reviews : phon (valeot009/2010)
Vital Weekly (nl):
The first release by Dirac was a self-titled album for U-Cover, which I missed out upon, but the second
'Emphasis' was reviewed in Vital Weekly 708. Here is their third album. Dirac is a trio of Peter Kutin, Daniel
Lerchner and Florian Kindlinger, and among them they use laptops and acoustic instruments. The press text
says that this CD consists of 'one track, an uncut first take recording', yet the cover of the CD says it was
'performed & arranged by Dirac 2007-2010'. That seems to be some sort of contradiction. Unless of course
they have been rehearsing for three years to record this version (or perhaps recording it for three years to
arrive what they see as the ultimate version. That's also possible). The one piece has four parts as outlined
on a drawing on the cover, which perhaps shows how the volume evolves on this recording. Dirac say they
play 21st century chamber music. The music here seems a bit 'louder', or perhaps 'more present' than on the
previous release, but all along deal with the same approach. Dirac plays some excellent mood music. Highly
drone based most of the times, with some oil installation like percussive sounds in the third part. Whatever
those laptops do around here is not easy to say and instrument wise I can merely say that I am bound think
its a lot of guitars and effects at work here. But everything blurs in a nice way together and it doesn't seem to matter what is what here. An excellent release, that should appeal to those who like their drones to be both ambient and a bit (post-) rock inspired.
Cyclic Defrost (aus):
Dirac describe themselves as a contemporary chamber group, which is accurate enough, but the single
tightly packed piece of Phon owes far more to dub than classical. The trio of Peter Kutin, Daniel Lerchner
and Florian Kindlinger use laptops, guitar and a myriad of sound sources to construct a perpetually shifting
aural stream, bristling with tiny details yet all somewhat flattened by digital processing. Various elements -
field recording, string samples, record crackle, electronic fizz - are layered and combined, but the emphasis
is less on the individual componments than on abstract timbre. In the way that Dirac work, they adopt the
model of European improv, as opposed to traditional American jazz: individual identity is subsumed for the
sake of the group.
Like dub, development is signalled through shifts and variations in 'virtual' space, the manipulation of
recorded sound with reverb and other effects. Dirac exert close control over these tools, and the music is
resolutely digital, for all the acoustic traces. Phon is their third album and based on a single live take,
constructed similarly to the rhythmic cut-ups of Rechenzentrum and proceeding like Francisco Lopez's
abstract collages. The piece grows from a faint insect-like flutter, into which trickling water is introduced, this
detail functioning as an ironic anchor of sorts, remaining present throughout the work in bent and tweaked
forms. Cold strings and lonesome guitar figures appear, with the most dynamic event being the growl of
feedback midway, collapsing into heavy, sustained bass tones. These more violent shapes recede, leaving
sparse twinkling electronic blips, which mirror the 'real' bubbling brook of the outset. Phon is a richly refined
production and a dense and rewarding listening experience.
Textura (us):
The third recording by dirac—Peter Kutin (guitar, electronics), Florian Kindlinger (electronics), and Daniel
Lercher (electronics)—is a single, uncut exercise in real-time composition of some forty-two-minute duration.
Phon begins restrainedly as tiny slivers of electronic sound converge alongside a portentous violin theme
whose repetition proves trance-inducing. Everything unfolds with quiet deliberation until, a dozen minutes in,
the volume and intensity begin to slowly rise. The drone-heavy mood remains dark and disturbed as the
electric guitar's scalding stabs move to the forefront, its lead followed by other materials (including the deep-
throated honk of Susanna Gartmayer's bass clarinet) that swell in volume and density too. Having reached a
relatively tumultuous pitch at the halfway mark, the sound mass deflates slightly, only to undertake another
ascent, this one even more intense than the first. A field recording of a train or subway car rattling down its
tracks works its way into the totality alongside see-sawing tones and the crackle of electronic embers. During
its final quarter, the sound mass grows ever noisier and turbulent with again the guitar's searing lines leading
the charge, but then decompresses as it enters the final laps. It's easy to visualize the Viennese trio
hunkered down over their respective laptops in deep communal concentration as the collective material—
twenty-first century chamber music, they call it—develops as arrestingly as it does. That it was generated in
real-time makes the listening experience all the more powerful.
The Silent Ballet (us):
For Dirac, it has always been about the sound, even before the music; after all, music is comprised of sound.
The group revels in its presence and caresses it into forms, starting at the most basic vibration and
painstakingly working its way forward into music. Dirac's latest effort, Phon, is a single track captured in a
single take and named after the Latin root for sound, but there's a touch more to it than that. Harvard
psychologist S. S. Stevens, active in the 1940s and 50s, was fascinated by the process by which stimuli
were perceived, and so he proposed Stevens' Power Law, an attempt to measure the perceived intensity of a
range of stimuli. In his work, he proposed the phon as a unit of perceived loudness, and the concept carries
over into linguistics as the smallest unit of perceivable sound. All of this is relevant as Dirac, composing what
it refers to as 21st-century chamber music, begins with the most primitive of drones and uses it to write a
long, narrative piece that could easily be understood as an interpretation of the evolutionary process by
which vibration begat sound, rendered into the perceivable, comprehensible thing that is music to our ears.
