microphones in the trees: April 2012

Monday, April 30, 2012

sunny dunes | sylvia monnier


"...Kira Perov lists avant composers Steve Reich and Terry Riley, ambient droners Laurie Spiegel and Leyland Kirby, and Krautrockers Tangerine Dream as some of his influences,...it would be easy to see Sunny Dunes at home on a bill with other new electronic introverts such as Emeralds and Oneohtrix Point Never, or the rosters of such notable home recorded and eclectic digital likes of Not Not Fun.

Sunny Dunes is an ideal soundtrack for my expat ennui, as Kira Perov weaves almost wistful scores out of rolling synths, tablaesque drumming and shifting astral melodies. Sunny Dunes is minimal without being unimaginative, warmly analog but at arm's length, like an outsider's perspective." impose


 
"Sylvia Monnier aka Sunny Dunes vient de sortir Colors, en free download, trois somptueux titres, une musique de nuit composée au Mopho qui vous fera pleurer en rêvant" cronique

Sunday, April 29, 2012

mark mcguire


"this has been one of the things i’ve listened too many times to during the last couple of weeks. if you already are into some of his solo stuff you’ll probably know what to expect, except that this is better. first track, with the girl self-healing voice over, is completely \m/ - new age from the ghetto!" thunder gongz

"therapeutic reappearance of raindrops on a windshield. rote and effectual." dreamcatcher earring


"Mark McGuire is the guitarist of the Cleveland drone outfit Emeralds, but his solo work is prolific to say the least. McGuire utilizes a loop pedal, distortion pedal, and weed to create his meditative, psychedelic "Jamz". McGuire's guitar work washes over the listener as you get lost in his chords" monoton

¿cómo pude pasar por alto algo tan bonito? ..."un viaje por el arcoiris, algo que te preocupe' ( there's no one in the world like you...it's time to relax), para despegar, 'follow me' para empezar a volar. transmuteo vs enlightened ! vs ducktails vs inner islands vs...

Saturday, April 28, 2012

my cat is an alien


"instantaneous composers, performers and audiovisual artists, Italian brothers Maurizio and Roberto Opalio, introduce humans to their new creation: 'What Space Is Made For' is the first step in the new parallel universe they call 'multi-layered instantaneous composition'. their highly original music has been brilliantly celebrated as staggering sound sculptures, mesmerizing trance-state minimalism, impressionistic noise, pure hallucination of dislocated inputs and outputs, a haunting ambient mantra, cathartic tribalism, a visionary voyage through three millennia of cosmic music. the truth is that My Cat is An Alien sound like nothing else in music now and ever.


the monumental set 'What Space Is Made For' has been recorded in their secret base on the Western Alps, and unlike their previous works, it's mostly made of short pieces and songs. in addition to their (un)usual instrumentation (electric and acoustic guitars, space toys, percussion), My Cat is An Alien have self-made, modified, and assembled / disassembled primitive electronic equipment. so the result may sound their most experimental as well as their most accessible work to date." elliptical noise

what space is made for es el bucle infinito de dos hermanos que son definitivamente de otro planeta, inabarcable, abstracto, absorbente, painting petals on planet ghost emitiendo mantras desde los remotos alpes occidentales, prayin for the light to last forever, fragmentos suspendidos en el tiempo (oh sunrise),...

"Torino is a very peculiar city and its spirit has influenced our conception of music and art. we think its austere, dark and surrealist atmosphere, its autumnal early-morning fog permeate all our works. we love watching its skyline from our balcony at sunset, when the dark shadows of the Alps surround the dead chimneys like black ghosts dancing around the last flames, just before black falls." maurizo & roberto opalio

Friday, April 27, 2012

ken seeno


"Baltimore, Maryland’s Ken Seeno displays a majestic array of crystal clear synthesizer arrangements. soaring melodies float high above the shimmer of the blue-green waters, looking down upon the colorful shore and the oceans beyond. this is Landscape Electronics." nna tapes

