The Far Eastern Audio Review -- Asian Music CD Reviews: Various

Various

January 13, 2009

Various | Buddha Box Showdown | |

Just in time for the Western holiday season, Christiaan Vivrant and Zhang Jian (aka FM3) released a sequel to their Buddha Machine, the mass-produced musical art object that so delighted fans of audio gadgets and avant-garde music. Although the ambient looper has become familiar to enthusiasts since its 2005 release, its origins in Asian spiritual technology are perhaps not as well known. As the Buddha Machine’s name suggests, small boxes containing loops of Buddhist prayers (sutras) have been used by believers in East Asia for quite some time. I first heard a “talking sutra box” in Taiwan in the early 90s, found it fascinating, and have managed to collect a few of them over the years. Vivrant and Zhang found these devices so compelling that they tracked down a Chinese factory to commission new versions that played the duo’s own original loops.

As I usually write about live shows or CDs, the Buddha Machine II provides a welcome chance to do something different. In the spirit of the “shootout” between competing products found on tech review sites, I thought I would compare the Buddha Machine II to two similar (but non-secular) products that are currently available online. In true Buddhist fashion, however, it was only moments after turning these boxes on that the Buddha boxing match became a love in—the three sounded so good together that any sort of competition became irrelevant. You can see and hear them in action below. Bottom line: get all three. (At least I got to write a sentence like that last one… my tech shootout fantasy is fulfilled!)

Buddha Machine II

Like its predecessor, the Buddha Machine II erodes the distinction between musical instrument, playback device, and recorded musical performance. It is a small, plastic speaker box containing a digital chip loaded with several short, minimalist musical pieces. Each track is looped and can be listened to as long as one likes (or until the AA batteries run out), while a single button allows the user to switch between loops. In a sense, the Buddha Machine is an album that plays itself, unlike an LP or MP3, which require separate devices for playback. However, the unit is also designed as performance instrument, and has been used as such by Zhang and Vivrant’s own FM3, as well as Low, Sun O))), Mike Patton and others. As an instrument, the new version of the Buddha Machine II is greatly improved by a new pitch bend wheel, which allows the user to adjust the pitch and tempo of the loops to match other material.

The loops themselves do a lot with very little. Simple guitar and piano lines, immersed in strange resonances, vibrate out of the box. FM3’s use of feedback is particularly interesting, as it is impossible to discern whether the distortion is coming from the source material, the low-bitrate of the reproduction, the tiny speaker being over-driven, or some combination of the three. I find that this mystery, as it repeats itself over and over, begins to smear my sense of place as my consciousness switches back and forth between the speaker in the room with me, the idea of the crunchy silicon chip, and some imagined space in China where FM3 recorded these evocative sounds. Zhang and Vivrant resist the temptation to over-embellish these tiny compositions, nor do they attempt to prescribe a particular emotional response. The pieces are ambiguous enough to shift from beautiful to ominous and back again as minutes pass by, perhaps reflecting the mind of the listener more than the intentions of the performers.

Digital Buddha Jukebox (13-Song)

This Taiwanese Chant box features 13 renditions of sutras, most of them done in a contemporary, syncretic musical style that reveals both traditional Chinese and contemporary pop influences. The sound is that of a slickly produced digital recording that has been bit-mashed and fed through a crappy speaker, making it the new millennial equivalent of an AM transistor or shortwave radio tinkling out a carefully crafted Carpenters tune. (If Karen was high on Buddhism instead of pills, of course.)

If you’re anything like me, the above description, coupled with the $9.30 price tag, has you sold already—and I haven’t even mentioned the swirling lightshow. In the front of the box is a circular cutout that houses a semi-transparent image of the bodhisattva Guanyin sitting on a lotus flower. Behind her, a swirling, kaleidoscope of rainbow light beams emerges in a mesmerizing 3-D effect. Everyone I have handed this thing to has stared helplessly at it for minutes at a time.

Digital Buddhist Jukebox in Tibetan (5 Songs)

This box is smaller than the two others and includes a strap to hang it from your neck. The strap, coupled with its headphone output, means that you can rock these gritty Tibetan prayer loops on the subway or bus. The iPod drones will eye you with curiosity and envy when you sport these two inches of plastic chant bling, embossed with a distinctive lotus-shaped speaker. The loops on this box keep it old school, with a monk chanting a cappella—no synths, melodies or other musical trappings. At a mere $4.00, it is worth buying for believer and non-believer alike.

