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After nearly two years of work the cinematically transcendent debut full
length from Anoice is finally available. Anoice is the first group on
Important to be signed off of a demo. In fact, this album is essentially
that very demo with few studio touch ups and a mastering job courtesy of
Jeff Lipton @ Peerless Audio in Boston (Magnetic Fields/Flaming Lips).
Lots more information can be found on the Important website including
photos/mp3's etc. And in case you're interested in writing this up you'll
find some more info below.
Thanks!
John & Important
Let's get this straight immediately. Anoice is not another instumental
group with strong rock tendencies and an armchair association with
classical music. Unlike numerous contemporaries which they will
undoubtedly be compared to, their goal is not to follow the trends and
make the soft/loud/soft/loud juxtapositions in every song, but to
carefully craft each song with a strong attention to melody, solid
accompaniment, and courteous counterpoint. One of the remarkable
qualities of Anoice is that they truly work as a group, with members who
aren't afraid to remain quiet while others play. Through meticulous
composition Anoice has achieved an unrivaled quality.
While the band isn't intentionally attempting to be cinematic, the
recordings achieve something breathtaking and emotive: imagine the
Rachel's scoring a film by Ang Lee. Anoice's music is anthemic and rich
while being introspective and personal. Each track is preceeded by brief
and dense ambient tracks to clense the audio palate much like ginger in
your sushi boat.
Anoice are a six-piece group based in Tokyo. The band was formed
in January, 2004 by members Ricco (guitar/keyboards) and Taku
(guitars and mandolin), who were soon joined by Yuki (piano), Utaka (viola), Matsu
(bass), and Yossy (drums).While each member cites different musical
influences, it's fairly evenly split between rock (think My Bloody
Valentine meets King Crimson), classical and modern composers (Perhaps
Debussy and Shostakovitch writing together after drinking heavily from
Phillip Glass), jazz and electronic ( Autechre meets Mum maybe?).
Combining all of these influences with their obvious Japanese heritage
Anoice has created an album with an emotional arc, climaxing
magnificently as it ends and leaves the listener determined to press play
once again.
Pronounced "a noyce," the name comes from the Celtic word for "now"
(Anois). Remmings is their debut release and contains four named songs
and five unnamed songs. Cover art by Non Format. Mastering by Jeff Lipton
(Flaming Lips, Magnetic Fields)
"With guitars, bass, viola, keyboards and drums, the six Anoice succeed to
create incredible atmospheres between Sigur Ros, Arvo part and Rachel's."
Rockerilla (Italy)
“Even when all of them are going at it hammer and tongs they act more like an
orchestra with each player adding their own element to the melody. Anoice hit
all the blissful and joyous emotions and only rarely dip into melancholy like
most bands of the same ilk. “ Brainwashed
"Anoice have produced something entirely different and original, a mature record
of great beauty and attention to detail that rises above any clichés and should by
all accounts establish them as one of the leading artists today. "
Rockarolla (UK)
"Anoice Remmings (Important) This Tokyo-based sextet make some really sublime
instrumental music. Monumental and subtly nuanced; they all allow plenty of room
for each other. Mixing guitars, programming, viola, bass, piano, drums, mandolin,
and synthesizer, into the nine varied sonic excursions presented here. Mesmerizing
soundtracks to nonexistant films that bloom in the center of your mind. Ranging from
very small and soft spoken, to toweringly grand and vast. Some pieces have the feel
of chamber music renditions of Mogwai or Spacemen 3 songs; others feel like an
accurate aural description of loneliness."
Dream Magazine
"I was sold this record on the promise that Anoice are “like Rachel’s…but they rock…”
But isn’t that Godspeed? Well, no because whereas Godspeed dangle you worringly
over a cliff for the duration of an album, Anoice frequently drop you, pick you up again
and occasionally even make you float. What’s more, there’s often more of a rhythmic
framework here. The bass isn’t afraid to groove, the drums do ‘Bolero’ behind the
cascades of passionate viola and hammered piano. Anoice, in fact, are as adept at
approaching the rock/classical thing from the rock end as the classical end, which gives
them more than one string to their bow and potentially makes for some celestial live performances.
