Artist : BJ Nilsen
Title : The Invisible City
Genre : Ambient
Year : 2010
Date : 01/2010
Bitrate : VBR kbps
Tracks : 08
Label : Touch
Source : CDDA
Encoder : Lame 3.97
Length : 62:44 min
Size : 84,8 MB
Tracklist:
----------
01.Gravity Station 16:52
02.Phase And Amplitude 02:03
03.Scientia 04:10
04.Virtual Resistance 14:48
05.Meter Reading 04:08
06.Into Its Coloured Rays 06:10
07.Gradient 11:17
08.The Invisible City 03:16
-------
62:44 min
Plus bonus 320kbps .mp3 download - 1
track - 33:44 Jewel case with concertina
insert Artwork & Photography by Jon
Wozencroft Track listing: 1. Gravity
Station 2. Phase and Amplitude 3.
Scientia 4. Virtual Resistance 5. Meter
Reading 6. Into Its Coloured Rays 7.
Gradient 8. The Invisible City **When
you purchase this CD from the TouchShop
you will receive as a free download:
BJNilsen - Live at CafΘ Oto, 7th
December 2009. BJNilsen, along with
Lawrence English and Philip Jeck,
performed live at Atmospheres 3. This
performance was recorded straight to
digital from the main desk. In order to
obtain your free download, click "Return
to Touch" at end of PayPal process, and
you will be given a download link**
About this release: Recorded and Mixed
during 2008-2009 in Berlin. All tracks
composed by BJNilsen using Tape
Recorders, Computer, Organ, Acoustic
Guitar, Electronics, Viola, Subharchord.
Field recordings from; Sweden, Iceland,
Norway, UK, Japan, Portugal and Germany.
The Subharchord was recorded in the EAM
Studio @ Adk, Berlin. Viola played by
Hildur I. Gudnadottir. Mastered by Denis
Blackham at Skye Published by Touch
Music [MCPS] Track notes: Gravity
Station: subharchord, pitch-regulated
viola, amplified chair dragged across
floor, window shutters, grand piano,
virtual Hammond organ, steel whistle
coffeepot, acoustic and electric
guitars, B&K Sine Random Generator Type
1024, birdsong through B&K Frequency
Analyser Type 2107, Studer B67, various
DSP Phase and Amplitude: bumblebees,
acoustic guitar, Studer B67, various DSP
Scientia: birdsong feed-backed and
overdriven through B&K Type 2107, B&K
Type 1024, subharchord, wing-flaps and
bird eating, virtual Hammond organ, door
slam, glockenspiel, Online Voice
Decoder, Studer B67, various DSP Virtual
Resistance: subharchord, birds, acoustic
and electric guitar feedback run through
B&K Type 2107, cat climbing up door,
airplane, virtual Hammond organ, broken
Fishman Parametric EQ, bowed acoustic
guitar, footsteps on snow, Studer B67,
various DSP Meter Reading: virtual
Hammond organ, train, Studer B67 tape
cut-ups, boat ramp, feedbacked
Ferrograph Series 4, various DSP Into
Its Coloured Rays: wasps run through B&K
Type 2107, piano, dead trees leaning
against each other, crows, Studer B67,
various DSP Gradient: acoustic guitars,
virtual Hammond organ, B&K Type 1024,
Studer B67, various DSP The Invisible
City: amplified chair dragged across
floor, feedbacked Ferrograph Series 4,
rain, acoustic guitar feedback,
tapeloops of found sounds, various DSP
Reviews:Mapsadaisical (UK): In recent
years, Christian Fennesz and Philip Jeck
may have stolen the critical plaudits
for the Touch label, but arguably the
labelÆs most vital artist is StockholmÆs
BJ Nilsen. His diverse interests have
led him into collaborate with the UKÆs
premier sound recordist Chris Watson,
and with Icelandic experimentalists
Stillupsteypa and cellist Hildur
Gudnadottir. It is in his solo work,
both on record and in concert, that he
has brought all this together, fusing
field recordings with electronics to
create coherent works focusing on the
interface between humans and nature.
