In der Welt des digital-arabischen Stakkatodrones ist Slavin nach wie vor ungeschlagen. Das demonstriert diese CD in höchst komplex variabler Form erneut mehr als deutlich. Musik die sich gelegentlich anhört wie Oval aus Jericho, oder Glitch für Marrakesch. Ich bin jedenfalls vom ersten Track an völlig eingenommen. Perfekt um sich einen völlig eigenen Horizont der Welt zu bauen.
“The Wayward Regional Transmissions†reviewed by Vital Weekly
The first time we got introduced to the music of Ran Slavin was on his ‘Product 02’ CD release for the very same label that now releases ‘The Wayward Regional Transmissions’. Slavin hails from Israel, where he produces digital music, experimental cinema and video art. On his latest CD he approaches ‘Oriental Middle Eastern Music with Abstract Glitch’ and to this end he uses in some pieces the BulbulTarang, a three steel string Indian instrument played by Ahuva Ozeri, who was the first female star of Mizrahit music. Another piece uses the Ud, played by Moshe Eliahu. It may seem an odd mixture at work here, but in fact the opposite is true. The minimal patterns played on the traditional instruments mingle quite nicely with the electronic music of Slavin, which is not always glitch like. He employs rhythm through rhythm machines, which he processes by digital means. Of course the hotbed of cracks, hiss, static and such like is present, to make sure that this is the world of glitch.
There is however something quite warm about this CD, almost like a lazy tropical afternoon, such as in ‘Jericho 6AM’ (although the title suggest a different time). The music is not unlike that of Thilges, who have been working on this kind of merging of western digital techniques and middle eastern instruments. This CD fits quite nice the Cronica label, who have been before bringing special themes to the world of glitch and not being an ordinary label for ordinary glitch. Slavin’s disc works with traditional approaches, both in computer music and in oriental music but the combination thereof is quite new. Very nice work.
FdW
“The Wayward Regional Transmissions†reviewed by Basebog
Fin dai suoi primi lavori Ran Slavin era intensamente legato alla sua terra. Memorabile il suo contributo nel corale ‘Walking In Jerusalem’ di Random Inc/Sebastian Meissner insieme ad Electric Birds e Tim Hecker per Mille Plateux. E ancor più nell’edizione sperimentale sempre di Mille Plateux delle raccolte di ‘Intifada Offspring’ insieme ad altri artisti israeliani. Ran Slavin è un artista contemporaneo che lavora e sperimenta con il suono, grazie al quale ricrea scenari di alterazione di notevole intensità e originalità . Il materiale alla base di questo ultimo disco sono le registrazioni di musicisti folk strappate ai quartieri dei Territori e combinate con altri suoni ‘sincretici’ dell’ambiente metropolitano (ambienti e voci). L’autore si è accostato alla chitarra da quattordicenne, mentre ora elabora il video e l’audio con patch sviluppate da lui stesso. Tutto digitale quindi, fatta eccezione per l’intervento dello strano strumento detto Bulbultarang, interpretato da Ahura Ozerri.
‘Hagalil’ è una traccia di loop e piccoli intarsi. ‘Village’ e ‘Jericho 6AM’ seguono il discorso elaborato da una chitarra accelerata, mentre altre corde si intrecciano in una fitta tessitura. Altrove, come in ‘Wayward initial’ è un basso pesante e profondo a scatenare il lirismo emotivo. Ran Slavin ha il merito di essere grezzo ed elegante al tempo stesso: la manipolazione esprime un’estetica originalissima e si produce anche dalla scelta di campioni ambientali sporchi (o sporcati) con gusto personale. Sono forse sogni, riverberati, che riportano l’eco di melodie rese familiari al lontano mondo urbano grazie agli artifici di un abile distorsore. Batteria irregolare ma originale in ‘Shelters and Peace’ e ‘Silence’, dove il ritmo è somministrato senza pudori. E’ forse nel ‘Kiosk in Furadis’ che una filastrocca con solista e coro femminili diventa quasi dnb. Tanti interventi di voci che mutano timbro, cantano talvolta sommessamente, e si accalcano o dilatano. Ne risulta un blues confuso, una babele piena di eccezioni.
