Philippe Petit’s “Closing Our Eyes” reviewed by Music Map

“Closing Our Eyes”, uscito per Crónica Records, è il nuovo album in studio di Philippe Petit, artista marsigliese attivo già dagli anni Ottanta e particolarmente prolifico anche a livello discografico negli ultimi anni.

Con questo lavoro, Petit invita l’ascoltatore a trovare uno spazio di interiorità, in un viaggio immaginario e immaginifico che si compie nel matrimonio tra elettronica e musica acustica.

Scandito da undici brani che rappresentano le undici “parti” dell’intero per poco meno di cinquanta minuti di durata, “Closing Our Eyes” accoglie elementi di musica ambient ma si caratterizza principalmente per una vocazione sperimentale, con suoni spesso spezzati e lavorati a scapito di una componente più melodica, comunque riconoscibile in alcuni passaggi.

Gli episodi di “Closing Our Eyes” intendono evocare non soltanto ritratti di vita, ma anche umori, sensazioni, stati d’animo tramite un ampio spettro sonoro descritto dal piano, dalla manipolazione di alcune registrazioni, dagli strumenti percussivi e dai synth modulari suonati in maniere del tutto creative e non convenzionali.

In questo contesto, si assiste a una sorta di moto perpetuo del tutto istintivo e naturale, ma che non rinuncia a una componente più giocosa. Con “Closing Our Eyes”, Philippe Petit si conferma artista sensibile e in grado di elaborare un linguaggio diverso, personale, che ha pochi eguali nel panorama musicale contemporaneo. (Piergiuseppe Lippolis)

via Music Map

New release: @c + Visiophone’s “30×N — VRD1”

Proud to announce @c + Visiophone’s 30×N — VRD1, now available from Crónica.

30×N — VRD1 is the first in a series of releases originating from 30×N, an audiovisual performance by @c + Visiophone. The performance 30×N is based on a modular system with which the performers interact in an exercise of generative composition with sound, lights, and visuals. In 30×N computers are not only tools for visual and sonic production but become agents and creative partners, each performance emerging from a meeting of performers and machines.

Each release in this series includes fixed-media audio and audiovisual compositions created from the materials of one of the performance’s sections, both exploring and further expanding the original materials, bringing them into new contexts. The sonic materials are also delivered to other composers that contribute guest remixes.

The remix in this release is Fünf Tano Five, by Jordan Rita Seruya Awori & Marc Behrens.

Having met in 2022 and forging a fast friendship, Jordan Rita Seruya Awori (a Kenyan interdisciplinary artist based in Frankfurt) and Marc Behrens (a German composer and artist based in Offenbach) have long sought the right project to collaborate on. Their first joint work, Fünf Tano Five, is the perfect convergence of their artistic trajectories.

Jordan is currently exploring sound art that integrates ASMR, while Marc has a deep interest in vocal-driven soundscapes. Both artists share a desire to weave multicultural elements into their practice, and this piece is a direct manifestation of that shared vision.

Their collaboration thrives on cohesion through contrast — differences in artistic approach, age, gender, nationality, culture, perspective, and experience within the sound art world. Marc, with an extensive career spanning over 40 published music albums, brings a wealth of knowledge to the project, while Jordan, whose sonic journey is rapidly evolving, has already made a mark with her first sound piece showcased at her 2024 solo exhibition, Chini ya Maji (Basis Frankfurt), and a second set to be featured in 2025 at Museum Giersch der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt as part of the Fixing Futures exhibition.

Together, their work is an exploration of tension and harmony, familiarity and alienation, structure and improvisation — a sonic dialogue shaped by the beauty of their differences.

30×N — VRD1 is now available from Crónica.

Philippe Petit’s “Closing Our Eyes” reviewed by Luminous Dash

Of het nu 1 april was of niet, de veelzijdige kunstenaar Philippe Petit eiste onze aandacht op met zijn eclectische album Closing Our Eyes.

Net zoals veel van zijn werk is ook dit album een niet voor de hand liggende verzameling nummers die elektronica en akoestische speelsheid met elkaar vermengen. Ooit journalist, dj, de bezieler van de twee uitermate interessante labels BiP_HOp en Pandemonium en ondertussen afgestudeerd in de elektroakoestische muziek in Marseille, is elke plaat een veelzijdige oefening in de verbeeldingskracht van muzikant en luisteraar.

Het kan altijd alle kanten uit met Petit, dat getuigt ook de indrukwekkende lijst van mensen met wie hij eerder al samenwerkte. We denken meteen aan Lydia Lunch, Eugene S. Robinson(meerdere keren), Asva en Simon Fisher Turner. We mogen ook zijn ambitieuze trilogie Extraordinary Tales Of A Lemon Girl en het al net zo impressionante trilogie A Reassuring Elsewhere niet over het hoofd zien.

