#[ they have that old record quality noise + monochromic animation ]
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iridcsccnt · 6 years ago
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「    Hums the 1963 sugar crisp jingle while unlocking a jewelry casket in the dark.    」
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fluidsf · 6 years ago
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Sonic Picks 33 THU20: VROEG WERK (2012) Reviewed format: 2 CD compilation on Monochrome Vision Welcome to review number 33 in the Sonic Picks review series in which today we have this excellent 2 CD compilation of early works by Dutch experimental Industrial group THU20 titled VROEG WERK. This was released by the label Monochrome Vision which was founded and owned by Dmitry Vasilyev, who sadly passed last year. Vasilyev also created the inventive artwork for this compilation and wrote the liner notes. THU20 is a group with a lineup that changed overtime, with some members joining later on in the group’s existence but to keep things simple for now (and leave room for your own personal research if you want) I’ll list all members featured on this compilation just by name. On here we have, Jac van Bussel, Guido Doesborg, Peter Duimelinks, Roel Meelkop (who I also saw perform live at the recent concert with Kate Carr), Joe Smolders and Frans de Waard. The 2 CD (obviously) comes in a 2 CD jewel case, the cover artwork features hand drawn artwork by Vasilyev showing the artist name and title of this compilation. On the spine we have the artist name, compilation title and catalogue number as well as a continuation of the artwork on both sides. Included is a two page booklet with a description and historical details about the music contained on the compilation in both English and Russian. On the back page you can find details on the source of every track as well as a listening that shows which group member played on which track as well as more artwork in the background. The two CDs feature artwork similar to the compilation cover but with more straight edges and completely filled black rather than fuzzy lines and this artwork is inverted on DISK 2. The two CDs feature indications of the two parts (CDs) the compilation are made up of as well as copyright information. On the back you can find the artist name and compilation title again, tracklists and track times of all the tracks on the two CDs, Monochrome Vision logo, copyright info, artwork credits and contact and booking information for THU20. Now, let’s get into the music on VROEG WERK, starting with DISK 1 - STUDIO WORKS + LIVE IN BORDEAUX. What caught my attention especially in Dmitry Vasilyev excellent notes on THU20 is that he mentioned how their approach to making music is similar in style to how you’d listen and perceive a radio play. Indeed, it’s not uncommon for Industrial artists to use field recordings, radios, sound effect recordings and more in their music, but the approach I heard so far still fits these all in a continuous Noisy Industrial stream of sound or repeating rhythms, THU20 however changes up the structures of their pieces quite a bit and like radio plays often plays more into “emotional” dynamics or creating various sonic events that don’t repeat, after each other, eschewing the traditional form of Industrial often and creating their own original unpredictable compositions. Besides metallic percussion, bursts of Noise, THU20 makes use of tape / music manipulations as well as various live vocals and vocal samples that are often distorted but while the music is often pretty abrasive and sometimes aggressive, there’s also quite a lot of humour within the pieces, often the result of absurd sound manipulation and vocal effects that comes all out of nowhere and has a funny effect on the listening experience, adding some sunshine to the sometimes doom laden ambience of Industrial music. DISK 1 - STUDIO WORKS + LIVE IN BORDEAUX starts with 5720, a piece in which a Noise loop forms the background of a whole barrage of chaotic metal clanging but also funny percussive sound manipulations that sound quite cartoony. There’s also some bursts of vocal sounds, that sound like coughing. It’s an enjoyable piece in which Industrial rhythmic repetition is accompanied by richly resonant distorted “junk” percussion improvisations and there’s great manipulation of the panning of the sounds too, adding quite some depth to the otherwise quite centre focused Noise textures. 4023 features an Industrial percussion loop again as a base but also an entertaining jumpy distortion drum machine groove as well, the main performances on this piece consist of feedback manipulation as well as funny tape manipulation of material as varied as male voice recordings and a random children’s film. It’s an amusingly odd and playful piece, very nice. On 6554 we have a “swamp” like muddy texture forming a background rhythm accompanied by looped siren like sounds. Again, feedback manipulation is a main element of performance in this piece, though more subtle and mysterious this time, creating almost meditative ambience like resonant waves of sound that sweep over the muddy swampy rhythms and crackling sounds. 5857 features a sweet Industrial machinery rhythm and plenty of harsh Noise and feedback manipulations as well as more distant voice recordings fluctuating over time for some great harsh old-school Industrial performances in this enjoyable piece. 08 JG features some wild Noise manipulations, with a lot of very fast filter resonances warbles, sharp metallic drone repetitions and some weird vocals. It’s hard to distinguish any words from them through the distortion and reverb, but it amusingly sounds like a dialogue from a Disney animation between a demon and Mickey Mouse. It’s a really odd balance between the sharp tense Noise and synth manipulations and the absurd distorted dialogue. Some wildly original music here, very good. On The Four Elements you can hear what sounds like a an Industrial interpretation of a natural soundscape, featuring water sounds, wind, bird sounds all created through sonic manipulations. One of the more experimental pieces on this compilations there’s an intriguing progression in the piece in which the looped feedback, sweeps of Noise, watery squelches and more sounds all develop subtly overtime creating a kind of “imaginary field recording” of a landscape filled with birds as a storm is approaching. A great piece. Eerste Uni is the first piece of a series of pieces that follow that are all a bit shorter and seemingly create a single longer piece together playing after eachother. It’s definitely a great quality of the tracklist sequence that this compilation flows so smoothly from track to track. Eerste Uni features a strong focus on manipulated (music) recordings in juxtaposition with crackly treble laden