Artist : Keith Fullerton Whitman
Title : Variations For Oud & Synthesizer
Genre : Electronic
Year : 2010
Date : 06/2010
Bitrate : VBR kbps
Tracks : 02
Label : Not On Label
Source : Vinyl
Encoder : Lame 3.97
Length : 08:56 min
Size : 13,9 MB
Tracklist:
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01.variations for oud & synthesizer 1 04:24
02.variations for oud & synthesizer 2 04:32
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08:56 min
Over the last ten years KFW has
persistently melted our minds with
unfathomably brilliant compositions. In
2005 he brought these amazing tracks
into being, running dextrous Egyptian
Oud passages through a Serge modular
synthesizer accompanied by an array of
Eventides clockworks harmonizer, metal
zarb, Italia Modena electric guitar,
electro-harmonix pedals and vox
amplifier at his home studio, the
Reckankomplex, and the Harvard
university studio for electro-acoustic
composition (HUSEAC). Finally released
in 2010, we can confirm they're two of
his very finest arrangements and easily
one of the best things we've heard all
year, sounding like some long lost Ilhan
Mimaroglu tapes remastered by Florian
Hecker, or as he puts it himself
"...this music can be seen as my
"tribute" to Dariush Dolat-Shahi's first
Folkways record...& Franτois-Bernard
MΓche's 'Kemit' & 'Korwar' one-two
punch'" (to be frank, we're not familiar
with either, but they're on the list
now!). Face A opens with an explosion of
dynamic electro-acoustic attacks
emerging from acute blindspots to test
the shape of the space we're about to
enter. This continues to spasm and
diffuse as the more earthly tone of his
Oud and the metal zarb rhythms fuse into
place and we're left stunned and
silenced. Face B is a more sedate, but
no less affecting piece, directing our
attention to the fluid Oud at its core
until we realise the space has opened
into a palatial Byzantine hall with us
at the centre and fragments of electric
ephemera orbiting the periphery to
create a supremely psychedelic
experience that doesn't require drugs to
completely lose oneself within. As an
article of faith in electronic music to
express completely abstract yet lucidly
human feelings this record is
practically unparalleled in recent
times. Copies are highly limited and
come pressed on 45rpm "big-hole" 7" with
classic replica labels housed in b&w
jacket with a frosted plastic outer.
Want, need, must have!!!