A CLOSER LISTEN weekly #12
Rural Rhythms, Utopia, yet more dispatches from Ukraine
Gentili ascoltatori, buongiorno… That’s right, Listeners, my most recent Italian Journey continues, but here at ACL we never miss a day. Luckily they don’t depend on me (Joseph); we have a growing team of volunteers dedicated to delivering your daily dose of exciting new sounds. But I wouldn’t forget to deliver your fortnightly newsletter. [Is there anything else you’d like to see us tackle here? Please let us know in the comments.] So what have we been up to?
My last installment was written from Rome, where I delivered a paper on Egisto Macchi’s scores to several early 1960s ethno-documentaries, as part of the Journal of Italian Cinema & Media Studies’ 3rd (and long-delayed) international conference. It was really a pleasure to attend an in-person conference again, especially one situated in the small yet beautiful grounds of the American University of Rome, where I saw some old friends and met some new ones. I’ve been pretty busy since that weekend.
Last Monday I headed to Napoli, where I got to catch up with my old friend Domenico ‘Mimmo’ Napolitano (aka SEC_, who has contributed mixes to ACL in the past and was the subject of episode 6 of the podcast). I arrived just in time for an excellent panel Mimmo organized to discuss Jonathan Sterne’s latest book, Diminished Faculties: A Political Phenomenology of Impairment. The book is a fascinating reappraisal of phenomenology and a much needed elaboration on the concept of impairment in the growing field of Disability Studies. It’s also a surprisingly personal book, as Sterne’s impetus for writing grew out of his experience with thyroid cancer (which he chronicled for years on his blog Cancerscapes), leaving his vocal chord damaged and his speaking voice diminished. His weakened voice lead to him using what he terms the “Dork-o-phone” when teaching and speaking in public, to avoid wearing out his voice. I had just begun my MA in the department of Art History & Communication Studies at McGill where Jonathan teaches, so I happened to be in one of the first classes he taught using the Dork-o-phone, which made me particularly interested in the various “voices” he uses throughout. But it should be of interest to anyone interested in sound, media, philosophy, or disability studies. Again, highly recommended.
RURAL RHYTHMS
So after a few days in my beloved Napoli, I headed to the rural village of Colle Sannita in the province of Benevento, for the first part of my Liminaria residency organized by my friend Leandro Pisano. I’m currently in Leandro’s hometown of San Martino Valle Caudina preparing a soundwalk which will be part of the Liminaria / Interferenze festival next month. (More on that in two weeks.) But when Leandro learned that my paternal grandfather's mother grew up in Colle, he generously offered to organize a three-day workshop and public presentation for me in my ancestral village. My great-grandmother and her family had deep roots in the area, and the locals graciously traced my genealogical tree and presented me with some amazing historical accounts, including of a mid-19th century uncle who fought the Piedmontese occupation of the South as a brigand, eventually spending nearly 45 years in exile on an island off the coast of Sardinia. All this was very emotional as you might imagine, and as no one in town spoke English, I was really forced to exercise my Italian. I conducted a three-day workshop, mostly leading soundwalks with high school students. I also interviewed townsfolk of all ages, and made many recordings all over the town, including the ubiquitous church bells which ring every 15 minutes (even at night…), the sound of various workers at work, the hum of the wind turbines, and of course all sorts of natural sounds. On Sunday evening, as part of the return of Liminaria, I made a public presentation to the town, giving a brief overview of sound studies and my artistic methodology (all in Italian!), before presenting a live soundscape composition based on the recordings and interviews I'd conducted during my workshop. I present that piece to you here: Ritmi Rurali (suonano ancora). As always, headphone listening recommended. Available wherever you get your podcasts. (Here’s a list.)
As I mentioned, I’m now in the second phase of my residency, so I haven't had time to finish up the next regular episode of the podcast, which is a tenth anniversary celebration of ACL. That tenth anniversary extravaganza should be in the feed within a couple weeks, featuring interviews with myself and my two co-founders, Jeremy Bye and the mighty Rev. Richard Allen himself, as well as many other past and present contributors. And lots more special guests coming after that.
