Peter Kutin | Burmese Days & Hafdís Bjarnadóttir | Sounds of Iceland @
Musique Machine – Best Of 2015
Lewis Gilbert | Roundstone & R. Schwarz | The Scale of Things @
ACL 2015: Top Ten Field Recording & Soundscape
Lewis Gilbert ~ Roundstone
The Atlantic Ocean calls out to you. The infinite heartbeat pulsates through the grey waves as they rhythmically crash onto the shore. The wind bruises your face, blowing your hair every which way and rustling your jacket. The low skies are permanently cloudy, and like a spirit afraid of the afterlife’s light they refuse to move on. The sky has forgotten its blue. This is the sound of nature – 100% natural music. (James Catchpole)
R. Schwarz ~ The Scale of Things
The human ear is unequipped to hear the wealth of available sound. R. Schwarz flips the script on The Scale of Things, amplifying sources that are foreign to the common listener. At times, one imagines the specific sources, but it’s just as likely that the ear is being fooled. By embracing the seldom heard, Schwarz opens new avenues of listening. (Richard Allen)
Animal Music – Sound & Song in the Natural World @
Sonic Terrain’s Bookshelf: +200 Books on Sound
www.sonicfield.org
Review | By Richard Allen / a closer listen
Rodolphe ALEXIS | The glittering thing on the mountain
After reviewing Gruenrekorder’s oppressive yet vastly alluring Landscapes of Fear, it’s a pleasure to receive its polar opposite. Rodolphe Alexis’ The glittering thing on the mountain is a soothing reminder of the world’s unsullied places, where rivers flow, birds sing, and sunlight glimmers in the mangroves. Subtitled Field Recordings from Japan’s last frontier, the hour-long set conveys the soundscape of Japan’s southernmost island, Iriomote-Jima. As the island was never fully occupied by human beings, its soundscape remains virtually pristine, as the artist discovered last summer. The title comes from a legend of a large cat whose eyes could be seen at night. Neither proven nor disproven, the presence of this cat looms over the island. Is it the island’s protector? […]
Review | By Frans de Waard / VITAL WEEKLY
Rodolphe ALEXIS | The glittering thing on the mountain
While listening to this release of recordings made at Iriomote-Jima, the most southern island in Japan, there is a storm outside the VWHQ. It’s cold, very windy and it rains from time to time. So it’s a bit odd hearing these recordings from a place where ‚90% of it ground is covered by jungle and mangrove‘ and an island that never had many people living on it. An island with insects, frogs, birds, flying foxes and ‚the famous leopard cat named Yamaneko, which was only discovered in 1965‘, as well as ‚another mysterious big cat allegedly lived on the island and was much larger than the Yamaneko. At night, his eyes were said to be the glittering thing on the mountain or Yamapikaryā. […]
Review | By Frans de Waard / VITAL WEEKLY
Various Artists | Landscapes of Fear
Another ’no expense spared‘ release here: a large box and inside two CDs and a folded poster that looks like a map on one side and explanations on the other side. Much like the recently reviewed ‚Grenzen‘ compilation (Vital Weekly 1003) this compilation also deals with borders, but in this case limits itself to borders between countries, sources of conflict between them, refugees, big data and such like. A compilation, another one. Here we find such composers as Sebastian Thewes, Tim Gorinski, Public Demand, Katharina Mayer, Ali Chakav, Linda Franke, Achim Mohne, Stephanie Glauber/Miriam Gossing, Zo-on Slows, Alisa Berger, Axel Pulgar, Lena Ditte Nissen, Tzeshi Lei, Renate Boden and Random Supply. […]
Review | By Josh Landry / Musique Machine
Pauline Oliveros & David Rothenberg & Timothy Hill | Cicada Dream Band
Veteran avant garde composer and V-accordion player Pauline Oliveros has joined forces with clarinet player David Rothenberg and throat singer Timothy Hill for „Cicada Dream Band“, a new project in the spirit of her other trio, the Deep Listening Band, responsible for many of Oliveros‘ most known releases. Like Deep Listening Band, the music on this album is an active form of ambient / classical avant garde / free improvisation which combines field recordings with live instrumentation. It comes off as a playful nature worship ritual, in much the way one might expect based on the title and lush green forested artwork. […]
Review | By MASSIMO RICCI / TOUCHING EXTREMES
Selected Recordings of Bayaka Music by Louis Sarno
Song from the Forest: The Soundtrack
Determining signs must always be recognized.
Usually, when this reviewer spends time with a promising record that fails to deliver, another CD is placed in the player straight away in an instinctive gesture. And when the second item acts as an instant catalyzer of corroborative feelings and improved energies – in opposition to the “been there, done that” feeling related to the preceding listen – the lingering impression is that of having achieved an unexpected goal without lucky coincidences. This is exactly what happened with Song From The Forest. The invisible hand that pushed yours truly towards this magnificent disc had not given any advance information. […]
Review | By Richard Allen / a closer listen
Various Artists | Landscapes of Fear
Gruenrekorder’s new double-disc Landscapes of Fear, conceived and produced by Dirk Specht and Sebastian Thewes, explores the role of sound art as psychological reflection and social commentary. The liner notes are as contemporary as the evening news, referencing the European border crisis and military occupation. The fold-out map displays air bases, refugee trails and nuclear reactors, drawn as to minimize man-made borders. The aural selections demonstrate that a single sound may be a simultaneous comfort and threat, balm and disturbance, depending on both the listener and the environment. […]
Landscapes of Fear – CD-Release-Konzert
mit Vorträgen von Lasse-Marc Riek/Roland Etzin (Gruenrekorder), Sina Seifee und Livebeiträgen der Projektteilnehmer.
Freitag, 04. Dezember 2015 – 20:00 h KHM-Aula
(Eintritt frei)
Zur Veröffentlichung des CD-Projektes „Landscapes of Fear“ (Gruenrekorder 153) werden Lasse-Marc Riek und Roland Etzin über die Verbindungen von Fieldrecording, Soundart, aktuellem Zeitgeschehen und Labelpolitik sprechen; Sina Seifee wird einen Vortrag zu den „Horizons of Fear“ halten und Projektteilnehmer der Seminarreihe „Unsite Temporalities“ werden Audio-Livebeiträge zum Thema präsentieren.
Beteiligte: Alisa Berger, Ali Chakav, Roland Etzin, Linda Franke, Tim Gorinski, Tzeshi Lei, Katharina Mayer, Achim Mohné, Lena Ditte Nissen, Axel Pulgar, Lasse-Marc Riek, Sina Seifee, Dirk Specht, Sebastian Thewes.
www.h406.khm.de
www.gruenrekorder.de
(Unsite Temporalities)
Phonophon | 06 December 2015 | 8:00 PM | 7 Euro
Institut für neue Medien (INM)
Schmickstraße 18
60314 Frankfurt am Main
* Robert Schwarz (AT)
www.r-schwarz.net
* Circuitnoise (DE)
www.circuitnoise.de
Society for the Advancement of Phonography and Experimental Music (e.V.)
www.phonographie.org
www.inm.de
www.gruenrekorder.de
Coming soon – Infinite Jest / Invading Pleasures
CD / Gruen 156
@ RADIO MUSICA NOVA (02 December 2015 – 10 PM)
link
Coming soon – The Rise and Fall of Jakob Bauer / Arturas Bumšteinas
TONSPUR_cd_edition_vol.#1 / tonspur.at
CD / Gruen 164
framework radio | #533
phonography / field recording; contextual and decontextualized sound activity
presented by patrick mcginley
Lewis Gilbert | Roundstone
Review | By Hal Harmon / Musique Machine
Hafdís Bjarnadóttir | Sounds of Iceland
Gruenrekorder imprint presents Sounds of Iceland, field recordings by Hafdís Bjarnadóttir. For those unfamiliar, Gruenrekorder is a label that specializes in found sounds, audio documentaries, and field recordings. I’ve grown quite fond of this label’s output, but this beautifully presented CD may be their finest offering yet. On this latest album, we are taken on a journey to Iceland. Rather than observe the bustling hub that is Reykjavík, we are treated to natural sites that Iceland has to offer. […]
Deutschlandradio | Kompressor / Das Kulturmagazin
Fundstück 29: Lewis Gilbert – Music For Wind
Von Paul Paulun
New Release:
Rodolphe ALEXIS: ‘The Glittering Thing on the Mountain’
Gruen 158/15
Field Recordings
9 Tracks (48:58)
Review | By Pierre Cécile / Le son du grisli
DinahBird | A Box of 78s
Tiens, les deux faces ne marchent pas de la même façon, même si elles sont toutes les deux remplies de sons qui « auraient » fait le voyage jusqu’à nous (c.a.d. sur ce vinyle) dans une valise – je renvoie le lecteur intéressé par les explications aux explications données par l’artiste sonore DinahBird sur le site du label Gruënrekorder). Donc donc… Quand on pose le diamant sur A, il sautille un peu (parfois beaucoup) et choisit lui-même le sillon sur-lequel il va looper (= répéter un son en boucle, soit quelques secondes d’un tinetement, un bout d’opéra, deux ou trois secondes de violon, un autre bout d’opéra, etc. etc.). […]
Review | By Beach Sloth
Lewis Gilbert | Roundstone
Lewis Gilbert displays a delicate touch on the careful field recordings that adorn “Roundstone”. Focused on those sounds so many often ignored Lewis Gilbert amplifies them showing that music is everywhere. The pieces range from the loud crashing waves on “Atlantic Ocean” to the otherworldly work of “Music for Wind”. No matter what is source material is he does it a tremendous amount of justice. “Atlantic Ocean” opens the album up on an active note as the crashing waves wash over everything. Interestingly Lewis Gilbert provides a little foreshadowing as bird songs become increasingly more prevalent as the piece progress. Resulting from this foreshadowing the transition to “Cloch na Rón” seems remarkably natural. […]
Gruenrekorder @ Matzu + Schmidt | CHAMAELEON-KONZERT #5
Dekonstruktion war das neue Kitsch – Djetset
Ein Mixabend inkl. Impro Liveset ueber Neue Musik + No-Input + Onkyo + Techno + Klangkunst + Deep + Noise + Fieldrecording + Heavy Listening – feat. Gruenrekorder
Lolitabar, Kassel | 17.11.2015 | 21:00 Uhr
www.matzeschmidt.de
www.n0name.de/schmidtposterlolitabar.pdf
Gruenrekorder @ ONE HUNDRED PEOPLE SAY UMBRELLA
Oktober 2015 – April 2016
Tonveröffentlichungen, Wortbeiträge, Performances
– auditives in der Bildenden Kunst
Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof | Hannoversche Straße 85 | Hamburg
www.kvhbf.de
Review | By Pierre Cécile / Le son du grisli
Hafdís Bjarnadóttir | Sounds of Iceland
C’est peu dire que la nature est inhospitalière (sûrement autant qu’étonnante) en Islande. Et c’est ce dont rend compte, avec une approche au micro qui m’a laissé rêveur, ces « sounds » captés par Hafdís Bjarnadóttir. Le patronyme de l’homme au micro nous fait penser qu’il est des lieux et qu’il connaît donc plus que bien son sujet. En plus de faire le tour de son île, il a tenu à enregistrer en toutes saisons. […]
Review | By Guillermo Escudero / Loop
Lewis Gilbert | Roundstone
Lewis Gilbert is a sound recorder on location for documentaries and films from South Yorkshire, UK. Roundstone, Co Galway is located at the foot of Errisbeg Mountain. This is a small Irish fishing village where a series of field recordings were captured for a short film called Taboo. The recordings consist in natural sounds of the environment without being soiled by the noise of the village. This is an area of white beaches and Lewis recorded the sound of rumbling waves approaching the beach as the sea is collected. The feeling of this repetitive sound invites to meditation. The singing of the seagulls wrapped in a carpet composed of a wind blowing is strongly appreciated. […]
Deutschlandradio | Kompressor / Das Kulturmagazin
Fundstück 28: Merzouga | 52°46’ North 13°29’ East – Music for Wax-Cylinders
Von Paul Paulun
Phonophon | 14 October 2015 | 8:00 PM | 7 Euro
Institut für neue Medien (INM)
Schmickstraße 18
60314 Frankfurt am Main
* Void Of Sound (NO)
www.voidofsound.com
* JEWEL OF THE EAR (CH/ USA)
www.earpolitics.net/projects/jewel-of-the-ear
* PHI TA KHON: GHOSTS OF ISAN (Sublime Frequencies) / A film by Robert Millis
Society for the Advancement of Phonography and Experimental Music (e.V.)
www.phonographie.org
www.inm.de
www.gruenrekorder.de
Phonophon | 03 October 2015 | 8:00 PM | 7 Euro
Institut für neue Medien (INM)
Schmickstraße 18
60314 Frankfurt am Main
* Kybernaughty (D)
www.kunstscheisse.net/kybernaut
* Antenna Research (D)
www.kunstscheisse.net/ldx40
www.acrylnimbus.de
Society for the Advancement of Phonography and Experimental Music (e.V.)
www.phonographie.org
www.inm.de
www.gruenrekorder.de
Gruenrekorder @ elektrosmog 022 | 29 September 2015 | 8:00 PM
Kaprow im zeitraumexit, Hafenstrasse 68, 68159 Mannheim
Phonophon | 04 October 2015
Institut für neue Medien (INM)
Schmickstraße 18
60314 Frankfurt am Main
* Workshop Circuit Bending & Konzert: Tasos Stamou
www.facebook.com/events/1634270876826689
www.facebook.com/events/1631303657138086
Society for the Advancement of Phonography and Experimental Music (e.V.)
