review: Vromb "Noize Mélodia"

Montréal’s Vromb has returned with a new selection of sonic challenges for us to sort throught, and once again, his manifested machinations almost command a most serious attention from the listener. Noize Mélodia, released by Ant-Zen, continues the one-man project’s complex and intriguing audio explorations, this time around somewhat departing from what some of us can only describe as his “trademark” sound developed over the last few albums, although one would be a fool to proclaim that Vromb’s sound in any era was anything but self-repetitive and reliant on past techniques. In fact, Noize Mélodia is indeed unmistakingly Vromb, as each track builds on itself, morphs and evolves into unchartered and yet self-exploratative areas, not unlike allowing the song’s own “vibration” or “tone” to shape it’s own self, with only slight nudges from the human operator behind the unique and un-imitable sounds. Strangely hypnotic while constantly keeping us on our toes, each individual song also works as part of the whole, and one could easily just enjoy the whole album as a single entity which never stagnates nor lingers on any surface or territory for too long. Complex yet simple without ever becoming too minimal, textures rich in density but fluid in motion, Vromb’s alien and yet vaguely familiar audio excursions feel more like a fevered dream or hallucinatory state of consciousness rather than a nightmarish trip through strange lands (one possible exception could be the track “tempête solaire suivie de: écho d’une terre sans hommes”, which starts off more abrasive than one would expect from a more recent Vromb release, but does subside into a moderately less off-putting state). If anything, this time around the work seems as though it is always at the cusp of losing control, but Vromb seems perfectly at ease to fend off the possible chaos and remain in total control of the self-evolving audioscapes. Like much of all of Vromb’s oeuvre, it is best to enter without any preconceived expectations and allow the sounds to take the helm of the piloting while the listener should be both attentive of the happenings but remain an appreciative passenger.  

I have known Vromb's mastermind ever since the mid-90s when I discovered his debut album, and have remained a dedicated fan ever since (with only a slight absence during a part of the 2000s where I was virtually absent from pretty much everyone and everything). He had warned me that his latest album was anything but an easy listening experience and that I should indeed be warned before going in, expecting something more akin to his last record "Chorégraphie" or some of his more recent offerings. Yet with this in mind, I did not find "Noize Mélodia" as much of an anomaly as I would have expected after Hugo's warnings. In fact I was pleasantly surprised for the most part, and find this album another fantastic entry in the Vromb catalogue.

yet ANOTHER Hollywood crush: Gina Carano

Yes, maybe I am starting to turn this blog into the "hot lady of the week" Spotlight but I had to include this one. Before anything else, I am one of those guys who would have prefered that the Wonder Woman film would have cast a lady like Gina Carano instead of the meatless bone bag they did, for obvious Hollywood reasons (stupid comity-run studios!). Anyway, Gina Carano may be better known as the ultimate fighting machine which made her gain the infamy she has, but she is also a more than competent actor and deserves more breaks than she does now. Anyway I deffinately go a soft spot for her and relish every chance I get to see her exercising her thespian chops on screen. Deffinately Worth to keep an eye on!

great album covers: Thomas Koner "Nunatak Gongamur"

Yes, this one was bound to show up eventually!

Although this is Thomas Koner's first official album, it isn't one of my favorites... Strange, isn't it? Well to be honest, I am not a fan of Mr Koner's total œuvre, as I seem to prefer a small cluster of his material from a specific time period. Not saying his other material isn't any "good" (quite the opposite!) but for the desired effect I go to in Thomas Koner's music, a handful of releases do the trick, and it is essentially what came after his debut album "Nunatak Gongamur", up until his "Zyklop" album. I am however not versed in his later works as finding decently priced Thomas Koner music is next to impossible, and so it renders enjoyment of his material quite limited. In any case, "Nunatak Gongamur", or "Ge-Nuuk-Nuuk" as an ex-friend and myself used to call it, features mostly very subtle and relaxing drone-like textures which were his main orientation up until "Zyklop", except for two or three piece which veer quite un-naturally into intense sonic bursts of uncharacteristically noisier portions. Essentially, "Ge-Nuuk-Nuuk" can lull you to sleep but will wake you up quite abruptly in a few key moments which makes this album a more difficult listening experience, unless some slight editing is done (and I myself have attempted to do said editing for fun but was never able to fully get a proper Lx Wheill remix of it). In any case, while "Ge-Nuuk-Nuuk" may not be his most formidable album, the actual cover is something to take it, as it does perfectly capture the general mood of his following records, such as "Teimo" and "Permafrost". Enjoy!

