Berangere Maximin - No One is an Island (Sub Rosa, 2012)

French electro-acoustic composer Berangere Maximin's latest album is the eleventh installment for Sub rosa's New Series Framework. She was joined by Christian Fennesz, Richard Pinhas, Rhys Chatham and Frederic D. Oberland.  Each performer recorded duets with Maximin. The results are stunning. There is chaos and concrete, powered by visceral rhythmic noise, and beauty and ephemera, by way of her subtle vocals paired with the processed guitars and trumpet.

This is an incredibly moving and beautiful record. If I had heard it last year, it definitely would have been in my Best of 2012 list.

   
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Radian - Tg11 (Rhiz / Editions Mego, 2000)

This is an incredible band that I hadn't thought abut in years. Radian is an Austrian trio of musicians who play acoustic and electronic instruments. The magic about them is that they play their acoustic instruments so precisely, you'd think this were just another electronic act. Lots of low end bass guitar feedback and buzzing is layered with mechanistic drum kit playing and high frequency synth melodies akin to the Raster Noton family of minimalism. Lots of analog glitches, clicks and cuts, and pastiche. And oh so much quiet, so much that it will remind you of Supersilent. Soul for the soulless machine. Lovely stuff for the funk challenged geeks out there.




Read full review of Tg11 - RADIAN on Boomkat.com ©

Nurse With Wound - Soliloquy for Lilith (Idle Hole, 1988)

Stephen Stapleton is one of my music gods. He's one of those artists with an unbelievably prolific output over many years that never really disappoints. Often touted as an industrial artist, much of his dark ambient and drone work seems to fall by the wayside for most. This is his magnum opus. Its quite simply 106 minutes of meditative creepiness. I forget what an impact music like this can make on the psyche. I was just out for a late night stroll through the neighborhood with my dogs while listening to this one, and succeeded in spooking myself a bit. The frequencies in these drones really did a number on me. For those of you a little disillusioned by goth or black / death metal or horror scores, try a bit of the drone. It can cure your desensitized ears and give you the creeps you thought were a lost cause. A big hit if you're a fan of Coil's "Time Machines" record.

"The album was recorded by Steven Stapleton and his wife Diana Rogerson in May 1988. The only sound source was a number of effects units which he had set up to operate in a feedback loop - there was no original input signal being processed, simply the feedback hum generated by plugging the original chain of pedals back into itself. However, when Stapleton went near the pedals he found the sound changed in accordance with his proximity to the various pedals and units. Stapleton told author David Keenan (in the book England's Hidden Reverse) that he had created the album by gently moving his fingers above the various units to create the slow, subtle changes in the sound. As this shouldn't happen, Stapleton has put the album down to an electrical fault of some sort in the studio. This was acknowledged on a later reissue with the credit "our thanks to Electricity for making this recording possible". He remains proud of the album, describing it to Keenan as "fucking brilliant". The album title refers to Stapleton and Rogerson's daughter Lilith who was born that year." -- from Wikipedia

Get pt. 1 here
Get pt. 2 here
Get pt. 3 here

Arthur Russell - World of Echo (Audika, 1986)

Arthur Russell is one of the most fascinating characters in pop history. He grew up in Iowa a classically trained musician, moved to San Francisco to join a Buddhist monastery (where he couldn't devote completely due to his love for a single material possession: his cello), later moved to New York City to make dance music, and finally withdrew from it all to make this intimate avant-garde masterpiece.

World of Echo showcases the man and his cello with minimal electronic effects. Its interesting that Russell was buddhist because of the non-dualistic nature of the relationship between voice and instrument. Here, the voice is cello / cello is voice. It is also significant that the direction of the album feels incredibly natural, a meandering through casual states of contemplation on an electro-acoustic journey. And when this journey is sometimes met by tension, these obstacles are pacifically avoided.

This is one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever recorded. Still today, Russell's impact can be felt in all areas of avant-garde, minimal classical, art pop and experimental music. Russell had the voice of an angel and the heart of a bodhisattva. Unfortunately, this genius, much like many of his contemporaries, surrendered to AIDS in 1992, leaving us wondering what additional brilliance could have been.

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Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto - Vrioon (2002 - Raster-Noton)

Sakamoto's career is essentially 25 years of shock and awe. From his late 70's Yellow Magic Orchestra days with its sculpting influence on techno to his dreamy film scores that we've all grown up with, this man is a titan.

Alva Noto is the alias of Carsten Nicolai, who, alongside Frank Bretschneider and Olaf Bender, began Raster Noton Archiv Für Ton Und Nichtton, a label that showcases hyper-minimal, electro-acoustic and abstract sound.

This collaboration combines Sakamoto's acoustic piano with Nicolai's minimal electronics. The piano is played softly and slowly while experiments in high and low frequency tones are happening amidst scattered non-aggressive glitches. This music is wonderfully cerebral, organic and meditative. Perfect for reflection.

One of my favorite albums.

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