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Anarchymoon Recordings PRESS CLIPS
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The Wire April 2008
Smegma The Smell Remains The Same: Singles 90-95
This compilation of Smegma singles from the first half of the 1990s overlaps
pretty precisely with what Oblivia - turntablist and vocalist - described in
The
Wire 270 as "the
worst time ever for Smegma". Having first coalesced around the Los Angeles Free
Music Society in the early 70s, the loosely tied collective had moved to Portland,
Oregon, and become involved in the motions of its punk underground. But when
the Pacific North West's slo-mo punk/Metal hybridss found commercial apotheosis
as Grunge, the corporate sheen it acquired along the way was always going to
be exactly opposed to Smegma's obsession with absurdist freeform noise collage,
as well as the most scatalogical endpoints implied by the Stooges' primalism.
The Smell Remains The Same shows no signs of sapped energies or defeatism though. Smegma's collective memory regurgitates some frazzled rock tramps like "Swamp Dick", "Walkie Talkie" and "Thicket", whose Beefheartian gristle makes you think they can't have felt too much like prophets in the wilderness in this period. Similar racket by Thinkin' Fellers Union Local 282 and Truman's Water was coming out of San Diego. The rest is the kind of hallucinatory stew which made Wolf Eyes such devoted Smegma fans: all chaotic, cloudy overlaps of vocals, samples and homemade instruments. "LSD Bomb" bases itself on a dialog sample from po-faced cop show Dragnet, which suggests the thought that, like Philip K Dick, Smegma work best when they're trawling deep through the trash stratum of pop-cultural memory. (Sam Davies)
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Digitalis Industries http://www.digitalisindustries.com/foxyd/reviews.php?which=3094
Tecumseh "Crossing Divides"
From the bowels of Portland, Oregon emerges the dark lords of Tecumseh
hell-bent on rattling the rafters of your home and, hopefully, bringing the
whole damn thing to its knees. On "Crossing Divides," Tecumseh is
a trio of two basses and electronics. John Krausbauer, Ian Hawk, and Jeremy
Long have crafted one of my favorite records recently with this blackened offering.
The thing that instantly gets you about "Crossing Divides" is how
fucking slow it moves. It's frozen molasses. Okay, maybe it's not the first
thing... maybe that's the brooding duel between both basses. Krausbauer and
Hawk get totally subeterranean. "Ten Thousand Leagues Down Under," both
parts 1 and 2, plod along like a sordid plague reaching out its tendrils into
every corner of the globe. This is the black death, folks, creeping up your
sidewalk and blowing down the doors. Tecumseh churns out the best kind of mud.
This has serious flavor.
These bass lines... they just sink in further and further until you're skull
is completely submerged. Rolling along, twisting and turning and ever so gently
applying pressure to your forehead with the heel of a steel-toed boot... so
thick and heavy... sinking... you don't even realize you're drowning until
your lungs are full of divine sludge. 9/10 -- Brad Rose (22 January, 2008)
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Digitalis Industries http://www.digitalisindustries.com/foxyd/features.php?which=276
Redglaer- "Cranky"
Redglaer is the only name in this stellar batch of SA 7"s that I don't
recognize. The A side starts off with clattery junk noise. Change be tossed
onto metal or maybe it was just him plugging his gear in. The electricity gets
turned on and abrasive synth abuse follows. Low tones are mixed with hi-end
sputtering and manic oscillators. Chugga-chugga progression similar to dudes
like Door/Earth Crown; part organic, metal pipes banging, but also part synthetic.
The feedback fucking never gets too intense, but always smooth enough to groove
too with ever present low end rumble. Side B begins with looped mixer destruction,
buzzing and chunking eventually raising the level of intensity as the tones
take over. One man's struggle with feedback. Eventually he gains control again
and puts it in its place. Subduing it, quieting it, until it is just the occasional
feedback screech. This game of cat and mouse continues for the rest of the
record.
According to the internet he (Bob Bellerue) will be going on a 2 month long
US tour with fellow PDX tone psycher Acre, definitely a show I'll be hitting
up when it comes through Chicago.
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Volcanic Tongue http://volcanictongue.com/
Smegma "The Smell Remains The Same"
New collection that gathers a slew of tough-to-locate singles and one-offs
from avant/freak unit and LAFMS affiliates Smegma cut between 1990 and 1995,
ranging from snatches of doctored tape and sniggering sub-cultural insurrection
through avant garage bombs, skronking improvised blood-letting and a whole
ton of goof. One of the most consistently cracked visions of the post-Rock
era. This one features Swamp Dick, L.S.D. Bomb, Fish Story, Found & Lost,
Yes Your Majesty, Change Me, Boils and Carbuncles, Walkie Talkie, Vox and Thicket.
Edition of 1000 copies remastered by Mike Lastra, sleeves by Amazon Bambi and
liners by David Morgan.
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Weirdo Records http://www.weirdorecords.com
The squelching big band shudders their way through small slices- singles that
were released on a wide variety of fairly crappy indie labels during the early
90s. Their instant-shitrock, country haze, sampling interruptions & novelty
goof aspects are all here, though a little less mushed up altogether than they
are in long pieces.
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Vital Weekly 600 http://www.vitalweekly.net
SMEGMA - THE SMELL REMAINS THE SAME (LP by Anarchymoon)
REDGLAER - AMERICAN MASONRY (CD by Anarchymoon)
Though being a constant factor in noise & free rock for as long as those
genres might even exist, I can't recall ever listening to a full Smegma album
apart from collaborations with Wolf Eyes or Jazkamer. This new LP, subtitled
SINGLES 90-95, might therefore be the best introduction to this group that
has been around for longer then I've been. Considering that this is a collection
of 7" tracks it makes for quite a diverse and exciting listen, even including
a relatively straightforward garage rock track with opener ≥Swamp Dick".
What amazes me most here is how good they actually are as musicians. Tracks
like ≥Fish Story" end up as some alien free jazz, not unlike some
Art Ensemble of Chicago, and what also strikes me is the spirited use of loops,
found sound and sampling. It makes the group sound in places like a musique
concrète lab experiment injected with a viral disease. I wonder if their
all-out approach to sampling is something from the 90s or if this has always
been their sound. I will certainly need to start checking out more of them
now. Better late
then never.
Much less known, and much younger, is Redglaer. The solo project of one Bob Bellerue,
this new CD contains a live recording made in Tulsa in 2006. The title of this
recording is chosen well, it sounds like somebody who knows his craft, and builds
sonic walls for his after-work pleasure. The music takes place at the crossing
between drone music, dark ambient and the occasional noise, but stays abstract
enough to neither annoy or grab attention. At some moments vocals come to the
fore, especially in the third, final, and best track, which for a short moment
sounds like an extended buddhist chant overlayered with, I assume, Redglaer's
own wordless incantations ending in some rather nice stormy weather. (RM)
Address: http://www.anarchymoon.com
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Aquarius Records aquariusrecords.org
Tecumseh "Crossing Divides" LP
This one is for the slow and low crowd. More gorgeous slow motion sludgery,
crawling dreamdronedoom, a slow black sprawl, but unlike the current crop of
guitar-against-the-amp droners (and no dis, we love that stuff), this disc
by the trio Tecumseh, harkens back to the classic Earth 2, the record that
spawned a million sludge bands, by reintroducing the riff. And as we must have
mentioned before, it's always ALL about THE RIFF.
