Léo Kupper - "Electronic Works & Voices 1961-1979" Double Vinyl, LP, Compilation, 2013 (Sub Rosa)

Washes of electronic sound that sounds like a wave hitting a beach with a mixture of noise that reminds one of being in an exotic rain forest, or maybe an African landscape.  The imagination goes crazy as you hear Léo Kupper's "Electronic Works & Voices 1961-l979."  At one moment it can be ambient noise, but there are so many textures involved, and the only human sound is the voice in some of the pieces. One using Artaud's text.  

Kupper is a composer from Belgium.  There is an organic aesthetic involved in that electronically speaking there are no real instruments.  The hums, the washes of sonic sound, and electronics that at times sound like a string section is a soundtrack where one can forget time and space.  Although the music does convey a sense of placement, as mentioned before. It's a vague sense of being in nature, but maybe a natural outer space as far as I know. 

This is a very formatted and strict music.  I find it embracing me in a manner that is personal and therefore has an emotional presence.  Beautifully layered with textures within textures, I think this is the perfect music for a quiet evening at home.  Traveling without leaving one's room.  Exotica music for the adventuresome individual. 

Léo Kupper - "Electronic Works & Voices 1961-1979" (Sub Rosa)

Léo Kupper had an interest in making music that was totally from electronic sounds, and not with or the addition of 'real' instruments.  What his music is a landscape of some style that makes an aural statement that in turns can be scary sounding.  The electronic noise often sounds like a form of nature to me.  I hear dolphins (not in a new age fashion), electrical storms, birds, crickets, waves hitting the beach, and perhaps noise of passing vehicles - either an automobile or train.  There is something human about Kupper's work, in that it's not about electronics specifically, but how those sounds interwind within the natural life.  

There are works on this double album that features vocals.   Not singing mind you, but female voices that are either speaking in a foreign language or used as a texture to the overall music.  These pieces remind me of Luciano Berio's work with the Swingle Singers.  The Italian composer made a lot of vocal music that were either based on literary text or poems.   On one of the works here on this album, "L' enclume des forces" features text by Antonin Artaud.  Overall there is a sinister quality to the music.  Kupper captures a sense of dread or anxiety.