Petrels

from 'Mima' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den194
available on all formats at [http://denovali.com/petrels]

MIMA is the third album on Denovali Records from London-based musician Oliver Barrett - aka PETRELS. Following on from the highly praised Petrels debut Haeligewielle ("Petrels has provided us with what has to be the strongest solo debut from a musician so far in 2011." - Fluid Radio) and second album Onkalo ("A calm, thoughtful place in the centre of a universe tearing itself apart." - Muzik Dizcovery) Mima is a further development and distillation of the distinctive sonic palette and inquisitive approach that have come to characterise Petrels so far.

Named after the semi-mystical automaton from Harry Martinson's long-form sci-fi poem 'Aniara', Mima builds on the retro-futuristic themes of Onkalo and delves deeper into ideas that lie between the twin poles of faith and uncertainty. A deep interest in mythology, and the part it plays in human development, has been a fundamental part of previous Petrels releases and Mima serves to take this interest further, asking; What place does myth have in our future understanding if we seek to claim the answers to every question? And what myths could we seek to build for ourselves in the future? Drawing inspiration from sources as wide-ranging as the Space Race, Angela Carter, early Cosmology, M. John Harrison, witchcraft, Iain M. Banks Culture novels, and the films of Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Mima is another immersive sonic landscape from Petrels - more interested in posing questions than providing easy answers.

Since releasing Haeligewielle in 2011, Petrels has toured across Europe and shared a stage with the likes of Tim Hecker, FIRE!, Nate Young (Wolf Eyes), Trouble Books, Fennesz, Nadja, and Hans-Joachim Roedelius (Cluster).  Having also collaborated with and provided remixes for artists as varied as Duane Pitre, Brassica, Talvihorros and Max Cooper, Petrels' output is proving to be thrillingly eclectic and unpredictable.

Petrels - A Carapace For Carter's Snort

Andrea Belfi - "Natura Morta" out november 7th on Miasmah.

Natura Morta, "dead nature" or "still life". This album can be understood as a powerful study of the minute details of the art of electro-acoustic composition, as much as the Renaissance "nature morte" were a masterful display of the artist’s skill in portraying the glow of a ripe fruit, or capturing the light beaming on a vacant chair.

Six tracks, to be listened to as two long explorations in the art of variation and repetition. Layers of drums and percussions intertwine with synth waves making the portrait come to life, detail after detail, until a complex figure emerges from the white canvas. The constant, unsteady sounds, wavering noise, swirling cymbals, and distant feedback gently pull the listener into the picture, letting them enjoy every detail of this beautifully staged compositions.

Recorded at EMS studio, Stockholm, ZKM in Karlsruhe and at the legendary Funkhaus in Berlin, this album mixes influences from both Italian minimalism and the electro-acoustic contemporary scene. Somewhere in between the electronics of Keith Fullerton Whitman, the percussive repetitions of Jon Mueller, and the atmospheric sensibility of Pan-American.

Andrea Belfi - Roteano

from the album 'sea island' available 11/17

loscil 'sturgeon bank'

What can I say about Carsten Nicolai that I have not said before? It feels that only just the other day, I revisited his catalogue and sang high praises for his album HYbr:ID II, which I then highlighted in my Best of 2023 list, Music For Synergizing The Synapse Of Ideas. You should check out that write-up, where I quickly go over his monumental contribution to electronic music (it's up on my site). And here we are again, with an anticipated follow-up, the third entry in Alva Noto‘s series initiated in 2021. For this instalment, Nicolai explores the Noh.  “Drawing inspiration from Noh, a traditional Japanese musical drama dating back to the 14th century, the album reflects the genre’s distinctive rhythmic movements and its nuanced expression of emotions through subtle gestures.” Just as with the previous two volumes, the compositions on the album capture the music commissioned to a ballet score by an American choreographer, Richard Siegal – the first two came from Ectopia, and this third one is for the Ballet of (Dis)Obedience (check out a teaser here). And, just like the first two releases, it comes with a fantastic graphical score for each piece. I’m trying to follow this visualisation along with its sonic incarnation, and it’s like deciphering an alien script. This wonderful mystery adds a touch of fascination to the piece. And yet, the music is enthralling on its own…