www.phonographie.org
www.inm.de
www.gruenrekorder.de
WDR 3 open: Studio Akustische Kunst – 25.09.2015: Maritime concrète
Lasse-Marc Riek hat verschiedene Hafentypen innerhalb Europas untersucht und deren Klangwelt zu unterschiedlichen Zeiten und aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven aufgenommen.
www.wdr3.de
Roger Döring & Konrad Korabiewski | Komplex
Contribution for the Dutch Gonzo (circus) Magazine (#129), on the compilation CD Mind the Gap (#116). Flucht by Roger Döring and Konrad Korabiewski from the acclaimed vinyl album Komplex (Skálar001/Gruen 126)
www.gonzocircus.com/mind-the-gap-116
Review | By a closer listen
Lewis Gilbert | Roundstone
The Atlantic Ocean is an eternal line that looks out at the shore from behind her untainted blue-grey eyes. Seashells lie abandoned on the white sand of the white beach. The ocean didn’t just deposit them here – it left them here. Little crabs scurry in and among the rocks. With every passing second, you can hear the repeating respiration of the sea. It rhythmically comes in and returns the world over, but no matter where you are or what ocean you look out at every beach and every shoreline will have a different sound. The ocean is the soft sound of tranquility. The ocean is the sound of infinity, a constant that repeats and yet progresses. […]
Review | By Tobias Fischer / Beat
Hafdís Bjarnadóttir | Sounds of Iceland
Wenn der Traum eines Island-Urlaubs am Budget scheitert, verspricht dieser 40-minütige Field-Recording-Trip Abhilfe. Wie ein Fremdenführer klappert Bjarnadóttir die Insel ab, von den aufbrausenden Geysiren im Süden und mysteriösen Höhlen im Westen zu friedvollen Landschafts-Stimmungen im Norden und den Wasserfällen des Ostens. Der Schwerpunkt liegt auf aquatischen Aufnahmen. Elektrisches Surren, aufbrausende Fontänen, delikate Clicks und Cuts und wunderlicher White-Noise – letztendlich verstärkt der klangliche Reichtum den Traum vom Island-Urlaub nur noch.
Phonophon | 17 September 2015 | 8:00 PM | 7 Euro
Institut für neue Medien (INM)
Schmickstraße 18
60314 Frankfurt am Main
* Budhaditya Chattopadhyay (IND) & Lasse Marc Riek (D)
www.budhaditya.org
www.lasse-marc-riek.de
* Roland Etzin (D)
www.gruenrekorder.de
Society for the Advancement of Phonography and Experimental Music (e.V.)
www.phonographie.org
www.inm.de
www.gruenrekorder.de
Review | By Martin P / Musique Machine
Peter Kutin | burmese days
Avid readers of my reviews (its ok – I’m being facetious), will have noticed that the last few Gruenrekorder releases I’ve written on, have received fairly short shrift from me. I’m pleased to announce an end to this run, with Peter Kutin’s wonderful album, “Burmese Days’. It comes in a very low-key package, with minimal artwork and information – most notably, a distinct lack of ‘field-recording text’: praise the Lord. The album has eleven tracks across two sides of vinyl. I say eleven tracks, but you might be hard pressed to point out clear divisions: ‘Burmese Days’ is a collage of a record. Aided by Berndt Thurner (‘original burmese metallophones’) and dieb 13 (‘additional electronics/turntables’), Kutin constructs a dream-like narrative using field recordings – some of which might be processed, its not completely clear. […]
Heike Vester | Marine Mammals and Fish of Lofoten and Vesterålen – Recorded by oceansounds / Norway
Watch @
www.youtube.com
Gruenrekorder @ ORF.at | Nachtquartier / Talkradio mit Hans Groiss
20.08.2015, 00:08 Uhr – (Download 1 week)
David Rothenberg & Korhan Erel | Berlin Bülbül
Selected Recordings of Bayaka Music by Louis Sarno
Song from the Forest: The Soundtrack
Hafdís Bjarnadóttir | Sounds of Iceland
Review | By Denis Boyer / FEARDROP
David Rothenberg | Bug Music
Dans son conte Sylvius, Henri Bosco a écrit : « Jadis, Sylvius chantonnait ; et, le soir, de sa clarinette, au fond de son jardin, il tirait quelque brève mélodie qui faisait sortir de la vasque les grenouilles émerveillées. Les grenouilles, qui sont des bêtes sociables, répondaient à la clarinette, et Sylvius était content de ce concert lacustre, dont le chant animal se prolongeait parfois, par une ou deux grenouilles plus sentimentales, jusqu’au fond de la nuit, paisiblement. » À l’époque romantique, Ludwig Tieck organisait dans son jardin des concerts afin que la musique des hommes et celle de la nature s’unissent. […]
Review | By Denis Boyer / FEARDROP
Pauline Oliveros & David Rothenberg & Timothy Hill | Cicada Dream Band
[…] En compagnie de Pauline Oliveros et Timothy Hill (qui travaille fréquemment avec David Hykes), David Rothenberg a mis à profit en 2013 le passage rarissime (une fois tous les dix-sept ans !) d’une espèce particulière de cigales dans l’agglomération de New York. Les trois musiciens ont arrangé une série de concerts, certains en extérieur avec les insectes infusant leur chant dans la musique analogue. Pour l’album Cicada Dream Band, la configuration a été reprise en studio puisque Rothenberg y a amené des cigales récoltées dans les arbres ! Ainsi, cet orchestre d’insectes participe à l’enregistrement, comme un quatrième et omniprésent instrumentiste. […]
Review | By Cheryl Tipp / Caught by the River
Animal Music – Sound & Song in the Natural World
Edited by Tobias Fischer & Lara Cory
[…] From Pilot Whales and Red Deer to Wood Ants and Hoverflies, this selection takes the listener on an audio tour that jumps from the mountain ranges of central Mongolia to the depths of the Norwegian fjords. It’s brilliant and could easily exist as a stand-alone publication. Luckily for us, the bright minds at Strange Attractor Press decided to combine the two together (round of applause please). I can probably count on one hand the number of books about sound that I’ve honestly enjoyed. Too often the contents of these publications become entangled in academic jargon, resulting in a collection of dusty pages with all the joy and enthusiasm sucked out of them. Of course these texts have their place but sadly they don’t float my boat. They never have. ‘Animal Music’ rides in on a wave of energy that fuses the worlds of science and art in an accessible and engaging way. A definite page turner if ever there was one.
Review | By Łukasz Komła / Nowamuzyka.pl
Animal Music – Sound & Song in the Natural World
Edited by Tobias Fischer & Lara Cory
Niemiecko-brytyjski duet przygotował fascynującą książkę, w której znajdziemy aktualne wyniki badań dotyczące „mowy” zwierząt. Czy zwierzęta rozmawiają ze sobą? Co chcą nam powiedzieć poprzez swoje melodie? Czy kiedykolwiek będziemy w stanie zrozumieć ich „mowę”? Chyba każdy sobie zadał przynajmniej raz w życiu taką serię pytań, ale nie wielu z nas odważyło się zmierzyć z nimi na poważnie. Niewątpliwie ważny moment dla rozwoju tej dziedziny nauki nastąpił w 1967 roku, kiedy to zainteresowano się odgłosami wielorybów. Od tego czasu coraz większa ilość badaczy pozytywnie wypowiada się na temat stwierdzenia, że zwierzęta są w stanie cieszyć się muzyką. […]
New Release:
Lewis Gilbert: ‘Roundstone’
Gruen 155/15
Field Recordings
Gruen Digital – 5 Tracks (33:59)
22.08.2015, 09.30 Uhr | Soundwalk Hafen
Das Duo Waldlust (Tobias Schmitt und Lasse-Marc Riek) lädt zum auditiven Spaziergang durch den Frankfurter Hafen, Hafenpark und am Main und wird die Wanderung mit einem Konzert im Freien abschließen! Die TeilnehmerInnen erhalten die Möglichkeit während des Spaziergangs jeweils einminütige Aufnahmen mit portablen Digital-Rekordern zu tätigen, welche dann von dem Duo live im Anschluss an die Wanderung in einem Konzert weiterverarbeitet werden. Die Rekorder werden innerhalb der Gruppe während des Spaziergangs weitergereicht und liefern einen Großteil des akustischen Materials für die Live-Performance!
Bitte wettergerechte Kleidung sowie festes Schuhzeug tragen!
Der genaue Treffpunkt im Hafengebiet wird nach verbindlicher Anmeldung unter info@waldlust.org zwei Tage vor dem Soundwalk bekannt gegeben.
Dauer der gesamten Veranstaltung: ca. 4 Stunden.
Um eine Spende wird gebeten!
Das Projekt Waldlust arbeitet seit dem Jahre 2003 an unterschiedlichen, improvisatorischen Aufführungskonzepten und war seither in Museen, Galerien und Off-Spaces in Europa zu hören.
www.waldlust.org
12.08.2015, 14:07 Uhr | Kompressor / Das Kulturmagazin
Christina Kubisch & Eckehard Güther | Mosaïque Mosaic
Moderation: Max Oppel
Fundstück 21: Christina Kubisch / Eckehard Güther – Nogondo Festival Of The Sawa
Von Paul Paulun
Review | By DM / VITAL WEEKLY
David Rothenberg & Korhan Erel | Berlin Bülbül
Rothenberg we have met earlier on Gruenrekorder releases, like ‘Bug music‘(2013) and ‘Cicada Dream Band’ (2014), that he recorded with Pauline Oliveros and Tomithy Hill. From that you may remember that this composer takes inspiration from nature. It is here that Rothenberg likes to find his fellow musicians. For instance he composed several works that depart from sounds produced by insects. But let us not forget that he also played with Marilyn Crispell, Jan Bang, Scanner, Glen Velez, Peter Gabriel, a.o. and has twelve cds out under his own name. On his new recording he collaborates with Berlin-based Turkish electronic musician Korhan Erel. […]
Review | By DM / VITAL WEEKLY
Roger Döring & Konrad Korabiewski | Komplex
This collaboration by multimedia artist Korabiewski and saxophonist Döring was realized over a period of two years in Iceland and Berlin. Korabiewski is a sound-artist, composer and media artist, plus director of a centre for experimental music in Iceland. Berlin-born Döring is a musician but also working as an actor in film and theatre. Since 1999 he is one half of the German duo Dictaphone. On this album Döring plays baritone sax, tenorsax, clarinet and dictaphone. In each track only one of these instruments is played. Korabiewski adds a live electronic treatment, with a special attention for the acoustics of the recording sites. […]
Review | By Martin P / Musique Machine
DinahBird | A Box of 78s
This vinyl album is lavishly presented on Gruenrekorder, with nice artwork and photographs; it recounts the story of a box of records. This box, full of old 78s, was inherited by the artist’s grandmother and then passed down across many years and miles; with DinahBird then deciding to retrace its steps, and return to Salt Spring Island with them. She then toured the island, playing the records and recording herself doing this; as well as talking to islanders and her late Great Uncle: ’This piece is about rekindling lost, and perhaps forgotten, sounds. Are they so very different to those my grandmother heard? It is a personal response to the people and places of Salt Spring Island. […]
Review | By Guillermo Escudero / Loop
Roger Döring & Konrad Korabiewski | Komplex
From the Gruenrekorder’s Sound Art series of the German Gruenrekorder label is released ‘Komplex’ of German Multi Instrumentalist, actor in theatre and film and one half of Dictaphone, who meet Polish/Danish/Islandic multimedia artist, composer, sound artist, Konrad Korabiewski. ‚Komplex‘ was a project created over two years in Seyðisfjörður, Iceland and Berlin, Germany. This work includes improvisations with tenor and baritone saxophones and clarinet performed by Döring and electronic manipulations by Korabiewski, plus field recordings recorded in Berlin and the east of Iceland. ‚Komplex‘ was released on vinyl in a limited run of 300 copies which lasts in 36 minutes. […]
Review | By Curt Cuisine / skug – Journal für Musik
Selected Recordings of Bayaka Music by Louis Sarno
Song from the Forest: The Soundtrack
Wenn das Genre Field Recordings wie Pop funktionieren würde, dann wäre »Song From The Forest«, der Soundtrack zum gleichnamigen Dokumentarfilm von Michael Obert. So etwas wie ein Blockbuster, mehr als das sogar, ein kanonisches Werk, das einerseits alle Tugenden des Genres, zugleich all seine Stereotypen und Romantizismen vereinigt. Michael Oberts Regiedebüt ist eine Dokumentation über einen Amerikaner, der seit einem Vierteljahrhundert »im zentralafrikanischen Regenwald unter Bayaka-Pygmäen lebt und mit seinem Sohn, dem Pygmäenjungen Samedi, eine Reise nach New York City unternimmt«. Obert ist als globetrottender Autor und Journalist für »Geo«, die »Süddeutsche« und viele andere renommierte Medien einschlägig vorbelastet. […]
Review | By Denis Boyer / FEARDROP
Roger Döring & Konrad Korabiewski | Komplex
Il est rare que, même dans sa série Sound Art, la plus « musicale », le label allemand Gruenrekorder n’invite pas d’artistes mettant en œuvre divers field recordings, mêlés à d’autres sons venant d’instruments. Le LP vinyle Komplex, par le duo Konrad Korabiewski & Roger Döring, déroge presque à cette règle, en utilisant principalement le saxophone baryton et la clarinette. On ne peut toutefois imaginer que sur ce label dédié aux sons captés, il ne figure rien d’environnemental. C’est la dernière composante, qui prend naissance avec un dictaphone. Döring joue, improvise, Korabiewski traite en live, et le tout est recouvert, cuisiné, levé grâce au ferment environnemental capté dans différents lieux, lesquels peuvent relever de l’intime (appartements) ou avoir été choisis pour leur qualité de résonance (une usine abandonnée). […]
Review | By Richard Allen / a closer listen
Animal Music – Sound & Song in the Natural World
Edited by Tobias Fischer & Lara Cory
This new book/CD set, a joint release from Strange Attractor and Gruenrekorder, will have a treasured place on my shelf aside Bernie Krause’s The Great Animal Orchestra, David Rothenberg’s Thousand Mile Song and Cathy Lane & Angus Carlyle’s In the Field: The Art of Field Recording, among others. It’s a solid addition to a small yet growing canon of literature that opens our ears to the intricacies of our sonic environments. Last year, a main character in Jenny Offill’s fine novel Dept. of Speculation was identified as a field recordist. Even though the character turned out to be a cad, the inclusion of his profession (which itself was not demeaned) demonstrates the way in which the subject has begun to poke its head into into popular culture. […]
Review | By Nathan Thomas / Fluid Radio
Animal Music – Sound & Song in the Natural World
Edited by Tobias Fischer & Lara Cory
Tobias Fischer and Lara Cory work together on the interview series 15 Questions, covering a wide range of musical genres and approaches. By contrast, their new book “Animal Music: Sound and Song in the Natural World” focuses on a single line of enquiry: specifically, the text sets out to explore the making and perception of sounds by non-human animals, and grapples with the thorny question of whether such sounds could ever be considered ‘music’. This quest is undertaken mainly through short, journalistic articles, though an interview with Chris Watson and a discussion with Slavek Kwi are also included, as are two articles by Kate Carr. […]
klanglandschaft koblenz – altstadtrauschen / 25.7.2015 / 13:00
ein workshop zur erweiterung des hörsinnes
koblenz ist nicht nur sehenswert – koblenz ist auch hörenswert. doch wie klingt die stadt an rhein und mosel eigentlich? bei dem workshop altstadtrauschen lassen sich teilnehmer_innen an einem geschäftigen samstagmittag auf die geräusche in gassen, auf plätzen und am konrad-adenauer-ufer ein. im anschluss an hörübungen und hörspaziergänge werden die im laufe des tages gewonnenen eindrücke ausgetauscht. altstadtrauschen wird von lasse-marc riek – zugleich mitbegründer des renommierten labels gruenrekorder – begleitet. der im raum frankfurt/main beheimatete klangkünstler ist seit ende der 90er mit verschiedenen projekten international tätig. […]
kostenlose teilnahme | anmeldung: altstadtrauschen@klanglandschaft-koblenz.de
der workshop wird durch die förderung vom hörstudio s, der koblenzerbürgerstiftung, der lotto stiftung rheinland-pfalz sowie der volksbank koblenz mittelrhein ermöglicht.
