“Product 02” reviewed by Cyclic Defrost

This album from the experimental Portuguese label Cronica is actually a split disc featuring two separate works, coincidently from the same artist. Ran Slavin is an audio/ video composer and improviser who has previously operated under diverse monikers such as Tonr, Extract, Iran and Rose of Jericho, working with various noise outfits in Israel and London from the late 80’s – early nineties. These days his musical work is purely within the abstract electronic realm, utilising flecks of static and warm metallic drones to come across with the treated lushness and depth of Austrian maestro Christian Fennesz. The initial nine cuts under the umbrella Tropical Agent are quite amazing constructions, gorgeous minimal drone pieces, warm low key pulses that resemble beats, skittery delayed electronics and a craftsman like use of dynamics. Allowing for thirty seconds dead air in between, on Vista Plain, the opening track of the second part entitled Ears in Water, Slavin incorporates the gentle strumming of guitar, a pulsating drone and some gently tearing digital static to hypnotic effect. Whilst the remainder of the disc continues deep within the experimental realm of the first, it is actually stranger, somewhat more abstract, with peculiar muttering over far away drones, and sounds that seem to begin from miles away before slowly evolving into focus.

Bob Baker Fish

“Further Consequences of Reinterpretation” reviewed by Obradek

Vorbei die zeiten, in denen avantgarde anstrengend und schräg klingen mußte! Beide musiker haben die remixten versionen der 0.000 Cd von Nosei Sakata auf der sich kein hörbares material befand, genutzt, um live, im rahmen eines konzertes beim Goethe Institut in Lissabon, diese aufnahmen herzustellen. In einem ping-pong verfahren spielen sich beide musiker die gleichen samples zu, um eine flirrende, leichte musik zu schaffen. Abstrakt sind die einzelnen sound ineinander verwoben, sirren von einem lautsprecher in den anderen und machen das hirn mit gepiepse nervös. so geht das in allen stücken mit erstaunlicher variationsbreite, ohne daß es langweilig wird. Mir hat die Cd beider sehr gut gefallen, weil es beweist daß auch avandgarde sehr unterhaltsm sein kann, ohne verflachen zu müssen.

“Product 02” reviewed by Touching Extremes

Blinding flashes, quick mirages and sad memories seem to be what Ran Slavin builds upon. Here he presents two works, “Tropical agent” and “Ears in water”; both parts very well functioning as “active ambient” material, perfect to be listened during other activities – nevertheless, the care in assembling sounds is total, guaranteeing a stimulating perspective from the listener’s point of view. Tasteful morsels of ahead-thinking knowledge about the psychology of aural reception are continuously served during the 70+ minutes of the disc; the music itself becomes a mechanism for turning up a mellow unquietness which is essential in this “product” appreciation process. This music does not attack you directly, it rather settles into your humour transforming itself, helping filling those voids that are the first signs of uneasiness in a nice example of emotional juggling.

Massimo Ricci

“Further Consequences of Reinterpretation” reviewed by Loop

This disc published on the Portuguese Crónica Electronica label, is a collaborative project between the sound artists Paulo Raposo [who runs the Sirr.ecords label] from Lisbon, Portugal and the German Marc Behrens [Raster Noton, Trente Oiseaux, Sirr.ecords] from Darmstadt. This disc has its origins in the CD “0.000” of the Japanese Nosei Sakata, aka *0 [Instinct, 12k]. The dynamic range frequencies are so low that the sounds are almost imperceptible to the human ear. Then, Behrens made a remix of this disc that was titled “*0-0.000” published on the Inflation label. For it was used rremixes made by other musicians like Taylor Deupre [12k]; Hsi-Chuang Cheng, Aube [G.R.O.S.S., Manifold] Richard Chartier [Line], Akira Rabelais [Orthlorng Musork, Ritornell]; John Hudak [Bremsstrahlung, Ash International] Bernhard Günter [Ash International] and Steve Roden [Fällt; Trente Oiseaux, 12k, Line] and worked on them to deepen in a new reinterpretación of this music. Alongside his colleague Paulo Raposo -with whom he is collaborating on the design for the Portuguese Sirr.ecords label -, he received from Behrens the sounds used and from these he made a new reinterpretation. What we can listen here are timeless skips, glitches and digital processed noises forming dense atmospheres. Without a doubt an abstract sound from the new generation.

