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The Ragcing consciousness Desk Best Of 1998.
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The Raging Consciousness Desk's Bakers Golden Dozen For 1998
By Glenn Hammett & Steve Taylor Copyright 1999
Hello again folks from our secluded lair on the outskirts of downtown Alwaysneverland. The frontiers of electronica assaulted us from all sides in 1998 and still we resist, waiting for either beauty or music to gush from all those CD-ROM burners - which, disappeared from the stock shelves at a record (oof!) clip in '98. Almost with a nostalgia for the pops and ticks of the rapidly retreating (for the second time) medium of analogue vinyl, the digital persons at the edge of technology opted to misuse various filtering devices to generate errors in there sound fields, in the hopes of creating sonorous music. Well, the research is still on going. Though we must indicate, Rag Con seems to be after new music with a point, particularly that which possesses an effortless capacity to hold us in our chairs for a reproducible experience: one uninterrupted hour of spellbinding and holy amazement.
To review, here's what a recording must have in order to be considered worthy treasure of veneration, and a candidate for our most prestigious list (ooof!).
New artistry - as in, was never done before. Competence ? demonstrated mastery over the tools used. Production/Sonics ? artists attention to high-resolution systems a must. Packaging - the icing on the cake, that extra mile you love to look at and hold. Therefore, ahem. We humbly submit the following recommendations.
:zoviet*france:~
Feedback~
Mort Aux Vaches (The Netherlands)~
Music: 9 Sound: 8~
Just how far can the envelope of electronic music be pushed? A compendium of electronica elements from the past 30 years, :z*f:'s last release for the Dutch live musique nouvelle series boasts the most visceral music we've heard from them yet. Fifteen minutes into the work, a bass line drops in that instantly pressurizes the listening room. Audiophile bells and whistles aside, the music at times reminds one of an exotic sculpture, as if set on a slowly turning pedestal, allowing the listener to gaze upon the many alien-like facets of this sonic gem. This is leading edge stuff done with unwavering confidence, by a consort who've paid their dues. A full body assault yet menacingly subtle, we can call to mind no other single record quite like it. Limited to a 1,000, hand numbered copies with gorgeous artwork. Best of all, its live in the studio!
Synaulia~
Music from Ancient Rome [Volume 1]~
Amiata Records ARNR 1396 (Italy)~
Music: 7 Sound: 8 ~
Walter Maioli's ?Synaulia? project presents twenty-five inventive and differing attempts to entertain us the way old Romans might have, using custom built ancient instrument replicas and a phenomenal intuitive sense not informed by extant scores (there are few if any). Strange horns and flutes, familiar reeds and hand percussion, ecstatic vocal textures and haunting spoken words litter the soundstage for a cumulative intoxication that is rare by modern standards. A virtual museum of ceremonial curiosities, this is splendidly recorded, handsomely bound as an oversized edition with generous notes.
Steve Roach~
Slow Heat~
Timeroom Editions 1 (USA)~
Music: 9 Sound: 9 (through the neighbors kitchen)
The master of deep ambient returns with the year's classiest CD of late night/early morning excursions in the realm of electrons. This seventy-one minute track intended for indefinite play, was inspired by the heat transfer cycle. Of course one needs two CDs to pull it off effectively, otherwise there'll be an undesirable lull just like the one on the 8-track version of ?In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida?. Somewhat different than Muslimgauze (sic), Roach's style is one of subtlety, restraint and tide-like flux. Extended shifting drone?s waft into infinity, clearing the air for a reflective mood of immersion. Among insect-sound accents, the composition increases in intensity with textural/tonal rushes of uncommon sonority. Not surprising, since Roach always has the latest electronics as well as one of the most impressive studio systems (his Audio Research/ Pro-Ac/Straight Wire isn?t bad). All this adds up and worth every penny when you play one of his Timeroom productions. Earth-shattering bass, depth through the back wall (and on out to your neighbors kitchen), and totally out of the box, it's the kind of ear candy that makes the artistry that much more satisfying, not to mention fun to listen to.
Robert Rich~
Seven Veils~
Hearts of Space 11086-2 (USA)~
Music: 8 Sound: 8
Robert Rich's eleventh release for Hearts of Space is a lapidary work strongly suggestive of darkly sensuous, Middle Eastern dances. The spooky "Seven Veils" shows Rich moving toward ensemble presentations of his ideas and moods, and as such, signals a significant and important departure from the ambient pack. Synthetic colors sampled textures and hand percussion rhythm tracks backdrop real-time instruments which consistently bend pitches into twisting, gestural smoke.
The three-part "Book of Ecstasy" with its fifteen minutes of heady, unwinding language, and Rich's superbly handled lap steel guitar, tread on new ground.