Techno Animal became Zonal?

Yes, Zonal!

Techno Animal was always a band/project I had a slight inkling for. In the 90s I was eposed to them via their second album, the double CD (yes, a DOUBLE CD release!) clocking at about 2 and a half hours entitled "Re-Entry". I since then followed everything I could of them, including their last album "Brotherhood Of The Bomb" which featured half the album's tracks with rapper guest vocalists, Something I was not too keen on. Anyway I won't go into détails about who Techno Animal were, under what other names they recorded, and which of their releases were tight versus other less-than-stellar ones, but suffice it to say that the project official disbanded in 2004 with a one-time-only reunion show in 2017. However what is intriguing is that they decided to continue their venture under the new name Zonal, perhaps in an attempt to disassociate their namesake with the "techno" movement, as their name was always meant to be moreof a technological animal than a "techno" (as a genre) animal. In any case, I seriously need to hunt this release down! Cheers, and I hope you are enjoying your month of april!

Another "not quite" Hollywood crush: Mathilda May

She may have been one of my earliest "movie star" crushes from way back in the 80s. If my memory serves me right 9and my memory is by no means to be trusted!), Mathilda May may have been the second Hollywood-ish crush I ever had. Althoguh she has appeared in about a handful of those studio-produced flicks from the USA, most of Ms May's work can be seen in European productions, as well as stage plays. She isn't just an accomplished actress, but a decent singer (although I am no fan of her musical directions, but that's just a question of personnal taste) and was originally trained in ballet. Anyway, she's always been a crush of mine which is why I thought I would do a little blurb about her here on my personnal space!

Die Angel (Ilpo Vaisaenen & Dirk Dresselhaus)

Being a rather die-core fan of Panasonic, it was only natural that I try to keep up with everything the duo of Mika Vainio (RIP) and Ilpo Vaisaenen did on the side, either as collaborations or solo projects. While Mika's output was far more prolific, Ilpo's was very carefully selective. One of his other bands he did in tandem alongside Panasonic (and post) was a project which was originally called Angel, but re-baptised Die Angel a few years ago, a collaboration along side Dirk Dresselhaus and sometimes Hildur Gudnadottir. I managed to score a few of their albums throughout the years through no small feat, as these have limited distribution and are rarely if ever available outside the non-retail market (try finding that at your local Sunrise Records shop!!!)

As a "whole", their third album "Kalmukia" remains my favorite, not just for the great opening track, but for the overall tone of the record which feels a bit less constrained and secluded than others. If you will allow me the expression, it almost sounds as though Die Angel went on a field trip for this one and introduced these "themes" of "openess" in their sound, something their debut album "Angel" seriously lacked.


Released a few months later, the albnum "Hedonism" seems as though it could almost be their "breakthrough" record, if that were in any way possible, due to having generally shorter length tracks, except for the fascinating "Mirrorworld" which clocks just over 20 minutes. It is a great album, one which I highly recommend to anyone as a starting point if you aren't familiar with the project.

(Below) their sixth album from 2011 entitled "26000" is maybe one of their more difficult listens due to the longer pièces (the opener "Before The Rush" and the closer "Paradigm Shift") sometimes dabbling in more intense noise textures. However the remaining three tracks perfectly act out the inner layers of this album's somewhat claustrophic but expanding tone.

Anyway, if you like somewhat intense drone-like experimental atmosphères, not quite electronic and not quite pure noise, you should deffinately give these guys a try. They now have nine albums out there (some are only available on vinyl) also available as downloads (a few selected ones only) so you should be able to enjoy them for yourself!

