GIUSEPPE
IELASI "AUGUST" (12K1044)
to translate languages, paste text
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AVUI
(IT)
El creador italia Giuseppe Ielasi ratifica amb aquest nou disc
la seva condició d'autor de culte de l'escena electronica
experimental europea del moment. August és un àlbum
delicat, evocador, melancolic i nitid en què Ielasi explora
amb molta cura els limits de l'ambient i el minimalisme.
BLOW
UP (IT)
A distanza di un anno e mezzo dall' omonimo CD su Hapna (e a
poco meno da "Group", realizzato con gli EKG), Giuseppe
Ielasi torna con un disco che prosegue il cammino 'narrativo'
li intrapreso e gia portato a perfezione. La sua musica è
ormai distante dall'improv tutta schizzi e screzi con cui si
fece conoscere tanti anni fa; per definirla oggi non viene nulla
di meglio che "ambient": strumentale, lenta e per
lo piu quieta e tranquilla, spesso cosi riflessiva da apparire
meditabonda (la terza traccia - sono tutte senza titolo) e solo
per brevi tratti leggermente increspata dalle escrudescenze
glitch del tempo che fu (la seconda). Un suono autenticamente
"cosmico", termine da leggere esattamente come lo
si intendeva per i krauti di quais quarant'anni fa; ma rovesciandone
l'afflato dall'esterno all'intimo, come se quello da esplorare
fosse l'universo mentale interno e personale (la quinta traccia,
la piu bella). Mutazioni di Tangerine Dream, semi sparsi di
Popol Vuh, talvolta tocchi che puntano (forse inconsapevolmente,
come è capitato di pensare anche per i due recenti lavori
dei 3/4 hadbeeneliminated) a construzioni progressive e a una
"serieta" di fondo limitrofa al sentiment (alism)
o di certa new age (la terza traccia, con imbarazzanti svenevolezze
di tromba). Non appaia offensivo il parallelo: anche "allora",
tanti decenni fa, si trattò di un percorso limpido e
lineare che dalle spinte in avanti degli esordi porto pian piano
molti musicisti a farsi utensile di/per meditazioni estemporanee.
Il disco resta comunque un bell'ascolto, anche se la direzione
intrapresa (insieme facile da realizzare, acomodante e "remissiva"
emotivamente) convince solo fino a un certo punto. - 6/7 Stefano
I. Bianchi
D-SIDE
(FR)
Vous
ne l'avez sans doute pas remarqué, si comme nous vous
vivez dans la partie de l'Hexagone qui ne borde pas la Méditerranée,
mais le mois d'aout est un mois d'été... si, si...
un mois où la chaleur est censée nous assommer
et nous donner envie de languir sous un arbre avec un verre
à la main. Et si c'est l'été dernier que
l'Italien Giuseppe Ielasi a commencé l'enregistrement
de son quatrième album (ce qui lui a évité
de languir devant son radiateur avec ses moufles et son viandox
à la main), August n'est cependant pas un album aussi
radieux et solaire qu'on pourrait s'y attendre. Certes, Ielasi
y apparait plus mélancolique qu'à l'accoutumée,
et ses instruments multiples, guitare évidemment, mais
également piano, orgue et ondes courtes, se fondent dans
une matière moins rugueuse que par le passé, mais
l'ensemble n'en demeure pas moins hanté par le spectre
du gouffre, proche d'un orage crépusculaire qui plane
sur la musique de Giuseppe Ieslasi comme une intangible menace,
forcant les sons à toutes le torsions pour apaise la
tempete. Un August dont on se souviendra sans doute bien plus
que du calamiteux été 2007. - Jean-Francois Micard
E/I
(US)
The somniloquies on the sixth full-length from musician Giuseppe
Ielasi are compellingly cinematic, though lucid in their detailed
description. Rumblings from guitar, piano, hammond organ, and
synthesizer evolve and divide like amoebas filmed in real time,
their irregular movement marked against the steady flickering
of static. This process establishes a mosaic of sound which
possesses a hypnotic and energizing directness. While these
percolating elements cohere to form an iridescent glow of waking
machinery, of crucial point is the fact that they nevertheless
maintain a strong sense of clarity and distinctness, never dissolving
into vapidness. This is epitomized in the second track, where
tense strands of energy from guitar and hammond organ are dissolved
into a gray monolith of short-wave timbres. Also circling around
this core, though, are piano and Hammond organ, which are positively
alive with multitudinous timbres and fragmented melodic ideas.
