FULL WOLF MOON (19 January 2011)

The musick dedicated to this Esbat is:

ITSUTSU NO AKAI FUSEN

FLIGHT 1 & 2


Original Issue: 1970 Underground Record Club URG-4006)
Original Issue: 1971 Underground Record Club URG-4007)

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Margot-meter: 4 moons / 5

Impossible-to-find holy grail ranking at #47 in Julian Cope's Japrocksampler is finally available in Margot's coven!!!!

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from Julian Cope's Japrocksampler:

Imagine an LP half full of songs such as Erika Eigen's 'I Wanna Marry a Lighthouse Keeper' from the A CLOCKWORK ORANGE soundtrack. Mo Tucker's Velvet Underground ballads 'After-hours' and 'I'm Sticking with You', and that ubercute ditty Tonight You Belong to Me' that Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters sang together in The Jerk.

Imagine that same album also contains a few euphorically strung-out cosmic folk ballads somewhere in the style of Tim Buckley's Straight Records LP BLUE AFTERNOON united with Culture's super-sweet TWO SEVENS CLASH, but sung by a man and a woman in the manner of Emtidi's SAAT. Then imagine that some of that material was extended to cover a whole side of 12" vinyl, Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser-style.

Okay, now imagine there were two such LPs and that they were released one year apart on a cult label called Underground Record Club, and you've hit exactly where Itsutsu no Akai Fusen is coming from. It's a weird combination of urban torch songs, rural lovey-dovey indoor campfire, and transcendental tripped out meditative space folk. Both LPs were packaged in cosmic spacious gatefold sleeves, and the records were mainly sung by female singer Hideko Fujiwara and written by songwriter Takashi Nishioka, the man responsible for a fairly legendary Japanese album, MELTING GLASS BOX. that I've never really found much time for.

These two records I like very much indeed, however, so they're hidden away at number 47 because I listen to them all the time, despite having never had much time for the Japanese early-'70s folk scene. So please excuse this review hyping two LPs simultaneously, but by 2012, you'll most likely have found time to investigate these records and, hopefully, are by now digging them.

FULL COLD MOON (21 December 2010)

The musick dedicated to this Esbat is:

NERELL LOREN

LILIN DEWA


Original Issue: 1996 Soleilmoon (DFX 26) Buy it here!!!

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Margot-meter: 4,5 moons / 5

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from http://home.earthlink.net/~lnerell/ldreviews.html:

Option May-June 1997

Nerells' chops as both a synthesizer expert and a student of the gamelan allow him to explore the border region between electronics and one of the world's most highly developed acoustic orchestras -- not that this hasn't been done before. But Nerell takes the gamelan into ambient realms, where-as many of the other fusions of Western musics with gamelan have turned on gamelan's rhythmic elements, Nerell uses gamelan in combination with synths, but also electronically morphs the gamelans into subtle, delicate resonant spaces, where just traces of the originals loop through the composition. At times reminiscent of Jon Hassell and the darker soundscapes of Steve Roach, Nerell's music shows a delicate touch of great beauty, and his understanding and love of gamelan never leave you feeling even the hint of appropriation. John Baxter

Alternative Press May 1997

(four fingers out of five meaning: well done).
Nerell is an American who became spellbound by Bali and Java's gamelan music after a chance encounter with it 15 years ago. He merges field recordings of said music with his own studio manipulaitons (via synths and samplers), but only skilled ears could tell which is which. Nerell's tools include various Indonesian gongs, rain-stick, dholak and slenthem.

Lilin Dewa should strike a resonant chord with Westerners receptive to contemplative musics, even if they don't have a clue about gamelan. The moan-and-groan drone of Galungan has ritualistic overtones that induce an uneasy, peaceful feeling, like being isloated in a desert, Borobudur 4AM is akin to Paul Schutze's cinematic take on Souteastern Asian ambience. Muted chanting and cricketsong add to the song's mesmerizing chill. Bamboo, Iron, Resin, Bronze is one of the most gorgeous and euphoric peices of music since Don Cherry's "brown Rice" (1975), conjuring the image of a stately glide down an Indoesian river. Dave Segal

Interface version 4.1

It seems as though everytime you turn around, Portland-based Soleilmoon Recordings puts out another batch of reissues, collections, anthologies and new releases that transcend the usual glut of meaningless industrial anthem rock, and define a whole other, more sincere world of ambient sounds and settings. Quickly becoming the grandfather of Industrial World Music, Soleilmoon must rank at the top of the list for any aficionado of textual sound canvases and internationally-mixed keyboard cacophonies. This latest batch of exceptional ambient releases all arrived at my door within the last few months, and they are collectively better than the junk-mail singles collections substituting for albums that clutter major labels, release schedules for an entire year.....Nerell and Muzlimgauze offer enchanting forays into the realm of world music with their new releases....all are superior and recommended trance music for the thinking man. Anais

Camera Obscura

Nerell, originally awakened by Tangerine Dream's Rubycon, also took an early liking to gamelan music, tape manipulation, and electronic sound generation. He's been known for his work with Steve Roach, Djam Karet, Kronos Quartet, Paul Haslinger, and others. Why he's taken so long to release his first solo is a mystery, but some artists only do things when they consider the time is exactly right. Lilin Dewa is a slow, brooding, swirling, mysterious quintet of nighted murals. A cross between Vidna Obmana, Alain Kremski, and a somnabulistic Steve Reich, it demands liquid patience from the listener and displays a debt to Harry Partch that only the initiated will understand. It also requires a breadth of experience, attention, and, at least initially, non-judgementalism. The opening track, Irama, is deceptive, seeming somewhat more minimal than necessary, and perhaps a tad paradoxically World Music-y in this fad-time of politically correct obeisance to imaginary social demands from art (of all things). It is, however, a preparation agent and owes no uncivil subordination to current contexts and trends. It slows the listener and thickens the listening environment, and is important to the fourth track, Hiasan (Ornament), which contains very subtle information and is an epic (20:00) of quietude, joining such masterpieces as Eno's 2/2, John Abercrombie's Still, and a much-too-small body of sublime quiet-art. It also has latencies of the On Land work.

The closer, Borobudur 4AM, carries on Hiasan's mission, but as terrenely alien electronics within a rain forest (the ambients were recorded at Borobudur, in Java, site of the largest Buddhist stupa in the world) counterpointed by a distanced ceremonial event. And neither Nerell nor the label indicate whether there was an intention for the bird song and insects to act as natural music, but they do, giving a bit of an exposure to the coincidental experience of nature as an unrecognized music "form". Given the savantry displayed and Nerell's immersion in the culture (he played in-country with native bands) bounced against his American birth, I'd wager he knew exactly what he was doing yet got more than he intended. The degree of identification with this environment is almost unsettling, creating the transference for the wet loamy fecundity of the jungle to seep slowly into the listener's bones......through the ears.

