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Friday, August 15, 2003

new listening: - new material, just in for review, plus the release notes and links that come with them.

ANNE WESTPHALEN - Everything Else

Everything Else is the second release of Anne Westphalen on SueMi. Her first record Of Loops and Quotes (2001, SueMi06, 7 inch vinyl) contained a number of interview samples from young women the American artist Justine Kurland had been collecting over years. These interviews were conducted as part of the photo series from which both Westphalen covers were taken. As a result of this close collaboration, many of Westphalen‘s first releases were being distributed through Kurland‘s gallery in New York.
The pool of tracks which built the foundation for Of Loops and Quotes consisted of seven tracks, from which only two were released on vinyl. During Westphalen‘s work on the record Everything Else, it became clear early on that this release would be more than a continuation of her previous work. Westphalen created a new, self-sufficient and self-contained universe for Everything Else where the track Gleisdreieck is a link to the previous work, using the remains of the sample pool of interviews.
In comparison, Everything Else is a far more entrancing record, trying to reach places with its minimal sounds and long loops the shorter 7 inch format could not go. All tracks on Everything Else were conceptualised and created jointly for this release. Drawn into the deep. Drawing into the slowly evolving rhythms. Everything else seems to be somewhere else altogether. Anne Westphalen writes her own poetry, echoing on the sound is a sound is a sound. And as time slowly progresses and the rhythm thickens beat by beat, it is hard to tell if you really move or the world just moves around you

BOOKS ON TAPE - Hey Typical!

Collector-friendly, 120 gram blue 10" release for North Los Angeles' own Books on Tape. * Todd Books (Books on Tape) calls his style 'beatpunk'. His music combines the energy of rogue rock with the instrumentation of electronic music. * His first CD, Throw Down Your Laptops (on Burbank CA label Deathbomb Arc) was the 7th most added record, week of 12/3/02 on the CMJ. Peak positions: #68, #58 (CORE), #24 (RPM). In Canada, TDYL started at the #1 position on !Earshot's electronica chart in April 2003. * Books on Tape's Canadian buzz continues with a further 3"CD on Toronto's Piehead records, Winning Record.

COIN GUTTER - All Your Dreams Are Meaningless

Up-and-coming Canadian duo presents their debut CD following impressive critical acclaim for their previous self-released CDRs. * Coin Gutter is an extremely active live act, touring constantly all across Canada (Vancouver, Toronto, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Montréal and elsewhere...) * Fresh style, new approaches, involving sounds * Inspirations range from early '80s Industrial to late '90s glitch, but they sound like their own thing! Coin Gutter makes experimental electronic music interesting again! * This CD is the 2nd release (after Magali Babin's well received debut CD) in No Type's "abstract" series, highlighting the best in new experimental/art music in Canada. A forthcoming CD in this series (by Max Haiven & Jon Vaughn) is announced for October 2003.

OEUF KORRECKT - Podweek

Oeuf Korreckt is Quebec City-based Frederick Blouin, expert Internet programmer by day, dextrous computer musician by night. * His debut CD, Podweek, follows four acclaimed online releases on No Type which even led him to be mentioned in Spin, a rare feat in itself for a musician who has never released a CD. * Podweek is made of 15 songs which read like a greatest hits of Oeuf Korreckt's underground period. Every song is catchy, memorable & violently addictive. The album happily mixes together elements of IDM, synthpop, rock, and even some happy hardcore to create songs that are quite simply timeless and never tacky.

HEADPHONE SCIENCE - We Remain Faded

Oakland, CA resident Dustin Craig's first CD under the name Headphone Science, following a number of succesful webreleases with No Type, Subverseco & Observatory. * Fresh, personal IDM style, highly melodic & catchy, with hip-hop & film soundtrack samples.

DANIEL MENCHE - Invoker

Daniel Menche, a warrior from the West drawing his strength from ancient spiritual codes of the far east. 'Invoker' is a work inspired by the age old ancient practice of sound being used to call upon higher dieties for strength and guidence and how mankind continues to use sound as an "invoker" in modern times. The whole aspect of "invoking" within and past the whelms of the divine is an strong interest and inspiration for this recording

TEXTURIZER - s/t

Texturizer: Athens based duo of Nikos Veliotis and Coti K.
Nikos Veliotis, an experienced improviser of the European scene, armed with his cello, and electronics guru Coti (recently appearing on Antifrost's 'Suffer/Enjoy' compilation project) are long term collaborators. The different directions that each of them has chosen for their solo work, perfectly converge in Texturizer. Texturizer spent a day at the Agios Georgios Church in a suburb of Athens creating a tense volume, a magnetic state of captivating layers of acoustic sounds, field recordings and electronic drones full of subtleties.

ERIC ALDEA / IVAN CHIOSSONE - Narcophony

For some time already, Eric Aldéa had been mentioning his will to work on an adaptation for machines and strings of "Spiral Insana", a track recorded by Nurse with Wound in 1986. Thrilled by the first extracts he had sent us, we soon committed ourselves to produce it.
At the same time, his encounter with Ivan Chiossone, a talented multi-instrumentalist who was then working on his first recording, induced him to broaden the scope of his initial project. This encounter has indeed quickly become a close collaboration for Ivan Chiossone has taken part in the creation and the development of the project. Finally, Narcophony is a piece of work of its own, inspired by "Spiral Insana" rather than a mere adaptation of it. 2 of the 5 tracks are co-signed by the two musicians and the third track, called "Leo", is Chiossone's own work.
This symbiosis, shared with all the guest musicians (including Franck Laurino and Francois Cuilleron, two former members of Bästard), enabled the duo to produce a magnificent record, alternating soothed atmospheres and the symphonic gushes of strings and organic sounds (oud, clarinets...). A superb voyage at the crossroads of contemporary and electronic creations. Purely and simply beautiful music.

