music and everything else
ananas(at)cesnak.org

eastern daze: inside bratislava's sonics

RBNX performing live on Listening Lectures in Radost.

Bratislava is a prime example of the historical ruptures that shaked the Central and Eastern European region in the last century. The ethnical composition of the city changed drastically in the course of just 30 years between the…

killedincars: RM74 - Reflex (Utech, 2010) I covered Reto Mäder’s latest RM74 project (Reflex) briefly before with an audio track. I’ve listened to the album repeatedly since then, and considering it was generously provided to me for review, I figured I’d expand on my previous mention. Mr. Mäder’s involved in several different projects, of which I’m most familiar with Sum of R (doom metal), and each has a distinctive sound, but also possess something of a compatible mood with the others. Reflex is serious, intellectual, and well-developed, all fine qualities that Mäder displays in his other work.In fact, as I made note of in my prior blurb, I think the craftsmanship of Reflex is perhaps its single greatest strength. When you’re talking about a record that swells and recedes in volume and density, as this record does, the distinctions start to be what matters. The textures on this record are very pleasing and complex, but the ability to compose dense drones that rise and fall in importance to the track is more and more commonplace. In short, we’re in something of a drone revival, and there is plenty to love. RM74 sets itself apart in a few ways; the more recognizable electroacoustic elements are nicely placed in the tracks, providing counterpoint while also lending a certain perspective to the tracks.In fact, RM74 has mastered making tracks feel larger than your average drone by utilizing this perspective in miniature. That is, RM74 has utilized volume dynamics in a way that makes the relative sizes of the sounds seem great, thereby making the track feel as if it is covering a lot more ground, or more specifically, consuming a lot more ground. The extra trick here is that all of the sounds can play either role. Sometimes chiming sounds are small versus a large, static-y drone. Other times, the rattling of objects builds and moves before blending into a surging drone.Reflex features some commonplace compositional techniques. While many musics start quiet, rush to loud, and end with quiet, drone provides its sense of movement via this technique to a greater extent. Dynamic volume as a whole (versus the different volumes of the relative parts) aids in movement and insertion (or deletion) of different streams of sound into the drone. If drone’s engine is the rise and fall of volume, then its destination is a new stream of sound. How well blended the initial drone is with its transformed counterpart at the end of the track often determines the perceived quality of the track. Thankfully, Reflex not only features dynamic internal construction and a sense of larger movement, it successfully changes dramatically from beginning to end.All in all, I found myself initially enjoying the feeling of the album, but later returning to thoughts about how well it was done. This record hopefully will gain enough word of mouth to earn Mr. Mäder the ears he justly deserves.(note: the above art is the same as the cover, but the cover crops off the rectangle into a square and adds the title)

killedincars:

RM74 - Reflex (Utech, 2010)

I covered Reto Mäder’s latest RM74 project (Reflex) briefly before with an audio track. I’ve listened to the album repeatedly since then, and considering it was generously provided to me for review, I figured I’d expand on my previous mention. Mr. Mäder’s involved in several different projects, of which I’m most familiar with Sum of R (doom metal), and each has a distinctive sound, but also possess something of a compatible mood with the others. Reflex is serious, intellectual, and well-developed, all fine qualities that Mäder displays in his other work.

In fact, as I made note of in my prior blurb, I think the craftsmanship of Reflex is perhaps its single greatest strength. When you’re talking about a record that swells and recedes in volume and density, as this record does, the distinctions start to be what matters. The textures on this record are very pleasing and complex, but the ability to compose dense drones that rise and fall in importance to the track is more and more commonplace. In short, we’re in something of a drone revival, and there is plenty to love. RM74 sets itself apart in a few ways; the more recognizable electroacoustic elements are nicely placed in the tracks, providing counterpoint while also lending a certain perspective to the tracks.

In fact, RM74 has mastered making tracks feel larger than your average drone by utilizing this perspective in miniature. That is, RM74 has utilized volume dynamics in a way that makes the relative sizes of the sounds seem great, thereby making the track feel as if it is covering a lot more ground, or more specifically, consuming a lot more ground. The extra trick here is that all of the sounds can play either role. Sometimes chiming sounds are small versus a large, static-y drone. Other times, the rattling of objects builds and moves before blending into a surging drone.