The production is immaculate, with deeply layered images, diamond-cut articulation, and loads of presence. Best thing he's done yet.
Arvo Part: Kanon Pokajanen~
Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, dir. Tonu Kaljuste~
ECM New Series 78118-21654-2 (Germany)~
Music: 9 Sound: 9
Have we arrived at a juncture of Arvo Part's career of unfolding liturgical wonders where spiritual orgasms are no longer necessary? Oh there are moments of concentrated harmonies here to massage the nervous system, but Part calmly fingers us again and again back to the crucial Russian Orthodox text. We continue to stand agog at Part's faculty for teasing music out of the unrhymed written word, where silence and austere & innovative polyphonies push each other up the lowest grade imagined yet, toward purification. This is music of organic complexity, ?Kanon? warrants many auditions, allowed also by the clarity and resolution of ECM's digital recording, which improves upon previous efforts in the important areas of capturing location ambience and dynamic contrasts.
Muslimgauze~
Mullah Said~
Staalplaat Muslimlim 018 (The Netherlands) ~
Produced and engineered by Bryn Jones & John Delf~
Music: 10 Sound: 10
Sadly, Bryn (Muslimgauze) Jones passed away in the first few weeks of 1999. However, in addition to at least 100 other titles, he left us this over-the-top production, a high-impact recording that while musical, has enough abstract excitement to put a smile on any adventurous listeners face. Those not familiar with Jones' style, will listen slack-jawed at the shear anticipatory nature of his sound collage. Mid-East tension is so accurately captured through the use of the regions instrumentation (especially percussion), sinister electronics, samples of men chanting, women crying, sounds culled from the horrors of war, and occasional angry distortion that the Listener's listener will be transported to the belly of the beast. This is not the amusical, noisy side of the 'Gauze, but a rare, beautiful recording that is, at times, quite sad. This is also one of the most brutally dynamic and open (as in no boundaries). If your system resolves this one, pat yourself on the back for a job well done. Hand numbered edition of 1,000 with a sleeve that made our toes curl.
Monastic Song: Peter Abelard/Codex Las Huelgas~
Theatre of Voices, dir, Paul Hillier~
Harmonia Mundi 907209 (France/USA)~
Music: 7 Sound: 9
Theatre of Voices take us deep into the cloistered dark for what might be the most remote sounding of the chant variants, monophony. This recording advances an air of dead sobriety and floats on ethereal unison vocals fronted occasionally with one or two soloists. Chilling in its ability to transport the listener to the era of its writing, this is one hushed, mysterious, devotional hour of stillness, an edition that speaks directly to the fancier of archivable sacred music.
Matthias Grassow~
Namaker~
Lunar L199702 (Italy)~
Music: 8 Sound: 8
?Namakar?, the best of three remarkable meditation trips created by this German keyboardist in 1998, is comprised of five simple key-fixed transgressions of thickly textured drone harmonics. Since we're talking about the Void here, comparisons to consensus studio reality are moot. Grassow's soundfields are so dense, shimmering, and opaque, it is difficult to say exactly what you're listening to or how it was accomplished. Overall, the achieved design is an effective description of some nameless ethereal process, and more so with loudness. If you're ready and willing this record is capable of taking you way out on a tiny epic of motionless voyage, one of your own conjuring of course. Imagine orbiting at the fringes of the ionosphere, around an antique metal planet, or an infinite, vaguely curved plain with a depthless vault of nothing above. Or maybe a walk along broad marble-paved river embankments studded with statues, clothed in time-shattering fog. By any reckoning, this is a bonafide chakra cleaner.
Desaccord Majeur~
Samana~
Staalplaat STCD 125 (The Netherlands)~
Music: 10 Sound: 9
Once in a blue moon a recording is released that your gut tells you is going to be something special, even before you hear it. ?Samana?, while unique, in truth possesses the spirit of early progressive music, cast into a futuristic framework. Track three is exemplary with its it's Sprocket-ish spoken female voice, trancey tablas and other exotic percussive instruments, insect sounds, and swirling, swooping, electronic glissando effects wrapping around Balinese orchestrations. ?Samana? is reminiscent of Brainticket's "Celestial Ocean", with a hint of the mysterious, ceremonial quality of O Yuki Conjugate added. To top it off, the sound is highly textured with dynamics that'll vibrate knick-knacks off shelves and teeth out of cat mouths. These guys really know how to work the soundfields, front to rear, side to side, and basement to attic. The smooth, creamy tonal balance makes us guess it's an analogue original. Shelve this one next to Brainticket, Algarnas Tradgard, and Tussalego Fanfara. Any collector of unusual, ambient, tribal or kosmiche music will positively love it.
