REVIEWS

vital weekly, Frans de waard:

Mikroton does their releases in a whole bunch, so some for this week and a big one for next week, or maybe the one after. We start with the work between Lars Akerlund and Eryck Abecassis. From both of these gentlemen, I reviewed a bunch of solo works before but also works in collaboration with others. Most notable is that both have worked with Kasper T. Toeplitz. Lars Akerlund in a duo called Inert/e and Abecassis is part of the group Kernel, performing works by Toeplitz. I believe the latter is a bass player and the first a composer of electronic music. The credits on this release read as 'MIDI controllers, modular synthesizer and Ableton Live', to be used by the two of them. There are seven pieces here, divided over sixty-two minutes. The shortest being three minutes and the longest is thirty minutes. Although it is not mentioned, I can imagine they went into a studio together, going through the material in a rather improvised way, but only as a starting point to generate sound material. Once there is a whole stack of that, the work that we call composing starts. It is hard to say to what extent they edit their material, and also how much of this contains bits and pieces from various sessions. Maybe it is all-straightforward, and each mixed piece is a session by itself, and in the mix, there is the composition, the dialogue, if you will, between the sounds. Just as well, I can imagine they move their bits all around and look for the perfect dialogue within everything that they recorded. I am sure this is just I trying to imagine working processes between Akerlund and Abecassis and probably not a major interest to anyone. The outcome is what counts here and being somewhat familiar with their previous work, I am not surprised that this is some heavy type of electronic music. Noise, however, is not the preferred genre here, as they know how to be quiet, as the proof in 'Aruk'. That's the longest piece here and it moves from inaudible to loud and from drones to cracks and back again. This is something to play with considerable volume so that the quiet parts get the attention they deserve and the loud section form this pleasantly oppressive wall of sound, ripping your speakers gentle apart (almost). This is an excellent and one that should not only appeal to modular aficionados.

bad alchemy, rigobert dittmann:

Auch der Firework-gestählte Schwede LARS ÅKERLUND (ex-P.I.T.T. & The Dreamers, Lab for Life-Long Sound Dysfunctions) und der mit Kernel & Sleaze Art toeplitzierte ERYCK ABECASSIS verstehen ihr Falls (mikroton cd 87) als musikalische Traummaschine. Sie betreiben sie mit Doepfer Dark Energy, Midi-Controllers, Modular Synthesizers, Ableton Live. In tuckernden, hämmernden, furzelig pixelnden Impulsketten, mit dunklem Unter-futter, stürmischem Andrang, so richtig auf Touren. Als surrende, abrupt sirrende Spuren über schnellem Puls und ohne. Fein gekörnt, zahnrädrig wooshend, anschwellend und abreißend, rumpelig oder alarmistisch. In acht Variationen. Darunter 'Aruk' mit allein 30 ½ Min., das ganz allmählich zum gewaltigen Pulsar anschwillt, aber implodiert und von Schlägen getroffen lange nur kleinlaut weitermorpht und brodelt, bis es doch noch zu einer zweiten, gewaltig brausenden Klangballung reicht. 'Falls' rotiert mit spitzen Frequenzen auf brodeligem Sud, ein dunkles Ufo kreuzt und vergeht, der brodelige Fond überdauert. 'Arku' dünnt zuletzt aus zu elektronischem Grillengezirpe, wobei die elektronische Virulenz die natürliche überschreibt, bis auch sie verdämmert.

kathodik, A. G. Bertinetto:

Il rumore non è uno solo. È un ampio campo di eventi acustici, complesso, diversificato e aperto a elaborazioni diverse. Lo dimostra la lunga serie di pubblicazioni di genere noise promosse dalla label russa Mikroton. Una di queste è ‘Falls’ del duo formato dallo svedese Lars Akerlund e dal francese Eryck Abecassis . Nelle sei tracce dell’album i due sound artists scelgono una qualità sonora e con modulatori MIDI e sintetizzatori la elaborano in diverse sfumature, esaltando le tessiture timbriche e le loro proprietà tattili e ritmiche. Alcuni dei titoli dei brani (in primis quello che dà il titolo all’album, Falls) sembrano evocare l’idea che la sintesi sonora ritragga l’effetto acustico di fenomeni naturali. Non è certo un ascolto facile, tutt’altro. Ci vuole pazienza, dedizione, a volte anche un po’ di rassegnazione. È una musica concreta che, a mio avviso, richiede un complemento: immagini in movimento, se non reali immaginarie. O almeno una birra.