Folktronica, progressive music reviews page 15

Ilk Music/DZO Rec.Autofant : Family (DK,2004)***°

I heard a DVD audio sampler of Danish musicians of which for me a few stood out well (like John Sund, Efterklang, and Autofant).

Autofant Trio started in 1999 as Phools, an improvisational acoustic-ambient group with Asian influences and instruments. Since 1992 the group had grown into laptop, samplers and effects boxes, and song orientation.

Instruments they use now are 70’s analogue synthesisers, electric piano, laptop, toypiano, melodica (Henrik Sundh), electric and double bass, loops (Johan Segerberg), and jazz drumming (Kersten Osgood).

Autofant shows multi-layered intelligent sounds, rhythms, structured in new art-compositions. The acoustic and analogue electronic sounds are perfectly in balance, in what I call in acoustic-electronic music with “very human conditions”, confirmed by the playful melodies, the jazzy bass and rhythms.

The melody on “In My Arms” sounds for me very much like a Baroque composition in jazz format, for this track with prog-jazzrock drumming and strange keyboard harmonies.

“Heaven is Above me” (a song also released on a soundvenue magazine compilation) is a child-like song led by toypiano and keyboards, percussion. Also “Toomuchli has a game-like fun.

The group is also considered to be part of the future jazz area. A great track like “Rubberdance” proves their playful expressiveness in this field.

Info : www.autofant.net & http://www.soundvenue.com/band_profil.asp?id=1880

& http://www.ilkmusic.com/album.html?id=41 & audio : http://www.myspace.com/Autofant

Danish review : http://www.dr.dk/musik/jazz/anmeldelser/anmeldelse/040916_autofant.asp

DVD compilation, jazz section, with Autofant : http://www.mxp.dk/jazztrack.html

Staubgold V.A. : Childish Music (JAP,D,F,US,UK,AUS,2005)****°

The 32 page booklet notes contain an interesting 12-page starting point philosophical discussion (with musician H.Z.Ziegler, artist M.Krebber, and compiler and music producerE.Ehlers ) about “What is child music ?” and “How is the perception of a child towards music ?”without making final conclusions. Myself I don’t believe in the so called innocence of children but I do believe in a certain process of a natural openness which most children have. Most ideas therefore can either grow in openness or become limited and restricted in conditioned processes thanks to a learning process they receive and share with adults mostly. I think children especially have this innocence when they are able to share their wide opened eyes and opinions with adults. When one leaves children completely to their own the basic reaction processes they are much more primitive, basic and animalistic than we would prefer to see. So first of all we need love, time sharing and attention.

I love the title being “Childish music” and not “music for children”. This is an adult’s perspective.. with a smile, with music full of sounds we think can create this smile to make us open a bit more, and with recognisable easy melodies. Japan & Korea and a few other countries exploit this child-like look everywhere. Perhaps this makes life looks easier to handle. Many of the artists listed are also from Japan. The compilation itself works perfectly, as musical enjoyment.

The first track is the funniest, with funny inventive sounds (bubbling in water) by the Fan Club Orchestra, "Mika Bubble Sing". Most tracks are instrumentals and have beautiful, easy and sweet, and sometimes silly (Fujimoto), or playful electronic and related sounds. Nice and sweet is also when acoustic and electronica become related with one another, which is mostly the case, with some alternation.

By the time of Arrow Tour’s track for instance, this is an acoustic guitar piece with some piano.

Just one track which for me wasn’t truly necessary was Devendra Banhart, which I already thought from the beginning when I saw the list of participants, what the hell this name was doing here, as if he had to be in it for good measure. His track is in fact the only childish, silly & foolish song of a throwaway acoustic track with handclap, odd vocals singing “it’s cold outside, we should come inside”, luckily for it’s shortness one can still see it as a purely musical intermezzo, which still fits in this way.

All tracks have their own beauty but with Asa-Chang & Junray’s track, "Kobana" I preferred to check this band out better.

Harald “Sack” Ziegler I already knew before. He’s a guy who already convinced me of true childish music with his Barbie & Glen songs and other oddities. He himself could have made/started “childish music” as a new outsider-side genre. With Blummand others like Ehlers he might have searched for more music which uses toymusic as the most beautiful instruments. I must say I also tried to look for more than Zack & Blumm and came to the same interest in electronic / toymusic / acoustic combinations and explored the field further myself. That’s how I found out about Takako Minekawa (not listed), and perhaps The Books, Mum, Autofant,..etc. playing in that sound field.

A musically perfect, well compiled and consistent album, highly enjoyable and truly recommended. Near the end of the 25 tracks we hear just a few more rhythmical tracks, still enjoyable, and fitting well into the concept. My son of 9 liked the CD. But I must say he likes almost anything I like. He only hates truly childish music.

Info : http://www.staubgold.com/...

