Genuine OPENING TRACKS to albums are a comparative scarcity in this day and age, something of a lost art. Pieces that slowly introduce tone, mood and the instrumentation, setting the pace for the record as a whole and the stage for the themes to follow. Since the advent of digital distribution, the concept of the album itself is a less important one, and opening tracks seem to have been deemed to be a lesser concern.

So to be greeted with the opener “Infra 1”, from Max Richter’s new album is something of a pleasant shock.

Two shortwave radio loops panned to each side slowly creep up in volume.  Morse code. Feedback squalls. Some faint drone in the background, then some further feedback. There’s a swell of strings, and then – the bottom end drops.

Tape warmth. Immaculate playing. Brilliant arrangements. Clever mixing.

Magic. It’s like being lost at sea.

And as quickly as it’s there, it fades again, the best opening to a record I’ve heard so far this year. The immediate reaction is to try and process the multiple impressions and incredible production, as the strings and piano parts sound as though they’re actually in the room with you. The cinematic sweep and the emotional engagement that are present in all of his previous works are here in spades. I’ve seen it written that the music on this release presents itself in a stronger light without the spoken word work of Kafka and Murakami, and that’s fair comment – the minimalist structures assume the central role that they deserve.

Production aficionados will find a lot to return to here over time – solo instrumentals such as the piano in “Infra 3” even appear to have multiple layers surrounding it. The initial impression one takes out of the track is that the piano was miked from multiple angles and distances, and then subtle variations were applied to each track, decaying or manipulating them. Upon further listens, the tracks to each side of the piano present multiple possibilities – more radio noise? Laptop manipulations? Electronic percussion? You strain to decode it, further instrumentation rises, and as you’re almost at an answer you’re into the next track.

The 2:13 “Journey 2” has a submerged quality to it, as a disconcerting bass throb pulses away at the back of the spectrum. A multitude of drones rise up in front of it and recede again, whilst hiss rears in the background.

Other tracks, like “Infra 4” and “Infra 5” reminded me of Clint Mansell’s “The Fountain” soundtrack collaboration with Kronos and Mogwai which is not to make any accusations of being derivative, but tonally they’re similar (albeit a touch less bombastic). “Journey 5” and “Infra 6” put me in mind of Ludovico Einuadi, albeit a more ethereal version. All of these are fairly obvious touchstones when dealing with modern classical, granted, but indicative of a familiar emotional depth.

“Infra 8” is a fitting closing track, with plaintive strings ringing out over a evocative refrain – it feels as though it could go in almost any direction, but closes out without any extra texture or manipulation, a welcome simplicity. An organic and elegiac close to a meticulous, well considered and assured effort (as though you’d expect anything less).

Adding to the cinematic effect is the comparative brevity of the tracks – a majority under three minutes. Oddly, they don’t FEEL like they want to be any longer, and they tail into each other in a fairly effortless fashion. “Journey 4” and “Journey 5” are seamlessly edited together, as are “Infra” 6 and 7. There are no track titles to be found here, only numbered “Infra”s and “Journey”s, again placing the music front and centre without the distraction of association.

The work was originally part of collaboration between Wayne Macgregor and Julian Opie for The Royal Ballet last year, written in autumn 2008 and premiered in November of the same year at The Royal Opera House in London. Hard to comment on how the music would have complimented the ballet without having seen it, but given the music they had to work with one imagines it would have been quite a sight. Richter’s work on the ballet came initially from McGregor’s invitation, a request for 25 minutes of music for his piece, inspired by T.S. Elliot’s ‘The Wasteland’ and named after the Latin term for ‘below’. The 13 tracks presented here are both the pieces from the ballet itself, and pieces that developed out of it, described as a “continued reference” to the ballet rather than work that grew out of it.

The promotional material that accompanies “infra” seems anxious to make the point that it’s an accompaniment to the ballet rather than a “studio album” proper, but that does it a disservice, as it presents strongly as a standalone piece in its own right. It doesn’t need any visual partners to be understood and appreciated on its own terms. Added to this is the fact that it also has one of the most iconic covers I’ve seen in quite some time.

The stated theme is one of travel – as explained by Richter -

“I started thinking about making a piece on the theme of journeys. Like a road movie. Or a traveler’s notebook. Or like the second unit in a film – when the scene has been played, and the image cuts away to the landscape going by. This started me thinking about Schubert’s devastating and haunting “Winterreise” (Winter Journey), so I used some melodic material from Schubert as a found object in parts of my new piece.“

The accompanying material also makes mention of the fact that recording of ‘infra’ took place in one day at London’s AIR Studios, and the exceptional recording quality is evident. It’s also mentioned that the original recordings were then further worked on in Richter’s studio in Berlin – presumably to blend the live instrumentation with the subtle electronica, feedback and ambience that permeates the record.

If you’re not familiar with Richter’s work, this is an ideal entry point, and if you are (which I suspect is a good deal of you all already) this is an essential addition to an already impressive and consistent body of releases.

“Infra” is released on July 19th, on FatCat’s imprint 130701 and can be pre-ordered as 320k MP3, CD and LP. The LP is worth buying just on the strength of dropping the needle on the first track, cracking a good bottle of red late at night, sitting back and listening to the house shake.

