which fairly well sums it uP. A bit like the promises of the ESPlabel, the early Residents and Motlrer of Inventions records all come true at once. Thecommon thread is the performer Revd Dwight Frizell, aka Fredrik Tibbits Air, appearingthrouthout these astonishing recordings on wind instruments, percussion, and othernon-instruments such as'chair, trashcan, pins, soybeans, and audio oscillator.'

A curious tale of this record's history lurks within the booklet, revealing almost a paralleluniverse of freak madmen poised to assume a position of power. A tale that that unsettlesyour perception of what had passed for reality in your wretched existence uP to this pointl ltemerged from a conglomerate of eccentric bands, taped at tiny little events: Black Crack andThe Sole Survivors were recorded hve at the Kansas City Art Institute Foundation in 1975;Fredrik's Cosmic Spaced Out Blues Band and Orchestra played at tfre Second RLDS Churchchili supper in | 974 (hence all the farting and shiaing jokes); the 'Turtle Music' tracks wererecordedatopthemidgetpyramidinMcCoyParkMissour i in l9T6.Thesedisparatei temswere comoiled and released to commemorate the First Annual End of the World Celebrationon I 8 November 197 6, and originally issued as a mono recording in an edition of 200 copiesby Cavern Custom. The bonus tracks filling out this CD come from an equally insneenterprise, a work for electronic tape, peformers and narrator called 'The WanderingMadness of Easilea, The Great Mother'.

This is something to get excited about- Let's face it, you and I would never find a vinyl copy ofanything like this nor would we care to devote years of fruitless searchint to finding it; ff weeven knew it existed in the first place, Let's hear it for CD reissues! And hats off to thePamdigm label, in whose catalogue this does seem somewhat untypical - we look forward tofurther weirdies in a similar jugular vein^..

ED PINSENT

36

Naked CityBlack Box (collecting:)Todute Gardenl99lLeng T'Chel992TZ,ADIIITZt3r2-2Behind an intimidating black cover lurks a'bargain' 2 CD collection from Tzadik with

accompanying booklets chock full of Kinbakurope bondage photos and paintings of decrepit

molestor spider-men and eyeball-licking sailorghouls. l t 's not 'Foster & Al len 'gmnny!

Torture Garden - the ultimate album forsorting the sheep out from the Soats ' oneminute in and the virgin listener is eitherlaughing or begging you to turn this shit off. 40+

tracks, averaging a minute long, with titles like'Thrash

Jarz Assassin', 'Perfume of a Critic'sBurning Flesh'and .laz Snob Eat Shit' - allplayed with a thermonuclear level of vim by

)ohnZorn and the boys from Naked City. Everymusical genre - from cocktail lounte to surfguitar to death metal - is thrown into thecauldron and stirred in with neck-breakingjumpcuts at Zorn's mixing desk. Nothing hangsaround enough to get dull and it all endssounding a liale bit like Slayer doing the musiclor a Tom & Jerry cartoon, which, knowingZorn's admiration for Carl Stalling, wasprobably his intention. The cream toPPrng onthis barely digestable pie comes fromYamatsuka Eye of Boredoms infamy who bringshis unique vocal approach to the Proceedings.Screaming, trunting, barking and possiblyvomiting down the microphone he brilliantlypoints out the uselessness of most 'rock' lyrics.It all ends wrth Eye clearing his throat andgobbing up what sounds like a greenresubstantial enough to twat hedgehogs on theappropriately titled 'Gob of Spit'. This is thebest asylum house band everPlayint at theheight o{ their powers - subsequent Naked Cityreleases conformed to the law of dimishingreturns. This rs the only one you need.

Apan from 'Leng T"Che' of course. Previously

released in Japan only this is a single 32 minutetrack inspired by an ancient Chinese torturemethod that involved $aking the victim aliveand slowly slicing off limbs and chopping outentrails and organs. Attempting to convey thlsin music, the only band really uP to the lob,sound not unlike Metallica at a sound check. ltall builds painfully slowly: heavy heavy doomchords drop tons of concrete into a sinking oiltanker while Zorn lets the banshee's loose withthroat-rippingly long blasts on the alto sax.Progressively it gets louder and louder, moreplayers enter the ft-ay, each dispensing theirown particular brand of sonic grief until aroundthe 20 minute mark the real action begins.Yamatsuka Eye steps up to the mic and launchesinto a terrif ing series of screeches andlunghowls that sound like outtakes fi-om ldiAmin's private collection. Most would bottle itat this point but that would be where this piecesucceeds or fails - do€s it become actual'torture'for the listener or do they bite downhard to experience the rest of this perfect pain?

For anyone, like myself, who doubts Zorn'saesthetic motives and outpuq this is an essentialpurchase. Torture Garden is one huge'FuckOff to those who stand by pre-establishedartistic boundaries, Leng T'Che is simply'Fucking Hell'l

RIK MWLING

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999Brast BurnDebonryg]l9991Kanrna lGryalAlomoni 19853IIIPIry99S99SITwo extremely strangeanefacts from the deep, verydeep Underground ofmid- 1970s Japan Rock music.They were both released onthe Voice Records label (iethe/re effectively home-madeprivate press records), and it'ssuspected that the samepersonnel were involved inboth LPs, but nobod reallyknows - these are genuinelymysterious obEcurities! BrastBurn can be found on theoriginal Nurse With Woundlis! apparently (do you actuallyknow anybody who uses thatpanicular shopping list as theircukural yardstick for excellencel). Although there's an undeniable | 970s German Rockinfluence here - in particular Damo Suzuki wkh Can - | think we should check in our'rarerrecords than thou' one-upmanship at the door, and simy'y join hands as we admit that theseare two blisteringly amazing records. True, they're somewhat disjointed and bitty, and appearto be held together with string and sellotape in places - but this only ad& to the appeal andstrange charm. We could almost guarantee you'll be smitten and kayoed by theiroverwhelming oddness.

Karuna Khyal's offering features two side-long tracks, in fact made up of a series of suites andepisodes, although side one's highlight is a long repetative loop trac( with slide tuitars,unintelligible fuzed-out chanting and an insane burst of harmonica blowing that makes it allsound like a plastic, transistorised nersion of'Tarotplane' from Caotain Bee{hean and theMagic Bands Mirror ManLP. This is followed, totally unexpectedly, by a long disorientingpassage of echoed and treated voices moaning and sighing, overdubbed whh musiqueconc€te backwar& tapes and crashing metallic guitar mini-explosions. This record can beportentous, alarming and appears to be dangerously unhinged. Very desirable.

The Brast Burn LP is equally loopy. Again, two LP sideJong suites - atain edited together tomaximum weirdness effect. Only tfiree minutes in from the stan and you're already lost thethread, lost in a maze of horrifying noises created by studio effects by persons with no respectfor restraint or common decency. There follows another Damo Suzuki impression, innear-English lyrics, extended into another infuriatingly overdone looped workout. But they'alng is irresistible - far less ponderous than most Krautrock even including thebeyond-repnoach Can. Brast Burn's playing is much lighter and spacier than that, with acharmingly attenuated slide guitar sound, a purring keyboard of some description, and a politebut very insistent distorted drum machine throbbing away. This switches to a more Fnstoraltheme, acoustic guitar and flute with hand drum, wailing away over the sound effect of thehowling wind...now you know one of the true antecedenG of Masaki Batoh's band, Ghost.

These are both truly weird records and snapshots of a ranished post-psychedelic period,trippy, acid-tinged and very progressive. I don't think anyone could eruen attempt tomanufacture something as utterlyfreaked out as this, in toda/s laded climate.

ED PINSENT

Die, Trip Computer, Die!Stadium DeathIIJCOHOL RECORDS ALITTCD I (1999)

| first saw these pranksters on | 4 May | 994, supporting Tony Conrad as part of a mini-seasoncalled'New Aura' organised by the LMC at Creative Block in Nonh London. How we hatedthis duo...the entire audience seethed with rage at having this drirel inflicted upon us. Die TripComputer Die blasted out their harsh, repellent electronic sounds, way too loud, per-formedtheir silly songs and screamed out their ugly vocals, all built around an embarassingly contrivedteam of stage p€rsonas called 'Country

Bumpkin' and 'City Slicker'. I deemed it the worst act

l've seen in my entire life.

ThanKully this CD of theirs, arriving five years later, isn't quite as hideous as that describ€dabow. I can't really connect to it, but it remains one of the most eccentric record you'll everhear, if you can make it that fur - and the determination of theTrip Computen to stick withtheir valiantly unfashionable sound is something vertint on the pathological. The only way I candescribe it is as some very odd electro-beat styled near-pop songs, all dined up with thickgreasy layers of noise and samples, and strained through some utterly cracked productionmethoch. The synthesisers are tuned to absurdly wacky presets, the instrumentation is odd,

the samoles are incoherent and thevoices are twisted into the mostdeliberately ugly shapes. Enen theirattempt at rap music,

'Ugly Deadty

Music'. is sabotaged by a self-sappingirony.

The carnirral doesn't end there. Die TripComputer Die have several messages tovouchsafe unto the ears of the woddand their extremely peculiar lyricsconvey a real circus sideshowatmosphere, making out that all humanlife is merely a cartoon-like pageant ofinsanity.'Mr Basin' lolls out its lyricallines which are kinda wacky in alow-grade surrsalist way, yet remainoddly old-fashioned too - as ttrough thewriters haven't quite shaken off thatAn-School sense of irony. This samesfrit extends to the lavish, full colourpicture book inside, generously allowinga full page of CD booklet anwork toillustrate the concept to each song.These mixtures of extreme colourcontrasc, virulent collage andPhotoshop tomfoolery manage to deliverprecisely the same queasy

uoset-stomach feel as the music.

Given the interest of Executive Producer EdBaxter in promotint some of the more far-flungeccentrics of music (a future proiect on thislabel will be a rare live LP by the incomparableRevd Fred Lane), this may not come as a realsurprise; its very naffness is almostconfrontational. DTCD are Xentos, who isallegedly the man behind L Voag and TheHomosexuals; Lepke Buchwater, the London DJwho's named after a gangster movie: and TonyBarrow. This is a monstrous overblown recordthat falls about laughing at its own ingeniousidiocy.

ED PINSENT

From PO &ox 556, London SE5 1RL

Oren Ambarchi and Robbie AvenaimThe Alter Rebbe's NigunusA, TZADIK TZ 7l3t (1999)

Staning off with some chiming guitars and veryplantent dissonances, the music soon kicks intogear with some explosive thunderousheavy-metal noise, exhibitint the kind ofderanged chaos you'd associate with aparticularly apocalyptic Butthole Surfers live set.Instead, this music is intended to relay thesubatance ofthe holy teachings of one RabbiSchneur Zalman of Liaid, known amongst hisfollowers as the Alter Rebbe fiHigh Rabbi].Active in the lSth century, the holy manproposed a series of metaphyaical I theologicalwork, known as his Nigunim, and it is one ofth€se, the most mystical and cosmic, that ourtwo musicians are celebrating in sound. Just asany artist is interested in the processes ofcreation, so the Rebbe discerned a patternbehind the cosmic order of things, with Jehonhas the hithest Creator of all. The four stages orlevels in the creative process steming fromdimzum are Emanation, Creation, Formationand Action. The natural order of these stages,as interpreted in music and sound, are of coursererersed on the CD in a conceit perhap6 tosuttest the le{t-to-right reading of a Hebrewtext, Hence we end the CD with an

fl85i

T I

I

37

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999instructional,doctrinal initiation:a lengthy reading(in Hebrew) ofselected holy texs,performed byRabbi YankelLieder. Theinclusion of thisreading per{ormedover some sinisterbackwards tapesand frankly eerieechoed percussion,is a master stroke,You may think thisesoteric, religiousmaterial, set forthin a language thatfew listeners willunderctand andsteeped in a culturealien to us gofm,means it's

:iJ::iffij;.- yousnoutontmrss

this: the music throughout never fails to inspire the fear and awe of an Old Testament God,and the multitracked horns are fit for bringing down the walls of Jericho.

Pan o{John Zorn's'RadicalJewish Culture'series, this CD was performed and recorded bytwo Australian members of the punk band Phlegm (one of whose CDs I have reviewedelsewhere). Orthodox Jews both, they are former students of the Talmud and Tanya. At thesame time they bring together musical influences from 'the

Japanese Noise Scene, traditional

Jewish Nigunim and Yiddish theatre, Marc Ribo! Ornette Coleman and coundess others...'You can see why Zorn would be interested, I guess. You should be too; I can vinuallytuarantee you won't have heard anything quite like this!

ED PINSENT

Yarious ArtistsSavage Peneil presents.,.The Aatiquack: E Dead DuckSelectionEMI RECORDS LTD SONGBOOKSERIES ?2{3 { 98G0G 2 5 (1999)

A nst improvement on his previous solo CD Snivelization, the strante yet rather cranky andimpenetrable Ether Hog record made in California this new Sanage Pencil presentationcomes to us under the auspices of no less a matnate than EMl. lt's part of a series of suchwork devoted to cartoonists and cult writers who were commissioned to choose theirfavourite music (or provide their own) within a luxury CD Book package with text and imagesof their choice...others in the series include Robert Crumb, Gilbert Shelton, lain Banks, PeterBagge and Hunter S Thompcon. Sarage Pencil has opted to use the format to tell a story of hisown in sound and image.

Mr Pencil has selected an impeccable range ofmusic here, including the extremes of

Japanese Noise obscurity Seiichi Yamamoto(from the Alchmey label) llng downalongside two fine track from Sun Ra.There's a sweet harmonic mourn from BrianWilson and The Beach Boys, from Surfs Up,1960s Blue Note i'- from Duke Ellin$onwith Charles Mingus and Max Roach; alongwith h\rourite psychedelic guitar workouts,including Quicksilver Messenger Service andHigh Tide. The eccentrics of rock arerepresented by Faust John Fahey, RoyalTru>q Captain Beefhearq Viv Stanshall turningin 'The

Question'from a rery rare B-side;and Neil Innes y'alng his funereal organ andpiano mini-elegr'Slush' from the final BonzosLP. One of the greatest ever bowing-outtracks to end a band's career - the poitnantsadness of the melody undercut by alaugh-box track summint up the best of TheBonzos' achievemen( with the revelation thateverything was a joke, even the death ofaband.

The musical component also boasts a guitar andfeedback solo by Sarage Pencil himsel( a wildand feral noisy burst that demonstrates the rawstrentth of his completely untutored guitarstyle. One of Pencil's childhood stories is thetale of his woeful guitar lessons from an oldsquare tryint to teach him 'Little Brown Jug'when he really wanted to play Blue Oyster Cultsolos. But this is only one pan of the story.Interspersed through the fine music is a bizarrenarrative, featuring SaVs anti-hero Dead Duck,one of his most obiectionable comic stripcharacters who keeps resurfacing no ma$erhow many times he's killed off. Given a voicehere by blues singer and conga player RobinBrown, the Duck reincarnates himsel{ as aseries of sordid low-lifes, most memorably as

Jim Morrison, reprising the infamous 'flashing

incident while appearing on a spoof version ofSarc ln Their Eyes. No aspect of modern life isspared from the vicious satire of Sa\,ate Pencil,and he wallows in the excesses of sleazy sexualpractices (videos. fetishes. dominatrixprostitutes), allowing the Duck to acquire amassive erection through Viagra and indulge innihilistic wish-fulfi llment fantasies where heshoots total stranters for wearing the wrongkind of trendy high street gear. The gun andpenis 'motifs' are rendered with just the son oflipsmacking savour you've come to exp€ct fromthis artist.

The story is brought to 3-D Technicolour life ina gallery of mind-searing drawings reproducedin full colour as a booklet staDled into thepackage. (lf this had been released in the | 970s,just think what a lavish double LP with book itmight have madel) Here, Sav X lets rip with hisfamiliar blood and guts outrages of sickness, butundercutting it all are yet more subversive ideasexpressed as images, A favourite trick of his hasbeen to exploit well-known icons of modernculture and re-think them on his own terms, toexpress his sick ideas in a format everyone will'get' instantly hence we have the cover, areworking of the famous Jim Morrison imageused on the No-One Here Gets Out Alivebro:and inside" the David Pelham ClxkworkOnnge pperbrck cover from 197 | is remadeinto a visual pun featuring the Duck character.These invert the clich6 o{ the famous ima6e, andonce they get under your skin there's noshifting them...less immediately obvious is theclever Dr Seuss homage, used to fcture Viv

Stanshall as a catfish.

Stylistically Sar's drawingstvle has now evolved tothe ooint where's it's anunholy cross between thean of Austin OsmanSpare and Rick Griffin -

occultism and peychedelicweirdness in equalamounts, and with therazor-sharp precision ofboth those draughtsmen.Colours are dropped inby compr.rter (with thehelp of PrincessLeisureCentre), and,further exploiting moderntechnology, visual sam/esare made - including aclose-up photograph of acooked duck s roastedskin from a cookery book.Hideous beyond belielyet you can't stop lookingat the stuff.

7

'fhc Alter Rchbe's Nigun

38

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999An endorsement of ufter freakdom and out-there alienated scuziness mingled with conremprfor the ineptitudes of the sad human race, celebrated through frauzled imagery andhand-picked morsels of the best music ever recorded by mankind...this is such a coherent tourde force and powerful artistic statemeng how can you live without it? Yet it's too strante formass consumption. I understand this unique artefact is being virtually ignored and gatheringdust on many a shelf as we speak. I predict that in the near future the scales wil fall fromeveryone's eyes and it will be seen as the maior statement it truly is, so you,d better doev'erythint in your power to snag a copy now, or be forever doomed to scour the lists ofrecord collector magazines.

ED PINSENT

Sun Gity GirlsMidnight Cowboys from lpanemaUStr,. .f,MARILLO RECORDS TCM-587'NN)

Allegedly one of the more accessible releases from this strange Californian Underground band.Here they perform their twisted correr versions of well-known hit sonts, among them 'Radar

Love' by Golden Earring 'Brand/, and soul classics 'Love Train' and 'Me

and Mrs Jones,. lttakes a deal of chutzpah to pull off such jiggery-pokery successfully, and you can imatine alesser band would be cracking up every few seconds as they fall about laughing at their ownwaggishness. But Sun City Girls are above this; truly committed to the life of freakdom, theycare not a tinker's cuss for our conventional sensibilities and relish the opportunity to takethe mick out of everything with free use of obscenity and sardonic humour in equal gobbets.This strategy is manifested here by the priceless snippets of babbling and tape-malarieybetween the sonts - insane sleazy hckchat dialogues between the group, each episode swiftlycollapsing into louche and puerile filthiness (often coincident with a mischievous hand on therari-speed knob). A trick reminiscen! of course, of the early Mothers of Invention recores,which in turn were sending up the | 960s penchant for pop musicians (including The BeachBoys and The Monkees) to include their own inane studio banter on their releases.

The music here is pretty darn fine actually, with the result that the songs stand up in spite ofthemselves as treat entertainment (to these ears, at any rate), The r,ocals are the weirdest bigeach singer doing their best to strain at those high notes they know they can't reach, parod

the clich6d sguawkings ofwell-known soul singers, and - in the case of 'Tell Me SomethingGood - deliver an all-out hysterical distonion attack worthy of rhe Residents. These aresupponed ably by a rhythm section and a fluid lead guitar that iniects as much heavy metalstyled sendups as seem (in)appropriate to the piece. Each performance is so casually loosethat they could be seasoned bar-room hack plalng their stale old repertoire for thethousandth time, yet the record comes up fresh as a daisy.

This CD, a reissue of a 1986 cassette from the Girls, is undoukedly but one of the manymanifestations of this bizarre band who are long tavoured amongst conoisseurs of the twisted.This just might account for why their original viny' issues are a bit scarce just now.

Amarillo Records, PO Box 2443, San Fnncisco, California 94124. IJSA.

ED PINSENT

Sun City GirlsBox Of Chameleons3 X CD Box SetAADUCTTON Rf, CORDS T.BTDOOg-3 CDs, 128 tracks and nearly 4 hours of music, though 'music' may not be a term that somewould apply to this exhaustive collection of what is only a small part of the entire sun cityGirls back catalogue (over 60 releases counting viny', cD and cassette). Little is known aboutSCG except that they are not $rls and, juding by some of the dates in the track listingthe/ve been plalng together since I 97 | .

The insert booklet states that'this CD set was recorded in Hi-Fi/Lo-Fi/No-Fi and fidelity youwon't achieve ever! - in real time.' And they mean it.

Drumming on upturned oilcans, drunk plalng saxophone, dogs howling in a subwayunderpass and the penny whistle fumblings of the homeless and desperate - and this is all rnthe first 5 tracks! Throw in some inept can-style 'ethnic' waddle, what sounds like parementduring a soundcheck and a sniggeringly narrated tale of hilltillies poisoned by bad water andsome people would have solid grounds to rip the thing out of the CD player and use it as afine coaster. But that would be to give in to what I believe is scG's raison d'etre. with theirscrapbook cutouts of Asian catalogue models and crossword puzles as album 'anwork

andtheir 'odd' song titles ('Asian Women on the Telephone', 'Cuts on Phantom Limbo,, 'BOBBy

SANOS' and 'Lubricated Forap') they have set out to be as deliberately annofng as they canbe in their own little way. The whole point of this relentless wave of 2-minute tracks by 3 menwho are clearly not taxed by their day jobo is to stir the listener into a state of indefinablefrustration. fu they veer from 30 second 'free

i"n'thrash sessions to Hare Krishna streetchants it seems the only way to sort out your emotions is to head for the nearest pub andlck and artument with a stranter.

HaVng said that, persistent listenint proves SCG to be worthy. They are following their ownpath and staying true to their instincts, however askew they may be. There's a pointlessnessto many of their track that makes you wonder why they even bothered? And then you begin

to wonder if such wilful perversity is intentional,if idiotic lyrics mumbled in a bored monotonewhile a man with broken fingers tinkers with apiano is intended as some kind of 'comment' onthe pointlessness of all consumer music. Andthen you realise that SCG probably don't care.

Meanwhile, back in the pub, you're screaming.'lTS ART \6. CULTURE!' while John Smith riesto ignore you and orders another pint.

And SCG are not on the iukebox.

RIK RAVVLING

Sun City GirlsLive fn The Land Of TheEisingrITPANOVERSEf,S IO9Z-30

Japan gave the Western World Merzbow,Masonna and Shonen Knife and we respondedwith Sun City Girls. As cuhural exchanges go it'sa fair swap I reckon.

Allegedly recorded in Kyoto, Tokyo, Osaka andNagoya during | 994 all the track soundsuslciously like the band were performing in acrowded cupboard for the benefit of a selectaudience of teenagg girls who like nothingbetter than seeing 3 guys hammering away attheir instruments like caremen. In the lire arenawith no studio tricks and samples to back themup the SCG are left to fend for themselves withnothint more than a drumkit, bass, guitar andpiano. Conseguently most of the tracks soundexactly the same - drunken monkey drummingLes Dawson piano tinkling and lots of high endof the fretboard #itar twiddlint that after aboutthe 4th track becomes as annolng to thesenses as a child repeatedly kicking a ball againsta wall because he's go nothing better to do.

Once again SCG are doing this shit for theirown amusement and once you make thatdawning realisation you can ioin them in the funand the frolics. Eventually k's the lack of rangethat makes tlris collection so enloy'able - theguitar screech becomes fingernails drawn downa blackboard repeatedly and, like Masonna itbecomes an exhilarating test of endurance forthe listener - the sonic equivalent of RichardHarris in A Man Called Horse strung from therafters with eagle claws through his nipples.

Essentially this is free jaz riffing taken to thenth dqree with some Yamantaka Eye screamsand gruns thrown in and by the end of the lasttrack the audience cries out in what sounds likea mixture of pleasure and relief. Track titles like'Night of Spilled Brains', 'Atomic

Jackal' and'Maggot Dripping Mouth' seem unnecessary:!sits obvious that SCG will never be able torepeat this unstructured racket in the samemanner again. And, as usual, they probably don'tcare.

lf SCG were gallery artists the/d be doinginstallations of dog carcasses and turning up atshows drunk, abusing the guests and sayint thatwas all pan of their art too. And they would still

tet away with it.

RIK RAWLING

Conact : Japan Overceas, 5- | -2 | Ueshio,Tennoii-Ku, Osaka 543, Japan

e- ma il : s h oel@@gol. cotn

39


CHrcAGo, 1q57, (to ilouoweycouLDN'( REnLLSUV RA nsF Akrirc oF ANY fARtrciltl(cREEo -c,PR REilGlo r...

Oil oNE occAstot'I,'fHotlq

7 Planfo visibNew York ,,, to

obbain somgBooxs /

t1ISASTRALPROTECTION-

A TRESToqJ;

LATER, HoWEVTR, HE RE?oKrrD,,.

How wuef\ b4agte,>onnJ t J

Oh,lhe tr iPhad becoma

LTNNECESSARY /

(=l , -v

,,, f. found e way,oF 3o;Awithorrl acfualli boaiaini2 bus or airPlanel"

He said he just sent hisb oAy, h is - o\,T7: lorgottalhz-wor4s llat heq;ea-.Sgfral ProJect;on 7

feah,lha(s tE.

" And he said he hadloL fhe inFormaLioru

hi wanLed, n

WHEN OTHER ?EOTIE LAUqHEO Fr HOLLOWA,I.

lvlan, yal hear thalstufP lhrl SonnY,BlounL is*alKirg AbouL /

' Can vou

il'R[i,i'G?


F Fr l- l-f , t t - Ll\tr,tr. JAZZ

Pan-African fustiral at Algiers in 1968, and recorda magnificent LP for the French Shandar label witha bunch of French j'z musicians. Called simplySunny Murny(Shandar SR l0 008) it's a bit ofrarity these days.

I alwap think it's interesting that the | 8th centuryBritish Government banned the drum outright inits American and West Indian <olonies. This wasbecause they feared it would be used to inciterevolt and riots, undermine their authority.

Amongst displaced Africans in those communities,the drum thus became a powerful symbol of theirAfrican identity, and the simple act of plalng itwould return them to their roots in a second. Thisis one of the strontest and deepest primal forcesthat have given the drum it place in free j.z -

something expressed most clearly in the music ofSunny Murray.

ED PINSENT

Raphe MatikConSequencesryExcellent new CD from trumpeter Malik, possiblyan improvement on his previous The Shon Form.This features six of his compositions, recorded liveat the Fire in the Valley laz festiral inMassachusetts, July 1997. He's joined by somefirst-rate sidemen - including the late DenisCharles on drums. William Parker on bass, plus

Sabir Mateen on the a[to.There's a lot more space in the

Pleces, some very sParsedynamics, where everythingstops dead only to rekindleitself just as suddenly, and longtracts allowing lengthy basssolos and drum solos. On thealto, Mateen is veryreminiscent of Eric Dolphy,while Malik comes over like across between LouisArmstrong (one of his heroes)and Donald Ay'er, when heshifu a gear and takes off intodetailed passages of mad,buzing clustered notes. In thebrief spaces Malik allowshimself to blow. he sayr anawful lot.

There is a real precision in hisplalng which points to hiscommitment to a structuredform of free j'-. He's acomposer as much as a player,and says that'playint music isvery much similar to building ahouse a piece of furniture'.Confirming this, Ed Hazellstates in his sleeve notes thatMalik plap'with a \rariety ofarchitectures...his tunes areblueprints for liberation'. Overhis career in the world of freejazz Malik must have heardenouth yount men screamintinto their saxes, all blowingloudly at the same time, in thename of freedom; but if the/reall plalng in the same key, itbecomes monotonous. Hisfriend Jimmy Lyons (sax playerwith the Cecil Tay'or Unit) farfrom being a screamer, couldplay in ten keys in the course

Sunny Munay with Sabir MateenWe Are Not At The OperaryThe title, I suppose, is to encourate the prospective listener to let down their hair andenjoy this music for what it is - ie we're not in church (don't renere it), this isn'testablishment music (we ain't squares), in shon We Are Not At The Opera. Because in away the presenters and promoters behind it are aware that they might be a shade tooresP€ctful themselves. 'Avatar of Free ian drums Sunny Murra/, boasts the poster for thisevent, recorded June 1998 at the Amherst Unitarian Meeting House in Massachusets. 'Al

the way from Paris', where Murray now lires - somewhat ironic. in that many of the mostsigni{icant proponents of this unique Afro-American music have not found a home in theirown country. The life of almoste.ver,l jaz. player has been a struggle w:th racism, findintwork, and dealing with the vicissitudes of plalng in lousy venues for small beer, in front ofan indifferent audience.

The Eremite label and its associates are amont many yount people trying to repatriate theavant-garde it- sensibility, redeeming it - and orer-compensating for the sins of ourforehthers perhaps in the pro€ess. With this CD we have the exceptional pioneer ofa\ant-tarde jaz drumming James Marcellus Arthur 'Sunn/ Murray, now over 60 andplalng an exceptionally fine set supported ably by the younter reedsman and flautist, SabirMateen. Murra/s work used to be much heavier on the cymbals, washing everything in asea of clattering silver clouds, where now he tends to concentrate more on the snare andrimshot work. lt's focused andminimal, and without perhapcthe wildness of his 1960s workbut still with orimed with agrandeur, and suffused energy.

Murray was one of the fewdrummers who fitted right inwith the demands of the CecilTay'or Unit in the early 1960s,and was among Tay'or'soersonal favourites. He went toEurope in 1963 and played livethere with Tay'or and JimmyLyons; the recordings in

Holland at the Caf€Montmartre are recommendedlistening. Under Tay'or'sinfluence Murray helpedredefine and liberate ja-drumming - along with otherradicals of the instrument suchas Rashied Ali and MilfordGraves. They moved away {romthe pulsebeaq eventuallydisposing whh it altogether.Murray chose instead to laydown a constant barrage ofcymbal clouds and snare work.with no traditional timekeepintat all. He resoonded to whatthe other musicians weredoing and interacted with theirsolos: or he simply made abeautiful Dercussive noise andcontributed this to theensemble plalng.

In Europe he met up withAlben Ayler, and formed (withGary Peacock) the well-knowntrio that recorded SpirhualUnifor ESP -Disk. lf you don'thave this record yeg youshould do. Murray lived inFrance for some time, lontenouth to participate in the

ac

4L

The Sound Projector 6ixthof a single solo, and modulate all the time. I think maybe some listeners have come to freej"z expectint some arty form of punk rock - fair enough, but think again, kiddos.

Mal ikhadlust lef th ighschool inthemid l960s,whenfree jaz.was intheascendant;hecould see the clear connection between the music of Coltrane and Miles. and the Doliticalscene - the civil rights movement, anti-war demonstrations. He saw Miles play live a log andthis helped him figure out the music ofthe more extreme free ja:zers - Archie Shepp, SunRa and the ArtEnsemble ofChicago. Men ofthese ilk wereplalng'anthemsof therevolution', asMalik puts iti it'sno coincidencethat Ra and theArt Ensemblewere asked toplay at AnnArlnr iatzfestivals by theWhite Pantheractivist, JohnSinclair.

Malik has been aplayer with CecilTaylor for some20 years, mostnotablyperforming onthe epic set OneToo Many SakySwift and NotGoodbye -

released as a 3LPbox set by the Hat Hut label in 1980. Malik came to New York in 1973, where Tay'or wasin the midst of running an academic programme; he was teaching a course called 'The BlackAesthetic', besides enabling workshopo for musicians. Malik also learned from the lecturesof Jimmy Lyons and Andrew Cyrille, who made him aware of the 300-year presence ofblack music in the USA. Although Tay'or's performances didn't always sit well \/ith thestudents (not all of them could stand his supercharged, marathon-performance anant gardemusic sessions), the institutionalisation of i'z in America seems to have taken off: becauseMalik now himself has a chair on the faculty of Bennintton College. lt's one of the fewuni\€rsities that actively sponsors the avant-garde, and he's being paid to write, composeand play.

Malik's story is an inspiring one - and so is his music, as shown on this fine set from one ofthe survivors of free jaz.

ED PINSENT

A lot of the above is cribbed from Opprobrium magazine #4, where Malik was interviewedby jounalist Ed Hazell.

'Dekoboko Haiime'(lohn Zonr\ & Yamantaka EyeNani Naniry'Ambient screams, Hardcore surf, erotic lndian psychedelia. Moronic samples, lndustrialMonster Movies, Karaoke Vomit and so much more'. That's what the cover blurb says. Iwas intrigued to say the least but what you actually get is a lot of self-indulgent uninsprednonsense. Zorn plays duck calls while Eye screams, plap the kazoo or children's learningtop and then blows bubbles underwater. You get samples of pigs squealing and helicoptersand TV background noise. Eye backpedals on the screams a bit and takes to labbering likean irate Japanese housewife. Track after track it's all vinually the same. Where the fuck isthe Karaoke Vomit?!?

To be fair its not ALL the same. Yoga Dollar' is an Alan Lamb style drone piece,'Propofution' sounds like the theme to The Terminatorand 'My Rainbow Life' is loungepiano with Eye doing pub singer oriental-style - all of which reads better than it actuallysounds. And just when you think they'ye gone and disappointed you all they could theythen to and waste the best title, 'Bad Hawkwind', on an l8 minute drone made up from acontinuous loop of Eye's trademark lunghowls. The whole sorry venture ends with a toiletl t u s h -

I really wanted to like this. lt throbbed with potential but once inside the CD player it wentlimp and complained that it must be tired or somethint. I expected it to be so muchcrazier, so much more inv€ntive, but it just seems that they weren't particularly interested.Perhaps the intention was to underwhelm the avid Zornothologists out there who'd befoolish enough to stump up { I 5 for this and if that's the case then they succeeded. Sun City

issue 1999Girls do this SO much better and, unlike Zorn &Eye, don't have other projects to fall back on to'prove'their'aftistic merit'. They are DEADLYSERIOUS about their stupidity while Torn &Eyewere simply stood in the studio lithtint farts.

RIK MWLING

|ohn ZonrMusic ForGhiIdrcn(IWusicEoznanceVoluzne I)ustr, Tz[r]IKI3I931lt999lEven the mostdedicated ofZornothologists mustbe salng by now,'Enough alreadf'Seemingly every monthsees another releaseand, unlike the equallyprolific Merzbow, l'vebegun to notice anadherence to the law ofdiminishing returns. ltseems like the man isrunnint out of things tosay and his 'notoriously

eclectic approach tocomposition looks more and more like a mandesperately running around tryint to look forsomethint to clint to.

And it's not that I don't like the man's work. TheNaked City afbums - particularly Torture Gardenand Leng T'Cheare long term favourites at myhouse. But he's done some abysmal twaddle aswell and tets away with it because of his 'avant

garde' pedigree. This collection of Zorncompositions (only 2 tracks of which Zorn himselfplayr on) veers wildly from spooky kids TV themetunes to 'poly - rhythmix etudes' to NakedCity-era thrash i"n to 20+ minutes of Zorn on lwind machines plalng a track dedicated to EdgardVarese that makes AIan Lamb sound like Wham!Once again, Zorn sees a musical 'genre' andappropriates it by hammerint it into the troundwith a completely OTT approach that lacks all thegrace and my:tery that Lamb brings to his 'Wire

music'. The only real standout track is 'Dreamer ofDreams' performed primarily by Marc Ribot onguitar - a haunting romanticisation of the Americathat lies somewhere between the trailer park andthe Marlboro poster.

This is probably just a nonsense mix of forgottentrack and to iustify the title and alleged childhoodthemes in the music lkue Mori has assembled anexcellent collection of photographs and artwork toestablish a strong enough mood to seep into themusic itself. lmages ranging from 'Little Nemo' stylewatercolours to grainy photos of child's corpsesand sinister dolls deliver the desired whiff ofcorruption and innocence lost but ultimately it's nomore effective than some 6th form Goth anstudent gluing black lace to their paintints for'authenticiV.

Perhapa sometimes people are better offwiththeir Steps albumsl At least it's real music forchildren.

RIK RAWLING

42

'nO.ttt{ AreBoff"

pRoJEcT DA.R.K. ARE A TEAM OF ART|STS, KTRSTEN REYNOLDS ANDASHLEY Davies, with visual assist from Tony pattinson; they put hand_made, circularanogectsontheirturntabr*:;Il,-r;:l:11"?'*::?Xiil:il:t:.1T''* | A n ^ ,

l*riii;l{'ry;#1":r"fr r*ffi: rTT:::iT:,Tl: ;.*:h,:r I C/ t?/ t9cut and glued on a disc. The objects are made to resembre records by having rabersstuck in the centre: there the resemblance ends however, because they havi nomicrogrooves and are not in any way efficient carriers of pre-recorded materiar. Thefabefs extend the conceit by Printint punning, non-existent tong ti,t., ,o .h";;,-

| From an lnterview with Kirsten Reynolds (KR) at 2 Apnlartefact is a humourous seff-refererringobiect.

I tggg, at The plough, Huseum streetThe business of putting them on turntabtes involves a parody,of DJing

. I 1lffg RECORDS _ THEIRconfrontation between a stylus and a textured surface, which proOrices a species.f | _ _______noise which can be further manipulated by using effects pedals in "

ti". titu"ioi.-- -

| nnetERLAIrS AND SONICThese live shows are by all accounts exciting ana explosive I l.p"S

have reached I pn OpUntmSus of !11wo1ks and exploding turntabres, which have shocked audiences

".ound th. |

|world. I had hoped to see one of these live shows in May 1999, a rooftop gig at the I

*,'jil::11f:l*:::t:T:::::"_I::1111": lut'it was^cancerrea. ruo-' t'""" r | rcn rhese things provide source sounds. In the way thatactually heard the music, unfortunatelyc no sample tap€s or cDs were providedto

| ""y.r, "g-fur. t!';.;;;i ;;;;;#;:[::The so-und Propctotl bar a promotional video with ihon sound excerpts. This, | | now possible to do a lot more mutatin, of those sorrnrwt dPrer r le r re t rd rYrseowl (nsnonsoundexcerP6. lh is , l

I nowposs ib le todoa lo tmoremuta t ingof thosesounds.

:1T::iT,::::iX P.|] :f:Ii.:j Yllt-ryesentative piece oi work'. i ."n. I La constructins - and sequencing. Because or then'.T" ludgement on the music, therefore - ihougtr the concept i' *ten ining- | ffij]j;ffi:;*.[H;H ffi::;JLiiL.n.enough.

other end of that sptem, will be quite...different. At theAs far as I can understand iq the idea started as a conceptual an piece - but I

beginning I was thinking....l'll stick that on the turntableexecuted with a treat sense of fun. Kirsten Reynolds and other band members of I and see what happens, So we tried it. They all makeHeadbutt had a brilliant drunken idea one night. Unlike some who fall at the first I

different sounds, naturally, and it s ,ust to do with the waypost at the bleak light of day, they went further and staned to created a Conce'tual I a stylus works. But it became appa.rent there was a lot ofSeries-. A catalogue of records made out of unusual materials began to

"ru.g..' I extraneous noise going on, and though each one was'Round

things are boring', said Frank Zappa on his | 967 Lu^py Zorv i"isie'*".t . I making a specific sounJ there'd be this extra bit. So weNot to these gup.

I sent the signal out through loads of EQ and some very

y;ii::ixrffisH*"iffi:::',::131,*:tT:,:f.:T"ff::i..J.^ | r#:ffir":lTtr'$Hll#:;:lil','il;i''would exist in limited editions of about 20 or 25, would hare lokey.tabets ,.u.k.o - | ;ffi:rJ:::fi;iffi;::tJ[:,:J::::""fff." ,..them, and lent themselves to being exhibited in wooden caskicchv gold records ororrrilw ati<rrtrwet in rha ^*i-^. ^r -^-^":,'-I1I'lt-1T"-tl"-tyof I Not ..ally.h"nte iq but just pick out the sound which iskitschy. gold records proudly dislayed in the offices of some rich ...o-.d .xe.rtii.. | : ""

r earr/ ctrante rq out ,usl Pl

lhel ihiy had the idla to #ualy ptay the darn thinss "" ";;;;;.:;n;." I

unicue to that surrace.DA.R.K. was started on the road to success. I don'tihink anyone inrolved woulJ I EP 59 there's something inherently unusual about the


pooo

pretendthat i t 's 100%new-af teral l i tsafai r lywel l -knownfact theAphexTwi i I sounds/

played sandpaper on his turntables in a New York gig, and there *- ibFdiy; |

<n rv" never heard anything like them! you,re talkingremote Dutch record label that issued records preised in the surface of lakes. | "bout an area of music that's not this, that or the other.

No, the problem is, to these ears at leasg the musjc itself is not really very I You're.narrowing it down. lt's not made by violins, it's not

interesting. All I can hear (on the shon video tape at least, as mentioned above) is . I et"y"a by guitars. Someone could listen to that and go, ohseries of indiffereng grinding sludgy electronic noises, the only ----------1 '

fi**p;$**fl,r;.*;nru*1 lf '''i" erhear for yourseH

ED PINSENT

43

The SoundProjector 6ixth issue 1999

;tu 's,

you hit you get a different sound. lt's like tritterint asample or something.

EP What determines the choice of materials/

KR Most of these are just things we've come across indaily life. lf you find yourself in a hardware shop you endup bulng a circular saw. We're alwalc trying to fix thingsand mend things, so we're in certain environments all thetime. They are iust the things that easily come to hand.We've got a list of things we would do if we had themoney, or the manufacturing capabilities. These have allgot to be things we can come across easily, or makeourselves. But that's just the way of the process. And Ialso think it should be something that's familiar to mostpeople. That wasn't an intentional thing but I think it'squite important that is the case. lt makes sense...it's notlike'What's That??l lt's more like. 'Oh. that's a biscuitthat look like a record.' That's either interesting orhumourous depending on how you take it.

Recently we've been doing some stuff with gramophoneplayers. Rather than being a stylus electronic signal, it is apurely acoustic signal that s tenerating it. So in order todo anything with it live, you've got to either have gigantichorn so everyone can hear iq or it becomes electronic atsome point because it tets recorded or hooked up to amic or whatever.

tl . l

i||f,,l*''o

? r

you could have made it with a synthesiser. However - it has been made in none ofthose ways. And no-one else is making things in quite that way. So - it's a kind ofdetail, but it is still very very different. I say that, although people off the street maysay - no difference whatsoever. Depending on your degree of ear-experience, orwhatever you want to call it. There has to be an actual phpical difference in thesound, because of the way it's made. I think asp€cts of it haven't b€en heard before.

EP To begin with, k wasn't intended that theyA be played at alll

KR We intended to y'ay them, purely as a conceptual thing. They should be playedbut [making a record] would have been as a document of them - whereas what'sactually happened is it's turned into more of an instrument for making music, asopposed to a record as a record.

EP The subsances arent chosen for their sonic propenies at all, are they/

KR The/re chosen mainly visually, l'd say. However, there are certain things youcan look at the material there and you can imagine, with your common sense andother experience - what this bit's gonna sound like. So you think - let's use that,because not only does it look great but you know its gonna sound different. Reallyspectacularly different to the others. That s happened many times. Like with thesandpaper ones, there's all different kin& of sandpaper. We /ayed on theinternational asp€ct, the fact that they're all from different countries - you'll find onethat's far more granular. So you know that will sound different and be useful in otherways.

When I say whack the stylus on, it's actually played quite percussively. lt's not

trooves, you're constantly doing things whh it at that end...it s not just a drone ofnoise, the [tonearm] can be used as an instrument. As a drumstick. Except when

44


ooooI,IVE SHOWS - SPECTT,CLES AND LIGHT

KR The very first thing we did was an exhibition at the Metro on Rupen Street.

ffhe eguipmentl was really basic. Just jumble sale things. And that went throughthree guitar pedals and that was it. As soon as we had played these and recordedthose sounds, we iust multi-tracked them on a four track at home and made somesingles. So there would be viny' in the series, but the viny' in the series has beenmade from the sounds of the oblects. lf that makes sense! We'd iust make a bit of amix, so that you've got something that s controllable, I mean that involves a delay ora loop so there's some kind of coherence, although it's not constructed as music assuch. So that's on viny' - so then the viny' can be played alongside the thing. Thatcould be the bass and drums of the band and this becomes the tuitar solo. Aridiculous thing to say, because it sounds nothing like that whatsoever! There'ssomething that's constant and you know what it's gonna be, and you have the livethint orer the top.

We did that in loads of different places, in Europe, in funny old bars and any oldplace that would have us. ln fact we supponed Headbutt, though we were Headbuttas well. lt was an easy way of plalng twice! And then we got asked to do Brussels,and it was a huge great old cinema and we were 6onna be on a stage for the firsttime, because before we'd just been in rooms on a tabletop. You could see whatwas happening on the dech and suddenly I just thought - 'lf we're gonna b,e on stage,nobod/s gonna be able to see these records and we're gonna be making funnynoises, and no-one's gonna know why.' Tony had been filming us in a documentaryIashion up until then. He said why don't we use my VHS camera to proide a livemonitor of what's happening. So we had a big camera on state looking at the deckand that image was then sent to this screen so you could see what was happening.And then seeing that we thought 'That looks fantastic! We've gotta do that again.'But the problem was we had this tiant camera which iust looked ridiculous. Sobecause fl-ony] had been doing some work with surveillance cameras, for rrarioussecret filming - we bought a little miniature spy camera, which we then attached tothe styius arm, So we had this camera that would be mounted on the arm, and asecond little camera on a goose-neck that was bent over it. So - two imates of thesame deck, and you could just switch between the two, lust to make it look a bitmore lively. The spy camera is a lnhole camera, so everythints in focus and it'sguite wide angle. Subcequent to that we've tot the second camera on a miniaturerobot arm now, so it kind of moves around.

EP So right from the san it's a visual thing" isn't hl Seems to be more a visualpercenrAge to it than sound.

KR I wouldn't say it's bigger. The whole point oI it is that any sound that is madecomes from something that also has, by its nature, a visual content, And even if youchoose something for its sonic prop€rties, it's still gonna look like something! That'sunavoidable. I think that because there's a logic to what's to:nt on, people want tosee it. And I also personally have a hatred of bands where you're in a room andthere's nothint to look at. Because I lust think thats a sense ignored. And it happensso many times. I've seen enough blokes in black T shirts at tits and I don't wannasee any more! Not to say that people should be dressed up in visual suits andflouncing around for the sake of it, because that wouldn't make any sense either. lt'sgot to be appropriate to what's going on. l'm also really bored of Club visuals, whichare a load of old 1950s super-eight films, orerlaid with a slide of a circuit diagram.Which is everywhere. lt's the same ererywhere. Because you see them so oftenthey iust become redundant. lt s iust a wallpaper situation. l'm not salng [what wedo] is the solution for enerything but for us it's relevant and I think it looks hntastic.

EP With your petformances, has anyone ever been outraged, or shocked, ordismayed, or disappointedl ls it intended to be provocative/

KR The thing that causes most problems is, we do have this exy'osive ending...!Which came about because I had a record player that didn't go around, because itwas too cheap and crap! And I found out that even if it's not plugged in, there's nopower going through i! you still get a sound coming from the stylus through theline-out of the phonos in the back. Never knew that before, it's just something that Iceme across. And then I discovered...because we're plalng things that aren't viny', itdoesn't mafter what speed it goes around, it doesn't have to be precisely pitched oranything. And then because of my Bow Gamelan background, I had a pile offireworks under my bed! And I thought - l'm sure if I put a rocket on this record, asa kind of driving mechanism, it would go round. And I became a bt fascinated by thisidea. And thought l'd try it. lt look fantastic! lt whizes round and makes a big lightthing and the lid flies off. Because it's a proper firework it causes an immenseamount of problems in public situations, because it's against every regulation in thebook.

45

I don't want to cause difficulties, but I also want to dowhat our show entails. lf it entails that and people don'twant us to do ig then l've gotta find a way round it. Mostpeople are quite reasonable - | can show them our safetydevices, and show that I know what l'm doing and it'susually OK and they switch off their smoke detectors forthat part of the show. Sometimes you're in a situationwhere everyone's being so arsey you just know that if youask, they're gonna say no. We did this in Liverpool. And Ihadn't actually discussed this v/ith the technicians or theorganiser, but he'd seen all our press beforehand, so heknew what we were gonna do. He chose to put us thirdout of four things in the night. Which I thought it wasslightly odd, because it's a difficult thing to follow wheneverythinEs just blown up! Howe'rer, I didn't want toquestion his...curatorial iudgement. That was hisprofessional decision...we blew up and finished and le{tthe state, and the next act c:rme on and did his thing andabout four minutes into it the fire alarms went off and thebuilding got eracuated. And it wasn't intentional at all!

EP ls loud wlume a pan of your performance - does ithave to be loud to succeedl

KR No - | think it has to be a certain level, othemise itjust sounds pathetic. lt's not convincing. But its not a realpainful volume thing it doesn't need to be because a lotof the sounds are quite extreme, in their frequencyspecificness, or their weird shape. So, rather than thevolume, that's the kind of thing that's more difficult forpeople, if the/re gonna find it difficult. There's not a lot ofsmoothint-out processing some of it is quite straithg andit's ouite abrasive. Not all of it is. but oars of it are.

THE RECORDS IN AN f,RTGTLLERY CONTEXT

EP You took same ofthese hems inta Raugh Tndeshop, didnt you/ Hade an edhion and see ifanyone wouldbuy theml

KR Yeah, we tried to sell them, but nobodywanted themobviously. We did one of the viny' ones...it's a viny'picture disc, and the A-side is a sandpaper picture disc,and it's got a recording of the sandpaper on the A-sid€.And the B-side is like the back of the sandpaper, and hasa remix. Nick from Transglobal tot involved with that. lt'ssort an ongoing series - although there's only been one sofar. Some people have said'l wish I could play it on myturntable, but I don't want to.' So this is a way you cantake it home, it would look pretty much like the actualthing would look, and you could play it and it would makethese really straight sounds, not messed around with inany way. And then the B-side would be the second

teneration version of those sounds, so it would beremixed or ad& to, or made into something...aconstructed musical thing. They are for sale, and theeditions are real. They are limited. Because theyre justkind of special thints, to define that area - there's thatmany of it and that s it Peoy'e say they could make theirown - but that's not the Doint.

EP What about exhibiting the records as anehctsl

KR We did the thint in Intoxica...and we've done quite afew actually, one in Manchester and one in London...andwe did one at the Zodiac in Oxford, which is how we gotinvolved with the Peel thing, Sounds of the Suburk.Funnily enough Ashley and Tony are both from Oxford sothat's how we managed to tet our name on theprotramme, although we're not really an Or<ford band atall.


cqnonBIBLE

PROGRAMMESior use wrlh

JACKMAN STUDIOS LIMITED

PHONO.VIEWERCAPTURE AND HOLO CHILOREN'S INTEFEST

COMMUNICAIT TIMELESS TRUTHSCHOOSE FROM 60 FAVOURIIE STORIES

Ef f ect ive aids -f or BiblePtso , ro Vnr \ \ r : r Mo. l l

stories

trVAILABIJE PRODUCTSKR We've done quite a few bits and pieces on funny little labels. There's a label inthe Basque region - French side - there's some very Lizarre folk music in that area.The/re far more bizarre than we could ever hope to be! We started doing thisseries caf fed Excited 8y Gnmophones, which is what the live show's called at themoment. The first one was on a German label and it's a limited edition, blue vinyl, l2inch album. Volume two was a tap€. Volume four was this one we did on lnvisibleRecords, which is only a CQ to my immense disappointment. They couldn,t affordto do viny' as well. Out of choice I'd prefer the end product to come out on vinyl.For sonic reasons, visual reasons, collectible reasons...mainly because I want to use iton my turntable! Once it's on CD I can't do anything with it, its like putting a fullstop on the end of it. With viny' | can re.use iq do somethint more with it.