In places, they sound like an instrumental Arcade Fire. In others – particularly the incredibly
beautiful tracks 5 - 8 – they sound as good as any living film composer worth his salt.
If track 6 (Liange) doesn’t astound you, you are a glacier.
There’s a readymade market for evocative, anthemic, cinematic stuff like this, of course, be
it on the bill of All Tomorrow’s Parties or soundtracking some intense French film noir,
with Emanuelle Beart running down the steps of la Basilique du Sacre Coeur in torrential
rain. Even so, Anoice have that something special that could elevate them even beyond that.
This is not a group, as such. These people are modern composers. "
Glen Johnson - Piano Magic
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During the late '90s, London-Tokyo harsh noise unit Noise/Girl became one of the Japanoise underground's most respected live performers, and renowned for a denser and more complex sound than most contemporaries. Suddenly in 2000, Noise/Girl disappeared. After four years missing and presumed dead, frontman Lucifer has resurfaced with live performances and a CD full of new tracks and unreleased material.
Trevor Brown, a fellow British ex-Patriot in Tokyo, has provided the cover artwork n a signature adorably unsettling illustration. Trevor is known for his fetishistic, unavoidable, brutally disturbing, and highly collectible covers for John Zorn, Dead Pop Stars, Jarboe, Merzbow, GG Allin, Coil, Supersuckers, Brighter Death Now, Whitehouse and Venetian Snares. At 500 copies, the supply of Discopathology will not last long.
This CD is the final epitaph and culmination of Noise/Girl: a super-heavy noise album that you can also boogie to. Deep, harsh, psychedelic noise engulfs disco and funk, which has somehow traveled through the looking glass and into another dimension of howling feedback and brutal bass frequencies.
Featuring some tracks to dance to, some tracks nobody in their right minds would try to dance to, and a remastered version of the legendary 12" single "Discopathology," described by the NME as "a terrifying record n deserves to be a big-room floor-filer...immortality beckons."
The Discopathology CD is loud and harsh enough to satisfy fans of Merzbow or Whitehouse, complex enough to reward repeated listenings, and most unexpectedly of all: it is booty-shakingly funky.
reviews:
Beginning with "Before the Carnival," an uneasy wash of reverb and distortion that is cautiously subdued. The lull explodes into the title track, a rampaging equalizer-killing disco dance anthem. This is where Noise/Girl shines; the mix is clear with high attention to detail. Unlike many of his noise contemporaries, Noise/Girl embraces frequencies across the spectrum, and assigns pockets of the spectrum to various elements of the mix. If Daft Punk traded their skill with the filter-bank for brutal distortions, the result would bow before the dynamics of Discopathology. This shit makes your ass move. Harsh noise has never been so fun. The album progresses with sequential lulls and "dance" songs, ripping samples and themes from well-known tracks, such as "Alive," which bastardizes the classic "Staying Alive." The beats behind the brothers Gibb are thick and unforgiving, relying on a throbbing kick augmented by squealing oscillators. Noise/Girl isn't going to hit the Top 40 any time soon, but the smirk and nod to pop sensibilities found within Discopathlogy lies woven within the power noise eclipses of many stars. - Matt Simpson, Igloo
ouch - WFMU
Even though it's relatively tame by Brown's own fetishistic standards, it's obvious that Noise/Girl aren't expecting this career round-up to be taken into the all encompassing motherly breast of the Wal-Mart family. From the cover art to the song titles and label name it's obvious that the band aren't down with the doom in any serious form; a frontman with the name Lucifer hardly instils fear into the hearts of men in 2005. Having disappeared from view in 2000, this single release is all that's left to sum up the Noise/Girl experience with the project having now come to an official end. The band's greatest talent might well be in the little known field of messed up disco-industrial, but they also more than adequately insinuate themselves into other aural areas after giving them a brush with the white noise wand. The manipulation of funk, black metal soundscapes, rock, and straight up noise means that Discopathology is more than the sum of its separate constituent assaulted and dazed elements. In an expert example of tension building there's a chilling opening track that skirts between something happening down the end of a long