Top Bar
Musique Machine Logo Home ButtonReviews ButtonArticles ButtonBand Specials ButtonAbout Us Button
SearchGo Down
Search for  
With search mode in section(s)
And sort the results by
show articles written by  
 Review archive:  # a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Michael Trommer - Berlin Anamnetic [3Leaves - 2015]

Berlin Anamnetic is the result of Michael Trommer's two month residency at the Berlin Centre for Art and Urbanistics. Essentially based around field recordings collected during walks from the city outskirts towards the centre, these recordings have then been worked upon guided by the dual principles of anamnetic sound and the concept of phonomnesis. The former is a kind of déjà-vous provoked by a particular experience of sound while the latter is to do with how our imagination conjures up sounds that we do not actually hear. This interaction between memory and the apprehended sonic environment is the focal point of Trommer's research here presented as six separate pieces originally (and according to the artist best experienced as...) composed for a sound installation.

The booklet that accompanies the record includes spectograms for each of the six tracks which gives a good visual indication of the density of sound for each piece. Unfortunately as the spectograms clearly show tracks 1 and 2 have very little going on aside from slowly building and very quiet mid-range drones. After around ten minutes of barely audible sound the volume does ramp up a bit and the listener can discern some flickering elements behind the diffuse wash of smudged sound and the occasional rise and fall of some sub-bass. This pattern is repeated throughout the first two pieces which amounts to nearly thirty minutes. Even when turned to a substantial volume there is little here to suggest the sense of the body's "real movement through a landscape" that Trommer highlights in his notes. If anything the experience is more like lying down in a quiet country meadow.

The third track retains the soporific background hum but at least the field material is allowed to shine through a bit more. Oddly though what we hear for most of the piece is somewhat tropical sounding bird calls hardly indicative of a sojourn though an urban environment. Later in the piece some almost rhythmic processed elements are added to the mix which at least provides some variation to the almost static flow of the music which finally in combination with the drone which at the end rises to an almost choral timbre approaches something like a crescendo. The forth piece revolves around a more hollow metallic drone with shortwave interference and steam-like sounds rotating in the foreground. The variation in tone (and a bit more volume) is welcome but time again Trommer seems to abandon a promising combination of sounds only to fall back into the barely audible and repetitive fug of uninspired drones.

The fifth piece finally brings more variation and reaches into the resources of both the electronic and field recorded material. Again it's built around the drones but here we have a palpable sense of being in a specific place that could possibly be an urban environment. We can hear bells, may be the distant sounds of construction or an underground railway, more plaintive bird song and all this within a wider range of tone colour and spatial arrangement. The sixth and final track begins positively with a good depth of sound and skeletal rhythm which morphs into what could be rain or heavily processed industrial goings on but as so often on this record just as it gets interesting the sound drops down again to those familiar minimal drones. At one point a truck audibly moves across the mix and I feel like I should applaud such is the scarcity of events offered up to my ears. I'd like to say the record goes out with a bang but it doesn't. Trommer returns to the uninspired drone shorn of any reference to his subject matter and the whole thing slowly fades out.

It's worth remembering that this suite of tracks was designed for a sound installation presented via an eight channel system. I can well imagine that in-situ the effect of this music would be very different. However what we have here in stereo and on CD is nearly 80 minutes of dull vaguely ambient environmental music that seems to opt for the worst of all worlds in how the material is handled. The electronic elements are simply derivative and uninspired, a fact that might be forgiven if the wealth of field recordings Trommer must have collected were deployed effectively; they are not. All the field elements have been flattened out so to hover in and around the drones with nothing at any point rising above the dull background hum. Add this to the fact that for the most part it is birdsong that predominates the material then to call this a research into urban environments seems at best miss-selling the work.

Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5Rating: 2 out of 5

Duncan Simpson
Latest Reviews

Michael Trommer - Berlin Anamnetic
Berlin Anamnetic is the result of Michael Trommer's two month residency at the Berlin Centre for Art and Urbanistics. Essentially based around field recordin...
190424   Zachary James Watkins - Affir...
180424   Ulvtharm - 7 Uthras
180424   The Bad Shepherd - The Bad Sh...
180424   Impulse - Impulse( Blu Ray)
170424   Jan Jelinek - Social Engine...
170424   Carlos “Zíngaro”, Guilherme R...
160424   The Borderlands - The Borderl...
160424   Rien - The New Source Recording
160424   Worship - Thoughts
150424   Lion-Girl - Lion-Girl(Blu Ray)
Latest Articles

The Music of Clay Ruby & Burial H...
Over the last couple of decades Wisconsin native, Clay Ruby has been creating some of the world’s finest dark electronic music under the Burial Hex mon...
280324   The Music of Clay Ruby & Buri...
290224   Sutcliffe No More - Normal Ev...
100124   Occlusion - The Operation Is...
181223   Best Of 2023 - Music, Sound &...
051223   Powerhouse Films - Of Magic, ...
181023   IO - Of Sound, Of Art, Of Exp...
210923   Lucky Cerruti - Of Not so Fri...
290823   The Residents - The Trouble W...
110723   Yotzeret Sheydim Interview - ...
250523   TenHornedBeast - Into The Dee...
Go Up
(c) Musique Machine 2001 -2023. Twenty two years of true independence!! Mail Us at questions=at=musiquemachine=dot=comBottom