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 A major figure in American contemporary music since the 1960s, Robert Ashley has acquired an international reputation for his work in new forms of opera and multi-disciplinary projects. In his book, American Music in the 20th Century, Kyle Gann states, “Electronically innovative, socially provocative, and incorrigibly theatrical, Robert Ashley epitomizes the conceptualism of the 1960s, yet more than any other figure he has transcended it.” In the 1960s, Ashley organized Ann Arbor’s legendary ONCE Festival and directed the ONCE Group. During the 1970s, he directed the Center for Contemporary Music at Mills College, toured with the Sonic Arts Union, and produced and directed Music with Roots in the Aether, a 14-hour television opera/documentary about the work and ideas of seven American composers. Ashley wrote and produced Perfect Lives, an opera for television widely considered the precursor of “music-television.” Staged versions of Perfect Lives and Atalanta (Acts of God) and the monumental opera tetralogy, Now Eleanor’s Idea have toured throughout Europe, Asia and the United States. He wrote Balseros for Florida Grand Opera, Dust for premiere at the Kanagawa Arts Foundation in Yokohama, and Celestial Excursions for the Berlin Festival and Hebbel Theater Berlin. Ashley was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1930 and was educated at the University of Michigan and the Manhattan School of Music.
Concrete follows from Robert Ashley’s preoccupation in two previous operas with the kind of speech that has not been explored in opera — in Dust, the speech of the homeless; in Celestial Excursions, the speech of people living together in a home for old people. The three operas are not a “trilogy” in any sense, but they all come from this preoccupation with or fascination with special kinds of speech and special kinds of states of mind.
“The characters I’m interested in,” Ashley explains, “are marginal, because everybody is marginal compared to the stereotypes. I am interested in their profoundly good qualities, and I’m not interested at all in evil. The characters in my work are as bizarre and unreal as the characters in William Faulkner. They just happen to be ordinary people who are spiritually divine.” (The Wire, 2003).
Though in Concrete it is not made explicit in any way, the libretto might be considered to be the “musings” of an old man alone. He thinks about strange questions and even as the questions are asked they are answered in various forms of sarcasm, indifference, questions about the questions and explanations. In other words, he is talking to himself.
The opera takes the form of five “discussions” about matters he wonders about: Why do people keep secrets about themselves? Why do the buildings in the city all line up perfectly (vertically) when the surface of the planet is round? Why is it that so many things that people do as recreation are played counter-clockwise? What has happened to the many women friends (“lovers”) he has had and “left behind” and why were they left behind? And, finally, the fact that he has recently seen a “flying carpet” (in his bedroom.)
The five “internal” discussions alternate with four reminiscences about people the old man has worked with and loved. The reminiscences are short and detailed biographies of seemingly ordinary people who in the past did extraordinary things — sometimes criminal, sometimes just brave in an unusual way — but will never be recognized for what they did. The stories will never be known, except to the audience. No one is named. These are secret lives.
The singers in the opera are not “characters” in any traditional way. They take part in the very fast “discussions” sections as voices in the old man’s musings. Then each of the singers is given one of the “biographies” as a solo aria.
The musical technique of the opera allows the singers, in ensemble and as soloists, complete freedom with regard to vocal pitch, speech nuance and inflection. The opera will be sung differently in every performance. The orchestra, recorded in the computer, is made up of some hundreds of composed, short orchestral “samples” which can be chosen at the moment to make up the accompaniment to the singers’ decisions about how to tell the story. In short, every performance, but based on the same libretto, will be different.
 If you are a person with a lot of curiosity for exploring music from each region of the world, or searching to wander on a journey through unfamiliar music, or the kind of person who loves labels such as ‘world music’, ‘music of the world’, or ‘local music’, then you should get ready to enjoy listening to Korean music. The is because Korean music has still kept a sense of mystery and the unfamiliar, compared with certain other regions of music in the world. However, if you can understand the musical affinity and virtue flowing down through the ages in Korean music, then you will be able to realize that Korean music is one of the most interesting and diverse, as well as passionate and naturally intimate forms of music that exist. Whether traditional music, or contemporary traditional music, these forms of traditional music steeped in heritage, can all fit within the genre of Korean classical music or gugak, kugak, or kuk-ak, depending on the transliteration. Furthermore, this Korean classical music is considered to be one of the most representative Korean art forms among the Korean people’s long history and diverse, traditional culture.
If you want to ascertain how well traditional Korean music has left its impact on the modern age, or feeling unfamiliar with the culture of North East Asia you try to flexibly accustom yourself by listening to the latest domestic popular music in Korea, then you might end up perplexed by the extreme forms of Westernized music and content you come across. But if you are hoping to encounter the various forms of Korea’s traditional arts, or the meeting of tradition and modernity, then it is recommended that you first seek out and enjoy Korean contemporary creative music or traditional music. Although you may feel this type of music is initially boring or a little strange, for Koreans, the fluctuating rhythms of the sound serve to convey the beauty of nature. In addition, this music helps us to understand how Koreans wish to coexist with nature in a mental realm, so that rather than a largo, a slower rhythm of jinyangjo allows us to meet the mountains and flowing water of Korea. Within the stories related to us in pansori, we can respond to the vivid emotions of love, anger, sorrow, and mirth portrayed by the Korean singers and narrators. Korean music is part of a global language, that can be befriended easily and comfortably, becoming a musical language that is always there right by your side. (HWANG Woo-chang)
Traditional Korean Music and Musicians Today
The performance range open to present-day musicians in traditional music of Korea seems to know no boundaries. On the one hand, we see them solemnly dressed in red court costumes, playing pieces that are 500 years old. On the other, we witness them playing club-style music, closely and actively interacting with the audience like jazz musicians. Sometimes they play convoluted modern pieces in collaboration with world famous modern composers and at other times they play as guest soloists for a western classical orchestra. This is partly because elements of religion, folklore, and life in Korean traditional society have come to exist side by side since the 20th Century in our Westernized and modernized world. Since the late 20th Century, Korean musicians have especially attempted a cross-over, trying to incorporate western classical, popular, and world music into their musical idioms.
This album contains a variety of examples that provides a bird’s-eye-view of the traditional Korean musicians today. These musicians have received their education in authentic schools of traditional Korean music but are now attempting to experiment with other modern musical idioms. Their respect towards our age-old traditions is sincere, and they believe that only a firm grounding in the past will allow them to create new traditions.
This brief essay will introduce, among different fields of traditional Korean music today, four major branches, in order to help the reader grasp a better understanding of their activities. The 13 examples contained in this recording include traditional instrumental and vocal pieces, pungmul, and religious music. The art of KANG Eun-il HaegumPlus, Tori Ensemble, Korean Creative Music Society, and HWANG Byung-ki represent the solo or ensemble music for the gayageum (12-stringed zither), geomun-go (6-stringed zither), daegeum (long transverse bamboo flute), piri (double-reed oboe), and haegeum (2-stringed spiked fiddle). The songs of AHN Sook-Sun, LEE Ja-ram, CHAE Soo-jung, and KANG Kwon-soon are new interpretations of the traditional pansori and art songs. Be-Being and Baramgot represent the Buddhist and Religious tradition, while groups Sonagi Project, Gong Myoung, Noreum Machi, and Dulsori play in the tradition of pungmul, rooted in the everyday lives of commoners. (…) (SONG Hye-jin)
 Robert Ashley’s NOW ELEANOR’S IDEA is a quartet of short operas based on the notion of a sequence of events seen from four, different points of view. At the same time, each opera is an allegory, like Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, for an individual’s self-realization within the context of a major religion found in the United States. Improvement takes its imagery and plot from Judaism, Foreign Experiences from Pentecostal Evangelism, eL/Aficionado from Corporate Mysticism, and Now Eleanor’s Idea from (Spanish) Catholicism.
