FURTHERNOISE (JANUARY 2006)
DALE LLOYD AND VARIOUS ARTISTS - AMALGAM: Dale Lloyd, composer,
phonographer and owner of the and/OAR label, was invited to have work released
on the Conv label. Thus, Amalgam was created; a collection of collaborations
between Dale Lloyd and many of his talented friends and acquaintances.
The contributed material is diverse, including sitar (played by Robert Arthur Horton),
wind chimes, found objects, electronics, turntables (Jon Tulchin), and even dry ice
(Josh Russell). Lloyd, as with his other works, uses effects and various processing
techniques highly creatively, so it's quite often difficult to tell where the sounds
have originated from. Luckily, the credits contain the names of the artists along
with what they contributed, and this sheds some light on the background and
illustrates the creative effort that has gone into Amalgam.
Due to the vast amount of contributed material and Lloyd's prolific input, Amalgam
feels somewhat monumental. There are 11 tracks, each with their own character,
yet there are overarching consistent aesthetic themes, pursued but perhaps not
enforced by Lloyd's processing and editing. The emotive range of the tracks is also
broad, from the sinister 412.1920 (produced with Sijis label co-owner, Scott Taylor),
which uses very low frequency bass and tactile percussive elements (perhaps
harking back to Lloyd's days as a drummer), to the more melancholic 412.21
(produced with Ubeboet, another Conv contributor.)
Collaborating with artists who work with both lowercase sound and more academic
approaches adds to the feeling that Lloyd has taken the role of an alchemist on this
release. This is particularly evident as he's credited for "processing and effects" on
all tracks; he seamlessly blends contributed material with his own field recordings
and instrumentation in an ultimately engaging, yet subtle manner. Indeed, to
appreciate the intricate detail in most of these pieces you have to listen at relatively
high volumes, and the tactile affects of the sounds are only then noticeable when
headphones are used. This is not a critique however, as it makes Amalgam feel
like a more personal and immersive experience than a mere set of experiments.
Dale Lloyd's ability to combine stark and heterogeneous elements to produce
something unique and engaging is strikingly apparent in Amalgam. The artists
featured are luminaries in the lowercase and phonographic fields, making this a
unique and highly recommended collection. (Alex Young)
DALE LLOYD AND VARIOUS ARTISTS - AMALGAM: Dale Lloyd, composer,
phonographer and owner of the and/OAR label, was invited to have work released
on the Conv label. Thus, Amalgam was created; a collection of collaborations
between Dale Lloyd and many of his talented friends and acquaintances.
The contributed material is diverse, including sitar (played by Robert Arthur Horton),
wind chimes, found objects, electronics, turntables (Jon Tulchin), and even dry ice
(Josh Russell). Lloyd, as with his other works, uses effects and various processing
techniques highly creatively, so it's quite often difficult to tell where the sounds
have originated from. Luckily, the credits contain the names of the artists along
with what they contributed, and this sheds some light on the background and
illustrates the creative effort that has gone into Amalgam.
Due to the vast amount of contributed material and Lloyd's prolific input, Amalgam
feels somewhat monumental. There are 11 tracks, each with their own character,
yet there are overarching consistent aesthetic themes, pursued but perhaps not
enforced by Lloyd's processing and editing. The emotive range of the tracks is also
broad, from the sinister 412.1920 (produced with Sijis label co-owner, Scott Taylor),
which uses very low frequency bass and tactile percussive elements (perhaps
harking back to Lloyd's days as a drummer), to the more melancholic 412.21
(produced with Ubeboet, another Conv contributor.)
Collaborating with artists who work with both lowercase sound and more academic
approaches adds to the feeling that Lloyd has taken the role of an alchemist on this
release. This is particularly evident as he's credited for "processing and effects" on
all tracks; he seamlessly blends contributed material with his own field recordings
and instrumentation in an ultimately engaging, yet subtle manner. Indeed, to
appreciate the intricate detail in most of these pieces you have to listen at relatively
high volumes, and the tactile affects of the sounds are only then noticeable when
headphones are used. This is not a critique however, as it makes Amalgam feel
like a more personal and immersive experience than a mere set of experiments.
Dale Lloyd's ability to combine stark and heterogeneous elements to produce
something unique and engaging is strikingly apparent in Amalgam. The artists
featured are luminaries in the lowercase and phonographic fields, making this a
unique and highly recommended collection. (Alex Young)
IGLOO - microview - volume 25 (September 2005)
DALE LLOYD AND VARIOUS ARTISTS - AMALGAM: **** Canadian team
Nathan and Darcy McNinch play on glass objects accompanying Seattle-based
composer Dale Lloyd’s sound processing on “412.1413” sounding like beach
chimes in the ocean breeze. The radio-like hiss is a warm warning. The brisk micro-
scratching including Omnid is something left-field of Raster-Noton, minus the funk,
plus a certain tension. Some of ‘Amalgam’ is custom-made for minimalism purists
as parts are barely audible, you may want to choose an outside noise-canceling set
of headphones, or simply allow some of the subtleties wash through your own
personal space, combined with exteriors, making for your own personalized
improv. A standout collaboration comes when Lloyd works with Ben Owen,
incorporating wind chimes and various creaky found objects that crunch and spin.
It’s slightly menacing, yet plays at a shy distance. The two should venture more
extensively. With a softly spoken yet wired-up sensibility in tow, Jon Tulchin brings
a sense of vulnerable power electronics to the (turn)table on “412.1920” keeping all
circuits freshly open. Elsewhere the mechanical hiss of machines sounds like the
summer buzz of late-night crickets and the revving of large motors, just the hum,
mind you. With Heribert Friedl on Hackbrett (some stringed instrument?) there’s an
eerie, echoing feedback that is cavernous laying way to a passage of darkness and
peculiar pops. “Something wicked, this way comes” (for sure). The drone gurgle of
blowing through bamboo startles the senses with a bit of unrest. (TJ Norris)
DALE LLOYD AND VARIOUS ARTISTS - AMALGAM: **** Canadian team
Nathan and Darcy McNinch play on glass objects accompanying Seattle-based
composer Dale Lloyd’s sound processing on “412.1413” sounding like beach
chimes in the ocean breeze. The radio-like hiss is a warm warning. The brisk micro-
scratching including Omnid is something left-field of Raster-Noton, minus the funk,
plus a certain tension. Some of ‘Amalgam’ is custom-made for minimalism purists
as parts are barely audible, you may want to choose an outside noise-canceling set
of headphones, or simply allow some of the subtleties wash through your own
personal space, combined with exteriors, making for your own personalized
improv. A standout collaboration comes when Lloyd works with Ben Owen,
incorporating wind chimes and various creaky found objects that crunch and spin.
It’s slightly menacing, yet plays at a shy distance. The two should venture more
extensively. With a softly spoken yet wired-up sensibility in tow, Jon Tulchin brings
a sense of vulnerable power electronics to the (turn)table on “412.1920” keeping all
circuits freshly open. Elsewhere the mechanical hiss of machines sounds like the
summer buzz of late-night crickets and the revving of large motors, just the hum,
mind you. With Heribert Friedl on Hackbrett (some stringed instrument?) there’s an
eerie, echoing feedback that is cavernous laying way to a passage of darkness and
peculiar pops. “Something wicked, this way comes” (for sure). The drone gurgle of
blowing through bamboo startles the senses with a bit of unrest. (TJ Norris)
PHOSPHER #18 (September 2005)
DALE LLOYD AND VARIOUS ARTISTS - AMALGAM: Each time the Spanish
label CON-V releases a CDR, one gets amazed all over. The quality of their material
is so high, the label can already be considered among the top three labels in the
world of experimental sound. What the releases have in common is an astonishing
refineness and clearness of sound, due to a minimal approach and great production.
The label's fourth CDR, by Dale Lloyd is no exception. This
Seattle-based composer collected sound material by artists such as
Robert Horton, Nathan McNinch, Omnid, Ben Owen, Josh Russell, Stuart
Dodman, Ubeboet, Scott Taylor, Heribert Friedl, K.M. Krebs and Jon
Tulchin. He processed and edited the source material, to create a rich collection of
distinctive fine-tuned sonic perspectives.
The CDR heads-off with the sound of water and the low-key tunes of a sitar, hardly to
be recognized as such. This is followed by a track in which glass plays the major
part, crystal clear and soft tingling. It's as if the darkness sets in slowly. Several
tracks are even relatively darker, like the ones with
electronics by Omnid, Jon Tulchin, Ubeboet and K.M. Krebs. Nevertheless, the
music remains sparkling and detailed. Several artists contributed field recordings,
with which soft crispy atmospheres are generated. CON-V from Madrid again
delivers an excellent output, their fourth in this series.
DALE LLOYD AND VARIOUS ARTISTS - AMALGAM: Each time the Spanish
label CON-V releases a CDR, one gets amazed all over. The quality of their material
is so high, the label can already be considered among the top three labels in the
world of experimental sound. What the releases have in common is an astonishing
refineness and clearness of sound, due to a minimal approach and great production.
The label's fourth CDR, by Dale Lloyd is no exception. This
Seattle-based composer collected sound material by artists such as
Robert Horton, Nathan McNinch, Omnid, Ben Owen, Josh Russell, Stuart
Dodman, Ubeboet, Scott Taylor, Heribert Friedl, K.M. Krebs and Jon
Tulchin. He processed and edited the source material, to create a rich collection of
distinctive fine-tuned sonic perspectives.
The CDR heads-off with the sound of water and the low-key tunes of a sitar, hardly to
be recognized as such. This is followed by a track in which glass plays the major
part, crystal clear and soft tingling. It's as if the darkness sets in slowly. Several
tracks are even relatively darker, like the ones with
electronics by Omnid, Jon Tulchin, Ubeboet and K.M. Krebs. Nevertheless, the
music remains sparkling and detailed. Several artists contributed field recordings,
with which soft crispy atmospheres are generated. CON-V from Madrid again
delivers an excellent output, their fourth in this series.
TOUCHING EXTREMES (September 2005)
DALE LLOYD AND VARIOUS ARTISTS - AMALGAM: For his first release on
Conv.net Lab, Seattle's Dale Lloyd decided to collaborate with eleven sound artists
instead of working alone. Considering the seriousness of all involved parties
(Robert Horton, Nathan and Darcy McNinch, Omnid, Ben Owen, Josh Russell, Stuart
Dodman, Ubeboet, Scott Taylor, Heribert Friedl, K.M.Krebs, Jon Tulchin) the results
could not have been less than excellent. The convergence of apparently opposed
worlds - drones and microsounds, organic and processed, acoustic and electronic -
seems to constitute the basic complexion of such a deeply penetrating music; there
seems to be a sort of secretly predetermined walk through progressively
immaterial states, as we move from sounds of glass and water through clicks,
hums and controlled feedback in preparation for what expect us at the end, namely
the semblance of a protracted blur of time suspension, a framework where
seemingly endless textural delights push the compositions to the highest spheres
of sonic meditation. If these men and this label keep such a focus on the
development of sound treatments, we're definitely in for hours upon hours of
important electroacoustic discoveries. (Massimo Ricci)
DALE LLOYD AND VARIOUS ARTISTS - AMALGAM: For his first release on
Conv.net Lab, Seattle's Dale Lloyd decided to collaborate with eleven sound artists
instead of working alone. Considering the seriousness of all involved parties
(Robert Horton, Nathan and Darcy McNinch, Omnid, Ben Owen, Josh Russell, Stuart
Dodman, Ubeboet, Scott Taylor, Heribert Friedl, K.M.Krebs, Jon Tulchin) the results
could not have been less than excellent. The convergence of apparently opposed
worlds - drones and microsounds, organic and processed, acoustic and electronic -
seems to constitute the basic complexion of such a deeply penetrating music; there
seems to be a sort of secretly predetermined walk through progressively
immaterial states, as we move from sounds of glass and water through clicks,
hums and controlled feedback in preparation for what expect us at the end, namely
the semblance of a protracted blur of time suspension, a framework where
seemingly endless textural delights push the compositions to the highest spheres
of sonic meditation. If these men and this label keep such a focus on the
development of sound treatments, we're definitely in for hours upon hours of
important electroacoustic discoveries. (Massimo Ricci)
DUSTED (August 2005)
DALE LLOYD AND VARIOUS ARTISTS - AMALGAM: The sound of running
water rolls over high pitched sheets of heavily processed sitar drone. Several
minutes on and the stream’s natural song gives way to a duet performed by
siblings on cut glass, before both the light of the crystal and color of the drone are
engulfed in a dense electronic fog. These sounds comprise the first three tracks
of Amalgam, but you would hardly spot the joins, such is the artistry of American
composer Dale Lloyd. He maintains the trick throughout the album, a feat all the
more commendable since each of the 11 pieces on display are based on a
contribution from a different collaborator.