If Dirac's earlier album Emphasis, released just a short six months ago, was introspective in nature, working
to silence the incessant chatter of our interior monologues for long enough to expose the silent, immovable
core beneath, much of Phon is pre-linguistic: the chatter has yet to even come into being. At the opening, the
soundscape is ethereal, providing as rhythm only the softly repeating noise of what might be gaseous
elements bubbling to the surface. Slowly, instruments make their presences known; low synth drones,
reversed strings, isolated guitar tones, and the forlorn call of a sole trumpet fill the air as the cyclical gurgling
recedes, and by thirteen minutes in, the low drones have nearly taken over the entire composition. For all
the circular motion in the album's single forty-plus minute track, there is plenty of slowly evolving variation in
the vein of Plastikman's Musik or Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works. The pieces loop ad infinitum but
with slight, consistent changes, such that while moments blend into one another in a seemingly endless fog,
minute to minute the song's character has changed significantly. The musicians working here display
extreme focus and restraint, showcasing their musical prowess, determined experimentalism, and
impressive control. By minute thirty the ever-present drone has grown insistent, and the melody's industrial-
strength distortion threatens to tear its fabric asunder in slow-motion. The thunder is almost unbearable until,
less than five minutes later, there is a sharp decay; the composition deteriorates into its initial parts that were
seemingly lost under the sheer power of the climactic moment but never actually went anywhere. As the dust
settles, the familiar watery sounds return, this time buoyed by the field recordings of running water, and the
storm is passed. Insects emerge from their hiding places, and the listener can almost feel the sun on her skin
as the clouds part. The earlier trauma is not forgotten, however, as the high-pitched whine of synthetic
tinnitus undercuts the relaxing trickle, serving to remind the listener of what just passed, or perhaps
foreshadowing some moment in the near future. Dirac's approach is exhilarating. Here, the uncut live take
highlights the diligent mapping required of ambient musicians. The band's method, letting small and
seemingly unrelated sounds blend and swell into wave upon wave of bone-shaking drone, requires immense
amounts of undivided and sustained concentration on the part of the performers. The listener, however, is
provided with lengthy passages of drifting tones that give ample time for reverie, and each will likely write her
own narrative to accompany the sounds she is hearing. Indeed, Dirac seems at times to be using its music to
express the ineffable moments of life that every human invariably comes up against, whether it is thought of
as the pre-linguistic state or trauma or spirituality or something else entirely. Articulating this thing it seeks to
capture can only be done circumspectly and obliquely, by quixotically attempting to cast a narrative that
might as a whole manage to communicate this impossible thing. Perhaps, then, Dirac's project is to provide
the necessary assistance to the listener, that she might access something within her psycho-physical
existence that would otherwise prove impossible.
Playgroundmag.net (sp):
Dirac: "Phon" (Valeot) + Films: "Messenger" (Noble)
Both Films and Dirac come into the elusive category of "chamber music", although in both cases the
approximation is divergent. Films, for example, are expressive, richer in melodies and strings, at times near
Michael Nyman or Angelo Badalamenti's film work, and generally always to the point where classical music
becomes caramelized and for all audiences. The trio Dirac, however, continue the Spekk tradition, in its
previous "Emphasis", offering a 40-minute piece in where acoustic instruments intertwine with dark lanes by
a microscopic electronica that adds tension, restlessness and deep abstraction. Day and night. Both, in each
other, excellent records.
Cracked (at):
The third release of Austrian experimentalist trio Dirac once again explores the boundaries of formats and
sounds. Insisting that performance time and listening time are exactly the same and taking the exact
recording of this 43 minute piece as a basis is one thing; and not so uncommon in the world of avant-garde
improvisation. Perlonex, to name someone who has been mentioned around here once and again, are
masters at intuitively constructing exciting drones and dynamics out of thin air. The three musicians in Dirac,
Peter Kutin, Daniel Lerchner and Florian Kindlinger, are also very good in that discipline, it has to be added.
Also, putting a diagrammatic flowchart of the piece contained on the CD on its cover is not so new. (I
remember Brian Eno had that on his Ambient-Albums as well)
But then taking that recording and over a three year period listening to it and finally adding field recordings,
overdubs and even a brass-section is taking the whole concept of electro-acoustic improv music and putting
it on its head. And it has been more than time to do so, I shall say. The avant-garde from the Eighties and
Nineties has developed some rituals and dogmas which have made the whole thing stale and unmoving. But
isn’t that the way almost any kind of avant-garde likes to commit suicide. Only to make way for the next
wave. I have no pity on artists who slowly drown in their own self-centered network of connotations never to
find out, looking for the applause they once had but which has turned into an echo of what it once was just
as their art has turned into a mirror of its own past.
The most fascinating part of “phon” is how Dirac arrange analogue and traditional instruments into the flow of
music and sounds. The distant brass adding a definite feeling of wide open spaces as well as the distant
nearing of something evil is a fine example. As the connotations and the harmonies of the trumpets turn
slowly from the conventional and expected (military, marches, festivities) to more complex and more
enigmatic tones, higher and even more drenched with predictions, the sounds also come nearer, ie. louder.
We know the scene being set from various kinds of epic westerns. The horizon is the place where evil lurks
and the smallest sign – dust clouds, smoke rising, the air moving – is already a signifier of the drama to
evolve. But, of course, it is never this ease.
“Phon” is not another rehash or tribute to the art of Ennio Morricone and his peers, even if some elements in
any kind of music trying to put foreboding into its sounds can ever step away from that. The transgression of
analogue and electronic sound sources, the way some sounds could be strings played in a very modern yet
still classical way (Gavin Bryars?) or could be synthetic, and what would be the difference if you can’t hear it
and the result is the same? Softly whistled flutes mix with bass sounds of electric current. Pulsing noise
frequencies evolve to their own beauty like rust on metal left in the open. Signal peeps are being
manipulated into screeching layers of noise. Somewhere in the latter part there is the most beautiful
interference that ever played a solo and then turns into one big gob of noise before suddenly fading out,
taking a distant bass drum with it into oblivion. Two big dynamic climaxes are enclosed by two smaller static
parts. All of it comes together as of one big mind. And then it is over.
This is a very slowly moving piece. “phon” takes its time and fills it with sense and meaning. It almost seems
to breathe in its own time, and transfers its pulse to that of the listener. I had to listen to a bunch of boring
droning stuff in the last months, both from the heavy, dark and tattooed side of fringe music as from the
intellectual, experimental, academic side, and I was about getting sick with it. I don’t care where it comes
from, actually, if it is boring it will end up in the bin. So, thanks a lot Dirac for rekindling my interest and giving
my spirit a three quarters of an hour flight.
Nonpop.de (de):
Moderne Kammermusik aus Österreich
Es atmet! Es lebt! Ein Schaben und Kratzen wie aus riesigen Lungen, die Streicher kaum verzerrt oder
verändert, insgesamt ein mächtiger, organischer Ersteindruck. Instrumente schieben sich mit einzelnen
Tönen immer wieder nach vorne, ein langer, dunkler Bass hängt mit seinen Schlägen in der Luft, und das E-
Piano (mit Fender Rhodes-Klang) weint eine lose, absteigende Tonfolge.
Drei Österreicher, ein Laptop und eine Handvoll an Instrumenten - kein Aufbau, der per se Spannung
verspricht. "Phon" überzeugt allerdings schnell vom Gegenteil. Es ist das dritte Album von DIRAC, das erste,
welches ich für mich entdeckt habe. PETER KUTIN, DANIEL LERCHER und FLORIAN KINDLINGER leben
in der österreichischen Hauptstadt, gehören zur - hier schon öfter angesprochen - äußerst regen Wiener
Szene für moderne Musik. Alle drei haben sich während ihres Studiums mit elektronischer Musik befasst,
LERCHER mit 'Computermusik und elektronischen Medien', KUTIN und KINDLINGER mit Elektroakustik.
