Rachel's - Music for Egon Schiele (Quarterstick Music, 1996)

à Blandine

1 Family Portrait (5:41)
2 Egon & Gertie (3:02)
3 First Self-Portrait Series (3:47)
4 Mime Van Osen (3:05)
5 Second Self-Portrait Series (2:30)
6 Wally, Egon & Models In The Studio (4:41)
7 Promenade (8:24)
8 Third Self-Portrait Series (2:23)
9 Egon, Edith & Wally Meet (2:41)
10 Egon & Wally Embrace & Say Farewell (3:09)
11 Egon & Edith (2:55)
12 Second Family Portrait (4:45)

Emballé une fois encore dans un packaging outrageusement somptueux, les Rachel's nous reviennent dans leur plus simple appareil pour un résultat de toute beauté. Approché par Stephan Mazurek afin d'illustrer de leur qualité musicale les scènes de son spectacle dédié à l'oeuvre et à la vie du peintre Egon Schiele, le groupe se sépare momentanément de ses lourds attributs rock et philharmoniques pour évoluer en trio. Les échanges permanents entre piano, violoncelle et violon traduisent parfaitement la vie passionément tourmentée, maladivement romantique, de l'artiste Autrichien. Cette ambiance de musique de chambre donne plus de poids à une musique à la forte charge émotionnelle à laquelle il est difficile de résister. La série des trois autoportraits peut briguer une vague ressemblance avec les résonances mélodieuses et dramatiques des thèmes composées par Michael Nyman pour le film de Jane Campion, "The Piano". Les différentes variations proposées donnent d'ailleurs à l'ensemble encore plus de force et de cohésion. Sur ses plages plus obscures, dominées par un violoncelle toujours aussi déchirant de détresse, on peut songer aux musiques pour quatuor à corde de Dimitri Shostakovitch. Plus que jamais donc, l'héritage classique transparaît sur ce disque précieux jamais ennuyeux. Une simplicité à toute épreuve, une fragile émotion presque tactile tellement elle semble dégouliner par hectolitres de vos enceintes. Évoluant donc hors cadre, dans un contexte qui ne lui est pas familier et ne représentant au final qu'une infime portion du groupe, Rachel's touche au sublime en signant ici paradoxalement son oeuvre sans doute la plus aboutie, réalisant par là même la parfaite synthèse néo classique post moderne, aussi poignante que bouleversante. On est loin du rock. Loin de tout. Mais en nous. Et ce superbe "Music for Egon Schiele" ne manquera pas de venir encore raviver les cicatrices mal soignées de ceux qui vivent au jour le jour dans la douleur d'un coeur étouffé par tant de peine et de chagrin. (dimanche 8 décembre 2002)
Guts of Darkness

Music for Egon Schiele is the soundtrack to a piece of dance and theater [originally put on in Chicago by the Itinerant Theater Guild] that was based on the life of this controversial Viennese painter. Rachel Grimes composed the music and performed it with two string musicians during the run of the performance. So don't expect the full experimental sound of Handwriting [Rachel’s debut album, which featured 16 musicians including the bands Shellac, Coctails, Rodan, Hula Hoop, and members of two symphony orchestras], this is modern 'chamber' music in its naked essence [only Rachel on piano, Christian Frederickson on viola, and Wendy Doyle on cello]. The songs on Music... try to give musical shape to the life and work of Egon Schiele, the untimely deceased painter from Vienna who linked Gustav Klimt's Jugendstil to Oskar Kokoschka's expressionism around the turn of the century. […] It's remarkable how well the combination of Rachel's music with Schiele's paintings works. This is melancholic yes, but still there's a lot of action in this music as well as there was in Schiele's paintings and life. I don't think there's another 'band' that has managed to describe a painter's work that well in musical terms. Yet another true masterpiece by Rachel's!
Ultra E Zine

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Bernhard Günter - Un Peu de Neige Salie (Trente Oiseaux, 1993 (2003 remastered reissue))

1 Untitled I/92 (8:59)
2 Whiteout (27:00)
3 Untitled IV/92 (16:00)
4 Untitled I/93 (20:12)

...Un peu de neige salie est à cet égard absolument remarquable. Véritable haïku sonore, ce grand disque est d’abord une profonde respiration. Pas une respiration comme les miment les mauvais disques « new age ». Mais de ces respirations que seules les maisons, en hiver, savent imposer à leurs habitants. Une respiration comme un chat qui rode, un chat qui se ferait les griffes sur une moquette usagée, un chat qui guette, affolé par des sons inaudibles à son maître. Une respiration qui se prolonge infiniment dans le silence suspendu. Un peu de neige salie est l’héritage d’un homme qui a renoncé à l’histoire, et plus encore, au temps qui passe. Mais pas seulement. Cette musique est le don d’un homme qui a renoncé à tout. L’auteur lui-même a longtemps expliqué que sa musique se définissait par tout ce qu’il en avait exclu. Réductionniste dirent même certains critiques tellement contents de trouver un nouveau mot en « isme ». Mais ce qui importe c’est que ce faisant Bernard Günter élevait son art au besoin de transcendance qui était le nôtre. Les grands vides peints sous nos yeux étaient tout ce qui nous avait manqué jusqu’alors. Les plus blasés (Dieu qu’il y en a !) y verraient quelque chose de proche, dans la forme, des tapisseries sonores d’Eno et de sa musique discrète. Mais la posture n’est pas la même. Moins conceptuelle, plus poétique, Un peu de neige salie ne vise pas à superposer une nouvelle strate sonore sur l’océan de sons qu’est devenu le monde. Elle est tout autre chose. Elle est une invitation. Une promesse (elle aussi convaincante) d’un accord possible entre soi et le bruit du monde.
laptitemaison

