[HA-8] Ville Moskiitto: In Fine Style - 4-track Recordings 2003-2004

Handcrafted happiness, tape hiss, song sketches and murky guitar excursions from the not-so-distant past.

1. Burning
2. Morning, Soul or Goodbye
3. Soultaker Blues
4. Fat Chance
5. Matkoja kuolleiden mailla
6. Cherry Blossom Tree
7. More Beautiful Than Today
8. Sä oot noita
9. The House

[HA-7] MD Howser: Phat Beat Farming

THE FUTURE IS NOW! a.k.a. is it the 20th century already? Retarded tekkno-beats and total regressive electronica from the boy wonder MD Howser.

1. (I Ain't No) Rocket Man
2. Who Let the Dawggs Out
3. A Short History of Time
4. Calcutta Homies
5. Waiting for the 'A' Train
6. Goldfingah
7. Weapons of Mass Seduction
8. Bitches Need to Chill
9. Matlock Smackdown
10. Krakheadz

[HA-6] You Get So Alone - solo instrumentals

A collection of solo instrumental music from Europe and North America, featuring the sounds of guitars (electric, acoustic, bass), dulcimer, alto sax, turntable, percussion, oud, harmonium, recorder and homemade instruments (including Talugung's "bass zither").

1. Sindre Bjerga - Rust (Still) Never Sleeps
2. Jani Hellén - Rushes in the Moonlight
3. Amigo Result - Selipates
4. Maxime Primault - Strictly Turntablized
5. Ville Moskiitto - The Look of Lurv
6. Sparkle in Grey - Bass Quartet
7. Robert Horton - Blues for a Grey Day
8. Talugung - Ant Nest
9. Andy Futreal - Black Sand
10. Michael Futreal - Wire Mountain in Winter
11. Michael Futreal - Wire Mountain in Spring
12. Crow Feathers - Cornelia Street
13. Destroy All Tie Fighters - untitled
14. Jani Hellén - Evening Call
15. throuRoof - Drawing Spirits into Crystals



Michael Futreal - Wire Mountain in Spring



throuRoof - Drawing Spirits into Crystals


What they say

"You Get So Alone on turkulaisen, kokeelliseen akustiseen musiikkiin keskittyneen Harha-askel-mikrolevymerkin kolmas kokoelma. Levymerkin ensimmäinen julkaisu, Goin’ Down Slow (2006), keskittyi täysin akustisella kitaralla soitettuun musiikkiin. Viime vuonna julkaistun Sing with Men valokeilassa oli ihmisääni. Näistä varsinkin ensimmäinen oli vahva kokonaisuus ja kaiken kaikkiaan vuoden 2006 parhaita kokeellisen musiikin julkaisuja.

Tämänkertaisen kokoelman aiheena on ollut sooloinstrumentit. Jokainen levyn 15 kappaleesta on esitetty vain yhdellä soittimella ja pääosin ilman minkäänlaisia päällekkäisäänityksiä. Yksittäisistä instrumenteista eniten on käytössä ennalta arvattavasti kitara. Esitykset eivät kuitenkaan ole suinkaan tasapaksuja toistensa hiilikopioita, vaan ne todistavat entisestään soittimen monipuolisuutta. Kitaroiden lisäksi levyllä ovat käytössä muiden muassa saksofoni, harmooni ja erilaiset lyömäsoittimet.

Kokoelman sisällön voi rajata – erittäin karkeasti! – kahteen sarjaan: Levyn aloittaa neljän abstraktin äänimaalauksen sarjalla. Niiden jälkeen loppulevy kuluu pääosin muodoltaan rakennetumman materiaalin parissa viimeistä, throuRoofin kappaletta lukuun ottamatta. Mistään läpisävelletyistä teoksista ei kuitenkaan voida puhua; kokeellisuus, improvisaatio ja tietty muodon hajottaminen ovat tärkeitä piirteitä levyn jokaisessa esityksessä. Kappaleiden tyylilajit vaihtelevat Robert Hortonin kitarabluesista Sindre Bjergan kitaradroneen ja Ville Moskiiton freejazz-sävyistä Michael Futrealin kauniisiin folktunnelmointeihin.

You Get So Alone on musiikiltaan riittävän monipuolinen kantamaan vajaan tunnin mittansa. Itse olisin jäntevöittänyt kappalejärjestystä nykyisestä niin, että selvästi abstraktimmat raidat olisivat kuuluneet melodiapitoisempien (en uskalla sanoa “perinteisempien”) välissä. Selkeä kaari kappaleiden välille syntyy toki nytkin. Yksittäisistä esityksistä välittömimmin vahvimmilta tuntuvat jo mainitut Michael Futrealin kaksiosainen dulcimer-improvisaatio ja Ville Moskiiton saksofonin puhaltelu sekä Sparkle in The Greyn bassokvartetto.

