#room40

[garadinervi]

amby downs, kinjarling studies: soundtracks (five years on), (Digital album), DRM4215, Room40, (2019-)2025

«This album is a collection of soundtracks for films created by Tahlia Palmer for 'Kinjarling Studies' exhibition, held at Vancouver Arts Centre from Oct 18 – Nov 21 2019.»

[nofatclips]

Object of Projection by Lawrence English from the album Cruel Optimism

[musicollage]

Gwennaëlle Roulleau + Reinhold Friedl — Strata & Spheres. 2024 : Room40.

[burlveneer-music]

Yuko Araki - IV

A note from Yuko Araki This might sound a little antithetical, but I am interested in making noise music that is free from unnecessary noise. I do realise how this sounds, but it is absolutely at the core of my new recording. I want to create maximum impact and dynamics in the music through using only the essential elements and materials. I am a huge fan of noise music, and in many cases I enjoy the excessive nature of that music. For my own work though I am interested in reducing this, boiling it down, to the very critical parts that can allow the music to profoundly affect those who choose to listen to it. I want to use what I have at my disposal with intent and with force. I also wanted to deepen my connection to, and place in, this music. To this end I have started to explore how it is I fit into the work. I explored how is my body part of this project beyond being a gestural interface between the various machines I use to make it. I’ve started to think about voice a lot and this has come into the process of the recording. I’m not so much interested in the way voice can speak to stories or singing for that matter. I’m more interested in how voice might haunt the music. I invited another artist, Taichi Nagura from the band Endon, to contribute some voice to this album too. He is featured on Sloshing and his voice absolutely captures this quality I am interested in exploring. It’s as if he is trapped in that piece, fight for and against the other materials in the sound. This tension captures, for me at least, the relationships I think are so powerful about making, and also listening to music.  Design by T.Pakioufakis

[zef-zef]

Natalie Beridze - Salt from: Natalie Beridze - In Front of You (Room40, 2022)

[gacougnol]

(via ▶︎ Chimæra I | Colin Stetson)

[musicmakesyousmart]

Haco - Nova Naturo

Room40

2021

[dustedmagazine]

Lawrence English — ‘Oseni (Room40)

'Oseni by Lawrence English

The sound of water, of ocean waves or babbling brooks, has become synonymous with noise abatement, used outside the therapist’s office and by those trying to sleep in a bustling city. It is often considered merely a flavor of white noise, but a thoughtful field recording contains so much more than sonically stunted YouTube sleep music. Lawrence English’s recording ‘Oseni consists entirely of multiple recordings of the Pacific Ocean, made over a period of years in Japan, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere.

English is one of the most distinguished sound artists involved in field recording, with decades of footage from throughout the world. He possesses an inquisitive mind, exquisite ears and is a mic placement ninja. Here, his talents are lent to a worthy cause. ‘Oseni is the Tongan word for ocean, and the release is a benefit for victims of the recent disaster in the Kingdom Tonga, a volcanic eruption followed by a tsunami, All proceeds will be donated to relief efforts by organizations that include the Red Cross and CARE.   

Field recordings and the role of mediation in them is a topic of much discussion in our current moment. English’s field recordings are sound art, in that they are not merely representational of a single environment, but encompass blending of multiple aural scenarios. The mix itself is arresting. Unlike synthetic white noise, in which all frequencies are more or less present, or its more soothing variant pink noise, in which the high frequencies are somewhat abated, there is a dynamic and timbral variety to the crashing of waves against disparately formed shores. At a lean half hour in duration, it bypasses long form ambient listening in favor of closely attending to the subtle variations of a morphing soundscape.  

The recently deceased ecomusicologist R. Murray Schafer, who coined the term soundscape, urged humans to push back against sound pollution and fill their lives with beautiful sounds whenever possible. He included both composed music and what you find on your own soundwalks, ambulatory listening experiences that can enliven the experience of any environment. Field recordings serve to capture the ever-shrinking beauty of our increasingly noise-addled environment. ‘Oseni is an example of the ideal sounds that Schafer described, but it also has an ecopolitical underpinning. It serves as a response to the dangers of the climate crisis, both to specific peoples such as those of Tonga, and to our world at large. Whether listened to through this critical lens, or as an appreciation of the power and poetry of the Pacific’s surf, ‘Oseni is a compelling piece of sound art.  

Christian Carey