Reviews:
(Bad Alchemy) Nach YPSMAEL allein mit „Akystret“ (choc.630, LP) kehren er - Norman Ismael Müller - und Bryan Day aka ELOINE nun vereint wieder mit of delusions (choc.666, LP in bloody vinyl), live am 6.10.2023 im Bee's Mouth in Brighton und am verfluchten 7.10. im Old Hairdresser's, Glasgow. 'Pomade Channels' und 'Paraglossal Accidentals' spielen jeweils auf den Namen des Venues an. Und stellen gegen das verblendet Verkehrte, destruktiv Verkehrte, grausam Verkehrte allemal etwas Besseres als Dummheit, als Gier, als den Tod. Nämlich die simple, ja geradezu primitive Möglichkeit und Freiheit, zu spielen, zu gestalten, gemeinsam zu spielen, gemeinsam zu gestalten. Mit Gedröhn und perkussivem, eisenhaltigem Dongen, Klappern, Scharren. In den stehenden oder glissandierenden Drones fast sowas wie eine Anmutung von Harmonie, von Sphärenklang. Oder verhöre ich mich da, bei all dem Surren und Sirren von Feedback Electronics und krachigen Hantieren mit found & amplified objects? Auch in Brighton inszenieren sie ihre bruitistische Art Brut als seltsames Touchieren von Eisenbrocken mit Dröhn- und Pfeifimpulsen, kurvendem Motor und dumpf pulsendem Staccato auf einem Schrottplatz. Ich spiele, mit 39 Jahren von 7 to 4 unter den Arschbacken, gerade mal den Go-Between zwischen meiner Spießigkeit und den Freaks und Bohemians. Call me Parasite. - Rigo Dittmann

(Vital Weekly) Oops. When I reached the end of side one and wanted to play the other side, I realised I had it set at 45 rpm instead of 33. That is assuming it is indeed 33! It’s always interesting with music of this kind on vinyl that we don’t immediately hear the speed difference. I remember when I was young playing records at alternative speeds, sometimes preferring the slow over the fast version; ’23 Skidoo’ by Eric Random, or that long drone piece on Crispy Ambulance’s ‘Hot On An August Night’ being two examples I always remember. The kind of music played by Ypsmael from Germany (using feedback electronics, acoustic & amplified objects, voice, effects and live sampling) and Eloine from the USA (also known as Public Eyesore boss Bryan Day on invented instruments, found objects, electronics, and field recordings) is perfect for exploration on different speeds. Their improvised electro-acoustic music serves as an ideal playground for editing, recycling, and remixing. They offer two live recordings here, from October 7, 2023, in Glasgow and October 6, 2023, in Brighton. They gave their pieces titles, which is not very common in this field. The cover doesn’t mention anything about editing and mixing, so perhaps this is an unedited, straightforward live recording. Although at the end of Vital Weekly (almost!), it’s no surprise if I say improvised is in general (!) not my thing, I do like this of object cracking, object abusing, hand cranked, object upon object being amplified collages very much, perhaps because it’s something I can relate to very well, having done a fair bit with Kapotte Muziek over the years. It will always remain a mystery why these two recordings deserve an LP release (incidentally, the 666th by Chocolate Monk, if someone cares to count or distil any meaning from that), and not the other gigs they played on this UK tour (assuming they recorded it all). These recordings are noisily and muddy, dark and obscure, scratchy and clicky, as was to be expected and is to be enjoyed as such. Seeing this kind of thing in action is always the best thing, but this coloured slab of vinyl is an excellent substitute. - Frans de Waard

(The Offiside) For the 666th release on the legendary UK-based Chocolate Monk label, they deliver a heavy serving of electro-acoustic improvisations by instrument inventor / deep head, Bryan Day (aka Eloine), and sound collagist, NM (aka Ypsmael). Musicians love to talk about “developing a language” of their own through sound, and most often it amounts to only some jive lingo set within a primitive vocabulary. But to this long-time listener, nowhere can one find a better example of a fully and uniquely developed syntax of sound than in the work of Bryan Day - and nary a finer manifestation of the infinitely foreign at that. Recorded while touring via public transportation through the United Kingdom back in 2023, these cuts were committed to air at the final two gigs of the trip. The toll of hauling equipment onto buses and walking in the rain to venues was a Sisyphus-ian feat that resulted in some broken gear, but the proof’s in the pudding so to speak and all that effort wasn’t for not. Of Delusions takes us somewhere far stranger than Glasgow or Brighton and it isn’t a route littered with breadcrumbs. Issued in an edition of only 100 copies and pressed on swirled color, recycled vinyl with screen printed jackets. - Justin Clifford Rhody