EP Are you satislled with the results ofthese releases/

KR Not particularly. The/ve been a compromise every time. For'real worldreasons...they say can you do this album and we'll 6ine you some money, and thenyou don't get it. There have been times when we've intentionally compromised,because l'd rather do something than nothing. lt means we end up collaborating withother people far more than I would want to do, than something that,s in my name. ltwould be nice to take control and do things exactly how we want to do them.

ooooo

Some .Ertefacts from theINTOXICtr, Gallery list

@ Pri, / Wun SIN OO | . Etched glass 7" anefac\framed, edition of 15.

O Drb Colo..rs meets D.AR.K ., Sand AndDeliver / l'm Still Sanding SIN 0055. Audibleglasspaper / sanded and polished 7", edition of 60.

A foAo- Tennis AssociationEP, S|NNOO66.Clear viny' 7", edition of 40.

@ Blindspots / You make me fee-| S1N0057.Braille 7", edition of 10.

A h Oa* at NgttrEP, Outsider Records. 7"

Proiect D.5,.R.K.: PO Box 2879,Irondon NZ 6DF

46


LUGAS ABELAThe Man who put the

ll-0-l-$+ in ll-S-W!IF YOU WERE PAYING ATTENTIONLAST ISSUE - AND I KNOW some ofyou were - you moy flovegleoned ond g lommed o br iefintroduction to ihe world ofLucos Abelo. in our brief reviewof his solo CD Peeled HeorlsPoste. ond two CD releoses onhis independent Duol Ploverlobel which he runs oul ofSydney Austrolio. (Some otherson this lobel ore olso reviewedthis issue, so look for 'em!) Lucostouched down in London on 2June I999, where your SoundProjeclor teom cought himploying o l ively five-minute set otBockspoce, on odd litt le'bringyour own'venue on Cl ink Si reetneor London Br idge. Here. Lucosinserted on odd-lookinginstrument in to h is mouth ondgeneroted o series of highlybizone. non-musicol bursls ofe leck ic noise - looking not unl ikesome sort of twisted dentolstudent proclising on himself. Wethen escorted him - Abelowolking borefoot. weoring someincredible flored trousers - to oneorby inn where we could sitoutside ond converse, iherebygornering some interesting foctsond opinions re the fringes of thelote 2Oth-century musicunderground scene os Abelosees it from his ongle. No quortergiven nor oskedl

Notes: The 'Bridge' he refers to iso lorge steel curved frome. onwhich ore mounted motors onddiscs spinning of h igh speeds.The'Glove' is o hondpiece f i t tedwith four long styluses whichenqble him to somole records ino unique woy...we sow neitherof lhese, however, being treotedonly to whot he colls the'mouth-work'.

Sound Projector teom = EP (EdPinsent) ond WA (Wor Anow)

LA = Lucos Abelol{\t rw rw rv\ltv\ltwtvrttvvtwrwlv.l lv.l Mt lvytwlwtvvlwtv.ttv\t

EP We've lust seen Lucas Abela, playing at thisvenue called Backspace, which is like acybernet cafe...weird...what on eafth wereyou doingl h looked absolutef horrible andpainful! You were sticking something in yourmouth and you had like a utility belt of effectspedals around your waist

LA I stick like a turkey skewer connected toa phonographic cartridge from a turntable inmy mouth, and play that. lts a kitchen utensildesigned for sewing up really big turkep! |use it instead of a sty'us. Apparently it hascaused some damage to my mouth...everyonesap it's bruised, I used to get damaged on theinside of my mouth...the inside of my cheek istorn apart every time I play a show and I haveto leave a couple of shows before it repairsbe{ore I can play again without intense pain. ltisn't so bad today, but apparendy l'm bruised.Don't know whl I usually get lost in themoment...l can't say I did just then. Thevolume was a problem for me and I usually getinto a stream of consciousness level when l'mplaying and forget everything around me andjust play and enjoy that a lot. But tonight...thevolume was so low. I didn't get into that levelof plalng I would usually get into. lt wasn't aPA more like a HFFi stereo system. \ y'asn't

the finest show I ever did. But everyoneseemed to enioy it and said good things.

EP Well, therek several sides to it Therebyou performing - and thereb the volume,Maybe the volume let you down, buc it wasstill spirited, enetgetic - the movements werethere. ls the loud volume important to you/

LA Well, you play and feel as an improvisor.You're not playing a set piece of music. Youdon't know which string to use, you don'tknow what you're doing. The volume andoresence in the room makes it a better showin the end, it's harder to play with a lowvolume. I could hear people talking while Iwas plalng and l've never had that before!Never in my life had a hushed conversationwhen l'm plalng. And that really signifies afow-level fuckin'sound. (He becomes a taddisjected)That show was crap, as far as I'mconcernedl lt was hard to get people to putme on. at a decent venue. with a decent PA.No-one's interested. l've been in touch withDy'an from Prick Decay, and he organised fiveshows for me in the UK and it ended up

turning into two shows, when I got here. Iwas really pissed off about that. He got meGlasgow and he got me Leeds (the TermiteClub). Everything else I had to arrange mpelf.There was a last-minute Newcastle show, andthis show was last-minute. Newcasde was arock gig supporting some rock band doingtheir album launch. I don't even know how Igot onto that! But a giJs a gig and l'll playanywhere...anytimel

EP That's a good philosophy. And it looks likeyou tnvel light

LA Yes, it all fits in a backpack. I used to playthe 'Bridge' and all the big machinery and stuff,but when I went to tourJapan in 97, I couldn'ttake it along with me. So thats when Ideveloped the skewer-in-the-mouth show,because it's lighc and it travels well, I can getaround on a self-financed tour. No-one'spaying you millions of dollars to drag a hugecar6o of equipment. You can get throughCustoms because you haven't got lots ofthints.

WA lAmused) I can,iust imagine ttying rc getthrough Customs with a turkeyskewer.''whatb rhis for///!'

LA In San Francisco, they thought my turkeyskewers - or my humming ban, as I call them- were instruments to break into cars! Sothey held me in Customs, put me in this backroom, and had the San Francisco PoliceDepaftment come and inspect all thisequipment. They drilled me for a couple ofhours about what I was doing. I ended uphaving to show them what I do - they werereally confused, but they ended up letting mego. I call it a humming bar because I play thevibration of my lips against the bar - hence,humming l;e;r. (lmitates sound of this).

EP Are you more of a pet{ormance artist,than an improviser, would you say/

LA No - entertainer. I don't like to put anyluggage on it!

WA What about your other names - l've gota compilation and I guess you're on there insome capaciE, is it DJ Smallcockl

LA I play as DJ Smallcock, Justice Yeldhamand the Dynamic ribbon Device, PeeledHearts Paste...l play in a band called TesticleCandy, a band called Bul-Go-Gi, a band calledBlack and Budget Minded...the Band fromBloody Elle. Lots of different proiects I play inback at home, but I usually tour as PeeledHearts Paste. l'm thinking of dropping thatand keelng my solo name as DJ Smallcock. Ithought of Peeled Heara Paste in'92, and l'mkind of over the name realll DJ Smallcock has

47

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999alwap been pre-recorded material, butconsidering I'm plalng a large stylus in mymouth - which is turntablism in a way - I'mthinking of keepint just one nahe.

EP kb preny extreme turntablism...playingyour own body.

LA I staned off doing radio shows and doingjust really violent turntablism. And I keptbreaking everything so I staned modifying theturntables to be more sturdy, using pins andrings and razor blades, then knives and allsors of things until eventually it became theturkey skewer and the motorisedturntables...instead of turntables I would usespinning motors.

EP Were you actually plalng records, or justspinning meal discsl

LA I had circular saws and vegetable cutters,and l've had actual records, and grindingstones, and Tibetan Humming bowls, allspinning at high speeds, and plalng them. I'vekind of gone off that! | really like the mouthwork, I think it has a lot more dynamic andchangeable sounds. The actualpieces I can create by just usingthe humming bar in the mouth Ifind a lot more interesting andperformative. lt's very visual, the'Brid6e' and other stuff | used toplay was visual as well. I thinkthe sounds lacked...there were acertain amount of sounds I couldmake, and that was it. But \vhenI get into the mouth work, therange of sounds is much moreexquisite and more enjoyable forme to play, and its light as I saidbefore. Put it in a backpack andgo anyarhere.

EP So there are other peoplewho have done sound frombody-arx..ver7 kind of cerebnl.Thereb Scelarc, the Austnlian...

LA Yeah, Stelarc's an Aussieguy. He had that funny arm-thinghe did. That was more on aperformance an level, aurally itwasn't all that interesting. ltdidn't have the dynamic - anenjopble dyramic - that's why Icall mpeff an entertainer ratherthan a Derformance aftist.Because performance aftists areboring, and entertainers are funto watch and they do anenioyable show.

EP Stelarc - it's not only boring,but itb also kind ofdepressingisnt k? Heb saying somethingvery depressing about humanbeings.

LA Yeah! lt's not so much fun. I don't get intoall that hate-monger kind of stuff. l'm intogiving a fun show that entertains people, iustsomething people will enjoy. So much noisemusic is based on just relentless crap andmaking people feel uncomfortable. I like a fundyramic that p€ople can enioy, and I don'tthink many peope come in on that angle. Theaudience helps. l'm a shy per{ormer!

w{ tw tw t$t tw rvv rvv rvv wv tvvtw tw tw tw Mt Mt Mt tw tvv rwEP When I got your CDs out of the blue,

[followed soon by a CD from PhlegmJ I kind

ofassumed there was a whole scene offreenoise going on in Australia...is that cruel

LA Free noise, no...there's a scene ofexperimental musicians, but free noise, there'svery little free noise. A few people. But I thinkit's all relative - small populations in Australiaand all that. lt's quite healthy, but as far asnoise music goes there's me and a couple ofother indiMduals. Phlegm rock hard! Theydon't exist any more. There's a new bandcalled Menstruation Sisters, comprising twomembers of Phlegm. The/re like my favouriteband in the whole world at the moment.The/re fuckin fantastic - you should see them.But the/re not free noise - the/re rock. Notyour everyday rock or anphing like that.The/re fuckin out there, but still not freenoise in any respect.

EP Are you going out on a limb, doing whatyou're doing in your home country/

LA Yeah, there's no-one really interested inwhat I'm doing. The gigs are very small. ltdepends on the gig. I play a lot of raves these

dap, and collaborate with Techno DJs...l getlarge crowds there and they really love whatl'm doing. But it's tot beats behind it! lf I gotup there and played without the Techno DJwith me, l'm not sure what theyd think.Noise and Techno go really well totether.You have that underllng noise, and thenyou've got the beats on top of it. Everyone'sdancing going wild and there's really freakysounds. People are tettint really bored withTechno, cause it's fucking ten years on oreven longer. Whacking noise in there with itjust brings up the interest. Really crazy. Thegigs I enjoy most at the moment are myTechno gigs, cause, as I said I like to be an

entertainer and when you're in thatenvironment you get hute crowds, everyone

tets into it and they dance like motherfuckers.You go to fuckin' noise shows, experimentalnoise shows, and everyone sits down, theyclap politely, you really feel like shooting them,you know! When you play at a Techno gigeveryone's fuckin dancing to your music.You're making an extreme noise - ortextured, dynamic noise like I like to make -they're dancing I really love that and it makesme feel good plalng to a crowd like thagrather than pretentious fucking noise fans orexperimental music patrons that...l don't reallyknow what they're into it for. I don'tunderstand them really. I don't get thosepeoy'e...they're just nerd music collectormotherfuckers and they shit me to a larteextent! I'm probably biting the hand that feedsme, runnint an experimental music label andallt (Laughs)\Nell, fuck you!

WA: I think itb always the we/. You (Ed) havedone comics in the past, and l've done comicsin the past, and you can end up hating your

own audience.

EP Well you're rfiht aboutexperimenal music. I mean lgo tosome of chese experimenal musicthings, I probably have been anerd myself in that sense! But theaudience are too polite, they donbalways appear to enioy it, andthereb a real said collectormentality behind k. I agree that, if

/ou can get out there andenterain people with it..

LA lt's a very elitist mentality, aswell. I was talking to Nomextonighg and he knew some tuy inHolland that had bqilt a'bridge'similar to mine. We were talkintabout the fact that exoerimentalmusicians are Yery precious abouttheir ideas. if thev build aninstrument and someone does thesame thin& they get really reallyshittl But I actually enjoy thatbecause imagine if the guy thatinvented the tuitar was the onlyperson that ever played theguitar! Nothing would ever comeout of iq because every individualhas something new to bring to aninstrument, and if you have thatattitud€, like 'this instrument'smine, l've invented it, no-one elsecan fuckin play it-' - it's lust fuckingstupid, because every p€rson thattakes that instrument up is tointto attack it in a Yery differentcontext and come out withcompletely different thinp. l'veheard of people doing similar

things to my'glove' that I invented, with thesty'uses on each finger - the same with the'Bridge', and it makes me happy to thinkpeople are doing similar things, and plalngsimilar instruments. The/re all going to comeout differently in the end, because you've gota mind and individuality behind that. Theinstrument doesn't make the sound, it's theperson behind the instrument that makes thesound, and that's what's good in the end. lfyou're tonna be so precious, I don'tknow...fuck off!

EP You're not out there demanding acopyright from these people, then!

48

LA Not at all! l'd be glad to be ripped off, tosee what other people do with my ideas,Then again I wouldn't even claim them as myideas. There's a lot of synchronicity in ideas,and I'm sure other p€ople, at the same timel've come up with things, have come up withthints...the Kombi album I put out lMusic toDrive-Byl, I recorded that in '94. And then Iheard about these people in Rogue's Galleryin Japan, who drive around Osaka and makecar music. And they sound really wild! When Igo to Osaka next l'm tonna tet in that car andhave them do a show for me - but I wasn'tlike 'Oh, they fucking made car music, thebastards, they ripped off my idea!', I didn'tthink that all! When I read an interview whhthem, they came up with this exact same ideaabout the exact same time I did, of makingmusic with their car. But they came up with acompletely different angle, they contact-miketheir entine and all different pans of their car,and they have two audience passengers in theback and they drive around and do theirthing. While my Kombi album is like acomplete accident where the car stereo wasmalfunctioning and made really weird soundsand I iust decided to record it. So - similarideas, but completely different approaches.And I haven't heard the Rogue's Gallery stuffyet, but I can imagine it being completelydifferent to A Kombi, and I respect that -

because car music fucking rocks!

WA There was that Spanish bloke who did itwfth a motorbike as well.

EP Yes, erm..Jordi Vallis. ltb his motorbikeengine. ,Again, btalll different as you say. Ithink, parckularly in experimenal music,people are verT possessive of theirideas...because it's like that's all they've pt!lnstead of being a heahhy scene where peopleare shaing ideas, it's become like a lot of litdeis/ands...you've got to hang onto what you'vegot and protect it at all costs, against allcomers, and this I find very vety sad.

LA I get compared to Masonna a lo! becausemy sets are very short - and I wear a belt!Besides that - the music's completely fucking

different! l'm nothing like Masonna besidesthe short set and the belt! So what are peoy'ecomparing me to Masonna for, for fuck's sakelIt's a ioke...a real ioke. Most people have got asmall mind. They can't see behind theconceptual idea and the actual aural endings olthe music, they don't actually listen.

EP And it's a music fournalism thing too,because itb hr easier to read about an idea inthe music press than it is to go out and lindout for )'outself what it sounds like.

WA I think itl something to do with the fearof appearing stupid. People are afnid ofiusten.ioying something on a very straightfot'wardlevel. k has to have all this stuffatached...

LA lt's too fucking intellectual for my liking.

EP How long have you been doing yourwork/

LA I staned out when I was doing radioshows in | 992-93, iust doint turntables overthe air and ended up...the guy: from Phlegmheard my show one day and invited me to doit live in a venue in September 1994. And I'vebeen doing it live since then, and developing itsince then. This is in Sydney.

EP And the A Kombi thing has been guitewell documented...you were living out of theback of your ven at the time. Were lou asur{er/

LA Yeh, I was living out the back of my van. Idon't know if it's been well documented! Imean, one interview in Bananafish doesn'tmake guite well documented! | was a surfer,when I used to live in the Gold Coast but Ikinda gave that up when I got beaten up byskegs one daf

EP Skegsl That sounds nasty- what are skegs?

LA That's kind of a slang term for a surfer. Istarted surfing when I moved to the GoldCoast, when I was 12, and did that for a fewyears until I was about 14, and then startedgettint really interested in experimental musicand stopped surfing. At the time you think it'suncool, and you start wearing black and all

that kinda shit you do when you're l4! lt wasGoth thing...it was the 80s, the late 80s. Istarted getting into strante music, not reallyGoth but more like Teenage Jesus and The

Jerks, and Foetus, and the Slums - which isGot} in a way but more kind of experimentalGoth. That led on into my interests of today.But that's where music started for me.

EP k sounds like from the start you wereaking it out to people, doing broadcasts, liveshows...l mean you're noc a bedroom guy.

LA No, I don't play in my bedroom veryoften. I like to play in front of people. I enjoyit front of people and I don't record at homevery often. I bought mpelf a DAT player and Ihardly ever use the fuckint thing! Most of myalbums - there are a few studio tracks, butfour or frve live tracks and most of it's live. Iwanna tet into doing studio a bit more. l'mdoing a BBC session next week, which l'mhoping will go well. That's lor Mixing h (onRadio 3). One of the presenters cane toAustralia iust after I released A Kombi andwent into a dance music store and asked forsomething weird! The guy behind the counterknew me and sold him A Kombi. Then hecame back a year later looking to do adocumentary on Sydney musicians and I wasover in Japan doing a tour. I got back duringthe last few days when he was still in Sydneydoint interviews, and I heard that theywanted to talk to me so I contacted them anddid the interview and stuff, and they said'come and do a session'.

EP kt not many people who come toLondon for the fint time and do a 88Csession!

LA Yeah! l'm quite stoked about that! A lotof people say bad things abut Mixing lc 6ut ifthe/re willing to take a risk on a completelyunknown artist like myself, give me a sessionand then broadcast it - they're fucking right byme! | don't know what the programme's likebecause l've never listened to it, but you keephearing...'Oh those tuys are fuckingtoffee-nosed assholes!' I don't think

49

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999so...no-one else has given me a go like that,and that doesn't sound toffee-nosed to me.Sounds like the/ve got open minds andthe/re willing to take chances...l don't give ashit what people say, it's tood. l'm reallyfucking happy about that!

EP Well kb the English disease...l've iustexhibited it mS'self--.the context is everythingto us.

LA Well, that exists enerywhere. In Australiawe call it the 'tall poppies syndrome'. lf you'resuccessful in Australia everyone will wrkeyou off or say bad things about you. lt's morelike a jealousy thing - | don't really get it. lf youdo good things, everyone's more willint toknock it and say bad things...it s weird, peopledon't like success for some reason. I likesuccess, I like successful people. the/re doingwhat they wanna do and doing it well, there'snothing wrong with that! Why knock themdown, why treat them like shit? lt's hard toget anywhere, and then when you tet therepeople do that to you...it's stupid,

EP The bedroom thing...l feel thae about a lotof New Zealand music. The guy fromOpprobrium said to me that most NewZealand bands hardly ever play live, they makelots of cassette recordings at home...therearent even that many venues, I chink...

LA There's a big spotlight on New Zealandbands. All those same bands who play in theirbedrooms and don't y'ay any gigs in NewZealand, they can go to America and otherplaces, and they've got a large following. A lotof people are interested in New Zealandmusic...a lot of the music's really good, but Idon't understand the mentality of scenes. Likethere's the New Zealand scene, the Japanscene" and all the focus is on one y'ace ratherthan on individuals. Individuals everywhere aredoing great things. But it seems that if you'rein a cenain place - like a noiseician in Japan, orif you're doing drone music in New Tealand,you get a lot funher than people doing dronemusic in Australia or drone music in SouthA,frica" or drone music in fuckin Taiwan, or

noise music in Taiwan. lt's a location thing.Peoole focus too much on locations andy'aces rather than the actual music comingout of anywhere in the world. A moremainstream examole would be the fuatdescene. There were some good bands comingout of Seattle, but every single band that wasin Seattle tot this hute fucking press - just forfucking living there! lt's lust a very slackattitude. I respect a lot of New Zealandmusicians, I know a few of them and the/regood friends of mine. I was in America [in arecord shop] and they've got New Zealandsections, and Japanese sections, and you can'tfind an Australian CD anvwhere!

EP Have Sou been to Americal

LA Yeah, I toured America in 1997-98. I didshows in San Francisco. LA NewYork...Providence, Boston. lt was good.Toured with a band called Deerhoo( whichfucking rock the earth! They're fucking great!The/re got a really good pop sensibility,crossed with kind of a No Wave aesthetic. I

.just love pop, I love hooks. This band hashook, but at the same time it's really dirtlAnd that goes totether, picture perfectpostcard for me. Love that band...Deerhoofl

twMtrwrwMtMlMtMtMttw/v\t lvv rvv lvy t$t tvy lvv ?$t tv\t tvv

EP What is the appeal of noisel Why do welike it?

LA l'm not really sure...l prefer a real dynamicnoise which chops and changes and goes allover the place, and I like the journey in soundthat it tives ;rou. lt's not always the same, itgoes up and it goes down and it goes all overthe place. Then again, there's a lot of noisewhich I personally don't like, which is iustrelentless, and loud, and goes on...and they dotheir shows for an hour- l'm sure somepeople actually like that but on a personallevel I don't get into relentless noise, I likedynamic noise. I lust like sonics, you feel thevolume go through your body, it comes in andcomes out atain. When it's relentless, it's just

dynamic noise, it's kind of a journey throughsound...l guess...and that's what I enjoy aboutlistening to noise.

EP Youhe not confronational then, not ttyingto repel them and say Aeil whh it because it'sso loud'.

LA No, I wanna entate the audience. I wantthem to love me! I don't want to repel theaudience or make th€ir ears bleed, or bereally loud and all that kind of shit. I wantthem to see an engaging p€rformance thatthey enjoy from start to finish and go throughall different levels of sound and stuff.

EP That's really refreshin6 because sometimesyou read about this noise stuffand you hearit, and you think it might almost be like a deadend. The last place anyone could possibly go ifyou're interested in music. The only way itcen go is to get louder and more intense andmore confrontational.

LA Well, I think the loud and confrontationalthint has been done. lt's over...l mean it's afatalistic attitude to say somethints over, butfrom the CDs l've heard I don't really thinkyou can to much funher with the relentlessreally loud approach to noise music. youknow. I think you have to take it in differentlevels. The way I try and do it is to createsomethint more performative, and visual, andenjolable to watch. Because, table-noise - youknow - FUCK! A bunch of assholes behind adesk with a bunch of pedals! Twiddling knobaand sliders for an hour - is not much towatch! | don't mind listening to some of it onCD, because some of it interests me. Sometable-noise musicians are really dyramic andthey have a sound and aural appreciation thatI love, but watching them really bores the shitout of me! | like it when noise people get ridof the taHe and they have some kind ofper{ormance aspect that they work with, itbecomes a lot more interesting and you canwatch it and enjoy it on a lot more differentlevels. lt is a show! You're in front of peopleand you've gotta remember that. lf you'redoing shows it's not all about the music,there all the time and then it stoD6. But with

*?

50

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999there's other aspects you have to consider.Because, why would you be lalng in front ofpeople in the first place? You may as well justsit there, record something at home and y'aythe fucking DAT! Why do they set up all thatequipment?

EP: What about your record label DualPlover/ How long has that been going/

LA lt staned out when I put out A Kombi, in| 996. I recorded it in '94 and I was trying toshop it to labels to put it out. I went to all theAustralian experimental labels, like Extremeand Dorobo. Which are completely fucked,Exreme are fucked! l'll out this on therecord...the/re gonna hate me for t}is, btrt Idon't really care cause they put out a lot ofstuff from overseas, and I don't think theylook into the local scene whatsoever. \A/hichis what rrisses me off about them...some of thestuff they put out is good, and I can'tcomplain, but when they don't look locally itreally shits me. The/re the only twoAustralian labels with any profile whatsoever -and the Australian content [of their catalotue]is so small. lt shits me, because there is a lotof really good Australian music they could beputtint out. Which I don't get. So aftershopping with them, and no-one wasinterested, I thought l'm gonna have to do thismyseK. So I put out the CD...sent outpromos...tot a really good response. Peoplelike Merzbow were writing back to mq saying'this is fucking grea! you're doing somethingreally new and interestinT. And then therewas Bananafish writint to me salng 'let s doan interview', and I'd never done anphingbefore. I was stoked! I don't get it. The peoplein Australia weren't willint to tive me a to -

and I do it myself and send it overseas andother people give me a go. I love them forthat. I realty wish Australians would like whatis actually happening in Australi4 because theAustralian music scene would be a lothealthier internationally if that was the case.

Just like New Zealand is! Cause I think it's alot healthier over there, people support eachotier and that's why it's at the srength it isnow. lt's not like ther€'s more people doingexperimental music in New Zealand - its justthat the/ve tot some kind of appreciation ofwhat they do, and they don't look tooverseas, and they have their own way ofdoing things. Whereas Australia alway: looksto overseas - well not on the whole, but thepeoy'e who are just doing their own thing arejust ignored.

There's no communication between cities aswell, because t}te cities are so far apartThere's so little communication b€n^/e€nexperimental - | hate the word experimental,but I keep using it anywaf - betweenMelbourne and Sydney, nobody knows whatanytod/s doing there...or between Sydneyand Brisbane, the whole fuckin countqr,everyone's doing stuff but it's all very backyardand hard to bridge that gap. Then you've gotPerth in WA which is the most isolated city inthe world! lt's closer to Asia than it is toSydney. Perth apparently has some good stuffgoing as well. l'm 6onna be doing anexperimental festinal in Tasmania when I gethome.

Well, that's why I started the label DualPlover, because there was a lot of good musichappening in Sydney and the only labelshappening were the ones in Melbourne, therewere no labels in Sydney. So I thought there's

something good going on here. I'm gonnacotton onto it and I'm gonna take it as myown - and help everybody out in Sydney atthe same time. lt's not all just noise. I put outpop music, like Alternahunk and FunkyTerrorist. I lore pop music and I've got a verysoft spot for that, so I put out them.Alternahunk are some of the greatest girlsyou ever met! Love those girls to death! Iwish I could do more and release more, butthere's only a certain amount of money l've

tot. I started the label on the fuckin dole - noteatint much, just to put out the first CD!

It was expensive at firsg but I started aconsolidation ooint for CD manufacture inSydney. I set up a deal with a localmanufacturer on a bulk level. then I doeyeryone else's CDs through me. Like I didthe Phlegm CDs, the Hiss CDs, the Sigmalabel. I do CDs in America and New Zealandand Belgium, because I've tot this bulk rateand the/re giving me CDs really fuckingcheaply. I do it for independents only, I don'tdo it for any labels. l{ they want to releasemusic independently, they come to me for areally cheap rate - | mean like 95 cents a disc,Australian. Which is about 30p or 40p! WhenI put out A Kombi it cost me a lot of moneyand I thought I can't do this, it's too much, l'mon the dole, it's really hard. So I just rang upthe CD manufacturer and acted like aprofessional businessman. and said'l'mstarting up a brokerage, l'm going to have allthis business for vou. What kind of rates willyou gve me?' And they tave me a rate, and Istarted telling everybody I could get CDsdone at this price, and l've been doing heapsof CDs for everyone since. And it's reallyhelped Sydney music to a large degree - Idon't know if the repercussions hare reallyfully been felt ye! but the Phlegm CDs, theMS CDs and the Sportsbra CDs are startingto tet reviews overseas and the/re startint totour...l pressed the Sigma editions through myconsolidation point" and the/re about to tourEurope. So it's really good helping outAustralian music.

WA Just out of curiosity, did you ever likeSevered Heads at all/ Because it's the onlyAusttalian group I really knoq and I was fustamazed that they never did better than theydid.

LA I must admit they were a bit before mytime. M/hen I was getting into experimentalmusic, they sorted doing all that discoearly-lndustrial level, compared to earlyrecords l've heard since, where they do all thecut-up tape musique concrete type stuff theywere doing in the early day:, which I liked alot better. I enjoyed what they did earlier.Australia has a really good history - SPK, TheBinhday Party, and Foetus I guess - thoughthey made most of their records since he leftthe country. We still like to call Foetus ourown! J G Thirlwell would probably refuse tosay he's Australian these dap! | readsomewhere he doesn't even wanna re.enterthe country at any point. I love his work.

EP Are you playing an)+vhere else in Europethis trip/

LA I've been to Rotterdam, did a musicfestival organised byJon Rose. I got to playwith Otomo Yoshihide. He's a great guy, andwe're tonna do an album totether when I hit

Japan on the way back home. At this festival

he really liked what I was doing. He said I'mthe most extreme turntablist in the world!

| first met him years ago in 1993 - | did aninterview with him when I was still doingradio in Sydney. I got onto his Ground-Zerocompifation - he did Consume r{ed and onthe third one in the series the general public

tot to remix the album. And I did my DJSmallcock remix of that, which ended upbeing the first track on it. lt's really kind of afunny story cause I was in Osaka and justread about this Ground-Zero remix album,on the last day submissions could be in. So Ithought Fuc( | wanna do that! Otomo wasplalng that night - | went down to Timebombrecords, bought the album, dragged it backhome, attached the CD to one of my motors,destroyed it with my humming bars, made thiscomplete load of noise remixing the recordanalogue-ly, by using the sur{ace of the CDrather than the actual sounds on the CD -

straight onto DAT - got it videoed andphotographed at the same time - went outand got the photographs developed - took thevideo and put it all into a box, went toOtomo's gig that night and handed it to him.And then a couple of months later I get anemail salng'Congratulations! You got on thealbum!'- when I speak to Otomo he says'You're

my favourite track, the b€st track!' outof all o{ 200 submissions, and he said he gotreally bored listenint to them, but mineexcited him, just the completely differentapproach I took to remixing the album. Heloved it!

All the conditions were that you had to usethe CD as source material. I think I keotwithin those guidelines. The whole thing wasbroken in half by the time I'd finished, so Inever actually listened to the CD! l'm kind ofcurious to hear it!

lw lw lw wy lvtl lvv lv\t lvv rw lwIW tv\l tt{ lvrl rv\t,v! lv\t wv

Later we received this amusing anecdote fromLucas re his Hixing k Session:

During my session for Radio 3's Mixing ltprotram a funny thing happened. I was playingmy hurpming bar through a Marshall stack andan Ampeg bass amplifer simultaneously andwas having an absolute ball, when I noticedunfamiliar men watching me from the side. ltwas The Flaming Lips who where doing a JohnPeel session in the next studio. Apparentlythey had come over to complain about myvolume, but after seeing what I was doing theyflipped out and asked me to perform a soloduring an instrumental part of one of theirsongs. I didn't really know much about themat the time, but they offered me 45 quid formy services so I said yes, still unsure if what Idid made it to the final mix as I haven't heardfrom them since but keep your ears out fortheir Peel sessions and have a listen for an

outburst of noise!tw tvv rvv rw tw Mt r{y tvv t{rl twtw t{v lw t*t Mt Mr lw Mt lw Mt

Dual Plover label:PO Box 983,Darl inghurst, NSW130, Austral iaemail [email protected]

51

DRONINGooooooooooooOooo

ooOoooooOooooooo

H


MuslimgauzeIranian Female OlynpicTa.ble Tenais Teant ThemeHOIJLf,ND, STtr.f,|JPLAI,T, MUSLIMIM

9lgt999lHere's a very beautiful continuous drone ofsome 32 minutes length with added layers ofgrit and sunshine in a massive sandlich of drycured meat fit to choke any listener not manenough to venture into the exotic cafe ofMuslimgauze. Few droning ones have dared tokeep something going this long and notresisted the temptation to nary the pacesomewhere. Not our Bryn Jones folks. ltwould be sheer lolly to prick apan thes€parate ingredients of such a asty dish asthis spicy hot bowl of rice and meat, so Iwon't eren bother. A helicopter ride whirringyou into a new world, a strante and amazingjourney with frequent pauses for mouthfuls ofchewy liquorice hashish bars. From the Dutchlabel in Amsterdam who hare released thatmany Muslimgauze products over the yearsthat you'd need a steamshovel to even deliverthem to your front door. And the rest! Whata shame to think that the powerful andoriginal creator behind such a friendly andwelcoming noise as this is now dead, and ycthundreds of other horrible people are stillalive, stalking the globe.

ED PINSENT

RapoonEasterly 6 or ZHOl,Lf,ND' STLIIJPLf,tr'T STCD ll{

ltlgllBeautiful, evocati\e and extremely listenablerelaxing rapturous sounds. An nice recentone from Robin Storey, the formerZoviet*France guy who we interviewed brieflyin SP4. Hunting for his back catalogue I founda whole rack of his work in Amsterdam,where the Saalplaat people have devotedthemselves to making rrast tracts of electronic,exoerimental, industrial and related musicsanailable. They seem to lavour one-man actslike Merrbow, Rapoon and Muslimgauze - thelatter has an entire Staalplaat programme ofsmall-run editions intenH for a devotedfanbase who have to hear everything heproduces (and there's a lot of it). Rapoon hasprobably done well to leap onto the Staalplaatraft. The hot news is that his'new direction'involves using more beats.'Falling MoreSlowl/ contains a marvellous Radio Fourshipping forecast sample against a gentlyoscillating dronei there was no need for himto put any music with it really, since (asdevoted listeners will know) it's music alread.That shipping forecasg with its ceremoniallisting of exotic weather station names andnumbers we don't understand, is puresurrealist poetry to millions. This equallyexotic CD, alive with foreign music derivedfrom records or shortwave radio samples,

extends the Canaxis theorem into newrealms, and is a shimmering wonderthroughout, a yofate through the air over theseven seas ofthe ancients to an ArabianNights land of mystical delights. With nicemonoprint artworks on the sleeve by Storey,and Arabic vocals from Kadija Lourlham.

ED PINSENT

Saalplaat @ PO Box I 1453, l00l GlAmsterdam, The Nethedands

Oren f,mbarchiStacteLP

tusTR.f,IJtr, IERKER PRODUCTIONSg9gglVery good solo LP from Ambarchi, one of themain men in Phlegm and Sponsbra - seeelsewhere this issue for a Phlegm CD reMew.Side one of this prinate press LP is a classicimproVsed tuitar drone, allegedly recordeddired to one-track cassette with one guitar atone sitting. The richness oftonal warmth hererecalls the fine achievements of UK tuitaristNeil Campbell in this area but if anphingAmbarchi's approach is yet moresingle-minded. Not so intent on exploring theovertones or harmonic range as maintaining aprecise and focussed clarity of tone in thegenerated sound. The effects pedals (if any)may contribute, hrt Ambarchi never lets them

6et control of the situation - his mountainstream of pure sound remains unsullied bythe murky mud of too many digital &lay I fuz.pedals. And how many arant-noisenik

tuitarists these dap can make such a boastlHighly recommended when you need a good20-minute prayer workouC and you can't bebothered falling to your knees.

Side 2 presents a more complex electronictableau, a relentless succession of noises andnot€s that appears to be random electronicgibberish, but in fact has a mathematical logicalundercurrent running throughout. lt's thelanguage of a primitive computer struggling tomake itsetf heard, alien communicationsbombarding the airwaves.

Limited to 150 copies in handmade sleeves. Attime of writing this LP auailable from FounhDimension and BWCD.

ED PINSENT

Ashtray Navigations, Bluesfor Black A-fternoon /Universal Indians, BluesfozMewous SystemsSPIJIT CD, NO ITf,DEIJ NO DATE NO

glsgIn the welter of home recording releases, ithas to be said there is nobody quite like PhilTodd and his sy'endid Ashtray Navigationsmusical exploits. No other music sounds aschronically /as thisl symptomatic of aweek-long influenza fever, fraught withhallucinogenic visions of discomfitude. To hearthe creator himself talk you'd think this wasthe result of a senerely cyric philosophy aman painfully aware of the masses of modernmusic lurking out there like dark stars in thenight sky (his rery iob obliges him to listen tomost of it, or at the least acknowlede its

52

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999existence). So to give ;himself the ede over Ithe horde, he strives Ifor a sound nobodv Ielse has. He rto.k Iwith pre-treated tape Ias his blank canras. Irecorded on an Iunderpowered I4-track that wrli give Ithat queasy, wobbly Isensation to the Ilistener. But Todd is Itoo modest! The fact Iis this music is utterly Icompelling whatever Ithe means; take this ICD, starting off with Ia whimpering puppy Iof a toy organ loop, Ithe corridors of Isound-leakage, Iambient room Irecordings and noisy Iclutter are followed Iby a suite of metal Iguitar solos. A

,t-mtnFntstory ol

ff#3ffi;,ii:r;Li{, r,ps1u,,

propelled along by a very delicate iazdrumming backdrop from Surgal; a bit like aless aggressive version of Sunny Murray. Thetide cut is a little more humdrum, in line withthe monochrome sleeve an of the CD (stillsfrom the Warhol movie that never was!); andvery reminiscent of the weird'quiet'Fus'hitsusha LP which was released on Avantsome years ago. lf we're namecheckinginfluences, there's bound to be some DerekBailey in here too, but isn't it grand the wayAmerican artists seem to celebrate andexploit their influences? I mean compared towhat I oerceive to be our own Britishobcession with innonation and originalitywhere we try our utmost to either pretendwe have no influences whatsoever, or do ourbest to conceal them from prying know-it-alljournalists. Sorry, but thats how it looks tome sometimes - a two-handed farcical gamepandering to the late 20th century thirst fornovelty at any cost. Anyway, one lastobservation about this record and it's a trivialone, but l've rarely heard a live LP where thenoises of the audience contribute so much tothe music: there's the most musical couShever captured on record here, and someoddly touching audience bellowing commenc

to boot. A CD reissue of an artefact originallyon l0' vinyl on the same label, and a follow upto Kanghrbenmelodie by the same duo. Thisone (according to Mr Patrick of Muckraker)works within a'more sparse frame'. Who sapSoni< Youth are all washed uo?'Not Me'...

ED PINSENT

Rod PooleDecem.ber 96

ryThis is virtually flawless, a recording of pristinebeauty, deeply involving music and executedwith painstakint perfection in theoerformance. So who the heck is Rod Poolel

He's an English tuitarist whoplays in Justlntonation - what a relief to hear that LaMonte Young hasn't (yet) secured, with thehelp of a team of highly-paid lawyen, themonopoly on that idea. This single CD, dare Isay it, communicates just as many ideas as thefive CDs on Young's Well-Tuned Piano boxl itis (arguably) better played, and betterrecorded: and every bit as beautiful withouthaving to occuPy ?rs much of your listeningtime. One understands that duration isimportant with the New York Minimalistschool that (aping the big canrasses of Warholand the Abstract Expressionists) decided thatwell-nigh eternal droning (four hoursminimum) would be a standard feature, butMr Poole gets to the heart of the matter inless time with iust as much <ommitment tomusical expression.

Rod Poole lives in Los Angeles, but was bornin O><ford UK; a career as a classically trained

tuitarist appears to have led him down asingular path. In the CD booklet he publishesconcise diagrams and charts explaining thesignilicance of the perfect chords and tuningsthat can be explored within the peculiarworld ofJust lntonation, and no words arewasted justifying or interpretint this tonon-believers: Poole lives in a universe wherethis approach is already acceped as standard,and simy'y waits for you to catch up. He plapon specially constructed acoustic tuitars, in

,eJV,

:i

feedback guitar! At least one of these is eithera straight lift from a Keili Haino record, or aspot-on Fstiche of same; suspectint Todd'sscepticism of the black Japanese Angel Godwhich so many journalists (mpeff guilty of thistoo) are content to accept lrs some divineshaman, it's probably {air to assume thissetment is a maior mickey-take, surroundedwith so many quotation marks it's in somerealm beyond irony.

Universal Indians are a group from Michigan, Ibelieve. A cassette guitar band who hold littleinterest for me, but they must hare theirfollowen somewhere on this enormous globefull of more broadminded people than l. Theyplay very loud guitar and drums music, but it'salso turgid and slow and soon becomeswearisome, while the vocals are wrenchedfrom the chest cavity of the singer as thoughhe's being given the Heimlich maneuver by amasked wrestler. Their contribution, and thesilly photocopier sleeve art to this release,tend to drag it back to funzine level; which is ashame as I think Phil Todd deserves better.

ED PINSENT

Adrian Utley and MountVerrron Arts LabWattninsterCDmini-albumoGERE RECORnS OCE0{0 (1999)-This is sadly a rather dreary drone...it's acollaboration between the Portishead guy andthe genial Scot Drew Mulholland, both ofwhom are highly reg'arded I know, but all thesame this goingnowhere excursion into theland of loops and queer noises simply boredme rigid. There's a bog-standard triphop beattrundling along behind it, along with asmorgasbord of effects dribbling in and out offocus: these effecc and sounds range fromthe cliched to the ineffectual to just plain silly.The work was apparently executed in themail, which sugtests that the two playersdidn't even meet up in a studio, but ratherswapped hard-discs t}rough the postoverdubL*ng and re-editing each other until

YSh z I bt , t1re2Pter{v ' t '?rtrsos a1!'.cg Zl,7

La u t s :avr N v" rdBwv.,Wlas{s

9no^d il zoj Sf nlg,,

l-fur0iltthey wound up with this. Actually that doessound like a pretty cool way of workin6minimising the human interaction andconcentrating on the agreed task at hand -

which would be fine if there were a decentidea here to begin with. In fact, the idea -

according to the press release at any rate -

seems to be to present a whistle-stop tourthrough the history of avant-garde music. 'A

23 minute pocket symphony traversingAbrstract Minimalism, Moody Jaz, MusiqueConcrete and lmprovisation'. This | find prettyhard to swallow: there seem to be rather alot of people who think they can footlearound with minimalism, improvised music,musique concrete and electronic compositionas thouth they were simy'y trying on shirts ina clothing store. What colossal arrogance; it'sone thing to enjoy and discuss the music, butquite another to assume that you know allthere is to know about it just because youown more rare records than anyone else. So -

to be a tad more charitable, this isn't anunpleasant rackeg helped consideraHy by linestrings from Caroline Subedi and flutes fromMorag Brown, but it would be helped byhaving a few more subotantial ideas.Watminsterlacks drama. tension. shape - itjust lumbers into your life and lies there, like ahalf-set jelly or a haltbaked souffl6 that didn'trise.

ED PINSENT

Thurston Moore, with TomSurgalNot MeFOURTH DIMENSTON TDCDSZ (1998)

Actually not much of a droner...low-key freeimprovi A shon and tasty morsel from theprolific axe of Thurston, resulting from a livepairing at an intimate venue with drummerTom Surgal. The second cut'Lydia's Moth' isthe one that does it for me - a series ofharmonic strums and spacey major chords,some reaf playing and not someone posturingbehind the safety of a sandbag-full of feedbackand volume. The delicate notes remainsuspen& in air. coaxed rather than

s3

Just lntonation tunings; the strints rintwith a precision that speak of themathematical splendour of the cnosen syrtem.Wouldn't Bach have felt at home herelPerhaps nog since (perhaps as a token of hisindifference to the established classical musicworld) Poole consorts with ex-members ofThe Magic Band and The Mothers ofInvention in his new home town. PerhaDs thisis indicative of a lesson which most of youalready learned - don't turn your back onpeople who offend your bourgeois prejudicesbecause they appear to be low-lifes, freaks,hippies, druggies, or rock musicians; theymitht just turn out to be the only realgeniuses left on the planet.

Maybe it's worth pointint out that I'm a maiorignoramus here - I still don't really understand

Just Intonation or why it's so importanr I cansee that it's challengin6 but probably like a lotof awkward peoy'e I just dig the oppositionalanti-classical music stance without fullyunderstanding (a) what is being opposed anddeconstructed or (b) what is taking its placein the revolution. On the other hand, anyonewith a pair of ears will know that this is just

torteous, excruciatingly beautiful andsomethint that stands a chance of being aghost of the sort of music we will hear inHeaven, no?

ED PINSENT

.f,Iphane MoonThe Eehoing GrovetrusTnAtrtr, crMERL oBscuRARECORpS C.f,Molgcp (1999)

Very good...although issued in Australia. this isour old friends from Wales, Daffyd Robersand Ruth, the my:terious young duo who alsorecord as Our Glassie Azoth (OGA) and towhom we devoted a deal of space in issue 4.This time they take their name from a sci-fistory by Philip K Dick, but don't hold thatagainst them. On the longer tracks here,especially the finale 'Reap a Field of Light', asuccessful quasi-religious dementia is achierredthrough a secular devotion; e\€rythint buildsup to a manic, twittering field of shimmeringecho and insanely strummed guitar that is

parameters which allow for occasional foll<ysongs (which are frankly not up to much)yawped out in a dour voice not unlike RobinWilliamson on quaaludes. None the less heavythan OGA on effects pedals: there's moredigital delay and reverb here than mostpeople manage in their everyday diet. For allofthe reasons above, these musicians havebecome instant favourites with theinternational diehard Psych-Prog conspiracy.

Just kidding. Of course we love the FreekEmporium and Ptolemaic! The sleeve notedevotes quite some attention to the place itwas recorded. in rural Wales: echoes here of

Jimmy Page palng his tributes toBron-Yr-Awr, the remote Welsh village whichbirthed the exquisite acoustic constructionsto be heard on the third LP by Led Zeppelin. lfyou liked lining up the arcane symbols on thatre\@lVnt sleeve, I'd guess you'll enjoy thesumptuous sleeve art on The Echoing Grove,early woodcuts printed in gold with veryelegant matching typography.

ED PINSENT

all humming softly in the wind. He boughtthem for $ l0 and began his furaway WindOrgan project.

Years earlier in Scotland, Lamb had beeninspired f the rhythms and harmonies he'dheard from teleohone wires there. He madean emotional connection with the melodies hesensed and became determined to recordtheir 'music' but was disappointed by theinsufticient winds. At Faraway, a vast op€nlandscape, Lamb got the winds he wanted andin late 1984 made the recordings that havebeen used to make up the majority of thisrelease. After amassing dozens of hours rawmaterial he set about'composing'the soundsin the studio. fu ridiculous as it may seem tosome people this lS music and tlhe wires arenothing more than a dant tuitar or zither,strummed by the winds and windborneobjeca - insects and birds striking the wiresas nature's plectrum.

The results are awesome; pure and primaltap€stries of atmospheric sound that rise andfull like typical symphonies/ First you hear thewind itself and then its effect on the wiresthemselves as tentle humming vibrationsenter the mix, building louder and louder intoethereal clangings and rumblings that soundlike shipwreck dragged across the ocean bedor phantom transmissions from deep space.Anyone who has listened in awe while a reallypowerful storm rip,s at your house, screamintlike a banshee as it rattles the tutterint andshakes the tiles loose, will understand thebasic appeal of this music. lt can only beexperienced properly with the listeners fullattention and played really loud. This wayevery tiny sound in the mix inspires potentimagery in the mind - the wires whippingagainst one another sound like alien phonesex while the creaking of the poles is thevoices of poltergeists lost somewherebetween the recorded and the experiencedmoment.

The Faraway Wind Organ is no more,destroyed by the relentless *inds and thetermites who ate the poles, making theserecordings all the more unique. Any attemptto liken it to any other form of music is futile.Similar sounds have been achiev,ed with the

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999vinually bouncingthrough the cosmoslike a runaway planet,cut loose from itsorbit. When youencounter suchmoments, life isquickened and madeto appearworthwhile - onereal reason to listento music. This CDtherefore has a lot torecommend it,although if I had tochoose I wouldprefer the OGAreverb-based driftingwitchery. ThisAlphane Moonincarnation is morepsychedelic, almost| 00% guitar-based,recorded (ratherobviously) on afour-track andworking within

Alan LrambOriginallWasters -NightPassage.trUSTRALI,trDOROBO,DOROBO0T3

!l99grln 1976 Alan Lambvisited his sister andher husband at'Faraway', their farmin the GreatSouthern Region ofWestern Australia.Running along thefarm boundary hefound a half-milestretch ofabandonedteleohone wires. l2ooles and 6 wires.

ALPHAN

t t ' 1 -q"- [/-)e (C/t,titt,1

54

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue lggguse of instruments and the manipulation ofsamples but l've never heard such basicinstrumental materials as those that Lamb hadto hand to so effectively convey so much. Aswith the whale song albums from the 70s Iexpect to hear this sampled by talents greatand mediocre in the years to come.Something new is being said here but it maybe some time be{ore we are ready tounderstand what it is.

Conact PO 9ox 22, Glen Waverley Wctoria3150. Austnlia

RIK RAWLING

Remora, Pet-aaPNTVT,TE PRESS IfiTEE CUT IJPEDITION OFSO ONLY-Intensely powerful ab,stract drones recordedat home by this lone visionary. Musicalh.rz-saws, giant electric sFinnin&tops, anentire fairground of brightly-lit carouselswhirling through the night of the DarkCarninl. lan Middleton is Remora, and it'salwap worth pointint out that his visual anpatterns itself after certain Outsider An

images (and incidentally plugs into a smallsubculture of like-minded local anists whohave grouped together and exhibited as TheNew Msionaries at the Bellevue Gallerv inEdinburgh) and the same raw spirit informshis very singular sound-generation exercises.lr'r'hile perhaps not possessed of the samecircumstances (neither economic norpychiatric) as a Scottie Wilson,single-mindedly scratching his indian inkautomatic markints into scrape of stiffcardboard with his scrapy old nib, Remoranonetheless exhibits that same driven qualityin his music - that lends it the force ofsomething produced by a man possessed,locked in that benign trance that enables amusician to transcend their materials andcommunicate direct with the inner soirits.Transcend I say, because the instruments andmethods used to grind out these drones leaveno recognisaHe traces on the LP; the focus ofvision has simy'y elided them, leavint yourears free to itnore technique and drink in thepurity that's concentrated within thesesounds. Well all righg let's not be toopretentious - you can discern a synthesiserhere, probably an analogue one too but I'm

not an expert on that. Naturally, manymusicians have entered this benign trance-likestate, whether they achieve it throuth theirtrainint in j.- modulation or classicalnotation, but one suspects Remora is one ofthose many gifted luminaries of thecontemporary underground who have found away to make it even simpler. He may not havelearned his instruments or tape-delay sptemin any conventional way, but rather hasexploited their qualities as machines to helphim do the work he needs to do. I am fond ofpointint out the success of this untutorednaivet6 in music, and hesitate before trottingout my same old shopping list again, sosuttest you put down the mag now and doyour utmost to snag a copy of this fine recordbefore its ab,surdly limited stocks dwindle tozero. A lovely anefact to handle, too; pressedin clear viny', lathe cut by New Zealandcrafumen, Remora art labels printed in blueand housed in a black master bag on whichthe artist hath emblazoned small figures andlettering mit his quicksilver pen.

