2011 Final Report: A few words by The Field Reporter Editor Alan Smithee plus PART I of the lists with the most relevant works of 2011 made by our staff and other artists, curators and journalists
The Field Reporter was created with the sole purpose to address the use of field recordings and the action of capturing sounds in the creative process of the music and sound art fields. On its first four months The Field Reporter reviewed 35 works that ranged from raw unedited phonographic material to works where the captures were highly processed and edited. TFR reviewed the works of established well-known artists such as Dallas Simpson, Fransisco Lopez and Chris Watson and also works from surging and promising young artists such as MimosalMoize, Phonic Psychomimesis and Signe Liden.
Capturing sounds is an action of deep and profound meaning where memory, perception, consciousness and feelings are deeply involved and this is what The Field Reporter is all about, the link between the original listening experience of the artist and the resulting experience of the listener when the sound work is revealed to him.
For the last article of 2011 we asked our editors, contributors and some external artists, curators, managers and journalists to send a list of the works they thought were the most relevant during 2011.
Sound works El tren fantasma by CHRIS WATSON, Swiss mountain transport system by ERNST KAREL and Water beetles of Pollardstown Fen by the late TOM LAWRENCE were featured on many lists; the first two deal with vehicles, with transportation, with movement and machines: the other is more of an eco-acoustic work with an entomological character. Here some quotes taken from their respective reviews on The Field Reporter:
“The work on its formal aspects moves from musical moments (where rhythm and melodies seem constructed) to more incidental moments of pure phonography: this technique is highly effective as the listener feels that the boundaries between fiction and reality are removed.”
– John McEnroe on “El tren fantasma“
“Throughout the whole album, the sound of automatic cable cars and chairlifts seems to be put in front of everything, the aural attention is focused on the mechanics of transportation and on the propagation of the vibrations from the bullwheel in the terminal, passing through the cables, the spring-loaded grips, interacting with the steel structure and finally echoing inside the cabin.”
– Elliot Loe on “Swiss mountain transport system“
“As any sound recordist knows, dropping a hydrophone into a body of water crosses a threshold. A barrier is broken between our world and an alien realm that exists alongside it. Bubbles rising from underwater plants become radar blips. Unfathomable clicks and pulses emanate from the unseen inhabitants of a veiled world.”
– Chris Whitehead on “Water beetles of Pollardstown Fen”
Labels Impulsive Habitat, Gruenrekorder, 3Leaves and Touch were mentioned repeatedly throughout the lists. Each label has a different approach to the creative aspect and also to the distribution aspect: Impulsive Habitat publishes all of its works on digital format; Touch and Gruenrekorder publishes on both digital and physical formats and 3Leaves exclusively releases works on CD format.
Irish sound artist Tom Lawrence sadly passed away on October 19th and we payed him and his work tribute through an article and two reviews (1 and 2) that we hope draw interest on his work and important legacy.
We would like to thank all our readers, editors and collaborators for the support through this first four months of operations. We hope we are raising questions and encouraging reflection towards the phonographic action and method that hopefully help artists, curators, journalists and theorists on their creative and their research processes.
We now publish this lists that hopefully help our readers to revisit some material and check on material they might not be familiar with.
-Alan Smithee
>> PART I (part II to be published 2012.01.01)
………………………………………………………………………………………….
Luis Antero
Label manager of Green Field Recordings, Sound artist.
Cross-Pollination. CHRIS WATSON & MARCUS DAVIDSON (Touch)
Portuario. JUAN JOSE PALACIO (Audiotalaia)
L-C (Loop Coil). DARIUS CIUTA (Impulsive Habitat)
Semi. DARREN McCLURE (Impulsive Habitat)
The tree. JAMES WYNESS (Impulsive Habitat)
………………………………………………………………………………………….
Darius Ciuta
Sound artist
1- Ama_Zone1: Black-Waters.
ARTIFICIAL MEMORY TRACE (Monochrome Vision)
2- Last night I dreamed I was lost in a strange city. BRUNO DUPLANT (Impulsive Habitat)
3- Chão Sobral Soundscape | Chão Sobral – Uma Paisagem Sonora. LUIS ANTERO (self-released)
4- The Narrows. JODA CELEMENT
5- Between the joists. COLLIN THOMAS (Impulsive Habitat)
………………………………………………………………………………………….
