JAAP BLONK “Joyous Junctures” C60 (Eh? / Public Eyesore)

Jaap Blonk is a friggin’ weirdo, but that shouldn’t matter to any of you who read any of this because you’re probably just as big of a friggin’ weirdo if you like all this outsider crap. And I include myself among that number, because I’m writing about all this outsider crap, like all the time. So does it even mean anything to refer to Mr. Blonk as a “friggin’ weirdo” even? I’m not sure it does.

The Netherlands’ answer to … I can’t even think of a contemporary. The Netherlands’ answer to No One, then, Jaap Blonk does a lot with his mouth, making noise, intoning passages, incanting spells. I don’t understand a word he’s saying, because Dutch is not even remotely a second language to me. Which turns out to be fine as the meaning often ruins the whole deal for me. Here, on Joyous Junctures, we get the vocalizations overtop synthesizers, random noise bursts, other baffling instrumentation, and it’s all an incredible ride on the roller coaster of Blonk’s madness. Did I mention there were 27 tracks on this thing, and that it lasts an hour? That’s an awful lot of Blonk, and an awful lot of fun.

In fact, it’s so fun that I wouldn’t hesitate to refer to it as space alien music encountered by the crew of the starship Enterprise throughout their intergalactic travels. Plus, Blonk’s been around so long, I bet he’s been to outer space himself at some point. Wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest.

http://www.jaapblonk.com/

http://www.publiceyesore.com/ehcat.php

http://www.publiceyesore.com/

--Ryan

JAAP BLONK "Songs of Little Sleep" (Scumbag Relations/Sleepy Cobalt Sound)

On a loosely conceptual album concerning the entering and exiting of sleep, its cycles and the subconscious, Dutch composer/performer/video artist Jaap Blonk fractures into a chamber ensemble of clones of himself, extending far past the outer limits of extended vocal technique.  

Jaap forms the base of his repertoire around a lineage of Dada sound poets, his recording of Kurt Schwitter's 1922-32 masterpiece "Ursonate" being his most well known.  His live performances border on scholarly presentation- he's an expert on this subject and one of the few preservers of the literature on the underground circuit.  As in the Dada tradition, Blonk's pieces are based on phonetic vibrations with no logical context, only emotional/aesthetic.  As if aurally observing a sleep study, you hear Jaap enter into a deeper subconscious state- yawns turn into low guttural grunts and blistering harsh noise coming unbelievably from a human voice.  Tossing textural scrapes and use of electronics allow for plenty of sonic variation on this extended player, though i'd be just as convinced by the vocal alone.  

stream/purchase at http://sleepycobalt.bandcamp.com/album/songs-of-little-sleep

- -Matt Robidoux

Jaap Blonk "Voice Studies" (c20), Janek Schaefer "Asleep at the Wheel...Mixtape" (c40) [My Dance the Skull]

Get rid of notes and instruments! Who needs these tired tropes? Strip naked and express all that is life with only that of the sound which lives within. The crying of children and the preaching of the street corner evangelist exist as song as much as a commercial radio hit. All sound is music. All music needs to be recorded. The London based publishing house and tape label My Dance the Skull dives into difficult music with a series they call "Voice Studies." Their seventh study is a 20 minute tape by noted vocal improvisor - composer - poet Jaap Blonk. Side A is titled "Approximate Air" and is the sound of multi-tracked vocal air. Whispering, sighing, and breathing collide and rumble with one another producing some wonderful polyrhythms. The piece builds with grumble growls and shouts and before you know it, its all over. Side B is titled "Apostatic Aria" and features shouting and aggressive human vocalizing. At times the multiple voices almost seem to be filling the space of classic "loud-soft" guitar riff dynamics. This piece of vocal improv is less exciting to me than the first, but that is a very small complaint. This is adventurous listening and certainly not for everyone, but for those who want a diversion from conventional, Jaap Blonk's contribution to My Dance the Skull's series of vocal studies is worth the time. Great tape! The "Voice Studies" all come in clean white j-cards with simple black font - very serious and no nonsense. I would like to hear them all! (Thurston Moore contributed to the series, but his tape is sold out.)

Janek Schaefer is a London based sound architect, which is convenient because before he began creating musical art he actually studied architecture! This academic training didn't last as he discovered what amazing structures could be built with sonic walls. Since I'm from Austin, TX the phrase "Asleep at the Wheel" brings to mind country music made by a band also named Asleep at the Wheel, but Schaefer's album IS NOT country music. It is a collection of original music from an installation which took place at Milton Keynes International Festival 2010. Side A is labeled "Driving Through Dawn" and contains a variety of compositions that drift by like shadowy figures glimpsed from the peripheral vision of an insomniac driver. The crackling warp of far off melodies disappear then return and guitar lines rise out of half remembered songs before they too become paranoid reminders of dark secrets left behind in a town no one wants to recall. Schaefer's composition is the REAL soundtrack to the movie Drive. Side B is labeled "Wonderful" and is the slight ray of hope at the end of a dark film. Sustained drones are the glue that hold together this piece of ambient music and what a compliment to the first side's fractured half awake state of uncertainty. Very cool!


Buy HERE.