{"id":10739,"date":"2021-03-16T10:07:32","date_gmt":"2021-03-16T09:07:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.cronicaelectronica.org\/?p=10739"},"modified":"2021-03-22T10:45:10","modified_gmt":"2021-03-22T09:45:10","slug":"roel-meelkops-crossmodulated-reviewed-by-the-sound-projector","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.cronicaelectronica.org\/?p=10739","title":{"rendered":"Roel Meelkop\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Crossmodulated\u00e2\u20ac\u009d reviewed by The Sound Projector"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Roel Meelkop<\/strong> is a Dutch hero of sound art who I find it convenient to put in a Netherlandish seraglio with Peter Duimelinks, Jos Smolders, Frans de Waard and Machinefabriek. Indeed we last heard from the Roelster on the Cryptonesia<\/em> record where he performed as Wieman (with de Waard) to produce an extensive reworking<\/a> of two cassette tapes by Cybe. That was in 2017. Now in 2020 he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s getting into the exciting area of modular synthesis (I think this is getting easier to do with the invention of DIY miniature devices like Plumbutter, but I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really know an awful lot about it).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meelkop combines tapes from his large collection of field recordings with sessions of modular synth work, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what we hear on today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cassette Crossmodulated<\/em> (CR\u00c3\u201cNICA<\/a> 163-2020), which in title is a very descriptive name for the process and for the results, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll admit. Roel freely owns that he is borrowing the methods of Jos Smolders, who did it recently on his album Nowhere<\/em>, released on this same label in 2017 and noted here<\/a>. Roel has been grateful for the introduction to modular synthesis and feels that his studio work has been given a new lease of life by it. On these five Crossmodulation<\/em>experiments, our man is already exhibiting supreme control over these audio events, mastering the forces that swell and rise like the rare undersea balloon fish of Bermuda. One can barely detect any \u00e2\u20ac\u0153real\u00e2\u20ac\u009d sound that may have survived from the field recordings (with the possible exception of odd voice-like murmurs on #3 and #5), but the process that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s relevant is more likely to be the way that sounds are sculpted and shaped by the hummulating and juddering of the black boxes, whatever devices they may be, hopefully cross-linked by various cables and jacks inside Roel Meelkop\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s powerhouse of a studio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The general pattern of execution seems to require that a piece starts out small and uncertain, then gradually grows into an unstoppable landau of pulsatering noise, firing out poison pellets and radiating waves of alien ray-gun force as needed. True to its name, this whole tape is a gardener\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s delight of cross-breeding and transplanted strains of buds growing inside other buds. Fave cuts for me are #1 and #2, as they seem more inclined to whizz away out of control at crucial moments; #4 just scowls and sits there like a lump of sour dough that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s daring us to throw it in the trash bin, and #3 is intriguingly mysterious but also feels a little throwaway. \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcCrossmodulated 5\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 exhibits minimalist tendencies that Machinefabriek would probably commend; in fact, the dancing on head-of-pin tiny dots of sound would have their place at the annual Asmus Tietchens tribute festival, an event which I just made up, in Stuttgart. From 2nd October 2020. Ed Pinsent<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

via The Sound Projector<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Roel Meelkop is a Dutch hero of sound art who I find it convenient to put in a Netherlandish seraglio with Peter Duimelinks, Jos Smolders, Frans de Waard and Machinefabriek. Indeed we last heard from the Roelster on the Cryptonesia record where he performed as Wieman (with de Waard) to produce an extensive reworking of two cassette tapes by Cybe. … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Roel Meelkop\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Crossmodulated\u00e2\u20ac\u009d reviewed by The Sound Projector”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[515,514],"class_list":["post-10739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-515","tag-roel-meelkop","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.cronicaelectronica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10739","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=10739"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.cronicaelectronica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10740,"href":"http:\/\/blog.cronicaelectronica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10739\/revisions\/10740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.cronicaelectronica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.cronicaelectronica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.cronicaelectronica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}