In the Shortlist sections, I will mention the albums that I enjoyed listening to, but couldn’t find the time (or the right words) for a “full” review for. Still, I definitely think they deserve your attention, with ór without extra words!
RICHARD CHARTIER – SUBSEQUENT MATERIALS (2006 – 2012)
Where most releases nowadays are focussed on a physical release on a vinyl album and thus do not cross the 40 minute mark, Richard Chartier chooses a different approach and squeezes the most out of the possibilities of a digital release: Subsequent Materials (2006 – 2012) offers no less than three hours of his characteristic electronic music.
“Subsequent Materials (2006 – 2012)” is the third release in a Richard Chartier compilation series, following up “Other Materials” from 2002, and “Further Materials” from 2008. It presents a collection of (out-of-print) compilation tracks, soundtracks for visual pieces, unreleased and previously unavailable works, and compositions previously only available as bonus tracks.
17 Tracks in various lengths (the shortest is 00’34”, the longest 34’32”), but fitting together perfectly as a sampler of Chartier’s ingenious “reductionist” electronic soundworks.
RICHARD CHARTIER – WIRE.RE (REWORK OF AUTISTICI)
PLEQ + PHILIPPE LAMY – SANS TITRE
Two prolific experimental artists combining their talents (again): Pleq (Bartosz Dziadosz, from Poland) and Philippe Lamy (from France). There are five untitled tracks (counting from “Sans Titre Zéro” to “Sans Titre Quatre”), and three impressive additional remixes by Pjusk, Marcus Fjellström and Ben Lukas Boysen.
The suspenseful minimalist, fragmented textures get a nice extra ‘Film Noir’ layer with the lush french spoken word fragments of Sandrine Deumier in some of the tracks.
PLEQ + PHILIPPE LAMY – SANS TITRE TROIS
(BEN LUKAS BOYSEN MIX)
PJUSK + SLEEP ORCHESTRA – DROWNING IN THE SKY
Another fruitful collaboration: this time between Christopher Pegg (Sleep Orchestra, UK) and Pjusk (Rune Sagevik and Jostein Dahl Gjelsvik, Norway). They met at the Barcelona Storung Festival, after Christopher was recommended to listen to Pjusk’s “Tele”.
“Drowning In The Sky“ “creates a soundtrack of ambient soundscapes and drones that move you slowly and steadily through an ever changing landscape of water, fog and the clouds in the sky. This is the type of music to listen to when you just want to float away to another world.”
And that is exactly the kind of sound that the Dronarivm label (which is curated by Pleq, so that completes the circle) specializes in!
THOMAS TILLY – SCRIPT GEOMETRY
(Physical Edition HERE)
Field Recordings always present some difficult questions. Is it music, composition, or just ‘captured sounds’? Yet sometimes these questions are not relevant, because the result can be enjoyed as if it were composed soundscapes. Chris Watson has some fine releases proving that. But this Thomas Tillyproject is another fine example!
These sounds are recorded at the heart of the tropical rainforest in French Guiana, and presented without any electronic treatment (apart from an occasional low-cut filter and sometimes some mixing and editing).
Of course there are the inevitable familiar cricket sounds, but are also a lot of strange sounding creatures, that at times sound like they were electronically created.
“There exists something in a tropical forest that sounds like and plays within the realms of electronics, music and electronics noise; something characteristic of an era long before the birth of biotopes that form this forest and create this sound.”
It’s a massive 2.5 hour project: the (beautifully designed!) physical edition contains 2 vinyl LP’s and one CD (the CD containing a one hour ‘reference recording’). Mastering was done by James Plotkin, which is worth mentioning since his mastering skills definitely enhance the impact of these sounds. Sounds that seem to come from a different world – but don’t.