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Peter Rehberg and Marcus Schmickler make a perplexing and contradictory duo. Take their computers away from them and their differences, both in theory and in practice, become clear. Perhaps because of these differences, Peter and Marcus have produced just two records together: 2007’s One (Snow Mud Rain), released by Erstwhile, and USA, a live recording released by Pan in 2011. Composed entirely of high intensity, tuneless noise, USA offers no explanation for its rationale or structure, or whether it has either to begin with, which leaves only the quality of the sounds to speak for themselves.
In interviews, Peter Rehberg describes what he does in mostly non-musical terms. Rather than make music, Peter claims he recycles audio. It’s not an easy distinction, but it helps to explain why his music sounds the way it does. His performances are defined by the technology that he chooses to use, which is frequently outdated, and the forms of his pieces are shaped by the way he manipulates samples and chops up sound. Marcus Schmickler, on the other hand, works from concepts, and in interviews he uses more conventionally musical terms, like pitch and counterpoint, to describe his work. As able with classical instruments as he is with synthesis and computer noise, Schmickler’s solo work almost always bears evidence of his musical thinking, whether he’s composing or improvising. But, pinning him down is notoriously difficult, and his collaborative projects are wildly varied. Were it not for his name on the cover, there would be no way I could connect him to albums as diverse as Variety, with John Tilbury, and Rabbit Run, with Keith Rowe and Thomas Lehn.
USA continues that confounding streak. Recorded in 2009 in New York City and Chicago, each of the three featured pieces is a barely controlled eruption of improvised digital tumult. The liner notes refer to the pieces as "real time extreme music improvisations," but they're more like walls of noise. Skip to a random part of any of the performances and there will be crunchy computer audio being torn apart and reconfigured as asymmetric rhythms, squealing synthetic fragments, and waves of unstable tonality. Structure, form, pitch, duration, and everything else are so smeared that they’re made secondary to the color and quality of the noises used. R/S layer those noises into textured patterns, if they can be called that, until the textures become so intense they subsume everything else. The effect is overwhelming at first, but with time the ears adjust and the music snaps into focus. The textures don’t become less abrasive, necessarily, but they do become easier to discern.
Listening to USA the first dozen times, I was convinced that Peter Rehberg had taken the lead on his American tour with Marcus Schmickler and effectively silenced Marcus in the process, but now I’m not sure. In places, I think I hear Marcus patiently matching Peter’s barrage of garbage audio with long synthetic tones and chunks of digital chatter. Trying to match Rehberg’s onslaught would have been pointless, anyway. Instead, Marcus finds a way to compliment it.
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Ship Chop is a celebratory cut-up of far-flung musics. Edited, collaged and re-arranged by Daniel Padden from original vinyl sources to create impossible collaborations between musical ghosts.
It is both reverential and sacrilegious, giving the music its full praise whilst also subjecting it to playful subversion. Some of the editing is obvious and transparent, but some of it much less so, where sounds from different recordings and continents overlap into an unlikely whole.
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Last year, I was pleasantly surprised by how much better Guider was than its predecessor.  Now Disappears has surprised me again, greatly toning down their signature Neu!-worship in favor of something that sounds like a hell of a lot like GVSB-worship (or perhaps merely a deep fascination with Mark E. Smith).  Fortunately, I thought Girls Against Boys were pretty awesome in their prime and The Fall aren't so bad either.  More importantly, this quizzical shift in direction coincides with a fairly massive leap forward in the band's songwriting, making this the punchiest, hookiest, leanest, and most immediately gratifying album that the band has made yet.
While comparisons to other bands are pretty unavoidable when discussing Pre Language, it isn't nearly as derivative of an album as it seems at first listen.  In fact, only Brian Case's laconic and syllabically enhanced vocals stand out as especially indebted to Smith and GVSB (kind of a shouted mumble in which every last word ends with a drawled -ah or -uh).  The issue is simply that Case's vocals tend to be the focal point.  Still, it is hard to deny the appeal of such cool disaffection, even if Case is not darkly sexual or cantankerously deranged as his predecessors.  He probably should work on concealing his influences a little better, but at least he has pretty unerring taste in choosing them.
Vocals aside, Disappears has become much better and more distinctive at what they do in all other respects.  Part of that increased focus and emphasis on structure is probably due to the addition of Sonic Youth's Steve Shelley as the band's full-time drummer, as previous drummer Graeme Gibson always seemed like one of the band's driving creative forces.  However, the drumming itself is not wildly different–both drummers are clearly in love with motorik beats (Shelley having recently toured as a member of Michael Rother's Hallogallo).  The key difference seems to be that the groove is no longer the primary objective.  Rather than locking into a cool beat and vamping on it until the song is done, Pre Language finds the band stripping away much of the bloat and improvisation in place of tight riffing and coherent songs.  Rhythmic repetition is certainly still a central component of the Disappears' aesthetic, but it has become a tool rather than an end.  Also, these songs are a lot less busy than their predecessors and the added space allows for punchier and more dynamic riffing and some welcome increased emphasis on bass lines.
