art is everywhere part - 34

This time around mail art from parts unknown!!!

found picture of the day

Various Artists – silver label (CD)

I bought this at Renaissance Montréal for 2.00 $. This CD comes inside a cool silver metal box. This is an electronic music compilation featuring a good dose of local talents. It`s not a recent release though, it came out in 2005. This a nice and long (14 tracks for a grand total of 70.50 minutes) electronic music compilation. It offers various music styles: minimal electronica (L`Oreille Cassée), trip hop (Curlee Peloso, Frivolous), IDM (Jay Hunsberger, Akufen, Dante & Dhula, Mike Shannon), dance floor groovy electronic music (Champion AKA DJ Champion), funky minimal house (The Mole), chill-out electronica (Slumber), minimal house (Orazio Fantini), and lo-fi song oriented electronica (Montag). The first song done by L`oreille Cassée took my head off, amazing minimal electronica with some lo-fi groovy elements thrown in, kinda short though (1.02 minutes). I would listen to this one all night. Anyways we`re always asking for perfection whilst nobody`s perfect. You figure it out.

Your Life Has Been Deciphered For You – reformulate sacrosanct impulses (CD-R)

Since 1986, `Your Life Has Been…For You `has been an international artist collaboration arranged by Zan Hoffman (Zanstones, Bodycocktail, ZH27). There`s no melody, no song structure, no lyrics, therefore this is not music per se. There`s some noise bits, no harsh noise, therefore it`s not a pure noise album either. It is an interesting recording, there`s a nice blend of `musical` moments mixed with ambience, lo-fi ambient noise, found sounds / samples, field recordings, sounds of unknown origins, with a good dose of silence / minimalism included. Upon the first listen, I thought that this was some type of improvised wanking / noodling. To be honest after repeated listening, I can say, yes it does feel improvised, but it`s also been edited. In fact it sounds pretty damned good, in it`s own particular style. What style you might ask? I would say organized aural chaos with homemade subtlety / sensitivity / serenity perhaps. For the curious, more open minded music listener out there. I like it, therefore you should (just kidding). Lots of freebies here: https://archive.org/details/zh27

Mourmansk150 – triumphant over your remains (CD)

It was a hot Sunday afternoon. I`m record hunting on Mont-Royal street, there`s a lot a great second hand record / book stores in that area. I`m scoping out the electronic music Cd`s when lo and behold, I see an Mourmansk150 CD. I`m always surprised when I find a noise recording in a second hand shop. Noise is not a popular style, except in Japan. This album was stuck between a Chemical Brothers and Moby CD`s. I look at the price 5.00 $, good deal I`m thinking. I give the CD to the cashier, ready to pay. He looks at the album, looks at me with a weird face and says:

- This is not music, it`s noise.

- I know that, I like noise.

- You like noise?

- What you consider music could be noise for me ears and vice-versa.

- I guess you`re right. Not too many folks buy noise albums.

- Agreed.

- would you like me to put some noise on the side for you?

- Thanks, but it`s not necessary. I like to hear noise once in awhile.  I like Mourmansk150. They`re interesting.

- Ok then.

At the end of the day, I bought ten albums. I come home all sweaty and all take a shower and lay down on me couch. There`s thirteen songs of power electronics / experimental noise. While not re-inventing the wheel, this is an interesting album. They use a potent mix of noise + voice and / or power electronics + voice. I enjoyed the listening experience. Standout tracks of the moment are:

5 – Untitled (20 seconds) = nice short instrumental drone / noise bursts.

7 – Untitled (28 seconds) = nice nearly ambient noise material.

9 – Untitled (4.53 minutes) = some type of banging going on + voice + lo-fi noise rumblings, I like it, I like it, I like it. Other Mourmansk150 recordings I recommend (if you can find them):

A – Témoignages et documents (their first album various experimentations at work here).

B – Autopsy (on Smell The Stench).

http://www.smellthestench.net/

More information here: http://www.mourmansk150.org/index0.html

Here:             

https://myspace.com/mourmansk150

And here:

http://nordwaves.fr/index.php?title=Mourmansk150

art is everywhere part - 33

More insanity from The Haddock!!!

The Haddock
2760 Willamette st # 205
Eugene
Oregon
97405
USA

Sister Loolomie – signals (CD)

Sister Loolomie is a solo project of (S), member of Exit In Grey (a Russian drone duo). Another fine release from Zhelezobeton (limited edition of 250 copies). There`s five tracks for a total running time of 48.54 minutes. What does it sound like? Well, here`s a brief description.

1 – No final decision here (13.53 minutes) = a collision of drones + ambient noise = subtle / relaxing / peaceful, pure aural bliss.

2 – About corpuscles (10.07 minutes) = ambient music with some nice lo-fi ambient noises = minimalism never felt so good.

3 – Prelude and part about pink dream (11.04 minutes) = minimal ambience / ambient noise + field recordings and / or subtle drones = just what my ears ordered.

4 – Sleep before the alarm (6.00 minutes) = found sounds / samples, ambient noise with numerous cutups = a challenging, but worthy listening experience.

5 – Light and cold (7.50 minutes) = peaceful rhythmic ambience. The conclusion of an almost perfect album. Contact them for availability here: http://zhb.radionoise.ru/