So all three looooong tracks here, begin with a riff, downtuned of course,
nearly to the point of dissolution, and slowed way down, so that 9 or 10 times
through the riff might cover half a side of vinyl, and that riff is stretched
out as far as it will go, the notes drifting in blackened expanses of buzz,
no drums to speak of, it's all about the riff. EXCEPT, for something strange
going on in the background. A constant low level hum, the soft swirl of wind
like whirs, all manner of subtle buzzing and layered drones, all woven into
a constantly, but subtly, shifting background, in front of which, Tecumseh's
slow-low grind creeps and crawls. Not so much heavy as it is meditative, it's
very dreamy and soothing and mesmerizing, not to take anything away from these
guys, cuz I'm sure this sort of band prides itself on it's heaviness, but this
is the perfect metallic drifting off music, almost like they've discovered
some new genre, sludge-ambient, doom-age, whatever you decide to call it, it's
pretty amazing, and fans of all things slow motion, downtuned and yes, heavy
will dig this big time.
Packaged in gorgeous thick fold over gatefold sleeve, hand screened, blue metallic
on grey, and of course quite limited...
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smooth assailing 10/17/07 http://smoothassailing.blogspot.com/2007/10/smegma.html
the smell remains the same (singles '90-'95) 12"
[2007, anarchymoon]
smegma is a seminal experimental group currently operating out of portland,
oregon. they've been around since 1973, and have had more than a handful of
members pass through their ranks. their current line-up is amazon bambi, oblivia
(aka rock'n'roll jackie), dr. id, burned mind, ju suk reet meate, borneo jimmy
(richard meltzer) and vibraband. seeing as how this record captures a five
year period in the band's thirty-four year existence, i doubt that that was
the personnel for these recordings. i think meltzer joined the band in the
latter part of the '90s. oblivia, bambi, dr. id and meate were definitely involved,
that much i know thanks to david morgan's overview / review included on the
lp's sleeve.
the smell remains the same is a compilation of smegma's seven inch releases from, you guessed it! 1990-1995. one of the things that i found pretty fucking cool (and a little odd) is that a few of these singles were originally released by the long running (and rad) sympathy for the record industry. sftri, in the red and damaged goods are easily my favorite garage rock oriented labels.
bands like sun city girls, caroliner and smegma are ones where it takes someone sending me something of theirs for me to actually listen. this is despite the fact that i have numerous albums from all three on my hard drive. they're attributed with being "weird" or "difficult", and musically schizophrenic. not only that, but they have rather sizable discographies. if they refuse to settle into one easily identifiable music genre, i'm not really sure which releases to start with, and would rather not listen to anything then have to wade through a bunch of stuff that i might not like (admittedly, i'm pretty fucking picky) in order to get to the albums that i would. too time consuming. so, i'm really happy that bob sent this to me. it's the perfect wake-up call.
the music contained on these ten tracks are a pleasing mixture of structured rock, freer experimentation and dadaist blather. for the most part these are pretty disjointed, though there's definitely some cross-over between the latter two. as for the rock songs, first up is swamp dick. killer fucking southern, erm, swamp rock. jackie's lazy drawl syncing up perfectly with the bassline. i particularly liked the stop and start rhythm of it. musically, it's not hard to picture this track coming from the cramps or the gun club. lyrically, it's story-telling. instead of your basic verse chorus verse, the catchiness of the music itself is the hook. the next rocker won't come until the eighth track, walkie talkie, but it's a great one. this is essentially a three and a half minute jammer. there's some nice, but not domineering, caterwauling from one of the ladies, which wonderfully compliments the occasional guitar squeals from ju suk reet meate. the closer, thicket, also has a southern fried flavor to it. that's aided by rooster samples in the beginning, but the male singing is in an bible belt-like manner, which has something to do with the lyrics, but i pay more attention to the music and the sound of the vocals than i do to what's actually being said. it's less air-guitar worthy; slower, more evenly keeled and features another good bassline along with some twangy and looser guitar playing. i absolutely love those galloping guitar licks.
now, on to the experimental stuff. l.s.d. bomb implements a repeating sample of "marijuana is the flame, heroin is the fuse, lsd is the bomb". this will become more and more manipulated as the track plays on until it gets affected into oblivion. afterwards, other samples will pop up. along with this, there's saxophone playing, light electronic accompaniment, and screechy instrumentation. it's these improvised tracks, sans vocals, that i liked the most, out of the non-rock set. fish story, again uses samples. i'm digging this one a bit more, mostly because of the panned, repetitious electronics and background synth drone. jackie's turntable manipulations are a nice touch as well. the structured base worked nicely with the freer instrumentation and made me think of crawlspace, a little bit. yes your majesty will combine sampling with repetitious bass guitar chords, unobtrusive guitar noise and random metal tinkling sounds, which provide the only percussion. boils and carbuncles is the last of the less weird experimental pieces. here, i really like the organic instrumentation, particularly from the drummer. the sample that they've chosen is of a more musical variety (delightfully catchy, and not overused) and suits smegma's music perfectly. this one has discernible vocals. they're pretty nonsensical, but didn't detract from my enjoyment of the music.
the more experimental tracks which feature vocals: change me and vox, are my least favorite on the album. musically, change me isn't too far removed from any of the other pieces. there's sparse instrumentation as well as good multi-channel usage, but i can't get into the lyrics with an adult woman talking about having her diapers changed. supposedly, there's a double meaning having to do with religion, but i'm not much for veiled metaphors. with vox, as you can gather from the title, the focus is on people using their voices. it sounds like everyone's talking and making sounds with their mouth at the same time. meh. some experiments in sound are more successful than others. this one's just a bit to inane for me.
listening to the smell remains the same, it's clear that these guys (and gals) were pushing the proverbial envelope, but my favorite aspect of this band has to be the fact that when they choose to play rock music, they're fucking great. granted, the lyrics and "singing" style are still unconventional, but you can't take anything away from their musical talent. conversely, when they want to be weird, they can be fucking weird. it's really the best of both worlds. while i can't say that i was a fan of everything that they were doing on these tracks, i can say that what i did like makes me want to seek out more of their material. i'm won over.