AD HOC #13: Mem1 and Robert Schwarz
SASSAS (The Society for the Activation of Social Space Through Art and Sound) proudly presents elctro-acoustic ensemble Mem1 (Maine) and sound artist Robert Schwarz (Vienna) performing live in quadrophonic sound at MorYork, the fantastic Wunderkammer of artist Clare Graham, located in Highland Park.
Friday, July 17, 2015 / 8pm – 10p Performance 7:30pm Doors
MorYork / 4959 York Blvd / Los Angeles, CA 90042
Berlin Bülbül, David Rothenberg and Korhan Erel live with birds
David Rothenberg & Korhan Erel | Berlin Bülbül
A video explaining the story that leads up to my new project, Berlin Bülbül, a duo album with Korhan Erel and live nightingales.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/72PKRimqL3c
Review | By Richard Allen / a closer listen
R. Schwarz | The Scale Of Things
Viennese sound artist R. Schwarz has dual Master’s degrees in art and architecture, both of which come to bear on his careful constructions. Just as he merges disciplines in his sound and installation art, he utilizes a variety of pseudonyms in his studio work, as if implying that the product is more important than the producer. On the new album, this approach produces a contrast between the precision of the compositions and the vagueness of the original sources; we know where they came from, but not what they are. At times we hear what may be a brook, a bee hive, a buzz saw; but we’re not sure. […]
Review | By Pierre Cécile / Le son du grisli
David Michael & Slavek Kwi | MMABOLELA
Sonic Mmabolela est un festival, organisé par Francisco López et James Webb dans la réserve du même nom que ce double-CD. En 2013, il a permis à Slávek Kwi (Artificial Memory Trace) et David Michael de balader leurs micros (dès très tôt le matin !) sur un terrain riche en bestioles de toutes tailles et de toutes couleurs. Rentrés à la maison, il leur a fallu réécouter tout ça pour composer (Kwi, CD1) ou éditer (Michael, CD2). In fine (CD1 et CD2, j’insiste – ce qui fait du matériau), leurs field recordings ne ressemblent pas aux field recordings de Môsieur Toutlemonde. […]
Review | By Guillermo Escudero / Loop
David Rothenberg & Korhan Erel | Berlin Bülbül
This is a collaboration between the German musician, composer, author and philosopher-naturalist David Rothenberg on bass clarinet, clarinet and effects and computer musician, improviser, sound designer Turkish Korhan Erel based in Berlin on computer, iPad and live sampling. ‚Berlin Bülbül‘ (which means nightingale in Turkish) is a living recording on location and at Draakonipuu, Kreuzberg, Berlin (an important heritage area of the city with several parks and museums). According to the liner notes about nightingale behaviour there are “three ways by which they sing and countersing to each other, starting late at night and lasting until dawn during the early weeks of spring. […]
New Release:
Tobias Fischer & Lara Cory: ‘Animal Music – Sound & Song in the Natural World’
Gruen 121/15
Field Recordings
CD (+Book) – 17 Tracks (76:57)
(Strange Attractor & Gruenrekorder)
Review | By Hal Harmon / Musique Machine
Merzouga | 52°46’ North 13°29’ East – Music for Wax-Cylinders
Gruenrekorder presents 52°46’ North and 13°29’ East – Music for Wax Cylinders by Merzouga. The duo of Eva Poplin and Janko Hanushevsky offer a single track CD utilizing historic wax-cylinders from the Ethnologisches Museum Dahlem in Berlin. Gruenrekorder, an imprint with a penchant for field-recordings, always seems to have an interesting story behind the making of each of their releases. This disc is no exception. As the story goes, Erich Moritz von Hornbostel was a musicologist who, due to poor health, was virtually homebound. Despite his predicament, he was fortunate to to be put in charge of a massive field-recording project. At edict of the Prussian Emperor during the early 1900’s, all German trading and scientific expeditions were to be recorded via wax cylinders. […]
Review | By Torsten Möller / Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 03/2015
DinahBird | A Box of 78s
Musikalische Wertung: 5 – Technische Wertung: 5 – Booklet: 5
Es gibt Gründe, auf Vinyl zu veröffentlichen: Da wäre der High-End-Fetischismus einer wachsenden Analog-Gemeinde; da wäre der schöne Karton ohne Plastik; da wäre das Konzept, das eben nicht nur den Inhalt, sondern auch die Form bestimmt. Vor allem Letzteres trifft auf die LP A Box of 78s zu, die die Radioautorin DinahBird in der «Sound Art Series» bei Gruenrekorder veröffentlichte. Zum Hintergrund: In einer über achtzig Jahre alten Kiste ihrer Großmutter fand DinahBird etwa fünfzig Schallplatten mit Aufnahmen klassischer Werke inklusive vieler bekannter Opernarien. Im September 2012 fängt sie an, die Spuren der Platten zurückzuverfolgen. […]
Interview with R. Schwarz | by Guillermo Escudero / Loop
What do you consider when processing natural sounds as birds, insects, water, or urban sounds such as car engines, people walking, etc.? […]
R. Schwarz | The Scale Of Things
Review | By felix / freiStil – Magazin für Musik und Umgebung / #61
Roger Döring & Konrad Korabiewski | Komplex
Der deutsche Multiholzbläser Roger Döring ist auf dieser brillanten Platte – eine weitere Großtat des Gruenrekorder-Labels – für die akustischen Improvisationen zuständig, Konrad Korabiewski, ein Mann mit vielen Herkünften (Polen, Dänemark, Island, Deutschland) behandelt Dörings Gebläse live-elektronisch, spitzt sie zu, flacht sie ab, bringt sie auf den Punkt, je nach Bedarf und Bedürfnis. Nicht unwesentlich bei der Entstehung der vorliegenden Soundscapes ist die Berücksichtigung verschiedener Aufnahmesituationen. Die reichen von einer Wohnung in Berlin bis hinaus zu einer aufgelassenen Fabrikshalle auf Island. Entsprechend unterschiedlich ausdifferenziert findet dieser Komplex klanglich statt. Von smart bis hart reicht die Ausdruckspalette. Manchmal herrscht mildes Klima vor, dann wieder wilde Verzerrung. So kommt diese ambitionierte Ambientmusik daher: roh und ausgekocht zugleich. Ta-del-los.
framework radio | #516
phonography / field recording; contextual and decontextualized sound activity
presented by patrick mcginley
O/live | Stefan Militzer & Roland Etzin
Das Rieksche Wind-Ohrchester!
Die Klanginstallation „Wind“ im Rahmen „Kunst in Kirchen“ noch bis 19.07.2015
Lasse-Marc Riek hat sich für seine Klanginstallation zum Thema Luft vom Wind und den vom Wind erzeugten Geräuschen inspirieren lassen. „Wind klingt nicht, doch das, was er bewegt, beginnt zu klingen! Klänge bewegen uns! Die katholische Kirche St. Anna in Ranstadt ist geradezu ideal für meine Klanginstallation“, so Riek.
Für die Klang-Installation „Wind“ werden Geräusche und Klänge von Objekten, Landschaften und Situationen, welche durch Wind und Sturm zum Klingen gebracht werden, aufgezeichnet und zu einer sich immer wandelnden neuen Klanglandschaft im Kirchenraum zusammengebracht und hörbar.
www.kunstinkirchen-wetterau.de
Hörsaal#07
„Die Aeolsharfe auf der Grünbrücke – ein allegorischer Traum“
07 July 2015 | 8 PM
Der zentrale Platz auf der Grünbrücke wird zur Bühne für Gaukler und zeitgenössische Kunst. Die dort installierte Äolsharfe, ein dem Gott des Windes geweihtes Klanginstrument, wird zum Hauptdarsteller der Veranstaltung. Das Ensemble des 12-Stufen-Theaters und das Hörsaal-Team bieten ihren Gästen ein buntes Programm aus den Elementen Theater, Schauspiel, Klangperformance und Musik. Die Akteure des Bewegungstheaters Expressión Corporal verbinden Akrobatik, Tanz, Stimme und Klang zu lebenden Bildern. Getragen vom Klang der Windharfe und historischen Texten Friedrich Hugo von Dalbergs entsteht eine Szenerie, die zwischen der Anziehungskraft der Erde und der Leichtigkeit des Windes spielt.
www.aschaffenburger-kulturtage.de/die-aeolsharfe
Phonophon | 25 June 2015 | 8:00 PM | 7 Euro
Institut für neue Medien (INM)
Schmickstraße 18
60314 Frankfurt am Main
* Melmann / DM (AR)
www.melmann.com.ar
www.lucasdm.com.ar
* Waffensupermarkt (D)
www.waffensupermarkt.com
Society for the Advancement of Phonography and Experimental Music (e.V.)
www.phonographie.org
www.inm.de
www.gruenrekorder.de
SONG FROM THE FOREST | DVD Special Edition
The special edition includes the german DVD, the soundtrack and a hand made Bayaka-necklace
DVD Special Edition > [order]
Audio CD > [order]
Digital > [order]
Review | By Brian Olewnick / Just outside
Hafdís Bjarnadóttir | Sounds of Iceland
More a documentary project than an „art“ affair, I suppose, and an extremely handsomely produced one, both visually and sonically. Each of the seven tracks, save one (which is less than two minutes long) is comprised of three or four sections recorded at different locations; we move smoothly from one to another. This could occasion a slide-show quality but the choices made by Bjarnadóttir impart a subtle sense of connectivity, so that the side by side aspect feels „right“ somehow. We travel from the delicate bubbling of hot springs to soft cave drippings, from waterfalls to bird-intensive cliff sides, from windswept plateaus to geysers. Impossible to say much more about it than that. If you’re into lovingly assembled recordings from exotic (to most) places in the natural world , tis one is right up your alley. Really fine job.
