Mars Reveri

CD – Creative Sources Recordings – CS 818, Lisbon 2024

1. daudin eoquissiv - 13'36''

2. formons - 05'45''

3. ressilien - 10'54''

4. coepilice - 08'23''

5. tulse dunn - 07'48''

Ernesto Rodrigues - Piano Harp & Viola

Miguel A. García - Electronics

Abdul Moimême - Guitar & Metals

Àlex Reviriego -  Double Bass

Carlos Santos - Electronics

Ibonrg - Voice (track 5)

Recorded March 2020, Bilbao

Cover design Carlos Santos

https://ernestorodrigues.bandcamp.com/album/mars-reveri

Reviews

Turning back to Creative Sources, another album extensively featuring electronics, also something of a reprise of an earlier favorite, Mars Reveri involves Miguel A. García (electronics), Abdul Moimême (guitar & metals), Ernesto Rodrigues (piano harp & viola) & Carlos Santos (electronics) returning from Sitsa (recorded in 2018 & first reviewed here in June 2019), now joined by Alex Reviriego (double bass, substituting for more obscure previous performers on organ & amplified paper). And I've continued to enjoy the rather atmospheric Sitsa, a sort of post-industrial church music, its "roar & tinkle" yielding a kind of post-Cage austerity & distance, (ergodic) layerings of organesque tone.... I've mentioned García since then as well with Les Capelles (reviewed September 2022), a quartet album (with an explicitly churchy title...) with Vasco Trilla & accordionist Garazi Navas, actually as it happens my only mention here of (the relatively prolific) Reviriego to this point as well.... And Les Capelles was likewise vague about when it was recorded: Mars Reveri says 2018 in one place & 2020 in another (& I didn't inquire...), but what it states more concretely is that it was mixed via grant in Bilbao in 2023-24. I suspect both are pre-pandemic recordings. In any case, Mars Reveri does make an impression, particularly with its strong opening, grains & static soon suggesting (quasi-Braxtonian) locale, "tinkling" feelings of ascent beginning... & soon plunging into a sort of sonic maw below. Evocations turn to doom, post-industrial again (even glitchy...), perhaps suggesting the more recent Behenii (& Trilla again...) in some ways, albeit there with aggressive horn at least to open.... Versus Sitsa then, lines unwind (less layered or étude-like...), becoming longer arcs, opening sweeping & colorfully twisting vistas.... (Per the cover art, we are supposed to imagine reveling on Mars? The music actually seems more equivocal, the martial reference looming... i.e. as return to war.) And then the unknown "Ibonrg" joins on voice for track #4 (of 5), emphasizing bass (e.g. growling, perhaps pace Phil Minton...), lending some novel textural aspects. Both there & in parts of the longer opening track, there're some unique & compelling textures, finally ending loudly (as if we're finally inside the machine...). So is García still performing? And how much of the sonic result on Mars Reveri involves editing or post-production? It seems that he could be a part of this ongoing conversation on electroacoustic landscapes & textures.... Todd McComb's Jazz Thoughts

El producto final de una reunión de surrealistas tras decretar el fin del mundo.

“Mars Reveri” es uno de los discos más delirantes y lisérgicos que vas a poder echarte sobre la espalda este verano. Cinco genios de los sonidos desestructurados y la experimentación más genuina se dan cita para crear un disco definitivo que nada tiene que envidiar a los mejores momentos de Nurse With Wound. Hablamos de una genialidad absoluta que consigue atraparte a la primera escucha. 

Mars Reveri es como un mal sueño dentro de otro. Escucharlo produce la misma sensación que masticar papel de aluminio. Es algo delirante y retorcido, perfectamente ejecutado y poseedor de una producción envidiable. Un viaje por el subconsciente de un asesino en serie, o del cerebro de un perro enjaulado sin comida durante todo el fin de semana. Es un disco realmente embarazoso, enfermizo, lisérgico e hipnótico, que sabe transfigurarse constantemente dentro de un vórtice de inestabilidad y caos taxativo. Es delicioso y elegante: sabe agobiarte, pero con clase; sopesando el punto en el que puedes llegar a estallar para que ese momento no se produzca, y la vida de su discurso pueda consumarse por completo. 

