Friday, April 26, 2013

FREE DOWNLOAD QUEIXAS with Abdul Moimême - Eye of newt

[insubcd09] QUEIXAS Eye of newt

Abdul Moimême: two prepared guitars, objects
Cyril Bondi: bass drum, objects
d'incise:laptops, objects

1. An yll wynde that blowth no man to good mp3
2. Stow the croze mp3
3. Everybody out mp3

cover jpg out & jpg in

Download in MP3 (complete album in a zip)
(39m54 / 72Mo)
Download in FLAC (complete album in a zip)
(39m54 / 782Mo)

Recorded at Namouch, Lisbon, by Joachim Monte, 29.06.2012
Mixed by d'incise

Edited as 300 cds, 18x14cm, in thin sleeve, it can be ordered via our shop page, or directly with the following paypal button. [15chf, worldwide shipping included]





The helvetico-portugese trio, formely known as "diatribes & abdul moimême", founded in 2009, abandons the ego in favor of a tight, homogeneous, construction, where human gestures and mechanical interchanged without distinction nor reasons.
His music is dense and horizontal, more rustling than noisy, it is not an imaginary landscape but a materialized presence.
The rubbed/breath, metallic rattles, resonances, meditative feedback, electrical crackling , micropulsation and repetitions, all this amalgams to form the Quexias song between post-industrial "saudade" , electroacoustic and reductionism.


Le trio helvetico-portugais, anciennement "diatribes & abdul moimême", formé en 2009, abandonne l'ego au profit d'une construction serrée, homogène, où gestes humains et mécaniques s'interchangent sans distinction ni raison.
Sa musique est dense et horizontale, plus bruissante que bruitiste, elle n'est pas un paysage imaginaire mais bien une présence matérialisée.
Les frottés/souffles, les entrechocs métalliques, les résonances, les feedbacks méditatifs, les grésillements électriques, les micropulsation et répétions, tout cela s'amalgame pour formé le chant de Quexias, entre "saudade" post-industriel, réductionnisme et électroacoustique.


*******

The helvetico-portuguese trio, formerly known as “diatribes & abdul moimême”, founded in 2009, abandons the ego in favour of a tight, homogeneous, construction…
That ‘s good to know, because at least it shows good intentions and music played with such intentions has in the past and often still does turn out to be worth listening to. Furthermore, in respect of the live procedures, d’incise tells me that the musicians re-generate a “field” that the microphones are capturing on the recording. These are good starting point from which to begin an investigatation of the music.
1. An yll wynde that blowth no man to good [9:49]
A densely textured sound field sets the tone for the album, as an expansive aesthetic is brought to bear on the music – not a trace of minimalism anywhere. Although the listener can recognise some of the sources the totality is far more interesting than a collection of nice sounds or timbres (as per the aforementioned tight, homogeneous, construction). There are serious attempts here at exploring complexity across several parameters – the inner motion and vitality of the sounds, their materiality, how they feel on the ear, and to a limited extent (this is live after all) the creation and development of the morphologies. In my opinion the best contemporary electroacoustic music, both live and compositional, takes account of these concerns. The sound field is reasonably consistent and focused throughout and never gives way to irrelevant self-indulgence. Instrumental timbres do intrude quite noticeably and shift the energy level somewhat, but again this is performance and not composition so different conditions apply. Metallic timbres in particular are explored to great effect as are a range of both close and distant sounds merged in same space.
2. Stow the croze [10:12]
This track is characterised by a preponderant low-midrange drone which could be feedback of some sort and which could be done with a good dip at 130Hz because, to be frank, it began to get on my tits after a while. It might be a function of the performance space, but I’d have thought it could be fixed at the mastering stage. Of course, the artists might like it which is fair enough. To my ears it spoils the track a bit by drowning out some well-crafted interactions, and masks to an extent a highly detailed and dynamic sound world in which elements are very cleverly abstracted from whatever sources are in play. I appreciated the definite sense of pace here, different from track 1, similar to the different tempos and mood changes of a jazz ensemble, which tells me that the players are on the same songsheet, listening well to each other, all of which goes a long way to successfully working as a true ensemble. Irksome drone notwithstanding, an intensive timbral exploration is evident throughout (as opposed to simple gestures strung out along a line).
3. Everybody out [19:53]
Although even slower paced and much longer than Stow the croze, this is actually quite an unexpectedly exciting listen, as we wait to hear which of the strands of sound – high frequency tonal sounds, hiss, widefield bassy groans, iterative shuffles – will develop and dominate the field. It delivers a stimulating and complex field with wonderful spatial depth, less on the width, and some fine blending and orchestration. As the music progresses one or two new sounds appear and we are left with and settle into an emerging and receding of the more percussive elements. Some bold explorations of the problematic low midrange come off successfully and are worthy of note, though towards the end some of the lower frequencies start to grate a little. The music becomes slightly more predictable in places but for a live performance this is full of life, invention and musical interest and to top it off gives no quarter to easy or pretty listening
Overall the music had a tangible sense of conceptual rigour and discipline. I would also point out an excellent balance of two kinds of material: that which seems to ‘run’ itself and material which is more obviously played, which has that engaging sense of agency. This balance is one of the strengths of the wider live electroacoustic project. Another strength, and one that holds promise for further investigation, is this business of working with microphones in the live environment – transforming sounds by means of contrasting close and wide-field microphone placements, mixing and merging various sub-elements of the larger soundfield, creating subtle variations within the combinations as well as radically new combinations. I think this is one of the ways that contemporary music should be heading to get out of some of the current fashionable impasses. You won’t be selling face cream with this soundtrack.
Finally, I’m intrigued by the artists’ own description of their music as between post-industrial “saudade” , electroacoustic and reductionism. Are we close to wabi-sabi here with this mention of saudade – the longing and nostalgia, perhaps a tinge of our Western melancholy as a response to the old, the perished and the imperfect?
Caity Kerr / the field reporter

