EndTitles Specials
An Moku & Virlyn: Of Mirrors
This album is a cooperation between AN MOKU and Virlyn. «Of Mirrors» has an organic element. The album is for explorers, while the sounds settle in being extremely meditative, surreal, and ambient. The Artists take old classical instruments and use them as acoustic drones while acquiring and manipulating specific elements of the sounds for each song. The phrase ‚Nature is beautiful‘ is a purveying interpretation for the listener here. As they hear slow waves, and other ‚found‘ sound samples, played alongside the dirgeful drones and scattered bits of solemn strings, «Of Mirrors» brings out the beauty in a natural progression. Quiet ambient soundscapes for electronics, piano, strings and field recordings. «Of Mirrors» has been recorded from November 2011 until March 2012.
This album is released in cooperation with David Newman’s label Audibulb: anmokuandvirlyn.bandcamp.com/album/of-mirrors
www.audiobulb.com
Electronics by Virlyn: www.facebook.com/VirlynMusic
Mixing by Virlyn
Mastering by Weldroid: www.weldroid.net
All instrumental and field recordings captured in Switzerland and Iceland
Ending of ‘Frost’ captured during an orchestral warm up session at Harpa, Reykjavik
Modified vocal sample taken from -The Seventh Seal- by Bergman, 1957
Photography: Dominik Grenzler, Reykjavik, January 2012
Swiss Performers:
Piano by Cornellia Stromeyer
Violin by Orina Zänerle
Cello by Jacki Knöpfel
RMX:
soundcloud.com/snoopy-over-the-hills
endtitles.ch/artists/oblique-noir/
endtitles.ch/joel_gilardini/
soundcloud.com/zosimos-of-panopolis
www.chihei.org
An Moku & Virlyn
EndTitles.Kitchen.Lab: Live_Cuts
Willkommen zu EndTitles.Kitchen.Lab’s «Live_Cuts» Album!
Kitchen.Lab ist die Konzertreihe des Labels, welche im Zürcher Kleinstcafé Miyuko angefangen hat. Die Musiker und Künstler performten aus der Küche, durch einen Bartresen vom Innenraum des Cafés getrennt. Die Zuschauer|innen sassen so gesehen nur eine Handbreite von der Performance entfernt. Das war sehr intim und persönlich. Die Reihe habe ich nach einigen Jahren Pause in 2018 mit dem Label neu gestartet, als ich Joel Gilardini wiederholt im Exil live hörte. In diesem Sinne habe ich Nik Bärtsch für diese Inspiration zu danken. Die Konzertreihe verlegte ich anschliessend 2019 in den Kulturfolger an der Idastrasse. 2020 sind weitere Konzerte geplant.
Zu hören sind Ausschnitte (Cuts) vierer Konzertabende, direkt aus dem Mischpult heraus ohne grosse Bearbeitung. «Live_Cuts» beginnt mit einem Ausschnitt von 2018 des japanischen Ambient-Gitarristen Chihei Hatakeyama, dessen Album nächsten Monat bei EndTitles erscheinen wird.
Ich danke herzlich allen Gästen, Beteiligten und Musikern für die schönen Abende und wünsche viel Vergnügen beim Hören.
Bis bald, Dominik Grenzler (An Moku)
chihei.org
joelgilardini.wordpress.com
universalfilter.org
stanpete.de
soundcloud.com/snoopy-over-the-hills
fzya.bandcamp.com
Mulo Muto, meanwhile.in.texas, Skag Arcade: ENDURANCE
„Endurance“ is the result of the collaboration between Mulo Muto (Switzerland), meanwhile.in.texas (Italy) and Skag Arcade (Italy, currently based in the USA).
The seeds of this work were sawed by the Swiss label Luce Sia, which has been releasing several records by all three projects. While listening to each other’s works, we got in touch to express admiration for each other’s approaches and quickly came up with the idea of recording an album together.
We then decided on how to structure what we were already imagining to be a proper concept album, and finally agreed on the idea of having each project one track (in this respect, Skag Arcade & meanwhile.in.texas are here considered as a unique entity and have written one track only together, since they had already collaborated on two shared albums) and then a third track conceived, arranged and played by everybody.
