released May 29, 2022
With this album, the labels attenuation circuit, run by EMERGE, and Grubenwehr Freiburg, run by Grodock, launch a second series of co-releases. The split tapes in the GFAC series, all using recycled tapes, are aimed at pairing new or lesser known artists with already more widely connected practitioners in the experimental underground scene.
The first tape in the new series emphasises the collaborative spirit on another level as well, because each side features collaborations by two different artists, so four artists in total are heard on one tape. On side A, it's label head EMERGE and Re-Drum. Touring the Crimea and Russia in 2018, EMERGE was present when concert organiser and head of the Monochrome Vision label Dmitry 'Dima' Vasilyev died. The shock and grief over this loss is present in the titles and music of the solo tracks by EMERGE and Re-Drum ('Zum Verlust der Muttersprache' is a German catchphrase referring to getting heavily drunk, 'up to the point of losing one's mother tongue'), which were already released on the Dima tribute compilation 'Monochrome Visions' in 2018, and their collaborative live performance at Moscow's DOM which concluded the tour became a memorial concert for Dima. (The German title 'Einfarbiger Dom' translates as 'Monochrome Dome'.) The fact that such a tour would now be impossible due to the war only adds to the sense of grief and loss conveyed by the Re-Drum/EMERGE side of the tape. Yet the collaborative release itself by a Russian and a 'Western' artist, at this time, is a gesture of hope that personal and cultural relations will prevail.
As for side B, Svart1 is Raimondo Gaviano, who works in the fields of ambient, dark ambient, industrial, techno, live-performances and visuals. In the duo with Lefterna, the project name adopted by the extremely prolific collaborator Boban Ristevski, Svart1 enters into a long-form dialogue. By composing one four-part piece for the whole duration of the tape side, they offer an interesting contrast to side A which is made up of shorter pieces which, in themselves, are more fragmented, interspersed with alienating samples and found sounds.
File under: musique concrète, dark ambient
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BAD ALCHEMY
Als weiteres Miteinander von AC+Grubenwehr Freiburg beginnt eine Reihe recycelter Kassetten mit Split(GFAC 1001, C-80). A-seits suggeriert EMERGE mit 'empty seat' dunkel umbrauste Verlassenheit und Leere, Pavel Aleshin aka Re-DrUm aus Oryol (ca. 350 km südwestlich von Moskau) mit 'Zum Verlust der Muttersprache' eine Fahrt mit zum Kotzen rausgestreckten Brummschädel, an dem der Fahrtwind schleift und reibt. Ach, wenn es bloß der Wind wäre. Bei 'Einfarbiger Dom' hört man sie gemeinsam, live am 14.9.2018 im Moskauer DOM, eine Woche nach dem Unfalltod von Dmitry Vasilyev, dem Macher von Monochrome Vision, dem damit noch einmal gedacht wird. Zum Mahlwerk der eisernen Zeit, das Vögel, ein Nebelhorn, Flugzeuggebrumm und Gerassel mit sich reißt, kratzen sie Lebenszeichen an die Wände, bis zuletzt alles martialisch explodiert und in Chorgesang gipfelt. Dass die Russland-Tour (mit noch Dave Phillips und Instinct Primal) ungeniert Sewastopol mit einschloss, zeugt von der merkwürdigen Unschuld vergangener Zeiten. B-seits haben sich zusammengetan SVART1, das ist Raimondo Gaviano in Cagliari auf Sardinien, und B. Ristevski alias LEFTERNA, unser Mann im mit seinem Bukephalos-Denkmal nationalbombastisch verkitschten Skopje (über das Ilja Pfeijffer sich lästerlich mokiert). Ihr Soundscape '1-4' ist eine Stereophonie aus Brausen und einem Trommelloop, aus Sausen und Rauschen, das Gesang von den Lippen fetzt, aus Brodeln, Dröhnen und wie aus Mäulern fauchendem Wind, mit zuletzt einer hinkenden, undicht rieselnden Mechanik, weiterhin windig pfeifendem Blasen und dunklem Summen. Die letzten Schritte geht das Klappergestell allein.
badalchemy.de
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VITAL WEEKLY
Attenuation Circuit and Gruebenwehr Freiburg join in a new series of split cassettes, and the first has two collaborations. We find Attenuation Circuit boss Emerge and Russia's Re-drum on side A. They both have a solo piece of a few minutes together recording from a concert in Moscow in 2018. They toured together, which started with the sudden death of the tour organiser, Dmitry Vasilyev, so the show at the end of the tour was a tribute to him. The two solo pieces were previously released on the online tribute album 'Monochrome Visions' (named after Vasiljev's label). Since then, not many people have toured Russia, and these days it is impossible. Both solo tracks are very subdued pieces of music, contemplative and mournful. In their live piece, they work with processing acoustic sounds and adding organ-like drones to the matter. It is not easy to see this in the light of the events that happened a few days before, and these three a loving tribute to a much-missed man. On the other side, we find Raimondo Gaviano's Svart1 project, working with Lefterna, the project's name by Boban Ristevski. Not sure when he chooses to work as Lefterna or under his given name, as both seem to work from the dark ambient side of electronics. I assume their collaboration was made with the ripples of file exchange. The question of who did what here is not straightforward and indeed not interesting. They mix percussive, minimal and industrial loops with heavily processed field recordings. The resulting four-part dish is a lovely soundtrack noir for any of your darker thoughts or soundtracks to your spooky movies. No surprises here, but the execution is well-done. Again, here we see a lot of experience delivering the right goods.
www.vitalweekly.net/1340.html
