Dutch musician Rutger Zuydervelt works on music under the
Machinefabriek moniker, an evocative name suited to his often detailed blends of found sound, industrial-derived sonic textures and general mood-setting work. Having released many mini-CDs on his own,
Weleer finds him drawing together tracks from a number of these releases to create a lengthy and quite cohesive overview of his approach. In its own way, this is his
Louder Than Bombs, a compilation that serves to deftly illustrate his abilities in one solid effort. Given the continuing nature of his work it is easier to focus in on the individual tracks, but
Weleer is very well sequenced and rapidly sets and maintains a strong core atmosphere. There are some massive doomy drones at various points, with two of the highlights being "Chinese Unpopular Song" and especially "Lief," which is downright majestic with its crumbling, overwhelming sonics. Elsewhere there's more of a contrast set up: on the lengthy "Hieperdepiep," initial tape clicks and musiqu concrète touches shade into a battle between screeching white noise and a choral sample of sorts, with the former winning out by the end of the piece. There's just as much given over to calmer, almost sweeter simplicity. Two strong examples include the simple but affecting piano part on "Ryan" and the elegant "Wintervacht," which in its collage of sound arcs and implied rhythms suggests
Robert Hampson's work in
Main but without the looming sense of angst-ridden doom. Meanwhile, though
Machinefabriek's reference points generally feel like they belong to more recent times, "Bye Bye Boat Bye Bye Building" steps back more towards an alternate '70s, with roughly treated vocoder-style work feeling like a lost broadcast drop-kicked into more modern times. ~ Ned Raggett