New Dhomont

[neuroticdog]

For me, this is huge and great news!

Francis Dhomont, acousmatic artist has recently come out with a new release:

https://electrocd.com/en/album/6085/...Images_nomades

It says available on 11/16/2020 but I was able to grab the download a few weeks ago, not sure if that is doable now though.

Anyway, you can listen to lots of samples on the above site.

Dhomont is not normally put into the category of the 1st and 2nd gen. acousmatic masters (like Parmegiani, Bayle, Ferrari, Ferreira, Henry, Schaeffer (duh), etc etc) but in my opinion he deserves to be. I believe he's in his 90's now and the fact that he's still releasing wonderful music in this day and age is an absolute godsend and gift to all that like to listen to this kind of thing.

This release finds him doing new and fresh things with the 21st Century tech at hand...and the result sounds like it's from the 23rd Century (yeah, thats right, I skipped right over the 22nd Century, thats how forward thinking this is!). I believe this release will not only please fans of the more outre sounds of the acousmatistas (might be a few of you here) but will also resonate quite well with fans of forward thinking Electronic music in general. So, if you fall into one of those camps, you may want to check this out.

Currently, and for the past few months I have been binging on Francois Bayle (moley holey, what an experience that has been...talk about bleeding edge) but, with this Dhomont release, this will be my bridge to revisiting his entire catalog next. Good times...Good times.

Before I finish though, let me digress a little. I do most of my acousmatic listening though earbuds. I believe this medium is very well suited for these types of sounds. I recently, at the prompting of a friend, was turned on to this little thing:

https://www.amazon.com/AudioQuest-Dr...r%2C150&sr=8-5

I'm sure there are quite of few of you here that are already using something like this DAC converter but...it was new to me, and was suggested by a trusted friend who knows of such things.

Welp...this thing has become a game changer...no, a life changer for me. The entire sounds stage feels like it's been widened out and I now hear things that are completely new to me. I've been using this device for my Francois Bayle listening and it's like discovering music all over again. Look, I don't want to gush like a teenage girl after her first kiss but...holy christmas!!! What's old is new again. I haven't even listened to anything else beyond acousmatic music with this yet, but I can just imagine what a good vintage jazz release is going to sound like.

Definitely...good times.

best
Michael

[soundsweird]

I have some Dhomont. Back in the 90's, I was buying tons of albums on this label, many of them by Canadian electroacoustic composers who were "disciples" of Dhomont. I must say that the albums I have on this label are some of the best-sounding albums I've ever heard. So, I listened to the samples of Dhomont's new album on the electrocd website, as well as samples of the newest albums by other favorite composers like Normandeau and Gobeil, but I don't really hear anything that sounds much different from their 90's stuff. I was taking electronic music classes at UT Austin until a few years ago, and I noticed the same thing with all of the electronic compositions I was hearing there. Anyway, good to see Dhomont (born in 1926) still doing it at this time. Most people his age can't even hear anymore!

[neuroticdog]

Hi Soundsweird,

Thanks for your reply, I was actually kind of waiting for you to say something because I remember you have replied several times in the past, especially when the Empreintes Digitalis label comes up.

I have some Dhomont. Back in the 90's, I was buying tons of albums on this label, many of them by Canadian electroacoustic composers who were "disciples" of Dhomont. I must say that the albums I have on this label are some of the best-sounding albums I've ever heard.

Totally agree with this!!! I have never heard an ED release that didn't sound less than pristine. I think the fact that the sound quality is so good on these releases comes part and parcel with the whole genre. Modern recording techniques were and are very important in bootstrapping this whole style of music up to its current state. Other labels such as INA, Motus, Sub Rosa and many others share the same qualities. Good sound comes with the territory here.

So, I listened to the samples of Dhomont's new album on the electrocd website, as well as samples of the newest albums by other favorite composers like Normandeau and Gobeil, but I don't really hear anything that sounds much different from their 90's stuff. I was taking electronic music classes at UT Austin until a few years ago, and I noticed the same thing with all of the electronic compositions I was hearing there

I've heard other people say this too and admittedly, I think there are alot of composers out there that are falling into a sort of lazy rut. I hear alot of things that seem to "fall back" into old techniques used by their predecessors or teachers that I have heard 25 years ago. Not a bad thing, if they worked for me back then, they will still work for me now but...nothing really groundbreaking in many instances. By no means am I saying that this should put you off from buying this music. The very fact that these techniques have been passed down through the decades is reason enough to believe in their timeless nature.

It's the "others" though that I find (and they are out there) where the music causes me to raise an eyebrow and think, "wow...thats something I haven't heard before". I definitely think this new Dhomont release is in this category. Once I find something like this, it's pure gold to me.

One last point. The source sounds to create Acousmatic music are hypothetically unlimited. Any sound in existence whether it be natural or synthetic can conceivably be used as a source. This fact alone means that the styles potential basically has an infinite greenfield of possible untapped ideas that can be molded and used as building blocks to create compositions. This excites me.

best
Michael