The inspiration for these works came specifically from four sources: the work of the historian, Frances A. Yates (1900-1983), whose specialty of interests included the influence of Kabbalistic mysticism on the birth of modernism and scientific philosophy in Italy in the 16th century (as a result of the expulsion of Jews from Spain during the Inquisition); the writings of Carlos Castaneda (and the arguments about him as a writer and about the intentions of his work); Low Rider Magazine, the fan-cult magazine of the Low Rider movement in the Southwestern United States; and finally, corporate vocabulary, what it sounds like and how it is used in popular publications, like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal or Fortune Magazine.
While working at The Bank, the title character, Now Eleanor, has a sort of “religious experience” that fills her with an “approach of the end of the world feeling.” This feeling compels her to leave her job in the Midwest, move to New Mexico, and become a newscaster to try to discover the point where the religions of America – Judaism, Protestantism, Business and Catholicism – merge. But there is more in store for her than she realizes…
Music & Libretto by Robert Ashley
Featuring: Joan LaBarbara as Now Eleanor
Amy X Neuburg as Now Eleanor’s Low Rider Double
Marghreta Cordero as Now Eleanor’s Guardian Angel
Ensemble Voices: Robert Ashley, Sam Ashley, Thomas Buckner, Jacqueline Humbert
Mixing and Electronics: Tom Hamilton
 This CD was compiled as accompaniment of Background of Chinese Sound Art, an article issued in magazine Avant-Garde Today no. 14. It was collected in 2006 while sound art started emerging from Chinese experimental and electronic music scene. The title Background means, there is no such reality as Chinese Sound Art but possibilities and explorations blooming in its background. it is end of 2008 when this CD has been published. Maybe people now define Music and Sound Art more consciously and clearly.
Curated and Edited by Yan Jun/KwanYin Records
Assisted by Shi Yang
Designed by Ruan Qianrui
Catalogue: kwanyin 018
 Phil Kline was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and raised in Akron, Ohio. He graduated from Columbia University with a degree in English Literature, then, after several years of working as a rock guitarist and classical music disc jockey, attended the Mannes College of Music. In the early ‘90s Kline emerged as a composer and installation artist whose typical medium was large numbers of boom box tape recorders and players, often placed in non-traditional venues. Bachman’s Warbler for harmonicas and 12 boomboxes was premiered at the Bang On A Can marathon in 1992. Unsilent Night, an annual outdoor Christmas event for infinite number of boomboxes, debuted in Greenwich Village in December of that year. To be sung on the water was presented throughout the Whitney Museum during the 1995 Biennial, The Holy City of Ashtabula premiered at the Brooklyn Anchorage in July 1996, and Winter Music, sponsored by Creative Time, was performed in Central Park in December 1996. In 1997, his sextet Exquisite Corpses, commissioned by the Bang On A Can All-Stars, was premiered at Lincoln Center. His upcoming projects included an electric guitar work for Mark Stewart, a string quartet for the Sirius Quartet and an electro-acoustic oratorio with text by Luc Sante. Kline also produces concerts featuring numerous composer and musician friends in various downtown venues. He conceived and produced “The Alternative Schubertiade,” presented by CRI in September, 1997 at American Opera Projects as part of the Downtown Arts Festival. Kline also performs his A Fantasy on One Note on the “New York Guitars” CD on CRI Emergency Music Series.
Kline makes almost unimaginable sounds with orchestras consisting of dozens or even hundreds of boombox tape players. Massive waves of sliding tone clusters, voices and bells inhabit “The Holy City of Ashtabula” and the circle of fifths extends into infinity in the ominous “Premonition.” “Chant” uses a dozen tape loops and a Robert Plant riff to emulate the sound world of Steve Reich’s “It’s Gonna Rain” gone mad in live performance, while the harmonica-crazed “Bachman’s Warbler” is simply one of the 1990s post-minimalist classics.
 Nomad is a compilation consisting of 14 songs presenting Sainkho in different contexts from solo to big-band, in different styles of singing accompanied by different sets of musicians. Almost half of the songs have never been released in the West before. Sainkho Namtchylak celebrated her 50th anniversary in 2007 and, for the occasion, the avant-garde jazz/free improvisation label Leo Records did what probably no one else would have done: release a career-encompassing compilation album. You see, Namtchylak is a highly versatile artist, with activities ranging from extremely abstract experimental music to more straightforward jazz and soothing world music. The woman is well known on the world music circuit for her throat singing, and also respected in free improvisation circles for her use of extended techniques and her collaborations with Evan Parker and the Moscow Composers Orchestra. And most fans of one facet of her work are unaware of her other activities. Nomad brings it all together for a portrait that is still incomplete and imperfect, yet broader and much more representative than anything else on the market. Her worldbeat-type work is represented by three selections from Arzhaana (an album bordering on new age music) and another from the recent release Who Stole the Sky Her jazzier side is highlighted by a marvelous piece from her Leo release Letters and a previously unreleased performance with Daniel Klemmer, Karl Seyer and Uli Soyka. Excerpts from Aura cover her free improvisation activities, here featured in interaction with Peter Kowald, Vladimir Tarasov and Vladimir Volkov. Finally, peppered throughout the track list are short voice solos highlighting her phenomenal vocal technique and range. These are unclassifiable, as they belong as much to traditional Tuvan throat singing than to pure experimental soundmaking. All tracks have been edited into a smoothly flowing, cross-fading suite that makes this aural journey particularly easy to follow and appreciate. A must have for fans curious to know what is happening on the other side of Namtchylak’s fence — and the obligatory starting point for newcomers. (François Couture, CDuniverse)
 Dark organic drones created in a 200 million gallon underground cistern is the background for the album “Echoes of Syros”. It is not every day a tuba is being connected to ambient music. Never the less this is what happened when L.A.-based composer released his “Where the earth meets the sky” on the Hypnos-label back in 2001. It was an album that concentrated on the dark expressions of ambient music, with deeply dark and organic drones created by the tuba-master Tom Heasley. There are similarities to the “Where the earth meets the sky” on this new album from Tom Heasley titled “Echoes of Syros”. The album is based on a collaboration with compatriot artists Stuart Dempster and Eric Glick Rieman. Eric Glick Rieman is an improviser, composer, and multi-instrumentalist performer from the Californian Bay area, who works in wide areas of the musical styles from classical music across jazz to ambient music. Stuart Dempster is a S.F.-based composer and trombonist and didjeridu-player who has, among others collaborated with drone/doom-metal-band Sun O))) on the album “Monoliths and dimensions”. “Echoes of Syros” was a live improvisation by the three collaborators recorded in august 2008 in a 200 million gallon underground cistern situated at Fort Worden. Opening track of “Echoes of Syros” is the main piece of the album with 34 minutes runtime. An excellent piece that reminds of the “Where the earth meets the sky” thanks to the use of wind instruments that apart from tuba also counts a trombone and didjeridu. The piece opens slowly and first of all built on textural atmospheres. The remaning three pieces of the album has a total runtime of 22 minutes moves a half step away from the pure ambient-style of opening piece. The electronic soundscapes have disappeared and the full attention is given to the acoustic instruments. The album is released on Tom Heasley’s own label “Full Bleed Music” and highly recommended to listeners of earlier ambient-works of Tom Heasley and electronic dark jazz-projects such as Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble. (Niels Mark, www.EARLabs.org)