GEL: - Dolce

Gel: is the alias of Julien Loquet from Normandie, France. His first album "-1" (originally from Artefact) was a tremendous hit among the experimental electronic music scene in Japan. He also records under the alias Dorine_muraille and has recently released from the UK's great Fat Cat label.
"Dolce" (a word for "softness" in Italian) is his second album under this alias and you can hear influences from post-classical music but something totally different. He recalls this album as his most delicate work ever using many live instruments like acoustic guitars and piano. The recorded instruments are processed and combined with electronic tones and glitches in his laptop and stirred up and arranged over and over. The results are melodic layers flowing with constant changes disrupted into caos and on and on to another scenery... Incredibly dense tracks full of numerous colorful fragments.
The artwork painting and the design is by Cheason from Fonica who has recently released a highly acclaimed album from Plop (licensed to Tomlab for the world).

MAPS + DIAGRAMS - Polytuft-Tech

'Maps + Diagrams' is Tim Martin. born in 1972, Tim spent most of his childhood whizzing round Nottingham on a bmx and listening to his friend's dad's collection of Kraftwerk, Talking Heads and punk records. A love affair with electro and hip hop then followed and ensured that he never looked back. When Tim got his hands on a clapped out keyboard in the early nineties, he soon found the sounds he imagined when he was younger and his childhood memories came flooding back.
'Polytuft-Tech' is the sound of Maps and Diagrams in 2003, it strikes a complex and intricate sound but retains all the warmth and melody of Tim's earlier work.
In his own words: "I prefer to create simple melodys that tend to bounce off each other and try not to get too distracted with the over-production that we hear in some music now days. I've always been into electronic styles of music and influenced by technology. Polytuft-Tech for me was a step up in that sound which i had developed from a few years back with my debut lp Free-Time on Pause_2. With Polytuft-Tech I kept similar melodys and developed a warmer more advanced structure to my music with more emphasis on the percussion and underlying sounds that carried the music deeper."
As Maps and Diagrams, Tim has also previously released music for Neo Ouija, Tundra Music and Endorphin. In addition, he runs his own label, Cactus Island.

SCOTT HORSCROFT - 8 Guitars

8 Guitars is a totally absorbing and trance-inducing work of psychedelic beauty. Here eight guitarists are patched to a computer; recorded and manipulated live with no overdubs. Each player observes strict, unchanging rhythmic patterns over the course of the recording. However, the dense, shifting rhythms in 8 Guitars are derived not from the physical attack of the performers, but through the complex interaction of the overtones and harmonic characteristics of the instruments themselves. This makes for one of the most unique and compelling works for electric guitars in recent memory.
8 Guitars is a finely balanced exploration of restraint and delicacy and is at the same time a full-blown raucous electro-catharsis. The sort of work that will satisfy not only the chin-stroking lovers of abstract electronica but also power-chord enthusiasts.
8 Guitars is the first album by Scott Horscroft from Sydney/Australia.


ULTRA-RED - ¡Amnistía!

Los Angeles collective Ultra-red (previous releases available from Comatonse, Mille Plateaux, Fat Cat, and Beta Bodega) come forward with an intense, playful and urgent commentary on the rights of undocumented immigrant workers. Using the May Day 2000 rally which took place on Wall Street in New York City as the sound source from which the group craft this suite of compositions, this 20 minute EP energetically brings the immediacy of the workers' situation to the fore. Ranging in style from finely detailed minimal house to precise and focused soundscaping, these recordings mark a stylistic departure for the collective while merging to create a seamless listening experience complete with repeating motifs, both verbal and musical, throughout the release. The use of field recordings of the rally (vocal house?) to create the sense of protest through atmosphere and rhythmic urgency is more effective and complex than to be found in Ultra-red's previous works. Includes an essay by Ultra-red, presented in English and Spanish, on the situation faced by undocumented workers in the USA.

V.A. - HEARINGS

What do coffee machines, neon tubes and gameboys have in common? They can all be found as the creators of sound on the CD Hearings.
Everyday objects as instruments and unconventional approaches as a principle: this premiere CD from Transacoustic Research's newly founded label offers, along with the reinterpretation of language samples into musical material, also the sound of the Jew's harp as the basis for electronic music, homemade laptops, and sounds from hard drives' writing heads.
The individual tracks, which range from pieces that are nearly dance rhythms to calm contemplative stretches, prove that these unconventional approaches can lead to impressive musical results.
Hearings, events organised by the Institute for Transacoustic Research, offer presentations of experiments and projects displaying a transacoustic character.
The hearings make a significant contribution to the more precise circumscription and investigation of the field of research. The experiments and projects presented are mainly from the area of audio art and experimental music. Also appearing, however, are collaborations and individual contributions from the fine arts, literature, humanities, dance, musical theatre, performance, electronics-technology, etc.

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