Headphone Commute: 'In the studio with Michel Banabila'

An interview with Mike Lazarev for Headphone Commute

VoizNoiz part 1 reissued on 2LP vinyl by Steamin' Soundworks

First album from the VoizNoiz series (CD / 2000 - Pork Recordings , Tone Casualties) reissued by Steamin' Soundworks on a 2LP vinyl album (ltd 234), including a 16 minute remix by Michel Banabila & Oene van Geel. Expected in October 2018, available via Norman Records. Fully remastered by Marlon Wolterink. 175G vinyl in hardback gatefold sleeve. Photography Jacky van Dijk / design Rutger Zuydervelt. More info at Steamin' Soundworks Bandcamp & Steamsounds.com

Remix (Side D) by Michel Banabila & Oene van Geel:

VoizNoiz on vinyl from Michel Banabila on Vimeo.

Banabila & Machinefabriek

We (Michel Banabila and Rutger Zuydervelt) met quite a while ago, in our hometown Rotterdam. It felt inevitable to work together. Both restless and busy with all sorts of projects, it took a while though to truly make it happen. Things got more serious once we finally got together to talk about the collaboration, in September 2012. We agreed to start slow, and then really kick it off early 2013. But in all our enthousiasm, we quickly got caught up in an unstoppable workflow. Swapping files back and forth, layering and processing each other's sounds, it immediately felt like a match made in heaven. In an incredibly short, though highly inspiring time span, the album 'Banabila & Machinefabriek' was created. A 40+ minute journey through warm drones, mysterious crackling and outbursts of digital noise. Obviously, we are both immensly proud of the result.

machinefabriek.nu
banabila.com

reviews;

VITAL WEEKLY 860:
Both Zuydervelt and Banabila live in Rotterdam, so it's hardly a surprise that the two of them would meet up and work together. They started in September 2012 with the idea to take time and kick it off next year, but as soon as they started they got into lots of interesting results, so that now, early December 2012 there is already the first release. Forty minutes in total, with nine pieces, from a handful of seconds to nine minutes. A fine album, I think. It combines the interests of both, the drone like material of Machinefabriek and experimental electronics of Banabila, while both of them keep a keen ear on the ground to make it also musically interesting. A vibrant album I should think in which a lot happens. Digital noise sits along nicely with more subdued music, and sometimes within one piece. It seems as if Banabila also knows how to keep Zuydervelt on track in trying something new, with improvised bits on the guitar such as in "Flares". I like the fact that this is more noisy record than I would expect from Zuydervelt, with a whole lot of new ideas harvested here.(FdW)

FLUID RADIO:
Their first, eponymous record together demonstrates this shared aptitude for cooperation, their respective approaches blending so seamlessly that it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. It could be argued that the album is too dramatic and too flooded with ambient warmth to be a Machinefabriek record, and also too playful and fluid to be credited to Banabila alone, yet the overall impression is of the workings of a single entity rather than the juxtaposition of two different styles. Although electronic sound sources predominate, with a fair few field recordings thrown in for good measure, the ‘acoustic’ appears privileged over the ‘electro’ in that I could almost describe the air pushed by my speakers as syrupy, so full and weighty is the sound. Highs are piercing and lows throbbing, yet never irritatingly so; this is music that is strongly present, without being overbearing. The idea that “two heads are better than one” may not be new, but if putting it into practice is increasingly the norm, for Banabila and Machinefabriek it is an approach that has reaped rich dividends. Nathan Thomas.