 We all know about Erik Skodvin’s activities outside of Deaf Center – he’s carved out quite a solo career for himself as Svarte Greiner – but what of the Norwegian duo’s other member, Otto Totland? For the past couple of years he’s worked as part of the duo, Nest, with Huw Roberts, releasing their eponymous debut EP in 2007 on Roberts’ own Serein label. Now the two artists at last follow up that release with this wonderful full-length, which lifts its first six tracks from the EP (with one newly reworked) and adds a further five new compositions. Retold is something of a masterpiece within its field. Even on early inspections this record excels on every level as a piece of cinematic, ambient contemporary classical composition. From the writing, performances and sparing arrangements right down to the deeply atmospheric production this is an album that followers of cinematic score-work/modern-classical music will absolutely relish, combining memorable deployments of both melody and texture with a kind of scrupulous minimalism that never overplays its hand. ‘Lodge’ serves as an apt introduction to the album, setting out with muffled, bell-like piano phrases, pining horns and the gentlest current of strings, but by the time we arrive at ‘Marefjellet’ the duo have really hit their stride, conjuring suspenseful, filmic passages populated by rhythmic keying figures, deep, bass-heavy harps and vintage-style electronic processing. At times it’s as if you’re listening to a cross between Biosphere’s Insomnia soundtrack and his album, Shenzhou, and in terms of ambient music, that must surely be regarded as a compliment of the highest order. Elsewhere, more abstract pieces arrive with the likes of ‘Trans Siberian’, where the influence of sound collage takes hold: early outbreaks of wintry drone merge with passing locomotive sounds, before an evocative mixture of coarse, filtered strings, fractured piano and field recordings start to flow. The previously unreleased material on the disc proves to be more than up to the task of following up the earlier EP tracks: ‘Wheatstone’ is full of immaculately produced, aloof romanticism, while ‘The Helwick’ takes on a blizzard-like feel with its musty, Deathprod-like approach to engineering. Possibly the most extroverted of all the recordings here is ‘Far From Land’, a composition that’s just achingly beautiful as it builds up to a choral midway point that’s guaranteed to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand to attention. Retold is sure to enthrall followers of Deaf Center’s ambient audio-sculpting, but it’s also bound to resonate strongly with anyone who follows the work of artists like Peter Broderick, Johann Johannsson and Max Richter too. Very highly recommended.
 It’s music from the frigid environs of Siberia that is warmly evocative and magnetic. On Russian Folksongs in the Key of Rhythm, Evgeny Masloboev performs on drums, rainstick, small marimba, kitchen utensils, and almost everything short of the kitchen sink. And with the angelic vocals of his daughter Anastasia, who was only fifteen years old at the time of this recording, they transform Russian folk into curiously interesting and utterly enjoyable rhythmic works.
Evgeny Masloboev’s credits include music teaching and the institution of a theater targeted for children along with compositions for plays and Russian film. Essentially, the artist possesses a broad musicality that is engineered with polytonal overlays and persistent flows via his expansive array of implements. Within the eastern folk attributes of these endearing compositions, Evgeny Masloboev conjures up the rhythm of life, while his daughter’s heavenly chants and endearing lyricism—iterated in her native tongue—adds an aura of mystery and spiritualism.
Many of Evgeny Masloboev’s pieces incorporate subliminal Asian frameworks and African cadences to round out the core Russian themes, often treated with his block-flute lines and small marimba-based ostinato passages. He also generates ethereal backwashes and tribal-like patterns in spots. However, the jazz element surfaces due to his steadily flowing snare drum based shuffle groove laid out on the ten-minute piece simply titled “Bird.” Here, the sounds of bird chirps loom as the lead instrument where Evgeny Masloboev elicits imagery of nature’s inherent music and rhythmic nuances, spiced up with a jazzy touch. Nonetheless, music of a distant land blossoms into a marvel of beauty and ingenuity throughout this strikingly persuasive album. (Glenn Astarita, Allaboutjazz.com)
 Namgar, the singer from the family line of white shamans. In the heart of Siberia, under bottomless blue sky, there the songs sung by Namgar were born. She is a daughter of the steppe, born to a cattle herder whose line included the darkhasha craftsmen and white shamans. She masters the mysteries of the great wide open, voices of spirits of mountains and forests. Love to the melodies sung by her granny and her father, the wish to maintain the tradition that is becoming extinct, brought her on festival stages around the world. She sings long songs and yokhor dance tunes, uliger legends of mighty champions, precise arrows, and swift horses, just as they used to sing ages ago, with music arranged so that the jewels of her singing were accessible on world music stage. Namgar has been the cult Buryat singer for people in Buryatia and Mongolia, and beyond in East Siberia.
 If you share our fascination with the vocal inventiveness of human beings, this is for you. The Tuvan people are said to be descendants of Ghengis Kahn. They live just north of Mongolia in the exact center of the Asia, surrounded by mountains which have helped to keep them isolated. As a nomadic herding culture a closeness with nature permeates their lives and is the mainstay of musical culture. It is said that the throat singing for which the Tuvan’s have become so well known came from listening to the resonance of the empty steppe. The singing of multiple notes at the same time by one singer can be historically traced back to the eighth century and may well be much older. Shu-De is a troupe of five musician/singers with an arranger who share with us exquisite examples of the five varieties of throat singing in both accompanied and unaccompanied arrangements. The Tuvans are the best practitioners of singing harmonic overtones, and Shu-De is one of the best groups in Tuva. Explore your world!
 Born on the grand Mongolian prairie, Tengger expands his love for the Mongolian songs into all Chinese folk songs. And a solid education in classic music affords him the ability to diversify his music and tastes. In him you will find an impressive scope and scale. And his love for the land and nature urges him to sing. As he says, I’ll plant the seeds for the flowers of tomorrow. ‘He will sing forever for the land he loves and the life that touches him-and us. With the help of the most advanced technology 24 bit, this album vividly presents the beauty of Tengger’s touching voice.
After her hugely popular appearance at last year’s Taipei International World Music Festival, where her songwriting dexterity and haunting vocals wowed the crowds, Mongolia songstress, Urna Chahar-Tugchi, makes a welcome return to the capital this weekend with a one-off show at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall.
Born into a family of farmers in the Ordos region of Southwest Inner Mongolia, Urna and her hauntingly atmospheric vocal prowess have traveled the world for almost a decade, enchanting audiences with her repertoire of both traditional and contemporary Mongolian tunes.
Entering the Shanghai Conservatory’s Institute of Traditional Chinese Music in 1990 at the age of 20 unable to speak a single word of Mandarin, Urna studied the traditional Chinese lute.
She put down the stringed instrument shortly thereafter, however. Having mastered the lute as well as the Mandarin language, she set out on a career as a singer. Her first vocalizing venture was with the Gaoshan Liushui ensemble, China’s first and most influential world music troupe.
 Urna’s solo recording career began in the mid-1990s after she was picked up by German label, KlangRaume. Since releasing her first album, Tal Nutag, in 1995, Urna has seen her three subsequent albums make inroads into music charts around the globe. Her most release being last year’s Jamar.