This release is a special re-edition of my first CD on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of it's first release in 1983. It is not identical to the original version of Un Peu de Neige Salie, but entirely re-mastered using newly acquired digital tools, resulting in more clarity, a better spatial image, and elimination of background and quantizing noises i had no means to get rid of before. The new mastering sheds a quite different on these works i still consider valid artistic statement after ten years have passed. The tracks Untitled II/92 and Untitled III/92 have been replaced by a soundtrack i created for the video project Whiteout of Tokyo based artist Takahiro Tanaka that combines the two original tracks into one larger work, reinforcing the unity of Un Peu de Neige as a whole. I have kept Takahiro's title Whiteout and dedicated the piece to him. The re-edition is completed by extensive liner notes and a collection of photos that i find to somehow relate to Un Peu de Neige Salie (though maybe more by their 'feel' than by their content).
Trente Oiseaux

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Machinefabriek - Marijn (Lampse, 2006)

1 Kreukeltape (4:41)
2 Somerset (4:52)
3 Wolkenkrabber (10:18)
4 Schipbreuk (2:46)
5 J'espere Ca (8:26)
6 Lawine (18:26)

Premier long format du musicien hollandais Machinefabriek (de son vrai nom Rutger Zuydervelt), Marijn est le genre de disque s’inscrivant dans la lignée d’un courant musical qui tend à se répandre et que l’on pourrait qualifier d’ambient obscure à tendance expérimentale ; auquel des artistes comme Deaf Center, William Basinski ou Gultskra Artikler ont récemment et largement contribué.

Il s’agit là d’une musique parcourue de drones flottants, de souffles légers, de feux crépitant dans la pénombre et de textures en voie de désintégration, occasionnellement titillées par quelques nuisances sonores.

Si cette formule peut se suffire à elle-même, constituant alors un tissu sonore hypnotique et abstrait à souhait, elle se voit souvent enrichie d’éléments mélodiques : un piano décomposé mis en boucle (Kreukeltape), s’écoulant telle une cascade sous réverbération intensive (Wolkenkrabber), lascif et lointain (l’épique et éprouvant Lawine qui termine englouti par un typhon supersonique), une guitare dialoguant avec un glockenspiel sur un Somerset sporadiquement soumis à de brèves secousses "Fennesziennes".Mystérieux et obscur, Marijn est un disque immersif sur lequel plane une part de menace.

Sébastien Radiguet, Onde Fixe

Following on from the truly delectable 3" releases that have been drifting through the office over the past few months, the time has finally come for a full length Machinefabriek album - with Rutger Zuydervel drawing on a slew of influences for debut LP 'Marijn'. Woven together from filigrees of diffused sound, the music contained within 'Marijn' is like a slow-burning candle - shedding little light on it's source, but nonetheless creating an ambience and glow that can't help but draw you in. Similar in structure to the less oppressive end of drone, 'Marijn' opens through the crumbly textures of 'Kreukeltape' - wherein a thrum of crackling elements gently accrue light and shade through the introduction of muted piano, distant rhythms and fuzzy processing. Juxtaposing the austere with the inclusive, 'Kreukeltape' is the perfect entrance to Machinefabriek's world, with the musique-concrete elements lapping against a more soundscape-orientated angle that is dark but not claustrophobic. From here, the next stop is 'Somerset' and a masterclass in unobtrusive micro-electronic compositions, as the spindly production is used to buttress the freewheeling atmospherics and distant radio signals on top, whilst 'Wolkenkrabber' massages found-sound detritus into a tape-fed compote of intense beauty. With the sonic squall of 'J'espere CA' and throaty dissonance pf 'Schipbreuk' both equally beguiling, Zuydervel closes the album with the eighteen minute climax of 'Lawine' - a cascading build-up of aural peaks that represents a tsunami of sound which never threatens to belligerently overwhelm the listener.
Boomkat

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Aaron Martin & Machinefabriek - Cello Recycling (self release, 2007)

1 Machinefabriek - Cello Recycling (11:54)
2 Aaron Martin - Piece 3 (2:01)
3 Aaron Martin - Piece 5 (3:47)
4 Aaron Martin - Piece 6 (1:49)

Les morceaux de violoncelles d'Aaron Martin ont été utilisés par Machinefabriek lors de l'ouverture de la galerie Lokaal 01 à Breda pour en faire un drone dense et profond....

Machinefabriek. Man. This guy doesn't know how to stop being overproductive and high quality at the same time. All these lovely 3" cd-r's are worth every single penny and this little ditty is no exception. If you ever wondered what grey autumns in Holland feel like, just listen to Machinefabriek. Drones with a lot of thought and personality, aural fingerprints, stuff that makes time float.

Cello Recycling contains 3 pieces. All recordings made by cellist Aaron Martin, the first track being remixed by Machinefabriek. Eleven minutes of ghostly cello sounds, building up slowly and with huge respect for doomed silence. Like listening to an earthquake rumbling 200 hundred miles away with your ear to the soil. Towards the middle, the floaty flat drone gets punctured by exilirating low end fuzzquakes before drifting into the dense fog of haunted cello sounds again. There's always great dynamics going on in Machinefabriek's music so once you think you've had the best part there's always new developments around the corner. It really feels like a morning stroll through a foggy unknown.

Tracks 2 to 4 are short examples of Aaron Martin's original works. This way you get a slight idea about Machinefabriek's jolted mind. It's these tracks that make you realise how immaculate this dude works his craft and really, just a peek inside a gloomy mindstate. One with a love for melancholy and maybe even the haunted pasts of whatever interesting people he's met over the years.

I know all this praise might seem suspect coming from me as I just released a Machinefabriek chapter on my own label but if there's ever gonna be a bad Machinefabriek, I'd be seriously thrilled to slag it off. No joke. Up until now, pfft, you just can't knock dude's hustle.

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Aaron Martin - River Water (Preservation, 2008)

01 Alison (6:00)
02 Sisters (5:57)
03 Cord Blood (2:57)
04 Moon Jellies (6:53)
05 The Shape of Leaves (2:19)
06 Tar Paper (6:53)
07 Tire Swing (4:22)
08 Mannal Street (4:41)
09 Burning Honey (3:59)
10 Trees Are Smoke (3:42)

Pour son second album, le violoncelliste Aaron Martin joue le funambule entre expérimentation et musique de chambre, créant des pièces mélodiques et mystérieuses en réussissant le tour de force de ne pas sombrer dans l'abstraction la plus complète sans les faire sonner par trop familières....

