io sound – “evp.re” on Unearthed from Airwaves

New cd on io sound May 2011

scant intone
richard chartier
tomas phillips
jeff carey
coingutter
i8u
*saibotuk

 

The movement of air currents are capable of causing a candle to quiver or waver. Air currents are the providence of the breath of the dead. The spirits of the deceased traverse the River Styx as souls of air. In Sanskrit, prana; in Greek, psyche or the pneuma of the aura; in Latin, the animus and spiritus of being. Gathering the spirits of the dead – their disembodied voices – into a wind capable of influencing a candle’s flame demonstrates the telekinetic power of the beyond

review – Trilogy and Epilogue (and/OAR) 2010 – by Ron Schepper – Textura

Trilogy and Epilogue on and/OAR
Michelangelo Antonioni’s filmography offers such a rich source of imagery and
themes it’s a wonder no experimental music project has appeared until now
based upon it. All credit goes to and/OAR, then, for choosing the Italian auteur
as the third in its film director series (previous volumes honoured Andrei
Tarkovsky and Yasujiro Ozu), with the two-disc set, formally titled
Michelangelo Antonioni – Trilogy and Epilogue, focusing on L’Avventura (1960),
La Notte (1961), L’Eclisse (1962), and Deserto Rosso (1963). Antonioni is, of
course, the master of ennui and alienation whose works are populated by
wandering souls who either vanish altogether (L’Avventura) or co-exist but
with the littlest of connection to one another. Not surprisingly, he preferred that
his films be generally unencumbered by music’s presence, believing that his
stories would breathe better without such interference; in that regard, Giovanni
Fusco, whose music appears in most of Antonioni’s films from the late 1950s
to the early ‘60s, apparently declared, “The first rule for any musician who
intends to collaborate with Antonioni, is to forget that he is a musician!”

A few other background details are worth noting before turning to the contents
of the release itself, specifically Antonioni’s sensitivity to the importance of
natural sounds—what he regarded as the “true music” of a film—and the
pioneering electronic music that Vittorio Gelmetti contributed to Deserto Rosso.
Such dimensions of the director’s work draw a clear line connecting the artists
featured on and/OAR’s recording, all of whom in one way or another share like-
minded sensitivities to environmental sound and to the role of electronics in
current music-making practices. The set features over two hours of lower-
case, electro-acoustic works peppered with the kinds of pregnant pauses and
empty spaces that characterize Antonioni’s films. Some of the pieces (all
untitled) are heavily electronic in nature (Marc Behrens’ turbulent setting, Antti
Rannisto’s throbbing drone), while others inhabit an interzone where acoustic
instruments (clarinet, cello), natural sounds (industrial creaks, cavernous
rumbling), and electronic manipulations reside. The artists involved will be
familiar to those conversant with the microsound genre, with figures such as
Roel Meelkop, Ben Owen, i8u, Lawrence English, Steinbrüchel, Jason Kahn,
and Tomas Phillips taking part. The piece by Pali Meursault (with Ici-Même)
stands out as one of the settings that is most rich in outdoor sounds, with train
clatter, traffic noise, and bird sounds threading their way into the mix. Richard
Garet’s sub-lunar exploration sounds like the essence of La Notte and
L’Eclisse distilled down to a seven-minute form. Dale Lloyd’s brief piano
rumination arrives as a breath of fresh air amidst such abstractions, as does
Marihiko Hara’s at album’s close.

The package for the release includes two quotes taken from Seymour
Chatman’s 1985 book Antonioni: Or, the Surface of the World, one of which in
particular merits inclusion here for the clarity it brings to the director’s
approach: “Antonioni asks us to take a slow, steady look at the world around
us, to forget our ordinary preoccupations, and to contemplate that which lies
slightly athwart them.” Michelangelo Antonioni – Trilogy and Epilogue

re/flux | curated by Soundfjord

EVENT HORIZON – i8u – Cédrick Eymenier

EVENT HORIZON screening at ICA

Event: Museums at Night:
SoundFjord
[The Sublimated Landscape/Sonic Topology]

Venue: ICA
The Mall
LONDON
SW1Y 5AH

Date: Sat 16 July 2011
Time: 20:00 – 12:00
Entry: Free

SoundFjord has curated an extended evening of
sound and AV work featuring the following artists and their noted works

Audio-VisualWorks

i8u + Cédrick Eymenier
Event Horizon
00:09:33

Mem1
Laura + Mark Cetilia
Aphrosia
00:14:39

Rubedo
Vesna Petresin Robert | Laurent-Paul Robert
Structures in Flux
00:11:08

William Fowler Collins + Claudia X. Valdes
6th Magnitude
00:10:19

 

