Archive for 2011

Los que No Son Gentos has many of the earmarks of Danielle Baquet-Long’s previously released work, regardless of whether it was issued under the Chubby Wolf or Celer names. There are the enigmatic track titles, for one, which suggest stories all by themselves and allude to her poetic endeavours (“Existence is both a Horizon and an Indictment” and “Deeper and the Damage From” are but two representative examples of those included), and the tracks themselves, which threaten to evaporate altogether, so delicate and faint are the ambient wisps of sound that are brought into being. Like the Celer recordings she produced with Will Long, Baquet-Long transmutes a diverse range of source materials—in this case bass guitar, analog synthesizers, bells, voice, and laptop—into sounds of largely uniform and always fragile character. What Los que No Son Gentos also has, of course, is a sense of mystery, as we’ll never know exactly what Baquet-Long intended by the material, given that her tragically premature death on July 8, 2009 from heart failure leaves us with no opportunity to delve into the mind that created the material. Of course, even when she was alive, mystery was a key part of her music, as she didn’t typically elaborate on the meanings associated with the work but instead opted to let it speak for itself and retain that mystery. As was her wont, she left no explanation as to why the album was made nor what its inspiration might have been, but instead moved quickly on to the next project, almost as if she sensed that time was short and that creative work would have to be done with dispatch.

This latest addition to her discography presents fifty minutes of music in an edition of 200 copies. There’s certainly nothing unfinished about the material; its soft, Celer-like swells are as crystalline and cathedralesque as anything she released during her lifetime, and Los que No Son Gentos is a solid collection that sits comfortably alongside her other releases. Though fourteen separate pieces are presented, they play like variations on a theme, with each a subdued meditation of near-transluscent design. Glowing and shimmering placidly, the pieces wash soothingly over the listener, inducing a state of heartbeat-slowing calm as they do so. Baquet-Long lives on in the album, just as she will continue to do so in the future, as Will has promised to continue releasing her unpublished music, writing, and photography into the world, along with the remaining Celer titles the married couple created while she was alive.

Los que No Son Gentos has many of the earmarks of Danielle Baquet-Long’s previously released work, regardless of whether it was issued under the Chubby Wolf or Celer names. There are the enigmatic track titles, for one, which suggest stories all by themselves and allude to her poetic endeavours (“Existence is both a Horizon and an Indictment” and “Deeper and the Damage From” are but two representative examples of those included), and the tracks themselves, which threaten to evaporate altogether, so delicate and faint are the ambient wisps of sound that are brought into being. Like the Celer recordings she produced with Will Long, Baquet-Long transmutes a diverse range of source materials—in this case bass guitar, analog synthesizers, bells, voice, and laptop—into sounds of largely uniform and always fragile character. What Los que No Son Gentos also has, of course, is a sense of mystery, as we’ll never know exactly what Baquet-Long intended by the material, given that her tragically premature death on July 8, 2009 from heart failure leaves us with no opportunity to delve into the mind that created the material. Of course, even when she was alive, mystery was a key part of her music, as she didn’t typically elaborate on the meanings associated with the work but instead opted to let it speak for itself and retain that mystery. As was her wont, she left no explanation as to why the album was made nor what its inspiration might have been, but instead moved quickly on to the next project, almost as if she sensed that time was short and that creative work would have to be done with dispatch.This latest addition to her discography presents fifty minutes of music in an edition of 200 copies. There’s certainly nothing unfinished about the material; its soft, Celer-like swells are as crystalline and cathedralesque as anything she released during her lifetime, and Los que No Son Gentos is a solid collection that sits comfortably alongside her other releases. Though fourteen separate pieces are presented, they play like variations on a theme, with each a subdued meditation of near-transluscent design. Glowing and shimmering placidly, the pieces wash soothingly over the listener, inducing a state of heartbeat-slowing calm as they do so. Baquet-Long lives on in the album, just as she will continue to do so in the future, as Will has promised to continue releasing her unpublished music, writing, and photography into the world, along with the remaining Celer titles the married couple created while she was alive.

