Editions Mego That Robert Hampson is more prolific these days is great news. A new record (this one), with another pair due in the autumn, also on Peter Rehberg’s label, and the “reactivation” of Main, whose termination several years ago was principally due to an overwhelming sense of limitation felt by the project’s instigator, fed up with reading guitars mentioned in any review even when there was no trace of them in the music. At any rate, the old axe is being rescued from the closet. Répercussions comes in a CD/DVD edition (the latter containing the 5.1 surround version), whose … Continue reading Robert Hampson – RÉPERCUSSIONS

Kalerne Editions A resident of Taipei for several years, Yannick Dauby has gathered in this disc the fruits of three commissions aimed at emphasizing the sonic constituents of his current home. “Nous, Le Défunts” is defined by recurring echoes of folk-scented rituality, hypothetically salvaging intimate needs jeopardized by a problematic cohabitation in an overcrowded conurbation. Ardent ritual music gets mixed with all sorts of alarms and car horns, with cicadas and birds offering rural respite every once in a while. The beginning of “Taipei 2030” is informed by urban noise and (especially) by an underlying hum produced by “huge cooling … Continue reading Yannick Dauby – TAÎ-PAK THIAN SAN PIÀN

Three Lobed Recordings Glacial’s sonorities are mainly shaped by Lee Ranaldo’s scorching guitar, David Watson’s beloved bagpipes and Tony Buck’s ritual potions on the drums. Although the band – with minor variations in the lineup – has existed for over 13 years now, On Jones Beach represents their first official recording, a 750-copy (or so) limited vinyl edition enriched by Ursula Scherrer’s cover photography and complemented by a download coupon for the whole enchilada – the 48-minute title track (recorded in 2005) and three shorter takes from live sessions at 2003’s MIMI Festival and at New York’s Tonic in 2006. … Continue reading Glacial – ON JONES BEACH

Monotype Those initials stand for (Thomas) Lehn, (Carl Ludwig) Hübsch, (Philip) Zoubek and (Franz) Hautzinger, who joined the already existing trio in this recording from 2008. The instruments they play are, respectively, analogue synthesizer, tuba, piano and quarter-tone trumpet with delay. The opening “Zoom” is characterized by hovering images and sparse definition, shadows prevailing upon light throughout. The title track opens with a sudden increase in contrast and dynamic interaction, with Zoubek acting as a semi-tuned percussionist of sorts while Hübsch and Hautzinger launch abstract imprecations and Lehn furnishes the room with his classic mix of biotic pulses and persistently … Continue reading LHZ + H – SCOPE

Monotype The title is an evident reference to Alvin Lucier’s I Am Sitting In A Room and also to Dan Warburton’s rather obscure Absurd release I Am Not Sitting In A Room With Reynols. This is the studio version of a piece conceived in 2008 for a concert in Ghent; Phill Niblock has a house there, and Al Margolis (aka If, Bwana) mixed the record in his kitchen. The main constituent is a “dense sludge” of all the Bwana records owned by Warburton, who subjected them to a thorough stretching to make them last exactly 45 minutes. Margolis in turn … Continue reading If, Bwana / Dan Warburton – I AM SITTING IN PHILL NIBLOCK’S KITCHEN

Monotype These amusingly irascible improvisations – recorded by eRikm (turntable, electronics, live sampling) and Michel Doneda (soprano and sopranino sax, radio) at 2009’s Journées Electriques in Albi – risk being taken as something too ironic and quirky to be seriously considered as “important”. But this stuff is not superficial at all. Each burst fully belongs to the exact moment in which it’s born, the musicians gifted with an amazing inner clock that allows them to somehow figure out in advance what the best next move is. Listen carefully and, apart from raucous reed pitches, crackling vinyl, and hysterical drum’n’bass, moments … Continue reading eRikm / Michel Doneda – RAZINE

Monotype About seven years ago Nakamura and Butcher released Cavern With Nightlife (Weight Of Wax), demonstrating how wide reverberating spaces were able to impact their combined actions. In contrast, Dusted Machinery explores an antithetic and occasionally claustrophobic perspective. The diminished spacing of the individual emissions produces tones and noises whose hardly governable temperament is apparent, still placing large chunks of the work in the realm of non-figurative instrumental physics. The no-input mixing board is challenged by a soprano (twice) and a tenor sax in the first three tracks; Butcher employs saxophone feedback in the concluding “Nobasu”, possibly the record’s peak … Continue reading Toshimaru Nakamura / John Butcher – DUSTED MACHINERY