Showing posts with label Closet Sorcery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Closet Sorcery. Show all posts

JAMISON WILLIAMS: “Onassis Project” c24 (Closet Sorcery)

This is another one that hit me out of left field, really had no idea what I was getting into. Williams seems to generally to stick to solo alto sax improvisation on most of his releases, which he’s more than proficient at alone, but on “Onassis Project”, we find him taking up the role of “sound manipulations” (as he’s credited), a seamless rapid-fire, cut-up blend of his sax, vocal howls, harsh electronics, and the occasional found sound sample. I’m really used to a “wacky” sound when it comes to this genre, but Williams barely scrapes the surface of that adjective (maybe once with a Hawaiian record) but, on the whole, this shit is TIGHT. It’s divided into five songs, but that seems like kind of a vain action since the composition is pretty universal throughout and, since it’s a tape, there’s no real way to tell the difference between them, but hey, it’s his right as the artist. All of the titles are seemingly related to Jackie O and her legacy in some way and the inserts feature pictures of political dignitaries or something that were assumedly important in her life. So I guess there’s your answer, it’s probably all really significant, and it’s just wasted on an uneducated nincompoop like me. Regardless, it’s a perfect length tape for what it’s worth, but good luck finding a copy out there in the ether, your best bet is to get ahold of the creator himself via his normal outlet:

http://www.vantagebulletin.com/

CM "Erotocomatose Lucidity" c30 (Closet Sorcery)



Usually don't like to google people / bands before I review them, it can give people and unfair (dis)advantage depending on what the ol' net serves up and then sometimes it is actually helpful (thereafter i'd go back and adjust my review) this is a great example of both of those cases. I was into this tape and had a fair amount to write about it: it would have been something about mechanical pets- what pets / domesticated animals represent to people and how mechanical reproductions of those externalized needs have an extra eerie air to them because they represent a totally perverted projection of those desires; also something about machine animals purring and maybe hunting instincts...

All that feels a little funny now knowing this is the work of Todd Brooks from the Pendu organization, a group dedicated to all sorts of buccaneering projects including one of my faves, Artists with Cats: http://www.pendugallery.com/artistsandcats/. Reading his page I was also informed his source material are homemade/modified oscillators, synths etc. You see where this is all going? The man has a wholeness of purpose. His manifest interest in occultism, cats, automatons, etc has come to pass on this tape. The first note (yes, i take notes!) I took while listening to this tape was "Animal electronics, calm" and I mention it not to point out my perceptiveness but instead Todd's evocative abilities with his electronics, atmosphere and arrangements. The tape is a great merging of canopied high end swirling and low earthy grumblings changing speed and desity slightly.

One other point worth mentioning, I suppose, is the cover. True to his interest in eroticism CM explores a motif in noise tapes I'm not entirely convinced of- a naked woman emblazoned on the front of the tape. Though she has her face collaged with some form of esoterica to remove it from the 'extreme' nude images that usually grace the cover of harsh noise / power electronics tapes, it feels like a forced version of 'erotic' whereas the suggestive elements of the music had more of an effect of me than anything that brazen. A minor point, but it speaks to the power of the music over the somewhat crass imagery.

Not sure of the label or the edition as my internet fishing turned up an empty hook. Definitely recommend spending some time at the pendu organization website:
http://www.pendu.org
and check CM's (Chaos Majik) blog for more info on the music and to possibly get yr hands on this tape:
http://www.chaosmajik.blogspot.com/
Pick it up if you can.