A follow-up to his Preservation debut 'Almond', Australian cellist and sound sculptor Aaron Martin continues to fashion his peculiarly intimate brand of bedroom electroacoustic music having recently collaborated with Machinefabriek on his Huis 3" CD-r and the Cello Recycling project. While Rutger Van Zuydervelt's compositions tend to be glazed with a kind of hard-edged industrial professionalism, Martin's work is characterised by a sense of personable domesticity. It's not so much that this music could really be regarded as lo-fi, more that the scale has been shrunken to incorporate up-close recordings of the most hum-drum sounds you could imagine from everyday life: shakers, cutlery and even candleholders figure in these pieces somewhere, chiming in with the arsenal of more conventional musical instruments at Martin's disposal (to name a few: ukulele, mandolin, ocarina, an assortment of bells, and of course the cello). The music can take stylistic turns from outright drone to a more foksy sound without coming across as inconsistent, shifting from monochord sustain in the first half of 'Tar paper' into the homely, tuneful loops of 'Tire Swing' with consummate fluidity. Maintaining a constant balance between accessibility and experimental sound crafting, River Water is one of the most eminently listenable electroacoustic albums you could hope to encounter, and an absolutely wonderful album.
Boomkat

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Last Days - These Places Are Now Ruins (n5MD, 2007)

1 Station (3:09)
2 Reasons To Go (4:35)
3 Points Bridge (5:58)
4 Devil`s Wood (3:05)
5 Saved By A Helicopter (1:56)
6 A Storm Tore This House (5:44)
7 Swimming Pools At Night (2:29)
8 Two Halves Of A Line (6:29)
9 Ruins (2:05)
10 The Whole Town Is Against Us (5:57)
11 Look After Yourself (4:09)
12 Station (Part 2) (4:12)
13 Travelling Heart (3:32)

Graham Richardson présente son deuxième opus signé Last Days. Dans la même veine que ‘Sea’ sorti l’an dernier, la démarche est introspective et vise à partager des émotions très personnelles par le biais de l’abstraction. Musique ambient habillée de simples harmonies de piano et de guitare, sans être purement acoustique ou informatique, on nage dans un entre-deux brumeux et profond par ses suggestions émotionnelles.

Il s’agit ici de se tourner vers le passé, de ces balades solitaires et silencieuses vers des lieux bien connus et délaissés depuis des années. Une marche au cœur de la mémoire et dont l’expression tient dans un regard se passant du verbe. Le son se fait lo-fi pour les réminiscences douloureuses (‘Devil’s Wood), mélancolie omniprésente mais aussi espoir et tendresse. ‘Look after Yourself’ est un morceau riche de douceur et de vécu, une personne que l’on étreint par la pensée en lui souhaitant le meilleur, après avoir pris du recul sur l’amertume des blessures, temps de réflexion nécessaire à ce sourire offert au lointain.

Voilà ce que ce disque peut évoquer. Pour celui qui décidera de s’asseoir aux côtés de Richardson sur un flanc de colline en contemplant l’horizon, l’expérience est subtile et touchante.
Paper Cuts

Last Days is the recording alias of Edinburgh-based electronic producer and composer Graham Richardson. Last year Richardson delivered his celebrated debut album The Sea, and his follow-up, These Places Are Now Ruins, focuses on similarly mood-based, atmospheric themes - something of an anomaly on the largely IDM-centric n5MD label. In fact, there are times when you'd swear you were listening to something on Type or Kranky: 'Points Bridge' is up there with Helios as far as organic instrumental electronica goes. Richardson has a way with a melody akin to Keith Kenniff's understated compositional fluency. Even more organic is 'Station (Part 2)', which guns for Sigur Ros-style grandeur without falling too far short of the mark, incorporating glockenspiel, muffled electronic string sounds akin to Stars Of The Lid and a noisy midsection where you think Richardson might go all out for blow-the-roof-off sonic density, only to hold back and shrink into quasi ambient understatement.
Boomkat

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Melodium - Anaemia (Audio Dregs, 2004)

1 Reality is Decaying
2 Iopak Bis
3 Floating Blood
4 Industrial Reminiscence I
5 Chan's Escape
6 Pseudo Anomali
7 Industrial Reminiscence II
8 Residual Song
9 Be Away
10 Platitudes & Cloportation
11 Felt Melt (Primitive Version)
12 Compose Organique Volatil II

Les mystères du journalisme musical veulent qu'on encense M83 et ignore le nouvel album de Melodium. Si les deux projets diffèrent sous bien des aspects, ils sont néanmoins proches dans leurs tentatives d'utiliser l'electronica pour construire des chapes de brume sonore.
Melodium aka Laurent Girard, pianiste de formation, est assez bon architecte dans le domaine. Sans révolutionner le genre, son électronique économe et assez inquiétante est faite de bruits étouffés, de pulsassions sourdes, de nappes de clavier et de bips sous-marins. A l'instar des productions de Morr Music, des disques d'Anne Laplantine ou de Lali Puna, "Aenemia" est ainsi une plongée dans un univers à la fois robotique et désuet, comme la rencontre du sampler et du sonar.
L'album s'écoute un peu comme se regarde la fin de "2001, L'Odyssée de l'Espace". C'est une traversée, une plongée dans un univers extra-terrestre et hors du temps, une musique qui privilégie l'imaginaire plutôt que le mélodique. Cette attitude révèle une certaine forme d'intransigeance artistique et force l'admiration.
Evidemment l'aspect vaporeux de la musique de Melodium ne favorise pas l'enthousiasme total. Pas de tubes, pas de mélodies à chanter sous la douche, pas de chansons qui réchauffent le coeur. Mais "Aenemia" se mérite peut-être à ce prix là. Et au fil des écoutes, on apprend à cerner les ritournelles semées par Melodium, telles "Iopak Bis", "Felt Melt" ou "Composé Organique", qui sont parmi les plus réussies et reposent sur une vraie belle construction mélodique. Ces morceaux-là n'ont rien à envier au "Kid A" de Radiohead.
Vous l'aurez compris, dans un monde parfait on nous parlerait autant de Melodium que de M83.
Popnews

