THE DREAMER HAS AWAKENED: Peter Christopherson (1955-2010)

I am saddened to report the untimely passing of Peter Christopherson (AKA Sleazy) in his sleep,  busily dreaming beyond the conscious world,  as the best artists are prone to do often and powerfully.  Peter was a man of many talents,  first gaining notice as graphic artist/designer in the Hipgnosis group,  and later as a founding member of the seminal "Industrial" group,  Throbbing Gristle.  He later graced the first two albums by TG splinter group,  Psychic TV.  While his contributions to electronic music are numerous and varied (as a solo performer under the name The Threshold Houseboys Choir,  and most recently as Soisong,  a duo with Ivan Pavlov of COH),  his most powerful and passionate work appeared under the Coil moniker,  a personal and musical partnership with the late John Balance.  Peter died on November 25th in his adopted homeland,  Thailand,  a place where the waking dreamer is accepted and more importantly,  cherished.

"I've moved away from that (the melancholy and bleakness of humanity and of life)... I do feel that life is to be enjoyed.  And whatever we can do to make ourselves feel better and if possible help other people feel better too,  that's got to be a good thing." (THE WIRE 306,  August 2009)

MAGNIFIERS: THE A-Z of ANALOGUE SYNTHESIZERS by Peter Forrest

These are books,  that if you can find copies,  will certainly set your imagination aflame with the the desire to research,  track down,  and hopefully purchase some of these mostly vintage aural toys.  I know I've been severely bitten,  and if you take a gander at the photos on this blog you'll understand why I'm a cardboard box away from financial crisis,  apparently the American Way!  The two volumes (1998) that comprise this amazing A-Z compendium give one just the right historical and technical overview to slowly make informed decisions about one's analogue synthesis needs and the shape you'd like those needs to take.  Peter Forrest does a wonderful job describing these synths for the most part (that he missed the internal speaker on the EDP Gnat is a small misstep),  and this should be considered an essential purchase just for the enormous amount of synth territory he covers.  Now if I can somehow find translated copies of the two volumes of SYNTHESIZER VON GESTERN (1995) by Matthias Becker I'd really be in trouble!

AN IRREGULAR LINE

LOOPED & LIVE

THE SOUND OF FLUT

PLAY ITSELF: Chance Patch

COMEDY OR PROFUNDITY?: A Manifesto From Sunn ((O))))

The critical hyperbole surrounding Sunn ((O)))) would be really amusing if it wasn't so consistently overburdened by the weight of the group's own pretensions and the limits of their playing.  MONOLITH  & DIMENSIONS (2009) is a bludgeoning drone-fest that combines the sludge of the core group with contributions from guests galore.  I even admit to enjoying some of this,  especially the orchestral arrangements throughout. But when Attila Csihar's monologue at the end of "Agartha" comes to the fore,  dripping with profundity,  I can have only one reaction:  laughing uncontrollably.  This may indeed be the comedy track of 2009.  There are actually some beautiful moments here too,  but they are generally provided by the added players,  not the hilariously hooded duo.  In the end,  there is only this bit of cosmic certainty:  Black Sabbath and Blue Cheer where just as heavy,  had much better tunes and much less maximalist/minimalist wanking.

I BOUGHT SOME BANANAS TODAY or How I Learned to Love Modular Synthesis

After toying with the various forms sound synthesis can take,  I've settled upon a manner of working that truly satisfies my desire to create sound events that depend less on technique and more on the foibles of chance and electricity.  Of course I'm talking about the joys and frustrations of using modular synthesizers,  in this case my Serge system.  

The word "modular" has led me to pricey purchases like an Analogue Solutions Vostok,  that although fairly simple,  immediately proved rather confusing.  Once feeling a small bit of accomplishment on that small modular,  I tried my hand at a vintage modular,  the EML-200,  still a favorite.  And after dealing with the pin matrix of the Vostok,  the logical step was to find a nice EMS Synthi AKS,  whose pin matrix patching is,  in my opinion,  far superior to the Vostok's (whose patching I prefer with eighth inch cables).  I've also toyed with semi-modular synths like the mighty Korg MS-20 and the idiosyncratic EML-101.

