100 Keyboards b/w 100 Rock
(Meeuw Muzak - MM045) 7-inch $6.25 (Out-of-stock)
A headscratcher from this Kanazawa-based sound artist and general experimental noise chef. Two pieces are sourced from a recent installation work of a hundred toy keyboards, with the A-side bearing the disassociated feel of a Super-8 footage loop — bleached colors, perhaps a lone bird wheeling in the sky, or a holiday fragment of a blinking child with an uncertain smile walking toward the camera, clutching an ice cream. A beautiful, nebulous, everything-and-nothing sound, while the noisier B-side maintains a sort of relentless calm, like the optimum flow of a factory environment that 19th century socialists might have shrugged at. A demonstration of the patterns which emerge from the balance of order and chaos. Subtly energizing.
Organized
(Meeuw Muzak) Used 10-inch $12.00
RLW used recordings of an electronic organ and a ringing bell both played by Akifumi Nakajima. Aube used recordings of a church organ made by Ralf Wehowsky. Red vinyl from the mid-’90s. Edition of 300
Plastik Lieb / Hoffnung
(Meeuw Muzak - MM031) 7-inch $7.00 (Out-of-stock)
A studio piece and a live track by the human beatbox from Berlin, who does his thing with voice, tape loops and effects. Through the years he has worked with Trainingslager, Fischmob, Hofoku Soshi, Funkstoerung, Patric Catani, Felix Kubin, and Khan. Raw and tight beats, pure intensity, and combative notoriety.
MARK BOOMBASTIK / MAX GOLDT / FELIX KUBIN
Fog Frog b/w Ladies Ladies
(Meeuw Muzak - MM039) 7-inch $8.00 (Out-of-stock)
The 2003 mix of "Fog Frog" (involving electric heater percussion and subsequently disparaged as "too Neubauten") is updated with judicious sense of organization while retaining the tipsy-sounding execution of the original -- recorded by Goldt in a hotel room with a Fellini-inspired choir of wine-filled glasses. The post-feminist pre-ejaculate that is "Ladies Ladies" gets a gentle re-agitation as well, with Boombastik and Kubin filleting Goldt's words and music from the historical timeline with their human-beatboxing and dada production, respectively.
WENDY GONDELN / NORBERT MÖSLANG
Betty b/w Betti_Corr
(Meeuw Muzak - MM046) split 7-inch $10.15 (Out-of-stock)
Electric violin with a strong bass drum beat on one side, backed with the former Voice Cracker’s massive deconstruction of Gondeln’s raw and direct sound.
Dry Lake b/w Empty Kettle
(Meeuw Muzak - MM044) 7-inch $9.00 (Out-of-stock)
Raw minimal banjo by Atsuo Ogawa and self-built electronics by Minoru Sato. “There’s a lot of space to these slow pieces,” observes Pete Um, “An interesting marriage of form and content [where] the recording method … highlight[s] the contrast between the brash and folksy tones of the banjo…, played in simple, clear, isolated notes, and the mysterious tinkle and scrape [of the electronics] that the ear strains to hear....”
Australian Sun
(Meeuw Muzak - MM)42) 7-inch $5.75 (Out-of-stock)
A barrel organ of Benelux origin called De Pansfluiter plays an old Merry tune, reading mechanically from a score of holes cut into a special orgelboek. Reminscent of another piece of holy foolery that contrasts the modern world with antiquity, The Other Side of Tiny Tim. The B-side is an instrumental version, showcasing the tune’s joyous sadness.
Vorwärts b/w Tanzen
(Meeuw Muzak - 038) 7-inch $7.00 (Out-of-stock)
Two ear-jingling, primeval drumtasms: a jerry-rigged version of the Chris Montez classic backed with an original “sci-fi romanticist socialist anthem.” Kinetic energy, a chugging beat, and waves of delayed gratification. Classic trembling Teutonic disco-punk, in other words. Imler, infamously involved in Spankings and Golden Showers (the groups, not the deviant sexual practices) has also worked with Puppet Mastaz, Peaches, Namosh, Electronicat, Patric Catani (as the Driver&Driver duo), Soffy O, Die Türen and Stereo Total. Edition of 450.
Tony Conrad
(Meeuw Muzak - MM048) 7-inch $10.00
Beats, screams, violin abuse and effects by Luke Calzonetti of Run Dust and Wendy Gondeln.