AMBIENTBLOG;
Since both can also have quite a different musical focus, it's interesting to see where these ends meet when they are working together. When they finally met, the spark obviously exploded into a flame: "We agreed to start slow, and then really kick it off early 2013. But in all our enthousiasm, we quickly got caught up in an unstoppable workflow. Swapping files back and forth, layering and processing each other's sounds, it immediately felt like a match made in heaven. In an incredibly short, though highly inspiring time span, the album 'Banabila & Machinefabriek' was created." On "Banabila & Machinefabriek " , their shared interest is in creating abstract electronic soundscapes, with a dynamic range varying from immersive calm sounds to noisy eruptions. This means their album is not exactly 'easy listening', it can be a challenging but adventurous listen. Their interaction is immaculate: it is surprisingly hard to distinguish the Banabila elements from those added by Machinefabriek. The sum of their contribution is definitely "more" than just both separate parts. Considering some of the noisy outbursts in Bad Wiring and Dead Air, this album may probably not be to anyone's liking. But everyone else - especially those who know the previous works of Banabila and/or Machinefabriek - should definitely check out this release ! Peter van Cooten.



includemeout2.blogspot.nl:
These finely-tuned forays into hiss, crackle and anti-Pop are designed to play through as one long trip on the CD, but in digital form it's broken up into 9 tracks. All the same, it sounds seamless; ever-shifting sands of sound (!) seduce and spring surprises. Just as your lulled into a sense of security you get sucked into black holes like 'Frost' and 'Bad Wiring'. Even the calm is frequently fused with static unease, as on 'Slow Wave 1', which evolves to the point where a robot Fred Astaire taps across the sound stage. At least, that's what I imagine.

NORMAN RECORDS:
At one point there’s a sudden brain-splattering barrage of computer mayhem which led to exclamations of “this is hard work!” in the office, but it slowly eases into a blurry shivering dronescape which heads into Deathprod-esque territory, which I guess is their way of saying sorry for splattering your brain. Basically this is a measured and varied tapestry of blissful ambience, glitchy melodic sound art that’s not afraid to step out of your comfort zone and slap you round the chops, expertly crafted by two men who know their way around a soundwave. 8/10 Mike.

SOUND COLOUR VIBRATION:
Michel Banabila & Rutger Machinefabriek are two musicians from Rotterdam whose recent collaboration has really taken me into a rewarding sonic experience. With the two artists having their own careers respectfully, the collaboration serves as a joining of forces in which is as surreal as it comes in terms of the musical pallet expressed. Exotic minimal tones find crackles and other digital decaying noises in a nestled and dreamy state. Created as one continuous piece stretched over nine songs, the overwhelming sense of emotion present is incredible. Music devoid of harmony in the way this album is normally has little climaxes, little identity and carries on a shallow and most times hollow body. Banabila & Machinefabriek is a stunning example of how to extract a lot of life into regions where most things can’t flourish. It speaks of life and this world in a strikingly potent form, creating spirals of windows into the human condition and the fluorescent aura of the cosmic surroundings this world offers. It’s everything and nothing all at once; the void and opening of something new in this dimension. Banabila & Machinefabriek is a highly experimental album that glows with some of the most breathtaking ambiance I have ever heard. This is gorgeous music that evolves slowly and every bit of patience is demanded to fully realize what this world represents and contains. The nature of how this album glows specifically goes well beyond a simple explanation of “noise” and has become a type of sound I truly love. This is the type of recording that proves how special and important this generation is and has continued to be in the name of 20th and 21st century atonal music. Erik Otis.

ATTN magazine : Banabila & Machinefabriek.
By the sounds of it, the sheer magnitude of creative momentum driving this remote collaboration was unforeseen by either participant. Initially expecting to carry the construction process through into early 2013, Machinefabriek and Banabila found themselves caught in a more spontaneous and pacier file-swapping process than they ever anticipated – the slow burn seemingly burst into flames, and I get the sense that the record’s sense of fluidity and constant movement is a direct result of the collaborative “hot-potato” subsequently played out by its two partakers. In fact, the steady-handed over-analysis and refinement that usually characterises these sorts of collaborations is completely absent – instead, the album is abundant with sudden explosions and dramatic changes in direction that feel more akin to the irreversible actions of an improvisational gut instinct. Take the opening of “Dead Air”, which bleeps and gurgles like a jammed jet plane GPS before erupting into white noise, modem malfunction and trapped intercom voices, like the sound of a catastrophic mid-flight mayday. Who saw that coming? Elsewhere, the transitions are smoother in their execution but no less drastic in their atmospheric overhaul. The end of “Flares” sounds like a submarine maneuvering a gigantic underwater sewer system (complete with the metronomic, echoing beeps of radar), emerging suddenly in amongst the aggressive electronic chatter and ominous low drones of “Bad Wiring”. Just as the audio files that comprised the collaboration’s building blocks were tugged back and forth between the two artists, the listener is hauled to and fro between unstable circuit rooms and expanses of lush woodland, thrust into snatches of field recording before being sent spiralling into concrete hangars stacked with whirring machinery. It’s dizzying, but there’s a real sense of ecstasy within the total loss of control. Jack Chuter.

