ACL 2017 ~ Top Ten Field Recording & Soundscape
Katharina Klement ~ peripheries (Gruenrekorder)
“What does Belgrade sound like?” Katharina Klement asks the question not only of herself, but of the local residents she encounters, with colorful results. She travels the streets, picking up memories and realities, visiting the trolley bus, the river, the zoo. In the end, the inhabitants are the greatest draw, the warmth and humor of their responses painting the city with natural ebullience. (Richard Allen)
Sculpting Sound: The Life of a Field Recordist
Jack Needham speaks to practitioners of the art of field recording about the history of the craft and their distinct creative philosophies
[…] One of the best examples of this is in “Carousel feeding killer whales” taken from the Gruenrekorder release Ocean Sounds, a recording that demonstrates the effects of noise pollution on the feeding and social behaviour of killer whales in the Norwegian Archipelagos. […]
Review | By Frans de Waard / VITAL WEEKLY
szmt | PARVENU
Behind szmt (no capitals needed) is Tobias Schmitt, better know, I think, as Suspicion Breeds Confidence, but also an improviser and organiser of concerts. As szmt he “contextualizes seemingly contradictory material and techniques. All input is equal and will be formed into a coherent but nevertheless open to misinterpretation result by means of improvisation and composition” and for ‘Parvenu’ we read that it is a “work about authoritarian structures and developments. The narrative is abstract, all sounds are concrete. Every single sound on this recording is based on recordings from three bee hives”, in which context I guess the whole authoritarian structures becomes funny. […]
Review | By Pierre Cécile / Le son du grisli #3
Katharina Klement | peripheries
Il faut souvent s’armer de patience avant d’écouter un disque Gruenrekorder – label, rappelons-le, spécialisé dans le eld recor- ding. Je veux dire : lire les textes qui posent le décor de l’enregistrement, relier des coordon- nées géographiques à des points cardinaux, voire suivre à la trace et au fur et à mesure de l’écoute le musicien (ou le capteur) qui a décidé, un beau jour, de livrer son travail sur CD. Avec la pianiste contemporaine Katharina Klement, c’est un peu di érent. J’explique : j’ai fait deux écoutes de Peripheries. Une sans m’intéresser à son projet, et en y laissant traî- ner mon oreille. […]
Review | By Guillermo Escudero / Loop
szmt | PARVENU
Szmt aka Tobias Schmitt is a german sound artist based in Francfurt Am Main who has released four albums and a couple of singles for Attenuation Circuit, Acrylnimbus and Murmure Intemporel. He has participe a several groups, solo works and collaborations with other artists. „Parvenu“ is a work on structures and all sounds are concrete. Each sound in this release is based on recordings of three beehives. Some of the sounds are inaudible and all of them electronically processed allow to configure an abstraction of those innumerable actions that nature allows in beehives. Repetitive and structured actions that insinuate an established order and hierarchy as in a society like ours. […]
Review | By Roger Batty / Musique Machine
Marc Namblard | F.Guyana
F.Guyana is a collection of soothing, detailed, often layered, and lush field recordings from forests and the costal regions of French Guiana. The CD appears on the always dependable & quality bound German label Gruenrekorder- either as a CD( which I’m reviewing), or as a digital release that features a bonus batch of tracks. The CD comes in a four panel digipak , and this takes in hazy pictures of the Guiana jungles. We also get a wonderfully inlay booklet, which takes in moody-to- brightly coloured photos of the wildlife & natural landscapes of French Guiana. As well as a small write up for each track, described at what time of day they where recorded, and what wildlife & natural sounds are involved in each tracks make up. […]
Hodokeru Mimi | 2017.12.09.sat @Ryosokuin temple
PERFORMANCE
minoru sato + ASUNA / Fabio Perletta / Eisuke Yanagisawa / Takamitsu Ohta
ZEN MEDITATION – Toryo Ito
#soundart #soundperformance #kyoto #ryosokuin #両足院 #多聞会 #ほどける耳
framework radio | #620
phonography / field recording; contextual and decontextualized sound activity
presented by patrick mcginley
Marc Namblard | F.Guyana
New Distribution:
Manfred Waffender: ‘PLACES_IN_TIME | 24seascapes’
GrD 30/17
Field Recordings
DVD-R – 24 Tracks (60:00)
Mikel R. Nieto | Dark Sound @ Charivaria
centrocentro.org
blog.mikelrnieto.net
_
Inauguración: 5 de Octubre, 20 h.
06 octubre 2017 – 28 enero 2018
_
Centro Centro
Planta 5, Plaza Cibeles 1
28014 Madrid
framework radio | #615
phonography / field recording; contextual and decontextualized sound activity
presented by patrick mcginley
Charlie Fox: Four Wild Places; from: Autumn Leaves Compilation,
Gruenrekorder GrDI 088, Germany 2007
Review | By PROGRESS REPORT
Selected Recordings of Bayaka Music by Louis Sarno
Song from the Forest: The Soundtrack
Having not yet seen Michael Obert’s film the music here is from renders this harder to put into context, but going by what I understand from the accompanying booklet most of the songs originated from the Bayaka Pygmies in southwestern Central Africa. Each entry was recorded by the film’s subject, Louis Sarno, an American who one day, in the mid-1980s, became enchanted with such a song himself on the radio and not only took himself to the place in the Congo it was sourced from but ended up staying there, adapting to the Bayaka way of life, marrying a Bayaka woman, having children and recording over 1500 hours of music. It’s a compellingly unique story, saying much about the changing world as one individual’s quest to escape the west he grew up in in order to apply new meaning to his life a world away from those trust-funded travelers who take a year out to, uh, ‘find’ themselves. Although it equally arrives with a plethora of questions, it is hard to take away what Sarno has done to document his adopted tribe or draw attention to both their situation and that of others amongst their neighbours. […]
AUSFLUG 4.9.17, 23 Uhr, FSK Hamburg | By jetzmann
Playing tracks by
rhein_strom, Barry Truax, Roland Etzin, Luc Ferrari, n.n. and more.
Review | By felix / freiStil – Magazin für Musik und Umgebung / #74
Katharina Klement | peripheries
Neun Wochen verbrachte Katharina Klement vor drei Jahren in Belgrad. Die Frage, die sich ihr stellte, war, ob und, wenn ja, wie ein akustisches Städteporträt funktionieren könne. An verschiedenen Plätzen – vor allem an den Peripherien der Stadt, wie der Titel schon erklärt, aber auch im Zentrum – sammelte sie Klänge und Krach, Stimmen und Stimmungen und führte Gespräche mit Einwohnerinnen unterschiedlichen Alters über ihre individuellen Hörwahrnehmungen. Der Sound der Donaumetropole, multikulturell in jugoslawischen, nicht mehr ganz so in serbischen Zeiten, mit seiner reichen Geschichte an römischen, keltischen und türkischen Einflüssen, ihrer gesellschaftlichen und historischen Nichtlinearität, ihrer Ambivalenz. Das akkumulierte Klangarchiv bzw. das akustische Gedächtnis Belgrads bildete die Basis für eine Komposition. […]
Reviews | By Holger Adam / testcard #25: Kritik
Draussen vor der Tür: Field-Recordings und Sound-Art von Gruenrekorder
In der letzten Gruenrekorder-Kolumne war ja bereits die Rede davon, dass man ziemlich herum kommt mit den Ohren, wenn man sich mit den CDs des Labels beschäftigt, und das war natürlich ausschließlich positiv gemeint. Die Aufnahmen, die Gruenrekorder veröffentlicht, werden ansprechend präsentiert und sind ein Abenteuer für die Ohren. So auch dieses Mal.
