“Lanificio Leo†reviewed by Music Won’t Save You
Verso la fine dello scorso anno, Attilio Novellino e Saverio Rosi (Sentimental Machines) hanno pubblicato il frutto di una serie di improvvisazioni condotte insieme a Rob Mazurek e Tim Barnes. Le due lunghe tracce delle quali si componeva quel lavoro, “Objects In Mirror Are Closer Than They Appearâ€, avevano avuto come teatro un luogo di archeologia industriale della loro terra, la Calabria, trasformato in museo e protagonista del peculiare soundscaping dell’opera, con la sua atmosfera e i suoi rumori, al pari di fiati, percussioni e frammenti elettronici minimali.
Quel luogo era il A, al quale è integralmente dedicata la nuova opera dei due artisti calabresi. Non si tratta di una mera suggestione, poiché in “Lanificio Leo†i luoghi letteralmente “parlanoâ€, attraverso il rumore delle macchine, le risonanze e le irregolarità da esse generate, che per natura contraddicono il crisma ambientale della ripetizione.
Il lavoro si articola in sette brevi frammenti, semplicemente prodotti da ingranaggi, che spostano in maniera decisiva il significato stesso di “macchina†da quello più comune legato all’elettronica a fonti di suono tra le più disparate. il solo brano finali, i cui oltre diciotto minuti collimano con la durata totale dei frammenti, provvede a riarticolarli, filtrandoli e trasformandoli in qualcosa di meno materiale, di meno riconoscibile. Eppure, è proprio come se Novellino e Rosi avessero voluto dar luogo a un gioco di specchi, nel quale il suono “lavorato†rivela anche la propria componente più grezza e disadorna, eppure autosufficiente a dimostrare, in maniera niente affatto agevole ma a suo modo geniale, l’attuale labilità del confine tra suono e rumore, tra musica e non-musica.
“Unfurling Streams†reviewed by Dance Like Shaquille O’Neal
Basate sulle registrazioni di strumenti a percussione realizzate dal britannico Monty Adkins (compositore, performer e professore di musica elettronica sperimentale, co-direttore artistico del Electric Spring Festival) in collaborazione con Jonny Axelsson, le composizioni contenute in questo “Unfurling Streams†si ispirano alle liriche di E. E. Cummings: “for whatever we lose (like a you or a me), it´s always our self we find in the seaâ€. Ed è proprio al fluire delle correnti marine, cosi come al fluire della vita, che fanno pensare questi brani. Pura, rarefatta ambient music della migliore qualità , nel suo genere uno dei dischi più belli usciti in questa prima parte di 2015. Le foto e l´artwork di Stephen Harvey rendono il package, se possibile, ancora più desiderabile. Tony D Onghia
Soon in Crónica: Siebzehn bis ∞
Futurónica 139
Episode 139 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, May 1st.
The playlist of Futurónica 139 is:
- LuÃs Antero, O Rio (2012, O Rio, Impulsive Habitat)
- LuÃs Antero, ANT(i)SOM (2013, ANT(i)SOM, Crónica)
- LuÃs Antero, OUT LEVEL (2010, ESSMAA, Tsuku Boshi)
- LuÃs Antero, Water Wheel #1 (2009, Rural Sound Narratives (Field Recordings from Portugal, 2009), Wandering Ear)
You can follow Rádio Zero’s broadcasts at radiozero.pt/ouvir and Rádio Manobras at radiomanobras.pt.
“Unfurling Streams†reviewed by Liability
On peut toujours s’enorgueillir à dire que la musique acousmatique a surtout trouvé racine en France mais, c’est comme le rock aujourd’hui, elle s’est développée un peu partout et elle n’est plus l’apanage d’un seul pays. Et c’est heureux. C’est en tout cas le signe d’une musique qui continue à vivre mais aussi qu’elle est reconnue pour ses qualités intrinsèques. Alors, il est inutile de mépriser tous ceux qui ne sont pas issus de l’IRCAM ou du GRM. Monty Adkins est britannique, parcours le monde et sort depuis quelques années des disques tout à fait dignes d’intérêt. Signe là encore que la qualité peut aussi se trouver ailleurs. Mais ceci n’est pas spécialement une surprise. Ce développement ne date pas d’hier et du continent nord américain jusqu’au Japon, les musiques acousmatiques ont connu un bel essor depuis quelques décennies. C’est pour cela que l’on trouve des disques de qualités venant des quatre coins du monde. De fait, Unfurling Streams s’inscrit dans ce mouvement perpétuel de création qui a abolit toutes les frontières pour laisser place à l’essentiel à savoir la musique plutôt que la mise en avant de celui qui la fait. Quoi qu’il en soit Unfurling Streams répond à un projet particulier et une ligne directrice. Ce disque est d’abord inspiré par un vers du poète américain Edward Estlin Cummings. Un vers qui parle de nous, de la perte de quelque chose qui se trouvait en nous mais qui peut se retrouver dans l’immensité de la mer. La regarder, ce serait un peu comme se regarder dans un miroir dans lequel on pourrait retrouver une humanité perdue. C’est donc bien de la vie dont on parle ici. Une vie qui se rythme au gré de ses changements, des ses flux, de ses évolutions. Monty Adkins est alors parti d’enregistrements d’instruments de percussion réalisés par lui même et par Jonny Axelsson. En complément, Adkins s’est appuyé sur le travail photographique de Stephen Harvey pour se donner une ligne directrice. Le résultat est donc ce Unfurling Streams, disque qui oscille entre la musique acousmatique et l’ambiant agrémenté de sonorités glitchs. Disque éminemment tonal, Unfurling Streams est de ceux qui évoquent ces mers de tranquillité, dont les vagues avec leur flux et reflux sont un appel à l’apaisement et une sorte de voyage en apesanteur. Pour autant, ce type de voyage on en rencontre souvent dans ce milieu. Si Unfurling Streams est d’une beauté indiscutable, il n’apporte pas spécialement de nouveauté à ce que l’on sait du genre. Nous voilà donc en face d’une belle expérience mais cela ne va pas plus loin. On peut trouver cela dommage mais en l’état actuel des choses ce n’est pas si mal. Fabien
via Liability
“Lanificio Leo†reviewed by Merchants of Air
Machines are fascinating musicians. Tirelessly they can produce the same rhythm for years on end. Sometimes I wonder about the first machines and the noises they made. Didn’t people recognize the repetitive cadance? Did they dance to it? Did industrial music originate from, well, the industry? Over the years field recording and experimental artists have been recording and looping mechanical sounds from machines all over the world. Often, the results are stunning in all their simplicity.
