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APSKAFT PRESENTS: THE DARK SIDE OF THE MONKEY APSKAFT MUSICIANS REPLAY THE GREAT PINK FLOYD ALBUM
APSKAFT PRESENTS: POEMS & FAIRY TALES WE TOOK PIECE OF LITERATURE AND MADE 2 RECORDS OUT OF ‘EM
NEW APSKAFTERS RELEASES HOX VOX * R.U.D.E * PARITON * EMMANUEL LORIEN SPINELLI
MONKEY COMIX EMPIRE COLLAPSE by Gianluca Missero * APINAN RAVIOLIA by Tuomas Kärkkäinen
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3.
LETTER TO LISTENERS by Gianluca Missero
APSKAFT RECORDS 4. APSKAFT PRESENTS: POEMS by Gianluca Missero 6. APSKAFT PRESENTS: FAIRY TALES by Gianluca Missero 8. APSKAFT PRESENTS: THE DARK SIDE OF THE MONKEY by Gianluca Missero 10. NEW RELEASES by Gianluca Missero HOX VOX * R.U.D.E. * PARITON * EMMANUEL LORIEN SPINELLI MONKEY COMIX 12. EMPIRE COLLAPSE by Gianluca Missero 18. APINAN RAVIOLIA by Tuomas K채rkk채inen
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APSKAFT
M A G AZ INE
APSKAFTERS LETTER TO LISTENERS
Dear listeners, This is a very basic issue of Apskafter. In Apskaft Records rubric we reviewed last 3 records released by our collective: The Dark Side of the Monkey, a full album cover of Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon; Apskaft Presents: Poems, a series of songs inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, Joseph Rudyard Kipling, Alice Walker, Gunnar Ekelöf, Max Ehrmann, Charles Baudelaire, E. E. Cummings, Kato Shuson, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Sharon Mesmer, W. H. Auden; Apskaft Presents: Fairy Tales, transposition in music of fairy tales by Brothers Grimm, Lewis Carrol, Carlo Collodi, Christian Andersen, Aesop. There are 5 new records in New Releases: 2 from R.U.D.E. (a russian IDM musician called Maxim Betmakaev, also member of Chethua Garibaldi); a mini-album by Tuomas Kärkkäinen (as Pariton), which isn’t included in Siko Records’ catalogue; a collection of field recordings by Emmanuel Lorien Spinelli; my new record, a re-arrangement of The Carnival of The Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns which is part of forthcoming Apskaft Presents: Opera release. In Monkey Comix rubric this month you will find the 3rd episode of Empire Collapse graphic novel and another few panels of Apinian Raviolia by Tuomas Kärkkäinen.
Enjoy!
Gianluca Missero (Hox)
APSKAFTERS 3 N. 05 - DIC 2012
APSKAFTERS APSKAFT PRESENTS:
ibalam - The Island of The Fay (Edgar Allan Poe) is an instrumental dreamy work of soft pads floating on an electronic xylophone, like - indeed - an island above sharp waves. R.U.D.E. - If (Joseph Rudyard Kipling) is a dreamy electronic number that grows up ‘til the (lightly) dubstep dirty drum enters, with a lecture of Kipling’s poem by Annie Coleman chiselled in melody.
APSKAFT PRESENTS: POEMS Project started in: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 11, 2012 Release: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November 23, 2012 Number of tracks: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 Total lenght of record: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38:58
Peter-David Smith - Expect Nothing (Alice Walker) is an obsessive destabilizing work on tape speed, augmenting the harsh climate by the original poetry. Archaeopteryx Ultraavantgarda - The Conqueror Worm (Edgar Allan Poe) is dramatical and cinematic, with a powerful orchestra behind the fierce, dark and deep tone of Charles Hères on lecture. Toffeljagarn - Jag såg ett par hårda ögon (Gunnar Ekelöf) is a post rock number, with a vocal intro and subsequently an explosion of guitar, redesigned by synth frequencies. Peter-David Smith with his second track, Desiderata (Max Ehrmann), goes for an endless loop with drum and synth light notes, and his lo-fi speech.
