Ivan Zoloto, a Karelian musician and artist based in Barcelona is releasing his new album “Pleasure Prison” on the freshly-minted label School of the Arts. Recommended if you like: dark drone and ambient, experimental electronics, raw minimalism, noise, and free-floating strings.
Just like Zoloto’s previous release, “Ghosting” on the Russian CANT label, “Pleasure Prison” is deeply immersed in psychogeography: before relocating to Spain just before the pandemic the artist has been constantly on the move. The new long-play has been composed and recorded in Russia and China but finalized in Barcelona. It’s important to note that there are no field recordings, but some of the compositions have been recorded live and later reassembled in the studio.
The title track is a 35-minute-long composition for laptop, live electronics, and an improvising violinist. It was recorded with Russian-Finnish multi-instrumentalist Sasha Kretova in Petergof, with Zoloto performing in his favorite mode: as a dub engineer, with a laptop, a mixing desk, and some Soviet and handmade effects. It fuses his two main passions together: the raw and improvised side of drone music (think Vibracathedral Orchestra) and heavily processed electronics moving at a glacial pace with distant bass explosions.
Tracks “Problem no. 1” and “The Door Is Open” document Zoloto exploring another side of his heritage: here he’s playing jouhikko, a Karelian-Finnish bowed lyre, in a very aggressive and rude manner. He then treats it via half-broken tape recorders, conjuring some funeral noise-folk dirges.
The “Voice Message”/”Elevator Scene” suite starts off with LSS (also known as L.I.E.S.-affiliated artist 51717) whispering “pleasure prison” in a Facebook voice message and follows that with almost-techno-sounding hi-hats, ice-cold chords, and crude electronic loops performed live in Shanghai through assorted guitar amps. The result has been described by one listener as “Tim Hecker meets Hijokaidan”.
The overall mood is summarized in the following epigraph:
“I drive around the perimeter of the city like a dog marking its territory, over bridges and under bridges, the way I used to stalk the edges of my small hometown. This is mine. Nothing bad will happen here if I patrol the streets like a crazed vigilante. I drive my mother's car like it's a Panzer and the streets are my enemy, and I'm feeling bad and stupid and mean.”
⏤ Miriam Toews
released February 26, 2021
Ivan Zoloto: electronics, CPU, strings (2–3), tape (2–3) Sasha Kretova: violin (1, 6) LSS: voice (4) Dale Cornish: CPU (6)
Avant-garde cosmic sounds from Senegal, “Yaral Sa Doom” is a
groundbreaking album spanning borders and musical scenes. Inspired from
West African tradition, Sufi praise songs, spiritual jazz, and dub
rhythms, the effect is a genre defying entry in outernational sound.
Hypnotic percussion loops across sweeping pads, call and response chants
echoes layer over electronic beats, and children’s voices sing out to
recordings of crashing waves.
Stereolab - Emperor Tomato Ketchup - Full Album (8-Bit)
Possibly a work of genius; and this the same week as another friend pointed me to the video of Kermit the Frog singing Talking Heads' Once In A Lifetime!
Having another listen today seeing as I need to get a bit more mileage out of the cost of getting these two over from Japan via DHL. Wonderful playing and yes Oki not only played but built trumpets looking like that.
^^@greg, @peterfrederics thread has been perfect timing for me as Covid has me spending time with my vinyl and cassettes. When my wife's retirement plan finally starts coming in we should have a little extra to spend. I've got a Wishlist a mile long now. By the way, I was taking @Brighternow's lead on those. Seems we all had a thing for CSNY. These will finish off my 70's "C's" for now. The Crusaders 1977 Free As The Wind 1979 Street Life
^^Still Wow!! First time I've played them all together according to lastfm. They just sounded beautiful! It's that kind of Sunday morning... The Cure 1980 Boys Don't Cry 1980 Seventeen Seconds 1981 Faith 1983 The Walk
^^Thanks, I did go back and listen to the original again and then back to the cover again to fully get it. He certainly has a way of taking it right to its core. The Cure have a special spot for me, not only because Smith has one of those voices that really connects with me but the music is always so interesting. Seventeen Seconds was my first and still favourite of their albums and I'm happy to have them all in my library. I'm not sure I'll get around to visiting them again but I'll keep trying. The Cure 1984 The Top 1985 The Head On The Door 1989 Disintegration 1996 Wild Mood Swings
Well, I was sad to find that the link for the Edges album no longer works, but he's generously gifting everybody with another Christian Wolff album. So, a big thank you to Matt Smiley and thanks to @Doofy for the introduction. 2021 Christian Wolff : Burdocks Free Cobra Ensemble + Christian Wolff 2010 Christian Wolff: Edges
Der Plan - Geri Reig. The first Der Plan album. Sort of a Residents take on minimal synth pop via Neue Deutsche Welle. Some catchy tunes amongst the zany behaviour.
