News
August 19, 2010
EXPERIMENTATION WITHOUT BOUNDARIES
• tube'|216 - Heu{s-k}ach - Un
«d'incise, our usual suspect when it comes to freejazz, teamed up with Marcel Chagrin (guitar, bass drum) and the Heu{s-k}ach project was born. This is ultimately a live only project, so all the recordings you'll find here were taken from live gigs. And believe me, you can never be so minimal as this. Effects and guitar effects. Nothing more.
'Un' marks a new direction for d'incise's musical projects. Freejazz as the starting point but with total experimentation as the language underneath. You can never have too many layers of sound, I guess. Absolutely awesome if you're into experimental freejazz and beyond.
More info about the project here.»
- Pedro Leitão
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August 08, 2010
PRETTIER ON THE INSIDE
• tube'|215 - Minimal States - Interiors
«The final album of the trilogy, ‘Interiors’, leaves the material world altogether, and is concerned only with the internal spiritual paths of the mind. The journey is now one of thought alone, not physical travel or the concerns of status, material wealth or influence. The complex balance of sounds includes many custom-made effects, and the sampling of the static from a record-player that has
long finished playing music.» - Thom Carter
«And so the trilogy has come to an end. 'Interiors' sees Thomas working his way out of more identifiable musical patterns, like syncopated beats and even guitars, making this last album perhaps the most accessible of all three. 'Structures' is so imbued in pop music languages that could easily be played on the radio or at some bar or nightclub. Solid work here.» - Pedro Leitão
Get the first two albums of the trilogy here and here.
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July 26, 2010
ABANDONED FACILITIES
• tube'|214 - Philip Croaton - Easy
«Our russian ambient master Philip Croaton returns home, this time with a reissue of a 2008 CDR-only (and very, very limited) release called 'Easy'.
Once again, he worked with long-time collaborator Ilia Belorukov on saxophone but also with Maxim V. Komov on guitar and Tatiana Komova on spoken word.
'Easy' is a deep ambient masterpiece, with heavily melancholic and sometimes dark soundscapes. Sci-fi soundtracks also come to mind when listening to 'Abandoned', specifically Cliff Martinez's 'Solaris' work - curiously or maybe not, this film is a remake of a 1972's original, by Andrei Tarkovsky, famed russian filmmaker. Another film that comes to mind is 'Stalker' (1979), also from Tarkovsky, but in this case is the ambient of the narrative itself that Croaton's music evokes, post-apocalyptic and abandoned facilities, near damaged nuclear plants and the like. 'Stalker' also inspired a video-game franchise with the same name (also russian made) in which 'Easy' would fit like a glove as soundtrack.
'Abandoned' is easily the best and most accomplished track by Croaton on this release, a true ambient masterpiece, simple, dense and deeply nostalgic.
The production design and mastering is also of note. Every single bit of 'Easy' sounds as if it was processed using very old, very vintage synthesizers and devices, giviing it all a sense of russian analogue production. You imagine rooms filled with wall-heigh electronic machinery working to produce all the sounds you hear.
Awesome work!»
- Pedro Leitão»
- Pedro Leitão
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July 18, 2010
MY DARK SPOT
• tube'|213 - Cryptic Scenery - Low Battery
«Cryptic Scenery exists as a band since 1994, but has undergone many lineup changes since then, and since june 2009 it has been unaltered: Christian H. Sötemann (the project's mentor) on vocals, electronics, percussion, guitar and other sounds; and Thomas Pertzel on saxophone, percussion and other sounds. On this particular work, Christian only plays the guitar and Thomas the saxophone.
'Low Battery' is a collection of ambient pieces, where darkness and nostalgia roam free, leaving space for just a lonely
and sad sax to tell his story, almost weeping words, telling tales of lives that are long gone. There's also a distinct sad tone, played by Christian's guitar, that transport us to the past... pretty much 90's signature ambient here. Lovely work.»
- Pedro Leitão
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July 10, 2010
TIME IS LIKE GRAINS OF SAND FALLING THROUGH YOUR FINGERS
Dear test tube fans and followers,
It seems likes ages have passed since I last posted here a news item that isn't about a new test tube release... shame on me... but I think I have some pretty good excuses.
I didn't even came to issue #21 of the newsletter yet. #20 came out last August - almost a year 'round. Time is a bitch, isn't it?
I don't want this to become an entry of some personal blog, but some explanations are in order. Besides having a 4 year old son to take care of and give some education to - I also spend time with him, playing and doing stuff fathers are supposed to do. Besides that, I was saying, a new kid is coming this way in September, so things are not getting any better than this in the next half-year or so...
I also dedicate a lot of my time to my newest activity: being a bike messenger. Doing this at the age of 36 could well be the object of a case study in male middle age crisis, but hey... the
truth is that I feel great doing this at this time in my life. I guess I needed something else too, besides work and the label project (now two labels, with Impulsive Habitat coming to full activity).
I also was getting a bit on the 'heavy' side, thanks to carrying my ass around between sofa and office chairs all day, and since I absolutely hate gyms (and people that use gyms too...) I needed some kind of physical activity out there under the sun that wasn't boring as hell. I don't fancy running that much, so... getting on top of a bike it was. From there to bike advocay (critical mass Lisbon), to fixed gear riding and to bike messaging was like 8 months or even less. 8 months and 6 bikes.