SoundWorks

Andie Brown
All Cats are Grey by Night
00:10:00

Bug Compass
Miles Allchurch
Sheng
00:04:03

Clinker
Gary James Joynes
Due South (Towards Irricana)
00:09:06

David Kristian + Marie Davidson
Dans La Chaleur
00:06:59

Emilian Gatsov
Second Body
00:10:47

Gastón Arévalo
Intertidal
00:05:06

Graham Dunning
To Look At Her Sinking
00:07:11

Heribert Friedl
raumzitate (room quotations)
00:12:13

Martin Clarke
Tourist
00:07:15

Matthew Sansom
Mêtis
00:42:44

mimosa|moize
Martin J Thompson + Lucia H Chung
3 + 1
00:20:40

Robert Crouch
November
00:07:30

Scant Intone
Desolation Sound
00:06:26

Simon Whetham
A Suspension of Time
00:05:40

Somadrone
Neil O’Connor
Radio Aurora
00:07:19

Steve Roden
Airforms
00:56:14

Sublamp
Ryan Connor
[Untitled]
00:09:31

Thomas Park
Mermaids in New York
00:05:02

Tomas Phillips
Affectueuse/Sublimation
00:15:45

TU M’
Emiliano Romanelli + Rossano Polidoro
Monochrome #7
00:12:35

Wil Bolton
Ulica Kanonicza
00:10:20

Yann Novak
Music for Restaurants
00:20:00

 

framework on resonance.fm – 01.30.2011

01.30.2011

This sunday on Framework  resonance.fm : “these are few of my favorite things”  by i8u
/*framework* / – phonography / field recording;
contextual and decontextualized sound activity
presented by patrick mcginley

framework broadcasts:
– sunday, Jan 30.2011 -10pm, london, uk on resonance 104.4fm (http://www.resonancefm.com)
– tuesday, Feb.01.2011 – 2pm, london, uk on resonance 104.4fm (http://www.resonancefm.com)
– wednesday, Feb.02.2011 – 1am, thessaloniki, gr on cooradio (http://www.cooradio.com)
– wednesday, Feb.02.2011 – 3am, lisbon, pt on radio zero (http://www.radiozero.pt)
– thursday, Feb.03.2011 – 7pm, lisbon, pt on radio zero (http://www.radiozero.pt)
– friday, Feb.04.2011 – 1am, brussels, be on radio campus 92.1fm (http://www.radiocampusbruxelles.org)
– saturday, Feb.05.2011 – 7am, new york state, us on wgxc 90.7fm (http://www.wgxc.org)
– saturday, Feb.05.2011 – 5pm, south devon, uk on soundartradio 102.5fm (http://www.soundartradio.org.uk)

~ time zone converter:  http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html ~

Framework – i8u – my favorite things (Installment  #7)

Happy New Year and welcome back to  “these are a few of my favorite things”.

As mentioned in earlier installments, my interpretation of field recording based works, is very broad however, the thread I like to follow is to find  artists who have mastered  their unique identity through the music of sound.

This 7th installment will  focus on the label DER, Dragon’s eye recordings, based in LA and run by sound artist Yann Novak.

Focusing on limited edition releases by emerging and mid-carrier sound artists, composers and producers, Dragon’s Eye’s goal is to foster personal and artistic relationships with its artists and to function as a meeting ground for its artists to further develop relationships with one another. The curation of the imprint by Novak is done primarily through real world relationships, with some virtual exceptions. By focusing on human interactions and talent, rather than style or genre, Dragon’s Eye’s catalogue has slowly become a melting pot of sounds, processes and practices.

Dragon’s Eye values interconnectedness and encourages it by offering its artists a chance to showcase their own visual concepts, commission artists they have worked with, or recruit Dragon’s Eye’s partners to help create the visual representations for their releases. Through these practices, Dragon’s Eye offers a more personal presentation of its artists for their audience and creates a catalogue that is diverse yet bonded through human collaboration.

Dragon’s Eye Recordings was originally founded by Paul Novak, (Yann Novak’s father), in 1989 as the audio/visual arm of Only Connect…Publications. Paul was and still is a bread baker and avid record collector. Only Connect…Publications was his first venture to self-publish his bread recipes. Through his new publishing company, Paul designed his book on a Apple Plus computer, commissioned a friend and artist to create the painting for the cover, and recruited a musician to compose an original work to accompany bread making. Due to his love and passion for both music and record collecting, Paul created Dragon’s Eye Recordings to compliment his publishing company. All of these pursuits had a strong impact on his son who would later relaunch the label in 2005 and try to stay true to these communal values endowed in the label.

