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ARTIFICIAL MEMORY TRACE (AMT) - Boto [Encantado]

Format: LP Label & Cat.Number: Ini.Itu # 1102 Release Year: 2011 Note: a new volume in the nice INI.ITU 12" series and the first AMT-vinyl release since a long time; surreal & subtle collages, strange sounds you can hardly recognize, based on field recordings from the "Boto" = the Amazon river; stunning full-colour cover, handnumbered ed. 250 copies, simply fantastic !! Price (incl. 19% VAT): €12.50 More Info "ini.itu is releasing a new vinyl LP, composed by Artificial Memory Trace. Artificial Memory Trace is the long standing musical project of Slavek Kwi, who was born in Czechoslovakia, lived for 14 years in Belgium, and since 2000 has been based in Ireland. Slavek has been making music for more than 20 years under the label Artificial Memory Trace. His works are precise combinations of restructured (mostly) environmental sounds, where the notions of perception, sensation, cognition, and ultimately reality are questioned, notably through the use of musique concrète techniques and graphics scores, sometimes combined with elements of performance. He has collaborated with many other musicians, working on the articulation of industrial music, field recordings and musique concrète, among them PBK, Brume, Eric La Casa, Das Synthetische Mischgewebe. Since 2007 Slavek has assisted Francisco López in his Mamori workshops in the Amazonian forest, which is where some of the source material present on this LP originates. Coupled with being a sound artist and composer, Slavek Kwi also facilitates workshops for autistic children, based on sound experiencing. What Artificial Memory Trace proposes here is 2 sides of “decomposed and recomposed” landscapes and details, mostly centred around the Boto ( Inia geoffrensis geoffrensis ) also known as Amazon River Dolphin or Pink Dolphin. Just as the Boto is rumoured to undergo human-like transformations, most of this record is about transformation: sounds are isolated, cut, scaled up or down, modified and finally reassembled in a delicate and quite peaceful collage. Slowly twirling around its object, time is taken to examine and explore the environment, including all other sound sources, creating a cubist perspective which is thoroughly unfolded. At times enigmatic, intimate and pastoral, it is a work that will slowly reveal its nuances. For those who need to know, the liner notes include extensive descriptions of the source sounds and a short essay on metamorphic animals." [label info] www.iniitu.net "On the backside of this LP you can read: 'you have the choice to consult or not some extra information on the insert. This information would influence they way you are experiencing the sounds. No comprehension whatsoever is required to access this work'. Which is actually something I like. You can choose to take in the information, or not. The information on the insert is printed in mirrored writing, so I am sure if its not really necessary to read it anyway. For the reviewer there is of course a small summary on the press text, and I learn that the sound sources are from the Boto, the Amazon River Dolphin or Pink Dolphin (making it one of the first records on ini.itu to move away from the Indonesian context that the previous records have). This record is another fascinating look in the world of Slawek Kwi, the man behind Artificial Memory Trace. Much of his work sounds like a collage of sounds, long moves and some abrupt changes. None of that on this record. The sounds are just in long moves, and it seems a bit silent - of course that is intentional. I have no idea how the Boto sounds in the natural environment, nor any clue of the kind of processing applied by Kwi here, and oddly enough the music here sounds like insects, cicadas, chirping at night. A very meditative work, ambient if you will, slowly moving around, revealing some of its beauty only if you turn up the volume a bit more. Maybe also a strange record, for both Artificial Memory Trace and maybe also for the label. In a way I am reminded of the excellent record by Francisco Lopez for the same label. Quite mysterious, but a very good one. One of things were you keep wondering." [FdW/Vital Weekly]