Fourteen sound artists created pieces inspired by one of Tarkovsky's seven feature
length films. They were given creative carte blanche as to how they would pay
homage to one of the director's films. Some pieces are less direct than others, and
were created with the intent to also pay homage to the director's work as a whole
or to certain aspects thereof.
MAGALI BABIN
YANNICK DAUBY
DUUL_DRV
JOHN HUDAK
DALE LLOYD
LOGOLASM
KIYOSHI MIZUTANI
MICHAEL NORTHAM
PHILLIP PIETRUSCHKA
RONNIE SUNDIN
JOSH RUSSELL
SAWAKO
JON TULCHIN
V.V. (Ven Voisey)
Liner note text by Kim Cascone & Trond Trondsen of Nostalghia.com.
"...nothing short of wonderful! I am an experimental filmmaker who has been
inspired by Tarkovsky as well as other European filmmakers -- a collection of this
sort is a salve for the weary spirit. There's nothing quite like dreaming while being
awake; these pieces are powerful in their simplicity -- they fire my imagination.
I congratulate you and the other artists and crew who were involved with this
project. Job well done!" (Patrick Steele - Fatcat Filmworks)
length films. They were given creative carte blanche as to how they would pay
homage to one of the director's films. Some pieces are less direct than others, and
were created with the intent to also pay homage to the director's work as a whole
or to certain aspects thereof.
MAGALI BABIN
YANNICK DAUBY
DUUL_DRV
JOHN HUDAK
DALE LLOYD
LOGOLASM
KIYOSHI MIZUTANI
MICHAEL NORTHAM
PHILLIP PIETRUSCHKA
RONNIE SUNDIN
JOSH RUSSELL
SAWAKO
JON TULCHIN
V.V. (Ven Voisey)
Liner note text by Kim Cascone & Trond Trondsen of Nostalghia.com.
"...nothing short of wonderful! I am an experimental filmmaker who has been
inspired by Tarkovsky as well as other European filmmakers -- a collection of this
sort is a salve for the weary spirit. There's nothing quite like dreaming while being
awake; these pieces are powerful in their simplicity -- they fire my imagination.
I congratulate you and the other artists and crew who were involved with this
project. Job well done!" (Patrick Steele - Fatcat Filmworks)
artist: VARIOUS ARTISTS
title: Another Kind Of Language - Dedicated To Andrei Tarkovsky
catalog number: and/10
release year: 2003/2004
format: CDR x 2
status: sold out
title: Another Kind Of Language - Dedicated To Andrei Tarkovsky
catalog number: and/10
release year: 2003/2004
format: CDR x 2
status: sold out
E/I MAGAZINE (OCTOBER 2005)
Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky’s rep hasn’t exactly set the mainstream director’
s guild on fire these last 20 years, but it’s fairly ignited the audio/visual
underground in ways yet to be calculated. Dale Lloyd’s world has been singed
pretty seriously; the concept of phonography (the merging of those a/v
sensibilities, acquiring and recontextualizing the abject notions of sound design
and cinematography) on which his label and/OAR is built, is about as perfect a
marriage to the Tarkovsky ethic as one could imagine. That brings us to the label’s
two-disc comp dedicated to the director, Another Kind of Language, whose
resident 14 artists focus their own mental lens’ on Tarkovsky’s isolationist
panoramas. Focus they do: the parallels drawn are markedly impressionistic, as
they should be, and folks like John Hudak, Magali Babin, Yannick Dauby and
Lloyd himself are far too resourceful to sensationalize literally the inherent power
of such Tarkovsky classics as Stalker and Solaris. So Hudak exteriorizes the cries of
birds in husks of blasted radioactive trees; Dauby navigates his way through the
hum of machinery set adrift in orbit; Rsundin and Logoplasm lose their
protagonists in spatial waves of electrostatic discharge. Snatches of dialog
occasionally provide “samplist links” but the participants’s reactions are causal to a
fault — each track, “composed” or not, demonstrates genuine inspiration precisely
because the aural responses are so intuitively reactionary. Wet, dark and long, and