Sie arbeiten rund um Wien als Musiker, Produzenten, Multimedia-Künstler in diversen Projekten.
"Phon" besteht aus nur einem Instrumentaltrack, knapp 45 Minuten lang und in Echtzeit eingespielt.
Hördauer ist gleich Produktionsdauer, eine Methode, die sicher zur lebendigen und intimen Wahrnehmung
beiträgt. Nach dem oben beschriebenen, minutenlangen Einstieg deuten sich erste, langsame Änderungen
an. Drones von Blechbläsern mischen sich unter die Langsamkeit, Melodienfetzen liegen wie Klebefäden
über den Lautsprechern. Slowcore? Slowjazz?? Auf jeden Fall Einsamkeit, die Umgebung zieht vorbei, spielt
eine untergeordnete Rolle, es ist Nacht in der Großstadt.
Minimale Steigerungen in Intensität und Lautstärke sind irgendwann wahrnehmbar, ein voluminöseres
Wabern im Hintergrund, vereinzelt neue Geräusche, glimmende, schimmernde Laptop-Drones. Hier wird
"Phon" noch einmal dichter, wendet sich fiktiven, metallenen Welten zu, ein majestätischer Science Fiction-
Flug, der immer wieder an die depressive, verlorene Stimmung von "Blade Runner" erinnert - und das,
obwohl sich die Melodien über maximal vier Töne am Stück bewegen.
Ungefähr in der Mitte des Albums werden die wabernden Drones länger, noch stärker. Ein neues,
rasselndes, regelmäßiges Geräusch übernimmt den 'Takt', Gitarren zerren sich nach vorne. Sie deuten die
weitere Entwicklung an, den noisigen Charakter des letzten Drittels. Brummige Dissonanz steigert sich in ein
Finale, nur die abschließenden, wie angehängt wirkenden Minuten plätschern - im wahrsten Sinne des
Wortes - etwas ratlos dahin, mit 'field recordings' und vereinzelten Sounds.
Moderne, beeindruckende und sehr stimmungsvolle Kammermusik von drei jungen Österreichern, wie ein
Bilderbuch verschiedene Szenarien entfaltend. Klanglich erinnert "Phon" an innovative Dark Ambient-
Projekte, ist aber spannender, da DIRAC ohne die obligatorischen Klepper- und Krachgeräusche
auskommen, dafür viele akustische Instrumente einsetzen. Produktion - toller Klang auch ohne Kopfhörer -
und Aufmachung - ein schön-schlichter, mattschwarzer Klappkarton - stimmen ebenfalls. Starkes Album!
Sonic Seducer (de):
Als Kammermusik des 21. Jahrhunderts bezeichnen Dirac ihren eigenen Output und unter Berücksichtigung
des Umstandes, dass für viele Musiker der Laptop inzwischen zum ganz selbstverständlichen Instrument
geworden ist, ist diese Bezeichnung durchaus passend. Denn nichts anderes als ein kleines
Instrumentalesemble verbirgt sich hinter Dirac - mit akustischen Instrumenten und Laptops. Aus "Phon", dem
dritten Album der Gruppe, gibt es einen einzigen 42 Minuten langen Track, live im Studio mitgeschnitten und
nicht nachträglich editiert. Beginnend mit konkreten Sounds bewegt sich "Phon" langsam in tonale Gefilde
mit sehr gelungenem Klarinetteneinsatz. Von dort baut such mit leichten Umwegen eine massive Wall-Of-
Sound aus verzerrten Klängen und schleppender Perkussion auf. Fürs haptische Vergnügen sorgt das
Cover aus handschmeichelnder Pappe.
Jahrgangsgeräusche (de):
In 80 Stunden um die Welt fliegt man nicht gerade im Ballon, sondern eher in einem aerodynamisch
optimierten Leichtflugzeug von Burt Rutan. Derart ausgestattet ist ein Nonstop-Flug über möglichst viele
Länder der Nordhalbkugel möglich; selten in riskantem Tiefflug, meist jedoch in 16 Kilometer Höhe. Außer für
die bis zum Bersten gefüllten Leichtmetalltanks ist gerade noch Platz für eine im Boden eingehängte
Spiegelreflexkamera.
Diese ist in der Lage alle Ansichtskartenmotive in hochaufgelöster Satellitenbildästhetik einzufangen, die
man später für die Illustration der Autobiographie benötigt. “Schau mal Schatz, hier habe ich erfolgreich die
pakistanische Luftaufklärung unterflogen." Schnell noch die Sandwichdose, Traubenzucker sowie ein
Handtuch eingepackt und los geht's auf einsamer Welttournee.
Dirac sind ebenfalls nonstop unterwegs, in ihrem Studio. Einmal die Aufnahmetaste gedrückt, haben auch
sie nicht unterbrochen. Entstanden ist ein episches One-Take-Album, das von einer bedeckten bis dunklen
Stimmung geradezu durchtränkt ist. Die Tanks von Dirac sind prall gefüllt mit Drones und Schwebungen. Mit
sehr bildhaften Klangatmosphären schaffen es die drei Wiener Musiker Peter Kutin, Daniel Lerchner und
Florian Kindlinger Suspense aufzubauen und diese über die Dauer von 42 Minuten erfolgreich zu halten. Die
Spannung ist irgendwann gewaltig. Aber der Bogen reißt nicht. Im richtigen Moment entweicht seine bis zum
äußersten angesammelte Kraft aus der Enge des Aufnahmeraums in die weiten der Stratosphäre.
Dirac erforschen mit ihrem in diesen Tagen bei Valeot erschienenen dritten Album Überlagerungen,
Vibrationen und Resonanzen von Klangschichtungen. Sie selbst nennen ihren am Ende auch von
Fieldrecording-Ausschnitten angereicherten Klang selbstbewusst Kammermusik des 21. Jahrhunderts und
stellen sich damit in eine kompositorische Linie mit Interpreten wie The Anti Group, Rechenzentrum oder
Bohren und der Club of Gore.
Ausgestattet mit Computern wie auch akustischen Instrumenten decken sie den Klangraum in feine
Schichten sich aufschaukelnder Töne. Dazu gesellen sich getragen solierende Bläser. Diese geben einen
Anflug von Motiv, drei vier sparsame Töne, mehr nicht. Dann setzt sanft ein verzerrter Bass ein und treibt die
Steigerung weiter bis eine Lautsphäre mit Wassergeräuschen kontrastiert, einmal auch aus dem Hintergrund
eine Kirchturmglocke. Zurück von einer wahrlich weltumspannenden Klangreise bleibt am Ende ein ebenso
erschöpfter wie beeindruckter Hörer.
