I've taken Alex Copeland up on his offer to contribute FAX (and other) reviews. Thank Alex for lightening my load and touching upon a renowned label which I've been mysteriously lax about covering. Alex is e-mailable at Auraphage@aol.com. A Produce and M. Griffin: Altara   (Hypnos - 1999) ALTARA Holographic Sound-Paintings for Mental Innerspace As a piece of work that utilizes hardly any form of recognizable musicality, Altara emerges as a meditative exercise in abstract composition. Collaborators A Produceand M. Griffin present a collection of minimally-structured pieces that force the listener's perception in an intentionally visual as well as sonic direction. Being essentially amorphous "sound-paintings", and being analyzed in much the same manner as abstract visual art, the five tracks that comprise Altara are wide open to personal interpretation. This engages the audience in a gripping search for meaning not quickly to be settled. A theme of intensity surrounds the work and injects each of the refined pieces with various moods of urgency, apprehension and ambiguity. This music is as aesthetically intriguing as it is thought-provoking and the seemingly simple nuances of Altara are fascinating at times. The result of these features is a manifold of convoluted technical substance and subjective mental embellishment/interaction on the part of the listener. If the separate works of Altara were to be contained within a gallery space, we would see one room that holds the first four "paintings", each painting being more visually complex than the last, beyond which would lie a second room intended for an installation piece. Acting as a dramatic prelude to the installation, the paintings stand as individual, but related, expressions. Upon the first wall hangs Overground: a gestalt mass of alien soundforms, fringed with an electric rumble scattered around and between a morphing heart of harmony. After an 8 1/2-minute viewing, the slowly changing light of Overground remains just as encoded as when it came into focus. We move past those yearning strains and take position in front of Altara, the shortest and most abstract of the collection. A rapid growth...a series of crescendos and dark rifts...a mysterious drama. Vivid and painterly multicolored planes of vibration throb with impulsive intensity. The third piece, Diffusion, is a slowly evolving coalition of fields that resolves in a tangible core of sound around a beacon-like noise. The image is smeared, erased, twisted and warped at random in a gut-clenching effect. The core's surface is seemingly penetrated at moments by the sound trapped within, the thin membrane momentarily rupturing and allowing stifled harmonics to escape. This is as close to sculpture as these five pieces come. Stepping out of the mental heat of Diffusion we encounter the final painting, Seek Nothing. This title is ironic given the fact that this piece contains the most definite aesthetic elements and offers the most for the onlooker to hang on to. As though echoing from a distance, thin clouds of sound meld with whispers of acoustically resonant strings. An entire sonic landscape opens, illuminating a smoking sunset portal of ethereality. Half-heard drums pitch erratically amidst a storm of quasi-melodic scintillance and massive arcs of sweeping noise. Spiraling shrieks ascend and descend periodically and the horizon is lit with harsh stuttering bursts. A far-off look into the turbulent planes of meditation. For an entirely different experience, we leave the painting room completely and enter the installation space. You Send Me the Message is a work that eliminates the visual assault of the paintings and instead accentuates the mental contribution of the listener. Beginning and retaining a panoramic atmosphere, this piece suspends us in the midst of black space and surrounds us with a recurring selection of sparse compositional motifs. Space and time seem abstracted here. Is this a massive space or is it the world on a microscopic scale, with miles between molecules? Strange things begin to happen in the dark: portions of the distance pour into the foreground, sounds bound between unseen walls, obscure information filters in from distant locations. The illusion of foreground dissolves as both channels are filled with a surging entity of raw sound. Much time is spent in this cryptic environment. But is the Message any clearer? At the end of 1999, M. Griffin and the Hypnos label remain devoted to engaging the audience in a powerful mental dialogue that only shows signs of deepening. Altara is one of the most challenging and cerebral works I've yet experienced from the Hypnos library, and assuredly the future will bring a continuing evolution of this musical intellectuality, rewarding the analytical listener with bounteous private pursuits. Atom Heart: Pentatonic Surprise   (Rather Interesting - 1997) Playing tonight: The Roger Tubesound Ensemble. Please enter for a night of jazz, clowns, good-natured mischief and a phantasmagoria of digital musicks. Uwe definitely chose a rainbow variety of sonic colors on this disc which generously compliments the playful and drunken nature of the music. In fact, this colorful theme (combined with copious