ARRIVAL IN UTOPIA
We also recently published a new mix! Mixes have been less and less frequent lately, but I’m trying to get at least one new mix up monthly. To that effect, I’m pleased to share Arrival in Utopia. Modular synth group The Utopia Strong have just released their second album, International Treasure, via Rocket Recordings. On it, we find the trio—Steve Davis (international snooker player turned modular synth enthusiast), Kavus Torabi (The Cardiacs, Guapo, Holy Family), and Mike York (Coil, Teleplasmiste, The Holy Family)—radiating blissful psychedelia, exploratory electronic sound and touches of spiritual jazz. [What’s the Venn diagram of snooker fans and modular synth enthusiasts look like?] To celebrate their sophomore album, they’ve put together Arrival in Utopia, drawing on Torabi and Davis’ experience as radio hosts, weaving together old favorites with more recent cuts, including a track from International Treasure as well as from some of members’ other projects. Enjoy!
UKRAINIAN FIELD NOTES VIII
Episode VIII of Gianmarco Del Re’s Ukrainian Field Notes goes deep into Russian occupied territory for an interview with Kadaitcha in Nova Kakhovka.
We also hear from Arthur Mine with a new release on Muscut (the gloriously “retro-futurist” Urania), alongside Andrey Kostyukov, who just produced the programmatic album For fish who think they are swimming in the void while internally displaced, and the refreshingly ironic ТУЧА dissecting toxic relationships. Plus, Yurii Bazaka from kontrabass promo gives us an insight into fundraising activities for musicians on the warfront; Sasha Kladbische addresses misconceptions held by Western journalists, and Kiss Allah launches a new label.
To prove that Ukrainians are capable of humour even in adversity, we take a look at the work of the Dnipro based animator Mykyta Lyskov and we survey Ukrainian war memes with Dima Maleev. To round things off, we listen to both the latest Air Raid Siren podcast from Nina Eba, with testimonies and music from the Podil neighbourhood in Kyiv, and the most recent radio show from rinse.fr by @systemma1 with Sekta & NFNR. In addition, an all Ukrainian selection of ambient, dub and experimental music from Pymin (one of our very first interviewees) on Gasoline Radio.
And confident that by the end of the year we will have featured 100+ fundraising compilations, we add another 10 to our list, which still leaves us with a backlog, while the latest news update from Anton Somewhere brings the episode to a close.
RECENT REVIEWS
As always, reviews are at the heart of what we do at ACL. We receive hundreds of submissions each month, and do our best to share as much music as we can. We receive many more quality releases than we, an all-volunteer operation can hope to over, and perhaps I can find someway to share some of the records that we haven’t had time to cover here in this newsletter in the future. But for now, here are a few of my favorite reviews we posted on the blog in the last two weeks.
Leena Lee & Vania Fortuna ~ Niebla
Mexican artists Leena Lee and Vania Fortuna ask questions that place sound at the intersection of other media, sciences, and modes of expression, offering a delicate and intimate examination of ways in which the natural and the culturally conditioned felt and embodied can form a symbiotic system. Through teaching, designing, academic writing, and curatorial work, including the radio programme Surfaceless, The Skin is Not the Limit for Mexican Radio Nopal, Lena Ortega (aka Leena Lee) invites us to a kind of listening as a hybrid communion with the non-human, the symbolic and the allegoric. On equal terms, Vania Fortuna’s research and work with vocal improvisation, composition, sound art and sociology present the possibility of voice as a topology of emotions in the social plane. Both artists focus on asking questions about how we listen within and beyond ourselves in contact with our surroundings, socially, ecologically, and empathetically.
