avant . leftfield . post-rock . drone . experimental

WEEK STARTING 2 Jun

Genre pick of the week Cover of (Whirring Marvels In) Consensus Reality by Eluvium.

Eluvium

(Whirring Marvels In) Consensus Reality

    The new studio album by iconic experimental ambient artist, Eluvium.

    ­The first Eluvium album to feature a full live orchestra.

    (Whirring Marvels In) Consensus Reality is the new album by Eluvium – the renowned moniker of prolific modern composer, Matthew Robert Cooper. Taking initial inspirations from T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land and Richard Brautigan’s All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace, (Whirring Marvels) inherently deals both with humankind’s need for meaning, and the emergence of algorithms reflecting the feedback loops of humankind’s interactions with machines themselves. This complicated relationship that we have with technology, automations, and algorithms – and the influence they in turn have on shaping our image of the world – is the mechanized heart and soul of an album that almost instantly establishes itself as a peak in Eluvium’s inimitable catalog.

    During the writing process for (Whirring Marvels In) Consensus Reality, Cooper began experiencing shoulder and arm pain that rendered his left arm increasingly debilitated. This inspired new compositional methods that blended varying degrees of electronic automations with traditional songwriting. Lyrical themes were built using algorithms to cull content from a notebook filled with years of scribbled thoughts, poems, considerations, conspiracies, scientific notions, and notes on the spirit of existence. Employing musicians from all around the world – including members of the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME), Golden Retriever, and the entire Budapest Scoring Orchestra – much of the music was conducted and recorded remotely via teleconference during the global COVID lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. This approach to composing served as an unintended but serendipitous challenge for an album inspired by the complicated convenience of technology.

    (Whirring Marvels In) Consensus Reality blends an ornate combination of ingredients to construct a narrative of our dynamic invention; technological advancement; loneliness and isolationism; and unchecked idealism in a world of never-ending growth. The resulting hope that somehow emerges is itself a marvel of innovation and inspiration.

    STAFF COMMENTS

    Barry says: Matthew Robert Cooper produces some of the most beautiful modern-classical music around today, from the brittle solo piano of 'Pianoworks' to the more grand, expansive outings like 'Copia' or this, his most orchestrated outing yet. 'Whirring Marvels...' is playful in parts, but deeply heartfelt throughout. Rich and fun, just how I like my albums.

    TRACK LISTING

    1. Escapement (1:37)
    2. Swift Automatons (2:37)
    3. Vibration Consensus Reality (for Spectral Multiband Resonator) (8:01)
    4. Scatterbrains (3:34)
    5. Phantasia Telephonics (5:55)
    6. The Violet Light (2:30)
    7. Void Manifest (4:11)
    8. Clockwork Fables (2:16)
    9. Mass Lossless Interbeing (3:43)
    10. A Floating World Of Demons (3:04)
    11. Endless Flower (3:46)

    Recently created Guatemalan label Identidata is extremely proud to present "Sacratávica", the very first collected survey of Joaquín Orellana’s compositions. With a career spanning over 50 years of activity across contemporary art, performance, theater and sound art, Orellana is a highly singular figure in Guatamalan culture. Often considered to be the sole avant-garde composer in the country, his work has a deeply interdisciplinary quality. Most of his music was created using an orchestra of his self-built instruments, also known as Útiles Sonoros. Sitting at the border of sculpture, sound installation and musical instrument, these Útiles Sonoros, which he’s been building and developing since the late ‘60s, are at the center of his artistic activity.

    TRACK LISTING

    1. Híbrido A Presión
    2. Ramajes De Una Marimba Imaginaria
    3. Sacratávica (Las Voces De Río Negro)
    4. Fantoidea

    First release on the new French label Disques de la Spirale, featuring an experimental motorik-kraut-dub infused, semi-improvised live act built by Tamara Goukassova, Axel Larsen & Théo Delaunay (Panoptique, Succhiamo, Violent Quand on Aime, Radiante Pourpre..) from Simple Music Experience; featuring Maoupa Mazzocchetti, Fiesta en el Vacío, Ventre de Biche, Kyle Knapp (Deliluh).

    For fans of Faust, Tomaga, Tony Conrad.

    French non-jazz trio overflowed by Simple Music Experience’s founders Tamara Goukassova, Théo Delaunay & Alexandre Larcier, offering a 40mn of non-simple music madness, and navigating between a dozen of etiquettes from undecided space rock to motorik-infused-dub, medieval folk, cartoon trance; everything under the seal of psychedelia and half-improvisation.
    Built from drums, violin, springs, samples, reiterations, overdubs, trumpets, synths, distortions; and the appearances of L. Cedrón (Fiesta en el Vacío), L. Retraite (Ventre de Biche), K. Knapp (Deliluh), F. Mazzocchetti (Maoupa Mazzocchetti).

    Parasite Jazz emerged in 2016 in the smoke of a suspicious performance on Simple Music TV. An improvised and protean artifact at birth, the project settled down at the end of 2020 as a trio (Axel Larsen, Constance Chlore, Tamara Goukassova) in Marseille, then as a sextet during the Illusio festival in the summer of 2021. A series of concerts with a shifting line-up followed - Kyle Knapp, Luca Retraite and Luna Cedrón sometimes appeared and with them, spontaneous incandescences. This first series of collective hallucinations took the form of an album during a perilous recording at Grrrnd Zero (Lyon) in October 2021, and is completed by live recordings gleaned over the course of the summer episodes.


    TRACK LISTING

    A1. Pi Dub (10:29’)
    A2. Alarm Twist (2:44’)
    A3. Damn Spring (3:36’)
    A4. Terciopelo (3:33’)
    B1. Carton Jazz (2:01’)
    B2. Glissement De Terrain (8:11’)
    B3. Untitled (Live à Gigors) (9:54’)

    Tomahawk

    Anonymous

      In 2012, Ipecac released the first three Tomahawk albums as part of a limited edition Record Store Day Box Set. Then in 2013, they released the fourth album, Oddfellows. All have been out of print for the past ten years, until now.

      Tomahawk is the rock supergroup featuring Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mr. Bungle), Duane Denison (Jesus Lizard), John Stanier (Battles, Helmet) and various bassists including Kevin Rutmanis (Melvins) on the debut album, and Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle) on Oddfellows.

      This is the first time Mit Gas and Anonymous have been available individually outside of the box set.


      TRACK LISTING

      1. War Song
      2. Mescal Rite 1
      3. Ghost Dance
      4. Red Fox
      5. Cradle Song
      6. Antelope Ceremony
      7. Song Of Victory
      8. Omaha Dance
      9. Sun Dance
      10. Mescal Rite 2
      11. Totem
      12. Crow Dance
      13. Long, Long Weary Day

      Tomahawk

      Mit Gas

        In 2012, Ipecac released the first three Tomahawk albums as part of a limited edition Record Store Day Box Set. Then in 2013, they released the fourth album, Oddfellows. All have been out of print for the past ten years, until now.

        Tomahawk is the rock supergroup featuring Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mr. Bungle), Duane Denison (Jesus Lizard), John Stanier (Battles, Helmet) and various bassists including Kevin Rutmanis (Melvins) on the debut album, and Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle) on Oddfellows.

        This is the first time Mit Gas and Anonymous have been available individually outside of the box set.


        TRACK LISTING

        1. Birdsong
        2. Rape This Day
        3. You Can't Win
        4. Mayday
        5. Rotgut
        6. Capt Midnight
        7. Desastre Natural
        8. When The Stars Begin To Fall
        9. Harelip
        10. Harlem Clowns
        11. Aktion 13fh


        Back to top