Sawako cotor

Olà!, ecco il primo vero CD di Sawako dopo le varie pubblicazioni in mp3, le deliziose produzioni homemade, la partecipazione a numerose compilation e alcuni sacrificati 3"; oddio, non è che anche in questa occasione la nostra amica si sia sprecata, poco più di 27 minuti, ma quello che conta è l'intensità… e in quanto a intensità questo è un concentrato che rischia di scoppiare tra le mani. Nell'arco di 7 brani, in cui utilizza sinewaves, field recordings e samples, mette nuovamente in mostra la sua abilità nel costruire quadretti surreali che affascinano per la semplicità e la purezza che li contrassegna. Come gocce di cristallo che carambolano inseguendosi e rifrangendo fasci di luce, così i suoni di Sawako scivolano, nitidi ed eterei allo stesso tempo, si dilatano e si restringono, come un corpo che respira, vivono di vita propria, fiori che attraversano con esplosioni di colore abbaglianti il loro breve ciclo vitale. Ci sono ben tre motivi per comprare questo CD-R. Primo: perché l'etichetta portoghese, che sta lottando contro l'ignoranza e lo snobismo dei più, va sostenuta nella battaglia che sta combattendo per dare pari dignità ai vari tipi di supporto, battaglia che conduce attraverso una produzione di alto livello qualitativo sia dal punto di vista musicale che per quanto riguarda la cura riservata alle confezioni; l'affermazione del principio secondo il quale la musica va giudicata per il suo valore e non per il supporto su cui è incisa è un segnale di libertà e d'intelligenza. Secondo: perché Sawako produce grande musica contando esclusivamente nelle proprie forze ed esaltando aspetti che abbiamo sempre amato, quali l'utilizzo di tecnologia povera, l'indipendenza dal mercato e l'autoproduzione. Terzo: perché "Cotor:" è un gran bel disco. (no ©)

Etero Genio
http://www.kathodik.it

Sometimes, when preparing to listen to a new CD, I'll find a comfortable position on the sofa. I'll stretch my legs, put my feet up. Maybe it's already late, the stars already shining in the midnight sky. My rooms, however, are still quite dark, illuminated only by a few lamps that shine their light in different corners, refracting against the white walls and giving the space a soft, warm glow. I'll press play, and listen. The sounds begin to find their way out from the circuitry of my hi-fi and into the space around me; they reach my ears and they tickle my skin. Relaxing, curious, maybe even a little apprehensive at not knowing what to expect from the sounds, now beginning to make new impressions on me, my mind begins to unravel its tensions from the thoughts that have plagued it so throughout the day. Fragments of conversations, images, faces, street corners turned and passed, pages and pages of words, diagrams, figures unfurl before me as I listen to these first sounds: a close, immediate vibration, a rattle, a bell, a whistle. A narrative forms from the refuse of these images and sensations, converging with these newly suggestive sounds, evocative silences. A theme develops, a new scenario, a question posed to me, the truth in question, the sun streaming light into my eyes, the waking dreams of evening. All at once, I am there on my sofa, a listener listening to a new CD, this time by Japanese sound artist Sawako, and I am also in another place, reacting to other voices, other sights and sounds. After some time, with sounds like a signal, a message borne on the wings of radio waves, coded, ciphered, mysterious, I become that signal, that message. I have already crossed over enemy lines, beyond the barricades and into a strange land. Later, after new sounds, revealed silences, a piano makes its presence known, a dog barks, calling for attention, and I'm home, perhaps. I think I can hear a conversation through the walls, but resonances, harmonies, austere tensions cast a doubt in my mind. My eyes are open, after all; my ears ever sensitive, my mind alert, my imagination being guided by the sum of what lies within and what arrives from the outside. My thoughts still turning, I sit up suddenly, discover both that the music has ended and my that body feels slightly stiff. I stretch a little, just for a moment, and discover the silence once again.

