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Retrospective article for 2012 PART I (213)

BESTOF2012

2012 Retrospective post: what our Editors, and some guest artists, curators, journalists and managers think was noteworthy

by David Velez. Chief Editor of The Field Reporter

2012 was a very busy year in terms of the number of field recordings-based releases that were published both physically and digitally: The Field Reporter alone reviewed around 160 releases that ranged from pure documental to heavily processed and also works that combine field recordings with sounds generated with electronic and acoustic means.

The increase in references and brands for handy recorders and recording equipment in general, and the emergence of new labels focusing on the field recording practice, could lead to believe that the number of people out there recording and using those recordings with an artistic purpose is on a rise. The pertinent question here is why?

On a personal note I believe that there is a growing cultural interest on the environmental aspects of the sensible experience caused in part by the strong political moment we live, a moment where the notion of progress and economical growth is being questioned on a massive level. The environment is a matter of collective interest, is something we all share and this is why we could find such political implications when we are confronted with our environment and deal with it artistically. But is this the reason why people are turning to recording and listening more and more?

The visual image has been the subject of exploitation by marketing and advertising for a long time now. When in front of a visual image that we could enjoy we are under the fear that we are expected to behave, feel and think in a particular way determined by the psychological strategy that created that image while serving economical and ideological interests; in a way is like we can’t trust the beauty in our eyes anymore. So what can we trust?

Concrete sounds when presented in an acousmatic fashion show the possibility of a open interpretation. In the reduced hearing the sound creates the object and not the other way around. Seemingly there is more to imagine when we can hear than when we can see.

On Michael Chion’s book ‘Audiovision’ sound is regarded as the element that helps making the moving images of film believable. Hearing is the sense that imprints the notion of movement and motion the best in comparison to sight. Sight is more punctual, like a scanning process where we can only focus on one thing at a time. Sound is like this stream that connects us with the world, a constant connection with the universe we are part of via vibration.

In despite of its potential open interpretative character, sound seems to establish a sense of reality better than any other medium because is the one that captures the of notion time -expressed as motion and change- in a more realistic way and by that it captures the notion of the universal where totality works like a vector rather than a simple sum of things.

I really don’t know if the ideas presented here actually explain the growing interest that sound is drawing in the creative and artistic community but hopefully they could be of help. Like we said when we started, The Field Reporter cares about the reasons and implications subjacent in our recording and listening actions. Why we record what we record? Why we listen what we listen? Does it really matter? These are the questions that interest us.

Notes and lists by Editors and guest

On The Field Reporter every year we like to make a sort of guide for our readers with sound, releases, places, ideas that were notable through 2012. With that on mind we contacted a group of artists, journalists and curators to join our team making a series of lists and notes of what they think was noteworthy through 2012. This year we have a new element: mixes made by some of our editors with fragments from those works and experiences.

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allen_SB

Richard Allen (journalist at A Closer Listen)

ESK. CRAIG VEAR (3Leaves)
Below Sea Level. SIMON SCOTT (12k)
Omiyage. RAUL FUENTES (LEA)
Folkestone Lighthouse. BEING (Wist)
Mirage de Loire. HERVE MOIRE (Aposiopèse)
Sonido Descompuesto. DAVID VELEZ (Unfathomless)
Sounds From Dangerous Places. PETER CUSAK (ReR Megacorp)
Chitin. AMT -Slavek Kwi- (Taâlem)
What Are The Roots That Clutch. MURMER (Helen Scarsdale Agency)
Birds of a Feather Series. PORYA HATAMI, MICHAEL TROMMER (Flaming Pines)

antero

Luis Antero (sound artist, works at Green Field)

Sunrise in the Sukau rainforest. CHRIS WATSON (Framework Seasonal, issue #3, autumn 2012)
Colony. HIROKI SASAJIMA (Impulsive Habitat)
HTO. MICHAEL TROMMER (3Leaves)
34:13 Ambeliona. MECHA / ORGA -Yiorgis Sakellariou- (Triple Bath)
ESK. CRAIG VEAR (3Leaves)
Plotina. SALA (Obs)
Systemic collapse. JAY-DEA LOPEZ (Impulsive Habitat)
Somewhere on the edge. VA (Gruenrekorder)

