Experimental music composer Jos Smolders is a friend of these pages, and it warms the heart a bit to see him pay tribute to Frans de Waard, the composer known as Kapotte Muziek and Beequeen who has also been one of the editors of the crucial Vital Weekly for eons. It is because of both Frans and my old friend, David Cotner, that I was inspired to start this blog. I am indebted to all three men.
[Music] Sublamp – Lianas
Los Angeles based sound and video artist Ryan Connor has quite a reputation behind him, appearing on labels such as Serac (USA), Pehr (USA), SEM (France), Dragon’s Eye Recordings (USA), Friendly Virus (Portugal), Ahora Eterno (Argentina) Hibernate Recordings (UK) and Felt.
According to the composer:
“Every Sublamp record has been about an imaginary space, so the concept of pinning each release on Eilean to a fictional continent was exciting; the perfect excuse to indulge myself in layered textural sound again. Inspired by the cloud forests of Monteverde, Costa Rica, Lianas is an audio map of a densely wooded mountain range, shrouded in fog, where fern and vine drip with condensation and small animals slip quietly through the undergrowth. Very little computer manipulation was used in the creation of these tracks. Most of the sound on the record is simply looped guitar through various pedals and a nice warm tube amp, sometimes recorded through an old reel to reel tape machine for extra crackle and hiss.”
[Music] Ciro Berenguer – El Mar De Junio
One of Eilian Records’ finest releases to date, Argentine-born, Barcelona-based composer Ciro Berenguer releases a very ambient guitar album.
From Eilian’s Bandcamp page:
Ciro Berenguer is a guitarist and composer from Argentina who has lived for many years in Barcelona, Spain. He likes both traditional and nontraditional ways of playing the guitar: processing the sound through many electronic devices or playing just the guitar alone. Two facets of his playing expressed in a handful of albums and collaborations, from standard guitar music to a more experimental and improvised way of making sounds, enjoying both approaches.
[Music] Ben Rath – Black Heart Music
Ben Rath is an experimental musician based out of Manchester, England, who specializes in dark, foreboding minimalist compositions which leave you feel unnerved while working on blog posts at three in the morning. He makes his recordings with the use of keyboards, piano, guitar and some slight effects. Really good listening.
[Music] Juhani Silvola – Post-Biological Wildlife
Norwegian composer Juhani Silvola is the heir of the French electroacoustic music tradition, and he has managed to update the sound while maintaining its spirit. According to his biography, “Juhani’s music often explores themes circling post-humanism, nature and virtual reality, questioning the role of humanity in the near future, and painting varied scenarios without exclusively condemning or glorifying the techno-futuristic vision.” We’re in for a bleak future, folks.
Post-Biological Wildlife is his latest album, released on his own Eighth Nerve Audio.
[Music] Benjamin Aït-Ali – Les Cinquantièmes Hurlants
Benjamin Aït-Ali is one of France’s heirs the the electroacoustic music mantle once held by the likes of Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry.
This particular piece, dedicated to the sea, of all things, was performed at the SIME Festival in April of 2018. The piece was prepared the year before, inspired by events that led up to the passing of his father.
[Music] Bruce Haack – Electric Lucifer
Canadian composer Bruce Haack is credited with being among the first electroacoustic composers to be influenced by psychedelic music with this Moog-heavy release, just reissued by Canadian record label Telephone Explosion. From his Wikipedia page:
As the 1960s progressed and the musical climate became more receptive to his kind of whimsical innovation, Haack’s friend, collaborator, and business manager Chris Kachulis found mainstream applications for his music. This included scoring commercials for clients like Parker Brothers Games, Goodyear Tires, Kraft Cheese, and Lincoln Life Insurance; in the process, Haack won two awards for his work. He also continued to promote electronic music on television, demonstrating his homemade device encased in a suitcase on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood in 1968, where he sampled a song by the Rolling Stones entitled “Citadel”. He released The Way-Out Record for Children later that year.
Kachulis did another important favor for his friend by introducing Haack to psychedelic rock. Acid rock’s expansive nature was a perfect match for Haack’s style, and in 1969 he released his first rock-influenced work, The Electric Lucifer. A concept album about the earth being caught in the middle of a war between heaven and hell, The Electric Lucifer featured a heavy, driving sound complete with Moog synthesiser, Kachulis’ singing, and Haack’s homegrown electronics including a prototype vocoder and unique lyrics, which deal with “powerlove” — a force so strong and good that it will not only save mankind but Lucifer himself. Kachulis helped out once more by bringing Haack and Lucifer to the attention of Columbia Records, who released it as Haack’s major-label debut.
As the 1970s started, Haack’s musical horizons continued to expand. After the release of The Electric Lucifer, he continued on Lucifer’s rock-influenced musical approach with 1971’s Together, an electronic pop album that marked his return to Dimension 5. Perhaps in an attempt to differentiate this work from his children’s music, he released it under the name Jackpine Savage, the only time he used this pseudonym.
