v/a: Reading Sounds

lvjcdr004
cd-r, limited edition of 100
May 2007

Cover image is a medieval miniature painting taken from Geoffroy Tory's Book of Hours (Touraine, 1533).
Picture on backcover is from the title page of Bill Nye's History of England (J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, 1900).


1. Brent Mini & Eric Lampton: Vast Active Living Intelligence System (Synchronicity Music) (5:28) — Philip K. Dick: VALIS
2. Iamheard: Hongistola (2:48) — F. E. Sillanpää: Ihmiselon ihanuus ja kurjuus
3. Santtu Hirvikorpi: Komako (4:29) — Yasunari kawabata: Yukiguni
4. Palvelu: Toinen laulu (4:46) — Comte de Lautréamont: Les Chants de maldoror
5. Haute Cuisine: Une Saison en Enfer (4:10) — Arthur Rimbaud: Une Saison en Enfer
6. Robert Horton: "Iam not a centipede", said Mary Poppins. (8:49) — P. L. Travers: Mary Poppins
7. Vellamo: Mirdja (3:58) — L. Onerva: Mirdja
8. Alligator Crystal Moth: White Lilies (4:02) — Henry David Thoreau: Walden
9. Hydor Kephale: Gothic Knife Rule (10:16)  — The Bible: The Gospel of Luke
10. Marko Marin: Virtahevon kuolema (4:56) — Tommy Hellsten: Virtahepo olohuoneessa

A compilation of sound inspired by classic literature. The artists are responsible of defining "sound" and "classic". Musically compilation lies everywhere between minimalism, ambient, free folk and prog electronica. ************* Notes on Vast Active Living Intelligence System from Reading Sounds Brent Mini & Eric Lampton are characters in Philip K. Dick's novel Valis (Vast Active Intelligence System). Mini is scarcely masked interpretation of Brian Eno (from his ambient era), Eric Lampton in turn is David Bowie (around Man Whon Fell to Earth). In the book, Mini and Lampton have made a movie together, which resembles the mentioned movie with Bowie. The music of Mini is called "Synchronicity Music" (aka ambient), which is desribed briefly in the novel: computer-created random sounds … constant low murmuring… I have been tried to carry this piece of mine out based on that description. My intention is not to imitate Eno and Bowie, and the result doesn't really sound like their music. The words are also from Dick's novel, from a song Lampton wrote, and are intentionally quite banal. Ville Moskiitto ************* Notes on Virtahevon kuolema from Reading Sounds Truthfully I had a lof of different books in my mind when I was composing this song, but the right one came up when I was polishing the original mix up. Virtahepo olohuoneessa, written by Tommy Hellsten, is a book on alcoholism and the problems of human mind. It's no secret that I've had a huge share of problems in my life and I am still dealing with them. I have always been as honest about the subject as an introvert Finnish man can be. In the book the psychological problem, whatever it is in your case if any, is pictured as hippopotamus in your living room. In the end, if you figure out your problems and start living a normal, reasonably carefree life, the animal dies and the living room of your mind is finally free from any burdens that might restrict your life. My goal is to figure out myself and kill the animal, hence the name of the song, "Virtahevon kuolema", The Death Of Hippopotamus. Hopefully you will enjoy listening the song. It's a perfect way to end Reading Sounds, even if I say so myself. Marko Marin ************* REVIEWS "Tämän Luovajan julkaiseman kokoelman ideana on, että kukin artisteista on käyttänyt kirjallista lähdettä teoksensa pohjana. Osassa kyse on inspiraatiosta, jolloin materiaalia ei tunnista, osassa käytetään tekstiä aivan suoraan. Kiekon avaa Brent Mini & Eric Lampton raidalla, jossa pienet vesipisaran kaltaiset piippaukset "tippuvat" hiljaisuudessa, ja lopussa on puhesyntetisaattorin oloisesti lausuttuna pätkä tekstiä. Se ei toimi kunnolla missään vaiheessa ja jää täysin tylsäksi. Iamheardin Hongistola puolestaan on pianoa, myrskyä ja taustarätinää, ja tavoittaa hyvin sen Sillanpääläisen tunnelma jota ollaan hakemassa. Samoin onnistuu Santtu Hirvikorpi Komakon hitaan kitaran kanssa. Sitten siirrytäänkin hankalammalle alueelle: Palvelun Maldororin lauluista otettu kappale on muka-herkkää epävireistä metsäfolk-laulua halvan rumpukonesoundin ja muutaman soinnun päällä, onnistuen pilaamaan upean alkuteoksensa oikeasti herkän tunnelman aivan täydellisesti. ”Perässä seuraava Haute Cuisinen Un Saison en Enfer on onneksi täysin eri maata: kuoron oloisella aallolla viimeisteltyä noiseambientia, joka asettuu Rimbaudin tunnelmiin oikein hyvin, vaikka kyseessä onkin teos josta ei sen lähdettä tunnistaisi, mikäli asiaa ei olisi painettu kansilehtiin. Robert Hortonin Maija Poppanen -raita puolestaan toimii kappaleena varsin mainiosti, mutta ainakin minun päässäni kohdehahmo assosioituu paljon tätä varsin minimalistista maisemointia railakkaampaan menoon. Vellamon Mirdja palaa jälleen akustisemmalle linjalle, ja muistuttaa minua hyvin siitä miksi en pidä metsäfolkista lainkaan: vaisua laulua ja lausuntaa velton kitaran päällä. Siis kaikki neofolkin huonot puolet ilman sitä esityksellistä vahvuutta joka pitää kyseisen genren voimallisena. (Tosin jos artistin ideana onkin tässä ollut tehdä hyvästä lyriikasta