Bands involved: Hox Vox and Sébastien Gramond (first did music, the latter was ibalam * R.U.D.E. * Peter-David Smith * Archaeopteryx Ultraavantgarda * the lecturer) in Une Charogne (Charles Baudelaire) start with Toffeljagarn * Hox Vox and Sébastien Gramond * Nick Blessing * Hox Vox * environmental noises of a calesse traveling through the countryside, then goes contemporary music, turn to jazz/glitch, back to Richard There * Pariton. APSKAFTERS 4 N. 05 - DIC 2012
ssero a Mi
APSKAFTERS
by Gian luc
POEMS
Apskaft Catalogue N. 22
contemporary, then through a short soul passage it finishes as a reggae with contemporary and rock sudden changes. Nick Blessing - dying is fine) but Death (E.E. Cummings) is a lo-fi post-rock number, with noises that reminds a lot Allen Ravenstine’s work in Pere Ubu. Richard There - I Kill an Ant (Kato Shuson) is a simple and effective psychedelic organ melody with Richard’s voice reeling off this cruel haiku. Hox Vox - Mattina (Giuseppe Ungaretti) is an instrumental avantgarde piece sounding like a crossover between Tuxedomoon and Thinking Plague. Peter-David Smith - Brahma (Ralph Waldo Emerson) combines an atmospheric soundtrack with heavy drums and a dramatic lo-fi speech, and the result reminds me a little the sound of Clock DVA’s album Advantage, between noir and american smokey and jazzy music halls. Pariton - At Princess Olga’s (Sharon Mesmer) makes use of synthetic speech with an electronic environment à la Raymond Scott, resulting in a strange space robotic drama. Nick Blessing - Funeral Blues (W. H. Auden) is again a lo-fi number, with dirty guitars, a rounded bass and very minimal drums, with psychedelic distorted vocals and strange environmental noises all around, that slowly grow up in volume and intensity while the rest of music just fade away.
Edgar Allan Poe
Joseph Rudyard Kipling
Alice Walker
Gunnar Ekelöf
Max Ehrmann
Charles Baudelaire
E. E. Cummings
Kato Sushon
Giuseppe Ungaretti
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Sharon Mesmer
W. H. Auden
APSKAFTERS 5 N. 05 - DIC 2012
APSKAFTERS APSKAFT PRESENTS:
Booklet included in torrent or bandcamp downloads is filled with info - text and images - about these fairy tales, so here we won’t go into deep about original plot or authors’ biographies, just analyze the musical aspect. R.U.D.E. opens this record with Maghreb Prayer Mat, a long (8:39 minutes) articulated track splitted in 8 movements, following faithfully all the events in this original fairy tale from north africa. Music is IDM with plenty of middle east samples, giving a strong, precise contextualization. Sometimes, on first part - before the drums enter - R.U.D.E. even reminds a little The Residents. Peter-David Smith in Snow White - Red as Blood opens with samples from a tv commercial - snow white on ice - then suddenly APSKAFT PRESENTS: FAIRY TALES create an anechoic chambre audio scenario, with - I guess backward samples and cascades of other orchestra samples at Project started in: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 11, 2012 very low volume. Track accelerates versus the end and a harsh Release: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . November 24, 2012 guitar enters, again floating from foreground to background. Number of tracks: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Total lenght of record: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41:16 ibalam does his interpretation of Alice in Wonderland with She’s Gone Now. It’s a morbid ballad, sung with a different voice, but similar tones to Dead Can Dance’s Brendan Perry, and music is built by sparse pads and a beautiful lute (mandolin?) arpeggio.
Bands involved: R.U.D.E. * Peter-David Smith * ibalam * Hox Vox * Res Band
Peter-David Smith with Ashputtel-Cinderella makes a rock number, a long fugue with a powerful bass, a dirty, simple drum, and synths running everywhere in non-linear melodies and solos. In last part it’s prevailing the duo drums/synths, turning much more on psychedelic/space/jazz rock.