The concept of the album revolves around the Artic and Antarctic expeditions that took place at the beginning of the 20th Century. After some internal discussion on the topic, we decided to restrict the field of interest and to focus specifically on Ernest Shackleton’s expedition. Hence, the title „Endurance“, the name of the ship that Sir Shackleton used during his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914-1917), which is considered to be the last major expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.
The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition’s attempt to cross the Antarctic continent was eventually destined to a tragic fate. The ship Endurance, in particular, after having battled her way through a thousand miles of pack ice over a six weeks period in the unknown, desolate and mysterious Antarctic wastelands, broke up after being crushed by pack ice and sank below the ice and waters of the Weddell Sea on November 21st 1915, leaving the 28 men of the expedition isolated on the drifting pack ice hundreds of miles from land, with no ship, no means of communication with the outside world and with very limited supplies…
The 3 long tracks composing the album have to be experienced as highly evocative, unsettling and almost transcendental meditations about those trips, almost to evoke the real excursions that took place over a 100 years ago, and represent an homage, if not properly an elegy, to the mostly forgotten men that were involved in those extreme expeditions to the Poles, and that in many cases lost their lives on those remote, unknown places at the end of the Earth.
Meeting the artist. An Interview.
ET: What is your new album «Endurance» about? What was your instrumental approach for the album?
Joel: Back then Attila and I met several times to rehearse and improvise new material, and while recording one of these sessions, we came up with the material which became our track “Tales Of A Lonely Icebreaker Dreaming Of Steam Engine And Enduring Frost”. It was recorded in one take, no additional editing nor further overdubs were done. That’s our modus operandi as Mulo Muto; we relate a lot on feeling and how well we know each other. After so many years of playing together, as soon as somebody plays something different you feel it and the music automatically grows/collapses in another direction. For “Endurance” on the other hand, we exchanged stem files via internet and everybody (due also to the distance) recorded his parts in their own home-studios. As instruments I used baritone 7 strings guitar, Dronin, drone-noise synth, effect pedals and looper.
Attila: Joel already explained the working flow applied on these recordings. As for instrumentation or performance approach, I breathed and whistled into a box with a piezo, I used another box with nails and coins inside and a spring attached outside, effects pedals, Volca Keys and worked a lot on handling feedbacks.
Angelo: Mainly guitar improvisation and sound design. For this record, I also played toy keyboards, DIY square & wave synths and used several field recordings.
Paolo: As already mentioned in the press release, the concept of the album revolves about those audacious and somehow almost mystic Antarctic expeditions that were conducted (sometimes destined to a tragic fate) by a bunch of very brave and fearless men at the beginning of the last Century. Our goal was to basically create a sonic/musical accompaniment for those solitary, scaring, and sometimes doomed extreme epic trips. For what concerns my instrumental (if I can call it so) approach, I’ve been lead as usual by a very empirical and concrete one, based almost to a manic extent on the random and chaotic repetition of small sonic experiments (implementing mostly sampling, cut-up and acousmatic techniques). Thus, I’ve been assembling a big range of random, and sometimes very diversified source-wise, sonic inputs (noises, glitches, samples, found objects, field recordings) and then have intervened on them with a massive manipulation & programming process (using mostly programs as Reaper, Audacity, and on a smaller scale Ableton). I’ve therefore blended them with other sonic sources (which may be other samples/drones/loops or fragments of synths, guitars, found percussions), trying to come out with something completely different, and if possible even transfigured, out of them. I’ve then tried to recombine them so to create something totally new and unheard before, as to give life to another, hybrid and mysterious creature. Eventually, the final step was to make sense out of all that chaotic, beautiful mess (including the inputs & proposals of the other three thinking/creative heads responsible of this output) with what I like to call a process of digital treatment and synthesis.
ET: Tell us more about your work? How or/and where did you guys met?
