LND001 - My Fun - The Quality of Something Audible
THE WIRE ISSUE 264, FEB 2006
You could think of a release like this as a kind of audio blog - a series of sonic events linked together in an order in which their discoverer finds interesting, before being left hanging in cyberspace for passing surfers to investigate. But to do so would diminish the artistry involved. Despite using such a self - deprecatory moniker, sound artist Justin Hardison creates collages where the source material is as beguiling as the placement is meticulous, and The Quality Of Something Audible has much to offer anyone prepared to don headphones and tune in. On a track like "Song Seven", astately, melancholy piano part occupies the centre of the stereo spectrum, while insectoid flurries of digital debris scurry to its farthest reaches. After an abrupt caesura, the piano is replaced by a doleful harp - the logic of this development unclear but somehow convincing. "Wide - Awake" also features a yin, yang pair of harp chords, this timewith a faintly oriental cast - they come swathed in static and punctuated by a single, slurred guitar note that conjures a whole imaginary Morricone score. Like the whole CD, it's poised, astringent and entirely lovely. (Chris Sharp)
DE-BUG.DE
Großartige Platte mit digitalen Zauseln zwischen großer Tragik und jeder Menge Sounds die klingen, als wären sie immer in genau den Momenten aufgenommen, in denen etwas schief läuft. Meist Banalitäten, aber eben die sind es die das Leben so schwer machen, wenn z.B. ein Ballon platzt, oder einfach die Welt aus den Fugen gerät, weil man gerade zu glücklich war. Herzerreißende Platte für alle, die sich von Musik gerne mal überwältigen lassen
STASISFIELD.COM
New York-born and currently London-based composer My Fun has released his latest album, "The Quality of Something Audible." Two years in the making, the album lives up to its title, including a vast array of sonic textures and diverse instrumentation ranging from guitars and drums to harps and strings. Deftly weaving field recordings and acoustic instruments into an expansive series of sound pictures, the album works towards a brilliant fireworks climax which leaves the listener ooo-ing and aah-ing for more. Available as downloadable mp3s or CDR direct from My Fun's website, The Land Of.
VITAL WEEKLY # 504
Following his 'Sunday Best', My Fun, aka Justin Hardison, now releases a full length CDR on The Land Of, which took him two years to record. Like before, he uses field recordings and computer processing of acoustic instruments. It moves away from the previous techno related into a highly dynamic form of micro-sound, with traces of good ol' Fennesz, but without being a strict copy-cat. A track like 'Dun Laoghaire' is with it's minimalist violin playing almost a glitch copy of Steve Reich. The use of classical music (wether or not sampled from records or recorded by My Fun himself) is a nice feature that is present in more tracks. It works nicely along the processed field recordings and the digital glitches that all of these produce. Perhaps in the current day and age, not the most surprising work available (it would have fitted the microwave catalogue nicely, five or so years ago), but I played this a couple of times in a row, and thought it was quite nice, growing with every time I heard it. (FdW)
SANDS-ZINE.COM
Nell'austerità della sua casa, Justin Hardison realizza una disorientante combinazione tra melodia acustica e suoni registrati seguendo un suo percorso personale, lento e diradato costruito su fields recordings, beats minimali e soundscapes astratti. Il disco si muove tra acquarelli melanconici con il semplice uso di strumenti analogici (arpa, chitarra, batteria, violino...) ispessiti da una stratificazione elettronica/rumore. 13 brani d'isolamento creativo che probabilmente avrebbero bisogno di un accompagnamento visivo, ma il tutto è comunque da sé di grande effetto. Se è vero che l'elettronica crea un'insensibile freddezza, è anche vero che tra le maglie di quella freddezza si possano nascondere emozioni quali senso di perdita e un'altro di scoperta che sanno di scorticare un cuore, quindi lasciate che il cuore decida se un disco è speciale. Se siete curiosi ed avete un animo da esploratori scaricatevi l'intero disco sul suo sito personale. (Filippo Buratti)
FORCEDEXPOSURE.COM
SUSANNA BOLLE'S TOP 10
Asher, graceful degradation (conv)
Cluster, 71 (water)
COH, above air (eskaton)
Felix Kubin, idiotenmusic (ultraeczema)
Lionel Marchetti, red dust (crouton
My Fun, the quality of something audible (thelandof)
Anthony Pateras & Robin Fox, flux compendium (editions mego)
Krzysztof Penderecki - the manuscript found in saragossa (obuh)
janek schaefer - migration (bip-hop)
pierre schaeffer, l'oeuvre musicale (ina-grm/emf)
keith fullerton whitman, live in lisbon (kranky)
TOUCHING EXTREMES
There is much to like in this album by Justin Hardison, a London based musician who works under various pseudonyms, My Fun being one of them. We enjoy the irregular yet familiar patterns of everyday sounds, the evocative quality of field recordings that Hardison expands and chews through a beautiful use of looping and layering, the use of instruments with a knowledgeable naiveté which renders the music a cross of emotional reminiscences and pure amusement. The sea, children at play, a phone conversation - everything is perfectly assembled in a series of powerful images enhanced by a complete dynamic control and an excellent panoramic placement of every source. Beautiful things all over the record, with a human touch rarely found in most of today's extra cool-super-glitch collections of laptop fragments; "The quality of something audible" is a self explanatory title in a palatable pot-pourri of big, even bigger, fresh-sounding pleasures. (Massimo Ricci)
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SONHORS JAN 2008
Sonorine : la carte postale qui parle ! La Sonorine était une carte postale / disque qui vous permettait d'enregistrer vous-même votre propre message sur un support, recouvert d'une fine couche de parafine. Seule contrainte, l'émetteur et le récepteur devaient posséder un Phonopostal, l'appareil nécessaire pour enregistrer et lire ces fameuses cartes postales sonores créées au début du sciècle dernier. A noter que la Sonorine, n'était pas seule sur le marché, il y avait également d'autres procédés et marques déposées tel que Tebehem, La Phonopostale, Cartophone, et Postphonocarte.
Nul besoin de phonographe pour écouter la musique de My fun (aka Justin Hardison) ! Ce nouvel opus apporte aux auditeurs une fascinante expérience de l'écoute où chaque piste est présentée comme un amalgame de souvenirs, d'enregistrements effectués dans des endroits spécifiques par l'auteur et qu'il souhaite transmettre aux auditeurs que nous sommes. L'expérience de réappropriation prend également ici toute sa mesure dans cette relation artiste / auditeur. Si vous vous sentez capable de faire l'effort d'imaginer où et comment ces sons ont été collectés, alors l'expérience peut s'avérer tout à fait incroyable. Au détour de procédés de bandes inversées ou d'écho, apparaissent des paysages sonores luxuriants et granuleux, où l'on peut entendre des oiseaux, des cloches, des sons industriels, des insectes, et toutes formes de Field recording. On y devine la proximité de paysages de bord de mer, la nuit en campagne, la pluie, la désolation de friches industrielles, bruits de pas ou de discussions... les bruits ambiants y tiennent une place de choix et ne subissent que très peu de traitements. Altérations électroniques, notes de piano, bruits de guitare ou de cythare accompagne cette mise en musique qui débute dès le début du disque par une télétransportation au bord d'une route de campagne verdoyante, un matin au début du printemps à l'écoute d'une cacophonie incroyable de chants d'oiseaux !
Sonorine devrait contenter les afficionados des pièces douces d'un Christian Fennesz ou des travaux ambiants d'un Brian Eno.
Il fait chaud, froid, parfois humide, la lumière du jour s'estompe pour mieux réapparaître, voire parfois nous éblouir, le divertissement de Justin Hardison devient nôtre. Objectif réussi !
TOFAKI 2007
There are artist that everybody likes and My Fun is one of them. "The Quality of Something Audible", the first full-length of Justin Hardison's project, aimed at "exploring the subtle detail and beauty in everyday sounds", was a favourite with the critics and sat comfortably between Krzysztof Penderecki and Pierre Schaeffer in some reviewer's Top 10 for 2006. Hardison had touched upon the remains of a seemingly forgotten legacy: Emotions, nostalgia, daydreams and a love for the small things in life. If there was anything that some thought reproachable it would have had to be the fact My Fun was so decidely „un-progressive“. That, as we learn with the advent of "Sonorine", is exactly the point.
With his new work, Hardison actually allows sentiments and sentimentality even farther into his world. Fascinated by the thought of catching elusive moments in music and on vinyl, he wilfully loost himself in the history of "talking postcards" and media which would allow you to record personal messages. "Sonorine" is therefore, if you like, the sound-made result of this quest and simultaneously a sort of frozen thought itself. For the time of the album's duration, the listener shares the composer's desire of making his source material come to life through the power of his imagination and by "framing and editing it like you would with images on a postcard".
Slow, sonorous scraping opens the album, as the needle hits the groove in backwards motion and then thick, sirupy drones trickle in, coating the hillscape of Hardison's fantasy with sweet sugar candy. Highly processed, yet never artificially smoothened harmonics and musique concrete-like collages of various concrete sonic events penetrate the texture of time, hitting a nerve, suspending any sense of movement.
There was nothing "new" about "The Quality of Something Audible" – now there is something decidedly oldfashioned about "Sonorine", a feel-good vibe that lingers over the album like the smell of milk and cookies filled your grandma's kitchen on a Sunday morning. Progress, however, is neither the enemy nor the goal – it simply doesn't matter. Hardison's aims are much closer to home than the airy-fairy utopia of academic colleagues, but that suits a music which sets out to remain within the realm of the immediately tangible.
It needs to be stressed, though, that "Sonorine" meanders through some darker passages as well. Suddenly, the key changes and the whispered promises of just a minute ago appear ghoulish and hideous. Towards the end, the field recordings are allowed to take center stage and "A Field in Freilassing" is nothing but humming crickets, wind and the occasional car driving by. As much as it eschews grand statements, the album follows a clear yet winding path, culminating in the silent hymn "Anchor". Justin Hardison's My Fun may be an act everybody likes, but he has achieved this despite doing something many dislike: Taking risks . -Tobias Fischer
SQUIDS EAR
On "Sonorine", My Fun (aka Justin Hardison) constructs lush soundscapes by mixing together field recordings with tonal music in a manner that evokes the Fennesz/Eno end of the spectrum though in its better moments, a sandpaper-y harshness infiltrates the proceedings, lending a much-needed granularity.
