Minimalist guitar and low end drone from Dutch sound designer, Rutger Zuyzervelt (Machinefabriek). The 3-track 'Nerf' is released as one of Rutger's many 3"CDRs. Features compositions on acoustic and electric guitars edited via a laptop. In my opinion, not as interesting as some of his other stuff but still quite good. Very Oren Ambarchi in style and sound.one2zero
Another superb disc of electroacoustic soundscaping from the very wonderful Japanese quartet, Minamo. Relaxing ambient minimalism at it's best. Another gem in the 12k catalogue. Wonderful design and photography by 12k mainman, Taylor Deupree.one2zero
Tape loops recorded live at Musex International, Los Angeles, California, September 2008. Commissioned by Lauren Bon and The Metabolic Studio for Strawberry Flag at the United States Veterans Administration Hospital, Los Angeles, California. If you like Basinski,and his avant-garde ambient soundscapes, as I do, you'll love this. Sounds a lot like Basinski's masterpiece, The Disintegration Loops; but that's not such a bad thing. one2zero. ___________________________________________________________________
Triple-CD modern classical, ambient masterpiece from the artist formally known as The Caretaker and V/VM. Reminds me a bit of some of William Basinski's hauntingly beautiful recordings; with that eerie background of tape-loops recorded from old vinyl. Spread over three albums it consists of almost four hours of of ambient, hauntologic, modern classical wonders. Utterly fabulous. one2zero
One of those reissues you just can't miss out on is this remastered edition of these legendary 1976 recordings. Eno; who was on his way to Montreux to work on Low with Bowie, met up with Harmonia at their studio in the rural hamlet of Forst in Germany’s Weserbergland where they laid down the tracks on this album. Not intended to be released commercially the album was initially released in 1997 and featured clips from the the original recordings; this version includes the full remastered-by-Roedelius sessions.
I'm not too keen on the "best of..." lists that nearly every magazine prints at the end of each year -what one likes or dislikes is all very subjective so I never really bother about choosing a personal top ten, or twenty, or whatever. However, in my opinion, I'll go along with The Wire* in stating that this is one of the best albums released in 2009. Released a couple of months ago, I didn't pick up my copy until recently as the the local (shitty, chain) stores didn't have any copies in stock when I happened to drop in on any my rare visits to them. Thankfully Amazon, and the internet in general, exists. Anyhow, this 50-minute, 23-track album is really something special; probably the best ever by Broadcast. Of course, the selection of extra-special, added sound ingredients, by Ghost Box and The Focus Group mainman Julian House, enhance this recording immensely with Trish Keenan's voice making it an essential buy. one2zero
* "It really is quite fabulous… (Broadcast) crowned themselves dark monarchs of hauntology’s expanding kingdom" ALBUM OF THE YEAR – The Wire
The year ends with Mika Vainio's beautifully designed and lavishly-packaged catalogue and 2cd arriving from Raster-Noton. The 92 page book includes numerous, colour & monochrome photographs as well as texts by Daniel Klemm, Daniela Cascella and Carl Michael von Hausswolff. As usual this in an absolute must-have item for anyone who likes Vainio's music as well as for any avid Raster-Noton collector. one2zero
A follow-up, limited edition, seven inch ep, to the Recordings 1969 - 1988 album. Entitled 'Pluto hat einen Mond'(Pluto has a moon) the ep includes four exclusive and previously unreleased tracks. Released to tie in with an exhibtion about Bogner's work, sketches, notations at the Laura Mars Gallery, Berlin, in mid-December 2009 it's available either through Maas Media or direct from Faitiche You'll have to be quick if you want one as only 300 copies have been pressed. Exhibition closes on January 16th.
Special thanks to Gundula at Mass Media for including two exhibition postcards with my copy.one2zero
A very rare and exclusive compilation CDreleased to coincide with Frame.Sync ; a one-time installation project at Offf '09 (an International festival for post-digital creation and culture)which took place in Lisbon, Portugal in May this year. Beautifully designed and packaged; the CD features most of the label's artists. Given away free to anyone who bought a ticket for the festival. one2zero
A must-have companion piece to Julian Cope's legendary Krautrocksampler.Black Dog Publishing continue their excellent series of music books; this time documenting the amazing music scene that emerged in Germany in the late 1960s. Highly recommended. one2zero
It's been quite a while since Austrian avant-rock band, Radian released a new album; all three members have been working on other projects (Nemeth / Trapist / Kapital Band 1 etc. etc. ) over the past few years and, in fact, it's the first new material by the band since the splendid Juxtoposition album way back in 2004. In my opinion, this recording consists of pretty much the same fare as the two previous Thrill Jockey albums but sounds a bit more rawer and darker in form and content; "steady, multiple rhythms, layered on top of each other disappear into chaos" as the band puts it. May well be their best disc ever. Beautifully packaged in a fold-out card sleeve with photographs by Pascal Petignat and design by Nik Thoenen. Excellent. Highly recommended. one2zero
CD version is presented in a 4 panel mini-LP style jacket. LP version is limited to 1,000 copies for the world and includes a free download coupon.
