http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/ The Tapeworm - a cassette-only label. The cassette will never die! Long live the cassette! en Copyright 2012 Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:49:17 +0000 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Buy in the TouchShop The first publication from The Bookworm. Contents: “Parasitic Infestation”, an essay by Ken Hollings. Illustrations from the first 25 Tapeworm tapes, including works by SavX, Derek Jarman and Leif Elggren. Cover illustration: Savage Pencil. 66pp, 110mm x 117mm, soft cover, thread bound booklet – no ISBN. Edition of 250 copies only. Printed on Munken Print stock. Typeset in Aldine 401, Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk and Miso. The Tapeworm launches its new publishing venture, The Bookworm, with a tidy compendium of its coverart, alongside an especially commissioned essay by writer Ken Hollings, the author of the books Destroy All Monsters (Marion Boyars) and Welcome to Mars (Strange Attractor Press). Ken’s work has appeared in a wide range of journals, reviews and anthologies. He has written and presented critically acclaimed programmes for BBC Radio 3, Radio 4, NPS in Holland, ABC Australia and Resonance FM and has given talks and lectures at the Royal Institution, the British Library, the ICA, Central St Martins, the École de Recherche Graphique in Brussels and the Berlin Akademie der Künste. Future Bookworm books are currently being penned by writer/poet Leslie Winer, and graphic designer Chris Bigg (4AD, David Sylvian). Reviews Record Collector (UK): Since 2008, The Tapeworm imprint has been busy celebrating that most anachronistic of formats, the audio cassette, disseminating a series of highly-limited spools, featuring all manner of specifically commissioned sonic art, from feral noise infections to spoken word pieces and conversations with Derek Jarman. The distinctive monochrome sleeves adorning these editions – the first 25 of which are collected here – reflect their esoteric content. Most display a spook of jagged cartoonish scrawl that’s instantly recognisable as the work of artist Savage Pencil, a fitting guide to the harshness inside. But other images, such as Dave Knapik’s The Lampshade Is Not A Past Tense or Oscar Henriquez’s Analog Apparitions, outline an amoebic-like galaxy of alien germ life, hinting at the parasitic infection described in Ken Hollings’ absorbing introductory essay. Alongside tales of country-listening cosmonauts, he celebrates an indefatigable mode of documentation and dispersal. In this context, The Tapeworm’s artefacts become totemic forms of defiance, affronts to contemporary high-tech culture’s easy-come, easy-go consumption strategies. Between main street stockists sounding their death knell and the underground’s attempts at a format resurrection, The Art Of Worms presents a modest manifesto for the continuing existence of the humble audio cassette. (Spencer Grady)]]> http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/tbw01.html http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/tbw01.html books Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:49:17 +0000 www.bitsteam.de Reviews Boomkat (UK): Intensely visceral electro-acoustic sound designs on The Tapeworm. If you've only become familiar with Stephan Mathieu's opulent soundscapes like “Radioland” or his Dekorder 10"s in recent years, then it's probably about time you checked his more challenging digital compositions, and this is a great place to start. We best let Stephan sum this one up: “Flags is a homage to the beauty of data. The pieces are created from photos of my studio equipment which were transferred to audio via header changes”. OK, so that doesn't give away much about what it sounds like. Well, essentially it's not “nice”. There are sounds in here which will make your eyeballs quiver and possibly make you feel like your brain juices are about to run free (especially when consumed on headphones), but for some (us included) that's a very favourable experience. Very highly recommended to fans (who own a tape deck!) of Florian Hecker, Marcus Schmickler, or Keith Fullerton Whitman. Aquarius Records (US): One of two new Tapeworm's this week, as in limited cassette releases on UK tape label The Tapeworm, the other is a bit of Tesla coil rhythmatism from NYC audio alchemist Lary Seven, and this one, a selection of data driven sounds created by aQ fave Stephan Mathieu. And we do mean these are actually the sounds of data, with Mathieu taking pictures of his equipment in the studio and then transforming that data into music, or more specifically sound, as while this strange array of grinding static, crunchy rhythms, looped thrum, screeching sine waves and modem-malfunction crunch and stutter may be music to our ears, this is a pretty challenging chunk of abstract industrial rhythms, and Raster-Noton style beep-click-buzz, but raw and blown out and in the red, sound that seem to be pushing the speakers to their very limit, but in doing so, creating a strange sort of low fidelity primitive electronica, a jagged collage of Merzbowish grey noise and crumbling electro-glitch buzz, the sound snowballing into thick squalls of corrosive almost psychedelic sounding blur, but just as often splintering into a strange sort of caveman krautrock, rendered in shades of hum and hiss, peppered with jagged shards of electronic gristle and barbed streaks of smeared hiss. Definitely pretty far removed from our favorite Mathieu records, but pretty curious and cool nonetheless, a noise record, but one that's dynamic, and rhythmic, surprisingly engaging and listenable in a way much noise is most definitely not. ]]> http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/ttw37.html http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/ttw37.html tapes Wed, 21 Sep 2011 09:51:19 +0000 Buy in the TouchShop Track listing: A: Live at White Columns, New York (2001) B: Live at Experimental Intermedia, New York (2004) Illustration - SavX. Biography: Lary 7 is a multimedia alchemist able to coax profane and inscrutable sounds and images from numerous and mysterious devices. His work has been described as that of a magician or scientist, not always certain of the outcome, but determined to see it through to its (Il)logical end. Since the late 1970’s he’s been building, soldering, photographing, recording, mixing, filming, playing, recombining, collecting, re-interpreting and creating in order to make something happen. He is the co-founder of Plastikville Records and Directart Productions Ltd. and is the founder of the Analogue Society. Mr. Seven lives and works in Manhattan’s East Village and is one of the last remaining vestiges of a once vibrant community. Reviews Aquarius Records (US): Latest strange sonic missive from aQ beloved UK tape label The Tapeworm, this one from a multi media artist/musician/filmmaker/soundscaper named Lary Seven, who most of us here had never heard of, but who we discovered is a bit of a NYC fixture, a legendarily cantankerous maker of art, both audial and visual, there's very little in the way of details about the sounds here, other than they were recorded live in 2001 and 2004 in different spaces in New York. The first track is a gorgeous bit of looped minimal buzzing, darkly rhythmic, and strangely hypnotic, quiet enough that you can still hear the conversations in the room, which makes for a strange collage of random voices, textured electronic crunch and stuttering blurred glitch, impossible to determine the sound source, but it does seem to essentially be a collection of whirs and hums, clicks and chirps, very machinelike and robotic, like an ungrounded speaker or an instrument with the cable just barely plugged into the jack, creating a strange array of fluctuating statics, which are then sculpted into something that sounds a bit like a way more lo-fi home brewed Raster-Noton recording. The second side / set again features the room sound, footsteps, voices, throat clearing, sneezes, various scrapes and shuffles, until finally, Seven introduces some electrical buzz, which then undulates, pulses and thrums, extremely minimal, lushly layered but in the context of a live performance in a big room, almost like a symphony of appliance hum, eventually, Seven does crank up the voltage, creating another framework of skeletal rhythmic skitter, the electronic fields swirling around a dark, throbbing industrial thud, like some sort of weirdo mad scientist primitive house music, being performed with an array of malfunctioning Tesla coils. Again, pretty dang cool, and another weird and wonderful set of sounds to add to the Tapeworm's twisted canon. Vital Weekly (NL): Lary Seven is around since the 70s in the art and music scene of New York, and has his own Plastikville Records label. On “Rotation” we find two concerts, one from 2001 and one from 2004, both captured with a microphone, so the audience is audible at times in the background. From what I hear this sounds like Seven is playing various turntables, loaded with a bunch of objects and the stylus is picking this up. Maybe there are additional sound effects. This is all quite conceptual music, I think, and no doubt would serve from a bit more editing, but especially the abrupt changes in this make up for it. Now if this was a bit shorter… Maybe its because we lack the visual element that makes this more difficult.]]