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Runtime: 27'04''
«e:4c are H. Vasconcelos and J. Correia, a laptop duo from Porto, Portugal, and they build skyscrapers made of heavy pre and post-processed field recordings, cable static and general software sound generation. This is usually filed under 'experimental improvised electronics' and e:4c are obvious followers of Vítor Joaquim, Paulo Raposo, @c and other renowned portuguese laptop experimentalists and composers, and they are extremely good at what they do. This is laptop electronica at its best.
'Documents' contains two long and untitled pieces, #1 and #2, with many distinct moments between the two, some lighter and some deeper. While #1 is a dark themed mass of artificial inteligence sounds, filled with glitches and static, machine crunching of binary data, supported by a low hum of drones, #2 is all light: a nostalgic and emotional piece, technologically advanced, full of spectral sounds, cymbals and processed voices like some living building struggling to reach the sky high. Keeping the analogy, #1 could be the underground section of this life-pulsating tower, with all kinds of machines feeding electrical energy into the upper floors, maintaining a constant flow of information. #2 is the visible part of this living synthetic organism, it's where it all happens, where it processes and catalogues all information gathered, like a gigantic database, building floor over floor, trying to reach the infinite. Amazing stuff.»
- Pedro Leitão |
Downloads:
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• untitled #1 .............................................................................. |
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[10'52'' • 14,9Mb • 192Kbps] |
| 02 |
• untitled #2 .............................................................................. |
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[16'12'' • 22,2Mb • 192Kbps] |
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• artwork ................................................................................... |
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[PDF-Zip • 2,67Mb] |
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• all tracks + artwork ................................................................ |
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[Zip • 39,5Mb] |
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Reviews:
«This is the first review of some more to follow in order to keep up with releases that took place during my absense from the internet. In May, Test Tube 042 was released and featured the Portuguese duo e:4c, whose music could be best described as synthesis between glitch, experimental noise but also some distant remnants of ancient Krautrock. Their release “documents” shows a surprising maturity in style, suggesting that these two persons have been making music for a couple of years already. Consequently, the fact that only two tracks are offered is overcompensated by the richness of colours and gradual shifts of musical themes.
untitled #1:
slurping, scratching noise and humming from giant transformators are the base for a nocturnal journey through an imaginary nuclear powerplant. Passing bleeping noise of barred machines and air conditioners accidentally creating tonal structures.
untitled #2: like a reflection of passing clouds in broad daylight, splinterred fragments of echo drowned guitars mix up with the sharp metal noise of control devices and automatically closed security doors. A large, badly lit kafkaesque corridor without any sign of human beings.
“documents” isn’t just yet another Cuts and Clicks release. It’s an entire soundtrack to an imaginary scifi-movie and therefore highly recommended to anyone who isn’t afraid of harsher, yet well organised soundscapes.»
- A Notepet / June 28, 2006
«Documents is made of 2 untitled tracks spanning a total of 27 minutes. Untitled #1, seems like the soundtrack of a glitching documentary about data and information storage. It sounds like papers being classified, machines handling documents. All those glitching sounds contrast with the gliding undisturbable ambient background, especially on the first track where it's quite dark. Throughout Untitled #2 the subject changes with the abandon of the paper and machine clicks, letting place to a more vibrating and more unified soundscape. Another kind of glitches, blurred fragments of conversations, appear and disappear from time to time slowly making the ambience darker as it approaches the end.»
- Yassine Maaroufi [Sothzine] / June 2006
«e:4c - Documents ('|042). Test Tube est parti vers des contrées un peu prises de tête. Tout cela n'est pas très facile d'accès. Sticking Drops et maintenant ce groupe au nom presque imprononçable e:4c... On dirait du Crisding Bladading, période 2001-2003. Pour le côté libre et fou, pour le manque de respect porté à l'auditeur, pour cette volonté d'imposer. Je ne peux qu'approuver ce genre de démarche. C'est dur, mais pas déplaisant.»
- LaFresto / May 25, 2006
«A cena laptop lusa em geral e, neste caso, aquela que se difunde a partir do Porto, está mais vital que nunca. Estão constantemente a surgir novos artistas, sucedendo-se as propostas, umas mais interessantes e originais, outras porventura ainda a tentar encontrar a sua própria forma de expressão. Seja como for, um ouvido atento e interessado em descobrir a paisagem sonora construída a partir das vastas possibilidades tecnológicas oferecidas pela electrónica de computador, encontra hoje no panorama nacional uma relação muito equilibrada entre quantidade e qualidade.
Uma das mais recentes manifestações da arte de combinar sons gerados e/ou processados através das maravilhosas máquinas digitais chega via e:4c, um duo de criadores da expressão sonora electrónica, formado por H. Vasconcelos e J. Correia. Em "Documents", ep editado pela netlabel de referência test tube, o e:4c apresenta duas instalações sem título, com 10 e 16 minutos de duração, respectivamente. As composições, diversas na estratégia e no enunciado, mas afins no método e na linguagem que exercitam, combinam séries de sons electrónicos experimentais, dispostos em camadas que se agregam através de drones subtis, massas de glitch, com o restolhar de resíduos digitais, vestígios de vozes humanas e gravações de campo sintetizadas (“#2”) num trabalho textural de bom nível, constituindo assim uma amálgama leve de poeira espacial que ora levanta ao sabor de ventos que sopram de várias direcções, ora assenta formando um depósito de cristais finos, coloridos e multiformes. H. Vasconcelos e J. Correia assinam um trabalho de improvisação digital muito interessante, equilibrado e com sentido direccional.»
- Eduardo Chagas / May 22, 2006
«Test tube continues releasing some pretty awesome abstract / experimental / avant-garde electronica. e:4c's 'Documents' is some really beautiful record, sounding like a big droning canvas splashed with awesome surrounding sounds all over. Some of the best records of 2006, no question about that.»
- Lezrod [EARLabs] / May 19, 2006 |
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Copyleft:
cover:
©2004 Henrique Pinto Alves
©2006 aeriola::behaviour
music:
©2005 H.Vasconcelos & J.Correia
©2006 test tube
This work is licensed under a
Creative
Commons License.
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