Entresol
Xabier Erkizia
| Available Formats | No. of Tracks | Price | Buy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Download Album (mp3) | 3 tracks | £2.25 | ||
| Download Album (flac) | 3 tracks | £2.25 | ||
| Download Album (wav) | 3 tracks | £2.25 |
Xabier Erkizia - Entresol
This is the debut of Basque sound/multimedia artist Erkizia, who works with sounds at the threshold of inaudibility for most of this CD, even if a violent discharge at the beginning of the second movement could cause a stroke to the fainted heart after the almost subsonic relaxation of the first part. "Entresol" creeps through holes, walls and pavements like electricity in your home's wiring: sometimes you manage to perceive something through the ears, most times you just feel its invisible presence manifesting itself like passing breeze - or in form of ultrasonic waves that a bat or a dog could hear in full. The listener's role in this case is defined by the efficacy of his/her body functions; of course, clear ears and total silence should be a must when approaching sonic materials standing between the mutism of sources and a nuclear catastrophe. Then you arrive to the last track, that sounds like a cross of field recordings and shortwave radio, and realize no word can do justice to this highly skilled work: again, silence should prevail. TOUCHING EXTREMES (IT)
Reviews
If you use that little "find it" search engine box thingy on the home page of this site and type in the word "austere" don't be surprised if your computer crashes. Seems like it's one of the words I end up using all over the place, far too often. Don't think I haven't tried scouting round thesauruses (thesauri?) for alternatives. Austere's a cool adjective though, meaning abstinent (abstemious, ascetic, chaste, continent, economical, puritanical, refraining, self-denying, self-disciplined, sober, straight-laced, strict, subdued, unrelenting), grim (bald, bare, bare-bones, barren, bleak, clean, dour, plain, primitive, rustic, severe, simple, spare, Spartan, stark, subdued, unadorned, unembellished) and severe (ascetic, astringent, cold, earnest, exacting, forbidding, formal, grave, grim, hard, harsh, inexorable, inflexible, obdurate, rigid, rigorous, serious, sober, solemn, sombre, stern, stiff, strict, stringent, unfeeling, unrelenting.. thanks Mr Roget for all that), and, overused though it might be, it's spot on to describe the music released on Ilios's Antifrost label. Xabier Erkizia's Entresol is a slab of vintage Antifrost user-unfriendly electronica, whose harshness often recalls the work his fellow Basque laptopper Mattin (yep, it's a small world, and the two have performed and recorded together). Coming in a plain cover, uniformly dark grey except for the name and album title which are in light grey (the inside reverses the trend.. my copy came with a "Promotional Copy Not For Sale" stamped across the inner spine, as if anybody would ever feel like buying such an austere there I go again looking thing), its 39 minutes seriously challenge the label name: it's 5° here today with a dull, cold leaden shy and this music's frostiness is absolutely perfect. Questions of temperature aside, it's right in line with the Suffer / Enjoy aesthetic of the label. If you're already familiar with other releases on Antifrost by Ilios, Mattin, Daniel Menche and especially the magnificent North & South Neutrino (Lasse Marhaug and Alan Courtis), you'll know what to expect. If, however, you need some bright chirpy techno to accompany the alcohol-free party you're throwing to celebrate your 17 year old sister's passing her driving test, you'd better leave this one well alone. Pass the Brennevin, motherfucker.—DW PARISTRANSATLANTIC (FR)
Tracklisting
Download Album (AFRO2026DD)
- Xabier Erkizia - Entresol
- Xabier Erkizia - Entresol II (argi soinuak)
- Xabier Erkizia - Entresol III
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