Rough Guide Vol.1 - Adrian Orange by Fluid Radio on Mixcloud

RE-POST: The Rough Guide series is a new edition to Fluid Radio. It involves mixes that gather a selection of material from an artist’s catalogue and paints a musical ‘journey’ of their career….

The first in the series is presented by Wim Maesschalck as he looks at compositions from the talented Adrian Orange. Here is what Wim had to say:

Because I miss Thanksgiving and the warm person I met during a few European tours, I asked Dan to compile a selection of my favourite Adrian Orange songs instead of doing a regular folkmix. Without new releases he’s bound to be forgotten by the new-loving internet music-community. He generously agreed and so here it is.. a mixtape sung by Adrian Orange. Do try and get your hands on any LP or CD he made, in my opinion they’re bound to go out of print if they haven’t already.

The songs on the mixtape are grouped by record and ordered by my favourite records of his. To finish I included some songs I found on compilations and a 7″

Adrian Orange was born in 1986 – living in Portland, Oregan for the bigger part of his life. He released his first record “We Could Be Each Other’s Evidence” in 2002, at the age of 16. A year later he released “Nothing” the first release on Marriage Records.

In 2004 he released an amazing and crackly 7″ (The Lake At Night / The “In The Lake”), a humble ep with only sparse acoustic guitar and his trembling voice titled “Now It Is All Over Like The Birds” but also his masterpiece “Welcome Nowhere”.  Recorded with the help of Phil Elverum of Mount Eerie – and also the first record to be released on Elverum’s PW Elverum & Sun label. The sound of it is so delicate, humble, simple modest and thankful. It makes you want to say thank you to nature, wind, forests, mountains, just being thankful that you’re alive and that you’re in this world. Don’t expect well performed or well recorded songs matching todays standards, but a true lofi gem. Originally pressed on 600 it has been repressed with outtakes and a vinyl version of the ep “The Ghost & The Eyes With Trees In The Ground” from 2005.

Also in 2005 Adrian managed to release a triple LP simply called “Thanksgiving”. It is probably the record which covers the most aspects of his carreer, but sometimes it’s a difficulat listen with the abundance of songs. Then there’s “The “In The World”" 12″ which sounds similar to “Welcome Nowhere”, but is not as captivating. If that wasn’t enough, he also released a cd on Hive-Fi Records called The River. It is a wonderful Will Oldham-esque folk record with a little more arrangements. Still lofi, still not really what one would call a “tight production”, but it has some incredible songwriting. By the age of 21, Adrian managed to release 5 albums and 3 ep’s, full of wisdom, calmness and honesty.

After “Cave Days And Moments” in 2006 he chose to record under his given name. He recorded 2 albums: one very similar to the thanksgiving sound, another one more playful incorporating styles as dub and afrobeat in 2007. After that he seems to have stopped releasing stuff, getting focussed on electronic music, weed and hiphop. Unfortunately, that’s not for the better as far as I can tell. - Wim

Track List:

1. Welcome – Welcome Nowhere & Extra’s 2LP+CD on PW Elverum & Sun (2007)
2. Rich (Homeless) – Welcome Nowhere & Extra’s 2LP+CD on PW Elverum & Sun (2007)
3. Nowhere – Welcome Nowhere & Extra’s 2LP+CD on PW Elverum & Sun (2007)
4. Responsibility – The River CD on Hive-Fi (2005)
5. Storyteller – The River CD on Hive-Fi (2005)
6. Oh Well – The River CD on Hive-Fi (2005)
7. Around The World – Thanksgiving 3LP+CD (Marriage Recs/Pw Elverum & Sun (2005)
8. Dead Deer & Other Animals – Thanksgiving 3LP+CD (Marriage Recs/Pw Elverum & Sun (2005)
9. Oregon – Thanksgiving 3LP+CD (Marriage Recs/Pw Elverum & Sun (2005)
10. (You Belong To The) Blood – Cave Days & Moments CD – Marriage Recs (2006)
11. The Old Graveyard – Cave Days & Moments CD – Marriage Recs (2006)
12. Fire Dream – Adrian Orange & Her Band s.t. LP (2007)
13. Save The World – Bitches Is Lord CD (as Adrian Orange) (2006)
14. Bad World – The “In The World” 12″ – Marriage Recs (2005)
15. The Ghost & The Eyes – The Ghost & The Eyes With Trees In The Ground CD – States Rights Records (2005)
16. Untitled Track 01 – Now It Is All Over Like The Birds CD – Marriage Recs (2004)
17. The Lake At Night – 7″ – Marriage Recs (2004)
18. Grandfather Dawn – Own Zone Compilation – States Rights Records (2004)

www.marriagerecs.com
www.pwelverumandsun.com
www.en.wikipedia.org
www.last.fm/music/Adrian+Orange

www.myspace.com/wixel

When dealing with a release structured solely around the concept of physical disintegration, it would be a fair assumption that the material would be foreboding and gloomy – but not so on the album ‘Decompose’ by Spheruleus, recently released on Audio Gourmet. Based around the idea of organisms of all types breaking down into another form over time, the eight tracks are thematically constructed from what appear to have been carefully built loops and layers of field noise. These are in turn deconstructed in a process of “decomposition”, forming new pieces in their own right.

Proceedings open with “Corroding”, which sets the stage for the hour to follow. Both cavernous and aquatic, it introduces the mood and tone of the layers used in all tracks. The texture sounds are gritty without being abrasive, and are used to good effect in creating an environment best appreciated through headphones late at night. What appear to be guitar notes chime in a circular motif throughout, creating a subtle melody blending with well placed layers that rise and fall in both sides of the speakers.

