words fail to express...

francisco lopez and matt shoemaker

Friday the 13th (July, 2007) turned out to be a very fortunate day for those in
attendance for the Francisco Lopez / Matt Shoemaker performance at Steve
Peter's lovely Chapel Performance Space (at the Good Shepard Center, Seattle).
Matt launched everyone into transcendental states of consciousness with
his mixture of deep vibrational electronics, intense hyperdimensional crescendoes
and occasional field recordings punctuating the journey along the way;
then Francisco jolted everyone awake who happened to still be buzzing from
Matt's performance, with mega-scale multi-channel sound design that would floor
even the best sound engineers working in the film industry.
This was not the ".absolute." drone fields we've come to know from Francisco of
years past. This was a new Lopez, taking his concept of ".absolute." listening
experience several levels ahead, thereby taking the audience on a rollercoaster
ride through larger-than-life sonic environments in a similar way as CGI special
effects can in the latest Hollywood films, although without the cliches and
"cheese factor" elements inherent with most Hollywood flicks...

If you get a chance to catch Francisco on any of his latest tours,
I HIGHLY recommend it!

Coming next in the release schedule:
(and/27) Francisco Lopez: Wind [Patagonia]

new project: antonioni's tetralogy

Alas, work on the next film-related CD release project has already begun...

The release is slated for sometime in 2008.

This project focuses its lense upon the great Italian film director

Michelangelo Antonioni and his great "Tetralogy".

The title for this release is tentative and subject to change.

The tetralogy of films include:
- L'Avventura (The Adventure, 1959)
- La Notte (The Night, 1960)
- L'Eclisse (The Eclipse, 1962)
- Deserto Rosso (Red Desert, 1964)

Artists confirmed thus far:
- Asher (USA)
- Marc Behrens (Germany)
- Olivia Block (USA)
- Juan Jose Calarco (Argentina)
- Alan Courtis (Argentina)
- EKG (USA)
- Lawrence English (Australia)
- Fhievel (Italy)
- Richard Garet (USA)
- Marihiko Hara (Japan)
- I8U (Canada)
- Jason Kahn (Switzerland / USA)
- Dale Lloyd (USA)
- Roel Meelkop (Netherlands)
- Pali Meursault (France)
- Ben Owen (USA)
- Gabriel Paiuk (Argentina)
- Tomas Phillips (USA)
- J. Winston Phillips (Canada)
- Antti Rannisto (Finland)
- Adam Sonderberg (USA)
- Steinbruchel (Switzerland)
- Luigi Turra (Italy)
- Tyler Wilcox & Corey Fuller (USA)

As with previous CD projects of this nature, it is not my intention to invite

everyone who is a fan of a director's work. The artists are invited in particular

because certain aspects of their previous work indicated artistic /aesthetic

qualities of which would fit well within the overall vision of a particular project.

In addition, these projects are never intended to function as a label showcase

or a standard various artist compilation. If anyone views them as such, then

they are entirely missing the point.

Even though the artists have been invited and are currently working

on their submissions for the next CD project, I would like to do something I

have not done with previous film projects. I have also posted a general call for

submissions for pieces that would be considered for an MP3 sub-project
to be issued as part of the upcoming and/OAR MP3 catalog.
Essentially, there will be two projects pertaining to Antonioni:

the CD release which will focus on the Tetralogy; and the MP3 release

which will be more open-ended to embrace all of the director's work.

Since these projects tend to generate a lot of interest from artists,

and because it is not my wish to make each project more than

two CDs, I've decided to take this route and give more artists a

chance to create work.

To see the guidelines for the MP3 release, scroll down to the next post...

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"Antonioni's lifelong effort (was) to uncover the meanings of things

beneath the mystery of their appearances."
- Seymour Chatman (Antonioni: Or, The Surface Of The World)

"Antonioni asks us to take a slow, steady look at the world

around us,
to forget our ordinary preoccupations, and to contemplate that which lies
slightly athwart them." - Seymour Chatman (Antonioni: Or, The Surface Of The World)

michelangelo antonioni: an open invitation

In addition to the related CD project, I am also posting a public call for

submissions for sound artists to submit work to be considered

for an MP3 counterpart release that will be made available as part of

a future and/OAR MP3 catalog of new works that will exist in addition

to the CD/CDR catalog.

The new MP3 catalog will be available, in cooperation with a Swedish

company called Klicktrack, and artists will be given the option to either

receive a percent of the proceeds, or some other arrangement can be

agreed upon.

