A welcome reissue from one of the originators of mind-bending computer music. Peter Rehberg's 1999 release seems to have been influential in the sphere of modern electronic composition. Especially with regards to the use of the laptop as a creation and performance tool. Despite the occasional ear-scraping bursts of digital noise, this doesn't come close to the harsher end of the Mego spectrum. Certainly doesn't use software as a device for sonic violence or wanton aggression. It also hasn't dated one iota....

'3' is the track that you'll remember this album for: the jarring introduction of uplifting, almost euphoric strings that slowly descend into overdriven distortion still sounds great. '6' is gigabit data passing through an echo chamber, '9' takes harsh source material and moulds it into hypnotic drone. The three extra new tracks which previously appeared over a split release with Kevin Drumm extend the scope of the original work with distinctive, thematic excursions: feminine glitch ('ce3'), unreliable connections ('pe2') and distressed radio frequencies ('tr1').

Philip Jeck: Sand (Touch) - CD

One of those artists I knew I'd like....good sounding surname, has nicely packaged albums out on the Touch label, uses vinyl. But somehow I'd never managed to immerse myself proper in any one of his long players. Whilst his back catalogue has always been there for instant consumption (from a career spanning 13 years), it's nice to be presented with something 'new'.

Carefully considered loops are run through that detuned radio effect that he seems to have patented. The source material consisting of filmic strings, bells, chimes and most effectively brass instrumentation sampled from Emerson Lake & Palmer's 'Fanfare For The Common Man'. It all sounds pleasant enough but the sudden shifts as frequencies pile up from the decay can jolt you. Low-end notes dissolve into weighty fuzz and speaker-troubling distortion whilst high end artefacts can cut through the recording with a burst of white noise.

That's Folke Rabe up there. An important figure for those even remotely interested in all that drone, experimental tonal weirdness that some of you youngsters listen to. His 1968 piece 'What??' is a seminal piece of electronic music. Hardly a recognisable figure but he seems to have the likes of Jim O'Rourke frothing at the mouth. And you couldn't really call it a prolific discography, but feel the quality, not the quantity.

Here's more from the O'Rourke: "For me, one of the most mysterious composers was Folke Rabe. I had gotten his “Was??” and was from that moment, hooked. I can honestly say there is probably no piece of music I have heard more in my life than this one. Those 20+ minutes were all that existed for me. Fittingly, those minutes became eternal."

So I guess now you have some background information and I'm sure some will try to find the recordings on the p2p networks (don't bother), failing that you'll try to seek out the recently (2006) released 'Argh!' CD on Kning Disk (worth it for the inlay photo's alone). The next logical step would be to try to see him perform live.

Well it's like waiting for buses, you wait forever and then two performances come at once! As part of No-Signal's ambitious Swedish Outsiders mini festival here in London on the 17th - 18th May. Saturday sees everything kick off at the ICA, whilst Sunday sees the action relocate closer to the 'kids' in Dalston's Cafe OTO. Rabe plays the early afternoon session on his tod, but is joined in the evening by the likes of Mats Gustaffson, Evan Parker and (the excellent) Tape. I'll be DJ'ing AIFF files off my Macbook in the cafe bit.

Sunday's stint has Hans Appelqvist, Phil Durrant and Henrik Rylander, who impressed me the last time I saw him play at Sonar. The whole thing reeks of quality (unlike Sweden's most famous furniture brand) and quite frankly you'd be a bit mental to miss it....unless you don't actually live in London.

Full information and tickets available from http://no-signal.net/SEoutsiders

Its original scope exceeds the limitations of the CD format: eight hour running time, narrative structure through Csihar's lyrics / text and elaborate playback model (3 seperate systems, 18" subwoofers, PA tops inside large rooms). But somehow, the brief 30 minute extract on this release manages to preserve all of this. Ok, I don't think I could stomach the entire thing and at times Csihar does sound like a drunk rugby fan lost inside an empty pub. But the shifts from high-end drone to speaker-troubling low end are welcome and the occasional howling screams of O'Malley's guitar are genuinely unsettling.

