Amsterdam-based artist Radboud Mens (ex Hyware) is back after four years with the follow up to his 2000 "~Sine" (not to mention a couple of collaborations with Jaap Blonk, Janek Schaeffer, Stephan Matthieu and Chris Sattinger of Timeblind). "Pulse" was entirely written and produced 'in the box', using a process referred to as "convolution" (which means that one sound is used as a filter to filter another sound). His deep, cold and spheric music constantly redefines itself and is represented as a magnification of microscopic sonics. The CD definitely has to be listened to at a decent volume or you will miss the greater picture: an incredibly dynamic palette of sounds where deep low-end builds tension underneath high-pitched glitch electronics. Altough you may still be able to trace back to some minimal techno influences that the artist displayed on other releases of his, it is merely a foggy reminiscence on "Pulse". Psychedelic and entranncing atmospheres made of minimal rhythmical structures which interface and interact with everything else built around them and above them, as if the entire work is born and lives as one entity where the line between beat and music can hardly be drawn, if at all. Equally interactive with the music, is the art work, a no-booklet printed jewel case with radial lines and circles printed on the inlay card and the CD itself.

The self-appointed "un-noisy noise" could actually be a good definition for this new release by Iversen, who often reaches lowercase fields: vanishing frequencies, digital errors, bursts of (silent) noises - something similar to early Guenther, Richard Chartier or Immedia, but probably without any theoretical reflection about its nature. Like making discreet harsh noise, which by the way sadly resurfaces in full shape in "andre", along with tired loops ("som") and pointless synth improvisations ("habernaka", "internation"). "Caligual symphony J", which is a pretty good example of lowercase electroacoustic in its first part, is then ruined by more annoying synth sounds. It's probably a matter of tastes, but I think that synth wooshes are becoming more obnoxious than bad guitar solos, really. "Die buch", "Caligula Symphony B" and "souper" are nice isolationist tracks. I'd say that Iversen is definitely more successful when quiet and to the point; were it not for the noisy tracks, this could be a fine release.

First of a series of four 800 copies limited edition re-releases of Muslimgauze's older material, "Azzazin" features 13 songs from the nineties and draws a picture of the artist that is different than the one we got to know. Surprisingly this album contains no trace of percussions whatsoever and instead presents a dry and claustrophic minimal electronics that sounds more like a Warp band or a project by some S.E.T.I.-inspired laptop artist than a Middle Eastern-inspired band. Outerspace sci-fi sounds meet with found sounds and human-made noises, isolationist experimental knob tweaking and mostly hi frequency material loops playing at random. Interesting art work, inspired by the logo and the lettering of one of the giants of gas and oil distribution in the (not so) free world. Due to its incomplete and almost too homogeneous nature, recommended only for die hard fans of his.

After a promising cdr with the monicker TnoiseM (see archive), Italian experimental soundmaker Tiziano Milani is back with a concept release, "a series of sound observations on the function of man in relation to the development of machines, made through the continuous time leap between the Sixties (beginning of computer researches) and the next future". Almost mimetically, these 6 tracks seem to incorporate and, to a certain extent, digest all kinds of experimental electronics from old academic reasearch to nowadays laptop spree: concrete music, cosmic ambient, sinewaves, glitches, digital noise... Despite this variety, the different compositions are skillfully textured and mixed, so it's an organic whole and not a clumsy patchwork. The result made me feel dizzy, at times it's as if it was too cold and detached, but the concept itself obviously influences the "inorganic" nature of the work.

A new cdr release from Norway-based soundmaker Jan-M. Iversen, owner of TIB Prod. and also active as Origami Klassika/Minimalistika/Maximalistika and Koff Koff... Cool red cover art and a mishmash of free-form glitchy digital frequencies & drones, electro-noise ("94"), dark ambient minimalism ("Stimulanse I Storm Og Stille 21" and "Stimulanse I Storm Og Stille 7"), quasi-cosmic synths ("Psycholimpics 3")... Some moments are good, but most of it is, in my humble opinion, too gratuitous, too out of focus to stand a concentrated listening. "Tomb Chill Stimuli", with its disquieting field recordings manipulation and a distant drone, stands above the rest.