Dissonant Plane

A year is a long time.  So I have probably forgotten a few things.  But here is what comes to mind as my favorite new releases and reissues that came out in 2009:

• AFCGT - AFCGT (Uzu Audio) LP
• Laurie Scott Baker - Gracility (Musicnow) 2xCD
• L. Berner - Blackout Nights (Zen Enthusia) 2xCass
• Sir Richard Bishop - The Freak Of Araby (Drag City) CD
• Crystal Hell Pool - Wind Blows Through Me (Crippled Symmetry Recordings) CDR
• Dropp Ensemble - Safety (and/OAR) CD
• Luc Ferrari - Labyrinthe De Violence / DANCE (Alga Marghen) 12″
• Ibliss - Supernova (Garden Of Delights) CD
• The Inner Space - Agilok & Blubbo (Wah-Wah Records Sound)
• Demian Johnston - Forever (Dead Accents) Cass
• Demian Johnston - Still (Dead Accents) Cass
• Dave Knott - Sweet Little Guitar Ditties (Not On Label) CD
• R Millis - 120 (Etude Records) CD
• Hiroaki Minami - Obscure Tape Music Of Japan Vol.10: Electronic Symphony No. 1 (Edition Omega Point) CD
• People Band - People Band 69/70 (Emanem) 2xCD
• Eliane Radigue - Triptych (Important Records) CD
• Eliane Radigue - Vice Versa, Etc.… (Important Records) 2xCD
• Matt Shoemaker - The Sunken Plethora Consumes All (Mystery Sea) CDR
• Omar Souleyman - Dabke 2020: Folk And Pop Sounds Of Syria (Sublime Frequenices) CD
• Sperm - Shh! Heinäsirkat (De Stijl) LP
• Sun City Girls - Napoleon & Josephine (Sun City Girls Singles Volume 2) (Abduction) CD
• Akio Suzuki - Ki-date (Ichinomiya City Memorial Art Museum of Setsuko Migishi) DVD
• Giancarlo Toniutti - The Early Tapes Period (Vinyl-On-Demand) 3xLP + 10″
• UnicaZürn - Temporal Bends (uZu Music) CD
• Simon Wickham-Smith - A Seventh Persimmon (Tape Drift Records) CDR
• Zaïmph - Serpent’s Bite (Heavy Blossom) CD
• Various - 1970’s Algerian Proto-Rai Underground (Sublime Frequencies) CD

