blog.Crónica – Page 12

Philippe Petit’s “A Divine Comedy” reviewed by MusicMap

Avevo da poco raccontato il secondo capitolo di “A reassuring elsewhere”, un rassicurante altrove di Philippe Petit (che rassicurante non è…), e già l’artista ha già fatto uscire un nuovo lavoro: “A divine comedy”, uscito per Crónica Records. Dante Alighieri non finisce mai di ispirare gli artisti di tutti i tempi. La sua musica concreta, pronipote di Pierre Schaeffer, affronta stavolta l’interpretazione dei versi del sommo poeta, trasformando le bolge in suoni e rumori.

Non è la prima volta che Petit prende spunto da una “discesa”. Nel 2019 aveva pubblicato “Descent into the maelstrom” (http://www.musicmap.it/recdischi/ordinaperr.asp?id=7191), cioè discesa nel vortice. E, dopo gli esperimenti sul perturbante dell’altrove con il suddetto doppio album, e il cyberpunk sui generis affrontato nel 2020 assieme al chitarrista-pittore Michael Schaffer (http://www.musicmap.it/recdischi/ordinaperr.asp?id=8047), sembra che voglia tornare “a casa”, nel suo personale caos.

Eccoci a riascoltare tanti rumori modificati, note minacciose di pianoforte (come in “Purgatorio, Canto II”), nonché lamenti di voci dei dannati, come in “The Descent”, dove un urlo affannato e disperato ripete: “No… no… nooo… nooo!”. La prima parte del disco, all’inizio della discesa, è caratterizzata da frammenti vocali asettici. Una voce femminile, come ripresa da un diffusore in aeroporto, ripete: “For whom the bell tolls, for whom the bell tolls…”. In “Within the Corridors of Hell”, ascoltiamo frammenti vocali in giapponese, inglese e anche in italiano, riportando versi della Commedia, a volte riordinati in prosa. Ma è tutto sbriciolato e confuso.

Tutto è stato concepito come un’esperienza, l’ascolto dev’essere immersivo, e chi ascolta è invitato dallo stesso Philippe Petit, a far caso alle proprie impressioni e reazioni. “Purgatorio, Canto III” è un lungo momento di drone music, con suoni dilatati all’estremo. Se le prime tracce infernali, sono ovviamente opprimenti e senza speranza, quelle per il Purgatorio sono solo misteriose e indecifrabili, a tratti lynchane.

E il Paradiso? Anche quello non comincia in maniera rassicurante, descritto in due tracce. Il cammino fa inciampare fra detriti elettronici. Dopodiché, sembra (sensazione mia) tutto un susseguirsi di porte d’acciaio che si aprono, per poi arrivare a delle sinistre campane, e altri suoi tintinnanti che poi si liquefanno. La prima delle due tracce finisce con alcune note di marimba, forse l’unico momento tranquillizzante. La seconda traccia torna ad esplorare, tranciare e far oscillare diversi rumori, anche in maniera distorta; ma verso la fine i suoni, prolungati, giungono a creare un’armonia, in tonalità all’apparenza minore. Forse, in quel momento stiamo rivedendo le stelle?

Se Inferno e Purgatorio sono abbastanza condivisibili, l’interpretazione del Paradiso può dare impressioni contrastanti. Come sempre accade con Petit, il verdetto spetta a chi ascolta. Cosa ci sentite voi? (Gilberto Ongaro)

via MusicMap

Jos Smolders’s “Textuur 2” reviewed by Vital Weekly

Somewhere in the past, I am trying to remember when or on which occasion I wrote in a review something about granular synthesis being sampling on a microcellular level. And I wondered where granular synthesis ends and sampling begins. The whole micro/macro approach of dimensions can be drawn into this discussion, and with a nice glass of wine and a few creative minds, you could probably end up spending night after night on subjects like these. And why am I regurgitating this thought? Well, in the promo text of the new album by Jos Smolders, he refers to something that is about the same but in a different context. ‘Pierre Schaeffer investigated where sounds start and end and where the applicability of sounds start and end. Schaeffer introduced the term objet sonore as an object with a sonic quality of its own. In addition, he also defined the objet musicale, which is the state after the sound object is manipulated and transformed into a musical entity.’ The text continues: “One could say that the objet sonore is the raw material and the objet musicale the intermediate or the final product.”
These thoughts formed the basics of what will be a trilogy/triptych of textures. And no, “Textures And Mobiles” from 2004 is NOT the first in the series, so it’s not a tribute to Cage’s “ASLSP,” where we have to wait another 20 years for part 3. And yes, this is #2, but relax, breathe in, breathe out. You haven’t missed #1; it will simply be released later.
In one hour, Jos covers the spectrum of different styles. As far as you can go with ‘objets musicale’, this album is a professor lecture, if there ever was one. It features beautiful sound structures, musically intense compositions, and variations from minimalism, drone, experiments, and ambience to even—dare I say it—techno-ish things. Two essential tracks, Collection 1 and 2 and Permutations A through J, complete a full hour of what we like about Jos’ music.
To conclude: The minimalist sounds we hear aren’t minimalist. It’s not a particular frequency singular waveform or a standard white or coloured noise … Hell no. Jos knows what he is doing sound-wise, and in its minimalism lies the strength of its complexity. Or the other way around, but believe me, it’s really hard to design sounds that sound simple on the outside but so complex on the inside. Knowing Jos and having seen him perform live on several occasions, I can only say he excels in his field of expertise. Gorgeous release. (BW)

