|
RECORDED MUSIC: REVIEWS Szkieve / Ammo Perturbacée / Terra Amata Ad Noiseam [2002] 12" LP picture disc (Split release) 2002/10 : Infratunes Deux très bons morceaux, longs et accrocheurs. Avec "Pertubacée", SZKIEVE propose un travail sur la montée de sons, graduelle, étape par étape et totalement hypnotique. Une base sonore très grave et houleuse, est constament striée de parts en parts par des sons secs, intervenants par vagues successives. Des éclats de fréquence aigües s'ajoutent à une multitude de bruits et de drones, et l'édifice prend forme lentement, prend vie minutes après minutes. On pense à VROMB, et puis on ne pense plus, délibérement happé par ce vortex sonore, qui s'apprécie encore mieux avec une paire d'écouteurs. Le titre de AMMO est tout simplement génial. Sans cesse, cette pièce dark et polymorphe surprend. L'atmosphère y est désèsperemt irrèspirable. Des paysages sombres et inhumains se succèdent et se multiplient comme un virus. L'electro devient organique, le son, en toute liberté, choisit alternativement de s'éloigner pour laisser place à ses rejetons droniques, ou bien d'envahir tout l'espace dont il dispose, pour mieux se refermer comme un piège invisible sur l'auditeur, qui ne peut que subir. Une mélodie magnifiquement noire annonce le decrescendo de "Terra amata", et une seule envie persiste : se repasser le vinyl. Electro/dark/ambient, rien à rajouter. 2002/09 : Re:mote Induction I think there is something curious about side-projects or collaborations in the minds eye of the listener, well, in my minds eye at least. Its almost like they exist for a specific reason so when a collaboration starts varying stylistically it always leaves me feeling a bit weird. Like I can't place why this specific entity exists. Such is the case with Ammo being, as it is, a collaborations of John Sellekaers and C-Drik who have previously collaborated on a disparate range of projects. Ammo, as a project, have now gotten to the stage where they've transcended this weird feeling of disparity and I view them as an act. This strange delineation in my head is gone. Their contribution to this release, then, is a step back from the likes of The Beautiful People 7" and the Age Of Terminal Irony CD/12" releases and slightly toward the sound of their Kaleinoscope CD. Though it shares a similar feel and approach to Kaleinoscope that I view as being a sort of complex, micro-managed soundscape, the emotion portrayed is in another space. Where Kaleinoscope evoked ideas of decaying technology and vain attempts to build interfaces between the old and the new, Terra Amata is more about a grander idea, something more of a journey. Discreet places and the semantic link between them is explored such that any specific sounds you might normally have an aversion to are eroded as you submit to the story they wish to tell. Undoutedly another jewel in the blossoming crown of Ammo. Turning over to the flipside and the contribution from the Canadian project Szkieve. Szkieve is the outlet for the music of Dimitri della Faille the man behind the interesting Hushush label and is one that, I am ashamed to admit, I haven't quite got around to checking out more fully yet. So for my first encounter I have to report that I am enjoying it a lot and that I am realising more clearly the oversight in not picking up his CD sooner. The piece maintains consistency with the Ammo piece in so far as the mood is maintained in solemnity. Bass tones rise up out of nothingness and inject themselves virally into the reckoning. This piece is one of subtlety that demands a less active listen, inviting the listener to let their mind wander whilst the subtle variation amplifies the resultant thoughts and feelings. From time to time, focus is found and the listener realises how much the music is evolving for a brief respite before allowing the atmosphere of the piece to envelope them once more. I can't help but enjoy this sort of thing, it is part of the essence of music or art in general that it can evoke feelings of satisfaction in the listener. Something Szkieve does in spades with this piece. As a slab of vinyl this is an alluring prospect, even sat in my lunch hour at work writing about it makes me want to get home and listen to it again. For me this is the standout release in the growing catalogue of Ad Noiseam, it'll be fun times ahead if the label plans on releasing music that matches these standards. 