DREKKA REVIEW ARCHIVE :

DREKKA "Notes: stones (in solidarity)" (C-66)  (SELF RELEASED, 2022)
-  Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #1364, Netherlands, DEC 2022

DREKKA "Hibernal Hymn, The 40th Night" COMP TRACK  (BALL OF WAX QUARTERLY, 2019)
-  Levi Fuller, BALL OF WAX, NOV 2019

DREKKA "Beings of ImberIndus" CD  (SOMNIMAGE, 2019)
-  Bill Meyer, DUSTED MAGAZINE, USA, DEC 2019
-  Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #1199, Netherlands, SEP 2019
-  Massimo Ricci, TOUCHING EXTREMES, Italy, JUL 2019

DREKKA "No Tracks in the Snow" LP  (DAIS, 2019)
-  Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #1173, Netherlands, MAR 2019

DREKKA / LATHER "Live: Concentration Club" (C-29)  (BOB HEAVENS, 2019)
-  Howard Stelzer, VITAL WEEKLY #1170, Netherlands, FEB 2019

DREKKA "Examinations : 2016-2018" CD  (BLUESANCT, 2018)
-  Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #1144, Netherlands, AUG 2018

DREKKA <--> REMST8 7"  (RED FROST INDUSTRIES, 2018)
-  Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #1125, Netherlands, MAR 2018

V/A "Quadrature" (C-44)  (UNDER MY BED RECORDINGS, 2017)
-  Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #1120, Netherlands, FEB 2018

DREKKA "Sleep Patterns of The Discontent" (C-50)  (BLUESANCT, 2017)
-  Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #1095, Netherlands, AUG 2017

DREKKA "There is no silence left" (C-57)  (BLUESANCT, 2017)
-  Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #1095, Netherlands, AUG 2017

DREKKA REWORKS ANNELIES MONSER� "Verjaardag" LP  (BLUESANCT / RED FROST INDUSTRIES, 2016)
-  Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #1032, Netherlands, MAY 2016

FUNKHOUSER REWORKS DREKKA "Within the Realm of The Unknown" (C-32)  (NO!, 2016)
-  Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #1028, Netherlands, APR 2016

DREKKA "Unbeknownst to The Participants at Hand" LP  (DAIS, 2015)
-  Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #1004, Netherlands, OCT 2015

RONJA'S CHRISTMAS WITCH CDR  (ORPHANOLOGY, 2014)
-  Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #961, Netherlands, DEC 2014

DREKKA "Don't make the drugs live to regret this" (C-26)  (DAIS, 2014)
-  Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #961, Netherlands, DEC 2014

DRY SOCKET "Violator EP" (C-23)  (NO!, 2014)
-  Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #937, Netherlands, JUN 2014

DREKKA "Ekki gera fikniefnum," LP  (DAIS, 2014)
-  Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #926, Netherlands, APR 2014

V/A "NO!" (C-64)  (NO!, 2014)
-  Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #921, Netherlands, MAR 2014

DREKKA <--> ASSIMILATION (C-42)  (RED FROST INDUSTRIES / NO!, 2014)
-  Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #888, Netherlands, JUN 2013

FRANS DE WAARD "One Day I Got A Four Track Tape And Decided To Do My Own Mix" CDR  (ORPHANOLOGY, 2013)
-  Jan Kees Helms, VITAL WEEKLY #870, Netherlands, FEB 2013
-  Jan Kees Helms, RAVAGE WEBZINE, Netherlands, FEB 2013 [ORIGINAL DUTCH]

DREKKA G HELGI MORTAL KOMBAT "DgHMK EP" 3" BUSINESS CARD CDR  (SELF-RELEASED, 2013)
-  JHK, VITAL WEEKLY #870, Netherlands, FEB 2013

4K VS FANNY "4KvF1 EP" 3" BUSINESS CARD CD  (SELF-RELEASED, 2012)
-  JHK, VITAL WEEKLY #868, Netherlands, FEB 2013

DREKKA "Collected Works - Volume 1" 2CD  (MORC, 2009)
-  RIUS, Netherlands, JAN 2010
-  FILE UNDER, Netherlands, JAN 2010 [ORIGINALLY IN DUTCH]
-  Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #705, Netherlands, NOV 2009
-  RIF RAF MAGAZINE, Belgium, NOV 2009 [ORIGINALLY IN DUTCH]
-  Jan Denolet, DARK ENTRIES, Belgium, NOV 2009 [ORIGINAL DUTCH]
-  Jan Denolet, DARK ENTRIES, Belgium, NOV 2009 [ENGLISH TRANSLATION]
-  BABY SUE, USA, DEC 2009
-  Mr. Bedroom, SANDS ZINE, Italy, NOV 2009 [ORIGINAL ITALIAN]
-  Mr. Bedroom, SANDS ZINE, Italy, NOV 2009 [ENGLISH TRANSLATION]

DREKKA "Extractioning" CD  (BLUESANCT, 2005)
-  Jan Denolet, DARK ENTRIES, Belgium, NOV 2008 [ORIGINAL DUTCH]
-  Jan Denolet, DARK ENTRIES, Belgium, NOV 2008 [ENGLISH TRANSLATION]

DREKKA "Take Care To Fall" CD  (BLUESANCT, 2002)
-  Chris Brown, OPUSZINE, USA, NOV 2003
-  Nathan Hogan, DUSTED MAGAZINE, USA, MAY 2002
-  Your Imaginary Friend, KZSU - ZOOKEEPER ONLINE, USA, MAY 2002
-  Rob Devlin, BRAINWASHED BRAIN, USA, SEP 2002
-  writer unknown, MAG UNKNOWN, Italy, date unknown
-  writer unknown, MAG UNKNOWN, Italy, date unknown 2

V/A "The Poor Minstrels of Song and the Temple of the Moon: Volume II" CD  (BLUESANCT, 2002)
-  Mats Gustafson, BROKEN FACE, Sweden, date unknown
-  writer unknown, PTOLEMAIC TERRASCOPE, UK, 2002
-  writer unknown, RAUNEND, Italy, date unknown [ORIGINAL ITALIAN]
-  writer unknown, RAUNEND, Italy, date unknown [ENGLISH TRANSLATION]

V/A "The Poor Minstrels of Song and the Temple of the Moon: Volume I" CD  (BLUESANCT, 2001)
-  Mats Gustafson, BROKEN FACE, Sweden, date unknown
-  George Parsons, DREAM MAGAZINE, USA, date unknown
-  Ned Raggett, ALL MUSIC GUIDE, USA, date unknown
-  writer unknown, RAUNEND, Italy, date unknown [ORIGINAL ITALIAN]
-  writer unknown, RAUNEND, Italy, date unknown [ENGLISH TRANSLATION]

V/A "19 Ways to Avoid the Draft" CD  (MAR/INO, 2000)
-  BM, SPLENDID, USA, SEP 2001

DREKKA "Exactioning EP / Hermitage Two EP" (C-60)  (BLUESANCT, 1998)
-  C. Reider, AUTOreverse, Issue 9, USA, WINTER 1999
-  Jon de Rosa, BRIGHTER RECORDS, USA, Winter Newsletter 1998-1999

DREKKA "There can make nothing of difference" (C-60)  (BLUESANCT, 1998)
-  Joe Morris, KYLIE PROD., USA, NOV 1998

DREKKA / FUSCILLAGE split 7"  (BLUESANCT, 1998)
-  Phil McMullen, PTOLEMAIC TERRASCOPE, UK, SUMMER 1998

DREKKA / OCTAL split 7"  (BLUESANCT, 1998)
-  Phil McMullen, PTOLEMAIC TERRASCOPE, UK, SUMMER 1998
-  Bill Meyer, MAGNET No.37, USA, NOV/DEC 1998
-  Salvo Pinzone, BLOW UP, Italy, 1998 [ORIGINAL ITALIAN]
-  Salvo Pinzone, BLOW UP, Italy, 1998 [ENGLISH TRANSLATION]

DREKKA "Grieve" (C-60)  (BLUESANCT, 1996)
-  Jon de Rosa, BRIGHTER RECORDS, USA, Winter Newsletter 1998-1999
-  Erik Kowalski, MILK, Issue #20, USA, JAN-FEB 1997

DREKKA "Notes: stones (in solidarity)" (C-66)  (SELF RELEASED, 2022)

Somewhere along the lines, I seem to have lost the definition of things. Somewhere, someone started to use the word 'mixtape' for what I always assumed to be a cassette of favourite tracks that you give to the girl of your dreams. But I came across the word 'this is an album of new music', but perhaps this is only in a different, parallel universe. That is not the case with this Drekka cassette, as this is a mix indeed. Drekka created this mix for the Sonic Liberation Front on Radio Alhara, curated by Abdullah Al Taher. In this hour-long mix, we find thirteen pieces, including an opening and closing statement, Mark Trecka. Drekka has five pieces of music part of this, and furthermore, there is music by Remst8, Tremble Of You, Bana Haffar (two pieces), Remst8 & Drekka and one more by Trecka. I love the music, don't get me wrong there, as this a wonderful slow mix of great pieces of moody electronics, nocturnal field recordings, processed instruments, and a bit of piano. Quickly I lost count of where we were in the mix. I had a question about this release: why put this out on a cassette? Granted, the Bandcamp release is for free, and I recommend all out there to download this work as the music fits very well together, and there is, no doubt, a good cause behind it, even when it is hard to know who did what on this cassette. Fanatics should obtain the cassette.

- Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #1364, Netherlands, DEC 2022

DREKKA "Beings of ImberIndus" CD  (SOMNIMAGE, 2019)

Mkl Anderson (pronounced Michael) has been hanging onto the edge of outbound sound since the mid-1990s. During that time, he's run the Bluesanct label, played in Jessica Bailiff�s band, and played both solo and collaboratively under the name Drekka. While he often releases music digitally, his production means are primarily analog. Anderson made this 70-minute expanse of non-electronic drone with Icelandic musician Þórir Georg, and while between then they play pitch pipe, voice, metal, and bass guitar, what comes out of the speakers sounds long, dark, and entirely non-instrumental. This CD burrows deep into the heart of a sonic black sun, and if you thrive on not seeing the horizon, it could be your next auditory weighted blanket.

- Bill Meyer, DUSTED MAGAZINE, DEC 2019

DREKKA "Hibernal Hymn, The 40th Night" COMP TRACK  (BALL OF WAX QUARTERLY, 2019)

Longtime BoW friend Darryl Blood (who just keeps getting weirder and weirder and I love it) has collaborated with Drekka, a more recent arrival to our musical family, to bring us this �Hibernal Hymn.� Hibernal, of course, means �of, relating to, or occurring in winter� (and no I didn�t just look that up, how dare you?), making this a perfect piece for our wintry compilation. And it does sound like winter � specifically, like the middle of the night after a snow storm, when the sky is darker than dark and everything around you is covered in a thick white blanket. It�s soft and quiet and beautiful, but not entirely comfortable due to the piercing cold. The bed of drone and hiss is the snow, the meandering piano a few stray flakes tumbling down through a street light. You stop for a few minutes � not nearly long enough, but as long as you�ve got � and take it all in, watching each flake fall. Then the spell is broken and you shake your head and go inside. Or skip back to the beginning for another dose of hibernal magic.

- Levi Fuller, BALL OF WAX, NOV 2019

DREKKA "Beings of ImberIndus" CD  (SOMNIMAGE, 2019)

The first release is by Mkl Anderson's project Drekka and he's no stranger in these pages. It is described by Somnimage as a "ritual ambient industrial project', which is not exactly how I would call it, but who knows it might be. This new release contains music that was used to go along "a soft sculpture show" by Carrie Weaver at the I Fell Gallery in Drekka's home-city Bloomington, IN on December 2018, "culminating in a winter solstice ritual of cleansing". Don't let the repeated use of the word 'ritual' distract you. Maybe there is a sort of ritualistic reference to the sculptures, but presented here, out of the gallery context, the music can be enjoyed very much as a stand-alone thing. The core of it was recorded by Anderson on "pitch pipe, metal and voice" and Þórir Georg on bass in Reykavik, in a long, real-time session, but worked on afterwards by Anderson making 'decisions such as track lengths and tonal shifts were decided upon using the same mathematical equations that Weaver utilizes for her fractal observations; exploring recursive patterns and prime numbers as alchemical instruction". The music is about sixty-five minutes long, divided into three tracks, (11:19, 19:37 and 34:01 minutes, but I am not a math guy so I am not sure if there is a relation there) of slow, sustained sounds that works with similar pitches being played out slowly, fading in and out, over very long periods. On top of the drones is the low-end rattle of the bass and a very low voice, breathing/sighing (both even?), created excellent all-immersive piece music that is one long spatial drift. That is not to say it stays in the same place all the time; actually far from it. It moves around from intense drones to a slightly lighter, more guitar-based drone in the third part, but of course, the work keeps on being quite dark throughout. This, I thought, was an excellent work that I rank among the best of Drekka.

- Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #1199, Netherlands, SEP 2019

DREKKA "Beings of ImberIndus" CD  (SOMNIMAGE, 2019)

Mkl (Michael) Anderson is the actual name of the man in charge of the Drekka project. What he does and what he�s done throughout the years is effortlessly readable by surfing a bit, the results pointing to a single conclusion: Anderson is a busy artist across fields strictly connected with an individual�s faculties as a human aerial.

Beings Of ImberIndus is a 65-minute pseudo-static piece originally born as a hexaphonic sound installation for the namesake sculpture exhibition by Carrie Weaver. Besides the principal, Þórir Georg is featured on bass. The basic pitch originating the whole opus comprises a number of acoustic constituents � breath, electricity, the reabsorption of its own reverberations � which contribute to slightly alter its shape along a slowly drawn trajectory. At first, just a hypnotic buzz encompassed by shifting atmospheres mainly deriving from sibilant matters and quivering subsonics. As the minutes elapse, our alignment with the vibrating core is subjected to a serious process of fine-tuning. You can get lost in the morphing frequencies of a given spot, or identify a couple of rebellious upper partials under the apparent tranquillity. Something wants to deviate from the main path, but the Mother Drone is always there to clutch at its suspenders and bring it back to order. All in all, a Phill Niblock / Nurse With Wound circa Soliloquy For Lilith hybrid would not be totally out of place as a silly evocation for the curious.

This record materialized in a very precise moment of instinctive repulsion for a substantial representation of mental corruption. If one believes in sound as a purifying means against the sort of behavioral toxicant we�re surrounded by on a daily basis, this dose of temporary rational oblivion will definitely work great. Best served on headphones � and don�t be diverted by anything or anyone else. We�re talking selflessness here.

- Massimo Ricci, TOUCHING EXTREMES, Italy, JUL 2019

DREKKA "No Tracks in the Snow" LP  (DAIS, 2019)

Over a great number of years I wrote quite a bit about Michael (or Mkl) Anderson's project Drekka, and yet I still have very little idea what he does or where to place his music. Sometimes it is quite rock-alike, sans drums but with lots of guitars and effects, going into a more ambient direction, but sometimes it is more song-based, including vocals. Anderson has been around for quite some time now; even part of Loveliescrushing and this new album by Dais Records is a collection of pieces from 1996 up to 2002. I learn that Drone Records released the first track as Vir on a 7". I didn't know that. While over the years Drekka's music becomes more complex, with lots of effects running around to play out the most delicate form of ambient music, here things are kept on a sparser level. A guitar can be strummed and there is a bit of reverb/delay but also a bit of hiss, such as in 'Instrumental 3'. Many of the eight pieces are by Anderson in conjunction with someone else as over the years he has been playing with lots of different people. The influences for Drekka are wide apart; from the post-rock music of Flying Saucer Attack and AMP Studio towards more abstract constructions in sound that are part and parcel of many of the musicians featured in these pages. Sometimes you could imagine this to be space rock, shoegazing, folk like (as in 'We Who Are Not Lonely', which sounds like a hissy version of Current 93), and fuzzy ambient or even industrial. Some of this is Anderson solo and whether or not in combination with others, he plays some very personal music. A piece like 'Christmas 1973 or 1974' sounds like some heartfelt blues music, but of a much more alien level. All of these pieces save one were released before, and the liner notes read like an opening into the world of small record labels and obscure editions. Independent music is something that is close to Anderson's heart and this LP is a fine compilation in case you discovered him too late to get all these obscurities first time around.

- Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #1173, Netherlands, MAR 2019

DREKKA / LATHER "Live: Concentration Club" (C-29)  (BOB HEAVENS, 2019)

Myers' split cassette with Drekka (aka Michael Anderson) was recorded live at Concentration Club in Indiana, where both artists reside. Again, it's a success. Lather's side is more conventional "drone", but the cassette-tape whines and the telltale acoustics of tapes being played out of small speakers give the steady-bed-of-hum a pleasing gloss of instability. My favourite section of this tape, indeed my favourite section of all three of these tapes, comes about 3 minutes into Drekka's side. It's remarkable how tailor-made to me, specifically me, this glorious section is. Anderson gets a lovely, lilting drone happening... low-key, not insistent, just a floating ommm that seems to emanate from small speakers in an empty room... and then, just once you get comfortable, he lets the thing crash to the ground in the greatest way possible: a flurry of warbling cassette goo. And he only subtracts from there! It's so good. Anderson creates the expectation of new-New-Age ambience, and then confidently yanks the foundation away. Not only are we treated to one of my very favourite sounds, that of fingers leaning onto the 'play' gears of a cassette machine, but Anderson leaves in the haphazard non-amplified plastic click/fumble of his manoeuvring tapes and objects around on his table. That clatter punctuated as it by woozy 'bloooop!' and 'wwwhooooo', bravely fails to fill the cavernous space with intermittent glorps. Does it build up from there? Hardly! It builds DOWN! Minutes pass with the sound of mystery acoustics barely filling the void. Fantastic!

- Howard Stelzer, VITAL WEEKLY #1170, Netherlands, FEB 2019

DREKKA "Examinations : 2016-2018" CD  (BLUESANCT, 2018)

Over the years Michael Anderson's project Drekka has been a regular visitor to the headquarters of your weekly and throughout I enjoy his work quite a bit. It seems to contain everything that I like in music; it's a bit lo-fi, there are some scrambled field recordings, there is a drone approach, yet the melodic aspect of the music is never forgotten. Over the years I heard quite a bit of music and I must admit I have very little idea what it is that he does to do his music. It might involve a bit of guitar, lots of effects, field recordings and maybe an organ or synth. On this new release there are seven pieces from the years 2016 to 2018 and they are all recorded with other people. Mark Trecka appears on three of them, while the other people only play on one. The only other name I recognized was that of Max Kuiper, of Les Horribles Travailleurs. For none of these musicians are any instruments specified either. You could perhaps expect that working with different people equals different results, and surely there are a variety of approaches to be noted throughout these pieces, but at the same time there is quite some coherency to be heard. The mood in these pieces is dark, or perhaps sombre is a better word, but it is never pitch black or in full despair. Take for instance the piano parts of the opening piece 'Spring Rain, Indian Summer': sparse in an almost classic music setting, but slightly treated and some voice and rain from field recordings. The sort of meditative aspect lingers on in other pieces as well, such as 'Sense Of Senses'. In some of the older work of Drekka there was always some sort of uneasy, chaotic element of what could almost seem like shoegazing but with that fair amount of ambient poured over it, these days Drekka seems to be in favour of a fine ambient approach that avoids the more clichéd approaches of long form sustaining sounds, with some weirdo elements leaking in from rusty cassettes and worn out effects, and the results are great. This might possibly the best Drekka I heard so far.

- Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #1144, Netherlands, AUG 2018

DREKKA <--> REMST8 7"  (RED FROST INDUSTRIES, 2018)

Despite all the joy people seem to have towards vinyl these days, the 7" is more and more something of the past; someone called the 10" 'the format of doom', not being a 7" (easy to mail) nor a LP (not enough music), but the production costs to do a 7" in this day and age is quite hefty. That I think is a pity, because it's best format for a 'song', or 'a great idea'. The well-known project Drekka, also known as Michael Anderson, exchanges sounds here with Remst8, who is called 'an experimental computer musician whose on-again / off-again affair with sound began in the early 90s", but was also out of the music industry for seven years "to focus on his software engineering career". On this 7" the two exchange sounds from their archives and rework them. Remst8 reworks 'Tarwestraat 52' from Drekka's trilogy on Dais Records, using only the sources and Drekka takes 'Lissajous' (which I believe is also the name of a bit of software) from Remst8 "Accumulator" album, adding a bit of field recording from Drekka archives.

Remst8's piece is a very delicate piece of processed sounds; guitars are stretched out a bit, loops of high-end squeaking sound (a hinge maybe?) are added, and throughout it is a very mellow piece of ambient guitar music. Remst8 makes sure to have it fully formed into a song, with beginning and end, and not a cut out of a longer session, shortened down 'because, hey man, it's a 7"'. On the other side we find Drekka in a darker mood, with more ominous drones playing centre field and sunken below the surface there are the insects outside (but recorded through a wall). Drekka marks his territory with a clear start and a clear stop, and as such defines it also a 'song', but unlike Remst8 this could have been much longer as far as I was concerned and span the length of a 10". I am not complaining! Both pieces make up for a lovely 7".

- Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #1125, Netherlands, MAR 2018

V/A "Quadrature" (C-44)  (UNDER MY BED RECORDINGS, 2017)

This is the 50th release by Under My Bed Recordings and for this little celebration they gathered four people together, each delivering ten minutes of music. The title, so I read, "stems from a common detection technique of an electrical waveform, in which a contributed signal which is in phase, orthogonally can be separated and monitored simultaneously". Right. All of these musicians have found earlier on their work reviewed in these pages, some more than others. In some way or another all four of them play music that can be stamped with the words 'atmospheric' or 'drone'. Drekka for instance keeps his drones to the background, mainly hiss, field recordings of wind and such like, but on top plays around with sparse piano tones. It is not exactly standard drone music, but nevertheless highly atmospheric. Simon Balestrazzi, of Tomografia Assiale Computerizzata fame, opts for more radical, digital buzz in your ear, but over the course of ten minutes there is a lot going on; again field recordings, of course I'd say, but also the plucking of guitar strings and that seems to me the instruments Attilio Novellino uses more extremely in his opening piece, along with rhythm, bowed strings and much use of sound effects. It links perfectly with the second piece on the second side, by Ennio Mazzon (one half of Zbeen; his favourite colour is #e628ab. Good to know, of course) which seems devoid of any instruments that we can recognize and quite the heavy slab of computer noise. In it's own way atmospheric but you need to be a bit spiked for it, I guess.

- Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #1120, Netherlands, FEB 2018

DREKKA "Sleep Patterns of The Discontent" (C-50)  (BLUESANCT, 2017)
DREKKA "There is no silence left" (C-57)  (BLUESANCT, 2017)

Here we have two new releases of Michael Anderson's Drekka project; one is filled with thirteen old pieces, scattered around the world since 1996 and now collected together and the other is with new music. That's where I started, mainly because it comes in a nice matte black box, including a button, insert and a chapbook by Mark Trecka, of poetic portraits of artists "who may or may not be or have been discontent; unsatisfied with their own personal situation or their own personal feelings about the world"; Jhonn Balance being one of them. The music was commissioned by Blackened Disco and previously released online, but now comes as a fifty-minute piece on a single side of the cassette, with the same thing again on the second. With such a length I'd say it's not a problem to keep it on repeat, providing that is your thing. Anderson calls this a 'non-linear ambient industrial mix' and while I think it is more ambient than industrial, I can also see what Anderson means with that. The music fits the overall drone approach that Drekka is known for, but perhaps it is all bit more drone here than on some of their/his (it does involve other musicians from time to time) other releases; everything is spaced out to the max and filled with tons of sound effects, reverb, delay, chorus and just very occasionally one recognizes a bit of music leaking through or some spoken word (by Anderson? Trecka? I'm not sure). There might be a bunch of guitar sounds used here, along with field recordings and the whole thing is best enjoyed here when played a lower volume and indeed on repeat. Very relaxing and yet always a fine dirty edge to prevent the listener from falling asleep.

Of an entirely different nature are the thirteen pieces on 'There Is No Silence Left', which Anderson recorded between 1996 and 2012. Some of these pieces are remixes of Racebannon, Loveliescrushing, Soul Junk while others are just 'rarely heard'. As such this compilation bounces around with various textures and moods and shows the many musical faces Drekka (or perhaps Anderson) can have, or did have over the years. There is a bit of rhythm in 'Spartan Dub' (but never seems to properly start up), noisy ends, and dream pop singing in the 4K mix of Area 101, or a bit of shoegazing noise (of course with the Loveliescrushing remix). From the insert it is not always to guess what is what, and who is the remixer but it offers a great variety of musical interests. It is like tapping into a radio station playing some random weird music; a radio station where the more curiously open-minded listeners keep hanging around simply because you have no idea what comes next. This is easily a release that could be of interest for those who want to discover Drekka, as it covers a wide area of interests, but also for die-hard fans to fill in gaps in their collection. I'd say start you evening of Drekka entertainment with this one and then after some time move over to 'Sleep Patterns Of The Discontent' for some ultimate relaxing.

- Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #1095, Netherlands, AUG 2017

DREKKA REWORKS ANNELIES MONSERÉ "Verjaardag"  LP  (BLUESANCT / RED FROST INDUSTRIES, 2016)

So far I hadn't encountered the 'Bluesanct Art Vinyl Series' LPs: these are a basically a one-sided LP with a screen print on the other side of the vinyl, in a full colour sleeve and insert. Now you know me, I hardly complain about artwork, and I like to think 'music first'; usually when I say something about a cover, it is to express that it is unclear or ugly. This however is a beautiful record sleeve/project, but the beauty of the project means also we loose one side of the record, meaning twenty minutes of music. Over the years I reviewed some of the dream pop by Belgium singer/guitarist Annelies Monsere and all of the seven songs on this record are from her hand and appear on 'Marit' (see Vital Weekly 699), but all of these receive an extensive treatment by Drekka, also known as Michael Anderson, with whom Monsere worked a lot in the last ten years. Originally these pieces were recorded as birthday gifts from him to her, hence the title 'Verjaardag', the Dutch word for birthday; well, Flemish too, as Monsere is from Belgium. From the 'Marit' album, which was a collaboration with people like Jessica Bailiff, Nathan Amundsen, Ellen Evers, the Vollmar-brothers and Anderson himself, but he now takes all the material apart and into a world of great solitude.

All of this is very dreamy; not just the voice of Monsere, but also the stripped down instruments. Some sparse piano notes swirl in, a lonesome cello, and a bit of electronics to add some wind sounds or, in 'Common Ground' a bit of field recordings/hiss/drones. It is all very spacious, quiet and heavenly. Think Kate Bush, or perhaps the introspection of the new Radiohead, but frankly: this sounds so much better. There is lots of wide open space here, everything is breathing and this is just perfect; perfect save for the fact that I feel I only have half the music � who stole the other twenty minutes? (Insert smiley here)

- Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #1032, Netherlands, MAY 2016

FUNKHOUSER REWORKS DREKKA "Within the Realm of The Unknown"  (C-32)  (NO!, 2016)

As far as I understand Drekka, the musical project of Michael Anderson, handed out the source material for their 'Unbeknownst To The Participants At Hand' LP (see for a review of that LP Vital Weekly 1004) to a bunch of people with the question to rework it, and Rob Funkhouser (is that his real name I wondered) is the first one to be done with his mix. The LP is all about 'electronic sound, electro-acoustic mayhem and a bit of collage techniques from the world of musique concrete' as I described it in the review, but Funkhouser takes the material back into the world of drone/atmosphere/dark ambient music through the use of computer processing. Something of the lo-fi sound that is also part of the Drekka sound, but Funkhouser takes it all a bit further into the realm of amplifying the lowest sounds he could find in the Drekka material and adding a variety of effects to that. It does not necessarily pushes Drekka's music into something you haven't heard before, but true fans of the band may surely dig this too. I sincerely hope that someone pulls Drekka's music and comes up with a steamy dance mix!

- Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #1028, Netherlands, APR 2016

DREKKA "Unbeknownst to The Participants at Hand"  LP  (DAIS, 2015)

From the busy bee that is Michael Anderson, otherwise known as Drekka, or part of Dry Socket, as well as running Bluesanct label, and Orphanology as it's sub division, comes another LP for Dais Records from New York/Los Angeles, and once again Drekka delves the archives to find stuff that is in the archive. In this case a recording from October 2014, quite fresh I think, which Anderson did in Italy, together with Annelies Monseré on vocals. Anderson also takes credit for voice and 'else', by which I think it means all the rest of the sounds. Monseré's vocals were taped earlier on and in his concerts Anderson uses tapes to play along. The label links this piece to Nurse With Wound, which is perhaps not something I easily hear. There are humming voices, spread out in thick layers over the sonic palette, and there's the rummaging of objects upon contact microphones. All of this with quite a bit of reverb to add to the atmosphere. Quite an unsettling piece of music, but alike Nurse With Wound? That's perhaps a bit too far fetched. On the other side there is (more or less) the title piece, but then fully named: 'The Work In Question Is Unbeknownst To The Participants At Hand', in which, if I understood correctly Anderson uses a whole bunch of sounds from people, with whom he worked over the years and crafted this into a piece of electronic sound, electro-acoustic mayhem and a bit of collage techniques from the world of musique concrete. Perhaps this side owes more to the early sound world of the Nurse, with its on-going, somewhat piercing electronics (all rather lo-fi drones), recordings of what could be a drum kit, and feedback. Spread out over the side of a record, just like Nurse With Wound did in the early days, I can more easily see that connection. This is a very vibrant piece of music that Drekka plays here, using a variety of apparently non-connected sounds, melted together to make an excellent piece of electronic music. For me the B-side is the winner, but the A-side with its wrapped choir sounds is not bad either. Another gorgeous dark and spacious slab of vinyl by Drekka!

- Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #1004, Netherlands, OCT 2015

RONJA'S CHRISTMAS WITCH  CDR  (ORPHANOLOGY, 2014)
DREKKA "Don't make the drugs live to regret this"  (C-26)  (DAIS, 2014)

Michael Anderson and friends is Drekka, always busy touring or playing concerts, it seems has probably more music under his belt than I will ever discover. So, occasionally I get something new, and here's a thirty-two minute EP recorded in Iceland, a few months back. Already dark enough over there to start thinking about Christmas, as Silber Records asked them for a download only with the idea of that season in mind. The results are also available as a highly limited CDR on the bands own 'Orphanology' label. Twelve pieces, from a handful of seconds to almost nine minutes, there is a bit of field recordings in here, which have a lot of guitar and electronic sounds, along with whatever field recordings were used in this. This is Drekka at their finest ambient rock/post rock incarnation. Lots of spacious stuff flying about in this dark days, but I wonder where the component Christmas fits into this, other than perhaps some more desolate playing, but hey, that can be done anytime and anywhere. It's a fine release with some highly atmospheric tunes and textures and given the fact that the rain pours down today, just before Christmas; this is probably the right bunch of tunes for the right time indeed.

As said Drekka play a lot live and their Christmas EP was recorded in Iceland while on their 'Don't Make The Drugs Live To Regret This' tour, which also went over the USA and maybe even Europe. Since much of their music is generated through improvisational means and via rehearsed songs, everything is recorded and a tour document is assembled by using these recordings to create something new, most likely by creating a collage of these recordings. It's probably not very likely to say: oh this bit they played in my town. Everything is source material for something new. I have a feeling this cassette deals with some of the more experimental music of Drekka. Nicely obscured sounds from playing around with contact microphones, vocalisations from humming around and spacious yet lo-fi electronics. This is away from the constructed songs I just heard on the CDR or some of their earlier, perhaps also less rock like. Drekka remains something of an unclassifiable musical act, and that's a great thing.

- Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #961, Netherlands, DEC 2014

DRY SOCKET "Violator EP"  (C-23)  (NO!, 2014)

Michael Anderson you may now for his work as Drekka, here he is one half of Dry Socket, together Dylan Ettinger. They are from Bloomington and played a couple of secret live shows and a demo in 2011, which I believe is now reworked for into this release 'Violator'. They sound like good ol' industrial music, right from the very start. The B-side with its metallic percussion maybe Z'EV, Neubauten or SPK, while the more electronic first side it's all a bit more Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire. Four lengthy pieces of noise, rhythm, vocals - all through a bunch of sound effects for extra gritty textures. I love it! It made me wanna shout along, and go down in the basement and try this myself. It sounds very old fashioned and normally that's not a recommendation I guess, but here it works wonderfully well. Long live those new small synths!

- Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #937, Netherlands, JUN 2014

DREKKA "Ekki gera fikniefnum,"  LP  (DAIS, 2014)

Music by Michael Anderson's project has been reviewed a few times (Vital Weekly 705, 868 and 888 for instance), but it has been around for much longer, since 1986 to be precise. It's not something that I easily can make my mind up about. On the oldest release I know, 'Collected Works Volume One' (Vital Weekly 705) I heard some drone like music, with a bit of vocals. A bit folk noir, shoegazing like, perhaps. On the more recent works it all was a bit more experimental, with electronics, field recordings and a bit noisy. The recordings on this album are from a couple of years ago, 2009-2010, partly recorded on the road in Belgium and Bloomington and in a studio in Reykjavik. That piece was from a 3"CDR in an edition of 20 copies, for his Iceland tour; Iceland is not that big it seems. The piece from Belgium contains the singing of Annelies Monsere. So far the facts. The five pieces are all quite moody and textured, loaded with lots of guitar sounds, electronics and maybe, just maybe bits of field recordings and Monsere's carefully singing/chanting. There is an interesting psychedelic element to the music, of a sustaining nature. It seems as things go on and on, but it never gets to a point of being boring. One keeps on playing this and hearing new configurations move forward or backward. The drum machine of 'Tarwestraat 52' ticking away with a nocturnal hum around it is a great piece. This is all rather informal music with all the 'mistakes' carefully left rather that meticulously edited out. This makes this record rather warm and human and an excellent one at that. I know Drekka is in Europe from time to time - next time I should not miss out on it.

- Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #926, Netherlands, APR 2014

V/A "NO!"  (C-64)  (NO!, 2014)

Just the word 'No!' on the cover of this release and inside the box a card with a code to download it, so you can see on the website who's on here. It is inspired by "classic industrial compilations such as The Elephant Table Album or Rising From The Red Sand, No! was created to be an album, not just a 'sampler'. Each track was commissioned especially for this release, and each song complements the others in tone, length and style". Bold statements! Those two classic compilations happen to be favourites of mine, so I know what this label is talking about. But as a young boy, playing these classics, I would glance over and over on the cover to make sure I knew exactly who did what here, but on 'No!' this is not possible. There is nothing to glance at and that's a pity. This sixty-four minute cassette has a total of six pieces, which makes it more 'Red Sand' than 'Elephant Table'; on the latter was more down to pop lengths, but both compilations introduced more artists also. The six projects here are all from the Bloomington area, and I recognized Bluesanct artists Drekka and John Flannelly, both of whom I reviewed before. Other people included are Noon, Canid, Assimilation and Agakus. It's not easy to tell who did what piece - maybe another difference with those two classics. Then it was 'easier' to say who did what, even on cassette (in the case of 'Rising From The Red Sand', the other was a double LP), because the pieces were all quite different. Here it's more along similar lines: all a bit ambient with varying shades of grey/white/black with a varying amount of drones and other sounds, such as rhythm in the live piece by Asssimilation. It's a fine tape - don't get me wrong here, no classic, but a fine tape - and one that works well. One of the reasons the other ones became classics (over time) is that those were great compilations in a vast ocean of mediocre compilations with great songs that immediately stuck inside your head, and the next time you played it, you knew what was coming - almost like a sing-along. That is not the case here. Hardly a problem I figured. If I'm wrong, I am wrong and we'll see a double LP in 25 years of this. I here by volunteer to write the liner notes.

- Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #921, Netherlands, MAR 2014

DREKKA <--> ASSIMILATION  (C-42)  (RED FROST INDUSTRIES / NO!, 2014)

It's not entirely clear how the installation worked, but Drekka set up microphones and contact microphones in a closet in a bed room, and the whole action was taped through airvents. People could lie on the bed for a whole and sometimes you could hear other bands performing through this system. This is one of those cases in which seeing is believing I guess. On side A we have the performance by Drekka in a rework by Assimilation and vice versa on the other side. The music on side A is one soundscape of an highly obscured nature. It takes a while before one hears something and then for a while it's just the ambient sound of airvents. But then all of sudden something arises and we have some interesting interplay of feedback like sounds, fed through a couple of sound effects, but the odd playback provides another element of alienation. Something similar we find on the other side but even perhaps more obscure, for a longer period of time. Here too sounds are away, from a distance, even when the sound effects finally drop in. Maybe the fact that this is on cassette helps further blurring the sound and normally I would maybe say something about that ('wouldn't it be great if this was on CDR?'), but here it actually is to the benefit of the rather obscure sounds that make up the music. Wonderfully great stuff.

- Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #888, Netherlands, JUN 2013

FRANS DE WAARD "One Day I Got A Four Track Tape And Decided To Do My Own Mix"  CDR  (ORPHANOLOGY, 2013)

How fast can you create a release? Sometimes you do not had think about it and just let it happen and inspired by the moment there is. Frans de Waard wrote a review on the tape 'ENANTIOBIOSIS 1' which was released by Bob Heaven's tape. The tape was created to be played on a four track machine rather than a conventional cassette player and contained music by Drekka, Lather, Charnel House and Kyle Willey. The tape itself is an invitation to get started with the compositions to mix them in a four-track tape deck.

A few days later went Frans de Waard with the tape to his studio Geluidswerkplaats Extrapool and worked with two different four track machines (one regular speed, one double speed), a mixer and some sound effects. The spontaneous recordings resulted in nine songs which were released in al limited edition of 23 CD-Rs and are part of the series of Orphanology Bluesanct.

The untitled songs vary in mood and structure. The short numbers less than 15 seconds are surprisingly structured and within no time, the musical point has been made. Only some noise and a tone and the composition is ready. Pure sound art in a nutshell. Some songs have an abstract ambient atmosphere, others are more noise relates, such as Untitled V, which is an intense track with an ever ongoing multi-layered soundwave and with minimal changes.

The last track is a potpourri of more experimental music layers. The power of "One Day I Got A Four Track Tape And Decided To Do My Own Mix" is in the threatening atmosphere of the tracks, which occasionally alternating with the ultra short tracks. The various layers within the music makes this album adventurous and pleasing to the ear.

- Jan Kees Helms, VITAL WEEKLY #870, Netherlands, FEB 2013

FRANS DE WAARD "One Day I Got A Four Track Tape And Decided To Do My Own Mix"  CDR  (ORPHANOLOGY, 2013)

Hoe snel kan het gaan om een muzikale uitgave samen te stellen? Soms moet je er niet over nadenken en het gewoon laten gebeuren en je laten inspireren door het moment daar. Frans de Waard schreef een recensie van Enantiobiosis 1, welke is uitgebracht door Bob Heaven�s tape. Deze tape, die vier tracks van 15 minuten bevat, samengesteld door Drekka, Lather, Charnel House en Kyle Willey, nodigt je uit om er zelf mee aan de slag te gaan en de composities te mixen met een viersporen-cassettedeck.

Zo gezegd, zo gedaan. Een paar dagen later dook Frans de Waard, maker van experimentele elektronische muziek, met deze tape de Geluidwerkplaats Extrapool in. De spontane opnames, samengesteld met twee tapedecks, een mixer en wat geluidseffecten, hebben geleid tot negen nieuwe nummers die zijn uitgebracht op 23 cd-r�s. Ze maken deel uit van de Orphanology-serie van Bluesanct en zijn inmiddels uitverkocht, maar de nummers zijn nog wel te downloaden.

De titelloze werkjes vari�ren in sfeer en opbouw. De korte nummers van nog geen 15 seconden verrassen qua opbouw. Binnen no-time heeft De Waard zijn punt gemaakt. Enkel wat ruis en een toon, en klaar is de compositie. Pure geluidskunst in een notendop. Sommige nummers hebben een abstracte ambient sfeer, anderen zijn meer noise gerelateerd, zoals Untitled V, een intens nummer met een almaar doorgaande geluidslaag en minimale veranderingen.

De laatste tracks resulteren in een potpourri van meerdere experimentele muzieklagen. De kracht van One Day I Got A Four Track Tape And Decided To Do My Own Mix zit �m in de dreigende sfeer van de tracks, die zo nu en dan wordt afgewisseld door ultra-korte nummers. De diverse lagen van de muziek maakt de cd-r avontuurlijk, een lust voor het oor.

- Jan Kees Helms, RAVAGE WEBZINE, Netherlands, FEB 2013

4K VS FANNY "4KvF1 EP"  3" BUSINESS CARD CDR  (SELF-RELEASED, 2012)
DREKKA G HELGI MORTAL KOMBAT "DgHMK EP"  3" BUSINESS CARD CDR  (SELF-RELEASED, 2013)

Michael Anderson aka Drekka lives and works in Reykjavik - Iceland and started at the end of 2012 a new project. He set up shows and collaborate with artists he hasn't worked yet. They met each other one week before the show and started to work out an idea of the show. The rehearsals are recorded and parts of it will be released in a small edition of 3" CD-R's. The first collaboration was with 4K, a so called evil twin of Drekka. The business card contains only three minutes, but a digital download gives you more insight of their collaboration. The music is meditative and is created by a repetitive small melody and disturbed by screams, harsh noises and more. The wall of sound increases more and more and the speed turns up. The live show was played at 6 December 2012 at The Ream.

The second collaboration Drekka did with Helgi Mortal Combat and they did a in-store show at 12 Tonar record store in Reykjavik. Helgi is a kid living in the suburbs of Reykjavik and plays with toys and Casio instruments. The mix between field-recordings, dark electronics, fresh clicks and a ongoing melody which is based on a Icelandic lullaby. The mix between ordinary sounds recorded in the house, raw recordings, dark sound waves and a distorted lullaby gives surrealistic atmosphere. The second recording at this 3" is more based on rhythm and I guess the basic-instruments are gun toys. The repetition of loading guns, electronic gun power and electronics creates childish dark warfare. It is a pity that the composition ends with a ordinary song which has been edited. The duo has strength enough to create another final of this composition. The first track ends with an traditional lullaby played on a programmable music box. Something like that would be nice too. Anyway? I am looking forward to the next collaborations, but the recordings are very adventurous.

- JHK, VITAL WEEKLY #868, Netherlands, FEB 2013

DREKKA "Collected Works - Volume 1" 2CD  (MORC, 2009)

(three guys, listening to new records and rambling about them)

Piet: Now we're at a career listings ... I've seen Drekka perform live somewhere in a basement in Antwerp. I thought it was nifty.
Kenny: Aja, wio was also very good.

After a few songs ...

Kenny: That sounds like My Bloody Valentine and Dead C.
Hoste: But no!
Piet: Well recorded. Sound wise.

A few songs later ...

Kenny & Hoste: Well done, isn't it?
Hoste: Three stars!
Piet: Very nicely reissued, with the booklet and everything
Kenny: Cool!

- RIUS, Netherlands, JAN 2010

DREKKA "Collected Works - Volume 1" 2CD  (MORC, 2009)

Although Michael Anderson runs his own record label (Bluesanct), he chooses to release the music he releases as Drekka (icelandic for 'drinking') every now and then on other european labels. As such, this compilation "Collected Works Vol 1" came out on the Belgian Morc-label.

It's quite correct to call this a compilation. collected works consists of the full version fo the first two cassette albums he pt out in 1996 on a small scale. Those cassettes have been sold out for ages (and besides that: who still buys tapes these days?) and that justifies this release. Those who developed a love for drone music later on can now also obtain these ghostly releases. And those who like to trade in the tapes for cds get a few outtakes in returns.

Seen this release is put out on a small scale as well (250 copies) this stuff will be sold out soon. Anderson mixes on collected works some long stretched soundscapes in which he often uses environmental sounds with lofi acoustic tracks that evocate the same feeling.

If I got it right, these two tapes and the outtakes were recorded when Anderson moved from rural america to boston. You can hear that on the more dark sounds of the second tape and noisy enviromental sounds that is waving along.

I only noticed later on that the tracks on collected works sounds a lot less like glitchy, cold laptopdrones than what you hear these days. The sound is a lot more natural (analog if you wish) and as a listener, it feels more pleasant than the more recent potpourri of drones.

- FILE UNDER, Netherlands, JAN 2010  [IN DUTCH]

DREKKA "Collected Works - Volume 1" 2CD  (MORC, 2009)

Someone sent last week's issue as a reply back to me, saying he never heard of any of the artists featured. Which I guess is good. Download the podcast and find out, I'd say. It also proofs there is some much music out there that deserves to be heard and that I never heard of.

Drekka for instance, the project of one Micheal Anderson, has been around 1986 (though since 1996 as DRekka) and now gets a collected works release, which are basically his first two cassettes and some assorted other work from his earliest days as Drekka. Morc Records says that if you like folk, shoegaze, drones and/or minimal songwriting this is thre right place. Actually I do like some of that, to some extent or another. And seeing that this is my first introduction to his music, from his earliest days, a good place to start.

Although two discs is a lot of music to take on at once, I must say I m quite pleased with the music. Drone like is the best word to describe this, but played in a lo-fi manner, with a nice emphasis on the guitar and field recordings. Quite raw at times, but never noise based. Maybe its all a bit much with twenty-two tracks, of which some are quite lengthy, but the counterpoint lies in using occasional vocals here and there. Not in all tracks, and not always throughout. Those pieces are not always what I like, say the 'minimal song writing' thing, but here it works quite well. It prevents the CD from being too much of the same thing, which is always good thing.

Nice moody, textured music, with nice rough edges to it. Lo-fi drone noise music. Great introduction.

- Frans de Waard, VITAL WEEKLY #705, Netherlands, NOV 2009

DREKKA "Collected Works - Volume 1" 2CD  (MORC, 2009)

with his experimental-folk band drekka, michael anderson gained his own place in between windy and carl, labradford and balck forest/black sea for 13 years now. morc now collects drekkas very first releases - including the impossible to find tapes grieve and windowframe/hermitage one - on an impressive double cd that shows how it all started. as to be expected from anderson, his first recordings are also very intense and lofi, full of fragile melodies that get blown away by the reverb and the echos. the livingroom-athmosphere throughout the two discs only makes it more intimate.

this is not to be missed by the fans, but this is also a damned strong recommendation for all those that want to get to know the quiet beauty that drekka is.

- RIF RAF MAGAZINE, Belgium, NOV 2009

DREKKA "Collected Works - Volume 1" 2CD  (MORC, 2009)

Drekka is het hoofdproject van Michael Anderson, labelbaas van Bluesanct (Cindytalk, Pantaleimon, Black Forest / Black Sea, In Gowan Ring,...), en dit al sinds 1996. In tussentijd heeft Anderson met Drekka al de halve bol afgereisd en bracht hij albums uit waarvan de kwaliteit wisselend is (wat bv. ook voor een Nurse With Wound op kan gaan). Het laatste album, 'Extractioning', kon hier op een niet zo enthousiaste recensie rekenen. Van deze compilatie door het Gentse Morc zijn we al iets beter te spreken. Het betreft een bundelen van zijn eerste twee cassette-albums als 2CD. Het verschil in benadering documenteert ook de verhuis van Anderson van de amerikaanse buiten naar de grootstad. Goed om onyhouden wanneer je weet dat Michael veel gebruik maakt van al dan niet vooraf opgenomen omgevingsgeluiden. Voor mezelf heb ik het minder voor zijn minisongs, begeleid op een akoestische gitaar. Dat doen anderen beter en geloofwaardiger. Gelukkig worden we hier en daar ook gul getracteerd op goede dronetracks e.d. . Hoe de man het binnenkort in Gent vanaf gaat brengen (informeer u tijdig op de Morc-site!) weet ik niet, maar dit oudere materiaal ligt me duidelijk meer dan ander materiaal dat ik al van Drekka gehoord had!

De 2CD komt in een papieren hoes met een bijgevoegd minischriftje met teksten en artwork. 250 exemplaren, op = op!!

7/10

- Jan Denolet, DARK ENTRIES, Belgium, NOV 2009 [ORIGINAL DUTCH]

DREKKA "Collected Works - Volume 1" 2CD  (MORC, 2009)

Drekka is the main project of michael anderson, the label boss of bluesant (cindytalk, pantaleimon, bf/bs, in gowan ring), since 1996. in the meantime, anderson travelled half our globe as drekka, and released albums that varied in quality (which also goes for eg nurse with wound). we weren't that enthousiast about his last record extractioning here. but we have a better feeling about this compilation on the ghent label morc.

This is a compilation of his first two tape-releases as a double cd. the difference in approach also documents anerson moving from the countryside to the city. that's good to keep in mind, knowing that anderson often incorporates live or pre-recorded environmental sounds.

For me, his minisongs, played on electric guitar, don't work that well. other people do this better and more credible.

Fortunately, we're also generously provided of excellent dronetracks etc. how the man will put up during his show in ghent (inform yourself on the morc-website!), i dont know, but i definately like this older stuff better than the other things i heard by drekka!

