Some reviews!

[Thad Biggerstaff <daht73@xxxxxxxxx>]

I thought I would throw out a few words about some
releases I have picked up or have been listening to
recently.  The cross posts were intentional as I think
aspects of each genre are apparent in at least one of
the releases...

DACM: Showroomdummies (Mego)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Great stuff! Ambientish and sometimes noise-ish
melodic snippets and passages. A very worthy successor
to Peter Rehberg's past works... He credits a whole
slew of names as part of "DACM", but then the audio is
said to be almost solely by him.  So go figure...

Tujiko Noriko: Make Me Hard (Mego)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
More ambinetish and sometimes noise-ish melodic
snippets and passages, but this time with Japanese cut
up vocals layered, interspersed an mixed up throughout
it. Well then more "normal" sounding tracks come
along... so they are songs, really. Quite lovely
actually... I wonder who she is, and if she is behind
the actual music, and not just the words (?)

L. Chasse: Hedge Of Nerves (Anomalous Records)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Music made entirely "from the sound of 78 rpm surface
noises, fire, surf, and wind in juniper and aspen
branches".  Alternatively dense and then sparse,
depending on the track.  Beautiful immersive ambient
sound fields.  Sleeping music... 

Muslimgauze: Sarin Israel Nes Ziona (Staalplaat)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have been a long time fan of Muslimgauze, and this
is perhaps the strongest release by him since
"Izlamaphobia".  Sublime mix of western electronic and
dub techniques with middle eastern instrumentation and
percussion.  Alternatively ambient, noisey, groovy,
and just plain "dope!" and I dont use that word
normally :)  Limited to 700 so pick it up fast...

Sogar: Stengel (List)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dense yet melodic electronic soundfields with all
sorts of processing.  Sorta reminds me of Phonophanni
but more dense and staticly immersive, if that makes
sense.  Transformative sound...

Toshiya Tsunoda: Pieces Of Air (Lucky Kitchen)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"This collection of recorded works...consists of
site-specific recording setups, and the environmental
sound of various places.  I hope you will give full
play to imagination within everyday space while
disregarding your recognition."  Various recordings
processed by the containers they were recorded with/in
(pipes, bottles, all sorts of other objects), as well
as "straight" field recordings.  I have followed this
fellow's past work and here is more of the same
attention to intricate detail of space, time, and
sound.  Beautiful ambient active listening...

Fennesz: Field Recordings 1995-2002 (Touch)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just beautiful compilation of tracks (not field
recordings!)- soundfields created with guitar and
electronics.  Noisey immersive melodic tracks of
brillance.  Included is the four tracks from the early
Mego release "Instrument" (perhaps with a bit of
reworking?)

Fennesz: Endless Summer (Mego)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am a late commer to this one, and have only listened
to snippets so far. My first reaction is that its very
dense, very noisey, yet melodic- which sounds about
right to describe work by Fennesz...this one seemed so
noisey that it had to take time to grow on me after
repeated listens at the local record shop.  But the
melody has shined through and i know its a keeper.

Brandon Labelle: Prima Materia (Unique Ancient Tavern)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is an old one that I dug out and have been
listening to recently again.  I have heard some of
Labelle's other material, but none of it has been a s
strong a release as this one.  Dense noise-ish
soundfields made with who knows what. Sort of reminds
me of the above Chasse release, but while both are
immersive soundfields, the Chasse is more intricate
and this is more static...

Phonography.org- Compositions Using Field Recordings
#1 and #2 (www.phonography.org) 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
These two releases focus on the compisitional talents
of a wide range of field recorders.  They take their
field recordings and mix, process, edit, layer,
stretch and compose mainly through computer software. 
Very intricate and wide ranging in approach that
really rewards the active listener. At $8 each, if you
are into the idea of what can be done *with* field
recordings, there is no excuse to not pick these gems
up...

Weird. Kinda Mego heavy, on retropsect!
So, to review, the words of today are dense,
immersive, static, noisey, melodic, and active.
Oh, and dope! :) 
Now its your turn to write some reviews... 
-Thad

=====
Thad Biggerstaff  ~ReSource~  daht73@xxxxxxxxx
http://www.biggerstaff.homestead.com/    

"Not to forget, I 'museumize' myself; so that then I pay myself a visit and find me again in all the relics, to hand down memories from one to the other, like a genealogical tree, as if it were morning!"
- Massimo Toniutti

"Everything is a sign of something greater than itself."

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