Editorial
Hi folks
Both
illness and technical difficulties has kept WWR from your screens for
the last 3 months and for a time it was looking touch and go as to
whether WWR would continue but we're back.
In
early August, and for the fourth time in three years, my seedee player
took a nosedive into the dustbin. Fanzine writing, and music loving in
general, is hard on the equipment.
For
the last year I've been expecting either my amp or my speakers to make
that last final squeal before shuffling off into the great audio
junkyard in the sky but they're still soldiering on no matter how
extreme the noises they're asked to deal with. If either of them had
gone tits up it wouldn't have been a problem as I have spares of both.
Seedee players on the other hand cannot stand the pace and I had
neither a spare nor the cash to replace it.
Then,
two days after I finally managed to replace my player and had started
reviewing again I was laid out by a mystery virus that sapped every
ounce of energy from me. Standing up without suffering bouts of
vertigo became a real issue and so listening to all this wonderfully
swirly music I get sent was not high on my list of things to do. It
took about 3 weeks to finally get myself back on my feet but I'm now
fully recovered and raring to go.
So,
apologies for the delay. I hope you weren't too inconvenienced by my
tardiness. This issue of WWR is chock full of choice cuts from some
familiar names and some not so familiar ones. Some of the reviews may
be a little brief but that was simply to salvage some time and get this
issue out to you all. Please remember that if it's in here it's
because I think it's worth being in here. I don't review music I don't
like but I do speak my mind about what I feature. Honesty is the only
policy.
Peace, love and shiny new seedee players
Ian Holloway
Music
The Bordellos - Debt Sounds
(Welshcake Records WC1)
CDR
Long
time friends of WWR, The Bordellos, return with the first release on
their very own Welshcake Records label. 17 tracks recorded over 10
consecutive Fridays with minimal rehearsal and zero overdubs. It's
monumentally stoned sounding and as lo-fi as it's possible to get.
They wear their psychedelic hearts proudly on their (probably paisley)
shirt-sleeves and they sing heartfelt songs about love, Rolf Harris,
love and lot's of other things, including love.
TB
are very much a band out of time. Their sound is that of the indie-est
of music from the late 70's and 80's. Their beautifully shambolic
musicianship is brutally at odds with both modern tastes and modern
recording technology. They will never grace the cover of either NME or
Sound on Sound and you've gotta love them for it. I couldn't listen to
this all the time - I think I'd go insane - but I feel the same about
most music.
Debt Sounds is The Fall, is Daniel Johnson, is Jad Fair, is Half Man Half Biscuit, is The Bordellos.
Concern - Truth & Distance
(Digitalis Industries ACE016)
CD
Whilst
probably being more of an ep (remember them) than an album this is 30
minutes of loveliness from Gordon Ashworth via the ever wonderful
Digitalis label that should be very high on any right-thinking music
lovers wants list.
The
album opens with it's longest and most euphoric composition. This 17
minute title track, from a slow crackled beginning, rises to stand
naked in the sun engaging in a joyous droning cry to the heavens before
laying itself down to rest as it began. Track 2 (Young Birth) is no
less blissful than it's predecessor but is more restrained in it's
rapture. The acoustic drone (the whole album is acoustic) delicately
threading it's way to it's end, requiring you to do absolutely nothing
except enjoy the ride. Final track, Heartsink, takes you from the
comfort zone of the previous two tracks into a slowly emerging
cascading piano melody that brings the album to a close.
A short but perfectly formed declaration of Ashworth's musical truths.
Ctacik - In Order To Prevent Sense
(Verato Project)
CDR
I
must admit that the sleeve design for this one, a photo of a woman's
torso (ribs to knees) being held by four male hands each of which has
large nails sticking out of them, had me a little fooled. I took one
look and relegated it to the bottom of the pile of Verato cds thinking
it was going to be a load of pseudo-goth noise tosh and as such it's
the last of their releases to make it onto my player. I did it a
disservice. It's actually far more interesting than that.