Released December 12, 2012.

Music by Michel Banabila and Rutger Zuydervelt,
Rotterdam, The Netherlands, October 2012.



Travelog

"Glitchdroneworldbeat collaboration to die for" (Peter Hollo / Utility Fog - FBI Radio)





When Michel Banabila and Rutger Zuydervelt (Machinefabriek) finished their first collaborative album, it felt like they were just getting started. Suprised by how fluent and natural their collaboration went, it was obvious that this wasn't over yet... While 'Banabila & Machinefabriek' was quite an abstract affair, it's successor 'Travelog' is lighter, playful and rhythmic. Some moments might recall the mighty Tape, while others showcase motoric krautrock influences and subtle hints of African rhythms. All in all, this album clearly radiates the joy of its creative process and sees Banabila and Machinefabriek on the top of their game.

Reviews / comments:

Soundcolourvibration:
"Travelog is a collection of ambient and atmospheric soundscapes mixed with emotion filled layers and recordings that tell stories only possible in this medium. Their vivid use of space sets the stage for a performance of a lifetime."

Disquiet.com (via twitter):
"The entire new Banabila & Machinefabriek album is my new jam. Yow. Glitch ambient sonic travel heaven" - Marc Weidenbaum.

Cyclic Defrost:
There’s a deeply meditative feel to much of the music here, making ‘Travelog’ one of the most cohesive yet hard to categorise headphone soundtracks I’ve heard for a while. (Chris Downton).

Incendiary Magazine:
This record has a quality of something special, of something indefinably GOOD about it; in fact so good I think I can get away with calling it brilliant. One thing’s for certain, I can’t get enough of it at the moment. (Richard Foster).



A Tapu Records release in collaboration with Lumberton Trading Company.
Cat. nrs TRBOP 21 / LUMB 22.

Released September 11, 2013.

All music by Michel Banabila & Rutger Zuydervelt.
Photography : Michel Banabila.
Artwork : Rutger Zuydervelt.
Voice samples on ‘Narita’ taken from ‘Yuko, me and the Troentechairs’ by Yuko Parris & all n4tural.


Error Log

Tapu presents the third album by Banabila & Machinefabriek. Whereas its predecessor Travelog had a charming brightness, Error Log is abstract and dystopian. The album is comprised of three long monolithic tracks, based on electronics and heavy sampling of acoustic instruments. Howling bass clarinet, warped voices, cinematic strings, Muppet drums and glitchy electronics are used to create a delirious sound universe. Keimpe de Jong (wind instruments), Edita Karkoschka (voice), Salar Asid (violin), Umit Sav (electric violin) and Oene van Geel (violin) all contribute their masterful sounds. The cd comes in a 3 panel full colour matte digipak, with found error negative scans by Michel Banabila, designed by Rutger Zuydervelt (Machinefabriek). Total time 39 minutes

Banabila & Machinefabriek : Error Log from Michel Banabila on Vimeo.