> http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/ttw36.html http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/ttw36.html tapes Wed, 21 Sep 2011 09:49:42 +0000 Merge Festival. Venue: The Bear Pit Bear Gardens London SE1 9EB London Town's finest cassette-only label, The Tapeworm, presents its third annual event in the Capital. Exemplary music and much excitement is to be expected from a line-up of the label's mates. Mr Ken Hollings, a writer of note, shall be reading his text from the first Bookworm publication, to be launched on the same night. Sweden's BJNilsen will be flying in and making a splendid noise for you all. A second Swede, CM von Hausswolff (he's a king, dontchaknow…) will share a stage with Touch's Mike Harding, in a reading of Edgar Allen Poe like none before… Cult vs. occult - former Medicine Head man Peter Hope-Evans and illustrator Savage Pencil will whip up a dark blue storm. Mr Pencil's fine drawings shall also be on display. Hopping on the bus from Elephant & Castle is Zerocrop and his band; pop perfection from a local lad. And finally, a London eye - video installation by Vicki Bennett, aka People Like Us. Plus! Last minute additions!! Special guest artist Joachim Nordwall plays his “Ignition” album, live; and special ghost artist Michael Esposito does some spooky shit. How exciting!!! Plus, Dale Cornish from the Baraclough groop will be spinning the cassettes of steel. Running order Side One: Michael Esposito von Hausswolff/Harding Joachim Nordwall plays “Ignition” BJNilsen People Like Us [video] Interval Side Two: Ken Hollings Edwin Pouncey & Peter Hope-Evans BJNilsen Zerocrop People Like Us [video] “Enchaos” - all artists, altogether, almost… www.mergefestival.co.uk Download flyer [.pdf]]]> http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/worm_eats_bear_a_special_evening_of_performances_by_the_tapeworm_the_bear_pit_london_se1_20x11.html http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/worm_eats_bear_a_special_evening_of_performances_by_the_tapeworm_the_bear_pit_london_se1_20x11.html other Fri, 26 Aug 2011 13:23:13 +0000 Buy in the TouchShop Track listing: A: 777 (Mix 2) B: 777 (Mix 3) Illustration - SavX. Andrew Lagowski writes: “The 7th Synphonie of the Seven Swevens a.k.a. 777 by Dr. Fleischbrittel was recorded direct to cassette on 29th and 30th May 1983 at IP1 3PG, Ipswich. The project was realised as a means of escape from the band mentality that I was part of at that time. It offered me the chance to free-form in more ways than one and express my more demonic leanings - those of a frustrated teenager recording in whichever bedroom had the space for the equipment. Unbeknownst to them, my parents were sonic partners in this exploit. Power drill and spade by Ryszard Lagowski. Vocals by Dr. Fleischbrittel and family. Reworked & edited on 6th March 2011 by Andrew Lagowski.” Andrew Lagowski, London, 17 April 2011. Biography: Andrew Lagowski has been making and recording electronic music since 1982 and before that was a drummer in a new wave band. Since 1987 he has released over 25 albums and ten 12" singles and continues to release on various labels Worldwide. Projects include Nagamatzu (co-founder, guitarist, programmer, engineer), Lustmord as engineer / programmer (e/p), Terror Against Terror (e/p), Isolrubin B.K. (e/p), Legion, S.E.T.I. (the one with the d.o.t.s.) and Lagowski. He has also been a synthesizer programmer for Yamaha R&D in London and continues to have work featured in film and television through licensing deals. www.lagowski.com Reviews Aquarius Records (US): Another bafflingly brilliant batch of tapes from UK tape label The Tapeworm, and while we often find ourselves at a bit of a loss to describe whatever sonic oddity they've unearthed or discovered or dug up or conjured from the ether, not sure we've ever encountered one like this before. With very little info to go on, what we can surmise from the description we read, is that this might be some sort of home-recorded ritual, perpetrated by a teenager (Andrew Lagowski?), with his parents in the other room, taking leave from whatever rock band he was playing in at the time, to create, well, THIS, a strange bit of sinister collaged ambience, wild squiggles of feedback, what sounds like running water, manipulated tapes, stumbling percussion, what almost sounds like field recordings, owl calls or something like owl calls, detuned guitar melodies, shards and fragments of sound, all blurred and smeared and tangled into a sci-fi lo-fi soundscape, jumbled, textural and weirdly rhythmic, a definite kitchen sink approach, or maybe toolshed approach would be more accurate, a strange selection of noise making devices including various effects and fuzzboxes, a reel to reel tape player not to mention a drill and a space (perhaps wielded by the artist's brother), and while there is a sense of randomness and chaos, much of this is quite listenable, and for sure is beholden to (whether intentional or not) Nurse With Wound, Hafler Trio, and other unconventional sonic experimentalists. Two distinctly different mixes/versions, edited and reworked earlier this year. Pretty excellent stuff. Vital Weekly (NL): As a teenager Andrew Lagowski sat down in his room with his Korg MS20, a guitar and some other assorted equipment and recorded in two days two pieces, back in 1983. This year he un-earthed these pieces and reworked them a bit, so its not entirely clear what is old and what is new. On the a-side I had the impression this is forecasting his later ambient work as SETI, but maybe I am looking it at the wrong way. The b-side is much more a child of those days, in which Lagowski is fooling around with a guitar, and sounds a bit like Cosey in her Throbbing Gristle days. His parents in the next room are also present in this recordings! An embryonic tape, but nice to hear where Lagowski comes from.]]> http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/ttw35.html http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/ttw35.html tapes Wed, 25 May 2011 08:02:20 +0000 Buy in the TouchShop Track listing: A1: Chug A2: Sting B1: Shred B2: Bite B3: Bends Illustration - Florian Hetz. Burning Tree are Dag Stiberg & Dag Erik Knedal Andersen. Dag Erik Knedal Andersen is perhaps best known for his “hyperactive, take-no-prisoners” approach to drumming. He has been a ubiquitous presence on the Norwegian improvised music scene over the last couple of years, and has toured all over Europe with groups such as Golden Dawn, Cunt Rash, and the now-inactive Supersonic Rocketship. Dag Stiberg has been studying alternative approaches to the saxophone sound for a decade, both solo and with his band Maranata. Mostly known for his wide use of guitar effects he has taken another approach in the band Burning Tree, which explores the sounds of the acoustic realm. Burning Tree decided to go into the studio in February 2011 and record an acoustic session. They had recently done a lot of noise stuff with their noise bands Cunt Rash and Maranata and wanted to bring that energy to this recording. The result is a very harsh free jazz tape with five tracks – total 35 minutes – with extremely dirty saxophone and ecstatic drums. www.knedalandersen.com www.myspace.com/dagstiberg Reviews SPIN Magazine (US): SPIN's 20 Best Avant Albums of 2011, #7 – Full-contact drummer Dag Erik Knedal Andersen and pyrotechnic saxophonist Dag Stiberg, twin powerhouses of Norwegian free jazz, show absolutely no mercy on a rapturous 35-minute cassette of