Small review with 3 audio tracks : http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=17390

French review : http://perso.wanadoo.fr/ondefixe/childish_music.htm

Dutch review (also be me) : http://kindamuzik.net/article.shtml?id=9662

& http://www.subjectivisten.org/caleidoscoop/archief/001684.php

PS. I made a separate Webpage for Harald "Zack" Ziegler some years ago :

http://psychedelicfolk.com/HaraldSACKZiegler.html (with also 2 Blumm releases)

Amorfon V.A. : Music for Baby! (JAP,RU,SERB,I,D,SP,NL,2004)***°

The label introduction states :

"There are many kinds of music & sound in this world. But most of all relaxation CDs for baby contain only soft classic music... However, babies must want to listen to cool music more in fact!! This is a compilation album for such babies."

Something like "hi baby, we can enjoy this together".

I heard that babies like high tones, clicks and beats, so modern art-electronica I think is a good choice. And the label chose mostly artists which fit with this concept very well. Also they asked a few people who participated on their label before for their contribution of which the Cinc track, a less dreamy, more forward, perhaps too conscious song which fits less well with the kind of enjoyment found elsewhere.

First track by Casiotone for the Painfully Alone is painful with headphones, but attractive for its bipbip peaks and glitches, very baby bipbip-like if you ask me.

Also Dat Politics’ track, "Oily Holo" is a bitbit nonsense organised, baby bitbit improvised if you ask me. Outside the casio improvisation this ends with nice coloured steel pan, (sea)gulls and water.

Minamo’s track sounds like sweet high toned cradle electronica, that can weepweep the baby into some kind of trance-sleep if you ask me. With some guitarstring, chime-like sounds, harmonica all sounds blend harmoniously with the electronica metal cradle and electronic devices in it tones.

Busratch's track sounds much more industrial, with its particular sounds, its LP-scratches noise, and keyboard and guitar soundtrack drones. Underground but in a kind of pleasant way.

Spanish Alejandra & Aeron’s track “Lucky Cat” makes another kind of miniature loop-like soundtrack based upon the sound of an instrument’s string, some scratching gravel, and a dog barking in the background.

Also Ryoichi Kurakawa uses on his "Memoria" baby-friendly nice insect-like high tones, a warm loop rhythm, pleasant tiny sand-like soundnoises for his composition and intelligent natural evolution of abstract, but almost visually moving sounds.

The only track which takes you completely out of this subtle and detailed environmental dream is the song by the Serbian Cinc. Taken out of the complete release it’s a fine enough track, but too flip heep and not so baby friendly if you ask me. Even when it’s acid folk based, it’s still a too straight forward rock song. It's a more child-friendly song rather than something for a baby. The baby in me wants to see clear, or dream with clarity. It doesn’t matter too much for this sudden awakening.

With high pitched metal-like lazerblade sharpness between insect communication, plant rhythms and a human presence in the decoration of the wall is for me the Toshiya Tsunoda’s track, “Filmy Feedback (afternoon)”.

Also Marko Cicillani’s track again a very different moment, contemporary classical music with many changes and switches from high notes to low and sudden reactions and rhythms, strange harmonies, with a clever forest-like building up. Just slightly threatening for its length.

With guitar and electronica mixed with some classical-like arrangements, and some semi-acoustic noises with a rhythm, also Fitz Ellarald’s track, “6a6oo” is slightly abstract but it still moves as visual spectacle.

The acoustic guitar near the end which makes it anything weird and alien completely inhabited into our world. Heepheep, hip hip it is. Brilliant.

Last contribution by Andrés F.Krause is a more slumbering fade-away soundtrack outro.

This is for me an almost perfect soundtrack for hip babies and parents, but can be really rewarding for any interest outside this perspective. The electronica mixes in general are very rich and creative compositions. And the two different tracks for a general listening pleasure still fit in well enough.

Info : http://www.amorfon.com/HTM/AMO004.HTM

Links to individual artists :

Casiotone For The Painfully Alone : http://www.tomlab.com/front/index.php?action=artist_detail&artist_id=4

Dat Politics : http://www.ski-pp.com/datpol.html

Yoshio Machida : http://www.yoshiomachida.com/

Minamo : http://www.cubicmusic.com/english/artist/minamo.html

BusRatch : http://www4.ocn.ne.jp/~busratch/

Alejandra & Aeron : http://www.luckykitchen.com/

Ryoichi Kurokawa : http://www.ryoichikurokawa.com/

CINC : http://www.cincplug.com/english.htm (my review at next page)

Marko Ciciliani : http://www.ciciliani.com/

Fitz Ellarald : http://www.amorfon.com/HTM/INFO.HTM (see seperate review below)

Andres F. Krause : http://www.softlmusic.com/information.html

Amorfon V.A. : Kindermusik -improvised music by babies- (JAP,SERB,D,2005)**°°

I noticed before with very young children that when you put them in front of a piano sometimes you get some of these wonderful spherical self-constructions of music, While when they are too much aware of what they’re doing, they lose the feeling. Yoshida Machida from the Amorfon label must have been wondering the same way as I did and collected and recorded various performances of kids, all under 18 months old. “I made many discoveries”, he said, ..“like some curious new sounds and strange ‘betweenness’ which I never heard before… “It’s different from an adult’s performance : random, like the rustling of leaves or the sound of a game arcade”.