Il concept dell’album è forte a monte e i suoni sembrano voler rappresentare uno spazio fisico già riprodotto nelle vedute aeree del pack. Per questo il paragone con musicisti della stessa senbilità (Philip Jeck and Janek Schaefer per primi) rende un’idea di massima ma non esaurisce l’ampio discorso di Ran Slavin. In un’intervista, definisce lo stile di questo suo disco ‘oriental abstract spiritual music’. Sempre quest’anno Mille Plateux gli ha pubblicato la terza versione del progetto inizialmente commissionato dalla Biennale di Venezia ’04 “Insomniac Cityâ€. Si tratta di una meditazione sulle conseguenze estreme della vita urbana contemporanea ed è disponibile come doppio dvd PAL-NTSC e come CD con la colonna sonora. “The Wayward Regional Transmissions” ricorda nel nome le tracce da ‘radio pirata’ pubblicate dall’autore nel 2002, ed esprime la naturale evoluzione di una preziosa sensibilità artistica: elettronica da esplorazione, bella, dentro il presente e pure intelligente.
“The Wayward Regional Transmissions†reviewed by Comunicazione Interna
Ran Slavin è un artista multimediale israeliano con già alle spalle un’esperienza ventennale nei campi della musica digitale, delle installazioni sonore, della video art e del cinema sperimentale. Realizza adesso per la portoghese Crónica uno splendido disco nel quale tessiture elettroniche minimali assorbono note di strumenti acustici ed aromi etnici lungo percorsi geografici/immaginifici che dall’India conducono al Maghreb attraversando tutto il Medio-Oriente: le corde vibranti del bulbultarang (“Villageâ€), glitches ribollenti (“Wayward initialâ€), note di ud disciolte in polvere desertica (“Jericho 6AMâ€), opacità e riverberi acquatici (“Shelters and peaceâ€), voci tagliate e inoculate in plumbei suoni frastagliati (“DAT beatsâ€), graffi su sottili membrane in tensione (The silenteâ€), vita di strada e dolci melodie femminili (“kiosk in Furadisâ€), ultimi bagliori d’Oriente (“Hagalilâ€). Senz’alcun dubbio uno dei lavori più interessanti ascoltati in area elettronica da diversi mesi a questa parte.
Guido Gambacorta
“Flow†reviewed by The Sound Projector
Another strong project by this Portuguese electro-acoustic composer, whom we first noted with his 2004 CD A Rose is a Rose on the Austrian D0c label. The Rose CD made sparing use of TV and radio samples alongside churning, trundling loops of electronic noise; Joaquim does much the same here, allowing disembodied and treated voice fragments to come in at carefully-chosen points, and state disconnected words which sometimes outline a vague “theme” to these instrumental pieces. For anyone who’s ever admired the use of sharply compacted lyrics on Kraftwerk’s The Man Machine, here’s the perfect modern update on that formula. Very interesting, single-minded textures and patterns are worked into the ground as Joaquim relentlessly rotates each virtual object over and over in his virtual hands, like foam rubber cubes in a hot tumble dryer.
The eight themed woks explore highly existencial concepts, as suggested by their titles “Moments of your time”, “Moments of silence”, “Moments of emptiness”, and (my personal favourite) “Moments of skin”. Have you ever had a skin moment? It’s a lot worse than watching a L’Oréal commercial on TV. Like any good modernist, Joaquim is painfully self-conscious and aware of the fleeting moments of time alloted to us petty mortals, as we helplessly watch opportunities slip between our fingers while we’re locked in our paralysing states of indecision. This paradox is best expressed through two deeply ambiguops pieces in this record, “Thinking moments” and “Misleading moments”, the latter work proving to contain a particularly difficult stretch of desolate emptiness, followed by a minimal white-noise pulse beat and an uncertain looped chord of synthesised music.