This cd will not be for everyone, of course. It requires more than a modicum of culture and serenity of mind and spirit. Many who essay it unprepared will soon be clawing to crawl out of their skins and toss on some Metallica. But, for the connoisseur, it will sit on the shelf of outre musics for slightly twisted ears. And once you've finished listening, the answer to my curiosity (as to why he took so long to go solo) should become obvious. Marc Tucker

Exposé No. 14, Winter 1998

Here is a composer who has been busy working to put Indonesia on the map as the next landing point in the trek in search of inspiration. In his music Loren Nerell has always shown the explorer spirit, and Lilin Dewa reflects the fruits of his study of ancient and rare forms of Balinese gamelan. This he uses as source material to create ethnic-drone hybrid material that you could safely say has precedence in Brian Eno's seminal On Land. Reference points to the techno-tribal or Berlin-style space music directions taken on his previous cassettes (not to mention other influences such as Harry Partch) are scant, if existent at all, on this (his third) release. Far and away the standout track for me was the evocatively titled, Bamboo, Iron, Resin, Bronze, with its simple but very effective hints at gamelan. Such a beautiful blending of authentic instrumentation flanked by a synthetic layering - you wish it would go on much longer. Hiasan is a sedate meditation constructed around motives played on the kempul (a row of highly vibrant, tuned Javanese gongs). If their resonance seems to beckon one to the imperial courts of Jogyakarta, then the Roach-like drone of Galungan bids one to stay and soak in the ceremonial atmosphere the work evinces. Voices and flute creep into the menacing admixture ever so subtly. The ambient drone supporting Borubudur 4AM is based around field recordings made near the Borubudur temple in Java. It is the next best thing to being there I'm sure, but given its fifteen-minute length you might wish for the intrusion of some more prominent instrumentation. The CD closes there, however, leaving us to ponder what may follow. That this one-time Djam Karet collaborator has few peers in the subgenre lends a sense of limitlessness which I hope Loren will exploit further in the future. Mike Ezzo

Wind & Wire Issue 7 July/August 1998


Genre: Gamelan (Ambient/Trance/World)

Music that invites the deepest of listenings are few and far between when one reviews music as much as I do. Loren Nerell's recording Lilin Dewa is music that merits it, though. Seldom do I hear a work that almost literally jumps into my head and says, "Listen, dammit. I have something important to say." But, after hearing just the first several minutes of this CD, listen (and very intently) is just what I did. It was time well spent.

Lilin Dewa could very well be the sequel to Robert Rich's superlative 1989 recording, Rainforest. Both are heavily influenced (and in the case of Loren, very directly so) by the gamelan music of Bali. To put this CD in the same league of Robert's is, coming from me, very heady praise. To me, Rainforest is a literally essential CD and may be Robert's best work. That Lilin Dewa stands toe-to-toe with it and even expands on some of that release's work is quite a feat.

Using an assortment of Indonesian gongs and kempuls, Balinese suling and gambuh, plus many other instruments that not only do I not know what they are but probably can't even pronounce them, along with wonderful synth and sampler textures, Loren has produced a work of feeling, mystery, depth, and beauty. I want to submerge myself in this CD and let my mind drift away to distant lands. This is not ambient music in that it should not be ignored. Or, if you treat it as such, you are missing the point. Which is not to say that you can't play this in the background. God knows it's beautifully unobtrusive at times. But, be prepared to pay attention and allow the music to work its magic on you.

The album opens with Irama which uses gongs and percussion to sound a steady rhythm which should immediately make those comparisons to Rainforest evident to anyone who knows the recording. But on the next cut, Galungan, the CD shifts gears abruptly into trance and drone-mode. Galungan, per the liner notes, is a ceremony practiced in Bali to commemorate the beginning of a new year. The ceremony must be very spiritual because this is not "Auld Lang Syne!"

With the exception of the third cut, Bamboo, Iron, Resin, Bronze which is just over six minutes long and is a wonderful excursion into dense polyrhythms, the other four songs are all at least ten minutes long (one clocks in at twenty minutes!). This is music that breathes. It is patient and develops over time. For example, the last two songs on the CD are wonderfully evocative and atmospheric. But the listener must commit themselves to really listening to this music. Again, this may not mean sitting still. It depends on how skillful a listener you are. For me, I simply had to pay attention to this music.

Loren is deeply committed to gamelan music and has spent the better part of this decade studying it first-hand. Lilin Dewa is a recording that shows what happens when an artist becomes not just inspired but even consumed by his or her love of music. Loren has created a work deeply enmeshed with this other culture. I admire not just his craft and his devotion, but also his conviction. For those interested in gamelan music and/or recordings that truly draw the listener into the experience of the music, I recommend spending some time with Lilin Dewa. Bill Binkelman

Dreams Word

I always love it when an artist successfully blends different styles of music into a unique listening experience. Combining modern dark ambient and ages old gamelan music may not seem an easy task, but in the hands of Loren Nerell, it feels that way on Lilin Dewa. Dark drones open Irama, but are soon joined by metallic chimes of ancient instruments. Beginning slowly, the beats gradually pick up speed and musical intensity. Just when it seems things will build to a crescendo, the music slows down again. Ah, but wait, here it goes again. Irama rides a musical wave up and down, then finally crests and falls. On listening, the musical pattern seems deceptively simple, though it is probably not easily achieved. Primitive influences continue with Galungan, an 18-minute journey into long forgotten cultures, again blending traditional instruments and synthesizers, this time with chants added as well. I must confess to a Western world bias against too much chanting in my music, but it is not too distracting here, and definitely fits with the overall mood.

Each of the five tracks range from ten to twenty minutes, with the exception of the six-minute Bamboo, Iron, Resin, Bronze, named for the four primary materials used in the recording. This is a fascinating sound collage, and should appeal to fans of Steve Roach's albums Artifacts and Origins.

The CD is beautifully packaged, with detailed liner notes explaining how Lilin Dewa came into being, including the meaning, intent, and recording method behind each song. For example, it is explained that the 20-minute Hiasan is based on small knobbed gongs, called kempuls, which are featured. This minimal piece very effectively uses ancient instruments in the same way modern ambient artists use synthesizers to soothe and relax the listener.

Lilin Dewa rewards both passive and attentive listening, though I highly recommend the latter, to fully appreciate all its nuances and subleties. Though it seems like many are going for a tribal ambient sound these days, something about Lilin Dewa is very refreshing and original. Recommended, especially for fans of ambient with tribal overtones. Phil Derby

FULL STRAWBERRY MOON (26 June 2010)

The musick dedicated to this Esbat is:

PAAVOHARJU

LAULU LAAKSON KUKISTA


Original Issue: 2008 Fonal (FR-55) Buy it here!!!

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Margot-meter: 5 moons / 5

Without any doubt "Laulu Laakson Kukista"/"Uskallan" were my 2008 Record/Song of the Year.