blown-out, high-velocity, ultimate-fighting improvisation. The Esoterrorist (US): Notorious Norwegian improvisers Dag Stiberg and Dag Erik Knedal Andersen are formerly known for their electric noise work in bands such as Cunt Rash and Maranata, but on their recent Tapeworm cassette, Stinger, the duo creates a more acoustic, yet undeniably harsh, brand of free jazz. Stiberg has been studying alternative approaches to his saxophone’s sound for at least a decade, running his unconventional styles through numerous distortions and effects and achieving absolutely brilliant results. The same level of praise is deserved of Anderson’s fierce and relentless cacophony of drums he has contributed to bands such as Golden Dawn and Supersonic Rocketship (R.I.P.). It is also worth mentioning that Anderson’s level of technical skill is actually quite rare in many groups of similar taste. It is because of these heightened abilities of the Dags’ talents that an organic and acoustic approach to improvisation seems fitting for the two. And they do more than just pull it off; Burning Tree make some of the most elaborately colorful and impressive free jazz improv one could hope to hear lately. The duet put off a consistent ecstatic energy that can easily be lost in the meandering of noise jammers. This consistency causes the listener to never lose interest throughout the 5 tracks of this 35-minute release (limited to 200). Highly recommended. Burning Tree's tape was also featured in The Esoterrorist's 2011 Favourites list – Tapeworm never fails to impress us, but this cassette from Norwegian improvisers Dag Stiberg and Dag Erik Knedal Andersen shocked us at how amazing these two work together and how eruptive and clever their brand of free-jazz is. This tape definitely proves that any line between improvisation jazz and improvisational noise should be blurred. One of our highest recommendations. Aquarius Records (US): Three new tapes this week from aQ beloved tape label The Tapeworm (out of four new releases, we'll list #4 next time, it's a doozy!), running the gamut from solo piano to opera to bedroom recorded tape experiments to this. A wild skronked out blast of Norwegian free jazz from his drum/sax duo, described by the label as “harsh free jazz” which this most certainly is, the drumming relentless and intricate and wildly chaotic, the sax bleating and squealing and spitting out insane atonal melodic runs, the two instruments sparring constantly, like dueling solos, the method to their madness surfacing here and there, but for the most part a head spinning barrage of sound, that will probably hit the spot for folks into the wildest free jazz, think Borbetomagus meets the Jooklo Duo and you'll be in the ball park. Dizzyingly intense and wildly relentless, file under the Borbetomagus coined descriptor: “snuff jazz”. Crucial Blast (US): I've only caught a couple of select offerings from the Tapeworm cassette series, mainly the ones with a more creep-stained, witchy touch from Stephen O'Malley and Meltaot. This newer offering from the British tape label isn't the sort of ghoulish improvisational scrape and drone that those artists delivered, but it is an exceedingly abrasive bout of high-intensity improv violence that demands to be listened to at ear-bleeding volume levels. Limited to an edition of two hundred copies and packaged in the minimalist black and white artwork that is the signature look of the Tapeworm imprint, Stinger delivers five blasts of ferocious free-jazz squonk that bear titles like “Sting”, “Shred”, “Bite” and “Bends”, which all appear to infer the potential effect that this cassette might incur on the listener's nervous system. The Norwegian duo Burning Tree consists of drummer Dag Erik Knedal Andersen and saxophonist Dag Stiberg, and with their limited palette of sax and percussion execute some seriously blazing noise-jazz abuse across the length of this thirty-five minute album, starting with circling runs of sax bleat and crashing cymbals, then cranking up the chaos until they peak out with cyclonic blasts of abrasive skronk as the drums explode with complex fills, speeding up to almost blast beat speeds, and whipping through intricate patterns that are all smashed together as Stiberg races his sax through spastic dissonant runs and aneurysm-inducing blowouts that resemble the death-shrieks of a mortally wounded beast. This tape is a fucking scorcher, and any and all disciples of brute-strength free jazz like Borbetomagus, Weasel Walter's recent ensemble work, and Tiger Hatchery should stick this on their to-do list, pronto. Vital Weekly (NL): A duo of from Norway, being Dag Erik Knedal Andersen on drums and Dag Stilberg on saxophone. Normally he plays these with a whole bunch of guitar effects (in his other band Maranata), but here its all acoustic, for both of them. Total and utter free improvised music - free-jazz if you will. This tape last thirty-five minutes and this seems to me the same amount of time spend in the studio - with stuff like this there is no need for editing, dubbing or producing - this music is just being documented, “as is”. Now you could easily wonder if this music needs to be documented at all, or whether its the live element that should count only. Obviously I don't agree - I think it should be, and when recorded under fine conditions: why not. This reminded me of an old Dutch band, Der Junge Hund, whose first LP lasted thirty-five minutes and they didn't spend more time in the studio. Ear blasting, chaotic, wild, lovely. The Wire (UK): Nice collab by Norwegian improvisors Dag Stiberg and Dag Erik Knedal Andersen who blurt out a very frenzied session of sax/drum gruntery of the highest order. This is, of course, one of the kings of improvisational formatting, and these guys go at it pretty damn well. The drums may have a bit more linearity to their approach than I favour. But hey, that's just me.]]> http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/ttw34.html http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/ttw34.html tapes Wed, 25 May 2011 08:01:10 +0000 www.othonmataragas.com Reviews Aquarius Records (US): One of four new releases from UK weirdo tape label The Tapeworm (three this list, the 4th on the next), and as always, a baffling selection of sounds, this one from an entity/artist known as Othon, and the label description makes it seem like we should know Othon, this is in fact the first we've heard, and it's hard to tell if this is indicative of his usual sound or not. The A side, as the title might suggest, is solo piano, and is quite lovely, the original is dramatic and dynamic, slipping from lilting and melancholy to bombastic and intense. The side finishes off with two interpretations of pieces by Chopin and Mendelssohn. The B side features Othon's oldest recordings, captured live during his final recital at London's Trinity College back in 2006, and features a super dramatic bit of operatic bombast, with Othon on the first track pounding away, unfurling dense flurries of notes on the piano, accompanied by fluttering flute, and all supporting some super intense operatic vocals, while the second track is more hushed and low key, but dramatic in its own way, but here you can hear the crowd, camera shutters clicking, feet shuffling, adding a strange bit of ambience to the very intense musical drama playing out before them. compulsiononline.com (UK): Othon should be familiar to compulsiononline regular readers. His debut release Digital Angel, which featured guest contributions from Marc Almond and Current 93's David Tibet alongside Ernesto Tomasini received a glowing review. Silky Hands Of A Rough Piano Boy is a limited tape release from the Touch affiliated label The Tapeworm. Silky Hands Of A Rough Piano Boy shows the more classical side of Othon's work. That's hardly surprising. Othon, a Greek-born London-based composer is classically trained, and an accomplished composer and pianist. Pierced and tattooed, he is anything but conservative. He's provided soundtracks for Ron Athey performances and contributed to the soundtrack to the Bruce LaBruce film Otto or Up With The Dead People. The opening instrumental “Behind the Veil Behold the Liquid Light!” features a rich piano score tumbling into dramatic discord of bashing chords and tinkering notes and back again to melodic piano. There's a comic, ecstatic finale to the piece which is befitting of the surreal grandeur on display here. A further two tracks, showcasing the