Flow is intended as a real confrontational exercise, asking deep and imponderable questions about the nature of real human expression. The taped voice of Filipa Hora is a key part in this plan. Joaquim shows no mercy as he “alters, expands and processes” her voice in the computer, stretching possibilities to the limit. “I think this is so dangerous, this intimacy”, she whimpers helplessly. “I think I’m going to have to stop you from getting closer.” But it’s too late. Joaquim advances like an isatiable beast. Nothing left for her but “moments of skin”. All of this excellent music, which somehow manages to be very precise about quite vague subjects, could be used therapeutically — to better enhance you capacity for clear-sighted thought during those crisis-filled moments of existencial doubt. In this regard, it will deliver much better results than playing that Nintendo® DS Lite Brain Training game.
Ed Pinsent
“The Wayward Regional Transmissions†reviewed by Foutraque
Les débats politiques aidant, ces dernières semaines ont vu apparaître une nouvelle tendance que l’on pensait appartenir à un temps révolu : celle du nationalisme, du repli sur soi et du conformisme. Fort heureusement pour nous (amateurs avertis de musique que nous sommes), ces notions nous semblent abstraites et désuètes car l’une des grandes qualités de la musique est son métissage, sa capacité à se confronter à de multiples courants et à se recycler sans cesse pour créer de nouveaux espaces sonores. C’est dans cet état d’esprit que s’inscrit la dernière oeuvre de Ran Slavin.
Originaire de Tel Aviv, Ran Slavin est un artiste protéiforme, tout à la fois artiste vidéaste, cinéaste et musicien. Avec son dernier projet, The Wayward Regional Transmissions, il explore une nouvelle voie : celle de la confrontation entre musiques traditionnelles orientales et électroniques par le biais d’accidents numériques ou d’ajouts de gimmicks aléatoires. Uniques et sensorielles, les structures du compositeur israélien s’apparentent à d’immenses paysages souvent désertiques où les collaborations croisées de Ahura Ozerri (Bulbultarang – instrument à cordes venant d’Inde) et de Moshe Eliaha (Oud) servent de trames de fond, sur lesquelles viennent s’ajouter par couches ou par ruptures des éléments électroniques disparates. Le tout forme un mélange foisonnant et méditatif, une musique en aucune autre pareille, une musique du futur toute empreinte de passé, une musique sans frontières, une musique libre de tout carcan où l’auditeur surpris puis émerveillé se laisse porter vers ces paysages sonores abstraits. L’une des meilleures découvertes du moment.
Dr. Bou
“Leise†reviewed by Testcard
Es war einmal eine Gruppe names Kapotte Muziek, die vor allem das als Instrumente nutzte, was sie am Konzertort oder rund um den Konzertort vorfand, zum Beispiel Pappe, Kies oder Sand. Für Leise hat Frans De Waard, Mitglied von Kapotte Muziek, seine Tocher Elise aufgenommen, als sie drei Jahre alt war. Elise spielte mit all den “Instrumenten”, die Frans für Kapotte Muziek in seiner Wohnung herumliegen hatte, Papier, Plastik, Abfall. Der CD-Titel ist ein Anagramm auf den Namen der Tochter, aber auch musikalisches Programm: Hier geht es sehr leise zu. Die fragilen Geräusche, das Knacken und Rascheln, wurde zu warmen, dezenten elektroakustischen Sounds verarbeitet, deren Sirren den Raum erfüllt ohne allzu viel Präsenz zu beanspruchen.
