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

R. Schwarz - The Scale of Things [Gruenrekorder - 2015]

Gruenrekorder has been one of my favourite labels of the last few years. Their output traces a line from socio-political academic works like Hein Schoer's remarkable The Sounding Museum to documentary style field recordings and in this case, complex, composed works of sound-art. The blurb for R.Schwarz's The Scale of Things notes its distant relationship with classic musique concrete but emphasises the transformational approach taken by Schwarz and his combining audio processing with modular synthesis. The result is a rather dark and engaging suite of pieces that attempt to capture something of the chaos and indeterminacy of the natural environment, amplifying it through studio techniques and electronic sound. The cover art gives some indication to the compositional approach, eschewing the type of formal style associated with music concrete; instead, presenting a confusing collage of monochrome environments and magnified elements that could be insect, plant or otherwise.

Side A opens with mechanical sounding clicks and hums on Drift Following the Seam which are quickly enveloped in a thick miasma of different tones and textures. A thump of bass drum rises periodically from the throng as mechanical and organic sounds bleed into one another heightening the displaced, uncanny quality of the sound world. This opaque atmosphere continues on In the Flat Field with bird song making up the bulk of the organic element amid a rush of bass and metallic drones. There's little light here, with the listener drawn to the central cover image of a frost covered forest floor. This is no bucolic country walk, but a nightmarish vision of blurred boundaries and magnified terror. The bird song is slowly transformed into the clamour of machine noise. Last track on side A Self-Propelled-Sound-Particles is another uncanny exercise that seemingly puts the listener inside the carcass of an animal being predated on. Insects swirl around the stereo field (this is great with headphones) while the sound of chewing and drones derived from field recordings lift the whole thing up into anomalous space.

Side B is a less claustrophobic affair. Schwarz here allows the listener something of a macroscopic or birds-eye view of his sonic landscapes; a different way to view the scale of things. The prevailing darkness is still present though as on With the Witch opening with muffled bass throbs, stuttering, croaking sounds and flickering electronics. For the first time fragments of human voice (speaking Chinese I believe) appear adding another aspect to the near ritualistic feel of this track. This is extended into one of the records real highlights; Mabalel constructs a haunted rainforest soundscape of frightening proportions. Full of unfamiliar insect and animal calls, strange throbbing atmospheres and dread by the bucket load. Fans of Dominick Fernow's Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement project will lap this up. Finally From Surface Downwards adds a flash of live instrumentation to the humid forest atmosphere; accentuating the ritual mood while further dislocating the listener by incorporating several jump-cuts which alternatively throw synth noise and percussion into Schwarz's haunted world.

This is super stuff, comparable to the recent superlative tape/concrete work of Valerio Tricoli and representing something like an anti-Luc Ferrari. Anti, insofar as unlike the sadly passed French/Italian composer, Schwarz's approach to composition is radically non-anthropomorphic. It's a non-human perspective he's trying to conjure up with these studio tricks of scale and intensification. The effect is at once vertiginous and thoroughly engaging. A rare feat for what is still a predominantly stuffy and academic form.

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

Duncan Simpson
Latest Reviews

R. Schwarz - The Scale of Things
Gruenrekorder has been one of my favourite labels of the last few years. Their output traces a line from socio-political academic works like Hein Schoer's re...
010525   The Pick-Up - The Pick-Up( 2 ...
010525   In My Skin - In My Skin( Blu ...
010525   S F Brutmann, E Efrat, L Umbr...
010525   Oil Lamps - Oil Lamps( Blu Ray)
300425   Tomo-Nakaguchi - Out Of The ...
300425   Various Artists - Brixton Cat...
300425   The Residents - Doctor Dark
290425   CORR//PT│0N_UN1T - ROT7EN_...
290425   Owners Of Knowledge - Like A ...
280425   Womb - Womb(VOD)
Latest Articles

Dead, Dead Swans interview - Midw...
Dead, Dead Swans (aka Milwaukee, Wisconsin's John E Swan) play a blend of raw and world-weary American folk music, with some real tuneful edges. I first beca...
150425   Dead, Dead Swans interview - ...
110325   Sebastian Tomb - Walls of unb...
040225   Alien Sex Fiend - Possessed B...
231224   Best Of 2024 - Music, Sound &...
191224   Splintered - Somewhere Betwee...
031224   Shane Ryan-Reid - Coerced and...
221024   Whore’s Breath - life’s h...
011024   David Kerekes Interview - Int...
030924   Tim Ritter Interview - Shot O...
100724   Radiance Films Interview - Le...
Go Up
(c) Musique Machine 2001 -2025. Twenty four years of true independence!! Mail Us at questions=at=musiquemachine=dot=comBottom