Freistil (at):
Auf eine abenteuerliche Reise begibt sich das hierorts bereits mehrfach applaudierte Trio von Kutin,
Kindlinger & Lercher auf der jüngsten, erstmals auf Valeot Records publizierten CD. Was mit sanften,
sorgfältigen Schichtungen und Gewichtungen den Anfang nimmt bzw. darauf vorbereitet, was noch kommen
mag, wächst sich zweimal zu schier unerhörten Klangmauern von kathedralen Ausmaßen aus. Dirac treibt
die freihändige Computerkomposition auf die Spitze, bündelt die digitalen Stränge zu einem massiven,
Starkstrom-kompatiblen Kabelwerk. Steuert unter lockerer Einwirkung von field recordings, dem Anschwellen
anarchistischer Stromgitarren und unter heftigem Zutun von Susanna Gartmayer in Richtung orchestralen
Overloads. Und lässt das selbst gebastelte, mit viel Magnetismus ausgestatte Monstrum so bohrend-zart
wieder ausklingen, wie es auf Frankenstein’sche Manier begonnen hat. Damit nicht zu Ende, surrt diese
Zauberplatte noch minutenlang nach. Best of Dirac! Und nur für den Fall, dass eines Tages neue
Etikettierungen verlangt werden, erfindet das erfindungsreiche Trio quasi als „phon“-Nebenprodukt die neue
Disziplin der Doom-Elektronik. Allerhand. (felix)
Polychromic.org (fr):
Dirac est un trio viennois qui reunit Peter Kutin, Daniel Lerchner, Florian Kindlinger, pour Phon, une unique
piece de musique atmospherique, d'autres diront drone, mais tellement differente...
Musique realisee en temps reel, combinant ordinateurs et instruments acoustiques (clattinette batterie
guitare), Phon ilustre une intensite et un sens du deploiement quasi cabalistique dans une sortie de Valeot
records quw l'on ne peut que recommander aux amateurs de durees, de ttextures. Le 21 siecles apporte ses
pepites et Dirac en est une precieuse!
Blog.MonsieurDeline.com (fr):
Disque numéro trois pour Dirac, dont le précédent, Emphasis, s'était glissé dans le Top 30 2009 de Délire
Actuel. Phon propose une seule pièce continue, enregistrée "live en studio" par le trio, avec ajout ultérieur de
clarinette basse et d'un enregistrement de terrain.On serait tenté de parler de post-rock, mais l'approche de
Dirac, malgré la présence de batterie et de guitare électrique (entre autres choses), a plus à voir avec le
"drone" tel qu'il est issu de la musique de chambre contemporaine - James Tenney pour instrumentation
rock. Une pièce calme mais tendue, pleine de flottements et de subtilités, pas cinématique mais offrant
beaucoup de place à la rêverie dirigée. Moins zen que Emphasis, plus difficile d'écoute aussi (vu la durée),
mais très réussi.
Album number three for Dirac, whose previous effort Emphasis made Délire Actuel's Top 30 last year. Phon
features a single continuous live-in-the-studio track by the trio, with a bass clarinet track and a field recording
added later on. It's tempting to label it as post-rock, but the truth is that Dirac's approach, despite the
presence of a drum kit and electric guitar, is closer to the "drone" as it evolved from contemporary music -
James Tenney for a rock band instrumentation. A calm yet tense piece of music, with room, unresolved
elements, and subtleties. Not cinematic, but leaving lots of space for framed reverie. Less Zen than
Emphasis, a more demanding listen too (due to its duration), but very well done.
Ondarock.it (it):
Dirac, come il grande fisico e matematico inglese Paul Dirac, che tra i tanti meriti ha sicuramente quello di
aver teorizzato nel 1930 l'esistenza del positrone, e quindi dell'antimateria. Un omaggio ma anche forse un
riferimento che aiuta a comprendere meglio la musica di Peter Kutin, Florian Kindlinger e Daniel Lerche, tre
musicisti austriaci che fino ad oggi hanno pubblicato due album, l'ultimo dei quali meno di un anno fa sulla
giapponese Spekk. I drones dei Dirac sono costruiti per lo più con ambientazioni a gravità zero tra distese di
elettricità e increspature elettroniche. Leggermente diverso il discorso per il nuovo lavoro.
"Phon" parte in modo silenzioso, con gli strumenti dei tre viennesi quasi impercettibili. Lentamente il drone
prende potenza inabissandosi in territori tenebrosi. Con il passare del tempo, nell'oscurità, i suoni
cominciano ad apparire più nitidi e ad un certo punto si riconosce chiaramente anche il clarinetto dell'amica
Susanna Gartmayer. Intorno alla boa dei tredici minuti il suono prende a girare più velocemente e come per
incanto il drone prende vita con un crescendo emozionante costruito su strati di elettricità inarrestabile.
Passati i ventiquattro minuti il suono si prende quasi una pausa prima del deflagrante finale.
"Phon" è una sorta di versione spettrale delle cavalcate epiche dei Godspeesd You! Black Emperor, e anche
il disco più 'fisico' che i Dirac abbiano fino ad oggi realizzato.
Dark Entries (be):
Albums die slechts één nummer bevatten, dat dan nog eens zo'n drie kwartier lang is... Ik heb het allemaal al
eens zien gebeuren en ik weet dat het niet zo evident is (lees: zo af en toe gaat een artiest hierop flink
onderuit). Wanneer je jouw muziek dan ook nog eens omschrijft als 21st Century Chamber Music, dan maak
je het jezelf nog extra moeilijk; want: what's in a name...?
