Seaworthy & Matt Rösner - Two Lakes (12k, 2010)

Those won over by Annea Lockwoods epic "A Sound Map of The Danube" or even those that found it a little too epic will welcome the sound of the Seaworthy's collaboration with Matt Rösner, two lakes is based upon...well fairly obviously sound recordings made at two lakes, namely Meroo and Termeil.

Like the aforementioned Annea Lockwood and maybe less "out there" contemporaries (less "out there" in the sense that their pieces tend to have a less tenuous connection to the art we know as music rather than literally being the sound of water, birds and all sorts of wildlife) such as Jana Winderen and BJ Nilsen, the sound here is very much at one with nature, the lush and tireless sound of water lapping and flowing, gentle winds causing delicate microphone static and the lovely drones that Matt Rösner has already made us familiar with once this year on his Repeat album.


Should you be unfortunate enough to be holed up in the city all autumn then maybe this might be your first step towards reminding yourself of the beauty of nature.

Mp3 source: Brainwashed

• Seaworthy & Matt Rösner - Meroo Sedgeland Pt. 1 mp3
  
• Seaworthy & Matt Rösner - Meroo Sedgeland Pt. 2 mp3
  
• Seaworthy & Matt Rösner - Termiel Dunes mp3
  

Spoiler : What The Label Said:

In April 2010 12k recording artist Seaworthy (the recording project of Cameron Webb) and Matt Rösner travelled to the south coast of New South Wales to undertake a detailed field recording study of two coastal lake ecosystems at the Lakes Meroo and Termeil. The aim of the project was to explore the sounds of a fragile coastal Australian environment and to build from those sounds unique musical pieces that provide a place for listener contemplation and reflection.

Field recordings were taken from the lakes and surrounding beaches, forests and streams at different times of the day. Various equipment including a hydrophone, a shotgun and stereo microphones were used to capture the natural sounds of each lake. During breaks in field recoridng, the artists set up recording equipment in a nearby lakeside cabin. Using acoustic and electric guitars, a ukelele and electronics, a series of improvised performances were documented. On the last day of the trip, with the experience of the recording process still fresh in mind, rough arrangements were created from the field recordings and improvised sets. Matt Rösner then took these arrangements back to his studio in Myalup - a small coastal town on the opposite side of the Australian continent - to mix and finalize the production.

Both Rösner and Webb have been active in the Australian experimental music scene for over 10 years with a plethora of releases on local and international labels, sharing a similar vision of molding found sounds and field recordings with traditional instrumentation and electronics. Aside from shared musical interest both artists grew up in close connection with the Australian coastline, albeit on opposite sides of the continent. This connection with their landscape as a remote and diverse place is evident in the pieces created by the artists during their collaboration on the South Coast.

Two Lakes marks the third full-length appearance for Seaworthy on 12k following 2006’s Map In Hand and 2009’s 1897 and blends his signature guitar style with the beautifully arranged field recordings and electronics of Matt Rösner. Two Lakes is a strikingly stark and lonely album undeniably influenced by the remote recording cabin and delicate Australian ecosystem. The blend of instrumentation comes off more like a natural, live duet between artist and nature than a modern-day layered recording. Webb’s finger picked acoustic guitar and ukelele play off of the sounds of wind, reeds and insects in perfect harmony, supported by soft beds of eBowed drones and careful electronic tones. Despite their human presence Rösner and Webb manage to create music that resonates on another level, as if composed by the lakes themselves.

note:
The artists have set up a blog where you will find additional photographs, field recordings and notes from the Two Lakes session. It is also a way for Webb and Rösner to keep an ongoing dialogue between themselves and to expand on the project.

http://environmentalsounds.blogspot.com/

Read full review of Two Lakes - SEAWORTHY & MATT ROSNER on Boomkat.com ©

Spoiler : What Boomkat Said:

A brilliant new collaboration from two of Australia's leading electroacoustic practitioners, Two Lakes finds Seaworthy's Cameron Webb joining forces with Matt Rösner for an album based upon the sounds of the coastal ecosystems of Lakes Meroo and Termeil in New South Wales. The duo set about collecting detailed location recordings of the various lakeside habitats and environments, capturing sound from forest regions, streams and beaches at different times of day. Hydrophones as well as more conventional mics were used to document the natural sonic activity, and the two musicians even found some time to set-up a studio in a nearby cabin so as to lay down improvised instrumental performances using acoustic and electric guitars, ukulele and electronics. Instrumental and environmental sounds are unified in the final mix, and the results never fail to be enthralling. That's not always the case with albums of this kind. It's all too easy for music like this to become a little wishy-washy - neither one thing nor the other - but Two Lakes feels like a very synergetic meeting of documentary field recording and instrumental performance. The tone of a piece such as 'Meroo Stream' far transcends the sort of pastoral tranquility you'd expect from such a project, and instead there's a real sense of solitude, and even... dampness permeating through the mix. Superbly recorded and beautiful on a surprisingly visceral level, Two Lakes comes very highly recommended indeed.

Taylor Deupree - Snow (Dusk, Dawn) (12k)

Last years Weather and Worn was a key record in shaping my musical year, irresitable droney experimentalism in bite size pieces, impossible not to listen to again and again. And although he boasts a large back catalogue and impeccable taste as head of 12k and Line i've yet to find anything by him that's quite matched up to Weather and Worn's magical warmth, until ironically now with the coldly entitled "Snow (Dusk, Dawn)".