Comments
Pleasure Prison
by Ivan Zoloto
Just like Zoloto’s previous release, “Ghosting” on the Russian CANT label, “Pleasure Prison” is deeply immersed in psychogeography: before relocating to Spain just before the pandemic the artist has been constantly on the move. The new long-play has been composed and recorded in Russia and China but finalized in Barcelona. It’s important to note that there are no field recordings, but some of the compositions have been recorded live and later reassembled in the studio.
The title track is a 35-minute-long composition for laptop, live electronics, and an improvising violinist. It was recorded with Russian-Finnish multi-instrumentalist Sasha Kretova in Petergof, with Zoloto performing in his favorite mode: as a dub engineer, with a laptop, a mixing desk, and some Soviet and handmade effects. It fuses his two main passions together: the raw and improvised side of drone music (think Vibracathedral Orchestra) and heavily processed electronics moving at a glacial pace with distant bass explosions.
Tracks “Problem no. 1” and “The Door Is Open” document Zoloto exploring another side of his heritage: here he’s playing jouhikko, a Karelian-Finnish bowed lyre, in a very aggressive and rude manner. He then treats it via half-broken tape recorders, conjuring some funeral noise-folk dirges.
The “Voice Message”/”Elevator Scene” suite starts off with LSS (also known as L.I.E.S.-affiliated artist 51717) whispering “pleasure prison” in a Facebook voice message and follows that with almost-techno-sounding hi-hats, ice-cold chords, and crude electronic loops performed live in Shanghai through assorted guitar amps. The result has been described by one listener as “Tim Hecker meets Hijokaidan”.
The overall mood is summarized in the following epigraph:
“I drive around the perimeter of the city like a dog marking its territory, over bridges and under bridges, the way I used to stalk the edges of my small hometown. This is mine. Nothing bad will happen here if I patrol the streets like a crazed vigilante. I drive my mother's car like it's a Panzer and the streets are my enemy, and I'm feeling bad and stupid and mean.”
⏤ Miriam Toews
released February 26, 2021
Ivan Zoloto: electronics, CPU, strings (2–3), tape (2–3)
Sasha Kretova: violin (1, 6)
LSS: voice (4)
Dale Cornish: CPU (6)
1974 Teasin'
1969 Crosby, Stills & Nash 1970 Déjà Vu
1971 4 Way Street
I'm following Confused, thanks for the reminder
These will finish off my 70's "C's" for now.
The Crusaders
1977 Free As The Wind 1979 Street Life
The Clash
1978 Give 'Em Enough Rope 1979 The Clash
1980 London Calling 1980 Sandinista!
1982 Combat Rock 1985 Cut The Crap
1982 Lullabies 1983 Head Over Heels
1985 Treasure + Aikea-Guinea 1986 Victorialand
It's that kind of Sunday morning...
The Cure
1980 Boys Don't Cry 1980 Seventeen Seconds
1981 Faith 1983 The Walk
The Cure
1984 The Top 1985 The Head On The Door
1989 Disintegration 1996 Wild Mood Swings
and for a snappy version
1985 Love 1987 Electric
he's generously gifting everybody with another Christian Wolff album. So, a big
thank you to Matt Smiley and thanks to @Doofy for the introduction.
2021 Christian Wolff : Burdocks Free
Cobra Ensemble + Christian Wolff
2010 Christian Wolff: Edges
Christian Wolff - Hildegard Kleeb, Roland Dahinden, Dimitris Polisoidis
1994 For Ruth Crawford
1971 Cornelius Cardew & The Scratch Orchestra 1985 Cornelius Cardew Memorial Concert
UbuWeb - The Great Learning UbuWeb
2006 Consciously 2014 Matt Smiley/Cornelius Cardew
UbuWeb -Treatise Live!
No longer at Bandcamp either.
2011 The Fastest Way To Become The Ocean 2018 Full Circle
2007 Aras
I was lucky enough to get this from Emusic before it disappeared. Most enjoyable listen!
1984 Music For The Texts Of Ishmael Reed 1988 Cab Calloway Stands In For The Moon
2005 Bad Mouth
2007 23 Seconds 2010 The Modern Deep Left Quartet