Posted on

Review – 29 Palms (DER) 2010 – by Ron Schepper – Textura

29 Palms, i8u on Dragon’s Eye Recordings

In her i8u work, Montreal-based sound artist France Jobin specializes in “sound-sculpture,” an exemplary example of which is documented in the forty-one-minute, single-track work 29 Palms. Her inspiration for the piece came from a recent visit to the Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California from where, presumably, she collected the field recordings that appear in the piece; Jobin also used analog equipment and computer processing to capture her response to the site. 29 Palms doesn’t adhere to a single, predictable developmental arc; instead, the material rises and falls, grows louder and then softer as it pulsates at medium volume and then burrows into microsound where the listener strains to catch whatever details are in play; at the ten-minute mark, for instance, the barest tinkle of a triangle can be heard amidst ghostly tones that are as just as faintly defined, and when a high-pitched sine tone suddenly appears twenty-eight minutes into the piece, it has a huge impact it wouldn’t otherwise have in another context. Soft residues of static and wavering tones commingle within a sonic space largely inhabited by gently droning swells of nearly imperceptible ebb and flow. So muted is the material that when played at low volume (and sans headphones) it blends indissolubly into the immediate environment—until, that is, a noticeable increase in volume and intensity occurs three-quarters of the way in as 29 Palms undertakes its final ascent. One might characterize the recording as immersive and hyper-minimal microsound.

December 2010

Textura

Posted on

Review – 29 Palms (DER) 2010 – by Stephen Fruitman – sonomu

29 Palms, i8u on Dragon’s Eye Recordings

The vanity licence-plate monicker France Jobin has chosen to work under is intended as a jab at arts-industry consumerism while also proclaiming that the performance of her art makes her audience aware of the process, the better to engage with it actively rather than allow it to “eat” them up as they listen passively.

A little too art schooly for this reviewer´s taste. Because it distracts from the fact that France Jobin is an otherwise accomplished and talented multi-tasking sound and visual artist from Montreal whose works have been installed and favourably received in myriad venues all across North America and Europe.

29 Palms is her sound portrait of the unique desert community Joshua Tree in the Californian desert, and is an attractive addition to the drone genre in its sophisticated mix of highs and lows. Like the desert itself, a cursory glance can leave the listener unmoved, but screw up the volume and prick up your ears coyote-like and you will hear that the wind carries a multitude of sounds and signals to be decoded.

One of the most successfully subtle recordings of the year deserves thus not to be treated as ambient, background music, but requires genuine focus to unveil its laden vastness.

Stephen Fruitman
Sonomu

Posted on

29 Palms on DER

i8u
29 Palms
de5030

i8u’s 29 Palms takes its inspiration from her recent experience at Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California. Through the use of field recordings, various analog equipment and computer processing, i8u explores her response to the isomorphic spaces she encountered. 29 Palms takes form as a single track that ebbs and flows from high frequency minimalist moments to lush drone swells. These counterpoints weave together to create a truly unique space for the listener to inhabit that is both expansive in its emptiness and personal in its inclusive embrace.

DER

Posted on

event horizon at International Biennial of Contemporary Art ULA 2010 Merida State, Venezuela

EVENT HORIZON at Internatinal Biennal, Medira State, Venezuela

The International Biennial of Contemporary Art ULA-2010 will be the largest and most ambitious cultural event produced in Venezuela during the last decade. The Biennial will be held from October 15 to November 15, 2010. This year, we will commemorate the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Universidad de Los Andes.

The Biennial will occur throughout the entire city of Mérida, Venezuela. We will employ all the University campus, as well as commercial areas (shopping malls, hotels, bookstores, restaurants, nightclubs, etc.); public spaces (streets, squares, cultural centers, facades, etc.); emblematic and historic buildings (such as the Academy of Merida and the Former Governors House, circa 1580), among others. Our goal is to activate different urban spaces that will enrich the cultural development of the colonial city of Mérida, promoting the massive attendance and participation of people.

The Direction Office is headed by Mr. Yucef Merhi, while the Executive Production is in charge of the architect Maria Alicia Sánchez. There are professionals from different faculties working with us, including scholars and specialists from the Department of Art History, Faculty of Arts, Faculty of Architecture and the Centre of Aesthetics Research. In addition to the patronage of the University, we have the support of the Embassy of Spain, who is promoting the Biennial overseas.

Curated by Richard Garet

Sound Artist:  Kamran Sadeghi

Title: Micro Series
Duration: 3’45”
Year: 2007

Sound Artist: i8u

Title: Event Horizon
Duration: 20’
Year: 2009

Sound Artist: Keiko Uenishi

Title: Sora-Mimi-Mari
Duration: 16’41”
Year: 2010

Sound Artist: Richard Garet

Title: Subtracted
Duration: 14’28”
Year: 2008

Sound Artist: Zimoun
Collaborator: Helena Gough (Sounds by Helena Gough Composition by Zimoun)
Title: Untitled
Duration: 9’44”
Year: 2010

Sound Artist: Ben Owen

Title: Four
Duration:  11’52”
Year: 2010

Sound Artist: Ben Owen

Title: 91025-5-1556
Duration: 12’31”
Year: 2009

Sound Artist: Richard Garet

Title: White Marks on White
Duration: 12’55”
Year: 2009

Sound Artist: Michael Schumacher

Title: Eros-Ion
Duration: 17’52”
Year: 2009

Sound Artist: Bryan Eubanks

Title: Defractions
Duration: 12’26”
Year: 2010

Posted on

event horizon at Pointligneplan – Paris

Event Horizon (v9) and P#12 Tokyo will be broadcast October 27th 2010 at l’ école de cinéma “La Fémis” in Paris
following an invitation by PointLignePlan.

Wednesday, October 27  2010 @ 20h30
La fémis, 6 rue Francœur – 75018 Paris

EVENT HORIZON : music by i8u | video by Cédrick Eymenier.

Platform #12 Tokyo: music by Akira Rabelais, Oren Ambarchi and Taylor Deupree.

EV http://www.vimeo.com/15754195

EVENT HORIZON is an experimental audio/visual work by i8u (audio) and Cédrick Eymenier (visual) developed in the summer of 2009.The title of the piece was drawn from the physics term “event horizon” which is a bizarre boundary in space time which gives a black hole it’s name.  It is the proximity point in which no matter or radiation (ex.light) can escape and thereby affect an outside observer.  It is the black holes effects on its surroundings and the light that doesn’t pass the event horizon that gives physicists their awareness that the black hole exists.

This project involves the observation of a cityscape after nightfall. The minimal light observed over the city at night masks the flurry of activity that is obscured by buildings and darkness.

EVENT HORIZON explores the solitary observations of events transmitted via minimal stimuli and the understanding of the existence of incomprehensibly massive amounts of activity that cannot affect the outside observer other than the knowledge that it exists and it is obscured.

In short, it explores the interaction of the subject with the city and the emotions that come with various sensory stimuli and the contemplation of
what the darkness obscures.

i8u | Cédrick Eymenier

Platform #12 Tokyo

the trailers : P#12 http://vimeo.com/4516659 +

PLATFORM – Série de films de Cédrick Eymenier (2002-2008)

P#01 EuraLille – music Giuseppe Ielasi (4’59”) 2002/2006
P#02 London (Canary wharf + City) – music Motion & Sogar (7’44”) 2002/2007
P#03 La Defense (Paris) – music Sogar (17’19”) 2002/2005
P#04 Dalle Beaugrenelle (Paris) – music Pirandèlo (4’01”) 2002/2006
P#05 Porte de Bagnolet (Paris) – music Sebastien Roux (4’30”) 2002/2005
P#06 Porte de Bercy (Paris) – music Sebastien Roux (5’40”) 2002/2007
P#07 Aéroport Roissy CDG (Paris) – music Sebastien Roux (3’48”) 2002/2004
P#08 Frankfurt – music Cats Hats Gowns (10’47”) 2003/2004
P#09 Chicago – music Fennesz (20’06”) 2004/2006
P#10 Miami – music Stephan Mathieu (16’23”) 2004/2005
P#11 Rotterdam – music Vladislav Delay (19’09”) 2005/2008
P#12 Tokyo – music Akira Rabelais, Oren Ambarchi, Taylor Deupree (37’37”) 2005/2008
(date tournage/montage)

pal, couleur, son stéréo
tourné en mini-dv
format d’image 4/3

PLATFORM est à ce jour une série de 12 films tournés dans des quartiers bien précis de quelques métropoles choisies pour leur modernité et complexité architecturale. Toutefois l’architecture n’est pas filmée pour elle-même, elle tient le rôle de contexte. Ces lieux sont aussi des carrefours
des différentes voies de communications, les flux sont donc fréquents et variés. Une multitude de micro-évenements sont enregistrés dans un seul plan fixe. La simultanéité de ces évènements très banals (une voiture passe, puis un train et un passant…) est aussi ce qui en fait la richesse sonore et visuelle.
Les choix de montage des plans et de mixage de la bande-son viennent défier l’objectivité documentaire des plan fixes qui constituent le film. L’utilisation des techniques de montage du cinéma de fiction permettent de tisser des relations infra-minces entre les plans. L’attention est ainsi focalisée sur une succession de détails qui en deviennent primordiaux.

Chaque BANDE-SON est composée exprès par un musicien de la scène expérimentale internationale: Akira Rabelais (us), Taylor Deupree (us), Stephan Mathieu (all), Sebastien Roux (fr), Sogar (all), Fennesz (aut), Giuseppe Ielasi (it), Oren Ambarchi (aus), Pirandèlo (it), Taylor Deupree (us), Cats Hats Gowns (fr) et Vladislav Delay (fin). Chaque musicien utilise la bande-son enregistrée lors du tournage pour la re-traiter et  y ajoute sa propre musique. Ce procédé permet de conserver un ancrage dans le réel tout en proposant une re-interprétation musicale du paysage sonore.

Il se crée, de plan en plan, une géométrie étrange, qui n’est plus celle de la ville seulement, ni celle
du crépitement rétinien de l’affût, mais un circuit d’abstractions instantanées, quelque chose d’explosif
et de calme à la fois, qui refait le chemin du métal des buildings, des voitures et des trains, et l’emporte
vers le chaos serein du devenir-instantané des choses. C’est à la fois chaud et froid, lent et rapide,
apaisant et dangereux. Yannick Haenel (à propos de Platform#09)

Posted on

Michelangelo Antonioni – Trilogy And Epilogue on and/oar

The third and perhaps final project in the film director series which began with
“Andrei Tarkovsky – Another Kind Of Language” and “Yasujiro Ozu –
Hitokomakura”. “Michelangelo Antonioni – Trilogy And Epilogue” focuses upon
the Italian auteur’s landmark “tetralogy” of films L’Avventura (1960), La Notte
(1961), L’Eclisse (1962) and IlDeserto Rosso (1963).

Antonioni was known for not being very keen to use music in his films,
partially because he wanted the films to tell their stories free from “additional
gloss”. Therefore music was sparsely used – if at all. Antonioni considered the
natural sounds or “background noises” of a film to be of enormous importance,
and considered them to be the “true music” of a film. Obviously Antonioni’s
view resonates with and/OAR since environmental sound has always been it’s
main focus, and is one of the reasons why he was chosen for this project over
other film directors. Composer Giovanni Fusco, whose music is (more or less)
featured in most of Antonioni’s films from the late 1950s to the early ’60s said,
“the first rule for any musician who intends to collaborate with Antonioni, is to
forget that he is a musician!”

Yet, there is another composer who Antonioni worked with, that this project
seeks to acknowledge and pay subtle homage to in addition to the director
himself; because if it were not for his inspirational and pioneering minimal
electronic music featured in “Deserto Rosso”, this project might not have
come together at all: Vittorio Gelmetti. Gelmetti’s electronic work consistently
came to mind during the planning stages of this project, and his influence can
indeed be heard throughout this release.

CD 1

01. TYLER WILCOX & COREY FULLER  7:05
02. OLIVIA BLOCK & ADAM SONDERBERG  6:37
03. MARC BEHRENS  6:24
04. ROEL MEELKOP  6:06
05. ADAM SONDERBERG  2:14
06. J. WINSTON PHILLIPS  6:17
07. ANTTI RANNISTO  3:40
08. BEN OWEN  6:32
09. LAWRENCE ENGLISH  5:08
10. ASHER  6:30
11. PALI MEURSAULT  (with Ici-Même)  6:36
12. EKG  (Kyle Bruckmann & Ernst Karel)  7:46

CD 2

01. DALE LLOYD  1:27
02. JUAN JOSÉ CALARCO  4:51
03. RICHARD GARET  6:57
04. ALAN COURTIS  4:13
05. LUIGI TURRA  6:11
06. I8U  6:17
07. STEINBRÜCHEL  6:54
08. GABRIEL PAIUK  6:52
09. JASON KAHN  5:33
10. FHIEVEL  6:02
11. TOMAS PHILLIPS  7:07
12. MARIHIKO HARA  4:04

TOTAL TIME: 2 hours, 17 minutes and 12 seconds.

buy on and/oar

Posted on

ESSMAA on tsuku boshi

ESSMAA

ESSMAA is a collection of audio works reinterpreting the Tunis local tones
by an international array of sound artists.
ESSMAA includes exclusive new works created especially for this release.