RODOLPHE ALEXIS entführt mit The Glittering Thing On The Mountain erneut auf ferne tropische Inseln, wo Vögel wie Synthesizer klingen und mitunter auch bühnentaugliche
Namen wie Ruddy Kingfisher tragen! Es zirpt Tag und Nacht, und noch viele andere Geräusche dringen aus dem Urwald ans Ohr. Wie immer atemberaubend, spannend und entspannend. Noch relaxter geht es bei HAFIS BJARNADÓTTIR zu, deren Sounds Of Iceland überraschend reduziert rüberkommen. Es plätschert, taut, blubbert, rauscht und kocht – je nachdem ob das Mikrophon vor Bäche, Gletscher, heiße Quellen, Wasserfälle oder Lavaströme gehalten wurde. Wasser, Gezeiten, Naturgewalten und gigantische Naturschauspiele, die überraschend intime Sounds generieren. Trotzdem wird es beizeiten recht kalt oder heiß gewesen sein, wobei es sich in angemessener Funktionskleidung sicher neben dem Mikrophon hat aushalten lassen. Die Aufnahmen selbst machen wenig frösteln, im Gegenteil, sie wärmen eher – auch wenn einem der Wind um die Ohren bzw. aus den Kopfhörern pfeift. Großes Kopfkino liefert auch, man mag es nicht meinen, der Rhein. Es muss nicht immer Island sein, Karlsruhe hat es auch in sich. Das Duo RHEIN _ STROM bestehend aus Lasse-Marc Riek (Aufnahmen) und Thomas M. Siefert (Location Scout), dokumentiert den Klang des Rheines und seiner nahen Umgebung Von der Rheinquelle bis Hafen Karlsruhe auf der ebenso benannten CD. Das sind ein paar Hundert Kilometer, festgehalten in 21 Ausschnitten. Und – im Unterschied zur zivilisationsfernen Wildnis einer tropischen Insel oder der relativen Unberührtheit Islands – um den Rhein herum menschelt es, Flugzeuge überfliegen den Fluss und Schiffe befahren ihn, Autos und Züge begleiten ihn. Auch das hört man. Und so stellt das Booklet zur CD die Frage: »Wie können wir als heutige Menschen zu diesem Fluss in Beziehung treten, ohne in der Begegnung mit seiner an manchen Stellen erhaltenen Schönheit wieder einem Romantizismus zu verfallen bzw. im Konfrontiertsein mit den irreparablen Eingriffen sich frustriert und desillusioniert abzuwenden?« Eine Audio-Aufnahme des Flusses und seiner nicht nur natürlichen Geräuschkulisse mag da einen weniger voreingenommenen Zugang gewähren. Der Rhein als Fluss und von Mensch und Maschine geformte und genutzte Ressource klingt hier und da wie eine elektro-akustische Komposition (im Hafen Karlsruhe etwa, wenn sich unter Wasser aufgenommene Schifffahrtsgeräusche in der Aufnahme wiederfinden). Das klingt alles recht spannend und wirft anregende mithin schwerwiegende Fragen auf, die nach Umweltschutz beispielsweise. Eine ökologische Frage, auch für die Ohren. Was muss man nicht alles hören, tagein tagaus! Und was will man nicht hören bzw. was hört man überhaupt, wenn es zirpt und raschelt? So harmlos geht es nicht zu, so unberührt ist die Natur nicht. Wie (drohende) Umweltverschmutzung als Field-Recording klingt, diese Erfahrung kann man sich am Beispiel von MIKEL R. NIETO und seinem Dark Sound eindrücklich vor Augen bzw. Ohren führen. Die Aufnahmen kommen zusammen mit einem pechschwarzen Buch und dokumentieren Naturaufnahmen aus dem Yasuni-Nationalpark in Equador, dessen indigene Bevölkerung und tierischer Artenreichtum durch Bohrungen nach einem Ölvorkommen tief unter dem Naturschutzgebiet nicht mehr nur bedroht ist – die Zerstörung und Vertreibung ist bereits in vollem Gange. So stellt sich beim Zuhören die Frage, ob der Tropenregen schon auf aufgewühlte Erde fällt, die von Rohöl verschmutzt ist, und es knattern auch die Fördermaschinen auf der CD, die dem schwarzen Buch beigelegt ist. Man könnte fragen, ob nicht mit dem schwarzen Buch (schwarzer Druck auf schwarzem Papier) der pädagogische Holzhammer herausgeholt wurde – andererseits entspricht das schwarze, beinahe unlesbare Buch in seinem Aussehen den ölverklebten Vögeln und Meerestieren, deren Bilder in Europa noch am ehesten mit Ölkatastrophen assoziiert werden, und insofern ist die Aufmachung genau passend. Dark Sound zeigt eindrücklich die politische und unbequeme Seite dessen, was Field-Recordings auch sein können. Ähnlich unheimlich auch die Aufnahmen von CHRISTINA KUBISCH / ECKEHARD GÜTHER , die auf Unter Grund Grubenwasser zu Gehör bringen, das sich in stillgelegten Untertagebauschächten sammelt und dort abgepumpt und umgeleitet werden muss, damit es das Trinkwasser in der Region nicht verunreinigt und den Grundwasserspiegel nicht derart anhebt, dass sich das Ruhrgebiet mit der Zeit in »eine riesige Sumpflandschaft« (so ein Zitat aus dem Beiheft zur CD) verwandelt. Langzeitfolgen des Kohlebergbaus, gruselig, hier nachzuhören. Verlassen wir diesen Horror und wenden uns noch kurz der Field-Recording basierten Klangkunst und Musik zu. KG AUGENSTERN sind per Kanalschifffahrt von Berlin bis Maguelone am Mittelmeer gelangt. Das scheint zu gehen und sie haben auf Tentacles ein Klangexperiment festgehalten, das sich wie folgt erklären lässt: Lange Stangen auf dem Kahn kitzelten bei jeder Durchfahrt unter einer Brücke deren Eisenkonstruktion und der dabei entstehende jeweils spezifische Sound wurde festgehalten und im Rahmen von Klanginstallationen in diversen Museen zugänglich gemacht. Das klingt aufwendig und phantasievoll, es scheppert auch ordentlich, aber auf der Reise stelle ich mir das Spektakel interessanter vor, als das konservierte Ergebnis klingt. Das je eigene Klangprofil der Brücken, von dem KG Augenstern im Booklet zur CD schreiben, es kommt nicht so recht rüber. Kommen wir zu DAVID ROTHENBERG / KORHAN EREL. Rothenberg hat ja schon mit Zikaden musiziert, und auf Berlin Bülbül spielt er zu Field-Recordings von Nachtigallen Klarinette. Das ist nach all dem Rauschen und den ökologisch katastrophalen Perspektiven je nach Geschmack läppisch oder erholsam. Es ist beides, lang lebe der Zwiespalt. Ganz unzweideutig Nerven zerfetzend ist das Ergebnis von CLUB BLEU , die auf Dark- Asian- Energy Field-Recordings der Stadt Singapur elektronisch ergänzen, verfremden und bis zur Unkenntlichkeit verzerren. Heraus kommt dabei ein elektro-akustischer Höllenritt. Mir zu stressig, aber möglicherweise hervorragend geeignet, morgens statt mit Kaffee mit dieser Musik in die Gänge zu kommen. Lieber greife ich abschließend zu Sonic Drawings von ROLAND ETZIN , die CD liefert auch nicht gerade Easy-Listening, aber das Soundmaterial ist weniger chaotisch organisiert. Etzin kombiniert Field-Recordings unterschiedlicher Herkunft und verfremdet sie ebenfalls elektronisch. Das geht, um es mal etwas flapsig zu formulieren, bei ihm eher in Richtung Nurse With Wound und nicht – wie bei Club Bleu – in Richtung Atari Teenage Riot. Das mal als lahmer Vergleich zum Abschluss.
Review | By Aurelio Cianciotta / Neural
Angus Carlyle | In The Shadow Of The Silent Mountain
While leafing through the essential but elegant booklet of In The Shadow Of The Silent Mountain and starting “Acqua Bianca”, the first of 8 files/compositions present in this digital album by Angus Carlyle for Gruenrekorder, we soon get the feeling of plunging into a point-like sound landscape. This landscape is characterized by natural sounds, at first hardly recognizable, then similar to something dripping, fluid, winter-like: maybe ice sheets breaking and snow under the boots. The various creakings then leave space for stronger sounds. In “Bells of Church” we find some descriptive field recordings (the bells, the flock to pasture, some southern Italian dialects typical of a rural setting). In “Fifty Breaths in the Valley” we find more repetition of sound effects, basically some echoes which are repeated and more shaded and attached to some dialogue fragments, all objects of sound editing. […]
Review | By textura
It’s fitting that these Gruenrekorder releases by Katharina Klement and Marc Namblard respectively appear as part of the label’s Sound Art Series and Field Recording Series: peripheries is very much a highly personalized sound portrait the artist fashioned of Belgrade, whereas F. Guyana is a relatively undoctored set of field recordings collected at French Guiana. Both releases benefit from Gruenrekorder’s customary dedication to high-quality presentation, with each fold-out package supplementing its CD with a full-colour booklet of photographs and text that thoroughly enhances the project. Each also rewards a headphones-styled listen when its sound field is so rich in detail and panoramic in spatial definition.