DC

Darius Ciuta (sound artist)

Landscape Sculpture with Fog Horns, San Francisco. BILL FONTANA( New Music America)
Spectral territories Pt2. AMT -Slavek Kwi (self -release)
El gris en nuestras vidas. GIL SANSÓN (Impulsive Habitat)
Two Films. JOHN GRZINICH (And/OAR)
Concert for no-one
. SIMON WHETHAM (Impulsive Habitat)

scornford

Stephen Cornford (sound artist, works at Consumer Waste)

Sound Sculptures, Tate Gallery 1982. JEAN TINGUELY
(Edition Bierammer)
Mutanza. REINHOLD FRIEDL (Bocian)
Kreuzmusik Fluxid Behandlung Op 189. HENING CHRISTIANSEN
(Kye / Penultimate press)
Crowded. KEVIN DRUMM (Bocian)
Anthem. JOE COLLEY (Misanthropic Agenda)
Coldwater Basin. PHILIP CORNER (Alga Marghen)
Cathode Deafness. NICOLA RATTI (Musica Moderna)
Vitra Sonder. SEWER SELECTION (Throne Heap)
s/t . YEAST CULTURE (Art Into Life)
Raining. ROLF JULIUS (Western Vinyl)

duplant

Bruno Duplant (sound artist)

CrossHatches. MICHAEL PISARO, TOSHIYA TSUONDA (Erstwhile)
Exotic Exit. VANESSA ROSSETTO (Kye)
Alcor. ASTOR (Kye)
Lonely microphone. JOE COLLEY (Senufo)
Field have ears (6). MICHAEL PISARO (Gravity wave)
v – p v-f is v – n 2013. VA (Winds Measure)
2005¹. MANFRED WERDER -Jason Kahn- (Winds Measure)
El gris en nuestras vidas. GIL SANSÓN (Impulsive Habitat)
Ch-da (d-2). DARIUS CIUTA, CHRIS WHITEHEAD
(Impulsive Habitat)
The Fields Remain While The Recorder Has Long Vanished. D”INCISE (Impulsive Habitat)
Thief. LANCE AUSTIN OLSEN (Infrequency)
Holes / Tract. COPPICE (Consumer Waste)
Like falling out of trees into collectors’ albums. PATRICK FARMER
(Consumer Waste)
The Narrows. JODA CLEMENT (Unfathomless)
Bird cage wallpaper. HANKIL RYU, JEZ RILEY FRENCH
(Engraved Glass)
I treni inerti. ALFREDO COSTA MONTEIRO, RUTH BARBERÁN
(Flexion)

etzin

Roland Etzin (sound artist, works at Gruenrekorder)

Sounds From Dangerous Places. PETER CUSAK (ReR Megacorp)
Dichte Wolken. CHRISTINA KUBISCH (CD Edition Museum Ostwall)
Framework seasonal. VA
v – p v-f is v – n 2013. VA (Winds Measure)

pafa2

Patrick Farmer (sound artist, writer and Editor for The Field Reporter)

Audio from: I can feel the sea falling over my head. Lost Beyond Telling. DIANE GRANHAN (Oiseaux Invisibles)
Two Films. JOHN GRZINICH (And/Oar)
Binatone Galaxy. STEPHEN CORNFORD (Senufo)
CrossHatches. MICHAEL PISARO, TOSHIYA TSUONDA (Erstwhile)
En Abîme: Listening, Reading, Writing. DANIELA CASCELLA
(Zero Books)
Acquiescence. TARAB (Kaon)
∩. MARC BARON (Cathnor)
Exotic Exit. VANESSA ROSETTO (Kye)
2005¹. MANFRED WERDER -Jason Kahn- (Winds Measure)
Druids and Questions. EVA-MARIA HOUBEN (Wandelweiser)
Luz azul. I TRENI INERTI (Flexion)

jrf

Jez Riley French (sound artist works at Engraved Glass)

I would expand the defintion of ‘release’….no, I have to expand it.