Dirac -het trio Peter Kutin, Daniel Lercher en Florian Kindlinger- komt hier echter perfect mee weg. Reden:
ze maken niet de fout om het geheel op te hangen aan een lange saaie drone (hoewel deze op de
achtergrond wel aanwezig is). De lange soundscape wordt wél gedragen een vreemdsoortige loop, maar
dan met de snelheid van een slak en de spaarzaamheid van een schotse hollander met joodse
grootouders... Verder wordt hierover gemusiceerd met échte instrumenten zoals de piano, trompet,
strijkers,... Dit alles is nog niet voldoende om het interessant te houden en daarom wordt er gespeeld met
een intensiteit die je -ondanks de reputatie van lange soundscapes- bij de les houdt. Om het kort te houden:
prachtig werkstukje... 7/10
His Voice (cz):
Dirac: Phon, Rdeka Raketa: Old Girl, Old Boy
Velkým koncertem oslavila v lednu deset let existence vídenská platforma klingt.org: webová i skuteená
komunita, „takové vídeiské café,“ jak tekl novináenm Burkhard Stangl, kde se scházejí muzikanti z
elektroakustické, povetšinou improvizatní scény. Ta má v Rakousku svou váhu a tvozí nejživkjší pole tamujší hudební nezávislé scény, rozepjaté mezi akademická místa a underground. O fungující zpjtné vazbp doma svddbí i to, že Fenneszovo Endless Summer bylo v nedávné ankete prohlášeno nejlepším rakouským albem po roce 2000. (U nás paralelní akce vyhráli David Koller a Tata bojs.)
Koncert ve Vídni trval najakých šest hodin a ukázal, co plodná sío tamšjších kolegí právo dklá – veetnm scénických happeninga se zvukovými objekty a vymezování vloi tradi ní písíové formí. Klingt-ovské nové nahrávky, kde žádnou akci nevidíme a kde se noise modeluje daleko od npjakých songí, mají zase specifika pehlivk vylad ných studiových díl.
Trio Dirac (Peter Kutin, Daniel Lercher, Florian Kindlinger) peetavuje zvuky akustických nástrojp i found
sounds skrze laptop do vrstev proznívajících drónK, v centru pozornosti jsou témbry, rezonance a vibrace.
Dlouhý seznam nástrojo napovídá, že tohle je spolek, který na koncertt pjsobí jako vetešnictví, a že pces efekty („hlavnn velmi dlouhá echa!“, poznamenávají ironicky) rozeznívají úpln všechno, od nástrojž ppes hrakky a tibetské mísy až po kostru budovy. Proud hudby na albu vzbec není statický, promdny jsou neustálé, takže ti, kdo špatnk snášejí „meditativní“ drónová pole chudá na zvraty, m žou být v klidu. Do symfonizujícího nar stajícího souzvuku se zatezává kovové proznívání a baskytara udílí událostem starty, celý komplex je lad ný a opakují se melodické mikromotivy. Dirac si našli svou poetiku a stojí pevna na nohou: hustá, aktivní struktura tkaná z drón
zklamání, že nové prosttedky improvizátorr vlastn „zacouvaly“ ke starší form skladby, od níž se žádá
obvyklý vývoj. Od té doby jsem buo zmákl, anebo je na tom plirozené nrco, co lze tažko pojmenovat. Ale už mi to moc nevadí.
Duo Rdeoa Raketa tvo í Maja Osojnik a Matija Schellander: Maja, Slovinka žijící v Rakousku, se po léta
hledala v razných projektech jako skladatelka a kdysi i adeptka jazzového zpívu. Nepksobila vždycky
vyhrananv – což se nedá tíci o Old Girl, Old Boy.
Tahle hudba vnucuje pocit, že ji vytvolily v ci, ne lidi. Hromada rozmanitých objektk a mediálních ptístrojà se rozechvívá a vydává jak zvuky svých fyzických t,l, tak noise svých pamatí. Navršený, rozmanitý šum plyne v jediné íty icetiminutové ploše. Jediná krajina je však vnitens hodnp mlenitá, pestré vrstvy jsou navzájem itelné. Autoei museli udplat stovky, možná tisíce rozhodnutí. Mohutné basové otsesy jsou n kdy ponvkud efektní (vedle elektroniky se tu hraje na basovou flétnu a baskytaru), ale vcelku je tahle velká plastická zmse zvukového harampádí naplnyným ambiciózním tvarem, v éemsi pbíbuzným s Philipem Jeckem a jeho recyklací vinylp s dlouhou historií. Improvizace jako zdroj a prvotní tvar, studiová koláž jako finální autorský (skladatelský) nástroj: takový formát díla se dnes objevuje pom rna zhusta a Rdeoa Raketa miže být jeho reprezentativním pníkladem.
Mosz obdas vydá album, které pat í k té nevyšší lize dnešní volné elektroakustické scény (viz desku Till The Old World‘s Blown Up And A New One Is Created, jež spolu natooili Martin Brandlmayr, Werner Dafeldecker a Christian Fennesz), ale nenásleduje brhvíjaká propagace. Rakušané nejsou v mezinárodních médiích tak vzývaní jako když nastupovali Fennesz a Mego, takže svat se klidnn toeí dál. Možná to píispívá k tomu, že vídeaští kolegové z klingt.org o to zileji komunikují, posádají hodno koncertM a prezentací v (mladší generací zaplnšných) klubech, jako je dvojdomý Brut. Zkrátka pracují a vyvíjejí se.
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reviews : emphasis (spekk/2009)
Viennese trio Dirac are made up of Peter Kutin, Daniel Lercher and Florian Kindlinger, who are all active participants in Austria's more experimental musical circles, working in the fields of sound installation and live electronics. Emphasis falls into the latter category, and is a shining example of what can be achievedby electroacoustic free improvisation. The album opens in a slow and ambiguous fashion, taking on a minimal, soaring feel during 'This Is Your 4am Wake-Up Call', which ticks in an Oval-inspired, skipping-like fashion. It's a rather gentle exercise, but a cooly meditative introduction to the sort of sounds that'll be explored in greater depth during what's yet to come. 'Augarten' is a lowercase affair, creaking, crackling and occasionally emitting loose, disloated notes from guitar and piano. It's quiet and relies on your close attention, but its marriage of musicianly understatement and sheer otherness rewards your full engagement. Next, 'Bantu' offers a more confirmedly musical piece, glistening with processed tuned percussion and woozy, elongated tones that take on a curiously jazzy feel. The final entry, 'A Rest In Tension' is a more simplified composition, embracing the kind of organically derived drone sounds you'd hear on a Tape or Mountains record. Recommended.
brainwashed_jan2010 by creaig dunton
Hailing from Vienna, this relatively new trio has refined their approach to a post-rock and ambient influenced sound that, unlike many of their contemporaries, focuses more on the live collaboration to develop their sound, and not as much on DSP processing and effects laden sound.
