Friday 28 September, 2007

The Hafler Trio - Fuck (1992)




"Fuck is the second part of a projected trilogy that begins with Masturbatorium, and for which the third part has not been released as of early 2001. While Masturbatorium used sounds generated by performance artist Annie Sprinkle in a sonic investigation of female sexuality, Fuck concentrates on male sexual energies, using sounds leading to the brink of male orgasm from Andrew McKenzie, in addition to various atmospheric frequencies and field recordings. As with the trilogy's first part, the liner notes go into some detail about the sonic origins and the overall purpose of the piece, its specific practical intents, and its relationship to investigations into sexual energy.

Unusually, McKenzie directs that the recording be played at maximum volume, and that the CD player be in strict accordance with left and right channel connections. With the correct playback configuration, the ominous low drone opening shakes the room, and when the various fast rhythmic layers are added in, the piece takes on an overwhelming aura seldom found in other Hafler Trio releases. A looped bass vocal alternates between the two channels in the second track, exercising the separation McKenzie mentions. Given the sexual intent of the piece, one might suppose that it would start slowly and build, but in fact the opposite is the case. The beginning is the loudest, densest, and fastest, with an overall tranquility and lightening as the piece progresses. Its unity of purpose makes it one of the better Hafler Trio releases, although the cover art and subject matter make it for mature listeners only".
Caleb Deupree, All Music Guide




"The first piece can be seen as an abrasive experience in deep-breathing oppressive terror-technonoise, somehow reminiscent of both Gerechtigkeits Liga and Porter Ricks; the second piece finds the "trio" in more familiar ground, reducing the scope of sonic assault to create a slow, bass-based progression from multilayered noise to total darkness". The Juju Unintelligible Reviews

Performed by A.M. McKenzie & Zbigniew Karkowski

link@320 +++Removed By Request; See Comments+++

12 comments:

Spring Day said...

Hm, "theoretically" that sounds very very interesting, dear Juju, but "practically" I am not sure, if this isn*t a bit too extreme for me *blush*

bravo juju said...

your reservations are legitimate.
however, as with so many "conceptual" recordings, there is a huge gap between the artist's professed intentions and the music itself. that is why I decided to include a brief (but maybe unintelligible) description of the music (conspicuously absent in all reviews I read, which predictably focused on the sexual imagery of the CD).
so, if you enjoy the bands mentioned there (or their satellites), you may perhaps like this album. and, unless you plan to follow the artist's advice and use this record to explore your vital male energies (!!!), this is much less extreme than some of the records posted here or at your own blog...
(or maybe you are just saying that the album art is too extreme for your taste?...)

Spring Day said...

Nono, the album art is no problem. I mean, visual public life is so sexualized - general media, advertisement, porn - that everybody needs to develop some perceptive filter to handle it. So, the visual part of this album is not really a problem, not even shocking. But I'm not sure for the aural part. I guess my ears have not developped such a filter the way my eyes did. And, yes, it's also true for the realm of art. I mean, I can go to the museum and look at a "painting" which is made of hundreds of little vagina photos, and accept this as art - not to mention Giger's "Penis Landscape". But again, I am not sure if it works with sounds...

bravo juju said...

Again, if it weren't for the CD cover and liner notes, the word "sex" would never come to mind when listening to this album. In fact, conceptual notes very rarely enlighten my understanding of music. Sure, I can make an effort to subordinate my listening process to a CD's liner notes, and it may be hard to forget about the artist's explanations once you read them, but I always privilege the aural experience over the conceptual framing used by musicians to justify their work.

h3o said...

I am the copyright owner of these recordings. I neither granted permission, nor was asked for permission to post them here. please remove them immediately.

thanks in advance

Andrew M.McKenzie

bravo juju said...

Dear Mr. McKenzie.

We're sorry to hear that.
Maybe it will change your mind about mp3 sharing that a friend of mine actually bought this CD after listening to the mp3 version offered here, thus dispelling some mistaken preconceptions he had about Hafler's output.

Link was removed, as requested.

Be happy
Juju Bravo

oieuverj said...

hey juju, where is link?..
i think, this good stuff. please, re-up.

ktk said...

How do you know that guy is who he says he is? He is another way of deleter. Re-upload it please.

Anonymous said...

Silvia, if you are familiar at all with Mr. McKenzie's and writings, you would know that he does not agree with unauthorised distributions of his work, and also disagrees with the mp3 format itself as a way to present music such as this.

Anonymous said...

Silvia, if you are familiar at all with Mr. McKenzie's music and writings, you would know that he does not agree with unauthorised distributions of his work, and also disagrees with the mp3 format itself as a way to present music such as this.

Anonymous said...

mr. mckenzie should rethink the medium in which he chooses to distribute his art to the world. as cassette, vinyl lp, or cd; once it's sold he has no control over how it's played by whomever purchased it. If he's truly that concerned about the fidelity of his art, he should stop releasing "albums". believe me, there are plenty of artists that prefer only to perform live and resist releasing recordings, etc. (the late, very great maryanne amacher for one!) If, however, mr. mckenzie wants to make money with his releases (why else release them??), maybe he should lighten up and let these blogs do their magic (as others WILL indeed here your art here and then rush out and buy more. THIS is proven). otherwise, time to switch careers, eh?

Anonymous said...

fucking links please !!!!