The plaintive, cracked, and waywardly inventive quality of the
compositions makes for rather moving music. On the fourth selection,
too, the piece is pitch-shifted such that it unsettles any real
sense of serenity, yet at the same time, the central theme remains
very much present, eternally pulsing with unsaturated crystalline
potential. Unlike some of his other releases, Ielasi never meddles
with the listeners’ perceptual instincts. Instead, in
using an expansive and elongated aural field, subtle gradations
in texture, and dynamic and melodic intervals, not to mention
a certain mournful mood, he continually provokes a renewed sense
of wonder. The fifth composition brings this all to a close.
Full of timbral friction, the piece wavers like a massive cosmic
sigh. As one has come to expect from Ielasi, however, it is
restrained and candid in approach, making this one of his most
direct and personal statements yet. (MS)
GONZO
(BE)
Voor zijn vierde langspeler verhuisde de Italiaan Giuseppe Ielasi
Hapna naar 12k. Een keuze die na het beluisteren van August
goed te plaatsen valt. De weidse geluidslandschappen die hij
met veel gevoel uittekent, komen hier volledig tot hun recht.
Waar in zijn vroegere werk Ielasi trouw bleef aan zijn gitaar,
maakt hij op August gebruik van een trits instrumenten. Zo horen
we in het titelloze openingsnummber - verscholen tussen de vele
fijne lagen geluid - een ragfijn pianomotief opduiken. Het is
net het precieze gebruik van de klassieke instrumenten - soms
veeleer schoorvoetend dan weer voluit - dat August kleurt. Een
paar jaar terug leek Taylor Deupree, de man achter het 12k-label
op een dood spoor te zitten. Het label leverde een reeks middelmatige
platen af en ook Deupree zelf kon niet altijd overtuiden. Zijen
recente solowerk op Room40 en nieuw plaatwerk van Pjusk en Giuseppe
Ielasi bewijzen dat het label in bloedvorm verkeerd en opnieuw
een toonaangevende rol speelt. Het is overduidelijk dat dit
erg innemende August voor het genre een van de belangrijkste
releases van het jaar is.
LE SON DU GRISLI (FR)
Sur August, Giuseppe Ielasi délaisse un peu ses guitares
et confectionne une musique sous influence.
Accueilli par Taylor Deupree sur son label 12K, Ielasi s'extirpe
des ombres qui envahissent ses enregistrements les plus convaincants,
en adoptant, poli, les façons de son hôte. Par
enchantement, ses compositions instables se font pièces
répétitives délétères, qui
accueillent les espoirs mélodiques d'orgues ou de trompettes
synthétiques, et minimisent les capacités déstabilisantes
de reverses, craquements et autres saturations. Surtout pas
dérangeant, passablement agréable.
http://www.lesondugrisli.com/
LOST
AT SEA (UK)
To really conquer minimalism is to do away with anything the
slightest bit extraneous. Italian producer Giuseppe Ielasi really
gets to the point: rather than attempting to paint scenes with
flowery songtitles or conceptual blabber, Ielasi opts for the
simplistic approach - that is, producing subtle and delicate,
yet soulful tones and drones that soothe the listener into submission.
The fact that August appears via the acclaimed 12k imprint answers
half the questions that may be posed about it. 12k rarely ventures
far from the niche it has carved out for itself - freeform,
minimalist electronica - and the 12k back reads like the blueprints
for an entire genre, such is the label's consistency and high
standard. It's a game that 12k plays impeccably and, needless
to say, Ielasi puts in a solid performance under their flag.
Despite a history embedded in understated granular synthesis,
12k's most recent output has seen the label embarking on a slight,
yet perceptible, tangent. Keeping in mind the subtle electronics
of such mainstays as Taylor Deupree and Sogar, spacious productions
have come into focus more and more over the last couple of years,
and Giuseppes Ielasi's debut 12k outing does little to betray
this trend. Sine waves, which so many producers have stayed
true to when composing music of this ilk, are left with minor
roles at best on August; Ielasi instead expands upon instrument
recordings and room tones, keeping the facets of his recordings
to a minimum, regardless of the impetus he manages to craft.
