Next Friday, February 28, Gintas K will perform live with Klaus Felitz and Ernst Markus Stein in Berlin at the aquabitArt Galerie at Auguststrasse 35, 10119 Berlin.
“Meubles†reviewed by Onda Rock
La proposta del compositore lituano Arturas Bumsteinas è di adottare i più tipici stilemi di folktronica e poptronica e di estenderli in lunghe composizioni da camera anziché rinchiuderli in arrangiamenti per canzoni tradizionali. L’ultimo “Meubles†(a seguire i vari “Stories from Organ Safariâ€, “Heap Of Languageâ€, “Three Sixteens†etc.) è un esempio lampante di questo metodo.
L’idea è sulla carta ottima, ma all’ascolto priva di cardini che tengano insieme i brani. “Hszczâ€, 17 minuti, soundscape aurorale di tocchi quasi raga e accordi dal timbro eterogeneo, suona come un lungo preludio. “Llullâ€, 20 minuti, ha qualche stridore in più, briciole di percussioni, e un appena accennato feeling jazz che filtra fioco tra i coriandoli sonori. “Davidâ€, 13 minuti, aggiunge qualche vapore elettronico e qualche ombra di slide desertica all’usuale micro-giungla rarefatta di cenni sonori.
Una domanda, posta dallo stesso Bumsteinas, da far arrovellare Brian Eno e da far rivoltare nella tomba Erik Satie: “If music could be furniture, which piece of furniture it would be?†E’ vacuo però trovare una risposta in questi poemi neo-ambientali dall’amichevole appeal timbrico, in pericolante bilico tra casuali prove d’orchestra ed elogio del metodo stocastico. Eseguito con il suo Works & Days Ensemble (Ilia Belorukov, Kamil Szuszkiewicz, Lina Lapelyte, Anton Lukoszevieze, Birute Aseviciute, Piotr Bukowski, Bartek Kalinka, Hubert Zemler), registrato tra 2011 e 2013 in vari “portable studios”. Michele Saran
via Onda Rock
“Ab OVO†reviewed by Sonic Seducer
Seinen Ursprung hat “Ab Ovo†in der musikalischen Begleitung für eine Aufführung des Puppentheaters der portugiesischen Stadt Porto. Nach der Premiere Anfang 2012 machten sich die beiden Urheber, Pedro Tudela und Miguel Carvalhais, daran, den Soundtrack zu erweitern und aus dem Kontext der Aufführung zu lösen. Hieraus entstand “Ab Ovo†— ein Säurebad elektronischer Kompositionen. Es zischelt, schwillt an und entlässt dann doch unerwartet warme Töne aus Gitarre und Akkordeon. “Ab Ovo†wirkt streng und nachdenklich; den Ansatz eines ergebnisoffenen Experiments findet man hier nicht — hoer merkt man dem Album seine Herkunft an. Im Gegenzug bedarf es num keines Puppentheaters mehr, um “Ab Ovo†genießen zu können. Sascha Bertoncin
Futurónica 108
Episode 108 of Futurónica, a broadcast in Rádio Manobras (91.5 MHz in Porto, 18h30) and Rádio Zero (21h GMT, repeating on Tuesday at 01h) airs tomorrow, February 21st.
The playlist of Futurónica 108 is:
- David Vélez, Caudal (2013, Yoi, Unfathomless)
- Simon Whetham, In Many Ways, Trapped (2013, Yoi, Unfathomless)
You can follow Rádio Zero’s broadcasts at radiozero.pt/ouvir and Rádio Manobras at radiomanobras.pt.
