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ARTiST....: rafael toral
TiTLE.....: space
LABEL.....: Staubgold
GENRE.....: electronic
SOURCE....: cdda
QUALiTY...: VBR / joint-stereo
SiZE......: 67,0 MB
REL.DATE..: 07-20-2006
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01] space part i 13:32
02] space part ii 24:46
03] space part iii 19:43
TOTAL TiME : 58:01 min
Release date: 5 September 2006 on Staubgold
"Space", the new album by Rafael Toral, marks a
radical change in his music after 15+ years of
accomplished work on guitar and electronics.
"The future perspectives of my former approach to
music were threatening to become a comfortable,
formulaic 'modus operandi'. It would be against my
nature to accept such a development, so I serenely
decided to terminate it."
It took him three years to find his way into a
complete renovation of his music: "For a new
endeavor I needed new information, and I
discovered that the field of knowledge in music
that I had most to learn from was jazz. There is a
long line of connections and fusions between jazz
and electronic music, and I envisioned that a step
beyond would not be more jazz with electronics,
but on electronics." It may sound exaggerated, but
this sounds like the blueprint for a new approach
to both jazz and electronics with a single stroke.
In his emerging new conception of electronic
music, Toral looks to the value of human
performance while sharing values from jazz
culture. His playing is "articulated with a kind
of individual decision, a sense of phrasing and a
sensibility to rhythm and form that have little in
common with the types of electronic music we
know". Quoting Sei Miguel, he says it's "not
composed, not improvised, and not a compromise
between the two".
In recent years, Rafael Toral has been developing
and performing solo concerts on his instruments
(modified or custom-built electronic
devices) in a field of work he calls the "Space
program". He slowly merged hours of live and
studio recordings into "Space" (the program's
first release), which is no less than a full
orchestra of such instruments. The result suggests
that the expression "space-jazz" was invented
before the music it would describe best.
The "Space program" is a vast and ambitious
undertaking, featuring two parallel series of
record releases: "Space Elements" - centering each
volume on a certain instrument, while adding few
others and featuring collaborations; and the "Solo
Series" - documenting solo performance on various
instruments. The album "Space" belongs to none of
the series. It is the "Space program's"
fundamental release.
Rafael Toral was considered in the 1990s "one of
the most gifted and innovative guitarists of the
decade" (Chicago Reader). He has collaborated with
Jim O'Rourke, John Zorn, Alvin Lucier, Evan
Parker, David Toop, Sonic Youth, Fennesz and many
others, having played across Europe and the US,
Canada and Japan. He's a member of the electronic
orchestra MIMEO, alongside Keith Rowe and Peter
Rehberg, and continues his long-term work with Sei
Miguel.
Buy me if you love me :)
and continues his long-term work with Sei
Miguel.
Buy me if you love me :)