Quotes / reviews:

FLUID RADIO:
Straight away “Error Log” announces a very different musical experience from Banabila and Machinefabriek’s previous ambient-inspired collaborations from a couple of years ago. This time the electronics are thick and grungy, with greater exploration of each timbre and texture; strong contrasts are created with warm string chords and glimmering guitar that go straight for the heart-strings. Falling vocals and muttered words are drawn straight from the acousmatic playbook, but the overall tone is much closer to analogue synthedelica: warm, squelchy, and sculpted into vague, shallow peaks and valleys rather than precise formations. If the path followed by “Music for viola and electronics II” seemed relatively fixed and linear, “Error Log” is an album for drifters and wanderers; where the former fixes an image, the latter leaves an impression. Well worth checking out. (Nathan Thomas)

CALEIDOSCOOP:
Banabila & Machinefabriek brengen op beide vorige CDs een mix van abstracte elektronica, experimentele ambient, veldopnames en ludieke samples, die ze op hun unieke wijze fraai vormgeven. Nu is de derde cd Error Log een heugelijk feit. Je krijgt 3 langgerekte tracks waarin ze de elektronica harder op de voorgrond stellen. Daarnaast stappen ze van die meer kille en robuuste elektronica op subtiele wijze ook weer over naar prachtig warme akoestische stukken. Hiervoor mogen ze rekenen op bijdragen van Keimpe de Jong (blaasinstrumenten), Edita Karkoschka (stem), Salar Asid (viool), Umit Sav (elektrische viool) en Oene van Geel (viool). De rijk gedetailleerde composities blijven mede door dit contrast maar ook door de prachtige vondsten (bijvoorbeeld knetterend haardvuur dat overgaat in elektronisch geknetter) spannend tot op de laatste seconde. Daarnaast is het ook gewoon weer een bij de strot grijpend en schoon elektro-akoestisch hoorspel. Een klasse apart die twee! (JanWillem Broek)



UTILITY FOG / FBI Radio:
Dutch experimental artists Michel Banabila & Rutger Zuydervelt aka Machinefabriek have been collaborating for a few years now, and each album seems to change tack in quite a dramatic fashion – although never diverging too much from the two artists' formidable talents. They started with a droney, experimental release, followed by something more in keeping with Banabila's jazzy world-tronica, and the new one is again more abstract, featuring a number of talented Dutch musicians on wind instruments, strings, and voice. The acoustic instruments are mangled in their machines but it's lovely to hear them cutting through here and there. (Peter Hollo)

VITAL WEEKLY 984:
This is the third collaborative effort of Michel Banabila and Rutger Zuydervelt, also known as Machinefabriek. The first two were released in 2013, in a time span of nine months (see Vital Weekly 860 and 898), but no doubt it's not easy to get these two busy bees together, hyper active as they seem in working with electronic music, collaborating with others and playing live. There was, I think, quite some difference between the first two releases; the first one was perhaps what we could expect from both of them: ambient like, digital noise, improvised and yet very much composed. 'Travelog', the second one (the first being untitled) seemed less abstract, more songs (as in 'songs' as in 'pop') like, with great little melodies somewhere. So the third one was highly anticipated by me. 'Error Log' has three pieces (divided in such a way that it says 'release me on LP too, please'), which are quite long, compared to the shorter songs on the previous release. It's however not exactly a return to their first release either; it seems they are exploring the ambient side here more and more, but also in a more orchestral way, especially in 'Stemmenspel' and the title piece. 'Animal', the eleven-minute opening piece here works with more loosely improvised sound embedded in larger clouds of sound. It's all right, but not their finest moment. The violins and voices of 'Stemmenspel' (play of/with voices) have an orchestral feeling, along with those swift changes we know from Zuydervelt, the melody of Banabila and the electronic treatments of both. It moves the listener gently through an excellent set of moods and textures, almost like a soundtrack. The field recordings of the title piece are just a start to move into quite a cosmos of drones (courtesy of the guitar), small rhythms and rainy day recordings; Here too a fine trip, spanning some nineteen minutes but perhaps less soundtrack material. Having said that: it's an excellent piece, which once again brings out the best of both composers. Perhaps this third CD is less of a surprise, but it explores their joint interests further. (FdW)



Released May 14, 2015.
Music by Michel Banabila and Rutger Zuydervelt.