La infinidad de recursos acústicos que se han utilizado para su confección es verdaderamente admirable. Aquí encontramos de todo: desde cuerda frotada hasta percutidla, pasando por un sinfín de materia analógica surgida de sintetizadores y mil y un lavados de pedales. La yuxtaposición sobre capas y la matemática aplicada que hace fluctuar las intensidades son muestras de garantía acerca de la consumada experiencia de este quinteto de ruidistas. 

El colectivo que ha llevado a cabo la ejecución de esta colosal demostración de maestría está conformado por cinco músicos de diferentes procedencias: catalanes, bilbaínos y portugueses. Nombres tan reseñables como el colosal Miguel A. García, que es uno de los principales orgullos de este país dentro de la música experimental, o el también ecléctico y conocido Ernesto Rodrigues, fundador del sello que publica este disco, son nombres que todo amante de la improvisación musical debe conocer. 

Cinco es el número de cortes que estructuran el trabajo. Cada uno de ellos se comporta de forma autónoma, pero complementando en cierta forma la esencia del anterior. Todos tienen en común el gusto por la oscuridad y los contextos embarazosos, la cacofonía y la detumescencia acústica lavada a base de conceptualizaciones de genética dadaísta. Un álbum que nada tiene que envidiar a productos realizados por grandes referentes de este estilo como Nurse With Wound.

Mars Reveri ha salido a la venta hace poco, y puede ser adquirido en la página del propio sello. Te animamos a que bucees en estas fabulosas composiciones y te dejes dominar por el poder del inconsciente. Nomelody Magazine

An intense album of pyschedelic and subliminally detailed electroacoustic improvisation from the Portuguese quintet of Miguel A. Garcia on electronics, Abdul Moimeme on guitar & metals, Alex Reviriego on double bass, Ernesto Rodrigues on piano harp & viola and Carlos Santos on electronics, a powerful live set recorded in 2018 at Le Larraskito Kluba in Rekalde, Bilbao. (Squidco)

A tale unfolds

CD – Creative Sources Recordings – CS 813, Lisbon 2024

1. I - 08'38''

2. II - 12'10''

3. III - 17'54''

4. IV - 18'04''

Ernesto Rodrigues - Viola

Guilherme Rodrigues - Cello

João Madeira - Double Bass

Noel Taylor - Clarinet

Bruno Parrinha - Alto Clarinet

Ziv Taubenfeld - Bass Clarinet

Guilherme Carmelo - Electric Baritone Guitar

Monsieur Trinité - Percussion

Recorded December 2023, Lisbon

Cover design Carlos Santos

https://ernestorodrigues.bandcamp.com/album/a-tale-unfolds

Reviews

So also with a meandering quality, but more around a feel for narrative, A tale unfolds (recorded in Lisbon last December) reprises the acoustic quintet formation from Dérive (first reviewed here last March...), adding three musicians in clarinetists Noel Taylor & Ziv Taubenfeld, as well as Guilherme Carmelo (on baritone electric guitar). The latter was new to me, not often distinctly audible here (but perhaps appearing in parallel with the guitar from Ernesto Rodrigues' textural septet milestone Stratus, reviewed January 2019...). However, the reed players join Bruno Parrinha (also on clarinet) to balance more against the strings (the two Rodrigueses & bassist João Madeira...) — with percussionist Monsieur Trinité appearing again as well, & without an intervening release in his case (& so perhaps marking this formation especially as a continuation of that from Dérive, as the others are already frequent collaborators...). So Dérive also suggested more of an "étude" format, with a series of rather specific tracks, whereas A tale unfolds proceeds in more arbitrary directions & with less tension, i.e. as a large group conversation.... There can thus be less focus at times, also a "smoothing" overall due to the added players, less clarity as to who's doing what, yet a mellow sense of movement & working through. A tale unfolds can almost sound casual, making for a subtly dynamic background for some of the various (unusual for me, with various vendors, etc.) goings on over my past few days: There's little in the way of confrontation, for instance... more suppleness. (And like Dérive, the mix & master is from Madeira.) Perhaps the biggest impression is then the narrative coherence of this octet, despite its various musical tangents in performance. It's the stronger album of the two here, in that sense. And will there be another followup, whether by the core quintet or along with others? A tale unfolds does seem to be another step on the way... to somewhere. Todd McComb's Jazz Thoughts

