New Bernard Parmegiani!!!!

[neuroticdog]

Perhaps appealing to a very limited group of people here...

http://www.electrocd.com/en/cat/ina_g_6048/

This news actually trumps the new archival release of Dockstader (at least for me).

best
Michael

[walt]

SoundOhm has a three and a half minute clip of one of the works from this cd.I dig.I don't have any Parmegiani in my collection, perhaps this might be the place to start.

[neuroticdog]

I've been touting BP for years on this board and you still havent picked any of his stuff up yet!!!! WTF man!!

His 12 cd box on INA GRM used to be available for a fairly reasonable price but after doing a quick check, it seems prices may have elevated a bit (unfortunately). That would have been the best place to start (and end actually... until this release). I wouldnt normally recommend a neophyte buying his complete works but, honestly, if you have even a passing interest in the acousmatic world I would feel entirely safe in doing so in the case of Parmegiani.

Thanks for pointing out the short clip...I'm even more excited after hearing that!

And, since I dont want to start another thread about an artist that very few of us may be familiar with, I'll add to this one by saying I saw Lasse Marhaug last week. In a word...OUTSTANDING! He diffused two 20 minute pieces with the first one being sourced from all acoustic sources (human voice, horns, acoustic bass, percussion) and the second one being sourced from environmental locational (near the arctic circle) sounds.

As I said, the first one was all acoustic but you would never know that in a million years. The venue had 8 large speakers circling the audience who were seated in the middle of the room with Lasse in the middle of the circular audience (follow that?). Lasse did marvelous things with that 8 channel config. creating a soundworld that seemed to permeate the very air you were breathing. Completely otherworldly.

This was outdone (!!!) by his second piece which sounded purely electronic (but wasnt, like I said...environmental sounds). Waves of swooshing noise enveloping and engulfing the audience...spleen rattling subsonics that re-arranged my internal organs...this performance might have been the closest thing I've heard in a while to emulating the second gen. French sound mages...i.e. Bayle, Ferrari and Parmegiani (see what I did there?).

Fantastic performance by Lasse to put it mildly.

best
Michael

[walt]

I've been touting BP for years on this board and you still havent picked any of his stuff up yet!!!! WTF man!!


l

Forgive me, i'm only a high school graduate.

[neuroticdog]

and forgive me for using the word "Neophyte"...I'm really not that much of a pompous twat (not that much at least)

best
Michael

[Mister Triscuits]

Man, I shelled out for that 12-CD box, and I don't have everything???

[Progmatic]

I do not mean it negatively but what is the attraction for fans of his, may I call it, music?

I am typically ok with some noise and sound oddity in my music but, for me, this guy is far, far off the beaten path.

[neuroticdog]

hmmmmm...difficult question to answer Progmatic. Why do some people like Jackson Pollock? Why do some people like Mylie Cyrus?

When I was first introduced to acousmatic music (the kind do music we are talking about here with Parmegiani) it was by a good friend whose tastes and opinions I respected. I was pretty hesitant and skeptical about even giving it a chance after the descriptions I heard about it, but...obviously I did. I knew, right from the get go not to expect traditional harmonic do-re-mi type stuff. I listened intently to him talking about the use of sounds coming from all sorts of disparate orgins being brought together and organized into...what? Something!!

So, I gave it a shot. The first piece I listened to was by a guy by the name of Francis Dhomont. Dhomont can be considered one of the contemporary masters of the genre but even he is quite up there in age. Anyway, he has a record called "Frankenstein Symphony" (cool name I thought) that consists of 4 long pieces of organized sound constructions brought in by his then time students. Dhomont proceeded to take these sounds and create something from basically...nothing. Needless to say, IMHO the result was nothing less than eye opening for me. I remember listening to this thing late at night with ear buds and being completely captivated by the (and this is key) linear nature of the journey I was being led upon.

I think linear is a key word because it shows that acousmatic music shares certain qualities with more trad musics. Themes are repeated, motifs are created, dynamics are an integral part of it all...all this stuff can be found in...hell...a Mylie Cyrus song. (Or even a Flower Kings song). Anyway, off the beaten path...sure. But for me, this sort of stuff enables me to watch a movie of my own devising that I find HIGHLY enjoyable.

So I feel this post is extremely lacking in trying to explain this to other people, but suffice to say one persons "noise and sound oddity" is another persons masterpiece.

...sorry if this makes no sense whatsoever.

best
Michael

[rcarlberg]

I do not mean it negatively but what is the attraction for fans of his, may I call it, music? I am typically ok with some noise and sound oddity in my music but, for me, this guy is far, far off the beaten path.