As a rule, the two general elements exist in equal balance though they vary in the particulars. On the natural sound side, one hears birds (roosters even!), insects, human chatter, industrial sounds, etc. while the "musical" aspect tends to dwell in the drones seeming to derive from organs, zithers and guitars. The lushness can veer toward the cloying on tracks like "Radiant" (with its reversed tapes) or the closing "Anchor" where the Laraaji-like echoing zither bleeds into both electronic and natural atmospherics in a slightly sticky manner. But when Hardison reins in the ear-candy, he can generate some strong sonic images, tinged with a slightly dystopian vision. This occurs on the sharpest, richest cut, "Setting Fires". It's much less insistent than most of the other pieces, opening with soft electric piano over faraway ambient sounds. Little by little, various elements creep in, a buzz here a bang there, gradually forming a fine tapestry where no particular sound predominates. By the time some mumbled conversation appears, a subtle silvery drone has emerged, gently propelling the piece forward. Toward the end of the work, the drone suddenly suspends, but the remaining crackle retains enough momentum to continue on, locating some surprising ballroom piano that fades in and out like a weak radio transmission, a lovely effect.
"Sonorine" should be of interest to listeners who enjoy the softer side of Fennesz. Those looking for grittier fare will have their appetites whetted by "Setting Fires" as well as portions of other pieces and might hope for more in this direction from Hardison in the future. - Brian Olewnick
TOUCHING EXTREMES NOV 2007
First things first: the name of the artist behind My Fun is JUSTIN HARDISON, not "Jason Hardiman" as many readers of serious magazines will now believe. But you know, a deadline and a few bucks are more important than taking thirty seconds to actually check what one's pretending to listen to and give the musicians their due. Anyway, "Sonorine" is - at least until the end of 2007 - the best that I have heard from My Fun, affirming his compositional maturity through a sapient choice of sonorities that can finally be compared to what's usually called a "style".
Influenced by the concept of an ancient "talking postcard" upon which one could record messages, greetings and other kinds of sound, this album - just perfect at 36 minutes divided into eight tracks - gathers emotions whose depth is inversely proportional to the small doses in which they're gradually released. Hardison didn't leave anything out to elicit memories and recollections: chirping birds, old vinyl albums and hissing tapes, distant trains, sea waves and seagulls, carillons and found instruments. Did I hear "obvious"? Wrong. These soundscapes don't remain in the same area for long.
The slide is soon changed and another reminiscence comes in, even more touching and, at times, sorrowful than the previous ones. There are evocative loops whose complexion has nothing to envy to the specialists of the genre, yet the record's strength is mostly based on the surprising juxtapositions between pre-conceived elements and retrieved materials, which gift the music with an attractive charm smelling of childhood's scents and summer vacations, if you get my point. The unpolished collages that this man brings to our attention manage to render defensive mechanisms completely useless, for "Sonorine" suggests the password to the revival of a regretful vibe that nowadays is considered practically extinct by hip hominids. - Massimo Ricci
TEXTURA.ORG OCT 2007
My Fun (Justin Hardison) gives the evocative soundscaping of Sonorine a unique conceptual twist by orienting it around the titular device itself, an early ‘talking postcard' made from black lacquer that enabled its user to record personalized sounds onto a disc that could then be replayed in another setting (the first known reference to a gramophone postcard appears in an advertisement in a 1903 issue of Phonographische Zeitschrift, and Sonorine is, in fact, only one of many registered trademark names, with Tebehem, La Phonopostale, Cartophone, and Postphonocarte some of the others).
Using field recordings, samples, found sounds, and electronic processing to produce the densely textured material, Hardison manipulates recordings of specific places so that they retain their suggestive power, while at the same time allows their narrative qualities to open-endedly accommodate the listener's projections. Having said that, associative titling sometimes points the listener in a particular direction, as do the contents of the pieces: “Radiant” is exactly that, especially when shimmering organ tones merge with its crackling streams and rippling static, while “Signal Drift” blends buried radio voices, blurry bell tones, and birds into a dynamic, intense drone. Elsewhere, lullaby tinkles ease an imagined baby to sleep, and a man and woman converse, though their words are rendered unintelligible when accompanied by an industrial churn. The Land Of aspires to explore “the subtle detail and beauty in everyday sounds,” and Sonorine certainly succeeds in meeting that goal.
THE WIRE OCT 2007
The Sonorine was an early kind of audio postcard recorded onto black laquer. My Fun's Justin Hardison sees a correlation between his use of field recordings and found sound with the sonorine's framing of audio information for a listener in another location. His techniques range from the underpinning of bird song with vinyl song (hardly the most original strategy, it's true) through surreal, Steven Stapleton-esque narrative collages, to long, droning arcs of sound emerging from radio static. There's a clear sense of Hardison engaging carefully with his material, particularly on "Phonopostal", where he deftly introduces birdsong into a repeating sequence of clipped upper register piano tones. Though presented as reportage, what characterises Sonorine is the way it distorts scale, time, cause and effect- resulting in more of a psychedelic listening experience than its creator possibly had in mind. A slightly chaotic record, but an involving one. - Ken Moline
FURTHERNOISE.ORG OCT 2007
A Sonorine was a black lacquer disc, made around the time of the First World War, used to send a ‘talking postcard’. Sonorine, the second full-length release from My Fun aka Justin Hardison is a postcard from more recent times, made in part from field recordings Hardison collected as a way of remembering the people and places of his journeys.
‘Setting Fires’ opens with a gentle melodic meditation over distant sounds of everyday industry before taking a more sinister turn into a darker-sounding, shifting between radio station frequencies and what appears to be someone breathing nervously or sobbing before resolving into a series of tonal piano chords. ‘Anchor’ features more sampled radio frequencies before transforming into a wavering drone.
The mixture of these more processed sounds with literal audio-portraits of particular places creates a fine balance between tracks that merely show you that place, and others that tell you what it was like to be there. While some tracks show you a photograph (the birdsong of ‘Musik-Postakarten’ or the cricket song and passing car featured in ‘A Field in Freilassing’), others are more akin to the writing a lonely traveller would send home on the back of the card. ‘Sonorine’ could easily be the musings of a frustrated backpacker stuck inside, staring at the rain, while in ‘Signal Drift’ a background that sounds like a constant telephone ring and snatches of foreign-language conversation (again from shortwave radio) could be a lone traveller trying to reach out to those around her.
With original artwork designed by Hardison’s partner Kimberly Ellen Hall, the CD comes in a beautifully designed ‘envelope’ whose writing hints at turn-of-the-century Europe but also somewhere contemporary. Not listening to the CD inside would have been as difficult as not turning over a postcard to see who it was from.
Review by Stacey Sewell
STARTLING MONIKER AUG 2007
With his fourth release as My Fun, Justin Hardison brings listeners a fascinating, inverted listening experience on “Sonorine.” With each track presented as a “postcard” of sound– hence the title, which refers to the now-antiquated souvenir records made for fun at tourist locales– it becomes clear that unlike most albums, Hardison has already made the journey and is ‘reporting back’ to the listener.
It’s a simple, but delicious, way of turning the listening experience on it’s head. And although the disc’s glassine layers of pianos, birdcalls, traffic sounds, and radio are nothing like early psychedelic music; it’s interesting to note that the artist/listener relationship is similar: Hardison has been on a trip, and wants to tell us all about it. It was only later on that artists could safely assume listeners had turned-on adequately to understand what was happening.
For those first experiencing “Sonorine,” it’s much the same– a pleasant, but bewildering earful of a highly-realistic world, albeit one much unlike our own. On “Phonopostal,” (my favorite track, incidentally) Hardison introduces the listener into what seems an ordinary environment– the tinkling of a piano, and some sort of mechanical sound. But then… well, it all comes loose. With a loud ‘thunk,’ this (and I’m imagining a Victorian drawing room) sprouts legs, propelling itself slowly through an aviary where distant train noises merge with the grandfather clock’s clangorous intonation. The drawing room has become a steampunk, bizarro-world dark ride now. Applying the brakes, Hardison startles a flock of sea birds.
The production of “Sonorine” is basically a real treat. For those willing to put in the effort necessary to consider the ‘where’ and ‘how’ of the sounds, and to accept the notion that these are postcard recordings of places; the album becomes quite fantastic. Sounds that are ordinarily small take a front-and-center position, while other sounds move in ways dissimilar to their more ordinary counterparts. At times, the listener realizes the most peculiar situations must have occurred to generate such a milieu– and if you can hold that surprised feeling without coming back to earth, you may just find yourself wherever it is that Hardison has visited.
Ignore the terrible review from Vital Weekly (with the crackhead money quotes, “no prize for originality given here” and “it could almost be a real CD release” ) –this disc is highly recommended. (Dave X of the ITDE show)
VITAL WEEKLY # 587
This is the fourth release by My Fun, also known as Justin Hardison (see also Vital Weekly 471, 504 and 551) and there is truly a strong upwards curve to be spotted in his work. Hardison started out with something quite beat related, but after that he went to all things field and all things micro. On 'Sonorine' he adds instruments. A sonorine was a spoken word postcard which you could send with your own personal message carved into it. You can easily imagine that such a thing would sound quite cracky and perhaps My Fun thinks that's a sort of pre-date micro glitch. On the eight tracks on this release things crack, glitch and click a lot. Voices, field recordings, guitar sounds and lots of plug ins: that's the extent of My Fun's music, which is still close to the likes of especially Fennesz with this release, but also to Stephan Mathieu, but it's growing, composition wise. His pieces are getting better, more complicated and better. No prize for originality given here (but that's something we never do), but within the frame My Fun is working, this most certainly a fine release. It also has a great cover, so it could almost be a real CD release. That will happen no doubt one day, if My Fun keeps on growing like this. (FdW)
SANDS-ZINE SEPT 2007
Le ‘sonorine’ erano cartoline-fonografo introdotte in Francia all’inizio del ‘900, ma in realtà non ebbero mai una diffusione di massa perché il destinatario doveva essere in possesso, per poterle ascoltare, di un apparecchio audio-grafico eguale a quello del mittente. In pratica si trattava del primissimo tentativo di quella che con il nastro magnetico prima e con il calcolatore elettronico poi sarà la registrazione casalinga. E proprio alle sonorine si è ispirato Justin Hardison (aka My Fun) nella realizzazione di quello che è il suo piccolo capolavoro, pensando cioè i vari brani come altrettante cartoline sonore. Alla base di tutto ci sono delle registrazioni d’ambiente e l’idea è quella di ricreare dei piccoli quadri d’ambiente sonoro, ma il tutto è comunque dotato di una musicalità molto prominente e anche dal punto di vista della struttura i brani mostrano una complessità che, comunque, non approda mai dalle parti della pura e semplice astruseria. Il breve risveglio iniziale, con impresso il canto del gallo e di uccelli su un fondo di fruscii da vecchio disco, può dare un’impressione errata, cioè quella di registrazioni lasciate troppo a se stesse, cioè di assenza dell’aspetto compositivo, ma la realtà dei brani successivi parla un altro linguaggio, se si esclude il fugace passaggio di A Field In Freilassing, e allora sono fiotti di suoni para-organistici, voci sommerse, concerti di campane, marosi di risonanze scabre, arpeggi di tastiere giocattolo, frastuoni arcani, grida di gabbiani dalle discariche della quotidianità e ritmature torbide. “Sonorine”, se pensiamo che l’autore è un musicista britannico, è un disco di musica concreta anomalo e forse per questo ancor più affascinante.
