Command-K is Kalina Solarek from Zurich. Her mini-album debut DAS (ATTENUATION CIRCUIT ACU 1073) is a strong set of experiments made I think with an electric guitar, paired with her electronica set-up. The label see it as some sort of experimental Techno blunge, and it’s true that she’s playing around with familiar dance-floor tropes in a very stark modernist manner, but she also exhibits a lot of daring in her guitar playing. Keeping things simple is hard, but Command-K seems to have a natural instinct for getting it just right. Six short and very direct statements whose clear no-nonsense outlines will please fans of late 1970s post-punk as much as diehard devotees of Mego and Raster-Noton. There’s also a mild sense of impending doom and troubled air hanging over each track; the threat may come from football fans, from invading aliens, or elsewhere. Very good. (25/09/2024)
Challenging and rather arid minimalist needle-point work from Hans Castrup on Covalent Radii Revisited (ATTENUATION CIRCUIT ACU 1074). It’s a collaboration with EMERGE, i.e. Sascha Stadlmeier, the highly prolific and engaged German experimenter who runs this label. Astonishing and deeply non-human electronic sounds surround the listener like a cold, kaleidoscopic mobile hanging in an art gallery, which is pretty much the desired intention – Castrup has a career as a visual artist, the record accompanied a specific exhibition of theirs, and even EMERGE was pulled into the vortex and discovered a skill for photography he didn’t even know he had. The title Covalent Radii Revisited and its underlying theme both have something to do with measuring sub-atomic particles, reflecting Castrup’s interest in physical science, and we’re invited to take it all as a metaphor for how the music was constructed. I’m certainly feeling the conceptual rigour, but the compositional core not so much; elements feel like they’re pieced together at random rather than executing a pre-planned arc or following a design. It’s hard to feel at home in this forlorn, abstract world. (25/09/2024)
Voice-and-saxophone improvisation from Annick Nozati and Daunik Lazro on Sept Fables sur L’Invisible (MAZETO SQUARE 570566-4). These May 1994 recordings have apparently only just surfaced; they were captured at the Musique Action festival at Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy. What these two players are attempting is nothing short of a spirit-made-flesh artistic gesture, tapping into unknown forces and revisiting the modes of ancient history to make these powerful, intimate statements. As the press release puts it, “the method is simple, but the experience is profound”. This is very restrained and unshowy music; rather than an extroverted wrestling match staged in the name of ultimate freedom, here is free improvisation being used to express emotions and ideas so private that even the act of listening by an audience can feel like an intrusion. (25/09/2024)
Double CD of instrumental guitar music from Christopher Colm Morrin, a Dublin artiste who is new to us. Sketches 1-17 (STRAY SIGNALS STRAY016) is an apt title for these rather unfinished and inoffensive pieces; our initial reaction was to wonder why they even needed to be published, and in such quantity. On today’s spin however I’m seeing a shade more purpose in these languid ambient downers with their heavy use of effects pedals; each tune reflects something of the isolation of Morrin and the circumstances under which he made them. Don’t fret, it’s not another lockdown record; just something to do with a change of holiday plans. It might do more people a lot of good if they were shut up alone in a house for a long time. The music, in its distant and abstract manner, could be read as an index of the circular thoughts and rather occluded ideas that creep into the brain during such moments; it borders on a form of unhealthy brooding, which I like, and introspection is good for the soul, which I believe. Morrin also does poetry, all sorts of visual art, and has composed film soundtracks. (23/09/2024)