Willits + Sakamoto: Ocean Fire (12k) - CD

With two artists working in such neighbourly fields, it's difficult to tell who contributes what. Tokyo's Sakamoto is reknowned for pairing up with numerous artists from the electronic field. Whilst San Francisco's Willits has made some impression with his regular link-ups with 12k boss Taylor Deupree. Sure, it's dark, brooding and filmic like you'd expect, but it's nothing more. There are no suprising twists or turns to elevate this from what I was expecting. The better tracks appear near the end of the album, when elements of drone creep in and shift the mood away from glitchy activity. As an album of ambient music though, it works fine; background / wallpaper / music to compliment furniture....just don't expect anything challenging.

Ersen: Ersen (Finders Keepers) - CD

Part of Finders Keepers' Anatolian Invasion series of releases, which has so far given us welcome re-issues from Selda and Mustafa Ozkent. From tales of LA Hip-hop producers discovering his material buried in antique record stores to corporate British shoe manufacturers using his work to soundtrack global advertising campaigns merely lengthen his already productive 40 year career. Despite being a compilation, it's stylistically tight, hand picked from his mid-seventies 'Anadolu rock' period. Where thick gloopy funk basslines, catchy clearly defined riffs and ridiculously tight percussion provide impressive backing to his impassioned delivery.

Whitehouse
Saturday 5th April 2008
Electrowerkz, Torrens Street, London

For reasons that I'd rather keep to myself, I ended up accompanying a friend to see the music documentary 'Shine A Light'. Showcasing two talents who should have really fucked off years ago: the film director Martin Scorsese and The Rolling Stones. Admittedly not a Stones fan by any stretch of the imagination, this slickly made ego trip did nothing to convince me to add any of their back catalogue to my collection....legal or otherwise. It seemed overblown, pompous and self-indulgent.

Similar criticisms could be leveled at Whitehouse. Not quite having a career as long as the Stones, but still impressively operating since 1980. William Bennett's 'Power Electronics' outfit is one of those acts that you have an opinion on very early on. There's no "oh, maybe some of their earlier stuff is different" approach to their previous works. Or even appreciating it over time, letting age and attitude alter your perception of them. It's a simple case of you either love them or hate them.

When discussing Whitehouse, I often find myself speaking in an almost apologetic tone. Trying to make sense of why a well-heeled Asian lad from Islington would want to listen to something so....'horrible'. But I do like Whitehouse. I'd never stopped to think that their lyrical content could be seen as offensive. I was just glad someone was out there doing this. Whilst I think that extremes in music are limits that can always be re-defined, Whitehouse did initially prompt such questions as 'How much further could it go?'.

So it comes to pass that William has tired of touring and decided to rest the project, whilst co-conspirator Philip Best will continue on in a similar vein as Consumer Electronics. Tonight kicked off a farewell tour and the crusty stronghold of London's Electrowerkz (that place needs a good hosing down...with disinfectant) seemed an apt way to say goodbye to the capital.

So for one hour: Sony Vaio / Toshiba Tecra spat out a constant stream of white noise, pink noise and collapsing drums. Philip licked his personal diary dry whilst emitting his unique brand of obscene venom. William interjected with his curiously humourous monotone delivery. And by the end of it all, they'd stripped off to the waist, engaged spit with nipples to trigger excitement and feverishly simulated sex with each other. Can't really see the Stones doing that on stage.

On the way back from the bar, I overheard one guy trying to explain Whitehouse to his unitiaited friend and clearly exasperated, summarised them as "The Spinal Tap of Industrial Music....only not as bad."

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.

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

Upset The Rhythm
Tuesday 29th January 2008
Bardens Boudoir, Stoke Newington Road, London

The smell of lemon-scented cologne and cooked meats of Stoke Newington High Road instantly threw me back to the streets of Istanbul where I had been a few weeks earlier. From the wedding planners to the furniture stores, everything a startup Turkish family needs is all here. Located below one such emporium is Bardens Boudoir: home to the youth of Dalston and tonight home to another one of Upset The Rhythm's excellent showcases.

