FORTUNA CRÍTICA

FORTUNA CRÍTICA/
CRITICAL RECEPTION

Por Vincent Bergeron. Texto originalmente publicado em/ By Vincent Bergeron. Originally published in http://www.freakywaves.com/bergerrond/fr/node/379

George Christian - Some Instrumental Pieces for Guitar and [...], 2011, Boolean Records

Mon, 11/14/2011 - 21:55 — vb

George Christian - Some Instrumental Pieces for Guitar and [...],2011, Boolean Records

I have to admit that I neglected to comment his first album that just didn't get into a territory I could connect with. Although, it had the existence as a concept music album which is exactly what I have done myself for my first songs album almost 10 years ago already. I was looking for this sort of possible connection, but applied to the music this time. After all, I noticed Christian and I share both this love for underground figures (Jandek can be heard a bit here), masters of electronic music and a bit of unusual pop music. I found in this album, nothing like that, but something else that I truly enjoy to a high degree, after listening to it many times already, always with the same intellectual fascination and honest "hearth "-felt.

Christian describes this album as a new start and he is right. All the evil drones are gone and the overall style and sound is much more focused and beautifully controlled this time. What remains is Christian's guitar rich “abstract-odd-hic” playing coming out in a really special and unique lo-fi sound that is a mixture of low bitrate mp3 (intentional under 320kbps) and synth-like alien findings in high frequencies that are also cleverly put under digital echo. All of this while Christian remains me a lot of the Father of the experimental American folk as played by John Fahey (and I know he is a big fan like me). Of course, a Christian only sounds like himself at this point of twisted comparisons.

Now, if something is true of new guitarists that are celebrated in electronic music these last years, is that they are in almost all cases, either completely sound oriented (better love your noise physical), Fennesz-related or they play it acoustic and melodic like John Fahey did with far more invention and ideas decades ago. I never was the biggest Fennesz fan (a few masterpieces onEndless Summer and that is it for me) and I always lose interest when I try to experience a pure wall of sound without intonation. But, any of these sound oriented guitarists (a lot to name) are obviously far more out there than these pale Fahey fanatics who play their 12 chords guitar like dissonance meant a death penalty the next day.

In this Christian's album, I find myself praying for more guitars !! It is a mixture of what I expected to hear from guitarists living in the 21th century. Yes, the finale piece is nice with tribal flutes. It also features an instrument that has only one sound on all the pieces I ever heard (the didgeridoo). The coherence with the other pieces is rather surprising to me. But, a 40 minutes album of guitars in front would certainly not be too much for Christian. With this collection, he is a striking figure of new music found on netlabels. He avoids the limited and “sacro-saint” pure sound oriented approach.

No philosophy that is narrow and self-limiting. Christian always explains really well his ideas about the music he loves, but let things open a lot, even in his tributes pieces, instead of explaining why he don't want to do his music a certain way — Fennesz certainly never wanted to show up on guitars, he always wanted to be the anti-guitar hero, but that too can be annoying at some point when you do it too intensely. For a change, all of these qualities perceived in a discourse can be heard in the music of the guitarist !

This Christian is not afraid to sound musical and actually have melodic building. The tones are strong, often in the fun of deconstructing patterns that have almost yet to be heard. Still, it is the beauty that comes to the ears, not the desire to deconstruct. The guitar playing shines through the sound research instead of letting the sound hides the original playing. And that is really important to me, that the original playing of the musicians never get lost. I think we make this mistake too often right now in music. We let technologies lead the way too much. These technologies are exciting, but never as much as our own resources as sound lovers, musicians and composers. Let us never forget that. This Christian didn't.

Vincent Berger Rond [2011.11.14]

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Por Wilhelm Mathies, apresentação publicada em/ By Wilhelm Matthies, an introduction published at
http://spectropolrecords.bandcamp.com/album/la-geographie-sans-regret

La Géographie sans Regret (George Christian & Mehata Sentimental Legend) is about exploring emotional grounds, exhilarating here, melancholy there, dark and tortured there, but without regret. Each musical piece seems to have originated from an emotional reality which is expressed in written words and transformed with the same intensity and emotional and moral ambiguity into musical language.

As a collaboration, George Christian was able to go beyond language barriers which could trap him into such territories, and was able to communicate it to Mehata Hiroshi. Mehata Hiroshi was able to match it both musically and with his visual artwork. His visual artworks, likewise, have the depth, sparkle, horror, and exhilaration expressed in the music they made.

Two young artists show us what it is like to be young, risk taking, treading on water, mud, solid ground sometimes, but throughout it all, without regret.

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Por Bruce Hamilton, apresentação publicada em/ By Bruce Hamilton, an introduction published at http://spectropolrecords.bandcamp.com/album/la-geographie-sans-regret

A haunting collaboration from two emerging artists from Brazil and Japan. Sheets of noisy harmony, shimmering textures, microtonal explorations, and voice drenched in reverb seep in and out of existence. Somewhere between avant/noise rock and experimental electronic, this recording is a strange trip that gets better with each hearing.

