a r t o . a r t i a n

musika txikien katalogoa / catálogo de musicas mínimas

1. .

   ANTOIN CHESSEX blog

   “Euskal Semea” is the Basque redefinition of “European Son” ( Lou Reed’s particular homage to his mentor Delmore Schwartz, poet and professor at Syracuse University).
   Those two tracks are a punch in the face and a brillant exemple of creative music coming out from Bilbao.
   “Epeear Semea I” starts with a gentle field recording (the audience waiting for chaos?) till a low end aquatic drone enters. Things are getting fucked up from here: abrupt soundscapes growing and making you loose the sense of orientation progressively.
   “Epeear Semea II” features repetitive and nicely broken drums with flashes of insane vocals and guitar building into a very intense freak out before slowly going away. when the music stops it makes you realize that this is a live recording, while people clapping hands politely after such a sonic storm.
   The artwork is beautifull: a big size glossy paper 12 pages booklet (with a nice bloody banana on the cover) featuring texts (partly in english) including lyrics, creative comments about the recordings and some clues about the perception of a so called national identity by Basque artists.
2. .

   VITAL WEEKLY by Frans de Waard

   Not being the greatest fan of the Velvet Underground, I could easily forget that the banana cover record was released forty years ago. Josetxo Grieta (that is a band, rather than a person, mind you) from the basque country was asked by Alvaro Matilla of the Brutus zine to record a version of ‘European Son’ and here they are. It’s both a tribute to Velvet Underground as well as the man subject in the lyrics, Delmore Schwarz, a poet and mentor of Lou Reed. One piece is live with voice and guitar (played by Mattin), Inigo Eguillor on drums and Josexto Anitua on voice and radio. It’s a rather chaotic version of ever forward pounding drums, but especially the guitar and voice are quite dope-related: in that sense it seems to be capturing the original Velvet atmosphere quite well. Nice alright, but the studio version is nicer. Here it mounts up to twenty years layered plus the sound of broken glasses, three watering cans and voice. A highly psychedelic piece with sound swirling in and out of the mix, but at the very same time also a noisy piece of music, almost like a violent piece of drone music. This is a great piece and one of the best I heard with involvement that is non-noise related (or at least to some extent) by Mattin.
3. .

   BRUTUS ZINE por Alvaro Brutus

   2 extensísimas (casi ¡50 minutos!, entre ambas) y particulares recreaciones, ambas en directo, del clásico tema de la Velvet Underground “European Son”, rebautizadas aquí como “Euro Peear Semea, I y II” (”el hijo de la meada del Euro”). En la primera, el protagonismo lo acapara un Josetxo Anitua que canta en euskera bajo una tormenta de “loops” de guitarras (versión que dedican a Delmore Schwartz y a Eduardo Haro Ibars), siendo “Mattín”, bajo la tortura percusiva a la que le somete Iñigo Eguillor, el que centra la atención, vociferando en castellano una letra “automática”, en esa segunda relectura de casi ¡media hora de duración!, en un lanzamiento en el que también resulta de justicia destacar los poemas y notas manuscritas que esconde su libreto interior. Un LUJO.
4. .

   MANGENERATED

   The sleeve of Euskal Semea by Josetxo Grieta (w.m.o/r 28), one of the projects Mattin is involved in, sports the picture of a partially peeled banana, broken in half and looking as if it’s been stuck in the vagina of a woman having her periods. Sorry to put it that way, but that’s what it looks like (see further on, down this page, for yourself). The (elaborate) linernotes refer to the Velvet Undergound’s classic “Banana Album”, which might explain the banana picture. According to those same linernotes Euskal Semea is centered around “European Son”, one of the tracks on the Velvet Underground-album. Euskal Semea btw means Basque Son. The linernotes further on decribe in depth what techniques were applied to come to the original song and theme, like translating it into Euskera and applying “La Monte Young’s Dream syndicate tuning techniques (noted on Tony Conrad’s webpage)” to the band’s guitars - But I’m not going into all that. Briefly put: the first track is quite good, indeed bearing some striking simularities with the original version of “European Son” (up to the sound of the breaking glass) when you put both of them next to each other. A muffled metronome ticks the beat away, much in the same way as the monotome drumming at the beginning of European son, and much the same bassline is present. Around these two all kinds of sounds and frequencies emerge, and some shrieking feedback spices things up. The track is some 22 minutes long (the original Velvet-track lasts some 6 minutes), so plenty of time to get sucked into the track in a Metal Machine Music way. The second track is a live recording, and the link with European son is (at least to me) a bit less obvious. It’s a furious jam-session sporting some repetitive and frantic drumming, punklike shoutings and lotsa feedback. As such it reminds me a bit of some things I’ve seen at the two “F**k you too”-festivals in Geel [review of the second edition]. And as a side-note: the CD is pressed at the Dual Plover-plant [website] in Australia (Cheers Lucas!) - the place to be to have your noise CD’s pressed at cheapo-prices!
   Oh, fyi: all tracks of the releases reviewed above, including the sleeves, can be dowloaded at Mattin’s site [check it out] - Anti-copyright!
5. .