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outer space gamelan :: http://outerspacegamelan.blogspot.com/2007/09/various-artists-powerfield-kilt-snow.html
Various Artists - Power/Field / Kilt - Snow White in Hell / Redglaer - Aneleutheromania (Anarchymoon 2xCD-R/LP/CS)
[power/field cover image] Grab bag of fairly new Anarchymoon trans-missives on mixed format...in case you need help decoding, the compilation is the 2xCD-R, the Kilt is the LP and label proprietor Redglaer aka Bob Bellerue lays claim to the tape. Anyway you probably remember Anarchy Moon (or "anokmoon") from the bang-up job they did with that Dead Machines/John Wiese/Damion Romero set not too long ago, and ideally even the Roman Torment/Feed the Dragon 12" splt and the Redglaer 10" because those were worth a look too. Bob's back in a big way with these three and more, a Smegma LP compiling disparate 7" tracks (!) and a five-way split 7" with Raven Chacon, Redglaer, Alchemical Burn, AGL, and Mark Beyer. For now though, let's focus on eating what's on our plate, starting with the compilation.
According to the bit of info included on the "Power/Field" xerox, all 23 tracks across these two discs were "performed and recorded live on-site somewhere, outside of the studio and the stage", hence the title in large part I do imagine. The first disc is a pretty even split between power and field, with certain artists devoting themselves to the former (most of these found towards the front of the disc, it seems) and others to the latter. I have to say I'm more a fan of the field recordings - \\\'s "Vive Le Rock" sounds great for what could be a bunch of rocks (geddit?) bouncing around inside an aluminium bowl like metal kernels popping, while William C. Harrington's "LAX 9/17/06" and Christopher Fleeger's "Sea Gulls at Lake Ella" sound exactly like what the titles say they are, and all the better for it. The sinister gnaw of Chronicles of Lemur Mutation's "Cattle Gate" and David Kwan's "Howl" find their power in understated recordings from out in the backwoods of the planet and are a perfect oasis peppered between noisier jaunts like Phroq's static/glitch "Glass Building II" and No John's all-out noise attack "Nieuwpoort 2006". If the previous tracks hinted at some kind of "noise" inflection, he's the first to say what we were all thinking, and it marks a definite seachange for the rest of the disc. Jeff Gburk roars out of the gate with a sinus-blowing drone that whittles its way down to nervous static through distorted radio frequencies within its 8 minute running time and Infiltration Lab goes the opposite direction, starting from nothing and working up an impressive boiler room lurking pitch that'll take your fingernails clean off. From there though, the tracks get slightly faceless - tracks by Oubliette, David Kendall, sheaMgauer and Gen 26 all focus on electronically-generated rackets and drones with a low degree of memorability about them. Only Stephen Cornford's simple yet elegant "Air Con Quartet" (which I doubt is really what it claims to be but who the hell knows) sticks in the grey matter with its dull, wavering hums, but then again it does have almost ten minutes to get its point across.
The rest of the lengthy pieces are given over to the second disc, and there are six to speak of - one each from IDX1274, Dave Phillips, Ecomorti, Burial Hex, Nova-sak and Bellerue's Redglaer, all at least 11 minutes in length. Similar to disc one, these tracks waver in between the "field" and the "power" but you really wouldn't know it judging from IDX1274's hulking opener "Field of Waist High Grass (II)" which doesn't really sound like a field of waist high grass at all unless it has come to life and is attempting to swallow you whole. IDX1274's M.O. is that he doesn't use any keyboards or samplers and everything you hear is hand-manipulated from original ("clean") sources. Hard to pick out anything clean from this slobbering mess, but that's really more a compliment to IDX's knack for obfuscation. And it certainly sounds cut up and re-stitched too, but I think he's telling the truth. I think I'm more a fan of the methods than the results, but that's just me being a pussy more than anything. Nova-sak's "Field Power" (hm) is of a similar vein, this one sounding altogether more spacey and with some dropped-out moments but still noise-rooted and birthed from decidedly non-nature-al equipment. Burial Hex's "Reaping the Keep (Outsider Version)" has me on the fence, like a ten-minute slice of greyish blur spitfires, storm activity, darkened skies over vast farmlands, and shoot it even starts with a cowbell...I'd probably enjoyed a more slimmed down version of all this electrolysis, this one just seems to ramble. Ecomorti's "amaz on p inkele PHANT s eal for the Xtinct" uses the sounds of two endangered species' (I'll let you piece together which) in an off-kilter hum that's still more of the field, but doesn't quite sustain itself over its alotted running time. Curious I should say that because Dave Phillips' fantastically titled "Most Adults Are Atrophied Children Whose Fire Has Long Since Been Extinguished" (a phrase lifted from William Bennett's blog, sez Google) almost befalls the same fate but has a certain je ne sais quoi going for it that just sweeps me up in its ghost limbs like a princess. What it is, is an absolute slow burner of married high-pitched whine and pond sounds; ducks, loons, crickets, the like. Its only build up is the last two minutes when the drone fades out entirely, with the soothing sounds of waterfall and a duck to take it home. Beautiful! And it's as close to new age as you're ever gonna get from the Schimpfluch group so just take it. Redglaer closes off the proceedings with an awesome pieces that combines the best of both worlds, taking a full six minutes to slowly start to churn and transform into a static-speckled acid-burned noise jam with just thee most glorious oscillations that, at this point, sound more like heaven than anything Yod himself plunked onto the globe. Guess when it's your compilation, you gotta step up your game? Challenge met!
Sequencing questions on disc one and general - let's face it, inevitable - inconsistencies aside (and that's just my own personal take, maybe you'll dig how it is just fine), this one was definitely worth the two years of work that went into it. Painfully limited to 200 copies and housed in one of those sexy cardboard tuck-in sleeves, it's too bad more people won't get to enjoy it. But as of today there's still hope for Y-O-U.
[KILT cover image] Bellerue's also got a stake in this one, the debut full-length from his Kilt project what also features Raven Chacon and Sandor Finta. When I first got it and had no idea what it was, I confess to hoping it was a Scottish noise (or, going by the cover alone, black metal) band making a play on using the word "killed" as a band name, but some things aren't meant to be. I'll settle for what I got, and what I got ain't so bad either. "Snow White in Hell" is two long sides of noise demolish that purports to have actual track times and seperations but I'll be fucked if I can hear any of it, it's pretty tough to distinguish from all the general wreckage taking place. Sounds like all three have their hands in pretty deep here with overloaded circuits, junk pedals pushed to extremes, gibbering Porky Pig metallic stammers, and heavy abuse of what can only be described as a cross between a dentist's drill and a world-razing gamma laser (Light of Judgement?)...these cats are rough and raw and bringing it back to how you remember the good times circa early 90's Japanoise filth a la Incapicants or Hijokaidan. It's good to be reminded every now and then that blasts as harsh as this are still rippling through the strata. Because yes sometimes I do need to be reminded. If you do too, then get Kilt. Ahahaha, moving on.