'In
Order...' is a very nicely melded amalgam of tone and drone ambience
decorated with some nicely sparse and melancholic instrumentation and
field recordings. It's, for the most part, a disquietingly sad set of
compositions that periodically erupt with fiery eloquence. It's a very
theatrical album. Admittedly some of the sounds he (or she or they)
use are a little, not so much hackneyed but, dated and this does
distract on occasion but it's been mixed beautifully and filled with
ideas meaning it's easy to slip back into the music after these minor
interruptions.
Recommended heavily to those with a taste for the macabre.
Culver - Blue Angel
(Muzzedia Verhead 010)
3"CDR
Teeny
weeny mini-cdr from Gateshead resident Lee Stokoe of deep dark ambient
drone. Its isolationist tendencies are firmly rooted in it's cavernous
rumble. Consisting of a mostly constant, gritty drone over and under
which slow tones ebb and flow like a soupy ocean.
Sonically
it's a little on the murky side which makes it hard to separate some of
the individual sounds and could probably have benefited from a little
more clarity in the mix but it does what it does very nicely for the 16
minute runtime and offers an immersive journey to those with a penchant
for the dark.
Darwinsbitch - Ore
(Digitalis Industries ACE016)
CD
Behind
the immaculately named Darwinsbitch is one Marielle Jakobsons who, on
this, her debut solo seedee, has assembled a many layered monolith of
sound.
Taking
elements of drone, folk music and melancholic sacramental music,
jakobson (who is also part of the duos Date Palms and Myrmyr) has
focused them into a most intriguing whole. There is a deceptive ease
to the music. It's far too easy to slip comfortably inside the ambience
and miss the sheer quality of the music. Her instrumentation is dense
yet unobtrusive and drenched in the white heat of her drones.
Ore is a beautiful piece of folk music that is equal part utterly familiar, utterly alien and utterly compelling.
Rita Galetti - Falter
(Contra Musik Produktion CMP23)
CD
I
know very little about Rita Galetti. Actually, let me rephrase that. I
know almost nothing about Rita Galetti but a quick interweb search
tells me that she's a sound artist working out of Canada. Throughout
the album she utilises a battery of equipment and techniques to create
a continuously rolling set of compositions. There is a nicely melodic
core to her work that is often missing in music with an experimental
bent and the relaxed vibe that pervades much of the album is to be
enjoyed. It is a little too restless at times, much of the album
consists of short tracks, and some ideas could maybe have been worked
out more fully and allowed to blossom in a more gradual and thorough
manner. That said though the album at no point feels unfinished or
rushed and is another in a list of fine releases coming via CMP.
Hinsidan - Bleach Dye Yr Heart
(Gears of Sand GOS32)
CD
You'd
think I'd have learned by now not to judge a CD by it's cover as it's
often misleading but in this case the track titles didn't help - track
one is called 'Slaughter of the Innocence, Slaughter of the Innocent'
& track two is 'Vivisection of the Soul'. These two, and other,
really quite appallingly naff titles helped my second exposure to
Hinsidan find itself falling through the pile of albums awaiting review
for which I must apologise cause it's actually pretty good.
The
trio that make up the group employ a battery of mostly electronic
instruments to produce a head stew of tone and drone ambience with
occasional flurries of mellow Boards of Canada style electronica and
even some singing - definitely not the albums high point.
On
the whole though Hinsidan is a very listenable set of tunes. It's not
the best thing I've heard recently (and it's certainly not the worst)
as it never really managed to utterly absorb me into itself but it's
found itself on my player several times in recent weeks and makes a
very fine aural backdrop which after all is exactly the point of
ambient music.
Hreda - Minnows
(Ingue Records)
7"
2
track 7" singkle from Oxford based trio of vaguely mathy post-rock
instrumsntals. Previous reviews comparing them to the wonderful
Explosions In The Sky are, I think, a little overly generous and also
do a disservice to Hreda. Their sound is missing the majesty and
grandeur of EITS but instead displays a technical expertise and a
groove all their own. There is a much more metallic and, dare I say,
prog heart to Hreda. The music is occasionally a little too busy for
my tastes but with the changes coming thick and fast you only have to
wait a couple of seconds before the tune is off in another direction.