ED PINSENT

ooooooooo orooooooo"...locked in that benign trance..."

oooooooooorooooooo55


OUT- FIO\^7 o,|\f o|ct{E!- qt-.--r-FtE€,

€><e(Er=t l tra€hrruar-\ r ' J D IO

FRe-€^A .FRGH

Fes- r rR€ P€ t * r -€ F !

cE ohrr-Y €.lo l5c-9-)

lJ-E €Ol-T-lOht Gil-l-l-alEFa \.4htYt-

Ol\lt-Y €-€l <l...EaqdG a:!-gG)

iF-

F

G 5 r e E W 4 ^ -w cFR-aAE; -Z NCV tE €€

_fu 56

0.50. Surface of the Earth - s/t. CD t10.50

- Sex Machine. CD t10 50rp - Enfotded in Luxury. CD t10.50.

Briah Crooft , Batfrysphere. CD t10.50.Victor Dimisich Band - My Name ls K CD 110 00.

:And OthersWitcyst- Roslyn. (lnsample). CD t9.50.Dead C - Harsh 70's Reality. (Siltbreeze). CD t10.50.Tanaka-Nixon Meeting - The Ark. (Giardia). LP t7,00.White Winged Moth - Ribbon Arcade. (Formacentric). CD t11.00.

Fisheye Label ReleasesBottom of the World 7" with RST, Omit, Surface of the Earth and

Sandoz Lab Technicians. [3.00.DusUOmit - Fore-casts. 7' 82.00.john Clyde-Evans - [For: ht/rp/j&s]. LP t6.00.

GU14 6YT : UKfucked up ramblings.

European RamblingsShunatao - Calme blanc. (Amanita). CD 19.00.Elektro Nova/Electro Nova. (Smalltown Supersound). 2xCD t12.50.Dodes'Ka-den - Underwhere Everywear. (Ubik). CD t8.00Stuntbike - Gone. (Smalltown Supersound). CD e8.50.The University Punx - Cultural Politics. (Krank). CD t7.50.

UK StutteringsCrescent- Now (Planet). CD t9.00.The Shadow Ring - Hold Onto lD. (Siltbreeze) CD t10.00.Hood - Structured Disasters. (Happy Go Lucky) CD t10.00.Small Things - Keep Calm-and Dig. (lnfinite Chug). CD t10.00.

Breaking the Plastic Hymen 4 x 7" set. With Rake, Wingtip Sloat,Hood, Youngs/Wickham-Smith, Delphium, Small Things, GeigerCounter, Scaredy Cat, Negative Kite, Shadow Ring, Noggin, PrickDecay, l 'm Being Good, Glands of External Secretion, etc. [8.00

Coming : Jackie - O Motherfucker- [Wow!] LP

bution : PO Box 1 10 : FARNBOROUGH : He*mp$hire :gf the finest names in international Noise, lmprovisation, Pop Music and

New Zealand Great Sounds from U.S.A.Juneau - s/t. (Ba Da Bingl). CD alCI{

Galbraith - Wire Music. CD t10.50 Monaural - Monitor lnterference. (Ba DdcD t10.00. Nels Cline/Thurston Moore - Pillow Wand.

Street of Graves CD f 10.50. New Bad Things - Mabel (555 Recordings). 7" t2.00:lom - Waaoh Waaaoh, CD t10 50.- Let Me Lose My Mind Gracefully, CD t10.50

The Receptionists - The last letter. (Ba Da Bing!) CD t9.50.

Postage : UK: t1 1st item, 50p each extra. Europe: t2 1st item, t1 each extra. ROW: t3 1st item, [1 each extra. cheques to P. Wild pleasefor a more extensive selection please refer to our on-line catalogue : www.netcomuk.co.uk/-pjwild/fisheye.html e-mail [email protected]

w w d i s c u s m c m a i l c o m< L A T E S T R E L E A S E S >

Dtscus 11cD

Mar t i n A rche r &t12.00

S i m o n H . F e l lP u r e W a t e r C o n s t r u c t i o n

very track is a modernist gem of mournful,deeply moving instrumental music.....Mastery ofsound quality and musicianship.....An excitingskilful combination of improvised musice l e c t r o a c o u s t i c t e c h n i q u e " - s o u N D p R o J E c r o

ing the stagnant world of electroacoustlcsnon-academic sfrafegles"- R u B B E R N E cFeatur ing Chr is Burn , S te fan Jaworzyn

Davies, Jenni Molloy, Robin Haywarr

a-CDR €15.00

r a n s i e n t V R e s i d e n th a r m a D a y - L i v e 1 9 9 7

A large, swiling, organic mandala of music,

trips spread generously over two CDs. lntone paintings no mood dominates for long,

the pace keeps changing as though driven byquaftz.....relationship which never fails to deliver anythi/ e s s f f , a n e x c e l l e n t m u s i c " - s o u N D p R o J E c T o R

l istenable and contemplative.....a dazzling

of textures and approaches.....engaging andk p n l m p d , / p s s i n d " - R U B B E R N E C K

W I T H O U T Y O U R S U P P O R TMUSIC WILL COME TO AN END


,./.i

57


"There is no war w i thout represen la t io i t , no soph is l i ca ted weapontJs i thout psycho log ica l rn l "s t i f i ca t io r r . WeapoDs are too ls no t jus t o ldes t ruc t ion , bu t a lso o f percept ion - tha t i s lo say , s t i t r lu lan ts t l la tInake themse lves fe l t th rough chenr ica l , ner r ro log ica l p rocesses inlhe serse organs and the cent ra l nervous s ls te rT l , a l lec t i r rg e lenthe perceptua l i c le r l i l i ca l i rn and c l i f fe ren t ia t ion o l ob jec ls . . . "Pau l v i r i l i o (198{ ) [2 ]

r..oclume for distmt fog horns. propeller blades i ld explosiom

Aut l ie r tce responscs lo los ' f reqLtencY sound ins ta l la t ions andper fo r tnar tces suggest tha t man l pe0p le i i r s t inc t i \e ly assoc ia tebootn ing , d ron ing , roar ing and rumbl ing sounds w i th d reams a l l ( la lso ly i th war . \pparent i l " Goethe be l ie lec l t rue poet r ) l ies no t in thepror is io r o l au thent ica l lY r rew exper iences , bu t in s t imu la t ing thereco l le ( t ion o l memor jes rvh ich l louk l o lheny ise re lna in fo rgo t ten .T l re re a re Ie lv rnore po igDant surpr ises lhar lo be prornp ted toreco \ e r peop le . n lo [ l c r ] t s o f sc rse- lnernor ies l io rn the ( lep lhs0 l l l )e ( l i s lan l pas t .

I I lperacu i t l i r t darkness (h )per -sens i t i l i t \ o l l rear ing , s i rn i la r to thene l l -k r ro r r r r aud io log ica l e lTec ts o l b l inc lness ] . t l l e tendencv o l dampnigh t a i r to absorb h igh f requer rc ies and la lour the long,d is tancepropagat i { )n 0 [ lo l r l l eqr ren t l sonnds. anc l d rarna t ic reduc t io r ]sin t l te rnask ing e l lec ts o l ambien t r ro ise a t 0 ig l l t a l l consp i re toimp lan t ab . r "ssa l bass and i r ) l |asoLrnc ls c leep in lo subconsc ioL tsrne lnor ies o l h lp r tagog ic s la tes i l r ld d rearns .

I ha le a l *avs been lasc ina ted b l ven deep sor rnds - perhapsbecar rse c l r r r ing ch i ldhood I o f ten c l r i f lec l -o fT to s leep to a h \ pn{ ) t ruso t rnc l t rack cornposed b \ the prope l le rs o l l l e rc t r les t ra t )spor te r

t

p lanes c i rc l ing lhe aerodrome a t R\F L l reharn , the aeronaut ica lgoods depot o f the \ l0 l ) - lo rmat i r e sense memor ics encoded bythe res t less noc t [ r t )a l t fa l l i c o l cors tan l p reparedness lo r uar .

In Lo t tdor t , i r t t l te ear ly 70s , nou and lhen the n igh t ' s sky s t i l lresona led \a i th the deep rva i l o f fog-horns aboard the las t [es 'rnerchantmer l $ork ing the r i ver Thames. In la te r l i l e the sheerlhce of the cliff above tsrighton station clellected sound uprvards,u'ith the ellect that \ l1en l i! ing just back lrom the clifT-eclge theto-and- l i o o l rna i l -wagons in the smal l -hou ls nas o l ien fe l t ra therthan I leard . osc i l la l ions nrnb l ing-up th rough thc g round i t se l l ,in to the founc la t ions o l the house, gent l r rock ing the h i l l s ide .resonat i i lg the ua l l s o l my roorn . I t was bo th in and as a t r ibu teto th is a t rnosphe|e tha t the Lorv Leve l Urban Funk Carnpa ign 'sfulbrt the Puruchute Op(ns a^(l (ihosl Lintbs rvere'composed' lbra b roa( lcas t on loca l rad io . . . " lhousands o l l inv sense-memor iesspr ink fed on a c la rk lake o I r i s ing sou ld" . \ l i l e le rs ion o l Chost . . .

{a tfack subsequertly released as L ntit letl bv . lrrori.rrnoa.s on disk2 o l D is in l r r r rna t i o r ' s . ln t iphon l re rn ix CI I se t ) was descr ibed bya rnember { ) l i t s aud ience as " l i ke *a lk inc in to a ( l rea tn" .

S i tn i la rh . bu l a t a verJ much deeper leve l o f encod ing . rea l dangert r iggers the sGca l lec i l ig l r t -o r - l l i gh t t e l le res r rh ich p lace theautor romic re r \ 'ous s \s te rn 0n l i r l l -a le r l . f looc l ing the bod- , - u i tha d r e n a l i n e , h J p e r s e n s i l i z i n g t l l e s e n s e s , a n d d r a r n a t i c a l l t e x t e n d i n gs i lb jec t i \ e percep l i { )ns o l t i rne . As Bar r l Conr ex sa}s in Dav idCroner tberg 's c lass i t l i d t t td rorn f , "sorne t l l ing to do w i th t l te e lTec ts0 fexposure to \ io le r lce on the nerao l rs s ]s te ln . . . opens up receptorsin the bra in a rd the sp ine ' ' . l )u r ing the \ ' f 'W2 noc turna l B lackoutprocedures *ere lan la rnount to a po l i c t o f cornpLr lsor l tnassh lperac t ts is . \e r l tu r i t )g ou t r l { )o rs a t n igh t . par t i cu la r lY the urban

s8


popu la t ion , a l read l hYpersens i l i zed by fear . lbund the i r hear inghe igh tenec l s t i l l I ru ther l l y imrners ion in le re ls o l c la rkness nh ich$ere unprecedented s ince the in t roduc t ion { ) l s l ree t - l igh t ing .

The bas ic hypothes is here is t l ta t the exper ience o f de fens i r ehl i s ten ing . consc ious l t anc l uncorsc ious l i , fo r the du l l - thud o l 'exp los ions , the wh is t le o [ rocke ts and bombs and the roar o lp lanes is the mechan is ln b l nh ich such au lonorn ic s ta tes enco( le .a t a l i rndamenta l neuro log ica l le re l , as cond i t io r rcd , re l lex i !erespo l rses to ambien t lo r r I i e r l t renc l sounc ls . T I rese h igh s ta tes o la ror tsa l a re necessar i l l those in rvh ich ind iv id r ra ls a re most recept i leto serse- r ia ta . These responses are a lso c r r l t r r ra l l t t ransmiss ib lc -

p r i rnar i l l th ro [gh the rnec l ium o l c inenra .

I t i s ro r t l l no l ing tha t ex t re tne sens i t iY i t \ to sound {o l the exac tsor t idea l i sec l by the cornposer John Cage) i s no t on l ) a s ta te o lhe igh tened as the t ic a t l ' a leness . b r r t a lso a recogn isec l tned ica lc { )n r l i t ion . o f ten assoc ia tec l $ i th c leb i l i l a t ing phonophob ia and t l reonset o l cor ld i t ioned l inn i tus - an( l dur ing t l le uar adver t i semel tsii Piclurt l1).{/ tnagazine suggest there \ras a roarilter lr itde itrsedat i \es . no t on l \ l { ) r peop le b l r t a lso lb r house l lo ld pc ts .

The Air Defence Experimental Eslablishment

' 'The sour r r l o l t l re Zeppe l in 's eng i t res uas s0 l i r re . a r rc l i t s\ 'o rage th ro l rgh the s ta rs so enc l lan t ing , tha t I pos i t i \e l \ cauet l l trn lse l l hop ing ne \ t n igh l tha t there $0u lc i be ar ro t l re r ra id . "G e o r g e B e r n a r d S h a n ( 1 9 1 6 ) J l l

ID the l igh t o l th is hypothes is i t seerns na tura l tha t sound s l lou l ( lbe an idea l med iurn lb r abs t rac l represe l la t i { )ns o l sar - so i t i s

no t surpr is ing tha t some o f i t s g rea les t scu lp t l r ra l representa t ionsrc l l - heav i l y on the e f lec ts o f s0unc l . N ly in te res t in these sc I lp tu resor ig ina l l y s lemmed I i I )m recogn is ing the cu l t r l ra l p r i rnac) o f \ i sua li rnages o \e r in te l lec tua l co I (cp ts ( "peop le ea t w i th the i r eyes" ,"a p ic tu re speaks 1 ,000 $ords" ) and there l i r re the corn lnerc ia lnecess i t ) and cha l lenge o l l inc l ing \ i sua l ana log l les lh ich cou ldercapsu la te and adver t i se the l ) i s in l i ) f rna t ion brand-narner rorse reper to r re .

The so lu t ion $as pror ided b1 ao ar t i c le b r \1 ' . I la r rns in Shor tu ;u l ' t. I legaz ihe , *h ich descr ibed a ser ies o l mass ive concre te lnono l i ths$h ich s t i l l s tand. s lo$ l \ c rumbl ing in lo \1as te- land a l a s i te nearDungeness in Kent . Thcse s l ruc tu res , bu i l l in the 1920s and 1950s.fo rmed a pr im i t i ve exper imenta l ear l l - *a rn ing s )s te rn - severa le legant , bu t ex t remely aus tere co i l caVe shapes c les igned to a l lo \1lhe prec ise t r iangu la t ion o l ( l i rec t 'ona l l l xes on the ( l i s ta l l t soun( lso l incoming enemv Zeppe) ins . a i rc ra f t a r rd s l r ips .

These shapes r i se up ou t o f the Kent ish sh i r rg le l i ke the s t ra l lgecr le r t to r t ia l re l i cs o l a dead c i r i l i sa t ion o l unkr ro l rn t r iba l cu l tu re

{an t l i f lo r t co l )s ide f rn i l i ta r i R&l ) as an an t l r r r )po log jca l en t i t l as$e l l as a pure l ) techn ica l en terpr ise . lhen perhaps th is in te rpre ta t ionis no t as u i l r l as i t seems) . Appear i r )g a longs ic le a p ic t r r re o f theabandoned Church o f S t . G i les in the v i l lage o l hnber { thc ghos t -to$n on the ta l l k - ranges o l Sa l i sbur l P la in ) a rd d ig i ta l a r t$ 'o rkrepresent ing the an lh ropornorph ic s lang o l the R\ l - - . the sor rnc irn i r ro rs p ror ided p l )o tographer Ju l ian l l i l l s \ r i th h is D is in lb r rna t ion' re rn ix ' lb r ' ln t ipho ry ' .

E \ tens i le l ib ra tu re and arch i \ e research has s r i la r u r rcovered ato la l o l seren teen ln i r ro rs , s ix teer ) o i l l l l e her t and to rksh i re coas ts .

s9


and one a t a s i te in N la l ta (uh ich , accord ing ro Casetno le rnagaz i l )e .i s "approached th rough a s lu r r , ' - o f corv muck and dead ch ickens" ) .Ten o l these can s t i l l be v is i ted todat , one is bur ied . tuo haveco l lapsed, sh i le there are l i ru r more mi r ro rs Ihose s ta tus re lna ins .Ii om mJ- point ol vieu', unknou'n. -\rchitecturall,r" many of the soundmi i lo rs loo [ as though the l cou l t ] ha le been des igned ]es te rda l ,anc l i t i s on c lose inspec l ion tha t theJ" t l re i r t rue s la le o l d is t ress isre rea le t l . I t i s hard no t be i rnpressed b l th is geomet r ] - - the s t r i k ingcont ras ts be l \aeen e legar t , concave parabo las and the i r roughtex tures , the i r i rnpress i r e so l id i t r a rd subs tan t ia l phvs ica l l iDnrs .

l l re rYboc l r k r res a ru in . and. r ' i e$ i r rg obso le te mi l i ta r l a rch i tec t l l reI i r r rn the vantage po i r t o f the c lose o f th is b ru ta l cen tur ) , thelong- te r rn s t ruc tu ra l shor t ( r ) rn i r rgs o l re in fo rced corc re te havenranu l r rc tu red re l i cs $h ich reso t ra te across a t i rnesca le tha t tang ib l )connects to peop le 's l i res . The an thropornorph ic conno la t io l l s o fsuch s tn rc lu res make thern appropr ia te ph ]s ica l counterpar ts fo r areper to i re o l ro ise . . . ears scu lp ted in unconrprorn is i r )g concre te a | ( ls lee l . War i l se l l exprcsses rnank ind s t la rkes t sp i r i tua l asp i ra t ions .ar rd , as a scu lp iu ra l ger t re . t l te tec l t r to log ica l p roduc ts o l r l i l i ta r lR&D represent the i r re l lex i re a r t i s t i c express ion .

Toda l rnuch conte lnporarJ a rch i tec tu fe rnonurnen la l i ses l i t l l e moret l lan sad, bu t perhaps h is lo f i ca l l . r " ine \ i lab le \ i c to r ies o l s t ) le o \e rconten t . in s t r i c t con lb r rn i tY l r i th the needs o f the broader rnarke t -p lace . Urnpt t Inenta l space is parod ied i r ) the pa le . Iash ionab le ,acous l i ca l l ) harsh concre le o l u r tcorn l i r r tab le des igner bars . c l r rbsard res taurants - a rch i tec tu re des igned l { ) l { )ok g { )od and sor rn r la$ Iu l . d is regarc l ing mi l lenn ia o l accurnu la te ( l acous t ics e \per t i sc .In marked r { )n t ras t these ( leso la te s i tes resona l r \ r ' i th lhe Iearso f c lose ar rces tors - kx rL ing ou t o \e f the sea. i r r c l reac l an l i c ipa t ion

o l the innovat iYe ur rknouns o l 'an apoca lypse o fa i r bombarc lment .wh ich , a t lhe t ime o f the i r cons t r [c t ion . rvas the la les t tec ] rn ica la t roc i t l - in the pandern ic rnechan isa t ion o f \ io lence to hauntthe pub l ic i rnag ina t ion .

- . \ .pproach ing the la rges t rn i r ro r s i te i s l i ke sa lk ing in to a scenef t o rn {ndre i Tarkor sk1 's S ta lher - a sensat ion ampl i f ied b l thebarbed-w- i re , the apparent l l " ub iqu i tous c lead an imals , a r tc l theorn inous prese l l ce o l ' the r ruc lear power s ta t ion nearb) . Sad ly mosto f the hent ish rn i r ro rs ha le la l )en pre1" to vanda l ism anr l neg lec t

{a rnaz ing l t a s rna l l par t o f the darnage seems to ha le beer tcornrn i t ted b l sor rnd ar t i s ts ' - the narne and s lmbo l o l a no iselanz ine are scra tched in to the back o l the 200 l i )o t Sent r t rn i r ro r ) .

P lans lo ex tend the L K sound- rn i r ro r ne t$ork and b t r i ld s i rn i la rcha ins [o r c ie lenc l ing the co ]on ies o f Ac len . O ibra l ta r , Hong Kong,\ la l ta and S ingapore uere she lved in 1939 rvhen the mi r ro rs Fere .re |derec l obso le te b ) Rober t Watson \ \ 'a t t ' s s r tper io f rad io -de tec t ionand- rang ing proer ramrne. Radar . Nonethe less the i r a rc l l i tec ts -

the {so la r } m l s te r ious Pro lessor N la ther . the R\ } ' 1 i r I )e fe r tceExper i rne i ) ta l l l s tab l i shrnent . and in par t i cu la r i t s Cornmander\ \ ' .S . Tr rcker har e beqr rea thed an i [ rpor tan t legacy to modernscu lp tu fe - a p { ) len t vernacu la r Fu tu f i s rn .

l lo lh in tenns o l ph l "s ica l and ps lch0 log ica l p resence t l le rn i r ro rssurpass v i r lua l l l ever t th ing rv i lh $h ich t l te l can be cornpared.The l eas i l l ' co lnpete \ \ i th scu lp tu res bv ADFl l l con temp{) ra r ies suohas Henrv \ loore and Jacob l lps te in , and an l i ( ipa te n o rks bv {n !s l rhapoor an( l Dar i hararar r b1 decat les . l lo \1e \e f $here Kara lan snork . as ue $ i l l see in a rnornent . suerges ts he has a rea l in te res t i i lthe c rea t i !e poss ib i l i t i es o l a rch i tec tu ra l acous t ics , in cor ) t ras l r l re l l

60


I t r ied k ) l i s ten t { ) An ish hapoor 's parabo las I \ ras rear l } th rohr }ou t o f the ga l le r l i r r wh ich he uas exh ib i t ing .

Wr i l ing in a recent f lng l i sh } le r i tage repor t John Scho l ie ld no tedlha t mi l i ta ry a rcheo log l ( the ernergent f ie ld p ioneered b1 theph i losopher Par r l \ i r i l i o , the avant -garde ca \ - ing organ isa t ionSubter ranea l l r i tann ica . the For t ress Stud l - Group. the Cent re fo rthe Conserva l ion o l De lence E lec t ron ics and the IJe fence o l Br i ta inPro jec t l i s o f ten rnore popu lar among lhe genera l pub l i c than i ti s among pro less iona l a rchFo log is ts . Apparent l ] ' ' the obsen a t iontha t 20 t l r (en tur ) m i l i tan s t ruc t rues " look b lack and \yh i te , e len i t rc0krur " i s representa t i le o f p ro fess iona l op in ion . I Io l le le r i t seernstha t l )ng l i sh Her i tage are nonethe less respond ing e l thus ias t ica l l rto the urger l t cha l lenge o l lhe i r p reser \ a t ion , p rornp tc ( l bo t l l b tinc reas ing pub l ic en thus iasrn and the acce le ra t ing c lecar andderno l i t ion o f i rnpor la r r t h is to r ica l s i tes .

The \Ionument to the Palmach Negev Brigades

"So the peop le shouter l \1 hen the pr ies ts b lew the t ru rnpe ls : a r rdi t came to pass , \ ' l ren the peop le heard the sor rnd o l the t rL l tnpet .anr l the peop le sh{ ) l r led \1 i th a g rea t shout , tha t the \1a l l le l l dorv ll la t , so tha t the peop le \ \en l up in to the c i t r , e \e r \ lnan s t ra igh tbe lb re h im. and the l took the c i t \ . And the) u t te r lY des l ro \e ( la l l tha l was in the c i t ) . bo t l t man and \1o tnan. lo r r r rg a r rd 0 lc l ,anc l ox . anc l sheep. and ass . \ ' i th the er lge o l lhe s$ord . "Jos l tua 6 . r ' . 20-2 | .

Return in i l to a therne touched-on ear l ie r i i l th is a r t i c le , lhe in i t ia lIn i r ro r \ i s i l { the l l r s t o l se \era l $orks-or r t ings \ \ ' i t l t rnemberso l Peop le L ike L s . t iC ]1321. T :un Ik l Svs terns and l i l rn - r ] raker

Ban l la le ) immedia te l ] sparked lhe r i v i r i reco l lec t ion o l ach i ldhood exper lence in the Neger Deser t in Is rae l . N lanv vearsago m]" ltrmily lr 'ent on an excursion Io lhe.ltrdarta ,l lerrtorial,an ex t raor r l inar ] conrp lex o fcon0ete scu lp tu res a lso known asIl le , l1t)nurrent to tlte Pulrroclt ,\ 'eget Brigades. Caroline Crigson'sphotographs o f th is s i te make up the in t roduc tory pagc o l lh issupp lernent . Th is l i s i t le l l a deep impress ion . and th is reco l lec t io l lp rompted s r rne research in to lh is s t r i k ing arch i tec tu ra l p ro jec t .

Th is c lus le r o l scu lp tu res u 'as des igned b) the ar t i s t Dan i hararanar td cornp le ted in 1968. and no th ing I have e le r seen l i te ra l i sesl ' r iedr ich Sche l l ing 's concept o l a rch i tec tu re as " f rozen rnus ic " lnorecomple te l t o r coherent l ) . Look ing a t the la r 'ges t . bes t -known mi | r r r Is i te rnade the Is rae l i rnonu lne l r l appear as the exp l i c i t express io |o f an ar t i s t i c i rnpu lse sub l i rna led in the Eng l ish c les igns . Thetac t ica l p r l rpose o l the L iK sour rd rn i r ro rs . u h ich r re re des ignedas an ear l l -$arn ing s )s tem to ena l l le the R\F to g l i rnpse a le \1rn i r r r r les in to lhe fu t r r re . \ ind ica tes the cho ice o l acu t rs t i cs as aIned iu rn lb r s ) rnbo l i s ing rnernor ies . [ )an i Karavan 's rvork r rasdes igned to o f fe r i t s \ i s i to rs a g l i rnpse in lo Is rae l ' s pas t - anddoes so us ing a cor l lp le r s rs te rn to s l rnbo l i se rn i l i ta ry ac t ion b \the Pa lmach {s t r i k ing b f igades} in tak ing the town o f Be 'e rshebaf io rn the Eg)p t ian armr c lu r ing the war o l indepenc lence in 19 '18 .and as a rnenror ia l to the so ld ie rs * ho d ied .

The echo ins ide the Inonurnent 's dorne . the b i r ( l -sorg ec l lo ingi rs ide the to \yer . the $a i l o l s ty l i se( l bu l le t -ho les in the dome andlower s ing ing in the ar id } i r rd . a i ld lbo ts teps appeaf i r )g to c l la r lgep i l ch in the passage in l ion t o l the r lo rne are a l l sounds producedor rn0d i l iec l pass i re lv by the s t r l l c tu res thernse l \es . These' r ra l l s 0 l sor [ rc i ' see ]n to reca l l Do le r r t s \ rn l )o ls o fJe{ ish tu l tu r . .

61


Jerusa lem's \ [a i l ing Wal l {o r Western Wal l } , tha t vas l remnar } t o l thegreat temple o f K ing Dav id . d i \ ides lhe sacred -q i tes o l Juda ism anc lIs lam by inches {and i t has recent lv been revea led tha t beh in ( l thena l l i s a ne t *ork o I passages rvh ich are a l leged to conta in the s i teo f Creat ion i t se lD. Readers rna l reca l l the B ib l i ca l s lo r l o l the ba l t leo fJer icho , !v l ren the b las t o l t rumpets b roug l l t t l te $a l l s o l thebes ieged c i t l " c rash i rg down.

The mathemat ics o l the eer ie "eche lon" e fTec t in lhe passage aredescr ibed in de ta i l by A lexander \ ' ! ' ood l+ ] . Th is e l lec t occurs uhena sharp impu lse reverbera tes be twee l r acous t ica l l r ' - re l lec t i ve p lanes ,I i t l ] these sur faces p lacec l su f f i c ie r t l - r " c lose tha t t l te I t equency o l 're f lec t ion equa ls tha t o l . and g i r es r i se to , a tnus ica l no te ( l1 i tosef requenc l i s equa l to the spee( l o l sounr l d i l ided b l the c l i s tanccbets 'een the t11o re f lec to rs ) . Hence the c l i ck o l l i )o ts teps l le l$eenl r ro hard , snroo th . l la t $a l l s p rodr rces no tes lvh ich r i se i I p i t ch i l thegap be t l leen the tso $a l l s tapers i l l \ \a rds . S i rn i la r l l , iD te fp rc t ingthe acous t ics o l the rnonurner l t ' s c lo rne . as i lnp l ied ear l ie I i t canbe sa id tha t un( le r cer la i r c i rc l l rns tances t l te l ro rds "echo" a t r t l" rnernor ) " a re in te rchanereab le . I Io l le le r , i t has to be ad ln i t tedtha t In t in te rpre ta t ions { ) l lhese e l lec ls a re specu la t i \ e . anc l basedon obser \a t io l l ra t l )e r tha i l docurnentan proo f .

T I te rnernor ia l fea t r r res s l rnbo l i c represen la t io ls o l a s t rong l )o l (1 .based or r a cornp lex 0 l ba t t le l le lc l t renches ; a Pa l rnach ten t : a ue l l .an aque( luc t . and an {cac ia t ree {p resurnab l t represent ing lhei r r iga t ion and success fLr l cu l t i \a t ion { ) l the desef t b r Je* ish se t t le rs } ithe passage rvh ich a l ig r rs \ i i t l ) the s lo t o l the aque( luc t i t l l e ( lo rne o l 'the mernor ia l cand le : lhe cour t \a rd o I the c ]o rne : a r r r rnc le rgrounc lshe l le r i the $a l l o f the reconna issar lce l lgh ters i a b i rc l { rnean ingt tnk t ro rv t r ) : t l re to \1er . fep fesent ing the wa lch- to \1ers an( l {a te l

tohers co ln rnon in the ear l t Z ion is t se t t lements : and a snake,cu t in to s l i ces to symbol ise the de lea ted enemJi a r lemor ia lgarden; excerp ts f rom the sar d ia r ies o l the Pahnach and poenrsb t Cha i rn Coor i and Nathan Shakkan impressed i r l to concre tewa l ls i and the "sq [are o l opera t ions" in rvh ich maps o f the ba t t lei r t e t l t a r r t t i i l l r ) ( 1 ) n ( f e l ( : l t ( e l s .

[ | ] Br igad ie r -Genera l Samuel B . Gr i l l l th , t rans la to r , in t roduc l ionfo Sur Tzu. The. '1 , r t o f l I u r ; Ox lo rd LTn ivers i t r - Press . 1965

1 2 l P a u l \ i f i l i o . l l o r a n d f l n e r n 0 , \ e r s 0 , 1 9 8 9

l l l Qudted in Jar ' \ f in te r and B la ine I lagget t , /9 /4 - lE , UUC. 1996

[-tl { lexartd er \ ' ! oorl, .{trusl/rr, Bl ackie, | 9-t0

Te\ t and sound rn i r ro r photographs @ Joe Banks 1997\ndar ta N lernor ia l pho lographs O Caro l ine Gr igsor r 1997

\ la t r thanks to \ i ck i Benre t t . Casernate N lagaz ine . P t rdd l Co l l ins ,P Io lessor l saac C i lead, Bar r1" l la le . Ju l ian t l i l l s . Pe ter Hodgk insoD.lhe Je l i i sh Ar ts Resource Cer t re , I J re$ l \ l r r l l ro l la ld , t l te Neger\ luseurn , Barn N ichn ls , {d r ian Ph i l l i ps . l id P insen l . N la the \ \ 'R i le \ .a r t t l Chr is \1 'a tson I { ) r the i r encouragen}ent , in fo r rna t io l l and he lp .

Bar fv Ha les . {n l ip fu tny I id t t t Suppknrcn t has been sho\1n a t the( la le r ie f i i r Ze i tger r i i ss ische huns t i r ) Le ipz ig . the l2 l Cer l re . theRola l Cof lege o l \ r t . a t , \ ' . r l i o l rd l Or id \O i60E in the l rn ( le rgrou l ( lnuc lear la r fa re cornmanc l cen t re near {ns tn r ther . on board l \ lSStu l )n i tz i r ) S lockh0 l rn , a t lhe I )a1 i r i l ,and \ r ts Cent re in Br igh to-n .the . \ r ' t l rouse. t l l e \ox i r t C l leml l i l z and a l Sonar in Barce lona.

I ) i s i r ) fo rn la t io r t p r { )duc ts a re ava i lab le l i l rn These Records on0 l7 l i87 55- t r9 a r )d Soutce Researc l r on 01{ l 633 598{ .

62


64


EminemThe SIin Shady LPAFTERMATH /INTERSCOPE RECORDS

rw9I!t391It seems sadly appropriate thateven as I write, Eminem's'MyName 1s...' is at number two rnthe pop hit parade, held awayfrom the top slot by atrouser-selling yellow puppet.Such ludicrous ignominy couldeasily slot in next to other taresof wacky injustice on this album.Eminem, or'controversial whiterapper Eminem'as a rather lazypress has come to know him,first came to my attention onsome dreary BBC news channelentertainment dump aired atpeak viewing time 4.30 am. Someclueless seff-styled'entertainmentjournalist' was pontificating onthe laddie's credibility. Blah blahVanilla lce blah blah concroversiallyrics and so on. However, we'reprobably on safe ground, thegoatee-bearded tool continued,because Eminem is of course theprot€g€ of Dr Dre who was inthat controversial rap groupPublic Enemy.

Actually Dre was in N.W.A.,which is hardly obscureinformation known only wrthinthe inner sanctums of hip-hop,but that's about as close torelevance or accuracy that thepress has thus far managed to getwhen dealing with Eminem. Apartfrom the fact that white folks arenot completely unknown withrnhip-hop (White Dawg, Molotov,El-P, Everlast, 3rd Bass. Milkboneand so on) it only seems to bethose with no interest in thegenre that bang on aboutEminem's'authenticity', andhonestly, who really gives a fuckwhat The Guardian's arascorrespondent thinksl Eminem isonly controversial for the samereasons that N.W.A. were. Afterall if a few gangstas listen to rhtsstuff and start taking pot shots ateach other, who cares, but assoon as white suburban America,you know, OUR kids, catch on -Wooah! Call out the NationalGuard. Anyone who's seriouslyoffended by Eminem shouldprobably be reacting in the sameway to The Simpsong or any filmmade after | 950. Sure, rhere's

guns and hos and niggaz andbitches. That's hip-hop. lt'ssometimes aggressive and violentbecause that's how society oftenbehaves.

So. ls Eminem any good? Hell,yes. The fact the Dr Dre, SnoopDogg and Missy Elliott, to namebut three, have all chosen oftheir own free will to work withhim speaks volumes, and morethan settles clueless debatesabout 'authenticity'.

As a shy andscrawny white kid from Detroit.his first forays into the world ofrap were beset by more than theusual quota ofobstacles; andlesser talents would not havelasted this long, let alone brokenthrough into the mainstram.Eminem raps with the ferocity ofthe nutter on the bus and themanic desperation of one whohas run three miles home for asorely-needed poo, only toremember the {ront door keysare still in the oocket of adifferent oair oftrousers. Hefires out rhymes within rhymesand multiple puns which trip overeach other be{ore your brain hasfully digested even the first partof the message, and just whenyou've nearly got into the rhythmof this sensory overload, hedelivers a quadruple whammyand we're back to square onewith our brains dripping out ofour ears, and a team of surgeonsfighting to sew our sides backtogether. Slim Shady, named forthe Dersona Eminem takes on

throughout this album, isn't anovelty record, or even(shudder) a comedy record, but alot of it is very funny.

Having said that, it's more than aone-d imensional gag-fest. Asex-trailer trash myself, I canidentif with the tales of crapbadly-paid flunky jobs, bad food,bad relationships, minimalprospects of things getting better,and a dysfunctional upbringing.Before the violins start, evenduring grimmer moments, heexudes razor sharo wit.

The music and Droductionchores alternate between Dre,and the team of Marky and JeffBass. Of these, Dre has the edgebut it's a close run race. Thestumbling clunky beats lurchalong in a sometimes drunkenfashion as the main feature rapsin and out ofthe tracks like arain-coated bra thieffleeing thepursuing army of storedetectives. The subject matter offi-ustmted hold-ups, failedattempts to get famous, drugoverdose and dumping yourgirl'friend's body off the end of apier, is reassessed on the finaltrack'Still Don't Give A Fuck'. rntones reserved for adultsexplaining important andcomplicated 6cts of life to smallchildren, Eminem reassures us allthat he's never shot. stabbed.killed, or raped anyone, least ofall his ex-girlfriend who is alive,well and looking after their cutebaby daughter, whose picture

aPPears on the cover, and whomEminem would clearly die forbefore letting any harm come toher. lt's a piq/ that this won'tconvince the moral crusaderswho blame rap for violence,debauchery, world famine andglobal warming, but as Eminemwould say - fuck'em. In a worldlike this, the real good guys arestanding at the back of the classtryint hard not to laugh.

$0"f^Foxy BrownChyna DoIIDEFIAM/VTOLLTORRECORDS 558 033-2 (1999)

As is probably obvious, this rsNOT a musical outing by PamGrier's big screen alter ego,mther it is the second album byInga Marchand, the l9 year-oldprote4e of tay-Z, he of 'Hard

Knock Life'notoriety. 1997's lllNa Na still stinds as a fine debut.though with some teethintproblems, none of which havebeen repeated on Chyna Dolr.Like wine, Foxy has improvedwith the passing of time, somesay only because she's half-inchedsome of Lil' Kim'sBrooklyn-brewed grunts andgroans, but whether true or not(and it's debatable, as Foxy isherselfa Brooklyn native), herrapping is sharper and cleaner. Iuse the latter adjective toindicate a certain polish, by theway, not a sudden reluctance touse rude words. In fact, withregard to fluent and vividlyillustrative oathery, I suspectsome sort of record may havebeen broken here, and I'msurprised that the 'Parental

Guidance' sticker didn't take upthe whole cover. Not that thisbothers me peroonally. lt'ssometiing of a pleasure to havethe air of my living room turnedblue with such poise and style.Some rappers screech and whine,whilst others seem to mumbleinto the ether without any regardfor rhythm or flow. Foxy'spissed-off drawl is swiftlyevolving into a distinctive andeffective complement to thesparse but razor-sharp beatsover which she does her thang.

Yes, the music. Choppy,electronic and minimal, it's son

s L w :: t ) 6 r r " - t '

6s

of like early john Carpenterhaving a seizure. On moreextreme examples like '4-5-6'and'Ride (Down South)' the vcalcarries the rhythm with clearerdefinition than the mutilatedstuttery backdrop. There's thecustomary borrowed samples ofcourse, notably on 'l Can't' (alsofeaturing Total) which transforma slice of George Michael'sorange drivel into a cut l'dactually bother to cross the roadfor. The noteworthy trzcks aremany, in fuct they take up mostof the album. To pick a few atrandom, 'Bonnie and Clyde Partll 'sees Foxy and!ay-Z managingto outgangsta each other, both atthe same time if you'll forgive thecontradiction, over a backing thatis not so much a passage of musicas the sound of a drum machineand a sampler tetting it on in theBarry White sense. 'B.W.A.' isprobably my own personal desertisland disc of the set. Here Foxyis joined by Gangsta Boo and theunstoppable Mia X for agal-orrentated remake ofN.W.A.'s'Real Niggaz Don'tDie', which manages to pisstorrents over the original, andhints at what Ozzy Osbornemight sound like if he was young,female and black. lt would makean absolutely MURDEROUSsingle if such a possibility waslikely, given the irrepressiblycatchy chorus of'l 'm amutha{uckin' bitch!' As ananthem to female empowerment(and all that...mutter mumble) itdroos cobalt bombs on all thatsensitive campfi re stuff...andHuggy blummin' Bear you canjust {orget about right here andnow, if you hadn't already.

In days of yore I considered mostfemale rappers a bit weak andwhiney. Perhaps I was wrong, orperhaps some really were as badas I remember. Whatever thecase may be, this panicularprejudice was eventually cartedoff to State Pen with multiDle life

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999sentences and no chanceof parole. Foxy Brown's

iust thrown awaf thekey. Chyna Dollwilldrive-by its way intoyour heart.

}^f^fiVarious ArtistsStraight OuttaCompton - I0thAnniversatyTribute

the Shocker. lt's no less than anassemblage o{ hip-hop's scariestas of 1999. Will Smith andLauryn Hill seem to have beenoverlooked. Grrffaw.

The music remains for the mostpart faithful to the originals, wit}|a few deft modern touches.Lyrically it's still the sameexplosive brilliance of ten yearsago, bar the odd customisationmade to avoid the Dotentiallunacy of Mr Mike singing aboutwhat it's like being lce Cube.Obviously there's no way thiscould ever surpass the originalalthough many a well-aimed shotis taken, notably by Beats By ThePound who provide a radicallyremodelled version of 'Gangsta

Gangsta' for the distinctivetalents of Snoop Dogg andC-Murder. When guesting onother people's albums these twonever fail to shine with equalbrilliance and they bring moodyhoodlum magic to all they touch,so it's a real treat to hear themtogether on such a fundamentallyclassic number. l'd buy aMorrissey record if C-Murderpopped in to drop a few lines.

Meaty though it is, the greatestfunction of this collection is toserve as a timely reminder of thesheer brilliance of the originalalbum, and what agroundbreaking act were N.W.A-at their peak The whole gangstathing is poorly understood,because people are often tooouick to make a condemnationbased on the flimsiest ofhal{-truths, and it gets boringhavint to explain the hcts tosomeone who probably isn't eventhat interested. This is illustratedwell by the tedious regularitywith which Public Enemy's deeplyhumourless lt Takes A Nation OfMillions To Hold Us Back cropsup in all these pre-millennial favealbum lists alongside Neil Young,The Smiths, and all the otherusual suspects. lt's probably theonly hip-hop rcord a greatnumber of people have heard,which of course isn't a crime, andPublic Enemy have had tleirmoments (notably 'Bring TheNoise') but ultimately that albumis as one-dimensional as theoverused saxophone squeal thatsaturates its grooves. The greatinlustice of alf this is that StraighrOuta Compton, which is as

PRIORI1YRECORDSCDPIT t63 7243 8 46881 2 1

!t999)The idea of covering an entirealbum seems a little eccentric atthe very least, although Laibachmust be given credit for aconvincingly stern interpretationofThe Beatles' Let lt Be.Butarap album?

The treatest strentth of hip-hopis its lyrical contenL Hairygeetargh rock with pitiful lyricscan usually stand on the strengthof brute force and momentum,or interesting use of tambourineduring the bridge, but rapperswith no lyrical ability will onlyever ruin a good beat. Which iswhy it's such an oddball thing todo, covering an entire N.W.A.album. lt's almost like covering aspoken word record - like BillHicks doing a version o{ LennyBruce's llye ar Carnegie Hall.

Anyway. lt's ten years since thedebut album by 'the world's mostdangerous group' irrevocablychanged the face of hip-hop. Tocommemomte the occasion theartists present have been

tathered in tribute. Most, likeMack l0 and Compton's MostWanted, are contemporaries andassociates of N.W.A. from in andaround LA, but there's a (ew outof town boys as well, notably halfof New York's Terror Squad (Fat

Joe, Big Pun, Cuban Link) and NoLimit soldiers C-Murder and Silkk

s#rt@w

ffi&

important to the whole hip-hopgenre as Never Mind TheBollocks was to rock musrc, isonly presently available in the UKas an overpriced and barelyobtainable import! Hopefully thiscelebration will serve to elevatelce Cube, Ren, Dre, Yella and thesadly missed Eazy E, to thelegendary status which is mostcertainly their due.

f^$c"DI RapLeazning CumeHIGHERGROT'ND

rygg:glA friend recently implored me tobuy a copy of rubbish lads' magMaxim on the strength that itfeatured photos of himself actingthe goat to illustrate one of themany substance-free anicles.Grittint my teeth and with a facefar redder than is normal whenpurchasing pornography, Isauntered out ofthe newsatentpraying that my path would notbe crossed by any familiar faces.Later, having derived mildamusement from images of mypal gurning amy like a good 'un, Inoticed the rag purported tocontain something on DJ Rap. Myspirits lifted until eventuallyfinding, somewhere in the regronof page 567, herself recliningsuggestively around a minusculearticle the thrust of which was 7may be a hmous DJ but I enioywearing heels and stockings asmuch as the next girl'. Oh {orgoodness sake! Still, more foolme for expecting anything elsewithin such shabby pages. Afriend now informs me that Rapused to appear regularly on thethird page of a certain crapnewspaper, and rather unusuallythis was around the time whenher early groundbreaking Jungleplatters first started to attractattention in clubs. Over the lastcouple of years Rap's publicprofile has loomed ever largerand her underground status hasdiminished accordingly, not leastbecause she keeps doing songs,comolete witi choruses and allthe pop trimmings.

So, dutifully I bought this, mindfulof the possibility that a trip to therecord and tape exchange couldbe a potential eventuality. Aneventuality that never came to

66

be, because Learning Curve is ascorcher. True, this time she'ssinging songs as well as giving thedrum machine a nervousbreakdown, but it turns out thatshe has a fine evocative voice,and Learning Curue remains trueto her innovative beginningswithout simply rep€atint tlem Intime to chirpy audio fluff. lt mayseem an odd comparison, butwhat immediately springs to mindis the rcent collaborationbetween Madonna and WilliamOrbit. While pretty good forMadonna, both 'Ray of Light'andespecially'Drowned World'sound lke flat monochromeshadows of the deep bluedimensions through which Rapswims on this album. But everrwith lucidly dreamt guitars,breathy harmonies and thestadium rock finale of 'You GetAround', there's no mistaking thisfor anything other than drum andbass, although of a powerful newmutant strain. Much of this stillsend shivers up the spine evenafter innoculation by repeatedplays. How the hell does she doitl The way the choruses seem toturn inside out as they drip downyour back like ice cubes, it'scertainiy the closest musicaianalogy of the weird coldeuphoria induced by discobiscuits. Pardon my seemintlyrvanton enthusiasm, but this hasGOT to be an impossible act tofollow.

f^)"fiVarious ArtistsRawkus PtesentsSoundbottt-bing Ifglry!E:9999!999rLike the sad little collector that Iam, I bought this on the strengthof the Eminem track, and whilstinitially experiencing a lrttledisorientation, found the rest o{it really creeps up on yousomething rotten. Amongst the

other contributors are Sadat X.Mos Def. Pharoahe Monch.Q-Tip and a veritable cast ofthousands. Hip-hop, or at leastmy own tiny corner of thatuniverse, se€ms to have movedon from scratchint in recentyears, so it's a pleasant surpriseto hear that the oYin deckshaven't completely lost out tothe sampler. ln hct the two areoften combined on thiscomprlatron to veniginous effect,with stuttery scratches manglingthrough samplers into somet}ingthat almost teeters over into fustedit chaos, whilst paradoxicallykeeping the beats hard, deep andregular. Rawkus as a labei is wellnamed, if these folks are anymeasure. This is very raw, in factyou can almost smell the dieseldriving those daks around. Carehas also been taken in the lyricaldepartment with nary a weak linkin the whole chain.

At the moment the standout cutsseem to be Eminem's'Any Man'which continues to demonstratethe dexterity of his highlyindividual style, and CompanyFlow's'Patriotism' which scaresthe living shit out of me. PublicEnemyl Pshaw! Having said that,each time I listen some othertrack previousiy hidcien in theyast seething mix inevitablycreeps up and clubs me over thehead, much as Medina Green's'Crosstown Beef did about fiveminutes ago. The Soundbombingof the title is more than iustletters on a CD cover; rt's wharhappens when you put this CD inyou machine and press PLAY.

$}TTimbalandTitn's BioBI,ACKGROIIND /ATT.ANTIC 928t3.2 (I998)

Oh the sauce! Tim's 9io,subtitled so as to suggest beingtaken fi-om the soundtrack of a

67

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999fifm calfed Life from DaBassmenl which I suspectdoesn't exist, opens with thesound of T K Kirkland making hisway into the studio whereuponhe meets the living God himself,Timbaland. not a olace but a lonegenius. 'What's so lly is that yourstuff is creative... it'sdifrerent...yhll put a new cwist inthe game,'whlle in the otherspeaker we hear a chorus ofhearty acknowledgements fromTimbaland, cont€nt that theextent of his glory is near infinite.Modesty is not one ofTimbaland's strong points, as headmitted in /r6e magazine, frombehind the wheel of one of hrsmany luxuriously expensive cars,each one the reward for someact of hitheno unDrecedentedbrilliance- For once, suchapparently rampant egotism isforgivable. Timbaland is noseJf-obsessed egomaniac. Nope. lfanything, he's just telling it like itis. Timbaland really is THATgood.

The unsettlingly youthful mancalled Timbaland is a recordingartist and producer from the bigV.A., that is to say his home stateof Virginia. Behind him is a stringof olatinum sellers. His distinctivebmnd of down South hip-hopcum slow and sexy R & B isstamped large on albums andsingles by Ginuwine, Missy, 702,Aaliyah, Total and others. TheTimbaland sound isn't quite likeanything else. lt's all slowspacious beats lazily punctuatedby pregnant pauses, snaresclattering amy suddenly in thelast places you'd expect them toturn up. He's frequently emulatedand never bettered, because it'sjust one ofthose sounds, like TheFall or even Foetus, that can't bereproduced wnhout the culpritcoming over as hopelesslyderivative. Only lgnorants havecome close, with their remix ofKCi and Jojo's

'All My Life', and

then only because theirtreatment of this ordinarilyindistinct song is a per{ectforgery of the man from the bigV.A. on par with some of thosepaintings that hang in theNational Gallery for half acentury before their authenticrtyis called into question.

Timbaland exists at a tangentft'om contemporary hip-hop andR & B, just as dub pioneers likeScientist and Mad Professorseemed to have come f'om adifferent planet to the moretraditional blue beat artists theygrew up with. The appeal of hismusic lies within the tension heplays like an instrument duringthe lengthy gaps between beats.He builds melodies up aroundincongruous samples of crashingplanes, gurgling babies. twrtteringbirdsong, and then drops in someof the strangest sounding MCsyou'll ever hear on disc - Lil' Man(who raps through what soundslike a lungful of helium), Magoo(who isn't named after thecartoon character just for thehell of it, as you'll hear) andTwista (who all but crosses theboundary between speed rapprngand iust rubbing your lipstogether whilst blowing).Although the approach suttestssimilar working methods to thatof the sideshow entrepreneur,Timbaland assembles thecontents of a freak show andends up with an opera. Thesounds on Timbaland recordswould, anywhere else, be justplain wrong, yet here they blendin with such naturai gmce thatyou're carried away into thoseslow southern irooves beforemanaging even half of thequestion 'what the hell is THATdoing on therel' Such masteryhas to be the result of hours ofcareful programming andorchestration, one might think,so you have to be impressed byhow live and soontaneous it all

{;,ji,:

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999sounds. The oddly clean and flatproduction sound gives theimoression that a lot ofTimbaland's music iust sort of felltotether one afternoon when afew of the guys came around andended up messing about in thestudio.

This is the second Timbalandalbum to appear under his ownname, and features his regularcast of collaborators. MissyEllioa, Magoo, Aaliyah andGinuwine are back once againfrom Timbaland oroduced solooutings. Among the celebritynewcomers arelay-Z, Kelly Prrceand the vocal group Playa. Onceagain Timbaland seems to haverolled over in his sleep andwoken up in the morning to findanother album has spontaneouslygenerated itseff into the can,another brace of solid gold lamscasually fizling into existencelike it's no big deal: 'What ChaKnow About This'; 'Put Em On';'Fat Rabbit': 'Who Am l': thesound of legs breaking in dancehalls across the world. Forget allthat cybergoth junk, Timbaland isthe real sound of things to come.Where that whole screamingsynth metal crew got it wrong isin leaving the hean out of theirdystopian fantasises, and asTimbaland proves, ahhough themusic of tomorrow may at firstsound strange and unfamiliar, youKNOW it's got soul.