[Redglaer "aneleutheromania" cover image] A bit of full disclosure before I get into this one(-sider): I'm predisposed to like any tape with "fuck the government and the people" stamped on the inside because well I'm a sucker like that. "Aneleutheromania" brings together a selection of live Redglaer performances in a rather brutish cover wrap, and hits all the aforementioned aspects of Bob Bellerue's noise fetishism. It veers bodaciously from tinnitus-inciting sine scrawls to guttural noise sludge and a full spectrum of oscillations in between conjuring up feelings of radio transmissions, field recordings, 80's industrialism, concrete, and more. At the "lighter" moments it sounds like a Wolf Eyes/American Tapes thing and current Whitehouse by way of Africa in the darker spots. The odd vocalized grumblings and/or shouts, generally deformed by all the electronic gnarl they'll battling through, are just the sweet touch needed to push this one from sassy to salacious...but it's got bite, believe you me. Only complain is that it's a touch long for my tastes, but so's everything else in the world so I can't fault Bob for that one. Definitely a cool smattering, but I'd recommend the "American Masonry" 10" before this one, if it's still available.
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smooth assailing :: http://smoothassailing.blogspot.com/ (7/28/07)
KILT "snow white in hell"
[2007, anarchymoon / bastardised]
more noise supergroup action! the formerly los angeles-based kilt is comprised
of the recent portland resident bob bellerue (redglaer, halfnormal, feed
the dragon, anarchymoon recordings), raven chacon (death convention, dog
shit taco)
and sandor finta (auto da fe, dog shit taco, andorkappen, harrasor, the abstractions,
wounded head, bastardised). i've had this cd split between andorkappen and
the cherry point, but didn't know who the hell andorkappen was until i got
this record. i believe the other two members still reside in the la area,
and i'm semi-curious to know if bellerue's relocation has affected il corral...
i'm also firmly convinced that the city of portland steals everyone's good
musicians. luckily for me, portland isn't very far away.
you know how when you play a record, even without speakers, you can faintly
hear the music? well, the screeee emanating from my turntable as i was ripping
this was damn impressive. it's even more impressive now that i'm actually
listening to it. snow white in hell is the kind of noise record that dares,
nay, double
dares you to listen to it with headphones on. i'm not that crazy. this shit
is brutal and made even more interesting by being (generally) baseless and
not relying on the shrill / dense dynamics which have become commonplace.
what's really going to get you during this lp are the high-pitched squeals
and feedback,
prevalent throughout, but the more scaled down works, tracks two and four,
that's where we get the full force. piercing feedback in all its glory with
nary a shred of rumble to cloak itself with. as much as i dig that, i'd have
to say that the album's other three tracks are really kilt's money-makers.
can i say money-makers? it's with these that the trio incorporates a broader
range of sounds (all noisy!) and flesh things out while still managing to
avoid coming off as retreads. i definitely recommend checking out this record,
but
remember, please listen responsibly.
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Bull Tongue :: arthurmag.com (not
sure if this will be published in the upcoming Arthur ie the phoenix rising
July 07 issue)
Los Angeles label Anarchy Moon [anarchymoon.com] scored big a while back with
the Redglaer [myspace.com/redglaer] American Masonry 10?, which was a wicked
ride through high force audio death wind. The label has a local connection
to Il Corral [ilcorral.net], a venue catering to the most extreme forms of
L.A. sput and has released a somewhat mouth-watering double LP documenting
the night of Friday the 13th January 2006 there. The acts are powerbook sound
jammer John Weise [home.earthlink.net/~johnwiese/], electronic junk and spirit
head duo Dead Machines (John Olson of Wolf Eyes and Tovah O’Rourke Olson)
[myspace.com/tovaholson], low end cement-mix slabber Damion Romero [poweracoustics.org/discography/]
and a collaboration of all three – each to a side. Each joint gives you
a real time glimpse into each of these people’s noise emission world
and anyone familiar with their catalogues may think it’s certainly not
their most killer takes. The interesting thing though, and this holds true
for the genre in which they’re active, is that the process of reaching
for personal epiphany is as rewarding as hearing an artist’s chosen best
effort. Weise spends time with comparatively quiet stations, Dead Machines
deal with a more fractured pace than is expected, and Romero really just sits
on a deadzone of drone, although three-quarters of the way through his piece
starts to glow in a subtly remarkable fashion. The get together on side 4 comes
across as any jam out in any one of these budz basements and therein lies its
charm. All these cats have stronger sides out there, but these performances
are the sound of them in true experimental style, seeking, prodding, checking
in and checking out and back again – everything that makes this scene
so goddamned great in the first place.
Also on Anarchy Moon is the split LP betwixt Roman Torment and Feed The Dragon. Roman Torment’s side is as good a place as any to hear the current state of American power electronic harshness. Not a full rectal blare nor a squiggle fest these boys, Jeff Witscher (Impregnable, Deep Jew) and Evan Pacewicz (Moth Drakula [swamplandnoise.com/mothd.htm]) ride the flaring noise gush in an almost compositional style taking the listener through a harsh yet meditative drive. Feed The Dragon is another nom de plume, like aforementioned Redglaer, of Bob Bellerue [halfnormal.com], a Naropa Institute graduate and a man who has spent jugs of time exploring, thinking and creating all sorts of transmissions of noise humanism. His side is typically jake and another cog in this cat’s excellent life.
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Outer Space Gamelan :: outerspacegamelan.blogspot.com
Dead Machines,
Damion Romero & John Wiese - Friday the 13th (Anarchy Moon
2xLP)
When you play a gig on a friday that just happens to be the thirteenth day
of the month, is there really any other option? You gotta release it, man.
And you gotta get that nice old school horror feel to the cover to make it
complete. Would you believe me if I told you that's exactly what happened here?
It's the truth. John Wiese, Damion Romero and the Dead Machines played a show
at today's "it" venue Il Corral on January 13th 2006, Anarchy Moon
boss Bob Bellerue was on hand to record it, and the rest is noize hiztory.
Pretty pretty packaging job on the sleeve too, 12"x40" screened semi-gatefold
fully-scorchin' doodles all over. It hurts so good.
So let's break this down...Wiese, Romero, Dead Machines and four sides of vinyl,
how they gonna fill that last side? You know it, collaborative battle royale.
The three artists/four sides combo is crucially under-executed, glad to see
it's coming around like last year's Double Leopards/Mouthus/Sunroof! dance
and now this one. Wiese bats lead off and wow brother, not at all like I expected.
He's known for laying it on heavy and low and low and heavy and I wasn't sure
how well a live recording would translate to record but this is a beaut. A
slow-moving trawl through smog-choked wastelands forcing you to wrestle through
the haze, winding up at a run-down busted shack. The rusted iron gate swings
open, sounds like it's coming from within your head, wind chimes all clanging
ominously persuading you to turn back but you're drawn in...foot's set inside
the house and it hits you like a Tyson right to the stomach - this is your
house! But you died a hundred years ago!!!! It's a ride, no foolin'...probably
even better here than it was live, something about hearing it under the covers
in the privacy/confines of your own house, angering poltergeists and shaking
spirits.