Richard di Santo
http://www.incursion.org

Etch, Pl, Draftank, JoÃo Castro Pinto
One Mutant Minute: based on noto 747

"Pensai che era inutile mettere il nome nei lavori, dato che quelli che venivano fatti potevano essere considerati elaborazioni definitive ma anche materiale e quindi soggetto ad ulteriori elaborazioni. Decisi così di etichettarli con sigle alfanumeriche" (Pietro Grossi, 1968 ca.). Quello che, avveniristicamente, Grossi ed altri enunciavano già negli anni ’60 è, ormai, realtà quotidiana e tangibile. Vedi questo CD, dove quattro manipolatori portoghesi partono da una fonte sonora di un minuto - 747 di Noto, tratta da "Autorec" – e la dilatano, anche platealmente, fino ai 19 minuti. In episodi come questo non è più possibile parlare di remix, c’è qualcosa di più e mi sembra che si tratti di (ri)scrittura ex-novo. È come dare in mano a qualcuno una chitarra, con il suo parco suoni, e chiedergli di dilatarne le funzioni attraverso modifiche e/o aggiunte: che questi aggiunga delle corde, o le sostituisca con altre di materiale diverso, mi pare logico che siamo di fronte ad una cosa dissimile da quella che era la chitarra di partenza. Non conosco il pezzo di Noto ma, come nel caso della chitarra, non è per niente fondamentale conoscere la struttura di partenza per apprezzare, e giudicare, le variazioni e/o l’utilizzo che ne viene fatto. Ancora più importante della fonte, inoltre, è chi la utilizza. Il contributo a livello di base, nel nostro caso, è di così poco conto (solo 60 secondi) che, seppur fornito da un nome tanto blasonato, appare irrisorio. Ecco quindi crescere a dismisura i meriti dei quattro musicisti lituani che, sin dalle prime battute modellate sulle pagine migliori di casa Mego, dimostrano freschezza e inventiva sufficienti a far lievitare qualsiasi impasto primigenio. Il trattamento, che continua a conservare la propria originalità e si mantiene su ottimi livelli, può sembrare più oltre concepito da Seth Nehil o da (certi) Illusion Of Safety, ma è con l’intervento di João Castro Pinto, schegge technoidi lanciate verso il dirompente finale, che si fa una volta per tutte magistrale. L’etichetta portoghese, con questo che è annunciato come il primo tassello di una serie 'mutante' - basata sul principio di lunghe tracce create a partire da tracce brevi realizzate in precedenza, abbandona il formato CD-R, e il suo ingresso nella maggiore età, se così la vogliamo chiamare, non poteva avvenire in modo migliore.

Etero Genio
http://www.sands-zine.com

Hay dos imágenes, en blanco y negro, de obras públicas en la calle. Socavones en el pavimento, referencia en el título y también en la producción. Sus herramientas, pero, no maltratan los elementos, incluso parecen cuidarlos. Su deconstrucción quizá lo sea para ellos, la reconstrucción también. Al oyente le queda un poso heterodoxo dentro de un campo limitado, desde ruido a armonía, grabación de campo y plug-ins descarados.

Claudia Melho (zooebap)
http://www.oozebap.org/zooebap

FORMATT Edito

Formatt is one Peter Smeekens, a sound designer living near Antwerp. In creating the pieces found on Edito, he worked from the ground up, from a foundation made of the smallest sounds, weaving them into loops and then into larger structures. That being said, there are many details to be found when listening to this work. There's an undeniable yet unconventional rhythmic emphasis in Formatt's music. The sounds (clusters of sounds, loops) move in waves, each one grows, approaches, folds over itself and somehow manages to give birth to yet another, with a new set of characteristics. Although there are twelve track divisions (with breaks), my impression is that this is more of a single, unified piece. The music on Edito doesn't shift suddenly into different directions, although the tracks certainly have their share of ideas and differences. Moving from one track to the next, one feels like a traveller, moving through spaces filled with slight, subtle sounds, gentle waves surrounded by silences, from one sphere to the next. The journey certainly leaves me curious to see what is next for Peter Smeekens, so keep an eye open for more of his current and future projects.