I'm not so sure if Laurent Girard went all the way to suffer for his art since the album hardly shows deficiencies in melody. Maybe it's Girard's conservatory degree as a pianist that lead him to name this set of compositions 'Anaemia'. Melodium is at the crossroads of piano magic and glitsch harmony. But as he defies to be pigeon-holed, and as I would expect his work is too alien to most of his former students, the body of work is rather solid and groovy!
Rather than break new ground, Melodium is a today's pianist with his digital orchestra. Squelching sounds coming from the keyboards substitute for the horn section, the strings take on the melodies while Girard's superb piano play directs the compositions. Traditional by heart, Melodium is a conductor lost without his symphony orchestra. 'Anaemia' progresses from subdued excitement in 'Iopak Bis' to the dubby elektro acousitics of sound sketches like 'Pseudo Anomali'. The intermezzos reshuffle the seemingly false starts to pave the way for outright magnificent compositions. Classical by nature, Melodium succeeds in building layers and as distorted the mechanics sound at times, there is no juxtaposition. The layers read exactly the same as the composition does. 'Anaemia' instead reaches a beautiful spleen like momentum in 'Composé Organique Volatil II' which is the grand finale to a wonderful album.
-Maarten Schiethart, Penny Black

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Midori Hirano - Poet at the Piano (Soundz from Nowhere, 2004)

01 Perception (2:02)
02 I Was (3:32)
03 White Tale (5:54)
04 Poet at the Piano (3:12)

Jolie musique de chambre faite de fusion de piano, de cordes, de voix samplées, d'électronique "glitch"...

poet at a piano is an excellent mini album by the japanese artist, midori. her sonic world brings forth thoughtfulness and delight. uplifting and directly touching the heart, her songs are composed with excellent string arrangements, piano melodies, crunchy beats, and sampled voices. a must for admirers of experimental and emotional music.
Soundz from Nowhere

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Yasushi Yoshida - Little Grace (Midi Creative / Noble, 2008)

1 Permanent Yesterday (4:40)
2 Greyed (5:00)
3 Little Hand (1:11)
4 Thread Still (10:10)
5 Lasted In Different View (1:36)
6 Three Winters Our Trace (7:39)
7 Under Calf, Winged Steps (4:26)
8 Lullaby For Rainsongs (6:03)

Près de deux ans après Secret Figure, Yasushi Yoshida revient, à nouveau sur Noble, mais en profite pour changer son fusil d’épaule : après l’electronica de son précédent album, c’est à une musique beaucoup plus organique que le Japonais s’attache, utilisant nombre d’instruments réels et conviant une douzaine d’invités pour un résultat entre post-rock et néo-classique.

Certains morceaux optent en effet pour cette seconde veine, majoritairement portés par des cordes soyeuses (Permanent Yesterday, Thread Still) ou sur un piano détaché (Little Hand). Si cette optique conduit parfois à un peu trop de lyrisme (la fin de Thread Still avec ses cordes cherchant démesurément l’émotion), elle se trouve néanmoins dépourvue de la touche « auteuriste » qu’on reproche fréquemment à ce genre musical, en raison de la présence récurrente d’éléments moins habituels (le theremin de Under Calf, Winged Steps, par exemple).

Parfois donc, c’est une inflexion plus proche d’un post-rock traditionnel qui est entreprise, avec sa batterie caractéristique, ses mélodies à la guitare ou aux cordes, son alternance entre passages calmes et moments plus enlevés (Greyed, Lullaby For Rainsongs). Une nouvelle fois, rien de vraiment surprenant, mais une sincérité certaine et un virage musical réussi par rapport au disque précédent pour son auteur.

EtherReal

Few areas of the world have been as exciting to watch as the experimental community in Japan over the past half a decade. What was originally dominated by noise and psychedelia-oriented music has slowly transformed into a sea of post-rock, ambient, and electronic artists, exposing a magnitude of creative musicians with large ambitions and a wealth of talent at their disposal. While this is undoubtedly a counter-culture movement amongst the very pop focused Japanese mainstream, it is having a much larger and significant impact on the global scale.

Although many have celebrated the evolution of ambient music within the boundaries of Japan, which has broken through a decade-old stagnation of the generation with a more humanistic approach to the whole process, it has really been the electronic circuit which has received the most critical acclaim and will probably leave a lasting impression decades to come. The innovation comes in the natural blending of unnatural pairs of genres, particularly the classical and glitch IDM influenced genres. The two most noteworthy pioneers of the field are undoubtedly found in Katsuhiko Maeda (a.k.a. World's End Girlfriend) and Kashiwa Daisuke, both label mates of Yasushi Yoshida.

Maeda is the eldest of the group, with a discography that now spans almost a decade and a career that demonstrates strong sonic development through time. His work is the strongly influenced by the avant-garde, and, in general, his compositions represent sketches or snapshots of a sonic landscape that is constantly evolving and largely chaotic in nature. Daisuke's approach is much more narrative in nature, as he takes a longer form to allow the pieces to fully illustrate his themes and paints a full portrait for the listener. While both pull from very similar worlds for influence, they acheive stunningly different results, although comparisons between their work is surely evident.

Yasushi Yoshida's debut, Secret Garden, was very much in line with this world. Little Grace, his newly released sophomore effort, is as well, but it'd be difficult to draw such a conclusion without knowledge of Secret Garden and seeing the progression in action. On the surface, much of Little Grace sounds like it's in comfortable proximity to the works of contemporaries Olafur Arnalds, Peter Broderick, and maybe even Balmorhea (and, let's be honest, they all love Rachel's). It has all the required ingredients -- piano, strings, a slow, emotional air -- and the pieces are composed in the general neo-classical style that has now become standard. However, tracks like "Greyed," "Under Calf, Winged Steps," and "Untitled" should tip us off that there's much more going on below the surface than just pretty neo-classical music (not that there's anything wrong with that...), harking back to the works of his Maeda and Daisuke in true cutting-edge style.