"seriously delightful synth tropicalia here, slow burning séances that indeed evoke images of sunshine and quality time at the beach watching (invisible) surfers, with a lot of chirping and bleeping probably emerging out of the nearby jungle." no fear of pop

de haber hecho una lista con los mejores discos del 2011, ken seeno seguro que estaría muy arriba. radiante, bonito a más no poder, con títulos de la vida tan llenos de vida como 'jugando al golf en el bosque diciendo adiós' 'el recuerdo de un día con una brisa agradable', 'el océano después de la tormenta', 'vidrieras de colores', 'atardecer en truck patch' y una música que suena exactamente así. un surfer invisible sobre una ola invisible, daniel lopatin meets j.d. emmanuel meets panabrite meets los delfines del futuro si cambiamos cetáceos por ranas, 'kind of like if john elliott and matt mondanile went hovercrafting in the everglades'.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

brother ong


"Brother Ong is Mike Tamburo, and Deep Water Creation is the first recording released under his new ordination. in contrast to his past work on guitar and hammered dulcimer, here Brother Ong focuses his energy on the shahi baaja ~ a 22-string electrified Indian zither ~ as channeled through distortion, looping, etc., plus floating wordless vocals on one track. while longtime fans will certainly be able to hear continuities with Tamburo’s previous music, Deep Water Creation also manifests an even greater sense of centered self-assurance in its pulsating webs of meditative sound. call it post-psychedelic exotic trance music, or call it avant garde new age ~ just don’t call it late for kundalini yoga class…" deep water acres


"exotic and hypnotic sounds are looped, tweaked and set free to lure you into a space where you can simply go for the ride and stretch out, or you can get lost in the subtle and subversive details that reveal themselves with repeated visits. it’s not a matter of how long you stay, but rather why you came in the first place…let Brother Ong do the driving, or grab the wheel and navigate your own way through the trance-y signposts." mr. atavist

fotos: matías montecinos

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

emeralds


"not much more to say about these guys that hasn't been said. this tape captures their live show in all its ecstatic glory. their performances range from crushing drones to jubilant bubbliness, but almost always with a cathartic release. this is one of the more abundantly beautiful live recordings I've heard of theirs and makes me wonder why people aren't following them around, documenting their every step" impose

había que recuperarlo, el disco más bonito de emeralds, o al menos mi favorito

out of print ~ download

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

morley loon


"mystic folk-psych drifting between a Native American tradition and the first wave of acoustic lysergia. Morley’s intimate Cree singing is augmented by woven strands of ethereal flute, hand percussion, and melancholic guitar, conjuring a dense empathetic miasma. one of the most affecting records I’ve ever heard. found in a pile of cbc northern broadcast recording 7″s I received from a friend and the only of its kind I’ve ever encountered. if you know anything about Morley Loon (who unfortunately passed away some years ago), please get in touch." weird canada

Saturday, April 21, 2012

fellow travelers


01. empty naked streets ~ charlatan meets the north sea
02. running around the room ~ black eagle child
03. light ~ plaens
04.  psychic estuary ~ booze candy
05. grotto ~ j. hanson
06. earth rotation ~ former selves
07. untitled # ~ d'eon
08. the early breath ~ adderall canyonly
09. hermits ~ pulse emiter
10. hawaiian pi ~ mohave triangles
11. lightworkers meditation ~ transmuteo
12. emerald pool ~ pauline anna strom
13. play through ~ mirror to mirror
14. on the high seas ~ dolphins into the future
15. winter mandala ~ kon tiki gemini
16. asuf ~ derek monypeny
17. summer breeze ~ silver antlers
18. part II ~ sashash ulz
19. neil's diamonds ~ noah wall
20. sartana ~ heroin in tahiti
21. luxury liner ~ imperial topaz
22. happy song ~ neutone
23. a lonely girl ~ dorothy ashby
24. hiding from the freedom of a bird in flight ~ zack kouns
25. wind talk sea talk ~ wim (ウィム)


va ~ fellow travelers part II (abril, 2012)

