Category Archives: Releases

[Eg0_142] Jeff Sampson : Mining Obscurity

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After the minimal and droney Energy of the Multiverse, Jeff Sampson offers us a quite different album containing pieces recorded between 2003 and 2015,  Mining Obscurity. This album lets us discover a wider part of his rich sound palette, while the whole remains very cohesive, demonstrating that the author has a clear and mature vision about his own work.

The foreground vocal melodies in Unaware & Kage are very touching and catchy despite (thanks to?) their sober atmosphere – far away from the stereotyped & overdone gimmicks of most pop singers. The other tracks (using mainly synthesizers and field recordings) are more abstract, while keeping a strong emotional background. Each one has its own nuance, from serenity to darker shades, and contributes to the unique atmosphere of “Mining Obscurity”, an album that manages to blend the smoothness of ambient music and the rough edges of sound experimentation with the depth of human feelings.

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Notes by the artist:

This is a small collection of songs created over a slightly larger period of time.
Working the Stream was started in 2006, sat forelorn for several years and completed in 2014.
The original recording for Unaware was in 2003. It was hiding in a hard drive folder waiting for rediscovery in 2014, which is when it was finished.
The Morning After: most of the work was in 2010. Tweaked and mastered 2015.
Kage also began life in 2010. Worked on it off and on. An earlier version was released on Necktar 2017 Volume 7.
Slopes of Ngranek was begun in 2009 and promptly put into hibernation. Large and small parts were added this year. There’s also a thing in it I had saved from 1984.

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Jeff Sampson: voices; synthesizers; field recordings; found sounds; sundry hits, slips and blips

Jeph Jerman (on Slopes of Ngranek): clarinet; additional sundry noises

[Eg0_141] XtetX : Nabemono

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XtetX is a free improvisation collective that was founded around the end of 2014. It comprises from 2 to X members depending on the occasion. After various sessions as a trio and duo, their first playing time as quartet took place in may 2015 and gave birth to the material published today on their first album Nabemono.

Don’t be mistaken by the introductory track : XtetX is not a rock band, but they’ve decided not to restrain themselves to a specific esthetic. They are able to produce catchy melodic tunes, but also storms of chaotic noise, minimal drone, and unidentified sound objects, taking advantage from the diverse backgrounds of each participant and the unpredictable results of their blending. Nabemono unveils only a small part of these possibilities…

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Credits

All tracks recorded may 3, 2015, featuring

Doedelzak : analog synthetizer
Missing O : laptop
Torbill : guitar
Kecap Tuyul : prepared guitar, voice

Recorded and mixed by Kecap Tuyul

Artwork: paintings by Héloïse, design by Doedelzak

[Eg0_140] Kecap Tuyul : Tunnel Songs

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With Tunnel Songs, Kecap Tuyul delivers his possibly darkest batch of half improvised ritual tunes to date. Prepared guitar is still at the core of his music, but voice and melodies are getting more in the foreground than before.  The tracks of the album were loosely recorded between 2009 & 2014, and patiently mixed between 2012 & 2015 in various places.

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[Eg0_139] Ayato & Naoki Ishida : Red_control rec​.​played

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Ayato & Naoki Ishida have been collaborating online since a few years. Their blending of field recordings from their two countries (France, Japan) create a new, unstable but welcoming sound territory. Their latest album Red_control rec​.​played has a dream-like quality: a somehow arbitrary mixture that you accept as a coherent whole – as long as you accept the trip as it comes without thinking about where it can lead…

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For solo albums of the 2 artists, check their official sites:

[Eg0_137] Slo-Blo : Périgée

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The eclipse of the sun that was visible in Europa on 20 march 2015 inspired some music to Slo-Blo, an experimental DIY musician who also runs the Tape-Safe label.  Périgée was recorded mainly with a cicruit-bended bontempi synth, guitar, a low-cost phone, loopers, effects . The result is a dense vibrating drone enhanced by hypntoic muffled beat. High quality abstract ambient with a good balance between darkness and light.

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[Eg0_136] Gusev K.P. : Mnogoodin

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There are different ways to use electronic devices and computers in music. Some works that are produced with such tools are often criticized for being too mechanical : just a mix of various samples and effects. On the opposite some composers use electronics in a rather traditional way: like instruments they have to master in order to give life to what they have in their mind.

Gusev K.P ‘s relation to electronic tools sound different to our ears: his works remind us elements of early electronic improvisations, 90s “glitch”, generative music. His latest album Mnogoodin seems to countain a part of randomness (like complex patches evolving by themeselves), but we also feel a distinct warm / human feeling in it, an almost “jazzy” way of playing. We don’t know much about the intentions and methods of Gusev K.P., who simply presents himself as “a musician (from Moscow, Russia) with an interest in merging styles and experimenting with formal aspects”. Anyway the result of his live playing is in the same time strange and pleasant, irregular (in details) and cohesive as a whole.