DER,

Yann Novak

Artists , Track, Album on DER , Websites

  1. Shinkei , Untitled, Static Forms, www.yugen-art.org
  2. Pierre Gérard , wooden mouldings for the assembly (to Constantin Brancusi),  Static Forms, www.pierregerard.eu
  3. Fourm, Seagram Series, Clean Forms sicomm (for Mark Rothko), www.myspace.com
  4. Turra, Alluminium.Zinc, Clean Forms, www.navenight.com
  5. Tomas Phillips and Jason Bivins, Ohne Titel 2, Blau, www.incursion.org/phillips
  6. Mimoza Moize, Live at unit 3.03, Live at unit 3.03, www.mimosamoize.com
  7. Simon Whetham, 02 Part (Paths, Crossings), prayers unheard, www.simonwhetham.co.uk
  8. Yann Novak, The breeze blowing, Infrequency Editions, www.yannnovak.com
    over us

Additional info about  featured album and tracks

Artist, Track Title, Album

1- Shinkei, Untitled, Static Forms, see #4*

2 – Pierre Gérard , wooden mouldings for the assembly (to Constantin Brancusi), Static Forms

In lieu of a traditional album description, the artists and Dragon’s Eye Recordings offer the following quotations.

“The silence that I manufacture, hears only my ears. like these lengthened forms, often.”
– Pierre Gerard

“Le silence, c’est la meilleure production qu’on puisse faire, parce qu’il se propage : on ne le signe pas et tout le monde en profite.”
– Marcel Duchamp

“On peut voir celui qui regarde, mais on ne peut pas entendre celui qui écoute.”
– Marcel Duchamp

“…But now there are silences and the words make help make the silences. I have nothing to say and I am saying it and that is poetry, as i need it. We need not fear the silences, we may love them.”
– John Cage (from Lecture On Nothing)

“Music already enjoys inaudibility.”
– John Cage (from Satie Lecture)

3-Fourm, Seagram Series (for Mark Rothko), Clean Forms, see #4*

4* – Turra, Alluminium.Zinc, Clean Forms

Minimalism, arising from the tide of abstract expressionism of the early 20th century, was one of the signal developments in the art of the 1960’s. Rather than being a defined “movement” as such, minimalism became the fuel for debate that surrounded a new kind of abstraction for the post-war generations. Arguments have prevailed over the precise meaning of the word, and some of the visual artists associated with its original incarnation in the early 60’s firmly rejected it as not being entirely prescriptive of their work – most notably, and ironically one of the movement’s principle exponents, Donald Judd. Overall, the works of the minimalist artists sought out a simplification of format and technique that implied that the work harboured no meaning beyond its material components and the fact of its construction, thereby studiously avoiding the metaphysical claims of the artists of previous generations. Minimalism in the 1960’s became a new, and highly controversial avant garde, producing some of the finest, and most influential artists of the mid 20th century.

The three artists here openly recognise and acknowledge the profound influence of early minimalism on the relatively contemporary field of sound art. The trio of Turra, Shinkei and Fourm have all gained wider recognition for being fundamentally “minimalist”, or “reductionist” in their approach, often producing epically austere pieces that verge on near-silence, a nuanced interaction of minute and discrete elements that actively denigrate them as musical works. Indeed, in the most recent descriptions of their work, the artists themselves often use metaphorical language more readily associated with the visual arts and sculpture. With this in mind, the three artists decided to make recordings alluding to, and partially descriptive of the minimalist artists that they favour most, or have had the most profound influence on their work and imagination. It was decided that each artist would make a sound piece, naming it after a visual work, or an artist (or both) that was highly significant to each of them, translated into sound. We present here the first wave of recordings by each artist, in the hope that it will simultaneously pay homage to a great moment in contemporary art, and also fuel its influence on the next generation of minimalists.

5-Tomas Phillips and Jason Bivins, Ohne Titel , Blau

A marriage of guitar improvisation and through-composition, its immediate reference point beyond lowercase sound art is the work of painter Barnett Newman. His solid color canvases, broken by vertical lines of various shades, reveal an aesthetic preoccupation with minimalist imagery aligned with a reverence for the philosophy of Spinoza. An equally pleasurable matrimony.

6-Mimoza Moize, Live at unit 3.03, Live at unit 3.03

Live at Unit 3.03 is a sequence of sound sketches that were spectrally deconstructed and reconstructed live, with intentions of engaging the listener with the space. Each sound used was mono allowing any stereo effect of movement perceived to be those created from the influence of the space itself.

The nature of performing at Unit 3.03 is generally one of a more domestic gathering than that of a public event. This shared domestic-come-temporary-social situation creates an interesting interaction with the sounds to be heard coming from within and beyond this personal and intimate space. Interestingly, this situation also directs ours attention inwardly to the sounds that we carry with us and outwardly to the ones that people carry with them.

This recording was taken during our very first live performance held at Unit 3.03, where we shared tea, coffee and cake, met old friends and new ones, and shared old stories and made new memories.

7-.Simon Whetham , 02 Part (Paths, Crossings) , prayers Unheard

In February 2010, Simon Whetham was invited to perform at Audio Art in Krakow by Marek Choloniewsky, for which he proposed visiting the city for three or four days prior to the performance in order to record the sounds of the place, to compose a site specific piece for the event.

Whetham stayed in the Kazimierz area of Krakow, the old Jewish area that during the Second World War became a ghetto through Nazi persecution. Walking the streets, he felt a certain sadness and longing that was almost tangible. The buildings, the very fabric of the city there, had to bear witness to the atrocities of that time. The walls still stand, unable to impart their testament to the horrors committed – the roads that bore tanks and trucks that took hordes of innocents to nearby Auschwitz unable to show us the despair of families torn apart…

The Jewish people of Krakow believed their God would save them, and yet they still suffered terribly at the hands of the Nazis. Their prayers, along with the sounds of pain and suffering, have long since died away, unheard. But perhaps the stone and metal of the city retains some echo, some imprint from that time…

9- Yann Novak, The breeze blowing over us,  Infrequency Editions

Recorded on one of the hottest days Seattle experienced in 2008, as well as the first weekend Novak spent with his partner, The Breeze Blowing Over Us is based upon a simple recording of a fan beside their bed.

This is Novak’s first solo release on Infrequency and an extremely fine example of his technique for transforming a simple environmental recording into a richly layered, and emotionally tense composition.a box fan is the only sound source)

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

Review – Flowers, (Dragons’ Eye Recordings) 2010 – by Tobias Fisher, tokafi

Flowers – Compilation ( on line DER) 2010

To some, this anniversary compilation may seem like something of a premature party. While most labels typically celebrate their fifth or tenth year in action, Dragon’s Eye have confidently decided that four are quite enough to count as a milestone. They may have a point, however. When Yann Novak took over the outfit from his father in 2005 after an extensive phase of hibernation, after all, he had nothing to show for it but a tiny back catalogue and a healthy dose of determination. The latter proved to be a key factor. Especially in the early phase, when the odd unfavorable review would trickle in and the exact stylistic direction for the project was still slightly opaque, less self-assured souls would have given up or given in.

Not Novak. Slowly but very surely, he gathered a circle of like-minded composers around him, established an immediately recognizable corporate design and kept churning out material as though there were no tomorrow. If print runs were sometimes bigger than what the market could absorbe, this was not misguided ambition but a statement of intent: Dragon’s Eye was not going to be just another boutique label happy to print a few friendly-looking copies for art’s sake. It was going to be a professionally run and widely respected company which could stand on its own two feet and inspire others instead of borrowing from stale third party ideas.

Three factors were decisive in this respect. For one, Novak has astutely understood that Sound Art has a promising future if it manages to return to the one relationship that has always served it well: The bond with the visual arts. It is by no means a coincidence that Morton Feldman and John Cage were heavily influenced by befriended painters. Nor is it a secret that Philip Glass and Steve Reich kick started their careers by performing their first pieces in museums. In several respects, the advancement of music in the late 20th century has been a constant attempt at equaling the compelling power of abstract arts. With their regular multimedial events and partnerships with art galleries, Dragon’s Eye have not only made a clever marketing decision, but also built a fertile basis for a fruitful dialogue across different disciplines.

Secondly, like few other record companies out there, the outfit has established its own family of artists. Wyndell Hunt, Marc Manning, Jamie Drouin and, of course, Novak himself were virtually unknown before 2005 and their profiles have organically grown in sync with the gradual rise of Dragon’s Eye. Unlike many of their colleagues, who enjoy collecting releases with different labels like trophies, they have also remained faithful to them for the better part of these four years. Admittedly, established underground heroes like Steve Peters were equally part of the program and recently, Novak has branched out into a couple of household names on the scene, with releases by Ian Hawgood and Celer among others. But these have been exceptions and always served to sharpen the outfit’s image and take it one step further. Today, Dragon’s Eye is not just known for its uncompromising stance, but also for a particular mindset which goes way beyond the usual questions of sonic aesthetics and genre-affiliations.

This remarkably coherent, yet multifaceted approach has been the third and possibly most important aspect. Over time, Dragon’s Eye have catered to Drones, Ambient, Dark Ambient, Installation Soundtracks, conceptual soundscapes, controlled noise and silent music at the edge of perception without a single choice ever seeming random. As the stylistic associations have grown, so has the sensation that the artist roster was guided by a shared approach, a common angle at composing and sound sculpting. Significantly, this angle is related to a notion of purity, of never using more elements than absolutely necessary. But even more essentially, it has to do with considering ideas as the driving force behind music. For Dragon’s Eye, terms like beauty, darkness or estrangement can never exist without context. They come into existence through amplification, exaggeration, projection and contrast, in short: As artifice. Novak’s „The Air blowing over us“ (on Dragon’s Eye sister-label Infrequency), as just one example among many, made this amply clear: What would have ended up as a corny depictation of „one of the hottest days Seattle experienced in 2008, as well as the first weekend Novak spent with his partner“, ended up a thoughtful meditation on change and a claustrophobic, slowly moving soundscape built on the noises of a fan in the apartment.

With this in mind, it should surprise no one, that „Flowers“ is anything but a mere presentation of references or a lazily assembled „Best Of“. Quite on the contrary, quite a few of the musicians „Dragon’s Eye“ have become associated with are missing from this collection, while a few new names have been added to the roster. Most incisively, the collection focuses almost obsessively on a genre Novak has held dear for years, but only recently discovered as a source of inspiration for his imprint’s cover designs: Microtonal Sound Art. And so this free-to-download sampler includes luminaries like Shinkei, i8u, Tomas Phillips as well as Pierre Gerard, who also runs the highly recommended et comme le feu netlabel – while excluding a couple of mainstays. Rather than playing it safe, Novak has therefore once again made use of the opportunity to push his project beyond its existing borders and opened up yet another musical pocket for him and his artist.

This is all the more apparent as „Flowers“ manages to naturally integrate this new cosmos into the label’s body of work. Shinkei’s „Wu (for Luigi)“ is an almost programmatic effort in this respect: Subtle and crystal-clear field recordings of water, conversations and scratching noises are contrasted with discretely metallic drones and fine sheets of crackle. Short episodes are separated from each other by soundings of a prayer bell – this is a space for concentrated listening, in which every single element is to be appreciated on its own terms and the careful placing of each microscopic click suggests a conscious narrative. Meanwhile, the work of Canada’s France Jobin (aka i8u) displays unexpected similarities with Novak’s own contribution „Shortwaves to Longwaves“: Both rely on a blend of ultrahigh and extremely low frequencies, a suspenseful delineation between a highly direct foreground and a deep, atmospheric backdrop as well as a controlled friction between surgically precise material and inexplicable emotional resonances. This holds true for the compilation as a whole, which takes a turn towards more ambient-oriented pieces in the finale. Celer’s „A Lifetime of Wasted Breaths“, an endearing sequence of warm, almost spiritual chords and Wyndel Hunt’s Power-drone „Rotation“ might seem misplaced here on paper, but both turn out to make complete sense, intensifying the silence inside the listener instead of insensitively rupturing it.

Again, it is the idea of contrasts which takes hold here. By juxtaposing seemingly uncombinable material, the album as a whole is elevated to a higher plane, where these differences no longer matter. If this is where Novak wants to take the label in the future, then we’re in for a hell of an 8th birthday party.

By Tobias Fischer
tokafi

Dragon’s Eye Recording

flowers on DER (2010)

January 1.10

Various Artists | Flowers: Dragon’s Eye Fourth Anniversary
de6006 | 56:32 | MP3 | Open Edition

DOWNLOAD NOW

1. Shinkei – Wu (for Luigi)
2. i8u – Gallowalking
3. Pierre Gerard – Lines/Lignes
4. Tomas Phillips – Tablature I
5. Yann Novak – Shortwaves to Longwaves
6. Celer – A Lifetime of Wasted Breaths
7. Wyndel Hunt – Rotation

Over the past 4 years, Dragon’s Eye Recordings has come to be a trusted resource where listeners can be exposed to emerging and mid-carrier artists in the field of contemporary electronic music and sound art. Named one of Textura’s ‘Top Ten Favorite Labels of 2009,’ Dragon’s Eye is kicking off 2010 with a free downloadable compilation.

Flowers are the traditional gift for a fourth anniversary and Flowers is Dragon’s Eye Recordings fourth anniversary compilation. On Flowers, Dragon’s Eye presents new and unreleased works by the upcoming 2010 roster of artists. The 2010 roster represents both newcomers and veterans of the label that are at the forefront of contemporary electronic music and sound art.

