[ reviews ]
43. untitled #164 [ • rec. 2004 ]Francisco López - "untitled #164" (CD Unsounds, The Netherlands, 2006)
Things have been quiet for Francisco López. It seems, at least from my end of the telescope. Just a few live recordings were released, but not so many new studio recordings. But at long last here is 'Untitled #164', composed in commission of the Brussels Sonic Matter festival, organized by Argos in 2004. López recorded sounds in the city, together with TRMX, Johan Vandermaelen, Martiens Go Home and Building Transmissions, but it's López who in the end mutates, collates and processes these recordings. López moves away from a few things: this piece is lengthy, seventy-three minutes, right >from the start it stays in an audible fashion and towards the end there is also a bit of rhythm. That's three major differences. The unearthly rumble at the opening return every once in a while, and it seems that the microphone is buried deep in the ground. Other sounds rumble and hiss along in this utterly spooky work. There is nothing that refers to the city of Brussels (which I didn't visit in some time, but I know what it could sound like). 'Untitled #164' is a different work than many of his other 'Untitled' works, and fits more along with 'La Selva' or 'Buildings [New York]', which are both recognized as master works, but this is surely another powerful work. Moving away from the territory we know and loved, and entering a new territory, which we will no doubt love as Senor López explores. Vital weekly (The Netherlands), May 2006.
Francisco López - "untitled #164" (CD Unsounds, The Netherlands, 2006)
There's an alarming rate with which Francisco López can realise quality materials and have them issued. This year alone the iconic Spaniard has somewhere in the vicinity of 5-7 new releases - all of which document his feverish quest to uncover sound worlds that exist at the very edges of our perception, or equally those we rare have the chance to come in contact with.
#164 is a powerfully dense piece of work spilling out of source materials collected in Belgium - and whilst the volume and dynamic of the work might not be 'dense', the personality and character of the sounds (even when quiet) carry with the a probing quality. This added to the submerged and compressed nature of the bass rumbles creates an effect not unlike being trapped in a submarine being depth charged - the pressures around you shifting as bass bombs erupt with irregular frequency. As this initial phases passes, López unleashes a more full band noise assault with trademarked shifts in volume. In the later part of the composition a wonderfully rich rhythmic texture emerges creating an interesting and in many ways unexpected sense of urgency to the conclusion of the work. A complete sound universe as usual - crafted with care, imagination and a determined rigour to evoke emotion from the most abstract of sources. Cyclic Defrost (www.cyclicdefrost.com), May 2006.
Francisco López - "untitled #164" (CD Unsounds, The Netherlands, 2006)
Another impressive work by Francisco López, this time based on urban field recordings made in Brussels (together with TMRX, Johan Vandermaelen, Martiens Go Home and Building Transmissions) and reworked by the Spanish sound researcher to respond to a commission by Argos Festival in 2004. This composition is a game of contrasting energies taking their nourishment from the very silence they come from. The first part is built upon a deep pulse sounding like a sleeping giant's heartbeat, a fabulously suspended sensation of invisible life happening under the surface of the unknown. About 20 minutes into the piece, the treated sounds of the city become a powerful wind whose impetus constitutes an ominous presage from which we feel strangely protected, like being wrapped by a thick cocoon - but not for long. Cyclical clicks and mechanical breaths bring us back to more concrete revelations while whooshing ectoplasms - apparently, running cars in tunnels - emerge as a charming element even if acting as a sort of distraction from the basic soundscape. The central section presents the strongest "industrial" intensities, whose hypnotic allure is soon replaced by ghost-like clouds of introspection, undercurrents of low frequencies and percussive clatters. City sounds are also perceptible as "presences" in the final movements, just like moans from the souls of mariners whose life was claimed by the sea; this is the most emotional section, a mass of droning streams and scents of desolation leading everything to the end. Touching Extremes (Italy), June 2006.
