Tokafi: Change of Address
On March 1st, tokafi is moving. If you're an artist or label intending to send us promotional material, please read on!
Nicolas Bernier & urban9: Sound Dimensions
It is easy to see why two dynamic media, like music and film, should be able to complement each other. But what happens when the equation becomes asymmetrical and moving sounds are juxtaposed with static images? On „les arbres“, Canadian Composer Nicolas Bernier has joined forces with visual artist urban9 to find out. A collection of six electroacoustic works and six accompanying postcards featuring paintings by his artistic partner, the album is an attempt of researching how different techniques of creative expression can be combined into a coherent new entity. As natural as the result has turned out after a collaborational process of four years, Bernier gladly admits to the challenging nature of the endeavour: „To create music on 'static' images was a hell of a deal!“, he says, „I see this music creation for static images as if I were adding a third dimension to the 2D image. Except that this third dimension is not 'visual', it is sound. With the music, I've tried to go deeper and explore what the images are suggesting. Is there sound in the picture? Is there somebody else near? Or far? Are we moving in front of it or are we still? Is it raining? Is it windy? Are we far or close?“
Francisco Lopez & Lawrence English: Mysterious acronyms and a strong amusicality
The year is still young but we are pretty positive that no acronym will beat the title of the collaborational release between two titans of the experimental scene in terms of utter mystery. "H.B.", released on the increasingly important Baskaru imprint, is the short and yet enticing name of the sonic encounter between Australian Sound Sculptor Lawrence English and Spanish enigma Francisco López, the latter of whom the label already refers to as "the most mysterious sound artist ever". There is every chance, too, that few will match the music contained on the disc when it comes to combining striking precision with unrestrained creativity. The principle behind "H.B." was simple: Both artists would contribute a piece of their own, which would then both be published in its original form and in a new and transformed version created by their partner. What sounds like a pretty conservative remix project on paper, however, has turned into an album lavishly endowed with rich details and haunted by an inexplicable allure. Somewhere in between field recordings, microtonality and noise, the ports to an almost frightfully tangible world of sound are opening - inviting the listener to step right in.
Dirty Demos: Navigating Around Boxes
Given the name of his label, it might seem slightly ironic that Adam Baker isn't accepting any music submissions at the moment. On the other hand, "Dirty Demos" really has grown into a complex and spiderwebbed entity over the past years, making it harder by the day to keep track of things. Baker has co-created a scene where there previously was none and awarded new meaning to the words "underground" and "DIY". The former, in the context of Dirty Demos, implies holding up an aesthetic of immediacy and a free artistic spirit and considering even the smallest of printruns worthwhile if it caters to the creative needs of an enthusiastic minority. The latter, meanwhile, has translated to one of the more colourful packaging and design schemes around. Each CD-R is a unique project of its own and the imprint has noteably stayed clear of the typical Corporate Design frenzy that many other record companies have used to differentiate themselves. After publishing a staggering 42 albums, DVDs and EPs over the past four years, 2009 will see Baker return to the roots of the label and strengthen the Vinyl arm of Dirty Demos while slowing down the tempo of CD-R output. After having kept an eye on his activities almost from the beginning, we thought these developments a good reason to finally sit down and talk about the impending changes and operating from "a tiny room in someone elses house".
Balmorhea: All is Wild, All is Silent, All is Full of Expectation
Rob Lowe and Michael Muller are content. In fact, they're very content. Early next month, their eagerly anticipated third full-length will be released by Western Vinyl and right now, the recordings sound fresh, exploratory and exciting. Even though the band in the end discarded the initial impulse of attaching an accompanying story in the booklet, „an older Western feel“ and a vague notion of a coherent narrative running through the different tracks have remained intact. For the past weeks, Balmorhea have uploaded a new song from the record to their MySpace account each week and the reactions of fans and friends have been enthusiastic to say the least. Quite obviously, the intense preparations and meticulous finetuning have paid off. The duo agrees: „We worked long and hard on the material and spent more time in each phase - writing, rehearsing, live performances with the new material, and in the studio recording. The larger picture of the album feels very complete and fully realized, and that is satisfying. There is nothing we regret or would change about it.“
Tamerlan: Hypnotizing the Crowd
According to Timur Iskandarov, the man behind the mask of Tamerlan, his project can be considered "a mixture between dark ambient, neoclassical, and experimental music". And indeed, his mediaevally tinged Classical Guitar meditations organically intertwine with soft Synthesizer pads, poetry, twisted and foreboding Glockenspiel motives, long instrumental stretches of mysterious ambiances and psychedelic sections of otherwordly electronics. These seamingly unconnected elements are held together by the wandering mind of their creator, whose wilfull and anything-but-filigree string resonances dance on top of his soundscapes like a dervish in a mantric trance. Quite an eclectic approach for someone who once had to decide between dedicating himself to Black Metal or a career as a Classical Guitarist. In the end, Iskandarov defied both camps, deciding in favour of himself instead and taking on the Tamerlan moniker as a veil behind through which he communicates his most private and honest musical visions. The outcome is a cosmos with obvious references to the genres mentioned above and a pervasive feeling of great things about to happen. Typically cliched depressive utterings have been rejected in favour of a detailed and spatious sound with a great sense of carving out an epic sensation from very minimal means. We spoke to Timur shortly after the release of his first album "The Antiexistence".