amounts of binary dependence/independence) makes me visualize this record at many points as though I'm viewing two paintings at once. The paintings are of the same subject, except the paintings are variously different, whether they be facing opposite directions, hung farther apart, closer together, painted with different palettes, composed of different media. Nevertheless, they share a common theme to which they both are tied and therefore they constantly work together despite their clashing exteriors. This ever-present binary idea often makes it seem that the two channels are supporting each other while trying to overtake the other. They sound as though they are bickering, but their energetic collisions end up making synergetic music! Here Uwe also plays up his now well-known sense of humor and propels this music into the delirious realm of expertly crafted Musical Comedy! Whether this disc be enjoyable or not, we're in for a rollicking time in any case. Giggling fits will be tolerated. Wurlitzer Price - - -A sarcastically simple noise groans in the right channel and begins to slow, slow...slow....slow.....and is replaced with a lively and classically jazzy stand-up bass line. Our delusions that this might be normal jazz music are soon shattered and even Atom Heart fans will most likely be puzzled and a mite confused as the track develops. This is a sparse, sketchy piece that gives us a taste for what's to come and throws us into some sort of shaky context. Most of the tapping, spaced percussion fills the left channel and a "guitar" sound repeats in the right. Soon the first of many of this disc's piano solos enters through the left hand pop-door. What...is...going on? Alcoholic jazz meanders, pitching and rolling. Confusion may be felt at this point! Miniature in F Minor - - -A rolling, clicky rhythm starts off with a lemony twist from Senor CB. Low tones converse back and forth on both sides of the room. A piano begins to sketch out a signature while a fugitive buzz flees back and forth across the middle channel, spending time to visit with both sides of the party. A nice airy piano melody takes control on the right and is soon joined an octave or two higher on the left. Symmetry?? Who would guess....This short but energetic track suddenly drops off and some of the rhythmic loops continue in the left channel as the right is pierced by a speeding/slowing Zippy! Serious Conotation in 7/4 Times - - -do I hear....repetition? Or not?... MIDI-Esk - - -A disjointed track that is well served by it's humorously clumsy title. Here we're confronted with electric burlesque, the two channels mimicking each other in different shades of color. The sultry solidity soon divides into harsh, piercing percussion on the left with rising/falling hits of noise, and the right channel keeps track with a hi-hat and accompanying squeals. A sudden full-stop cues a deconstructed and badly disjointed variation of the previous music. A twitching piano solos on our right while zipping noises and clumsy percussion eagerly pound the left channel. Uweird. The Best Things in Life Are the Simple Things - - -*Whew* Finally, a straightforward beat offers us a non-alcoholic beverage. A nicely skipping 4/4 fills the left with accompanying rhythms, more zippies and a subtle bendy bassline on the right. An oscillating climber periodically ascends the middle. Ahh! Our comfy 4/4 is demolished, but...ah. Roger's informed us that we can 'relax'. That's nice. The previous 4/4 returns, this time it's brought a guest in the form of a keyboard melody in the left. Elements begin to disappear mischievously and without parting formalities. A completely different loungy jazz outro ends the track with a piano/stand-up bass and a wandering acidic looper. For a change (or perhaps a joke), the classic jazz hi-hat makes a quick appearance. On the Edge of Fidelity (Harddisk Rock) - - -A collection of various looping sounds form an odd time signature. Sanded bass bumps in both channels as an off-time snare bangs away in the middle. Fun confetti tones dot themselves wherever they please. Things start to get drastically cut up with octave changes all over the place. Oh my. These aren't even instruments anymore! Sheesh. Pure, distilled di-jazz-al firewater. Beatless Azur - - -A stuttering piano collage ushers in another straightforward but warped beat and bending bass loop. A sudden, lovely four-chord piano progression gives a striking tone of beauty to the track, however brief. New elements shove themselves into the mix all around, breaking the serene mood, and proceed to begin their own individual solos. Come on, Uwe, stop breaking the rules of music! :) The track begins to dissolve into semi-ambient noise collage. Elements become less and less obtrusive until we're left with deep static contrasted with a distant, spatial metallic phasing noise that provides an odd sense of melancholy on an otherwise clownish disc. Here Uwe represents his own shifty brand of 'ambient' and reminds us not to set our expectations anywhere in particular....wonderful! Pentatonic Surprise - - -Another rising bassline in the left and high-pitched noises in the right open the door to let in a host of party guests including abstract echoey