Katharina Klement | peripheries
In 2014, Klement, an Austrian-born and Vienna-based sound artist, spent nine weeks in Belgrade where she collected sound materials from various parts of the city to help answer the questions, “What does this city sound like?” and “Is it possible to portray it using sounds?”; to help flesh out those answers, she also interviewed people of different ages and backgrounds about the city. In conceptualizing the proposed work, she designed a score using her city map with her apartment as the center around which eight concentric circles were drawn; recordings gathered from those demarcated zones were then shaped into eight musical layers to produce a presentation piece featuring eight channels and eight speakers (the fifty-two-minute CD presents a stereo version). […]
Marc Namblard | F.Guyana
To create F. Guyana, Paris-born Namblard, since 2000 a nature guide, wildlife sound recordist, and sound artist in Lorraine, collected field recordings from the forests and the coastal regions of French Guiana between 2014 and 2016. As mentioned, the seventy-two-minute recording is largely free of artistic intervention apart from the imposition of track durations and the sequencing of its eleven tracks. It’s no less effective, however, for being more straightforward in its presentation than Klement’s, especially when the details of the various French Guiana locations are so vividly captured. Some sounds, such as water burble and insect thrum, are generic as far as field recordings-based material is concerned, but many others give the project a distinctive character. […]
framework radio | #608
phonography / field recording; contextual and decontextualized sound activity
presented by patrick mcginley
Artificial Memory Trace & Porya Hatami | REPREMONITIUM
Review | By Łukasz Komła / Nowamuzyka.pl
Katharina Klement | peripheries
Austriacka eksperymentatorka wybrała się do Belgradu, żeby odpowiedzieć sobie na kilka pytań związanych z fonosferą tego miejsca. Katharina Klement pochodzi z jakże zasłużonego dla historii muzyki współczesnej miasta Graz, choć obecnie mieszka w Wiedniu. Kompozytorka, pianistka i improwizatorka często w swoich kompozycjach wykorzystuje na różnych poziomach preparowany fortepian oraz elektroakustykę. Wydaje płyty od przeszło dwudziestu lat. Oczywiście nie jest jej obcy także soundart o czym świadczy najnowsze wydawnictwo , pt. „peripheries”. Artystka spędziła w 2014 roku dziewięć miesięcy w Belgradzie, koncentrując się na zadawaniu pytań i szukania na nie odpowiedzi: Co to jest za miasto? […]
Review | By Łukasz Komła / Nowamuzyka.pl
Marc Namblard | F.Guyana
Jesteście ciekawi jakie odgłosy wydaje świat przyrody Gujany Francuskiej? Odkodowywanie dźwięków natury (przynajmniej w moim rozumieniu) to każdorazowo fascynujący proces, najczęściej będący czymś więcej niż tylko wsłuchiwaniem się w nocne dialogi hord świerszczy, cykad, małp czy ptaków. Niech soundtrackiem do takowych eksploracji będzie niedawno wydana płyta francuskiego artysty dźwiękowego Marca Namblarda, pt. „F.Guyana”. Jego materiał powstał w przeciągu ostatnich trzech lat, dokładnie podczas pory suchej jak i mokrej na terenie lasów tropikalnych Gujany Francuskiej. Dla zainteresowanych dodam, iż Namblarda można spotkać w Lotaryngii (północo-wschodnia część Francji) w roli przewodnika. […]
Review | By Richard Allen / a closer listen
Katharina Klement | peripheries
What comes to mind when you think of Belgrade? Katharina Klement went on a nine-week mission to discover the sound of the city, and came away with a multitude of answers. peripheries plays like a sonic photo album, the images more important than the flow. While the album begins with a thump, the field recordings soon settle into a sort of rhythm. As the set progresses, a tapestry is revealed. The overture of the city is heard from a balcony: dogs, sirens, traffic, street music, passers-by. A discernible hum emerges. Is this Belgrade? Can a single chord, a melange of sounds, sum up the city? Klement answers with an emphatic no. Her explorations reveal jagged edges and clear demarcations, from Tesla’s gorgeously amplified induction motor to the bells of Saint Sava. […]
Review | By Aurelio Cianciotta / Neural
Mikel R. Nieto | Dark Sound
In the product page on the label’s website the description of this release ends with this warning: “Partially legible. Sunlight reading recommended”. It’s hard to fail recognising that this warning is absolutely appropriate, until you realise that it’s a black book, with black opaque pages, printed with black lucid ink, housing a black CD. And it doesn’t stop there, as it doesn’t have a fixed sale price, but its price is determined by the crude oil Brent price at the time of purchase, so the author and label warn that if you buy the book you’ll “contribute to the destruction of the planet.” With these creepy premises, a curiosity about the content of the work immediately arises. And after a few attempts, the reader can find the right angle and light to (struggle to) start reading realising that it’s a remarkable collection of essays, pictures and documents on the oil industry’s impact on the Ecuadorian natural environment. […]
Review | By Beach Sloth
Thomas M. Siefert & Lasse-Marc Riek
rhein_strom | von der rheinquelle bis hafen karlsruhe
Documenting a surrealist walk is the busy atmospherics of Thomas M. Siefert & Lasse-Marc Riek’s “rhein_strom von der rheinquelle bis hafen Karlsruhe”. Nicely merging the natural with the industrial tinged landscape the sound truly has love for its surroundings. The analysis of the sound works wonders as well for the duo utilizes light edits to further emphasize exactly how exactly the world interacts. Within the tapestry of sound there are found conversations, mechanical churns, and birdsong that is woven together. Rather than focus on any one of these the duo incorporates them altogether as a greater whole. […]
Review | By Beach Sloth
Christina Kubisch & Eckehard Güther | Unter Grund
Finding the mysticism in everyday life, Christina Kubisch & Eckehard Güther sculpt elaborate electro-acoustic field recordings with “Unter Grund”. Quite lush in terms of their sonic detail not a single element goes unnoticed. Much of the sound has a journey-like quality to it while the origin of the sound slowly comes into view. By opting for such a style the pieces resonant on an intellectual as well as an emotional level. Sounds positively teem with life for the duo chooses to amplify the busy moments in a life that so often go completely unnoticed. […]
Review | By Duncan Simpson / Musique Machine
Roger Döring & Konrad Korabiewski | Komplex
Another release from the sound-art side of Germany’s Gruenrekorder, Komplex is a collaboration between saxophonist Roger Döring and electronic improviser Konrad Korabiewski. Recorded over two years in a variety of locations and different acoustic spaces, Döring, who also improvises on c clarinet, provides the material which Korabiewski manipulates into unfamiliar shapes or adds to with mostly subtle electronics and field recordings. The first piece Kremmenerstraße opens with quiet street noise (perhaps recorded from the Berlin street which gives the piece its title) before Döring’s baritone sax appears playing extended low notes which are overdubbed and lightly processed by Korabiewski. […]
Review | By Duncan Simpson / Musique Machine
R. Schwarz | The Scale Of Things
Gruenrekorder has been one of my favourite labels of the last few years. Their output traces a line from socio-political academic works like Hein Schoer’s remarkable The Sounding Museum to documentary style field recordings and in this case, complex, composed works of sound-art. The blurb for R.Schwarz’s The Scale of Things notes its distant relationship with classic musique concrete but emphasises the transformational approach taken by Schwarz and his combining audio processing with modular synthesis. The result is a rather dark and engaging suite of pieces that attempt to capture something of the chaos and indeterminacy of the natural environment, amplifying it through studio techniques and electronic sound. The cover art gives some indication to the compositional approach, eschewing the type of formal style associated with music concrete; instead, presenting a confusing collage of monochrome environments and magnified elements that could be insect, plant or otherwise. […]
Review | By Duncan Simpson / Musique Machine
Angus Carlyle | In The Shadow Of The Silent Mountain
In keeping with Gruenrekorder’s pedigree in curating immersive multi-media experiences centred on field recordings, Angus Carlyle’s In the Shadow of the Mountain does not disappoint. The work consists of fifty 100 word texts and 33 split page photographs (presented in two accompanying booklets) and a composed series of field recordings captured over a three year period in the Picentini mountain area of Southern Italy. Immediately on perusing the booklets one senses aspects of the mystical and spiritual in Carlyle’s project. A quote from René Daumal’s Mount Analogue on the necessary invisibility of the mountain summit draws our attention to Carlyle’s ’silent‘ mountain; a silence which for the sound recordist is comparable to Daumal’s invisibility. […]
