The new double-CD on Sedimental is out now.  Titled "The Planetarium Project," it features four collaborative performances from the alt-Space series at the Cormack Planetarium in Providence, RI. 

CD 1:
Track 1: area c + Mudboy  (29:52)
Track 2: area c + Black Forest / Black Sea  (29:59)
CD 2:
Track 1: area c + Black Forest / Black Sea  (30:13)
Track 2: area c + Eyes Like Saucers  (31:36)

Available from AREA C

$12 incl. shipping. ($16 for orders outside the US, incl. shipping)
Order via Paypal using this email:   order [at] areacmusic [dot] com

LINK to more info > > >

www.areacmusic.com

I forgot to mention that Dreamsheep Records (the label of Valerio Cosi) has a new(ish) compilation out with an exclusive AREA C track, "Sorcery."  You can order it directly from the label or purchase a digital download via their site:

http://www.freewebs.com/valeriocosi/dreamsheep/catalogue.htm

-e

Brainwashed just published a nice review of the "Charmed Birds..." CD.

LINK:  http://brainwashed.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7542&Itemid=1

Written by Anthony D'Amico   

Sunday, 10 May 2009

  Area C’s newest release borrows its theme from a passage in Claudius Aelian’s On The Characteristics of Animals (written around 200 AD); specifically one that states that doves can protect themselves from wizard attacks by using bay-tree shoots for their nests.  From the same book, I also learned that beavers often elude predators by chewing off their own testicles. I suppose I‘m digressing though. I should probably mention that this is an excellent album at some point.  I will find another forum for my ramblings about our delightful and industrious mammalian friends.

Providence's Eric Carlson has been performing as Area C since 2002, largely alone but sometimes with occasional collaborators like Joel Thibodeau of Death Vessel.  His work has historically been made with an arsenal of a guitar, a farfisa, a sampler, and a recorder, but he appears to have left the farfisa in the closet this time around.  I found some pictures of him performing live and was surprised not to see a laptop sitting on-stage with him, as this album seems very meticulously composed and features a healthy amount of electronic glitchery. Regardless of the enigmatic process, something undeniably remarkable has been emerging from his nest of pedals and wires lately:  this first album for tireless drone-purveyors Students of Decay shows a marked evolution from Area C's earlier works.  Charmed Birds unveils a warmer, more rhythmic, and more distinctive aesthetic.

"Composition Journal" opens the album with a lazy looping  and shimmering drone that is intermittently disrupted by stabs of white noise.  The rhythmic foundation of the track is a locked-groove that approximates what Neu might sound like after taking a near-fatal amount of downers, which suits the track beautifully: anything more intrusive would break the fragile, sleepy spell that the multiple layers of guitars have painstakingly woven.   As the track progresses, it is masterfully enhanced by some sublimely beautiful treated-guitar washes and given emotional color by minor-key low-end swells.  Around the midway point, the rhythmic throb is removed to reveal a languid and sensual bed of sparkling ambient bliss.  That, however, is quickly enveloped by a swarm of electronic glitches which themselves ultimately dissolve into an outro of incandescent mournful swells.  

The rest of the album largely follows a similar (albeit sometimes less stunning) vein, with few exceptions (like the sparser and darker "Of Set Purpose, No Arrangement").  However, I am more than happy with the aforementioned vein, as Carlson far exceeds similar artists in his feel for melody, dynamics, and arrangements.  He also exhibits a purposeful deliberation that is all too rare in the underground improv scene.  Bluntly speaking, drone music constructed from guitar loops has the potential to be meandering and spectacularly, infuriatingly dull.  Carlson skillfully avoids this pitfall with an intuitive understanding of how long a particular theme can unfold before it becomes tiresome, as well as a knack for graceful transition.  He also grasps that even the most beautiful, warm, shimmering drone can start to seem syrupy and boring in large doses, so he has artfully expanded his tonal palette with harsher crackling and rhythmic throbs.

There are several other striking tracks here, but I am most fond of "Sleeping Birds" (which is very effectively enhanced by a crackling cut-up field recording of deceased poet Robert Greeley) and the epic twenty-minute title track, which marries elegant slide guitar to a slow-motion crackling pulse and an endless melancholy backwards-sounding guitar loop.    

The English language does not contain a sufficient amount of synonyms for "shimmering," "nuanced," and "warm" for me to effectively describe this album. I am thoroughly impressed.  Carlson's earlier albums have been quite promising and likeable, but this is the work of a formidable artist hitting his stride (but presumably not his peak).  

For those of you so inclued, I'm doing a live set on WFMU today!

LINK TO WEBSITE / STREAMING:  http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/JI

Keep any eye out, and come on by.

Erik  /  AREA  C

A strange mix.

At long last, the "Charmed Birds vs. Sorcery" CD is out and available from AREA C (or from Students of Decay, distributors of note, etc.).  See the webpage for more info:  www.areacmusic.com

Lucier's "Bird and Person Dyning" Feedback and electronic birds calls -- what could be better. And I found a new Brael CD on Boomkat which sounds quite nice and I think I should get.  Finally my friend Art gave me three wonderful mix CDs which I've been enjoying quite thoroughly, especially some older Tim Hecker I hadn't heard and Windy + Carl's "Sketch for Flea."  Thanks, Art!

Rare Frequencies has posted a podcast of the live AREA C set from Thursday November 13 on WZBC.  You can listen to it here, and you should listen to Susanna's radio show each Thursday night from 7-10pm

LINK:  http://www.rarefrequency.com/radio/podcasts/

Tour Providence's North Burial Ground on the Strangeloop Ethereal Walking Tour by Erik Carlson and Erik Gould.  Its part of the Cryptic Providence art + performance event.

Visit:  http://strangelooptour.blogspot.com/

You can download the tour to your iPod or use a GPS-enabled iPhone, Blackberry, etc. to access it on-site from the web.  Go to the website for a map, directions and downloads.