Entre Vifs - UB10

 

Entre Vifs – UB.10 – Aussaat – Aussaat 21 – CD – 2022

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        1.         Session 57B-1.

        2.       Session 57B-2.

        3.       Session 58A-3/a.

        4.       Session 58A-3/b

UB.10 is the 11^th Entre Vifs album since their debut release in 1989, the acclaimed French noise unit has always been centred around Zorin. The album is composed of four live sessions from their Noisecraft Workshop studio that were recorded in 2019. The CD is adorned with bold Brutalist artwork (The label Aussaat does great enamel Entre Vifs badges in this style too), there is also a detailed diagram on the inside that shows what components are used to create the sound. Entre Vifs historically ties in with Le Syndicat, this goes back as far as 1984 (There is a definite Noise OG feel to the work because of these facts). UB10 is limited to 200 CD copies.

The chaotic, manic sound of Entre Vifs is like a familiar friend, the noise screams and yells its hellos at me whilst going to war with its surroundings. Everything grates, drags and accelerates – sometimes all together or at different times to create a shifting tension within the sound. I feel as if I am stuck in an evolving Sci-fi nightmare as shards of sound shoot out around me. When I put this album onto headphones, I noticed a complexed use of distortion that underlies the harsh gasping and choking of the noise. The distortion adds a muddy density that is reinforced by the sharper noise, giving a bigger sound. Distortion barks as it is shifted around and forced into screams, which often leaves me unsure if it is a vocal. When I fall into this thinking, the work’s violence increases massively. Rapid and sophisticated are words that always come to mind when I hear Entre Vifs, I feel that there always solid control behind the apparent chaos given off in each track.

The shifting power of sound is consistent across the album. UB10 is another strong addition to their body of work, Entre Vifs remain a powerful force within today’s ever shifting boundaries of experimental Noise.  

Army of One - 2022.

Entre Vifs - No Signal.

Entre Vifs – No Signal – Impulsy Stetoskopu – 2015 – CD – 046

https://www.discogs.com/label/121961-Impulsy-Stetoskopu

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Tracklist.

     1.    Session 29B Reveal.

     2.    Session 30-2 Straighten.

     3.    Session 32A Embody.

     4.    Session 17-2* Radiate.

     5.    Session 32B-1 Condense.

     6.    Session 32B-2 Perpetuate.

Bonjour! What a great time to do a review, as you all know I love listening to Entre Vifs as I am still, very much in the mindset that the French make very sophisticated noise. Playing this album over the last few months ensures I won’t be changing that viewpoint anytime soon. Brutalist noise project Entre Vifs has been actively releasing since 1989 and Zorin of Entre Vifs goes back to 1982 and the early years of Le Syndicat, whether his involvement was just visual or in the sound is unknown.

No Signal comes in a metal case with an extensive booklet with visuals and text. Inside the booklet are photos of the bands self-made instruments, with detailed descriptions of all of them. All Sessions were recorded live at their Noisecraft Workshop between 2012 – 15. The members at this time were Zorin and Shirubee, there is also a good picture of them playing live.

As an album I can’t fault this, as now knowing more about the Entre Vifs instruments makes me fascinated as to which instrument creates each sound - this is an added new dimension to my listening. The sound is choppy, metallic, dense and scratchy throughout – the language and communication between instruments is complex. I find myself amazed and lost in the massive sound that it gives off. Certain sessions pull back from being so full and allow space into the sound so there is communication and a bigger dynamic occurring between instruments for long periods of time. The shifts in the overall sound are spontaneous and effective, things don’t stay quiet of full for too long and it never gets boring.

This is another excellent Entre Vifs album, I can’t praise this project enough.

Nevis Kretini 2019.

Entre Vifs - Offrande et Partage.

Entre Vifs – Offrande et Partage. CD. Aussaat. 2019. Aussaat 10.

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     1.   Holidays in Stahlstadt.

     2.   Red Fruits.

     3.   A Benevolent Storm Front.

     4.   Chaorgia Pantomachia.

Bonjour mes amis français, merci de m'envoyer un autre album d'Entre Vifs sur Aussaat Records !!!! (Google Translate est génial !!).

After the excellent Ontologie, I was converted to the work of Entre Vifs; their work remains some of the best I’d heard this year. The booklet to Offrande contains images of landscapes, architecture and shots documenting Entre Vifs amazing self-made electronic devices that make up their sounds. This album refers to recent legal fights by the project and a resurgence of activity in 2018. Offrande et Partage references Leonard Cohen’s Anthem (The Future) in its’s sleeve notes. The work was performed live in their Noisecraft Workshop in March – April 2018, these are excerpts of sessions 49B, 50A, 50B and 51A.

The opening track Holidays in Stahlstadt builds through ambient echoes in its’ slow creepiness that drags itself out, it’s doesn’t have the immediate massive attack of the last album. It’s heavy on haunted atmospherics and seems to wind itself back and down sometimes to a reduced palette of sound in order to grow again. Although I am immediately aware that the sounds are those of Zorin and Kobaian that make Entre Vifs, the track drags in sound, creating a very different type of brutality. It also seems to throw sounds around the room demonstrating epic dynamics to the point where I thought there was background noise around me, this builds to sonic hysteria - this long death of an opening track demonstrates the sophistication that exists and excites me within the sound of Entre Vifs.

Red Fruits seems to build on the Slow Death of sound. It attempts to form a sense of percussion within itself only to start dragging and barking out choking sounds as if it is in combat within itself only to then project that combat as sound towards the listener, this frequently happens throughout the album. There’s a wide scope of distance that’s played with, some of the track exists in the distance and projects to the forefront through steps of sound. It addresses its own failure by the recurrence of noise as percussion/beat and how it doesn’t become a noise artist using beats and making pointless EBM/techno stuff is again impressive. The work drags itself down to chokes, croaks and echoes; it splutters and fades.

The dragging and the dying seem to become intensified for A Benevolent Storm Front, the sound seems to pull itself and explode continuously, strip back suddenly and converse with itself – it’s very brutal, not settling on a formula, it seems to reformulate and reshape itself. The haunted sound echoes and resonates in its full form. Things shift non-stop, background and foreground communicate with each other continuously. Brutal interruptions lead new sonic formations, sometimes a rhythm tries to start, but that is warped and flattened to noise.

They save the biggest until last, Charargia Pantomachia (Your Attention Please) scrapes itself into action and all hell breaks loose. Low-level and High-Level assault share shifts in full distorted metal abuse.  Charargia does seem to shift into even more territories of sound than the others, it has the same yet even more exaggerated parallels in sound but never stays in one place for too long. I like the injections of Harsh Noise blasts put into the sound, they scream and interrupt.

This is an angrier album than Ontologie, it doesn’t let you zone in on the massive assaults of electronic and metal noise, it shifts around too much, you’re frequently pulled in and moved around with the work. The destructive qualities of the album literally create cracks to let the light in. I want more Entre Vifs in my collection, I will have to go backwards and get it all because I want to know, were they always this good, or did it take decades to get this good? Epic album, ace progression, do get it.

Choppy Noodles 2019.