• Aethenor  ”Betimes Black Cloudmasses”  CD  (VHF)  USED  $8  - with Stephen O’Malley of Sunn0))), Khanate, KTL, etc.
• Ahmed, Ilyas  ”Between Two Skies/Towards the Night”  2 x CD  (Digitalis)  USED  $10  - 2 CD set from Portland based troubadour
• Ahmed, Ilyas  ”Vertigo of Dawn, The”  CD  (Time-Lag Records)  USED  $8  - psychedelic folk from Portland
• Anubi  ”Kai Pilnaties Akis Uzmerks Mirtis”  CD  (Danza Ipnotica Records)  USED  $14  - Weird obscure psych based metal from Lithuania (rare)
• ARC  ”Arcturus”  CD  (DiN)  USED  $8.00  - sequencer driven keyboards like Tangerine Dream
• Asva  ”What You Don’t Know is Frontier”  CD  (Southern Records)  USED  $8  - heavy & slow descent w/ amazing treatments
• Banhart, Devendra  ”White Reggae Troll”  12″  (XL Recordings)  USED  $10  - single sided psychedlic 12″ w/reggae & African influence
• Bishop, Sir Richard  ”Freak of Araby, The”  CD  (Drag City)  USED  $8  - Arabic driven rhythms. highest recommendation!
• Chromatics  ”Chrome Rats vs. Basement Ruts”  CD  (GSL)  USED  $4  - Portland based post punk/ synyh pop
• Datashock, Aidan Baker, Leah Buckareff LP  (Hlava / Meudiademorte)  USED  $50  - ltd 93, 1 side only, 2nd side screenprinted
• Deathspell Omega  ”Fas-Ite, Maledicti in Ignem Aeternum”  CD  USED  $8  - Extreme scary French BM
• Deathspell Omega  ”Si Monvmentvm Reqvires, Circvmspice”  CD  USED  $8  - French BM supergroup ritual
• Earth  ”10 1990″  LP  (The Ajna Offensive)  USED  $50  - alt. versions of “Extra-Capsular” track + 16rpm tracks
• Hoor-Paar-Kraat  ”An Anagram Hypnotic”  LP  (Goat Eater Arts)  USED  $6  - drones and deep chords, ltd 281
• Hoor-Paar-Kraat  ”In Eros Veritas”  LP  (Goat Eater Arts / KNVBI Records)  USED  $6  - creaky experimental soundscapes, ltd 300
• Hunter, Jana / Banhart, Devendra LP  (Troubleman Unlimited)  USED  $10  - great split of psych infused folk
• Jodorowsky, Alejandro  ”Santa Sangre”  2 x DVD  (Comstar)  USED  $10  - bizarre circus, murder freakout! incredible stuff
• Joyce, James  ”Ulysses”  book  (Vintage International)  USED  $5  - controversial, influential & for a while, a banned book
• Khanate  ”No Joy (Remix)”  12″  USED  $20  - 45 RPM 12″ with exclusive remix, out of print
• Larsen  ”Musm”  2 x LP  (Enterruption)  USED  $6  - post rock w/bonus screenprinted anti-record
• Mothlite  ”Flax of Reverie, The”  2 x LP  (Southern Records)  USED  $8  - 4 dreamy sides w/member of Sunn 0))) and Guapo
• Muslimgauze  ”Gun Aramaic Part 2″  CD  (Soleilmoon Recordings)  USED  $12  - Arabic infused electronica, ltd. 2000, OOP
• Nokturnal Mortum  ”To the Gates of Blasphemous Fire”  CD  USED  $5  - Ukrainian symphonic folk
• Nokturnal Mortum  ”Twilightfall”  CD  USED  $5  - Ukraine BM ‘95 release
• Om / Current 93  ”Inerrant Rays Of Infallible Sun (Blackship Shrinebuilder)”  10″  (Neurot Recordings)  USED  $15  - split EP, doom vs. apocalypse, green vinyl
• Popol Vuh  ”Hosianna-Mantra”  CD  (SPV)  USED  $8.00  - Dreamy ambient offering from 72 w/ bonus track
• Squarepusher  ”Burningn’n Tree”  2 x LP  (Warp)  USED  $15  - great double LP of electro glitch bass madness
• Squarepusher  ”Feed Me Weird Things”  2 x LP  (Rephlex)  USED  $25  - 1996 debut, glitchy, bass heavy, for fans of Aphex Twin
• Squarepusher  ”Go Plastic”  2 x LP  (Warp)  USED  $20  - Richard D. James discovered him in a club!!!
• Squarepusher  ”Maximum Priest E.P.”  12″  (Warp)  USED  $5  - 1999 release with Autechre & Wagonchrist remixes
• Squarepusher  ”Venus No. 17″  12″  (Warp)  USED  $10  - 2004 EP, glitchy, bass heavy
• Squarepusher / Thomas, Richard  ”Am Carnal, and I Know That You Approve”  12″  (Lo Recordings)  USED  $5  - 1999 collaboration, glitchy, bass heavy
• Stokes, Saul  ”Metacollage”  CDR  (stokes Music)  USED  $10  - Limited CD-R w/ hand signed card. recommended!
• Sunn 0)))  ”CandleWolff ov thee Golden Chalice”  LP  (Anti-Mosh)  USED  $100  - 2004 Peel sessions, same music both sides, out of print
• Sunn 0)))  ”GrimmRobe Demos, The”  2 x LP  (Southern Lord)  USED  $30  - heavy doom, black vinyl edition of 1000
• Teresa 11  ”Smoky Heaven”  CD  (Eibon Records)  USED  $8  - Exotic electronica from Japan w/ acoustics
• Various  ”Down in a Mirror : A Second Tribute to Jandek”  CD  (Summersteps Records)  USED  $6  - feat. Jeff Tweedy, Brother JT, Kawabata Makoto, etc.
• Various  ”Naked in the Afternoon: A Tribute to Jandek”  CD  (Summersteps Records)  USED  $6  - Eclectic mix of artists feat. Bright Eyes, Kid Icarus, etc.