Attila: The seeds of this work were sawed by the Swiss label Luce Sia, which has been releasing several records by all three projects. While listening to each other’s works, we got in touch to express admiration for each other’s approaches and quickly came up with the idea of recording an album together. We then decided on how to structure what we were already imagining to be a proper concept album, and finally agreed on the idea of having each project one track (in this respect, Skag Arcade & meanwhile.in.texas are here considered as a unique entity and have written one track only together, since they had already collaborated on two shared albums) and then a third track conceived, arranged and played by everybody. The concept of the album revolves around the Antarctic expeditions of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s expedition. Hence, the title „Endurance“, the name of the ship that Sir Shackleton used during his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914-1917), which is considered to be the last major expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition’s attempt to cross the Antarctic continent was eventually destined to a tragic fate. The ship Endurance, in particular, after having battled her way through a thousand miles of pack ice over a six weeks period in the unknown, desolate and mysterious Antarctic wastelands, broke up after being crushed by pack ice and sank below the ice and waters of the Weddell Sea on November 21st 1915, leaving the 28 men of the expedition isolated on the drifting pack ice hundreds of miles from land, with no ship, no means of communication with the outside world and with very limited supplies… The 3 long tracks composing the album have to be experienced as highly evocative, unsettling and almost transcendental meditations about those trips, almost to evoke the real excursions that took place over a 100 years ago, and represent an homage, if not properly an elegy, to the mostly forgotten men that were involved in those extreme expeditions to the Poles, and that in many cases lost their lives on those remote, unknown places at the end of the Earth.
ET: What are your main music related influences?
Angelo: Influenced by ambient, post-rock and drone music, I really love psychedelic music (especially Syd Barrett and early Pink Floyd) and experimental/electronic music projects as Labradford, Pan American, Loscil, Fennesz, Deru, Brian Eno, Machinefabriek, Ben Frost, Phill Niblock and Tim Hecker. Other great sources of inspiration, even though it may seem surprising considering my musical sound, are Sonic Youth, at the drive-in, Fugazi, The Mars Volta, Einstürzende Neubauten, Marcus Fischer, Jackie O’Motherfucker and many others.
Joel: I listen to a broad array of music genres. Ambient-drone, post-rock, noise-industrial, metal (with special attention for the more doomed, blacked and grinded variants), jazz, electronic, dub, Japanese hiphop, Tibetan monks, etc… maybe the only kind of music I was never really into is classical music. If I have to name few artist I love and influenced me in a way then you’ll find Nirvana, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Killing Joke, David Sylvian/Japan, David Bowie, Deftones, Sepultura/Soulfly, Isis, Crisis, Ephel Duath, Bill Laswell, Sigillum S, KK Null, Chihei Hakateyama, and many many more.
Attila: I come from extreme metal and hardcore punk. In fact, my main band plays grindcore. I started getting interested in other sounds and sources after reaching the extreme. Thanks to the activities of grindcore pioneers like Justin Broadrick, Mick Harris et al., I was able to first get accustomed to records by Godflesh, Scorn, Final, etc., and, secondly, to see and build links with industrial and experimental music in general. Meanwhile, listening to noisecore already put me on the path of harsh noise and power electronics. Thereafter, it was like putting a big messy puzzle together. Beside the already mentioned people and keeping it as short as possible, I must add to the list Messiah (Swiss thrash death metal band that taught me how to approach music playing), Cripple Bastards (infinite source of inspiration and honesty), Sigillum S (perfection and evolution combined), Bloodyminded (intensity!), Tangerine Dream (cosmic and infinite). I could go on and on but I may break the internet…
