UnSound Propositions: Previews of Unsound 2018 ~ Presence A Closer Look: Unsound 2018 UnSound Propositions: Previews of Unsound 2018 ~ Presence In advance of PRESENCE, the 2018 edition of the renowned UNSOUND festival in Kraków, Poland, Joseph Sannicandro reflects upon this year’s theme, the history of the festival, and previews some of this year’s highlights. The very human drive…
Originally posted at A CLOSER LISTEN Disappearing In A Mirror follows last year’s Borders And Ruins, both on Karlrecords, and together they form an intense and complimentary diptych of ambient drone sound design. While Giulio Aldinucci‘s earlier record explores the relationship between peoples and territories and the instability of both as imaginary constructs, Disappearing In…
In December 2018, Stefan Christoff and I released a tape called Temps de Travail, Syncopé, the culmination of several live performances and radio presentations exploring the idea of our age of work and the rhythms of daily life structured around bartering our labor. If our first collaboration, les rumeurs de la montagne rouge en chœur,…
Originally published at A CLOSER LISTEN Sound Propositions is an ongoing, semi-regular series of conversations with artists exploring their creative practices and individual aesthetics, conceived of as a counter-narrative to a dominant trend in music journalism which fetishizes equipment and new technologies. Rather than writing copy that can just as easily have come from a…
My friend Matteo Uggeri interviewed me for his blog CONCRETE SHELVES. We talk about Italian music, Billy Joel, tapes, and the 1968 Olympics. Read the entire interview here to learn more about my record collection and ambivalent relationship to the fetishism of the musical commodity. The most visible and exposed records are “Montreal Taperun” and…
Originally published at www.acloserlisten.com Sound Propositions is an ongoing, semi-regular series of conversations with artists exploring their creative practices and individual aesthetics, conceived of as a counter-narrative to a dominant trend in music journalism which fetishizes equipment and new technologies. Rather than writing copy that can just as easily have come from a press release…
Originally published by A CLOSER LISTEN I realized that it can take other forms, others than the one imposed. Not just a section, but a circle or an ellipse, a closed path where you may see a cyclic repeat of events where not everything has a beginning and an end. Hysteresis is an ongoing work…
This post collects live and radio performances by Joseph & Stefan not included in earlier posts. Stefan Christoff & Joseph Sannicandro – les rumeurs de la montagne rouge en chœur, convergent (Howl Arts!) I first met Stefan Christoff, a well known local organizer / activist / writer / musician in Montreal, during Occupy. It was…
Originally published by A CLOSER LISTEN Onga and Boring Machines deliver another unexpected gem with WK569’s Omaggio a Marino Zuccheri, an homage to the Italian godfather of electronic music studios from a trio of contemporary artists and technicians. Marino Zuccheri is certainly worthy of such an homage, and his influence is felt around the world…
Originally published by A CLOSER LISTEN Giuseppe Ielasi has been one my favorite artists for a decade now, his reputation cemented in my mind by the blissful textures of August (2007) and the rhythmic sampledelica of Aix (2009), both for 12k. His Stunt series (2008-2013) further solidified this position with its singular take on turntable…
Originally posted by A CLOSER LISTEN Sound Propositions is an ongoing, semi-regular series of conversations with artists exploring their creative practices and individual aesthetics, conceived of as a counter-narrative to a dominant trend in music journalism which fetishizes equipment and new technologies. For the first time, the subject of this installment is a visual artist,…
Originally published by The Silent Ballet Amongst classical composers, a somewhat superstitious bunch, there is something known as (cue dramatic music) THE CURSE OF THE NINTH. Many great composers have died after completing their ninth symphony but before completing their tenth, therefore leading to the suspicion that there is something about that ninth Symphony that…