repetitions, fluttering chitters, low-toned mutterings and the composer himself (that drunkard!) proclaiming the arrival of the title track. One of his own creations mimics him! How rude, but all in good fun. A beautiful, expressive piano loop flexes out a sparse but glittering five-chord theme and adds Pentiful emotion to the track. We're flashed with a quick trademark keyboard solo but it soon ducks out the back door. A brash and buzzy solo of stretched tones grabs the attention and reels about in the middle of the room. The others clear out and make room for it with some nice shakers making a mellow interjection. Then back with the five-chord theme and some momentary cut-up drill 'n' bass-esque percussion. Original elements reprise themselves and are bid farewell by the parlor piano. Spread Optics - - -Both channels are laid out with a carpet of repetitive tones. These rapid and needling loops are randomly accented and serve as a melodic backdrop for a multitude of soloing instruments all vying for dominance. Things get the most boisterous in the left channel as a high and low-pitched pair of soloists tussle and converse. Wha? Was that a bridge? A mind-boggler and definitely the standout freakish track of the lot. This barrage of flashing colors will be too much to try and perceive all at once. Best to settle down with a stiff drink and take in this spastic performance as casually as possible. Mood Filter - - -Probably the most 'traditional' Schmidt piece on this disc, this one reminds me of "Neuro Traffic" from 'Silver Sound 60'. Grooving, harsh bass surges along with tight snapped snares and percussive trills. Nice semi-straightforward sequencing is displayed and the groove is accurately locked in place with a deluxe Superclap. Things loosen up with some more melodic work, the jazz piano is back, diluting the hardened beats. Rhythms quickly disappear to leave a place for watery textures and low, undulating xylophoneish elements and a blaring brass section. A piano free-forms over the circus-like atmosphere. Being Enveloped - - -Some synth pads, piano chords and other Crayola noises jump out of their box to open this lively track which is one of my personal favorites. I find this works similarly to "Musica Moderna" from 'Senor Coconut', a loose linear piece that comes second to last, but whereas "Musica Moderna" was extremely asymmetrical, this track is quite ordered (an oddity in this context!). Suddenly we're hit with a powerful 4/4 piano loop and dusty jazz drum kit. Another staccato piano jams over and along with our theme, and an octavariational ascending bass line subtly fills the left channel. I find this single element to be among the most groove-inducing on the entire album and it definitely drives the heart of this track. The soloing piano is pretty much the only diverging element here, an electrifying and rapid display which reaches to the top of the keyboard! The middle channel is fully filled out here which lends a particular feeling of wholeness to the track. Calm, steady jazz loops let us stagger out of the room. Wow! That cymbal was sequenced??? Indeed - - -Whoops! The red and white putty-head clown is pushing out of his tube! Presents are falling all over the place. Chatty and comedic digital tomfoolery serves as our nightcap...until some technical difficulties, that is :) . Tetsu Inoue and Pete Namlook: 62 Eulengasse   (FAX Worldlabel - 1995) One of the most overlooked and overshadowed works in the popularly triumphant FAX catalog, 62 Eulengasse stands as possibly the most intriguing of all of the now-legendary live sessions of collaborators Tetsu Inoue and Pete Namlook. Next to such highly-touted predecessors as 2350 Broadway and Ambiant Otaku, a work with such emotional and technical contortion as this cannot help but be regarded as an eccentricity. Although infused with the spirit of the FAX classics, 62 Eulengasse reaches into new territory and further ideas of improvisational electronics. This music is much more gripping than the meandering sprawl of 2350 Broadway, more cerebral than the distilled narcotic relaxant of Ambiant Otaku. Full of twists and subtlety, this uncommon disc is not immediately accessible but is full of rewards for the analytical listener. Unconventional ambient composition, surprisingly raw emotions and a blessed lack of Namlook meddling combine to create a very memorable journey into the realm of sound theatre. Time - Cage - - - The disc fades up quickly to reveal a softly undulating lake of sound. In his analog heyday, Inoue was masterful at creating these sorts of regal vistas of multi-harmonics, and this is clearly no exception. Immediately the mind's eye is mesmerized with a massive soundbulk that expands and contracts simultaneously, organically. Bands of less melodic noise set up a lateral composition, forming a canvas upon which the following 74 minutes of music will paint itself. After a short interval of cloudlike drifting in this duo's classic manner, something strange happens. A small electric chirp crops up directly in the middle of everything, completely stealing focus. Like it or not, this sound has gall to show itself so blatantly! Rhythmically duplicating and very monotonous, this element is a long-term