The performances are like true sound harmony discoveries for many tracks with long pauses as if coming forth from consideration or contemplation. The compilation is well done but perhaps the effect of the performances of Benjamin Deutsch and Myone Sonobe still are my favourite. It is amazing how these children suddenly can become completely timelessly aware of their sound experiment discovery. Certain instruments might still benefit best to guarantee a certain self-organisation within a certain portion of a coincidental play combined with the minimum consciousness over it, and the still focusing control. Interesting and rather enjoyable.

Audio : Myona Sonobe : "Steel Pan", Alyssa Elliott : "Electric Piano", Goh Yokota : "Toy"

Info : http://www.amorfon.com/HTM/AMO004.HTM

Other review : http://www.loop.cl/...

Amorfon Fitz Ellarald :

The very Air seems replete with humming and buzzing melodies (RU,2003)****

Vladislav Dobrovolski (aka Fitz Ellarald), now resident of Moscow, describes his music well himself:

"It seems to me some tracks sound like biomass swarming and developing from its habitat. These collections can be compared with a swamp. The place gives birth to flowers, frogs and whatever... the human in the end."

Myself I recognise in some tracks keyboard music's sounds that move as to actions, trying to get itself as a mass through a wall, swelling, organically mixed in-and out in moving volume, still evolving in its inner structure, always trying to find its way through obstacles.

Elsewhere it is only changing shapes all the time, like blubber mass, again for me like very visual music.

When even more detached from earthly limitations, the soundscape masses can also become more airy with tiny noise, following some rhythmic modern fusion pop-art electronica pulses, and with more ambient in its core.

This music is build up with sounds created from a handful of old Soviet synthesizers, broken mikes and phones, tape recorders, guitar, bass, and uses according to the musician also a couple samples here and there. One can notice that Vladislav Dobrovolski is also a visual artist. He surely has a sense for detailed, colourful and spaceal expressions.

Audio : "Hjarta","Surf","Kaufhaus" & homepage : http://www.myspace.com/FitzEllarald

Info : http://www.amorfon.com/HTM/AMO001.HTM

Homepage : http://www.fitzellarald.com/

Interview: http://www.amorfon.com/HTM/AMO001INT.HTM

Amorfon Yoshio Machida : Infinite Flowers (JAP,2003)***°

It is important before reviewing this music to introduce Yoshio's basic instrumentation. With a starting point of a (normal) 12-tone steelpan for basic playing, its sounds are also often processed, many times, while attached to a multi-sampling engine which was programmed using Max/MSP (software) on a laptop computer with some, extra live electronics like some analogue sequencers. This combination of equipment, if I understand it well, he called his "amorphone".

In combination with some steelguitar, and help from Tetsuro Yasunaga on electronics (3, 5, 6) and Keiichi Sugimoto on guitar (1, 3, 6) this is very improvised music, partly as coming from a conceptual and visual artist, (being part of the Tokyo art scene), creating a world of sounds with some random bloodpressure changes in the moment's tension with equally a random like-wind-coming and disappearing structures, here and there with some bleeps and blips programming, or some reverted programmed soundcarpets for insects sounds to live upon, or more like watery ambient electronica, or just occasionally with some rhythms.

Just a few times it is just fundamentally playing and improvising with the steelpan.

Yoshio started his own label in 2004 and this was the label's second release.

Audio : "¡Hana mambo!", "Namaqua I, II, III, IV", "Poppy"

Info : http://www.amorfon.com/HTM/AMO002.HTM

Homepage : http://www.yoshiomachida.com/

About amorphone : http://www.yoshiomachida.com/HTML/YMAMOR.HTM

Yoshio Machida also published a steelpan improvisational release (no electronica here) : ->

Amorfon Yoshio Machida : Naada (JAP,2006)****

This is a CD entirely based upon improvisation on the steelpan without the addition of anything else.

The steelpan has a beautiful sound, which shows immediately the first track, “Lotus, part 1”, where the harmonious overtones of the instrument combine so well, the improvised music coming forth from it here sound almost like sound bubbles combinations of harmonies. It is as if the bubbles at the moment they “explode” make their sounds.

Thoroughly more harmonies are added to the composition like leafs are added to the lotus. In the third part the melodies are spinning around a bit like a dancing figure, within the same space, first with full body movement, then more bowing down to rest more often, expressed like a musical box with a dancer, not with mechanical, but with very human movements.

“Texas Vino” is inspired by “Vexations” by Erik Satie. Satie was known to have created for the first time spatial silences into his music, to play part of the compositions, which I think is done here too. While some of it could have been a written down composition, the improvisation can be felt here for the first time as well, still keeping within reach a certain meditative control over it.

