“Homem Fantasma” reviewed by Peek-A-Boo

Homem Fantasma
The latest project of @C, Homem Fantasma, consists of three pieces, each about 40 minutes long.

This is electronic music made with studio and field recordings, electronic instruments and digital processing. Result: three beautiful soundscapes.

These recordings confront me with a challenge. As known, it is not easy to describe soundscapes. In this case it is not only a task to write a description, in my opinion it is also superfluous to analyse this music. This does not mean that these recordings do not deserve any attention or verbal reflection. On the contrary. The reason to skip a technical approach is: these compositions are well-finished. Balanced harmony and dissonance of sounds, emphasis in the right places. No overkill, not a thousand records out of the bag of tricks. Everything in balance. You do not wonder how the sounds are produced and where they come from. All elements assemble into a whole. Also the syncopation pass in an open somewhat airy flow. The pauses surprise. This is experiencing like the experience of this kind of music should be. This is perfection without falling into the arrogance of perfectionism. Also the titles of the tracks make speculation concerning the nature of the sound redundant: 78 (a + b), 79, 80. But – even if we do not want to analyse the carriers of the message, there still is a story. Yet that story must be completed by the imagination of the listener. Someone with a lot of imagination will make many journeys.
I approach these recordings preferably from the experience. And, this experience can be shared immediately because Homem Fantasma is available as a free download.

Bernadette ALLAERT

via Peek-a-boo

New podcast: UN

UN
A calling card for UN, a hybrid collective somehow led by Anselmo Canha, Heitor Alvelos and Jos̩ Maria Lopes. Its claimed mission is the reversal of all things deserving of reversal: literally, metaphorically and magically. Watch out for the greatest hits of all time sung backwards some time in the near future Рa homage to long-held myths of satanic backmasking from the golden age of vinyl.

The Geometry of an Abyss is a mash-up of various sources developed by UN between 2003-2010:

  • Field recordings of occasional traffic in downtown Porto at 3AM, 2003.
  • The Monkey and the Guitar do BlackNoddy, 2006.
  • Field recordings @ CCStop: dozens of rock bands rehearse in a bankrupt shopping mall, their sounds echoing and mashing through the deserted corridors, 2007.
  • A shredded orchestra of 10 harmonicas, Awarehouse of Why, Aveiro, October 2007. Conducted by Len Massey and HA.
  • Live Tunisian horn and American trumpet improvs over the phone to the UK, December 2007.
  • JML and AC untune an acoustic guitar by a river bank in Orbacém, Northern Portugal, late Summer 2008. HA provides water percussion in the distance.
  • Silvestrov karaoke on a Sunday morning, late Summer 2009.
  • Solo late-night electric guitar solos, December 2009.

Munched and spit out against the clock by HA, December 2010. Properly reconstructed and mastered by AC a few days later. More un at unwww.org

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Download here or subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.

Futurónica #43


Episode 43 of Futurónica, a broadcast in Rádio Zero (every two weeks, on Friday nights, repeating on Tuesdays at 01h) airs tomorrow, August 26th at 21h (GMT).

The playlist for Futurónica #43 is:

  • Nurse With Wound, She and Me Fall Together Like Free Death (2005, She and Me Fall Together in Free Death, Beta-lactam Ring Records)
  • Terry Riley, Les Yeux Fermés: Journey From The Death Of A Friend (1972, Les Yeux Fermés & Lifespan, Elision Fields)
  • Rolf Julius, Music for a Distance (2009, Music For A Distance — Small Music Nº 2, Western Vinyl)

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

Futurónica #42


Episode 42 of Futurónica, a broadcast in Rádio Zero (every two weeks, on Friday nights, repeating on Tuesdays at 01h) airs tomorrow, August 12th at 21h (GMT).

