19 Jahre nach Reluctant Hosts (NML) führte mich ein Link des Schicksals auf die MySpace-Seite von Kira Vollman & Joe Berardi und die kuriose Hate-Mail-Kontroverse über ihren letztjährigen Streich, die komische Oper "Impropera". "I do not as of now wish to have any sort of relationship with anyone who would throw noises together in such a terrible way", schrieb da einer, der partout kein Freund von NON CREDO sein wollte. Der Anlass für diese Aversion läuft nun bei mir im Repeatmodus und ist nicht einfach zu beschreiben, aber nach allen mir bekannten Kriterien ein Anschlag auf das Zwerchfell und eine Herausforderung für die Hirnregionen, die für Frischeschocks und prickelnd Undefinierbares zuständig sind. Das Lustprinzip neigt nun mal dazu, dem Realitätsprinzip eine Nase zu drehen. Zur ‚Oper' qualifizieren sich die drei Akte ‚Nudo e Crudo', ‚Sono Confuso' & ‚Faccia Brutta' durch "high drama, a foreign language, acrobatic vocalizing, repeated musical motifs and colorful characters." Nur ist die Musik, die aus dem Orchestergraben herauf schallt, von Berardi ausschließlich per Samplingkeyboard kreiert. Für das Libretto und das akrobatische Belcanto ist Vollman zuständig, dazu spielt sie eine irre Bassklarinette und perkussive Verzierungen. Was da erklingt, spaltet. Von den 3632 Myspace-Bummlern, die an ‚8 Bit Whore' schnupperten, machen 3550 verschreckt den Deckel schnell wieder zu. Dabei malen Pandora & Joe nur einem von Jim Thirlwells opulent-perversen Foetus-Soundtracks einen surrealen Schnurrbart an und stecken ihn in ein Exoticakostüm, das Dali für Kabuki entworfen hat. Vollman tiriliert, wispert und sprechsingt in der Manier einer Catherine Jauniaux, einer Yma Sumac, eines Klaus Nomi, Zeilen wie "Deep, deep down, way underground / In the belly of the beast I found my way." Horrorgeschichten wie ‚Sleeping Beauty' folgen auf giftige Phantasien wie "Lunching on a Munchkin / Who was munching quoting Pushkin / When I crept up with a pushpin / and I popped his little ass" oder unappetitliche in einem Gefängnis in Bangkok: "Dreaming of cats and rice for lunch / Dreaming of dogs and rice for dinner / Waking to find only roaches and mice." (‚Sicka Siam') So schräg die Poesie ist, sie wirkt fast rechtwinklig im Vergleich zur Musik und den überkandidelten Manierismen der Vokalisation, die hochdramatisch Gipfel krasser Bizarrerie erklimmt. Auf diese Bizarrerie führt schon Alex Gross hin mit seinem Covergemälde ‚The Burning of Tokyo'. Non Credo sind übrigens auch durch Myspace auf Gross und seine von japanischen Holzschnitten, viktorianischen Werbeplakaten, Dix und Grosz und Flämischer Gothik inspirierten Arbeiten gestoßen. Mit Impropera geben sie seinen ‚amazing asshole quivering masterpieces' die passende Stimme und den entsprechend ‚amazing' Sound. Vielleicht ist das nicht ‚Prog' genug für Usbekistan, aber "hilarious hurly-burly" (M. Ricci) zuhauf für Leute, die kollidierende Extreme und gewagte Manierismen lieben.
                            Read more...
                        

