Pierre Bastien and Michel Banabila return with Nuits Sans Nuit, their second collaboration following their Baba Soirée debut from 2023.
Recorded as an intuitive exchange between Rotterdam and Valencia, the album emerged from a simple ping-pong process: Banabila sculpted sounds and atmospheres, to which Bastien responded with his distinctive instrumental palette: flute-augmented cornet, mechanised log drum, and more. Mixed by Banabila, the result is a raw yet immersive work that resonates with a somnambulant, wide-awake presence.
Pierre Bastien: "The dreamlike quality of our recordings reminded me of a book I read years ago: ‘Nuits Sans Nuit Et Quelques Jours Sans Jour’ by Michel Leiris. Around that same time, some fifty years ago, I was playing in Nu Creative Methods with Bernard Pruvost, a duo that appears on the Nurse With Wound list. Since then, Pruvost has turned to painting, and his work is as dreamlike as our music. We asked him to contribute one of his paintings for the album cover."
"I don't know how to describe the feeling of these crazy times we live in," says Banabila. "Les plus désespérés sont les chants les plus beaux,” Bastien quotes De Musset.
Wordless yet deeply expressive, the album invites listeners into a space of contemplation, where meaning emerges through immersion — like ritual music carrying an unspoken message. Echoes of saudade, blues, fado, and soleá surface in the duo’s playful noise, reimagined through their singular vocabulary.
PIERRE BASTIEN
Cornet augmented with rotary flutes (1), Sintir (2), Rabab and pipe (3), Roll piano (4), Mechanized steel drums (5), Prepared cornet (2, 6, 10, 11), Mechanized log drum / Sanza / Hand drum (7), Cornet and mechanized zheng (8), Mangbetu harp kundi, Talking drum tama (9).
MICHEL BANABILA
Software instruments, Sampler, Melodica (9), Wooden flute (2), Found objects (1+11), Percussion (1, 2, 4), Field recording (5+6), Mexican Turtle Flute (9), E-bow effects (8), Voice (8), Mix.
Two visionary maestros, Pierre Bastien and Michel Banabila, unite in their first collaborative album, Baba Soirée. The veterans of electronic music bring their unique expertise to the table, resulting in a captivating fusion of experimental styles. Bastien’s mechanical loops and fantastic instrumental setups merge seamlessly with Banabila's sound design and impeccable skills of sampling collages. It's not a dance party, nor is it an avant-garde intervention. It's a soirée: a cultivated evening of sonic alchemy hosted by these two charismatic gentlemen.
Pierre Bastien is a composer and multi-instrumentalist with a background in French literature. He has spent decades crafting an idiosyncratic world of experimental sound with his self-built mechanical orchestra Mecanium. It was most notably showcased in audiovisual releases on Aphex Twin's Rephlex label. Bastien's creations are a mesmerizing combination of traditional instruments (he has a vast collection) and mechanical automatons. The violin in the track Rotomotor, for example, is physically played by one of his machines. In Baba Soirée, Bastien also plays a prepared cornet (Slow Dance, Banbas Aura), infusing the recordings with a breathy, dreamy dimension.
Michel Banabila, a sound artist, composer and producer, possesses an eclectic musical repertoire that defies genres. His blend of minimal electronica, tribal ambient, and neo-classical influences has earned him a prominent place in the world of experimental music, and an impressive discography (Knekelhuis, Bureau B, Séance Centre, a.o.). Banabila serves as the creative sampling editor for Baba Soirée, expertly weaving together the recordings to craft an evocative sonic tapestry.
The two share a curiosity for traditional instruments from various cultures. The instruments used in the recordings are shown in the cover artwork. A mutual admiration for each other's work paved the way for this fruitful artistic partnership of the Rotterdam-based artists: Collaborating on a single as a fundraiser for Yemen in 2022 set the stage for the creation of Baba Soirée.
For Pierre Bastien, Dada, Fluxus and International Situationism have played a significant role in shaping his artistic vision. The title Baba Soirée is an homage to Kurt Schwitters and Theo van Doesburg's "Kleine Dada Soirée" collaboration which took place exactly a century ago. There's an unmistakable stoicism and an anarchic not-giving-a-f*** attitude in these recordings by Bastien & Banabila, which resonates in the light of this Dada reference.
Pierre Bastien & Michel Banabila ‘Baba Soirée’ Album Out 27th of October 2023.
