electronic music : review page

Record Label Records Fluorescent Grey : Gaseous Opal Orbs (US,2008)****°

Robert Martin with his project Fluorescent Grey shows a good taste for music with use of electronica and sounds, with influences ranging from the first wave/experimental pop generation (Coil, Zoviet France,…) over Nurse With Wound’s play with sounds to the newest examples of playing with rhythms and sampling (Venetian Snares, Aphex Twin,…) to the more complex and more spatial electro, all leave their mark in some way or another. From the new electro scenes I only very shortly followed some outstanding examples I could discover from the scenes, especially those who also combined this with acoustic sounds, vocals or theatrical ideas into the mix, or enough spatial feeling with something “real” happening I was forced to limit my scope out of practical reasons but with this release, I am consciously thrown back in into the New World of possibilities. And FG shows a really convincing musical concept with lots of variety. Partly, Robert Martin composes like a DJ with ambient soundscapes and electronically processed rhythms, on some parts, not too different from some other new artists, and equally good, and fluently driven, but these are some of the calmest, most modest, still intelligent variations. The compositions with sounds mostly are even more spatial, use interesting sounds, and I guess a few acoustic performances are used too, which are ripped, wrapped and smashed into a new form of music.

Track 1 sounds like such a spatial performance as if played by 7 people in a room, using sampled and found sounds, a track which adds varied complex rhythmic electronic machinery. The second track plays with all kinds of ethnic-acoustic percussion instruments, hanging cleverly together like 'electro jungle', a remixed percussive world. On the third track, Robert shows even better how good he can work with electronic rhythms and sounds and with complexity, working with breathing and beautiful sounds, which sounds very natural, like a living entity, expressing some aspect somewhere in the world. Electronic music like this, about only 20 years ago, would have taken months to organise, slide, cut, paste, stretch and so on, on huge equipment, while today this is within reach of any creative person with enough invested ambition and talent. This mixes into a next part, of dub electronica, as if played with a whole band but done by digital modelling only. The track after this is again one of these clever acoustic remixes. This sounds as if based upon an already clever performance of experimental glass, cup and spoons-on-tables percussion, and is mixed with electronica and voice. Later on also some sort of flute performance is adapted into it as well. After more electronic, rhythmical pleasures, the 7th track is a clever remix of Celtic folk with sort of Baroque arrangements. Last couple of tracks are a few more variations of composed, played and remixed sections with electronic equipment, of which the last purely technically achieved part shows a beautiful complex stereophonic experience, a perfect ending.

The band’s earliest recording was 'Please Do Not Buy This Recording' (Cassette), also on Record Label Records (1996). He has already released many cd’s of which one series was called the 'Look What I Cooked' CD series. Besides CDs he also released one MP3-EP called 'Asian Woman Mummy In My Tummy'.

Audio & info : http://www.myspace.com/fgrey

Info on artist : http://www.recordlabelrecords.org/fluorescentgrey.html

& on album : http://www.recordlabelrecords.org/rlr07.html

with audio : http://www.recordlabelrecords.org/rlr07_preview.html

Private The Darkening Scale : The Entomology Of Sound (UK,2007)**'

Renaldo & The Loaf were a duo who made very inspired, complete fun tracks in a compact Residents style, mostly with acoustic instruments. I still am a big fan, and I was happy seeing the four reissues some years ago. They have stopped making music since the ‘80s for a long time but just recently, David Janssen (aka Ted the Loaf) launched his own, more “serious”, project called “The Darkening Scale”, and has now one, private release ready. It sounds like based upon just a fragment or one quality of what I have noticed before on Renaldo and The Loaf material. If you take that old material, cut out some flesh, hairs and pimples, to leave clear bones, of electronica, you will face a darker sound, presenting a world-strange movie soundtrack, with a few ambient tracks, built from sampled sounds and using step sequencers. It is as if, out of time, some computer obsessed aliens kidnapped the acoustic sounds and tried to make something from them in the context of a digitalised age. Some of it sounds like a dance, but with sterile movement and static, no less pleasant for robots who are prepared for the advanced dance lessons for the mechanically weird. The title track is bit more composed like orchestral contemporary music.