Luis Delgado~
El Sue De Al-ZaqqADq ~
Intuition Records INT 3236 2 (Germany)~
Music: 8 Sound: 8
Andalusian ancient music veteran and Eduardo Paniagua Ensemble/Calamus member Delgado has assembled an original homage to the eleventh century poet of Moorish Spain using the entire spanish-arabic acoustic instrument inventory in a production imaginatively backlit with electronic hues. Ouds, frame drums and sinuous voices revive the sophistication of the Caliph courts. Not a recital but a dream record that is delivered with spacious soundstaging, for a refined experience of aural pleasures that seduces with beauty and civility. O for the yesterday of Al-Andalus. Here it is, as only it might be imagined in our time.
Anouar Brahem; Thimar~
ECM 1641 539-888-2 (Germany)~
Music: 8 Sound: 9
Tunisian oud master Brahem and Britain's John Surman and Dave Holland, play chamber music of the most patient and worldly sort. Bassist Holland gives the trio its faultless foundation, Brahem executes with unflappable poise, while reedman Surman plays soprano sax and bass clarinet with a tenor that helps amplify the distantly Mediterranean accent. The pacing of jazz and Arab classical music dissolve into one another as a concise and probing set of originals. The fresh instrument partitioning and the frequently solemn/pensive air presented plus the superb sound, mark Thimar as one of the most satisfying recordings issued from the German label in several years.
Artemiy Artemiev~
Five Mystery Tales of Asia~
Electro Shock ELCD 007 (Sweden)~
Music: 9 Sound: 9
"Break through" artist of the year goes to Russian composer Artemiev, for this sacred ethno-electronic masterpiece. Melding electronic and acoustic sources including Buddhist chanting, this subtle, intriguing work elicited consistently positive praise from all whom visited the Secret Salon in 1998. A distant cousin to 1996's 'Hooked Light Rays' by Somma (Bill Laswell & Roberto Musso) -a radical electronic presentation of formal Buddhist proceedings, "Tales" marks Artemiev's entry into the rank of serious contenders. "Tales" transcends all his previous efforts (dating back to the early 90?s) and jumps way ahead to the end of the Millennia. Having done his homework, this well composed recording is full of surprises, gracefully morphing from straight-up acoustic world music to chugging electronica to deep-dark-ambient too the otherworldly concoctions of all styles combined. Timeless music recorded with the same care given to the performance.
Anonymous 4~
A Lammas Ladymass ~
Harmonia Mundi HMU 907222 (France/USA)~
Music: 8 Sound: 9
Ruth Cunningham, Marsha Genensky, Susan Hellauer and Johanna Maria Rose, on this they?re eighth recording for Harmonia Mundi are at it again, plying their immaculate pitch to the religious repertory of the Middle Ages. They have created in the process an encounter with chant and polyphony not possible in its time with inebriating, vibratoless feminine voices. Here they've assembled a 64+ minute chunk of sanctuary from an array of sources via musical, literary and historical scholarship to great cohesive effect. Add complete annotationand the famously accurate Harmonia Mundi sonics and we beg, what more can one want?
For more information on ?Fringe Music? other projects and the web-magazine e~mail [email protected]
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New Muslimgauze Reviews
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Muslimgauze Legacy Strengthens after Bryn Jones Sudden Passing
A Tribute to the Art of Bryn (MUSLIMGAUZE) Jones
All compositions written, recorded, produced and engineered by Muslimgauze;
? ?Fakir Sind?
Soleilmoon Recordings~ Sol~80 CD
Limitation-1000 copies with hand-done silk-screened cover art
? ?Hand of Fatima?
Soleilmoon Recordings~ Sol~90 CD
Limitation-1000 copies
? ?Box of Silk and Dogs?
Staalplaat Recordings Muslimlim-013 CD
Limitation-500 copies of a 9 CD quad fold out
?Iranian Female Olympic Table-Tennis Theme Music?
Staalplaat Recordings Muslimlim-016 CD
Limitation-500 copies packaged on a silk-screened Table-Tennis paddle
The recent passing of the genius that is Muslimgauze, Bryn Jones has yet to slow the release of new material one whit. In fact, a barrage of post-mortum CD?s have recently hit the streets, with promises by Soleilmoon and Europe?s Staalplaat, of five years worth of material still to come. The question -soon to be answered- is why the material was not already released? No matter, as Muslimgauze is so far ahead of the competition that most artists? are still trailing behind work recorded a decade ago.