Review | By Beach Sloth
Marc Namblard | F.Guyana
Absolutely soothing in its reinterpretation of the real, Marc Namblard casts a gorgeous spell on “F. Guyana”. Nicely documenting a world that few others get to truly engross themselves in, the way the piece unfolds is quite masterful adhering to Luc Ferrari’s love for his surroundings. Elements filter in and out of the mix, as every song represents yet another step in the journey. Naturalistic in tone, there is something so warm and inviting about the way Marc Namblard lets the sounds speak for themselves with minimal interference. Sleepy in sentiment is the opener “Awala” with gentle waves giving the sound a distinctly summery flair. One of the most fascinating track is “Crique Popote, Cacicus cela” where the unique sound of the bird at times recalls the digital synthesis of Florian Hecker’s work in terms of its almost angular digital sound. A meditative spacious drone is dominant on the blissful atmosphere of “Boeuf Mort, Dark night”. […]
Review | By ATTN:Magazine
Philip Sulidae | Appropriated field recordings from temporary data sources
This one takes me back. I can remember my early experiences of navigating “open world” computer games back when they first started to emerge. I remember taking those nervous forays into vast, vibrant landscapes via Super Mario 64 and The Legend Of Zelda, unhooked from the rigid tracks of two-dimensional platform games, liberated from the ruthlessly imposed direction of travel and the requirement to roll monotonously from one objective to the next. Instead, I dithered and ambled. I stopped to examine the details and glitches of my digital scenery, or to analyse the repetitive back-and-forth movements of the game’s civilian furniture. Without the urgency of an objective to complete, open world gameplay offered the opportunity to break away and contemplate the meticulous artistry of computer game architecture. […]
Review | By Hal Harmon / Musique Machine
Artificial Memory Trace & Porya Hatami | REPREMONITIUM
Gruenrekorder presents REPREMONTIUM, the second collaborative venture by Artificial Memory Trace and Porya Hatami. Available digitally in MP3 and FLAC formats, this massive single piece is a follow up to the duo’s 2015 release EVOLVA 5. While I’m not familiar with the aforementioned album, I have spent quite a bit of time absorbing many of Artificial Memory Trace’s sounds. The moniker of Czech-born sound sculptor, Slavek Kwi, AMT crafts some exceptional field recording soundscapes. Porya Hatami is an Iranian-based sound artist that toils in ambient, minimalist sounds. Field recordings, minimalist sounds, Gruenrekorder….does that sound like the perfect synergy? Yeah, pretty much. […]
framework radio | #601
phonography / field recording; contextual and decontextualized sound activity
presented by patrick mcginley
Willem Sannen | Brussel Noord
Review | By Guillermo Escudero / Loop
Artificial Memory Trace & Porya Hatami | REPREMONITIUM
This is a new collaboration between the Iranian Porya Hatami and the Czechoslovakian Artificial Memory Trace aka Slavek Kwi, who resides in Ireland and the one that precedes his previous album „Evolva“ 5. Since 2014 these sound artists have been exchanging field recordings captured in their local areas that later are processed. “Repremonitium” is one track only of around 70 minutes long which displays sinuous sounds that move in the background while the field recordings emerge almost clearly in the surface alongwith voices, bird songs, insects and found sounds, all of it arrange with subtle sounds generated by a design software, creating soundscapes with a rich variety of shades.
Review | By textura
Various Artists | MALI BLUES – SOUNDTRACK
A film and a soundtrack, Mali Blues travels to the heart of West Africa to introduce us to its rich musical culture and four artists in particular, global star-in-the-making Fatoumata Diawara, ngoni player and traditional Griot Bassekou Kouyaté, Malian rapper Master Soumy, and Tuareg musician Ahmed Ag Kaedi. Director Lutz Gregor’s 2016 documentary follows Diawara (known as Fatou) who, having fled Mali as a young woman to escape an arranged marriage, is seen preparing for her first-ever concert performance in the southern Mali city of Ségou at the Festival of the Niger in 2015. In addition to documenting her concert tour, the film shows her meeting with Ahmed Ag Kaedi, who fled his desert home for a different reason: fundamentalists threatening to cut off his fingers. Not only have individuals been threatened but so too has the entire musical heritage of Mali: in 2012, a ban was instituted by radical Islamists that saw radio stations destroyed and musicians forced into exile. […]
Review | By Łukasz Komła / Nowamuzyka.pl
Various Artists | MALI BLUES – SOUNDTRACK
Właśnie ukazała się ścieżka dźwiękowa do ubiegłorocznego filmu dokumentalnego o malijskich artystach.
Tak się składa, że muzyka z Afryki często pojawia się na łamach Nowej Muzyki, a szczególne miejsce zajmuje Mali. Wystarczy przypomnieć składankę z zeszłego roku „Every Song Has Its End: Sonic Dispatches From Traditional Mali” (Glitterbeat), koncertowy materiał Tamikrest z okazji Record Store Day („Taksera”) oraz ich niedawno wydany album „Kidal”, a także sprzed dwóch lat płytę Bassekou Kouyaté & Ngoni Ba – „Ba Power”. […]
Review | By Zipo / aufabwegen
Roland Etzin | SONIC DRAWINGS
Roland Etzin ist einer der Begründer und Betreiber des Gruenrekorder Labels, da wundert es kaum, dass sein Release ein Plädoyer für das Hören ist. Sonic Drawings betitelt er seine Sammlung mit aus Feldaufnahmen-Kompositionen, die die Vorstellungskraft und Wahrnehmung der Umwelt stimulieren soll. Oder vielmehr das Nachdenken über usnere Wahrnehmung, die sehr vom Visuellen geprägt ist. Wie viel Potenzial und Schönheit liegt in der Fokussierung der Wahrnehmung des Alltags mit unseren Ohren? Die Antwort liegt in der hier enthaltenen Geräuschkunst selbst: Tracktorschnattern, Vogelgezwitscher, dröhnende synthetsiche Klänge, Wassergeräusche, zartes Knistern und vieles mehr vermengen sich zu einem fast schon blumigen Eindruck unserer Welt. Eine liebevoll ausgewählte Hörentdeckungsroute schlägt uns Roland Etzin hier vor.
Reviews | By Frans de Waard / VITAL WEEKLY
Marc Namblard | F.Guyana
[…] I am not sure how that Namblard does his editing, be it that each of these pieces is a strict recording of a particular event with nothing else than just cut ’n paste, or if there is layering of sounds, looping or such like. In a piece like ‚Crique Popote, Rhinella Marina‘, we hear the beginning of night with far away chirping of cicadas and close by the Cane toads (also known as Rhinella marina) and the way the piece unfolds sounds very much like a song; one sound coming in on it’s own and later on repeated, altered a bit, and becoming a kind of chorus. As the CD progresses the sounds get more and more minimal, but also they seem to be electronic; here I was thinking about that bird that woke me up this morning. In ‚Forest Drones‘ one could easily mistake the repeating sound to be that of lo-fi cassette loop, and in ‚Kaw Mountain, Post-explosive breeding‘ it sounds like a synthesizer. It is not easy to think of all of this in terms of ‚just‘ natural sounds, but so it is. This is an excellent release of pure field recordings sounding like some great music. […]
Katharina Klement | peripheries
[…] Each of the pieces is described here in the booklet and unlike Namblard Klement layers various sound events together to make a musical composition out of sounds from the city. She uses sounds from market squares, elevators, sounds from the Tesla Museum, concrete mixers, animals in the zoo and even historical speeches by Tito, the first president of Yugoslavia. Klement draws from a wider selection than Namblard does, but also seems to be doing much more when it comes to editing and layering of sounds. Whereas Namblard is mainly about the minimalist approach towards field recordings and create musical piece with these sounds, Klement is more into telling a story with sounds. Maybe one not necessarily gets the story of Belgrade (certainly if one has never been to the city before; it is perhaps not easy to say where this city is, based on hearing these pieces and that includes the Tito talk), but abstract as it is, it is also a fascinating piece (nine of them) of music. Klement is not shy to bend and shape tones, pitch them up or down as she sees fit, as long as it is necessary for the actual composition. […]
New Release:
Marc Namblard: ‘F.Guyana’
Gruen 175/17
Field Recordings
CD + Digital
11 Tracks (72:22)
run: 500 copies
+ Digital Bonus
11 Tracks (67:10)
New Release:
Katharina Klement: ‘peripheries’
Gruen 173/17
Sound Art
CD
9 Tracks (50:20)
run: 500 copies
Review | By Beach Sloth
Artificial Memory Trace & Porya Hatami | REPREMONITIUM
Artificial Memory Trace & Porya Hatami hark back to early electronic music pioneers with the soothing bliss of “Repremonitium”. Quiet and contemplative the piece unfolds in discrete ways. Subtle transitions are of the utmost importance for the music shifts with grace and taste. By incorporating lovely tender analog sounds alongside found sounds and manipulated field recordings, the sound feels alive. Layer upon layer of this work results in miniature movements and symphonies, all of which come together in a blissful serene state. Nearly silent, the sparkling introduction begins the piece on a gentle note. With every sound fully realized the way that the piece unfurls feels gorgeous. […]