Great Album Covers: Tackhead Tape Time

Here's a little weirdness from my past: I was first exposed to this via a radio-recorded tape from one of my friends who wanted me to listen to a piece he culled off a radio show. Anyway long story short I went out and bought the LP and this was my first real exposure to "rap" music away from the post-break-dancing 80s and Run-DMC pre-Beasty Boys era. The confusion was that this was essentially a "compilation" of sorts, featuring tracks from various Tackhead incarnations, Gary Clail's Soundsystem and OnUSound projects. None of the tracks from this LP appear elsewhere in this form, and trying to figure out which parts belonged to who needed some serious research in the days before the interweb. Also, all tracks on this album were also pretty much mixed into one another which meant they flowed almost seemlessly and continuously into each other. Although I quickly out grew the "Tackhead" / Gary Clail backwagon after the release of the follow-up album "Friendly as a Hand Grenade" (it was a step further into reggae and rap than this album), this album cover remains still quite iconic in it's simplicity. I am still surprised no one ever brought these guys to court for "borroying" some of the visuals on this cover!

Out There-A Thread Through Time (CD review)

This one is quite a Strange one indeed! Sometimes labelled and promoted as a "techno" record, at others as an "avant-guarde" record, it remains, to this day, a bit unclassifiable. It was almost forcefully sold onto to me by an ex-friend who was pretty much my music pusher in the 90s and such, and looking back at it all now, I feel as though he may have dumped his reject records onto me in order not to have to unload them elsewhere. Not saying that this record is not a good effort, but I can see now why he would have nudged it in my direction and not have kept it for himself.

"Out There" is a double CD collection featuring both previously released material as well and unreleased cuts from such bands/projects as Zoviet France, Horizon 222, Coil, Ø (Mika Vainio), Chris And Cosey, Unit Moebius, and others. While there is a slight techno-sensibility about the album on occasion, the general tone of the album feels a bit more "post-industrial" / "dust" not-quite-aggro oriented, with some odd bits of "trance" and even "noise" thrown in for good measure. While a real record review would carefully detail each track, for simplicity's sake I will only comment on the highlights of the album, in my humble opinion:


CD1:
01. Zoviet France "Synaesthetica": I consider this a highlight strictly because it falls under the good side of Zoviet France; a rather non-threatening and yet non-coma-inducing drone-like ambient piece, perfect for opening up a compilation
03. Coil "Nasa Arab": While I should not consider this one a highlight because it was never one of my prefered Coil pièces, it was a nice fint to have it on CD format as it was, prior to this release, only available on vinyl.
05. Ø "Atomit" : I did not know it at the time (shame on me!) but Ø was Mika Vainio, offering a piece before he began recording with Panasonic. At the time I was not too impressed by the stark minimalism of the piece, but it grew on me.
06. Lords Of Afford "Circular Sore": This was one of those tracks which felt as though it was trying to go into that techno-like arena but just didn't quite make it.

Disc 2:
01. Lord Of Afford "Circular Soar": This one was like the Mirror image or twin of their disc one offering and is indeed in the same vein as "Circular Sore".
02. Ø "Eetteri": Like the track above, this piece is extremelly similar to the Ø piece on the first disc, offering a slightly different variant. Perhaps it was made/designed as a two-parter.
07. Unit Moebius "Panta Rhei": The standout track from the album, a 16+ minute epic highly repetitive techno acid piece which inspired countless of my own créations. Worth the compilation for this track alone!
08. Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia "(Original) Dust": Another standout piece from this early-mid 90s staple of techno-ish music.
09. Abraxas "Hannibal Kantori: Swine Asphixiator": Another standout track, this one closer to noise and "true" industrial (not that industrial dance stuff like FLA and Front 242) than anything else on the record, and perhaps why it sticks out from the rest. Very interesting!
10. Greater Than One/GTO "Take It Easy": A rather funny little piece which has GTO moving away from the 80s sound which made them semi-famous, this one is one of those tracks you hear once but will never forget!


You can probably still find a copy of this compilation for sale at the market place on the discogs database:
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Out-There-A-Thread-Through-Time/master/13800

R.I.P. Mika Vainio 2 years already

It has been 2 years now that electronic music maestro Mika Tapio Vainio has left this world. While not one to be remembered by the majority of humans on this planet who are more concerned with more frivolous and forgettable similar to each other commercial crap, Vainio made an incredible impact on the world of underground sonic explorations, from his solo outings Under various project names, to a whiole bunch of collaborations with a vast array of artists, to his obviously well-know 15 year sting as partof the legendary band Panasonic (or Pan Sonic for most).

