New arrivals from Zoharum label in Poland from 24th October 2022.
French brothers Frédéric Charlot and Olivier Charlot performing as Maninkari on Un Phénomène de Reliance (ZOHAR 266-2). Their distinct contribution is that they generate what seems superficially to be a form of cold-ambient-wave-drone music, but do it all using acoustic instruments. Somewhat exotic instruments too, including the bowed psaltery, the cymbalum, and the frame drum. Frédéric (the bowing half of the act) also plays the viola. Slow and melancholic tones emanate from a very private and lonely part of the collective soul. Real depth due to musical skills and precision in the very deliberate playing, the percussive elements adding much starlit detail to these nocturnes. Studio echo or natural acoustic resonance is used sparingly to enhance the atmosphere. While much of the album may veer towards “mood” setting, the title cut shows them attempting a more harmonic approach, albeit pared-down and very minimal, and what emerges is a very cryptic and modern take on classical chamber music forms and techniques. It’s this aspect to their work that makes one wonder if they’re ready to tackle the compositions of a third party – assuming they could find anyone who could successfully score for their unusual instrumentation. Last heard these fellows with their 2017 album for this label; they also perform as Sphyxion (minimal electronica).
Two more CDs in the GT Archive Series from this label – latest instalments in the plan to reissue and re-present the music of Genetic Transmission, i.e. Tomasz Twardawa. The label hold this fellow in high esteem. He is a pioneer of industrial music in Poland since the mid-1990s and responsible for quite a range of very extreme tape and collage experimentation. We’ve heard and reviewed all eight previous reissues and often been struck by the variety of approaches – sometimes gloomy, sometimes nightmarish, sometimes just quiet and eerie. The trend I’m sensing is that Genetic Transmission doesn’t do “noise” or “shock”, and often his projects find him in pursuit of something very elusive and subtle, almost a fleeting evanescence of sound. That’s the vibe I’m mostly getting from News From Wormland (ZOHAR 276-2 / GT09), an item originally recorded in 2002 and released as a limited CDR in 2003 on GT’s own Die Schöne Blumen Musik Werk label.
If you’ve been following the continuity here, you’ll notice that the cover art is very similar to Spójrzcie [Pozhaluysta], Jakie Piekne Macie Geby – the same Ensor image sampled – which was recorded at the same time, and is also intended as a tribute to Lautreamont, the French 19th century poet who influenced the surrealists. Actually the Lautreamont thing is more important than I realised, and indeed the whole of News From Wormland was realised in the “spirit” of that poet and intended to create a sonic effect that parallels the intensity of Les Chants de Maldoror. To do this, Tomasz Twardawa uses a mix of inert metal objects, field recordings, and much tape manipulation – especially loops. Despite the apparent formlessness on offer, the work is underpinned by very dense and elaborate structures, structures which I suspect only become clear through repeated listens. Perhaps Tomasz Twardawa has a private map etched into his brain which only he can follow. Not an easy listen, but somehow these obsessive groanings and churnings find a way to burrow into your consciousness, not unlike the worms of the title. The phrase “turpistic aura” in the press notes seems especially apt; for an instant I read this as something to do with turgidity (which also applies to Genetic Transmission), but it’s not even an English word – it’s the name of a Polish literary movement, one that “aimed to shock the reader through sheer ugliness”. (Source: slavicmisery on Instagram.)
Let us pass then to the tenth reissue, White Nights (ZOHAR 277-2 / GT10). Originally from 2003 and also originally on CDR (part of the Zoharum plan is to rescue music from the fragile medium of the CDR). Again tape manipulation is a large part of it, only we’re now invited to regard the technique as a direct extension of musique concrète, and note that a lot of the original sounds were recorded on home-made instruments built by Tomasz Twardawa. Given the creator’s very idiosyncratic approach to tape treatment, there’s no reason not to suppose his instrument-building skills are likewise eccentric and personal, and the combination of the two forces are what makes a record like White Nights so completely unique. That isn’t to say it’s especially enjoyable, but Genetic Transmission has been busy forging his own distinct musical identity in an over-crowded world of experimentation. “Considered by many to be one of the best albums in the discography,” say the press notes approvingly.
Unlike the Wormland item above which at least has human faces on the cover and refers to a poetic precedent (however skewed and nightmarish it may be), White Nights uses four very abstract images across the surfaces of the sleeve printed in various depressing shades of grey. These, along with the music, create the impression that we’re hearing and seeing the very grain of sound itself, watching it twitch and writhe under the microscope. The intention with White Nights however was mainly to try and convey some of the effects of insomnia, and accordingly across five long episodes the creator expresses every degree of mental and physical condition from “total euphoria” to “almost total madness”. When perceived in this way, White Nights ceases to be abstract and becomes something much closer to home, and likely to resonate with anyone who’s passed a sleepless night or two. As such, it’s quite harrowing in places, particularly the distraught voices calling out and the dogs barking on the second track – Twardawa is determined to push this idea as far as he can, remorselessly drilling down until he reaches the ocean floor in the sea of insomnia. In this, he reminds us of Swedish droner Jarl, whose work on this same label represents an equally insatiable pursuit of ideas related to hearing disorders. White Nights is so far a chaotic and jumbled listen, ingeniously assembled, but the sounds are still quite low-key and all the more eerie for it; I feel I’m one step closer to cracking the Genetic Transmission code.