New & Notable releases

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Comments

  • @jonahpwll: I haven't had an active membership for a long time and I can still get the daily download. AFAIK it's working for other people as well. Do you not have a Download Free Track button when you go to http://www.emusic.com/dailydownloads/toolbar/main.html?
  • @Dr. Mutex:

    Thanks for that link. I didn't come back here in time to pick up that Ensemble track, but I'll have that link for next time. I rarely would take the free track. I'd listen to the sample and be done with it before the half way mark. But the times I did try to download it by hitting the link on the main emusers page, it would always ask me to login. And I don't think I was ever able to find the daily download by going through the main emu site; I think I always had to go through emusers. Dunno. But thanks for the link and I'll give it a shot next time I see a song that I want.
    Cheers.
  • - New on Emusic:

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    Nels Cline, Alan Licht, Lee Ranaldo & Carlos Giffoni
    "A constantly shifting and engaging long-form piece of developed drone, foreboding melody, and harsh grit, Nothing Makes Any Sense finds Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth), Nels Cline (Nels Cline Singers, Wilco), and Alan Licht pushing their guitars into a cacophonous state that bears much influence from the post-jazz fields they've all cut their teeth in, but also bearing down a forceful brutality that has sometimes eluded their past material. While Carlos Giffoni uses his analog Synth mastery to adequately contend and mesh seamlessly with the trio of strings, letting his analog noise pulsate and pierce with its own sense of contained stampede."
    - No Fun Productions
  • eMusic has a new label - Beeswing, which is nothing but live or something Richard Thompson releases. Why did I hear about this only by accident by checking out okieramblers January downloads?
  • edited February 2011
    New on Emusic:

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    This Heat - Repeat - 1993 (recorded 79-80)

    These are incredibly lengthy tracks and may not hold all attention spans. Nonetheless an essential album, and according to Martin Walters: "Repeat is an extraordinary piece of tape loop, guitar, bass, drums, and electronics that picks up the mantle of rock experimentation left by Can and Faust and creates a sound so influential as to echo well into the next decade. Fans of Tortoise, Brise-Glace, Photek, Oval, and Mouse on Mars take note: It all started with this.

    Edit: Tagged as a Charles Hayward album but is in fact a This Heat album (Charles Bullen, Charles Hayward & Gareth Williams)
  • @jonahpwll: There's an RSS feed somewhere that has the last several daily downloads (it's not from eMusic). They used to remain available to download for a few days. Don't know if that still works. I looked for the link but I don't have it. Perhaps someone else here has it.
  • edited February 2011
    -Just one more from the drop in from Chris Cutler's RER Megacorp label:

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    Streichquintett > Ensemble United Berlin
    Schlagzeug > Chris Cutler
    Klavier > Jeffrey Burns
    Perkussion > Dirk Wucherpfennig, Edwin Kaliga
    Lutzglandien.de
  • New Henry Kaiser one track album, $0.79 for 69 minutes, not bad - A Little Stroke of Light - Live Solo Guitar 2010.
  • edited February 2011
    I have no idea who anyone is except Edith Piaf but since there haven't been many 100 songs for $5.99 lately here it is- 100 grandes chansons francais. Bon chance.

    Actually some of them I have heard of, and even Tino Rossi who I remember getting several free albums from at Amie.
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    Gerald Cleaver - "Be It As I See It"

    Very avant-guard with some orchestral flourishes. This isn't the kind of sound my ears are interested in these days, but I can't stop listening to this album... it's that engaging, almost hypnotically.

    http://geraldcleaver.bandcamp.com/

    Someone on the emu forum pointed this album out. Don't know who, but give them my thanks.
  • edited February 2011
    Just in @ Emusic:

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    DEAF CENTER: Owl Splinters (TYPE 080)
    It's hard to believe that six years have gone by since Deaf Center's Pale Ravine hit the shelves. In the time that's passed, the distinct melodies of Norwegians Erik Skodvin and Otto Totland have become almost synonymous with a specific shard of mysterious imagery so it feels high time that the duo should return to add a new next chapter to their shadowy story. In contrast to Skodvin and Totland's previous work, Owl Splinters was recorded in a studio setting (Nils Frahm's Durton studio, to be exact), and the lo-fidelity, haphazard techniques of their early recordings are now all but gone. With the benefit of some high-end engineering and analog equipment, Skodvin and Totland's murky compositions have been transformed from sketches into glorious widescreen spectacles. The blackened, scraping tone of Skodvin's strings ring out on the album's opener "Divided" before seismic bass drones push up from beneath with a cacophonous, earthy clarity. This is the same Deaf Center we fell in love with all those years ago, but bigger and more powerful than ever before. Between these epic compositions, the two musicians take time to give their own solo instruments the time to breathe -- Totland on the piano and Skodvin on the cello. These small vignettes are crucial to the overall narrative of Owl Splinters, allowing a crack of sunlight through the oppressively bleak atmosphere. Everything slots into place on the album's centerpiece "The Day I Would Never Have" -- piano and cello tumble into each other, forming a dense, affecting cloud of sound. Echoes of half-remembered horror movies, love songs and the dark arts come together in a Norwegian cauldron to reveal something that at its heart is deeply moving and beautiful. Deaf Center are back, and Owl Splinters might just be their most defining statement to date.
    - Forced Exposure Newsletter.
    - Streamable @ Soundcloud.
  • edited February 2011
    Another must have for me:

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    TIM HECKER - Ravedeath, 1972 - (Kranky 154)
    "Tim Hecker's latest work approaches a form of secular musical transcendentalism from within the battered temple of spirituality. Recorded in a church in Reykjavik, Iceland and using a pipe organ as the primary sound source, this new piece is essentially a live recording. In reality, it exists in a nether world between captured live performance and meticulous studio work, melding the two approaches to sonic artifice as a unity. It is in parts a document of air circulating within a wooden room, and also a pagan work of physical resonance within a space once reserved for the hallowed breath of the divine. While the title of the piece 'Hatred of Music' might be a clue, the album is also partly an attempt to confront a pervasive negativity surrounding music. Historical rituals of destroying pianos, mountains of pirated CDRs pushed by bulldozers in Eastern Europe, or the melancholy of the digital music era began as sideline motifs which quickly informed the work on this record. They also really didn't at all. Despite that the context is wide open in such a form of musical abstraction, the substance of these immersive compositions showcases Hecker's continued mastery of organizing sound into a visceral near entity. It is an almost physical presence that the listener feels as much as hears. This work is a significant contribution to Hecker's oeuvre, one which spans over ten years of musical production. Ravedeath is an enigmatic document of beauty and force. The album was recorded mostly over the period of one day in July of 2010. Iceland-based musician Ben Frost assisted with the engineering and performs on this recording."
    - Forced Exposure Newsletter[/url]
  • edited February 2011
    The prog/rock/jazz band The Offering has released a box set of previously released material.

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    It's new to me. I've never been a huge progrock fan, if that even what this is... my google results seemed to think it was. From the samples, it reminds me a lot of the late sixties/early seventies Alice Coltrane/Pharaoh Sanders/Joe Henderson jazz mysticism sound that was going on, a sound I always have found quite enjoyable. I'm gonna see about getting a better listen than samples before plunking down cash to buy a box set on a new (to me) band, but what I've heard so far is pretty cool.

    I think it's a download only deal. I didn't see any physical box sets other than the pricey ones that have been out there for awhile.
    It's available for twenty bucks on the U.S. 7Digital site and twenty four bucks on emusic. Plus, the sound quality is likely gonna be much better from the 7digital site (320k) versus the mixed grab bag of sound quality that emusic is cementing its reputation on (potentially as low as 158k). I don't know if Amazon is selling the downloads or not; I gave their search engine two shots at it then gave up.

