pacificlectic : concert reviews & eclectic music news

I love experimentation in music… especially when you take a preconceived construct, great players/improvisors, and it results in some beautiful music.  This project from Matt Chamberlain*, Viktor Krauss, and Dan Phelps on Oceanographic Records entitled MODULAR: Sonic Explorations does just that.  It’s not noise-rock or grating avant-garde… it’s quite the sonic delight.  There’s an audio sample (see the youtube embedded song below) that makes it vie for one of my fave instrumental albums this year.

About the Modular Project

The Modular Project is the collaboration of a select group of sonic technicians working together to discover what the spontaneous and organic manipulation of sound can yield. Inspired by the world around them, they set out to discover what it might sound like when continents shift, clouds form, and roots push through soil.

Capturing and manipulating the hum of the natural world, their results show that there are as many answers as there are questions, that in seeming chaos there is order, and within that order there are new undiscovered truths waiting to be revealed.

The Components

1. Main Control Unit
2. Tape Modulation Unit
3. Contact Sensor Unit
4. Subaquatic Sensor Unit
5. Subterranean Sensor Unit
6. Atmospheric Sensor Unit

Elements Modulated

1. Subterranean Readings
2. Organic Matter Readings
3. Tectonic Readings
4. Atmospheric Readings
5. Celestial Readings
6. Subaquatic Readings

It’s available now as a digital download version (320kbps mp3/FLAC/AAC/etc) or as a limited-edition, double-gatefold 12″ vinyl version (what I opted for).  The project also features guests Eyvind Kang (yay!), Martin Woodlee, Paul Gold, Chris Henning, and Christopher Pierce.

“Everest“

For more info on the project, GO HERE.

For purchase info, GO HERE.

*– Matt Chamberlain is a diverse drummer… I’ve seen him play with Tori Amos & Regina Spektor, and he’s also put out some great music with Skerik (the jazz-meets-jam band Critters Buggin), Bill Frisell (Floratone), Secret Chiefs 3, Wild Colonials, Peter Gabriel, The Wallflowers, Fiona Apple, Sam Phillips, Macy Gray, Melissa Etheridge, Erin McKeown, Stebmo, and a ton of other artists…

~Dan – np: Tristeza – Mixed Signals