“Double Exposure” reviewed by Peter Wullen

Double Exposure
Excellent new concept double album by Janek Schaefer on Crónica. His best to date. 12 commissioned pieces that range from dreamy to truly hairraising. ‘Asleep at the weel…’ is absolutely fabulous. An installation consisting of ghost cars & in-car soundtracks. The 20 minute piece on the album documents the dangers of overconsumption & overuse of natural resources from inside the biggest culprit of the last century: the rise & fall of the car. It’s like praying for survival inside an erupted vocano. It’s really quite spellbinding. One of my favourite albums of the year 2012.

via Peter Wullen

“Double Exposure” reviewed by Was Ist Das?

Double Exposure
Getting up for work before dawn is not really a pleasant experience but with this album as your in-ear companion, you can see things in a slightly different light. Schaefer was conjuring up dazzling minimalist other worlds when the current crop of experimental ambient producers were probably still listening to Blink 182 and failing to kiss girls. The experience is very much in evidence here displayed a restrained but skilled confidence, clear vision and sparkling production.

This download compilation takes twelve pieces made of installations, compilations, soundtracks and other such projects. The format is crucial to the structure of the album as it would not fit on a Single CD, would be too little for two CDs and would not fit on a double LP without diminished sound quality. This is a digital album full stop.

The music collected here is a hearty feats of musical gems. There is the sparkling but slightly haunting piano of ‘City of Dreams’. The vinyl hiss underpinning the sublime dreamscape of ‘Code for Dankworth’ will haunt your memory as you lay on the edges of sleep.

‘Inner Space Memorial (for J.G. Ballard)’ is an epic work of celestial drone. There are the sobering ecological warnings of ‘Asleep At The Wheel’ taken from an installation Schaefer created in a car in a disused supermarket.

‘Crossed Wires’ has a surprisingly dark horror film vibe to it and then explodes into a domineering, fluttering heavy drone but keeps suddenly cutting out to other things. It comes as quite a shake-up but that’s Schaefer for you, ever the unpredictable. Long may he reign that way.

via Was Ist Das?

Arturas Bumšteinas / Piotr Kurek and Janek Schaefer live at Next Festival


This year’s Next festival in Bratislava includes a superb line up of performances, including an Arturas BumÅ¡teinas / Piotr Kurek duo and Janek Schaefer, that recently released “Double Exposure” in Crónica. It’s all happening in Bratislava, from the 1st to the 3rd of December.

Carvalhais, Wells, Burt and MacDonald at GIO Festival IV


Next November 25, 26 and 27, at the CCA Glasgow, the GIO Festival IV will present various performances (including four new compositions written for the orchestra by George Burt, Emma Roche, Liene Rozite and Armin Sturm), workshops and discussions that open up or re-frame improvisation in different contexts.

The program includes performances by Jan Bang, Satoko Fujii, Renée Baker, Andreas Gogol, Gliondar Ensemble, Rope and Duck Company, Muris With Lumps & and Peter Nicholson, Miguel Carvalhais/Bill Wells/George Burt/Raymond MacDonald, Stuart Brown/Tom Bancroft/Chris Wallace/Fritz Welch Drum Quartet.

GIO Festival IV, 25th, 26th and 27th of November
CCA Glasgow, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow
Festival tickets: £6 per day or £10 for 2 days. Workshop tickets: from free – £10

More info at glasgowimprovisersorchestra.com or GIO Festival IV

New DVD release: “Mic.Madeira”


Simon Whetham and Hugo Olim were teamed up by Rafael Biscoito, the artistic director of the 2010 MADEIRADIG festival, for the creation of an audiovisual performance.

Madeira’s native Hugo Olim has been performing live visuals in collaborations with various musicians (Vitor Joaquim, Nuno Rebelo, Jerome Faria, João Ricardo, etc.). Bristol’s Simon Whetham creates sound compositions from field recordings, having thus far produced a series of releases through several international labels.

For this performance, Whetham created a multi-channel audio composition from field recordings captured across the island of Madeira, traveling various routes with Olim, exploring many locations that seemed promising or that were simply found along the way. Using various microphones and hydrophones, many sonic aspects of the island were captured. These were then edited and examined during the preparation of the piece.

Olim’s performance was created from the usage of a microscope fitted with a digital camera, with which he magnified various substances and objects, all from Madeira. This signal was then fed through various subtle visual effects that reacted to certain frequencies in the audio composition. This piece’s title thus refers to the main tools used in the exploration of Madeira’s landscape, microphones by Whetham and microscope by Olim

This DVD presents a specially-revised version of the performance, in 16:9 video with 5.1 Surround and Stereo soundtracks. A video documentary of the field work in the island is included as an extra.

This DVD is a joint release with the MADEIRADIG festival:
MADEIRADIG

Futurónica 49


Episode 49 of Futurónica, a broadcast in Rádio Zero (every two weeks, on Friday nights, repeating on Tuesdays at 01h) airs tomorrow, November 18th at 21h (GMT).

The playlist for Futurónica #49 is:

  • Satoshi Morita, .: :: – / – / – :. (2011, Nodar: Location-Specific Sound 2007-2009)
  • Xesús Valle, Tactile Processes (2011, Nodar: Location-Specific Sound 2007-2009)
  • Manuela Barile, Moroloja (2011, Nodar: Location-Specific Sound 2007-2009)
  • Maksims Shentelevs, Ghosts of Nodar (2011, Nodar: Location-Specific Sound 2007-2009)
  • Wolfgang Dorninger, In the Water (2011, Nodar: Location-Specific Sound 2007-2009)
  • Jason Kahn, Windline (2011, Nodar: Location-Specific Sound 2007-2009)
  • John Grzinich, Flowlines (2011, Nodar: Location-Specific Sound 2007-2009)
  • Melanie Velarde, Untitled (2011, Nodar: Location-Specific Sound 2007-2009)

You can hear Rádio Zero’s broadcasts at radiozero.pt/ouvir.