Cheapmachines sounded interesting, but the clatter of drinks and background chat put paid to any intensity he may have been trying to put across and Beach Fuzz I missed altogether. Prurient is always good value for money and mildly entertaining. His singular angry young man dressed in black antics are pure theatre. I still remain unconvinced by the records though.

Kevin Drumm's reputation was sealed the moment he unleashed 'Sheer Hellish Miasma' way back in 2002. This recording has attained almost legendary status, its popularity confirmed by the recent re-issue. Sadly his brief (20 minute) live emission failed to measure up. In his defence the appalling sonics at Bardens and the fact that he might have had technical problems resulted in a deeply unsatisfying end to tonight's aggression.

A nice way to re-align with Soho after the Post-Xmas hibernation. Broadwick Street's Soul Jazz Records kick off 2008 with an effervescent release from Tayo. His previous original works didn't really seem to engage and his mixes always felt all over the place. But this is punchy, bass-weight digital dancehall workouts of the highest calibre. The vocal edges ahead in terms of likeability but the orchestra of bleeps redolent on the 'riddim' excude a certain charm. Style!

Clark: Throttle Promoter (Warp) - 12"

Nicely judged introductory 12" to the (excellent) 'Turning Dragon' long player. Clark's knack for tight melodies and crunchy rhythms are further refined resulting in some exemplary techno pop. Shades of Detroit optimism on opener 'See See' whilst 'Dirty Pixie' reminds me of labelmate LFO with its trashcan beats and bass-heavy pulses. The version of 'Gaskarth/CYRK Dedication' is far superior here than on the album. Reminiscent of Chain Reaction-era Monolake: hypnotically propulsive drum pattern and echo-chamber drone.

Nookie / Manix - The Sound Of Music / Hardcore Junglism (Remix) (Reinforced) - 12"

Dusted down and fighting-fit re-issues from Dollis Hill's Reinforced Records designed to appeal to the saddo retro raver in everyone over 30. Nookie is all nice and bouncy whilst Manix (aka 4Hero's Marc Clair) strains strings and tears amen's with a nugget of refined darkcore. There's voodoo and science at play here.

Chris Watson: Pacificus Oceanus (Touch) - 7"

Was only reminded I had this to review when I saw Chris pop up in Bill Oddie's weirdly entertaining 'Bill Oddie's Wild Side' on BBC2. Oceanic currents around the Galapagos Islands is the digitally sourced material on offer. As with all of Chris' previous works, it's the crisp clarity of the recording that really makes an impression, even from the thin 7" pressing. And as with all of Chris' previous works, it's required listening.

Freezie Freekie: Data Sink (Satamile) - 12"

Remiscent of electro tinged emissions from Detroit, I can hear elements of Model 500 deep inside this fantastic 2-tracker. First track does it clunk style, whilst the flip takes us out on a sea of bleeps. If you see it languishing in the electro section, pick it up....it deserves a home.

It's been so long since I posted something 'meaningful' that I think I've run out of things to say about music. So, first post of 2008 will be about work.

Since leaving full-time in 2000, after a series of ever-amusing redunancies in the dot com industry ( 4 companies in 3 years). It was decided that I'd leave the idea of getting a regular income well alone. Much to the annoyance of my other half who was deep into her studies at the time.

Nevertheless, a life of self-employed riley managed to see us through for 7 years. Those who do work for themselves will know the benefits of this lifestyle. A breakdown of the week system as weekends become ever more meaningless. A lack of 'routine' (can be viewed as a negative too) as well less of a reliance on an ever frustrating transport system during peak times. Of course, there are downsides: the lack of timed regular salary input, the endless paperwork to appease the tax gods. Conclusion: good outweigh the bad.

But all that changed again during the tail end of 2007. One person who I'd been working with on several projects in the past was Vijay (his blog is here). The amount of parallels that we have between us is in our personal lives is staggering and possibly worthy of analysis in its own right. So it was only a matter of time before we'd take this synergy into the arena of work. Until someone comes up with something better, Fail will be the collective name we will work under. Amuses most people from the world of officialdom when they hear it and gained some giggles as we introduced ourselves at a recent web conference in London.