Paolo: Throughout the years I’ve developed a super eclectic, almost schizophrenic music taste and my interests have been directed towards a wide, almost infinite, range of music genres and stylistic influences, from Jazz to Black Metal, from Experimental/Avantgarde to Folk & Country & Americana in general, from Power Electronics and Noise to Black Music as a unicum (Blues, Jazz, Soul, Funk, R&B, Detroit Techno). During my formative teen-age years, though, I was heavily immersed in the Heavy metal and Rock realms: from Extreme Metal iconic acts (Death, Napalm Death, Celtic Frost, Venom, Slayer, Carcass, Mayhem, Brutal Truth, Sepultura, Pantera, Fear Factory) to the shocking revolution of UK Punk (Crass, Discharge, Damned), so to arrive to the American Hardcore exacerbate forms (Germs, Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Black Flag, Negative Approach) and then to the consequent, apical post-hardcore foundations set by unforgettable acts as Husker Du, Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Fugazi, Rites Of Spring, Bitch Magnet, Bastro, Lungfish. All the post-punk/wave epopea also incredibly impacted on my Music persona: from the angel dust of Joy Division, The Sound and Talk Talk (a full, separate essay should be made on them) to the punker-than-punk and free-form genius of bands like This Heat, The Fall, The The, Pere Ubu, P.I.L.,Wire, arriving to the new wavey/bluesy post-punk of Gun Club, X, Cramps, Flesh Eaters, which opened to me a whole door into the world of Americana/Roots Music, Alt-Country (Lambchop, Bonnie Prince Billy, Vic Chesnutt, Songs:Ohia, Smog, American Music Club, Wilco) and American Classics and Legends (Johnny Cash, Townes Van Zandt, Fred Neil, Tim Buckley, Tim Hardin, ). Last but not least, some of my first loves ever, aka the Grunge-era (or slightly before) Seattle bands (Wipers, Alice In Chains, Truly, Nirvana, Soundgarden), and the brilliant crossover creativity and freaky genius of Faith No More (my first “favorite band” among all), Primus & Suicidal Tendencies. At last, a special mention for the revolutionary perpetrators of what somebody called the funeral of the rock body, who made possible its transition to other forms and worlds, very special acts to me that go under the names of Slint, The For carnation, Squirrel Bait, Codeine, June of 44, Rodan.
ET: Where do you get your equipment from? DIY?
Angelo: My main sound source is the electric guitar. In the last few years I bought a FM synth, a monophonic synth, a 4-track cassette recorder, a digital recorder and various midi controllers. I build by myself all the rest of my instrumentation: effects pedals, drone machines, spring boxes, contact mics, hydrophones, small synths.
Joel: Like Angelo my main source is a guitar, and then I also use different machineries and synths, depending on the mood/context I play. I used to DIY pedals when I was a student and on a budget, which was cool because I learned a lot about how pedals work and are built. Nowadays when I search/need something, I first take a look on the second hand market. You can find a lot of cool stuff in mint conditions, usually at reasonable prices. For example, I love these old Boss overdrive/distortion boxes, second hand are quite cheap to find, built like tanks and easy to modify, so that I can get the tone I want out of these.
Attila: I get my equipment from wherever I can whenever I can according to needs (less is always more!) and money. Beside small synths like the Volca Keys and the Monotron (later modded by Joel) bought new from Promusig in Zurich (still remember that), I got all my equipment second-hand. Some of my stuff was bought from Joel, otherwise I’ve been using mouth-to-mouth, Ricardo, and tutti.ch. For cables and other utilities I buy from Thomann (in case of big purchases), Swiss websites or local shops. I also got some stuff built by Joel and Angelo.
ET: Best loved hardware vs. Best loved software?
Angelo: Hardware: electric guitars (Fender Telecaster Made in Mexico, Squier Vintage Modified Mustang), Korg Volca FM, Arturia Microbrute, Fostex X-26, Alesis Nanoverb, Boss Rc-20 Loop Station, Electro Harmonix Freeze. Software: Ableton Live.
Joel: Software-wise I only use ProTools for mere recording and editing purposes, I was always an hardware guy. My gears of choice are baritone Nude Guitars, Elektron Digitakt and Digitone synths, various drone-noise synths (Exagonal Rooms, JMT Synth, Martin Howse), Massimo Olla’s Dronins, and many effects pedals and looping stations (AMT, Strymon, Boss, Meris, Zoom, Digitech/DOD, EHX, Earthbound Audio, Pigtronix, MASF and Bananana).