It's an acquired taste -- and not all everybody has Acquired the Taste. I can take Parmegiani in small doses, but like the cheese, it's not a meal by itself.

[Progmatic]

hmmmmm...difficult question to answer Progmatic. Why do some people like Jackson Pollock?

Thanks Michael ...I see some analogy to Pollock though there is one big difference between the painting and music. You can look at painting and absorb it in small doses. And then you can go away, come back to it and build up on experience. You do not have to engage with the painting longer than comfortable. Not so much music. Music composition is typically consumed in full to be appreciated. And I admire anyone who can stick with the noise music for longer than few minutes. Maybe I do not do this one right as Rcalberg indicated

[Prehensile Pencil]

Thanks for the heads-up, man !! Auto buy. Same for the Todd D. (y)

NP: Christine Groult: "ETINCELLES", because much of it fits your description quite well. >> Themes are repeated, motifs are created, dynamics are an integral part of it all...<<

To my ears, she is the ROCK N ROLL composer of Acousmatix, inasmuch as her pieces often have A- B -C & D type sections. In a weird way, it's like listening to songs with a structure, say, like King Crimson's RED. But instead of being played within specific time signatures, the segment lengths are dictated by the combinations of sounds being utilized. And the "instruments", if you will, are not traditional guitar, bass, drums etc. Rather, thinly veiled horses whinnying, tennis servers grunting, metal planks being pounded, string sections decimated, bulldozers, etc.

Not to derail too much from Bernard P., but it could well be a perfect place to start, for those wishing to explore Acousmatic music.

R-1184061-1199088397.jpeg.jpg

[battema]

Hmmmmm...some interesting possible new discoveries here for me (thanks Mike + Dave!).

Poking around Amazon, good christ the Parmegiani selections aren't cheap. There are a few Digital Music options, might be worth a splurge...

[walt]

Over the last day i've checked out a few clips of BP's work and been intrigued by two early compositions,Pop Eclectic and Jazzex(which employs a quartet of European jazz musicians:sax,trumpet, doublebass and drums).Both tunes are on a cd(NM) that Discogs has at a reasonable price and i swooped.

[chalkpie]

, good christ the Parmegiani selections aren't cheap.

Still cheaper than a big fat chunk of his parmigiano-reggiano cheese that he also makes.

[neuroticdog]

Over the last day i've checked out a few clips of BP's work and been intrigued by two early compositions,Pop Eclectic and Jazzex(which employs a quartet of European jazz musicians:sax,trumpet, doublebass and drums).Both tunes are on a cd(NM) that Discogs has at a reasonable price and i swooped.

Hi...necroposting on a dead thread but whatever...

Both of these are very early pieces by BP and I dont believe he did anything remotely close to them stylistically during the balance of his career.

That being said, they are both totally unique and quite brilliant...i think you made a great choice here!

best
Michael

[Udi Koomran]

I need that box..

De Natura Sonorum rules !

[walt]

I received this cd a couple of days ago(Matieres Premieres) and decided to listen to cd2-Matieres Premieres first.Wow.Double wow.According to the booklet notes, these 30 short "sketches", which were gleaned from BM's archives,are raw material, unfinished snippets of electronic music,to ,no doubt, be used by Parmegiani in future full fledged compositions.It is suggested that Parmegiani might have been simply getting to know a new electronic instrument or electro-acoustic setting, in these short(none over 3 minutes) pieces.

In any event, i find these to be facinating listening,approachable and filled with musical ideas,no matter that they were not finished, polished compositions.Can't wait to check out cd1.If you dig electronic music, i highly recommend this 2cd set.

[neuroticdog]

I've yet to get the new archival release so thanks for the impressions Walt. Where did you get it from, electrocd or somewhere else cheaper? As John said, this stuff aint cheap.

Udi, as you probably know, De Natura... is a classic within this field of music. Parm's name is almost synonomous with this composition, ergo making this a good place to start if you wanted a "jumping off" location. Another would be "La Creation du monde", another album length piece depicting the creation of the world. Dave Kerman gave me this cd early on in my acousmatic journey and it was pretty eye opening for me. Electronic music doesn't get much better than these two IMHO.

As long as Dave mention Christine Groult's (a baby compared to others we have been talking about in this thread), I'll throw out (as I've done many times in the past) Natasha Barrett's name. Specifically, two records..."Trade Winds" and "Kraftfelt". Both of these cd's are in 5:1 sound but, in the case of "Kraftfelt", it comes packaged with a regular 2 channel disc and, I believe "Trade Winds" is an SACD that can be played on regular two channel systems. Regardless, it doesn't matter how they are listened...the fact that they can be played multichannel is just the icing on the cake. Both of these are hands down/stone cold/monstourous masterpieces. They both, if you let them, will leave you gasping and grasping for whatever is left of your shattered psyche after playing them.