The 2cd comes in a paper sleeve with a mini-booklet with lyrics and artwork. 250 copies, gone = gone!

7/10

- Jan Denolet, DARK ENTRIES, Belgium, NOV 2009 [ENGLISH TRANSLATION]

DREKKA "Collected Works - Volume 1" 2CD  (MORC, 2009)

This is a really strange underground esoteric release...so be forewarned if you're not into this kinda stuff (!!!). Drekka is the (mainly) one man band consisting of Michael Anderson. This double CD set contains material that Anderson recorded in 1996...most of which was originally released on the underground cassettes Grieve and Windowframe EP / Hermitage One EP (although there are some additional tracks added that were recorded during the same time period). So...what do we have here...? These are the recordings of a man who has virtually no interest whatsoever in creating commercial music. In many ways these sound like sound ideas, fragments, or loose demos that were never intended to be heard. And that is probably what makes them unique. In a world where everyone is producing and layering everything to death, these simple spontaneous recordings certainly sound wildly out of place. Many of the songs sound like they were recorded in a different room while various atmospheric sounds are just as prominent as the songs themselves. Hazy, peculiar, distant, and strangely person...Collected Works Volume One is a very unusual dose of underground medicine.

- BABY SUE, USA, DEC 2009

DREKKA "Collected Works - Volume 1" 2CD  (MORC, 2009)

Questo disco di Michael Anderson in arte Drekka può essere inserito tra le uscite della nuova ondata di musicisti ambient folk, in cui primeggia a fianco di Grouper.

In realtà si tratta della raccolta delle prime registrazioni, rimasterizzata ed edita in occasione del tour europeo per la belga Morc, materiale che ha anche più di vent'anni ma assolutamente non li dimostra.

La bellezza e la qualità dei pezzi è molto alta per essere quella di un esordio e non si manifestano cadute in oltre due ore di musica.

Al primo ascolto arrivano tante idee difficili da elaborare tutte assieme, quantità e qualità. Pian piano si entra nel mondo di Drekka: distese di suoni minimali, rumori, loop industriali e canzoni folk sospese nel vuoto. Dalla nebbia a volte spunta una chitarra. I pezzi si fondono in un grande continuum com'erano concepiti nell'edizione originale, nei CD sono ora divisi in tracce e con titoli neutri ma si lasciano andare ascoltare come se fossero il corpo unico delle cassette uscite in origine.

Musica intensa, ipnotizza e ci si lascia affondare. Polvere di suoni che si accartocciano, si distendono per creare paesaggi; a volte attraversati da un' ombra con la chitarra che canta e suona canzoni folk minimali. Altre volte sono canzoni scurissime che si perdono in una distesa di suoni concreti.

Il tema di Window si ripete sia nelle tracce dall'EP "Windowframe" sia nelle altri EP, come ad unire insieme le uscite e dare un senso di unità a questa raccolta.

Musica da ascoltare a notte fonda, chiudendo gli occhi ci si immagina in case semiabbandonate e vuote, fuori pioggia, noi dentro soli e senza fuoco a scaldarci.

Disco da sentire e risentire.
Per scoprirlo invece dal vivo tour sarà in tour in Italia a novembre.

- Mr. Bedroom, SANDS ZINE, Italy, NOV 2009 [ORIGINAL ITALIAN]

DREKKA "Collected Works - Volume 1" 2CD  (MORC, 2009)

This record by Michael Anderson aka Drekka can be inserted among the releases of the new wave of ambient folk musicians, in which he excels alongside Grouper.

It is, in fact, a collection of Drekka's first recordings, remastered and edited on the occasion of the European tour for the Belgian [label] Morc, material that is more than twenty years old but absolutely does not look it.

The beauty and quality of the pieces is very high to be that of a debut and there are no falls in more than two hours of music.

At first listening there are many ideas that are difficult to elaborate all together, quantity and quality. Slowly you enter the world of Drekka: expanses of minimal sounds, noises, industrial loops and folk songs suspended in the void. Sometimes a guitar pops out of the fog. The pieces merge into a large continuum as they were conceived in the original edition, in the CDs they are now divided into tracks and with neutral titles but they let themselves be listened to as if they were the single body of the originally released cassettes.

Intense music, hypnotizes and lets us sink. Dust of sounds that curl up, stretch out to create landscapes; sometimes crossed by a shadow with a guitar that sings and plays minimal folk songs. Other times they are very dark songs that are lost in an expanse of concrete sounds.

The theme of Window is repeated both in the tracks from the "Windowframe" EP and in the other EPs, as if to tie the releases together and give a sense of unity to this collection.

Music to listen to late at night, closing your eyes you imagine yourself in semi-abandoned and empty houses, outside the rain, us inside alone and without a fire to warm us up.

Discs to hear and hear again.
Drekka will be on tour in Italy in November.

- Mr. Bedroom, SANDS ZINE, Italy, NOV 2009 [ENGLISH TRANSLATION]

DREKKA "Extractioning" CD  (BLUESANCT, 2005)

Drekka is het project van Bluesanct-chief Michael Anderson. Met Drekka geeft hij eigenlijk een voorbeeld van waar het label Bluesanct eigenlijk voor staat: een bonte mengelmoes van compromisloze non-commerciële manieren om met het woord 'song' aan de slag te gaan. Niet bepaald voor één gat te vangen, dus. Een geïnspireerde muziekjournalist omschreef het ooit als 'Nurse With Wound producing Leonard Cohen'. Zover wil ik zelf niet gaan �beide namen zijn nogal heilig 'chez moi'- , maar je kan Bluesanct, en in het verlengde daarvan Drekka, op z'n minst merkwaardig noemen.

De oorspronkelijke bedoeling van Drekka is om de gedachten en droomwereld van Michael Anderson zoveel mogelijk te kunnen vangen op een muzikale manier. De vertaling van datgene wat zich in zijn hoofd afspeelt, zeg maar... Het resultaat klinkt nogal low-fi, wat soms intrigeert - eerste 3 nummers en 'Psalm 99' - maar soms ook irriteert. Zo is 'possibilities' een té goedkoop doorslagje van een melodie uit Curent 93's 'Soft Black Stars'. Dan is de cover van Catpower's 'What would the community think?' toch beter. Ook 'Color Red' is een meer geslaagd nummer, met zijn zweem naar Bo Hansson (Zweedse toetsenist uit de psychedelische jaren 60) op distortion, gelaagd over een mij bekend ritme dat ik maar niet thuis kan brengen. Als meer waarschijnlijke inspiratie mogen we zowel Coil als Current 93 en Flying Saucer Attack noemen. Drekka en Bluesanct heeft de moeite genomen om deze oude release � op cassette in 1998 - op CD uit te brengen. U mag de moeite nemen om uit de voorradige 35 minuten het 'onkruid' te wieden.

5/10

- Jan Denolet, DARK ENTRIES, Belgium, NOV 2008 [ORIGINAL DUTCH]

DREKKA "Extractioning" CD  (BLUESANCT, 2005)

Drekka is the project of Bluesanct chief Michael Anderson. With Drekka he actually gives a good example of what the Bluesanct label stands for: a colorful mishmash of uncompromising non-commercial ways of working around the word 'song'. Not so easy to pin down to one genre. An inspired music journalist once described it as 'Nurse With Wound producing Leonard Cohen'. I wouldn't go that far � both names are quite sacred to me - but you can at least call Bluesanct, and by extension Drekka, remarkable.

Drekka's original intention is to capture the thoughts and dreams of Michael Anderson as much as possible in a musical way. The translation of what goes on in his head, so to speak... The result sounds rather lo-fi, which is sometimes intriguing - first 3 songs and 'Psalm 99' - but sometimes also irritating. For example, 'Possibilities' is a cheap carbon copy of a melody from Current 93's 'Soft Black Stars'. The cover of Cat Power's 'What would the community think?' is a lot better, though. 'dedoC roloC' is also a more successful song, with its hint of Bo Hansson (Swedish keyboard player from the psychedelic 60's) on distortion, layered over a familiar rhythm that I can't quite place. As more likely inspiration we can mention Coil, as well as Current 93 and Flying Saucer Attack. Drekka and Bluesanct took the effort to re-issue this old tape - on cassette in 1998 - on CD. You should do the effort to remove the weeds from this 35 minutes long record.

5/10

- Jan Denolet, DARK ENTRIES, Belgium, NOV 2008 [ENGLISH TRANSLATION]

DREKKA "Take Care To Fall" CD  (BLUESANCT, 2002)

You would think that after years of working behind the scenes with the likes of Low, Rivulets, The Iditarod, and The Pilot Ships as the head of BlueSanct, that Michael Anderson would have a pretty good grasp on this whole experimental, droning folk thing. You would be correct.

I always have a twinge of nervousness when one of the business types of the indie rock world steps up to the mic. Far too often these sorts of projects are ill-conceived, poorly executed, and should never see the light of day (you reading this Brandon Ebel?), but hell, who's going to say "No" to the boss? In Anderson's case, however, it would have been better if people had been slapping him around in an effort to get the thing done faster.

In the works since 1997, "Take Care To Fall" is Anderson's first proper release and is remarkably fully-formed for something that began as some simple four-track experiments with friends. The disc is filled with echoes, hum and room noise, drones, and fragments of sound that are arrayed around Anderson's simple, understated acoustic melodies. Vocals, when used, are placed much as another instrument would be - as one part of a larger whole rather than a focal point. That approach pays off well, particularly with the truly haunting female voice wafting in and out throughout "Fractured".

While Drekka certainly shows the influence of Anderson's label roster, his voice is purely his own. This is no vanity project - Drekka sits quite comfortably alongside the rest of BlueSanct's roster, which is no small feat considering the quality of that label's acts.

- Chris Brown, OPUSZINE, USA, NOV 2003

DREKKA "Take Care To Fall" CD  (BLUESANCT, 2002)

New atmospheres discovered in the corner of the bedroom

Imagine two radio stations separated on the bandwidth by just a hatch mark or two, the first partial to Sonic Youth's "Contre Le Sexisme" and bootlegged outtakes from old Eric's Trip rehearsals, the second streaming the Kranky pick of the month. If you were to get in your car, move the dial right between the two stations, open the windows, and drive straight out of range you'd have the closest approximation of Drekka's "debut" full-length Take Care to Fall I can possibly give. Not just at moments, but in its entirety, it's what you'd imagine such a drive to be like - some bracketed moments of serene, kaleidoscopic beauty, with some long stretches where you'd prefer to pop in any old tape you can find on the floor. In this way, Take Care to Fall is an interesting and often engaging listen, but it's a record that doesn't quite seem to realize when it's onto something good enough to ride it out, or to know when it sounds like sitar and a squeaky door on a bad hangover fast enough to cut bait.

Drekka is essentially the solo project of Michael Anderson, who also heads the very fine Blue Sanct label (home of The Pilot Ships, Iditarod, and others) in Bloomington, Indiana. Take Care to Fall is announced as Anderson's first proper full-length, but his discography is already a completist's nightmare, boasting over a dozen recordings done mostly to tape or CD-R, in pressings of 10 or 25 copies. If that reminds you of tattered catalogs from 'zine distros that may or may not still be in a box of shit in your parents' attic, well, it's actually not a half-bad analogy. Separate from the prolific-by-way-of-tiny-print-runs similarity, there's something about Drekka familiar to me from former days of hoarding and trading folded 8.5" x 11" copy - the best (i.e. Cometbus, Burn Collector) and worst (of which there are thousands too many to name) of 'zines were always united by an aesthetic and approach both slapdash and shyly arrogant, fleeting and meticulously self-aware. Drekka is, and for the most part endearingly, I think, the aural equivalent: a little ragged, a little uncomfortable, a little profound. Listening to Take Care to Fall is a lot like cracking some new zine you traded for - at times you feel a bit prematurely invited to the reading, as if maybe the dough needed just a little more time to rise, or the notion of audience was one that slipped away at some point during the process. But at other times, you discover a sort of bliss at discovering beauty in such a raw and directly channeled form.

