JASPER TX
The Black Sun Transmissions
FB016
Fang Bomb 2011
05 Tracks. 53mins11secs

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If Sweden’s Dag Rosenqvist has often found himself on murky grounds, his horizon has gone considerably darker since his last Jasper TX release two years ago. The title of this new album, his second for Fang Bomb, is as bleak and sobering as the cover it so faintly adorns, and, crucially, as the music it carries. Divided in five sections, this album sees Rosenqvist experiment with increasingly complex and layered compositions. His soundscapes are particularly refined and intricate here, although their overall structure varies considerably, from extremely detailed and quiet moments to beautiful pastoral sequences and heavily processed noise drones, often over the course of a single track. Continue Reading »

:PAPERCUTZ
Do Outro Lado Do Espelho (Lylac Ambient Reworks)
AB029
Audiobulb Records 2010
12 Tracks. 57mins53secs

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Originally the project of Porto-based musician Bruno Miguel Pereira Pinto, :Papercutz soon expanded to incorporate vocalist Melissa Veras, with other musicians joining the pair for live performances. Released two years ago on Canadian imprint Apegenine, Lylac, the band’s first album, bridged the gap between stark atmospheric electronica and elegant contemporary pop music to create a superb hybrid, served by Pinto’s delicate blend of acoustic instrumentation, electronic textures and beats on one side, and by Veras’s softly ethereal vocal tones, occasionally reminiscent of Anneli Drecker, on the other. The album was followed by a single, Ultravioleta, which featured remixes by The Sight Below, Neotropic, Spandex and Signer. This is partly what encouraged Pinto to let other musicians give their own vision of his work. The resulting collection of remixes, published on Audiobulb, features reworks by Helios, Simon Scott, Taylor Deupree, He Can Jog, Autistici, Astroboy, Chris Bissonnette, Jasper TX,  Rameses III, Emanuele Errante and Feu Follet. Continue Reading »

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 »

JASPER TX
Singing Stones
FB010
Fang Bomb 2009
09 Tracks. 55mins26secs

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The prolific Dag Rosenqvist has been progressively developing his particular blend of dense and bleak treated guitar textures and refined the sound of his solo project, Jasper TX over the years. The Swede’s first album, I’ll Be Long Gone Before My Light Reaches You, was released in 2005 on Lampse, and since, Rosenqvist has published a number of records on Lidar, Kning Disk, Miasmah and Slaapwel, refining both his sound and approach with each new tome. The pace of releases has steadily increased in the last couple of years, and while SMGT is currently releasing Rosenqvist’s collaboration with Anduin, Swedish imprint Fang Bomb is bringing out his latest solo sonic excursion.

Following on from his last album, Black Sheep, published on Miasmah, and the Closet Ghosts EP on Fenêtre, Singing Stones sees Rosenqvist return once again to his widescreen cinematic soundscapes build around layers of treated acoustic and electric guitars and gentle electronics. Continue Reading »