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Por Réjean Desroisiers, poema publicado na ocasião do lançamento de La Géographie sans Regret, em
By Réjean Desroisiers, a poem published at the occasion of La Géographie sans Regret's release in
http://spectropol.com/2012/10/

je cherche une place pour apparaitre
un lieu très lent
un endroit pour ouvrir les yeux
sans avoir peur
une vallée où les nuits demande au jour
de prendre son temps pour se lever
et où le jour reste en veille
pendant toute une échange de paroles
et de regard intense
je cherche une place pour apparaitre
sans me soucier des vents qui caressent
des instants sans fin
des jeux ou le rire est gagnant
je cherche sans croire
je cherche une place pour apparaitre
sans disparaitre…

Réjean Desrosiers © 2012 10 21

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Por Jan Kees Helms, texto publicado em/ By Jan Kees Helms, review published in
http://www.vitalweekly.net/866.html

GEORGE CHRISTIAN AND MEHATA SENTIMENTAL LEGEND - LA GEOGRAPHIE SANS REGRET (CDR by Spectropol Records)

George Christian and Mehata Sentimental Legend both live on the other side of the globe and composed virtually the album "La Géographie sans Regret.. George Christian lives in Brasil and Mehata Hiroshi in Japan. A mix of singing, folk guitar, electric guitar, flute and electronics results in an album with five songs and a long instrumental track with an experimental and adventurous streak . Both men were able to find each other musically and although there is a large physical distance with mountains, valleys and oceans. Mehata Hiroshi began in 2007 playing solo with guitar, higchiriki (a Japanese flute), percussion and electronics. George Christian has taught himself to play guitar and experiments for 10 years with guitar and electronics. The songs of the album unfortunately recorded with the sound in the middle and high part of the sound spectrum. This makes it difficult to listen to the recordings, because the high frequencies begin to irritate after a while. And that is a pity, because the songs are well written and if you listen to the album it is almost inconceivable that both musicians did their recordings in their own homes between May 2011 and August 2012. After all, "La Géographie sans Regret" a beautiful concept. The album was released by Spectropol Records in the United States. The netlabel brings adventurous music, without being constrained by musical boundaries and genres. A new mix of fine material would be great, to make this transnational project more accessible.

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Por Ed Pinsent, texto originalmente publicado em/ By Ed Pinsent, review published in
http://www.thesoundprojector.com/2014/02/15/people-in-the-ceiling/

La Géographie Sans Regret (SPECTROPOL RECORDS SpecT 15) is a fairly uncanny record, one of those wild collaborative affairs that make you wonder in amazement at the results. The young Brazilian guitarist George Christian clashes his steely howler-mode strings with the Japanese act Mehata Sentimental Legend, who is the visual artist and experimenter Mehata Hiroshi and one who describes their work as “ritual futurism”. It’s a shocking listen; within seconds you’re presented with far too much musical information to digest, as though watching a cine film with double exposures, or even triple exposures. This impression persists for the first two tracks and, apart from a lull into a slightly quieter passage on track 3, doesn’t get much easier after that point; indeed it’s these very raw and discordant qualities that make the work live and breathe for me, and keep it fresh and vital for each new spin. For just about every second of listening, you truly feel like this is a matter of life or death, that something very serious is at stake. Both musicians recorded their parts at their respective homelands, separated by significant distances, and I wonder if the totality was assembled after the fact from disparate parts, a method that is proven to work well, and if that’s what they did it adds considerably to the deliciously jarring experience of the album. Plus there’s the claustrophobic and eccentric mix, which piles all the sounds together as signs of equal value, and obliges the listener to sort it all out in the head. Both of them sing or add voice parts, but as the lyrics are printed in Portuguese I assume that’s George’s voice that dominates on such juddering haunters as ‘Abismo de Cravos’; he admits he is attempting to “test the limits of his singing voice”, and his notes also disclose the very personal exploratory nature of this work, a reconciliation of his own musical history with his interest in contemporary art. As to Mehata Hiroshi, this person is a cryptical mystic type, uttering compelling phrases such as ‘Stem and root emits life to two sides of the same coin’ and ‘Soul, such as magma deep underground that is wriggling’. Right on! The total effect of this slow-raging hailstorm of shrill and metallic sound swirling together with these plaintive howly vocals is palpable, producing a coppery taste in the mouth and inducing an apocalyptic headache of the soul. Not an easy listen and few will work their way past its forbidding surface, but once you’re deep within this tunnel / maelstrom of music you’ll find it hard to slip loose from its intestinal bonds. Besides the wild voices, you should find the guitar playing of George Christian is truly remarkable (when it occasionally climbs its way to the surface of the cluttered mix, that is) and it’s not far-fetched to predict that one day soon he’ll be held in as high esteem as Haino, Akiyama, or Li Jianhong. From 5th March 2013, and highly recommended.

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Por Bruce Hamilton, apresentação publicada em/ By Bruce Hamilton, an introduction published at
http://spectropolrecords.bandcamp.com/album/aos-rios-urbanos

A collection of thoughtful and moving acoustic/electric guitar pieces (with some electroacoustic processing and microtonal tunings) from Brazil’s George Christian Vilela Pereira, “aos rios urbanos” (to the urban rivers) is a meditative reflection on the flow of life and our desire to form a more whole consciousness.

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Por Jan Kees Helms, texto publicado em/ By Jan Kees Helms, review published in http://www.vitalweekly.net/913.html

GEORGE CHRISTIAN – AOS RIOS URBANOS (CDR by Spectropol Records)
The last album I have heart of George Christian was a collaboration project with the Japanese musician Mehata Hiroshi, an album which was also released by Spectropol Records (Vital Weekly 866). Instead of that album, this album has a good recording quality. George Christian is a guitarist who lives and works in Brazil. The album is inspired by the movements of the urban rivers and the flow in during life-time. The first two tracks are created by acoustic guitar and are beautiful improvisations which gives a meditative mood. The combination of the fine melodies and the touch-full use of effects make these compositions to well-balanced pieces of guitar music. The third track disturbs the silent mood with distorted guitar chords and dissonant melodies. The peacefulness return by again an acoustic track with a lot of reverb and echo effects. The album is about life, the elements of life, the destruction of life, the exchange between nature and culture and between life on earth and the cosmic. The fifth track is created by piano samplers, slide guitar and electronic generated tones. This track is like a journey to the inner-self or to the outer space. The album ends with the track called “Aborted Cry” and that is what it is. A screaming guitar built up his anger and stops without any warning. George Christian makes a big step forward in his musical career and this concept album is effective. (JKH)