Abdul Moimême (prepared guitars, objects), Cyril Bondi (floortom, objects), D'Incise (laptop, objects). re: the above write-up: I'm often forced to wonder how much the recording details contribute to that sense of "in the space" that I found a bit lacking there. Here, it's not an issue at all, everything seems as though the air in the room is integrated perfectly with the sounds, as if they emerge from the space and aren't imposed on it. Low level but active improvisation is the rule here with a wide range of tones and textures. Bondi has been an asset in every context in which I've heard him and definitely provides substantial starch here, his pulsing, almost-on-rhythm low bangs propelling matters beautifully. On the whole, the music doesn't particularly stand apart from the field but is quite strong, vibrant and alive; often, that's all I need. Solid stuff, worth a listen.
Brian Olewnick / Just Outisde

Quiexas est un trio qu'on avait déjà pu rencontrer sous le nom de diatribes & Abdul Moimême. Il s'agit donc du guitariste portugais en compagnie de Cyril Bondi (grosse caisse et objets) et de d'incise (ordinateur & objets). Les trois musiciens nous proposent ici une musique calme et atmosphérique, où les sources instrumentales, acoustiques, électroniques et électriques se mélangent au profit d'une masse légère et homogène. Quiexas joue sur la longueur, sur de longs larsens sereins accompagnés de peaux délicatement frottées et de cordes inlassablement et délicatement triturées par des barres en métal. On a du mal la plupart du temps à déterminer les sources sonores, si elles sont instrumentales ou s'il s'agit d'objet, si elles sont amplifiées, électroniques ou acoustiques. Tout se fond en une atmosphère singulière, une atmosphère granuleuse et industrielle, souvent minimaliste à tendance réductionniste, qui s'étire longuement et accumule les répétitions. Il y a une sorte d'ombre, de résonance ou de spectre qui plane au-dessus de chaque note, une ombre qui rend l'atmosphère du trio quelque peu fantomatique et fantastique même si ce dernier présente sa musique comme une "présence matérialisée". Une très belle suite de trois pièces singulières en tout cas, avec une ambiance électro-industrielle forte et prononcée, tout en se maintenant dans des formes réduites et pleines de prestance.
Julien Héraud / Improv Sphere

Moimeme is also part of Queixas, a trio of him and his two prepared guitars and objects, Cyril Bondi on floor tom and objects and D'Incise on laptop and objects. Before they were called Diatribes & Abdul Moimeme, but abandoning ego and perhaps to have a more serious musical future they choose upon the name Queixas. Their music is improvised by in very slow moves, straight forward and without sudden changes or moves. If 'improvised drone' is a new genre, then it was invented by Queixas. Touches of feedback, scratching of surfaces, rumbling of objects and all such like are used in the three pieces on this release. More electro-acoustic again than purely improvised, but in his solo disc Moimeme uses the collage form more than in this trio disc here. Quite meditative music I should think, in which all three are searching for sounds that are closely linked together, and they succeed wonderfully well in this. Excellent disc of touching surfaces.
FdW / Vital Weekly

Le projet helvético-portugais Queixas regroupe Cyril Bondi, D’incise et Abdul Moimême sur son premier essai Eye Of Newt. Là où le second nommé laissait voguer les crissements singuliers, les trois comparses invitent à un déjeuner sur l’herbe expérimentale où, certes, les bruits épars d’une civilisation post-ouvrière se font encore entendre dans le lointain. Tel un négatif, au sens photographique du mot, de La Forêt Des Mécanismes Sauvages, leur Œil de Newt jette un regard périphérique empreint de paradoxes, entre calme apparent et nerfs au bord de l’implosion. On vous laisse juges, pour ma part, j’aime – vraiment – beaucoup. Fabrice Vanoverberg / Le son du grisli