With sampled contributions by:
Keimpe de Jong: wind-instruments in Animal and Error Log
Edita Karkoschka: voice in Stemmenspel
Salar Asid: violin in Stemmenspel
Umit Sav: electric violin in Stemmenspel
Oene van Geel: violin in Error Log
Mastered by Marlon Wolterink at White Noise Studio
Negative scans by Michel Banabila
Graphic design by Rutger Zuydervelt

Cat. nr. 005TR - Tapu Records ℗ 2015

Banabila & Machinefabriek: Kaleidoscope from Michel Banabila on Vimeo.

Banabila & Machinefabriek: Entropia [Eilean Rec] from Michel Banabila on Vimeo.

Spherics

Dark electronic.

Distinctly cinematic and frequently unnerving, each of the seven tracks is gripped with a noirish sense of isolation and the chill of a lingering menace. Some tracks bridge the gap into dub and others make use of record-popping glitches.

BOSTON HERALD:
Michel Banabila, who grew up in the Netherlands, has produced a lush blend of atmospheric soundscapes on his latest disc, "Spherics." Banabila, who handles the samples and edits, works with Piet Lichtveld (guitar); Jorien Muste (violin); and Bobby (cymbals, drone). The quartet combines to produce a lush, soothing orchestration that is parts Brian Eno and Snoop Dogg. Each of these seven movements is distinct, though they all have a pair of similarities: they are brooding and hypnotic. "Suma 4 - Blue Mix" is the album's standout. It features a slow beat and warm percussion. The track flows with slow and even layers. At the opposite end of the spectrum is "Worm-Jazz," a heavier, noisier track. Most of these cuts have a low end that powers the trance-like beat. "Tic Tac" settles into a funky groove after opening with some nifty organ. At points, some of these tracks take on a drone-like quality that can be jarring if not downright troublesome. "Science Freak" features a grinding that sounds like (but is not) a record needle on mucked-up vinyl. It's a little too jarring. With "Spherics," Banabila has created a backing track for everyday life. It is moody and low and it hardly ever fails to satisfy. (Michael J. Ryan).

SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER:
Dutch native Michel Banabila experiments with the darker side of ambient to manipulate psyches with his atmospheric compositions. Nerves frazzle and moods swing. A rich sci-fi soundtrack for primitive living ! Caution: This album could scare children and small animals.

Spherics release BOUDISQUE RECORDING: 2001, August 23th. (NL)
Spherics release TONE CASUALTIES: 2002, July 15th. (USA)
Steamin' Songs Publishing.
Released August 23, 2001.

Michel Banabila ; sampler & edits.
Piet Lichtveld ; guitar.
Jorien Muste ; violin.
Bobby ; cymbal-drone.
Composed and produced by Michel Banabila.

Low Pulse & High Noiz (video by Olga Mink & Irena Mihalinec).



KINDAMUZIK:
De Rotterdamse muzikant Michel Banabila is niet in een hokje te stoppen. Was hij in zijn Voiznoiz serie nog druk bezig met de menselijke stem en analoge instrumenten. Op Spherics II is daar niets meer van te merken. Hier geen jazz of gitaar, maar pure electronica. Met slechts een synthesizer en een sampler zijn negen uiterst boeiende sfeerstukken in elkaar gezet. Net als voorganger Sperics I is de sfeer dreigend en donker. Toch voegt Banabila extra dimensies toe aan zijn muziek. Met name op de momenten dat drumbeats de electronische geluidslagen versterken, dwingt Banabila tot luisteren en is wegdommelen geen optie. Op de momenten zonder pokerslagen of basdrum heerst er dreiging en word je gehypnotiseerd op een manier die Rasti Rostelli ooit voor ogen moet hebben gehad. Hoogtepunt is het prachtig opgebouwde ‘Low Pulse & High Noiz’ waarin Banabila een waar meesterwerkje neerzet. In acht minuut dertig gaat hij van klein en intiem naar groots en extatisch. Het enige wat je nog mist na dit nummer is applaus. Hopelijk volgt dat deze zomer op Lowlands… (Patrick van Engelen)

