"Eectronicaca is like all my albums directed by a rule (a different one each time), this time a very simple recipe: non-vintage synths, non-vintage rhythm boxes, and playing on the keyboard which cannot be very sophisticated since I don't know how to play the keyboard ( as normally for me, the keyboards are played on my midi guitar). The electronica music is like a photo, everyone can take a photo!"
A few weeks ago Mana Fukui and different artists played Vexations by Erik Satie the number he required : 840 times. After a few emails exchanges with Wataru Iwata (see OJP039), it grew more and more that it would be a thrill and exciting project to possibly record the whole performances from the participants. Point is that it’s impossible to put a 15-20 hours piece of music on line.
So, in this year 2021, we came with this idea: 21 different artists recording the pice 40 times = 840! So from the 21st week of 2021, which is also the week of Satie's 155 birthday and for the next 21 weeks, one of the 21 volumes will be released on a special Bandcamp page. Only one demand: each participant plays the piece 40 times on any instruments of their choice, tempo or arrangement they want. Enjoy!
OVX001 : Mana Fukui / Vexations Vol.1
What Mana says about her proposal and the recording:
"First of all, I would like to thank and acknowledge Wataru IWATA and Alain LEFEBVRE who carried out this project. It is a recording in ambisonics with our cat who makes a noise running around the house, very rare and unique... I am really happy to be part of this great team with crazy compatriots all over the world, and maybe this great adventure will continue...? Who knows."
Mana Fukui: piano
Wataru Iwata: recording and processing
Recorded by 1st order ambisonics decoding to Binaural.
Recommended to listen on a headphone or earphone.
Mana Fukui
Mana FUKUI is a concert and chamber pianist; she studied and graduated at the prestigious Tōhō Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo, Japan. She won many national competitions, studied piano with Minoru NOJIMA and Akira IMAI and composition with Ichiro NODAIRA. After training in Russia with Neta GAVRILOV and the teachers of the Moscow Conservatory, Mana FUKUI then decided, on Jean-François HEISSER’s recommendations, to improve her knowledge of the French repertoire in Paris. On her arrival in France, she worked with Colette ZERAH and Jean KOERNER on accompaniment and started her professional career as a piano accompanist for Vadim REPIN’s and Ida HAENDEL’s Master Classes. She won the First Prize as piano soloist and accompanist unanimously with compliments of the jury in the examinations of the Paris Conservatory in 2001. Mana FUKUI has been pianist for the UFAM Competitions in Paris since 2005 and for gthe examinations for the State Diploma of Singing, Violin and Viola of the French Ministry of Culture. She takes part in many festivals (Courchevel, Limousin, etc.) as an accompanist, and has been working as such at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Départemental of Clamart, France, since 2002. Her official website.
現代音楽にも意欲的に取り組み、シャラントン市後援の現代音楽祭、“Musique de notre temps” に定期的に参加。また、高い初見能力、室内楽の豊富なレパートリーを高く評価され、フランス政府国家音楽家資格試験（DEM)、ワディム・レーピン、イダ・ヘンデル等著名な講師陣の指導する数々の国際フェスティヴァル、コンクール等で公式伴奏員を務めつつ、パリを拠点にヨーロッパ各地でリサイタル、室内楽を中心に演奏活動を行う。
Another reissue from the duo Sluijs - Vermeulen (see also ODG095 and ODG117) originally released in 2010 on the WERF label. Still sounding beautifully in 2021 due to the high standards of composing and musicianship of 2 of the most celebrated Belgian Jazz musicians.