Stevige Nacht b/w De Kerstdagen
(Meeuw Muzak - MM047) 7-inch $8.75 (Out-of-stock)
Ultra Eczema’s Dennis Tyfus on voice and cassettes, with Kris Maes on atmospheric slide guitar, editing and recording, applying their lo-fi sound poetry aesthetic to Christmas tunes.
Einschlagskrater
(Meeuw Muzak - MM036) 7-inch $6.35 (Out-of-stock)
Another cryptic affair from this perennial Dutch label. For this mail collaboration, Norbert Möslang (Voice Crack) and Ralf Wehowsky (RLW) craft cracked everyday electronics and computer-manipulate deviations of same. One continuous piece sets falling sounds against a dark, drone-like backdrop; the other is more, ahem, musical, with more sounds of things falling and lots of processed variations. Sorta atmospheric, sorta noisy.
Ghetto Rock b/w Brain Hungry Riddim
(Meeuw Muzak - 041) split 7-inch $8.00 (Out-of-stock)
Man called Tapes tears up the mixing desk once again, hard on the heels of his Vernon Maytone winner. This is another triumph – careering, hot and mental. Pampidoo does Tiger. Rough!
Goshen b/w 828
(Meeuw Muzak - MM040) 7-inch $8.00 (Out-of-stock)
The second 45 by Hideto Aso. Happy neon mystique and tinny breaks. Out of the norm, something antique but extremely new music. Edition of 200.
Pitchshifters
(Meeuw Muzak - MM033) 7-inch $6.00 (Out-of-stock)
Two tracks from The Pitchshifters’ second CDR, Improvise*Dessert. Beautifully constructed pop impulses stuffed into an improv framework.
Where Were You On Christmas
(Meeuw Muzak - MM032) 7-inch $6.75 (Out-of-stock)
A yuletide single from long-running Los Angeles avant-garde pioneer Tom Recchion. Limited edition pressing, Dutch import.
STEFANIE RESSIN / ASMUS TIETCHENS
3 Wishes
(Meeuw Muzak - MM037) 7-inch $8.00 (Out-of-stock)
Ms. Ressin was one of several speakers on "Lipostudio... And So On," a "revoltingly beautiful" track by Matmos. Here she covers Klaus Nomi with appropriately pathetic operatic singing and electro-inspired rhythm from a sequencer. For the remix treatment on the flip, Mr. Tietchens reverses the vocals and feeds the rhythm through a gated reverb in the finest style of one-hit-wonder superfluous B-sides. Quite believable as an obscure 80s synth-pop record.
I Wanna Be Your Dog b/w Schneller
(Meeuw Muzak - MM035) 7-inch $8.75 (Out-of-stock)
The four members of Titmachine met in prison (each was convicted of crimes she did not commit). Unable to find gainful employment upon their discharge from stoney lonesome, the ex-inmates formed a band, naturally, the ideal vehicle for the unemployable. The lucrative alternative Dutch music scene rewards them handsomely in exchange for the quartet's release of pent-up rage fueled by continuing injustice. Since October 2006, Titmachine's raw and loose sound has remained unhampered by the constraints of talent, and answers questions anyone has yet to ask. Kinda like the Dutch Shaggs meets the female Monks and Flipper with a conscience.
056 Sound & Phenomena – Conceptual Works
(Meeuw Muzak - MM010) 7-inch $8.00 (Out-of-stock)
Consistent with documents of electromagnetic induction, this “glitch classic” from 1999 captures one of the more elusive type of field recordings, The Sounds of Microwave Oven Interiors. Tominaga is interested in a symmetrical input-output system, where the electromagnetic wave represents imaginary speakers and ornamental devices that generate life. Acoustic properties are revealed slowly (comparable to the faint electronic noise of broadcast radio), a metaphor for the landscape of modern life. Clear vinyl, stencil-printed sleeve. Edition of 200.
DITTERICH VON EULER-DONNERSPERG
O Du Froliche
(Meeuw Muzak - MM034) 7-inch $6.75 (Out-of-stock)
One small bit of light during the dark days of Xmas: Meeuw Muzak releases another fine seven-inch. Von Euler-Donnersperg has released some crazy-ass music on his own Walter Ulbricht label and Die Stadt, a mix of texts and electronic music. Here two soft electronic pieces are like snowflakes; almost kitschy and New Age as only super cheesy keyboard with all the wrong presets can achieve.