Audio & info : http://www.myspace.com/thedarkeningscale

& http://www.arkade.com/default.aspx?a=The_Darkening_Scale

My own Renaldo & The Loaf fan page : http://singersong.homestead.com/RenaldoandtheLoaf.html

Finders Keepers Rec. Bruno Spoerri : Glückskugel (CH,rec.1971-1978, pub.2006)***°'

While having started as a jazz saxophonist (1952-1962) and after having worked as a psychologist (1962-1964), Bruno Spoerri since then quickly returned to his musical interests to practice sound engineering and make electronic music compositions and music for short films, documentaries and (about 500) commercials mostly. From 1981-1985 he worked together with Joel Vandroogenbroeck (Brainticket) (with various cooperative records). In 1982 he was co-founder of the "Swiss Society for Computer Music" and later became their co-director until 2000.

During the ‘70s he was in demand so much he had almost no time for anything else, and he forgot about all the things that were recorded. Encouraged by DJ Dino Lötscher and Andy Votel, Bruno Spoerri started to dig into his archive, and took out for this release 10 tracks dating from 1971-1980, from some commissions.

A few tracks, like the short, first version of “Glückskugel”, show Bruno Spoerri’s jazz interest, which appears in the arrangements of the music, but never for too long. Most tracks are highly influenced by obsessive electronic sound experiments, most often mixed with other elements, and with the help of some other musicians, like by a band adding funky touches. Mostly the hectic, nervous and time-consuming inventive research results in a combination of a discovery of a new world of sound combinations for melodic composition use, with the use of rhythms that are often faster than associated or useful for dance rhythms, adding this way some mind-blowing effect to the music. Two tracks are examples of PR-discs ; both are using the looped recorded sounds of machinery from the companies who commissioned the tracks (an iron-foundry company and a company for fork lift trucks). The documentary music track which is listed is a much more moody track, still progressive in nature, while the experimental movie “Lilith” has a whole mixture of ideas, like the use of the vocals of singer Barbara Fuchs on one part, who’s voice almost becomes one with an electronic instrument. Even when experiment and invention are everywhere, the result always remains recognisable and melodically colourful. The whole mix of interests makes the music of Spoerri so that it lives more in between all existing genres. Because the music on the release has changes all the time, the album makes a captivating listening experience.

Audio : "Gluckskugel", "Gluckskugel - The Race (The Iron Foundry)" (or here or here),

"Les Electroniciens" (or here), "Lilith - The Dance", "Drillin' "(or here)

Homepage : http://www.computerjazz.ch/

Review with short audio tracks : http://www.moviegrooves.com/shop/gluckskugelbrunospoerri.htm

Other review : http://www.indiecult.com/2006-08/bruno-spoerri-gluckskugel

Label info on Spoerri : http://www.finderskeepersrecords.com/press_spoerri.html

Plexi Hans Fjellestad : Moog (S,2005)****'

“Moog” is a documentary compiled from a series of interviews at Robert Moog’s home and shop, New York city, Los Angeles and Japan. Director Hans Fjellestad is a moog musician himself. He took care with some of the background music. The movie is a snapshot of Moog’s vision today. During the movie he meets new and old musicians (like Rick Wakeman, DJ Spooky, Bernie Worell,...) and pioneer cooperating friends (Herb Deutsch, Walter Sear and Gershon Kingsley). Their spontaneous conversations contribute their own vision. The movie is recorded with a traditional V8 camera. A few historical movie fragments were also added, like a concert of Keith Emerson, a snap of Sun Ra (without sound), investigations of Robert Moog and the first moog orchestra by Gershon Kingsley. Never the less there are shown only little highlights and “perfect” examples that show the moog performance in its optimal conditions, like Moog describes it as a magical connection, with every element (sound, melody, creation, performance) communicating together and creating a different level. The emphasis of the movie was not to create a historical overview compilation. It is only a temporal vision of the spirit now and within the time spirit’s perspectives. A good attempt to combine the highlighting pioneer experimenting days is a live recording from Jean Jaques in duet with DJ Logic. The most successful musical fragment perhaps was Ed Kalehoff’s commercial for beer. Most new examples are still too much post-rock for my taste ; I don’t think it already shows a different fully matured possibility of expression. Most of the background music in the movie was especially composed for the movie soundtrack. Also nice to mention is a short part dedicated to the theremin, with another remarkable performance by Pamela Kurstin.

The fundamental connection that flood between all recordings and the interview became the potentional spiritual connection that Moog describes between the electronic equipment and men. The way Moog describes this, with a calm presence has something of a guru with a general connecting vision through all things.