One of the reasons I am drawn to field recording is that it doesn’t, can’t & also shouldn’t be expected to operate in the same way as the systems placed around other forms of music.

Even if I were able to think of some releases of field recordings that stood out in some way, that would not represent the act of listening to those works, each time or just the first time. A subtle quality of untouched sound is that it has the power to be fluid, even when fixed onto a release. It can still meld with the listening situation. It isn’t stable.

No ‘release’ (in the conventional sense of the word in this context) comes close to listening in situ to sound, to music created in time by a myriad of sources – audible interplay between species and situation, environment and moment.

I don’t know what the point is in creating field recording based work that isn’t, simply, a small representation of a personal connection to the act of listening. In that sense, the ‘releases’ I have heard and been excited by this year have been the release of one moment following another and another and another….

flagui

Flavien Gillié (sound artist, Editor for The Field Reporter)

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[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/72615920″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

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Mina. DARIUS CIUTA (Green Field Recordings)
Movement -Holkham-. PETER TOLL (Engraved Glass)
18-36. MECHA / ORGA (Orila)
Slaughterhouse. DAVID MICHAEL (Gruenrekorder)
Trazadao oculto. JUAN JOSÉ CALARCO (Mandorla)
Little jewel. COLLIN THOMAS (self-release)
TransMongolian ROLAND ETZIN (Gruenrekorder)
Systemic Collapse. JAY-DEA LOPEZ (Impulsive Habitat)
South Gare. CHRIS WHITEHEAD (Linear Obsessional)
Witch-hunt. PLEQ, HIROKI SASAJIMA (Taâlem 2012)
Concert for no one. SIMON WHETHAM (Impulsive Habitat)

* Playlist of mix follows list order

yyy

Slavek Kwi (sound artist)

HTO. MICHAEL TROMMER (3Leaves)
Harbour. LASSE-MARC RIEK (Herbal International)
Buiti Binafin. FREDERIC NOGRAY (3Leaves)
Ravenscar. CHRIS WHITEHEAD (Unfathomless)
IIN. DARIUS CIUTA (Nephogram)

fralopez

Francisco Lopez (sound artist)

Sounds experienced by him in the Borneo forest, particularly the ones made by leeches, cicadas and monkeys

JDLOPEZ

Jay-Dea Lopez (sound artist, journalist and Editor for The Field Reporter)

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[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/72615767″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

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Berlin field. STEVE RODEN (3Leaves)
El pájaro que escucha. DAVID VELEZ (3Leaves)
A quiet position. Locale. VA (impulsive Habitat)
Sceneries from the Castellated Wall. YASUHIRO MORINAGA (Galverna)
Two Films. JOHN GRZINICH (And/OAR)
v – p v-f is v – n 2013. VA (Winds Measure)
Parallel Paths. CELLO + LAPTOP -Edu Comelles & Sara Galán- (Envelope Collective)
Buiti Binafin. FRÉDÉRIC NOGRAY (3Leaves)
Concert for no one. SIMON WHETHAM (Impulsive Habitat)
Colony. HIROKI SASAJIMA (Impulsive Habitat)

* Playlist of mix follows list order

nogray---

Frederic Nogray (sound artist)

Frédéric Nogray

Suara Alam Indonesia. DAVE PHILLIPS (Nuun)
Brames (et autres mouvements d’automne).
MARC ET OLIVERI NAMBLARD (Editions Ouïe/Dire)
Movement -Holkham-. PETER TOLL (Engraved Glass)
Ultrealith. AMT -Slavek Kwi- (Gruenrekorder)
Sempervirent. RODOLPHE ALEXIS (Gruenrekorder)
Ravenscar. CHRIS WHITEHEAD (Unfathomless)
Madal öö (shallow night). JOHN GRZINICH (Engraved Glass)
Taurion, trou de lapin. DALE LLOYD (Kaon)
El pájaro que escucha. DAVID VÉLEZ (3Leaves)
Paysage de nuit et de vent. JOËL BLONDEL (Editions Ouïe/Dire)