Lloyd’s primary role here is that of editor-in-chief, one he fulfils through
processing and the occasional electronic embellishment. It is he who shapes the
raw materials provided by each guest, be it a field recording, lap top collage or
resonating wind chime. From these building blocks Lloyd constructs his most
delicate sonic sculptures. This approach works best when the gifts bestowed are
of a more organic variety, such as the blissful haze created by Robert Horton’s
strings on the opening track, or during the subtle strumming of Heribert Friedl’s
hackbrett (a variety of hammered dulcimer). It is these entries that poke out from
beneath the uniformity (itself no bad thing!) of Amalgam’s simplicity, provoking
Lloyd into raising his game. He is more than equal to the challenge. But the
majority of Lloyd’s co-creators come from the field of electronic composition and
it is with these that he engineers an atmospheric blanket of slowly shifting,
almost static, nebula clouds.
For the closest reference point think the sonic collages of Lawrence English.
Lloyd’s track in conjunction with Scott Taylor, in particular, approximates the
unique sound of explosive 44-gallon drums popping in the morning sun from
English’s superb Ghost Towns recording. Madrid’s Con-v label is gradually
building a reputation as one of the finest purveyors of sound as art. With Amalgam
the imprints standing can only increase. (Spencer Grady)
DALE LLOYD AND VARIOUS ARTISTS - AMALGAM: The sound of running
water rolls over high pitched sheets of heavily processed sitar drone. Several
minutes on and the stream’s natural song gives way to a duet performed by
siblings on cut glass, before both the light of the crystal and color of the drone are
engulfed in a dense electronic fog. These sounds comprise the first three tracks
of Amalgam, but you would hardly spot the joins, such is the artistry of American
composer Dale Lloyd. He maintains the trick throughout the album, a feat all the
more commendable since each of the 11 pieces on display are based on a
contribution from a different collaborator.
Lloyd’s primary role here is that of editor-in-chief, one he fulfils through
processing and the occasional electronic embellishment. It is he who shapes the
raw materials provided by each guest, be it a field recording, lap top collage or
resonating wind chime. From these building blocks Lloyd constructs his most
delicate sonic sculptures. This approach works best when the gifts bestowed are
of a more organic variety, such as the blissful haze created by Robert Horton’s
strings on the opening track, or during the subtle strumming of Heribert Friedl’s
hackbrett (a variety of hammered dulcimer). It is these entries that poke out from
beneath the uniformity (itself no bad thing!) of Amalgam’s simplicity, provoking
Lloyd into raising his game. He is more than equal to the challenge. But the
majority of Lloyd’s co-creators come from the field of electronic composition and
it is with these that he engineers an atmospheric blanket of slowly shifting,
almost static, nebula clouds.
For the closest reference point think the sonic collages of Lawrence English.
Lloyd’s track in conjunction with Scott Taylor, in particular, approximates the
unique sound of explosive 44-gallon drums popping in the morning sun from
English’s superb Ghost Towns recording. Madrid’s Con-v label is gradually
building a reputation as one of the finest purveyors of sound as art. With Amalgam
the imprints standing can only increase. (Spencer Grady)
RETINASCAN (August 2005)
DALE LLOYD AND VARIOUS ARTISTS - AMALGAM: In the area of field recordings,
Dale Lloyd is a well-known name. After releases on and/OAR and others, dozens of
performances all over the globe and regular contributions within the microsound net
scene, this shouldn't surprise anyone. Arriving on the Spanish high quality CD-R label
Con-v, he can now present the harvest of his activities, a collection of collaborations
with (among others) K.M. Krebs, Omnid, Heribert Friedl and Scott Taylor. As most of the
co-workers roam in the same style as Lloyd himself, the recordings stick pretty close
to the genre, nonetheless it's the most interesting aspect of the disc how diversified
lowercase already has become, as one is able to recognise clearly the several
influences by the collaborating artists. So, what came out is a brilliant oversight over
recent developments within this school of sound, compact and listenable!
DALE LLOYD AND VARIOUS ARTISTS - AMALGAM: In the area of field recordings,
Dale Lloyd is a well-known name. After releases on and/OAR and others, dozens of
performances all over the globe and regular contributions within the microsound net
scene, this shouldn't surprise anyone. Arriving on the Spanish high quality CD-R label
Con-v, he can now present the harvest of his activities, a collection of collaborations
with (among others) K.M. Krebs, Omnid, Heribert Friedl and Scott Taylor. As most of the
co-workers roam in the same style as Lloyd himself, the recordings stick pretty close
to the genre, nonetheless it's the most interesting aspect of the disc how diversified
lowercase already has become, as one is able to recognise clearly the several
influences by the collaborating artists. So, what came out is a brilliant oversight over
recent developments within this school of sound, compact and listenable!
VITAL WEEKLY #473 (AUGUST 2005)
DALE LLOYD AND VARIOUS ARTISTS - AMALGAM: In the world of microsound
and field recordings Dale Lloyd should not be an unknown person. His activities span
from his own label and/OAR, to phonography website and of course his own music.
On this new CDR release, 'Amalgam' Lloyd works with the sounds provided by other
artists, such as Heribert Friedl, Omnid, Josh Russell, Ben Owen and others. It's not
Lloyd's task to add any sort of sounds of his own, but more to process and edit
whatever he has gotten. The sounds he'd been given include sitar, glass, found
objects and of course many field recordings. It's hard to decipher any of these original
sounds in Lloyd's delicate work (or should that be 'world'?) of crackling and fine tuned
hissing. Named after the periodic table it's easy to draw a parallel to the world of
alchemy and that it's easy to see the connection Lloyd wishes to make: his music is
like alchemy: blending various elements, in this instance sound, and process them
until something new arrives. Very much along the best of microsounding artists like
Roel Meelkop, Steve Roden or, more apparent here than in some of Lloyd's other
releases, Richard Chartier. Music to crank up your volume as a lot of this hovers on
the edge of silence, and it unfolds much of what it has to offer when played loud(er). A
good, well-made release, well produced and perhaps not the latest innovation in
microsound, but still a true beauty. (Frans de Waard)
DALE LLOYD AND VARIOUS ARTISTS - AMALGAM: In the world of microsound
and field recordings Dale Lloyd should not be an unknown person. His activities span
from his own label and/OAR, to phonography website and of course his own music.
On this new CDR release, 'Amalgam' Lloyd works with the sounds provided by other
artists, such as Heribert Friedl, Omnid, Josh Russell, Ben Owen and others. It's not
Lloyd's task to add any sort of sounds of his own, but more to process and edit
whatever he has gotten. The sounds he'd been given include sitar, glass, found
objects and of course many field recordings. It's hard to decipher any of these original
sounds in Lloyd's delicate work (or should that be 'world'?) of crackling and fine tuned
hissing. Named after the periodic table it's easy to draw a parallel to the world of
alchemy and that it's easy to see the connection Lloyd wishes to make: his music is
like alchemy: blending various elements, in this instance sound, and process them
until something new arrives. Very much along the best of microsounding artists like
Roel Meelkop, Steve Roden or, more apparent here than in some of Lloyd's other
releases, Richard Chartier. Music to crank up your volume as a lot of this hovers on
the edge of silence, and it unfolds much of what it has to offer when played loud(er). A
good, well-made release, well produced and perhaps not the latest innovation in
microsound, but still a true beauty. (Frans de Waard)
AUF ABWEGEN #35 (Winter 2005)
Semper: Es gibt immer wieder spannende ergebnisse im weiten feld der field
recordings. Immer starker wird in letzter zeit die frage diskutiert, wie in zeiten der
einfachen verfugbarkeit aller moglichen klange mit der kontextlosung von
aufnahmen, gerade transkulturell, umzugehen sei. Dale
Lloyd umgeht auf Semper dieses problem, in dem er seine feldgerausche so stark
manipuliert, dass ruckschlusse auf den kontext kaum moglich sind.Bzw. er arbeitet
tatsachlich mit vermeintlich unpolitischen, weil menschenleeren gerauschen:
windrauschen, donnergrollen, wasser (fur fans ubrigens dringend empfohen: Lloyd's
eigenes feldaufnahmen label / mail order and/OAR!). (Till Kniola)
Semper: Es gibt immer wieder spannende ergebnisse im weiten feld der field
recordings. Immer starker wird in letzter zeit die frage diskutiert, wie in zeiten der
einfachen verfugbarkeit aller moglichen klange mit der kontextlosung von
aufnahmen, gerade transkulturell, umzugehen sei. Dale
Lloyd umgeht auf Semper dieses problem, in dem er seine feldgerausche so stark
manipuliert, dass ruckschlusse auf den kontext kaum moglich sind.Bzw. er arbeitet
tatsachlich mit vermeintlich unpolitischen, weil menschenleeren gerauschen:
windrauschen, donnergrollen, wasser (fur fans ubrigens dringend empfohen: Lloyd's
eigenes feldaufnahmen label / mail order and/OAR!). (Till Kniola)
PARIS TRANSATLANTIC (October 2005)
Semper: Thirty-three minutes and forty-four seconds of assertive and beautifully
cultivated microscopic detail and great assembling mastery; Semper easily gets my
vote as one of the best records of 2005. Dale Lloyd, who's revealing himself as a
very talented composer in many ways (check out his recent Amalgam on Conv.Net
Lab) brings together "field recordings, electronic sounds, toy xylophone, old coins
and other metallic and found objects" in two intoxicating soundscapes in which
thunder, rain, birds and insects fuse unconventionally with the eternal subsonics of
a distant earthquake rumble in waves whose depth is felt under the muscle tissue.
One can only imagine the painstaking process necessary to place every single
attribute in the right light, but such meticulous attention to detail pays high
dividends, as the slo-mo radiance coming out of the speakers throbs with vital
resonance that's almost painful to experience. (Massimo Ricci)
Semper: Thirty-three minutes and forty-four seconds of assertive and beautifully
cultivated microscopic detail and great assembling mastery; Semper easily gets my
vote as one of the best records of 2005. Dale Lloyd, who's revealing himself as a
very talented composer in many ways (check out his recent Amalgam on Conv.Net
Lab) brings together "field recordings, electronic sounds, toy xylophone, old coins
and other metallic and found objects" in two intoxicating soundscapes in which
thunder, rain, birds and insects fuse unconventionally with the eternal subsonics of
a distant earthquake rumble in waves whose depth is felt under the muscle tissue.
One can only imagine the painstaking process necessary to place every single
attribute in the right light, but such meticulous attention to detail pays high
dividends, as the slo-mo radiance coming out of the speakers throbs with vital
resonance that's almost painful to experience. (Massimo Ricci)
WIRE MAGAZINE (July 2005)
Semper: Recapitulating the lowercase ethos previously established by Steve
Roden and John Hudak, Dale Lloyd manipulates delicate textural events and subtle
field recordings for a poetic sensibility that privileges passages of silence and a
Zen-like attentiveness to sounds which might otherwise go unnoticed. This album is
less of a cohesive body of work, more of a series of loosely related sketches that
emerge from Lloyd's refined use of empty space. He runs everything through a
variety of DSP techniques, resulting in plasticity countering the organic sounds of
birds, insects, and closely observed gestures from old coins and other metallic
found objects. The crackling ether from controlled feedback also grafts itself onto
those natural elements, further distancing them from their original context. In all of
their poetic restraint and well executed detail, the sounds of Semper beg for a larger
narrative context to be fully realised. (Jim Haynes)
Semper: Recapitulating the lowercase ethos previously established by Steve
Roden and John Hudak, Dale Lloyd manipulates delicate textural events and subtle
field recordings for a poetic sensibility that privileges passages of silence and a
Zen-like attentiveness to sounds which might otherwise go unnoticed. This album is
less of a cohesive body of work, more of a series of loosely related sketches that
emerge from Lloyd's refined use of empty space. He runs everything through a
variety of DSP techniques, resulting in plasticity countering the organic sounds of
birds, insects, and closely observed gestures from old coins and other metallic
found objects. The crackling ether from controlled feedback also grafts itself onto
those natural elements, further distancing them from their original context. In all of
their poetic restraint and well executed detail, the sounds of Semper beg for a larger
narrative context to be fully realised. (Jim Haynes)
VITAL WEEKLY #473 (MAY 2005)
Semper: In the world of field recordings, and the music made thereof, the name
Dale Lloyd should not be unknown, even when he so far released his work on
MP3 and CDRs. This is I believe his first 'real' CD. It consists of the lengthy title
piece and the shorter 'Magnesian Recumbit'. The sound sources listed as the
usual 'field recordings, electronic sounds, toy xylophone, old coins and other
metallic and found objects'. It's hard to trace back the origin of the field
recordings, save for some of the water and insect sounds, but most of the times,
the computer is working overtime to process all the sounds into a nice ambient
glitch mass. Densely layered with the microphone quite close to the objects (a
trick of trade Lloyd shares with people like Yannick Dauby or MNortham). The
combination of the sometimes warm, natural sounds and the somewhat colder
electronic sounds work in quite a nice way. 'Semper' is divided in smaller parts,
each with it's distinct, own character. 'Magnesian Recumbit' is more of a drone
piece, with loops and layers of the metallic objects, working in a trance-like way.