intermittently brilliant, Language raises the awareness level on a network whose
octopusic reach continues to gnaw away at the artistically discrete smarm of the
bourgeoisie. (Maxwell Oz)
Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky’s rep hasn’t exactly set the mainstream director’
s guild on fire these last 20 years, but it’s fairly ignited the audio/visual
underground in ways yet to be calculated. Dale Lloyd’s world has been singed
pretty seriously; the concept of phonography (the merging of those a/v
sensibilities, acquiring and recontextualizing the abject notions of sound design
and cinematography) on which his label and/OAR is built, is about as perfect a
marriage to the Tarkovsky ethic as one could imagine. That brings us to the label’s
two-disc comp dedicated to the director, Another Kind of Language, whose
resident 14 artists focus their own mental lens’ on Tarkovsky’s isolationist
panoramas. Focus they do: the parallels drawn are markedly impressionistic, as
they should be, and folks like John Hudak, Magali Babin, Yannick Dauby and
Lloyd himself are far too resourceful to sensationalize literally the inherent power
of such Tarkovsky classics as Stalker and Solaris. So Hudak exteriorizes the cries of
birds in husks of blasted radioactive trees; Dauby navigates his way through the
hum of machinery set adrift in orbit; Rsundin and Logoplasm lose their
protagonists in spatial waves of electrostatic discharge. Snatches of dialog
occasionally provide “samplist links” but the participants’s reactions are causal to a
fault — each track, “composed” or not, demonstrates genuine inspiration precisely
because the aural responses are so intuitively reactionary. Wet, dark and long, and
intermittently brilliant, Language raises the awareness level on a network whose
octopusic reach continues to gnaw away at the artistically discrete smarm of the
bourgeoisie. (Maxwell Oz)
ZEHAR (MAY 2004)
Ez da hilabete aunitz pasatu lagun baten bidez Andei Tarkovskyren Nostalghia
filma ikusi ahal izan nuela. Geroztik, harekin gogoratzerakoan, irudi bakarra dut
gogoan. Pertsonaia nagusia, kandela eskuan, erakusten duen travelling
amaigabea. Hutsa bezain betea den irudia. Ixila bezain ozena. Orduan ulertu
nuen zer den hizkuntza berri bat sortzea, bertzelako hizkuntza bat sortzea. Andrei
Tarkovsky (1932-1986) zinemagile errusiarrak utzitako ondareak zinemaren
historian egin den artelan eder eta garrantzitsuenetako bat izatea lortu badu ere,
argi dago, gaurko egunetik ikusita behintzat, ez duela ikusle gehienen onespena
izan. Baina bere oinstzek, bere arrastoek tinko irauten dute oraindik artegintzaren
bide bazterran, eta ez bakariik zinemagintzaren munduan. and/OAR label
diskografiko iparramerikarrak hori izan du xede, musika lan eder hau osatzerakoan,
alde batetik, errusiarraren lana omentzeko eta bertzetik, haren ondarearen
inguruan hausnarketa egiteko. Ederra, kontzeptuan nahiz exekuzioan, lan honek,
izenburu beretik hasita, zinemagile errusiarrak bere lanen bitartez lortu zuen
gauza ederrenetako bati egiten dio erreferentzia, artearen bitartez hizkuntza berri
bat asmatzeari, hain zuzen. Zentzu horretan, Tarkovsky, zinemaren legez,
ahalmen hori irudien bitartez islatzeko gai izan bazen, aipatzekoak dira soinuaren
edo musikaren inguruan egindako erabilerak eta horrek aldi berean bere diskurtsoa
osatzeko erakutsitako gaitasuna. Horregatik, solasgai dugun bilduman, musika
elektronikoa izan da errusiarraren lana omentzeko aukeratutako prisma, bertzeak
bertze musika mota honekin egin zuen lana aitzindaria ere izan baitzen.
"Musika elektronikoa sumatzen dugun momentu berean, alegia, bere egitura
nolakao den ulertzen dugun momentu horretan bertan desagertzeko gai da.
Musika instrumentala berriz, hain da arte independentea, ezen film batean
sartzeko aise zailagoa bihurtzen baita, eta film beraren zati organiko bihurtzen
da."