Guillermo Escudero

“Further Consequences of Reinterpretation” reviewed by Black

Einer dieser remixer war Marc Behrens, mit dem wir schon mal einen der an dieser CD beteiligen Künstler beisammen hätten. Jener war dann vom Ergebnis der Remixarbeiten so begeistert, dass er diese Remixe erneut als Grundlage für einen erneuten Remix hernahm. Irgendwann stiess Paulo Raposo zu diesem kreativen Prozess hinzu, alles steigerte sich immer mehr in diese Arbeit hinein, bis nun schlussendlich ebenjene CD als (vielleicht auch nur vorläufiges) Endprodukt herauskam. Und wie klingt sowas? Erstaunlicherweise nicht nach “Nichts”. Vor allem kurze Pleeps und Clicks, dazu hochfrequente Sinustöne, mal Rauschen. Selten ist bei den 22 Tracks ein Ansatz einer abgeschlossenen Struktur zu erkennen, wenn man nicht ab und zu auf das Display des CD-Players schaut, könnte es genausogut ein einziger langer Track sein. Trotz spricht eines der Hauptkriterien, dass ich an solch Soundexperimente habe,für die CD: Selbst bei mehrmaligen Hören nervt es noch nicht.

CS

“Further Consequences of Reinterpretation” reviewed by Liability

Au premier abord on a l’impression d’avoir en écoute un long bidouillage électronique ponctué de drones empruntés et lunaires. En fait il faut bien avoir à l’esprit le concept de l’élaboration de ce disque. Une démarche qui se rapproche plus des concepts de l’art ou de la musique contemporaine. Un musique concrète qui fait fi des conventions habituelles et qui arrive, malgré son minimalisme abusif, à créer un univers sonore structuré qui n’est pas sans rappeler les disques de Ryoji Ikeda. Un disque, qui bien qu’il ne soit pas si évident que cela, apporte une forme d’approche différente de la musique. Le duo n’est certes pas le premier à s’aventurer dans ce genre d’expérimentation casse gueule mais il arrive à maîtriser son sujet sans avoir à dégoûter définitivement tout prétendant à ce type de musique complexe et cérébrale.

« Further» n’est certes pas un album auquel on adhère facilement et il est certain qu’il s’adresse déjà à des gens qui ont une certaine expérience dans ce genre d’effort mais il laisse quelques ouvertures qui permettent de le trouver un peu plus accessible qu’il n’y paraît. On peut toujours prendre le risque.

Fabien

“Further Consequences of Reinterpretation” reviewed by Allmusic

Further Consequences of Reinterpretation is (to put it in a simplistic way) the remix of a remix of a remix of nothing. The starting point for this project was Nosei Sakata’s album 0.000 (which contains only sounds outside the human hearing range), of which Behrens produced a reinterpretative piece titled “>0″ and included on a remix album released by the label Mu (it is also included here as the first track of this set). Then Behrens used the remixes of the other artists on the remix album to produce another reinterpretation of the material. Then he sent the sounds he had created to construct his piece to the Portuguese sound artist Paulo Raposo so that he could come up with his own reinterpretation. Further Consequences of Reinterpretation presents 21 short untitled tracks (including Behrens’ “original” remix). They are not attributed to one artist or the other, and the absence of track titles prompts to consider the project as a single, collaborative multi-part work. Despite the fact that Behrens and Raposo approach sound art from significantly different perspectives, it is hardly possible to identify who is responsible for what. And the overall esthetics of the album lean more toward Behrens’ usual output. Stemming from Sakata’s original nothingness, the music retains a “glitchy” nature and consists mostly of clicks and beeps and quiet digital textures. But the whole thing is dynamic and surprisingly lively, as if the two artists were caught in a heated debate, carefully preparing arguments and vehemently throwing them into the ring.