Review | By Guillermo Escudero / Loop
R. Schwarz | The Scale Of Things
Robert Schwarz is an architect, composer and sound artist based in Vienna who holds a Master’s degree in architecture and arts and also studied computer music. His sound installations have been exhibited in several festivals and museums in Europe. He works with various monikers and some releases on Sonic Terrain, Laton, Kinderkreuzzug, Wildstyle, Mudblob Free Music Archive and most recently in the German Gruenrekorder label sound art series. ‚The Scale Of Things‘ was released on digital format and on LP in a limited run of 300 copies. Field recordings were captured at various locations in Vienna, South Africa and China. […]
Phonophon | 16 June 2015 | 8:00 PM | 7 Euro
Institut für neue Medien (INM)
Schmickstraße 18
60314 Frankfurt am Main
* Eric Leonardson (USA)
www.ericleonardson.org
Society for the Advancement of Phonography and Experimental Music (e.V.)
www.phonographie.org
www.inm.de
www.gruenrekorder.de
Review | By Łukasz Komła / Nowamuzyka.pl
R. Schwarz | The Scale Of Things
Elektroakustyczne manipulacje doprawione field recordingiem znów zdały egzamin. Robert Schwarz to architekt, artysta dźwiękowy i kompozytor mieszkający w Austrii. Studiował między innymi muzykę komputerową na Uniwersytecie Muzyki i Sztuki w Wiedniu. Jest laureatem międzynarodowych stypendiów i nagród. Do tej pory wydał kilka płyt pod różnymi pseudonimami, a jego nagrania ukazały się nakładem takich wytwórni jak Gruenrekorder, Laton, Kinderkreuzzug, Vienna Wildstyle, Sonic Terrain czy Mudblob. Teraz otrzymaliśmy album „The Scale Of Things” sygnowany nazwiskiem artysty, gdzie soundartowe eksperymenty zostały w niezwykle interesujący sposób połączone z nagraniami terenowymi. […]
Review | By Aurelio Cianciotta / Neural
Selected Recordings of Bayaka Music by Louis Sarno
Song from the Forest: The Soundtrack
Everything starts with the movie by German director Michael Obert, Song From The Forest, a fascinating journey into the rainforest of Central Africa, organised in the fall of 2009. The notes of the release describe how Obert had heard the story of a white man who lived in the jungle among the Bayaka pygmies and he decided to go in search of him. Obert only later discovered that the man in question was Louis Sarno, an American musicologist who, twenty-five years previously, had left civilization to live in the wilderness area of the Congo and record Bayaka music. Over the years, Sarno collected more than fifteen hundred hours of recordings of Bayaka music, recently donated to the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. […]
Reviews | By textura
Roger Döring & Konrad Korabiewski | Komplex
Best known as one-half of German outfit Dictaphone, Roger Döring joins forces with sound artist and current director of Skálar—Centre for Sound Art and Experimental Music Konrad Korabiewski for a twelve-inch vinyl set (300 copies available) of moody, woodwinds-based ruminations. The eight settings on Komplex document improvised interactions between Döring’s clarinet and saxophones (tenor, baritone) and Korabiewski’s electronic treatments and sound manipulations. Also figuring into the album’s character are the locales themselves where the material came into being, as the duo recorded Komplex at sites possessing personal meaning, such as Döring’s Berlin apartment and an abandoned herring factory in east Iceland. […]
David Rothenberg & Korhan Erel | Berlin Bülbül
A woodwinds-based duo recording of radically different character from Komplex is Berlin Bülbül (nightingale in Turkish), which features clarinetest David Rothenberg working with Korhan Erel, who’s credited with computer, iPad, and live sampling on the fifty-minute CD. Ostensibly a follow-up to Rothenberg’s 2013 Bug Music release, Berlin Bülbül finds the musician shifting the focus from insects to nightingales. The two are a natural fit: Rothenberg is an intrepid musician who regards non-human creatures as sparring partners; for his part, Erel, a Turkish electronic musician now residing in Berlin, enjoys sampling birds in their natural habitat. […]
Review | By textura
R. Schwarz | The Scale Of Things
[…] Insect noises in “Self-Propelled-Sound-Particles” suggest flies buzzing around a corpse, the body still offering ample material for creatures to feed on, while the long-form “Mabalel” might be the most impressive of the lot in the way it seamlessly advances through multiple episodes. Two examples hint that track names were not arbitrarily selected: “With the Witch” is about as disturbing a construction as one would expect from one so titled, and the directional movement alluded to by “From Surface Downwards” could refer to a coffin’s descent into the ground or even a journey to hell. Schwarz’s sound paintings possess incredible evocative power, and, through an accumulation of detail, each piece brings an imagined world into being in a most convincing manner. Not a moment is wasted in these seven mesmerizing settings, and every detail counts.
Review | By textura
Hafdís Bjarnadóttir | Sounds of Iceland
Reykjavík resident Hafdís Bjarnadóttir takes the listener on a forty-two-minute round trip of Iceland on this latest installment in Gruenrekorder’s Field Recording Series. It’s about as pure a representation of the label’s series project as could be imagined, given that the recordings, which Bjarnadóttir gathered between 2009 and 2013, feature nature sounds exclusively. That said, the fact that Sounds of Iceland excludes human-derived sounds comes as a little bit of a surprise, given Bjarnadóttir’s beginnings. After picking up the electric guitar at the age of twelve, she started playing in bands and exploring rock, folk, and jazz styles. […]
Review | By Brian Olewnick / Just outside
R. Schwarz | The Scale Of Things
An extremely impressive set of orchestrated electronics and field recordings from Schwarz, orchestrated in the sense of deeply constructed (at least, that’s the feeling I get) from sounds captured in Europe, Africa and China, enhanced and integrated with synthesizers. I wouldn’t go so far as to say „symphonic“ but more like a tone poem, the elements densely layered with an implied sense of drama, even loose narrative, streams of dark buzzes and hums coursing through thickets of thistles and clangs. Per notes on the site, „based on the exploration of nature recordings for unheard details and hidden layers, focused on patterns of stochastic order and unique chaos created without musical intention.“ […]
Review | By Brian Olewnick / Just outside
Roger Döring & Konrad Korabiewski | Komplex
Döring plays clarinets, tenor and baritone saxophones and Korabiewski supplies electronics, the pieces also ceding space to the environments in which they were recorded. The reed playing is generally somber and smooth, stating simple melodies with a dirge or folk character (reminded me of the slower portions of that old Skidmore/Osbourne/Surman recording on Ogun), only once delving into distortion when he runs the sound through a dictaphone. The electronics are very subtle, sometimes hardly there, although there’s also either overdubbing of the reeds or real-time sampling. The music is moodily bleak, melancholic with a tendency toward sentiment. But at times, a certain balance is reached and the music floats wonderfully. […]
Review | By Stephen Fruitman / Avant Music News
ARTIFICIAL MEMORY TRACE | ANOURAN LOVE SONGS
Oh, the places you´ll go! The things you´ll hear. Artificial Memory Trace trades as Slavek Kwi. He calls Ireland his home but one wonders if the Czech immigrant isn´t really at home wherever anything makes a sound, given the breadth and depth of his field recording art. A boyhood fascination with frogs tadpoled into a huge fresco of Amazonian amphibia, recorded over the course of several years around lakes Mamori and Yuma in Brazil, sewn into seventy-two seamless fragments, stored on a USB flash card and going on for hours. Anouran Love Songs is a masterful Audubonian accomplishment and a remarkable extended listening experience. Copies are sold out at Gruenrekorder but still available through Kwi´s website.
Review | By Beach Sloth
R. Schwarz | The Scale Of Things
R. Schwarz’s “The Scale of Things” finds chaos in order. The cyclical nature of the world is let loose and allowed to be slowly torn asunder and morphed into bizarre mutated carcasses of sound. What results is something that is difficult to fully grasp for R. Schwarz opts for a completely immersive experience, forgoing melody, rhythm and traditional progression. A state of flux reigns supreme as the mixture of the natural and the manipulated become impossible to parse out. By letting these pieces roam free the sounds are allowed to explore vastly different territories with each other discovering its own unique personality. […]
Phonophon | 27 May 2015 | 8:00 PM | 7 Euro
Institut für neue Medien (INM)
Schmickstraße 18
60314 Frankfurt am Main
* Eric Arn (USA)
www.soundcloud.com
* Jung An Tagen (A)
www.virtualvienna.tumblr.com
* HEXENEICHE (NL)
www.vaticananalog.com
Society for the Advancement of Phonography and Experimental Music (e.V.)
www.phonographie.org
www.inm.de
www.gruenrekorder.de
Review | By Łukasz Komła / Nowamuzyka.pl
Roger Döring & Konrad Korabiewski | Komplex
Dobrze sprawdzone patenty, czyli połączenie instrumentów akustycznych i elektroniki, ale efekt niecodzienny. Roger Döring (ur. w 1961 r.) to muzyk i aktor, który intensywnie tworzy od początku lat 80. Członek niemieckiego duetu Dictaphone. Wraz z Rudu Moserem (Einstürzende Neubauten) utworzyli projekt Orchestra Obscure. Współpracował też z japońskim gitarzystą i kompozytorem Takeshi Nishimoto. Obecnie swoją uwagę Döring skierował w stronę wspólnych działań z polsko-duńsko-islandzkim artystą multimedialnym Konradem Korabiewskim (ur. w 1978 r.) szukającym w swoich pracach nowych możliwości wykrywania, wyrażania i przenoszenia poglądów filozoficznych do świata sztuki. […]
Review | By Łukasz Komła / Nowamuzyka.pl
David Rothenberg & Korhan Erel | Berlin Bülbül
Jak to jest grać razem ze słowikami?
Wiosenne miesiące (kwiecień-maj) to doskonały moment na rozpoczęcie obserwacji słowików przylatujących z Afryki. Możemy je spotkać w prawie całej Europie i nie tylko. Co ważne, śpiew tego ptaka jest niezwykle donośny, urozmaicony oraz posiada dużą skalę tonów. Dwóch wyśmienitych twórców postanowiło wejść z nimi w muzyczny dialog. Korhan Erel to turecki artysta dźwiękowy, improwizator i konstruktor, który obecnie mieszka w Berlinie. W swoich pracach korzysta zarówno z elektroniki cyfrowej, jak i analogowej. […]
Review | By Richard Allen / a closer listen
Hafdís Bjarnadóttir | Sounds of Iceland
“These recordings do not contain human-derived sounds,” writes Hafdís Bjarnadóttir in her introduction to the evocative Sounds of Iceland. This is a difficult achievement in field recording, although with 90% of Iceland residents living in or near Reykjavik, it likely grew easier as the artist left the capital. A few birds are present, although no Icelandic horses; the focus is on water in all of its guises, save for rain. The set travels the country clockwise and seasonally, proceeding from spring to winter, when Ring Road can be impossible to traverse. The format is enticing, in that it invites others to trace its path. […]
Phonophon | 17 May 2015 | 8:00 PM | 7 Euro
Institut für neue Medien (INM)
Schmickstraße 18
60314 Frankfurt am Main
* Yuri Landman: Orchestra Performance & Solo Performance (NL)
www.hypercustom.com
Society for the Advancement of Phonography and Experimental Music (e.V.)
www.phonographie.org
www.inm.de
www.gruenrekorder.de
New Release:
Roger Döring & Konrad Korabiewski: ‘Komplex’
Gruen 126/15
Sound Art
Vinyl – 8 Tracks (36:29)
New Release:
R. Schwarz: ‘The Scale of Things’
Gruen 154/15
Sound Art
Vinyl + Digital – 7 Tracks (35:42)
New Release:
David Rothenberg & Korhan Erel: ‘Berlin Bülbül’
Gruen 159/15
Sound Art
CD – 12 Tracks (49:54)
Animal Music (Book & CD launch) @ Café Jää äär
May 22nd , 4pm – 10pm / Brunnenstraße 56, 13355 Berlin
Afternoon talks at 4pm (twenty minutes each):
Hollis Taylor “Is Birdsong Music?” David Rothenberg, “Why Make Music with Nightingales?” Martin Ullrich, “The Animal in Classical Music”
Evening music 8pm-10pm (in various configurations):
David Rothenberg. clarinets, creatures, Korhan Erel, live sampling, Lasse-Marc Riek, soundscapes, Elliot Sharp, guitar.
Book launch at 6pm, just before dinner: Tobias Fischer, Lara Cory, and Lasse-Marc Riek
Dinner at 6:30, catered by Jää äär.
In honor of the publication of Animal Music by Tobias Fischer, and Lara Cory, Café Jää Äär hosts a conference and concert of music and ideas on the following questions: Do animals sing? What meaning does their song convey? Will we ever be able to understand them?
Animal Music: Sound and Song in the Natural World (Strange Attractor 2015) presents an overview of the current state of the debate. Its authors have spoken to the leading scientists, researchers, and musicians in the field to uncover hidden meanings and new perspectives. They visit the world’s largest library for animal sounds, hack into the mysterious sound world of shrimp, travel back in time to the point where human and animal music diverge, and decode the latest findings of neuroscience. A special compilation CD is released by Gruenrekorder to go with the book.
Record Release / Listening Party – R. Schwarz – The Scale of Things
Sound Studies Salon @ The Public School LA
May 14, 2015 – 7:30pm
Sound Art Series by Gruenrekorder
Germany / 2015 / Gruen 154 / 12″ vinyl
@ The Public School LA – 951 Chung King Road Los Angeles, CA 90012
Review | By Frans de Waard / VITAL WEEKLY
R. Schwarz / The Scale Of Things / Vinyl / Gruen 154 > 15/05/2015
[…] There is certain darkness in all of these pieces, a nocturnal quality if you will, like the field recordings were taped at dawn or night-time. Schwarz wanders through woods, leaves crack below his feet and cars pass in the distance. Suddenly some electronic sounds mingle with these and take over the piece, and it completely changes colour and direction. Robert Schwarz‘ music has a great dramatic quality to it, refined, spooky, dark and you could easily commission him for a radio drama; I am sure he would create some fine work in that realm. This is an excellent album.