romantic, classical side of the performer, feature Othon's interpretation of the works of Mendelssohn and Chopin. It's obvious from these that he is a virtuoso on the piano. Flip the tape over and you're met with some deranged operatic histrionics from a 2006 performance. Over a barrage of piano notes and chords Shona Watson's dramatic operatic voice sweeps, soars and shrieks. Only the alto-flute on “Kali Dances” is restrained, everything else is exuberant and chaotic. The only thing that even comes close for comparisons is Dorothy Lewis's operatic appearances with Coil and particularly with her son Thighpaulsandra. The second live selection, again featuring Shona Watson's powerfully rich vocal, is “Digital Angel 000”. This track was originally conceived as part of the Digital Angel suite of songs that appeared on Othon's debut album. Much more reserved than the preceding track the emotive piano score builds into a flurry of notes picking up on the recurring “Left Behind” lyrical motif captured in Watson's high register tones - and originally sung by Tomasini on “Digital Angel I: The Union” from the more experimental cycle of songs from the album. Silky Hands Of A Rough Piano Boy is released in an edition of 200 copies and showcases other facets of this supremely talented pianist/composer not captured on Digital Angel. Impermanence, Othon's new album on Cherry Red side label SFE, featuring ongoing-collaborator Ernesto Tomasini, alongside guest vocal contributions from Marc Almond and Camille O'Sullivan, is released in November 2011. The Wire (UK): Pleasant recital by this Greek born, London based pianist who has worked with David Tibet, Marc Almond and others. The A side features a couple of classical standards and an original in the same vein. The flip, recorded in 2006 as part of a recital at London's Trinity College of Music, features what sounds like a flute and soaring female vocals for accompaniment (reminiscent of Cathy Berberian's work with Luciano Berio.) That side's blazin'.]]> http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/ttw32.html http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/ttw32.html tapes Wed, 25 May 2011 07:57:07 +0000 Buy in the TouchShop Track listing: A: Witch Girl of Pilot's Knob B: Child Witch and the Watcher Field recording (EVP captures) and track compositions by Michael Esposito. EVPs captured at a cemetery in Pilot's Knob, Kentucky, PAW Case File PAW120. Situational Specific Frequency Tests and Results captured in 2009 at a cemetery location where in the late 1800s, reportedly accused of witchcraft, a woman and her daughter, Mary Evelyn Ford were burned alive in Marion County. The daughter was buried at Pilot's Knob cemetery and her mother at a separate location. At the cemetery a dark foreboding figure has also been seen. People have named this figure The Watcher. It is said that this evil presence tries to get the little girl but cannot pass beyond the crucifix decorated fence that surrounds her grave. Biography: Michael Esposito is an experimental artist and researcher in Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP). He is a descendant of Alfred Vail, who invented the Morse code with his partner Samuel Morse, and Jonathan Vail, office manager and assistant to Thomas Edison. Michael studied communication theory at Purdue University, University of Notre Dame, American University in Cairo, Egypt and Governor's State University. He is the co-founder of Phantom Airwaves - an institution dedicated to the study and education of EVP research. Michael has developed concepts, theories, and testing methods of capturing and presenting EVP using structures and frequencies commonly found in relationship to experimental music. He combines EVP with field recordings and related frequency tones of research sites to provide an audio-archeological picture of both sides of the veil. This allows him to present EVP to the audience in a manor that enables them to hear the voices more audibly and understand the voices within the context of their environment. Michael has participated in hundreds of paranormal investigations globally using his techniques and theories within the field of EVP. He and his partner Heidi Harman have collected tens of thousands EVPs and video. He has appeared in a number of films, television shows and documentaries as well as lecturing to a variety of audiences. Phantom Airwaves attempt is to take EVP research a step further developing a body of work researchers and scientists my use in the future to unlock the mysteries of our own mortality. parc.web.fm Reviews Aquarius Records (US): We listed three new tapes from aQ beloved tape label The Tapeworm on the last list, of a batch of four new releases. This one, #4, got left behind by the post man and only just now showed up. Which was a bummer at the time, cuz it might just be our favorite of the bunch, and the reason why can be summed up in one word: EVP! Okay, maybe three words: Electronic Voice Phenomena, which is the sound of the spirit world communicating through radio static, or lost transmissions, little snippet of voices, often just a word here or there, seemingly reaching across from the other side. This particular set of recordings comes to us from Michael Esposito, an experimental artist and EVP researcher, who over the course of his life has collected thousands of EVP recordings and who has appeared on various television programs and in a number of films and documentaries. According to the label, Fantom Auditory Operations is “an attempt is to take EVP research a step further, developing a body of work researchers and scientists may use in the future to unlock the mysteries of our own mortality”, but to these ears, it actually sound more like EVP set to music, strange bits of dark ambience, fields of hiss and whir, tolling bells, rumbles and whirs and various layers and textures, as well as field recordings, wild animal calls, crackling fires, all set amidst a series of fractured melodies and undulating drones. Apparently the recordings here were captured in a Kentucky cemetery, where in the 1800s a woman and daughter were convicted of witchcraft and burned alive. The daughter was buried in this cemetery, while the mother at another location. There is also apparently spectral figure that has been sighted, perhaps trying to get to the girl (or her spirit), but who is kept at bay by the crucifix decorated fence surrounding her grave. It almost doesn't matter if you believe any of that or not, cuz ultimately it's all about the sounds, and the sounds here are truly captivating, ominous and otherworldly, woven into a soundscape that's tense and haunting and super cinematic, with snippets of classical music, looped bells, the tape speed constantly fluctuating, everything warped and woozy, the only constant, the crackling sound of the fire, that presumably haunts the girl and her mother to this day. So cool. And if you love the Ghost Orchid, a long time unanimous aQ fave, you're gonna want this too! Vital Weekly (NL): On the Tapeworm release Esposito uses recordings from a graveyard in Kentucky where in the late 18th century a witch was burned alive, along with her daughter. More hiss and crackling of tapes - but do we hear voices, I sometimes wonder - come along with the church bells. The whole thing has quite chilling effect on the listener and certainly is all bleak and dark. It is somewhere in the middle of a horror soundtrack and a radioplay, to be broadcasted just before the midnight hour. Sometimes things are so scary that one keeps on listening (or watching, in the case of a movie) and this is one such thing. A pleasant trip in the horror house. (FdW)]]> http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/ttw31.html http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/ttw31.html tapes Tue, 01 Mar 2011 06:36:45 +0000 www.franciscolopez.net Zan Hoffman: zhk7.blogspot.com