Un doppio grazie a Justin Hardison: per il bel disco e per averci fatto conoscere un interessante episodio della storia fonografica. Non si finisce mai d’imparare.
RARE FREQUENCY TOP LISTS JUL 2007
# Asher, The Depths, The Colors, The Objects and the Silence (Mystery Sea) CD
# Kevin Drumm and Daniel Menche, Gauntlet (Editions Mego) CD
# Giuseppe Ielasi & Nicola Ratti, Bellows (Kning Disk) CD
# Jazkamer, Eat Shit (Asspiss) CD
# Lichens, Omns (Kranky) CD
# My Fun, Sonorine (The Land of) CD
# Ophibre, Puzzle Pieces (self-released) CDr
# Signal Quintet, Yamauchi (Cut) CD
# Asmus Tietchens + Richard Chartier, Formation (Die Stadt) CD
# The Tuss, Rushup EP (Rephex CD
# Mark Wastell, Come Crimson Rays (Kning Disk
CYCLIC DEFROST FEB 2008
The poetic mystery of Justin Hardison’s ghostly pastoralism flowers in the image of the sonorine, the talking postcard that allowed one to record a personal message onto disc. The music exudes an interest in the power and timelessness of the drone, but it develops on a personal plane, and is thus rendered tempermentally more volatile and unpredictable than such a title might suggest.
The controlled and contingent elements of Hardison’s pieces crush together like a coming storm. There is something elemental about the spurious assemblage of nebulous wafts, caked with firy static, and underpinned by coldly dramatic coda’s of piano strikes that set the teeth on edge. Computer processing plays in the overtones, bending and thickening things into a narcotised ambience. Pieces return to this state time and again (too much, no doubt), but no one visit is overly long. The works move effectively to places microscopic in their detail; others vast and expansive in their wonder, and there is even a fair amount of congenial and scrappy intermingling between the two.
Another key element is the suggestive and beautifully mysterious nature of the found sounds which spill through these tracks. Men and women converse, birds chirp, and babies cry, all lending the proceedings a clear narrative dimension that is well laid-out, but with enough room for interpretation built in. In all of these sound moments, one senses the spirit of curiosity, excitement, and discovery that animated its creator. - Max Schaefer
SMALLFISH JULY 2008
Label boss Justin Hardison's My Fun project is a really interesting one. Using a classic contemporary minimalist base he weaves an enchanting spell on us with a series of very compelling works. From deep, experimental electronica through to lovely textures and drones, there's a tangible and very pleasing sense of melody. That's tempered at times by a more challenging tone that creeps in and really creates a great balance of styles. Field recordings and disembodied voices mutate into semi-classical strings and almost electro-acoustic sounding moments are all present and correct as well. Varied and beautifully produced, this is a very classy release indeed.
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LND003 - Darren McClure - Softened Edges
TOUCHING EXTREMES APRIL 2008
Quietly, unassumingly, The Land Of is becoming one of the labels to keep an
eye on. They do their thing almost unnoticed, each release possessing a
singular dignity that is also gifted with natural beauty. Darren McClure
alternates slowly unfolding meditative electronics and field recordings, the
latter at times slightly disturbed by electrostatic interferences - check
"Pink river". This disc might be a cure against the excesses of hedonism
typical of self-made products: modesty and absence of theoretical mendacity
are at the basis of little miniatures whose unobtrusive character remains in
evidence even when the sonic mass gets thicker. In that moment, we are
confronted by a nucleus of pulsating frequencies and magnetic radiations
that float around the air at first, then stand in place while being in
movement, dead flowers on the surface of a placid sea. There's a strong
rhythmic component in a track like "KG court" that wouldn't be out of
context on For 4 Ears, its subterranean drive vaguely reminiscent of
atmospheres usually elicited by people such as Gunter Muller or Norbert
Moslang, only with a definite touch of humanity. Elsewhere, old tricks like
the "locked groove" effect still appear fresh enough, when accompanied by
lulling, trance-inducing harmonies. Lyophilized minimal sapience
delightfully rendered in a finely crafted album. (Massimo Ricci)
TOFAKI JAN 2008
These are not good times for masochists. They are pretty good for Darren McClure, though. One of the many sound artists out there who are seeing beauty in rounded shapes, fragile forms, dreamy development and – obviously - softened edges, his sweet and warm style has been gratefully received by a netlabel community hungry for emotions and human sensitivity instead of cool abstractions. Just the right kind of artist to be picked up by Justin Hardison and his “the land of” imprint.
If you’re going to do a physical release, after all, you might as well do it right. And Hardison’s publications have a lot going for them. The disc once again comes in the brown CD-bag made of raspy cardboard typical of the label, with the backcover artwork sprayed onto the carton with white paint – a haptophile’s dream come true.
And then, of course, there’s the aesthetical relatedness with Hardison’s own work under the name of My Fun. Both artists are fascinated by the romance of the past and by little gestures which can mean so much. Both enjoy keeping a certain naivety to their music, even though they simultaneously strive for utmost perfection in tiny details. And they are equally interested in picking up small-scale noises emmitted by a miniature world running next to ours.
Field recordings, then, are a logical component of “Softened Edges” and their importance is stressed even more by the fact that the phase of collecting them coincides with the actual arranging. Composing, to McClure, means enriching his smooth drones and the occasional clicking rhythm with sounds of nature, technology, cars, planes, camp fires, birds and less easily discernible sources. This exterior material streams through the body of the music like a breath or a heartbeat – they can not be separated from each other. On “Distance” and “Pink River”, the field recordings even take center-stage, with manipulated fragments of frequencies humming and buzzing in the background. On most tracks, though, the two worlds strive for a fruitful and organic symbiosis.
The fact that some of the sounds are very airy and contextual, rather than concrete (such as room tones and various ambiances), means that all pieces have a peaceful mood and a tranquil, gentle and warm feeling to them. Slightly ominous and enigmatic states like “KG Court”, which is propelled by deep bell soundings, and the caffeeine-stutterings of “Tunnel Talk” are the exception in a cosmos of aural caresses. And yet, McClure uses his micro-material in a rather traditional way. His music concentrates on grooves, dynamics, harmony and short melodic sequences interacting with each other. It is as if he were bringing these tiny treasures up to our world and placing them in familiar order to reduce their alien nature.
He succedes because “Softened Edges” is filled to the brim with the love of its creator. The details mentioned above are not the product of an obsessively meticulous mind, but of someone who fosters parental feelings towards his tracks, adding yet more candy and another bar of chocolate to that christmas food parcel. It even shows in the titles: “Let your eyes go” or “Stray Signal” are testimony of an attitude of patience and letting a work grow in its own time. Definitely not a good album for people who can’t sit still and simply enjoy. - Tobias Fischer
SQUIDS EAR DEC 2007
Laptop and software sound processors, all dissenting opinions to the contrary, deny Alexander the Great's cause for weeping—such technology has demonstrated there are indeed an infinite amount of brave new worlds to conquer. Many doors were flung wide and imaginations left unbridled after the advent and subsequent unveiling of the modern, revolutionary (read: affordable, acquirable) synthesizer. The next step in that revolution has been the adaptability of the personal computer and the barrage of softwares designed for it, ushering in the next phase of individualistic sound design and production. Forgive the stating of the obvious, but never before has the lone artist been so empowered, aided by technology's greatest enabler. Yes, there are those who have succumbed to simple number crunching, data jockeys futzing about in code they don't understand to the service of "music" that's been fairly readymade for them-modern day mouseketeers for the new age. A select few have done what any artist worth his or her salt would with such formidable tools-use them with care, clean hands, and composure.
Darren McClure is the latest new kid on the block. He's no doubt stuffed himself to the gills with all the hot new gadgets (figuratively speaking) and drunk deep of colleagues from whom he's stylistically assimilated (Room40's and 12k's brethren instantly leap to mind, some late period Ritornell issues, and there are countless others). They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery-judging from Softened Edges, McClure's sublime debut, he's not produced a document of earth-shattering innovation, but it's still a helluva piece of pillowy ear-craft. These nine proto-"ambient" works take field recordings of McClure's urban surroundings as their template, get washed through various digital arrays, and come out as giddy new wonders, the better to work their magic through your aural canals.
All the tracks are of a similar stripe, but that isn't the rub—it's the subtle affectations that count, the recontextualizing of the samples, the processing of basic sonic detritus in the origination of something borrowed, something new, something wonderful, and something blue. Is McClure simply dabbling in the datasphere? No, there's delicate, considered movements at play here (it apparently took six months between source recording and literal finalization). And it shows: "Pink River" imagines a trek through a bird sanctuary situated next to a digital arboretum that mimics the ornithological squawks with its own flock of buzzgulls, bits of gauzy machine noise flapping wings. "Tunnel Talk" makes the most of fat test tone loops and the patter of acid rain on steel pavement; "Lab Pin" is simply gorgeous gamelan ambience, McClure lifting cues from the most abstract corners of Jon Hassell's fourth world (minus the trumpet). Irruptions of scattershot fuzz and buzz alight "Low in the Sky", shuffling off into the distant twilight as crystalline synths parse a crushed velvet tableau, closing the disc on a surfeit of melancholia. McClure's mined a rich seam on Softened Edges that isn't anywhere near cliché-there's many miles to go before he sleeps. And the fact that the disc is pressed in micro-quantities of 100 means you'd better hurry before it shucks this mortal coil. - Darren Bergstein
TEXTURA.ORG DEC 2007
Originally from Northern Ireland and now living in Matsumoto, Japan, Darren McClure constructs the nine soundscapes on Softened Edges from field recordings—sometimes radically processed and sometimes untreated—and software-generated sounds. The material is evocative, regardless of whether the source material is identifiable or not. Though “Let Your Eyes Go” is assembled from heavily-treated sounds, its atmospheric drones and melodic fragments convincingly suggest the shimmer and sparkle of a still pond on a summer afternoon; “Distance,” on the other hand, is a purer field exercise with thunderstorms, pelting rain, bird chirps, and car noises cohering into a directly referential collage.
Sonically, the material offers up no shortage of beguiling chatter and ripple. In “St Fence,” gleaming organ tones and repetitive motifs produce a glassy façade, while “Kg Court” is characterized by gently tolling bells, fluttering electronics, and churning rhythms. There's a microsound, 12k-styled feel to the material with McClure obsessively focusing on minute elements, structures, and rhythms. “Lab Pin” is a particularly lovely setting of becalmed tones, tinkles, and vaporous drift where softly rising melodies buried within the clouds are so quiet they're almost inaudible. Needless to say, Softened Edges proves most rewarding when broached as ‘headphones listening.'
