OKTO MEDIA
http://www.chondriticsound.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=35266
I keep coming back to this tape, and I think it really deserved to be reviewed. I really prefer tapes that range the perfect balance of quality work and decent length, which "333" manages quite well. Anything shorter than its hour-length would probably leave me unsatisfied; anything longer would possibly drag. It is also relevant to note that prefer to listen to tapes in my car, where the recording kicks on and off at random intervals with the starting and stopping of my car in my various travels. Big-picture composition is somewhat important to me when it comes to music, since if i like the details, i will listen to the tape enough times to figure out any greater design of the piece. Well, that's a tad of a cop-out, but really, it's mostly less important than how the music makes me feel. Whatever.
Overall, the most basic thing to be said of "333" is that I felt like I was in good hands during my listenings.
There are many tape out there with damaged music bordering on noise. "333" is the inverse of that approach, which is less common to me. the most convenient label of the work on the tape is clearly "noise", but that is somewhat limiting. the flow of work is a nicely balanced feel of stream of consciousness improv with very deliberate decisions on structure placed throughout. The artist makes important note in his press releases of the grueling mastering process of the tape, along with the intentions of the work to be performed live, which is cool to know, but not necessary to feel the intelligence behind the audio. I can rarely notice track changes, since most of the pieces flow together nicely.
This is rhythmic noise that occasionally organically turns into melody at times, as well as often shifts to well-crafted, energetic harsh noise. Because of this, its rather difficult to define, which is always a good sign, personally. Parts of this could easily be compared to "industrial", but that is rather limiting as well.
In any case, this is noise/music that challenged the need to distinguish between the two. It's really a dogmatic distinction that most of us can't help but adopt, but listening to this tape is a great reminder that music is music, and that good art doesn't need to be choked by labels.
There's a cool intelligence behind the wheel here; which doesn't seem too self-conscious, either. It's a confident mish-mash that is clearly doing what it wants to accomplish.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING. I look forward to any future releases by Mister Fuckhead.
*Negative Note(s):
(1) I'm not really a fan of the moniker "Mister Fuckhead". It doesn't illicit any serious attention for me, and it makes the release appear to be a bit of an immature joke-project at first glance. If the artist didn't include audio samples on the press release I saw, I would have had no interest at all in the project. But, whatever. I think Melt-Banana is a stupid name, too, but nobody cares since they are one of the best bands on the planet.
(2) Not a huge fan of the cover art & fonts either, but the orange version of the tape I have and the use of the transparency print is totally rad. My reaction to the visual aesthetic feels like a weird counterbalance of taste. The design concept is excellent and professional. I love the image concept, but not the image content, if that makes any sense. Whatever.
Again, VERY SATISFYING TAPE. RECOMMENDED.
Watch for this artist's future releases, and pick this up before it's gone.
-Jonathan
jonathanenriquebarajas at gmail dot com
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
"333" featured on Colors of the Dark blog
I share some background about my approach to making the album, and a little about where I stand in terms of making art in general, at Jonathan Canady's Colors of the Dark, a blog whose original focus was about featuring various macabre artists, and now has expanded to also include personal interest entries and dark subject matter in general. I'm glad to be part of it, and I want to thank Jonathan for the support!
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Mister Fuckhead and Company Reviewed at Heathen Harvest
Heathen Harvest
Well, Mister Fuckhead And Friends plays very strange music that is repetitive and loop-based. Often times the music has harsh noise elements to it, and in general the vibe of this makes me think of Crash Worship and that sort of carnival atmosphere. There are live drums and rhythms that at times recall the New York no-wave era and some of the groups that followed in that direction such as Swans. This has a distinct Skin Graft records sort of flavor to it, and the adventurous jams often go on into cacaphonous dalliances far past their original rocking intentions. The music seems mostly improvised, as strange sounds will make their way into the mix on the first track that don't seem fully intended. As we get a little bot further into the casssette, things get a bit more interesting with some complete abandoning voyages into glaciers of harsh noise shredding the speakers with total disregard for rhythm or melody. Still sounds like it would have been better to have been there in person, but this recording will suffice.
At over ninety minutes of music, this collection of unnamed and improvisational live sets is very daunting. Mostly the music has a very nineties feel to it, this sounds like it could have been recorded at the same time as some of the classic recordings by the Haters or the New Blockaders. Each set has moments of interest, but for the most part this tape is one long noise set. There are some fairly spectacular and strange line-ups, including what sounds like a makeshift jazz ensemble. My favorites are the electronic and tape-based setups, which is what side one mostly consists of. If you are a fan of no-wave and need something new in your life, you could do worse than this ninety-minute long cassette of noise performances by Mister Fuckhead and Friends.
This has a pretty wide variety of material on it for you to choose from. Also, if you unravel all of the tape from the inside you can spool it around clothing and make very interesting tassels for your outerwear. Hanging many strands of magnetic tape in a consecutive row off of your hat is a great way to show your individuality and style.
