Máquina Magnética reviewed by Neural

Máquina Magnética are an experimental all-star combo featuring Pedro Tudela, Miguel Carvalhais, Gustavo Costa and Rodrigo Carvalho. Tudela and Carvalhais are known for their project @c and as founders of Crónica, the record label behind this release. Costa is a remarkable drumming and percussion talent, active on the Portuguese underground scene since the early nineties with seven albums, solo and collaborative, to his credit. Rodrigo Carvalho brings his generative visuals and interactive lighting expertise to the group – expertise developed through his work with the Porto-based creative lab Openfield, and also Boris Chimp 504, his sci-fi inspired collaboration with Miguel Neto. Máquina Magnética makes the most of the diverse skills and backgrounds of its members. The group incorporate a wide range of organic and synthetic tones, studio and live performances, and electronic and acoustic sounds – all brought together through a mixture of structured composition and free improvisation. These dichotomies are also a reference to two live performances at O’culto da Ajuda in Lisbon and gnration in Braga respectively and to two studios Sonoscopia and Crónica, both of which are located in Porto. These places are where the album was recorded and mixed in a continuous process of creative exchange and open performance. This process has led to an expressive project of material beats and elegant projections. The cliché that an electronic live set might not be able to compete with the physicality of a ‘traditional’ live performance is completely dismantled by the group. These artists renew and reshape audiovisual performance, creating an experience that is intense, fresh and utterly engaging – conventional pop stars could learn a lot from them. (Aurelio Cianciotta)

via Neural

Bruno Duplant’s “Sombres Miroirs” reviewed by Music Map

Bruno Duplant è un musicista e compositore francese. Molto attivo nella ricerca sull’avanguardia del Novecento e sulla musica concreta, l’artista è tornato in piena estate con “Sombres Miroirs”, il prosieguo naturale di “Élégie du temps présent”, pubblicato nel 2021, e seconda tappa di un trittico che si completerà con “Insondables humeurs”.

L’ultimo lavoro di Duplant vuole essere una sorta di riflessione in musica su pianeta e natura, su umanità e civiltà, ed è per questo che rincorre, in maniera costante e quasi circolare, sensazioni ambivalenti e opposte fra loro: speranza e disperazione, luce e buio, musica e silenzio che si alternano senza soluzione di continuità.

“Sombres Miroirs” si divide in due parti, con la prima leggermente più lunga della seconda: se la prima entra lentamente nel vivo, introducendo l’ascoltatore verso un mondo tetro, prima di sottili e illusorie fasi di scioglimento che precedono fasi ancora più scure e brevi squarci di luce, anticipando un finale dove entrano in gioco silenzi e sperimentazioni varie, nella seconda parte “Sombres Miroirs” sembra cercare tracce di luce, pur conservando una certa inquietudine di fondo.

Con “Sombres Miroirs”, Bruno Duplant prosegue il suo racconto in musica del nostro tempo: con uno sguardo lucido e razionale, l’artista si cimenta in un’operazione tanto ardua quanto affascinante, che scalderà i cuori di chi è già avvezzo a sonorità sospese fra l’ambient e la sperimentazione. (Piergiuseppe Lippolis)

via Music Map

New release: Budhaditya Chattopadhyay’s “Withering Field”

The current geologic era is ascribed to the Anthropocene defined by unprecedented manmade violence over earth’s ecologies and natural environments. In this era, the ecological balance and the traditional livelihood of indigenous habitats in the re-emerging economies of Global South are endangered due to a global pressure for rapid growth in technological infrastructure and industrial development, which is a modernist project. Facing an impending climate catastrophe, these tribal landscapes and indigenous habitats along with their naturalist settings are undergoing massive displacement and dispossession resulting in an estrangement and alienation of the tribal community from nature, on which their livelihood has been based. Withering Field creates a narrative auditory situation to facilitate a contemplative listening to such events of displacement and dispossession. The work is developed through extensive fieldwork and recordings made at specific sites now considered Special Economic Zones (SEZ), situated in South Asia. It aims to delineate transitions of indigenous habitats dislocated from their natural settings, forced to gearing fast towards a contemporary urbanisation. This process is rendered in the composition within a mode of criticality and questioning. The project not only intends to foster the capacity to reconnect with the tribal community, but also makes the displacement of natural landscapes and societies audible for wider public awareness. Methodology of the composition includes incorporating the sonic elements collected from the sites to create a post-immersive and augmented narrative facilitating a context-aware listening, which creates the space for in-depth reflections on the intricate processes of environmental decay and destruction of nature that deeply affect the indigenous communities, along with their endangered memories and eroding cultural practices.

