“Erotikon” reviewed by Bad Alchemy

Erotikon
Would you fall in love with a sound ? Jorge Mantas, der sich THE BEAUTIFUL SCHIZOPHONIC nennt, verehrt die Frauen, am meisten die Unerreichbaren – Supermodels, Marmorschönheiten auf Gräbern, Ikonen der begehrenden Phantasie. Erotikon (Crónica 044) kreist fetischistisch um die Accessoires seiner Geliebten: “Furla”-Handtaschen, “Blumarine”-Kreationen aus Chiffon, der Duft von “Musgo”, “Fornarina”-High-Heels. Mantas gibt den Objekten seiner Begierde exotische Namen wie “Aysha” und Kosenamen wie “Bambilány”. Oder er schwärmt von einstigen Musen, “Aliénor d’Aquitane”, die Königin der Troubadoure, und Goyas La duquesa de “Albe” (oder meint er doch den Dark Angel, die Invisible Woman Jessica Alba ?). Es sind Frauen, denen man nur im Traum begenet – in dreams… the ten thousand ponies of your pyjama running every night after me, and then the sound, the almighty sound, the greatest sound of all, the sound of you kissing the snow with dark blue lips. In dream you are a song. Mantas schöne nocturneske Schizophonie schwingt summend von Melancholie zu Nekrophilie. Nur stumm und kalt wie Marmor und Schnee sind die Geliebten makellos. Sobald eine der Postkartenbeauties den Mund öffnet – und 1860 “Au Claire de la lune” singt – klingt es wie ein Schwarm von Aasfliegen (ein Effekt wie bei Poes M. Valdemar). Wenn sie zum Telefon greifen (bei “Fornarina”), werden sie zu quäkenden Plagen. Schön sind sie als Bild und Gefühl. Es ist ihre Unerreichbarkeit, die den Dröhnwellen und Schwebeklängen die gefühlsechte Innigkeit verleiht.

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Vote for Marc Behrens’s “Compilation Works 1996-2005”

Compilation Works 1996-2005
Marc Behrens’s “Compilation Works 1996-2005” has been nominated for the Qwartz 6 Music Award (in the “Anthologies” category). The public voting has already opened and will remain open until March 15. The awards will be announced in April 2, 2010 in Paris.

To vote for Marc Behrens, all you need to do is to send an email stating your vote for “Marc Behrens: Compilation Works 1996-2005” to anthology_6@qwartz.org.
You can check the list of nominations at Qwartz’s website and if you still haven’t, you can freely download Marc Behrens’s release from Crónica.

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New TJ Norris’s podcast focuses on Crónica

tj

The latest podcast from TJ Norris focuses on Crónica’s catalog, featuring pieces from @c, Freiband, Gintas K, Janek Schaefer, Marc Behrens, Paulo Raposo, Piotr Kurek and Stephan Mathieu. Get it from TJ Norris’s site or from iTunes.

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Marc Behrens’s highlights of 2009

best_tiras_2566
Usually do not so much consider the Gregorian calendar count rule the events. 2009 is not yet over, but for the first time in years I feel safe to do a best-of list. Due to the nature of this particular year, this selection is a mix of different categories and different forms.

  • December 10: while I look at the altar in the cathedral of Marseille from behind the choir precinct, and wonder what I as doing inside a church, I receive a message on my mobile that my father died.
  • November: a new future consolidates between two people. Decisions are made. Never done planning like this before.
  • Listening loud to “The Beautiful Schizophonic: Erotikon” while on a plane to a very specific destination, half asleep.
  • Apple iPod Classic 160 GB.
  • October: I am starting a new future!
  • August: I am climbing a difficult mountain path, steepness way beyond the expected. A herd of softly sounding, bell-swinging sheep is the welcome after I pass the ridge.
  • July: I am releasing my own CD “A Narrow Angle” – it will, in a way, predict the future.
  • April: celebrating my birthday, first time in many years, in Porto {and with the Crónica posse}.
  • March: afternoon and evening chorus at the Nossob River, Kalahari Transfrontier Park. Doves in Sesriem Canyon, Namibia, using the canyon’s echoes to amplify their calls. Night sounds in the Tiras mountains, Namibia. An immense peace and freedom, never experienced before.
  • “Luc Ferrari: Chansons pour le Corps”
  • January: being immersed in a cacophony of “Ezan” calls to prayer at 5:50 in the morning, Istanbul, Turkey, in company of a kind street dog.

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“Erotikon” reviewed by Drowned in Sound

Erotikon
Perhaps it’s the time of year or my inescapable decrepitude, but the armchair seems to be my destination more often than the dancefloor right now. Maybe it’s just that a lot of superb ambient/drone/slippercore music’s being released at the moment: Black To Comm (see AD015), cacao (see below), Rameses III (see below); I could go on (see below). Pushing its way towards the front of that estimable bunch is The Beautiful Schizophonic, aka Jorge Mantas, whose Erotikon doesn’t waste time in enfolding you in piling waves of rich, subtly melodic texture. ‘Aysha’ and ‘Bambilány’ show just what you can do within the drone framework, brief dabs of birdsong or hushed vocals imparting a panoramic sense of wonder.

Even when Mantas pursues more chilling moods, as with the hollowed-out tonalities of ‘Nocturnosque’, an innate musicality is still clearly apparent in its swaying distortions. The magnificent ‘Alba’ stitches a sample of Au Clair de la Lune from 1860, the earliest known recording of a human voice, into the haunting piano playing of Yui Onodera. ‘Fornarina, with its puffs of glowing notes rising up around an LA phone conversation, is a warmer adjunct to Robin Rimbaud’s work as Scanner, while the 14-minute wash of closing track ‘Pollen’ hits pretty much every pleasure centre that ambient music can reach. Chris Power

via Drowned in Sound

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Stephan Mathieu’s highlights of 2009

sonne_
Musical highlights

Morton Feldmans “Coptic Light”
performed by the 98-piece Deutsche Radio Philharmonie
directed by Emilio Pomárico
on Sunday, May 24 at Congresshalle Saarbrücken

Anne Rolfs aka ALLROH
She, her voice, her guitar, a cranked up amp
on Thursday, September 17 at Sparte4 Saarbrücken

Brilliant times

in Toulouse
Paris
Zagreb
Belgrade
Saarbrücken
Stuttgart
Aalst
Kortrijk
Ljubljana
Zagreb again
Graz, Graz and Graz
Nijmegen
and Roma

Arrived

EMT 930 record player
Spendor BC1 SE monitors
Spendor D40 amp

(my wet studio dream)

A vintage Siemens 6-channel fullrange speaker system

(to round off my Virginals setup properly)

Still missing

48hrs a day
hardware uploads
persons uploads
You

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