Band profile states: Bollywood music, church hymns, beautiful pop tunes and ambient esoteric noises

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1. Pimeänkarkelo
2. Kevätrumpu
3. Tuoksu tarttuu meihin
4. Italialaisella laivalla
5. Alania
6. Uskallan
7. Ursulan uni
8. Kirkonväki
9. Salainen huone
10. Tyttö tanssii
11. Sumuvirsi
12.

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from Cokemachineglow:

The everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach to instrumentation is typically associated with lo-fi aesthetics. Paavoharju are out to change that. Even more than the fantastic Yhä Hämärää (2005), Laulu Laakson Kukista translates the homespun psych-folk that distinguishes the Fonal label into near-epic, shockingly lush strokes of impressionist pop. Here also is everything that lies in between classical orchestration and musique concrete; the music of Paavoharju constantly expands and contracts in ways which are humble, majestic, and just out-and-out phenomenal. The fact that the band happens to be part of a mysterious Finnish commune of devout Christians is probably dwelt on too much in reviews, but it’s pertinent in at least one way: how else do you explain something so labored over and yet so earnest and void of pretension, except to say that the band’s channeling something greater than themselves? Suffice it to say speculation about what exactly makes this band so vivid and unlike anything else out there at the moment is bound to produce hypotheses of questionable substance and more than a little delirium, but bear with me—this music is more than worth it.

Comparisons to other music are as inevitable as they are insufficient; there’s any number of maverick acts out there that I could compare Paavoharju to. But that comparison would only work to describe a sense of shared ground with other bands that use any and all means to achieve a specific sound. Rather, I’d hazard to say that Paavoharju are one of the first bands to fully incorporate what found-sound masters like Philip Jeck have developed into a pop framework. Which is to say that Laulu Laakson Kukista sounds like fragments of a thousand pop records, but rather than assembling them into a drifting ambient landscape like Jeck the band build these fragments back into pop songs. Now, they don’t try and pass it off as straightforward pop; they allow all the static, disembodied voices and samples, and lost/undiscovered choral etudes to organically coalesce into silken, marmoreal slices of transcendence, and then they allow them to break apart again. For example, the fact that “Kevätrumpu” carries melodies that wouldn’t be out of place on an Annie or Róisín Murphy single is astounding in itself; the fact that the static and backwards AM radio samples are always poised around its Röyksopp-esque production in an almost subliminal way is something like a miracle. The modus operandi of this album, besides attempting to unite virtually every contemporary strain of Scandinavian music from Peter Bjorn & John to Kemialliset Ystävät, could be to show how much even the slickest pop will someday become an artifact.

Still, the fact that it’s not—that this is the premeditated, controlled work of a specific group of people (even if the details and credits are somewhat hazy)—is what casts this beast beyond the realm of accidental masterpieces. Leena Uotila’s voice is central, or at least as central as it’s possible to be in a sonic universe where everything is ephemeral, and she sings in crystal-clear soprano, offering up the strange persistence of clarity amidst the blooming chaos of nature. Some of the more pop-oriented tracks feel like lost torch songs, blasting through the fury of static and crumbling instruments as if they needed to announce themselves with unabashed grandeur before they drown in the noise. This quality is equally evident on the tracks where whoever handles the male vocals sings, especially “Uskallan”: opening and closing with the cut-up sound of a baby gasping for air, the track builds into a disco-rhythm with synths alternately smooth and static-drenched threatening to consume the vocals halfway through.

The melodies are astounding on their own—even if you don’t speak Finnish—but far more important is how the band refuses to take them for granted. Outside of the disco-pop of “Uskallan” and “Kevätrumpu,” melody is treated in a similar way to Alejandra & Aeron’s documentary/folk field recording Bousha Blue Blazes (2003): melodies are employed as a means of evoking another time and place, and considering how much of Laulu Laakson Kukista picks through Romantic and Baroque relics, it succeeds brilliantly. Of course, in the spirit of an album which constantly refuses to be pinned down, this is only half the story: sometimes the band breaks through with something so immediate and bracing it’s hard to believe it sits perfectly alongside the album’s restless experimentation. “Italialaisella Laivalla” is instructive in this regard: it starts as a simple folk song with gentle guitar-picking and vocals but then begins to introduce menacing electronics and bows scraping against strings erratically. But this dark shroud is only hinted at; the song breaks off into an outro of slow, carnivalesque French accordion. It sounds like something that should be too suffocating in its wealth of ideas to be evocative, but somehow in combination it creates something listless and urgent at the same time, like The Catcher in the Rye.

If there’s any relationship between Paavoharju and other contemporary Christian music, it lies in the fact that both tend to completely ignore all sense of “fashionable” melody in favour of something achingly naïve and immediate. There are also the traditional choral arrangements of piano/organ/vocals on tracks like “Sumuvirsi” and “Kirkonväki”; these melodies reflect Bach and a long tradition of church music moreso than anything current. The latter track also happens to feature some demented, horribly distorted and slowed-down voices, though oddly they only add to the reverence of the track as a whole.

Which brings me to my one point of contention, or at least confusion. The band makes a point of stating their Christian beliefs in what little publicity they offer and even state in their website’s 10-point primer that they’re “against the use of drugs.” Far be it from me to challenge the band’s beliefs, and I can even understand to a certain extent the latter point—when Agaetis Bryjun (1999) dropped Sigur Rós made a point of disavowing any relationship between their music and narcotics and perhaps Paavoharju have a similar agenda—but it seems that as a perceptual experience Laulu Laakson Kukista is too open to decry any method that one might use to approach it, drugs included. And while much of its strength lies in its sense of sober precision, it’s a long cry from asceticism. Maybe I need to understand the Finnish lyrics to comprehend the band’s spiritual convictions, and yet when I listen to them I can’t help but feel something that transcends any specific religion: something that involves purity and innocence, and darkness and light and struggle. Perhaps it’s proof that an artist’s statement always betrays the intentions of the artist, as all these emotional triggers will combine in different ways for every listener. Maybe that’s the real spiritual value of the album: rather than impress their personal convictions, the band acts as a conduit for all these forces to combine and radiate like a prism.

Joel Elliott

BELTANE (01 May 2010)

The musick dedicated to this Sabbat is:

MNORTHAM & JGRZINICH

THE STOMACH OF THE SKY


Original Issue: 1997 Staalplaat (STCD 115)

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Margot-meter: 5 moons / 5

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1 Eluvium - Separate Material Accumulations, Or At Least Only Shifted By The Wind
2 Remanent Magnetism - The Memory Of C. Kelvin Physically Manifested In The Structure Of A Leaf
3 Geochronologic Formation - This Eye Can Only Be Seen By A Change Of Perception

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from Aquarius Records:

MNortham (who has previously been sighted on the fantastic Ora album Anagram and in recent collaboration with Francisco Lopez) and JGrzinich are sound artists investigating the properties of various organic acoustic forms, making use of long wire devices, found materials, assembled devices, aeolian wind harps, and a field recordings. Culled from years of collaborative recordings, The Stomach Of The Sky begins with extended rumble of densely layered sounds -- very much like the latest Lopez field recording work. Then the duo introduces a delicate metallic drones / scrapes / gurgles which could come from the Organum / Andrew Chalk school of bowed cymbals and gongs or from a processed field recording of water running through copper pipes. Either way, it's a beautiful magnetic tone.