The playlist for Futurónica #42 is:

  • Eleh, In The Ear of the Gods (2006, Floating Frequencies / Intuitive Synthesis I, Important Records)
  • Stephan Mathieu, A Static Place II (2010, A Static Place, 12K)
  • Harry Bertoia, Phosphorescence (1970, Swift Sounds / Phosphorescence, Sonambient)
  • Li Chin Sung (Dickson Dee), Somewhere (1994, An Anthology of Chinese Experimental Music 1992-2008, Sub Rosa)

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

“Acute Inbetweens” reviewed by Peek a Boo

Acute Inbetweens
In other reviews, I have already written that in the creation and perception of soundscapes, the step to video art or other visual art is not that big. This has to do with the intangible, sometimes the ethereal, often the captivating effect of music. This could be called the musical power of abstraction. Music is abstract in data (you cannot see it) but music has also the power to abstract (get rid of the determinant). This abstraction is, when applied in an artistic context, an illustration and a support of tangible, tactile elements and of recognizable visual images. The musical abstractions, the soundscapes, help to fragment, defragment, and shape. Note that ‘shape’ is used here in the conceptual meaning of the word.

It is this reflection that overtakes me when I put on the CD Acute Inbetweens to carefully listen to, in order to write, for this platform, a meaningful story. However, it remains very difficult to put into words what sound can do. Yet from the first notes it is clear that this record is far beyond the average. Very far. The composers worked with layers, using compilations of sound recordings. Experiment and surprise is dosed.

Both artists, Lawrence English (Australia) and Stephen Vitiello (USA), are active as composer, media and sound artist. They met for the first time in 2006. Acute Inbetweens was developed through long-distance consultations and discussions, passing sound files back and forth. The compositions contain both analogue sources and found sound. Each piece is built up and elaborated in a rigorous way. Each track is a compelling exploration. Bernadette ALLAERT

via Peek a Boo

“Shattering Silence” reviewed by Musique Machine

Shattering Silence
Mosaique is Jan Ferreiras a Portuguese musician and on this album he is exploring areas new to him. To quote his own words….. “In this release I worked for the first time with analogue synthesis. It was new territory so I spent long time exploring timbres and textures and what especially drew my attention was the “sharpness” of sound as if one could sense its outlines like with forms and shapes.” I’d like to know more about what he means by analogue synthesis as most of this actually sounds very digital to me. A great proportion of the sounds lack the warmth I would associate with analogue synthesisers or VST versions of analogue equipment.

That’s not to say I don’t find the 100 or so minutes this album runs for very enjoyable. Possibly just over half of it reminds me very much of Farmers Market (who had a few releases on the Mego label, don’t know if they are still around or not?) with perhaps Oval and COH as other influences. There’s plenty of glitch crackly randomness and on the few tracks where the analogue basis of it is more obvious it sounds like it’s come from the school of old style industrial. The tracks that sound more digital and crackle and pop like tomorrow are actually the most successful. One piece that combines the two “Tessian” has the most horrible combination of two oscillators that are slightly out of tune with each other (on purpose) that spoils the remaining sounds that would have benefited from not having the two flies stuck in a jam jar sound accompanying it.

New podcast: Herde Katzen

Herde Katzen
Working title of “art film”: Decay And Structure. The basis for this movie were four strange dreams of one man. On a plan, the director in this film intended to have no dialogues, only sound and visuals.

For this soundtrack we used a Portable DAT Recorder with microphone and Digidesign protools for post processing. Recorded between 2001-2002.

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Download here or subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.

Futurónica #41


Episode 41 of Futurónica, a broadcast in Rádio Zero (every two weeks, on Friday nights, repeating on Tuesdays at 01h) airs tomorrow, July 29th at 21h (GMT).

The playlist for Futurónica #41 is:

  • General Magic, Tyrell (1996, Frantz, Mego)
  • Enrico Coniglio, Mantilla (2009, Glacial Lagoon, Laverna)
  • Pxp, Nada_01 (2005, Nada, Dekorder)
  • GCTTCATT, U R The Sony Of My Life (2001, ampErase, Mego)
  • Pxp, Nada_10 (2005, Nada, Dekorder)
  • Farmers Manual, Myself II (1997, Fsck, Mego)
  • Rehberg & Bauer, OH (1999, Ballt., Touch)
  • Fenn O’Berg, Fenn O’ Berg Theme (1999, The Magic Sound of Fenn O’ Berg, Mego)
  • Rehberg & Bauer, Heng (1999, Ballt., Touch)
  • Haswell & Hecker, Gamma (2008, UPIC Warp Tracks EP, Warp)
  • General Magic, I Love You (2000, Rechenkönig, Mego)

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