“Lemuria†reviewed by Beach Sloth
Lemures make industrial field recordings. Far from these evoking some sort of pretty pastoral scene they are harsh unrelenting explorations into the dark underbelly of machines. Thanks to the intensity of the vision there is hardly any relief from these foreboding soundscapes. Aspects of it do focus on the natural when necessary but even these fleeting moments are relatively hopeless. By staying consistent throughout nearly the four expansive passages the listener is forced to confront the sounds that often escape attention. In a way it is a celebration of the ugly ambient noise that surrounds everyone. Only here it is amplified.
‘II’ grates at the ears with random effects that spin out of control. Digital processing is extremely strong on this particular track. For the first three minutes these noises are completely left alone. When an actual motor arrives to give the piece some context it is greatly appreciated even given the mechanical nature. ‘I’ takes an anxious approach to sound design with greatly unstable pieces flirting with outright chaos. Eventually the chaos does arrive at the very end in bitterly harsh angry static. ‘III’ offers a rare melodic glance. Surrounded by light ambient sounds it builds up into a large swell similar to that frequently used by Fennesz. Pleasantness fades away after a while revealing a positive maelstrom at the end.
‘VI’ ends the album off on a relatively mellow note. Though it is not outright beautiful there is something charm about its restrained mechanical hum. Unlike the previous tracks there is no sudden increase in volume or distortion. It simply chooses to fade out like the ambient noise the entire collection celebrates.
via Beach Sloth
Simon Whetham live in Porto
Next wednesday, January 29th, we will be very honored to welcome Simon Whetham for an unmissable solo performance at Porto’s Passos Manuel. Simon has so far released two albums in Crónica, “Mic.Madeira†(with Hugo Olim, in 2011) and “Never So Alone†(in 2013), as well as the wonderful “Crossovers†compilation, available as a free download.
More information on the event.
“Concret-Sens†reviewed by Monsieur Délire
Voici ce que j’ai entendu de plus convaincant à ce jour de la part d’Emmanuel Mieville. Le titre de l’album est un jeu de mot sur la notion de “concrescence†développée par François Bayle pour parler de la substance concrète des sons. Ainsi, Mieville propose trois morceaux où la source sonore est magnifiée dans sa réalité concrète et détournée dans sa présentation hors contexte. On a droit à des néons qui bourdonnent, des enregistrements de terrain, des extraits de documentaires radiophoniques et des transformations par synthèse granulaire, le tout combiné avec un sens esthétique qui vise à tirer l’oreille vers des régions inexplorées. François Couture
via Monsieur Délire
“Ab OVO†reviewed by Monsieur Délire
@c est un merveilleux duo d’électroniciens portugais (Pedro Tudela et Miguel Carvalhais). En 2012, ils ont réalisé la musique d’un spectacle de marionettes pour adultes intitulé “Ovoâ€. Ils ont ensuite retravaillé ce matériel pour en faire un album (on me dit que le résultat final est très différent de la musique de scène, tout en en conservant l’esprit). J’y retrouve la vivacité d’esprit, la profondeur de champ et le sens théâtral auxquels ce duo m’a habitué… sauf dans une pièce, la plus longue, dont je décroche totalement: interminable, vacueuse – peut-être que si j’avais vu le spectacle… mais sur disque, elle ne passe pas la rampe. Autrement, on a droit à de la solide électroacoustique, mais vous feriez mieux de vous initier à @c ailleurs (avec leur CD chez Baskaru, par exemple). François Couture
via Monsieur Délire
“Lemuria†reviewed by Blow Up
Il duo composto da Enrico Coniglio and Giovanni Lami utilizza field recordings ed elaborazione digitale per creare soundscapes dai toni avvolgenti estremamente dilatati, che spesso si espandono sino a lambire i territori dell’ ambient. In “Lemuria†la cura del dettaglio nell’ opera di tessitura elettronica si coniuga con efficacia al flusso impressionista generato dalla progressiva stratificazione delle diverse fonti sonore, dando vita a quattro movimenti dalla forma molto curata e nitida. M. Busti
“Lemuria†reviewed by The New Noise
“Nelle credenze religiose di Roma antica, anima o spettro vagante di defunto che tornava sulla terra per molestare i viviâ€. Così dice il mio Zingarelli del lemure, mentre apprendo da Wikipedia che le “Lemuria†siano delle cerimonie dell’Antica Roma attraverso la quale esorcizzare i morti. Dietro a questo progetto troviamo Enrico Coniglio, ormai sound artist di lungo corso apparso su un sacco di etichette che amiamo, e Giovanni Lami, visto/sentito un paio d’anni fa su Fratto9 col nome di Terrapin. Entrambi partono quasi sempre dal paesaggio e dai field recordings. Qui, in ossequio forse al nome maligno che si sono scelti (i loro presupposti teorici sono di certo più profondi), slittano progressivamente in un altro mondo, pur avendo iniziato a muoversi in una costruzione semi-abbandonata nei dintorni di Ravenna, città cara a un altro field recorder (e fotografo come Lami) italiano, Adriano “Punck†Zanni. A un certo punto, suggestionato dal fatto che Enrico e Giovanni menzionino Ovidio e i “Fastiâ€, nei quali si parla anche delle Lemuria, mi sono fatto l’idea che i rumori degli oggetti e delle cose, qui, suggeriscano lo svolgersi di qualche rito, prima di lasciare spazio a suoni astratti che rappresentano l’apparizione di un “altro†inconoscibile. Uno dei punti di forza del disco è proprio questo senso di vertigine che si prova nel passaggio tra realtà , anche ordinaria, e non-realtà , a tratti abrasiva e spesso deprimente/mortifera come solo i cari vecchi gruppi Cold Meat Industry sapevano essere, ma senza la benché minima comunanza con qualsivoglia cliché horror, gotico o grandguignolesco. A me questa virata onirica sta più che bene. Date un “giro†a questo disco sulle varie piattaforme virtuali, mi sa che potrebbe star bene pure a voi.
