Jason Sharp - A Boat Upon Its Blood - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Asfur / Various - Las Estrellas [COMPACT DISCS] date 05/31/2005

Electroacoustic composer and saxophonist Jason Sharp presents his third album on Constellation and first purely solo recording. Following two acclaimed albums composed around particular collaborators and guest players, Sharp conceived The Turning Centre Of A Still World as an interplay strictly bounded by his own body, his acoustic instrument, and his bespoke electronic rig. The result is Sharp's most lucid, poignant, integral work to date - a singular sonic exploration of human/machine calibration, interaction, expression and biofeedback. Using saxophones, foot-controlled bass pedals, and his own pulse - patched through a heart monitor routed to various signal paths that trigger modular synthesizers and samplers - Sharp paints harmolodic waves of glistening synthesis, pink noise and digitalia. Electronic Sound has called Sharp's work Inchmesmerizing, like Stars Of The Lid pursuing the Sun Ra Arkestra into an electricity substation.Inch His sound palette evokes fellow-travelers like Fennesz, Klaus Schulze, Tim Hecker, Ben Frost and Colin Stetson. This immersive, intensive, widescreen electronic album could sit comfortably as a stellar contribution to the space/sci-fi/synth soundtrack genre. But this is ultimately deeper, grittier, earthier stuff - pulsing with terrestrial granularity, charting subterranean geographies of the heart and soul. Deluxe 180gram vinyl includes four 12Inchx12Inch art prints of analog film stills by renowned experimental filmmaker Daïchi Saïto.

Dedicated to his friend and pupil Archduke Rudolf, Beethoven's expansive Archduke Trio is his greatest work in the genre, though increasing deafness meant it also signaled his final appearances as a performer. The cheerful Piano Trio in E flat major is an earlier work, though only discovered amongst the composer's papers after his death, and the Kakadu Variations is another good humored work based on a popular song of the day. With the American Record Guide Inchimpressed with every recordingInch, Volumes 1 (8.557723), 2 (8.557724), 3 (8.570255) and 4 (8.570943) are also available.