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.     

François Bayle - "Les Couleurs de la Nuit" (Sub Rosa)

impressions of the dark night.   The translation of Les couleurs de la Nuit is "The Colors of the Night."  French composer François Bayle puts the mood and the visual of the nighttime in his composition.   Sometimes intense, with touches of tenderness.   The music here is machine like with the string section (at least I think there are real strings on this piece) holding one note or two to add a sense of menace.   Composed in 1982, and commissioned by the great INA-GRM, this is a work that is bold, forceful, and impressionistic with its subject matter of what the night brings.  A great vinyl to play very loud.  

Karl Appel - "Musique Barbare Van" (Sub Rosa) Vinyl

The visual artist and poet, Karel Appel, was one of the founders of the art group COBRA, which lasted from 1948 to 1951.   The group was the first burp for the oncoming Situationist International, as well as the Letterists.  Beyond that, Appel had a long career in the arts, and even made an album.  Which is "Musique Barbare Van."  It's a soundtrack to a documentary on Appel by Jan Vrijman.  The music / recording made with Frits Weiland, is classic Musique Concrete, circa. 1963.  Percussions of all sorts, a piano/organ here and there, as well as Appel yelling and doing vocals. 

I'm fascinated by painters or visual artists who do something else besides the visuals.  For instance, making an album or making music.  We have five senses, and an artist should be free to appeal or use different mediums - such as the use of ears or making sounds for the ear - which also has a theatrical aspect to it as well.  Listening to the album, one gathers Appel just went amok in the recording studio - and he used it as an extension of his painting studio, perhaps, or in theory.   

And as theory goes, COBRA was very much attached to the idea of children looking at art.  In other words, they strip away the sophistication of an adult and jump into the playground that is in their mind.   The music or sounds on this album reflects that attitude.  There are moments (especially with the electric organ) that is quite beautiful.   This album is a must for those who are interested in avant-garde Europe of the mid-20th century.   Look at it as a document, or a work of art - it works in both positions.