New release: Vitor Joaquim’s “Geography”

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Crónica is elated to present Vitor Joaquim’s new album, “Geography“!

History followed different courses for different peoples because of differences among peoples’ environments, not because of biological differences among peoples themselves.
Jared Diamond

On my previous albums I have turned my attention to the interior subjectivity of our feelings (Flow, 2006) and to the never ending firmament of the Universe (Filament, 2011). They were inspired on a space-time scale of observation that has existed in me since ever. And, I guess, in all of us. On one hand, we feel immersed on the big questions of the universe — How big is it? Where’s the end of it? What’s after the end? Can we understand how big it can be? On the other hand, just two minutes after, we may completely turn towards ourselves, and to our little-big existentialist problems — Who am I? What I’m doing here? What’s “here”?…

With Geography, I wanted to look around and forget about individuality and infinitude. I wanted to dive on Jared Diamond’s concepts about geography and how the human species evolved on the planet.

Like Diamond explains in his book Guns, Germs and Steel, geography is shaping humankind since its beginning. Composed by unique individualities across the globe, human history and culture have been tailored by our surroundings ways that we cannot even imagine. Surroundings are all that is around us: rain, wind, dry weather, rocks, animals, water, germs, seeds, land — fertile or not, populated or not, friendly or not. Surroundings can be hostile but can also provide us with resources. It all depends on “where”.

Responding to the constraints imposed by this environmental condition, throughout the years, ingenuity and creativity have helped us to survive and prosper like no other species, despite all the inequality. Humankind found a way to overcome difficulties, mainly through the use of imagination from which resulted the invention of technologies.

What results of that tension between environment and human ambition, is an eternal fight between geographical conditions and the existentialist forces in every one of us. Following this dialectic, the titles on Geography are softly evocations of that story, alluding to curious moments in history, circumstances and affairs of the human adventure on the planet and on the Universe. From small- to large-scale, all of them — moments, circumstances and affairs — with long plots.

In Geography I also wanted to trace back friendly moments with fellow musicians with whom I have performed with in the past. All samples used in the record are thus memories of those times and my own geography of personal and musical relationships.

All tracks written, played and produced by Vitor Joaquim.

Contains samples from live performances with:

Angelica Salvi (harp: 6, 7)
Carlos Zíngaro (violin: 7)
Colleen (music box: 7)
Dimas Pereira (accordion: 6, 7)
Günter Heinz (trombone: 7, 8)
Gustavo Costa (percussion: 7, 8)
Joe Giardullo (sax: 6)
Harald Sack Ziegler (voice, french horn: 4, 7, 8)
Niño de Elche (voice: 6)
Simon Fisher Turner (piano: 7)
Ulrich Mitzlaff (cello: 7)
Includes sound bits from: Apollo program (1), Flow, Vitor Joaquim / Crónica (4); La Strada is on Fire (and We Are All Naked), Vitor Joaquim / Crónica (5); interview with Laurie Anderson on DP/30 (8).

Inspired by Guns, Germs and Steel, The Fates of Human Societies (1997) a book by Jared Diamond.

Cover images from the David Rumsey map collection: Mappa selenographica: totam lunae hemisphaeram visibilem complectens. Guilelmo Beer & Joanne Henrico Maedler, 1834; Circumpolar Map for each Month of the Year. W.G. Evans & E.H. Burritt, 1835.

“Geography” is now available for direct order from Crónica’s website, from cronica.bandcamp.com and from selected retailers.

Futurónica 174

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Episode 174 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, September 2nd.

The playlist of Futurónica 174 is:

  1. Gintas K, Pri (2016, Low, Opa Loka)
  2. Gintas K, Pazr (2016, Low, Opa Loka)
  3. Gintas K, Git (2016, Low, Opa Loka)
  4. Gintas K, Tas (2016, Low, Opa Loka)
  5. Gintas K, Geras (2016, Low, Opa Loka)
  6. Gintas K, Po (2016, Low, Opa Loka)
  7. Gintas K, Jodds (2016, Low, Opa Loka)
  8. Gintas K, Gg2 (2016, Low, Opa Loka)
  9. Gintas K, Ziu (2016, Low, Opa Loka)
  10. Gintas K, Arsi (2016, Low, Opa Loka)
  11. Gintas K, Zrtqew (2016, Low, Opa Loka)
  12. Gintas K, live at Culture Cafe, Kaunas, 16 February 2015 (2015, Crónica)

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

New in the Corollaries series: Tuulikki Bartosik’s “Primary Reception”

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“Primary Reception” is the eighth release in the series Corollaries, that compiles 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.

Global listening is receptive to the entire aural field, internally and externally.
Pauline Oliver’s

Playing and composing music, which easily becomes about making an end product by putting sounds together and shaping them in certain ways, is not the same as working with sound as a natural force. Sound generated by whatever, that happens whenever, exists independently from music, yet through cultural constructions, eventually may lead to it. While making music and feeling the importance of the surrounding space I can feel unity between different senses: to hear, to feel, to move (while I am playing), with sound, through “recording-listening-playing”.