Francisco López - "untitled #164" (CD Unsounds, The Netherlands, 2006)
This nth untitled release by López originates in a series of environmental recordings taken in Brussels by the author himself and various contributors within the project "Brussels Sonic Matter". As usual with López's works, this raw sound material was then altered beyond recognition and mixed with his portable studio. Despite the specific recording site, this splendid work (a single 73-minute track) is often similar to other abstract "ambient" records of his, such as the silophone ones, and is also not that far from what I heard in his Milan live performance. Beginning with low end thumps, which then disappear and re-surface after some 35 minutes, it features all the strongest characteristics of his more droning releases, with these heavy metallic clouds of reverberating sounds, together with more recognizable sources (dripping water, mechanical loops resembling skipping vinyls, etc.), which make this both a mesmerizing and a structurally complex release. This is surely López at his best: few soundmakers are able to take environmental sounds and create a world of their own with them like he does. www.chaindlk.com (Italy), 2006.
Francisco López - "untitled #164" (CD Unsounds, The Netherlands, 2006)
A l'évidence, il y a dans la musique de Francisco López une prédisposition au repli sur soi, une contenance minimaliste qui sait libérer les énergies dans des souffles tapis, rauques et lointains. A l'image de ses performances qui se "regardent" le plus souvent dans le noir, les yeux bandés, le compositeur espagnol cultive ce got prononcé pour la retenue. Jusqu'à présent la série abondante des Untitled avait dévoilé les lignes les plus austères de ce postulat musical, les plus microscopiques, celles qui se dessinent à la limite de l'audible, au plus confiné de la matière sonore. Untitled # 164, en dégageant une impression plus massive, marque donc une certaine évolution de la collection. Basée sur des sons bruts enregistrés en milieu urbain à Bruxelles (il s'agit d'ailleurs une commande du festival belge Sonic Matter), cette longue pièce de plus de soixante- dix minutes commence par une progressive montée mortifère qui évoquerait presque les paysages de villes glacées chères au musicien/ vidéaste Thomas Köner. Une contre-plongée introduit ensuite une coulée sonique plus chaotique, presque dark-ambient, des field recordings en crue se déversant subitement avec force comme à l'occasion d'une rencontre hypothétique entre Greg Davis et Lustmord. Enfin, après une nouvelle interruption, des gongs martiaux s'invitent à marteler l'espace, à en creuser les résonances lumineuses. Sans être à proprement parlé épique, Untitled #164 élargit considérablement le champ des possibles d'un musicien se jouant d'un minimalisme fantasque. www.octopus-enligne.com (France), June 2006.
Francisco López - "untitled #164" (CD Unsounds, The Netherlands, 2006)
Una produzione commissionata nel 2004 dall'Argos festival di Bruxell, 73 minuti, un'unica traccia, il primo labile suono dopo ben 52 secondi, atmosfere alquanto cupe, dilatate ma intense, accorto montaggio delle registrazioni effettuate nella metropoli belga grazie anche al contributo di TRMX, Johan Vandermaelen, Martiens Go Home e Building Transmissions. Quasi nulla trapela del substrato sonoro che solitamente ci si potrebbe aspettare in ambienti urbani, non si è, ci sembra, alla ricerca d'una specificità ambientale. I materiali elaborati trascendono da un approccio analitico, preferendo al contrario un racconto più intimo, fatto di silenzi, spazialità e frequenze di fondo. Un codice sommesso, come se la città implodesse e le 'risonanze' di tutti diventassero cosa privata. Opera affascinante, di difficile decifrazione, progetto sonoro che ancora una volta conferma questo artista come uno dei più interessanti nelle scene elettroniche sperimentali. www.neural.it (Italy), June 2006.
Francisco López - "untitled #164" (CD Unsounds, The Netherlands, 2006)
"L'acte essentiel dans la création de la musique n'est ni l'enregistrement ni la structuration de matériel sonore, mais son appréciation en tant qu'entité musicale". A chaque nouvelle écoute d'un album de Francisco López, il me vient à l'esprit cette même vision d'un monde post attaque nucléaire, où toute vie serait détruite et où subsisteraient uniquement des charges statiques sonores en mouvement, comme résurgence d'un monde dévolu. Apres, rudes, évolutives, les pièces de Francisco López tentent d'établir un état des lieux sonores qui va du silence aux tentations bruitistes les plus extrêmes.