As I said, many people never even heard of this gentleman, and even those who were more aware of the underground probably never caught on to this artist's various sound permutations. He explored many audio soundscapes throughout his career, almost dabbling on the verge of possible commercial crossover on one or two occasions, but his works were principally made and designed for the unconventional listener, the one who would actually listen and pay attention to music instead of having music as an accompaniement to the soundtrack of their lives.

Mika was a strong influence on my own musical evolution. While never being directly an influence on my own sound, his brand of controlled chaos and abtract sensibilities coupled with strong rhythmic pulsations was always in the subconsciousness of my own creativity, as I always wished I could have tried to remotely resemble the sound of his band Panasonic.... While I never really made any attempt at trying to copy their sound, that is until I made my homage to Mika back in 2017 upon Learning of his passing...

While the whole album has yet to be uploaded on the Wreck Age bandcamp page, you can still listen via streaming to one of the pièces I wrote for the "M.Tapio V." album by following the link provided right here: https://soundcloud.com/wreckagerecs/lxw-m-taapiov-1

Anyway, while most people in this world are only interested in well known celebrities who pass on, then everyone jumps on their social media sites and everyone re-shares the same posts for a day or two (at most), and then completely forget about it afterwards in order to jump on the next quick little re-shareable blurb of un-important information, I think of Mika pretty much every single day, remembering the unavoidable stamp he left in the world of the underground, and I feel quite happy to have been part of human history at the same time as he was being active. His presence continues to be felt throuogh post-mortem releases of material he recorded before his passing and with collaborations being finalized and released in his honour. Never forgotten, Mika!

Great album covers: Einstuerzende Neubauten's "Tabula Rasa" and singles

Here is a great example of hooking me and reeling me in with a good concept. In the mid-90s (around 1993-1994-1995), german pioneers Einstuerzende Neubauten released an album ("Tabula Rasa"), alongside two singles/EPs "Interim" and "Malediction". All of these releases' visual designs followed the same motif and was a perfect hook to grab my attention and actually make me buy these items even if, according to old school Neubauten purists, this was when the band was starting to loose their edge (in my defense, I thought their move towards a more electronic vibe was a good one as it enabled their sound to be cleaner and somewhat more marketable to an audience which may not have been exposed to them prior to these releases - granted, "Haus Der Luege" also had somewhat similar sensibilities, it was these releases which really put them on the proverbial map, so to speak). Sadly, this was also the beginning of the end as after this album, and during the first stages of production on their next album "Ende Neu", Neubauten lost two of their key members including the extremelly talented and prolific F. M. Einheit. Anyway, let's look at these covers and their accompanying band photographs which were all part of their marketing ploy back then!

Another "not quite" Hollywood crush: Lucie Laurier

And while I was on the subject of my last post about the "not quite Hollywood" crushes, I also need to do shout outs and props to Québec actress Lucie Laurier, who has appeared in some american productions. Sadly, Lucie's talents also never made it passed the border very much, but like I said in my previous post, that may not be a bad thing at all. Anyone who has seen her in movies or TV appearances know that this young lady (well, she`s closer to my age now, but I digress!) is quite talented and needs no introduction if you have been living in this province for the past few décades. Anyway I more-or-less recently discovered I had a little something something for her and that`s why I decided to share a little something something here on my blog!

Spoilers ahead: DOOM PATROL TV series (pilot episode)

Doom Patrol (TV series) – Pilot Episode

 

Needless to say I have been a die-core fan of the Doom Patrol ever since the late 80s Grant Morrison “revival”, so much so I even continued after his run when Rachel Pollack tried to follow through, before the series ended in the 90s. I even tried the next “reboot” of the comics but alas, the weirdness and absurd were gone, the DP now having re-become a standard DC superhero team. When the Marvel cinematic universe was beginning, and DC also jumped on the bandwagon, I kept saying to my surroundings that they should do a Doom Patrol film, although it surely would be watered down and “normalized” for a general audience… and people just said to me that no one cared about the Doom Patrol anyway.