All of that ultimately means that everything great about Disappears (propulsive beats, cool minimal riffs, a certain restrained bad-assness) is still there: it's just sharper and better presented than I was expecting.  Some fans may be a bit disappointed that there are no lengthy, barreling epics of repetition in the vein of Guider's "Revisiting," but it seems unlikely: there are just too many things to like here (the Fugazi-esque stabbing riff of "Joa," the rumbling tom beat of "Hibernation Sickness," the swagger and hookiness of the title piece, etc.).  I still maintain that Disappears are a band best enjoyed in single-song doses rather than an entire album, but Pre Language boasts a very high proportion of short, catchy, hard-hitting songs.  My sole other caveat is that I wish this band would get a bit wild and unhinged more often: while the guitars explode a bit at the end of "Hibernation Sickness," they stay a bit too polite, processed, and deep in the mix to be truly biting.  Those are pretty minor quibbles though, as this is pretty solid and enjoyable effort from start to finish (and an impressive evolutionary leap too).
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I think they're actuallya quartet this time around. This disc is without a doubt my favoriteoffering from Mazurek and Taylor as the Chicago Underground. With JeffParker and Noel Kupersmith, the quartet leaves us with 15 well-definedpaintings which are much more matured to the sort of sketchwork soundof the very first releases. Songs are developed, foundations are builtand Parker's guitarwork and Kupersmith's electronics complete thepicture. I'm afraid to think I'm more fond of this because it stepsfurther away from a more traditional jazz sound the other discs havehad. Doesn't change the fact that I can truly say I enjoy listening tothis not only at home, but riding the train to work and even in thecar.samples:
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Bruce Kaphan is a multi-instrumentalist and producer who's work has gracedalbums by American Music Club, Mark Eitzel, REM, The Black Crowes, Love andRockets, Chris Isaak, David Byrne and John Lee Hooker, among many others."Slider" is his solo debut for Hearts of Space (www.hos.com), an albumproperly subtitled 'ambient excursions for pedal steel guitar'. Kaphansuccessfully removes the instrument from it's stereotypical Country &Western setting and uses it as sound source for a music more akin to"Bitches Brew" than Buck Owens. Each of the 11 tracks, a few minutes shyof an hour total, are primarily the mellow notes and washes of the steelset in reverberated ambiance. "Clouds" sets the tone with lovely steel andfretless bass interplay. "Country & Eastern" and "Back to the Light" mixin tabla rhythms for an unnaturally natural East meets West feel. "Outpost"is an outlying settlement in one of Brian Eno's ambient worlds. "Homage(Pour La Grande Fromage)" has light beats credited as 'purrcussion' toKaphan's cat Hana. Overall "Slider" is like an audio sedative, not too dulland not too exciting, but certainly relaxing and pretty. Another welcomeaddition to the 'music for sleepy time' pile .samples:
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Described on the Bungalow website as "style:lofidubhousediskopunknoise, bigbeat, stomping house, absurd samples,looped dialogues, glamour pop. Framed by the beautiful intro and outroyou are drawn into a different world." The intro and outro they refer toare mock Holiday Inn style lounge act audience introductions that I preferto skip over. This is Bungalows last release of 2000. The website tells us"Bungalow will change its structures and start a new partnership fromnext year on". I wonder just what that means. Bungalow introduced whatthey called 'clubpop' in the mid-90's. The sound was perfected in Japanon labels like Escalator, Readymade, and Trattoria. The 'easy' side ofBungalow found a home in Spain's Siesta Records, and the offbeat popin Spain's Elefant Records. That has left Bungalow in some sort of middleground - a little bit of this, a little bit of that, which I do not believe wasthe labels intention. I remember their early manifesto stating thatBungalow was to be a style as well as a sound; it was to be a gatheringplace for a world community of people who love technology, are notafraid of dance music, think Combustible Edison were way ahead of theirtime innovators, and still thrill to the sound of a good pop song. I'll becurious to see what the 'new structure' they speak of entails... As for thisrecord, nothing on it is as good as their side of the split 7" Bungalowreleased with them and Ursula 1000. Stereo Deluxe's song from that split("Groovy Boy") is not on this debut full length. The second song is theircurrent single "Soul Sauce", a horn infested big beat dance instrumental.There is a second version of the song later in the disc as well. Both arecompetent, but neither offer anything you haven't heard many timesbefore. "Lincoln Continental (feat. Lato)" sounds a bit like Two-Tone skaby The Specials or Fun Boy Three, though not as magical as they are."Riddle Me This" is one of my faves with it's (Batman TV series) Riddlersamples, though they are not used as creatively as even I could imagine.In fact, much of this album to me does not take full advantage of thesource samples they've used. Where I really expected to love this album Ijust find myself thinking that it is O.K.Read More