C;-^fiVarious.trrtistsThe N.W.A. LegacyVolunze One1988-1998PRIORITTRECORDSCDP}T t70 7243 I 4709t 29 , 2XCp (1999)

As the musical frmily ree on thecover shows, N.W.A. reallystarted something, and a fewfruits of this ciramatic fioweringare collected over these twoCDs in the form of solo andcollaborative offerings. In fact Ican't think of many We:t coasthustl€rs of repute who haven'tturned up here in one way oranothei. Obviousiy there's acouole of N.W.A. numbers fi'omthe two albums, and a generousneiprng of ice Cube and Dr Dre'sresPectiYe solo ventures, notablythe former's 'Steady Mobbin"with its drstinctrve mirth-inducingsample'there goes theneighbourhood!' In addition weget a few of the post-N.W.A.erws like Vy'estside Connetion,Da Lench Mob, and Above TheLaw, and reDresentative tracksfrom those who have soent timeunder the mighty wing of Dr Dre- Snoop Dogg, 2oa'<, DazDi l l inger and Mack 10.

The music is as varied in moodand timbre as you'd expect fromsuch an eclectic mix.Unsurprisingly there's noshortage of hard-hining anger.but this is nicely contrasted withmaterial such as Eazy E'sirrepressible celebration ofhimself and his magnificent lovetruncheon,'We Want Eazy', andlce Cube's uptempo summernumber 'lt Was A Good Day'.The samples mnge from GeorgeClinton to Nine Inch Nails, sosuffice to say there's manycolours on this polycarbonatecanvas. For those whodisapprove offoul language (hardto believe), even you lot arecatered for by a medley ofcleaned-up N.W.A. hits. Lyricallythey're almost completely new,having had dramatic rewrites ofthe vocal lines, probably becausetrying to clean up 'Gangsta

Gangsta' or'Dopeman' by justdropping a few naughty wordsout of the mix would leave youwith instrumentals. Oh, thosedamn potty-mouthed kids! Theanrount of orally-administeredsoaD that Mrs Cube must'vegotten through bringing up wee

lce could've kept most ofNorthern Europe spotless for ayear, l' l l bet you any money youlike.

You get lost in this fine world ofhard and smooth G-funk. lt'sfunny, angry, funky like youwouldn't believe, jam-packedwith righteous truths and someof the most devastatingtwo-liners in the history of rap. Iknow l'll never get bored of lceCube spouting forth 'l'm

expressing with my full capability,Now they got me in correctionalfacilities'on 'Express Yourself ,and I doubt l'l l live to see the daywhen I'm able to stop myselfwaving a fist in the air andchanting along to'We WantEazy'.

The only omission in my view rs afew representative cuts from TheWorld Class Wreckin' Cru, whoapparently were N.W.A.'sprevious'all the ladies say yo'sequinned lumpsuit incarnation -before they discovered attitude.I'm told it was pure cheese,which is perhaps why it's beenkind of airbrushed fi-om history.But cheesy or not, this set's

eclectic enough to cope witheven a few dabs of embarrassingdisaster.

f^fifiTLCFanntailARISTA / I.AFACERECORDS 23008 26055 2

!1991With the possible exceptions ofThe Honeyz and a newTimbaland-plagiarising killer fiomDestiny's Child, iCs all been a bitquiet in R & B srnce the Brandyalbum. lf you ask me, that is.Their having been responsible forone of the two greatest singlesever made, TLC had me climbingthe wall waiting for this toFINALLY come out. What withlegal wrangles, managementcomplications, Chilli producingoffspring, and Left Eye setting fireto her boyfriend's house withintent to seriously piss him off,it's been a hell of a wait since| 99 4's Cra zySe xyC o o l. Especiallysince that album, whilstcontaining the Sreatest song ofetc, etc, among$ a few othergodies, was othemise patchy,and an indecisive follow up to theexplosive debut made byOoooooohhh...On The TLC kp.The promo only single o{'SillyHo', bizarrely edited for radioplay so as to omic half of the title,only served to inflame my hungerfor Fanmai l . 'S i l ly Ho'promised alot with T-Boz on her best huskyf ingers-runn ing-down-your-backvocal form and a track thatsounds like it was recordedsomewhere in fokyo towardsthe end of the 32nd century. Thealbum kept getting held up untilfinally the day arrived and I waspossessed by a single-mindeddrive to snap it up comparable inseverity with De Nrro's shootingspree at the end of Taxi Driver.

So was it worth the interminablemit, the wear and tear on myr r rnn inc <hnp< tho rac t a f

replacing all the wallpaper l'dchewed and scraped awaylInitially /es, it stans off every bitas good as I'd hoped. TLC seemto have been reborn into somedigitaiiy augmented cyberneticversion of their former identitv,and the contmst of their richvocai stylings (particuiarly T-Boz- shiver'!) with the colC frenetrcrhythm of information coreschattering away at each other.ri6t io rriention the appearance or'Vic-E, the first synthetic femalerapper (we've sure come a lontway since Speak N Speii), makesfor an electri{ying combination.But after the first five or sixtracks, it all goes, well,pear-shaped is a bit too strong asimile, but certainly kiwifruit-shaped. lt's that age old

68

The Sound Projector Sixth issue 1999problem, the pointlesssyrup-laced ballad. With theirinherent pop sensibility TLCnever plummet to the murkydepths inhabited by yersequinned luuurve ;unkies, andwhile some of these sonts areokay, they fall a long way shon ofmatching the peak of the titletrach or 'Silly Ho', or'Automatic', or even the latinflavoured respite from cybersour,'Unpretty'.

With Left Eye dropping the oddhint that she may soon take herfootball home, and forget torenew that TLC membershipcard, this might turn out to bethe final album, which would be ashame. lf so, they're going out ona high note, if not a pitch-perfectone. But still, even with onlythree albums to tieir name, twoof which suffer from a bit ofpadding, this will always be thegroup that tave the world'Waterfalls', 'Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg','Sumthin' Wicked This WayComes', 'Silly Ho' and one of thefunniest phone pranks l've heard(involving Chilli, Puff Daddy,mucho grunting and groaning,and the words'l want you topass me a tissue so I can wipe myass'). Even with the occasionallyoointless soul blandathon. thar sstill good enouth.

$C^}"MissyMisdemeanorElliottDa ReaI WozldELEKTRARECORDS2559-62436-6 (1999)

Top Of The Pops. Presented byGail Porter. Again. Some dirtyold man's prepubescent tuggingfuntasy called (choke) Lolly isbouncing arcund to'Viva LaRadro'. Gail says her first album iscalled (choke) l"ly First Album.Long pause. Fuiis the -i onyHancock face. lf l 've died, which Iaccept may be the case,somehow | <ion't think this is theplace with the harps and halos.Only one thing can save menow...(choke)...mustfind...new...(chcke) (cough)Missy. . .a lbum.

Like Clark Kent suddenlydelivered from the influence ofGreen Kryptonite, my strentth,my will to live. slowly returns.

When iust a little girl nicknamed'Pumpkin', growing up inPortsmouth, Virginia, MelissaElliott always dreamt that a hugelimo might pull up outside theschool disgorging Janet andMichael Jackson, their havingfinally decided to visit the kid rhatwrote to them every week.These days Janet Jackson phonesMissy and begs to work with her,

this new world class producer,and Timbaland's long termpartner in stutter beats- Missy'sfirst album, Supa Dupa Fly,remains unbeatable, and showsthat she's very much an equalpartner in the creation of theTimbaland sound. lt's every bit asgood as Tim's Bioand WelcomeTo Our Woild, his earlier jointwith Magoo. The focus is slightlydifferent, being from a femaleperspective, but it's still packedto the hilt with those slow wambeats and suggestive pauses. And,to tet to the point, they've doneit again.

V,lhere Supa Dupa Flywasalmost raw-edged, particularly oncuts like'Hit Dem Wit Da Hee'and'lzzy lzy Ah', this is

smoother with an understatedsense of the cinematic. Wholeorchestras are edited into thegaos weaving through theclattering hi-hat under Missy'sresonant exDressive voice. Whenshe sings it can break your heart,and when she flows effortlesslyinto rap, grown men dive forcovcr, not least cf al! soecialguest Eminem who runs offwai l ing 'Mommy, Mommy. Missy<ione iost her mind! i thinksomebody done oissed her offthis time!' And speaking of guests,there's Lrl' Krm rntbrming y'aiithat she'll be rnore than happy tofuck the shit up of anyone with aproblem about her use of theword 'bitch',

or moi-ephonetically speaking'byee-aatch!' (@ Snoop Dogg):MC Solaar turns up to rhyme influent Fmncais; Juvenile and B.G.represent for New Orleans inthe deepest dirty South; LadySaw toasts, illuminating a suddenrealisation that with its use ofgaps and ofbeats, the Timbalandsound isn't a million miles awayfrom the whole ragga-dancehallthing; Eminem proves he can turnthis stuff on and off like a tao,

dropping some of his mosteccentric lines to date: 'Call meboogie night, The stalker thatwalks awkward, Stick figure, Dickbigger than Mark Wahlberg', andI don't even care if thar works inprint-

l've tried writing this as I listen tothe album, as is my usualpractice, but it hasn't been easy, atrack like'Stickin' Chickens'comes along and all bets are off.It immobilises all rationalthought, pinning you to the floorwith a beat that could turn BnanSewell into a body-poppinghomeboy. I don't think I reallyneed to construct any carefullyorchestrated final paragraph. PutDa Real Worldon your stereoand don't make any plans. This

album is fire!

Snoop Doggll[o Ltunit Top DoggNO LIMIT RECORDS ??43 84?556 2 I (1999)

Snoop's definitely been in thewars since the release of hisgenre-defi nrng D oggys qvl e albumback in 1993; prime suspect in amurder inqurry, of which he wasacquitted after a long time sittingaround in limbo, during whichthe press went into overdrivewi"rh the obligatory demonisaiion.Also the legal wrangles of gettingout of the contract at Death RowRecor<is took rts toii rn trme ancifraved neryes. Thankfully this isall now firmly in the past, and anew found sense of well-beinginspired by Christianity andfatherhood led him to NewOrleans. and No Limit Records.His first album from that stable,Da Game ls To Be Sold, Not ToBe Toldwasn't quite receivedwith universal praise. and it desto an extent sound like Snoop,Master P, and Beats By ThePound who provide much of themusic, are still getting used toeach other's methodology. lt is a

little odd hearing Snoop's usualpounding G-funk replaced by theSouthern styled subtleties of theNo Limit soldiers. lt's still a goodalbum, only there's a sense thatsomewhere along the linesomething tot lost in the post.

Anymy, the new one's here andwe're firing on all cylinders again,cooking with gas, and so on.Among the large cast o{ musicalcontributors are DJ Quik andSnoop's original mentor, Dr Dre,and the music on the wholeseems better suited to its leadingfigure. Guest vocalists include NoLimit regulars Mia X, Silkk TheShocker, C-Murder and Mystikalalongside Raphael Saadiq. Just likethe Snoop of old, it swings andbounces along nicely under a hotsun in a blue sky, beats pounding,here and there a synth burpingout the sort of bad boy cool thatTarantino would kill for, carriedby upbeat rolling funk, and olcourse, the main attraction.

It isn't difficult to understandSnoop's appeal. His leisurelyconversational rhymes paint vividpictures with economic clarity.He never fills a line with morewords than it needs to hit thepoint home, and his soft spokendelivery sounds like it comesfrom a man who's never let eventhe shittiest of circumstancesprovoke him to anger. And that'spretty unusual considering someof his subject matter. Snoop'sstrength is that even as thenarrator of drive-by shootings,cmck deals, gng-bangings, and allthat gangsta business, hesomenow manages to comeacross as a nicg guy, albeit onecaught up in testingcircumstances. There's morethan a few prime cuts here, andtracks like'Snoopafella', whichdoes a G-thaiig on the Ciiideieilatale, and the phenomenalsquelch-beat of 'Buss'n Rocks'oack more ba<i-ass funk intoshort tr"acks than I suspect isstrictly legal. The Dogg is backwith an album that I can't helobut describc as the dogg'sbollocks.

agl at1, 4g:o" 'o"-o"C-MurderBossalinieNO TIMIT RECORDS. P2s003s (1999)

Mia X exceoted, C-Murder is tothese ears the jewel in the crownof the No Limit boot camo.Having the secret identity of bluecollar white trash in a tiadly-paidback-breaking job, I frequentlywear a Walkman to relieve thebrain-numbing tedium of doingrepetitive and largely pointlesswork. Due to an almostcontinuous sense of oressureimposed by having to deal with

ffi,b:i$r;

69

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999arseholes and wanting to breakthe boss's jaw, I find the musicwhich calms me best is not,surprisingly, sphincter-relaxingambient drones, or even JudyGarland, but anything bysomeone who you just know hasalso had to deal with shit. Themighty Rollins is one suchindividual, butC-muthafuckin'-Murder, as he'sintroduced on a Mia X album,really hits the spot like no-oneetse,

Much of the music here, courtesyof Beats By The Pound, Sons O{Funk, Deadly Sounds and others,just exudes that laid-back funkycool, and sometimes anunderstated sense of menace,with which rhe name No Lrmit issynonymous- lt's funny how somerock bands c:tn scream and wailaway like a tantrum feeding backinto itseli and iust about raise aneyebrow, yet C-Murder canfrighten the life out of me by iustmumbling away quietly to himselfduring a few minutes of musicthat wouldn't have sounded outof pface in an episode o'( Sarskyand Hutch. He's been comoaredto 2Pac, and there may besomething in this, but I don'tthink the resemblance toes toodeep. His thoughtful reflectivestyle draws you in, as does thedialogue of any skilled storytellerwho makes each member of theaudience feel as though they'rebeing addressed personally. Andjust as the unconsciousinflections and intonations of anarrative convey information notcontained within the aqtualspoken words, one finds thissame sense of subtext inC-Murder's vocal. In 'Living

Legend'when he raps' l 'm th isclose from doing anotherdrive-by, and now I don't reallywanna make another mother cry,but these niggaz is playin' withmy fuckin' pride' (irrespective ofhow that might look on paper tosome of you), you can almost seehis hand gestures, and thedifferent expressions of desparrand confusion playing across hisfeatures. In fact the whole albumis full of such extradimensionalinformation, because like SnoopDogg, his anger is kept in check,no matter how grim thedescribed circumstances.

His brothers Master P and SilkkThe Shocker both seem to enioya much higher profile within thehip-hop arena. Not to belittleeither of them, but my money son C-Murder, the proverbialquiet one at the back. This isprobably the Gangsta analogy of

Joy Division. And the next time Ihear some Drannet with a total oftwo hip-hop albums (usuallyPublic Enemy, which hasn'tactually been played since rt cameout fifteen years ago, and what

else but Lauryn Hill) banging onabout naughty rapperscelebrating violence and how itall sounds the same and is like,weal ly mythoglrnyth ti c, man...firstl'm going to force them to listento Eossalinie (and there'll be atest later)...then they can suckmy m*********** d***, t*****nno good busted assm************* l

ct}.'c;MiaXManta DratnaNO IJMIT RECORDS F2

rys:991There's a lot to be said for theold oriental oroverb about theweakest dog being the one thatbarks the loudest. At the risk ofalienating half of the human race,l'd say this applies with painfulveracity to some of tfre morevocal instruments of femaleemancipation. I'nr referring to theAndrea Dworkins of the worldwho may rant and tubthump witha fervour that would haveimoressed Adoff Hitler. butcomins from safe, white andlargely trouble-free backgrounds,and ridden with guilt at notactually having a lot to complarnabout beyond the price of mungbeans, latch onto the mostridiculous of moral bandwagonsjust for the sake of havingsomething to scream. This is whywe tet the tearful impassioneddemands for the changing ofoppressive fascisticwomyn-raping words likeHlStory and MANhole. intovaginally positive alternatives. ltalso explains the Riot Grrrl bandswho sing about the right to eatchoccy bars, like the issue's rightup there with genocide andSouth American death souads.Ultimately, the only thing welearn from these chicks(ooops...typing error) rs howdivorced from reality they are.Valerie Solanas was NOT anembodiment of iustifiablefeminine rage, she was a sadnuf,ter, and of no moresignificance than that bloke whobroke into Buckingham Palace sohe could have a chinwag withHer Mai. These freakishlyincoherent harridans(sorry...damn this wordprocessor) would run a mile ifthey ever came across a realstrong woman, like Mia X. She'sgot reality all right! She's got somuch reality it hurtsl

The fegend runs: Mia X, lirst ladyof the ank meaning the wholeNo Limit emoire. I'm inclined togo funher. For me she's the FirstLady of hip-hop. There's plentyof serious competition of course:Foxy Brown, Missy, CharliBaltimore, MC Lyte, and the list

goes on. But when the clips, thepiece, the car keys and the bankroll are all on the table beingswept into an evidence bag. MiaX is the irresistible force that iustrolls right over that oldimmovable object. With herstrong New Orleans accent, sheisn't always the easiest rapper to{ollow, and she tends to leavesoulful R & B vamping to thosewhose voices are better suited,so wisely she just sticks to whatshe's best at: writing anddropping the rhymes. And whatrhymes they are. There's nobullshit here, because like shesays, it isn't about attitude, all hershit's for real. Yeah yeah yeahthere's niggaz and bitches anddope slanging, lots of sexy rudestuff and so on and Mia probablynever did 8et around to studylngChaucer and all those other deadguys, but you can't teil me thatthis stuff isn't fiercely intelligentor full of genuine insightfulthinking just because people inlslington don't get it.

Like cther No Limit soldiers, andlet's face it too many blackAmericans, Mia has had morethan enough tragedy in her life:friends and loved ones murderedand the kind ofghetto shit thatwould finish the AndreaDworkins off in ten seconds flat-So there's no shortage of mge onthis album, but it's tempered bywit, intelligence, and an almostevangelical gratitude for thesimple pleasures of being alive,for the fact that even when it

tets bad, you have to appreciatewhat gmd things you do have.Mia's lyrics are nothing less thanpoetry, and this claim is fromsomeone who doesn't actuallybelieve that much poetry is

Poetry.

Mama Drama (named for herfrxation wrth the oun Mama Miaas a sort of Mafiosa den motherthang) is electrifying listening.The music is supplied by variousmembers of Bqts By The Pound,who always seem to go especiallyapeshit on Mia X albums. lf youtook away the raps and turneddown the beats, 'Mama's tribute'wouldn't sound out of olaceslapped in the middle of a PhilipGlass number; 'lmma Shine'could've come direct from thesoundtrack of Miami Vice'lThink Somebody'does animpersonation of The Godfatherover a collage of chattering beatsmade entirely from samples ofdifferent gunshots; the title track'Mama Drama' is Laibach withstreet knowledge; 'What's YaPointl', featuring guests SnoopDog and Terror Squad's Fat Joe,is from the Fntbanting episodeof Mission: lmoossible that nevergot made; 'Thugs Like Me' is aRio carnival, but sexier and wither...misbehaviour;'Daddy' and

'Fallen Angels' are soft-edgedhomages to Mia's pop and muchmissed ex-homegirl Jil Stanford.With a lesser talent on the mic,it'd be iust schmale, but Mia X ison the case and these cuts neverfail to bring a lump to the throat.As if to acknowledge the surrealeclecticism at work here, there'seven a track about it; 'Puttin'lt

Down' opens with one of thehomies asking in so many wordshow in the name of all things holyhe's going to be able to rap oversuch a weird and lerky beat, onlyto be silenced by Mia X, Mystikaland others demonstrating thatfor a No Limit soldier, it ain't nothang. And even among thesetwenty mini-masterpieces, there'sone track that manages to shineagainst such a backdrop ofexcellence. 'Don't Blame Me',featuring C-Murder and MrServ-On expiains that contraryto what its critics seem tobelieve, gngsta rap isn'tresponsible for bringing up yourchlldren: surprisingly, this task isusually performed by the parents.As a message it's pretty simple,but it still needs saying, and thesoundtrack by which it isdelivered leaves me speechlessevery time.

So in concf usion, I'fama Drama,like Unladylike and Good GirrGone Badbelore it, ismagnificent. lt's been on constantrotation on my Walkman for afew months now and still soundsfresh, with something newcoming through each play. Somepeople may not have heard ofMia X yet, but it can only be amatter of time. l'd guess the onlyreason she doein't rule theworld is because she hasn't gotaround to it yet. Dammit! I'dMARRY this pl!

f^C"fiGENUINE FREETAPE OFFER!Readers! lfyou've enioyed the

is send a posrcard marked FR€ESOUNDBOHBING TAPE to

WAXARROW,C/OT,tEsoItND PROIECTOR, BMINDEFINITE, LONDON

W

ooes noc

involve the first tenpostt

free. All you.gora do

70


Cecil Taylor with MaxRoachNothing can match seeing Cecil Tay'or live, the veryphpical assault on the grand piano this man makes isbetter than a bout of all-in wresding. A powerhouse ofenergy, an unstoppable force, going the distance in hisusual marathon workout stint. Yes, this is why weattend live concerts all right! Would that I had'dug the'cat' sooner in my short life I might have had thechance to see him play before this, but there you go.l've been collecting such LPs as I can since about 198 l;if you've never heard him before then go ye and buywhatever you can right now, especially a solo lano LPlike Garden. Fasq complex, enertetic - and ultimatelyinscrutable, being too fast to understand, and talking inmany tontues at once. This one concert on its owncould, frankly, keep your mind occupied for aeons ifyou could explore every atom of it in slow motion -

every piece he plap could be an inexhaustibledocument of invention. Along with this you see a morepuzling and eccentric side of the treat man exhibited,say I referring to his beautiful mad unintelligible poetrydelivered off-stage from a microphone, and hiswonderful state app€arance like Aladdin inbrightly-coloured costume; this insane garb tipping anod of respect to Sun Ra. and showing us anastonishing manifestation of Afro-American culturewhich I suspect is in many wap beyond the ken of us\ y'estern Europeans, who no longer believe in thepower of magic, ritual and religion.

Cecil Tay'or personifies total free jaz, uncut anduntrammelled; shining fonh through the bitter racismhe (along with too many others) has had to fightagainst for most of this century. Loud cheers.

La Monte YoungA very accessible piece, this - a serene, quiet andmeditative droning work scored for four trumpets andfour cellos, and a rariant on The Second Dream,. apiece already issued on CD. La Monte himself didn'tactually take part in the performance, but he turned upto address the throng and supervised the piece whilehis wife did the purple lighting effeca.-Being as howthis was Winter 1998, our miserable isle found thepopulace stricken with the usual respiratory ailments,so the audience coughs and sneezes contributed to theambience in the worst oossible warn far better to have

SINCE VvE LAST SAw EACH OTHER, DEAR READER, I HAVE BEEN privilegedto aftend some quite remarkable live shows in London - remarkable because here Iam witnessint live on state some very important players, musicians, composers, allAmerican, here in this country some for the very first time. To have seen thesepeople at all struck me as pretty uncannf for it to happen in such a relatively shortspace of time vertes on miraculous. lt's also turned out to b€ a very humblingexperience, proving how little I actually know or understand about these diversemusics, other than simply professing to like them. Let's face iq you could spend tenlifetimes simply exploring the work of any one of these gup if you wanted to do itjustice, What's also happened is that a cluster of great concerts like this has misedthe ante so much that it's vinually spoiled me rotten for the rest o{ myconcert-toint life! flust kidding spors fans).

It is, I suttest, a bit unhealthy to live in theworld of collecting LPs. lt's arguably better toexperience music played live than hearing it onLP, though you can insist on the primacy of theinscribed LP text until you're blue in the face.The other problem with collecting recor& -researching them, looking at photographs,reading sleeve notes - oh, and listening to themoccasionally - is you can lose your sense ofp€rspective. You can forget that real peoplemade this music, real composers who lived inthe world - and they're still alive, some of them!So when the gods deign to descend from theirOlympian heights, walking down a staircase ofwhite cloud, you can bet your life that meremortals such as mysel{ (and several hundredothers too, l'm happy to relate) will be there toenjoy a fine feast at the tables of Zeus, hungryfor scraps which might fall...or something likethat...and let their applauding hands speak forthem, safnt a treat bit 'thank you' to eachperformer for years of generous service tomankindl

lmpossible | find to do any of these shows realjustice with my usual prose passates of elegantdescriptions, so just a few notes...

A feast attables of ZeusLrvE sHolfs t998-t999

Cecil Taylor and Max Roach, 24 January1999The Theatre of Eternal Music directedby La Monte Young, 1 December 1998Newband perform on the Harry Partchinstruments, 27 November 1998Terry Riley, with Jarvis Cocker andMembers of Pulp, 23 October 1998ALLtrT THE B.IRBICAN CENTRET IJONDONMOSTIJYPTRT OF THE TMERIC.EN PIONEERS SETSON

7L

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999seen this talking place in some large, picture-windowed dream house in a brightsunny State of the USA But, hearing the music, one was indeed transported tosuch an idy'l in one's mind. I came away with my doubts intact, regarding the scopeof Young's prolects - it seems to be little more than four notes, the components ofan arpetdo or chord, simply taken apart and extended into enormous dimensionsof duration and endurance-testint limits. lt's the same grandiosity, bordering onarrotant pomposity, that leads to gigantic can\asses painted in one colouroccuplng an enormous loft space. But this is what the Minimalist school wasabout. lt did, if nothing else, succeed in undermining the conventions of a classicalmusic performance; no sheet music, no conductor, and no real beginning or end, ifthat makes sense. The idea is the piece kinds of drifu in and out from total silence,which starts and finishes the work; large chunks of silence are fed into it in themiddle too. I like the idea of using silence iu a compositional element and wish thatmore peoy'e would do it! lt works; the piece is still going on in my head.

Young himself appeared on stage, with his wife, to discuss his life and times -

interviewed by the organiser of the Barbican American Innonators season. Young isfull of himself in that way that Arnericans are brilliant at - you can't exacdy hatethem for it, but it sure isn't anything like our typical British reserve and modestfHis penchant for the denim garb still seems kinda bizarre somehow - he looksmore like a biker than a modern composer, but maybe that's part of his appeal too.Of course, his ego is such that he wants to reclaim the one thing Minimalism triedto efface - the role ofthe composer as the one who owns the music, and a rolewhich Young is only too happy to re-inscribe, and on his own terms. I did notehow shrewd Young has been at documentint everything he does - and keeping thedocuments, which then acguire enough mystique to be exhibited (in the Fluxustradition, any association with which he now disowns) as art objects around theworld. This is eractlywhat happened to a roadside cafe napkin on which he jottedthe initial notes for a composition; not tiven away generously like one of Picasso'snapkins to pay for a meal, but hoarded away selfishly, waiting for the moment whenit mitht ad\ance his career and status.

Terry RileyNot one but two concerts, of which I preferred the second at Conway Hall. lt wassolo piano plalng by the man himselt looking very dapper with his little hat and bigbushy beard, and holy-man bow of benediction to the audience. The structures andtrancey looped drones ofthe 1960s are still perceirable as a core to Rile/s wor(but he's developed and extended his range - there are more chords, morecomposition, more narrative protression. You may retret these changes if like meyou prefer the music that pretty much stays in one place for along time, but thisnew material (even when it veers a tad too close to the world of Chick Corea formy liking) is still very beatific and has its spiritual foundation. The Conway Hallperformance also benefited from great sound projection courtesy of thecollaborator who miked up the piano. This was so good that I overcame my naturalreserve and enthusiastically went up him after the gig and said'Fantastic sound - itwas fike being insidethe piano!'- With agrin he replied,'That's the ideal'

The first concert included as the 'show-stopper'

a very long performance of /n Cwith a large combo of musicians including two members of the group Pulp. Thisturns out to be not as surprising as | {irst thoughg since both Mark Weber andlarvis Cocker share some of my interests in the visual arts - Weber witharant-garde cinema, Cocker withOutsider Art. Weber alsoconducted a very good series ofinterYiews with La Monte Youngwhich you must have all seen bynow. However, I didn't enjoy thisoerformance of /n Cone ht - it'sbecome almost an arant-gardestadium anthem! Oh dear, how itlumbered... but I mustn't soundungrateful.

Newbandperformingthe music ofHarry PartchAgain, the danger of losingoneself in the world of theprinted media is obsenrable here.ff you own a copy of the Delusionof the Futybx set on CBS, youalso own a beautiful LP sizedbooklet which prints some of themost sumptuous photographs ofthe Harry Partch instruments

ever produced. The pleasure that can be derived fromdrooling over these photos is...erm, almostpornographic. ln fact most record dealers find it hardto sell copies of this boxed set b€cause the pates ofthe booklets are invariably stuck together (true fact).

How happy I am to have lived long enough to see theseunique and wonderful instruments, on stage, theoriginal pieces. Entering the auditorium was likeentering the workshop of an alchemist - they weretruly magick devices. The concert for me started assoon as l'd clapped eyes on them - it was music for theeyes! ln fact they sound enery bit as good as they lookand were played with considerable delicacy and care bythe Newband troupe under the direction of theirbenign leader, Dean Drummond. Perhaps a bit toodelicate; the music was rather quiet and trancey,lacking some of the bite and attack you hear on therecords, but this may be simply attributable to theacoustics of the Barbican - which aren't very pod,truth be known, despite its reputation as a majorcentre for music pe#ormance. Drummond (who alsohad two of his own compositions for the Partchinstruments performed), as Newhnd leader and nowcurator of the instruments, also answered questionsfrom the audience, and even gave a brief but stanlingdemonstration of all the notes in an octa\€ than couldbe performed on the Chromelodeon, aharmonium-like instrument. The instruments havebeen in peril, threatened with dispersal when theUniversity faculty in the USA decided they weren'tgoing to store them any longer; but I think thesituation has been rectified now. Nothing is guaranteedsurviral in this naughty world.

The music of Harry Partch continues to fascinate. Irecommend heartily that you get sight of thescrapbook of photographs and press cuttints, andother archi l-ish memorabilia. that are reoroduced asthe Enclosure 3 book. lf (as suggested above) one is indanger o{ forgetting that real people made this music,this book might just bring you down to earth. Intensescrutiny of these photos is recommended; they revealanother wodd a between-the-wars America wherePartch struggled alone and alienated. His emotionsextend out into visual manifestations sometimes,rellected in the twisted landscapes where he wasphotographed. Some of tfiose rees se€m, in true Zenfashion, ready and willing to give up their lives for thehonour of being re-fashioned into one of hisinstruments.

ED PINSENT

72

ATXMS OFN-0-l-s-E

non-musicaf bursts& energetic bruits


A KombiMusic to Drive-ByAUSTRAIJA. DUAL PI.OYER IMR55IBRD (1996)Credited to A Kombi, the Volkswagen van ofLucas Abela, this is a compelling, strange andat times highly soothing piece of abstractnoise music. lt's about as far as you can getfrom formal or academic experimental music,as is shown by its very down-to-earth origins.After he'd found his van was capable ofgenemting strange sounds, entirely byaccident, Abela decided to document it andrecorded this, out in a remote graveyard onthe edge of a cliff facing the Pacific ocean.Lucas Abela had been living out of the back ofhis van for some time, and the only place hecould fetch up wherethe'p igs ' d idn' t 'hassle 'him, was this boneorchard in the middle ofnoplace. Abela claimsthis is his first realrecord, coming soonafter a few live radiobroadcasts he'dmanaged in Australia;and no denying it was anoutcropping of hislifestyle at this point,less a piece ofcomposed music than adocumentary recordingof what was going downin his li{e.

Alt}rough one istemPted to comparethis record to Un ChienCaalan, the insanerelase by VaginaDentata Organ (ordiVallis) which was simplythe sounds of hismotorbike, it turns outthis is not simply thesound of A Kombi'sengine being recordedstraight. 'lt was AKombi's stereo thatmade all the noise',claims Abela. Thevehicle was in such astate of (dis)repair thatits very machinery wassomehow reverberatingthrough the stereospeakers; bits of the van,including thewindscreen wipers, hadaccidentally become

amplilied and were making unpredictablesounds. He gave'roadside concerts'as aresult, passers-by stopping in the street tohear the interesting concrete music issuingfi-om this vehicle. Stopping in a tunnel wouldbe the equivalent of doing Wembley stadium,a live concert utilising the natural acoustics ofthe street environment. But Abela was notthe star - the car was the starl A Kombi wasacquiring a life of her own, speaking to himand anyone else who would listen, in herunique voice. Lucas didn't ask guestions - hejust made tapes. Reviewers in the USA haveinevitably drawn comparisons with movie'character' Herbie the Love Bug (also a WVanterestintly), but living cars have a longhistory. Look at the work of Ed 'Big Daddy'Roth and anyone who customised a Hot Rodin the early 1960s. Were they not recotntsint

the animalistic qualities of the inanimateobiect! | don't dig it myself, but I think I canimagine the bond that exists between a carand its driver, and it's probably somethingthat runs deep.

Where are we. I like this CD! lt could be oneof my favourite records of found noise, sometiny unexplained miracle of the 20th century,in that a hunk of steel found a voice andgenerated some trancey droney sounds, andthat ultimateb/ surpass any formal oracademic attempt to replicate the same thing(step forward, Fluxus group)- lt emergednaturalty from the life on the streets, notwithin some rarefied art atmosphere. A punkrecord! You may not expect a symphony ofsound, but it is nonetheless a wonder{ul thing.

ED PINSENT

Lucas Abela is incerviewed this issue.

Dissecting TableLifeusa, RELEISE RR640t-2 (1998)Bloody Hell. What a fucking racket!Dissecting Table is t}re work of lchiro Tsuji, ifthat means anything to anyone out there.Everytlring about the cover, even down to thetypeface and shade of monochrome, screamsSkinny Puppy and my immediare thought wasthat this must be one of their four million sideproiecs. Well, it isn't, and it doesn't soundanything like the few Skinny Puppy cuts l'veheard. Four tracks are listed on the sleve,and recognised by the CD player, but there

sounds to be a couple ofhundred. We open with aminute or so of sub-Ministrysample thrash and switchsuddenly to a formlesscacophony of {eedback andsynth noises which soundrather like sheep. I don'tknow if this powerelectronics equivalent ofPercy Edwards is intentional,but it makes for a comicmoment, particularly as thetrack is called 'The Needs O{the Body'. There's preciousfew laffs after that though. andnot much I can really get ahandle on as it skips rapidlyfrom free noise to thrashmetal to Front242 scylehardbeat with joins that, Isuppose, could best bedescribed as seamful. A lot ofthis is industrial goth noisekak, but to be fair, there isthe odd moment of lucidity.In brief snatches Mr Tableturns without warning into anearly Swans record, oroperatic metal-bashint, orNiaer Ebb with a real buggerof a headache. Such momentsare actually pretty good,except he neyer sticks totlem for long enough foranythint to really get going.Perhaos this is the idea. toirritate the listener intosubmission by confounding anexpectation before you'veeven finished having the lastone confounded. lf this is so.

73

*'i

while it may be fine on paper, it's prettyannoying on disc. Perhaps if he kept some ofthe themes running a little longer, I'd like itmore. I'm not suStestint turning the wholecollection into Perry Como but honestly,somebody has paid shekels to put this out, sodo they want people to buy it, or whatl

WARARROW

Sonic YouthSilvez Session for fasonItttuthUSA, SONIC NNIITH RECORDS SKR IggglThe theme lurking behind this wall of noise?Suicide! Even before hearing this one youknow it's gotta be a winner. Silver Session isdedicated to a guy who was so hung up onhonesty, music and friendship - probably inthat order - that he eventually killed himself.Sonic Youth were foiled one day from tapingthe vocal tracks to their recent double LPbecause a band upstairs were playing tooloud. By way of retaliation they turned up alltheir amps as loud as they could, set up a wallof noisy feedback..and walked away. Actuallythey didn't walk away, they taped it, andplugged a clapped out old drum machine intothe PA system which would make waves ofpulsing beats out of the unapproachableblankets of noise.

Last issue you heard my lament 'There's aSonic Youth feedback CD somewhere in thewelter of new releases out there, which Ican't be bothered to look for because I hategoing out of the house.' Silver Sessionwaswhat I was referring to, and I bought it ft-om alist, so I didn't even have to go out o{ thehouse to get it. Listening to this half-hour gemyou find it's not as extreme as the abovepatter might sutgest - it is not, mark you,mastered as loud as the average Merzbowmonstrosity - but that comes as a reliefanyway, since you wouldn't wanna bedeafened as they were (they couldn't entertheir own studio, driven back by mountains ofpulsating noise). I detect little or no actualguitar 'playing', but the beatbox provides justthe right amount of intervention into thestark bleakness of shimmering fury.

There was, I think some post-production.Mostly in the editing, shaping the formless

Session, then, is a mighty Flying Fonressequipped with powerful scanning devices,flying across continents and searching for acompassionate heart of gold - and probablyfailing. The world is a dark globe, grim inaspect- lf you don't take responsibility foryourself. nobody else will.

ED PINSENT

MerzbowMaschinenstilAUSTR,ALIA, DUAL PTOVER

Wl1999lQueen boasted 'there are no synthesisers onthis album'. The Human League retaliatedwith 'there are no guitars on this album'.Merzbow seems to have ended the debatewith the seyerity of a Wz comic punchline inthe proud upper case proclamation of 'NO

OVERDUB, NO KEYBOARD, NO STUDIO'.Sew a button on rhac numbnuts!

I am in almost complete ignorance ofMerzbow, with just one album that I know Ienjoyed on the one occasion I listened to it,and I only know this because it's still in mycollection. Other than that, there's a limit tothe amount of noise I feel I really need, atleast outside of early Nocturnal Emissions andsuchlike. Still, this is a stirling work.Cacophonous and relentless throughout, itkeeps head and shoulders safely aboveboredom threshold. I doubt I really need totell you lot what it sounds like - after all, l'dhardly expect you to start lecturing me onpre-Hispanic Mexico or dinosaur metabolism.f'laschinestil could be the worst of all twomillion Merzbow albums released this yearfor all I know. Or even the best. Whateverthe case may be, it proves that the simplestideas are probabfy those which require themost care and attention. This shares a lot incommon with the album by Dissecting Tablereviewed above, but whereas that iust flopsaround all over the shop, l4aschinestilhaspace. timint, and its author displays a strongsense of when and when not to mix thefuzed-up tumble dryer noise in with the tapeof someone kicking their television in.

A fitting addition to the roster of a label thatis rapidly becoming Australia's finest export.

WARARROW

MerzbowDoor Open At SaznCANADA, ALIENSRECORDINGS

rygt:991Merzbow. Masami Akita - the guvnor, theMack Daddy of sonic terrorism, the landlordin the house of Noise. There are manypretenders to t}te throne but no-one elseeven comes close. Merzbow has done it alllouder and faster and for longer than anyoneelse and he's still doing ic But recently there'sbeen signs of change in his aestheticapproach. After the skull scouring onslaughtof f997's Pinkream our man has beenexpanding his territory. While Eric Claptonchanges a strint and Fatboy Slim finds another60's vinyl orphan to violate, Merzbow gets aMoog and plays a homage to free jaz. Thosesuddenly concerned about black polo necksand mellow chin-stroking needn't worry - thisis about as 'j"n' as my hairy arse but what isimmediately apparent is that he's turned thevolume down and is (sorry, can't help thisone slipping out) 'emplofing a new sonrcpalette'. Admittedly the first track 'lntro' isbusiness as usual - as loud and ferocious asanything he's ever done before - but 3minutes later we're into 'Tony WilliamsDeathspace' and there's a recognisable'beat'over which he lays static bursts and highfrequency whines. Maybe it is jaz but onlythat of a kind played in some CyborgPlaysotion sub-level of Dante's Inferno. Therest of the tracks are as restrained asMerzbow can be as he takes the listener on atour of the cityscape in his head. Trafficthunders by, police sirens wail in the distance,gangsta rap pulses through the windows of astolen jeep, a young Hispanic couple argue intheir apartment while their HIV infected babycries, blind people cross on the beep, steamhisses out of vents in the road, trashcan firessDew out toxic smoke that blinds the neonstrip cfub signs while 747's fly in lowoverhead. As an aural panorama of the ciq ithas no equal - every street,'every subway,every gartage strewn alleyway is burnt intothe disc, the laser skips over every kerb androoftop as if they were the grooves in Akio'sbrain, picking out the sitnals he wants us tohear.

While more obvious acts like Atari TeenageRiot have appropriated Merzbow's originaltrademark thunder the man's outputcontinues to intrigue and fascinate.

His boldest move to date is this album's 20minute Coltrane homage'Africa Sessions Vol.2'. Whether or not it's intended as a 'cover' isdebatable but it soon goes into high gear,reaching a cacophonic crescendo thatColtrane would have choked to death tryingto match. The result is nothing we'll see on'Later...With

Jools Holland' anytime soon butit's still another tentative step closer to amore'accessible' Merzbow sound. Perhapsthis is his stmtety - to lull the unwary listenerinto a false sense o{ security with music thatbarely rattles the dust on your speakers -

before hitting the listener with a tornadicblast of that which he does bestl Wiateverthe case, Akita stands alone - committed tohis vision and undiverted by ephemeralconcerns with markets and audiences.Merzbow continues to make most everyoneelse working on the limits of the 'avant garde'sound pointless and redundant.

RIK RAWLING

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999chaos into a number of shortbite-size chunks. As the sameintense frequency recursthrough most of thesechaoters, I have read the CDas an episodic sound-moviedepicting the stages ofKnuth's torment during hislast hours on this eanh. Thetrack'Silver Wax Lios' isparticularly harrowing, and asit reaches an emotional pitchof unbearable tension, itabruptly cuts out - thussparing us that insight rnto theunknowable depths of Knuth'sdespair. Mosdy the CD doesnot really elicit empathy withthe plight of the suicide, butrather pans out to show abigger picture of a world fullof indrfference, people leftuntouched by the loss ofanother human being. Silver

74

The SecondLaBradfordFestival ofDrifting

LaBradford - Oval - John Lacey- Chris and CoseyThe Union Chapel, ComptonTerrace, London N 1

3O May 1999F|RST, TO Dj NOVAFROST WHO WEAVES A SEAMLESSTAPESTRY OF NERVf BEATS from his big pile of records, most ofwhich the likes of you or I are unlikely to encounter otherwise. His setis kicked off by Nurse With Wound of all people, which provides asomehow fitting prologue to the hard, but not overly anal, techno thatfollows. lt's mesmeric without being soporific or needlessly ethereal.Novafrost can be contacted on 0958 4 | 98 | 5, and his fine mix tape(entitfed The Nrght Factorrt made for an enjoyable bus journey as Iproceeded in the general direction of The Union Chapel, blissfullyunaware of the tedium that lay in store.

lf you are familiar with the performers named above, then you shouldhave a general idea of the kind of music rhat was faithfully reproducedhere. One might think that a live performance, and in so beautiful aseftint as the Union Chapel, and with slides and films, might fill in a fewblanks of the kind that arise when a band's sound fails to imoress in irsprerecorded form. This often Droves to be the case. Con-Dom arerather forgettable on the tapes l've heard, but in a live setting theymake your ears bleed. Mind you, it didn't happen here. LaBradford andOval bored me as rigid live as they do on disc, if ' l ive' isn't too

75

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999generous an adiectiye in this case, which I rather suspect it is. Slow.Understated. Brooding. Yes, it was all of that l'm sure, but was it reallytoo much to ask that my aftention might be engaged at some pointduring the eveningl Neither LaBradford or Oval are so important as tohave a unique vision that demands unquestioning receptivity. My fridgemakes some pretty interesting noises as well. Perhaps I should get itsigned to Mute Rcords.

After what seemed like years during which all potential avenues ofkilling time had been truly exhausted (repeated visits to the bar, toilet,and outside for a ciggie) John Lacey, film-maker and Chris and Coseycollabomtor, mme on md mised my expectation of something vaguelyinteresting being on the cards. This entailed dragging a suitcase aroundstate on a lengh of rope, accompanied by films with related suitcasebased themes. Although at first coming over like the arrival of BillySmart's Circus in comparison to the dreary opening performers, thisinscrutable brand of suitcase based tomfoolery got old fairly quick. Soit is nice that he managed to at least keep it brief.

Chris and Cosey were the reason for my attendance, their having beeninvolved in some good stuff over the years, This said, they've alsoperpetrated more than enough execrable plinky-plonky synth crap,some of which got wheeled out again tonight. The proceedings startedoffwith a drone, and then a rhythm, a bit of processed trumpet, andso on and so fonh, Like a knackered car on a misty morning the falsestarts were many before ignition came, in the form of the loud andbeat-driven Chris and Cosey of 'Driving Blind' from the Songs Of Loveand Lustal6um. Unfortunately this apparent mission to reproducetheir records note-for-note and blip-{or-blip, loudly and in a livesetting, withotrt too much messy excitement getting in the way, was aresounding success. lt wasn't a complete waste of time l'll admit, but Isuspect even the recorded oeuvre of Mr Blobby would have soundedpretty darned radical had the spotty pink entertainer chosen to headthe bill.

WARARROW

++++

ThEGRAGKLING

+ ETHER,The Friendly Glow of

Electronic Music and DarkAmbient

t:


HazardlllorthInH INTERN.I,TrONtrL [R.r.p.l # IsB!:1l9gglA decent bit of Ambientenvironment-infl uenced electronic droningfrom BennyJonas Nilsen, a young Swedishmusician. The guy comes from a backgroundof collecting field recordings, followingdevelopments in the international Industrialscene, and making videos; he has madeseveral orior releases as Monhond IMonhound and one other CD as Hazard. Atrue nature lover, one assumes - these trackspaint evocative pictures of very bleak, coldlandscapes, indiscernible foggy horizons, andalways somehow manage to suggest thepresence of water not far away. A boatpulling up on the beach, fishermen cursingthe emgtiness of their lirres. doomed loversabout to commit themselves to a suicide pactby leaping into the maelstrom...verywholesome.

ED PINSENT

through with a fairly unrelenting sense ofgloom, it is never less than bracing and excitingmusic, and depressing it certainly is not. Thesheer variety of themes and approaches givesyrcu more ralue for money per square inch thanan €ntire shop full of electro dance music. lf youwant some idea of what might be in store foryour aural canals, it be largely of an electronicpersuasion, played by a bank of synths andkeyboards probably sufficient to set upcompetition with the whole of Denmark StreetWl. There is no end of sampling tapestry, theintricacy of which shows the two years' worthof effort poured into the project. But here alsobe a bass clarine! these rich chocolatey blastsof doom puffed with a grim determination byone Niall Webb, a plucky honk-guy whosefingers clutch the instrument in a stranglehold;forget about iaz, this guy is a fairy-talehobgoblin, out to send men mad with his howlsof woodwind. Drum machines lurch intoearshot for a track or two, programmed byalien digits who sabotage anything resembling adanceable metrical beat (thank heavens). Sometracks are friendly ambient, some leaning more

to the darker side of that territory- Loopedand treated voaces stutter in and out of theDantean nightmare landscapes, leaving onlyfaint traces of their messages. OK - you maythink you've heard this before on a hundredUnited Dairies records, and I'm not thecollector who can give a final answer to that.But there's little retro about this record thatI can hear, it is not clinging to some glorydap when Throbbing Grisde were Kings ofthe Dark Zones (if they ever were) andchances are this should appeal to anyopen-minded listener who wants a taste ofthe seoulchral in their diet.

Cyclobe comprises Stephen Thrower (of CoilI 985- | 993 - he appeared on most of theirimportant titles, and worked with Skullflowertoo); and Simon Norris (of Death In JuneI 99 l - | 995). The CD sports a truesome redand black cover which appears innocentenough, like the images one discerns inside ablazing furnace. but many an incautiousviewer hath lost their wits throuth Fzinttoo lont at the marks insculpedthereon...tortured faces of demons lurkwithin, their mouths disclosing the faces ofstill more demons. Even though I place littlestock in the paraphernalia and esotericasurrounding'the man downstairs', Iunderstand Coil had developed more than apassing interest in that area. The theme ofthis one is 'maybe trying to achieve higherawareness', and titles refer to such alteredstates and phenomena as dreaming, ecstasies,extra-sensory perception, animal instincts.angelic spirits...not a bad catalogue of theparanormal to tet your teeth into.

ED PINSENT

Transient v ResidentWKCNHtsg999)An exemplary new double CD from the ever

reliable Martin Archer andChris Byrvater. Unlike lessgifted button-pushers whoswarm like microbes in thezones of electro-synthmanipulation, Archer andBynater won't just settle forthe first pre-set that theirstubs happen to alight uponand let the seouencers takeover while their noggins take anap. These astro-phpicists ofthe analogue wave understandtheir machines, and let themspeak to each other in arespectful, communicative andhighly productive environment.

j This is the audible process ofpeople constantly cranking out

] ideas on all sir emphatically

I not some intellectual

I cheapskate flim-flams, selling

I you one idea spun out to CD

I length through l4variations.I The detail in the constructionof these complex symhdialogues, the sound-windowspaces through which you cansee yet more detailed layers ofwork are testament to theskills of these artists and theirthirst for investigation. Checkout the work method they

CyclobeLuminousDarknessPNANTOM CODE

ry!$999rAn extremely impressiverecord from these UKmusicians with theirimpeccable credentials. lt's aCD that works overtime,enscribing a very densesurface full of textures andunusual inventions thatrepap close and repeatedlistening crafted by adeptswho know their waybackwards around thelabyr-inth of the modernrecording studio and cantrain their instruments,effects and tape dedces tostand on their head. Howmany records have you heardlately that can claim suchdexterity, such commitmentto guality? Although thewhole CD. it has to be said.is from start to finish shot

76

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999occasionally use to keep each other fresh andalert, where 'one member is put on the spotto come up with a response topre-composed / recorded material by theother in (more or less) realtime'. Tension! For anotherrecorded erample of thiskinda interaction, seeDurrant and Bwcher's SecrerMeasuresin the lmorovsection this ish.

An oldish work, recorded in| 995 and considered forrelease at same time asElectrical Shroud, this 50minute electro-odyssey haslain dormant since it was firstcommissioned and committedto disk for the ColumbiaState University campus radiostation, WKCR-FM. Richo

Johnson (in his caalogue)sap of Transient V Resident:'l'm confident that had thisparticular wash ofelectro-babble emanatedfrom anywhere but the UK, aflood of hipper-than-thounamedrop would be waiting

lust around the corner'. Wecan only echo this sentimentwhen, at time of writin& themedia telescope continues tofocus on trendy digitalmanipulators from Germanyand ignores home'grown talent of thisquality. WKCR comes with a CD ROMwhich causes strange blinking superimposedcinema imates to flicker tentatively acrossyour comPuter screen; the more memoryyour hard drive has then the b€tter it'll lookI guess. A handy visual aid. The onlydrawback I can find so far is that the soundquality o{ the recordable CD may leave alittle room for improvement you don't getguite the clarity and impact of Archey'spreviously commercially-manufactured items.But there's likely to be an economic reasonb€hind this.