Muslimgauze first rose from the ?Decade of Greed? with the inaugural release in 1984 as an answer to the unrest in the Middle East. Jones? style began as a percussion-heavy, dark, brooding and hypnotic form of Dark-Ambient and took-off in several directions at the beginning of the 90?s. Now his work had the fury, frustration and hopelessness of war imbedded within the complex sound-sculptures. Though it reached a pinnacle of cacophony with the difficult listen of ?Islamaphobia?, his music also explored a beautiful side, as witnessed with the 1994 double CD ?Veiled Sisters?. The abstractions and sound crafting of ?Gun Aramaic? and (almost) bachelor-pad coolness of ?Zuriff Moussa? were but a few of the avenues that Jones tackled and conquered. Most interesting was that he never used samples or computers, stating that he liked ?a hands on approach? and ?much preferred analogue to digital?. One thing ?s for sure; with a backlog of well over one hundred recordings, there is much to digest.
Finally, Bryn knew his way around the studio, producing sonic refinements that stand up to any Audiophile recordings. Muslimgauze recordings have a holographic, richly textured sound that makes it a double treat for special listening sessions.
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The first CD reviewed here, ?Fakir Sind?, is representative of Jones? gentler, ambient side. Haunting peacock calls are pitched against Mid-East hand-percussion and cooing vocals. This timeless oasis of sound is a perfect foil for those that find most New-Age too saccharin, the Glitch movement too a-musical and Progressive too redundant. ?Fakir Sind? combines traces of all three, yet combines them in a totally fresh, neoteric fashion.?
?Hand of Fatima? has a sound, which is diametrically opposed to ?Sind?, with its angry shizoid-beats, lunch-loosening dropouts and distorted ?she?s-ready-to-blow? electronic effects. Those not fortunate enough to resolve the recording properly might be fooled into thinking their home play-back system has gone belly-up. The audiophile that has taken the time and care mandated by a good set-up, won?t be disappointed, as the more data you can retrieve, the more absorbing Muslimgauze?s tricky knob-twiddling feats can be appreciated. When Bryn puts the hammer down all hell breaks loose. Animals and small children will be amazed and bewildered and your chest filled with pride as tanks rumble through the ?sweet spot?, ricocheting pings of electronics bounce wall to wall and phat, juicy bass lines clear the shelves of pesky knick-knacks. Your innocently confounded listening guests, jaws slack, will applaud its substitution for the latest Madonna record.
The ?Box of Silk and Dogs? is the most ambitious Muslimgauze release to date, a nine CD foldout, storybook format that had me immediately transferring the disks to their respective jewel boxes (I provided). I must say although packaging of ?Gauze has superseded almost any other music in both originality and inventiveness (table-tennis paddles, raised lettering on the jewel boxes etc.) making them ?objects d? art?, they can be, at times, cumbersome and altogether too frail. I still prefer it to the ?jewel box with a wisp of paper enclosed? format which I personally I feel represents an inadequate effort at best. The design team responsible for Muslimgauze releases (thankfully) makes an effort to produce a substantial package.
The music is the thing and ?Box? doesn?t disappoint in the least. It is, in truth, a requisite purchase any serious enthusiast of Bryn?s Magic-Carpet music, a set comprising hours of textural delight. Here all aspects of his music are represented and the overly distorted and acrimonious ?West-bank? contingency is kept to a minimum. The sonics are uniform, with state-of-the-art detailing presented throughout its entirety. From the delicate, almost subliminal beauty of ?Zuriff Moussa 3? (which differs completely from the original ?Zuriff Moussa?), to the abstract, contorted sounds of disc one, ?Hindu Kush on?, Soleilmoon Recordings has given fans a motherload to chew on. They have obviously poured much thought into producing this work. The end result is a balanced, concerted effort that summarily visits all of the developing aspects of the emerging sound world from this late great percussionist and mixologist. Kudos to both artist and label for a task well done.
The packaging of the ?Iranian Female Olympic Table-Tennis Theme? is a work of art in of itself, an actual ?Table-Tennis? paddle, festooned with a silk-screened portrait of the ?Team?, wrapped in traditional Muslim dress, only their eyes visible. This is Muslimgauze?s finest Trance piece. It is, in fact, the only composition that he recorded as such. A deep, pulsing, static-filled, albeit gentle, thirty-three minute chunk of hypnotica-electronica. Although visitors seemed to feel there wasn?t enough ?going-on?, I personally cannot find music laid back enough, so naturally this CD, with its subtle approach entranced me. This is definitely a big shift in Bryn?s direction and one I welcome. My only wish were that I had the capability to loop it into a continuous piece that I could trance on for hours at a clip. Sonically the CD is monstrous with enough bass to rattle the hapless cars (with booming systems themselves) that innocently pass by. It feels good to give them a (harmless) taste of their own medicine for once. Bryn, you will be greatly missed?
More Muslimgauze, including a four LP box set, in the next all-vinyl installment of ?Postcards from Glennville?. For information on The Raging Consciousness Desk?s web-site please visit our update page at http://home.infospace.com/glenn16.
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