Dead Machines (it's some guy and his wife, I don't really know) start on eleven,
like being belted with a billion theta waves. That assault falls off into
a low mechanical rumble hit with spasmodic fuzzy coughing from what I assume
to be the jreaded J-tar and then a lovely/horrific flute duo psych-out. Side
ends with probably the harshest harsh noise of the set which isn't very harsh
at all, Olson slops on surges of power strokes to the ambiance noire hamster-wheeled
out by Tovah. Vicious and delicious.
Damion Romero's fully harnessed the machine-generated drone at this point
in his career and that expertise is on full display here. He takes a while
to
get going, cobbling together low groaning and threatening, warbly crunches
that sound almost guitar-like but I don't think that's a part of his set
up...anyway all this results is a total brain-wasting drone like a grindhouse
chainsaw
symphony. Basically a fifteen minute long searing. I feel like I'm the bread
inside the toaster, charred but not black. Go figure.
Which brings us to the trio (which is more like a quartet really) performance,
a lot quieter than I would've expected with Wiese and Romero (and Tovah?)
building a rocky foundation over which Olson exercises the sax chops as the
noise behind
him reaches a boil. To be perfectly frank Dead Machines with John Wiese and
Damion Romero doesn't sound a whole lot different from Dead Machine without
John Wiese and Damion Romero but the two do a good enough job filling in
the necessary holes with buzzes and drones. Overall though they never really
go
anywhere as a unit and it kinda sounds like lip service, but these kinds
of dream-team hook-ups do have a tendency of setting the bar to unrealistically
(or unfairly) high levels so I'm not too...plussed.
Overall these sides are still quite good, can't bag on the fourth too much since it's more of a bonus than anything. And you may still love it yet. My only real complaint is that both my A-sides (Wiese and Romero) are pretty scratchy for the first few grooves, I dunno if that's across the board or what but it's a slight irritant. Bob was kind enough to send me a couple other recent Anarchy Moon jammers in the same mail crate so expect those soon enough. In the mean time these are limited to 515 copies so gauge your purchasing accordingly if need be.
*****************
Outer Space Gamelan :: outerspacegamelan.blogspot.com
Redglaer - American Masonry (Anarchy Moon 10") / Roman Torment/Feed the
Dragon - Split (Anarchy Moon LP)
As promised, the final two installations from this current chunk of waxes from
Bob Bellerue's Anarchy Moon label. The first is a stab from the man himself
under the Redglaer moniker and the other is a split between a couple of American
noise groups, Roman Torment (Jeff Witscher and Evan Pacewicz) and Feed the
Dragon (Bellerue along with Albert Ortega). Like the "Friday the 13th" double,
the packaging on both of these is quite a treat. The 10" is in a cardboard
cover with painted-on cover and glued-on back photo w/glossy insert while the
12" has front and back pastings of images varying in degrees of horror
with another beauty insert. The former is limited to 330 copies, the latter
to 300. You can see hot pix on the Anarchy Moon website if you so desire.
Never heard Redglaer (or any of Bellerue's work) before but I see I've been
missing out like a sap. Apparently "American Masonry" was recorded
in an enormous large warehouse in Tulsa with Bellerue using the structure's
natural resonances to bolster whatever kind of damage he's applying. What you
end up with is a great slab of computer- (?) generated/cement-slapped spectral
waft, a dark grey cloud of fear and tension locked in a holding head somewhere
above your head. Celestial and terrestrial. Organic and orgasmic. Slanted and
en...nevermind. The flip is an angrier whack of synth- (??) induced squalor,
careeneing back and forth from the right side of the brain to the left. Gently
washes away only to roar back for a screaming finale. Excellently executed
spaced, outer-reaching drone. No clue what Bellerue's implements are aside
from the building and maybe it's better that way. Judge the results and not
the methods, right? Well the results are quite tremendous. For the turntable-unable
you can also get "American Masonry" on CD but I'm sure it won't sound
this good.
Last I heard from the Roman Torment duo they were ripping it up on the Troniks
CD "Skin Game" with a record due on Hospital Productions. Not sure
if that ever surfaced but they're keeping up appearances here with a side-long
blasterpiece dubbed "The Gift of Grief". Total non-stop in-the-red
wall of high-wired electronics geared to explode synapses. Witscher and Pacewicz
keep all hands/feet/whatevers to the metal for the full twentyish minutes and
spew out a dizzying juggernaut of blindingly fast, brutal, and surely harsh
flat-out fucking noise. Totally worth the possibility of getting evicted over.
Buckle up or down as you see fit.
Feed the Dragon's side "Bromide Romance" is a mixed bag of junky
electronics, UFO-transmitted soundwaves, buzzing matrices, robotic splurge
and a whole lot else strewn methodically throughout the slow-evolving piece.
Bit of a baffler and not too much to say but it's well done and engaging and
that's all you need to know. If this helps, Anarchy Moon sez: "narcotic
ritual. the history of desperate ages and the final moments of delivery into
chaos / nothingness, scorpions erupting from cactii. who will be left to laugh
about the death of civilization???". Did it help? I thought it would.
I think the label website also offers some MP3 downloads so get on that huh?
Considering these and upcoming cuts (a couple of heavy noise 2x7"s, new
Il Corral 2006 2xCD-R, Yellow Swans 12", etc) it looks like you can safely
add Anarchy Moon to the ever-growing list of quality labels serving up slick
and slimey doses of new noise. Good for music, no good for your wallet...you
know how it is.
*****************
The Wire "Size Matters" (Dec 06)
Redglaer is Bob Bellerue's experiment in harsh textural environments, and
he finds himself a dandy of a harsh one inside a huge concrete warehouse in
Tulsa. American Masonry is the celebration of the space's acoustics.
Filling the booming structure with dark rumbles, antic squeedles and sheer
blather, Bellerue fully engages the cavernous sonics, creating chittering walls
of echoed overtones and hints of eternal combustion. He roars through the space
like a giant robot, spluttering
sparks and evil intent all the way.
*****************
Hanson Records :: hansonrecords.net (he's
sold out of them, so it's no longer on his site...)
Redglaer "American Masonry"
Man... This 10 inch really blew my gord... Prolly my fave 10 inch since the
PETER FONDA TRIBUTE on MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH... Man... REVERB GALORE and
preolly the BEST DRONE to be made in the past few years... Scraping metal drone...
Will keep you OVER satisfied till the next TNB/ORGANUM collab...which we know
AIN'T HAPPENIN'... SO FUCKin GRAB THIS ASAP.. HIGHEST RECCOMENDATION! All hand
painted covers on THICK cardstock....
*****************
Volcanic Tongue:: volcanictongue.com
Friday the 13th
New collaborative release in a classy teenage/slasher style from these three
future-primitives with a solo side each and one massive three-way to top
it all of. Comes in a screened 3-colour gatefold sleeve that is so beautifully
assembled it could almost be Japanese. Limited edition of 515 copies. Supremely
violent overtone assault cut-up with moments of stark, frozen nada. Fantastic
and highly recommended.
