{"id":1007,"date":"2009-02-03T12:48:13","date_gmt":"2009-02-03T11:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.cronicaelectronica.org\/?p=1007"},"modified":"2017-01-09T20:50:49","modified_gmt":"2017-01-09T19:50:49","slug":"is-that-you-reviewed-by-5-against-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.cronicaelectronica.org\/?p=1007","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Is That You?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d reviewed by 5 against 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Is
\nNetlabels – a curious phenomenon, n’est pas? \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 On the one hand, they’re rather like havens for creatives to inhabit, artistic agglomerations producing wildly (un)predictable output; on the other, their surprising dedication to giving music away free of charge seems to have abandoned any hope of remuneration for creative endeavour \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 It’s hard to see them as the future; for now, at least, they’re fascinating & very useful; a gift horse into the mouth of which i have no intention of looking \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Some netlabels have made the mistake of becoming stylistically typecast (e.g. one – & a feeble style at that), while others seemingly vanish overnight (the most recent being Nikita Golyshev’s excellent Musica Excentrica, that one can only hope returns soon) \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 The best, however, chart an altogether less predictable path through territory that is often radical & challenging \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Cr\u00c3\u00b3nica is one of my favourites, a netlabel combining physical & digital releases, some of which are free, alongside some curious accompanying paraphernalia (or, if you prefer, art) & interesting podcasts \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2<\/p>\n

It was Cr\u00c3\u00b3nica that introduced me to the Italian multimedia duo Tu M’ who, early this year, released a free EP entitled Is That You?, which quickly became\u00e2\u20ac\u201d& remains\u00e2\u20ac\u201done of my favourite releases of 2008 \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 It comprises three tracks, one for each word of that title, exploring markedly different sonic environments \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 The laptop\u00e2\u20ac\u201drapidly becoming (at least, ostensibly) a sine qua non for the budding composer\u00e2\u20ac\u201dis the instrument of choice for Tu M’, but this is very far from obvious in the opening track, “Is” \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 It’s an organic, woody composition, with clarinets & marimba pervading most clearly through the warm fog that drifts stodgily for its 5-minute duration \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Tu M’ have struck a critical balance here; the sounds are obviously treated & manipulated, but at no point lose that essential quality that betrays a raw acoustic origin \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 It’s beautiful & tragic, a dirge-like procession that is as moving as it is striking \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 The longest track, “That”, occupies a more luminous landscape, spinning & pulsating with heavy radiance \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Pulses, yes, but not a pulse, as such; the object at the aural centre floats tantalisingly free from any trace of rhythm, couched in the kind of soft ambient washes that, in lesser hands, become mere mush \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 It’s an exquisite ambient creation, static & yet always shifting & evolving, hovering around the listener, by turns sitting quietly & looming large \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 “You?” is something of a counterpart to the opening track, although here dirge has turned to majesty, tears have yielded to a smile, its slow chord progressions sounding like a chorale intoned on deep brass \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 Although voluminous, the 7 minutes of velvet richness have a lightness that’s difficult to pinpoint, but is clearly evident; maybe it’s the brightness of the cadence that begins each repetition, perhaps the impossibly slow crescendo\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwhatever, it is a ravishingly, emotionally laden valediction to a really excellent little EP \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 i cannot recommend this release highly enough \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 My average rating: 5\/5<\/p>\n

via 5 against 4<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Netlabels – a curious phenomenon, n’est pas? \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 On the one hand, they’re rather like havens for creatives to inhabit, artistic agglomerations producing wildly (un)predictable output; on the other, their surprising dedication to giving music away free of charge seems to have abandoned any hope of remuneration for creative endeavour \u00e2\u20ac\u00a2 It’s hard to see … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Is That You?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d reviewed by 5 against 4”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[404,32],"class_list":["post-1007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-404","tag-tu-m","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.cronicaelectronica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.cronicaelectronica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.cronicaelectronica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.cronicaelectronica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.cronicaelectronica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1007"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blog.cronicaelectronica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1010,"href":"http:\/\/blog.cronicaelectronica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007\/revisions\/1010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.cronicaelectronica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.cronicaelectronica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.cronicaelectronica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}