The two pieces have a rather pastoral feel to them, and sound quite solemn. Two
great works, pity the CD is rather short at that. (Frans de Waard)
Semper: In the world of field recordings, and the music made thereof, the name
Dale Lloyd should not be unknown, even when he so far released his work on
MP3 and CDRs. This is I believe his first 'real' CD. It consists of the lengthy title
piece and the shorter 'Magnesian Recumbit'. The sound sources listed as the
usual 'field recordings, electronic sounds, toy xylophone, old coins and other
metallic and found objects'. It's hard to trace back the origin of the field
recordings, save for some of the water and insect sounds, but most of the times,
the computer is working overtime to process all the sounds into a nice ambient
glitch mass. Densely layered with the microphone quite close to the objects (a
trick of trade Lloyd shares with people like Yannick Dauby or MNortham). The
combination of the sometimes warm, natural sounds and the somewhat colder
electronic sounds work in quite a nice way. 'Semper' is divided in smaller parts,
each with it's distinct, own character. 'Magnesian Recumbit' is more of a drone
piece, with loops and layers of the metallic objects, working in a trance-like way.
The two pieces have a rather pastoral feel to them, and sound quite solemn. Two
great works, pity the CD is rather short at that. (Frans de Waard)
MONK MINK PINK PUNK (July 2005)
Turba / Lateral Minor: More and more I am finding online releases that are
definitely worth the time it takes to download them. Dale Lloyd’s “lateral minor” and
“turba” series release on the consistently excellent three-year-old weblabel http:
//www.stasisfield.com which is one of the most intriguing works that I had the
pleasure to come across in 2004.
Listening at different volumes and under various conditions will change any work
but with Dale Lloyd’s sounds, like Bernhard Günter’s, it seems the question of
listening conditions is central to the realization of the aesthetic intent. The material
of both artists requires one to prepare for and commit to listening uninterruptedly
for the duration of the work. Otherwise there simply isn’t any point. What are the
correct circumstances for allowing the full intent of artist to be perceived? After
some thinking on this issue I decided that in order to get the full frequency range of
the composition the playback system must be set so that lowest frequencies can
be perceived.
With “lateral minor” Lloyd gives up a good piece to test the listening level as it
starts out with a low frequency drone. After turning up the volume so I could hear
all the details in the low-end some high-end frequencies came piercing through
making it easy to decide not to go any louder. That set, I then stopped the music,
took a break, closed the windows, unplugged the fridge, turned off the heater and
settled in to listening at the optimized volume uninterrupted for the duration of the
works, twice.
The headphone listen revealed a rich stereo field teaming with activity while the
studio monitor listen brought out the organic physicality of the sounds. His craft is
refined, a product of pursuing his sound aesthetic for over 10 years. It’s clear a
sensitive ear put the sounds together. Even the smallest of nuances arrives
weighted by intention. It seems he uses field recordings not as sound objects
themselves but more as a set of variables to extract a new world from, to be mined
for their transformable / interpretable qualities. A good example of this alchemic
interpretation of sounds is the last 90 seconds or so on “lateral minor” which ends
with a haunting musical drone molded out of various contact microphone
recordings of a glass elevator. I only know that because I asked. The pacing keeps
things flowing with “movements” of between two and 4 minutes throughout. The
hyper-synthetic sounds work are imbued with a certain “presence” that feels (yes
“feels” not “sounds”) natural. An impressive aspect of the work is how convincing
the inner logic of Lloyd’s sonic phenomena is. The audio’s patterns and pacing
implicitly make sense. Although the sounds are varied they clearly inhabit the
same world and seem to intuitively obey complex interaction parameters.
I asked Dale Lloyd about his aesthetic to which he replied, “I tend to mostly be
drawn to working and creating sounds that either remind me of naturally occurring
sonic phenomena which can be found somewhere in nature/science, or that
sonically remind me of processes, movements, patterns, activities, etc. that one
might find when exploring nature/science.” Of course! (Josh Russell)
Turba / Lateral Minor: More and more I am finding online releases that are
definitely worth the time it takes to download them. Dale Lloyd’s “lateral minor” and
“turba” series release on the consistently excellent three-year-old weblabel http:
//www.stasisfield.com which is one of the most intriguing works that I had the
pleasure to come across in 2004.
Listening at different volumes and under various conditions will change any work
but with Dale Lloyd’s sounds, like Bernhard Günter’s, it seems the question of
listening conditions is central to the realization of the aesthetic intent. The material
of both artists requires one to prepare for and commit to listening uninterruptedly
for the duration of the work. Otherwise there simply isn’t any point. What are the
correct circumstances for allowing the full intent of artist to be perceived? After
some thinking on this issue I decided that in order to get the full frequency range of
the composition the playback system must be set so that lowest frequencies can
be perceived.
With “lateral minor” Lloyd gives up a good piece to test the listening level as it
starts out with a low frequency drone. After turning up the volume so I could hear
all the details in the low-end some high-end frequencies came piercing through
making it easy to decide not to go any louder. That set, I then stopped the music,
took a break, closed the windows, unplugged the fridge, turned off the heater and
settled in to listening at the optimized volume uninterrupted for the duration of the
works, twice.
The headphone listen revealed a rich stereo field teaming with activity while the
studio monitor listen brought out the organic physicality of the sounds. His craft is
refined, a product of pursuing his sound aesthetic for over 10 years. It’s clear a
sensitive ear put the sounds together. Even the smallest of nuances arrives
weighted by intention. It seems he uses field recordings not as sound objects
themselves but more as a set of variables to extract a new world from, to be mined
for their transformable / interpretable qualities. A good example of this alchemic
interpretation of sounds is the last 90 seconds or so on “lateral minor” which ends
with a haunting musical drone molded out of various contact microphone
recordings of a glass elevator. I only know that because I asked. The pacing keeps
things flowing with “movements” of between two and 4 minutes throughout. The
hyper-synthetic sounds work are imbued with a certain “presence” that feels (yes
“feels” not “sounds”) natural. An impressive aspect of the work is how convincing
the inner logic of Lloyd’s sonic phenomena is. The audio’s patterns and pacing
implicitly make sense. Although the sounds are varied they clearly inhabit the
same world and seem to intuitively obey complex interaction parameters.
I asked Dale Lloyd about his aesthetic to which he replied, “I tend to mostly be
drawn to working and creating sounds that either remind me of naturally occurring
sonic phenomena which can be found somewhere in nature/science, or that
sonically remind me of processes, movements, patterns, activities, etc. that one
might find when exploring nature/science.” Of course! (Josh Russell)
DISQUIET (January 2005)
Turba / Lateral Minor: Dale Lloyd's Turba / Lateral Minor is characteristic of the
netlabel that released it, and just to be clear: that's a compliment. Like many a
Stasisfield Records free download, Lloyd's recording not only keeps quiet noises in the
foreground by lending them interesting surface textures and by occasionally engaging
in piercing sounds and rapt silences, he also wraps those lovely ruptures around a tidy
conceit. In this case, that means listening in two ways. First there's "Lateral Minor," a
12-minute piece that floats a variety of sonic abrasives above a throaty, base-level
hum, broken up by the odd splice of vacuum space. Then there's "Turba," which is five
distinct tracks, all under under six minutes, all with a unique subtitle ("circumstantial,"
"evolutional," "remedial," "imitable" and "congenital"), each built, like "Lateral," from
a mix of environmental and electronic sounds. Reportedly each "Turba" track works a
different magic on a similar set of source material, not that you'd necessarily surmise
that from the results. Guess you'll have to listen again, and again.
(Marc Weidenbaum)
Turba / Lateral Minor: Dale Lloyd's Turba / Lateral Minor is characteristic of the
netlabel that released it, and just to be clear: that's a compliment. Like many a
Stasisfield Records free download, Lloyd's recording not only keeps quiet noises in the
foreground by lending them interesting surface textures and by occasionally engaging
in piercing sounds and rapt silences, he also wraps those lovely ruptures around a tidy
conceit. In this case, that means listening in two ways. First there's "Lateral Minor," a
12-minute piece that floats a variety of sonic abrasives above a throaty, base-level
hum, broken up by the odd splice of vacuum space. Then there's "Turba," which is five
distinct tracks, all under under six minutes, all with a unique subtitle ("circumstantial,"
"evolutional," "remedial," "imitable" and "congenital"), each built, like "Lateral," from
a mix of environmental and electronic sounds. Reportedly each "Turba" track works a
different magic on a similar set of source material, not that you'd necessarily surmise
that from the results. Guess you'll have to listen again, and again.
(Marc Weidenbaum)
Touching Extremes (October 2005)
Aionios The Fundament: Preserving the essence and the spirit of his field
recordings, Lloyd showers our ears with elemental beauties, incorporating concrete
sounds and expert processing in five austere, almost sacral assemblages. Ominous
landscapes, made wet by sapient dissolvences, alternate with hisses and crackles
seemingly out of some extraterrestrial backdrop, while darkness and light find their
correspondence in a mutual respect. Time fathoms our chaotic life disposition,
disregarding our imperfections to fog our nerves in a gauzy perceptivity: this is a vast
and involving sound world, where changes and mutations occur very slowly. We're
given all the necessary tools to adapt to this well developed set of spectral
experiences. (Massimo Ricci)
Aionios The Fundament: Preserving the essence and the spirit of his field
recordings, Lloyd showers our ears with elemental beauties, incorporating concrete
sounds and expert processing in five austere, almost sacral assemblages. Ominous
landscapes, made wet by sapient dissolvences, alternate with hisses and crackles
seemingly out of some extraterrestrial backdrop, while darkness and light find their
correspondence in a mutual respect. Time fathoms our chaotic life disposition,
disregarding our imperfections to fog our nerves in a gauzy perceptivity: this is a vast
and involving sound world, where changes and mutations occur very slowly. We're
given all the necessary tools to adapt to this well developed set of spectral
experiences. (Massimo Ricci)
Wind And Wire (July 2004)
Aionios The Fundament: For those of you unfamilar with the work of Dale Lloyd,
let me take this review as on opportunity to introduce you to a wonderful artist. For
the past three years, as owner of the and/OAR label, Lloyd has led a burgeoning
community of interesting environmental and field recording artists. I suspect to be
hearing and thus writing a lot about and/OAR artists for future editions of Wind And
Wire. But first I turn to Lloyd's latest - a non-and/OAR release from Daniel Crokaert's
wonderfully sublime Mystery Sea label - Aionios the Fundament.
What is most fascinating about Aionios the Fundament is the way that each track
expands sonically - that is, with little repetition - from one into the next. This is a
work of very subtle detail that promises discovery with each listen. Beginning with
the soft stuttering cadence and water-through-the-barrel hum of "Saline Crystals
Born of Mother Solutions," Lloyd, in effect, splashes a blank canvas with clear,
watery and whispery alchemical mixture. This is indeed the "birth" of Lloyd's
fundament - the barest structural details - from which this "aionic" embryo will
grow. As the watery echo of swirls come closer into the field, the track ends and,
sure enough, track two, "Adamite Effluvia," takes on a kind of maturation from its
predecessor - that is to say, it gains a thicker layer of pulsing flesh.
It is remarkable that this recording was constructed entirely from field recordings
obtained primarily from sound sculptor extraordinaire, K.M. Krebs. Lloyd's mixing
of different sounds and his subtle volume adjustments create a truly rich and
absorbing listening experience. "Adamite Effluvia" is a clear example of how
Lloyd's creative use of panning in the recording process can utterly build on a
sound's overall aesthetic - in this case, a slow and circular tumbling of cans
bathed in a static effervescence that provides surprise with its sudden and
abrupt ending.