dark tunnel and waves of extreme static racing from the speaker. It's this slow bleed that opens the door for a run of relatively palatable but harsh noise, and there's a distant element of both the Mary Chain's Nineties experiments with beats and the now-pointless but once-mighty DHR. Frontloading this LP with the less unsympathetic tracks makes for a less problematic listen for those of a nervous disposition, especially with the swarming pvc hipped title track, which carves out some diva vocals and wah-wah squelch from an imaginary floor filler and then drowns them beneath the swell and heavy tread of the sweatiest shittiest PA club drums. The whole effect is glorious and demands high volume, stimulants, glitter, and blood as recognisable parts briefly break the surface of sound. This trick of adding killer elements of dance music to a swamp of noise (or vice versa) is repeated and rejigged on both the ruff white Junglist mugging of "Smoke 'N' Mirrorz" and the Whitehouse / Bee Gees mash-up of "Alive." This song's squall of looped rock guitar is the most commercial cut here, lying pinned down by a pounding fuck beat and belongs on either NiN's Broken or in the crack fuelled leather clad comedy pantomime of Revolting Cocks. Things become a little detached throughout the more chaotic pieces, wherein the only lightness of touch comes from the hair metal-inspired song titles. Perhaps the LP's finest moment is the demented live take on the soundtrack to Michael Jackson's screaming inner world entitled "King of Pop." If there is a Jackson sample in there it's so damaged, bleached black, and crushed that no copyright lawyer will ever find a big enough trace anyway. It's as insensitive and hard as any Hair Police sonic beating and provides as clear and as full a picture of Jackson's mental health as anyone will ever need to ever mosh along to. - Scott McKeating, Stylus
While I'm hardly the world's foremost noise authority, I suspect Noise/Girl's Discopathology might represent some kind of noise nirvana for aficionados of the genre. Tailor-made to single-handedly incinerate disc players and stereo systems throughout the globe, the disc is a seething forty-minute wail of feedback squall that makes Merzbow sound like John Denver. Noise/Girl, which had made a name for itself within the Japan noise community during the late '90s, disappeared suddenly in 2000. The group's figurehead Luke Cypher recently resurfaced with live performances and a 'final update' of new, rare, and unreleased material issued by Brainwashed on its Killer Pimp label. Peel back the eight pieces' decimating howls and squeals and you'll actually catch faint traces of tribal gabba ("Alive"), breakcore ("Smoke 'N' Mirrorz"), and, yes, even disco ("Discopathology"). Though "Before the Carnival" initiates the album spookily, it's not overly threatening or overwhelming. But gradually the distant screams and whistles escalate into a wave of rippling noise that's awesome in its engulfing magnitude. The title piece then roars in, a gargantuan, bulldozing booty-shaker that flails, screeches, and twitches convulsively yet--unbelievably--is a mere teaser for the merciless onslaught ahead: "Honeyfunk," an insane hailstorm of brutal blasts and violent ruptures. If nothing else, one must at least admire the band's perverse sense of humour: it very well may be Michael Jackson's voice that wails from the depths of the cauldron that is "King of Pop," for example, but it's impossible to tell when it's buried under an avalanche of noise and, needless to say, "Alice in Boogie Wonderland" won't be played at your local dance club any time soon. Fearless masochists eager to brave the trip might want to know that only 500 copies were issued. - Ron Schepper, Textura
He goes by the name Lucifer and he makes a noise that'll stand out among every other noise album in just about anyone's collection. Throbbing Gristle was as much concerned with beats as they were with confrontation and the Noise/Girl project takes that premise a step forward. This is noise for dancing, at least in part, and it's noise that loves chaos in a way that only Satan possibly could. Lucifer's noise is part drone, a layered, demented noise full of psychedelic effects and hazy textures all of which tend to reach a critical velocity before ending. His dance tracks, on the other hand, are just that. It's impossible to resist his dance floor oriented beats, pounding away like a war drum beneath sharp, swirling effects and heavy static. When "Discopathology" hits it's a bit of a surprise. Lucifer doesn't hold back, utilizing compressed melodies, unintelligible vocal samples, and all