Phonophon | 12 May 2015 | 8:00 PM | 7 Euro
Institut für neue Medien (INM)
Schmickstraße 18
60314 Frankfurt am Main
* Helios & Hess (CH)
www.everestrecords.ch
* Sebastian Scherer (D)
www.soundcloud.com
Society for the Advancement of Phonography and Experimental Music (e.V.)
www.phonographie.org
www.inm.de
www.gruenrekorder.de
Review | By Pierre Cécile / Le son du grisli
Roger Döring & Konrad Korabiewski / Komplex
Vinyl / Skálar 001 / Gruen 126 > 15/05/2015
Diantre, une nouvelle affaire & déjà le premier indice (couverture du LP). Me voilà embarqué en véhicule motorisé derrière Sir (Roger) Döring et Lord (Konrad) Korabiewski. J’imagine qu’ils ne m’imaginaient certainement pas si fin limier… Et ce que de ma place à l’arrière j’aperçois de la route (ce type de bande rugueuse et cette forme de gros nuage) me fait dire qu’on est en Islande. Et en Islande de l’est, qui plus est. Bingo, mecs ! L’Islande de l’est, rien que ça… Je m’attends maintenant à ce que vous me fassiez écouter vos plus belles prises de roucoulements de gobemouches et de respiration de flétans des glaces chopés lors de la saison propice à l’agrandissement de la famille. […]
Review | By Guillermo Escudero / Loop
Hafdís Bjarnadóttir | Sounds of Iceland
‚Sounds of Iceland‘ is a new release of German Gruenrekorder label that belongs to the ‘Field Recordings’ series and now features the work of Icelandic sound artist Hafdís Bjarnadóttir who lives and works in Reykjavík.
‚Sounds of Iceland‘ includes field recordings made on a trip around Iceland which begins west of the island in early spring and continues for the West Fjords, route through northern Iceland and at this point of the trip it was summer time. Then follows the journey through the interior highlands, before making a brief stop by the East Fjords. When the tour reached its point of origin, came fall and winter. […]
CD Release Concerts / Berlin Bülbül / David Rothenberg & Korhan Erel
@ Gruenrekorder / Gruen 159 > 15/05/2015
I. Friday May 8th, 11pm | Treptower Park
www.facebook.com/events/1589197781322322/
David Rothenberg and Korhan Erel revisit Treptower Park, where they have launch their collaboration in May 2014 by playing with nightingales at midnight, on May 8th to celebrate their new album David Rothenberg & Korhan Erel – Berlin Bülbül that came out of that collaboration.
For this event, the duo will be joined by Cymin Samawatie (www.cyminology.de) and Alexandra Duvekot.
This concert will be donation-based.
The meeting point is the park-side exit of the S-Bahn tunnel at the Treptower Park Station. The meeting time is 23.00. We will walk in the park, while we will talk about nightingales and their song, and once we find a singing nightingale we will set up our gear and improvise with it, trying to make a music that no one species could make alone.
II. Saturday May 9th, 11pm | Viktoriapark
www.facebook.com/events/1441382102822474/
David Rothenberg and Korhan Erel will do their second of their live nightingale concerts at Viktoriapark, a beautiful location in Kreuzberg on May 9th to celebrate their new album David Rothenberg & Korhan Erel – Berlin Bülbül that is a result of their collaboration that started in May 2014 in Berlin.
At this event the duo will be joined by accordionist/vocalist Lucie Vítková and cellist Maria Magdalena Wiesmaier
This concert will be donation-based.
The meeting point is Viktorapark’s entrance on Kreuzbergerstraße. The entrance is right across the beginning of Großbeerenstraße. The meeting time is 23.00. We will walk in the park, while we will talk about nightingales and their song, and once we find a singing nightingale we will set up our gear and improvise with it, trying to make a music that no one species could make alone.
III. Sunday May 10th at Sammlung Hoffmann:
www.facebook.com/events/410012685849451/
NOTE: To attend this event, you MUST RSVP to: Sammlung Hoffmann <hoffmann@sammlung-hoffmann.de> to get on the list. It is free but space is limited.
Nightingales migrate every spring from East Africa, through the marshes of southern Europe, on up to the North. Berlin is probably the best city in Europe to make music live with nightingales, because of its spacious parks and the large number of enthusiastically singing birds. Strangely enough, nighttime nightingale jamming doesn’t seem to be as popular an activity as one might expect, but we have shown that it does actually work. Almost everything one plays to a nightingale will encourage him to sing more.
What is it like to play along with a nightingale? It becomes a direct window into the unknown, a touch of communication with a being with whom we cannot speak. The play of pure tones jarring against click and buzz, it all becomes not a code but a groove, an amphitheater of rhythms in which we strive to find a place.
David Rothenberg and Korhan Erel went out at midnight to these urban woods last year to jam with these fabulous singing Nachtigallen. David is a clarinetist and writer known for his work with creatures of all kinds. He records on the ECM label and travels the world looking for unusual animal musicians to engage with. Korhan is a Turkish electronic musician now living in Berlin, adept at sampling the birds live in their forest habitat. About half the tunes on the album are live human/nightingale encounters, and the rest are constructions mixing clarinets and electronic mysteries.
Even when we are back in the studio the possibility of contacting the musical mind of the nightingale still influenced us. The resulting album, Berlin Bülbül, that’s nightingale in Turkish, will be released at Sammlung Hoffmann in a special concert on May 10th.
David Rothenberg, bass clarinet, clarinet, effects
Korhan Erel, Samplr on iPad, Omnibus
Review | By Łukasz Komła / Nowamuzyka.pl
Hafdís Bjarnadóttir | Sounds of Iceland
Wsłuchajcie się w islandzkie cztery pory roku – Hafdís Bjarnadóttir pochodzi z Reykjaviku, jest wykształconą muzycznie artystką, gdyż ukończyła studia na Wydziale Jazzu (gitara), ma licencjat ze współczesnej kompozycji, a w 2009 roku zdobyła tytuł magistra na Duńskiej Królewskiej Akademii Muzycznej w Kopenhadze. Zainteresowania Bjarnadóttir są bardzo szerokie i nie zamyka się na nowe estetyki, raczej swobodnie porusza się między różnymi gatunkami. Jej drugi solowy album „JÆJA” (posłuchaj) był nominowany do Iceland Music Awards, z kolei na płycie „Sounds of Iceland” pokazała, że jest kreatywną twórczynią nagrań terenowych. […]
Review | By ZAMAN
Berlin Bülbül / David Rothenberg & Korhan Erel
CD / Gruen 159 > 15/05/2015
Sesi ‘bülbül gibi’ sanatçıların albümüne alışığız da bizzat bülbülün enstrümanlara eşlik ettiği bir albüm yabancı bize. Fakat bu kez sahne bülbüllerin. David Rothenberg ve Korhan Erel, Berlin’de bir parkta gece boyunca bülbüllerle müzik yaptı. Ortaya ‘Berlin Bülbül’ adlı albüm çıktı. Birbirini daha önce hiç görmemiş, biri Amerika’da biri Berlin’de yaşayan iki müzisyeni bir araya getiren nedir? Yaptıkları sıra dışı işler olabilir mi? Çok muhtemel. Geleneksel ve kalıplaşmış formların dışına çıkarak müzik yapan David Rothenberg ile Korhan Erel’e olan da tam olarak bu. […]
framework radio | #510
phonography / field recording; contextual and decontextualized sound activity
presented by patrick mcginley
Hafdís Bjarnadóttir | Sounds of Iceland
Gruenrekorder playlists @ Late Junction / BBC Radio 3
Listen:
28th April 2015: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05s3snj
29th April 2015: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05s3snl
30th April 2015: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05s3snn
Phonophon | 29 April 2015 | 8:00 PM | 7 Euro
Institut für neue Medien (INM)
Schmickstraße 18
60314 Frankfurt am Main
* Unii (JP)
www.uniiunii.com
* Pedro Lopes (P)
www.plopesmusic.org
* Tobias Schmitt (D)
www.acrylnimbus.de
Society for the Advancement of Phonography and Experimental Music (e.V.)
www.phonographie.org
www.inm.de
www.gruenrekorder.de
Gruenrekorder on BBC Radio 3 | Fiona Talkington / Late Junction
www.bbc.co.uk
Tuesday 28 April
Roland Etzin | TransMongolian
Pauline Oliveros & David Rothenberg & Timothy Hill | Cicada Dream Band
Hafdís Bjarnadóttir | Sounds of Iceland
Wednesday 29 April
Antje Vowinckel | Terra Prosodia
Christina Kubisch & Eckehard Güther | Mosaïque Mosaic
Hafdís Bjarnadóttir | Sounds of Iceland
Pauline Oliveros & David Rothenberg & Timothy Hill | Cicada Dream Band
Thursday 30 April
Pauline Oliveros & David Rothenberg & Timothy Hill | Cicada Dream Band
Selected Recordings of Bayaka Music by Louis Sarno | Song from the Forest: The Soundtrack
Review | By Susanne Benda / Stuttgarter Nachrichten
Mark Lorenz Kysela | Eins +
Klänge für Saxofon und Elektronik
Laute Schritte nähern sich. Geräusche, harte Schnitte. Was macht Mark Lorenz Kysela da? Spielt er Saxofon oder Klarinette, oder spielt er mit Gegenständen? Was ist realer Klang, was das Ergebnis elektronischer Verfremdung? „Mark Lorenz Kysela spielt aktuelle Musik für einen Instrumentalsolisten und klangliche Erweiterungen“, beschreibt sich die CD „Eins+“ selbst. „Abenteuerreisen für Hörende“ hätte man die Einspielung auch nennen können. Im Mittelpunkt der Stücke von Christoph Ogiermann, Thomas Stiegler, Martin Schüttler, Michael Maierhof, Alvin Lucier und Uwe Rasch stehen die Lust am Spiel und am Experiment. Nichts zum Nebenbei-Hören, eher etwas zum
Hineinfallen. Eine schöne, sehr andere CD. […]
framework radio | #508
phonography / field recording; contextual and decontextualized sound activity
presented by patrick mcginley
Cathy Lane | The Hebrides Suite
Review | By Beach Sloth
Hafdís Bjarnadóttir | Sounds of Iceland
Sounds of Iceland have love for its surroundings. Capturing the exquisite beauty of the oftentimes straggly landscape, the pieces are edited ever so slightly to give the impression of a quiet meditative journey. Volume shifts from the sounds of cute animals to silence to the thrashing waves are displayed as affectionately as possible. By letting the pieces speak for themselves Hafdís Bjarnadóttir is able to show a sense of belonging over the course of the album. Pieces are divided according to region and this gives off the sense of geography that informs the entire endeavor. […]
Phonophon | 19 April 2015 | 8:00 PM | 7 Euro
Institut für neue Medien (INM)
Schmickstraße 18
60314 Frankfurt am Main
* Worsel Strauss (D)
www.vicmodworselstrauss.bandcamp.com
* Roy Carroll (IRL)
www.roycarroll.com
Society for the Advancement of Phonography and Experimental Music (e.V.)
www.phonographie.org
www.inm.de
www.gruenrekorder.de
New Release:
Hafdís Bjarnadóttir: ‘Sounds of Iceland – field recordings by Hafdís Bjarnadóttir’
CD – Gruen 157/15
Field Recordings
7 Tracks (41:59)
Phonophon | 15 April 2015 | 8:00 PM | 7 Euro
Institut für neue Medien (INM)
Schmickstraße 18
60314 Frankfurt am Main
* Conjecture (GR)
www.vasilisangelopoulos.com
* Mytrip (BG)
www.ijustwannabeabetterman.blogspot.com
Society for the Advancement of Phonography and Experimental Music (e.V.)
www.phonographie.org
www.inm.de
www.gruenrekorder.de
New website: www.series-invisible.de
Christoph Korn & Lasse-Marc Riek | Series Invisible – Collection 1
Christoph Korn & Lasse-Marc Riek | Series Invisible – Collection 2
Review | By Tobias Fischer / Beat
David Michael & Slavek Kwi | MMABOLELA
Zwei Field Recorder durchschreiten zur selben Zeit einen südafrikanischen Nationalpark, doch ihre Ergebnisse sind alles andere als gleich. Kwis Tracks muten wie psychedelische Collagen voller elektrisch surrende Felder, irr pulsierenden Vogelzwitscherns und stöhnender Stimmen an. Michaels Impressionen sind delikat und dezent, platzieren den Hörer in eine leise schillernde Welt aus Würmern, Käfern und Nilpferden. Sounds, die einem aus der elektronischen Klangsynthese vertraut sind, wirken in einem natürlichen Umfeld plötzlich seltsam verstörend. Es stellt sich ein Gefühl hypnoptischer Desorientierung ein – und das Ohr wird zum zutiefst subjektiven Erzähler.
Review | By Frans de Waard / VITAL WEEKLY
Hafdís Bjarnadóttir | Sounds of Iceland
[…] There is no human intervention in these pieces and while each section contains multiple pieces, they still sound like a small composition of nature sounds, and not a solid piece of field recording. Recordings of water dripping in caves, stream, geysers, wind, hot springs, birds, waterfalls and all such like makes this one excellent trip. And a trip that is indeed not as noisy as I expected, but sometimes it does; the crackling of ice, the geysers high up in the air and close by taped waterfalls, but it’s all put together in quite a clever way, like acousmatic compositions, creating delicate balances and a great narration between these loud and softer sounds. Great release.