via Vital Weekly

New release: Jos Smolders’s “Textuur 3 [Register]”

We’re very happy to announce the first of two new releases by Jos Smolders in Crónica, part of a broader series, titled Textuur.

Textuur 3 [Register] is now available for download or stream; Textuur 2 [ |||| – – – – ] will be released as a limited-edition CD in April.

The Textuur project

This album is part 3 in a series where I investigate processes to strip sounds from their original context and slice them into tiny bits. By doing this, sounds are separated from their source and as such severed from what they originally represented. What’s interesting and challenging for me in the project is to find the crossover area where representation disappears, and the sound becomes an abstraction. Where this is varies depending on the original sound. Already in the 1950s, Pierre Schaeffer investigated this and introduced the term objet sonore as an object that has a sonic quality of its own. In addition, Schaeffer also defined the objet musicale, which is the state after the sound object is manipulated and transformed into a musical entity. One could say that the objet sonore is the raw material and the objet musicale the intermediate or the final product.

I started reading Schaeffer’s texts in 1981, after hearing Symphonie pour un homme seul and realizing that the wild sound experiments that I had been doing in my small flat had a history that went back to the late 1940s. Searching for more information, all I found was a single French text which I got from the library. I xeroxed all the pages and started reading, slowly, slowly, because I had not been paying much attention during French classes in high school. I have always found the idea of sound removed from its physical source to be problematic. Whenever I listened to musique concrète, I still recognized the sound source with all its physical and psychological connotations. So, what kind of game was being played here? I didn’t quite ‘get it’, apparently. But I loved listening to the recordings and through the years crafted my own musical style.

In Textuur my objet sonore is not a three-dimensional object. It is a representation of something else, like a word, or a (endless) rhythm or a (endless) sine wave. The objet musicale is a (two-dimensional) surface. A surface with a texture. In my view the surface is completely immaterial but does present surface related characteristics, like smooth, rough, abrasive, uneven, adhesive, punctured, wet, et cetera.

The idea of music as a representation of a surface arose from reading Carl Andre’s Yucatan poem series which he wrote in 1971-72. In true style of concrete poetry, Andre presents us with blocks of words in black and red carefully distributed over the paper surface. What struck me most about the poems is that the letters and the words seem to sink back into the visual form. Depending on their focus the reader either watches an abstract shape or reads words and letters. I found this very interesting because the (sound of the) human voice, words, meaning and representation often play a significant role in my work. Here a visual artist and one-time poet seemed to work with the same idea from a different perspective. Writing to Andre, I almost got in a heated argument with him because he strongly disagrees with being named a representative of concrete poetry (as I assumed) and when I made a remark to that effect, he metaphorically slammed the door in my face. Well, anyway.

After deciding on the imagery of surface as objet sonore I have long thought about how to translate my interpretation of Yucatan to a musical dimension. In fact, the whole of 2021 and a decent part of 2022 was spent on thinking, experimenting, collecting, and discarding. Then, late 2022, I visited an exhibition of the works of Josef and Anni Albers in Den Haag. Although I primarily went to see Josef Albers’s paintings, the works of his wife Anni sparked the idea that I could use “weaving” as a way of producing the sounds I wanted. At least it was a metaphor that showed me a path out of my conundrum. A fabric shows a pattern on a surface but zooming in one can still see the original threads. Threads can be anything, of any width, any length. Weaving can be as loose and as dense as you need.

Structure

Source material for Textuur 3 is the recording of an automated customer distribution system that I encountered in a New York Whole Foods store. The voice was not unpleasant, had a certain musicality and rhythm to it. Customers were standing in line, staring at their phone, or actually being on the phone. The voice came from an overhead speaker system and was accompanied by a colourful screen underlining the next register. In a sense it caused me to think of how customers had become cattle, albeit not in a slaughterhouse but as actors in a consumerist trap. After the actual recording the album continues with nine permutations. These permutations each follow their own rule of threading and present a new (non)woven surface.