Naturally,
being a 7" single (or in my case a promo cdr) there is only 11 and a
half minutes of music on here but it is 11 and a half minutes well
spent that leaves you wanting more but until the album appears I
recommend picking a copy of this up and listening to it on repeat.
Another quality release from Ingue Records.
The Infant Cycle - The Sand Rays
(Diophantine Discs n=20)
CD
A
different sort of album from the predominantly drone loving crew at
Diophantine as Jim DeJong's The Infant Cycle project is (at least in
this instance) more interested in the endless vagaries of rhythm than
in the infinite variations of tone yet he never loses site of the
horizon-gazing timelessness of the best drone albums, which is no mean
feat. His rhythmic oscillations are collected from a huge array of
sources (as listed on the cd) such as vinyl run-out grooves, field
recordings, skittering electronics and a host of others, over which
DeJong has liberally scattered breathless, organic sounding
instrumentation.
Much
of the album sounds decayed and vaguely dilapidated. It's run-down
griminess allowing it to achieve a sense of character that's often
overlooked. It's lived-in homeliness is hugely addictive as is the
verve and the dexterity with which the whole thing has been assembled
into a massively compulsive whole.
Recommended.
The Infrared Experience - White
(Contra Musik Produktion 22)
CD
No
info accompanies the two new releases from CMP and in the case of this
on at least there are no clues to be gleaned from the sleeve either.
What info is given however is to inform that the entirety of this album
was created using electric guitar and assorted pedals.
The
enigmatically named 'White' is a startlingly mobile set of gently
psychedelic squalls. Layers of guitar meticulously overlaid to mostly
good effect. Ironically it's when the guitars are at their most
recognisable that this alum loses momentum. The switch between the
more immersive longform drone pieces and the more 'traditionally'
played guitar pieces is, especially early on in the album, quite
jarring but becomes less so as the album continues, whether as a result
of improved composition or as a result of acclimation by the listener I
cannot say. What I can say though is that 'White' is absolutely worth
investigating for fans of guitar-centric abstractions.
Soon Kim & Tetsuya Hori - Non-Transposed Sense
(Konnex Records KCD 5228)
CD
A
simply astonishing set from two Berlin based Japanese musicians that
mixes Kim's beautifully understated saxophone with Hori's laptop,
melodion, toy-piano, cigar box and beer bottle - the cigar box isn't
that apparent but the bottle is used to nice effect.
Kim,
who has previously studied under Ornette Coleman, is, as one would
suspect given the nature of his instrument, often to be found providing
the more flighty aspects of the compositions but his playing is
beautifully understated refusing to overpower (or overplay) the
sumptuous textural bedrock provided by Hori's variety of instruments.
Indeed on the final track it is Hori who very much takes the lead to
which Kim provides flashes of light and colour before it all ends
rather oddly.
There
are parts of the album that don't work so well - the spoken text of
track 2 being a particular weak point - but that said this is one of
the finest examples of electro-acoustic music I've ever heard. Both
musicians seem utterly in tune with each other and the music is, as I
started this review by saying, simply astonishing.
The Knockouts - Honolulu Sunscream
(High Town / Topplers)
CDR
Infectiously
groovy set of garage instrumentals for this Luton quartet featuring
ex-members of 80's indie popsters Thrilled Skinny. There's a
refreshingly self-aware coherence to what's on offer here as the band
flow effortlessly between pseudo-psychedelic pop jams to low-down and
lo-fi garage / surf skronk without ever losing site of the fact that
guitars are meant to be fun.
It's
been years since I listened to much music that even approximates this
sort of stuff and so I probably not the most reliable of reviewers but
I liked it a hell of a lot. It reminded me very much of London
white-trash surf-punkers Ten Benson from before they discovered AC/DC
and got shit. This is effortlessly joyful and it made me want to dance
drunkenly around the room and nothing ever makes me want to dance,
drunkenly or otherwise.
