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| Gaussian Transient (Megaphone) | format: CD - released: 2008 | label: NVo You are kindly invited to buy a copy!!
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By the end of the 80s I produced my first vinyl release, “Freebasing A For Is Me”. An album completely free of any preconception, built as an abstract expressionist soundsculpture.
With this collection of compositions I return to the emptiness of “Freebasing”.'''' |
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| REVIEWS: It's hard to say something about someone's music, if you know him or her pretty well. I could do a difficult semantic trick, covering the fact that I know Jos Smolders but not that well, or some such, but I could also say that I am happy that at one point in time, I found 99 people willing to pay for a very private LP pressing of the first Jos Smolders 'Freebasing A For Is Me', which became the very first LP I ever released on my own label. It's good to see that LP mentioned in the small liner notes of a new CD by Smolders. Following his second LP, released by Quiet Artworks, shortly after my LP, Smolders went into a more conceptual direction, with a CD to be shuffled or re-altered in sequence order, a CD with some software on it, and a bunch of remixes thereof or a CD with music for a website. To mention only three of such projects. Always an idea behind it, and some of these, like 'Music For Kalx', are also musically quite alright, it never had the same feeling as his first two albums. For 'Gaussian Transient (Megaphone)', Smolders returns to the free form composing of his first album. What matters here is that the composition is great, not the idea. So a bunch of street sounds can be followed by the sound of a lighter, simple because it sounds right. As the former publisher of his first LP, I can of course only warmly greet this development. More and more I believe that at the end of the day I rather hear a great piece of music instead of a great idea about music. Smolders uses here a lot of field recordings from all over Europe, and includes some home produced crackle and bop. This is the Smolders we love and cherish: blocks of sound are switched by blocks of seemingly silence, subtle changes, abrupt changes, concentrating on small sounds, with a few big ones. All put cleverly into smaller pieces of music, each with its own clear structure. Away from the pure idea and back into the pure composition. Great CD! Vital Weekly Frans de Waard There are few sound artists out there that rival the diverse and extensive modus operandi that Jos Smolders brings to his work. Recently, Smolders releases have focused around self-similar sequences, loose narratives, or some kind of overarching central theme that ties the pieces together. Harking back to his early working methods here (Freebasing A Is For Me) and simply homing in on the sounds themselves with apparently diffuse and disconnected themes, Smolders brings us into a world of shape-shifting foci. Here, sound is allowed to just simply exist, so essentially, what you hear is what you hear, without any un-neccesary frills or grand conceptual statements, this is an act of pure minimalism, simple, and concise. Each piece is a meditation on particular kinds of sounds..the general industrial ambience of a train station for instance,the lowing of cows, or the deep inner workings of a harmonium, recordings of conversations in a street café, or the micro fine clicking and grating of a lighter. These raw, elemental features pull in and out of sharp focus, lending the work a filmic quality, and touching on territory explored by the Hafler Trio, surreal, yet intimately familiar, fused and juxtaposed, obscure, yet strangely familiar. Smolders’ recordings are taut and sharply defined, and technically about as perfect as it gets, particularly when listened to under headphones, one gets the feeling of actually being in these eerie, magnificent environments. On repeat listenings, it appears that Gaussian Transient (Megaphone) is a linear piece, spliced into segments, each segment being titled after the work of Post Fluxus artist, Tom Phillips, one of a group of artists in the late 1960’s who used words as images, by setting up a text, and then erasing various parts of it to form a kind of obtuse poetry..this technique, no doubt influenced by the works of Gysin and Burroughs at the time, feeds into Smolders’ work, as his pieces similarly appear formed by a process of reduction and erasure. Overall this is a gritty, concise and bold series of recordings, rendered by one of the masters of the genre, Gaussian Transient (Megaphone) will, for me, be listened to again and again. A true masterpiece. BGN BGN- white line For the first time in years Jos Smolders has made an album that is not conceptual. Instead the compositions on Gaussian Transient (Megaphone) speak by the use of field recordings. Detailed stories of sound tell of travels through Europe. A recommended headphones album. A non-conceptual album from one of the Dutch masters of conceptual music. What should I write about Jos Smolders? That is about the first that comes to mind while listening to Gaussian Transient (Megaphone) for reviewing. This guy has got some history with THU20 and his solo work for labels such as Staalplaat and Korm plastics. Or what to think about