About The Artists

David Sani (Shinkei) was born in 1968 in the heart of Tuscany, Siena. In 2000 he started Microsuoni, mail-order and distribution of sound-art, focused mainly on minimalism in all its forms. After the encounter with composer Luigi Turra in 2008, they founded the Koyuki label, devoted to publish lowercase and minimal sound compositions in limited edition cds or digital downloads.

The debut of the label coincided with the first Shinkei cd release “Binaural Beats” a split with canadian artist Philip Lemieux. Other recent works are “Biostatics” for the Transparent Radiation series on Bremsstrahlung, “Hidamari|Metrics” a split release with FOURM, and the first collaboration with Turra, YU for the austrian NonVisualObjects label.

France Jobin aka i8u (b. 1958) is a sound / installation / web artist residing in Montreal, Canada. i8u’s audio art can be qualified as “sound-sculpture”. It reveals powerful, opaque and complex sound environments where analog and digital meet. Her installation/web art can be said to follow a parallel path, incorporating both musical and visual elements.

i8u has created solo recordings for ROOM40 (Australia), bake/staalplaat (Netherlands), as well as many collaborations notably with Goem, Martin Tétreault, David Kristian and recently the album “ligne” with Tomas Phillips, on the Japanese label, ATAK. She produced compilations tracks for ATAK (Japan), bremsstrahlung (USA), Mutek (Canada) and Extract,Portraits of Soundartists (book + 2 cd) on the label nonvisualobjects (Austria).

She has participated in various music and new technology festivals Canada, Europe and the United States such as such as Silophone (Montréal, 2000), Mutek (Montréal, 2001, 2004, 2005,2007, 2008, 2009), Le Festival de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville (2002), Ver Uit de Maat (Rotterdam, 2002), SEND + RECEIVE (Winnipeg, 2003, 2005), Les Digitales (Bruxelles, 2004 ), Club Transmediale (Berlin, 2004), V’elak (Vienna, 2008), Shut up and Listen (Vienna 2009) as well as a soundtrack by Bubblyfish and i8u for the movie Swordswoman of Huangjiang / Huangjiang Nuxia presented at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater Festival : Heroic Grace : The Chinese Martial Arts Film.

She collaborates with New York visual artist CHiKA, “Infinity”, an audio/video piece was performed live at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles and a screening was shown at the San Francisco Art Institute Lecture Hall, both events were curated by VOLUME. A façade projection also showcased this work at the MenschMeerMedien in Nordwolle, Germany. A recent new collaboration with artist and musician Cédrick Eymenier (France), has produced the work “event horizon”.

i8u’s web work/installations have been shown at Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Toronto’s Images independent film festival at MIVEAM 06. The AIR Artist-In- Residence program in Krems Austria enabled her to create “und transit”, a sound installation set in the cloister of MinoritenKirche in Stein, Austria.

Her work continues to evolve as technologies enable her to create in new environments.

Pierre Gerard (b.1966)
High School of Art (1985-1989), studied in particular the drawing and the engraving on copper and zinc.
(1995) A great interest for contemporary art, initially making research in figurative painting.
(1998) Abstract research in sculpture with materials of daily life.
(2000) Interest in the video and furniture.
(2003) After long research, I am finally able to approach my desire to make music,
a new step towards work without palpable matter, firstly with objects and field recording.
Since (2006) I returned to my first research by using the instruments.
In october (2009), began a new research work on abstract painting.

Tomas Phillips (b. 1969) is a composer, novelist, and teacher whose sound work focuses on improvisational performance and minimalist through-composition. He began composing electronic music in the early 1990s, releasing limited edition cd-rs, most notably under the moniker Eto Ami (with Dean King), and has since created music for installations and collaborations in dance and theatre. Labels to release his music include Trente Oiseaux, Line, Non Visual Objects, and Koyuki. Tomas has taught in the disciplines of literature and fine arts at various universities in the US, Québec, and Finland. Having completed an interdisciplinary PhD at Concordia University in Montréal, he currently lives in the US, where he teaches literature at North Carolina State University.

Yann Novak (b. 1979 Madison, WI) is a sound artist, composer and designer based in Los Angeles. His compositions have been published by Dragon’s Eye Recordings (US), Dulcett Records (US), The Henry Art Gallery (US), Infrequency (CA), Mandorla (MX) and smlEditions (US). His work utilizes different forms of digital documentation as a point of departure. Through the digital manipulation of these sound and image files, his works serve as a translation from documents of personal experiences into new compositions fueled by the original experience.