Spread across four long tracks, the trio has an intentional sense of isolation injected within the sound. Recorded over a week in the basement of member Florian Kindlinger’s parents’ house, and then edited in a small hut in the Austrian mountains, there is a sense of being alone amidst the lush ambience. The opening "This Is Your 4AM Wake-Up Call" begins with slow ringing reverse textures, a low rhythmic pulse and an odd clicking sound finally appear. The track builds in complexity, adding subtle layers of sound that, on their own seem rather sparse, but taken together, along with guitar and fragments of voice, sound like a deconstructed take on shoegaze ambient, complex yet beautiful and inviting.Heavily effected string and sparse ambient sounds introduce "Augarten," and a distant kickdrum acts like a heartbeat in the extremely intimate recording. Compared to the opener, the heavily tremolo’ed strings that stretch for infinity stay the primary focus, with only the occasionally plucked string, or the sound of movement picked up by an ambient microphone. Because of this extremely simple structure, it’s more like being in the room as the tracks were being laid down as opposed to a polished studio (or live) recording.
"Bantu" brings back more of the processing and effects, with the metallic pings and rattles and subtle guitar pushing it into improvisation-land, with field recordings and wind chimes fleshing out the sound. As the track closes, a lush organ and digital textures push the volume up to full on power ambience: heavy and room-filling, but never oppressive or harsh. The closing "A Rest in Tension" lives up to its name: it mirrors the textures of the opening track, but keeps the dense heaviness of "Bantu" on and on, even above recordings of conversations and long, drawn-out sounds before ending on a sparse note of a clicking metronome and distant bells.
As previously stated, there’s a constant sense of isolation and intimacy here: even though field recordings occasionally put the sound in a wider context, there is still the feeling of being in a room with these guys as its being recorded, in an entirely different world. The shoegaze and ambient elements pervade, but never feel like a crutch to be leaned on. Too often bands will simply pile on the effects to create a lush, heavy feeling, but here it feels truly warm, and truly different.
Si on ne soulignera jamais assez que l’habit fait rarement le moine en matière de musique, on vous accorde tout de même qu’il est difficile d’éprouver un quelconque attrait pour une pochette semblable à celle du nouvel album de Dirac. Du moins, on est loin de pouvoir s’imaginer qu’un visuel aussi terne cache une musique aussi aboutie. Car la nouvelle œuvre du trio vennois est une nouvelle fois la preuve qu’on tient avec Spekk un label référence en matière de drone/ambient (on se souvient particulièrement de la récente œuvre de Level), bien loin de l’ascétisme présenté par cette jaquette. C’est que Dirac est un groupe « expérimental » au sens pur, jusque dans les méthodes de conception de son œuvre : Peter Kutin, Daniel Lercher et Florian Kindliger ont en effet pris l’habitude de s’isoler complètement du monde (le cas échéant dans une résidence secondaire basée à Salzbourg) afin d’accoucher de leur album, suite à une multitude de sessions musicales pensées et improvisées en vase clos, hors de l’excitation des grandes villes et de l’influence d’autres sources sonores.
Basé dans un premier temps sur une association guitare/field recordings/piano/éléments percussifs, la musique de Dirac est avant tout une histoire de vision : pousser le minimalisme ambient à exprimer une force qui dépasse de loin tous les moyens utilisés. Et le trio s’y emploie avec un talent remarquable, quatre pièces seulement et une heure d’un voyage aux confins d’un ambient/post-rock sensible, mesuré de toutes parts pour insuffler aux drones un pouvoir d’évocation gigantesque. La notion de note reprend toute sa vigueur quand on joue à ce niveau de précision, la force de celle-ci va jusqu’à acquérir une dimension presque sacrée dans les mains expertes de ces trois improvisateurs. Car Dirac ne vous laisse jamais sans point de repère, il balise ses longues avancées de lieux reconnaissables après seulement quelques écoutes, et crée entre ceux-ci des espaces de narration clairs-obscurs du meilleur effet. Emphasis pourrait être l’exemple-type de la balance entre l’extrême matérialisme de la note ou de la mélodie (que celle-ci soit jouée clairement ou en fragments ; peu importe qu’elle sorte d’un piano, d’une guitare ou d’une trompette) et le flou chaleureux d’une texture drone.
Une fois que ce mode de fonctionnement est intégré, libre à ces artistes de jouer alors sur les cordes qui relient ces différents outils, pour faire naître avec facilité la tension (l’incroyable « Bantu ») et la langueur (le final tout en decrescendo de « A Rest In Tension ») tout en s’assurant de toujours emballer ses quatre pièces dans un tissu d’émerveillement apaisé. Ces dans ses conditions que le deuxième album de Dirac touche à chaque fois le vrai musical, suscite en permanence l’éveil auditif, comme un inattendu renouveau des sens. Sans trop prendre de risque, on peut parler d’Emphasis comme une pièce maîtresse du drone mélodique de cette fin d’année. Un passage par elle est donc absolument recommandé. Masterpiece.
rédigé par Olivier
Trio autrichien de musique minimaliste, Dirac se compose des multi-instrumentistes Peter Kutin, Daniel Lercher et Florian Kindlinger qui manient tour à tour batterie, guitares et techniques de field-recording (prise de sons naturels et environnementaux) dans une approche à la fois très imaginative et sereine de la musique expérimentale.
Comme pour leur précédent et 1er album sorti en auto-production en 2006, c'est au moment même de l'enregistrement que le groupe donne une forme aussi définitive que possible à ses compositions, essayant au fil des heures d'improvisation de trouver le moment magique où, tout à coup, un instant de pure grâce musicale se matérialise sans que l'on sache nécessairement ni comment ni pourquoi. Dans un respect de cet instant fugace tant guetté, les trois alchimistes tentent en effet de limiter au maximum le travail de post-production et d'editing. De la même façon, afin de préserver au maximum leur force créatrice et leur esthétique personnelle individuelle, les périodes d'enregistrement et de création sont des périodes monacales où ils se coupent au maximum de toute influence extérieure, s'isolant volontiers dans des contrées sauvages. Pour le mixage d'Emphasis , Peter, Daniel et Florian se sont par exemple installés en plein hiver dans un minuscule chalet, en plein c¦ur des montagnes autrichiennes. Le froid glacial et l'électricité défaillante qu'ils y ont expérimentés au quotidien sont comme palpables à l'écoute de l'albumŠ
C'est donc une musique à forte dominante ambient que Dirac distille avec une austérité contrôlée, une musique émotionnelle et éthérée qui habille le silence avec dévotion et justesse. Chaque son a sa place, chaque note est essentielle, tout autant que les silencesŠ Un envoûtement précieux et dépouillé mais qui demeure néanmoins facilement accessibleŠ Quintessence et incandescence riment ici à la perfection !
