blog.Crónica

Um disco, dois músicos/compositores: a proposta contida em «Product» resulta eficazmente, e não só pelo muito semelhante enquadramento estético das músicas de Sumugan Sivanesan e de Durán Vázquez, como também pelas suas equivalentes preocupações sociais e políticas; o primeiro contra a xenofobia e a intolerância do actual Governo australiano, demonstradas, por exemplo, no caso dos 438 refugiados a quem foi recusado asilo naquele país; o outro alertando para alguns perigos ecológicos, e não só, com referência à “morte que diariamente comemos” (oiçam-se faixas como «War Simplicity» ou «Virus Simplicity»). «Spare Your Speakers», de Sivanesan, tem, pois, um carácter documental, ainda que isso não seja imediatamente perceptível (afinal de contas, trata-se de música electrónica). «Pigua, Megapigua», de Vázquez, invoca a pintura de René Magritte, o que não deixa de ser sintomático dos alinhamentos plásticos subjacentes.

Rui Eduardo Paes

Keine normale Split-CD, sondern eine korrespondenz von Bewusstsein und Ästhetik. Der Australier Sivanesan mit kompromisslosen Digitalexperimenten, deren Kopfhörerrezeption nur äußerst bedingt empfohlen werden kann. Sehr pointierter und konsequenter Ausdruck, wie auch das enthaltene Video, das die restriktive Asylabwehrpolitik und Xenophobie seines Landes zum Thema hat. Vázquez arbeitet sich ähnlich zermürbend wie minimal durch Klangschichten, um zu der realität dahinter zu gelangen. Intensiv fordernde Materialanalysen!

Both these two electrocuting circuit breakers – splitting a CD like it was a vinyl, one side each – could be a new force, right now, in the new “post everything” scene, at least in the urban landscape/altered sound perception area. Sydney-based Sivanesan mostly works on those frequencies that change your listening as you move around, putting your monitors to severe tests even at medium level (look at the title of his work for confirmation). Waves shifting all over, holes punched in brains, patterns understood only after a few seconds of ear adapting. Plus, a few good old field recordings get treated and modified according a lucid creativity, in a series of frameworks that must not be ignored by any attentive new music follower. For his part, Vazquez gets to ears a little more pleasingly as his work, devoid of any academic study, is a bridge linking the best “industrial” aromas of the past (dark pulsating loops, low neon-light city soundtracks) with an outlook towards modern present-day pessimism; Duran seems to know there’s no chance for smiling. Even his use of noise is near to social discomfort more than being sonic terrorism. I acknowledge these absolutely respectable entries in my gallery of recent favorites; keep an eye on them in the immediate future because I feel they won’t disappoint.

Massimo Ricci

Die Weiterführung der durch das coverdesign von Revdesign.pt/Def auch optisch serialisierten grauen Reihe besteht in der split-CD Product. Acht körnig rauschende Arbeiten des in Sydney beheimateten Video/audio-Künstlers Sumugan Sivanesan werden kontrastiert mit sieben elektronisch rumorenden Traumbildern des Autodidakten Durán Vásquez. Sivanesan steuerte neben seiner aus Fieldrecordings, digitaler Polyphonie und Feedback geschichteten Klang-Raum-Kunst auch die Videos ‘Hypertension’ und ‘Anaesthesia’ bei. Letzteres protestiert mit Bildern des berüchtigten australischen Flüchtlingslagers Woomera gegen die Asylpolitik seines Landes, die im August 2001 wegen der Deportation von Hunderten von Asylanten, die nach der Havarie ihres Seelenverkäufers von einem norwegischen Frachter gerettet worden waren, auf die Pazifikinsel Nauru, sogar international einen Skandal verursachte. Vázquez kommentiert einem der Tracks seine ‘Pigua Megapigua’-Zyklus so: “The noise of machines is a fake silence. From the imperceptible hiss of audio gear until the electro-magnetic fields in each electronic component, all machines have their own bark shaped as a whisper. We fold them with our sanguine pulse and they eat our brain.” Das Wort ‘Himnahrung’ bekommt hier eine perverse neue Bedeutung und korrespondiert mit dem Undehagen, das spezziel von ‘War Simplicity’ ausgeht mit seinen martialischen Untertönen – als ob ein Koloss sich vom Horizont her nähern würde. Aber auch ‘Virus Simplicity’ nagt mit düsteren Lo-Fi-Unterströmungen und repetitiver Mechanik an den Synapsen, oder das diese Dark-Ambient-Suite abschkießende ‘Death Simplicity’, dessen zunehmend verhackstückter Vocal-Loop gespenstisch umknarzt und von einem dumpfen Pochen durschpulst wird.

