Thursday 26 December 2019

Movements (music for dance)



YIN YUE for PENNSYLVANIA BALLET:

A1 - DRAGONFLY II
Original soundtrack for the choreography 'A Trace of Inevitability'
by Yin Yue with Pennsylvania Ballet, in accordance with Yin Yue Dance Company & Pennsylvania Ballet.
This music was commissioned by Pennsylvania Ballet and premiered at 'World Premieres 2019' in the Merriam Theater, Philadelphia, USA, November 7th, 2019.

Musicians on Dragonfly II:
Peter Hollo: cello
Gareth Davis: bass clarinet
Oene van Geel: viola & stroh violin
Gulli Gudmundsson: el. bass, double bass & e-bow
Michel Banabila: midi instruments, sampling, electronics

PATRICK O’ BRIEN for CUNY DANCE INITIATIVE:

B1 - ILLICIT ACQUIREMENT
Composed for the choreography 'Enough' by Patrick O’Brien with Patrick O’Brien Dance Collective.
This music was commissioned by Patrick O’Brien with support from CUNY Dance Initiative and premiered in LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, New York, USA, November 14th, 2019.

CONNY JANSSEN for CONNY JANSSEN DANST:

C1 - CROWDS (Big Data Poetry Mix)

Was originally created for Big Data Poetry, an audio visual live performance by Geert Mul & Michel Banabila
 and was used in the choreography 'Home' by Conny Janssen for Conny Janssen Danst with Michel Banabila & Maarten Vos, and premiered in the Rotterdamse Schouwburg, Rotterdam, NL, January 20th, 2017.
C2 - I WON’T PLAY YOUR GAME
C3 - GUERRILLA TACTICS

C4 - NEW ENERGY FORMS
Were commissioned by Conny Janssen Danst for the choreography 'Zout' by Conny Janssen with Conny Janssen Danst & Anne Soldaat and premiered in the Rotterdamse Schouwburg, Rotterdam, NL, February 13th, 2011.

ANNABELLE LOPEZ OCHOA for SAN FRANCISCO BALLET and BJM DANSE MONTREAL

D1 - JUMP CUTS II
Was 
created for 'Guernica' in accordance with Annabelle Lopez Ochoa Company & San Francisco Ballet and premiered in the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, USA, April 24th, 2018.

D2 - A STRONG SENSE OF URGENCY

Was used in the choreography 'Zip Zap Zoom' by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, in accordance with Annabelle Lopez Ochoa Company & BJM Danse. Zip Zap Zoom premiered in San Diego CA, USA, October 18th, 2009.

NORMAN RECORDS:
These eight tracks represent a decade of Banabila’s career - ‘Dragonfly II’ and ‘Illicit Acquirement’ premiered barely a month before 'Movements (Music For Dance)' came out while closing number ‘A Strong Sense of Urgency’ dates from 2009. When heard in this light it becomes fascinating to chart the development of Banabila’s practice across these ten years. The earlier pieces are concerned more purely with rhythm, channelling a cinematic sense of foreboding through driving drumlines that verge on techno at times. Vatican Shadow is not a million miles away, though the dance context inevitably gives tracks like ‘Crowds (Big Data Poetry Mix)’ a bit more of a high-art feel.

While this sound remains in the recent work, Banabila’s touch has become more deft of hand. This is apparent from before you even put ‘Dragonfly II’ and ‘Illicit Acquirement’ on - both tracks are afforded a whole side of wax here, their length a testament to Banabila’s widened scope. While they do eventually blossom into driving groove-based music - ‘Illicit Acquirement’ has a cool Venetian Snares-type thing going on - their opening passages are characterised by a hitherto-unheard lack of drums. There’s both Penguin Cafe and Steve Reich to ‘Dragonfly II’s nimble-fingered string work, and ‘Illicit Acquirement’ begins with some of the most abstracted sounds on 'Movements (Music For Dance)'. Banabila executes both moves expertly, successfully broadening his sonic palette without sacrificing the emotion and muscularity of those earlier compositions. (Fred MG)









Released December 25, 2019

All tracks composed, performed & produced by Michel Banabila.

Design: Yasar Saka / YAY Music & Media.
Front cover photo: Deberían Permitir (Buenos Aires, 2012)
by Mista Stagga Lee under CC 2.0 license
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0
Back photo Yin Yue: Arian Molina Soca.

