GEAR — Sound and Interactive Media at Covilhã

Teaser gear up from gear-up on Vimeo.

GEAR – 1st Workshop for Practice Based Research in Art and Design – is an event based on a series of talks, demos, concerts and work-in-progress works, whose mission is to promote, develop and share practice based research methodologies, experiences and practices in the field of academic research.

Among others, there will be talks by Vitor Joaquim, André Gonçalves, Miguel Carvalhais and Heitor Alvelos, and performances by @c, Vitor Joaquim + Hugo Olim, André Gonçalves, Ivan Franco, Eosin, Rudolfo Quintas, DJ Sniff and many others. It’ll all happen from April 7 to 12 in Covilhã, Portugal.

More info at gear-up.info

“Berlin Backyards” reviewed by Temporary Fault

Berlin Backyards
This is a fine work, despite its obviously unpretentious nature. It might belong in the category of favourite listens for undisturbed moments in the early morning (now) or late evening, being mostly made with remote urban echoes – the title and the cover photographs say it all – which were recorded in 2006 by Aubry who glued, looped and stretched the results in the studio. Thus a 48-minute piece was generated, in which the predominant sound is that sort of constant drone typical of the big cities especially at night, a murmuring whirr that – enjoyed in the right circumstance – functions as a wrapping tissue, a protection against negative influence and, occasionally, a stimulator of profound reflections. Therefore, this is not a record that can be subjected to any kind of critical analysis: either you like it or you don’t, and this writer happens to love it. There’s a narrative quality emerging from these obscure soundscapes: one figures human activities going on incessantly while we, as external observers, ponder about the roles carried on day by day, often unconsciously. The whole is tinged with a sense of ineluctability and steadiness at the same time, hundreds of intersections among different life conditions creating a widespread texture of whooshing low frequencies that seem to increase our inner safeguard. Massimo Ricci

via Temporary Fault

“Ification” reviewed by Temporary Fault

Ification
One for the dissolution and/or enhancement of the intellect, featuring a couple of somewhat involving episodes and a number of scarcely significant ingredients as far as artistic validity is concerned. Pure works with samples, which he transforms and extends endlessly, at times even beyond the limit of what’s aurally tolerable. When the guidelines of telluric vibration are dutifully followed, the nerves benefit from the nullification of reason: the infinite bass tones of “End” represent a veritable brainwashing apparatus. Occasionally, the plot thickens in terms of sonic mass (lots of percussion, Martin Brandlmayr contributing drums in two tracks) yet the compositional logic appears a little light, when not entirely missing. In those moments, all we seem to hear is a series of partially successful experiments where a certain kind of electronic nuance is reiterated for a long time, which might be OK for, say, a modern dance soundtrack; but in regard to the indispensable gratification obtainable by listening to a CD, that is not enough. In short, the muscle of this album is superior to its wisdom, the emotional content of pieces such as “After The Bomb” and the above mentioned “End” notwithstanding. Massimo ricci

via Temporary Fault

“Sleppet” reviewed by Ae Mag

Sleppet
Norwegen ist, wenn man Marc Behrens Glauben schenken darf, zumindest klanglich einer Vielzahl tektonischer Änderungen und Verschiebungen unterworfen. »Sleppet« ist gleichzeitig Hörspiel und Dokumentation einer Reise nach Bergen, Utvær und anderen Tummelplätzen naturaler Sehenswürdigkeiten, die neben Behrens auch Mitreisende wie Jana Winderen, Steve Roden und Chris Watson einschloss. Das sich dabei hauptsächlich Fieldrecording-Künstler über den Zeitraum von 10 Tagen im norwegischen Hinterland akustisch einnisteten und ihre auralen Ableitungen zogen verwundert angesichts der gewichtigen Qualität der Veröffentlichung nicht. Marc Behrens, der sich seit langem üppig zeigt wie eh und je und vom Minimalismus früher Tage abweicht, eröffnet bereits im Opener »Sleppet (1) Seagulls And Cattle« eine leicht schräge Hommage an das aufkeimende Industriebewusstsein der Hofbauern und der Fischer mittels verzerrter Möwenschreie und hektisch geschnittener Stahlgewitter. Überhaupt ist die digitale Bearbeitung der Soundquellen äußerst dezent und geradezu konzeptuell zugeschnitten, Bachgeriesel und Gletschereis werden pointiert in Szene gesetzt, ehe der nächste Schwung destruktiver DSP dem Kitschbild ein vorschnelles Ende bereitet. Besonders gelungen zeigt sich Behrens insbesondere dann, wenn sein Material die gewohnheitsmäßige Verselbstständigung erfährt, welches so manches Fieldrekording so essentiell macht. »Sleppet« ist mehr Hörspiel statt Album (»Sleppet« entstand für eine Sendung von Deutschlandradio Kultur) und sollte auch als solches verstanden werden. Nur dann entsteht tatsächlich jene Sogwirkung, welche sich aus dem hier abgebildeten Märchenwald Skandinaviens auf den Hörer entfaltet. Essentieller Release ohne manierlichen Grobschnitt. 5/5

via Ae Mag

“Sleppet” reviewed by Temporary Fault

Sleppet
Predictability is a very high risk in compositions exclusively based on field recordings, but with Marc Behrens we can always rest assured that the development of any dissertation will introduce numerous factors of interest. Sleppet was recorded between 2007 and 2008 in Norway and Germany to fulfil a commission by Deutschlandradio Kultur. Either via the concreteness of industrial sounds or through the definite anguish generated by crying animals – be it a flock of seagulls or baah-ing sheep – Behrens is able to confirm is long-established sensitiveness for what concerns the capturing of the fundamental nature of a sound. Close proximity to the melting water of a glacier ensures that a series of impressive rumbles and crackles let us feel like a part of the direct experience. The wind is perceived as a protective mantle, and magnificent singing birds make us remember the few reasons for which life is worth of being lived. Forlorn ambiences become a road to redemption, substantial matters are a link to human quintessence. Everything appears logical, even the unanticipated abruptness of certain turns of events. The vividness of the details and the intelligence of the inherent consecutiveness characterizing the whole piece completes the achievement of a tangible gratification. Solid, sober work by one of the masters of the game. Massimo Ricci

via Temporary Fault

New unlimited release: Ran Slavin’s “The Mediterranean Drift”


Crónica is very proud to present Ran Slavin’s fourth full-length release in the label, after two CDs, “Tropical Agent / Ears in Water” and “The Wayward Regional Transmissions”, and the ground-breaking album in the free-download Unlimited Series “Nocturnal Rainbow Rising”.

“The Mediterranean Drift” is composed by six new/old pieces split in two movements. The first three tracks function as establishing shots. They are textural compositions, reflective soundscapes that can be played as loops back to back to form a prolonged meditative audio space. Whereas the first half points to a feeling of nostalgia, positive feelings and a yearning to a ‘solution’ the second half of the release brings us to a more poignant zone and points to uncertainty, threat, fear and the turmoil omnipresent in the middle east and epitomized in Claude-Joseph Vernet’s painting “The Shipwreck” (1772) — set in an unidentified maritime landscape that very much resembles the port of Jaffa in Israel. This scene blends the sublime and the beautiful that can be found in a horror scenario, it is the background and the prime mover of Slavin’s music in these new/old compositions. It is the region’s omnipresent new/old political tension and war that is reflected indirectly in the bittersweetness that flows from “The Mediterranean Drift”, an album that is yet another big step in Ran Slavin’s maturing work as a composer.

You can download “The Mediterranean Drift” as high-quality MP3 or Apple Lossless files directly from Crónica and free of charge. Donations are welcome! :)