The Haxan Cloak

Have just spent a pleasant while listening to the latest 12" by The Haxan Cloak. "Observatory", released by London based Aurora Borealis Records. (Catalogue ABX053). In true 12" tradition this piece of vinyl plays at 45rpm....nice. The sleeve carries a picture of Joseph Beuys - full marks at Hartop Towers for that!
2 instrumental tracks, side A ("Observatory") reminds me of construct of sound not too far from the works of Bruce Gilbert. A modern Dome. A building of loops and patterns that have a sense of urgency...a really great sound to get lost in. Side B ("Hounfour (Temple)") I remain uncertain about. The track carries an air of "new-ageism", this track could have been released on a 12" format by some Scandinavians in the early 1990's....I'm thinking Biosphere and that ilk. Pretty much nothing floating on vinyl...muzak for the Chillax Room....a shame, as "Observatory" is one of the best tracks I've heard all year - would love to hear it live.
Aurora Borealis are about to release a full CD and the B-Side hasn't put me off buying it.
The 12" is limited to 100 copies so get one quick at www.aurora-b.com

Pictures:
1: 12" Sleeve.
2: Bobby Krlic. (The Haxan Cloak).

Dieter Muh #44

"...And I look at the free festivals, they're like cinemas with no films..." (M.E.Smith)

The first live performance of Dieter Muh this year took me to Helsinki and an appearance at the AAVE Festival at the Malmitalo. AAVE standing for "Alternative Audio Visual Event". I like playing festivals because as a rule they are well organised with strict time frames and extra care is taken for the artists. Venn Festival in Bristol, Equinox Festival in London and the WGT Festival in Leipzig and now the AAVE Festival in Helsinki, all no exceptions to the rule.
The Malmitalo is a Kulturhaus built in Malmi, a district on the outskirts of Helsinki. The whole district had a "Soviet" feel (especially on a cold April night). Dieter Muh were to perform in a small (studio) cinema under the heading of "Live Cinema". I was to perform a live soundtrack to the films "Burning Dogs Teeth" by Tim Bayes and "Dream-Machine" by Simon Kane. Both films were edited by Tim to run for 42 minutes.
For the sound, I began with the sound of vinyl run out grooves building to a level of chaos ( mainly using sound samples supplied by Schuster) before reaching a plateau and introducing multi-layered gourds and bowed cymbals then bringing to birth the track "Everything Stops" from the "Tertium Organum" LP. I first tried this build (using different samples) in London last December and enjoyed it, I thought I would try it again. For the "Dream-Machine" I used two separate rhythms and by 40 minutes I was letting my machines play themselves, so I walked off backstage for a swig of beer.
The sound (orchestrated by Simon Kane) was crystal clear, although I did think it could have been louder, I am not used to playing to seated audience in small cinema situation, and Tamsin was glad she didn't have to wear earplugs! The evening may or may not have been filmed or recorded, I have yet to hear back from the people concerned. A shame, but the whole experience will stay with me, so recorded or not it was one hell of a night. It was good to see Tommi from STROM e.c., Mikko Aspa and Sebastian ("now you play arty-farty music") Sarekallio show for support.

Also playing were Grey Park. GP performed a live improvised set to a film of them going in to the Suomi outback to make a cup of coffee. Whilst this was being shown two camera guys mixed in images of their performance. Complicated and fascinating stuff that made the images almost three-dimensional. The sound moved along with the film - it troughed at times but never too deeply, and in parts peaked to electronic bliss. I am partial to shortwave radio transmissions...
This was the first time I had seen Grey Park live, hopefully they'll play the UK soon, an ideal band for ILL FM and The Others!

Interesting weekend for Dieter Muh with a gig in Helsinki and an appearance on the "You Are Playin' Like A Fuckin' Pub Band" compilation series.


