Carl Michael von Hausswolff – As Quiet As A Campfire or Analogue Motoric And Electro-Magnetic Silence Disturbed By Intuitive Slumber / Mingling or Dodekaphonic Drones Interfered By Known And Unknown Digital Phenomena
Limited edition LP
Dedicated to John Cage
Side 1 – AS QUIET AS A CAMPFIRE or ANALOGUE MOTORIC AND
ELECTRO-MAGNETIC SILENCE DISTURBED BY INTUITIVE SLUMBER
Dedicated to Arnold Schoenberg
Side 2 – MINGLING or DODEKAPHONIC DRONES INTERFERED BY KNOWN
AND UNKNOWN DIGITAL PHENOMENA
This is CM von Hausswolff’s first major release under his own name for 10 years.
As a composer he has been the main sound organiser in the duo Phauss, releasing albums such as “Audiodrome” (Radium 226.05, Sweden 1987), “Nya Sverige – Nothing But The Truth” (Anckarstrøm, Sweden 1990) and “GodTphauss” (Silent, USA 1994). He has also worked with The Hafler Trio, Zbigniew Karkowski, Ulf Bilting, Kim Cascone and The Sons of God and at he is currently performing live in the group Ocsid with Graham Lewis (Wire, Dome etc) and Jean-Louis Huhta (LuckyPeopleCentre).
This year they are due to appear in Athens (The Soap Factory), Uppsala (Art Museum) and in the Johannesburg Biennale in South Africa. CM von Hausswolff also participated in the Manifesta I Biennale in Rotterdam as well as in the scandalous Interpol show in Stockholm.
He lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden.
CM von Hausswolff is also a visual artist. In 1992 he and Leif Elggren founded the conceptual state of Elgaland-Vargaland (cf Ash 3.3). In 1996 their work could be experienced at the Hales Gallery and Disobey (London), the Thomas Nordanstad Gallery (New York City) as well as in spaces in Hamburg, Amsterdam and Kaliningrad.
Reviews:
VITAL (Netherlands):
“Hauswolff may, to some at least, connected through his work with The HaflerTrio, but also his work with Phauss is quite known. A lot of the music Hauswolff produces is based on a specific concept. And concpetual art finds as much interest in actually thinking of the concept, as in the execution of the concept. To some conceptual art should just be the concept, and not the execution itself, but this discussion will not be repeated here. This LP deals with two of the greatest composers of our century: John Cage and Arnold Schonburg. But both composers are more to be remembered for what they wanted to achieve then what they achieved themselves. Schonburg predicted that one day people would whistle Schonburg tunes in the streets. I never met such a person whistling a 12-tone tune… Cage’s notion of music and silence had a greater impact on composers our time then his own compositions (but, in the words on Schonburg, his teacher, he was an inventor, not a composer). The side of this record that is called ‘As Quiet As A Campfire – Analogue Motoric And Electro-Magnetic Silence Disturbed by Intuitive Slumber’ contains audible hiss, that is indeed interrupted by some odd click of some kind. The other side is called ‘Mingling or Dodekaphonic Drones Interfered By Known And Unknown Digital Phenomena’ is thick swirling drone (let’s assume12 on top of eachother). Both sides don’t seem to take off anywhere, nor isthere a dramatic change in there. But both carry a trancy effect, as time is not really apparent and changes seem to be in there, well maybe somewhere, and maybe I am just guessing wrongly. But a really nice executed record of a nice concept, this surely is.” [FdW]
Immerse (UK):
” CMvH, one half of the Elgaland-Vargaland Monarchy, releases his first LP for a good few years. Continuing in the tradition of his previous ambitious sonic experiments, CMvH manages to capture a natural ambience through artificial means better than any other proponent of atmospherica I know. If I could compare these works to colours then As Quiet As A Campfire would be brown, and Mingling would be light grey descending into dark grey. With drones that are subtle yet overbearing, CMvH is unsurpassed as usual.” [mFr]
Magic Feet (UK):
“Tell me you’re kidding, buddy. You’re not? Oh dearie, dearie me…That a grown man would dare to record in the first place and, incredibly, release this steaming turd as a commercial recording is staggering. No, really, it is. Not being too well acquainted with the recorded output of both of the famous composers this piece of irritating nonsense is dedicated to does not disqualify me from commenting on it, either. Cage’s manifesto of all sound as music and vice versa holds true as this disc contains sound. Two sounds, to be exact. On side one (vinyl only, although strangely it isn’t given the omniscient ‘DJ friendly’ tag for some reason – can’t imagine why), the Cage side, there’s a 15-20 minute (can’t be more precsie – couldn’t make it all way through) radio signal-type drone. And that’s all. Literally. Side two, the Schoenberg side, contains a similar length treated-piano drone. And that’s all. Literally. I’ve never met CMvH and if I ever do I’ll tell him what an utter arse he is for being deluded enough to think this is music or art or funny or a heartfelt tribute or anything at all, really. The one merit it possesses is that it’s guaranteed to piss any relatively sane human off up to the point of violence which is no bad thing because a) it’s a hoot, if you don’t get smacked, and b) any kind of strong reaction (like actively hating a recording) can only be healthy in a music world of largely drip-feed-familiar arrangements of sound. It makes you think a bit, at the very least. It made me think, for instance, “What an annoying dickhead CMvH is” which is cool for CMvH if he’s ‘owt like me, because I’ve always revelled in capsizing the apple cart of peoples’ thought processes. Especially when I were a lad as big as me Dad, etc. etc…ad infinitum. At the end of the day, though only the most truly tragic of Wire readers (all scare-a horse-at-800-yards-ugly blokes with supercalifragilisticexpehalitosis to a man) will be even remotely pretentiously interested in this, ‘erm, music. Take it from me, your shekels would be far more wisely invested in a field recording of a variety of liquids of different viscosity and colouration being shot out of Yeheudi Menuhin’s anus into a stainless steel kazi in Afghanistan on a late Autumn afternoon called “Dedicated to Carl Michael von Hausswolff” by Andrew W McCall Smith, out now on Pretentious, moi? Records.” [Andy McCall Smith]