Recently local music weekly Seven Days published a review of The Le Duo’s latest offering snwstrm saying:

“The surround instrumentation is too cacophonous for the listener to make out any kind of harmonic phrasing, experimental or otherwise. Whatever interesting improvisational creations might be happening here, they’re hard to grasp.”

“Even in the widely cast, anything-goes spectrum of experimental noise, this snwstrm never truly develops from the percussive din of its “Pt. 1.” A few scant clarinet phrases pipe up, and there are sometimes audible tape loops and seconds of barely discernable electric guitar.”

In his response SD’s staff blogger Will came out strongly in favor of The Le Duo (and Burlington’s flourishing experimental scene) stating in his article “The Art of Noise”

“To me, the le duo is the current genuine voice of whatever scene Burlington experimental music has created. The ever-evolving free-improv group could be seen as more of a collective. Started in 2006 by former Nest Material drummer and percussionist JB Ledoux, it has since comprised a fluid cast of folks from the area. The group’s forte is an elementary sense of musical freedom focused into a shifting complexity of textures and sounds, fused and scattered by JB’s percussion.”

“The solidified direction of the album’s two tracks weave different emotional tones throughout the whole piece as its slight, yet dramatic shifts carry the experience along at a meditative pace. It’s a soundtrack to someone on the verge of dreams, running through the confusion of vertigo.”

Quite differing opinions wouldn’t you agree?
Care to take the pepsi challenge?

Arklight – “Aphasia” ( Grimeology Records/GRM012)

One of Grimeology Records latest releases comes from Arklight, a four-piece noise rock group from Queens, NY.  The 50-minute album is named “Aphasia” a term referring to “the loss of the ability to produce and/or comprehend language”.

The album opens with a track called “Killing My Name, I Cannot Go Forth”, a noise-rock jam that is reminiscent of early Sonic Youth, back in their grittier No-Wave days.  The track takes a bit to hit its stride, meandering around some warm up riffs mingling with lo-fi tape hiss.  About two minutes in, the guitar and drums start to meld into a coherent, if monotonous, rhythm.   The track seems excessively long (a lack of editing is this album’s greatest downfall), though it has its moments.

The next track, “By Dint of the Sun’s Plastic Attack”, takes on a very different feel.  Opening with some heavy rhythmic drumming (almost black metal beats), the track takes on a sense of cohesion must faster than the opener, introducing a phased guitar and some noise textures early on.  Chanted vocals also make a presence, though they could have been a bit more prominent in the mix. Again, this track suffers from a lack of editing, sounding more like a practice session than a true composition.  It’s a shame too, because when this track hits its stride (namely the 7:00-8:00 section), it shows tremendous potential.

“Campbell’s Militia” follows, with grinding, crumbling drum beats and punkish guitar riffs opening the track. It’s a simple piece, but one of the most balanced on the album.  There is some really solid drumming on this track, but it is unfortunately downplayed by the lo-fi production, an aesthetic choice that unfortunately hurts “Aphasia” more than it helps it.   A slow-down transition around the four-minute mark takes on an almost Fugazi-esque feel, and the track closes with the first proper track ending on the album.

The fourth track, “Daguerrotype”, is by far the stand-out.  A nice blending of heavily reverbed industrial sounds, dark ambient guitar tones & heartbeat-like staccato drumming, “Daguerrotype” is the most restrained and masterful selection on “Aphasia”.  The higher production values on this track lend a greater degree of clarity, and could have been helpful if applied to the rest of the album.  The track shows a good sense of atmosphere, build-up & composition, and the whispered vocals add a primitive and haunting touch. Very reminiscent of early Einsturzende Neubauten & good enough that I can forgive the rushed ending.

“Daguerrotype” is followed up by the unfortunately named track “The Language Of War Is Victims”.   Sounding like a free-jazz band in a washing machine, the track takes on a narcotic dirge over ten minutes, ranging from moments of brilliance (the feedback squalls around 4:00 min; the loops at 9:00) to clichéd experiments that should have been edited out (the twangy guitar at the 6:30 mark).  Despite its flaws, it’s still a unique piece that shows a lot of potential.

The album ends strangely with “Luxuriating In a Bath of Adjacent Strings”, an extremely out-of-place harsh techno piece that sounds like an Acid Loops track outputted through a distortion pedal.  While the track takes on moments of PE brilliance (particularly towards the end), it suffers from generic techno beats and concepts, reaching its worst around the 6:30 mark, where it sounds like a cheesy homage to The Prodigy.  This said, the track has some great moments, but it sounds completely out of context with the rest of this album.

While uneven in its production and schizophrenic in style, Arklight’s “Aphasia” still shows moments of great potential.  Coming in at over 50 minutes, “Aphasia” could have been much more effective if it been substantially shorter (this could have been a really tight 20+ minute EP).  If the group is able to spend more time with editing on their next release, finding the diamonds and throwing out the dirt, they could have some really promising material.

Artklight’s “Aphasia” is available for purchase at www.grimeology.com/store

Due to the request of our attendance at a recent Snake in the Garden show this week Aether Everywhere Radio show (and subsequent podcast) has been delayed for two more weeks. But thanks to a healthy back stock of unreleased AE Podcasts from previous shows along with a personal request from a regular reader I’ve decided to go back to the vault and pull out our show from Last winter focusing on one of my favorite genres – Japanese Psych. What follows is a reprinting of the original post as it appeared on highgatecenter.blogspot.com, enjoy.