Review | By Jack Chuter / ATTN:Magazine
Pauline Oliveros & David Rothenberg & Timothy Hill | Cicada Dream Band
You have to wander far, far into the reeds to find the Cicada Dream Band. This is either the music of a trio that have spent generous amounts of time in eachother’s company – bouncing ideas between them until the original concept is mashed into a bizarre new shape – or the work of three natural born curveballers, whose sparks of innovation come brightly and frequently, in completely unexpected colours. The energy levels are persistently high, twisting between synthesised vocal dissonance, silky clarinet flutters, earthy throat song and the congregative conversations of nature’s most flirtatious and boisterous birds and insects. […]
Phonophon | 03 April 2015 | 8:00 PM | 7 Euro
Institut für neue Medien (INM)
Schmickstraße 18
60314 Frankfurt am Main
* Morihide Sawada (JP)
www.snaredrumsolo.com
* Christian Schröder (D)
Society for the Advancement of Phonography and Experimental Music (e.V.)
www.phonographie.org
www.inm.de
www.gruenrekorder.de
Interview by Miguel Isaza @ Sonic Field
Communicating and Living Sound: An Interview with Lasse-Marc Riek and Roland Etzin of Gruenrekorder [+exclusive mix]
Upcoming Release @ Gruenrekorder
Berlin Bülbül / David Rothenberg & Korhan Erel / CD / Gruen 159
Support the new album by Korhan Erel and David Rothenberg live with nightingales with exclusive interspecies concerts:
www.pledgemusic.com/projects/berlinbulbul
David Rothenberg and Korhan Erel live with birds:
www.youtube.com
SONIC MMABOLELA
3rd Annual Workshop/Residency for sound artists & composers at Mmabolela Reserve, Limpopo, South Africa
Conceived and directed by Francisco López (www.franciscolopez.net)
Produced by James Webb (www.theotherjameswebb.com)
Sonic Mmabolela’ is a 2-week workshop/residency for professional and semiprofessional sound artists and composers with previous experience in the area of sound experimentation and field recordings. It takes place at Mmabolela Reserve, in the Limpopo province of South Africa, right at the border with Botswana. It involves field work, studio work and theoretical/discussion presentations. The workshop/residency has a special focus on creative approaches to the work with field recordings, through an extensive exploration of natural sound environments. It does not have a technical character but is instead conceived and directed towards the development and realization of projects of sonic creation by the participant artists/composers with the field recordings gathered.
Dates workshop/residency: November 17th-30th, 2015
Deadline for registration: July 15th, 2015
[but open only until filling the limited maximum capacity of 12 participants]
Detailed information here: www.franciscolopez.net/field.html
Review | By Hal Harmon / Musique Machine
Bryan Eubanks | from the cistern
Gruen Digital presents From the Cistern, a new digital album by Bryan Eubanks. Eubanks is a musician composer from the Pacific Northwest in the U.S., but currently based in Berlin. Before diving into the sounds presented on this album, there is an interesting story to the location and environment Eubanks recorded in. The site of recording is the cistern at Fort Warden State Park in North America. This underground structure was originally built to store water for a military installation, but it’s circular cement design makes it a uniquely acoustic environment. As Eubanks notes, the space’s design (with it’s numerous concrete supports) creates a wide array of sound diffraction, refraction, reflection, reverberation, and resonance. […]
framework radio | #504
phonography / field recording; contextual and decontextualized sound activity
presented by patrick mcginley
Jeremy Hegge | Marrdja
O/live | Stefan Militzer & Roland Etzin @ Galaverna
The relationship between vibration and listening perception happens to be more and more in the focus of research and discussion also in the aesthetic practices developed outside the academic environment. It is a reflection fueled by the questioning of different concepts, such as the relationship between processes both natural and artificial, the sonic anthropocentrism, the musicological reading of events tied to sonic landscapes. […]
Phonophon | 21 March 2015 | 8:00 PM | 7 Euro
Institut für neue Medien (INM)
Schmickstraße 18
60314 Frankfurt am Main
* Anemone Tube (D)
www.anemonetube.de
* dp (CH)
www.davephillips.ch
Society for the Advancement of Phonography and Experimental Music (e.V.)
www.phonographie.org
www.inm.de
www.gruenrekorder.de
Phonophon | 13 March 2015 | 8:00 PM | 7 Euro
Institut für neue Medien (INM)
Schmickstraße 18
60314 Frankfurt am Main
* CLUBbleu (D)
www.clubbleu.de
* Musica Practica (D)
www.soundcloud.com/musica-practica
Society for the Advancement of Phonography and Experimental Music (e.V.)
www.phonographie.org
www.inm.de
www.gruenrekorder.de
Hörsaal#06 – Schwingungen | 14 March 2015 | 10:45 AM | Aschaffenburg
Töne hören, sehen und fühlen
Für den 6. Hörsaal stellen Kuchenbecker und Riek verschiedene tönende Themen und Phänomene aus der Welt der hörbaren und der nicht hörbaren Schallwellenwelt vor.
Schall entsteht dort wo Bewegung ist. Er breitet sich durch verschiedene Materialien hindurch aus und wir nehmen die Schwingungen als Ton, Geräusch, Musik oder Klang wahr. Diese Töne, Vibrationen und Harmonien finden sich in den unterschiedlichsten Objekten, Räumen und Situationen wieder. Das Hörsaal-Team Riek/Kuchenbecker präsentiert Klangkunst zwischen vibrierendem Metall, unhörbaren Frequenzen und singenden Zäunen.
Casino Filmtheater / Ohmbachgasse 1 / Karten-Reservierungen: 06021/451077-2
www.facebook.com/events
Review | By Birkut / Tiny Mix Tapes
Manfred Waffender | PLACES_IN_TIME | Thailand & Myanmar
PLACES_IN_TIME is an audiovisual series curated by Gruenrekorder mainstay Manfred Waffender. Since 2007, the German multimedia artist has released a combination of books, DVDs, Blu-ray discs, and online video that provide a brief insight into some of the countries he has felt an assumed connection with. His projects have taken him to New Zealand, Norway, Tanzania, Russia, Italy, the UK, Sweden, and most recently, Thailand and Myanmar. The recordings — or “shots,” as he refers to them — that were captured during that last expedition make up the entirety of this intriguing work. […]
Review | By Pierre Cécile / Le son du grisli
Peter Kutin | burmese days
C’est à dieb13 qu’il revient de fleurir les field recordings birmans de Peter Kutin (arrangé et composé par lui) et Berndt Thurner (original burmese metallophones). Aux electronics et platine, notre homme taille des sons de nature plus vrais que… des grouillements d’insectes, ou des chants humains, ou des bruits de train… Entre les insectes, entre les chants, entre les bruits, dieb13 pose un larsen, d’abstract rythmiques ou un drone-basse agitateur d’aigus. […]
Review | By John Burdick / Chronogram
Pauline Oliveros & David Rothenberg & Timothy Hill | Cicada Dream Band
On Cicada Dream Band, three decorated local eminences of experimental music seize a unique opportunity presented them by nature—not exactly a once-in-a-lifetime chance, but not far off. 2013 was the summer of the 17-year cicada. The internationally known clarinetist David Rothenberg, who has done much recording of and writing about the sounds of nature, formed a trio with Kingston’s avant-garde accordionist and composer Pauline Oliveros (founder of Deep Listening and 2012 winner of the John Cage Award) and the harmonic overtone singer Timothy Hill. […]
Phonophon | 25 February 2015 | 8:00 PM | 7 Euro
Institut für neue Medien (INM)
Schmickstraße 18
60314 Frankfurt am Main
* Törst Obborun (B)
www.youtube.com
Society for the Advancement of Phonography and Experimental Music (e.V.)
www.phonographie.org
www.inm.de
www.gruenrekorder.de
Review | By Łukasz Komła / polyphonia.pl
DinahBird | A Box of 78s
Brytyjka zabiera nas w dźwiękową podróż, śladami swojej babci, która mieszkała w różnych częściach świata. Nie byłoby w tym nic nadzwyczajnego, gdyby nie fakt, że płyta DinahBird stała się niecodziennym projektem. Jakim? Sprawdźcie sami. Album „A Box of 78s” to pierwsze wydawnictwo DinahBird, jakie ukazało się w katalogu niemieckiej oficyny Gruenrekorder. Materiał został opublikowany na winylu (tylko 300 kopii). DinahBird mieszka w Paryżu, gdzie też tworzy programy radiowe, instalacje dźwiękowe czy muzykę filmową. Jej prace były prezentowane na antenach takich stacji jak BBC 4, BBC 3, France Culture, Echo FM i Kunst Radio. […]
Review | By Birkut / Tiny Mix Tapes
Juan Manuel Castrillo | El Coro de Arasy
El Coro de Arasy is a single-track field recording captured at night in Parque Nacional Calilegua, Argentina. It’s a bold and political work that separates varying degrees of distance between the recording equipment and the furthest inflection of natural resonance. Each layer assumes a rich and diverse sonic tapestry while illustrating the imminent threat that lingers at the edge of what can be heard. By distilling the interplay between sub-Andean biodiversity and its discreet eradication, Juan Manuel Castrillo’s track triggers three interwoven responses, which can be identified in the following ways:
1. Threat: a sense of impending doom that’s clear in the otherwise anonymous collective tone of Castrillo’s cast.
2. Immediacy: as caused by subtle movements and their proximity to Castrillo’s equipment.
3. Sorrow: a consequence of the mechanical, motorized sounds that encircle the subject. […]
Review | By darkroomrituals – independent blog about postindustrial culture
David Michael & Slavek Kwi | MMABOLELA
Подобные звуковые дневники, признаюсь, приходится слушать, сдерживая в душе легкую зависть – хочется, конечно, не сидеть дома в наушниках, а отправится прямо туда, где родились и были записаны эти звуки, фиксируя неповторимые мгновения экзотических уголков природы. На сей раз душу будоражат полевые записи, сделанные в Африканском буше, в резервации Ммаболела, что где-то у реки Лимпопо, на самой границе с Ботсваной. В ноябре 2013 года именно там проходили семинары и мастер-классы под руководством не нуждающегося в представлении Франциско Лопеса для профессиональных sound art-артистов. […]
Review | By Héctor Cabrero / Le son du grisli
Selected Recordings of Bayaka Music by Louis Sarno
Song from the Forest: The Soundtrack
La musique d’un film que nous ne verrons peut-être jamais. Jamais, même, c’est décidé. Un documentaire de Michael Obert sur Louis Sarno qui, lui, a enregistré pendant des heures et des heures encore (plus de 1500, lit-on) la forêt équatoriale de Centrafrique. La déforestation menace la région mais elle n’empêche pas les pygmées bayakas de vivre et de chanter ni les animaux qui la peuplent d’appeller. Sarno connaît par cœur ces sons (qu’il explique d’ailleurs dans le livret) parce qu’ils font partie de son quotidien, composent son environnement sonore. […]
Review | By Ian Holloway / Quiet World & Wonderful Wooden Reasons
Christoph Korn & Lasse-Marc Riek | Series Invisible – Collection 2
Booklet
Location Swansea (UK). Typed on an out of date PC on a sideboard masquerading as a desk. Written 02.05.14, 1.23 PM Deleted 02.05.14 6.10 PM Duration 193 words
Review | By PROGRESS REPORT
Cathy Lane | The Hebrides Suite
I know nada about this composer, but The Hebrides Suite gathers six pieces borne of her heavily pronounced love affair with The Outer Hebrides. Gathering a wide range of field recordings and spoken dialogue from these islands, Cathy Lane aims to evoke sonic traces left by their rich history. Considering the tools at work here, this might seem like a tough call but via a series of occasionally looped voices from locals recounting their personal stories, bleating sheep, rhythmic machine clanking, lapping waves, singing churchgoers, the sounds of nature, tempered engine rumbles, melodic traces and indiscernible fluttering and rasping sounds, everything falls together perfectly. At once sentimental and celebrating life as it presently stands on the islands, The Hebrides Suite, replete with the enchanting photos adorning both the cover and the booklet inside, pays perfect testament to the magic, wonder and beauty of them. Highly accomplished, this makes for a very rewarding listen. RJ
Reihe Löschen | Samstag, 14.02.2015 20 Uhr
Christoph Korn/Lasse-Marc Riek: series invisible im Gespräch mit Georg Imdahl
Christoph Korn & Lasse-Marc Riek | Series Invisible – Collection 2
Seit knapp 10 Jahren arbeiten die beiden Audiokünstler Lasse-Marc Riek und Christoph Korn an ihrem Projekt “series invisible”.
Für “series invisible” werden spezifische Orte und ihr Klang mit einem Audio Rekorder aufgezeichnet. Zu einem späteren Zeitpunkt werden diese O-Ton Aufnahmen wieder gelöscht. Dieser Vorgang wird notiert und in Form von »Schrift« festgehalten. Das Ergebnis sind sogn. Löschnotate, die die beiden Künstler sammeln und in Form kleinformatiger Bücher veröffentlichen.
Im Begleittext der aktuell erschienenen „series invisible“-Ausgabe schreibt der Kunstkritiker Georg Imdahl:“ Die Protokolle des Aufzeichnens und Löschens der „Series Invisible“ bezeugen in wenigen Daten – Location, Record, Delete, Duration –, dass etwas gewesen ist…..Konkret erinnern die Notate an Orte, Personen, Ereignisse, nicht minder an die Selbstausleerung der Welt, an ausgelöschtes Leben, die Vergessenheit, die, partiell und paradigmatisch, ihrer selbst entrissen wird, an den Vorgang des Aufzeichnens und Löschens, an die Erinnerung selbst.”