JJP

Juanjo Palacios (sound artist, works at LEA)

South Gare. CHRIS WHITEHEAD (Linear Obsessional)
Monographic. DALLAS SIMPSON (LEA ediciones)
Des Lônes et des Pylônes. FLAVIEN GILLIÉ (Green Field)
Camino Parte Primera. EDU COMELLES (Wandering Gear)
Música para Palimpsestos. PACO ROSSIQUE (self-release)
Magic Bus. ZIGO (Impulsive Habitat)
Sueño de una noche de Primavera. MICROPLEX (self-release)
O River. LUÍS ANTERO (Impulsive Habitat)
Re:Fujaco. @C (Galaverna)
Au Sud. HONORÉ FERAILLE (Audio Gourmet)
Beneath Peaks. AUTISTICI (Hibernate Recordings)
Amber Studies. WILL BOLTON (Rural Colours)

reche

Pablo Reche (sound artist)

Psyite. AMT -Slavek Kwi- (Impulsive Habitat)
Novaya Zemlya. THOMAS KÖNER (Touch)
Edgelands. MICHAEL TROMMER (Gruenrekorder)
Systemic Collapse. JAY-DEA LOPEZ (Impulsive Habitat)
Mina. DARIUS CIUTA (Green Field)
Rishikesh. FIVE ELEMENTS MUSIC (Unfathomless)
O Rio. LUIS ANTERO (Impulsive Habitat)
Spheres. ISZ (Audiotalaia)
Acquiescence. TARAB (Kaon)
Sonido Descompuesto. DAVID VELEZ (Unfathomless)
El Yunque. DAVID MICHAEL (Impulsive Habitat)
Guts. DANIEL MENCHE (Mego)
Passagen. P16.D4 (Monotype)

sanderson

Richard Sanderson (sound artist, works at Linear Obsessional)

Recordings of A Crepuscular Event – PHILIP SULIDAE
(Impulsive Habitat)
Gryphea. CHRIS WHITEHEAD (Obs)
Efecto Foehn. JUANJO PALACIOS (exp_net)
Il Mysteri. GIOVANNI LAMI (Impulsive Habitat)
Touch.30. VA (Touch)

field-fest-mechaorga1

Yiorgis Sakellariou (Sound artist, works at Echomusic)

Detune in Z sharp. NOKALYPSE (Triple Bath)
Madal öö (shallow night). JOHN GRZINICH (Engraved Glass)
Existent recordings of nonexistent phenomena. RAITIS UPENS (Impulsive Habitat)
57′. DARIUS CIUTA & LUIS ANTERO (Green Field Recordings)
Plotina. SALA (Obs)
Secret Garden ROEL MEELKOP (Oto)
Ravenscar. CHRIS WHITEHEAD (Unfathomless)

chetipp

Cheryl Tipp (Curator of Wildlife and Environmental Sounds at the British Library and Editor for The Field Reporter)

Madal öö. JOHN GRZINICH (Engraved Glass)
El pájaro que escucha. DAVID VÉLEZ (3Leaves)
Sempervirent. RODOLPHE ALEXIS (Gruenrekorder)
The Pier. IAN HOLLOWAY (Quiet World)
El Yunque. DAVID MICHAEL (Impulsive Habitat)
Jhirna Jali. PETER CAELDRIES (Gruenrekorder)
The sea road. ROBERT McFARLANE, CHRIS WATSON (Rivertones)
Estonian string. JEZ RILEY FRENCH (Gruenrekorder)
Witch-hunt. PLEQ, HIROKI SASAJIMA (Taâlem 2012)
Mall muzak. SIMON WHETHAM (Unfathomless)
O river. LUÍS ANTERO (Impulsive Habitat)
Camino, parte primera. EDU COMELLES (Wandering Ear)
La tierruca. JUAN PABLO MARTINEZ (LEA)
Rio Douro / Douro River, Vol 2. VIRGILIO OLIVEIRA (Green Field)
Movement -Holkham-. PETER TOLL (Engraved Glass)