REVIEWS / QUOTES:
THE WIRE
'The duo’s veteran status is important - they don’t give a flying one about fitting in with our preconceptions, let alone the orthodoxies of so much experimental sound, and Bastien’s fondness for the juxtaposed playfulness of Dada, Fluxus and Situationism is clear throughout (the title Baba Soirée is a homage to Kurt Schwitters and Theo van Doesburg’s Kleine Dada Soirée collaboration which took place a century ago). You can imagine this music accompanying a masked performance of sound poetry in a Zurich cafe at some point between the wars, but after a while you find yourself settling into something mesmeric and hypnotic, because Banabila merges aspects of sound design and collaged samples with Bastien’s Don Cherry-esque improvisations into a true fusion of the ambient and glitchy. Baba Soirée is exactly the right title - this doesn’t hit you round the head with weirdness or let you settle into a groove. rather, you find yourself bearing witness to this strangely unplaceable mix of the live and the layered.' (Neil Kulkarni)
HHV MAG
Zwei Altmeister an den Maschinen, da schnurren sie (die Maschinen) wie afro-polynesische Babykatzen. Tribal-Ambient-Soundguru Michel Banabila und der Mann mit dem mechanischen Orchester, Pierre Bastien, zusammen auf einer Platte, das alleine ist hat ja schon was. Und »Baba Soirée« ist alles andere als ein Gimmick-Album, ist nicht einfach nur die von einem Booker initiierte Ehrenrunde. Die beiden Rotterdam-Residents haben sich hierfür richtig zusammengesetzt, komponiert und hörbar harmoniert. Es ist auch ein fast schon logisches Zusammenspiel. Zum einen teilen beide Musiker seit jeher eine Faszination für strange sounds from beyond, für traditionelle Instrumente aus ganz unterschiedlichen Kulturkreisen. Zum anderen ergänzt sich ihre Herangehensweise perfekt: Die repetitive Urwerk-Musik Bastians und die vollverfriemelte Tröpfelung Banabilas fügen sich auf »Baba Soirée« zu einer lebendigen Struktur. An jedem Zipfel dieses Sounds bewegt sich etwas, Metallkugeln rollen in die endlose Nonsense-Maschine, Larven schlüpfen, Schrotthändler fliegen auf Libellenflügeln durch die Luft. Im Zusammenspiel aus Mechanischem und Amorphem entsteht die ganze Faszination, ständig wächst etwas aus dem Vorprogrammierten heraus, Cornet und Gimbri (o.ä) verleihen den kleinteiligen Stücken zusätzliche Weite. »Baba Soirée« ist durch und durch das Werk zweier Klangkünstler, die, glücklicherweise, niemandem mehr etwas beweisen müssen.
ANXIOUS Mag
„Starcia Tytanów” tak nazywam, dla własnych potrzeb wydawnictwa, tytuły, które koncentrują się na współpracy, pomiędzy minimum dwoma lub więcej artystami. Jednak warunek jest jeden: muszą to być nazwiska, pseudonimy po usłyszeniu których, odzywa się Wielki Dzwon Kanionu Muzycznego, przynajmniej dla mnie. Kilka miesięcy temu, na łamach Anxious magazine mogliście przeczytać recenzje z serii „Starcia Tytanów”: David Toop & Lawrence English – “The Shell That Speaks The Sea”.
Jak zawsze, w takich przypadkach otrzymujemy, albo cudowną perłę przyćmiewającą swoim blaskiem lub jej imitacje, którą odkładamy na półkę i zapominamy szybciej, niż ją odkryliśmy. W zamieszczonym info do przedstawianego wydawnictwa, pojawiają się informacje o nawiązaniu do Dada, Fluxus i Kurta Schwittersa i Theo van Doesburga i ich wspólnego dzieła “Kleine Dada Soirée” – robi się ciekawie. Z drugiej strony mamy zbudowaną i udoskonalaną od lat przez Basteina mechaniczną orkiestrę zwaną Mecanium oraz Banabila i jego miksturę trybalnego ambientu, procesowanej elektroniki i 4th world music – robi się jeszcze ciekawiej. Koniecznością jest dodanie, że obaj panowie są również doskonali w używaniu i kolekcjonowaniu instrumentów z różnych kultur i zakątków świata, czego wszystkiego powyższego możemy doświadczać na wielu płytach wydanych przez obu artystów przez ostatnie lata świetlne – ciekawość mnie pożera.
