Collapsing Orchestra

[Translated from Japanese]

Noise music has been considered as sensitivity oriented music. It has been an antithesis against the technology oriented rock music, which has enabled those who do not play instruments to express themselves with audio media. It is, however, often necessary for an art to absorb the elements that have never nourished it before, as the creative activities of the art has reached certain stage of maturity. Namely, though the creation of art has certain limit, it is still possible for its creators to enlarge the limit as long as they aspire to improve their arts. This [album?] is made by BRUTUM FULMEN - new artists from New Jersey in the U.S. The content is musique concrete like the music of Organum or TNB, which use frictional and striking noises of metals. With respect to the sound quality, sound structure and performance (though they do not play instruments), their music is more perfect than that of Organum. I would imagine that the artists are professional sound engineers, though I do not know the truth. This music sounds just as if professional engineers were performing Organum['s music] with the latest technology. It has proved that music can be integrated by technology. I wish D. Jackman (Organum) - who has made easy money out of the Japanese listeners by selling limited albums with outrageous prices and lost his aspiration for artistic improvement - would listen to this album. And also, [I wish] his fans that buy his albums just by judging from his popularity [would listen to this].

Seven tracks of brilliant musique concrete. The songs are composed from digitally recorded sources. In the opener 'Shedding Skin' the sources are: squeaking cassette in a car tape deck, gooseneck mic stand, dumpster pounded with bare hand. Other sources are: forks and spoons hung from fishing line... men's room door hinge in Hoboken parking garage.... But what does it sound like you ask? Brilliant. Sorry, I said that already. Obviously a lot of work went into this CD. Very structured. The sound often builds up from subtle ambience to brutal thickness, approaching the intensity of feedback noise bands like Pain Jerk... this is the CD to get if you're interested in supporting intelligent and complex noise composition. Well worth the $10/13 (US/World). So buy this from [Jeff Wrench, PO Box 8127, New Fairfield CT 06812-8127 USA].

[ Translated from French. ]

Here is an innovative and very fresh arrival from the US, and one which should particularly draw your attention... a 60 minute long CD which is, say it, extremely excellent... a true symphony of concrete music dark and tortured, majestically composed and arranged... [the piece] 'Amputate' will cut down your brain: this sequence is worthy of Macronympha; dense, swift, monolithic and brutal... the 7th piece is a symphonic apotheosis of concrete music. All the art of composition heard previously is found there... One thinks of 'Submission' by Organum, a few pieces by Illusion of Safety, the best concrete sounds of Brume, noises by New Blockaders, and also Mhlest... A true orgy of metal noises in disorder... Pure experimental concrete Noise - intense... really worth ones interest. Instead of coming out with one more Merzbow, the labels should take some risks and be interested in the new artists such as Brutum Fulmen... It kicks ass, as they say.

A very promising release from these New Jersey artists, creating engaging sonic structures from everyday objects... a unique aspect of these recordings is that original acoustic sounds receive little electronic processing, the significance being placed upon the relationships between the sounds. The pieces on this CD range from the very subtle to the extreme, showing that, unlike many noise artists, these folks are capable of many varied approaches to sound construction. Collapsing Orchestra, although likely to be lumped in with the noise camp, is closer to musique concrete than it is to Merzbow, especially on the 20 minute collage-stunner, 'Symphony.'

...another fine work of modern electro-acoustic music... a cleverly put together work... to add structure is to add liveliness I think. The natural sound like a door hinge has more impact then a bunch of wrong connnected feedback. If you like Brume or Kapotte Muziek, then you might need to check this out too.

Collapsing Orchestra is a very apt title for this release which features a variety of concrete sound sources all nicely documented for each piece. For instance, 'Shedding Skin' employs squeaking cassette in car tape deck, gooseneck mic stand, dumpster pounded with bare hand; while 'Ivy Covered Ruins' utilizes forks and spoons hung from fishing line, pneumatic screen door hinge, garage door lock, dumpster lid, heap of rusted sheet metal, water trickling through underground pipe, oven door and rack, cement blocks rubbed on pavement. The resulting pieces range from subdued ambiance to the frantic noise of 'Amputate' with its microphone wind shear and other sounds collected from large industrial fans and air conditioning units. The documentation adds a lot to my enjoyment of this release since it would often be impossible to decipher the sources without knowing. It makes hearing the cacophony all the more engaging as you imagine these guys scraping and manipulating all this into a symphony of sound.

...well organized record with powerful sounds. On the record, there haven't used any synthesized sounds, sequencers or power electronics, that makes this record even more interesting... Brutum Fulmen and Ninnuam aren't any boring whizz bands, they have produced some extra great quality songs on this record. Buy this one blow your bazookas!