Cyclic Defrost Magazine

Posted: 08 Feb 2009 07:08 AM CST

ferndorf

Prepared piano has now quite a history, for anyone who has surveyed the music of John Cage, Henry Cowell, and Erik Satie. Contemporarily enthusiasm for this method is shown by exponents such as Anthony Pateras, Christian Wolff, Roberto Carnevale and here under the guise of Hauschka is Volker Bertelmann. Having Studied classical piano for 10 years Bertlemann created this persona to explore the possibilities of prepared piano, Ferndorf being the latest offering since inception in 2004. Ferndorf refers homeward to the town of birth, that 'distant village' of youth, to his experiences in nature.

Particular chance moments available to the prepared piano allow a playfulness that undercuts the years of classical training with the wit of the indeterminate. At the same time the compositional elements are stronger here than in previous releases it is the transposition of voice and character in the writing of the instruments. The staccato rhythms insistent created are driving in Heimat from a practiced hesitancy to confident exuberance, enhanced by the curious oblique trombone. Morgenrot is quietude is counterbalanced by melancholy cellos whereas Eltern widens the voice of the cello amongst increased foregrounding of the prepared piano idiosyncrasies and deft electronic touches.

In that Bertlemann utalises the piano seemingly more as a generative device than as a melodic tool and the method of composition often reflects electronic and loop based music with resulting sound having reflections of mechanised reproduction. Incorporated electronic nuances and cello overdubs and add a few completely improvised pieces. Contrast this to the sense of celebration and awareness of nature, chance, organic development and their characterisation in instrumental composition and suddenly Bertlemann's palate has opened up a vista of more diverse, subtle and contradictory harmony to confound any prescriptive account of his utopian Ferndorf.

Innerversitysound

Wendt – Unreleased Music for Visualisers (miatera)

Posted: 08 Feb 2009 05:31 AM CST

Alexander Wendt’s Unreleased Music for Visualisers is the first imprint for the newly formed Miatera, a sub label of his umbrella 12×50 Recordings. It acts at once as a document of his research into psych-acoustics and interactive sound as it does a sonic text in the loosely termed domain of ambient music. Wendt has been a lecturer at London's Metropolitan University in film, sonic arts and media design since 2006 and producing the Frequenzen radio program for Resonance Fm in London.

If one can talk of life as interactive, in as much as it is a contemporary word, such words as environmental, ambient and communication act as other signposts to the nature of the sonic domain that interests Wendt. Including field recordings, sub-bass and ultrahigh frequencies the recordings map sonic territory of both the pure frequency and highly manipulated sound palate for listeners familiar with an effects laden sonic environment. The first section of the disc is compositions to the photography of Anne Berndt, included as the cover shot, a depiction of the Confluence of Indus and Zaskar. The second section meditations on three letter words, which oblique to the listener of these minimal sound sculptures build glinting forms, wayward frequencies and robust lower register compositions. The track Bus is also represented by a Quicktime video which as a form of oscilloscope art acts as a visual sonic form to lull the viewer into an immersive state.

Descriptively, without being circular, these present sonic maps of landscapes, both linguistic and visual and map a sound frontier at the same time as indicating the particular direction and terrain of Wendt's future endeavors to be as much filmic as this survey of his works compiles his movement in composition towards an experimental and psych–effective documents for use in immersive and interactive environments. People familiar with the work of Lawrence English or Philip Samartzis may find this territory akin to their sonic interests.

Innerversitysound

Larvae – Loss Leader (Ad Noiseam)

Posted: 08 Feb 2009 01:22 AM CST

Larvae

Atlanta-based post-rock / electronic trio Larvae’s preceding 2006 album ‘Dead Weight’ in many senses represented their most ‘complete’ sounding work to date, and this latest third album ‘Loss Leader’ represents their first recorded output since 2007’s split album release with Spyweirdos ‘How To Disintegrate / Seven Ways To Kill A Tree.’ It’s also distinctly a game of two halves, the eight tracks here being conceptually split up into two stylistically different EPs. Titled ‘Turning Around’, the first EP definitely represents the more post-rock oriented of the two, with the widescreen, melancholic fusion of trailing guitar elements, slow, reverb-heavy drums and programmed rhythms aesthetically following on neatly from where ‘Dead Weight’ left off – indeed, the delicate and trailing, piano-laced ‘Heavy’ (a highlight here) apparently comes from those same album sessions. By comparison, the second, more electronics-dominated EP ‘Monster Music 2′, a sequel to the band’s very first 2003 EP release ‘Monster Music’, sees Larvae mainman Matt Jeanes riding solo. Pensive, heavy drum-laced offerings such as the Scorn-esque ‘Monster Zero’ see Jeanes following a stylistic trajectory that reveals the influence of dubstep without ever really becoming subsumed in it, and indeed there’s just as much of the influence of dark electronic pioneers Skinny Puppy in tracks such as ‘Megalon’ as say, Milanese or Plastician. In this case, Matt Jeanes’ game of two halves strategy has clearly paid off, with both EPs being as equally compelling as they are stylistically different.