Federico Monti - Polen II (CONV, 2010)

1 Polen II

Federico Monti (1973, Argentina) sound and audio-visual artist , based in Barcelona works with low frequencies, field recording , digital experimentation with sounds marked by musical ambience and experimentation.

His works has been published by Homophoni and Koyuki among others.

polen II

composed, performed, and produced by Federico Monti. Recorded in Barcelona 2007.
CONV

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Ubeboet - Praeter (CONV, 2008)

1 Praeter 12:55
2 Supra Lunam 8:37

New work by madrid based sound artist Miguel a. Tolosa, two tracks condensing ubeboet's sound: drones, field recordings and spectral ambient.
CONV

Apart from running the Con-V label Miguel A. Tolosa is also active as a musician under the guise of Ubeboet. His releases so far has been on CDR and MP3 formats and he has worked with people like Pablo Reche and Asher. That might already give you some clue in which direction this goes. The two pieces here deal with field recordings made in various places in Spain and opens with a voice singing in what
appears to be a church. The following drones might be taken from a church organ. Both pieces have this angelic feeling to it. Ubeboet’s music was previously a bit more roughly shaped than the regular drone posse, but here he finds himself along the lines of say Paul Bradley or Jonathan Coleclough and I must say that, while I don’t think it’s all very ‘new’, this direction suits him better. Dark ambient drone
music, made through digital sound manipulation – but Ubeboet does a very fine job. Can’t understand why he should only want to make twenty-five copies of this release, as it seems.
Vital Weekly

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Simon Whetham & Paul Khimasia Morgan - The Grey Area (CONV, 2010)

the live collaboration between paul khimasia morgan and myself, documented as 'sanctuary' (con-v catalogue number cnv63), was so successful we decided to record an improvised session together while i was in brighton. we used the grey area gallery early on a rainy sunday morning. i employed field recordings, radio transmissions and electromagnetic signals all captured in the gallery space we recorded in, working with paul to create something truly beautiful.
Simon Whetham

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Simon Whetham & Paul Khimasia Morgan - Sanctuary (CONV, 2010)

1 Sanctuary

knowing paul and his work only over the space of a year, i invited him to perform at an event i organised at the sanctuary cafe, hove, brighton, as part of the project 'active crossover'. i decided we should play as a duo, using the format of the events where one artist plays a short solo set, then is joined by the second artist for a short collaboration. the first artist then leaves the second to continue playing their own solo piece.

my thanks to paul, the grey area, arts council england, miguel and the artists who contributed to the continued success of 'active crossover'.
Simon Whetham

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Jos Smolders - Textures & Mobiles (CONV, 2004)

1 Texture 3 8:38
2 Mobile 1 (CCITT) 3:52
3 Texture 2 (49-50-51 Hz) 10:10
4 Mobile 6 3:03
5 Texture 5 (75-100-150-200 Hz) 7:26
6 Mobile 3 (DTMF) 8:35
7 Texture 4a (Risset-Texture) 5:55
8 Texture 4b 8:02
9 Mobile 2b 2:26

Known as six years co-editor of Vital Magazine and as founder/owner of Earlabs.org, Jos Smolders is active in the underground electronic scene since early 80's. Founding member of the renowned Dutch electroacoustic ensemble THU20 (which also features Roel Meelkop and Peter Duimelinks, both of Kapotte Muziek and Goem), his music was released on cassette, LP and CD. He now works as a sound designer and composer in Tilburg (The Netherlands). "Textures and mobiles" is his latest work. Based enterely on pure sine waves and mobiles tones, the CDr has a really nice flow in the pieces and can easily meet as one of the best composed works of Jos Smolders. It has the Jos trademark all over it, despite the fact that he limits himself to just pure sine waves. One hour of introspection with minimals elements.
CONV