And so without further ado...

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Antonioni was well known for not being too keen to use music in his

films, partially because he wanted the films to tell their stories free

from additional "gloss". Therefore, music was sparsely used if at all in

some cases. Antonioni considered the natural sounds or "background

noises" of a film to be of enormous importance, and considered this

to be the "true music" of a film. Composer Giovanni Fusco, whose work

is featured in most of Antonioni's films of the late 1950s to the early

'60s said, "the first rule for any musician who intends to collaborate

with Antonioni, "is to forget that he is a musician."

However, it is another composer that Antonioni worked with, that I

will want to acknowledge with the CD release; because if it were not for

his pioneering minimal electronic music featured in "Deserto Rosso",

this project might not have come together at all.

His name is Vittorio Gelmetti.

Gelmetti's minimal electronic work has consistently come to mind while
listening to certain pieces by a few of the artists who will be featured on

the CD release, which is going to be focused upon Antonioni's "Tetralogy".

I have decided to focus on what are often refered to as Antonioni's

informal "Tetralogy":

- L'Avventura (The Adventure, 1959)

- La Notte (The Night, 1960)

- L'Eclisse (The Eclipse, 1962)

- Deserto Rosso (Red Desert, 1964)

However, it is with the MP3 release, that I would like to open the

inspiration to include all of Antonioni's films. So, if you are reading this

and are interested in submitting work, please be familar with his films.

These projects are intended for enthusiasts only, and if I recieve work

that has no seeming connection to the subject matter, it will not be

considered.

Guidelines:
- Track Length: Each track should not be much longer than 7 minutes.

Artists can submit more than one piece for consideration.
- Formats For Submissions: Please send audio or data CDRs containing
WAVs or AIFFs only. Once contact is made, I will send a mailing

address to send the disc to.
- Deadline: December 1st, 2007.

When composing pieces, please consider including the use of environmental

recordings as part of the piece in some way (straight, processed, mixed,

live recordings, etc is OK). How you decide to do this is completely up to you.

The reason I ask this is because of the underlying concept of and/OAR as a
label. However, I might make allowances for some of the tracks to not use

field recordings, like in the case of using instruments, but most of the

tracks should incorporate a field recording element in some way.
And I must ask everyone to refrain from using any music or dialogue from
the actual films.

Once the final track selection is made, everyone will be contacted as to
whether their track was selected or not.
If you have any other questions, please let me know.

Best Regards, Dale

http://www.and-oar.org/



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"Antonioni's lifelong effort (was) to uncover the meanings of things beneath
the mystery of their appearances. " - Seymour Chatman (Antonioni: Or, The Surface Of The World)

"Antonioni asks us to take a slow, steady look at the world around us,
to forget our ordinary preoccupations, and to contemplate that which lies
slightly athwart them." - Seymour Chatman (Antonioni: Or, The Surface Of The World)

yasujiro ozu - hitokomakura

After almost two years and countless delays later, this project has
finally come to completion by arriving via UPS this afternoon.
And there was even ONE MORE delay with getting it from UPS
because the first time they tried to deliver the pile of boxes,
I just happened to be in the restroom, after waiting half the day
for them to arrive! Shimatta!!!

So, with strong willed persistence, I managed to get UPS to bring

the boxes back here this afternoon, and I am quite happy

(and very thankful) about the finished result.

I really hope you all will enjoy it!

www.and-oar.org/pop_and_26.html

hausswolff / nordanstad: two films

Well, the Hausswolff / Nordanstad DVD arrived recently,

and I must say that I'm very impressed.

Especially with the Hashima film and documentary.

It must be noted that the rather small island of Hashima (Japan)

in 1959, had the highest population density per hectare ever

recorded in the world... Completely mind boggling.

As can be imagined, if one were to just happen upon this now

abandoned island today, not knowing anything about it,

how stunned and spooked you might be...

There is also a loose conversation documented between the
the two artists talking about the films.

Now available in the and/OAR Diffusion shop.

clearance / trade items

If anyone is interested, I've started a new page for clearance & trading.
www.and-oar.org/clearance_trade_list.html
Any of these items can be combined with an order in the Diffusion shop as well.
A link to a Windows Notepad document of my want list can be found at the
bottom of the clearance & trading page. "Best offers" and special arrangements
can be arranged, so just ask.

Quite a few items have disappeared already...