Indeed, on closer inspection, even the seemingly straightforward classical pieces are less predictable than Yoshida's peers. The lengthier pieces ("Thread Still" and "Three Winters Our Grace") are accomplished tracks that stretch the imagination and offer a few extra tricks during the expanded time frame. Meanwhile, the shorter tracks ("Permanent Yesterday" and "Lullaby for Rainsongs") adhere closely to stock neo-classical formulas and provide a solid foundation/anchor for the album to flourish from. Essentially, Yoshida provides a spectrum of tracks that highlight the movement of his music from the experimental to the conservative, but in doing so he also doesn't give up the things that made him love the combination thereof in the first place. Although the electronic component is drastically reduced in Little Grace, it is still present and, for the most part, used subtlely. This is brought to the fore in the more experimental tracks, but then fades back into supporting role (if any at all) during the rest of the album.

There's no denying that Yoshida has created a timeless, exhilarating album that many will quickly fall in love with. But, for several reasons, I'm unable to give this album my full support. First of all, I feel that Yoshida is, at times, trying too hard to distance himself from Daisuke and Maeda, and in the process sacrifices the electronic component which is largely what gives his work a voice and separates it from his Western peers. There are many moments on the album that slide into generic neo-classical territory, which is not something you typically see on many Japanese releases. Secondly, his newfound style hasn't quite been developed as fully as his older work, which had the benefit of appealing to the work of his influences. A little more tinkering would flush out the Yoshida sound to great lengths. Lastly, upon analysis of the album and the progress of Yoshida's work, I can't help but conclude that this is a transitional album and his next will be a more satisfying release. Little Grace looks to be wedged between his past work and a more organic work that awaits in the future; we've yet to see his masterpiece, but we're still getting a pretty good view in the meantime.

-Lee Whitefield, The Silent Ballet

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Jasper TX - D + A (self release, 2007)

1 D (10:08)
2 A (9:58)

Drones de guitare, accompagnés au glockenspiel, nous transportant vers des paysages de rêve...

We all like a limited edition, and leave it to Sweden’s Dag Rosenqvist (better known to Boomkat readers as Jasper TX) to make such a mouth watering micro-run as this. It probably won’t surprise you that Rosenqvist is best buds with none other than his label mate Machinefabriek, another feller known for his crucial limited editions, so that would probably be a good frame of reference. The EP is made up of two ten minute tracks, both of which plumb the murky depths of Scandinavian guitar drone. I say Scandinavian because unlike Dutchman Machinefabriek, Rosenqvist has a very different outlook on the genre indeed. In place of grimy darkness and creaky floorboards we are treated to floating dreamscapes and glacial glockenspiels – this is the shoegazing end of droning ambience and is all the better for it. We witnessed Rosenqvist’s sense of delicate beauty on the wonderfully realised ‘I’ll Be Long Gone…’ album a couple of years back, but here he has refined his sound carving down the rough edges to produce something truly wonderful. Those of you who enjoy Rameses III, Stars of the Lid or Tim Hecker will no doubt fall head-over-heels for this incredible little EP...
Boomkat

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Steinbrüchel - Basis (Room40, 2007)

1 Interlude 1 (5:25)
2 These 1 (17:20)
3 Interlude 2 (5:17)
4 These 2 (8:40)
5 Interlude 3 (5:06)
6 Falter (20:00)
7 Interlude 4 (5:06)

Cet album de Steinbrüchel est un travail de remixes, les Interlude 1 à 4 sont des samples de guitare tirés de l'album Happiness Will Befall de Lawrence English, les These sont des samples de guitare tirés du Theory of Machines de Ben Frost tandis que Falter est un sample de piano de Bernd Schurer, issu d'une installation réalisée pour Lerraum en novembre 2005. Steinbrüchel en retravaillant ces morceaux réussit à en tirer de nouvelles atmosphères et à leur donner encore plus de profondeur harmonique...

This latest from Ralph Steinbruchel is a remix project of sorts, in which the Swiss microsound composer creates a number of works from recordings by other artists, namely Lawrence English, Ben Frost and Bernd Schurer. It's a mark of Steinbruchel's skill and sure hand that he's able to impose his own voice onto the source material, with guitar recordings (from both English and Frost, taken from their Happiness Will Befall and Theory of Machines albums, respectively) and piano recordings (taken from a Bernd Schurer 5.1 surround installation) all somehow morphing into that distinctively warm tangle of digital tones. Those already familiar with Steinbruchel's work will, to some extent, know what to expect from this release, although the presence of instrumental material provides a greater depth than in previous outings. 'These 2' serves as an especially successful example of this: you can't actually make out Ben Frost's guitar as such, though there's a harmonic richness that transcends the more staunchly digital compositions in Steinbruchel's catalogue. The Schurer piece, 'Falter' even lets a little air into the thick tonal jumble, resulting in a more spacious sound. This gives a three dimensional, roomy feel to the music, breathing new life into the potentially very dry world of lowercase laptop music. All in all, Basis gets the balance of the new and the familiar just right, making for one of the most satisfying room40 releases for some time. Highly recommended.
Boomkat

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Forestflies - Structure / Chaos (Auetic, 2008)

1 Cello 2 (3:01)
2 Piano And Violin (7:19)
3 Guitar And Cello (4:18)
4 Processed Vocals And Strings (7:10)
5 Piano And Guitar (3:49)
6 Cello (6:13)

Le suédois David Wenngren sous l'un de ses alias (Library Tapes, Xeltrei), assemblage dronesque de samples classiques....

There's not a lot of supplemental information accompanying Forestflies' Structure/Chaos though we do know it's the latest release from David Wenngren who has previously blessed us with wonderful music under the Library Tapes and Xeltrei aliases. Song titles don't help much either as they merely identify each track's instrumentation (e.g., “Piano and Guitar”). We also know that the thirty-two mini-album was assembled from classical samples; that its classical-ambient material is voiced by piano, strings, guitars, and voices; and that it's available in a 300-copy run. It's also about as engaging as one would expect it to be, given Wenngren's involvement.

