CONCERT AND GIG REVIEWS

DISQUIET - 2 October 2005

OAKLAND, CA - It began with someone playing a renaissance melody on a recorder and ended, four hours later, at midnight, with rough scraping noises amid a machine whine. In between there were dead bodies, a wicked game of Tempest and, according to the evening's host, "the only goth DJ who matters." It was the first night of the first ever Disquiet Festival (the name is a coincidence - the festival has no affiliation with this website), which brought together gothic industrial music and sound art in one dim white room. Held at the 21 Grand in Oakland, California, the September 30 concert featured four acts, with a DJ playing what the program noted as "interstitial" music in between. (The second night, October 1, which I was unable to attend, was set to feature four more acts: nO thiNg, a project by Loop.pooL's Rick Walker; the duo nullspace; Dark Muse and Frozen in Amber.)

Forms of Things Unknown, a solo act by a fellow who goes by the name Ferrara Brain Pan, took the stage first, playing a melody on his recorder that wouldn't have been out of place in Sherwood Forest. This shifted to a tape of a voice speaking, and soon a single phrase, an older man saying the two words "and sound," started to loop. For the remainder of the FoTU performance, looping was the focus, layering the blurts of a kazoo, the sinuous intonations of a bass clarinet, and a unique setup in which each of the performer's hands held a separate bow. When FoTU took a breath during his clarinet sequence, it became clear that the loop, about four seconds with an attenuated fade, gave the impression of intense breath control. The layering had a different impact depending on the instrument. With the kazoo (perhaps a duck call) it had a muezzin resonance, like a shofar call to worship. With the clarinet, phrases were able to overlap enough to present a patient, slowly developing sequence of long lines; he sounded like Eric Dolphy visiting Tuva. The bows were particularly remarkable. Though he wasn't especially ambidextrous, he was able to crosscut what sounded like two violins. Furthermore, the loop delay allowed him to build up a fast Hitchcockian run on one bow and a more sedentary line on the other. FoTU closed by returning to the recorder, which brought the listener out of the trance of those more extended interior pieces, in part because the recorder melody made little to no use of the delay, but also because it was a familiar sound, reprising what had opened the piece.

Filling the gap between each set was DJ Merrick (an Elephant Man reference?), who spun industrial buzz tones and dropped in vocal samples. Of the night's four acts, none meshed as cleanly with Merrick as did Whormongr (Wolfgang Chan), a solid figure with a slick of a Mohawk whose 35-minute set tumbled together shifting layers of static and noise, glitch and rhythm. Medical footage was projected in the background at first, archival images of hearts pumping and surgery being performed in rooms that looked like Twilight Zone sets. As if the footage weren't artifactual enough, superimposed on top were narrow vertical striations that made the images seem even more old and worn, but since these scratches didn't move along with the images, they had about as much verisimilitude as the trompe l'oeil condensation drawn into the design on soda cans. As Whormongr's rhythm intensified, the images changed from medical cadavers to war, poverty and, most abundantly, state-sponsored killing of prisoners. The images of dying people provided such a visceral presentation of dissolution, both moral and physical, that the music, for all its elegantly stripped gears and artful static, just couldn't compete. Pictures of the dead are a staple of goth culture, but sitting in a white room sipping Jim Beam on ice while one human being after another slumped to the ground with a bullet to the skull, it was difficult not to reflect on another recent situation in which images of brutalized prisoners served as entertainment.

Few acts today combine image and sound as successfully as do S.S.S., a trio from France. One of the members, Atau Tanaka, couldn't make the show, but the other two, Cecile Babiole and Laurent Dailleau, split the duties over the course of five short pieces. Palms raised, they looked at first like they were going to initiate a seance, but their hands were suspended in mid-air for more practical purposes. S.S.S. uses motion sensors as its primary interface, so both Babiole, controlling the visual projections, and Dailleau, the sound, stood nearly still, save for their hands. Babiole produced images that combined the look of an old video game and the elegance of digital art, while Dailleau worked a theremin to shape freeform sounds that ranged from field recordings to electronic tones. The performance opened with a slow roil against a background like some colorful game of Tempest, but when it came to a close, after only six minutes, people applauded tentatively, not out of disinterest in the music, but because the first two acts of the evening had set a precedent with their music-by-the-yard soundscapes; it took a moment to recognize that S.S.S. trafficked in individual pieces. Though Dailleau's music was interesting, especially moments that sounded like Conlon Nancarrow working an electric piano and another in which he appeared to reverse the tape of a plane crash, Babiole's simple kinetic digital images were just breathtaking. One was so musical in its motion that it seemed like Luc Ferrari's idea of Dance Dance Revolution. There were flowing grids of boxes you could watch for hours, minute variations in gray lending depth (a lesson some musicians could learn from). One work looked like the daydreams of a CAD machine, another like the cover to Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures album come to life. After 40 minutes, you had to wonder how tired their arms were.

How do you follow such great visuals? You hunker down in the dark, illuminated only by a laptop screen and the light seeping in from the alley, and let the music speak for itself. Doing just that, the temporary autonomous duo of Thomas Dimuzio and Dan Burke closed the evening with 40 minutes of noise improv. The collaboration marked a common theme for Dimuzio, who has a penchant for room-filling sounds, but who likes to work with people who specialize in the fragile. When they started their piece, Dimuzio and Burke might have seemed like they were still setting up. The reason was that Burke's primary instrument for the evening was a contact microphone, which amplified whatever he was doing on the table in front of him, well beyond the usual sense of scale. Occasionally those noises were overcome by Dimuzio's wash, but they also provided brief interludes in the storm. An early highpoint came when Dimuzio introduced the sound of a jazz band, and peaked it out amid the white noise. Burke apparently had trouble with his laptop, and had to reboot it a few times, but the familiar sound cue of an Apple boot easily got lost in the rapturous noise, just another sound among so many.