                            
There are several reasons that justify my instant liking of Non Credo,  arrived at their third album in 18 years (why don't you learn,  dysentery-struck self-releasers?) and - mea maxima culpa - for the first time  to my attention with "Impropera". One of them is their very name,  which in my idiom means "I don't believe" or "I don't think  so", thus involuntarily representing my way of reacting to most anything  that happens. Then again, their titles mix various languages in absurdly  funny meanings, an illustrious example being "Faux Cazzo" which  I'll gladly leave you to translate. On top of all this, their music reveals  so many facets and layers that every listening session adds peculiar  pleasures and improbable ingredients to an already satisfactory recipe. Joe  Berardi is a percussionist who uses samples - make that "composes"  with samples - on the spot, during improvised anti-structures or preconceived  architectures; Kira Vollman is a portentous vocalist, also playing bass  clarinet in a way that could make many respected instrumentalists green with envy.  "Impropera" (which is a fusion of Improvised Opera but it also  could mean "Insults" in Latin) contains nineteen tracks that were  originally played by ear, yet the duo was so well practiced in their  rendition that they decided to record them as a sort of "impromptu  compositional documentation". I won't be annoying you with the dozens of  (often unlikely) comparisons that I found on the press release; in that  sense, all I found is a slight contact with the Shelley Hirsch/David  Weinstein duo every once in a long while. But it ends there, as Non Credo  have their own distinct axioms and postulates - and a great sense of humour  bathed in cinematic sauce. Noirish atmospheres, implausible songs and  hilarious hurly-burly are interpreted by Vollman with Teutonic power, munchkin  edginess and needlepoint accuracy; some of her lines are technically frightening and, at one particular moment, her vibrato in the high range had  me thinking about Gizmo singing the main theme of "Gremlins", if  you're familiar with that one. Berardi eviscerates his samples, raising  car-horn hells and pulsating mental hop-scotches at the flick of a couple of  switches, transposing a contrabass until it sounds like a jew's harp and  having a dozen of non-existent march bands clash in state-of-the-hiss, 8-bit  wonderful sonic miasmas; yet, it all sounds like a well-refined score. I  could add another thousand words but I'd probably still fail to convincingly describe this fantastic album. Add it to your daily necessities at least for  a couple of months and enjoy its brutally caressing, delicately sandblasting,  strong-minded aesthetic. Am I exaggerating? Non Credo (sorry, I couldn't  resist).
                            Read more...
                        

                            
I just have to say that Musea’s press-release about this album is most amusing. And it does say something about this album that can perfectly represent its musicality…I am talking about the last sentence, which describes possible feelings set upon the incautious listener…

I am not acquainted with this band’s previous releases, but what I can easily conclude is that Non Credo’s music is totally different, bizarre and extremely original. And the use of these adjectives is not even enough to make it justice. But the truth is that the right ones are very hard to find.
Non Credo is a duo, which is really hard to imagine when you start listening to the album, as so many instruments and gadgets are used that you can almost swear this is a full ensemble’s work.
The first impact (if it’s possible to choose one) will probably be provoked by Kira Vollman’s operatic voice, which is really fantastic and adds flair and emotion to the bizarre music that most of the times dwells behind. But all the other components of this bands musicality have some sort of impact on the listener.
Taking in consideration that Non Credo plays a sort of hybrid between Rock-in-Opposition, Avant-Garde, Chamber, Experimental and Zeuhl, you may well start to imagine the real extension of imaginative grounds this band walks. The instruments used to achieve this are countless, and may include children instruments, toys, objects of some sort and also some real music instruments (ehehehe), mainly of a percussive and keyboard nature. Also clarinet, accordion and strange basing samples are used with eloquence.
Strange and unique, Impropera is an experience that will undoubtedly leave the listener of its right target (fans of the most intriguing, bizarre and experimental music) salivating with the same ease it will make a casual listener and those who like more melodic and direct neo or symphonic approaches completely dazzled and running for their lives…
Where do I fit in these categories?? I'll keep it a secret!
                            Read more...
                        

                            
Evidently this group has been around for many years, releasing albums on respected indie fringe music labels like Victo and Musea, but the MySpace friend invite they sent me was the first I'd heard of them - Being a duo (the woman sings, they guy plays all kindsa instruments), Non Credo situate themselves in the avant-rock camp known as 'Rock In Opposition' or RIO, meaning they make deliberately weird music that is intelligently informed by free jazz, progressive rock, avant-garde classical, and a willful attitude of creative transgression - Kira Vollman has obviously done her homework, and "Deep Deep Down" displays the influences of Meredith Monk and Yma Sumac - Other tracks feature musique concrete elements, lounge music detournements, freakish bass clarinet solos, and beat poetic excursions - I would've sworn that "Laptop Dance" was a mid-1960s Sun Ra piece until the samples kicked in - It's inventive, it's amusing, it's mysterious, it's entertaining...check it out.
                            Read more...