FREE IN STORE PERFORMANCE
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2009
6:00 PM

ALGIERS

RED SQUIRRELS

PHILLIP HARRIS

From Alaska to Seattle and now resident of Portland, Oregan, Levi Berner (Algiers) has almost secretly unleashed a series of small run cassettes of noise music.  Most recently released through his new label Zen Enthusia, his work recalls the 1980’s glory days of Hands To and The New Blockaders while standing resoundingly in the present.  Using analog open reel tape decks among other sources, he is able to create a full sound unheard in many other contemporary digital noise acts.  Levi has curated this evening’s line up as a Zen Enthuisa showcase. http://www.myspace.com/isitstillasecret

Old Ballard resident Jason Young (Red Squirrels) has lived in the same house for something close to fifteen years. The inside is strewn with all manner of folk instrument.  DIY/broken, acoustic/electric, drums, guitars, hurdy-gurdy, tone-generators, tape monsters, delay pedals, homemade speakers… Likewise his records inhabit similar space. Mod Podged sound collage of weird electronics, drones, space noise, raga, Sufi prayers, psych rock, field recordings, etc. Previous efforts have been realized with the likes of At Jennie Richie, Algiers, and a slew of other Seattle musicians including Tiny Vipers and a member (members?) of Kinski. He has had long OOP cassettes and CDRs on labels such as Scumbag Relations, Enteruption, Wasting, and Debacle. http://www.myspace.com/redsquirrelz

Phillip Harris recently disappeared into the neither world that is North Portland. Not particularly part of any local scene or genre yet aware of the giants of free jazz, drone, music concrete, etc.Rarely playing out, existing solely outside of the scenester noise circles, yet bringing a reckless abandon to his live performance when given the opportunity. He hails from the psychedelic/psychic wasteland that is Florida. http://www.myspace.com/philipgharris

AMBIENT/DRONE:

Deceh LP  (Important Records)  $21  - acoustic/electronic drone, screenprinted insert, ltd 400

Eleh  ”Homage To The Sine Wave”  LP  (Taiga)  $22  - minimal drone electronics, numbered edition of 500

FM3  ”Buddha Machine II - Lime”  Soundbox  (FM3)  $24  - new loops, pitch control, better speaker, lime case

Radigue, Eliane  ”Triptych”  CD  (Important Records)  $14  - awesome archival minimalism from France

Radigue, Eliane  ”Vice Versa, Etc…”  2 x CD  (Important Records)  $16  - awesome archival minimalism from France, 2 discs

CLASSICAL:

Brown, Earle  ”Folio and Four Systems”  CD  (Tzadik)  $15  - early avant-garde & graphic scores, friend of John Cage

Gibson, Jon  ”Criss X Cross”  CD  (Tzadik)  $15  - solo flute & saxophone, worked with La Monte, Riley, etc

Stockhausen, Karlheinz  ”Spiral I & II, Pole, Wach, Japan, Zykus, Tierkries”  2 x CD  (EMI Classics)  $14  - reissue of amazing 2 LP box of experimental pieces

EXPERIMENTAL:

Airway  ”Live at LACE”  LP  (Harbinger Sound)  $25  - 1st vinyl reissue of early (1978) influential wall of noise

Conrad, Tony & Olson, Tovah  ”Let There Be Music”  LP  (Tovinator)  $13  - ltd 200, instantly sold out from the label, one side only

De Martinville, Edouard-Leon Scott  ”Au Clair de la Lune”  7″  (Parlortone)  $8  - 1st experiment in recording sound from 1860!!!

H.N.A.S.  ”Im Schaten der Möhre”  CD  (Streamline)  $14  - finely crafted German weirdness, their best album

Starving Weirdos  ”Father Guru”  CD  (Azul Discografica)  $14  - long trancey tracks

Winderen, Jana  ”Noisiest Guys on the Planet”  C40  (Ash International)  $7  - field recordings of underwater crustaceans, ltd 250

JAZZ/IMPROV:

Supersilent  ”7″  DVD  (Rune Grammofon)  $23  - stellar DVD video of a live concert

ROCK:

Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, The  ”Gorilla”  CD  (EMI)  $12  - humorous English music w/Neil Innes, Vivian Stanshall