   OUTER SPACE GAMELAN

   Last of the recordings Mattin sent my way is from the Josetxo Grieta trio, which features Mattin as well as Josetxo Anitua and Inigo Eguillor. The premise for “Euskal Semea” is that the group were invited to do a reinterpretation of the Velvet Underground’s “European Son” in tribute to the VU’s legendary self-titled album on which the song in question can be found. The title of Grieta’s version is derived by translating “European Son” into the Basque language Euskera and the literal translation then turns back into “Basque Son”, thus giving the new piece a decidedly personal ramification for all musicians involved.
   Presented here are two different versions of “€peear Semea”, one for (supposedly) 20 guitars, three watering cans and voice and the other for drums, voice, radio and guitar. In the first version, seven different takes on the song are edited together to form a deliriously swirling din that only really resembles “European Son” in terms of anarchistic aesthetic. Apparently the original bassline is retained and worked around but even that is a challenge to dig out (although it really is there throughout all 22 minutes). I can’t confirm for you if that many guitars and watering cans were actually used but with all the overdubbing taking place here, who knows for sure. What does come across is a slow-lurching blackened sun drone, akin to taking a bath in an oil can during a thunderstorm. Digital-sounding blips and whirrs are puked out every so often and quickly re-ingested like a hurricane simultaneously sucking in and tossing out everything it comes into contact with. The result is impressive, if not overly long, and maybe even something that Lou Reed himself could’ve come to grips with, though I doubt it. Also noteworthy is the fact that all guitars were tuned to La Monte Young’s “just intonation” technique. Hmmmmm… “€peear Semea II” is described in the booklet as “a Basque [asking] another Basque if being hit and hitting back is the only way to learn in this mousetrap that is carefully prepared for us”. I’m of no qualification to answer that so I’ll just stick to the music (which I’m still of no qualification to talk about but hey, you’ve gotten this far, you might as well finish reading!). This 28-minute piece is largely percussion oriented, with Eguillor delivering thundering, hypnotic, and downright lively rhythms from the drum kit, an impressive feat of stamina in that he’s able to keep the energy level up for a good 20 minutes. Other sounds accompanying him are Mattin and Anitua’s treated guitars and voices, both shouting lyrics in Spanish and churning out malevolent bolts from their strings. The last nine minutes are a sort of post-apocalyptic coda to the proceedings, all three sounding down and out and letting out final gasps from their instruments and/or throats before the sounds finally collapse on themselves. I probably liked “II” better but that’s also because it was better at immediately holding my attention. With more listenings I’m sure I’ll be able to appreciate the intricate workings of the first version just as well.
   I don’t know if it bears repeating anymore but like all Mattin/w.m.o/r product, you can obtain the tracks here for free on Mattin’s website, along with all pertinent liner note information. A lot of people say a lot of things about Mattin but what strikes me most is the attention to detail given to each one of the releases, despite the fact that anybody can go grab them off his website at will. They all come with (or in) thick, glossy booklets or fold-outs with text and photos and various epherma. I encourage you to at least investigate his website and send some cash his way if you like what you hear. I can think of less deserving parties!
6. .

   Denis Kolokol

   Josetxo Grieta is a trio of Basque musicians Mattin, Josetxo Anitua and Inigo Eguillor. It’s a project designed to give birth to another cultural monster. In this particular case, a Basque translation of Lou Reed’s homage to his teacher Delmore Schwartz, a professor in the University of Syracuse and a poet, is the monster. A ghost of the Velvet Underground is wandering somewhere around: Mattin was actually ordered to produce this disc as an interpretation of their song “European Son (To Delmore Schwarz)” from the famous “banana” album. Of course, the title is translated into Basque too, but the translation changed it to “Basque Sons.”

   Mattin is obviously fascinated with playing with cultural references weaving a web of senses that directly point at the problem which he constantly adverts to in his other works – Basque independence. This disc is surprisingly to the point as a fresh phenomenon in European avant-garde (which still goes after rigidity of forms and throws away psychedelia as a method), as a formal expression of the extent of abstraction the Velvet Underground and Nico failed to achieve in their time, and as a new perusal of one gloomy guy’s homage to another, Reed to Schwartz. The fact is that Schwartz was a tough guy, an alcoholic possessed with demons but he was a true poet, his verse transcended his possession.