Noise, very nice. Tweede Uni is a quieter piece with a darker tone, featuring low distorted Noise drones, eerie manipulation of music samples and eerie avant-garde “broken” melodic patterns on piano. Human Interface is a short piece consisting of raw trebly Noise manipulation which is very effective. Rollebollen features quite a lot of high pitched tape manipulation of recordings of stones being dragged as well as various sounds made with the mouth, a fun piece. Groningen Excerpt is a short fragment of a trebly and heavily distortion crunchy Industrial piece that is pretty resonant, very nice. Insthumixermix is a very heavily high frequency focused piece that also features some glitchy crackles that subtly shift into a more hollow sound as well as a wind like noise. A mysterious that sets quite an intriguing scene of quiet tension through the many high pitched sounds creating a “night” like sonic landscape outside. Djan Remix is a Noise piece but with a lot of resonant sounds in the mixture as well and the noise is very crunchy and ferocious, feels like being attacked by a hail storm made out of metal hail, very intense and sonically pleasing as well. The last track from DISK 1 - STUDIO WORKS + LIVE IN BORDEAUX is the live track Bordeaux. It’s a long live recording of a concert by THU20 which features them at their harshest of the whole CD. It’s filled with very abrasive Noise, feedback as well as aggressive voice recordings but also amusingly mixed with astronaut communication recordings and communication beeps. While it’s obviously quite a challenging listen as long Noise pieces often can be, the variation, panning and energetic sound manipulation performances make the live track very enjoyable with the many variations in Noise, feedback, voice recording manipulations and insane synth effects, a very energetic and powerful performance, which finishes off the first CD in this 2 CD set. Then we move to DISK 2 - EARLY LIVE. This second CD is a bit less varied in terms of sonic material, being mostly Industrial and Noise oriented in a more traditional sense and at times a bit more repetitive but does feature some strong and energetic live performances by THU20 and the tracks are “mixed” into each other in a way, mostly crossfading from one track into another creating what feels like an extended live set. ’s-Hertogenbosch starts off this CD with a roomy and distant Industrial piece that is quite resonant but also rather dark and filled with shifting and shuffling sweeps of fuzzy sound filling the sonic space, this piece definitely’s got quite a great immersive ambience to it, sounding like some big hidden machine making noise underneath a thick steel floor. Intro Rotterdam is a short interlude piece featuring some fun distorted playful synth arpeggios panning through the stereo field moving to Heiloo 2. Heiloo 2 features Tribal like Industrial rhythms and Noise screeches, what I particularly like about this piece are the heavily distorted music samples in the background. They give the minimalist piece quite a unique kind of juxtaposition in which cheerful music is combined with tense and sometimes harsh Industrial sounds, very effective and enjoyable. On Heiloo 3 the juxtaposition of distorted music samples and screechy Industrial is continued though with a much harsher and darker sound and the male voice dialogue samples add a nice recurring theme to the intense mixture of sound. Winterswijk 4 features a more droney reverberated sound mixed with squelchy synth effects and film samples that feels a bit like a quirky thriller film soundtrack, interesting sound. Rotterdam 2 features a heavily thumping Industrial groove, fuzzy distorted voice and some hilarious details like the easy listening jazz samples and siren like synth that does bring back some of the playfulness of CD 1 though with a harsher sound overall. ’s-Hertogenbosch [outtake] features a spooky drone and a text in Dutch about the pressure that is put on people in their daily life. Indeed it’s a piece that’s more effective if you can understand Dutch, but the gloomy mysterious ambience definitely does give off an intriguing feeling in this piece. Heiloo 4 is completely built of manipulated voice recordings that credit fuzzy, crunchy and squelchy distorted tones and rhythms, a very raw Noise sound collage piece, sounds good. Winterswijk 5 is an aggressive Noise piece with an Industrial mechanic rhythm within it, quite abrasive and energetic, it’s definitely a nice track to add some wild screeching to the mixture on this CD and the phaser usage is great too. Rotterdam 3 is quite a straight-forward Noise piece featuring screechy high frequencies and helicopter like pulsations. Rotterdam 4 is another rather aggressive piece with insane screaming vocals, thumping distorted drum machine groove and a lot of screechy Noise and feedback. Delft 3 is a very resonant feedback based piece with water sounds, delay manipulation and also some fun Industrial banging sounds. Heiloo 5 is a long track with a pretty hilarious Industrial drum groove that actually features an orchestral hit, there’s also plenty of Noise and Industrial percussion performances in here as well as more aggressive screechy harsh vocals, this all is combined with a distorted recording of what sounds like a Gregorian choir, the percussion performances in this piece are particularly nice. Rotterdam 1 has quite a great ambience with mechanical sounds that sounds like a big hydraulic machine slowly moving creating this distinctive sucking sound and bang afterward which is accompanied by feedback, water sound and amusing manipulated music recordings, quite a bit different of a piece and a nice interlude in between the other tracks. Afterwards we have a short Industrial loop in ’s-Hertogenbosch [excerpt] which leads into Mainz [excerpt]. This is definitely one of the stronger pieces on this CD featuring some really harsh mechanical Noise that’s very screechy, speeding up and down overtime, really intense good experience. Last piece Stuiterthu Ariane Danssolo continues this vibe some more but moving into a rhythmic Industrial direction again with looping percussion accompanying a lot of high frequency laden squelchy synth effects, very nice final track. All in all VROEG WERK by THU20 is definitely an essential collection for anyone who wants to get into the Dutch underground music (tape) scene from the 80’s and while I do prefer DISK 1 a bit more than DISK 2 (due to the more varied sound on DISK 1), both CDs features some great energetic performances and THU20 definitely has their unique twist on Industrial and Noise music with the often absurd juxtapositions of sound manipulations, inventive compositional structures and the sometimes surprisingly subtle pieces that you can also come across on this 2 CD set.
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