Livre Maudit (16:41)
Première Partie
1.01 Lionel Marchetti - Prélude (Étude Dite Du Maudit) 0:59
1.02 Lionel Marchetti - La Visite Des Morts (Étude Chantante) 5:36
1.03 Lionel Marchetti - Rotorelief 1 (L'Oreille Doit Descendre) 0:18
1.04 Lionel Marchetti - Pont De Cire (Esprit Des Vapeurs) 2:40
1.05 Lionel Marchetti - Rotorelief 2 0:19
1.06 Lionel Marchetti - Je Suis Vaporeux 0:25
1.07 Lionel Marchetti - Troisième Rotorelief 0:15
Deuxième Partie
1.08 Lionel Marchetti - Série Militaire 3:32
Troisième Partie
1.09 Lionel Marchetti - Final (Étude Idolâtre) 2:20
1.10 Lionel Marchetti - Porte De La Mort 0:13
Livre Magnétique (19:55)
Première Partie
2.01 Lionel Marchetti - 1000 Hz 0:01
2.02 Lionel Marchetti - Saturne 3:48
2.03 Lionel Marchetti - Visiones Nocturnae 9:49
2.04 Lionel Marchetti - Porte De La Mort 0:13
2.05 Lionel Marchetti - Décompte 0:45
2.06 Lionel Marchetti - Porte De La Mort 2 0:13
Deuxième Partie
2.07 Lionel Marchetti - Final (Chant Magnétique) 4:58
Livre d'Eos (21:48)
3.01 Lionel Marchetti & Yôko Higashi - Penombra 13:37
3.02 Lionel Marchetti & Yôko Higashi - Porte De La Mort 0:13
3.03 Lionel Marchetti & Yôko Higashi - L'Incendie 7:58
Years in the making, RED DUST is a three disc boxed set of new work from this master practitioner of musique concrete. Elaborate in its aural presentation, this study reveals Marchetti’s most focused and exciting work to date. Composed in part with Yôko Higashi, the material reveals sounds old and new, acting as a modern looking glass into a tapestry of ideas still grappled with today; human attraction, narcissism, and the function of the artist. The music flows story-like over the course of the three discs; a novel-esque concept/approach to a triptych visual presentation. The combination of ridiculously old recordings melting into obviously modern sounds makes this listening an experience to ponder on many levels. Dissect the layers and enjoy.
Each disc within RED DUST is accompanied by a note card with corresponding details, as well as a separate text card written by Olivier Capparos regarding the work of Lionel Marchetti. Housed inside a small matte red box, the entire package is then wrapped in a fine delicate mulberry paper. Limited to a pressing of only 300.
“Lionel Marchetti was born in France in 1967. His interest in music resides in the qualities of sound. He is one of a handful of artists who in the mid-to-late 1990s took electroacoustic music out of academic studios and into the free improvisation ring. A scholar who worked at the CFMI (Lyon) and GRM (Paris) studios and published a book on acousmatic composer Michel Chion, Marchetti developed a set-up of microphones and loudspeakers he uses on stage along with tape recorders, prepared CDs, motors and radios. He often refers to his “instruments” as an “electroacoustic contraption.” His live work with Jérôme Noetinger found echoes in the approach of Swiss and Austrian abstractionists like Voice Crack, Günter Müller, and Werner Dafeldecker, but Marchetti is mostly active in France, performing regularly at the club Les Instants Chavirés and at the festival Musique Action. His studio work encompasses sound collage ( ) and academic electroacoustics ( , ), although the level of poetry and refusal of genre boundaries in his music puts him closer to Kristoff K.Roll and Luc Ferrari than Pierre Henry or Bernard Parmegiani.” - based on the François Couture penned bio in All Music Guide.
Yôko Higashi: dancer, singer and composer initially began her work in Tokyo, and now resides in Lyon. Since 2002 she creates her own choreographies. She also works on vocal performances with several musiciens (CASANOVA FRANKEINSTEIN, Florent DICHAMPT, John HEGRE, MOKO, Lionel MARCHETTI…) and Nicolas TICOT of XLR Project (Video artist). In 2003, she created a trio of electric pop-rock groupe YOKOHAMA ZEN ROCKS (Compilation DOPE BEAT SUPADOPE RECORDS Factory Vol.1). She also currently is involved with her solo project HAMAYOKO (electropopexperimental).
Crouton
Not since I bought my first LP has a package seemed so stunning. The artwork may be small and the presentation austere, but it carries a personality all its own. This is the work of an individual whose personality shines through his music and his choice of medium. With him comes an entirely new world, a place reshaped in the name of sound and forged beneath the idea that sound is transformative, musical, and everywhere all of the time. Lionel Marchetti is a student of Pierre Schaeffer, a composer whose heart belongs entirely to the uneven pulse of musique concrète's open arms. Both music and musician are welcoming on this collection, enticing listeners to open up the box and travel somewhere for an hour or so, forgetting, in the process, whatever notions might influence the way Red Dust could be heard initially.
