Circles (22)

a circle by Rafael Gray

 

 

another one by Rafael Gray

 

 

 

a rainy day

 

 

copper negative of a 1881 Alexander Graham Bell recording

 

 

 a plated copper disc to press records

 

 

 

a light in the night

 

 

crops from space

 

 

 

 

 

Ailleurs / Elsewhere

 

TALITAKUM

 The trio Avalanche Kaito is a meeting between Burkina Faso born urban griot Kaito Winse and fellow experimentalists Belgian guitarist Nico Gitto and French drummer/producer Benjamin Chaval. This transnational avant-rock trio created waves with their visceral self-titled 2022 debut, bagging notable festival appearances (Supersonic, End of the Road), a KEXP session and much deserved critical and audience enthusiasm. 

Polyrythmic futurism, raw epiphanies, Burkinabe parables: Gitto’s angular guitar riffs seem at the beck and call of Kaito Winse’s forceful speech-song, as Benjamin Chaval layers perfectly punchy drums build the lockstep rythmic.

 

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MENTO in JAMAICA ca. 1951-57

An amazing compilation of Jamaican folk music linking Ska and Calypso,  European quadrille and Wesr African rythms. Early recordings from the 50s. A nice drift!

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TOC - Theory of constraints

On the label Circum-Disc, the trio TOC is back with Peter Orins (drums), Jérémie Ternoy (piano) and Ivann Cruz (guitar) with a new album which will be released end of May 24.
Five steps: 1 - identify the constraint, 2 - exploit the constraint, 3 - subordinate all processes to the constrained process, 4 - raise the performance of the constraint (if necessary), and 5 - start again at step 1.

a review on Drame here

  Waiting for the issue's date, a title of their 2022's last release to listen to

***

 

行歌走月 STROLLING IN THE MOON

A moonlit promenade in Dong Stockaded Village in the Qiandongnan region of Guizhou, China,  dedicated to preserving the oldest traditions of ethnicity.

With
Chorus singers: Shi Yan, Wei Chunhuan, Li Yanshu, Li Yueyun, Li Shuyan, Yang Meng’e, Li Ming
& Shi Canming (Dong pipa), Ou Guochao (Dong violin/Niutuiqin)

 

***

 

THE HANDOVER

Throughout this amazing album, produced by Sublime Frequencies, native Alexandrian Ayman Asfour plays the violin with breathtaking beauty, while not being afraid to make the violin buzz, squeak and rattle at times. Belgian/Norwegian keyboardist Jonas Cambien makes the synthesizer a melodic instrument in its own right, at times evoking almost classical Maqam, while in other moments it seems like he comes straight out of an Egyptian wedding.  The oud forms the backbone in the composition's structure, as Aly Eissa's solos guide the listener from minimalist, meditative drones, to a compelling climax, and back to earth. The Handover was recorded in Alexandria Egypt in January of 2023.

 

 

 

!-0-!

2 Guitars

Jan Martiz is an experimental composer and guitar player. His second album titled "II" is a promise acoustic relaxation to some, many cheers and tears have floated into the completion of a work that spans back to 2017, where Jan (aka Marius Mathiszik) spent two months, recording in an abandoned house on the countryside of Groningen. 

"When I had finished the compositions I wanted to rent an empty house for 2 months in order to record and produce the material in solitude. After some research what I could find was an abandoned, half wrecked former brothel in the nothingness of Groningen, Netherlands. Autumn was arriving and while I had started with the last summer sun rays it quickly became very cold. Between extensive walks among the sheep populating the dikes of the Ems-Delta, all I had to entertain myself in the evening with was an edition of Cosey Fanni Tutti s Art Sex Music and a few old episodes of the X Files." Jan Martiz - source

 

His last work (oct2023) "Octopus & Pyrgos" is a condensed version of a longer work, originally developed during a collaboration with visual artist Katerina Rotoli. It could be heard in two installations, kicking off ‘To Festivalaki’ – a creative get-together with friends and artists, that took place in a tiny village in Peloponnese in June '23.

 

& some circles from 2017

 

* ** *** **** *** ** *
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"Down On Darkened Meetings"  is a solo release from the quietly prolific italian artist  Giuseppe Ielasi. Recorded at Ielasi’s studio in Monza outside of Milan over two days in February 2022, the seven pieces presented here continue the renewed exploration of the guitar that marks much of his solo work over the last few years. Outside of his artistic career, Giuseppe Ielasi co-founded the music label Fringes Recordings in 1998.

