Pol Small: Tapan
Gabriel Valtchev: Tapan
Camille Emaille: Gongs, métaux
février 2021

OTTO

Lake From The Louvers is a new solo work for concrete sounds, electronics and instruments from Australian composer-performer James Rushford, who has spent the last fifteen years honing his singular approach to composition and performance through solo works and collaborations with artists such as Oren Ambarchi, Crys Cole, Will Guthrie, Graham Lambkin and Klaus Lang.

Created primarily during a stay at the La Becque, an artist residency on the shores of Lake Geneva, Lake From The Louvers draws inspiration from the play of shadow and light on both the surface of the lake and the window through which Rushford viewed this lacustrine landscape. While the lake is itself at times directly audible in the form of field recordings, the image suggested by the record’s title is less directly represented than translated into sonic structures inspired, as Rushford explains, by ‘the passing of shadow through a fixed space’. The movement of light across these two flat surfaces, lake and window, finds its sonic equivalent in these eleven pieces, in which fragments and particles of sound – highly amplified crunches, synthesized squawks and pings, harp notes – ripple across the length of each track. Fixed sets of elements define each piece, often moulded into ephemeral ensembles in which individual voices consistently fade away and reappear.

Rushford’s performances on various keyboards provide the unstable, wavering foundations of many of these pieces, with microtonal tunings adding a woozy, seasick edge to his stately, often stunningly beautiful playing. Each side of the LP ends with an extended keyboard work: the first for groaning, sighing church organ, the second for a psychedelic cloud of detuned synthesizer tones in which harmonic fragments sink into their own melancholic recollection. Elsewhere the record makes use of elements as varied as microtonal harp, skittering drum machines and synthetic marimba, establishing a sound palette remarkable for its breadth, as well as its sparkling, glittering quality. Where many of Rushford’s solo projects have taken the form of long works with a sombre cast, Lake From The Louvers is strikingly bright and accessible, a series of sonic glimpses in which, like a late Monet, the shimmer of light undoes the distinction between image and reflection, foreground and background, surface and depth.

Mastered by Stephan Mathieu, cut at D+M. Printed artwork on inner and outer sleeves by Valle Medina and Benjamin Reynolds (Pa.LaC.E).
Design by Bartolomé Sanson. Released in collababoration with La Becque Editions.

JAMES RUSHFORD 'U+25CF' (SP131)

Matt Evans - Percussion
Henry Fraser - Double Bass
Lucia Stavros - Harp
Lester St. Louis - Cello 

Composition + electronics by Lea Bertucci, 2021

Of Shadow And Substance (Excerpt)

Dans le parc national Madidi en Bolivie, les voix de la forêt se mêlent aux rondes des gardes-forestiers. Entre singes hurleurs, drône, vocalises de grenouilles, pirogue à moteur, brûlis, imitations de caïman et d'oiseaux, les mondes humains, animaux et technologiques s'enchevêtrent.  La pièce sonore propose une exploration plastique d'une nature habitée là où, plus qu'un simple paysage, elle devient sujet. Les gardes-forestiers sont les médiateurs de ce parcours qui chaque fois devient plus organique et désorientant.

Avec : lever de soleil, chants d’oiseaux, drone, ruche d’abeilles, grenouille, alligator, singes arraignées, eau dans un conteneur de béton, rivière, bateau gonflable, singes hurleurs, vent, feu, pluie, imitation, pirogue à moteur, oropendolas, oiseau tigre

Prix de Field recording au Phonurgia Nova Award 2022

Avec la participation et collaboration des gardes-forestiers Marcos, Heriberto, Juan, Dario, Remberto, Ernesto, Estefania, Diego, Cabea et Viktor du parc national Madidi en Amazonie bolivienne.

La pièce a été tournée à Apolo, Ichuramada, rio Tuichi, lagunas hermanas, Sadiri, Bala, Parabal, pampas d'Ixiamas.

Merci au SERNAP pour l'accès au parc.

