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_/. P R E V I E W S _/.
BIO: "Urban landsecapes #2" (gNoma 3' CD 006) BIO:
"Urban landsecapes #2" La pequeña perversión del título -intrometiendo una e en un paisaje sonoro que escapa- como ejemplo de escritura auditiva y visual, una ciudad que nunca fue tan calma generando micro-elementos de escucha. Elegante en composición y búsqueda, micros pixelados (un micro micrófono de resultados en macro), BIO es el proyecto en solitario de Juanjo Fernández desde Sabadell (Barcelona); autoeditado en cd-r de 3 pulgadas es el número dos de una colección que, espero, pueda continuar en plataformas de mayor difusión. --------
VICTOR
NUBLA : "Seven harbour scenes" Aleatóriamente un sampler está abierto a cualquier captura procedente de un fondo sonoro constantemente en mutación. Esta mutación puede ser microscópica o de pocos matices si se utiliza un micrófono de ambiente, o puede enriquecerse y navegar por aguas ilegales en derechos de autor si la herramienta generadora de materia prima es una radio de banda ancha. Victor Nubla es un autor de método clásico y procedimiento singular. En los últimos años focaliza su exploración en una contemplación activa de lo que el mar arrastra hasta la orilla, o de cómo capturar señales indistintamente a través de una radio para después procesarlas. Su reciclaje político lo sitúa en derivas controladas de sonidos cíclicos. "Seven harbour scenes" son momentos oscuros, de cuando el puerto descansa y los sueños de un marinero borracho se combinan con las pesadillas de un músico de cámara. En el puerto el mar está estancado y ya no hay objetos que sean arrastrados, sino que fueron arrojados desde tierra. Un cadáver podría flotar junto un ramo de flores de la última partida. Una banda sonora para la ficción de un escenario con siete escenas de corte perverso, un clasicismo subvertido, un submundo pre-digital, una ópera que retrocede... Talento para cortar, escuchar y volver a pegar. --------
FULL
SWING: "edits" The remix. How we consumers and audiophiles love the remix. Generally, the remix is produced by adding beats, loops, effects, melodies, etc. that were not present in the original mix. Record labels of all sizes have reaped the benefits of the remix craze. If you take a look at the shelves in any record store, you could fill a garbage bag full of remix albums, most of which belong in the garbage. It is really hard to find a quality remix album these days with the influx of output. Every once and a blue moon a great remix album comes along. You have to be patient and selective, though. Some extremely creative producers have been reworking and rearranging artists' material rather than remixing it. This entails breaking down the original track into the sum of its parts, and focusing on a particular characteristic within the track. Then, the producer can use tricks of the trade, such as time stretching or pitch shifting to recreate the original song in a manner different than the generic remix. This is where Full Swing comes into the mix. Full Swing is the moniker for prolific producer, Stephan Mathieu, who has released albums, tracks, 10"s, 12"s and yes, remixes on several of the most well respected record labels that are constantly pushing the limits of electronic music such as, Mille Plateaux, Ritornell, Kitty Yo as Stol, Fällt (Invalid Object Series) and Orthlorng Musork. Mathieu is a self taught improve drummer, which is ironic because you seldom hear percussive elements in his music. They exist, but are not the back-bone of his song structures. A constant in Mathieu's music are his thick, dense and swirling textures. These textures bring to mind the earlier work of Vladislav Delay on Chain Reaction and Mille Plateaux. As Full Swing, Mathieu has released his second album for Susan Costabile + Kit Clayton's Orthlorng Musork label. This album is conveniently titled Edits because he has used source material from several artists' tracks, reworked and rearranged them into beautiful, warm soundscapes. That is just scratching the surface. The tracks he has chosen to rework were previously released for Orthlorng Musork as a limited 10" series. Edits is a culmination of these 10"s released on CD. Some of the artists he has chosen his source material from are Laub, Yo La Tengo, Monolake, Kit Clayton among others. It is an interesting and eclectic mix of names you would not ordinarily find on one album together, but that is just one of the factors which make Edits a beautiful body of work. I want to stress that the tracks are not remixes. Mathieu has chosen bits and pieces of the original work to focus on as his source material, whether it is a loop, chord or crevice. He then goes to work on these pieces forming warm and scenic tones, adding digitally processed clicks and repetitive, overlapping textures. To put it another way, Mathieu takes the skeleton or shell of the original track and discards it, so to speak. He, then, takes the muscles and tissues and goes to work on them selecting the sections that appeal to him aesthetically. I have broken down the tracks by the original artists in an effort to give detailed descriptions of the standouts. Laub- Digitals pops evoking a rainy Sunday afternoon. Bass/guitar line fades in with feedback. Tape delay sounds, rain fades, skeleton of the song remains, while AGF's vocals are lured into the mix. Dramatic ending as bass fades in and out, slowly until it vanishes completely. Kit Clayton-Delicate, pulsing sine waves on top of thick soundscapes, strings floating in and out of the scenery. Mathieu takes Clayton's cold and crisp sounds and converts them to warm, lush environments. Antenne-Soft percussive elements ride the crescent of warm waves and ambient tones, shifting chords, gently growing stronger as the tides rise. Autoposies-Layered sine waves begin, melting into faint pulses. We hear the sounds of mechanical dolphins and whales conversing, ending with bubbling textures reminiscent of Vladislav Delay's earlier works. Yo La Tengo-repetive textures appear clicking over one another creating digital harmony and ear candy. Mathieu stretches the chords lightly. The chords are the remnants of original track, no percussion, just soft clicks. My only complaint with Edits is that it was not released in the dead of winter, when it could have warmed my bosom as I sipped on some hot mint tea, staring out the window wondering if it will snow. If you are not familiar with Mathieu's work, I strongly recommend his Frequency Liberations on Ritornell, as well as Edits. He can also be found collaborating with another artist raising the envelope, Ekkehard Ehlers. They have a reissue of their work to be released soon on Orthlorng Musork on double cd/vinyl. It will also contain some remixes, but I am not concerned with the quality control factor here. Right now, I feel that anything Mathieu touches, will be unique and interesting; even the remix. --------
LIAM
GILLICK: "Literally No Place: Communes, Bars and Greenrooms" "A completely revised sense of the relationship between the individual, the place and the nature of production. Towards discussion of potential action and suppression of activated modes of exchange. The function and use of creative thought as a fetish, rather than a paradigm shift in behaviour or action." Liam
Gillick (p. 14)
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