Joel Stern/Michael Northam
wormwood
Ground Fault
GF027
Nels Cline/Devin Sarno
buried on bunker hill
Ground Fault
GF028
Murmer
they were dreaming they were stones
Ground Fault
GF029
Prurient
shipwrecker’s diary
Ground Fault
GF 030
These four discs showed up one day a few weeks back. My only prior experience with the Ground Fault label had been Lionel Marchetti’s fine “portrait d’un glacier” and I’d been following Joel Stern’s work with interest for a couple of years, so I was intrigued. I get the impression that, to a limited extent, these releases are reasonably representative of the label (which sorts its discs into one of three series, distinguished by the relative loudness of sounds contained—the first three listed above are placed in the quietest section while Prurient, with extreme appropriateness, occupies the third and most ear-piercing one), though I’m sure Ground Fault devotees might be able to offer finer distinctions.
“wormwood” is easily my favorite of this bunch. Both Stern and Northam work with lo-tech phonics: field recordings, found objects, contact mics, tape loops, etc. As with much music in this area, it comes down to the creators’ choices in what’s included, what’s not, how much stress is placed on this or that element and, perhaps crucially, how to balance an economy of means with an abundance of outcome. When successful, the individual elements become invisible and the listener is confronted with a soundscape that’s immediately accepted as “real”, as something that bubbles along with its own life and pace, revealing as much or as little as the listener chooses to hear. The five tracks of “wormwood” accomplish this with deceptive ease, each offering a slightly different angle, each transparent as to its means, each unforced in its direction. Sometimes, as on the third piece, the balance tilts toward more a “musical” concoction (in this case, high-pitched, organ-like drones over a rustling underbelly) but more often the sounds are entirely a-musical, deriving from manipulated found elements. Among other things, this introduces an impressive airy quality, even as that air is tinged with ozone and gasoline. Throughout, it’s never less than absorbing, thoughtful and ear-tickling.
I’d heard Nels Cline’s music off and on for many years, as far back as his earliest recordings with his brother Alex. I can’t say I’ve ever been a big fan, hearing little in his work that couldn’t be heard to better effect in others, elsewhere. At first, I thought Devin Sarno was a new name to me. But then I checked his discography and discovered his presence (in what aspect, I’m still unsure) on the enjoyably quirky Cruel Frederick disc on SST, “The Birth of the Cruel”. Even armed with that knowledge, “buried on bunker hill” is something other than I’d expected: an electric guitar/bass, ambient billow-fest. There’s a disconcerting vagueness, however, a lack of ideation that causes most of the music herein to smack of inconsequentiality. The duo tends generate a drone of sorts, often propelled by an amorphously throbbing bass (that, on “a knot in the wind”, reminded me a lot of Pink Floyd’s “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun”) over which Cline rips piercing lines that, even as they merge with the general ambience, sometimes betray a whiff of fusion pyrotechnics. The pieces are pleasant without having much to chew on or think about. There’s a certain debt to Branca but a lack of his ferocity or abandon. The closing track, “only peace” (I suspect the lack of capitals are a label imperative), broods attractively with an in and out respiratory feeling, but offers nothing one hasn’t heard before, and with less bite than one would like to hear at this moment.
Murmer is Patrick McGinley. The list of (altered) sound sources used as base material is intriguing: car seat massager, gas meter, elevator shaft, ringtone, airplane cabin, Turkish football celebrations, etc. Not that many of these are at all recognizable, because they generally aren’t, but the most successful portions of his disc occur when the environmental and/or industrial elements creep in relatively unadapted. McGinley claims inspiration from devices such as rhythms generated by the old gas meter in his basement and, indeed, “Part One” fairly chugs along with a rough and insistent beat augmented by a whistling drone (the massager?) and several other layers of ephemera. The final, longest track, clocking in at 43 minutes, achieves a very nice blend of open, spatial sounds with tense, discomforting needles of noise. Strident telephone tones, stuttering static glitches and metallic whines interact in a manner that will either fascinate or entirely off-put, depending on the listener’s taste and tolerances. While I have no problem with its shriller aspects, I did find myself resenting the occasional burbles of tonal notes, sounding a bit like someone noodling on an old Casio. Gradually, the piece coalesces into a drone that indeed has some of the characteristics of an airline interior, an airy, tubal hum. It’s embroidered with choir-like wafts and faraway urban rumbles but oddly flits in and out of interest, sometimes compelling, other times just…there. “they were dreaming they were stones” certainly has its dreamy facets and about half of its hour plus is quite stimulating. I’m curious to hear where McGinley goes from here.
