textura

Albums
Aardvarck
Vieo Abiungo
Celer
Concern
Enrico Coniglio
Copy
Corrugated Tunnel
Dalot
Darkstar
Gareth Dickson
Directorsound
Dryft
Eskmo
Lugano Fell
Benjamin Finger
Fond of Tigers
Gel-Sol
Giardini di Mirò
Gibson & Rose
Gareth Hardwick
Haruki
Marc Houle
I'm Not A Gun
Rafael Anton Irisarri
Library Tapes
Markus Mehr
Minamo and English
Yann Novak
okamotonoriaki
M. Ostermeier
Morgan Packard
Petrolio
Benoit Pioulard
Hein Schoer
Seaworthy and Rösner
Sketches For Albinos
Slow Dancing Society
Solo Andata
System
Antonio Trinchera
Walkner.Moestl
Zazie V. E. Anderen Stern

Compilations / Mixes
Bacterium
Lost Tribe Sound: One
Ninja Tune XX

EPs
Aufgang
Bogdan
Ibex
Jacksonville
Komet
Minus
Morning Factory
Novak + Manning
rANdOMoiDz / NoseTek
Sozonov
SQware
:take

:take: s/t
Three:four Records

First things first: :take is the alias adopted by Paris-based guitarist Jérôme Boutinot; Take, on the other hand, is LA-based DJ and producer T. Wilson who has issued instrumental hip-hop on labels such as Inner Current and Eat Concrete. Boutinot inaugurated Three:four's split ten-inch vinyl series last year with White/Lichens and now receives the solo treatment with an EP release. Boutinot draws the listener into the release slowly using meditative understatement before expanding the material's range as the EP progresses, and though guitar is the only instrument used, the four tracks never feel one-dimensional or in need of supplmental instrumentation.

“Touche” blossoms slowly, with blurry tendrils first appearing and then bright melodic trails of single-note patterns following soon after. Layers gradually accumulate until a hypnotic mass of loops forms. The sense of mystic calm carries over into “L'endroit du crâne paisible” where harmonic shudders likewise progressively collect into chiming figures that see-saw dazedly. The EP's second track is also the longest, which enables Boutinot to explore the material more intensively until it becomes a torrential field of interlaced melodies. Moving away from the soothing, ambient character of such material is the brief “Guerre silence,” where the guitar becomes as much a percussive as melodic instrument, while “Nom de plume” gathers together many of the preceding tracks' contrasting tendencies by uniting obsessive flurries and clearly etched chordal patterns. Fans of experimental guitar work should hear much to like in the CD's four tracks.

October 2010