Link

Another Celer album has just been released in a highly limited Edition of just 150 copies. The record label for ananlog sound called Analog Path (based in Japan) lately released this album called ‘Menggayakan’ on CDr. More than fifty minutes of field recordings and heavily processed drones – well, that’s just typical for Celer – are delivered in one track with the following chapters: Hatta / Gliding in the Absolute / Circular Square, Exhaust, Anti-American Protest / A Less Representation Of Myself / Masjid Istiqlal / Breathing Effects, and A Lack Of / Mosquito / Feigned Ignorance and Dissimulation / Ultraclimax / The Romance Of Travel / As Ever.

Regarding the complete Celer discography we often find long-form pieces like this. With widely delayed and multilayered drones ‘Menggayakan’ is rich of orchestral parts sometimes appearing with kind of a basinski-esque amount of repetition which has become typical for Celer as well. The different chapters are interrupted by laughter, documentary and other field recordings. As already seen on their ‘Engaged Touches’ album (on Home Normal) the string-laden parts often have a wonderful melancholic or even romantic atmosphere with solemn melodies in the high string sections. And again on ‘Menggayakan’ it takes some time until the sound seems to unfold from the cloudy drones that appear in the first chapters of the piece.

‘Menggayakan’ has been the second release of the newly formed Analog Path label. We should definitely keep this imprint in mind and check their releases regularly as their forthcoming schedule includes some really interesting artists such as René Margraff, Brian Grainger and Stray Ghost. And certainly we shouldn’t stop watching out for new Celer works that are still released constantly. I’m sure that this is not my last Celer review…

[ 4,3 / 5 ]

Link

‘Chirp’ was originally created as a custom, private album, requested by a Los Angeles native for an in-home installation. The music was created for an art opening at the person’s private home, for a showing of their personal collection of artwork.

Located in the forest, the house completely surrounded by trees, we decided to use only bird sounds for the source material, creating 12 indistinct and varying tracks created entirely from baby bird sounds from a bird nest outside our home studio window. All the sounds were then equalized, the bird chirps being the only remaining sounds. After, we added analog effects, and small touches of processing.

The ideal setting for listening was with two small speakers placed on each side of an open window, and the music played on random repeat, at a low volume. Combined with the natural sounds of birds and the wind from outside the open window, the bird chirps blend in, like small whistling in the afternoon breeze.

The event was held in 2009, and the owner of the house and commissioner of the album has since passed away, so it is being made available now.

Dedicated to the memory of the commissioner (by request remaining anonymous).

Link

A little under a year ago, reviewing Celer’s then latest release Dying Star, i made the rather rash remark that with its “quietly massive majesty … [it] may just be Celer’s masterpiece” • i’m not going to retract that statement—it remains for me the most striking album in the Celer corpus—but it’s been fascinating to hear a pair of albums this year that draw very near to it, in terms of both aspiration & execution •

The first comes from the Celer-offshoot Chubby Wolf, the result of Danielle Baquet-Long’s solo explorations • As i’ve remarked in the past, left to her own devices Baquet-Long pursues a more austere, sonically complex soundworld than that of her duo work with husband Will, & new release Los que No Son Gentos is no exception • That’s not to suggest it lacks warmth—far from it—but the ‘heat’ it emits is soft & residual, not blazing; there are no overt grand gestures here • The 14 tracks are founded on slowly-moving foundations that for the most part keep themselves at a distance, not so much aloof as reserved; & their mode of expression is pithy & succinct, many of the tracks lasting under three minutes • Yet their miniature stature belies a remarkable intensity with which the music speaks • It’s a paradox neatly encapsulated in Baquet-Long’s familiarly loquacious track-titles, which (like so much poetry) are simultaneously immediate—more than once invoking desire—& alienating • One quickly realises that each track is not merely concise, but concentrated, boiled down into a richly undiluted essence, in which each shifting agglomeration of notes, each surging bass protrusion becomes utterly compelling • Thankfully, this is clearly what matters most; once again, Baquet-Long flies in the face of so much contemporary ambient music, that simply regards sounding pretty (which is, in any case, subjective) as its primary goal • Los que No Son Gentos shifts in & out of loveliness, but the weight & power of its conviction never lets up for a second • It’s perhaps perverse to single out any individual track in such a context as this, but “You are the Description that brings me out of Myself… But cannot Give Me anywhere to go” is especially impressive, bringing to mind the best work of Jonathan Coleclough •

