|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LP
|
|
RAREYOUTH 033LP
|
"Limited pressing of 250 copies, on clear vinyl. Wind Chimes gathers material from a recent sound installation and performance. Following up on his last LP, Filtered Water, Mullen continues to use site-specific recordings as a means to explore the sonic characteristics of a given space; yet here the focus is on the idea of feedback-as-process. Using field recordings and staged acoustic environments, Wind Chimes introduces us to a familiar object - in this case, a pair of mass-produced bamboo wind chimes - and listens as they undergo a series of sonic and spatial manipulations. The original sounds are copied and altered, and eventually re-amplified in different spaces, until new forms emerge and collide with both real and manufactured fidelities. The LP version is presented as a series of miniatures, cut in mono, with liner notes and links to additional audio for a wide range of home-listening possibilities. Ideal for blending with your own home-electronics, HVAC's, and outdoor wildlife. Each record is housed in a white tip-on sleeve and comes with a color paste-on and insert."
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
TYPE 114LP
|
It's been three years since Rhode Island sound artist Geoff Mullen released his last album for the Type label, but he's hardly been taking it easy in the interim. After a few small-run cassette releases and a string of dates in Europe (both solo and in the Oxtirn trio with PAN's Eli Keszler and Ashley Paul) he found some time to get stranded in the woods and craft this beguiling long-form record. A mono recording of a multi-channel installation piece, Filtered Water is probably the most unusual addition to Mullen's catalog, and definitely the most hypnotic. Recorded in the Hudson Valley, the album blends field recordings, feedback, and tape collage to create a deeply immersive sound environment. This is a record that reveals itself slowly, and uses the most spare of materials. Everyday sounds like a passing train or a far-off party are subsumed by the music, and the raw sounds of nature are tempered by electronic processes. Luckily, Mullen's signature musical sensitivity prevents this extended experimental piece from ever becoming trying or indulgent. It is honest, textured sound and far more beautiful than a description can attest. Geoff Mullen is one of New England's most impressive sonic innovators, and Filtered Water offers a fascinating glimpse into his unique sound world. Cut at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
TYPE 079LP
|
Vinyl-only release, limited edition of 500 copies only. Providence, Rhode Island operative Geoff Mullen has been working beneath the popular music radar for some time now, putting his name to a number of limited cassettes, CD-Rs and vinyl albums. It is hardly surprising that in that time he has developed something of a cult following in the New England scene, with live performances (solo and together with Keith Fullerton Whitman) and his own Rare Youth label garnering him a loyal throng of rabid fans. Using the guitar, synthesizer and a selection of well-developed processes, Mullen has come up with a unique sound difficult to pigeonhole. Throughout the album, the sounds feel so effortlessly unified that one can completely forget the individual instruments themselves. It is hard to believe that the synthesizer used (the legendary Yamaha CS50) is the baby brother of the CS80, heard so distinctively piped into Deckard's electric dreams in Blade Runner. The distant, dusty tones and pulsating rhythms bring to mind instead memories of early Popol Vuh or something altogether more defiant. As a veteran guitarist, writing Bongo Closet was Mullen's search for different ways of playing music, and these weathered, deeply personal songs are the result. Rich with emotion and surprisingly detailed, there is the sense that the technology never informs the creative process. Mullen is using his chosen instruments without a care for what they can and can't do -- they are tools in the creation of his music, never the other way around. Bongo Closet is an intensely human listening experience. Teeming with life and breathing as it coughs and splutters, there is an unavoidable attachment felt almost instantly as a listener. This is music that drags you in and simply refuses to let go. Cut at Dubplates & Mastering.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
2LP
|
|
BRG 003LP
|
"Referencing an old Providence armory in Geoff's neighborhood, Armory Radio is an ode to a specific chunk of time and space. Originally self-released as a double CDR in very small quantity, this limited double LP version features new material combined with reworkings of the original CDR version. Departing from last year's blues-influenced The Air In Pieces, Geoff surprises us once again with his creative diversity and his ongoing search for new sonic territory. At the start of the Armory Radio project in 2004, Geoff found a busted boombox in the trash with a barely-working short wave radio function on it. This roadside treasure was one of many found objects revived for unconventional reuse: handheld radios, cassette players and speakers which all play a role in structuring the album. This physical scavenging, along with other unplanned musical discoveries, led to the process-driven compositions on Armory Radio. Obsolete technology, found objects and a city's architecture are a few of the repeating themes embedded in Armory Radio's guitar-driven drones. Geoff's dramatic use of noise is prevalent as well, building thick fabrics of haze intertwined with fragmented feedback patterns that phase in and out with one another. Comparisons could be drawn to the ethereal short-wave recordings of William Basinski or Phil Niblock's massive drones, but Armory Radio is a more volatile work; no doubt influenced by the fertile noise underground in America (artists like Aaron Dilloway and Prurient come to mind, although not in too literal a way)."
|