Futurónica 188


Episode 188 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 17th.

The playlist of Futurónica 188 is:

  1. Curtis Roads, Now (2005, Point Line Cloud, Asphodel)
  2. Curtis Roads, Half-life, pt. 1: Sonal Atoms (2005, Point Line Cloud, Asphodel)
  3. Curtis Roads, Half-life, pt. 2: Granules (2005, Point Line Cloud, Asphodel)
  4. Steinbrüchel, Schleifen (2016, Schleifen)
  5. Curtis Roads, Fluxon (2005, Point Line Cloud, Asphodel)
  6. Curtis Roads, Volt Air, Pt. 1 (2005, Point Line Cloud, Asphodel)
  7. Curtis Roads, Volt Air, Pt. 2 (2005, Point Line Cloud, Asphodel)
  8. Curtis Roads, Volt Air, Pt. 3 (2005, Point Line Cloud, Asphodel)
  9. Curtis Roads, Volt Air, Pt. 4 (2005, Point Line Cloud, Asphodel)
  10. Curtis Roads, Sculptor (2005, Point Line Cloud, Asphodel)
  11. Curtis Roads, Pictor Alpha (2005, Point Line Cloud, Asphodel)
  12. Curtis Roads, Nanomorphosis (2005, Point Line Cloud, Asphodel)
  13. Curtis Roads, Tenth Vortex (2005, Point Line Cloud, Asphodel)

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

“The Mediterranean Drift” reviewed by Data.Wave


This time the spotlights are on the release called The Mediterranean Drift, another record made by a musician living by the Mediterranean Sea. The album begins with the track Losing coordinates inthe Mediterranean Drift that lasts more than 15 minutes. The first thing you hear are floating slow and viscous guitars with simultaneous rustles and clicks; this music is clearly rooted somewhere in the psychedelic genre.

Ran Slavin is a phenomenal artist and an experimentalist. Every work of his is unique and impossible to imitate, he is a pioneer and a genius, as only a genius is able to play with the same component every time and still make it interesting for the audience.

All six electronic/acoustic pieces are different sides of the same masterpiece. The idea of creating The Mediterranean Drift was inspired by The Shipwreck (1772), a painting by a French artist Claude-Joseph Vernet, which happens to be quite an alarming piece of art. It may very well be that not only the Mediterranean floats in the infinite ocean of space, but the entire universe itself is moving in an unknown direction; everything can go sideways at any given time and get lost in the abyss of madness.

Slavin has his own unique and easily recognizable style: his music is chaotic, with the chaos of it being a real living thing, so this music is anxious and always in motion. The Mediterranean Drift is quite an anxious record as well. Paranoid motives occur throughout the entire record as hidden processes get accelerated to the maximum.
If Slavin’s concept was based on the motives of The Shipwreck, it can be concluded that his endeavor was quite successful. You will realize many things if you listen to the record and just read the names of the tracks: On the Red Sea we drifted on the orange waves, swept calmly into the vast ocean to the point of no return, Financial Warfare and Psychological Sedatives, Chemical Canaries and Car Alarms…

The Mediterranean Drift is available for free downloading. Enjoy!

via Data.Wave

“Geography” reviewed by The Sound Projector

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Vitor Joaquim, Porto’s celebrated laptop geomancer, tries to nail it all down with Geography, which sounds like a statement of intent. The opening title track confirms his intentions, as it arrives with sampled speech from some sort of space mission documentary. It’s as if Joaquim is pulling back to show us the planet in its entirety, before coming right back down to ground level.

The eight tracks on this release were inspired by Jared Diamond’s book “Guns, Germs and Steel”, which attempted to show how human history and culture has been shaped by environmental factors. I haven’t read the book, so I can’t comment on that, or indeed, how suitable this album is as a soundtrack. You’ll have to make your own minds up about that.

What I can comment on is the music, and it’s a satisfying set of electronic experimentalism, stitched together from countless live instrumental samples and served up with just the right amount of glitch and fizz. In that sense, it reminds me of the Jemh Circs LP, with a serious laptop face instead of a sugar-rush pop-music grin. But it’s a release that is equally worthy of your attention, I feel.

“Nowhere: Exercises in Modular Synthesis and Field Recording” reviewed by Blow Up


Dopo trent’anni di pratica compositiva — a partire da THU20 sino alla pura ricerca sulle componenti struturalli del suono — passando attraverso varie esperienze a margine da co-editore di Vital Magazine e da fondatore della piattaforma web EARlabs.org, Jos Smolders negli ultimi anni ha applicato alla propria produzione artistica le pratiche Zen a cui si è gradatamente avvicinato nel tempo, cercando quindi di trovare il punto di equilibrio tra pensiero, gesto e sendo dell’esistenza. Le sei composizioni contenute in “Nowhere” sono giustapunto il frutto di questo approccio instintivo e spirituale alla creazione, pagine in cui alla sintesi modulare viene applicata la stessa stilizzata destualità con cui l’autore traccia gli ideogrammi rappresentati sulla copertina dell’album. Quasi si tratasse di riproporre la stessa meticolosità del calligrafo in un contesto del tutto diverso rispetto a quello della scrittura, Smolders procede per variazioni minime condensando in una serie di frammenti di materia elettronica la sua idea di volersi esprimere più attraverso la sottrazione che l’affermazione di sé. L’insieme trasmette quindi un’impressione di forte omogeneità ma talvolta risulta sin troppo radicale nella sua forma estremamente sintetica e controllata. (6/7) Massimiliano Busti

“Juryo: Durée de la vie de l’ainsi-venu” reviewed by Sonic Seducer


GRM Absolvent Emmanuel Mieville betätigt sich auf “Juryo” als Veranstalter und Leiter einer akustischen Rundreise durch Asien — und liefert als Bonus eine Verbeugung vor Antonin Artauds Buch “Héliogabale, Ou, L’Anarchiste Couronné” ab. Diese eröffnet “Juryo” mit zittrigen Klängen aus dem Ringmodulator. Die Harmonien stehen kurz vor dem Zusammenbruch und man muss nicht allzu genau hinhören, um einen ästhetischen Brückenschlag zu Coil nachvollziehen zu können. Der folgende Großteil des Longplayers führt dann jedoch wie versprochen nach Asien — auf die Bühne zu Butó-Tänzern, zu taiwanischen Buddhisten und tibetischen Nonnen und ins Rauschen eines Hong Konger Radiosenders. Mieville vermischt vor Ort mitgeschnittenes mit eigenen synthetischen Sounds — und schafft damit einen akustischen Reisebericht, der trotz einiger Klischees an vielen Stellen neue Höreindrucke aus Fernost vermittelt. Sascha Bertoncin

Tonight in Braga, an installation and a performance by @c (and guests)


After yesterday’s première in Lisbon, @c will present “Lâminas” once again today in Braga’s gnration. This performance will count with Angelica V. Salvi (harp), João Pais Filipe (percussion) and Ricardo Jacinto (cell and electronics).
Also today, at gnration’s gallery, @c will open their new installation “A/B”.

Futurónica 187


Episode 187 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 3rd.

The playlist of Futurónica 187 is:

  1. Emmanuel Mieville, Tanit Astarté (2017, Juryo: Durée de la vie de l’ainsi-venu, Crónica)
  2. Emmanuel Mieville, Nyorai (2017, Juryo: Durée de la vie de l’ainsi-venu, Crónica)
  3. Emmanuel Mieville, Murasaki (2017, Juryo: Durée de la vie de l’ainsi-venu, Crónica)
  4. Emmanuel Mieville, Taisi Funeral (2017, Juryo: Durée de la vie de l’ainsi-venu, Crónica)

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