REVIEW: Azalia Snail - "Celestial Respect" CD, 2011

Azalia Snail - Celestial Respect, 2011

AZALIA SNAIL
Celestial Respect CD, 2011
Silber Records
Raw and ethereal at the same time, two qualities long thought to be mutually exclusive. "Solar Riser" opens with multiple layers of vocal and keyboard drones. "Burnt Cookies" starts with a satisfyingly simple drum beat and builds into a sort of a gothic Rolling Stones full-band groove, disappearing behind a wall of echo. The songs are interspersed with keyboard and vocal passages which are themselves cloaked in slapback echo. "Fallen Down" is a straight, quiet passage near the end. The overall tone reminds me of the first couple of Jarboe solo albums I heard, and, like those, "Celestial Respect" is its own thing.
Ian C Stewart

NEWS: Dave Stafford's all-new Pureambient HD channel on YouTube

Dave Stafford's pureambientHD channel is up and running at last on YouTube - featuring all five of the available Dave Stafford Live Performance Videos in stunning HD video with the highest quality audio possible.

INTERVIEW: Shaun Sandor of Promute and Bicameral Mind

Shaun Sandor

AUTOreverse #14, Summer 2011
Interview with
SHAUN SANDOR
of PROMUTE and BICAMERAL MIND
by Ian C Stewart

WHERE/HOW/WHEN DID YOU RECORD YOUR LATEST THING?
I recorded the most recent release - Portocal Sessions in the spring of 2011. It is on the Zeromoon Label as a net release, and hard copies for sale go to benefit the Sonic Circuits Festival in DC.

INTERVIEW: Graham Halliday aka Funkmeister G interviewed by Skot Schtikla

Funkmeister G

AUTOreverse #14, Summer 2011
FUNKMEISTER G aka
GRAHAM HALLIDAY
interview
by Skot Schtikla

Graham Halliday is mainly known in the recording guise of Funkmeister G.



Born in Ireland and then living in Perth, Western Australia for a few years, he is Sydney-based and has lived in just about every suburb of the 'inner west' since he was a kid. He produced Chunky Yet Funky zine in the 90's when I first came across him and some of my earliest memories of G are him calling me on the phone and then not really saying much except 'listen to this' and then he would play me everything from a dictaphone or tape deck old jazz, Sun Ra, Captain Beefheart to some of what I assumed to be his own noise recordings down the phone which with the old land-line would pretty much come across as 20 minutes of distorted fuzz!

REVIEW: Dave Fuglewicz and Hal McGee - Synergistic Reconstruction - tape 2011

Dave Fuglewicz and Hal McGee - Synergistic Reconstruction, 2011

DAVE FUGLEWICZ and HAL MCGEE
Synergistic Reconstruction cassette, 2011
Haltapes - www.halmcgee.com
Here's some fresh noise by two legends of the genre. This c-60 is divided into four separate pieces. The layers were brought together on a four-track cassette recorder, which just warms my heart. This whole project is a labor of analog love, at least on the recording end. Dave's original noises and synthesizer tones were later manipulated and reassembled by Hal into this stimulating blend.
Ian C Stewart

REVIEW: Bryce Eiman - Tone Whore - download, 2011

Bryce Eiman - Tone Whore

BRYCE EIMAN
Tone Whore, Last.fm download 2011
Casio SK-5 abuse, the likes of which not seen around here since I left mine at Darrin's. This album is eight processed noise/feedback pieces. Mysterious rhythms emerge and are slapped down with a quickness. I know that the looping function on the Casio SK-5 can provide multitudes of possibilities for unique, or unusual repetitions. The permutations can be endlessly fascinating in the correct hands (i.e. Bryce's, not mine). It sounds like there are some effects being applied in real time here. I like the tremolo type stuff. Piece number three has an adagio orchestral feel, quite pastoral there. Fascinating.
Ian C Stewart

REVIEW: Auzel - "Old" -- 2011

Auzel - Old

AUZEL
Old - download, 2011
www.vuzhmusic.com
14 shortish pieces. Micro, minimalistic. Lots of samples, surrounded by rustic, homemade vocal drones. "I Remember It More Now" is a couple of rhythmic, glitchy loops beset by noise-abuse. "The Maid And The Cook" is kooky and frenetic, using some seriously high frequencies amid piano and xylophone-type sounds. Like a lost piece by Skinner Box. "Incorrect Spell" continues similarly, maybe like one of the early Rasputina album interludes. "Too True" is an all-too-brief vocal piece that sounds like some lost record on 4AD that I wish I had heard before. Wow. "Herringbone" is a whispery, breathy, trippy, heavily-processed conversation. "She Turned Into The Dog" is just gorgeous ambience, sounds like an echoey cello or an e-bow with a bit of humming on top. This album is scary and weird. I like it very much. A mighty fine release.
Ian C Stewart