a r t o . a r t i a n

musika txikien katalogoa / catálogo de musicas mínimas

1. .

   BAGATELLEN by Alan Jones

   Baseline is the project of young Spanish sound artist, Pilar Baizán. She’s been a mainstay at European and US festivals for the last few years, primarily with her attention-grabbing video works embellished by a rich soundscape. Witnesses of these productions deem her performances no less than trance-inducing. Having cut her teeth in the synthesis of artistic audio and video production, Baizán is now heavily involved in sound exploration for audio playback, and Estado Líquido is her second foray into that field.

   Listeners who tend toward drone-affected ambience will find a goldmine here. Three pieces fill out the disc, two in excess of 20 minutes, with the middle track clocking in around 8:00. While I did not listen to Baseline while driving, I would still caution against it. You are bound to be either immersed in the textures or simply put to sleep. On first listen I was fortunate enough to have two cups of coffee in me. No worries.

   “Público” is an appropriate enough title for the first track, as it includes the heaviest incorporation of the field recordings found throughout the disc. After opening with a ringing low freq drone, layer oozes over layer, from synthesized scale loops to distant industrial rumblings that include pneumatic bursts and combustion engines. The synth ceases early on, a casualty of the steady manipulation of channel levels. Quite craftily, these sources appear, linger and dissipate in a creeping evolution of the material in near-geologic time. While these techniques are hardly fresh, “Público” is hard to turn away from for its density and a nice patchwork of agreeable frequencies. No harshness here as the tune erodes at end to its original low frequency drone.

   Baizán next offers “Escuchando,” a piece with highly reverberated field captures over low rumbling loops, and it’s the track I fancy most. The same techniques from “Público” are employed here, but the piece is positively affected for its concision and the uniqueness of the source material. Fans of John Carpenter will enjoy the last couple of minutes, where a bass-heavy, pulsating loop akin to the audio backdrop for The Thing’s Antarctic landscape is manipulated down to a near-steady hum.

   “Dentro” again features the same gimmick: single source loop or drone, layer built upon layer, heaviness, erosion, and return to opening source. Interestingly, the piece opens with what sounds like a looped sample of a heartbeat, as heard through the low dynamics of a stethoscope. A slow, building digital synth tone enters on a new channel amid electrostatic noise, devouring the heartbeat, and then heavier drones. It’s more of the same but the sounds are nonetheless exquisite.

   This disc will wear out early those who prefer heavy doses of improvisation, or unedited experimentation. It did me. It should be mentioned that Baseline benefits from skilled production and engineering teams that carefully balance the master, from the low drones to the higher frequency, percussive emphatics of her field recordings. Definitely for those who require atmospherics in the living room! For drones, give me Brendan Murray’s Commonwealth, or, even more recently, Merce and Capece.
2. .

   VITAL WEEKY by Frans de waard

   I never heard of Baseline, also from Bilbao in the active lands of Basque country, but she seems to be skipping the whole notion of releasing CDRs and MP3s (or perhaps I never encountered those) and goes straight to a real CD. She works with ‘glitchs, field recordings, sounds of synthesis… she manipulates loops and sound fragments to make dense and heavy compositions’, but here I’m less enthusiastic for what’s on offer. Baseline creates three long pieces of indeed field recordings, glitch sounds, but also lots of synth-synthesis, which in ‘Dentro’ results in some heavy deep ambient with a pulsating beat, but sounds somehow quite retro. Its the least interesting piece here. ‘Publico’ with a variety of street sounds is better, but not great either. ‘Escuchando’, the second and shortest piece, is not bad either, but the ‘gothic’ undercurrent in her music doesn’t work for me very well. Its all OK, but not great.
3. .

