Hinter der schicken, verdrogt gestalteten Klappverpackung lauert das Chaos: Mit dem Opener Fire zumindest erwischt das Ambient-Projekt Pure den Hörer auf dem falschen Fuß. Verzerrtes Gitarrengedröhne statt weitläufiger Drones. Dennoch ein enttäuschender, weil langweiliger Auftakt. Danach wird es schon besser, und Ification beginnt zu wirken. Behutsam werden die Stücke aufgebaut, zögerlich gesellt sich Detail zu Detail, bis zitternde Drones, umgarnt von einer Armee digitaler Spielereien, den ganzen Raum eingenommen haben. Ification wohnt dabei zu jeder Zeit ein tief liegendes Gefühl der Beunruhigung inne. Gleich einer Filmmusik, die an betreffender Stelle urplötzlich bedrohlich wird, haftet auch Pures aktuelles Album jenes latente Gefühl einer Bedrohung an, die jedoch die gesamte Spielzeit über unspesifizierbar bleibt. Besonders Approximation nimmt mit satten Tönen und nervösem Geflimmer viel Raum ein und verlangt bei hoher Lautstärke starke Nerven – ja, der dunkle Track erinnert vom Grundtenor beinahe an die Musik des SchockersShining! Abgesehen von dem nichtssagenden Auftakt und dem irgendwie wirkungslosen, befremdlichen Iron Sky eine äußerst versiert in Szene gesetzte Ambient-Collage. (8) Björn Springorum
Marc Behrens lectures on installation work
Next Monday, March 23, Marc Behrens will present a lecture on his installation work at the Department of Architecture and Spatial Design, London Metropolitan University. More information at asd-choir.org
“Lovely Banalities†reviewed by ORE
Å iais metais pasirodÄ— jau deÅ¡imtasis Ginto K albumas pavadinimu Lovely Banalities. Šį kartÄ…, kaip beveik visuomet, Ginto albumas nebuvo iÅ¡leistas Lietuvos leidybinÄ—je kompanijoje, bet portugalų Crónica. Vietiniai lietuvių garso menininkai kuria įdomius kÅ«rinius, taÄiau iÅ¡leisti praktiÅ¡kai nÄ—ra kam. GalbÅ«t tai ir jokia problema, mat interneto pasaulyje geografinÄ— padÄ—tis vis reÄiau kÄ… nors lemia, svarbiausia – rezultatas. Albumas įpakuotas minimaliai iÅ¡dailintame kartono dÄ—kle, kuris, deja, atlaiko neilgai. Bet apie rezultatÄ… Äia noriu paraÅ¡yti…
14 kÅ«rinių albumas – ramių, kompiuteriu sukurtų ar tiesiog lauke geros kokybÄ—s aparatÅ«ra įraÅ¡ytų virpesių, kartais nustebinanÄių ar erzinanÄių triukÅ¡mų prisodrintas darbas. Kaip albumÄ… pristatanÄiame tekste raÅ¡oma: „tai darbas, talpinantis 14 individualių momentų, kurie parengti paÅ¡alinio klausytojo apsilankymui; kÅ«rinys, savo forma ir struktÅ«ra lyg ir paprastas, taÄiau tas paprastumas – kaip ir gyvenimo kasdienybÄ— – yra iliuzija“.
Dažnai klausydama elektroninių garsų, ar elektronikos sumiÅ¡usios su fieldrecordings negalvoju apie idÄ—jinÄ™ darbo pusÄ™, man svarbu, kaip sugebÄ—s ir ar sugebÄ—s kÅ«rinys/albumas „užkabinti“, sudominti. Visgi garso menas kartais bÅ«na tikrai nepakenÄiamas, ir be poros iÅ¡klausymų (kurie nutinka dÄ—l bendro iÅ¡silavinimo ar tiesiog noro paklausyti) albumÄ… metu į Å¡alį.
Neretai muzikoje ieÅ¡kau kažko patrauklaus, įdomaus, kažkokių aiÅ¡kesnių struktÅ«rų, arba tiesiog įdomių, o gal ir gÄ…sdinanÄių, bet traukianÄių garsų ar panaÅ¡iai. Jei taip nenutinka, kad ir kaip tai bÅ«tų modernu, nauja ar „ant bangos“, savÄ™s neprievartauju.