A lush, dreamy, ambient soundscape. Absoulutely beautiful. Available on 12" vinyl or as a download. In my mind, one of the best releases so far this year. Very highly recommended. one2zero
Machinefabriek (Rutger Zuyzervelt) (Machinefabriek) teams up with another prolific artist, this time Berlin-based Peter Broderick, and allows us to benefit from this rather splendid collaboration. Includes dreamy vocals by Susanna Lundgren on one track. Perfect for those blank dark winter evenings. Highly recommended. one2zero
Another image from my occasional series featuring concert photographs, graphic artwork and anything to do with the world of music. This one is of another of those reformed bands from yesteryear, The Vaselines. Photo taken by Flickr Widow, when the band opened for Seattle grungemeisters Mudhoney, at the Picture House in Edinburgh last month. I would have loved to have seen the show as they're one of the few bands from a certain period in time that I never got the chance to see play. Excellent indie-pop band, I recommend their entire discography. As an introduction to their music, it would be worthwhile getting your hands on the recent reissue compilation, Enter The Vaselines on SubPop. one2zero my spacethe vaselines wiki
Another album that I completely missed out on upon it's initial release in 2008. Here, Jan Jelinek enjoys a little joke under the guise of one Ursula Bogner. A bit of hoax but a rather enjoyable one and lets hope that a second promised volume will see the light of day soon. As Boomkat so rightly puts it: "it wouldn't be unreasonable to think of Bogner as a hausfrau version of Daphne Oram, or a Deutsch Delia Derbyshire" - so if you like anything that those two pioneers in the radiophonic/electronic music field ever made you'll surely love this. Wonderful. Packaging is, as with the gesellschaft zur emanzipation des samples release, is first class: fold-out card sleeve with heavy-duty 8 page illustrated paper booklet affixed inside; filling us in on Ursula's "career" and track recording details. Text in English. Recommended. one2zero.
An exhibtion about Bogners work, sketches, notations will open at the Laura Mars Gallery, Berlin, in mid-December 2009. In february, 2010, faitiche03, a collaboration between Masayoshi Fujita + Jan Jelinek will be released. In addition, Faitiche are issuing a 7" version of circulations (featuring 4 tracks from the cd version + 1 exclusive track) in the coming weeks.
Yet another limited edition 3" CDR (100 copies) from the industrious Rutger Zuyzervelt (Machinefabriek). This recording is a soundtrack to Dutch artist Rob Voerman's sculptures. Also available as a download.A 2nd edition has now been released on CD featuring slightly different artwork. one2zero
Like the Can remasters series issued by Mute a couple of years ago these Kraftwerk (remastered) reissues are highly recommended. The sound quality is excellent -so much more satisfying than the CD editions that have been around for quite a long time- and Mute and KlingKlang have done a fine job.
One bad point; although each individual release (8 album boxset available soon) comes in a card slipcase, and includes new artwork and photographs, one thing that really disappoints me is the fact that they're packed in those run-of-the-mill, awful jewel-cases. I suppose, like many admirers of the band, that most of us would have preferred that the individual albums be released in the 'mini-vinyl' card wallet packaging that has been reserved for the boxset only.one2zero
Unfortunately, due to general lack of time to check out what's being released on lots of labels, I missed out on getting this limited edition (1500) release on vinyl. As with a few other releases this year, i'll have to make do with an mp3 download. In fact, this is the very first time I haven't been able to obtain a copy of a new Tortoise recording on a format other than mp3. Well, I might get lucky and find a copy later. Anyhow, as with the legendary remixes the band did a few years back with the likes of Jim O'Rourke, Unkle, Stereolab, Autechre, Derrick Carter, etc. these two remixes, by Eye of Boredoms fame and Basic Channel's dubmaster Mark Ernestus, are pretty awesome and an absolute must. I was a bit disappointed with the Beacons... album but these remixes have urged me to go back and give it a few more listens. Remixes 12" is highly recommended. one2zero
Japanese import of Jim O'Rourke's soundtrack to the Wakamatsu movie based on Japanese student-radical extremism in the early seventies and the true story of the United Red Army faction. Pretty much the usual fare from O'Rourke with lots of guitar-based pieces but also some rock and a zest of free jazz. Excellent and highly recommended for any fan of the great man's music. one2zero
Available as a limited edition 3" CDR (100 copies). Contrary to their previous collaboration I managed to get my grubby mitts on this one. Unavailable almost as soon as it was issued it'll be difficult to find a copy. All I have to say is that it's another excellent recording from Rutger Zuyzervelt (Machinefabriek) and clarinetist Gareth Davis. The pair are apparently working on a full album together which should see the light of day pretty soon I imagine. Anyhow, as the Boomkat review mentions his name, anyone who likes the sublime Arve Henriksen should love this as well. Lovingly packaged in a plastic slipcase, Ghost Lanes comes as per usual with one of Rutger's (original?) postcards. one2zero
Available as a limited edition 3" CDR (100 copies) or as a MP3 download. Unfortunately I missed out on this release and, much to my regret, will have to make do with the MP3 version. Another delicious little masterpiece from Rutger Zuyzervelt (Machinefabriek) who teams up this time with clarinetist Gareth Davis for this preview of a full, forthcoming album by the pair. one2zero
Throbbing Gristle at the Tramway, Glasgow 17 June 2009
A new and occasional series featuring concert photographs, graphic artwork and anything really to do with the world of electronic music. This first post starts of with a couple of images by monkeyiron and jase mueller taken at the recent Throbbing Gristle concert in Glasgow. Anyone who likes TG would be well advised to check out the other, wonderful photographs taken by the Glasgow pair at the show.one2zero tramwaythrobbing gristle