It is difficult to find a clear reference point when considering Aionios the
Fundament. On the one hand, it exhibits all the wonderful mysteriousness of a
master such as Asmus Tietchens or the provocative and multi-layered soundings
of newer artists like Wilt or Heath Yonaites, but Lloyd is more inclined to a slower,
more patient unfolding of sounds than most experimentalists. Tracks 3 and 4
explore the corporeality of air and liquid respectively. Once again, Lloyd
demonstrates his fascination with sounds at the audio interstices of white noise
and ambience. Both tracks extend into open drone canvases - track 4, "A Degree
Less Corporeal Than Water," surges with even louder washes of breathy,
shimmering rapids than its airy predecessor. Underscoring the flow of water, we
hear additional layers of sporadic pops and pulses, as if hydrogen atoms are on the
very cusp of becoming at liquid-one with lingering oxygen that is just out of reach.
When we are finally taken into the actuality of the sea on "This Sea, Our
Lodestone," the once embryonic mixture of saline crystals that began Aionios the
Fundament is now a heavily reverberating curtain of thunderous drones.
Highly recommended. (Ben Fleury-Steiner)
Aionios The Fundament: For those of you unfamilar with the work of Dale Lloyd,
let me take this review as on opportunity to introduce you to a wonderful artist. For
the past three years, as owner of the and/OAR label, Lloyd has led a burgeoning
community of interesting environmental and field recording artists. I suspect to be
hearing and thus writing a lot about and/OAR artists for future editions of Wind And
Wire. But first I turn to Lloyd's latest - a non-and/OAR release from Daniel Crokaert's
wonderfully sublime Mystery Sea label - Aionios the Fundament.
What is most fascinating about Aionios the Fundament is the way that each track
expands sonically - that is, with little repetition - from one into the next. This is a
work of very subtle detail that promises discovery with each listen. Beginning with
the soft stuttering cadence and water-through-the-barrel hum of "Saline Crystals
Born of Mother Solutions," Lloyd, in effect, splashes a blank canvas with clear,
watery and whispery alchemical mixture. This is indeed the "birth" of Lloyd's
fundament - the barest structural details - from which this "aionic" embryo will
grow. As the watery echo of swirls come closer into the field, the track ends and,
sure enough, track two, "Adamite Effluvia," takes on a kind of maturation from its
predecessor - that is to say, it gains a thicker layer of pulsing flesh.
It is remarkable that this recording was constructed entirely from field recordings
obtained primarily from sound sculptor extraordinaire, K.M. Krebs. Lloyd's mixing
of different sounds and his subtle volume adjustments create a truly rich and
absorbing listening experience. "Adamite Effluvia" is a clear example of how
Lloyd's creative use of panning in the recording process can utterly build on a
sound's overall aesthetic - in this case, a slow and circular tumbling of cans
bathed in a static effervescence that provides surprise with its sudden and
abrupt ending.
It is difficult to find a clear reference point when considering Aionios the
Fundament. On the one hand, it exhibits all the wonderful mysteriousness of a
master such as Asmus Tietchens or the provocative and multi-layered soundings
of newer artists like Wilt or Heath Yonaites, but Lloyd is more inclined to a slower,
more patient unfolding of sounds than most experimentalists. Tracks 3 and 4
explore the corporeality of air and liquid respectively. Once again, Lloyd
demonstrates his fascination with sounds at the audio interstices of white noise
and ambience. Both tracks extend into open drone canvases - track 4, "A Degree
Less Corporeal Than Water," surges with even louder washes of breathy,
shimmering rapids than its airy predecessor. Underscoring the flow of water, we
hear additional layers of sporadic pops and pulses, as if hydrogen atoms are on the
very cusp of becoming at liquid-one with lingering oxygen that is just out of reach.
When we are finally taken into the actuality of the sea on "This Sea, Our
Lodestone," the once embryonic mixture of saline crystals that began Aionios the
Fundament is now a heavily reverberating curtain of thunderous drones.
Highly recommended. (Ben Fleury-Steiner)
AMPERSAND ETC (July 2004)
Aionios The Fundament: Phonographer Dale Lloyd (one of the Union Of Seattle,
and compiler of the Phonography compilations) composes Aionios The Fundament
(MS12). The first track (Saline Crystals Born Of Mother Solutions) -- is almost half
the whole disc -- opens with water ventish, with a deep pulsing bass (which is a
feature throughout), lapping and rolling, voicey and organic, shifting to hissing rainy
shimmers, rattling with under-organ, stutters to pulsing as a drone gathers, rains
and hisses in. The next track shifts from a whistly high scraping-scream voice, into
a vinyl-loop crackle with a hint of voice; the whole being quite ethereal. Oceanic is
the ebb and flow of A Degree More Corporeal Than Air, layering a flowing
scrape-whistle, and slowly decaying glitter-cycle over a very deep rumble that
sounds like a mic in the wind, with the hiss more left and the rumble, a
right-channel response, into a dense washing (is it a wave or a train?) with the
rumble and then a jiggery skitter.
Finally, the majestic beauty of This Sea, Our Lodestone, high ringing tones, often
voicey, over deep bass, vents to a long and vibrous ending. A lovely album.
(Jeremy Keens)
Aionios The Fundament: Phonographer Dale Lloyd (one of the Union Of Seattle,
and compiler of the Phonography compilations) composes Aionios The Fundament
(MS12). The first track (Saline Crystals Born Of Mother Solutions) -- is almost half
the whole disc -- opens with water ventish, with a deep pulsing bass (which is a
feature throughout), lapping and rolling, voicey and organic, shifting to hissing rainy
shimmers, rattling with under-organ, stutters to pulsing as a drone gathers, rains
and hisses in. The next track shifts from a whistly high scraping-scream voice, into
a vinyl-loop crackle with a hint of voice; the whole being quite ethereal. Oceanic is
the ebb and flow of A Degree More Corporeal Than Air, layering a flowing
scrape-whistle, and slowly decaying glitter-cycle over a very deep rumble that
sounds like a mic in the wind, with the hiss more left and the rumble, a
right-channel response, into a dense washing (is it a wave or a train?) with the
rumble and then a jiggery skitter.
Finally, the majestic beauty of This Sea, Our Lodestone, high ringing tones, often
voicey, over deep bass, vents to a long and vibrous ending. A lovely album.
(Jeremy Keens)
IGLOO (MAY 2004)
Aionios The Fundament: * * * * Dale Lloyd's field recordings for "Aionios The
Fundament" have an instant density in layers of unfiltered, hollow, organic
chambers. With the radiance of mercury swimming through an endless pipe, and
cover art that projects the shadowy depths of the murky unknown, Lloyd is
reaching deep into his psyche to offer something not unlike a pearl in his very own
shell. Poetically dissonant, "Saline Crystals Born Of Mother Solutions" rustles and
streams, croons and gurgles. Lloyd is more a choreographer of the elements than a
straight shot musician, which makes this seem like an outsider's perspective - one
akin to a geologist perhaps. This recording reminds me of some live work I have
seen by fellow field recording artist Seth Nehil. Over five tracks and 48 minutes,
Lloyd takes us to atomic places formerly hinted at by Wolfgang Voight and Carsten
Nicolai. His sublime rendtion of "Adamite Effluvia" is a daydream inducing
headtrip. Sound as satellite. "Aionios The Fundament" creates a sensual
meditation, cleansing your mind, eradicating the incidental; drenching it,
quenching it. (TJ Norris)
Aionios The Fundament: * * * * Dale Lloyd's field recordings for "Aionios The
Fundament" have an instant density in layers of unfiltered, hollow, organic
chambers. With the radiance of mercury swimming through an endless pipe, and
cover art that projects the shadowy depths of the murky unknown, Lloyd is
reaching deep into his psyche to offer something not unlike a pearl in his very own
shell. Poetically dissonant, "Saline Crystals Born Of Mother Solutions" rustles and
streams, croons and gurgles. Lloyd is more a choreographer of the elements than a
straight shot musician, which makes this seem like an outsider's perspective - one
akin to a geologist perhaps. This recording reminds me of some live work I have
seen by fellow field recording artist Seth Nehil. Over five tracks and 48 minutes,
Lloyd takes us to atomic places formerly hinted at by Wolfgang Voight and Carsten
Nicolai. His sublime rendtion of "Adamite Effluvia" is a daydream inducing
headtrip. Sound as satellite. "Aionios The Fundament" creates a sensual
meditation, cleansing your mind, eradicating the incidental; drenching it,
quenching it. (TJ Norris)
VITAL WEEKLY #412 (2004)
Aionios The Fundament: Dale Lloyd shouldn't be too unknown by now. He has
various releases out, mostly on CDR, but also as MP3 on the internet; and his
interest lies mostly in using field recordings. On the ever so nice Mystery Sea label
he has a release with five tracks using treated field recordings from 2002-2003.
Upon hearing this music, it's hard to tell what the nature of these recordings are, as
Lloyd gives them a lot of sound treatment. All of the sounds are treated beyond
recognition and warped up, they form a mystery of their own. Lloyd keeps clearly in
mind for which label he is working, as the whole thing sounds very much in spirit
of the previous ambient related works on Mystery Sea. My best guess is that Lloyd
treats a lot of different water recordings, from rain to the kettle boiling and beyond.
Five pieces of carefully treated stuff that bares a lot of tension underneath (such as
the wind-like sounds in "A Degree Less Corporeal Than Water" which is like a big
storm coming), which makes this into a very powerful and one of the best Mystery
Sea and Dale Lloyd releases so far. (Frans de Waard)
Aionios The Fundament: Dale Lloyd shouldn't be too unknown by now. He has
various releases out, mostly on CDR, but also as MP3 on the internet; and his
interest lies mostly in using field recordings. On the ever so nice Mystery Sea label
he has a release with five tracks using treated field recordings from 2002-2003.
Upon hearing this music, it's hard to tell what the nature of these recordings are, as
Lloyd gives them a lot of sound treatment. All of the sounds are treated beyond
recognition and warped up, they form a mystery of their own. Lloyd keeps clearly in
mind for which label he is working, as the whole thing sounds very much in spirit
of the previous ambient related works on Mystery Sea. My best guess is that Lloyd
treats a lot of different water recordings, from rain to the kettle boiling and beyond.
Five pieces of carefully treated stuff that bares a lot of tension underneath (such as
the wind-like sounds in "A Degree Less Corporeal Than Water" which is like a big
storm coming), which makes this into a very powerful and one of the best Mystery
Sea and Dale Lloyd releases so far. (Frans de Waard)
VITAL WEEKLY #388
Elemental Dialogue: Five new releases on Italy's S'agita Records, who seem to
have chosen a new direction in cover design. All of them have similar shapes and
do not look as handmade as before. The only non-Italian in this new lot of releases
is Dale Lloyd, who is known for his and/OAR label as well as the nice Phonography
compilations. For his release he uses recordings from fire, air / wind, earth, coal,
and glass to electricity and electromagnetic fields. In the nine pieces Lloyd is
mainly busy on the lower side of audibility: very soft sounds, sometimes
surprisingly unprocessed, but in collage form. It's a bit like the Luca Bergero
(fhievel) work, but in the Lloyd release the field recordings remain the number one
sound source and at times recognizable. A strong work of field recordings.
(Frans de Waard)
Elemental Dialogue: Five new releases on Italy's S'agita Records, who seem to
have chosen a new direction in cover design. All of them have similar shapes and
do not look as handmade as before. The only non-Italian in this new lot of releases
is Dale Lloyd, who is known for his and/OAR label as well as the nice Phonography
compilations. For his release he uses recordings from fire, air / wind, earth, coal,
and glass to electricity and electromagnetic fields. In the nine pieces Lloyd is
mainly busy on the lower side of audibility: very soft sounds, sometimes
surprisingly unprocessed, but in collage form. It's a bit like the Luca Bergero
(fhievel) work, but in the Lloyd release the field recordings remain the number one
sound source and at times recognizable. A strong work of field recordings.
(Frans de Waard)
EAR / RATIONAL (April 2004)
Eminus: Hymns From The Horizon: This disc starts with a beautiful track - it
sounds like the deepest ocean or an aurora borealis. Many tracks on here have
bass notes that seem like deep rolling thunder across a never ending plain with
the ever so slightest hints of other harmonic frequencies. Pure listening pleasure.
This is delicate music, one dog barking outside would forever change the actual
recording on the CD. Sometimes I wish I could see wind - all you can see is its
effects but you never get to actually see it by itself. But this CD is what wind
sounds like. I want to get 10 subwoofers all around my house and attempt to
destroy the foundation by playing this disc at top volume. (Don Poe)
Eminus: Hymns From The Horizon: This disc starts with a beautiful track - it
sounds like the deepest ocean or an aurora borealis. Many tracks on here have
bass notes that seem like deep rolling thunder across a never ending plain with
the ever so slightest hints of other harmonic frequencies. Pure listening pleasure.