Well, Mister Fuckhead And Friends plays very strange music that is repetitive and loop-based. Often times the music has harsh noise elements to it, and in general the vibe of this makes me think of Crash Worship and that sort of carnival atmosphere. There are live drums and rhythms that at times recall the New York no-wave era and some of the groups that followed in that direction such as Swans. This has a distinct Skin Graft records sort of flavor to it, and the adventurous jams often go on into cacaphonous dalliances far past their original rocking intentions. The music seems mostly improvised, as strange sounds will make their way into the mix on the first track that don't seem fully intended. As we get a little bot further into the casssette, things get a bit more interesting with some complete abandoning voyages into glaciers of harsh noise shredding the speakers with total disregard for rhythm or melody. Still sounds like it would have been better to have been there in person, but this recording will suffice.
At over ninety minutes of music, this collection of unnamed and improvisational live sets is very daunting. Mostly the music has a very nineties feel to it, this sounds like it could have been recorded at the same time as some of the classic recordings by the Haters or the New Blockaders. Each set has moments of interest, but for the most part this tape is one long noise set. There are some fairly spectacular and strange line-ups, including what sounds like a makeshift jazz ensemble. My favorites are the electronic and tape-based setups, which is what side one mostly consists of. If you are a fan of no-wave and need something new in your life, you could do worse than this ninety-minute long cassette of noise performances by Mister Fuckhead and Friends.
This has a pretty wide variety of material on it for you to choose from. Also, if you unravel all of the tape from the inside you can spool it around clothing and make very interesting tassels for your outerwear. Hanging many strands of magnetic tape in a consecutive row off of your hat is a great way to show your individuality and style.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Mister Fuckhead & Company Reviewed at Auxiliary Out
Auxiliary Out
This project was masterminded by Arvo Zylo, unfortunately better known as Mister Fuckhead. The "company" in question is a huge series of collaborators he recruited to produce these 90 minutes. The tape consists of six live recordings and two recorded in a meat locker and the line-up ranges from Arvo and one other to like eight people, all huffing away on brass instruments, manipulating tapes and electronics or just plain out banging on shit. It's one of the most monstrous 90 minutes I've come across, and perhaps a bit too much to take in in one sitting but taken a few performances at a time it's pretty enjoyable.
The tape starts off with one of the strongest performances. It's a live recording from 2008 featuring a quartet on drums, tape loops, guitar, scrap metal and electronics. I can't quite make out the samples from the tapes, it could be some kind of fucked classical piece or folk tune but at times it even seems a little like a 70's disco/funk jam. Anyway, so you got someone messing with samples meanwhile the world is basically collapsing. The rest of the crew gets really heavy and moves like a fucking juggernaut, splintering everything in its path. The drummer hits them like a bastard and the guitar gives it a steady rock n roll underpinning that really ties the jam together with a sludgy bow on top. The quartet builds to such a relentless, unholy racket it's quite staggering. It's phenomenal really. The second piece, recorded in 2007, switches gears with a duo formation on scrap metal, electronics, glass and vacuum. Rather than the monolithic skull crushing of the previous piece, it moves along somewhere in between mild harsh noise and free-percussion crews like Albero Rovesciato. The piece is navigated through jangling percussion, sharp blasts of feedback, synth filter sweeps and electronic rumble. It's a good track, well-paced and the duo definitely have a handle the rhythm of the piece. I'd be curious to see what else this duo formation would come up with. The final piece of the side was recorded under a year ago and it expands the ensemble to 7 people. One or more people are credited to all of these things: baritone sax, electronics, guitar, electric drill, scrap metal, saxophone, modified trumpet, bass, cymbals, blood, coronet and vocals which is pretty insane. Looking at a line-up like that I was expecting another noise assault a la the first track but they actually deliver something much more unsettling. Someone's crooning about temptation against brass and reed squeals, metallic clinks and clangs and fearsome power drill work. There's way more space in this piece than previous tracks making it feel a lot more ominous and disjointed. The second half of it finds lilting brass met with shrieks from a modulated power drill and its real disconcerting.