setting up EARlabs. There is so much you could tell, even too much, so I will just skip that part and go on with the music. Gaussian Transient (Megaphone) is the new album by Jos Smolders released on the Austrian label Non Visual Objects. In the liner notes Smolders writes a small part about the motives for this the album and mentions that this is his first album in years where he had no theme or goal to work with. Instead the sounds have to speak for themselves. The compositions on this album are mainly build around field recordings, but also contain some instruments and electronics. Smolders gives away some of his sources such as field recordings in a train station and the sounds of a lighter, but there is so much more to discover. With eye for detail and high production skills the different elements are carefully put together forming short stories by sound. This directly tells what, I think, is the strongest point of this album: the compositions tell the stories they want to tell. The music speaks so much that no concept is needed. Because as much Smolders might say there is no concept for this album, I would say that the songs form the concept themselves, not a pre-made idea. Another great thing about this album is that all the sounds you hear are so familiar, but at the same time are hard to place. Take some cowbells and combine it with manipulated voices and streaming water, followed by horses in a stable and people working there. Somehow it leaves an intimate feeling of familiarity, but as a combination it is strange. Besides the recordings from all over Europe there is also a minimal side for computer bits and pieces completed with silence. This way Smolders keeps a huge tension in the music. Every composition is an interesting listen and keeps surprising even after several plays. As a whole Gaussian Transient (Megaphone) is a great album and makes me want to listen to music based on field recordings again. I personally think that the choice to do some non-conceptual music is a great one. When music comes from the heart it will tell so much more than something based on some pre-made idea. Sietse van Erve (EARLabs.org Overemphasizing the electronic aspects in a mixed source composition can result in a tragic error sometimes, the major risk factor being an excessive similarity to other pieces and, on the contrary, the danger of transforming the whole into some sort of mutation of a Playstation game soundtrack. The alternative is usually a release based on pure or slightly treated field recordings; but that method, too, has predictably begun to include big-time commonplaces, albeit pleasurable ones (pouring rain, forest birds, people’s chat in the streets and the sea’s wash are often a great listen but – come on – how long have we been hearing them now?). Speaking of fairly enlightened post-precursors, Jos Smolders’ late 80s debut - Freebasing A For Is Me - was, in the author’s reminiscence, “built as an abstract expressionism sound sculpture”. After twenty years or so - and various records dedicated to the full exploitation of a single idea down to the bare minimum - Smolders decided to go back to the origins. At over 67 minutes, Gaussian Transient is a long album even for this genre, requiring patience to investigate its most secluded corners. Yet it is also easily describable as a concurrence of environmental situations and more atypical inspections (including what the composer calls “the intestines of a harmonium”). I tried it in several occasions - same setting, different hours of the day - varying the reproduction level and taking into account dissimilar external features joining the music. The dynamic range explored by Smolders, which goes from the almost inaudible to the reasonably consistent, makes sure that we’re forced to actively contribute to the experience, either via the intuition of what’s happening in the remote background of a quasi-silence or by feeling sheltered by a sense of familiarity: that, for example, materializing when the classic whooshed clangor of a distant train revived the memory of characteristic nocturnal occurrences at some stage in my adolescence’s sleepless nights, spent in a summer house not far from a railway. This means that, as it often happens in this type of outing, the success of the record mainly depends on the fulfillment attainable by listening to a largely recognizable “something” for the umpteenth time. The small amount of processing applied to the material is, mostly, only a complement in this case; the work remains, again in the words of its creator, “just what it is”. From this observation angle, a definitely well-crafted, functional sonic artifact. Massimo Ricci (Bagatellen.com)  De Bug Mit »Gaussian Transient (Megaphone)« begibt sich Jos Smolders, ungewöhnlich, in von konzeptuellen Vorgaben freie Gefilde und will daher vorliegende Arbeit als rein auf klanglicher Ebene interagierend verstanden wissen. Dementsprechend breit gestreut ist seine Auswahl der verwendeten Field Recordings, denen allenfalls eine gewisse Alltäglichkeit gemeinsam ist. Die entstehende Komposition ist eine fragile, oft durch Leerstellen beruhigte, deren scheinbar zufällig aufeinander folgende Wirklichkeitsausschnitte zu einer idealen Projektionsfläche, einer akustischen Leinwand, montiert werden. Denn die Klänge selbst tragen immer noch ein Stück des ursprünglichen