Between abstraction and immediacy, austerity and abundance, imbued with Ielasi’s distinctive lightness of touch, considered approach to pacing, and subtly psychedelic approach to the stereo field, "Down on Darkened Meetings" is a major new work from a quiet master of contemporary experimental music.
 

 

 

!!_G_!!

GRRR !

Une aventure qui  commence avec du ciné-concert jusqu’à la musique comme image.

En 1976, Jean-Jacques Birgé rencontre Bernard Vitet  et Francis Gorgé pour fonder ensemble le fameux trio Un Drame Musical Instantané, précurseur du retour au ciné-concert,  où vont se lover en une incessante et florissante équation jusqu'à nos jours, musique, poésie et cinéma aux carrefours de leurs questions les plus vives.

Compositeur de musique, réalisateur de films, auteur multimédia, designer sonore, écrivain, Jean-Jacques Birgé était l'un des premiers joueur de synthés en France dès 1973.  À partir de 1995, il devient designer sonore et spécialiste de la composition musicale interactive, cherchant à approfondir les effets de sens. De l’art du tête à tête qui donne à rêver et crée de la profondeur de sens et de l’audio, à ce que l’on écoute.

Parallèlement il fonde son label de disques GRRR et produit une cinquantaine de vinyles et CD et sur son site drame.org il offre 97 albums inédits (180 heures !) en écoute et téléchargement gratuits avec multitude d’artiste tels que par exemple:
Sophie Agnel, Fenech, Gilles Coronado, Vincent Segal, Sylvain Kassap, Ravi Shardja, Fidel Fourneyron, Uriel Bathélémy, Héléne Breschand, Elise Caron, Sylvain Lemêtre, Antonin Tri-Hoang, Pascal Contet, Héléne Sage et bien sûr Bernard Vitet, Francis Gorgé, Jean-Jacques Birgé lui-même et bien d’autres encore…

A suivre bien sûr son blog quotidien ”Drame”  qu’il active depuis 18 ans.

Et quelques rééditions (en LPs) à trouver chez Souffle Continu,  dont une archive de 1984 intitulée "In Fractured Silence" réunissant Héléne Sage, Sema, Nurse with wound, et Un drame musical instantané, mais aussi "Avant Toute" du duo Birgé/Gorgé en 1974.

***

L'émission Epsilonia de janvier 2024 dévolue aux musiques du label GRRR, mixée par Amiel Balester,  sur Radio Libertaire.

GRRR PART 1

&  GRRR PART 2

 

..!!Grrr...grrR!!..

Phonautograph

From 1854 Edouard-Léon Scott de Martinville (1817-1879) became fascinated in a mechanical means of transcribing vocal sounds. He build the Phonautograph which was the earliest known device for recording sounds.

 

Dès 1854, Edouard-Léon Scott de Martinville (1817-1879) se passionne pour un moyen mécanique de transcrire les sons vocaux. Il construit alors le Phonautograph qui était le premier appareil connu pour enregistrer des sons.

 

 

 

the phonautographic manusripts of Scott de Martinville

 

the earliest audible record of human speech

 

le premier enregistrement audible de la parole humaine 

 

<<< to listen to here >>>

 

ôVo_oVô

Free journeys

 

Youmna Saba  - "Wishah" - novembre 2023 

"Wishah" , on Touch, is the last album marking a significant turning point in Youmna Saba's journey. Created after leaving Beirut and settling in Paris, "Wishah" reveals a profound shift in her musical expression, informed by rigorous research in the sonic properties of sung Arabic phonemes and their role in shaping synthesised electronic sounds.  The album employs a digital extension for the oud, a concept developed by Saba in her research project Taïma’. 

As well you have to visit Youmna Saba's installation concerning "La réserve des non-dits" at Musée du quai Branly in Paris. The artist went to capture the breath of musical instruments in the heart of the "instrument tower", a protected and optimized environment to ensure the proper conservation of the Museum's collection of musical instruments. The installation offers a zoom on the micro-sounds emitted by these instruments in their passive state, their resonances, their voices. It is a way of revealing the inaudible, of exhuming traces of sounds and other residual images, of transcribing their unwritten stories, the information that these instruments capture and record in their bodies, as close as possible to their material. To listen to samples.

​

 

 

"Wishah", sur Touch, est le dernier album marquant un tournant important dans le parcours de Youmna Saba. Après avoir quitté Beyrouth et s'être installée à Paris, sa pièce "Wishah" révèle un changement profond dans son expression musicale. Cette pièce relève d'une recherche rigoureuse sur les propriétés sonores des phonèmes arabes chantés et leur rôle dans la formation de sons électroniques synthétisés. L’album utilise une extension numérique pour le oud, un concept développé par Saba dans son projet de recherche Taïma’.