Budhaditya Chattopadhyay (DE/IN) – solo
Listening and its discontents
Five Live Cinematic 4 Channel Sound Performances
12. Mai | Fr | 20:30 h
Alte Feuerwache Kino (2.Stock), Melchiorstr 3. – 50670 Köln
www.gerngesehen.de
Review | By Klaus Halama / Sound & Image
Various Artists | MALI BLUES – SOUNDTRACK
Der Spielfilm „Timbuktu“ des malischen Filmemachers Abderrahmane Sissoko war nahe dran, in Cannes einen Preis abzustauben. Dass es dann letztendlich doch nicht geklappt hat, lag keinesfalls daran, dass der Inhalt nicht 100%ig gepasst hätte. Viel eher fehlte vielleicht das entscheidende Quentchen Glück, vielleicht aber auch ein insgesamt mangelndes Interesse am schon länger schwelenden Konflikt, der in Mali durch islamische Milizen heraufbeschworen wurde. Das Thema „Bürgerkrieg in Mali“ bleibt aber dennoch auf der Agenda all derjenigen, die das unsägliche Treiben von Al-Qaida verfolgen. Unter ihnen ist auch der Filmemacher Lutz Gregor, der den Dokumentarfilm „Mali Blues“ in die Welt gesetzt hat und der die Geschichte von vier malischen Musikern erzählt, die für einen toleranten Islam kämpfen. Allen voran die Singer-/Songwriterin Fatoumata Diawara, die das Land verließ, um nicht zwangsverheiratet zu werden. Aber auch der Ngoni-Spieler Bassekou Kouyaté ist ein weltoffener und weitgereister Kritiker der augenblicklichen Zustände. […]
New Release:
V.A.: ‘MALI BLUES – SOUNDTRACK’
Gruen 174/17
Sound Art
CD
13 Tracks (63:14)
run: 1000 copies
Review | By textura
CLUBbleu | DARK~asian~ENERGY [singa~core album]
Gruenrekorder has probably never before released anything as weird and playful as DARK~asian~ENERGY [singa~core album], though the move is hardly unwelcome; if anything, it’s refreshing to see the label making room for material of a wilder nature. Issued as part of its Sound Art Series, the forty-five-minute collection is the brainchild of CLUBbleu members Felix Leuschner and Julia Mihály, the former a classically trained drummer with experience composing for music theatre, chamber music, and vocal-electronic pieces and the latter a composer-performer with backgrounds in classical singing and electronic composition. […]
Gruenrekorder @ taz.mixtape
Wöchentlich | Freitag 17 – 18 Uhr
Das taz.mixtape wird konzipiert von taz-Musik-Redakteur Julian Weber und taz-Redakteurin Doris Akrap. Die Produktion und Moderation übernehmen die ByteFM-Redakteur_innen Diviam Hoffmann, Oliver Stangl und Klaus Walter.
www.byte.fm
New Release:
Artificial Memory Trace & Porya Hatami: ‘REPREMONITIUM’
(GrDl 171/17)
Sound Art
Gruen Digital – 1 Track (78:46)
Louis Sarno, an American musicologist and author, has died. We are deeply affected and very sad. Our thoughts are with his family and all those who were close to him.
Review | By Roger Batty / Musique Machine
Kg Augenstern | Tentacles
Tentacles brings together a selection of bridge based field recordings made on rivers & canals between Berlin and North-East France. The release comes in the form CD, and 44 page colour booklet from respected German field recording/ sound-art label Gruenrekoder. The release charts a series of journeys made between July 2014 & November 2014 on the MS Anuschka traveling from France & Germany. As the crew of sound-recordists went under different bridges, they used special installed metal tentacles to capture the sound profile of each structure they passed under it, as well as its surrounding sound environment. In all the disc takes in eight different recordings of these sonic profiles, and two shorter tracks from the resulting art installation connected to the project- with each track lasting between one minute forty & nearing thirteen minutes. […]
Review | By Adam Skyes / Musique Machine
Roland Etzin | SONIC DRAWINGS
Sonic Drawings is a four track album of found sounds, analogue and digital machines and self built instruments, and is designed to give the listener the feeling and effects of the world around us. The chasm between silence and noise and what fills that void. The musicality and richness of the machines in our world played out across the albums 50 minute span. Starting with “Wand” just under two minutes of what can only be described as a robotic cow and I’m already to stop listening to the rest of this album. The description is pretentious enough without this as as opener. However continue I do, and I have to say track two “Vinschgau” actually piques my interest a little. […]
‘SONIC MMABOLELA’ 2017’
5th Annual Workshop/Residency for sound artists & composers at Mmabolela Reserve, Limpopo, South Africa
Dates Workshop/Residency: 16-29 November 2017
Deadline for registration: 15 July 2017
You can find all the detailed information here:
Conceived and directed by Francisco López (www.franciscolopez.net)
Coordination and logistics by Barbara Ellison (www.barbaraellison.com)
Review | By Beach Sloth
Philip Sulidae | Appropriated field recordings from temporary data sources
Philip Sulidae opts for a surreal exploration of sound on the otherworldly presence of “Appropriated field recordings from temporary data sources”. Over the course of the album the way that Philip Sulidae lightly edits the world gives it a masterful, rich feeling. The attention to the smallest elements of sound, from meadows to machinery, ensures that he captures a wide swath of human experience. By taking on such an approach the sound teems with life, with some moments growing quite physical at times. Letting the beauty and ugliness of the world combine the album itself feels akin to a journey. […]
framework radio | #590
phonography / field recording; contextual and decontextualized sound activity
presented by patrick mcginley
Philip Sulidae | Appropriated field recordings from temporary data sources
New Release:
Philip Sulidae: ‘Appropriated field recordings from temporary data sources’
(GrDl 169/17)
Field Recordings
Gruen Digital – 5 Tracks (41:33)
WDR 3 Open Sounds: Studio Elektronische Musik
Szene [48]: Das Label Gruenrekorder
Roland Etzin und Lasse-Marc Riek sind seit über 20 Jahren begeisterte Fieldrecordists. Diese Passion äußert sich nicht zuletzt im Engagement, mit dem sie ihrer Kunstform ein maßgebliches Forum geschaffen haben: Das Label Gruenrekorder.
Phonophon | March 2017
Institut für neue Medien (INM)
Schmickstraße 18
60314 Frankfurt am Main
01.03.2017: KONZERT E42.A8 (BE/FR) – Juan Manuel Castrillo (ES)
02.03.2017: PHONOTALK Sound Activism
04.+05.03.2017: WORKSHOP Initiation to Phonojournalism
Society for the Advancement of Phonography and Experimental Music (e.V.)
www.phonographie.org
www.inm.de
www.gruenrekorder.de
Review | By Beach Sloth
Angus Carlyle | In The Shadow Of The Silent Mountain
Offering a picture of true serenity, Angus Carlyle’s “In The Shadow of the Silent Mountain” is an immersive experience. Best listened to in a quiet environment this is an album of quiet contemplation. Effortlessly blending together the real and the manipulated, this album takes almost a surreal bent to field recordings. For this intersection of the digital and the real is quite profound, at times recalling a daydream of the day to day reality that encompasses all. A journey begins to take hold over the course of the album, an unspoken narrative that moves the album forward. […]
Reviews | By IDWAL FISHER – an antimacassar for the hearing
Merzouga – 52 46 North 13 29 East – Music For Wax Cylinders
Cathy Lane – The Hebrides Suite
Christina Kubisch Und Eckehard Günther – Mosaïque Mosaic
Rodolphe Alexis – Morne Diablotins
Series Invisible. Collection II. Booklet
Review | By Aurelio Cianciotta / Neural
Kg Augenstern | Tentacles
Christiane Prehn e Wolfgang Meyer – aka KG Augenstern – have transformed a Anuschka ship into a traveling sound laboratory. In July 2014, the ship set sail from Berlin in the direction of France. On the way the ship encountered bridges of different kinds running across rivers and canals. They devised special tentacles consisting of long metal arms installed on board the ship in order to be able to scratch the bridges, revealing sound profiles created by their shapes and contours. The result of this unique sound research – which reflected the shape of the bridges, their practical use and their type of construction – have been presented in audio-visual performances throughout the journey, in specially chosen places along the banks of the river. […]
Xerox Collabique #002: Mikel R. Nieto – Dark Sound
06.02.2017 – 20:00 Uhr
Der baskischen Fieldrecordist hat für uns die akustische Schönheit im Huaorani-Reservat in der Nähe des Yasuni-Nationalparks im ecuadorianischen Amazonasgebiet mittels verschiedenen Mikrophonen eingefangen. Was dieses Paradies in dunkles Schwarz färbt sind die Geräusche von Ölbohrmaschinen, Fördertechnik und sonstigen in der Erde wütenden Maschinen… Das Konzert beschäftigt sich mit den Auswirkungen der Ölförderung auf die dort lebenden Menschen und den Einwirkungen auf die Umwelt.