Elf nummers bevat Closing Our Eyes, elf nummers die telkens helemaal anders klinken maar uitblinken in vindingrijkheid en speelsheid. Een joie de vivre op een niveau dat alleen met zeer veel fantasie tot een onvoorstelbaar palet aan klanken leidt waardoor we geboeid moeten luisteren om niets te missen. Elk geluidje heeft betekenis binnen het grotere geheel, of het nu een pianotoets, een geschraap met een prul, een gevonden geluid of een daxofoon (een experimenteel muziekinstrument uitgevonden door Hans Reichel) is.

We wisten dat Petit geen grenzen respecteert en eindeloos blijft zoeken naar zijn eigen creatieve klankenwereld. Dat hadden we op een stel eerdere releases die we hier in het rek hebben steken al gemerkt en dat bewijst hij nog meer dan eerder eigenlijk op deze plaat. En neen, het is geen aprilvis, zelfs niet eentje van chocolade.

via Luminous Dash

Philippe Petit’s “Closing Our Eyes” reviewed by Ficción de la Razón

¡Viernes de sonidos en Ficción de la razón! Presentamos el álbum Closing Our Eyes del compositor Philippe Petit. Una sonoridad muy especial, cautivante, que hace jugar grabaciones de objetos con electrónica, salterión eléctrico,daxofón, sintetizador y piano preparado. Creando formas sonoras de gran belleza, a veces con repeticiones simples, pero nunca evidentes en su continuidad, Petit nos entrega este enorme trabajo de composición y encuentro con objetos sonoros. ¡A escuchar!

via Ficción de la Razón

Philippe Petit’s “Closing Our Eyes” reviewed by Igloo

Philippe Petit‘s Closing Our Eyes, released on the consistently boundary-pushing Portuguese label Crónica, is a fun, light-hearted yet adventurous dive into the world of sonic abstraction. While it channels the spirit of early electronic pioneers—Raymond Scott, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Henry, and especially the often-overlooked Todd Dockstader (and that’s a high compliment)—this album is no dry academic exercise. It’s alive with playfulness, curiosity, and the thrill of discovery.

At its core, Closing Our Eyes is an acoustic transformation through electronics—organic sound is deconstructed, reshaped, and reanimated into something beautifully unclassifiable. Petit doesn’t just manipulate sounds; he creates and modifies them with intent, developing a new reflection of musical language that escapes conventional stylistic limitations. What emerges is an electroacoustic narrative that stimulates the imagination while tickling the ears.

Each track unfolds like a miniature sonic diorama, bustling with unexpected turns and mischievous textures. There are echoes of tape music’s golden era here, but Petit uses those tools not as relics, but as launchpads for something new. Think Dockstader with a smile, or a dreamier take on the Radiophonic Workshop—an exploration that’s at once cerebral and charming.

In short, Closing Our Eyes is musically stimulating without ever taking itself too seriously. It’s a captivating listen for seasoned fans of experimental music and curious newcomers alike—an artful reminder that the avant-garde can still be fun.

via Igloo

New release: Arturas Bumšteinas & Viktorija Makauskaitė’s “aida”

Aida was created as a ten-channel soundtrack for the exhibition Beauties, Ghosts, and Samurai: The Japanese Pop Culture Tradition from Edo Ukiyo-e to Manga, Anime, and Sūpā Furatto in the 20th and 21st Centuries (curated by dr. Arūnas Gelūnas, architecture by Išora x Lozuraitytė Studio, lighting by Eugenijus Sabaliauskas, sound engineering by Vytautas Narbutas) which took place in the National Gallery of Art of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art between July and October of 2024.

This soundtrack consists of music played on various Japanese synthesizers, multi-tracked together with manipulated field recordings of Tokyo’s urban ambiences recorded by Viktorija Makauskaitė (who relocated from Vilnius to Japan in 2009). The title of this continuous, almost three-hour-long spatial sound work is aida which in Japanese means “the space between things” or simply “between”. In Lithuanian, “aida” is the feminine form of the noun “echo”.

In the vast space of the exhibition hall this soundtrack was played on a very low volume, barely detectable by the visitors, who mainly reported that the sensation of the sound’s presence was something of a ghostly emanation from the visual artworks on display. During the opening of the exhibition, the chatter of the crowd completely absorbed the soundtrack, once again raising the question of functionality of the accessory sound design in a visual art show.

Aida is now available to stream or download from Crónica.