 

 

Egalement visiter l'installation de Youmna Saba concernant "La réserve des non-dits" au Musée du quai Branly. L'artiste est allée capter le souffle des instruments de musique au cœur de la "tour des instruments", un environnement protégé et optimisé pour assurer la bonne conservation de la collection d'instruments musicaux du Musée. L’installation propose un zoom sur les micro-sons qu’émettent ces instruments dans leur état passif, leurs résonances, leurs voix. C’est une manière de révéler l’inaudible, d’exhumer les traces de sons et autres images résiduelles, de retranscrire leurs histoires non-écrites, les informations que ces instruments captent et enregistrent dans leurs corps, au plus près de leur matière. Quelques exemples à écouter.

 

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Jürg Frey  - "Circular music" - septembre 2023

"Circular music", on Insub Records, is composed by the swiss artist Jürg Frey. His work is made up of large sound spaces and silence as essential component. The 3 ecstatic pieces of this issue calls upon dreams. Highly recommendable!

with  Clara Lévy : violin - Victor Guaita : viola - Michaël Liberg : cittern
Yannick Guédon : voice - Antoine Läng : voice - Stan Maris : accordion (2-3)
Florence Cats : theremin & d’incise : indian harmonium (1), electronic (2-3)
  

 

"Circular music", sur Insub Records, est une pièce composée par l'artiste suisse Jürg Frey Son œuvre est constituée de grands espaces sonores et le silence comme composante essentielle. Les 3 pièces extatiques de ce nouvel opus font appel au rêve. Hautement recommandable !

 

 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Summer news

 Matana Roberts - "In the garden" - sept 2023

"Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the garden…" is the latest instalment in composer, improviser, saxophonist, and visual artist Matana Roberts’ visionary project exploring African-American history through ancestry, archive and place.

"The full album is a warning.  These times are returning.  Women are being stripped of their humanity, context removed, reduced to talking points, caricatures and placards.  Even Genesis contains two creation stories, dueling views of what happened in the garden.  The Coin Coin project challenges assumptions, saying, don’t always believe the narrative you’ve been taught."  - Richard Allen 

Each part of  the complete "Coin Coin" opus (5 parts) explores radically different musical settings, from the free jazz and post-rock eruptions of Chapter One to the solo noise collage of Chapter Three. Featuring a new ensemble steeped in jazz, improvisation, new music and avant-rock, helping to expand the project’s existing sonic palette, Chapter Five is no exception with folk and spoken word. Matana Roberts is joined by fellow alto saxophonist Darius Jones, violinist Mazz Swift (Silkroad Ensemble, D’Angelo), bass...

from "Coin Coin suite" chapter 2

& Matana Roberts'  interview on Tone Glow

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Siavash Amini - "Eidolon" - july 2023

Siavash Amini is an iranian electronic composer who connects microsound, noise and sketch of melodies, drifts between the concrete and the abstract, drones, discussions of tuning in the maqam system,  collective subconscious, intoxicating abastraction,

"Eidolon", un disque composé de trois titres, qui approfondit ses recherches autour de l'accordage, des timbres. Il se dit obsédé par la théorie de Safi-Al-Din Urmavi (musicien érudit mort à Bagdad, connu pour sa division de l'octave en 17 tons) sur l'accordage, le rythme, le maqam, ce qui le conduit vers une musique microtonale, spectrale. 

" Siavash Amini has consistently provided room for reflection through creation of space – set between both buoyant and melancholy planes of noise in amicable juxtaposition. " The Quietus

 

"Instantia" in the 2017 "Eilodon" 

"...Comme une corde, un tressage serré, pour monter ou rester suspendu dans le vide... Un rideau bouge lentement, dévoile d'autres sons, des hurlements de loups électroniques avec échos. Nous sommes entrés dans une caverne, habitée par des créatures inconnues. Quelque chose nous happe, menace de nous submerger, une force tellurique à peine tourbillonnante, elle irradie dans le noir, et c'est au fond très doux." - source: inactuelles.over-blog

"rivers of tar" in the 2017 "Tar"

 

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FFYG - "Cependant"- oct 2023

 Filipe Felizardo and Yann Gourdon's duo, called FFYG, releases its third opus as a 100 copies limited cassette recorded during their last live shows in Brussels. Filipe plays electric guitar and Yann hurdy-gurdy.  After "La langue de l'Ophiolite", first meeting in 2020 with our friends of Trás-os-Montes Records, they persist to commit hypnotic drones resulting from a study of duration, harmonic thermodynamics, and the delicious errors that come from endurance and stubborn repetition, but always converging the density of the timbric and poetic languages of both their very idiosyncratic instrumentation into a point of all returns. 