Textuur 3 is now available to stream or download via the usual channels. Textuur 2 is now available for preorder.

David Lee Myers’s “Strange Attractors” reviewed by Inactuelles

J’avais sélectionné ce disque, puis je l’avais écarté, déçu par quelques fragments. L’ayant écouté voici peu dans sa continuité, ce qu’on ne peut pas toujours faire, ou ce qu’on ne prend pas le temps de faire pour diverses raisons, j’ai été conquis. D’où sa réintégration dans ces colonnes.

Artiste visuel et sonore vivant à New-York, David Lee Myers, à son actif plus de soixante disques et des collaborations avec des grandes pointures de la musique électronique comme Merzbow ou Tod Dockstader, écrit ce qu’il nomme une musique à déplacement temporel en utilisant un mélange variés de retours (feedback), d’autres sources de bruits et des sons trouvés qui sont retardés, retraités, déplacés. Depuis l’introduction des unités de retard à bande, David Lee Myers est fasciné par le fait de prendre un moment du temps, de le stocker puis le déplacer et le plier sous différentes formes.

Fermentations chaotiques du Temps

L’album comprend quatre pièces, chacune entre treize et dix-neuf minutes environ. Quatre immersions dans une musique infiniment fluctuante. “Equality of Powers” pose les fondements d’un univers composé de couches rayonnantes, animées, hantées par des bruits enchâssés dans le flux chatoyant sous-tendu d’un chevauchement continu de drones. On reconnaît la touche Dockstader à la manière dont la musique semble générée par des ondes courtes, leur superposition et leurs conflits incessants, le tout ramené vers l’égalité par le mouvement perpétuel dans lequel il est emporté. Le temps est incessante variation, recomposition, il n’existe que dans le mouvement, l’instant de son émission.

De longues sinusoïdes caractérisent le début de “Iniquities”, pièce dans laquelle le temps se met à rutiler, à émettre des merveilles sonores en forme de tournoiements, de vrilles frangées de particules lumineuses. On est au cœur de cet album, on s’enfonce dans une forgerie de splendeurs foisonnantes. C’est notamment ce deuxième titre qui a motivé mon “repentir”. On croit même y entendre, fugitivement, des voix intérieures…

La suite est tout aussi prenante, encore plus au casque. Un monde de vibrations radieuses, de pulsations de drones, de déchirements internes crée un enchevêtrement sonore incroyable. Pas de place pour le vide ou le silence, même lorsqu’un long drone monopolise l’attention dans la dernière partie de “With Perfect Clarity”, car très vite il est parasité par des surgissements bouillonnants, d’étranges attracteurs. Au bout de l’immersion, il y a “Yet Another Shore” (Encore un autre rivage), et, du chaos la lente émergence d’orages magnétiques tapissés de drones abyssaux, et ça fulgure, nom de Zeus ! C’est au-delà encore que se tient une majesté intermittente, voilée de brumes lourdes, une force d’arrachement dont le rayonnement est terminal.

Une musique électronique, expérimentale, d’une superbe puissance.

Dionys via Inactuelles

New release: @c’s “Installations: (Re)Verso/Flexo (2018)”

In their collaboration as @c, Pedro Tudela and Miguel Carvalhais developed several installations, often site-specific and ephemeral works. This series of releases in Crónica is dedicated to revisiting these installation works, occasionally with situ recordings, but also further exploring the computational systems developed for the works, archival materials, and other assets, presenting new compositions that unfold from each installation. This series is accompanied by the book Installations / Instalações also published by Crónica.

The fifth release in this series is (Re)Verso/Flexo, after the 2018 installation in the Museum of Aveiro, at the Santa Joana Convent. This piece was created to a 15th-century dining room, an austere yet richly decorated utilitarian space destined to nourish bodies while giving spiritual sustenance through listening to sacred texts read during the meals. The room has a functional layout with several tables, a bell mounted near the entrance, and walls covered in tiles, creating a very reflective acoustic space. We tried to explore the room’s spiritual resonances, working from ideas such as introspection and hierarchy. The installation was developed along with the tabletops, mounting lights, loudspeakers, and mirrors that reflected sounds and light to the tabletops. Visual reflections, much as echoes, contribute to creating strange relationships in the experience of the installation. They reveal the space in unexpected ways bringing us impressions of something we are not consciously looking at, and almost inevitably distorting these images as well as the spaces where they are found. The sound objects used include readings of numbers, an evocation of the seating assignments carved on the tables, and the numbers of the scriptures read during meals.