Ilia Belorukov’s “NRD DRM TWO 2022-2024” reviewed by Vital Weekly

Crónica is a Portuguese label with loads of highly experimental or conceptual releases. This one, “NRD DRM TWO 2022-2024” by Russian Ilia Belorukov, is highly conceptual. Because of that, I listened to this one several times because I didn’t feel anything, but I did think a lot. And with the whole thinking versus feeling, I sometimes have a bit of a problem. But did I have that problem this time is what you’re wondering … Well, to make a long story short: It was a matter of volume to get the real beauty of this album out. And I suspect that it is precisely what Ilia tried with this.
The Nord Drum Two is a drum machine from Clavia, and as with all of Clavia’s machines, it’s red. And it has a synthetic way of generating sounds, so no samples form the basics of what you hear. On this album, where NRD DRM TWO refers to this exact machine, Ilia made single-step sequences with which he triggered the machine, and the output was manipulated and recorded. As well as some manipulation afterwards. So no, you will not hear complex drum patterns, and if that is what you are looking for, better skip this album.
The beauty in this album is the sound itself. The interpolation of the waves generated by the synthesis engine, the patterns evolving of the concrete sounds, and the manipulation flow afterwards. The complexity of the minimalism of just sounds. Because, well, if you have a particular sound and repeat it in 120 BPM, do you have a sequence? Or do you have a sound with a fundamental frequency of 120 Hz, but with a waveform so complex that tuning and twisting that waveform generates some kind of rudimentary drones?
That is the quest Ilia Belorukov, who lives and works out of Novi Sad in Serbia, went on between 2022 and 2024. And this CD is the result of said quest. As mentioned before, highly conceptual in its approach and maybe more of an advertisement for the Clavia Drum than an album to listen to and relax. But believe me, when I say that many layers underneath the obvious make this an album worth exploring. Like Ilia did. PS: No rings were harmed or thrown into volcanoes during the quest. (BW)

via Vital Weekly

Philippe Petit’s “Closing Our Eyes” reviewed by Chain DLK

“Closing Our Eyes” is like a sonic invitation to shut out the chaos and embark on an inner voyage – a carefully architected journey where the tactile and the spectral meet. In this album, Philippe Petit, a seasoned experimenter whose career spans DJing, zine editing, and even running his own label, channels his boundless curiosity into a series of compositions that blur the lines between the acoustic and the electronic.

Across eleven parts, Petit uses prepared piano, tape manipulation, and an assortment of vintage and modular synthesizers to create a soundscape that is at once methodical and delightfully unpredictable. The music draws inspiration from celestial themes such as the Eternal Return and the mystical allure of unseen realms, echoing the spirit of his earlier work on Dante’s Divine Comedy without becoming overtly didactic. Instead, the album gently prods the listener to visualize unseen landscapes by simply closing their eyes – a subtle cue that invites introspection and reverie.

Petit’s approach is deeply personal yet playfully irreverent. There is a raw honesty in the way he layers organic instrument tones with the uncanny shimmer of electronic effects, creating passages that feel like quiet conversations in the dark. At times, the album surfaces with moments of stark minimalism – evoking the vulnerability of a solitary breath in an endless void – while at other moments it bursts into textured clusters reminiscent of a vibrant inner carnival.

Tracing his roots from Marseille to his current eclectic milieu, Petit’s musical vocabulary has evolved to embrace both a profound reverence for tradition and an untamed desire for innovation. “Closing Our Eyes” is a testament to that duality – a delicate balance between seeking solace in remembered sounds and venturing boldly into undiscovered territories of sonic expression. It’s both a meditation on the quiet power of introspection and a playful nod to the unpredictable nature of creativity itself.

In short, if you ever felt that the everyday world was too noisy and predictable, let “Closing Our Eyes” be your escape – a momentary passage into the unexpected, where every sound is a revelation waiting to be felt. Vito Camarretta

via Chain DLK

Philippe Petit’s “Closing Our Eyes” reviewed by Luminous Dash

Of het nu 1 april was of niet, de veelzijdige kunstenaar Philippe Petit eiste onze aandacht op met zijn eclectische album Closing Our Eyes.

Net zoals veel van zijn werk is ook dit album een niet voor de hand liggende verzameling nummers die elektronica en akoestische speelsheid met elkaar vermengen. Ooit journalist, dj, de bezieler van de twee uitermate interessante labels BiP_HOp en Pandemonium en ondertussen afgestudeerd in de elektroakoestische muziek in Marseille, is elke plaat een veelzijdige oefening in de verbeeldingskracht van muzikant en luisteraar.

Het kan altijd alle kanten uit met Petit, dat getuigt ook de indrukwekkende lijst van mensen met wie hij eerder al samenwerkte. We denken meteen aan Lydia Lunch, Eugene S. Robinson(meerdere keren), Asva en Simon Fisher Turner. We mogen ook zijn ambitieuze trilogie Extraordinary Tales Of A Lemon Girl en het al net zo impressionante trilogie A Reassuring Elsewhere niet over het hoofd zien.

Elf nummers bevat Closing Our Eyes, elf nummers die telkens helemaal anders klinken maar uitblinken in vindingrijkheid en speelsheid. Een joie de vivre op een niveau dat alleen met zeer veel fantasie tot een onvoorstelbaar palet aan klanken leidt waardoor we geboeid moeten luisteren om niets te missen. Elk geluidje heeft betekenis binnen het grotere geheel, of het nu een pianotoets, een geschraap met een prul, een gevonden geluid of een daxofoon (een experimenteel muziekinstrument uitgevonden door Hans Reichel) is.

We wisten dat Petit geen grenzen respecteert en eindeloos blijft zoeken naar zijn eigen creatieve klankenwereld. Dat hadden we op een stel eerdere releases die we hier in het rek hebben steken al gemerkt en dat bewijst hij nog meer dan eerder eigenlijk op deze plaat. En neen, het is geen aprilvis, zelfs niet eentje van chocolade.

via Luminous Dash