Lasse-Marc Riek: Islands of Acoustic Victims
For a field recorder, the line between work and leisure is always a hard one to draw. German Phonographer and Sound Artist Lasse-Marc Riek had already visited the islands of Amrum and Poel as a little boy and later returned to them on various holidays before beginning to collect acoustic material and condensing it into a record. But of course, the seed to researching the sound characteristics of these spaces had already been sown: „By travelling the islands for several years, I was able to deepen my knowledge about them“, Riek explains, „During this time, there was never a concrete idea of working on a sound map or a concept album. I was, effectively, storing my impressions in photography and memory. You could say that, in a classical way, I was performing subconscious field studies and that those studies would later inspire me to create an audio work. Of course, when I did decide to purposefully document the sounds of the islands, it turned into a job.“ Did that job change the way he sees and hears the islands now? „After finishing it, I found it hard not to press play anymore“, he sighs.
E. Ryan Goodman: Plain Moody Playing
At least over here, the coldest days of the year may already have passed. And still there are nights when you want to cuddle up on your sofa, light up a candle and put on an album of intimate music to warm you up from the inside. "Under the Lamp", the debut work by American Guitarist E. Ryan Goodman is such a record. Feeding from spontaneous moods, inspired moments, weekends of meditation and the music of allies like former Billy Nayer Show member James Beaudreau and the incomparable Jim Mcauley, Goodman has created a dense, fragile, dark and feverish cycle of concise yet intense instrumentals. His style is wilfully idiosyncratic, penetrating the crust of reality with razorsharp strings and takes its cues from the Blues rather than Jazz - no wonder then, that he lists Mississippi John Hurt, Howlin' Wolf and Steve Vai among his influences. In a world where first impressions matter more than the joy of true discovery, this raw, immediate and recalcitrant approach will need its time to develop an audience. Which is why his current sideprojects Aura Stings, Lakefire and Deadwolfblack, in which his Guitar style has remained just as recognisable while incoporating it into an experimental Rock context, may serve to earn him the attention he deserves before listeners catch on to the silent magic of "Under the Lamp".
Samarkande: Oblivious to the future
Is this a spaced-out version of Jazz? An electro-acoustic meditation on space music? A Krautrock-trip to the borders of perception? A sonic smile of a happy Avantgarde? Whatever its official name may be, it has taken Sylvain Lamirande and Eric Fillion years to finalise „3 Synapses“ and you can hear the incredible wealth of influences they have allowed to penetrate the shell of this monumental yet weightless work over that time span as well as the focussed concentration on every single sound particle. Still, their fourth full-length has ended up anything but a tight-lipped and headstrong affair. Quite on the contrary, structures shift effortlessly in all imaginable directions and sterterous Saxophone solos blend with atmospheric dronework as a cockoo clock counterpoints atonal piano clusters. This is extremely imaginative music and a welcome alternative to the smooth, clinical and over-polished productions of most contemporary electronica. Quite a surprise, then, that the Canadian duo had to be forced into this organic approach by forces not usually associated with taking creative innitiatives.
FOURM: A spiritual economy for minimalist sound works
If more people knew about it, surely, the microtonal music scene would undoubtedly be the subject of bad jokes about its truly microscopic size. On the other hand, the most recent release by Barry G. Nichols under his 'Level' moniker has made it to several "Best of 2008" lists, demonstrating how much the aesthetics of minimalism have already trickled into electronic music's subconscious. While the community is slowly warming up to his activities, though, Nichols is still struggling with the idea of refering to his oeuvre as "music" and turning his publishing imprint WHITE_LINE EDITIONS into a fully fledged record company. Instead, he has gradually built it into an entirely independent entity operating from Northampton and releasing work by like-minded artists for a niche audience of creative spirits. The relationship between music and form, or rather physical and auditory states where these two factors become mutually interchangeable, are at the heart of his research, which he has brought to a temporary culmination with "Archisonics". A project revolving around themes of architecture and sound art, it expresses thoughts and ideas through music, photography, video and articles. A first book had been scheduld for Summer of last year, but the WHITE_LINE website remained unclear on whether it had actually been released or not. We decided to find out - and chat with Barry about his own work and the future of his imprint while at it.
Raoul Sinier: An Invitation into his Brain Kitchen
This might well be the ideal moment to talk to Raoul Sinier about the duality of his work. On January 21st, after all, an exhibition of his paintings opened at the Galerie Estace in Paris. For over a month, visitors can immerse themselves into a wild world of surreal, sometimes scary but mostly sympathetic characters, as they stumble through landscapes of complete otherlyness. Sinier's mind works in wondrous ways and a sense of friendly chaos and organic confusion is essential both to his visual and musical oeuvre. He has found a perfect term to describe the sounds and imagery inside his head: „Brain Kitchen“. Coincidentally, it is also the name of his latest album, published last year on Berlin-based record company Ad Noiseam.