 

 

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Radian - "Distorted rooms"- sept 2023

Radian is Martin Brandlmayr (drums, electronics), John Norman (bass), and Martin Siewert (guitars, electronics), who have been influenced by and shaped Vienna's vivid scene of electronica in the early 2000s. Vienna is currently a wide open creative home to many new music composers and innovators. Today, the members of Radian are pillars of that community. The trio’s collective experience finds an expansive and egoless outlet in "Distorted Rooms", uncovering new sonic universes. After nearly 30 years of making music together, their excitement for sonic experimentation is palpable.

"Radian is a machine, their music the sum of body hydraulics and fuzzy logic."
Will Montgomery, The Wire

!_-_!

Conversation

"Conversation"
un film inédit, réalisé en 2011 par Palix

”Investi dans le monde du sonore et du musical depuis toujours, mon parcours radiophonique et de composition m’a fait travailler avec de nombreux magnétophones analogiques professionnels, Schlumberger, Ampex, Nagra, Studer, Revox, Belin, Tolana… et mon affection pour le travail d’enregistrement, de montage et de mixage des bandes magnétiques est resté intact. Ce film est donc un poème en hommage à ces appareils et au rapport tactile que nous avions à l’époque - c’était au siècle dernier! - avec cette technologie, directement en relation physique  avec le support sonore que représentait la bande magnétique.”  Palix

 

extrait de "la génération invisible" - William Burroughs 1962

 

... bande magnétique, paire de ciseaux, réglette de montage, collants, crayon gras blanc, amorces de couleurs différentes selon les vitesses de défilement, 9,5cm/s, 19cm/s, 38 cm/s, plateau, bobine, bobineau, play, pause, rewind, forward, Dolby, mono, stéréo, canal gauche - canal droit, multipiste, autoreverse, vu-mètre ...

 

 

”Invested in the world of sound and music for my entire life, my radio and composition background has made me work with many professional analog tape recorders, Schlumberger, Ampex, Nagra, Studer, Revox, Belin, Tolana… and my affection for recording work, editing and mixing of the magnetic tapes remained intact. This film is therefore a poem in homage to these devices and the tactile relationship that we had, at the time (it was last century!), with this technology” - Palix

 

 

 

excerpt from "the invisible generation" - William Burroughs - 1962

 

magnétophone Tolana encore en usage à l'ORTF dans les années 70

 

OOOoooOOO

Such is life

 "Such is life" is the new musical opus (september 2023) by Jeff Rian, essayist and musician, composer and guitar player, editor and writer for the magazines Purple Fashion and The Purple Journal, regularly contributing to the magazine Artforum. 

 

He is the author of "Lexicon revolver", "Purple Years" (Onestar Press) 

and books on Richard Prince, Lewis Baltz, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, and Stéphane Dafflon. 

 

 

***

"Such is life"

JEFF RIAN - guitar, vocals
GERARD MCFADDEN - bass, backing vocals
MARTY VICKERS - drums
EMMA RIAN - backing vocals & lead vocal on "je ne sais pas"

JAMES S. TAYLOR - post production & keyboards on "if to you be like"

-

STEPHAN MATHIEU - mastering

CÉDRICK EYMENIER - executive production

Coriolis Sound - september 2023 

"Recordings arise out of necessity. Why does anyone record anything, take a picture, sign a document? This recording came together from my personal connection with Cedrick Eyemenier of Coriolis Sounds who made a choice… I rehearsed 14 songs with Canadian drummer Marty Vickers and Australian bassist Gerard McFadden. I didn’t tell them what to play or how to play the songs… Cedrick’s English friend James S. Taylor took apart the basic tracks, added percussion, more drums, keyboards, and harmonium, and transformed the songs, asking me to speak an number of them, which I’d never done before… I didn’t tell anyone what they should do. It was a total collaboration, I happened to be the one with the songs and words. We made it together." Jeff Rian 

 

other Jeff Rian' music: 

 

 the famous "Everglade"  (2000) a duo with Jean-Jacques Palix

exclusively composed with guitar' sounds

 

 with one unreleased remix: "chime before"  (2023)

 

**

 "Fanfares" (2004) and "8 de pique" (2007) for Alexandra Roos

 

 

**

  "Battle Songs" (2010) with his band  Rowboat

 

 

....... 

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