“Bloom” is based upon vibrating oscillations creating a tension on its own.

“Dew” sounds again like raindrops of sounds, presented as lying in the grass, which throughout the improvisation are forming a melody after some random clustering, then conclude again in a free dance.

Last track, going back to the lotus, is a last meditative movement : calm, and developing with harmonic pulses, with some repetition (tradition), freedom (exploration), and development (evolution) well in harmony. A very nice CD.

Used instruments are tenor steel pan, double tenor steel pan, mid pan.

Audio : "Lotus part1..", "Bloom" & http://www.myspace.com/YoshioMachida

Info : http://www.amorfon.com/HTM/AMO006.HTM ;

sold on http://www.blrrecords.com/... & http://staalplaat.com/search/catalog/15154

Homepage : http://www.yoshiomachida.com/ & http://www.myspace.com/YoshioMachida

Other reviews : http://www.yoshiomachida.com/HTML/YMPRS.HTM

next release->

Amorfon Yoshio Machida : Steelpan Improvisations 2001-2008 (JAP,pub.2009)****

Yoshio Machida compiled here a whole diversity of live improvisations on steelpan, with or without live electronics (in fact he also plays an electronic steelpan, called PanKAT), fitting with one another highlights for each year compiled from performances from the last seven years.

The earliest recording sounds a bit sharper and with noisy people attending, giving it a surreal atmosphere. This improvisation has a slight gamelan/gong like effect, with a mechanical rhythm, like a more colourful clicking clock in the background.

On the second track the sounds become deformed as if filtered through a sound machine getting with it an extra diversity ranging from bass undertones to wa-wa bell like sounds with a few extra high pitches. The effect however does not make this more mechanical-rhythmic, but give, thanks to this, more attention to the individually created sounds.

The next track brings us back to the natural resonances of sounds in a more calmly played track, where subtle reverb pitches of live electronics immerge from this starting point, forming interesting pulses of their own.

The fourth track makes an independently working rhythmical loop from such a recording, with a rather steady bass, reverb sound effects and a calm middle section of coming through acoustic steelpan improvisation. Thoroughly it seems that a simple drum box rhythm with bass accompanies some reverb effects and a real time live steelpan improvisation.

The fifth track shows the resonanced sounds at full range, turning the sonic qualities into loops that melt into one another (this one is called “loop-line”). Also the sixth track is a beautiful laptop loop evolution, with an almost electronic keyboard-alike sound, for a calm steelpan improvisation on top.

The 7th track finally shows a steelpan improvisation in full range of resonances in sounds, natural and very well recorded. This sounds very meditative showing a beautiful range of overtones. Also the track hereafter shows this beautiful range of colourful pitches in a well recorded and well concentrated way, showing the master position of the instrument. We hear beautiful waves of improvisation with an eternal now feeling, with some occasional traffic in background integrated in the moment and the improvised piece. This gives a sort of highlighting occasional moment. Also the last track is such an improvisation, but here the pitches and colours are a bit different, perhaps due to the conditions of the recording. It still is with the fully acoustic parts that I understand the significance why the instrument was picked out by Yoshio Machida and being described as being a symbol of light, like the Asian Gong.

A diverse and well compiled resume of steelpan recordings.

Video of a performance on http://www.youtube.com/...

Info : http://www.amorfon.com/HTM/SHOP.HTM

Info on artist : http://www.baskaru.com/yoshio_machida.htm

Homepage : http://www.yoshiomachida.com/ & http://www.myspace.com/YoshioMachida

Other reviews : http://www.yoshiomachida.com/HTML/YMPRS.HTM ;

see also Miimo project -> ; next YM cd->

Amorfon Yoshio Machida : The Spirit of Beauty (JAP,rec.2009-2010,pub.2010)****

- Van Cleef & Arpels Exhebition Soundtracks-

Yoshio Machida had received a commission to take care of the music for an exhibition of French jewelry factory Van Cleef & Arpels at the Mori Arts centre in Tokyo. The jewels were themed in fitting rooms specially designed by Philippe Starck. A few other artists participated, like Yoshida Daikiti on sitar, Tatsu on bass, Kunikazu on sax, Kohei Kawamura on gamelan gongs (trompong and gender) and Seigen Tokuzawa on cello, while Yoshio Machida used his voice, played steelpan, keyboards, ukulele, gongs, water and programming. One track included bird singing recorded in Nepal in 1998. The pieces are slightly more orchestral than usual, in a jazzy ambient way, from mostly a more textured nature because a lot of space is used as responding sounds in a spatial setting. This way the music fits perfectly for its use in a larger room with deepened attention to certain focused spots which should be shining bright spots of attention hanging together within this case musical similarities. While the idea remains that of the way a steelpan or gongs that are played with its own characteristics, the colours of sounds change most of the time, with each sound-happening spot being from a different nature or instrument. Besides the mentioned instruments I also heard the use of something like Fender Rhodes, glass bowl effects of metalophones or something, toypiano, organ and in one track drums. One cello part is a bit more contemporary in nature, while keeping notes open or stretched with an emotional richness. One track, with percussion, “Alhambra” uses a warm dance rhythm and colourful arrangements. While the music is a deliberate fragmented sonic experience without disturbing the attention by too much melodic intervention with ideas, here and there with creative force a band feeling comes more forward too so that the musical aspect becomes complete and a natural creative process with restraint by keeping is too long like a sound meditation experience alone. Very nice.