EARLABS.ORG FEB 2008
Darren McClure is not afraid to experiment and abstract himself from conventional and familiar forms. He is neither afraid to establish a connection with his previous works.
Softened edges takes strange turns and unsuspected directions, Darren McClure's emphasis is open and complex and yet extremely focused.
Rhythm and melody are elements that Darren McClure has managed to incorporate to his work without necessarily clashing with the lucid and conscious level of abstraction and randomness that is so characteristic of his sound; Softened edges could be McClure's most daring and complex work to date although they are hints of rhythm on his organic textures and grainy noises, and melodic elements isolated surrounded by layers of sines, drones and noise.
Softened edges is a great successful effort to take emotions to strange places and unlikely conditions, it combines and confronts the best of two words: the effort to make music and the effort to make non-music. - David Velez
BAD ALCHEMY 056
Auf diesen Nordiren, der im japanischen Matsumoto subtile Mixturen aus Fieldrecordings und Laptopglitches anrührt, hätte ich auch als MySpace-‚Friend‘ von GoGooo stoßen können. Tatsächlich gibt es da geteilte ästhetische Vorlieben, ein geistesverwandtes Klangideal, wohlähnliche Akzente im Gefühlshaushalt. Zart muss es sein, das Verweben von realer ‚Natur‘ und digitalem, granularem Feinstaub. Publiziert von Justin Hardison aka My Fun in Brooklyn, verstärkt Softened Edges programmatisch die Internationale der Sublimen, die Differenzen und Gegensätze, wie die zwischen ‚Natur‘ und Technik, draußen und drinnen, Nähe und Ferne, Click und Bip und Melodie abdämpfen und aufheben. Molekularer Klingklang verfugt alle Brüche, harmonische Drones salben die neuen Nähte, vertraute Geräusche, etwa Autos, die durch Regen fahren, garantieren, dass die digitalen und virtuellen Welten ‚organisch‘ und ‚human‘ die analogen integrieren. Ein morphendes Lob der Gemenge und Gemische, in denen die Elektronen von Großvateruhren und dem Brunnen vor dem Tore zu träumen und zu singen scheinen. [BA 56 rbd]
SANDS ZINE JAN 2008
Disco di rara bellezza, questo del nord irlandese Darren McClure. Field recordings resi irriconoscibili - o quasi - tramite trattamenti elettronici e scomposti, frammentati, assemblati in nove tracce poetiche e rilassate in uno stile molto vicino ai soundscape dei Minamo, ma pur conservando un gusto personale. Fa quasi strano pensare che non vi siano strumenti suonati né toni generati elettronicamente, ma che invece tutto il materiale contenuto in "Soften Edges" (titolo azzeccatisssimo) sia di origine acustica ed analogica.
A tratti ricorderebbe anche il nostrano Adriano Zanni/Punck, non fosse per una maggiore serenità che traspare dalle tracce dell’irlandese rispetto alle più cupe frequenze del ravennate.
Nessun brano spicca su altri, e le tracce del disco, tutte di durata intermedia (nessuna oltre i sette minuti) sembrano costituire un flusso ininterrotto e soave dove solo raramente affiorano asprezze inaspettate (Pink River) o aperture ambient (Lab Pin).
Un artista forse non esattamente da avanguardia, ma certo da tenere d’occhio.
GONZO CIRCUS May 2008
De Noord-Ierse muzikant Darren McClure resideert al enige tijd in Japan. Voor zijn album ‘Softened Edges’ verzamelde hij daar veldopnames (smeltende sneeuw, krakend grind, onweer) om die in zijn composities te verwerken. Het grootste deel van deze geluiden werden bewerkt: uiteengetrokken of juist vertraagd. Anderen bleven onaangeraakt. Het resultaat is zeer ruimtelijk, maar ook warm en organisch tegelijkertijd. De geluiden waaruit ‘Let Your Eyes Go’ werd opgebouwd, werden flink bewerkt, maar toch roepen haar atmosferische drones en melodische fragmenten beelden op van een waterfestijn tijdens een hoogzomerse namiddag.
SMALLFISH JULY 2008
I first heard this some time ago and was really pleased to hear a physical release from Darren after he'd put out several MP3 releases. As you'd expect from The Land Of, it's a work of some substance that uses deep, melodic textures and electronics along with a slightly more experimental leaning from time to time. The end reslut is a series of exquisite tracks that are pure contemporary minimalism, but with the added bonus of being utterly listenable as well. The balance between beauty and mood is superb and there's much genuinely striking material here. Really a great album and definitely one for fans of 12k or Spekk to check out. Lovely.
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WHITELINE MAR 2008
With an ever growing catalogue of works behind him, Asher is now one of a steadily growing army of refreshingly original sound-workers whose work infuses the catalogues of labels such as Con-V, leerraum[ ], Mystery Sea, Term, and others.
Intervals explores and investigates our perceptions of time through a series of 39 highly restrained, and minutely wrought pieces. We are advised to listen to the collection in “random shuffle” mode, in order to plunge ourselves into a sequence of diverse and evolving soundscapes, providing us with endless permutations of the same atmospheres. This is not unlike the aural equivalent of an experimental Ballard or Burroughs novel, whereby the audience expectations are actively short-circuited- the piece can be entered from any point, and disjunctions and discontinuities are actively encouraged. Here audience becomes editor, but more importantly, we also become the closing link of the composition, completing a cycle of events initiated by its composer.
The source recordings for this work represent atmospheres culled from the inside and the outside of Goddard College, Plainfield Vermont, although the location here is not of any intrinsic importance. What is important is that we are suspended in between external and internal moments – the “intervals” of the title, fused and frozen memories that are simultaneously familiar, yet slightly unsettling. Combined with the refreshingly delcious day-glo cover , with explicit and well constructed sleeve notes, this is possibly one of my favourite releases of the year so far..not a cliché, nor hint of plagiarism in sight..an artist and label that I for one, will be watching closely. Sound art of the highest order. (BGN)
Vital Weekly 615 FEB 2008
The previous work by Asher was a bit of a setback for me, but with this new release he's back in shape, as far I'm concerned. This time not in the format of MP3 but real audio, on a real CDR (and blimey: The Land Of are excellent packagers of that!). Asher recorded a bunch of material at the campus of Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont. It's hard to tell what, if at all, Asher did with these recordings, but one thing is sure: he spliced them apart. Unlike many of his previous releases which consist of a single piece, we have thirty nine pieces, many of them not more than a minute. The listener is recommended to play this at random (and I'd 'on repeat'), which certainly shuffles the various sections. There is pure (and untreated?) field recording material to be spotted around here, but also piano playing in the form of loosely tones. Hiss however seems to be a constant factor here as well as in much of his previous work. Like there has been a lot of erosion, or the use of a whole bunch of old ferro cassettes been used. It's an Asher trademark by now. The recomposing aspects of this release appealed lesser to me since that race was already made before, but listened to in a strict linear fashion, this is quite a fine release. Moving from the inside to the outside and back, the chirping of insects, the piano and other unidentifiable sounds make this one of the best Asher releases so far. Great! (FdW)
SANDS-ZINE APRIL 2008
Abbiamo recensito non molto tempo fa il grazioso mini CD-R edito da Koyuki, esempio di minimalismo sonoro (e grafico) quasi assoluto nel campo dei microsuoni di origine elettronica, e ci troviamo ora tra le mani un'altra opera altrettanto difficile, forse altrettanto minimale, ma profondamente diversa nel contenuto.
Trattasi di ben 39 tracce in poco più di 40 minuti (la più lunga ne occupa 2, molte si aggirano sui 30 secondi), registrare a volumi davvero bassi e contenenti field recordings al limite dell'udibile, tra passi sulle foglie, lontani cinguettii, rumorini indecifrabili e ronzii di varia natura, tutto rigorosamente sporco di fruscii inverosimili nella loro prevalenza. Molti lettori credo già gridino 'bella cagata', eppure, nonostante la mia stessa scetticità iniziale, devo ammettere che il lavoro non è né fine a sé stesso né brutto. Certo non piacerà ai fan di Eros Ramazzotti o degli Anathema, ma costoro credo che legittimamente approdino su lidi diversi da quelli delle sabbie di Sands-zine, dove invece maniaci del suono scarnificato e di Francisco Lopez, Murmer o simili abbondano e sono in grado di apprezzare anche questi 39 fruscianti frammenti.
Parte del godimento è dato dal gioco all'indovinello, ossia "che diavolo sarà questo suono, mi pare forse qualcuno che cucina... o forse rametti spezzati in una foresta?", parte è effettivo piacere d'ascolto quando, una traccia su quattro circa, emerge un pianoforte malinconico e rarefatto che pare comunque registrato su grammofono nel 1910.
Certo non è un disco da 10 in pagella, ma l'unico difetto è forse quello di non aver voluto dare alcuna forma ai campioni (alcuni terminano tronchi in modo irritante) e di aver insistito così tanto in un'idea del tipo "lasciamo le cose così come sono". Del resto la press sheet e la confezione stessa (ricoperta di concettuali scritte esplicative) spiegano che il disco contiene solo registrazioni fatte nel campus del Goddard College di Plainfeld, nel Vermont, e che i suoi 'frammenti' (così vengon definiti) vanno suonati rigorosamente in random.
Io dico che certo vanno ascoltati in un luogo silenzioso, ed in cuffia: in tal modo, che ci crediate o no, vivrete un'esperienza splendida, trasportati tra i delicatissimi frammenti di spensierata solitudine di questi Intervalli. Dovrete solo armarvi di pazienza immensa, ma ne varrà la pena. (Matteo Uggeri)
SMALLFISH JULY 2008
A great slab of experimentalism from Asher here on the Land Of label. I like the fact that concept of the work is written as part of the cover and artwork and it's actually a very interesting read. Intervals is the name and also the theme. Using field recordings made at the Doddard College in Vermont, Asher has put together a series of short works that are engaging, listenable and varied. Aural memories is the way the sound is described and I can see exactly why. Each piece has a distant, hazy quality (presumably due to the nature of the recordings) and you'll catch occasional fragments of sound cutting through. It's a very dreamlike feeling and his idea of time and movement is conveyed with skill. A thoroughly enjoyable album which, to be honest, needs to be listened to all the way through as the samples will only give you a taste of what it's really like. Super.
CYCLIC DEFROST July 2008
Intervals arrogates to itself the threads that formed many of Asher Thal-Nir’s past efforts - simple piano motifs, physically and dramatically measured stretches of ambience, sinewy, gimlet-eyed tones, and an array of field recordings of indistinct nature. Where before they stood isolated in a wholly singular fashion, on this particular work they unfold together as in a corolla. In like manner, the sketches offered up, of which there are thirty-nine, each lasting long enough to emit but a few frail, if telling, breaths, are generally full-bodied, with liberal use of the instruments on hand, whereas past recordings have dealt strongly in absence, under the belief that force comes from subtraction, and not accumulation.