Pictures:
1: AAVE Art.
2: The Malmitalo, Helsinki.
3: Four Koff (not the rider...unfortunately).
4: Grey Park soundcheck.
5: Grey Park in Performance.
6 & 7: Dieter Muh & Burning Dogs Teeth.
8: Dieter Muh & Dream-Machine.
9: Plaa + Nosfe (GP) with myself and Simon Kane outside the Malmitalo.

You Are Playin' Like A Fuckin' Pub Band

I don't like to use this site for selling my wares or advertising my goods etc, hopefully there will be a fully blown Haemoccult Recordings Web Site to take care of all that later in the year, but just a quick mention of one of the more obscure / limited Dieter Muh releases.
Saturday April 16 was "International Record Shop Day" and to mark such an occasion London based label The 7.17 From West Wittering Is Late Again released a series of cassettes called "You Are Playin' Like A Fuckin' Pub Band". The cassettes were on sale (only) at Second Layer Records in North London. Each cassette is limited to 30 copies and each featured an artist / project from the UK and an overseas artist / project.
The line up is such:
1: Cheapmachines / Concrete Violin
2: BBBlood / Emil Beaulieau
3: Onomatopoeia / Sudden Infant
4: Dieter Muh / Balinese Beast
5: Smell & Quim / Family Battle Snake
6: Dylan Nyoukis / Ryan Jewell
The Dieter Muh track is a 15 minute extract from the soundtrack "Burning Dogs Teeth" recorded earlier in the month with Michael Parker and using samples of the work of Schuster and Muhviertel. The Onomatopoeia track has the beautiful title "LSD Trip In A Police Cell", and my favourite of the collection (at the moment) is Sudden Infant's "Giving Trash Ritual?".

If interested then check out Second Layer Records website, there may be some copies left.

Pictures:
1: International Record Shop Day Flyer.
2: "You Are Playin' Like A Fuckin' Pub Band" Volume 1 - 6.

They Call Me Mr. Tibbs!!

One of the troops of tomorrow (allegedly)

Fragment Factory

I have spent a pleasant while listening to three of the latest releases from Hamburg (Germany) based label Fragment Factory. The label is operated by a chap called Michael Muennich who also records and releases under the name of Muennich. FRAG 18 is a C22 cassette by Muennich called "Rugged", and of the three releases is certainly the strongest and my favourite.
Presented in a glossy monochrome sleeve with a small piece of stone stuck to the inside (?) the cassette is strangely limited to 57 copies. It certainly is a cassette of two halves with side A being both cognitive and abstract. A steady tonal drone keeps the sound glued whilst contact mic's run over stone (rugged) surfaces the introduction of radio static raises the sound to a plateau and the piece ends with dripping water on a vinyl "run-out" groove. Interesting journey. Side B contains one of the best 11 minute tracks I have heard for a long time, it is pure industrial noise in an old school style. The sound hooks in to inter-twining loops with imagery of "See-Saw" by S.P.K. or "Out Out Out" by Non with a bit of Esplendor Geometrico thrown in. Beautiful stuff making Muennich a project to discover. FRAG 19 is (apparently) a Muennich / Juppiter Castrol GTX collaboration. (Can't wait).
The Krube cassette was a slight disappointment after Muennich. A C34 cassette of audio performance art action. Too abstract for me. R&G, Schimpfluch type sounds. Limited to 63 copies.
Michael Esposito and Kevin Drumm are both new names to me. (OK, I've heard of Kevin Drumm but I own none of his output). Michael is a film-maker and researcher in to EVP. Electronic Voice Phenomena, the recording of (dead) static or stray radio waves. Interesting stuff first brought to my awareness through reading about the works of Konstantins Raudive many years ago. I think Dave Uden had a flexi disc that came with some magazine in the 1970's that had EVP recordings on it....sampled to death of course! Anyway, back to the vinyl. The EP is called "The Icy Echoer" FRAG 16. Esposito and Drumm are both Chicago based and the recordings on this EP are manipulations of EVP recordings made in a local Illinois cemetery. The single is highly listenable and both sides end on tracks that sound like The Haters. Good stuff. Beautifully sleeved and on crystal clear vinyl and limited to 300 copies. Essential. (I have #255...so hurry)!!