01. quill blues ~ big boy cleveland
02. ezhik rezinovyi ~ sergei nikitin & tatiana nikitina
03. ja, das ist meine melodie ~ ilse werner
04. milano per caso ~ aksak maboul
05. dill pickles ~ ted shawnee
06. spike driver's blues ~ mississippi john hurt
07. ruben ~ elizabeth cotten
08. that's no way to get along ~ robert wilkins
09. cooking breakfast ~ annette hanshaw
10. take me out to the ball game ~ ella logan
11. poor mum ~ molly drake
12. hula blues ~ jim & bob, the genial hawaiians
13. skurduté ~ etnografinis ansamblis
14. kuu lei ~ george ku trio
15. e mama ea ~ mme. riviere's hawaiians
16. flambee montalbanaise ~ gus viseur
17. do me justice ~ s.e. rogie
18. what a lucky girl you are ~ brendan codey
19. run run se fue p'al norte ~ violeta parra
20. there was a man ~ pearls before swine
21. tulahauen ~ nuestra música
22. song for wild ~ mark fry
23. blood streaming (entry III) ~ the end springs
24. i feel like a blade of grass ~ wooden wand
25. sittin' round ~ shep and me
26. light green fellow ~ michael hurley
27. crescent moon over el cerrito ~ imperfect masters
28. bygones ~ frank reidy  & eric allen
29. what you see is what you mean ~ lucky dragons
30. snow canon ~ steve roach
31. wizard eartsea ~ fantastic magic
32. magic fiesta ~ mpala garoo
33. car ~ sashash ulz
34. eighteen and six ~ black eagle child
35. mullioned view ~ alexander tucker
36. the swimming song ~ loudon wainwright III
37. i'll meet you in the morning ~ townes van zandt
38. the gambler ~ little wings
39. cathay o'neill  ~ lasso
40. waiting for the train ~ rambling boys
41. when halley came to jackson ~ emmylou harris
42. via con me ~ paolo conte


fotos: hoy▲joy

compilado caracoludo para nuestra querida mar, porque "no es nada fácil meter un país en la maleta y cruzar el charco" sisteriano dixit. feliz nariz filomenuda! ♥

(many thanks to adderall~field hymns & robert thompson for letting me use the beautiful charlatan meets the north sea & mohave triangles songs)

Thursday, April 19, 2012

monster rally


"Beyond the Sea is the second full length album from Monster Rally. The records sampled to create this album were dug from cities across the country and have been thrown through the lens of Monster Rally's lo-fi production. The resulting album builds upon the skeleton of 2011's Coral, adding muscle and structure in interesting places, to create a 42 minute song-cycle and continue Monster Rally's exploration of sonic collage. The vinyl edition comes pressed on lava red vinyl in a single gatefold jacket, all artwork is created by Ted Feighan (Monster Rally). A limited edition signed art booklet will be included in the first 100 pre-orders." golden robot

sincronicidad. ayer estuve todo el día con "siberian girls" en la cabeza, debe ser por la felicidad de saber que lleva varios días lloviendo y que la tónica para estos días seguirá siendo la misma. imagino que ya me he hecho mayor del todo al alegrarme por este tipo de cosas. en fín, a lo que iba, ayer a última hora recibí un correo de ted feighan anunciando que para junio estará listo su segundo disco, "beyond the sea", y claro, me puse como unas castañuelas. le comenté que toda la tree people in da house es muy fan de monster rally. mientras esperamos al lanzamiento en junio, nos regala "jaguar" para ir abriendo boca. a ti no sé, para mi escuchar monster rally es nadar en una piscina de bolas antes de merendar un bocadillo de plátano y después de beberme un gin tonic con pistachos.

pre-order | download & see "jaguar"

p.s.: también hablamos de perros, de lo mucho que se parece el perruno del vídeo a jack, y de las ganas que tiene de que aparezca su perro en un vídeo, aquí la futura estrella.


andrew weathers / ancient ocean


"plit cassette from Chapel Hill to Oakland, California transplant Andrew Weathers and Brooklyn-based John Bohannon (Ancient Ocean). best described as ambient americana~beautiful, haunting acoustic guitar and vocal ambiance that recalls an amorphous temporal/spatial american landscape. these songs focus on the human emotion inherent in comprehension that spans areas of unfathomable intimacy. these are songs of a new American folk and a direct line to the rawest feelings of the 21st century. from finger-picked reminiscence to color-washed soundfields and amber waves of ambient~Andrew Weathers and Ancient Ocean create a singular tape that perfectly captures the contradictions and complications of modern American music." rcn

seis fotos de américa, seis paisajes distintos, 'taking names blues' para empezar a volar