Untitled #164 provient d'une commande pour l'édition 2004 du festival ARGOS de Bruxelles. Les Fiels Recordings ont été enregistrés avec l'aide de TRMX, Johan Vandermaelen, Martiens Go Home et Building Transmissions. Francisco López a ensuite retravaillé ces différentes sources afin de créer une pièce introspective de sa propore vision de la ville dans une composition de 73 minutes.
Biologiste de formation, Francisco López travaille inlassablement de la même manière depuis des années. Ses compositions sont réalisées à partir d'enregistrements (Field Recordings) réalisés dans divers environnements architecturaux et organiques (sons de la nature, de bâtiments industriels...) puis re-traités en studios en utilisant différentes technologies de captation, de traitement et de diffusion. Les longues plages sonores débutent de manière paisible, proche du quasi silence et se terminent sous la forme de drone apocalyptique, qui plonge l'auditeur dans un état de transe (à condition que ce dernier n'ait pas décroché en pleine ascension !)
Ivresse de l'inconnu sonore, immersion dans l'expérience physique du son, en digne défenseur des formes sonores les plus extrêmes, Francisco López poursuit son sacerdoce dans la phénoménologie de l'écoute. L'objet sonore et l'art des bruits sont entre de bonnes mains, mais attention, il faut suivre la cadence, puisque l'Espagnol peut sortir jusqu'à 15 disques par an et proposer antant de performances ou installations sonores ! Un disque qui raviera les inconditionnels de Merzbow, Zbigniew Karkowski, Scott Arford ou Bernard Günter ! A noter également la sortie en 2005 sur le label Low Impedance Recordings d'un exellent double CD réunissant Scott Arford & Francisco López et basé sur un échange de sons entre ces deux activistes sonores! sonhors.free.fr (France), June 2006.
Things have been quiet for Francisco López. It seems, at least from my end of the telescope. Just a few live recordings were released, but not so many new studio recordings. But at long last here is 'Untitled #164', composed in commission of the Brussels Sonic Matter festival, organized by Argos in 2004. López recorded sounds in the city, together with TRMX, Johan Vandermaelen, Martiens Go Home and Building Transmissions, but it's López who in the end mutates, collates and processes these recordings. López moves away from a few things: this piece is lengthy, seventy-three minutes, right >from the start it stays in an audible fashion and towards the end there is also a bit of rhythm. That's three major differences. The unearthly rumble at the opening return every once in a while, and it seems that the microphone is buried deep in the ground. Other sounds rumble and hiss along in this utterly spooky work. There is nothing that refers to the city of Brussels (which I didn't visit in some time, but I know what it could sound like). 'Untitled #164' is a different work than many of his other 'Untitled' works, and fits more along with 'La Selva' or 'Buildings [New York]', which are both recognized as master works, but this is surely another powerful work. Moving away from the territory we know and loved, and entering a new territory, which we will no doubt love as Senor López explores. Vital weekly (The Netherlands), May 2006.
Francisco López - "untitled #164" (CD Unsounds, The Netherlands, 2006)
There's an alarming rate with which Francisco López can realise quality materials and have them issued. This year alone the iconic Spaniard has somewhere in the vicinity of 5-7 new releases - all of which document his feverish quest to uncover sound worlds that exist at the very edges of our perception, or equally those we rare have the chance to come in contact with.