'Pianist Erik Vermeulen belongs to the generation of Peter Hertmans, Bert Joris, Kurt Van Herck and Frank Vaganée. Over the years he has been part of several trio formulas (Hein Van de Geyn & Dré Pallemaerts, Sal La Rocca & Jan de Haas, Manolo Cabras & Marek Patrman), played with Jacques Pelzer, Steve Houben, Toots Thielemans and Joe Lovano, but mainly wanted to create his own music.'As a leader he has released a series of albums over the years and was awarded in 2010 when he won the prestigious Klara Music Award in the "Jazz" category with his record "Live Chroma" (W.E.R.F.075).He has built up an intense collaboration with alto saxophonist Ben Sluijs. Vermeulen was not only a member of the Sluijs' quartet, they also released the stunning album 'Stones' together '(Jazz'halo, 2001, reissued on the W.E.R.F. label).
'Notre coup de cœur du moment revient à deux musiciens confirmés, Ben SLUIJS et Erik VERMEULEN, fortes personnalités de la scène musicale belge, particulièrement active, qui ont enregistré cet admirable PARITY, « tranquillement », à la maison entre 2008 et 2010. Une entreprise familiale, artisanale, l’album étant mixé et enregistré par un autre complice Jeroen Van Herzeele, autre saxophoniste talentueux qui participe à l’aventure de Maaks Spirit, joue dans le quartet de Ben Sluijs, ou l’ensemble de Kris Deffoort. Tout comme Erik Vermeulen, il donne avec le saxophoniste Ben Sluijs cette commune impression d’une recherche permanente d’identité musicale.Cet album vibre d’intensité retenue, entièrement composé sur le vif avec une infinie douceur. Ces voix s’élèvent complices, équitables, harmonisant la lisibilité d’un duo tout en demi teinte et en finesse : un ajustement ininterrompu du piano fait évoluer les compositions d’un paysage commun. D’une apparente simplicité, c’est le corps et l’âme qui chantent explicitement et ces qualités jouent en faveur d’un album plus que convainquant. On se laisse emporter « Con alma »justement , dont on reconnaît la mélodie de Dizzy Gillespie, dépouillée des scories virtuoses pour n’en laisser que l’épure. Sensibilité romantique? Peut-être n’y a-t-il pas tant de nostalgie malgré l’apparence du souvenir, à travers ces échos où le jazz revient superbe. Comme dans ce « Sweet and lovely », où la sensualité du phrasé le dispute à la vivacité du rythme. On en revient aux fondamentaux avec le morceau suivant de l’altiste « Early train » léger, vaporeux que le duo porte jusqu’à une certaine abstraction. Car de ce duo ressort un lyrisme appuyé et le mystère d’une direction, souvent à peine annoncée, ménageant les surprises d’une belle dynamique d’ensemble. Une intensité dans le jeu que partagent pianiste et saxophoniste : dans ce cheminement attentif, les deux amis recomposent une géographie personnelle, en partance pour des ailleurs rêvés, loin des ciels mouillés, vers les nuages sépia des photos en miroir de la pochette, ces fils électriques tendus sur lesquels se posent les oiseaux en attente d’un envol… Ben Sljuis disait qu’il voulait constamment jouer pour s’effacer, et cette évanescence se ressent dans le son qu’il tire de son alto, projetant ou interprètant l’atmosphère de l’instant. Erik Vermeulen est dans le même état musical, le piano superbe, délicatement posé et déposé sur le temps musical. Par ses harmoniques et ses couleurs, cette musique distille une mélancolie secrète, poésie d’irisations qui renvoie aux délicates impressions, aux rutilances diverses du jazz le mieux compris. Superbe !' SOPHIE CHAMBON (pour Jazz magazine France)
Gustavo Madrid is the creative force behind several musical projects since his school days: No Mercy, Black Velvet, Maten al Disc-Jockey, Su Real Orden, 69 am, Mutantes Melancólicos (see ODG034), Asustados Unidos, NO:ID., Ensamble Desmembrado (see ODG118) and finally Madrid Solo.
Singer. Guitar player. Sometimes, keyboard player. With a certain interest in digital instruments, where he finds versatility and the possibility of breaking through. Always, songwriter and composer of a music hard to put a label on.
