__ _ _ __ |/(/-------------\)\| | | ____. ._____: ._____. ._____: ___. .______ _/ _ |___.__\|_ |__\|_ |__\|_ |/ _|/____.___| (_ _) _| | / | / | / | \_ | | | | \ | / | | / | / | _ | | ___|__/______|_________|_________|__________|___\ | - -|_______\-diP--------|-------------------|-----------aSL-\_____|- - | | | . enoughrecords . | |_ _ _ _| /(/-------------\)\ enrmp044 Krabatof Philharmonic Orchestra Insect's Brain When Eugenio passed me this downloadable release for a review I thought it was "ordinary administration": that has been my first mistake. The second stupid mistake I've made has been to judge the book by the cover...hem...by the name (I still it's dead funny). But even if the older I get the more I turn into an old fart, my critical spirit hasn't been obscured by my own prejudices and "Insect's brain" has been a real surprise. Time after time I've found that not only this project from "Suisa" was interesting, it was also much more original and well done if compared to many other official recordings I've listened in the last years. It's really hard to describe such a weird mixture of influences, you pass from a track structured on white noise to another based on chords-instruments out of tune, from weird noises made out of who knows what, to cartoon-like piano music floating on a digital "canvas". Krabatof Orchestra is one of the most insane things you can happen to hear nowadays, their website is even more insane than their music. It's funny but there's a thin line between the genius and the fool, with Krabatof the genius becomes a complete idiot or even worse the fool is the real "beautiful mind". One day entropy will trap us all into a black hole, during our neverending departure I know we will be listening to music like this...again...and again...and again. - Andrea Ferraris / ChainDLK http://www.chaindlk.org/reviews/reviews.php?id=2230 The KPO is an "electronic art brut experiment" based in Switzerland that combines noises generated and modified via computer, field recordings, and other esoteric sounds in a rumbling and vaguely noise-laden flow of sound, perhaps akin to a more controlled version of Contagious Orgasm. The band generally prefers to release its work as MP3 files on its own site, although this one disc does exist for the benefit of listeners like myself who are too lazy to go download files. The seven tracks on this short album frequently sound like near-ambient field recordings of power plants and city streets -- it's an aesthetic that's definitely more rooted in the sounds of urban sprawl rather than nature -- and the sounds are frequently gritty and textured, as on "Needle Pleasure." Things get a bit more exotic-sounding on "Obscene Morning," with chittering noises in the background and lurching bursts of sound up front, but the sounds return to something more subtle and derived from what sound like mechanical sources on "Empty Dog." Tracks like "Frozen Monk," with its hollowed-out pipe sound and screeching reverb, provide a break from the minimalist focus of the other tracks, but largely this is a subdued exercise in mutated ambient noise. Interesting stuff, and worth checking out. - The One True Dead Angel http://www.monotremata.com/dead/da03/music_reviews.html Out of the blue a CDR arrives in my hands, a little more than 31 minutes of very interesting "bruit art" by Geneva-based Ludovic Guerry, who manipulates "noises, field recordings and many weird sounds" in seven personal definitions of a peculiar world of embryonic utterances and disembodied dreams about the inhospitality of life. "Insect's brain" is available in MP3 format from Krabatof's website; most of its tracks are constructed upon the subsonic pulse of slowed down frequencies mixed with warped sampling and hazy environments; "Void" is the sound of war as heard from the toilet of a train, while "Obscene morning" gathers Asmus Tietchens and Keith Emerson under the effects of mushrooms; instead, "Negative emperor" and "Frozen monk" are nice examples of alien harmony. The thing I like most about Ludovic is that his music is raw but extremely individual - I really couldn't find any comparison. Remember this guy's name, as he's got the potential to become at least a cult figure. - Massimo Ricci / Touching Extremes http://spazioinwind.libero.it/extremes/touchinghome.htm Now that is quite a mouth full, Krabatof Philharmonic Orchestra, a project by one Ludovic Guerry from Geneva, Switzerland. He calls his music 'experimental noise ambient', a 'minimal and raw project, computer generated/modified noises, field recordings and many weird sounds mixed together'. On his own website he has published the album 'Insect's Brain', which is a nice collection of what he does. Deep rumbles, harsher processings but also processed classical music, make up this music. It's microsound, but it's also related to a more noise related version thereof, without the harsher overtones of say Merzbow (even when he's a bit softer, which is not often). A bit more abrasive sounding, without loosing a keen eye on structure. Perhaps not so innovative, but quite alright altogether. - Frans de Waard / Vital Weekly http://www.vitalweekly.net/509.html http://krabatof.org http://enoughrecords.scene.org