PETOLL-2

Peter Toll (sound artist)

Buti Binafin. FRÉDÉRIC NOGRAY (3leaves)
Five natural pieces. VELJO RUNNEL (Veljo Runnel)
From shore to santuary. MARK BRENNAN (Mark Brennan)
El Yunque DAVID MICHAEL (Impulsive Habitat)
Kinsendael. FLAVIEN GILLIE (Audio Gormet)
Instamatic: snowdonia. JEZ RILEY FRENCH (Engraved Glass)
[Dis] location. JASON KAVANAGH, JAY-DEA LOPEZ (Sirona)
A Quiet Position. VA -curated by Jez Riley French- (Impulsive Habitat)

trommer

Michael Trommer (sound artist)

CrossHatches. MICHAEL PISARO, TOSHIYA TSUONDA (Erstwhile)
Lonely Microphone. JOE COLLEY (Senufo)
Saison Concrete. LASSE-MARC RIEK (Semperflorens)
Novaya Zemlya. THOMAS KÖNER(Touch)
The Narrows. JODA CLEMENT (Unfathomless)
17 / Barcelona. 18 / Corfu. MIKEL R NIETO (self-release)
El gris en nuestras vidas. GIL SANSÓN (Impulsive Habitat)
The Fields Remain While The Recorder Has Long Vanished. D”INCISE (Impulsive Habitat)
Ultrealith. AMT -Slavek Kwi- (Gruenrekorder)
Mic.Madeira. SIMON WHETHAM, HUGO OLIM (Crónica)

DV7

David Velez (sound artists, work at Impulsive Habitat and Chief Editor for The Field Reporter)

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[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/72619153″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

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Ordered as they first came to my mind

Madal öö. JOHN GRZINICH (Engraved Glass)
Prairie. D’INCISE (Obs)
Gryphaea. CHRIS WHITEHEAD (Obs)
H-CS. DARIUS CIUTA (Echomusic)
Silver. RICHARD GARET (Obs)
Are fishes nihilist? D’INCISE (Kaon)
18-36. MECHA / ORGA (Orila)
Taurion, trou de lapin. DALE LLOYD (Kaon)
Debris. JANA WINDEREN (Touch)
A while and awhile. FRANCISCO MEIRINO (Obs)
Glass over water under light.
RUI ALMEIDA, NUNO MIRANDA RIBEIRO (Green Field)
Sempervirent. RODOLPHE ALEXIS (Gruenrekorder)
Deux trois choses ou presque. BRUNO DUPLANT (Engraved Glass)
Little jewel. COLLIN THOMAS (self-release)
Mina. DARIUS CIUTA (Green Field)
Draught. MATT EARLE, JASON KAHN, ADAM SUSSMAN
(Consumer Waste)
Rishikesh. FIVE ELEMENTS MUSIC (Unfathomless)
Go Outside. ROBERT CURGENVEN (Kaon)
The Darkness and the light. SETH COOKE (Compost and Height)
n.RioTau. ARTIFICIAL MEMORY TRACE (Kaon)

