Reviews: experimental

There is quite a lot which I can tell before I actually say something about the music on this self-produced cd by Straiph. The artist behind this project is a scientist/technician who works in the Scottish highlands and who uses the name Straiph…

The first release on the new Russian label Monopoly Records, and my first acquintance with Cyclotimia, who previously released material on Stateart amongst others. This project is already active for more than a decade. The industrial music which they started with was later combined with other electronic styles, to achieve a hard to describe mixture of various influences…

To get in the mood for this cd, repeat after me: “Eggs they say” and keep repeating those three words very fast. The result should be a Ilsa Gold song. On this 2 cd set Mego released an overview of the works of Ilsa Gold, Austria’s legendary contribution and reaction to the rave scene, and kings of scheiss house…

Smip stands for somethingmovinginsideplasticbox, as the full title of this release reads. It’s the second release by [#/TAU] aka Boris D Hegenbart, a Berlin based computer sound artist. The title is quite an appropriate description of what this has to offer. 13 tracks of field recordings, processed sounds of all sorts and strange synthetic sounds…

Kaffe Matthews is a girl/woman from London who is (and has been) very active in the experimental music scene. She has collaborated with various artists, such as; Fennesz, Andy Moor (the Ex), Ikue Mori, Zeena Parkins, etc. All sounds on this CD were made by a small theremin and its feedback in a room. These sounds were later processed…

This double-CD compilation is an initiative of the Chaisse des Depots gallery in Paris. The idea is that different artists give their musical interpretation of spoken word and the environment of galleries or musea. This CD includes artists like Monolake, Vladislav Delay, Curd Duca, Steve Roden, Torococorot, as well as a number of unknown (to me at least) ones…

PFFR is a very weird formation. This band from the US has recently released a 7” single and an lp on the French minimal elektro label Invasion Planete. Although their music fits the labels profile with a little imagination it is still a somewhat weird act amongst the other bands the label hosts…

With their last release Zero Mass Calibration Zentropia made a surprising album with a dark psychedelic ambient sound with dub influences. Fables of the Celestial Night is basically more of the same, which doesn’t mean this new cd is not good. This record is recommended to everybody who likes dark ambient…

I always liked Ulver. From their “Vargnatt” promo to the “Lyckantropen themes” they released a bunch of albums which all sound different from each other. When this band released their first full-length “Bergtatt” (atmospheric black metal with Norwegian folk influences) they were one of the best bands in the flourishing Norwegian black metal scene of the first half of the nineties…

A Bulletin on Vertigo is Headley’s fourth release, after releasing three cd-r’s. This is his first real cd release, on the Canadian label 28 Angels. On this work Headley has expanded his sound pallet by using computer as a main source…

After several releases of the people behind Animal Collective, either under the name of Animal Collective, or under their own names, Fat Cat decided it was time to re-release the first Tow releases by these hip and hyped Americans…

Asmus Tietchens is a legendary composer, who has been composing experimental music from the 1960?s in the field of electro-acoustic music and musique concrete, and who is still producing a lot of works nowadays…

Julien Locket is back, this time as Gel. As Gel Loquet released several 12″es and cd’s on various labels. This release, called “Dolce”, is released on the always surprising Japanese label Plop. Loquet again cuts and slices his source material, flips it around, turns it over and treats it almost beyond recognition. But as always Loquet is a master in creating order out of chaos…

German guitar experimentalist Joseph Suchy build up a name by working together with people such as Ekkehard Ehlers, and as part of the Nu Dub Players. This is his fourth full-length solo outing, released on Staubgold. I now first must admit something. I find Staubgold a very difficult label to judge…

PFFR is a weird electronic and anarchistic sounding popgroup from the US. The group plays freaked out minimal electro. Jumping basslines and difficult rhythms are shaped into unusual song structures. This record is far from dancefloor friendly. Even when a song starts normal this is only for a short moment of time…

Giscard le Survivant is an experimental French electronic project, which I first encountered on the compilation “Like Music to their Ears vol. 1”. Apparently this is already the 6th demo of this project, that has also produced two albums.

All the way from Russia came two cdr EP’s from a project called Roz Vitalis. The ‘Nice Edge’ EP dates from 2001 and contains 6 tracks. ‘Painsadist’ is from 2003 and offers 7 pieces. The music is largely made by keyboards and sounds rather improvised and experimental…

This CD is a collaboration between the Japanese projects Guilty Connector and Tabata. Guilty Connector comes from the noise scene, and is closely related to MSBR. Tabata is best known for his guitarplaying for Zeni Geva and the Boredoms, as well as other Japanese guitarbands. This collaboration is an attempt to fuse noise with psychedelic rock…

Eric Aldea used to be one of the main people in the ?cult? group B?stard, but nowadays focuses on a more interesting mix of electronic and acoustic compositions. For Narcophony, Aldea worked with Ivan Choissone, a multi-instrumentalist, of whom Narcophony is the first record. The CD contains seven tracks, which form three long compositions, two by both artists, and a third by Choissone alone…

The only work of Arne Nordheim that I had heard before this release was the re-working of his compositions by Biosphere and Deathprod (also released on Rune Grammofon). While this re-working clearly had the identity of the latter two artists, it also contained a very special atmosphere that could not be ascribed to both reworkers.