Highly recommended for repeated listening.

Info with audio : http://www.yoshiomachida.com/HTML/cd_amorfon011.HTM

& http://www.amorfon.com/HTM/AMO011.HTM

& http://www.myspace.com/yoshiomachida

Info on ehibition : http://www.thespiritofbeauty-vancleef-arpels.com/en_GB/index.html

on arts centre http://www.moriartscenter.org & on jewelry : http://www.vancleef-arpels.com

Kitchen Motors Kippi Kaninus : Huggun (ICE,2002)****

Kippi Kaninus is digital composer Gudmundor Vignir Karlsson who creates subtle, varied multilayered and interwoven evolutions of soft electronica, with a wide range of expressions, with melodic evolutions, lots of soft clicks percussion, with use of samples of clocks, cows, objects used for percussive sounds, and manipulated voices. I think I heard some acoustic instruments too like bass, piano, xylophone,..The whole mix works like a multi-dimensional soundtrack. Beautiful music !

Audio : "Tea Time Tones", "Örbrot", "Livingroom Piano", "My Friend the Trampoline", "The Pianoplayer takes a Bath"

Info : http://this.is/kitchenmotors/KM5INFO.html

http://www.ultrasound.ws/archive/2003/kippi.html & http://edda.is/english/categories.asp?cat_id=1064

& http://www.stylusmagazine.com/feature.php?ID=80

Homepage (with older MP3) : http://www.kippikaninus.com/

& http://www.myspace.com/KippiKaninus

Small reviews : http://www.bubblecore.com/km/km005.html

& https://www.smekkleysa.net/shop/item.php?id=225

& http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=8049

Other review (half way thru) : http://www.brainwashed.com/brain/brainv05i49.html

Dutch review : http://www.kwadratuur.be/audio.php?id=4

Interview : http://www.cucamonga.be/interviews/EtoilesPolaires1104.htm next album->

Private Kippi Kaninus : Happens Secretely (ICE,2005)****

Here Kippi Kaninus has worked out a nice musical composition in different parts.

The first and some of the last tracks especially show the talent I recognized from the 2002 album, to build up multilayered compositions with attention to sound combinations, both acoustic and electronic. “The Comfort of my Eyes” for instance has a use of acoustic found percussion mixed with echoing touches on amplified strings, mixed with a child’s voice with an ear-to-sound. This is further on mixed with fender Rhodes like keyboards, more electronica and complex programmed rhythms. In a way I find this kind of blend very unique and successful for Kippi Kaninus. Also on the 6th track, “Yfirskin”, Kippi Kaninus shows this talent well of manipulating and blending similar inspirations. Here the electronica gives multlayered pulses to the track. Some electronic organ is mixed with some recording of Middle Eastern singing and playing. Thereto is added and interwoven some acoustic found percussion, mixed sounds and strings.

In between these two tracks, the other compositions are more minimal with more recognisable sources (like on "This note is - D". Often a fender Rhodes kind of keyboard with electronic rhythms are used with looped strings (like on “Whyshould theyounghavefaith"), or with some broken-into-irregular-pieces recordings of organ.

Such organ recordings are used to make a more rhythmic track of “new sounds for an old instrument” on “A soft living thing”. Strings, keyboards and organ with irregular loops can also be heard on “This note is –D”. This church organ element is a red wire through all the tracks.

Also on “Purer, softer, deader?”, where we also hear some spoken word as another extra touch.

The last track, “Refrain” adapts this organ recording idea with some earlier used ideas of arrangements like keyboard playing, to make a nice conclusion.

Audio: "The comfort of my eyes", "Whyshouldtheyounghavefaith",

"Purer,softer,deader?","this note is-d"

Homepage (with older MP3) : http://www.kippikaninus.com/

Moteer Rec. Clickits : Express Gifts (UK,2005)****

Clickits, a duo from the UK combines reflective clicks and beats with ambient minimalism.

On one hand we have the campfire kind of sounds of wood sticks’ clicks, finger rolls on boxes, combined with a calm electronic trip-out trance progress. This is combined with pulses from minimalism, electric or fender rhode-like piano or other keyboards and some environmental sounds.

The music is built up story-wise and logical, from dreamy to lounge-jazz towards dreamy dancefloors-for-the-mind : from hypnotic-relaxing to simply laid back.

The pre-last track is worked out with more arrangements and somewhat melancholy.

A successful product of a 21st century’s space-entwining creation.