Fushitsusha 2 x CD  (P.S.F. Records)  $38  - heavy rock w/Seijiro Murayama, Yasushi Ozawa, 2 CD

Neung Phak  ”Fucking USA”  7”  (Abduction)  $8  - great cover of Korean anti-American rock tune, ltd 300

Sic Alps  ”A Long Way Around to a Shortcut”  2 x LP  (Drag City)  $20  - lo-fi garage noise rock

Six Organs of Admittance / Azul  ”Split”  LP  (P.S.F. Records)  $21  - meditative & folky, ltd 800, already sold out from label

SOUNDTRACK:

Seazer, J.A.  ”Den’en Ni Shisu”  CD  (Showboat / Sky Station)  $28  - for Shuji Terayama film w/members of Tenjo Sajiki

WORLD:

Souleyman, Omar  ”Dabke 2020: Folk & Pop Sounds of Syria”  CD  (Sublime Frequencies)  $14  - fantastic Arabic pop music that really moves

Various  ”String of Pearls”  LP  (Mississippi Records)  $14  - cool collection of rare 78s from around the world

• Ash Castles on the Ghost Coast CD  (Fleece Records / Wholly Other)  USED  $8  - Heather Murray (ex-Charalambides) & Shawn McMillen
• Bishop, Richard  ”God Damn Religion”  DVD + CD  (Locust Music)  USED  $12  - CD & DVD set, no guitar here, just dark experimental
• Cage, John  ”Variations IV”  CD  (Legacy International)  USED  $6  - fantastic sound collages, reissue of 2 LPs from 1965
• Cluster  ”71″  CD  (Water)  USED  $9  - early dark & cosmic electronics from Germany
• Cluster  ”II”  CD  (Spalax)  USED  $9  - really good!  like good spacey TG, but years earlier
• Crass  ”Christ the Album”  2 x CD  (Crass Records)  USED  $9  - 1982 album of anarcho-peace punk
• Culver C90  ((oTo))  USED  $2  - droney noises, 1 side only, C90,  ltd 50
• Doc Wör Mirran  ”Power of Positive Obscurity, The”  C60  (Old Europa Cafe)  USED  $2  - spacey lo-fi creations from Germany on Italian label C60
• Faust with Conrad, Tony  ”Live:  London - Queen Elisabeth Hall - February 1995″  C60  (Klangbad)  USED  $2  - live concert recording released by the band, C60
• Fennesz  ”Fennesz Plays”  CD EP  (Moikai)  USED  $4  - instrumental electronic glitch covers of Stones, 7 mins
• German Oak CD  (Radioactive)  USED  $9  - obscure Krautrock instrumentals from 1972
• Godz  ”Contact High”  CD  (ESP Disc / XYZ Music)  USED  $9  - drop out folk weirdness from 1966
• Harvester  ”Hemat”  CD  USED  $9  - great trance psychedelic rock w/folk touches from 1969
• Jackie-O Motherfucker  ”Europe 2002″  2 x CD  (Cast Exotic Archives)  USED  $12  - out of sight collective weirdness
• Kawabata Makoto  ”You Are The Moonshine”  CD  (Mar/Ino / Elsie & Jack Recordings)  USED  $15  - beautiful ambient sounds, ltd 150, long out of print
• Knaack, Donald  ”Dance Music”  CD  (RRRecords)  $8  - contemplative & creative experimental
• Kubli, Thom  ”Mondok Spots”  CD  (BMB Lab)  USED  $7  - very beautiful subtle drones like Rafael Toral, ltd 300
• L’infonie  ”Volume 333″  2 x CD  (Mucho Gusto)  USED  $12  - bizarre jazz, rock, experimental, classical mixture
• Lacy, Steve  ”Saxophone Special +”  CD  (Emanem)  USED  $9  - very free playing with some of the greats of the day
• Limbus 4  ”Mandalas”  CD  (Spalax)  USED  $9  - one of the greats of early free music w/ acoustic instrs.
• Lost in Translation  ”Wednesday Tapes, The”  C90  (Black Velvet Fuckere Recordings)  USED  $2  - old school cosmic electronics, C90
• Malanga, Gerard  ”Up From The Archives”  CD  (Sub Rosa)  USED  $8  - from the archives of this Warhol collaborator
• McLean Mix, The  ”Golden Age of Electronic Music, The”  CD  (CRI)  USED  $10  - great early analog electronics, out of print
• Miller, Donald  ”A Little Treatise on Morals”  CD  (Audible Hiss)  USED  $8  - solo pieces from Borbetomagus guitarist from 1982
• MNortham  ”Breathing Towers”  CD EP  (Dorobo)  USED  $8  - ltd 400, OOP, 22 minutes, lovely drone
• Moondog and his Friends CD  (Moondog’s Corner)  USED  $8  - reissue of 1953 material using tape overdubbing
• Möslang, Norbert / Guhl, Andy  ”Deep Voices”  CD  (Urthona)  USED  $9  - 1978 FMP debut of the duo that became Voice Crack
• Musica Elettronica Viva  ”The Sound Pool”  CD  (Spalax)  USED  $9  - 1969 large ensemble free for all, originally LP on BYG
• Nath, Pandit Pran  ”Raga Cycle”  CD  (Sri Moonshine)  USED  $9  - contemplative Indian classical w/La Monte Young
• Of  ”Rocks Will Open”  CD  (Digitalis)  USED  $8  - delicate acoustic sounds, Thuja member, ltd 500
• Oliveros, Pauline  ”Primordial Lift”  CD  (Table of the Elements)  USED  $9  - with guests Tony Conrad and David Grubbs
• Romero, Damion  ”Feedback in a Lover’s Telegraph”  CD  (Harbinger Sound)  USED  $7  - gentle and warm self-sustaining feedback drone
• Screamin’ Mee-Mees & Hot Scott Fischer  ”You’re Now In Our World: Warp Sessions ‘72″  CDR  (Slippy Town)  USED  $6  - lo-fi primitive “Godz meets Amon Düül”, CDR, ltd 125
• Smegma  ”Ism”  CD  (Tim/Kerr Records)  USED  $10  - long out of print 1993 album by these Portland weirdos
• Speare, Jed  ”Sound Works 1982-1987″  2 x CD  (Family Vineyard)  USED  $12  - great unreleased musique concrete from the 1980’s
• Throbbing Gristle  ”Live Volume 1, 1976-1978″  CD  (Mute Records / The Grey Area)  USED  $12  - out of print, early murky Industrial sounds, vellum cover
• Ya Ho Wha 13  ”Penetration, An Aquarian Symphony”  CD  (Cold Sweat)  USED  $9  - reissue of 1974 LP, acid-mantra psychedelic death trip