Installations: (Re)Verso/Flexo (2018) is now available for download or stream via the usual channels.

Philippe Petit’s “A Divine Comedy” reviewed by Silence and Sound

Puisant son inspiration dans La Divine Comédie de Dante et les gravures de Gustave Doré, Philippe Petit réussit le pari, non pas d’illustrer, mais d’offrir sa vision personnelle de l’oeuvre, en utilisant une palette de sonorités dont lui seul a le secret.

Depuis toutes ses années d’activité, le compositeur a développé un style qui lui est propre, combinaison d’expression abstraite au bord de la rupture et de collages éclectiques subtilement agencés.

Philippe Petit nous entraine à travers A Divine Comedy dans les méandres d’un no man’s land inquiétant, où les langues se multiplient, voyage inquiétant aux directions en opposition, enrobé de lumière et de noirceur, de futurisme décharné et d’expérimentations en mode rupture d’anévrisme.

Philippe Petit compose la bande son idéale d’un trip cosmique aux images cinémascope, projection brulée aux effets stroboscopiques. Superbe.

Roland Torres

via Silence and Sound

New release: Philippe Petit’s “A Divine Comedy”

We are thrilled to announce the release of Philippe Petit’s new album, “A Divine Comedy”, now available as a limited-release double CD, download or stream.

Petit was inspired by Dante Alighieri’s poem and influenced by Gustave Doré’s illustrations, building a symphonic “palette” of musical pigments, pictorial tones, and textures that reconcile epic narrative and expressionist musical form. His aim is not to illustrate but rather to tell a story of an alternative world set in motion by paying attention to the perceptions and feelings of listeners. The moments in this story are stitched in an immersive journey of colourful music that listeners traverse as if watching a film or reading a novel.

“A Divine Comedy” is now available through Crónica’s Bandcamp and all the usual channels.

Philippe Petit’s “A Divine Comedy” reviewed by Anxious

Philippe Petit zainspirował się poematem Dantego Alighieri i ilustracjami Gustave’a Doré, budując symfoniczną „paletę” muzycznych barw, obrazowych tonów i tekstur, które godzą epicką narrację i ekspresjonistyczną formę muzyczną. Jego celem nie jest ilustrowanie, ale raczej opowiadanie historii alternatywnego świata, który jest wprawiany w ruch poprzez zwracanie uwagi na percepcję i uczucia słuchaczy. Momenty w tej historii są zszywane we wciągającą podróż kolorowej muzyki, którą słuchacze przemierzają tak, jakby oglądali film lub czytali powieść.

Philippe Petit świętuje 40 lat działalności w 2023 roku!

Urodził się w Marsylii, na południu Francji, gdzie w 1983 roku zaczął grać, tworzyć audycje radiowe i redagować ziny. W 1993 roku założył Pandemonium Rdz. i 41 płyt później, potrzebował odmłodzenia i założył BiP_HOp Musique w 2000 roku.

Od tego czasu występował w całej Europie, Rosji, Polsce, Kanadzie, USA, Meksyku, Australii i Azji oraz wydawał w międzynarodowych wytwórniach, takich jak Sub Rosa, Oscillations, Aagoo, Important, Southern UK, Glacial Movements, Monotype, Bölt, Alrealon Musique, Beta Lactam Ring, HomeNormal, HelloSquare, Public Eyesore, Utech, Rustblade czy Staubgold.

Polegając na amplifikacji, elektronice do produkcji, manipulacji, pracy nad materiałem dźwiękowym, nieustannie starając się eksplorować różne gatunki i upewnić się, że każdy album różni się od poprzedniego, starając się uniknąć rutyny i zaskoczyć słuchaczy.

Petit studiował muzykę elektroakustyczną w Konserwatorium CNRR w Marsylii, specjalizując się w wielokanałowej dyfuzji (przestrzenność akustyczna) i syntezie modularnej, opowiadając się za wykorzystaniem energii elektrycznej do podtrzymania dźwięku wytwarzanego z zamiarem muzycznym. Artur Mieczkowski