APSKAFTERS 6 N. 05 - DIC 2012
Apskaft Catalogue N. 23
Hox Vox does Pinocchio, an electronic/80’s europop track quite inspired by Telex of Moskow Diskow, or Pop Muzik by M, or the most commercial side of Kraftwerk. Second work by R.U.D.E. is his interpretation of Little Matches Girl. Noises of someone scratching matches in startup, then an electronic beguine is in-tour-face, suddenly. Track proceed with glitchy drums - but far from dubstep model, and new matches light-up noises indicate changes in music, with a theatrical effect. Melody is obviously sad and melancholic. Peter-David Smith‘s third track for this record is Rumplestiltskin, is again rock, but all drowned into a liquid gummy box. Drums are a slow breakbeat; music, long notes fading to nothing, seem coming from other rooms, other dimensions, all mixed with echoes. Hox Vox in The Frog and the Ox previleges the recitation to music, at scene’s centre there’s the dialogue between father and son, and the commenter explaining facts. The coda is full of ionized sounds à la Edgar Varèse (or Frank Zappa of The Chrome Plated Megaphone of Destiny). Record closing by Res Band, with their Hansel and Gretel, a strange track respect their average sound. Guitars full of echoes like Durutti Column or Dif Juz; no drums, substituted by electronic clash echoes; a boombastic bass; ominous ogre growls on the end of track. On final part, the guitar wakes up and start to scream all over in a metal fashion, and after a brake it turns again to echoed relaxing arpeggios: an happy ending. APSKAFTERS 7 N. 05 - DIC 2012
ssero a Mi
APSKAFTERS
FAIRY TALES
by Gian luc
APSKAFTERS APSKAFT PRESENTS:
This is our second full album cover project after Apskaft Presents: Spice by Spice Girls. We voted on july 2011 for six new records to do, and the purpose to cover Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon - a project we spoke many times about before - had a good support. After a discussion due John The Fox’s will to do the startup midley (Speak to Me/Breathe/On the Run) we decided to change the old rule of random song assignments. After a few days of debate everybody chosen a track (or said “whatever comes is OK”), I reached to finish the tracklist and project started in august 11.
APSKAFT PRESENTS: THE DARK SIDE OF THE MONKEY
Record was scheduled on 1st november, but first Archaeopteryx Ultraavantgarda had to quit the project because they lost their sound gear; then John the Fox declared an unexpected lack of time to dedicate to this project; we had to substitute them in last minute.
Bands involved:
We were lucky Hold_the_gun was free and well disposed to enter, we had to search for a rapper (and actually found 3, after a long quest and various tryouts) but at the end Breathe was finished and uploaded. One of the member of Archaeopteryx Ultraavantgarda said he could substitute the whole band with his solo project (Kyuzu), and he was quite fast in finishing Us and Them. Thanks to these last minute substitutions this released slipped on an acceptable december 3rd.
Hold_the_gun feat. Zakrewsky, Chetuha Garibaldi & Hox * Nick Blessing * Turbogrind Terrorizers * Peter-David Smith * The Wreck Up * Hox Vox * R.U.D.E. * Kyuzu * Res Band.
Personally I found this record compact and varied same time, which could sound contradictory. Every song is dense, there are no voltage dips, the attention keeps up until the end.
Project started in: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . August 11, 2012 Release: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 3rd, 2012 Number of tracks: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Total lenght of record: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40:47
APSKAFTERS 8 N. 05 - DIC 2012
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APSKAFTERS
THE DARK SIDE OF THE MONKEY
by Gian luc
Apskaft Catalogue N. 24
Unless the original record, first song is Breathe (we dismissed Speak to Me as it’s just an heartbeat), by Hold_the_gun feat. Zakrewsky, Chetuha Garibaldi and Hox, a russian hip-hop affair with the exclusion of my partecipation with a flute solo. Original atmosphere is still there, due to samples from Pink Floyd’s Breathe; Zakrewsky in first half, then Chetuha Garibaldi (with a more playful tone) rap on it in russian language, adding even more displacement.
Money by Hox Vox sound like a cover made by Landscape, the new wave english band of Einstein a Go-Go , with a robotic bass ostinato, caribbean percussion and a space pop environment. R.U.D.E. is the author of the IDM, elegant version of Any Colour You Like. The startup is quite seventies, then music gets morbid, with luscious drums and delicate keyboard pads floating all over. It reminded me the best tracks by the french Air. Probably the most accessible moment of the whole record, and one of the highlights as well.