Not allowing her international fame to cloud her musical outlook, Urna makes regular trips back to her homeland to collect songs and stories and tours the steppes searching for elderly folks with whom to exchange musical ideas apropos interpreting and performing age-old Mongolian songs.
Assisting Urna in filling the Taipei venue with a heap of Mongolian color and sound will be her international backing group of Indian national, Ramesh Shotham on percussion, Hungarian Zoltan Lantos on violin and Germany’s Maria Reiter on accordion and zither.
 The Mongolian songs have a rich repertory. Music spread from home to home on the occasion of festivities and by way of teaching. The family or the clan meeting constituted a good chance to gather and sing together, the chance to learn from others, and to take home a new melody. In this way, the ancient patterns performed in various corners of Mongolia have been preserved by local masters for the whole nation. Some specific types are: labor songs (work songs); buuvay songs (lullaby); hunter’s calls [to attract animals by imitating their call); various herder's calls, [to manage the herds by means of signalling (each animal has its own signal)]; uukhay or gulyingoon songs which are linked to seasonal events (arrival of spring, mare milk flows, horse race training, etc.); many other songs announcing birthdays, weddings, national holidays, winning a horse race or a wrestling competition, celebration of the elders, wool cutting, cashmere combing, arrival of harvest and many more songs for singing and dancing together. The nomad shepherds in Mongolia, like other nomads from Central Asia, used to play string and wind instruments. The national music of Mongolia has had a rich background and a great tradition that goes back many centuries. Ensembles (orchesters) have performed at court or in the monasteries for lamaistic celebrations or in ritual ceremonies. Ensembles also play for daily rites in the ger (round tents). The morin khuur (horse-head violin or ‘fiddle’) (morin = horse; khuur = sound, rhyme, melody) is the most important traditional instrument for dance and to accompany songs. It is the national instrument. […] The body and the neck are carved from wood. The end of the neck has the form of a horse-head and the sound is similar to that of a violin or a cello. The [two] strings are made of dried deer or mountain sheep sinews. It is played with a bow made of willow, stringed with horsetail hair and coated with larch or cedar wood resin. […] The yatga is a half-tube zither with a movable bridge. It is constructed as a box with a convex surface and an end bent towards the ground. The strings are plucked and the sound is very smooth. The instrument was considered to be sacrosanct and playing it was a rite, bound to taboos. The instrument was mainly used at court and in monasteries, since strings symbolised the twelve levels of the palace hierarchy.
 On this formidable 3-disc release for Lovely Music, Annea Lockwood revisits techniques utilized in her “Sound Map of the Hudson;” albeit in far greater depth and the inclusion of interviews with Danube bank inhabitants.
Spanning five separate trips to the Danube, and comprising 59 sites and 13 interviews, Lockwood is able to convey not only some of the majesty of this exercise, but provide a fascinating voice to her subject. Most interesting is Lockwood’s willingness to allow her work to be shaped and informed by the Danube itself– rather than stressing the ordinary role of the “artist-as-communicator,” Lockwood acts as more of a translator and sounding board– posing the question, “what is a river?” Lockwood allows the Danube (and those nearby) to answer.
In a society where we all too often impart our own desires for relaxation on every natural recording, “A Sound Map of the Danube” is a refreshing assertion of sounds’ own life and drive, in contrast to the usual belief in field recordings as mere raw material for later manipulation. Even the personal interviews reflect this to a point. Without an audible translator, listeners are free to consider the voices musically, and seem encouraged to by their being interwoven with the natural sounds. Later on, the liner notes can be consulted, revealing a full-size foldout map of the recording sites along the Danube and English-language translations of all interview subjects.
As can be expected, I am highly impressed with this release, and eagerly encourage you to check it out. As a musical document, Lockwood subtly demonstrates the power of listening; and as a sort of impressionistic journalism, she has gathered evidence of not only our influence upon the river, but its workings upon us. (startlingmoniker.wordpress.com)
For all the interest there is in matters related to Tibet, there is not much music available that was actually recorded in the country itself. The reasons are obvious. After having annexed Tibet, China has not been particularly keen on allowing people to travel around freely in the region. And, as with any other culture from oral tradition inside China, the authorities prefer to have a hand in the way the traditional arts are presented to a wider audience. Folk music is taught at music schools and conservatories. Folk musicians from China who perform in the West are mostly professionals, graduated from such institutions – and very probably there is no reason why a student hailing from Beijing can’t have a degree as a performer of Tibetan folk music.
In the case of Tibet the view officials have on the traditional culture must be even more problematic than in other parts of the country (although the position of the Islamic, Turkish speaking, Uyghur in the northwestern province Xinjiang may be comparable to that of the Tibetans) – the Chinese have done their best to erode and control language and religion, two major aspects of life which define the identity of Tibetans. The traditional music of these people developed directly from the way they conducted their lives. Their world view and the messages they wish to communicate in their songs cannot be treated as separate from the medium through which they are communicated. Moreover, such songs are directly related to Tibetan life prior to the Chinese occupation. In short, Tibetans enjoying their own culture may be regarded by the authorities as highly suspect and subversive.
The Saydisc CD Tibetan Folk Music, recorded in Tibet itself, is therefore quite exceptional, though not entirely unique. The album comprises repertoire of groups from different parts of the country, recorded mostly in the capital Lhasa – people had gathered there for religious purposes when German cross-over composer and musician Robert Zollitsch made these recordings. This CD is a rare documentation of non-ceremonial Tibetan music, ranging from highly ornamented a cappella songs that sound as if the vocal chords of the singer are the safety valve of a pressure cooker, to sophisticated unison ensemble pieces. It is especially the solo songs with their tremendous power that capture the imagination. Starting from medium pitch they soar invariably to the uppermost register of the voice.
Regional differences are apparent – songs from Nagchu seem to employ a glottal stop that makes jumps in the notes powerful and abrupt; Sertal songs are smooth in comparison; a song from Kham holds a middle position between these two. The power of some of these voices clearly and regrettably overwhelmed the equipment, but otherwise the recordings are of excellent quality.
Regrettable also is the brevity of the information. Some of the pieces are identified as a folk song from this or that region, or as an a cappella song by a certain singer. Hardly a word about their content, no translation of texts – due to the fact that regional dialects differ greatly from each other, writes Zollitsch. He may be right, but he might have come up with more had he made a greater effort. At least, that is my guess.
Of one piece he says “On first listening, both the melody and the structure of this song appear to be strikingly different to the folk music of other Tibetan regions.” Now that is puzzling. Does he want to suggest that the apparent differences will vanish after repeated listening sessions? Are melody and structure different, or is the difference only apparent; and in case of the latter, how can it be so striking? Did he wonder or ask the people on the spot what is the background of the differences?
In the arrangement of the pieces he has aimed at “creating a varied programme throughout,” providing listings of tracks according to region in the insert for the listener who wishes to listen to the pieces in that order. As it is, he has created a rather bewildering patchwork of differing styles. Personally I would have preferred a somewhat tighter order. Any listener preferring variety can always opt for Shuffle Mode. (René van Peer, www.mustrad.org.uk)
On this formidable 3-disc release for Lovely Music, Annea Lockwood revisits techniques utilized in her “Sound Map of the Hudson;” albeit in far greater depth and the inclusion of interviews with Danube bank inhabitants.