Tarkovskyren premisa hauek ez daude gaur egungo musika elektroniko
esperimentalaren eta minimalistaren filosofiatik hain urrun (sortzaile guztiak
batzeko gai den filosofiaraik badago), lan hau osatzen duten artista gehienen
kasuan, behintzat. Paisajista sonoroen, elektroakustikaren eta soinu esperimentazio
ororen ondorengoak, azken hamarkadotan hainbat musikarik hiztegi berri bezain
ezaguna erabiliz, argi eta garbi erakutsi du hizkuntza berriak bilatzeko grina,
Francisco Lopez, horren adibide. Disko bikoitz honetan bada, orain aipatutakoaren
14 adibide biltzen dira, nazioarteko 14 artista, bakoitza Tarkovskyren film batean
oinarritu baino inspiratuta, 14 pieza osatu dituztenak. Bakoitzak bere modura egin
dio erreferentzia filmei: batzuek esplizituki filmeko momentuak soinu bidez (inoiz
ez hitz eginez) iradoki dituzte, eta bertze batzuek, berriz, zuzenean filmen bidez
jasotako inpresio edo bizipenetan oinarritutako piezak osatu dituzte. Haien artean
aipatzekoak dira, beharbada filmetako sentsazioak iradokitzeko gaitasuna dela eta,
Michael Northam eta Dale Lloyd Amerikarren, duul_drv Kanadiarraren edo
logoplasm talde Italiarraren saiakera zoragarriak. Atal entzungarriaz gain, Kim
Casconeren (ikus Zehar 51), eta zinemagile errusiarra omentzen duen
www.nostalghia.com web orriko arduraduna den Trond S. Trondsonen testu
mamitsuek, zenbait zita tartean, osatzen dute, dudarik gabe, maitasun haundiz
egindako lan eder hau.
"Soinu tonua ezbai batean mantendu behar da, entzuten duguna musika, ahots
bat edo haizea izan daitekeenean." (Xabier Erkizia)
Ez da hilabete aunitz pasatu lagun baten bidez Andei Tarkovskyren Nostalghia
filma ikusi ahal izan nuela. Geroztik, harekin gogoratzerakoan, irudi bakarra dut
gogoan. Pertsonaia nagusia, kandela eskuan, erakusten duen travelling
amaigabea. Hutsa bezain betea den irudia. Ixila bezain ozena. Orduan ulertu
nuen zer den hizkuntza berri bat sortzea, bertzelako hizkuntza bat sortzea. Andrei
Tarkovsky (1932-1986) zinemagile errusiarrak utzitako ondareak zinemaren
historian egin den artelan eder eta garrantzitsuenetako bat izatea lortu badu ere,
argi dago, gaurko egunetik ikusita behintzat, ez duela ikusle gehienen onespena
izan. Baina bere oinstzek, bere arrastoek tinko irauten dute oraindik artegintzaren
bide bazterran, eta ez bakariik zinemagintzaren munduan. and/OAR label
diskografiko iparramerikarrak hori izan du xede, musika lan eder hau osatzerakoan,
alde batetik, errusiarraren lana omentzeko eta bertzetik, haren ondarearen
inguruan hausnarketa egiteko. Ederra, kontzeptuan nahiz exekuzioan, lan honek,
izenburu beretik hasita, zinemagile errusiarrak bere lanen bitartez lortu zuen
gauza ederrenetako bati egiten dio erreferentzia, artearen bitartez hizkuntza berri
bat asmatzeari, hain zuzen. Zentzu horretan, Tarkovsky, zinemaren legez,
ahalmen hori irudien bitartez islatzeko gai izan bazen, aipatzekoak dira soinuaren
edo musikaren inguruan egindako erabilerak eta horrek aldi berean bere diskurtsoa
osatzeko erakutsitako gaitasuna. Horregatik, solasgai dugun bilduman, musika
elektronikoa izan da errusiarraren lana omentzeko aukeratutako prisma, bertzeak
bertze musika mota honekin egin zuen lana aitzindaria ere izan baitzen.
