People who know me better also know I have a few weaknesses. I love a few artists, and even if they should release something that wouldn’t fulfil my expectations, there is a good chance I’ll buy it and put it in my collection. But some artists never failed me in any way, and everything I heard from them until now appeals to me in some form. Recently, I have told you that Christian Renou is one of those artists, and another is Akifumi Nakajima. For those who don’t know, that’s Aube, who very, very sadly passed away already over ten years ago. He was also behind the G.R.O.S.S. cassette label on which 1994 “Herz Aus G.R.O.S.S.” was released. And now, the 30th anniversary of that release is celebrated with “Herz Aus G.R.O.S.S. Live Akt 2”.
This release is a double CD with live recordings from December 11th and 13th, 1995. The titles suggest two concerts – one in Osaka on the 11th and the other in Okayama – where MSBR, Monde Bruits, Aube, Daniel Menche and Small Cruel Party performed. Those live shows were recorded to DAT by Akifumi and are now mastered by Paul Lavigne (who did a great job pushing all boundaries), resulting in the events being documented for you all to enjoy.
In thirty years, a lot can happen; yes, three artists have left us already. Monde Bruits, MSBR and, as said earlier, Aube. So, listening to the first CD with these three artists can be challenging. It brings back delightful memories of seeing MSBR perform in the Dutch ‘Museumnacht’ and sharing the stage with Aube in 2007. And Monde Bruits I had never heard of but he is fantastic… Great layering of sounds and use of feedback and reverb. You can feel the movement of stuff in the venue resonating with those sounds. MSBR is loud and in your face (by the way, he is the opening track) while Aube does what Aube does best. I would be curious about his chosen sound source here (which isn’t mentioned sadly).
The second CD contains recordings of Daniel Menche and Small Cruel Party. Daniel seems to work with contact mics and heavily manipulates those sounds. The build-up in 34 minutes is massive, and you feel overwhelmed by the spacious character of the recording: Starting, building, dissecting, rebuilding. Again wishing I had seen this set live. Small Cruel Party is a name I’ve seen loads and loads of times before but have yet to really explore. But rest assured that starting with this release I will. This live set is a beautifully crafted soundscape where the sounds are given enough space and time to develop, and still, enough space is left open to explore those sounds that are not recorded but heard, as said before, Two beautifully documented events that everyone can now enjoy.
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