ED PINSENT

Vidna Obmana and .SsmusTietchens lWotives fotRecycling 2 x CDUSf, , SOIJEIIJMOON RECORDINGS

lggJtggglBelgian Vidna Obmana remixes somerecordings made by the veteran synthesistTietchens, and succeeds merely in renderingthem down into dull, run-of-the-sequencerAmbient mush. Rarely does this rise abovethe common herd of such music, apa.rt fromon the second disc which features remixes ofNachstticke, an LP originally recordedbetween | 975 and 1978. There's a littlemore drama here provided I think simply bythe sound of pre-digital synthesisers andRevox tape recorders, but finally, so whatlVidna regards this work as recycling music,rather than remixing it, because he's puttinge\€rythint 'throuth the wrinter', effecting avery modern form of deconstruction. Again,so whatl

German Asmus Tietchens may not havedirectly contributed to this projecg other

than providing the original source material, buthe ain't no slouch - in fact he has adistinguished career of making soloexoerimental electronic industrial records in his

Hamburg studio. After a few collaborationsinvolVng Cluster / Eno and Lilienthal, he kickedoff his solo career with the above mentioned

NachstiickelP, released in France on the Ettlabel in 1978. 'Weirdly melodic andatmospheric purely electronic music', is howAndrea Cernotto describes it in his list. Similarrecords followed. Some of them were releasedon the Sky label in Germany (also home tosome fine Cluster LPs), for example Litia ln DieNacht and Spat-Europz His music took aharsher turn in 1983 with the release ofFormen Lezer Hausmusik which appeared onUnited Dairies in the UK. And there's somelock-groove monstrosity remix thing - theAmerican label RRR put out a seven-inch singlecomprising one hundred lock grooves.Tietchens remixed it and wound up with atriple LP's worth of material, also issued byRRR as &ornarhe. Then of course there areCDs such as Sinkende Schwimmen Nottumoand Das Fest ist Zu Ende which fm sure youcan't live without, described in the TheseRecords catalotue as 'austere, downbeatworks.,.not for thrill seekers.' NB: l've neveractually heard any of these records - this is lustmy thorough research for you. You go and seekthem out, and il you like them then why notwrite in and tell me about it.

ED PINSENT

Band Of PainReculvetDIRTER PROMOTIONS DPROMCDI?(leee)Excellent - here is some ofthe most darnedintelligent music you'll ever hear that's beenreleased under the rubric of 'Dark Ambient',We have reservations concerning that term, asdoes the creator, but this cluster of splendidlong tracks succeeds admirably in doing all the

things that 98% of Ambient swill does NOT -

even though it wishes it could. This ReculverCD may not like the mantle, but it sets a newstandard for a thousand tap€-cuttin&

button-pushing droningelectric-snouted truffle pigs tofollow.

Each track presents a totallydistinct, strong specific moodand genuine atmosphere - thatoverused and devalued termfinally has some meaning againhere - and this lS disconcertingmusig imbued with a palpablepsychological menace, hasgenuine musical developrnentand tension: the tracks haveactual start and finish points(rather than simply drifting inand out again like someshambling apologetic wretch):and Recu lver is compellinglystrange enough to keep youriveted to your chair in a stateof enloyable tension right upuntil end of disc time.

There's a orecision andexpertise in the use ofmaterials. In amongst the eeriedrones and spectral foggings,there is sparint use ofsubliminal voices. samoles andbarely-discernible intrusions ofdetailed electronic brushwork.So subrtle are these devices, yet

simultaneously so malevolent, that its likefeeling a slight twinge in your shoulder andturning round to discover that an exp€rtassassin has been amputating your arm withminiature, razor-sharp scalpels. True, thereare some residual traces of'shockin{ imageryhere and there in titles and in sound,suggestions I think of a serial killer, anepisode of incest, and narratives tinted withsatanic notions - all preoccupations of onewhom I suspect to be something of afollower of the lndustrial school of music andits related offshoots. But these are merelybackground information to the main atenda,which is on another plane altogether. There'smore than a trace of despair, for example, inthe world-weary sleeve note that reminds ushow soon this century is toing to end. Thesetrack are moments of clarity in the madnessof the late 20th century hothouse whereeveryone's y'alng mix-andmatch musicalchain; Band Of Pain' s oracle prophesiesstark insithts into the futility of all ourendeavours.

Respect then to Mr Steve Pittis, who is BandOf Pain. Stehn Jaworzyn appears in disguiseon the final track which is perhaps myfavourite here; a deeply beautiful ledictionto the last 100 years (try plalng it on NewYear's Eve). Actually it's tot the kind of titlethat milhates against that - 'Habanero High' -

which I suppog if it's a reference to theHabanero chile. This culinary ingredient isabout the hottest red pepper legally awailableon these shores, and thus highly fayoured inthe kitchen of this writer, and the dizzyinghigh you get after bitint into one of thesemonsters is so outrateous it oughta bedecriminalised.

ED PINSENT

77

The Sound Projector Sixth issue 1999ScalpelEclipseNtrrvE RECORDINGS NRCo0r (1998)

Far be it from me to turn supergrass but thefirst track on this disc sounds almost identrcalto'Mansonik l' fi-om Konstruktivists' PsykhoGenetika album. Either this chap Gary Jeff hasadded his own sounds to a muffled andindistinct copy of that particular track whichis a bit blummin' saucy I think you'll agree, oralternately, the resemblance (which is generalrather than specified by any unmistakablemoment of glaring tea-leafery) could beentirely coincidental. However, the brainbehind Ecliose does seem to work in thesame stmnge way as that of NKVD, the maincheese of Konstruktivists, and I gther theyuse similar equipment, so quite probably it rssrmole but incredrble coincidence.

This should at least serve to hint at whatyou'll find here: lengthy and sparseconstructions of abstract electronic sound.The quality is actually quite poor, as thougheverything's gone through a number of oldanalogue delays before making it onto disc,but somehow this serves to heighten thesense of atmosphere, which is heavy withportentous foreboding throughout, despitefew cards actually being laid on any tables. ltquietly drones on and off like a miserablewet Sunday that has by some means lodgeditself in the corner of the room. There'slittle drama but it's too edgy to be describedas ambient. In case I seem a little ambiguoushere, perhaps l'd better just stress that theseare compliments. Eclipse is an effective andwell-considered album, much of whichsuggests the sort of thing that an alternateuniverse incarnation of Konstruktivists mightdo. so I susoect the resemblance between'Chemical Horizon'and 'Mansonik l' really isjust a case of great minds thinking alike.

WAR ARROW

Nocturnal EmissionsDutyExperiznentSOIJII,IVIOON RECORDINGS SOts

rylPractical Tine TravelEIRTHLY DEIJGHTS CD00l (1998)

The Emissions, or more properly TheEmissron, per{ormed Upstairs At The Garagequite recently. The gig, sad to say, was a bitdisappointing. Mr Ayers basically vocalised inhis distinctive wailing Mark E Smith style overa backing tape of mainly beaty stuff, much ofwhich was from the Songs Of Love AndRevolution album, with a cover of 'Venus lnFurs'thrown in just to keep the assembledpunters confused. The problem was that ashit PA without much in the way of volumeserved to create an uncanny sense ofelecropunk karaoke at a village disco. Sowith nothing visual to draw our focus otherthan Nigel's silver trousers and passingresemblance to Paul l'4erton, the evening didleave a bit to be desired. Thrs is a shame,because listening to the tape the next day,without the fi-ame of volume referenceimposed by actually being there, it sounds likea live experience worth remembering: noise,beats and acid wit in the finest Emissionstradition.

So, onto a different medium, the enioymentof which doesn't rely on someone else's crapPA system. These discs could almost beregarded as bookends sandwiching thelengthy existence of N.E. throughout variousincarnations. Duty Experimenrcollectspreviously unreleased oddities from around1980 to 1984. As you might imagine it'sabrasive stuff - dirty, primitive anduncompromisingly hardcore. UnderstandablyN.E. have studiously avoided any associationwith that word 'industrial', but it has to besaid that for a few years Nocturnal Emissions(along with SPK) sounded about as industrialas it gets. ls it music or should we get theshop steward to hold a referenduml N.E.seemed to be about all the mundane horrorsof daily reality - repetitive stress, bad food,vile tablord newspapers, and choking on thefumes of deafening heavy machinery, allmangled up car-crusher style into a bigstinking chunk of toxicrty. There's no trace ofThe Beatles, Elvis, pun( or anything you'drecognise as music in here. ln fact you'd haveto look closely to find echoes o{ Faust orLuigi Russolo. Even musical interludesprovided with drum machine or something

approximating a tune sound like the onlyhuman involvement was from someanonymous white overall upstairs sending theorder down to fit a different head on thegrinder. lt doesn't even seem right to call thismusic or art or whatever, as it operates onsome far more fundamental level. And in casel'm not making myseff clear the message ischeck it out y'all. You've heard the imitations,now listen to the real thint. This is how it wasbefore the imitators got their gubby liftlehands on it and turned it into something lfeGuardian aras page wouldn't feel toothreatened by.

On a fess headache-inducing note, PracticalTime Tnvelis N.E.'s most recent offering.The music is entirely different yet still retainsthat quahty of being created somewhereoutside of conscious human involvement.Whatever practical time travel may be, all wehave are disembodied titles like 'Electrostatic

Field Equation' and'Gravitational Repulsion'to sutgest vague imagery for the meanderingwashes of tone and sound. lf I might venturefurther (and someone please keep mecovered in case I disappear up my own arse)this could almost be the experience of beingas far fom the grinding machines and noise ofhumanity as possible, drifting into the vacuumo{ deep space, carried away into the void bysolar winds. The recent BBC2 documentaryThe Planetsinstilled in me a sense of longing

for places like Neptune and Mercury, whichseemed impossibly rich from the absence oflife and all its clutter. The universe is so vast,diverse and beautiful that fr-ankly, who gives amonkey's if anyone else is out there. Whowould go into a shop for something they'vealready got too much of at homelAhem...such musings come back to me whilstlistening to this CD. if that's any use to thoseof you wondering what it actually sounds like.The occasional disappointing gig is easilyforgiven when the prerecorded variant is ofthis calibre.

WAR ARROW

Randy Greif, Robin Storeyand Nigel.tryersOedipus Brain FoiISoLEIIIUOON SOL66CD 3 X CD

!9391Three collaborative CDs, each featuring adifferent combination of two of those namedabove. Robin Storey is best known fromZoviet*Fmnce and Rapoon, Nigel Ayers fromNocturnal Emissions, and I can't quite placeRandy Greif althouSh for some reason hisname is very famrliar, so perhaps he's amoonlighting Happy Monday or alesser-known component of Wu-Tang Clan.

Just kidding.

Those expecting three hours of spoken wordadvice on how to improve their goffing haveprobably picked up the wrong magazine, so itmrght not surprise the more astute reader tolearn that these discs contain lengthyatmospheric pieces which drift and churn likethe best o{ ambient without quite merginginto a single amorphous mass of novocainefor the ears. The instrumentation, whichobviously varies from disc to disc, isambiguous but largely electronic, with a fewwell-placed wind instrumencs, the oddrhythmic loop, and occasional interjectionsto mildly jolt the listener oirt of the inevitablemesmeric glow that comes and goes in waves.I'd be hard pressed to detail how each discdiffers from its partners largely due to lack ofspace and the limitations of language, butdiffer they do, and on many subtle levels- l'mfairly certain I can identi{y the distinctivecontributions of each individual up to a point,not that rt matters beyond having some vagueinsight into the overall chemistry at work, andthe reassurance that everyone pulls theirweight. lf I have a personal favourite, it is theRobin Storey and Nigel Ayers set collectivelyentitled Perlidious Albion, which ends with'Let Loose The Dogs', one of the moreintense and nervy creations in thismicroverse.

l've yet to feel truly comfortable about theterm 'ambient'. lt suggests somethint which isintended to provide an aural complement toyour environment. Oedipus Brain Foilwillactually take over your environment, if youlisten for long enough, drawing you into atemporaD/ pocket of reality where even thelaws of physics feel unfamiliar and atien, andwhile no specific threat or comfoningrelaxant is offered, it alternately calms anddisturbs without so much as a single raisedvoice. Awesome.

WAR ARROW

78

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999IHESE FIVE,REPRESENTING SOMEAMBIENT electromuso tolent f romAusirol io ond NewZeolond, onive spickond spon in iheiruniform pockogingboth cleon ondurhi to ctarL \ /a^/. . . . . ' - , /minimol ist . ovontbedroom electronicnoodl ing.housebound to thepoint thot there isn' tmuch of o l i feoutside of thesuburbon bungolowequipped with TEACfour-trock onesuspects. HoweverRosy Porlone whipsup one l iveperformonce in( r r r lnar r anr ' ,1 h r r n l l

occounTS swepithose ottending offtheir resncr-tive tootsieS. NOne, : , v " : v J v v v

of these vet hos oroved to beessent iol beto-blocks in theelectronic diet, but there oremony tosty nuggets ofn loncr r ro cnnt ta rar { {, _ , , _ , n r o u g nthe f ive discs.. .Norbert Schi l l ing(our mon in Germony) reportsthot he hos been ploying l i t t leelse since receiving o set, butthen he's probobly grownbored of his Rostermusic CDsb'y'now. One of mcn'y' projectsencbled b'y Luccs Abelc 'spressing plcnt decl in Austrcl ic.

Rosy Pariane, i1-4f,,USTN.ELIf,,, SiGIl.lA EDITIONSsrGMA not r rqqR\

ffii{to be a wee sem a{ter afairly unpromrsing stan. There are seventracks (desprte a mrsiea<ilng tftie) and rheseare like seven separate illurninatrng lourneysthrough the arterial tubes of Parlane's virtuallandscapes and city neovorks. Pleasantsurprises await you at every turn. Wovenfrom a simple series of layered lmps,roughened up around the edges, theserepeato-switcho sojourns in Rosy-land evincea smaller-scale version of Philio Glass. Suchmodest ambitions - this in itself is a veryaftractive proposition to any sensible listenerwhose throat involuntarily swallows at theprospect of enduring a four-hour opera

scored by that overblown American serialist.Nice, modernist science fictionmusic...alternative soundtrack to 200l; ASpace Odyssey or THX- | | 38 perhaps.

Parrnentiet, Luxsound,AUSTR.ELIA, SIGMf, EDITIONS

:191393t1999tThis one's something of a tumescentthrobber-.-nooble for its reliance on veryloud, penetrating, speaker shattering, thickpulses of bass vibra-tones, which reappearlike ghosts throughout the whole 50 minutesof this CD - like invisible asteroids invadingour atmosphere, threatening to suck in all theremaining oxygen. Insistent use of lockedgrooves anci ioops, which actuaiiy <ion'tdevelop veru much apart from growinglouder and more oersistent - which meansyou gotta be patient with this CD, and eventhen you're not guaranteed enlight-^nn':entthrough listening - but it is kinda hypnotic andenveloping, listening to momma's heartbeat.

Minit, IWusicAUSTRALIf, , SIGMT, EDITIONS

:tggggt:g:lAn eiaborate miniaturist construcion this,from Torben Tilly and Jasmine Guffond, a duobased in Sydney. The building blocks theywork with are microscopic ft-agments ofsound, tiny little recorded samples, that Ithink are assembled according topredetermined structures. The surhce is asintricate as a tightly-stitched embroidery, andyou can get lost inside the tapestry-like vistashere; rt can be very disorentrng tr/tng tofollow the logic of their patterns. That said,it's remarkably passionless music, and perhaps

the five Sigma groups their aimsand ideals are the most pretentious.'Minit reconstitutes time', theyclaim. 'Minit enact an autism.'Dammit, they even have the hubristo draw oarallels between therrwork and the great film-makerAndrei Tarkovsky, and that'ssomething that won't wash wrth thisinema-buff listener

David Haines, BlitherAUSTR.ELTA, SIGMAEDITTONS S!GM5, 004 (r999)

From this Sydney-based artistcomes a repetitive piano-basedrecord, again very similar to a poorman's Philip Glass. lt's all very nice,but a bit soft-centred: like the 1960sAmerican Minimalists it oots forextremely lengthy duration, but Idiscern no apparent artisticmotivation for this length, otherthan choosing to occupy 50 minutesof your time. Some decent grindingnoisy shapes and celestral dronrngeffects are generated, from loopingpiano samples or simply exploitingthe overtone harmonic effectswhich pour out like smoke whenyou rub two chords together. ltadds up to a sufficientty pleasing setof ten long tracks. The artistannounces himself as a fan of Reich,Stockhausen, Varese andNancarrow. 'lt may be building up

to a crescendo so gradually as to arrive thereunnoticed', says Haines, of his first track. Youcan say that again...

Vladislav Delay, EIeAUSTRTLIA, SIGMA EDITIONSsrGMI 005 (t999)

Sure to be a winner with fahs of lo-fi orexperimental Techno, and even I found itbeguiling enough.-.tlre first track starts with arubbery bombardment of totally de-centredbeats - a disco party for microbes where allthe guests have two left fet. Gradually thisbuilds up into a fascinating chaotic muddle,until things overlap enough for a pattern toemerge - so if you can line it up properly inyour head, this glorious sound image appears.A bit iike one of those 3D-Eye pictures.Sequencers and drum machines are given asoul, and gently too. The method in Cologneat one state seemed to be to rape themachines - overload them with too muchdaa until they screamed in agony andexploded. In the UK, Techno programmers

E _ - r . - L r : _ -dc( [ ^c I rusL E i lB i l5 r r i l i l rP-urLKcu u t u i lKe t l

lovers, humping their inert machinessenselessly for two minutes after they comeback irom the pub. Here at iast we mighthave frrund a orosmmme!" who's a realseductive, suave lover-boy, coaxing hiscircuits into full arousal...erm...anywayVladislav Delay spin out three long trackshere, and though like all of 'The Sitma Fiye',the musician uses them darn looped samplesyet again, at least this one besides beingkinder to his machines than anyone else alsoadmits to a stronS dub influence, which canonly be a good thing.

ED PINSENT

79

ThEGRAGKLING+ ETHER, 2=

Somewhat more severe austere dryand grating minimalist bleeps

Aube {f al-raor {f rron Rods {f notoj! tso {f Kanskries {f nyoii rkeda jf ealrt.


AubeCardiac StrainCtrNTI'.E, TLIENS RECORI'INGS

I!rry4993rAn excruciating listen. lf you want unbearabletension, anxiety-inducing throbs, and intensescreams layered over each other until youcan bear no more' then sign up here for atorturous session of merriment. CardiacStrain is an experimental noise record whosesource material originated from recordings ofthe human heart pumping blood. The soundshave, natch, been treated exensively to thepoint where only a Christian Barnard couldrecognise their human origins, Building up toan intolerable level, before your very ears,the organic is comfletely transmuted into themechanical - you would never believesomethint so uniquely close to every one ofus could finish up sounding so utterly alien.This is probably the point of the exercise;the moral, if any, might be to ask thequestion what makes us human in the firstplace. The David Humes amontst you maywell be prompted to explore this, and otherphilosophical enquiries, whilst spinning thismonster; others may feel it's like listening tothe aural equivalent of an autopsy movie.Actually it's more like having open-heartsurgery performed on your head, ButthanHully it's not all pain and endurancetesting, a few spins should acclimatise you,and may even have you whistling these merryheart-stopping ditties as you greet themilkman next mornint.

Aube is a notorious Japanese musician whosegimmick is to focus on a different singlesound-source for each release (one of themuses only the pages from The Bible), andthereby achieve Nirrana through a rigidconceptual unity. I suppose concentration ishis watchword; better to limit yourrgources to one intense, concretestatement than to risk some form of'romantic' contamination by using too manyrandom, diverse sources like the earlymusique concretists did. For another take onthe biology versus technology dialectig seeKlangkrieg below.

Disinformation Vs VariousArtists Al-fabttrsH INTERNITIONAL [R.LP.l #AltH4.3 (1999)

l{ you've any serious interest in thedevelopment of modern electronic music, youneed to hear this new Disinformation CDimmediately. Funher to the previous Antiphonydouble CD of remixes, and extending theDisinformation proiect yet funher, comes thisnew CD of collaborations and remixes whichsutEests many challenging intellectual andphilosophical possibilities beyond the mererealms of recorded sound. lmproving on theAntiphony range, Aj-Jabr ollers additional wapin (and wap out) of the huge masses of radiosignal and electro-magnetic noises of theoriginal sources; these strategies includemelody, humour and beats; elements notmerely grafted on through a lazy, stereotypedremixer's mentality, these are genuinecollaborative ideas which push the work intonew dimensions. Erran Parker uses melod in'London's Ovenhrow', y'alng anarabic-flavoured piping solo over the throbs ofmagnetic pulses, and makes a suggested link tothe visionary outsider Jonathan Manin(brother of the painterJohn Martin). Thisrelentless soundtrack to the fiery doom of acapital city is as good an answer-track as we'llget to Clive Graham's London-based Varhtionscompilation CDs, and it's another state inParker's long-term career of electronics andsax pairings. Jim O'Rourke's quirky jokiness onhis short track is welcome, even if you do getthe feeling he simply fished a few found samplesfrom his suitcase and stitched this one togetherrather casually. Simon Fisher Turner uses thebeats, but in a way that would cause instantparalysis to any young club-going urbanite whostepped within rante; the unexpected shifuwithin his long piece are magnificentlybewildering. The long'Syraptic radio' track byT:un[k] Sptems closes the CD, and along with'Raxor' by Mechos, it speak of rrast scale andsuccessfully enhances the potent drug-liketrances of utter black m)'steriousness that isone of Disinformation's strongest points (forme, at any rate)...where the former track is along submarine voyage into the human psychemore terrifying than the one in H P Lovecraft's

tale'The Temple', thelatter casts the listener inthe role of a noMceradio-operator postedalone at lce Station Zebra.helpless while importantmessates suddenly arriveand your code-book is lostin a storm outside. Theseare the best tracks here;far from being cosyambient swaddling cloths,they stir the marrow withunknown terrors. Both ofthem, I feel, sutgest imatesin sounds which are

Potent exPressions of theisolation of the humancondition.

Disinformation continuesto exhibt studiouspreoccuFtions with radiowaves, military researchinto use of sound, andmeteorologicalphenomena; and has

recently octended its rante into using nuclearbunkers for oerformance sites. The CDbooklet here bristles with clues, referring toa I 7th century scientist (Robert Hooke) toposit a hscinating take on the integration ofmankinds frame with the rhphms of theuniverse...'the motions of the internal oarts ofbodies' and'the sound they make'. Theall-typo corer this time around eschews thefavoured Sound Mirrors imagery - anyimatery at all in fact, save that alluded towithin the works (eg the paintings of JohnMartin). \Mth Al-Jabn the science of soundart is deneloping at an alarming rate, lalngclaim to disciplines and metaphysicalpossibilities far outside the paltry ambition ofjust making another 'weird and nois/ CD forthe jaded ears of the world to consume.While this collection may have itsexperiments that only panially succeed, theseglitches are in fact irrele\rant when youconsider the grand design, the newterritories that are being sketched in byDisinformation; the scope of these proposalsis, I think you'll find, quite frightening. And afew listens should prompt you into exy'oringunusual avenues yourself: perhapc seeingconnections between the laws of phy:ics,mathematics and sound, and devising newmaps of the cities we live in. 'The surgicaltreatment of fractures...' use this clue as a

tuide.

ED PINSENT

Marc McNuttyPontdered_Iron_RodsGERMf,.IVY, PI{TE I,UNCH PIJOS

u939)Play this one as loud as you can bear and aforest of tiese 'iron rods' will grow aroundyou, challenging you to find a way out. lt's ahaunting and at times somewhat disturbingenvironment that awaits your ears, and yourhead. lf l'r'rs got this ritht, McNulty is more ofa sculptor than a musician, having exhibitedhis home-made and seff-built devices at an artgallery in New York. Other than the cluethat he uses'elements from our pre-atomicdays' l've no data as to what hisinstallation-sculptured works are made of. My

80

imatination and my ears coniure uPsomethint vasq an inescaPable network of

black metal bars, but in all probability thescale is more manageable. At all events, his

sound world is thrillingly inhuman, onlyoccasionally populated with minimal voice

and music bursts, emanating from radiosets.McNulty released Cathepsin in New York,working under the assumed namePhototobia. This one comes in a limitededition metal canister with a poem inside

about heavy water. We haven't had a decentpost-nuclear holocaust scare in along time'but McNulty's a far way from celebrating the

violence of the neutron bomb; his vision

seems to focus on an age quite some timeafter the decimation of the globe and onlynow, after 500 thousand years, are signs of

life beginning to stir. SPeculate away. The

reality is, I suspect that the future isn't really

trim, iust unknowable; unless of course you

know how to read the signs, using oracles of

art like this one.

ED PINSENT

NotoI{erneGERMAI\TY, PI,f,TE LUNCE PI,O{

g!g9lExtremely minimal electronic constructionsby the enigmatic and virtually non-existentNoto. Starts ofr promisingly with unbearablypriercing high tones and fuzy growls

emerging from a robotic background ofemptiness: I prefer this opening to the rest ofthe CD, since when it introduces looped and

throbbing rhphms it tends to ({or me) mar

the effect a smiden. This way it ends up like

a diagrammatic instruction for how to

assemble a Techno track which I susPect is

the general idea. Keeping things simple isalwap good, but after a while You'rehankering for more rariation in tone; and it's

hard for the artist to make his solemn,stereotyped button-pushing and dial-turningseem like much of an achievement. But - you

gotta love the utter bleakness of i! a sharPand keening leanness making even Pan Soniclook like fleshy fatties next to this skinny rake

of poor hungry waif of a cat, Noto. An

endurance test for sure - try it onheadphones and stand with your hands

against the wall with a black bag over your

head, and you're probably recreating the sort

of pcychological warfare trick they use incountries less fortunate than our own, to

give political prisoners a hard time in the

isolation tank. Never did you dream, I

susp€ct, that such a Pass-time might be

considered art or entertainment! CarstenNicolai is Noto, a sometime gallery anist /

fine art painter, and it has so far slipped my

attention that he's had a number of releases

on his own Noton label, and the Rastermusic

label in Germany - another home torecordings of harsh electro tortures I beliew.

Splendid cover; punched holes in white card'

an absurdist reduction of the third LedZep

LP cover. But no hidden images appear when

you line it up; nothing, in fac! appears. lt

looks like a comPonent escaped out of a

complex intellectual board game. Eventhough Noto would alwap beat you at such

a game (he invented the rules after all) it

might be worth takint him on lust for the

heck of it.

ED PINSENT

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999I .S .O.TI,COHOLRECORDS IIJISOCDglggtA suoerlative record,this, premium-tradeelectronic imorovisedmusic from the trio of

Japanese players led byOtomo Yoshihide. Hedisbanded Ground-Zeroin 1997 only to bounceback with this lethallyeffective scheme forworld music domination,joined by pnner andsampler-player SachikoMasubara, and lchirakuYoshimitsu onpercussion and liveelectronics. This disc isabout their mostpowerful musicalstatement to date -

realised and recorded toafford maximum clarityand focus, throuth manysteely, icy tones, beeps,trills, drones, skips,burrs and thuds. Thesesounds are made utterlyhuman bv theinteraction of our threeheroes, who are in factblowing their 'horns'

with every bit as muchsweat gassion andblood as any hefty iazztenorman with a 4O-inchwaistline and lungs tomatch. But it's not inany way wacky orhumourous, like theruckus Stock Hausenand Walkman createwhen they bring theirtape samples and liveelectronics into theimprov arena, ratherISO is about as seriousas you can get withoutactually becoming lannisXenakis. What I alsofind interesting is howOtomo describes this as'vertical' improvisation -

like the best work ofDerek Bailey, so intenton exploring thatuniverse of a simplesound that it doesn'tfeel the need to travelanywhere, but it doesbuild uowards intosomething ufterlyunorecedented. Ofcourse, bythis newbenchmark of quality, athousand whiteEurooean bozos whoare still defoliatint thezones of ambrient orelectronica might beshown uo for the fraudsthey are. This CD is soheavT metal you coulduse it to reDair theForth bridge.

tlff

81

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999Otomo has been insisting that this projectwill be seen to be his most imDortant work -

and l'll go out on a limb and endorse thatstatement in triplicate. Believe it or not, youmight even find Ground-Zero records slightlytame and frivolous when faced with thisascetic purity at last Otomo has grownbored with outrate, with shock rralue andpyrotechnics of turntablism and themotorway pile-up editing style. He's turnedto hone his skills in the area of meditative,focused and interactive plalng betweenthree gifted and enlightened souls. And sincewe're dragging in the spiritual references, yesthis is a spiritual record too, and should aidyou in constructing that Buddhist Peacegarden in your mind you've alwap beenplanning to build. The shrine is made ofaluminium. with a water fountain of ice-coldvodka with flowers of steel and leaves ofsharp knives...this is lSO.

ED PINSENT

KlangkriegDas.Fieber detm e ns chll ch en Stirntrt eBELGIUM, TUDIOWVIEW oo{ (ND)

lreesl

That people actually underctand what theirtongues are babbling. And that eyes do shineto undercand, and that responses are made

which indicate a soul in all this matter andmess oftongues and teeth, mouths, cities ofstone, rein, heac cold, the whole wooden

mess all the way hom Neandenhaler gruntsto Nanian-probe moans of intellQent

scientists, nay, all the way from the,/ohnnyHan ZANG ofanteater tongues to the

dolorous 'h noae, ch'i passai con ana prba"of Signore Dane in his underctood shroud ofrobe ascending finalf to Heaven in the arms

of Beacice.

Jack Kerouac, Satori ln Parrq New YorkGrove Press lnc. 1966. o 47.

Modernistic and industrialish, this workincludes some severe cut-uDs and breakdownsof language, the spoken word, as powerful asthose by modern artists who tried it with thewritten text: l'm thinking of the Lettrists inParis (a movement of which I admit I knowzilch) and concrete poetry of which I have acouple of books...l think those conceptualweirdos were tryint to reduce language to aseries of ciphers, and find scintillas of meaningwithin the very meaninglessness of a singleisolated letter, whether printed or spoken...orin any case rearrante the broken fragments tospell out a new fiery message. lf languagemanaged to reconstitute itself into a form ofcoherent prose, the techniques of WilliamBurroughs (who l've never read) would dosomething to shatter it atain. Then again,another antecedent mitht b the Ur-Sonaa olKurt Schwitters...this iust shows how glibly Ican bring in arty references, without knowingwhat the hell l 'm getting into...'The fever of the human voice', as this worktranslates, comprises nine pieces derived fromprocessing of, er, the human voice. lt can rangefrom the soothint sounds of a snorint man, toamplified breathing, and heavy sighs; andoccasional passates of speech distonedthrough a tiny telephone receiver, or loopedinto patterns of gibberish, or fragmented into'completely atomized digits'. The fewreconizable bits of speech (in German) hare thetone of a dispassionate lecturer, or TVannouncer reading a dull weather reporq thismay relate to the artists' suttestion that you'cut out an emotionless face of the news pap€rand stick it to the wall in front of you' whilelistening. Aiming for that level of mundaneinertness. In the same way that concrete poetryevolved out of the technology ofhand-composed q/p€, this preoccupation withthe timbres of the human voice is clearly theprovenance of men obsessed with microphonesand recording technology.

In fact this work attains the level of sublimemusicality more than once; on'Flieger inGrosse spirale'where the glutinous whirlings oflooped voices, soothing electronic musicaltones. found environmental sounds and

manipulative treatments accumulate to theperfect point where they attain a symphonicflood-release of emotion. Elsewhere, anotherbooming voice is rendered down to suchheavy tones that any words areunrecognisaUe; it's become a talking bassguitar. The occurrence of the voice withinthese alienatint worlds begins to providepockets of warmth: where the episodesappear to be simply close-mikedenvironmental clutter, they suggest a drabdomesticity and claustrophobia. lt's likespending an afternoon trapped in the houseof a total stranter.

Felix Knoth and Tim Buhre are the twoelectro-acoustic carvers of sound whoformed Klangkrieg in 1987. Besides releasingrecords, the/ve been active in making artinstallations, one of which (from aCopenhaggn festiral) lelded this CD as anoutcropping. These gup claim to be equallyinspired by'bruolity and introspection' andperceive no real differences between biologyand technology. Yep, it's the familiarman-machine trop€ once again - which hasbeen cropping up in 2fth century art sincethe Futurists onwards, and Klangkrieg areonly a hair's breadth from reprisingKraftwerk's popart version of same, butthere's still a lot to recommend theirparticular spin on the motif.

ED PINSENT

Ryoii IkedaMortAux VachesSTf,TIfI,IT,T NO NT'II/IBER CDAnother good one from that notable

Japanese minimalist Ryoji lkeda. In case you'rewondering why there are so many CDs allcalled Mon Aux Vaches, it refers to a seriesof modern electronic works commissionedfor an anant-garde Dutch radio project calledVPRO. The resulting products are thenpackaged in imaginative wap (for examy'ewith the discs secured to card covers withbrass paper-fasteners) and distributed overmainland Eurooe and the UK bv a

oEE

, t .ctu

=

c(,Eo'rt

o.o

tl,t!ego

82


" wt.

9$'ti;n) - l

\4\t'\a\?r \ /Y' t " )

\ t

h.ter-cru-sSol

s: ' ; ,

consortium of weirdo-indie steadfasts. Here,Ryoj i turns in a remix of h is '+/- 'p iecealready released by Touch last year, plus onenew | 7 minute piece; nobody could accuselkeda of producing too much too soon. lt wasproduced for some Art Installation of hiscalled Just About Now (he's something of amulti-media guy - also connected with the arttheatre troupe Dumb Type).

You needs must admire the stark clarity of hisvery precise tones - they're focussed to apinpornt rntensity. lt's like he's some viciousminiature spider with stainless steel legs,running around inside;rour head. The'headphonics'tag applied to this material is noempty boast - much o{ the time the soundsappear tc originate rlght in ',le cen'.re of yoursconce, and emanate therefrom in strangepulsing waves of electro-magnetic energy.capable of killing all known life forms within afive foot mdius. lf we could construct a CDplayer that fits inside our bodies - but then,you cion't want to hear the enci of a sentencethat begins like that! This is a futuristicpackage in semi-textured plastic, andmass-produced in a way that it looks totallyunlike any household obiect you'd everremotely associate with music.

ED PINSENT

Rehberg and BauerBaIIt.IoucH ro,!gJE:g)This is by the low-profile Viennese musiciansPeter Rehberg and Ramon Bauer, and it'sanother essential one to chrck out if youwant to garner some clues in your capacity asa serious student of developments incomputer-based music. With technologybecoming so commonplace now, I find myselfobserving colleagues foundering amongst thetools o{ the modern office. Most regular folksseriously underuse their PCs, eyen unawareof the most basic capabilities of wordprocessing software. lt's fear and ignorancethat keeps us from using the computer asmore than a clever typewriter. Naturally,we're afraid of becoming the other extreme{rom that - a computer nerd, a techie, anlncernet freak. Maybe the thing is not to beoverwhelmed by technology, to the point ofnot even thinking about it. To assist you wrthan instant demystification, play this CD.

Bal/t amounts to an artistic investigation ofthe computer world, which means it's fuelledby the power of imagination. Rehberg anciBauer dream of the inside o{ a hard drive, theunexplored surface of a floppy disc or thenear-invisible connections on a orinted circuit- and they have no respect for the scftwarewhatsoever. They know computers are sillyand they could turn tieir processes inside outif they had to, by simply wishirrg it to happen.The Bogeyman of Technology Gone Insanesurts to tumble to the ground.

Though minimal enough, this music is quiteunlike that of Pan Sonic, being as how it'smore driven and (at trmes) quite angry music.sugSesting an intense overloading of circuitsand multi-tasking of processors that aren'tquite up to the task. As these two clinicalsurgeons snip and carye, the shrieks ofmachinery become music. The Futuristswould celebrate the glories of the machinerydriving a fast car, but these late 20th centuryViennese monsters could care less - andexhibit their indifference by making greatmusic almost as an afterthought. Interestingly,it seems that computer software for makingmusic is'framed in the language of graphicdesign' - so powerbook music like this isachieved by wiping away the user-friendlygraphic interface and finding the real interiorunder the sur{ace. By pointing arrd draggilg, anew form ofgraphic score is realised, andwith instant playback too as the belly of thecomputer screams and howis its objections.

An enjoyabie iisten too, by the way - it's notjust modernistic for the sake of it. Suchstimulatint surfaces and hean-rippingdynamics..one second it's sub-atomicparticle-sized bleeps, the next it's a titanictidal wave ROAR of cataclysmic dimensions.But entirely coherent: you can almost size upthe squares, triangles and cireies of sound ast}ey oour out of the speakers into yourawaitrng mitts.

ED PINSENT

Mater eiusLun;r.

+++++++

83+++++++

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999ECM 323 IS THE NAME GIVEN TO THEPROJECT STARTED BYNorfhompion-bosed orlist BorryNichols, wi ih his componion LindenHole - o musicol theorist ondocodemic. Bony Nichols slorted oflmore interested in somewhoi moreconventionol music. He begonexperiments under the nqme ActionConcret, col lect ing f ield recordingsond chonce recordings, to be usedos lhe bosis for tope composit ions;octivities which resulted in ocossetle-only issue colled lsoloiionSludies. jointly executed with ToyBizorre. But he soon found himself in ofomilior ortistic cul-de-soc, poinfullvowore of other experiments byMusique Concrele predecessors,ond fel l thot he could never doonyfhing originol in this porticulorfield. A deliberote decision wosmode to discontinue the project.

He begon to investigoie the physicolnoiure of sound i lself . Right owoy hefound himself embroi led in onenormous web of relqted scientificstudies. in mony complex f lelds qnddisciplines, ioo mony to express withone projeci. At this time, I think. hehooked uo wilh Linden Hole ondformolly begon ECM 323 fogelher.They begon to set up soundexperiments wherever they could,usuolly in ort golleries, to demonsiroieihe foscinoiing physicol properties ofsound thot he hod re-discovered forhimself. ond otlempied 1o pulltogether oll the diverse strqnds of hisreloled reseorch by publishing texisto go with the works. These texts orecrommed with ideos, mony f lying offof slronge tongents. ond olong withthe sound works ore os much onexhortotion to the reoder to ky ondfind out more for ihemselves - rotherthon hoving oll the ideos loid beforeone instonfly, Iike o mug ofCuo-Of-Souo.

One of his interests is in how soundmight monifesl itself on our sensoryopporoius os someihing other thqnthrough the eors. ie sounds you consee (wqve potlerns in sqnd on metolploles, disruptions in o f lqme); ondsounds vou con feel lvibrot ions inyour nervous system).

ECM 323 projects resistcommodificotion. To begin wilh. o lotof the work involves infrosound.which con't qcluol lv be oresented toon oudience in ony shope or form;ond the works ore best presented inon quditorium or gollery setting withproper equipment - including ogood PA syslem. Not only don't theytronsfer well to CD, in o lot of cosesthey don't tronsfer of oll. For thisreoson, ECM 323 is not intended os obond you con see ploying l ive ol oregulor gig, nor does it generole

user-kiendlymerchondise forhomer a n c r r m n t i n nu v ' ' J v , | , P , ' v ' r .

This moy comeover l ike someform of ortsnobbery, butyou nove loodmire theuncompromisingslonce. l t

problem for thel istener ofcourse, os i t didfor this writer;creoior BorryNichols chose tosend me hisliterolure firsl,fhrough the moil.Only ofter o deolof persuosion

{ond o nudgefrom Joe Bonks)did he see fit tosend me sometopes; ond ihisvery reluctontly,with monycoveots ondcondil ions. I hope I hove represented these feors correctly obove; I feel they oreporfiolly legitimote. But lhe Sound Projector deol is this: with ony music, I hove toheor the sounds firsl - if ond when they move me, then I hqve motivotion to wont lofind oui more. I listen first. osk ouestions second.

All bui one of the lope excerpts I heord relotes io o specif ic ' Iesi Site' .Accomponying these Sites ore poges of explonolory texts, which ct first I hove tosoy I found rother infuriqling. They refer 1o oll monner of for-flung ond complexscientific ideos obout physics ond ocoustics - ond olher opporently unrelotedsubjects - bu.t in o rother cursory woy. lt's os though Hole is olmosl expecting us tobe os fomil ior os he is with the works of Ernst Chlodni. Hons Jennv ond RoberlMonroe; ond the fields of Cymolics, Biofeedbock Troining, or infrosoi-rnd. But Ichonged my mind when I heord the powerful ond intr iguing sounds on the topes.Porllons of the texts which I didn't understond - or felt I disogreed with - oretroceoble within my questions. There is no denying Nichols is serious oboul his work,ond ol the end of il he doesn'l purporl lo be more lhon on odist who's interested inscience. We need more people lo open lhemselves up lo the possibi l i ty ofinter-disciplinory work, so oll power 1o ECM 323. The interview below took ploce bye-moil .

tataalaaaraaIntroductoryEP I have read your FCM Test Sites booklet I think l've underctood some of it! Two areas Iremain unclear are (a) wh*her you're referring to experimenu carried out by yaurcelf, or'experimen* conducted by othen that you have read abouc and (b) how the research connectsto your actual ouEut

BN In reply to these questions - (a) In part some of the booklet overviews our experimentswith the sensitiv,e flame, chladni plates, and generating oscillons in water and granular materials,(the installations Trace, Intnference, and Hourgror.rndall alluded to these experiments), also, asmentioned, we have taken the work of Chladni, Jenny, and Dr Manners, and either re-presentediq recontextualised it, (with an aesthetic leaning! ) or taken it a stage funher in terms of it being anR&D proiect.

Other aspecs ofthe booklet which deal with Infrasound, unstruck sounds and other phenomenarelated to sound etc, are related to the wider aspects of sound as a material medium. As I said inthe introduction, it became quite apparent that as soon as we started investitatint acousticphenomena in order to incorporate it in some ways into our work, that we staned to stumbleupon a wealth of material which was too compelling to ignore, and as a result, we were in manywap led into areas that, although deeply interested us, could not be presented publicly(infrasound is notoriously difficult to work with in terms of public safety.) lt therefore became

Iluiilttaaaaaaaaaa

IhewoilrotECM 323

By ED PINSENT

raaaaaalatat

84

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999necessary to make this information arailablein other wap, yet still maintaining it as partof our oeuwe. (hence the CD ROMproject).

In answer to your question (b) - a greatdeal of what we research will in some wapmani{est itself through our recorded andinstallation works (albeit with a degree ofanistic license ) , but as in all anisticventures, we strive to produce somethingwhich is both interesting beautiful, andinformative. This is in oart where ouropinion is slightly at a tantent to PeterHodgkinson, in that we have occasionallypresented work, which is essentially are-production of an existing scientificexperiment or phenomena - to us, this inno way in\ralidates the artistic process, aswe have made our work into a kind ofillustration of our ideas , without lalngclaim to it as our own.

atttaalataflQuestions Specificto THE ENTELECHYTEST SITE, TS 03Ihe comolete version of this is q 90minute Instollotion piece, completewith video monitor floshing o pulsingsignol (o red screen) ondosci l loscope giving o visuol reodout -

both in t ime with ihe sound source.This is o neor-monotonous electronicdrone thqt is ottuned to the electricolpoiterns of our broin woves. Hence ithos the power to offect the woyhumon beings lhink ond behove - oprocess col led'entroinment' . This conbe o beneficiol or heoling process(one viewer of the Museum ofInslollotion wos ol firsi scored. thenutierly chormed...she closed hereyes, repeoted o mqntro to herselfond felt she wos flooting off herchoir l) But there moy be o dorkerside ioo. Soys Hole. 'The US Mil i toryhove experimenled to some degreewith entroinment techniques os portof their Less Thon Lelhol weoponsprogromme... lhey hove ol legedlydeveloped o technology bosed onmicrowove conier frequencles whichcon disoble or disorieniofe enemiesor undesirobles. '

EP The ape sounds good. Very relaxing. Ilike the wzy it keeps changing as I somehowexpected it might remein more saticthroughout. Why does it keep changing/What is producing the changes - youranistic manipulation of the materialsl

BN lt's interesting that you thought thatthe soundtrack might remain more static,presumably because it is primarily rhphmbased. However, some ofthe ideas behindEntelechyare designed to take the listenerthrough a range of mood states, so we usea range offrequencies which can tritgerthese responses, as we will explain later. To

a treat extent , yes we areproducing the changes, andcontrolling the dynamics,although the way we workoften allows for a degree ofserendipity. This particularoiece focuses on materialsourced from the bod, it'srhythms and oscillations, sowe mixed these soundsinto the binauralfoundation track.

EP lf this Entelechy proiectis something to do withaffecting the human brain,then it strikes me that atleast half of the experimentmQht usefully be devotedto monkoring theresponses of the audiencein some way. Have youever done this, and if notwhy not/

BN First of all, it isessential for us to explainthat the work is notintended to be anexD€riment in mindcontrol! To understandour work, you have tounderstand that we arefirst and foremost anists.We take our inspirationfrom physics and phpicallypro\€n concepts in orderto give tlre work moredepti, and resonan€e.Make no mistake. we'renot dilettante. There are ahuge amount of artists out there who are doing great work, but we see so litde contemporary anthat really and truly moves us: and not strictly in the emotional sense, but a tenuine move frompoint 'a'

to point 'b - a learning curve; a process which requires a lot of effon on the part of thelistener to be actively involved. Our installations are probably best likened to seminars, wherebythere is a genuine exchange of ideas and information between us and the audience. In terms ofmonitoring audiencti response there is no need, as there is already a wealth of scientific researchbeing conducted on human response to binaural rhythms , entrainmeng and hernisphericsynchronisation. ' We are simply using these pre-determined frequencies to induce an enhancedstate of mind, which to a re<epti\re indiMdual can be an extremely potent way ofaccessing areas ofcotnition not readily achienable in the day-to-day grind of modern life. Interestingly, Plato noted inhis Timaeus, the importance of rhphm, which he saw as a'heaven-sent ally in reducing to orderand harmony any disharmony in the revolutions within us'.

EP Have you ever tied this test site on yourcelf? La Monte Young had a room in his Areamhouse'where a consant tone is played - he lives by the drone. Do 2ou have a test site at home,and have you found h has improved your own hcilities for relaxation, creativity and intuftionlAgain, how can this be measured in a meaningful way - what per{ormance indicaton could beusedl

BN (Laughs) - We have probably lived with this soundtrack for much longer than we shouldhave! I don't know much about La Monte Youn{s home life, but I would imagine that he hasdiscovered a syrnpathetic tone that energises him in some way - we have worked closely with DrPeter Manners whose Cynatics techniques utilise programmed soundlrarres to stimulate ordestroy panicular cells or organs of the body , which basically amounts to the same thing and itworks. Yes, Linden panicularly has been experimentint with binaural freguencies, over a much

treater rante than we have shown within the scope of Entelechy. I suppose the truly definingmoment wzts when my:elf, Linden, and his wife all sat under headphones with one of our friends,Alistair Fruish, who coincidentally had some binaural frequency generating software. We sat forabout two hours, with little or no conversation as everyone was swept through a range of statesfrom deep relaxation, to moments of pure revelation, sleep, and auditory hallucination ! lt was atthis point that we realised what a fascinating phenomenon this is , and further examination hasthrown up some amazing insithts into entrainment and FFR (Frequency Following Response). In asense the performance indicators which you refer to are all around us - at a fundamental level - inthe home and in the envronment in general. You need look no funher than film soundtrack,dance music, and the soundtracks from popular computer tames to realise that entrainmenttechniques are being used on us to trsat effect all the time. Excitement levels are brought to aclimax as musical rhythms tently move us from a normal heanbeag to one that extends to

I NotaHy at the Monroe Institute.

8s

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999excitement, and in certain instances , fear ora sense of foreboding2. In scientific terms,most panicularly within the branch ofNeurotherapy, binaural frequencies are ofparticular use in the treatment of ADHD(Attention Defi cit Hyperactivity Disorder),Depression, Schizophrenia, and OCD(Obcessive Compulsive Disorder), wherethe published results demonstrate thebenefits of brinaural freouencies . In mostoboerved cases, the technique has shownthat its results persist well after treatrnent,and has more prolonged benefits thanpharmacological alternatives.

EP I llnd the proposition that all energrcan be broken down'into wavebrms to bereductionist I feel you are making two

basic assumptions about nature, and humanbeings in particulan (a) that human beingsare no more than passive receptorc forthese weveforms, and that our biologicalfunctions are no more than sophisticatedmachinety; (b) we all receive these wavesthe same way and react the same wq/ tothem. Dont you think humans have souls/

BN To answer your question with aquestion, surely in order to comprehendanything there is that basic necessity tobreak it down into its component partslWhen we began the whole prolect ECM323, we realised that we would have toadopt a much wider stepthan our peers,and set ourselves the task of examining€very aspect of sound that interested us,and to attempt to 'get inside' sotrnd in wa;athat other anists ( and I stress the wordAnists), have rarely explored. lt is abiological fact that human beings are nomore than the sum of many millions ofpars, cells, organisms etc, all acting inconcert to enable us to function. Looked atholistically, we have our own will andvolition, and yes a soul if you like, but only ifall of the necessary components arefunctioning correctly, and in the right order.Further reductionism takes all matter to thelevel of vibration - all matter, whensufficiently reduced, is vib,ration. Putanother way, everythint'rings' at aparticular frequency. All of our physicalfunctions can be attributed to waves,oscillations, cycles, rhythms, (peristalsis,heartbeaq orgasm, respiration for instance)so in some ways, yes, our biologicalfunctions are highly sophisticatedmachinery. The human brain operates overa range of defined wavelengths (alpha betadelta. theta), so we are to an extent'slaves'to our biological imperative. We used theword Entelechyfor our installation verydeliberately. Very simply, the theory ofentelechy implies that a non-material causalfactor acts upon every living system,directing phpical processes ( e.g. -regulation, reteneration, reproduction )towards a purpose or goal. We in turn haveimplied that this factor might be sound, ormore precisely - vibration, and have createdthe installation in order to focus the listenerupon these visceral rhythms andoscillations, and to perhapc consider thisproposition from an internal perspective.The other three Test Sites installationsextend this hypothesis by using sound toorder phpical materials in beautiful and

unique ways. So not only are we creating a work of art, but we are also on something of a crusadetoo I

EP Why is this experiment undertaken within an arc gallerT / sound installation context, and notin a labonor/ The former seems to have linle or no controlled condtions (eg significantnriables such as anilable PA eguipment, size and acoustics of venue, states of mind of theaudience). What does the experiment demonstrate/ Are its resubs repeaable under laboratorycondkions/

BN we are €onstantly presented with the dichotomy between presentint a work of art as anaesthetic experience, and realising a theory of phpics as an experimental test- bed . We havenever really resolved this problem satisfactorily, and in most czises attempt to encompass both ofthese needs to the best of our ability. Up to this poing however, we have only been able topresent installations which either illustrate an existing theory or hypothesis, or which in someways allude to , and extend the work of others. So in answer to your guestion, most of the labwork has already been done - we are constantly researching our chosen area, and anythingrefe\€.nt is incorporated into our oeuwe. With Entelechyin particular, we have selectedfrequencies which have a known beneficial effect, and the potential for nariables is slight. AParticularly recePtive listener will become entrained fairly quickly , and is likely to experience oeeprelaxation, and perhaps some form of mild auditory hallucination, which we have built indeliberately ( we are especially interested in Audio Scene Analysis) . There is nothing in thesoundtrack which we have not experienced ourselves many times over, and the overall effects aretreatly enhanced when we exclude any un-necessary external visual stimuli, and introduce asyrchronised flicker from a strobe litht. with that in mind, I suppose the effects and cerainlyhuman resPonse to binaurals, are rep€atable when these criteria are applied. Of course, most ofwhat we do is largely'work in progress' , so the overall process is constantly evolvint andunfolding as we investigate certain phenomena , that's what keepc it alive and ital.

attaaaaaaalaS_pecific to INTRAFERENCE, TS O4, thevideo test siteThis is 'work in progress' . l i explores ihe possib i l i ty of using v ideo feedbock os osource for soundtrocks. other exper iments in th is oreo show how poi terns con begeneroted on o screen iust by using video feeding bock on itself. The geomelricond psychedelic potterns thot result from this process ore visuolly siunning, olthoughourolly somewhoi less so.