*****************
Aquarius Records :: aquariusrecords.org
-----------------
Friday The 13th 2xLP : Dead Machines, Damion Romero, John Wiese
With a lineup like that you'd probably be expecting some sort of ear
splitting noise free-for-all. A blasting batch of brutality designed
to melt your speakers into little black puddles, to send your
neighbors diving for the phone to call the cops, the sort of N O I S E
that is gloriously and literally unlistenable. Well, in this case,
you'd be wrong. Very wrong.
In fact all four sides of this quadruple live set, are downright
listenable, if not actually lovely here and there. An epic 4 sided
dark ambient dronefest, that while hitting the spot for the usual
suspects, will definitely also appeal to the drone minded among you as
well as the Earth / SUNNO))) dronedoomdirge obsessed.
John Wiese of Bastard Noise and about a million other projects starts
things off not with a bang, but a rumbling whir, a slowly unfurling
blanket of crumbling fuzz and hiss, muted minimal ambience rife with
pulsing low end and thick rivers of black shimmer. This is dark
ambience more than noise, strange disembodied melodies, drifting all
ghost like, haunting and surprisingly pretty, but without ever losing
its overall bleak and ominous vibe. Definitely the best thing we've
heard from Wiese.
So at this point we sort of expected Dead Machines to kick it up a
notch, and they do, sort of. Beginning with a grinding symphony of
buzzing analog synths and fuzzed out feedback, but that quickly gives
way to a very Wolf Eyesian industrial ambient wasteland, clang and
rumble, creaking and crumbling clatter, barely there dreamlike whir,
distant high end melodies, downright blisssful before a coda of thick
buzz and roaring damaged noise (but even then, it sounds really fuzzy
and washed out)
It's up to Romero then, to get things good and noisy, but surprise
surprise, Romero follows suit, offering up maybe the most tranquil and
drone-y set of the bunch, thick undulating low end throb, overtones
shifting and beating against each other, sounding like a doom metal
Phill Niblock. Gorgeous and dreamy but still dark and menacing.
The final track, taking up all of side 4, features this fearsome
foursome, Romero, Wiese and the two Dead Machines, teaming up for an
epic and one would assume chaotic and noisy collaboration, but once
again, we're thrown a serious curveball. Instead of all four piling up
on top of each other and making a huge loud mess, they deftly
intertwine their sounds into a subtle dark drift. Only once exploding
into a full on noise drenched onslaught, spending most of the time
rumbling and whirring and weaving a dense and dreamy world of dark
drones, and mysterious sonic shapes. Really fucking awesome.
Double lp, pressed on THICK black vinyl, packaged in super elaborate,
three color silkscreened fold over sleeves and LIMITED TO 515
COPIES...
Redglaer "American Masonry"
-----------------------
A killer slab of ultra minimal, low end soundscapes, from this LA
noisemaker. Tangled shadowy shapes twist and slither, stretch and
contort, a constantly shifting lowercase world of speaker destroying
rumble and strangely sibilant buzz. This is thick and crunch and heavy
and will probably cause damage to your speakers, but it's all muter
and muffled, dragged down into the dark, so instead of being an all
out noise assault, it's a beautiful and serene crawl through some
black sonic underworld, ambient, but subtly harsh, dreamlike, but
ominous and mysteriously fucked up. The sound can be cavernous one
second, machinelike the next. Imagine the still warm corpse of Wolf
Eyes, laid out on the slab, sliced wide open, all manner of
microscopes and imaging devices trained on the various, still pulsing
inner workings of the beast, well, the sound being picked up by the
most sensitive of microphones, placed delicately within the carcass,
are picking up the very sounds captured here.
Packaged in gorgeous chipboard sleeves, one side with a pasted on
image, the front adorned with a simple symbol in metallic silver ink.
Each one different. Really striking. Pressed on super thick vinyl,
with a full color printed insert. LIMITED TO 330 COPIES!
ROMAN TORMENT / FEED THE DRAGON split 12"
-------------------------------------
This here is a noise record. No way to sugar coat it. There are bits
and parts that are less than noisy, some subtle sonics and strange
ambience, but ultimately, to dig this, you need a taste for NOISE.
Roman Torment is a blast of face melting ear shredding rooooaaarr. A
dense smear of sonic chaos, grinding shrieking howling, thick
crumbling masses of sound, blinding streaks of feedback, bursts of
speaker shredding grit. Intense and thick and L O U D.
Feed The Dragon, are all about the noise too, but they creep up on it
slowly, starting out with some minimal glitch and stutter, a swirling,
scraping ambience, lots of low end and distant sonic gristle, before
gradually building into a thick undulating swell of electronic buzz
and rumbling sonic grind, sheets of skree draped over throbbing pulses
of crunch and grind, that gets so thick and heavy near the end, it
almost begins to resemble something distinctly metallic, like Earth or
SUNNO))), but of course way noisier...
LIMITED TO 300 COPIES. Pressed on super thick vinyl. with cool and
creepy paste on art.
*****************
Signal to Noise #43, autumn 2006. by David Cotner
The Dead/Bird / Redglare dbl 3” CD-R (Seizure Palace / Anarchymoon, anok09)
starts with Redglare’s opening salvo creating an effect not unlike one
stumbling upon a peeping-tom at one’s bathroom window – startling,
and such beady eyes! Staring incessantly until the beads become BBs and then
annihilating annoyances of the sonic variety, it’s like the feeling of
cleaning all the pots and pans in one’s pantry with steel wool – there’s
just that much energy communicated in the scraping that mounts in violent waves
of sound. The Dead/Bird recording comes across as a modern interpretation of
the scene in “Barbarella” during which Jane Fonda was thrust so
unceremoniously into the humongous birdcage and attacked by the avians within.
Nifty home-made packaging with a sleeve whose wraparound image seems to be
that of a warped security camera tracking consumers at the supermarket.
*****************
Smooth Assailing :: smoothassailing.blogspot.com
bob bellerue is a noise artist currently out of los angeles. his
musical contributions can be found in redglaer (sometimes spelled as
redglare as well), feed the dragon (with albert ortega, who performs as slujun
or branches,
and has worked with lee ranaldo, anla courtis (reynols) and leticia
castaneda, among others), halfnormal and kilt (with raven chacon and
sandor finta, the latter runs the bastardised label and is in wounded
head). additionally, bob runs the la performance space, il corral.
zaika recently put out a cd showcasing a live performance from there.
there's also his label, anarchymoon, which has a mighty fine looking
double 12", dead on friday the 13th, coming out in the first week of
november. it's a three-way split bewteen damion romero, dead machines,
and john wiese, with the fourth side being a collaboration between all
three. dang. anarchymoon has definitely captured my attention.
i picked up the following albums at noisefest, and since they're both
so damn good i thought i'd share my thoughts on them. well, beyond
them just being damn good.