2002/08 : Aversionline Ammo begins with one lengthy track, "Terra Amata", consisting of minimal dark ambient atmospheres, utilizing deep, subtle bass tones with some slightly louder abstract hums and rumbles. There are lots of gradual changes, at times things suddenly speed into wisps of digital blips and whirrs that fade to and fro, other times things revert back to the calmer elements. There are a few more noisy textures and some manipulated string samples at times, and eventually the piece evolves into a somewhat murky environment with sparse flutes and samples of insects and such. Towards the latter portion some wonderfully bleak melodies seep through, and that's what I really love. As the piece starts to come to a close there are also some choral vocals alongside a repetition of the insect field recordings and multiple layers of loops that gradually break down to a minimal approach similar to the track's intro. Overall a very interesting blend of obscure electronic noise and melodic ambiance, with an actual concrete (though not exactly traditional) tempo tucked away that shifts throughout the composition. The recording is nice and clear, though quieter than normal (possibly suffering from the lacking audio quality that picture discs usually offer)… so in this case, the louder the material, the more the details show through, and the wider a tonal range is exhibited. Szkieve also offers one long track, "Perturbacée". Things start out similar to Ammo's selection: Minimal dark ambient with swirling high treble and resonant low hums. There's also a great midrange feedback off in the distance. The volume stays pretty consistent, but about 1/3 of the way through things start to gradually swell forth with less biting high-end at times. It's repetitive, but the mood is nice, so it works out, seeming to suggest suspense. There's not exactly an epic build, so while the track does eventually swing in another direction with chime-like tones, it can be a tad monotonous for its length. The picture disc is very simple with orange/green circles on one side, blue/purple on the other, with black and white images of insects on each. Not a bad release at all, it's always cool to have a picture disc, though something equally interesting probably could have been done in a standard sleeve using standard vinyl (which might have offered a more appropriate sound for each act, especially considering the nature of this type of music). It's also hard to gauge these artists based on one long track each, so those are the main setbacks here. 2002/07 : Ambientrance Some wild-looking (and wild-sounding!) wax! Ad Noiseam's 12" vinyl showcase gives a side apiece to Belgium's Ammo (C-drik and John Sellekaers) and Canada's Szkieve (Dimitri della Faille of the Hushush label). Ammo's Terra Amata side (in a vivid orange and green color scheme with a cockroach motif...) begins with a faint-but-growing dronestew where weird little voices cry out, as do stringsounds and explosive outbursts (and this only in the first couple minutes). In a generally slow pace, the piece evolves, though sometimes undergoes more violent deformations, spewing out toxic gaseousness and electromechanical emissions. Other occurrences (may) include; mournful space-wails, sparse flutations, churning murk, a mode-switch to almost-orchestral swells of loveliness, electric squigglies, a group "la-la-la" chorus, shrill winds, living circuitry, abrasive interjections and twisted tones... who needs acid when you can take a trip like this!? Szkieve's piece, Perturbacée (in cyan and purple with a moth pattern) is less broadly meandering (though still quite active), concentrating on its skyquaking clouds of machinelike resonance and the inscrutable activities within. The light-yet-opaque soundstreams gradually louden with a jet-engine-like buildup of keening high-tones. The always-undulating currents intensify further with powerful gusts, blinking beeptronics, spectral moans and a final fade-out. For the more-intrepid sonic voyagers... maybe overwhelming for weaker (or tired) ears, though impressively assembled. 2002/07 : Side Line After their "Kaleinoisescope" album, Ammo is further delving into experimental soundscapes that are as equally brittle as they are intense. Drifting through electro-acoustics, drones, sound washes, this track is the best when all of the sudden a sad voice is humming an echoing melody. A constantly morphing post-pop sonic terrain of cinematic evocativeness. Skzieve on the other hand is as equally mysterious, but sticks to all-electronic means. Pulsating, droning hums, wailing frequencies and shifting filters turn the track into space isolation and hissing busyness. I see giant telescopes and data processing systems diligently turning and blinking without a human in sight. Automatic barrenness, both in physical and emotional states. Ad Noiseam's first picture disc turned out great. Nifty insect artwork coupled with subtle ambient weirdness makes one nice package. 