    If anyone knows a legal site where I can stream some of this, don't hesitate to raise your hand. Meanwhile, I'll start my own search later this afternoon.

    http://us.7digital.com/artists/offering/offering/

    http://www.emusic.com/album/The-Offering-Offering-MP3-Download/12324474.html
  • edited February 2011
    The label suggests to me that it's a Magma album
    Edit: It is.
  • Apparently a post-Magma ensemble was called "The Offering" and it was a separate and distinct entity from Magma, though it was also led by Christian Vander. But this is only what I've read today, so I'm not offering it as any kind of definitive statement.
    There's some serious prog-rock guys over on AAJ, so I'm waiting to see their responses to my crosspost there.
  • What ho? Brand new, with contribs by the Bad Plus, Esperanza, Kurt Rosenwinkel, many others.

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    5 bucks at 7dig, I may take a flyer...
  • Also of interest to many here:

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    Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will by Mogwai

    New release today. Mogwai are a band that thoretically I ought to like, as I like most of the bands that are said to be like them. And there are some Mogwai tracks that I like a lot. But there's something hard to pin down about their overall vibe that doesn't quite connect with me a lot of the time...and then there are those few great tracks that keep me paying attention when they release a new album. And this one is currently $5 at 7Digital, which might conceivably tempt me.
  • Okay, here's a fairly easy one: I could take my eMu account off hold status to buy the new Dears album for $6.99, or I could just buy it from the Dears' label, Dangerbird Records, for $8.99.

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    If it were 12 credits I might consider it, but viewing it in this context it's kind of a no-brainer, really.
  • edited February 2011
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    A Static Place by Stephan Mathieu
    Similar in some ways to his Transcriptions collaboration, at first listen less grainy. (Looking for Transcriptions, I notice that it and the Spekk label have been pulled from emu.)
    A Static Place, Mathieu’s most recent release, puts the turntables at the beginning of the creative process; the genesis of the music is simply the playing of the records in real time, albeit via unconventional means. Mathieu culls the sound the old-fashioned way, with cactus needles on a pair of 1930’s-era portable wind-up Gramophones. But as soon as the sound waves hit the air, they’re brought rudely into the 21st century, as the source material is captured by a pair of microphones and digitally manipulated by Mathieu’s computer. The Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque strains, played largely on obsolete instruments, are reconstituted as ambient streams of tones and textures via the use of spectral analysis and convolution. Mathieu isn’t as interested in the physicality of the platters as artists like Marclay and Philip Jeck, and A Static Place expunges almost wholly the snaps, cracks and pops that are often on display (typically to a fetishizing degree) when using records this old. The tonal qualities of the original performances are most of what survives, carried over through the conversion process and reincarnated as the beautiful, ghostly quintet of tracks that make up A Static Place.
    - Dusted Reviews
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    Provocative and intense, Bang on a Can and Cantaloupe Music founder, Julia Wolfe's music combines minimalist techniques, repetitive rhythms, sustained harmonies with a rock sensibility.

    Cruel Sister, written for string orchestra was commissioned by the Munich Chamber Orchestra and received its US premiere at the Spoleto Festival in 2009. The piece recounts a grisly tale of sibling rivalry, inspired by a haunting English ballad. "I was fascinated and horrified by the overwhelming greed and jealousy of the tale," says Julia. "My "Cruel Sister" is a search to unravel this human dilemma."

    Fuel, on the other hand, is a collaboration with filmmaker Bill Morrison which examines the impact of globalization. Commissioned by Ensemble Resonanz, a Hamburg-based group of 18 musicians, Fuel was premiered in 2007 as a multi-media performance. The ideas for the piece came about through conversations related to the necessity and controversy of fuel. Ensemble Resonanz violinist, Juditha Haeberlin then challenged Wolfe to create something virtuosic, something to push the limit?s of the ensemble. Her request merged with the sounds of transport and harbors - New York and Hamburg - large ships, creaking docks, whistling sounds and a relentless energy.
    - Cantaloupe Music 2011
  • edited October 2016
    From a brand new label, Preservation @ Emusic:

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    Fabio Orsi - Stand Before Me, Oh My Soul - (2011)
    Fabio’s prolific output has had him heralded as a master of modern ambience, creating rich, freeform atmospheres with organic instrumentation and processed sounds. Though known for momentous pieces of hypnotic power, this work marks a dynamic new turn in Fabio’s sound. The force of his composition takes more of an overt stance on Stand Up Before Me, Oh My Soul!. The raw and primal pulse at the heart of his music is writ large here with a punk mindset, unleashing a heady mass of guitars against a backdrop of cavernous, shimmering distortion and crashing drums. (courtesy of Rich Baker, who also performs regularly with Nadja’s Aidan Baker) It also boasts a bristling sense of lysergic, hazy melody.
    Brutal and glimmering, dark and beautiful, Stand Up Before Me, Oh My Soul! drops loud and large in pursuit of pure dissonant bliss.

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    Fabio Orsi & Valerio Cosi - Thoughts Melt In The Air - (2009)
    The Preservation label presents Thoughts Melt in the Air, the second album from the pairing of Italian composers Fabio Orsi and Valerio Cosi.
    Both Orsi and Cosi have become recognised widely internationally for their prolific solo output and kindred spirits in creating momentous soundscapes that ring with lyrical feeling. Still in his early 20s, Valerio Cosi has released a seemingly endless stream of work that swirls around giddily in a sweep of heady free-jazz (his main instrument is tenor saxophone), homespun psychedelia and Krautrock rhythm. Similarly unfaltering in his release schedule, Fabio Orsi’s work draws from a more electronic palette with a quieter, pastoral scope featuring gentle washes of piano, guitar and percussion.
    Over these four extended pieces, the pair reveals an intimate detailing of sound while going widescreen in pursuit of the epic. Wistful, yearning and melancholic, Thoughts Melt in the Air traces the celestial, emotive sound of enigmatic 4AD acts This Mortal Coil and Cocteau Twins, perfectly pitched between dream-pop vibes and deep ambience. Moreover, it harks back to the absorbing, meditative qualities of Popol Vuh and classic-period Eno, often coupled with the primal and hypnotic tension of rock ‘n roll in its pulse.
    Whatever the elements, Thoughts Melt in the Air altogether represents a great meeting of minds.
    - Preservation.
    Other artists on Preservation:
    Black Eagle Child, Area C, Sophie Hutchings, Ben Swire, Caethua, Early Songs, Eddie Marcon, Evan Miller, Heather Woods Broderick, Nicola Ratti, Oliver Mann, Ous Mal, Pimmon, Post, Rand and Holland, Steffan Basho-Junghans, Tan or Boil, Tara Jane ONeil, Tom Carter & Robert Horton, Tom Carter & Christian Kiefer
  • edited March 2011
    -Arrived yesterday @ eMu:

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    - And today @ Bandcamp - (€4.-)
    "The self-proclaimed sound poet Marsen Jules generated quite a lot of buzz with his classical inspired ambient album "Les Fleurs" that was originally released on the Berlin based label City Centre Offices in 2006. Eight musical miniatures were carefully selected to appeal to fans of home listening classics such as Kompakt's well-known "Pop Ambient" series. Throughout the whole album, Marsen created a complex web of sounds, consisting of musical fragments of harp, vibraphone and classical jazz sounds. "Les Fleurs" was often described as a timeless piece of heartfelt music, whose title was always more to Jules' than just a reference to the simple beauty of floral arrangements. The tracks on the album were supposed to resemble the whole life-span of a flower from its beautiful blossom to its bittersweet decay. For his live act, Marsen Jules gets accompanied by his long term friends Anwar and Jan-Phillip Alam on violin and piano. Out of this cooperation grew the Marsen Jules Trio, which is now proud to present their first EP, "Les Fleurs Variations". The four tracks, released on Marsen's own label OKTAF, are only a small appetizer of what to expect from them in the near future. On "Les Fleurs Variations", the spheric ambient sounds of the original get enriched by the organic violin and piano play of the Alam brothers. The result is reminiscent of the timeless modern classical arrangements of the likes of Eric Satie, Olivier Messiaen and Claude Debussy. "Les Fleurs Variations" is an impressive cooperation that has both tranquil and frantic moments."
    - My two cents from first listening:
    Is it Gorgeous ? or maybe Oh.....My.....God ! ?
    - I can't say, but by all means, give it a listen.
  • edited March 2011
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    "empusae is a project created by sal-ocin who is also a member of various other projects such as this morn' omina, tzolk'in, project arctic and also works as a live member of ah cama-sotz and in slaughter natives. sal-ocin is always open-minded about working together with other artists, as can be heard on this album: a liaison with manabu hiramoto a.k.a. shinkiro from osaka, japan who collaborated with artists like contagious orgasm, hybryds and jack or jive, and who has also made releases under the name kotodama. organic.aural.ornaments is based mostly on track-sources from manabu supplemented by sal-ocin. both artists' aural characteristics merge perfectly: shinkiro's cinematic dark soundscapes with a meditative touch blend with empusae's haunting ritualistic ambience and enthralling melodies. varied rhythmic structures ranging from tribal to minimalistic sequences loom out of the vast, lamenting synth sounds - a kaleidoscope of ethereal atmospheres, both enthralling and enchanting. in sal-ocin's words, the term 'organic' fits perfectly concerning the result of this collaborative work. two artistic minds fused into one, creating a movie without visuals or dialogue. organic.aural.ornaments is waiting for you to step through the frame and into an imagined world, and we highly recommend taking the chance."
    - Ant-Zen 2011.
    - Streaming of track 4 @ Soundcloud. (Brilliant !)
  • edited March 2011
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    Wires Under Tension - Light Science - (Western Vinyl, 2011)
    "Bronx duo Wires Under Tension play a fluttering post-'90s post-rock churn without the introspection or meandering--in essence, they go in for the kill. Like Tortoise fueled by Hot 97, the cycling minimalist rhythms of violinist Christopher Tignor and drummer Theo Met (both of YIMBY vets Slow Six) are more a suckerpunch than a slow boil, aiming straight for the chiming, resonant and anthemic in five-minute bites. The songs on their debut album, Light Science (due February 8 on Western Vinyl), explode with multi-layered walls of strings, Eyvind Kang-informed horn lines, and all sorts of digital love--all held down by the roiling and naked drumming of Metz. First taste "Mnemonics In Motion" is more music than two men should reasonably be able to make at once, Tignor's violins going through a gauntlet of funhouse mirrors while Metz holds down a devilishly funky groove."
    - Village Voice.
    - 1 track for streaming @ Soundcloud.
  • edited March 2011
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    Small Source Of Comfort by Bruce Cockburn
    First new studio material in quite a few years. Has arrived at emusic, but it seems wrong to let this one be the only Cockburn release ever that I don't have on CD...
    Small Source of Comfort is Cockburn s fi rst studio album in six years - a rhythmic and highly evocative collection of 14 new tracks inspired by his renowned unusual and diverse muse - recent trips to Afghanistan and ponderings on the re-incarnation of Richard Nixon, to road trips and unreturned phone calls. The album boasts some of the best musicians recording today, including violinist Jenny Scheinman, former Wailin Jenny Annabelle Chvostek, and long time collaborators Gary Craig, Jon Dymond and producer Colin Linden.
    As both a songwriter and a guitarist, Bruce Cockburn is considered among the world s best. The New York Times called him a virtuoso on guitar, while Acoustic Guitar magazine placed him in the esteemed company of Andr
  • edited March 2011
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    "Forty-years and counting, these Krautrock progenitors are still actively releasing records (not to mention splintering into two different versions of Faust). While Something Dirty is probably not the place for a newbie to start in this band's extensive catalogue (we'd recommend 1973's Faust IV), the new album from this incarnation -- which features group founders Jean-Herve Peron and Zappi Diermaier, along with Geraldine Swayne and Gallon Drunk's James Johnstone -- is a worthy addition to their discography and proves Faust to be as relevant as ever, as they move through noisy, driving avant-rock to slow, sultry psychedelic explorations, with plenty of feedback, droning organs, pummeling drums and strange sonic textures."
    - Other Music Newsletter.
  • edited March 2011
    New from the logo_12k.jpg Label:

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    ""Moss, is a live recording from a unique collaboration by sound artists/musicians Molly Berg, Olivia Block, Steve Roden and Stephen Vitiello. This was a midnight concert at the beautiful Trinity Cathedral in San Jose, CA which was part of the 01SJ Biennial. Olivia and Steve had performed solo sets on the previous nights. The final night was meant to be a duo with Molly and Stephen but the opportunity to play with musicians/friends who we admire so much called out for an invitation to play together. As the set was entirely improvised, the billing really changed in our minds from being a duo with guests to becoming a quartet. The church itself was certainly inspiring, it's dark wood and clean dry acoustics. There was a very small but dedicated audience. No one slept and the church crew were able to amazingly quiet the rowdy revelers on the street for the duration of our set. Anyone familiar with any of the four musicians involved in this recording will know the level of craftsmanship and attention to sonic tactility that can be found within. They each exercise such incredible restraint, a feat difficult to pull off in an impromptu improvised session where musicians are often found competing for space, and allow for a sense of place to work its way through the quiet recording. 'Moss' breathes like a living being lying down to sleep -- a delicate wave of hushed field recordings, tape tracks and subtle electronics provides a bed for which Molly Berg's clarinet and voice (joined at times by Steve Roden) ebb and sway, allowed center- stage, in movements across the piece's 24+ minutes. Steve Roden and Stephen Vitiello provide guitar (lap steel and electric, respectively) while Olivia Block manipulates the tapes, field recordings and electronics. Moss is a perfect example of how four like-minded friends and musicians can come together at a moment's notice and create, unrehearsed, a captivating and beautiful sonic landscape. The connection between them as artists is completely evident while at the same time disappearing into the background to allow the piece move like a singular body."
    - Forced Exposure Newsletter.
    - MOSS (Molly Berg, Olivia Block, Steve Roden, Stephen Vitiello performance excerpt) @ Soundcloud
  • edited March 2011
    Brand new from the Austrian Mosz label:

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    - Suggestestion for a try out track: Track 3.
    - Description @ moszlogo.jpg

    Ang
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    Recorded and produced by Lawrence English and Stephen Vitiello 2007-2009.
    Mixed and mastered at 158, Brisbane.
    Special thanks to Andrew Deutsch for organ loop on “Exposure in Relief”. Thanks to Tracy, Georgia, Rebecca and Schnapps.
    "Since their initial meeting in Australia during 2006, Stephen Vitiello (USA) and Lawrence English (AU) have enjoyed a long distance collaboration orbiting around the joint passion for field recordings and modular synthesis.
    Exploring the points of convergence and divergence between electricity and environment, the duet's “Acute Inbetweens” is a collection of works derived from hazy environmental memory, imagined landscape and field recorded actualities. It's a blurring mist of encountered spaces, recreated by means voltage controlled.
    Like the spatial inspiration that guides the record, “Acute Inbetweens” pace is tempered and during certain pieces borders on a sense of timelessness. Pieces such as “La Voix est absente” unfold with a pacing of the lauded opening Lotus flowers at Sinobazu-no-ike pond, individual elements revealing themselves in subtle arcs of sound, swelling into a rich harmonic whole. By contrast “Exposure in Relief” is a more robust and pulsing work in which micro melodies spiral into one another.

    “Acute Inbetweens”, sharp moments diffused in time"

    - Crónica 057~2011
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