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)
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)
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.
