New in the Corollaries series: Sound Meccano / Jura Laiva’s “Sireli Aeg”

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Sireli Aeg is based on field recording sounds captured during the Active Crossover residency at MoKs in Mooste (Estonia) and its surroundings. This is the fourth release in the series Corollaries that will span 2016, compiling works resulting from Active Crossover: Mooste, a cross-cultural collaborative residency curated by Simon Whetham and hosted by MoKS, in April and May 2015. All works are composed from material compiled in a collective archive during the project.

The field recording locations that most affected the compositions were:

  • Mooste Järv (GPS: 58.159798, 27.183463)
  • Põlva Tuul (GPS: 58.066352, 27.110513)
  • Sireli Laul (GPS: 58.162323, 27.192781)
  • Emajõgi Delta (GPS: 58.343671, 27.267653)

Mirva Tarvainen : vocal, double bass;
Jura Laiva: guitar drones and glitches;
Sound Meccano: field recordings, electronics, sound processing and composition.

Painting by Anastasija Rekuta-Dzhordzhevich.
Mastered by Miguel Carvalhais.

Sireli Aeg is a free download from Crónica or Bandcamp.

“Bittersweet Melodies” reviewed by DLSO

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Ran Slavin, artista multimediale israeliano, ha una carriera lunga e variegata alle spalle che lo ha portato a presentare il propri lavori nei quattro angoli del mondo, allacciando collaborazioni di tutto rispetto con altri artisti e produttori ed etichette discografiche. Dopo la pubblicazione della bellezza di undici album, uno dei capitoli fin´ora inediti del suo percorso discografico vede la luce proprio in questi giorni grazie alla label Crónica. “Bittersweet Melodies” infatti è una raccolta di dodici inediti, rispolverati e rimasterizzati per l´occasione, risalenti ai primi anni 2000 ed originariamente pensati per la pubblicazione sulla defunta Mille Plateaux. I brani sono la rappresentazione di uno stile molto personale dove l´uso apparentemente casuale di samples di respiro cinematico sconfina nel il rumorismo più astratto. Un disco eccitante e coinvolgente nella sua originalità. Tony D’Onghia

Futurónica 165

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Episode 165 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, April 29th.

The playlist of Futurónica 165 is:

  1. Simon Whetham, Contact (2016, Contact, Crónica)
  2. Sound Meccano / Jura Laiva, Mooste Järv (2016, Sireli Aeg, Crónica)
  3. Sound Meccano / Jura Laiva, Põlva Tuul (2016, Sireli Aeg, Crónica)
  4. Sound Meccano / Jura Laiva, Sireli Laul (2016, Sireli Aeg, Crónica)
  5. Sound Meccano / Jura Laiva, Emajõgi Delta (2016, Sireli Aeg, Crónica)

You can follow Rádio Zero’s broadcasts at radiozero.pt/ouvir and Rádio Manobras at radiomanobras.pt.

“Three-Body Problem” reviewed by Aural Aggravation

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The sixteenth album from @C, like its predecessor Ab Ovo, began as a soundtrack for puppet theatre play Agapornis, inspired by the life and works of Anais Nin, and as such, has nothing to do with the kind of Three-Body Problem Elton John has. It also isn’t a soundtrack album per se: the soundtrack was rewritten after the play’s premiere, and as such, Three-Body Problem is a satellite work which evolved from the original concept.

So, what is the problem around the three bodies? It transpires there are in fact two distinct but related problems: the first descends directly from the production of the play itself, which is centred around two main characters, played by puppets, and a third character with several spoken lines, played by an actor. The challenge of representing the characters in sound was core to the development of the album, the actor being replaced by musicians.

And then there was the process of developing the album itself, from the initial soundtrack, through the album, to a third, ongoing process, of creating video pieces to accompany the album’s tracks. As such, the problem is concerned with both physical bodies and with body of work.

The nine pieces are sparse, static crackles, hisses and fizzing sounds spin in co-ordinates around dank, gloopy bass rumbles. Creating a spooky kind of ambience, it’s darkly atmospheric, ominous and unsettling. Toward the end, trumpet squawks and honks add additional texture and discord, and introduce further contrast to the squeaks and scrapes which flitter and twitter. The final track marks a change of direction, drifting toward the horizon on a wash of delicately strummed harp chords which ultimately evaporates in a wash of noise, far removed from the original starting point.