Spanning five separate trips to the Danube, and comprising 59 sites and 13 interviews, Lockwood is able to convey not only some of the majesty of this exercise, but provide a fascinating voice to her subject. Most interesting is Lockwood’s willingness to allow her work to be shaped and informed by the Danube itself– rather than stressing the ordinary role of the “artist-as-communicator,” Lockwood acts as more of a translator and sounding board– posing the question, “what is a river?” Lockwood allows the Danube (and those nearby) to answer.
In a society where we all too often impart our own desires for relaxation on every natural recording, “A Sound Map of the Danube” is a refreshing assertion of sounds’ own life and drive, in contrast to the usual belief in field recordings as mere raw material for later manipulation. Even the personal interviews reflect this to a point. Without an audible translator, listeners are free to consider the voices musically, and seem encouraged to by their being interwoven with the natural sounds. Later on, the liner notes can be consulted, revealing a full-size foldout map of the recording sites along the Danube and English-language translations of all interview subjects.
As can be expected, I am highly impressed with this release, and eagerly encourage you to check it out. As a musical document, Lockwood subtly demonstrates the power of listening; and as a sort of impressionistic journalism, she has gathered evidence of not only our influence upon the river, but its workings upon us. (startlingmoniker.wordpress.com)
Leshukonsky wedding ceremony is one of the local variants of the Russian Northern wedding with widely developed sphere of wedding lamentations. Group lamentation of the bride is of special interest. It is sung by three girls, one of whom is the bride, leading the singing. But all the texts are performed from the first person, for the bride. This is the survival of the very archaic mythological consciousness and behavior, which are hardly preserved in Russian traditional culture. In Valentina Alimova’s performance lamentation fills with unusual expression and force of artistic and emotional influence.
Musical dramaturgy of the Leshukonsky wedding is based on the comparison of several stylistic lines: ritual forms (lamentations and tunes-formulas and non-ritual), lyrical and dance songs. Lamentations exist in the form of group lamentations, individual lamentations of mother and the bride and recitative lamentations of the bride. Non-ritual songs are included in the ceremony very organically. The dance song “The Street”, to which young fellows whirl girls and against the background of which one can hear sorrowful lamentation of the bride, impresses the listener especially.
In ritual dramaturgy one more genre is important, but now rarely met. It is invocations and dialogues which are led by the bridegroom’s friend or match-maker and in this tradition by the “guard”.
Unfortunately the recording was inevitably abridged. But even in this variant the Leshukonsky wedding is an outstanding phenomenon of Russian traditional culture.
On this formidable 3-disc release for Lovely Music, Annea Lockwood revisits techniques utilized in her “Sound Map of the Hudson;” albeit in far greater depth and the inclusion of interviews with Danube bank inhabitants.
Spanning five separate trips to the Danube, and comprising 59 sites and 13 interviews, Lockwood is able to convey not only some of the majesty of this exercise, but provide a fascinating voice to her subject. Most interesting is Lockwood’s willingness to allow her work to be shaped and informed by the Danube itself– rather than stressing the ordinary role of the “artist-as-communicator,” Lockwood acts as more of a translator and sounding board– posing the question, “what is a river?” Lockwood allows the Danube (and those nearby) to answer.
In a society where we all too often impart our own desires for relaxation on every natural recording, “A Sound Map of the Danube” is a refreshing assertion of sounds’ own life and drive, in contrast to the usual belief in field recordings as mere raw material for later manipulation. Even the personal interviews reflect this to a point. Without an audible translator, listeners are free to consider the voices musically, and seem encouraged to by their being interwoven with the natural sounds. Later on, the liner notes can be consulted, revealing a full-size foldout map of the recording sites along the Danube and English-language translations of all interview subjects.
As can be expected, I am highly impressed with this release, and eagerly encourage you to check it out. As a musical document, Lockwood subtly demonstrates the power of listening; and as a sort of impressionistic journalism, she has gathered evidence of not only our influence upon the river, but its workings upon us. (startlingmoniker.wordpress.com)
Bell ringer: Vladimir Petrovsky . Bells of the Arkhangelsk museum reserve “‘Malyie Karely” (Small Karely).
Bells in Russia appeared soon after Christianisation. For already a millenium their chimes accompany every person’s life.
Bells were not a Christian Church invention, they came from the West, first as a signal, but already at the beginning of the 16th century Russia had its own national original art of bell ringing.
The main expressive means of these chimes are rhythm and timbre. Rhythmical variety of sounding is reached by the new way of bell ringing – not by moving the bell itself, as in European countries – but by moving the tongue of motionless bells.
The fate of Russian bells is tragic. They were silent almost for about half of century.
One of the contemporary centres of bell ringing revival is the Arkhangelsk museum reserve of wooden architecture “Malyie Rarely”. Here in the Russian North – a real treasury-house of national culture “Chimes of Russian North” were revived. These chimes are characteristic variety of All-Russian chimes. This museum is the only place in Russia where a school of bell ringers is situated.
Vladimir Petrovsky is a bright representative of this school. He is a professional musician for whom the tradition is a basis, both in musical and moral aspects. He can really hear and feel the soul of a bell. The compositions featured on this disc show the listeners his careful attitude to the old Russian heritage and gift of free improvisation. The latter feature you can see more vividly in his performance of “Waltz of Bells”, “Monk’s Tale”, “Delusion”. In this chime Petrovsky affirms his own understanding of contemporary bell ringing as a concert genre.
On this formidable 3-disc release for Lovely Music, Annea Lockwood revisits techniques utilized in her “Sound Map of the Hudson;” albeit in far greater depth and the inclusion of interviews with Danube bank inhabitants.
Spanning five separate trips to the Danube, and comprising 59 sites and 13 interviews, Lockwood is able to convey not only some of the majesty of this exercise, but provide a fascinating voice to her subject. Most interesting is Lockwood’s willingness to allow her work to be shaped and informed by the Danube itself– rather than stressing the ordinary role of the “artist-as-communicator,” Lockwood acts as more of a translator and sounding board– posing the question, “what is a river?” Lockwood allows the Danube (and those nearby) to answer.
In a society where we all too often impart our own desires for relaxation on every natural recording, “A Sound Map of the Danube” is a refreshing assertion of sounds’ own life and drive, in contrast to the usual belief in field recordings as mere raw material for later manipulation. Even the personal interviews reflect this to a point. Without an audible translator, listeners are free to consider the voices musically, and seem encouraged to by their being interwoven with the natural sounds. Later on, the liner notes can be consulted, revealing a full-size foldout map of the recording sites along the Danube and English-language translations of all interview subjects.
As can be expected, I am highly impressed with this release, and eagerly encourage you to check it out. As a musical document, Lockwood subtly demonstrates the power of listening; and as a sort of impressionistic journalism, she has gathered evidence of not only our influence upon the river, but its workings upon us. (startlingmoniker.wordpress.com)
Skylark is a young and gifted folk group from Petrozavodsk, Karelia. They perform traditional music of Phenoscandia (Karelia, Finland, Sweden) and folk music of Celts (Ireland, Scotland, Breton). They use national instruments such as Jouhikko and Kantele.
The Moscow group Mervent (in translation from the Breton, “Mervent” means a wind from the southwest, and is a punning expression of their influences on the music that they play), which was formed in August 2000, with a nucleus of two members of Si Mhor – Igor Burmistrov (fiddle, guitar, lead vocals) and Anastasia Papisova (harp, vocals, dance).