Review by Alex Gibson for Fluid Radio

Track Listing:

1. Infra 1
2. Journey 2
3. Infra 2
4. Infra 3
5. Journey 2
6. Infra 4
7. Journey 3
8. Journey 5
9. Journey 6
10. Infra 5
11. Infra 6
12. Infra 7
13. Infra 8

Pre-order from the FatCat store here

www.maxrichter.com
www.fat-cat.co.uk
www.myspace.com/fatcat130701

If you are in or around the London area on Sunday 11th April then a great venue worth checking out would have to be the Union Chapel as Vashti Bunyan, David Kitt and Danny Norbury get set to bring us a superb evening of live acoustic melodies…

Vashti Bunyan story tells of the thwarted promise of early fame, disenchantment, long-term exile and eventual rediscovery. In the mid-‘60s, after quitting art school to concentrate on music, she was discovered by The Rolling Stones’ guru, Andrew Loog Oldham, signed to Decca and recorded a single written by Jagger / Richards. Reviews touted her as ‘the new Marianne Faithful’ or the ‘female Bob Dylan’ (though Vashti claimed to be neither), yet further singles remained unreleased, leading to a sense of despair and a rejection of the music industry. Fast forward to recent times and a host of young, new admirers emerged citing her influence such as Animal Collective who she worked with on their ‘Prospect Hummer’ EP. Fat Cat became her new record label and with their help (and producer Max Richter) produced the truly beautiful ‘Lookaftering’ released in October 2005.

David Kitt (born in Dublin, Ireland) grew up surrounded by music, as his father and uncles formed a successful touring folk group when he was young. He began performing live sets while studying at Trinity College, Dublin, where he completed a postgraduate course in music technology. He then recorded and mixed the eight tracks of his debut release in his bedroom. This debut LP ‘Small Moments’ was followed by ‘The Big Romance’, his biggest selling record, ‘Square One’ and ‘The Black & Red Notebook’, a cover LP. His most recent album is The Nightsaver which will be released in the UK in 2010.

Danny Norbury lives and works in Manchester. he has collaborated with Library Tapes, The Boats, Nancy Elizabeth, Ian Hawgood and Rafael Anton Irisarri. he has released two EPs, ‘Dusk’ and ‘Jean Cocteau’ and an album ‘Light in August’.

Gig Info:

Directions
Tickets

Artic Circle
Union Chapel

Artist Info:

www.myspace.com/vashtibunyan
www.myspace.com/davidkitt
www.myspace.com/dannynorbury

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

Cellist Danny Norbury has contributed to music by Library Tapes, The Boats, Nancy Elizabeth and Rafael Anton Irisarri of The Sight Below. This incredible full-length, Light In August, finds Norbury assuming the role of a one-man ensemble, spinning a collection of understated string and piano elegies harnessing an incredibly intimate cinematic quality.

Norbury’s music taps into the neo-classicisms of Rachel’s or Hildur Gudnadottir, with gentle, harmonised cello figures and minimal keystrokes leading the way. A maudlin grasp on romanticism takes hold of pieces like ‘The Morning Star’ and ‘Small Field’, setting the tone for what’s to come: a set that wrings every drop of emotion from Norbury’s instrumental palette. Fans of Peter Broderick’s Float album, or the aforementioned Hildur Gu?nadottir’s Without Sinking will fall in love at first listen, but Norbury manages to map out his very own niche within the current crop of modern classical musicians on outstanding entries such as the quietly devastating ‘This Night Is For You And For Me’ and final track ‘The Evening Star’, whose extreme cello glissandos mimic pedal steel tones, arcing across the horizon in the most heart-rending of fashions. Utterly sublime. – Boomkat Review

Purchase here

In December 08 one of our favourite live acts Digitonal put together a wonderful mix for Fluid Radio entitled “To Drive The Cold Winter”. Here is your chance to listen/download the mix and play it to your hearts content…

Listen/Download here

Digitonal presents:
To Drive the Cold Winter

A Fluid Radio mix
Christmas Eve, 2008

Thomas Tallis – Why Fumth in Fight
Xela – Impulsive behaviour
Glissando – Floods
Anon – Intonent hodie
Quietmen – Minimal Rendered Subtle
Rena Jones – Driftwood
Max Richter – Flowers for Yulia
Infinite Scale – Fade
Kaom – All of your mindz
Benjamin Britten – Balaulow
Plaid – This City is Hell
Maps and Diagrams – Back to Mono
Loess – Alt.Tone.Two
Digitonal – 93 Years On (LJ Kruzer remix)
Yimino – Ze Ka
Sunosis – Plato
Andrew Dobson – Drive the Cold Winter
Digitonal – The Beating of Her Heart

www.digitonal.com

A delicate electroacoustic affair from James…

Listen/Download here

Track List:

Rose – Bark Psychosis
Una – Murcof
Thin Faces – Fognode
A Secret – Arovane
Mort Aux Vaches [extract] – Tim Hecker
Salvation – Ryuichi Sakamoto (Pan Sonic Remix)
Mortuos Plango, Vivos Voco – Jonathan Harvey
Measure de Mesure – Set Fire to Flames
Away – Múm
Frosti – Björk (Feisar’s Across The Lake Remix)
So Many Ways – Metamatics
Her Eyes Sparkled And She Walked Away – Xela
Trust is Important – Elite Barbarian
Awayward – James Murray
Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel – Atlas Sound

James Murray is a London-based electroacoustic sound artist, producer and multi-instrumentalist. his productions weave together elements of electronica, downtempo, jazz and dub in emotive explorations of how the organic and electronic interact. All at once the city and the middle of nowhere, jm’s recursive themes draw hi-tech sound design, live instrumentation and lush pastoralism together in a sonic world where nothing is ever quite as it seems.
Previously released on em:t, psychonavigation and part2 records, he has recently completed his debut album “Where Edges Meet” on Ultimae Records and works as a freelance composer, producer and sound designer.

www.jamesmurray.info