Posted by Mack Hagood at 12:41 PM

August 06, 2007

Various | Molam: Thai Country Groove from Isan, Vol. 2 |Sublime Frequencies | Thailand

buy it
With Molam: Thai Country Groove from Isan, Vol. 2, (released today) collector/selectors Alan Bishop and Mark Gergis haven't just outdone Molam Vol. 1--a feat in itself. They have also made possibile the unprecedented breakthrough of a Southeast Asian pop style onto world stages. The molam artists on this album cut grooves so deep yet unfamiliar that they they could find the international touring success that African groups have had for decades.

Popular music from the far east has long been underrepresented in the CD bins labeled "World Music" and on stages that cater to it. World music fans often want something exotic, but not too exotic. Eastern pop has generally been either too familiar, but not in English (Indonesian metal, J-pop) or too "adventurous" (lo-fi Cambodian pop from the 60s, Chinese-opera-influenced ballads). Perhaps more than anything, world music fans respond to "global grooves"--something this new album's got in spades.

The music on Molam Vol. 2 is an electrified version of molam, the Lao-derived music popular in Thailand's Northeastern Isan region and (due to migration) Bangkok. The sound is built upon two indigenous instruments, a mouth organ made of bamboo tubes with drilled finger holes (the khaen) and the Thai lute (phin). Khaen players often use some fingers to play a single chord in a rhythmic drone while simultaneously articulating melody with other fingers. This single-chord vamp forms the root of electric molam's trance-making groove, in which bass, bells and drums hold down a mid-tempo rhythm while phin, electric guitar and organ intertwine their heterophonic melody lines on top. At the center of everything is the vocalist ("molam" literally means "master singer"), who does a kind of talk-singing, sometimes singing a single verbal phrase two or three times in a row. The song titles suggest that the lyrics of these country songs are utterly unpretentious, focusing on love, good food, moving to the big city, and paying tribute to fans.

Molam vocalists sing with the authority of their own experience, pushing their bands forward and holding them back--exhibiting the same combination of urgency and laid-backness that characterize the deepest funk, dub and afro-groove. Indeed, much of the music on Molam was recorded in the 1970s, at roughly the same time those crucial grooves were emerging in the Americas and Africa.

However, these songs are a revelation because they sound so different from those styles of more direct African derivation. When male singer Thonmark Leacha declaims in the album opener "Beua Ai Laeo Bo" ("Are You Tired of Me Already?"), he does so with phrasing and vigor that make him a kindred spirit of Nigeria's Fela Kuti, but there is little else that overtly connects the bells, phin, khaen and swirling organ to the western hemisphere. Technologies and recordings of western pop certainly reached Isan at this time, but in the case of molam, Thais used them to create a modern sound thoroughly their own. Even when female vocalist Chawiwan Damnoen's guitarist steals a riff from the Rolling Stones in "Lam Plern Chawiwan," the juxtaposition between it and the rest of the music only serves to make the song more otherworldly.

As underground musicians and unorthodox travelers in search of raw and obscure sounds, Gergis and Bishop have a healthy mistrust of academics and, presumably, capitalized "World Music." If "academic rigor" or large-scale financial success were their goals, the Sublime Frequencies series wouldn't be the treasure it is. However, there is evidence that an increasingly large audience shares their tastes, indicating that a sound like molam could really break out. A crossover seems to be emerging between world music and indie/underground fans who share a love for the sounds of the pre-digital era and the unpredictable ways popular music has manifested outside the west. Extra Golden, Konono No. 1, Dengue Fever, Nomo, Antibalas, Dub is a Weapon and Seun Kuti have tapped this audience and I'm certain that molam groups could do the same.

Gergis and Bishop are uncertain of the fate of old-school molam in the glossy digital era, but a recent Sublime Frequencies video documentary shows that there are musicians in Isan still cranking it out. I hope they (or someone else) will decide to work with these musicians on a new record produced in the seventies style--then tour to support it. Bassist Jah Wobble produced a molam release in 2000, but watered the sound down into a kind of Thai dub fusion. Sublime Frequencies could be counted on to adhere to the sound on the present compilation.

It may be odd to spend part of a record review arguing for another record, but it's a simple matter of wanting more for both artists and listeners. The touring opportunity would be good for Thai musicians and more of this incredible music would be good for the rest of us. There's something about this molam that will have appeal well beyond the growing ranks of Southeast Asian music collectors. The world is ready for live Thai grooves.