Through its constant bath of sound, color, light, and movement comes Asher’s most accessible release yet. The portentous influence of time and space bear heavily on the pieces. Space is primordial for Asher; the former being fashioned in and through the nuances of space. At the same time, though, the recordings generally fail on this front; selections go without establishing spatial nuances of a significant sort, and the insights proffered by the disc on the matter at hand are rudimentary and lacking in depth.
Pieces based on field recordings from indoor environments hang heavy like humidity. Sullen, well-spaced piano notes sound like tiny lights illuminating the environment before giving into the night, further cementing the aura as one of isolation and torpor. Those characterized by field recordings of nature and the outdoors are, as one would expect, are a good deal more open and charged with movement. This is depicted in fermata’s of breezy entanglement and textures of casual asperity, which carry time onward while simultaneously making it vanish like smoke. There’s a genuine vibrancy to these works, to all of them, in fact. In tracing the recurring trajectory of the incidental and everyday, Intervals is a wholehearted success, and a pleasurable one at that. (Max Schaefer)
Read a long feature on Asher over at Tofaki!
PARISTRANSATLANTIC SEPT 2008
The mission statement of this pretty young label, founded by Justin Hardison aka My Fun, consists of "exploring the subtle detail and beauty in everyday sounds". No easy task, given the increasingly overpopulated zone of action. Field recordings and electronics, as I've been saying for a while, are an all-too-easy way into making music (or art, or both) without having a clue of what playing an instrument or composing means. To extract significance from this ground one has to possess gifts, first and foremost of which should be insight and sensitivity. Asher, who hails from Somerville, Massachusetts, is an ideal paradigm of the discerning human being, his output being a rare case of value increasing in direct proportion with the number of releases. Intervals contains the qualities that led me to appreciate his work in the first place – the rarefied introspection, the focus on the solitary experience, the degraded-yet-fascinating quality of the aural picture – but here they're fragmented into short pieces, each lasting no longer than 90 seconds, for which the composer recommends the "shuffle play" mode. The overall concept derives from theologian Augustine of Hippo's assertion that "when we measure an interval of time, what we are really measuring is in the memory", hence the conclusion that "time is something in the mind" obviously connected with our reminiscences. Asher juxtaposes outside elements – recorded on a college campus in Vermont and including walks, birds, crickets, planes, rain and that unbelievable "breath" of life, the ever-present soft rumble that wraps silence – with indoor recordings characterized by meagre tolling piano notes. Blurred in foggy murmurs, they elicit sad reflections on the human quest for framing the unexplainable through useless and hollow dialectic.
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LND005 - The Green Kingdom - Laminae
WHITELINE JUNE 2008
I’m at a loss to conjur up new, descriptive words for this type of material, save to say that it is stunningly beautiful, and exquisitely worked. The titles really say it all, Late Summer, A Hidden Stream, Fuji Apple, The Scarlet Ibis, and Une..The Green Kingdom have featured most prominently on net labels such as 12k’s subsidiary, Term, and their sound definitely lends itself to the working methods of Sogar, for instance, or Sawako, using delicate, evanescent, and softly focussed instrumentation, possibly keyboards, scattered with glitchy remnants. These gently paced pieces ease their way into my consciousness, a waking dream realised in pastel shades, an aural Monet painting, if you will - full of divine shavings of tone and cascading guitar, reverbed and sensuous, stuttering and serene, quietly epic. The Green Kingdom win me over with the kind of music that does not require direct engagement, but permeates my day with images of serenity and relaxation, bathing my imagination in warmth and light. Technically, The Green Kingdom have created something of a masterwork here, and The Land Of as a label have made their mark with a very fine piece of work, presented in a utilitarian card cover, letterpress printed with silvery scrolls and hand written texts. This CD can come with no higher recommendation from me, other than going and checking this out for yourself.. a label and an artist worthy of your utmost attention. BGN
SMALLFISH JULY 2008
I was a massive fan of last years self titled album on Sem by The Green Kingdom. In fact it featured very near the top of my end of year chart. So, I'm stoked to be able to bring you a limited quantity of this equally superb CDr from New York's The Land Of imprint. All I can say is it's an utterly beautiful selection of tracks which use an organic / electronic style to convey a gorgeously tranquil feeling of serenity and calm. Drifting textures, tinkling sounds and an overall sense of warmth and depth are combined with moments of loose and fluid processed guitar to give you a truly memorable and downright lovely album. This comes highly recommended and, as a slight aside, you can look forward to another imminent release from The Green Kingdom in the near future...
VITAL WEEKLY #633 JULY 2008
Behind The Green Kingdom is one Michael Cottone, of whom I never heard, despite his releases on Term, SEM, EKo, Mandorla, Skam, Tibprod, Heldernacht and Room40. He uses a 'variety of processed acoustic and electronic sources, sampled textures and field recordings' - the known story for The Land Of label, but like so many of their releases, The Green Kingdom is actually quite nice again, and rather nice than absolutely great. Cottone uses xylophone, synthesizers, thumb piano and lots and lots of computer processing to create his music. It never gets original, these moody textures of thunder, lightning, light and joy, but it always remains warm and cosy, a nice place to be in. I played this release three times in a row, as I was busy doing other things at the same time and liked the mellow tone of the music. Of course one could argue that it's non presence failed to leave an impression, but I rather take an opposite view. Mood music like this is non-presence, but should it be gone, than you notice something is missing. A small but essential difference. Nice one. (FdW)
TEXTURA.ORG SEPT 2008
The latest outing by Michigan-based sound artist Michael Cottone under The Green Kingdom name is well-chosen: the term “laminae” (the plural of lamina) refers to layers or plates of botanical (a leaf's blade) or geological (thin layers of sediment or sedimentary rock) character, and the six placid drones constituting Laminae are, appropriately enough, subtly layered pieces whose heavily-processed sounds suggest the open countryside and peaceful pond settings. Droning tones occupy the gently wavering centers while field recordings (footsteps, voices, water, insects) and acoustic sounds (thumb piano, guitar, piano) establish nature and instrumental connections. The component pieces coalesce to form fluid meditations whose meditative percussive flow sometimes exudes a gamelan character. “Late Summer” dots flowing tonal shimmer with glimmering pitter-patter and soft pebbly noises while “Une” conveys the tranquility one experiences lazing by an isolated country stream on a humid August afternoon. A natural complement to the eponymous album Cottone issued on SEM last fall, Laminae is also distinguished by its hand-crafted presentation (a letterpress gatefold cover adorned with silver ink).
PARISTRANSATLANTIC SEPT 2008
The Green Kingdom is the moniker of Michigan-based graphic designer/sound artist Michael Cottone. The structures and colours of his music are more evident than Asher's, constructed as they are on intersecting melodic elements – you might even call them tunes – processed into frequently morphing shapes from the post-Ambient galaxy. Environmental material is used too, but merely as a minor ingredient, never the focal point of a piece (though in "Indigo Afternoon" the crackle of thunder appears distinctly in the middle of a sampled/synthesized landscape). Laminae is pleasing to the ear, unremittingly soothing, but lacks a bit in profundity: it's more a collection of relatively uncomplicated miniatures than a record inspiring philosophical ruminations. Which, oddly enough, considering what I wrote above, could be a plus.–MR
CYCLIC DEFROST NOV 2008
Laminae extolls a by no means exceptional genetic structure, though it’s constantly evolving state suggests a forceful guiding intelligence in the producer’s chair. It’s strata shift in and out of phase; new patterns emerge and new harmonic information is magically conjured.
Michael Cottone is also comfortable letting his infinitely layered drones rub up against each other and clash so as to establish contrasts both in timbre and tone, resulting in some delightfully ambiguous passages. These drones enjoy a certain intersubjectivity with an array of micro-engineered pleasures. They are always open and mutually reinforced by some pitchless, softly noisy electronic whispers and wheezes on pieces such as “a thin plate, scale, or layer”. During “Botany. the blade or expanded portion of a leaf”, too, the linear blips and gulps lag and lurch out of phase with the warm, phosphorent textures, like damp clothes in a washing machine that tumble haphazardly over themselves, before finally and euphorically locking back into place after several minutes.
Organic instruments add a fresh layer of significance to all this, breaking it up with the opacity of a kind of distant past. Inasmuch as this is the case, they accentuate more than they assault. They unfold with the electronics as though on a common ground and are for the most part anonymous, unintrusive, even at times unnoticeable. All of this is to the albums advantage. When they are called forth, they are inserted into a shared operation owing to the state of the proceedings. Thus there’s nothing fortuitous about this recording. And once one adjusts to its climate, it soon becomes apparent how beautifully made these pieces are. -Max Schaefer
Youdisappear.net
This album is one of those beautiful ambient albums that somehow graft onto the world around you seamlessly as though it is music designed to accompany you through any environment and help slow it down and bring out the beauty in any given moment. The music here is a sound that pulls electronic sounds together with acoustic sounds to create an atmosphere that is really perfect for any number of moments in life. With little samples hiding among it’s drifting ambience it adds another world to yours and I absolutely love music like this. The musician is a graphic designer and sound artist who slowly crafts these songs over time and seems to spend a lot of time evolving them into such a natural, flowing sound. It’s a wonderful release and is well worth your money if you are a fan of such subtle electroacoustic ambient as this.
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LND006 - Offthesky - Creek Caught Fire
WHITELINE JAN 2009
The trio of Jason Corder (composer and producer), Jordan Munson (noise textures), and Colin Cambell (percussive samples) make up the intriguing unit known as Off The Sky. This delightful album, Creek Caught Fire, although continuing The Land Of’s lo-fi packaging aesthetic, demands focussed and concentrated listening on hi-fidelity equipment. Here we have a music akin to much of the early 12k output, combining delicate, minimal slices of instrumentation, filtered through a scree of texture and fine sampling manipulation. This is not unlike early Sogar, Taylor Deupree, or Sebastien Roux in feel, as carefully crafted pieces are dissected and dessicated into fine slivers of elegant sound, tumbling around in a froth and foam of ethereal organic textures. These gently decaying pieces would certainly not be out of place amongst some of the higher end minimalism emerging from labels such as 12k, NVO, Room 40 , and a host of others, and this further enhances the reputation of a small label rapidly emerging as a contender for larger audiences, by introducing an ever stronger roster of talented artists.