And, particularly in the case of new
album The Invisible City, with
technology. NilsenÆs excellent 2006
album The Short Night took him on an
Arctic exploration, and while The
Invisible City features recordings from
as far South as Portugal, it feels
little warmer or lighter. For the most
part, these are some particularly dark
and icy atmospheres, and feel a further
step removed from life, if not from
civilisation. The images The Invisible
City evokes for me are of the unseen
networks which support the city:
electrical grids, subterranean
transport, and telecommunication
channels. This may appear odd when you
read that the sound sources appear to
some extent to be typical Nilsen fare,
including bees, wasps, birds and cats,
but they too find themselves sucked into
these conduits. None of those feature on
opener ôGravity Stationö, which starts
from near silence as ôFrontö did on The
Short Night. Layers of electrical hum
and sine waves are topped with a phone
line burble which builds in intensity,
before exploding into scarred metallic
fragments. I think this must be what it
would feel like to send yourself by fax
(note to self: donÆt ever try this). The
animalsÆ attempts at communication bleed
into these networks, with the birdsong
of ôScientiaö and ôVirtual Resistanceö
processed into digital
unrecognisability. The latter glows with
a harsh street-light buzz, as someoneÆs
footsteps emerge from late night
underground station rumble. The train
batters on through into ôMeter Readingô,
the grind of metal-on-metal gradually
wearing away at the piece to leave a
silent black platform, before tearing
off again through the rain on the
propulsive title track, ending the album
on a thrilling and fulfilling note. The
Invisible City fades fast into the
distance, into the air, and into the
ground. IÆll be taking many return
journeys. Purchases of The Invisible
City from the Touch shop come with a
download of BJ NilsenÆs performance at
Cafe Oto last month. Brainwashed (USA):
Using unrecognizably tweaked field
recordings of cats, crows, bees, wasps,
boat ramps, and dead trees, the ever-
reliable BJ Nilsen has crafted yet
another complex and desolately beautiful
suite of droning ambiance that subtly
crackles and buzzes with life. The
Invisible City might be the first great
headphone album of 2010. Sweden's BJ
Nilsen has a surprisingly recognizable
aesthetic for such an inherently
faceless genre. Superficially, of
course, all the central elements of
contemporary electronic drone are here:
a sustained and hypnotically shifting
backbone, subterranean throbs, and a
fluttering array of non-musical sounds
dancing around it all. However, BJ is in
a league by himself in regards to
meticulousness, exactitude, and
discipline. There is no clutter or bloat
here, no laziness, and no attempt to use
density to create an illusion of power
and depth. Instead, Nilsen very starkly
and crisply conveys exactly what he
needs to and no more. In lesser hands,
that degree of calculation and artifice
would probably result in a bloodless and
clinical-sounding album. Actually, I
suppose it is not completely
unreasonable to describe this album as
ôclinical,ö but it would be totally
missing the point. The Invisible City is
a deliberately cold, lonely, and
futuristic-sounding album. Rather than
an invisible city, it much more aptly
evokes a haunting and Lynchian tableau
of an utterly empty city at night,
traffic lights endlessly flickering
purposelessly and swaying in the gentle
wind. Given the organic and nature-
themed roots of much of the albumÆs
source material, that is a pretty
perverse place to wind up. The liner
notes provide a very interesting
inventory of the sounds used for each
individual track, which makes for an
engrossing listening experience. Given
that most of the field recordings are
digitized into oblivion, I found it
fascinating to try to figure out when
exactly I was hearing an ôamplified
chair dragged across floorö or ôdead
trees leaning up against each other.ö On
the rare occasions when the source
material is clearly recognizable, it is
usually employed to disquieting effect
(particularly the snowy footsteps in
ôVirtual Resistanceö). The unnerving
barrenness and alienation of the album
creates a kind of vacuum that heightens
the impact when anything recognizably
human intrudes (and renders it vaguely
sinister). Also, while there is
generally not much overtly musical
happening aside from occasional
shimmering organ chords, vintage analog
synthesizer fetishists will be thrilled
to learn that Nilsen uses a subharchord
for several tracks. Those already
familiar with BJ NilsenÆs work will not
be surprised by much here, but they
certainly will not be disappointed
either. Nilsen has a very distinct and
specific vision and he is steadily
progressing and evolving within those
narrow confines, but his trajectory is
not likely to be obvious to casual
listeners. The important thing is that
BJ excels at what he does: the
compositions themselves may be overtly
minimal in nature, but the production
transforms the base materials into
something much deeper and more
mesmerizing. This is layering at its
most deft, as the glacially unfolding
framework of the pieces houses a panning
and warping hive of small-scale chaos.