Fragment Factory (like fellow German label Licht Und Stahl) is building a catalogue of great sounds that needs investigation and support. Contact Michael at www.fragmentfactory.com

Pictures:
1: Fragment Factory Logo.
2: Muennich Sleeve.
3: Krube Sleeve.
4: Michael Esposito & Kevin Drumm Sleeve.

X Ray Spex-Germ Free Adolescence

Dieter Muh #14

Eleven years ago Dieter Muh played their second ever gig on foreign soil at the Ilokivi in Jyvaskyla, Finland. I mention this because I returned there last week making a journey I never thought I would make again. The sight of the venue doors (it was locked when I got there), and the surrounding area (it is part of the University) made the memories flood back.
June the 1st 2000 and Dave and I arrive after a three hour flight and four hour train journey to be met by the gig organisers; Juri, Jari and Weno. Juri and Weno were then recording as Mnem but were not playing live, Jari was part of Sefahat who were. Juri showed us to our sleeping accommodation (to drop off the equipment), a tomato and then virtually every drinking hole in Jyvaskyla. At this time of year the sun does not set in Finland and the bars stayed open until about 4 a.m.
June the 2nd 2000 and the day of the gig Dave and I are atrociously hungover. Weno has vodka for a midday breakfast, we share a tomato.
The venue is a small studio theatre built inside the University grounds, a nice walk through tall trees and woodland. The other "act" on the bill was Putrefier. Mark Durgan and Steve Underwood took the flight and train journey on the same day and arrived around two hours before the doors opened. The gig was the first of "Harbinger Sound Travelling Circus & Freak Show Tour 2000".
The crowd was modest, around 30 people sat watching whilst Sefahat performed 40 minutes of improvised scratching and skronking. At the time they reminded me of AMM or suchlike. I have a recording of the gig, played it a couple of weeks ago - there's a lot of guitar plucking and shortwave radio going on. I remember the guitar being played with socks and Tommi Keranen having his electronics set up on an ironing board. (Irony board)?
Mark's set I have unfortunately forgotten but I do know that on the tour he played blinding sets, so it can't of been a bad one.
Dave and I had prepared three different sets for the tour, by that I mean we had three "openings" and three "endings" and whatever happened in between happened. This was the usual (at the time) set up for a Dieter Muh live performance. We began with small voices, Klaus Kinski orating, children playing, minutiae cracks and a voice declaring "Jesus Loves You". I have a recording and the first 15 minutes are bloody good, some of the best Dieter Muh live to date. After this the gig went a little downhill - we decided to do an old "song" from the early 1980's, an old track that Dave and I wrote called "A Mouthful Of Sand". It went downhill as it required me to do some vocals and the trouble was...I could not remember the bloody words. It seemed such a good idea at the time and I had gone through the lyrics earlier, but under the heat of the lights my mind went blank and I just kept repeating the line "A Mouthful Of Sand", not only that, for some unknown reason I was shouting in a Southern American accent! At this moment in time all I could think of was Cliff Richard.....When Cliff Richard was given an O.B.E. sometime in the 1970's I remember him being asked if the knighthood would change his style of music and his reply was that he would stop singing in an American accent and sing in his true voice, that is all I could think of whilst onstage in Jyvaskyla with a microphone in my hand. I think the rest of the set just fizzled to an end. I do remember Steve Underwood making paper aeroplanes and writing Cabaret Voltaire on them and throwing them towards the stage and Weno slept throughout.
So, April 18th 2011 and I returned like a pilgrim to the Ilokivi. A touching moment.

Pictures:
1: Poster for the gig.
2 & 3: Dieter Muh live at Ilokivi 2000.
4: On Returning: (Oscar at the door, Juri Karpov and myself holding Isabel F.).