Also -in alphabetical order

Emerging territories. LUIS ANTERO, JAY-DEA LOPEZ (LEA)
Jhirna Jali. PETER CAELDRIES (Gruenrekorder)
Trazadao oculto. JUAN JOSÉ CALARCO (Mandorla)
U-pdd-f. DARIUS CIUTA (self-release)
Pneuma. SETH COOKE (LF)
Holes / Tract. COPPICE (Consumer Waste)
КОРЛИГОН. DAUBY, KOJO, NORTHAM (Obs)
Quelques usines fantômes. BRUNO DUPLANT (Unfathomless)
TransMongolian ROLAND ETZIN (Gruenrekorder)
Encore Un Peu De Ce Monde. FLAVIEN GILLIÉ (self-release)
The good life. SARAH HUGES, KOSTIS KILMYS
(Consumer Waste)
34:13_Ambeliona MECHA / ORGA (Triple Bath)
53-30. MECHA / ORGA (Very Quiet)
split. WILL MONTGOMERY, ROBERT CURGENVEN
(Winds Measure)
What Are The Roots That Clutch. MURMER (Helen Scarsdale Agency)
Buiti Binafin. FRÉDÉRIC NOGRAY (3Leaves)
Sunset soundrise. FRÉDÉRIC NOGRAY (Very Quiet)
Paradise and Winchester. YANN NOVACK (Unafathomless)
-split- MARK SO, PATRICK FARMER (Winds Measure)
Bird cage wallpaper. HANKIL RYU, JEZ RILEY FRENCH
(Engraved Glass)
Shards of Splinters… TARAB (Semperflorens)
Movement -Holkham-. PETER TOLL (Engraved Glass)
Ravenscar. CHRIS WHITEHEAD (Unfathomless)
South gare. CHRIS WHITEHEAD (Linear Obsessional)
Lind, raud, aastaajad.
YANNICK DAUBY, JOHN GRZINICH, MURMER (Invisible Birds)

Reissues

The bright work. JEZ RILEY FRENCH (Engraved Glass)

Older but istened on 2012

Ulu lone. YANNICK DAUBY, MARC LAMBLARD (Silent Radio 2006)
蛙蛙蛙!Songs of the frogs of Taiwan vol.1. YANNICK DAUBY
(Kalerne 2009)
[in]. ERIK DeLUCA (Everglade 2010)
Like falling out of trees into collectors’ albums. PATRICK FARMER
(Consumer Waste 2011)
Four objects. JEZ RILEY FRENCH (Engraved Glass 2011)
Taî-pak thiaⁿ saⁿ piàn. YANNICK DAUBY (Kalerne 2011)
Shangri La. DAVID MICHAEL (3Leaves 2011)
Birds and water 2 & 3. BEN OWEN (Obs 2011)
Frozen moments. JACQUES SODELL (Kaon 2011)
Acquiescence. TARAB (Kaon 2011)

* Playlist of mix presents only the releases in the first list and they are ordered from lower to higher.
Jana Winderen release not featured on playlist.

tonywhite

Tony Whithead (sound artist, works at Very Quiet)

Ravenscar. CHRIS WHITEHEAD (Unfathomless)
Rishikesh. FIVE ELEMENTS MUSIC (Unfathomless)
Like falling out of trees into collectors’ albums. PATRICK FARMER (Consumer Waste)
Undetected. FRANCISCO MEIRINO (OtO)
Panaural. JOAO CASTRO PINTO (Triple Bath)
40:31. MECHA / ORGA (Impulsive Habitat)
Three Days of Silence. PIETRO RIPARBELLI (Gruenrekorder)
Buiti Binafin. FREDERIC NOGRAY (3Leaves)
Movement -Holkham-. PETER TOLL (Engraved Glass)
Radia. GLEN BACH (Dust Unsettled)

A few shared sounds I’ve enjoyed …
Take the ear strangely: songs and dead seas. SEBASTIANE HEGARTY
Cycle Race. MICHAEL PETERS
Opus for power line, bass, wind and birds. MAGNUS BERGSSON
Geese #02. PATRICK FRANKE
Orkney WW2 Wrecks (Test). AMES NEWTON

David Vélez

David Vélez (PhD) is a Colombian sonic artist studying the acoustics of food, working in the intersection between sound ethnography and plant bioacoustics. His work oversteps the boundaries of installation art, field recordings, composition, performance and commensality exploring gardens, kitchens and open food markets as exhibition spaces. Vélez is interested in the strategic artistic possibility of sound and its invisible, immersive, unstable and fluctuating material, attrubutes shared with the nourishing transference of energy in food.