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MUSIC NEWS NOVEMBER 1998 FluxEuropa is pleased to receive material for
review. The postal address is: neoclassical Les Secrets de Morphée is the solo project of Karin Mérat from XVII° Vie and features five previously unreleased tracks (24 minutes). Karin contributes a superb voice, keyboards, drums and piano, and she is accompanied by Anastasia playing an insistent and moody violin. Tragic and reflective, it's a beautiful cycle of songs and music, and a fine addition to the catalogue of a very interesting label, Prikosnovenie, which deserves more publicity in the English-listening world. Highly recommended. Rik - 17 November 1998
folk SHIRLEY AND DOLLY COLLINS This recording of live performances in Dublin (1978) and London (1979) is dedicated by Shirley to the memory of her late sister, Dolly. A catalyst for my own immersion in traditional music, Shirley and Dolly Collins were leading figures of the 70s folk revival, and particularly distinctive for Shirley's voice and Dolly's playing of a reproduction of a 17th-century portative pipe-organ. The album includes such sublime melodies as 'All Things Are Quite Silent' and 'Just As The Tide Was a-Flowing', as well as folk classics like 'George Collins' and 'Hopping Down In Kent'. Besides the pipe-organ, Dolly also plays the piano - arguably a more 'authentic' folk instrument than many of those more typically associated with the genre! This CD has been issued on Durtro, the label run by David Tibet of Current 93. Shirley Collins has been a friend of David's for some years, and has appeared on three of his albums. Harking Back is distributed by World Serpent, strengthening their expansion into the traditional music area. (A number of the Collins sisters' old vinyl albums including The Banks of the Sweet Primeroses and Love, Death and the Lady, have been reissued on CD by other labels .) Rik - 17 November 1998
industrial VARIOUS ARTISTS Twenty-one tracks, none of them longer than five minutes, from the innovative California-based Zenflesh label (check them out at http://www.zenflesh.com/). Although most, if not all, these tracks could be loosely allocated to some uneasy territory on the borders of 'noise' and 'ambient' (call it 'difficult listening' maybe) they achieve a surprising variety within these arbitrary parameters. Label linchpins Petit Mal and Turk Knifes Pope contribute two of the strongest tracks: Petit Mal's 'Covering the exposed' is a deft slice of edgy avant garde, TKP's track (untitled) a baleful slab of controlled malevolence. The other tracks are contributed by acts you're even less likely to have heard of (yet). Noise/Girl's seething blanket of white noise is the musical equivalent of an all out thermo-nuclear assault, but clever with it - in common with many of the tracks on this compilation it subtly shifts depending on what volume you play it at, which room you play it in, whether it's coming at you through headphones or speakers. Job's 'Dystopia' sounds like a bloke playing Space Invaders in a sawmill, with a couple of growly grizzly bears looking over his shoulder and a blizzard banging at the window. Rh Yau's 'Sweat Cling' is genuinely frightening (and pretty sexy too - depends on your mood). Mike Czech sounds like Mike Paradinas with a hangover. Flapper's 'Dreambar' will take you to another planet. A better one. Much more to come from Zenflesh in the next few months, but don't wait, go for it now. You'll never sleep with the light off again. STEWART GOTT - 17 November 1998 goth rockBUSINESS AS USUAL INKUBUS SUKKUBUS CHILDREN ON STUN (1991-1998) Poppy goth rock with Wiccan pagan themes will please those fans of Inkubus Sukkubus looking for more of the same. The album features six studio recordings and some old favourites performed at a live convert. Children On Stun broke up earlier this year. In comparison with Inkubus Sukkubus, their music is more rock than pop and has a darker, more aggressive edge. Seven Year Itch reproduces their Hollow 12' self-release (1993) plus some numbers from their final live performance. The latter would have been better without the restricted vocabulary and the frankly embarrassing attempts to provoke audience participation. Rik - 17 November 1998 compilation Presumed Guilty is a compilation of gothic, industrial and metal bands on Misanthropy and its Elfenblut and Heroine imprints, and is issued in protest against the witch-hunting and boycott that Misanthropy has suffered as a result of its association with 'politically incorrect' bands such as Burzum. The album rallies Misanthropy artists ranging from Amber Asylum (plaintive traditional folk song) to some raucous Black Metal. The project is headed up by Dream Into Dust (powerful industrial/apocalyptic folk) which finds Derek Rush in an aggressively extrovert mood, and he is joined by In The Woods (Progressive Rock revivalists), Hagalaz Runedance (neofolk), Endura (dark ambient-industrial) and many others. Rik - 17 November 1998 other Joy is the debut album from Red, a three-piece consisting of Nina Shah (vocals), Sean Collins (bass) and Dean Whittington of En Slave and FIST magazine fame. Combining drum-machines, samples and guitars with at times almost oriental touches, Joy is a dada-esque kaleidoscope of symbolism and layered sounds. Like Jarboe (Swans/Skin) at her most seductive and strident, Nina's vocals are immediately a perfect counterpoint to the keyboard and guitar washes of Whittington and Collins. The music is fluid and darkly layered, reminiscent of Earwig/Insides' percussive electronic mantras or the unnerving, enticing art-pop loops of Propaganda. Red draw upon their stated influences - Brecht, David Lynch, Suicide - in terms of attitude and poise rather than sound. And yet all is not unremittingly dark. 'Prince Of Light' ascends into a spiralling, uplifting glimpse of the sublime, whilst 'Who Are You' and 'Faker's Life' betray a surprising (and welcome) penchant for intelligent pop. MARK DENTON - 17 November 1998 in brief TENHI DRAWN SALLY DOHERTY AND THE SUMACS Tenhi's two-song mini CD is a sampler for a future album. Finding its roots in traditional folk music, this Finnish group employs a dark but fairly unexceptional pop-rock ballad style. Drawn is a Norwegian 'innovative metal' band. The metal element is predictable enough while the innovative part is best demonstrated by the soft male and female vocals against a background of rock guitar riffs on 'This is My Day', track 2 on this 4-track mini-album. Despite the large cast of musicians, Sally Doherty's second album gives full prominence to her excellent voice, but I remain less impressed with the material which is far too fluffy for the robust appetites of my table-companions. Rik - 17 November 1998 concertsETERNAL RETURN DEATH IN JUNE/DER BLUTHARSCH BAUHAUS Douglas Pearce's Death in June staged a highly dramatic concert utilising film, heavy percussion and historical samples, to evoke a primitive and disturbing atmosphere. DIJ was supported by Albin Julius as Der Blutharsch, and Albin joined Douglas to perform material from their recent DIJ album collaboration, Take Care & Control. As encore, Doug and Albin returned to the stage with former DIJ members, Tony Wakeford of Sol Invictus and Patrick Leagas, to play 'Death Of The West' and 'Heaven Street'. This public reunion - after a gap of 14 years - was enthusiastically received. Bauhaus were and are highly rated. Having missed them the first time round, I was pleased to have an opportunity to catch the second night of their their first UK reunion gig. The gothic theatricals were good, especially at the beginning, but I thought their best musical material was actually their covers of other people such as Dead Can Dance. Rik - 17 November 1998 |
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