D2 (A Strong Sense Of Urgency) was licensed from Steamin'Soundworks with kind permission by Roel Kruize / published by Steamin’Songs. All rights reserved © + ℗ Steamin’Soundworks. More info: steamsounds.com

Joost Kroon: drums on Jump Cuts II.

Pressed at Deepgrooves, Leeuwarden.
Executive producer: Nico van Hemmen.
Mastering & remastering by Marlon Wolterink at White Noise Studio.

DISTRIBUTION:

NORMAN RECORDS (EU)
normanrecords.com/records/179690-michel-banabila-movements-music-for-dance

SQUIDCO (US)
www.squidco.com/r.cgi?p=28431

Cat. nr. NVH01TR.
2020 © + ℗ Tapu Records.

AMBIENTBLOG review

Monday 9 December 2019

Winter Sketches



Recycled cassette tape material in preparation for live improvs at Perifeer, Deventer and Public Records, Brooklyn - November 2019.

Final recordings at home in Rotterdam, December 2019.
Modified tape player made by instagram.com/mypandashallfly

Video by Nan Wang - nanwang.org

Released December 10, 2019

Michel Banabila: tapes & granular sampler.
Mastering: Marlon Wolterink / White Noise Studio.

2019 © Tapu Records
Cat.nr. 091219TR

Banabila live @ Perifest 2019 [excerpt] from Michel Banabila on Vimeo.



Thursday 24 October 2019

Enough - Patrick O' Brien Collective (November 14th, 2019)

World premiere November 14th, 2019 - LaGuardia Performing Arts Center, New York, USA

Choreography by Patrick O'Brien

Featuring 'ILLICIT ACQUIREMENT' (a 20 minute new commissioned work) by Michel Banabila

A Trace of Inevitability - Yin Yue / Pa Ballet World Premieres (November 7th, 2019)



DRAGONFLY II (a 23 minute extended version)

Choreography by Yin Yue
Music by Michel Banabila

Peter Hollo: cello
Gareth Davis: bass clarinet
Oene van Geel viola & stroh violin
Gulli Gudmundsson: el.bass, double bass
Michel Banabila: midi instruments, sampling, electronics

Premiere November 7th, 2019, Merriam Theater, Philadelphia, USA

http://paballet.org/world-premieres-choreographers-composers-designers



trailer

Wednesday 2 October 2019

The Woods

This is a new collaboration: coming soon online to all portals, 'The Woods' (Sonicontinuum / 2019).
An 11 minute single by Alex Haas & Michel Banabila, featuring the amazing Bill Laswell.


The Woods is a single from the upcoming album Ruins by Alex Haas. Alex Haas (born 1963, NYC, USA,) label owner of Sonicontinuum, has been working with many renowned artists including U2, Brian Eno, Eric Clapton, Kronos Quartet, Pat Metheny and Bill Laswell. His first collaboration with Dutch composer Michel Banabila started in April on Collector, a track from Banabila's album Uprooted (Tapu Records / 2019). They then decided to renew their collaboration on The Woods, and Alex invited his long time collaborator, Bill Laswell to join this recording. The Woods became an atmospheric organic blend of experimental ambient, 4th world exotica and lush electronics. Synths and treated guitars by Alex Haas are mixed with Banabila's electronically processed voices, keys and field recordings, together with deep bass sounds by Laswell. Mixed and produced by Alex Haas. mastered by Marlon Wolterink. The Orchard release date: November 22, 2019.



alexhaas.com
sonicontinuum.com
banabila.com
billlaswell.net



Alex Haas: synths & treated guitars.
Michel Banabila: voices, keys & field recording.
Bill Laswell: bass and pedals.

Photo and design: Alex Haas.
Mixed and produced by Alex Haas.
Composed by Alex Haas & Michel Banabila.
Mastering by Marlon Wolterink / White Noise Studio.

Catalog nr. AHS30917.
2019 © Sonicontinuum.

Sunday 25 August 2019

Mix for Dublab.de

In Laura Not's series "Sounds Unsaid"



tracklist

1. Amazonas - Naná Vasconcelos
2. Roulette - Lolina
3. /End - Terrapin
4. Armenian Song - Gurdjieff
5. From Here - Molly Berg & Stephen Vitiello
6. Got Away - Sussan Deyhim & Richard Horowitz
7. Yalli Hawak - Asmahan
8. Anthem Of The Trinity - Terry Riley
9. Song Of The Highwire Shrimper - Tim Hecker
10. Urub - Masayoshi Fujita & Jan Jelinek
11. Chapter M (Karenina) - Thomas Fehlmann
12. So Ney - Cluster
13. Swisid Mekanize Reijman - HHY & The Macumbas

Tuesday 23 April 2019

Mix for RedLight Radio

SET LIST 04-18-2019 RedLight Radio

1. Field Rec intro
2. Feldman & Brown - Durations IV.1
3. Jan Jelinek - What You Should Know About Me
4. Oren Ambarchi and Martin Ng - Surfacing Edit
5. New Composers from St. Petersburg - Astra
6. New Composers from St. Petersburg - Something Is Happening With Me
7. Erik Honoré - Procession
8. Central African Pygmies - Bow-Harp & Vocal
9. Michel Banabila - Melodica & Bells (Red Light Radio Remix)
10. Michel Banabila - The Lost Drone Tape 3
11. Fennesz & Sparklehorse - Music Box Of Snakes
12. Alva Noto - Xerox Spiegel
13. Thurayya Qaddura - Fatakatu Lahziki (Time Wept) - mixed -
14. Jon Hassell - Last Night The Moon Came Dropping Its Clothes In The Street




Visit The Something Something

Thursday 4 April 2019

Uprooted



UPROOTED

Peter Hollo: cello (1,2,3,4,5)
Alex Haas: synths & electronics (3)
Gareth Davis: bass clarinet (1,2,3,4,5)
Stijn Hüwels: guitar & electronics (3,4,5)
Oene van Geel: viola and stroh violin (1,3,5)
Gulli Gudmundsson: el. bass, double bass and ebow (1,2,3,5)
Michel Banabila: soft. instruments, sampler, electronics (1,2,3,4,5)

DRAGONFLY
SOLAR WAVES
COLLECTOR
BREAKING POINT
BREATHE



The Uprooted Orchestra.

“Orchestral.” The word’s an adjective, certainly, an unambiguous one. It depicts amassed instruments working in synchrony according to a fixed document prepared in advance. But what if “orchestral” were uprooted? What if “orchestral” referred to what we heard, not how it was recorded? What if “orchestral” welcomed electronic instruments not just into the pit, but into the compositional process?

For that is the sound of Michel Banabila’s Uprooted, this album of beautiful, striated, patient music — patient on the surface, deep with turmoil underfoot. When bass clarinet and harmonium rise above a misty string section halfway through “Breathe,” that’s orchestral. When woodwinds trill and pulse against piano on “Dragonfly,” that’s orchestral.

Over the years, Banabila has made his share of experimental ambient, wherein future roots cultures are foreseen through a low-tech looking glass. On Uprooted, the tech is transparent. The album has touches of Fourth World, most notably on “Collector” and "Breathe," but Uprooted is orchestral, full stop.

It’s also an album entirely forged of material sampled by Banabila from improvisations by invited musicians. Those samples were then constructed into a whole by Banabila, layered sinuously rather than triggered on a rhythmic grid. The fixed orchestral document here is the recording, and it marks the close of the composer’s efforts, not the start of the performers’.

Marc Weidenbaum.
San Francisco, March 2019.

Cat. nr. 026TR
Limited edition / 150
Design by Yasar Saka
Artwork by Gerco de Ruijter
Alex Haas courtesy of Sonicontinuum
Mastering by Marlon Wolterink / White Noise Studio
All tracks composed & produced by Michel Banabila

2019 © + ℗ Tapu Records / banabila.bandcamp.com



Downloads: 4-9-2019. Limited edition CD: 4-16-2019.

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Saturday 23 February 2019

'And We Fall And We Murmur And We Sing'

Now on bandcamp: And We Fall And We Murmur And We Sing. (March 14th, 2019)
I collaborated on a second project with Martin Hoogeboom.
With Ulrich Langenbach, Aoki Satoru and Wodwo.



Previous collaboration with Martin Hoogeboom (January 14, 2016):

Wednesday 16 January 2019

Nan Wang - Pareidolia (IFFR 2019)

An extended noisy remix from Danube (Imprints 2018) for the new film by Nan Wang: 'Pareidolia', on IFFR 2019 (Bright Future selection)



In Pareidolia, analog abstract patterns made on 16mm film are used as source material for finding similar figurative images, interpreted by an online search engine. Hundreds of these matching images were edited into abstract film clips, resulting in an exciting visual and psychological cinematic experience.