Archivi categoria: Confine

Musica di confine

Moscow Youth Cult

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coverNuova, nostalgica release da test tube.

«Warm, woozy childhood memories, and crisp blue winter skies… friends, beaches, summer… the creative joys of making otherworldly sounds on battered old synths and a Casio keyboard stuck through cheap guitar pedals… a hefty dose of unadulterated, euphoric pop melody….

Colours Seep Out is the first full mini-opus from Nottingham’s Moscow Youth Cult, an electro-ambient-pop sidearm of UK underground indie noisemakers, “Love Ends Disaster!” (currently in hiding, putting together their next album). Part a recollection of the fuzzy and optimistic late 1990’s electronica of Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin, Susumu Yokota and DJ Shadow, part the urgent electro-pop of Beck, Ladytron and Fourtet, the 9 tracks here twist and melt from evocative synthscapes (Antenna I, Sandpits) to concise spurts of noise pop (Philosophique, Sakura Sakura)… and back again, without pausing for breath. What becomes clear is Jon Dix (Guitar, Synths, Vocals, Programming & Production), Robert Sadler (Keyboards, Programming) and Leah Donovan’s (Vocals) clear enjoyment of the sensibilities of pop music, topped with a healthy does of unabashed, exciting experimentalism.» – Jon Dix

Estratti:

Listen to/download the whole album

The Lanthanide Series

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Alcuni dei drones di Kalte, duo canadese, sono decisamente accattivanti. Qualcuno può dire che sono soltanto drones, ma si tratta di un genere che mi affascina e che non è così facile come sembra.

Ecco le note di programma. Il riferimento alla tavola periodica di Mendeleev, citata nelle note, è nel titolo: la serie dei lantanoidi (in passato lantanidi) è costituita dai 15 elementi chimici, detti anche terre rare, che sulla Tavola periodica si trovano fra il lantanio ed il lutezio. Hanno numero atomico compreso fra 57 e 71 inclusi.

Toronto’s Kalte (a duo featuring long-established sound artists Deane Hughes and Rik MacLean) make their recorded debut with this Periodic Table-inspired EP. The harsh Canadian winter served as the backdrop for the creation of these tracks, and while there may be a certain oppressiveness to its roots, the resulting sounds progress from darkness to light. The sonic spectrum on display here slowly builds in complexity at first, with more and more elements layered over a similar low-ringing drone. A slight stylistic shift takes the music to a slightly higher pitch and a more gentle tone for the final two tracks, with buzzes and drones intertwined in a mesmerizingly thick blanket of static.

L’intero EP si può ascoltare e acquistare qui.

Ubeboet

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coverSearching the old releases from Test Tube, I found this EP by Ubeboet, a sound artist based in Madrid involved in electronic/experimental music since mid 90’s. This work, titled Bleak EP, is dated 2004.

Bleak EP, by Ubeboet, is one of those kind of releases that lives on lasting relationships and on constant reintegration processes, achieving ‘that’ multidimensionality (big word) typical of the acoustic universe, giving so much freedom to the listener, that he (or she) will diminish or amplify the particular singularities of the sound particles that go in and out of the brain.
This work could be very easily integrated into the art of installationism, although never leaving the ‘soundscape’ genre. A constant struggle to arrive (or at least try to) an ideal of ‘musique concrète’. Holding itself to the capturing of sound landscapes, submitting them to a low-frequency treatment, Ubeboet breathes a comforting ‘less is more’ ambient, (re)created and integrated into unhabited sound habitats, or sometimes directly injected into the overcrowded urban territory. Ubeboet rests in the complex world of the ‘anti-fast listening’, where the perception and the raw and naked power of the music are intimately connected. A not-easy, not-clear and not-resolved world, into which we are forced to submerge and seek for the unknown. Highly recommended.
[Bruno Barros]

Two excerpts

Dowload the whole EP here.

David Fungi

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coverQualche novità dalla netlabel test tube. Per una volta c’è un italiano.

David Fungi, from Varese, Italy, is clearly inspired by nature. Field recordings pop up from the initial sounds of “aal_sentieri”, blended with synthetic and metallic electronic sounds which produce the kind of ambience one might recognize from William Basinski. It is this razor edge that defines the strong personality of this recording. Even though “Aal_sentieri” is ambient music, it is also restless, menacing, provokes the listener and gives him a sense of travelling through a mysterious and dark forest. As the piece unfolds through its 23 minutes, the sound layering becomes more complex, while one can only guess the origin of the animal noises underneath. When the path comes to an end, a climax appears in the last 4 minutes, first with a burst of industrial noise and finally an orchestral and cinematic climax, finishing the track. “aal_sentieri” leaves the listener in the company of silence, which in a strange kind of way almost works as a reverberation of the track.  It is not easy to capture one’s imagination like this, but David Fungi has that skill to mix disparate sounds in a coherent manner, making “aal_sentieri” a fine and peculiar release.»
[César A. Laia]

L’album è liberamente scaricabile qui.