Dissonant Plane will be open late for the Ballard Art Walk on Saturday August 8th.  To celebrate, Sparkle Girl (Jim) will be making fun noises to mix with the sounds of the space.  Jim is moving away in less than two weeks, so this might be one of your last chances to catch him for a good while!

Two very special items from Japan:

Akio Suzuki “Ki-date” DVD & book
A beautiful retrospective of this very special Japanse sound artist.  The 210 minute all region NTSC DVD features live performances on Akio’s instruments such as the Analapos and Suzuki Type Glass Harmonica, as well as exhibition views and field recordings.  The performances are sublime as Suzuki lets loose delicate and magical sounds from his instruments and plays with small objects.  Also in the box is a 190 color catalog with texts in Japanese and English (translations by Alan Cummings) documenting 40 years of sound creation with many lovely photographs.  Also included in this set is a map of the location that Suzuki marked for ‘Oto-Date’.   This on going projects marks good listening spots in urban areas with Suzuki’s whimsical icon combining feet and ears.  This map shows the locations around the museum that Akio liked and the DVD documents these spots.  In a stroke of genius the video faces the opposite direction of any action so that sounds are heard, but the visuals are mostly stationary, yet impart the sense of the place.  The performance recordings on the DVD, these sounds are also recorded by Kuwayama Kijima of Lethe.  Documents of Suzuki’s work are always hard to find and therefore in demand, so don’t miss your chance to pick up this set!