Daniel Crokaert
Label manager of Unfathomless, Mystery Sea. Editor TFR
Quequén Lighthouse. JUAN JOSÉ CALARCO (www.folkestonefringe.com)
Arpenter. D’INCISE (Taâlem)
Listening To Orcas Islands. LOREN CHASSE (oticdiaries.blogspot.com)
Barges And Flows. ÁKOS GARAI (3Leaves)
Aquifère. PIERRE JUILLARD (Kaon | série II “La Rivière”)
Swiss Mountain Transport Systems. ERNST KAREL (Gruenrekorder)
The Alfa Is Strong And Amplifying The Beta. CHRISTOPHER McFALL (Impulsive Habitat)
Anáádiih. MATHIEU RUHLMANN & BANKS BAILEY (3Leaves)
Hidden Bird’s Nest. HIROKI SASAJIMA & TAKASHI HIRAO (3Leaves)
Trains…. on V/A Overheard And Rendered 2. SCOTT SHERK (And/OAR)
Frozen Moment. JACQUES SODDELL (Kaon | série II “La Rivière”)
Acquiescence. TARAB (Kaon | série II “La Rivière”)
El Tren Fantasma. CHRIS WATSON (Touch)
Where Once We Walked. MARK PETER WRIGHT (Another Space)
also
Ama_zone1 : Black-Waters. ARTIFICIAL MEMORY TRACE (Monochrome Vision)
Static Island. AYMERIC DE TAPOL (Tsuku Boshi)
Magnetic City. JUSTIN BENNETT (Spore) discovered in 2011
Bahias. JUAN JOSÉ CALARCO & DAVID VELEZ (Semperflorens)
L-C (Loop Coil). DARIUS CIUTA (Impulsive Habitat)
Tutus. DARIUS CIUTA (www.archive.org/details/tutus)
Against The Barren Vanity Of Their Paradise Undone, Past Countenance And Ignorance Brokered No Shelter. on V/A Audiotheque 4 elements compilation.
ROBERT CURGENVEN (www.monotyperecords.com/mi/index)
Arches. YANNICK DAUBY (Touch Radio)
Deco-Atterro. PAUWEL DE BUCK (www.musica.be/nl/klankkunst/klankatlas/belgisch-limburg)
Site Listening : Queensland. LAWRENCE ENGLISH (Room40)
Like Falling Out Of Trees Into Collectors’ Albums. PATRICK FARMER (Consumer Waste)
Summer Session. FIVE ELEMENTS MUSIC (Still*Sleep)
Now You’re Gone. RICHARD FRANCIS (http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/?t=1019)
Card Tape – Drafts. BEN GWILLIAM & WAINER WOERMANN (Consumer Waste)
Scilens. HAPTIC (Entr’acte)
The Inescapable Fox. STEVEN HESS & CHRISTOPHER McFALL (Under The Spire)
A Slow Feather Falls. IAN HOLLOWAY & BANKS BAILEY (Quiet World)
Surface Scripts. JOHN GRZINICH (Semperflorens)
Inscape Lille-Flandres. ERIC LA CASA & JEAN-LUC GUIONNET (Monotype) discovered in 2011
Water Beetles Of Pollardstown Fen. TOM LAWRENCE (Gruenrekorder)
Untitled #244. FRANCISCO LÓPEZ (Sub Rosa)
Untitled #229/Eozoön. FRANCISCO LÓPEZ/CARLOS VILLENA (Mantricum)
For Warmth. ENNIO MAZZON (Crónica)
Without The Wolves. PALI MEURSAULT (Entr’acte)
Nacht. PE LANG (Matter)
Dyed In The Grain. RENATO RINALDI (Entr’acte)
Outskirts. MICHAEL TROMMER (Impulsive Habitat)
Ki. LUIGI TURRA (And/OAR)
Memoria Fragmentada. DAVID VELEZ (Con-v)
Vestigios De Nada. DAVID VELEZ (SiRiDisc)
Credence. DAVID VELEZ & CHRISTOPHER McFALL (Impulsive Habitat)
Drawing Of A Landscape (Sahara Lommel_BE 2011). ELS VIAENE (www.musica.be/nl/klankkunst/klankatlas/belgisch-limburg)
Midnight Oasis on “Cross-Pollination”. CHRIS WATSON (Touch)
Prayers Unheard. SIMON WHETHAM (Dragon’s Eye Recordings)
Connection. SIMON WHETHAM (3Leaves)
The Maker. JAMES WYNESS (Gruenrekorder)
The Bridge. JAMES WYNESS (Green Field Recordings)
The Tree. JAMES WYNESS (Impulsive Habitat)
Sound Ecology. V/A (Nitkie)
………………………………………………………………………………………….