ALCHEMICAL MOON (transformation musick)

VOICE OF EYE

TRANSMIGRATION

Original Issue: 1995 Cyclotron Industries (CYCI CD - 333)

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Margot-meter: 5 moons / 5

The first time (it was 1995) that I listened to this work, I was completely blown away...and the same nowadays!

Voice of Eye declared that: All sound sources are acoustic in origin, then processed through little black boxes to warp time and open the listener's perception.

Well, if these are the results, we all should buy a couple of these 'black boxes' and apply them to our auricles during everyday activities. Our boss voice would sound a lot better... ;-)

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1 Transmigration (Bardo I) (19:22)
2 Transcendence (7:35)
3 Sirens (Bardo II) (6:16)
4 Tempest (5:39)
5 Garden Of Earthly Delights (4:45)
6 Oblivion (Bardo III) (23:51)

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from (the late) Electric Shock Treatment:

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from Spyderbites:

I waited a long time to hear this; it was worth the wait.

An all-acoustic recording which attains utterly surreal soundscapes. For 67.5 minutes, the tracks of Transmigration document the soul's mysterious afterlife journey, taking the listener through unbelievable sonic realms.

Not too many ethno/tribal influences really, though Transcendence pairs densely quivering violin strings with pounding jungle drums, which are eventually joined by tweedling Middle Eastern flute. That track segues into the blaringly resonant drones of Sirens (which I first fell in love with as part of the 3-Disc Storm of Drones comp).

Other notable passages include the multitudinous ghostly moans of the opening track, the whirlwind stratospherics of Tempest, and the murky festivities of Garden of Earthly Delights. Speaking of murky, it certainly gets that way in Oblivion (Bardo III), the almost-24-minute-long closing piece. Swirling soundclouds obscure everything else, eventually receding to leave a pristine silence which leads to further encounters I won't divulge here.

Find out for yourself, if you can find a copy.

LAMMAS (01 August 2008)

I'll be in the south of France for holidays starting from August, the 4th to August, the 23rd.
I will reply to your beloved comments as soon as I return!

If you are in Provence, Pays Cathare or Rennes-le-Château area, take a look around and be ready to say "Hello" if you see a pair of cute witches walking around...

Kisses & Hugs,
Margot

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The Musick dedicated to this Sabbat is:

CRANIOCLAST

ICONCLASTAR (ICON I-VI)

Original Issue: 1992 Musica Maxima Magnetica (EEE 09) Buy it here!

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Margot-meter: 4 moons / 5

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1		Condom (11:00)
2		Radar Bowl (11:00)
3		Antibody (11:00)
4		Network (11:00)
5		Interface (11:00)
6		Onezerooneone (6:00)

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from Musica Maxima Magnetica homepage:

'Iconclastar' is the most interesting project ever released by this two german conceptualists (Mr. Soltan Karik and Mr. Sankt Clario) founders of Cranioclast.

'Iconclastar' is a simoultaneosly released two-CD project with nearly identical graphic artwork in two different colors (green and blue) and accompanied by recipes for two (green spider & blue devil) drinks to be taken while listening to the music.

In 1992 Iconclastar - Icon I-VI came out on Musica Maxima Magnetica in Italy (the CD is now available again) and Iconclastar - Icon VI-XI on Dom America in the US.

Iconclastar- Icon I-VI, called also the green part (I), is the first half of 121 min iconclastaring soundtracks rudely interrupted by 55 sec of grey coded messages from unknown pressure groups.

The green part is accompained by the half of 36 iconclastaring photographic-text tableaux, sistematically penetrated by the grey vibres of a well known matrix - the 16 tableaux are dispalyed on a 360 x 360 mm poster printed two sided , bi-coloured.

.....Mr Coitra leaned back. As he looked up from the greenish and bluish tableaux he met Clara K.Tonsi's wide-open eyes. "Well, I don't agree that Sankt Klario and Soltan Karik obscured the purity of the structures and relations by their additions. You see - if you drop the peppermint from a 'Green Spider' and the curacao blue from a 'Blue Devil' you'll get an almost pure Vodka Soda and Gin Sour. You'll get a good drink anyway, maybe you'll get drunk also - anyway".

LITHA (21 June 2008)

The Musick dedicated to this Sabbat is:

VARIOUS ARTISTS

HEAT & BIRDS (JEWELLED ANTLER COMPILATION #2)

Original Issue: 2002 Jewelled Antler (#2; limited to 100 copies)

Margot-meter: 4 moons / 5

Essential introduction to the Jewelled Antler sound-world
By the way, this compilation contains the best Hala Strana track ever; fantastic east-European tune gorgeously manipulated by Mr. Steven R. Smith.

1 Donovan Quinn - Heat & Birds 2:16
2 Hala Strana - Kanasztancok Ket Hegedun 3:03
3 The Floating Birthday Children - Swan on a Black Lake 1:30
4 Muons - Little Star 3:51
5 Of - Aerial Cisterns 4:12
6 Kemialliset Ystävät - Juurakkotukka 2:49
7 The Blithe Sons - Death in the Woods 3:01
8 Dead Raven Choir - Red Rocking Chair 3:29
9 Markus [FIN] - Kingo of Black Leaves 2:35
10 Byram Abbott - Doves Rehabilitating at Fort Cronkhite, 2001 1:02
11 Family of Apostolic - Mabel's Umbrage 3:52
12 The Franciscan Hobbies - The Horned Ibexes 3:22
13 Avarus - Hessu Se Tässä Vaan, Ei Mikki 1:59
14 Golden Hotel - The Blame 1:39
15 MCMS - Live in Brooklyn, 24 August 2002 8:23
16 Thuja - Opaque Reeds 8:24
17 Krsna Meditation - Gill's Pier, 6 a.m., 7 July 2002/Yasomati-nandana 14:28

from Aquarius Records:

"Heat & Birds" is the second 'friends and family' compilation to emerge from the Jewelled Antler collective, offering an overview not only of the numerous activities that are constantly evolving within the collective but also of like-minded artists from across the globe.

Common to Jewelled Antler sound is a magical wistfulness, which seeps through every sound within the label and draws metaphors to half-dreamt memories, impossible lands that only exist in the imagination, or the simple awe of nature.

