Based in France, Argentinian composer Elsa Justel has been developing new sound work since the 1980’s. Her latest on the reputable empreintes DIGITALes imprint is Yegl, which focuses on her projects between 2002-2017. Her work included are electroacoustic journeys, radiophonic work and fixed medium. And her medium offers little to no tedium, instead these wonderous pieces feel to be tactile storytelling of sorts. Pockets of silences, vocal cut-ups, funky breaks, dripping waters, cling-clang, symphonic interruptions, radio narration and remote instrumentation – all make for dizzying works of grandeur. Yes make sure you are sitting down, may I recommend undulating on a settee or chaise, sprawl out and stretch – as does what you are hearing. Sounds for sore ears.

Racines is a five-track album of that sits somewhere between electroacoustic composition, and subtle scuttling- to-surreal ambient sound-scaping. All creating a decidedly dream-like release — that ebbs, lightly darts and lulling shifts. Annie Mahtani is British based composer from the midlands — and has been active since around 2008. Her work flits between acousmatic and free improv — which means there is often a feeling of both surreal atmospherics and structural spontaneity / looseness to her compositions.

This CD album / digital download appears on the French Canadian label empreintes DIGITALes — and the CD is presented in the labels house style fold-out card sleeve — that features write-up about each of the tracks and their themes, in both French and English. The front cover takes in a grey graded and black tar-like spurting picture — that looks akin to melted and twisted road afloat in white space.

The five works here come from between 2008 and this year — and throughout much of the release, there’s certainly a feasting and shifting feel to proceeds, which brought to my mind images of magnified organic material. Past Links finds a blend of gentle rushing and fleeting high pitch grain sweeps, cluttering & glitching gong tones, and sourly descend sine tones. ’Round Midnight is built around rapidly building, then receding and possible slightly speed up layers of field recordings from the Amazon jungle — with all manner hissing, croaking, wet rushing, and twitting been fed out. The track Aeolian really enhances the albums strange / fevered dream quality — as we get a blend one or two distant drone layers, brooding warbling with sudden darts of bird song, water rushing. The track later builds into these weird metallic pipe like rattle & clutter textures — before once more drop down into a blend of distant drone layers, and subtle strange field record detail.

For much of Racines runtime there is this feeling of hazy mystery, grey unease, and slightly troubled dream-ness. So to me felt it little odd the way the final track exists with this more rising warm, and a little twee ethno ambience vibe, but maybe that’s meant to be the listener getting brighter / better dreams… anyway, aside from this sudden glaring shift in tone, I enjoyed what Annie Mahtani had to offer here.

11 августа в Санкт-Петербургском Музее Звука состоится встреча с композитором Тодором Тодоров [Todor Todoroff], со-основателем и президентом Бельгийской Федерации Электроакустической Музыки FeBeME-BEFEM и центра ARTeM: «Искусство, исследования, технология и музыка».

Один из ведущих исследователей в области компьютерной музыки, экспериментатор с обработкой речи, а также создатель интерактивных систем для инсталляций и перформансев, Тодор Тодоров принимал участие во многих значимых проектах Бельгии и Европы начиная с 1980 года (с такими композиторами, как Leo Kupper, Robert Normandeau или Joshua Fineberg, Emmanuel Nunes, Luca Francesconi в центре Ircam).

В своих электроакустических произведениях Тодор Тодоров использует многоканальную композицию, исследуя интерактивную связь между звуком и жестом в пространстве. Так, он создаёт не только «зафиксированную» акусматическую музыку, но и живые импровизационные произведения (вместе с Jean-Paul Dessy, Eric Sleichim, Stevie Wishart).

Находясь в постоянном сотрудничестве с хореографами (Michèle Noiret) и художниками (Marie-Jo Lafontaine, Fred Vaillant, Mario Benjamin), Тодор Тодоров работает в зоне трансдисципинарного искусства: например, его разработка сенсоров движения, позволяющих одновременную трансформацию звука и видео в проекте с художницей Laura Colmenares Guerra и виолончелисткой Sigrid Vandenbogaerde.

В рамках вечера, помимо общения с композитором, будет также возможно поэкспериментировать с электроакустической музыкой, сенсорами и жестами, применяемыми для звукового синтеза, преобразования и его локализации в пространстве.

Творческая встреча проходит при поддержке Генерального Консульства Бельгии в Санкт-Петербурге и фестиваля Acousmonium.