In print, Anderson announces his aims as using "simple folk song structures as a medium for recording what they sound like once inside my head," but for the most part these structures are so unraveled on Take Care to Fall that they bear little relation to "folk". In fact, there's much more of what you hear between the end of a folk record's last song and the moment the needle lifts than anything you're likely to hear on the rest of said record. Actually, the accurately titled opener, "Quite Possibly Nothing", is an approximation of this very sound alongside a banal, distant church organ. On later tracks, "songs" do start writing themselves beneath the fractured pastiche, but they're usually hovering around one often dissonant chord, so that if the aural environment they're being tinkered under isn't full enough to transform them, the result is frustrating at best. The redundant "Silent Duty", happening early on, is an early such hurdle, but better things follow. "Fractured" is hauntingly pretty - a repetitive but melodic little guitar line blown gently into acrobatic space by the ghostly whisper of ethereal female vocals. It's like Flying Saucer Attack but gentler: while that band finds epiphany by way of late night TV fuzz, "Fractured" flirts with the same effect by way of dust motes dancing through the bedroom light. "With Faith in Nothing" is a beautifully successful exercise in drone and reverb, and one of the few songs with enough room to adequately stretch out. "I Left Without Saying Goodbye (Je Suis Parti Sans Faire Mes Adieux)" is sublime and subliminal - a melancholic little lullaby enshrouded in a thin fog of slightly sinister noise. And the closing minutes of the final track, "Untitled Filmshoot", are beautifully rendered, with Anderson leading the charge of a marching guitar line and a wheezing something that might be a Brio train whistle or bagpipes punctured by buckshot, with little coughs of "Go!". Moments like these are the record's fullest, but to get to them there's plenty of wading through murk like "No One Knows Your Dog's Name", a grating little ditty where the song's title is chanted over what sounds like a plucked wire wrapped around two rusty nails.

For better or worse, this is Anderson's private universe. With a pair of headphones, an open mind, and an abundance of patience there's beauty and mystery to be culled from this eclectic noisescape, but I can't help but wish that Anderson had tied it all together a bit tighter, because when it's good, it's a pleasure to drift alongside.

- Nathan Hogan, DUSTED MAGAZINE, MAY 2002

DREKKA "Take Care To Fall" CD  (BLUESANCT, 2002)

Experimental lo-fi cassette 4-track feeling songs. A lot feel like sparse demos but they are crafted with noise and treatments into interesting psyche and droney strange concoctions. Male and fem vocs trade off mostly. Nice touches and uses of noise and effects.

1) super minimal rhythmic noise and subdued organ, brief
2) lo-fi guit + vocs w/ subtle noise treatments
3) super reverbed solo guit + distant fem voc, lo-fi sheen
4) super lo-fi guit + vocs, 4-trackish
5) sparse background sounds w/ distant piano and minimal tinkling
6) sounds like a Kodo through a fucked up walkman, some backwards, then it shifts to a not-broken stereo, w/ vocs, minimal
7) hidden microphone type dialog, tv in background
8) minimal acous guit w/ fem lead and background synth/organ
9) slow acous guit, like a build out of previous, male voc
10) ghetto blaster recording of folky acous + singing, mercifully brief
11) minimal guit and sounds build, false ending half way through
12) sparse piano and tones, plucking
13) 3 sec
14) like someone left the tape recorder running, finally someone picks up an acoustic guit and mindlessly noodles, ends after 6 minutes then noise slowly appears, followed by a tuneless take on the death march

- Your Imaginary Friend, KZSU - ZOOKEEPER ONLINE, USA, MAY 2002

DREKKA "Take Care To Fall" CD  (BLUESANCT, 2002)

Drekka has been releasing music since 1995, though not in the traditional fashion, it seems. Songs were released on cassettes, CD-Rs, or the odd 7", and in such limited numbers of copies that it must have been nearly impossible to hear any of them. So now BlueSanct releases Drekka's debut full-length, which contains some new tracks as well as some previously released in limited engagements. Michael Anderson, for all intents and purposes, is Drekka, with occasional guests. Anderson creates "home-fi" music: atmospheric music on four-track recorder with very little substance and yet a lot of weight. Songs are very minimalist, with just a simple guitar or vocal. Sometimes there are no instruments at all, just low voices or clicks. Anderson seems to be possessed by the demons of low quality production for a reason, though: these songs are much more successful because of the limitations of the recording. Every song has its own precious idiosyncrasies, from the movie playing the background of 'An End of Silence (Night Dancing)' to the misplayed guitar part on 'Untitled Filmshoot'. Fourteen tracks in forty-seven minutes makes it a quick listen to, with real disparity in the track lengths (a four second thirteenth track leads into the eight-and-a-half minute album closer). Spooky music to be sure, with strange sounds to raise the hairs on your neck. Will it stand the test of time, though?

- Rob Devlin, BRAINWASHED BRAIN, USA, SEP 2002

DREKKA "Take Care To Fall" CD  (BLUESANCT, 2002)

Bluesanct is on the road for more than five years, walkin through those "music-lands" that goes under the name of apocalyptic-folk, Bluesanct has released, in a very short period of time, a series of "little" (in the sense of unusual and rare) records but with at the same time an incredible fascinatin vibe (In Gowan Ring, Tiltmaster, The Pilot Ships, etc.).

So, it's almost an "event" that M.Anderson, creator of this precious label, has decided to finally show to the people his unusual extravagant music experiment under the name of Drekka. Obscure and enigmatics, the 14 tracks of the album go walking trough a dark and haunting fog, untuned guitars and rhythmic obsessions hints of upside down melodies. Anderson, an allucinated narrator who do nothing to easily fascinate the listener even in the short moment in which one can take a breath (the "ipothesis" of ballads like 'fracture' and 'i left without saying goodbye'), he simply asks to be followed in his world made up of delirious and Barretian visions. Let him do it only if you do not fear the effect of crazyness in music.

(translated from Italian by Michele.)

- writer unknown, MAG UNKNOWN, Italy, date unknown

DREKKA "Take Care To Fall" CD  (BLUESANCT, 2002)

It's a mystery the reason why Drekka, a solo project of M.Anderson, is out with an official full length release just now (and not before), "Take care to fall" is made up of recordings from '97, its a bigger mystery if we know that M.A. is the owner of Bluesanct, the label who put out a very beautiful collection of Low videos and has in its roster In Gowan Ring. Anyway this is a twinkling debut, minimal lo-fi with the deep and perceiving and stinging perfume of the best things of Amp, Flying Saucer Attack and Hood, a debut who swim drunk of feedbacks in 'Silent Duty', who hides it self in the deep intimacy of 'Fractured', who wanders as stoned\untuned in 'No on knowsyour dog's name', who changes itself in a haunting toy music in 'Sickness Subsides', who drown as in moving sands of the paranoid thoughts of 'With faith in Nothing', who has a rest and calm itself in the sighing ballad 'Fracture', who burns with regret in 'I left without saying goodbye', who goes into gosth tunnels in 'And the first time', who is moved by the pain of sorrow in 'Removed (Fracture)'. Take a look at the very important and noble sample of Trust , the voice of Cindytalk took off from the album 'Wappinschaw'.

RATING: 8/10 stars

(translated from Italian by Michele.)

- writer unknown, MAG UNKNOWN, Italy, date unknown

V/A "The Poor Minstrels of Song and the Temple of the Moon: Volume II" CD  (BLUESANCT, 2002)

The second Poor Minstrels compilation features bands who are in every case familiar names to Broken Face readers, since we've interviewed about half of the artists involved, and most of the others have been featured one way or another in these pages before now. No surprise then given our previous coverage that the quality of the contributions remain quite incredible all the way through the disc. Providence's the Iditarod delivers three excellent pieces of ancient folkishness where the Galbraith-esque take on "Blackwaterside" stands out as the most unexpected piece, while the aural meeting of forest and city in "Beech, Birch, Mountain Pine" is possibly the most rewarding one. Norwegian Ring is as charming as ever with his shivery, oddly structured folk pop. Judging by the dark, meandering folk nugget "A Mystery to Us All" former Broken Face cover star Peter Scion seems to have a similar affection to the forest as the Iditarod, while the mid-tempo rocker "Pretty Polly" showcases a somewhat different side, meshing shards of guitar feedback with distorted vocals. Mark Trecka aka Static Films runs Scout Niblett's "Wet Roads" through a blurry tunnel of melancholia, and on the other side we get a sort of lo-fi take on the track. Despite the original's obvious qualities, I'd easily choose this one. Michael Hopkins' one-man project Tinsel continues right where he left us the last we heard from him with more bleak but equally beautiful surrealistic soundscapes. And as if this wasn't enough, we get unique contributions from Timothy Renner, Drekka and Tiltmaster. Wyrd folk? Acid folk? Outsider folk? You can call it whatever you want as long as you give this one a spin.

RATING: 4/5 stars

- Mats Gustafson, BROKEN FACE, Sweden, date unknown

V/A "The Poor Minstrels of Song and the Temple of the Moon: Volume II" CD  (BLUESANCT, 2002)

Samplers are a dodgy breed. Most of them resemble my garden in that a couple of decent, attractive specimens are obscured and choked by weeds. Rest assured however that this collection of exclusive material by the Poor Minstrels conglomerate boasts enough exotic blooms to keep Alan Titchmarsh in raptures for an entire series of 'Gardener's World'. The original Poor Minstrels of Folk tour in 2001 found the unfeasibly industrious Tim Renner's Stonebreath in an 'Experimental Folk Carnival' which took their brand of 'Wyrd' Ancient/Modern Folk music to the good people of the Eastern Seaboard of the USA. A few related tracks are included herein but the bulk of the material on this sampler is provided by the four acts who featured on the follow-up Poor Minstrels 2 tour of Northern Europe in Feb/Mar of 2002. The 'stars' of the show (a concept that's likely anathema to the participants) are probably The Iditarod, a four-piece from Rhode Island, who appear in various guises on no less than five tracks. From the first seconds of the opener 'Beech, Birch, Mountain Pine', it's obvious that they have studied and assimilated the "Witch season Book Of Folk-Rock 1970". Their beguiling harmonies and deft blending of muted electronics with the 'natural' timbres easily avoids the common pitfalls of preciousness, pretension and tweeness. Their take on the Trad. Britfolk warhorse 'Blackwaterside' is utterly bewitching. The other American cast member is Michael Anderson, aka Drekka. His by-line reads "From the suburbs through the city towards the country", and indeed his mixture of acoustic guitar and electronic sound experiments succeed in suggesting a shifting landscape as a backdrop to pieces such as 'Camera' and 'The Song For The End Of The World', an epic album finale on which Drekka conducts a cast of thousands. Well, a dozen. Old friend of PT, Filip 'Ring' Andersen meanwhile beams down from Kristiansand to contribute a couple of his trademark, endearing 'low-fi Garage-Fo1k' songs. Ring's voice always puts me in mind of a Nordic Michael Chapman, which is, of course, no bad thing, but his songs and sound are all his own, even on the uncharacteristic "My Rockabilly Girl". There's a lovely bonus too when Ring is backed by The Iditarod on the gorgeous "Unborne Son". The quartet of Minstrels is completed by Swedish troubadour Peter Scion. Peter weighs in with three typically varied and excellent songs - the Jansch/Pentangle influenced "A Mystery To Us All" (complete with "And Terry will play his glockenspiel" percussion), an almost Heavy Metal makeover for "Pretty Polly" and, perhaps best of all, a compelling, whispered slice of electronic funkiness "Ice-Cube" that frankly, to my ears, has little to do with 'Folk' music at all. They may call themselves Poor Minstrels but this compilation is full of riches.