 

Fast forward just a couple of years and behold, a Doom Patrol TV series! As of this “review”, only the pilot episode was watched, and so one can not judge a series by it’s pilot (nor by it’s “approx.” half first season episodes for that matter). I can however say that so far so good as the show’s creators seem to have paid some attention to detail, especially for us die-core maniacs who lived and breathed by the Morrison run of the comics. Yes, one has come to grips with a few discrepancies such as Rita Farr (April Bowlby) and Kay “Crazy Jane” Challis (Diane Guerrero) being in the team at the same time and some details about a few of our “heroes”’s origins (but more on that later, so SPOILERS AHEAD!)

 

Casting-wise, it is a pretty good choice. Brendan Fraser as Cliff Steele, the hot-head egotistical race car driver does a rather good job at playing the seemingly 2-dimentional character (so far), and props to the production team for keeping his vocabulary intact (I was fearing that a TV series would change Cliff’s colorful language into something more politically acceptable in today’s asepticized world). Matt Bomer as Larry Trainor was also a good choice since the character always was a “pretty boy” pilot, and it’s quite interesting that they chose such a “pleasing to the eye” actor to be completely covered up in bandages, something my wife thought was very interesting. April Bowlby looks and plays Rita Farr very well (so far so good!), as I was unsure she would capture that 50s era “moving pictures” starlet.

 

Oh and Timothy Dalton as Niles “The Chief” Caulder, well I do not want to spoil anything if the writers decided to keep the character in tune with what Grant Morrison did with him in the comics, but if they do, well Mr Dalton is perfectly cast… and I do mean he is excellent, but one can never go wrong with such a professional thespian.

 

I do have trouble with Diane Guerrero being cast as “Crazy Jane”. First of all, she looks like she is 16 years old – perhaps her character on the TV is an origin story in itself, which would be at odds with her character (invented by Grant Morrison in his run of the comics) since Kay Challis started having “super powers” with split personalities when she was a youth child. Also, “Crazy Jane” should have played by someone more in the physical frame of Amanda Plummer; sort-of frail-looking but surprisingly dangerous. Guerrero looks like a sass-talking teenager in a “Scary Movie” or “White Chicks” sort of film.

 

Alan Tudyk plays Eric Morden / Mr Nobody, another Morrison creation in the comics who ends up being quite a fascinating one. I was quite pleased to know he was cast as the soon-to-be leader of the “Brotherhood of Dada” (or “The Brotherhood of Nada” for today’s nihilistic sensibilities), and more so when they kept part of his origin story somewhat intact/similar to that in the comic books. Let’s hope he’s as much fun on screen as he was in the comics!

 

In terms of origin stories, they have been quite “fideles” to the origins of the comic book characters. Cliff’s “accident” was indeed that, however in this pilot episode they seem to imply he did not die on the racetrack but afterwards when attempting to rebuild his family. However this could be one of Cliff’s numerous memory failings (also hinted at in the pilot episode), as I do hope it is, for if his “real” accident was with his family (which to be honest I do not think he had in the comic books), then that does sort of change his character somewhat (perhaps written so as to be less of a “a__hole” for the audience).

 

Larry’s “accident” seems very close to the comics’ origins, save of course for the extra-marital affair(s) he is shown as having. Again, perhaps the writers have modified the character slightly in order to introduce him as “Rebis”, another Morrison creation, a rather complex character in itself, which would prove quite interesting if the show does go towards that direction.

 

Rita’s origin story is very similar to the comics, except it happened away from the on-location film set instead of “right there” as it is shown in the pilot episode. This is however just a very small detail and is more nit-picking than anything else.

 

I will not pretend that I did not thoroughly enjoyed myself with this pilot episode. It was quite pleasing to finally see my favorite superhero team being fleshed out, with strong ties to the Grant Morrison era of the comic books, and more than a few nods to boot as well (“… crawls from the wreckage” references Morrison’s first DP storyarc “Crawling From The Wreckage”, and Cliff telling Kay Challis to “come in out of the rain” when her painting’s being ruined also references the first issue of Morrison’s run). I do have reservations especially since they will be introducing a character called “Cyborg” who, as far as I can tell, has nothing tod o and no ties whatsoever with the team (perhaps another “plug” for a young actor to appeal to the target demographic that the show seems to be aiming for), but as I stated earlier, so far so good! I do hope they continue in this vein and explore some of the really weird-absurd-off the beaten path concepts the DP was known for during the late 80s/early 90s comic books.