Attila: I love all my hardware because I try to keep the essentials only. When it comes to synths, I love my Arturia Minibrute 2S as well as my Microbrute (huge tractors!!), but I also love the simplicity of the Volca Keys that combined with effects can still amaze me even after years of extended (ab)use. Same story for the simple yet amazing Minimal Drone by Michael Rucci. As for pedals I love the Death Metal distortion for its extremity and high gain output, the Line 6 Echo Park for creamy delays (probably one of the heaviest pedals out there; it’s built like a tank) and the Zoom MS70 CDR for its versatility, quality and affordability. I also love my Portastudio 424 for recording (used a lot also for grindcore and black metal recordings) and tape loops live playing. The Zoom H2n should also be mentioned: easy to use, great quality, affordable. I’d like to upgrade but there is no real need as for now. Software is a tool for recording, mixing and mastering and does not represent a creative outlet; it’s just a set of tools that mimic hardware too expensive to buy and maintain and/or too big to store in a home environment. I use Logic Pro for recording and editing since forever and Ozone for mastering.
Paolo: Hardware = old and ran down electric guitars, Piezo and contact Microphones, Arturia Microbrute, MicroKorg, Korg Volca Beats & Synthesizer, Critter & Guitari Septavox, Critter & Guitari Organelle Sampler. Software = Reaper, Audacity, Ableton Live.
ET: Thank you guys! Cheers!
Reviews.
Art Noir: Ausdauer ist das zentrale Thema der Kollaboration zwischen Mulo Muto (Schweiz), meanwhile.in.texas (Italien) und Skag Arcade (Italien, USA), die sich mit experimentellen und lärmigen Improvisationen zwischen Ambient und Drones umherschlängelt. Die Auslegung des Begriffes funktioniert mit den drei langen Tracks auf diverse Arten, verliert sich aber niemals in den negativen Aspekten. Sicherlich ist es in gewisser Weise “Arbeit”, wenn man die Klänge und Flächen ausdividieren möchte, vor allem aber benötigt man Zeit.
“Endurance” beschäftigt sich konzeptuell mit den arktischen Expeditionen, welche am Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts die Abenteurer und Forscher an ihre Grenzen brachte, Kälte und schroffe Gegebenheiten werden nun in kühle Klänge und unangenehme Feedbacks übertragen. Der Track, an dem sich Mulo Muto, meanwhile.in.texas und Skag Arcade gemeinsam beteiligt haben, ist rau und karg, trotzdem verbirgt sich Schönheit in der unwirtlichen Umgebung. Eine Stimmung, die von “Tales Of A Lonely Icebreaker Dreaming Of Steam Engines And Enduring Frost” aufgenommen und weitergeführt wird.
Mulo Muto bringen die Klänge mit diesem Track noch weiter zu den Extremen, es rauscht, es fiept, es knirscht in den Frequenzen. Bis das Duo am Ende in den Motoren landet, welche metallisch beben und die Musik von der Menschheit wegbringen. So herrschen bei “Dome Argus” die Drones, meanwhile.in.texas und Skag Arcade lassen unsere Ohren vibrieren und zeigen, wie gnadenlos die eisige Welt sein kann, ein Track, der wirklich “Endurance” verlangt. Und dadurch kleinste Lichtblitze zu wunderschönen Momenten anwachsen lässt. (Michael Bohli)
So What Musica: Aspro e minaccioso, impenetrabile come l’algido territorio che ne ispira la genesi, si sviluppa il suono del granitico vortice scaturente dall’incrocio dei percorsi di Mulo Muto, meanwhile.in.texas e Skag Arcade, assonanza creativa che si tramuta in tracciati che si affiancano per divenire unitario incastro di voci.
Comune punto di partenza di questo sodalizio è la fascinazione per le pionieristiche spedizioni alla scoperta dell’antartico, epiche esplorazioni che hanno visto impavidi esseri umani a volte domare l’insidiosa natura, più spesso capitolare amaramente al suo cospetto. Vicende estreme ed immaginifiche, qui tradotte in tre roboanti flussi risonanti, uno affidato al duo elvetico formato da Joel Gilardini e Attila Folklor, uno alla ormai consolidata fusione tra i progetti di Angelo Guido e Paolo Colavita ed un terzo che li vede attivamente collaborare insieme.