   The music of this record is massive, heavy-footed, joyless; it recklessly goes ahead over hedge and ditch and minutely loses the direction of movement. However, one can’t say that it’s awkward or cumbersome, on the contrary it produces the impression of a lively thing which despite the fact that it tumbles over its every step, its chunks falling off all the time, is ready to take off and fly over our heads. This album is a shameless expression of cultural freedom right in the centre of the world, in the centre abuzz with post-colonial sentiments. It is an image of the Basque country, the land surrounded and suppressed by aggressive European officiousness, the land in the air of which one can still scent freedom.

   I know nothing about the Basque country, I’ve never been there, and I’ve never breathed its air. But Mattin and his trio know all about it, and that’s the very reason why this disc is so valuable. It feels as if we were allowed to breathe this air, and we suddenly started to care about the destiny of the Basque people still unbroken, of the destiny of poets possessed with demons, and finally of the history of free music, started to support its liberation from oppression of the Old World’s authority.
7. .

   TRANZISTOR by Nicolas Absurd

   the trinity’s holiday makes you change your habits and moving hours… having as a target a nice breakfast in one of my favest places i start a small derive around the city with the exception of some coffe shops that also sell sandwiches and pies that didn’t fancy make me go on.. at thermopylwn st. my beloved bougatsa shop ‘i nea anoixi’ is closed… kinda walk i walk to adrianoupolews st but marina as well with her beautiful russian recipies and the lovely potato piroskas is also closed. am thinkin’ of sitting at ‘nostimia’ but i change my mind and leave. i end to ‘nea ellas’ one of my favest pastry shops in town, unfortunately no baked rice pudding so i fancy a lovely piece of a substantial walnut pie… some of my beloved coffee shops are closed. stucked of whether i should sit for a coffee in a coffe shop in the city’s main square or not. i am walking down platonos st, ali memet oglou’s coffee shop is open, in the background of the shop i can hear the voice of the muezzin coming from a radio, nearby ‘new art’ has a delivery of dresses for young muslim girls. i stop at ’spanidis’ bookstore and watch the books that are displayed in the showcases, i realize that ‘estia’ has published in greek the book of vryonis around the events of ‘55 in instabul and i recall that a week ago there was the book’s presentation in thrace. i walk more enjoying my last hours in the city, stucked in my discman is euskal semea the insane tribute of josexto grieta to the european son of vu (the title in basque means ‘european son’) done on the ocasion of the 40th anniversary of the ‘banana’’s issue. 2 pieces, one for 20 guitrars, broken glass, etc the 2nd a live one togehter w/ mattin (in a stellar sound/contribution) and iatigo eguilor. rotten, dirty, sick, fuckin’ amazing, torn, freepunknoiserock in its bloodiest best moments. intense sounds that fit perfect to my last walk in town.
8. .

   MONDOSONORO por Alvaro Fierro

   Como esbozo de un homenaje a Velvet Underground, tres veteranos como Josetxo Anitua, Mattin Artiach e Iñigo Eguillor (Gringo) decidieron grabar dos tomas alternativas del tema que compuso Lou Reed inspirado en su maestro Delmore Schwartz. Un poeta este último atormentado por el alcohol y las drogas y que dejó en el guitarrista neoyorquino una impronta de grandes dimensiones. En la hora apróximada que dura esta enajenación sonora, se unen afinación avant-garde, vasos rotos, regaderas, base rítmica y escritura automática, toda una paranoia de extraña normalidad con transfondo político y velvetiano. Una atmósfera torturada y enferma hecha para amantes de la anomalía musica. Fans de Merzbow y David Lynch, pásense por aqui.
9. .

