Monday, November 24, 2008


Nikos Veliotis/Anastasis Grivas - Vertical (Low Impedance)

Four drones. Veliotis on cello, Grivas on guitar. Interestingly problematic for me. I like each track--they're not so dissimilar from one another--though if I had to say why, I'd stumble a bit as, listened to non-holistically, I can't define much to pinpoint. They're engaging, but not gripping, really. They're too present to slip into the ambiance, not granular to the extent that you bathe in the sandpaper-y wash. But there's something about them that appeals. Should do a little Veliotis mini-fest, placing this alongside his other work and hear how/if it fits.


Oldman - Two Heads Bis Bis (Low Impedance)

Oldman is Charles Eric Charrier, here abetted on a few tracks by Ronan Benoit (drums), Covalesky (percussion, trumpet), Den Itzamna (samples, guitar) and Didier Richard (drums). How to describe? If the Canterbury scene had a sludge variant...if Laswell had been earthier and better...? Often fascinating, as on "Sunny Afternoon, African Charge" which blends low, booming tones (common here--speaker threatening bass abounds), ethereal plinking as from some huge toy piano and mumbled, male voices. Sometimes reminded me of Benjamin Lew (though darker). Good stuff.

Both recordings available from: low impedance

3 comments:

Richard Pinnell said...

Brian it may be partly because I spent the weekend with Nikos and listened to many hours of his playing, but I really like Vertical and I do find a lot of detail in the drones within. The one thing I would say is that I'd like them to be longer so that they become part of the room more easily rather than just brief glimpses.

Anonymous said...

Glad someone still remembers Benjamin Lew!

Brian Olewnick said...

Heh, yeah I enjoyed his stuff for a while in the late 80s, early 90s though I haven't kept up.