Lezrod, again

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Un altro lavoro di Lezrod (aka David Velez) pubblicato, come al solito da test tube. Questa volta si tratta di 10 pezzi che accompagnano altrettanti video da proiettare in un sushi bar a Las Vegas. Il tutto con il significativo titolo di  fear and loathing in rio/tokyo (paura e disgusto in rio/tokyo).

Data la destinazione, tutti i brani durano 3 minuti e alcuni hanno un carattere tonale che di solito è assente dalle composizioni di Lezrod, ciò nonostante l’atmosfera rimane quella tipica di questo musicista.

Le note di Lezrod:

By the end of Spring I was hired to compose 10 pieces for a series of 10 videos to be displayed in a Brazilian Sushi Restaurant in Las Vegas. Even though the nature of this pieces is abstract, the fact that they have to work with the videos (produced by Daniel Roversi) and that they were going to be performed in a restaurant somehow brought back ‘musical’ elements which were part of my early work. After I finished them I felt it might be interesting to publish this material that if it wasn’t for this project I wouldn’t have ever done it.

The videos were based on cultural elements from both Brazil and Japan but I wanted to make something more universal and I feel my love for soundtracks and film music in general, were particularly influential here. The soundtrack projects of people such as Ry Cooder, Quincy Jones, Lalo Schifrin, Herbie Hancock, Vangelis, Edward Artemyev, Vincent Gallo and John Frusciante sure served here as inspiration.

The title of this release pays tribute to film director Terry Gilliam and novelist/journalist Hunter S. Thompson and their movie/book ‘Fear and loathing in Las Vegas’ where a unique atmosphere of delirium and disregard is built through the entire story, creating confusion between the sometimes-vague line between reality and imagination. This confusing atmosphere were present on the videos, as Daniel Roversi allowed contradictory elements to play together, as the relationship between the video themes and the relation between Japan and Brazil culture required certain level of abstraction to work altogether.

Also by the time I composed some of the pieces for this release I had a at home some of Luis Buñuel movies which I am sure inspired this work as well. This release pays tribute to him and in particular to his movie ‘Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie’ where this delirium and disregard atmosphere can be found as well. This is a soundtrack for a move composed by 10 chapters, 10 stories that the listener could write, direct, shoot and perform, on his own mind.

Come al solito i brani sono licenziati in Creative Commons e possono essere scaricati qui.

Alcuni estratti. Provateli per cena.

36 Chambers
Ciudad sin Dios

Zavoloka

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Kateryna Zavoloka is an experimental electronic music composer and graphic designer from Kyiv city, Ukraine.

Zavoloka mainly explores digital and analogue synthesis, sometimes she uses recorded herself songs, separate phrases, words, instruments, etc.

One of her big influences is the traditional Ukrainian culture. She traveling by Ukraine and recording native traditional ethnic folk songs, which singing old people in country-sides of Ukraine. The aim is to reach interplay between the electronic context and rough unprocessed voices that common people sing with. This produces a very ‘human’ outcome (owing to the spirit that unaffected voices bring), yet staying electronically saturated, post -sounding and edgy.

Zavoloka’s music consists of intensive varied sound motions and unexpected combinations piped into carefully controlled electronic flows. Never try to predict anything, it can turn out in what one just cannot predict. Some of Zavoloka’s friends amongst musicians admit, that her music is very unusual from the structural point of view.When asked about the motive of building such a diverse and complicated constructions, she explained her intention to produce more and more frank music that could reflect her momentary shades of feelings and emotions. She also pointed out that her music is intended to be a natural expression of her private freedom.

  • exhale (2008) – mp3
  • inhale (2008) – mp3
  • rankova – mp3

Europa 2008

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plx018In questo progetto della netlabel Plex Records, denominato “Europa 2008”, cinque artisti sono stati invitati a mettere in comune alcuni campioni sonori per poi comporre individualmente un brano utilizzando l’intero pacchetto.

