“Gamelan Descending a Staircase” reviewed by Lizard

Gamelan Descending a Staircase
Opisanie muzyki zawartej na najnowszej płycie litewskiego kompozytora nie jest łatwe. Przy obcowaniu z większą częścią jego dorobku bardzo ważna okazuje się być znajomość kontekstu w jakich dany utwór powstał. Bez tego dość ciężko nakreślić charakter samej muzyki. Z jednej strony powinna ona bronić się samodzielnie, bez względu na okoliczności. Jednak kiedy dla samego artysty źródła inspiracji są równie istotne co efekt końcowy jego pracy, to chyba i słuchacze mogą czuć się rozgrzesze- ni. Czynniki, których znajomość na pewno pomoże docenić Gamelan Descending a Staircase to obraz Marcela Duchampa Akt schodzący po schodach nr 2 i indonezyjska muzyka tradycyjna. Trzecim elementem ukła- danki jest wizyta kompozytora w berlińskim Muzeum Etnologicznym, która miała miejsce w 2013 roku. To właśnie podczas niej udało się zarejestrować materiał, który trafił na Gamelan. Pięćdziesięciominutowa kompo- zycja zupełnie jak obraz Duchampa składa z się wielu nachodzących na siebie ścieżek, przenikających się w bardzo płynny, ale jed- nocześnie pozbawiony wyraźnego kierunku sposób. I tak jak przy każdym spojrzeniu na obraz można dostrzec jakiś nowy, pominięty wcześniej szczegół, tak Gamelan Descending a Staircase z każdym kolejnym odsłuchem pozwala zwrócić uwagę na coś innego. Nie ma dobrej czy złej interpretacji, wszystkie są tak samo trafne.

Futurónica 161

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Episode 161 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, March 4th.

The playlist of Futurónica 161 is:

  1. Yiorgis Sakellariou, Everything Emanating from the Sun (2016, Everything Emanating from the Sun, Crónica)
  2. Richard Eigner, When the Days All Tip from Nests and Fly Down Roads (2016, When the Days All Tip from Nests and Fly Down Roads, Crónica)

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

New in the Corollaries series: Richard Eigner’s “When the Days All Tip from Nests and Fly Down Roads”

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This is the second 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.

When the Days All Tip from Nests and Fly Down Roads consists exclusively of Field Recordings made by various sound artists and myself during our residencies at MoKS in Mooste, Estonia for the Active Crossover project curated by Simon Whetham and John Grinch.

The piece is constructed from sonic discoveries made during the expeditions of Mooste and its surroundings, which was especially appealing to me for the contrasts between nature and derelict and abandoned structures from the soviet area. I chose recordings of rain resonating two large scaled plastic tubes, a gurgling stream, wire fence set to motion by the ever changing winds, startled geese flying over and frogs singing their songs embedded into the natural soundscape of rural Estonia, amongst others.

My aim was to convey the atmosphere I was absorbed in, wandering around in solitude in the landscape almost devoid of human presence.

When the Days All Tip from Nests and Fly Down Roads is now available as a free download from Crónica or cronica.bandcamp.com.

“Against Nature” reviewed by Black Audio

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‘Against Nature’, comprises of five tracks with the same title (that of the album). Coupled with a press release that provides more in a literary context than its audio companion could ever, can make your mind boggle as to just what medication people are on (or should be).

Regardless of the reference to the decadent work by Huysmans; ‘Against Nature’, for the most part, is nothing more than a collection of electronic noises, field recordings and frustrating pitches. Whetham does display an ear for ambient; and when he does, it’s a successful intervention. However, these excursions are too few and far between to appease the irritation of having your eardrums audibly scraped out along the way.

There is a whole market out there for people who produce audio in such a fashion; indeed the Portuguese label this resides on is a large exponent of it. More power to those that actively support and appreciate sound sculptors such as this; but I find it a touch too self-indulgent and irritating. 6/10

via Black Audio

“Everything Emanating from the Sun” reviewed by againstthesilence.com

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Ύπουλο χτύπημα χαμηλού βαρομετρικού με μια σύνθεση που ισορροπεί μεταξύ μυστηρίου και διάλεξης περί πειραματισμού στη μουσική. Κάπως έτσι θα μπορούσε να περιγράφεται το άλμπουμ του Γιώργη Σακελλαρίου. Συνήθως σε ανάλογες περιπτώσεις όπου έχουμε μια μοναδική σύνθεση-γίγας που καταλαμβάνει τη διάρκεια ενός άλμπουμ, στη περίπτωση μας μετράμε τριανταένα λεπτά, δεν μένουν και πολλά να ειπωθούν. Είτε εισχωρείς ευλαβικά στο σύμπαν της, είτε όχι. Σίγουρα εδώ συμβαίνει το πρώτο, υποκειμενικά μιλώντας, με την αίσθηση που μένει να θυμίζει αυτή της βροχής που σέρνει προς τα έξω ανείπωτες σκέψεις υπό τον ήχο ηλεκτρακουστικών μουσικών πέπλων.

via againstthesilence.com

“Roha” reviewed by nitestylez.de

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Another one that’s soon to come on Portugal’s Cronica Electronica-imprint is the labels cat.no. 105, Andreas Trobollowitsch’ eight track album piece “Roha”. On this album we see the 1980-born artist combine elements of droning, (neo)classical compository techniques with an electro-acoustic approach, close contact pick-up microphones and prepared instruments, preferrably but not exclusively taken from the string section. These tracks, alongside feedback-heavy pieces of dark, threatening and reprocessed radio static fused with bits of Dark Jazz like in the super massive “Tapco” or even killer bits of super-experimental headbanger riffs provided in “Tuul”, elements of Clicks’n’Cuts or even uberly dramatic prepared piano – “Ssbeat” – are defo a quite interesting ride into the sonic world of Mr. Trobollowitsch’ widely varied work of modern composition and performance and go well beyond the idea of moving experimental bits and pieces along a timeline displayed on a laptop screen.

via nitestylez.de