The six tracks are so heavily drenched in static and hiss, the classical dimension generally takes a back seat to the material's industrial drone character. After a relatively natural-sounding intro of slowly swirling cello lines (“Cello 2”), “Piano and Violin” includes reverb so pronounced, the instruments are almost buried in haze. Every setting thereafter perpetuates that textural style. In “Guitar and Cello” and “Cello,” the instruments again become almost unidentifiable with the focus instead on shimmering and shuddering drones where subtle accents disappear beneath a thick blanket of hiss and static. “Processed Vocals and Strings” migrates towards Stars of the Lid territory in its hymnal mood but also opts to smother its glimmering tones in gritty waves of dust and static. A quick perusal of the material Wenngren has issued under his three guises indicates that he's slowly amassing a pretty impressive body of work, and Structure/Chaos nicely adds to it.

Textura March 2008

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Library Tapes - Alone In The Bright Lights Of A Shattered Life (Resonant, 2005)

1 Broken Piano Pt. 2 (2:46)
2 In A Safe Place... Somewhere Near Your Heart (5:10)
3 The Leaves Have Left Us (3:50)
4 Cold Leaves For The Violent Ground (3:05)
5 The Scratches On The Window In The Doors Of Each Cell (5:40)
6 Broken Piano Pt. 1 (3:00)
7 Alone In The Bright Lights Of A Shattered Life (9:31)

Les deux Andy avouent que leurs inspirations principales pour la gestion du label anglais Resonant sont Kranky, Constellation et Fat Cat. Il faut avouer que c'est placer la barre très haut. Mais à voir le catalogue qu'ils se sont créés en six années d'existence, on se dit que les bougres s'en sortent à merveille. Voyez plutôt : Do Make Say Think, Jessica Bailiff et les Islandais Stafraenn Hakon et Ölvis figurent dans leurs réserves. Et voilà maintenant qu'ils nous sortent Alone In The Bright Lights Of A Shattered Life, un premier album prometteur du duo suédois Library Tapes.

À la lecture du titre du disque (littéralement "seul dans les lumières lumineuses d'une vie brisée"), on est rapidement fixé sur l'ambiance. Ce n'est pas le morceau d'ouverture Broken Piano Pt.2 avec ses notes dissonantes et sa mélodie lente, éthérée qui va nous rassurer : Library Tapes n'est pas joyeux. La mélancolie est omniprésente tout au long de l'album. Ce qui fait la particularité du groupe, c'est l'utilisation de l'instrument mélancolique par excellence : le piano. Peu de groupes officiant dans ce registre musical que l'on pourrait qualifier de post-rock ambient (et parmi lequel nous placerons Labradford, les premiers Tarentel, Stars of the Lid), ne l'ont utilisé avec autant d'insistance.

L'utilisation du piano n'est pourtant pas ici une révolution. Il est quasiment toujours accompagné d'une guitare électrique, sauf sur les morceaux qui lui sont dédiés (Broken Piano Pt.1 et 2). Les structures des morceaux sont assez analogues aux classiques du genre, à savoir un début mélodique qui vire à la dissonance et au cataclysme sonore. Musicalement Alone In The Bright Lights Of A Shattered Life est une très bonne synthèse du He Has Left Us Alone de A Silver Mount Zion et du CODY de Mogwai, une torture lente de sentiments simples et profonds. Mais le fait de remplacer une guitare par un piano renforce encore plus les émotions que l'on peut ressentir en écoutant ce genre de musique. Dans les parties calmes, la pureté des notes et le coté aérien sont mis en avant, le son étant plus claquant et sec, la nudité des mélodies est alors renforcée. En ce qui concerne les parties plus énervées, l'opposition avec la guitare électrique noisy est plus marquée et permet de mieux jouer sur les contrastes, décoller avec la guitare en restant scotché au sol par le piano (Cold Leaves For The Violent Ground en est l'exemple parfait).

Les deux compères de Library Tapes précisent que ce disque a été enregistré en trois jours lors d'un hiver particulièrement rigoureux. Ceci est presque inutile tant cela se ressent dans leur musique. Alone In The Bright Lights Of A Shattered Life apporte un angle nouveau à la musique lente, dépressive et torturée sans toutefois révolutionner le genre. Ce premier album de Library Tapes est malgré tout un compagnon de premier choix pour cet hiver qui s'annonce des plus glacials.

Webzine Mille-Feuilles

2005 is looking likely to be remembered as the year of the piano. With countless artists tickling the ivoriesand Michael Nyman's back catalogue getting the attention it deserves, the piano has become the weapon of choice for the more mellow-headed leftfield. The latest to join the Liberace list is Swedish duo Library Tapes, whose debut album 'Alone In The Bright Lights Of A Shattered Life' lists Max Richter, Lunz and A Silver Mt. Zion as amongst their influences. Comprised of piano, acoustic/electric guitars, balalaika and the a trusty laptop, 'Alone In The Bright Lights...' seems to exist in a distant tundra, with the listener coaxed into embarking on a hugely rewarding journey. Whilst the stiff melodies of opening composition 'Broken Piano Pt.2' are draftily satisfying, it is '...in a safe place...somewhere near your heart...' that really establishes their sound. Not unlike a William Basinski piece, 'In a safe place...' takes an emotionally wrought piano and allows it to languidly meander over a stirring landscape of half-glimpsed sonic sturctures and soundscapes that can't help but make an emotional impact on this listener. Gorgeous.
Boomkat

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Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - Corridors (Root Strata, 2008)

1 Corridors (25:20)

Drone conçu pour accompagner un film super 8 de Paul Clipson.

Latest installment from the on-going collaboration between filmmaker Paul Clipson & musician Jefre Cantu-Ledesma. Paul sets high contrast black & white Super8 dream sequences to Jefre's composition (originally released as a 3" CD-R on RS last year). Meditations on architecture, organic matter, light and various manifestations of the macro/micro world. A cosmos of white hot lights and pitch blacks.