Budhaditya Chattopadhyay is an Indian-born media artist, composer, researcher, and writer. Incorporating diverse media, such as sound, text, and moving image, Chattopadhyay produces works for large-scale installation and live performance addressing contemporary issues of climate crisis, human intervention in the environment and ecology, urbanity, migration, race, and decolonization. Chattopadhyay has received numerous fellowships, residencies and international awards. His works have been widely exhibited, performed or presented across the globe, and published by Gruenrekorder (Germany) and Touch (UK). Chattopadhyay has authored The Nomadic Listener (2020); his writings on various issues around sound and listening regularly appear in peer-reviewed journals, magazines, and other publications internationally. Chattopadhyay holds a PhD in sound studies from the Academy of Creative and Performing Arts, Leiden University, and an MA in new media from Aarhus University; he completed a 1-year postdoctoral fellowship, and is embarking on another. Chattopadhyay lives and works in and out of Kolkata, Berlin, and The Hague.

“Withering Field” is now available as a limited release CD, stream, or download, from Crónica.

Bruno Duplant’s “Sombres Miroirs” reviewed by NIEUWE NOTEN

Tot nu toe stelt Bruno Duplant, de Franse componist van elektronische muziek die net als Gintas K hier al vaker voorbij kwam, het laatsteind vorig jaar, zich bescheiden op. Er kwamen dit jaar pas twee albums uit. Bij Crónica verscheen het uit twee delen bestaande ‘Sombres Miroirs’en bij Moving Furniture Records verscheen ‘États Intermédiaires’ als cassette in de serie Eliane Tapes, waarin componisten van elektronische muziek een hommage brengen aan Eliane Radigue

Verbazen doet dat niet want de muziek van Duplant vertoont zeker overeenkomsten met die van Radigue. Iets dat ook blijkt uit ‘Sombres Miroirs’. Ook hier schildert Duplant met klank een landschap van geluid. Langgerekte geluidsslierten vormen de hoofdmoot, maar middels vernuftige interventies weet hij net weer op het juiste moment spanning toe te voegen. Want dat is wellicht wel het belangrijkste kenmerk van dit stuk: het is spannend. Iets dat vooral te wijten is aan het genuanceerd palet aan donkere kleuren. Bijzonder is bijvoorbeeld de duistere nevel verderop in het eerste deel, vol genuanceerde grijstinten, die ineens bruusk wordt onderbroken door vreemde, maar zeker ook redelijk verontrustende machinale geluiden. De belletjes die we ook horen, contrasteren daar op mooie wijze mee. En prachtig is die overgang naar de stilte aan het einde van het eerste deel. Het tweede deel begint al even subtiel, klanken die afkomstig lijken van een cello overheersen hier. En verderop doemen de duistere wolken weer op, die ook het eerste deel kenmerkten, net als de industriële geluiden.