via Anxious

Philippe Petit’s “A Divine Comedy” reviewed by Westzeit

PHILIPPE PETITs 90-Minuten-Dante-Adaption “A Divine Comedy” (Crónica) ist eine KlangCollage über die Stufen hinab in den innersten Kreis der Hölle (und vielleicht auch zurück, das lassen wir mal offen). Obschon durchaus von gewohnt hoher Petit-Qualität, hinterließ das ElektroKunstWerk bei mir aber doch den bösen Verdacht, dass ich solcherlei KlangSchnipseleien vielleicht nicht die gleiche Ruhe, Aufmerksamkeit und (Hör)Lebenszeit geschenkt hätte, stünde ein weniger klangvoller Name auf dem Etikett. Das ist entweder ein aus arroganter Überheblichkeit und “kenn-ich-alles-schon”-Dünkel geborener GroßFehler oder die verzweifelte Abwehrreaktion eines von zu viel Ähnlichem (deshalb aber nicht unbedingt Schlechtem) überforderten RezensentenHirns. Dabei weist z.B. “Through a circular opening in the cave, issuing we again beheld the stars” wirklich erhebliche Qualitäten auf: Musique concrète-Passagen zerfasern am Schluß dieses zentralen und mit reichlich 16 Minuten auch längsten Stücks zu einem in EinzelKlangEreingnisse zerfließenden, MelodieReste zerpflückenden SynthQuietschen. Danach beginnt das (hier dreiteilige) Purgatorium, bevor es am Ende doch ins “Paradiso” geht: hier glaube ich, im vielfach bearbeiteten SoundMaterial die eine oder andere Engelsstimme zu erkennen. Mission also (doch?) geglückt.

via Westzeit

Philippe Petit’s “A Divine Comedy” reviewed by De Subjectivisten

Zodra de naam Philippe Petit opduikt, mag je de oren spitsen. Zeker als je voor de meer avontuurlijke muziek gaat. Dat geldt niet eens alleen voor zijn eigen muziek of die hij maakt met Strings Of Consciousness of zijn bevriende artiesten, waaronder K11, Lydia Lunch, Cosey Fanni Tuti, Cindytalk, PAS, Ron Anderson, Robert L. Pepper, James Johnston, Vultures Quartet, Chapter 24, Asva, Simon Fisher Turner, Foetus, Graham Lewis, Scanner, Eugene S. Robinson, My Brightest Diamond, Faust Mia Zabelka, Barry Adamson, Mira Calix, Justin Broadrick, Kammerflimmer Kollektief, Edward Ka-spel, Jarboe, Leafcutter John, Banabila, Murcof, Simon Whetham en Michael Schaffer. Nee ook met zijn eigen labels van voorheen, Kinetic Vibes Music met garagerock, Pandemonium met noise en het elektronisch georiënteerde BiP_Hop, heeft hij een verschil gemaakt in de muziekscene. En dan heb ik het nog niet eens gehad over zijn inbreng als muziekjournalist en radiomaker/presentator. Hij verkent met zijn muziek graag onontgonnen terrein en noemt zich daarom ook een “musical travel agent” en geen muzikant. Inmiddels heeft hij ook de studie elektro-akoestische muziek afgerond en is hij tevens ambassadeur van het modularisme geworden; een beweging om met modulaire synthesizers muziek te maken waarbij de compositie centraal staat en niet de middelen om dit te bereiken. Op deze manier heeft hij ook zijn nieuwe album A Divine Comedy aangepakt. Petit is hierop weliswaar geïnspireerd door het gedicht van de Italiaanse dichter en filosoof Dante Alighieri, maar wil zich niet beperken door aan de tekst vast te houden. Het is meer een voedingsbodem voor zijn eigenzinnige composities geworden. Het album bestaat uit twee schijven, waarbij de eerste “Inferno” en de tweede “Purgatorio + Paradiso” als subtitel heeft meegekregen. Dus thematisch komen Alighieri’s “hel”, “vagevuur” en “paradijs” uit het gedicht hier wel voorbij. Met stem, diverse analoge Buchla systemen en andere synthesizers, piano, gong, spectraal processor, daxofoon, cimbaal, zingende schaal, draaitafel en meer schept hij zijn eigen goddelijke komedie op abstracte maar meeslepende wijze. Je krijgt ondanks de dikwijls bevreemdende maar biologerende geluiden toch levendige beelden, emoties en minder goed te duiden ervaringen mee. Soms voelt het of je in een gedigitaliseerde natuur rondloopt en op andere momenten of jezelf bent geüpload naar een digitale omgeving. Hoe het ook zij, het moge duidelijk zijn dat deze muziek voor een intense beleving zorgt. Zoals ook het gedicht. Petit brengt niet alleen een fraai eerbetoon, maar doet ook recht aan de impact van Alighieri. Twee keer drie kwartier weet hij je stevig in de houdgreep te nemen met zijn uitzonderlijke composities. Jan Willem

via De Subjectivisten