Geisteswissenschaften
CD: No Type (2007) IMNT 0715
Beats Headphone Catchy Complex
1 Koons [3m04s]
2 Pruitt-Igoe [2m05s]
3 Tatline [3m33s]
4 Aufbau [2m09s]
5 Die fröhliche Wissenschaft [3m22s]
6 Quelque chose d’informel [3m41s]
7 Color Field [2m15s]
8 Gutai [2m58s]
9 Recollection of Similarity [3m04s]
10 Begriffsschrift [4m00s]
11 Crowding Into the Behavioural Sink [4m07s]
12 Holzwege [1m48s]
13 Turner [4m27s]
14 All-Over [4m16s]
15 Wirkungsgeschichtesbewusstsein [6m26s]
16 Mathesis [3m41s]
17 Crowding Into the Behavioural Sink (Jon Vaughn’s Rondo Mix) [5m21s]
“Today, when we can eat Tex-Mex with chopsticks while listening to reggae and watching a YouTube rebroadcast of the Berlin Wall’s fall - i.e., when damn near everything presents itself as familiar — it’s not a surprise that some of today’s most ambitious art is going about trying to make the familiar strange. [...] Whatever charge of tastelessness or trademark violation may be attached to the artistic appropriation of the media environment in which we swim, the alternative — to flinch, or tiptoe away into some ivory tower of irrelevance — is far worse.” (Foster Wallace, as “plagiarized” by Jonathan Lethem in The Ecstasy of Influence, Harper’s Magazine, February 2007)
This first solo CD by composer A_dontigny (morceaux_de_machines, Napalm Jazz, Ensemble Camp…) has been deliberately conceived to be in the margins of electroacoustic music, electronica and audio art.
Thought up as a series of short sarcastic vignettes, Geisteswissenschaften skilfully manipulates common aesthetic postures in order to create a sound mosaic where one can find hints at modern art history and philosophy. To an arsenal of cut-and-paste and cut-ups, to which we may include encoding glitches and all matter of samples and quotes, A_dontigny adds the sonic interventions of three of his usual collaborators: Paul Dolden (electric cello, guitar and bass), Diane Labrosse (sampler) et Jon Vaughn (remix).
An ode to freedom? A manifest against all dogmas? That’ll depend on the mood of the listener. In the end, Geisteswissenschaften wishes to be a celebration of independance of spirit and human intelligence, one of those rare works that continue to be nourished by great hopes.
Geisteswissenschaften laisse son auditeur toujours en éveil. Jamais il ne sera en situation de confort et devra être attentif à cette révolution permanente, aux changements de couleurs, de rythmes et, finalement, de direction.
Fabien, Liability Webzine (France)
Those momentary presences and interferences will mesh with life’s soundtrack without a problem.
Massimo Ricci, Touching Extremes (Italy)
… una raccolta non differenziata di materiali vari, in un immenso lavoro di "taglia e cuci" tra gli innumerevoli samples, i bit elettronici e le parti suonate […] Grande.
Alfredo Rastelli, Sands Zine (Italy)
Reife Leistung und ein echt tolles Hörerlebnis.
Hans Kulisch, Skug (Austria)
… allemal imposant.
Kai Ginkel, Spex (Germany)
… is filled with songs made with heart and brain…
Andrea Ferraris, Chain DLK (USA)
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Friday, May 9, 2008. Development & maintenance: DIM.