Duplant’s hommage aan Radidgue en dan vooral haar werk uit de jaren ’70  van de vorige eeuw, is tevens naar eigen zeggen zijn persoonlijke interpretatie van de Bardo Thodol, het Tibetaanse dodenboek. ‘États Intermédiaires’ is een stuk van een uur, louter in twee stukken verdeeld vanwege de cassette en de muziek is hier nog veel subtieler dan in ‘Sombres Miroires’. Hier gaat het echt om nevelslierten die zich regelmatig maar net aan de stilte ontworstelen. De slome ritmiek die we kennen van het chanten, het op ritmische wijze uitspreken van mantra’s als onderdeel van meditatie, komen we ook tegen in dit stuk. En ook hier weet Duplant een vorm van trance te bewerkstelligen. Veel variatie kent dit stuk overigens niet. We hebben de klanknevels, die loom ritmische patronen en horen soms een klok en dat is het wel zo ongeveer. Tegelijkertijd is dat natuurlijk de charme van dit stuk, de kracht zit duidelijk in de nuance.

via Nieuwe Noten

Haarvöl + Xoán-Xil López’s “The Uncanny Organization of Timeless Time” reviewed by Vital Weekly

In terms of abstraction, I am probably better off with Portuguese trio Haarvöl, of whom I reviewed some previous albums. Here they have a new work in which band member Xoán-Xil López (who seems to be a full-time member now) plays an Iberian Pipe Organ, and Fernando José Pereira and Joao Garia play electronics and field recordings. At the core of this, “there is no progress in art”. It’s all about the relationship between sounds and making that sound great. Haarvöl does a great job here. The old organ (from 1801) versus modern technology delivers four pieces of great drone music. While I know the group’s previous works to be inspired by the world of musique concrète techniques, to some extent, at least, there is very little of that here. Maybe the odd ending here and there, but throughout, it is simplicity that rules around this work. And for so much the better, to be honest! I realise this might be a conventional work of drone music, created with an ancient organ and digital processing, culminating in four beautiful pieces of music. Still, I also think this is the group’s best work. It’s warm and digital; its drone and natural and field recordings play a minor role in these four pieces. They are well-hidden but once removed, one notes the absence of these field recordings (children playing, rain drops), so they fully add to the wonderful music. What a great release! Maybe the favourite of this week, even when it’s still early. (FdW)

via Vital Weekly

Budhaditya Chattopadhyay’s “Withering Field” reviewed by Vital Weekly

It’s been a while since I last heard a full-length release by Budhaditya Chattopadhyay from India; Vital Weekly 873, if I am not mistaken. He works with field recordings, and his new work deals with “extensive fieldwork and recordings made at specific sites now considered Special Economic Zones (SEZ), situated in South Asia. It aims to delineate transitions of indigenous habitats dislocated from their natural settings, forced to gearing fast towards a contemporary urbanisation”. The underlying idea is the destruction of ecology by mankind. “The project not only intends to foster the capacity to reconnect with the tribal community but also makes the displacement of natural landscapes and societies audible for wider public awareness”. None of this is on the cover of the CD, so if you don’t look up this information on Bandcamp, you have no way of knowing. And so, what remains? With the current climate crisis, you could wonder about the ecological footprint to get these field recordings. Still, when I posted this as a comment on social media (not something to do with this artist), I got “let everybody worry about their own footprint” as a response to “how dare you to ask this?” But I am the sort of person who likes to stay
at home anyway, so easy talking here, I know. In this work, I believe that to hear sounds from tribal communities, percussive music being processed, slowly moving into a conveyor belt of sounds. Then something that resembles a train and other sounds from the industrial society. At times a bit too familiar, but towards the end, the last twelve minutes, the piece goes into a very subdued mode. Sounds disappear into the mist of time, and atmospherics remain. The residue contains some beautiful shimmering tones. This might be the lover of all things abstract talking, but this final one-third of the piece is a true beauty, and the first part is quite alright. (FdW)

