I must admit I feared the worst, when I read the press blurb raving about ‘a wide range of chaotic sounds together into one sweeping smorgasbord of interpretations of disease and dysfunction’. It’s not that I dislike noise, even when it took me four years to hear all fifty Merzbow CDs that are in the Merzbox. Occassionally I even play a Whitehouse record, MB or Ramleh. But much of the noise music that is made by others are just a repetition of archetypes put forward by those I just mentioned and do not add something new. So when I got through this lengthy compilation of no-less then thirty-three tracks by as many artists, I can safely say: noise music is alive and maybe even kicking (despite it’s disease?). It has become an umbrella for many sub-genres, feedback inspired noise, guitar noise, dark ambient, plunderphonics and in some cases even techno oriented. Quite a pleasent trip. Not to mention the many unknown bands here, like Bomb20, Burmese, Iran, Persona, Mixel Pixel, Spin Laden, Cussycat, Berkowitz Lake & Dahmer (yes, some of these people have nice band names too) or Travis Bickle’s Mohawk. Prime noise makers — that is people who have gained a following already of their own — include Illusion Of Safety, V/VM, Zipperspy or The Evolution Control Committee. It’s the variety of music that makes it quite enjoyable. Short tracks, from various angles of noise (and related — he hastened to say) make this quite a vivid compilation.

During the Guelph Jazz Festival (Ontario), Musicworks magazine, committted to finding new forms of expression in the sound arts, presents a “25th anniversary audio art installation” featuring audio works from the last 25 years with composers Schafer, Dutton, Oswald, Westerkamp, Oliveros, Truax, Le Caine, and lanza.

From August 26 to 29, the acousmatic and multimedia festival Sonoimágenes 2003 features concerts, videos, and lectures at Lanús’ national univeristy, near Buenos Aires (Argentina). With the participation of François Donato, Régis Renouard Larivière, Beatriz Ferreyra, Elsa Justel and many other composers and video artists.

Elektrophonie’s mission is to merge electronic and electroacoustic musics. Held September 6, 2003 at Saline Royale (Arc et Senans, France), the “Nuit bleue” (Bleue Night) event will put forth musics from more than 36 composers worldwide on a 50 loudspeakers soundsystem. Featuring works by Francis Dhomont, Robert Normandeau, Christian Calon, Hans Tutschku et Magali Babin.

Paris’ Glaz’Art will host the Futura festival September 24 and 25, 2003. Under the theme “Sound Magicians,” director of Motus acousmonium, Denis Dufour and three performers will take turns at the console of an impressive system of more than 50 loudspeakers. On September 24, a first concert will feature works by De Filippis, Zanési, Teruggi, Schaeffer, Reibel, Normandeau, Fort and Ascione. Ivo Malec, Michel Chion and many other composers are also presented the following day. Finally, late-night concerts will be devoted to masters of the medium Luc Ferrari and Bernard Parmegiani.

Working tirelessly on the fringes of Canada’s music scene, Coin Gutter is emerging as one of the northwest’s premiere experimental outfits. All your dreams are meaningless’s uncompromising opener — featuring an immediate blast of cold, harsh noise — dares you to concur. Lift With the Knees, which first saw light in 2001 as a 36-and-a-half-minute EP, jumps from Merzbow brutality to Lull isolationism to Mille Plateau granulation within the first ten minutes. By the time this Vancouver duo (Emma Hendrix and Graeme Scott) brings in the second movement (tick tock rhythms and creeping crescendos of industrial ambience), you’ll have realized that these two ambient/concrete composers have something special going. Actually, Coin Gutter tours quite a bit throughout Canada, so it’s reasonable they can craft such tight, eclectic arrangements so seamlessly. What’s surprising is that Lift With the Knees is hardly the best track on the disc.

One contender is Lullaby, which, with a twisted interpretation of its title, features an operatic performance of female singer and piano arrangement that we’ll assume has been lifted out of obscurity. Coin Gutter dissects it in glitch fashion, pitching things down, stuttering it, distorting it and layering it upon itself into a sudden maddening mash. Occasionally the two roast it with hot white noise like kids pulling wings off of butterflies, and you share in their delighted grins.

Terminal is another standout. The source material, masked by room effects and distortion, could be a choral hymn with organ accompaniment, but who knows? Transformed into a wall of sound, with tones and voices escaping the maelstrom, it’s powerful and borderline spiritual.

My favorite, Timewise, was recorded in 2000, before even Lift With the Knees. Featuring vocal narration by Tara Nelson and thick howling drones that you can cut with a knife, the track packs enough mesmeric punch to paralyze a bull, while emitting delicate pain and melancholy. Snippets of Nelson saying “He’s gone” and “She’s crying; She always wanted to go inside” send this one into profound hopelessness… but in a good way.

All your dreams are meaningless is one of the most exciting electroacoustic soundtracks I’ve heard in a while. I’m all for guys making a racket, but when I can see past the molested sine waves into something of depth, something that touches me in areas outside of adrenaline, I’m suddenly taking notes. It’s said that the inspiration of this release stems from Bauhaus architects; the round building featured on the packaging seems to back this up. (What was that Thelonious Monk quote, again?) For my next fix of oblique conceptual audio, I’ll be keeping eyes peeled for more Coin Gutter.