ECM 323 ore doing lntroference,Iroce ond Entelechy of The Museum OfInsiolloiion, Deptford From 30th June - 24th July 1999 os porl of their Doy For Nighifesf ivol . EcM 323 wi l l be in the moin bui ld ing, ond wi l l be doing o seminor towordsthe end of the run (dotes T.B.C). they ore lounching their CD-ROM O Hz ol Sonor inBorcelono from l Tth-'l91h June, ond o UK lounch ogoin ol MOI on Tuesdoy 29lhJune 6-9pm, where ihey will olso be ovoiloble to onswer questions. The ROM olsofeqtures Disinformotion, T:unlkl Systems, ond Host Produciions.

EP Please clarif ^ is there, or will there be, any son of wlual component to chis insallation/ tf theaudience is able to 'interpret visual input as auditorT ouEuti does this mean there's some sor.t ofsense-swapping; s),naptic process involved? Or could you simply turn off the video monitor endstill genene the feedback sounds/

BN Yes, there is very much a visual element to the installation - our key collaborator inIntraference is Barry Hale, a film maker and video anist who generated the 'live' video feedbackimagery. W€ Position a series of contact mikes across a monitor screen which are sensitiveenough to pick up minute fluctuations in screen luminance, colour and shapes, and a form ofchaotic soundscape is created. The whole installation evolved from one of those divine momensof syrchronicity - | was basically researching non-linear s).stems, whilst at the same timeexPerimentint with sources of sound which might be obtained from the electron bombardment o{a standard TV screen. I was experimentint with colour fields and became very excited by the factthat subtle changes on screen could leld interesting audible signals. Barry happened to beexperimenting with video feedback and it became obvious to bring the two elements together asa perfect example of an audible chaotic sptem. The images are incredible, and exhiLit the typicalbehaviour expected from a non-linear dynamic sptem.

EP Does this site connect in anr*4/ to the field of video insallation an/ This (retativef) newdevelopment in gzlletT an has often been associated with conceptualists and minimalists, but nomater how conceptual or minimal there has often been a great deal ofcontent to the imagetythe/ choose. //f ntraference has imagery, is it meaningful -or is the entire insallation an example ofPure Process artl

BN lf annhing, the installation could loosely be interpreted as conceptual, but we are keen notto align ourselres with an art 'movement' or 'tad as such. This isn't out of a sense of snobbery nora stab at cultural elitism, it is simply a matter of fact that we are attemptint to illustrate audiblephenomena within an a€srhetic context. Again, the world of contemporary art has for so longbeen loaded with indulgent self-referentialism, which is of no interest to us whatsoever. On thesubject of content - that's an ambiguous question. I would like to think that we hav,e producec abody of work which presents natural , or naturally occurrint sFtems at work. lt becomes more'meaningful'

the deeper you delve, but initially you are confronted wirh an extremely beautiful,organic, fractal sound and imate environment.

The central rhythmic theme for the film./aws is a classic example of entrainment.

86

EP Please, how do we get fromprocessed video feedback to biologicalmorphogenesis/ I thought the latter wassomethint to do with the genentiveprocess of plant cells. Could you explain theconneaion, please!

BN This is where our work attemofs toestablish tangible causal connectionsbetween very different disciplines.Morphogenesis is not only applied to plantcells, it is a dynamic sptem which is appliedto all biological forms, from cells to humansociety in general. lf you have ever readRupen Sheldrake's A New Science of Lifqhe posits the theory of Morphic Resonance- a Drocess of action at a distance in bothspace and time which governs natural formand the overall behaviour of forms andsystems. lt takes no great leap ofimagination to see the connection with avideo feedback system which relies for itsexistence upon nothint more than anevolutionary cycle of looped input andoutput. The system literally feeds from itselfand 'bootstraps' into existence all of theseflowing organic forms and images. In thissense, video feedback is a form-building

4aramic sptem, which occurs with littleexternal intervention. This is of course anextremely simy'istic explanation, buthope{ully goes some way to explaining ourintentions. As an addition, *e extended theconcept of feedback last year at the SouthLondon Gallery, in a performance ofelectronic feedback using SLG's soundsystem as a sour€e. The sy:tem exhibitsexactly the same characeristics as vi&ofeedback except that it is a literal acousticinterpretation of the phenomenon, whichcan be extremely powerful, and primal insome wa\6.

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999EP What is a space-time simulator/ Are you aiming to emulate some son of time-tnvel with thiswork/

BN No, I'm not Doctor Who ! There is a slight problem with interpretation here, so put moresuccinctly, a video feedback system is an experimenul sy:tem which exhibits spatial, and temporaldynamics. In scientific terms it can be used as a model for what is known as a dissipatirre s)6tem -

energy flows through the system and is lost to microscopic degrees of freedom over a period oftime. James Crutchfield did a lot of work and research in this field in the early 1980's , and wrotethe d€Jinitive paper, 'Space-Time Dy-namics in Video Feedback' in | 984, and Ralph Abraham of theMsual Math Institute, Santa Cruz, California has sent us a wealth of material related to the subiectwhich pre-empts our work by more than 20 years, and he has hugely influenced our recentresearch.

aaatfaaaalaaSpecific to TRACE, TS 02This instollotion uses 1es1 tones to generote geomelric potterns in woter. This one Ithink hos o pretty big wow-foctor with the oudience. Ai ihe Museum of lnstollolionone viewer hod pretty much token up residence o1 lhe site, enlronced by thecompel l ing wove forms qppeor ing'out of nowhere' on the surfoce of on oi l drumfull of wqier.

EP Geometric pattetns - well, it sounds plausible. With this work, are you generating them outof nowhere, or where they there all along and you're just making them visiblel Where do thesepatterns inhere when the expeiment akes place - in the waten in the ain in the sound/ What dothe pattems mean, what does h tell us about naturel

BN }ace is perhaps the most successful of our installations because it illustrates an acousticphenomenon very simply, and with simple materials. lt alwap elicits a fascinating response frompeoy'e whenever we show it , and most them are transfixed by the hypnotic quality of thematerial. When pure sine tones are passed through a thin membrane of water, beautiful fluid

teometries are revealed in the form of radiating hexagons, squares, and sinusoidal warcs. We dida tremendous amount of research after stumbling across the phenomenon, and discovered thatpioneers of acoustics and vibratory phpics such as Ernst Chladni, Hans jenny, Mary Waller, andmost recently, Ralph Abraham, had come up with similar experimental results. Trace perfectlyexhibits the potential of sound to order physical materials (the experiment also work on fineparticulates such as sand, and viscous liquids), and we can draw a correlation between these fluidpatterns and those which occur through many levels of nature, such as crystals, honeycomb,snowflakes, cells, star sy:tems. I recently spoke with ProfessorJan Einasto, a cosmologist based inEstonia who spoke of a 'honeycomb theor/ of the unirr,erse, and who did similar experiments inthe early | 970's to prove his hypothesis.

EP As to sonic warfare, | fint heard of this in theTapeDelay book (198f- interestingly,variations on the theme of some form of thedamage that sound could inflict were proposedguite sepanrcly by David Tibeg Coil and CabaretVolaire. (This may have been a-rcndency of theauthor of that book, Charles Neal). John Calewanted ta ibnte buildings apan with amplifredsound; Lou Reed would broadcast inaudiblesignals into an audience and watch frghts breakout. AndJoe Banks continues to research thehistorT of miliary application of this. All of theseviewpoinu seem (to me) very alarming andaggressive. Where are you coming from on thisangle/

BN I don't think we can add much more to anyof the work being done byJoe Banks, whoserecordings and research are tremendouslyexciting and comprehensive in this area. We haveestablished an interest in non-lethal applicationsof sound within the military, simply because wehave a fascination with all aspects of sound andaudition. From a personal standpoint, I accept theinevitability of human nature to exploit anythingwhich has the potential to destroy. There is,however an awful lot of mythology concernedwith sound weapons, notably with Infrasound andELF waves. There is little tangible evidence tosutgest that weapons of this type have, or everwill be used with:n the crucible of war, althoughthe whole subtect is obviously cloaked in secrecyand misinformation. The Russians wereapparendy sub,tly pulsing ELF frequencies at tartettownships in Arizona - known as the'Woodpecker' proiect. Vctims were allegedlyafflicted with prolonged bouts of nausea,confusion, and the inability to concentrate,

87

Thehowever this is difiicult to provescientifically, as these symptoms could beattributed to other external environmentalphenomena such u leaking gases, foodpoisoning etc. I think I am perhaps moreinterested in the positive aspects of soundand am rery interested in the work of DrPeter Manners whom I met last year. Heutilises the destructive characteristics ofsound frequencies as an aid within medicinefor destrolng malignant cellsl thetechnique, known as Cymatics or'enerteticresonance' has attracted a massive amountof attention, and Manners claims to alreadyhave access to 2 I st century sonic healingtechnology.

EP Trace says something about theexterior application of sound within theph2sical univene; contnsted with Entelechywhich sals something about the interiorapplication of sound within man's innerspace. Discuss.

BN I think the two are inexricably linked.'As above, so below'- so says the Hermetictradition. This'Anthropic Principle' extendsto the realm of golden ratios, sacred

teometry, and harmony. The sameproponions which govern the spatialdistribution of matter also govern thedistances betrveen notes of the harmonicseries (which underlies the theory ofresonance). These relationshipc can bescaled down to the subatomic level(superstrinp), and up to the level of solarsystems, and possibly galaxies (Kepler) .Linden's work as a comDoser and lecturerhas brought a tremendous amount to ECM323, and through him, I have gained a muchwider perspective on the world of sound,music, and the sound environment. He isparticularly interested in the work ofRoben Lawlor, and his work with SacredGeometry. Lawlor traces these links back toPythagoras and beyond, as does Berendt inhis book The World is Sound FractalGeometry demonstrates that hithlycomplex chaotic systems possess layers ofdramatically different scale that contain'connectedness', or'seff-similariq/,Therefore, the mind and body of man, andthe nature of the external material worldboth hare a fundamental commonaliw inthat they both follow rhphmic patternsoperatint at highly defined frequencies. Wehave been fascinated by the potential ofsound, and somethint in me keeps takingme back to origins and sources in order togain a greater undersanding of the natureof sound. Our first pr"osodic exchanges withour mothers, and experiences in the wombare primarily sound - based, so in a sense,our whole being , our whole model of theworld is right from the very beginning,established through sound. So litde wonderthen, that we are instinctiveiy drawn tosound , and locate ourselves in the worldprimarily through audition. 'The Big Bang',and 'ln the beginning was the word', aretwo phrases out of many, which for me,indicate these link to sonic origins.

ataatat

Sound Proj

Specific to CONVERGENCE extractsReolised in the summer of

.l998 ond no1 pori of the Test Site series. I enjoyed this one

- very good. the most 'musicol ' yet l In foct these topes hove been remixed ondinterpreted os music by Andy Grocie oi Host Produclions.

EP This expeiment seems less intent on 'proving'something, and more of anaestheticunderaking - the sounds deployed simply for the sake of interesting and potent acoustic moires'-verT exciting. Since you as anis* decide what counts x interesting and potent, this is much moreof an anistic gesture than a purely scientific one. lA imagine 2ou're not going to dispute this, butperhaps you can ehborate! The most evocative sounds on the ape you seng I was freelyassociating (as I do whh most music) in a way I couldn't with the others. I think of the StructuralistCinema of the I 970s - not saying their aesthetic stance is one I would endone, but some of thembecame rea/ control freaks. They wanted a cinema image so tnnsparcnt that it would be vinuallyimpossible for the audience to do anyhing but concenilate on the processes offilm (and not beseduced by stoies, enterdinment, or anyhing associated with mainstream cinema). Would youseek to deny, or at least reduce, the level of such free association from the audience, and insist onthe primacy of the pure sound?

BN Great question Edl - Convetgencewas really one of those personal excumions which youcorrectly identify as a purely creative exercise - it does have a kind of raison d€tre, but not onethat I would readily incorporate into our installation work. I was really keen to try and makesomething more 'musical'

, and used subde (and not so subde!) feedback techniques to teneratemost of the soundtrack. However, on this occasion , I was keen to reduce the amount of humanintervention as much as possible, and see what could be achiened by combining harmonic anddissonant frequencies. Peter Hodgkinson of T:un[k] Sptems kindly allowed me to use some of hisequipmeng and also contributed his critical compositional skills to the whole album. Another ideawas to create foundational soundtracks which could be 'added on to'. The tide Convergencesuttests a merging of waves and signals, so it acts like a bead of condensation upon which othersignals may accumulate. I have sent copies to Peter and also Andy Gracie of Host Productions,both of whom are highly talented digital composers, and now have the unenviable task ofreworking my original sounds! This may see the light of day as a release one day, if some brave andvisionary record label makes it possible. We are actively taking time out at the end of the year toconcentrate more on recorded work, and to extend the creatjve elements of our research. I agreewith you that this is our most listenable work from the hatch you have, although a lot of our earlyexperimental recordings were constructed along these lines atso.

Your analogy with Structuralist Cinema is a good one, and I think that both mpelf and Lindenwould encourage any form of free association from our audience. We like to lead people into anarea which interests us, but of course like most works of arq there is an element of interpretationto be brought from the viewer as well as the aftist. The purity of presentation in most of ourinstallations and recordings, we believe will lead people who are open to the work through anetwork of connections, associations, and evolutions leading to many of the ideas discussed aboveand perhaps formulating their own responses. We welcome these responses - hence, the seminar.We are continually surprised at how we make the same connections, independently of eachother. Perhaps the naure of

'pure sound' will focus the listener in certain wap. fuedback in

particular, and in general, extremely high frequencies have pejorative associations whichimmediately alienate people, despite the fact that identical freguencies emanate from our neryousslatems. Perhapc that is precisely what they are afraid ot ? Audiences will inevitably make theirown association (as you did), in spite of any actions on our parl

I Incidentally, the number '323' in our name is representative of self - similar chaos, being born out of the highly significant number 23,and its inversion.

88

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999Various Artists'tlntittade: An AshIntetnationalCompilationASII INTERNI,TIONAL

!glg1ll999tAnother cryptic and intriguingpatchwork quilt of compiledsounds and featured artistsfrom the Touch and Ashrosters; in a way makingsamDlers is what this labeldoes best, because you'reguaranteed a really finecollection of curios andoddities in sound that youprobably won't come acrossany other place. And there'sgenius at work behind thecombinations here: whoeversequences the tracks andcompiles the notes and designsthe sleeve an is very shrewdand clever, leaking outminimalist clues here andmisdirecting the eye and bminthere. Fragments, puzles andmysteries can enhance your life,if you keep these cabbalistic signsvis ib le and audible at a l l t imes.

Radio collages by hhh areinterspersed between the'principal' tracks; these arecollaborations between FlorianHecker, Holger Hiller, and labelboss Mike Harding. They featureshortwave buzing, tones,telephone dialling, and a deeplychilling female voice reading offnumbers which might be anumbers station, or perhaps thespeaking clock rn anotherlanguagel Hazard soars in with aup-tempo wave-throbber of apiece which is more alarmingthan hrs somewhat gelatinousCD there's a Blue Peter-styledexperiment with a home-madebattery from Disinformatron, andmore moody X-Files gibberishfrom S.E.T.|. His joke is alreadywearing a bit thin with me afterless than one year; it seems littlemore than filler Ambientsoundscaping with theAlien-paranoia samples tackedonto it.

The field recording by AlphaEcho Romeo, from a gardenshrine in Tol<yo, lust might scoopthe gold cup - it's a livingbreathing example of ChrisWatson's observation that'Thereare links between the spiritswithin certain places and ourfeelings and appreciation ofthem.' In fact it's rather berterthan Jon Wozencroft's straightrecording of Guy Fawkes Nightfrom Pnmrose Hill in 1987: thissounds like any other GuyFawkes Night anywhere in theUK. Strangely what comes overstrongest from this is the twee,middle-class smugness of themums and dads twittering away

to their offspring; but it's a useful,sociological aural document andsnaDshot of British lifenonetheless.

Bruce Gilben turns in aperplexing tape of what soundslike someone flicking the pages ofan enormous book - say VolumeXll of the Oxford EnglishDictionary. After spinning this, Istill have a guestion-markpermanently affixed over myhead, although chiefly'cause I failto see why and how this relatesto the 'extraordinary

foundrecordings' that Gilbert was sentby Daniel Menche. But perhapsI'm barking up the wrong Banyan.

Title refers to anti-commoditymr that this label issingle-handedly waging againstthe mindless consumption ofmusic. We are all. somehow.implicated even lust by the act ofwalking into the Virginmetastore.

ED PINSENT

King MissileMystical Shit,/Fluting On TheIfutnpUS.E, SHIMMT-DISC SHM.so29 (RE-RELEASE) ( I 999)-King Missile represent the bestand the worst of 'quirky' alt.rockfrom the USA. They've deseryedbetter than butt naked emperorshke Pavement but have aharaysmanaged to cock it up forthemselves with forced line-upchanges and a nagginginconsistenc/ that has doggedtheir every move. They originallystumbled into fame when tracrslike 'Take

Stuff From Work' and.fesus Was Way Cool' (bothfeatured on this re-issue of therr

first 2 albums) became collegeradio fuvourites but they nevermanaged to capitalise on theirinitial promise and subsequentreleases failed to oroduceanythint but the occasionallymemomble track amidst a host ofmeaningless, self-indulgentovaddle.

King Missile are a frustratinglistening experience as they veerfrom quality entertainment totiresome dirge and back again.Over repeated keyboard andguitar riffs the vocalist, John S.Hall, reads, and occasionally sings(in a voice so thin and reedy thatit makes Jim O'Rourke sound likeLemmy) a selection of his poetry.This should be enough to chillanyone's blood but when theyget a good idea and see itthrough to it's conclusion theresults insantly make you aconvert.'Mystical Shit' is a spoofKrishna-psychedelic dirge thatshould have made Kula Shakerunnecessary while'Rock N RollWill Never Die' is a poodle rockworkout with Hall shouting overthe too. 'Rock N Roll will neverdie! lt's going nowhere man!Look at Def Leppard, drummer'sonly got one fuckin'arml' Themusic rtself is unremarkable -sounds any shower o{ bastards,even Shed 7 for God's sake,could produce but it's Hall'slyrics that make the best tracksstand out. He has a tendency totalk bollocks but is at his bestwhen he assumes a character(the l5 year-old metalhead in'Rock

N Roll..'for example) andtakes the idea to its frequentlyillogical conclusion. On'Dick' hetalks about his fiiend obsessedwith masturbating,'Wuss' detailshis experiences as a teenage'wuss' in high school and, ontheir finest moment 'jesus WasWay Cool' he explains the

'coolness' ofJesus from the pointof vrew of a Californian teenagerwho has rea[sed that the Messiahwasn't iust some beard in sandles- he could do all this neat stufftoo! Hilarious and poitnant at thesame time it's carried by a gentlypiano rell-ain that trails offbeautifully into the fade. Thenthey follow it up with cmp like'The Fish Who Played ThePonies'. Aaaarrgh!

Ultimately the band have got asfar as they deserved to get. Theflack ambition and a sense ofpurpose, the malortry of theirmusic is unremarkable but forthe few genuine classics they'vemade over the years they willalways have a space in my CDrack

For many many others they'll benothing more than something toput on between Hootie & TheBlowfish and Alanis Morrisette.

RIK RAWLING

PhlegmPoppin'& MilkinAUSTRALIf,, JERXXRPRODUCTIONS SKI'N 2

!1t39rVery restless, rushed,skitterrng-about record made in'Boredoms'mode - which in thisinstance means lots of wildcareening guitars. heavy rhumpingbeats, cut-ups, fragments of otherrecords. and a generally irritatingcoarseness: with the advantagethat it's at least decently playedand can in fact yield up'genuinemoments of surDrise. Which rsoften quite difficult to do, withaudiences who think they'veheard everything. And it's fun -although I can see how it mightget uP the noses of somelisteners who don't share the

ilfr nlnguRlDENIincor?orates[A] regular discs; [B] the Recommendedcorner; [C] "heighten the sense of unease";[D] nice melodic pop music

SnecoRDS ARE ouR JUG oF--LAV AzzA ES P R ESSO idFiCE'S

89

The Sound Projector Sixth issue 1999same sense of humour. Actuallythis record is never quite astasteless as the band's name, orthe provoking sleve art, mightsuggest to the casual passer-by,not even when they raise twofingers to World Music andattempt a couple of ethnic musrctake-offs which come prettyclose to 'rocking the standards ofacceptability'. One of these Ithink is a sneer at Aboriginalchanting music, far frompolitically correct, I must say; theother's a copycat version of early1980s African guitar music, whichsuddenly descends into amaelstrom of insane electrifiedalien-speech and Xenakis-styledgabblings that, for sheergrotesqu€ry value, are simplypriceless.

There's yet more ethnologicalhints to be found in a silly titlelike'Polynesian Fertility DairyChant'which connects to thelarge-breasted goddess fetishespictured in the inner sleeve (andto the front cover of course.which comes I think from aspecialist porno mag for pervieswho get their jollies slaveringover action photos of lactatingnude women). lt's the fifth track,however, that wins the 'Golden

Pineapple' award for aintoxicating brew worthy of theButthole Surfers at their height -'tis a beautifully confusingmelange of groans, chants,instrumental bleats and bangings,vomited out in time to achuntering rhythm that clopsalong like a cart dragged by athree-legged pony. You won'tknow whether to sink or swim.

Active since 1993 at least,Phlegm's core members areOren Ambarchi and RobAvenarm - and. oroud of therrweird ways, these )/oung menclaim to have been shaking up theSyndey and Melbourne sceneswith their extreme, verytheatrical absurdist live shows,which were 'some of the mostbizarre witnessed for manyyears...it took quite a while formany people to adiust to thePhlegm way of life'. A bold boast,but the check list of names withwhom they've played live sincethen should help you locate thetrmilieu - The No Neck Blues8and, Thurston Moore, Jad Farr,

John Zorn, and no end of bigname Japanese noiseniks. This istheir third CD, although theyalso seem to be connected withSportsbra (who appeared on aDual Plover CD, see last ish) andMenstruation Sisters, whose soleCD is a ghastly joke...anyway atleast I liked this one.

ED PINSENT

**r*.:.***

*t**. : .***MaximumGoherence DuringFlyrngUSA, IN-PHASE RECORDS

3ryggstggSetf-titled, self-produced,self-released - that they have norecord company deal of theirown might just be a barometer ofthe state of modern music. Notsaying these jokers deserve adeal, but they probably wouldhave got one on Virgin Recordsin the early 1970s. Unfonunatelyfor them it's now nearly year2000. A little of this is decentenough music, but it sounds verylike English progressive r-ock (inparticular Slapp Happy, or FamilyFodder) mixed with apseudo-underground mentalityintended to make you think it'smore dangerous or interestingthan it actually rs. Pretentiouslyrics or crafted poetry;overly-clever chord changes ormusical aDtitude. Youdecide...they seem keen to breakin this country, so if you ever buythis why not pass it on to one ofFestival-going clan who want alittle Texan mckiness in theiriistening diet.

ED PINSENT

*n**{.**{.The SerpentsYou frave lust BeenPoisonedOCHRE RECORDSocHoloLcp (1999)Well this lot have shotthemselves in the foot stmightaway by means of a press release(which I seem to have lost) thatboasts of how many people areinvolved, and how famous someof them are. There's matey boyfrom Super Furry Animals, someEcho and The Bunnymen bloke,and a woman who hasconnections to Chris Evans'tefevisuaf abomination ThankF*** lt's Friday Because TheSimpsons Are On the Other.Srde. None of which impressesme deeply, though I suppose thecover's quite nice in a 'weren't

the 1960s great'sorr ofway. Themusic arises from proionged iamsbetween various combinations ofthe 34 named participants, and Isuspect at least one of theirnumber has a Faust album.

As fundamentally a child of punkrock raised on The CockneyRejects and The Angelic Upstarts,it is not uncommon that Iexperience a vrolent allergicreaction and an overwhelmingneed to reimmerse myself inSham 69's That's Lifealbum,

particularly when thrngs get alittle bit more 60s than is strictlynecessary. So despite mynumerous reseruations, theactual music, which is after allwhat all this is about. is ouitepalatable, and certainly not asself-consciously psychedelic as Ifeared it might be. What saves it{rom the horror that it could'vebeen in my darkest imagrnings, isa strong and healthy spirit ofexoerimentation with all mannerof non-rock instruments used inthe creation of the songs.Balalaika, bodhran, harmonium,stylophone, harp and wine glassesare all used at different intervals.as is. er...rainstick. and evenmore puzlingly'acoustictheremin', an alleged instrumentwhich must surely prompt thequestion 'you're avin' abubble-barf ainchal' Still, theyseem to know what they'redoing. Some of it sounds a bit likel=a f)iisseldorf, or Faust, or oneof those 1960skeyboards-and-drugs groups thatI can't bear to think about. Notexactly my cup of mushroom tea,but good of its kind. lf you'rereading this with increasingirritation at what an uptighttuned-out cuboid yer reviewermust be, wondering what rightsomeone with a Sham 69 albumhas to even draw breath, letalone review what sounds like acool and vibey elpee, then I urgeyou to rush out and buy this. Notup my street, but l' l l wager somefolk are going to be playing it todeath.

WAR ARROW

***{ . **1.*Various ArtistsExtretne MusicFrotn AfricaSUSAN Lf,WLY SLCDOIo

!r93rAfrica. lt was once the'darkcontinent' but now tJranks to thesanitisihg filter of popular mediait is the playground of LonelyPlanet backpackers and richidiots on balloon safaris. Theother Africa, the one wheremillions starve or die in ancienttribal conflicts. is confined to LiveAid nostalgia and AmnestyInternational posters.

But while Ladysmith BlackMambazo tour Britain to thedelight of Guardian readers thereis something stirring back homeand this compilation is astaggering insight into the hiddenculture of that continent.

William Bennet (of Whitehouseinfamy) has exhaustivelyresearched the musicalunderground o{ Africa to compilethis collection so as you mightexpect there's little rn the way of

tunes you can whistle in theshower. Instead you geteverything from minimalistMerzbow to birdsongs andDaktari theme tunes filteredthrough pirate radio static; Zuluwar cries are given multipleoverdubs so the voices of deadwarriors echo down thecenturies as elephant chargedrum beats warn the white manthat retribution WILL come andwhile the spears will be sonic thistime the results will be no lessbloody. Flies buzz over thecarcasses of dead mter buffalo,British Empire brass band pompis warped into oblivion by tapemaniDulation while trains loadedwith guns and hate thunderacross the Namib desen-

Unlike the related title - ExtremeMusic From Japan - there is littleof the full-on noise that you getfrom the likes of Merzbow,Hijokaidan and co. lnstead thetmcks here are, for the maiority,quite restrained but no lesseffective as they replaceextremes of volume with anability to convey the vastness ofthe land and the ootentialtherein.

Electronic drones and feedback,discordant drumbeats andsamples are intelligently used tosuggest potent images of theplace that's out of the fr-ame ofthe usual reportage and itsdistinctly non-Westerrr,non-White European approachto structure delivers a sustainedsense of uneasy awe for theartists at work.

Superb packaging is down to AlanGifford's design and the TrevorBrown artwork that featuresblack bondage baby dolls and atribeswoman in a Gollywog maskabout to utilise a banana as adildo. lt's a deliberately 'offensive'

image that, coupled with tracktitles like Opaque Misery, A Stateof Blood, Massacre Rite andSomalial, goes some wa)/ towardsillustratrng what Conrad meant inHean of Darknessby 'The

Horrorl The Horror!'

One thing is sure - next time theBBC sends one of its oetcelebrities to Mozambique tosave an elephant they WON'T beusing this album for thesoundtrack. lt's good to knowthat there are still some thingsthe all devouring mainstreamcannot stomach and thts CD isone of them. lt's only for thosewith a taste for the EXOTIC.

RIK RAWLING

PO Box 914, Edinburgh EHIT88F

{ .***{.*t*

90

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999Antonius RexZora -.4n

Obsenation ByITALY, MEI,LOWREGORpS MMP23I (1994)

lmagine if you can a HammerHouse soundtrack performed by'supertroup' made up ofJethroTull, Jean Michel Jarre, Queenand Patti Smith on vocals witnLon Chaney as the Phantom ofthe Opera knocking tens balls ofshit out of a church organ.

That's what Antonius Rex soundlike as they perform Zora, a 3Ominute rock'opera' in 5 parts.

I picked this album up secondhand, attracted by the coverillustmtion of a semi nakedblonde vampiress whipping azombie orchestra into action andby the geneml 'What the Fuck'weirdness of an ltalian rockalbum. I fully expected it to beshite of the lowest levelbut...despite some Eurovisionpidjin English singing and 'Magic

Fly' style keyboard workoutsearly on it is actually quiteimpressive. Zora is, I think (notbeing able to decipher thesleevenotes but based on whatlittle I know) inspired by theoriginal 'dirty comix' of the1970's of which 'Zora', alongwith 'Cimiter ia ' and'Sukia ' wasnotorious in it's no-holds-barreddepictions of horror andmayhem. The tone of the comicsets the tone of the music -spooky {lutes, phantomkeyboards and King Crimson riffs- but also, and totallyunexpectdly, boogie piano andflamenco guitarl The AntoniusRex boys hold it all totether withimpressive musicianship and abold sense of possibility thathauls the listener along to theinevitable conclusion - a rockingBlack Mass! The band develooand control the mood that isvery much of it's period andloaded with the influences of theday and l'm sure that many whowould sneer at the thought ofthis being a worthwhile listeningexoerience would full overthemselves to get the Beck orBeastie Boys srngle that samplesthis album to death.

Which probably says more aboutlistener aftitudes than it doesabout Antonius Rex's ability toentertain. A 90s approach tosimilar influences would be atiresome death metal cacophonythat lacks the heart and sense ofambroon that Antonius Rex bringto their music. I know which i'drather have.

RIK RAWLING

Mellow Records, via F.lliAsguasciati, 68- | 8038 Sanremo,Italy

Peter HammillllpicalFIE 9l t9 (1999)

Peter Hammill has regularlycomplemented his prodigiousstudio output with a series offinely recorded live albums. Hisexistence as a per{ormer is in aconstant state of flux; althoughgenemlly working with a regularpool of trusted musicians, hefrequently changes theconfiguration of his band in orderto avoid slipping into familiarityand routine.

When speaking about his livework Hammill emphasises theuniqueness of each per{ormance.Whereas the Prog rock bands,wrth whom Hammill's formerunit, Van der Graaf Generator,were usually and inaccuratelybracketed, were concerned withputtint on t}le same show everynight, VdGG's concerrscontained major elements ofrandomness and fragmenution.The results, as mitht beexpectd, ranged from theinsoired to the chaotic.

Hammill has carried andextended this aesthetic ofuniqueness into his work of the1980s and 1990s, and i t is th isthat makes his live per{ormancessuch fiercely attmctivepropositions. This immaculatelyrecorded 2CD set fills an obvrousgap in the discography, being thefirst official record of Hammill'smost angular and discordant takeon the live - alone with keyboardor tuitar. In such a setting, thesesongs - most of which wereoriginally recorded with full bandtreatments - take on thehaunted, skeletal form ofGiacometti sculDtures. Hammill'ssonorous voice sw@ps maniellyabove his tense, knotted playing,which occasionally lurches to ahalt and modulates into

something much more soothingand oastoral.

Hammill's piano playing is oftenaccused of being clumsy.Certainly there is nothing verTconsidered to it, and the numberof wrong notes is extraordinarygiven the frequenq/ with whichthe songs have been played. Butthe lack of finesse is a function ofthe performances themselves.These songs are the vehicles oftheir own impulses, and bothHammill's voice and his playingare aDt to strain and crack as theemotions that he is struggling toexpress hit him faster than he isable to articulate them.

Few per{ormers can approachthe eloquence of Hammill's lyrics,or the ferocious beauty of hisfull-throated vocal attack Thrsvaluable release, complete withlengthy sleeve notes by the manhimself, merits your fullattentron.

R|CHARD REES JONES

Rhys Ghathamflard EdgreTHE WIRE EDITIONSWIRE9002-2 (1999)

I personally found this record tobe largely indigestible, but there'sbound to be a lot of takers for itout there. After all it 's a thrillingblend of many contemporarymusical developments andsound-stylings, nol Hard to evenconsider criticising Chatham,who's a man wlth an imoreccablepedigree and some 30 years ofmusical experience behind him;and what's more he clearlyenjoyed making this recordimmensely. He recently'cameout of the closet' as a trumpetplayer, rather than settling for hisrole as Mr noisy guitarist, and aguitar-orchestra composer who'dbeen seen unfairly as some sortof poor man's Glenn Branca;

91

since when, Chatham's beenhaving a blast tootling hrs notesand is not afraid to let theElectric-oeriod Miles Davis labelsstick to him like flypaper in a highwind. lt's his use of the mute thatprompts me to put forward thisproposal, also on this record theelectric piano sound, theoccasional super-fustdiddley-didd ley-dah soloing fromhis fellow oer{ormers. and thegenerally very'ja:zy' feel.Chatham's other contempomryconcession is to use breakbeats,drum'n' bass backdrops, andother hip-hop devices whichmight iust snag the ears of ayounger listener. As I don't knowthe field very well I can't tell howhio or uo to the minute areChatham's exploits in this area,although in places it did remindme a bit of Bill Laswell's mtherpuny drum'n'bass records on theSub Rosa label. A projectco-ordinated in London byTrevor Manwaring, who broughtin the guitarist Gary Smith andhis band (who've also recordedas Mass on the Paratactile label).The joker in the pack of the bandhas gotta be Pat Thomas, whoselive electronics, humour andplain insanity do a lot to liven upthe sessions and take everyoneaway from too muchself-congratulation.

ED PINSENT

Godspeed YouBlack Emperor!f #a# -KRANK

SIowRiotForNewZero l{anadaKRANK034 (1999)'The car's on fire and there's nodriver at the wheel and thesewers are all muddied with athousand lonely suicides'. A fagsand whiskey wrecked, LeeMaruin-style drawl continues thestory over a backdrop ofdoomed chords played on violinand cello.

At this point I began to suspectthat this could be the best recordever made.

The band name, album title anowilfully enigmatic packaging areall carefully planned to give thecorrect air of bleak,Bukowski-esque doomedromanticism but this venture isan)rthing but contrived.Descriptions by an impressed butbefuddled music press havelikened GYBE! to'Mogwai meetsMorricone' which barely doesthem justice. A nine piece bandof men and women playinganything from guitars toglockenspiels and even bagpipes

The Sound Projector Sixth issue 1999they have issued intermittent'manifestos' stating theirintentions to hopefullycommunicate with those of usout here who suspect that theworld will end with a whimper.Not that this music is in any way'slight'. lt is the very definition of'eoic 'and at fu l l t i l t GYBE! wouldhave even Wagner shittingbricks. They specialise in therepeated chord progression butwith the orchestral interludesand found sounds and tapes ofstreet ranters tossed into the mixthe music becomes a uniqueexperience. Played loud it is trulyawesome, stirring emotions thatthreaten to engulf and crush thelistener like the gravity ofjupiter.Such is the power o{ their debutalbum (f # a # -) | doubted theycould ever follow it up but onSlow Riot... they completelysurpass it.

Superbly packaged with Arabicgraphics and biblical referenceshere are 2 tracks that simply soarat a stratospheric level aboveeverything you've ever heardbefore. 'Moya' is a focusedinstrumental pire that builds likea wave - drums, strings andguitars slowly rise up from theocean floor only to be borneheadlong to crash on the shoreof your senses. Fuck The Dome,fuck getting pissed in a pedestrrantown centre, fuck the fireworks -

this is what we should play outthe Millennium with - stood atthe cliff edge, a wall of Marshallamps behind us, blasting GYBE!out into the past and future void.And that should be enough.

But then they give us 'BBF3' -

Blaise Bailey Finnegan the 3rd - apoet and ranter recorded on the

streets of Providence, Rhodelsland who sums up the very realsocial and oolitical concerns atthe heart of GYBE! as he spits his

laded, pamnoid venom at theancient and tedious forces oforder that crush our souls everyday and leave us stranded thatlittle bit further away from thetruth. Behind his rants andrhymes the music rises and falls,piano leading the processiontowards the inevitable butliberating crescendo. As hauntedstrings fade in and out at theepilogue you're left suspectingthat nothing can ever be thesame after this. All the fears ofthe past and the hopes of thefuture are held in a blurredphoto of a radio mast. The signalis out there, sometimes faint anddrowned out by the perpetuastatc of entertainment, but it isthere. You simply choose to hearit or you don't.

Kranky Records PO Box 578743Chicago, lllinois 60657 USA

RIK RAWLING

Your lconSolitaty Man - BringMe The Eead OfAGod!B.f,CKTO THE WOMBRECORDS NO NUMBERgtEgglSomething of an oddity here -

this music pretty much defiescategorisation and description,although that's not to mean weshould bestow automatic'workofgenius' status upon it. Icertainly haven't heard a soundouite like this before - it's kind ota twisted modernist take on AcldFolkand 1970s Progressive Rock,soliced with an interest inelectronics, yet played with thesimplicity and insistence onprecision that results from itscreators resisting improvisationof any sort. Also these are someof the most engagingly bizarrearrangements and eccentricchoice of instruments - you getorgan, strings, a violin, a trumPet,a trombone, a piano - even atheremin. The band sound like an

with electronic interpolations toboot, most of the tracks seem tohave this death-wish imDetusdriving them along, like we're allmarching to our graves andhere's this processional marchingband to get us there all theouicker. In fact the last trackindicates that when we tet to thegmve, there's a party going on -

so maybe we shouldn't feel tmbad.

Clutching for somethint tocompare it too now - perhapsthe third Art Bears LP, TheWorld As lt ls Todayl Thisrecord is played and scored witht?.emendous conviction by !tswvo principal creators StevenHarry Mason and Steven ThomasHooper, joirred by a band ofmerry players. l'm not sure, attime of writing, if I can reallyrecommend it, or to whom, butif you happen across it in yourtravels I think you might berather pleasantly surprised.

ED PINSENT

Distributed by CARGO

by swarms of Lonely Planetbackpackers this really is TheLast Place To Go. lt became theinspiration for a documentaryfilm by Braden King and LauraMoya from which thissoundtrack, directed by MichaelKrassner, is taken and it is one ofthe most evocative pieces ofmusic l've ever heard - so potent

are its image stirring propertiesthat it renders the need foraccompanying visuals redundant.

The Boxhead Ensemblethemselves are a lmse collectrve,amongst them David Grubbs and

Jim O'Rourke, playing a largelyimprovired ret that attempts toconvey the haunted andremoved landscape at DutchHarbour. The packaging - grey,washed out photos of icebergsand snow-swept roads - and titleslike'Unalaska lsland','At Sea' and'For The Giory of Wind andWater' serve to establish themood but it is the music - oftensparse and indistinct - that sobrilliantly places the listener.Somewhere between the tuitarsand the muffled brass emergessomething unique -

Part-rePortage ano Partmelancholic longing - that existsin all of us, for somewhere thathasn't been corrupted by stripmalls, hanging baskets and thefoetid touch of RonaldMcDonald.

Adminedly the larger'band'pieces, for the most partimprovised, tend to blur into oneanother, like dreams at the edgeof wakefulness, but the collectionhas been intelligently andtastefully comp.iled so the fot rsoften cleared by bursts of radiostatic and the ghostly voices offishermen and old women. Eachindividual track sheds funherlight, albeit faint and milky, on thelandscape and those who call ithome. There are two standoutmoments - Jim O'Rourke'sinspired and spirited guitarplaying on 'Captain Bay's Road'and, finest of all, 'Telegraph Hill 'where Michael Krassner plays aminimalist chord progression onthe piano against a recording ofthe wind howling in to the shore.Beautiful and almost not there,perhaps like Dutch Harbouritself?

The Last Place To Go is arecording of vinually the sameband - minus Grubbs andO'Rourke, replaced by WillOldham and Jim White - thattoured 5 countries and l6 citiesthroughout Europe where thefilm was played with anaccompanying live score.

It was a bold move to evenattempt this and in places italmost works but the overlyrmprovised set eventually falls rnon itself and becomes too

lSth century parish churchorchestra gone slightly mad,blowing their chops in the pewsof some ancient decreDrt ruralchurch. Which is a good thing!

I personally could have livedwithout the singer's vocalsmyself, but I can see that it'sintegral to the plot and narrativeof this CD / LP. The themes he'ssinging ibout are gloomy,although for the most part hispoetry is impenetrable - acommentary on the modernworldl The power of Paganmythologr! Strangepsycho-dramas involving truckdrivers? l'm lost. lt's bizarre - andcharmingly so. Although a tracklike'Dance a Crooked Mile' isfike a traditional lrish fiddle jig,

The BoxheadEnsembleDutch Earbour:Whete The SeaBreaks fts BackAr,P85CD (199?)

The Last Place to gorr,P96CD (1998)About hafhrray along the chain ofAleutian lslands, between theBering Sea and Pacific Ocean, liesthe industrial fishing port ofDutch Harbour. In a worldwhere even the furthest flung andmost inhospitable of places arenow converged upon locust-like

92


meteor or asteroid colliding wrththe earth. To read his vividdescription of the event you'dthink he was standing ritht nextto the point of impact, survivingunscathed by some miracle - butthen someone as blessed asDumitrescu must have an entiredivision of Guardian Angels towatch over his enlightened soul.He took the falling star as aperscnal warning fi'om theHeavens - it seems to havechanged his life thereafter.Feeding the event into his highlypersonal compositional processhath wrought a mightycomputer-assisteci composition.!t is a ter.rifing listen, and notsimply because of the loud andsudden explosive, atonalci:shings that it whomps out atyou, scaring the living daylightsout of you and your pet cat. No,the terror he evokes is deep andmetaphysical, saying somethingprofound about mankind and hisplace in the universe andsomehow tapPing into currentsof primal energy that haveexisted for thousnds of yearsbefore civilisation. This is similarI think to his equallyawe-inspiring 199 | composition

'Pierres Sacrees', available onEdition Modern ED MN1003. Also here: 'Nouvelle'

Axe', composed by AnaMaria Avram in 1998 andplayed by the HyperronEnsemble - where she claims'all the action is in the detailsand trny nuances'. The basisof the piece is the'sound-noise relation and therelation of symmetry arounda central axis'. Chris Cutler's'Life on Earth'is a oercusstonpiece where he's joined byAvram, Hodgkinson and theHyperion Ensemble; andHodgkinson himself turns tna reworking of 'Black Deathand Errors in Construction',ouite unlike the versionwhich appeared on his lastCD. He says 'l 'm very happywith the idea of acomposition having distinctlydifferent realisations'.

The reissue of the secondHenry Cow CD is extremely

welcome. Originally issued in1974 ata time when the bandhad a reasonably successfulcareer, touring and supponingmaior bands like CaptainBeeftreart and The Magic Band.Due to their busy work schedule,they had fewer songs preparedthan they'd had for the first LP,which accounts for why there s afair bit of improvisation andlast-m inute stud io inventiontaking place in the grooves ofUnrest Actually this is whatmakes the LP so enjoyable - notquite as constipated as the firstLP, which at times is almostairless in its attention to detail.Unrest uses more studiotechnique - particularly multipleoverdubbing, which soundsexcellent in this remasteredform. All those Lindsay Cooperwind instrument overdubs make

this LP their Uncle Neac withouta doubt.

Henry Cow are turning out tohave been more of an imponantband than you mrght have firstthought. After all, how manybands were melding elements ofavant classical, prog-rock, jaz.,free improvisation and tapeworkall on one record - in 19741 Also.I reckon, the Cow were animportant step in the ChrrsCutler project - selling you formsof music that are complex,intellectual and arguably 'good'

for you - but sweetening the dealby doing it in the context of apopular-ish rock band whichVirgin-megastore shoppers (then)could have dug.

Cutler continues to this day tomake available, through ReR, allforms of music which hepersonally believes in.Unfortunately in this batch ofreleases the Flamenco CD is 50minutes of infuriatingly smugdrivel. Electro-acoustictreatments, by Giovani Venostaand Massimo Mariani, oftraditional Flamenco guitarmusic, played by guitarist AHredoLagos. lt comes down to littlemore than a few cheao electroniceffects - phasing and echo, whichare so fumiliar as to be beyondcliche. In fact, you could producethe same effects yourself withjust a Gypsy Kings CD and twoguitar pedals - assumint that youwould ever want to. Thesemanipulations are unadventurous,tepid, dull and unimaginative, andkill any fire in the music stonedead; so though the title maypromise'Adveptures', quitehonestly I've had more excitingadventures buying a loaf of whrtebread at Tescos.

ED PINSENT

cacophonous to adequatelyportray the mystery and distancein the film. As with DutchHarbour. voice samoles havebeen used to widen the scooe -

and hearing the words of awoman who moved aroundAmerica looking for somewhereto suit her soul, only to find it inDutch Harbour and a young guywho points out that everyone hasbeen everywhere else - 'this isthe last place to go' - is likehearing the truth after a life fullof lies. This album stands on itsown as an interestint experimentbut it will always be in theshadow o{ the original work - arestraind accomplishment inthese days of ephemeralnonsense where no-one has theguts to commit to their vision. ltis the exact polar opposite of thelatest lbiza Beach Partycomcilation and I know where Iwould rather be.

RIK MWLING

Henry CowUntestRERRECOMMENDED HGz

!lg9lDumitrescu,Avram, Cutler,Hodgkinson withThe HyperionEnsembleMasigte ActionRERRECOMMENDED

PglltgglLagos, Venosta andMarianiIWetatnorphoses:Electronic

Adventures inFlantencoRERRECOMMENDED

rEg!lt991And from the ReR catalogue thisseason...the Musigue Action CDis four long tmcks of prettyintense modern composer music,showcasing RomaniansDumitrescu and Avram, alongwith our English heroes Cutlerand Hodgkinson. The Dumitrescutrack appeals to me very highly.Called 'New Meteors andPulsars', it was composed in 1988after Dumitrescu witnessed a

93

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999BeckIWutationsryI have problems with the conceptof 'songwriter'. Although the termcan be taken literally to meansomeone who writes songs, it hasan unspoken implication of thefag-smoking loner crying into hisacoustic guitar over that darnedwoman, or whatever. Bob Dylanand Lou Reed, neither ofwhom Iparticularly'dig', are both regardedas songvrriters in the classic - notto mention nobby - sense.Negative criticism of Lou Red'sfinely-honed tales of life in NewYork is not criticism, so thesubtext runs - it is ignorance.Okay, so Mr Zimmerman may havemade one or two good points in afairly vivid and memorable way, butso whatl Have any of you actuallylistened to the first Adam & TheAnts albuml You can't tell me thatDirk Wears White Sox isn't afinely crafted work of art, but (insert name of your favourite Dylanalbum here) is. Yet who hails Mr Ant as a poet with the soul of arevolutionary, or whatever? No-one, because the unspoken definitionof'songwriter', as readers of crap like ly'o7b ('Rejoicel Rod Stewart'sback catalogue is due for critical reassessment!') understand it, ispurely subjective, and thus meaningless. Now some misguided turdsare even calling Noel Gallagher a songwriter, and of course (whineyvoice) he has an ear for a good tune. Yes. Particularly if it 's on aBeatles album, and besides, Hitler's paintings weren't rrarbad.

So at the risk of appearing to be a bit of a cock, Beck is definitely oneof the few people I'd call a songwriter in the same way people otherthan myseff claim John Lennon may have been. l'm a latecomer to hiswork, having been introduced to it by Beavis and Butthead, whosniggered relentlessly throughout the minute's worth of 'Loser' thatturned up on their beloved television. Two years later I ran out andscured immediate purchase of the albums Mellow Goldand Odelay,both of which superbly demonstrate Beck's uncanny knack of weldingwrist-slashing country folk onto fi.azled hip-hop. What an inventivevision! What incredible lyrics! Beck assembles words in the mostabsurdly Dadaist combinations and sings t}em like Joy Division weresome sort of light-hearted comedy turn. And who else has evenattempted to combine scratching and slide guitarl The crowningachievement is how this weird cross-eyed hybrid sounds like the mostnatural and obvious t}ing in the world.

I had heard thzt Muracionswas to be a traditional 'song based album,

showcasing his folkier leanings and so leaving the beatbox and tapes ofirate rednecks locked securely in the toy cupboard. The unrequestedcommendation of a record shop person that my purchas€ was wtse,Muaaonsbeing 'right up there withNeil Young'flustered me somewhat, butI persevered and shelled out hard cash.It payed of{ well. Muations is asreported, traditionally arranged andmore than a little on the folky side.There's a few cranky old synths here,and the odd illustmtive mndom noise,but other than that it's strummin', singin'and real drums all the way. But, andhere's the imoortant bit. it 's a Beckalbum complete with that beautifullyraw, and almost haunted production hefavours. Once it all sinks in, nothingsounds particularly incongruous againsthis musical ly wi lder moments. 'ColdBrains'and 'Runners Dial Zero' bothchill the blood in the same way aslelellow Golds'Steal My Body Home'.This isn't actually the radical departurefrom previous work tiat has beensugSested. lt may sound different interms of instrumentation, but the

cumulative effect is,ust as richlymelancholic and powerful as onDrevious albums. Beck could bustLou Reed's ass with one hand tiedbehind his back.

WARARROW

Don.trirDon't Saffer inSilenceRESPONSE RECORDS,RESPOilCD (1999)

A quite irresistible little EP fromone Donato Airtos, a one-man actwho's a bedroom DJ with a masstYerecord collection and - thankfully -

a great sense of humour. Only theseverest sourpuss could turn it off.These six tracks are snappy, poppyfun, each verging on a pastiche ofDon's fave musical genres - dub,Blue Note iaz, Brazilian,EZ-listening and even a touch ofEnnio Morricone. lmpeccable ustes

for sure, but he's more than some eclectic cooljay ninny - he's donesomething useful with his influences - each ditty is beautifully packaged,full of warmth and fun, and executed witi a clean, brightfinish, even ifthey are just a tad overlong. Still, the cheesy voice strained through atelephone of the singer (The Don himself, one assumes) should haveyou in stitches throughout.