Turbogrind Terrorizers start with 4 beats of original track, then turn to a kraftwerkization of On the Run, an electronic rush filled Kyuzu with Ászándem (orig. Us and Them) chosen to put on a dry with electronic noises imitating the original ones, with a continu- 4/4 synchopated drum pattern and slowly grow up an industrial, ous feeling of machine music. distorted anthem out of it. To understand what’s up, imagine what could be if Einstürzende Peter-David Smith’s approach to Time + Breathe (Reprise) is quite Neubauten made a song with John Foxx. With a funny surprise at similar to last records by Scott Walker, on the startup. Then a the end, but I won’t do spoilers. long passage on guitar bass, muffled and smokey chords comes in, with a distant high pitch guitar painting the background. Third Res Band took it fiercely, but with english humour, from first part of track is again into Walker’s The Drift, with an unexpected, note. Brain Damage sounds really what’s the title suggest. First elegant jazz final. ominous shreds à la Daniel Ash, then grindcore mixed with british invasion style, and later ‘77 punk. The Wreck Up intro for their rendition of The Great Gig in the Sky Or they just play brit pop and punk at double speed, with funny seems following quite faithfully the original, with Preston’s gui- growls, as you like. Incredible cover, by the way. tar substituting vocals. But at first change guitar disappears and the track turns to After the load of energy by Res Band, a sudden break with Nick breakbeat/latin funk with saxophones and trumpets, and then Blessing, doing Eclipse like it was one of the sad songs in The Wall. go back to the usual The Wreck Up bass + guitar work, with a It’s an interesting crossing between old and new pink floyd, findbassline vaguely resembling Mick Karn style, and David Preston ing a common element, a backbone through their sound. A great going for a Holdsworth-ful solo. closing for this album. APSKAFTERS 9 N. 05 - DIC 2012
APSKAFTERS APSKAFTERS RECORDS HOX VOX - THE CARNIVAL OF ANIMALS The Carnival of the Animals (Le carnaval des animaux) is a humorous musical suite of fourteen movements by the French Romantic composer Camille Saint-Saëns. Written for private performance by an ad hoc ensemble of two pianos and other instruments, the original work lasts around 25 minutes. Saint-Saëns did specify in his will that the work should be published posthumously. Following his death in December 1921, the work was published by Durand in Paris in April 1922, and the first public performance was given on 25 February 1922 by Concerts Colonne (the orchestra of Édouard Colonne). Carnival has since become one of Saint-Saëns’s best-known works, played by the original eleven instrumentalists, or more often with the full string section of an orchestra. Normally a glockenspiel substitutes for the rare glass harmonica. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Carnival_of_the_Animals) This is an art rock/breakbeat/world/avant-garde re-arrangement of Saint-Saëns’s composition. TAGS: experimental, electronic, eclectic, avant-prog, progressive rock, world, breakbeat
EMMANUEL LORIEN SPINELLI - LANDS AND GENOTYPES VOL. II (2008 - 2012) “I tend to link (and mix) two practices, on one hand I am interested in soundscape composition, particularly the implications of the capture and manipulation of environmental sounds, and on the other hand I want to explore the potential of speech, utilizing language and the problematic of expressing one’s self. Of course this does not constitute an aesthetic limitation and some pieces may adopt techniques borrowed from different trends in electroacoustic music such as acoustic-ecology, granular synthesis, text-based and radio works, as well as musique concrète, sound poetry and algorithmic processes. Most of the time two elements constitute my source material: first a series of studio interviews with the person(s) “studied”, the sound-subject(s), (often foreigners living in London who have felt a need for defining their identity, which help me initiating a discussion on how polyglotism has an influence on their persona as well as exploring the sonic quality of “accents”), and then a series of field recordings made around and inside their place, family house, (and when possible in their country of origin as well) and different locations where the subject usually spends time (work or leisure).” (Emmanuel Lorien Spinelli) TAGS: field recordings, soundscapes, ambient, England
APSKAFTERS 10 N. 05 - DIC 2012
ssero a Mi
APSKAFTERS NEW RELEASES
by Gian luc
R.U.D.E. - ДЕКАБРЬ 12 “The music made by a robot for robots. Cold, technocratic sounds do not match such romantic names as “Метель” (Blizzard) or “Зима пришла” (The winter has come). The author’s view of winter, nature is rather strange. Music is full of images of cyborgs, androids, futuristic holograms and other sci-fi Soulless and Spiritless. It seems that there is a lack of idea, basis or melody.<...> I like the ambient tracks “ЛЭП” (Power Line) and “19.12”. The atmosphere is felt here and the various musical palette of techno sounds does not bore you. I’m sure that genre-lovers would like the record, but it will become neither the record of the week, nor the record of the month. The quality of sound is perfect, reverberation effects are on top. Welcome to Uranus - that is what comes on your mind first when you listen to the album. Extraterrestrial nature, everything is different here. The Sun, icycles, blizzard - we are not used to see and hear them this way! Personaly I was not stired by the record but all lovers of this abstract genre will appreciate the record!”
