[Microsound-announce] CMR: Three New Releases

[CMR]

CMR: Three New Releases
http://www.cmr.co.nz
info at cmr.co.nz
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CMR21: Richard Francis  'Together alone, together apart' CD
CMR22: Sam Hamilton 'Tropics' Lathe 7 inch
CMR23: Ian-John Hutchinson 'An Utterbook' Lathe 7 inch
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CMR21	
Richard Francis  'Together alone, together apart'
Compact disk
29:25 minutes
Edition of 300

-sound sources: field recordings of indoor and outdoor spaces;  
handling of fabric, wood and plastic; self noise of home stereo  
amplifiers, loudspeakers and record players.

-'refined and highly recommended'
THE WIRE 286, Dec 2007

-'A strong CD'
VITAL WEEKLY 596, October 2007

-'convincing examples of Francis’ skill to transfer acoustic traces  
of movements, electric currents and spatial situations into  
restrained, yet powerful abstractions. 9/10'
EARLABS, December 2007

REVIEWS
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'The building blocks of 'Together Alone, Together Apart' by New  
Zealand's Richard Francis are 'sound moments': sonic interludes of a  
dozen or so seconds of environmental sound, whose subtle arrangements  
and cross-contaminations are the springboard for the compositions  
found here. Given the quiet volumes, sounds at the threshold of  
audibility are presumably those which have captured his imagination.  
A soft hiss and variable low end frequency introduce the first  
untitled track, with small crackles, glitches and echoes sporadically  
breaking through. The second is considerably more dramatic, with a  
flapping rhythm emerging from a grounded hiss like a moth's wings  
beating against glass. The final track is almost undetectable, even  
with headphones, and strengthens the connections between Francis's  
work and the reductive strategies of Bernhard Gunter or John Hudak.  
Here, swells of deep frequencies rise and fall along a fog of  
unsettled static, concluding a refined and highly recommended album.'
THE WIRE 286, December 2007

'Despite still be young of age and nature, Richard Francis has been  
active in the field of music since 1996. You may remember his Eso  
Steel band and his CMR label which he uses these days as a vehicle to  
release lathe cut records from the New Zealand scene. But here he  
releases his own work on a CD. Since many years Francis' work deals  
with field recordings and acoustic objects, such as fabric, wood,  
plastic, 'self noise of home stereo amplifiers', loudspeakers and  
record players. He writes that he is inspired by 'a particular moment  
of sound heard in my surroundings, [I've] come to call these brief  
sonic impressions 'sound moments', of 10-20 seconds in length where  
my attention is drawn to an interesting combination and arrangement  
of sounds'. His music is not a recording of these moments, but rather  
a 'cover' version using different sounds. That is a nice way, but  
hard to check out. We didn't hear these original sound moments. Three  
lengthy tracks here of not too careful music. It seems to be based,  
at least from this perspective, on a bunch of loops, which fade in  
and out in an irregular mode. Continuos sustaining sounds of  
crackling sound, low sonic rumble and debris flying around. Is it  
drone music? Well, perhaps it is. Is it microsound? Indeed, it might  
be. But it's harsher, more present, certainly in the first two  
tracks. It doesn't lull the listener to sleep. Perhaps it's musique  
concrete? It is, but the aspect of a continuous sounds built from  
loops may suggest otherwise. I think this is the strong thing from  
this CD. It sounds familiar but upon close inspection it's not easy  
to lump this into any genre. A strong CD, that at just under thirty  
minutes, is perhaps a bit short. Another piece would have been most  
welcome.'
VITAL WEEKLY 596, October 2007

'Richard Francis lists “field recordings of indoor and outdoor  
spaces, handling of fabric, wood and plastic and self noise of home  
stereo amplifiers, loudspeakers and record players” as the sources  
for “Together alone, together apart” – common and marginal  
sounds, that you would not necessarily notice. However, Francis’ use  
of these sounds adds a layer of mystery to the quotidian – not  
mystery in a surrealist tradition, though, but a process of  
abstraction that leads to intensified sensual awareness and brings  
about an oscillation between absence and presence of physicality.  
This is also reflected in the description Francis gives of his  
approach: “Each piece was inspired by a particular moment of sound I  
heard in my surroundings. I’ve come to call these brief sonic  
impressions ‘sound moments’, of 10-20 seconds in length where my  
attention is drawn to an interesting combination and arrangement of  
sounds. I attempted to draw or notate the sound moments, with the  
intention of composing a kind of ‘cover version’ of each one.  
During the recording process, each piece took a feel and sense of its  
own, while retaining some relationship to the original sound  
impression.” Compared to earlier works, such as “Technology of  
Sleep” or “20 Ways” (both released under the name Eso Steel),  
the overall sound of “Together alone, together apart” has become  
softer and more refined (in part due to a shift from analogue to  
digital equipment, I’d assume), while still maintaining a distinctly  
rough textural character and focusing on the concrete (‘concrete’  
as in musique concrète) qualities of the sound rather than on  
extensive digital manipulation, thus again achieving the highly  
organic effect that had been characteristic of the aforementioned  
releases. Track one and two weave low-end bass sounds, gritty  
textures and very vague, far-away melodic hints, into a dense fabric,  
with the individual elements continually shifting in and out of the  
listener’s perceptional focus. This density produces an intensely  
immersive effect, which is, however, not based on sheer volume, but  
on the phenomenological richness of the grinding, hissing and humming  
sounds that emanate from the speakers. The third and final track,  
recorded three years earlier than the other two, then changes density  
for reduction and presents sparse, circulating low frequency pulses,  
which are accompanied by delicate hiss. The result is no less  
intense, though, and is here brought about by the almost complete  
withdrawal of sound, which demands an amount of concentration that  
borders on absorption. One might notice a certain imbalance between  
these different approaches, but eventually they prove to be  
complementing and to be equally convincing examples of Francis’  
skill to transfer acoustic traces of movements, electric currents and  
spatial situations into restrained, yet powerful abstractions.'
EARLabs, December 2007

