electronic / experimental

Truthtable

Since the early 2000s Philippe Petit has been performing and playing on festivals all over the world. We could see him in action at the electronic music festival AntennA in Belgium just before the outbreak of the Covid crisis in 2020. We know the Frenchman  best as a member of the crazy avant-garde ensemble Strings Of Consciousness and for his collaborations with Murcof, Lydia Lunch, Stephen O'Malley, Scanner, Machinefabriek  and many many more.

Petit specializes in multi-channel diffusion, also known as acousmatic spatialization and modular synthesis. A Modern Atlantis Down Under A Wave Of Greed is the French sound artist's sixth release this year and fully reflects a modern form of Music Concréte. Petit cuts deep sonic sound structures with eerie reflections using various music technologies, modular systems, digital signal processing tools and mythical electronic instruments (Buchla and Synthi). He constructs menacing vibrations that merge with deceptive sirens of synthetic mermaids and likes to mislead the listener with his crazy approach to modulism, which he created the very first platform to promote this genre.

The electronically generated waves are manipulated using various effect processors, as well as general sound effects. Petit likes to be an undertaker of sound by burying its resonances, letting them rot and digging them back to the surface. He reconstructs these remains into new acousmatic pulses, fragmented vibes and kazoe voices. A Modern Atlantis Down Under A Wave Of Greed is an avant-garde interpretation of how Western greed is causing its own decline and the deeper sinking of our modern society. This album cuts all traditional electronic standards to pieces with new insights, improvisations and the experimental use of technology.

This album may sound brutal and sharp without producing loud noise and will be left out by the conservative electronica fans. We can only support the attitude and the innovative results of the implementations of Philippe Petit’s latest work. This musical travel agent (as he likes to be addressed)is confrontational, freewheeling, viscous and provocative like Frank Zappa was with rock music. A Modern Atlantis Down Under A Wave Of Greed is the beginning of a new path in the experimental electronic music genre. We are completely ready for this!

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Patsker

experimental / musique concrète

Raffaele Pezzella is a busy-bee. On his Unexplained Sounds group, and its weekly radio transmission, he showcases some of the most unique sounds from all over the world. From his home town of Napoli to the deep underground of the African continent, Raffaele Pezzella has a talent to find mesmerizing music everywhere. And when he is not selflessly promoting other artists, he does some musical experimentation of his own. Those experiments have lead to releases on Cold Spring and Gravitysrainobowtapes and now leads to an album on his own Unexplained Sounds Group. 'Phantoms' is an adventurous work which every fan of musique concrete should check out.

Opener 'Phantoms' breathes that old, sixties, experimental music air. It's composed from strange noises and soundscapes, immediately setting the right atmosphere. So does the bizarre track 'Shamanic Rite Passing On A Surgery Table Equipped With Azzax and Trumpet'. This feels more like one of those albums with all different kinds of field-recordings to add to your videos. 'Memorex' somewhat follows that example and 'Dahomy Kingdom' turns that into a scary adventure with bird songs, electronic noises and samples.

By now, I realize that we're not really dealing with a soothing ambient album. We're dealing with intense experimental sounds. These are near-psychotic stories, narrated by an array of samples, noises and sounds. But then there is also the brilliant 'Three Options Collided', my personal favorite on this album. This track seems to balance between the first era of electronic avant garde music and the stuff you could find on many Cold Meat Industry releases. Closer 'Orient Out Of Tune' is another one of my favorites, a deep droning dark ambient track.

In all, this is definitely something for fans of noise and weird music. But then again, I think those people already know and follow Sonologyst. Raffaele Pezzella is a highly creative human being with a massive array of influences in his brain, so I guess it's no wonder he creates such varied music. So check out this gem and join us on the next edition of The Recognition Test, the weekly showcase.


Serge

musique concréte

Musique concrète, two words that refer us directly to the 50s, 60s and to composers like Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry. This music unfortunately ended up entering a kind of sci-fi cryogenic freeze and was in a thawed process by musicians like Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa, The Beatles and even by current musicians in a rather diluted form. However, in the year 2018 it was completely unfrozen, returning with all its characteristics, peculiarities of composition/form and recording equipment by the musician Stephono - ZIP! In his EP 'Royal Echo Tape' the musician used two tape recorder (Uher Royal Deluxe and a Teac A-3440), one UHER microphone, one UHER echo tape, one AM radio, three synths (Roland Juno-60, Yahama CS 15, Korg mini Kaoss pad) and old tape reels/vinyls.

This EP have three tracks. ‘#Voice’ reminds us of 60s science fiction movie soundtracks. It features vocal sounds manipulations, synthesized sounds with characteristic melodic patterns from 70s electronic music and sound effects that could been in the same sci-fi movies! ‘#Old Tapes’ differs from the first one by the presentation of a vocal narrative, such as a spoken word, accompanied by a glockenspiel and samples of old music with altered speed. ‘#Radio’, brings all the sound manipulation featured in the 60s concrete music - as well as all other EP tracks - but its great differential is the sound of a sitar and some synthesizer(s) that can be heard throughout its duration.

In this EP we can experience an extremely curious and interesting work: concrete music that was very influenced by the sound manipulation techniques from Pierre Schaeffer and aesthetics from Pierre Henry, but totally performed in nostalgic equipment by a musician whose life extends to the 21st century! These characteristics gain even more evidence through the great idea of ​​making the EP available on cassete and reel tape within unique packaging with collages (and a bonus track named ‘Circle, Circle’). 'Royal Echo Tape' is undoubtedly a great tribute to concrete music, a beautiful visit to the past performed by a time traveler of the new millennium!



Glauber