Reviews Aquarius Records (US): Yet another chunk of awesome audio weirdness from UK cassette label The Tapeworm (along with three other releases reviewed elsewhere on this week's list). They had us with the title, Concert For 300 Magnetic Tapes. We were maybe envisioning something more like Reynols' Blank Tapes, a composition of the hiss and noise from playing back unrecorded audio tapes, this is Francisco Lopez after all, whose compositions offer border on the absolutely inaudible. But instead, Lopez and Zan Hoffmann solicited tapes from various musicians and artists in the international home recording 4 track cassette tape underground, and embarked on a tour, during which the two would add some of their own sounds, to a glorious cacophonous collage of the various contributions. In this wall of taped sound, impossible to tell what is pre-recorded, or what is being performed live (this recording was culled from various performances in 1994), but a hazy, washed out, softly noisy swirl of voices, and sonic snippets, truncated melodies, lots of grinding and buzzing and hissing, everything layered and tangles, often a confusional mess, but just as often coalescing into something strangely composed sounding, tinkling melodies over a heaving wall of crumbling distortion, or some distant lilting dreaminess, underpinned by jagged shards of chaotic crunch, fuzzy radio broadcast like voices swathed in gritty swirls of static, bits of guitar twang surface occasionally, before slipping back into the grey wash of constantly shifting sound. Really cool. And maybe one of the coolest compositions/performances we've heard from Lopez! Brainwashed (US): Concert for 300 Magnetic Tapes by Francisco López and Zan Hoffman is a surprisingly disappointing affair (especially considering Hoffman is known as a fanatic for tape). As the name suggests, this is an archive recording of a live performance from 1994 where López and Hoffman used audio cassettes from hundreds of sound artists to create a dense fog of sound. The different layers merge together into one gray lump and it is hard to get excited about a gray lump. It is a worthwhile release to some extent as an early example of López's work and a rare release of Hoffman's but it pales in comparison to the company it keeps on The Tapeworm label. Boomkat (UK): Perfect release for The Tapeworm - an edited performance of Francisco López and Zan Hoffman playing and mixing 300 tapes solicited from 200 members of the international cassette network in 1994. The recordings were made on a small Spanish tour between Madrid, Alcalá de Henares and Vigo and later remixed, reconstituted and re-mastered by López at Mobile Messor in Paraguay, 2010. The result is a 30 minute blur of chromatic acousmatics, oscillating from billowing clouds of dissolute textures to more tangible fragments of audio fug where snatches of almost discernable voices or whole melodies come into focus before being lost again to an etheric swirl of drizzly distortion. The width of the recording is just vast, creating a constantly shifting, borderless parameter with the illusion of simultaneously being in a majestic municipal space, and at once a dense jungle of phosphorescing static or a busy underwater highway. This cumulation of multiple psychoacoustic spheres is vividly unreal but beautifully mixed and balanced by their steady hands for an utterly immersive and rewarding experience.]]> http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/ttw30.html http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/ttw30.html tapes Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:50:48 +0000 Buy in the TouchShop Track listing: A1: deportment (with apports) A2: a rag though naked may be… A3: clipp'd and collaps'd (cupid's wings) A4: my journey (is a hallucination) A5: the falling step A6: ancient flower child singing A7: a harp a skip a jump (blue angles) B1: this shadow turn this shadow breath B2: a man though naked may be in rags B3: in absentia oder in effigie B4: i expect no succour from benevolent powers B5: what charm? what lip? : charmolypi the creation/recreation/wreck creation/of the precursor – the coasters/donovan/sleepy john estes/blind mamie forehand/the fugs/skip james/peggy lee/lotte lenya/sherrie levine/uncle dave macon/moby grape Peter Hope-Evans: mouth organs/organs of the mouth/jew's harps/trinklets/reception bell. Collaborator: Mick Mahoney. Guitar: Baby Taylor. Recorded aboard Mick's canal boat “Cornwall”, Grand Union Canal at Cowley Peachey on Tuesday afternoon, 2nd November 2010. Illustration and calligraphy – SavX Peter Hope-Evans was a member of Medicine Head, a British 70s blues band championed by John Peel and signed to his legendary Dandelion label. Biography: “a ton of worms in an acre, that is a wonderful thought…………” s. bon qu'a ça 28 september 1947 brecon, wales a life devoured by mouth-organs jews harps the otherhood of breath the sussuration of disastarlings peter hope-evans this ob(l)iterature a rendezvous of questions of notes of interrogation by what crossroads? what sphinx? what mask? what voice? www.peterhope-evans.co.uk Reviews Aquarius Records (US): Hard to know what to expect from a new batch of tapes from The Tapeworm, one of our favorite outsider/experimental/whatthefuck cassette labels, sometimes it's drone, sometimes some lost downtempo electronic record, or a mysterious unreleased jazz gem, the soundtrack to an avant garde art installation, or... some harmonica driven blues. Huh? Yeah, even for The Tapeworm, this one is a little out of left field. Or maybe in this case right field. Peter Hope-Evans was a member of seventies blues band Medicine Head, a favorite of John Peel, and here, offers up some skeletal home recorded stripped down blues, just guitar and harmonica, recorded on a boat, floating on a canal, sometime in 2010. The liner notes point to some relevant precursors / inspirations: The Coasters/Donovan/Sleepy John Estes/Blind Mamie Forehand/The Fugs/Skip James/Peggy Lee/Lotte Lenya/Sherrie Levine/Uncle Dave Macon/Moby Grape, and we definitely buy that, but this is essentially some acoustic blues, the guitars minimal, the harmonica soulful, the vocals sung/spoken, the vibe is super intimate, easy to imagine, windows open, the sounds seeping in from all around the canal, candles lit, much alcohol imbibed, and a long night of just jamming in the dark, simpler stripped down old school blues... Boomkat (UK): You never know what's coming next from The Tapeworm, and we certainly didn't figure for this. Tape 29 is an intimate session from Peter Hope-Evans, former member of a '70s British Blues band signed to John Peel's Dandelion label called Medicine Head. “Visitations Fetches Revenants” documents Peter and his mates Mick Mahoney and Baby Taylor playing on board Mick's canal boat “Cornwall” on a presumably drizzly afternoon in November 2010 (then again that might be tape drizzle), probably with a big pot of tea on the go and an ashtray full of scrunched roll-ups. They lay out a list of influences on the back, counting Donovan, Peggy Lee, Lotte Lenya, Sherrie Levine, Moby Grape, Uncle Dave Macon, Skip James and loads more, but ultimately this is three guys quietly singing and jamming on harmonica and guitar, and it's bloody lovely. Vibes, man. Vibes. Brainwashed (US): Out on The Tapeworm is the utterly bizarre Cast-offerings: Visitations, Fetches, Revenants by Peter Hope-Evans. Cut from the same cloth as Daniel Johnston, these songs feature Hope-Evans alone with a microphone, a guitar and a variety of instrumental miscellanea. Deconstructing classic songs into his own little worlds, his delightfully un-tuneful singing voice is both annoying and a source of strange attraction. I cannot decide whether I like this or not but it certainly sticks out as either a work of genius or a bit of a joke. Or both. Vital Weekly (NL): In the seventies he was a member of Medicine Head and as such darlings of the late John Peel, even recording for his Dandelion label, but these days he is stuck on a houseboat with his collection of jew harps, mouth organ, bells and his own voice, plus Baby Taylor occasionally on guitar. The walkman with a recording possibility is set up and Hope-Evans plays his music - I assume blues like, if I was someone who knows these sort of things (if only!) - but even more sparse, to the bare chilling bone. Hope-Evans doesn't have the right sort of voice for it, being a bit unstable but perhaps that is part of the aesthetic of this? A most curious item, one of those where you could think someone is playing a joke on the listener. Just that thought made me smile. (FdW)]]> http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/ttw29.html http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/ttw29.html tapes Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:48:45 +0000 Rayna deNiord Number Crunches composed, arranged and performed by Andrew Poppy. Field recordings captured by Zeno van den Broek and Sven Schlijper. Hidden voices: Thaddeus Zupančič. Mastered by BJNilsen. Commissioned