Our Own Unknown in EtherREAL

Attentif aux divers nouveaux entrants sur la scène ambient et minimaliste, Krysalisound a repéré Austin Rockman, à la faveur d’un premier album, publié en cassette en 50 exemplaires sur un label bulgare en 2019 (sic !). Deux ans après, le New-Yorkais livrait un nouveau long-format en numérique uniquement, proposé à présent par le label italien dans un CD assez classieux (aspect vinyle du disque métallique, digisleeve avec vernis sélectif sur une pochette en noir et blanc) qui, en vérité, sied assez bien à la musique livrée sur cet effort. De fait, avec sa guitare acoustique traitée et ses nappes et textures tremblotantes, l’Étatsunien offre une proposition en clair-obscur, touchante et sincère, marquée par un vrai travail sur sa six-cordes.

Sous cet aspect, une piste comme Phantom Vale impressionne par sa capacité à jouer à la fois sur les harmoniques de son instrument, sa réverbération et de légers effets apposés dessus ; plus loin, ce sont des tapotements qui viennent dialoguer avec des notes perlées et ouatées à la fois (Kissed By Her Witness), tandis que le morceau-titre ira davantage chercher du côté d’une saturation contenue, entre mini-mur sonique et traits lacérant l’espace. À d’autres endroits, ce sont des tonalités plus chaleureuses qui sont sollicitées, à la faveur de traitements conjugués à des bruissements oniriques d’arrière-plan (Halcyon Blush), ou bien des regards plus lumineux quand les lignes de guitare sont superposées (Love Like A Second Chance).

Discrètes et émouvantes, les compositions d’Austin Rockman gagneraient potentiellement à être parfois davantage étendues dans la durée, quatre minutes trente étant certainement trop courtes pour explorer toute la palette de chaque morceau et pleinement en goûter la richesse. Pour autant, avec une petite cinquantaine de minutes au total, l’auditeur a de quoi se satisfaire et réaliser une bien belle découverte.

Link: http://www.etherreal.com/spip.php?article6514

April reviews

Francesco Maria Narcisi “Voluta” in Ondarock
https://www.ondarock.it/recensioni/2021-francescomarianarcisi-voluta.htm

That Which Is Not “The basic sharpness of emotions” in EtherREAL
http://www.etherreal.com/spip.php?article6341

Pawel Pruski “Between” in Chain D.L.K.
https://www.chaindlk.com/reviews/11618

Ishmael Cormack “Fennec” in The Echo Room and Chill Music
https://echoroom.co.uk/2021/04/29/composer-ishmael-cormack-releases-strictly-ambient-album/
https://chillmusic.co/2021/04/29/ambient-music-composer-ishmael-cormack-releases-new-album/

Andrea Laudante “Banat Banat Ban Jai” in Ver Sacrum
https://www.versacrum.com/vs/2021/04/andrea-laudante-banat-banat-ban-jai.html

March reviews

That Which Is Not “The basic sharpness of emotions” in Freq
https://freq.org.uk/reviews/that-which-is-not-the-basic-sharpness-of-emotions/

That Which Is Not “The basic sharpness of emotions” & Benjamin Finger “Auditory Colors” in Battiti
https://www.raiplayradio.it/audio/2021/03/BATTITI—Quel-che-non–3ce1af0b-cd26-4927-a46e-74cd99fe74d0.html

Benjamin Finger “Auditory Colors” in Fluid Radio
https://www.fluid-radio.co.uk/2021/03/benjamin-finger-auditory-colors

Benjamin Finger “Auditory Colors” in SilenceAndSound
https://silenceandsound.me/2021/02/28/benjamin-finger-3/

February reviews

That Which Is Not “The basic sharpness of emotions” in Triste
https://tristesunset.com/2021/02/15/that-which-is-not-the-basic-sharpness-of-emotions/

That Which Is Not “The basic sharpness of emotions” in Ondarock
https://www.ondarock.it/recensioni/2021-thatwhichisnot-thebasicsharpnessofemotionst.htm

That Which Is Not “The basic sharpness of emotions” in Igloo Magazine
https://igloomag.com/reviews/that-which-is-not-the-basic-sharpness-of-emotions-krysalisound

That Which Is Not “The basic sharpness of emotions” in Impatto Sonoro
https://www.impattosonoro.it/2021/02/23/recensioni/that-witch-is-not-the-basic-sharpness-of-emotions/

Benjamin Finger “Auditory Colors” in Live Eye TV
https://www.liveeyetv.org/2021/02/music-news-benjamin-finger-to-release-auditory-colors-watch-the-albums-title-track-video-shot-on-super-8/