Gustavo
Even though he's got soft manners and a good education, he´s rampant, stubborn and untameable. He can be bored of his successes, but he's never bored when he explores and experiments new ways of making music. He prefers a song composed on a single loop rather than a song that repeats past accomplishments.
On his lyrics he doesn't want to tell stories; he leaves that to a short story or to a novel. For his songs, he prefers sentences that act like lashes, images, ideas; that are musical, without a complete or obvious sense and, if it's possible, the ones that can awaken questions to be left unanswered.
Madrid owns an enviable record collection. He listens to music since he wakes up in the morning until he goes back to bed at night. He has been collecting records since his teenage years. He affirms that when he didn't have enough money to buy new records he tried hard to get onto busses or subways without paying the fare; so he could save, within a couple of weeks, some money to buy another record.
One of his passions is record cover art. He believes that the moment he takes out the record from the sleeve to put it on the audio system is pure magic and that most of that magic comes from the graphic art giving sense to the whole oeuvre.
In 2020, during the pandemic lock-down, he started recollecting some writings on his experiences with music listening, music creation and record collecting on the blog.
For this new project, Gustavo Madrid took on a new challenge: create a remix album. Instead of choosing isolated songs from his discography, he decided to produce a companion album for a previously published one and change as he could the concept of its songs.
The album that offered more possibilities on reworking the songs was Side Lane. It has been entirely recorded using a computer, each instrument was isolated and assigned to a sole track, sounds and arrangements could be manipulated individually.
As it was an album where there was not a single percussion track nor other instrument than guitars, he imagined he could start by filling those gaps with drum loops and samples taken from his vast jazz record collection, keyboard arrangements and found sounds that matched the spirit of the project.
Finally, 13 of the 15 songs on Side Lane were remixed and redirected. They were shortened looking for new nuances and distinct atmospheres from the original versions.
Both projects are complementary as they came out of the same source material. Side Lane and Autres Directions stand alone independently because each one of them aim different sensations offering unexpected turns arising from the original sounds.
Composed, performed, edited, programmed, recorded, mixed and produced by Gustavo Madrid at El Rosario, Buenos AIres, Argentina, April / July 2020. To rework these new versions of the songs, several elements were taken from the recording sessions of the following albums: Side Lane (MRCD011), Cuenta (MRCD010), Silence (MRCD009), Ojalá pudiera (MRCD004), Cuarenta y ocho azotes (MRCD012). Some sequences programmed in Montréal, Québec, Canada back in 2004 and some vocals taken from demo versions of the songs recorded in 2009 were also used. New arrangements were included and other instrument tracks were recorded with organ, electric piano, synthesiser, trumpet and found sounds. All the instruments were played by Madrid Solo, who also sang all the vocal parts except for the chorus on “Danse Immobile” where Aluh y Jorge Pablo Almejún made their singing contribution. There were other collaborators to this project even if they never knew about its existence: Omar Scavone, Félix D`Argento, Leo Kaplan and Marcelo Pérez.
This album is dedicated to Felipe Madrid and Patricia Raimundini who during 2020´s pandemic lock-down witnessed the evolution of this project listening to each and every song countless times with tireless patience.
DISCOGRAPHY
MUTANTES MELANCÓLICOS
- Voom voom va hell la (MAD RIDE RECORDS) (1993)
- Mataron a las mujeres, violaron a los caballos (MAD RIDE RECORDS) (1993)
- La vida no les sonríe (MAD RIDE RECORDS) (1994)
- Ojalá pudiera (MAD RIDE RECORDS) (1995)
- Mi reloj biológico no necesita cuerda (MAD RIDE RECORDS / OFF) (1996)
- Silence. (MAD RIDE RECORDS / CALAR MUSIC) (2003)
- Acoustic. (MAD RIDE RECORDS / CALAR MUSIC) (2011)
MADRID
- Cuenta (MAD RIDE RECORDS) (2000)
MADRID SOLO
- Side Lane (MAD RIDE RECORDS) (2014)
- Autres Directions (Side Lane revisited, reworked, remixed, revamped & redirected) (MAD RIDE RECORDS / OFF) (2020)
Digital release on the 7th of May 2021.