"Queixas"...a two thirds Swiss, one third Portuguese unit whose previous stage/incarnation Diatribes & Abdul Moime(me consisted of Cyril Bondi on floor toms/objects, the pseudonymous Monsieur D'Incise on laptop/even more objects and Abdul Moime(me. As a point of interest "Multitude" (a Swedish Cave 12 Orchestra release), found Diatribes in the company of veteran British improv double bassist Barry Guy. Meanwhile, Di'Incise's solo work can be located in the found sounds cabinet on the Audioton and Gruenrekorder imprints.
"Eye of Newt" sees this fiercely egoless grouping evince a sense of ultra acute foreboding from the get go, where fretful nights and daytime angst have seemingly become the norm of late. The opening "An yll wynde that bloweth no man to good" is constructed around a relatively low incident framework (recalling American experimentalists of yore; Biota), with the minute hand reduced to travelling at half speed. Time is effectively stretched, while dripping liquids and weird, distant avian chirrupings occasionally make their eldritch presence known within a dronefield of toneless electronics. Hovering feedback, sinister flutterings and monochrome sound sources on "Stow the Croze" bring to mind Paul Lytton and/or Eddie Prevost gazing in on the infinite. The closing "Everybody Out" - etherphonics in extremis for sure - insinuates itself into the grey matter with the suggestion of creaking floorboards that merge with over anxious breathtones and the worrying hiss of escaping gas. So... perhaps the allusion (in terms of menace), to Willie the Shake's witches of Macbeth in spell-casting mode ("Toe of Frog, Wool of Bat" etc etc) isn't too wide of the mark after all.
Steve Pescott / terrascope

Moimême's prepared guitars also appear on Eye of Newt, along with Cyril Bondi on bass drum and objects, and d'incise on laptops and objects. The three songs on this remarkable CD work well as a suite, with all the tunes emerging from a ghost-like atmosphere, an aural fog of haunting splendor. The first tune, "An Yll Wynde That Blowth No Man to Good," is an evocative piece that creates a windy, mysterious universe. The sounds move slowly, crackling and creaking, with distant whistling, faraway roaring, and the ancient chiming bells of a ghost vessel as it slowly penetrates a thick mist. The second piece, "Stow the Croze," further explores this eerie atmosphere, this time incorporating a high-pitched drone that moves in and out of the piece. The music continues to move at a deliciously glacial pace; this might even be what glaciers sound like as they forge their way through fields of ice. The piece is full of subtleties, creating a lush electronic torte full of rich layers.
The CD closes with "Everybody Out," and here the high pitch is front and center, the penetrating sound cutting through the amorphous fog. Yet the piece continues to explore the sounds beneath sounds, the under-noises and after-echoes; it's a muffled, muted world that's wonderfully atmospheric. Again, this music is a gorgeous field for the imagination to play inside, with sounds like enormous rusty doors being pried open after centuries of lying invisible at the bottom of the sea. The three songs comprise a stunning piece of music, a beautifully evocative soundscape that will resonate in the ears long after the music disperses.
Florence Wetzel / all bout jazz

The Swiss duo Diatribes consists of laptoppist D'incise (the alias of Laurent Peter) and percussionist Cyril Bondi. Both are key members of IMO and, as a duo, they have collaborated with many players including Jacques Demierre, Barry Guy and Jason Kahn (see YouTube below). Their 2010 collaboration with Moimême, Complaintes De Marée Basse was released on Insubordinations, credited to Diatribe & Abdul Moimême, but that trio is now called Queixas and Eye of Newt is their first album under that name.
As a threesome, Queixas definitely leans more towards electroacoustic improvisation, favouring pieces which evolve slowly and deliberately which often gives them a drone-like quality. The contributions of the three members fit together seamlessly, occasionally making it impossible to attribute a particular sound to one of the players. So, the high-pitched metallic ringing sound that appears towards the middle of "Stow the Croze" could emanate from one of Moimême's guitars (it is similar to sounds heard on his solo recording), or from the resonation of a scraped cymbal or from the laptop which, as we know, can imitate practically anything...
The beauty of Eye of Newt is that such considerations are ultimately irrelevant because the totality is of far greater importance than the contribution of any of the musicians. Paradoxically, the music can be unobtrusive enough to provide satisfying background or ambient sounds that are "just there" but it also contains sufficient complexity and detail to make fascinating listening when it becomes the focus of attention.
John Eyles / all bout jazz

