courant.air is the continuation of the work begun in 2007 with the guitarist Simon Trottier in which we intertwine improvised electroacoustic and folk music. I wanted to explore this further within a formal compositional context. I imagine myself on the banks of the St. Lawrence river, this estuary to which I owe the history of my country. I look backwards, in direction of its landscapes created by erosion caused by wind and water.
More information at ahornfelder.
Crónica celebrates its fiftieth release with a compilation featuring nine collaborations by Stephan Mathieu, Janek Schaefer, Lawrence English, Marc Behrens, Stephen Vitiello, Tu M’, and others. Crónica L’s material is emblematic of the type of bold experimentalism the label has remained faithful to since its inception more than seven years ago. It’s an hour of challenging yet engrossing listening packed with microtextural soundscapes and granular drones that should appeal to devotees of Francisco López and electronic producers of kindred sensibility. Throughout the recording, ever-mutating sounds flutter hyperactively in convulsive settings of resolutely abstract character.
In “Unfurling Fugue,†Janek Schaefer weaves Enrico Coniglio’s Venice-based field recordings into a combustible melange of clattering noises and organ tones. Gilles Aubry and Paulo Raposo give us nearly ten minutes of restlessly churning industrial dronescaping in “Forms of Suspension.†@c (Pedro Tudela and Miguel Carvalhais) and Gintas K conjure a dizzying storm in “K./85†of rabid insectoid chirp and rumble, with all of it laced with swirling shards of acoustic guitar flutter. Stephan Mathieu and Piotr Kurek generate a deeply crackling drone of voice fragments and electronic slivers (“The Heavens Have Many Colorsâ€), while the plaintive ululations of a Middle Eastern singer shadow a turbulent churn of industrial noise in Ran Slavin and Vitor Joaquim’s “Voices Over Water.†“Circles of Twine†finds Lawrence English and Stephen Vitiello weaving outdoors field recordings and piano playing into a dense field of reverberant haze, after which “Rêve General,†perhaps the album’s peak moment, takes the recording out on a celestial cloud of blinding tones and washes, courtesy of The Beautiful Schizophonic (Jorge Mantas) and Tu M’ (Rossano Polidoro, Emiliano Romanelli). Despite the involvement of eighteen different artists, the collection turns out to be surprisingly cohesive with each of the nine pieces complementing one another by spinning fully developed variations on the dronescaping style. On this collection, Crónica re-affirms its reputation as a label of integrity that regularly offers free-to-download recordings to its listeners and is more than a little deserving of whatever support the electronic music listening community can provide.
Piotr Kurek – poÅ‚owa breakcore’owej formacji Åšlepcy, znanej w drugiej poÅ‚owie lat 90.ukazuje na tej pÅ‚ycie swoje inne oblicze. Od października do grudnia 2007 r.odbywaÅ‚ siÄ™ w Warszawie festiwal Zakrzywienia IgÅ‚y, skÅ‚adajÄ…cy siÄ™ z trzech osobnych bloków. Jeden z nich byÅ‚ poÅ›wiÄ™cony twórczoÅ›ci Corneliusa Cardew -asystenta Stockhausena, zaÅ‚ożyciela AMM i Scratch Orchestra, klasyka notacji graficznych od poczÄ…tku lat 70. poÅ›wiÄ™conego muzyce rewolucyjnej (m.in. sÅ‚ynny esej Stockhausen Serves Imperialism). UdziaÅ‚ Kurka w tym wydarzeniu w roli jednego z wykonawców przyniósÅ‚ rezultat w postaci recenzowanej tu pÅ‚yty, na której autor poddaje dekonstrukcjom i rekonstrukcjom nagrania Cardew udostÄ™pnione mu przez rodzinÄ™ kompozytora. Sample z taÅ›m, nagrania wykonaÅ„ i fragmenty wykÅ‚adów zostaÅ‚y komputerowo poukÅ‚adane na nowo. Kurek dograÅ‚ też niektóre partie wÅ‚asnorÄ™cznie.PowstaÅ‚ z tego, jak to okreÅ›la: „prywatny tributeâ€. Nie wiem jak daleko poszÅ‚y jego ingerencje, ale tak czy inaczej, sÅ‚ucha siÄ™ tego bardzo dobrze. Jako, że sam Cardew zmarÅ‚ 13.12.1981 (tak!) to i nagrania nie sÄ… wyjÄ…tkowej jakoÅ›ci. CzÄ™sto dokonywano ich podczas warsztatów i wykÅ‚adów co przydaje materiaÅ‚owi trochÄ™ przykurzonego smaczku. Tu i ówdzie sÅ‚ychać samego Cardew prowadzÄ…cego wykÅ‚ady, co z kolei przydaje pÅ‚ycie dokumentalnego sznytu -ale jak tribute to tribute. Z jednej strony to materiaÅ‚ wymagajÄ…cy od sÅ‚uchacza skupienia, miejscami wystawiajÄ…cy jego cierpliwość na próbÄ™, a jednoczeÅ›nie jest w nim pewna lekkość. Mimo skomplikowania muzycznej materii nie przytÅ‚acza, mimo aspektu mocno archiwalnego nie nudzi. I wcale nie trzeba znać teorii muzycznych Cardewa by znaleźć w niej satysfakcjÄ™.Godne polecenia.DK