by PAUME as part of “The Tapeworm Comes Alive!”, Utrecht, The Netherlands, 28.xi.10. “Fog over Channel, continent isolated…” Reviews Brainwashed (US): Both sides of Philip Marshall's Casse-tête follow a very similar path, so much so that I had to consult the liner notes to be sure that it was not the same material repeated on both sides. Strong, clear piano playing opens both sides before giving way to atmospheric if stereotypical field recordings of accordion playing on what sounds like a Parisian street. Both sides finish off with some serious organ drone, side B's performance being particularly powerful. The transitions between the sections are edited beautifully, reminiscent of early Nurse With Wound and I must say that Casse-tête is a gem of a tape. Boomkat (UK): Further to The Tapeworm's adventures in Utrecht, follows this session from Ash International artist, Philip Marshall. Using field recordings of accordion captured by Zeno van den Broek and Sven Schlijper, together with “hidden voices” credited to Thaddeus Zupančič, Marshall siphons us from our reality to opulent surroundings fragranced with bright, clear piano, and into what may be a Parisian street scene, or outside the HSBC in Rusholme, the field recordings subtly edited for a trippy deja entendu, before melting into a final section of lustrous drone. The other side follows a similar route, as though we're following a brief segment of his day, an impression enhanced with the effortless, almost hyperreal segues between each section. Mastered by BJ Nilsen and warmly recommended. Aquarius Records (US): One of four new tapes on the Tapeworm label, a UK cassette only label that traffics in modern minimalism and all manner of outsider musical ephemera, shrouding many of their releases in mystery, leaving it up to the listener to divine the providence of these strange and wonderful releases. Not entirely sure who Philip Marshall is, although from the credits we're going to assume it's actually not a person, and instead the name of a group, made up of various composers, musicians and field recordists. Composed and performed by English pianist / composer Andrew Poppy, Casse-tête is a gorgeous elegiac bit of solo piano, brooding, and haunting, lush and melodious, but the main piano part is surrounded by various bits of audio detritus and random field recordings, from static and crunch, hiss and clatter, to snippets of conversation, the grinding metal on metal of what sounds like a commuter train, the background sounds occasionally overtaking the piano sounds themselves, a few minutes in, after what sounds like someone removing a tape from a player, we're treated to accordion and crowd sounds and what could be a busy street in Italy, the sounds getting ever more chaotic and noisy, reverbed and echo drenched, finally super distorted in a final squall of Merzbowian crunch, slipping into a strange bout of pulsating organs sliced and diced and all tangled up with more strange sonic snippets and fragments of what sounds like liturgical chorales. The B side seems to be an extrapolation of that twisted collaged Italian street field recording, thick billows of accordion buzz, the rhythmic crunch of foot steps, church organs, lots of hiss and crunch and buzz, drone and dark, fragmented and fractured, a swirling, whirling droned out soft noise field recording flecked dronescape. Cool. The Liminal (UK): The sheer range of the Tapeworm’s interests continues to confound and delight in equal measures. One thing that has been reasonably consistent is their focus on individuals who, for one reason or another, aren’t exactly household names. Recent cassettes have included those from Peter Hope-Evans, once a member of 70s British blues band Medicine Head, as well as work from the workouts of the ultra-secretive drone duo Deceh. The name of Philip Marshall may be more familiar from his design work rather than his musical endeavours, but his new release is one of my favourite Tapeworm cassettes. In a way, it feels like the label in microcosm: with someone commissioning and arranging some very different sections into a beguiling whole. Andrew Poppy features with a couple of haunting solo pieces, before the tape is changed and we’re listening to someone else’s field recordings from a Parisian street, with accordions and street chatter – that too is soon ejected in favour of some deep church organ drone. And like the label itself, the strong curatorial hand ensures that it all works, the distinct movements somehow being knitted into a fascinating and evocative whole. (Scott McMillan)]]> http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/ttw28.html http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/ttw28.html tapes Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:46:21 +0000 Buy in the TouchShop Track listing: 1: Origin Vibratory 2: Rural Harmonics 3: That Which Is Heard 4: Emerging Presence 5: Departure Program repeats on both sides. A close study of the harmonic composition of a Hammond organ and a Sruti Box with attention given to the organization of isolated frequencies and the effects of these vibrations on brain activity. “Once four, three no more, now we're up to two. Dear old friend, must this end, before we start anew?” www.deceh.com Reviews Brainwashed (US): Over the last couple of years, The Tapeworm has become the most recognizable bastion for tape culture and it is understandably so when looking at the label’s back catalog. The mix of styles, genre and artistic intents across all the releases make for an Aladdin’s cave of treasured recordings. Their latest releases bolster their reputation as purveyors of fine music on cassette with fantastic releases by Deceh, Philip Marshall, Francisco López and Zan Hoffman. Fundamental Structure by Deceh sees the group exploring more intense frequencies than those on their other release reviewed above. Again this is deeply meditative music but where 4 relaxed me, Fundamental Structure acts more as a stimulant. This is not surprising judging by the liner notes which state that the group have given close “attention… to the organization of isolated frequencies and the effects of these vibrations on brain activity.” Clashing tones create beautiful interferences and by moving my head around I can alter the sounds further. This gives way to a pleasant sea of Hammond organ and sruti box, leaving me adrift and at peace. Boomkat (UK): Deceh is an anonymous duo featuring the elusive Eleh. Their edition for The Tapeworm is “a close study of the harmonic composition of a Hammond organ and a Sruti Box with attention given to the organization of isolated frequencies and the effects of these vibrations on brain activity.” Like all of Eleh's work, “Fundamental Structure” is meditative, and, if you like, spiritual, seeming to slow time itself to a malleable blur and opening sublime temporal portals in the process. And while it might be minimal, the purity of the tones and their ultra-subtle oscillations are still deeply engaged with a vividly synaesthetic quality; these are frequencies you inhale with your ears and can almost see vibrating against your skin. It's a beautiful thing and sounds quite lovely on cassette. The program repeats on both sides. Limited edition of 400 copies - Recommended. Aquarius Records (US): Another batch of new tapes from the UK cassette label The Tapeworm, and even less to go on background wise with many of them this time around. Deceh is apparently a duo, which counts drone combo duo among their membership (of two), which is strange since we were fairly sure that there were at least two members of Eleh. Regardless, this is some hushed, gorgeous ULTRA ULTRA minimal dronemusic. Long form dronescapes woven from Hammond organ and sruti box, or more specifically, according to the liner notes, “A close study of the harmonic composition of a Hammond organ and a sruti box with attention given to the organization of isolated frequencies and the effects of these vibrations on brain activity.” Which leads us to believe, based on the near static pulsations, and at times barely audible undulations, that the brain activity in question is some sort of deep deep trance. Soft overtones, barely there slow shifting sonic colorations, at times so simple and austere it almost sounds like it's just the buzz of the tape mechanism itself, but at other times, the compositions blossom into something much more lush, and dreamily melodic. Most often hovering somewhere