Roughly translated from the original Dutch review :

"Clickits, een duo uit Engeland, brengt een prachtige combinatie van trage, reflectieve clicks & beats met ambient minimalisme.

Langs de ene kant is er het kampvuurachtig geknisper, het zandzakritme gefrikkel, het takjesgetik en doosjesgetrommel, gecombineerd met een meer electronische trip-out voortgang. Dit is gecombineerd met minimalistische pulseringen, elektrische- en fender-rhodes achtige piano, met nog wat andere keyboards en akoestische geluiden.

De muziek wordt mooi opgebouwd en afgewisseld, van simpelweg dromerig, tot lounge-jazzy en dan weer als voor een dansvloer-in-het-hoofd, van hypnotisch-relaxerend tot werkelijk ontspannend.

Het voorlaatste nummer is het meest uitgewerkt, als een melancholisch gearrangeerde compositie.

Bedoeld en geslaagd als ruimtelijk geordende muziek voor de 21ste eeuw."

Radioshow's description :

"Beautiful folk/jazztronica with clicks, bleeps and real instruments. Beautiful 21st century music. Kind of city-campfire music."

Audio : "Aramaic", "Wheneveryouready", "Lilophone", "Natural Theatre", "Then Dof", "In My Field Of View", "Lament For The North", "Brttle", "...For Sure, I'll Be Buried At Sea", "Was Until Today" or http://www.juno.co.uk/products/185594-01.htm

Review with audio : http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=17485

Homepage with more audio : http://www.myspace.com/clickits

Other review : http://www.dotshop.se/d...

Info : http://www.moteer.co.uk/info_clickits_page.htm

Morr Music Múm : Yesterday was dramatic - today is ok (ICE,2000;re.2005)****'

It’s been some time since the brilliant 2004 album, “Summer Make Good”. After more subtle folktronica releases what can be a better moment than to reissue and refocus on Múm’s equally beautiful and new reissued debut. This is subtle semi-elektronica music, which ripples like water on time, light and colourful, and descriptive with rhythms of electronica, complex and laptop related, combined with electric piano, organ, or fender Rhodes combined bass (electric bass or like drum and bass) with acoustic sounds like accordion, and just here and there with Kristín Anna Valtysdóttir’s voice. Recommended.

Audio : "I'm 9 Today", "Sunday Morning Just Keeps On Rolling"

More audio (MP3 & WMA) : http://www.juno.co.uk/products/193370-01.htm

Other review with 3 audio tracks : http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=18333

Real Audio : "There's a number of small things"

Homepage : http://mumweb.net/

Fanpage : http://www.randomsummer.com/book/

Other review : http://www.stylusmagazine.com/review.php?ID=708

& http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/m/mum/yesterday-was-dramatic.shtml

& http://www.inmusicwetrust.com/articles/52r37.html & http://www.junkmedia.org/?i=53

& http://www.lefthip.com/review_detail.php?reviewID=90

& http://www.freewilliamsburg.com/august_2001/mum.html

& http://grudnuk.com/records/arch/001097.html & http://www.almostcool.org/mr/768/

& http://www.hauntedink.com/25/mum.html

& http://members.fortunecity.com/culturedose/review_10002101.html

& http://www.kindamuzik.net/artikel.php?id=718

Interview with audio : http://www.splendidezine.com/features/mum/

My own review of earlier 2004 release : http://psychedelicfolk.homestead.com/acidfolkreview5.html#anchor_74

Their 2006 release is released next :

Fat-Cat Rec. Múm : The Peel Session (ICE,rec.2002;pub.2006)****

BBC always provided John Peel a recording session for musicians he chose for airplay. Over the years these sessions became legendary and many were published as ‘the Peel sessions’. John Peel had a good ear for music and will always be remembered as the kind of DJ musicians needed badly. And almost always, the musicians gave their best shot in these studios.

This Peel session recording from 2002 finally saw the light of a reissue. Much more than all the others by Múm, a large section have been led by the rhythmic sound-clever electronica (which actually is not always electronica, only it just seems to be), a part which also on other recordings showed its attractive, pop sensibility.

Only some touches of harmonica show more clearly the folktronica association, which I always gave this group. Also that part still has all the sweetness typical for Múm. It takes up to the third track before vocals appear more fully and this with some extra, more orchestrated layer.

The four tracks seem to have been developing as a kind of improvisation that led to that more multi-arranged, most emotional moment. Last track, led by accordion, found percussion, and flower pots,.. provides a moody ending to this perfectly built up session.

Audio : "Awake on a train" (from PRI radio with written review here)

Homepage : http://mumweb.net/ & with audio http://www.myspace.com/mumtheband

Fanpage : http://www.randomsummer.com/book/

Info : http://pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/...