- Marc Weidenbaum
www.disquiet.com

PRESS REVIEWS OF THE CROSS PURPOSES CD

THE BRAINWASHED BRAIN - 1 August 2004

Forms of Things Unknown is primarily the work of multi-instrumentalist and windplayer Ferrara Brain Pan, who has previously played with Boyd Rice and legendary krautrockers Faust. For his debut EP as Forms of Things Unknown, the artist tackles a galaxy of wind instruments, including bass clarinet, saxophone, flute, recorder, Tibetan thighbone trumpet, didgeridoo and shakuhuchi. Multiple overdubs and liberal sonic mutations push the material into the sort of dark, uneasy territories occupied by Coil and Nurse With Wound, who seem to have exerted heavy influence on Mr. Pan. The first two tracks are two movements of the same 16-minute piece, amusingly entitled "Black Candles & Pentagrams 'n Shit." Extended tape loops of the aforementioned horns circulate slowly, as deep, vibratory foghorns blow across a murky lagoon at midnight. Occasional swipes of backwards-tracked sound contribute a ritualistic mood to the proceedings, but the artist gracefully, breathlessly bends and bows his performance to mesmeric effect. The next two tracks represent an instrumental and vocal arrangement of an anonymously composed 14th Century devotional song. Monsieur Pan plays his courtly medieval recorders with aplomb, and vocalist Shannon Wolfe beautifully renders the Latin lyrics. The song is immediately reminiscent of Shirley and Dolly Collins and other 1960's neo-medievalists, and that's enough to keep me smiling for weeks. The last track is an unorthodox arrangement of UK punk legend and former Buzzcock Howard Devoto's "Stupid Blood," from his latter day Luxuria project. The song trips along at its own turgid pace, with Mr. Pan providing pleasurable blasts of layered brass and vocalist Bob Ayres delivering the lyrics in a stately baritone. The EP ends with an incredibly brief answering machine message left for Ferrara Brain Pan by one Babs Santini, which has prompted the artist to label each copy of this EP with a sticker declaring "Special guest appearance by Steven Stapleton of Nurse With Wound," thus hopefully luring unsuspecting NWW completists to buy his music. However misleading and manipulative this strategy seems, I don't think avid Nurse fans would be disappointed by Cross Purposes in the slightest, should they be tricked into purchasing it. On the contrary, this is a dynamic and intriguing work, just the sort of thing your average NWW fan would be in for.

- Jonathan Dean
www.brainwashed.com/brain

TERRORIZER - Issue 112, September 2003

The bloke behind this, San Franciscan Ferrara Brain Pan, plays two Tibetan human thighbone trumpets at once on the opening epic, and reports for constant attempts on his life on behalf of the FBI, as well as being punched in the nose by Bill Clinton. He has also worked with Boyd Rice and Faust in the past and guests on a phone message from Nurse With Wound's Steven Stapleton on this album. Which is a masterpiece.

Opener 'Black Candles & Pentagrams 'n' Shit' is a 16-minute piece of abstract, minimalist, cold, dark, sick, sinister doom avant-jazz. Followed by a heartbreaking medieval Christian devotional song, followed by a cover of Howard Devoto's 'Stupid Blood' which channels all that reeked of death in the '80s, the neo-decadent side of it. The Philip Glass-ish keyboard drone and the different horns FBP uses, branching r [sic] perhaps aliens have taken over his fingers and are demanding riffs, around me like a dead tree. That is true decadence - making the fallen, the weak, the sick, luminescent in a bleak, eerie light of pale majesty.

Rating: 9 (out of 10)

- Avi Pitchon
www.terrorizer.com

DELUGE - 28 September 2003

This disc arrived with a sticker which says "File under Dark Ambient/Goth/Art Rock/Experimental". Unfortunately, these terms have become rather ambiguous due to the sheer number of bands who are (mis)labeled as such. Journalists have a funny way of subjectively applying genre tags to everything they hear, with little regard for how they might be misconstrued. This is the reason that everything from Wishbone Ash to Magma gets slapped with the "progressive rock" tag, while Naked City and Spyro Gyra end up together in the "jazz" bin. One would think that music journalists have an obligation to act as a sort of shore beacon. After all, they have taken it upon themselves to navigate through a complex mire of indiscernible styles and overlapping genres. They should ultimately emerge from this experience with a keen understanding of how their critical skills can be used to elicit clarity and coherence. Instead, their readers are often left with a series of vague comparisons and indistinct references which do nothing to guide them.

Forms of Things Unknown is the pet project of one Ferrara Brain Pan: an eccentric multi-instrumentalist whose accolades date back to 1977, when he paired up with veteran noise connoisseur Boyd Rice for a recording which never saw the light of day. To date, Brain Pan has remained prolific with a total of fourteen official recordings under his belt. His musical range covers everything from atmospheric works (with 23 Degrees and Darmstadt Pharmacy) to the experimental/psychedelic weirdness of Faust. For the sake of the uninitiated, we might best describe the latter outfit as a German band which (along with Amon Duul II) occupied the progressive rock sub-genre known as Kraut Rock. There is little point in describing this style any further, as words inevitably fail. But Brain Pan's mere association with such an inventive movement serves to distinguish him as an "artist's artist". His music can genuinely be called "esoteric", because its diversity and conceptual density will prevent less diligent ears from stepping any closer. It seems that rather than doing a disservice to the potential listener, the jacket sticker on "Cross Purposes" actually gives a good impression of what lies within.

