For »Terra,« Luca Forcucci collected field recordings in Los Angeles, the Brazilian city of Recife and Beirut. The Berlin-based composer and sound artist presented them, together with a graphic score, to the cellist Noémy Braun and the percussionist Lucas Gonseth, who, together with Forcucci on live electronics, fleshed out the music over three days for a subsequent performance, which is documented on this album in five pieces. The transformational work process obviously feeds off the conceptual superstructure and shapes it aesthetically: All the different elements on »Terra« seem to be constantly in motion, rubbing up against each other and finding a strange harmony in the supposed sonic chaos. This is the sound of an earth whose modus operandi sometimes elude comprehension.
Roel Meelkop I know very well, and I am not surprised that his new release deals with war and peace. In 2022 he contributed to a compilation, ‘Stop All Wars’. He was thinking of Ad Reinhardt, the American painter, and his postcard to the “war Chief”, with negations “such as “no napalm”, “no bombing”, “no injustice”, and “no art in war”, “no art as war”, “no art about war” and, of course, the card is now a piece of art. Should you stop creating art because there is a war? On the cover, Meelkop writes his considerations, but there is a CD, so it’s safe to say Meelkop doesn’t give up. Meelkop’s piece to the compilation is quite a furious one for his doing (check out https://emerge.bandcamp.com/album/–3), and I believe he reworked it into the first piece on ‘Viva In Pace’, but the extension of the piece is the opposite of noise. Meelkop belonged to the first wave of laptop musicians but recently “went modular”, like many of those musicians. I am unsure if that is also the case with his current releases, but judging by the music, I’d say this is the case here. There is also room for ‘other sounds, such as the cymbal at the end of ‘II’. Some of the music is still quite furious at times, and throughout, much of this is very dark, but given the war-thematic approach, that is hardly a surprise. But it wouldn’t be a Meelkop release if there is also some room for quiet sounds. You can read all sorts of war-related metaphors in this music, just as much if you don’t know the background story here, you can think of this all pretty abstract music. In that sense, this new Meelkop release, just like his previous, ‘Rest In Space’ (see Vital Weekly 1374), is a departure from much of his older work, as both of these come with lengthy liner notes and background information, which I am sure many people find more insightful than a full-on abstract album. (FdW)
Crónica is proud to present its fourth release in 2023, Luca Forcucci’s “Terra”, a composition for cello, percussions, live electronics, fragments, drifts, and territories.
Music composition, live electronics, field recordings, drifts, and production by Luca Forcucci. Cello by Noémy Braun. Percussions by Lucas Gonseth.
Recorded at Théâtre ABC, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland by Luca Forcucci and Lionel Jodry. (De)composed & mixed at Atomic Lady (Earth) by Luca Forcucci. Mastered by Kassian Troyer at Dubplates & Mastering. Painting by Anne Pantillon. With the generous support of Fondation Nicati–de Luze & Théâtre ABC.
“Terra” is now available as a limited edition compact disc, download or stream from the usual sources.
Luca Forcucci’s piece Terra, from the album with the same name, has been included in the 160th edition of the Mind the Gap compilation published by Gonzo (Circus).