2002/07 : Brainwashed (The Brain) It's been a while since I've heard something as delightfully mind-altering as this split record between Szkieve (also known as Dimitri della Faille, of Hushush fame) and Ammo (also known as John Sellekaers and C-Drik, of Xingu Hill/Ambre/Dead Hollywood Stars/many-others fame). Szkieve's piece is, truly, a masterpiece. It begins subtly enough with some warm and inviting drones, but the fun begins soon after when gentle high frequencies (and I mean "gentle" - there are high frequencies present, but with my sensitive ears, most high freqs drive me nuts, and these didn't) begin to massage your brain. The drones multiply, spreading quickly, and changing so subtly you only realize it once you think about how attention-grabbing the piece is. For some reason the whole of 'Perturbacée' left me feeling like there was a UFO hovering outside my window, locking me in a stasis-field. In other words, this is damn powerful stuff (all 20 minutes of it). Ammo's side is decidedly different from Szkieve's; the ambient approach is still taken, but Ammo focus on using samples and cut-ups (including some beautifully somber small orchestral snippets) to create a mood. And they quite wonderfully do so. Sometimes lush and relaxing, sometimes skittery, the Ammo piece was a nice cool-down after Szkieve's mind-melding track. Further props must go to the lovely picture disc (yum, moths!) and the excellent pressing: usually ambient music and picture discs go together like oil and water (Inade's "Quartered Void" 7", anyone?), but this record sounded wonderful throughout. A top-class release from the under-rated Ad Noiseam (and limited as well, so snag it now)! Chris Zaldua 2002/06 : Moving Hands This split, vinyl, picture disc LP is a work of art. It's nice to look at and at times even nicer to listen to. Szkieve's "Perturbacée" is a trip, a trip of ordered chaos where drones emerge, float, drown and re-emerge and if you're not careful they take you with it. Down, in, out and back again. It's a rather noiseless work where the emphasis is on slow and sometimes hardly noticeable changes, some oscillation and some bleeps. So what else can I say but put it on, tune in and drop out. Ammo's "Terra Amata" is at first glance a rather similar piece, but in stead of slow changes you are totally unprepared for what happens when it happens. It's an eerie piece of shock and is more like what I believe a bad trip on any hallucinogen would sound like. It's a beautiful day when a storm comes and that beautiful day is now a threat to your very existence. Then suddenly there's calmness; you're in the eye of the storm, everything's fine, you're warm, you're safe, and then you're hurtled back out there, though the storm has subsided substantially, you're left with the debris and the threat of it changing direction. How it ends? I'm not going to tell you, you'll have to see for yourself. Ammo's piece, I think is the more interesting of the two, there's some orchestration, a boy choir amidst all the noise and grind. It's a great release from Ad Noiseam, though I'm very curious as to why one would want to release ambient works on vinyl. Magnus Nilsson 2002/06 : Sonic Seducer Als hübsch bunte und vor allem in ordentlich viel Vinyl gegossene Picture LP kommt dieses Split Album der beiden Projekte Ammo und Szkieve ins Haus, welches nebenbei auch noch die erste Vinyl Veröffentlichung für Ad Noiseam darstellt. Ammo, das Projekt von Xingu Hill's John Sellekaers und dem sowieso allgegenwärtigen C-Drik (Axiome, Dead Hollywood Stars, Ambre...too name just a few) bleiben auf ihrer Seite mit konkreten Geräuschen und einigen orchestralen Sounds auf einer Ambient-Grundierung schwer greifbar. Nicht minder abstrakt, aber für meinen Geschmack deutlich überzeugender dafür Szkieve (aka Dimitri della Faille, dem Betreiber von Hush Hus Records) mit dem die Plattenseite ausfüllenden Drone „Perturbacée". Szkieve weiß hörbar um die Vorteile langer Tracks und spielt diese perfekt aus: Langsame, aber kontinuierliche Entwicklung von Klängen plus ein gelungenes Zusammenspiel zwischen kalten synthetischen Geräuschen und dem organischen warmen Drone. Beachtenswert! Sascha Bertoncin 2002/06 : Intro Ad Noiseam setzt auf Vinyl, und zwar (wenn schon, denn schon) mit einer transatlantischen Picture-Split-LP. Die ist zwar schön bunt, mit den abgebildeten Kakerlaken respektive Schmetterlingen aber nicht unbedingt der Hammer in Sachen Ästhetik. Anders die Musik: Dimitri della Faille, der Kopf des Hushush-Labels, lotet mit seinem Projekt Szkieve die Höhen und Tiefen des Ambient aus und dröhnt und oszilliert dabei, dass es eine Freude ist. Das erinnert streckenweise (vielleicht des Formats wegen) an Aubes Picture-LP "Cerebral Disturbance", auf der dieser Aufnahmen von Hirnfrequenzen erwurstet. Auf der anderen Seite kontrastieren Ammo Orchestersequenzen und extreme Electronics, ohne plump zu werden, und schaffen es immer wieder, inmitten ihres Klangteppichs mit völlig neuen Wendungen zu erblüffen. Ein sehr intensiver Release eines sehr aktiven Labels. 