Encore Abdul Moimême, cette fois en compagnie de Cyril Bondi (tambour basse et objets) et d’incise (ordinateur et objets). Bondi utilise le tambour comme surface vibrante (une onde basse fréquence fait vibrer la peau, sur laquelle on peut ensuite déposer des objets). C’est une technique qui me fascine et que j’utilise dans ma propre pratique musicale. D’où mon intérêt pour cet Eye of Newt qui propose trois improvisations libres axées sur les textures bruitistes et le jeu délicat de résonance contre résonance, grattement contre grattement. Un peu monotone en surface, mais riche en mystification (la présence d’un ordinateur rend la distinction des apports de chacun, voire la distinction entre fait acoustique, électrique et numérique, très difficile).
Andul Moimême again, this time in the company of Cyril Bondi (floor tom and objects) and d’incise (laptop and objects). Bondi is using the floor tom as a vibrating surface – a low frequency makes the drum skin, and anything you put on it, vibrate. It’s a fascinating technique, and one I use in my own music. Hence my interest in this Eye of Newt, which features three free improvisations bent on noise-based textures and the delicate interplay of resonance with resonance, grit with grit. Slightly monotonous on the surface, but rich in mystification (the presence of a laptop makes it very hard to distinguish between each musician’s contribution, or even between acoustic, electric, and digital sounds).
Monsieur Délire

Queixas es un proyecto formado por D’Incise (laptop), Cyril Bondi (bajo) y Abdul Moimême (guitarras preparadas)que gira en torno la experimentación e improvisación electroacústica. Se trata de un trabajo minimalista, de texturas sonoras. Temas largos que te sumergen en su atmósfera en equilibrio, sin ruidismos pero con cierto aire inquietante.
Oír para creer

Was im Unterbewussten sonst noch siedet, wie die Zutaten im Kessel der drei Hexen - Froschzeh, Hundszahn, Otternzung, Judenleber, Ziegengall und eben ne Handvoll gelbe Molchsaugen - das schwingt mit in Eye of newt (insubcd09). Moimême hantiert da, wie schon bei Complaintes De Marée Basse (Insub, 2010), zusammen mit Cyril Bondi (floortom & objects) & D'incise (laptop & object), aber nun unter dem gemeinschaftlichen Namen QUEIXAS. Was da so geheimniskrämerisch klingt, geht einher mit Sprüchen und Zitaten wie eben der titelgebenden Shakespeare-Floskel, mit 'Stow the croze', aus dem sich das überraschte "Stone the crows!" herausschälte, und zu Beginn gleich mit 'An yll wynde that blowth no man to good', zuerst 1546 notiert und später von Walter Scott variiert. Die Klangwelt dazu ist verhuscht, verschliffen, gedämpft, knisternd, sirrend, glucksend, pfeifend, knarzend, tröpfelnd, fein sägend und brummig rumorend. Moimême vexiert, mit großen, aber uneindeutigen Schnittmengen, zwischen dem elektronischen Beinahenichts von D'incise und Bondis manueller Mikropercussion, die, touching skilfully, mysteriously, E. E. Cummings Diktum Lügen straft, dass nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands. Mehr Dreamscape als Landschaft, weniger Gestalt als amorph schwebende Präsenz. Alle drei Egos gehen in dieser gemeinsamen Präsenz auf. Warum die Drei sich 'Klage'/ 'Beschwerde' nennen, bleibt ihr Geheimnis. Wie so vieles bei dieser Meditation über den Gesang der kleinen Dinge.
Rigobert Dittmann

Spacige Musik beschert uns das portugiesische Trio Queixas (dt.: Beschwerde, Anklage) mit seiner Veröffentlichung Eye of Newt. Es schafft mit seiner Musik Räume, die wahrhaftig extraterrestrische Welten eröffnen. Das Gehörte ist recht statisch und reduziert. Man fühlt sich wie ein Besucher einer Weltraumstation oder eines Planeten, dessen Soundscape sich durch blecherne Geräusche und sich wiederholendes Wischen und Kratzen auf diversen Gerätschaften auszeichnet. Floating in the Sky wäre für mich demnach ein passender Titel für den zweiten Track dieser Veröffentlichung, von der Band betitelt mit Stow the coze. Subtile, obertonlastige Streichsounds stehen hier im Mittelpunkt, statische lange Prozesse ohne emotionale Ausbrüche. Diese Stimmung zieht sich durch, alles klingt sehr fern und sehr dunkel. Im letzten Track Everybody out verdichten sich die Aktionen, was wirklich Spannung erzeugt und Neugierde beim Hören weckt. Wie wird es wohl weitergehen, kommt vielleicht noch ein Umbruch, der diese dahinschwirrenden Stimmungen auflöst?
kat /freistill

*******

ces enregistrements sont mis à disposition sous un contrat Creative Commons.
this recordings are under Creative Commons license.