Ear Room
Journal
Aguatierra. JUAN JOSE CALARCO (Unfathomless)
Objects of Memory. SETH CLUETT (Line)
Like Falling out of Trees into Collectors’ Albums. PATRICK FARMER (Consumer Waste)
3 Shaded Leaves. AKOS GARAI (Matter)
Surface Scripts. JOHN GRZINICH (Semperflorens)
Swiss mountain transport system. ERNST KAREL
(Gruenrekorder)
Beautiful Ghost Wave. JASON KAHN ( Herbal International)
Water Beetles of Pollardstown Fen. TOM LAWRENCE (Gruenrekorder)
Dry Ice on Steel Tables. LETHE Lethe (Either/OAR)
First Thought Best Thought. AKI ONDA (Important Records)
I listen to Wind that Obliterates my Traces Book & CD. STEVE RODEN (Dust To Digital)
Anáádiih. MATHIEU RUHLMANN & BANKS BAILEY
(3LEAVES)
Hidden bird’s nest. HIROKI SASAJIMA, TAKAHISA HIRAO (3LEAVES )
Wild World. -VARIOUS_ ARTISTS- ( British Library Sound Archive)
El tren fantasma. CHRIS WATSON (Touch)
Voice Studies 02. TOM WHITE ( My Dance the Skull)
………………………………………………………………………………………….
Akos Garai
Label manager of 3LEAVES, Sound artist
Aguatierra. JUAN JOSE CALARCO (Unfathomless)
Water Beetles of Pollardstown Fen. TOM LAWRENCE (Gruenrekorder)
Outskirts MICHAEL TROMMER (Impulsive Habitat)
El Tren Fantasna. CHRIS WATSON (Touch)
Where Once We Walked. MARK PETER WRIGHT (Another Space)
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
Miguel Isaza
Sound artist. Manager at Sonic Terrain journal
Abraum. ASMUS TIECHENS (1000füssler)
Swiss Mountain Transport Systems. ERNST KAREL (Gruenrekorder)
Water Beetles of Pollardstown Fen. TOM LAWRENCE (Gruenrekorder)
The Bridge. JAMES WYNESS (Green Field Recordings)
Semi. DARREN McCLURE (Impulsive Habitat)
Inskip. JAMES McDOUGALL (Impulsive Habitat)
Leftovers. SHINKEI + MISE_EN_SCENE + VA (Crónica)
Inhuman Humans. NOVI_SAD (Novi Sad)
800 000 Seconds in Harar .CM VON HAUSSWOLFF (Touch)
Age of Insects. MEM1 + STEPHEN VITIELLO (Dragon’s Eye Recordings)
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
Jonathan Lees
Manager of Hibernate recordings
Quarry Bank. WILL BOLTON (Time Released Sound)
Otoha. TOMOYOSHI DATE (Own)
El éxtasis de las flores pequeñas. FEDERICO DURAND (Own)
Quiet, Please. ITHACA TRIO (Coma Architects)
Shizuku. ILLUHA (12K)
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
Dale Lloyd
Manager of and/oar, Sound artist
Magnetic Flights. CHRISTINA KUBISCH (Important Records)
El Tren Fantasma. CHRIS WATSON (Touch)
Cross-Pollination – CHRIS WATSON & MARCUS DAVIDSON (Touch)
Overheard And Rendered 2. ERIC CORDIER / SCOTT SHERK
(and/OAR)
Swiss Mountain Transport Systems – ERNST KAREL (Gruenrekorder)
Voluntary Milking System. – ESELSOHR (Senufo Editions)
Alpi. ORELEDIGNEUR (Senufo Editions)
Environment & Gesture. PIERRE GERARD (3Leaves)
Mic.Madeira. SIMON WHETHEM & HUGO OLIM (Cronica)
Water Beetles Of Pollardstown Fen. TOM LAWRENCE (Gruenrekorder)
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
Ennio Mazzon
Manager of Ripples recordings, Sound artist. Editor TFR
Arches. YANNIC DAUBY (Touch Radio)
Algae. KASSEL JAEGER (Senufo Edition)
Swiss mountain transport system. ERNST KAREL
(Gruenrekorder)
I believe (draft 2). CORDELL KLIER (Impulsive Habitat)
Inskip. JAMES McDOUGALL (Impulsive Habitat)
Credence. CHRISTOPHER McFALL, DAVID VELEZ (Impulsive Habitat)
Making angels from wind. NO CONTEXT (Triple Bath)
Vertikale Skift. TERJE PAULSEN & AKOS GARAI (Gruenrekorder)
Dyed in the grain. RENATO RINALDI (Senufo Edition)
Anáádiih. MATHIEU RUHLMANN & BANKS BAILEY
(3LEAVES)
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
Christopher McFall
Sound artist
1- The Beauty of Doubting Yourself.