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Por Maximiliano Chami, apresentação publicada em/
By Maximiliano Chami, an introduction published at
http://plataformarecords.blogspot.com.br/2014/06/plataforma-64-george-christian-electric.html

Plataforma 64 : George Christian - Electric Ramblings (Extended Edition)

Eis que me deparo com um trabalho nada fácil de "traduzir" para o verbo, pois o disco "Electric Ramblings" de "George Christian" apesar de nos fornecer referências apresenta um tipo de fusão muito particular. Nota-se que George tem como base um punch blues, mas em certos momentos escapa para climas eletroacústicos com microtonalidades vertiginosas. Pegue um filme do David Lynch e deixe este disco tocando em loop, fica meu conselho.

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Por Maximiliano Chami, apresentação publicada em/
By Maximiliano Chami, an introduction published at http://plataformarecords.blogspot.com.br/2014/09/plataforma-88-george-christian-desvos.html

Plataforma 88 : George Christian - Desvãos do Sol (2014)

Neste disco chapante e alucinado George Christian prova que é herdeiro de uma linhagem "oculta" da música nordestina dos anos 70, misturando estas referências com noise brutalmente orgânico. Nota-se ecos de artistas como: Marconi Notaro, Ave Sangria, Lula Côrtes, fundidos com texturas sonoras ultra psicodélicas e muito barulhentas formando esse caleidoscópico album chamado "Desvãos Do Sol", uive quem souber absorver estes estranhos estratos.

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Por Tiago Ferreira, resenha publicada no blog Na Mira do Groove, em/
By Tiago Ferreira, a review published in Na Mira do Groove blog, at
http://namiradogroove.com.br/blog/jazz/groovin-jazz-hermeto-pascoal-christian-scott-dee-byrne

AntiClimaxTransMorte

George Christian

Gravadora: Mansarda
Data de Lançamento: 11 de outubro de 2017

Pouco se sabe sobre George Christian. O que se sabe é que ele é um pianista vinculado à Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA). O disco AntiClimaxTransMorte, porém, deixa bem claro de que não se trata de um mero pianista. Virtuoso, sim, mas com capacidade de intercalar entre clusters, glissandos e grandes passagens intimidadoras, que lincam Chopin a Thelonious Monk com uma personalidade arrebatadora. Dividido em 5 suites, AntiClimaxTransMorte é repleto de arcos de tensão que se intensificam, mas não se desviam da obscuridade. Na verdade, trata-se de uma obscuridade vívida, mais atrelada à maturidade que atingimos quando processamos conhecimentos de diversas naturezas, do que uma experiência ruim, ou algo do tipo. A peça inteira foi executada na UFBA em 14 de junho deste ano, com influências da música clássica do começo do século, de Cecil Taylor e das fases solo de Keith Jarrett. É uma peça que, em ambientes como teatros municipais e afins, ressoam com uma eficácia exuberante. Apesar de usar bastante o elemento da repetição, Christian sabe como dosá-las a ponto de surpreender o ouvinte múltiplas vezes, alternando as técnicas em favor de uma sonoridade única e, ao mesmo tempo, tocante.

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Por Tom Gerry, resenha publicada no blog SWIT, em/
By Tom Gerry, a review published in the SWIT blog, at
https://superworldindietunes.com/2017/05/12/swits-long-player-of-the-week-exilios-1-by-george-christian/

Geroge Christian is a largely self-taught musician and academic from Salvador in Brazil. Exílios 1 is the first part of a trilogy on the Sê-lo Netlabel. The album mixes instrumental and vocal pieces, both compostional and improvised. I find the music facinating, and the playing is exceptional. For me it conjures up very different journeys, across desserts, mountains and vast oceans, it’s a dreamscape to get lost in. XÍLIOS 1 is truely a collaborative effort -George plays flat-top guitar, flute, bass and vocals and is joined byLucas de Gal on berimbau, Izaky Grimm and Igor Galind on drums, Nilton Belmonte on cello, Vítor Rios – mandolin , Lucas Jagersbacher – Indian sitar and Mehata Hiroshi – noh singing, percussion and hichiriki. It says on bandcamp that the album is “speaking about trans-territoriality as an existential condition.” Not 100% sure what that means but it’s an exciting listen and a real step into the out-of-the -ordinary nonetheless! Jump in.

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Por Wayne Rex, resenha publicada no blog Yeah i Know It Sucks, em/
By Wayne Rex, a review published in the blog Yeah i Know It Sucks, at
https://yeahiknowitsucks.wordpress.com/2017/06/14/george-christian-exilios/

Artist : George Christian
Title : Exilios
Label Se-Lo
keywords: experimental soundart acoustic guitar electroacoustic experimental rock free jazz radioart sound art Salvador
Release date : April 2017
Link : https://selonetlabel.bandcamp.com/album/ex-lios-1
Reviewer: Wayne Rex

I came across this wonderful Brazilian label about a week ago. They are Se-Lo Netlabel and have just the most wonderful and diverse selection of artists on their label. One stood out more than the rest for me, and that one was Exilios by George Christian. Why this artist isn’t touring the world to critical acclaim is just baffling to me.

It’s an album of minimal but full compositions. Mainly revolving around some stoner/folk/psychedelic guitar playing, haunting vocals and (esp track 3) amazing drumming. Seven tracks make up this record but you really wish that it was more. The good news is that apparently this is the first album of a planned trilogy so more greatness to come.