While the core members (Glenn Donaldson, Loren Chasse, Rob Reger, and Steven R. Smith) are present, they've presented themselves in a variety of unique monikers and projects: such as Hala Strana (an uncredited pseudonym for Steven R. Smith, recreating a manic Hungarian folk instrumental with his trademarked production style of layered sounds building repeated riffs up to bittersweet crescendos), Of (an enigmatic project of evocative etherialism by Loren Chasse), and The Floating Birthday Children (the duo of Donaldson and Kerry McLaughlin offering pensive folk meanderings). Other, better-known Jewelled Antler projects, The Blithe Sons & Daughters, Thuja, and Franciscan Hobbies, also make appearances.

Of the non-JA projects, "Heat & Birds" also features the Finnish avant-improv-rock bands Kemialliset Ystavat, the medieval sounding Markus, and the elusive Avarus. Also, the San Francisco band Golden Hotel have produced another brilliant, drugged-out folk song, but do they remember recording it? And, there's some wonderful field recordings by AQ's own Byram Abbott of the birds in rehabilitation at Fort Cronkite just north of San Francisco. I could go on, but why spoil the mysteries?

"Heat & Birds" is a great collection from a great organization. Recommended.

BLUE MOON (musick by request)

ANIMISTIC ORCHESTRA

WUWEI

Original Issue: 2002 Anomalous (NOM 14)

Margot-meter: 3 moons / 5

1. Part 1
2. Part 2

from The Wire:

Following his Second Attention album, also released by Seattle's Anomalous label, Jeph Jerman has expanded his very quiet improvised activities within the context of a larger ensemble. Comprised of like-minded sound artists from the Seattle area, they have ranged in size up to nine members, but they stopped at six for this recording.

Dubbed The Animist Orchestra, they steadfastly concentrate on the minuscule textures from nature objects like small rocks, seashells, driftwood and feathers being rubbed, tapped and stroked. The use of such elements must have required an incredible amount of concentration on the moment while paying the utmost attention to detail.

However, as Jerman accurately states, 'this may facilitate the removal of actions arising from taste and memory'. Unlike many contemporaries within the lowercase community, whose pristine digital sounds demand near anechoic listening conditions, the clarity of the bristlings and tinklings produced by The Animist Orchestra work amazingly well as the foreground to the din wafting through my urban apartment window.

Jim Haynes

STARLESS MOON (nacht musick)

IKEDA RYOJI/KÖNER THOMAS/LAMB ALAN/LUSTMORD/GÜNTER BERNHARD
NIGHT PASSAGE (DEMIXED)

Original Issue: 1996 Dorobo (DOROBO 011)

Margot-meter: 5 moons / 5

1 #13 (Ryoji Ikeda Remix) (8:02)
2 Kyros (Thomas Köner Remix) (9:53)
3 Fragmented (Lustmord Remix) (19:12)
4 Untitled 1/96 (Bernhard Günter Remix) (20:19)

from Interface Version:

For his 1995 Primal Image disc, Alan Lamb recorded the violent rhythms of periodic waves rippling and undulating through telephone wires in the desert wind.

On Night Passage demixed, the latest release from Dorobo, Lamb traveled back to western Australia for the same type of pulsating source material. However, this sonic starting point was given to other artists, including Lustmord and Thomas Koner, to remix.

These musicians stripped the wire resonance of its original, wasteland birth and plunged the embryonic sound into foreign locations.

For instance, Ryoji Ikeda's "#13" extends the communicative reach of the wires beyond the ionosphere and into outer space. The main components of the track are dark, shivering drones that hang like icicles in front of your stereo speakers. Eventually, these icy stalactites become reflectors of alien transmissions; soft beeps can be heard throbbing gently in the background like a secret code unwilling to be deciphered.

The most enigmatic selection on the disc is 'Untitled 1/96' by Bernhard Günter. The twenty-minute track is composed of pregnant silences and barely audible clicks and hums. If Lamb's interest was the sound of reverberating wires, then Gunter's focus is the tones wrapped within the wire's insulation. … 'Untitled 1/96' is the musical equivalent of listening to electrical currents course through each individual copper fiber and the microcosmic decay that the strands experience as heat is released through thermoelectric interaction.

This track, along with the other three cuts, give vision and credence to Lamb's closing statement from the Primal Image liner notes, that "it is probably not too far fetched to suggest that wire music is an aural embodiment of some of the most fundamental dynamic laws of the universe.

Michael Woodring

HALF MOON (medioriental musick)

BENNETT JUSTIN
THE MOSQUES OF TANGER

Original Issue: 1997 Staalplaat (STmCD 009)

Margot-meter: 5 moons / 5

A CD-Single, released on Staalplaat, it contains a single recording of the mosques of Tanger at sunrise. Recorded high up on a rooftop, the calls from the many different mosques mix and resonate as they cross the city.

BELIEVE ME!
YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THIS SHINY JEWEL!

1 The Mosques Of Tanger (20:36)

from The Wire:

Record of the month, no question.

Released on miniature 3" CD - after the 12" single my favourite format - this is 20 minutes of North African muezzins calling the faithful to prayer through their lo-fi mosque-top PA systems.

It begins and ends with Mediterranean dawn ambience, cicadas and cockerels. We hear the first call, maybe a mile away; gradually other calls are layer in, but the best moments are to do with the eerie beauty of sound heard at a great distance.

Presumably the recordist, Justin Bennett, has discreetly stitched the whole thing together from several recordings. The ear can roam freely though the soundscape rather like exploring a city on foot, enjoying aural accidents.

Clive Bell

STONED MOON (pscikadilik musick)

MOOLAH
WOE YEH DEMONS POSSESSED (Annuit Cœptis)

Original Issue: 1974 Druidstone (No Number)

Reissue: 2005 EM (EM1051CD)


Margot-meter: 5 moons / 5

Dear MoonMusick friends...DO NOT MISS THIS ONE.
A REAL CULT RECORD!
ONE OF THE MOST OBSCURE (AND BEAUTIFUL) ALBUMS EVER RECORDED BY A HUMAN (?) BEING!!!

1 Crystal waters (5:30)
2 Terror is real (4:10)
3 Courage (8:20)
4 The hatd hit (6:55)
5 Mirror's (7:00)
6 Redemption (6:44)

From Head Heritage

Straight from the sub-subterranean collective basement patronized by all of the world’s greatest psychotic (ehh-hm visionary) artists comes another ultra obscure gem going by the name of Woe Ye Demon Possessed by the group(?)/or maybe it’s just a regular old dude with a rack of wacky effects, Moolah.

Think about that name. Moolah. What comes to mind, friends? I personally conjure images of bone in the nose voodoo mamas twirling in some swamp drug ecstasy. Maybe that comes from my association of the word Moolah with that famous female wrestler The Fabulous Moolah; not that that matters. I’m just typing to type at this point. You know, taking up space to make this look more profound than it really is.