The Portugese label Crónica is celebrating its 50th release with a beautiful compilation album. Nine collaborations between 18 of the label’s key artists, 18 artists all illustrating in their own way the label’s aesthetics of sound experimentation and redefinition of the act of listening. I would point out the collaborations between Gilles Aubry and Paulo Raposo, Marc Behrens and Cem Güney, Lawrence English and Stephen Vitiello, and The Beatiful Schizophonic and Tu M’, but everything here is at least interesting, and many tracks are intriguing or downright beautiful.
via Monsieur Délire
From October 27th to the 30th, the Akousma 7 series of concerts will present performances by Pauline Oliveros, Alexander Schubert / Sinebag, Mathew Adkins, Mitchell Akiyama, Martin Bédard, Martin Messier, Félix-Antoine Morin and Nicolas Bernier. All events are at the Studio Hydro-Québec in Montréal.
Following to the acclaimed debut “Les arbres” (No Type, 2008), and the recent Crónica release “strings.linesâ€, Nicolas Bernier is launching his new project “courant.air” (Ahornfelder, 2010). The piece will be performed with fellow folk guitarist Simon Trottier at AKOUSMA Festival in Montreal on October 30th, 2010.
Episode 20 of Futurónica, a broadcast in Rádio Zero (every two weeks, on Friday nights, repeating on Tuesdays at 01h) airs tomorrow, October 22nd at 21h (GMT).
The playlist for Futurónica #20 is:
You can hear Rádio Zero’s broadcasts at radiozero.pt/ouvir.
In summer 2005 we spend a week doing outdoor recordings in Innsbruck. Our goal is to create a composition of and with city sounds. The geographical situation of the city nourishes the idea behind the composition… Nestled in the Inntal valley, closed off to the north by the Nordkette mountain chain, in the south by highlands and Patscherkofel peak.
We begin our route high up in the north on the Seegrube… Approach the city via the Hungerburg district toward Büchsenhausen… Cross the Innbrücke bridge and reach the old town… Wander there through the courtyards of the new city (city center, Pradl, Saggen) toward the Brenner highway, crossing it on our way upward toward lake Lanser See — in the southern part of the valley.
We stop from time to time to record the sounds around us. Our starting material becomes a topology of loudnesses, frequency images and rhythmic structures of the city.
We compile these original sounds we have recorded into 4 related sections, which serve as the first layer of the composition; for the second layer of the piece, we edit the original sounds we have used using filters; the third and fourth layers are musical structures and interventions using bass and sampler.
tamtam are Hannes Strobl (bass) & Sam Auinger (sampler). An alternative version of this piece can be found at tamtam’s website.
After two solo albums and several participations in Crónica’s compilations, Gintas K is back to Crónica with his first release in the free-download Unlimited Series. In what has been becoming Gintas K’s signature, “So On†is composed of several independent small compositions that are individually very diverse but remarkably coherent when heard as a whole. In the same line as his recent “Lovely Banalitiesâ€, “So On†lives from the dialectic of its internal dynamics, contrasts and tensions, composed to a delicate balance across the length of the album. It is a step in the consolidation of Gintas K as a mature composer and very active experimentalist with whom Crónica is extremely proud to work.
You can download “So On†as high-quality MP3 or Apple Lossless files directly from Crónica and free of charge. Donations are welcome! :)
Last night’s broadcast of Futurónica, live at Rádio Futura at the Future Places festival in Porto:
