Marcelo Radulovich - "2 Brains"
Two discs of the kind of low-fi sonic diaper-play that the world would be
FAR better for, or better with or by or...whatever the preposition...'it
would be leaps and bounds better if this stuff got PLAYED IN PUBLIC PLACES
-- and I don't mean just malls and supermarkets and baseball stadia, I mean
street corners and fire stations and pissoirs at the beach and over
crackling loudspeakers in garbage-strewn picnic areas in every state (and
national) park and certainly the church, temple, ashram, or synagogue of
your choice. And in Death Valley and the state of Connecticut NORTH OF
BRIDGEPORT.
Played in such places so you would have to hear it. Thus improving forever
the quality of your life. Or maybe not low-fi: low-definition. A lot of
"details" are hard to access. You don't always know exactly what you're
hearing in the way of words or even sources -- where or whence the sounds
are coming from...their ambient "context."
And sometimes low-fi -- of lower qual, both technologically and auditorily,
than has to be: lower on purpose. Which, to this critic's thinking, can't
be beat as a "concept." What the hell would beat it?
Although maybe you don't WANT the world to be a better place...a shame, but
it's your call...nobody's forcing you.
-- Richard Meltzer, The San diego
reader, March 15, 2001
Tercer trabajo del chileno afincado en California Marcelo Radulovich donde
se muestra la diversidad y apertura de un artista ante el mundo sonoro. El
primer disco contiene grabaciones de estudio, compuestas, arregladas e
interpretadas por el autor m‡s invitados, mientras que el segundo es una
colecci—n de grabaciones de campo. La combinaci—n de estilos y formatos es
la nota dominante. El formato canci—n da paso al paisaje sonoro o al
collage casi sin soluci—n de continuidad, y el rock de Zappa (con todo lo
que conlleva) se confunde con manipulaciones electroacœsticas, mientras que
el aire funky de Barry Adamson y esa decadencia que llevaba impl’cita la
mœsica de los Residents se al’a con el complejo entramado de Negativland.
A–‡dele un componente progresivo y psicodŽlico de principios de los 70, sin
el cual esta obra pasar’a por un divergente ejercicio de estilo, y apl’cale
una impresionante capacidad de mimetizarse con el ambient y ya tienes una
de esas obras maestras imprescindibles para cuya asimilaci—n quiz‡
necesites de dos cerebros. Una de las grandes obras musicales de esta
dŽcada.
-- Carlos JAUREGUI
A woman murmurs dreamily. You can't quite make out what she's saying. Could
it be Ute the Seductress? Sounds you can't identify -- and some that you
can -- thunder over the speakers. Marcelo draws from diverse and
provocative sources, mixing the disparate elements of violin, 1930s-era
radio broadcasts, an airplane at takeoff, a lecture on the effects of
nuclear radiation and various techno, computer-generated special effects
with human laughter and percussion tracks. His work seems the next step in
the evolution of house/techno, and indeed DJs number among his most
appreciative listeners. If you know Marcelo's native country is Chile when
you hear it, "Took Out Machine" will subtly horrify you with evocations of
the Pinochet era and its associated torture devices. You may prefer to call
it experiments in sound rather than music, since what Marcelo produces
reaches so aggressively beyond what you're used to tuning in on the radio.
Apparently there are some among us who are gifted with the ability to hear
music in everything. Marcelo is undoubtedly such a creature.
-- Dylan
Roberts
Again, the opportunity for me to meet a new label and a new artist.
Accretions is based in San Diego and has released at least 17 discs, a fair
few of which feature Radulovich either by name (this is his third), 2 by
Wormhole Effect (he is their bass player) and two Trummerflora compilations
- apparently of the San Diego experimental scene. This double set came with
a decent wack of PR material (including some temporary tats) which suggest
some influences and directions - Zappa, Fripp and Eno, Zorn, Residents,
musique concrete and more - to which I will add my own impressions below.
The first Brain (or disk 1) is the structured, song side of Radulovich's
persona. There are 16 tracks, between a minute and seven long (and
generally longer in the second half), featuring a welter of guests on
percussion, vocals, trumpet, violin, guitar, machines and metals, and
backing vocals. They add to Radulovich's own skills on guitar and bass,
percussion, keyboard, voices, loops, tapes, samples, radio and noisemakers.
The results of this is a ZappaBeefheartJazzesque potpourri but a very
pungent one, with an individual and distinct voice.
