[CP 303 CD] Ad Van Buuren; Wervels En Flarden [C50]

May 2024; at the risk of instigating yet another themed sub-series, yet as (frequently!) requested by the followers of the whole C.P. premise, the 30X titles going forward (for the next few, at least) are all dedicated to examples of regional & "Private" Electronic Music issued initially on Cassette Tape during the early-mid 80s. While this concept has been on the back-burner for a minute, it was only due to (recent) advances in audio restoration technology that allowed the C.P. P.T.B. the ability to get the often crumbling, 40-year-old Nth generation dupes back up to frequency-domain code, and in this particular case we couldn't be happier with the painstaking reconstruction of the music herein...

Directly following Merzbow's 1984 "Aka Meme" (incidentally one of the first editions of his music outside of his own Private/Lowest Music & Arts/ZSF issues) the (then) 's-Hertogenbosch-based V2 (pronounced "Vee Tvay") Organization, via the squat's in-house "Uitgave" imprint blessed us w/ their second release; this fascinating set of pieces by the Dutch Kinetic Artist Ad Van Buuren, nestled at the exact intersection of two of my all-time favorite sounds: gross Tape Manipulation (speed-relay & "hands on the reel" interferences galore) & Bucket-Brigade Delay (almost digital-feeling resonances, Karplus-Strong pings, & runaway feedback).

While you can draw parallels to Henning Christiansen's semi-contemporaneous work, or perhaps even the (then, waning) Industrial tape-mélange (M.B., sure) this feels a bit more insular, using only (sporadic) Voice, Bass Clarinet, gurgling Water, and Found Sound as sources throughout. In a way it presages such canonic "Lost In The Buffer" work as Pierre-André Arcand's impeccable "Eres" series, albeit from a decade prior & while doing its own thing entirely. 

Great to be able to launch this concept w/ an absolute belter! Stick around for (hopefully) monthly missives in this lane throughout the summer...