Zaskakujące, że “Baba Soirée” do tej pory jest ich pierwszym, wspólnym dokonaniem. Faktycznie, już po odpaleniu pierwszego kawałka duch Dada okrywa i jak opary gęstego opium spowalnia wszystko. Mała scena, na której dziwaczny Mini-Band odgrywa Dada protest song w swoim ślimaczym tempie, pojedyncze uderzenia kontrabasu i nisko strojonej perkusji, zapewne to silnikowo napędzany jeden z „członków” Mecanium orkiestry, w towarzystwie Basteina mini trąbki, która brzmi, pamiętam za dziecięcych lat, jak dmuchanie w grzebień owinięty złotkiem. Nostalgiczny klimat, połamany, zagubiony rytm cymbał czy gamelanów? To jakby bezperkusyjne Volcano The Bear grało w pomiędzy wojennej Europie. Wsiąkam w atmosferę, jednak nie na długo, ponieważ ta podróż dopiero się rozpoczyna i cut up’wy głos zaprasza nas w dalszą podróż z „wściekłą” solówką trąboidalnego instrumentu w tle. Dziwne samplo dźwięki i niskie basy wplatują swoje trzy grosze, tutaj Michel ukazuje nam swoje mistrzostwo w samplinu, korzystając z materiału / pierwowzoru Pierre. Warto wsłuchać się w powstające w ten sposób struktury utworów, które co rusz zmieniają swoją budowę i klimat. Na tym właśnie polega geniusz, pozwalający w granicy jednego dzieła eksplorować szerokie spektrum dźwiękowe, jednocześnie nie gubiąc przewodniego wątku. Dalej jedziemy, więcej zobaczymy / usłyszymy – pojawienie się stabilniejszej rytmiki utworów, to nie są jeszcze te magiczne trybale, udowadnia nam jak egzotyka i odczucie dalekich krajów może zmienić nasze ego. Dlaczego nie odskoczyć czy podskoczyć jeszcze wyżej? “Slow dance” zabiera nas na spacer po kraterowych dolinach księżycowych, organowo-swingujące pasaże zamieniają się w ala Hassellowe trąbkowe podmuchy z oddalającym się przytupem. Geniusz pokazuje nam jak w zaledwie 3:15 zrobić dziurę w głowie, sprawdźcie “Ban Bash Up” – dwa umysły w symbiozie.
Tykanie, cykanie, Mecanium orkiesta w całej okazałości, otwiera kluczowy utwór na płycie “Ancestors Mix”, rozpoczynamy rytuał przodków lub raczej odsłuchujemy go, przeniesionego w nasze realia przez obu guślarzy. Już nie po raz pierwszy Michel udowadnia nam majstersztyk w tworzeniu pierwotnych pasaży łączących egzotykę / alchemię dźwięku z dalekich regionów naszego globu z przeszłością – wsłuchując się, odniosłem wrażenie wyłapywania tego co SPK zrobiło na “Zamia Lehmanni: Songs of Byzantine Flowers”. Nie odpływajmy jednak za daleko, barwna, zmutowana trąbka zarówno w “Ban Bas Aura 1” jaki i drugiej części tego utworu prowadzi nas na akustyczny spacer w nieznane, z tą różnicą, że w drugiej części całość podlega cięższemu procesowaniu co powoduje fantastyczne zgięcia i odskoki dźwięku. Kiedy podróż powoli dobiega końca, żegnamy się galopującym “Roto motor” w towarzystwie skrzypka, którym de facto jest jednym z mechanicznych członków Mecanium. Hipnotyczne, czasami senne, a jednak podążające solidną, mocną drogą wyobraźni. Genialne.
GROOVE.DE
Eine gewisse Kargheit des Sounds und eine Spielweise außerhalb des (neo-)klassisch Erlaubten und Gewohnten zeichnet ebenfalls die Baba Soirée (Pingipung, 27. Oktober) der französischen und niederländischen Experimental-Veteranen Pierre Bastien & Michel Banabila aus. Bastien als Bastler mechanischer Loop-Maschinen und Trompeter, Banabila als Sample-Virtuose und digitaler Collagen-Schnitzler, sie wissen beide sehr gut, wie sich aus dem Abwegigen etwas durchaus Eingängiges konstruieren lässt, ohne allzu große Kompromisse einzugehen, was die gemeinsam entwickelte Soundästhetik angeht.
ONDAROCK
Assecondando la comune attitudine alla sperimentazione libera, i due costruiscono un caleidoscopio che a partire dai loop del Mecanium e da un coagulo di risonanze e glitch genera un itinerario elettroacustico impervio il cui comune denominatore è la ricerca di incastri efficaci quanto stranianti. I collage sonori risultanti, diretti con perizia da Banabila, lasciano prevalere di volta in volta le scie strumentali atmosferiche interpretate da Bastien (“Stray Carrier Pigeon”, Slow dance”) o la loro declinazione più ludica (“At The Party”, “Rotor Motor”). Questa dualità è perfettamente cristallizzata nelle due parti di “Banbas Aura”, dove alla melodia scanzonata della cornetta su un ipnotico andamento meccanico della prima metà si contrappone una compassata armonia sghemba interpolata da frequenze ruvide.
Nell’album troviamo condensata tutta l’arte affinata dai due autori nel corso degli anni, riversata in un microcosmo vibrante di anti musica, apparentemente caotica, votata ad edificare architetture sonore improbabili eppure profondamente suggestive. (Peppe Trotta)
SPECTRUM CULTURE
This collaboration between veteran experimental musicians consistently delivers on a sense of play, to the point where a few of these tracks should make you laugh out loud.
The LP begins with mild amusement, or maybe more, depending on what you think of the title, “Stray Carrier Pigeon.” It’s taken at the pace of a dirge, and the watery percussion conveys the passage of time with a somber tone. But the “lead” instrument, though something of a blues-inflected performance, has the buzz of a kazoo, or even the beloved British children’s television character Sweep. At any rate, the image is both humorous and tragic, on a small scale, and that buzzing lead melody reads as a sad clown in avian form. The track isn’t quite three and a half minutes, but it tells a rich story in that time, and feels even shorter than it is.
Think of these tracks as vignettes. “Senseless” ups the distortion and introduces a vaguely human onomatopoeia, and if it lives up to its title and does not suggest a narrative, the electronic bombast has hints of a crime drama theme song. It’s part of a sequence that plays like an evening of prime time television, leading into the hilarious “At the Party,” a bossa nova number with a melody played deliberately flat on prepared cornet. The tune would work just as well without the distortion, but that sonic tweak adds drunken personality. You can practically visualize the lampshade on its head.
The title Baba Soirée is a play on the artists’ names and on the Kleine Dada Soirée (Small Dada Evening) that artists Theo van Doesburg and Kurt Schwitters developed in 1922 as a touring event that brought Dada to audiences across the Netherlands. Like the Dadaists, Bastien and Banabila are happy to make art out of whatever is at hand, from more conventional electronics and traditional instruments to machines of their own invention. The cover art shows you what they played on the album, and one of their axes looks suspiciously like a coffee grinder.
Bastien is a Frenchman with a history of musical invention; his Mecanium is a 60-piece orchestral automaton that plays loops of his devising. Banabila is a Dutch composer with a penchant for using found objects and field recordings. Remarkably, given their common interests, this is the first time they’ve collaborated, and you can hear their musical chemistry on every track. You don’t know where Pierre ends and Michel begins.
But music isn’t all laffs, and on the album’s longest track, the nine-and-a-half minute “Ancestors Mix,” is a dizzying layered drone that sounds something like what Terry Riley’s “A Rainbow in Curved Air” might have been if it were constructed from birdsong and babies — and were funnier.
The motorik closer “Roto Motor” is played in part by one of Bastien’s automatons, taking a violin line that would fit right in on a Penguin Café Orchestra album. It’s a fitting up-tempo end to a delightful anarchy. While press notes characterize these recordings with “an unmistakable stoicism,” that does a disservice to the joy of discovery you can hear on every cut. One can easily imagine Bastien and Banabila touring Baba Soirée in some European country, and leaving audiences cheering at every stop. Don’t let the Dada reputation for nihilism color your perception of this mischievous duo. In fact, the two came together for a shared humanitarian cause, collaborating on a single in 2022 in order to raise funds for the crisis in Yemen. As meaningless as the music may seem, it means a lot to create something positive in this thoroughly broken world. (Pat Padua)
YELLOW GREEN RED
Been seeing a few of these dream-team experimental pairings lately – Anla Courtis and Vomir, for example – and now this one featuring French junk-drawer electronicist Pierre Bastien and Dutch new-age experimentalist Michel Banabila. Both of these guys have LPs on my shelves already, and while the playfully unhinged manner of Bastien’s work might not immediately seem compatible with Banabila’s soothing fourth-world atmospheres, the sonic consensus they’ve reached here is lush, sensual and strange. As expected, there’s really no telling who is doing what… a rickety rhythm box might be Bastien’s, and a looped didgeridoo might’ve been pulled from Banabila’s closet, but their cohesion is surprisingly consistent throughout, and never bogged down by too many ingredients at the same time. Samplers, synths, loops, horns, flutes, percussive instruments and at least one guitar (“Roto Motor (Erbil Mix)”), there’s just a cornucopia of instrumentation here, most of which is performed in exploratory or non-traditional ways. Even their unlikeliest of instrumental combinations work well here, a testament to the keen ears these guys have developed over their many decades in the game. Much of Baba Soirée can call to mind the self-guided wonder of Ghédalia Tazartès and the alternate realms of Jon Hassell, but Bastien and Banabila were peers of those guys, traversing similar sonic territories of unknown origin at roughly the same time. Nice to see that they’re still out there in the thick of it, teaming up, and at the top of their respective games, no less. (Matt Korvette)
Michel Banabila is an indispensable part of the Dutch experimental music scene, where he has acquired a special place with many, in the 40 years that he has been releasing music. Michel is also just as active as a composer for the theater and ballet world, as well as for TV productions, to considerable fame. The threat of drowning in the sea of his oeuvre is real in view of the unprecedented amount of output, but once sailing unmissable monolithic rock formations loom up rapidly.