Matrice comune dei diversi itinerari è la drammaticità dell’evento rievocato, espressa come espanso torrente sonico colmo di frequenze ruvide e a tratti dissonanti, modulazioni gelide e riverberi taglienti che sommandosi rendono tangibile l’ambiente ostile in cui tutto è accaduto. Plasmata da Mulo Muto come perentorio crescendo che dall’iniziale andamento misterioso ed ipnotico giunge al suo irruento culmine (“Tales of a lonely icebreaker dreaming of steam engines and enduring frost”) e da meanwhile.in.texas & skag arcade come altalenante flusso sensoriale in bilico tra nervosa stasi e deflagrante ascesa (“Dome Argus”), la traiettoria narrativa della Endurance trova la sua completezza e il suo sviluppo più dinamico e coinvolgente nell’omonimo capitolo corale che introietta le singole istanze fondendole in una visione univoca altamente evocativa.
Affascinante omaggio alla memoria di uomini indomiti.
Vital Weekly: Three names here, working together, and I must say I had not heard of either of them. Mulo Muto is the duo of Attila Folkor (synths, breathing, feedback) and Joel Gilardini (baritone guitars, synths, dronin); meanwhile.in.texas is Angelo Guido (electric guitar, keyboards, self-built synths & FX pedals, programming field recordings) and Skag Arcade is Paolo Colavita on synths, treated guitars, programming, field recordings, noises, digital treatment. The album is a sort of concept thing based upon the Arctic and Antarctic expeditions of a century ago and in particular Ernest Shackleton’s Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914-1917), the last of the expedition in such a form. An expedition that ended well but was not without problems (let Wiki fill you in on the details; a good read!). The music is an all-out heavy affair. I expected some glacial drones of an icy
nature, but instead we arrive in a full storm. Sure, there is some spacious intro but then on it’s all heaviness. There are three tracks. The title track opens up here and it is a collaboration between all three bands, going from pretty loud to very loud and back again. Mulo Muto then has a solo piece that is for most of the nineteen minutes a full blast of distorted noise in which we could discover a likewise distorted rhythmic pattern in the end. The third and final piece is a collaboration between meanwhile.in.texas and Skag Arcade and this is the most tranquil piece of the lot; it’s also the longest of the three. This is a fine piece of guitar-oriented drones that get snowed in and became rougher and rougher towards the end, buried under the weight of ice (bass). In all honesty, this was the piece I enjoyed best, even when it also sounded a bit like nothing out of the ordinary guitar/loop/drone music that is around in quite an abundance. If the heavy weather conditions needed an aural picture then these three pieces surely fit that. Not for the weak. (FdW)
AN MOKU: Live in Cairo
Dominik Grenzler is a sound artist and a bass guitar player with a spot for experimental and ambient soundscapes. Well, he is the guy behind EndTitles as well! In 2008 he began with the initial recording sessions for AN MOKU. The literal translation of the Japanese word «Anmoku» is „tacit, unsaid, implicit“ conveying that an idea or thought cannot be put into words but is subconsciously understood. Inspired and animated, with this approach, Dominik’s abstract, cinematic music gives the listener room for imagination and interpretation. His approach to ambient is highly personal, as he manages to generate tension with a hidden musicality, drowned in a miasma of organic, yet manipulated, sounds. Dominik describes AN MOKU often as distinctive atonal madness.
«Back in September 2018 I have been invited to play a show at the Mapping Possibilities VI Festival in Cairo. This show took place at the Cinema Zawya and it was an anniversary show for Pro Helvetia Cairo. The idea of the Mapping Possibilities festivals is to play a live show supported by strong visuals. My Visual Artist was Mostafa El Baroody. So arm yourself with good headphones and while you are listening to this album just imagine crazy visuals. There is no full-length video of the show. Only a few fotos by Aly Nabil. But some of the visuals by Mostafa can be seen on my webpage. Links below. Have fun!»
anmoku.net/2018/09/08/mapping-possibilities-vi/
anmoku.net/2018/09/26/mapping-possibilities-vi-2/
anmoku.net/2018/11/10/mapping-possibilities-vi-3/