"Musika elektronikoa sumatzen dugun momentu berean, alegia, bere egitura
nolakao den ulertzen dugun momentu horretan bertan desagertzeko gai da.
Musika instrumentala berriz, hain da arte independentea, ezen film batean
sartzeko aise zailagoa bihurtzen baita, eta film beraren zati organiko bihurtzen
da."
Tarkovskyren premisa hauek ez daude gaur egungo musika elektroniko
esperimentalaren eta minimalistaren filosofiatik hain urrun (sortzaile guztiak
batzeko gai den filosofiaraik badago), lan hau osatzen duten artista gehienen
kasuan, behintzat. Paisajista sonoroen, elektroakustikaren eta soinu esperimentazio
ororen ondorengoak, azken hamarkadotan hainbat musikarik hiztegi berri bezain
ezaguna erabiliz, argi eta garbi erakutsi du hizkuntza berriak bilatzeko grina,
Francisco Lopez, horren adibide. Disko bikoitz honetan bada, orain aipatutakoaren
14 adibide biltzen dira, nazioarteko 14 artista, bakoitza Tarkovskyren film batean
oinarritu baino inspiratuta, 14 pieza osatu dituztenak. Bakoitzak bere modura egin
dio erreferentzia filmei: batzuek esplizituki filmeko momentuak soinu bidez (inoiz
ez hitz eginez) iradoki dituzte, eta bertze batzuek, berriz, zuzenean filmen bidez
jasotako inpresio edo bizipenetan oinarritutako piezak osatu dituzte. Haien artean
aipatzekoak dira, beharbada filmetako sentsazioak iradokitzeko gaitasuna dela eta,
Michael Northam eta Dale Lloyd Amerikarren, duul_drv Kanadiarraren edo
logoplasm talde Italiarraren saiakera zoragarriak. Atal entzungarriaz gain, Kim
Casconeren (ikus Zehar 51), eta zinemagile errusiarra omentzen duen
www.nostalghia.com web orriko arduraduna den Trond S. Trondsonen testu
mamitsuek, zenbait zita tartean, osatzen dute, dudarik gabe, maitasun haundiz
egindako lan eder hau.
"Soinu tonua ezbai batean mantendu behar da, entzuten duguna musika, ahots
bat edo haizea izan daitekeenean." (Xabier Erkizia)
IGLOO (APRIL 2004)
It was only a few months ago that I reviewed "In Memoriam Tarkovsky" (on Russian
label IVB) another homage to the influential filmmaker who passed in 1986.
Several interesting artists pack this two-disc set, packaged in a cinematic
DVD-style case with 14 long playing tracks. Opening the set is Mnortham's
inclement "When Inaccessible." At over fifteen minutes, the field recordings of
steep rainfall meet the atypical sine drone of a tuning fork (or so it sounds). The
hush wind tone of Jon Tulchin's "Mnemonic Cartography" uses a collection of
sparse sound samples of nature: the crackle of campfire (or is it the sizzle of
bacon?), the top wind on the ocean's edge, and the eerie void of the midnight air
with a moon halo. He stops to take breathy pauses as metal is towed and muffled
timbre cascades with sluggish pace. Yannick Dauby's "Bruissements (for Solaris:
Tarkovski/Lem)" reminds me of some of his previous work with crackling embers
and other experiments in gently stirring sound demographics. The theme
continues with "Smoldering Ardor" by label maestro Dale Lloyd. The tactile
environment is steely as stubbly miniature clicks drag our ears through the dirty
hum of a convincing whispery world. Towards the end, what could be a stampede
of horses is a windswept distortion of open flames. Birds whistle and call "In the
Dream" of John Hudak. Subtitled "Tarkovski's Sacrifice", the normally resplendent
chirp-chirp has a somewhat menacing edge on this 21+ minute piece. He's tuned
these feathered friends into something of a channeled set of harmonic scales,
almost as if they are pets on command. Left to right, simultaneous, and fore /
background - these sing-song short calls for attention balance a calm and
unnerving energy. Kiyoshi Mizutani's unscripted percussive chant "Nicolai",
sounds like a group of monks in a subway. He portions out parts of this track - the
first with street sounds vs. some passing airborne calling birds (the theme is alive
and well). Next are some gravel-like pouring from left to right channel, add an
open canvas of rain, a random singing choir and it becomes a bit like r.e.m. to me
- and I don't mean the band. This is an illusory open-air bath for the sensual
pleasures of the wild. Towards its conclusion, a plane takes flight, above and away.