Given that the ambient scene is dominated by solo artists, Dirac is a rarity. An ambient collective, these three musicians hail from Vienna's experimental music circles. Their second and latest effort, Emphasis, is a four-track, forty-three minute album complete with ambient drones, tremolo guitars, minimalist piano, clanging cymbals, field recordings, and samples of everything from clocks to trumpets. Recorded in a family basement in Salzberg, edited in a hut in the Austrian mountains, and incorporating sounds from the makers' everyday experiences, this album is an intimate affair. They made use of an old clock in their editing hut, recorded ravens in their local park, played a trumpet to a frozen mountain lake, and used a photo of a nearby abandoned farm house as their album cover.
While each of the four tracks has its strengths, two of them really stand out for their innovative sound blends and surprising tension. The tremolo guitar of “Augarten” and the reverberating trumpet of “Bantu” each bring a hush to the surrounding sounds that draw out the emotional charge of the album. Even those who find themselves bored or distracted when listening to ambient drones will sit up and take notice of the startlingly intimate clarity contained in these pieces.
Intimacy is, in fact, the album's strength. While many ambient artists such as Tim Hecker seek to dazzle the listener by aurally representing the shimmering cosmos with rich distortions and long, wet delays, Dirac seek instead to push the listener inward, creating a soundscape suitable for deep introspection. If Hecker recreates the birth of our own sun in all its violent, ethereal glory, Dirac capture the mountain slope, silent and abandoned as the living take shelter from the impending snowstorm. Through sound, Dirac captures the silence of inner thoughts, at times discomforting and at times providing solace from the constant noise of modern life.
Intimacy is perhaps also the album's weakness. Not everyone will permit a field recording of ravens to garner respect or intrigue. Drones and washed-out atonal trumpets can be difficult to sit through. Children playing in a field is something we've all heard before. But the musicians who made this music experienced these things firsthand, and to them these sounds have a great deal of meaning. Successfully conveying that meaning requires that the listener be in a willing and vulnerable state of mind. If the album fails to capture a particular listener's ears such that he's willing to follow it wherever it may take him, then the album fails. On the other hand, if the listener is willing to suspend his skepticism long enough to become enthralled, then the album succeeds completely. For music like this, it is engagement or nothing.
Perhaps it is the abandoned farm house adorning the cover of the album that can serve as the cohering metaphor for Emphasis. At one point, a family built this house to shelter itself from the harsh Austrian winters. The surrounding land was cultivated for crops and livestock, and nightly the family members gathered around the dinner table to tell tales and share their meager fare. Breaking bread with one another to the light of oil lamps, spreading homemade butter from the milk of their own cows, they lived lives nearly incomprehensible to the modern city-dweller, and as a result their lives, hard as they were, are now romanticized by those of us who struggle to overcome the alienation that comes with living anonymously in a sea of other people.
And now, that family is gone, the children leaving the farm for the cities, the elders long since buried in the earth. The land is overgrown, and the house lies silent and abandoned. Instead of its roof sheltering a family from the elements, a group of three experimental musicians snap a photo of it and use it as a cover to their album. But unlike the austerely beautiful birth of a star, the house was built with the hands of humans. They shaped the raw materials of the earth into shelter, and, years later, we stand and view the dilapidated product of their labor with something like awe. We recognize something vital, raw, and perhaps even primal in the ruins before us, and through this recognition we are stilled with respect for who they were and mourning for what's become of them, for what's become of us.
How does this metaphor assist us in understanding the music? Dirac takes the listener on a trip inward, providing the necessary impetus to clear out those mental cobwebs, to bring into focus the uncertainties of one's own existence. Dirac's accomplishment in Emphasis will not be acknowledged by everyone, but for those who take the time to listen, they will be more than pleasantly surprised by a great album. They will be provided a place of respite in which to recover from the pressures of their daily lives, and perhaps to unravel those psychic knots that cause us so many problems. Take the time to engage this album. You won't be disappointed.
-Stephan Sherman
vital weekly _dec09
DIRAC – EMPHASIS (CD by Spekk)
Somewhere in my (virtual) book of labels, I think Spekk is filed under ‘laptop – subsection microsound’, but .....
The name Dirac popped up on a compilation before, but they also have a CD out with the same name, and ‘Emphasis’ is their second CD, recorded in a basement in Salzburg, Austria, using drums, guitars and field recordings. All recorded directly onto two tracks and then later edited together. Recorded in isolation, this is music far away from the hectic life in big cities (not that Salzburg is that big), bringing out the silence proportions of music. The drums and guitar sound like guitar and drums (or vibraphone, or whatever piece of percussion used), playing slow, peaceful music. The field recordings complete this silent approach. If there is a connection to be made then I’d say it resembles the music of Tape. The same kind of ’slow’ playing, placing great emphasis (yes) on each, individual sound, making gentle gestures with them. x ‘rock’ like, but a fine quality of its own, defying any category. None of these three deal with laptops or microsound, so perhaps I was all wrong about Spekk. Great releases. (FdW)
Similarly packaged in Spekk's distinctive vertical case design, Emphasis features four, patiently nurtured, long-form explorations that unfold unhurriedly, in the manner that one associates with improvised material. Vienna, Austria-based Dirac members Peter Kutin, Daniel Lercher, and Florian Kindlinger recorded the material in daily four-hour sessions in the basement of Kindlinger's parents' house in Salzburg during one week, and later did post-production editing in February 2008 in a snowy and silent Austrian mountain setting. Guided by the spirit of spontaneous composition, the three supplement a wealth of electro-acoustic sounds with field recordings (traffic noise, crows cawing, children's voices). In “This is Your 4 am Wake-Up Call,” gleaming slivers of whistling tones stretch out while a bedside clock ticks in the background (and the snores of an unidentified someone emerge too); as the minutes tick by, the music gains strength, just like a person slowly arising from slumber. “Augarten” follows it with a setting built from electric guitar shudder, piano, percussion, and ambient noises. “Bantu” presents a shape-shifting flow of organ, music box tinkles, trumpet, and bass, while the slow-motion organ drone “A Rest in Tension” is placid in the extreme. While its low-key approach eschews epic gestures capable of shattering one's speakers, Emphasis is the kind of set that would appeal to fans of Radian and any number of Rune Grammofon artists.
After a limited CDR on U-Cover in 2007, Emphasis marks the second full-length effort from Viennese trio Dirac. The band specializes in what they've dubbed "21st century chamber music," a sleek euphemism for peaceful, ambient soundscapery. A look at the band's autobiography reveals the sheer mass of tools they implement in their sound -- effectively a laundry list of instruments enumerating everything from a Maultrommel to an Ebow.