This 30-minute EP begins with the humorously-titled "Black Candles & Pentagrams 'n Shit"; a track which covers just over half the album's duration. It is divided into two sections, the first of which is called "Risen, The Judas Moon". This cut begins with a sustained metallic ring which waxes and wanes in volume until the 3-minute mark is reached. Various woodwind instruments (which sound like reeds, or maybe some sort of oboe) begin to weave in and out of the mix, resulting in an ambiance of wailing, primal urgency. Occasional percussion rolls accentuate their lament as the woodwinds allow a low synth growl to bring them into the next section, "Errant Bodies". This track is slightly more structured than the previous entry, with a deep, resounding bassoon melody (or is it bass clarinet?) hanging over a subtle atmospheric backdrop. Before long, we're led into another two-part saga entitled "Mariam Matrem", which means "Mother Mary". This track is basically a re-arranged Christian hymn, which might imply that Brain Pan intended for "Cross Purposes" to illustrate some sort of religious dichotomy. Whatever the case, "Mariam Matrem" is a beautifully executed piece which features a multi-tracked Baroque melody, presumably played on flutes. The listener is gradually pulled into a soprano vocal section that is sung entirely in Latin. Those of us who are still recovering from the painful memories of a Catholic upbringing will find the performance of vocalist Shannon Wolfe very compelling, if not traumatic. It's almost comedic that so many horny young males are moved to orgasm by such singers as Cristina Scabbia (Lacuna Coil) or Anneke van Giersbergen (The Gathering) when a singer of Wolfe's aptitude is prowling about. Her performance occupies a range which is likely inaccessible to either of the aforementioned vocalists, and she truly rises to the occasion.

This disc comes to its conclusion with the song "Stupid Blood", which is a Howard Devoto cover. It begins with an ominous note sequence which sounds like it's being played on a keyboard, until closer inspection reveals that Brain Pan's woodwinds are the source. Rich baritone vocals soon enter the picture, with guest singer Bob Ayres creating a vibe that is melancholy, and yet eerily emotionless. The song ultimately progresses into a huge display of compositional grandeur, complete with a sax solo and intense interplay among various other horns and woodwinds. The song eventually develops into an odd, yet spectacular amalgam of instruments, which collectively evoke visions of a bagpipe quintet.

Material of this nature has a propensity for dullness when it becomes lengthy, and hence, unfocused. I would normally be grateful for a recording that lasts a mere 30 minutes, but in this case, it's not enough. It seems that the three pieces on "Cross Purposes" are complete, in the sense that drawing them out for longer durations would be pointless. Had three more tracks of similar material been added, this would have been a perfect release. Those who appreciate avant-garde music that resides a little "outside the box" will certainly enjoy Forms Of Things Unknown.

- Chris Alfano
www.delugezine.com

AQUARIUS RECORDS - New Releases, 8 August 2003

"Cross Purposes" is a half-hour of weird, spooky music from longtime AQ patron and obscure music-maker Ferrara Brain Pan. Yes, that's his name - but here he goes by the Forms Of Things Unknown moniker, a suitably vague and creepy name for this disc of Gothic dark ambient experimentation, that seems to be vying for retroactive inclusion on the famed "Nurse With Wound list". Indeed, NWW's Steven "Babs Santini" Stapleton makes a guest appearance somewhere on here (see if you can find it)!

The first track, evocatively named "Black Candles & Pentagrams 'n Shit", is sixteen minutes of sinister drone and wind instrument dolefulness. On this album, Ferrara plays bass clarinet, flutes, recorders, saxophones, along with various other mostly archaic and/or ethnic instruments -- and electronics too of course. Perhaps to illustrate that FoTU's influences are eclectic and extend back further than the goth/industrial heyday, "Black Candles..." is followed by an anonymous 14th century composition in both instrumental and vocal versions -- the vocal by lovely soprano Shannon Wolfe, not Ferrara. It's somewhat sombre, but not scary like the first piece. Rather beautiful. Then, again shifting gears and displaying esoteric influence, this disc's final cut turns out to be a moody cover of "Stupid Blood", a song from the Beast Box album by Howard Devoto's post-Buzzcocks band Luxuria. With one Bob Ayres handling the portentous baritone vox, and Ferrara's horns and flutes, this track could just as easily be taken as a tribute to Peter Hammill's Van Der Graaf Generator!

www.aquariusrecords.org 

ALMOSTCOOL - 17 October 2003

Based on written word alone, it would be easy to shuffle off Cross Purposes by Forms Of Things Unknown as a load of pretentious twaddle. Created by a fellow who goes by the name of Ferrara Brain Pan, this 5-track, 30-minute EP runs the gamut from dark ambient to medieval-sounding wind instrumentals. Listening to the release, though, it's obvious that Pan has a good handle on creating ominous environments with a rather stunning array of musical instruments.

Although primarily a windplayer, Brain Pan also breaks out just about any somewhat archaic instrument that helps him accomplish his goals. In addition to the more traditional flutes, saxophone, and bass clarinet, he plays a harmonium, Tibetan singing bowls, a glockenspiel, a yidaki (the Aboriginal name for the native Australian didgeridoo), a shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute), a kang ling (a Tibetan Buddhist ritual instrument made from a human thighbone), and others.

The album leads off with "Black Candles And Pentagrams 'N Shit," a 16-minute rumbling drone epic that is the standout of the album. The two-piece track starts out with the segment "Risen, The Judas Moon," and it's literally some of the creepiest music I've listened to since early work by Coil. Blending skittering electronic effects with cut-up glockenspiel and layers of haunting noise, it's far creepier than any Halloween sound effects record you could hope to find. One of the wind instruments played in the first part of the track (most likely the thighbone trumpet) actually sounds like the wails of a disembodied spirit. The second part of the track ("Errant Bodies") continues some of the same background noises, but brings a repeated bass clarinet melody in that amazingly lightens the mood slightly (despite the gloomy sound of the instrument) after the rather chilling opening section.

The remaining tracks on the disc are about as contrasting as you could expect given the dense opening. "Mariam Matrem" is a 14th Century devotional Christian song with nice vocals by Shannon Wolfe (recalling work by Miranda Sex Garden), while the album closer is a rather overbearing cover of "Stupid Blood." Given the rather timeless feel of the first part of the release, the final track is simply a bit too much for the otherwise understated release. Given that this is a debut release, the slight indecision can be overlooked a bit. With a guest appearance by Steven Stapleton of Nurse With Wound (under a different name), the short disc already has a small stamp of authority. For fans of Coil, Nurse With Wound, and other musick.