In four parts this primarily acoustic octet of Lisbon improvisers evolve a deceptive narrative of collective interaction, highly textured through rich combinations that emerge and subside throughout the natural development of their converstations; with Ernesto & Guilherme Rodriguez, João Madeira, Noel Taylor, Bruno Parrinha, Ziv Tuabenfeld, Guilherme Carmelo and Monsieur Trinite. (Squidco)

Echoing the Chorus of life

CD – Creative Sources Recordings – CS 812, Lisbon 2024

1. Echoing the Chorus of Life - 35'34''

Carlos Bechegas - Flute

Ernesto Rodrigues - Viola & Crackle Box

Carlos Santos - Digital Electronics

Recorded January 2024, Lisbon

Cover design Carlos Santos

https://ernestorodrigues.bandcamp.com/album/echoing-the-chorus-of-life

Reviews

I'd added some thoughts in November here about a newly documented collaboration between Ernesto Rodrigues, incredibly prolific as well, and flautist Carlos Bechegas: Secrets Under Trees (also with Guilherme Rodrigues), recorded last June, was noted in the longer review of Bechegas for (another trio album with string players in Portugal) Open in Finder. And the two have promptly returned — after what had earlier been a long absence from recording for Bechegas... — with Echoing the Chorus of Life (recorded in Lisbon in January, so the first 2024 recording that I'm noting here...), alongside Carlos Santos on electronics. The latter has been a frequent collaborator for Rodrigues — first mentioned here with Surfaces in September 2015 (paralleling the first mention of João Madeira, as it happens...), an album including Nuno Torres on alto sax as well, the latter joining Rodrigues & Santos for another new trio album, Impulses and Signals (recorded in 2023, but) unusually delayed in its release.... Anyway, given the particular participation of Santos, whose tendency in these collaborations is to stay in the background, quiet electronics delicately twisting overtone spectra, against which the more assertive players articulate, the one-movement outing suggests almost the intimacy of a duo.... (The approach might thus be compared e.g. to Anthony Braxton & his SuperCollider electronics, i.e. with a musician on either side of the "curtain," but per a more linear arrangement there, pace the twisting & folding tapestries of Rodrigues et al. It's also been unclear what tech Santos actually uses.) In that sense, Echoing the Chorus of Life can also be heard as something of a development of Stratus, a septet album also (subtly) featuring Santos — & first reviewed here in January 2019 — alongside a range of colorfully fusing & airy wind & string timbres. Echoing the Chorus of Life is then a more pared down or focused interaction, a single arc that takes in considerable territory from insects & birds to both underwater & airy (or even outer...) spaciousness (all generally being naturalistic evocations, of course...), developing particularly well-fused & distinctive timbral combos between flute & viola — as inflected by Santos throughout, who does also come to the fore at times. A delicate (even windswept...) sense of wave motion is then often in play (pace various Rodrigues examples...). And the focus does lead to some thinner sections, but the arc of the single track's momentum is also continually recontextualizing each successive tone & (micro)interval. Intensity can thus seem low in some (immediate) moments, substituted for a generalized sense of suspension, i.e. underlying feelings of scope & mystery. (Santos is becoming more sophisticated in his musical contributions, but I can't say that I enjoy his graphics as much here, red frame with white script lettering....) So Echoing the Chorus of Life does present a welcome development & concentration of prior results, while also seeming to herald yet more from Bechegas... Todd McComb's Jazz Thoughts

Lisbon contemporary flutist and improviser Carlos Bechegas, an associate of Carlos Zingaro and his electroacoustic trio, joins violist Ernesto Rodrigues and long-time collaborator Carlos Santos in a uniquely electronic, chamber-oriented, mysteriously crepuscular improvisation captured live at Casa do Comum, Lisbon, Portugal during the 2024 "SpectraLx" event. (Squidco)