"Kraftfelt" has a piece called Prince Prospero's Party which is based on the Poe short story Masque of Red Death. Personally, I prefer not to be pre-fed ideas about music if they are intended to "depict" something so I was kinda sorry I read the liner notes first before I heard this piece. I'd much rather create my own warped and disturbed vision but in this case, knowing that it was based on the Poe story it added to the enjoyment. The word "sinister" only begins to describe this.

"Trade Winds", as you would suspect by the title has a maritime theme complete with phantasmagorical snippets of whalers song fading in and out, storms, waves crashing, big ships creaking, big ships being destroyed and sinking...and then shifitng into some kind of metaphysical world of existance in the deep blue. Ms Barrett is a genius at organizing all these sounds to tell a linear story if you choose to create one in your head. And...to me, that's the great appeal of this music...escapism of the highest order.

best
Michael

[walt]

I've yet to get the new archival release so thanks for the impressions Walt. Where did you get it from, electrocd or somewhere else cheaper? As John said, this stuff aint cheap.


Michael

Got it from electrocd.Yeah, it ain't cheap, mailed from France.

[soundsweird]

I've bought a whole bunch of electroacoustic/acousmatic stuff from electrocd. I've done a lot of that kind of music myself (although I blend in some more commercial elements, too). When I was taking electronic music classes, BP's music was played in class fairly often. I remember listening to Stockhausen and Carlos' "Timesteps" back around 1970, so I've been into this kind of stuff since before college. At this point, I believe that just about anything qualifies as "music", so I don't need rhythm or melody or even instruments as long as a piece of music's sound world is appealing to me.

[battema]

At this point, I believe that just about anything qualifies as "music", so I don't need rhythm or melody or even instruments as long as a piece of music's sound world is appealing to me.

I'm pretty much right there with you

[neuroticdog]

I've bought a whole bunch of electroacoustic/acousmatic stuff from electrocd. I've done a lot of that kind of music myself (although I blend in some more commercial elements, too). When I was taking electronic music classes, BP's music was played in class fairly often. I remember listening to Stockhausen and Carlos' "Timesteps" back around 1970, so I've been into this kind of stuff since before college. At this point, I believe that just about anything qualifies as "music", so I don't need rhythm or melody or even instruments as long as a piece of music's sound world is appealing to me.

Yeah...you and a few others are a rare commodity indeed and a thread like this is for guyz like you. Really no point in trying to convert the masses...and thats fine. Personally, I'm only about a 15 year rookie into the the world of acousmatic so, a relative newcomer. I haven't seen this happen lately, but occasionally, electrocd.com had sales which I used to pounce on in a big way. On at least two occasions I ordered at least 70-100 discs from them capitalizing on these (very) rare sales.

Some of the Pierre Henry boxes are fairly priced at Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_s...=2D4Z6YAUC1EHB

I have all of these and they are excellent so...another decent way to dip your foot in the water if you were so inclined.

Soundsweird, I vaguely remember someone here being a Robert Normandeau fan. Was that you?

best
Michael

[soundsweird]

Yes! Normandeau is one of my favorites, just listened to "Figures" the other night. I haven't been buying much of this kind of music lately, as it seems like there's not much new going on as far as sounds, mixing techniques, etc.; I'm looking for something completely different from what has come before, and I'm not hearing it...

[neuroticdog]

Well this is an interesting release. I previously only had the 27 minute version of this great latter day Parmegiani piece by the Synth trio TM+ that was available on the AGP many years ago. Now Mode records has released a "re-worked" full 45 minute version. Of course...I'm on it!!!




Best
Michael

P.S. Thanks for the heads up Walt!!

[Polypet]

Still cheaper than a big fat chunk of his parmigiano-reggiano cheese that he also makes.

Wow

BTW i agree he's fabulous. I've always admired his work. But then a lot of my own work is in this mode, his mentor Pierre Schaeffer being one of my idols. So don't go by my opinion

This is finely crafted composition, actually. Not simple "noise music" which i am NOT a big fan of. Abstract yes, arbitrary noise no.

I hadn't heard the pieces in the videos here. Thanks for that. I'll have to look them up - they were quite nice.

But I tell you what - nothing clears a room faster than putting this sort of thing on at a party