“series invisible” Sammlung II ist soeben bei dem Label “Gruenrekorder” und dem Onomato Verlag “Radix Kunstbuch” erschienen.
In Form eines musikalisch-performativen Vortrags werden Lasse-Marc Riek und Christoph Korn die Veröffentlichung vorstellen. Im Anschluss daran findet zusammen mit Georg Imdahl ein Werkgespräch statt.
Lasse-Marc Riek, Audiokünstler
Christoph Korn, Audiokünstler
Georg Imdahl, Kunstkritiker, Professor für Kunst und Öffentlichkeit an der Kunstakademie Münster
Review | By Brian Olewnick / Just outside
David Michael & Slavek Kwi | MMABOLELA
[…] It’s an interesting experience, „settling in“ like that, approaching the pieces from a certain angle and these cuts lend themselves to it rather easily, very enjoyable. Michael’s disc is subtler, quieter, less overtly manipulated (if I’m correct about either’s methods of construction, which might well not be the case; sometimes the density here, though transparent, is immense), imparting more a sense of place and time, less of a construction. It’s all so marvelously recorded–turn up the volume and all sorts of sounds appear–that it’s quite easy to lie back and bathe in. Both discs work very well on their own terms for me; I can only imagine how very enthusiastically listeners seriously into field recordings in this area would react. Recommended.
Review | By Thomas Shrubsole / The Sound Projector
Pauline Oliveros & David Rothenberg & Timothy Hill | Cicada Dream Band
The Dream of the Reed
In which our three guides, Pauline Oliveros on the V-Accordion, David Rothenberg on the Bass Clarinet, Clarinet, iPad and Creatures and Timothy Hill using his vocal cords and resonating body cavities, draw us deep into a sophisticatedly blended oneiric suspension (of disbelief) involving, as the titles suggest, various recordings of insects, bird-calls and other ‘songs’ derived from non-human denizens of this planet as well as a distinctive instrumental palette threaded through with exploratory (human) vocalising. Oliveros, at least, has been investigating teeming electronic/natural environment crossovers, conceptually at least, since her Bog pieces in the 60s. […]
Review | By Idwal Fisher / IDWAL FISHER
DinahBird | A Box of 78s
[…] Bird takes the concept a step further by sending an LP of radio sounds [pressed by Gruenrekorder] on what she calls a ‘Radio Relay’, in which radio station A [this being KunstRadio in Vienna] plays the record and then passes it on to radio station B until after 22 radio stations down the line Bird gets back a presumably dog eared, worn and hopefully scratched record [and seeing as how there are two radio stations in England on the list I’m sure the Royal Mail will do its bit in helping the process along]. You are encouraged to do the same thing with your own copy should you wish and a ‘Listening Log’ is provided for those wishing to participate, though how many people will be willing to part with such a delightful record is hard to tell. What we need now is for the the project to continue with A Box of 78’s being played on Salt Spring by further generations of the Bird family, thus ensuring that Bird’s grandmother and her favourite records are never to be forgotten.
Phonophon | 02 February 2015 | 8:00 PM | 7 Euro
Institut für neue Medien (INM)
Schmickstraße 18
60314 Frankfurt am Main
* Noise Arcade (CN)
www.noisearcade.bandcamp.com
* Lasse-Marc Riek (D)
www.lasse-marc-riek.de
Society for the Advancement of Phonography and Experimental Music (e.V.)
www.phonographie.org
www.inm.de
www.gruenrekorder.de
Reviews | By textura
One of the things that helps make Gruenrekorder’s products so fascinating is that they encompass such a wide range of styles and genres. In presenting phonography, audio-visual work, and sound art, three recent releases (each a different format) by David Michael and Slavek Kwi, Manfred Waffender, and DinahBird provide an excellent illustration of the label’s range.
David Michael & Slavek Kwi | MMABOLELA
The first of the trio is Mmabolela, a double-CD set of field recordings-based settings by Slavek Kwi (aka Artificial Memory Trace) and David Michael. Working in the realm of phonography, which treats nature as an acoustic site teeming with musical sounds, the two collected their recordings during a November 2013 residency at the Mmabolela Reserve in Limpopo, South Africa during Sonic Mmabolela, an event organized by Francisco López and James Webb. Adding to the release’s interest is the fact that Michael and Kwi gathered their recordings at the same time and place (in a liner note, Michael writes, “We each now have many recordings of the exact same events, but from slightly different perspectives”), which naturally encourages the listener to attend to their respective presentations with that detail in mind. […]
Manfred Waffender | PLACES_IN_TIME | Thailand & Myanmar
[…] In his Places in Time series, Manfred Waffender creates ‘audiovisual moods‘ of different places, twenty of which are featured on his latest DVD release. Thailand and Myanmar are the focal points of the 110-minute presentation, which follows similarly themed editions focusing on New Zealand, Tansania (Tanzania), Petersberg, Montepulciano, Norway Fjords, New Brighton Beach, and Gentle Annie Point (the first in the series appeared in 2008). In the opening scene, creaks and scrapes produced by a river-based landing station resound as boats dock and riders decamp. Elsewhere, people are seen crowding city streets, outdoor markets, rain-soaked pagoda and temple sites, going about their day-to-day lives shopping, working, and playing. […]
DinahBird | A Box of 78s
[…] The past (the 78s, the reading of diary entries) and present (the surprise of a Salt Spring Island resident when informed about DinahBird’s project) fuse together in the ‘trackside‘ in a way that emphasizes the project’s strong historical dimension. As the artist herself writes, “This piece is about rekindling lost, and perhaps forgotten, sounds. Are they so very different to those my grandmother heard?” Certainly the nature sounds would be much the same; as far as people are concerned, there’s an implication that though generations change, their story-telling traditions persist as they’re passed along from one to the next. […]
Reviews | By Łukasz Komła / polyphonia.pl
Nowości płytowe z Gruenrekorder
Właśnie ukazały się cztery nowe albumy w wersji cyfrowej w katalogu oficyny Gruenrekorder. Niemiecka wytwórnia Gruenrekorder to bez wątpienia jeden z najciekawszych europejskich labeli. Wiosną tego roku opisywałem na łamach Polyphonii krążek opublikowany przez Gruenrekorder, a był to album „Mosaïque Mosaic” duetu Christina Kubisch & Eckehard Güther. W ostatnich dniach pojawiły się cztery nowe pozycje, które gorąco polecam.
David Prescott-Steed | Sound Sites: Tropical Far North Queensland
Ten materiał przenosi nas do Australii, gdzie mieszka i tworzy David Prescott-Steed. Artysta wybrał się wraz ze swoją rodziną do lasów Daintree i także innych miejsc znajdujących się w obszarze Queensland. To właśnie tam można podziwiać wyjątkowe gatunki ptaków, nietoperzy, żab czy owadów. Daintree to przykład najstarszych lasów deszczowych na świecie.
Jeremy Hegge | Marrdja
Zostajemy w australijskich lasach Daintree za sprawą nagrań Jeremy’ego Hegge’a pochodzącego z Sydney. Tytuł płyty „Marrdja” został zaczerpnięty z języka ludzi nazywanych Kuku Yalanji, którzy niegdyś żyli w lasach tropikalnych w regionie Far North Queensland. Słowo „Marrdja” oznacza po prostu dżungla. Płytę wypełniły dwa długie nagrania zarejestrowane w lesie namorzynowym. Spore wrażenie robi sama lista nazw ptaków, jakie Hegge nagrał.
Bryan Eubanks | from the cistern
Wchodzimy do środka ogromnej betonowej cysterny, która znajduje się pod ziemią, a dokładnie na terenie stanu Waszyngton na szczycie wzgórza tuż obok Półwyspu Olympic i Cieśniny Juan de Fuca. Ten obiekt został wybudowany przez wojsko w celu gromadzenia zapasów wody. Amerykański muzyk i kompozytor Bryan Eubanks postanowił zbadać, jak zachowuje się dźwięk w tej wyjątkowej przestrzeni. Jego szczególną uwagę zwróciły zjawiska dyfrakcji, załamania czy odbicia.
Juan Manuel Castrillo | El Coro de Arasy
Juan Manuel Castrillo zabiera nas do samego serca argentyńskiej dżungli usytuowanej w prowincjach Tucumán, Jujuy, Salta czy Catamarca. Te obszary stanowią zaledwie 2% terytorium całego kraju i należą do najbogatszych pod względem różnorodności gatunków zwierząt. Jednak w ciągu ostatnich 50 lat działalność człowieka doprowadziła do zaniku w dużej mierze tych obszarów leśnych.
Phonophon | 16 May 2015
Institut für neue Medien (INM)
Schmickstraße 18
60314 Frankfurt am Main
16.05.2015: Workshop Build your own Kalimba by Yuri Landman
Build your own electric 12 thumb Kalimba in only 4 hours.
This kalimba variant has an enlarged tail piece with long tines that create sounds reminicent to church bells. The instrument can be played in the traditional way as well thought on the side with the short thumbs sounding like Konono No.1 and other African music.
Price: 75 euro, 10 spots available.
You can register by sending an email to strateraser@gmail.com.
16.05.2015: Workshop Build your own Home Swinger by Yuri Landman
Build your own electric Home Swinger in only 5 hours.
This electric strings instrument features 12 strings and a movable bar that alters the sound of the strings in a nice atmospheric overtone multiphonic (think of the sound of the early Sonic Youth/Glenn Branca)
Price: 125 euro, 15 spots available.
You can register by sending an email to strateraser@gmail.com.
Yuri Landman (1973) is an experimental instrument builder and musician from the Netherlands. This will be the first workshop hosted by him in Frankfurt.
Society for the Advancement of Phonography and Experimental Music (e.V.)
www.phonographie.org
www.inm.de
www.gruenrekorder.de
Phonophon | 16 January 2015 | 8:00 PM | 7 Euro
Institut für neue Medien (INM)
Schmickstraße 18
60314 Frankfurt am Main
* BUG (CH)
www.brainhall.net
* PhonoKino
Aus der PhonoKino-Reihe werden ausgewählte internationale Sound/Videoarbeiten gezeigt. Dauer ca. 30 Minuten.
Society for the Advancement of Phonography and Experimental Music (e.V.)
www.phonographie.org
www.inm.de
www.gruenrekorder.de
Review | By Idwal Fisher / IDWAL FISHER
Selected Recordings of Bayaka Music by Louis Sarno
Song from the Forest: The Soundtrack
Let us venture into the Central African rainforest which is where Louis Sarno found himself after hearing the music of the Bayaka Pygmies playing on his radio one night. And off he goes on what must have been an exciting and daunting journey. Twenty five years later Sarno is an accepted member of the community and has a son called Samedi. The film ‘Song From The Forest’ recounts how Sarno brought his son back to New York, from one jungle to another. What we have here is the soundtrack and but a small representation of the 1,500 hours worth of recordings that Sarno has made of the Bayaka Pygmies unique music. […]
Review | By Birkut / Tiny Mix Tapes – Highlights
Bryan Eubanks | from the cistern
In 2010, Bryan Eubanks started work on a project at the Fort Worden State Park cistern in Port Townsend, Washington. By studying the dynamics of the space — a circular cement structure originally built to store water for military purposes — and exploring it as a unique acoustic site, he began to compose pieces that would show his appreciation of the underground environment and the intricate sound reverberation that the area holds. The individual works that make up Eubanks’s project are separated here across three tracks, which present an insight into the artist’s devoted relationship with a physical construction while allowing his audience to access a rich sonic catalog specific to its location. […]
Review | By Łukasz Komła / Nowamuzyka.pl
David Michael & Slavek Kwi | MMABOLELA
Cisza, falujące powietrze, ryki dzikich zwierząt, świergot ptaków, szeleszczące chrabąszcze, a w tle słychać pioruny – tak wygląda dźwiękowy pejzaż RPA. Slávek Kwi to czeski artysta, kompozytor i naukowiec, którego zainteresowania badawcze dotykają zjawiska percepcji jako podstawowego wyznacznika relacji z rzeczywistością. W ciągu ostatnich trzydziestu lat bardzo często odwiedzał tropikalne lasy deszczowe, gdzie oczywiście rejestrował dźwięki natury. Od początku lat 90. Kwi wydał już ponad dziesięć albumów jako Artificial Memory Trace. […]
Pauline Oliveros & David Rothenberg & Timothy Hill | Cicada Dream Band @ Podsumowanie roku 2014
Łukasz Komła (świat) – Czas podsumować miniony rok, więc przedstawiam moją listę ulubionych płyt ze świata. Wkrótce zaprezentuje też listę polskich wydawnictw, które mnie zachwyciły w 2014 roku.