As the process of disintegration is a long and slow one, most pieces are aptly lengthy, most being the best part of ten minutes each – the size of each track really captures the listener, and the album as a whole represents a real journey that envelops and commands attention. It wasn’t until the third or fourth listen that I even registered the absence of a defined bottom end – which is an entirely appropriate decision by the artist, given the subject matter. An exploration of graceful degradation rightly should not carry too much weight?

A few of the standout tracks are “Decay” – an even and percussive pulse which hints at a crescendo never quite arriving, swaying with well placed guitar flares, micro noise and almost perceptible layers.  “Disintegrate” conjures an image of time lapse film of fallen birds becoming one with the earth, and “Recycling” alternates between metallic and organic tones – you can hear the fingerprints on the empty drink cans as they’re sorted to be melted down, moving towards the furnace.

Harry Towell and his brother Stuart have developed between them a statement on the ephemeral and transitory nature of the world we move in today.

Audio Gourmet’s recent releases have been based around the concept of “teabreak” length listens, slices of music that can be digested in 15 minutes or less – this represents a move towards “lunchbreak” length portions of music of an hour or more. The teabreak EP’s have been free downloads, however the “Decompose” project is a paid download due to the seemingly considerable time and effort that has gone into producing it. It’s as good a 5 pound download as one could hope to find as well, with striking cover art by French artist Eric Lacombe (Monstror). It’s available in the multiple file types (lossless included) that you’d expect from Bandcamp. It come up well in the 320k MP3 files I grabbed, but would doubtless shine even brighter as FLAC.

“Decompose” sat well in most environments – it was the first thing I listened to in the morning, and steadied my nerves before a demanding day at work – it wiped it away once I was done, and was also worthy of the complete attention given to it late at night. I’m uncertain as to how it was mastered, but it plays well both in headphones and hitting the air.  It also displays one of the traits that good records possess – it changes form with every listen, and by concentrating on one particular part of the spectrum, another part displays itself in a way that it hadn’t previously.

As the tracks have been developed out of musical parts that have been treated and broken down, they retain a hint of their former shape. There’s a lot of implied melody, where after you’ve finished listening you’re left with a phrase that wasn’t actually there, but was a combination of parts operating in tandem to create the part in between your ears.

Can’t wait for the next one.

Review by Alex Gibson for Fluid Radio.

Purchase from here

www.myspace.com/spheruleus
www.audiogourmet.blogspot.com
www.audiogourmet.co.uk

Rough Guide Vol.2 - Eleni Karaindrou by Fluid Radio on Mixcloud

The ‘Rough Guide’ series returns to Fluid Radio with it’s second musical expedition. This new selection comes from the one and only Nils Frahm as he paints a detailed portrait of Eleni Karaindrou…

‘Eleni´s music has always moved me in a very special way. I realised that her work is not known to many people, so I hope this mix might help to spread her beautiful compositions. The pieces you hear, are all taken from the film scores she did for Theo Angelopoulos. Her subtle, classical but never boring compositions found their way into my life and I think it is an important addition. I hope you’ll enjoy them like I do.’ – Nils Frahm

Track List:

Bus Part
Depart
2 0
Waiting 1
Train Car Neigbourhood Variation
Prayer
The Suspended Step
Hearing The Time
Parodos (The Land I Call Home)
An Ode Of Tears
Hercubas Theme 1
Hercubas Theme 2
Young Man’s Theme
The Tree
The Weaping Meadow
Lament 2
The River – Refugee’s Theme
Cassandra’s Theme
Theme Of The Uprooting 2
The Weaping Meadow 2
The Poet

About Eleni Karaindrou:

Eleni Karaindrou was born in 1941 in the Greek mountain village of Teichio. She studied piano and musical theory at the Athens Hellenic Conservatory, history and archaeology at the University of Athens, and ethnomusicology and orchestration at the Sorbonne and the Scuola Cantorum in Paris.

Since 1975 she has composed music for more than twenty feature films, and for more than 40 theatre plays and numerous television productions. Collaborating most often with Greek directors – above all Theo Angelopoulos, with whom she has had an ongoing creative association since 1983 – she has also worked with Harold Pinter, Chris Marker, Jules Dassin, Margarethe von Trotta and others.

Karaindrou has received numerous awards including the State Music Award (Greece) for her music for “Eternity and a Day”, the Dmitris Mitropoulos Award for her music for theatre (1994-96), and the Fellini Award from Europa Cinema, Italy. In 2002 she received the Golden Cross of the Order of Honor from the Greek president, for her life’s work. In 2004 she was nominated for the European Film Award for her music for “The Weeping Meadow”, which was also Oscar-nominated.

Eleni Karaindrou has been an ECM recording artist since 1991, working closely with producer Manfred Eicher in rearranging and adapting compositions originally written for stage and screen for album release. Her ECM discs are “Music for Films”, “The Suspended Step of the Stork”, “Ulysses’ Gaze”, “Eternity and a Day”, “Trojan Women”, “The Weeping Meadow” and “Elegy of the Uprooting”.

She is married to Antonis Antypas, film and theatrical director with whom she has a son, Giorgos Faraklas, professor of philosophy.

www.myspace.com/elenikaraindrou
www.theoangelopoulos.com
www.myspace.com/nilsfrahm