Couverture : Iga Vandenhove

*SP : En el parque nacional Madidi en Bolivia, las voces del bosque se mezclan con los patrullajes de los guardaparques. Entre monos aulladores, drone, cantos de ranas, canoa a motor, chaqueos, imitaciones de caimán y de aves…Los mundos humanos, vegetales y animales se funden. La pieza sonora propone una exploración plástica de la naturaleza no como simple paisaje sino como sujeto en sí. Los guardaparques son los mediadores del recorrido que se vuelve cada vez más orgánico y desorientador.

**Con : amaneceres, aves, drone, colmena de abejas, ranas, lagarto, monos arañas, agua en un contenedor de hormigón, rio, balsa inflable, monos aulladores, viento, fuego, lluvia, imitaciones, canoa a motor, oropéndolas, pájaro tigre

Premio de Field recording en los Phonurgia Nova Award 2022

Con la participación y la colaboración de los guardaparques Marcos, Heriberto, Juan, Dario, Remberto, Ernesto, Estefania, Diego, Cabea et Viktor del parque nacional Madidi en la Amazonia boliviana.

La pieza ha sido grabada en Apolo, Ichuramada, rio Tuichi, lagunas hermanas, Sadiri, Bala, Parabal, pampas de Ixiamas.

Gracias al SERNAP para ingresar al parque Madidi.

Covertura : Iga Vandenhove

LAS VOCES DEL BOSQUE MADIDI

ESSEL

London based violinist, vocalist and composer Vanessa Bedoret shares an hour of selections... 
https://www.nts.live/shows/guests/episodes/vanessa-bedoret-20th-september-2023

Vanessa Bedoret 200923

masquerade [blue edit] is a very short version of a longer track to be released in 2024

Link to the YouTube video : youtu.be/QeitXH7993Y

Written, composed, produced by Amélie Nilles
Mix : Filippos Sakagian & Amélie Nilles
Mastering : Filippos Sakagian

masquerade [blue edit]

How do artists draw inspiration from urban modernity and technology, or, on the opposite, connect their creative impulse to the forces of nature ? 
The various pieces connected in these shows reveal a broad spectrum of technical approaches and aesthetics, dispersing sounds in an intimately infinite cosmos of frequencies.

Intimate Cosmologies w/ Aesthesis (14/12/23)

PAM, previously host of beloved NTS show Okonkole Y Trompa, joins you for a dawn chorus every Thursday. Traversing obscure rarities, globetrotting vintage pop and beyond. 
Find the full tracklist and related episodes on NTS: https://www.nts.live/shows/early-bird-show-w-pam/episodes/early-bird-show-w-pam-7th-march-2024

The Early Bird Show w/ PAM 070324

hentairavegod & RW12 - Winged Beauties (Frenchcore)

the frog liliputian hunter gatherers team is live from the Montreuil studio for sub-swamp & top sharp audio-tutorials, gigantic b2b sharing micro-macro glitchy wormsteps

Le Frit b2b maquis son sistèm (21/05/24)

Amelie Nilles is a French composer and spatial audio expert from Paris, drawing inspiration from her background in singing and drumming on the jazz music scenes. Explorer of experimental realms, she offers an aesthetic approach to spatialisation in her music. Under the guidance of composer Régis Renouard-Larivière, she honed her skills in electroacoustic composition, while she was simultaneously pursuing her Master's degree at Paris 8 University, delving into research exploring the spatial dimension of music. Constantly in the process of creating sound environments, she crafts captivating soundscapes weaving together her voice, field recordings, electronic textures, and organic rhythms. In November 2021, she unveiled her debut EP, 'A croqué le fruit étrange', on Planisphère label, introducing listeners to her deeply personal and experimental universe, both dark and pop. Since then, she has performed live at various venues across Austria, France, Germany, and Greece, has designed multichannel sound installations, collaborating with diverse artists along the way. Among the themes dear to her, she challenges the intrusion of technology in every aspect of our lives without ever questioning it. While we tend to forget that humans are living beings among others, she advocates for a re-humanization of society, in opposition to trans-humanism.

masquerade [blue edit]

AMELIE NILLES

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