#164 is a powerfully dense piece of work spilling out of source materials collected in Belgium - and whilst the volume and dynamic of the work might not be 'dense', the personality and character of the sounds (even when quiet) carry with the a probing quality. This added to the submerged and compressed nature of the bass rumbles creates an effect not unlike being trapped in a submarine being depth charged - the pressures around you shifting as bass bombs erupt with irregular frequency. As this initial phases passes, López unleashes a more full band noise assault with trademarked shifts in volume. In the later part of the composition a wonderfully rich rhythmic texture emerges creating an interesting and in many ways unexpected sense of urgency to the conclusion of the work. A complete sound universe as usual - crafted with care, imagination and a determined rigour to evoke emotion from the most abstract of sources. Cyclic Defrost (www.cyclicdefrost.com), May 2006.
Francisco López - "untitled #164" (CD Unsounds, The Netherlands, 2006)
Another impressive work by Francisco López, this time based on urban field recordings made in Brussels (together with TMRX, Johan Vandermaelen, Martiens Go Home and Building Transmissions) and reworked by the Spanish sound researcher to respond to a commission by Argos Festival in 2004. This composition is a game of contrasting energies taking their nourishment from the very silence they come from. The first part is built upon a deep pulse sounding like a sleeping giant's heartbeat, a fabulously suspended sensation of invisible life happening under the surface of the unknown. About 20 minutes into the piece, the treated sounds of the city become a powerful wind whose impetus constitutes an ominous presage from which we feel strangely protected, like being wrapped by a thick cocoon - but not for long. Cyclical clicks and mechanical breaths bring us back to more concrete revelations while whooshing ectoplasms - apparently, running cars in tunnels - emerge as a charming element even if acting as a sort of distraction from the basic soundscape. The central section presents the strongest "industrial" intensities, whose hypnotic allure is soon replaced by ghost-like clouds of introspection, undercurrents of low frequencies and percussive clatters. City sounds are also perceptible as "presences" in the final movements, just like moans from the souls of mariners whose life was claimed by the sea; this is the most emotional section, a mass of droning streams and scents of desolation leading everything to the end. Touching Extremes (Italy), June 2006.
Francisco López - "untitled #164" (CD Unsounds, The Netherlands, 2006)
This nth untitled release by López originates in a series of environmental recordings taken in Brussels by the author himself and various contributors within the project "Brussels Sonic Matter". As usual with López's works, this raw sound material was then altered beyond recognition and mixed with his portable studio. Despite the specific recording site, this splendid work (a single 73-minute track) is often similar to other abstract "ambient" records of his, such as the silophone ones, and is also not that far from what I heard in his Milan live performance. Beginning with low end thumps, which then disappear and re-surface after some 35 minutes, it features all the strongest characteristics of his more droning releases, with these heavy metallic clouds of reverberating sounds, together with more recognizable sources (dripping water, mechanical loops resembling skipping vinyls, etc.), which make this both a mesmerizing and a structurally complex release. This is surely López at his best: few soundmakers are able to take environmental sounds and create a world of their own with them like he does. www.chaindlk.com (Italy), 2006.
Francisco López - "untitled #164" (CD Unsounds, The Netherlands, 2006)
A l'évidence, il y a dans la musique de Francisco López une prédisposition au repli sur soi, une contenance minimaliste qui sait libérer les énergies dans des souffles tapis, rauques et lointains. A l'image de ses performances qui se "regardent" le plus souvent dans le noir, les yeux bandés, le compositeur espagnol cultive ce got prononcé pour la retenue. Jusqu'à présent la série abondante des Untitled avait dévoilé les lignes les plus austères de ce postulat musical, les plus microscopiques, celles qui se dessinent à la limite de l'audible, au plus confiné de la matière sonore. Untitled # 164, en dégageant une impression plus massive, marque donc une certaine évolution de la collection. Basée sur des sons bruts enregistrés en milieu urbain à Bruxelles (il s'agit d'ailleurs une commande du festival belge Sonic Matter), cette longue pièce de plus de soixante- dix minutes commence par une progressive montée mortifère qui évoquerait presque les paysages de villes glacées chères au musicien/ vidéaste Thomas Köner. Une contre-plongée introduit ensuite une coulée sonique plus chaotique, presque dark-ambient, des field recordings en crue se déversant subitement avec force comme à l'occasion d'une rencontre hypothétique entre Greg Davis et Lustmord. Enfin, après une nouvelle interruption, des gongs martiaux s'invitent à marteler l'espace, à en creuser les résonances lumineuses. Sans être à proprement parlé épique, Untitled #164 élargit considérablement le champ des possibles d'un musicien se jouant d'un minimalisme fantasque. www.octopus-enligne.com (France), June 2006.
