VARIOUS ARTISTS
Musique Pour Statues Menhirs
ARBOU026
Arbouse Recordings 2009
21 Tracks. 123mins59secs

The musée Fenaille, in Rodez, South of France, is an archaeological museum which has in its collection a wide array of ‘statues menhirs’, or carved stones which are the first known life-size representations of man. Local record label Arbouse Recordings commissioned a number of artists to create a soundtrack for the museum collection, each providing one track to the project, and three of them were later invited to perform live in the museum.

The panel of musicians and sound artists invited to take part to the project is extremely diverse, with the likes of Fennesz, Benoît Pioulard, John Hughes, Sylvain Chauveau, Greg Davis, Schneider TM, Mapstation, Mira Calix or Jasper TX, rubbing shoulders with less known contributors such as ww.lowman, Rafael Anton Irisarri, Astrïd, Serafina Steer, Jefre Cantu-Ledesma or Orla Wren to create a truly evocative and sumptuous document Continue Reading »

DEXTRO
Winded
16K002
16K Records 2009
09 Tracks. 47mins23secs

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Dextro is the solo project of Scottish multi-instrumentist Ewan Mackenzie, whose debut album, Consequence Music, released in 2007, originally on his own 16K imprint, then reissued a few months later on Gronland, collected beautifully enigmatic and dreamy compositions build around sumptuous electronic textures. The album followed a couple of EPs released on Border Community and Jumblefunk, and another one, featuring remixes by Arkham, Alias and Clark, was published on Gronland that same year.

A year in the making, Winded revisits the cinematic soundscapes of its predecessors, but offers a somewhat different slant on them. Continue Reading »

TORBEN SNEKKESTAD
Conic Folded
ILK153CD
Ilk 2009
11 Tracks. 50mins00secs

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Scandinavia has long been a hot bed for contemporary jazz, with musicians resolutely drifting away from traditional American or European forms to explore new sounds and devise their own rules. Norwegian saxophonist Torben Snekkestad has been sharpening his talent in many formations in the last ten years, including stints with Trygve Seim and Thomas Strønen, but Conic Folded is his first solo record.

Recorded with Norwegian pianist Jon Balke, who has been an active member of the Scandinavian jazz scene for over thirty years, and Danish bass player Jonas Westergaard a much younger musician who has nevertheless been recording in various formations for years, Conic Folded is a mighty fine record indeed, where desolate melodies appear to find enough life in the driest of orchestrations to suddenly explode in colourful motifs or slowly concentrate into exquisite introvert pieces. Continue Reading »

BIOSPHERE
Wireless – Live At The Arnolfini, Bristol
TONE38
Touch 2009
11 Tracks. 62mins08secs

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In 2007, the excellent Touch imprint celebrated twenty five years at the forefront of experimental music with a series of events across the UK and beyond involving some of the label’s most prominent artists. Recorded at the Arnolfini art centre in Bristol, as part of Touch25 Live, Biosphere’s Wireless, his first live album, documents Geir Jenssen’s work since he joined the Touch stable at the turn of the millennium. The set was arranged into an hour long track made up of compositions lifted from Jenssen’s albums for the label together with a handful of additional pieces.

Using material spanning eight years, from the seminal Substrata, originally released in 1997 on Origo Sound and All Saints and later re-issued on Touch, to Jenssen’s most recent output, Dropsonde (2005), all woven into one long piece Continue Reading »