täysin ponnetonta, hän on onnistunut tavoitteessaan erinomaisesti.) Alligator Crystal Moth on tehnyt häröisän, hitaan mutta lopussa revittelevän jazzin oloisen tulkinnan Thoreausta, joka ei ehkä juuri muistuta Waldenia mutta on silti ihan kivaa kuultavaa. Sitä seuraa levyn varsinainen helmi, Hydor Kephalen 10-minuuttinen noiseambientia ja hidastettua jouluevankeliumia käyttävä Gothic Knife Rule. Siinä harras tunnelma on saatu sekä säilytettyä että hajotettua samanaikaisesti, niin että hitaaksi vääristetty, erittäin kauniisti rytmitetty puhe on yhtä aikaa täysin vakava ja silti hukan huvittavan oloinen. Lopuksi soi Marko Marinin kosketinteos Virtahevon kuolema joka ei alleviivaavalla mahtipontisuudellaan ehkä nouse kiekon merkittävimpien raitojen joukkoon, mutta tekee juuri sopivaa kunniaa Tommy Hellstenin kirjalle. ”Reading Sounds ei täysin toimi kokonaisuutena, eikä kaikista sen kappaleista saa ideaa kunnolla irti edes tietäessään mistä on kyse, mutta sen parhaat hetket ovat huomattavan onnistuneita." (Jiituomas / Kuolleen musiikin yhdistys)   * "The idea behind this Luovaja label compilation is that each of the artists has used a literary source as the basis of their project. In some tracks it's been just as inspiration, and is thus unrecognizable, others make direct use of the text. The album opens with a Brent Mini & Eric Lampton track, in which small waterdrop-like beeps "drip" in silence, and which at the end has some speech synth like spoken text. It does not function at any point and remains purely boring. Iamheard's Hongostola is piano, storm and background buzz, well reaching the feel of F. E. Sillanpää being sought. Santtu Hirvikorpi's slow guitar in Komako is a similar success. Then it's a turn towards a more difficult area: Palvelu's piece out of Les Chants de Maldoror is fake-sensitive out-of-tone forest-folk singing on top of cheap drum machine sounds and a few cords, utterly ruining the tender mood of the wonderful original. Luckily the following track, Un Saison en Enfer by Haute Cuisine is of completely different quality: noiseambient refined with a choir-like wave, fitting highly well with Rimbaud - even though one would not recognize the influence if it wasn't printed in the sleeve. Robert Horton's interpretation of Mary Poppins works nicely as a track, but I must say that I'd associate her with more energetic tones than the minimalist soundscaping presented here. Vellamo's Mirdja is a return towards acoustic songs and a reminder on why I do not like the Finnish "forest folk" at all: weak singing and speech over a lame guitar. It contains all the bad traits of neofolk without any trace of the interpretative strength which keeps that genre so vivid. (What must be noted, though, is that if the artist's actual intent really was to turn a great lyric into an insignificant one, this is a brilliant success.) Alligator Crystal Moth has created a distorted, slow but near the end loosening and jazz-like interpretation of Thoreau, which may not resemble Walden much, but is still an enjoyable listen. Next is the album's real gem, Gothic Knife Rule by Hydor Kephale, a combination of noise ambient and a slowed down reading of the nativity scene in the Gospel of Luke. On it the sacral mood has been both preserved and broken down, so that the distorted, wonderfully paced speech as simultaneously utterly serious and still slightly amusing. The album ends with Marko Marin's keyboard piece Virtahevon kuolema, which doesn't in it's blatant pompousness really reach the level of the better tracks on this record, but does pay excellent homage to Tommy Hellsten's book. ”Reading Sounds does not really function as a whole, and not all of its tracks carry the idea well enough even when the listener knows what they are about, yet its best moments are highly successful indeed." (Jiituomas / Kuolleen musiikin yhdistys) * "Reading Sounds on Luovaja is an interesting concept compilation inspired by classic literature. Lots of lesser-known Finnish ensembles give way to more familiar underground bands such as Alligator Crystal Moth and Robert Horton. Favorite tracks include Santtu Hirvikorpi’s “Komako” which sounds like snow-clad pine forest turned into sounds and the rainy, primitive bedroom folk of iamheard." (Mats / Broken Face) * "prior to mikael sending this disc to me, i hadn't heard of his finland-based label. his mentioning of a compilation of sounds that were based off of classic literature, piqued my interest. granted, not not fun beat them to the punch with their extravagant tapeworms eat bookworms a few years back, but the literary theme, outside of the packaging for it, was pretty hard to pick up in the music. could this one be any different? how the hell would i know? i take a real hands-off approach towards books, and as a result haven't read or even heard of most of the ten books which provided inspiration. those literary works, in order, being: valis, ihmiselon ihanuus ja kurjuus, yukiguni, les chants de maldoror, une saison en enfer, mary poppins (saw the movie!), mirdja, walden, the bible (okay, i have managed to hear about this one before) and virtahepo olohuoneessa. ”one