So the amongst several other projects in the past which have long since between taken over by tasteless web wannabe's, the one we're launching our new established partnership together with is Warpmart. Two years in design and six months of development has resulted in what we think is a pretty tight e-commerce website.

Rattling on about technologies is boring for the most part, so I'll not go there. But for the moment, we have built something that we're pretty proud of. It has its fans and it's haters but on an e-commerce level it seems to be doing well. This is all foundational and we're hoping to engage Warp in a pro-active process of refinement and improvement without diluting the original ideal. Working with Vijay was invigorating, productive and just simply the way I'd imagined a creative partnership to work.

I don't think I'll get a chance to say it anywhere else so I'd like to thank the following people with regards to the Warpmart project: Marcus Scott, Tom Hopkins, Tom Panton, Jonathan Burnip, Greg Eden, Steven Hill, Ged Day, Kev Fleming, Anil Bawa-Cavia, Demian Turner, Manuel Sepulveda, Ayla Sancaktaroglu and of course Vijay. If there's anyone I've missed, it's 'cos my search function in Mail failed to throw your name up.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7005477.stm

"OK, so comments aside from washed up has-been soul artists about a lack of a soul nomination. And for trying to ditch the Jazz category - and rightly so, I mean, who listens to jazz these days yeah? You guys seem to be screwing up on a monumental scale. You know you've fucked up, but the fucked up path is laden with riches. I won't (and can't be bothered) to go into the intricacies of why you are going wrong. Needless to say, you definitely need a rethink about the definition of this 'origin' thing. IMHO, the Mobo's aren't considered to be anything more than a corporate shindig with lots of internal back-slapping. On par with other 'soul'-less (boom, boom) events such as the MTV yearly hoopla. On a final note, there is no way on this planet that Sean Kingston is a reggae artist. You have zero idea of what reggae is, it seems. In short (and in layman's terms) you guys suck!"

It could have been an interesting celebration of music that is both British and Black. It's neither.

2005's supremely majestic release by Sunn O))) is given a makeover by Japanese import label Daymare. To which I succumbed....I mean, look at that packaging. 'It took the night to believe' with it's mantra of "cry yourself dry" takes the honours as my favourite Sunn O))) track of all time. With 'Cursed Realms (of the Winterdemons)' coming a close second. Both tracks ease off on the bass pedal a tad and instead envelope gutteral vocals around an all-engulfing frozen tundra.

The additional bonus CD previously came out in limited numbers and is a live recording made at Alzette Kulturfabrik, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg in February 2006 during their European tour.

The Wire - that's the music magazine, not the HBO TV series (more on that later) - are celebrating 25 years of writing words about music. And Eric, bless him, has decided to put on two gigs in conjunction with the magazine to celebrate. Both are in West London and will be held in the beautifully rendered Bush Hall. Last time I was there, I saw Fennesz giving it some welly.

Not Eric. Rafael Toral.

The first night (4th November) is called 'Tones of Finland' and features three bands I've never heard of. But the last time I went to Finnish themed music night, I was totally captivated (that was the memorable Fonal Records showcase at the St Giles in the Fields Church back in March 2006). The second night (17th November) is the one I'm really interested in. It's got an impressive line up of artists that I've yet to hear live. But for me, the highlight will be Rafael Toral's interpretation of his 'Space' album.

Dropped last year on Staubgold, this was a pretty impressive piece of work. Just to give you an idea of how amazing this album was, check out the kit list....modified MS2 pocket amplifier feedback with light-controller filter, amplified coil spring percussion, gloves and theremin-controlled computer sinewaves, theremin-controlled white noise generator, delayed feedback empty circuit with joystick-controlled filter modulation, joystick-controlled sawtooth pulse bass resonance, pure and filtered sawtooth oscillator pulses, random pulse width modulation oscillator.

Needless to say, it'll be ace.

Go to http://www.no-signal.net/wire25 for tickets.

Rafael's Space manual.