ED PINSENT

From PO 9ox 254, London WCIX OAQ

The LotharsMeet The ltotharsr,usTRALLtr, CAMERtr OBSCITRA RECORDS Cf,MoI8CD

usA, woBBtY Mustc rorrERoo I (l 998)Regular pop-music instrumentals played on Theremins. What agimmick, eh? The trendy buz surrounding the Theremin just nowthreatens to drown out the genuine buzz of the music it produces byvirtue ofvaVes and radio science. That said this is quite an entertarnrntrecord, although doesn't quite deliver on the fun promised by thesleeve art (suggesting a barrelful of monkeys, quite literally).

ED PINSENT

A f970s issue o{ Cracked matazine featured a memorable take on thepredictable format of the rags-to-riches rock movie. The stars of thiscomic strip were a younS group called The Gunars. All four membersplayed the drums. The manager suggested a gimmick was needed inorder to further their career, so they tied shoes to their head. I no

longer have the magazine, but thepanel depiaing the triumphant stagedebut of The Guitars - four blokes withshoes tied to their heads sitting behindfour drum kits - is one that lll take tothe grave.

On paper, the Lothars' appeal is similar- the potential absurdity of a group offour theremin players, except they'vecheated and one is actually a guitarist.And this is in spite of my vague distrustof theremin obsessives, not so muchbecause of the disproportionatereverence held for what is anextraordinarily limited instrument, butmore that oraise for the ther'eminusually leads onto Divine, Russ Meyer,Hello Kitty and the other icons ofmodern beatnik culture.

In practice, although unlikely to changemany people's lives, The Lothars arestill quite listenable. l'm glad that thoseconcerned weren't so purist as to

94


exclude the guitar, for it serves to anchor the music to a personalframe of reference allowing one to focus more clearly on the hottheremin action. Without a guitar this could have been a disaster. Igather from the barely approximated melodies and solos that thetheremin is a primitive and uncooperative beast. Perhaps it is theinstrument's crude simplicity that has prompted the group to work sohard at getting it right. Whether this is the case, or whether they justcasually banged out these tracks one Sundayevening after the pub, is difficult to tell, butthe end result draws you into its own worldafter only a couple of plays, overcoming theinitial shock of what at first sounds like a bittoo much of a novelty item to be grantedhouse room. A weird but somehow loveablealbum. I bet in the 1970s when TangerineDream were doing all those albums with amrllion giant synthesisers on each track, theynever dreamt that the future ms toing tosound like this!

WAR ARROW

Am.berAsylumSongs of Sex and DeathWKris Force's new release is much the same asthe last one l'd heard - she's in danger ofbecoming an 'alternative' answer to KateBush and Enya, with those pristinehigh-pitched tones of her voice. lt's a glacialrecord. She covers a Buffy Sainte Marie songcalled'Vampire' with ghastlydispassionateness - 'Your genius frightensme...awe-inspiring', she wails, yet her voiceconveys not one iota of fear, awe orinspiration. And certainly not tenius! Themusical arrangements {eature very brittlecello sweeps, and chorussed guitar plucks; anatmosphere of damp drawing rooms, coldSunday mornings and mildewed windows. Asfor the sex and death, l'd hoped that songswhich purport to be about such axiomatic,fundamental and powerful themes might be abit less limp and ineffectual. Death music inmy book should evoke the {ear and terror ofdeath; Robert Johnson's recorded workhasn't been imoroved on in thrs area. AmberAsylum's sleeve art is likewise wimpish,utilising those bankrupt images of a drowningpale figure and red flowers to bolster thetired old theme. Pshaw.

ED PINSENT

Funky Tenorist525AUSTRAIJT,, DUAL PI,OVER UQF998 (1999)

This picture should tell you all to need toknow about the Funky Terrorist mini-CD.It's FUN, it's POP, it's new, it's out now,and you all need one. Yep, an extremelydesirable consumer item, highly limited andonly available from Australia. Packaged likea parcel of chewing gum, secured with avelcro tag which unfolds into an Origamiliner with Japanese and Western texts andcollages printed red on black, so that youfeel you're reading a cracked version of areligious pamphlet. The groovy weird sexyelectric music is irresistible pop and dub,mixed up with tricks like a vocal upedover a classic Cheesey-listening track,chanting and slogans and sexy scenarios ofemancipated men and women engaged insurreal cartoon-like activities. A great soloturn by, I think Adrienne Patrick, one of

the Australian all-girl band Alternahunk. Order now - Dual Ploveraddress is with the Lucas Abela interview.

ED PINSENT. a r . a r . 4 . . a . . a r

:O: :O: , :O: :O i :a : :O i :O i :O: :a : , :a i :a : :O! , :O: :a :

oUrD,Oor tnoDlotf, DA . pol i t i c6 | Meeti n gs,etc.

'h.s.4"1o.,

h. In od c.nF. ad_14.a '|ffin..t { | 'ry"roud r.<ddinr .d r.Fdgd^t {nr.

Urina r..1. or '...tsorn 4ds. tu.. 'h rlur'h

SOU'NDF'RrOr .G;nr rd chn & r'rh ftf.lit. kliti r * r . - ' " . . "a . r o , r . . Bndt .ud 'bb @.h. ho i l ' diiil."irr i"*.,,r. tftart .n.'d, th 'OUNDrrirbi l, ir. .'"-pti.'r o!i6m d .rt.d{ d!.Yd i'

tb rd.n<. of n{d( .l.@nc

&[ SOUNDhIfiROR t..l t!.r I lull hd-ldr't ld'nr'

irin .i*c,"rr -" u -i d ,t[c.d .oa.thr' idina

; ; ;;;d p..m.ilntrt 6. il d.d'd' d ('d' il b<6Dl...lt .s.d wh.^ ilw adrnt t. h,e_

SOUNDT|RROR built.i. idr ttdt th. in.nnd 'o btint.d up wth nd'c d t.Ur dddu tFi.6souNoitrror '. .'deh 30 otsnc. sintl.- hF &qsot orov'd.t ld tl.t. ..d tur nrd d-E lffi

THERMIONIC PRODUCTS tTD' fii3'^L"{g'1'."'ii'3,^?;Head Of t i ce : Mor r ls House, Jermyn St ree t ' Haymarke t ' S 'W' l '

ldqhd} fin&tt uzz

$r d s.do ..dd 8 Hsch.n'r' Sdinth'h lrh'ol' "c

95

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999Current 93 / Michael Cashmote /Christoph HeemannAnfiiledry3gtggCurrent 93CaIIing For Vanished FacesprrRTRo 043 (r999)Two more additions to the ever-expanding Dunro catalogue. Theuntitled C93/Cashmore/Heemann CD is a compilation of out-takesand alternate versions from the last two C93 studio albums, previouslyunreleased demos, and solo pieces from Tibet's retular collaborators.Highlights include a sung vocal take of 'All

The Pretty Little Horses'and the sepulchral Judas As Black Moth'. a long meditative drift fromthe Soft Slack Sars sessions that is the equal of anything on that twilitmasterpiece. What makes the disc essential, though, are ChristophHeemann's two contributions, wherein silvery drones ripplemenacingly around everyday sounds to startling effect.

Calling For Vanished Faces is an exhaustive 2CD compilation rnctngC93's devefopment from Dogs Blood Risingto Soft Black Sars. Assuch it represents a useful update of the 1993 Emblems collection,with only three pieces being duplicated from the mrlier ser.

The diversity of musical styles on the first disc is startling, fromnightmarish looped onslaughts to demented rhythmic freakouts, butthey are unified by the tragic quality of Tibet's voice and thehallucinatory imagism of his lyrics. The disc ends memorably, withthree songs from f992's epochal Thunder Perfect Nindalbum andNick Cave's sublime reading of 'All The Pretty Little Horses' showinghow Michael Cashmore's mournful guitar sound has served to focusand intensify Tibet's obsessions.

The second disc, for all its emphasis on the fragility and resignation inC93's recent work, also demonstrates something that is oftenoverlooked, namely that Tibet is the possessor of a great, warpedpop/rock sensibility. 'Lucifer Over London' is driven unstoppably by agrinding guitar riff; 'The Dead Side Of The Moon' has Tibet steppintnimbly through a minefield of bass, drums and the full panoply ofStapleton weirdness; while the epic'The Seven Seals...'attarns Duregrace and fluency through its endless, achingly sad guitar andglockenspiel figure.

The collection as a whole is further proof, il any were needed, ofTibet's unfailing ability to disconcert and overwhelm the listenerthrough the praise evocation of atmospheres o{ fear, despair andterror. Newcomers, start here.

RtCHARD REES JONES

Swans, Varioas FailuresYOING GOD YG06 (1998)

Angels of Light, NewlWotherYOltNc Gop Yc08 (1999)

Body Lovers./Body HatersYOITNG GOD/TRTNGECORE Fn00l (t999)

Michael Gira is a myth-maker, acutely aware of the danger ofossification and constantly realigning his position to ayoid it. WhenSwans emerged in the early 1980s, their grindingly repetitious sontcassault (once memorably described as 'the sound of a man walkinground in circles with his neck chained') seemed like a strategy forobsessive rearrangement of a basic set of lyrical and musicalpermutations. The songs didn't end; they stopped.

Gim eventually tired of this game and, coincident with theintroduction of female vocalist/keyboardist Jarboe, began to introducechilling acoustic elements into his songwriting on 1987's essentialChi/dren ofGodLP. Over the next several years, Swans would refineand develop this approach in a series of albums that merged immenserhythmic power with an unearthly delicacy of acousticinstrumentation.

These records - 1989's The Burning World, l99l's White Light fromthe Mouth of lnfinity and 1992's Love of Life - have long been deletedand are conseguently much sought after. Various Failuresis a doubleCD containing a generous selection of material ft-om the period(complete reissues were ruled out, partly on aonomic grounds butalso because Gira was content to let some of the songs disappear).

Listening again to this music, one is struck by how expansive it allsounds, the polar opposite of the early records' savage inward spin.The loudest pieces here, such as'Will We Survive'and t}ewonderfully titled 'The Golden Boy rhat was Swallowed by the Sea',are mesmerising dramas of layered orchestration, the massed guitarsand drums perfectly framing Gira's resonant vocals. These songsconstruct boundaries only to dissolve them: the spaces they occupyare vast and limitless. Elsewhere, Gira and Jarboe offer up unbearableintimacies of form and language, with the shimmering acoustic beautyof the music and the spectral sighs ofJarboe's voice drawing thelistener unmercifully into dense narratives of isolation and failure.

Gira has taken this loose, bluesy strain even further in his newsong-based proiect, Angels of Light. These songs are less reliant onthe apocalyptic visual imagery that underpinned Swans'relentless,thrilling surge. Gira's new voice is one of humble intimacy, the soundof a man shedding past burdens and discovering new ways of seeing.The musical palette is restrained and absorbing, with accordion anddulcimer adding colour and intimacy throughout.

The results are occasionally stunning; 'Forever Yours'and 'Song ForMy Father' in particular are amont the most affecting things Gira haswritten. But there is a schematic quality to some of the other songsthat strikes a jarring note. The lyrics are recited slowly and dolefully,with little melodic invention to lighten the mood- At their recentLondon concert, Angels of Light shrugged off these limitations in thesongs and transformed them into blinding, e€static convulsions of pureenergy. The record, sadly, suffers from a listlessness that the warmand delicate arrangements are unable to dissipate.

lf New Mother represents a slackening offfrom Swans' intenseemotional charge, Gira's parallel Body LoversiBody Haters projecr canbe seen as a move in the opposite dirction, a ratcheting ofatmosphere and tension. These two CDs, representing the first phasein a proiected three-album series, were originally issued separately inthe USA and have now been brought together for European release.

Gira accurately describes this mainly instrumental music as'psycho-ambient'. While its abstract dri{ts and swirls share many ofthe formal properties of Ambient, they are determinedlyinward-looking. Also, unlike much Ambient there is a restlessintelligence at work here, ordering, shaping and defining. Distant,rumbling drones are picked apart by alien sounds, stately rhythms andsparing acoustic instrr:menation. Occasional yocal interuentions - awoman's weeping, a baby's screaming and a short, mournful song - allserve to heighten t}te sense of unease. Seriously effective, but not tobe listened to with the lights off.

R|CHARD REES JONES

The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath A GloudRest On YourE-nns ReversedwoRLD SERPENT rRTrzCD (r 999)-The Moon etc etc is what Albin did before Der Blutarsch, as reviewedin the previous issue of The Sound Projector. This is a posthumousCD, not in the sense that one listens to it after pigging out on adelicious chick pea tahini and lemon juice based mulch, rather that itcollects l7 tracks of previously obscure material. Whilst Der Blutarschis essentially the work of Albin alone, this earlier incarnation wasexecuted in collaboration with the vocal talents of his then girtfriend,whose name is written in script too gothic for my synapses tounscramble. In my perhaps slightly bigoted opinion, the moment whensomeone gets their main squeeze into the band is usually the beginningof the end. Not so here, for her vocals are perfectly matched to thedark medieval thrust of Albin's music, and I don't use the word'medieval'

ligtrdy. This not only sounds like it was composed before theadvent of sampling, it sounds like it predates electricity, and perhapsthe spread of Christianaty - eyen on tracks where the use of a sampleris made obvious by virtue of some repeatd phrase. Gothic couldperhaps be the right word, not like the painted ninnies with a batfixation and the worst record collection you've eyer se€n, but like thecathedrals, or at least some other imposing edifice built in a coidclimate from granite, human suffering, and a propensity towards theburning of heretics. As you might expect, it all sems to revolvearound death, love, sacrifice, honour, and other extremes ofemotionset paradoxically to instantly memomble (if rather sombre) melodies. Icould imagine the milkman whistling some of this, although probablynot a milkman renowned for his madcap clownlike behaviour back atthe depot.

WAR ARROW

96


r,r,r,r,r.r.r, Rise to Claim ^rr.r,r,Al^r,

TSATURN*

ta{

J l

;1'?F,:40

Y..n4r-t-t } q \ , i: . {l n , i! ' \ l ; i

tI'i

t -l)ti 'i;

i

r t

- ' " t j ; i ,

" 'rPi

_ -*f)tn/ t r

{*- 16,

.ssadr' .- .9.; f f

$d

"s"

:1

i$' '*:

The Sound Projector Sixth issue 1999Interview with Sandy Pearlmanby Edwin Pouncey

, F * rYF* rYF rk *F* *EP How did the lmaginos concept come about/

SP Along with all the songs that we brought to the table to make the firet Blue OysterCult record, together with some that we eventually wanted to put on the second, therewas a large body of material which went under the working title of 'The Soft Doctrinesof lmaginos'. lt was going to be a dramatic, narrative and philosophical poem about theoccult origins of World War l. Not all the songs that are on this panicular record

llmaginosJ were written then. The idea, however. existed when the band began.

EP How hr back are we going here/ Cows/ Salk Forrest Group peiod/

SP No, this stuff is contemporaneous with the founding of Blue Opter Cult. A lot of thely'ics were ground out in a fevered period of creativity that lasted about five months.That also lelded

'Workshop of the Telescopes', 'Cities on Flame with Rock 'N' Roll' and

'Before the Kiss, a Redcap', just a tremendous number of songs that were written in arush when we were rehearsing in Patti Smith's New York loft. Around the time that theband got their recordint contract wirh Columbia. 'Les Invisibles' was originally notwritten for this song cycle, although it comes out of the same mind set, it was written asa set of lyrics for Patti Smith. I wanted to write some lyrics for her because she likedwhat I did, but she never sang the song. As it turned out it seemed genetically related tothe rest of it so 'Les InVsibles' became the last song in the dramatic sequence.

EP I always thought that Astronomy'was the song that staned it a//.

SP No, 'Astronom/ was just the first oneto appear lon Secret heariesl, but itwasn't the first song. 'Magna of lllusion'was the first one written.

EP On the inner sleeve of the US editionof Secret Treaties there is a guote from abook calledOri$ns of a World Y,'/ar byRossignol. Presumably this is another piecein thelmaginos iigsaw/

SP Sure. The first p.rt of lmaginos was

toint to pay off with the seeding ofEurope. This was to be achieved by usingthis new germ called the 'Piece of thePerfect Black'which is described in 'Magna

of lllusion'. lt prepares Europepcychologically for war madness, forWorld War l. The second part was goingto be the aftermath of that. The secondpart was supposed to have been called'Germany Minus Zero and Countint', andso that fictitious book by Rossignol aboutWorld War I was going to have a role inthe second parto( lmaginos.

EP Was this tlctitious book your vercionof Lovec raft b Necronomicon /

SP Yes, exactly. People have been writingto us for years asking where they can finda copy.

EP What hscinates you about HP Lovecrzft and his work/

SP I think that Lovecraft is the intermediary between Edgar Allan Poe and ThomasPynchon. All three wrote novels about inexplicable events that were situated inAntarctica and the ungrounded seat of madness which exists there. Poe wrote 'The

Narrative of Anhur Gordon Pym', Lovecraft wrote 'At The Mountains of Madness' andthen Pynchon picked up the theme again in 14 Poe lived in Providence, Rhode lsland for along time which is where Lovecraft spent most of his life. I'm fascinated with Lovecraftbecause he probably presents a more manifest and explicit notion of ungroundedmadness than any other writer. He doesn't present it in an ideological or schematicmanner, he presents it in a language that uses adjectives in a way that nobody has usedadiecti\es before. lt's unlikely that anybody will ever use them that well again. Lots ofpeople try to imitate Lovecraft, Colin Wilson being the most successful, but Wilson hasimitat€d him in the realm of ideas, by developing an analysis of what Lovecraft is doingwhich he has taken several steps further. But he hasn't attempted to master theLovecraftian adiecti\ral excess, which is probably a thing that was genetic to Lovecraft.For rarious reasons it can't b€ mastered. Some people think that he's just junk. Wilsonthought Lovecraft was junk at first and then went on to write three and a hatf novels inthe spirit of Lovecraft.

EP Which other writers of supematunl liction do you admire/

SP I love Anhur Machen, I think he's wonderful. He had a tremendous influence onLovecraft. Machen is probably the greatesg followed by pheridanl Le Fanu who isresponsible for creating the lesbian vampire motif in his story'Carmilla'.

EP Do you tt7 to incoryonte any inlluence thesewriterc have on )'our own writing into the band/

SP Oh yeah. I've been reading these guys since I wasvery yount. I spent three months out of every year,{or ten years, on my uncle's 200 acre prop€rty up inWestern Massachusetts. That's where the Dunwichcountry is, and I just used to walk around at night andthink what a strante kind of place it was. Liale did Iknow how strante it really was. I don't think I evercaught a glimpse of a Wilbur Whateley, though. Upon the hill top, waiting for his demon brother.

EP Are the band similarly interested in Lovecraftianimagery/

SP Nobody there is really into Lovecraft. I presentthem with lyrics and, in this case, there was such a

tenetic connection that some of these thints startedto write themselves. I think Donald [Roeser], Eric

[Bloom] and Alben [Bouchard] were certainlyimpressed with the circumulative power of theseimages and that's how lmaginos came to be done. Fora long time they were extremely reluctant to writemore music and complete lmaginos as a piece. Theyfelt that through records like Tynnny And Mutation,Secret Treaties, On Your Feet Or On Your Knees

znd Agents Of bnune they werebecoming more like the Children of theCult and that con€eption was beginningto eat them up. They just didn't want tobe defined totally as the Children of theCult, so that's why it took a long time toge'. lmaginos done.

EP lflmag,inos had been released earlierdo you think it could have made or ruinedthe Cuh?

SP I don't know, I iust don't know. In theearly days not only was the radio betterbut the market was more open. lflmaginoshad come out in the late 70s youwould have been dealing with the last frillsof the Summer of Love. The ten year cyclewas winding down but it was still there.The Blue Oyster Cult used to releaserecords at that time which wouldautomatically go to number one on AORradio. and that can't happen any more.The execution on lmaginosis so extremethat it surpasses the edge city feel o{ thebfack side of Tynnny And Muationforexampfe. Had lmaginos come out tenyears earlier, my feeling is that it wouldprobably have done very well.

EP Can you explain to me about some ofthe musical ideas onlmaginosl k is verT

synphonic and psychedelic in places, panicularly on asong like 'Frankensteinb Castle At Weisseria'forexample.

SP Right! We incorporated traditional heavy metaldynamics and then moved on to some son of weird,altered consciousness version of the Pink Floyd mindset. \ y'e then morned beyond that into the realm ofWagner and Parsifal. lt was all completely purposeful,to play with all these elements was the idea behindthe whole proiect. Some of the other sonts are justdense and relatively one-dimensional i.e., 'l Am TheOne You Warned Me Of which is a perfect heavymetal sont. lt is, I think the definition of heavy metal.Each of the songs deal with different aspects ofpersonality. I mean for real! There's a tremendousamount of variety and it was purposeful that one sideof lmaginos was pretty unrelenting while the otherside, even with'Astronomy', should be morecontemplative. We ended the record with 'lmaginos'

so there would be this vast sigh of release from allthis unrelenting madness.

* * * * * * * * *

99


4SyMPHoNy oFHOBBOB: nHETB(IEMEANINQS oFrHEBL(IE tiySTEB C(LLT

By Ed Pinsent, written during The Last Days of May 1999

BLUEOYSTERCULTimhrding:

Ironrmncq MC/8ofqc lhc Kp A Rrdcmlo On Tfio Lonb,0st t Arn'r t5 Slrcrrr

!,lF t Ar B@utifulA! A F6tfh. *[email protected]

E _ g g

- b a -

Er -.,

*qstS*r#'J'

BruEOYSTERCULTSECRE'T TREATIES

".-or ariffitd aanb*.r

fE26:l/Fme Lnrdr.r^rtqut

100

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999LYRICS

The Bf ue Opter Cult Tynnny and Muation Secret Treaties andlmaginos. Investigate this panicular back catalogue of Lps as soon asyou can, for some true undiscovered inexhaustible documents. Themusic and words in these esoteric Lps are indelible, something you cankeep coming back to and never tet tired of it. Although weconcentrate here on the triumvirate of the first three Lps, there,senouth to sustain interest long beyond that point. We all cherishmusical moments on our favourite records. Here with the Blue OraterCult we have sonts constructed with the same intenuity that went intothe pyramidsl with many hidden secrets to satisfy any student of theoccult, We have tuitar solos, not meaningless eto-trippint rnrowawayblues-based timewastint nonsense, but sustained anj coriposed linesof pure genius, weaving their way across b,rilliant minor-key melodies.and colliding sparint use of feedback and noise with sweet melodicharmonies. Baroque and high-flown it may be, yet everphing is playedand executed with such a lightness of touch that makei eveD,, sontsoar high with the angels. And yet so many people appear to have filedthis band away under just another Heavy Metal combo who flined withsatanic imatery. Whatever can be wrong with people?

The story surts with three LPs recorded in the 1970s - Blue OysterCult, Tynnny and Mutation, and Secrer Treaties. The narratine is onlybrought to a satisfactory close much later 6y lmaginog released in1988. In between came a lot of great LPs, a charrhit,Don,t fuar TheReaper', lots of live shows, live LPs, some less good studio Lps...and a

'Think I'll write Good Health to you'

To decipher their ly-ics is deliberately contrived to bedifficulq throuth actual vocal delivery and crowdedproduction techniques; to obtain the full texts was amatter, in the | 970s and | 980s at any rate, of sending ansae to an apartment address in New York printed on thesleeve. This was in stark opposition to the prevailingpractice in this p€riod. Other bands would print everyline of their baby-baby nonsense on the wasteful gatefoldsleeves in 9 pt type. Not so The Culq who made thededicated fan send away. This in fact elicited atremendous response from fans, 'There's

a positivebenefit to having them write in', said Pearlman in 1976.'Not

only do we get to keep their stamps, and have CBSsend the letters back, so we make some income thatway, but we also get to know exactly what they'rethinking.'

When the ly'ics arrived, the reader was faced with anold fashioned IBM computer printout on punchedcontinuous paper sheets, as thoutfi the ly'ics had beenconceived by some futuristic master-brain machine, andthe band were little more than its pupp€ts...is the Gawliksfeeve of Tyrnny and Huation another cluel Themind-control waves issuing from a monstrous radiobeacon. 'We get to know exactly what they,re thinking'.

| finally laid my hands on the ly.ics in about | 993 from the fan club inLos Angeles. They arrived spiral bound in a red and black book, buteven here there were ambiguities. They were not presented as thedefinitive versions. Rather, pieced together from what the bandthemselves could remember, what fans heard on the records, andfragments of whatever documentation mitht survive from studiosessions... and those weird computer printouts.

After a few years of digesting these bewildering texts, I think I might beready to begin.

MIRRORS'Mirrors

are a negative space with a frame, and aplace for your lace they reveal.'

The image of the mirror runs like a golden thread throughout much ofthe Cult's outpuq chiefly in lyrics but also in sleeve art, and even thetitle of one LP. lt extends enen to the wearing of mirror shades, bysinger Eric Bloom. Some of the more elusive mirrors include ,The

Curse of the Hidden Mirrors', an unreleased song from the St CeciliaLP. This has been described as'the mirror that confuses its viewer bydelivering a mental riddle about the possibilities of what could be seen

career for the band. the ,4gents of FonuneLp was a stab atcommercial success, and for the most part it worked. Thisnarrative is the Vsion of writer and poet Sand pearlman, whomasterminded the scheme from behind the scenes as recordproducer, lyricist and svengali. A prehistory of the band includesprevious incarnations as The Cows, Soft White Underbellv anoThe Solk-Forrest Group, whose divine St Cecilia Lp remainsunreleased unofficially.

Total originality is the Cult's hallmark, I would say - these themesnever once descend into clich6. Even to describe them as a'satanic'

band is hopelessly wide of the mark and to try and rootout hidden references is only to have them ranish before youreyes. Like conlurors, they use mirrors (an image that recursthroughout their oeuwe, in lyr-ics, song and Lp titles, and sleevean). The secrets are ingeniously concealed, as though each songwere constructed by an alchemisg an esoteric warlock workingwith his black books, encoding every key in such wise that onlythe true initiates, and not the merely curious, may proceed.

lf inclined to doubt this, just listen to the way the records aremade. Everything moyes iust too fast for you to keep up, it,s allslightly ahead of you; fleetint hints both in lyric and tunes vanishbefore you as you try to clutch them.

++++++++++++++++101


in mirrors'. A concept important enough to warrant the possiblereinscription of this song on the 2nd LP, although it never appeared.

There is the alchemists' magic glass in 'Workshop of the Telescopes'. 'a

lens of quartz and refract scope' which enables them to see with theireyes closed. By the time of the third album, this all-seeing potency hastransformed its user into the'Harrrester o{ Eyes'...'When I look insideyour head, right up front ro the back of your skull...you'd better get outof the way, and put on your eye glasses, cause l'm gonna take your eyeshome with me'.

The narrative of this image culminates in the magic mirror of Dr JohnDee, featured in lmaginos and described there in some detail. Dee wasthe Elizabethan alchemist and clergyrnan who helped this countr1/sstruggle against France by acting as a spy for the Queen; who knowswhat methods he used! Pearlman's Vsion of his magic mirror is apowerful one: '...a mirror carved of blackest obsidian, black volcanicglass, tempered with blood..,obviously a magic mirror, it is nothing lessthan the Magna of lllusion.'

You note here the powerful contrast evoked by the red and blackimatery the black glass tempered with Hood. This is the finalculmination of another, closely related, strand of imagery againattributable to Pearlman, an obsessive series of references to the Redand the Black.

Red and Black are colours frequently used in magic symbolism, and inNazi insignia. 'The

Red Dragon' was an ancient trimoire, one of the

bibles used by practitioners of the Black Arts:totether with 'La Poule Noire'or'The BlackHen'. 'The Red and The Black is the firsttrack on the Tynnny and Muation LP.Theoriginal 'Le Rouge et Le Noir' is a novel byStendahl, referrint to the Military and theChurch. This rock song turns out howeverto be a hymn of praise to the CanadianMounted Police:'red and black. it's theircolour scheme'. However, no celebration oflaw and order this song - it's a celebration ofdeath. Throughout the manic coke-fuelledtune the Mounties appear to be seized withblood-lust'Kill your man...Kill your man...it'sall right'.

This song is a powerful reversal of thenatural order of things; Pearlman knew hewas onto somethint here, and applied thesame formula of chaos to the whole LP. SideOne of the LP is subtitled 'The Black' andSide Two 'The Red': the two sides of viny'become positive / negative images of eachother. The first editions of the LP evenextend this conceit to the record label,printed red on black one side, black on redthe other...of especial significance is that rfirssong was chosen to become the locus of thispowedul mirror-image magic spell: it 's aremake of a sont on the first LP, 'l 'm on theLamb But I Ain't no Sheey'. One of their owntalismanic charms. remade to work evenmore power{ully.

There are four tncks on each side: I wonderil thematically and lyrically, each songcontains enough images to'answer' one ofthe songs on the other side. The'Bungopony on dogsled on ice', for example, seemsto answer both the'Baby lce Dog' and the'flights

of black horsemen'. All the songs onthe

'Black'side contain the word'red', or

refer to red imagery such as fire and blood,at least once. The black side, concluding withover twenty repetitions of the incantation'Lucifer The Light', contradicts its ownblackness by assening its supremacy as theside of day'ight sunlight. All.the songs on the'Red'side contain the word'black', or referto black imagery such as darkness and night.Concluding with a song of praise to burialand regenerative rites and celebrating the'ripe and ready grave', it asserts itself as theside of darkness and black. Heaven and Hellimages also appear with alarming frequency -

either referred to directly, or by alluding to angels such as 'Teen

Archer' or devils such as 'Flights

of black horsemen'. Manifestations ofthe four ancient elements, Eanh Air Fire and Water. are alsoprogrammed throuthout the entire sequence of the record.

Tynnny and Mutation resern5les an Astrologer's chart, an alchemist'sdiagram, a witch's spell; loaded with hidden signs and meanings, it'sbeyond literature waitint to be picked apart by an academicsemiotician. Rather it is so steeped in ancient lore that it appeari to beinscribed in stone. lt was consructed byan evil genius.

NAZI GER]VIANY'[ am becalmed, lost 0o nothing, warm weather andHolocaust'.

'Most writers proved that they hav,e absolutely no sense of humour',said Pearfman in 1976 of the Secret Treaties LP. 'Thev didn'tunderstand the humour behind it and so the final boildown was LesterBangs' statement about "fiveJewish kids who are Nazis", and they'renot five Jewish kids, and they re not Nazis, but that was the finalsimplification of something that staned out as a joke.'

With the rise of spiritualism, and interest in the occult across Europein the 1920s and 1930s, there emerted certain devotees who became

ro2

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999conVnced therewere satanicelements brewing inNazi Germany. In thiscountry, LewisSpence propoundedthe vew that AdolfHider had effectivelysold his soul to thePrince o{ Darkness -

and took Hidersgeneral behaviour asevidence, observinghis manic behaviourat rallies, his epilepsy,his vacillation. At thesame time he pointedout German/s mythsand legends, (theFaust legend forexample) which allembodied the samenotion of tainintterrible powers bystriking a bargainwith the dark lord.Dennis Wheatley, theEnglish writer,similarly intrigued bythis strante idea,would write a storycalled'They UsedDark Forces', whichoutlined a plot roassassinate Hitler,using satanic rites.Wheadey waspersuaded thatsatanism was beingpracticed in Germanyduring the war,although neverbelieved that Hitler'sinner circle weresacrificing babies on an altar of blood to attain their evil ends.

This particular 20th century fantasy probably spring from all kinds o{sources, and innate hysteria; the only factual occult-ish connection isthat Hitler had his own personal astrologer, and believed infonune-telling. However, these myths (and many others surroundingHitler and Nazi Germany) are alluded to in the film Hider A Film fromGetmany made in 1975 by Hans-Jurgen Syberberg 'Appalled by theextensiveness of German support for Hitler', writes Susan Sontag inher preface to the book of this film, 'Syberberg calls the Germans "aSatanic people".

The Blue Oyster Cult album Secrer Treaties alludes to the Nazi-occultfantasy, clearly somethint Sandy Pearlman had read up on and wasintrigued by. Thematically there is underlfng it a hidden explanationfor the real causes of the 2nd World War. Pearlman inserts hint on theinner sleeve, alluding to a non-existent book:

Rossignol's curious, albeit simply titled book, theOrigirn of a t4brld t4tar, spoke in terms of secret

treaties, drawn up between the Ambassadors fromPlutonia and Desdinova the foreign minister. These

treaties founded a secret science lrom the stars.Astronomv. The career of evil.

The theme is taken up in the long track'Astronom/, and the hymn tothe German fighter plane l-4E 262 (planes which exceeded the fithtintpower of the Sftfire; Hitler could conceinably have won the Battle ofBritain with these war machines if he hadn't decided to use tnem asbombers instead).'Must these Englishmen live that I might diel' runsthe refrain in 'ME 262, incidentally another Pearlman lyr-ic withsubliminal mirrors and red/black imagery planted throughout. Thesleeve a6 featuring paintinp by Ron Lesser, goes one further. ltalmost tells a shon story like a two-panel comic strip; the Americanedition has reworkings of the same images in full colour, on the inner

bag. (Follow the changes tothe pictures closely - this islike The Mezzotint by Y R

James).

The Blue Oyster Cult arepictured in | 970s stagegear. Eric Bloom is holdingfour dogs on leashes.These are Germanwolftrounds. The band areposing by an ME 262fighter plane. They mightbe Luftwaffe pilots, were itnot for their dress. butthey exhibit the samefetishism and fascinationwith leather and insignia.Bloom's caoe is red andblack: one Bouchard is in aleather jacket; the otherhas Luftwaffe wings on hisT-shin. The piloq needlessto remark, is the GrimReaoer.

In the second oicture.what has happened? Theplane remains on adesened airstrip, and wecan now clearly see itswing marking to be theCult's chaos insignia. Thereis nobody in the pilot seat.Are the band members onboardl Pouncey hassuggested a connectionwith the Hell's Angels in'Transmaniacon MC': thebike riders become fighterpilots. The killing of theblack guy at Altamont byHell's Angels thus becomesa human sacrifice. And tomake the connectionabsolutely clear, what has

happened to the do$? They have all had their throats cut and are llntdead on the airstrio.

Another examination of the front cover shows five men lurking in thebackground; they were sombreros and three of them have Zapata-likemoustaches. The word 'LOPEZ' is just visible on a tower in the farbackground. Are they in South America, reputed hiding place for manyNazi war criminalsl This was another popular fantasy about Nazis,most famously perpetrated by the film The Boys From Bnzil.

There are probably other Nazi links waitint to be uneanhedthroughout the Cult's songs and artworks; undoub'tedly the interest inNazi insignia is there, but only as one symbol amongst many others.The swastika after all is far more ancient than this century; it is one ofmany antecedents that evolved into the Rosicrucian cross (and seebelow). The Nazis presumady only used it because it looked good, orwas intended to bring good luck. The flirtation with such imagery (andsaanic imatery come to that) by most Heavy Metal bands is indecentand crass. We would not associate the Blue Opter Cult with any o{this. lt's the idea of the Nazis, the idea that they might be somethinglike the ultimate biker gang the ultimate esoteric cult...

+++++9++ +9+9++++THE ROSICRUCIAN CULT

'See, that's the deal we made, just fo join the_ OysterCulf

The first LP invites you to ioin the'Cult', while hinting at other secretsocieties and occult gatherints, ancient Umberto Eco ones like TheRosicrucians and alchemists; or 20th century ones like the Hell'sAngels, outlaw riders in the Canadian Mounted Police, or just plainwasted alcoholic lowlifes gathering in shady bars. The suttestion seems

103


to be that there is little difference between any of these. TheTransmaniacon MC are one of the most sinister. a chaoter of the Hell'sAngels riding'Satan's Hog, heading'South from Altamont' where theyhave just despatched the unfortunate victim who tried to tet too nearto MickJager. Celebrating this human sacrifice they roar'We're pain,we're steel, a plot of knives'.

Listen to 'Before The Kiss, A Redcap'. lf you ignored the poeticalconstruction of the lyrics, you'd be lulled into thinking this appears tobe a song about some sleazy dive, Conr/s Bar, where low-lifes gatherto intest illicit substances, until the song shifu up a tear and speedsyou down some Lost Highway where thrills are as cheap as gas, Thehigh-octane verses over jazy ninth-chords grow weirder, insisting onthe 'motif of the rose', before reprising the first verse where the barscene is played out atain - this time the'redcap' underscored byAllenLanier's organ. Given this chanee to re-examine ig you'll find this bartoo is full of roses, clutched by the patrons whose thoughts are too bigfor their skulls, taking ringside seats. A Rosicrucian Fthering in secret.

The name 'Rosicrucian' comes from the founder of the movement,Christian Rosenkreua, who allegedly died in 1484 after becoming aninitiate in the Holy Land. Later, the cult would claim that Raynond Vl, aCount of Toulouse, was also a distinguished Rosicrucian, desprite the{act that he lived nearly 200 years before the cult was even established,This is rather akin to Surrealists making Surrealists out of artists whoexisted long before the term or movement even had any meaning!

There's a link to Astrology too: the Danish Astrologer Max Heinel,who claims to have been visited by some form of astral beings in Berlin,who not only informed him of the Rosicrucian destiny and mission, butalso gave him precise instructions to re-founding the ancient society.Result - Heinel built a Rosicrucian Temfle south o{ Los Angeles andcomy'eted it in 1920, where it has been frequented ever since by WestCoast students of the occult and the esoteric.

The motif of the rose - also claimed by Rosicrucians to have evolvedfrom such ancient symbols as the Maltese cross, Celtic crosses, theswastika, the Egyptian Cross and various American lndian symbols.'Arose and not from anyr'vhere that you would know or I would care', saythe Cult alluding to its lost oridns. 'A cross. a circle and a rose are allthat is needed to exdain the world', is the belief of a Rosicrucianconsfrator. The rose also frgures in dream-interpretations, and inmagic traditions, as the achievement of the self and the blossoming ofpersonality.

The Blue Ovster Cult see a more sinister connection in the'SevenScreaming Diz-Busters, who lurked behind the rose'. These acolpesfollow Lucifer the Ligfit even though they'iust can't stand the light';and obcessively finish their sont with a count of their magical number.Seven, incidentally, is also significant in the world of Alchemy, There are

'seven stages of perfection' for initiation into thesanctuary of the Alchemist; The | 7th century scholarKhunrath believed the seven stages could be achieved'Christian-cabbalistically,

divino-magically, and evenphy:ico-chemically'.

?+9+99++++99+9DRUGS

'Big city madness, comfort mv soul'

And speaking of those physical chemicals...what Cultwould bre complete without its own magic medicines,prescriptions, rewards for the initiate, like the murderousassassins of the I 2th century out of their heads on hashballs? There's a definite protression to the Blue OFterCult's flination with illicit substances - they start with themild stuff but they're riding the big H within only two LPs.On the innocent California album, it's unclear whatthey're on, but it's as sweet as 'Bonomo's Turkish Taffy';there are mushrooms in the song'Ragamuffin Dumpling',and the warning that if'you spend your time on candythen your dentist gets annoyed'. The sunshiney goodtrips are written all over the good-vibe grooves here. Bythe time of the first | 97 | LP however. the Summer ofLove is over and the tone is already darkening: a moralitytale is constructed out of the misadventures of threepushers in 'Then Came the Last Days of Ma/, and thepill-poppers in Conr/s bar, taking their inverted HolyCommunion of reds and wine, have alreadv had their

story told above. AlthougH we might think by side two anhallucinogenic has taken hold of the lover who sees his woman's face asa foog in fact that song is based very firmly on reality.

By the time ol Tynnny and Muation, we're onto the hard stuff allright; the whole LP is a cocaine fuelled nightmare, from which we'recoming down to face the stark reality of resurrectjon myths by the yerylast track. The listener has indeed 'Overdosed on Life itself, only tomutate into the sinister alchemist / experimenter on the third albumwhose lament is 'l've opened up my veins too many times, and thepoison's in my heart and in my pride'. But it sets his mind on fire,makes him a flaming telepath, a monstrous scientist who like the otherFaustian characters in the Cult mphos, sees ritht to the back of yourbrain.

Lucifer the Light - the myth, the fiture, reappears as frequently as thevillain in a silent moVe, casting light and shade across the screen.

GERMANEXPRESSIONIST CINEMA

'Deep in the heart of Germany, Lucy clutched herbreast in fear'

'Mssticism and magic, the dark forces to which Germans have alwaysbeen more than willing to commit themselves, had flourished in thehce ofdeath on the battlefrelds'.

Some of the same themes touched upon in the above have alrea{ybeen stated in images and stories in certain films from this school ofcinema. Read The Haunted Screen, where its author Eisner speaks of'the apocalyptic doctrine of Expressionism'. I don't just mean thehorror films, although Nosferatu might be the most obvious place for astudent to sta4 as the Cult delivered the story of this most princely ofVampy'es in song on their Specrres LP. The five members of the bandareJewish-American, born and bred in New York; there are severalExpressionist films which explore keyJewish myths, to treat effect. Themost powerful would be Paul Wegener's The Golem(1970), whichdepicts the use of cabbalistic symbols written on a parchment to bringa man made of clay to life. This story would have been a natural for theCult to tackle, but they never tot around to it. The energies of theExpressionist cinema scene weren't confined to a local place and time;at least two of its directors (Fric Lang and Paul Leni) escaped NaziGermany and made it to America to work in Hollywood and bringtheir secret learnings regarding magic lighting e{fecs and horrifyingstories to a mass audience. There's a continuum here that could easily

104

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999have fed directly into the Hollywood horror and monster movies,which have been another inJluence on The Blue Oyster Cult. Thereare other {ragments of interest; the Expressionist cinema's use ofdarkness and lighg day and nighc and fascination with lighting effects:linked to their interest in mirrors, particularly distoning mirrors. Thereis even a whiff of Alchemy in the film Destin2< which renders anapothecar/s laboratory as an alchemist's workshop, with a 'satanic

atmosphere', 'straitht out of Hoffmann',

MUSIC'I hear the music da),light disc'

Oh, yes, the music. In an anicle devoted to the thematic and lyricalstatements of these records, it seems churlish to itnore the music.Listening really is the way in - the melodies and the hook seduce you,the power chords charm you, the solos lure you into the snare.Through the music you fall under the spell of the magus, and wake up achanged man. The three key players are lead tuitarist Donald Roeser,vocalist and stun tuitarist Eric Bloom, and keyboard player Allen Lanier.The Bouchard brothers played drums and bass, yet mustn't b€discounted as they wrote so many of the song. They all had magicnames once - for the California album they were named respectivelyBuck Dharma, Jesse Pphon, La Verne, Prince Omega.

Yet one so often wonders if these talented musicians knew the full

extent of how they were being used by Pearlman to realise his'warpoid rock and roll vision'. I think of magician Karswell, as depicted

in the movie Night of the Demon (an adaptation of the supernaturalcfassic tale Casting The Runesby M R James). When Karswellsummons a magic wind from the devil to confound and scatter his

opponents, there is iust this susSestion that PerhaPs he isn't actually in

control of it at all...who is the master, who is the acolytel In 1978Savage Pencil drew a comic strip referrint to a Clash LP produced bySandy Pearlman; his technique involved simply giving them scads ofobscure literature to give them ideas, including The complete works oIHP Lovecraft, Ancient l\4onuments of the British lsles, Noby Dlckznd

Eanh Magic.'Wot rhymes with megalithic site?' wondered a puzled

Joe Strummer.

The music of Blue Opter Cult may be in the Heavy Metal tradition ofpower chords, heavy bass and fast solos, but each of these things isexecuted with total originality. The Bouchards favoured the key of Aminor for most of their sonts; a minor key alwa;a adds the requiredtouch of darkness at any event. Lanier's organ was alway: gothic,understated, and sparingly used. Bloom's vocals may not be all thatpowerful, but he has on occasion managed that kind of ancientness andanonymity that suttests an old man of the mountains telling his tales.And we have already brought out the superlatives to describe Roeser'ssoaring guitar solos.

I alway: enloy the uncanny production sound of the first LP - touchesof echo and reverh and its heady editint collisions. These edits serveto weave the fragments of the stories totether; the way'Screams'segues perfectly into 'She's as beautiful as a foot'; the heavy bassre\erberation at the end of 'Workshop of the Telescopes', suttestintsome dark machine of alchemy, followed by the sheer delight ofrainbows, colour and light in'Redeemed.

The 'amphetamine rush' sound of the second LP, where every trackstructured to recreate the thrill of an ounce of good white stuffreaching the brain, approximated by the sudden turns into uptemposuperhst thrashing on 'The Red and The Black' and'Seven ScreamingDiz-Busters'. 'ln our minds w€ were tr/ing to be like [the] Mahavishnu

[Orchestra] with vocals,' sap Albert Bouchard.'Cities On Flame With Rock N Roll' is the track which, I suspect, aninfidel could produce as evidence that the Blue Oyster Cult are littlemore than posturing heavy metal buffoons on the order of AC/DC orMetallica. I disagree...this showstopping tune is built from powerchords that could quite literally flatten the whole of Manhattan, whileBuck Dharmas interventions show how he plays with it like abauble...later songs revisit this same theme, the reincarnation ofthemselves as unstoppa.ble monsters (Go&illa Cultosaurus Erectus,Harvester of Eyes) while the power of stadium rock was rekindled in'The Marshall Plan'.

These records were all studio productions in the New York studio bySandy Pearlman and his panner Murray Krugman. Their other claims tofame" naturally, include being the masterbrains behind The Dictatorsand PavloVs Dog.

'l think Rock n Roll has a heart of darkness'. said Pearlman. '...and Ithink records should be bigger than life, that's why I like the BlueOyster Cult so much. You can be a sopor hound much easier than youcan be Alexander the Great; you can tet drunk a lot easier than youcan move the destiny of hearts, minds and the world.'

The Punchline..ttTHE

JOKE'S ON YOU"Yet the name, The Blue Oyster Cult? lt came out of drunkenness. ltwas a joke. lt's an anagram of Cully Stout Beer. Meltzer and Pearlmanwere tettint drunk one nitht on a sickly flat beer called Cully Stout.'Meltey's glazed eyes had become riveted to the bottle in his hand...' ishow Pearlman tells this bizarre tale, 'then he suddenly jumped upyelling Trollleybus Cue!...he explained it was an anatram of Cully StoutBeer - he'd been staring at the label and shuffling the letters around inhis head! A typical Meleer brain exercise!' The other permutationsthey come up with included Stout Belly Cure, Trycolute Blues, andfinally Pearlman came up with the words Blue Opter Cult.

'There was somethint about theevening and the situation whichtold me that the words would fitthe bill perfecdy...we'd call theband Blue Opter Cult!'

++++++++T t . t t . IDrD[ogfapnyHaining Peter: Witchcnft andBlack Magrc Hamlyr | 971

Bessy, Maurice: A PictorialHistory of Magic and TheSupernatunl, Spring Books 1964

Syberberg Hans-)urgen: Hider,A Film From Getmany,Manchester Carcenet NewPress Ltd 1982

Eisner, Lotte H; The Haunted Screen: Expressionism in the GermanCinema and the lnlluence of Max Reinhardt, Thames and Hudson | 969

ZigZagNum&r 58, March 1976. Interview with Sandy Pearlman andarticle by Paul Kendall.

The Blue Oyster Cult book of lyrics wiu creatd by the Blue OpterCult fan club, PO Box 93 | 324, Los Angeles CA 90093, USA.

Morning Final No 3, Septemberfanzine)

Morning Final No 4, December

1990 (Blue Oyster Cult fanclub

| 990

+++++++++++9++++9+++ ++++++++++++++

Records

The Stalk-Forrest GroupSt CeciliaLPA beautiful record, dedicated to the patron saint of music. Early swordand sorcery-ish themes, filled with strange tales and characters straightout of children's books. My favourite 'Ragamuffin Dumpling', wnosely'ics I're never been able to untangle satisfactorily, but love it for theincongruous line 'l want the sandwich in your pail, and a boat that sails!'The country-influenced'Gil Blanco Count/ is beautiful, but untypical.This LP betrap their Grateful Dead and Byrds influences, despite theirbeing an East Coast band, and the sound is filled with light andsunshine, as compared with the three increasingly nocturnal. SaturnineLPs which would follow. This Ain't the Summer of Love...

105

With lyrics mostly by Richard Meleer: he clearly wrote 'Anhur

Comics' on this record, as he's a treat comics fan! Also gets a writingcredit on classic songs 'Stairway to the Stars', 'She's

As Beautiful as aFoot','Teen Archer'and'Cagey Cretins'. Mehzer is more well knownas a writer and eccentric rock critic: his book The Aesthetics of Rock ispretty goddamn essential, and I must be the only fan in the world wholiked Gulcherwhich was remaindered in the UK as quickly as you like.His enthusiasm is boundless; he seems as knowledgeable on spon asmuch as rock music, likewise his collection of bottle caps and comicbooks. This prompted one wat to y/rite an affectionate satire of hiseffusive style and put it on the back of the second Pebbles LP.

St Ceciliawas never issued. lt was recorded for the Elektra label inFebruary-May 1970 in California, thus known as their California album(the band were based in NYC). Shelved by its producer, Jac Holzman.'Had it come out would have been considered a milestone ofprogressive psychedelic acid rock'. Recent boot issue of this becamearnailable in 1998, in a dreadful sleeve.

Two songs from the LP would be salvaged to make it onto the first LP.'l 'm on the Lamb but I ain't no sheeo'and'Sir Rastus Bear'whichbecame 'Redeemed'.

Other previous incarnations of the Cult stanint in 1967 in StonyBrook, were The Cows and The Soft White Underbelly; the latterband included Roeser, Alben Bouchard and Allen Lanier, with AndyWinters and Les Braunstein. Again, the SWU late 1960s recordings(many of which shade into the St Cecilia LP) remain unissued oflicially.

Joke references to these names would resurface on the much laterCukosaurus ErectusLP.

BIue dyster CuItryCover art by Bill Gawlik 'the most talented cab driver in New YorkCit/. With rapidograph and draughtsman's tools he suggests an infiniteimpossible perspective under a night sky, delineates doors andwindows that lead nowhere, and a railway line to infinity. The Cult'ssymbol floating above the front cover in silrer. . lt was Gawlik who firstused this symbol, which look like an inrrened question mark, withoutknowing what it was; Pearlman looked it up in his books on alchemyand discovered it was an early alchemical symbol for the element lead,and also used by the ancients to symbolise Saturn, or chaos anddestruction.

Tynany and MutationryAnother Gawlik sleeve, this one with a strange tower emanatintconcentric circles. Verso shows some eerie periscopes in a bleak,twin-mooned sci-fi landscape.

106


Sectet TteatiescoLUMBLr, PC 32858 (l9Z{)

Oritinal title was to have been Power ln The Hands Of Fools, and toaccompany the Adolf Hitler sample in 'ME

262', there would have beena song called 'Bormann the Chauffeur', A lot of people didn't appreciatethe irony: some obseryers even alleged that the Blue Opter Cultsymbol appeared on flags in Nazi Germany.