Review | By Martin P / Musique Machine
Christina Kubisch & Eckehard Güther | Mosaïque Mosaic
This cd, from Gruenrekorder, is presented to their usual smart standards; with a full colour digipak and booklet. The album contains thirteen tracks, recorded in Cameroon by Kubisch and Guther; all of which are field recordings, unprocessed but sometimes collaged. I must admit, that of recent I’ve been non-plussed by the field recording albums I’ve heard. They’ve either been transparently documentarian, or they’ve been cached in highly conceptual terms; often they’ve offered very little to the ear, as such. “Mosaique Mosaic” is a reasonable compromise of the above. There’s no clever theory propping up the recordings, though; instead, the recordings depict slices of Cameroonian life, with a few distinct treats for the ear along the way. […]
Review | By Roger Batty / Musique Machine
Selected Recordings of Bayaka Music by Louis Sarno
Song from the Forest: The Soundtrack
Song From The Forest is the soundtrack from Michael Obert’s fascinating documentary about the Bayaka Pygmies of the Central African rainforest, & their relationship with American Louis Sarno who has lived with the tribe for some 25 years. Over Sarno’s time with the tribe he has recorded over 1,500 hours of recordings of the tribe’s music, their singing, and the sounds of their every day lives. This soundtrack takes in 15 selections from Sarno’s recording archive, and these move between field recording, more musically/ rhythmic numbers, onto a mix of both field/musical tracks. As one would expect from Gruenrekorder this release is wonderfully packaged. The CD comes in a digipak which takes in pictures of the forest the Bayaka live-in. […]
Review | By Guillermo Escudero / Loop
David Michael & Slavek Kwi | MMABOLELA
David Michael is a sound artist from Birmingham, Alabama, who works in the fields of biology and technology. Slávek Kwi is a Czech composer, sound artist and researcher who lives and works in Ireland. This collaboration between sound artists was in the context of ‚Sonic Mmabolela‘ organized by Francisco L’opez and James Webb held at the Mmabolela Reserve in Limpopo, South Africa. The recordings capture field recordings of the dry river bed at Umzumbi, the hippos at Mmabolel Rock, the bridge to Botswana, the watering holes, storms. […]
framework radio | #494
phonography / field recording; contextual and decontextualized sound activity
presented by patrick mcginley
Bryan Eubanks | from the cistern
Review | By Curt Cuisine / skug – Journal für Musik
Hail to the Sound!
Eine kurze Würdigung des deutschen Gruenrekorder-Labels.
Unlängst versuchte ich drei PhilosophiestudentInnen zu erklären, über welche Art von Musik ich beim skug schreibe. Witzigerweise gibt es bei so einer Gelegenheit einen Satz, der immer fällt, egal wo und in welchem Milieu: »Das ist für mich keine Musik mehr!« Mit einem Unterschied allerdings. Als strammer Intellektueller ist man einsichtig und sofort bereit über die Definition von »Musik« zu reflektieren, während man andernorts die Grundaussage noch mit einem »So a Schas!« unterstreicht. Eines meiner Lieblingsbeispiele für »So an Schas« ist die CD »Swiss Mountain Transport Systems« von Ernst Karel, 2012 beim deutschen Label Gruenrekorder erschienen. Wir hören auf neun Tracks neun verschiedene Formen von Bergtransportsystemen. Track 4 etwa präsentiert die viersitzige Gondelbahn von Graubünden. Wir hören den Wind, das Knarzen der Gondel und bei jeder Strebe das Rattern über die Rollen. Mmh, ein Genuss.
Ist das noch Musik? Darum geht es nicht. Woher die seltsame Erwartungshaltung, dass auf einer Silberscheibe oder auf Vinyl auf jeden Fall »Musik« zu hören sein muss? Hörbücher gibt es ja auch, oder? Aber das ist natürlich die falsche Fährte, hier geht es um Töne, Klänge, Sounds um ihrer selbst willen bzw. als Kunstform. Um diese Kunstform zu fördern, wurde 2003 das deutsche Gruenrekorder-Label von Roland Etzin und Lasse-Marc Riek in Frankfurt am Main gegründet. Das geschah nicht aus heiterem Himmel, sondern man stützte sich auf eine hübsche Reihe von Referenzen, die von Moondog über Bernie Krause, Walter Tilgner, Bill Fontana oder Ultra Red bis zu den Einstürzenden Neubauten oder Autechre reichen. Natürlich dürfen auch John Cage oder La Monte Young als geistige Väter nicht fehlen, wenn es darum geht, den Klang (bzw. Sound) als eigenständiges Phänomen zu betrachten, ihn sozusagen vor aller Musik in sein Recht zu setzen. Und da man mittlerweile gut vernetzt ist, etwa mit dem World Forum For Acoustic Ecology, Phonography.org, The Wildlife Sound Recording Society oder Ear to the Earth, hat sich Gruenrekorder mittlerweile eine hübsche internationale Reputation erworben – was natürlich nicht zuletzt auch an der stringenten Veröffentlichungspolitik liegt. […]
Lasse-Marc Riek »Helgoland«
Christina Kubisch und Eckehard Güther »Mosaïque Mosaic«
David Michael »The Slaughterhouse«
Merzouga »52°46’ North 13°29’ East – Music for Wax-Cylinders«
Daniel Blinkhorn »Terra Subfónica«
Peter Kutin »Burmese Days«
Antje Vowinckel »Terra Prosodia«
Christoph Korn & Lasse-Marc Riek »Series Invisibles«
link
Gruenrekorder @ The 25 Best Winter Albums of All Time / a closer listen
Andrea Polli ~ Sonic Antarctica (Gruenrekorder, 2008)
[…] Sonic Antarctica is an album that sounds like a soundtrack and unfurls like a film: a fluid combination of tones, field recordings and interviews with the weather station personnel of the South Pole. Polli begins with a helicopter ride and slowly descends into a world of glaciers and sub-zero readings. By the end, we’ve not only been entertained, but enlightened. The album now brings us to the first of three Winter Music Spotlights!
Winter Music Spotlight: The Gruenrekorder Label
For field recordings, Gruenrekorder is the one to beat. The sheer breadth of their scope is remarkable. Other winter-related albums on the label include Dogs from the snowy country (Finnish sled dogs, recorded by Lasse-Marc Riek), Luminarskuu (Finnish snow walk soundscapes, again by Lasse-Marc Riek), Finnish Snow Walks and Dances (field recordings and songs from various artists), Fire and Frost Pattern (half ice, half volcanos from Andreas Bick), Antarctica (field recordings by Craig Vear, originally part of a DVD/CD set), Swiss Mountain Transport Systems (cable cars and chair lifts, recorded by Ernst Karel), and The Sound of Snow and Ice (Various Artists). Some of the early releases are sold out and some are only available in digital form, but we expect many more! […]
Review | By Frans de Waard / VITAL WEEKLY
David Michael & Slavek Kwi | MMABOLELA
Two releases involving Slavek Kwi, also known as Artificial Memory Trace. On the CD he works under his own name and use sounds recorded at the Mmabolela Reserve in Limpopo in South Africa when he and David Michael were part of larger project involving field recordings. I am not sure if I know who David Michael is. Together these discs have about 160 minutes of field recordings. It’s a bit strange listening to these crickets, beetles, insects, birds, baboons, frogs, cicadas and such like and watching outside at the same time and seeing this grey Dutch winter sky, occasional rain and knowing it’s very cold outside. […]
Review | By Frans de Waard / VITAL WEEKLY
ARTIFICIAL MEMORY TRACE | ANOURAN LOVE SONGS
[…] I didn’t go over immediately to the release by Artificial Memory Trace, as I already knew that on this USB drive there would be three pieces of around 80 minutes each. Each is a full length CD and with the covers enclosed you are encouraged to copy them and threat them as such. I copied them to my hard drive so I could have a better playback. All three works deal with the sound of frogs, though not exclusively, as there is also „insects (a variety of grasshoppers, leafhoppers, cicadas, crickets, various flying insects); sometimes featuring other animals, such as bats, birds, fish jumping out of water and sounds of weather“, all of which were recorded during the years 2007-2011 around the lakes of Mamori and Yuma in Amazon, Brazil.
David Vélez | The wait @ ACL 2014: Top Ten Field Recording & Soundscape
In order to capture these sounds, Vélez spent time crouching in the darkness of the Columbian forest, hoping to encounter pristine sound sources, yet fearing the approach of an unknown predator. For the artist, listening became an exercise in survival, but the home listener has the luxury of listening in the comfort of a sealed environment. To recapture a sense of primal fear, try bringing this into the wilderness, letting it play for a while, and then shutting it off. (Richard Allen)
DinahBird | A Box of 78s – Radio relay project by DinahBird
It is not a race, quite the opposite. It is a playful protest against the way sound is propagated in the digital age. The idea is simple. I have made a piece of radio pressed to vinyl available on Gruenrekorder. I would like the same copy of the record to be relayed between the different partner radio stations, so that no single broadcast sounds the same. The scratches formed en route will become part of the piece, mirroring the journey my grandmother’s records made. I will also ask each station that plays the record to fill in a listening log, a bit like the piece of paper that used to get stamped when you took a book out of the library. So far twenty one radio stations from places as far flung as Newfoundland and Dunedin have agreed to take part and play the record whatever state it might be in after all its travels. It is a radio relay, a kind of chain letter if you like. I am hoping that sometime around October 2015 the record and the physical traces if its journey will be returned to me, accompanied by the written observations of those who have played it.
21st DEc – Kunstradio RadioKunst, Vienna.
27 jan 2015 Radio On – Berlin.
The Lake Radio, Copenhagen, DK.
Radio Nova, Oslo, Norway.
Radio Worm, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Radio Panik, Brussels, Belgium.
Radio Papesse, Florence, Italy.
Radiophrenia, Glasgow, Scotland.
Nova, on RTE Lyric FM, Ireland.
ResonanceFM, London, UK.
Soundart Radio, Devon, UK.
Radio Grenouille, Euphonia, Marseille, France.
Voice of Bonne Bay, Newfoundland, Canada.
Wave Farm, WGXC 90.7 FM, Accra, NY. USA.
CRFC 101.9 FM, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
CKUW 95.9 FM, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Tree Frog radio, Denman Island, BC, Canada.
Radio One (91 FM) Dunedin, NZ.
Creative Audio Unit on ABC Radio National, Melbourne Australia
Radio Campus Bruxelles, Belgium.
HRT _ Croatian Radiotelevision, Zagreb.
Radio Campus Grenoble, France.
Review | By Axel Ganz / Jahrgangsgeraeusche
DinahBird | A Box of 78s
Dies ist die Geschichte einer Kiste voller Schallplatten. Es sind alte 78er-Schellackplatten und es ist eine lange Geschichte voller Erinnerungen. Die Radioautorin Dinah Bird beendet die jahrzehntelangen Wanderungen einer Schallplattenbox ihrer Großmutter mit einer Reise. Es ist die Geschichte der Rückführung einer audiophilen Hinterlassenschaft und die Neuinterpretation eines Klanghabitats. Die Kiste enthält über fünfzig 78er-Platten mit klassischer Musik und Opernarien der Zwischenkriegszeit. Diese Auswahl wurden von Dinah Birds Großmutter zusammengestellt, die auf den Gulf Islands,British Columbia in Kanada 1910 geboren wurde. […]
Reviews | By Holger Adam / testcard #24: Bug Report. Digital war besser
Draußen vor der Tür: Field-Recordings und Sound-Art von Gruenrekorder
Man kommt ganz schön rum, wenn man sich die Veröffentlichungen des Frankfurter Labels Gruenrekorder anhört – zumindest mit den Ohren! Von Helgoland auf die Äußeren Hebriden, von dort aus über Alert Bay, Kanada in die wärmeren Gefilde der Kleinen Antillen (Guadeloupe und Dominica), dann weiter nach Kamerun und schließlich zu den Bayaka Pygmäen nach Zentralafrika! Mehrere tausend Kilometer in nur wenigen Stunden. Die Reise hält einige Überraschungen bereit und wirft viele Fragen auf, wie die danach, ob wohl die jeweils an den verschiedenen Orten Einheimischen, ihr Zuhause mit den Ohren erkennen würden, wenn man ihnen Aufnahmen, wie die vorliegenden, vorspielen würde? Eine Frage, die ich mit Blick auf meine zu erwartende Taubheit gegenüber der eigenen heimischen Klangkulisse eher verneinen würde. Ich würde sicherlich versagen, die Gegend akustisch zu erkennen, wenn man mir Field-Recordings aus den Regionen vorspielen würde, in denen ich lange gelebt habe oder noch lebe. Natürlich ist das nicht der Sinn, der sich mit diesen CD-Aufnahmen verbindet. Im Vordergrund steht eher die Musikalität der Außenwelt im Sinne einer sozusagen biologischen oder ökologischen Musique Concrète. […]
LASSE-MARC RIEKS Helgoland
CATHY LANE The Hebrides Suite
RODOLPHE ALEXIS’ Morne Diablotins
CHRISTINA KUBISCH UND ECKEHARD GÜTHER Mosaïque Mosaic
LOUIS SARNO Song From The Forest
HEIN SCHOERS The Sounding Museum: Box Of Treasures
DANIEL BLINKHORN Terra Subfónica
MERZOURGA 52°46’ North 13°29’ East. Music For Waxcylinders
PAULINE OLIVEROS & DAVID ROTHENBERG & TIMOTHY HILL Cicada Dream Band
link
Review | By Thomas Shrubsole / The Sound Projector
Mark Lorenz Kysela | Eins +
Playing The Rekorder
Eins +, translated: solo saxophone (soprano mostly, alto once) and clarinet, plus electronics, tapes, modifications etc. Gruenrekorder are a label I associate mainly with thoughtful, diverse releases of field recordings (1). In this release they apply some of the transparent listening techniques familiar from those recordings of the world around us to the slightly more rarefied chambers of modern classical music. Or ‘new music’ as it prefers to be known in the well-annotated booklet. Mark Lorenz proves a quietly versatile performer on this showing, selecting a variety of compositions which showcase engagingly different approaches to his implicit curatorial themes. […]