VACVVM - Peaceful Atom (Test Tube, 2011)

01 Peaceful Atom 6'27''
02 Pylons 5'49''
03 SCRAM 0'49''
04 Lava Flow 1'33''
05 Oka 4'23''
06 Yenisei 6'04''
07 Leaving Pripyat
08 Work Wood Forest 6'43''
09 Radiologos 4'20''
10 Ignalina's Sunset 3'51''

«When it was born in the mind of italian musician Guglielmo Cherchi, 'Peaceful Atom' was intended to be a concept work about the Chernobyl disaster, and as a result of this some tracks are ideally connected to that topic: the title track (referring to the name of the first RBMK - Reactor Bolshoy Moshchnosty Kanalny - reactor), SCRAM (the emergency shutdown of a nuclear reactor), Lava Flow (the melted material erupted from the reactor after the explosion), Leaving Pripyat (the evacuation of the nearest city to the powerplant), Worm Wood Forest (the dead trees killed by the radiations) and Ignalina's Sunset (Ignalina was the last nuclear powerplant to use a RBMK reactor, the same model involved in the Chernobyl disaster, which was only shut down in 2009).
The other songs don't belong to this concept but are related to the environment pollution problem in Russia: Oka and Yenisei are the two most polluted rivers in the planet; Pylons refers to the Shukhov towers (featured on the cover artwork), which were electricity pylons on the banks of the Oka river. The remaining track, Radiologos, is a stand-alone song, but features an original jingle aired in Soviet Russia's radio stations.

'Peaceful Atom' was entirely built from scratch using laptop-based synthesizers and electric guitar, with the exception of a few samples. On 'Worm Wood Forest': Arboretum Bad Grund by Inchadney at The Free Sound Project, on 'Radiologos': Soviet jingle and radio recordings taken with an old military tubes HF radio and on 'Leaving Pripyat': electrostatic hiss taken from an old Kenwood amplifier dating from the eighties at high volume.

Enjoy this release.»
- Test Tube (based on Guglielmo's description)

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project_unknown - Undefined Static Forms Of Monotone Structures (Test Tube, 2011)

1 Untitled
2 Untitled
3 Untitled
4 Untitled

«This is project_unknown again (check out tube156) with more minimal crazyness. This time around, he's playing with monotone sound structures, repeated untill your head goes numb and gets into the rhythmic pattern like an ant follows a path of sugar. Monolake comes a lot to my mind when I'm listening to this EP, especially 'Untitled #1' which has a lot in common with the 'Gobi The Desert' period from the german electronic project.
To listen very very loud!»
Pedro Leitão

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Ricardo Webbens - Analog Mountains (Test Tube, 2011)

01 Lithospheric 22:28
02 Orogenic 14:36
03 Epeirogenic 10:00

Ricardo Webbens (Lisbon, 1973) is a multidisciplinary artist. Although he had a classical education in the visual arts (painting, drawing and sculpture), soon he became interested in the visual component of the emergent video art movement. He began by making video installations and experimenting with the early aesthetic of panning, already with several studies in aesthetic composition of color and functionality. Many of these works explored the dialectic that exists between work and experimentation referenced context.

Later, as he evolved with his work in the field of video art, he decided to test another artistic environment. In 1996 begins to explore music (focusing more on electronic music) and incorporate this new line of work in video art, becoming a hybrid artist, composing and creating more complete and complex works.

In 2001 he founded the Polar music project (in partnership with Nuno Rosa), and published a couple of works, with excellent reviews from the media (Public, enpegdigital, digital gravel, igloomag, etc.).

By 2004, Ricardo embarks once more on a journey through contemporary improvisation and followed several special projects and participated with artists from other areas such as dance and theater, like Clara Andermatt.

Kringles Cat and Mosquito are two forays into the field of jazz improvisation. Project Kringles Cat, a duo with the artist Travassos, is made of exploratory ramblings in the travel universe of contemporary environmental and experimentation of new concepts and instrumentation. Ricardo Webbens stands out in this field as an artist who makes and creates his own instruments in a personal search for collateral spaces in music.
Project Mosquito, with Hernâni Faustino, Travassos and Joaquim Trindade, is a tireless quest for three-dimensional panoramas and parallel universes where the demand for constant imagery brings to the work of these artists a soundscape almost mathematical but inconstant.

He then forms Tsuki, with José Lencastre, in order to create a compelling solution in the DIY movement. He also continues to work with video, doing some work for artists like Blockhead (Ninja Tune) and bllix (Audiobulb). On the other hand he is doing another kind of visual experimentation in the field of improvisation with Tiago Miranda (Loosers), at Lux Frágil and also at MusicBox (two of the most notorious Lisbon nightclubs).

'Analog Mountains' is the culmination of his work as an audio creator, using tools he learned and experiences he acquired from 10 years of continuous work.»
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Rui Gato & Hiraku Suzuki - Beam Drop (Test Tube, 2010)

1 Knowing Limits
2 Starting Talk
3 Agreement
4 Looking Into
5 Escape From
6 Choosing
7 Earthbound

The Beam Drop sculpture is a very powerful experience. This recording is the result of our very short and fast contact with the Beam Drop. Both of us were immediately attracted to the sonic dimension of this work, during the visit to the Inhotim Centre. We found the sculpture at different moments in the first day, and agreed to go back the next day and try to get some music out of it, and record it. We did it in one continuous take, due to time limitations of the visit (everybody was waiting for us to get back to the bus), and we are glad it was so.
It is presented to you unedited, only with 7 divisions that seem logic and natural to us when listening.
Rui Gato & Hiraku Suzuki

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Lee Rosevere - The Vela Companion (Light Years Book II) (Test Tube, 2010)

1 Chapter Four - An Actual Infinite
2 Chapter Five - You Are a Floating Star
3 Chapter Six - Haumea
4 Chapter Seven - Re-entry

Canadian musician Lee Rosevere returns to test tube after a long - nearly three years - hiatus. 'The Vela Companion (Light Years Book II)' is the conceptual follow up to his previous release 'Light Years'.
Assuming that the previous three pieces on 'Light Years' were 'Chapters One to Three', the current release picks up at 'Chapter Four - An Actual Infinite' and goes from there on. Enjoy the same space-epic nostalgia of Lee's experimental ambient compositions as before, sounds that send spikes through your spine cord while you close your eyes and imagine a one-way trip to the boundaries of our galaxy, and beyond, in glorious 'star trek style'. It's also amazing how Lee sculpts the raw drone and turns it into a round-shaped and smooth sound artifact, a totally desirable and soothing artifact (Chapter Seven - Re-entry).

Lee also draws the mysterious and the obscure with his design ambient, like in 'Chapter Six - Haumea', one of his most accomplished (although short) pieces, where the urge to discover and explore the cosmos is just palpable, almost visible in every direction your attention is focused.
There's plenty of different moods throughout each piece, a genuine proof that Lee is a well experienced ambient composer. He should be writing independent sci-fi film scores by now... it's amazing how much talent is lying around here.

Keep it up, Lee!
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