Novak’s installations and performances have been presented internationally at prestigious events and venues including American Academy in Rome (Rome, Italy), Blim (Vancouver, BC), Decibel Festival (WA), Ersta Konsthall (Stokholm, Sweden), Fiske Planitarium (CO), Henry Art Gallery (WA), Hit Art Space (Gothenburg, Sweden), Kasini House (VT), Las Cienegas Project (CA), Lawrimore Project (WA), Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (CA), Mutek Festival (Montreal, QB), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (CA), Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (WA), Soundwalk (CA), Suyama Space (WA), TBA Festival (OR) and Western Bridge (WA).

As a result of these endeavors, Novak had been invited to numerous Residencies including Environmental Aesthetics Residency (WA), Espy Foundation Residency (WA), and Kasini House Studio A Residency (VT).

In 2005, Novak re-launched his father’s Dragon’s Eye Recordings imprint with a new focus on limited edition releases by emerging and mid-carrier sound artists, composers and producers. Since its re-launch, Dragon’s Eye Recordings has published over 25 releases and has received critical acclaim.

In recent years Novak has collaborated through select installation, performance and recorded work with Gretchen Bennett, Brittle Stars, Crispin Spaeth Dance Group, Jamie Drouin, Marc Manning, Brian Murphy, Alex Schweder and Tiny Vipers.

Celer is the sound, visual, literary, and artistic endeavor of the husband and wife duo of Will Long and Danielle Baquet-Long. Danielle was a teacher of special education and music therapy, a seasoned and published writer of poetry and prose, a painter, multi-instrumentalist, and vocalist, also recording as Chubby Wolf. She had an extensive background in Gender Studies, Education, Basque History, Photography, and Tibetan Studies, as well as having lived in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the United States. She passed away on July 8, 2009 of heart failure.

Will is a published writer of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, having studied English, History, Creative Writing, Philosophy, and Literature, with a basic background in music. Will and Dani met each other in 2001, and remained close friends until 2006, when they became a couple. At this time they also began Celer, which had been up until this time a constant exchange of letters, music, and love. They were married in March of 2007.

In Will and Dani’s time together, they produced numerous custom, handmade self-releases, sound for installations and art exhibitions, as well as creating works for independent labels in North America, Japan, and Europe. Their intent was producing works that reflect the sincere nature and importance of love, the impermanence of life, and the spirit of togetherness, through a relative and absolute symposium of expression.

As of July 2009, all production of new works is ended. However, works completed before this time will continued to be published, as of which there are many, and will appear on many labels worldwide, as well as some to be self-published in the future. While an end to new production of works was not wished, it was necessary, as Celer was, and will always be Dani and Will.

Wyndel Hunt integrates melody and noise using electronics, acoustic instruments, field recordings, and the occasional piece of amplified trash. His recent work focuses on conceiving narrative, painting, and sculpture as analogues for structuring composition and shaping sound. Since 2005 he has presented his work in galleries, public spaces, and live venues alone and in collaboration with visual artists. He currently lives in Seattle.

About Dragon’s Eye Recordings

Dragon’s Eye Recordings is the imprint run by sound artist Yann Novak. Focusing on limited edition releases by emerging and mid-carrier sound artists, composers and producers, Dragon’s Eye’s goal is to foster personal and artistic relationships with its artists and to function as a meeting ground for its artists to further develop relationships with one another. The curation of the imprint by Novak is done primarily through real world relationships, with some virtual exceptions. By focusing on human interactions and talent, rather than style or genre, Dragon’s Eye’s catalogue has slowly become a melting pot of sounds, processes and practices.

Dragon’s Eye values interconnectedness and encourages it by offering its artists a chance to showcase their own visual concepts, commission artists they have worked with, or recruit Dragon’s Eye’s partners to help create the visual representations for their releases. Through these practices, Dragon’s Eye offers a more personal presentation of its artists for their audience and creates a catalogue that is diverse yet bonded through human collaboration.

Dragon’s Eye Recordings was originally founded by Paul Novak, (Yann Novak’s father), in 1989 as the audio/visual arm of Only Connect…Publications.  Paul was and still is a bread baker and avid record collector. Only Connect…Publications was his first venture to self-publish his bread recipes. Through his new publishing company, Paul designed his book on a Apple Plus computer, commissioned a friend and artist to create the painting for the cover, and recruited a musician to compose an original work to accompany bread making.  Due to his love and passion for both music and record collecting, Paul created Dragon’s Eye Recordings to compliment his publishing company. All of these pursuits had a strong impact on his son who would later relaunch the label in 2005 and try to stay true to these communal values endowed in the label.


