Recordings

Eleanor Hovda. The Eleanor Hovda Collection. The music of Eleanor Hovda, (1940–2009), reflected her various concerns and interests in dance and movement and, by extension, space and breath. This is evidenced in The Eleanor Hovda Collection, with most of the recorded music stemming from the final twenty years of her career. Her[...] Read more

Recordings René van Peer Issue 113

Craig Hilton & Tomas Phillips. le gout de néant. This beautiful recording is largely sourced from a performance of Craig Hilton playing the guzheng. The first track, Sans Mouvement I, is a relatively untreated sound recording of Hilton bowing the guzheng, with a slight reverb applied—creating a blissfully full sound that envelops the[...] Read more

Recordings Chris Kennedy Issue 113

Eric Chenaux. Guitar & Voice. Guitar & Voice, Eric Chenaux’s fourth album for Constellation, is arguably his most comprehensively representative recording to date, unselfconsciously connecting disparate parts of his musical personality. In addition to placing his delicate songs into a nakedly intimate and[...] Read more

Recordings Nick Storring Issue 113

Tim Brady. 24 Frames—Scatter. Tim Brady’s 24 Frames series (this double CD and its companion 24 Frames—Trance, from 2010) is about precision and virtuosity. Billed as a larger project of “24 compositions . . .atmospheres . . . scenarios . . . [and] ways of playing guitar,[...] Read more

Recordings Chris Kennedy Issue 113

Christian Bouchard. Automacité. Automacité is firmly rooted in two sound worlds: Bouchard’s gestural language speaks of Montreal’s vital acousmatic scene, and the album’s silvery abstract dynamism recalls the later work of so-called IDM (intelligent dance music) pioneers Autechre.[...] Read more

Recordings Nick Storring Issue 113

Six Heads. Cardboard Oracle. William Davison and his five sous-chefs have been cooking up—yes, this disc is thoroughly cooked—their signature stews for over a decade now. This vinyl release documents their improvisatory web-toed amblings through the mutant sonic kitchen: each member chopping and dicing[...] Read more

Recordings Nick Storring Issue 112

Drip Audio. Violinist Jesse Zubot’s Drip Audio label has spent the last seven years releasing over thirty strongly produced records that have served as important documents of the improvised music scene in Vancouver. A dip into the back catalogue reveals a wildly interconnected scene—[...] Read more

Recordings Chris Kennedy Issue 112

Chris Watson and Marcus Davidson. Cross-Pollination. Of all earthly creatures, insects come the closest to resembling aliens: exoskeletons, multifaceted eyes, barbed legs, and an impenetrable collectiveness. Their sonic world is highlighted on Cross-Pollination. Central to the two tracks on this CD are recordings of insects by Chris Watson,[...] Read more

Recordings René van Peer Issue 112

Chris Watson. El tren fantasma. Sound recordist Chris Watson’s latest CD is a homage to the sounds of trains, sounds that until ten years ago travelled the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of Mexico. The ten pieces on El tren fantasma abound with the screeching and the rhythms of steel wheels rolling over the tracks,[...] Read more

Recordings René van Peer Issue 112

Nick Storring. Rife. Remarkably, the sound for Artifacts, the first of three compositions that make up Rife, is entirely sourced from a small, broken violin that was a childhood gift to Storring from his grandmother. From these initial sound samples, Storring builds a piece of music that is incredibly engaging[...] Read more

Recordings Chris Kennedy Issue 112

Aki Onda. Diary and First Thought Best Thought. Cassette tapes have been one of the more unlikely sound devices to have a resurgence in popularity these last few years. Vinyl can at least by claim to high sound fidelity, but what’s the motive for making space on the shelf for a new wave of cassette releases—let alone for[...] Read more

Recordings Chris Kennedy Issue 112

NINA. Place Where the Trees Stand in the Water. This ten-inch record documents a live performance of NINA—Chris Cogburn, Bonnie Jones, and Liz Tonne—at the 2009 Fusebox Festival in Austin, Texas. The trio explores their converging timbres—Cogburn on bowed and scraped percussion, Jones on electronics, and Tonne on voice[...] Read more

Recordings Chris Kennedy Issue 112