(First edition corroded brass artwork)
Spots in the Sun
Label: The Helen Scarsdale Agency
Catalog#: HMS010
Format: CD
Country: U.S.A.
First edition of 50 with corroded brass artwork released: January 2, 2007
Second edition of 400 with letterpress artwork released: February 20, 2007
Tracklisting:
1. ... (6:04)
2. ... (17:57)
3. ... (7:00)
4. ... (16:46)
Press:
Paris Transatlantic
Review by Lawrence English
May 2007
Brainwashed.com
Review by John Kealy
January 2008
This limited edition album explores the fine details of unidentifiable field recordings; each manipulated and tinkered with until all that is left is the ambient character of those sounds. As with all good concrete inspired works, the music here is far removed from reality but it is still almost tangible in a physical, solid sense. I just want to run my fingers along the music, strange as that sounds. It is remarkably cold-sounding music for an album called Spots in the Sun. Granted a sunspot is a relatively cold area of the sun but it is still an unimaginably hot and furious place. However, the grainy rumble of the opening piece lacks any sort of warmth or violence whatsoever. Here and throughout the album, spines of sound grow like crystals on a Petri dish rather than pulse and erupt like emissions from a star.
The sound is almost microscopic in character. Although it is awfully Copernican of me to think that Shoemaker is referring to our sun; this could be his interpretation of light from distant stars. Indeed the huge feeling of space that his music evokes supports this notion. The pauses between sounds go so far beyond pregnant as to being stillborn. The elongated near-silences in the second piece make the shards of sound present in the piece loom imposingly over me. The long piece evolves slowly, the near-silences becoming scratchy cascades of sound and a variety of unusual and unexpected noises bubble and explode out of the mix. A weird, echoing segment of this piece sounds like some bizarre combination of fairground game and a tropical house. The third and fourth pieces continue in the same vein. The idea does not wear thin because I am not quite sure what the idea is. The sound is constantly shifting, leaving no time for extended contemplation as to what the recordings may be or for the noises to become in any way tedious.
There is always something that I had yet to notice going on, sometimes even what turns out to be the most dominant sound in terms of volume gets ignored in favour of the smaller sounds. It must be said that Spots in the Sun is not the sort of album that should be just put on in the background, I thought it was mediocre at best until I actually sat down and engaged with it. The curious blending of sounds makes for repeatedly rewarding listening experiences; there are so many little details that only total immersion reveals them. It is not a far cry from The Hafler Trio or Shoemaker's label mate Matt Waldron / irr. app. (ext.)
e/i
Review by Max Schaefer
April 2007
Vital Weekly
Review by Jos Smolders
April 5, 2007
Review by Lawrence English
May 2007
Helen Scarsdale spares no efforts in making her releases something
special. Quite apart from their sonic content, the printing, paper
stock and attention to detail are all commendable. This latest offering
from Matt Shoemaker is another one for the shopping list [the first
edition of 50 sold out fast, so you'd better get cracking with this
second run of 400 DW]. The realm of electroacoustic composition can
be a slippery slope cluttered with all-too-familiar debris from former
rockslides, but Shoemaker is sure-footed enough to arrive at
destinations few of his contemporaries have managed to reach. As a
result, Spots On The Sun is one of the most refreshing concrete records
to surface in sometime. The treatments, source materials and
compositions point equally to genuine experimentation and a studied
understanding of his compositional approach. "2? is a spellbinding
sound-space activated by measured use of spatial techniques and
well-positioned electronic and incidental sounds. Elements are brought
into and out of hearing range with a precise execution, heightening the
act of listening and resulting in a truly rich, cliche-free listening
experience. As familiar as some of the source sounds may be, their
recording and treatment keeps them at a conscious distance. It's like
remembering a sound many years later; or, perhaps, this is the way we
imagine sound to exist in our dreams. The pieces seem to be realised in
a way we can't quite comprehend, focussing our attention and
reinforcing our determination to understand the journey on which
Shoemaker is taking us.
Brainwashed.com
Review by John Kealy
January 2008
This limited edition album explores the fine details of unidentifiable field recordings; each manipulated and tinkered with until all that is left is the ambient character of those sounds. As with all good concrete inspired works, the music here is far removed from reality but it is still almost tangible in a physical, solid sense. I just want to run my fingers along the music, strange as that sounds. It is remarkably cold-sounding music for an album called Spots in the Sun. Granted a sunspot is a relatively cold area of the sun but it is still an unimaginably hot and furious place. However, the grainy rumble of the opening piece lacks any sort of warmth or violence whatsoever. Here and throughout the album, spines of sound grow like crystals on a Petri dish rather than pulse and erupt like emissions from a star.