This is delicate music, one dog barking outside would forever change the actual
recording on the CD. Sometimes I wish I could see wind - all you can see is its
effects but you never get to actually see it by itself. But this CD is what wind
sounds like. I want to get 10 subwoofers all around my house and attempt to
destroy the foundation by playing this disc at top volume. (Don Poe)
ReR (November 2003)
Eminus: Hymns From The Horizon: CD in a DVD box. Distant, indecipherable
sounds. Atmospheres, serious low frequencies. Quietly fascinating. (Chris Cutler)
Eminus: Hymns From The Horizon: CD in a DVD box. Distant, indecipherable
sounds. Atmospheres, serious low frequencies. Quietly fascinating. (Chris Cutler)
INCURSION #7 0 (August 2003)
Eminus: Hymns From The Horizon: Sound artist and phonographer Dale Lloyd
released this recording on his own and/OAR label last year. He's had a few
releases since then, so admittedly, I'm a little late in getting to this one. Growing
out of a fascination with distant and indecipherable sounds, the pieces collected
here carry both the stillness and broad trajectory of gazing out at the horizon,
capturing its essence and amplifying its resonance. These compositions were
created using field recordings and voices, but also recordings of metal and wood
objects performed by Jon Tulchin and Isaac Sterling. The compositions are
accompanied by six short tracks of silence, ranging from 10 to 55 seconds and
peppered throughout the track list, meant to extend the experience of listening, "to
extend the spatial field of track occurences," or more simply, to give the listener
pause at certain moments to reflect on the sounds contained herein. And, it should
be said, this method works well. Whether listening to the disc in continuous
playback or in shuffle mode (as the notes suggest), the overall impression is that
I am listening to one long piece, with pauses, silences, spaces in between events.
When you look out on the horizon, maybe you are greeted by the apparent silences
of things, surprised by the stillness, then you might hear something in the distance,
a ship on the sea, the waves, the wind through the branches, low frequencies
combining in subtle turns, the sounds of which funnel through your ears and cause
vibrations that you can still feel, even now, as days, months, years, have passed
since you heard those sounds, still alive in your memory, still resounding from the
distance. (Richard di Santo)
Eminus: Hymns From The Horizon: Sound artist and phonographer Dale Lloyd
released this recording on his own and/OAR label last year. He's had a few
releases since then, so admittedly, I'm a little late in getting to this one. Growing
out of a fascination with distant and indecipherable sounds, the pieces collected
here carry both the stillness and broad trajectory of gazing out at the horizon,
capturing its essence and amplifying its resonance. These compositions were
created using field recordings and voices, but also recordings of metal and wood
objects performed by Jon Tulchin and Isaac Sterling. The compositions are
accompanied by six short tracks of silence, ranging from 10 to 55 seconds and
peppered throughout the track list, meant to extend the experience of listening, "to
extend the spatial field of track occurences," or more simply, to give the listener
pause at certain moments to reflect on the sounds contained herein. And, it should
be said, this method works well. Whether listening to the disc in continuous
playback or in shuffle mode (as the notes suggest), the overall impression is that
I am listening to one long piece, with pauses, silences, spaces in between events.
When you look out on the horizon, maybe you are greeted by the apparent silences
of things, surprised by the stillness, then you might hear something in the distance,
a ship on the sea, the waves, the wind through the branches, low frequencies
combining in subtle turns, the sounds of which funnel through your ears and cause
vibrations that you can still feel, even now, as days, months, years, have passed
since you heard those sounds, still alive in your memory, still resounding from the
distance. (Richard di Santo)
ABSURDITIES #9 (December 2003)
Vulcan Augmented: Dale Lloyd's "Vulcan Augmented" is another cdr that I
enjoyed listening. It was the first to listen to when I came back from my holidays
and after having spent 2 weeks on the mountains of continental Greece, I loved the
idea of a cdr that brought in mind some of the most bizarre and obscure moments I
lived there (a feeling I was given also from the RSundin cdr). Dale uses field
recordings, electronic, and metallic sound sources to craft a really dense
atmosphere, often can be labeled as "ambient" or "electroacoustic" but on one
hand is lovely enough and on the other it was my second encounter with his work,
the first being "Like Ulysses" on Staalplaat's Open Circuit Series and I must admit
that I was flattered from the progress Dale has achieved since that work (which
was really dense and bizarre but was giving me the feeling that there was
something missing from its atmosphere). I guess if you are wondering which work
of his to use as a starting point, then it be this one. (Nicolas Malevitsis)
Vulcan Augmented: Dale Lloyd's "Vulcan Augmented" is another cdr that I
enjoyed listening. It was the first to listen to when I came back from my holidays
and after having spent 2 weeks on the mountains of continental Greece, I loved the
idea of a cdr that brought in mind some of the most bizarre and obscure moments I
lived there (a feeling I was given also from the RSundin cdr). Dale uses field
recordings, electronic, and metallic sound sources to craft a really dense
atmosphere, often can be labeled as "ambient" or "electroacoustic" but on one
hand is lovely enough and on the other it was my second encounter with his work,
the first being "Like Ulysses" on Staalplaat's Open Circuit Series and I must admit
that I was flattered from the progress Dale has achieved since that work (which
was really dense and bizarre but was giving me the feeling that there was
something missing from its atmosphere). I guess if you are wondering which work
of his to use as a starting point, then it be this one. (Nicolas Malevitsis)
ReR (November 2003)
Vulcan Augmented: A low key but subtle CD made, it says, from field recordings
(I'm guessing and hearing, including volcanoes - hence the title - and a lot of
weather and wildlife), electronic and metallic sources. Unfortunately, that's all it
says; more information would have been worth having. The sound and pacing
makes you want to know more. A successful and very atmospheric work that
never loses its grip on the material or the ear. (Chris Cutler)
Vulcan Augmented: A low key but subtle CD made, it says, from field recordings
(I'm guessing and hearing, including volcanoes - hence the title - and a lot of
weather and wildlife), electronic and metallic sources. Unfortunately, that's all it
says; more information would have been worth having. The sound and pacing
makes you want to know more. A successful and very atmospheric work that
never loses its grip on the material or the ear. (Chris Cutler)
TOUCHING EXTREMES (August 2004)
Various Artists - Untitled Songs: Subtitled "49 years from Gesang der
Jünglinge (2005-1956)" this double CD represents a comprehensive view on
today's non-academic electroacoustic music, explicated through "songs" - which
may or may not include vocal sound - by some of the most intelligent composers
working from the outside into the very depths of our perceptive systems. All the
conventional rules of sound placement get graciously massacred to let new spirits
fly out of their ruins; we get pleasantly lost amidst the probabilities of sonic
gibberish changing nature dramatically to become modified pellucid figures in a
grey area of unsubstantial indelibility. It almost seems that the brain wants to
disobey the ears, choosing to remain in a state of disoriented revolution while
trying to decode the continuous quibbling coming from these charming
configurations. The authors' notes for every piece can be downloaded from the Sirr
website; my personal preferences, if this makes some sense in such a pantheon of
good artists, go to Andre Gonçalves, Jgrzinich, Heitor Alvelos and Marc Behrens
on the first (and best) - disc, and to Dale Lloyd, Derek Holzer and James Eck Rippie
on the second. But it's the general level of the whole set that leans towards an
undifferentiated excellence. (Massimo Ricci)
Various Artists - Untitled Songs: Subtitled "49 years from Gesang der
Jünglinge (2005-1956)" this double CD represents a comprehensive view on
today's non-academic electroacoustic music, explicated through "songs" - which
may or may not include vocal sound - by some of the most intelligent composers
working from the outside into the very depths of our perceptive systems. All the
conventional rules of sound placement get graciously massacred to let new spirits
fly out of their ruins; we get pleasantly lost amidst the probabilities of sonic
gibberish changing nature dramatically to become modified pellucid figures in a
grey area of unsubstantial indelibility. It almost seems that the brain wants to
disobey the ears, choosing to remain in a state of disoriented revolution while
trying to decode the continuous quibbling coming from these charming
configurations. The authors' notes for every piece can be downloaded from the Sirr
website; my personal preferences, if this makes some sense in such a pantheon of
good artists, go to Andre Gonçalves, Jgrzinich, Heitor Alvelos and Marc Behrens
on the first (and best) - disc, and to Dale Lloyd, Derek Holzer and James Eck Rippie
on the second. But it's the general level of the whole set that leans towards an
undifferentiated excellence. (Massimo Ricci)
ALL MUSIC GUIDE (June 2004)
The Phonographers Union - Live On Sonarchy Radio:
This is a beautiful, mesmerizing, highly poetic album. The Phonographers Union --
in this incarnation -- consists of nine artists from the West coast community of field
recordists and phonographers. The best-known names here are Christopher
Delaurenti (his electroacoustic works), Marcos Fernandes (his label Accretions),
and Dale Lloyd (phonography.org, and his genre-defining compilations).
On April 12, 2003, the nine artists were gathered around a few tables in a Seattle
studio and asked to perform two half-hour long pieces for a radio broadcast. Each
musician is armed with either a CD player, minidisc, sampler, or other playback
devices, and banks of field recordings covering all aspects of nature and human
life -- from wind to children, machines to birds, busy streets to water, sports to
music.
WIth an acute sense of listening, the artists are combining their recordings (not
mere sounds but chunks of space, as the microphone picks up more than just
birdsong or a creaking floor), creating a gripping aural symphony where the listener
is left free of linking sounds together or imagining scenes that would accomodate
all the sounds heard at one particular moment. More free-form and easy-flowing
than musique concrete, much more concrete than experimental electronica, this
music speaks to the mind and the soul, as some of these sounds are very familiar,
but their combinations evoke surreal situations. Since there are too many details,
too many events to possibly absorb and remember everything in one sitting, each
listen provides a different experience. And even people usually closed to
avant-garde music will be able to sense the poetry and the immediacy of this
album. Highly recommended as a key statement in the development of "field
recording" or "phonography" as a form of sound art. (Francois Couture)
The Phonographers Union - Live On Sonarchy Radio:
This is a beautiful, mesmerizing, highly poetic album. The Phonographers Union --
in this incarnation -- consists of nine artists from the West coast community of field
recordists and phonographers. The best-known names here are Christopher
Delaurenti (his electroacoustic works), Marcos Fernandes (his label Accretions),
and Dale Lloyd (phonography.org, and his genre-defining compilations).
On April 12, 2003, the nine artists were gathered around a few tables in a Seattle
studio and asked to perform two half-hour long pieces for a radio broadcast. Each
musician is armed with either a CD player, minidisc, sampler, or other playback
devices, and banks of field recordings covering all aspects of nature and human
life -- from wind to children, machines to birds, busy streets to water, sports to
music.
WIth an acute sense of listening, the artists are combining their recordings (not
mere sounds but chunks of space, as the microphone picks up more than just
birdsong or a creaking floor), creating a gripping aural symphony where the listener
is left free of linking sounds together or imagining scenes that would accomodate
all the sounds heard at one particular moment. More free-form and easy-flowing
than musique concrete, much more concrete than experimental electronica, this
music speaks to the mind and the soul, as some of these sounds are very familiar,
but their combinations evoke surreal situations. Since there are too many details,
too many events to possibly absorb and remember everything in one sitting, each
listen provides a different experience. And even people usually closed to
avant-garde music will be able to sense the poetry and the immediacy of this
album. Highly recommended as a key statement in the development of "field
recording" or "phonography" as a form of sound art. (Francois Couture)
PARIS TRANSATLANTIC (June 2004)
Various Artists - Lowercase Sound 2002: (excerpt) ...In contrast to such
stark modernism, the notes accompanying Dale Lloyd's "Fleeting Recollections of
the Snow Plain" ("finally we put aside the distractions and glance out into the
frozen landscape and meditate on the beauty of nature") inscribe themselves
solidly in a tradition dating back to Thoreau and Emerson, and also recall Ives'
famous commentary on the final movement of his Second String Quartet.
(Dan Warburton)
Various Artists - Lowercase Sound 2002: (excerpt) ...In contrast to such
stark modernism, the notes accompanying Dale Lloyd's "Fleeting Recollections of
the Snow Plain" ("finally we put aside the distractions and glance out into the
frozen landscape and meditate on the beauty of nature") inscribe themselves
solidly in a tradition dating back to Thoreau and Emerson, and also recall Ives'
famous commentary on the final movement of his Second String Quartet.
(Dan Warburton)
VITAL WEEKLY #381
Enabling Articulate Fields: Dale Lloyd runs the and/OAR label and releases
compilations for Phonography.org. His work is from the realm of field recordings.