guest of the time-cage. Prying attention away from this upstart, we see that the hole through which this noise entered has freed several more: a pitch-shifted percussive pattern, a momentary hi-hat. Activity is starting to form. A metronome within the space. As the minutes pass and the stage of sound is perused, the atmosphere is rich and full with blankets of harmony surrounding the central pattern-cluster. This cluster, as well as nearly everything else in the piece, is being subjected to various realtime manipulations. Everything is very cohesive, the composition resembling a collection of seeds within an apple. Eventually the stillness is broken by the intrusion of accentuated drum hits that are quickly submerged in a cavelike space, marking a transition into darker areas of music. (Time - Cage and 62 Eulengasse in general are permeated by focus-stealers such as these, and at first they may irk the listener. Given time, however, it is possible to grasp their meaning and compositional purpose. Like bright yellow dots in the middle of a black wall, these elements challenge our preconceptions and force the mind to expect the unexpected.) By now all mental focus is shifted to the center, on a pulsating confluence of improvisational noises. Vestiges of peaceful atmospherics linger on the periphery. None of what is going on here is overtly musical; many of the sounds come and go rapidly, contributing in more of a textural manner than in any logical one. All at once, our canvas is violently ripped right up the middle by a piercing knife-stroke of sound! A startlingly well-placed touch by Namlook, who by now we almost forgot was even involved. Listening carefully, the aftermath can be heard and the light background textures gradually descend in pitch like rain running down a window. The high-pitched knife-stroke comes back down again! The spontaneity is somewhat startling, but by this point this wildly erratic theme is becoming familiar. As though these brutal swipes marked another transition, things get even more abstract, introducing a medley of ghostly warbling passages that ripple and vibrate all over one another. The twists do not stop and all of a sudden all is quite still. Here at the 33-minute mark, who knows what to expect? Slowly....several stints of barcode-like ambience clear the palette for a high-BPM percussive sequence to enter. Another anomaly that miraculously gains justification. After a long absence, the Inouean lapping-cycle illuminates once again in a beautiful and almost tangible fog of sound. The time-cage begins its release of the listener, opening into a gently rolling landscape of expressive reprises and percussion-streams. The chirper takes a final bow after having disappeared some 15 minutes prior. After seeming so distracting in the beginning, its existence was completely forgotten until now. This is characteristic of Inoue's ability to introduce and delete elements so subtly and with such precise continuity that the listener simply takes everything for granted. It all seems so incredibly natural. The resolution of the track is deliciously smooth. Streams of watery energy drain forcefully into a dark place of mysterious echoes and half-human reverberation. Sense of direction is now completely abstracted and in this context the former confusion of the time-cage seems much more logical than once it did. 52 minutes has passed in what seems like 30. xxxx - - - Again the enveloping is immediate; a welcome cradle after the apprehensive darkness outside the time-cage. An air of insectile chirps and whispers adds softness to strong promontories of melodic grace that quickly threaten to change their humor to austerity. An advancing wall of ambiguous noise begins to dissolve the lullaby, eating between its component parts. Suddenly atonal abstraction takes the fore and the tranquility is left behind, replaced with a surface of grey trepidation. Shadows begin to descend upon this new potent canvas, summoning up glimmering threads of sound. As quickly as it took hold, the veil of static force gives way to yield yet another view of unease. Unearthly swells share a vast stage with muted vocal gibberish. Sparse note-dots hang stark and suspended in space. The disc fades away on quite a dark note as breathy echoes die away in the right channel. 62 Eulengasse is wonderful for its creativity, its spontaneity, its unpredictability and its drama. The constant workings with the notion of context are fascinating! In what context is something too loud? In what context is something too quiet? In what context is something too subtle? In what context is something too naked? The variety and challenge set up by this disc create an atmosphere of musical intellectuality that is all the more impressive due to its improvisational nature. Perhaps in the same manner which live recordings can contain the most raw emotion, so can improvisation alone stumble upon the most profound ideas. 62 Eulengasse is just as noteworthy as its more famous brethren, perhaps more so, and is indeed justified a place in the lofty FAX canon. Alex's Reviews were posted here on January 28, 2000.

AmbiEntrance © 2001-97 by David J Opdyke (except CD cover art, rights retained by original owners).