DK068 Modelbau – ‘Typewriter’ C30 €5
Modelbau is not the latest in a series of names used to create music, but it is indeed the latest one for a solo vehicle. Each of the names, and that includes my own name, stands for something particular, an idea, and something not found in the other monikers I am using. Modelbau is, like Freiband, not a proper German word (it should be Modellbau, but I thought that looked ugly) and as such is probably already a lo-fi name, and as such also very personal. As a musician I have noy a particular instrument, nor do I favour any technqiue, and I think one should use what is needed for a particular project or a piece of music. When I started Modelbau, I wanted to use various lo-fi sound sources, such as Dictaphones, walkman, shortwave radio, small synthesizers and such like. This would not be a project for improvisation, but more or less planned pieces of music. All of which to be released in the digital domain only. That was in 2012. Now, in 2017, almost nothing is left of this outline, and yet the msuic is very much what I envisaged as Modelbau. These days Modelbau uses pre-recorded cassettes, iPad apps, sound effects, laptop, shortwave radio, small synthesizers, ancient 2bit sampling device; everything is recorded on the spot, as is, and without multi-tracking and very minimal editing (save for fades and mastering) released as downloads, but also on cassette, CDs and CDrs. Vinyl is only a matter of time. Whenever Modelbau plays a concert (all of which are recorded) preparations are made, and these are also recorded; sometimes they have these preparations can have the length of a concert, but they can also be single pieces of a few minutes. All of these recordings are archived and whenever a release is prepared, the latest sessions are listened to again. ‘Does it stand the test of time’, is it still interesting What’s really peculiar about Typewriter’s four tracks is the contrast between two different types of sound: the pulsation – for instance a soundwave (in track 4), a radio crackling (in track 1) or the flow of a magnetic tape – and a more substantial sound that seems to be static. It’s a set of synthetic drones, of pink noise degrading layer after layer, or even a bleak field recording (in track 3). The pulsation in its hypnotic repetitiveness leads you through the most diverse soundscapes. This structure, that could be seen as relatively simple, is anything but – Frans de Waard brilliantly orchestrates these reiterations and in the most natural and effective way he embarks the listeners on a journey through sound and guided by sound itself.
DK069 Molestia Aricularum – ‘Dissolvi’ C30 €5
Molestia Auricularum is Federico Trimeri’s solo project – also known as a member of Storm{o}. Born as a Harsh Noise/HNW project, over the years Trimeri has explored different music genres, focusing especially on musique concrète, tape music and field recording. In his latest work – highly influenced by the Japanese onkyo music scene and the works of William Basinski and Jacob Kirkegaard – the sound was created using a no input mixing board, a reel-to-reel tape recorder and various tape loops. In Dissolvi, glitch, pulses, tones and digital interference overlap with repetitions, buzzes and silence produced by loop manipulation and analogic deterioration – the final result is a polymorphic hybrid, born out of the merge of antithetical sounds, which share a common feature: the absence of a start/end. Artwork by mic_nodolby.
DK070/Viande18 Mario – ‘XBCE’ C30 €5
Mario Gabola aka Mario is a member of Aspec(t) from Napoli, which released on Dokuro an earthshaking CDR back in 2010 (DK022 Skinless). XBCE – born from the partnership between Dokuro and Viande, Gabola’s very own label – is his second attempt as a solo. As in the former “May Solo” (Suoni grezzi/Viande), Mario’s collaborators and forever friends M. Argenziano, G. Leandra e Sec_ take part in the recording and as usual Gabola plays with self-built devices, no input, feed drum, feedback and saxophone. XBCE tracks are as always characterised by sharp sound and are packed with sonic energy – they shift from explosions of unrestrained noise to rarefied moments of apparent calm, leading to the inevitable chaotic and cathartic explosion. This is the Fire music to our rotten times. Artwork by Merlo.