Rating: 7

- Aaron Coleman
www.almostcool.org

PROGRESSION - Issue 45, Winter/Spring 2004

Style: Dark ambient / gothic / art-rock
Sound: Three-and-one-half Stars / Composition: Four Stars / Musicianship: Four Stars / Performance: Four Stars
Total Rating: 15.5

This artful, delicately paced and beautifully formulated album makes its purposes known slowly. It comprises three sections, "Black Candles & Pentagrams 'n Shit," an ambient two-parter; "Mariam Matrem," an instrumental and vocal arrangement of a 14th-Century choral piece; and "Stupid Blood," a Devoto/Jones cover rethought along the lines of high modernism and early Philip Glass.

On "Black Candles," multi-instrumentalist Ferrara Brain Pan develops a throbbing, hypnotic, trance-linear theme by layering oriental drone instruments and a high-end whine (yidaki, psaltery, kang lings, Tibetan bowls and tingshas) as foundation for bass clarinet, flute and recorder melodies. This meditative, brilliant fusion of East and West echoes Aaron Copland, Stravinsky and German industrialists Einsturzende Neubauten, and repays careful attention to its glacial orchestration of motifs.

"Mariam Matrem" keeps intact the spirit and progression of the medieval composition; and "Stupid Blood" deconstructs punk roots into minimalist shards, reminiscent of David Byrne's "The Catherine Wheel." Highly recommended.

- Alex S. Johnson
www.progressionmagazine.com

ELD RICH PALMER - 19 September 2004

A shortish (about 30 minutes) debut from up-to-now unknown to me windplayer Ferrara Brain Pan flashed up like a falling fireball on a starless sky. Confronting it with a quite big set of noise or atonal works I happened to have consumed recently, Cross Purposes, filled up with actual music, strikes me with doubled strength. At the very first sight the release's attractiveness lies in its catchy name and also in the fact that the man behind Forms Of Things Unknown is the former collaborator of Boyd Rice, Amon Duul and Faust, a co-founder of ambient dub project 23 Degrees, and part of dark ambient duo Darmstadt Pharmacy. So, it gets more and more likely that it's going to be a good album. The first listen proves it, and the next ones just confirm it - we have some excellent stuff here! Cross Purposes is comprised of three compositions of different kinds, but all with the same intriguing vibes. The opening 16-minute opus 'Black Candles & Pentagrams 'n Shit' smacks of a sonic ritual - subtle electro dronings and the vibraphone (at least it sounds like one) cast a spell on the listener. Minimalist means, but what effects! Somewhere between Tuxedomoon, Ksiezyc (Poland) and 23 Skidoo, or Last Few Days (but in much softer forms). As I said, Ferrara Brain Pan is a windplayer, and he plays his magical music on such instruments as bass clarinet, alto & sopranino sax, C flute and alto flute, Tibetan bowls & tingshas. With the 2nd composition 'Mariam Matrem', we get a chance to fall back into the Middle Ages - the 14th-Century devotional Christian song featuring the beautiful voice of Shannon Wolfe that enchants us with warm and gentle timbre. Reminiscences of Jordi Savall's music come to my mind automatically. A cover of UK punk legend Howard Devoto's 'Stupid Blood' completes the set and differs much (I guess) from the original version - what we get here is a sort of mixture between medieval-influenced Elijah's Mantle and Tuxedomoon. Definitely a name to watch!!!

- Krzysztof Sadza
www.eldrichpalmer.org

MUZIK.ALUTIS - 5 December 2003

Kalifornijos ambiento projektas, siais kompiuterizacijos laikais nustebines naudodamas tiek daug gyvu ir egzotisku instrumentu, vilko staugimo jrasu. Visa tai sudaro gana tamsia ir net pasakyciau satanistine nuotaika. Vietomis labai primena tautieciu IVTKYGYG kuryba "Linkejimai Falkenhanui" laikotarpiu. Pacituosim FluxEurope parasyta recenzija... (see next review)

www.muzik.alutis.lt

FLUX-EUROPA - 28 Aug 2003

Short and sweet, this is the debut recording under this moniker of one Ferrara Brain Pan, a San Francisco multi-instrumentalist with a long and varied history, his work running the full gamut from noise to goth to dark ambient. The promo is accompanied by an extraordinary press pack which contains, amongst other things, a statement by Brain Pan, in which he details the various wrongdoings he has suffered over the last fifteen years or so. "In 1993, while fishing at the waterfront park in Seattle, I was assaulted by President Clinton, who was visiting the city. ATF agents took my image and made an animal out of it. The Messiah wanted me to be his son and ordered me to be the King of this country. People have been buried on the moon and hooked into a space satellite. I am the only one who can save this world before it is too late".

Given all this the CD is a surprisingly coherent and well-rendered little effort. Brain Pan's version of Howard Devoto's 'Stupid Blood', owing much to the vocal talents of Bob Ayres, is genuinely spine chilling, and the sixteen minutes devoted to 'Black Candles & Pentagrams 'n Shit' is time well spent on a classic piece of dark ambient noodling. The disc features a much heralded cameo from Babs Santini, AKA Steven Stapleton, although this would appear to be limited to a few words spoken at the end of the recording. Anyway, this is pretty spooky stuff.

- Stewart Gott
www.fluxeuropa.com

COMPULSION - January 2004

Cross Purposes is a mCD lasting only 30 or so minutes, but it sure covers a lot of territory with musical versatility. Cross Purposes is the debut release from the peculiarly titled Forms of Things Unknown, a solo-project from peculiarly titled multi-instrumentalist Ferrara Brain Pan. Brain Pan appears to be a veteran of the San Francisco music scene, having recorded with Boyd Rice on the unreleased 'This Priceless Recording' during the Seventies, recording in some goth outfit Bad Alchemy, appearing uncredited on Faust's Rien, and being a member of the dark ambient duo Darmstadt Pharmacy.

Cross Purposes takes elements from all of these myriad influences and adds a number of woodwind and folk instruments to Christian devotional songs, Howard Devoto covers and some original electronic and organic compositions. The first track, 'Black Candles & Pentagrams 'n Shit', is a shimmering piece of ambient brilliance offset by sinister bass clarinet and creepy percussion. It's followed by 'Mariam Matrem', a sombre Spanish medieval composition initially performed on flute, and then with operatic vocals from Shannon Wolfe. The final track in this eclectic collection is a cover version of Luxuria's 'Stupid Blood', penned by Howard Devoto, over some serious flute and brass arrangements.