Dark Sound ist das schwarze Buch der Klanglandschaften.
dark.mikelrnieto.net/files/2016/04/dark_sound_book.gif
Mitte 2016 ist das Buch/CD-Projekt bei Gruenrekorder erschienen. 176 schwarze Seiten, mit schwarzem Text bedruckt und 34 Tonaufnahmen auf einer schwarze CD.
gruenrekorder.de/?page_id=15050
Mikel R. Nieto ist ein spanischer Künstler und Forscher aus dem Baskenland.
Als Fieldrecordist beschäftigt er sich seit 10 Jahren mit unserer akustischen Umwelt und setzt sich künstlerisch forschend mit den Inhalten auseinander. Diverse Lehrtätigkeiten an verschiedenen Universitäten. Nieto ist Mitbegründer der baskischen Klangkarte soinumapa.net, Mitherausgeber der Plattform mediateletipos.net und Radioautor.
mikelrnieto.net
Xerox Exotique present this event in collaboration with the Gruenrekorder label.
The first five visitors will receive a free Gruenrekorder CD.
06.02.2017, doors open at 20:00, starts at 20:30
Admission 5€
INM – Institut für Neue Medien, Schmickstraße 18, 60314 Frankfurt am Main
inm.de
Xerox Collabique #001: Music from the horse factory
27.01.2017 – 20:00 Uhr
* Knüppel/Schmitt
ks.snostein.org
* Roland Etzin
gruenrekorder.de
Admission free, donations welcome, byob
Alter Reiterhof, Hansenweg, Frankfurt
goo.gl/maps/iWHN3BQ1fdD2
Presented by Gregor Knüppel & Xerox Exotique
Review | By Pierre Cécile / Le son du grisli
Mikel R. Nieto | Dark Sound
N’étant pas bibliophile, je ne me suis guère intéressé à ce livre (pourtant très beau) imprimé noir sur noir… Comme Dark Sound (le titre de l’ouvrage) contenait un CD c’est vers ce CD que je suis d’abord allé – Et là… des field recordings, bien sûr : c’est-à-dire qu’une fois encore des oiseaux dont je ne saurais jamais le nom chantent dans mon studio quand tout à coup un orage éclate. Rien que de très normal pour l’habitué du label Gruenrekorder que je suis. Si ce n’est qu’au bout de dix minutes environ, l’enregistrement m’a tout l’air d’une composition d’électronique minimale avant de changer encore d’aspect en virant musique concrète. […]
Reviews | By Łukasz Komła / Nowamuzyka.pl
Nowości z Gruenrekorder
Niemiecka wytwórnia ubiegły rok zamknęła dwoma sound art’owymi albumami.
CLUBbleu | DARK~asian~ENERGY [singa~core album]
To już trzecie wydawnictwo w dyskografii niemieckiego duetu CLUBbleu (Felix Leuschner, Julia Mihály). Oboje są klasycznie wykształconymi muzykami: Leuschner jest perkusistą, kompozytorem a Mihály studiowała śpiew i kompozycję elektroniczną. Ich albumy można określić jako serię portretów miejskich – uwzględniając przy tym architekturę, struktury społeczne i tło kulturowe danego miejsca. Dwa poprzednie krążki duetu ukazały nam Monachium i Augsburg. Na tej najnowszej płycie odwiedzamy Singapur, gdzie artyści zarejestrowali nagrania terenowe poddając je rozmaitym odkształceniom i deformacjom. […]
murmer | songs for forgetting
Murmer to solowy projekt Patricka McGinley’a (urodził się w Stanach Zjednoczonych, ale od 1996 roku mieszka w Europie). W 2005 roku po raz pierwszy odwiedził południową Estonię, gdzie ostatecznie osiadł na stałe. W swoich pracach McGinley korzysta z przeróżnego field recordingu, znalezionych przedmiotów (choćby stara antena radiowa) i instrumentów (bandura, cytra, kora). Artysta koncentruje się na dźwiękach krążących wokół nas, na które zazwyczaj nie zwracamy większej uwagi, a wyrwane z kontekstu stają się nie do poznania, obce i niezwykłe: m.in. trzeszczące schody, brzęczenie owadów albo własny oddech. Materiał z „Songs for forgetting” powstawał na przestrzeni wielu lat. Pierwsze nagrania terenowe pochodzą z 2007 roku (Kolonia). […]
Review | By Gunter Heidegger / The Sound Projector
Hein Schoer | The Sounding Museum: Box of Treasures
All Or Nothing
Talk about getting what you wish for. The Sounding Museum: Box of Treasures could have been assembled and (re)issued in direct response to Jennifer Hor’s review of ‘soundscaper’ Hein Schoer’s original in 2012, CD-only edition of The Sounding Museum: Two Weeks in Alert Bay in the Sound Projector in 2012. The CD contained field recordings of the mountainous ‘Namgis region of Western Canada along with documentation of the aboriginal inhabitants’ oral tradition of songs and stories; the two being contextually inseparable. Yet the disc proved unsatisfying and incomplete to some listeners, owing to a lack of background detail, though whether or not this effect was by design is unclear. However, Jennifer’s dissatisfaction with this under-represented subject matter – and potentially extending to other ethnographic documents – was qualified by a recommendation for accompanying DVD and map of the area in question. […]
Review | By Gunter Heidegger / The Sound Projector
Various Artists | Landscapes of Fear
Dislocation Recordings
One to disrupt the harmony of your CD shelf is this oversized card wallet containing an obliquely labeled, monochrome OS map of the area surrounding Cologne and 2 CDs of discomfiting sound art pertaining to the themes of 1) Landscapes and 2) Fear. A simplistic summary perhaps, but given the density of the accompanying text – which will assuredly sort the men from the boys among us – some distillation is required. We might ponder the dichotomy posed by these two situational extremes: the tangible and idyllic terra firma juxtaposed with the most chaotic and disembodying of emotions; security and exile – two extremes of human existence. […]
Review | By Frans de Waard / VITAL WEEKLY
murmer | songs for forgetting
Patrick Tubin McGinley works, as Murmer, since many years is not someone who releases a lot of music. In fifteen years, ‚Songs For Forgetting‘ is his eleventh album and deals, as much of his other work, with field recordings, but on this album McGinley explores also musical instruments. Zither like such as in the title piece but he doesn’t always conventional instruments, such as an old radio antenna. The goal of each of the four pieces is to mix up field recordings (although these can also be spaces in which the music is performed) and these instruments and come up with a more musical context than what is usually the case with this kind of music. Four lengthy pieces, of which the title piece is a fine string piece, mildly plucked and ‚Another Song For Forgetting‘ works with overtones and the rattling of objects; maybe the overtones are created with the use of feedback, but it nicely wanders around. […]
Review | By arsonal
Daniel Blinkhorn | Terra Subfónica
Tras resultar premiado en la octava edición del Concours International d’Art Radiophonique Luc Ferrari (La Muse en Circuit, Centre National de Création Musicale, 2009) por su pieza para clarinete y sonidos fijados ‚In situ bacia‘, el compositor australiano Daniel Blinkhorn disfrutó, en 2010, de una residencia artística concedida por la Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). En el transcurso de la misma realizó „Terra Subfónica“, composición de la cual es objeto este registro publicado recientemente por el sello alemán Gruenrekorder. […]
Review | By illustrated amateur
Roger Döring & Konrad Korabiewski | Komplex
For as much as my aesthetics may define me, there are some bits that are still pretty mysterious. I can’t always explain what attracts me, even if something exerts a strong pull. The odd pairing of saxophone with electronics seems inexhaustibly interesting to me. My previous attempts at explaining the attraction fail to fully answer for its appeal. Thus, I ended up buying a copy of Roger Döring and Konrad Karabiewski’s Komplex, after listening to only to a scant few samples. […]
Nowamuzyka’s list of 58 favorite albums of the world – 2016
Among these:
– Mikel R. Nieto – „Dark Sound” (Gruenrekorder)
– Rodolphe Alexis – „The glittering thing on the mountain” (Gruenrekorder)
Globale Mittelhessen | 29. Januar 2017
Dunkler Klang – aufgeklärte Ohren? (Diskussion mit Einspielungen)
Das Label Gruenrekorder aus Frankfurt am Main beschäftigt sich seit Jahren mit Ökopolitiken und Klang. Vor kurzem wurde „Dark Sound“ von Mikel R. Nieto veröffentlicht – mit Texten, Fotos und Audioaufnahmen, sowie Berichten verschiedener Gruppen und Institutionen, die von den Auswirkungen und den Zusammenhängen des Noise der Ölindustrie in Bezug auf Menschen, Flora und Fauna handeln. Der Preis von Buch und CD bemisst sich süffisanterweise am tagesaktuellen Preis eines Barrel Brent Rohöl. An dieser Stelle, wo sich Ökologie und Ökonomie kreuzen, diskutieren wir, u.a. an Einspielungen von Fieldrecordings, mit Lasse-Marc Riek und Roland Etzin von Gruenrekorder die Hörbarkeit politischer Implikationen, die Beziehung von Umwelt und Kapitalinteressen, aber auch die Release-Policy des Labels.