Auroras do exilio I is the opening track. This has some Eastern/Asian vibes to it. Like something a samurai would listen to before going to his potentially final battle. It’s folk guitar married to some haunting effects make for a powerful and atmospheric opener.

The majestically titled Velhonovencontradoson(ho)s is the second track. It’s just magical and spiritual in it’s composition and playing. Reminds me of some of the folky(er) Jimmy Page stuff, especially on Led Zeppelin III but this is more full on and more fantastical. You picture sitting in the woods by a waterfall and deer all around you, whilst your hippy girlfriend dances naked around you and in the water. It’s tremendously played and produced too. The whole record is, to be honest. There’s a lo-fi quality and feel to it but also total stereo and modern sounding.

Labuta is the third track. Ennio Morricone crossed with some break beating drum and bass esqe sounding drums = BLOODY BRILLIANT!! It’s a track that how I just described it, shouldn’t work but it does and work better than you could imagine. This would be just kick ass when played live and blow some minds, I’m sure. Again the musicianship for all involved is second to none.

Lancado ao Uno is the fouth track and the first to include a vocal performance. This has a late 60’s / early 70’s vibe to it and wouldn’t be out of place in some cool Coen brothers film as a stand out soundtrack song.

Noite Stellamarina is in at track five and the initial lo-fi recording quality is music to the ears in itself. In fact it adds to the whole vibe and feel to the song. This has gone into it’s folk roots again but added to the mix is some acid sounding penny whistle, played by some mythical songbird and every note is making your mind hallucinate. There’s some traditional folk guitar playing and also some very neat angular bits too, just to shake up the listener out of their comfort zone.

Sombrass de uma Terra Prometida is the penultimate tack on the great record. There is a dark and uneasy feel to this track. Like good and bad trying to communicate and get along but also finding it hard not to compete for victory. Then the song chords kick in like a mother who has had enough of the squabbling and telling them both to just agree to disagree and move on to live in peace and harmony. It’s a story in literature and theatre all wrapped up in an instrumental song. It’s 18 minutes long and there’s just some wonderful moments. Uplifting crescendos, dark moody atmospheric bits, happy, crazy and wild bits. It’s a psychedelic opera at it’s very best. If you don’t dig this track or see it’s majesty then I’m afraid you and I will never be friends. (Hooray, I hear you all cray as you read this)

Intangivel is the final track. Wow, what a different feel. Still has the eastern vibe, the folk vibe and psychedelic vibe but also combining soundscape played not just with instruments but things around them and exploring other musical contours through voice, guitar, whistle and various other instrument. It’s fantastic experimental music. I found it quite spiritual and meditative too. It’s a perfect track to finish the record with. It’s explores and surpasses every idea and played note in the songs previous and explodes them into a giant peak of hyperactive spiritual, experimental psychedelica. It’s all rather moving to say the least.

Please, please, please listen to this record. It deserves to be listened, downloaded and shared so more people can give themselves unto the music for an hour of sheer sonic bliss.
https://selonetlabel.bandcamp.com/album/ex-lios-1

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Por Jeff Gburek, no blog Transparent Aberlard, em/
By Jeff Gburek, in the blog Transparent Aberlard, at
https://transparent-abelard.blogspot.com.br/2018/03/exilios-volume-iii-new-world-music.html

THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 2018

Exilios, Volume III, New World Music Utopics

in a world where the margins begin to disappear, the borders themselves obscured by islands of floating refuse, we all seem on the verge of exile, living in between memory and potential community, in a place of happiness that exists in no place at all, in a moving moment of sound, and yet this sound seems as if it must be a place or yet speaks of a place, a delta where many musics mingle before setting out to sea on paper boats & cardboard boxes...

http://www.bestiar.org/george-christian-exilios-3/

Few years ago my friend George Christian Vilela Pereira asked me to contribute some guitar work for a track on a album that turned out to be part of a sprawling jungle, a trilogy of albums, called Exilios. Listening to the first few volumes and previews challenged me to formulate new terms, to grapple with what seems like the strangest mixture of everything I like, which somehow seems like it just shouldn't work because in the world where we live the ideologies that separate and stagnate music into pigeon-holed territories and long-exploited ore mines guarded by product-oriented, hungry, market-hungry, old speculators who don't like funny people and funny mixtures messing up the mind of the buying public by offering music that makes them think and feel too much. It is further haunted music in that it draws from world-wide sources, being a studio album, basic tracks recorded in Brazil and contributors from across the ponds added into the mix, so that there's a hint of virtual utopia here, a musical space that refers to many cultures all at once and yet expresses either all of them or none of them to my ears while still sounding between-the-worlds organic, like a dream that you should write down before forgetting it. There is a hallucinogenic quality or potential here, ayahuascan trips, like all the freaky megalopolises, Mexico City meets Teheran, but's it all a club in Calcutta called Igloo Canal, the studio walls grow edible fungus, drones carry in trays of jasmine tea and espresso. Nothing is connected in any obvious way but it's connected all the same. If you play it at a party, many of your friends will leave or call the police. Because it's that good. Because it's that evil. One moment its some psychedelic lost soul wandering the polluted beaches where sharks belly full of plastic and transistor schrapnel wind up stranded, another moment its all the Sun Ra freak out down at Slug's Saloon, the one's that happened after you left when Pharoah and Sharrock arrived late and they invited a harp made of tin and sparklers to plug directly into the amp and plunge Queens into darkness. And there's this voice singing in some language between languages, a microtonal language, swirling, turning itself inside out, a crooning that is aware crooning is too cute and draws venom from bitter blues people of the crepuscular zones, humored like Don Van Vliet, but also a little crusty like Cobain, a permanent voice in migration, like gypsy moths or swallows saying anywhere but back to Capistrano. It's kind of like all of this and yet kind of not because there are too many layers and this causes description to be an exhausting futility. It may take 100 years to get to the place where this music already exists in the universe we know and be landed upon as an inhabitable planet. I am happy I arrived when I did.

For full details about Exilios 3 and the previous volumes, please access this link.
https://georgechristian.bandcamp.com/album/ex-lios-3

By Löis Lancaster

About The Gate (“O Portão”): The closeness and the intimacy with the tones by George really impress, highlighted as they were from the familiar ambience. The piano works with the reverb as a brush in a watercolor. The impression it gives is of an organic totality, with direction and disposal. Little by little, the concrete pull of a big gate is being drawn. At the same time in which it’s introduced, the opus establishes a subsequent study on how to present it. The development in the time of the timbre itself tells the story of its presence. Maybe that’s where the air of nostalgia of the piece comes, despite being vigorous.
In Secrets in the Ears of the Walls from a Music School (“Segredos nos Ouvidos das Paredes de uma Escola de Música”), the imagistic shape is intensified. Divided by the listener, there are two ambiences, that, therefore, occupies the sound spot of the wall. An unique usage of the expressive possibilities of the stereo. After the unification, we have a more loosened usage of the stereophonic spectra, with a single pallet of timbre that emerges in a triptych to the ears. The composer also becomes a filmmaker in the process of timbral 'casting', to extract, afterwards, the maximum of each choice, explaining it by the exploration of the expressivity of its presence until the saturation. Throughout the time, metallic storms sparkle, speeches at the limit of understanding, continuities of handrail in this trip amidst a mist of high density.
Secret Universes – 1st Movement (“Secretos Universos – 1º Movimento”): At the beginning, the free reverberation of the walls elevates itself as shadows of nobility that will diverge, converge from that point, to cover the harmonic spectrum com centrifugal strength. The invitation to immersion becomes clear. Some familiar gestures with suggestions of polyphony and basis. At the background, an explosion that never ceases to end, the suspending and extended time in palimpsest, to sound figures to be emerged forgotten from its origin: among others, calligraphic melodies with electric guitar’s intonation.
Secret Universes – 2nd Movement (“Secretos Universos – 2º Movimento”): The saturation leaps forward, encouraged (or incited?) by the bass. It’s so thick that seems to have the force of objectifies as something solid. That background which was becoming noticeable at the first movement, in the second one becomes the protagonist. And what is seen isn’t a story anymore, but an inarticulate speech that demonstrates the time itself.
Lastly, I have to emphasize the lucidity of the investigative process of George Christian, who not only explores his repertoire of invention with mastery, but also presents us results that are thematically and structurally different, multifaceted and complementary along those splendidly produced tracks. (October 04th, 2018)

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Por Kai Nobuko, resenha publicada no blog Yeah i Know It Sucks, em/
By Kai Nobuko, a review published in the blog Yeah i Know It Sucks, at
https://yeahiknowitsucks.wordpress.com/2019/02/01/george-christian-secretos-universos/

Artist: George Christian
Title: Secretos Universos
Keywords: electronic experimental ambient electroacoustic experimental field recording free improvisation Bulgaria
Label: Mahorka http://mahorka.org/

Hello. I could have written a entire book about Secretos Universos by George Christian , but thanks to a lack of time I did A little write up / review instead. Here it is:

The portals that had kept the odd strangers at bay seemed to have opened up their gates. Just like an invasion of interesting gremlins they all go out and form a sound pallet that might look like organized chaos. Everywhere they are, throwing things over, jumping on top of things they shouldn’t jump on and causing a beautiful chaos along their way.

They aren’t monsters. Let that please be clear, these creatures are anything but monstrous. They seemingly try to do they best to be civilized, to acclimatize to the bizarre human world that they had just fallen into. But as you could imagine adapting (even with their best of intentions) is something that will not come natural or without hilarious awkwardness. They come across like supreme super sonic beings trying their skills to blend in, but do everything but blending in.

The results is a melting pot of a bizarre sounding soundtrack, making you think it’s avant-garde of an alien kind. Crazy enough, this whole experiment is severely listenable, maybe not for all ears so suitable, but for the advanced trained lover of the odd and the artistically deranged it certainly is. It’s at least better than renting a VHS tape of such a gremlin video, if such a thing is still possible in these eccentric times that we are living in. Not because a bit of cheap Hollywood entertainment isn’t okay, but ‘music’ like this one on this record simply might be more thoughtful and mind boggling than watching something while being draped on the sofa with a box of popcorn on your lap.

The release contains only four chapters, but all of them are quite stretched out in length, they also differ from each other in ways of ‘these’ If that is the thing that they might want to call it. From earthly invasion, radical integration in normality that won’t work to outer space science fiction in the noisier audio way. In this case they all bring enough entertainment for the tripped out visual thinkers that only need music and audio to see things that aren’t actually there or really happening. It’s great material to sit back with and let the imagination go wild with. To make sure that would happen; it ends with a trip remix by Anastasia Vronski!

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Por Joshua Macala, resenha publicada no blog raised by cassettes, em /
By Joshua Macala, a review published in the blog raised by cassettes, in
https://raisedbycassettes.blogspot.com/2019/03/cassette-review-christian-mehata-chagas.html

€5 //
Edition of 50 //
https://mahorka.bandcamp.com/album/love-without-wings //

We start with some dark static. Tings come through like triangles and then we dive into a deeper feeling of sonar. This turns into some percussion and other sounds which have a feeling of upbeat chaos. It's somewhat like a xylophone and there is this moan of some sort coupled with dramatic tones that I feel like you would hear in an old kung fu movie. It also feels like a lot of shaking around the silverware drawer.

What sound like guitars now rattle through and shake the speakers. At some point, I begin to realize those kung fu sounds I hear might be a flute and for some reason I'm also picturing this wolf being in the picture. Strings begin to twing back and forth as if they are tuning. There is still quite a deal of what sounds like breaking or at least that clanking.

This crafts a form of peaceful chaos. It feels like disrupted meditation. That flute gets a bit wild too. It begins breaking down now, as much as something of this sound can seemingly break down and have a grand finale. There is a knocking but also a sort of magic within these sounds. I still maintain that it could work fairly well though as the soundtrack to some old David Carradine film. And yet, by the end, I also feel like I'm underwater.

It sounds like someone is screaming or singing, sort of moaning, and then we get into deeper magic, more pots and pans and just general mayhem. It swirls around, somewhat high pitched, as it feels like a horn is slowly dying but also glasses are being tapped with spoons. This leads to broken piano notes like something out of "The X-Files". Once again it's all breaking down and it just feels like things are falling apart.

On the flip side there is just as much racket and chaos only it is coming through with horns now, a sort of jazz noise. It can feel like it's dropping off the deep end and then that smooth sax flows through its veins. Horns blare through a supersonic whirl and this one has taken us into some sort of outerspace, interstellar jazz realm of the future and boy can I dig it. This is just funky and one of my favorite parts of jazz like this is you can hear so much of it without it ever sounding the same.

As it grows sharper it begins to also sound more like we're stuck in a vortex. It's got that synth sound like we're in the future and the horns seem to have faded. The horns do return though and it can even imitate a siren. There is an intensity within these electronics, the horns just blasting away. As it comes to the end you just realize how much of a journey this was, from sound to soundscape, and how ready you are to listen to it all over again.

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Por The Honest Ape, resenha publicada no blog Yeah i Know It Sucks, em/
By The Honest Ape, a review published in the blog Yeah i Know It Sucks, at
https://yeahiknowitsucks.wordpress.com/2019/05/04/george-christian-demos-outtakes-vol-i-instrumentals/

George Christian – Demos & Outtakes Vol. I – Instrumentals

Posted on May 4, 2019 by kainobuko

Artist: George Christian
Title: Demos & Outtakes Vol. I – Instrumentals
Keywords: ambient brasil dark kowa records noise noise Viamão
Reviewer: The Honest Ape

It’s horrible when you are honest sometimes, but it is also a important thing. Without honesty what is the point of having an opinion or writers about music anyway? Mostly it’s good to be honest as when music is there that pleases you it easily becomes a feast to pen it all up and spread out the love like a canon full of confetti. But when there is music that is clearly made by a musician who can clearly play an instrument better than you would ever be able to do and does this with a true passion and soul & yet you can’t seem to get it or simply into it.., than ‘honesty’ becomes slightly problematic.

A lot of friendly music blogs prefer to not write about music that they didn’t enjoy so much. They would say ‘look we are a happy place – no sad faces of bad news allowed – and I respect that. But still, it will create some kind of false perspective that all music is nice and pleasurable. In a way it is all nice and pleasurable , but sometimes it’s just not for you, or me , but probably for someone else who does enjoy it. The milkman? The lady at the grocery store with the hearing aid?

After all it’s all about personal opinion and co… so basically all music reviews are kind of useless, yet there is some power in it if a badly written review reveals that sheer honesty that keeps the thing real, alive and trustworthy. Trust me, this requested album for review.. I wanted to love it so badly. I wanted to kiss it, praise it, pick it up my shoulders and parade it around as if it was some kind of national treasure.

I really, really tried… I wrote an endless essay about it and it wasn’t of the ‘wow this is amazing – so pretty – over the moon kind of way’ but more like a grumpy gnome that couldn’t connect with it. Mumbling around in a Void of bad vibes.. We are all different of course,although I really wished to have had the ability to be in the artist’s shoes for a bit, just to understand what is going on over here as I could not connect with it, understand it, or even feel these obvious emotions that roam around in these compositions etc.. i felt weird and out of touch & all I got was this dilemma; shall I publish the review? Shall I throw it in the bin and act like we never had seen the request and be as happy go lucky like the teletubbies in their green land?

I thought No! Honesty prevails and besides the word collection over here is so long – nobody in their right mind would read this blurb anyway. Besides At least nobody could excuse us that we ain’t honest even though honesty comes sometimes with a price. Anyway, without further wasting your time; here is the struggling sweaty take of a honest ape trying to write a walk through for this peculiar album:

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Improvisations in which the good person merciful tickles an instrument not to make it laugh, but more to make it lay backwards on its belly in a hopeful move of getting sounds of appreciation out of it. The musician of this album clearly seems to enjoy the outcome so much that he even starts to give it some vocal sounds. Why not? I mean in principle it is as if the artist is playing for a audience of one (himself) and nobody would engage in hysterical laughter when he flips out an attempt to wordlessly sing along with his stringed instrument. It’s a thing many musicians do, some better than others and some others better than otters. Maybe most musicians are better at making music than otters, but maybe it’s just because they seem to have a lack of instruments; could a nature lover hook them up with some flutes, guitars and some keyboards?

But this is not about otters.. this is about an album of demos and out takes by a musician named George Christian. A funny name, but could have been funnier if the artist was blessed with the name George Buddhist or George Scientologist.. not that George is any of these things & he might not even has to be a Christian – but you know… it’s something to talk about. We could also talk about ‘Terminal’ which is a next track following seemingly a similar concept than the first one. George is clearly armed with a microphone recording himself while improvising on his favourite instrument. It’s very calm and relaxed, creating some kind of atmosphere that makes the time stand still, but only if you really chose to go into the zone with it. I had (for personal reasons) not chosen to do so and my clock just kept ticking away time as normal.

