Music Review: Peter Orins - Empty Orchestras

(Helix / Circum-Disc LX 006)
CD

Peter Orins is the drummer in Kaze who we had the pleasure of hearing recently (check the Wonderful Wooden Reasons archives) and has returned to these pages with his band mates replaced by electronics which makes a nice change as it's usually the drummer who is ousted by circuitry.

On this, if my reading of the slightly over-written press release is correct, Orins is dueting with his autonomous - their word - noise producing gadget. Whether he is in some way triggering the textural changes via his drums or whether this little electronic Merzbow is entirely going it's own way and he is responding to and interacting with is something of which I'm unsure. It is all rather fun though. The drums are sometimes a little too high in the mix but the end result is an odd, abrasive, rhythmic, stompy and thoroughly enjoyable collection of old school industrial improvisations of the type not seen around these parts for far too long.
(www.circum-disc.com)

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For the last 11 years Wonderful Wooden Reasons has championed experimental and non-commercial music of all forms. Please visit to access our extensive archives of music, book and movie reviews.
It is the in-house magazine for the Quiet World label which has released music from artists such as Ian Holloway, Darren Tate, Banks Bailey, Philip Corner, Colin Andrew Sheffield and many more.

Music Review: Merzouga - 52°46’ North 13°29’ East – Music for Wax-Cylinders

(Gruenrekorder Gruen 124)
CD

There are two predominant forms of field recording releases I get sent here at Wonderful Wooden Reasons. The first is of the collector variety; a compendium of noises often on a particular theme (usually location) meant to represent, reproduce or chronicle. The second is the field recording as instrument, or perhaps more correctly sound source, to be manipulated and processed often until it's unrecognisable and a thick soupy grey murk.

Of the two it is the former that I hold in higher regard (which is not to discount the latter entirely) but there is a third and much rarer form that comes my way on occasion that is by far for me the preferred. Here the field recording becomes a clear and equal partner in the work, neither hidden nor dominant, and this is what we have here.

At the heart of this album are a number of wax cylinder recordings created in the early 20th century by globetrotting Germans and kept in the archives of the Berlin Phonogram Archive. These phonograms have been digitised and made available to artists to explore and utilise.

Merzouga are the duo of Eva Popplein (electronics)and Janko Hanushevsky (electric bass) and here they have seamlessly interwoven a selection of beautifully worn, warm, crisp and crackly recordings of song and speech into their music. The voices guide the piece with the Hanushevsky's bass giving the proceedings a real melancholy perfectly at home with the aged beauty of the recordings whilst also occasionally pushing itself to the fore and fluttering against your perceptions like one of the more broken of the elder recordings. Popplein's electronics insinuate themselves in between the sounds adding subtle textures and colours with the realisation that its presence is all the stronger for it's restraint.

This is a glorious recording. It's a communion with voices past, an exploration of the ethnographers curiosity and, most of all, a celebration of the vitality of sound.
(www.gruenrekorder.de)

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For the last 11 years Wonderful Wooden Reasons has championed experimental and non-commercial music of all forms. Please visit to access our extensive archives of music, book and movie reviews.
It is the in-house magazine for the Quiet World label which has released music from artists such as Ian Holloway, Darren Tate, Banks Bailey, Philip Corner, Colin Andrew Sheffield and many more.

Music Review: Various - Funny Old Shit: A Trunk Records Sampler - vol. 1

(Trunk Records)
CD

Trunk compilations are always a joyous experience. One that is to be greeted with a smile and an expectation of being taken on a trip like no other. This first in a new series of budget compilations is no exception. As you'd hope it's a glorious TARDIS of sound that travels through time, space and genre to bring us 16 examples of unusual, crackpot, wonderful and, yes, funny old shit.

Where else in your collection will you find Brazilian movie soundtracks, French avant-garde (Pierre Henry & Pierre Schaeffer), the b-side of the first ever Radiophonic Workshop release (a pseudonymous George Martin as Ray Cathode), Noel Coward reading Ogden Nash over Aquarium by Camille Saint-Saëns (a melody that the Harry Potter composers were most definitely aware of) and calypsos from both Robert Mitchum and the UK TV legend that is Bernard Cribbins; Mitchum's about a stolen watch and Cribbins' about gossip that references both an oxyacetylene welder and someone having their kneecaps scraped - which sounds exquisitely painful - all sharing the same space along with 10 other equally bonkers and marvellous excursions into the peculiar.

But, and I can't put this strongly enough, even if the catalogue of delights I've listed above doesn't inspire you to go out and grab this fantastic and cheap - did I mention the cheap? it's only £2.99 on CD - compilation then you absolutely must, must, must, must, must go out and get it for the exquisite vocal take on Coltrane's 'Naima' by The Double Six of Paris which I've had on loop for days now.

It's always cause for smiles when a new Trunk release drops on the doormat but that's especially true when it turns out to be as good and as much fun as this one.
(www.trunkrecords.com)

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For the last 11 years Wonderful Wooden Reasons has championed experimental and non-commercial music of all forms. Please visit to access our extensive archives of music, book and movie reviews.
It is the in-house magazine for the Quiet World label which has released music from artists such as Ian Holloway, Darren Tate, Banks Bailey, Philip Corner, Colin Andrew Sheffield and many more.

Quietude #17: The Planets. Sweet!

Evening folks.

In between working my way through the massive stack of marking i have in front of me I've been tinkering this evening with a new Quietude mix.

These are a bit different from the WWR ones as they tend to be a lot lighter and melodic (although not always).  These are from the other sides of my tastes that don't often get featured in WWR.  So, expect library music, jazz, lounge, exotica and silliness, blues, folk and soundtrack, post rock, post punk and post alservice.

I think they're fun and I love making them.  there's 17 of the blighters now so there's plenty to dig through if you're intrigued.

peace
ian

Quietude #17: The Planets. Sweet! by Quiet World on Mixcloud