TaÄiau su Ginto K elektronikos žaidimų ir lauko garsų įrašų Lovely Banalities taip neatsitiko, albumas tiesiog įtraukÄ—. Po kiekvieno albumo iÅ¡klausymo norÄ—josi jį vÄ—l dÄ—ti į grotuvÄ…. Lovely Banalities – nebanali, jauki muzika bei Å¡ilti garsai iÅ¡ aplinkos: žmonių balsai, vandens Äiurlenimas (nors ir dažnas motyvas fieldrecordings elementų turinÄioje muzikoje), sukuria gero ir stipraus albumo įspÅ«dį. Autorius sugeba atskirus garsus sujungti į originaliÄ… visumÄ…, į struktÅ«rÄ…, po kurios jauÄiamas garsų ir melodijų vientisumas; muzika paveikia tave. Pateikiamo nei per vienÄ…, nei per penkis kartus įsisÄ…moninti nepavyksta. TaÄiau ir po daugelio klausymų iÅ¡lieka noras įsigilinti į albumÄ…. SakyÄiau, įdomu ir vertinga.
ORE vertina 9/10
“Lovely Banalities†reviewed by Tokafi
“Lovely Banalities†is the second Gintas K-CD released by “Cronica Electronicaâ€. Both collaborations of this Lithuanian sound artist and the Portuguese label specialising in electronic music seem to foster fascinating outcomes that are real discoveries for admirers of digital music rooted in various branches of microsound. This time, it is an album intended for careful and adventurous listening and an intense musical experience.
Already on first track “Inâ€, you might suddenly realize that you’d like to listen to “Lovely Banalities†with your eyes closed. The track begins with a few simple vibrating tones, gradually evolves into a major chord, then dissolves into generated melodies which fall into various spacious points in between right and left of your speakers. Finally, it grows into a tin-consonance colored by a slight distortion. At that point, the sonic, compositional logic of the album has been all but completely revealed to you. If you accept it with grace, you’ll enter a marvelous journey through pretty sophisticated sound spirals, which are highly dynamic, dense, lavish (in the sense of offering a colorful timbre palette) and spacious, as it seems as if your speakers are put into a highway of (micro) sonic flow – both horizontally and threedimensionally, quite schizophrenic in a way of constantly diverging and unifying sonic objects.
You will find these elements in nearly every piece, especially in those, where sonic plasticity is the key. “Just 2†divides listeners’ attention in between an intensifying murmur of blunt bubbles (you can hear a few layers of them) and resonating timbre, which dives in and out. “27†evolves with a few nets of pinging transformator-like sounds and step-by-step wraps up a simple melody. All tracks are centered around hardly palpable compositional ideas and cranked up or gently directed towards a textured sonic tapestry, painted by granular sounds. That is why your thoughts might barely move as they’re trapped into this grainy sparkling of sound, which insensibly infects the way you perceive space and time at that particular moment.
However, the tracks are interconnected by short episodes of field recordings, made in Gintas K hometown MarijampolÄ—. The recorded sections are not too cinematic and one can treat them simply as gestures of remembrance. It’s the most opportune time for the listener to grasp the meaning of the title of the album, “Lovely Banalitiesâ€. And that’s how one realizes the narrative and imagery that lies behind the sonic forms: they become expressions of moods. “Found feeling†isn’t just one of those sonant and bright chords, sounding like a crystal – but it’s also this poetic “found feelingâ€, maybe from somewhere there, in MarijampolÄ—, or anywhere else in the listeners mind and her/his own experience. There is quite a hypnotizing bit of melancholy and transparent (and somewhat tricky) sentimentality in “Lovely banalitiesâ€. It might leave this taste after a thorough listening, as the last track, already mentioned “Found feeling†creates a lazy sunny mood, but it’s scratching composition and microscopic changes of mood-shapes might resemble somebody sitting in a terrace one summer afternoon enjoying the purposeless dance of the meaningless gaze.