The basis for these 5 short tracks are sounds recorded in his apartment, mainly the
sound of air trying to force its way through his front door one particularly windy
night while opening another window to adjust the air pressure within the
apartment. Having experienced this phenomena on several occasions I can attest
to the interesting sounds that can occur, from door slams to the squeal of a
pressure cooker. Lloyd processes these sounds and for the most part they are no
longer recognizable. Faint shimmerings, crackles, and whispers are the results of
heavy audio filtering to which Lloyd adds some embellishments from his Moog
Concertmate MG-100 analog synthesizer. What remains are the sensations that the
original sounds can conjure. At times this reminds me of the Swedish project Dead
Letters, with the quiet goings on of organic matter rendered into strange mechanic
operations. A fascinating listen. (Jeff Surak)
Enabling Articulate Fields: Dale Lloyd runs the and/OAR label and releases
compilations for Phonography.org. His work is from the realm of field recordings.
The basis for these 5 short tracks are sounds recorded in his apartment, mainly the
sound of air trying to force its way through his front door one particularly windy
night while opening another window to adjust the air pressure within the
apartment. Having experienced this phenomena on several occasions I can attest
to the interesting sounds that can occur, from door slams to the squeal of a
pressure cooker. Lloyd processes these sounds and for the most part they are no
longer recognizable. Faint shimmerings, crackles, and whispers are the results of
heavy audio filtering to which Lloyd adds some embellishments from his Moog
Concertmate MG-100 analog synthesizer. What remains are the sensations that the
original sounds can conjure. At times this reminds me of the Swedish project Dead
Letters, with the quiet goings on of organic matter rendered into strange mechanic
operations. A fascinating listen. (Jeff Surak)
ALTMUSIC.ORG (ISSUE 28 / 2004)
Enabling Articulate Fields:
Enabling Articulate Fields:
E / I MAGAZINE (Winter / Spring 2006)
Semper: Co-released with Alluvial, Semper's two recombinant environmental
recordings are specimens of Dale Lloyd's fealty to the art of phonography as an act
of both documentary preservation and mimetic creation. The title composition, a
daisy chain of discrete vignettes, arrives wrapped in sandpaper-and-rice textures
soon shuffling the listener into habitats humid, convulsive and weather-stained.
Semper's atmospheres retain traces of this same gusty front throughout the life of
the piece, drenching its landscapes in moods reminiscent of Lloyd-collaborators
like Kim Cascone and Francisco Lopez in hue and timescale. Dynamic controls and
a gift for tone and color are Lloyd's strengths, but even at 33 minutes the muted,
clustered frequencies and affected gravities wear thin, winded beneath the weight
of too much dawn-or-dusk syncretism, too many mechanical commas to support its
duration. Taken as a compendium of grey days and unpopulated prairies, it remains
a well-made and engaging listen that, nevertheless, leaves one positively aching
for the occasional sunnier clime. (William S. Fields)
Semper: Co-released with Alluvial, Semper's two recombinant environmental
recordings are specimens of Dale Lloyd's fealty to the art of phonography as an act
of both documentary preservation and mimetic creation. The title composition, a
daisy chain of discrete vignettes, arrives wrapped in sandpaper-and-rice textures
soon shuffling the listener into habitats humid, convulsive and weather-stained.
Semper's atmospheres retain traces of this same gusty front throughout the life of
the piece, drenching its landscapes in moods reminiscent of Lloyd-collaborators
like Kim Cascone and Francisco Lopez in hue and timescale. Dynamic controls and
a gift for tone and color are Lloyd's strengths, but even at 33 minutes the muted,
clustered frequencies and affected gravities wear thin, winded beneath the weight
of too much dawn-or-dusk syncretism, too many mechanical commas to support its
duration. Taken as a compendium of grey days and unpopulated prairies, it remains
a well-made and engaging listen that, nevertheless, leaves one positively aching
for the occasional sunnier clime. (William S. Fields)
GA-ZETA #40 (February 2005 )
Semper: Environmental recording artist Dale Lloyd knows the true meaning of a
field recording. His latest release "Semper" sees him quietly reinventing his
micro-tonal approach. In reality, this brief [33 minutes] work is about the delicate
detail of the sound, rather than the abstract sound itself. Lloyd forces the listener to
pay close attention to every minute click, every minute field recording he has
assembled here. By using various sounds [electronic] and those that are found in
the natural world [old coins, xylophone and various found objects], he surrounds
our world with an all-encompassing aural experience. Without a hint of a doubt,
"Semper" is music that pulls you in with a magnetic force. (Tom Sekowski)
Semper: Environmental recording artist Dale Lloyd knows the true meaning of a
field recording. His latest release "Semper" sees him quietly reinventing his
micro-tonal approach. In reality, this brief [33 minutes] work is about the delicate
detail of the sound, rather than the abstract sound itself. Lloyd forces the listener to
pay close attention to every minute click, every minute field recording he has
assembled here. By using various sounds [electronic] and those that are found in
the natural world [old coins, xylophone and various found objects], he surrounds
our world with an all-encompassing aural experience. Without a hint of a doubt,
"Semper" is music that pulls you in with a magnetic force. (Tom Sekowski)
TOUCHING EXTREMES (FEBRUARY 2007)
TOY.BIZARRE & DALE LLOYD: There are undersung albums that just need to be
hyped around, and rightly so. This is one of them: two splendid compositions,
masterfully assembled by a pair of lead players in the game of electronically treated
field recordings, demonstrate how an evolved sound artist can transform simple
sources into mayflowers and nightglows. Toy.Bizarre's "Well, wind, wood, night,
plane" has a self-explanatory title and, according to its author, should be enjoyed
only on headphones. Being this reviewer a little disobedient, I tried both settings
and actually preferred the speakers, even if the suggested method is more useful
for revealing the undercurrent activities characterizing the piece. Everything you
hear was recorded in Pommier, France and is told to be highly evocative for the
composer; indeed, the particular resonance of the well redeems "normal" sounds,
modifying their essence until everything spirals into constant implausibility,
eliciting aural shades of the finest blend. Metallic gurgles, disguised birds and a
fabulous aeroplane are meshed in an undescribable memento of something that we
have surely experienced but can't recollect in any way. One feels trapped in a giant
drainpipe but at the same time perfectly willing to remain there and accept any
consequence. Dale Lloyd's "From dayspring to eventide: within the green half-light"
is a finely delicate mixture of environmental sounds and electronics, whose
efficiency and exquisite coherence is typical of this composer. Contrarily to
Toy.Bizarre's track, we're in presence of something that affects our momentary
existence more subliminally, tiny harmonics, insects and gradual crepuscular
views inching forward to find the right framework in our mind to be fixed in and
remain as a permanent, indelible memory, even if those circumstances will never
be replicated. A silent intensity unfolds slowly, then disappears only to be replaced
by murmuring waters and a general sense of rarefaction. Both sides of this
precious coin shine of their respective radiance, and expressing a preference
would be foolishly useless. An absolute must. (Massimo Ricci)
TOY.BIZARRE & DALE LLOYD: There are undersung albums that just need to be
hyped around, and rightly so. This is one of them: two splendid compositions,
masterfully assembled by a pair of lead players in the game of electronically treated
field recordings, demonstrate how an evolved sound artist can transform simple
sources into mayflowers and nightglows. Toy.Bizarre's "Well, wind, wood, night,
plane" has a self-explanatory title and, according to its author, should be enjoyed
only on headphones. Being this reviewer a little disobedient, I tried both settings
and actually preferred the speakers, even if the suggested method is more useful
for revealing the undercurrent activities characterizing the piece. Everything you
hear was recorded in Pommier, France and is told to be highly evocative for the
composer; indeed, the particular resonance of the well redeems "normal" sounds,
modifying their essence until everything spirals into constant implausibility,
eliciting aural shades of the finest blend. Metallic gurgles, disguised birds and a
fabulous aeroplane are meshed in an undescribable memento of something that we
have surely experienced but can't recollect in any way. One feels trapped in a giant
drainpipe but at the same time perfectly willing to remain there and accept any
consequence. Dale Lloyd's "From dayspring to eventide: within the green half-light"
is a finely delicate mixture of environmental sounds and electronics, whose
efficiency and exquisite coherence is typical of this composer. Contrarily to
Toy.Bizarre's track, we're in presence of something that affects our momentary
existence more subliminally, tiny harmonics, insects and gradual crepuscular
views inching forward to find the right framework in our mind to be fixed in and
remain as a permanent, indelible memory, even if those circumstances will never
be replicated. A silent intensity unfolds slowly, then disappears only to be replaced
by murmuring waters and a general sense of rarefaction. Both sides of this
precious coin shine of their respective radiance, and expressing a preference
would be foolishly useless. An absolute must. (Massimo Ricci)
TOUCHING EXTREMES (Auguest 2004)
Various Artists - On Isolation: The concept of isolation has always had great
importance in the music of the last 30 years, to the point that one of the many
sub-genres born from the fertile mind of reviewers is the much used, but never
fully explained "isolationism". In this particular instance, the tracks were
commissioned "to interpret senses of disconnection, isolation and solitude",
common feelings in a world that recognizes sensibilities and talents as something
to shroud, or fight against, rather than encourage. Fifteen artists working in the
contiguous areas of contemporary electronica, installation and field recordings
propose their individual rendering of the main notion, building worlds that may last
few minutes yet let us have a peep at the fascinating possibilities that solitude
brings in terms of sonic development. Without recurring to phantasmagoric efforts,
the participants contribute to many seriously pleasing moments of detachment from
the substantial failures and heavy frustrations of everyday's life, either by opening
new spaces and dimensions (Richard Chartier, Ben Owen) or having us
self-analyze our harmonic being (David Toop, Janek Schaefer) through a balanced
use of actual instruments and environmental manifestations. Evocative
resonances are contained by Stephan Roux's "Guet-Apens", a perfect example of
modern ambient music which also happens to be an aesthetic high of the disc,
while Richard Francis and Nest transform guitars and computers into a wall of
claustrophobic noise in "The wine cellar". And if we're ever assured about the
great quality of Steinbrüchel's layerings - his "Mono" being no exception - I'm once
again willing to single out the compositional endowment of Dale Lloyd, whose
"Among the many" first hypnotizes through repetitive structures, then surprises
with a sudden transition to more concrete mechanical sounds. Another brilliant
piece of work in a high-level compilation you don't want to miss. (Massimo Ricci)
Various Artists - On Isolation: The concept of isolation has always had great
importance in the music of the last 30 years, to the point that one of the many
sub-genres born from the fertile mind of reviewers is the much used, but never
fully explained "isolationism". In this particular instance, the tracks were
commissioned "to interpret senses of disconnection, isolation and solitude",
common feelings in a world that recognizes sensibilities and talents as something
to shroud, or fight against, rather than encourage. Fifteen artists working in the
contiguous areas of contemporary electronica, installation and field recordings
propose their individual rendering of the main notion, building worlds that may last
few minutes yet let us have a peep at the fascinating possibilities that solitude
brings in terms of sonic development. Without recurring to phantasmagoric efforts,
the participants contribute to many seriously pleasing moments of detachment from
the substantial failures and heavy frustrations of everyday's life, either by opening
new spaces and dimensions (Richard Chartier, Ben Owen) or having us
self-analyze our harmonic being (David Toop, Janek Schaefer) through a balanced
use of actual instruments and environmental manifestations. Evocative
resonances are contained by Stephan Roux's "Guet-Apens", a perfect example of
modern ambient music which also happens to be an aesthetic high of the disc,
while Richard Francis and Nest transform guitars and computers into a wall of
claustrophobic noise in "The wine cellar". And if we're ever assured about the
great quality of Steinbrüchel's layerings - his "Mono" being no exception - I'm once
again willing to single out the compositional endowment of Dale Lloyd, whose
"Among the many" first hypnotizes through repetitive structures, then surprises
with a sudden transition to more concrete mechanical sounds. Another brilliant
piece of work in a high-level compilation you don't want to miss. (Massimo Ricci)
TOKAFI (APRIL 2007)
TOY.BIZARRE & DALE LLOYD: More than just pointing the microphone
somewhere: Personal and private perspectives.
It has become a universally acknowledged and accepted fact that field recordings
and drones go together like brother and sister. In my opinion this has to do with the
fact that the combination possibly mirrors the world we live in more plastically than
any other, thanks to its unification of the technological and the organical. And yet it
would not suffice simply placing Cedric Peyronnet and Dale Lloyd in this corner,
bunching them together with myriads of artists who merely use field recordings as
an additional element to deepen their ambiances. Rather, they regard the aural
capacities of specific places as the clay with which to make their emotional
perceptions tangible and to communicate them to others. As this album shows, the
result is always more than just randomly pointing the microphone somewhere.