Cross Purposes is an interesting mix of styles that despite its fanciful efforts works particularly well; the sinister drone of the opener is well worth hearing. The brief appearance of Babs Santini (aka Nurse With Wound's Steven Stapleton) may help put Cross Purposes in perspective. Overall an interesting release that should be pursued by the more adventurous.

- Tony Dickie
www.compulsiononline.com

NO WARNING! - No 40, October 2004

Forms Of Things Unknown e la creatura di Ferrara Brain Pan, polistrumentista proveniente da San Francisco e unico responsabile con il suo ampio parco di strumenti a fiato delle arcane sonorita contenute in questo debut EP. Il nome del progetto, per i piu curiosi, e tratto da A Midsummer Night's Dream di William Shakespeare; ma Forms Of Things Unknown e solo l'ultimo act in ordine temporale a cui partecipa il titolare, le cui prime produzioni discografiche risalgono agli anni '70 quando Ferrara Brain Pan collaboro con il pioniere della musica noise Boyd Rice. In seguito fece parte di Bad Alchemy, poi del progetto ambient dub 23 Degrees quindi del dark-ambient duo Darmstadt Pharmacy. Da segnalare inoltre nel 1994 un'apparizione su Rien dei Faust. Lo sticker che accompagna questo Cross Purposes suggerisce di catalogare l'EP sotto le etichette dark ambient, goth, art rock ed experimental, il che puo darvi un'idea di massima di cio che ci apprestiamo a trattare; di rock (art o meno) in realta non ve n'e traccia, siamo semmai in un campo di sonorita doom spesso molto lugubri, che paragonerei a quelle di Paul Chain Violet Theatre per il tono sepolcrale delle due parti di 'Black Candles & Pentagrams 'n Shit', seppure l'approccio sia molto piu minimalista. Di stampo quasi rinascimentale si rivela 'Mariam Matrem', anche questa divisa in due parti delle quali la seconda e cantata dal soprano Shannon Wolfe, mentre la voce di Bob Ayres contribuisce a rendere la conclusiva 'Stupid Blood' prossima a certe cose da solista di Peter Hammill. Un lavoro interessante, seppur breve, che suscitera sicuramente l'interesse dei cultori delle sonoritИ piu arcane. Reperibile direttamente presso Forms Of Things Unknown.

- Luigi Ametta

digilander.libero.it/anewland/nowarn.htm

KOGAIONON - No 9, February 2004

Here we have plenty of talented musicians and one of them is Ferrara Brain Pan, a veteran of an unknown scene for those who may browse the book of Metal or Gothic accessories. He can be identified with some weird projects starting with the 70s and his musical palette includes Dark or Ambient echoes (23 DEGREES, DARMSTADT PHARMACY), Noise (BOYD RICE), Goth (BAD ALCHEMY) as well as the legendary FAUST. In this very case, this project orientation swings between Dark Ambient, Medieval, Rock and even Jazz. Thus, we can hear a variety of instruments such as clarinet, saxophone, flutes and other musical accessories for blowing beside sopranos, baritone... It is a real weirdness... an experiment but definitely an interesting one! Well, it actually has no possible connection with the musical field I write about for many years now... but it is interesting.

Rating: 0.82/1 (28.11)

www.kogaionon.com

IO PAGES - No. 50, February 2004

Zoals de File Under op deze CD al zegt: dark ambient, gothic, art rock en experimental zijn termen die inderdaad goed van toepassing zijn op het hier gebodene. De opener 'Black Candles & Pentagrams 'n Shit' klinkt als de aarde in de ochtend van zijn bestaan. Kleine, onderhand uitgestorven dieren schieten weg in hun donkere holen, de wind klinkt als een verlaten sirene. Toch blijft het niet bij deze donkere atmosferen waarbij leider Ferrara Brain Pan de nodige exotische instrumenten uit de kast trekt, want het tweede deel bestaat uit langzamedreigende geluiden op de basklarinet: een prachtige atmosfeer wordt hier neergezet. Op het veertiende-eeuwse 'Mariam Matrem' komen de klassieke invloeden naar boven. Dit klinkt wel een beetje dun, vooral door de spaarzame arrangementen, hoogstens twee instrumenten tegelijk. Hetzelfde religieuze nummer wordt nog eens dunnetjes overgedaan door een zangeres, nog steeds een beetje dun naar mijn smaak. De stijl gaat door de zang wat richting Karda Estra. Erg sterk is de art rock van het afsluitende nummer 'Stupid Blood'. Net als 'Mariam Matrem' is dit een cover, maar dan van een stuk recenter werkje. Howard Devoto (Magazine, Buzzcocks) schreef het met ene Jones voor zijn band Luxuria. De zang is apart, niet helemaal vast, maar daardoor is de voordracht des te sterker. Het doet me zowel denken aan John Cale en, iets minder, Peter Hammill, met verwijzingen naar Roxy Music. Kontact: enantiodromia23@yahoo.com.

- Jurriaan Hage
www.net4u.nl/io

CHAIN D.L.K. - 3 November 2003

With this Shakespeare-inspired band name, San Francisco based multi-instrumentalist windplayer, sound experimentator, mail artist Ferrara Brain Pan inaugurates his new musical project as well as his new label Panaxis. The artist has previously recorded with noisester Boyd Rice aka Non, the goth-rockers Bad Alchemy, the ambient/dub project 23 Degrees, the legendary Faust, and co-founded the dark ambient duo Darmstadt Pharmacy. Currently he is playing with free jazz ensemble Jazz Trannies and drone project Dromedary as well - and if I may suggest this, a person with such a deep knowledge of wind instruments from all over the world should definitely hook up with Italian multi-wind-instrumentalist Gregorio Bardini because they would really make a match of windplayers that would (dare I say) 'blow' you away!