HYbr:ID III

HYbr:ID Noh Talk

NOTON Shop

TRACK PREMIERE : Alva Noto - HYbr:ID Noh Talk

I’ve been mesmerised with the sound of Deaf Center since the very beginning. I think it’s been more than 20 years now since their Neon City EP was released on Type. This is way before I even knew that behind the project was a Norwegian duo who started making music together as friends. This is before I knew their names to be Erik K Skodvin and Otto A. Totland. Before I listened to, admired, and celebrated their solo works on here. And, before I met each one in person, and of course, before we naturally became friends. This is precisely why, when it came to launching Headphone Community and deciding on who I should profile there from the start, I reached out to Erik and his partner Monique Recknagel (who runs Sonic Pieces imprint) to pitch them this idea (it was actually when I visited their mi-so shop in Berlin). This is why Erik is the currently featured artist for the month of May on Headphone Community (join for just $1 for an intimate journey!), and this is why I am premiering this track for you today. It’s been another long period of silence for Deaf Center, but the two long-form pieces on Reverie clearly show that they have not put their collaboration on hold. If anything, it has only evolved into a hypnotic meditation on Otto’s keys and Erik’s strings, guitar, effects, and atmospherics, designed for a very deep listening session. The recordings actually come from a live performance in October 2024 in Rabih Beaini’s studio, Morphine Raum in Berlin, during the 15th anniversary celebration of Sonic Pieces. This is less of an improvisation and more of a dialogue between the two friends who haven’t spoken in a while. It is truly magical, and I only wish I could be there to experience it live.

In “Rev”, deeply effected piano motifs reverberate and echo in the depths of the room, evolving through looping and electronics into a blissful, mesmerising cloud of (dis)harmony. The sound is reminiscent of the 7inch “Vintage Well” mixed with the basic elements of 2011’s “Owl Splinters”. […] The immediate duality of the two performers has rarely been so strongly felt, Totland’s deep melodic feeling is underscored by Skodvin’s abstract ambience and processing. Dark versus light, loud versus quiet – this has always been at the core of what makes Deaf Center a special project.

TRACK PREMIERE : Deaf Center - Rev (excerpt)

This remix has been made using exclusively a Prophet 08 and the music recorded by Ochre.

Ochre - Paper Unicorn (Marc Melià Remix)

Limited blue vinyl+digital edition (300 copies)
GZH71 | Release Date : February 17th, 2017
PRE-ORDER >> http://www.gizehstore.com/products/foudre-earth

EARTH is the third opus of FOUDRE! - a telluric drone qu​artet​ composed of Frédéric D. Oberland (Oiseaux-Tempête, The Rustle Of The Stars​, FareWell Poetry​), Romain Barbot (Saåad, I Pilot Dæmon)​,​ Grégory Buffier (Saåad, Autre​n​oir), Paul Régimbeau (Mondkopf, Extreme Preca​u​tions​, Autrenoir​)​, featuring electric chimeras by Christine Ott​ ​on ondes martenot. ​

​Commissioned by Silke Schmickl from Lowave for the festival 'Singapour Mon Amour'​ in Paris, this album was recorded in the 16th century gothic church of Saint-Merry ​in ​June 2015​ as​ a live soundtrack performance for EARTH ​- ​an experimental film directed by one of the most important Singaporean contemporary artists, Ho Tzu Nyen​. Acclaimed by art and film critics worldwide and presented at some of the most prestigious international film festivals (Cannes, Venice, Rotterdam..)​, EARTH is inspired by the works of classical European painters such as Caravaggio, Rembrandt and Delacroix​. ​The film unfolds dramatically as the camera moves across a theatrically choreographed scene involving 50 actors, as the details of a post-apocalyptic landscape are revealed frame by frame.

Ho Tzu Nyen on E​ARTH​: 
“We see the site of an unknown disaster, the debris of history that constitutes the story of Earth. Upon the site, lay fifty 50 humans oscillating between consciousness and unconsciousness, life and death. Sometimes, one of them emerges into the foreground - clutching a fist, batting an eyelid, or weeping for his neighbor. At other times, these figures recede from the light, losing their individual shapes to form a gigantic organism, breathing in unison, pulsating like a jellyfish, though their journey across Earth.”