manner of cut-up blast rhythms that build and build to an orgasmic level, pumping like a well-oiled machine. It's hard not to think of Nitzer Ebb or any of the dance-industrial giants that made similar, but significantly less energetic music than this. It's also hard not to imagine a factory with innumerable gears, gaskets, engines, and cranks moving in perfect time. The first half of the album is prodigiously funkier and voluptuous. "Alive" amounts to the complete destruction of the Bee Gees, a sacrificial burning of their trademark vocals and disco style. A tense reworking of the melody from "Stayin' Alive" is countered by Lucifer's start and stop dynamics. It's an audacious track, especially on a noise album like this one. It might turn a lot of purists off, but it adds a world of dimension to the album, one that is altogether harsh and uncompromising. As the album comes to a close, Lucifer turns the darkness factor up about ten notches, increasing the intensity of his feedback blasts or manipulating the mood of the entire track by incorporating deeper groans and hinting at rhythms somewhere in the distance. Trevor Brown's fantastic artwork fits the mood of the album perfectly. The nurse with her open legs might suggest some kind of welcome gesture, but it'd be the most insane kind of sexual adventure. Lucifer similarly opens this album up for the noise uninitiated and then proceeds to crush everyone and everything sucked in by his whirling mania of dancing feet and chainsaws. - Lucas Schleicher, Brainwashed
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VPRO Radio is most internationally known for their Mort Aux Vaches series
and Brainwashed is honored to be blessed with the second release of the
year produced live at VPRO Radio by the generous Berry Kammer and Maurice
Woestenburg. The One Ensemble of Daniel Padden became the working name
for Daniel Padden's extracurricular solo activities outside of Volcano the
Bear. Two albums surfaced through Catsup Plate (US) and Textile (FR)
almost completely recorded by multitalented multiinstrumentalist
Daniel Padden, himself. Following the two releases Padden assembled an
actual ensemble and has played numerous concerts and fests around Europe.
As a close and personal friend, Daniel Padden sent me the CD of the radio
session. I was completely blown away at how incredible his band had
transformed his songs into something so complete and fully realized. As
many of the songs are older, they won't be recorded for the next album.
I didn't want these recordings to go unheard or unnoticed. Live at VPRO
Radio perfectly captures an amazing ensemble in the studio, and in a world
which praises a lot of "new folk," there's something to be said for
musicians who are incredibly talented and led by a fantastic composer and
arranger like Daniel Padden.
The music is stellar with the instrumentation of drums, vocals, guitar,
cello, viola, and bouzouki, challenging the dogmas of western songcraft
while never losing its step and falling down the beaten path of clumsy
nosiemaking.
Like the Windy & Carl CD, "Dedications to Flea," this one is letterpressed
in a limited edition of 500 copies by Interrobang (Isis, Converge, Hydra
Head) and the music is so fantastic that I anticipate it will sell out
just as quickly.
For the record, of all the releases from Brainwashed this year, none have
received any negative reviews!
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Brainwashed BRAIN010: Mimir 7"
Mimir is the collaborative effort between Christoph Heemann and Andreas
Martin (Mirror, HNAS); Edward Ka-Spel and Phil "Silverman" Knight (The
Legendary Pink Dots, Tear Garden); and Jim O'Rourke (Sonic Youth, Gastr
del Sol). There have been three full-lenght albums that have been
released since 1989, all of which have fuelled mad fan obsession and
critical acclaim. This 7" is the first new recording to surface in over
five years and comes on a thick maroon 75g vinyl with beautiful cover
artwork by Monika Kweicinska.
This record is also limited to 500 copies. Expected ship date: July 9.
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Windy & Carl return after a four year break from their last album,
Consciousness with Dedications to Flea, a full-length release of two long
tracks, dedicated to their dearly departed dog, Flea. This is the first
in the Brainwashed Handmade series and comes in a letterpress edition,
silver printing on black paper, limited to 500 copies. Windy & Carl are
planning to release their next proper full-length album through Kranky in
the autumn, coinciding with tour dates and festival appearances in Europe.
Expected ship date: June 11.
