Wince Nerves (Skeleton Dust): Good God,
Wince continues to warp my skull. Lots of dank, rich textures that lead into straight blasts on other tracks. Some sounds had a
Japanoise vibe to them. A higher concentration of white noises than I receall on other tapes. Still has that fantastic 'merican sound that I just love so much though.
Wince Self-Immolation Rights (Gaping Hole): The last of my dig into Brummel's works as Wince. Also just about the very beginning of his public output. On the inimitable
http://gapinghole.snse.net/, no less. To hear the sounds extruded here, as was the case with the
Baculum,
Being and
Wince split/collaboration, you really get a feel for just a how strongly and quickly the project grew. What I hear here, though, are the essentials of harsh noise roar and little else. An enjoyable listen, but after having delved into his works that came over the next 4ish years, this will probably receive the least playbacks.
Developer WCN008 (White Centipede Noise): And the last of my dig into Reis' works as Developer. Begins with hard-panning static - this really messed with my head as the stereo is set up with four massive speakers from the 70's, volume cranked - before things quickly fall into the place you might expect. Really, when it comes to harsh noise, how much does innovation even matter? On this tape I'm hearing exactly what it is that I would like to hear. The cut-ups are reduced, although certainly still present and much lower than usual, and I get that booze gut feeling just like
Being was doing for me last night. So grateful for SI#9 rekindling a dying interest in harsh noise.
Bernard Parmegiani De Natura Sonorum (Recollection GRM): Aside from the knowledge that GRM was(/is?) a studio at all, I know nothing of it or the artists put out by Recollection GRM or the intricacies and history of musique concrète. And I'll gladly keep it that way. Just as noise (or any music mostly) is ruined for me by too much personal info and/or academic (is this possible in noise? even though it is attempted occasionally?) info, I don't think I'll benefit from the knowledge of what some head-up-my-ass-musician-artist has to say or who he didn't love or who he did. It's a fine line, just as some interviews with noise/metal artsists seem like X minutes of wasted time, yet there's still a strong interest to read them and infrequent illumination. I guess underground music has less potential for ruin in that case since no five-to-six-figure historian or critic is going to write about them.
So anyway, I approached this album and the following three albums from R GRM with a virgin mind. I've heard some of the other releases of the label, like
Pierre Schaeffer's last work,
Luc Ferrari and
François Bayle and felt little to no reaction to their works. Maybe it's the academics that matter most. Parmegiani, on the other hand, crafted a slew of sounds and atmospheres on this album that I found far more appealing, and at times reminded me of many of the underground noise works that hold my brain in captivity, only with an extreme reduction to the chaos usually present. The tracks feature, to my recollection, no absurd samples or sounds that are just so truly removed from the meditative state caused by the album that you are abruptly removed from your coma and forced to reach for STOP. No, I found this to be an album that will not quickly travel to Discogs to make room for something better. It will hold it's place in time I think. If I recall correctly, this work was composed in the middle years of what was collected in...
Bernard Parmegiani L'Œil Écoute / Dedans-Dehors (Recollection GRM): ...and this does not, for me, seem to hold as strong of a compositional element or a "this is awesome"-pea-brain-element like
De Natura Sonorum did. There's more brood, but less aplomb. The builds are slow, while
De Natura Sonorum was able to remain stable in a comfortable place of discomforting randomness, the sounds of this are obviously trying to go somewhere, trying to reach for something. This would appeal more to the drone fanatic or the ambient fanatic, but I've got too much caffeine racing through my veins to find as much value and worth in this second album. BUT, I shouldn't make it seem as if I were disappointed by Parmegiani's output at all. Far from it; I think this too will hold it's place, but maybe the time isn't right. "Dedan-Dehors" has some moments that almost remind me of the last year or two's releases by
The Rita, if you kinda peel your brain of certain layers.
V/A Traces One (Recollection GRM): Even though we're looking at five different artists, this could have easily been a more hi-fi release of
Mz.412 or
Anenzephalia (sans vocals) or something to that effect. Way, way more intense, provocative and consuming than I was expecting. I think many people on here who indulge in the sounds of Cold Meat Industry, Cold Spring or Malignant would find a lot of rewards in this LP. Thick, oppressive and bizarre.
V/A Traces Two (Recollection GRM): This LP featured a little more of that tweety-bird absurdity that I seem to find concrète being indicative of. There were a handful of moments that really grabbed me, but this pales, largely, in comparison to volume one. Album ends with
Smalley making what sounds like the presence of synthetic bagpipes. Blah...
Okkyung Lee Ghil (Ideologic Organ): The album description immediately brought to mind the improvisations of
Troy Schafer, so I was convinced I needed to pick this up. Boy am I happy I did. Harsh cello improv? Unlike
Schafer though, who still lets the reality of "this is a violin!" hang in the air, I would say that Lee is able to make the instrument itself disappear and allow some sort of celestial-alien atmosphere dissolve into the room. Somehow the 45 minute playing time is not cumbersome at all. Of course, you must cleanse your palate of distractions and anxiety. This is like
Will Over Matter becoming even MORE primitive. Yes. I will be diving more into her works in the future for sure.
Duane Pitre Bridges (Important): Every new release is an immense growth from the previous work. Been following Pitre's output since the very beginning after seeing him perform with the
Pilotram Ensemble during a random roadtrip through New England.
Feel Free was easily his most complex (but simple) and rewarding work yet. Like a time capsule that removes me from my home, life, worries and all. I assumed
Bridges would not live up as I had grown so deeply attached to the last album. While there's obviously not that needy feeling for this one, at least yet, it certainly pulled me by the third eye immediately upon pressing play. If you know any of Pitre's works, you should know to expect deep listening drone of the highest calibre. I find his sounds to only be topped by
Eliane Radigue, though not always, but otherwise my plebeian opinion is that Pitre is capable of exceeding the works of
Palestine,
Oliveros,
Fullman or even
Riley in terms of profound impact. A really, really underrated artist. I suppose if he started espousing feminism or eastern mysticism his listernership would grow tenfold. Regardless, there's a strong influence of both eastern and western sounds I would say, and I do believe he had stated this himself. Always crazy to think this dude was sponsored by Alien Workshop at one point - kudos!
Magnolia Electric Co. Fading Trails (Secretly Canadian): As always, far more crushingly depressive, despondent (and occasionally uplifting) than any wanking misanthropic, satanic, anti-life blah blah blah dark-ambient or the like.
Jason Molina may have been the most miserable folk musician I ever heard, yet was somehow one of the gentlest people I ever met. RIP. This is my favorite work of Magnolia; probably because it basically sounds like Molina's solo work (which were his greatest accomplisments to me) with some Magnolia tracks thrown in. Tracks like
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQw9-Sug8kg "The Old Horizon" are obviously very close to Molina's "Red Comet Dust" or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Wplc3f11rA "Steady Now" is just so much despondently akin to his
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OCQqAPTSGc "It's Easier Now". "Everything in it's place. The world does have to end in pain."
And still regularly replaying
Tourette's
Cendrier De Voyage,
Anemone Tube's
The Transfiguration Of The Image,
Bloomer's
Unlawful Carnality and
Altar Of Flies's
The Violent Blow,
Rabbit Hole and
Female. There's too much lately. Too much. Next up is the
Aska collaboration by
Sewer Election and
Frederikke Hoffmeier, whose
Den Blege Grå Tone is still getting many plays as well.