Label info with audio : http://fat-cat.co.uk/fatcat/release.php?id=213

Other reviews : -

next release ->

Plop F.S.Blumm & Friends : Sesamsamen (D,2004)***°

Frank Schültge aka “Blumm” has made a number of releases. I still remember his nice cooperations with Harald Ziegler aka “Sack”. Here we hear beautiful acoustic and minimal folktronic-like pieces which came forth from a cooperative project Frank intended to make. He invited a lot of musical friends, with the intention to create a kind of cooperative symphony, based upon a guitar composition of his, inspired by Ethiopian rhythms, that were used for the fundamental inspiration. At the end he had 10 compositions between 1 minute and up to an hour. Working on that material it became 7 compositions for this full CD with for the first 5 tracks minimalist overtures related to that idea (-just listen to "coop.comp.v.1") , plus an ambient track, “coop.comp.v.6”, all instrumentals, with only “coop.comp.v.5” with Harald “Sack” Ziegler using a toy voice from outer space. Björn Kuhligk wrote three texts for the music which inspired Frank to add two instrumental versions of the “Leben Läuft” theme he created around it (-just listen to "Leben lauft (kammerversion)"-). The last version is the text version. This text fits well with Yumiko Matsui’s illustrations.

As complete project it became really pleasant to listen to. Imagine mostly combinations like harmonica with toypiano and vibraphone and acoustic guitar playing minimalist evolutions..

The title “Sesamsamen” means “sesame-seams/seads” in English (remember the “Sesame open (yourself)”-idea, which by the way originally was based upon the herb effect which sesame (oil) had on the mind, also when used on the body for massage, but which is only remembered for the use in the famous Persian 101 Night fairytale about Ali Baba), but the word also recalls to the German word “Zusammen” or “together”, -the cooperative idea behind the project-. Although it didn’t became a real “symphony of friends” as intended; it has this feeling of friendliness within it.

Info : http://fsblumm.free.fr & http://www.myspace.com/fsblumm

Label (http://www.inpartmaint.com/plop/) entry with review :

http://www.inpartmaint.com/plop/e/title/plip-3012_e.html

Other review : http://www.dense.de/news.html#blumm

More on Harald "Sack" Ziegler : http://singersong.homestead.com/HaraldSACKZiegler.html

next album (not folktronica related, but a bit more like a jazz improvisation) ->

Ahornfelder/Autopilot M. F.S.Blumm meets Luca Fadda (D,rec.2005-2007)**'

F.S.Blumm once met Luca Fadda on stage in 2005. In 2007 he did some overdubs to the recording (guitar, bass, toys), with Andreas Otto on cello on one track. The liner notes said Michael Türkowsky lend him a double bass and mechanical toys, while Achim von Boxberg lend him a Russian table-soccer-game. The first track of 15 minutes starts convincingly enough, easily rhythmical as it is on smooth double bass with trumpet arrangements and toy-like musical boxes and toy piano improvisations and some electronica imitating the children instruments sounds. It has a good jazzy smoothness but is also a bit long and a too stretched mood ; 6 minutes would have made it already, although it’s length didn’t disturb too much on one listen. Before another longer piece are two miniatures, with trumpet, double bass and nonsense strings on “Achim and Giovi”. The second long piece consists more or less of improvisations with instruments like toy piano, texturing other sounds, guitar, harmonica, also a beautiful jazzy trumpet mixed with the ultra-simple 1-2-3-notes bass rhythm repetitions. Again, the bass is annoyingly repetitive, and has not much to offer more than it’s indicating presence. The best thing of the album I think are the beautiful playing of the trumpet, by Luca Fadda. As a cd concept it is too minimal and too thin as a concept : it has not much more to offer than a vague jazz improvised idea, where F.S.Blumm not even has the necessary jazz experience to convince enough for a whole length of a CD.

Homepages : http://fsblumm.free.fr & http://www.myspace.com/fsblumm

& http://www.myspace.com/lucafadda

Label info with audio : http://www.ahornfelder.de/releases/fsblumm_lucafadda/index.php

Reviews on http://www.klangware.com/de/shop/cd/f.s.-blumm-meets-luca-fadda-cd.html

& http://www.gaz-eta.vivo.pl/gaz-eta/recenzje/gazeta.php?nr=58&id=s_31

& http://www.klangware.com/de/shop/ambient/f.s.-blumm-meets-luca-fadda-cd-3.html

& http://www.earlabs.org/release/review.asp?reviewID=521

Leaf Rec. Asa-Chang & Junray : Jun Ray Song Hang (JAP,2002)*****

Asa-Chang started to make career as a percussionist and a bandmaster of the Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra in 1989 with a multiplied openness to all kinds of genres and approaches. In 1998, Asa-Cang started Asa-Chang & Junray as a duo with guitarist / programmer, Hidehiko Urayama, with a first album “Tabla Magma Bongo”. In 2000, a third member joined the band, namely tabla player, U-Zhaan, for performing live together. In 2001 they released the mini-album “Hana” with much success, resulting in a rerelease of this album for Leaf and this full CD, with raving reviews.