Echo Transformations' is one of them. It's a magical album, where everything falls into place in a rich domain inspired by the Fourth World dimension. A world of sound arises from our imagination, stimulating the senses. A concept album where every sigh has its place and where no superfluous tone can be heard. What remains is to embrace the inevitable surrender that accompanies unstoppable change. This is Banabila at his best (knekelhuis, 2021)
It was back in February 2012 that Michel contacted me to say he had sent me an mp3 "with a funny melody". "I am just wondering if you can play that. Exactly with the same tuning", he said. I had a listen and thought "You must be joking", as what I was presented with appeared to have no fixed notes nor conventional tuning, and sounded almost impossible to play. (I learnt later that the synthesized tune he had sent me was a melodic tracking - via software - of the musical pitches inherent in the voice of a man talking, recorded in Ghana by his friend Mark Dingemanse from the Radboud University). I put the strange sounding melody on repeat so that I could listen to it again and again, and by playing along continuously with it I eventually found the required notes on the trombone. After a week I could play the whole thing. And that was 2012. More recently, I found myself thinking, "Whatever happened to that tune". I had done a lot of work on it, and it seemed to have disappeared with no resulting composition appearing. So, I searched through my archives, found mine and Michel's original recordings, and played around with them until I had the beginnings of something coherent. At this point I contacted Michel, and he performed his usual magic, and eight years later we have our composition! Over the years Michel and I have occasionally swapped musical ideas, and our 'B-side' is the result of another such exchange, from a recording a year earlier. (Robert Jarvis, Faversham, December, 2020)
This single is a download only.
Robert Jarvis: trombone.
Michel Banabila: synth & sampler.
Recorded in Faversham & Rotterdam via file sharing.
Written & performed by Robert Jarvis & Michel Banabila.
Cat. nr. TR121220.
2020 ℗ Tapu Records.
UPC 195497778669.
Cover art by Michel Banabila.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
Michel Banabila & Willem Cramer first worked together in Chi (1984-1986), (banabila.blogspot.com/2016/08/chi-original-recordings_6.html) and later in East Meets West (1990-1991), (banabila.blogspot.com/2016/08/east-meets-west-hoy-babo-hoy.html). In 1996 they collaborated with Chris Grem making a score and performing live in a dance production by Lieber Gorilla. (banabila.blogspot.com/2016/08/lieber-gorilla-visioenen.html)
This 2018 EP is their first new collaboration in 22 years.
Viola sounds were contributed by Oene van Geel and violin sounds were contributed by Salar Asid. Willem Cramer is a composer & multi instrumentalist, living and working (like Banabila) in Rotterdam. www.willemcramer.com/audio
Willem Cramer: ebow guitar, bass, synthesizer & programming.
Michel Banabila: sampler, turntable & synthesizer.
Oene van Geel: viola (1 & 2).
Salar Asid: violin (2).
Composed, recorded, & produced by Michel Banabila & Willem Cramer. Artwork by Michel Banabila.
A special thanks to Marc Weidenbaum for suggesting the album title.
Cok van Vuuren: electric guitar (5, 6).
Oene van Geel: viola (1, 2, 3), stroh violin (5).
Michel Banabila: turntable & sampler (1 - 7), synth (2 - 6), voice (5).
Artwork / design by Rutger Zuydervelt.
Mastering by Marlon Wolterink / White Noise Studio.
'A Sense Of Place' video by Nan Wang / NanWang Org.
Imprints promo video by Dejan Radovanovic / Ummagumma.
Recorded, composed, mixed & produced by Michel Banabila.
except track #3 composed by Michel Banabila & Oene van Geel.
