Huh, just listened DANIEL MENCHE & ANLA COURTIS "Yagua ovy" LP. Bought this LP from Second Layer shop london during Broken Flag festival and basically the main reason was that I saw the cover with painting of wolf. Front cover has no text in it, but I knew I will buy this just because I liked the wolf hiding in woods behind green branch of otherwise "dead" and lifeless looking forest.
And sometimes simply the utterly irrational gut feeling leads you to masterpiece. Of course in shop I knew this is Daniel Menche's release, but at home I could fully experience the magnificent quality of it. Anla uses "pizza tins, guitar, tapes & processing" and Menche "snow, rocks, processing, final mixing". Very rich textures of non-distorted physical sounds. It's damn well cut, lacking ALL vinyl surface noises and all unwanted distortions. From delicate micro sounds to busy and heavier dense mixing of all elements blends into something which indeed is something I have dreamt to be called "ruralist noise". It is experimental music, but at times certainly crosses the line of becoming noisy enough to qualify "noise", but at all times it totally evades feel of urbanity. No effect gadgets, very little of industrial waste, very little of feel of transgressions and anxiety. Just organic and natural. Guitar appears in very minimal role in composition, and could have been substituted with something.
Anyways, I'm sure the forum has many Menche admirers. Even if I have plenty of his works, old, new and something between, I'd like to hear suggestions. This particular LP went on very high spot on my personal view. Yet, I also have sweet spot on noisier and "darker" early Menche.
I've seen him play locally a few times lately, but the last thing I remember buying or listening to from Menche was "Creatures of Cadence" from 2006 definitely a favorite even though I don't think I've listened to it in a few years. Similar sounding perhapse to that lp. Very organic and smaller in stature then pieces constructed from giant resonanating metal or waterfall wall noise.
The only physical release I have is the Odradek CD from 2009. Reminds me of newer IRM, lots of drone and very organic feel. and dense!
Odradek is great, indeed very later-IRM-like, droning organ etc ....
have a good 10" by him (Radiant Blood), morbid dissonant piano-work. good!
Vent cd was good....great buildup to climax.
Tesco 12" was good,
Screaming Caress cd : quite to loud dynamic noise.
...
my fav : Beautiful Blood , he shure knows how to build tension on that one....
One of Menche's only live performances from 2012 was in the largest square foot room in the city of Portland.
D. Menche - Live @ YU Contemporary Arts Center
http://vimeo.com/41471088
^This is very good.
I would say that "rural noise" is a pretty accurate description of his work and its all of the utmost quality.
Quote from: FreakAnimalFinland on November 10, 2012, 03:44:58 PM
Anyways, I'm sure the forum has many Menche admirers. Even if I have plenty of his works, old, new and something between, I'd like to hear suggestions. This particular LP went on very high spot on my personal view. Yet, I also have sweet spot on noisier and "darker" early Menche.
I like this composer very much and I prefer his early period. My the most favourite albums are:
"Screaming Caress"
"Vent"
"Scourge (That's Her Name!)"
"October's Larynx"
"Beautiful Blood"
Looking at Discogs for a timeline, I lost interest around the Field of Skin (1997) period. Screaming Caress felt like a bridge between his early period and the next period. It still had moments of that granular, organic, dense noise, but by Field of Skin (Rusty Ghosts, Scourge, Crawling Towards), the plasticity and sterility had taken over. A few years later with October's Larynx, he again impressed me. I haven't heard much since then, but I thought Concussions was interesting. Maybe Deluge was fine as well? Looking at his catalogue since 2000 is like looking at Dissecting Table's catalogue. It's overwhelming.
Legions in the Walls remains my favorite an an all-time favorite pick overall.
I have the 12" on Tesco that I remember having good sounds. Nothing else I had grabbed me much for re-listening. Not too long ago, I read through his blog & listened to a bunch of stuff like the work made from waterfall sources. I like his outdoor adventure photos.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned his early work which, I think, was closer to harsh noise?