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BRAIN009: Meat Beat Manifesto, "Lovefingers"/"Radio Free Republic"
Brainwashed is excited to release this gem from Meat Beat Manifesto
featuring two exclusive tracks. Lovefingers is a Silver Apples cover and
was recorded in 1996 while Radio Free Republic is a brand new unreleased
song. 18 special editions were available to the public via pre-orders on
Brainwashed.com and sold out in less than 24 hours - so this single will
go FAST. Meat Beat Manifesto is about to embark on the first tour in
seven years, the newest full-length album, 'At the Center' is to be
released on Thirsty Ear on May 24th. Jack Dangers and Meat Beat Manifesto
should need no introduction, as Meat Beat Manifesto albums have been
released worldwide on labels Play It Again Sam, Nothing/Interscope,
WaxTrax!, and Important Records while Jack Dangers has provided
groundbreaking remixes for artists like Depeche Mode, David Bowie, Coil,
Nine Inch Nails, Laika, Public Enemy, and many, many, many others. Drums
of Death, a collaboration with DJ Spooky and Dave Lombardo (Slayer), along
with Chuck D and other MCs is out now through Thirsty Ear.
"Lovefingers"/"Radio Free Republic" is a thick 75g vinyl in a stiff sleeve
and comes on grey vinyl.
Supplies are limited.
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Brainwashed began on April 16, 1996 as a repository of information on
various bands with little in common. In 1998 it was decided to start
giving something back to the fans and supporters as the entire Brainwashed
staff are big music fans to begin with, so a 7" single was made, then
another, and another. Records are fun, collectible, come in colors, and
are nice to frame. I, Jon Whitney, am growing increasingly jaded towards
CDs. They're becoming disposable, mass manufacturable, easily obtainable,
and pretty much anybody can make a CD and send it to you (ask me some time
to see the pile of stuff that comes in daily to review). The upside is
the portability and scratchless sound and it's much quicker to import them
into your iWhatever. So, we're offering a free CD-R compilation with no
packaging, no printing, no information anywhere. The CD-R will contain
the music from BRAIN001, BRAIN002, BRAIN003, BRAIN005, BRAIN006, and
BRAIN007.
The only way to get it is by ordering the next round of 3 7" singles, all
due for release on Brainwashed's 9th birthday, April 16, 2005.
BRAIN005 - Sybarite, "Dolorous Echo"/"The Mast"
Two instrumental songs from Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist Xian
Hawkins. As Sybarite, he's released full-length albums on labels like
Temporary Residence and 4AD and has had a number of singles and
compilation tracks from labels all over the world. It's upbeat, amazingly
well crafted and never wears out its welcome. www.brainwashed.com/sybarite
for more info on this painfully underlooked genius.
BRAIN006 - Jessica Bailiff live on VPRO radio, Amsterdam
Four songs from Jessica including "Shadow," only released on the Brain in
the Wire compilation (I'm beginning to think this really is my song or
something!), the haunting "Mary" from her self-titled third release on
Kranky, "Beautiful Soul," which dates back to her 1998 debut on Kranky,
Even in Silence, and an exclusive song, "Come and Close My Eyes," a Flying
Saucer Attack cover. All recordings are obviously exclusive. Jessica
arrived at Kranky by way of Low, having her first two albums produced by
Alan Sparhawk at 20 Below in Minneapolis. She has gone on to record more
solo singles and albums and has appeared on record with bands Rivulets,
Saturday Looks Good to Me, Flashpapr, and Red Morning Chorus, and makes up
part of the core nucleus of bands Clear Horizon, Northern Song Dynasty,
and Eau Claire. www.brainwashed.com/jb for more images and sounds from
her.
BRAIN007 - Aranos, "No Religion"/"Spitting Revivalist Dreams of
Everlasting Poison"
Most people will recognize his name from appearing on albums by Nurse With
Wound, but this Czech-born Bohemian Irish resident has a musical blood
that runs deep into the heart of gypsy folk, jazz, and rock music. "No
Religion" is most certainly a statement a statement of Aranos' own
personal dismay with violence and abhorrent behavior conducted in the name
of religion while "Spitting Revivalist Dreams" is perhaps one of the most
excrutiating noise tracks I have ever witnessed. This is the first of a
number of 7" singles to be released by Aranos this year, and expect to see
him live in Europe earlier this year with a North American string of dates
being worked out for later in the year. He's a fantastic musician and a
charismatic performer. Videos and sounds and bio are available at
www.brainwashed.com/aranos.