Track listing with Gustavo comment on each song:
1: Amarga Espina
The melody for this song was written in Montréal in 2005. I remember myself thinking that I was stuck in the song style I used for the album “Silence” by NO:ID., so, I decided to stop making music for some time to find a new path. I think it was worth it.
2: Densa Danza
I started playing tirelessly the main guitar riff on this song in September 2008 when I relocated myself back to Buenos Aires after living in Montréal for more than five years. I liked it so much that I couldn't stop playing it even if it could have been enough for my new neighbours, who claimed for silence desperately.
3: Misère Cachée
I recorded the first ideas for this song in Montréal in 2007 using a bass guitar and a loop station to improvise three different bass lines that intertwine to build what later became a musically solid loop.
4: Stop Dead
To create this song I decided to overlay riffs to create a sound collage. I used several ideas taken from improvisations I've recorded in Montréal to create arrangements that offered different points of view. I wanted every part to sound as it belonged to another song.
5: Failing Beat
On this song I used some arrangements that I´ve written for “Densa Danza”. Even if the two songs are intimately related it is hard to find this relationship on the final versions without losing the pure joy of the music you are listening to.
6: Weeping Road
I started writing this song in December 2011, the same week my son was born. I recall myself singing the refrain to him while he was sleeping. Perhaps that's the reason why he likes the music I make. Who knows?
7: Life Ahead
I've always loved the rhythm guitar I played on the song “Próxima Vida” by Mutantes Melancólicos, back in 1996. I decided to record it again with some new arrangements. From the original song, only the lyrics and some chords were left. Who cares? I found a new path for the song. A new life ahead. A way out.
8: Icy Blue
The three main arpeggios on this song were written in Buenos Aires in 2008 in order to create some kind of mantric loop that never got to be relaxing. The spanish lyrics were taken from a song I´ve started to write in Montréal some years before, perhaps in 2005. Some kind of tango with too many words that I managed to cut out and synthesise to keep just a few words of interest that made up some nonsense.
9: Danse Immobile
The first sketches for this song were born in 2009 while I was trying to create arrangements for some lyrics a friend of mine has written. He wanted me to write the music for his songs. Back in 1998, when I wrote the song “Fix”, recorded by NO:ID. a year later, this same friend has given me other texts to help him create the music. Unfortunately, none of his songs were finished but, in the process, some of the discarded elements I've written helped me to give birth to two of my own songs.
10: Stagnant Tears
This is the third reinterpretation of the melody I´ve used on the songs “Lágrimas Artificiales” and “Gotas de Lágrimas Artificiales”, both recorded by Mutantes Melancólicos. This time, some verses of the song were written in french. The next version, will it be written in spanish?
11: Astro Chueco
This is one the first songs I've written in Montréal in 2003. It took me a great effort to clean up the spirit that attached its first versions to my previous album “Silence”. This is a song that resists mutations and that's what I love about it. Don´t be surprised if I decide to transform it again and again.
12: Mutantes Melancólicos
I wrote the first and original version of this song back in 1992. Years later, in 1995, I recorded a different version for the album “Ojalá Pudiera” by Mutantes Melancólicos only using three instruments: electric piano, trumpet and slide guitar. On this third version, I´ve tried to preserve some of the original ideas. Just a few of them.
13: Hollow Breeze
In 2010, while I was listening to the tapes I´ve been recording with my different projects all over the years to start with the mastering process in order to press the CD versions of my old albums, I found a rehearsal recording with the first version of this song. I recall that for the album “Silence”, I wanted to record and include several short songs that only lasted one chorus. Born out of this idea, “Breeze” was written in 2002. After so many years waiting to find its place, it evolved: two new verses were written and the sound grew up to become devastating.
