Pinkcourtesyphone; Inventors of Aircraft; Julien Demoulin; An Moku; Esa Ruoho

In the Shortlist sections, I will mention some of the albums that I enjoyed listening to, but couldn’t find the time (or the right words) for a “full” review for. Still, I think they deserve your attention: use the links to find more info and hear previews.

Elegant & Detached

Spotify

Pinkcourtesyphone – Elegant & Detached
I had not realised until now that Pinkcourtesyphone is actually Richard Chartier – sound artist and curator of the LINE-label (more about that later).
This is the second full release from Pinkcourtesyphone in 2012, together with “Foley Folly Folio”. Compared to the works he releases under his own name, the Pinkcourtesyphone obviously gives room for some more playful, associative and humorous soundscapes, or “much more open to accident, failure, surprise and emotional/ironic juxtaposition of things” as he stated in the Headphone Commute interview. But that does not mean these soundscapes should not be taken seriously: they are very adventurous and cinematic, so this 70 minute album is a delightful pleasure to listen to.
“The callers voice whispers a wistful yet false love-letter to the cinema of aesthetics from a distant place concerning the things you did… and things you need to have done.”

Krill.Minima – Sekundenschlaf

Sekundenschlaf

Krill.Minima is one of the aliases of Martin Juhls ,who is also releasing as Marsen Jules and Falter, (not to mention his Wildach Sonnerkraut alias.)

From all these aliases, Marsen Jules is obviously the most well-known.
The Krill.Minima music is of a somewhat different kind, but also very dear to Juhls’ heart – especially for live performances.

Philippe Lamy + Pleq (3 Titles)


SlowFast

Philippe Lamy (France) is an artist combining various art-forms. He’s a painter, but also teaches ‘plastic arts’ at the School of Architecture in Toulouse. He started creating music about ten years ago, “feeling that his paintings and music resonate together”.
His soundscapes indeed resemble paintings: they are incredibly detailed, almost organic, including a wide dynamic range of sounds.

His latest solo album,“SlowFast“, is recently released, following up two recent collaboration projects with well-known Polish artist Pleq.

Bionulor – Erik


Bionulor

Creating music based on well-known originals is not without risk, especially when the original is a part of our ‘collective memory’.

It is even riskier to create a full album based on a single composition, one that almost everyone will immediately recognise: Erik Satie’s “Gymnopédies No.1″.

Gluid – Metamorphosis; Arpatle – The Day After

Can this be a coincidence?

In the same week I have received two new albums with a remarkable resemblance: both are from Dutch artists, both have a bright ‘lightweight’, almost ‘poppy’, feeling yet are experimental in their creative use of sound samples. Also, both are defying contemporary genres. They’re not ambient, not too experimental, not strictly electronic, not improvised, but definitely not ‘mainstream pop’ either.

Could it be we’re defining a new genre here?


Gluid

Steve Roach & Byron Metcalf – Tales from the Ultra Tribe


Tales from the Ultra-Tribe

Born in 1955 and making music since he was 20 years old (inspired by Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and Vangelis), Steve Roach has personally helped shape ambient music to become what it is now. He’s one of those extremely prolific artists: his discography boasts about 100 albums at the moment.
He has worked together with many well-known musicians, and though his style may vary on each different release it is also very personal and immediately recognisable.

With 40 years of musical experience, percussionist Byron Metcalf is not exactly a newcomer, either. 

“Tales from the Ultra Tribe” is their latest collaboration (released in conjunction with Steve Roach’s drone album “Soul Tones” , which showcases quite a different side of his music).

The tense and suspenseful rhythms from these seamlessly mixed eight tracks immediately catch hold of the listener and don’t let go until the end, 74 minutes later.

Broken Lines (Mix)


HAL's eye

If you have ever watched Stanley Kubrick‘s “2001 – Space Odyssey“, you will definitely remember the impressive scene in which the memory modules are slowly taken away from HAL, the ship’s main computer, because it started to disfunction and became a threat to the astronauts and their mission.
Just before his memory fades completely, HAL remembers being programmed to sing“Daisy”, one of his earliest digital ‘childhood memories’.

With this scene (as well as with HAL‘s name), Kubrick directly referred to the IBM 7094 computer (used to control the Mercury and Gemini space flights, as well as the Apollo missions) which was programmed to sing Daisy in 1961 – a remarkable accomplishment at that time!

Computer systems revolting, loss of memory, human utterings that seem to come from lost souls….
I guess you’d better be prepared for a dark and suspenseful listening hour …

If you have listened to this mix, I’m really curious to know what you think, so please let me know!
(and please let your friends know, also… just spread the word and make these mixes heard …  thanks for your help!)

Chris Dooks with Machinefabriek – The Eskdalemuir Harmonium


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When hearing the first notes of “The Eskdalemuir Harmonium” by (Scottish) composer Chris Dooks – created together with Machinefabriek – and reading the album’s liner notes, one thing is very clear: a Harmonium is a strange and fascinating instrument.

“If it sucked air past its reeds it might be called a melodeon but this one blows, so it’s a harmonium. In a harmonium, the more notes in your chord, the faster you have to pedal, the quicker you reach exhaustion. Also, the more notes in your chord the quieter it becomes and only pedaling much faster will keep up the volume.”

“Accumulated dust causes constriction of the tubes, narrowing the airways like an asthma attack. Keys can stick, as can internal mechanics. Things can snap off, rupture. A lung can collapse or be torn open.”

“I catch myself assigning human properties or illnesses to it, calling it arthritic and asthmatic. It can also be grumpy and stubborn depending on the weather.”