Du Ciel À La Terre

Running Time: 7:45

Released On: "Two Halves Volume 7" - Various Artists (18 tracks)

Label: Charlie Dog Records / {AN} Eel

Release Date: 31st July 2020

Format: Download

Buy Link: Bandcamp

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Later included on "Communitas: Volume I" (M&E MB-005, 1st October 2021) ►

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And yet another new friend for the Magic Bullet in the shape of the inimitable {AN} Eel, based in Toronto in Canada. Brrr. Mr. Eel, Neal to his mates, describes himself as 'an experimental vocalist' who 'makes odd things' on his Bandcamp, which sounded like our kind of person. Can't say we were sure what his label was called though, because said Bandcamp was in his own name, whilst the URL would have you believe it was called Panpanpan Avian Distress Call Records, which it clearly wasn't. So we asked him. He tells us Charlie Dog Records will do, apropos of nothing we're aware of or could see on the page. Yet another of life's enduring mysteries, I'm sure. So, Two Halves: The Concept - you let him know you're interested, you'll be randomly assigned a collaborator, no theme, do whatever the two of you want to. Skit and I were keen to throw our hat into the ring. Just one, we share it. Who would we get? Would it actually be someone we'd heard of? We'd never be lucky enough to get a serious legend in the world of electro-experimental music, would we? BINGO! M. Nomized! What would that be like? Underground royalty, would we have to address him as 'sir', should we bow? Yeah, we sort of knew who he was, we could live with that.

M. Nomized - should you ever pass him on the street, you'll never know...

So how to proceed? Well, sending him a message is a good start;

"Hi... I hear you've been stuck with me and Skit for the duets, unlucky! (winky emoji)", I began with a little self-deprecating humour, break the ice, as it were, "Ah, this should be good, admired your stuff for very many years. So, how does this all work? We've never done a distant collaboration with anyone. Well, the last time either of us were recording regularly (mid 90's), the internet was all but unheard of. We've only been recording again for 6 months after a 25 year sabbatical (except a one-off TEAC 4-track session 4 years ago), but are really enjoying creating again. I know you are very experienced in collaborative projects, so it seems sensible you should take the lead - how would you like us to proceed?"

"If you want, I send a basetrack and you play with." He replied,  "After, you send the result."

Sorted. What arrived (a little under five hours later!) was a 10 minute recording of the most wondrous electronic doodlings. Skit and I looked at each other and nodded. To be honest, we wouldn't have even known how to create sounds like that, but we certainly had some ideas on what to do with them. Leaving it as was for the first 50 seconds or so to establish the piece, we started by fleshing out the next few minutes. This was done by a process of duplicating it twice, pitch-shifting one by a minor third and the other by a perfect fifth, then re-mixing them both together with the original, effectively creating a virtual minor chord of the various doodlings. Quite effective, innit? For a lift in the middle, we thought we'd bring in a kind of 70's cyber disco beat, the 'musical notes' all being created from samples drawn from Michel's original soundfile. The crashing plane effect was inspired by the artwork (it does kind of look like a guy on a parachute, don't you think?), which I put together from a couple of pieces Mr. Nomized sent me and an image of the Earth, hence the title, which roughly translates as "from the sky / heavens to the ground." Et voila!

LINK:

M. Nomized - https://fractionstudio.bandcamp.com

CURIOSITAS