Gintas K once drew a parallel between “Lovely Banalities†and “Pictures at an Exhibition†– a famous suite by Modest Mussorgsky, where every piece becomes a musical interpretation for a picture and one is listening to the suite as if she / he would be passing the doors from one imagery to the other and having promenades in between them. I find this parallel amusing, as “Lovely Banalities†is full of adventurous transitions between sonic perception, sophisticated compositions and imaginary moods, feelings and memories. (Tautvydas BajarkeviÄius)
via tokafi.com
“Ification†reviewed by D-Side
Inclassable, l’Autrichien Pure n’a jamais cessé, au fil d’une discographie longe et aventureuse, marquée par une pléthore de collaborations, de refuser toutes les frontières et toutes les chapelles. Tour à tour proche du glitch, du hardcore, du jazz expérimental, de la musique concrète et même du dark ambient, Pure est partout, et surtout lè où l’on ne l’attend pas. Hétéroclite au possible, Ification (on notera le jeu de mot facile) apparaît donc comme un “résumé” de tout ce que Pure est capable de produire dès lors qu’il est correctement entouré. Aidé ici par la guitare samplée de Christoph de Babalon, il se fait bruitiste (“Fire”) avant de virer à la BO lancinante pour film post-apocalyptique soulevée en fim de parcours par la batterie de Martin Brandlmayr (“After the Bomb”), tourne au glacial, ose les cris et les crissements (“Sonomatopoeia”) ou la claque sans rémission (“Iron Sky”). Dense et varié, Ification nécessite pas mal d’écoutes afin d’être apprivoisé dans sa globalité, mais c’est un effort qui en vaut la peine, tant il révèle l’étendue du talent d’un artiste qui a parfois tendance à se disperser, mais n’en demeure pas moins une référence incontournable. Jean-François Micard
“Ification†reviewed by Audiodrome
Pure è il progetto dell’austriaco di stanza a Berlino Peter Votava, giunto qui al suo quarto album.
Peter è in giro dal 1992 e ha partecipato a un’infinità di progetti legati alla musica elettronica e forse è grazie alla sua vasta esperienza che ha dato vita a un album davvero eccellente. “Fire†è una scarica breve e secca costituita da un campionamento della chitarra elettrica di Christoph de Babalon (artista su Digital Hardcore): il senso dell’udito è immediatamente saturato. A questo punto, all’improvviso, il vuoto. Quasi si perde l’equilibrio ed è la volta dell’ambient scurissimo di “After The Bombâ€, al quale verso la fine si aggiunge la batteria Martin Brandlmayr (percussionista proveniente una band chiamata Radian, vanta collaborazioni con Fennesz e David Sylvian), che – più che svolgere una funzione ritmica – sembra suggerire in maniera sinistra il movimento di qualcosa nel buio. Anche “Approximationâ€, cupa quanto la precedente, viene annunciata da delle percussioni, poi prosegue con il suono trattato di corni e – probabilmente – violini, tanto da sembrare uscita un po’ dalle Versailles Session di Murcof e un po’ da qualche composizione d’avanguardia classica. Di nuovo ambient/drone per “Blind Flightâ€, ma anche utilizzo in sottofondo di strumenti ad arco, a donare ulteriore profondità a una traccia resa ancor più inquietante da quei “disturbi†in stile glitch che si trovano un po’ in tutto Ification (il disco precedente di Pure, Noonbugs, era uscito per Editions Mego). “Sonomatopeiaâ€, spettrale come poco altro, è segnata dalla presenza della voce di Alexandra von Bolzn, una cantante di metal estremo che gioca un ruolo simile a quello di Attila Csihar nei Sunn O))). Guarda caso, “Endâ€, la traccia successiva, dato il lavoro di manipolazione del suono del basso suonato dalla sound artist Anke Eckhardt, non sfigurerebbe su un disco di O’Malley e Anderson. Si chiude con “Iron Skyâ€, ospiti di nuovo le percussioni vere di Martin Brandlmayr e i rumorismi digitali di Peter, ai quali verso la metà si aggiunge un accompagnamento solenne di violoncello, per un brano che diviene in seguito l’unico con una ritmica vera e propria, abbinata a disturbi sempre più invasivi e a urla lancinanti filtrate e trattate – come sempre – a dovere.