Richard di Santo
http://www.incursion.org

Here Paulo Raposo plays with Jason Kahn and Carlos Santos, or maybe not. "Sporadic passages from a performance (recorded 10.02) at Sonic Scope festival" it says on the CDR itself. So maybe an edited recording of that concert by Raposo? In any case, over the course twenty nine minutes some carefully constructed pieces or maybe rather blocks of sound, pass by. The music can be best described as 'microsound', with careful clicks and cuts, cracking drones and more of that. Maybe not really the most innovative thing I heard recentely in this area, but a good sturdy work.

Frans de Waard (Vital Weekly)
http://www.staalplaat.com/vital

No One Receiving the release of the wandering-eyed girl

Freely using acoustic, electric and electronic instruments, this trio improvises fluctuating and suspended structures which are refined by numerous standards: from contemporary classical to traditional spanish. Their distressed sound, especially through the use of viola da gamba, may vaguely remind of a modernized version of the Third Ear Band.

Etero Genio (Blow Up)
http://www.blowupmagazine.com

A editora de CD-R do responsável pelo projecto electroacústico Stapletape, Nuno Moita, pôs a circular mais dois títulos que confirmam os critérios de qualidade perseguidos. O trio No One Receiving (Lorne Shapiro, Michal Seta e Hiroya Miura) utiliza computador, teclados electrónicos e processamento analógico, mas também viola da gamba e guitarra clássica na sua parafernália de instrumentos, levando-os para os domínios da “música mista”, ainda que esta em nada corresponda à academicamente estabelecida. Os Tu M’, provenientes de uma cidadezinha isolada do centro de Itália, Citta San’Angelo (Pescara), constituídos por Andrea Gabriele, Rossano Polidoro e Emiliano Romanelli, trocaram o contrabaixo, a guitarra eléctrica e o saxofone barítono pelo “laptop”, o sampler, as fitas, os gira- discos, o leitor de CDs e objectos vários convenientemente amplificados por microfones de contacto, mas sempre com o sentido tímbrico conquistado na sua anterior actividade acústica. Os primeiros aventuram-se por aquilo a que eles próprios chamam “estruturas musicais livres” e os outros manifestam o seu gosto pelas “canções desfeitas”, (des)construídas sobre melodias digitais e improvisações com base rítmica.

Rui Eduardo Paes
http://rep.no.sapo.pt

TU M' nine songs

Restiamo in argomento CD-R con quella che sembra essere l'etichetta guida nel settore: la portoghese Grain Of Sound. La sua produzione è talmente ben curata da lasciar prevedere enormi salti di qualità nell'utilizzo di questo tipo di supporto - la prima volta che mi sono trovato in mano i dischi dell'etichetta ho fatto addirittura fatica a capire se si trattava di CD-R o di normali compact prodotti su scala industriale!!! Tra le nuove delizie della Grain Of Sound è compreso il rientro in scena dei tu m' di Città Sant'Angelo (Pescara). Non lasciatevi ingannare dal titolo che
questi improvvisatori di razza hanno dato alla loro nuova fatica: in "Nine Songs" di canzoni tradizionalmente intese non c'è ombra, si tratta infatti di brani esclusivamente strumentali, anche se non è detto che in futuro i tu m' non possano approdare a quel tipo di standard. Resta il 9: bozzetti fluidi dalla travolgente e selvaggia tensione ritmica che sa in fine trasformarsi in tensione melodica, bozzetti che fanno pensare ad una versione mediterranea - e quindi meno glaciale - dei Supersilent. Con "9 Songs" i tu m' dimostrano di non essere estranei a nulla di quanto è avvenuto alla musica elettronica: dalla ripetitività del minimalismo a quella della techno, dai guasti del glitch a quelli della musica da classifica. E' come se Aphex Twin fosse salito in un treno con i Pan Sonic e, insieme, avessero deliberato di deragliarlo. Ma, vista la smisurata creatività e la frenesia che li contraddistingue, forse sono solo dei novelli Robert Johnson: miscredenti che hanno venduto l'anima al diavolo. (8/10)