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Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - The Phantom Harp (Root Strata, 2007)

The Phantom Harp (for Katja) (20:34) Long drone pour reprendre la présentation du label : musique pour aéroports sur les lunes de Jupiter.... Recorded at Sun Place this summer on a borrowed autoharp with electronics. One 20min track of metallic architecture, as seen with x-ray eyes. This is music for airports on the moons of Jupiter. Each comes in a folder paper sleeve. Root Strata

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Elizabeth Anka Vajagic - Nostalgia / Pain (Constellation, 2005)

A Nostalgia (17:15)
B1 Pain (12:41)
B2 Beneath Quiet Mornings (3:42)

Sorti chez Constellation, Ep extrêmement noir, oscillant entre folk et expérimentations abstraites, avec la participation de Sam Shalabi...

Yet another release from the increasingly prolific Constellation label, 'Nostalgia/Pain' is a longform EP from Elizabeth Anka Vajagic and acts as extended accompaniment to last year's 'Stand With The Stillness of This Day' debut album. Packaged in a beautifully embossed gold/purple card case, 'Nostalgia/Pain' is a sprawling work that alternates between tightly structured segments of folk-rock and abstract instrument oscillations, with Vajagic's voice the aural glue. At times similar to Michaela Melian's guttural vocal style or a female Nick Cave, Vajagic allows her voice to slowly become part of the musical landscape (with two clocking in well over the 10 minute mark) and as guitars soar, reverb rattles and drums march onwards, it all takes on an epic Ulysses quality. Deceptively sparse, 'Nostalgia/Pain' is nonetheless as accomplished as a Pinter play.
Boomkat

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Jack Rose - Red Horse, White Mule (Eclipse Records, 2002)

A Red Horse
B1 Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground
B2 White Mule Part 1
B3 White Mule Part 2
B4 Hide The Whiskey (Blues For The Colonel)

Dès l’ouverture, son toucher pur et harmonieux ne tarde pas à se révéler, il est à associer à une force charismatique grâce à laquelle il développe des compositions nuancées dans les émotions qu’elles transmettent, de la mélancolie à la contemplation, suivant en permanence le fil d’une intensité extrême. De Red horse à White mule, Jack Rose mène sa monture habilement, jouant sur la cadence, il la porte du trot au galop pour atteindre des dénouements poignants. Il surprend par ailleurs dans son aptitude à se forger un jeu très personnel, parvenant à insuffler une grande modernité aux morceaux tout en conservant les bases d’un style musical décidément éternel. Dark was the night, cold was the ground de Blind Willie Johnson semble ainsi traverser les ages: repris l’an dernier par Marc Ribot pour The soul of a man, par Ry Cooder il y a quinze ans pour Paris, Texas, ce standard se voit ici interprété par Rose.
Webzine Mille-Feuilles

Jack Rose has been in Pelt for a while now and has been an integral force in their stunning output over the past five-ish years. While the band is best known for sprawling tones, spontaneity and occasional dissonance, Rose has found the time to extract himself from this formula for two releases that demonstrate his remarkable skill as a blues guitarist. In a little more than a year, Rose's acoustic side has issued a CDR and an LP (both in limited quantities) that have been uniformly praised by all those fortunate enough heard them. The CDR, Hung Far Low, Portland, Oregon, first saw the light of day as a largely tour-only release in 2001. It was far too brief, but inspired covers, such as Mississippi John Hurt's "Nobody's Business," demonstrated that Rose possessed a definite talent that had never been expressed in this way with Pelt. Red Horse, White Mule (Eclipse Records, from an edition of 318 copies) plays for thirty-five minutes and is short, like it's predecessor. That said, those minutes have the ability to completely transport the listener, and are destined to be played over and over again.
The material is very emotional and intense. Over every bit of new music I've heard this year, regardless of the source, not one other album contains as much of the performer's soul as this LP. Rose has undeniably poured himself into his writing, as well as this particular performance. No matter what I do to try to explain this record, I know that I'll fall short of Kisan Nagai's massive essay from the back of the LP cover. To quote him, "it can truly be said that Jack Rose has the Blues." While that line reeks of hyperbole and cliché, one listen to the LP will reveal that the statement is completely accurate and wholly appropriate.
"Red Horse" is the album's side-long first track. It is a sixteen-minute epic that is full of quiet authority. It starts off with a few attention-grabbing strums intermixed with a little bit of picking that reveals the song's overall melody. This sort of structure moves along for a minute or so until the tune's drive really begins to take shape. Rose is content to kick the pace into overdrive from time to time within the number, generating an incredibly fast picking pace at several points along the track's duration. From start to finish, the track remains captivating.
The LP's second side starts with "Dark was the Night, Cold was the Ground." The track's sound, from the playing style to the material, completely resembles a modern-day impression of all the great delta blues masters. Rose has to be making them all smile. "White Mule part 1" is powered by a distinctly circular rhythm. It rolls and churns for a brief three minutes before segueing into "White Mule part 2". The second portion slows down while retaining a bit of the first's lyrical drive. This trend continues throughout the rest of the track, along with the occasional ebb and flow in guitar speed. The end product is fully mesmerizing. The album closes out with "Hide the Whiskey (Blues for the Colonel)." Nearly dissonant hard picking takes shape and forms a unified and expressive blues riff before falling apart again right as the needle lifts off the vinyl.
Red Horse, White Mule is one of those moments where substance and style meet and harmoniously become one. The acoustic is an uncomplicated instrument that can produce so many different types of sounds. While it is debatable whether or not traditional blues represents a type of music that is more "pure" or "true" than other forms, I think there can be no debate as to the emotional impact that can come from the blues when they are properly played. Jack Rose is a new and important voice within the genre and this LP is simply fantastic.
While on the topic of Jack and other things Pelt, Klang's latest offering in the Klang Archives series is an ultra limited (40 copies) CDR of a Pelt show from Houston in 2001. Jump on over to klang.org or Eclipse Records and try to find a copy if they're still available. As phenomenal as Pelt's double disc Ayahuasca was, this is one of the best Pelt releases in the last few years. Recorded on May 16, 2001, Houston 2001 is thirty-one minutes of Pelt hitting all of the proper notes in stride. The disc consists of three untitled tracks, but each one definitely hits a chord and works. The first two tracks are shorter, each utilizing a different part of Pelt's drone armada. The centerpiece is the discs final track - twenty minutes of layered goodness. Brevity is of no concern when it comes to this disc. Pick it up now while you still have a chance.
Cory Rayburn, Fakejazz

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Jack Rose - Two Originals Of... (VHF Records, 2004)

1 Red Horse (14:45)
2 Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground (2:39)
3 White Mule (3:01)
4 White Mule II (9:36)
5 Hide The Whiskey (Blues For The Colonel) (3:31)
6 Yaman Blues (10:04)
7 Linden Ave Stomp (3:49)
8 Mountaintop Lamento (11:24)
9 Black Pearls (9:16)

Compilation de deux albums pour son premier Cd, Red Horse, White Mule et Opium Musick... Fingerpicking et Ragas à la Jack Rose.