Quote from: bitewerksMTB on November 11, 2012, 01:13:09 AMI'm surprised no one has mentioned his early work which, I think, was closer to harsh noise?
I don't think he had a single misstep (maybe the Hudak split) up to Screaming Caress (early 1997). All top-quality noise work, and then things like Furious Eclipse were deceptively aggressive in their beauty. It all came together with Legions, so it does make some sense to change direction after such a plateau.
I think my favorite Daniel Menche works are actually the crude field recordings he often posts on his soundcloud. Some of them sound amazing and don't need any additional editing.
John Wiese + Daniel Menche – Behold The Scathing Light CD - The sharp sound is closer to Wiese but the overall vibe/style is that of drone. I want to say almost "aggressive" drone. I haven't listened to it for a while but I liked it a lot when it came out.
Quote from: tisbor on November 11, 2012, 08:47:31 AM
I think my favorite Daniel Menche works are actually the crude field recordings he often posts on his soundcloud. Some of them sound amazing and don't need any additional editing.
I thought we had a field recordings thread. I cannot find it.
http://danielmenche.bandcamp.com/album/raw-recording-series-volume-one
I grabbed that just about a year ago now, and I'm just getting to listening to it. Great field recordings, and as you said, nothing additional is necessary. I grew up around freight trains. They're familiar and relaxing. I haven't lived near a set of tracks for a long time, and none of my hikes get me near tracks. I really miss the sounds and setting. The two tracks here, especially the first one, are great to have and play. "Ant Hill" and "Ocean Caves" are a couple of the other nicer tracks.
For me the best Daniel Menche release is "Field of Skin" cd, Soleilmoon Recordings, 1997
The one I listened to a lot was the "Furnace Fucker" tape on G.R.O.S.S. from 1994. Always seemed hot, sweaty, dark... Could be something to do with the title. Soft-edged enough, too. Used to put it on to go to sleep to years ago when I was a bit of an insomniac. I was nearly always out before the tape ended. Perfect!
i like his glass forest release and kataract aswell.
Recently been listening to "Wings on Fire" CD and "Flaming Tongues" CD.
First one being good stuff. Massive, very electric droning stuff. But not very "relaxing", but has this kind of speedy percussive element to it...
Can be heard for free here:
https://danielmenche.bandcamp.com/album/wings-on-fire-2
Flaming Tongues CD in other hand was kind sucky. 70 minutes of percussion works, but for me very very dull...
I was just about to recommend raw early works found for free in his bandcamp, but seems like Zeno Marx did it just few message above! Essential!
Quote from: P-K on November 10, 2012, 08:10:33 PM
have a good 10" by him (Radiant Blood), morbid dissonant piano-work. good!
I wasn't thinking much of piano while listening the 10", but indeed it is one of the key elements in B-side, but on top of that crackling noise, drones, all sorts of goodies. A-side much more electronic, high power noise drone with multiple layers of harmonic noise. Great release and certainly worth to get! Recording 2002, release 2005 by Drone Records.
Someone uploaded a-side online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfseO7-WklQ
Quote from: Zeno Marx on November 11, 2012, 12:21:10 AM
Looking at Discogs for a timeline, I lost interest around the Field of Skin (1997) period. Screaming Caress felt like a bridge between his early period and the next period. It still had moments of that granular, organic, dense noise, but by Field of Skin (Rusty Ghosts, Scourge, Crawling Towards), the plasticity and sterility had taken over.
I bought recently "Rusty Ghosts" 2x7" for two reasons.
1) 90's Menche
2) cheap as fuck.
I guess you can get this double 7" for 4 euros mint. Lots of copies for sale at discogs. I don't think it could be yet labeled totally to be sterile. Of course it's not as organic, as saturated, as hand made noisy feel like in his old days, but as name suggests.... Rusty Ghosts!! Sound may be drenched in reverb, but still with rusty and ghostly feel. Slow patterns of hiss, hum, clanging objects, slowly moving, growing, fading. Not entirely sure whether this should be 33 or 45rpm. Don't see it mentioned in cover, but due c. 4-5 mins tracks, have listened both speeds. I assume 45, but can't be 100% sure, hah..