Original soundtrack​ by FOUDRE!​ recorded live by Samuel Navel at église Saint-Merry, Paris, on the 7th of June 2015 during the 'Singapour Mon Amour' festival curated by Lowave & Les Rendez-Vous Contemporains // Edited by FOUDRE! at Magnum Diva Studio // Mixed by Samuel Navel // Mastered by Lawrence English // Still-frames by Ho Tzu Nyen // Graphic design by Iam Sailor // Thank you Silke, Jeremy, Mickaël, Patricia, Taissa, Baptiste, Marguerite, Frédéric, Eglantine & Babbel Productions, As Human Pattern & Gizeh Records​

Frédéric D. Oberland​ /​ mellotron, analog synths, buzuk 
Romain Barbot​ /​ electronics 
Gregory Buffier​ /​ ​acoustic laptop​, electric guitar 
Paul Régimbeau​/​ analog synths 
Christine Ott​ /​ ondes martenot

INTERVIEW​ 
>> www.lowave.com/singapour-mon-amour/p3.htm

WEBSITE
>> foudrenoise.bandcamp.com/


AmbientDroneSoundtrackPsychedelicModern-classical

EARTH [OST] 

Goliath

TOMAGA "Memory In Vivo Exposure" (12"/DL).
HITD 037
Release date: 8th December 2017

All tracks composed, perfomed & recorded by TOMAGA
Mastering by Mike Grinser @ D&M, Berlin
Original cover photograph by David Child

Label, orders: www.handsinthedarkrecords.com

TOMAGA - Memory In Vivo Exposure (Parts 1 & 2)

Mashup made  in a sleepless night, two songs merged together and it comes a new, intriguing and fascinating song, I hope you enjoy!  Deep ambient,  for open-minded listeners .

Ryuichi Sakamoto & Alva Noto & Jack DeJohnette -  Disturbed Anatolia

One of the pieces I wrote as part of the score to the 2012 documentary film, "Outliers Vol. 1: Iceland".

More info here: www.outliersiceland.com

Black Beach (Outliers Vol. 1)

from 'The Dusk Loom' [CD|LP|DIGITAL]
Denovali Records · den320
available on all formats at https://denovali.com/petrels

Oliver Barrett returns with his first Petrels album in three years; The Dusk Loom. Having put out a steady album-a-year since 2011, culminating in 2016’s Jörð, Barrett decided to take a step back from the project for a while, not wanting to releasing albums out of habit and wanting to be sure that there was something new to say.

The result is at once the most expansive but also personal Petrels release to date. Three years in the making, The Dusk Loom builds on the eclectic sonic palette of Barrett’s back catalogue but brings these sounds into sharper focus than ever before. Those hoping for the all-enveloping dynamics and textures of past Petrels releases will not be disappointed, but over the ten parts of The Dusk Loom, Barrett puts this trademark euphoric aural scree to work in new and unexpected ways.

Drawing on myriad influences as fans of Barrett’s have come to expect, the resulting themes of the album are perhaps woven more intricately than before. In The Dusk Loom, Barrett takes an evocative approach to storytelling that asks the listener to draw their own meanings from the clues and references running through the sounds and words. Finding inspiration in mythology - both ancient and new, the work and writing of Remedios Varo and William Blake, memory, death and cosmology to name just a few, Barrett pulls these seemingly disparate strands together into something that is unmistakably Petrels but which also points the way to something new.

Petrels is the solo project of Somerset-based musician and artist, Oliver Barrett. Since releasing his debut, Haeligewielle, in 2011, Petrels has toured across Europe and shared a stage with the likes of Jóhann Jóhannsson, Tim Hecker, FIRE!, Nate Young (Wolf Eyes), Trouble Books, Demdike Stare, Nadja, and Hans-Joachim Roedelius (Cluster).

“Petrels sidesteps the chilliness found in much of the music of his peers, replacing it instead with an almost spiritual ecstasy, his ravishing synths and almost choral vocal treatments calling out in cosmic, wide eyed wonder at the universe.” – Paul Margree, Louder Than War

The Dusk Loom

Petrels - Tiny Specks of Light

Petrels - Surface of Last Scattering

Petrels - Telos

Petrels - The Hermit King

Through Inland - Vanessa Wagner - was able to gift us with imaginary landscapes, through which the listeners could roam freely in a gently throbbing natural world, and where each note was a step and every sound formed a path… Inland Versions is the electronic extension of the project and includes 6 reworks by GAS, Suzanne Ciani, Vladislav Delay, Marc Melia, Hüma Utku and Nadia Struiwigh 

Your are listening to https://soundcloud.com/nadiastruiwigh rework for Vanessa Wagner´s piano solo interpretation for Philip Glass`s Etude 9. 

Inland Remixes available in 12" and all digital platforms on september 27th 

Preorder on Bleep (clear vinyl version ) -https://bleep.com/release/138667-vanessa-wagner-inland-versions

Petrels - A Carapace For Carter's Snort

Denovali

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