And here I am now, making
tiny amounts of money delivering packages while ripping off in the streets of Lisbon. I feel more alive than I ever was, ever.
... Anyway, what's this all about and how is this related to the label? Well, days have 24 hours and I can not do everything I was used to do when I didn't had all these variables in my life. In any case I'm not giving up test tube, so don't worry folks! Releases may come out more spaced between them, there may not be a lot of news posted here and newsletter still be sparse... but the quality of the music test tube releases
and my dedication to the label is and will ever be the same as in day one!
Thanks to all for still treading along ;)
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July 08, 2010
SCOTTISH AUDIOSCAPING
• tube'|212 - Mensa - Moorland
«'Moorland' is the outcome of a year living in Scotland. As part of Mensa project this album tries to descrive sonically my personal point of view of scottish landscape. The album is based on the idea of seeking a shared space in which sound composition and landscape can meet.
'A Drone That Grows As The Ferry Arrives' is a sonic experiment in which a drone is built according with a soundscape of a ferry arriving to the deck. The original soundscape was recorded at Mallaig, Scotland while waiting for the boat to Skye.
'Blackford Hill Quarry' is a sonic representation of a real space in Edinburgh in which the reverberation of the location is very particular. Blackford Hill Quarry is now abandoned.
'Glencoe' is a grandiloquent piece that wants to represent the scale of the Glencoe Valley juxtaposed with it's historical violent past.
And 'Moorland', the final piece is a farewell piece, a celebration of scottish moorlands, valleys and hills. Moorland is a track that flies over the territory, across mounts, trees and grass and panoramically descends to the North Sea and vanishes.
The sound source for this last piece is an original recording of the sound that grass makes on a windy day.
Finally the whole album is my personal homage to Scotland and the territory in which I have lived for one year. Moorland is an emotional soundscape work, built to be a souvenir, and a gift at the same time.»
- Edu Comelles
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June 29, 2010
GOING UNDERWATER
• tube'|211 - Project : N.A. - Insomnia/Abyss II
«psq M.O.S. is the pseudonym of a polish musician who for the first time presents his work here at test tube, under the alias 'Project : N.A.'.
The two tracker 'Insomnia/Abyss II' invests greatly in deep and dark ambient
over the course of its nearly 23 minutes. 'Insomnia' is more into the 'dark side' of sleeping disorders, or at least the first half is, while 'Abyss II' - as the name suggests - has a more deep and submersive character, I mean, most of it sounds like field recordings taken from the undercurrents of the ocean bed. The last part of this track, on the other hand, sounds like as if the submarine trip ended up in another world or another dimension.
Great stuff to listen to in the comfort of the night with a nice pair of headphones while watching underwater life documentaries.»
- Pedro Leitão
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June 16, 2010 SINGER/SONGWRITER 2.0
• tube'|210 - Aitänna77 - The Last Summer Days EP
«It is hard to believe that it was almost three years ago that we saw the last release from our dear friend Mikel Martínez, titled 'Health Needs', a concept album about a fictional life/death situation. And before that, more than five years ago, test tube was graced at the very beginnings of its existance with the short EP 'Spring is coming soon EP', which gathered some very nice words about it at the time, like for instance: '(...) a truly superb mix of acoustic and electric elements, with all the elegance of classic minimalism and all the presence of an early-1970s singer-songwriter album.' - Marc Weidenbaum dixit.
Enter his new EP, 'The Last Summer Days', another 4 tracker like the first one, equally absorbing, equally delicate and dreamy, but with a couple of differences of note. Mikel matured his sound
enough, to the point that it can now acommodate his shy singing. Aitänna77 is now, at last, a complete 'singer slash songwriter' musical project, which he seemed to sought after when he started it.
Fans of the 'old' Aitänna77 should rejoice, and fans of the new should also love the old, because it is the same... it's everything there, still... and moving.
New and beautiful songs (and a Codeine cover), the same awkward but rightly placed instruments, the same minimalistic scores and arrangements and that same seemingly out-of-place nostalgia we learned to love, that keeps us from getting grounded to a particular moment in time. 'Tarde o Temprano' feels like watching 'Verano Azul' twenty-five years later (only our spanish readers will understand this, sorry.). Such a perfect little gem!
I was really in the need for something like this. Thank you, Mikel.»
- Pedro Leitão
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June 06, 2010 PSYCHEDELIC JOURNEY
• tube'|209 - Paul Sharma - Safar
«Paul Sharma is a british artist raised in India who started producing music after a well succeeded incursion in painting. Paul gathered some friends and began writing traditional indian music with western scales. 'Safar' which we are presenting here, means 'Journey' in urdu language. Safar is Paul's attempt in relating Indian Raga music and scales with western modern composition, electronic composition. For this, Paul called some friends - including singer Rajesh David - and produced 'Safar'.
If you are keen on electronic ambient and indian classic music you should definitely
listen to this.»
- Pedro Leitão
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tube'|215
Minimal States
Interiors
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29'46'' |
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tube'|217
David Fungi
Lost Lands
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23'47'' |
Current Mixed-Media release: |
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tube'|mm002
Bogdan Dullsky
Freedom Reflex | Second
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68'23'' |
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tube'|dvd002
v/a
test tube collected works
076 ~ 124
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34h51'38'' |
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