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FOLKTALES 1

Various artists
Folktales 1
Three discs:
C. Rosenau: Two Ice Fields of the Exact Same Size (18.39)
Hal Rammel: Three Days from Anywhere (20:19)
John Kannenberg: Lave (20:29)
2001
Crouton

I saw this record at Mondo Kim's in Greenwich Village, displayed beneath a glass case like some exotic reptile, imprisoned alongside Massimo, Aphex Twin and a bunch of other 3" curios. It's three little discs housed in a cunning foldout with a grey/blue cityscape on the front. There's another three discs in a similar package (Folktales 2) - one of the discs by Achim Wollscheid - and I nearly bought it, but then I thought: maybe those nice Crouton guys will send me a review copy. If I get it I hope it's as good as this. Rosenau's piece is a crystal clear, painstakingly precise excursion into cold, crisp avant-garde. "The landscape contains acoustic guitar, heating vent, dry ice, metal lid, crash cymbal, wine glass, salt, tin and egg shells". Hal Rammel's disc starts off like a Jeph Jerman recording: bees buzz, wind blows, you can hear the sun shine. It then moves in to edgy scrapes and squeaks, in turn giving way to some intriguing bumps and glassy clangs - wish I could see what he was up to. Finally we have John Kannenberg's utilisation of shortwave frequencies alongside bass, synths and field recordings. This one skitters about like a cat with the wind up its tail, some of it pure noise, some of it reverberating, thundery chords, some of it high pitched whizz and crackle. Good idea to seperate the three tracks out, makes them more distinct, somehow more significant. Thought provoking, strangely calming, intriguing - perhaps that glass case in Kim's was put there to stop the thing from biting you. Right between the eyes.

STEWART GOTT - 9 May 2002



 
 
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