 Alt+F4
2004
CD
Salvia
Mego
43:56 Stewart Gott
30 July 2004 experimental electronic extreme | This is an aural documentary of the second Alt+F4 festival, which took place in Warsaw last year under the auspices of the Polish arts organisation Salvia, in collaboration with the Austrian Cultural Forum. Where this succeeds is in the calibre of the artists featured. From the Polish side these include Vion and Mem, the moving forces behind the excellent EA, as well as Wolfram and the ever reliable Zbigniew Karkowski. Austrian participants include Fennesz and Mego mainman Peter Rehberg AKA Pita. With a line up like that you know it's going to be good, and the disc does not disappoint. Fennesz's 'Chateau Rouge' sounds even better here than it does on his "Venice" album, a gorgeous wash of guitars and subtle ambience. The long take on Pita's 'Neon Asprin' offers a dream like excursion into a world of muted laptop howl. Vion & Mem's 'Saliva' is an edgy, unnerving noise piece that has all the intelligence and bite of their earlier work - also go check out their recent mini-CDR "Onset", released on Locus of Assemblage. As often proves to be the case with such compilations, however, my favourite track on "Alt+F4" is provided by an act I'd never heard of - in this case the Austrian experimental trio Laleloo, with their wonderful loops of high pitched analogue squeal. As a "marginal critic" myself (see track listing for details) I also applaud the invigoratingly noisy collaboration of Vion, Robert Piotrowicz and Jacek Staniszewski (AKA Facial Index)! |