"Track 1" fleshes out a delicate minor chord, which
may have once emanated from a woodwind instrument, or maybe
a guitar, it's difficult to tell, and the song collects as a
cycle of digital clunks and scrapes are hauled into view. Via
a piano sequence that sounds eerily similar to Stars of the
Lid's "Down 2," August's "Track 2" seeps
in triumphantly. In an orchestral haze, instruments bleed into
one another; a dense fog where it is difficult to decipher when
one stops and another begins. The track is stepped up a gear
as a storm of digital distortion is added to the mix, and then
the momentum begins to dissipate. The organ-centric "Track
5" is one of August's more notable moments, the composition
collecting itself ever so gradually and crescendo-ing over six
or seven minutes, testament to Ielasi's proficiency as a producer.
August's appeal lies in its capacity to sound diverse, yet at
the same time consistent. Each of the five tracks on offer is
structured in much the same way, though a range of different
textures and tones are explored and expanded upon, giving Ielasi
an immediate leg-up on what is fast becoming a saturated pool
of artists working in this field of minimalism.
NEURAL
(IT)
Heartwarming drones, melancholic suspensions and glitch'n'cuts
sequences, rarefied and melodic threads, infused with iterated
atmospheres in synthetic chords and radio frequencies obtained
by modulating short waves, using a piano, a Hammond organ and
a resophonic guitar. Ielasi seems to leave his usual improvisational
preferences behind to embrace a more linear approach, built
among carefully thought-out abstractions and superimpositions.
It's an introspective and refined album that the artist, who
is also the founder of Fringes Recordings, chose to release
for 12K, an equally experimental and high-profile label based
in New York and headed by Taylor Deupree. - Aurelio Cianciotta
OCTOPUS
(FR)
Linéaire dans sa splendeur désolée, l'objet
- intime et précieux dans son indescriptible mystère
- déroulait sa cataracte fébrile en un long drone
épars. Guère ému par les passants trop
pressés de la grande métropole, son apesanteur
hors de toute vindicte énervée démantibulait
un orchestre de chambre entre souvenirs de jazz (la contrebasse
de "01" - aucun des cinq morceaux ne porte de nom),
pop agenouillée (oh, juste quelques notes d'orgue Hammond)
et ambient nordique. Dans son périple aérien,
il remontait le cours d'une ecchymose, sentant le souffle obsédant
d'Eyes Like Saucers ("02"), dévoré de
cette lumière pâle dont se nourrissaient les douloureuses
fins d'été d'avant l'explosion nucléaire.
Traversant une nappe de brume, entrouverte sur un monde en refus
d'achalandage dont émergeaient quelques notes de trompette
(le magnifique Heimo Wallner à l'|uvre sur "03"),
en survol horizontal de son époque (Stars of the Lid,
Machinefabriek), la chose croisait un cercle d'adeptes de la
méditation mélancolique, délicatement soutenue
d'une electronica en discrète lévitation (elle
n'est toutefois - et c'est heureux - jamais planante), sur laquelle
venait se réincarner la grâce introspective d'une
tristesse assumée entre deux méridiens liquéfiés.
- Fabrice Vanoverberg
OTHER
MUSIC (US)
A man of many faces, Giuseppe Ielasi returns to us with a slightly
new approach. Last time we saw Ielasi he was handling production
and mixing duties for Alesandro Bosetti's starkly minimal "Her
Name," and now with "August," the Italian composer/improviser
treats us to something which will seem familiar on first listen
but nonetheless contains extremely striking and very distinct
moments of originality. Ielasi's knack for truly hypnotic, repetitive
phrases is still alive and going strong, but he never falls
into the easy getaway of the outright drone, always keeping
the listener on their toes, waiting for the change in tone or
shape which is always anticipated yet always surprising. Several
tracks stray away from the quiet, minimal work that many in
Ielasi's field stick to so fiercely, and embrace the idea of
climax and decline, on occasion conjuring images of a real time
Disintegration Loops, with much thanks to be given here to the
two guests, Heimo Wallner (trumpet on track 3) and Renato Rinaldi
(reel-to-reel on track 4). This enjoyable, intriguing manipulation
of sounds is entirely worth the listen. Recommended.
ROCKERILLA (IT)
Giuseppe Ielasi esordisce su 12k dopo una mezza dozzina di lavori
apprezzati in tutto il mondo. Il chitarrista milanese entra
nello spirito dell'etichetta di Taylor Deupree registrando il
suo disco piu delicato e descrittivo. Senza perdere, tuttavia,
quell'aspetto di improvvisazione caratteristico del suo dna.
