By Chance Upon Waking

Artists With Blogs #2: Jez Riley French

2009-10-05T14:28:00.009+03:00

Passionate new music listeners have probably heard Jez Riley French's recent album Audible Silence. Beyond that, he is a passionate sound artist (working with various types of field recordings, drones, E-Ambient-I etc). I discovered his blogs while looking for reviews for Annea Lockwood's album; his got quoted, and there's more of that on his blogs. It's lovely that he takes the time to write about the music he likes, the music that inspires him; to document his residencies, to talk about equipment and recording status etc. He runs SIX blogs in total, I'll just list his main one and the one where most of the reviews are (Vanessa Rossetto, a conversation with Brandon LaBelle, mentions of Andrea Neumann etc are on the first page)

Artists With Blogs #1: Leyland Kirby/The Caretaker

2009-10-05T13:48:00.003+03:00

I've decided to post this in the wake of the soon-to-be monumental release by Leyland Kirby, whom you probably already know as The Caretaker or V/Vm. A three-vinyl set that has been already highly praised by the Wire, Sadly, The Future is No Longer What it Was marks a new direction in Kirby's career, this time dedicating himself to various cross-releases: you can download a new long track of his from the Wire website, there's another EP with the LDWR project, etc. History Always Favours the Winners is the place where he documents these activities.

Listening Log #3: 09/28/09 - 10/04/09

2009-10-05T13:30:00.006+03:00

Here are the other good things I first heard this week that didn't get a mention on BCUW so far:

1. Ted Reichman - avant-klezmer, some of the most unique stuff on Tzadik's Radical Jewish series.

2. Markku Peltola - Finnish actor you've seen in some of Aki Kaurismäki's films. He died on the last day of 2007, but has two albums attached to his name, both with references to Buster Keaton(?) and an often dizzying all-encompassing removed-from-the-scene avant-folk approach.

3. Kazumi Trio - Japanese super-group of sorts. Lovely guitar-based music (yeah, I know), with a pretty hypnotic 2009 release on Majikick. The membership, as well as the music, brings Tenniscoats, LSD-March and Fushitsusha together, which are definitely three different sides of current Japanese music.

4. Smile Down Upon Us - wonderful pop, again from Japan. I'll try to post this when I manage to piece together an avant-pop series.

5. Bill Orcutt - Harry Pussy founder has a new album out.

6. A Sunny Day in Glasgow - worth a mention. They are my favourtie shoegaze/dream pop band working today, and their second album is not a letdown.

7. Beñat Achiary - the most unique vocal improviser around? The most articulate, perhaps. Has a perfect album with Michel Doneda, among others.

8. Christine Sehnaoui / Michel Waisvisz - their release together has to be one of the best electronic-oriented EAI albums ever. Shortwave, it's called.

9. The Pneumatic Consort - wind instruments-based Xenis Emputae Travelling Band side-project.

10. Yuko Ikoma - wonderfully sincere music. Erik Satie played on musicboxes etc, small, intimate stuff. One of the greatest gifts this autumn has given me so far.

11. Davenport - do not ignore them in the wake of Second Family Band. They are better. NNCK/Dreamcolour/Jooklo/BOTOS fans take heed.

Dubious Tries #1: Yuri Suzuki's Musical Kettle

2009-10-02T12:44:00.004+03:00

You laughed, you failed.

Immense Albums #2: Annea Lockwood - A Sound Map of the Danube (Lovely Music, 2008)

2009-09-30T16:58:00.003+03:00

I have to say it from the very beginning: I doubt that most people will appreciate this album. If you were born/you live in a country/place which is graced by the Danube, you will probably understand. If not, think of your river - be it the Thames, the Seine, or whatever. This is why I knew A Sound Map of the Danube would appeal to me on a personal and affective level from the first moment I heard about it. A few more things that have to be said: this is a huge album, at almost three hours in length. Its nature does not really imply that you could listen to it intermittently, but I do recommend it. There are thirteen tracks which feature nothing more and nothing less than sounds of the Danube AND interviews with various people who live somewhere close to the river and who know a few things about it and its history. It's both sad and intriguing that these interviews are all presented in original aka in each interviewee's native language (two of them, the ones on the 11th and 13th tracks, I think, are in Romanian) - I can't understand 11 of them. I wish I could. However, this issue isn't left unresolved - the booklet does include translations; I couldn't find it on the internet, though. Some might say the interviews distract, but I think they are crucial to the journey as a whole. They remind that objectivity can only be reached through the juxtaposition of several parallel accounts/perceptions; they also prove that this isn't just a background ambient album. Aside from that, this is three hours of water sounds. But think about it - someone might record something similar in fifty years from now. The places will be different, the river will be different, the sounds will be different. Imagine this record and the imaginary future version played in parallel, giving the listener the opportunity to observe the differences. It is a sound map, after all. It doesn't want to be more. It's just a sound equivalent to an objective documentary. Do not dismiss it.

More words, for a parallel perspective:

Jez Riley French says, "I have read a few comments about this release from Annea that seem to forget that it must be listened to as being her work & appraised as such. I could of course listen to this 3 CD set and quite easily comment on areas of this vast river that Annea hasn't explored, methods she has avoided. I could ponder on what another artist with a different approach might have produced and I can think about the sounds of rivers that I enjoy capturing myself. However, this release is, simply, the set that Annea wanted to release and all that matters for the listener is whether it offers something to them. It does of course, but only if one allows it to be what it is. It is a sound map, as the title says. Listening to it in one sitting gradually gives one the sense of a journey, of Annea taking these trips and wanting to express that experience. Personally, I find the interviews (in sound at least) distracting at times. I would have liked to be able to choose to skip these but as they are embedded in the soundscapes that isn't possible. However, that is my own wish to listen to the 'music' of the river on its own but Annea clearly wanted to produce a document that had other elements."

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