right in between, layered and lush, a tranquil sea of hum and thrum, underpinned by microscopic pulsations, a barely there propulsion, these lengthy inner space explorations shifting ever so gently from krautdrone new age ambient drift to pure tone sine wave shimmer. Lovely. franklinkevin.com: This is the second time I’ve listened to Fundamental Structure. It starts out like a droney, minimalist, noise record should: repetitive pattern, oscillations, overtones, undertones, simplicity…then it resonates. For me the true grasp of the track is revealed in not what you hear. The sound you hear isn’t what Deceh’s trying to convey; it’s the sound you feel, rather. Every Eleh and Deceh release I own could be listened to with earplugs in at a very loud volume just to feel the sound wash over you. Don’t get me wrong, these tones sound lovely to my ears, but the feeling is more pronounced whenever I put on an Eleh or Deceh record/cassette. Even at its quietest, this cassette still resonates (assuming your system allows). MINUTES pass by without so much as a change in tone, then all of a sudden, the tones change up, up, up! My other roommate personally requested that I turn this tape off the other night when I listened to it because it was becoming too loud for him. I just softened it a little, and he didn’t seem to mind anymore. Upon a second listen, I find this to be a very comfortable track. More flowing and soft than the last Deceh I received on cassette through Cassauna. It still has a bite near the end of the track, but up to that point everything seems very tidy. The bite I speak of sounds like a detuned bass guitar being beaten under 6 feet of water. It’s interesting, but kind of seems like it belongs somewhere else. A sort of sadness is realized when you flip the cassette over and press play, because there’s no more. It’s the same piece on both sides. It’s perfectly fine and stands tall as a release, though. Deceh keeps me interested. Any of The Tapeworm’s releases are definitely worth seeking out if you can grab them. Most are limited to around 250, so actually purchasing them right when they are released is important. Luckily for me, I’ve subscribed to the next 10 releases, so I don’t have to worry about them running out. Unfortunately for my collection, I only learned about The Tapeworm after about 12 releases, so my collection has many gaps. Oh well! Vital Weekly (NL): There are no bandmembers listed on the cover of the release by Deceh, but (internet-) belief has it that at least two members of Eleh are involved - Eleh being an influential drone company of a more mysterious kind (and seldom reviewed in these pages). Their tape is made with a Hammond organ and a sruti box, that drone instrument from India. Both sides have the same five pieces, which according to the cover are played “with attention given to the organization of isolated frequencies and the effects of these vibrations on brain activity”. In the first piece one wouldn't say these are sounds from a Hammond organ nor struti box, but a physically loud piece of closely linked drones - trademark of Eleh. But as the tape progresses things tone down a bit more and then drones arrive which are more mellow and meditative. I am not sure if and which part of this particular brain was effected, but it surely sounded great - but me being a sucker for drone music anyway. Excellent tape.]]> http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/ttw27.html http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/ttw27.html tapes Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:45:09 +0000 www.stefangoldmann.com www.fennesz.com Reviews Boomkat (UK): **Cassette only. Limited to 250 copies** The Tapeworm label presents a “hard drive dialogue” between Christian Fennesz and Stefan Goldmann. “Remiksz” is a result of Goldmann erasing the samples used on Fennesz's “Szampler” piece-by-piece and replacing them with samples from his own collection of sounds made between 1999-2010 for his Akai S5000 sampler, in the same sequence. The final product bears no resemblance to Fennesz's original other than structure, essentially like dismantling and rebuilding a house by replacing one brick at a time. this manifests itself as constantly morphing and totally unpredictable display of highly organised sounds, ranging from distorted pneumatic drilling to blurts of avant-jazz, interjections of FM static and all manner of musique concrete streamed as a barrage of totally abstract sound and texture. That may sound like a nightmare to some, but it's actually an utterly fascinating experience, especially when you reach the mid section of stray boogie and electro riffs and reclaimed machine beats. If you're after a completely unpredictable and enveloping experience, look no further. Aquarius Records (US): Another weird and wonderful release from the mysterious Tapeworm label. “What's so weird and wonderful and mysterious about someone remixing Fennesz?” you might be wondering? Well on Remiksz, Stefan Goldmann makes use of Fennesz's previous Tapeworm release, the collection of samples appropriately titled Szampler, which gathered up various source material used to create some of our favorite Fennesz records and then wove those raw samples into a surprisingly cohesive whole. With Remiksz, things get pretty meta, with Goldmann removing Fennesz's original samples, one by one, replacing them with samples of his own, recorded and created over the last decade, in the same sequence, eventually resulting in this, Remiksz, a sort-of remix record, which contains absolutely NO music by Fennesz. Instead, Goldmann has composed a record using Fennesz' Szampler as a template, or a framework: the track durations are all the same, all the arrangements, it's just the sounds that are utterly and completely different. We guess one could argue that it therefore does incorporate MUSIC (in the sense of organization/structure) “written” by Fennesz, but just not his SOUNDS. So Fennesz fans at first might be a bit puzzled, or disappointed, which definitely seems fair, but give it a chance, Goldmann has a fantastic arsenal of sounds and samples, many of them quite reminiscent of Fennesz himself, and like Szampler, Remiksz ends up being a deliriously varied barrage of tripped out psychedelic soundscapery, tendrils of buzzing guitar, dense staticky rumbles, orchestral bursts, little bits of melody, long shimmery drones, swirls of crackly haze, and blown out gauze, delicately drifting harmonics, dark ominous piano, cinematic strings, fields of celestial glitch and burnt black squelch, skittery fragmented rhythms, buried samples, cricket-like clicks, lots of reverb and washed out echo, warped and warbly tape experiments, primitive synths, a blurred and ever shifting short attention span sprawl of fractured lush loveliness and glitched out sampledelic sputter. Awesome. The Wire (UK): What Remiksz is: an exercise in “hard-drive dialogue” between Christian Fennesz and Stefan Goldmann. Remiksz follows a previous Tapeworm release, Szampler, in which Fennesz stitched together a series of samples from a collection amassed over more than a decade of laptop sound manipulations. Goldmann replaces every single one of Fennesz's samples from that piece, so that the end result consists entirely of his own personally sourced sounds. In this sense it's a remix of Fennesz in the same way that working through Shakespeare's “Sonnet XIX” replacing every word might be a remix. Does this Borgesian exercise leave a trace element of the organising spirit of Fennesz's piece? Is it a meta-comment on the tenuous connection of so many remixes to the original? What Remiksz is: a series of miniatures, strung together like jewels on a necklace. A high-speed flick through a scrapbook in which speaker-shredding static is succeeded by ghostly absence and then klaxons of distortion. Eight seconds of static; ten seconds of sinister machinoid exhalations. Experiments begun and discarded by some post-millennial Radiophonic Workshop. A roulette-wheel spin through a radio dial in which most stations are playing musique concrète - but a booming electro groove could click into place at any time. A post-sampling Faust Tape; an utterly absorbing soundworld. [Sam Davies]]]> http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/ttw26.html http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/ttw26.html tapes Sun, 31 Oct 2010 20:30:38 +0000 very limited quantities now on sale in the TouchShop Also