Articles
2010 Top 10s and 20s
Will Long (Celer)

Albums
Bilxaboy
Jefre Cantu-Ledesma
Celer & Yui Onodera
Cepia
Dead Leaf Echo
Ferraris & Uggeri
Ernesto Ferreyra
Flying Horseman
The Foreign Exchange
Les Fragments de la Nuit
Ghost and Tape
Andrew Hargreaves
Head Of Wantastiquet
i8u
Anders Ilar
Quintana Jacobsma
Kaiserdisco
Leafcutter John
Clem Leek
The Lickets
The Machine
Magda
My Fun
Ostendorf, Zoubek, Lauzier
Part Timer
Phillips + Hara
RV Paintings
Set In Sand
Shackleton
Shigeto
Matt Shoemaker
Sun City Girls
Supersilent
Swartz
Ben Swire
Collin Thomas
Tomo
Upward Arrows

Compilations / Mixes
Exp. Dance Breaks 36
Fünf
Lee Jones
The Moon Comes Closer
Note of Seconds
Tensnake

EPs
8Bitch
Celer
Jasper TX
Jozif
Lerosa
Machinefabriek
Patscan
Pleq
Simon Scott
SHEMALE
Thorsten Soltau / Weiss
Jace Syntax & BlackJack
Weiss

Collin Thomas: Stones/Still
Collin Thomas

In our mid-2009 review of Windows/Walks by Kansas City-based experimental musician and composer Collin Thomas, we noted that isn't a “pure” field recordings collection (even though such sounds dominate) due to the marked presence of musical elements. Much the same can be said of Thomas's follow-up Stones/Still, which departs from its predecessor by sharpening its conceptual focus: the new recording pairs minimal musical accompaniment with field recordings captured at cemeteries. It's an ideal choice for the field recordist as, far from being bereft of sonic detail, the site presents a rich multitude of natural sound despite the seeming stillness of the setting. The album's five pieces can be experienced as if they're sonic transmissions for the silenced voices resting peacefully below ground.

As mentioned, Stones/Still isn't a field recordings project in the purest sense, as Thomas, with admirable circumspection, threads musical elements into the settings. During the opening “Blackjack.afternoon,” for example, droning chords, piano figures, and muffled percussive accents surface amidst the chirping of birds, buzzing of flies, flow of a river, and ambient convulsions of indeterminate character. “Pioneer.morning” juxtaposes natural sounds of crows cawing, birds chirping, and traffic noises with piano playing and electronic treatments, while “Vinland.evening” dots the whirr and thrum of nocturnal insect life with single piano accents. Certain sounds naturally recur, given the cemetery setting that's common to all five of the album's pieces. Thomas avoids the more obvious approach which would see him fashion funereal settings filled with gloom, opting instead for settings of peaceful and bucolic character. The closest the material gets to suggesting dread occurs when “Prairiecity.afternoon” presents drifting chords that exude some small degree of portent.

The album inhabits a middle ground, then, between being a field recordings and musical project, and Thomas shows restraint in determining how those musical elements are distributed so that the balance doesn't tip too greatly in one direction more than the other. Stones/Still should be listened to through headphones (or a high-quality surround system) and at high volume in order to reap the most from its multi-dimensional material. Experienced as such, the album becomes immersive and transporting all at once.

December 2010