"Not Quite" Hollywood crush: Mylene St-Sauveur

I say not-quite-Hollywood because this young lady is a pure francophone Quebecois actor, and as far as I can tell, has yet to appear in a big budget board room studio comity produced Hollywood feature... not that there is anything wrong with that (in fact, don't get me started on the whole Hollywood band wagon and whatnot because that`s a matter of long-winded self induging windbagging and soapboxing). Anyway I first notice Mylène in a play about a year or so ago (maybe a bit longer? time does fly when you get to my age!) and I was instantly mesmerized. It's a bit too bad though that most of what she appears in doesn't peak my interest, but she is a fantastic actor nonetheless, and deserves more recognition.

Out now: Vineo Enricone`s "Trompe L'Oreille"

In case you did not know or were too busy doing something else (or just being distracted in any capacity), artist Vineo Enricone`s official debut album is out now. "Trompe L'Oreille" is a quirky one at that; part horror-esque and part tongue-in-cheek oddness, it is Nothing short but a ride that will both keep you on your toes and lull you into a trance. Every piece was both improvised (so I have been told) as well as careful thought out, an obvious paradoxal statement for sure, but I prefer to let you, the listener, judge for yourself. Be warned though, this is not your regular run of the mill music; it is in fact quite experimental; part abstract, part accousmatics; it blends drones, cut-up techniques (the old school style, pre-computers), loops and has a tendancy to both keep and dwell on the little mistakes rather than steering away from it. Listen to it here, for free, in streaming format:


https://wrk69.bandcamp.com/album/trompe-loreille

And if by sheer curiosity you are craving a bit more, then may I suggest you also lay your ears on a REJECTED piece Vineo made during the recoding sessions of this album, but he deemed it too "generic" and "lacking that spark" to be included on the album. He was nice enough to allow me to post it as a stand-alone track on my Wreck Age bandcamp page:


https://wrk69.bandcamp.com/track/que-le-mur-sonore-sorte-de-la-r-jection

Hard time(s) for ambient noise drone music...

It goes without saying that even in the best case scenarios, ambient-drone-minimal-noise-abstract experimental music is far from the majority`s daily playlists and go-to musical accompaniement to their daily ventures. Even when the genre "exploded" thanks to the tape culture of the late 80s and early 90s, it only led to what seems like a kind of over-saturation in the early Y2K with the viral-like appearance of many net-labels freely offering artists' releases for streaming and download.

Even though the genre was quite well established and was even searcheable online, maybe the fact that there was now so many exploring the style and putting it out there that it became difficult to find and pin point any real stable source. Not helping is the post 90s western north american philosophy of consume now and discard immediately after use, well established labels who had been a source of steady releases before the advent of MP3 sharing saw their own demise in the making. Even in 2019 (the "now" as this is being written), net-only labels who have barely made a shadow of a dent in their own specific niched direction are closing shop.

Perhaps I myself should have remained more active and in touch with all my networking of the late 90s era instead of exploring totally different venues for my creativity, for when I started re-establishing Wreck Age Recordings in the 2010s or so, no one really seemed to notice... And even since 2017 have been my label's busiest and most productive years ever (with more yearly releases than the so-called "golden age" of 1995 to 1998 or so), it seems whatever I put out there is generally ignored and simply not found on anyone's radar. But who can blame people when they rely on Corporate controlled search engines and other net "cookies" and parameters meant to record and redirect their choices into algorythmically-programmed directions?

Anyway, it's a hard time to be into the non-commercial side of the music spectrum. Anyone expecting even a hint of recognition would give up after a few months as there are just too many other options out there which pop up long before your stuff does... And it is therefore quite fortunate that in my own personnal case, the simple fact of "doing" is enough, and that it is out there for anyone to absorb. Granted some kind of recognition would be quite fantastic but it is now far from a possibility, as our ever-advancing corporate-controlled online world of self-re-programming A.I. make certain that the choices you are to make are already sanctioned by their own merged acquisitions.