The musicians of Mervent try to exploit to the full their very varied musical experience, and this comes across clearly in their sets. The rich diversity of stringed, wind and percussion instruments gives their sets a shimmering range of instrumentation which is fully exploited in the arrangements of tunes in their sets, and the Irish dance numbers performed by Anastasia (rated as one of the best performers of Irish dance in Moscow by Irish nationals visiting Russia) are a natural visual enhancement to their concerts. Mervent’s repertoire consists mainly of the music of European peoples, from Scandinavia and Ireland to the Balkans and Western Ukraine. There are also arrangements of Armenian melodies, and original compositions. […] Mervent does not perform reconstructions, but concentrates on playing contemporary folk music in a style strongly their own.
Ayarkhaan, the band of Jew’s-harp performers from the exotic Siberian land. Ayarkhaan was established in 2002 by khomus music promoter Albina Degtyareva. They are based in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the biggest Siberian region.
Reel is a Russian world music band, based in Russian folk and traditions. The idea of some kind of mutual integration of different musical cultures is in the basis of the first album titled “Strange People” (strannie ludi). Reel are: Olga Gajdamak (Vocals, violin), Alexander Leonov (Vocals, flute, iouhikko), Arcady Sokolov (Drums, background vocals), Sergey Sheljapin (Double bass) & Alexey Derevlyov (Guitars, background vocals).
Myllarit (The Millers) are a dynamic brisk vocal and instrumental folk band from Russian Karelia. The group came together in 1992, an outgrowth of the pairing of accordionist Zobnev – described as “a world-class accordionist” in Russian Life’s series titled “100 Young Russians to Watch”- with Alexander Bykadorov, who had traveled Europe together playing Karelian and Russian folk music in the streets.
The unique sound of Myllarit combines traditional music and poetry of Karelia, the White Sea, Olonets and Ladoga regions, and also Russian songs of the Trans-Onega region, with elements of rock, jazz and world music. Thus, fitting them to suit their more modern style. Besides, the group performs songs of the Ingria ( St. Petersburg region) in the local Ingric dialect of the Finnish language.
“Karelia represents a rich mixture of so many different cultures” said Zobnev. “Our rather severe climatic conditions help to hone this musical style. It is the music of the Russian pomors (White Sea coast natives) and Finnish and Karelian songs. It all mixes together and provides food for Myllarit.” Myllarit achieve their main impact on stage with great talent and humour. They are outstanding live performers.Their discography includes six albums.
Myllarit is also very active locally in their hometown Petrozavodsk, the capital of the Republic of Karelia, where they support and promote local bands through the Myllarit Center of Musical Initiatives and the organisation of musical events, such as the annual Petrozavodsk Folk Marathon.
These last years, they have taken part in many festivals like Koskis, Kaustinen, Haapavesi, Ugrijuhlat, Faces, Jutajaiset, Garage Fest, Folklandia, Kihaus, Hekajuhlat, Taiga Festival (Finland) Celtic Connections, Fringe Festival (Scotland) Finnish Music Festival, FinnGrandFest, Finlandia Festival, Duluht International Folk (USA),Watergate Festival (Estonia), Rockbridge, Carelian Faces, Folk Marathon, Festival of Modern Folk Music (Russia), Poborina Folk, Folkesi (Spain).
Raznotravije is a Russian folk band from Rybinsk, Russia.
Dobranotch is an international band consisting of musicians from Russia, Moldova and Lebanon, playing music inspired by traditions of these countries, using acoustic instruments, such as violin, accordion, cimbalom, tuba and percussion. An odd local folk band that blends Balkan folk, Klezmer music and Arab rhythms, Dobranotch is a far cry from the Irish-folk trio that it was when started out in the late 1990s. On its third album, “Gagarin Chochek”, released on ORANGE WORLD Records, the band documents its new style and lineup. “We mix Moldovan and Balkan elements with Jewish and Oriental ones,” said violinist Mitya Khramtsov, Dobranotch’s sole original member.
The musical blend comes from the mix of people in the band that now features Lebanese percussionist Ussama Shakhin, while the conservatory-educated accordion player Andrei Sapkevich comes from Moldova, where his father was a self-taught folk violinist, and played at Moldovan weddings. Khramtsov provides the Jewish musical influence in the band’s unique sound. “I was studying Klezmer from recordings and reading music, and from people I met on tours in Europe and even more at KlezFest [the annual local Klezmer festival and seminar] where musicians come from everywhere and mix with locals,” said Khramtsov, who is half-Jewish. “My family was not traditionally Jewish, though there was a certain atmosphere. I’ve always been interested in the Jewish culture, and even when we played Irish folk, we had one Jewish tune.” Zheka Lizin on cimbalom and Alexei Stepanov on tuba studied and performed Klezmer in an amateur band at the Jewish Community Center. “We try to learn from each other,” said Khramtsov.
Istoki-folk project is a result of cooperation of Podol folk ensemble Istoki and guitarist of Dmitriy Kvasov’s band Akusticheskie botinki. Everything began from the writing of phonogram for the performance of young members of Istoki ensemble on the city competition Yunue talantu. Then the compositions of ensemble and ethnic records of grannies from Archangel’skoe, Leluhino and Rusyatino (Tula district) village began to appear. Sidela Katushechka is made in Autumn of 2002. Guitar, bass and programmed drums and MIDI instruments: Kvasov Dmitriy. Record and composition: home studio of Dmitriy Kvasov. Vocal: female soloists of Istoki ensemble Larisa Gorchakova and Svetlana Palatkina (Record of 1995).
pe lang, born 1974, switzerland
Steve Roden is a visual and sound artist from Los Angeles. His work includes painting, drawing, sculpture, film/video, sound installation, and performance. Roden’s working process uses various forms of specific notation (words, musical scores, maps, etc.) and translates them through self invented systems into scores; which then influence the process of painting, drawing, sculpture, and sound composition. These scores, rigid in terms of their parameters and rules, are also full of holes for intuitive decisions and left turns. The inspirational source material becomes a kind of formal skeleton that the abstract finished works are built upon.
The way that Los Angeles-based musician and sound artist Steve Roden presents his music is a perfect match for the music itself. He has long been a proponent for what he terms “lowercase” sound: music constructed from some of the quietest raw materials available, the sonic equivalent of sculptures made from dust.
And he announced his latest release as follows: “to be honest, I don’t remember making this recording at all”. He isn’t joking. The comment comes from the brief liner note he penned to accompany the track, which is titled “Amnesia (Live in Berlin, 2004), based on his deduction, long after the fact, that the piece was recorded during a gig there. The piece was released this week as a free half-hour download from the Term netlabel, a spinoff of the 12k record label. The casually funereal track moves from a creaky rhythm to a light whir of noise. In the process, Roden continues to redefine “headphone music” — what once meant a dense psychedelia best experienced in the sonic equivalent of a private arena now refers to music so fragile that it should be experienced in the anechoic chamber of one’s own noggin. More info at 12k.com/term and at Roden’s website, inbetweennoise.com.
Otava Yo is a new folk project from St. Petersburg. Otava Yo mostly plays Russian folk songs and tunes which were popular when their parents were young. Bagpipes, Russian gusli, fiddles, guitar and percussion – Otava Yo plays powerful dance-like music which could be called Russian Beat. At times the music of Otava Yo can make you laugh, even if you aren’t a Russian speaker. Otava Yo recently produced a new album called “Once upon a time.” In 2009 Otava Yo toured in Latvia and Mexico.
“By far the best new discovery” at Globalquerque 2008, says Dirty Linen. Reelroad crafts a sound that is fresh and modern, catapulting Russian folk music on to center stage of the new folk sound.” World Music Central, January 2009.
