Up until a couple weeks ago, I had only heard a few tracks by fellow NW-based experimental musician Pulse Emitter, but that was reason enough for us to send him our first gift (GT000).   Daryl Groetsch of Pulse Emitter generously mailed us both of his Meditative Music releases.  I haven’t reviewed anything on a digital format yet, but these leave me no choice.  This is my attempt to explain how insanely great these discs are…

Meditative Music 1 is a minimalist piece where flowing breezes of analog modular synth  are contrasted by slow moving waves of FM synthesis, rising and falling over glorious peaks of quiet mountainsides.  The patches are meticulously programmed and detailed in complexity, yet the music sounds as though a new form of plant life has emerged from the earth.  Natural and easing mellow vibrations paint an environment that serves as an escape from the chaos of our man made surroundings.  Its gentle and contemplative tones are steeped in sleepiness, rich with a resting thickness; this is hypnotic levitation at its best.

Daryl sent me a copy of something he posted on a forum about the first disc:

“while helping my girlfriend select ambient music to use while giving massages, i became interested in all the factors that ruled out certain releases. too ominous, too rhythmic, too schmaltzy… so i decided to record one myself. it’s one track, 60 minutes long. two oscillators on the analog modular tuned in fifths, slowly sweeping back and forth with the filter and across the stereo field in a repetitive yet unpredictable way, continuous warm shifting drone. then a slow four note motive is played in four permutations on a custom patched yamaha TX81Z FM synth, crystal pools of sound. yeah, it’s peaceful ambient music but it’s not overly positive or negative, very balanced in emotion and structure. good for sleeping, thinking, bathing, whatever. it’s not noise music but i’m posting it here anyway… it would probably be good to listen to after a noise show actually.”

Meditative Music 2 opens in windstorm, the listener tucked away in a shallow cave at the base of a ravine.  Heavy raindrops fall from the evergreens onto the  crumbling stone above.  The swift breeze rises and falls, giving way to brief glimpses of the sound of a passing stream.  On occasion a carefully woven synthesized melody will remind the listener that they are in fact listening to music.  These sounds have the affect of transforming humans into creatures of the woods, like an elk’s lone stray from the rest of the herd.

The sounds of the second disc are so natural sounding that I had to ask him if there were field recordings involved…  this was his answer:

“there are no field recordings, all synth. the second disc was inspired by a hike in the woods, listening to a stream.”

It makes me happy that Pulse Emitter is Portland-based.  You can find out more on his website: synthnoise.com.  Another thing I should mention that might interest any DIY Synthers… Daryl Groetsch has a degree in Electrical Engineering and he’s got a few schematics of things he’s designed on his website.  I also recommend taking a look at the picture of his crazy synth. And, if you’re in NYC in mid-May, be sure to check out his set at NO FUN.

I hear that tickets to the NO FUN FESTIVAL go on sale tomorrow, February 15th.  The lineup looks excellent.  Lots of synthesizer action.

FRIDAY 15 at 7pm -Bastard Noise, Thrones, Grey Wolves, Xeno and Oaklander, Carlos Giffoni, Chris Corsano, Axolotl, Raglani, Noveller.  SATURDAY 16 at 7pm -Sonic Youth, Bardo Pond, Rafael Toral with C. Spencer Yeh, Trevor Tremaine, Sons of God, Pedestrian Deposit, Blank Dogs, Yellow Tears, Mattin, Pulse Emitter.  SUNDAY 17 at 6:30pm -Merzbow, Skullflower, Con-Dom, Black Pus, Emeralds, Peter Rehberg/Marcus Schmickler, Cold Cave, Jazzfinger, Conrad Schnitzler Con-Cert

I recently found out that German-based ambient musician Klaus Wiese passed away on January 27th.  From what I was able to gather, he passed away in his sleep at his girlfriend’s house at the age of  67 in Ulm, Germany.  Sad news indeed, but when it’s time to embark on a journey to the spirit world, that is the way to do it.  His legacy as an experimental composer will live on.