—

Hey everyone. Sorry that it’s taken until now to post the latest Aether Everywhere set and download (Jenny’s been checking her computer every couple of hours, folding her arms, and stomping away), but both Tanner and I had pretty hectic weekends. OK, so mine wasn’t really all that hectic, but since I was recently informed by my supervisor that, no, a hot pink Marc Bolan t-shirt (and the like) is not acceptable attire for work, I had to go get me some new threads.

Aaanyway, this past Thursday, we featured Ghost’s Snuffbox Immanence from 1999. A lot of people consider this to be their “classic” album, and I’d agree with that (although depending on the day, Lama Rabi Rabi gives it a run). We then spun a bunch of like-minded Japanese psych tracks, ranging from Ghost’s side work with Damon and Naomi (the rhythm section of Galaxie 500) to Nobuzaku Takemura, whose Steve Reich-meets-Markus Popp “Kepler” is reminiscent of Snuffbox’s “Daggma.” Hope you enjoy, and tune in Aether Everywhere this Thursday at 10 for some Elephant 6 action! – JOSH

(ps. This is one of my favorite setlists, i love all of these songs, and some of the artists are some of my all time favorite players, do yourself a favor, download this one, pop it into your ipod for that ride on the train, walk in the winter woods, or drive down the coast – also check out my mad photoshop p0Wnage! -tanner)

1) Damon & Naomi w/ Ghost – “I Dreamed of the Caucasus”
2) Keiji Haino – “I Don’t Want To Know”
3) L – “Troll”
4) LSD March – “Kimi Wa Tengoku”
5) Maher Salal Hash Baz – “What’s Your Business Here Elijah?”
6) Susumu Yokota – “Sleepy Eye”
7) Nagisa Ni Te – “Me On The Beach”
8 ) Boredoms – “(two circles)”
9) Nobukazu Takemura – “Kepler”
10) Boris w/ Michio Kurihara – “Fuzzy Reactor”
11) Masaki Batoh – “Spooky”
12) High Rise – “Outside Gentiles”

 

 AE Podcast #4 - Jap-Psych: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

id m theft able “shh portal of bleh-shh gobs do” c90 (tape recordings from Europe 4/07)

Did you know that we only use ten percent of our brains? We’ve all heard this myth, but I think we should explore the idea that we only use ten percent of our vocal cords. My theory is based on a tape made by id m theft able. This audio document is a demonstration of an untapped resource that resides in all of us.

Id m pulls out an amazing array of gurgles, spurts, yelps, hollers, grunts, pops, and squeals from his throat. It was amazing to witness this live and it also works at home on your hi-fi system. Mr. theft able also accompanies himself with various objects and noise makers that are hooked up to contact microphones allowing him to draw out both worldly and otherworldly sounds from a table sitting in front of him. These range from toy squeaks to amplified screeches that can strip the paint off the wall. We’re accustomed to hearing the human voice create recognizable sounds using words and sometimes we set those words to a melody creating a song. Using the voice as a sound instrument can have a disorienting result. You may cringe, laugh, or sit and wonder how one man is creating this sound. It’s sometimes difficult to discern between the man and the machines on this tape.

This cassette contains about ten different recordings. They do a wonderful job at bringing the id m live sound to your living room. The tape also captures spontaneous jams with Euro drunks and even a fight and verbal argument that ensue at one show. The altercation doesn’t sound out of place at all. The sound is raw and crude and gives you the feeling of sitting in a small bar listening to a live performance. Shuffling feet and glasses clinking are all part of the soundscape. The foreign chatter that occurs between and during sets also adds to the dizzying effect of the music.

It’s a real treat getting to hear sound-poetry performed in front of a modern day audience. It continues a wonderful tradition that may or may not have had its start with the Fluxus and Dada movements along with such pioneers and Henri Chopin and Francois Dufrene. If you’re interested at all in this world, you should check ubu.com for tons of sights and sounds.

This is my first introduction to id m theft able and I looked forward to future transmissions from this bearded poet. For more sound and information you can check the man’s website at http://www.kraag.org

DISCUSS IT.

i went and saw ornette coleman & band saturday night at the flynn theatre, one of the most exciting groups brought to town in years by the discover jazz fest, in my opinion. i had been excited for this show ever since i first heard the rumors, at least six months ago or so. ornette with three bassists and a drummer, his own son denardo who has been playing with the group on and off since he was 10, forty some odd years. wow.

i got to the show fashionably late and was surprised to see the band already playing. i guess there was no opener. i heard that they’d approached a local group to open, but the money was so low they passed. i also heard they payed ornette an obscene amount of money to play. if only it was worth it!

the first thing that struck me was how strong ornettes sax playing is. this man is approaching 80 and he can still blow. i was pleasantly surprised by that. the second thing that i noticed is that there were two bassists not three, one of the guys was missing. i dont know if they explained why before i got there or not. one electric one upright, the electric guy playing more like lead guitar type stuff with the upright holding it all together. not the best combination. why not just have a guitarist?

denardo coleman, like i said earlier, has been playing with his father since the late 1960’s. you’d think after all this time they would have some chemistry together. not at all as far as i could tell. he went back and forth from playing kinda rock like beats to sloppy free jazz flights. even though i didn’t really like the double bass sound they were both, like ornette, talented top shelf players, sadly their musicianship was overpowered by Denardo’s awkward drumming.

i was fairly disappointed by the whole show and after 45 minutes or so decided it was time to go.

Discuss it!

before i go i would like to add that these factors might have contributed to my blase feelings about the night:

1. i had been up since 4:30 in the morning.

2. i spent all afternoon and evening in the blazing hot sun drinking and helping to plant a garden.

3. there was so much going on downtown saturday night i was anxious to get the hell out of the flynn.