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

j. hanson


"J. Hanson’s Blood Orange is a mélange of rhythmic synthesized chanting and ethnic electronic doodles as equally playful as they are meditative. his creations envelop the senses, creating a gift russian dolled into the plastic and casing of the gift tapes vessel ~ a secret one will never know until they tear off the wrapping and place it in the tape deck. oh what a cruel and unusual pleasure they will find..." tiny mix tapes

sold out ~ download

 
"over the past few years, Josh Hanson has developed his own completely unique voice, crafting beautiful music with a Blacet modular synthesizer and tape loops. this is a collection of compositional ideas wound together to form unfamiliar terrestrial landscapes that feel as futuristic as they do ancient. taking inspiration from ’70s synth music and ethnic musics, New Ruined Maps travels through melodic passages, soft timbres and moments of complex rhythmic patterns like a lucid dream." draft
 
out of print ~ download

hay tantos discos que a veces perdemos de vista maravillas como 'grotto', un sintetizador repetitivo y melancólico que no parece real. como todo el disco, como los dos discos de j. hanson, como 'many moons' de former selves o 'dreamsphere' de transmuteo. el tipo de música que tienes la impresión de estar escuchando cuando despiertas de un sueño o estás medio dormida viendo un documental con la cálida voz de richard attenborough sonando de fondo, que te deja el cuerpo aplatanado, flotando feliz, que quieres que le guste a los demás tanto como a ti, que recordarás siempre y siempre será especial, por el título, por la portada, por grotto, por el sintetizador que asoma apacible en el minuto 1:42 de 'bad timing', por 'ghana by jakarta', por el bucle eterno de 'blood orange' que me recuerda a high wolf y cuyo final es apabullante. por el indescriptible sintetizador 70's que inunda 'sawjig' a partir del minuto dos, por ese final con pajarillos tropicales que te conducen suavemente a 'summer oscilating', hipnotiquísima, bonita de verdad. como 'astoria'. como todo el disco, como los dos discos de j. hanson.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

daniel higgs


""the measure of mystery" was recorded (by fletcher tucker of bird by snow & yurt) on cassette tape in big sur, california in the late night hours when the 29th of october was gradually becoming the 30th (2011). song flowed forth from source in a circular redwood room perched just above a waterfall, which itself flows steadily toward its own source (the pacific ocean). you may observe the sounds of both ocean and river on these recordings...and a closer listen may also reward you with the sounds of starlight, mycelium growth, molecular revolution, and an untold number of cosmic musics. this tape is a 45 minute magnetic fossilization of daniel higgs' energy field. It is divided between three tracks of epic proportion: a revelational instrumental banjo improvisation, an entheogenic song performed on banjo and larynx, and an ecstatic mythopoetic recitation. fans of daniel's previous albums are surely aware that an exceptional recording of "say god" already exists, this new incarnation however is nearly twice as long with over 100 verses! truly an awesome artifact, offered to you in the hope that it will inspire awe." gnome life

hace un par de semanas tuve la suerte de ver a daniel higgs en directo, coincido con dani en esa simbiósis perfecta que daniel higgs establece con el banjo, es como un tercer brazo, es tan magnética esa conexión que el devenir de la escucha torna en experiencia mística inevitablemente. en "the measure of mistery" asistes a un diálogo entre música e intérprete a través de canales de comunicación que se extienden más allá de lo perceptible, porque daniel higgs crea y moldea canciones, pero esas mismas canciones poseen vida propia, respiran por sí mismas moldeándole a él y, por extensión, al oyente. es lógico y justo que las conclusiones tiren de nomenclatura epifánica, hay mucho de revelación en su arte. daniel higgs es uno de esos tipos que bajo esa apariencia vagabundesca esconde a un maestro de ceremonias capaz de llegarte ahí, tirando de paralelismo matemático, diría que en un metafórico diagrama de venn daniel higgs sería el óvalo A, tu yo físico sería el B, y la zona solapada, el ahí, es decir, todo lo que aún no sabes de ti. y claro, cuánto antes lo sepas mejor, y más ante el inminente derrumbe del mundo tal como lo conocías hasta ahora. you must return...

Monday, April 16, 2012

moss swarm


"grant evans (nova scotian arms) uncovers hidden psychic terrain through shamanic dirges and spiritual strains of tribal feedback set against the hum of agriculture. bowed veins scratch forests of moss and statues of the deceased dance under the pagan moon. wine and hexagonal tranquilizers on the altar of the hive are consumed blindly by the righteous many below howling winds of witch instrumentals." hooker vision


"psych-folk drone-zone work from grant evans. more twining branches and curling smoke than the other, more new age-y stuff of his I had heard, and this is a good thing, adding quite a bit of grit and substance. again, two tracks, succinct and to the point. nice variety of sounds and textures, all in all a jewelled antler, last visible dog vibe done pleasantly if unassumingly." eggy records

nibiru communion



'live transmission of a segment from our upcoming meditation release 'Astral Sunrise' ~ nibiru communion

