Quite enjoying the Neuromancer (ROOM40 RM4237) LP by Black Rain, even though I’m not a very enthusiastic reader of William Gibson. Actually Black Rain supplied some musical backdrops for an audiobook of Gibson reading the book of this title, released in 1994 by Time Warner. For today’s record, which revisits and restores those 1994 suites, Black Rain are down to a duo (they used to be an entire band) comprising Shinichi Shimokawa and Stuart Argabright, with some production assist from label boss Lawrence English. The latter is evidently a disciple très convaincu of the futuristic visions of William Gibson, and he lapses into enthused fan-speak to convey the success of this music in its depiction of a very specific bleak sci-fi future. I’m enjoying the hard edges, the very pessimistic mood, the attention to detail, and the sustained atmosphere; Black Rain do indeed manage to depict an entire thought-through urban nightmare in all its hideous manifestations. More Blade Runner than the original movie itself. Now intrigued to learn more about this New York unit who started in 1988 as a post-punk industrial noisenik assault group; at some point they turned their compass towards the ambient zones. (23/09/2024)
Solo percussion record by Etienne Nillesen. He made en (SOFA 603) using a single snare drum, but he’s not interested in the traditional approach of percussive striking. Instead, he generates pitches and harmonics, perhaps by rubbing his stick against the membrane (a very granular skin). If I’m right about the rubbing, it’s not unlike the effect produced by a glass harmonica, rubbing the finger on the rim of a wineglass. Very simple and spectral tones emerge in this single 32:13 minutes piece. Small wonder that the label press sees fit to praise the skilled engineers in Cologne who managed to capture this fleeting, evanescent sound. Etienne Nillesen deserves credit for exploring this area, which may represent a fundamental challenge to the accepted conventions of how the drums ought to be played, and for his skill in developing a technique to do it. (23/09/2024)
Italian jazz. Gabriele Mitelli and Rob Mazurek recently appeared together with their Medea record (a tribute to everyone’s favourite Greek myth healing sorceress), and Mazurek has been persuaded back into the studio to join in on In The Room (ORIGINAL CULTURES OCLP006) credited to The Elephant – a jazz-esque trio of Mitelli (trumpets), Pasquale Mirra (vibes and percussion), and Cristiano Calcagnile (drums). The trio concoct lively swingers as well as quieter mood pieces, and include vocal spots (songs, recits, poems) from Cristina Dona, Damon Locks, and Rob Mazurek. Mostly too tasteful for me, but I liked parts of ‘Third Ghost, Old Dreams’, even if the attempts at free-form energy music are a bit contrived and schematic. (02/02/2024)