News → 2001 → December

drastic sound

December 6, 2001

in a shocking departure from previously established norm, no type has taken less than two months to achieve a new update! not only that, i have personally sworn many times to make this whole thing faster once & for all, because there is a ridiculous backlog of music which is really insanely good, & it's just waiting there. then again, why should we go faster than fast?

i don't know either. but of course, i must confess having been busy recently with the very down-to-earth aspects of making CDs. oh, but might i recall you that we're releasing a double CD compilation to be marketed in the very beginnings of 2002? it's a lovingly packaged collection of mindboggling tunes & well, funky beats which will make you surprised & happy. we have been reassured by everyone "in the know" that this is a sure commercial failure, which allows us to guarantee the utmost no type quality throughout. you will not be disappointed. you will be appointed. (i think i picked up that line from colongib.)

but i will say more about the compilation when it does come out. for now, let's look at stuff you don't even have to pay for (except tangentially.)

060 || My Amazing Robot || Robot Porn: the best of My Amazing Robot, 1983-2000

now, what on earth might my amazing robot be? not to claim i personally own any such piece of mechanics, but it seems that such a thing would emit loud, obnoxious sounds which it would be impossible to cease barring resorting to violent means, i.e. smashing the damn thing to pieces. probably, it would pretend it's a ska band, although nobody could discern anything resembling ska in the sound it makes. my amazing robot could be all these things; in fact, it has been, & continues, in some arcane & confusing way, to be all these things. this no type release bears witness to their enduring legacy of mayhem.

061 || Kanito || _duo#3_esv3

here, spanish composer kanito presents a second installment of his enigmatic _duos series, though third in number. (_duo#2, although composed, has not seen a suitable recording yet although a "preduo_#2" exists.) so in _duo#1_billar, kanito played with a live billard table. to make matters even more drastic, in _duo#3_esv3, his unique sound source is a conference! sound progressions remain fiercely abstract & insubordinate. all the while, the concept adds up to the whole in a way which is very, for want of a better word, musical. a thought experiment around thought? there is something i can't explain in kanito's stark body of work which might only end up causing fascination to no end.

062 || Claudia Bonarelli || Boredom is Counterrevolutionary

& to finish this decidedly difficult (or capricious) update with contrast & panache, welcome the superb claudia bonarelli (from sundsvall, sweden), who presents her prima opus, Boredom is Counterrevolutionary, 6 tracks of exactly the three things to like about minimal electronic music:
(1) funk;
(2) bass;
(3) hiss.
i was personally quite impressed by these tracks ever since i first heard them, & this, despite their deceptive simplicity. just download everything, you'll be listening to it all the time anyway, & i would be ready to bet that you will hear claudia bonarelli on vinyl in the near future...

DICK RICHARDS & WAX: IT JUST FITS PERFECTLY IN |

& speaking of vinyl. some of you may have noticed that Dick Richards' debut album Incongruence Signal is now deleted from our catalogue, as its contents have finally been released on vinyl, where they should have been a while ago because this is some fantastically groovy music which i'm sure a lot of people will be willing to dance to.

so back to back, you have 2 new dick richards 12"s, one of which is on below records, & the other one from no less than germany's own raum…musik, home of many other minimal techno wizards whose names begin with a D. richard has actually signed a record contract with raum, so you may expect to see a lot coming from him on that label.

this doesn't seem to distract him from making more music with us though, as he will soon be releasing a new no type album as "ramon llull", as well as penning one of the chapters of the ongoing sine fiction series, this time based on samuel delaney's book _dhalgren_.

BOOKS ON TAPE, & SOON ON CD |

here's a trick question: what happens when you give todd drootin (Books on Tape) quality studio time & musician personnel? well, you won't know until december 2002, at which time california-based label deathbomb arc will release books on tape's second CD, _throw down your laptops_.

now, this is all i know about this upcoming CD, but there is more going at subverseco, where todd recently posted 2 new releases, _Freddy Frequency vs Dewey Decimator_ & _Sad Single_, the latter featuring remixes from Headphone Science & zug island.

hard time keeping up? don't worry, you'll get used to it.

NO TYPE GOES OUT ON THE WEB |

contemporary composer brian lavelle has launched his web label a little while ago, technoh, a pleasant outfit specialized in (weird) electronic singles. incidentally, three notypers have recently released new material on these premises, with 833-45's epic _leylines_ being the most recent.

other things to look for on techNOH: Martindx's _fortytwo_, a short trumpet-&-drums trickery game which will have your appetite whet for his upcoming collaboration with Elasticlego (to be released on no type soon, of course!) & don't miss n.kra's _cables_, 4 tracks including the magnificent _post-aaliyah_.

things are happening elsewhere also. take for example Eucci who has just released 2 tracks on his own site, under the title _pray for snow_ (perhaps a reminescence from last year's seasonal singles? meaning, how long will it stay there? nobody knows!)

& not to forget to mention myself, a new Camp adventure has been posted as another of eloy anzola's infamous sunday mornings. the adventure is called _mobile_ & it features 4 tracks with the usual camp tricks of indeterminancy & not really knowing what the fuck.

& if that's not enough then i don't know what to say. other than...

SO WHAT IS IT ABOUT THE RIEN À VOIR STUFF? |

rien à voir (10) is a series of electroacoustic music concerts, happening in montréal from december 12 to 15, 2001 at the espace GO (on st-laurent, right in front of the casa del popolo.) as the title announces, there is indeed nothing to see, but a whole lot to hear from internationally reknowned composers such as john young, jacques tremblay, hans tutschku & francis dhomont. don't know them? well, it's never too late.

contrary to a lot of live contemporary music, the pieces presented at rien à voir are acousmatic works broadcasted by the composer on a large number of loudspeakers all around the room. many people have reffered to this as "cinema for the ear", & the comparison is apt, especially in a concert setting such as this. needless to say, this is an impressive experience in itself, & the shows are rarely deceiving, if you come with the right frame of mind. (as in, do you watch a bergman movie with the same mindset as you would with _fight club_?)

for the first time, the organizers of rien à voir have decided to let us kids start a parallel series, called postrien, as it happens later in the evening (22h30). the postrien events take place at the insurpassable casa del popolo (right in front of the espace GO!) & are oriented more towards live performance. this happens from december 13 to 15.

those in québec city will also be delighted to hear that a new series of concerts has been started by Érick Dorion. this series is called "machines" & the first installment of this will take place on december 13, featuring, quite aptly, the one & only morceaux_de_machines.

so please check out the live announcements page for more details on these shows.

PS: should you have the taste to come over, you may even get your hands on The Freest of Radicals (the new compilation) as it will be hot from the presses...

NEXT UPDATE |

where do they all come from?!? well, some of them come from california, & we will feature three of those in our next update. first off is a sort of a re-release of V. V.'s classic _touchtone_ web installment, a beautiful study in telephone sounds. then comes Chris Degiere finally making his no type debut with a new release called _automatos_, the details of which are still shrouded in a most utterly opaque mystery. & finally, dustin craig (Elasticlego) takes on his Headphone Science shoes for fast hip hop beats (what else!), on an album called _number 65_ (& numbered as such, isn't that convenient?)

— david