Machinefabriek with Anne Bakker ~ Wisps
Wisps is the perfect name for this mini-album. Wisps of Anne Bakker‘s voice, violin and viola gather and disperse throughout the release. On the cover, Wytske van der Veen uses scrap paper to create disconnected collages. Machinefabriek weaves his own wisps into the breaches and gaps; like the will-o’-the-wisp (ghost light) of folklore, the sounds beckon, flicker and fade. Another word for the effect is hinkypunk, which the duo may save for the title of a future collaboration.
Taylor Deupree ~ Small Winters
It seems incongruous to review a winter album in summer (apologies to our Australian readers, for whom the timing is perfect!). Even Puremagentik Tapes writes that the set “has a warmth that feels more like the stirring of earth.” But small winters need not be restricted to the calendar, as they may also capture a state of mind. In like fashion, we also prefer to play the cassette in reverse: Side B before Side A. Side B contains seven three-letter vignettes that match the title in size and tone (air, elm, tea, wet) and act as the score to a small winter. Tape loops, ARP 2600 and glockenspiel twirl through filtered light, exposing different facets to the sun. But the prize of the package is a plug-in bearing the tape’s title, created by Taylor Deupree and label owner Micah Frank. This plug-in is also available with the download for no extra charge, so fans can create their own cold seasons at home: an enjoyable pursuit should the summer heat begin to rage and the AC is not enough.
Various Artists ~ String Layers Vol. II
21 artists, 90 minutes of strings, all exclusive to this release ~ fans of modern composition, rejoice! We’re delighted to see so many names familiar to our site, including relative newcomers Toechter and Justina Jaruševičiūtė alongside stalwarts such as Julia Kent and Clarice Jensen, whose tracks were the album’s early preview pieces. But there’s plenty more to discover here. Devotees will learn new names, and wonder how they have been missed. While the compilation ticks off a number of boxes essential to such a collection ~ exclusivity, creativity, quality ~ the stated purpose of String Layers Vol. II is to highlight the variety of the orchestral staple. The set begins in accessible fashion, as Kent’s “Echo of Wings” eases listeners into the deep sounds of the cello. Kent was once affiliated with Antony and the Johnsons, which may serve as a selling point for newcomers. Then comes Sophia Jani, whose debut LP we reviewed last season, “Tulips” rife with keys, a continuation of the artist’s love for spring. We’d have been happy with an entire set like this, sinking into the serenade; but the album is not content to sit on its laurels.
UPCOMING RELEASES
(complete list with Bandcamp links here)
Here we are, safe on the shores of summer. For the first time in years, we’re relaxing and rejuvenating, coming out of our spiritual shells to look for shells on the beach. We’re retrieving our club clothes from our closets and preparing our campers for festival season. We’re driving around with our windows down and our speakers up. What new music will we add to our playlists this summer? There’s plenty to choose from below, and more is on the way, as new music is added to this page daily. We hope this will be an amazing summer for us all, and that you’ll find your next favorite album right here!