Harha-askelen tasavahvassa katalogissa You Get So Alone on mainio jatke. Toivotaan, että levymerkki jaksaa jatkaa, vaikka cdr-kulttuuri lukemattomine pienjulkaisuineen tuntuukin kärsivän tällä hetkellä kenties ylikuumenemisen aiheuttamasta väsymyksestä." (Jaakob Karhu/Jaakobin Wsi Testamentti)

"You Get So Alone is a second release from the Harha-askel label (home of Talugung) - fifteen solo instrumentals of instrumental music. The disk contains gems such as the kitchen-sink metal percussion of Amigo Result's "Selipates", Sparkle In Grey's "Bass Quartet", Robert Horton's wonky slide guitar "Blues For A Grey Day", Talugung's "Ant Nest" (slowed down thumb pianos?), Michael Futreal's folk strum "Wire Mountain In Winter, Wire Mountain In Spring", and the gorgeous Indian-styled album closer "Drawing Spirits Into Crystals" by Throuroof. For those who like a bit of variety, this is an excellent listen." (Simon Lewis & Steve Palmer / Terrascope Online)

[HA-5] Talugung: Under Humid Light

The word "talugung" comes from the Ivatan language spoken by the people of the Batanes islands in the Philippines. Accordingly, the music of Talugung, the solo project of Ryan Waldron from Canada (also known from the group The Riderless), is a kind of imaginary world music evoking and blendind together images of far-away lands. "Under Humid Light", recorded in 2007 and mostly played on self-made instruments, puts together elements of Asian, African and western musics and the picture they form is a very beautiful one, indeed. Following on from Talugung's fabulous debut album "Flooded Fields", released on Foxglove last year, "Under Humid Light" is a fine example of Waldron's singular musical expression.

1. Wobble Crackle
2. Vliuug
3. Gobi
4. The Wonders of Weather
5. Glazed Greys
6. Folded
7. Apparition Comet
8. Arrows
9. Lumber Moan
10. Slope Fen
11. Peeled and Crushed

What they say

"Talugung is the alias of Canadian musician Ryan Waldron, who makes his own instruments and clearly listens to a lot of African and Asian traditional music (his alias is borrowed from a language spoken on the Batanes Islands of the Philippines). In fact Under Humid Light is a kind of imagined world music, tapping into a fictional musical tradition that doesn't strictly exist, but amalgamates from different sources. The vexed ethics of Sun City Girls' use of field recordings made in Southeast Asian marketplaces immediately come to mind, but Talugung is closer in spirit to Jon Hassell's Fourth World projects, or the invented parallel worlds of Jorge Luis Borges - there is less in the way of theft and more of tribute. A sense of anachronism haunts Under Humid Light (why fake a tradition?) and also of magpie flightiness, as Waldron skips from instrument to instrument with each track. But it works nonetheless. Like Harry Partch, Waldron allows his work to be shaped according to the peculiarities of his homemade instruments. Tracks like 'Wobble Crackle' and 'Arrows' are junkyard jumbles of likembe-like sounds. 'Vliuug' is all rubbery, papery bass strings, challenging you to visualise exactly what kind of instrument Waldron has built." (Sam Davies/The Wire)

"I liked Canadian musician and instrument-builder Ryan Waldron’s Foxglove release under the Talugung moniker a lot but I think Under Humid Light might be even better. This is an exciting musical journey that goes from abstract, slightly folk-tinged drones to exotic string plucking and Sun City Girls-like field recordings from all over the globe. It’s a downcast sound affair overflowed with organic beauty that covers a lot of ground and change direction from track to track, but the overall result is simply pure genius. What we need now is some enterprising label to see the potential of this fellow and let him record and build weird instruments for the rest of his (and mine) life." (Mats Gustaffson/The Broken Face)

"In releasing their album "Under Humid Light," Talugung present the listener with eleven ethnic soundscapes, each track focusing on a different instrument or set of instruments: chimes, gongs (I think), bells and bowls, stringed and bowed instruments, gamelan, marimbas, thumb pianos. One track, "Lumber Moan," seems to be sampled voices. The album is strikingly reminiscent of the work of Stephan Micus. Each track is beautifully recorded and superbly arranged; it is impossible to say whether any of the music here is a genuine folk piece or whether it was all composed by the musicians, but that probably isn't the point of the album. My only complaint would be that some of the pieces are far too short! Sonic concepts this good should perhaps be allowed to last and linger in the memory... but this is an intriguing and mysterious release, well worth investigating." (Simon Lewis & Steve Palmer / Terrascope Online)