underwater noises reviews
‘underwater noises’ compilation reviewed @ peter van cooten’s ‘ambientblog’ website:
“apart from creating his own fascinating music (like the beautiful ‘poor henrietta marie’ ep, released on hibernate), nigel samways also runs the ephre imprint label, releasing electro-acoustic drone, ambient and experimental music.
‘underwater noises’ is ephre imprint’s latest compilation, a joint release with the lost children netlabel.
“the theme running through all tracks of this work is ‘water’ (and its numerous concerns risen around the globe). each artist was prompted to submit a track inspired somehow by the notion of water, according to their individual angle. the upshot is a multilayered work, giving voice to the umpteen facets of a theme which has always created a particularly deep and serious attraction for musicians working in the drone/ambient scene.”
at the first glance on the tracklist of this compilation i knew that there was a complete new world for me to discover, since all of the artists included were unknown to me…!
the album features works by enrico coniglio (touch records, cronica, psychonavigation), francesco giannico (porter records), gigi masin (sub rosa), ennio mazzon (resting bell) and others, all working with electroacoustics, microsounds, emotional drive and drowned sounds, all in a free experimentation zone.
though your actual preferences may depend on your personal taste, the underwater theme links the music of the different artists in such a way that it could also have been an album of one single artist.
like a good compilation should, the album is an invitation to further check out the music of the artists included. It feels like a whole new world suddenly opens - in this case a world of mainly italian composers. (the lost children netlabel has also released some beautiful overviews of the music of italian composers on their silent ballet compilations).
it is, in fact, hard to mention favourite compositions on this compilation. the music presented is as diverse as the water it thematically represents: it can be soft, flowing, but also hard and cold as ice - with colors bright blue as well as a dark threatening black.
‘underwater noises’ proves that there’s always new places to be discovered…always new sounds to be revealed.”
read the original webpage here: http://www.vancooten.com/blog/?e=346
check out one of peter’s mixes for fluid radio here:
http://www.fluid-radio.co.uk/2010/05/ambientblog-fluid-mix/
plus, from caleb deupree @ the classical-drone website - a good article centred around enrico coniglio which also covers the ‘underwater noises’ and ‘salicornie vol 2’ releases:
“…besides performing and composing, coniglio is also a curator of a collection of ambient tracks from various Italian musicians on the theme of ‘underwater noises’. aside from coniglio, most of the names are new to me, although I reviewed an album by obsil for furthernoise.org a few months ago. there is a nice variety across the compilation, from ennio mazzon’s dreamy rain-soaked drones to cop killin beat’s glitchy atmospherics and submerged loops. i liked paolo veneziani’s inside the edge, where a thin melodic thread traverses a cavern of watery drips and rustling percussives. obsil’s sudden transitions between field recordings, squiggly electronics and poignant piano loops stands out from the sustained drones featured prominently on several tracks. everyone’s taste will determine which tracks will be the favorites, but I found the entire compilation very listenable throughout…”
read the full article here