DANIEL THOMAS FREEMAN (Home Normal Recordings)
2- Night Falls with Silver in its Mouth. PAVONINE (Treetrunk Records)
3- XXVII. ANDUIN (SMTG Limited)
4- Funza. DAVID VELEZ (Impulsive Habitat)
5- Exorcism XELA (self-released)
6- Felt. NILS FRAHM (Type Records)
7- The Cartesian Plane. KEITH BERRY (Elevator Bath)
8- El Hombre Que Se Sofoca. ISRAEL MARTINEZ (Sub Rosa)
9- The Last Few Seconds Before Sleep (Broken20)
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
Hiroki Sasajima
Sound artist
El tren fantasma. CHRIS WATSON (Touch)
Phonography Meeting 070823. -VARIOUS ARTISTS-
(Winds Measure Recordings)
Ki. LUIGI TURRA(and/OAR)
Credence. CHRISTOPHER McFALL, DAVID VELEZ (Impulsive Habitat)
Estuary. CHRIS WHITEHEAD (Impulsive Habitat)
Connection. SIMON WHETHAM (3leaves)
Barges & Flows. AKOS GARAI (3leaves)
Where Once We Walked. MARK PETER WRIGHT (Another Space)
For Objects. JEZ RILEY FRENCH (Engraved Glass)
Aguatierra. JUAN JOSE CALARCO (Unfathomless)
Ultrasonic Scapes. EISUKE YANAGISAWA (Gruenrekorder)
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
David Velez
Staffer at Impulsive Habitat, Sound artist. Editor TFR
Hidden bird’s nest. HIROKI SASAJIMA, TAKAHISA HIRAO (3LEAVES )
Aguatierra. JUAN JOSE CALARCO
(Unfathomless 2011)
Breaking ice. ARTIFICIAL MEMORY TRACE
(Tentacles Of Perception)
Presence. YANN NOVAK (Hiberante)
Hear one near and think of the other. MIMOSA|MOIZE (Dragon’s Eye)
Vertikale Skift. TERJE PAULSEN & AKOS GARAI (Gruenrekorder)
Weekend. ANDREW HAYLECK (Winds Measure recordings)
Hypogeion. FRANSISCO LOPEZ (Mantricum)
also
El tren fantasma. CHRIS WATSON (Touch)
Swiss mountain transport system. ERNST KAREL (Gruenrekorder)
Injya. JAMES McDOUGALL. HIROKI SASAJIMA (Unfathomless)
Prayers unheard. SIMON WHETHAM (Dragon’s Eye)
A quiet position. -VARIOUS ARTISTS- (Engraved Glass)
split. FRANCISCO LÓPEZ, CARLOS VILLENA (Mantricum)
Music born on solitude. JAMES WYNESS (CON-V)
Bells. HIRKOKI SASAJIMA (Ahoraeterno)
Tanabe, Voltear BEN OWEN (CON-V)
Load. SIGNE LIDEN (Touch)
Age of Insects. MEM1 + STEPHEN VITIELLO (Dragon’s Eye)
(From 2010 but intruded to on 2011)
Threshold_|.Delphinus.Delphis:–| ARTIFICIAL MEMORY TRACE
(Tentacles Of Perception)
Surface Scripts. JOHN GRZINICH (Semperflorens)
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
Simon Whetham
Sound artist. Collaborator TFR
0°-100°. @c (Monochrome Vision)
Ama_Zone1: Black-Waters. ARTIFICIAL MEMORY TRACE (Monochrome Vision)
The decline effect. JIM HAYNES (Helen Scarsdale Agency)
Shadow of events. ALEXANDER RISHAUG (Dekoder)
Ice. STEVE RODEN
The sound ecology: Range. -VARIOUS ARTISTS- (Nitkie)
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
Chris Whitehead
Sound artist. Editor TFR
L-C (loop-coil) . DARIUS CIUTA (Impulsive Habitat)
Water Beetles of Pollardstown Fen. TOM LAWRENCE (Gruenrekorder)
Machine Music. LUIS ANTERO (Wandering Ear)
Mall Muzak. SIMON WHETHAM (Unfathomless)
El tren fantasma. CHRIS WATSON (Touch)
The Bridge. JAMES WYNESS (Green Field Recordings)
The alpha is strong and amplifying beta. CHRISTOPHER McFALL (Impulsive Habitat)
Inskip. JAMES McDOUGALL (Impulsive Habitat)
Vacio retorico. DAVID VELEZ (Audio Gourmet)
– fi-zm -. DARIUS CIUTA (Green Field Recordings)
