released May 18, 2016
Italian artist Sonologyst is a prolific presence in the experimental dark ambient/post-industrial/noise underground scene. On this album, he pays tribute to early electronic music pioneers from the “academic” new music avant-garde of the mid-20th century by creating compositions based on their ideas, and samples from their works.
Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Henry, Luc Ferrari, Morton Subotnick, Luigi Nono, Henri Pousseur, Bernard Parmegiani, and Bruno Maderna are all referenced by Sonologyst as “precursors of our sonic scapes.” And indeed, the way in which the album weaves the often somewhat terse sine-wave sounds of early electronic music into atmospheric textures goes to show that there is a definite kinship between the “art music” of past decades and the current experimental underground, even regarding the use of sheer noise. Sonologyst thankfully points out that many exciting discoveries may be made by checking out musical fields you may not have tapped into before.
File under: Drone, musique concrète, dark ambient
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VITAL WEEKLY
Then on cassette we find the music of Italy's Sonologyst. I don't think I heard his music before, but according to the information he is inspired by the electronic avant-garde of the mid 20th century; the likes of Stockhausen, Henry, Ferrari, Subotnick, Nono, Pousseur, Parmegiani and Maderna. The music from Sonologyst is along similar lines, but also a bit different. Should you not know his sources of inspiration, then I would have not thought as easily about (thank god for press texts!), but when properly guided I can say: yes indeed. The eerie, spacious yet experimental soundscapes in these seven pieces are perhaps a bit more stretched out than some of the older guys would have done. The compositional models handled by Sonologyst are also part of that shady world where ambient music meets up with industrial music. Slowly fading in sounds, using reverb extensively, a bit of voices here and there (which in 'Hommage A Luc Ferrari' works really fine; that piece is surely 'old school'), but in 'Fragments Of Life' could have been as easily from the late 80s, early 90s, in terms of how sampling is approached. I quite enjoyed this music; it's an excellent combination of some more 'old school' approaches combined with some latter day treatments. It's a pity that it is released on cassette, so I recommend downloading it, and enjoying it in full, hiss-free glory. (FdW)
www.vitalweekly.net/1038.html
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BAD ALCHEMY #91
SONOLOGYST ist ein neapolitanischer Verehrer und Vertreter der elektronischen Musik. Die schmiedehandwerklich solide Coverästhetik gibt ihr das Image einer gediegenen, althergebrachten Zunft, deren Meistern auf Beyond the Logic of Science (ACT 1031, C-58) die gebührende Referenz erwiesen wird: All tracks inspired by and based on samples from early electronic music pioneers K.H. Stockhausen, P. Henry, L. Ferrari, M. Subotnik, L. Nono, H. Pousseur, B. Parmegiani, B. Maderna. Zuerst als File 2013 bei Petroglyph Records erschienen, wird die Kassettenversion der Sache noch etwas gerechter. Wobei ich mir eine etwas dynamischere Abmischung gewünscht hätte. So wird 'Era Somnium' - Traumzeit - fast etwas zu sehr zur Hauptüberschrift. Der Sizilianer arbeitet mit feinen Drones, dünnen Verschleifungen, sublimen Dunkelwolken, zuerst mit leicht französischem Touch, insgesamt polyglott von 'L'ordine simbolico della deterrenza' (Symbolische Ordnung der Abschreckung) bis 'Pertinence du Passè' (Relevanz der Vergangenheit), durchwegs freilich mit traumlogischen Klangfäden, von denen einige als lang gezogene Schreie sich entschlüsseln lassen. So wie sich L'ordine simbolico sich als Lacans Begriff entschlüsseln lässt, der eigentlich eine Un- und Unterordnung bezeichnet, nicht zuletzt die des Subjekts (des Unterworfenen) unter die (mangelhafte) Ordnung der Zeichen (Sprache), wobei das eigentliche Ich, seine Imagination und sein Begehren zu kurz kommen. Das kommt bei 'Hommàge a Luc Ferrari' als 'parole' eben nicht zur Sprache, sondern bewahrt sich lallend und schallend Lust und Laune. Wie schon bei "A Dream Inside A Dream" (2015) sucht Sonologyst das tiefere innere Selbst hinter dem Schleier der Zeichen und Strukturen, zu dem der Kontakt verloren ging ('Lost Kontact'). 'Fragments Of Life' ruft fast zwangsläufig Roland Barthes' "Fragmente einer Sprache der Liebe" in den Sinn usw. Alles nur überflüssiger intellektueller Dünnpfiff? Ich finde, Musik, Soundart, Kunst in all ihren Formen, ist immer auch das Angebot eines Gedankenaustausches und die Einladung, dem Künstler in seinen Überbau, sein Gedankenstübchen zu folgen.
[rbd]
www.badalchemy.de
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CHAIN D.L.K.
This album by Sonologyst is an explicit tribute to the early electronic music pioneers as it's based on samples from Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Henry, Luc Ferrari, Morton Subotnick, Luigi Nono, Henri Pousseur, Bernard Parmegiani, and Bruno Maderna. This release tries to add textures to the sinewaves oriented sounds of the first years of experimental electronic giving a patina of modernity to that sound but the morphology of the original material is so pronounced that it's naturally intended to successfully fail.
When "Era Somnium" starts with the complex sinewave and the filtered voice there's that sort of suspension of time halted by the double bass of the second part which takes the track partially in the present. "Beyond the logic of science" deconstructs the sense of exploration of tones from the concern of the return of the role of mathematics into music language. "L'ordine simbolico della deferenza" reveals a subtle sense for the method to create movement into a static form, the drone. "Hommàge a Luc Ferrari" underline the use of voice manipulation while "Fragments of life" the use of tape manipulation and "Pertinence du Passè" the use of oscillators and filters. "Lost Kontact" close this release with the exploration of space in the aural field.
As an example of heterogony of ends, this release shows how this musical framework was a starting point at a sound level as a dead end at a linguistic one; from this perspective is one of the most philosophically stimulating release of the year. Recommended only for the committed listener.
www.chaindlk.com/reviews/?id=9320
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DRONE RECORDS
SONOLOGYST took samples from electronic music pioneer compositions (STOCKHAUSEN, PIERRE HENRY, LUC FERRARI, SUBOTNIK, LUIGI NONO, PARMEGIANI, etc.) and created a "music from the grey zone" that can hardly be described.. mysterious tones and sounds, backwards noises and silences, rising sine-waves and electricity, something beyond all styles.. nice tribute which is not a sheer copy
dronerecords.de/album.view.html?album=18043