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A verylistenable 7 song EP with a Hawaiian theme. Each side of the brightyellow 7" starts off with a luau-styled instrumental that almost sounds'easy'. The second song on the A-side is a version of the cliché Hawaiiansong "Hula Hula". The third song is a version of Elvis' "Blue Hawaii" thatis my fave of the EP along with the first songs on each of the sides.Elsewhere things are warped up a bit in the V/VM fashion, but never tothe point that listening to the track is an act of art appreciation. This is agreat EP to buy if you don't have anything from them and would like tocheck them out, though their 2 CD "Aural Offal Waffle" 52 track setremains my favorite and most recommended V/VM disc.Read More
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The Unutterable comes as a pleasant surprise, that is; two great new Fall albums in a row. 15 new songs. One of them ("Dr. Bucks Letter") is my fave Fall song right now. "Octo Realm/Ketamine Sun" is really great too, as is "Cyber Insekt". The songs on this disc combine 25 years of Mark E. Smiths experience in a very individual way.Part of Ketamine sun sounds like a cassette poetry reading, while two minutes later the same song has great production and thoroughly modern instrumentation. Mark e. smith has never tried to keep a steady band. The only things he keeps is a steady vision, which he uses players to flesh out. There was such a long period that I considered The Fall to be way past their glory days that I am especially amazed at how great this (and the last) LP sound. In a way Mark E. Smith is like Billy Childish. Their musical visions are in no way the same, but both have remained very much in touch though out their 25 year careers. The title track of this CD is a one minute spoken piece that made me think of the comparison. The song after that track ("Pumpkin Soup and Mashed Potatoes") is pretty different too. It has warped brass and flute in it that remind me of the Boston 'orchestra' Jumbo which provided an outlet for many Boston musicians to play instrumentals they played in High School bands instead of the usual Rn'R instruments they play each night. "Hands Up Billy" is strange too because it has someone singing lead vocal instead of Mark E. Smith. In fact out of the 8 people in the Fall, 3 are created solely with vocals: Mark E. Smith, Steve Evets, and Kazuko Hohki. "Devolute" makes great effect of the multi-vocalists and is on of my 5 fave tracks on the disc as well, along with the aforementioned "Dr. Bucks Letter", "Octo Realm/Ketamine Sun", "Cyber Insekt", & "Serum."
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Like a mixture of Sigue Sigue Sputnik & TheFast. Totally new wave, as if I didn't just tell you that comparing him tothose two. Sigue Sigue Sputnik was Tony James band after he playedbass for Generation X. Tony James was responsible for the atrocious mixof The Heartbreakers 'LAMF ReVisited' when he and Johnny took themix money and played Doctor instead of making that record "bigsounding" like they were supposed to. They just washed the masters inreverb and trashed a legendary album until the original mix was reissuedseveral years later. Despite this judgment glitch Tony James was anincredible showmen and creative force. Sigue Sigue Sputnik were reviledfor their "Love Missile F1-11", though it became a classic of its genre.The Fast were a way ahead of their time band from NYC that combineda love of Sparks into a punky power pop that predated 'new wave' by afew years. You'd do well to check out another NYC band The Speediesas well. Their "Let me take your Foto" 7" is still 10/10. The Fast and TheSpeedies were peaking around 1979. The Fast have songs on bothMax's Kansas City compilations, plus some great 7"s and an LP. Back toSylvester Boy. There are a bunch of songs on this disc that are just sofine. Sonovac and Sylvester Boy are doing almost exactly the same thing,and the two of them are my picks of the week from the Other Musicsection of this weeks gullbuy. This CD is the first non Chicks On Speedrelease on their label. It is the third release of the label.samples:
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In my bedroom, behind my bed rests a small stereo which I've owned for approximately 9 years. One of my favorite moments of every day is falling back into a soft pillow with music playing while I fall asleep. Unfortunately the CD player portion of this stereo ceased to work over a month ago. I brought it into a trusted local shop and waited for nearly four weeks before it was returned to me. Unfortunately the CD portion couldn't be saved, but I could attach a portable and still get a good stereo sound behind my ears. Excited to have my player back behind my bed, 'EAR 2' was the first selection chosen to fall asleep to. Utterly blissful. Like 'EAR 1' released EARlier this year, this disc features (alleged) old sources of C&C material re-attacked with a focus on depth and space. 'EAR 2' is a revisitation of Cosey Fanni Tutti's "Time To Tell" release and while EAR1 featured about 15 medium-sized tracks, EAR2 features four long, stretched out drones with echoes and bleedings from "Time to Tell."
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