Benjamin Finger “Auditory Colors” in SonOfMarketing
https://www.sonofmarketing.com/2021/02/19/video-premiere-benjamin-finger-auditory-colors/

Benjamin Finger “Auditory Colors” in No-Wave
https://www.no-wave.co.uk/music1/benjamin-fingerauditory-colors

January reviews

Grotta Veterano “Luung” in SoWhat
https://sowhatmusica.wordpress.com/2021/01/19/grotta-veterano-luung/

Francis M. Gri “The Ropes” (Slowcraft Records) in Ondarock
https://www.ondarock.it/recensioni/2020-francismgri-theropes.htm

That Which Is Not “The basic sharpness of emotions” in Blog Ground
https://echoroom.co.uk/2021/01/26/acoustic-drone-composers-that-which-is-not-releases-album-the-basic-sharpness-of-emotions/

That Which Is Not “The basic sharpness of emotions” in Music Won’t Save You
https://musicwontsaveyou.com/2021/01/29/that-which-is-not-the-basic-sharpness-of-emotions/

That Which Is Not “The basic sharpness of emotions” in Electronic Therapy
http://electronic-therapy.over-blog.com/2017/05/emission-du-5-mai.html

Last bunch of reviews

Thank you very much everyone who supported KrysaliSound in this difficult 2020.
Below the last articles, capsules, podcasts of the year:

IGLOO MAGAZINE: Between, Luung, Tenue:
https://igloomag.com/features/elsewhereness-revisited-19

SIDE-LINE: Between:
https://www.side-line.com/pawel-pruski-between-album-krysali-sound/

ARTNOIR: Tenue
https://artnoir.ch/nada-mushin-tenue/

POST AMBIENT LUX, best ambient of 2020: Between
https://postambientlux.tumblr.com/post/637962663954137088/best-ambient-of-2020

RADIOAKTIV: Cull/Machine Choir
https://www.radioaktiv.it/robbie-elizee-cull-machine-choir/

Whitelabrecs / Slowcraft / La Petite Chambre / KrysaliSound – Digital Isolation. — Drifting, Almost Falling.

https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/album=2061127406/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/

With the onset of the Corona Virus pandemic changes occurred in the underground music scene. From moving to largely Digital releases through to the Bandcamp revenue initiatives, arguably more music was released due to the nature of isolation and lock down. It has become quite difficult to keep up to speed with all these releases, […]

Whitelabrecs / Slowcraft / La Petite Chambre / KrysaliSound – Digital Isolation. — Drifting, Almost Falling.

“Ammil” and “Boke” in Drifting, Almost Falling.

https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/album=3283738828/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/artwork=small/

The world is a blur especially the musical one. Releases come at a rapid rate that not all can be processed in time for their release dates. As I try to balance the older and newer releases, here are some released in February which I cast a brief look over. “Ammil” started as […]

The Catch Up. — Drifting, Almost Falling.

“Boke” in Fluid Radio

Having recently lost a close family member to Alzheimer’s related illnesses, I can partially sympathise and empathise with how Francis M. Gri, owner of Krysalisound label, feels with this neat new record. Boke means “Blur”, and is made to represent memory disorders and the time it takes for an image to do just that. Gri calls it “the memory illness” – it’s always dementia, Alzheimer’s or some such. Great novelist Terry Pratchett was taken from us by the latter; many its link. 

On with the record itself, and this uses repetition as a narrative device. Give ’em a few rounds, then hit ’em with the boomerang. It catches us unawares. Succinctly peaceful, the album is so decent it dispenses with nom de plume’s such as “beautiful art” – I don’t want to wax insincerely about a delicate subject that has affected so many, and is being shown to put pay to Covid figures among others. What does one do when the memory is ready to pack up? Francis communicates the point well in some of my investigative email questions: “you transform in an empty box…we ARE memories it’s undeniable!”

It is like that – life is a blur, because the present is at best a memory, since memories are about dream or goal meeting, and fantasy becomes secondary. Memory loss is rife with grief, and that is presented emotionally on “Boke”. Especially that track, which closes the record. The music sounds like it comes from a very faraway place. A bit like Bvdub’s, and his recent record “Ten Times The World Lied” on Glacial Movements, of similar ilk. Directionally but not genre wise, the sombre feel of Massive Attack tracks with Tracey Thorn and the like. Those have a similar emotional trippy poignancy to them. 

In its palette spectrum, much ground is covered, painting in cool blues, treading miles upon miles in a dead body’s shoes. That lifting of a classically trained surfeit, Francis working with many musicians over the years, now producing his own material most of all, has never sounded so comforting in my own rough time with with coming to terms. I can tell you now, “Boke” is destined to be a quiet memory in the back of your mind for years to come. It, like a blur, will wait for you.

Link here