It’s this gradual, subtle progression that proves to be the album’s ultimate success, because it’s a work that confounds the expectations it sets. Intriguing and quietly compelling, the problem is solved. James Wells

via Aural Aggravation

“Everything Emanating from the Sun” reviewed by Loop

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Yiorgis Sakellariou is an experimental electronic music composer. Since 2003 he has been active internationally as a solo artist and doing collaborations. He has composed music for short films and theatre and leading workshops.

His practice is based on the digital manipulation of environmental recordings. His sound palette covers from the clatter of rails, to the refrigerators’ static, buzzes and field recordings.

His current research as a doctoral student at the University of Coventry explores the relationship between electroacoustic music and sound use in rituals.

Yiorgis Sakellariou is a member of Contemporary Music Research in Athens and the Hellenic Association of Composers of electroacoustic music. Since 2004 he has curated the Echomusic label.

This album is the first in a series of releases that will take place this year, “Corollaries, which is a compilation of works produced in Active Crossover: Mooste, a residence with artists from around the world, curated by Simon Whetham and organized by MoKS in April and May 2015.

On this album Yiorgis Sakellariou of only one track of 31 minutes long is in charge of environmental recordings and composition, additional recordings by John Grzinich and bowls, metallic percussion sounds by Simon Whetham.

Field recordings captured the sound of wind, rain and metallic blows are sometimes treated electronically, producing abrasive textures and disturbing atmospheres. In the desolate and cold landscapes which emerge from the darkness hardly see the light. Guillermo Escudero

via Loop

“Against Nature” reviewed by Sonic Seducer

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Der Soundkünstler Simon Whetham befasst sich auf seinem dritten Album für Crónica mit einer (In)Fragestellung seiner Arbeitsmethoden. Hierzu sucht er Orte mit interessanter Akustik auf und erzeugt dort mittels Elektronik oder auf herkömmlichem Weg Klänge. Soweit nicht ungewöhnlich; Whetams Fragestellung zielt jedoch dahin, inwieweit seine Intervention den Ort verändert oder gar zerstört und sich somit “gegen die Natur”. Zum Einsatz kommen vor allem fehlerbehaftete Klangerzeuger wie minderwertige Mikrophone oder unerwartet reagierende Software. Dem Thema angemessen zeigen die fünf Kapitel Whetham von seiner konzentrierten Seite, die den Widrigkeiten des Entstehungsprozesses trotzt und die akustischen Störungen zu einem eigensinnigen Hörerlebnis an der Grenze zur musique concrète werden lässt. Sascha Bertoncin

New release: Ran Slavin’s “Bittersweet Melodies”

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Crónica is very happy to present a new album by Ran Slavin, Bittersweet Melodies!

Ran Slavin’s 11th studio album, dives into crime time ambient poster sunsets, Middle East noire, slow zones of scratched utopic atmospheres, lazy scattered DSP lounge, fractured low-fi beats, vinyl postcard vignettes, deserted new buildings electronica. Unreleased material that was long scattered across disparate hard drives and closely associated to a release on Mille Plateaux 12 years ago, prior to its abrupt closure, have been put together, furbished, separated from digital dust, polished, remastered, and re-fired into the ether.

Ran Slavin is a multi faceted artist who works primarily with video installation, sound and film. His work explores fiction and prismatic forms and narratives through video and sound installation and can be interpreted as an expansion of cinematic forms, usually utilizing post production and compositing sensibilities as tools of subversion and reality enhancement. His work often embraces the tension between fact and fiction, supernatural and mythical, history and futurism and compels the viewer to wander beyond reality and the immediate, into a prism of digital superposition.

Slavin has released recordings on Cronica, Mille Plateaux, Sub Rosa, False Ind, to name a few and shared stage and concert lineups with Thomas Köner, Aphex Twin, Vladislav Delay, Alva Noto, Klimek, Random INC, AGF, Rechenzentrum & Lillevan, Maja Ratkje & HC Gilje, Stephan Mathieu, Janek Schaefer, @c, Nico (ex Velvet Underground), Crime and the City Solution, The Folk Devils, World Domination Enterprises and many more.

Bittersweet Melodies is now available from Crónica, from Crónica’s bandcamp and selected retailers.

Futurónica 164

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Episode 164 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, April 15th.

The playlist of Futurónica 164 is:

  1. Francisco López, Untitled (2014, Yanayacu)
  2. Francisco López, Untitled (2014, Obatalá – Ibofanga)
  3. Francisco López, Untitled (2014, Yanayacu)

You can follow Rádio Zero’s broadcasts at radiozero.pt/ouvir and Rádio Manobras at radiomanobras.pt.