Lethe “Catastrophe Point #6″ CD
Privately released limited edition CD from 2005 packaged on an A4 (about letter size) cardboard sleeve with beautiful artwork by Isao Mizutani.
Nagoya based Kiyoharu Kuwayama has an interest in reverberant spaces, recording under bridges and flyovers as well as in warehouse and Shinto temples at night. Although he occasionally employs cello, his works tends to explore space and perspective in utterly unconventional ways. Typically, he favours objects found in situ to sound the acoustic environment and is as likely to use a chair scraped along the floor as a standard musical instrument. But music this most definitely is. The first piece on offer here foregrounds what sounds like a handful of pebbles being clicked together against a distant backdrop of scraped sheet metal. The thickness of the room’s acoustics lends the whole an almost frightening clarity, and there’s an unreality to the way the two different reverberant layers combine that only adds to the sense of unease. We’re thrown into a subtly heightened acoustic realm, in which scale and perspective are altered, to disquieting psychological effect. The second piece heightens and complicates the acoustic picture even further, and increases the density of the sonic activity. The sound sources here seem to be bundles of sticks, bottles, tea trays and iron girders thrown down lift shafts. Once again the ear tries to make sense of the altered relationships Kuwayama set up between loud and soft, close and distant. Slowly, the piece starts to focus more and more strongly on a huge, dark vibration at the furthest end of the acoustic spectrum, which builds in intensity, racking up the tension and subtly disturbing the mind’s equilibrium. By this point, the music sounds like it’s taking piece in a vast, pitch black aircraft hangar of the soul. - Keith Moline (Wire No. 264)
Volcanic Tongue made comparisons with Christoph Heemann, Sean Meehan and AMM when describing this one.

Four new titles from Hospital Productions in for the first time:

Cold Cave “Cremations” CD - Old style minimal synth - simple melodies and rhythms with monotone vocals.  Cold and perverse atmosphere.  This collects tracks from the instantly out of print 7″, cassette and LP releases.

The Grey Wolves “Judgement” CD - Lo-fi, creepy, ritual industrial from the U.K. originally released on cassette sometime in the 1980’s.  The Grey Wolves were still associated with T.O.P.Y. at this early point in their history as can be seen on the logos from the original cover art reproduced here.  The Grey Wolves are better known for power electronics, so this is an unusual release for them and sounds more like Trev’s other project Nails ov Christ.

Malkuth “Sefirah Gevurah” CD - Underground, raw and rough black metal from New York.  This is their second album, the first one was vinyl only and sold out very fast.  Malkuth features members of Zashiki-Warashi, No Neck Blues Band, and K-Salvatore and sounds nothing like those bands.

Yellow Tears “Don’t Cry” 12″ - Dark and psychologically disturbing trio from New York.  The sounds of pain, fear and dread.

Also, back in stock:
Controlled Bleeding “Shanked and Slithering” CD - totally violent electronics/vocals/junk metal assault
Jason Crumer “Ottoman Black” CD - heavy noise and thick drones
Diapsiquir “Pacta Daemoniarum/Crasse” 2 x CD - reissue of two rare black metal French CDs from 1999 and 2001
Kevin Drumm “Imperial Distortion” 2 x CD - deep and minimal stark atmospheres
Carlos Giffoni / Prurient “Heavy Rain Returns” CD - deep throbbing analog power electronics noise