   Sound Projector (London) by Ed Pinsent

   A very odd one indeed…Josetxo Grieta is an ad-hoc group, comprising Josetxo Anitua on voice and radio, Inigo Eguillor on drums, and our old Basque friend Mattin on voice and guitar. They were commissioned to record a version of ‘European Son’ by The Velvet Underground, as part of the project by the editor of music zine Brutus to stage an event in honour of the 40th anniversary of that famous LP. The CD contains two very long pieces of brutal noised-up versions, now retitled ‘€PEEAR SEMEA I’ and II, of which the second version was recorded live and the first version is a radical re-interpretation of the original, reworked for 20 guitars, watering cans, broken glasses and voice…both are simply splendid assaults of powerful avant-rock noise, compelling and remorseless in equal measure, paying particular attention to that brutalist, primitive rhythm to propel the songs; both remain totally true to the real spirit of The Velvets. On strength of what you hear alone, many progressive listeners will find this hard to resist.
   But stay! Josetxo Grieta also have an underlying concept to the release, explained in detail in the pamphlet enclosure of which the cover art is a sickening satire version of the famous banana LP cover by Andy Warhol. Jesetxo’s riposte to that iconic image is his photograph of an old, browning banana of which the top has been bitten off and dipped in a vile red sauce. It looks repellent. Inside, a concise paragraph of research reminds us that the original ‘European Son’ was dedicated to Delmore Schwartz, who (as all VU fanatics already know) was the poet and professor at Syracuse, and Lou Reed’s personal mentor. He’s remembered to this day as a crazy man, an alcoholic and drug addict, and a violent enemy of rock music, especially what he regarded as the banality of its lyrics. In fact the band attempted to curry favour with him by recording ‘European Son’, a song that comprises only 20 seconds of lyrics, and seven minutes of noise.
   Analysing the scant ten lines of the ‘European Son’ lyric, Josetxo Grieta conclude from it that ‘Lou Reed is attacking the established power structures of the so-called white collars, and aligns himself with the European history of rebellious poets’. Inspired with agitational zeal, the band decided to make their version of the song into a critical statement, attacking modern culture and politics. They translated the lyrics into Euserka, an archaic European language which is allegedly the oldest living tongue in the continent. In the process, the European son suddenly changed into ‘Euskal Semea’, meaning a Basque Son. In depicting the plight of the Basque (’an outlaw in a land occupied between two countries’), this leaves our critical trio free to explore ideas of oppressive law-makers, consumerism, globalisation, and the work of the Spanish poet Eduardo Haro Ibars, an icon of counter-culture in Spain during the Franco years. Like all good Marxist-inspired thinkers, our libertarians can’t forget the weight of history, and continue to complain bitterly about ‘centuries of dominion by the French and the Spanish’. It’s not all politics thankfully, as the trio used their anger to create new lyrics for their recordings, generated using automatic writing, and sung in Spanish; these lyrics depict a simple morality play exposing the folly of internecine violence, and hope to expose the
   ‘mousetrap that is carefully prepared for us’.
   Accordingly, their version of ‘European Son’ is now dedicated to two poets, Schwartz and Ibars, and (even if you don’t dig the political angles) this gives a satisfying conceptual coherence to their statement.
10. .

    Touching Extremes (Italy)

    Given that: a) there is a peeled banana on the cover and b) the title means “Basque son”, Velvet Underground fans might be sniffing the air right now. They would be right: this CD is in fact wholly referencing to the song “European Son”, in turn another homage (from Lou Reed to his mentor Delmore Schwarz) from which Josetxo Anitua, Inigo Eguillor and Mattin - on voices, radio, guitar and drums - created something totally new in terms of sonority, divided onto two selections. In the first and most “transcendental” one, several tracks were recorded starting from a bass line rebuilt from the original, the guitars tuned according to La Monte Young’s ratios, percussion added successively together with lyrics - both from Schwarz himself and Eduardo Haro Ibars, a Spanish counter-cultural poet from the late era of Francisco Franco’s regime. The second episode contains text in Spanish fabricated by the trio through automatic writing, in which they ask themselves “if being hit and hitting back is the only way to learn in this mousetrap that is carefully prepared for us”. In strictly musical sense, it’s a classic work from the fringes of provocative delivery, punk-ish rage and inhuman screaming vomited inside structures that seem to derive from a malfunctioning computer whose hard disk has been carved with scissors. Differently from the depressing dilettantism that usually infests the noise scene this stuff sounds, uh, “experimental”. I don’t know if Tony Conrad could ever acknowledge his own influence in Mattin’s string tuning, as a comparison to a jumble of drunken woofers wouldn’t be out of place instead. Yet it is possible that Schwarz could even pat Mr. Reed’s shoulder from the sky and whisper “Now that’s what I meant, Lou”. One imagines that the above mentioned VU aficionados will get an overdose of “Venus in furs” pronto.
11. .

    ZGUN #3 feb 2009

    Wherein Mattin’s long-running punk band, La Grieta, backs legendary Bilbao singer Josetxo Grieta, of the pioneering band Canber Moon, in an improvised treatment of VU;s “European Son.” An uncommonly dar, tortured commentary on the subject of Basque indentity, and one of Mattin’s most satisfying “rock’ records, to boot. Like most CDs on Mattin’s w.m.o/r label released after 2005, it is packaged in a cellophane sleeve with a beautifully printed, overzised color booklet; this one includes Anitua’s long hand lyrics and a photo-parody of the Velvet Underground and Nico cover art

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