Fabrizio Garau
via The New Noise
“Lemuria†reviewed by Rockerilla
Lemuria è il nuovo progetto di Enrico Coniglio, uno dei più impegnati esponenti del non certo vasto bacino dell’elettronica sperimentale italiana. Ad accompagnarlo in questa nuova avventura è il più giovane Giovanni Lami, che aveva già avuto modo non troppo tempo fa di donare le sue field recordings a gente come Ryan Connor (Sublamp) e Shaun McAlpine. In Lemures, i due si limitano in realtà ad intersecare i rispettivi mondi all’insegna della perfezione tecnico-acustica: minimalismo ed ecoacustica dal piglio concreto che danno vita ad interessanti deflagrazioni (la fluida II, il drone di IV) tanto quanto a dilatazioni senz’anima (i rumorismi assortiti di I, le nubi stagnanti di III).
Futurónica 105
Episode 105 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, January 10th.
The playlist of Futurónica 105 is:
- No Way Out & Sonologyst, Mémoire du Passé (2013, The Double Side of Nature, Sillage Intemporel)
- Jazznoize, Vinyland o las exploraciones en los surcos (2013, Plunderphonica, Republica Iberica Ruidista)
- Maile Colbert, Act Three: Day From Arrival (2013, Come Kingdom Come, Two Acorns)
You can follow Rádio Zero’s broadcasts at radiozero.pt/ouvir and Rádio Manobras at radiomanobras.pt.
New release: “Ab OVO†by @c
There’s no better way to start the new year than with a new CD release, @c’s sixth album in Crónica, “Ab OVOâ€.
Composed by Carvalhais & Tudela, May 2012 to July 2013 from the original soundtrack to OVO, a play by the Teatro de Marionetas do Porto (composed by Tudela & Carvalhais from November 2011 to January 2012). “100†features Tam (guitar), Shirley Resende (accordion) & Sara Henriques (voice).
The man has fallen. The skull opens. Time expands.
What is left of the the memory fades away on the floor. He has just lost the notion of future, only the past and his automatisms remain.
He was an actor, without the basis of theatre – a puppeteer?His life is nothing more than the ruins of memory, and it is fragmented, divided in 4 characters. In the moments when everything is constructed and reconstructed as easily, the borders between worlds become even more permeable. The space of the stage is the inner space inhabited by the 4 characters coming from the unconscious, but captured in the world of stage acting.
(from the notes to OVO)
@c’s “Ab OVO†stems from their work for the soundtrack of OVO, a play by the puppet theater of Porto, developed in late 2011 and early 2012. Starting from an original idea by Eric de Sarria, OVO was created cooperatively during a series of rehearsals that involved all the participants in the play — actors, puppeteers, musicians and other creators — and premiered on February 10, 2012 at the São Bento da Vitória Monastery. The musical outcome of this process were 19 recorded compositions that constituted a majority of the play’s sound.
“Ab OVO†results from the realization that a music so tailored to a particular context could not be easily detached from it. When considering how to publish this work and what it would become without the stage, actors, puppets and dramaturgy, Pedro Tudela and Miguel Carvalhais felt the need to rework all the pieces, opting for revisiting parts of the original soundtrack and for composing a series of six new pieces that are now presented in this CD.
The end result, although remaining close to the play’s soundtrack, is an album that chiefly preserves traces of memories from the play and expands its creation process, thus rereading, reinterpreting and rediscovering OVO.
OVO was created by Edgard Fernandes, Eric de Sarria, Isabel Barros, Rui Queiroz de Matos, Sara Henriques and Shirley Resende, with puppets and scenic objects by Rui Pedro Rodrigues and Filipe Garcia, video by Albert Coma and costumes by Eugenia Piemontese. Photos by João Tuna © Tuna TNSJ.
“Ab OVO†is now available directly from Crónica, from Crónica’s bandcamp page, Boomkat and several other retailers.
The CD edition of “Ab OVO†was possible due to the support of Teatro Nacional de São João and the Teatro de Marionetas do Porto.