“Queendom Maybe Rise” reviewed by Rif Raf

Queendom Maybe Rise
Outre une apparition sur l’excellentissime ‘HD’ de son compatriote AtomTM (je vous renvois à nouveau à la EarTeam), MARC BEHRENS est surtout connu pour son oeuvre électroacoustique, qu’il développe depuis plus de vingt ans avec une constance qui n’a d’égale que son infini sens de la recherche. Son nouveau bébé ‘Queendom Maybe Rise’ (Crónica) ne fait nullement exception à la règle, bercé qu’il est entre field recordings ovipares et traitement numérique soigné. En de nombreux instants, on a l’impression d’assister à un documentaire animalier sur le monde des airs et/ou de l’inifiniment petit mis en ondes par Nicolas Bernier, avant qu’un violent orage ne vienne tout bouleverser, à d’autres instants, on retrouve les excellents échos de Thomas Köner, voire de Jana Winderen, pour 41 minutes de bravoure captivante. Second et dernier titre, ‘Quuendom’ repose entièrement sur la voix de Yoko Higashi (déjà aperçue chez Lionel Marchetti), directement ou régénérée digitalement telle la rencontre entre Luciano Berio et Machinefabriek. Pourquoi se priver? Fabrice Vanoverberg

Arturas Bumšteinas awarded the first “Palma Ars Acustica”

Arturas Bumšteinas
“Palma Ars Acustica“, the newly created Award for Radio Art, goes this year to the Lithuanian composer and concept artist Arturas BumÅ¡teinas.

The jury, made up of representatives from 11 European Public Radio Broadcasters, took its decision after the final round on Saturday, 27 April 2013 at WDR Broadcasting House. The prizewinning piece was Arturas BumÅ¡teinas’ “Epiloghi – Sei modi di dire Zangtumbtumb”, in which futuristic sound visions confront effectful Baroque music. The production was first broadcast on DeutschlandRadio Kultur (Producer: Marcus Gammel). Apart from Jacopo Peri’s opera “Dafne”, BumÅ¡teinas refers to texts by René Descartes and Luigi Russolo for his Six Miniatures. The jury praised in particular BumÅ¡teinas’ colourful sound worlds made up of vocals, harpsichord and harsh noises.

Bumšteinas was born in 1982 in Vilnius where he studied at the Academy for Music and Theatre.

Arturas Bumšteinas has so far released two albums in Crónica, “Pastoral” and “Jakov & Gwizdały”, both free to download.

“Never So Alone” reviewed by Whisperin & Hollerin

Never So Alone
There’s an interesting back-story to this release. The eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland, which resulted in the grounding of many European flights for a week in April 2010 saw Simon Whetham grounded in Lisbon.

Effectively marooned, Whetham took his sound gear round the city and captured a vast array of material from field recordings. The material left untouched for a while, after which he revisited them and edited them together as a response to the city’s geography – both physical and human – its architecture and ambience, weaving in his own personal feelings from what must have been a strange time that was in effect open-ended and unplanned.

The result is compelling, atmospheric and evocative.

The first track, ‘Inertia, Rising’ carves out a wide tunnel of ambience some 17 minutes long that creeps and echoes slowly through the drains. ‘Shifting’ is appropriately title: long, undulating drones interweave to form a supple lattice work.

‘Never so Alone’ is a deeply nuanced soundwork that’s sparse yet richly textured and highly evocative. The atmosphere is one of alienation and detachment, the muted sounds are distant as though the city is being heard and observed from afar. Christopher Nosnibor

via Whisperin & Hollerin

“Queendom Maybe Rise” reviewed by Chain D.L.K.

Queendom Maybe Rise
The nocturnal drone, which gradually creeps in listener’s eardrum by arousing all sensory particles, in the initial somehow bipolar long-lasting suite “Maybe Rise”, derived from sonic material grabbed in the coastal rainforest, table lands and outback of Tropical North Queensland, Australia, in July 2011, and cobbled in Spring 2012, makes a move of this mindblowing and well-forged release by talented German electronic musician Marc Behrens: after it saturates the sonic sphere by tossing the listener onto a softly metaphysical dimension, the eerie electronic carpet Marc intertwines with cries of distant monkeys and chirping birds seems to be suddenly silenced and suctioned by a suction pump so that the animal cries distinctly debouch from the initial electric haze before they coalesce again with menacing preternatural throbs, mesmerizing trembling and spooky puffs. A clap of thunder on the 26th minute breaks the spell and the unstable silence as well as the calmness of some ducks (!) which at first enveloped everything got broken and some piercing sounds which look like rising from mental inlands mainline a certain anxiety into an environment in a flutter. The whole listening experience is somehow adventorous for its amazing changes of scene. The following track, the shorter “Queendom”, was recorded and produced for the inauguration of a consulate for the digital realm of KREV (Royal Kingdoms of Elgaland-Vargaland) in Karben (Germany), comes from various manipulations of Yoko Hogashi’s entrancing voice, whose worming contortions and electronic captivating tailspins could open the gate of unimaginable perceptional gardens. Vito Camarretta

via Chain D.L.K.