The second side houses five pieces. The first two are shorter and were recorded by a wind ensemble in a meat locker. Five people play baritone sax, coronet, saxophone and trumpet. The first piece somehow manages to recreate some of power drill-like grind from the last piece. Maybe I accredited it incorrectly before. The piece flowers (or wilts) into polyphonic disharmony. The next piece finds Mr. Fuckhead layering various recordings from the meat locker on top of one another, creating a much more unyielding, dissonant plate of sound than the previous track. Both are cool pieces particularly the second one and they show another facet to the Fuckhead and Co. identity. The third piece of the side is another live performance that expands the ensemble to eight, now including trombone, tuba and french horn(!) It's awesome, a throbbing, swollen mass of resonance. There are nearly imperceptible melodies hidden deep within the swampy brass drones. It's a pretty brilliant piece of creepy horn-blowing. The next track finds the group in a seven piece formation still with many horns in tow but with the addition of electronics (and kazoo.) A couple minutes in, after establishing some core drone waves, a few trumpets and possibly coronet start soloing and it's pretty fucking cool! The ensemble creates this swirling vortex of brass and reeds lead by a great central melody continually contorted and modified by that group of trumpets/coronet. It's odd because out of nowhere on this rather dark and noisy tape there's a fascinating centerpiece of beauty. Around halfway through a really bassy sound starts wiggling around and a few filter sweeps worm their way in as well. That horn melody continues but it's slowly dro(w)ned out by jittery electronics but makes occasional resurgences before the track splinters and slowly sputters to a halt. It's a fantastic 15 minutes, quite possibly the best work of the whole tape. The final piece features three people with tapes, electronics and field recordings at their disposal, kicking off with classical music in a cloud of noise. It's a weird track cause there's this pervasive prickly static but occasional intimations of melodies underneath the white noise. I think the piece suffers from following the previous one because the majority of it comes off as significantly less dynamic. I really like the final five minutes of it though, lots of weird loops intermingle freely with a little melodic undercurrent before bringing the tape to a close.
The thing I like most about the tape is that Zylo has assembled a burgeoning group of individuals with an even larger tool chest to explore the many sonic products possible from their collaboration while simultaneously creating a unified aesthetic over the course of 90 minutes (and a couple years.) Well done.
The c93 is limited to 93 copies, it's a lot of bang for six bucks and the tape looks really nice, with matching labels and matching red shells and cases; you can tell a lot care went into the packaging just as well as the music. There's also a special edition triple cassette version with handmade art and whatnot available as well. Check hereor record stores around Chicago for copies.
Many thanks to Drew, he has a good radio show/podcast on his page too...
There are a couple of copies at Reckless Records
This project was masterminded by Arvo Zylo, unfortunately better known as Mister Fuckhead. The "company" in question is a huge series of collaborators he recruited to produce these 90 minutes. The tape consists of six live recordings and two recorded in a meat locker and the line-up ranges from Arvo and one other to like eight people, all huffing away on brass instruments, manipulating tapes and electronics or just plain out banging on shit. It's one of the most monstrous 90 minutes I've come across, and perhaps a bit too much to take in in one sitting but taken a few performances at a time it's pretty enjoyable.The tape starts off with one of the strongest performances. It's a live recording from 2008 featuring a quartet on drums, tape loops, guitar, scrap metal and electronics. I can't quite make out the samples from the tapes, it could be some kind of fucked classical piece or folk tune but at times it even seems a little like a 70's disco/funk jam. Anyway, so you got someone messing with samples meanwhile the world is basically collapsing. The rest of the crew gets really heavy and moves like a fucking juggernaut, splintering everything in its path. The drummer hits them like a bastard and the guitar gives it a steady rock n roll underpinning that really ties the jam together with a sludgy bow on top. The quartet builds to such a relentless, unholy racket it's quite staggering. It's phenomenal really. The second piece, recorded in 2007, switches gears with a duo formation on scrap metal, electronics, glass and vacuum. Rather than the monolithic skull crushing of the previous piece, it moves along somewhere in between mild harsh noise and free-percussion crews like Albero Rovesciato. The piece is navigated through jangling percussion, sharp blasts of feedback, synth filter sweeps and electronic rumble. It's a good track, well-paced and the duo definitely have a handle the rhythm of the piece. I'd be curious to see what else this duo formation would come up with. The final piece of the side was recorded under a year ago and it expands the ensemble to 7 people. One or more people are credited to all of these things: baritone sax, electronics, guitar, electric drill, scrap metal, saxophone, modified trumpet, bass, cymbals, blood, coronet and vocals which is pretty insane. Looking at a line-up like that I was expecting another noise assault a la the first track but they actually deliver something much more unsettling. Someone's crooning about temptation against brass and reed squeals, metallic clinks and clangs and fearsome power drill work. There's way more space in this piece than previous tracks making it feel a lot more ominous and disjointed. The second half of it finds lilting brass met with shrieks from a modulated power drill and its real disconcerting.
The second side houses five pieces. The first two are shorter and were recorded by a wind ensemble in a meat locker. Five people play baritone sax, coronet, saxophone and trumpet. The first piece somehow manages to recreate some of power drill-like grind from the last piece. Maybe I accredited it incorrectly before. The piece flowers (or wilts) into polyphonic disharmony. The next piece finds Mr. Fuckhead layering various recordings from the meat locker on top of one another, creating a much more unyielding, dissonant plate of sound than the previous track. Both are cool pieces particularly the second one and they show another facet to the Fuckhead and Co. identity. The third piece of the side is another live performance that expands the ensemble to eight, now including trombone, tuba and french horn(!) It's awesome, a throbbing, swollen mass of resonance. There are nearly imperceptible melodies hidden deep within the swampy brass drones. It's a pretty brilliant piece of creepy horn-blowing. The next track finds the group in a seven piece formation still with many horns in tow but with the addition of electronics (and kazoo.) A couple minutes in, after establishing some core drone waves, a few trumpets and possibly coronet start soloing and it's pretty fucking cool! The ensemble creates this swirling vortex of brass and reeds lead by a great central melody continually contorted and modified by that group of trumpets/coronet. It's odd because out of nowhere on this rather dark and noisy tape there's a fascinating centerpiece of beauty. Around halfway through a really bassy sound starts wiggling around and a few filter sweeps worm their way in as well. That horn melody continues but it's slowly dro(w)ned out by jittery electronics but makes occasional resurgences before the track splinters and slowly sputters to a halt. It's a fantastic 15 minutes, quite possibly the best work of the whole tape. The final piece features three people with tapes, electronics and field recordings at their disposal, kicking off with classical music in a cloud of noise. It's a weird track cause there's this pervasive prickly static but occasional intimations of melodies underneath the white noise. I think the piece suffers from following the previous one because the majority of it comes off as significantly less dynamic. I really like the final five minutes of it though, lots of weird loops intermingle freely with a little melodic undercurrent before bringing the tape to a close.
The thing I like most about the tape is that Zylo has assembled a burgeoning group of individuals with an even larger tool chest to explore the many sonic products possible from their collaboration while simultaneously creating a unified aesthetic over the course of 90 minutes (and a couple years.) Well done.
The c93 is limited to 93 copies, it's a lot of bang for six bucks and the tape looks really nice, with matching labels and matching red shells and cases; you can tell a lot care went into the packaging just as well as the music. There's also a special edition triple cassette version with handmade art and whatnot available as well. Check hereor record stores around Chicago for copies.
Many thanks to Drew, he has a good radio show/podcast on his page too...
There are a couple of copies at Reckless Records
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Review of Mister Fuckhead & Company in Vital Weekly + "333" Due out in March
http://www.vitalweekly.net/714.html
90 + minutes of a compilation... ...I suspect revolves around the DIY ideas in the noise genre, which I suppose I should say something about. I think it's a continuum of the very free improv work on the outskirts of jazz / avant gardism / fluxus which will it seems continue to exist as its kind of found an ecological niche within contemporary modernity / post-modernity, a niche similar to a biological one through perhaps in terms of Dawkins' "meme" - though I must admit to not liking the idea which seems self contradictory especially here as I cant see how this music can have the desire to sustain itself anymore than DNA.
The ideological processes that gave the left field avant improv is no longer active, which is proclaimed by the current practitioners, but that perhaps is the whole point - an ironic positing of the no longer theory laden intellectualism of the new wave, more an oily swell of pollution and dead seabirds. Interesting, poignant even and ultimately nice.(jliat)
--------
MORE POLLUTION ON DECK: a cassette version of an album I worked on for nearly 5 years, "333" will be out in march. Mastered by Clayton Counts, it will be a c66 with a double sided 3 panel j card. Edition of 99. Here is a crop from the collage art:
Please feel free to get in touch if you're interested in ordering or carrying this release. Wholesale will be available.
PAYPAL/CONTACT: misterfvckhead@yahoo.com
3XC33: $18 ppd everywhere
C93: $6 USA, $9 World
90 + minutes of a compilation... ...I suspect revolves around the DIY ideas in the noise genre, which I suppose I should say something about. I think it's a continuum of the very free improv work on the outskirts of jazz / avant gardism / fluxus which will it seems continue to exist as its kind of found an ecological niche within contemporary modernity / post-modernity, a niche similar to a biological one through perhaps in terms of Dawkins' "meme" - though I must admit to not liking the idea which seems self contradictory especially here as I cant see how this music can have the desire to sustain itself anymore than DNA.
The ideological processes that gave the left field avant improv is no longer active, which is proclaimed by the current practitioners, but that perhaps is the whole point - an ironic positing of the no longer theory laden intellectualism of the new wave, more an oily swell of pollution and dead seabirds. Interesting, poignant even and ultimately nice.(jliat)
--------
MORE POLLUTION ON DECK: a cassette version of an album I worked on for nearly 5 years, "333" will be out in march. Mastered by Clayton Counts, it will be a c66 with a double sided 3 panel j card. Edition of 99. Here is a crop from the collage art:
Please feel free to get in touch if you're interested in ordering or carrying this release. Wholesale will be available.
PAYPAL/CONTACT: misterfvckhead@yahoo.com
3XC33: $18 ppd everywhere
C93: $6 USA, $9 World
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
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