Catalog

Jeff Morris presents his fourth Ravello Records release, this one focusing on woodwinds and employing his characteristic live sampling and electronics. CLOSE REEDING is the latest since HEARING VOICES, an album which set its sights on the most fundamentally-human musical instrument: the human voice. Now, Morris turns his attention to woodwind instruments, which he terms the “next most human” family of instruments. By way of digital manipulation and live improvisation, Morris gives this thesis a convincing exposition.

MIND & MACHINE VOL THREE offers a new look into the Ravello Records series of electro-acoustic and electronic music lauded by critics as “interesting and captivating” (Cinemusical). This latest edition features an array of composers and sound-artists who offer his or her own striking exploration into the means by which technology can be used to alter time and form to create entirely new musical experiences.

The Chafe Impett Parra Trio, in partnership with Ravello Records, has released their newest album, TIME CRYSTAL. TIME CRYSTAL is a musical project like nothing you’ve ever heard before—born at the nexus of art and science, this collection of improvisational “experiments” tests the interactions between musical inputs and computer-generated responses. What listeners hear on the recording is actually a methodological documentation of a laboratory session in Ghent, during which three musicians engaged in a fluid and captivating freeform dance. TIME CRYSTAL is electroacoustic music at the very vanguard of the genre; it features violoncello, double bass, trumpet, and electric guitar, and offers listeners the chance to take part in the musical discovery.

Peeling back the complex layers of Bill Whitley's ethereal ABSENT LIGHT, one is astounded to see how this music could at once be so serene, yet technically intricate.

A COLLECTION OF WORKS from composer Jean-Paul Perrotte and Ravello Records encapsulates forces of nature with modern musical composition, interpreting the power of water, landscapes, and the human mind. With original works written between 2007 and 2021, this electroacoustic concoction blends traditional instrumentation with computer generated sounds in deep soundscapes, capturing the mysterious essence of dream states and the strength of flowing water and unifying classical and electronic music under one compositional canopy.

Lauded by critics as “interesting and captivating” (Cinemusical), the MIND & MACHINE series from Ravello Records returns in its fourth installment with a fresh roster of today's electro-acoustic composers. From the depths of the sea to the wildlife that populates our atmosphere and the breaths that form within us, a myriad of mystifying soundscapes await discovery. Innovatively-captured sound samples intertwine with contemporary social issues in this album, commenting on climate change, justice and inequality, and more. Our fragility and recovery are revealed in Gasp, human influence on the environment manifests in green line 2065 and Water Birds, and resilient voices respond in the face of oppression in Hanggang sa Takipsilim.

NOWS from David Rosenboom and Sarah Belle Reid is a captivating expression of the radical challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The music examines the notion of “co-presence,” or togetherness, when experienced in isolation. This seemingly self-contradictory concept became an everyday occurrence as in-person gatherings became video conferences. Performer-composers Reid and Rosenboom spent this time passing fragmented musical ideas back and forth. In this organic way, a collection of “sound correspondences” accumulated between the two artists, made with instruments ranging from strings and horns to modular synthesizers, analog signal processors, urban and desert soundscapes, and much more. The resulting album, NOWS, is a post-genre masterpiece that speaks to our unique moment in history.

Cultural pessimists might argue that we've never lived in an age as isolated and atomized as this one, and a certain recent pandemic certainly didn't help. Cultural optimists on the other hand might quote German poet Hölderlin: "But where the danger is, also grows the saving power." Whatever the truth may be, the collective minds behind THE QUARANTINE AT THE CORE OF OUR HEARTS elegantly disregarded rumination, and instead chose to act.