The sound is almost microscopic in character. Although it is awfully Copernican of me to think that Shoemaker is referring to our sun; this could be his interpretation of light from distant stars. Indeed the huge feeling of space that his music evokes supports this notion. The pauses between sounds go so far beyond pregnant as to being stillborn. The elongated near-silences in the second piece make the shards of sound present in the piece loom imposingly over me. The long piece evolves slowly, the near-silences becoming scratchy cascades of sound and a variety of unusual and unexpected noises bubble and explode out of the mix. A weird, echoing segment of this piece sounds like some bizarre combination of fairground game and a tropical house. The third and fourth pieces continue in the same vein. The idea does not wear thin because I am not quite sure what the idea is. The sound is constantly shifting, leaving no time for extended contemplation as to what the recordings may be or for the noises to become in any way tedious.
There is always something that I had yet to notice going on, sometimes even what turns out to be the most dominant sound in terms of volume gets ignored in favour of the smaller sounds. It must be said that Spots in the Sun is not the sort of album that should be just put on in the background, I thought it was mediocre at best until I actually sat down and engaged with it. The curious blending of sounds makes for repeatedly rewarding listening experiences; there are so many little details that only total immersion reveals them. It is not a far cry from The Hafler Trio or Shoemaker's label mate Matt Waldron / irr. app. (ext.)
e/i
Review by Max Schaefer
April 2007
Spots
In The Sun is a work
of abreaction, allergy,
and rejection more than it is one of will or desire. In the manner of
natural disasters, a contagious virulence, a gruff sign of violence
rises like a shadow over a landscape which has become too well managed.
For the first half of the album, tracks themselves begin as a synergy
of monochrome drones, busy sonar activity and rolling waves of static
and machine noise. Pieces lead a vacuum-sealed existence and are
carefully calibrated so as to allow metallic, higher frequency tones to
dance around the stereo spectrum. Enclosed within this electronic
bubble, however, once these dimly glowing tones and soft strikes
achieve a certain mechanical rigor, that is to say, a certain
performativity, these very elements turn in on themselves and, in an
act of perverse self-destruction, grow teeth and blare into layers of
pure electronic malevolence. Becalmed sonic vistas are slowly and
meticulously contorted in vivid detail; sub-bass drones grow bloated
and pop into so many needles of feedback; functional metallic clangs
are torn asunder by sharp sonic flurries; while vaguely narcotic
atmospheres are dyed in new colors, pushed into overdrive, and looped
and contorted like an acid trip gone awry. Although unremittingly gray
and austere, the album is well judged in its attack and retreat, never
lapsing into a lazy molten noisescape. After a moment of tumultuous
discord, though, even the steady pulsations of electronic tones and
cyclical patterns of seasick chirps and squawking seem to breathe
tension into the air. Gradually, more and more of the album seems
marred by this erratic quality, and so the album engages in an
increasingly inward gnawing, as though it were a hypochondriac
devouring its own organs. With scrupulous craft, the album ends with a
suicidal glint in its eye, as a tormented, gravely undulation ebbs into
the ether, asserting itself in its own demise.
Vital Weekly
Review by Jos Smolders
April 5, 2007
Trente
Oiseaux releases never make it into these pages, so the two CDs
they released by Matt Shoemaker went by unnoticed. Both cover and
information don't give any information as to how, what and where. Let's
assume Shoemaker is a guy with a microphone, a recording device and a
computer. Taken the outside to the inside, the field recordings to the
computer and processing them, so far that we no longer recognize any of
the original sound. That sounds like Bernard Gunter, Roel Meelkop,
Richard Chartier or Marc Behrens? Just a little bit, as there is an
important difference. Music by Shoemaker is always audible and it seems
to more than the others to work with drones. Stretched out fields of
sound with minor developments is what the bigger part of this CD is
about. Then,
like the air escaping of a balloon, a piece ends abruptly,
with much activity. These differences may
seem
small but in the world
of microsound they surely make a difference. Shoemaker's music is
always present,
and perhaps a little more raw than mentioned
counterparts, but that's what I like this release. It
moves
more wildly
through various textures from semi-soft to semi-loud in a more
continuos manner and thus
Shoemaker can be lumped in with some of the
drone crowd than say with his microsound counterparts.
In the
field of
drone music his collage techniques may seem odd, but it's surely an
original voice. A
high quality work, with minor and vital differences.