From the biography: Lanificio Leo is the result of field recording sessions made by Attilio Novellino
and Saverio Rosi in August of 2013 at the woolen mill, “Leoâ€, the oldest textile factory active in Calabria (Italy). This factory is equipped with several 19th century machines. Being this old, the machines have tiny flaws and produce some little variations in their timbre and rhythm. Yet, it’s these little errors that make them sound like musicians.
This release actually constists of two parts. Part 1 shows the raw, unedited recordings of the machines themselves. Somehow you can compare this with the tracks on ‘Symphony For Dot Matrix Printers’ by The User and even some ‘sounds of industry’ sample cds. The overall sound is quite industrial, repetitive and mechanical, which is not really a surprise of course. However, as an industrial ambient release, this is quite pleasing to listen to.
Part 2 is a composition using the same recordings as a basis. These elements are being processed, both analog and digitally, to create one long track. Surprisingly, part two is a bit noisier and creepier than its predecessors. Yet, it too has this allround experimental ambient feel that is always welcome in this household. Even more, it inspires me to use similar sounds for ambient productions myself.
To conclude, this is an interesting album for anyone who’s into experimental ambient, field recordings and other weird genres. The repetitive nature of these machines makes this music a nice rhythmic background sound for everyday activities. However, I guess, as a listener, you have to possess an experimental character to truly enjoy this album. Most people will probably never notice the musical genius in other things than instruments but if you do, the world sounds a lot more interesting…
Serge
via Merchants of Air
New Release: Attilio Novellino & Saverio Rosi’s “Lanificio Leoâ€
This work is the result of field recording sessions made by Attilio Novellino and Saverio Rosi in August of 2013 at the woolen mill “Leoâ€, the oldest textile factory active in Calabria, founded in 1873 in Soveria Mannelli (Catanzaro).
Currently managed by Emilio Leo, this company is one of the most significant cases of company-museum in Italy and was the winner of the Guggenheim Management Culture award in 2001. Emilio is adopting a particular production and communication model, trying to connect innovation and tradition, targeting his products to international market and using art and new technologies as a way to promote what he produces and spread it beyond the boundaries of southern Italy.
Emilio once said that “The machine, by definition, repeats slavishly the same sequence at any time, in any season, everyone is using it. My old machines instead – either because they are worn out, internally worn – are no longer able to do this. They have a bit of ‘anarchy’ inside, they make mistakes. But if you go into this idea of the error and you control it, the machine helps you precisely and becomes the author of the product with you.â€
This description of machines with a sort of personality and creative ability really impressed Novellino and Rosi, so they decided to document sounds of the factory and then tried to become co-authors of a composition with these same machines. They also aimed to provide a double face of the work, using traditional techniques for the first part and modern technologies for the second.
The first part of this work is a mix of raw field recordings, with all sounds unprocessed. The sounds produced by machines from the late 19th century, with their distinctive timbres and unusual rhythmics, were recorded from various perspectives, trying to document the entire production process, from the first to the last machine. This is a unique document considering that these very old machines have been exceptionally activated for a few minutes for this session.
The second part is a composition using the same field recordings as sources. The sounds were processed with analog (including reel-to-reel tape recorder, digital delay and echo) and electronic treatments (mainly granular synthesis) and than re-assembled in order to have “a new vision” of the old sounds.
“Lanificio Leo†is now available as a free download directly from Crónica or from Crónica’s Bandcamp page.
Futurónica 138
Episode 138 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, April 17th.
The playlist of Futurónica 138 is:
- Porcje Rosołowe, Gryllotalpa Talpa (2015, Insects 4-7, Crónica)
- Porcje Rosołowe, Metua Tympanis (2015, Insects 4-7, Crónica)
- Carlos Santos & Jorge Valente, Metallum (2015, Metallum, Creative Sources)
- Porcje Rosołowe, Serpentinus Fascia (2015, Insects 4-7, Crónica)
- Porcje Rosołowe, Mantodea Chorda (2015, Insects 4-7, Crónica)
You can follow Rádio Zero’s broadcasts at radiozero.pt/ouvir and Rádio Manobras at radiomanobras.pt.
Soon in Crónica: Attilio Novellino & Saverio Rosi’s “Lanificio Leoâ€