Which makes sense if you really think about it. After all, as long as you can not
actually see the space which is to be described, field recordings will only be able
to conjure up images from inside you own imagination. Their power may lie in
digging up images you never knew you carried around with you, but which naturally
bear no real connection to the taped events. When Peyronnet (the man behind toy.
bizarre) uses the noises of a well, of wind, wood, insects and birds from his
parents’ village and home on his twenty minute long contribution, he does not want
the listener to experience these from scratch, but to put themselves in his place
and feel their way through his personal and private perspective. He is not an
objective spectator, quite on the contrary, he willfully rearranges the different parts
to arrive at the picture in his head, without caring whether or not they match reality
or not. On the other hand, his method naturally relies on the certainty that this so-
called reality does not exist at all. If every sensation is merely a stimulation of
neuro-receptors in the brain, then this brooding, menacing, convulsing, clustering
mass, which leaps from a howling thundercloud into a picture of majestic quietude,
is just as real: You lie in your sleeping bag under a clear black sky, your hand
clasps a bottle of red whine and your gaze roams the stars, as the sounds of the
surrounding wood engulf you. Dale Lloyd, too, has entered the forest for “From
Dayspring to Eventide: Within the Green Half-Light”, a composition which equally
relies on environmental recordings, but glides by much more subtly, vaporously
and almost elph-like. It is the little miracles and wonders of nature Lloyd is after, the
majesty of the minuscule details, the moments when your spiritual center is on the
same wavelength as the glowing treetops ahead of you. Finely woven crackles as
if from burning glass melt with two layers of irredescent harmonic breaths and the
subliminal bubbling of water at the gate and after you’ve entered, nothing remains
but the whispers of all those tiny creatures lurking at you from behind their veil of
darkness. And yet, this music is warm and friendly, never creepy or frightening.
Lloyd’s work seems less constructed than Peyronnet’s, but that it is not only an
illusion brought forth by conscious decisions on the part of the creators, but also a
totally irrelevant parameter: It is not the degree to which these tracks have been
reworked, manipulated or moulded into something different within the confinements
of the studio environment, but the degree to which they approximate the emotive
landscape that caused their genesis in the first place. The result is instantly
understandable and quite unacademic: An album which has all the potential of
becoming a dear friend. (Tobias Fischer)
TOY.BIZARRE & DALE LLOYD: More than just pointing the microphone
somewhere: Personal and private perspectives.
It has become a universally acknowledged and accepted fact that field recordings
and drones go together like brother and sister. In my opinion this has to do with the
fact that the combination possibly mirrors the world we live in more plastically than
any other, thanks to its unification of the technological and the organical. And yet it
would not suffice simply placing Cedric Peyronnet and Dale Lloyd in this corner,
bunching them together with myriads of artists who merely use field recordings as
an additional element to deepen their ambiances. Rather, they regard the aural
capacities of specific places as the clay with which to make their emotional
perceptions tangible and to communicate them to others. As this album shows, the
result is always more than just randomly pointing the microphone somewhere.
Which makes sense if you really think about it. After all, as long as you can not
actually see the space which is to be described, field recordings will only be able
to conjure up images from inside you own imagination. Their power may lie in
digging up images you never knew you carried around with you, but which naturally
bear no real connection to the taped events. When Peyronnet (the man behind toy.
bizarre) uses the noises of a well, of wind, wood, insects and birds from his
parents’ village and home on his twenty minute long contribution, he does not want
the listener to experience these from scratch, but to put themselves in his place
and feel their way through his personal and private perspective. He is not an
objective spectator, quite on the contrary, he willfully rearranges the different parts
to arrive at the picture in his head, without caring whether or not they match reality
or not. On the other hand, his method naturally relies on the certainty that this so-
called reality does not exist at all. If every sensation is merely a stimulation of
neuro-receptors in the brain, then this brooding, menacing, convulsing, clustering
mass, which leaps from a howling thundercloud into a picture of majestic quietude,
is just as real: You lie in your sleeping bag under a clear black sky, your hand
clasps a bottle of red whine and your gaze roams the stars, as the sounds of the
surrounding wood engulf you. Dale Lloyd, too, has entered the forest for “From
Dayspring to Eventide: Within the Green Half-Light”, a composition which equally
relies on environmental recordings, but glides by much more subtly, vaporously
and almost elph-like. It is the little miracles and wonders of nature Lloyd is after, the
majesty of the minuscule details, the moments when your spiritual center is on the
same wavelength as the glowing treetops ahead of you. Finely woven crackles as
if from burning glass melt with two layers of irredescent harmonic breaths and the
subliminal bubbling of water at the gate and after you’ve entered, nothing remains
but the whispers of all those tiny creatures lurking at you from behind their veil of
darkness. And yet, this music is warm and friendly, never creepy or frightening.
Lloyd’s work seems less constructed than Peyronnet’s, but that it is not only an
illusion brought forth by conscious decisions on the part of the creators, but also a
totally irrelevant parameter: It is not the degree to which these tracks have been
reworked, manipulated or moulded into something different within the confinements
of the studio environment, but the degree to which they approximate the emotive
landscape that caused their genesis in the first place. The result is instantly
understandable and quite unacademic: An album which has all the potential of
becoming a dear friend. (Tobias Fischer)
VARIOUS PRESS / MEDIA:
Tanner Menard (Febuary 2009)
Interview: Read interview
JazzoSphere (August 2008)
Interview: Read interview in English
Tokafi (July 2008)
An interview with a format consisting of a standard selection of questions.
Read article
Seattle Times (September 30, 2007)
An article about "phonography / field recording" featuring brief interviews
with members of the Seattle Phonographers Union.
Read article
Lost Transmissions From Planet Zero - issue 1 (Autumn 2006)
Interview and track featured on a sampler disc. Read interview
E / I Magazine (Winter / Spring 2006)
A label profile for and/OAR including reviews of several releases.
Read an excerpt
Guest Host For Vermilion Sounds (Resonance FM)
DL was invited by Peter Cusack to produce and host an hour long radio
program which was broadcast on May 6th, 2005 at 8.30pm (UK time). The
program was also streamed via the internet.
Earshot #4 (2004)
Journal of the UK & Ireland
Soundscape Community
"Phonography: A Brief History of Framework and Phonography.org" by
Patrick McGinley, Marcelo Radulovich and Dale Lloyd.
Fear Drop #10 (2003)
Article about and/OAR and Phonography.org compilations.
Read article
Cisza #2 (2003)
Interview and article regarding Phonography.org and its compilations.
Quiet Please - KFJC (2002)
San Francisco, California Radio Interview conducted by Aaron Ximm (aka
Quiet American).
Tanner Menard (Febuary 2009)
Interview: Read interview
JazzoSphere (August 2008)
Interview: Read interview in English
Tokafi (July 2008)
An interview with a format consisting of a standard selection of questions.
Read article
Seattle Times (September 30, 2007)
An article about "phonography / field recording" featuring brief interviews
with members of the Seattle Phonographers Union.
Read article
Lost Transmissions From Planet Zero - issue 1 (Autumn 2006)
Interview and track featured on a sampler disc. Read interview
E / I Magazine (Winter / Spring 2006)
A label profile for and/OAR including reviews of several releases.
Read an excerpt
Guest Host For Vermilion Sounds (Resonance FM)
DL was invited by Peter Cusack to produce and host an hour long radio
program which was broadcast on May 6th, 2005 at 8.30pm (UK time). The
program was also streamed via the internet.
Earshot #4 (2004)
Journal of the UK & Ireland
Soundscape Community
"Phonography: A Brief History of Framework and Phonography.org" by
Patrick McGinley, Marcelo Radulovich and Dale Lloyd.
Fear Drop #10 (2003)
Article about and/OAR and Phonography.org compilations.
Read article
Cisza #2 (2003)
Interview and article regarding Phonography.org and its compilations.
Quiet Please - KFJC (2002)
San Francisco, California Radio Interview conducted by Aaron Ximm (aka
Quiet American).
E / I (November 2004)
Various Artists - A Cleansing Ascension: Sagely practitioners of
electro-stalactites that glimmer amidst pulses of hiss, flutter, and bubble, Elevator
Bath here acknowledge their ten years of existence and, without dabbling in the
quixotic, gather together traces of what is still yet to come. Cleansing Ascension
amounts to nothing less than a constant bath of sounds, lights, images, and
movements from the likes of Matt Shoemaker, Keith Berry, Jim Haynes, Rick Reed,
Dale Lloyd and Adam Pacione, to name a few. The artists on hand summon a wide
breath of events that travel in material waves and which build to substantial
proportions such that listener's may float on them like straws. The vast majority of
tracks are previously unreleased and a good many click, spit, gurgle, and growl
with subterranean menace. "Warning Ataraxia", from the aforementioned
Shoemaker, knows moments of ever-heightening subterfuge, as sheets of high end
debris grow more caustic and ride out on a crest of propulsive electricity. Others
never entirely outstrip this basic setting, but they effectively take it up in different
ways. "Untitled 149", from Francisco Lopez, drips and reverberates like a cavern
deep beneath the surface of a distant planet, while Dale Lloyd's contribution
features a rich, sumptuous drone that is wreathed in swooping high frequency
susurrations, and which becomes ever-more frazzled for having been so rudely
disturbed from its sedimental slumber. Although dystopian drones are generally
the rule, warm, floating chords and temperate half-melodies, such as those that
shadow Tom Recchion's "Drift Tube", appear at crucial points throughout the work
so as to illuminate the stereo spectrum. The proceedings thus remain clearly in
focus even while being highly vulnerable and challenging. (Max Schaefer)
Various Artists - A Cleansing Ascension: Sagely practitioners of
electro-stalactites that glimmer amidst pulses of hiss, flutter, and bubble, Elevator
Bath here acknowledge their ten years of existence and, without dabbling in the
quixotic, gather together traces of what is still yet to come. Cleansing Ascension
amounts to nothing less than a constant bath of sounds, lights, images, and
movements from the likes of Matt Shoemaker, Keith Berry, Jim Haynes, Rick Reed,
Dale Lloyd and Adam Pacione, to name a few. The artists on hand summon a wide
breath of events that travel in material waves and which build to substantial
proportions such that listener's may float on them like straws. The vast majority of
tracks are previously unreleased and a good many click, spit, gurgle, and growl
with subterranean menace. "Warning Ataraxia", from the aforementioned
Shoemaker, knows moments of ever-heightening subterfuge, as sheets of high end
debris grow more caustic and ride out on a crest of propulsive electricity. Others
never entirely outstrip this basic setting, but they effectively take it up in different
ways. "Untitled 149", from Francisco Lopez, drips and reverberates like a cavern
deep beneath the surface of a distant planet, while Dale Lloyd's contribution
features a rich, sumptuous drone that is wreathed in swooping high frequency
susurrations, and which becomes ever-more frazzled for having been so rudely
disturbed from its sedimental slumber. Although dystopian drones are generally
the rule, warm, floating chords and temperate half-melodies, such as those that
shadow Tom Recchion's "Drift Tube", appear at crucial points throughout the work
so as to illuminate the stereo spectrum. The proceedings thus remain clearly in
focus even while being highly vulnerable and challenging. (Max Schaefer)
AQUARIUS RECORDS (AUGUST 2009)
AKASHA_FOR RECORD: Strange that we haven't posted anything about Dale
Lloyd in previous lists, but this is a man whose influence should be well known
throughout the experimental and sound-art communities. Lloyd runs the and/OAR
label, which specializes in environmental soundscaping with a few subsidies that
push toward an electronic-pop context. Even so, the last full album from Mr. Lloyd
emerged well over five years ago. This album continues in Elevator Bath's very
impressive series of picture discs, which began in 2008 with releases of corroded
drones from our own Jim Haynes and kosmiche brainmelting from Rick Reed.
Lloyd's work is an excellent companion to these two releases. One of the two sides
opens with a modulating hiss that harmonizes with a sinewy drone and gets
punctured by a series of bone-numbing electrical charges for something that could
have some unsavory context had it been generated by John Duncan, but then again
it could be a field recording of a grain-slew with minor post-production techniques.