This is a reminder that, “answers are here all the time” — in the wind, trees, water, steps, everything which is around me and within me. I just need to hear and listen instead of going randomly through my head searching for an answer of how to play.

I have worked with traditional music for over 20 years and it is easy to get stuck in the codes of tradition. I think about what we exclude in music making (or other art forms) when we only focus on tradition, as it should be done, instead of just listening ourselves and letting musical creation flow.

What do I react to while I am playing? From time to time I am affected by traditional music patterns of melody and rhythm while improvising. During Active Crossover, I found myself thinking “the less we hear, the more we listen”. I should not to be afraid of limits, to dare to go beyond them, to see what is there to explore. I don’t have anything to gain while playing, if it happens in the ‘here and now’, as a process of connecting emotions and feelings to the conditions of my surroundings.

“Primary Reception” is a free download from Crónica or Bandcamp.

Futurónica 173

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Episode 173 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, August 19th.

The playlist of Futurónica 173 is:

  1. Enrico Coniglio, Astrùra (Parts 1 & 2) (2016, Astrùra, 13(3))
  2. Enrico Coniglio, Solèra (Parts 1 & 2) (2016, Solèra, 13(3))
  3. Lemures, VI (2013, Lemuria, Crónica)
  4. Lemures, I (2013, Lemuria, Crónica)
  5. Lemures, II (2013, Lemuria, Crónica)

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

“Geography” reviewed by Nitestylez.de

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The Portuguese imprint Crónica has become kind of a staple when it comes to releases being reviewed on these pages on a regular and that’s why we are looking forward to embrace Vitor Joaquim’s upcoming album “Geography” that’s scheduled for release on September 13th, 2k16. Vaguely dealing with the concept of how the planets geography has shaped the development of mankind as a whole throughout its entirety the album opening title track embeds fragments of space documentaries in an environment both shaped by organic sounds and glitches falling together in a warm and welcoming, yet also alien way – once again a feel that takes us back to our deeply loved copy of Oval’s “Systemisch” album in a way we’re sure that we’re not the only ones using this classic as a reference. The second cut, “Cantino”, starts with piercing digital, heavily disturbed signals that are accompanied by strange chirps, static crackle and other weird interferences, “Ganda” deals with a fusion of cold and sterile mechanic repetitions with additional layers of distorted, blurred Indietronic transmissions from an FM radio station located thousands of miles away and the pulsing, spiralling nature of “Technography” is facing some deep, organic melancholia along the way. With “Cargo” we’re taken on a calm and relaxing journey provided by slow, yet steady Ambient movements and a crackly, continuous hiss evoking memories of soft, steady rain on vintage autumn afternoons whilst obscured fragments of Alien FreeJazz performances are present somewhere in the background before “Exodus” explores quite minimalistic terrain and provides both an eerie, slightly threatening as well as a quite natural, ritualistic feel due its abuse of heavily and warped vocal bits by Nino De Elche which are taken from a live performance with Vitor Joaquim like many other fragments of the album were originally recorded on stage with artists like Harald Sack Ziegler, Gustavo Costa and many more. In “Domo Arigato” more warm, crackly Ambient layers and crystalline glockenspiel sequences make us feel at home in any second of the track that’s building up to intense density slowly, providing sampled percussion bits strangely sounding like hydraulic air pops of some kind whilst the concluding 109 seconds of “8’20″” are basically a sequel / part II of the previous tune as their transition is seamless, bringing in processed bits of a Laurie Anderson interview as additional sonic element instead of morphing into a completely new tune. An interesting concept for a closing bit indeed, yet a well fitting finish to this recommended long play piece.

via Nitestylez.de

“Geography” will be published September 13 and is now available on preorder on cronica.bandcamp.com

@c’s “LMY-7-10”

LMY-7-10 from Miguel Carvalhais on Vimeo.

Pedro Tudela and Miguel Carvalhais’s installation at this year Serralves em Festa, in Porto, is finally documented in a short video. If you didn’t make it there, get your headphones and enjoy the sample. More photos are available at at-c.org.

Tudela and Carvalhais are currently working on a new piece, to be premiered September 1st at Lisboa Soa!

“Prevailing Wind, Tangled Under” reviewed by Ambient Blog

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For those interested in environmental recordings, the Corollaries series on the Crónica label is a definite must-check.
This (sixth) edition in the series is an acoustic exploration of a deserted, metal water tower about four stories high made by soundscape artist John Grzinich.

“People are pulled inward upon hearing the depth of the reverberations from within. In numerous instances time seemed to stop as we gathered around, crawling about, climbing, plucking, bowing, striking, howling, stringing and generally playing in and around the great structure.”

Two single-take recordings were made: “the first was a dialogue of sorts between three artists carried out through sporadic sounds and the second was a solo follow-up to meditate on how the various artifacts attached in the previous months were affected by the windy conditions”.

The metallic sounds – clangs, whistles, whispers and moaning – from within the tower suggest that it’s alive and breathing.
A fascinating recording of post-industrial environmental ambience, available as a Name Your Price download (as are all editions in this series). Peter van Cooten

via Ambient Blog