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cat.no: nM 1.3
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1 Lähestyminen Sounds and structure, Jean Henrique. Recorded w/ turntables, electronics, human voice, guitar and good will. Reviews "The last one is not a new Japanese act, but the first production
of a Finnish guy, who has some other stuff on vinyl. I expect some
sort of DJ thing, as the stuff here is all from reworked vinyl.
He brings up all the levels to where some people might say: right
this is a bunch of noise. Rhythmic noise that is to say, because
he creates loops from vinyl. Some things come together here which
I don't like: the extensive use of vinyl and noise. I liked the
noise thing when I was younger and when it had the power I was looking
for; never liked DJs though. Here is where I take off and leave
it." "This Finnish project unloads eight tracks of experimental
noise recorded using turntables, electronics, vocals, and guitar.
After a brief introductory track of relatively straight noise, things
get interesting with "Jumala on Kauneus", using melodic
loops and feedback amidst hissing distortion and harsher undercurrents.
Prior to a painfully distorted end, the composition pretty much
repeats itself for five minutes, but it's really not boring. "Virvat"
introduces some distant beats and twisted feedback manipulations
that offer yet another approach (though still utilizing several
very abrasive layers at certain points). Some of the other tracks
tend to sound similar to one another (though they're not awful),
based around loops and grating feedback sounds, without any elements
that strike me as particularly interesting. The recording is nice,
but it really needs more depth. The tonal range is fairly restricted
to the midrange with a good dose of treble and a slight bit of low-end.
But the treble isn't very bright, and there's really no roundness
to the bass tones either (aside from the final track, "Paine",
which is a stunning display of utter dark ambient), so things come
off sounding a bit flat. I think some of the less intriguing pieces
would fare much, much better with a stronger sound. Again the CD-R
is labeled "Promotional copy!" and packaged in a foldover
sleeve that has been defaced with the word "promo" written
over the small title tab, and I just don't find this tactic to be
necessary or appropriate for an underground noise label. I can only
assume that this is in fact the proper package (though it's supposed
to come in a slim jewelcase with actual artwork on top of the CDR).
The layout is quite nice though, all in black and white with subtly
desolate imagery. Definitely good work, if the majority of the songs
had the diversity or impact of tracks like "Paine" or
"Jumala on Kauneus", Hinageshi Bondage would be
well on the way to impressing many. This one's limited to a mere
150 copies, folks." "First full length album for this Finnish duo, released on
the CDR sublabel of the (also Finnish) Kaos Kontrol label.
Since I do not speak Finnish (and therefore don't understand the
title of the tracks) and because of the bleak aspect of the sleeve,
I had no idea what to expect with this CDR. And I was rather well
surprised, Hinageshi Bondage being a rather good newcomer
and "Pariisi Vuonna 1959" being an enjoyable album. To
cut a long story short, this is a CDR a structured but mostly arhythmic
noise. Very distorted and saturated, the sound is harsh and gritting,
staying constantly harsh for at least the first three tracks. These
are ear crushing and very noisy, but their sound is echoed and rather
ample, giving the impression of being recorded live in an empty
room. The tracks therefore do not sound as insanely intense as something
by Lefthandeddecision or Merzbow, letting more space
to your ears to adapt to the noise. The result is that however noisy
this can be, this album has a strong "musical" feeling,
and is easily enjoyable. From the 4th onwards, Hinageshi Bondage
adds some light rhythms or variations to their sound, playing with
things that sounds like an extremely overdriven and treated guitar
and looping their sound. From time to time, the music gets slightly
melodic under the walls of noise. And here is maybe the main difference
between Hinageshi Bondage and common power electronic or
harsh noise: like only few acts, these two Finnish guys seem to
focus more on the musical and tonal aspect of noise than on its
raw power. Still ending with something that will seem far too harsh
to your neighbours, they create here an introvert and encompassing
noise album which is intelligently done and very worth checking
out." ""Pariisi vuonna 1959" voisi toimia esimerkkinä
siitä, että cdr:nkin voi tehdä hyvän näköiseksi.
Kaos Kontrol/Nihil Market ei tosin koskaan
ole törkeän näköisiä julkaisuja tehnytkään.
Itse sisältö alkaa äänellä, joka aiheuttaa
fyysistä pahoinvointia. Tästä jatketaan yhteen onnistuneimmista
noise/power electronics/jne. -alan yksittäisistä raidoista.
"Jumala on kauneus" kuulostaa siltä, että tuolla
Pariisissa on joku vuonna 1959 tuonut paikalle helvetin ruosteisen
sirkusryhmän, joka ties missä aineissaan ei saa mitään
aiemman touhunsa kaltaista aikaan, vaan vääntelee ruumiinosiaan
miten sattuu. Homman pelastaakseen vedotaan varmuuden vuoksi ylempiin
voimiin mutta kun sellaisiin ei uskota, homma meneekin yllättäen
kaikessa kaoottisuudessaan täysin nappiin. Tätä voisi
kuunnella ties kuinka kauan. Tämän jälkeen loppulevy
jääkin aika kasvottomaksi aina toiseksi viimeiseen raitaan
saakka. Tämä "Pariisi nukkuu" niputtaakin päivän.