Although they’re hardly “quiet” in any normal sense, the three prior discs all occupy that section in Ground Fault’s catalog. Prurient doesn’t. Not by a long shot. Dominick Fernow (Prurient) places the first thirteen of the fifteen tracks here in the extreme, pure ‘n’ load noise sector of new music. In some ways, it’s not dissimilar to parts of a show I heard by Julien Ottavi last year except…again, my sense is that there’s too much surface glitz, too little depth; I’m reminded a little bit of the brief, intense pieces by Zorn’s Naked City though, at this point in time, Fernow’s don’t even have that small frisson of excitement going for him. Ottavi’s massive, deafening slabs of noise had a structural/psychological intent, not simply something cool he could do because his equipment and programming enabled him to. There’s a little bit of a “bad boy showing off” thing going on here, something that, its good qualities aside, leaves one shrugging after all’s said and done. The pieces differ from each other only in the tiniest of ways; all are uniformly high volume with at least one layer of sound concentrated in the ultra-high pitched realm, a liquidized scalpel perfect for slicing through innocent eardrums. There’s an affiliated rumble that, in tandem with the knife-piercings, might make for a reasonably efficient nausea producer in some listeners. The 33-minute disc closes, however, with two brief tracks that consist only of a young girl’s voice, speaking quietly, pleadingly, as though relaying a hushed message over voice mail. It’s an effective, oblique way to end. I can’t say it’s a bad recording—as a sonic emetic it might certainly serve to clear out one’s ears a bit. But, like many a free jazz screamfest after 1970 or a guitar rave-up (forever), you get a momentary thrill followed by…not much. But, of course, this is an old fart’s perspective. For an 18-year old just weaning herself from White Stripes, I imagine “shipwrecker’s diary” could be a (positively) life-altering experience. Which may be as it should be.
"But, like many a free jazz screamfest after 1970 or a guitar rave-up (forever), you get a momentary thrill followed by…not much."
Dear Mr. Olewnick,
would you please list some examples of after 70ies free jazz screamfests. I am in for the longterm and would not wanna acquire anything that just momentarily thrills me.
Posted by: uli at February 18, 2004 6:25 AMNot biting.
Posted by: Brian at February 18, 2004 6:34 AMUli, find yourself a copy of Arthur Doyle's Babi (1976, with Milford Graves & Hugh Glover) or Alabama Feeling (1977) and play on repeat about 500 times. That should do the trick. It'll certainly get you evicted. More recently, Paul Flaherty is worth checking out (Hated Music on Ecstatic Yod, or Ilya Suite on Boxholder, or Live at Tonic on Leo, w/ Wally Shoup, Chris Corsano & Thursty Moore).
Re GF - some more context wouldn't have gone amiss, as well as a few questions such as why reissue something already available on CDR (the Murmer). GF is an excellent label that I've had the pleasure of following since its inception (you may scout around for old reviews on the PT site if you wish), and I'm sure many participating correspondents here at Bags would find much to enjoy in the back catalogue.
Didn't realize the Murmer disc had already been available. As I mentioned, this was almost my first exposure to the label; didn't remember that the Marchetti was on GF until I scanned through their catalog. I will say that they could seriously use a better designer--the covers are pretty bad, made worse by their virtual repetition. It's one thing to establish a "look" for a label, but as Erst shows, you can do something of the sort within a very wide range of variation. More an approach than a specific design.
Posted by: Brian at February 19, 2004 7:24 AM"Uli, find yourself a copy of Arthur Doyle's Babi (1976, with Milford Graves & Hugh Glover) or Alabama Feeling (1977) and play on repeat about 500 times."
thanks. I know Babi.
I was just trying to entice Mr. Olewnik into a more substantial discussion of his preference of the whispered hiss over the well articulated scream.
