ALARM is opening 2012 with a marvellous split LP by two of the finest noise duos currently around. Side A contains an awesome sidelong track by the two genre defying maestros John Wiese and Lasse Marhaug, recorded live at the Musica Genera Festival in Warsaw in 2009. Side B marks the debut release of Kalong from Cologne where this furious mixture of abstract turntablism, laptopnoise, samplingbombardement and ethereal voices was also recorded, live in an abandoned cinema in 2010. Both pieces were painstakingly mastered by Marcus Schmickler at Pietopraxis, Cologne. The LP is limited to 300 copies and comes in a beautiful cover, with printed innersleeve and poster. This will be no less than one of the most brilliant experimental/noise releases this year, no kidding.

ALARM

As a composer, John Wiese is an elusive one. Employing a very healthy range of conceptual framework throughout his oevure, he's unmistakably recognizable, but rarely easy to predict. No matter what the sound, we find it always sounds like Wiese. Seven Of Wands contains a romanticism only hinted at previously. Comprised of pieces from a range of eras and sequenced into a narrative arc, this very unique album has a quality of being beautiful, listenable, immersive, and transportive all at once. He probably wouldn't like this, but I dare say "musical."

Let's look for a second at the development of Wiese's solo albums to date: Magical Crystal Blah (2003), Soft Punk (2002–2005), Dramatic Accessories (2007), Circle Snare (2008), Zombie (2009), and now Seven Of Wands (2004–2010). With the exception of Zombie's rigid conceptualism, what we can see is a development of a completely individual approach to cutting and stereo spectrum, with a constantly fluctuating degree of severity in choice of sounds. On this latest, we see this transposed to a longer-form, with more emphasis on beauty and musical qualities (well, don't get me wrong), employing strategies and techniques of musique concrète and electroacoustic music throughout, all the while further emphasizing the mixing desk as a true instrument.

Two of the albums central pieces were developed while touring the US, UK and Europe with Liars, No Age, and (in quadraphonic) Matmos, and feature source material contributed by Angus Andrew (voice, field recording) and Julian Gross (percussion) of Liars. This is Wiese's second release on PAN, following the vinyl edition of C-Section, his duo album with Evan Parker.

PAN