With titles like Willow Piece, Cloud Spotting, and Red River, it would be all to easy to assume that these are pastoral pieces, borne of a kind of backwoods electro-folk aesthetic – far from it, Off The Sky present us with eight carefully rendered sound tracts that although not entirely original, are beautifully sculpted, and sophisticated layers and fracturings, perfectly paced for passive listening in a meditative environment, the ideal backdrop for a chilled winter afternoon by the fire, or even as a pre-sleep come down – neither too intrusive, nor too demanding on the ear, yet utterly fascinating and immersive listening, particularly standing up to close scrutiny under headphones. One of the year’s finest minimal/ambient/crossover albums, that I have played several times per day since it arrived at my door. Most excellent. BGN
TEXTURA.ORG JAN 2009
It's significant that Creek Caught Fire is Offthesky's full-length follow-up to the 12k EP Creek Studies (actually on the 12k sub-label .term) since Jason Corder's new release might just as easily have been issued by 12k too. Certainly the meditative, electro-acoustic style of the material would sound right at home on Taylor Deupree's label, and the inclusion of outdoor field elements associated with the Appalachian (red river) area lends the release's eight pieces a natural character that's also not unlike some of Deupree's own recent work (e.g., the recent Northern re-issue and ROOM40 EP Landing). Electronic textures and “real-world” sounds unhurriedly mingle together throughout the recording's oft-tranquil thirty-eight minutes, with Corder apparently drawing upon an EEG system, heart rate monitor, temperature sensors, drawings, photographs, and writings (about smells, weather patterns, and cultural climate) as source material for this release. The sonic palette isn't necessarily unique—Corder's tracks aren't the first in the “textural ambient” genre to have been built from soft clicks and rattles, pops, vaporous drones, crackle, whistling tones, footsteps, scraping noises, traffic sounds, and so forth—but the care with he arranges and balances the elements is nevertheless satisfying. The elegant, ghost-like calm of “Tunnel Art” is arresting indeed while the brooding backwoods scrape, clatter, and twang of “Heart of Midlight” transports the listener to considerably less soothing territory. We're told that Corder's career has consisted of “painting sound” (among other things) and a more apt description for what he's doing on Creek Caught Fire would be hard to find.
SANDS-ZINE.COM FEB 2009
Per i pochi di voi che hanno letto “Una passeggiata tra i boschi”, divertente e bellissimo libro dello scritto Bill Bryson, la catena montuosa degli Appalachi è un luogo conosciuto ed affascinante. Onestamente nelle poche note del CD o del sito non è spiegato in quali dei 2500 Km di montagne siano stati registrati questi suoni, ma poco importa nel momento in cui si apprezza la loro limpida bellezza. E nemmeno interessa approfondire come mai Jason Corder, in arte Offthesky, abbia avuto la bislacca idea di utilizzare strumenti per rilevare l’elettroencefalogramma ed i battiti cardiaci, nonché dei sensori termici, al fine di i volumi, l’intensità e vari altri parametri dei suoni lì registrati. Tutte cose che al massimo possono aggiungere fascino (o far sorridere nella loro bizzarria) ad un disco che si sostiene comunque in virtù della qualità dei suoni e della composizione.
Sorprende comunque scoprirlo anche molto più melodico di quanto le premesse farebbero presagire, dato che ogni traccia è cosparsa di tenui melodie di scuola 12k (è per la loro netlabel “Term” che è uscito il disco precedente), nonché di note di chitarra che fanno capolino di tanto in tanto. Non una sbavatura, non un eccesso, non una ripetizione di troppo in un disco infinitamente delicato e che, alla fin fine, riesce anche appieno nell’intento di rendere l’atmosfera pacifica, solitaria nonché probabilmente umida e selvatica di montagne in cui la wilderness è ancora intatta. Sebbene i field recordings a tratti non siano riconoscibili a seguito dei filtraggi applicati, il disco ricorda anche certe prove del più famoso Chris Watson, i cui fan qui troveranno pane per il loro denti.
Aggiungo solo che la grandiosa label “The Land Of” sta definitivamente entrando nel gruppo delle nostre preferite, anche in virtù del fatto che il disco ha una bellissima confezione in cartoncino grezzo e stampato professionalmente, ma con il titolo scritto a matita, copia per copia. Se non vi interessa, potete scaricare il tutto a 8 dollari da internet, ma sarebbe un vero peccato. - Matteo Uggeri
GONZO # 91
Offthesky, de Amerikaan Jason Corder, tekent voor de zesde release op het jonge New Yorkse The Land Of-label dat zich op korte tijd een gerespecteerde plaats heeft veroverd in de wereld van minimale, atmosferische elektronica. De man is met deze plaat niet aan zijn proefstuk toe. Hij liet de laatste jaren een stroom van albums op de wereld los via netlabels and cdr-labels als Autoplate, Databloem, Zymogen en Rope Swing Cities. Afgelopen jaar alleen al kwamen er zes platen van hem uit. ‘Creek Caught Fire’ is het vervolg op zijn ‘Form Creek’ ep die uitkwam op de mp3-afdeling van het vermaarde 12k-label (12k.term). Beide platen nemen één van de meest basale geluidsvormen die er bestaan, namelijk sinusgolven, als startpunt. Dit minimale startpunt leidt echter niet tot uitgebeende composities zoals in de Raster Noton-traditie, maar eerder tot warme, weemoedige, voortdurend verschuivende geluidslandschappen. Corder vult zijn louter synthetische geluidsexperimenten immers aan met veldopnames en fragmenten van akoestische instrumenten. Elk geluid is met de grootste zorgvuldigheid en vakkundigheid opgenomen en bewerkt. Bijzonder mooi is bijvoorbeeld hoe hij veldopnames naadloos laat muteren in digitale klanken. Een knappe plaat in een kristalheldere productie die zich zonder gêne kan meten met het werk van Taylor Deupree, Sébastien Roux en andere grote namen uit het genre. (www.thelandof.org/)(bs)
Cyclic Defrost Aug 2009
Everything on ‘Days’ by Billy Gomberg seems wispy and vague, as though the lightest breath might reduce it to ashes. It’s a bit like the musical equivalent of Cybille Shepherd on Moonlighting, beautiful but distant and softened by silk stockings. Piano and voice – Gomberg’s own as well as Anne Guthrie singing in Swedish – are heavily treated, smeared into transparent watercolours, while traces of field recording, tinkerings and rustlings, wash up alongside. There’s something of Akira Rabelais in the manner in which tones and traces twist and dissolve like the wind during ‘Darkened’, and there’s much to admire in the ethereal lightness of these pieces, their near erasure, but that also makes them frustratingly elusive. Headphones are essential; through speakers these featherweight sketches amount to nothingness. (Joshua Meggitt)
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Mapsadasical July 2009
The Land Of label’s mission is “to explore the beauty and detail of everyday sounds”. A series of delicate, intricate releases by the likes of My Fun, Asher and Green Kingdom have seen them carve a chair out of wood and pull up to the table currently occupied by the likes of 12k. So what everyday sounds will we find on this new pair of records by Haruki and Billy Gomberg?
Lets try the Haruki first: I hear a piano, a fridge, a piano which also functions as a fridge, a dog trapped inside a piano which also functions as a fridge, Metal Machine Music performed by a swarm of bees, a gnat having its heartbeat taken, a folk band tumbling in the blades of a combine harvester, a robot idly surfing horror movies on TV, a picnic inside a Faraday cage, a distant distress signal (sent by the dog in the fridge, no doubt). And the Billy Gomberg: a motorbike starting underwater, someone moaning at pipes, a weeping ship, a cricket made of metal rubbing its legs on the rim of a wine glass, a bashful siren, the air con of a plane 30,000 feet overhead, a drowning piano (oh the poor dog), and a crowd’s collective gasp stretching out to infinity.
Everyday sounds, then? Not exactly. Both persuasively combine acoustic and electronic elements, with Haruki adding field recordings, while Gomberg seems to mutate the instrumental sounds until they sound like field recordings. The Haruki is crisper, with more recognisable instrumentation, constantly shifting in tone and mood (indeed it is vaguely sinister-sounding at times), while the Billy Gomberg is muffled, diffuse, watery, more abstract and somehow sadder. Both are minimal, quiet, intense collections which you need to persuade to give up their charms. It is worth persevering though, as despite what the label may tell you, these aren’t things you hear every day.
Vital Weekly #687
Perhaps the cover of Billy Gomberg's release is a bit ordinary, compared to some of the other releases on The Land Of. Gomberg was recently in Vital Weekly for the first time (as Gromberg, sorry about that), with his joint release with Jan-Kees Helms. He is from Chicago but lives in the big apple, Brooklyn to be precise. Unlike his release with Helms, this release deals more with instruments, voice and piano to be precise. The voice, of Anne Guthrie, sings an old folk song in Swedish and English, and Gomberg plays the piano. All of these sound heavily treated, and perhaps the piano can be recognized, the voice is hardly to be recognized, Five pieces of microsounding sound collage, eerie and atmospheric, this is quite nice music. In 'Lights Form Her Body' things melt together: voice is stretched but sounds like a voice, there is piano and the processing makes this into a beautiful sustaining piece. If I had to choose between Gomberg and Haruki, it would a difficult decision, but then it would Haruki, as its just a bit more out of the ordinary for me, but Gomberg is nice too. (FdW)
Bad Alchemy #63
Pianoreveries in the Land of Glitch. Träumerisch in sich versenkt, manchmal fast alptraumhaft
verlangsamt, als ob jede Bewegung, jeder Ton, zähklebrig nicht von der Stelle käme. So spielt der 1979 in Chicago geborene, seit 2005 in Brooklyn aktive Gomberg somnambul Klavier und schickt die Töne dann durch Filter und Verstärker und Modulatoren. Morphing à la Morpheus. Gombergs kürzliches Debutalbum auf mOAR ist mit dem vagen Wörtchen ‚comme‘ betitelt - wie, wie zum Beispiel, wie auch immer... Die Pianoklänge verwehen als rauschende, summende, hell schwebende,
flackernde Drones, als Slow-Motion-Loops, betupfen sich selbst wieder mit dunklen, unscharfen Flecken, stumpfen Klacklauten. Beim Auftakt summt Gomberg zu seinen After-Midnight-Improvisationen. Beim abschließenden ‚Glass Negatives‘ erklingt die Stimme von Anne Guthrie
mit einem Volkslied, allerdings nur für paranormal empfängliche Ohren hörbar. [BA 63 rbd]
Textura Aug 2009
The Land Of's latest releases perpetuate the label's reputation for understated sound sculpting, the first of which comes from Billy Gomberg, a Chicago-born and Brooklyn-based musician and video artist who uses analog synthesis, digital treatments, acoustic recordings, and custom programming to produce “acoustics in love with their abstraction,” and the second from Haruki (Gent, Belgium-based Boris Snauwaert).