In fact, each of the pieces on Akasha For Record have this sense that they could be
the results of well-situated field recordings like those of Tarab or Eric La Casa, as
the smudges and grittiness of these recordings allude to such strategies. Another
track shimmers like the vibration of a loose piece of metal on an industrial HVAC,
with the timbres generating a surprisingly fluid and beautiful resonance like
something Andrew Chalk would actively seek out. There's greater evidence of field
recordings on the tracks that do feature the roar of surf and a cold wind
intermingled with the softened white noise of sand getting pushed around. Lloyd
had devised this album to complement the crackles that get magnified through the
picture disc - a medium which notoriously wears heavier than most pressings of
vinyl. The album certainly works well with its medium. Beautiful stuff, and super
limited to 216 copies.
AKASHA_FOR RECORD: Strange that we haven't posted anything about Dale
Lloyd in previous lists, but this is a man whose influence should be well known
throughout the experimental and sound-art communities. Lloyd runs the and/OAR
label, which specializes in environmental soundscaping with a few subsidies that
push toward an electronic-pop context. Even so, the last full album from Mr. Lloyd
emerged well over five years ago. This album continues in Elevator Bath's very
impressive series of picture discs, which began in 2008 with releases of corroded
drones from our own Jim Haynes and kosmiche brainmelting from Rick Reed.
Lloyd's work is an excellent companion to these two releases. One of the two sides
opens with a modulating hiss that harmonizes with a sinewy drone and gets
punctured by a series of bone-numbing electrical charges for something that could
have some unsavory context had it been generated by John Duncan, but then again
it could be a field recording of a grain-slew with minor post-production techniques.
In fact, each of the pieces on Akasha For Record have this sense that they could be
the results of well-situated field recordings like those of Tarab or Eric La Casa, as
the smudges and grittiness of these recordings allude to such strategies. Another
track shimmers like the vibration of a loose piece of metal on an industrial HVAC,
with the timbres generating a surprisingly fluid and beautiful resonance like
something Andrew Chalk would actively seek out. There's greater evidence of field
recordings on the tracks that do feature the roar of surf and a cold wind
intermingled with the softened white noise of sand getting pushed around. Lloyd
had devised this album to complement the crackles that get magnified through the
picture disc - a medium which notoriously wears heavier than most pressings of
vinyl. The album certainly works well with its medium. Beautiful stuff, and super
limited to 216 copies.
TEXTURA (OCTOBER 2009)
AKASHA_FOR RECORD: Even before hearing them, these latest releases from
Elevator Bath make a powerful impression, arriving as they do in a picture disc
format and thick, twelve-inch vinyl slabs. Issued in an edition of 216, the Dale Lloyd
album displays two lightly-manipulated photographic images by the artist, while
Adam Pacione's release (Dobranoc), available in 268 copies, features two
macro-photographic images taken around 1995. Watching the colours swirl into
abstract patterns as the artists' material fills the room makes for a powerful and
transporting experience.
Seattle, Washington-based Lloyd, who has recorded for numerous labels including
and/OAR, Alluvial Recordings, Mystery Sea, and Room40, brings his first new
release in three years to the Elevator Bath imprint. A single composition split into
two parts, the thirty-nine-minute Akasha_for Record unfolds via softly glimmering
organ tones and percussive micro-detail, and then blossoms into drifting masses of
twilight tones and speckled noise textures. The first part shimmers serenely until its
close, in contrast to the bass-heavy whorls of noise-laden thrum which introduce
part two. That opening episode comes to an abrupt close that clears the slate for a
reverberant exercise in hollowed-out, crystalline shudder. Interestingly, Akasha_for
Record is more episodic than Dobranoc, despite the fact that Lloyd's release is a
single, two-part piece whereas Pacione's more uniform material is, on paper,
indexed as five separate pieces. It's also worth noting that Lloyd's embrace of the
vinyl format even extends to the inevitable erosion that develops over time; rather
than seeing that as a negative element, he instead sees the gradual accumulation
of dust, pops, and crackles as textural details that contribute positively to the
work's content, with each vinyl slab gradually developing into a unique variation on
the shared theme.
AKASHA_FOR RECORD: Even before hearing them, these latest releases from
Elevator Bath make a powerful impression, arriving as they do in a picture disc
format and thick, twelve-inch vinyl slabs. Issued in an edition of 216, the Dale Lloyd
album displays two lightly-manipulated photographic images by the artist, while
Adam Pacione's release (Dobranoc), available in 268 copies, features two
macro-photographic images taken around 1995. Watching the colours swirl into
abstract patterns as the artists' material fills the room makes for a powerful and
transporting experience.
Seattle, Washington-based Lloyd, who has recorded for numerous labels including
and/OAR, Alluvial Recordings, Mystery Sea, and Room40, brings his first new
release in three years to the Elevator Bath imprint. A single composition split into
two parts, the thirty-nine-minute Akasha_for Record unfolds via softly glimmering
organ tones and percussive micro-detail, and then blossoms into drifting masses of
twilight tones and speckled noise textures. The first part shimmers serenely until its
close, in contrast to the bass-heavy whorls of noise-laden thrum which introduce
part two. That opening episode comes to an abrupt close that clears the slate for a
reverberant exercise in hollowed-out, crystalline shudder. Interestingly, Akasha_for
Record is more episodic than Dobranoc, despite the fact that Lloyd's release is a
single, two-part piece whereas Pacione's more uniform material is, on paper,
indexed as five separate pieces. It's also worth noting that Lloyd's embrace of the
vinyl format even extends to the inevitable erosion that develops over time; rather
than seeing that as a negative element, he instead sees the gradual accumulation
of dust, pops, and crackles as textural details that contribute positively to the
work's content, with each vinyl slab gradually developing into a unique variation on
the shared theme.
SCRAPYARD FORECAST (MARCH 2010)
AKASHA_FOR RECORD: This is the first album to emerge from Dale Lloyd in a
number of years. If his intentions were to build anticipation amongst the dedicated
drone nuts then subsequently unleash a masterpiece, I would say he has
succeeded. Akasha For Record may just be his masterpiece, evident in the
punctuated transitions between vast expanses of grainy ambience and segments of
well situated field recordings. The record almost feels like a compilation of well
respected drone artists, because of the variations in sound, though at the same
time remaining very cohesive. Lovely image, and likewise, lovely sounds.
AKASHA_FOR RECORD: This is the first album to emerge from Dale Lloyd in a
number of years. If his intentions were to build anticipation amongst the dedicated
drone nuts then subsequently unleash a masterpiece, I would say he has
succeeded. Akasha For Record may just be his masterpiece, evident in the
punctuated transitions between vast expanses of grainy ambience and segments of
well situated field recordings. The record almost feels like a compilation of well
respected drone artists, because of the variations in sound, though at the same
time remaining very cohesive. Lovely image, and likewise, lovely sounds.
BRAIN DEAD ETERNITY (APRIL 2010)
AKASHA_FOR RECORD: After releasing music by a number of intriguing artists
on his own and/OAR imprint, Dale Lloyd comes back as a composer with this
limited edition on picture disc, and he does it with a vengeance. Hard as one tries,
classifying this work is awfully problematical. Maybe these sounds were born to
stimulate the less comforting sensations residing in our head and pierce a
deceptive idea of protection through an uninterrupted generation of disbelief.
These uncertainties involve both the utilized sources and ourselves, observed in
the cosmically irrelevant role of discreditable entities that should remain
speechless for ages before even trying to utter a word about what the awareness
of a pure phenomenon really means.
In essence, Akasha_For Record is a series of sonic pictures whose incidence on
the close environment’s resonance is sinisterly effective, and the equivalent can
be told of its psychological consequence. Lloyd focuses on a restricted quantity of
constituents to develop soundscapes that amplify the need of personal seclusion.
The responsive listeners are going to face perplexing echoes and concrete-yet-
mysterious compounds that may sound recognizable for a moment. Still, when
they’ll try to detect the exact cause of an illusory fulfillment (or, more properly, of
the subsequent distress), regret will be awaiting behind the corner. The nearly
indistinguishable features of several of these infected vistas – halfway through
metropolitan undertones and Thomas Köner’s exploration of forlornness –
materialize for a while; afterwards, they either vanish completely or morph into
some sort of ill-fated, unhealthy luminescence. A mere figment of the imagination,
symbolizing the unfeasibility of determining what is the specific factor that, at the
same juncture, cuddles solitude and scares like an ominously silent threat.
The contriver writes that the vinyl constitutes a primary component in the
procedure, accumulating “dust, pops, crackles etcetera over time”. My copy
doesn’t seem to cooperate in that sense, except perhaps for the incomparable
needle-in-groove low rustle at the beginning and end of each side. But what I’m
convinced of is that we are indeed dust, an insignificant graffiti waiting to be
sandblasted off the existence's wall by the pressure of unconcern. This splendid
album is a perfect reminder of the man’s miserable condition of deluded
omadhaun, and an anticipation of the kind of acoustic intuition that will probably
be met when, at long last, the process of human failure on this planet has
reached its ultimate stage.
AKASHA_FOR RECORD: After releasing music by a number of intriguing artists
on his own and/OAR imprint, Dale Lloyd comes back as a composer with this
limited edition on picture disc, and he does it with a vengeance. Hard as one tries,
classifying this work is awfully problematical. Maybe these sounds were born to
stimulate the less comforting sensations residing in our head and pierce a
deceptive idea of protection through an uninterrupted generation of disbelief.
These uncertainties involve both the utilized sources and ourselves, observed in
the cosmically irrelevant role of discreditable entities that should remain
speechless for ages before even trying to utter a word about what the awareness
of a pure phenomenon really means.
In essence, Akasha_For Record is a series of sonic pictures whose incidence on
the close environment’s resonance is sinisterly effective, and the equivalent can
be told of its psychological consequence. Lloyd focuses on a restricted quantity of
constituents to develop soundscapes that amplify the need of personal seclusion.
The responsive listeners are going to face perplexing echoes and concrete-yet-
mysterious compounds that may sound recognizable for a moment. Still, when
they’ll try to detect the exact cause of an illusory fulfillment (or, more properly, of
the subsequent distress), regret will be awaiting behind the corner. The nearly
indistinguishable features of several of these infected vistas – halfway through
metropolitan undertones and Thomas Köner’s exploration of forlornness –
materialize for a while; afterwards, they either vanish completely or morph into
some sort of ill-fated, unhealthy luminescence. A mere figment of the imagination,
symbolizing the unfeasibility of determining what is the specific factor that, at the
same juncture, cuddles solitude and scares like an ominously silent threat.
The contriver writes that the vinyl constitutes a primary component in the
procedure, accumulating “dust, pops, crackles etcetera over time”. My copy
doesn’t seem to cooperate in that sense, except perhaps for the incomparable
needle-in-groove low rustle at the beginning and end of each side. But what I’m
convinced of is that we are indeed dust, an insignificant graffiti waiting to be
sandblasted off the existence's wall by the pressure of unconcern. This splendid
album is a perfect reminder of the man’s miserable condition of deluded
omadhaun, and an anticipation of the kind of acoustic intuition that will probably
be met when, at long last, the process of human failure on this planet has
reached its ultimate stage.
REVIEWS :
WONDERFUL WOODEN REASONS (AUGUST 2010)
AKASHA_FOR RECORD: One of 4 beautiful picture discs released by Elevator
Bath Dale Lloyd's Akasha_For Record is a striking, insular piece littered with sonic
debris. Lloyd, who also runs the and/OAR label is an accomplished sonic architect
in his own right, something which is certainly evident here. Very much an album of
two halves Lloyd here shows two distinct sides to his compositional nature. Side
one is a lush and fecund panorama of opaque crystalline tones slowly angling
themselves to best display their many facets. Side two is a more overtly strident
experience, one filled with hissing dissonance, nebulous drones and jarring tonal
changes. The two sides compliment each other perfectly with a coherence of vision
and sound that is often neglected. A_FR is a fairly uncompromising listen that
rewards close and deliberate listening that will reveal hidden depths (particularly
on side two) and immerse you in a deeper and more profound listening experience
than is often, unfortunately, the case.
AKASHA_FOR RECORD: One of 4 beautiful picture discs released by Elevator
Bath Dale Lloyd's Akasha_For Record is a striking, insular piece littered with sonic
debris. Lloyd, who also runs the and/OAR label is an accomplished sonic architect
in his own right, something which is certainly evident here. Very much an album of
two halves Lloyd here shows two distinct sides to his compositional nature. Side
one is a lush and fecund panorama of opaque crystalline tones slowly angling
themselves to best display their many facets. Side two is a more overtly strident
experience, one filled with hissing dissonance, nebulous drones and jarring tonal
changes. The two sides compliment each other perfectly with a coherence of vision
and sound that is often neglected. A_FR is a fairly uncompromising listen that
rewards close and deliberate listening that will reveal hidden depths (particularly
on side two) and immerse you in a deeper and more profound listening experience
than is often, unfortunately, the case.