“Flow†reviewed by Octopus
Depuis 2003, le label Crónica poursuit son entreprise singulière de défrichage multimédia, pistant les traces éparses de sensibilité humaine au fil de productions se nourrissant des échanges entrelacés d’abstractions mélodiques digitales et d’habillages graphique et vidéo stylisés. Une science du dialogue entre le biologique et le numérique qui s’approfondit davantage encore sur ce Flow, mené avec maestria par le vétéran Vitor Joaquim, dont les aficionados se remémoreront le Tales Of Chaos paru en 1997 sur l’autre label portugais de référence, Ananana. Flow conserve la même approche thématique, déclinant différentes variations autour de la notion de “momentsâ€. Il en ressort un sens curieux du mélange, où l’auditeur se laisse happer par une mise en scène flottante, par une théâtralité évanescente. Sur un lit d’effets musicaux électroniques discrets et enveloppants, alternant nappes fondantes et bleeps coulissants, Vitor Joaquim noue les fils d’une intrigue environnementaliste où les premiers rôles sont confiés avec parcimonie à la voix suave de Filipa Hora et aux guitares de Joao Hora et Emidio Bucchino. On avance donc précautionneusement dans l’écoute, au gré de cet étrange jeu de cache-cache entre la voix narrative et des sensations musicales clair-obscures qui entretiennent avec une douce harmonie une cohésion improbable. Sur “Slow momentsâ€, le temps paraît suspendu derrière la voix qui semble se robotiser au contact des matières musicales grésillantes. Sur l’intro de “Moments of syncâ€, le fluide sonore s’amplifie brusquement, comme si une autoroute bruyante s’ouvrait tout à coup devant nos oreilles. De quoi tendre le pouce pour saisir au vol cette nouvelle expérience aventureuse et sensitive signée Crónica.
Laurent Catala
“Flow†reviewed by Gaz-Eta
For the past two decades, Portuguese electronic composer Vitor Joaquim has worked in a number of mediums. Besides music, he also likes to create works of video, dance, theatre and multimedia installations. Latest release bearing his name, “Flow” is a strangely restrained affair that tickles the ears. In fact, it doesn’t just tickle, his sounds mostly tease. He’s excellent at producing paradigm shifts of subtle force. Atmospherics created through random TV sounds, guitars and occasional vocals are as disturbing as they are revelatory. Besides the frequent changes in landscapes – from a high-pitched drone of the TV set to subtle processed guitars [played by EmÃdio Buchinho and Joăo Hora] – Joaquim prefers to employ a grating sound – this is the sound of something that is rough around the edges. Nothing clean can be heard in this work. If anything, it’s mucky and jagged with a mind of its own. How do you reconcile squeaky assaults of noise with recordings of a TV? How do you merge low humming voice [provided by Filipa Hora] with that of static sound? He certainly mastered his laptop as a fully operational instrument. Glitches and pops, the hums and the flows are like family members at a picnic. Unique to the point of extremes and beautifully obtuse, “Flow” does anything but flow.
Tom Sekowski
“Leise†reviewed by The Sound Projector
The great Frans de Waard is Holland‘s finest, here performing under one of his many guises, and has been associated with deep and droney instrumental projects for a long time. This is his third CD as Freiband. Here, you must devote your time to carefuly exploring ten tracks f quite and slow and exquisite music, which de Waard has realised in his usual craftsmanlike manner. Raw sound material was generated by his daughter Elise de Waard, who played “a wide variety of musical and non-musical objects†while Frans recorded everything with contact microphones. She was three years old at the time; the objects were those which de Waard elser uses to make Kapotte Muziek, and include sheets of metal, paper, sticks, plastic and junk. Resultant soundfiles were presumably loaded into a handy laptop, then reprocessed in line with his usual alchemical methods; he first did it in 2003 while staying in Boston USA and had sufficient material to play a concert there. Subsequent additions and extensions were made, allowing him to play further concerts at many venues in Holland, including VPRO radio in Amsterdam. While de Waard‘s own descriptions of this process — clearly very important to him — are delivered in short matter-of-fact statements on the back cover, the artwork to Leise (drawn by Rui Vitorino Santos) gives us a more imaginative view of the process. A happy little girl cuddles five cats in her hand, while her hair (rendered à la Scottie Wilson) grows Rapunzel-like in all directions, terminating in a laptop computer. Along the way these wild strands embrace other animals, drown a grand piano in an ocean of hair, and loop through the windows of a huge castle in their hirsute odyssey. This visual fantasy has more brio than the rather subdues and minimalistic process-based sounds that emanate from the actual record, but I think as with most of de Waard‘s work you really have to take the time, listen carefully, and let every moment of it seep into your bones.
Ed Pinsent