On the forty-minute Days, Gomberg's tracks are constituted by patiently-unfolding improvisations of feathery textures and melodic fragments, the electronically-treated music defining itself more as a translucent mass of interwoven sounds rather than as a hierarchical structure with melody at the forefront and a rhythm pattern behind it. Gomberg's is a low-level approach that demands an attentive ear in order to be appreciated; put simply, a given track features lots of activity during its meander but one must lean in closely to hear it. Following a given track's trajectory, one also becomes aware of the sensitivity with which Gomberg intuitively shapes the material from moment to moment—carefully adding a sound here and accentuating another there. In “Exposures,” tiny pebbles of pitter-pattering electronic sounds ripple alongside Gomberg's wordless vocal musings and dabs of treated piano. “Darkened” includes the voice of Anne Guthrie, Gomberg's Fraufraulein partner, though one could easily misidentify her voice as some purely electronically-generated sound, given the degree of transformation in play (apparently she recorded herself singing an old folk song in both Swedish and English, then mixed them together using software, and passed the results along to Gomberg who incorporated them into two of the album's tracks). When a few piano notes appear through the mist one minute into “Lights From Her Body,” the effect is almost startling, so habituated has the listener become by then to Gomberg's electronic style. It's nevertheless a reminder that Days' pieces are rooted in acoustic recordings of piano and voice, even if such sounds have been radically transformed. “Glass Negatives” pushes the style to its zenith with softly glimmering piano notes dotting a windswept mass that extends itself across a dozen, time-suspending minutes.
Sands Zine OCT 2009
Non sbaglia un colpo la piccola ma impeccabile The Land Of, etichetta dedita essenzialmente a produzioni di field recordings trattati e filtrati in varia maniera, sempre con delicatezza e gusto per l’armonia. Si eleva al di sopra di altre label del genere, come Alluvial ed And/Oar, proprio per la capacità che hanno gli artisti coinvolti di evitare eccessive cadute nella consueta cupezza e difficoltà d’ascolto. Forse giusto questo Haruki, alla sua prima uscita qui, sconfina in territori più ostici, ma ci permettiamo di dire ch’è un bene, dato che dal suo lavoro emergono una gran varietà di ispirazioni e suoni, a volte anche molto aspri, ma sempre al posto giusto. Buono quindi per chi si fosse annoiato della gentilezza dei micro suoni di stampo 12K e simili e volesse qualcosa di appena più spigoloso da mettere sotto i denti. In più, la presenza di chitarre acustiche variamente suonate o preparate (bellissima la minimale The Pineal Body) arricchisce ulteriormente un piatto già squisito. Sontuoso il lungo finale di Besides Being Tempted, talmente rarefatto da poter udire il respiro dell’autore tra una nota di effettatissima chitarra e l’altra.
Il compare Billy Gomberg invece mantiene la rotta disegnata già da The Green Kingdom ed Offthesky, ossia quella dei suoni acustici resi spesso irriconoscibili da trattamenti elettronici stratificati volti a creare drone gentili e melodici (di scuola Stephan Mathieu e Tailor Dupree, per intenderci). Partendo da suoni di piano e voce della compagna Anne Gutrhie e di se stesso, Gomberg regala all’ascoltatore un delicato quadro rosa pastello di tracce soffuse e piacevolmente soporifere. La malinconia pervade un po’ tutto il disco, ma senza mai sconfinare in qualcosa di depressivo.
Belli, come sempre, anche i packaging, sebbene questa volta quello di Gomberg più convenzionale rispetto agli alti standard cui ci ha abituati The Land Of. - Matteo Uggeri
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LND008 - Haruki - To Humble a Nest
Mapsadasical July 2009
The Land Of label’s mission is “to explore the beauty and detail of everyday sounds”. A series of delicate, intricate releases by the likes of My Fun, Asher and Green Kingdom have seen them carve a chair out of wood and pull up to the table currently occupied by the likes of 12k. So what everyday sounds will we find on this new pair of records by Haruki and Billy Gomberg?
Lets try the Haruki first: I hear a piano, a fridge, a piano which also functions as a fridge, a dog trapped inside a piano which also functions as a fridge, Metal Machine Music performed by a swarm of bees, a gnat having its heartbeat taken, a folk band tumbling in the blades of a combine harvester, a robot idly surfing horror movies on TV, a picnic inside a Faraday cage, a distant distress signal (sent by the dog in the fridge, no doubt). And the Billy Gomberg: a motorbike starting underwater, someone moaning at pipes, a weeping ship, a cricket made of metal rubbing its legs on the rim of a wine glass, a bashful siren, the air con of a plane 30,000 feet overhead, a drowning piano (oh the poor dog), and a crowd’s collective gasp stretching out to infinity.
Everyday sounds, then? Not exactly. Both persuasively combine acoustic and electronic elements, with Haruki adding field recordings, while Gomberg seems to mutate the instrumental sounds until they sound like field recordings. The Haruki is crisper, with more recognisable instrumentation, constantly shifting in tone and mood (indeed it is vaguely sinister-sounding at times), while the Billy Gomberg is muffled, diffuse, watery, more abstract and somehow sadder. Both are minimal, quiet, intense collections which you need to persuade to give up their charms. It is worth persevering though, as despite what the label may tell you, these aren’t things you hear every day.
Sonhors 2009
Adeptes de la musique micro-sensitive, le label The Land of, pourrait bien devenir un antre de choix... Haruki aka Boris Snauwaert est un musicien / photographe belge basé à Gent. Abstraites, amorphes, organiques, dirty, clean, à la fois acoustiques et digitales, les pièces se succèdent et naviguent, entre des espaces en évolution constante. Une quête quasi mystique d'un idéal compromis entre le silence et le bruit, une musique de l'inconscient où l'esprit voyage librement entre souvenirs enfouis et sons identifiables.
L'écoute au casque est évidemment plus que recommandée pour se délecter des subtiles mélodies qui composent ce To humble a nest.
Beauté absconse, sibylline...
Vital Weekly# 687
US label The Land Of always creates one of the nicest packages in CDR land. Carddboard stock, full colour print work, with a nice design. Boris Snauwaert is the man behind Haruki, who has had a couple of releases on Kaspar Hauser Records, Rain Music and Corps-Morts Records, as well as doing a remix for Machinefabriek and My Brightest Diamond. On 'To Humble A Nest' he has nine pieces of field recordings, acoustic objects, electronic sounds and digital sounds, which he all threw on a computer's hard disc and then starts to unfold them - or so it seems. Let's say there are eight tracks, and they are all filled with sound, then Haruki will find the dialogue between those sounds. Sometimes it seems that sounds from one piece appear also in another, but perhaps I am imagining this. Haruki succeeds quite well in this dialogue. The music is quite vibrant and not silent throughout, although a piece like 'If I Wrote You' is a sparse violin like piece, followed by other two others pieces that are somewhat quieter too. Otherwise his methods are a bit Brume like: make sure always something happens. Very nice release, which blends field recordings together with real instruments. (Fdw)
Bad Alchemy #63
Haruki ist Boris Snauwaert in Gent, dessen Elektroakustik bisher bei Labels wie Corps- Morts oder Kaspar Hauser Records publiziert ist. Hier lädt er ein in polymorphe Klanglandschaften, in denen Instrumentalsamples, elektronische und konkrete Sounds zusammenklingen, geheimnisvoll und überwirklich. ‚Bilder einer Ausstellung‘, aber diesmal sind die Bilder Einstiege in seltsame Szenerien, wie von Jeff Wall gestellt und fotografiert. Gleichzeitig ist das Musik to read Murakami by, Harukis Taufpaten. Japanische Stimmen bei ‚Sometimes I Send Doves And Hope They Understand‘ illustrieren den Link zu Kafka am Strand oder After Dark. Man kann sich ganz an den Versuch verlieren, Harukis Poesie zu enträtseln, die Schritte, das Schnaufen, indischen Singsang, Geknister, Pulsieren, Drones. Aber dazwischen setzt Snauwaert immer wieder auch klangvolle Akzente, Klänge von - oder wie von - Klavier, Tuba, Akkordeon, Bassklarinette, kurz, aber prägnant, das Strumming einer akustischen Gitarre, gestrichene Strings. Dann wieder vages Hantieren, durch Rauschen verschleiert. Seltsam, seltsam. [BA 63 rbd]
Textura Aug 2009
The revealing note on Haruki's sleeve —“All music by Haruki. Sounds from everywhere”—clarifies that, operating alone, Snauwaert stitches his material together from a motley range of sources in a manner that's open-ended but not indiscriminate. To Humble A Nest is considerably more extroverted than Days, and the Haruki material projects outward, ensnaring the listener as it does so in a free-flowing conflation of field recordings, acoustic, electronic, and digital sounds. At times acoustic sounds move to the forefront (a banjo rubbing up against a violin's creak in “A Door”) while electronics smother people's voices elsewhere. Though To Humble A Nest resist stylistic classification, two of its tracks nudge it in the direction of a particularly liberal conception of modern classical music, specifically “Greasy Coats and a Pair of Scissors,” a mutant setting for electronic fuzz, bass clarinet, razor guitar, and treated piano, and “Hunker,” a spacious minimalist setting for harp, harmonium, electronics, and field elements. “If I Wrote You” resembles a lost fragment from a science fiction film soundtrack that would complement perfectly the scene where a minor character gets dispatched in some stomach-churning manner, while “Besides Being Tempted” sounds like the final nine minutes of a patient's life as he takes in from his hospital bed the rich matrix of sounds around him. Listening to “Egel Egel” is like moving through an open marketplace somewhere in India, with ululating voices rising in the distance and pockets of electrical hum close at hand. In fact, as a whole, the forty-minute recording often resembles a walking tour through multiple, exotic settings, with some closer together in sonic spirit while others feel worlds away from one another.
Milk Factory OCT 2009
‘All music by Haruki. Sounds from everywhere and nowhere’. This is the introduction to To Humble Nest, the latest record to be released by relatively new imprint The Land Of, a small label with a particular interest for music made from, or incorporating, all sorts of field recordings. Splashed out all over the cover, these few words sum up the music collected inside. Haruki is Boris Snauwaert, a musician hailing from Gent, Belgium who has, over the last few years, released a number of CDR and MP3 albums and contributed remixes for My Brightest Diamond, Au Revoir Simone and Machinefabriek amongst others.
With To Humble Nest, Snauwaert creates a somewhat complex and intriguing piece where field recordings and acoustic and electronic instruments are articulated into often pretty bare experimental compositions. Each sound appears to have its own purpose here, independently of its provenance or its state in the recording. Processed or left untouched, they all contribute to the claire-obscure atmosphere carefully laid out by Snauwaert, and while there is no apparent thread running through the whole record, the tone is pretty uniform throughout, making this a very consistently evocative collection. Snauwaert blends his sounds into delicately ornate abstract vignettes where a solitary piano or guitar occasionally emerge from the sonic mass to hang in the air for a moment, before disappearing again, melted back into the droney backdrop, while ambient noises add grain and texture to the various pieces on offer. These, although often slightly to the back of the mix, are key to the consistence of the fabric of this record. Street noises, voices calling in the distance, a pinball machine, clattering cutlery, the grey hum of an electrical appliance… these all, or could, materialise at some point or other, at times clearly identifiable, at other much more obscure and mysterious, each adding its own tone to the work and binding it closer together.