Wiese’s music fits into the minimalist ambient spectrum of experimental music.  Inspired by both Sufism and Mysticism, his works often take the form of dense, spiritual dronescapes; they’re peaceful, but they emit an open heaviness that allows the linkage of the earthbound listener’s own soul and the eternal heavens.  His solo discography is overwhelming – just one glance at his Discogs entry will have you reeling – but his collaborative work is also impressive.  In addition to appearing on two Popul Vuh releases (Hosianna Mantra & Seligpreisung), he has regularly worked with Al Gromer Khan, Mathias Grassow & Oöphoi.

I’m amazed by how similar a lot of contemporary works in the noise/new age/experimental scene sound to Klaus Wiese’s work.  Take the Emerald’s for instance, three young musicians at the top of their game, making super minimal drone music with mostly vintage synths.  You could probably take a Wiese track, run it through a filter and distortion pedal and you’d have something sounding very similar to the Emeralds.

I acquired a copy of Klaus Wiese’s Alhambra on cassette for the purpose of reviewing one of his works (you might notice that I only review releases I have a physical copy of).  I’m more familiar with his later work, so I chose something closer to the beginning stages of his solo work (not to mention, you can still buy it on cassette), a release from 1986.  I believe one of his regular collaborators, Mathias Grassow, is now operating the store on www.klaus-wiese.com.

Alhambra is a suiting title for the work.  Wikipedia translates it to “the red one” or the “red fortress” and describes it as “a palace and fortress complex of the Moorish rulers of Granada in southern Spain”.   It is a fortress.  Two deep drone works comprised of synthesized strings and voice, filtered vocals, reverberations, organ and mandolin make up the whole of the tape.  The first, The Violet Rose, is a slowly oscillating drone whose instrumentation hovers around a single note.  It is reminiscent of David Parsons’ Sounds of the Mothership, but seems to access another side of the spirit world, among the dense dark forests hidden in the shadows.   The other piece is titled The Moorish Princess.  It has a similar vibe, but with the addition of passionate female vocals in parts – remember, this is ’86 (this is some serious new f’ing age).  I highly recommend the purchase of this album.  It’s relaxing, meditative and emotional all wrapped into a nice new age package.  Did I mention that you can still purchase this on cassette?

I found some of his more recent music posted online – these two are pretty good: Perfume (2006) & Gnosis (2004)

Mist, Certain Expansion, released on Pizza Wagon (#1), C20, Ltd 100

This is an excellent tape by the synth duo side-project of Sam Goldberg & John Elliot… Mist.  I believe that this is Sam’s Pizza Night label & Wagon combining forces (see Discogs entry & Volcanic Tongue pages), both based in the super fresh experimental music capitol: Cleveland, OH.  Both musicians are serious synth shredders, and you will definitely hear that on this record.  The liner notes list electric violin & vocals as well.

Hit play and the tape’s hiss is interrupted by a set of notes, foreshadowing the oncoming progression – a river of notes.  Gently filtered notes resting by the morning dew, soon to become weightless, their anti-gravity properties reaching for the stars.  Just below the steamy morning fields, an emotionally dense melody adds a certain compositional structure that only nature seems capable of, steadily transforming into the soaring feeling of a championship runner within 100 vortices.  It’s speedy synth playing, notey lines, and beautiful droning textures of violin that slowly shift and meld together in super-tight fashion.  Totally locked in… totally tight.  The other side seems to continue where the first side left off, but it’s a slower, more malleable trip, carried by twisting, morphing analog filters and passionate tears.  These dudes have emotions and are not afraid to share them with the world. About midpoint this odd line rises from the depths, emitting crackling, chaffing tones.  At this point it begins to slip into a spacier vibe similar to the sounds of Outerspace (a John Elliot solo project).  From field to space, the 20 minute journey is an expansive ride.

The image on the tape was totally fitting; the cover is a beautiful image of a grassy field meeting a shadowed timberline.  And the inside is an intense contrast, a hand-painted pattern of yellow orange and green wavy lines.  A perfect compliment to the sounds on tape.

Sam Goldberg: http://samuelgoldberg.blogspot.com/ | John Elliot (of the Emeralds): http://emeraldsohio.com/