Slaapwel: "Nothing but a slow fading Outro"
Sleep as the little sister to death, the shadow side of life or simply as a place of bizarre dreams and bewildering encounters has not only been an object of scientific research - but a source of musical musings as well. Especially the relationship between sounds and sleep has turned into a popular theme. German composer Peter Hübner, for example, dedicated a large portion of his electronic work to a "medical music program", which includes work intended for the "Normalization of Sleep in Pregnant Women under Threat of Miscarriage in the First Trimester of Pregnancy" among others. In comparison to this - let's put it mildly - "unusual" approach, Wim Maesschalk's Slaapwel label still seems a comparitively worldly affair. Over the past two years, Slaapwel has published four widely praised albums by Steinbrüchel, Machinefabriek & Soccer Committee, Jasper TX and Wouter van Veldhoven and all of them were commissioned as "boring" music to fall asleep to. As so often, the idea was born in a semi-serious moment and mainly because Maesschaelk enjoyed the intensity of listening to music lying in the wee hours of the night while waiting for his eyes to slowly close. After the tremendous reception of the first Slaapwel release "Ruststukken" ("Pieces of Peace") by van Veldhoven, however, that "silly idea" (as he himself calls it) has turned into a respectable imprint, whose next publication is eagerly anticipated. We talked to Wim to find out more about the Slaapwel philosophy - and forced him to choose between his own children.
Cleemann: Parallels between Monthy Python & Kafka
Most people associate Pop music with a throwaway mentality. The entire process of creating Cleemann's debut album "45 Minutes Mostly About Caring", however, belies this view. The result of an assiduous songwriting phase and a minute studio production, which involved members of the Notwist, a former sidekick to Jeff Buckley and several cream of the crop guests from the Danish music scene, it is to be the first part of a trilogy dealing with universal issues in a very personal way. And unlike Britney Spear's claim that "there's only two types of people in the world - those that entertain and the ones that observe", it took some time for Cleemann to deal with the nakedness of his voice against the soft backdrop of his sensual songs. When listening to the pieces on "45 Minutes", it is easy to tell why he felt intimated: Quite unlike most contemporary radio jingles, the album doesn't grab for your attention with brute force. Its arrangements are discreet, airy and sparse, establishing a brittle balance between delicate electronics and acoustic instruments. And vocals are left almost unprocessed and in all their natural fragility - as an audience it sometimes feels like you're eavesdropping on something extremely intimate. Let there be no doubt: This is still as catchy and approachable as Pop goes. But you certainly wouldn't want to throw these tracks away anytime soon.
Erik Friedlander: Overtaken by Memories
The title of Erik Friedlander's album "Block Ice & Propane" refers to the camper trips he and his family would take every Summer when he was a little boy. The cover image of the CD depicts a log house mounted on a car, but to him, that old camper, with its "stale smells" and propane stove, which his mother always feared would leak and blow up, was much more than just a mobile home. "Cities, campgrounds, parades, outhouses, wild animals and strange characters suffused in the haze of thousands of hours of highway travel", he writes in the liner notes, thinking back fondly to a time when "outside tiny white signs furiously ticked off the next tenth of a mile" and nightdrives turned into journeys into a dark, mysterious and exciting new world. Musically, the record sees him walk the line between the most diverse styles and genres: Americana, Folk, Country, Contemporary Composition and Experimental Improvisation blend into a hot, dusty and nostalgic sound which incorporates the entire spectrum of experience Friedlander has gathered on his quest of intensifying and continually enriching the relationship with his instrument of choice: The Cello.
Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words: 'Lost in Reflections' an attempt to deal with Ghosts
To some, playing with moods of depression and desolation is fun and essential elements of genres like Dark Ambient. To Thomas Ekelund, they are part of his everyday reality. Roughly two years ago, he was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, which nourishes drastic mood swings and a black and white view of the world in those suffering from it. „A prolonged disturbance of personality function“ is what Wikipedia has to say about it – „a both vile and many- faced disease that inevitably drapes every aspect of life in shadows that range from shades of gray to coal black“ is how Ekelund put it in an open letter accompanying the release of his latest full-length under the Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words moniker. Only two months after its release, „Lost in Reflections“ is already being regarded as a masterpiece by many. Somewhat ironically, the period of his Borderline diagnosis apparently coincided with one of his most active and inspired outbursts of creative energy. Published as a luxurious double disc set of 12inch and a 7inch Vinyl. The album has been considered „Chillingly beautiful“ according to „The Sound Projector“ and characterised as a „relentless sonic portrait of Hades“ in the words of Textura. Managing to convey both sensations of beauty and sorrow, it is also an album which deals with Ekelund's struggle both in open and decoded ways.
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