The Invisible City is a subtly mind-
bending album of crystalline clarity and
cold beauty. [Anthony D'Amico] Other
Music (USA): BJ Nilsen has always been a
favorite Touch operative of mine, and
this latest full-length is an apt
distillation of his sound to date. His
last record, The Short Night, pulled
into focus his amazing lightness of
touch, as he carefully sculpted haunted
field recordings and layered icy-cold
monosynth. The results were ineffably
affecting, and The Invisible City poises
itself as the logical extension of those
themes. Here the environmental
recordings are pushed still further into
the background, cloaked in dusty,
buzzing synthesizers and malfunctioning
oscillators. The drones that gradually
trickled to life on its predecessor form
the backbone of the album, giving it a
doomed register Sunn O))) fans will no
doubt be drawn to. When the guitar
feedback drones of "Gravity Station"
morph into machine noise and binary
chatter there can be no doubt of the
spine chilling potential of the record,
and its ability to incite fear and awe
from the listener. Thankfully, Nilsen
calms his arsenal for the central
section of the album, slipping into a
gaseous ambient haze (helped by fellow
Touchy Hildur Gudnadottir) which never
totally disappears, fading into the
album's second half like the ghost of
Florian Fricke. There is something
crucially human about Nilsen's
productions; whether this comes from his
use of the sounds around him or from his
defiant compositional touch I am not
sure, but it serves to make his albums
incredibly listenable. Those who think
ambient experimental is all horn-rimmed
glasses and studied theories... well
you're half right -- but try not to
forget about the humanity in it all.
[JT] Boomkat (UK): Exceptional new album
from BJ Nilsen featuring the sublime
Viola contributions of Hildur
Gudnadottir and made with the aid of
Tape Recorders, Computer, Organ,
Acoustic Guitar, Electronics, Viola,
Subharchord and field recordings from
Sweden, Iceland, Norway, UK, Japan,
Portugal and Germany* Celebrated sound
artist BJ Nilsen's last album 'The Short
Night' was an endlessly rich and
rewarding album, one that's really grown
in stature ever since its release a
couple of years back, so we've been
eagerly awaiting this brand new album -
"The Invisible City". Recorded in
Berlin, the album explores the potential
of one of the very earliest
synthesizers, the Subharchord stationed
at Berlin's Udk, a relic of former GDR
engineering developed to explore
subharmonic sound. Nilsen uses these
sources and many others to weave
complex, anachronistic and challenging
narratives which never fail to immerse
you into his world, exploring physical
and psychogeographic relationships
between sounds, whether savouring the
crunch of snow underfoot or juxtaposing
sheer scales of sound both artifical and
supra-natural with a riveting
unpredictability. Fast becoming one of
our favourite artists on the always-
compelling Touch imprint, Nilsen has
once again delivered an album that's
both fearlessly dark, almost unnervingly
so, and yet somehow inherently tender,
letting in rare shafts of light through
its tight-woven web of gloom. Very
highly Recommended. Norman Records (UK):
The news of a new BJ Nilsen album coming
out had me anxious. I must admit that I
got into this Swedish sound artist quite
late on, but better late than never as
they say. His latest album for Touch
'The Invisible City' has arrived and
what a thoroughly absorbing listening
experience it is. The use of field
recordings, concrete techniques, DSP and
electronic treatments really build an
otherworldly environment that's
exceptionally vivid, which (at various
moments) has a delicious sense of
impending doom and at others an almost
spiritually uplifting (for me anyway)
vibe. The range of instruments and
source material used here is
exceptionally imaginative: tapes,
guitar, piano, glockenspiel, chairs
dragging across floors, coffee pots
whistling, the list is endless etcà
Within my headphones I can really just
lose myself here for eternity and forget
the outside world exists, but then the
CD ends and I'm compelled to hit play
again. I shall certainly be whacking
this onto my iPod for a late night
stroll around the city when no soul is
around and imagining an alternative
reality. I can see it now, Greggs the
bakers, drunks stumbling about trying to
beg fags, good and bad architecture, the
bright lights, the bus journey home and
my own secret audio.
http://touchshop.org/
http://www.bjnilsen.com/