Phill Niblock – Music By Phill Niblock

 

Hello to everyone. Thank you for all the messages you have sent asking whether I am ok. To be honest, I am not. Since the last time last November many things have happened, including getting the covid, but that was the least serious. The strain on my mental health is very big and I now take anti-depressants and anti-psychotics to get me through. I can't promise I'll write frequently, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone.

So here's an awesome majestic droning minimal classic masterpiece by Phill Niblock. One track is a string quartet, the other one is two flutes but on an epic scale. 1993 cd on XI.

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Calineczka - On The Nuclear Physical Stability of the Uranium Minerals

More excellent hypnotic modular synth drone by the Polish Calineczka working on the edges of minimalism. Download it for free on the always awesome Invisible City Records bandcamp, which released it on tape in 2019.

Calineczka - Music not for Airports

Hey, it's been quite some time since my last post but I've got a lot in my hands, and although I've started writing some reviews, I wasn't able to finish them. So, here's Calineczka, Polish one-man project of Ścisław Dercz playing awesome analog modular synth drone. There's no variety at all, just almost seven hours of the most static drone you'll ever listen to; some people would call me extremely depressed for bearing to listen to such stuff for hours, but for me it's incredibly calming and ideal for concentrating and even clearing my ears from everyday city noises. And hey, I was actually listening to it on my flight back home from England recently, so the Eno reference turns back on its legs, no? You can download the whole session for free on the Attenuation Circuit bandcamp that released it this year.

Joanna Brouk ‎– Hearing Music 2Xcd

Enchanting and meditating new age/drone/minimal classical by this overlooked Bay Area composer who had studied under Terry Riley and whose output included five tapes released in the 1980s after which she went silent. Fortunately, for those of us who are not willing to spend high amounts for those tapes on Discogs, Numero made this 2 X CD collecting some of her material (unfortunately not including all of her recording output) in 2016; however she sadly passed away one year later.

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Christophe Charles - Verena (and a comment on how Coil can potentially destroy your life)

"Verena" is a minimalist ambient composition created by Christophe Charles in 2000 composed of field recordings, glitsch electronics close to Coil's Worship The Glitsch, and a floating sense of drone ready to break out. Highly recommended listening.

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Speaking of Coil's Worship The Glitsch (released as ELpH vs Coil) the time when I first listened to it coincided with a period of acute depression and anxiety disorder with psychosomatic symptoms that plagued my everyday life for many months and nearly destroyed my relationship with my then-girlfriend (and now wife) as well as my stomach. So, the three-part track "Halliwell Hammers" from that album, which refers to the murder of controversial British playwright Joe Orton - who wrote the influential play Loot - at the hands of his boyfriend Kenneth Halliwell with a hammer. I don't know if I subconsciously related the sounds of that particular song, and especially its second and third part, with the actual murder - there is a percussive sound throughout, not a violent hammering bang - but from the first time I heard it I got instantly scared and anxious, and I don't remember ever having managed to listen to it through, though it lasts only 2.30 and 3.30 minutes respectively. Its cold crystalline sound always evoked to me an image of frozen green blankness, of expressionless faces, and to this day, the hair on the back of my skull and neck stand up. Combined with my then tortuous depression and stress-induced stomachache, I felt that if I was put to listen to that track continuously I would slice my wrists. I don't know why I'm going through the test to listen to all three parts of this track right now and write all this nonsense; maybe the fact that I'm in a extremely better situation right now in my life - being a father, having a regular job - enables me to confront that period. However, the suicidal sounds of "Halliwell Hammers" are still capable of raising my hair.

 The first, relatively harmless part:

The unspeakable part:

Christophe Charles ‎– Deposition Yokohama cd

Christophe Charles is a French sound artist who is based in Japan. I came across his music when I saw a butoh dance performance by great Japanese dancer/choreographer Mari Osanai. While I was talking to her, we discussed extensively on experimental music and she mentioned Christophe Charles, who has produced music for her performances, and when she returned to Japan she sent me two of his cds. In this cd, which is the soundtrack of an installation Charles did, we hear multiple tracks of very minimal electronics and musique concrète that challenge the idea of a narrative, linear duration and hearing experience, as all tracks have the same length, which potentially comes into conflict with the idea of a trademark track made by an artist. 1994 self-released cd.

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In Process ‎– Parsek cd

 

In Process is the musical vehicle of German pianist and composer Ulli Götte, through which he creates minimal modern classical music a-la Steve Reich. Mainly driven around piano, vibraphone and xylophone, but also sustained by a small ensemble composed of flute, synthesizer, violin, piano and contrabass, the style is close to Reich's "Piano Phase" and "Proverb" albeit more varied and climactic. 1994 cd on Edition al segno.

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