François Couture

“Further Consequences of Reinterpretation” reviewed by Sands

Questo CD è il frutto di un processo di ‘rielaborazioni a catena’ che, teoricamente, potrebbe protrarsi all’infinito. Il punto da cui tutto è partito è “0.000” di *0 (il giapponese Nosei Sakata) che, stando alle note di copertina, era praticamente prossimo al silenzio assoluto. Sakata aveva chiesto ad altri artisti di reinterpretare quei suoni, n’era uscito fuori il doppio CD “*0-0.000remix – Inflation” pubblicato su Mu-Label, con l’idea dichiarata di creare ‘everything from nothing’. Marc Behrens, che aveva partecipato a quella prima tornata di remix, ha poi pensato di effettuare un’ulteriore rielaborazione su quel materiale, utilizzando i pezzi di Taylor Deupree, Hsi-Chuang Cheng, Aube, Richard Chartier, Akira Rabelais, John Hudak, Bernhard Günter e Steve Roden, coinvolgendo, infine, Paulo Raposo in un interscambio che ha portato anche ad una specie di ‘ping pong sonoro a due’ presso il ‘Goethe-Institut Inter Nationes’ di Lisbona. “Further Consequences…”, quindi, è un’opera estremamente complessa, nell’elaborazione se non nella fruizione, che mette in gioco la collaborazione e il confronto fra i due musicisti, ma anche il confronto fra loro e il materiale originario, in un processo che coinvolge, complessivamente, ben undici attori del panorama elettronico internazionale. È inevitabile pensare al concetto di opera aperta, cioè di opera che può essere successivamente ri-manipolata sia dall’autore sia da altri, intuito da Pietro Grossi, con tutto ciò che ne può derivare: un interscambio culturale, sia a livello trasversale sia verticale, con conseguente triplice arricchimento, della musica, del musicista e dell’ascoltatore. Vi sembra poco.

Per quanto riguarda i protagonisti… beh, direi che non dovrebbero esserci problemi di presentazione a proposito del tedesco Marc Behrens, cittadino del ‘regno di Elgaland-Vargaland’ e nell’entourage della Trente Oiseaux di Bernhard Günter fin dagli inizi. Sul portoghese Paulo Raposo potete invece leggere qualche riga in un altro settore di questa stessa webzine.

Musicalmente, “Further Consequences…” è un ottimo lavoro, dalle caratteristiche quasi enciclopediche (in riferimento a ciò che la musica elettro-elettronica ha prodotto in questi ultimi anni), che si pone ai vertici nella produzione d’entrambi i musicisti.

Dal carambolante suono Mego, ai silenzi di Günter, al noisound dei giapponesi, alle psicotiche forme ambientali degli svedesi, tutto viene ‘rimasticato’ in una sequenza emozionante e imprevedibile, con continui colpi di scena, in un insieme fatto di suoni nitidi, con spettacolari giochi di contrasto, vertiginosi sbalzi di profondità, meticolosi incastri, originali soluzioni ritmiche, melodiche, timbriche… un CD altamente consigliato.

“Further Consequences of Reinterpretation” reviewed by DeBug

Erinnert sich noch jemand an die Reinterpretationsgeschichte “*o-o.ooo-Inflation”? Künstler wie Merzbow, Roden, Mathieu, Behrens, Deupree, Chartier, Cascone und einige mehr interpretierten auf 2 CDs Soundmaterial des Japaners *o, welches ausserhalb des menschlichen Hörvermögens lag. Marc Behrens und Paulo Rapposo verarbeiteten vorangegangene Interpretationen wiederum einige Male, und heraus kam diese CD, aufgenommen bei einer Live-Performance der beiden. Wer die Frage am Anfang dieses Textes mit “Ja” beantworten kann, weiß auch schon, wie sich das Ergebnis anhört. Es pocht, summt, surrt und fiepst. Mal hektisch, mal schleichend; hier nervös, dort ruhig. Ein immerwährender Gegensatz, bestehend aus dem, was sich die beiden auf unterschiedliche Weise in einzelnen Soundfragmenten zugespielt haben. Klare Kalkulation meets spontane Jam-Session. Schön!

DA

“Further Consequences of Reinterpretation” reviewed by Revue et Corrigee

Marc Behrens s’était alors soumis à l’époque au jeu de l’instrospection musicale à l’ocassion d’un remix donnant son point de vue sur ce travail éminemment minimaliste.

Portée par une réflexion sur les marges extrême de l’áudible, à savoir les infra-sons, aussi précieux à Ryoji Ikeda qu’ils sont abhorrés par les orthophonistes, Marc Behrens a souhaité par la suite développer ce thème et en extirper uns analyse plus conséquente ici présentée.

Conçu à la façon d’un ping-pong, un duel amical durant lequel chaque intervenant se réapproprie le patrimoine (en perpétuelle mutation) de l’autre, ils ont laissé une séquelle en entraîner une autre jusqu’à la fin du processus (et accessoirement du live, et du disque) Du téléphone arabe aux arabesques digitales.

Julien Jaffré