Dumping in the local tones, the disorder of the distribution or the
understanding of the musical reins and the daily tones, the invited
musicians create a space in suspension, their space of interpretation.
More really “here” (the place of recording, the place of life of the
auditors to whom this disk will be offered), but certainly “not over
there” (the place of composition of the musicians), the listener ( re ) –
builds a unique and personal perception, by assemblies of small parts of
his aural memory.”Essmaa” (“Listen” to in Arabic) proposes a temporary
intersection between the outside and the ” daily initial bubble “. An
experience of listening.. An intervention extern for a second reading of
the everyday life. An awareness of the immediate sound environment, its
atmosphere and its impact..

Artist : Scanner, DJ Olive, Leafcutter John, Mokuhen, Sutekh, Dino Felipe,
Lodz, Discipline, Sébastien Roux,Yannick Franck, Christophe Bailleau, DJ
Elephant Power, Uske Orchestra, Mathias Deplanque, Rainer Lericolais +
David Sanson, i8u, E.D.H, O Lamm, Hypo, Greg Davis, Alexander Rishaug, Dj
Sun Papa … and more

Septembre 2010 Compilation offered in the context of F.E.S.T.
(Festival Echos Sonores de Tunis) 2010 an the project E-FEST initiated
by l’association Echos Electriques in partnership with Transcultures,
Gummi and the Goethe Institute of Tunis (with the support of the Commission
Européenne – programme Culture Europe 2007-2013 volet coopération pays

http://www.lefest.org/

Label : Tsuku Boshi record
www.myspace.com/tsukuboshirecords

Posted on

Review – unter den linden – und transit (NVO) 2010 – by thorsten soltau, aeamg

CHRISTOPHE CHARLES / Unter den Linden
I8U / Und Transit
Nonvisualobjects

»Unter Den Linden/Und Transit« beginnt mit einer dreißigminütigen Komposition von Christophe Charles, basierend auf einem Konzert welches er im Studio von Mark Fell (SND) gab. Der Anfang ist mikrotonal einfach gehalten, kurzgeschorene Klangpartikel wirbeln aus dem Mix, ehe Bordun und Paukenschlagähnliche Sounds einsetzen und dem Mikrokosmos mehr Breite und Tiefe geben. Im späteren Verlauf kommen manipulierte Flugzeuggeräusche hinzu, aufgenommen aus der Ferne, die den dünnen Klangstrom überlagern. Das Stück tritt nie auf der Stelle, die teilweise noisigen Sequenzen (clever integriert durch den Einsatz von stetig veränderten Equalizerparametern) interagieren als Brücke für einen gänzlich anderen Fortgang des Stückes. Nach einer Viertelstunde verlässt Charles jedoch die Opulenz der ersten Minuten und verwischt granuliertes Flirren mit maschinenhaften Summen zu einem minimalen Soundtrack, der am Ende in ein älteres Stück von 1987 übergeht, basierend auf dem Klang einer Telefonklingel, einem Silo und einem Abfallwagen, der in seiner klanglichen Naivität durchaus in die Livekomponenten von David Jackman gepasst hätte.
Umseitig bieten i8u 5 Kompositionen, die die deutsche Wocheneinteilung abbilden und mit »Montag« eine frequenzangereicherte Droneexkursion bieten, die sich durch röhrende Schachmuster windet und gleichzeitig exorbitant hohe Sinuswellen verarbeitet, die den Hörgenuß zumindest via Kopfhörer etwas erschweren. Dabei finden sich in den Kompositionen durchaus mikrotonale Zusammenhänge verarbeitet, die sich via Lautsprecher schwer fassen lassen dürften. Während »Dienstag« reduziertes Dröhnen mit Sinusschnipseln bietet, fällt die Zurückgenommenheit am »Donnerstag« ganz: eine tödlich schöne Wolke aus
zerfaserten Klassikpartikeln (GAS lässt grüßen) schwebt über dem sinusoiden
Klanguntergrund, in dessen Verlauf sich weitere minimale Schwebebestandteile einbinden. Während der Tag vorm »Wochenende« sich eher an Mika Vainio’s Installationsklangdichte versucht, ist das tatsächliche »Wochenende« ein sich langsam steigender Mix aus Klavierklängen, Feldaufnahmen und Sinustönen, dessen Opulenz sich jedoch bisweilen bis an den Rand des erträglichen bewegt. Eine nicht ganz unanstrengende Arbeit.