All 7" singles are retailing for $6.00 USD (which is an astoundingly cheap
4.61 Euros or 3.21 Pound Sterling!) and there will only be 500 copies
pressed. The CD-R will once again only be issued to people who order all
three. Additionally, a 7" of BRAIN003 will be tossed in (since most
people missed it first time around) while supplies last.
Sound samples and the beautiful cover images (thanks to Jim Siegel and
once again Ben Palmer) are available at www.brainwashed.com/recordings.
Orders can be made at the Brainwashed commerce site -
www.brainwashed.com/commerce.html.
An email list is now set up for future releases and event information.
Future 7" singles have been discussed (no official concrete news or plans
yet) for Nurse With Wound, The One Ensemble of Daniel Padden,
Thighpaulsandra, Volcano the Bear, Little Annie w/Antony, and Mimir.
There is no guarantee on any of these coming out and we'll keep news
posted online if there is any to report. Due to finances, future 7"
singles will also be limited. Sign up for the brainwashed announcement
list at: http://www.hollyfeld.org/mailman/listinfo/brainwashed
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For immediate release:
The London-based instrumental trio, Fridge is about to release their
fourth full-length album, "Happiness", due in September. "Happiness" will
be their first US album and will be available through Text in the UK and
Domino throughout Europe.
The Baltimore, MD-based record label Temporary Residence and the
internet web site Brainwashed.com have teamed up to co-release the album
and bring the band for their very first North American Tour. Dates are
currently being confirmed for October, including a handful of dates
opening up for Low.
Fridge have two albums out on Output in the UK, "Ceefax" and "Semaphore"
as well as a double-length collection of singles titled "Sevens and
Twelves". Their last album, "Eph" was released on Go Beat! in the UK.
Kieran Hebden of the group also has released a couple albums and various
singles as Four Tet.
For more information and some sound samples, please see
www.brainwashed.com/fridge or www.temporaryresidence.com
Tour dates will be posted on line when they're confirmed.
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For their second album on Secret Eye, this Finnish group salvages gear from some electronic junkyard to make these gurgling basement recordings. Perhaps not, but that’s what the fidelity of this album suggests. It’s not such a bad thing, however, because the recording quality brings a murky depth to the album resulting in an underwater feeling, caressing the music and allowing it so swim.
There are a lot of great, weird things going on here, and the group rarely comes up for air. “Loylyvesi,” for instance, features what could be a deep-voiced animal learning human language for the first time over a barrage of plumbing transformed into tribal rhythm. This one-sided speech eventually becomes a conversation when another beast joins in, which by its dark whisperings has the trappings of a trickster. Eventually something like the beeping of an emergency vehicle shows up in the background.
Crowd chatter starts “Vissyvesi,” which here is divided into two tracks and was recorded live in Dublin with guest Tara Burke. Hard to define low frequency movements, liquid electronics, and guitar squeals establish the scene. Burke, whose Fursaxa material is fairly distinctive, isn’t immediately recognizable, although I suspect she’s one of the banshees wailing during the latter half of the song, but I could be wrong. A sinister riff sneaks into the set before depth charges from the guitar implore the drums to take up a beat.A dime store rhythm begins the second half of “Vissyvesi.” Soon come electronics that could be air escaping the lungs of a drowning victim. After a cartoonish intro, a dementedly childish voice enters the mix. Burke’s voice finally appears thereafter, lending the track a meditative quality on which the album ends.
Although there are only three songs, there are so many changes within the songs themselves that the album never gets static or boring. If anything, the album’s over far too quickly. Having recently made their first U.S. appearance at Terrastock, hopefully I won’t have to wait too long to witness their wonderful muck in person.
samples:
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Track Listing:
A1 - You're so lovely
A2 - People tell me
B1 - Ladies get on the flo'
Unlockedgroove is proud to present their third release and the first
in their SOLID series, branching out from their minimal techno core
into funky new realms. Dancing days are here again.
