This is perhaps one of the most beautifully stunning acousmatic works I’ve ever heard. Every percussive strike of the piano had me transfixed while listening, so much so that I wasn’t able to do my normal routine of working while listening to music. Our dear friend Benjamin Aït-Ali took a bit of time away from composer serious music, but has come back to it with a vengeance. It’s a gripping work, this.
empreintes DIGITALes are the finest record label in Canada specializing in electroacoustic music, acousmatics and musique concrète. It pleased me to see that they are putting up their albums on Bandcamp, and I ended up being doubly rewarded by finding a composer who is new to me. Léa Boudreau describes herself, rightly, as, “…(a) circuit maker, sound crafter, immersive environments builder.” This particular album is lively and energetic for an experimental music album. I have to say it’s a difficult one to describe, so do click on the Bandcamp link and enjoy the sounds.
Robert Scott Thompson, the ambient music alchemist, has released several new albums recently, but I wanted to start with Placid, a rather chilling work that references works by the maestros (Steve Roach, Robert Rich, Klaus Schulze), a touch of Warszawa-period Brian Eno/David Bowie, and his own more musical compositional bent.
Our friend Jeff Gburek continues to release astounding experimental music, with this release being a collection of scattered acousmatic works which flow together surprisingly well. If you can imagine John Cage’s Roaratorio, calm spoken word and field recordings which make you forget you’re in front of your stereo rather than enjoying the sounds of nature in some Eastern European lake area. You feel a sense of sublime calm, with a guide and friend, your own Virgil, perhaps, chatting with you as you walk in the fields rather than into the bowels of the inferno.
This acousmatic gem by French composer Benjamin Aït-Ali was released at the end of 2020, and it’s as engaging as anything I’ve heard this year. There are many electroacoustic and acousmatic composers active today, including in my old hometown, who are of stunning quality, but Benjamin offers something a bit different to my ears. There’s a nostalgic sound involved, almost as if he were cutting and splicing these sounds together by hand. I don’t know his compositional or recording technique, of course, but there are warm pops and cracks throughout the recording. It’s truly cinema for the ears.