Alright, back to the topic at hand. Moolah – Woe Ye Demon Possessed. I know nothing about this LP. I don’t know its history, who made it, what city it was made in (it is from the good ole’ Stars and Stripes, but one could very easily assume Deutschland). This makes for some very compelling mystery. I do know that there is a great buzz among collectors of rare psych records. So, naturally, being the conformist that I am, I too decided to hop on that kaleidoscopic, day glo bandwagon with the rest of the damned. This was a good decision on my part because Woe Ye Demon Possessed is pretty frakin’ awesome and in dire need of a cd reissue.

Seeing as how there’s no prominent data on the recording (even on the almighty internet), I gathered as much as I could from the cover; it’s that famous evil eye over the American dollar with the Latin phrase. I don’t even know how to order a beer in classical Latin. So I’m not about to feign a bullshit translation. One might assume that this somehow relates to wacky conspiracy theories about the Freemasons/ Bilderberg Group ad barfum. I don’t subscribe to that. I would guess it’s an ode of sorts of to the race of aliens who helped guide the Egyptians in their constructive efforts, the eye symbolic of their observations and inevitable return to Mother Gaia. There’s also that superb title Woe Ye Demon Possessed: the man enlightened with the knowledge of his extra terrestrial guardians is the one who’s possessed. (Perhaps not alien beings, but the one who’s possessed with the omniscient powers of the psychotrope is possessed, etc.)

On to the music! The only proper appellative I could grant would be – “a lost field recording made by an ‘animistic’ alien enlightened tribal people who somehow had the ability to bend time.”

That’s an incredibly pretentious way of putting it. In non wacko terms I can hear a strong Faust 1, Guru Guru and Ash Ra Tempel influence. Just add a twist of ultra lo fi and a sprinkle of Texas garage psych and you have something similar to the finished product. I’ve often suffered with many sleepless nights where I asked myself, “Damnit! When am I going to hear an American record with a distinct kosmische influence? When? Why God? Why?” Well, I think the Lord above answered my prayers and blessed with me this LP.

It starts off with a profound, deity invoking bang with “Crystal Waters”, a ritualistic piece that sounds as though it should be played on a ziggurat prior to a human sacrifice. If The Tempel was playing garages in the late 60’s, this would have been the product: Schulze synths on speed, heart beat drums, ancient keys. Great stuff. Follow that with a schizophrenic outburst/psycho-delic exorcism, “Terror Is Real”, and then a buried on the ocean floor fuzz hum bar room piano, “Courage”. You have one kick ass album side.

Side two is also profoundly sublime. Both “The Hard Hit” and “Mirror’s” follow the same unsettling bleeping buzz synth, chanting voices from another dimension pattern. It all builds up into crazy tension. I feel as though I’m at a séance of sorts. Plus, “The Hard Hit” features some weird kinda’ sorta’ motornik drums before they go off into the great beyond with those creepy voices. The last track “Redemption” brings back the piano and anachronistic radio fuzz. It calms everything down, leaves you staring off into space waiting for the redeemers themselves to finally land.

All in all, I found this to be a fabulous recording, a great shining diamond in the rough. Krautfreaks will agree too. I predict that this will eventually be reissued. Good things come to those who wait. Cult labels won’t be sleeping on this for much longer. Happy hunting. It’s well worth the chase, friends.

Giallo

ANTITHESES MOON (yin-yang musick)

HAFLER TRIO (THE)
FUCK

Original Issue: 1992 Touch (TONE:3)


Margot-meter: 4,5 moons / 5

Even if this work's purpose is to concentrate male energy, I totally agree with what Mr. McKenzie points out in the liner notes of the CD: "Females of whatever sexual orientation may easily come to terms with the male forces operating within them by immersion herein". One of The Hafler Trio's finest releases.

To counterbalance the male energy at play here, I post (at the bottom) a ritual picture of Annie Sprinkle...post-porn modernist queen and McKenzie's muse.

1 - Untitled
2 - Untitled

from All Music Guide

Fuck is the second part of a projected trilogy that begins with Masturbatorium, and for which the third part has not been released as of early 2001. While Masturbatorium used sounds generated by performance artist Annie Sprinkle in a sonic investigation of female sexuality, Fuck concentrates on male sexual energies, using sounds leading to the brink of male orgasm from Andrew McKenzie, in addition to various atmospheric frequencies and field recordings. As with the trilogy's first part, the liner notes go into some detail about the sonic origins and the overall purpose of the piece, its specific practical intents, and its relationship to investigations into sexual energy.

Unusually, McKenzie directs that the recording be played at maximum volume, and that the CD player be in strict accordance with left and right channel connections. With the correct playback configuration, the ominous low drone opening shakes the room, and when the various fast rhythmic layers are added in, the piece takes on an overwhelming aura seldom found in other Hafler Trio releases.

A looped bass vocal alternates between the two channels in the second track, exercising the separation McKenzie mentions. Given the sexual intent of the piece, one might suppose that it would start slowly and build, but in fact the opposite is the case. The beginning is the loudest, densest, and fastest, with an overall tranquility and lightening as the piece progresses. Its unity of purpose makes it one of the better Hafler Trio releases, although the cover art and subject matter make it for mature listeners only.

Caleb Deupree

CRAZY MOON (incredibly strange musick)

RAUDIVE KONSTANTIN
THE VOICES OF THE DEAD

Original Issue: 2002 Sub Rosa (SR66) Buy it here!!!

Margot-meter: ??? moons / 5

Are you bold enough to listen to the voices of the dead?
Are you brave enough to rate them?

1 Konstantin Raudive : 'Here Is Konstantin Raudive... Part #1'
2 Scanner : 'Palae Fore Memoire'
3 Gerhard Stempnik : 'Sound Piece #1 - Astrid A Little Bit'
4 Calla : 'Raudive Track'
5 Gerhard Stempnik : 'Sound Piece #2 - Karajan Kluk'
6 Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid : 'Cadavre Magnétique'
7 Gerhard Stempnik : 'Sound Piece #3 - Astrid! Ask There!'
8 Ensemble : 'Nature Morte'
9 Gehard Stempnik : 'Sound Piece #4 - Mendelsohn : More More'
10 Gerhard Stempnik : 'Sound Piece #4 - Mendelsohn : More More'
11 Lee Ranaldo : 'Lee's Raudive Mix'
12 Gerhard Stempnik : 'Sound Piece # 5 - Too Much Pop Music On The Radio'
13Random Inc. : 'Bizz Circuits - Drüben'
14 Gerhard Stempnik : 'Sound Piece #6 - Forgotten Special Domain'
15 David Toop : 'Koladé Spirit'
16 Gerhard Stempnik : 'Sound Piece #7 - In Wien'
17 Carl Michael Von Hausswolff : 'Welcome / For F. Jurgenson & K. Raudive'
18 Gerhard Stempnik : 'Sound Piece #8 - Ouverture : Now More Less'
19 Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid : 'Temps Magnétique'
20 Gerhard Stempnik : 'Sound Piece #9 - Problems - Distant Cut Up'
21 Brett Dean : 'Intimate Decision For Solo Viola'
22 Konstantin Raudive : 'Radio Stimme + Microphon-Stimme - Experiments part #2'

from Wikipedia:

Electronic voice phenomena (EVP) are sections of static noise on the radio or electronic recording media that are interpreted by paranormal investigators as voices speaking words usually attributed to ghosts or spirits. Recording EVP has become a technique of those who attempt to contact the souls of dead loved ones or during ghost hunting activities. In addition to deceased spirits, various paranormal investigators say that EVP could be due to psychic echoes from the past, psychokinesis unconsciously produced by living people, and the thoughts of aliens. According to parapsychologist Konstantin Raudive, who popularized the idea, EVP are typically brief, usually the length of a word or short phrase.

