Bhreus Kormo

Released in early 2000 on the C.I.P. label, all sales for this compilation are donated to the Howard Brown Health Center Cancer Quality of Life Study, which is a unique body in breast cancer research in that it is the first to compare social factors between lesbian and heterosexual women with breast cancer. The disc comes packaged in an oversized sleeve and includes an "inspect yourself" pamphlet.

The compilation features eleven exclusive tracks from eleven contributors, including tracks from irr.app.(ext.) (probably best known for their work with Stilluppsteypa a few years back), Coeurl (one half of the Chicago-based outfit Gunshop), Negative Entropy, John Wiese, Brutum Fulmen, Vertonen (C.I.P. founder Blake Edwards) and others. Bhreus Kormo compiles some impressive works of abstract electronica and noise-composition. Among my favourites here is Coeurl's track "nothing, but a certain palpable numbness", which divides into two parts; the first with micro-clicks and digital clusters and the second with a deep and roaring bass cadence. Irr.app.(ext.) create a complex and nightmarish construct of three-dimensional electronics, found sounds, whistling and metallic noises. A dark drone undergoes a number of transitions, metamorphoses into a helicopter-like sound, and then returns to its dark intonation in Seam Pith's contribution, "tube within a tube (edit)". Other highlights include some smooth frequency harmonics by Seafoam and Vertonen's compelling track "Moire", composed of dense ambient loops, underwater sounds and various sonic manipulations. Some very nice work. The weakest moments on the disc are also its noisiest (for my sensibilities at least); Skin Crime produces an explosion of piercing and loud static sounds and feedback shrieks in their track "Cursed"; Bran (another plight of medic's...) Pos supplies a chaotic noise piece which undergoes a series of transformations until it finally puts itself out of its misery. The moods, styles, techniques, and most of all the sounds represented here are across the board (some more successful than others, as is the case with almost all various artist compilations), but what remains consistent is a passion for experimentation and originality in sound sculpting. Nicely done.

This is an eclectic compilation of experimental, electronic artists, all of whom share a sort of slow-moving, texture-based approach to making music. Each of these pieces conjures a unique sonic dimension that, when inhabited for a bit, can be quite mesmerizing -- from the disembodied-sound electro-acoustic approach of Brutum Fulmen's "Before the Invention of the Nose Hair Tweezer" to the slow-moving-but-still-somehow-lyrical whistling "To Bdelugma Tes Eremoseos (Part IV)" of Irr. App. (Ext.) to Coeurl's "Nothing, But a Certain Palpable Numbness", which I'm quite certain begins with a stolen snippet of Penderecki's "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima" before moving into something alarm-clock-like and then into something on the threshold of human perception. All proceeds from the sale of this CD go to support a study about lesbians and breast cancer. If this is a pet cause of yours, you might want to pick up Bhreus Kormo, regardless of your musical tastes.

[ Splendid E Zine web review features an excerpt of the Brutum Fulmen track.]