| August 2009 news
August 30, 2009
CROSSING OVER
• tube'|183 - Diatribes + Curado + Viegas - Travessia dos Respigadores
«A Respigador - possible english translation: Harvester - is usually the person who drives or operates the machine with the same name. A harvesting machine used to harvest wheat and other cereals from the fields. So, the title of this new collaboration work between swiss musicians Laurent Peter (a.k.a. d'incise) and Cyril Bondi - both known as Diatribes - and Paulo Curado and João Pedro Viegas (two local jazz musicians and improvisators) is about the travessia (crossover) of some respigadores. Crossing over what? And who are these respigadores and where are they going to (and coming from)?
Perhaps they are Laurent and Cyril, because respigadores are also the people that scavenge stuff that others don't want anymore, turning them into usable objects, like perhaps sound-producing objects, musical objects. Diatribes use them frequently in their albums and live performances, granting the music they make something that goes beyond human performance and instrument manipulation, musically speaking.
In its core, 'Travessia dos Respigadores' is an amazing work of the Freejazz/Experimentation kind. Of totally improvisational nature,
the pieces that the four musicians cooked here, simmer together in an enormous range of textures and smells, like a good satisfying meal does. Diatribes operate laptop, found objects (d'incise) and drums (Cyril), with complete passion and mastery. The self-contained tension that Cyril operates into his set of drums is palpable, we can almost taste the sweat coming out of his forehead when he bashes violently the metal and leather of his weapon of choice.
Paulo Curado (saxophone) and João Pedro Viegas (bass clarinet)
complete the whole setup beautifully. They are both well experimented musicians and can tap into the tension which this kind of performances operates, bringing all the chaos together, augmenting or diminishing it as they see fit.
At the best moments, 'Travessia dos Respigadores' shows off all four musicians fusing together into a single sound-delivering force. A massive force to be reckoned with. Like a giant, well balanced punch in the teeth, that will make you see the stars, the bells and the little birds flying around your head.» - Pedro Leitão
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August 26, 2009
DIATRIBES + FRIENDS = FUCKED UP FREEJAZZ, LIVE!
Yup, Diatribes are back. Laurent Peter (best known for his d'incise solo outfit) and Cyril Bondi (drummer extraordinaire) will join forces with a couple of the best local improv. and freejazz musicians for a one-time-only concert.
The vernissage will happen right about tomorrow night, at Fábrica Braço de Prata, an old abandoned weapons factory transformed into a thriving cultural
center where poetry, music, lectures and drinking come together. It is located in the industrial eastern part of Lisbon, halfway between Sta. Apolónia train station and Parque das Nações (ex-Expo '98 site). Map/Street View here. (it's the building with the trees in the courtyard). Has a free car park too.
Diatribes will be presenting their new album, a collaboration between the duo and jazz musicians Paulo Curado and João Pedro Viegas (Sax and Clarinet respectively). Album is titled 'Travessia dos Respigadores' and will be available as a handmade high-quality CDr edition at the concerts, or as a free download here at test tube (coming online this next weekend).
Other gigs that are part of this tour, are:
• 01.09.2009 d'incise & abdul moimeme, Bar O’Século, Lisboa
• 02.09.2009 d'incise & abdul moimeme & Miguel Mira & Pedro Roxo, Fábrica Braço de Prata, Lisboa
• 04.09.2009 d'incise & Hernâni Faustino, Art Hobler Galerie, Lisbon
(admission fees may apply)
Don't miss on any of these shows!!
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August 23, 2009
EAR CANDY-NESS
• tube'|182 - Stig Inge Oy - She Was God Again
«Stig Inge Oy - real name Maciej Miskiewicz - is a Dublin based musician of Polish origins, and although he presently composes music for movies, he started at a young age playing with local bands at his hometown. His live performances have something to do with three turntables plus prepared vinyl records and probably some bass playing to boot.
But the sound you will be listening to in 'She Was God Again' won't help at all making the connection to turntablism. It all sounds extremely organic and cohesive, full ambient-like pieces with beautifully played bass strings reminiscent of jazz combos. 'Island' is the perfect example of the amazing string arrangements Stig Inge Oy has to offer. But not everything is as linear as you'd expect after listening to the first piece: 'Atomised' starts with some gently chopped up samples and again, the heavy bass enters to embody the whole piece into round-shaped sweetness.
While on the ambient side, the pieces are unexpectedly short (but great), like good slices of pop music should be. As you go further into 'She Was God Again' you'll hear a full palette of strings (including pianos, but mainly cellos and violas), some well-placed keyboards and occasionally a gentle drone bursting in and out of the picture.
But the bass is always there, almost ominously over the rest. Make sure you have a good subwoofer to play this. Excellent work!»
- Pedro Leitão
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August 16, 2009
CRASH
• tube'|181 - Dan Schreck - The First Report of Injury
«Dan Schreck returns to test tube with another solo work, after releasing 'Lost Soundtracks from The Wizardof Oz' with a bunch of college friends.
'The First Report of Injury' reaffirms Schreck's keenness (amazing word) for experimental electronics, and I want to note that 'experimental' is perhaps an understatement here. Schreck goes far while trying to preserve a palpable sharpness in every sound he produces. This is not electronic music for you to nod at, this is really harsh sound experimentation that could make you hate electronic music forever, or love it endlessly.
'The First Report of Injury'
is an amazingly detailed work on XXI century electronic music that you cannot afford to pass by.»
- Pedro Leitão
P.S. - I would like to thank my friend Sebastian for yet another amazing artwork. SEB, You rock!
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August 12, 2009
THREE!
We have started the preparations for the third volume of the test tube saga. It will include all the releases from tube125 to tube179 (inclusive) and this time around the subject for the artwork will be the mighty insects of this world.
Above you can see a preview of the first available artwork: The Mighty Beetle!
We expect
to have all the 10 different artwork pieces ready by the end of this summer/beginning of the next season, as well as the first batch of DVDs ready to ship.
See you then!
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August 08, 2009
SOME DIFFERENT APPROACH
• tube'|180 - Roman Slavka - Some Different Works
«Roman Slavka, from Ukraine, is best known for a couple of releases at Enough Records and one very special one at Nexsound (my personal favorite), among several collaborations and inclusions on compilations, lice Muscut. For some time, Slavka's trademark sound was something along the dark ambient genre.
More recently, his music began to lift up and gained a more dubby, frequently minimal techno-ish, electronic feel, all of this without losing the experimental ambient side we learned to love.
'Some Different Works' is a small EP worked around sound dualities. 'Air/Water', 'Balance/Structure' and 'Move/Nature' all have music elements struggling against each other, but at the same time fitting very well together. 'Door in Dolphinarium' can also be included - although not being titled a duality like the other tracks - as it incorporates cityscape, enviroment and urban-like sounds, stitched together with dolphin's talking. A curious but effective approach.» - Pedro Leitão
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