“Ab OVO†reviewed by Neural
Miguel Carvalhais & Pedro Tudela began work on this new project edited by Crónica Electronica in May 2012, finishing in July 2013. The composition originates from work by @c for the soundtrack to OVO, a pièce of puppet drama by Oporto, developed between the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012. Starting from an original idea by Eric de Sarria, OVO is the result of a synergic process: after several rehearsals that involved all the performers (actors, puppet masters, musicians and other creators), the show made its debut on 10th February 2012, at the São Bento da Vitória Monastery. 19 compositions were produced, forming the larger part of the soundtrack for the play. These were eventually morphed into six new tracks, which faithfully retain the feeling of the previous works while enlarging the creative process through re-reading, reinterpretation and re-discovering the same “masks†and atmospheres. The sequences performed by the duo are powerfully expressive and the landscapes shine with a great intensity and formal coherence. The new tracks also provide another opportunity to discuss the creative process and its underpinnings. The use of the Latin phrase Ab OVO – which literally means “from the egg†– is no accident: another good reason to keep attention focused on the contemporaneity of similar musical approaches. Aurelio Cianciotta
via Neural
“No End of Vinyl†reviewed by Neural
From Crónica Electronica come ten new reinterpretations, reflecting on “the end of vinyl or the end of the worldâ€. Although there is some underlying thematic irony here, the Portuguese label has maintained its customary formal accuracy and clarity of aims with this release, thanks in part to Pure and Miguel Carvalhais. Both have been active on the production side, giving new life to the the.end.of.vinyl release, which was originally recorded by Pure in 1999 and has been out of stock for some time. Hiding behind the monikers of Pure and Current 909 is Peter Votava. The Austrian producer, who currently lives in Berlin, has moved from the analogue domain into digital production. This is the first work in his catalogue where the focus is on pure listening as opposed to functional dance music. The original Pure album was not a manifesto against vinyl records but a reference to the different sources of the music, which arose out of samples that have now become the inspiration for new rarefied audio sequences. We won’t mention anyone in particular, because with names such as @c, Christoph de Babalon, Jorge Sánchez-Chiong, Cindytalk, Goner, Pita, Rashad Becker, Arturas BumÅ¡teinas, Opcion and, last but not least, Pure, we need to mention all of them. The selection of music is fantastic and the album is available on Bandcamp for a symbolic-or-higher-if-you-want price tag. Aurelio Cianciotta
via Neural
“Ab OVO†reviewed by Blow Up
Il progetto parte dalla musica per uno spettacolo di burattini. Potrebbe nascere dalla domanda: ma che c’è nella testa di una marionetta? Ma posta non da uno psichiatra, da un fisico esperto in elettromagnetismo. Ne esce un incrocio tra Frankenstein Jr. (ma serio) e Capitan Nemo. Magmatiche maree sonore e derive percussive, con in mezzo una notevole escursione meditativa. Peccato che ci sia solo la musica. G. Dal Maso
“Filament Sculptures†by Lia
via Lia
“Concret-Sens†reviewed by Blow Up
Neon, prese elettriche, nastri registrati, field recordings: EM ne cava fuori tre suites. A che pro una musica (musica?) del genere? Forse è un modo per riflettere sulla concretezza e sul senso dei suoni che ci circondano. Sarà , purtroppo a me piace. G. Dal Maso
“Concret-Sens†reviewed by Chain D.L.K.
Named after a combination of French words – the word sens (meaning direction) and the French adjective concrescence that the living legend Francois Bayle, who also coined the term “acousmatic” and inventor of “Acousmonium”, used to describe the concrete substance of sounds and its intrinsic impermanence and ruggedness -, this interesting release by Emmanuel Mieville keeps faith with its title as it sounds like an asymptotic approach to the core of musique concrete, as conceptualized by Pierre Schaeffer. While he focused on aural perception of specific environments and sonic “anamnesis” of different urban and wildlife locations on “Four Wanderings in Tropical Lands” that I introduced on this zine a couple of years ago, Emmanuel seems to develop the three sound structures of “Concret-Sens” by coalescing field recordings, other found sounds/objects, pre-recorded stuff and radio snippets without lessening listener’s chance to phase them in possible narrative buildups: the lack of uttermost objectification of sound material is particularly clear on the central structure, “Locus Sonus”, as the combination of field recordings with tapes and radio documentaries seem to evoke personal historical elements and educational memories of the composer, whose first learning steps as apprentice at Groupe de Recherches Musicales in the field of musique concrete got based on creative radio programs and live concerts and the boundaries between objectivity of sound objects and listener’s subjective translation seems to be also quite veiled on the initial “Cillages”, whose almost orchestral concoctions of recordings of neon lights and hums from electrical outlets manages to feed listener’s imagination as the development of the track could let you think about the testing of an unknown Tesla deep fryer. The final piece “Solis Ortus” is an admirable assay of manipulation of field recordings by means of granular synthesis, whose resulting particles crams the sonic sphere by degrees. Vito Camarretta
via Chain D.L.K.