KWADRATUUR:
'De frisse synthmelodiên die her en der opduiken in deze plaat, proberen tevergeefs op te boxen tegen de sombere teneur die algemeen wordt aangehouden. Naarmate de CD vordert, worden alle mogelijke vormen van opgewektheid zonder meer de kop ingedrukt. Subtiliteit en loomheid blijven heersen, maar dan op een erg onrustige manier. Het bombastische 'Wolves in Sheeps-Clothing' benadrukt dit nog het sterkst. Verre, zwaar overstuurde gitaren dramatiseren op new wave achtige wijze de noodlottige bascadans. Deze schapen zijn duidelijk hulpeloos aan hun moordenaar overgeleverd. Dankzij het voortreffelijk opbouwende 'Low Pulse & high Noiz' – veruit het beste nummer van de CD – wordt de draad wel even terug opgepikt. Kille machinale eenvoud groeit uit tot een warme en heerlijke climax...' (Johan Giglot)

Released February 17, 2003.

VoizNoiz - Urban Sound Scapes

Electronic. CD &12inch vinyl (Pork Recordings / Tone Casualties)

WAX MAGAZINE:
A thoroughly engaging, amusing and charming debut from new Pork signing Michael Banabila. Slightly more random than your usual Pork output, but still retaining the essential ingredients, Banabila strings together 20 soothing skunk funk oddities that delight and bemuse in equal portions. Tender beats, oddball samples, live instrumentation and vocal snippets weave together to make a warming abstract picture, one of those ones that looks good whichever way you hang it. (Nov 2000)

ALL MUSIC GUIDE:
The strength of this fascinating found-sound pastiche will be enough to send fans of musique concrete, advanced turntablism, and trip-hop scouring the import bins. Most of the material that comprises these 20 tracks comes from field recordings of human voices speaking, singing, declaiming, and arguing, all of them reportedly made in the streets, buildings, and train stations of Holland and Yemen. The recordings are cut up and pasted together in sometimes eerie and frequently downright funky ways: the result sometimes sounds like a collaboration between Jon Hassell and African Head Charge (as on the danceable "Do Something About It" and the even more Hassell-ish "Sorokin Blues") and sometimes like a cross between Tricky and the Residents (as on the darkly funky and melodically quirky "Chickensoap). On "Where?" the snippets of speaking and singing are arranged by pitch, and the result is a sort of techno version of hocketing; it's an example of medieval technique meeting 21st century technology, and the result is wonderful. This is an exquisite album by an artist who deserves much wider recognition. (Rick Anderson).



KORTEX Electronica:
VoizNoiz c'est avant tout, des collages sonores mélodiques et urbains. C'est aussi Michel Banabila et une fantastique collaboration de musiciens de Rotterdam. L'ensemble ainsi crée s'aventure dans des territoires voisinants l'Acid Jazz, le trip hop et la peinture sonore abstraite. VoizNoiz c'est un film qui défile dans notre tête : l'ambiance cinématographique propagée par les différentes pièces de l'album s'impose à notre esprit et nous fait voyager un peu partout à travers le monde à l'aide d'un fond musical riche doublé de différents échantillons hétéroclites. Chaque mouvement est pourtant bien clair, et on peut facilement associer les pièces à tel ou tel événement fictif. VoizNoiz est un album diversifié qui bénéficie pourtant d'un solide fil conducteur qui permet à l'auditeur de ne pas se perdre au sein des myriades de sonorités exploitées par Michel Banabila et ses copains. Une belle et amusante expérience auditive. (Yanik Trudeau)

'Where ?' by MAITE KLIS & YUNFENG FU from Michel Banabila on Vimeo.