Kontextes mit sich, sei es auch nur ein vom Hörer erinnerter oder imaginierter, neue entstehen durch Gegenüberstellung und Weiterbearbeitung. Eine vergleichbare Arbeitsweise entdeckte Smolders bei Tom Philips, einem britischen Künstler, der in den 70ern ein Buch mittels Weglassungen und Übermalungen aus bestehenden Texten schuf und hier nicht nur im Begleittext Erwähnung findet, sondern von Smolders auch in den Tracktiteln zitiert wird. Vor allem die erste, mehrheitlich von konkreten Sounds bestimmte, Hälfte des Albums entwickelt daher auch eine Ebene, die über ein rein kompositorisches Aneinanderreihen von Klängen hinausgeht, während mir die folgende abstrakter, weniger konkret – besser: vieldeutiger – in Erinnerung ist. Schnitt, Überblendung und Gegenüberstellung werden von Bearbeitung, Verfremdung und Verdichtung abgelöst, bis nur noch zarte Ahnungen der ursprünglichen Geräusche aufblitzen. In den letzten Minuten höhlen Regentropfen ein Bassdröhnen aus, spülen Erinnerungen hinweg. Ein großartiges Album. tobias bolt, quiet noise Like Peter Duimelinks and Roel Meelkop of Goem, Jos Smolders was and remains a founder member of the veteran Dutch electroacoustic/experimental `supergroup´ THU20. As a solo artist, his work tends towards sound sculpture – the artful combination and counterbalancing of disparate sonic elements in stereo space, rather than the intentional construction of specific atmospheres. Gaussian Transient (Megaphone) is a return to the freeform, conception-free experimentation of Smolders´s work in the 1980s; over the course of 70 minutes, he simply blends and juxtaposes found elements, intuitively edited field recordings, and artfully synthesized tones to create spacious and often startling soundscapes. The tiny scratching of a cigarette lighter´s flintwheel rubs up against the hesitant chimes of a music box; the rustle of crépe paper is enfolded by the rumble of a marine engine. Throughout, there´s an incredible, palpable attention to dynamic range. chris sharp, the wire # 296 Ob Gauß oder Oersted, ob magnetische Flussdichte oder Feldstärke, Physik gehört definitiv nicht zu meinen Stärken. Hilfreicher ist für mich Smolders Bezug auf den englischen Künstler Tom Phillips und dessen Arbeit A Humument: A Treated Victorian Novel (1970), die durch Collagen und Übermalungen aus einem Roman von W. H. Mallock aus halben Sätzen und verstümmelten Wörtern einen surrealen, fragmentarischen Text mit dem Protagonisten Bill Toge schuf. Smolders schafft ein ähnlich löchriges Klangbild aus Stimmen und Schritten, Spieluhr- und Windspielklängen, Kuhglockengebammel, Stallgeräuschen, Whirlyschwirrtönen. Oft hört man nur ein atmosphärisches Rauschen, Vogelgepiepse, Wassertropfen, Grillen, Windgepfeif, Ausschnitte von Szenerien, die auf ihre Protagonisten warten. Statt eines narrativen Zusammenhangs gibt es ‚poetische‘ Momente, statt Handlung alltägliche Nichtereignisse und mit Hungertuchfetzen verhängte Luftlöcher. (rbd, Bad Alchemy 58) Coherent auditory elements, proliferation of individual sound ideas, field recordings, absences and frequencies, non-linearity, suspension and saturation, drones, ambience and conceptualism. These are just a few of the elements occurring in 'Gaussian Transient', a multifaceted work, that is not really very easy to enjoy. It is a work reluctant to completely unfold, but remains well-balanced in every aspect, even with its aleatory design, unclassifiable even with stringent interpretations. There are articulated sequences which seem almost familiar and passages that are emotionally very involved. We hear small sounds, voices, noises - then - consistent resonances, an essential feature of the piece, unfolding in non-preconceived forms that are sensitive and ever-changing. Jos Smolders, well known in the underground electronic scene as the former co-editor of Vital Magazine for six years, founder of the electroacoustic ensemble THU20", now edits Earlabs, a web-magazine linked to its homonymous mp3 label. His commitment to music never stops: at these latitudes taste and perceptual skills simply improve, producing - as with this record - excellent results. Aurelio Cianciotta (neural.it) Anküpfungspunkte. Damit ließe sich wahrscheinlich am besten die neue CD des holländischen Musikers Smolders für das Wiener Label Nonvisualobjects beschreiben. Ende der 1980er hatte Smolders sein ersten Vinyl „Freebasing A For Is Me“ veröffentlicht. Immer schon von Sprache, Phonetik und abstrakter Klangkunst fasziniert, kulminieren in dieser CD einige Überlegungen zu „unintentionaler“ Komposition und neuester Software-Applikationen. Es ist eine, oft nur kurz überhalb der akustischen Wahrnehmungsgrenze dahinschlingernde, imaginative Reise zwischen Drone-Wällen, Fieldrecordings von Straßsencafés, Abstraktionen menschlicher Stimme und Spieluhr-Sounds. Wie bei einigen anderen Nonvisualobjects-Scheiben spielt auch auf den zwölf Stücken von „Gaussian Transient“ Stille eine paradigmatische Rolle. Die Titel der Stücke stammen übrigens vom britischen Künstler Tom Phillips, der sich seit den 1970ern mit klangmalerischen Gedichten beschäftigt und sie „humuments“ nennt. Hinein- und hinauszoomen, rein- und rausschneiden sind für beide gängige Arbeitsmethoden, ohne dabei auf Fluss von Stimmung zu verzichten. Heinrich Deisl, (SKUG) Jos Smolders, one of the most significant people of Dutch experimental