The collection is broken up into three 3" discs, each described as a separate movement in a "study" on musique concrète. Do not let the academic language be deceiving. Although Marchetti might be a student of the art, his music is a living mass of people, places, musicians, and ideas. This is not a work of art that belongs in the stuffy atmosphere of a museum or in the halls of an egocentric art gallery; Red Dust is alive, stirring up memories and reanimating old sources of inspiration in its movement. Each disc has an accompanying card included in the set. These cards list the track titles, the musicians responsible for each piece, and in some instances the names of musicians or artists from whom Marchetti has pulled samples or ideas. Included in the collection are the names Fritz Lang, Marcel Duchamp, Pierre Schaeffer, Henri Chopin, and some other, slightly more surprising names: This Heat, Keiji Haïno, The Residents, and PanSonic. It is obvious that Marchetti truly believes music is everywhere and in every time as his choice of sources reflects an expansive appreciation for music in many different forms. Each of the three discs are, in fact, quite distinct, but form a loose narrative in the same way that some cubist art approximates movement. There is room for the listener in this box, plenty of space for him or her to communicate with the sounds and inform where it will go next. The very act of listening changes the outcome of this collection, but every act of listening will also exact a trace of stunning beauty and perverse movement in the brain of the participant.
The first disc, entitled "Livre Maudit," is described as a three part performance in ten movements. Many of the pieces on this disc are less than half a minute long. Four of the tracks, in fact, occupy well over half of this disc. The mood is overwhelmingly dark, the industrial sounds used generating a repressive and dangerous atmosphere. With the inclusion of either hysterical or serene vocal parts, Marchetti creates a pool of ever- changing emotions. The use of romantic, nearly Caretaker-esque samples only strengthens the sense that Jack Nicholson is on the verge of bringing some of his dead friends back from the grave and putting them all in the most grotesque of ballroom dances. Instead of occupying a haunted hotel, however, they're all going to travel by way of electricity and warp every corner of the industrial world. Pierre Schaeffer's train stations and Keiji Haïno's guitars are equally in danger of being haunted and cursed by these apparitions. At the same time, Marchetti includes some exquisite vocals and gentle silences in his compositions. The sense that this disc is, in reality, cursed increases with each listen. Moving to the second disc will only reveal just how dense and manic the first is.
Both the second and third discs, "Livre Magnétique" and "Livre D'Eos," are given more room to stretch. Instead of occupying either of these "books" with a spattering of very short pieces, both contain a series of longer compositions that reflect more than attack. The inclusion of robotic voices over the duration of the remaining music instills a strong sense of narrative omnipresence. Both "Saturne" and "Visionses Nocturnae" on the second disc contain robotic conversations that include the composers name and, supposedly, his own explanation for the work he does. Not only does this put the music in an immediate proximity to the listener, but it bestows a sense of purpose, interrupting what might be considered a purely abstract collection and interjecting cause and effect or even history into the project. The robot asks questions like "Do you like my music?" and situates the recordings by addressing them as "modern." It's an almost comical moment considering much of what Marchetti does is rooted in a past that may seem more distant than it really is. All the while an exquisite drone passes by in the background with only the most subtle of thunderous rumblings interrupting it. Piano, static, radio signals, and marching bands all press together and by the end it feels as though Marchetti has opened the temple of his body and invited everyone inside for the remainder of the show. It's a stunning moment where the artist and the observer switch places, where the artist is forced to address the fact that he has an audience that he must listen to and understand as an artistic group. The artist can, after all, only compose to the extent that he is hindered by other, perhaps invisible factors. An audience is a perfect example of this kind of censorship and it seems to me that Marchetti is aware of that.
The final disc is my favorite; it is a sprawling work composed primarily of two compositions. The atmosphere is nocturnal, slow, and organic. "Penombra" features guitar and percussion as well as some seductive, near-operatic vocals, but is also satisfyingly abstract, floating hazily in the distance and slowly releasing the pressure that was built over the previous 40 minutes or so. It is amazingly beautiful and strikes me as the most musical piece in the collection. By the end of the disc, Marchetti has traveled from the dense, layered affairs that were characteristic of many of the earliest experimental recordings, to the open and free compositions that typify the work of many drone artists and other sound collage enthusiasts. "L'incendie" closes everything with the ringing bells of a church, the movement of ideas, information, fears, and problems passing below its incessant vibration. The piece seems to ring on forever, the inclusion of screams, radio interference, and other strange sounds only increasing the power of its hum. Marchetti affects this change subtly, allowing it to occur slowly, almost to the extent that it is unnoticeable. The melodic phrases that appear on the final disc seem to chart the end of abstract composition, but do not rob it of its grandeur and its ability to travel through time and reveal the music that is the world. On the other hand, perhaps these pieces reveal that everything is essentially musique concrète. All the music of the world has, in one way or another, been influenced by sounds that already existed. Composers simply structured them according to what they had available. Compositions are often written before they are expressed in sound, but perhaps sounds has always been there before the composition. There is no escaping the world as music.
There are very few boxed sets, much less records, that seem as well thought out as this one does. There are very few abstract recordings impressing me anymore, their weight and power seemingly fading away due to over saturation. Marchetti, however, has invigorated my belief in this medium and its ability to remind the listener that music is more than a product or a way to pass some time in an entertaining fashion. Music is ultimately an art and art ultimately informs, challenges, and provokes. There can be little doubt of that after listening to Red Dust. It strips the musical world of barcodes, FBI warnings, and greedy punks, and places music firmly in the realm of the listener's ears and mind. There are 300 copies of this collection available from Crouton and they are not asking a lot for it. This is highly recommended, as both a cerebral experience and a musical one.
Brainwashed
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