Vital Weekly Review: Upcoming Events

The releases by No Fun Productions have certainly been fun, but mainly for the reviewer of all things heavy heavy noise concerned. Today I could inform him of the next four releases that are out, but only three will make it his way. I am quite surprised to see a release by Dan Burke and Thomas Dimuzio on this label, simply for the fact that I know these boys can make a hell of a racket, but the main idea is never about the just the noise itself. A good piece of noise isn't just loud, it's dynamic - it can be loud for sure, but its the interaction between loudness and silence that separates good noise - well at least for me. Thomas Dimuzio, who has some pretty strong solo records, as well as collaborations with Fred Frith, Chris Cutler, Arcane Device and Matmos teams up with my personal hero of American's underground 'noise' music Dan Burke, who is mostly known as the main man of Illusion Of Safety, but who sometimes works under his own name - such as previously with Dimuzio and with Kevin Drumm. In 2004 the two played three nights in a row at the Luggage Store Gallery in San Francisco, which are now edited into fifteen startling pieces of 'noise' music. Take 'Operative': a near silent piece of a few samples - I bet none of the kids would classify that as noise, but the old man does (no reason why he should know better of course). These two, also older men, play a variety of devices such as laptop, objects, live sampling, feedback and 'sound sources' and create with that, of course in an edit, almost an hour worth of music that is highly vivid, dynamic, bouncing from 'loud' to 'quiet' with sheer elegance. They know what they are doing, which is sometimes questionable from their younger peers. Intense, listenable, cinematic. Quiet can be the loud, and loud can be the quiet - if someone can prove that point then its Thomas Dimuzio and Dan Burke and 'Upcoming Events' is exhibit a. Boys and girls - take notice. —Frans de Waard