Also nice to mention is a small animationfilm done by Fizzy Eye (London) showing Moog presenting his movie.

One of the most interesting bonus materials is the director’s explanation on his and the movies’s structural background.

Dutch review : "De spiritualiteit achter de machine". (published at Kindamuzik)

“Moog” is een documentaire gebaseerd op een compilatie van interviews die Hans Fjellestad, zelf een moog muzikant, maakte op verschillende locaties, zoals bij hem thuis, in de moog distributie winkel, in New York, Los Angeles en Japan. Het fundament van de film is “snapshot” van wat Robert Moog nu te vertellen heeft en hoe zijn interactie is met mensen die hij ontmoette in de periode dat de video gedraaid werd. Er zijn ontmoetingen bij met muzikanten die een spontaan gesprek hebben met hem, zoals Rick Wakeman, DJ Spooky, Bernie Worell of met collega pioniers zoals Herb Deutsch, Walter Sear en Georshon Kingsley. Er zijn ook historische opnames geïntegreerd, zoals een concert van Keith Emerson, en het onderzoek van Robert Moog zelf. Muzikaal zijn er maar weinig hoogtepunten en perfecte voorbeelden getoond waar de moog optimaal overkomt, zoals Moog het beschrijft als zijnde een magische connectie waar alles op zijn plaats zit en er een soort interactie is tussen geluid, melodie, inventie en, performance zeg maar. De nadruk lag ook niet op een historisch overzicht of een compilatie van hoogtepunten, maar op een weergave en opname in de tijdsgeest van nu. Een goede poging om beide werelden te verbinden is een opname van Jean Jaques Perry die een duet speelt met DJ Logic. Het beste muzikaal geslaagde werk leek me Ed Kalehoff’s reclamespot voor bier. De huidige voorbeelden zijn nogal post-rock en doen voor mijn part het instrument nog niet overdreven eer aan. De begeleidende filmmuziek zelf was speciaal gecomponeerd voor de film. Ook mooi is een kort deeltje gewijd aan de theremin.

De rode draad binnen de opnames en het interview is in feite ook nog het spirituele verband dat Robert Moog ziet tussen de elektronische schakelaars en de mens. Dit wordt prachtig uitgelegd door een wel zeer rustige, Robert Moog. Ook mooi is een kleine animatiefilm die geïntegreerd is, waar Moog zijn machine voorstelt.

Het is een prachtig gemonteerde DVD met de boodschap van de spiritualiteit achter de machine.

Als bonus is nog een interessante uitleg van de regisseurs achtergronden en het hoe en waarom van de montage, enkele live opnames, en nog flarden interviews.

Trailor : http://stream.qtv.apple.com/qtv/plexifilm/moogshorttrailer_ref.mov or

http://www.plexifilm.com/moog.high.html

Homepage : http://www.plexifilm.com/moog.html

& http://www.zu33.com/moog/ & http://www.moogmusic.com/detail.php?main_product_id=171

interesting Moog examples items on my webpages :

from Turkey :

Metin H. Alatli : http://progressive.homestead.com/Siluetler.html

Dün Bugün Yarin Orkestrasi : http://progressive.homestead.com/GENCE.html

Baris Manco's 2023 : http://progressive.homestead.com/Baris_Manco.html

Gokcen Kaynatan : http://progressive.homestead.com/GOKCEN.html

Cuneiform Rec. Radio Massacre International : Emissaries (UK,2004)**°

This British trio consist of Steve Dinsdale (keyboards, electronics), Duncan Goddard (keyboards, electronics) and Gary Houghton (guitar, keyboards). They have worked together in various configurations since the early 1980's and formed Radio Massacre International in 1993. They released various small numbered releases since 1995. Live improvisations are part of this repertoire. The group attracted more attention since 2002 up until in 2004 and after having experienced a concert, the Cuneiform label decided to get the group into their studio’s. The result is this album, with the performance of a so called successful live radioshow done shortly after the concert as bonus CD with the new studio recordings.

