v-p v-f is v-n

This wonderful 7”-teaser is a little sonic who’s-who (and who will be) of Winds Measure Recordings collaborators. There are a lot names (most familiar to me, a few not) present on this compilation – label owner Ben Owen, Jeph Jerman, Albert Casais (Omnid), Ting Ting Jahe (collective), Richard Garet, Lawrence English, Civyiu Kkliu, Tommy Birchett, Ilya Monosov, Andy Graydon, Alfredo Costa Monteiro, mpld (project of Gill Arno), Ben Scott (participant in Ting Ting Jahe),Tommy Birchett (also participant in Ting Ting Jahe), and Rudolf Unger.

As I was listening to v-p v-f is v-n for the second time, I had the volume turned up fairly high having discovered that several of the tracks especially on the 33RPM side are moderately subtle and/or sprarse explorations of sound (although dotted with a few startling moments). The other members of my family, not really appreciating my peculiar musical interests in general, kept asking (actually yelling) “What’s that noise?”. Well there is a lot of noise on this album, but to my ears, the noises that these artists make is music.

There are some considerably abstract, challenging sounds here in the sense of being quiet, fragmented, and rough. Listening to the first three pieces on side I – Jeph Jerman & Albert Casais, Ting Ting Jahe, & Richard Garet – will confirm this observation. Be forewarned to drop the volume before the piercing frequencies of Alfredo Costa Monterio’s Élytre [track 4] kicks in and quickly disrupts the quiet atmosphere established by its predecessors. In sharp contrast, Ben Owen brings back a sense of calm down with Typhoon, kii-tanabe consisting of what appears to be a minimally processed field recording containing some vocals and natural background ambiance, and then Lawrence English complements this with a droning piece of naturalness titled Water Run Sand. mpld follows this up with another drone segment titled Red Tape but this time sounding coarser and very machine-like. Side I concludes with two lock grooves (Jeph Jerman, Ben Owen).

Side II begins with Civyiu Kkliu and Rudolf Unger joining forces to produce a minute’s worth of vibrating, rumbling noise that becomes a little broken towards the end. Jeph Jerman then delivers a beautiful 50-second piece of macrobiotic resonations that goes hand-in-hand with Ben Owens’ sparse and reverberating 16-second miniature s-s-e, sm ca. Listen carefully or Tommy Birchett’s barely audible 11-second interlude will be absorbed by Ben Owens’ piece or made imperceptible by Andy Graydon’s gorgeous Two Fold Note – a dark and harmonious tonal drone. Ben Scott’s ccc is an interesting 25-second experiment in percussive clatter that is followed directly by Ilya Monosov’s For Well Treated Trumpet. Short Version – a rather warped and amusing piece of discordant abstractness. Side II concludes with three lock grooves (Civyiu Kkliu, mpld x 2) and short-lived 7-second reprise by Tommy Birchett.

v-p v-f is v-n gives a candid retrospective of what Winds Measure Recording has offered and also provides a peek at what the near future might hold. Nice to see it released on vinyl as this medium serves the label’s sonic aesthetic well.

Earlabs