'Sound artists like Matt Shoemaker, Loren Chasse, and Steve Roden are  
some of the very few who are successful in turning found objects and  
field recordings into thoroughly engaging compositions that don't  
rely upon the flashiness of techniques to make their work successful.  
Add New Zealand's Richard Francis to that gaggle as well. It's been a  
while since any solo work has been available from Francis, who has  
previously recorded under the moniker Eso Steel; and more recently,  
he's been entertaining many a collaboration with his fellow NZ  
noiseniks such as Campbell Kneale and Michael Morley. On Together  
Alone, Together Apart, Francis turns to the miniscule events of daily  
life whose peculiar sounds capture his imagination. It could be a  
crackle from rain falling or the distant surf of the Pacific Ocean or  
a creaking electric radiator or the hissing static from television  
snow. It's these small sounds which Francis has recorded and  
stretched into relatively longer compositions. These rattling,  
crackling streams of softened white noise move in a synchronous  
fashion, much like the way that a huge flock of starlings can  
gracefully circle in the sky without bumping into each other, all  
moving organically in three dimensions. Think Loren Chasse, as if he  
were reworking any of Bernhard Gunter's compositions, making them  
rougher, in line with Chasse's Hedge Of Nerves disc. Headphones are  
certainly recommended for this album, as the last track is awfully  
quiet... at least, it is when there's a record store full of people.  
Very well done!'
AQUARIUS RECORDS, January 2008


BIO
-----------
Richard Francis (aka Eso Steel) has been active as an experimental  
music composer and improviser since 1996. His work over the years has  
explored different techniques of sound generation and processing,  
with a focus on the collection and digital processing of various  
natural and artificially produced sounds from the surrounding  
environment. He has released solo and collaborative sound works on  
labels such as Drone Records (Germany), Stateart (Germany), Celebrate  
Psi Phenomenon (NZ), Digitalis (USA), Absurd (Greece) and Scarcelight  
(USA). He currently operates CMR, a record label through which he  
publishes the work of New Zealand and international experimental  
music artists. The main output of CMR recently has been a series of  
lathe cut 7 inch records by NZ sound artists and musicians. As a  
performing artist he has toured in Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, New  
Zealand, Canada and the USA. From 2003-2006 Francis co-operated  
ACROMA, an organization that coordinated a number of live  
experimental music events in Auckland hosting local and visiting  
experimental sound artists. Francis is a member of the Alt.Music  
committee, and in 2005 was appointed to the board of the New Zealand  
Audio Foundation. He has collaborated for recording and/or  
performance with Birchville Cat Motel (NZ), MSBR (Japan), Empirical  
(NZ), Tetuzi Akiyama (Japan), Gate (NZ), Mattin (Basque Country),  
Lawrence English (Australia), Rosy Parlane (NZ), Greg Headley (USA),  
Pumice (NZ), Whitebass/Clinton Watkins (NZ), Howard Stelzer (USA),  
Kuwayama Kiyoharu (Japan), Phil Dadson (NZ), Joel Stern (Australia),  
Sean Kerr (NZ), Andrew Clifford (NZ), Anthony Guerra (Australia),  
Sean Meehan (USA), Antony Milton (NZ), James Kirk (NZ), MHFS (NZ),  
Tim Coster (NZ), Paul Winstanley (NZ), Ishigami Kazuya (Japan),  
Takefumi Naoshima (Japan), Toshihiro Koike (Japan), Jason Lescalleet  
(USA), Jay Sullivan (USA), Jason Kahn (USA).
http://www.midstreams.net

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CMR22	
Sam Hamilton 'Tropics'
Lathe 7 inch
Edition of 45

- electric guitar, sampler pedal, spring reverb, computer and lathe

BIO
-----------
  ' sitting free from the shallow waters of borderline music,  
watching stones sink and demanding rigidly defined area's of doubt  
and uncertainty in the ripples: "hey dickhead,your guitar is out of  
tune!" '
http://www.myspace.com/samhamilton0

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CMR23	
Ian-John Hutchinson 'An Utterbook'
Lathe 7 inch
Edition of 45

-combinations of field recordings: birds, train stations, hums,  
noises and the artists vocal utterances

BIO
-----------
'Developing from an interest in poetry Ian-John began making field  
recordings in the late 90’s, making collages with both a  
journalistic, documentary ethos and a flavour of audio-book  
narration…and none of the above. Subsequently he has developed a  
fascination with the linguistic and extra-linguistic vocal products  
(utterance objects) of various social situations, an interest  
amplified through exposure to the sound environments of Taiwan and  
Japan. One strategy is a performance practise of integrating  
utterances into various sound environments e.g. he’s that nutter in  
the street wearing headphones and talking into an expensive looking  
microphone. Starting in 2003 he has published a short series of field  
recordings of utterance objects collected around particular themes  
under the title ‘Utterbooks 話本 ‘. Ian-John is an active member  
of the Auckland improvised music network ‘Vitamin-S’, and is a  
contributor to the online archive ‘soundtransit.nl’.'
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CMR//www.cmr.co.nz
MUSIC SILENCE NOISE//www.cmr.co.nz/musicsilencenoise.html




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