Cross Purposes (also guest-featuring Steven Stapleton of Nurse With Wound) presents part of this knowledge in medieval compositions that might remind you of The Soil Bleeds Black or other similar bands, and pairs it up with dark ambient experimental music and art rock. Even though there is no specific musical reason to say this, the whole vibe of the record kind of reminds me of Death In June as well. The EP goes from instrumental to vocal and definitely keeps an organic approach, even though it feels a little discontinuous because of the genres, so apart from each other, brought together in just the short time of thirty minutes. But on the other hand I never found myself objecting to cross-pollinations of styles, so would I object to "Cross Purposes"?

- Marc Urselli-Schårer
www.chaindlk.org

METAL MANIACS - January 2004

I really didn't know how to take this band from the minute I listened to it. This is mellow, dramatic dark ambience played with layers of everything from flutes, saxophones and clarinets to a yidaki, a 30-string zither, kang lings and a shakuhachi. It all forms symphonic coatings of subtle but obviously well-prepared passages, yet as I read the song titles accompanying these musical visions I see the first one slated as "Black Candles & Pentagrams 'n Shit." Not something fitting the serious setting of the song. I'm left rather impressed overall, but after 45 minutes of instrumental experimentation and chilling tones, vocals enter the last song like a turd on your birthday cake. Man, these are some seriously bad vocals! "Stupid Blood" carries the same weight as the rest of the album, but that crooning has just screwed up my whole listening experience. Turns out it's a cover of UK new-wave legend Howard Devoto. Another track is a cover of a 14th Century Christian devotional song.

The craftsman of this evil project, Ferrara Brain Pan, was also apparently set up by judges for false sexual assault charges, fired upon by the Air Force while working, assaulted by the Secret Service while attempting to approach President Clinton, brainwashed in an asylum and injected by the government with AIDS, gonorrhea and guerrilla germs, harassed by the FBI, CIA, ATF, and oh man, so much more crazy stories that either make this dude completely insane, really creative, or totally full of shit, but the first four songs of this disc are pretty sick, complete with a Steven Stapleton guest shot. The site is worth checking out for some music and some really crazy stories, but it might really toot your flute if you're into maybe late Ulver or Burzum stuff, and envisioning doped-up carny gnomes shaving goats in the moonlight.

- Dave Brenner
www.metalmaniacs.com

INDUSTRIAL.ONEGO.RU - 26 December 2003

За названием Forms Of Things Unknown стоит личность, называющая себя Ferrara Brain Pan, и удивительное дело - хотя "Cross Purposes" является его дебютным релизом, в музыкальном (околомузыкальном) бизнесе он уже достаточно давно, успев поработать с Boyd Rice в 70х, Bad Alchemy в 80х, 23 Degrees (начало 90х), Faust, и Darmstadt Pharmacy. По всей видимости в целях привлечения внимания к диску на нем не раз упоминается "специальное появление Steven Stapleton из Nurse With Wound", однако это скорее рекламная уловка, чем реальное сотрудничество. Впрочем, и без Stapleton'а здесь есть чем поживиться эстетствующему меломану. Три трека (первая и вторая, а также третья и четвертая позиции объедены в, соответственно, две единые композиции), три разных оттенка. 'Black Candles & Pentagrams 'n Shit' - мрачнейшая вещица, состоящая из двух слоев: гулово-звенящего и воздушно-духового. Из отдаленных уголков Интернета доходят сведения, будто Ferrara Brain Pan - настоящий "музыкант ветра", использующий всевозможные воздуходувные инструменты для создания своих творений. Наверное, особенно это ярко выражено в 'Mariam Matrem', фолковой песне, сооруженной из печальной флейты и женского вокала (во второй части). Завершающая диск песня 'Stupid Blood' является кавер-версией панк-легенды Howard Devoto, выполненной также с оттенком фолка, однако на этот раз, он ближе к тому, что делали Endura. Итак, весьма недурственная первая ласточка нового музыкального явления под названием Forms Of Things Unknown, и даже если покупателя привлек лишь ярлычок "Special Guest Appearance by Steven Stapleton of Nurse With Wound", он вряд ли будет сильно разочарован.

- Lev Levin
industrial.onego.ru

SEIDR - April 2004

Мультиинструменталист и художник Ferrara Brain Pan из Сан-Франциско, начав свою деятельность еще в конце 70-х, сотрудничал с такими командами, как Boyd Rice / NON, Bad Alchemy, 23 Degrees, Faust и Darmstadt Pharmacy. Данный мини-альбом, изданный в 2003 году, представляет собой музыкальный дебют, в котором также приняли участие саксофонисты Шэннон Вульф и Боб Айрес, плюс специальный гость - Стивен Стэплтон, скрывшийся под псевдонимом "Бабз Сантини".

Три композиции представляют музыканта в самом широком спектре: от ритуального дарк-эмбиента ("Black Candles & Pentagrams 'n Shit") до медиевального "нового минимализма" ("Mariam Matrem") и клавишного арт-рока в духе Van der Graaf Generator (кавер панк-хита Говарда Девото "Stupid Blood"). В его арсенале - кларнеты, саксофоны, флейты, цитры; австралийские, японские и тибетские инструменты; не говоря уже о сэмплерах и синтезаторах.

Все очень продуманно, очень качественно. Подобный альбом сделает честь любому музыканту и, безусловно, заинтересует любого поклонника электроакустической музыки.

Один лишь минус - при всем при том звучит отчего-то не слишком интересно...

- Shelley
seidr.woods.ru

AXIOM OF CHOICE - 9 March 2004

Opener 'Black Candles & Pentagrams 'n Shit' is a more atmospheric than purely melodic piece. Most dominant are a somewhat grating and at times somewhat abrasive tape loop overlaid with more melodic sounding bass clarinet. This is pretty minimalist. 'Mariam Matrem' is a medieval sounding piece: the melody is played with flute with chanting vocals, undoubtedly in Latin. The piece, apparently, is from the 14th Century. Both an instrumental and a vocal version of the piece are featured. 'Stupid Blood' is a Devoto/Jones cover, played with an almost rhythmically applied harmonium-like [keyboard], later augmented with bagpipes (or what sounds like those), bass clarinet and flute. [Bob] Ayres' vocals are fitting for the atmosphere, somewhat opera-like, but not so heavy sounding.