- writer unknown, PTOLEMAIC TERRASCOPE, UK, 2002

V/A "The Poor Minstrels of Song and the Temple of the Moon: Volume II" CD  (BLUESANCT, 2002)

Segue ad un anno di distanza il suo predecessore, questo nuovo capitolo dei Poveri menestrelli della canzone nato dalla collaborazione della Bluesanct e Secret Eye. Questa volta i nostri musicanti sono: Ring (NOR), Drekka (USA), Peter Scion (SWE) e The iditarod (USA). L'atmosfera che avvolge tutta l'opera è ben riassunta nel disegno di copertina: un cane, un uomo travestito da gatto e due scheletri che suonano, sovrastati della scritta "EXPERIMENTAL FOLK CARNIVAL". Nessuna definizione renderebbe di più! All'interno di questa ricca compilation troverete infatti tutto ciò che vi è di più bizzarro e sperimentale di quel genere che chiamiamo troppo genericamente folk. Niente a che vedere infatti qui con DIJ, o Blood Axis o atmosfere post-belliche post-industrial di europea memoria! Al massimo, potremmo trovare alcune somiglianze con gli In gowan ring più psichedelici... Credo con convinzione che i nomi qui proposti siano poco noti al cosiddetto "grande pubblico apocalittico"... soprattutto in Italia e quindi mi risulta difficile consigliare o meno questo lavoro. Si comincia con un buon pezzo degli Iditarod che unisce arpeggi acustici ed elettrici distorti con i ricami di un violino triste e sommesso mentre una delicata voce femminile (che mi ha ricordato gli Amber asylum) canta con tono pacato; si continua poi con Ring che ci presenta un pezzo ritmato dal forte sapore "folk made in USA" con un cantato un po' particolare. Peter Scion conclude questo piccolo trio iniziale di pezzi folk con un brano che personalmente ho apprezzato molto che racchiude al suo interno forti richiami country con una melodia orecchiabile veramente bella. Ma con Drekka il folk è solo un pretesto poiché le voci ed i suoni sono qui volutamente distorti e contorti ed amplificati creando sperimentazioni ad alta frequenza sonora. Inutile continuare elencando quanto proposto. Se sarete abbastanza coraggiosi per inoltrarvi in questo acido mondo, vi divertirete di più scoprendo voi stessi cosa si cela "oltre". Volendo però citarvi qualche nome, The spectral light &... ci deliziano con uno dei loro pezzi tradizionali davvero ottimo; Ring+The iditarod invece si adoperano nel registrare una grandiosa ballata folk (in senso tradizionale) molto poetica e delicata con una voce un po' particolare ma molto espressiva. Un nota a parte per il pezzo finale dove un'orchestra del grottesco ci tortura con la colonna sonora della fine del mondo dove tutti gli strumenti e suonatori paiono avere un loro preciso compito musicale nel creare una drammatica dis-armonia sonora. Dance while the world is burning...

- writer unknown, RAUNEND, Italy, date unknown [ORIGINAL ITALIAN]

V/A "The Poor Minstrels of Song and the Temple of the Moon: Volume II" CD  (BLUESANCT, 2002)

It follows its predecessor one year later, this new chapter of the Poor minstrels of song born from the collaboration of Bluesanct and Secret Eye. This time our musicians are: Ring (NOR), Drekka (USA), Peter Scion (SWE) and The iditarod (USA). The atmosphere that envelops the whole work is well summarized in the cover design: a dog, a man dressed as a cat and two skeletons playing, surmounted by the words "EXPERIMENTAL FOLK CARNIVAL". No definition would do more! In fact, within this rich compilation you will find everything that is most bizarre and experimental of that genre that we too generically call folk. In fact, nothing to do here with DIJ, or Blood Axis or post-industrial post-war atmospheres of European memory! At most, we could find some similarities with the more psychedelic In gowan ring... I believe with conviction that the names proposed here are little known to the so-called "apocalyptic general public"... especially in Italy and therefore it is difficult for me to recommend this or not Work. It begins with a good Iditarod piece that combines distorted acoustic and electric arpeggios with the embroideries of a sad and subdued violin while a delicate female voice (which reminded me of Amber asylum) sings in a calm tone; we then continue with Ring who presents us with a rhythmic piece with a strong "folk made in USA" flavor with a rather particular singing. Peter Scion concludes this small initial trio of folk pieces with a song that I personally really appreciated which contains strong country references with a really beautiful catchy melody. But with Drekka folk is just a pretext as the voices and sounds are deliberately distorted and twisted and amplified here, creating experiments with high sound frequencies. It is useless to continue listing what is proposed. If you're brave enough to step into this acidic world, you'll have more fun discovering for yourself what lies "beyond". However, wanting to mention a few names, The spectral light &... delight us with one of their really excellent traditional pieces; Ring+The iditarod instead strive to record a grandiose folk ballad (in the traditional sense) very poetic and delicate with a somewhat particular but very expressive voice. A separate note for the final piece where a grotesque orchestra tortures us with the soundtrack of the end of the world where all the instruments and players seem to have their own precise musical task in creating a dramatic sound dis-harmony. Dance while the world is burning...

- writer unknown, RAUNEND, Italy, date unknown [ENGLISH TRANSLATION]

V/A "The Poor Minstrels of Song and the Temple of the Moon: Volume I" CD  (BLUESANCT, 2001)

I am not not exactly sure what happened, but I know that a tour with Stone Breath, the Iditarod, In Gowan Ring and Drekka probably wouldn't have happened a few years ago. The crowd interested in this kind of peripheral folk music can still be considered rather small, but it is an interesting cross section of people that constantly keeps growing. The compilation CD "The Poor Minstrels of Song" was primarily put together to be sold at said tour, but fortunately this physical evidence of a slowly swelling movement is still available. The disc features all of the bands on the tour plus tracks from Prydwyn and Timothy Renner solo, The Eyesores and static films. These names alone are enough for me, but if they aren't as familiar to you here's a short rundown. The Iditarod crafts mysterious songs that sound medieval and futuristic at the same time, like gazing at the moon for too long. In Gowan Ring shapes soft-spoken folk music, meshing ethereal drones with British folk and enigmatic lyrics. Stone Breath presents another unique variation on folk music, slowly pulling you into a kind of parallel sound universe situated in a deceptive and incredibly beautiful dream. Drekka is the project of Indiana-based Michael Anderson and this is arguably the most experimental of the four. He drapes his distant acoustic guitar plucking in curtains of looped effects to a droning mass of mystery. static film's contribution "Under the Maude Moon" is a soothingly static and unsettling piece perfect for mind expansion while The Eyesores are less poppy than I ever heard them before but enthralling all the same. Prydwyn's cover of Syd Barrett's "Late Night" is possibly the most straightforward arranged song on "The Poor Minstrels of Song", but it's so incredibly beautiful that it shines as one of the finest of the 17 tracks. Loss and isolation have rarely sounded this obvious and beautiful at that same time. The whole thing is a cooperative release from BlueSanct, Hand/Eye and Vent Recordings and it comes together with the beautiful tour program.

- Mats Gustafson, BROKEN FACE, Sweden, date unknown

V/A "The Poor Minstrels of Song and the Temple of the Moon: Volume I" CD  (BLUESANCT, 2001)

A collection of songs by the various artists that made up the touring edition of The Poor Minstrels. A series of concerts that blatantly ignored the West Coast, while spreading the gossamer spell of their lovely pale tendril of modern evolving folk music along the East Coast of these continental United States. A situation that needs to be remedied and brought into balance in the somehow possible future. With 17 tracks and over 70 minutes of music this is a real feast. Opening with The Iditarod's stunning over 8 minute Cold, Drafty Castles with Absent Masters that envelopes you like a spectral dream. In Gowan Ring follow with the medieval sounding Dandelion Wine, that pays reverent tribute to the making and consumption of the titular subject matter. Having just started my latest batch I can't be too objective, there's not another elixir nearly as worthy of song as this singular of distillation of the essence of Spring. Drekka open a dronezone into a lonely dark space, hissing in the isolation. Stone Breath delivers a reinvention a of Long Lost Friend, here the "cobweb'ed version", with Sarada's guitar and voice taking the lead and Tim in the background. The Iditarod next deliver the beautiful combination of noise and faerie winged mysticism, that constitutes Thierna Na Oge. Timothy Renner plucks a gut string banjo and the sound could be a thousand years old. The Eyesore's Shopping Cart simmers in the mid-day sun, heat waves rippling the light, in slow motion from the p.o.v. of a homeless person pushing their world around. Prydwyn's Raven Hair feels like very early Tyrannosaurus Rex doing a Silver Apples song. In Gowan Ring's Swan Song -instrumental is like looking out over a vast calm sea. The Iditarod's Nottamun -dubh is a hypnotic reconstruction that glints like light through a revolving crystal, Stone Breath do a chilling cover of Pailhead's Man Should Sunender. Prydwyn does an admirable rendition of Syd Barrett's lonely, lovely Late Night. static films Under the Maude Moon is a surreal supernatural folk drone. Timothy Renner takes feedback, banjo, ghostly shadowplay and sings the old blues gospel Jesus Gonna Make My Dying Bed. Drekka does the incomparable Leonard Cohen's Minute Prologue. In Gowan Ring's Two Towers is simply B'eirth's voice and a lovely old sounding piano, but it's enough and quite captivating. The album ends with a recording made from the rooftop in Nepal of a passing Ganesh procession; the cumulative effect of this collection is a heady one indeed; transportational and magical. This CD comes within the pages of a cool little book with cover by Timothy Renner, and biographies of the participants, and lots of antiquated graphics and cool connective ads of interest.

- George Parsons, DREAM MAGAZINE, USA, date unknown

V/A "The Poor Minstrels of Song and the Temple of the Moon: Volume I" CD  (BLUESANCT, 2001)

A showcase compilation for the circle of bands associated with Tim Renner and his Stone Breath project, The Poor Minstrels of Song is a fine way for the curious listener to hear more from many fine dark/acid folk groups that emphasize strange mystery in both song and performance. Both Stone Breath and solo Renner have a number of tracks demonstrating his excellent abilities for careful and absolute pacing and performance (his solo turn on banjo for "Elzick's Farewell" is especially striking), but he's not the only focus by any means. The Iditarod's various contributions show a sense of space and a deliberation in their performances that suggest as much comfort in the studio as performing, adding entrancing overdubs on strings and other instruments to emphasize the atmosphere of songs like the traditional "Thierna Na Oge." In Gowan Ring contributes three tracks, including "Dandelion Wine - 1999," which adds just enough strange psychedelic haze to the stately effort, and the piano/vocal mood-out "Two Towers." There's one obvious out-of-nowhere moment that's easily a highlight of the album as a whole: Stone Breath's cover of "Man Should Surrender." Originally done by Pailhead, and as intense and brusque as one might imagine an Ian Mackaye/Al Jourgensen project to be, here it becomes a drone-heavy male/female duet, shorter than the original at two minutes tops but possessed of its own haunting focus. Other covers include Drekka's take on Leonard Cohen's "Minute Prologue" and Prydwyn's lovely rendition of Syd Barrett's "Late Night," as well as Renner's solo take on the traditional "Jesus Gonna Make My Dying Bed," which Led Zeppelin used as inspiration for "In My Time of Dying." Also worthy: the Eyesores' "Shopping Cart," which weds a country/folk twang to a listing of some rather modern artifacts, a neat blend of now and then.

- Ned Raggett, ALL MUSIC GUIDE, USA, date unknown

V/A "The Poor Minstrels of Song and the Temple of the Moon: Volume I" CD  (BLUESANCT, 2001)

Questa recensione avrei dovuto scriverla diverso tempo fa, lo ammetto. Ma proprio perché credo nell'assoluto valore di questa compilation, ho pensato di scrivere comunque queste righe. Fino a poco tempo fa, conoscevo solo per nome quest'opera, uscita dallo sforzo congiunto delle labels Bluesanct, Hand/Eye e Vent Recordings in occasione del primo tour dei Menestrelli della canzone e del tempio della luna. Un nome basato sull'interesse dei Templari conosciuti anche come "the poor knights of Christ and the temple of Solomon"; doveva esser usato per il titolo di un album ma poi nacque l'idea di questo tour che per l'occasione vede riunirsi "Stone breath", The iditarod, In Gowan Ring e Drekka sotto questo particolare monicker. Il CD che celebra questo tour si presenta con un ricco e ben illustrato booklet formato A5 dove possiamo trovare informazioni relative ai gruppi partecipanti ed a tutto quanto ruota attorno a questa scena: sideprojects, shops, labels, zines... Più di 70 minuti di musica folk suddivisa in 17 brani eseguiti dai quattro menestrelli ed una svariata quantità di side-project, collaborazioni e covers. Una musica folk fortemente influenzata dalla psichedelica e contaminata da sperimentazioni sonore da laboratorio... Si comincia con The iditarod che sommessamente aprono le danze con un lungo pezzo di folk delicato e gentile cantato da una voce femminile che dona al brano un'inquietante senso di solitudine. Interessanti le parti più "ritmate" dove entra in scena un violino. Si continua con In Gowan Ring che ci regalano una nuova bellissima versione di quel capolavoro che corrisponde al nome di "Dandelion wine" apparsa sul debutto "Love charms". Imperdibile. Dopo una incursione sonora nei meandri di un folk allucinato e distorto ad opera dei Drekka, una altra perla ad opera di Stone breath: un pezzo di folk acustico cantato a due voci (maschile e femminile) dalla melodia suadente e coinvolgente. Grandiosi. Altri nomi degni d'esser menzionati sono Timothy Renner che ci propone due ballate eseguite al banjo; The eyesores con un pezzo particolare molto interessante che unisce le atmosfere da ballata '800 a certa musica folk eseguita alla fisarmonica; Prydwyn che risulta forse esser l'artista pi� "non convenzionale" con quel suo timbro vocale alla Tracy Chapman (mi ha ricordato anche Antony & The Johnsons) che ci propone anche una versione stupenda di "Late night" di Syd Barrett. Un'altra cover la propongono i sempre bravi Stone breath: si tratta di un brano dei Pailhead, un progetto nato da membri di Ministry e Fugazi ecc. Dopo un grande brano per piano e voce di IGR eseguita dal solo B'eirth, la compilation si chiude in modo bizzarro (cosa che ben si adatta a tutto il mood dell'opera) con una registrazione live di una processione in Nepal registrata da Michael dei Drekka. Benvenuti al carnevale della musica folk sperimentale!