ALTERNATIVE PRESS:
Post modern assemblage of found sounds and vocal fragments. Sound collage can often be more conceptually interesting than listenable. Michel Banabila handily avoids this on the unclassifiable VoizNoiz. He uses location recordings from Holland and Yemen, along with live guitar, voices, bass and percussion to construct what he calls "urban sound scapes". Banabila assembles riffs from found-sound and vocal fragments into oddly conversational grooves. This approach recalls Coil, but without their inward-looking menace. VoizNoiz is every bit as post-modern as the work of today's DSP-terrorists, but it's a much easier listen. (Kent Williams).

COOL AND STRANGE MUSIC:
Holland's Michel Banabila is one of those rare musicians who can take an avant-garde conception and turn it into a highly entertaining work of art. VoizNoiz is a masterpiece of found sounds and voices used rhythmically and humorously with obvious nods to Jean Michel Jarre's classic collaboration with Laurie Anderson, Zoolook, without the dark psychological edge, and Coil, without the homo-erotic magick. VoizNoiz is an update of the genre into contemporary trip-hop, with touches of exotica and Asian house music. There is a slight Carribean edge in some parts, but the jack-hammer editing of the sound montage is so intense that by the time one is able to digest an influence, it has been replaced by something completely different. Think of a tropical island version of Tipsy, only more cartoony (which is no surprise as the executive producer is the legendary animator Gabor Csupo.) Though the CD is separated into 20 different tracks, I defy anyone to figure out which one is which without looking at the track indicator. It's like a lovingly unified vision of schizophrenia done Tex Avery style. (Wilhelm Murg)



PITCHFORKMEDIA:
The Pork folks discovered Banabila and flourished this remarkable disc with "Mono/Metro," a holler-sampling-and-contorting fragment of genius that Moby would stomp Fairfield County, Connecticut into the subsoil for. (Paul Cooper).

'Where ?' by TIM VAN HELSDINGEN from Michel Banabila on Vimeo.

Banabila, Club Cult, Moscow, 2005.


Pork Recordings

Steamsounds Publishing

Buy at CD BABY





EARPOLLUTION : VoizNoiz 2
Michel Banabila has an ear for sound and a pulse which runs through his fingers. Taking a nearly limitless number of samples, he finds a common pulse that they gravitate towards, and produces groovy - nearly trip-hop style - songs. There are no voices other than the stolen ghosts which become halting, tripping verse-chorus-verse arrangements under his skillful manipulation. "Voiz IX" is a wheezing street orchestra, a tiny marching band made up of two kids banging on trash cans, one over the hill tuba (worked over by a much younger player with a decent set of lungs), a couple of single-stringed guitars, a kid with an old radio sporting exposed wiring, and a drum major with a three-dollar megaphone. Banabila reworks all these elements (and the echoes which their street performance leave rattling down the long alleys) into something else, something a little less than a recognizable tune and more into a musique concrete abstraction. At the other end of the spectrum is the following track, "Speak," which hums along at 144 bpm, hammering and jabbering beneath a cut-up vocal track that speaks in starts and stutters. Like all good pastiches, you find comfort in the recognizable elements and thrill in their unexpected juxtaposition. Banabila's work on VoizNoiz II is a soundtrack to the urban chaos which is the overwhelming reality of city living. (Mark Teppo)

INK 19 : VoizNoiz 2
Considering you can give a whole group of people a fancy recording studio, tons of personal attention and pampering and they create audible crap, artists such as Banabila are all the more wonderful. His sophomore release in the Urban Sound Scapes series, Banabila recorded VoizNoiz 2 completely in his home studio. Mainly, sounds are used to create "words" of sound that speak in the language in which we hear. There is a world flavor, a little "trip-hop" label floating around, and one visionary artist behind every moving track. Creepy, loungy, jazzy, sexy, mysterious, fun, and artsy, this is for anyone who's bored with their current musical interests. This album makes you open so many musical doors. A few standout tracks: "Heavy Gravity," the bouncy, tribal "U Beat," sporadic "Speak," and "To The Angels." Learn a new language with Banabila, the language of sound. (Vanessa Bormann)