Posted by: uli at February 19, 2004 8:49 AMPersonally, I wouldn't characterize Prurient as a momentary thrill whatsoever. It's a thrill that, so far, has returned forcefully each of the dozen or so times I've listened to that disc. Furthermore, my appreciation of the album has only deepened each time I've listened, as I've gotten past the surface mania and aggression to find more nuanced emotional undercurrents and textures in the music. I'm not saying that Mr. Olewnick would necessarily ever hear these things, but I do think that this record potentially contains a lot more than just a "bad boy showing off." Maybe it's just because I come from more of a rock/punk background, but I don't think a record should be dismissed just because it's loud and its primary feeling is anger/fear/what have you.
Posted by: Ed Howard at February 19, 2004 10:28 AMIt's not only because it's loud at all. I enjoy lots of music that's around the same decibel level. The Ottavi show I mentioned was excruciatingly loud (in parts) and, at the same time, deep and intriguing. I just wanted to hear more than what I felt was too much on the surface. (maybe analogize it to an abstract painter with furious brushwork but little else). In any case, I don't think I really dismissed it--it's not entirely my cup of tea but, as I said, I don't by any means think it's a "bad" recording.
I'd wager that it's the old fart's perspective.
The thing about "Shipwrecker's Diary" is that it's concieved as a "tribute to harsh noise" . What's important to note is that "harsh noise" is used to designate a *genre* (i.e. like Macronympha, Deathpile, Gov't Alpha, etc), not just as a descriptor. Dominic Fernow is playing with/against tropes, in the same way that The Contortions do with funk, or Takeshi Kitano does with the police thriller ("Violent Cop"). He's operating in a particular style, and bringing to it his interpretation, in a way that's slightly off-kilter from what's expected from the genre. It's fairly different than what he does on some of his other albums, so it's also important to see in light of his other work.
The ending to that record is in part what makes it so extraordinary. In stark contrast with the raging out at the world in terms of murder/misogyny/misanthropy that is *so* prolific in the noise world, we're let, instead, into a world of delicate and awkward emotions. When you hear these recordings, you're made to re-evaluate the entire half hour that's just preceded: instead of an explosion outwards, towards society, it mimics the churning *inside*, of psychological uncertainty, or a precarious intimacy. It's a move on par with the trip through the mirror in Hitchcock's "Vertigo" a film that you almost have to see twice, so that you can view the first half in light of the second (Chris Marker talks about this on his "Immemory" cd-rom).
So to put it bluntly, as I mentioned on I Hate Music, it's kind of like "emo" noise (but not emo in the sense of The Promise Ring, emo like Mohinder, or something.)
But then again, you're an old guy, so you're not expected to understand (-:
Point ceded.
Seriously, I have no direct way of knowing how something like "Shipwrecker's Diary" is heard by someone half my age well versed in noise bands like the ones Nirav mentioned. As interesting, in this context, as I found the last two (soft spoken) tracks, I might not assign them as much weight as he or Ed, perhaps because I simply can't appreciate the associative impact that they do. I don't have a problem acknowledging this and think it would be a little ridiculous to place myself in their ears and pretend to hear this as a 22-year-old, so I can only describe it as a 49-year old with reasonably wide listening habits. Am I missing something(s)--sure, I imagine so. otoh, can I (possibly) place it in a broader context, one that includes things I was real enthusiastic about as a 22-year-old which I now see were, in fact, wanting in some aspects? Yep. Catch me as a cranky 74-year-old to see if we still continue to disagree or not! ;-)
Posted by: Brian at February 19, 2004 6:32 PMsorry, sub in "tip of the hat" for "tribute"
And I think the dude behind Prurient is Dominick, not Dominic.
fussy,
Nirav
Nirav - which other Dominick albums can you recommend? This one's OK but for my money the best Series III on GF is still Sickness. Just got a splendid split CD on Monotype with Bus Ratch and Hijyokaidan - you're right, the contrast between "old" and "new" practitioners of noise is striking; the Hijyokaidan is about as classical as Don Giovanni. And I bet noone's ever compared Junko with Kiri Te Kanawa haha
Posted by: dan at February 19, 2004 9:55 PMPrurient's "Troubled Sleep" is my favorite of his works. Though I haven't heard Shipwrecker's Diary yet.