Disc two opens with Sweden's Rsundin whose "Spegeln" is a sudden clap of
thunder and roaring lightening, and we are in a surround-sound live storm with a
sweet robin calling to it's family. The lapping waves and gulls envision a shore
after the eye of the storm has firmly closed, some remnants left aside. "At The End
Of The Rope" is Magali Babin's fuzzy contribution. Crumbling stagecoaches,
rattling teeth and the bass of pain/pleasure moaning from a headless figure in the
deep background. Canadian artist S. Arden Hill, otherwise known as duul_drv
breaks the sound barrier with a popping glass bulb and various metallic industrial
bric-a-brac. His harmonies are woven texturally and sequenced like fine layers of
Egyptian silks. Josh Russell spends 18 minutes forming his "Objects" with space
light and secret lasers (I made that part up - but that's what it sounds like). It's as if
you are dealing with sensitive infrared technology, everything is so mute with a
layer of impending challenge to the risky material. 24-year old Tokyo-based
Sawako (Kato) develops her sound from small fragments, amplified and then
processed, the equivalent of refried beans in electronics. The process of reduction
makes her "Mirror" reflect only the residue of nature's work. It's like an organic
inversion, simply shrunk and mixed with floating physical manifestations of sound
particles moving about, kicking along a metallic perimeter.
Included are liner notes with various quips and statements by Arvo Part, Ingrid
Bergman, and Kim Cascone's apropos "Viral Space: The Cinema Of Atmosphere."
With additional tracks by logoplasm, Phillip Pietruschka, and
v. v. this is essential listening for any lover of cinema and various experiments with
sounds that are born in the wild. (TJ Norris)
It was only a few months ago that I reviewed "In Memoriam Tarkovsky" (on Russian
label IVB) another homage to the influential filmmaker who passed in 1986.
Several interesting artists pack this two-disc set, packaged in a cinematic
DVD-style case with 14 long playing tracks. Opening the set is Mnortham's
inclement "When Inaccessible." At over fifteen minutes, the field recordings of
steep rainfall meet the atypical sine drone of a tuning fork (or so it sounds). The
hush wind tone of Jon Tulchin's "Mnemonic Cartography" uses a collection of
sparse sound samples of nature: the crackle of campfire (or is it the sizzle of
bacon?), the top wind on the ocean's edge, and the eerie void of the midnight air
with a moon halo. He stops to take breathy pauses as metal is towed and muffled
timbre cascades with sluggish pace. Yannick Dauby's "Bruissements (for Solaris:
Tarkovski/Lem)" reminds me of some of his previous work with crackling embers
and other experiments in gently stirring sound demographics. The theme
continues with "Smoldering Ardor" by label maestro Dale Lloyd. The tactile
environment is steely as stubbly miniature clicks drag our ears through the dirty
hum of a convincing whispery world. Towards the end, what could be a stampede
of horses is a windswept distortion of open flames. Birds whistle and call "In the
Dream" of John Hudak. Subtitled "Tarkovski's Sacrifice", the normally resplendent
chirp-chirp has a somewhat menacing edge on this 21+ minute piece. He's tuned
these feathered friends into something of a channeled set of harmonic scales,
almost as if they are pets on command. Left to right, simultaneous, and fore /
background - these sing-song short calls for attention balance a calm and
unnerving energy. Kiyoshi Mizutani's unscripted percussive chant "Nicolai",
sounds like a group of monks in a subway. He portions out parts of this track - the
first with street sounds vs. some passing airborne calling birds (the theme is alive
and well). Next are some gravel-like pouring from left to right channel, add an
open canvas of rain, a random singing choir and it becomes a bit like r.e.m. to me
- and I don't mean the band. This is an illusory open-air bath for the sensual
pleasures of the wild. Towards its conclusion, a plane takes flight, above and away.