   AUDIOLAB ARTELEKU Oier Iruretagoienak

   Baselinek “Estado líquido” lan berria aurkeztu berri du, bere ibilbidean bigarrena, duela bi urte argitara emandako “0” haren aldean ezberdintasun zenbait erakusten dituena. Ezaugarri nabarmen modura loop-ak zerabiltzan diska bazen hura, “drone” deitutakora edo soinu linealetara gehixeago hurbiltzen da azken hau. Hurbildu diot, eta hurbildu bakarrik, oraindik loopak direlako Pilar Baizánen lanaren ardatza, nolabait ezkutuago egon arren. Motzak eta nabarmenak ziren “0”-n, luzexeagoak (batzuk) eta disimulatuagoak dira “estado líquido”-n. Drone musikatik hurbilago dago “fade”-en erabileragatik ere. Hori litzateke dronearen ezaugarri nabarmenenetako bat: Konposizio baliabideak bolumen igoera eta jaitsiera luzeetara mugatuz (egitura oso sinple batekin), entzulea alde batetik bestera eramatea leun-leun, arreta batez ere tinbreetan jarriz eta ibilbide bat “diseinatuz”. Baselineri dagokionez, diska jarri eta entzuten dugun lehen piezak, “público”, tinbrikoki aberatsa izan badaiteke ere, egitura aldetik gabeziak dituela esango nuke. Entzulearentzat esperientzia frustrantea da soinu batekin “ongi eramaten” hasten denerako honek alde egitea eta beste batzuk azaltzea, eta beste horiekin berdin gertatzea (berriz ere “ongi eramaten” hasi orduko alde egitea), eta alderantziz, ezertarako nahi ez dugun soinu bat parean agertzea (Erne! Beharbada konszienteki egin du hala). Ez du sartzen uzten, ez du ibilbiderik, edo hala jasotzen dut nik behintzat. Soinuak goraka eta beheraka ibili ondoren, bukatzen da pieza eta kanpoan nago oraindik, zeri heldu ez dakidalako. Lehenaren aldean, diska osatzen duten beste bi konposizioek (“escuchando” eta “dentro”) askoz barne-logika edo eraiketa lan gehiago dute. “Escuchando”, ia zortzi minutuko pieza laburra (laburra hogei minututik gorakoak diren beste piezekin alderatuz), dronetik gehien urruntzen den kantua izango da seguruaski, gitarrek protagonismo berezia hartzen dutelarik. Eta gitarrak aipatu ditudala, arreta deitu dit gauza batek: Hauek erabiltzeko duen moduak eta amaieraldera agertzen den soinu elektroniko batek Io Casino ekartzen didate gogora. Eta antzekotasunekin ari naizenez gero, utzidazue beste bat aipatzen: Tzesneren “La cuchara” laneko loop industrialekin antzekotasun oso handia du jada aipatu dugun “público” piezako zatiren batek. Badakit, gorrotagarriak izan ohi dira halako alderaketak, baina barkatuko didazue, ezin izan diot tentazioari eutsi.
   Azkenak, “dentro”, bihotz taupada batzuen soinuarekin egiten digu ongietorria, eta berriz ere pixkanakako sarrera-irteera geldoak erabiliz, gero eta elementu gehiago integratuz doa Baseline, dena “crescendo” batera eramanaz. Atsedenaldi moduko bat dator gero, aurrekoaren oso antzeko (soinu berberekin) “crescendo” bat egiteko berriz, eta hasierako taupadekin amaitu.
   Baselineren hurrengo diskaren zain izango gara. Ziur naiz “Estado líquido” hau etortzear egon daitekeenaren arrasto txiki bat baino ez dela.
4. .

   LA DEFUNCIÓN

   Detrás de este proyecto se esconde Pilar Baizán, un músico o más bien una investigadora sonora, que se ha dado a conocer lejos de su Bilbao natal gracias a numerosos conciertos en lugares tan carismáticos y lejanos como podrían ser Washington o Berlín, mostrando su forma de ver la música y experimentando con sus máquinas ayudada siempre por un entramado visual cercano al espíritu de su obra. Este es su segundo trabajo tras “0”, publicado en el 2006 en el mismo sello.

   En lo musical nos encontramos con un artista ávida de encontrar nuevos caminos musicales para desarrollarse, donde la experimentación es el principal elemento y donde salvo en determinados momentos el ambient industrial es su mayor aliado. En los tres temas que tiene el álbum
   (aunque en total llegan a algo más de 50 minutos), Pilar nos transporta a través de loops simples pero hipnóticos, a secuencias monótonas y repetitivas, donde lo que hace falta es una mente abierta y ganas de viajar a través de un mar de sensaciones, generalmente de relajación pero
   con un manto de inquietud y desasosiego que nos mantiene siempre en vilo, sólo pendiente de los nuevos sonidos que van a llegar a nuestros oídos.
   Tres temas que harán las delicias de todos aquellos que disfrutamos de los campos electrónicos sembrados de texturas diferentes, dándole otro sentido a la música, lejos de ritmos y melodías y cerca de la abstración y el intimismo.

   Si quieres conseguir tanto este trabajo como el anterior puedes dirigirte a ARTOARTIAN y solicitarlos, eso sí, si estas dispuesto a entrar en un mundo tan mágico como exclusivo. Sencillamente recomendado ……….
5. .

   SANDSZINE

   L’alias Baseline nasconde la donzella Pilar Baizán, e forse è proprio per una condivisione di attributi sessuali che mi ha fatto pensare a Maryanne Amacher. La risoluzione del CD si svolge in tre lunghi brani dall’aspetto marziale ed epico, dilatati, minimali e segnati da insistenti derive industrial e/o techno. Ritmi, che assumono le sembianze di un plotone inmarcia o di una pulsazione cardiaca, e battimenti, per un risultato che mantiene ciò che promette: una musica dall’impatto forte e diretto.

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