Adventurous music from Portugal (2015)
Alfredo Costa Monteiro – Um Em Um
“‘Um em um’ assembles different techniques I’ve been working with for many years, giving them a status of material for improvisation and composition. The piece is deliberately contained, linear and constructed by layers, with the aim to give the possibility to the listener to converge on each of its parts, with a sense of the detail. Microphones have been placed in a way to enhance the harmonics and all the particularities of every sound. Coming after my last accordion solo ‘Cinq bruissements’ (no fun productions, 2010), where microphones were almost inside the instrument, “Um em um” is somehow a step backwards in terms of visualisation and appreciation of my musical direction, but not in terms of audacity (there’s more to come…). I needed a less crude approach, a kind of reformation, if not a clarification of what I’ve been setting up for more than 15 years. ‘Um em um’, translated by ‘one in one’, expresses the way how an idea (material in time) can fit in another idea (structure in space), with a mutual and constant feedback.”
Maybe it was the fact he used to be part of a dance crew with his younger brother, he can’t really tell, but the raw percussive nature of his music reveals Firmeza has a finely tuned understanding of body movements. That became more and more obvious since he first learned the ways of FL Studio via DJ Nervoso and his other – older – brother. That was it for DJ Firmeza, then 11 years old, born in Portugal but of Angolan descent. This EP is dedicated to his recently departed father, a light only overshadowed by God – it is not uncommon for Firmeza to shed some tears in those special moments during a performance when things seem too good to be true.
‘Etra’ is the second LP from Portugese Manuel Carvalho, and can be seen as an extension of the ideas and themes explored on his debut 12” ‘Citadel’ for Paralaxe Editions. Here across 9 tracks Manta breathes life and light into the potentially heavy exploration of the manifestation of the human ego in architecture, and our perceptions of inner/outer space. The weight of such ideas manifests itself in an sound realm where radiophonic interstellar explorations collide head on with a smooth yet brutalist Techno vision. ‘Etra’ plays heavily with perceptions of time, plunging the listener into a world of continuously shifting and shuffling timbre and rhythm, inviting and embracing a wandering, disorientated experience, enveloping us deeper and deeper into the dance. There is a sustained human element to ‘Etra’, represented by the reoccurring ecstatic samples of breathlessness which pierce these otherwise otherworldly soundscapes.
Goncalo F Cardoso – A Study Into 21st Century Drone Acoustics
Much attention is focused on drones as ‘eyes in the sky’. However for people on the ground, the sound of the drones is much more pervasive. Military drones fly at high altitudes and are more often heard than seen. The word drone itself is rooted in sound, referring to the noise of the male honeybee. The sound of drones in areas of conflict create frightening soundscapes that go on for many hours on end. The sound gives them nicknames like Zanana (buzz) in Palestine.
In this project, designer Ruben Pater (Drone Survival Guide) and composer Gonçalo F. Cardoso (Discrepant) join hands to focus on the auditive aspects of drones. What engines do drones have, and what do they sound like?
The basis of (ANT(i)SOM) is formed by field recordings with ants at the villages of Piódão (Arganil) and Alvoco das Várzeas (Oliveira do Hospital), at the heart of Beira Serra in Portugal. This is the area where Luís Antero resides and where he has been building his project of sound archival and documentation, through the artistic practice with sonic landscapes and soundmarks of the villages of this inner area of Portugal.
The recordings with ants were posteriorly mixed and manipulated with other sounds present in this territory, in an almost-live setting, by deconstructing the original recordings and building a sonic amalgamation where rurality is no longer perceptible and that gives space to other acoustic readings.
Margarida Garcia + Manuel Mota – Crypt
Manuel Mota’s guitar music is understated with sparse and sustained notes. This is music that breaths, where silence is an integral part of its natural flow. Aside from a few collaborations (with Toshimaru Nakamura in 2013 and Noël Akchoté 2012) Mota releases mostly solo works on his own Headlights label.
Nidia used to dance hard with her crew of girls back in Vale da Amoreira (south bank of the Tagus river) but she soon imagined the crew producing their own music. She was kind of alone in her enthusiasm and it was only after her move to the Bordeaux area in 2011 that everything clicked together. She was 14. Nidia continued to pick up the vibes coming from the ‘hoods around Lisbon and started her own bedroom Estúdio da Mana (Sister’s studio). “Danger” is a powerful collection of tracks, it’s her own game and it’s her first physical release.
What happens when a classical pianist who loves jazz and free improvisation (Paulo Mesquita) join forces with a drummer coming from pop music, but with a special interest in electro-acoustic experimentation (Pedro Oliveira).
Powertrio is Eduardo Raon, harp, electronics & idiophones, Joana Sá, piano & idiophones and Luís José Martins, classical guitar, electronics & idiophones.
Zona Nervo has travelled through a vast electric net, from Porto to ThirdTypeTapes’s catalogue. Saturated basses expanding the magnetic fields connected to our biological membranes. Distortions and precise feedback manipulation takes us through an anatomic travel of ultra sensorial dimensions. Zona Nervo is an unique sound art work. A nervous system of it’s own.
Tiago Sousa – Coro das Vontades
Tiago Sousa is a composer and pianist. Coro das Vontades was inspired by the Complaints Choir project by Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen who invite “people to complain as much as they want and to sing their complaints out loud together with fellow complainers. The process contains workshops, public performances and video documentation.”