Moderation: Matze Schmidt (Berlin/Kassel)
WDR 3 Open Sounds: Studio Elektronische Musik
Szene [48]: Das Label Gruenrekorder – 21.01.2017
Open Sounds | 21. Januar 2017, 22.04 – 00.00 Uhr | WDR 3
Roland Etzin und Lasse-Marc Riek sind seit über 20 Jahren begeisterte Fieldrecordists. Diese Passion äußert sich nicht zuletzt im Engagement, mit dem sie ihrer Kunstform ein maßgebliches Forum geschaffen haben: Das Label Gruenrekorder.
Deutschlandfunk | Atelier neuer Musik
Invading Pleasures (Nikola Lutz & Mark Lorenz Kysela) | Infinite Jest
www.deutschlandfunk.de/atelier-neuer-musik
Review | By Guillermo Escudero / Loop
murmer | songs for forgetting
North American sound, performer and radio artist Patrick McGinley (AKA murmer) in based in Europe since 1996 and since then he has been working with found sounds and found objects. He hold a string of releases and compilation appearances. Murmer’s work consists of micro sounds and field records and on this album McGinley collects sounds in different parts of Europe between 2007 and 2014, like a sand timer recorded in Cologne, Germany in August 2007. Other field recordings were made with rain dripping through cannons of the Soviet era in the small village of Tóravere in Estonia. Then in the same month; daytime fireworks in Valencia, Spain (March 2008); a pebble beach in Étretat, France (June 2008); underwater life on a branch of the Andelle river in Perruel, France (May 2009); and more recently, the rain gutters in my current house in Põlgaste, Estonia (September 2013) and the squeaking and trampling of an ant colony in the island of Kemiö, Finland (July 2014). […]
Reviews | By Beach Sloth
murmer | songs for forgetting
Quite surreal murmer explores the ignored small sounds that occupy life on “song for forgetting”. Merging elements of ambient and field recordings these are pieces that at times recall the raw industrial edge of early Zoviet*France albums. Within these pieces murmer forgoes melody and rhythm for something much looser. Almost improvisational in their approach the way that the songs evolve has a life-like cryptic element to it. By taking on this tact murmer creates layer upon layer of sound that interact in a plethora of unexpected strange ways. Things open up with the tiny sounds of “Another Song For Forgetting”. Setting the tone for what follows the sounds seem to be living, breathing creatures, small bursts of their breath emerges out of the sonic ether. […]
Mikel R. Nieto | Dark Sound
Mikel R. Nieto’s “Dark Sound” truly has love for its surroundings. Quite soothing in its exploration of the great unknown this is a field recording from the night when all else remains silent. Throughout the piece the attention to detail feels incredible as literally every last possible detail is amplified in full. Edits are done with the utmost of care and consideration as the many variations of the sound feel alive. Layering is done in an intricate way that emphasizes the importance of the smallest elements to celebrate those elements of an aural environment that so often go completely overlooked. The smallest sounds are given great care. Raindrops find their intrepid way into the mix without overwhelming the rest of the balance. […]
Roland Etzin | SONIC DRAWINGS
Serene and surreal Roland Etzin’s “Sonic Drawings” offer compelling looks at otherworldly terrains. Over the course of the album Roland Etzin explores the mystical within the mundane. Regular experiences are filtered through a wide variety of distortions, disorientations, and otherwise reconfigured beyond recognition. Featuring such a wide swath of styles Roland Etzin offers a unique take on the art of field recordings allowing them to become something entirely different. Sounds bounce off of each other resulting in entirely different soundscapes in which nothing is quite as it seems. Easily the highlight of the album is the majesty of “Garten”. Within this singular piece Roland Etzin allows for a single drone to embody everything. This drone feels akin to a gigantic symphony. […]
Review | By Frans de Waard / VITAL WEEKLY
CLUBbleu | DARK~asian~ENERGY [singa~core album]
Right by the looks of this release, one realizes this something different, unusual in the world of Gruenrekorder. The cover and booklet shows us distorted digital images, and also the titles of the pieces make you raise an eyebrow; ‚Bambi Died Of Lung Cancer‘, ‚Singacore Sling‘ or „#fuckyourselfie – ethnology of solitude‘ aren’t ones we see a lot in this label’s catalogue. The back cover has this little text: „while field recording in autumn 2014, CLUBbleu dived into the pulsating multi-cultural metropolis of Singapore, trying to catch the most characteristic urban sound scapes. […]
framework radio | #578
phonography / field recording; contextual and decontextualized sound activity
presented by patrick mcginley
Craig Vear | Antarctica
Reviews | By PROGRESS REPORT
Pauline Oliveros & David Rothenberg & Timothy Hill | Cicada Dream Band
Already familiar with some of Pauline Oliveros’ work courtesy of a few solo accordion albums I own, only clarinetist David Rothenberg’s name otherwise rings a distant bell here. Alongside Timothy Hill’s addition of voice, used rather more as an instrument itself than to mouth anything even resembling lyrics, and some field recordings, all three artists weave a setting given to something caught between the theatrical, a late night cabaret club and primeval swamplands. It’s not a place that pulls you in completely to begin with, but as each of the eleven pieces unfurl the proceedings steadily become more engaging, especially when the voice is less overstated and used more sparingly. Like so much such music, however, this is not concerned with trifles such as accessibility. Instead, it courses on the deepest of emotions and those generally untapped areas of expression only too often pushed aside in favour of easier outlets. While Cicada Dream Band may sometimes lapse due to its very nature as improvisational music, it’s hard not to respect those using this springboard who succeed in finding a common voice. On that count, this works completely. RJ.
Christina Kubisch & Eckehard Güther | Mosaïque Mosaic
I am mostly familiar with Kubisch via her incredible minimal drone-driven modern classical compositions, which she has been making since the 1970s. Here, however, she collaborates with Eckehard Guther on a collection of thirteen pieces recorded throughout Cameroon after their having organised a number of workshops throughout this country dedicated entirely to field recordings. The idea was to work with local musicians and artists on the idea of paying attention to the sounds around them; something both Kubisch and Guther initially felt the country’s inhabitants might not do yet were surprised to discover just how much sound does impact on people’s lives. The recordings themselves are taken from the duo’s travels throughout the country and depict everything from a wide variety of natural sounds to that of traffic, a street procession (replete with musicians playing away) and a choir rehearsal. Nothing has been processed, leaving each piece to serve as a nice and tantalising snapshot of a country which clearly has much to offer in terms of sound and beyond. What is especially interesting, however, is that this work only goes to illustrate just how much sound is heavily integrated into people’s lives, no matter where they live or how much they might not even concede to it. RJ.
Daniel Blinkhorn | Terra Subfónica
A large collection of miniatures form what appears to be the debut release by this artist given to moulding fragmented field recordings together with micro-electronics, the occasional melodic thrum, shapeshifted clarinet and gnarled tonal sweeps. Together, they form a radiophonic exploration, although each piece can be taken as self-contained as well as part of the entire narrative. Although far from unique, Terra Subfonica remains interesting enough to accompany a quiet and solitary domestic chore, such as ironing. Would I return to this after having just caught up with a huge pile of shirts, though? I guess you read my mind. RJ.
Mikel R. Nieto | Dark Sound @ ACL 2016: The Year’s Best Packaging
A black disc lodged in a black book with black print? This didn’t seem like such a good idea, until we read the text and thought about it for a while. As it turns out, the project is a parabolic reflection of its subject matter, the redacted and silenced voices of the oppressed. This is a perfect example of a label fully committing to a vision, and in this case, amazingly, the risk pays off.