Jean D.L. ~ Zenaïde (Esc.rec., 30 June)
Subletvis ~ Not The Whole Truth (Ventil Records, 30 June)
Weldroid ~ Portal (Rednetic, 30 June)
Christine Burke ~ something kept close: outdoor music (Sawyer Editions, 1 July)
Cub\cub ~ Nothing New Under the Sun (Subexotic, 1 July)
Daniel Carter et al ~ Telepatica (577 Records, 1 July)
Forest Moody; Jack Yarbrough ~ abgeewigte line (Sawyer Editions, 1 July)
François Robin & Mathias Delplanque ~ L’ombre de la bête (Parenthesis Records, 1 July)
Jason Calhoun ~ ben c., this is for you (Lily Tapes, 1 July)
Julian Tenembaum ~ fragmentos (Schole, 1 July)
Lydia Winsor Bridamour ~ empty spaces (Sawyer Editions, 1 July)
Mark Ball ~ Amplified Guitar (The Garrote, 1 July)
Matsumoto / Shiroishi / Watanabe ~ Yellow (Dinzu Artefacts, 1 July)
Mike Lazarev ~ When You Are (Slowcraft, 1 July)
Nasim Khushnawaz ~ Songs from the Pearl of Khorasan (Worlds Within Worlds, 1 July)
The National Park Service ~ Rescuers’ Loops (Lily Tapes, 1 July)
Nicolas Picciotto ~ Beings From The Origins (Submarine Broadcasting Company, 1 July)
Part Timer ~ interiority complex (1 July)
Shimmering Moods ~ June 5-Album Batch (1 July)
Sophie Stone ~ amalgamations (Sawyer Editions, 1 July)
String Orchestra of Brooklyn ~ unfolding (New Focus, 1 July)
Sylvia Lim ~ sounds which grow richer as they decay (Sawyer Editions, 1 July)
William St. Hugh ~ Derelict in White (1 July)
Yui Onodera ~ Too Ne (Room40, 1 July)
Saga Martens ~ Riding Fences (Edições CN, 4 July)
Dronny Darko & G M Slater ~ Dissolving into Solitary Landscapes (Cryo Chamber, 5 July)
Delmore FX ~ Scompaio (Das Andere Selbst, 7 July)
Fantasma do Cerrado ~ Mapeamento de Terras a Noroeste de São Paulo de Piratininga (Municipal K7, 7 July)
Antti Tolvi ~ Spectral Organ / Feedback Gong (Room40, 8 July)
Catarina Barbieri ~ Spirit Exit (Warp, 8 July)
Delay/Aarset ~ Singles (Room40, 8 July)
Glenn Dickson ~ Wider Than The Sky (8 July)
Lily Tait & Sage Pbbbt ~ Garden Church (Tone List, 8 July)
Olec Mün & Michael Sarian ~ KURMA (piano & coffee records, 8 July)
Psycho & Plastic ~ Phantom Bliss (GiveUsYourGold, 8 July)
Timewitch ~ S/T (9 July)
Manja Ristić ~ Him, fast sleeping, soon he found In labyrinth of many a round, self-rolled (mappa, 12 July)
Jolanda Moletto ~ Nine Spells (Ambientologist, 13 July)
Amanda Irarrázabal and Miriam Den Boer Salmón ~ Fauces (577 Records, 15 July)
Amirtha Kidambi & Luke Stewart ~ Zenith/Nadir (Tripticks Tapes, 15 July)
Arp ~ New Pleasures (Mexican Summer, 15 July)
Blurstem & Elijah Bisbee ~ Geneva (Bigo & Twigetti, 15 July)
Caleb Wheeler Curtis ~ Heatmap (Imani, 15 July)
Foch | Delplanque ~ Live au GRM (Parenthèses Records, 15 July)
Gimmik ~ Sonic Poetry (n5MD, 15 July)
Helena Celle ~ Music for Counterflows (False Walls, 15 July)
Indian Wells ~ No One Really Listens to Oscillators (Mesh, 15 July)
Jim Baker/Brandon Lopez/Bill Harris ~ Dura (Amalgam, 15 July)
Kode9 ~ Escapology (Hyperdub, 15 July)
Madeleine Cocolas ~ Spectral (Room40, 15 July)
M. Geddas Gengras ~ Expressed, I Noticed Silence (Hausu Mountain, 15 July)
tino ~ Interpreting Clouds (sound as language, 15 July)
Darren McClure ~ Speed Up, Slow Down (Audiobulb, 16 July)
Leo Magdien ~ clairières (Ryoanji, 18 July)