Sunday, April 15, 2012

mike tamburo/brother ong


"Brother Ong is the reincarnation of Mike Tamburo. he currently pursues his musical and spiritual interests in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ~ playing the shahi baaja, harmonica, hammered dulcimer, guitar, gong, singing bowls, swarmandal, bells, tanpura, voice, percussion, keys and electronics. he teaches and practices Kundalini Yoga and Sound Yoga/Healing. he focuses on using sound to envelop and transform his students and listeners." ~ brother ong

foto: vincent delbrouck

Saturday, April 14, 2012

brother raven


"great new self-released cassette from this zoned Seattle duo. slow sunrises of keyboards married to wiggy 20th century avant electronics, the kind of fuzzy celestial melodies of ‘72 Sun Ra and a slow-burning atmosphere that is pure cyborg" volcanic tongue

"radient jungle experience colossal modulation" gift tapes



"excellent cassette on Lieven Martens’ label from a duo with a jones for the primitive electronica of 80s underground synth, electronics and tape music. at points they orbit the lonely sound of early Harmonia or even Mark McGuire but there’s an alien, homemade quality to the sonics that is extremely appealing. Lieven compares it to some of Colin Potter’s early work and that makes a lot of sense. one to get lost in." david keenan, volcanic tongue

"Brother Raven's music burbles and pulsates in a cosmic eternal now, unspooling fractals of clean-blooded analog-synth tones that ripple and disperse into that bright light filmmakers flash when characters cross from reality into dream/fantasy." dave segal, the stranger


érase una vez un belga con bigote y gran amor a los cetáceos que además de ser el autor del disco que hoy me llevaría a una isla desierta, sigue llevándonos de viaje con taped sounds aka cetacean nation cassettes, otra vez ese sello favorito fuente inagotable de tesoros marinos y tropicales, cósmicos e hipnóticos, como orphan fairytale, miaux, shark flakes o brother raven. indescriptible la sensación de relajación suprema al escuchar 'chilling with strangers' y 'we live in a seal zone'

sky stadium


"Sky Stadium Jeff B's compositions always have a very substantive and emotive draw to them.  it’s like a familiar friend that’s ready with a warm embrace and unspoken reassurance.  somehow, Roman’s really able to bring his synth to life with a very calm and soothing energy.  this tape is a must for any fan.  an absolutely essential moment in his discography." foxy digitalis

Friday, April 13, 2012

lasso | grizzly prospector


"incredibly refreshing lo-fi country music out of Kalamazoo. layers of reverb and haunting vocals give this a psychedelic vibe that seems pretty hard to come across within such a streamlined genre." ongakubaka

"Lasso is the brainchild of Andy Catlin. this recording is very lo-fi, the songs are buried beneath mountains of fuzz and reverb; it sounds like something recorded through the wall of some backwards saloon, where spaghetti-western guitar licks and ragtime piano are right at place next to laptops and warped vocals. Catlin’s nasally singing voice is often obfuscated by an effects filter and the lo-fi touches, and weird ghostly sounds creep into the tracks without warning." mostly midwest




demos and outtakes from the unrealized "cycles".

"a wonderful collection of lo-fi, warm, intimate songs. imagine an old time miner stuck in a small shed during the harsh winter months in a run down gold mine long abandoned by all the other miners, writing songs of long lost loves & losses." victory rose

"I hesitate to call what I do folk music. traditional folk is very structured, and what I do is certainly not" parker yates~grizzly prospector



"debut treat and admittedly, a little on the soft side." parker yates~grizzly prospector

that's me, the grizzmibee!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

shark flakes


"a beautiful 60's style radio play by Joker & Edith. originally created for a theater / puppet play by Joke Van De Casteele (meet her at Homey!). Edith Vandenhoeck plays in EekhoornX (together with Orphan Fairytale). the sound is the dreamworld of Raymond Scott commercials and kiddy pools." tomentosa


cajas de música y monitores de signos vitales, latidos de corazón, risas de bebés, burbujas y chapoteos, sintonías musicales de anuncios y dibujos animados, cetáceos, juegos, campanas, zumbidos de abejas y avionetas, timbres de bicicleta, kalimbas, olas, burbujas, burbujas, burbujas...otra miniatura en cassette del sello de lieven moana, ambiental, rosa y acuático, tan placentero y orgánico que podrías escucharlo durante horas hasta quedarte plácidamente dormida

bedroom bear | wind in willows


"Russia’s Bedroom Bear and Wind in Willows team up for a mysterious split displaying two unique, individual visions. Bedroom Bear gets things going with a folky, lo-fi slow burner, tape hiss like washes of waves on the beach. Wind in Willows follows suit with a miniature symphony of sparkling synths and skittering beats." hooker vision