of the best and worst things about books is how they're open to interpretation. that's one of the real reasons that i'm not too into reading. i always fail to grasp the 'greater meaning' and then someone tells you, no, that wasn't about a poor family living in the midwest, it was a dichotomy between blah and blah. then i just get pissed. with that in mind, one of the things that i like the most about this cd is how you have different artists, from different locations, with different books creating music that blends well together, for the most part. maybe all of the books that they read were really just metaphors for pleasant folk-based music? ”reading sounds wisely starts off with brent mini & eric lampton's piece. synchronocity music most projects the feel of the book, which is science-fiction. not only that, but the artists' names are actually taken from the book, and the end of the track features a computerized voice reading an excerpt from valis. their track has a spacey minimal feel to it, and i think that it does a good job establishing theme and mood, yet it's one of the cd's weaker tracks. ”from there we'll go to one of the best pieces of music by iamheard. the novel it's based off of is titled the loveliness and wretchedness of human life, and judging purely by the name, i think that they do a great job of conveying that imagery. hongistola's a moody number that centers around a sample of a thunderstorm and pairs that with delicate and somber piano playing. ”santtu hirvikorpi's komako was inspired by a late 1940s japanese novel. graciously, santtu will employ some sounds and instrumentation that are recognizable as being traditionally asian, while also bringing in a western folk element. ”after that prettier offering we're greeted (annoyed by?) a kitschy old school drum machine loop (mogwai's superheroes of bmx, anyone?). palvelu will also use some minimal piano playing and the way that his vocals are recorded, actually makes me kind of like this song. the biggest issue that i have with this is that its inspiration was supposed to come from a book of prose from 1869. the drum machine just seems like a really odd choice to me. ”the droning layers of haute cuisine's une saison en enfer seems to do justice to rimbaud's hallucinatory inclinations. the song is nothing remarkable, but it's short and sweet. ”ah, hell yeah, robert horton, one of the two artists i recognize on here. robert doesn't disappoint either with his lush "i am not a centipede", said mary poppins. the first half of the track involves a simplistic layer of repetitious drones in the background and what i'm guessing is a xylophone. the xylo taps are spaced out so that each one is giving the room that it needs to vibrate, echo and eventually drone away, building up the atmosphere. the latter half will add some acoustic guitar plucks to the mix. heavenly. ”mirdja, by vellamo, is a lovely bit of minimal acoustic folk. i'm a firm believer that you can't have too many folky finnish ladies with nice voices. it's a very wonderful language that's mind boggling to have to enunciate, but it sounds so beautiful sung. i especially like the second half of mirdja with the multi-tracked and panned spoken word vocals seemingly coming at you from everywhere. ”alligator crystal moth, i've heard of you, too. while i'm not very sure how their blend of traditional folk and psych-rock impulses convey henry david thoreau's "social critique of (the) contemporary western world and the study of simple life", it sure sounds great! the affected guitar noise and feedback which closes out white lilies was a real punch in the arm. ”another nice job with the arrangement comes by way of placing the two worst songs in the last positions. hydor kephale's gothic knife rule is far too long at ten minutes and the music itself is minimal electronic, in a not too dissimilar vein to the valis track, which is alright (but not at that length) and then added to that are affected, multi-tracked vocals, giving it a dark vibe. i'm pretty sure that the lyrics are taken from the gospel of luke 2:1-20, and are delivered in a talking manner. one layer's slowed down for maximum effect. i couldn't make it past six minutes before i skipped ahead. ”... which prematurely brought me to marko marin's virtahevon kuolema. comparatively, i'd probably rather listen to gothic knife rule. it's summed up best as new age. awful. there's a bit of percussion that's not so bad, but the synth screams enya! shit, i'd rather listen to enya's sail away than this. bummer. "listening to this disc in its entirety might leave you feeling kind of salty, but knowing that you can hit stop after that great eighth track and not miss out on anything is nice. as with nearly every good compilation, you're going to get some bad songs, some really good ones, and a handful of alright ones. in that tradition, reading sounds was a success. seeing as how the best artists on this disc don't have releases on the label (yet, marko marin does), it doesn't give me a very clear idea as to the direction of luovaja. then again, it wasn't meant to serve as a sampler." (avant gardening / Smooth Assailing)