Etero Genio (Blow Up)
http://www.blowupmagazine.com

It's not without irony, which is probably one of the most distinctive features of our generation creative skills, that the fourth @c's installment is appropriately called Study. After all, it's their first studio album. @c's members are laptop musicians or to be more precise laptop artists, and this is because more than often the output of their laptops is not restricted to sound. Laptop music, at least in its most interesting expression, seems to relate mainly to a sort of processual engagement. Again, a study of processes, an ongoing study or devoted investigation that may find its way all up to the very stage. Performing interesting laptop music is just another step in that ongoing process where research, chance, improvisation, and the endless tweaking of an immense flow of data are the very essence of creation and once again, study. While their other releases developed from stage improvisations that later crystallized as a released recording (this obviously after a quick drop at the studio), Study, composed between 2003~2006, Porto, appears as an ongoing quasi-academic construction that seems to be going to make it the other way around. Well, ironically, once again, a laptop musician studio is, most of the time, a laptop, and although probably more interconnected at the studio than at the stage (which of course also constitute different spaces and contexts), its core is still the very same laptop. And that studio, which as recording studio appears almost infinitely compressed both physically and economically (but still with a never ending array of possibilities), becomes an instrument more on stage. In the liner notes of the album, one can find physical evidence of what is perhaps the central element in studio music production, sound files (not the instruments that generate them, because what's inside a laptop is sometimes hard to grasp, and once again in contemporary music the definition of instrument can be very vague). To each track, a corresponding number of sound files, probably as diverse as the time and the multiplicity of processes that every one bears. Certainly not all the designations are as descriptive as others, but nevertheless constitute an attempt to provide some sort of mapping to each of the tracks' essence. What it says, its not only that the music contains a multiplicity of sound files and that each of them also probably contain even more and more files in an endless path to complexity. What it says is, with some irony, that this is a studio album, a study, and a study on the subject of sound, will certainly involve sound objects, and thats what these files are. The artwork, a series of illustrations by Júlio Dolbeth, bear an informal touch that is an obvious result of its own ongoing research and brilliantly encapsulate the main concept and spirit of this album. The relaxed informality of the studio dynamic is captured with a blurred combination of looseness and precision. The cables work as a visible metaphor for the complexity of the composition process and its beauty, after all something not very far from the mental engagement that drawing implies, drawing being also the place for studies, sketches, mistakes, chance, a processual playground that can also be presented as closure. Inside, in the actual record, one realizes that an @c studio album retains the same compelling freshness and vivid dynamics of their live acts. On every single track, and this probably due to that special mindset that the studio timeframe conveys, they manage to modulate with utmost elegance moments of abandoned contemplation with the most shearing and sonically engaging peaks of indeterminacy. The smooth swinging across the tracks is peppered with the intensity and surprise of a sonic roller coaster for the ear that even the casual computer music listener can enjoy. The overall attention to every aspect of the composition is remarkable and the sonic richness of every slice of audio transforms every listening into a stunning experience of rediscovery and newness. It's also interesting the way in which some sonic evidences of previous collaborations with other musicians, echo sparsely across the composition layers, working both as an almost nostalgic recollection of the audial past and a vivid feeling of stage improvisation-like artifacts. Interesting music, as everything that is deemed to be deeply appreciated, demands a special engagement from the listener that certainly goes beyond a superficial relationship with the subject. However, this release seems to also favor that sort of less demanding approach, you can listen to this record on an almost daily basis, establishing deeper contact only when your mind is withdrawn to its exquisite sonic modulations, or you can dedicate your full attention span to every masterful detail of its intricate and luxurious composition, where not all is what it appears to be. As said, this study spans from the last three years of public performances and studio reworking, if you've never caught them live, be sure to grab a sit on the next opportunity and prepare yourself to sonic delight, after all, the stage is the space and space is the place.

João Cruz

'Marches of the new World', new record by legendary Portuguese underground figure David Maranha, who has also been putting out music with the mythical Osso Exótico unit for almost 20 years (his previous release was with Patrícia Machás and drone duo Minit as Organ Eye, who put out a self-titled album on the Staubgold label), is his more recent study & advancement in exploring, witnessing and generating new slices of blissful, savaged drone music.

