Saturday, April 28, 2012

Cioran by Swoon

Linkeroor #3 - 'Monument voor Fukushima'

New column on www.goddeau.com with reviews of release on obs* label from Rostov on Don in Russia: Chris Whitehead, Richard Garet, Denis Shapovalov/Five Elements Music, Takanobu Hoshino and Takanobu Hoshino/Roel Meelkop. http://www.goddeau.com/content/view/10349

Monday, April 23, 2012

Calliope Tsoupaki - 'Medea'

I've been listening to this one for a week now continuously and I still discover things that I didn't hear before. 'MEDEA' is an excellent composition by Dutch-Greek composer Calliope Tsoupaki and very beautiful in an unusual way. I am one of these people who is convinced that 'classical' radio should be much more audacious and daring. Slip some new music ensembles between the usual Currans, Luciers and Scelsis. Nobody will notice. Or, maybe yes, they will surely notice... Take Dutch ensemble MAE Ensemble who boldly dare to go where no musician has gone before. The stark intensity and dramatic musical evolution of 'MEDEA' threads a fine line again between tradition and experiment. The first ten minutes are very alluring: it's all about prepared piano, violons gliding off tonescales and bell-like sounds. The 8 instruments of the ensemble are very surprisingly a combination of violin, recorder, e.guitar, piano, percussion, clarinet, trombone and contrabass. The cd is lavishly designed with images by Isabelle Vigier. Very nice album! http://www.unsounds.com/28u.html

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Swoon about 'Cioran'

Voor ik aan deze kon beginnen, kwam er een uitdaging mijn kant uitgewaaid: "Hei Marc, durf je het aan om één van mijn meest beeldende gedichten in beelden te vatten? Ik daag je uit." Getekend Peter Wullen. Een handschoen die ik met plezier wilde opnemen. Hij stuurde me enkele gedichten en liet Bart Stouten (Klara) ze inlezen, ik koos voor Cioran. http://networkedblogs.com/wtgPn

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Bérangère Maximin - 'No one is an island'

Interesting new name on Sub Rosa: Bérangère Maximin. On her brand new album Maximin worked together with luminaries like Fennesz, Rhys Chatham, Richard Pinhas Richard and Frederic D. Oberland. I've really come to appreciate this one. Even if I don't particularly like her singing though on 'Knitting in the air' - it sounds a little bit too artificial - this is largely compensated by two outstanding tracks: 'Bicéphale Ballade' with its suppressed singing sighing sounds exactly like a Christian Fennesz track and it probably is too. And I could swear that Ekkehard Ehlers played on 'Where the skin meets the bone', which sounds like a deranged Jon Hassell track. Very nice one, this!

http://subrosa.itcmedia.net/en/catalogue/new-series-framework/new-series-framework-11--berangere-maximin.html

Friday, April 06, 2012

Linkeroor #2 - 'Synesthesie & muziek'

New column on www.goddeau.com with reviews of From The Mouth of the Sun, Franck Vigroux, Andrea Belfi, Sven Kacirek and Marcus Fischer.

http://www.goddeau.com/content/view/10282

Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Keiji Haino/Oren Ambarchi/Jim O'Rourke - 'Imikuzushi'

Listening to the 24-minute long track "invited in practically drawn in by something facing the exit of this hiding place who is it? that went in…" on 'Imikuzushi', the new Keiji Haino/Oren Ambarchi/Jim O'Rourke album on Black Truffle Records. I wondered what 'imikuzushi' meant in Japanese. I thought it meant something like 'erase all colours till there's nothing left'. That would fit the gray, colourless sleeve of this album exactly. I checked with my Japanese FB friend Yukihiro Takahashi.It actually means 'meaning' (imi) 'destroyed' (kuzushi). What an apt title. The album sounds exactly like the title suggests. Like nothing else. Like poetry. Wonderfully addictive! Get it before you die! Then die!

www.blacktrufflerecords.com