Quote from: ANDROPHILIA on January 29, 2015, 01:41:55 AM
CAEN - Middlefield ( URASHIMA ) LP
I adore this album!!
Lea Bertucci -
Carillon (Obsolete Units): I've been familiarizing myself with Lea's work since I've heard the awesome 7" on I Dischi Del Barone. This precedes her gorgeous LP, "Resonance Shapes", on the same label by one year. The title track and A-side: bass clarinet is amplified and carefully accentuated by feedback. Found tape is mixed in, there's barely noticeable presence of it, until near the end where the sound of bells is heard. I can't play this one loud at home cause the feedback makes our dog go nuts, haha, so maybe the tape's more important than I realize earlier on in the recording. The B-side: something different from Lea's bass clarinet works - which seems be the reigning presence in her oeuvre. 1/4" tape collage; not sure on the source of the sounds, but I could easily see the passing of breath through the clarinet as being part of the source. The sounds are tunnel-esque. A female voice is whispering irrationally and getting lost in the echo. Sometimes the tone is stronger, illegible, but it reminds me of the voice on
Neutral's
Grå våg Gamlestaden. It all perfectly flows into an end made up of feedback, drone, reverb and surprisingly aggressive nightcap that almost sounds like a possessed
Zomes recording. A great tape. Maybe a little more naive than her last two releases, but that playfulness makes this worth getting as well.
There's a lot of great footage of Lea performing, solo and collaborative, all over youtube and vimeo. For example:
http://vimeo.com/98564309. She is or was the artist in residence at the Issue Project Room. Looking forward to hearing those pieces in the near future!
Kostnice -
Finsterfelden (Reue Um Reue): The second release ever on the demanding and eclectic Reue Um Reue back in 2005. Finally found an affordable and well-cared for copy. This is a solo project of Sofia Erzsébet Ragyóci from
Wermut,
LO†PH,
Gnostic Gnomes,
Ich Wollte, Ich Könnte etc. Yet another fascinating face on a very creative and adventurous artist. Probably the most palatable for the average industrial fanatic too. Not so synth-retro as her other work at all. In no way shocking - this release is very hard to pin down. It's almost martial at times, but never with masculine aggression. Samples of spaghetti western gunfights, arrogant voices and undecipherable french dialog appear occasionally amidst a varied presentation of sampled strings - probably once serious - morphed into playful loops of a parallel universe of totalitarian strangeness. In a stretch of the imagination, I'd say some piece remind me of middle-"good"-era
Der Blutharsch and
Rose Croix sans singing. All across the board, the music and atmosphere is unique, engaging and wonderful. Not too surprised to find Sofia unleashing such a one-of-a-kind recording. I think about 2 or 3 years ago, Brave Mysteries forecasted a tape from Kostnice. Hope that sees the light of day eventually.
Douleurfantome/
Nature Morte -
When Trees Fall Down (Reue Um Reue): Continuing off my reflection in the 7" topic - more Nature Morte. Much like that release, there's a massive similarity in execution from both projects. Douleurfantome is totally new for me. Aside from two small-press CDr's, this appears to be their only work. Their work is unquestionably made from guitar; there's that certain grit that could only be sourced from it. Can't say I'm too fanatical about such a thing, but I'll give it to them that these songs sound nothing like the generic post-rock that often comes with the territory. Things do wilt and decay throughout their side and the droning ambience, not unlike Nature Morte (who contributes to a track and vice versa on the flip-side), that I adore becomes a focal point. Douleurfantome shines brightest when they're not giving you a distorted-guitar-literally passage.
Nature Morte starts, for just the briefest moment, with an almost saccharine moment - if they're capable of such a thing. It's quickly interrupted to allow things to follow the expected trajectory, although a little change from the norm. These works are a little more "cinematic" than I'm recalling the other albums being. This is done within the NM palette of slo-mo malaise. There's also the tiniest bit of "tension" hanging in these tracks that keeps them apart from other releases. I think the twilit aspens that mark the J-card are the perfect place to indulge in this split with headphones. A strange piece to hear in the daylight as you feel as if night is being forced into your world.
