Articles
2009 Artists' Picks
Lymbyc Systym

Albums
Cory Allen
aus
The Bird Ensemble
Canaille
Catlin & Machinefabriek
Greg Davis
Loren Dent
Dirac
Drafted By Minotaurs
Flica
Sarah Goldfarb & JHK
Gown
John Hollenbeck
Viviane Houle
I/DEX
Akira Kosemura
Andrew McKenna Lee
Le Lendemain
LRAD
Lymbyc Systym
Melorman
Muskox
The Mercury Program
Nikasaya
Northerner
nörz
Noveller / Aidan Baker
Redshape
Marina Rosenfeld
Stripmall Architecture
Sturqen
Wes Willenbring
The Tony Wilson Sextet
Julia Wolfe
Peter Wright
Zelienople

Compilations / Mixes
Blackoperator
Glimpse Four:Twenty 03
Kod.eX
Portland Stories

EPs
Molnbär Av John
Tommi Bass & B.B.S.C.
Julian Beau
Colours-Volume 5
Dalot
Echologist
Simon James French
Geiom & Shortstuff
General Elektriks
Geskia
Ernest Gonzales
Gradient
Jacksonville
Joker
Ann Laplantine
Loko
Machinefabriek
Stefano Pilia
Damian Valles

Julian Beau: Reflet
Aposiopèse

Reflet presents twenty-two minutes of electro-acoustic sound sculpting abstractions by Julien Beau. Born in 1982, Beau, a pianist who studied electro-acoustic music-making under Christian Eloy at the Conservatoire de Bordeaux, combines composition and improvisation in his ‘acousmatic' work. In the first of the title piece's two parts, Beau generates a heady, collagistic blend from field recordings (rain drizzle and thunder), agitated electronic ripples and noise textures, and droning orchestral (woodwinds, horns) and percussion sounds; the shorter second resembles a softly churning cauldron of smeared piano fragments and sine tones. In the ten-minute “Éthopé,” a restless stream of natural and electronic interactions flows over a spectral, monotone base. A mid-piece plunge into near-silence comes as a surprise but the moment passes quickly and the intensity level again rises. In the shape-shifting piece, the juxtaposition of agitation (percussive clatter and electronic convulsions) and placidity (bell strikes) proves ear-catching. Enhancing Beau's material is an elegant presentation that finds a three-inch disc housed within a tidy, pocket-sized case.

January 2010