Disc two opens with Sweden's Rsundin whose "Spegeln" is a sudden clap of
thunder and roaring lightening, and we are in a surround-sound live storm with a
sweet robin calling to it's family. The lapping waves and gulls envision a shore
after the eye of the storm has firmly closed, some remnants left aside. "At The End
Of The Rope" is Magali Babin's fuzzy contribution. Crumbling stagecoaches,
rattling teeth and the bass of pain/pleasure moaning from a headless figure in the
deep background. Canadian artist S. Arden Hill, otherwise known as duul_drv
breaks the sound barrier with a popping glass bulb and various metallic industrial
bric-a-brac. His harmonies are woven texturally and sequenced like fine layers of
Egyptian silks. Josh Russell spends 18 minutes forming his "Objects" with space
light and secret lasers (I made that part up - but that's what it sounds like). It's as if
you are dealing with sensitive infrared technology, everything is so mute with a
layer of impending challenge to the risky material. 24-year old Tokyo-based
Sawako (Kato) develops her sound from small fragments, amplified and then
processed, the equivalent of refried beans in electronics. The process of reduction
makes her "Mirror" reflect only the residue of nature's work. It's like an organic
inversion, simply shrunk and mixed with floating physical manifestations of sound
particles moving about, kicking along a metallic perimeter.
Included are liner notes with various quips and statements by Arvo Part, Ingrid
Bergman, and Kim Cascone's apropos "Viral Space: The Cinema Of Atmosphere."
With additional tracks by logoplasm, Phillip Pietruschka, and
v. v. this is essential listening for any lover of cinema and various experiments with
sounds that are born in the wild. (TJ Norris)
AQUARIUS RECORDS (FEBRUARY 2004)
Despite the oversized package and the dedication to the amazing Russian
filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky, this is not a DVD. Rather this is a collection of sound
artists and archivists who were commissioned to create a piece inspired by the
work of Tarkovsky. The majority of the artists in question have composed their
pieces as an homage to Tarkovsky's slow, but revelatory pacing of the narrative.
The atmospheres of the sublime, the psychologically horrific, and the
melancholic -- which all run through Tarkovsky's work -- speak boldly with Another
Kind Of Language as thick dronescapes molded from various field recordings of
rain, wind, and surf. There isn't anything overt about this comp that screams out
"TARKOVSKY!" with no obvious samples or quotations to be found within; rather,
this is a humble dronological tribute to the Russian filmmaker's amazing
sensibilities. The contributing artists run the gamut, from familiar AQ faves
MNortham, John Hudak, and Kiyoshi Mizutani, to lesser-knowns/unknowns Jon
Tulchin, Yannick Dauby, Dale Lloyd, RSundin, V.V. Magali Babin, Duul_Drv, Josh
Russell, Phillip Pietruschka, Sawako, and Logoplasm.
Despite the oversized package and the dedication to the amazing Russian
filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky, this is not a DVD. Rather this is a collection of sound
artists and archivists who were commissioned to create a piece inspired by the
work of Tarkovsky. The majority of the artists in question have composed their
pieces as an homage to Tarkovsky's slow, but revelatory pacing of the narrative.
The atmospheres of the sublime, the psychologically horrific, and the
melancholic -- which all run through Tarkovsky's work -- speak boldly with Another
Kind Of Language as thick dronescapes molded from various field recordings of
rain, wind, and surf. There isn't anything overt about this comp that screams out
"TARKOVSKY!" with no obvious samples or quotations to be found within; rather,
this is a humble dronological tribute to the Russian filmmaker's amazing
sensibilities. The contributing artists run the gamut, from familiar AQ faves
MNortham, John Hudak, and Kiyoshi Mizutani, to lesser-knowns/unknowns Jon
Tulchin, Yannick Dauby, Dale Lloyd, RSundin, V.V. Magali Babin, Duul_Drv, Josh
Russell, Phillip Pietruschka, Sawako, and Logoplasm.