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[Eg0_135] Achondar : Vicious Servant

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Vicious Servant is the second album of dark ambient band Achondar, who take a part of their inspirations from video games. As they say themselves “”Vicious Servant” serves as an “alternate soundtrack” and is a tribute album to a classic 1998 French cinematic platformer, Heart of Darkness. Eight pieces that comprise the record are meant to complement the game’s levels and they underline their menacing, dangerous and evil nature. The album is dedicated to the memory of Christian Robert, the art director of Heart of Darkness responsible for the game’s memorable and beautiful visual design, who sadly passed away in 2010.”

But obviously the album can also be enjoyed by people who aren’t into games. The 8 tracks of Vicious Servant take us into different mysterious places : foggy, chtonian, ethereal, with enough contrasts between them to sustain your attention without losing their atmospheric coherence.

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[Eg0_134] N. Fushigi : Terrorism

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N. Fushigi is a relatively recent one-man project: vocalist, pianist, guitarist, composer. His first album Terrorism was firstly self-published and we thought it deserves more exposure. This is a powerful work that combines various sonic nuances (industrial rock, darkwave, dark ambient) within a thrilling narrative structure (the author says it’s an album “about dark places and dark stories centered around three main pieces called “Digressions” that depict various themes: ghost towns, zombie bikers and cold war nuclear facilities”). The well balanced constrats between  short catchy tunes, minimal ambient ones, and more complex ones (“digression”) makes the whole  album easy to listen despite its complexity. Definitely an artist to follow (his second album is currently under construction)

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[Eg0_133] Half Evidence : Entreciel

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Time after time, Half Evidence‘s sound becomes more incisive, and their playing more focused, alternating smoothly between meditative atmospheres and explosive intensities . Their new album Entreciel (consisting of 2 tracks improvised and recorded on 9 november 2014) features also a regular use of voices by both members Charles premier and Kecap Tuyul, which enhances the incantatory dimension of their music.

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Reviews

David Nemeth / Acts of Silence (june 3, 2015)

“Half Evidence is the duo of Charles premier and Kecap Tuyul, who are no strangers to the netlabel world. Solo or working with others, premier and Tuyul have made a variety of experimental music in the Creative Commons scene from the ambient to noise, but always live and improvised. Enterciel on Eg0cide Productions is their latest release.

premier and Tuyul’s latest as the duo Half Evidence is Entreciel and, by my count, it’s their fifth release over the last several years, however they have released work on the Necktar and Classwar Karaoke compilations as well. Their first work as a duo was on 2 x 2 (2012), an Eg0cide Production release which featured Tuyul with premier on a track called, “Half Evidence” and another track with Tuyul and Matthew Tyas called “Pasta Doble”. The liner notes mention that the musician Mescalibur  introduced Tuyul to both premiere and Tyas as well as recorded and mixed the “Half Evidence” track. The new duo of premiere and Tuyul would later continue making music together under the moniker Half Evidence. Most of their work has been released on the Eg0cide Productions netlabel.

In listening to Half Evidence’s early work, the releases are consistent good and they are able to keep the listener’s attention as they go from quiet to intense and loud to slow. The first track of Half Evidence’s Entreciel continues their outstanding work though this time voices are added into the fray. As “D’orage-patienter” begins with a Half Evidence whispering to you, making sure you are comfortable and relaxed, maybe they are even offering you a beer. But as the track progresses, you realize that Half Evidence is ripping at your ears, tearing them slowly off, leaving the sides of your head a mixture of blood and sound. You relish in your masochism, enjoying the assault, soaking in the sonic vibrations as best as you can.

Maybe that previous paragraph is filled with ridiculous hyperbole which was most likely caused by listening to some insipid shit previously to my first listen of Enterciel. Regardless of where my head was when I was jotting down my notes, after repeated listens, “D’orage-patienter” is still quite intense.

“D’essor-s’essouffler”, the second and last track of Entreciel, is just as forceful as the opening track though it seems to use more vocal improvisation then it’s predecessor. “D’essor-s’essouffler” grabs and twists you into unbelievable contortions and then releases you into a solitude of noise.

For a long form improvisational experimental album, Half Evidence’s Entreciel keeps the listener intrigued and never bored. Entreciel is most likely Half Evidence’s best release to date, but that should take nothing away from their previous releases which are head and shoulders above some of the work of their peers. Maybe the success of their sound has to do with their frequent collaborations with others — you know that he ability to play well with others. I surely don’t know, but I do enjoy being the recipient of such a wonderful work as Half Evidence’s Entreciel.”

http://www.actsofsilence.com/album-review/half-evidence-enterciel/