From Vital WeeklyVON EINEM - THE VON EINEM TAPES (2CD by Index Clean)
Opening packages is something that happens all day long at the VWHQ, and sometimes you open
something that is unlocking a seemingly new world. Regardless whether one thinks that VW is
written with algorhythms that spit out 'never heard of him' (but then for the third time;
isn't that then an algorhythm that isn't working?). So much for the pessimists. So here's
a double CD by Australia's Von Einem, who released a bunch of cassettes on Solar Anus,
Mazurka Editions, Altered States Tapes, Cantankerous Records, Virulent Rationality and Future
Archaic. One of these labels I heard of (name only because someone else reviewed them in
the weekly) and I recognized the name Joe Talia, who did the mastering of this collection
of pieces from these tapes, is a name I heard before. Otherwise I draw a complete blank here.
Thirty songs, recorded in the period 2011-2014, from a bunch of cassette releases by these
labels is to be found here and there is no mention of who or what, but discogs mentions Mark
Groves as the band member. This is all about good ol' fashioned industrial music; fierce
rhythm, distorted synth, spliced speech from radio or TV and hissy tape-loops, cut and
collage with chopped up slices of feedback. There is even a bit of vocal here and there,
which reminded me of Eric Lunde from time to time. That's great, but also the fact Von Einem
has a few tricks up his sleeve to produce his music. These thirty songs/pieces show an
interesting variety of interests. A bit of rhythm here, feedback there, cut-up in the third
corner, and while most of this is played with some style, the whole thing sounds also a bit
lovingly lo-fi. Hiss seems to be an overall ingredient in these pieces, which sound like
these pieces are maybe mastered directly from a cassette master (do people still master
cassettes to an actual cassette? Interesting question). It adds that great cassette quality
to the music.
Normally I would think that two hours of this kind of music is a bit much, but its the
sheer variety of the music, all within the realm of industrial/noise/power electronics and
a bit of loud ambient, that saves this release and turns it into a great listening experience.
Even as a real, double CD a bit obscure, but that certainly adds to overall quality. Grim,
bleak, excellent. Is there more coming by them? (FdW)
