Label » Stichting Mixer

Wrikken is a collaboration between Dutchmen Joris van Perlo and Ivo Bol. Both having played in several punk and new age-bands, both being bored with the genres, both discovering the possibilities of electronic processing... The combintion of electronics and their former acoustic instruments, or rather the electronic re-interpretation of those instruments, is like a red-line through their work. Although not recognisable as such, the sound of Wrikken is based on sampling and distillating their acoustic recordings, which are manipulated over and over. One could say Wrikken sample the behaviour over time of their instruments, rather than the sound of them. The result is a varied mix in sound and atmosphere. Gradually becoming more known in the small Dutch experimental electronic music scene, this is their debut release, hopefully giving them more exposure outside of the lowlands as well.

Joe Colley has been composing sound and designing related projects for some time now. To some known as Crawl Unit, he has been working under his given name more and more over the past few years. Twaalfde Mixer - Ŝ phased loops" is really not much more than that, but not much less either. This title is the unpretentiousness itself, showing you the simple fade-in, crossfade and fade-out of eight loops, each layered in four loops, four sides, two loops per side to make eight again. These tracks shift around and take on many faces despite their mantranic behaviour. Tiny discrepancies between loopingpoints make them stumble, spin around, velocitate, build-up, break down and start all over again. The minimalistic idea of using many sources which lay very close to each other both in timbre as well as in shape, does maybe not show so much in overall appearence but most surely in the way these tracks were made. The "composition" in them, was created through friction between several layers, given a certain time. Neither beginning nor end are that important, what happens in between is and that is what is captured by the composer. Luckily these tracks don't stick and die at this old and strong concept, but go further and turn out to be energetic and fascinating pieces of music. All four have a propelling drive in them, at times purely rhythmical even, as well with a steady, calm and almost droney undertone. Humms and strings are cut-up by oscillating crackles, rumbles and other hard-to-pinpoint-sounds. Surplus of these works is the steady pace, making them excellent DJ-material as well.

Nova

Mixer invited Belgium artist Köhn and Australian Pimmon for a split LP release. Both artists have a strong melodious and harmonic sound, though both with a very personal twist. Pimmon's more recent works show wide spectrum sound-streams, freshened with little sharp elements floating around. His side on this split-LP is made up from 4 tracks, showing his desire for reduction. These tracks are among his most minimal work, consisting of not much more than a few chords, strings and occasional melodies. Layers are shifting in and out of place, building a tensious body of sound, changing atmospheres through few but well placed cutting interruptions. Pimmon has a great talent for producing organic-like sounds and processing these together with noise-elements, creating an overwhelming continuum of sound. The other side also shows 4 tracks. Köhn's music from the lowlands is surely hard to get in the sense that it's pleasantly unclear what he will come up with next. Köhn's answer to contemporary glitch culture can be heard in the first 2 tracks, although there's to many musical elements surrounding to make any mix-up while tracking down the artist responsible. Microscopic fragments in a wide range of high and low-end sound, arranged to build strong rythms and adding a lot of groove... glitch as a source, not as a goal. The remaining 2 tracks show a melodious whole of loops synchronised in such a way that things are progressing instead of repeating. Spacious and open music, although using small sounds, with a melancholic atmosphere.. Definately coming from a man shaped by the non-blocked view of flat landscapes. 300 Copies ltd

Tsunoda's "Cleavage of Acoustics" stands in close relation to previous works in which he tries to integrate somewhat technical concepts into the everyday beauty of singing birds and chirping crickets. Tsunoda adds to the body of these compositions of the public domain, as Justin Bennett does, but takes a different route to get there. He experiments to find out the musical relevance of technicality for natural sounds and forces a symbiosis between the two. The results still contain the associative character and organic development so typical for environmental recordings, but have a new, more abstract, mimicry. The sometime subtle, sometimes clashing, but always interesting interference between these two worlds, is what gives Tsunoda's work a very unique twist. It can exist as a completely autonomous entity while grafted upon the soundmaterial we all know so well. Tsunoda, like Bennett, makes us hear our surrounding acoustic reality in a different way. Not by fencing off certain parts of it, as Bennett does, but through simple yet very effective technical interventions, making it's appearance shift a bit or two. "Cacerolada" is based on a noise-protest against the Iraq-war, recorded in Barcelona. It wakes up and dies out as any day does, gradually moving along all kinds of sonic occurrences in between. In his work, Bennett outlines to his listener the beauty, absurdness or musicality of the everyday soundtrack he's living in. Originally these protests served a highly political goal, to record them and treat these recordings as a piece, is what made "Cacerolada" into a sound-object, to be listened to with different ears. The reference to daily life might be very much upfront, though Bennett's work is much more than a highly associative collection of recorded sounds. His recordings easily keep up as complete compositions with a strong musical form, taking the listener beyond what is heard at first sight and this is exactly where the strength in Bennett's work as a composer and sound-artist lies. The so familiar sounding material constructs and underlines compositional shape and development, adding a rare compositional richness to environmental-soundworks. 300 Copies LTD !

World Indus mix. African rythmics & Clean industrial sounds. Büro Style