Swiss/Italian artist Luca Forcucci is a composer and musician who on this record is in charge of live electronics, field recordings, drifts, and production. Forcucci works in the fields of installations, performances, electroacoustic music, video, photography, and text. His compositions include solo works and collaborations with contemporary musicians, indigenous musicians, record players, electronic music pioneers, dancers, and poets. On “Terra” field recordings were made in Los Angeles, Recife, Beirut, which were later recombined and reterritorialized which were proposed to Braun and Gonseth, along with a graphic score. Over three days, in a theater in the Swiss Jura mountains, the composition was developed and then given its concert premiere. The musicians Noémy Braun on Cello and Lucas Gonseth on percussion collaborated. The opener “Obscura” unfolds metal noises rubbing against each other, as if it were the normal process in a steel mill, producing screeching, angular sounds that are also electronically processed. On “Incognita” processed strings, off-kilter percussion and mechanized noises are combined in an electroacoustic work. “Terra” that gives the album its title is immersed in a drone, while the layers of metallic objects collide with each other to create a dark environment, while out-of-tune notes from the cello peek out. “Cantus” displays beautiful cello chords that begin to travel through the skies creating a calm and beautiful atmosphere. On “Firmus” that closes this album, Forcucci plays with metal producing a sharp vibrato, alongwith softly percussive, playing with friction and resonances. Luca Forcucci plunges us into a world of reverberations, rumbles, and echoes with which he recreates industrial soundscapes. Guillermo Escudero
Elettronica (ErikM) e voce (Isabelle Duthoit), a cercarsi fra movimenti materici e fissità sibilanti. Tra microinceppi e ricordi di azioni fisiche (Glacière), cupi crepacci in cui scivolare (Radome), echi, di quel che pare un flebile canto in lontananza, come ululato trasfigurato dal vento (Rocher de cire), ascolto di una pausa interiore (Trois faux), attesa e osservazione degli eventi in arrivo (Fonfiole), primitiva fatica (Curent), vento che tutto spazza (Electro-ventoux), in costante, contorto avanzamento (Font de Margot). Pietre, ghiaccio, rumore di passi (ne legna ne fuoco, sfiniti a caccia di un riparo). Voto: 8/10. Marco Carcasi
The inspiration and the recordings for the piece Stromschauen (view/look current/power) were formed during walks in Berlin/Pankow in the last days of December 2020. In a situation of urban sound environment slowed down by the Covid rules and the holidays in general, various power boxes and their whirring and humming became more noticeable. The AC frequency is 50 HZ in the European electricity system, which is between a musical low G and a G sharp. This tone determines the resonant frequency when operating electrical devices like e.g. the lighting in streets or our refrigerators, that resonate in this frequency.
The starting point of Stromschauen is the manifold quotidian and mostly overheard resonances of our electricity infrastructure in interaction with their environment. Its compositional material is the sound textures found in these processes. Microtonal moods, sound aggregates at the interface of timbre to harmonics, overtone patterns, spectral layering, and rhythmic beat patterns become the musical material. The piece also acknowledges the influence of essential genres such as industrial and noise music on TAMTAM’s compositional work.
The studio version of Stromschauen was released by Crónica in 2022, coinciding with this performance.
Sam Auinger: sampler, field recordings; Hannes Strobl: electric bass, live fx; Robyn Schulkowsky: percussion. Recorded live at Cashmere Radio Berlin 11/03/2022. Recording engineer: Lukas Grundmann. Mastered at Crónica.
The Portuguese duo of Miguel Carvalhais and Pedro Tudela have already been working together for over twenty years. They can be seen as both pioneers and prophets of all things laptops. Much of their music finds its roots in interacting together, with software, hardware and sounds. Here, they do something unusual for them: working with Drumming GP, a percussion ensemble by Miguel Bernat. Improvisation goes out of the door, and composition is welcomed. of course, things are never that black and white, as the composition can also be seen as a set of instructions. Over the years, @C played with the ensemble, or parts thereof, and excerpts (I think) can be found on this CD. The idea is, again, interaction, but now on a more significant level, with computers to the left and drummers to the right. @C uses various techniques to capture and process sounds. One fascinating example is ’88, For Stones, Objects, Microphones, Electronics’, which is captured in space, with microphones, and many resonances are going on. You can almost feel the venue, and the sound is crystal clear. There is also a more traditional approach of working with synthetic percussion and samples (’88R’ and ’66, For Sampled Standing Bells, Computer’) which is more akin to a remix. Sometimes the percussion players have the upper hand, such as in ’63, For Percussion, Synthetic Percussion, Electronics’, and @C’s role is modestly colouring drones as a hotbed. It makes for a powerful opening piece, as it’s not yet as abstract as some of the other pieces. The following piece, ’58, For Two Marimbas & Two Computers’, is one of those abstract approaches meeting the ‘real’ marimbas. There is an equilibrium here, but everybody has to be careful not to be the dominant player. There is quite some variation here, which makes this an excellent showcase for both @C and Drumming GP. The latter also worked with others, but this is my first encounter, and it’s a great one. (fdW)