Reelroad plays traditional Russian music in an original post-folk style in concert halls and festivals throughout Europe and Russia. In 2008 the band crossed the Atlantic to perform at world music festivals in Mexico and the United States. In early 2009 Reelroad celebrated its 10th anniversary.
Reelroad’s repertoire favors obscure folk songs from northern Russia and central Siberia, music driven underground for decades. Reelroad has two styles of performing Russian folk music. The first echoes the village with the sound of Russian instruments such as the gusli (zither), zhaleika (fife) and kaljuka. Traditional vocals are prominent, due in part to Reelroad members Anastasia Karaseva and Aleksandrs Dmitrijevs, founders of the authentic village choir “Dubinushka.” Acoustic guitar, violin, flute and bagpipes round out the sound. In the second style, developed for the large stage, Reelroad projects and amplifies the village sound with bass guitar and drums. All seven Reelroad members are musicians. Four serve as vocalists as well, singing in traditional Russian village voice. Anastasia Karaseva plays the tin whistle, pandereta and Irish harp. Alexey Belkin manages Reelroad and plays Galician and Scottish bagpipes, zhaleika (fife) and winged gusli (psaltery). Aleksandrs “Kep” Dmitrijevs plays acoustic guitar, banjo and harmonica. Natalia Vysokikh is a professional violinist. Alexey Skosyrev made the fretless bass guitar he plays, as well as Anastasia’s harp. Svetlana Kondesyuk, a graduate of the Academy of Arts, plays the flute and Galician bagpipes. Denis Nikiforov learned to play the drums in the army, studied at the Academy of Arts, and works at the famous Hermitage museum.
In addition to concert performances, Reelroad teaches Russian folk dances in clubs and dance schools. The band welcomes dancers of all skill levels and aims to dispel the belief Russian folk dances are boring or difficult.
12k is an electronic music label based in Brooklyn, New York, run by composer Taylor Deupree since 1997. 12k specializes in synthetic microscopic sound designs and minimalist compositional aesthetics. In september 2000 12k launched Line, a sublabel focusing on ultraminimal, conceptual soundworks that explore the relationship between sound, silence and spatial metaphors. In 2002, 12k introduced term., an online-only series of minimalist sound explorations. term. is an extension of 12k’s output but its mission lies in careful balance to 12k’s aesthetic. While 12k’s emphasis lies not only in sound but on design and presentation as well, term.’s function is the exact opposite: existing entirely in the digital domain with no tangible object or package, term. is the representation of pure data and imageless sound information. The antithesis of physical form. term. is an ongoing series of MP3 releases by sound artists from around the globe. All downloads are free and will remain online as long as possible.
In the imperium of 12K, Term. is the most unknown country. 12K, Line and Happy are all labels that release materials people can actually own, but with Term. you can download nice music for free. Yet Term. isn’t a big store of music, it’s carefully selected tunes. The latest is by someone named Asher, and Term. doesn’t provide any information, except a quote from Samuel Beckett, about music at night. That was apt chosen since I was playing this at night for the first time. Both of the pieces are carefully, microscopic and detailled glitches that are embedded in a bath of drones – which are almost inaudible. Most suitable music to dimm your lights, open your curtains and watch the stars and moon on a clear night. As much as I enjoyed this, in a world with more light (the next day), I must also state that whatever Asher is doing is nothing new under the sun, but if you buy the Chartier CDs from Line, you certainly can’t pass on getting this for free at the same time. (Frans de Waard, vitalweekly.net)
0/r is the collaborative project between sound artists Nosei Sakata (*0) and Richard Chartier. 0/r recorded two critically acclaimed full length compact discs for 12k: “0/r” (12k1006, 1999) and “Varied” (12k1018, 2002 ). While 0/r suggested a sense of chaos with its jarring and syncopated digital sound, Varied utilizes much more refined compositional techniques to create highly deliberate passages of whispering sine waves, extreme frequencies, and looping rhythms of noise and detailed sonic pops.
Jodi Cave is a sound artist and musician from the UK. He was brought up in a small town near Sheffield playing the clarinet, went to study music, and then in 2006 completed a research internship at the IRCAM in Paris. Jodi’s work encompasses studio-based electronics, laptop performance and instrumental composition.
Since Jason Corder decided that becoming a weather man was farcely over-rated, he coined the ambiguously fitted moniker “offthesky” which was in reality birthed in transit of his experimenting with converting chaos theories (especially those relating to weather systems*) into musical forms. And really its just an apropos title summating this atmospheric and acoustic communal project emanating from his studio in Kentucky ergo USA. Sounds pretentious I know, but offthesky is truly a humble handle that reflects both Jason’s mild manered nature and his “in-the-clouds” mind-set when relating to others. His musical miasmatic manifestations are loosely inspired by chaos theory mathematics, dark foreboding jazz, and various natural susbstances… ‘form creek’ is an excerpt from a long-play work entitled ‘creek caught fire’. these songs stem from travels and personal studies of appalachian landscapes in particular to the region of kentucky where i’m from. a series of phonographs, drawings, and writings were taken at various naturally energetic hot spots such as ‘red river gorge’ and ‘sugar creek’. also a tally of weather patterns were interpolated then used to manipulate aspects of the music. all this eventually evolved into several humble odes to the haunting fire of bluegrass history.
A special previously unavailable version of “I Shall Leave For The Field Tonight With My Horse” by Vlad Kosarev plus 13 different versions of the classic Volga Cossack song “Ne Dlya Menya” (Not For Me)
This is a fundamental piece of living Russian culture for understanding the motivation of Russian people, Russian character, Russian soul.
- – - – -
Not for me – the spring will come
not for me – Don will spread
and a heart of a young woman will beat
with delight feelings – not for me…
Not for me – the gardens are bloming and flowering
and woods are blooming in the valley…
a nightingale is meeting the spring there
he will sing – not for me…
Not for me – streams are brawling
flowing with diamond jets…
and there is a black-eyebrowed girl
she’s growing there – not for me…
Not for me – the Easter will come
and all the relatives will gather at the table
wine will be poured to the glasses
such life – is not for me.
and what is for me – a piece of lead
it will leech to my white body
and bitter tears will pour down -
such life is waiting for me.
12k is an electronic music label based in Brooklyn, New York, run by composer Taylor Deupree since 1997. 12k specializes in synthetic microscopic sound designs and minimalist compositional aesthetics. In september 2000 12k launched Line, a sublabel focusing on ultraminimal, conceptual soundworks that explore the relationship between sound, silence and spatial metaphors. In 2002, 12k introduced term., an online-only series of minimalist sound explorations. term. is an extension of 12k’s output but its mission lies in careful balance to 12k’s aesthetic. While 12k’s emphasis lies not only in sound but on design and presentation as well, term.’s function is the exact opposite: existing entirely in the digital domain with no tangible object or package, term. is the representation of pure data and imageless sound information. The antithesis of physical form. term. is an ongoing series of MP3 releases by sound artists from around the globe. All downloads are free and will remain online as long as possible.