roman torment & feed the dragon
split 12"
[2006, anarchymoon]
wow. trying to figure out who's in roman torment and their subsequent
other projects was quite a process. here's what i've been able to
dredge up. roman torment = jeff witscher (impregnable, rainbow blanket
(with his brother greg, aka solitary hunter), menwhocan'tlove,
watching him die (also with his brother), without belonging (a duo
with pedestrian deposit) and evan pacewicz [pictured right] (blud
thirst, and he's also in moth drakula (with josh stewart), ex-jesus
and he's in genius females (with privy seals, who's in deep jew with
impregnable (again), lee smith (of noisecop) and oscillating innards
(who's also in noisecop..wtf) hopefully, some of this is accurate.
roman torment's side, the gift of grief, is first up and it's hard as
hell. it starts off with a dense blast of noise and really doesn't
relent at all. the guys do an excellent job of keeping you interested
for eighteen very loud minutes. at about eight minutes in they change
it up a little bit and evan's screaming, distorted, vocals are a bit
more discernable and the feedback is kicked up a few notches, then
it's back to the staticy noise. normally, i'm kind of 'eh' about that
sound, but there's a couple of acts who can pull it off and still
impress me. impregnable is certainly one of them. as far as the
prevailing themes here, i'd have to say that they would be dense walls
of noise, screaming vocals, and great feedback. i particularly like
when they stop the dense noise for the feedback and/or vocals, and
then start it up again. it made me appreciate it more when it came
back. great track.
bromide romance is the title of feed the dragon's side. fun fact:
bromide is a fancy word for a boring person or a tiresome idea. the
track starts off with the sound that an old record makes when you play
it. kind of scratchy. it's nice. then there's a humming sound in the
background, with other minimal noises in the right and left channels.
it's a much more subdued effort than roman torment's, but no less
excellent. it's more experimental as opposed to their harshness.
there's a lot of electronic pulses and hums (used more as main layers
that the other noises build on top of). after about five minutes of
slow building, it starts to get louder as more sounds are being added
in less of a complimentary fashion, a little bit of chaos to stir
things up. as bromide is playing out things indeed take a turn for the
noisier. not harsh, but noisy enough. so much for being subdued.
alright, fifteen minutes in and this track shifts into some actual
noise. i'm liking the ambient sounds buried underneath bob's noise.
this is a very nice piece of music, with a surprising, but satisfying
ending.
i'd highly suggest this album to anyone looking for something new and
noisy, not only that, but it looks nice too. there are still copies
available from this edition of 300 at anarchymoon's site. be one of
the smart ones.
Roman Torment The Gift of Grief Excerpt (from 3:55 to 6:52)
Feed The Dragon Bromide Romance Excerpt (from 11:17 to 14:48)
(note: this was ripped at 33 rpm, the correct speed should be 45, but
it still sounds good)
redglaer
american masonry 10"
[2006, anarchymoon]
this album, from one of bob bellerue's solo monikers, opens up with a
slow feel, similiar to bromide romance, but more minimal. a couple of
minutes into it and it gets a bit more interesting. there's the main
humming noise and what sounds like a whale call. i may not know what
it is at all, but i like it. soon after that settles down, the
background noise is rumbling, which, in a few minutes, transitions
into more of a spread out feel as the general sound becomes more
hushed. the last portion of the side does have its noisier moments,
though.side b carries on with a feeling of minimalism. it feels more minimal
than it actually is, though. there's plenty of things going on, but
overall, the tone of it is more relaxed. oops, i lied. the volume
level picks up a bit after a few minutes before fading back out again.
it continues like that with the noisier aspects seemingly coming in
waves. additionally, there's also the sustained tones, hums and
rattling tones. my favorite part of the record comes with about five
minutes left: really loud sound waves that scream and fly from speaker
to speaker like banshees. it's terrific, especially towards the end
where it calms down enough to pull you off guard before coming back
for one final hurrah.
*****************
Igloo Magazine :: igloomag.com
Bob Bellerue / halfnormal - Threat Level Charlie (by TJ Norris)
Out of nowhere comes a dramatically empowered recording by LA-based sound artist
and performer Bob Bellerue. Using glass, metal and other electronics as the
sound sources Bellerue is a physical performer with no regrets. His work here
is akin to other such experimenters as Aube, Knurl and a touch of Brume. Sounds
like an evil potion - but this is far from evil. Its magic recipe is in its
sporadic sense of improvisation and drama. The composition is blindly organic
and freeform truly made of ingredients, formulated through its base structure
and all its singular elements coming together, clashing at times. There are
mind numbing screetches and quieting intervals of solace. He has used broadband
noise developed from speeches by George Bush and Osama bin Laden and distorted
them beyond recognition into the overall final mix. Winning top honors at this
year’s Centre de Cultura Contemporànea de Barcelona Bellerue’s
sound collage of homemade instruments and noise have a big presence. The final
piece is made of four interlocking tracks, clocking in at about 45 minutes,
that are raw and capture a live sound. He calls it “poetic terrorism” and
I call it an aural mind bomb. For fans of Nocturnal Emissions and Illusion
of Safety. (TJN)
*****************
Bagatellen :: bagatellen.com
Bob Bellerue/ halfnormal - Threat Level Charlie (AnarchyMoon, anok1) by Andrew
Choate
Using “glass, metal, suling , electronics, programming, space, body,
and power,” Bob Bellerue’s Threat Level Charlie reveals meanings
being sounds. He chooses “engineered materials that are emblematic of
the consumer need for protection and comfort” to make music out of the
substances of our lives. Threat Level Charlie is a harbinger of what’s
already happening in your body. You just don’t know it yet, until you
listen. Then you remember, and realize. Our body is a locus of forces at combat,
and we do not control which forces win out. We try to, but we can’t.
Bellerue translates this process into sound and matter, conjoined. Glass gets
bown and blowed. Contact mics pick it up. The glass is actually hanging.
Eep. Evocative whistles like alien landing signals and gristly bubbles and
hypnotic resurgences of mild feedback – in and out, like a cave breathing
deep – cause the whispery, respiratory air of the first track to absorb
concentration. This beginning slows down your biorhythms; it gets you in a
place where you can listen. You are a listening machine in fact. Something
molten crinkles;
a cauldron of stirring tones glimmer thickly from a satellite to a star: bloodflow
reorganized. It ebbs you in, it makes you receptive, and, once you’re
ready, and the materials have undergone adequate preparation, density and nuance
are checked and re-checked to assure absolute surrender. This track ends on
the gentle fade of a passing star, but not before a sudden surge in the sixth
minute makes it clear that no matter what is happening on the surface, something
else is at work within.
Swervy abstract sirens whirr in the distance of the second track, but they’re
not pure; they just rotate in sonic space the way a visual siren would. So
many layers. Digital eagles swoop down, but not to attack, rather, to condemn
us for not flying. Wildly pinging claps and swats are eaten by the static of
the sounds surrounding them, and the skitterish radio tuning that began the
track supports our concern: are we being infiltrated? Internal shrieks made
audible would seem to corroborate the findings of the panel, but there is often
no place to turn when you know you’re right. Thwispy washes of unselfish
discipline emerge and recede to raindroppy thwacking. The layers of sound events
disappear, appear, and dissipate. We can fight to disbelieve what surrounds
us, or we can submit like reluctant angels to the fray.