Un disco dall’impressionante ricchezza di stili e allo stesso tempo molto focalizzato, caratteristica che lo rende uno dei lavori di elettronica sperimentale più efficaci e memorabili usciti l’anno scorso. Fabrizio Garau
via Audiodrome
“Berlin Backyards†reviewed by D-Side
Résident berlinois depuis sept ans, Gilles Aubry s’est naturellement intéressé à l’espace sonore de sa ville d’adoption, et a choisi de se concentrer sur ses aspects les moins “glamour”, les moins signifiants et chargés d’histoire, que sont les arrière-cours, ces lieux interstitiels entre deux réalités. Considérés comme des non-sites dans l’architecture, ces espaces sont pourtant ceux que donnent cie à la ville, en abritant tous les éléments techniques de l’aire urbaine, des générateurs électriques aux poubelles ou aux sorties de systèmes de ventilation. Mais en explorant ces lieux, micros en main, Aubry y a aussi découvert une fort présence de la vie animale, qui se fraye évidemment un chemin dans son paysage sonore. Très peu arrangé, Aubry se contentant de magnifier tel ou tel élément de son sujet, Berlin Backyards est un album fortement marqué par le field recording et ne s’éloigne que rarement du pur aspect documentaire, ce qui n’a aucune importance, tant le simple mouvement combiné des bruits de l’activité humaine (un chantier au loin, le passage des voitures), des sons des bouches de ventilation, du grésillement électrique et des chants d’oiseaux suffit à rendre l’album captivant, comme un voyage immobile au sein d’un territoire dé-réalisé, mais infiniment riche en surprises. Jean-François Micard
“Ification†reviewed by The Gap
Auch auf seinem vierten Solo-Studio-Album, immerhin sechs Jahre nach “Noonbugs”, präsentiert sich Pure gewohnt kompromisslos und eigenständig. Die sieben Stücke haben gemeinsam, dass sie zu einem unerwartet großen Anteil auf Live-Instrumenten beruhen, wie etwa der Opener “Fire” mit Christoph de Babalons lauten Gitarren. Später wird “Ification” droniger und fiepsiger und bezieht seine Bedrohlichkeit aus anderen Sounds. Weiterhin gemein ist ihnen dabei, dass die Stücke eine gefühlte Größe erreichen, die an kitschige Scores erinnert oder an große Orchester in fantastischen sakralen oder auch säkularen Bauten. Bilder, die so gar nicht zu Pure passen, dessen Musik immer auch ganz bewusst als Gegenentwurf zu eigentlich Allem positioniert ist. Welch genial-passender Werktitel “Ification” da nicht ist. Dieses Album ist einfach absolut einzigartig und genial produziert. Ãœbermut sei hier gestattet und “Ification” absolut empfohlen. 10/10
Martin Mühl
New Crónicaster: “On the Concept of History†(An Introduction / 2008 Top 16)
78RPM Transcriptions by Stephan Mathieu. Monaural re-recordings made with a mechanical HMV 102 gramophone, Decca Cactus Needles and a customised Oktava MK-319 microphone.
This selection is part of an upcoming series of transcriptions by Stephan Mathieu.
- Telephone Effect #1
Standard Sound Effect Records #903
mid 1930s - Kelly Harrell
Oh Molly Dear, Go Ask Your Mother
Victor Records #20280-A
June 09.1926 - Blind Willie Johnson
God Moves On The Water
Vocalion Records #03051 B
Dec. 12.1929 - Biddleville Quintette
I’m Tormented In Flames
Paramount Records #12813-B
Aug. 01.1929 - Rev. Edward W. Clayborn (The Guitar Evangelist)
Death Is Only A Dream
Vocalion Records #B1096
April 19.1927 - Les Paraphonistes de Saint-Jean-des-Matine
Josquin Despres: Deux Chansons – 1/ Se congié prends (à 6v), 2/ Vive le
Roy (Ã 4v)
Disques L’Anthologie Sonore #108
1941 - Mamie Smith and Her Jazz Hounds
Don’t Mess With Me
Okeh Records #4752B
Dec. 06.1922 - Steam Shovel In Operation
Standard Sound Effect Records #302A
mid 1930s - Prof. Erwin Brodky, clavichord
J.S. Bach: Sarabande and Gavotte, 5. French Suite
Parlophone Records #B.37033 II (2000 Years of Music Box-Set, compiled by Dr. Curt Sachs)
early 1930s - The English Singers
William Byrd: O Christ Who Art The Light (Evening Hymn)
Roycroft Records #161
early 1930s - Norfolk Jubilee Quartette
Ezikek Saw The Wheel
Paramount Records #12217-A
July 17.1924 - Woody Guthrie
Grow, Grow, Grow
Cub Records #4A
1948 - Frank Ferera and John Paaluhi
Ua Like No Alike
Okeh Records #41012
March 03.1928 - DeZurik Sisters
Sweet Hawaiian Chimes
Vocalion Records #04704
Dec. 16.1938 - Telephone Effect #6
Standard Sound Effect Records #903
mid 1930s - Elder Richard Bryant’s Sanctified Singers
Lord, Lord He Sure Be Good To Me
Okeh Records #8559
Feb. 28.1928
Tonight at the Experimental Intermedia Foundation
Barry Weisblat, Margarida Garcia and André Gonçalves are performing electronics, upright bass and analog modular synthesizer. 9PM.experimentalintermedia.com