Yet the compositions themselves are fairly minimalistic -- rarely dense and always slow-moving. A confirmed highlight is the twelve minute opener, "This is Your 4 A.M. Wake-up Call," which places the wistful, droning tones of singing bowls above a bed of slow-shifting bass and back-masked sound. The overall effect is distinctly cinematic -- it could be the score to a film in which latent secrets lurking beneath ordinary life are slowly revealed. Meanwhile, "Bantu" covers similar pensive ground, this time in a more fragmented manner; the track is a melancholy stretch of sad horns, jangling guitar, and distant bells, organized in a blissfully musical manner. Its breathtaking crescendo is a delicious purge near track's end.
Ultimately, Emphasis is quiet music, which isn't to say it's destined for the background. A stunning meditation on the city at night, perhaps -- or accompaniment to a dusty country road -- Dirac's album appeals to that mental state of dreamy contemplation that characterizes all of us from time to time. Though it will likely be the droneheads and ambient fanatics who will most bond with these four compositions, I feel as if Emphasis's potently evocative nature will endear it to anyone with a fondness for sound.
Michael Tau
I loved Dirac’s album on U-Cover so it’s jolly good to hear this new work for Spekk at last. ‘Emphasis’ comes as a 4-track album that’s absolutely brimming with luscious sounds. A sincere and heartwarming blend of guitars, gentle post-rock, field recordings and electronic elements it creates an absolutely fascinating journey for you to adventure through. You can hear references to jazz, electro acoustic work, drone and even the aforementioned post-rock, yet nothing ever dominates too strongly and the tracks are just as liable to subtly alter halfway through as they are to just bliss out for 10 minutes at a time. The underlying sense of aural experimentation is never far away but everything remains coherent and pretty much melody based throughout. ‘Augarten’, for example, moves between delicate piano chords and motifs that you could call jazz, before being joined by a shuffling drum beat and twanging guitars. But then, halfway through, everything gently ebbs away into some marvellous naturalistic sounds and recordings that left me reminded of something… I’m not sure what, but it was possibly a movie I think. Something swampy and very slightly sinister. The final track has a spiritual chord that gently rolls along in a distinctly church organ style and it provides a fitting end to yet another awesome album release from Spekk. Fans of Type are going to adore this as well as lovers of the Spekk releases as a whole. Marvellous.
“Chamber music of the 21st century”, I like that. For being right and wrong at the same time. The melancholic beauty of a Brahms quartet with Piano and Viola or a Chopin Sonata (the largo of op. 65!!!) cannot be beaten by anything on this world, but the overal sanctity and beauty of chamber music finds a mirror in the longwinding atmosphere of electro-accoustic drones in a very postmodern way. In that anything is connected to anything else way. Chamber music never uses percussive elements, as far as I know, though, but from the closeness of a small group of people working together to elaborate on a piece of music and give its atmosphere to the world, there is a connection in the process. Finally, as soon as someone starts to improvise he has clearly left the field of classical music, especially in comparison to the structural codes of chamber music. But if the improvisation draws not on technical versatility and superficial showing-off, rather adds to a piece which in re-listening sounds as if it had been scripted and rehearsed, then what actually is the difference? Even a noted piece of music can never repeated in the same manner, according to dogmatic music theory.
Dirac is a three piece of electro-acoustic improvisors working in Vienna, Austria, with academic backgrounds in music and an open mind for all kinds of sounds and fields of art. I didn’t even know it is possible to study electroacoustics at our university for music and supplied arts here, but what do you want from me, I am an old punkrocker, you know.
The four tracks on emphasis all have a subtle percussive element, the clicking of some mechanic works, a muted bassdrum, and so on, around which a host of various kinds of sounds are strewn. These range from noisy drones to lonely notes on an old piano to field recordings. Everything is very organic, moves as if blown along by the autumn wind. The field recordings of crows in the street help to enhance the impression of autumn, goodbyes, death and bittersweet melancholy. The track perusing the crows is called Augarten, which is a very nice park in the second district of Vienna and it doesn’t take a lot of intuition to guess at least some of the source material comes from there.
Within the four tracks time seems to stand still. Something breaks, notes echo through the vaccum, somewhere in the distance something seems to be burning, childrens voices wave through the mist, resonance and echo play an important role. It is like watching those small white jellyfish in the black tank in the zoo of Vienna. An almost hypnotizing experience that you may watch for half an hour and believe the time that has passed is not more than a few minutes. Everything blurrs in the force field of the music. A muted saxophone brushes over the boundaries to free jazz, dropping piano notes draw from centuries of nocturnes, rising density (“bantu”) in sound as from nowhere makes me think of a decade of listening to Japan Noise as well as the primordial experience of watching a storm accumulate in the mountains, feeling the electricity in the air.
A wonderful way to spend away an hour of your time. Somehow I believe that what “emphasis” wants to tell us is that there is nothing more important than time, expanded time, better used time. Carpe diem and all that. An important lesson that cannot be repeated too often. Another album is planned in early 2010 on the honorable Valeot records.
Dirac is a special ambient collaborative, made up of three experimental musicians from Vienna's musical circle. Their second and latest effort, Emphasis, is a four-track, forty three-minute album complete with ambient drones, tremolo guitars, minimalist piano, clanging cymbals, field recordings, and samples of everything from clocks to trumpets. Recorded in a family basement in Salzberg, edited in a hut in the Austrian mountains, and incorporating sounds from the makers' everyday experiences, this album is an intimate affair. They made use of an old clock in their editing hut, recorded ravens in their local park, played a trumpet to a frozen mountain lake, and used a photo of a nearby abandoned farm house as their album cover.
Who the fuck is Dirac? Der Name ist vom Quantenphysiker Paul Dirac entlehnt, dahinter verbirgt sich das junge österreichische Trio Kindlinger/Kutin/Lercher. Obwohl Absolventen des Instituts für Elektroakustik, klingt ihre Musik weniger experimentell als konzentriert meditativ. Als hätte Brian Eno sein ursprüngliches Konzept von Ambient aus den späten 70ern weiterverfolgt und wäre dabei auf den Zeitlupen-Sound von Bohren & der Club of Gore gestoßen. Sehr schöne, extrem detailliert gearbeitete Platte, mit der Dirac gleich auf einem japanischen Spezialisten-Label gelandet sind.
Sebastian Fasthuber