scene, on the cover of his latest album tells an interesting story about the motivation for creating Gaussian Transient (Megaphone). In his recollections he returns to the end of 80s when his first vinyl record Freebasing A For Is Me was recorded. Smolders is notable for the freedom of this release - free of concept, material used or researching of definite phenomena and objects. He formed abstract records' constructions made everywhere and put their composition to the centre of attention. After almost 20 years Gaussian Transient (Megaphone), one can say, becomes the continuation of those musician's experiments, at least the sounding of these works is very similar. Field records were made in different corners of Europe, in absolutely different places that makes each track the shift to another area. You may listen attentively to interesting, sometimes fanciful sound composition or you may play this disc at not high volume, do your things and catch the character and mood of sound pictures coming from the acoustic system. While the album's playing long-lasting tracks and short ones change one another. The thing is that in tracks which last for less time, such as "in that very narrative passage he sat dejected", "myster t" or "pieces of writings of the the writings of the names" attention can dissipate among very quiet, delicate noise layers and records of street ambient. They serve as a tunnel to more rich parts of the album combining both arranged sounds of natural sounds surrounding each person and artificially synthesized noises into single, integral scale. At first the album seems to be extremely abstract but after listening to it for several times you may notice that each element is on its own place and has its unique destination in the travel game of Jos Smolders. Sound Proector (Belarus) Some beautifully abstract pieces of sound art/processed field recordings from the always-reliable Jos Smolders, founding member of Dutch post-dadaist electroacoustic ensemble THU20. The fragmentary yet vibrant clutch of sounds embroidered on his small catalog of recordings are no less richer despite their minimalist bent; his works feel carefully chosen and smartly demarcated, musique actuelle that nevertheless derives a good deal of its staying power from the use of the most nourishing sample food. Smolders' own ruminations on how he arrived at the tableaux spread out over Gaussian Transient provides some welcome context. Self-imposing compositional limitations became his m.o. after his first (latter 80s) vinyl recording — because, as he states, "sometimes I needed to contain myself within certain boundaries, mostly because I had a subject of research in mind" — boundaries that make the listener sharpen their aural focus to glean the tiny non-events and small gestures Smolders buries deep within the mix. Paradoxically, Gaussian feels like the "busiest" of NVO's releases, its quiet passages suddenly upset by bursts of activity (a raging subway, a flurry of conversing passers-by) that would be jarring if they didn't adequately flesh out the dense physiognomy of Smolders' constructions. The sounds have their literary analog in Smolders' choice of track titles, penned by British artist Tom Phillips. Smolders notes that "I have always been intrigued by language, words and meaning... in the 70s, Phillips reworked existing pages of books...painting or drawing over the text he erased most of it but left certain word combinations intact." Smolders' own use of juxtaposition combined with abject Burroughs-ian cut-up/edit techniques yields just as fascinating sonic results. So much happens (even for such obviously well-considered sonic paucity) throughout the twelve works here — erected out of everything from vials of hiss, aberrant digital processing, strange quarks in the night, massed voices, the rhythmic banter of footsteps — that any literal dissection is a fool's gesture at best. Suffice to say that the closing eleven minutes of "The First Scenes and Feelings" illustrates fully Smolders' cinema pour l'oreille. Warbling skeins of moist static unfold in various layers, so that what is glimpsed in between are variable bits of microscopic activity — plastic balls impacting concrete, the distant hum of generators, flaccid raindrops — that colorfully sketch untold visual phantasms in the mind's eye. Author, author! Darren Bergstein, SquidsEar Difficile classificare un lavoro come “Gaussian Transient”. Ancora più difficile è fruirlo dall’inizio alla fine, senza spegnere il lettore CD a metà domandandosi, tra lo stupito e l’irritato, cosa si è appena ascoltato. Il fatto è che l’elettronica sperimentale di Jos Smolders (guru della scena underground, ex co-editore di “Vital Magazine”, fondatore THU20, ensemble electroacoustico, e attuale direttore di “Earlabs”, webzine legata all'omonima etichetta mp3) non fa concessioni di sorta. I dodici passaggi attraverso i quali si snoda la ricerca musicale proposta dall’album sono infatti costituiti da suoni, voci, rumori, silenzi, field recordings e quant’altro ancora, amalgamati in forme sfuggenti e sempre mutevoli. Dunque “Gaussian Transient” non è esattamente quello che si dice un disco per tutti. Ma se amate la sperimentazione elettronica, allora correte subito nel più vicino negozio di dischi. Marco Loprete, Kathodik |
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