junko, michel henritzi, mattin - je t'aime!

cdr
recorded by stephane levigneront at festival denstité, october 2007. fresnes-en woevre, france

it happened as usual, one day in the mail pops up a cdr from michel, during those 'audio news' trades that usually happens in absurd's universe...
curious as usual, started listening the live recording of mattin (guitar),
junko (voice) & michel henritzi (lapsteel, harmonica) from the 'densites'
festival of 2007... after an (almost) 6 minute silence the first guitar
chord tears the air and a destructed improvised / noisy (supposed it is
'blues(ey) feeling) racket accompanied by junko's voice is unleashed in the air, a marvellous improvisation that soon is also joined by mattin's bassy guitar throbs on the background make it an even more adventurous experience that is highly recommended to be listened as loud as possible to create a more intense atmosphere!


 

 

 

back to absurd / back to noise

absurd #74
sleeve





Sound Projector # 17 (UK)



Japanese shrieker Junko is continuing to record and perform with Mattin, the Basque brute of challenging and politicised noise. For Je T'Aime! (ABSURD #74), they were joined by Michel Henritzi with his steel guitar and his harmonica, and the trio recorded this half-hour eruption of shrill sonic attack at an event called Festival Densité. With the slightly more traditional instrumentation involved here, one would be forgiven for expecting some sort of extreme update on Urban Blues. In a sense, you can hear something like that (if you use your imagination), but there's also a lot of dark and powerful heavy rock going on here too. Henritzi's work on the lapsteel does contribute tremendous passages of subtlety to the piece, while Mattin's ferocious mutant guitar (often amplified, often pulsing with feebdack, always set to harsh levels) pretty much destroys everything around him when he launches into his uncontrollable frenzies of bitter strummings. Junko's soprano wailings offer little relief from the sense of overall doom, especially when the piece enters its endplay and acquires a very threatening bottom-end from a heavily-amplified source. It's like being punched in the chest by an atomic superhero, such as Negative Dan. I assume we have to take the title of this release, with its extremely ironic exclamation mark, as some sort of sarcastic dig at corny love songs and mainstream pop music. Other than that there is no political subtext on this one, just an exciting document of very extreme improvised noise.  (EP)



The Wire (U.K. January 2009)

Outer limits by Nick Cain

Mattin and Hijokaidan vocalist Junko's
recent duo on Tochnit Aleph is as much of a
ridiculously overloaded, shrieking assault as its
predecessor, 2005's Pinknoise. Je T'Aime, a 30 minute
live recording with Howlin Ghost Proletarians guitarrist Michel Henritzi,
is a bit more approachable, if a lot less memorable.
Mattin's also on guitar lending the album a distinct noise-rock
air. After a seven minute false start, junko
starts howling, and the guitar-duelling begins, Henritzi's bluesy figures
competing with Mattin's choppy interjections and sporadic feedback
salvores. I am not really fussy about these things,
but the recording isn't particularly good, and (on my copy at least)
gainst a couple of new channels of sound information around
18 minute mark, muggling both guitarrist in fuzzy
distortion and blocking out the details of their interplay.
But at list conveys the experience- a psychodelic, head-rising
blast- adequately enough.





Brian Olewnick Blog (USA)


The first time I listened to this disc, I had lied down and, about halfway through its 30 minutes, fell asleep. I woke up, slightly confused, hearing a rich, complex thrumming and thought, "Hmmm...wonder how it got from where I last remember to here?" Of course, the recording was over and I was listening to the apartment's heating system having kicked in. All well and good. As is, this disc begins with almost seven minutes of near quiet--only an subtle electric hum and faraway train whistles; very nice. Then the guitars and yelling enter. I freely admit to, generally, having difficulty with anguished, screeching vocalizations; said difficulty was manifested here. The guitar textures thicken later on, which helps, but overall I didn't find too much to sink my teeth into. That heating unit, on the other hand.....


Vital Weekly (Holland)

Anyone who ever visits a concert and gets the thing later on CD (or any other media) knows its not the same experience. Away from the concert space, in the open space of ones own environment, things may be a bit different. No doubt it was a delight to watch Mattin on guitar, Michel Henritzi on lapsteel and harmonica and Junko's voice at the Densites festival in 2007. I didn't see it, but I can very well imagine how it was. The sheer silence of six minutes at the beginning and then slowly building into loud noise blasts with Junko screaming her lungs out. No doubt it was a great concert. But does it make a great release? I must say I am not entirely convinced. Its surely a noisy beast that will no doubt appeal to true noise heads, but the recording sounds a bit naff. It surely has potential to a really good piece of noise, but the somewhat suppressed sound prevents this to be. Not bad either, but not what could be gotten out of it. Franz de Ward




discography
w.m.o/record label
desetxea net label
www.mattin.org