Stephan Mathieu (born 11.October 1967) is a German musician and sound artist whose work is based on digital and analog processing techniques. He lives and works in Saarbrücken, Germany. Stephan Mathieu works in the field of digital art, mainly as a composer and performer of his own music. He creates audio installations, works as a hobbyist photographer and graphic designer, and taught Digital Arts and Theory at the HBKSaar University of Art and Design in Saarbrücken and as a guest lecturer at the Royal Academy of Arts in Göteborg, the Bauhaus University Weimar and the Merz-Akademie in Stuttgart. Since 1999 his music has been released on 16 albums and several compilations on numerous international music labels, most notably on Häpna, Orthlorng Musork, Mille Plateaux, Ritornell, Fällt, Headz, Cronica, Lucky Kitchen and Tigerbeat6. In addition to his solo work he cooperated with Akira Rabelais, Douglas Benford, John Hudak, Ekkehard Ehlers and Janek Schaefer. Mathieu’s music, based on recordings of acoustic, mainly old instruments, which are transformed by digital and analogue processes, has been compared to the landscape paintings of Caspar David Friedrich, and described as “… slowly shifting washes of sound (…) are simply gorgeous. The predominantly acoustic origins of the source material, however camouflaged and extruded beyond recognition by the software, imbue Mathieu’s music with a warmth and richness of timbre often lacking in the overpopulated world of contemporary electronica.”
Under the assumed alias of Si-cut.db, Douglas Benford has recorded several albums alongside collaborations with Stephan Mathieu, Benge, Saint Etienne, Andrew Weatherall, Marc Weiser of Rechenzentrum and Momus amongst others. In 1999, Si-cut.db was ranked in the top 200 of US College Radio acts. Since 1996 Benford has also co-curated the London-based experimental music club Sprawl, and has performed at various venues such as London’s Tate Modern, The Roundhouse, Science Museum, Brentford’s Watermans and Colchester’s Art Centres as well as international festivals Synch, Mutek, Transmediale, and Bestival.
In 1999, the electro-acoustic group Minamo was formed by Keiichi Sugimoto and Tetsuro Yasunaga. In 2000, Minamo’s self-released CD-R “wakka” was reissued by the New York label Quakebasket. This release was selected by Matmos as one of best sounds in 2001 in The Wire magazine. In 2001 two new members joined, Yuiichiro Iwashita (guitar) and Namiko Sasamoto (sax, organ), to make the band a quartet. In 2002, first CD album “.kgs” has released by the Tokyo label 360 records. Having performed as the opening act for several groups, including Microstoria, Simon Fisher Turner, Vert, Oren Ambarchi, Otomo Yoshihide, On Filmore, Tim Barnes, I-Sound, Ikue Mori, Josh Abrams, Michael Schumacher, Incapacitants, Aki Onda, Masakatsu Takagi, Ogurusu Norihide, Michael Prime, Jonathan Coleclough, oblaat, HIM, BusRatch, Def Harmonics, Aero and more.
Jürgen Heckel, also known as Sogar, was born in Nuremberg in 1970 and has been living in Paris for 14 years and is now located in Munich. He started playing music when he was 19 and became part of several groups as a guitarist. He then got interested in creating and processing sound in unconventional ways. Thus Jürgen manipulates accidental sounds to create light and fragile melodic textures. The sources of these arrangements are guitars as well as sounds from mixing consoles, amplifiers, cables or other aural finds. These sounds are then reworked on a computer to become a music made of cracklings, and rich melodic oscillations exploring the extremes of the sound spectrum by associating acoustic technique and software. Sogar’s music is formed of richly layered textures, a delicate transmutation of static and formerly “nonmusical” sounds, a music where the melodic elements are created out of particular sounds of uncertain origin. All elements in this music slide and cover one against each other, running into itself yet still keeps a very controlled balance, while creating myriads of peaceful new lifeforms in the process. This music call attention by the constant wish to escape from any attempt of qualification or any act of nomination. Extremely dense and abstract as much as it becomes impossible to apply a classical epithet like “melancholic”, “sad”, “happy”, “beautiful”, etc, the music of Sogar is no less than a source of a new musical grammar. Without any conceptual thoughts his music is slightly but constantly transforming to become a sensitive translation of a state of mind nurtured by his subconscious.
15 different versions of the classic Russian song “I Shall Leave For The Field Tonight With My Horse”
- – – – -
I Shall Leave For The Field Tonight With My Horse
there is silence in the fields in the night
when we go together only me and my horse
only he and me
There are many stars in the field in the night
No one you may see in the field in the night
Only me and my horse
walking in the field
I will ride my horse
please, my horse, carry me through the field!
through the endless field
my lovely field
Let me take an eye to the east
where the field gives birth to the sunrise
well – the clusterberry light! Red Sunrise!
I wonder – whether this place exist or not!
Oh my field – streams, the fires of the far villages
Golden rye and curly line
I’m in love with you, my Russia, in love!
it’s going to be a good year for bread-birth
anything was in our life and anything will be passed
well, sing the Golden Rye, sing the curly line!
sing about how much I’m in love with Russia…
sing the Golden Rye, sing the curly line
we will go together to the fields…
(translated by Maria Chelnokova)
12k is an electronic music label based in Brooklyn, New York, run by composer Taylor Deupree since 1997. 12k specializes in synthetic microscopic sound designs and minimalist compositional aesthetics. In september 2000 12k launched Line, a sublabel focusing on ultraminimal, conceptual soundworks that explore the relationship between sound, silence and spatial metaphors. In 2002, 12k introduced term., an online-only series of minimalist sound explorations. term. is an extension of 12k’s output but its mission lies in careful balance to 12k’s aesthetic. While 12k’s emphasis lies not only in sound but on design and presentation as well, term.’s function is the exact opposite: existing entirely in the digital domain with no tangible object or package, term. is the representation of pure data and imageless sound information. The antithesis of physical form. term. is an ongoing series of MP3 releases by sound artists from around the globe. All downloads are free and will remain online as long as possible.
Freiband is one of the many projects by Frans de Waard (Kapotte Muziek, Beequeen, Goem and more). Freiband was inspired by the tape-scratching of Asmus Tietchens on his CD ‘Daseinsverfehlung’, but here applied to an entirely digital context. Using recordings that were made for the new Beequeen, a record that has a lot of guitars, drums, organs, Frans de Waard started to rework them by scratching the hard disc. The result was warm, glitchy popmusic, in which the original instruments are barely recognizable, but sounding entirely electronical. Tongue in cheek, De Waard calls this pop music, music made out of popping sounds, rather then popular music, but entirely inspired by De Waard’s love for pop music. Since the inception of this new moniker, Freiband has played concerts in The Netherlands, Japan and a surprise gig at Mutek, Canada, 2001. The first CD ‘Microbes’ was released late 2001 by Ritornell, a side label of Mille Plateaux. In September 2002 the second CD ‘Homeward’ was released on Bottrop Boy and this is all with reworked pop music from the late 70s and early 80s. Freiband’s “Parallel” was released in 2002 by 12k’s online-only series of minimalist sound explorations: Term. It features remixes of “Theme’s On Parallel Shores Removed” album that was released on UK noise label Fourth Dimension.
TU M’ – Italian multimedia duo formed by Rossano Polidoro and Emiliano Romanelli in 1998. Their works include music, video and photography. They live and work in Città Sant’Angelo (Pescara, Italy).
Motion is the alias of UK minimal/experimental electronic artist Chris Coode.
Doron Sadja, a California native, had his debut cd on 12k in 2003. His CD, titled “a piece of string, a sunset,” mixes violin, guitar, clean electronics, and a very powerful sense of texture. “Landscapes, headaches, and heartbreaks” consists of 2 pieces he wrote while travelling in europe.
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