For listeners who want to travel time to visit ancient civilisations, you could do worse than bend an ear to Milli Mille (KRAAK K115), an entire LP of sounds made with the louvre aulos, a particular kind of double-reed pipe played in ancient Greece and often depicted on vase paintings from around 5000 BC. Played here by Bloedneus & De Snuitkever, an alias which turns out to be one fellow – the Belgian visual artist Lukas de Clerck. He also happens to be a member of 2GirlsNamedSergio and has made one other record under this odd B&DeS name.
Astute readers of the Dutch tongue will appreciate it as a joke on words for “nose” and “snout”, referencing the slightly nasal tone he summons on these recordings. Having mentioned Ancient Greece, our friends at the record label take the conceit a stage further and reference satyrs, and the contest between Apollo and Marsyas; as is well known, the satyr led a libidinous life filled with raunchy sex and wine-drinking. Sadly, none of that lust for life or Dionysian pleasure has translated onto the grooves of Milli Mille, which presents four rather sedate and contemplative droney instrumentals. The sound of the record is quite nice, sometimes enhanced with electronic or digital effects, and Bloedneus & De Snuitkever does manage to inject some interesting technique into his reedy blasts – trills, triple-tonguing, and such like. But the tunes he plays are harmonically not very challenging, content to stay in a single key and wander around the scale in predictable, tidy ways, resulting in banal melodies. He seems to be reaching for something as timeless as Popol Vuh, but plays too many notes and has no clear purpose to his trills. Even so, it’s unusual to hear this archaic instrument being played in what might pass for an avant-garde experimental context. (28/11/2022)