Bridget Ferrill & Áslaug Magnúsdóttir ~ Woodwind Quintet (Subtext, 20 July)
Mark Vernon ~ Elsewhere in a Negative Mirror (Granny Records, 20 July)
Tomotsugu Nakamura ~ Nothing Left Behind (LAAPS, 21 July)
Arthur King ~ Changing Landscapes (Mina Las Pintadas) (AKP Recordings, 22 July)
bvdub ~ Decades on Divided Stars (Affin, 22 July)
Cape Canaveral ~ In the City I Can’t Sing (Machine Records, 22 July)
Channelers ~ Time, Space, and Thought (Inner Islands, 22 July)
Den Sorte Død ~ Depresiv Magi (Cyclic Law, 22 July)
Drew Mulholland ~ My Life With the Imber Goat Cult (1911-1913) (Subexotic, 22 July)
504 ~ Salvage Rhythms (Tone List, 22 July)
Galya Bisengalieva ~ Hold Your Breath: The Ice Dive (One Little Independent, 22 July)
Gary Collins ~ Skins (Subexotic, 22 July)
The Glass Pavilion ~ Consolation (22 July)
Hadi Bastani & Maryam Sirvan ~ trans.placed (Flaming Pines, 22 July)
Lifting Gear Engineer ~ Space Between (Machine Records, 22 July)
Lorna Dune ~ Anattā (Medicine for a Nightmare, 22 July)
Nordvargr ~ Resignation I-II-III (Cyclic Law, 22 July)
Rafael Anton Irisarri ~ Agitas Al Sol (Room40, 22 July)
Sam Prekop and John McEntire ~ Sons of (Thrill Jockey, 22 July)
Tegh & Adel Poursamadi ~ Ima ایما (Injazero, 22 July)
Contemplator ~ Morphose (29 July)
Glass Horizon ~ Precipitation (100% Silk, 29 July)
Healing Force Project ~ Drifted Entities Vol. 1 (Beat Machine, 29 July)
Iceberg ~ Final Thaw (Astral Spirits, 29 July)
Jeremy Cunningham / Justin Laurenzi / Paul Bryan ~ A Better Ghost (Northern Spy, 29 July)
Mario Diaz de Leon ~ Heart Thread (Denovali, 29 July)
Mark Vernon ~ A World Behind This World (Persistence of Sound, 29 July)
Nate Wooley ~ Ancient Songs of Burlap Heroes (Pyroclastic, 29 July)
Velt ~ Allotrope (Bigo & Twigetti, 29 July)
Black Sky Giant ~ Falling Mothership (Made of Stone, 30 July)
Raven Musen ~ Peppermint Soldier (Werra Forma, 30 July)
BI DA DOOM ~ graceful collision (Astral Spirits, 5 August)
Keefe Jackson / Oscar Jan Hoogland / Joshua Abrams / Mikel Patrick Avery ~
These Things Happen (Astral Spirits, 5 August)
Lunar Lemur ~ Sifting Stars (5 August)
Pierce Warnecke ~ Deafened by the Noise of Time (Room40, 5 August)
Shepherd Stevenson ~ Man Down (Somewherecold, 5 August)
Concussed ~ Electromagnetic Dust (Somewherecold, 12 August)
Kim Myhr ~ Sympathetic Magic (Hubro, 12 August)
Pulselovers ~ Circles Within Circles (Subexotic, 12 August)
Susie Ibarra & Tashi Dorji ~ Master of Time (Astral Spirits, 12 August)
Strangebird~Sounds ~ Lavender River (Audiobulb, 13 August)
Gregor Dys ~ riss (14 August)
Steve Fors ~ It’s Nothing, But Still (Hallow Ground, 19 August)
Szun Waves ~ Earth Patterns (Leaf, 19 August)
3 Electro Knights ~ Rave One EP (Post Records, 19 August)
Brown Calvin ~ dimension // perspective (AKP Recordings, 26 August)
Cape Canaveral ~ The Observatory (Machine Records, 28 August)
Rachika Nayar ~ Heaven Come Crashing (NNA Tapes, 26 August)
THLTTLDBB ~ SeeUSearching (Somewherecold, 26 August)
Dario Crisman ~ The Nature of Thoughts (Bigo & Twigetti, 9 September)
Hekla ~ Xiuxiuejar (Phantom Limb, 9 September)
XINDL ~ 11 (STRD, 22 September)
Daniel Avery ~ Ultra Truth (Mute, 4 November)