ALL MUSIC GUIDE : VoizNoiz 2
The second volume in Banabila's series of Urban Soundscapes is much like the first, a kaleidoscopically funky collage of found sound, aural experimentation, trip-hop beats, and promiscuous sampling. As on his first effort, a willfully bizarre sonic design sense is constantly counterbalanced by a thoroughly populist approach to the groove ‹ there is nothing on this disc listeners won't be proud to dance to and nothing that won't catch them by surprise if they listen hard enough. A few examples: the creaking door, splashing water, and severely altered voices on "Voiz VIII" that rub sensuously up against metallic guitars and a thick, slow groove ; the lurching, Tom Waits-ish "One for the Road," with its turntable-scratching and locomotive sample; and the slow-building "Dinoh Dinoh," which starts off with layers of deeply tweaked voice samples and slides into an irresistible mid-tempo breakbeat with horn section and Hammond organ. The avant-garde is at its best when it's funky, and funk is at its best when it's avant-garde. (Rick Anderson)


Steamin' Songs Publishing released October 9, 2001

Des Traces Retrouvées

Part 1 (45 RPM vinyl)



www.discogs.com/Michel-Banabila-Des-Traces-Retrouvees/release/850396

Track 4 is available on CD & vinyl LP, fully remastered, via Bureau B / Tapete Records (June 2016):
'EARLY WORKS - THINGS POPPING UP FROM THE PAST'

released October 19, 1984

Performed & written by Michel Banabila
Bass (V) by Peter van Straten
Guitar (V) Otto Janszen
Cover by Biquénôssà, Boudewijn van der Wagt
Photography by Mathieu Benistant
Recorded & mixed by Peter Riebeek

TRICHORD / MB191084
---------------------------------------------

Part 2 (45 RPM vinyl)



www.discogs.com/Michel-Banabila-Des-Traces-Retrouvees-2/release/1734791

released May 30, 1985

Denise Anken: vocal (I)
Michel Banabila: found objects, tape treatments, pianola, bottlesounds, percussion (I & II)
I, II, III & VI recorded at Studio 150 Amsterdam.
IV & V recorded at Peter Hoeks studio.
Photography by Matthieu Benistant.
Trichord Records / MB300585

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Part 3 (cassette)



www.discogs.com/Michel-Banabila-Des-Traces-Retrouvees-3/release/2658866

released December 1, 1987

Track 2 (October), track 6 (The Call) and track 9 (The Workers) are available via Bureau B / Tapete Records, June 2016, on vinyl and CD, fully remastered : 'Early Works - Things popping up from the past' soundcloud.com/bureau-1/bb227-michel-banabila-early-works

All tracks composed by Michel Banabila.
1, 3, 4, 5 © Steamin' Songs publishing.
2, 6, 9 © Tapete Songs publishing.


Bass – Pien Selliger (track: 14)
Design [Inlaycard design] – Jurgen Brouwer
Engineer – Jurgen Brouwer (tracks: 1- 9, 11-14), Peter Hoeks (tracks: 10)
Flute – Koos Derwort (track: 13)
Ovation guitar – Piet Legerstee (track: 2)
Mastered by [digital mastering At The Mix-lab] – Jurgen Brouwer
Percussion – Michel Banabila (tracks: 11 + 14)
Photography – Matthieu Benistant
Producer – Banabila, Brouwer.
Sampler [S10-sampler] – Michel Banabila
Sounds [soundprogressing] – Gerard van Wolferen (track: 8), Kees Went (track: 8)
Synthesizer [synthesizerprogramming] – Willem Cramer (tracks: 5 ,8, 13)
Voice – Michel Banabila (track: 1)
Woodwind [sipsi] – Michel Banabila (track: 10)

Oscar Smit / OOR

Michel Banabila ‎– Des Traces Retrouvees, Trichord 🇳🇱 1984. I. #michelbanabila #ambient #minimal #drone

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