Those who have seriously attempted to operate a synthesizer know from experience how easy getting lost in the meanders of programming is. In a plurality of parameters and wave shapes, finding a way to produce a decent result – let alone a beautiful one – is not exactly a walk in the park when the necessary practicality …
Category Archives: Reviews
Chris Dooks on Jos Smolders’s “Nowhere: Exercises in Modular Synthesis and Field Recordingâ€
The first track from Jos Smolders’s Nowhere is a good example of music generating images of somewhere, even if it is an unstable, ungraspable locale. Smolders’s modular synthesis works are surprisingly cinematic for music of a kind that is often labeled clinical, academic or heavy. The work has a ‘materiality’ that is nimble and strong, like a kind …
“Nowhere: Exercises in Modular Synthesis and Field Recording†reviewed by Vital
A few years ago, Jos Smolders sold all his records, switched off his laptop and invested in the purchase of modular synthesizer parts; a whole lot of them. Simply because it was time to do something new. Before that he worked extensively with tape-machines, found sound and later on with laptop technology to create his …
“Nowhere: Exercises in Modular Synthesis and Field Recording†reviewed by nitestylez.de
Scheduled for release on January 10th, 2k17 via the Portuguese imprint Cronica is Jos Smolders newest album effort named “Nowhere: Exercises In Modular Synthesis And Field Recording” in which we see the artist stepping away from his usual approach of detailed, thought out composition and exploring a method of letting his electronic devices of mostly …
“Against Nature†reviewed by Neural
Whether is an experimenter known for his releases on Entr’acte, Helen Scarsdale, Line and baskaru. The field recordist is accustomed to calibrating addictive acoustic explorations of space and resonant objects. The sounds in Against Nature were generated during a residency with Kunstsenter Agder, in Kristiansand, Norway. There are five tracks. The longer ones (the first, …
“Geography†reviewed by Nieuwe Noten
Het Portugese label Crónica is een ware goudmijn voor een ieder die houdt van experimentele elektronische muziek. Eerder kwamen hier reeds Arturas BumÅ¡teinas met ‘Gamelan Descending a Staircase’ en Martijn Tellinga met ‘Positions’ voorbij. Nu ligt er een nieuwe schijf van de eveneens uit Portugal afkomstige laptopkunstenaar Vitor Joaquim. Vitor Joaquim is een man van …
“Nowhere: Exercises in Modular Synthesis and Field Recording†reviewed by Aural Aggravation
In the sphere of experimental and what one may reasonably term ‘fringe’ music, there is something of a propensity for descriptive titles. I’m quite a fan of these kinds of titles. Picking up Exercises in Modular Synthesis and Field Recording, I have a reasonable idea of what to expect. Granted, there’s no detail as to …
“Unfurling Streams†reviewed by Ether Real
Depuis qu’on l’a découvert en 2011, Monty Adkins apparaît régulièrement sur ces pages avec un plaisir renouvelé. C’est chez Audiobulb qu’on le découvrait mais son champ de travail est assez large et lui permet d’apparaître sur des labels aussi variés que Signature (le label de Radio France) ou encore empreintes DIGITALes. On a cette fois …
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“Primary Reception†and “Alone Together†reviewed by Fluid Radio
The ‘Corollaries’ series by Portuguese label Crónica collects works resulting from Active Crossover: Mooste, a cross-cultural collaborative residency curated by sound artist Simon Whetham in Estonia in 2015. All of the pieces released as part of the series were created using sound materials compiled in a collective archive during the residency. Different artists participated at …
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“Three-Body Problem†reviewed by The Sound Projector
Now sixteen albums down the line, Portuguese duo @C continue to refine their own brand of subatomic click n’cut ambience with Three-Body Problem, which began life as Agapornis – another puppetry piece soundtrack (like Ab Ovo before it); one inspired by the writer Anaïs Nin. The title symbolises the logistical synergy of three phases of …
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