available at www.paume.nl This mixtape was first available at The Tapeworm Comes Alive!, 28.xi.10, Utrecht. Details of this event, below… Le Guess Who? and PAUME present a night curated by cassette label THE TAPEWORM featuring Leslie Winer, Leif Elggren, Zerocrop, Ananizapta, Savage Pencil, People Like Us and Philip Marshall. PAUME, the Utrecht (Netherlands) based Platform for Avant-garde and Urban Media Explorations invited The Tapeworm to curate a programme presenting all aspects of the cassette labels' roster and vision. The Tapeworm gladly accepted the invitation and presents its selection on the closing night of Le Guess Who? On Sunday 28th November 2010 Leslie Winer, Leif Elggren, Zerocrop and Ananizapta all perform live in a continuous ‘revue’ performance, hosted by The Tapeworm. In the lobby of Theater Kikker, sound installations feature the ‘Wormcast’ mixes of released and unreleased works from The Tapeworm's catalogue. There’s more: Savage Pencil exhibits his art in a gallery setting and Leif Elggren and People Like Us are featured with their video art. PAUME also commissioned a special and exclusive sound art piece by Philip Marshall based on field recordings made by PAUME in Utrecht. PAUME invited The Tapeworm to produce an exclusive cassette release for this event. Featuring a splendid selection of artists from the label, The Tapeworm presents ‘The Tapeworm Comes Alive!’ in a limited edition of only 100 copies for sale at the event only. Established in June 2009, The Tapeworm is a true cassette label. Feature articles in magazines like The Wire, Gonzo Circus and RUIS are testament to the label’s status. No barcodes, but styled in typical black and white and adhering to the relentless pace of releasing two tapes every month, mostly specifically recorded for The Tapeworm, the label has featured a dazzling line-up of artists since its inception. Every tape is strictly limited; to only 250 copies in most cases. “The Tapeworm Comes Alive!” on Facebook www.leguesswho.nl www.paume.nl Reviews The Wire (UK): Darling souvenir of a debauched evening spent with members of The Tapeworm roster. The credits are so small I can't even make them out with my glasses on, but I'm assuming this collects material by most of the event's participants - Leslie Winer, Leif Elggren, Zerocrop and Ananizapta. It plays with great fluidity, and makes me with I'd been leaning against the bar in Utrecht that night, soaking it all in. Boomkat (UK): We've got a handful of these promotional C90 mixtapes - limited to 250 total - which were created for a night curated by The Tapeworm in Utrecht, The Netherlands. The event, presented by Le Guess Who? and PAUME featured Leslie Winer, Leif Elggren, Zerocrop, Ananizapta, Savage Pencil and People Like Us, many of whom appear on here sandwiched between other tracks from the Tapeworm catalogue and some real obscure insertions, from Derek Jarman in conversation with Richard Torry to excerpts from Patricia and Ellen read Jean Baudrillard's “Le Xerox et l'Infiniti” (nope, us neither but it sounds interesting, dunnit?). Like we say, it's dead limited and quite sure to throw up all manner of fascinating sounds you've likely never heard before. Vital Weekly (NL): …already a release from last year, but worth mentioning since it has a lots of bits of releases on the label, no longer available and also bits of spoken word, sound and noise, just like the great Touch tapes had in the early years. If this was a radio station I'd give up writing about music and listen all day, perhaps while reading Cathi Unsworth.]]> http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/ttw25.html http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/ttw25.html tapes Sun, 31 Oct 2010 20:23:31 +0000 www.philipjeck.com Andrew Poppy is a London based composer who makes acoustic and electronic music and has recordings on a number of labels including Touch, Crépuscule and Zang Tuum Tumb. Minimal classical patterns collide with the textures of experimental pop music in an unusual body of work that actively seeks different contexts. There are collaborations with Impact Theatre co-op, Psychic TV, Liverpool Philharmonic, Erasure, Nitzer Ebb, the Royal Opera House, Claudia Brücken and Bernardo Devlin. Since 1989 he has developed a collaborative partnership with visual and theatre artist Julia Bardsley. Andrew performs solo or with his ensemble, which recently completed UK tour dates with “…and the Shuffle of Things”. Last month Philip Marshall asked Andrew to make two short piano pieces for a sound installation in Utrecht, each based on only four notes. The first live performance of Number Crunch 1 and 2 will be at Café Oto. “Bewitching, beautifully crafted and highly addictive.” - The Wire. www.myspace.com/andrewpoppy Cathi Unsworth is a writer and editor who lives and works in London. She is the author of three pop-cultural crime novels, Bad Penny Blues, The Singer and The Not Knowing, and the editor of the short story collection London Noir, all published by Serpent's Tail. Cathi has written on music, film, art, fashion and culture for Sounds, Bizarre, BFI Flipside, Mojo and Nude, amongst many others. Her collaborator on this release is Pete Woodhead, an electronic composer who cut his musical teeth as part of O Yuki Conjugate and The Sons of Silence and is now best known for his soundtrack contribution to the hit British zombie movie Shaun of the Dead. Pete and Cathi previously collaborated on the Transmissions Series that are available for free download on www.cathiunsworth.co.uk and continue to conspire on new projects. Tonight, Cathi will be doing a special reading for you all: www.cathiunsworth.co.uk Zerocrop is the pseudonym of London based musician Parker, an independent artist who has been releasing albums through the website www.zerocrop.com since 2000. The music is hypnotic mix of complex vocal melodies and spoken word sequences on unsettling themes, set against a rich backwash of pedal steel, guitars and electronics. Zerocrop has remixed, written songs for and performed with the incomparable Billie Ray Martin and regularly creates the show music for award winning milliner Justin Smith. Zerocrop's top pop performance for The Tapeworm - Unleashed in the East will see him and his band bring to life these songs with an affectionate punch. www.zerocrop.com Randy Gibson is a Brooklyn-based composer and a student of seminal minimalist La Monte Young. He works with structure, evolutionary compositional models, and improvisation to create enveloping and ritualistic works in just intonation. His tape for The Tapeworm is titled Analog Apparitions - a pair of 30-minute compositions designed specifically to be recorded and released on cassette tape. Gibson follows in the tradition of prime harmonic just intonation pioneered by Young in the 60’s. Apparitions of The Four Pillars, the underlying composition on this tape, explores the depth of the harmonic series through standard just intonation methods and the use of higher prime harmonic relationships. In the 18 hours of recordings layered onto the two sides of the cassette you can hear the mechanism of the tape itself, the evolution of improvisations over seven recording sessions, and the purity of sine waves in complex prime-harmonic relationships. Tonight Randy will recreate his tape using a just intonation toy organ and boomboxes. This work was funded in part by the Composer Assistance Program of the American Music Center. www.randy-gibson.com On 4 September 2010, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck off New Zealand's South Island. The epicentre was 55km (35 miles) north-west of Christchurch, at a depth of 12 km (7.5 miles). There was widespread damage to buildings and roads as well as power cuts. A state of emergency was later declared in Christchurch, New Zealand's second largest city with a 386,000 population. Adam Hayward is director at South Island Dance Network and at The Body Festival of Dance and Physical Theatre. On 4 September 2010, Adam watched the earthquake destroy his home. Tonight at The Tapeworm - Unleashed in the East, Adam will talk about the event and its aftershocks… www.christchurchquakemap.co.nz news.bbc.co.uk The Tapeworm on Facebook www.cafeoto.co.uk]]> http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/the_tapeworm_unleashed_in_the_east_cafe_oto_091210.html http://www.tapeworm.org.uk/the_tapeworm_unleashed_in_the_east_cafe_oto_091210.html other Sat, 25 Sep 2010 11:30:21 +0000