Reflex features some commonplace compositional techniques. While many musics start quiet, rush to loud, and end with quiet, drone provides its sense of movement via this technique to a greater extent. Dynamic volume as a whole (versus the different volumes of the relative parts) aids in movement and insertion (or deletion) of different streams of sound into the drone. If drone’s engine is the rise and fall of volume, then its destination is a new stream of sound. How well blended the initial drone is with its transformed counterpart at the end of the track often determines the perceived quality of the track. Thankfully, Reflex not only features dynamic internal construction and a sense of larger movement, it successfully changes dramatically from beginning to end.

All in all, I found myself initially enjoying the feeling of the album, but later returning to thoughts about how well it was done. This record hopefully will gain enough word of mouth to earn Mr. Mäder the ears he justly deserves.

(note: the above art is the same as the cover, but the cover crops off the rectangle into a square and adds the title)

Pašie Štefana H.

http://kultura.sme.sk/c/5047676/pasie-stefana-h-politika-opat-v-umeni.html

Zástupcovia ANTÉNY sa stretli s ministrom Maďaričom

Anténa je neformálna iniciatíva organizácií a centier, ktoré pôsobia
v oblasti nezávislého súčasného umenia a kultúry na Slovensku.
Združuje svojich členov na základe spoločného postavenia na kultúrnej scéne
na Slovensku a vyvíja aktivity smerujúce k zlepšovaniu pozície
nezávislej kultúry v spoločnosti.

http://www.antenanet.sk/?p=104

http://www.tyzden.sk/domaci-servis/mk-sr-madaric-slubil-nezavislej-scene-zlepsenie-grantov-4.html

Barbora Šedivá: Trip po súčasných | č. 12 | 2009 | archiv - A2 – časopis kultury a oddechu

Článok kurátorky (dumumeni.cz), hudobníčky (Jack Jack), organizátorky (Multiplace, NEXT Festival), autorky (3/4.sk)  a kamarátky Babuty (Barbora Šedivá) o brnianskej audiovizuálnej scéne v kultúrnom dvojtýždenníku A2

Karel Veselý: Od ocasu k post-world music | č. 9 | 2009 | archiv - A2 – časopis kultury a oddechu

Článok Karla Veselého, akysi sumár prednášky z januárovej berlinskej konferencie Audio Poverty, kde publicisti a umeleckí teoretici Kodowo Eshun a Steve Goodman vysvetlujú, čo nás hudba môže naučiť o budúcnosti svetovej ekonomiky.

DDWorld.cz - Nekomerční sdílení není ilegální – Piráti přestanou být piráty, zábavní průmysl se bojí

Pokiaľ sa podarí harvardskému profesorovi Charlesovi Nessonovi jeho zámer, vznikne súdny precedens, ktorý bude znamenať v tejto internetovej dobe revolúciu.

S vidlemi na hudbu - hudební zápisník Karla Veselého

“Francouzský kulturní teoretik Jacques Attali v dnes už klasickém eseji Hluk (Bruits, 1977) píše, že hudba je proroctví, „jehož styly a ekonomická organizace jsou v předstihu před zbytkem společnosti“. S větší než malou nadsázkou by se tedy dalo říci, že „novou společnost“, o níž Attali v eseji také píše, lze odezřít z aktuálního stavu hudebního průmyslu. Stará centra tohoto světa se rozpadla (viz umírající giganty velkých firem) a na jejich místo nastoupily autonomní kmeny (tedy žánrová ghetta fungující na přímé podpoře fanoušků). Pokud by tento obraz světa skutečně nastal, pak se musíme připravit na příchod nového náboženství, které dá troskám starého světa zdání nějakého nového řádu. Právě tuto roli totiž v současném nastavení scény populární hudby zastává internetový magazín Pitchfork Media (www.pitchforkmedia.com).”

http://www.advojka.cz/archiv/2009/4/s-vidlemi-na-hudbu-hudebni-zapisnik