La quiet di "01" viene rotta da un giro di contrabasso
destrutturalizzato e mandato in loop. Il crescendo di "02"
sembra voler stilizzare le aurore boreali dei Sigur Ros. SUl
maestoso drone di "03" appare la tromba elegiaca di
Heimo Wallner. Alla stesura della placida "04" contribuisce
il concittadino Renato Rinaldi. Ma la tempesta è sempre
dietro l'angolo. La calma è apparente. Questo sembra
comunicare anche l'immagine di copertina di Amedeo Martegani.
RUIS
(BE)
Terug naar vandaag met twee knappe, nieuwe releases op de schouw.
Giuseppe Ielasi heeft zich met vier albums, in evenveel jaar,
een aardige reputatie opgebouwd. De kale en goedlachse Italiaan
zocht een eigen artistieke weg waarbij akoestische en elektronische
klanken, compositie en improvisatie elkaar kruisen. Zijn laatste
plaat August is, op 12k (enigszins verrassend) en bevat zoemende,
gelaagde drones waarbij klanken steeds verschuiven. Hoewel de
stukken veel omvatten blijven ze kristalhelder en daar ligt
juist Ielasi's magie....
SOUND OF MUSIC (NU)
Av: Magnus Olsson
Två nya skivor från italienaren Giuseppe Ielasi.
I huvudsak går de längs minimalismens två olika
stråk. På "August" är han ensam och
beträder den utsträckta minimalismens domäner
medan han tillsammans med Nicola Ratti på "Bellows"
går in i looparnas och det repetitionens minimalism. Väldigt
bra båda två, om än det finns stunder som skulle
behöva lite mer spänning.
"August" är Ielasis fjärde soloskiva, efter
2003 års "Plans" på Sedimental och två
utgåvor på svenska Häpna. Den utdragna grundkänslan
på "August" är inte märklig med tanke
på att den ges ut av det amerikanska bolaget 12K som drivs
av Taylor Deupree, vilket hittills gett ut mycket dronande och
minimalistisk elektronisk musik.
Det finns en tilltalande lätthet i låtarna, det är
mjukt, vackert och i de flesta fall väldigt harmoniskt
(ibland lite väl enkelt dock). Utan barlast vaggas tonerna
med en rofylldhet som nästan får rörelserna
att avta och nå stillhet. Gitarr, hammondorgel, piano,
dobro, synthesizers och kortvågsradio får olika
framträdande roller på skivans fem namnlösa
och ganska skiftande spår.
Även om det utdragna också är det anslagsfria,
drar sig inte Ielasi för att samtidigt forma melodiska
och rytmiska inslag med anslagens hjälp. Det är som
att dessa hörbara rörelser vid instrumenten drar ner
musiken från den svävande karaktären och gör
den mer greppbar. Bra!
Det är nog denna påtaglighet som gör att jag
håller "Bellows" lite högre än "August".
På "Bellows" används loopar i betydligt
större omfattning. Elpianot i den första låten
(de är utan namn även här) är väldigt
mjukt och vackert och störs endast av den lössläppta
"fluga" som ihärdigt surrar vidare i jakten på
skrymslen. Gitarrloopar trasas sönder och loopar av bastoner
ger både mystik och rytmik, samma sak med en upprepad
sekvens på marimba.
Gitarrerna får stor plats, men det är inte sällan
deformerade gitarrer som antingen faller sönder eller distas
till oigenkännlighet. Även om det ibland blir lite
noisigt, är det ändå hela tiden behärskat
och på något sätt städat. Jag gillar det.
THE
SOUND PROJECTOR (.COM)
Business as usual with Giuseppe Ielasi on August (12K1044),
his latest release for the American 12K label which has produced
many excellent minimal meisterwerks. The Italian genius turns
in five long tracks of very discreet and gently textured humming
fragility, aided in places by the trumpet of Heimo Wallner and
the tape recorder of Renato Rinaldi. The intriguing front cover
portrays a dog lying down in some urban conurbation in Hanoi,
a photograph which rejoices in many perplexing reflections.
- Ed Pinsent
TOKAFI
(.NET)
Ielasi plays the cymbals of his metaphors with a soft brush:
An album with a broken heart.
Any kind of art has an inherent problem. While it needs to magnify
a particular perception in order for it to become apparent,
this process also distorts reality. Call it the curse of relativity
or compare it to the inability of the microphone to remain impartial.
Either way the phenomenon prevents music from ever becoming
a true representation of the audio-emotional space around us.