(thorsten soltau, aeamg)

Posted on

Review – unter den linden – und transit (NVO) 2010 – by massimo ricci, brain dead eternity

CHRISTOPHE CHARLES / Unter den Linden
I8U / Und Transit
Nonvisualobjects

Admittedly, your reviewer is still far from enlightenment in regard to the generation of Unter Den Linden. Christophe Charles refers to a concert by Mark Fell in 2009 as a “Grundton” for the composition, then specifies that sources recorded in the same year and in 1987 (!) were also used. Then again, there’s a mention of a prior piece called “HCDC”, made after the death of Daniel Charles in 2008, and a hint to Massenet for good measure. These scattered pills of knowledge should not detour the potential audience from the fact that these 30 minutes surely belong in the high ranks of acousmatic music. A masterful sequence of quiet environments and breath-holding atmospheres, ruptured by extraordinary moans of flying airplanes (as loyal readers know very well, I could listen to those sorrow-eliciting sliding drones for the whole extent of my residual life and die happy). Even the most insignificant constituents become essential, including the chugging of various vehicles or the weak signal of a radio. The composer’s insightfulness does the rest, highlighting the existential breathing that perennially underlies silence in the “right” way, creating a world of vacant presences that place the addressee inside their sheer enormity, ultimately reminding us about what “sensible listening” really means.

I8U presents the sonic result of her observation of “a particular passageway in Minoritenplatz” as she was attending an artistic residency in the Austrian city of Krems. For a second time I am left guessing by the liners, which didn’t manage to let me comprehend if that area was subsequently utilized for a quadraphonic installation, or just inspired it. Und Transit – mainly derived from field recordings – stands on its own legs without the environmental component, though. It is largely based on stationary gaseous matters and distinct tones, motionless chords and slightly anguishing impressions depicted by an otherworldly frozen ensemble (except the first movement, which – at the risk of derision – might vaguely recall the “legendary” intro to Pink Floyd’s “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”). One remains enthralled by these stunning suspensions, enhanced by sharp ultrasonic frequencies that successfully divert our attention from the outside world’s remote manifestations while mixing seamlessly with the evening’s crickets. The struggle of this excellent work to prevail over the depression drawn out by the misshapen mazurka echoes coming from the neighbouring hill emphasizes the seriousness of the gap between actively researching human beings and pork-swallowing retards quite effectively. And yet, both sides share this cosmic macrocosm we were thrown in (which, to be honest, is rather degrading). Therefore, play this in utter quietness to appreciate its true worth: the fourth track – “Freitag” – is the decoding key for shaving the hairiest hearts.
massimo ricci, brain dead eternity)

Posted on

Review – unter den linden – und transit (NVO) 2010 – by Felix, freistil

CHRISTOPHE CHARLES / Unter den Linden
I8U / Und Transit

Nonvisualobjects

An der Untergrenze der Wahrnehmungsschwelle beginnt dafür die Aufnahme von Christophe Charles, unter den linden (nv°22). Das Stück, das ursprünglich den schönen Titel „Why is there something rather than nothing?“ trug, bezieht seine Umbenennung nicht auf Berlin, sondern auf einen spanischen Lastwagen gleichen Namens sowie auf den Filmtitel „Sous les tilleuls“ von Jules Massenet, der – wie auch dieses Stück gegen das Ende zu – Glockentöne und ihre Veränderung durch Windgeräusche hörbar macht. Komponiert nach dem Tod seines Vaters Daniel Charles, schafft Christophe Charles aus vielen field recordings eine Computermusik in stiller, friedlicher Atmosphäre. Teil zwei dieser 22. nv°-CD entstand während dreier Monate, als i8u, bürgerlich: France Jobin, in Krems/NÖ artist in residence war. Der leere Raum des Minoritenplatzes inspirierte sie zur Quadrophonie-Komposition und transit. Von der Struktur und dem Gestus her ideal zur Arbeit von Christophe Charles passend, öffnet auch die Klanginstallation von i8u ruhige akustische Räume. In Summe zwei wundervolle soundscapes: skulpturale Elektronik an der endlich abgeschafften Grenze zwischen Musik, Architektur und Bildender Kunst.
(felix, freistil)