Coming from the higher education of minimalistic pioneer Yves Klein, with his 'Monotone Symphony' from the late forties, while also being informed by the Tony Conrad/Theatre of Eternal Music-Terry Riley axis, he mainly works with Hammond organ going through various tone & texture altering devices, until he reaches the raw keyboard sound put on tape here. In this record his continuous sound science is given wider possibilities, with the aid of a backing band and collaborators he's invited for the release. Besides the Hammond, Maranha also uses violin and his dobro/resophonic guitar. His rhythm section of João Milagre (bass) and António Forte (drums) is augmented by contributions from cello virtuoso Helena Espvall (free improviser of merit, member of Philadelphia's most celebrated folk troupe in the last few years, the Espers) and Tiago Miranda (member of Lisbon's own current free expression kings, the Loosers, and owner of the awesome Ruby Red Label) on various minimal percussions.

The result is a grandiose ensemble sound, intermingled with more sparse numbers, yet another travel into the infinite oscillation trip of pure drone, the admiration of its sound and ritual. With the rhythmic components able to draw up some lyricism that is seldom found in these molds, metrics and dynamics are opened up with some wonderfully disjointed gravitational balance. The keys and strings keep you gliding around the eternal line of infinity with perfect equilibrium and freedom, in these 'Marches' to which Mr. Maranha found the right pace for walking. Fists up, with a direct line to the cosmos, rooted below, forward as always.'

After some years of absence, David Maranha, erstwhile of Osso Exotico then drone meister in his own right, is now back. Recently he released a CD with Minit under the banner of Organ Eye, and there he showed a changing interest in the drone field. It incorporated drones from instruments as well as electronics and had a edge to it which could be classified as 'rock'. This is continued on this new CD, under his name, but most certainly more a rock band then a solo effort. Maranha plays hammond organ, violin and dobro/resophonic guitar. João Milagre (bass) and António Forte (drums), Tiago Miranda (percussion) form the back bone while Helena Espvall playing the cello. The drone music played by this group is one that stands in a long tradition: from Yves Klein, Tony Conrad, LaMonte Young and Velvet Underground. Ongoing, banging rhythm features, with a dominant role for organ and cello, but, certainly in 'Infinity March' also for the rhythm section, which placed at the end makes a beautiful grand finale. The four preceding tracks are quieter, certainly 'Virgins Visions' (which is the only solo piece by Maranha here), but in the other three tracks things already rock like hell or drone like heaven. It moves away from the previous works by Maranha, which was the more classical overtone pieces of resonating strings and beautiful humming wave fields. The music is harsher, grittier, more angular, and I must admit very nice, because it goes back to a tradition which is not copied these days very much, and certainly not as nice. Its a great thing to see this done here, moving away from his earlier work, but still re-inventing drone music. Great stuff.


Frans de Waard
Vital Weekly

A David Maranha não falta história: para além dos celebrados Osso Exótico - ainda uma das mais importantes instituições sonoras em Portugal nos últimos 20 anos -, o músico tem sabido desenvolver, mesmo que sem a devida visibilidade, um discurso de forte idiossincrasia. Tem colaborado com inúmeros músicos portugueses e estrangeiros, é membro de Curia (um recente e fantástico quarteto, com Manuel Mota, Margarida Garcia e Afonso Simões) e Organ Eye (com Patrícia Machás, Jasmine Guffond e Torben Tilly) e recentemente reapareceu numa possível ideia de cena lisboeta experimental que gravita em torno das propostas que a galeria Zé Dos Bois vai apresentando. É aí que temos tido mais contacto com os seus múltiplos desdobramentos. Por isso, e por sabermos que Tony Conrad ainda é uma das suas maiores influências, é que «Marches Of The New World» poderá não soar a uma verdadeira surpresa. Mas a surpresa é ouvirmos o modo quase definitivo como se unem as pontas do minimalismo americano tão caro a Maranha e a nova folk moderna, com o músico a estender as suas riquíssimas texturas e drones para os terrenos da weird america, onde a presença de Tiago Miranda (Loosers) ou Helena Espvall (Espers) poderá não ser de todo acidental. Os movimentos cíclicos tão característicos de David Maranha têm agora uma dimensão ritualística adicional, de alta tensão eléctrica, super detalhada e super alimentícia, simulando na perfeição um largo ensemble em ascencional comunhão. David Maranha marcha a passo firme e certo para o seu novo mundo.