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.

- Lost Transmissions From Planet Zero - issue 1  (Autumn 2006)
Interview and track featured on a sampler disc.

- E / I Magazine (Winter / Spring 2006)
A label profile for and/OAR including reviews of several releases.

- 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.

- 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).

_________________________________________

REVIEWS:

 

Source: VITAL WEEKLY  (February 2012)

Release: DALE LLOYD - TAURION TROU DE LAPIN

 

With this release this series enters its third series, although I am not sure what that
means. No doubt it has something to do with a subscription deal. The idea of the series didn't change. Its still a whole bunch of river recordings made by Cedric Peyronnet
which are being treated by composers. Sometimes in a very electronic way, rendering
the original into something new, but then also sometimes staying closer to the original
field recordings, it seems, but then put together in a new sort of collage of sounds. I
think Dale Lloyd - of the and/OAR label - is somebody who holds a balance between
both ends. While we recognize water sounds, birds and branches, there is seems also
to be some sort of sound processing going on. I am not exactly sure what that is, but my best guess is there is a fair amount of changing the sound color, along with, perhaps,
minimal sound processing through digital means, especially in the second half of the piece, but perhaps also in the first half of the piece: its just not easy to tell. Its this fine balance that makes this a great piece. You keep wondering if what you hear is real or
not. I played this a couple of times on repeat and usually I have a better picture then,
but in this case I am less and less sure. Lloyd has created a fine piece of electro-
acoustic music, based on field recordings and some highly interesting forms of sound processing, all keep within close distance of the original sounds. Moving through a

number of phases, or stages and thus creating an excellent composition. One of the highlights from the series. (Frans de Waard)

 

 

Source: WONDERFUL WOODEN REASONS  (August 2010)

Release: DALE LLOYD - 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. (Ian Holloway)

 

 

Source: BRAIN DEAD ETERNITY  (April 2010)

Release: DALE LLOYD - 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. (Massimo Ricci)

 

 

Source: SCRAPYARD FORECAST  (March  2010)

Release: DALE LLOYD - 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.

 

 

Source: TEXTURA  (October  2009)

Release: DALE LLOYD - 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.

 

 

Source: AQUARIUS RECORDS   (August  2009)

Release: DALE LLOYD - 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.

 

 

Source: TOKAFI   (April  2007)

Release: TOY.BIZARRE / DALE LLOYD: 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)

 

 

Source: TOUCHING EXTREMES  (February 2007)

Release: TOY.BIZARRE & DALE LLOYD: 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)

 

 

Source: FURTHERNOISE   (January 2006)

Release: 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)

 

 

Source: IGLOO -  Microview - Volume 25   (September 2005)

Release: 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)

 

 

Source: PHOSPHER  #18   (September 2005)

Release: 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.

 

 

Source: TOUCHING EXTREMES  (September 2005)

Release: 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)

 

 

Source: DUSTED   (August 2005)

Release: 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)

 

 

Source: RETINASCAN  (August 2005)

Release: 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!

 

 

Source: VITAL WEEKLY  #473  (August 2005)

Release: 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)

 

 

Source: E / I MAGAZINE  (Winter / Spring 2006)

Release: DALE LLOYD - 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)

 

 

Source: GA-ZETA  #40  (February 2005 )

Release: DALE LLOYD - 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)

 

 

Source: AUF ABWEGEN #35  (Winter 2005)

Release: DALE LLOYD - 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)

 

 

Source: PARIS TRANSATLANTIC  (October 2005)

Release: DALE LLOYD - 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)

 

 

Source: WIRE MAGAZINE  (July 2005)

Release: DALE LLOYD - 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)

 

 

Source: VITAL WEEKLY  #473  (May 2005)

Release: DALE LLOYD: 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)

 

 

Source: MONK MINK PINK PUNK  (July 2005)

Release: DALE LLOYD - 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 web label 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)

 

 

Source: DISQUIET  (January 2005)

Release: DALE LLOYD - TURBA / LATERAL MINOR

 

Dale Lloyd's Turba / Lateral Minor is characteristic of the net label 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)

 

 

Source: TOUCHING EXTREMES  (October 2005)

Release: DALE LLOYD - 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)

 

 

Source: WIND AND WIRE  (July 2004)

Release: DALE LLOYD - AIONIOS THE FUNDAMENT

 

For those of you unfamiliar 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)

 

 

Source: AMPERSAND ETC  (July 2004)

Release: DALE LLOYD - 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)

 

 

Source: IGLOO  (May 2004)

Release: DALE LLOYD - 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)

 

 

Source: VITAL WEEKLY  #412  (2004)

Release: DALE LLOYD - 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)

 

 

Source: VITAL WEEKLY  #388

Release: DALE LLOYD - 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)

 

 

Source: VITAL WEEKLY  #381

Release: DALE LLOYD - 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)

 

 

Source: EAR / RATIONAL  (April 2004)

Release: DALE LLOYD - 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)

 

 

Source: ReR  (November 2003)

Release: DALE LLOYD - EMINUS: HYMNS FROM THE HORIZON

 

CD in a DVD box. Distant, indecipherable sounds. Atmospheres, serious low
frequencies. Quietly fascinating. (Chris Cutler)

 

 

Source: INCURSION  #70  (August 2003)

Release: DALE LLOYD - 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)

 

 

Source: ABSURDITIES  #9  (December 2003)

Release: DALE LLOYD - 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)

 

 

Source: ReR  (November 2003)

Release: DALE LLOYD - 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)

 

 

Source: E / I  (November 2004)

Release: 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)

 

 

Source: TOUCHING EXTREMES  (August 2004)

Release: 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)

 

 

Source: TOUCHING EXTREMES  (August 2004)

Release: 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)

 

 

Source: ALL MUSIC GUIDE  (June 2004)

Release: 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)


Source: PARIS TRANSATLANTIC  (June 2004)

release: 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)