Skeptics of the paranormal attribute the voice-like aspect of the sounds to apophenia (finding of significance or connections between insignificant or unrelated phenomena), auditory pareidolia (interpreting random sounds into voices in their own language which might otherwise sound like random noise to a foreign speaker), artifacts due to low-quality equipment, and simple hoaxes. Likewise some reported EVP can be attributed to radio interference or other well-documented phenomena.

References to EVP have appeared in the reality television shows Paranormal State, Celebrity Paranormal Project, and Ghost Hunters, the fictional television series Supernatural and Medium, and Hollywood films such as White Noise and The Sixth Sense.

from Sub Rosa website:

THE REALITY OF THE TAPES
For many, the first traces of the Raudive Tapes were in William Burroughs fictions and articles. The fact is, these mysterious magnetic tapes, which capture the voices of the dead, and were recorded by the baltic scientist Konstantin Raudive, are not a fiction but a reality (we are not here to judge their scientific objectivity ). These tapes, as rare as Lovecraft's Necronomicon, are now in our archives.

WHO WAS RAUDIVE?
Dr Konstantin Raudive, a student of Carl Jung, was a Latvian psychologist who taught at the University of Uppsala, Sweden, before devoting the last ten years of his life to electronic voice phenomenon (EVP). he published in his book Breakthrough in 1971.His early collaborator F.Jurgenson, whom he met by the very beginning of 1965, awakened Dr. K.Raudive's interest in EVP research. Raudive spent endless hours for the thorough study of Jurgenson's books ("Voices from Space", 1964 and "Radio-Link with the Dead", 1967).
From an overwhelming database (ranging about 72000 samples!), Raudive's mother seems to be statistically the most frequently reported contact personality. She usually addressed her son in the Latgalian dialect

WHAT WE CAN FIND IN THAT RECORD ?
1. a self introduction of Konstantin Raudive and a large session of exemples from his archives - july 17, 1965)

2. 9 extracts from the Gerhard Stempnik experiments - musician of the Berlin Philharmonic and close friend of Raudive (tapes from 1980)

3. a Raudive celebration including unpublished material by Scanner, Paul D. Miller aka dj Spooky That subliminal kid, Calla, Lee Ranaldo (of Sonic Youth), Ensemble, Ramdom Inc., David Toop, Carl Michael von Hausswolff and Brett Dean. They have all composed an exclusive piece of music based on the Raudive material. It goes from a close examination of the material itself (cm von hausswolff, lee ranaldo) to a more evocative mood (calla, scanner, dj spooky). the last piece, for viola solo, is a global hommage to all the explorators of the unknown.

ALCHEMICAL MOON (transformation musick)

Alchemical process courtesy of Mr. Jim O'Rourke

FAUST
RIEN

Original Issue: 1995 Table of the Elements (Cr 24)


Margot-meter: 4,5 moons / 5

THE RETURN OF A LEGEND...
THE RESURRECTION OF MARGOT'S FAVORITE '70s BAND...
THE MIRACLE OF Mr. JIM O'ROURKE!!!

01 - 0
02 - Rien
03 - Long Distance Calls in the Desert
04 - Eroberung der stille, teil I
05 - Listen To The Fish
06 - Eroberung der stille, teil II
07 - Fin

from The Wire:

The packaging for Faust's first fully-fledged studio recordings since reforming five years ago is artfully cryptic: no credits save for those on a spine card and a business card carrying the tell-tale x-ray motif (both easily lost!), and the album title is burnished grey on the matt silver CD.

With Rien, Faust, the German avant-rock legend of the 70s whose savage Rienelectroacoustic forays helped sharpen Euro-rocks cutting edge and paved the way for post-punk experimentalists, 80s Industrialists and 90s Ambient artists around the globe, have rediscovered the mystique that was an essential part of their creative being; a Dadaist bent that manifested itself in both performance and packaging alike. (Remember that intriguing transparent package that was their debut album?)

Anyone listening to the raw documentary footage of Faust's 1993 London comeback gigs (both rather ho-hum performances, if the truth be told) released as The Faust Concerts 1 & The Faust Concerts 2 (Table of The Elements), would have been hard pushed to discover what all the fuss was about. Never mind that the antics with jackhammers and chainsaws were now run of the mill fare; what irked was Faust's apparent air of nostalgic importance, something which ran counter to the searching, iconoclastic forays of yore.

Rien, however, is rattlingly contemporary, thanks to the production hand of Jim O'Rourke, who has taken the rudiments of Faust's adventurous spirit and transplanted it into a wholly modern context. The influence of this most exacting sound sculptor has effectively created something akin to a dialogue between the contrasting experimental apparel of 70s Prog rock and 90s purveyors of the Ambient aesthetic There are Industrial mantras of almost crushing intensity, neo-psychedelic jams, concrete interludes, even a passage of bitter-sweet irony in the plundering of Gorecki's Third Symphony (the additional chorale of Industrial noise serving only to heighten the tragic air of Gorecki's original) This is Faust resharpened and revitalised; no longer part of rock's dinosaur parade, but a reshaped, refreshing, challenging voice in 90s experimentalism.

David Ilic

ALCHEMICAL MOON (transformation musick)

Alchemical process courtesy of Mr. Christoph Heemann

MERZBOW & HEEMANN CHRISTOPH
SLEEPER AWAKES ON THE EDGE OF THE ABYSS

Original Issue: 1993 Streamline (1003)

Margot-meter: 4,5 moons / 5

DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH MERZBOW "MUSIC"?
DO YOU THINK HE'S TOUCHED WITH GENIUS BUT YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO SUSTAIN THE ASSAULT OF HIS SOLO RECORDS?

WELL, MARGOT HAS THE SOLUTION: "SLEEPER AWAKES ON THE EDGE OF THE ABYSS" (wow, what a title!)

MERZBOW BLACK SOUL IS TRANSFIGURED BY HEEMANN THE CRAFTSMAN INTO A SONIC JOURNEY TOWARDS THE WITHIN!