Which brings me back to my Serge combo,  starting with the Creature,  the Seq A,  the TKB (a wild capacitance "keyboard"),  the Dual Oscillator,  and the Wave Processor.  This is my first somewhat complex modular system,  which while compact in size,  packs quite a punch,  both in terms of synthesis/modulation potential,  but also in terms of confusion/failure. If one is to truly come to terms with  modular synthesis,  one must accept those latter liabilities as well.  The truly brave wade through endless input/output jacks,  blinking lights,  rows of knobs,  and tangles of cables (those multi-colored bananas) in order to first find headaches,  then hopefully,  sonic nirvana.  

As a visual artist,  the idea of the "happy accident" has always seemed like an oasis of potential discovery,  something I also cherish in the world of modular synthesis.  The simple turn of a knob will often succeed in the loss of an aural moment,  while opening up equally interesting ones,  or merely chaos, sometimes seen as a denial of viable form.  You be the judge of that one.

I guess the "perfect patch" is a fleeting moment sometimes stored in one's memory or patchsheet,  and just as often belonging only to that moment.  With discipline and knowledge of the machinery at hand as essential ingredients,  a truly frightening, but rewarding modular synthesis journey will begin.  In other words,  this is not for the faint at heart,  but for individuals willing to push hard at mental presets,  while maintaining a sense of sonic wonder.  I love it!

SERGE RING MODULATOR

OSCILLATIONS: PERIODS.MAKE.SENSE. by Sutekh

Seth Horvitz released (via Mille Plateaux) this exploratory bit of techno in 2000,  and it still holds up today as an essential listen for those of us interested in the manipulation of sound beyond the confines of the dance floor.  Its eleven untitled tracks form a clash between the 4:4 beat of techno and accompanying clouds of static,  noise,  field recordings,  and abstract sonic shapes.  Apparently the source material for these tracks was processed via computer to the point where a kind of haunted minimalism emerged,  leaving these spare tracks with suggestions of psychological displacement and premonitions of future menace.  Some tracks make their point without any beat pushing them along,  grasping and tearing as if suspended in a tangle of textures.  If you like your music with hints of noise,  dub,  musique concrete,  and laptop tinkering,  give this innovative release a listen.

TEST PATH

OSCILLATIONS: LE NOISE by Neil Young

I had thought that Neil Young had long fallen to the periphery of popular culture while maintaining a steady release schedule that felt disposable, or worse,  utterly meaningless.  Let's face it,  in a world filled with oldies acts and Merzbow's extreme noise discomforts,  where could Young go to  make a contemporary statement  suggesting a vital vision unimpaired by age?  Well,  he went back to being himself (just a man and a guitar) with a bit of help from Daniel Lanois' subtle production techniques.  LE NOISE is a brief CD filled with songs of regret,  thanks,  anger,  and ambiguous summations of his various selves.  Even at its quietest moments it sounds extreme in its truths,  mostly because today's popular music seems so sonically sanitized ,  silly in intent,  and dangerously stupid in its attempts to communicate.  The overall tone of this late career masterpiece is made even more evocative by Daniel Lanois' loops,  delays,  and textural tangles,  owing more to recent electronica than Young's earlier stabs at Kraftwerk coupled with Devo (TRANS 1983)  or Sonic Youth's noise ethic (ARC WELD 1991).  It's obvious that after releasing decades of pointless trash,  Young is finally back on (Shakey) ground,  or as he sings in "Rumblin",  "When will I learn how to listen...?".  He's still restless,  and that's a good thing.

TANGLED INTENTIONS

ALL SYSTEMS GO: Serge Creature/Seq A/TKB/Dual Osc/Wave Proc

I finally got all of the above Serge M-odules packed into a wood unit of my own devise,  and am ready to unleash the not so delicate balance between intention and accident (mostly chance, play,  and whoops at this point).  To a modular neophyte like myself, the idea of form is dictated by process with chances taken without care and dire results hardly life threatening.  My only question as a gear junkie is "what shall I acquire next?".