& ACL 2016: Top Ten Field Recording & Soundscape
Dark Sound tells a story that few want to hear, but that all need to hear: a story of a culture obliterated by greed and “progress.” The black book contains black prose and even blacker thoughts, while the field recordings provide a soundtrack to desecration. The sounds of nature continue to vibrate beneath the machines, but they do so with progressively weaker sounds. We strain to hear them as we strain to read their stories, and yet we must. In the words of Martin Niemöller, First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out …. (Richard Allen)
Xerox Exotique #005: Premiere of ExpeRheiniMainental
Sonntag, 15. Januar, 16.00 Uhr
von & mit
Weinglas / Trabouliste / Dirk HuelsTrunk / Roland Etzin / Sebastian Scherer & Felix Pausch / LDX#40
Filmscreening und Live Set
www.xeroxex.de
INM – Institut für Neue Medien
Schmickstraße 18
60314 Frankfurt am Main
New Release:
murmer: ‘songs for forgetting’
Vinyl + Digital
Sound Art
Gruen 172/16
4 Tracks (39:07)
run: 300 copies
New Release:
CLUBbleu: ‘DARK~asian~ENERGY [singa~core album]’
CD + Digital
Sound Art
Gruen 165/16
10 Tracks (45:32)
run: 500 copies
Review | By Annick Rivoire / poptronics
Kg Augenstern | Tentacles
De l’intérêt de gratter des ponts, par Kg Augenstern
Il est des artistes qui reprennent inlassablement le même motif, creusent le même sillon, traquent la même obsession. Christiane Prehn et Wolfgang Meyer sont de ceux-là, qui pratiquent autant qu’ils expérimentent à bord de leur péniche, l’Anuschka, un art sonore de la navigation. Le duo compose Kg Augenstern qu’on a croisé à Paris une fin d’été particulièrement pluvieuse, tandis que « Tentacles », leur performance de « grattage » de pont, s’insérait dans la programmation de Bande Originale, un festival et parcours sonore le long du canal de l’Ourcq (poptronics avait d’ailleurs contribué au projet par ici). […]
framework radio | #577
phonography / field recording; contextual and decontextualized sound activity
presented by patrick mcginley
Roland Etzin | SONIC DRAWINGS
04.12.2016 – Xerox Exotique #002: Initiation
Vacuum (F) & Autumn Appreciation Society with Image Accumulator (D)
The first Xerox Exotique concert will take place on December 4th at the Waggon in Offenbach featuring Vacuum from France.
* Vacuum are Yann Gourdon (hurdy gurdy) and Antez (percussions).
ygourdon.net
antez.org
* Autumn Appreciation Society are Roland Etzin (Gruenrekorder) and Tobias Schmitt (Acrylnimbus, Suspicion Breeds Confidence). They produce an IDM-Fieldrecording-Noise-Hybrid.
acrylnimbus.de
gruenrekorder.de/?page_id=28
They are supported by Image Accumulator, a live video project featuring QTCT and LDX#40. Their main goal is to process the visually elaborate into the mundane.
kunstscheisse.net/ldx40
Waggon am Kulturgleis, Mainufer near Isenburger Schloss, 63065 Offenbach
Doors 19:00, starts 19:30
Free admission, donations welcome
waggon.blogsport.de
xeroxex.de
Review | By Adam Skyes / Musique Machine
Willem Sannen | Brussel Noord
Brussel Noord is a field recording album presenting sounds from the North District of Brussels. The area is dominated by a large train station, commuters and office towers. The album captures the soundscape of this place in five movements over 24 minutes. […] The latter 3 pieces of this release seem to explore the distance and disconnection of the city. You are part of it, but not in an intimate way. There’s less space around you, but with that comes a larger feeling of being alone. The sounds of the familiar become the sounds of the unfamiliar and are drawn out over a period to make them almost eerie to hear. Exploring the goings on, movement of people into their industry across 5 pieces, Willem Sannen explores a cityscape in wondrous detail. This album is a beautiful document of urban living. […]
Review | By Aurelio Cianciotta / Neural
Christina Kubisch & Eckehard Güther | Unter Grund
Unter Grund was presented in 2014 in the context of the NOW/ Parallele Welten festival, in Zollverein, the world heritage site of the German Customs Union. That 26 channel sound installation is now condensed in field recordings captured throughout the Ruhr area, mainly in machine rooms, above or under ground, pumping stations, waterworks, ponds, shaft sumps, cages and spillways – just some of the industrial locations that were the object of Christina Kubisch and Eckehard Güther’s research. The Ruhr area is now one of the largest conurbations in Europe and while this industrial heritage remains intact, it is also one of the places in the world with the highest concentration of museums dedicated to modern art. […]
Mitschnitt der Sendung „Fangschalltung“
von Martin Speicher vom 14.11.2016 im Freien Radio Kassel (FRK) mit Matze Schmidt. Über Sonicykle am 17. und 18.11.2016 im Rahmen des 33. Kasseler Dokumentarfilm- und Videofest. Eine Veranstaltung des Ohrenkratzer e.V.
Unter anderen mit Klängen von Ulrich Phillipp, Uli Böttcher, Gruenrekorder (Lasse-Marc Riek und Roland Etzin), Tobias Schmitt (Acrylnimbus), Stefan Riebel, Joshua Weitzel, Martin Speicher und Matze Schmidt.
www.soundcloud.com/sonicykle
Pauline Oliveros, an accomplished composer, accordionist, and experimental music pioneer, has died. We are deeply affected and very sad. Our thoughts are with her family and all those who were close to her.
Review | By Beach Sloth
Willem Sannen | Brussel Noord
Willem Sannen explores the amplification of the everyday routine on the voyeuristic field recordings of “Brussel Noord”. Over the course of the album a journey begins to emerge. Every single sound relates to something that hundreds of millions of people go through each day. Doubly refreshing is the way that Willem Sannen sequences these many elements together, from the lonely aspect of waking up to simply traveling amongst vast groups of strangers. Respect for the surroundings results in some particularly fine exploration of spacial acoustics. By far what ties the many pieces together is the sense of continuity that comes to define the album. […]
Review | By Ed Pinsent / The Sound Projector
Invading Pleasures (Nikola Lutz & Mark Lorenz Kysela) | Infinite Jest
Intensive exploration of the possibilities of the saxophone in modern music on Infinite Jest (GRUENREKORDER Gruen 156). The duo Mark Lorenz Kysela and Nikola Lutz, calling themselves Invading Pleasures, are consummate players dedicating to pushing envelopes and expanding the boundaries of what is considered possible to play on the saxophone. To that end, here are six compositions and situations set up to test their mettle, including works by Uwe Rasch, Malte Giesen, Remmy Canedo, Joseph Michaels, and Lutz herself. They treat the sounds of their instruments extensively with live electronics, play multiple instruments at the same time, and draw no lines between composition and improvisation. […]
Review | By Frans de Waard / VITAL WEEKLY
Angus Carlyle | In The Shadow Of The Silent Mountain
Well, technically this is listed as a book, well actually two books, but there is also music to hear, which you have to download from the label’s website. All of this I would think is some kind of poetry cobbled together through field recordings, words and photography. One book has only words and the other has pictures, and I assume all of this upon a mountain somewhere in Italy. Or not Italy, maybe it’s the name of the website that distracts me? Confusing indeed, I must say. I will repeat what I say above, my mantra, „as much as I would love to do so, reviewing anything else than music is really a hard task. […]
Review | By Roger Batty / Musique Machine
Rodolphe ALEXIS | The glittering thing on the mountain
[…] The tracks offer up a mix of bird, insect, frog, & bat recordings, with sometimes the backdrop of water recordings appearing from the streams that make their way through the islands greenery. These recordings were captured at different times of day, so you also get the nice mix of type of sound activity in the jungle. From the dense yet subdued simmer of the night-time jungle, through to the bright chirp & awaking of the mourning, on to the more vibrate & chatting interplay of the daytime. In summing-up The Glittering Thing On The Mountain is another well presented & conceived collection of field recordings from the Gruenrekorder label. It’s a release that mangers to whisk one off on sonically rich & often unique sound journey- that’s both soothing, beautiful and at times quite alien.
Review | By Pierre Cécile / Le son du grisli
Kg Augenstern | Tentacles
Le ciel est triste hélas et j’ai mangé tous mes sous : pas de quoi faire un Bruxelles-Berlin… Heureusement il y a KG Augenstern (projet de Christiane Prehn and Wolfgang Meyer) qui me propose un Berlin-Amarages-de-Maguelone en passant par Charleroi à un prix défiant toute concurrence = celui d’une brochure qui sert d’étui à un CD. Prehn et Meyer ont fait tout ce voyage en bateau (le MS Anuschka) en 2014. Le couple a enregistré une partie de son périple (surtout des passages de ponts) en même temps qu’il prenait les photos reproduites dans la publication d’une quarantaine de pages. A Arles et à Valence (voir / entendre l’extrait ci-dessous), ils ont imaginé avec tout ça de premières installations. […]