The first is what is called in the world of vinyl a split release, but there is not an appropiate term for it yet for the CD version. One person is first, the other second. So it goes. First here is one Sumugan Sivanesan from Sydney, Australia. Before turning his laptop on, he played in various rock bands. His soundinput is field recordings, feedback and his output are eight tracks of quite regular, a bit noisy most of the time, due the more extensive use of feedback related sounds then through his use of field recordings. Regular microsound here, I’d say. A bit off balance in a fine play of loud versus soft, but quite interesting throughout. Duran Vazquez (…) has seven tracks to offer. He is a self-thaught musician who picked up working in music some six years ago. I believe this is first release. It seems to me that Vazquez uses field recordings to some extent – at least more so than his partner in crime on this CD – which he processes inside the computer. It’s an overall ambient sound of a more disturbing nature.

FdW

SUMUGAN SIVANESAN experimentiert mit Collagen aus hochfrequenten Fiepsen, Digital Noise, Field Recordings und Feedbacks, erstellt daraus Tracks zwischen Ambient, Drone, Clicks’n’Cuts und Noise. Die zweite Hälfte der CD, aufgenommen von DURÁN VÁZQUEZ beginnt in ähnlichen Bereichen, zeigt aber später eher Anklänge von Cut-Ups und Loops aus Spieluhrklängen, dumpfen Scheppern, aber jeweils verziert mit digitalen Klängen. Alles in allem eine schöne CD, wenn sich das Label so weiterentwickelt, darf man sehr gespannt sein.

CS

The Product Series aims at fusion and confrontation through releasing the work of two artists in a single´CD. This returns to the vinyl split mentality, but this time using digital media. These releases are comprised of audio and/or audiovisual work of two artists plus a special Cronica guest to produce the cover artwork.

Sumugan Sivanesan is first up with Spare Your Speakers and this is exactly what I felt like doing as I played the first track. An exciting fusion of noise and extremely high pitched tones is not for the weak of heart or to be played while nursing a hangover. The intensity of the high pitched tone is one which I don’t think I’ve experienced before. Its not that its loud, just extremely high and this has interesting effects on the ears. Sivanesan is based in Sydney Australia and comes from a background of playing in rock bands in the early nineties. He became involved in experimental and electronic arts through his association with new media and digital video. There are also two video pieces on this CD by him that are tightly synced video and sound pieces with impressive use of images to suit the music. The most striking being Anaesthesia, which deals with the recent treatment of those seeking asylum in Australia. A television screen contains voices and footage that struggle with a deafening tone evoking a sense of dislocation and desperation.

Space is an important parameter in Sivanesans work whether it be through volume, silence distance or layering. He is concerned with sound that is musical but may not be immediately recognizable as being so.

The rich deep analogue sounding bass sounds of the first track, mono is the new black, fight against high-pitched answers and in track two, sinus, interesting noise landscapes develop creating almost morse-code-like interference messages. Other tracks contain subtle found sounds such as those of birds mixed and hidden by more noise interference. Each track offers something new in the type of noise being developed which makes for quite an exciting listen.

Duran Vazquezs’ Pigua Megapigua begins at track 10 after a half minute silence to separate the two artists. He started recording his work in the last years of the 20th century. The main aim of his work seems to be to develop a musical language away from social conventions although it uses all possible artifices. A good contrast to Sivanesan in that a denser almost underground pulsation starts off his offering in an intense way. A connection I feel between the two artists is a feeling of hidden elements that can be barely heard within the music. The deep subtle rhythms of track 11, Rochas no Ceo, sound as if they are recordings of a submarine under water muffled by the pressure of the water on the microphone. String samples bleed through also in a muffled fashion creating an interesting blend.

Like Sivanesans offering, Vazquez offers quite different material from track to track although maintaining a certain character. Its quite a mix of different ideas and interesting transformations. Deep angry monstrous bass sounds envelope most of the tracks with looped samples and electronic manipulations accompanying. He manages to create a rather bizarre head-space, almost like being stuck out in a storm with strange traffic-type sounds looming in all around you (e.g. track 15).

The artwork on this CD was by Swiss artist Maia Gusberti, re-p.org, and alongside the music make this CD a very interesting mix of contrasting and exciting noise based tracks worth checking out.