Asa-Chang plays the Indonesian "Dandud" bongo in a style influenced by the Indian tabla style. This original idea came also from Indonesia. In Jakarta there exists a contemporary style of drumming called "Dandud" based upon the playing of tabla.

Other member U-Zhaan has spent some years studying tabla and Carnatic South Indian kanjira drum under the tutelage of percussionist V. Selvaganesh. The new technique they present in the group is completely new. It has elements and ideas of Indian vocal percussion duet with tabla. A few times I also recognized some Indonesian communicative rhythmic singing patterns too. Here it becomes a tabla-over-normal-speech style. In our modern commercialized music business times, where the still primitively minded hip-hop style is over-promoted, now this is what I call a thoughtful vocal percussive and musically interesting communication area with vocals and rhythms.

But this is far from a percussion driven album..

“Hana” is a filmic track with minimal chamber music and duet vocals with broken tabla-percussion on the spoken word rhythms, with just a few small touches of electronic effects.

“Preach” has beautifully combined trumpet, played with gipsy-fun, mixed with a metallic Indonesian instrument (?), and deformed funny vocals and other sounds, with tabla-like percussion and electronic effects.

The track “Kobana” I knew from the “Childish Music” compilation. I recognised immediately with it a huge talent and great vision behind the music. It has more deformed funny vocals with percussion, harmonica and electronics very nicely interwoven into a sweet folktronic fairytale-story-into-music song. The vocal ideas continue on “Nigatsu”, a track wich starts with storm sounds and guitar, and which is basically composed by guitar mixed with some keyboards and slightly cut-in recordings of vocals which are beautifully interwoven in the composition with a song idea, adding percussion, trumpet, and a bit of sitar all contributing its own ideas to it.

“Goo-Gung-Gung"definitely has some ethnic inspiration (Indonesian ?). It is a percussive melody with fine combinations of sounds that combine well with nice overtones (tabla, electronica and …), built up very much in combinations like some Indonesian music is built up, but here still as something different and as a new idea.

“Kutsi#1” after this, played by trumpet & percussion mostly is a more moody melody. Also “Jippun” has something of an ethnic music idea. It starts with funny electronica with flutes on top of it, in some kind of dialogue with one another, into a playful, slightly more abstract Plato-shadow game. It is as if some essence developed and collected from some ethnical source here is translated or transformed into a more futuristic vision or for some different out-of-space cybernetic perceptive ears. This piece ends with deformed Indian percussive vocals with percussion mixed with electronica. (My son of nine said : “I know how this is made : the voices are just speeded up” ; funny how he contributes in listening attentively).

“Kokoni Sachiari” has more techno-electronic breakbeat vision of other ideas from Indian music (sitar, vocals, etc.). Also “Tabla Bol” shows another variation of how one can also record/perform/bring a vocals/tabla duet mixed with some electronica. The way the result sounds, reminds me a bit more of Indonesia than of India.

“Radio-No-Youni” after this is a brilliant adaptation of the instrumental part of a Brigitte Fontaine song called ‘Comme a la radio” played with odd guitar, electronica, a mouthharmonica kind of instrument. This is mixed surprisingly with sitar, percussion and trumpet. A version, which I think Brigitte would appreciate too.

The album closes perfectly with a moody outro calm track, called "Kutsu", played by trumpet, percussion on a rhythm of sometimes-clicking-together maracas.

There are so many ideas in this album, which are built up well and which hang so well together. This project comes over like group with genius from which this item shows many reconsiderations of some essences of music ,with new different visions to it.

The album was recorded by Kiyosho Kusaka who added his own ideas into the mix and has additional musicians contributing for strings, voice samples and so on (Yoshimi P-We, Kazufumi Kodoma, Miki Supercar, Punku Boi, with Shika Udai Strings (?), Pianica Maeda (?) and Naruyoshi Kikuchi (?).

Audio : "Hana" (or here or here), "Preach","Kobana" (or here),"Nigatsu" (or here or here),

"Goo-Gung-Gung","Jippun"

or at http://www.tigersushi.com/site/Rcd.jsp?RcdId=5439

& http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/store/artist/album/0,,1748268,00.html

Video : "Hana" (quicktime), (windows media)

Other video with choreography (not from album) : "Tsuginepu"

Info on original label's page : http://www.riverrun.co.jp/top_y.html#asa_english.asp

Article : http://www.rhythmatism.com/articles/Asa-Chang.html

Interview : http://www.rhythmatism.com/japanese/Asa-ChangInterview.html

Homepage : http://www.asa-chang.com/ & http://www.myspace.com/asachangjunray

Other reviews : http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/experimental/reviews/asachang_junray.shtml

& http://www.themilkfactory.co.uk/reviews/asachangjunray_junraysongchang.htm

& http://www.posteverything.com/artists/release.php?id=2245

& http://www.boomkat.com/item.cfm?id=8082

The other, mini-CD on Leaf Records from Asa-Chang & Junray

is added at http://psychemusic.org/INDIABEATS.html