On his latest release, Giuseppe Ielasi suggests ways to circumvent
this dilemma.
“August” is, however, neither an intellectual construct
nor a concept album. With all five compositions remaining untitled,
it can not be called programmatic either. Even its title refers
less to a kind of seasonal mood or pre-autumnal depression than
to the month its creation process began. Very much in the tradition
with his previous work – and, as aficionados seem to agree,
this may be the only tradition in the work of a man who tries
on different methods and techniques with each record –
it is up to the listener to make up the exact meaning. Freed
from any kind of fixed ideologies or goals, the music as such
retains its spot in the limelight. And this is where Ielasi
grabs his chance for a unified approach.
For the mere fact that a composer does not provide his listeners
with a set of associations or images from the start, does not
make his pieces abstract. Quite organically, “August”
is a soulful album, a concise collection of tracks revolving
around affairs of the heart. Giuseppe Ielasi plays the cymbals
of his metaphors with a soft brush, he awards a dreamlike quality
to his soft drones, a profound depth to his bass notes and an
affective resonance to his overlapping piano reveries. An ambiance
between sorrow and consolation binds them together in works,
which never need long to get to the point and linger in that
sensation for the rest of their duration once they’re
there.
The coherence of its psychology is counterpointed by the colourfulness
of the arrangements found on “August”. The debut
movement, on the one hand, is a multipart pastiche, which reaches
out to many different genres at the same time: It opens with
a sustained tone, which grows in volume, reaches a hickup-point,
collapses and immediately starts growing again. Gradually, slightly
offset developments in deeper registers fill the frequential
spectrum, while a finely chased metallic polishing sound provides
for fragile friction areas. Out of nothing, a fretless bass
enters the picture, cool and with an air of groove and jazz,
before surrendering to a classical piano motive caught in a
self-hypnotical feedback loop.
On the other hand, the third piece on the album melts singular
notes and short, harmonic trumpet phrases into a minimal carpet,
which searches for rest rather than development.
Similarly, the album is unafraid of going from very quiet passages
to moments when voluminous organ thrusts and growling distortion
lift the music to a brutal climax. Ielasi’s understanding
of beauty certainly has nothing to do with perfectly balanced
forms. Rather, he seems to suggest that an element of crisis
is necessary to appreciate the warmth of its resolution.
As such, the CD is continously trying to pinpoint its own position
with its inbuilt compass, thereby approximating real life uncertainty.
Our emotional condition, Giuseppe Ielasi seems to suggest, is
after all never just made up of a set of closely connected factors.
Sometimes, these may vary, diverge, even contradict each other.
“August” takes this into consideration by always
contrasting the purposeful movement of one layer of music with
the out-of-sync development of another. Field recordings may
crackle disturbingly, disrupting the peaceful flow of breath,
a disharmonic note may confound the closedness of a texture,
several lines may be running in various tempi.
The result is a work in between the organic and the processed,
between repetition and variation, the consistent and the torn
apart. It may not bring out an archetype or further our insight
in a perticular area. But what it does do is mirror an inner
world full of little miracles in all its brittle and contradictory
splendour. And if it sometimes seems broken - then that is because
its heart is. - Tobias Fischer
VITAL WEEKLY (NL)
A big smile of excitement and surprise turned upon my face when
I opened the 12K parcel (when they arrive they get opened and
played first): Giuseppe Ielasi on 12K. Now that's a surprise.
I can't say why exactly, maybe it was always coming, but after
the recent bunch of new talent, it's perhaps the surprise of
seeing an arrived musician at 12K. Ielasi's tracks still clock
in at somewhere between six and eight minutes, but unlike his
previous releases, he has five instead of four. I kinda suspect
Ielasi to like the good old vinyl album length approach. Ielasi
plays his favorite instruments again: the guitar of course,
piano, hammond organ, dobro, synthesizers and shortwave and
he's out to teach us lesson. The lesson being that you don't
need a laptop only to make warm glitchy music. His guitar playing
is anything but a guitar, but in stead he plays long form drones.
On the other instruments he also creates a large humming and
droning stream of sounds, which is densely layered together
with phase shifting patterns. Slow, but always on the move.
Where there is room, Ielasi throws in some delay. Yet there
is never a muddy sound, and everything remains crystal clear.
Following his previous solo releases on Sedimental and Häpna,
this is another fine addition to his catalogue. (FdW)