The Dan Bensons Project began as a snotty punk collaboration between the Dan Paluska (aka six million dollar dan) and the Ben Recht (aka localfields), but, after Dan was fatefully dissed by a fine lady at the club, the trajectory was changed forever. With just a beer light to guide him, Dan sketched out the A1 track You're So Lovely at 3 in the morning. Wanting to live vicariously through Dan's womanizing, Ben grabbed hold of his guitar and the mixing console, and the rest... is history. People Tell Me, the A2 track presents slap bass and live drums in lockstep with synth stabs and pounding techno percussion. Finally, the B-side Ladies get on the flo is a falsetto call to arms, demanding you shake your god given ass.
Dan and Ben are busy men. Never able to refuse a public appearance, Dan has hosted a number of radio shows, countless slamming parties, and some of the most influential weeklies in Boston electronic music. He is a prolific star of the electronic arts scene co-curating the Collision event series and hacking together art that falls somewhere under the broad 'new media' category. Notably, his work was featured as the cover art of album "Less Than Human" from The Juan Maclean on DFA records. And for the cable heads, his patented arm bash has starred in a couple reality television shows.
When Ben is not breaking shit in Dan's basement, he can be found throwing down at parties with Mike Uzzi, droning out with the Fun Years, or rocking it solo as Localfields. Ben has released two singles on Zero G Sounds and has upcoming releases on Unlockedgroove, Beat Research and Barge Recordings. He has toured extensively throughout the US and Europe and his Sound Art has been exhibited in the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, the Cooper Hewitt Museum, and the ARS Electronica Center.
You can buy online from Forced Exposure.
Also available at Mass Muzik in Boston.
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A founding member of the late Argentinian trio Reynols, Courtis is no stranger to extreme media. Past works like symphonies for blank tapes, chickens, quartets for whistling kettles, and one piece called Reynols Plays The Eiffel Tower make a record of no-input feedback sound rather tame. And it is, in the best way.
Inspired by ancient rock structures, presumed tombs like stone hallways, Antiguos Dólmenes del Paleolítico is not a composition of pummeling, monolithic noise but a quiet work of blank insistencies, as if Courtis is looking for essential structures when he looks at these rocks, not for history, or calm, or any kind of presence. The piece comes divided into four distinct parts: not monotonous but planar in their construction; never entering the granular, overblown textures susceptible in feedback play or the painstaking prickly landscapes of someone like fellow-no-inputer Toshimaru Nakamura. Courtis’ method is more in the spirit of drone, a twining of cyclical, throb-like modulations on patient, studious trajectory; even at their most shrill (please expect them to get as shrill as they do subterranean), their focus is meditative, a contemplation of spaces, like distant bells echoing across water, signals of the void.
Courtis manages to mingle tones in a dynamic and repetitive way, never overloading or resorting to womb-y crescendos that would compromise such delicate, static advance. The tense, but comfortably insistent higher frequencies (especially in Parts II and IIII) remind of later works by Morton Feldman where shrill woodwinds chiming the same note at regular interval affect a dual monotony by becoming both the piercing pacemaker and grateful grounding to a super-long shallow composition. The third of Antiguos’ four parts abandons the drone-y construction of twining pure tones dominating the other parts, taking instead a reverb-heavy chorus of tiny, chirping whines, miniature arabesques of sculpted feedback that sound remarkably like birds, glistening and twinkling as the glints and glyphs from a dolmen-side might.
Knowledge of the ‘pure feedback’ artifice behind music like this becomes a necessary part of the listening process; it’s something that, to me, always feels cheeky and somewhat subversive, certainly a thread running through Courtis’ time in Reynols. Listening to Antiguos, though, I think less about the nature of the sounds or the obsessive nature of this kind of composition (as I might listening to something by Nakamura, or a sine wave piece). Courtis makes it easy to exist alongside these pieces without too much expenditure towards projected form or content. It’s easier to slowly surge along, to enjoy the room I’m in, to think of how genuinely calming and softly electric a throb can feel, or how living out near some really big rock piles would feel too.
samples:
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