Viimeinen lienee loogisesti sitten unta? Mutta mitä tuossa
välillä tapahtui, se jää arvoitukseksi." "De naam suggereert Japan maar de identiteitskaart onthult
Finland: Hinageshi Bondage. Dit éénmansproject
laat zich niet zomaa in een vakje stoppen, wat resulteert in een
opeenstapeling van klanklandschappen die optimisten gevarieerd en
zeurkousen onsamenhangend zullen noemen. Er wordt druk geswitcht
tussen oorverdovende noise, verknipte orkesten, kalme ambient, draaitafelmanipulaties,
pure geluidsexperimenten, dierlijk gebrul, rituele percussieloops
enzovoort. Deze soloartiest heeft al enkele vinylreleases op zijn
actief maar wie will kennismaken met Hinageshi Bondage in
al zijn gedaantes schaft zich beter "Pariisi Vuonna 1959"
aan." "The name suggest Japan but the passport unveils Finland.
Hinageshi Bondage is a one man's projects that goes out if
it's way to avoid being pin-holed: so optimists can say that this
limited (150 copies) cdr is varied while professional complainers
will call it disjointed. What we hear is a nervous mixture of thundering
noise, turntable experiments, bestial roaring, musique concrète
and ritual percussionloops. Hinageshi Bondage has released
some vinyls but this cdr is the best way to discover this Fin's
full arsenal of sounds." "And with this one we end our review of the complete Nihil
Market series (look for Sshe Retina Stimulants and Depther
in this section as well) with this Finnish duo, probably more familiar
to some of you because of their Verdura Records label. Every
title is in Finnish, but I’ll comment each track separately
anyway, in order to depict the varied content of the disc more easily;
this way you can go directly to the song I’m referring to.
Well, ‘Lähestyminen’, the first one, is rather simple:
just a minute and a half of high-pitched feedback with slight variations;
it’s not absolutely ear-piercing because the volume is not
completely loud, but the tone is wounding enough. Then we have ‘Jumala
On Kauneus’ with some few seconds of more feedback to be followed
by a repetitive loop that will keep on incessantly for more than
five minutes. It’s rather melodic but distorted, giving a more
textured impression to it. Other samples are added, in a looping
mode as well to complement the main one; as a sort of feminine voice,
for instance. The general impression is essentially cold and somewhat
flat due to the small amount of samples intervening, but for some
reason it works in a paranoiac and somewhat obsessive way. The principal
loop gets a more lo-fi quality and changes its tempo and pitch in
the end, as like sounding in a turntable losing power. And pay attention
to this little detail, which is pretty eloquent due to the fact
that Hinageshi Bondage obtains most of their sounds from
this source, turntables, together with electronics, guitar and voice;
which explains the rounding character of some of their efforts,
like in this second piece. The third is ‘Viilto’, which
fades in again in a cyclic manner, but this time harsher. Like happened
before, there’s some additional sample that comes out during
the second half of the second minute; but towards the fourth one,
the tone varies dramatically into a deeper one, and again looped,
distorted as well and there’s no too much variation from here
until the tenth minute, when the track ends, because the very small
variations appear so fluidly that are almost unnoticeable, the whole
fading away slowly for a minute or so in the end. Now some things
change for a while. In ‘Virvat’ the prior gritty layers
disappear and we have an almost tribal rhythmic percussive pattern
(yes, it seems a turntable) plus dynamic layers of feedback in the
background, together with something sounding like a filtered voice.
The result is pleasing and dissimilar when compared with the first
three cuts. After this, ‘Sävyt Tanssivat’ commences
with some noise and a symphonic sample till the first half minute
and the apparition of feedback raging violently in a loop. Some
noise bursts sound randomly in a lovely manner, making of this composition
one of the rawest in the album. The final is especially remarkable,
with some sort of powerful interferences, and finally is the initial
musical sample what remains. ‘Planeetta Kuume’ is fairly
brief, just a minute and a half: even a bit shorter than the introductory
song. But on the other hand is probably the most active one, with
a monotonous bass in the background, but the focus are the multiple
factory-like resonances, highly echoed and reverberated. The seventh
track, ‘Pariisi Nukkuu’, has opening bursts through a
pronounced delay, and then an industrial thick wall takes the main
and unique role, save for some mysterious note emerging periodically
from within the sonic chaos. Throughout the fourth minute there’s
an additional loop, this less harsh than the rest as well. It’s
followed by some hard-to-be-identified sounds, but what’s important
here is how the massive pandemonium produces a shelter of frequencies.
Again the track suffers some slight variations in the last seconds
to end smoothly. And ‘Paine’ concludes with the lowest
atmospheres of all. Extremely calmed repetitive bass with deeeeeeeeep
reverberations making your room rattle; just play it loud and get
pleasure from the heavy low cover, more and more prominent with
the development of the piece. Even if ‘Pariisi…’
probably won’t be chosen as the album of the year in every
mailing list, its final result is peculiar and entertaining enough
to deserve the investment of your hard earned euros in it. Different
and varied, easily of being enjoyed if you’re into Experimental
electronics, and for sure appealing for the most curious part of
the audience. Probably, the final product is not especially dynamic,
but surely they never pretended it; its virtue seems to be the way
they arrange the looping structures within the whole compositions.
It will be nice to hear more of the project in the next future;
and we can say the same about Nihil Market, which has been
quite inactive since the edition of the already referred releases,
that put out a classic act and two newcomers with sufficient potential
to provide more surprises soon. Very nice once more." |
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