Another masterpiece much in the same manner as the aforementioned, inspired by the late winter snow of 2009 and part of a multimedia project that you can read about below.

The way he combines surface noise with dreamy rotating drones is near perfect as the track rotates and swells gently never straying too far from the early sounds but developing enough to keep the interest whlist still not forcing its way to the forefront, perfect music to relax or read to. The kind of outcome you'd expect should Jana Winderen have bumped into either Collin Olan or Rutger Zuydervelt during their respective experiments with ice but ten times better.

What The Label Said :

please note: Snow (Dusk, Dawn) will only be available during the opening night of Taylor Deupree's Unseen photography show in Tokyo on April 15th. Any copies remaining from this night will then be available in 12k's online shop on a first-come-first-serve basis. About a month following the opening of Unseen the musical portion of this edition will be made available through our digital distribution network.

Transience, ephemerality. There is beauty in things that don’t last. Taylor Deupree’s Snow (Dusk, Dawn), a multimedia project incorporating sound and photography, is based around 63 photographs taken with expired polaroid film. This particular film produces images cast with other-worldly blueish hues and almost immediately begin to fade; losing color, to deep browns, and then finally, within 24 hours after being shot, to complete black.

Deupree’s work is often inspired by nature, particularly the winterscapes near his home and studio in rural New York. With the polaroid film in hand, which he knew would capture only a fleeting image, he shot images during the first heavy snowfall of the winter of 2009, at dusk, in the setting sun; nothing was to last, the snow, the image, the day. The next morning, barely at sunrise, he set out again to finish the film, in a dawn that wasn’t going to last.

As quickly as he could, following each photo session, Deupree scanned the polaroid prints, capturing the first white snow in ghostly blue before the pictures faded to black. Each of these scanned images is printed and displayed next to its original, black polaroid counterpart in the package along with the cd. Each copy of this edition of 63 is thus rendered unique, each with a different print and polaroid.

For the music portion of the project there is also contrast, transience, and decay. A fragile melodic loop, distressed by surface noise, struggles to keep its repetitive flow over a quiet and languid 18 minutes as it subtly, but constantly, loses ground and eventually becomes fragmented and falls away amongst the elements that surrounded it.

Snow (Dusk, Dawn) captures the essence of what much of Deupree’s work is about: imperfection, time, and memory. He uses both high- and low-tech means of creating rich works that scrape away at the surface of digital sterility. Avoiding the con- trolled manipulation offered by computers he prefers natural and unpredictable processes to add depth and texture to this work. Outdated film, cheap cameras, dust and leaking light effect his photographs while guitars, found percussion, old analog synthesizers and recordings of falling snow provide the soundtrack to a moment in time that comes and goes like dawn.

This edition is being presented at the NADiff Gallery in Tokyo, Japan on April 15th as part of Deupree's Polaroid photography show, Unseen.

The edition contains: 3" CD - Original Polaroid print - Color print of pre-faded Polaroid image - Letterpress card.

A PDF file of the entire edition can be viewed HERE.

Taylor Deupree, Stephen Mathieu, Jana Winderen

Taylor Deupree - Weather/ Worn
Stephen Mathieu - The Key to the Kingdom
Jana Winderen - Surface Runoff

I'll admit that drone is not the easiest genre to get into, it takes years of straightforward post rock followed by a departure to more string and piano based instrumental music before it finally clicks, a gentle departure from music being about playing instruments and rather using the everyday sounds and electrical surges to form a hum of pleasing decay.

Its often the case with drone that songs extend past the six, seven minute mark, maybe past fifteen and nearer half an hour, and although I love some of the longer tracks I’m sure that I’m not alone in having been put off by such lengths of time.

The open minded listener who wants to understand why drone is so raved about will no doubt be grateful for these three short releases. Short in length but certainly not in quality.


The impecably named Taylor Deupree, who runs the erm impecable 12k label delivers his first vinyl offering on the label, and the cute story that goes along with it will surely only make you love this release all the more.

These two pieces came about from pottering around on a rainy day with some loop pedals and a collection of instruments including acoustic guitar, kalimba, and bells. Deupree explains: "Pixel, one of my cats, was sleeping next to me as I began to create a warm bed of drones and small noises in an attempt to warm the room and my spirits." As it so happens, the cat in question does actually contribute to these pieces, lending a wheezy snore to the music, immediately bringing to mind the reposeful feel of a Bagpuss episode coming to a close.

Watery and expansive, these are a delight to listen too, interestingly enough the digital release includes an extended version of Worn, cloking in at over 23 minutes and somewhat surprisingly making itself the best track of the bunch given the extra space to breather and expand.


Stephen Mathieu presents the wonderfully entitled The Key To The Kingdom, a two part 10" release, as etheral sounding as it is glaciel, dreamy drones melting away effortlessly and magically.

And finally a most interesting release from Jana Winderen, for those who fell in love with Annea Lockwoods idea of mapping the Danube for her album A Sound Map of the Danube, but just couldn't hack its sparseness, then Jana Winderens Surface Runoff may well satisfy your curiosity, 'Drift' is a collage based on underwater documents from several rivers across different continents, and its as wonderful as it sounds.