Moscow, St. Petersburg, kolomna 10.15-23-29.2009 – Electroshock


October 15.09
October 23.09
October 29.09

Electroshock | Artemiy Artemiev

Radio Ultra 70.19FM Moscow
Radio Neva-3 – 104.4 FM St. Petersburg’s
Radio Kolomna – 91.8 FM Kolomna

Broadcast of:

Ligne –  ATAK 013 –  Ligne –  i8u | Tomas Phillips
Donnée – ATAK 013 –  Ligne –  i8u | Tomas Phillips
Point – – ATAK 013 –  Ligne –  i8u | Tomas Phillips
String 4 – ROOM40 – 10-33cm – i8u
String 7 – ROOM40 – 10-33cm – i8u
by Artemiy Artemiev on his regular radio show Electroshock.

Review – Ligne i8u | Tomas Phillips (ATAK) 2009 – by Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly


i8u – Tomas Phillips ligne (CD by ATAK) 2009

Things have been quiet for Japanese Atak, as of May,  they make a return with an album by Canada’s I8U and Tomas Philips. Both are perhaps known for their work in the field of microsound and together they have been working since 2005. They work out of improvisation while being inspired by one thing or another. A film by Sergio Leone or a piano for instance. These improvisations have been revised, reworked, added or subtracted. Perhaps that might be hard to believe, since if you hear this CD, you’ll be listening to some very minimal music. A few static lines, some click like sound, deep bass, sine waves and such like. Like the vague images on the cover, this music is more like an environment, surrounding you. The flickering of shadow on the wall, this music is also altering your perception. Carefully, slow, meditative, delicate and precious. All of these words are appropriate for this album. Label boss Keiichiro Shibuya’s remix of the title track at the end brings the material in a slightly different terrain: its more present than the other three pieces and more firmly rooted in somewhat louder laptop music, but it fits well in this release, providing a nice counterpoint. (FdW)


Label: Atak
Cat. #: ATAK013
Format: CD
Release date: 2009

Tracklisting:
01 – Ligne (18:23)
02 – Point (08:38)
03 – Donnée (19:15)
04 – Ligne (10:10)

-Vital Weekly-
Frans de Waard

Address: http://atak.jp

Review Ligne i8u | Tomas Phillips (ATAK) 2009 – by Giuseppe Angelucci, Spiritual Archives

i8u – Tomas Phillips ligne (CD by ATAK) 2009

Atak is a Japanese label born in 2002, founded by Keiichiro Shibuya and maria, a duo also known as “Slipped Disk”. Its catalogue comprises fifteen releases so far, including Shibuya’s newest work (“For Maria”). All published albums have electronics as predominant factor, although managed from different viewpoints, primarily dealing with experimentation fields and sound art aspects.

”Ligne”, out two months ago, marks a collaboration (a new synergy after “Anther” in 2006) between France Jobin, Canadian sound-sculpture artist (i8u) and Tomas Phillips, American composer as well as literature teacher.i8u creates, since more than a decade, acclaimed works, live performances and installations, Phillips’ sound is usually associated to reference labels like Trente Oiseaux, and/OAR, Non Visual Objects, Line, and, recently, Koyuki.

”Ligne” could be read as a report of visions, feelings and aesthetic attitudes, reflecting the intellectual background of its authors, whose abilities, combined together, produce an astounding result beyond expectation.

Four tracks here: two “lines” (which open and close the work) as boundary for a point and a data (names given to the other pieces), about a hour of encoded information, a persistent stream from the start-up to the last pulse, unpredictable sound sceneries proposed.
Environmental recordings are present, of course, but it is also possible to notice compositional moments, forceful changes of state, harmonic structures which tangle up.
Dilated, extended soundscapes burst on the scene, fade away and revitalize themselves after a while.

The first drawing is built on cracklings, glitches, interferences which intersect resounding patterns, melodic (in rare moments) or (more often) soaked with a hypnotic vein.
This scheme is kept for the first half of the track, then new, different perturbations on a more minimal ground and a new mutation around the thirteenth minute: electronic pulses meet repeated, manipulated piano tones.
In the second piece there’s a prevalence of subtle frequencies and defective insertions, what causes a granular effect in pure microsound style.
“Donnée”, the third track, is also the longest and the most fascinating: it starts with rustles, scattered noises, rumblings placed in continuum, then evolves in suave patches put on abrasive surfaces.
Lastly, “Ligne”, once more an immersion into profound sounds, exploded with more violence, sharp-pointed projections which afterwards dissolve into more peaceful states, almost meditative.
Excellent interaction between the two protagonists, intelligent use of (re)sources, spent for a very complex work, really expressive…or, to be precise, visual.

Label: Atak
Cat. #: ATAK013
Format: CD
Release date: 2009

Tracklisting:

01 – Ligne (18:23)
02 – Point (08:38)
03 – Donnée (19:15)
04 – Ligne (10:10)

-Spiritual Archives.

Giuseppe Angelucci

Address: http://atak.jp