Francisco López - "untitled #164" (CD Unsounds, The Netherlands, 2006)
Una produzione commissionata nel 2004 dall'Argos festival di Bruxell, 73 minuti, un'unica traccia, il primo labile suono dopo ben 52 secondi, atmosfere alquanto cupe, dilatate ma intense, accorto montaggio delle registrazioni effettuate nella metropoli belga grazie anche al contributo di TRMX, Johan Vandermaelen, Martiens Go Home e Building Transmissions. Quasi nulla trapela del substrato sonoro che solitamente ci si potrebbe aspettare in ambienti urbani, non si è, ci sembra, alla ricerca d'una specificità ambientale. I materiali elaborati trascendono da un approccio analitico, preferendo al contrario un racconto più intimo, fatto di silenzi, spazialità e frequenze di fondo. Un codice sommesso, come se la città implodesse e le 'risonanze' di tutti diventassero cosa privata. Opera affascinante, di difficile decifrazione, progetto sonoro che ancora una volta conferma questo artista come uno dei più interessanti nelle scene elettroniche sperimentali. www.neural.it (Italy), June 2006.
Francisco López - "untitled #164" (CD Unsounds, The Netherlands, 2006)
"L'acte essentiel dans la création de la musique n'est ni l'enregistrement ni la structuration de matériel sonore, mais son appréciation en tant qu'entité musicale". A chaque nouvelle écoute d'un album de Francisco López, il me vient à l'esprit cette même vision d'un monde post attaque nucléaire, où toute vie serait détruite et où subsisteraient uniquement des charges statiques sonores en mouvement, comme résurgence d'un monde dévolu. Apres, rudes, évolutives, les pièces de Francisco López tentent d'établir un état des lieux sonores qui va du silence aux tentations bruitistes les plus extrêmes.
Untitled #164 provient d'une commande pour l'édition 2004 du festival ARGOS de Bruxelles. Les Fiels Recordings ont été enregistrés avec l'aide de TRMX, Johan Vandermaelen, Martiens Go Home et Building Transmissions. Francisco López a ensuite retravaillé ces différentes sources afin de créer une pièce introspective de sa propore vision de la ville dans une composition de 73 minutes.
Biologiste de formation, Francisco López travaille inlassablement de la même manière depuis des années. Ses compositions sont réalisées à partir d'enregistrements (Field Recordings) réalisés dans divers environnements architecturaux et organiques (sons de la nature, de bâtiments industriels...) puis re-traités en studios en utilisant différentes technologies de captation, de traitement et de diffusion. Les longues plages sonores débutent de manière paisible, proche du quasi silence et se terminent sous la forme de drone apocalyptique, qui plonge l'auditeur dans un état de transe (à condition que ce dernier n'ait pas décroché en pleine ascension !)
Ivresse de l'inconnu sonore, immersion dans l'expérience physique du son, en digne défenseur des formes sonores les plus extrêmes, Francisco López poursuit son sacerdoce dans la phénoménologie de l'écoute. L'objet sonore et l'art des bruits sont entre de bonnes mains, mais attention, il faut suivre la cadence, puisque l'Espagnol peut sortir jusqu'à 15 disques par an et proposer antant de performances ou installations sonores ! Un disque qui raviera les inconditionnels de Merzbow, Zbigniew Karkowski, Scott Arford ou Bernard Günter ! A noter également la sortie en 2005 sur le label Low Impedance Recordings d'un exellent double CD réunissant Scott Arford & Francisco López et basé sur un échange de sons entre ces deux activistes sonores! sonhors.free.fr (France), June 2006.