Posted by Mack Hagood at 08:06 PM

August 01, 2006

Various | Radio Thailand |Sublime Frequencies | Thailand

buy it
Maybe I'm just getting too much of a good thing in the past few years from Sublime Frequencies and similar labels, but the recent release Radio Thailand left me slightly underwhelmed. In it, Alan Bishop applies his now standard Radio series m.o. of editing and assembling music and other radio broadcasts collected over years of visits to Thailand. The styles represented include molam, luk thung, folk music and classic Thai pop, all of which have been covered better on other discs. (For example, see SF's own crucial releases Molam: Thai Country Groove from Isan (CD) and Phi Ta Khon--Ghosts of Isan (DVD); Subliminal Sounds' Thai Beat A Go-Go Volumes 1, 2 and 3 cover Thai retro pop quite well.) To its credit, Radio Thailand includes other styles such as kantrum and contemporary Thai pop which aren't as readily availble to western listeners, though arguably, these styles aren't as entertaining. Also, at double disc length, Radio Thailand feels a little too long and, maybe fittingly, features a few too many Thai commercials.

All that said, there are some great segments on these discs sure to liven up any mix CD or mp3 playlist. Bishop really hits his psychedelic stride when he cuts and pastes at high and indiscriminate speeds--eg., a chipper variety show singalong meets 90's keyboard workstation molam rap becomes alien flute utterances turns into traditional Thai/big band hybrid on the track "Isan Immortal." When the music is hitting this fast and furious and the hairs in your ears are standing up to catch all the unfamiliar sounds, there's really nothing to complain about. This set may not be as good as Radio Phnom Pehn or as tripped out as Radio Pyongyang, but it's still more interesting than the average Pitchfork reviewer's top ten list hands down.

Posted by Mack Hagood at 05:05 PM

January 05, 2006

Various | Guitars of the Golden Triangle |Sublime Frequencies | Burma

buy it
Here's a disc I let slip by for a few months--ironic since it's one of my favorite 2005 releases. Guitars of the Golden Triangle is another backpack of cassettes from the hinterlands of Southeast Asia, committed to CD as-is by Sublime Frequencies. It's a collection of 70s rock tunes from Burma, now known as Myanmar. For most of us, what we know about this country centers on the heroin trade and Myanmar's oppressive military junta. Listening to this disc will give you a better feel for the Burmese as real people than pulp novels about the CIA or another article about Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

When I dropped Guitars into my computer, my music player happened to arrange the tracks by artist name. This has turned out to be my preferred way of listening to this compilation, as it allows for the distinct styles of the different musicians to really come through.

Saing Saing Maw has the most tracks, all obviously duped from the same totally hammered cassette. I like the patina of grunge on SF tracks--it gives you a sense of where the music's been and how far it's come to find you--though in this case the sonic degradation is pretty severe. Nevertheless, one fact shines through--Saing Saing Maw is fucking great. He writes thoroughly melodic psychedelic pop with inventive musical asides and stronger rhythm players than you find on a lot of old Asian pop. "Lah Ley Cham" has the kind of echoey Asian tremolo picked guitar solo I live for, which crumbles into a perfectly ridiculous non-sequitur jazz drum solo.

Maw's not alone. Lashio Thein Aung has a charming, squeaky-clean Buddy Holly vibe on "You Got What You Got" but moves into a more regional sound for "Don't Say Goodbye." All of his tracks feature excellent tremolo-picked guitar. Khun Paw Yann contributes three perfect psychedelic ballads that sound similar to some of the more haunting tracks from the Thai Beat A Go Go series.

Posted by Mack Hagood at 02:23 PM

October 05, 2005

Various | Cambodian Rocks Vol. 3 and 4 |Khmer Rocks | Cambodia

Volume III: buy it
Volume IV: buy it
The Khmer Rocks label has released Volumes III and IV of their Cambodian Rocks series and says these will probably be the last compilations. They are both well worth having, especially the psychedelic Volume III. If forced to limit my review to only one sentence, I’d write this: Damn, Cambodia turned out some badass guitar players.

Various

January 13, 2009

August 06, 2007

August 01, 2006

January 05, 2006

October 05, 2005

September 21, 2005

August 28, 2005

April 19, 2005

March 09, 2005

February 21, 2005

February 14, 2005

October 25, 2004

May 10, 2004

April 26, 2004

March 06, 2004

February 22, 2004

February 05, 2004

January 27, 2004

January 19, 2004

January 10, 2004