"Alexipharmaca, Mem1s second full-length album, is a collection of improvised works that capture the allure of the forbidden and dangerous, and the modern fascination with things ancient and shrouded in mystery.
The albums title is taken from a set of poems written by Nicander of Colophon, a Greek pharmacologist (fl. 197-130 B.C.E.), whose text deals with plant and animal poisons and their antidotes.
Mem1s music intoxicates with its rich textures and lavish soundscapes, but like a beautiful yet deadly flower something ominous inevitably lurks beneath the surface. While toxic substances can bring elation and seemingly endless bliss, they can be lethal in large doses. Alexipharmaca provides the opportunity to experience this sublime demise through the saturation of aural splendor."
- Interval Recordings - 2006
"+1, Interval Recordings' second release by Los Angeles-based electroacoustic duo Mem1 (Mark + Laura Cetilia), introduces listeners to a series of collaborations between the duo and nine guest artists: Jan Jelinek, Ido Govrin, Area C, RS-232, Frank Bretschneider, Kadet Kuhne, Jen Boyd, Jeremy Drake, and Steve Roden. Whether the collaborations took place in an old cabin by the lake, on a hot and hazy day in a painter's studio, or floating through the infinite void of virtual space, the resulting works act as transportive vessels. Removing us from our surroundings, they deliver us to a place that cannot exist in our daily lives, a transformative space in which impossible realities collide and time ceases to exist. Comprised of lush tapestries, fuzzy dissonances, echoed rhythms and waves of electronic wash, +1 is electroacoustic chamber music for the twenty-first century."
- Interval Recordings 2009
Do you ever listen to an album, and think more than once, no, I'm not sure I really like this, I should move on, but then at the same time it has this odd fascination that you can't quite put your finger on and you keep listening to the next track, and you concede after a while that maybe some of the tracks are good, but you're still not sure if the whole thing is actually annoying, and you have to play it again mostly from feeling irritated that you can't quite get a handle on it, and you're still not sure, but at the same time another part of your brain is starting to wonder aloud if maybe you actually really, really like it, but you still know you could be wrong?
This is that album right now. It hovers between almost-pop and experimentation.
Well, I listened to it again all the way through and I'd still describe myself as "intrigued". $6.99 on emusic, but I think I might end up going for it. Wish it were on Mtraks, I'd definitely drop for it at that price.
This I know I like:
summvs by ALVA NOTO + RYUICHI SAKAMOTO
Sounds more...mysterious to me than their previous collaborations.
ETA actually, I had held off on attending to this one when it came out recently, expecting more of what I already had enough of on Vrioon, Revep, Insen, and UTP_. But now that I am listening to it in full, first impression is that it's amazing.
I had some good buys in a charity shop yesterday - this, Bowie Changes (above) and Stan Getz which will be next on. Nothing on the Bowie CD I don't have already, but good to have them all on one CD to play in the car
@ Brighternow, thanks for the heads up about infraction arriving on bandcamp - was starting to wonder about them, their site has been quiet for a while. I *highly* recommend Vryashn.
Thanks to luddite (thank you!) and the $2 amazon gift code this album just cost me 67 cents.
Comments
Craig
So wait, the Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun would be like late morning, right?
Free hour+ long mix of psy/chillout music. Pleasant background.
ETA: to my ear this veers back and forth between rather delightful and quite annoying. Some great tracks, though.
Donato Wharton - A White Rainbow Spanning The Dark
""the interacting creatures and winds of White Rainbow feel more like arctic shorelines than descriptors of arctic shorelines: memories grafted onto the backs of storm petrels" Nayt Keane / The Silent Ballet
http://www.serein.co.uk/releases/sere11-2/donato-wharton-white-rainbow-spanning-dark
Next moving onto
Mem1 - Alexipharmaca
"Alexipharmaca, Mem1s second full-length album, is a collection of improvised works that capture the allure of the forbidden and dangerous, and the modern fascination with things ancient and shrouded in mystery.
The albums title is taken from a set of poems written by Nicander of Colophon, a Greek pharmacologist (fl. 197-130 B.C.E.), whose text deals with plant and animal poisons and their antidotes.
Mem1s music intoxicates with its rich textures and lavish soundscapes, but like a beautiful yet deadly flower something ominous inevitably lurks beneath the surface. While toxic substances can bring elation and seemingly endless bliss, they can be lethal in large doses. Alexipharmaca provides the opportunity to experience this sublime demise through the saturation of aural splendor."
- Interval Recordings - 2006
- Mem1 is Laura Cetilia & Mark Cetilia.
http://www.mem1.com/home/
Mem1 - +1
"+1, Interval Recordings' second release by Los Angeles-based electroacoustic duo Mem1 (Mark + Laura Cetilia), introduces listeners to a series of collaborations between the duo and nine guest artists: Jan Jelinek, Ido Govrin, Area C, RS-232, Frank Bretschneider, Kadet Kuhne, Jen Boyd, Jeremy Drake, and Steve Roden. Whether the collaborations took place in an old cabin by the lake, on a hot and hazy day in a painter's studio, or floating through the infinite void of virtual space, the resulting works act as transportive vessels. Removing us from our surroundings, they deliver us to a place that cannot exist in our daily lives, a transformative space in which impossible realities collide and time ceases to exist. Comprised of lush tapestries, fuzzy dissonances, echoed rhythms and waves of electronic wash, +1 is electroacoustic chamber music for the twenty-first century."
- Interval Recordings 2009
Raymond Murray Schafer @ Emusers
Do you ever listen to an album, and think more than once, no, I'm not sure I really like this, I should move on, but then at the same time it has this odd fascination that you can't quite put your finger on and you keep listening to the next track, and you concede after a while that maybe some of the tracks are good, but you're still not sure if the whole thing is actually annoying, and you have to play it again mostly from feeling irritated that you can't quite get a handle on it, and you're still not sure, but at the same time another part of your brain is starting to wonder aloud if maybe you actually really, really like it, but you still know you could be wrong?
This is that album right now. It hovers between almost-pop and experimentation.
@GP - I know the feeling, which is why we agree on not rejecting things after 1 scan I think
This I know I like:
summvs by ALVA NOTO + RYUICHI SAKAMOTO
Sounds more...mysterious to me than their previous collaborations.
ETA actually, I had held off on attending to this one when it came out recently, expecting more of what I already had enough of on Vrioon, Revep, Insen, and UTP_. But now that I am listening to it in full, first impression is that it's amazing.
I had some good buys in a charity shop yesterday - this, Bowie Changes (above) and Stan Getz which will be next on. Nothing on the Bowie CD I don't have already, but good to have them all on one CD to play in the car
- Beequeen is the project of Freek Kinkelaar & Frans de Waard (aka. Freiband, Kapotte Muziek and many others) + founder of the Korm Plastics label.
http://fransdewaard.com/
Solo Mal...among the $5 jazz albums on sale for another day or two.
Thanks to luddite (thank you!) and the $2 amazon gift code this album just cost me 67 cents.