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V.A. (VARIOUS ARTISTS) (COMPILATIONS) - VERNACULAR

Format: do-CD Label & Cat.Number: Whereabouts Records WHACD-13 Release Year: 2013 Note: absolute lovely Japanese ambient compilation curated by YUI ONODERA presenting various atmospheric acts from experimental to minimal, from known to unknown, all exclusive material by 15 sound artists: STEVE RODEN, SIMON SCOTT (SLOWDIVE), YUI ONODERA, JANEK SCHAEFER, TROUM, DALE LLOYD, KIM CASCONE, JOHN GRZINICH, LAWRENCE ENGLISH, etc.. long tracks & extensive 16p. booklet Price (incl. 19% VAT): €14.00 More Info "The word 'Vernacular' means "native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is a second language or foreign language to the population, such as a national language, standard language, or lingua franca", and here it's the thematic approach for a neatly designed double CD compilation in which curator Yui Onodera reconsiders 'Vernacular, which has been cut by the "universal design that transcends locality and ethnicity" of modernism'. He claims that 'the meaning of a sound and the way it is used is different in each country and I think it should naturally be apparent in the sound of their work, if artists work on it consciously'. That is a rather bold claim. I slide in CD 1, sit somewhere else, away from computer which shows me the tracklist and away from the actual package. When disc one is done, could have I told I heard artists from Australia, America (twice), Japan, UK (twice) and Italy? Or Greece, Estonia, The Netherlands, Argentina, America (twice) and Germany, following disc two? I must admit: not really. What can be noted is an overall uniform approach to sound and the way its played, processed and composed. Carefully and delicate music, is what all of these fifteen people connect. One a bit more on the field recordings side of things, the other process that lot via the computer into something altogether more abstract and here there we find the presence of an instrument, usually in the form of a guitar, such as with Federico Durand and Troum (whose presence may seem like an odd-ball here, but it fits in quite nicely) and the piano of Kenneth Kirschner. Steve Roden provides his usual musical loops and may also seem be a bit odd. Otherwise, music seems to be an universal language for these boys (no girls as far as I can see), and nowhere I had the idea I was listening to something that was very specific from a specific country. In that respect this compilation may seem like failure, but the quality is overall great here. Find here pieces from Hior Chronik, Yui Onodera, Janek Schaefer, Simon Scott, Tu M', Dale Lloyd, Jos Smolders, Yves De Mey, Kim Cascone, John Grzinich and Lawrence English." [FdW/Vital Weekly] http://whereabouts-records.com