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

windy & carl



"then valentines day 2011 was coming, and his gift to me was this cd of tracks he had done, all alone, and a lot of them new, just for me. i loved them, all of them. i played them all day every day for months. carl told me it was music just for me, and no one else would ever hear it. (...) it was a joy for me to be on this record, to be able to make a new record with the man i love. to have found, that even after the darkest of times, we are still in love, we are still incapable of living without each other, we are still 2 halves of the same being." windy

"el nuevo trabajo de windy & carl está imbuido del amor que acostumbran a transmitir con su arte. esta vez, el trasfondo es si cabe más claro en este sentido, por ser un disco en un principio concebido como regalo, de él a ella. tal vez por eso, por ser de algún modo una celebración del amor, en los momentos más plácidos y contemplativos esta música suena casi curativa (...) ahondando en su mundo de ternura, de sinsabores con final feliz, de asombro y felicidad melancólica." dreamfolk

disco tras disco, la magia natural de esta pareja traduce su ser uno en música celestial, sólo que aquí en la tierra, perdidos ahora en los detalles de la flor, en su diseño asombroso como las historias vitales cuando miras atrás. sus manos entrelazadas vienen compartiendo con nosotros sus vibraciones de intimidad y cercanía desde hace ya mucho tiempo, y el tiempo vivido y su ahondar en el amor se respiran en su música relajante, espaciosa y afectuosa, ya desde la cálida invitación a flotar que es "remember".

listen: "remember" | buy

Saturday, April 07, 2012

pears | clathrus


"like a calm breeze that just washed you up on a sandy beach, then gently blows you around as the sun sets. pears is gary reuben morris, who also goes by curly fingers and lagos disco machine. gary is from cape town and lives in new york." aava gaava


"clathrus is a digital voodoo experimental electronic project from moscow, russia. their music is a cool little collection of laid back, electronic dreamscapes. there's a nice kind of folky, world music vibe running through the album, especially noticeable in the vaguely gamelan percussion. recommended for your trance-inducing pleasure." geräuschkrieg


fotos: luke byrne

pears y clathrus comparten sello con mpala garoo y suenan a verano. cankun, monster rally, izabelle adjani, palmeras, groooooves, sol...

Friday, April 06, 2012

miaux


"Mia Prce. a mother, a lover, a piano player. Étude Des Têtus is her third limited run release, after a self-released cassette and a nice 7" for the Ultra Eczema recordlabel. this current cassette holds four compositions. all organically scored, played and recorded "with two hands". forming an unintentional, beautiful and singular take on 1950's styled "keyboard exotica". if you are a thinker like me, and always wished Korla Pandit was a woman instead of a man ~ since we all know, women are better "dreamers" than man ~ here's your chance! (edition of 100 copies. last copies!)" taped sounds

"she only needs a keyboard for her instant-dream compositions that float between childhood cartoon memories and repetitive light version of your favorite fitness soundtrack" kraak


deliciosa y entrañable, como una película de ed wood, como lonesome mountain y no clouds today. tanto con tan poco. y que se publique en el sello marino de lieven moana hace que sea incluso más apetecible...me encantaría tener un sello sólo por el placer de poder publicar cosas así

foto: fort 8, scheld'apen, july 2011 by mark rietveld

~ see ~
"...miaux slowly moved towards to a small free standing yamaha keyboard. the way miaux started playing, the peace that her face was carrying and the magical sparkling shoes she was wearing, fill the whole room with a different type of joy. miaux music and performance added something very particular to the exhibition and to our evening, she added gentleness and perfume" inspire me, again

Thursday, April 05, 2012

dolphins into the future


"naturalist visionary Lieven Martens brings us along the latest voyage of his musical vessel, Dolphins Into The Future. “A Star Maker, Strange Dreams, and Clairvoyance” induces a state of lucid dreaming where we experience tales of romance, stargazing, cosmic motion, and eternity. not unlike a painter’s brush, Martens utilizes a sound palette of colorful, synthesized organics to bring the listener directly into the vivid and exotic world that Dolphins has spent years cultivating. after much anticipation, we’re very pleased to offer the latest creation of a true hero of the nu new age." nna tapes