Jos Smolders might be more known these days as the driving force behind the Earlabs site, a true online goldmine for electronic music,both old and new, but many forget that he is also a composer in his own right and for a very long time. He earliest releases were released on cassettes on labels such as Midas Music (where are the
CDR re-issues, please?) and Korm Plastics. Then he produced two more than excellent LPs in the early nineties, and some more conceptual works for CDs on Staalplaat. Those are more 'create your own thing with this'. Jos Smolders is also part of the never really ceasing to exist group THU20 (who are preparing for a new project next year). Since some time Jos Smolders is back at composing music himself, and
for no other purpose than to create beautiful music. On 'textures And Mobiles', the first CDR release from Con-V, otherwise known as an online label, Smolders finds his inspiration in two visual artists. For the textures he is inspired by the paintings of Mark Rothko and the mobiles by the mobiles of Alexander Calder, using CCITT ringtones (mobiles getit?) as sound sources. Of the nine pieces, five are from
the texture series, and here Smolders uses static tones that are similar but not the same to create a richly varied elegant tapestry of sound. The sounds glide and pass by, move gently through space. The connection to Rothko is indeed present, and musically it relates to the work of Alvin Lucier. The mobiles are shorter tracks of
shorter sounds that sound unlike anything those annoying ringtones I hear on the street or in the train. Maybe bythemselves the 'Mobile' pieces aren't that convincing, but they form an interesting counterpoint to the longer 'Texture' pieces, which if only present on this release, would maybe a bit too much also. Now the balance is just perfect. Moving along the lines of his previous release 'Music
For Kalx.com' (on ERS Records), this is a more than excellent release. For those who love Lucier, Asmus Tietchens and 12K, this is definetely a must have.
Vital Weekly

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Asher - Landscapes Elsewhere (CONV, 2006)

1 Where The Blue Appears Not Quite Blue (20:08)
2 There's No Color Besides A Blue (6:29)
3 The Traveller Pierced By Arrows (6:09)
4 Last Rays Of A Painted Sun (20:09)

landscapes elsewhere is Asher Thal-Nir’s third release on netlabel Conv coming after “graceful degradation” (cd-r) and “invariably the blue” (mp3). It’s also the follow-up to “Directions” (cd-r) released by Leerraum. A noticeable difference in this newest album when compared to the aforementioned is the inclusion of more harmonious and organic elements. But Asher’s music is more than just about sounds - it’s also about images, perception, and emotion.

Having listened to landscapes elsewhere two things come to mind. The first is the soft chroma of a favorite color - grayish-blue - a diffused and pleasant hue, that I find very soothing. The second is the most enjoyable season to me - Indian Summer (actually an atypically stretch of temperate and sunny weather occurring in late Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere) - with its comforting warmth and subdued, hazy sunlight. Asher has said that he is reluctant to talk about his music and a little reflection on my part reveals why. The music that he composes is more than just about him and the sounds and the minutiae of their creation. More importantly, it’s about the listener and about how the sounds are interpreted and what affect they have on the listener.

On the surface level I can easily describe the music because all listeners will hear similar sounds although we might use different words to describe them e.g. soft, harmonious gently resonating above a layer of the light static pop-and-crackle of an old vinyl record coupled with field recordings of watery noises, birds, and other organic sounds and even traces of a subtle, but noticeable, high frequency droning whine. The album consists of four compositions: “where the blue appears not quite blue” (1) and “last rays of a painted sun” (4) both exceed 20 minutes in duration while “there’s no color besides a blue” and “the traveller pierced by arrows“ (2 and 3) are considerably shorter each being near 6 minutes in length. As is with much of Asher’s work, there is an unmistakable homogeneity between the compositions which gives the album a very coordinated ambiance, but concentrated listening reveals enough divergence between the compositions so that each stands on its own.

landscapes elsewhere has the quality of being variable relative to the listener‘s present state of mind. As I write this review, the weather is unusually pleasant here in the Midwestern United States for this time of year and life is good right now. The sounds as I perceive them from listening to these compositions in this existing moment are relaxing and emotionally reassuring. Were the weather more unfriendly or life more difficult, my experience of the music might be considerably different. How we perceive the music is partly colored by the present moment.

If you’ve enjoyed Asher’s other works, then landscapes elsewhere will not disappoint you. If you’ve found his previous work to be too minimal and abstract for your tastes, then you will be pleasantly surprised with the inclusion of more harmonious sounds and field recordings which make for an overall more organic release.
Earlabs

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