Ennio Mazzon - In An Undertone At A Loose End
(Ripples Recordings RPL001)
3"CDR
Debut
release from Ripples Recordings is a mini set of hissing noise and
drones from Italian musician Mazzon. There are some nice flourishes
throughout the ep and Mazzon has conjured some nicely hard edged drones
upon which he builds his music. However with an average runtime of 2
minutes the 9 tracks that have been squashed onto this 3 inch CDR do
have a tendency to sound a little like sketches rather than fully
formed pieces. I think what's there is interesting and I'd be
interested to hear more but like a battery hen the music needs more
room to breathe and stretch in order achieve it's full potential.
Mixturizer - mxtrzr
(R.O.N.F. Records RNF-040)
CDR
My
only previous exposure to the music of Manuel Marrero Cubas' Mixturizer
project was as part of a split release also on his R.O.N.F. label on
which I described him as issuing forth a 'cretaceous fuzzy roar'. Well
upon hearing a full length I stand by my words. Obviously there's more
to it than just that but as a baseline description it holds quite a lot
of water.
Noise
is Manuel's passion. Harsh digital noise at that. This is anything
but music for the faint of ears. The screaming, screeching, careening
shards of grit that avalanche from each track are great fun. His
noises are some of the sharpest edged that I've heard in a long time,
in places piercing even. This is a wonderful change from the standard
po-faced, guttural belch of much noise music as it seems to have the
biggest, cheesiest shit-eating grin on it's face as it throws itself at
you and slam dances on your eardrums.
Regular
readers will now by now that with each passing month I'm becoming less
and less interested in full-on noise assaults and most of the pieces
that hit my player do so only the once. Now and again though I get one
that reinstates my belief in noise as a vibrant genre. This is one of
those times.
Sascha Muhr - wandering:trapped
(Q-Tone qt03)
CD
A
few months back I was the fortunate recipient of two rather fabulous
albums (by Homework and by Terje Paulsen) from new label Q-Tone. Now
they've followed these with a further pair of releases by Hiroki
Sasajima and this one from Muhr.
This
9 track set of guitar improvisations is an interesting prospect that,
for me, suffers from a lack of dimensions. I've never been a massive
fan of single instrument music, I need more layers and levels to my
sounds than these types of recordings generally provide. Here the
emphasis is on slow and expressive playing without un-necessary
showboating or descents into cliché. Muhr's recording certainly is one
of the better I've heard and the latter half of the album is very good
indeed. The earlier, more fiery tracks are for me the less interesting
as it feels too worked and a little contrived.. Like I said though,
it's worth persevering as it does get very much better.
Omnivore - Spandaurandurandauballet
CDR
Under
their previous awful name (I'll let you search the WWR archives for it
- it began with a 'D') Omnivore produced one of the best albums it was
my pleasure to hear in the entirety of 2008. With 2009 nearing it's
end they have once more provided me (and you if you've any sense) with
a fantastic slice of fiery jazz excess. Omnivore's jazz is obviously
very much influenced by Zorn's Naked City project and their combination
of restless free-jazz skronk, math-rock musicality and a stoner heart
with a brutally uncompromising grindcore-esque mentality is an absolute
joy to these jaded ears. This is very much a continuation of where the
previous album left off as saxophone, drums and guitars (alongside some
circuit bending) collide in a glorious mass pile up of sound.
Massively recommended.
Yui Onodera - Entropy
(Trumn T02)
CD
A
welcome reissue of the debut release from Tokyo based drone musician
Onodera suffers from a terrible misnomer. This is anything but the
sound of entropy. While the range of sounds on offer may be sparse,
the ideas cementing them together, the clarity of the conception and
the quality of the execution imbues his music with both life and
movement, languid life and gentle movement admittedly, but life and
movement nonetheless.
Onodera's
compositional techniques marries amorphous tone with occasional
flurries of grittier textures. His music draws from a broader palette
than simple drone as loops, swirls, pulses and eddies all contribute to
the heady psychedelic swell. It's difficult to really pin down
Onodera's compositions as they have a deceptively nebulous quality that
avoids detailed listening which is a quality I like very much as it
gives the music a longevity that is easily lost in music that one can
pin down and analyse. It's intrinsic nature is to drift across your
attention allowing itself to be glanced at but not watched.
Beautiful music.
Continued in part two