In my first encounter with Los que No Son Gentos, i accidentally had the volume turned down lower than usual, resulting in my being forced to listen much harder than i should have needed to • But there’s nothing accidental about the dynamic restraint heard in the latest Celer album to emerge,Noctilucent Clouds • Intended as a successor to their 2008 release Nacreous Clouds, the similarities are in name only • The duo pushes their (&, thereby, the listener’s) patience further than ever before here, spending nearly 100 minutes exploring material often at the edge of audibility, a series of “slowly moving, randomly-appearing swathes of high lights, and deep blacks” (Will Long’s words) • The effect is akin to the music of Morton Feldman, where silence almost becomes as substantial as sound, & where the minutest of gestures is highly significant • The music occupies a kind of ‘steady state’, evolving slowly but irrevocably, always as from a great distance; it’s exquisite, & absolutely riveting, becoming all the more so the closer the material tends to silence • Technically, it never does, though; beneath everything else, a very soft but omnipresent layer of tape hiss keeps the music aloft at all times, cushioning it from absolute silence • The sheer breathtaking naturality of Noctilucent Clouds harks back to no less than Eno’s Music for Airports; ultimately, it stops feeling like the product of a conscious creative act, which is perhaps the best compliment one can pay it • An amazing album, best heard through headphones if you want to experience every nuance; otherwise, make sure you’re listening in a very, very quiet room •

Los que No Son Gentos is a limited edition of 200, released in June by Dragon’s Eye Recordings; while most have probably been sold by now, copies can still be had from the ever reliable Norman Records • Noctilucent Clouds suffers no such limitations, released digitally via Celer’s Bandcamp page •

Link

En plus de Celer qu’elle formait avec son compagnon, Danielle Baquet-Long avait crééChubby Wolf, dont Dragon’s Eye grave aujourd’hui Los que no son gentos.

Parce que je n’ai pas écouté cette jeune femme de son vivant, le faire aujourd’hui me désole. Je ne peux que me rendre compte, en retard, de la façon dont elle envisageait la musique. Dans un mixeur bien à elle, elle mettait sa voix, une basse et des synthétiseurs, pour former une musique d’ambiance léchée. C’est la bande-son d’un voyage au désert en quatorze stations de variations climatiques en filigrane.

Tranquille et légère, cette musique n’est pas à emporter, mais à vivre sur place. On peut y méditer ou y rêver. Los que no son gentos est un terrain vague où l’on fait du sur-place. Le mouvement n’est pas de notre fait, il n’est pas le nôtre non plus mais celui de tout ce qui nous entoure. Comme on y est bien…

Link

This is a posthumous release; sadly Danielle Baquet-Long (who recorded solo as Chubby Wolf as well as with the husband/wife duo Celer) passed away in the summer of 2009. By the time I had discovered that piece of information of the Dragon’s Eye website, I had listened to this disc four times – and the last piece of the puzzle snapped into place. This album, moreso than almost any record I’ve ever heard, tries to purposefully recede from every plane of existence. There are tons of records that are quiet, spacious, ephemerail, ambient, environmental – we could keep going and that’s even before we get a thesaurus involved. But this particular record has a feel to it that, to my ears, is unique: I am not sure how to say it but it almost seems to me like what Baquet-Long managed to do was to make a record that amplified every other sound that was in range, except her own – something is going on here more than just ‘this is a quiet record’ – though this is a pretty quiet record. This is not haunting, though; even with the added information of loss of life, which is always tragic and too soon regardless of a person’s age, there is nothing about this record that evokes or underscores loss. They say it is hard to write about music, and of course that is true. The strange thing for me is that part of me feels like I could write for a long, long while about this disc… but if you asked me to be succinct: this is the sound of an art studio that contains only blank canvases.

Link