FIVE ELEMENTS MUSIC - NEXUS
tracks: Untitled I : Untitled II
Recorded in the winter 2007-2008
label: Still*Sleep SS15
Электроакустический эмбиент, сделанный из полевых записей. Альбом состоит из двух длинных треков. Первый, в отличие от многих записей F.E.M., характеризуется плотным и насыщенным звучанием. Второй трек - более плавный и спокойный по атмосфере, но не менее густой по звучанию - несколько слоёв звука накладываются друг на друга, образуя многогранный волновой узор, затягивающий внутрь себя словно воронка, в которой можно различить мельчайшую структурную деталь...
zhelezobeton
I was already introduced to the music of Sergey, the man behind Five Elements Music through his release on Mystery Sea (see Vital Weekly 588) but now that I can point a face to the name, after seeing two very nice concerts by him and Kryptogen Rundfunk, it means something more to me. So these things go, I guess. Sergey uses many, many field recordings all five elements (ether, air, fire, water and earth) in his music, which he builds as a long collage. Two untitled pieces on this release which displays his working method quite well. All of the natural sounds he recorded are fed through a bunch of sound effects, but he manages to keep things under control. The music moves through various parts (paths?) inside each track but there is a homogeneity in the music that makes this dark drone thing work remarkable well. His processing doesn't sound like a computerized one, but analogue, making things a bit rougher than the usual microsound artist, but therein lies the power of Five Elements Music. Fans of Mirror should pay attention to this new name!
VITAL WEEKLY
Nexus is an earlier album from the ever prolific [S], the same Russian sound artist who recently blew our minds with his zombified tape smoldering noise under the name Radioson, and continues to work with the drone based projects Five Elements Music and Exit In Grey. While there clearly a difference from the operations of [S] as Radioson, the boundaries between Five Elements Music and Exit In Grey are far more porous. Environmental recordings, found object manipulation, and electronics are all common within these two bodies of work, accreting into hypnogogic drones and pools of deep ambience. Nexus dates back to 2008, but is one that we've not had the pleasure to delve into until now; and it like so much of the work by [S], is a gem. Here we have an almost literal transubstantiation of five elements (presumably earth, water, fire, air, and ether) into sound itself. There's an incredibly rich tactility that ebbs and flows throughout these two longform pieces, which seamlessly melds brittle fracturings of ice, infernal rumblings of burning embers, and murky clumps of sodden earth. Out of these textures, resonant and mesmerizing drones emerge. While not quite as intense as Small Cruel Party, Nexus easily parallels the luminous, environmental soundscaping of early BJ Nilsen, Jonathan Coleclough, and John Grzinich. Hard to say how many of these cd-rs are left in the world. Our guess, probably not many.
aquarius records