(Review from Rutracker.org] TAGS: electronic, idm, ambient electronic, Russian Federation
R.U.D.E. - MULTICOLOURED EP I am not synaesthetic. I am not always sure what the name of a colour is. But this is an attempt to describe what I hear by means of colours. You see different colours? Any colour you like. So long as it’s black. (Maxim Betmakaev] TAGS: electronic, idm, ambient electronic, Russian Federation
PARITON - OTUKSIA Animals are a central theme in the history of music and art in general, and now Pariton has joined the league of musical animal enthusiasts. The five tracks included here were made for the Non-Commercial Album by the Apskaft collective. However, they can be listened separately from the Apskaft release as an four-minute micro EP, Otuksia. Each track is like an expressionist painting of an animal species. [Tuomas Kärkkäinen) TAGS: experimental, dark ambient, electronic, Finland
APSKAFTERS 11 N. 05 - DIC 2012
APSKAFTERS MONKEY COMIX
APSKAFTERS 12 N. 05 - DIC 2012
Episode n. 3
APSKAFTERS 13 N. 05 - DIC 2012
ssero a Mi
APSKAFTERS EMPIRE COLLAPSE
by Gian luc
APSKAFTERS MONKEY COMIX
APSKAFTERS 14 N. 05 - DIC 2012
Episode n. 3
APSKAFTERS 15 N. 05 - DIC 2012
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APSKAFTERS EMPIRE COLLAPSE
by Gian luc
APSKAFTERS MONKEY COMIX
APSKAFTERS 16 N. 05 - DIC 2012
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APSKAFTERS EMPIRE COLLAPSE
by Gian luc
Episode n. 3
[continue]
APSKAFTERS 17 N. 05 - DIC 2012
APSKAFTERS MONKEY COMIX K채sikasa (A pile of arms)
APSKAFTERS 18 N. 05 - DIC 2012
APSKAFTERS 19 N. 05 - DIC 2012
k k 채in e n
Voiharr채hm채! (Go, eye goop, go!)
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K 채r
APSKAFTERS APINAN RAVIOLIA
by Tuoma
APSKAFTERS MONKEY COMIX Rumuusleikkaus (Deciduous head)
APSKAFTERS 20 N. 05 - DIC 2012
APSKAFTERS 21 N. 05 - DIC 2012
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Psykedeelihiiri (psychedelic mouse)
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K 채r
APSKAFTERS APINAN RAVIOLIA
by Tuoma
APSKAFTERS MONKEY COMIX Valaistuminen (illumination)
APSKAFTERS 22 N. 05 - DIC 2012
APSKAFTERS 23 N. 05 - DIC 2012
k k 채in e n
Potilas (patient)
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APSKAFTERS APINAN RAVIOLIA
by Tuoma
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Gianluca Missero (a.k.a. Hox)
Tuomas Kärkkäinen (Simiarbeit)
SOUND
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M A G AZ INE
EDITOR, DESIGN, COMICS, WRITER
COMICS
APSKAFTERS - The Sound of Apskaft official monthly magazine Web presence: WEBSITE - BLOG - YOUTUBE CHANNEL - BANDCAMP -BITTORRENT - INTERNET ARCHIVE - FACEBOOK PAGE - FACEBOOK GROUP cover image: “The Dark Side of the Monkey” - illustration by Gianluca Missero