01 - Tunneling
02 - Mandala
03 - Eagle
04 - Sleeper
05 - Doorstep

from Brainwashed:

In 1987 Masami Akita (aka Merzbow) mailed a cassette of sound material to Christoph Heemann (H.N.A.S., Current 93, Mirror, Mimir, etc.) which he then worked on for the next 6 years. The cd was originally released in 1993 (and has just now been reissued) by Streamline Germany.

Heemann restrains and refines Akita's normally brutal noise and adds his own collage of sounds: drones, washes, electronics and samples such as metals and chirping birds. Heemann truly paints with sound and here the Merzbow material is just another shade of audio color for his abstract and impressionist palette. He then shapes it all into five pieces, each with a particular character all it's own, ranging from 1 and 1/2 to 18 and 1/2 minutes for just over 41 minutes total. The end result is the same as everything else I've heard that involves Heemann: utterly beautiful.

Hypnotic passages of waterfall wash, layered electronic drone, metallic churnings, gurgling static and deep ambiance perfectly flow into one another. "Sleeper Awakes.." is superb and a very welcome reminder for me to get everything with Heemann's name in the credits from this day forward ...

EOSTRE (21 March 2008)

The Musick dedicated to this Sabbat is:

GIOVANNI PAUL & MAGNET
THE WICKER MAN SOUNDTRACK

Original Issue: 1998 Trunk (BARKED 4P)

Reissue: 2002 Silva Screen (FILMCD330)



Margot-meter: 5 moons / 5

To celebrate the Vernal Equinox I post the two existing versions of one the most controversial cult movies of all times..."The Wicker Man" by Robin Hardy.

Personally I prefer the Trunk version, but the inclusion of "Gently Johnny" in the Silva Screen release is worth the price alone.

from Wicker-Man.com (click here for further details):

Paul Giovanni had intended to release an LP of Magnet songs from The Wicker Man in the 1970s. However, this project was shelved.

The first release of a soundtrack album didn't arrive until the 1990s when Trunk Records issued a CD of music sourced from a music-and-effects reel for the short version of the film. Such reels are created in order that non-English speaking countries can create their own dialog and yet retain the original film's score and sound effects.

Although this album was welcomed by fans, it was far from ideal due to the source from which the music had been lifted. Finally in 2002, Silva Screen Records released the recently located studio versions of the songs that were originally intended for Giovanni's aborted 1970s album. The Silva Screen issue is by far the better of the two releases. Completists are also interested to obtain the earlier Trunk release as it does have some incidental music which is unique to this issue.

RED MOON (musick & other arts)

RODEN STEVE / IN BE TWEEN NOISE
THE RADIO

Original Issue: 1999 Sonoris (SON-22)

Reissue: 2007 Sonoris ( SON-22) Buy it here!


Margot-meter: 4,5 moons / 5

1. The Radio

From Ampersand Etcetera

This short but dense work from Steve Roden was created in 1996 but has thankfully been given eventual release by Sonoris. The original brief (for the 1996 soundculture festival) was a piece for radio using the radio as a source, which Roden has captivatingly done.

There are essentially four movements to the 18 minute piece. The opening is a complex layering of loops of static, some clicking percussion and some choral singing (1 and 5 seconds). Each of these is only a few seconds long and interact smoothly - the static sounds like waves on a shore, and a call (birds or the radio) the gulls flying over. The static and choir fade, leaving the percussion to become more prominent, and its intricacy foregrounded. This is actually made from his grandfather's radio 'bowing the tiny battery cables…clicking the on/off switch, turning the tuning knob…plucking the battery holder spring [and] striking the radio speaker screen against the microphone': in this section the springs start being played. Against this background is a solo voice, which turns out to be Roden singing restructured word fragments, based on a poem of 1991 called ... 'the radio'. His voice is sweet and clear, after the drifting choral particles.

In the third part, the two 8 second fragments of talking under static are cutup and play over the radio-percussion creating a strange dialogue of spoken protowords which eventually echo over the static sea; the final few minutes are quite melancholic as the static waves crash on the shore, echoed and phased, then silence, a click and its over.

Roden indicated to me that he ‘totally loves this piece’ and I can understand why.
This is a beautiful sound work/piece of music (in that broader meaning of music that people like Roden explore). Its density, intricacy and beauty remind me of artists who work only in miniatures: as explored in the Roden ‘special issue’, he works in bounded musical forms, yet creates pieces in there which are expansive and could stretch infinitely despite their limits.

‘The radio’ is a prime example of this - each section could be left to continue further and further, delving into its focused world, and the whole disk could be left to repeat, the narrow passage of its composition gradually expanding to encompass the world.

Perhaps I exaggerate, but this is a magical, beautiful piece that should not be missed.

CRAZY MOON (incredibly strange musick)

RAHN ECKART
PACHINKO IN YOUR HEAD (Non-Linear Music)

Original Issue: 1998 Celestial Harmonies (19004-2) Buy it!


Margot-meter: ??? moons / 5

1 Pachinko In Your Head

Recorded at Aladdin Pachinko Parlour, Shinjuku, Tokyo.
HATE it or LOVE it! but, in any case, PLAY IT LOUD!!! o)))

from Celestial Harmonies:

Pachinko in Your Head is the latest groundbreaking industrial avant garde recording produced and recorded in Tokyo by Eckart Rahn.

...

Having said that, it should come as no surprise, really, that Rahn introduces yet another pioneering recording, however, industrial in this case. Fascinated with the chaos theory (seemingly random events) which when encountered in very large numbers establish a new order of predictability if not beauty and symmetry. Everyone can relate to the sound of raindrops hitting a tin roof and in that sound a pattern - or rhythm - seems to emerge.

When you listen to this recording, you hear the natural sound of a multitude of steel balls working their way through a number of Pachinko machines. Pachinko is Japan's most popular pinball game. It is estimated that some 10 million Japanese play the game regularly in parlors, some of which contain several thousand machines. When there are 1000–2000 machines operating simultaneously, there could be somewhere near one million balls in circulation. Coupled with the multitude of electronic sounds emanating from these machines, their addition at times creates an almost continuous sound. La Monte Young tells the story of how he listened as a boy to the whirring of overhead telegraph lines in his boyhood home in rural Idaho and how somehow an imaginary rhythm seemed to emerge from the slight variations of the continuous sound. Many believe that this experience led to the musical form referred to as minimalism which is, after all, based on the idea of seemingly endless repetition of ever–changing miniature patterns.

In Pachinko In Your Head, an imaginary rhythm appears to be emerging from the chaos of interfering sounds, sometimes when concentrating, but occasionally only when not concentrating. This groundbreaking recording challenges all listeners to discern for themselves the presence of such rhythmic patterns and suggests that chaos also applies to art and time and music in their various unknown ways.