At times, the electro-acoustic experimentations of To Humble Nest place this album resolutely in avant-garde territory, occasionally reminiscent of the complex formations of Icarus or some of the sonic excursions heard on labels such as Spekk, 12K or Touch. A dense yet refined collection, where intricate layers grow into surprisingly bare and minimal pieces, To Humble Nest is full of contradictions, but it is also a thoroughly enjoyable record, which shows Haruki as one of the rising talents of the genre. - the milk man
Sands Zine OCT 2009
Non sbaglia un colpo la piccola ma impeccabile The Land Of, etichetta dedita essenzialmente a produzioni di field recordings trattati e filtrati in varia maniera, sempre con delicatezza e gusto per l’armonia. Si eleva al di sopra di altre label del genere, come Alluvial ed And/Oar, proprio per la capacità che hanno gli artisti coinvolti di evitare eccessive cadute nella consueta cupezza e difficoltà d’ascolto. Forse giusto questo Haruki, alla sua prima uscita qui, sconfina in territori più ostici, ma ci permettiamo di dire ch’è un bene, dato che dal suo lavoro emergono una gran varietà di ispirazioni e suoni, a volte anche molto aspri, ma sempre al posto giusto. Buono quindi per chi si fosse annoiato della gentilezza dei micro suoni di stampo 12K e simili e volesse qualcosa di appena più spigoloso da mettere sotto i denti. In più, la presenza di chitarre acustiche variamente suonate o preparate (bellissima la minimale The Pineal Body) arricchisce ulteriormente un piatto già squisito. Sontuoso il lungo finale di Besides Being Tempted, talmente rarefatto da poter udire il respiro dell’autore tra una nota di effettatissima chitarra e l’altra.
Il compare Billy Gomberg invece mantiene la rotta disegnata già da The Green Kingdom ed Offthesky, ossia quella dei suoni acustici resi spesso irriconoscibili da trattamenti elettronici stratificati volti a creare drone gentili e melodici (di scuola Stephan Mathieu e Tailor Dupree, per intenderci). Partendo da suoni di piano e voce della compagna Anne Gutrhie e di se stesso, Gomberg regala all’ascoltatore un delicato quadro rosa pastello di tracce soffuse e piacevolmente soporifere. La malinconia pervade un po’ tutto il disco, ma senza mai sconfinare in qualcosa di depressivo.
Belli, come sempre, anche i packaging, sebbene questa volta quello di Gomberg più convenzionale rispetto agli alti standard cui ci ha abituati The Land Of. - Matteo Uggeri
DARK ENTRIES NOV 2009 Haruki is de gentenaar Boris Snauwaert. Deze 'To Humble A Nest' is niet zijn eerste plaatje, maar wel voor het amerikaanse 'The Land of...'-label. En het moet gezegd: onze landgenoot doet het beter dan het gemiddelde stalpaard bij 'The Land Of...'. Met veel gevoel voor nuance tovert Haruki hier met elektro-akoestische muziek, ondersteund door veldopnames, strijkers en blazers. Het is een verademing dat de laatste twee subtiel op de achtergrond blijven en dat men (net zoals Brume) een groot gevoel blijkt te hebben voor de natuurlijke opbouw van spanning en evenwicht tussen het elektronische en het akoestische. Indien we twee referenties mogen geven: het geheel zou kunnen dienen als alternatieve soundtrack voor de belgische gothische fantasyprent 'Malpertuis' en het is van Far Black Furlong geleden dat we nog een gelijkwaardige originaliteit te horen kregen. Earcandy for Soundsuckers!!
ETHERREALFEB 2010
C’est la première fois que nous parlons du label américain The Land Of, avec au compteur 9 références en quatre ans. Il s’agit d’une petite structure qui produit des CD-R à 100 ou 200 exemplaires aux finitions professionnelles (CD imprimés, packagings originaux et soignés), tout en proposant des versions numériques via téléchargement payant directement sur leur site. On a un peu envie de mettre The Land Of sur le même créneau que le label parisien SEM (et ses versions numériques EKO, IOD, Standard Klik Music), les deux structures se partageant quelques artistes.
Billy Gromberg n’échappe pas à la règle puisqu’il a produit deux EP pour Standard Klik Music. Afin de situer un peu l’artiste, on citera une participation au Post_Piano Remix Project du label 12k, deux productions sur le netlabel TestTube, et plus récemment un album chez Experimedia en collaboration avec OffTheSky. L’Américain se situe donc dans une vague ambient expérimentale, avec ici un travail principalement basé sur le traitement électronique de sonorités acoustiques, et en particulier d’improvisations de piano.
En fait les traitements sont tellement importants que le piano en devient parfois anecdotique. C’est particulièrement vrai sur Exposures qui ouvre l’album et sur lequel Gomberg se met à chanter. Fredonner devrait-on dire, juste ce qu’il faut pour donner une âme aux micro sonorités, claquements et souffles, sorte de chant contemporain dans une friche industrielle. On retrouve l’équilibre avec l’atmosphère contemplative de Verse et cette fois un piano très présent mais déformé, diffus, comme joué sous l’eau. Au fil des morceaux le vocabulaire de l’Américain évolue, intégrant des éléments plus typiquement ambient comme les drones flottants, strates de guitares, et textures crépitantes du bien nommé Darkened.
La pochette signale la participation de Anne Guthrie au chant sur deux pièces, mais il faudra bien la chercher. Peut-être en reste-t-il une simple tonalité noyée, perdue dans un souffle minéral qui transcende une mélodie de piano, lente et contemplative sur Lights Form Her Body. Dans le même ordre d’idée, l’album se termine par les 12mn de Glass Negatives, piano habillé de souffles et drones, bruitages un peu sourds et objets manipulés, cherchant petit à petit le chemin vers la lumière.
Loin des abstractions électroacoustiques auxquelles on s’attendait, Days est avant tout un album ambient, doux, mais fourmillant de petits bruits qui composent notre quotidien. A noter sur cette édition de 100 exemplaires est encore disponible en format physique à l’heure ou nous écrivons ces lignes. -Fabrice Allard
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RYONKT - Sunlight & Water
VITAL WEEKLY #709
A while ago I was pretty impressed by a CDR release by Ryonkt, on Experimedia (see Vital Weekly 698). Now I know its the work of Ryo Nakata, who plays guitar, laptop and field recordings. He is also responsible for the Slow Flow Records label. Four more pieces in addition to the four on 'Small Conversation' and while the surprise is a bit less than before, this is however another fine album. Here it all seems a bit less influenced by Phill Niblock if you ask me, and finds it self more in the field of microsound and ambient glitch than in that of the more minimalist music approach of before. I may be a bit tired after a weekend of traveling and hearing (and seeing) lots of music, and this music, while it has absolutely nothing 'new' to it, this is some highly fine chill out music. Pick up yesterday's newspaper, make a decent cup of coffee, sit back and relax. Ryonkt late sunday afternoon soundtrack for winter's day. Warm ambient music for the first cold day of the season. Peaceful, slow music, great stuff. (FdW)
Bad Alchemy
Eine Gitarre, ein Laptop, und ein feines Ohr für die Schwingungen um uns herum und im eigenen Innern. Ryo Nakata taucht ein ins flüssige Element wie in ein entspannendes Bad in einer warmen Quelle. Getröpfel mischt sich mit den Dröhnwellen der Gitarre. Aber sowohl der Wasser- wie der Saitenklang sind gefiltert durch Computerprogramme. Das Fließen wird zum rauschenden Vorhang, das Getröpfel klickert fast wie Kiesel, das Gedröhn pulsiert als ein mäanderndes Wahwah. In ‚Part 02‘ summt das Dröhnen fast wie ein Harmonium, als zwei Haltetöne, die im Raum umher schweifen und quellen wie Rauch im Sonnenstrahl. Im Hintergrund werkelt es feinmechanisch. Der dritte und vierte Teil nuancieren ebenfalls diese Grundform eines Dünenfeldes der Harmonie, Welle an Welle, träumerisch entschleunigt, von Aaaah bis Ω. Zuletzt rauscht und plätschert wieder deutlicher das Wasser, das merkuriale der fünf Elemente und dem Ohr verbunden. Wie Dauerregen in einer langen, stoischen Kameraeinstellung von Ozu Yasujiro. [BA 65 rbd]
Smallfish
Once more we are treated to some sublime sounds courtesy of the excellent Land Of imprint. This time the label hosts a rather delicious album from Smallfish favourite Ryonkt and it’s a real beauty. Delicate, intimate sounds that are forged from his gentle guitar playing then processed into a range of atmospheric ambient pieces. Subtle manipulations deliver a chilled-out hit of pure summery joy here and the works are never less than utterly enchanting. Pastoral and lush this is natural sounding textural work that will accompany you in many different environments and situations. The four parts each have their own feel, yet they carry that friendly feel all the way through. You can almost feel Ryonkt there with you while you listen, so personal is the sound of this work. I’m going to let the music do most of the talking here, but I just know you’re going to adore this gorgeous work. Limited to 200 copies and something that you’ll be coming back to time and time again. Purely and simply a very beautiful album indeed. Recommended.
Norman Records
We've got a bunch of CD's in this week on the Land of... label. The one I've got in my hand is a fine CD by Ryonkt who's a Japanese fella. He's had stuff out on the Smallfish and Experimedia labels and here's his newie. Well I'm not sure how new it is but it's new to me so there you go. I'll start by saying it's lush sounding stuff. The warm sounding textured drones wash over your ears all fluffy like. There's some lovely watery noises in the first track which are making me feel like I'm in some floaty wet thing surrounded by candles. God I sound like a right woman..... The Music is constructed by guitar, laptop and field recordings and it's essentially warm sounding drone music which is a cut above the vast majority that passes through the doors here. Well nice!
Textura.org FEB 2010
Following quickly upon the release of his Experimedia outing Small Conversations, Sapporo-based Ryo Nakata presents his latest Ryonkt material which he produced using nothing more than a guitar, laptop, and field recordings. The four untitled parts constituting Sunlight & Water do indeed evoke the natural outdoors, specifically a verdant and peaceful paradisiacal setting of the kind many would prefer to take up permanent residence within. Shimmering tones stretch for minutes on end in a manner analogous to the mental drift and inner surrender that an outdoors setting of that pastoral and enchanting kind induces in the receptive subject. Though guitar is a central sound-generator, it's never used in the familiar way of voicing melody; instead, Nakata processes simple lines from the instrument until they become undulating ambient streams that he enhances with subtle textural colourations derived from electronics and field recordings. A blanket of haze coats much of the sun-drenched material (the third piece ups the ante considerably) and water sounds (prominently heard in the first and fourth pieces) intensify the natural feel all the more. Not much else need be said, other than that this lovely little recording from The Land Of is tailor-made for listeners who can never get their fill of blissed-out, transporting ambient meditations.