"Lieven combines what sounds like a modified theremin or an auto-tuned saw, or just maybe some really creepy Birdsongs of the Mesozoic-type vocals with lots of deftly-placed, tinkling bells and other less identifiable ocean sounds. Lieven is obsessed with sounds of the ocean, but also sounds of the historical ocean, and he applies this obsession to his work with the mission statement "I create cetacean transfers". while listening to this work, you might experience a temporal transfer for sure." impose

collage: thenewclotheshorse

Wednesday, April 04, 2012

sashash ulz


"Sashash Ulz from Petrozavodsk, Karelia deliver exactly the kind of lovely ‘n deranged psychedelic jams you desperately want to digest during a long drive back home from another nightmarish family meeting. And whilst leaving your own private Silent Hill behind the dreamy ‘n disturbing Sashash Ulz put your mind at ease. Relax… there’s no more neurotic relatives asking you to become part of their gated community, there’s no more shallow chitchat to the now married girl next door you once fell for. There’s only you, your car and the mellow ‘n melancholic sounds of Sashash Ulz to accompany your slowly fading memories of a failed future your lucky enough to have escaped." sicsic

finale

foto: árbore
 

Tuesday, April 03, 2012

molnbär av john


"this is Thundersketches. it is a showcase of the groundwork and the sketches used for Thunderclown, the crackly, croony affair between scottish indie crooner Momus and swedish vinyl charmer John Henriksson.

the sketches are as scribbles in a notepad, where the letters at first follow the lines on the paper, then float in different directions, crashing into and pulling away from each other, before finally reaching the paper's edge, just short of falling off the page. built from a thoughtfully curated selection of sounds ~ a piano, a singing saw, harps and strings and a dusty needle ~ sampled from vinyls rescued from thrift store anonymity, pieced together from various places in time and space, only to see them let loose as a cloud of fluttering insects, intermingled and given new life as organic, romantic compositions, where the needle skipping and scratching the record forms drawings beside the letters in the notepad and then again erases them." tona serenad

foto: patrick campbell


"a small selection of the sample-based compositions John Henriksson has made for the last few years have now been put together to a twelve minute sound collage titled "I Wish I Could Draw Her Nose", which makes up the debut of the solo project he calls Molnbär av John.

a record made from chopped and screwed sounds, humorous compositions and romantic melodies, where the image of Audrey Hepburn singing Moon River on the stairs of the fire escape...collages of melodies, voices and sound recordings are collected with precision and warmth, sounds from countless ~ long forgotten ~ crackling vinyl singles mixed with dictaphone recordings. back and forth, to and from the cassette tapes, new cloudy horizons are created by sounds, where the crackling of the record is hard to separate from the sound of the rain, which is mixed together with the hissing of the cassette tape, which is hard to separate from the sound of the wind." tona serenad


cuando escucho este tipo de música, que más que música es un estado de ánimo al que soy adicta, siempre me viene a la cabeza un vinilo antiguo que teníamos en casa cuando era pequeña, en la portada salía una pareja bailando en una especie de cocktail exótico, detrás un grupo de músicos sonrientes armados de maracas y tambores amenizando la fiesta a ritmo de bossanova. los marcianos john y momus, como the caretaker o nuojuva, recrean de forma mágica y muy muy agradable esa época dorada y en blanco y negro en la que todo suena familiar. samples de vinilos antiguos, la imagen de audrey hepburn cantando moon river apoyada en la ventana, trompetas, steel guitars hawaianas de los años veinte, el crepitar de la aguja sobre los surcos desgastados, balalaikas, algún silbido aislado, chet baker, crooners, orquestas de salón, pianos misteriosos, conversaciones recitadas en francés, algún instrumento no identificado que me recuerda al theremin de clara rockmore...buen gusto, nostalgia y romanticismo a raudales. sé que el término 'música cinematográgica' es ya un cliché, pero es la mejor forma de describir experiencias sonoras como la preciosísima 'gibbous groove'

un placer y una suerte haber llegado hasta ellos a través de la recomendación de joke leonare (mittland och leo) y el recopilatorio tropisch excuus que hace tiempo había subido nico a luzzzalig y que llevaba unos días buscando. definitivamente, todo está unido