Second Layer Records presents Whitehouse, Ramleh, Dissention
Saturday 5th April 2008
Electrowerkz, Torrens Street, London

That's Whitehouse up there, when I saw them last at Russell Haswell's ATP night at Camden's Koko in June 2005. Was quite fun, until they got bottled off stage and left after 15 minutes. Anyway, after a quite a considerable amount of time together, they've decided to part company. William continuing on as Whitehouse, whilst Philip does his Consumer Electronics thing.

So their final London show will form part of a night of nihilist noise and power electronics at London's Electrowerkz on the 5th April. Organised by the lovely Pete who runs Highgate's Second Layer Records, it'll also feature Philip with his Ramleh buddies and Dissention. The duo of Stefan Jaworzyn (guitar) and the jaw-dropping Chris Corsano (drums).

I'll be DJ'ing as Fail HDJ in between. I've been told to avoid noise, but also not to give them an easy ride. I reckon lots of bass-heavy material and strategic rhythmic exercises. Think Basic Channel / Haswell & Hecker / Pan Sonic: material that should test the top floor sound system to its limits.

Tickets available here.

[The User]: Abandon (Apshodel) - CD

Fantastic release from 2003 (yes I know, but the promo CD had nothing written on it), musique concrete meets abstract dub techno. Architect Thomas McIntosh and composer Emmanuel Madan were well known for their sound art releases. Their works thematically sticking to the concept of abandoned systems (buildings, hardware, processes) to provide their source material. This time the location is the Port of Montréal's Quai des Ecluses. A series of grain storage cylinders, from which they hung loudspeakers and microphones. Rigged them up to a sound mixing console and manipulated the controls to create feedback inside the cylinders: the ultimate echo chamber.

The process is fascinating in itself, but it's not really that important. The end results are disjointed / disturbing exercises in sub-bass ambience. Tones and pulses whose resonance takes on a life of its own, metallic scrapes frozen by blizzard winds, and drone....plenty of it. This should sit nicely alongside the recent rash of dark metal releases as well those with an interest in field recordings. Also reminded me of the fact that, besides some forgettable turntablist and illbient (remember that?) nonsense, Asphodel is a pretty smart label.

Mecha / Orga: 56:24 (Absurd) - CD

Mecha / Orga aka Georgios (Yiorgis) Sakellariou is an Athens based electronic musician who also founded the Echomusic imprint. A label hardly renowned for its prolific output (count 'em - 9 releases in 4 years). Initial rumblings suggest that it's following the drone rulebook to a tee, building up in layers and volume over a sustained period of an hour. But the subtle melodic shifts are nicely judged and repeat listens will reveal the true nature of this work. Note that superior playback systems will yield the best results, this is Grecian drone of the highest calibre....just watch those levels.

Fennesz: Transition (Touch) - 7"

Always feel like I've had my fill of Fennesz, despite his continuing development with every long player, I find it impossible to see how he could really improve upon 2001's 'Endless Summer' (and you know I'm right). Plus his recent live shows were less than impressive, spending more time on guitar tweakery than laptop analysis. Having said all that, this is as fresh and as invigorating as I've ever heard him. A single 8 minute track split across two sides. Crystalline suspension and dormant drone slowly disperse to make way for heart-wrenchingly precise guitar work. So business as usual then.

Ricardo Villalobos: Enfants (Sie Es Drum) - 12"

Hearing this for the first time in the cardboard box enclave that is the basement of Soho's Sounds of the Universe, I never would have guessed this was the work of Chilean's spiritual minimal house leader. It would be too easy to dismiss this as watered down world music that should really be soundtracking some horrible fucking car advert. But it has grand designs in its scope: child song, supressed drum patterns and tempered piano add up to an emotionally charged 15 minutes. So, to summarise: the kids are great but the flip side is pretty rubbish.

Cacao: Tropisms (Cacao) - MP3

Comfortably sitting inside the folder marked 'next generation glitch', this is a confident and rewarding listen. 'Tropism 1' is the slightly more successful of the two tracks on offer. Ever-mutating string / piano are held in a linear position whilst washes of computer crackle rise and fall below. 'Tropism 2' reminds me of early Animal Collective and Full Swing material, especially that 'Summer' 12" on Orthlong Musork (that's a positive thing, for those that didn't get the reference). Their earlier works clearly document their development and are also worthy of investigation. Available from http://www.quotesque.net/cacao