I cinque nomi coinvolti sono Zavoloka, .at/on, Akan, Vitalis Popoff e d’incise. Qui vi faccio ascoltare i pezzi dei primi due.

Il set completo è scaricabile qui.

Composition 304

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braxtonNormalmente non mi occupo di jazz, però, come giustamente fa notare wikipedia, definire Anthony Braxton solo un jazzista è alquanto riduttivo. Come compositore e musicista, ha incentrato la sua attività sul jazz (soprattutto sul free) ma ha scritto anche per orchestra e perfino opere. Come strumentista, oltre a suonare il pianoforte, Braxton si è esibito utilizzando l’intera gamma dei sassofoni dal sopranino al contrabbasso,su una grande varietà di clarinetti e al flauto.

Devo anche dire che Braxton è stato uno dei pochi jazzisti che mi abbiano veramente emozionato ascoltandoli in concerto (alcuni degli altri sono Sun Ra, Miles Davis, Cecil Taylor e Mingus). Il suo continuo entrare e uscire dal jazz, incorporando anche elementi linguistici tipici di altri linguaggi, fra cui la musica contemporanea, rendono la sua musica interessante e vitale,anche se a volte le sue composizioni possono risultare un po’ scontate dal punto di vista strutturale. So che, recentemente, si occupa anche di elettroacustica con il Diamond Curtain Wall Trio nel quale utilizza il linguaggio di sintesi ed elaborazione del suono Super Collider, ma non ancora sentito niente con questa formazione.

Qui vi presento Composition 304 del 2002. Si tratta di un duo in cui Braxton suona vari sassofoni e Taylor Ho Bynum cornetta, tromba, trombone.

Formalmente il brano alterna momenti “composti” in cui i due eseguono strutture isoritmiche e momenti improvvisati, a volte anche in solo. Così il brano entra ed esce continuamente dall’improvvisazione, mentre gli esecutori cambiano ripetutamente strumento e timbro. In accordo con la logica del collage utilizzata spesso da Braxton, il pezzo include anche strutture tratte da altri brani dello stesso autore. In questo caso si tratta delle Composition 91, 151, e 164, per cui il titolo completo è Composition 304 (+ 91, 151, 164).

  • Anthony Braxton – Composition 304 (+ 91, 151, 164) (2002)
    Anthony Braxton, saxophones
    Taylor Ho Bynum, cornet, trumpet, trombone, shell, mutes

Tellus #10: All Guitars!

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Della ripubblicazione di Tellus (“rivista su audio cassetta” lanciata nel 1983 a New York) da parte di UBUWeb abbiamo già parlato.

Oggi vi presentiamo il numero 10, uscito nel 1985 e dedicato ai chitarristi della scena newyorkwese (e dintorni) dell’epoca [fra i più noti (pochi) Arto Lindsay, Glenn Branca, Lydia Lunch]. Il genere spazia dal post punk, al minimalismo, all’improvvisazione, il tutto non privo di ironia in certi brani.

Come al solito, Tellus si concentrava sulla sperimentazione, sull’anormalità e sull’estremo. 28 brani, dai 2 ai 5 minuti, in cui, a volte, è difficile riconoscere la chitarra.

Il tutto è scaricabile qui. Ecco qualche anticipazione:

O Superman

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Il web magazine dello Smithsonian American Art Museum ha pubblicato una breve intervista con Laurie Anderson che ricorda anche il momento in cui è diventata una star con O Superman negli anni ’80.

La storia è divertente:

I didn’t know anything about the pop world. I was just an artist in New York and I had made a record that I was distributing by mail order. People would call me up on the phone and say, “Can I get this record?” I would go over to a carton, pick it up and go to the post office with it. I had pressed 1,000 records of something I had done on an NEA grant called O Superman. Then I got a call one afternoon from a guy in Britain who said “I’d like to order some records. I’ll need 40,000 Thursday and 40,000 more on Monday.” So I said, “Right. Okay. I’ll get right back to you.”

I called Warner Brothers and said, “Listen, I need to press a bunch of records, could you help me with it?” And they said, “That’s not how we do things at Warner Brothers Records. What we do is you sign an eight-record deal.” And I was like, “What?”

So that’s what I did, because I thought that could be interesting. I tried very hard not to be seduced by that kind of world. I had a lot of fun with it. You get out of a car and everyone is screaming, it was just funny for me. They were like, “Can I get your autograph? Oh my god!” and “It’s really you.” For me I felt like an anthropologist.

E visto che c’è su You Tube, tanto vale rivederselo