“Never So Alone” reviewed by John Dombroski

Never So Alone
(A personal review from John Dombroskij to Simon Whetham, published with John’s kind permission)

I listened to your album – Never So Alone – a lot. And it is, of course, brilliant. I feel the energy you put into it – And I’m beginning to empathize with what might have been behind your title choices and intuitive sonic decisions. I told you I would give a review of it, so here it is: track, by track (sort of)… if you’d like to read… (I apologize in advance if it’s too much)…

I really like the delicate mid-high frequency rattling / scraping in back of my head during the first half of the first track – this amplifies the mood and tension suggested by the tones and the repetitive low undulating tone. Second half, is like an airplane taking off in slow motion under water – the consuming weight of progress – steady, enveloping, force, as speed and intensity increase. and the emptiness,

I’ve found that I enjoy listening to your music (and most music) in public places, or with the window open. The connection and intermixing of the ephemeral and the recorded sounds provide me the ability to directly apply the feeling of the music to my experience of life at that moment, and I’m no longer just listening but – feeling – it.

Track 2: this metallic lo-mid freq sound is really fucking awesome. after a bit, it becomes almost a little too heavy on those mid frequencies, but you fade it away at just the right time, and give us a bit of bass. and I love the light tin sounds. The stereo out-of-phase effect is really nice (when the metallic tones vibrato in and out of sync). The harmonic changes in the lead sound vaguely remind me of Colin Stetson’s work. — gosh, those heavy-reverb distant wind chimes are so nice right there at the end.

This first interlude – wind chimes of the gods – or demons – it all feels like a stormy rainy night where shadows move and nothing seems quite real, or too real, and I wonder when I’ll wake. Dynamics, man – thanks for making use of ’em. quiet / loud… That’s a crazy escalator, too (escalator, or baggage-claim)… I found a similar sound in the airport in Atlanta, Georgia.

What a beautiful rhythm, now… rain on aluminum. and as the tones return, and the high frequency tapping enters, I feel like you’re leading me elsewhere, yet, it’s a very similar headspace. lots of dwelling on these difficult places – frustration, too.

The music has a somewhat narrative quality, which I like – I might venture to assert that it seems almost autobiographical, like an abstract-impressionist painting of a time, place, mood.

I love the timbre of this radio static…or is it rain on an umbrella, yes…? beautiful.

and your spacing, the silence in between each movement/piece, is well done. time to breathe is very important. I feel as if I might be sick, or overwhelmed if you kept on from one to the next to the next, so fast… right amount of spacing, definitely.

mmm… this lo frequency is so nice, and when it starts wobbling left to right and back… love it. those small, quiet sounds really help me submerge myself in the sub tones – give me something to focus on as the overwhelming bass envelops and moves through me… someday, I will listen to this in a big, quiet, room, with great speaker monitors… yes, that needs to happen. would you be willing to reveal how you went about making this low frequency? I always wonder how such sounds originate – they are so nice – and this one, the way it undulates is brilliant – soothing. after the last bit, atonal, the resurgence of a melodic / tonal chime sound is very refreshing, along with the metallic scraping.

I’m not too crazy about the chorus-effected tones when the cello is playing in background in track 5, though with a title like “A Little Faith” the timbre of the tones evokes images of light shining through, a post-apocalyptic, morose, hopeful, pleading, searching, feeling.

OH damn you! Certainly woke me up with the start of this interlude recording… but in a good way. yeah! cold water and wind – we’re in it for the long haul, buckle down and full sail ahead! I really love this piece. the moment is brief, and so great. it’s so intense – reminds me of previews I’ve seen for this documentary called “LEVIATHAN”. And then we move into the murky depths… I feel like a lot of this album has to do with water – change – tumultuous change, at that. Like you mentioned earlier – just throwing yourself into the sea and not knowing where you’ll come out. wow – a car horn sounded briefly outside, right when the audial swell of track 6 ended – the beautiful synchronicity!

I love this wash of revolving tonal sound that comes in the beginning of “Accentuate…” – Like that moment after you’ve hit your head, hard, and you’re swimming for a moment, dazed.

You have nice timing with the lower frequency swells, this makes the higher frequencies consuming, but not overwhelming. I like the chord changes too. ah, yes, underwater in the small ebb of waves… what a nice place to take us after all that heavy stuff. I really like the mastering on this recording – the low bassy resonation of the baot, and the high freq elements in the water turbulence… and a well-timed slow decrescendo to the end. well done, Simon. I feel great after listening. Thank You.

“Queendom Maybe Rise” reviewed by Goûte Mes Disques

Queendom Maybe Rise
Ca faisait longtemps qu’on avait plus eu de nouvelles ni de Crónica, ni de Marc Behrens. Et dans les deux cas, ça nous a méchamment manqué. Crónica parce que c’est l’un des dix meilleurs pourvoyeurs de sound-design, et Marc Behrens parce que son Sleppet (également sur Crónica) nous avait mis un grand coup de latte dans la gueule.

Et force est de constater que son retour aux affaires est une véritable réussite. Mieux même, le titre d’ouverture est officiellement une bombe (on est quand même loin du nouveau Timberlake, on vous rassure), qui impose plus de quarante minutes d’atmosphère froide, spatiale et sans oxygène. Un drone strident qui se ballade en onde sinusoïdale, ponctué par des souffles, des traquenards signalétiques et des ruptures qui t’ouvrent l’oreille en deux. « Maybe Rise » est un titre qui appelle sans cesse le vide, qui épure tout ce qui passe à proximité, qui rend tout noir, clinique et parfait. C’est tellement de la science-fiction qu’on s’étonne d’entendre ci et là du field recording clairement bucolique, avant que le tout magnétique ne reprenne le dessus.

« Queendom » a beau être un peu en dessous – mais comment rivaliser avec une pièce de cette longueur et de cette intensité – on tient avec Queendom Maybe Rise une véritable démonstration de sound-scaping, magnifique d’espaces habités et de confiance en la technologie.

via Goûte Mes Disques