The music builds up slowly on “Seeds crossing the interstellar world” with electronic equipment expressing calm and moody ambient-cosmic music territories. Towards the second track, “A priest crossing frozen water” more sequenced sounds are added in the evolution, and a bit of electric guitars. This evolves into “Mad Bob’s self-inflicted torment”, with a mournful and filmic atmosphere and with sounds reminding me off a combination of flutes, mellotron and harpsichord, but this is a different electronic music combination. The last part of the track confirms the “personal” association with some deformed vocoded vocals and effects, fading out the melancholy with a remainder of a voice. “The emissaries reveal themselves” adapts the sphere into the earlier built up sequenced soundtrack. Hereto are added sounds that remind me of a combination of some percussion, metal chimes, bass and some electric piano but again these are all electronic sounds, mixed with mellotron and sequenced pulses. This tracks becomes pleasantly melodic and rhythmic. “The Ice Garden” has a darker lonely planet, Science Fiction sphere, still slightly unfocused-as-to-what’s going-on, cold and scary. Never the less the rhythms and melodies find its ease and “A promise of Salvation” concludes likewise.

Hidden in the first CD is a comic by Matt Howarth accessible through PC with Acrobat Reader. This comic was used as an inspiration to make this music making it a kind of soundtrack to it. Only afterwards I checked the comic because I didn’t want to hear music through a PC. With the musical structure still in my mind, having experienced it as a soundtrack for sure, I wondered if I could find the different parts in the comic. Of course the music works much on its own.

The radio live recording is much slower and improvised and the inspiration comes slower than the music needs to make a convincing composition for repeated listens. “An interstellar vacuum is far from empty”, is a slow circular-ambient cosmic drift floating with keyboards and ambient guitars. This evolves into the heavily repetitive-rhythmical sequencers driven “Mobile Star Systems”, with some jazzy keyboard improvisation and some electric guitar improvisation on top. The sequencers are just put on automatic repeat for the improvisations. “A piano wanders the incandescent vapours” with keyboards and bass guitars and piano, is another slow improvisation, with electric piano and bluesy guitar. In a more mid period Pink Floyd mode, on “The emissaries reveal themselves”, the guitar continues its improvisations with some keyboards, until the sequencers comes back in at “the arrival of the seeds”, with a few minimal melodic variations. This long piece ends with a few aeroplane-like guitar effects, bass sounds and left over keyboard pitched bits. Last track, “deliverance from nuclear winter” is a sequenced driven brighter piece, which also misses a stronger control over the machine, letting the automatism of it drift too much, reminding me of Pink Floyd’s "Welcome to the machine" which gave me the idea that man should interact with and control the machine in order to feel the magical connection. Never the less the machine controls, the improvisers succeed to build up the intensity a bit and improvise additionally on top of this. In general the machines floating sequences did lead the complete improvising time span over the human control, with just human touches happening. Only near the end at least some controlling effort did make a fine conclusion.

Audio : http://www.mp3.com/albums/20015236/summary.html

Homepage : http://www.radiomassacreinternational.com

Info : http://www.starsend.org/rmi.html

& http://www.soniccuriosity.com/sc058.htm & http://www.soniccuriosity.com/sc167.htm

& http://www.thegatherings.org/51gather.html

Label info : http://cuneiformrecords.com/bandshtml/rmi.html

& http://www.groove.nl/cd/3/38903.html

Other reviews : http://www.synthmusicdirect.com/emiss.cfm

& http://www.synthmusicdirect.com/emiss.cfm

new 2007 release see next page->

Fat-Cat Rec. Semiconductor : Worlds in Flux (UK,2007)**°°°

Whilst I got my degree in graphic arts unfortunately a few years before the computer became essential, I was just too late to be able to jump on up to date creative technology (making self-investments for it out of the question, because I was not ready to make a big sacrifice to update myself), but I still have an interest to follow, from a bit more distance, the new ideas and possibilities of the visual medium. In the beginning it seemed that MTV was going to continue to give possibilities to graphic artists to make short animation clips in between music clips, but they pretty quickly gave up such ambitions. It took also a while before music videos themselves became the visual exploration of sound in combination with images. The first rewarding clips in that mixed area all came from electronic/electro music, with visual aspects and ideas that were taken at first from developments in computer, from playstation games, as well as from the further exploitation of fractals (with the visualization of such mathematical forms that develops visually just like natural forms, and that look like plants, shells, cracks and waves or even entire natural landscapes). Some of the first further achievements of visualizations of abstract visualizations together with sound, that had some visual impact on me, came from Amon Tobin (Ninja-Tune) (who still has a nice interactive website). For all such new world visualizations, it is to me clear that especially close cooperations between scientific models and visual esthetics work best.

Semiconductor is a Brighton-based duo consisting of Ruth Jarman and Joseph Gerhardt, who, since 1999, developed ideas to make such combinations possible. This DVD presents their work, of which some of the early ideas are more clearly still in a first phase and look still a bit primitive, while the more worked out films and clips are simply stunning and succeeded to impress me very much, especially because they cross the limit of possibilities of our daily perception on visual aspects. The new expressions use an area of confusion that are or are still kept in earth-bound principles (you see things that could be realized as being real but which are not, in combination with the sounds of real things, like for instance seismographic vibrations that change visual shapes of landscapes, on “all the time in the world”, or with various processes that change in their nature of being, like city lights that become like balloons of light, presented with their own "natural" sounds, and presented almost like a fictive documentary). The sounds are always connected and evolve with the visual changes, and are mixed into one organ for perception. The visual world is made audible, especially in “sound of microclimates”, making me think of how sounds of insects, stones, ice and wind fit with the environment, as if they are completely one with that environment. Semiconductor shows us brilliantly how urban sounds come to life, like another part of nature, showing something we haven’t heard before but which to some degree was always there. It is now made visible into a new, four to five dimensional world of movement and evolution through a partly imagined changing process in time. Some parameters are used and programmed for it, connected and in combination of sound with its visual image, showing something that reveals a self-consisting form of new life, with its own artificial intelligence (especially successful on Double Raptor’s “200 Nanowebbers”, which shows an amazing animated artificial molecular web that responds to audio, showing a new landscape with self-organizing crystals and other forms). It is a true realization of a superior sub-form of a world based upon sound visualization combined with visual a gamble with perception of contents.

The ideas of Semiconductor have reached a point of which I must say that the highlights of them are a must-have witnessed experience, that will enrich some daily perspectives on things, or that will provide a surreal sub-world or additional talent to visualize such an experience best. By compiling all their works together however you come to a degree that after some of the most impressive new worlds of films and a few movie clips, a few of the other clips which focus more onto the early developments show too much of the creative process itself, with much more a desire towards what area in which something is lattempted, but which still remains much more like an idea, without yet entering a new complex enough world to form an equally to ours interesting world, which our normal perspective can visualize. The best tracks however succeed with glance in creating a world with new perspectives.

Video previews : http://www.semiconductorfilms.com/root/DVD/worlds_in_flux_previews.htm

& http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VpMZxWxUg0

Homepage : http://www.semiconductorfilms.com/

Info on Semiconductor : http://www.optronica.org/line-up-semiconductor.html

Info : http://www.semiconductorfilms.com/DVD.html

& http://www.play.com/...

Label's info : http://fat-cat.co.uk/fatcat/release.php?id=217

& http://fat-cat.co.uk/fatcat/mediaItem.php?id=43

Info with video resume of some clips : http://www.thespacelab.tv/spaceLAB/2007/01January/MusicNews-59-Semiconductor.htm

Interview : http://www.lux.org.uk/featured/semiconductor.htm

BLRRecords Ariel Kalma : Osmose (F,1977,re.2006)***°'

Ariel Kalma took very much a trip on rain forest sounds, partly with the inclusion of an an underlying honest pre-dating new age experiment but then immediately taking it further and deeper into consciousness for a cosmic music trip (like Klaus Schulze,..), with church organ (drone and melody) and electronica, or further improvisations on sax, flute or mantra-alike vocals while the forest sounds of birds and insects linger on. On the bonus track to the original LP reissue “Gongmo” takes it even further to a next level of semi-alien music, with a natural spaceship rhythm adapting to the forest’s cry as if attracted by its call and providing some cosmic answer (; for this track some Borneo war drums sounds were also used and filtered into the mix). Like the 1975 reissue, also this album with its 3 bonus tracks gives a very complete musical picture of inspirations, which were like a unique and well focused experience.

Info (with audio) : http://www.ariel-kalma.com/osmose.htm

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

& http://www.blrrecords.com/prod/729/osmose.html

& http://www.helmetroom.com/album_pages/BLUR01-arielkalma-osmose/index.html

Other review : http://www.aural-innovations.com/issues/issue22/kalmtint.html

& http://outerspacegamelan.blogspot.com/...

Italian review : http://www.ondarock.it/recensioni/2006_kalma.htm

* 1975 album is reviewed on http://progressive.homestead.com/cosmicjazz.html

* 1979 album ->