A sharp transition demarcates cut 2 from 3, where a cellar door swings and
screams. Glass is bowed, and the horror of a complex brain replete with too
much psychological foiling draws attention to itself. Long streaks of bow action
skip and squeak like car wheel brakes. A ball of jelly is strapped to a contact
mic and slapped on a clean wood floor at the four minute mark.
By the time it finally explodes you’ve been begging for it. You want
to turn it up and grimace in pleasure. Let it ride over you and overturn your
cathartic ass. We are subjects and we are subjected to this harsh atmosphere
and we do demand it. Acoustic scrapes and electronic hums come together, thrillingly
inside each other, the one projected through the other, using the other as
a resonating device. Howl and border.
An apron sexually torn.
You literally hear the electronics through the acoustic material.
There is something refined and bitter about the ending, like a friend that
is out of control naturally, but somehow not fretted over. Bellerue harnesses
the volatile energy of feedback like it’s a slinky, or his best friend,
or a glass of water, or silly putty. Enter a Doppler-ish fade of swirls. This
is physical and deeply abstract: the sounds could be the narration of a completely
internal crisis, or they could be a status gauge of contemporary political
life. A radio gets tuned in near the ultimate end of Threat Level Charlie ,
and it gets received through the very materials of our security and panic.
Radios deliver news, and it is in these materials, traveling through them,
whether we admit it or not, that the attitudes of our times are carried. We
only have to tune them in to know it. We like to think we are safe, keeping
ourselves secured and sheltered from the news – “it’s all
in our minds/hearts/opinions/beliefs/votes” – but we’re not.
The basic objects around us carry the waves, receiving them and holding them
and shaking with their storehouse of atmospheric pulses. All it takes is a
well-placed mic to hear them. I know I’m repeating myself. Do you? Are
you repeating this? Where do repetitions come from? How does a threat work?
The news is always within objects – sometimes silently, sometimes not.
The materials contain the broadcast, the news, the signals. It’s harrowing,
gracey.
reader comment (by the incredible Jeff Gburek)
Thank you Andrew for your reflections into the minutia. It’s good to
come across this reviewed here even after it has drifted so far along the necroelectromagnetic
aeon. Bob’s work consistently and inspiringly intertwines idea and practice
for me, leaving ends you need to pull, unraveling in the direction of uncertainty.
That art plays out the concrete existence of “warring elements”.
That art is about making trouble, creating problems or being a problem and
letting no one “solve” you. That we need not begin the process
of making art as if we were already in the art history books looking back at
ourselves with all-knowing eyes in that symbiotic antagonism called tradition,
unless we wink, as if to say, with Blake’s woman clothed in the sun:
the dry dry cake of life needs one thin layer of glaze alone: there are great
cold distances under our fingernails, somewhere this blip already stopped,
under a bleeding helium ulcer e pluribus unum, like asteroid scratch, rings
a tea-bell no one hears. That we work in an area of freedom and in a spirit
of discovery, almost of science, out of a basic instinct rather than from an
ideology used to draw the line between legitimacies and consolidate the walls
of corporate gain. Sugar? That we unmask powers operative at large in the materials
themselves because they alone are the energies that compel us. On into the
breaking point, a kind of collapsed inter-cultural space, where the more impressively
sturdy ossature of the industrialist situationism still supports the thick
skin of the era of supercollidors and eai. These are all things I felt in common
with Bob’s articulation. I call his CD an articulation because it carries
for me the same “sense” that his words do and because I see in
his life a parallel to his art. There is a spirit of seeing out the process
to the very end, even beyond that finality which violates the conventions of
the representable and casts the work in terms that cannot be so easily converted
into the tender of the unquestionable objects of bourgeois culture. This is
very existential work. It has a rare honesty. But it is not a work that withdraws
from posing serious problems for the consumer. There is a sense of vital and
positive danger in Bob’s work that communicates on a subsonic VLF similar
to those elephants use when they flock about to gather the bones of some elder.
When I played Threat Level Charlie on the air in Albuquerque, NM, one of the
station’s technicians called. He was evidently concerned that we had
left microphones turned on in the studio then under reconstruction down the
hall. It took me a full minute to fully comprehend what he thought he was hearing
on the radio and another minute after he hung up to consider the likelihood
of disguised commentary. When Bob came to perform a week later, downriver from
Los Alamos, I was to learn shortly that the glass was not being hung. It sat
horizontally on blocks (Styrofoam, as I recall) where in addition to being
bowed it functioned as a kind of resonator absorbing and transmitting acoustic
sounds from his other instruments. Although I might have been disappointed
that I was kept from the anticipation of the glass breaking up before us all,
I began to hear echoes of the large glass in a very different way, not the
obvious ones. There is more going on here than meets the ear. But what is the
next threat level? When will it really be reached, what…will it sound…
onward anarchy moon... Posted by: j.ff gb.r.k at December 25, 2005 1:28 AM
*****************
AMPERSAND &TC ampersandetc.virtualave.net
Threat Level Charlie CD Bob Bellerue / halfnormal
Bob Bellerue is a performance artist who works with a range of material – the
inside of the sleeve shows Liam Mooney (one of a number who work with him)
manipulating a sheet of glass – but he also uses various metals, resonant
tubes, radio, programming and his body to achieve his musical effects. TLC
(interesting acronym as the name is actually the highest level of alert) was
recorded in a studio but with excerpts from a live show.
Shimmering crackly feedback signals and a low throb build a stimulating atmosphere
joined by tings and distant chopped voices. Pattering noises and a growly undercurrent
together with a metal wind make way for sustained ringing and gentle tones,
then shifting to a noisey scrabble, distorted voices and tones to squally feedback.
A shifting electroacoustic space. The second track opens with a distorted Dubya
accompanied by a squeaking balloon and deep wobble-board sound develops into
scrabbling windswirls, a twittering battle and high tones. Passing from a more
musical mood it drops to a rumbling pulse and soft cycles that echo and loop
to an applause-like percussion. Deep woobles, twitters and harsh whoosh, a
low tone and manipulated higher one – interference vibrations – crackles,
tones fade.
The third track is short – edgy harsh metallic vibrations and high tones – close
mike work – percussive at times, but more focussed. And this intensity
carries over into the last two tracks. The fourth layers noisy held strong
tones, some squeaks and scrapes. But focussed on the full tones with controlled
modulation, creating a vibrant and powerful noise work with lots of interesting
variations. In the final track a scrabbly burble, possibly the radio, is a
base for the other components – long feedback tones, a juddery oral close-mike
scrabble, noisey drills, squiggles and shimmers building the slowly fading
through the noises into a whooshy finale.
The balance in the album between to more exploratory variations of the first
half and the intense focus of the second provides a strong structure to the
work, which is a complex mixture of live and studio performance art, conjoining
engagement with sound and noise.
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