2002/06 : Absorb Beautifully packaged split 12" picturedisc. two artists, one goal. to make the most fucked-up, disturbing and downright out-there noises one can make in the space of forty minutes. ammo up first on the green / orange side with 'terra amata'; alternating tones and drones provide the bleak backing for a variety of field recordings, sound effects and unusued digital data from the depths of their hard drives. divided up into movements, it can been seen as a constantly shifting soundscape that encompasses industrial, electronic and ambient characteristics. check out the chorus of girls singing at the fifteen minute mark. like the future sound of london....only better. 'Perturbacee' is the odd title for the blue / cyan side from szkieve. recorded live to dat, this is slightly more abstract and less immediate. sounding like it was recorded in the middle of an arctic power station (but says montreal here, so i'm close), the exercise here seems to be building up discreet layers of ambience. the perfect soundtrack to those dark corners of your mind. Stunning. 2002/05 : Hardcore Concept Première impression en prenant le disque en main, avant même de le poser la platine : il est beau. Magnifique même. Deux faces peintes, celle d'Ammo représentant des blattes sur fond rouge, celle de Szkieve présentant des papillons sur fond bleu. A noter que ce split est une édition limité à 450 exemplaires numérotés. Pour ce qui est de la musique, elle est à la hauteur du design. En face A, John Sellekaers et C-drik, les deux compères d'Ammo, nous livrent certainement un de leurs meilleurs morceaux d'ambient. Minimaliste par moment, se limitant à quelques nappes, introduisant de courtes pièces orchestrales à d'autre, Terra Amata nous fait vivre un étrange voyage sonore, passant d'un chœur d'enfants à quelques bruits étranges, sans jamais perdre sa cohérence. De son côté, Szkieve lorgne plus sur la noise-ambient. Partant tout en douceur, Dimitri Della Faille, la tête pensante derrière Hush-Hush, fait monter progressivement la pression, nous amenant sournoisement dans une atmosphère étouffante. N'hésitant pas à explorer les hautes fréquences, Szkieve nous plonge dans sons cauchemar, faisant évoluer tout doucement son morceau, sans jamais se répéter. De la noise intelligente, sobre et puissante comme on aimerait en entendre plus souvent. 2002/05 : Twilight Zone A meeting on vinyl of visionary artists with progressive and illuminate inspiration. On a side of the record we find Szkieve, Dimitri Della Faille's creature, Hushush label mind; it introduces us minimal and tormented industrial atmospheres. In the opposite side there is Ammo, John Sellekaers project (feat. Xingu Hill, Ambre, Torsion) and C-Drik project (Axiome, Ambre, Crno Klank), both oriented to deep and innovative experimental diffusions, electro fragments with different shapes. Ammo: intense experimental-ambient executions, aluminium rooms covered by living cells, intriguing sound passages with lively audio-visual beats, with effects and rustles given with surgery precision. Melancholic iridescent sound crystals on excellent ambient scannings. Soft symphonic intersections with distant aural embroideries; aligned and direct frequencies to unexpected abstract rescuings. Szkieve: hypnotic lashes of electro-experimental, with perceptive small tunnels, a challenge against every sensorial balance. The hazy dreams of old machines worried about death. Rustles, static, disorder from laboratory, eternal oscillations stuffed with x-ray sensories, deformed synthetic ghosts imprisoned in failed experiments. Genetic reconstruction of remote stresses. 