- writer unknown, RAUNEND, Italy, date unknown [ORIGINAL ITALIAN]

V/A "The Poor Minstrels of Song and the Temple of the Moon: Volume I" CD  (BLUESANCT, 2001)

I should have written this review some time ago, I admit it. But precisely because I believe in the absolute value of this compilation, I thought I'd write these lines anyway. Until recently, I knew this work only by name, which came out of the joint effort of the Bluesanct, Hand/Eye and Vent Recordings labels on the occasion of the first Menstrels tour of the song and the temple of the moon. A name based on the interest of the Templars also known as "the poor knights of Christ and the temple of Solomon"; it had to be used for the title of an album but then the idea of this tour was born which for the occasion sees "Stone breath", The iditarod, In Gowan Ring and Drekka reunite under this particular monicker. The CD that celebrates this tour comes with a rich and well-illustrated A5 format booklet where we can find information about the participating bands and everything that revolves around this scene: sideprojects, shops, labels, zines... More than 70 minutes of folk music divided into 17 songs performed by the four minstrels and a varied amount of side-projects, collaborations and covers. A folk music strongly influenced by psychedelic and contaminated by laboratory sound experiments... It begins with The iditarod which softly opens the dance with a long piece of delicate and gentle folk sung by a female voice which gives the piece a disquieting sense of loneliness. The more "rhythmic" parts where a violin enters the scene are interesting. We continue with In Gowan Ring which give us a new beautiful version of that masterpiece which corresponds to the name of "Dandelion wine" which appeared on the debut "Love charms". Unmissable. After a sonic foray into the maze of hallucinated and distorted folk by Drekka, another pearl by Stone breath: a piece of acoustic folk sung in two voices (male and female) with a persuasive and engaging melody. Great. Other names worth mentioning are Timothy Renner who offers us two ballads performed on the banjo; The eyesores with a very interesting particular piece that combines the atmosphere of a 19th century ballad with some folk music performed on the accordion; Prydwyn who is perhaps the most "unconventional" artist with his Tracy Chapman-like vocal timbre (he also reminded me of Antony & The Johnsons) who also offers us a wonderful version of Syd Barrett's "Late night". Another cover is proposed by the always good Stone breath: it is a song by Pailhead, a project born from members of Ministry and Fugazi etc. After a great piece for piano and voice by IGR performed by B'eirth alone, the compilation closes in a bizarre way (which fits well with the whole mood of the work) with a live recording of a procession in Nepal recorded by Michael of the Drekkas. Welcome to the Carnival of Experimental Folk Music!

- writer unknown, RAUNEND, Italy, date unknown [ENGLISH TRANSLATION]

V/A "19 Ways to Avoid the Draft" CD  (MAR/INO, 2000)

Anyone who doubts that great packaging can unduly influence one's opinion of an album should consult Britney Spears' sales figures. Alas, I too am susceptible; the two parchment inserts and ultra-cool CD slipcover on this compilation make me go all gooey.

The music inside is somewhat more hit-or-miss; the eighteen tracks (the title lies!) vary pretty wildly, so it's hard to sum it up. Those efforts are only complicated by the fact that this compilation represents two different labels at the same time.

Rather than try to recapitulate the CD in words, I hereby give you the high and low points:

a) the four bands present that really wish they were Slint or Don Caballero are varying degrees of okay;
b) Ms. Black's "Input/Output" is warm, fuzzy, enveloping and delicious;
c) Fred Cast and the Spiders From Mars seem to consist of Fred, a guitar, and a Target music department-grade Casio, but you've got to admit he had a pair to choose that name, huh?;
d) the two bands trying to sound like Low (Empress and Halkyn) are actually pretty good;
e) total number of ambient-soundscape/feedback loops that sound like the Velvet Underground's instruments half an hour after the band left the stage: three.

Finally, the compilation's highlight is the nearly ten-minute "We Who Are Not Lonely" by Drekka. It sounds like it's coming from a distant AM station, with the feedback acting as static. As it surges in the sixth minute, the vocals seem to melt into the feedback line as a treble-heavy beat track coalesces behind. The song is brilliant, and along with the other high points makes this compilation well worth buying.

- BM, SPLENDID, USA, SEP 2001

DREKKA "Exactioning EP / Hermitage Two EP" (C-60)  (Bluesanct, 1998)

Ultimately, Drekka rocks. Thing is, they go about it in such a hazy, haphazard manner, that it's almost offputting. Most of the time, though, it at least seems like they're going somehwere with their nutty ideas, even when they aren't. Lo-fi acousitc guitar coupled with destroyed guitar marinated in distortion, finally covered in lazy-Sunday, offkey, blasé vocals, which are draped in cavernous reverb. Somehow the whole cupcake ends up quite tasty. Reminds me of early His Name Is Alive. Let me say that one more time: reminds me of early His Name Is Alive. On this cassette they cover tunes by Cat Power, Galaxie 500, Radiohead, and they do a great version of Donovan's 'First There Is a Mountain'. My brain always arm-wrestles itself while listening to this tape, nt able to decide whether the music is too self-conciously post-hip or true genius. But, ultimately, Drekka rocks.

- C. Reider, AUTOreverse, Issue 9, USA, WINTER 1999

BLUESANCT MUSAK

Since Brighter is all about spreading the word of good music, I've added this special feature to the newsletter. From now on, each newsletter will feature label profiles of my fave indie labels. Because their music is just so damned good! So, show much love for BlueSanct Musak and Adastra Records [also featured in newsletter]...

Every now and then, I come across something that is so wonderfully new, so incredibly beautiful, and so remarkably well put together that it renews my somewhat waning hope in independent music. I found out about BlueSanct Musak at a point where I was quite jaded by the indie scene and by the pretensions of those who considered themselves scenesters. Mike Anderson, the label head, impressed me with his laid back ease, prolific work ethic, and striking vision for the future of music: a world of tone and silence. BlueSanct is a label devoted to mostly experimental and atmospheric recordings. The music has a homegrown, lo-fi feel that makes it all the more sentimental. Be low are some reviews of what BlueSanct has to offer.
I highly recommend everything...

DREKKA "Grieve" (C-60)  (Bluesanct, 1996)

Drekka is Mike Anderson's own project, and the pieces on 'Grieve' are the first Drekka recordings, from Summer 1996. The material is powerfully atmospheric, sneaking up on you softly rather than hitting you all at once. The vocals haunt each song, buried somewhat strategically beneath the mix, as over top experimental and trippy folk soundscapes prevail. My first impression of this material was subtle and intelligent. It continues to impress me more and more with each listen, and I feel that this would be a good starting point for those who would like to check out Drekka for the first time.

DREKKA "Exactioning EP / Hermitage Two EP" (C-60)  (Bluesanct, 1998)

The most recent Drekka material. Strikingly diverse and surprisingly upbeat, shedding the acid folk veil and treading into acoustic indie pop at times (much to my pleasure!). Still psychedelic and trippy, 'Exactioning' and 'Hermitage Two' show a strong progression toward complex songwriting and interesting musical arrangement. My thoughts on this cassette were thus: 'This guy is not afraid to try new things.' Fortunate for us we're dealing with such a brave soul! Another strong release from Drekka...

- Jon de Rosa, BRIGHTER RECORDS, USA, Winter Newsletter 1998-1999

DREKKA / FUSCILLAGE split 7"  (BLUESANCT, 1998)
DREKKA / OCTAL split 7"  (Bluesanct, 1998)

Ptolemaic Terrascope Rumbles (from issue 25, Summer 1998, page 3)

BlueSanct is a label run by Michael Anderson, the graphic designer behind a couple of the finer Enraptured releases. Previously a part time cassette operation, it's now blossomed into a full-blown record label; the first two singles being an Octal/Drekka split (Drekka's Michael's own band, Octal's the work of Jeff reilly of Magnog) and a Drekka/FuscilLage split. The Octal cut 'Sun Filters Thru Snow' is easily the highlight so far, squashed drums and hushed vocals flitting in and out of howling guitar feedback in a decidedly Floydian manner - Drekka's 'With Faith in Nothing'/'Instrumental 3' on the FuscilLage split are gems as well, the first being drone pilotage twice removed from FSA and the latter a haunting clamour of Coil-esque experimentation.

- Phil McMullen, PTOLEMAIC TERRASCOPE, UK, SUMMER 1998

DREKKA / OCTAL split 7"  (Bluesanct, 1998)

A Jeff Reilly non bastano le escursioni psichedeliche con i Magnog, cosi ha dato vita a questo progetto solista come Octal, con gia all'attivo un interessante CD. "Sun Filters Thru Snow", registrata con un quattro tracce, mostra un gran lavoro sulle chitarre, effetti, riverberazioni; azzeccato anche l'accostamento della voce a atmosfere cosi languide. (7).

Registrazione casalinga anche per Drekka ma di minore efficacia; suoni piu grezzi e immediati non riescono a miscelarsi e a focalizzare l'obbiettivo. (5).

- Salvo Pinzone, BLOW UP, Italy, 1998 [ORIGINAL ITALIAN]

DREKKA / OCTAL split 7"  (Bluesanct, 1998)

Jeff Reilly is not satisfied with the psychedelic excursions with Magnog, so he started this solo project as Octal, with an interesting CD already under his belt. "Sun Filters Thru Snow", recorded with a four-track, shows a great work on guitars, effects, reverberations; the juxtaposition of the voice to such languid atmospheres was also spot on. (7).

Home recording also for Drekka but less effective; rougher and more immediate sounds fail to mix and focus the lens. (5).

- Salvo Pinzone, BLOW UP, Italy, 1998 [ENGLISH TRANSLATION]

DREKKA / OCTAL split 7"  (Bluesanct, 1998)

Here's a handsomely wrapped artifact from two solitary space-rock shut-ins. Octal is Jeff Reilly of Magnog, and his contribution is a sinuous slither through a valley sheltered from his other band's gusty blasts. Drekka is Michael Anderson, who overcomes the handicap of his dreadful handle by offering intriguing music. 'Posterity' sinks like the pearl in Prell through a strata of feedback, sullen beats and down-the-hall vocals; 'Visible Trace II' is a welcome postcard from the hiss factory.

- Bill Meyer, MAGNET No.37, USA, NOV/DEC 1998

DREKKA "There can make nothing of difference" (C-60)  (BLUESANCT, 1998)

This is a great tape of what is basically a work-in-progress for a CD to be released shortly. It sounds pretty damn finished to me. Drekka make music that I guess fits into the space rock category: reverb-laden atmospheric pieces, largely guitar-based, about half instrumental. They have a by turns soothing and haunting quality, trading heavily but worthily on the atmosphere they create, in much the same way as a lot of Kranky's output. And that Drekka are in the same league is in no doubt. Main man Michael Anderson is working pretty hard at getting his BlueSanct label some more much-deserved attention, and it really shouldn't be too long before it gets it. Maybe it'll be the release of the Drekka CD that does it. (8)

- Joe Morris, KYLIE PROD., USA, NOV 1998

DREKKA "Grieve"/"Windowframe"/"Equas" cassettes  (BLUESANCT, 1996)

While working with similar ideas, Drekka chooses a completely different approach to their work by preserving all of their wrought, emotional fragility in open-ended ambiance. Similarities to the Halfer Trio and Flying Saucer Attack abound, yet each stroke of genius performed by Drekka is owned by an original vision of beauty. Unlike anything achieved in such quantities in underground music, each of Drekka's recordings are subtle reminders of the vastness of the artistic mind, incapable of silence.

- Erik Kowalski, MILK, Issue #20, USA, JAN-FEB 1997

Do you know of a review not listed here... let me know!