Terminal’ offers the kind of music that you would enjoy in the backdrop as you try to recall what you have learned at the local yoga centre. Not suggesting that you had been to a local yoga centre or had actually learned anything there if you did go there – but if you didn’t you might need to go as most readers of this blog go to yoga and they are all so amazing skin-wise! It must be because of all the flexible movements , a thing that also reflects to the music by George Cristian over here as It’s nice how it all moves in ways, but still I feel very much that you have to be in he right mood for it. I definitely felt it (the music), but also had been too impatient to fully enjoy it as it ad it is so seemingly intended.

Abismo de Cravos is another one of those tracks on this collection … it is an album that seemingly follows itself with each track stepping around in a similar improvisational concept.. A handy thing if you dig one track as than there is a big change you would enjoy the others. It’s really nice, but personally I felt that it became more and more into some kind of backdrop juggling sound that oddly started to make me a tiny bit nervous. I had to inhale and exhale – do some meditational moves associated with what I believe the local yoga place would go for – just to feel as if I’ve cranked twenty bottles of pure caffeine.

Maybe it was simply because the track here has a more strumming kind of vibe than the others, but in any case I started to feel that the music was more made to slide into the back than being listened as intensive as I was doing. But I felt I had to put it loud, pretending it is my job. But listening it on that volume kept getting me slightly on my nerves, even though I was really doing my best not to get it to that point of mental annoyance… humming away like a monk trying to focus on a patient mindset… but I had no choice than skipping the music that was driving me over the edge of sanity.

Skipping the track made me tumble into one named ‘Não Espere’ which unfortunately made me even more nervous… it was simply not the right time or the right moment to hear this album from my point of view.. at least I believe that that was the case as I’m sure the artful way of the artist playing this music must be tolerable and not insane making as it was doing to me. Maybe it was… I can’t loom inside an artist and see what was intended or not. In any case it started to feel like an rambling jam that started to poke its bits as pointy forks in both my ears to make me almost want to pull my knife out and cut them both off. A bit drastic, of course but imagine how cool it would look! I could imagine the headlines; music reviewer without ears – looking good – doesn’t hear a thing!

Maybe a track named Lucy would be better? And yes it was.. because any track with the name Lucy in it sounds great. Here our musician seems to slipped away from getting under my skin for the most part (don’t get me wrong; there are still some moments that would make me itch) but mostly it’s a kind hearted track that nibbles away time. But than again it went into tracks like Não Espere and Melhor Não and even though I heard this after a long break, freshly on a brand new day; it was again quickly hopping on board of something that I really tried to connect with, but could not. I had all these weird thoughts of putting the release up in the farm fields as an alternative scarecrow while I actually really wanted it to be some kind of easy going music to fall asleep with. I guess it’s a case that you can’t always get what you want.

I tried though and did my best to find some way in without the music making me want to pluck my hairs out & put them in the holes of my ears to fade them kindly out… but sadly I have come to the unfortunate conclusion that it isn’t a great idea to rip hairs out or cut ears off just because you really want to like something.. besides these have been demos and out takes and I guess they have been demos and out takes not entirely for nothing. Maybe they had been more there as the musician had an emotional bond with them or simply wanted to have some bonus material for his die hard fans that are of course always in need for something special. If that’s you, it might be your lucky day as it’s simply all yours! Even my portion of it! So yes,it wasn’t for me the honest ape, but maybe it is for you? In any case here is a link so you could check it out:

https://kowarecords.bandcamp.com/album/demos-outtakes-vol-i-instrumentals

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Por: José Gallardo A.

Muy seguramente, en unos cuantos años se encontrar el e-book titulado:

Poética de producción en la Pandemia Covid-19 McGrHhill, autor__________

La pregunta acá es ¿tendrá algo de lo que hacemos en Latinoamérica? o ¿nos toca esperar otra vez que un hombre privilegiado del “primer mundo” nos diga como escribir sobre lo que hacemos?

Comienzo así, pues siento (estéticamente hablando, es decir después de múltiples escuchas, permeos, reflexiones, prosaicas y momentos de escucha de este disco) que el presente Diário de Sobrevivência, es un ejemplo perfecto para este libro: Para comenzar, no usa la guitarra del siglo XXI: Ableton Live. Ojo, usarlo no implica ser colonizado ni mucho menos, es como lo uses, siempre es el indio, no la flecha, menos el arco.

El que use además instrumentos tradicionales brasileiros, particularmente cordófonos (los cuales en Brazil son de infinitas variedades, tanto en ejecución, como en organología, orquestación, etc) también le da ese toque poético, y decolonizador.

El que juegue con las temporalidades y espacialidades que permite la mezcla no lineal de sonido, algo que hace años nos enseñaron en la BBC mujeres como Daphne Oram con su magistral pieza opening de Dr. Who, o, la gran improvisadora y compositora Eliane Radigue, la cual aún en estos tiempos donde lo digital se lo podría regalar el IRCAM, usa solamente su Buchla Arp 2500, magnetófono y su reloj de bolsillo, además de lápiz y papel, la herramienta más importante de un creador sonoro.

George ha logrado expresar tantas cosas en tan poco tiempo que me queda la duda de si algo de esto se digirió lo suficiente, pero confió poéticamente en que nuestro querido creador de hoy, nos ha dado lo mejor de sí en estos tiempos pandémicos.