Posted by: xdementia at February 19, 2004 10:19 PMNirav:
"In stark contrast with the raging out at the world in terms of murder/misogyny/misanthropy that is *so* prolific in the noise world, we're let, instead, into a world of delicate and awkward emotions."
Brian:
"There’s a little bit of a “bad boy showing off” thing going on here"
I don't see much of the "bad boy showing off" schtick in Dominick's work - he's one of the more enthusiastic and sincere performers I've met and his work (as Nirav says above) seems to come from a more internal place, esp. considering the rest of the noise/power electronics scene. I haven't heard "Shipwrecker's Diary", but I really enjoy "Troubled Sleep" and "The History of Aids". The Rumi texts used in "The History of Aids" point again towards Dominick's eschewing of traditional power electronics/tough guy subject matter and towards a more personalized/ecstatic sensibility, the latter of which may tie him closer to some of those 70s free jazz screamfests you mention. And in both Prurient's and free jazz's brands of singularity, you can either submit to/immerse yourself in the minutiae (in the better examples) or quickly tire (in the lesser examples), but that also depends on your perspective as a listener. Either way, 33 minutes seems like a reasonable amount of time to sit with an idea, but then again... maybe not!
Posted by: greyelkgel at February 20, 2004 9:32 AMNirav:
"In stark contrast with the raging out at the world in terms of murder/misogyny/misanthropy that is *so* prolific in the noise world, we're let, instead, into a world of delicate and awkward emotions."
Brian:
"There's a little bit of a "bad boy showing off" thing going on here,"
I don't see much of the "bad boy showing off" schtick in Dominick's work - he's one of the more enthusiastic and sincere performers I've met and his work (as Nirav says above) seems to come from a more internal place, esp. considering the rest of the noise/power electronics scene. I haven't heard "Shipwrecker's Diary", but I really enjoy "Troubled Sleep" and "The History of Aids". The Rumi texts used in "The History of Aids" point again towards Dominick's eschewing of traditional power electronics/tough guy subject matter and towards a more personalized/ecstatic sensibility, the latter of which may tie him closer to some of those 70s free jazz screamfests you mention. And in both Prurient's and free jazz's brands of singularity, you can either submit to/immerse yourself in the minutiae (in the better examples) or quickly tire (in the lesser examples), but that also depends on your perspective as a listener. Either way, 33 minutes seems like a reasonable amount of time to sit with an idea, but then again... maybe not!
Posted by: greyelkgel at February 20, 2004 9:33 AMCould you cats provide me with labels and dates for the two albums you mentioned above? Thanks
Posted by: dan at February 20, 2004 11:50 AMDan:
"Could you cats provide me with labels and dates for the two albums you mentioned above? Thanks"
Prurient: Troubled Sleep CD [Truculent Recordings] 2003
www.truculentrecordings.net/truculent.htm
Prurient: The History of Aids CD [Armageddon] 2003? but recorded earlier.
www.armageddonshop.com/label.php
and Prurient runs this label:
http://hospitalproductions.com
Thanks Greg
Posted by: dan at February 20, 2004 11:27 PMDon't know much about OldFartitude. As a very interested but not always uncritical reader of Mr. Olewnick's I can not help but noticing that he increasingly shows tendencies to rate oevres based
on how they compare to his expectations. A sign of regress, imho.
"...that he increasingly shows tendencies to rate oevres based
on how they compare to his expectations."
Is there a way to avoid that sort of thing, do you think?
Posted by: walto at February 21, 2004 8:41 AM"Is there a way to avoid that sort of thing, do you think?"
Sure, an open mind, not being afraid of adventures etc, you have heard it all, Walto.
Posted by: uli at February 21, 2004 9:42 AM
That Brian systematically makes it clear in his reviews where he's coming from (what he knows/thinks of the artist, the label, the genre, &c) strikes me as one of their strongest features. Would that more reviews were that up-front.
Posted by: ND at February 21, 2004 10:26 AM.................................................. © 2003 - 2006 bagatellen ..................................................