Mind you, this is not progressive music in its regular form. In fact, I wouldn't even call it avant prog: this is avant-garde. The combination of experiment, atmosphere and melody works into a result that is as balanced as it it diverse. Not exactly accessible, and probably considered too abrasive at some times by some, this is a very strong experimental album.

- Roberto Lambooy
www.cs.uu.nl/people/jur/progrock.html

EQUINOXE - Issue 24, Summer 2004

Diese Veroffentlichung veranlasste mich dazu, ein Interview mit Ferrara Brain Pan zu machen, da es eine der interessantesten und seltsamsten Veroffentlichungen der letzten Monate ist. Das minialbum ist eine auf den ersten Blick seltsame Zusammenstellung hochst heterogener Musiken: das sechzehnminutige und in zwei Teile gesplittete 'Black Candles & Pentagrams 'n Shit' ist sicher musikalisch betrachtet das Kernstuck des Minialbums. Was Ferrara Brain Pan hier dem Horer offeriert, ist nichts weniger als ein auf Blasinstrumenten gespieltes (und eben nicht erzeugtes) Dark Ambient-Stuck, in das nach etwa drei Minuten weitere Klange einbrechen, die vielleicht so klingen, wie man sich Wehklagen vorstellen kann. Der Ubergang zum zweiten Teil ist fliessend, aber bemerkbar. 'Errant Bodies' ist weniger bedrohlich, vermittelt aber eine unterschwellige Ruhe vor dem Sturm, die Gansehaut verursacht. Nach diesen dusteren, durch die Titel okkult (aber auch ironisch gebrochen) verorteten Stucken folgen zwei Versionen (instrumental und vokal) eines christlichen Liedes. Im direkten Vergleich mit dem Beginn ist das weniger spektakular, vielleicht ist man durch den inflationaren (musikalischen und meistens naiv anmutenden) Rekurs auf das Mittelalter schon abgehartet, aber dennoch: 'Mariam Matrem' schlagt so manches, was sich auf einschlagigen Samplem findet. Beendet wird das Album mit einem weiteren Cover (diesmal stammt das Original von Howard Devoto): 'Stupid Blood', ahnlich songorientiert wie 'Mariam Matrem', bei dem der Gastsanger Bob Ayres erneut von einer Reihe von Blasinstrumenten unterstutzt wird: Das ist Pathos, den man sich gefallen lassen kann und selbst die Saxophoneinlage kann ich geniessen. Dass Babs Santini (vulgo Steven Stapleton) noch kurz als veranlassen das Album zu kaufen - hochstens in Kombination mit der eigentlichen Musik, die ist namlich ganz, ganz gross. Wer hier vorschnell Irrationalismus ruft, dem sei das Konzeptionelle, Durchdachte in Erinnerung gerufen, mit dem Gegensatze ("Cross Purposes" eben) kontrastiert werden, um aus These und Antithese eine Synthese zu erhalten. Zu beziehen uber Drone oder direkt auf der Website: www.formsofthingsunknown.com.

- Michael Gottert
www.equinoxe-magazin.de

PROG-RESISTE - Issue 37, July 2004

Album bien etrange que ce Cross Purposes, court de meme pas une demi-heure mais cela m'a amplement suffi car il s'agit en fait d'une musique obscure, etrange, inquietante parfois, divisee en trois parties relativement differentes. La premiere est faite de bruits divers, bizarres avec une sorte de sirene (pas la femme-poisson mais l'usine - j'ai pas dit Melusine!) en toile de fond. C'est a mon avis une plage, qui au depart etait sensee propice au recueillement, a l'introspection mais ca m'a irrite tres vite et tres beaucoup (si, si!!!) Il y a heureusement un saxophone qui vient chapeauter tout ce bazar et rendre cette musique plus acceptable mais j'ai quand meme failli me barrer vite fait. On m'avait dit que c'etait atmospherique, minimaliste et epure. Je voyais pas ca comme ca. Minimaliste melodiquement alors! La deuxieme partie fait plus reference au Moyen-Age vu l'utilisation de clarinettes, de flutes, vu le chant feminin en latin et vu le theme religieux. C'est celle-ci que je prefere. La troisieme, d'une banalite consternante, plus profane est chantee en anglais par un baryton accompagne par toute une serie d'instruments archaiques et ethniques (yidaki, psaltery, tingshas) et quelques instruments modernes quand meme (synthes, samplers, sax...)

Pas grande chose d'autre a dire car rien sous la dent (ou dans l'oreille) a se mettre. Peut mieux faire. Beaucoup mieux. Et que voulez-vous que je mette comme cote la-dessus?

- Jean-Luc Pierard
www.progresiste.com

FUNPROX - 7 October 2003

Forms of Things Unknown is a new project by a man who calls himself Ferrara Brain Pan, who is a wind-musician. Ferrara Brain Pan uses all sorts of wind instruments to create his music, ranging from various flutes to saxophone to different ethnical instuments such as the yidaki and the shakuhachi. Ferrara Brain Pan is probably known only by a few for his collaborations with Boyd Rice (NON) which remain unreleased, Faust and Darmstadt Pharmacy (with Ure Thrall of Asia Nova).

On this 30-minute MCD, Ferrara Brain Pan delivers a strange mix of dark ambient, dark folk and experimental music. The two dark ambient tracks are really excellent and haunting. These are followed by three tracks of mediaeval influenced folk songs (consisting of flute and voice). These folk songs are very strange and remind me of something Current 93 could have made. The use of two styles makes this CD a very strange release. I must say I like the dark ambient tracks a lot more than the folk tracks and it would be better to release separate ambient and folk CDs I think.