via Vital Weekly

Gintas K’s “Lėti” reviewed by Nieuwe Noten

Zestien jaar geleden verscheen ‘Lengvai / 60 x one minute audio colours of 2kHz sound’ bij Crónica, het eerste album van K bij dit label. Sindsdien werkte K regelmatig mee aan compilatie albums en volgde er vier volwaardige albums, gevolgd door het vijfde dit jaar, ‘Lėti’. Zoals gezegd is dit een totaal ander album dan ‘Nervus Vagus’. Hier laat K zich van zijn ingetogen kant horen. Om te beginnen in het prachtige ‘Bells’, maar meer nog middels de wonderlijke bliebjes in ‘Hallucination’. Aansluitend een vrij donkere klankwolk in ‘Various’, dit moet je live horen, verderop doorspekt met gruis. In ieder van de elf stukken op dit album creëert K een andere, bijzonder consistente geluidswereld en altijd is deze en dat onderscheidt dit album met name van ‘Nervus Vagus’ bijzonder sfeervol. Het hierboven genoemde ‘Various’ is een voorbeeld, maar ook de gruizige klankwereld in ‘Savage’; de wijze waarop hij de gitaar inzet in ‘Guitar’, korte aanslagen, waarvan het geluid zich langzaam door de ruimte beweegt; het lome ritme in ‘Nice Pomp’, afgewisseld met allerhande futuristische klankuitingen en het enigszins aan minimal music verwante ‘Query’. Maar het best komt het tot uiting in ‘Ambient’, het stuk heet niet voor niets zo. Al kan K het ook hier niet laten het sfeervolle landschap te interrumperen.

via Nieuwe Noten

Gintas K’s “Lėti” reviewed by mic.lt

Portugalijos leidybinė kompanija „Crónica“ šįmet išleido naują Ginto Kraptavičiaus albumą Lėti. Tai nebe pirmas Ginto albumas po šio leiblo vėliava. Be to, jau anksčiau į field recoring ir elektroakustinius eksperimentus orientuotos kompanijos akiratyje buvo atsidūrę ir kiti lietuviai – Arturas Bumšteinas ir Darius Čiuta. 

Naujausio Ginto albumo pavadinimas Lėti taikliai nusako, kaip jis skamba: albumas tikrai lėtas. Žinoma, jis nėra toks lėtas kaip galėtų įsivaizduoti drone ar funeral doom metal fanai, bet turint omenyje kitą Ginto kūrybą, Lėti tikrai gali būti laikomas vienu lėčiausių jo darbų. Gintas pastaruoju metu tampa vis draugiškesnis neeksperimentų ištroškusioms ausims. Bent jau pernykštis jo albumas Nervus Vagus ir naujai pasirodęs Lėti leidžia taip teigti. Pajuokaujant galima sakyti, kad Gintas popsėja. 

Lėti – labai harmoningas, darnus leidinys. Čia nuo šaižių ir kampuotų mikrotoniškų struktūrų pereinama į darnesnes kompozicijas, tačiau Gintas išlaiko sau būdingus tembrus, sterilumą ir, žinoma, granuliatoriais į trumpus garsus skaidomą garsyną. Albumas pakankamai įvairus. Kompozicija Various skamba kiek griežtai, primena senesnius Ginto darbus, o štai Nice Pomp pabaiga skamba tarsi nuo glissando prasidedantis galingas pianisto Cecilo Tailoro solo, transformuotas į elektroninę Ginto kalbą. Ambient, kaip ir sako pats pavadinimas, suskamba ambientiškai, yra kupinas vandens tėkmę imituojančių garsų. Be to, albume Lėti Gintas pakankamai gausiai naudoja styginius instrumentus primenančius tembrus, kuriuos galima girdėti Guitar, Nice Pomp, Bonus Sound ir kitur. 

Naujajame savo albume Gintas vengia drastiškų kontrastų, kuriuos neretai girdėdavau ankstesniuose jo darbuose, ir kuria nuosaikų garsyną, kuriame nuotaikos kinta palaipsniui. Lėti – meditatyvus įrašas, kurio su malonumu gali klausytis ne tik hardcoriniai  šaižių mikrotonų fanai, bet ir kur kas platesnis ratas melomanų. Svarbiausia išdrįsti pasitraukti į šalį nuo kasdienės skubos ir pabandyti sulėtėti.