Again? Hasn't WV Sorcerer Productions just been part of the last edition of the cassette craze chronicles? - Yes. But how is it my fault that I'm so addicted to most of the wonderful stuff this label puts out into the world?
So here we go again with three new releases from the vault of this European/Asian bridgebuilder operation!
So here we go again with three new releases from the vault of this European/Asian bridgebuilder operation!
MONG TONG 夢東 - 日月史/光之軍 A History of Brightness/Corps of Light (transparent curacao blue vinyl LP) (2022)
Is transparent curacao blue the trend colour of this fall? After Can's "Live in Cuxhaven 1976" this already the second record in this vinyl tone. Mong Tong's music however feels a little more under-watery than the German kraut pioneers.
Just like with their first WV Sorcerer album "台灣謎景 Music from Taiwan Mystery" you can argue about the classification of this release. Technically this isnt't really an album, but a reissue / compilation of two EPs from 2019 and 2020. But since this edition probably has a bigger exposure and is presented in such a remarkable way with both original cover artworks being combined on a lenticular print (hard to photograph, hence the little video above), I personally want to understand it as an album. But who outside of Discogs cares anyway?
So get out your joss sticks, pat the Buddha in the back of your fishing boats captain's cabin and enjoy floating through the Taiwanese harbour! This experimental, half modern half traditional ambient score is the perfect soundtrack, with the "History of Brightness" half indeed sounding a lot easier and brighter, while "Corps of Light" introduces significantly eerier elements and a fuller droning background.
Fernweh-inducing instrumental spellwork.
Just like with their first WV Sorcerer album "台灣謎景 Music from Taiwan Mystery" you can argue about the classification of this release. Technically this isnt't really an album, but a reissue / compilation of two EPs from 2019 and 2020. But since this edition probably has a bigger exposure and is presented in such a remarkable way with both original cover artworks being combined on a lenticular print (hard to photograph, hence the little video above), I personally want to understand it as an album. But who outside of Discogs cares anyway?
So get out your joss sticks, pat the Buddha in the back of your fishing boats captain's cabin and enjoy floating through the Taiwanese harbour! This experimental, half modern half traditional ambient score is the perfect soundtrack, with the "History of Brightness" half indeed sounding a lot easier and brighter, while "Corps of Light" introduces significantly eerier elements and a fuller droning background.
Fernweh-inducing instrumental spellwork.
WUKIR SURYADI - Menolak Tunduk/Refuse to Submit (black/white marble vinyl LP + CD) (2022)
On his pandemic occupation solo album Senyawa's sound sorcerer Wukir Suryadi works with the same self-built electric instruments he uses when he provides the backbone for Rully Shabara's unbelievable vocal acrobatics. Here his unique apparatuses shine on their own and reveal even more obviously what a manifoldness of sounds can be created with them:
Metal guitars, industrial clank, gamelan percussions and other Indian and African drums - all those seem to be emulated and joined by modular synth sounds between radio static and almost vocal-like wailing. It all comes together in nine highly experimental, at the same time primevil and civilisation-angsty tracks, which live somewhere in the vast djungle between Einstürzende Neubauten, drone and Javanese tradition, but tenaciously defy being pinpointed.
Just like Senyawa's music Suryadi's solo sound in its intentionally fragmentary and raw presentation lends itself very well to the idea of remixing. So just like the label's luscious version of "Alkisah" this beautifully marbled LP - accompanied by two postcards for early birds -, comes with five remixes (plus the regular album) on a bonus CD.
From the three remixers who I'm a little familiar with I can confidently tell that everyone strongly adds their own special flavour, be it the guitar (and sitar?) drones of CZLT aka Guillaume Cazalet (Neptunian Maximalism), the Taiwanese touch and ambient samples of Mong Tong or the electronics and phenomenal lead vocals of Otay:onii.
Along with these three the Chinese electronic duo Zaliva-D reprises its heavy sound from the "Alkisah" remixes, but with an actually much more convincing work this time, while the sci-fi drone of Mongolian musician Deng Boyu is a perfect closer for the complete experience.
So that makes over twenty-five minutes of flawless bonus material for an already more than worthwhile, very inspired and original album. And you're still wondering why I keep buying and reviewing stuff from this particular source?
Metal guitars, industrial clank, gamelan percussions and other Indian and African drums - all those seem to be emulated and joined by modular synth sounds between radio static and almost vocal-like wailing. It all comes together in nine highly experimental, at the same time primevil and civilisation-angsty tracks, which live somewhere in the vast djungle between Einstürzende Neubauten, drone and Javanese tradition, but tenaciously defy being pinpointed.
Just like Senyawa's music Suryadi's solo sound in its intentionally fragmentary and raw presentation lends itself very well to the idea of remixing. So just like the label's luscious version of "Alkisah" this beautifully marbled LP - accompanied by two postcards for early birds -, comes with five remixes (plus the regular album) on a bonus CD.
From the three remixers who I'm a little familiar with I can confidently tell that everyone strongly adds their own special flavour, be it the guitar (and sitar?) drones of CZLT aka Guillaume Cazalet (Neptunian Maximalism), the Taiwanese touch and ambient samples of Mong Tong or the electronics and phenomenal lead vocals of Otay:onii.
Along with these three the Chinese electronic duo Zaliva-D reprises its heavy sound from the "Alkisah" remixes, but with an actually much more convincing work this time, while the sci-fi drone of Mongolian musician Deng Boyu is a perfect closer for the complete experience.
So that makes over twenty-five minutes of flawless bonus material for an already more than worthwhile, very inspired and original album. And you're still wondering why I keep buying and reviewing stuff from this particular source?
TEUFELSKELLER - Teufelskeller (dark green vinyl LP) (2022)
Finally here's yet another release with potential classification issues: studio album or live album? It's a live session in a studio. Like most of the grand old jazz classics.
This is self-proclaimed punk jazz katharsis though. Yes, a Russian trio with a German name ("Devil's Cellar") on a French/Chinese label putting a British spin on a North-American black music tradition. Where is the Cultural Appropriation Police? It's time that those often quite hysteric guys learn how artistic inspiration and evolution actually works.
But leaving that tangent aside, the concept of what the trio of Anton Ponomarev (saxphones and electronics), Konstantin Korolev (bass and electronics) and Andrey Kim (drums) is doing here, is quite simple: Teufelskeller are just wildly firing all their free jazz cannons in four restless jams, which fill the LP to the brim. Drums and heavy metallic strings keep pushing and pushing, while the sax sometimes varies the insane frenzy with bits of melodic surprise smoothness.
In the - for many listeners probably indiscernible - place between Ornette's tradition and grindjazz fuck you attitude this sits right in the sweet spot, which us jazzperts call by a special professional term: sick shit.
This is self-proclaimed punk jazz katharsis though. Yes, a Russian trio with a German name ("Devil's Cellar") on a French/Chinese label putting a British spin on a North-American black music tradition. Where is the Cultural Appropriation Police? It's time that those often quite hysteric guys learn how artistic inspiration and evolution actually works.
But leaving that tangent aside, the concept of what the trio of Anton Ponomarev (saxphones and electronics), Konstantin Korolev (bass and electronics) and Andrey Kim (drums) is doing here, is quite simple: Teufelskeller are just wildly firing all their free jazz cannons in four restless jams, which fill the LP to the brim. Drums and heavy metallic strings keep pushing and pushing, while the sax sometimes varies the insane frenzy with bits of melodic surprise smoothness.
In the - for many listeners probably indiscernible - place between Ornette's tradition and grindjazz fuck you attitude this sits right in the sweet spot, which us jazzperts call by a special professional term: sick shit.
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