I hope to see more releases by Ferrara Brain Pan, especially a full-length dark ambient album. It would be nice to see a re-release of the excellent Darmstadt Pharmacy release for example, which is a recording of Ferrara Brain Pan and Ure Thrall doing a live set. Unfortunately only 100 CDRs were made of this and it is long sold out. Being a happy owner of one copy, I can definitely recommend it.

- TD
 www.funprox.com

EAR/RATIONAL - New Releases, 22 November 2003

This crazy fellow has worked in the past with Faust and Boyd Rice. Now there is an eclectic mix. His current release, Cross Purposes, has an appearance by Steven Stapleton/Nurse With Wound. The sounds on this hearken back to a bagpipe player in the pits and a bass clarinet player playing a solo requiem, all set in a cave that the devil gave to humans to abuse. Rumbles and hands reaching from below. This is the soundtrack to Dante's Inferno.

There is another side to this release, though, something along the lines of the folk music of Current 93. Maybe I heard this song in a past life while sitting around the fire in a castle from a traveling minstrel group. Then things go weird.

The artwork on the promo sleeve has me thinking of Nocturnal Emissions' release Invocation of the Beast Gods - that is, fur and skins, with a cute little cat peeking out. Most cats are far too funny looking to be evil.

  - DP
 www.ear-rational.com

DRONE RECORDS - New Releases, October 2003

Hinter diesem Project aus San Francisco verbirgt sich Ferrara Brain Pan, der auch mit Ure Thrall zusammengearbeitet hat. Cross Purposes besteht aus dunklen, handgespielten Drones, einem wundervollen mittelalterlichen Stuck mit Frauengesang, und einer sinistren Cover-Version eines Howard Devoto-Stuckes - absolut professionell produziert, mit einem Gastauftritt von Steven Stapleton!

www.dronerecords.de

NEO-ZINE - 10 March 2004

I really enjoyed listening to this. Of course, I am now as [sic] as a loon for doing so. It started out as a dark ambient recording, kind of morphed into a medieval darkwave thing, then abandoned everything and produced a simple bathroom ditty about the artist's penis.

The heart of the matter is that an artist named Ferrara Brain Pan happens to be a knowledgeable windplayer who can blow everything from flutes, saxes, clarinet, and recorders, as well as rarities such as Aboriginal didgeridoo, Japanese bamboo flute, and a thighbone trumpet used in Tibetan Buddhist rituals (yes, human thighbone). He also includes a 30-string zither, glockenspiel, and Tibetan singing bowls. This diversity and exoticism comes to the table in a brilliant but scattershot fashion.

www.neo-zine.com

MUSIC STREET JOURNAL - Issue 50, February 2005

Overall Review

This is a rare breed meant for a niche crowd. It is part of a clan that was prevalent in the soundtracks of seventies sci-fi movies. The music is both bizarre and mysterious at the same time. If you are into bands like Tangerine Dream that take lingering themes and stretch the notes for miles and miles, you may like this one. It isn't for everyone, but for those who like it, this will come as much needed treatment. It has all the therapeutic properties one would experience lying in a water chamber with ambient lighting and serene sound effects.

Track by Track Review

'Black Candles & Pentagrams n' Shit':
i. Risen, the Judas Moon - This takes us to Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles. The planet is desolate and dusty. Life exists outside the camp's borders, but it is hidden from sight behind huge rocks and inside subterranean alcoves. This piece is overall eerie and becomes quite unnerving at times.
ii. Errant Bodies - This is much of the same, spooky and relentless, and it is 50% longer than the first track. For those not into this sort of music, it will have them itching to start the launch sequence and head back home. The instrumentation reminds me of the opening sequence from The Outer Limits. There is nothing wrong with your television. The aliens are controlling the horizontal and the vertical.

'Mariam Matrem':
a. Instrumental - This is a change of pace as it is madrigal and medieval. As the title states, it is strictly instrumental. This is all it shares in common with the first two tracks.
b. Vocal - We continue with the theme from the previous song. Shannon Wolfe's soprano voice emerges. It sounds as if she is singing a religious chant.

'Stupid Blood': Each track is different from the next. The first is a real space oddity, the second is almost an opera act, and this one swoops into the nest of Birdsongs of the Mesozoic. Bob Ayres is the baritone credited for the singing in this stand-alone piece. Ferrara Brain Pan provides all the interesting wind instruments.

I'm sure some will find this album entertaining, and it is no doubt different from the rest of the pack. For what it's worth, the uniqueness of this blend will draw some near while others will hold their nose and scurry in the opposite direction from its pungent aroma. This isn't my cup of tea, but it will certainly meet the needs of those who prefer compositions that are spacey, atmospheric, and avant-garde.

- Joshua Turner

www.musicstreetjournal.com

ZOOKEEPER ONLINE - 9 December 2003
(KZSU Music Database)

Maybe conceptually and/or aesthetically these people are into heavy metal (ex: album title is a nod to a later-era Black Sabbath album of the same name, tracks named 'Black Candles & Pentagrams 'n Shit' and 'Risen, the Judas Moon'). On the other hand, musically this [is] somewhere around a mix of Nurse With wound and Lustmord and some other creepy-ass music.

(Track 1) Super-droney, bizarre & high-pitched. Lots of wolf howls (or is that a dog humming?) Overall, really fucked-up & dark ambience a la Lustmord, early Current 93 and/or Nurse With wound whose Steven Stapleton, er... 'Babs Santini', is on this track. No FCC's despite the 'not cool with the FCC' title.
(Track 2) Lots of brooding bass clarinet, more drones & other weirdness... I never thought a clarinet could sound 'grim' but they're getting there.
(Track 3) Nice, simple, regal & medieval-sounding flute.
(Track 4) Sounds a bit like the Italian 'early music' / folk band Atraxia. A Latin-sung tune from 15th-Century France. Really nice!
(Track 5) Bizarre Buzzcocks cover. I don't actually know the original but either way this is rather odd. Is it dodgy for us to play a song that has the line "My prick, my [very] spirit"? Other than that nothing else is, um, 'not ready for prime time' here.

- Ragnar of Ravensfjord
zk.stanford.edu

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