Imaginos

Fantastic Simon Marsden photographs, which aspire to the condition ofa painting by Caspar David Friedrich. No finer choice of imatery exis6.I haven't said much about this record as I hope it will come as apleasant surprise to the attentive listener; you will find a series ofelaborate payoffs to all the clues suggested in the first three records,including a monumental reworking of 'Astronomy' by the huge guitarorchestra formed especially for this record. For a perfectly writtenessay on this LP, read Timothy D'Arch Smith's review of itin Peepin inA Seafood Store: Some Pleasures of Rock Music (Michael Russell,tee2).

Seattle 1975 bootleg tapeNotable for a fine version of 'Seven Screaming Diz-Busters' which endswith what I call the 'Lucifer' rap...'l'm talking about Lucifer down inSeattle tonight', boasts the singgr, as he recounts the lurid tale of howhe signed away his soul to Mr Pitchfork and the very next day secureda recording contract from CBS. Sadly, I don't know how this littlemorality y'ap finishes, as my copy runs out. Taken from an FM stereobroa&ast, so l'm sure more complete copies are available. Plusversions of those live-only favourites 'Buck's Boogie' and 'Maserati GT.

9++++++9+9+9++++The Dictators:The Dictators Go GirI Cnzv!gg!9:9I!93!)As a tribute to the producers, the sleeve thanks Krugman andPearlman as 'the

tat team champions pull another chestnut out of thefire'...with the infamous locker-room sleeve picturint a grinningHandsome Dick Manitoha the wrestler turned lead singer.

Manifest DestinvIsYr.uM RECORTTS K 5306r (ri??)Recorded at the Record Plant in New York. Although this tand weredecidedly more blue collar than the intellectual Culq the sleeve for thisone is d very good tongue-in-cheek articulation of the Rock Dream ofglobal domination. The Dictators were also rock writers, and gotinvolved with Pearlman through mutual friend Richard Meleer.

Pavlovts DogPampercd Menialry!939rDon't have original issue of this, David Surkamp is bonkers - madfalsetto quavery vocalist which probably puts most people off. Highlyunusual sound for rock lineup, with violin and mellotron. lf only theystill made records like this...

+++++++++++++++9With thanks o Edwin Pouncey, without whose ideas andencouragement this anicle would nat have been written.

cBs {60038 f, (r988)

JECKBASTIENFENNESZ

w

DAqTfr/1 J I L2 x turntablists

2 x hard-editors in thedisk mode

aaaaCut


Philip feckSurfrylg!gggAwe-inspiring noise and loop explorations from the unique Mr Jeck. He first camemy way with a track on the Teleform compilation, also from the Touch label; havinglong been intrigued and fascinated by that snippet of roaring swiftness, I'm morethan delighted to encounter a full seven tracks by this fellow. What we got here,boys and gals, is tremendous power achieved by great economy of means. Jeck is aone-man symphonic composer, yet does it on a DIY scale - he opts mainly{orsampfing old viny' records, and collaging tape rather than 74 track or hard diskediting; and favours the clunkiness of a charity-shop Dansefte record player for hisworks. Both these strateties add a patina of'oldness' to the recordings which isattractive enough in itsell but it's the surprisingly vast power he summons fromthese barely-working deVces that's the main attraction for me,

The power is best demonstrated by'Box Of Lamb', an episode nothing short of aneanhquake crackinS open the land and sky before you, while drawing your attentionto a harely-audiHe tiny looped melody tinkling strangely in the distance. lt creates apalpable imaginary space - you could never hear things like this in real life, yet youfeel you're enterint a soundworld so truly solid you could wander in it for hours.'Spiris Up' is another success on an equally large scale, built from small soundevents pieced together andgrowing organically into anincalculable size. Like seeing aconjuror spinning plates(thousan& of them at once!),you wonder how can he keepcontrol of so many loop, somany layers, whhout collapainginto a pit of sludge? This trackis not merely impressive, itsgenuinely elegiac and as movingas any composed music you'llever near,

The greater proportion of thedisc tends towards masses ofsolid grey noises wipngeverything clean like astormcloud (see the CD coverfor a manifestation of this), andthrobbing loopc as mesmeri< asan entire nest of cobras. lfthere are more'narrative'fragments, these would includeloops of neady-recognisablemusic, for the most partrendered into everlastingmoments of reoeated bliss. bursometimes remade into anincoherent chatterint insanitysuch as a Christian Marclaymight prefer, When speechoccurs, on the haunting finaltrack'l Just Wanted To Know',it's an eerie whispering thatportraF either the comfoningwords by a dying man'sbedside, or perhaps the more

ro;

q '2 .11

sinister tale of anAmerican suicide cult.The organ loop behindthe speech is the veryessence of tension. ltgets scarier...but hear itfor yourself. lt's a superbvalediction to this mightyCD. Jeck has theambition to tackle grandthemes (death, disasters,spirituality, fear) and aflair for innorration in hismethods that puts manyother novelty-actturntablers to shame. Hisskill for handling records,and milking them forhidden meanings, comesover so strongly that you

can almost share the joy of handling these tactile, viny'anefacts along with the creator. Highly recommended.

ED PINSENT

Fierre BastienIWU siqu es ParaII oidre s

A fun CD from this veteran of avant-garde frolics.Frenchman Bastien's a dab hand with his Mecanno set,and has a 20-year history of constructing and touringwith his own unusual home-made musical instruments,which are able to play themselves in shon repeatingbursts. On this record, a development of that same ideaof'paralloidral' music, he developed a prepared recordplayer not unlike a John Cage (whom he admires)prepared fiano. A cheap portable turnoble - kind ofthing you might see in a 1950s teenater's saloncatalogue photo - has a curved metal strip fitted thatvaries the performance of the tone arm, so that

groove-plalng is mechanicallyinterrupted. A record is played at thewrong speed, and once played forwardis immediately played backwards.

What a lark, eh? Shame the actual CD'sa bit of a \rawner - but it makes a ntcecontrast with Jeck above, becausewhere Jeck is serious and deep, Bastienis lolly and humourous. He generates acartoon-like feel, not unlike a Disneyearly Silly Symphony animation wherecomic skeletons play their own ribcages- that's what the repeated marimbapatterns sutFst. With old scratchy 78s,y'alng their mutant tango and fox-trotrhythms, an old-fashioned air hangs oversome of these track - but Bastien isn'tradically remaking anythin& neitherpoking fun at the past or tryint toreinvent it. In fact, he's simply invendngan imaginary orchestra to accompanyhimseff in the playroom, as he picks uphis muted trumDet and blasts out a fewobligattos of blunish blither. This is whythe six longish tracks can be a bit much- we totta wait until he's finishedsoloing.

Bastien boasts of some impeccableinfluences, among them Guy Debord,and has worked with sometime NurseWith Wound collaborator Jac Berrocal;but he's also coming it from a ratherintellectual angle (he studied literatureat the Sorbonne in Paris), and not aterribly musically inspired one. Still,when you think of him on stage plalng

r07

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999:ts a one-man band with his self-performint instruments, there's a whiff of the musichall there...and a low-grade Surrealism too, like he just stepped out of a Matrittepostcard.

ED PINSENT

Fennesz Plays ?" singleMEGO RECORDS MEGO 020 (1998)

Sourcing pop records, Viennese electronicist Christian Fennesz resamples andrestitches them into something unimaginably otherthan what they were meant tobe. They were originally uptempo, now they're slowed down into somethint evenmore frighteningly turgid than an early Swans LP. They once had lyrics, now theyhave only an inhuman moan that's barely discernible from the remaininginstrumental backdrop. In short their initial meaning and significance has not onlybeen questioned, it's been radically reshaped along the lines Fennesz desires,moulded to his scientific will. This is welcome. I open up the pages of Mojom {zinswith feelings of guilt as I take my furtive y'easures. The writers there, exhuming theglorious past of'rock's rich tapestry' (as Julie Burchill once desitnated it) celebratethe fixed pleasures in the Pantheon with an almost pornographic delight. In sodoing the meaning of everphing becomes fixed in stone, ground into the 'Ten

Commandments' of Rock, reinforcing its monolithic status, making every fuckingalbum refeased into a mere sub.set of Sergeant Pepper. The only antidote as far as Ican see is to remake the music, reform the intractable viny' diktat into somethingmore approachable, more in tune with the future, than something rooted in thepast. Thus funnesz has not only made a fantastic recording here, he's leading theway for the listening public. We need every single 'great' 45 remade into a radicalanswer record along these lines. Kill the fucking history of rock music stone dead,right now!

ED PINSENT

lohn WallFractuurUTTERPSI! M CDs (1998)

Second own label release from MrJohn Wall, thisgreat UK original. The powerful and inventivemusic results from his labour-intensive and highlymeticulous editing work with a sampler, longhours spent listening to records, judiciousselection of vital moments, and comhrining them inexy'osive configurations that betoken a raregenius. Like a poet who knows his best friend isthe wastepaper basket Wall destro;rs orabandons work in progress if it's heading down a

clich6d or hmiliar route, and is extremelyjudicious and selective in what he chooses torelease. Unlike those in this field who prefer toleave the edtes raw and bleedin6 letting you hearthe splices or tone-arm lifting off a sampled viny'LP, John Wall's art conceals the joins. This is like agigantic mosaic for the ears, so skilfully piecedtogether that it appears to have evolved likenatural lichen and algae formations across a hugecavern wall. The dynamics, however, can be trulyunexpected; constantly subverting 6miliarity, Wallpresents startlint chantes in mood and pitch. Youwill never be able to figure out the direction any

fece is moving. At the same time, he's anarchitect - creating a very convincing illusory spaceof sound with ruthless precision. On 'Statis' youhear some violin samples that simply defy gravity,floating there like solid fulgurites in the sky. Theseconstructions are built to last as a sonicdraughtsman, he's motirrated to draw every singlebrick on the blueorint.

However, he's not simply'clever'; this music isdeeply moving albeit never in a verystraightforward way. A mix of conflicting emotionsare evoked, often in the same second of thepassage of time, as thouth three of your past liveswere cominS back to haunt you simultaneously.Not least from mixing Swans with classicalChamber music, or any other rough mix youcould never trace even thouth the sources are ina caalotue printed herein. This doesn't suggestthat Brand X of music will always trigger Emotion

Y: rather it shows how comolex our lives can be. howrich with responses and resonances any givenmicro-second of musical existence is shown to be, whengiven new fiery life under the editing tools of John Wall.

Panicularly interesting this time is that he's included anumber of samples of real fime live music, I thinkprincipally on the final track, taken from liveimprovisations byJohn Edwards on the bass, PeterShepperd on violin, and others includint two cellists andtwo clarinettisc. Being a self-confessed control freakWall would not work with live improvisint musicians outof choice, but he has responded to challenges fromLondon Musicians Collective to do his thing in a livesettint. He responds well to the uninhibitednoise-making of John Edwards, but would like to pluck aparticularly resonant bass strum out of time, and put itprecisely where he wants it within a samplingcomposition. Equally interesting has been an experimentwith Peter Shepperd, who attempted to score and learna piece composed by Wall out of cut-ups of Shepperd'so\rn playint.

The man should be holding a mirsterclass for anyonewho wants to learn how to best use the sampler; hecould show a lot of young learners in this field a thing ortwo. A fine package also designed by Wall, a digipakbound in cloth like a book with art pap€r inserts, andsealed in a viny'ette wallet. A man who knows hismaterials.

ED PINSENT

UtterPsalm, PO Box 14056, London N5 2WG

108


N/TODtrRNslslslslslsf slslstslstslslslsl

Vortex NavigationCompanyThingrs lWake Patterns EsThey WiII.f,USTRAIJT,, CAME RI, OBSCURf,R-ECORDS CrM 02{CD (1999)-A respectable enough side project from themain man behind Salamander, this tripfeatures Sean Connaughty who dishes outlashings of syrupy lead guitar, and slips a fewof his oil paintings onto the CD covers. Themusic divides clearly into two modes, long andmonotonous proggy droney jamson the one hand. and mstoralfolky acoustic sonts on the other.My preference plumps for theformer, since I tend to preferinstrumental music anyhow - andthough these iams take a while tocatch fire. it has to be said theplayers dig into some deep anddark wah-wah feedback soloswhen the heat turns on. They relyvery heaviliy on effects pedals toarrive at this point though, asmost modern prog psych andspa.ce rock players do; withoutthe tape delay, wah-wah andphase, these solos would rireanvery little. Still, at least they resimple, two-string solos, andrarely lapce into excessiveeto-trippint - except when l4minutes into'Eurooa', a show-offaxe-wielder does indeed take thestand and ruins the drugy trancethus Far established. Derivedalmost totally from spontaneoussessions recorded at home, Onefor the Mandrax crowd l'll wager.

ED PINSENT

Gentle Tasadyfn The lWind's Eye OfEBlind TasadayausTR.f,Llf, , C.BMERT, OBSCItRtrRf,CORpS CrM 023CD (1999)

An interminable and rather dull record fromtwo Minnesota players, Erik Wivinus and EricHorferber. The former plap in a band calledSalamander (as does Sean Connaugtrty - seenext). These gents purpon to alignthemselnes with the dark experimem:lworlds of David Tibet and Steve Stapleton,which as far as I can hear me:ns we get lots ofslowly sliding guitars, found taped voicesamples, and an overall {ormless grinding.They spread jumbo-sized jars of ditital delay

over their inept plalng to deliver thatwonder{ul 'l live at the bottom of a deeo well'sound, which also invokes instant awe andmystery - for some listeners at any rate.However, that's just for starters. By trackthree, we're back on Pink Floyd territory withthe more straightforward 'Sad Wheel of theSeasons'. There may be more transcendentmoments of sublime space-rock later on, butto be honest I couldn't face hearing any moreof this gloomy and portentous CD.

ED PINSENT

enough signposts to satisfy a curiousTolkein-reading, Discworl4inhabitint listenerwho cares to dwell here and exolore a while.

ED PINSENT

The tand ofNodTranslucentocHRE RECORDS OCHooZLCD (1999)

Following on from last year's 10" EP, here's afull LP length release by this anonynous duofrom Cheltenham. lt's a suite of teninstrumental tracks all rendered via swrth and

tuitar, with occasional machinedrumming. The latter tracksresemble that dull Pink Floyd period- where they were hooked on'Careful t/Vith That Axe Eugene' -

while the former spa.cey ones dolittle to imorove on The CosmicCouriers sound. I don't dig ig and I

lust don't care for this form ofimitation brand cosmic piflle whenyou can so easily get the real thing -

but then l'm clearly in the minority,since there are many more tenerouslisteners than I who welcome suchretrograde releases, and othercontemporary bands like AzusaPlane. Windy and Carl and FllngSaucer Attack (all namechecked byPhil McMullen in the press releasehere) are seen, not as dippycopycats, but as a coagulation ofyoung enlightened ones who alladmit to these same hip psych andKrautrock influences. Still, to theircredi! The Land of Nod don't wantto be Robbie Williams...'a certainamount of underground success

would be nice', they told the local paper inFebruary this year when asked if theBrit-Awards ceremony beckoned. A nicesleeve: ochre and red tiilted photographs ofpastoral fields suggest what it mitht be.like todrop acid on a sunny day in the country.

ED PINSENT

Various Artists,Decaloguemini-LPryFeaturing Arnp, Magnog,.Grirnble Grurnble, M6r, Stylus,90'SouthSix bancls, one track each - so tfiis sampler'san entertaining enough package with somedecent soun&, of which few outstay theirwelcome...two American bands, four from theBritish lsles. My favourite might just be the

SalamanderRed fufaatuaAUSTRf,I.Itr,, CTME RT, OBSCT'Rf,RECORpS CrM 0lZCp (1998)...and here is Salamander, revealed in all theirglory in an LP which might as well be cut fromthe same cloth as the one above. Whv notsimply issue it as a double-LP formattedrelease? Same paintings, same lead guitarist,same even split between songs and solos.Well. it's churlish to comolain because thereis some \iery acceptable guitar work going onhere. even if | find there isn't much actualfretwork or fingering skills to admire in thesame way you'd admire say a John Cipollina

Jorma Kaukonen, Randy California. or even aNick Salomon. Connaught/s solos don't takeoff into the stratosphere, but perhapc the/renot intended to; instead, aping TangerineDream, Ash Ra Tempel and Pink Floyd, theymap out very spacey, clouf worlds, with

109


.PKYdrtffiMslslslsastslslstslsrslststslsl

intriguing Grimble Grumble episode, aChicago band remixed by UHR, sounding likea very sick HipHop track meeting TheResidents on a foggy day. The rest of side one

is in like manner presentable, M6r turning in alively track with phased drum sound,backwards tapes and witty voice samples overa passable set of tuitar riffs...bouncy fun. 90"South have a slower but equally pleasant andmelodic outing. Sty'us take us to analotuehea\€n with some lovely old synth beep,s, bututimately they lack the focus to do more thandrift in and drift out without making any realimpression. AMP are lust awful, a whiney indiegirly song of the son that shoulda died outyears atoi while Magnog (of WashingtonStxe) are still milking the proggr, languidguitar workout schtick for all its worth...thistime with an added violin.

All this is fine and dand but its veryderivative - not only of | 970s Krautrock suchas Neul, Klaus Schulze and Ash Ra Tempel,but also of those trendy I 990s bands whohave namechecked such bands as influences,such as Tonoise, LaBradford and (inevitably)

the ghastly Stereolab. As such the overallimpression I take away is of people who arequick to pick up on the surface sounds, butnot the subctance of their original sources;and, consequently, what soon becomesapparent is the total lack of ideas and artisticdrive that might give any meanint or shape totheir work. More to the point when yoursole inspiration for making a record appearsto be simply that you have a great collectionol otherrecor&, then it sort of begs thewhole question of what makes art importantin the first place. Still, what do I know - thisbeautifully packaged spangly disc, with itssmeary abatract blue sleeve, is bound toacquire some kinda trendy status in no time.

ED PINSENT

Â^ ̂ A^ ̂ A^ ̂ A^ ̂ AA70Y %Y YnY YOY YeY

Â^ ̂ A^ .dL Â^ ̂ A^"4Y YAY YaY YeY YeY

Various Artistsfnftasonic Waves Voluzn ehtroT" EPryAn enchanting little EP of instrumental music,leaning a bit more on the hippy and spacerock angle than the Decalogue record.Magnetophone are very Kraftwer( verysimple: keyboards with backwards tapes for apoignant dissonance, and a reverbed drummachine. Tasty. The Groceries is a solo turnfrom an Ectogram member, with his acoustic

dtar, skar and Tibetan bowls for all the worldresemHing a one-man Incredible String Band.Salome, from the USA comprises selectedmembers of Grimble Grumble and here theyy'ay very conventional space rock withechoed guitars and drippy vocals. Our GlassieAzoth generate their usual lovely reverbfeedback noises, and a lumber mill workingovenime would make less of a racket thanthey do - it's almost halluinogenic.

ED PINSENT

110

La! Neu? / Die withDignityI{raut?IAPAN, CAPTAIN TRIP

99999s!931A lot to recommend this CD ofwhat almost amounts tomodern Krautrock recorded rna lesser-known town inGermany by a band of young

and unknown experimentalists who are prot€ges of Klaus Dinger.They play some decent rock music with guitars, basses and drummachines, and ahhough they sometimes lapse into some dreadfullycloddish rhythm guitar strummint, their plusses are many. There's avery experimental feel, evidenced by their use of {ound tapes,distorted voices, and electronic effects and trqtments. They havesome nice valve-operated audio-generators which they featureprominently in photos inside. This harks back to a period whenKrautrock mitht have been genuinely weird and experimental; indeedsome tracks here, like'Phone Call from Brazil', recall the first LP byFaust, even if iCs only possessed ol one-thousandth of the wildnessfactor. Another strange {eature is the lyrics - | think they're mostlyintended as ironic and humourous, but some of them verge onparanoid, angst-ridden, psychologically very distressed tales.

As regards letting the dead die with dignity, there's a track here called'Are You Sure About ltl'which refers. perhaps rather bravely. tothose deluded revisionists who try to deny the Holocaust everhappened, and manages farrly successfully to debunk thrs notion. Goo<ito see Die With Dignity don't align themselves with the New Rightyouth groups which seem to be springing up in many parts of Europe.On the other hand, there is not one ounce o{ empathy with thevictims of the Nazi regime, rndicative of the problem which orhershave identified: ie the German psyche seems unable to mourn the pastwith any dignity.

ED PINSENT

FaustRavvivandoRER RECOMMENDED FRAVI (T999)

Faust Wakes NosferatuGERMf,NY, I(IilNGBTD NO NI'MEERCD (1997)

Rawivando is excellent. a tremendous comeback for Faust and abouttheir most powerful record since they reformed. Since this infamousand largely ill-advised reformation there have been many patchyproducts and patchier live shows; Rien De Faustand the two live CDson Table of the Elements are, let's face it, pretty disjointed, flabby, andbadly recorded. This new one returns to some offeatures that madethem good in the frrst place, inDarticular that feel for an endlessrepetitive monotone thrash thatyou find on Faust lV, Faust furtyand Faust So Far. Perhaps therecent acrimonious falling-outbetwen members has proven tobe good thing after all! Thebassist, vocalist and guitarist

Jean-Herv6 Peron no longerfeatures; instead here we havedrummer Zappi Diermaier;ortanist Hans Joachim lrmler;plus tie other team players olthis latest Faustian incarnation,Ulrike Helmholz, Steven WrayLobdell, Lars Paukstat andMichael Stoll.

This record is loud, heavy, andpacks an almighty wallop. Most ofthe tracks follow the two starplayers, so are organ based ordrum based, with a massive {eelsuttesting each track is hewnfrom granite; each boulds isflung together by giants, in a


Ihg mo$$[gil of i',rn r"ffi isItff $Ml$Cllt ileu rraffirock m0ilgrng

pretty much contrnuous-play suite of musical noise (l think there's onlyabout one break for silence in the whole CD). The noise is liberallydosed with sick-making. disorienting effects - reverb and echo appliedlike hot tar from a huge tub, phasing, continuous sustained tuitarnotes, and foreign elements of pure alienation. A sustained production,far better than the wet Jim O'Rourke managed - pumping energy allthe time - and forever weird, dark and menacing. And with thatuncanny treated tape drum sound thrown in, how can you resistl lt'sas effective as Massive Attack's meisterwerk of last year, ltlezzanine -

making this an avant-garde Trip-Hop album for sure, without eventrying.

Kraftwerk, Can and Kiaus Dinger haye taken cjrsmaytng turns wththeir approaches to their new audience - and not always producedgreat music. I had worried pretty much the same about Faust, butthere's hope for them yet when they remain capable of music like this,insane, doped-up, ii'ue experimenters to the last.

Hovrever, no marks at all to Fausr Wakas Nosferatu - one o{ theduffest records I've heard for a long time. lt disguises a near-total lackof ideas with loud volume and endless, pompous droning. lt seemsdisorganised; many of the tmcks take too long to get moying; there aretoo many passages where the whole band seems to have forgottenwhat they are doing and lost the thread completely. Where theoriginal Nos/eraru movie (directed by F W Murnau, and released in1922) has development, drama, tension and narratiye closure, thismusic has none of the above. I hate to make too many comparisons,but there seems little other tustification for this music's existence- ltwas created live, alongside a screening of the film; they call it an'interpretation' of the film. The lineup is once again lrmler andDiermaier, with Steven Wray Lobdell on Thomas C Martin on guitars,and Lars Paukstat on 'zither and labyrinth percussion'. Not good.

ED PINSENT

ta! Neu?GoId Regen (GoId Rain)JAPTN, CAPTAIN TRrP CTCD-123 (t998)Since the house is now bulging with a sur{eit of recent Klaus Dingerproduct, I find this one the most acceptable of the batch and willprobably feave the other records - including Year of the TigerC-aptainTrio CTCD-124. to be reviewed some other time. Like similar

releases from last year, this onefeatures the Dinger family anoassociated friends having asing-song at home - sounds offriendly chatter included, and atape recorder that doesn't start ontime. They gather around the grandpiano played by RembrandtLensink, with some scrapy violinadded by brother Thomas, and outof tune vocals mostly by thelamentable Viktoria Wehrmeister.In all it 's sombre in tone, evenmoving at times - sutgesting theancient Germanic romancing offorest and mountain, only appliedto autobahn and factory-works. So,either thematically or musically.Dinger's recent work is in no wayan imDrovement on Neu! and LaD[isseldorfs fine recordings, andthis is far from being a necess:rryretease,

ED PINSENT

111

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999Bluepoint UndergroundIn New York City

While the old Marvel Comics character Captain America alwaysseemed to have an insatiable hunger for stomping the Nazi raeis,Captain Trip (whoever he may be) seems to yearn with similarseverity for anything related to the musical output of Klaus Dinger. Idon't know if Klaus Dinger's mum, pets or chiropodist have donealbums, but il they have, l'll bet I know where to get them. This lotseem to be a group whom Mr Dinger has taken under his wing byrecording and producing a studio version of what was once a live artevent thingie.

l'll have to confess that much of this is kind o{ on the limits of my areaof experience, and interest. lt's all a bit tooarts-lab-krautrock-cum-jaz-workshop, so being as it was recorded inGermany, the title /n New York Cityhas a sense of logic that probablyisn't intended. In New York City as in 'my analyst is so happy that afterthe free expression drama workshop I was able to look deep insidemyself and realise that I'm me, and this "me" is a person who lives inNew York City.' I keep expecting Lisa Simpson to pop up with a fewhaikus on world peace.

Leaving my possibly jaundiced opinions aside for a moment in thename of objectivity, the music is fairly acceptable when free ofirritating vocals of the kind that are praised as groundbreaking and ofworfd-wide significance by Guardian journalists, and the other 49people who think that choreography and avant-garde cookery areimportant. There's a wide variety of sounds, instruments and moodson here, but little that really do€s it for me. Perhaps if that bloodywoman would button it every once in a while instead of caterwaulingaway like Yoko Ono tettint suddenly into a scalding hot bath, I mighthave time to discover whether the music is anything to write homeabout. lf l'm to be honest, I don't think I really care enough to find out.This might be a valued addition to some CD collections, but not tomine.

WARARROW

l-A DiisseldorfFettlebertl've only heard a handful of Captain Trip releases and at last l've foundone that isn't a side project, live performance, archive material,rarities, assorted left overs, or Klaus Dinger having a bath andrecording the event for posterity (although admittedly'Shit! l 'vedropped The Soap' (0'45') from Long Hot Soak Volume Twas a tourde force). This actually sounds like a proper album, as in something tobe iistened to rather than iust added to a collection.

l-A Dtisseldorf is Thomas Dinger (of Neu! and La Di.isseldorf) and NilsKristiansen. That is to say this is the latest work by Thomas Dinger,rather than an album by Thomas Dinger who did stuff in the 1970s andis still soldiering on, which is a subtiy different definition. My only realcriticism is that sometimes the vcals are mixed a bit louder than theyneed to be, on occasions threatening to reduce the music, particularlythe percussion, to the status of a backing tmck. But leaving this minorpoint aside, it's top quality all the way. Although reliant to a degree ondroning guitar, sequencer, and repetition, as have been his earlierrecords, this particular Dinger boy seems keen to experiment and tryout new angles and approaches, which explains the overall quality offreshness and originality. At a guess I'd say Thomas Dinger has yet tolose the sense of exciting possibilities that must present themselves atthe door o{the recording studio. Where many others who've beendoing it this long end up repeating old tricks in an attempt to stimulatea flagging organ into emulating its former fertility, old Tom's yet tosuffer fom that particular problem, if you'll pardon the doubleentendre. Fenleben maning'Fat Liver', doesn't sound much like thoseearly La Diisseldorf albums, but lam reminded of why lfound them soexciting in the first place.

WAR ARROW

[if/rjflif,i]liflifli[itrili]rili]

A sqlf{ont ined rcordcrrrcproducer qiving e frult lss pcrformucc' Thc idelequiemcnt for HOt'lE €NTERTA:NMENT. PUBLIC ADDRESS, CONFEREN3ERECOROING, .nd SOUND COMMENTARY for SILENT FlLl- ' l PROJECIOR'S.

a "F inq l rT ip ' Iopr r . f ' co -oo .cont to lFo t id . . fo r "R.co .dr r - "Pht " "n . fna" t ' rF | | l

Forurrd " raquiram.nlr.

af Conrhnt Trpa 8patF7.5 iochar pc? 3acond.

O Fr.qu.ncy RoponF-Esrnlhllt llrt |ton lOG7500 c.r.a

a Hi3h Qurlitt Puth/Pull outprl

O R.cording Du?rtior 30 ninuLr p.r r..1.

a OFrnic Rrnn |pirorinrtllt {0 d.ciDdr.

a Por.r Sstplt 200/250 A.C.50 ctcl.r-Contunltior 80 rrtta

THERMIONIC PRODUCTS LTD.Divirion S/l. l }YW, HYTHE, SOUTHAMPTON, Phonc : Hythc 316iLondon Showrooms: l ' lorrir Housc. Jcrmyn Strect. Heymerket, S.W. | .

I Now le i lab lc in Engtana- th lbrck " l"lagnctic Rccording " ibv Or . 5 . J . Bcaun. A com- |' grchcnrivc treatisc. Pricc 25/-, I

portrgc 9d. extn I Phonc: Whiteholl 6122

Birmin3hm - Brisrol - Mtnchesrer

MODELS AVAILABLEFROM

€69- lO-OSdc and Service Centrcs

LT2

Ncwcutlc and Glrsgow

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999OpaqueDENTTL RECORDS OPA-001 (1999)Bloody fine - nice to hqr some music with apair of balls for a change. Any fans of Head OfDavid, Sonic Youth and other dissonant guitargroups should form an orderly queue righthere. Retro it may be, but it's a heroic noise.Opaque are a local Lancaster band who haveevolved from playing together in a localcommunity rehearsal room: this wasrecorded in Leeds last December. Threetracks on this self-produced artefact, thelongest coming in at fifteen minutes, and youcan hear throughout the struggle they'rehaving to play decently and keep it all going asthey compete against each other with screesof insane twittering feedback, synth blasts,very basic drumming, a vile sawtooth bassguitar, lead guitar stabs, and an overallgrinding relentlessness. And ofcourse, thesound levels are unbalanced and messy.Great! These rough edges are essential andmostly what gives the music any dynamic andenergy at all; one fears that if they ever gotany better at playing, they might lose thisaltotether. Best pick up on this very heavynoise fest while you still can.

ED PINSENT

Costs a mere {3.00 From DENTALRECORDS, c/o LMC, I Lodge StreecLancaster LA I lQW. Chegues payable to 'J

LCUMMINGS'.

SplinteredlllountenaFOURTH DIMENSION / SI'GGESTION/ IM.f,NITA : FDCD60 / SUcl6 /AMA4I (1998)

My previous experience of this group is of acollaborative polycarbonate biscuit with RLWwhich is overlong, tedious and uneventful. Soit didn't come as too rr,uch of a shock thatthis opens with the same unimpressive collageof noodling distoned sound, with hr toomuch echo and too little volume. Crap andweedy, but my collection of silverpolycarbonate drinks coasters will soon beunrivalled in the Western hemisphere.

And then, just as l've gotten comfy on mypreconceptions, with cushions of anticipatedsething criticism arranged just so, theunexpectd happens. A deep rumbling bass,portentous as the rewing of a motorbike, andponderous drumming that sutgests wavescrashint majestically into granitepromontories, emerges from beneath thesoundscape. The effect is unexpected andpowerful: what initially seems to be anexercise in pointless ambient toilet watersuddenly doubles in size and grows horns,mutating into full-on sonic mindfuck beforeyour very ears. This is in fact what l'd hopedSplintered might sound like before havingsuch expectations slapped around the head bythe disc mentioned earlier.

And so it carries on in similar vein for theother six tracks: rumbling fudge-punchingbasslines and stadium scale drumming happilyiammint along to guitar noise and vocal linesthat have been overdubbed and echoed into aglorious and messy oblivion. lt is something ofa clich6 to say that listening to such and suchis rather like gazing into the abyss, and acliche I expect I've used on a number ofoccasions myself. Apart from anything, what

the hell can such a silly statement possiblymeanl The abyssl Which abyss would that belIn this case, the abyss in question is the onethat opens up on this disc, releasingmonstrosities which threaten to ensnare thelistener and suck his brains out via hisfundament. I realise this may appear to be arather melodramatic claim to make for whatis after all, iust a shiny bit of plastic thatdcuments a bunch of guys playing songs, butI dare you to listen to Noumenaand call me ahar.

WAR ARROW

Cosrnonauts Hail SatanCape Cannibal SkuII fslandApocalyltseWII.L MONTGOMERY RECORDS /AMANITL WMROoz / AMtr43 (1998)Loud guitar. Lots of echo. Lots of feedback.Vaguely tribal drums. Basic recording qualityand loads and loads of croaky old bits ofB-movie dialogue. Bang. Drone. Screech.Bang. Drone. Screech.

iMadre de Dios! lt pains me to be such a greatbig Mr Grumpy-Drawers but...MAN! Thishums! Okay, l'l l admit it isn't completelylacking in charm. As a poor cousin toTerminal Cheesecake and the like it does ajob to the best of its limired abilities. There'ssome nice effects, particularly the loopedsample on '73 Diabolically lmplantedAutosuggestions'. l{ this ms a cassette onemight even be moved to praise thehalf-decent recording quality. But...

...aren't you lot bored of this sort of tiingyetl I know I certainly am. Feedback grungeyecho, backwards guitars and of coursesnatches of dialogue from rubbish films andprogmmmes about flying saucers. Zombies.Satan. Blah blah blah...all with that authenticAmerica cira 1957 feel. Hmmm. lsn't itweird that noone does this kind of stuff usingofd bits of dialogueftom Dixon of DockGreen or Top of the Forml Sure. Americansgoing on about aliens are funny, but get overit, Please. lt wouldn't even be so bad if this lotwere Americans sending up their own lurid

pop culture, but they're not. They're fromLeeds!

Ultimately this is no more radical than a LevisJeans adven, because let's face it, anobsession with fifties Americana in all itssilliness informs both. All this 'blah

blah ElvisSatan ha ha Manson 666 Liberace' stuff iscamper than a row of pink tents full of dragqueens waiting for the Judy Garlandconvention to open its doors. In 1969 thisalbum might have sounded prettygroundbreaking, but in 1999 | hil to see whyanyone would care enough to put it on CD.Cape Cannibal Skull lsland Apocalypse - ohyes, highly amusing. l'l l bet they just don'tknow what they'll do next.

WARARROW

Menstruation SistersMaAUSTRTTI.A, SANAESTHESI,f, NONITMBERCD

A ludicrous cassette-standard release pastedonto CD format, this offers little more thanchildish breast-beating and tantrum throwing.When I see children turning purple with ragewhen they can't get their own way, I'm neverquite sure what to do; when I see theirparents reactint with an angry cuff roundtheir offspring's ear, then I rage against therepression and gloom in this miserablecountry that produces such bad parenting,and feeds these bad attitudes down fromgeneration to generation. l'm not beingpatronizing, but in my bleak moments Iimagine we're breeding monsters every day.The net result is inarticulate yobs, who canonly find expression in drinking themselvessenseless until they realise there's nothing toexpress anyway. Another reflexive actionresulting from this endless loop of futilebehaviour is to go and make records like thisone by the Menstruation Sisters; they havenothant to express, and succeed in expressingit very badly. I'm thinking now of the footage Ihave seen of caged circus animals, kept insuch miserable conditions that they lapse into'stereotypies',

that is limited actions likemoving the same limb back and forth in a

NO SY

ROGK

113

The Sound Projector 6ixth issue 1999meaningless pattern until their brains arescreaming for mercy. Which brings us to thechoice of imagery used by MenstruationSisters, the famous old engmving of hairysideshow fi-eaks. The music, by the way, isjust feedback and drum-bashing piffleexecuted with some half-heaned idea that it'sshocking or challenging in some way. Pull theother one!

ED PINSENT

SLAB!Descension

Not since before Self Indulgent Wank'smanager convinced their singer Jim Morrisonto change the name has a group's appellation

provided such a rudely onomatopoeictranslation of their music. SLAB! (it doesn'tlook right in lower case) were the auralequivalent of having concrete blocks droppedon you from a great height. This is a reissueof the debut by these long gone pioneers ofmonolithic sonic brutalism. They first cametogether way back in 1985, and as the sleevenote reports, were often compared withartists like the Swans, to name but one. Nokidding. Afthough Descension is too originalin outlook to be labelled as a copy of someelse, there's no denying it's basically theSwans' Cop album that you can dance to.Merciless jackhammer drums drive a darkfunky bass head on into tinnitus-inducinglayers of guitar and noise. I think you get thepicture, but before the paint sets let's notforget the anomalous insertions of free iaz,

complete with a cat (of the {eline rather thanbeatnik variety) running up and down thekeys ofa piano. I have to confess that suchinterludes leave me flopping around like a fishout of mter, specifically a fish that's capableof vocalising the three words 'what', 'the' and'fuck?' But confusion permitting, it still seemstrue to its own twisted internal logic. lf youmissed out on Sl-{B! (although in mind of theconcrete block analogy earlier, it'd probablybe more accurate to say if they missed you)and you have a taste for early Swans, Killing

Joke, or anyone else whose music sutgestsimpending and terrible doom, then you reallycan't afford to let this one pass you by.

WAR ARROW

Lt4

Skipload ofT-A-p-e-s

Various ArtistsThe Sante PlaceNEVrS RECORDS ERIS200 C90 (19998)

No address or other deails accomoanied thismysterious artefact containing a scant l4minutes or so of noises and suchlike byjonathan Loris, Andy Loris, The Sharple,D.l.S.G., and Ears. The last two have solotaFs arailable from Nevis Records, alt}oughwhere or what they may be I couldn't tell you.Thus, deprived of fuel for pithy preiudicesbased upon potential Canadian origin, orpictures of dead bad guys on the cover, I'mreluctantly forced to wrhe about it on thestrength of the music alone. Which isn't easy,as there's so little of it.

Most of The Same flace seems to have beenrecorded on a mono oortable cassettemachine using the 'lads mucking about in agarage'approach to home recording. There'sa smatterint of weirdo tape stuff, somewilfully peculiar songs, and a cover of theCoronation Streeftheme tune (no creditgiven to composer Eric Spear I note, rathertestily) performed by The Sharple, whom Irather suspect ISN'T Peter Gabriel operatingunder an alias in order to composeunhindered \ misconceptions which couldarise, were this to be associated with hismore mainstream output. Containing roughlyl4 minutes of music (6 short tracks), IDeSame Placeis almost too modest to arouseanger. Although a full tape might proveunbearable, in such humble ponions thetracks are fairly listenable, and enenentertainint while they last. One number,sung with a phoney hillbilly litt, degeneratesinto a discussion about whether or notbananas shatter when dropped, whichprobably paints a more vivid picture of howThe Same Placesounds than anphing I couldsquirt from the keyboard of my wordprocessor.

Aural GuerrillaSick to Death...re:lYou may remember Jim MacDougall'sprevious efort as reviewed in issue 3 of thisperiodical. Any*ay, he's been at it again andproduced a tape with a title that's too longand unprintaHe for a hmily magazine such aswhat this is. Whaterrer he's been uo to sincef'lagical Moments has made for astrengthening and a refinement of his ahilities.Once again the music is a litde Lit joyDiVsion. a little bit Chrome. and with asmattering of Genesis P. Orrible doing hisMark E Smith imDersonation.Production-wise, you can almost see your face


in i! which although perhaps too clean forsome tastes, delivers the kick one mightexpect from the pratrooper's shinysize-frfteens that l've somehow managed towangle into this sentence.

In recent times Jim seems to have taken onthe role of poet rather tJran singer, andtherein lies his true strength. His narrativesare mildly disturbing at besC and often quitealarming but the power of his voice andimagination draw the listener in with the sameapparent ease one associates with the finest

of his contemooraries. After all. it is onlvwhen someone doesn't quite have it that younotice how hard they're trying.

Perhapc the key to Jim's success is that whatwith his F)rchiatric background, documented(after a hshion) here, it's fairly obvious hedoesn't write this stuff simply for somethingto do between brunch with old varsity chumsand taking in the latest Merchant-lvorycostume drama. lt soun& like a matter ofsurviral, scrubhlng away at old mental warwounds, as much as anything else. So it isadmirable that such a compelling soundtrackis the result particularly where it would be alltoo easy to produce the aural, or perhapcliterary equivalent of a dirty protest.

lf you can't be arsed to check this out, it maybe worth notint that of late Jim has aken to

dvint the occasional live performance in and

around the East London area, and in the sortof venues that I know at least some of you lotfrequent. Failing that, he has severalcollections of his writin$ available. Notableare My Catholic Fnemyand Pornognph2tboth of which work on paper in pretty muchthe same way as Stk..does on ferric oxide.

Aunl Guerrilla, Flat 5, 2 Earlham Drive,furest Gate London F7 9AL UK

Various.ErtistsNewfrippies Volutne OneRED NEON TTPES RNZ C6O

Newflippies Volume hvoR^ED NEON TTPES RN8 C6O

ln their time Red Neon have released worksfrom all eight corners of the er...quality cube.On the one hand we have masteroieces ofunparalleled quite-good-ness such as PolSifentbfock's Pour Le Sourire DAlexia and onthe other, there was that fucking tape by TheMoth which still san& as a tur4encrustedyardstick by which all other poindess andcrappy endeavours must be measured. So asone mitht suspect, these compilations arepretty eclectic in terms of the quality ofcontributors.

Firstly, it should be pointed out that thesound quality is excellent throughout, andeasily on a par with something you might havetaped off a CD. This allows the finer tracks totruly shine without havint to battle through awall of hiss and distonion. That said, the fictthat folks such as The Cure and TheLighthouse Family opt not to release theirdoings on car boot sale cassettes via the gift ofthe 1976 Alba brand mono portable tap€recorder doesn't necessarily mean they aren'twasting everyone's time, and this simple truthapSies equally well here.

The good stuff rantes from listenable topretty darn good. lt's largely electronic andrhythmic, often with a subtle pop sensibility.Sort of Front 242 in a better mru.Hermanos Guzanos. DSIP. and the ubiouitousM. Nomized all turn in accomolished andatmospheric numbers that I'd happily listen toagain. But of course such quality is not easilyachieved; indeed it requires e{fort and comeswith a heary price. ln this case the price paidby the listener is having to sit through TheResidents meet The Teletubhies drivel of Sha26 l...and The Golozos, who I suspect believethemseh€s to be Tuxedo Moon when reallythey are only Shell Suit Meteorite. Listening tosome this tape's darker moments, I can almosts*. Eurotrashs wooden giraffe things,Pee-Pee and Po-Po, being gesticulated inrhythmic accompa.niment. But I suspect evenAntoine and his oro'ducers would turn theirnoses alo{t at such unredeemaUe Eurocheese.

In summary, desprite harsh words above, theseare pretty commen&He collections. Thegood stuff is well wonh a few minutes ofanyone's time. The bad stuff makes for fine iflurid entertainment when in the grip ofalcoholic merriment, particularly if you inviteyour fric:nds around and pretend to really likeit. What swings it is that Red Neon, unless I'vebeen misled, seem happy to swap tap€s,which not only saves the aggro of convertingcurrencies and so on, btrt also means you cantake a chance and the worst case scenario is

115

The Sound Projector Sixth issue 1999episode of the Doctor Wto classic'TheTime Warrior' as broadcast on the 5thjanuary 1974, was dealt with by a pointedimplement rudely introduced to his probicvenq Pandemic have made somethingwhich is highly effective almost by virtue ofits simplicity. As might be evident, I'vecome across more than my fuir share ofone-geezer-andhis-droning-racket tapes inmy time, and the fact that Pandemic cantravel the same road as a million others,whilst still producing something thatsounds fresh and genuinely unsettling is avery pfeasant surprise. When Third Spacingsees the light of day, chances are it won'tbe on EMI or Epric or any other label thatyou'd find in the local branch ofWoolwonhs, so keep your eyes peeledand your ears open.

The Skip reviewedby WAR ARROW

************

SKIPLOAD OFTAPES

COMPETITION!************

Hammer'deserves time in the slammer'. ltrhymes and, by the Lord Harry it's true. Enioythe tapes, Steve!

So, this time, if you've a mind to win thec:ssettes described above all you need do issend your name and address on somethingmarked'Skiy'oad o{ Tapes Pitiful Competition'to the editorial addres, with answers to thefollowing:

l. Which member of The Crarats, TheVery Things, Grimetime, and the slighdymore reclusine Piston Smash and TheMorning Dobermen has appeared onKnowing Me Knowing You with AlanParcridge and once /ayed a washingmachine delivery geezer in an episode ofThe BilP

2. \A/hat animal's breaHast is paid musicaltribute by Ramleh on their wistful andsensitive Christopher Cross-esque albumBlowhold

3. When (roughly) is it thoutht that theAnasazi culture of the South \ /esternUnhed States cashed in its collectivechip?

...and to help us decide between the millionsof winning entries that will doub,tlessly log-iamour box number for months to come, atie-breaker. ln no more than five words, orthereabouts, tell us who you think would winin a punch-up between Charles Mingus andArt Blakey, and why.

*************

no more severe than having a cassette to tapesomething else on.

Red Neon, clo Patrick Parenc 76 RueWayenburg, I 040 Bruxelles, Eelgium

PandemicThird Spacingg:3ll::9rThis probablyshouldn't be in here,seeing as it's actuallyintended for releaseon CD at some poingbut seeing as this isissue isn't exactlyawash with tapes (lsuppose you all do iton your {ancylnternet web,snowadap) and this isa gem, what the hecklPandemic is one chapwith a Mootsynthesiser and someprimitive effectsy'ugged into a homestereo, and in termsof production itSTILL b€ats plenty ofthings l've heardcome out of a | 6track studio.Menacing dronesappear to be theorder of the day,seasoned with asmattering of grungeynoises, percingsgueals, anddisembodied voices.Rather like themanner in whichLlnx, the Sontaranscout from the final

Hats off to Steve Prescon of Hamoshire whoanswered'Marzipan','Mark Mothersbaugh'and'Atauhualpa'. The third answer should'vebeen Huascar, but wor lad at least admittedhe wasn't absolutely certain, and moreimporantly even though it was the wronganswer, he spelt it right. funhermore, Steve'sresDonse to our tie-breaker (which wasn'treally necessary as it turned out) was that MC

116

The Sound Projector 6ixth Issue INDEX

A Kombi, 73Abe, Kaoru, 12Alphane Moon, 54Altered States, 5Ambarchi, Oren, 37, 52Amber Asylum, 95Anal Magic, 36Angels Of Light, 96Antitrade, 89Antonius Rex, 91Ashley, Robert, 28-30Ashtray Navigations, 52Aube, 80Aural Guerrilla, 115Avenaim, Robbie, 37Avram, Ana-Maria, 93Ayers, Nigel, 78

Bailey, Derek, 12, 14Band Of Pain, 77Bastien, Pierre, 107Bauer, Ramon, 83Beck, 94Behrman, David, 28-30Bevan, Tony, 13Bluepoint Underground, 112Body Lovers / Body Haters, 96Boredoms, 3Boris, 4Boxhead Ensemble, The, 92Brast Burn, 37Butcher, John, 11, 13

C-Murder, 69Cashmore, Michael, 96Chatham, Rhys, 91Christmann, Gunther, 15Cosmonauts Hail Satan, 113Current 93, 96Cutler, Chris, 93

Decalogue, 109Delay, Vladislav, 79Die, Trip Computer, Die!, 37Disinformation, 80Dissecting Table, 73DJ Rap, 66Don Air, 94Dragon Blue, 5Dumitrescu, Iancu, 93Durrant, Phil, 11, 13

Edwards, John, 14Elliott, Missy Midemeanour, 69Eminem, 65Étant Donnés, 22Extreme Music From Africa, 90Eye, Yamantaka, 42

Faust, 111Fear No Fall, 11Fell, Simon H., 14Fennesz, 108Fox, Terry, 23Foxy Brown, 65Frizzell, Rev Dwight, 36Funky Terrorist, 95

Gasaneta, 3Gentle Tasady, 109Ghost Orchid, The, 35Godspeed You Black Emperor!, 91Goldstein, Malcolm, 21Greif, Randy, 78Grippe, Ragnar, 22

Haines, David, 79Haino, Keiji, 4Halliwell, Graham, 14Hammill, Peter, 91Hanatarash, 4Hazard, 76Heemann, Christoph, 96Henry Cow, 93Hodgkinson, Tim, 93Hyperion Ensemble, The, 93

I-A Dusseldorf, 112I.S.O., 81Ikeda, Ryoji, 82Infrasonic Waves Vol Two, 110

James, Bob, 28-30Jeck, Philip, 107

Karuna Khyal, 37King Missile, 89Klangkrieg, 82Kondo, Toshinori, 12

La! Neu?, 111LaBelle, Brandon, 21Lagos, Alfredo, 93Lamb, Alan, 54Land Of Nod, The, 109Land of the Rising Noise, The, 5Lothars, The, 94Lucier, Alvin, 28-30Lytton, Paul, 13

Malik, Raphe, 41Mariani, Massimo, 93Masonna, 7Mateen, Sabir, 41Maximum Coherence During Flying, 90McNulty, Marc, 80Menstruation Sisters, 113Merzbow, 74Mia X, 70Minit, 79Moore, Thurston, 53Mount Vernon Arts Lab, 53Murray, Sunny, 41Muslimgauze, 52

N.W.A. Legacy Volume One, The, 68Naked City, 36New Hippies Volume One, 115New Hippies Volume Two, 115Nocturnal Emissions, 78Noto, 81

Obmana, Vidna, 77Opaque, 113

Optical*8, 3

Pandemic, 116Parker, Evan, 13, 15Parlane, Rosy, 79Parmentier, 79Phlegm, 89Poole, Rod, 53

Rake, 13Rapoon, 52Rawkus Presents Soundbombing II, 67Rehberg, Peter, 83Remora, 55Rogers, Paul, 14Russell, John, 13Rutherford, Paul, 13, 14

Salamander, 109Same Place, The, 115Sanders, Mark, 14Savage Pencil Presents The Antiquack, 38Scalpel, 78Schneider, Hans, 13Serpents, The, 90SLAB!, 114Smith, Roger, 12Snoop Dogg, 69Sonic Youth, 74Splintered, 113Spontaneous Music Ensemble, 12Stone, Carl, 23Storey, Robin, 78Straight Outta Compton, 66Sun City Girls, 39Surgal, Tom, 53Swans, 96

The Moon Lay Hidden Beneath A Cloud, 96Tietchens, Asmus, 77Timbaland, 67Tippett, Julie, 14Tippett, Keith, 14TLC, 68Transient V Resident, 76

Universal Indians, 52Utley, Adrian, 53

Venosta, Giovanni, 93Vitiello, Stephen, 22Vortex Navigation Company, 109

Wall, John, 108Weston, Veryan, 14

Yoshizawa, Motoharu, 12Your Icon, 92

Zorn, John, 42

This index to record reviews was compiled in 2010; the original magazine had no index. Releases credited to Various Artists are in italic.

the sound projector music magazine 6ixth issue (1999)

Documents

germany r e

e d p i n s e n t p

s r e c o r d sp o

po box

london wc1n

e t o np p

london sei

london e5