Esta reseña entonces, es una invitación a escuchar, con oídos nuevos, limpios, abiertos a todo lo que está cambiando, a todo lo que es inasible que ya, sí, se está manifestando en las obras, no solo en las transmisiones de las mismas.

https://musexplat.com/2021/04/15/resena-de-george-christian-diarios-da-sobrevivencia/

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By Rudy Carrera (POSTED ON MAY 16, 2021)

Our friend and colleague George Christian Vilela Pereira has released an album that I could only describe as mellow strumming psychedelic noise with elements of Krautrock and instrumental psych that one could have found in Japan in the late 70s and early 80s. The lo-fi feel of the recording adds to the hazy pleasantness of this album.

According to George Christian’s notes, this is a paean to the African influence in Brazil and on his music. He explains it clearly here:

"This album came up with a basic motivation in mind: to show how much Africa there is in my musical formation for my guitar experimentation. And with that, I wanted to connect myself with symbols that identified inspirations from African culture based on my Afro-Brazilian status, being from Bahia, Northeastern and also Afro-descendant Latin American. I did not want to think of Afro-Brazillity from a too traditional perspective. I wanted to dialogue with experimental diasporic sounds, or from today’s Africa itself: Tuareg blues, Jamaican dub, Afrofuturism and Arab experimental music were my starting points. I had as journey partners César Blax Costa and Edmar Silva in alchemical tracks, which choose percussion as an improvisational center. “África em Mim” is an album that wants to invoke the struggle of capoeira (with the touch of the iúna learned directly from Mestre Nenel), to pass through allegorical territories of diasporic listening until reaching the universe, astrology, science. There is no freedom without a fight. And “África em Mim” is an invocation to the struggle, rethinking ancestry through the future."

He is among a group of composers whose every work I have enjoyed listening to.

https://musicyouneedtohear.com/george-christian-africa-em-mim/

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By Brad Rose (NOVEMBER 10, 2021)

In the second installment of George Christian’s Survival Diaries, the Brazilian guitarist gets deep into midnight. Insílios ou Diários da Sobrevivência 2 forges a heavy atmosphere. Christian’s compositions are fused together with a methodic determination to survive the darkness and bring others with him into a new day. Across 13 varied soundscapes, he explores a range of emotions, thoughts, and fears and leaves a trail of breadcrumbs for everyone else to follow.

Quixotic lamentations shimmer from the resonant clang of guitar strings on pieces like “Meditação Sem Sono” and “Desafortunado Exílio.” Severed leads wind through the lost caverns between still standing monuments and ancient ruins. Shrouded by a dense fog, Christian’s guitar transgressions are a torch, acrid yet bright. Spacious drones burn beneath the strings, swelling into view as we turn our eyes away from the sharp illumination. “Desafortunado Exílio” doubles the clashing toll and cuts through searching electric solos and clanking rhythms.

“Mulher Esqueleto” is standout with grinding, angular sonic sprawl creating the perfect dissonance for Nandah Carmo’s reading to take the spotlight. Christian’s arrangement is roiling, rising like smoky fingers to squeeze the air out. Carmo’s voice echoes, the emotion breaking through in unexpected moments. It’s an unsettled world but the mix of Christian’s minimalist scrawl and Carmo’s matter-of-fact exposition somehow becomes a caustic glue that holds the two sides together.

Elsewhere Christian explores the fourth world on the vast “In Memorial, Jon Hassell” with dense layers and a sense of urgency. The background howl and crunch grows in volume, but the dusty guitar spread holds its ground, staying at the fore. He builds towering glimmering shrines on “O Poema do Mar Cinzento” while reading a text by Mário Peixoto. It’s challenging but welcoming all the same. Survival Diaries is such an appropriate title because this music plays out like a guide to make it through and find tomorrow’s beguiling light.

https://foxydigitalis.zone/2021/11/10/george-christian-insilios-ou-diarios-da-sobrevivencia-2/

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By Rudy Carrera (POSTED ON NOVEMBER 22, 2021)

The Internet, for all the garbage one finds on it, amazes me some days. This album, a collaboration of a friend of the blog, George Christian (out of Brazil), collaborates with Kawol Samarqandi (based in Japan) and release this collection on a Spanish record label, Bestiar and an Australian label, Ramble Records. The world becomes smaller everyday.

The is a pure guitar album. George performs on acoustic-electric flat-top guitar, electric guitar, while Kawol performs on electric oil can guitar. The plucks and twangs blend into each other seamlessly, and the music suits the day rather well, as it is rainy in Brno today. Enjoyable, but I expect no less from either guitarist.

https://musicyouneedtohear.com/kawol-samarqandi-and-george-christian-telegraph-paths/

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By Rudy Carrera (POSTED ON JANUARY 14, 2022)

During the next few weeks, I’ll be catching up on releases I could not get to in 2021. This one is really a gem that I’m surprised I didn’t get to earlier, but thanks to Jeff Gburek reminding me of it, I can happily present this release he did in collaboration with another one of the blog’s dear friends, George Christian.

The two tracks which go under the name The Charles Ives Observatory (Parts 1 and 2) bookend the centerpiece of the album, the 28-minute opus Magellanic Clouds. The CIO tracks have the feeling of classic-era electroacoustic music imbued with energy and, dare I say, a touch of humor, but also an element of something that would not have sat out of place in one of Pink Floyd’s early album period, when they were far more a psychedelic band and less a blues-rock project, whereas the centerpiece allows Gburek’s synthesizer and zither and George Christian’s organ to flow into each other, again, in a way that reminds me of really good psychedelic music circa 1968 to 1973.

Credit to Ulka Pind Records out of Bhopal, India, for publishing the music. I look forward to learning more about their catalog as time passes.

https://musicyouneedtohear.com/jeff-gburek-george-christian-thrown-extremes/