Samples, which will recur in spades on disk 2, are a feature of most
tracks, and 'Lurdez' provides a brief prelude and exemplar - a rising tone,
echoed and overlapping voices, various noises - it is liftoff. Slow drums,
a high whine and a gentle rhythm underlie 'Hatch 2' before a grinding beat
steamrolls through, hatch shouted out underneath, ending with a light tuned
percussion. 'Terarana' features an echoed, intoned vocal and very
Zappa-esque chorus over and rubbery bass, sweet weaving horn and bluesy
group. 'Box 14' is an abstract collage of atmospheric noises, water sounds,
voices calling, passing vehicles and planes, sonar pings and struck strings
which reaches towards a structure as violin and percussion emerge towards
the end. But it acts as a mood shift before the driving Beefheart blues of
'7 headless horsepeople' - a pulsing rhythm section, some oblique
electronica and the demented voice of Radulovich. Another couple of
constructed pieces then sneak in - 'Dos cerebros 2' voices, noises and
strumming melds into a pulsing that builds but never evolves a structure,
surrounded by some guitar and feedback. 'Box 131' couples horns and street
sounds, some crooning, backwards tones and more which build to a
semicacophanous climax.
Rhythm and light return with 'Ute the seductress', whose sample is
accompanied by some smooth guitar and gently rising voices, and 'Do the
deed' - introduced by a sample on how to use a liferaft - grooves into a
jazz beat with choppy guitar, pleasant group singing and a few weird noises
to remind us where we are! Which the second rocket lift off of rushing wind
noises and rising tones in the brief 'Ya' underscores, as does the concrete
of 'Alpha & beta particle' with doors, lots of bells, passing vehicles and
an atomic sample.
'Isomorphism' introduces the final stages which is replete with structured
song. This contains lyrics which are a reading from Douglas Hofstadter's
'Godel, Escher and Bach' (a great book) which explains the title (which at
first I had thought to refer to split brains - the two disks representing
halves of Radulovich's brain). The text refers to isomorphism of one brain
on/in another, matching conceptual structures - and the method of this
album points towards that - the dense layering of sampling building the
second brain in our own, based on Radulovich's model. Enveloping the
reading is the group, some horns and a ponderous group, together with some
subtle guitar.
Many tracks start with some samples - and 'The tethered' is no exception -
a buzzing then german voices calling out before a heavy riff emerges, dense
bass drums and fuzzy guitar. The sample continues, rising and falling, as
the lyrics are sung/intoned, and the track rolls its dense way to the end,
throwing in harmonica and humming chorus along the way. A lovely lullaby
grounds 'La resurrection', whose melody infuses the track together with
some tones and very mellow horn, bass and rhythm. 'Hatch 1' opens with
sampled loops and then shifts through various phases - some piano, voices
and industrialmachine rhythm that continues, slowly building, with samples
and tones washing over it. After a film sample about going to the cemetery
and 'f***ing some whores' a jaunty organ melody pops into 'Took out the
machine': a heavier rhythm joins, accompanied by strange blurtings and
sundry echonoises, very experimentalboppy. Radulovich sings about a
mindcontrol machine, the beat drops out leaving noises under a sample, the
whores are mentioned again and we slip into an extended heavy outro. A
fittingly complex mesmerising conclusion to this disk: a wonderful noisey,
complex demented album brimming with ideas.
The second disk is less structured, and focuses on the sampling,
experimental side which has supported many of the songs on the first disk.
The three sections are created from samples Radulovich has recorded all
over the world - London, San Diego, Hong Kong, Utrecht, Paris ... - and at
first glance has simply strung together. They are extended fragments,
usually some minutes long, shifting for example in the second one, through:
a child crying, a noisy boat with sound
coming in waves with people in the background, a looping game (probably at
Las Vegas), a Peking opera, an announcement in French, accordian, seagulls,
clacking (perhaps a horse). Other sections include a long street discussion
of being black, a clown/magician at a children's party, a tabletennis game,
various street and environment recordings.
And only 'seemingly' strung together - the selection of pieces, their
editing, sequencing, interleaving and hints of subtle manipulation have
been carefully and thoughtfully undertaken. The shifts between overheard
conversations, musical interludes and abstract environments is quite
mesmerising. And where the spoken pieces could become distracting after a
few listens, they fade into their own musicality. The result is an
international soundscape that is quite seductive, and an interesting mirror
to the first disk: the more you listen, the more interconnections you
notice, as samples appear in both, creating a complex intertwined musical
entity.
In addition to the music, Radulovich has also done the artwork - featuring
some surreal abstract black and white photographs (plus one of a
fishmonger) - which is very subdued and attractive. An album as musically
intricate, difficult and interesting as this, that uses a quote from one of
my favourite authors as a lyric in the 'title' track, and on top of that
looks good must be a winner. And it is.
- Jeremy keens, ampersand Etcetera
|