Debut solo CD from Jack Rose, combining his much-lauded Eclipse LP's Red Horse, White Mule and Opium Musick. While Red Horse, White Mule is generally recognized as in the Takoma-inspired tradition, Jack adds his own exotic influences and recognizable touch - whether abstracting on the modal epic "Red Horse" or the rough slide stylings of "The Colonel's Blues." Opium Musick is an eclectic collection with pieces for 12 string (the percussive and dark "Black Pearls), 6 string, and lap guitar. The two tracks featuring the lap guitar are duets. The lovely raga-ish "Yaman Blues" features Mike Gangloff on tanpura, and the near-ragtime of "Linden Ave Stomp" features Glenn Jones on his vintage Gibson. The 12 page booklet reproduces the liner notes from both LP's and adds a few snaps for fun.
VHF Records

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Jack Rose / Silvester Anfang, Split (Funeral Folk, 2007)

A1 Jack Rose - How Green Was My Valley
A2 Jack Rose - Buckdancer's Choice
B Silvester Anfang - Geen Vlaemsch, Geen Senzen

Split entre Jack Rose et Silvester Anfang, groupe belge se définissant lui même comme du krautfolk post-satanique. Ici Jack Rose reprend le "How Green was my Valley" de John Fahey et le "Buckdancer's Choice" de Sam McGee, selon sa technique éprouvée du fingerpicking et c'est comme si chacun de ses petits doigts étaient animés de sa vie propre. Quant à Silvester Anfang ils signent à nouveau un morceau de free folk foutraque....

The first thing that strikes you about this split tour 7" from guitar maestro Jack Rose and Belgian occultists Silvester Anfang is the eerie sleeve art, bringing to mind the diabolical engravings in that book from The Ninth Gate. Entirely in keeping with that tone is the all-out creepfest 'Geen Vlaemsch, Geen Senzen' on the Anfang side, one of the group's more concise statements to date, held together by creaky string drones and out of step drumming. Jack Rose supplies two solo pieces, the first being a rendition of John Fahey's 'How Green Was My Valley', immaculately plucked out on lapsteel, the second a more blues-oriented fingerpicking of Sam McGee's 'Buckdancer's Choice'. Superb.
Boomkat

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Jack Rose - I Do Play Rock And Roll (Three Lobed Recordings, 2008)

1 Calais To Dover (13:20)
2 Cathedral Et Chartres (5:55)
3 Sundogs (22:10)

Membre de Pelt, groupe légendaire dont on finira bien par mettre quelques travaux sur ce blog, Jack Rose signe ici son premier album de matériel live. Sa maîtrise du fingerpicking en fait le digne héritier de John Fahey et de Robbie Basho...

The title might seem defensive, or just plain mystifying. The music that acoustic guitarist Jack Rose, formerly of Pelt, has played in recent years derives more from old country blues and various folk revivals than Elvis Presley, Black Flag, or Parts & Labor. Is he asserting that he can still rock just like he used to when Pelt sounded like the Dead C with a Virginia accent? Or is he just messing with us? Rose doesn’t really need to confuse or confound; his fingers are as strong as a pit bull’s jaws and you can hear it in the way his strings ring out. His music is singularly unapologetic; steeped in the sweaty-browed intensity of Delta picking and the cosmic sweep of Takoma Records stalwarts like John Fahey and Robbie Basho, it simply is what it is. So maybe “I do play rock and roll” is just a statement—of fact, since I know this guy has packed some classic rock sides for long car trips, or intent, given the undeniable physical impact or his playing.

Or maybe it’s the preamble to the phrase “and I used to play it like this.” Because whatever you want to call what he does now, this isn’t it. Rose has traversed a lot of ground between the impressionist meanderings on his first LP, Red Horse, White Mule and the succinct, tradition-steeped tunes on his most recent album, Dr. Ragtime And His Pals, and he’s ready to retire the music heard on this live CD (part of Three Lobed’s Oscilation III subscription series). The first two songs can be heard in different versions on Kensington Blues, and both are sweeping, romantic fantasias that owe a lot to Basho. Rose plays the regal “Calais to Dover” on a twelve-string, an instrument he doesn’t even own anymore because he’s said everything he has to say on it. This piece says a lot. Its opening strums sound momentous, dramatic, but it is drama wrung dry of pomp. They’re followed by spiraling figures that flow and eddy as inexorably as a mountain stream swollen by a spring thaw. It is music to get lost in.

“Cathedral et Chartres” is the more pensive composition, and is heard here in a six-string version that is darker in tone, if not spirit, than the Kensington version. Nowadays Rose seems eager to get to the point and nail whatever it is he’s playing; these tracks show that he could find something pretty marvelous by searching in someone else’s territory. “Sundogs” reaches back even farther into Rose’s personal history, but to his days in Pelt, particularly during their Hillbilly Theater of Eternal Music phase. There is no tune here, just pure, drifting sound, over twenty minutes of high-frequency shimmer coaxed from his Weissenborn lap steel braided with what sounds like a thin, unbroken ribbon of microphone feedback. If Eliane Radigue played acoustic guitar instead of ARP synthesizer, she might come up with something like this.

It might seem like a shame that Rose is walking away from music like this, and I can’t say I’d complain if he returned to it. But it’s testimony to his fidelity to his restless muse that he can set down something that someone else would turn into a career in order to see where it takes him.
By Bill Meyer, Dusted Reviews

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