If someone is buying stuff at discogs, and you see seller have this also available, I do recommend to grab it together with stuff you originally went looking for. Nice minimal, stylish packaging. Good sound on 7"s.
Like Daniel Menche's stuff a lot.
Recommendation:
Daniel Menche - Beautiful Blood (Alien8 Recordings)
Daniel Menche – Invoker (Antifrost)
Zbigniew Karkowski & Daniel Menche – Unleash (Alien8 Recordings)
http://danielmenche.bandcamp.com/album/unleash DOWNLOAD FOR FREE!
Daniel Menche – Terre Paroxysm (Utech Records)
It seems like majority of message on this topic is from me, but well...
Have to still say that despite I'm quite lazy in using internet for music listening, and just happen to listen almost exclusively from physical albums, I have to say Menche bandcamp is good. Amount of stuff has been increasing, and archive is pretty extensive now.
Due laying on bed in fever, wasn't in position to be turning sides of 7"s etc, so just playing stuff from his bandcamp. Earliers years -release from late 80's. Really nice stuff. Even if his physical releases are easy to find and often cheap, perhaps his "anti-stuff" stance (hah.. see interview in Personal Best), is best illustrated via online music?!
https://danielmenche.bandcamp.com/
Always felt almost ashamed for not looking into his stuff. I have heard a thing or two, but the only Menche I have in my collection (as far as I know at least) is his contribution to Americanoise, and that's a good one.
Any tip on where to start? Any, for him, defining releases one should get?
I've got maybe 7 CDs by him and I like them all basically. They're from the 2000s though, so they're usually heavy on percussive sounds and can sound a bit samey. My favourite would probably be Beast Resonator which, while percussive, is very well crafted.
Concussions...fantastically mesmerizing (at least today it is). Disc 1 flew by in no time. For those who enjoy finding field recordings of machines, industrial sounds, or repetition in the urban landscape, this should be on your radar. A lot of this could be mistaken for construction sounds in the distance.
I really like the Vulgar Scratch and Chrome Homicide 7"s . Also have that Rusty Ghost 2x7" and some CD's. Great artist and among the first that i discovered which makes these releases more special on a personal level.
I've yet to get any Daniel Menche albums in my own collection but I get these phases when I'm so intrigued by his stuff that I listen to it a lot for a short while, a week or two maybe. I definitely need to get a few albums and delve deeper. But on these phases my go-to albums have been Face Of Vehemence, Furnace Fucker, Deluge & Sunder and Progeny Of Flies (With Andrew Liles). The field recordings he has on his bandcamp are really good too.
Saw him live about a year ago and found it a bit disappointing. I guess anyone can have an off night. After reading this thread I think I will look further into his recorded work.
He played here about a year ago as well, but I found it to be great. Haven't had much interest in his recorded material but also haven't delved too far into it.
Legions in the walls is great
need to listen to that one
I seem to be writing many messages of this topic... but what can you say? Menche keeps delivering!
DANIEL MENCHE "Primal Fictions" LP
Ferns
Info on the LP is minimal. All it has is artist and track names. Internet gives you details that it was recorded and mixed Fall and Winter of 2020. Field Recording, Strings , Oscillators, Noises, Artwork put together by Daniel Menche. Its two c. 20 minute long pieces and barely -NOISE-. It has some noises, like clanging metal objects, some restless moments of oscillations. Mostly this is very calm, highly textured, slowly moving and droning pieces. Really neat and well recorded sounds. Vinyl cut is good, so there doesn't seem to be significant surface noise or added distortion. All plays with really high fidelity sound. Almost orchestral soundscapes are total ear-candy, and despite I was going to say it relies far more into creation of texture than "composition" in musical sense, there is indeed carefully orchestrated way Primal Fiction starts, and how it flows forward.
I am guessing one can listen this at the Menche bandcamp or something, but for physical album listeners, Ferns LP edition is very much recommended!