September 2008 news

September 26, 2008

TERRAFORMING MUSIC


• tube'|140 - Nicholas Szczepanik - Sundries

«Various gadgets are moved by a non-human brutal force. It is almost scary to imagine being close to one of those moving structures considering that they sound as if they were gigantic. 'Sundries' contains complex object orchestrations. Nicholas Szczepanik has an apparent lack of desire to communicate specific musical idioms. The discordant mass of noise produce a variety of fascinating sounds that will keep your attention very focused on what is coming next. There is a clear presence of dust, dirt, grains, and other particles that make the objects move in a difficult manner. Dragging, pushing, banging, destroying, holding, releasing, and many other actions are manifested as you listen. Towards the end, after all the activity, "Sundry Blessing" brings you a drone that will blow any reminiscence of sonic frenzies away.

An intriguing release that holds a deconstructive rigor, and at the same time beholds a meditative quality that can be hypnotic while still challenging the perception of the listener.» - Sebastian Alvarez

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September 18, 2008

BRIXTON BEATS


• tube'|139 - Project 5AM - Quixotes of Moons fights the Windmills of Brixton

«'Quixotes of Moons fights the Windmills of Brixton' is somewhat of an epic-long title for a down to earth downtempo-esque album. Truth be told, this little gem of a release that a british guy - Jason Haye of his name - brings forward is a clever mix of the best in electronic music that Her Majesty's Kingdom brought to the world: really good classic IDM pads, round and juicy trip hop beats, some late nineties ambient and even some slight hint of more recent trends like uk garage and 2step elements thrown in. All wrapped up in a slowed down downtempo - actually more broken beat-ish - rhythms. Really good and chilled out stuff.

Fave tracks are 'Crepuscular', a sexy trip hop trip with overly dramatic strings and keyboards... really nice; followed by 'Wet ashtray', a sumptuous club track, round shaped and bursting of deep basslines and groovy beats with very nice pads... damn, should be longer... and there are other great tracks, but these two are my own cup-of-tea. This a great release to wave goodbye to the summer and welcome the snugly warm autumn. Enjoy!» - Pedro Leitão

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September 10, 2008

BALTIC MINIMALISM


• tube'|138 - Mons Jacet - Songs of Night and Longing

«From the Baltic coast of Lithuania comes along Martinas Rakshtinas, or Mons Jacet for those of you who enjoy minimalist soundscapes. Mons Jacet has previously released for Clinical Archives and Enough Records in 2007 (two releases for each label) and that should give you a hint of what to expect from this release: Dark, droosy ambient; dense drones and textures based on improvisation and field recording patterns.

'Songs of Night and Longing' has suggestive titles: 'Ships at Night', 'Gnissim Uoy', 'Black Birds' and 'Midnight Farewell'. The cover photo doesn't go far from the dark mood as well: A lonesome wooden bench facing the Baltic on a cold, misty, winter evening.
If you're a sucker for dark ambient drones, creepy moods and solitary dreaming, then this one's for you. 'Songs of Night and Longing' is a hell of a trip into the solitude of cold nights watching distant ships sail away towards the unknown.» - Pedro Leitão

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September 02, 2008

BRAZILIAN SUSHI WITH A HINT OF COLOMBIA


• tube'|137 - Lezrod - Fear and loathing in Rio/Tokyo

«By the end of Spring I was hired to compose 10 pieces for a series of 10 videos to be displayed in a Brazilian Sushi Restaurant in Las Vegas. Even though the nature of this pieces is abstract, the fact that they have to work with the videos (produced by Daniel Roversi) and that they were going to be performed in a restaurant somehow brought back 'musical' elements which were part of my early work. After I finished them I felt it might be interesting to publish this material that if it wasn't for this project I wouldn't have ever done it.

The videos were based on cultural elements from both Brazil and Japan but I wanted to make something more universal and I feel my love for soundtracks and film music in general, were particularly influential here. The soundtrack projects of people such as Ry Cooder, Quincy Jones, Lalo Schifrin, Herbie Hancock, Vangelis, Edward Artemyev, Vincent Gallo and John Frusciante sure served here as inspiration.

The title of this release pays tribute to film director Terry Gilliam and novelist/journalist Hunter S. Thompson and their movie/book 'Fear and loathing in Las Vegas' where a unique atmosphere of delirium and disregard is built through the entire story, creating confusion between the sometimes-vague line between reality and imagination. This confusing atmosphere were present on the videos, as Daniel Roversi allowed contradictory elements to play together, as the relationship between the video themes and the relation between Japan and Brazil culture required certain level of abstraction to work altogether.

Also by the time I composed some of the pieces for this release I had a at home some of Luis Buñuel movies which I am sure inspired this work as well. This release pays tribute to him and in particular to his movie 'Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie' where this delirium and disregard atmosphere can be found as well. This is a soundtrack for a move composed by 10 chapters, 10 stories that the listener could write, direct, shoot and perform, on his own mind.» - Lezrod

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September 01, 2008