John Olson started American Tapes before there was a Wolf Eyes.  Early on he already had a diversity of musical projects and these days seem to be no different.  This week we got a box of the latest releases from the label, all new things that they didn’t have on offer at the recent Josephine show.  None of them is by Wolf Eyes, but most of them seem to be related in some way, if not in actual membership than in aesthetics.  All these releases are packaged in handmade covers with very little info and come in limited editions of 40 to 100 copies.  The oldest title we were able to get was the special edition of Dead Machines “Plays Kwaidan”.  Dead Machine is John Olson (Wolf Eyes) and his wife Tovah Olson.  This one of several releases where they create soundtracks for old movies, in this case the brilliant Kobayashi film from 1964 which had brilliant music by Toru Takemitsu.  The Dead Machines version was released as a 7″ by the Swedish label Ideal, but American tapes made a special edition of only 30 copies with a bonus CDR featuring exclusive tracks by Dead Machines, plus the solo projects Spykes and Tovah D-Day.  Slightly more recent is the Paul Flathery & Jeff Hartford one-sided LP “8-01-08” named for the date on which it was recorded.  Flaherty is a free jazz alto sax player and dominates the recording, athlought Jeff Hartford’s electronic noises can be heard in the mix as well.  This one is limited to only 100 copies, as is the other single-sided LP we were able to get, “Learning for Insipid Zeal“.  Peopled by Pool Water, People Pollution (members of Raven Strain and Sick Llama), and Imaginary Unit In Electronics, this album is a great little selection of murky noise electronics and seems to be the only appearance on vinyl of these groups.  However, Pool Water does have a CDR titled “Live at Warm & Covering” which is quite nice.  Although it is not revealed on the release anywhere, this group is made up of John Olson, Mike Connelly (Wolf Eyes, Hair Police), and Mike Collino playing violin, cardboard percussion, flute, tapes.  From here we go into the region of total mystery acts about which I know nothing, except that they sound good, and that is all that really counts in the end.  The other two CDRs in this batch are About ‘Needs’ and ‘Crisis’ by Rain of Dissolved Sedatives and Paradox 11.  Rain of Dissolved Sedatives is a great name and stirs up some wild electronics.  Paradox 11 is a magazine with the sort of wild graphics you see displayed on all American Tapes releases.  No text anywhere, just images, so you don’t even know who exactly is behind the insane noise on the accompanying CDR.  Rounding things up in this batch are three cassette only releases: How People Speak “I Was Tempted To Tell Him That I Had I No Idea What I Really Wanted But Decided To Keep It To Myself“, Sad Policemen “Uninvolved, and We Are The…“, and Zero Days United “A Front As Well As Any Other“.  All three are editions of only 50 copies and feature zany electronic noise.  If you like Wolf Eyes, branch out and check these things out.  You’ll be kicking yourself later if you don’t grab them.  The label has done over 800 release and the entire back catalog is already out of print.

Did you know there is an experimental music scene in Malaysia?  It’s pretty small still, but there are two labels that are putting out things on CD fairly regularly.  The most active is Herbal International run by Goh Lee Kwang, but the Xing-Wu label has also put several titles as well.  Both labels seem really keen to release European artists at the moment, especially ones from France.  In the most recent batch from Herbal are a double CD by Jean-Luc Guionnet, a collaborative disc by Eric La Casa and Cédric Peyronnet, and a reissue of the second Beequeen album.  Beequeen are a Dutch duo and create really nice ambient textures with minimal organic rhythms and “Time Waits for No One” is one of their better early works.  Cédric Peyronnet is better known as toy.bizarre and like his collaborator Eric La Casa is known for working field recordings into lovely compositions.  Their duet together is entitled “La Creuse” and finds them mapping a particular area in central France.  Eric La Casa was previously in a trio called Afflux, and one of the other members of this group was Jean-Luc Guionnet.  On his double CD “Non-Organic Bias” he presents three long works.  They focus on the organ which he plays in a very experimental way exploiting lone tones and silences with great dynamic effect.  These works would have sounded at home in Deutsche Grammophon’s Avant-Garde series of LPs.  Quite a different facet of Jean-Luc’s work is heard on the CD “Le Bruit Du Toit” where he plays saxophone.  This album released by Xing-Wu is a duet with original Fushitsusha drummer Seijiro Murayama.  Recorded at a temple in Japan, the two improvisations reveal a delicate attention to timbre and close listening to each other.  The third member of Afflux. Eric Cordier, is represented on another Xing-Wu disc called “Dispositif: Canal Saint Martin“.  Recorded in collaboration with Emmanuel Mieville, this disc takes another approach to field recordings as it is a real time composition made by placing 30 microphones around the Paris city hall and manipulating them via laptop triggered ’sonic objects’.  Although not French, Michael Northam and Seijiro Murayama met in France and Switzerland and slowly developed the album “Moriendo Renascor“.  A meeting of acousmatic composter and free improviser has resulted in a finely detailed meditation on small sounds and drones.  But that is not all from Xing-Wu as we also got the one release they have done featuring only Malaysian musicians.  “Shàng” presents the three artists who I believe to be behind the label. Each presents a very different work.  Tham Kar Mun is very minimal with sudden outbursts of sound and Yandsen presents solo improvised acoustic guitar.  However for me, the best track here is the 26 minute “Funeral” by Yeoh Yin Pin.  Based on a recording of a Chinese Taoist funeral ceremony, the sounds here are just magical and reason enough to own this disc.