2002/05 : Industrial.org First off, I loathe vinyl. I have a pile of wicked early 90s noise rock sitting festering because of the lousy format and I curse DJ culture for delaying its eventual slide off the face of the earth. That rant stated, a picture disc is about the only justifiable example of the form (other than particularly sexy coloured vinyl) I can think of so Nicolas gets some breathing room for hischoice of format. This review however was from a promo CDR so I will have to defer to the record collector scum of the world on the aesthetics of the real deal. The slab is split evenly into two tracks, the first from Ammo, the second from Skieve. Blatantly electronic, laptop software as opposed to outboard gear which again makes this a strange choice for a retro format to my way of fuming. Ammo sound to my ears like Moonsanto with a work sock crammed into the Doctor's mouth and a thinly veiled threat uttered that no beats will be even remotely tolerated. It immediately conjurs up images of Reactor ideagrams chained together, an uncomfortable set of plugin associations circling around the algorithms like angry gang members. It is absolutely the oppositie of dense and busy though, subdued to the point of sounding like an outtake at times and while I like it, an extra layer or two would have helped to prop it up out being purely incidental. Ambre for example has a lot of the same feel but exhudes a more alkaline atmosphere which etches deeper and is harder to wash off. It is though a conmfortable fit with the Skieve material that follows. Skieve try to avoid any abrupt warbling incidents, focussing instead on impossibly acute angles and infinite singularities, like a less beat frequency cogniscant Alphonse de Montfroyd. I prefer this track over the Ammo one by far, the way it gets sub-dermal, slowly coiling around your temples and tinting your vision with a cold aquamarine. It's use of high-frequency structure is perfect, so much of it post 1kHz based without that sloppy dog feedback quality destroying listenability. Very subtle, slowly escalating tension bubbling up behind your eyes. The stylistic approach lends itself to long, drone like composition, "Perturbacee" being hands off machine music for the majority. An interesting release which no doubt will have escalated desirability due to the format. 2002/05 : Geluidsoverlast Szkieve is the project of labelowner Dimitri della Faille from Hushush. The music at first very minimal, monotone and plain, grows bigger unto a wall of densly packed higher frequency sounds which reach the utter depth of your ears, underbuilt with long ambient textures. The structure is build up well and constantly new streams of sounds and noises are add to the composition, until one eventually gets prisoned in an overwhelming gulf of a warm, noisy glitch/experimental ambient sound, which takes control over our unconscious. The sound gets louder and louder the further it gets, more piercing noises and short loud burst roll to shore for a while. Szkieve requires concentration from the beginning in order to capture the whole musical composition which follows right after the rather empty and monotone start of this excellent musical piece. It was only after the 6th time or so that I discovered the beauty in both sound and complexity of this record, which Dimitri has been able to forge perfectly! The music is very "capturing", best is to sit back in your chair and enjoy the mindtrip that the piercing sounds will evoke in the listener. And speaking of complexity, Ammo (C-drik and John Sellekaers) does a great job in building soft, yet harsh, melodic, yet sometimes melancholic complex patterns. Ammo takes of from a much darker side with almost suffocating dark soundscapes filled in with fast interrupting short samples, noises of objects and light digestable feedback drone. This brings forth an atmosphere to dream away on. Detailed squiggly and confusing sounds find their way to the surface. This peacefulness however is suddenly disrupted and attacked by a loud set of bursts, blibs, beeps, drones and humming with lots more noisy elements triggered and sequenced. The whole collage of sounds has a very echoic lo-fi sound. After that the rest is a bit restored and the whole composition takes a more mind-taking form. Layered gentle rumblings later replaced by a melodic soundline, form the basis for additional feedback drone and bizarre sounds. Again a short set of more noisier material surfaces, but is immediately followed by a semi-happy singing sound of children (?), it does actually sound scarry, further sounds are of a rather experimental nature, it's not the plastic bag kind of sounds, no, this is much more worked out and very detailed, but most difficult to describe it differently. There's as well orchestral elements as I also seem to recognise the sounds of Rainforest animals, at least the atmosphere is there. This side is completely packed with lots of different and complex soundstructures and compositions in a dark, experimental, collages way. Recommended for you to check it out. |