Denis Kolokol - Ily
[tng1049]
Denis Kolokol is a Ukrainian sound artist, composer and performer currently residing in Krakow, Poland. He used to be a key figure in the underground scene of Almaty, Kazakhstan, also run some really good zines. You can find out more about him at his MySpace profile.
Ily is a new, brilliant release from Denis. Here's what he writes about his inspirations and about this music:
The river Ily begins at the Tien Shan in China at an altitude of 3540m. It covers the distance of 1439km, of which 815km within the territory of Kazakhstan, where it's one of the largest rivers. Flows into the western part of the lake Balkhash - at its outfall the vast delta is formed with several permanent branches (Zhideli, Topar) and numerous small lakes and backwaters. The river strongly affects the Balkhash - this salt lake's is almost half fresh only because of the Ily.
At the beginning of 20th century the river was a busy trade road from he west of China, but today it is popular only among romantics who like to play their guitars at the campfire, and adventure tourists who
raft on the river down to the Balkhash. Try to trace its flow on a map - if you look long and attentively, if
your eyes catch every ringlet on its course, you will probably start hearing the music.
I hear this music.
Listen:
Download:
1. Stranger Cafe mp3 24MB | flac 76MB
Remixed and mastered version of the live solo-set in April, 2008 in the Stranger Cafe (Kraków), which unfortunately doesn't exist anymore.
2. Go find yourself in my dream mp3 23MB | flac 60MB
An aural illustration of one of the nightmares from my childhood. The piece is created in 2008 at SME (Studio for Electroacoustic Music) in the Academy of Music, Kraków. Soprano - Jolanta Kowalska.
3. Chasing 43 mp3 15MB | flac 49MB
Guitar - Alexander Chikmakov.
Artworks:
download artworks:
front cover artwork
back cover artwork
Download the whole album in a .zip file
Other download options at archive.org
Composed by Denis Kolokol, except (3), which is the improvisation together with Alexander Chikmakov.
Cover photographs are by Mila Teshaeva and Denis Kolokol.
Thanks to my teacher Marek Chołoniewski and the staff of Narodowe Centrum Kultury, who made this all possible through their Gaude Polonia grant.
Dedicated to all my friends in Almaty, Kyiv, and Kraków..
Visit also:
http://www.myspace.com/deniskolokol
All content of this site (including audio files) is available under Creative Commons license.
DENIS KOLOKOL - ILY
Oh maybe this is the place where I should have something about CDRs and MP3s, but then again, this cover looks OK. It could have been a real thing. Or perhaps I like Audiotong as a label (no bribes, I think). Or perhaps its the fact this label also does real CDs. They enclosed a compilation they produced for The Wire with the current state of affairs in Poland, which contains names like Emiter, Robert Piotrowicz, Anna Zaradny, known from Vital Weekly reviews. A nice bunch of electronic, avant-garde and improvised music. But today we only deal with Dennis Kolokol, who deals with serious electronic music, created with the means of a laptop. One of the three pieces is recorded, 'Go Find Yourself In My Dream' was recorded at the Studio For Electroacoustic Music in Krakow and that can be heard. Maybe its the environment of such a studio, but the opera like voices, and jumpy electronics smell like serious academic music, but Kolokol does add a bit of spice to it, that faint trace of
industrial music. In the opening piece things are much wilder and it almost seems the opposite thing: industrial, almost noise based music with the ideas of musique concrete as its starting point. In the closing piece 'Chasing 43', there is apparently the guitar of Alexander Chikmakov, but it takes some time before we hear it. A soft, non rhythmic click piece, with the guitar, when it finally comes on, play a melancholic touch. Three quite diverse pieces of music, that show a fine display of quality. Serious but not so serious, humorful and above all skilled. (FdW)
(Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly 689)
Denis Kolokol - Ily
RATED: 10 / 10
A sudden and lucky find. Kolokol is a strong composer with an excellent approach of sound and structure. We will be hearing more from this man. I hope, at least.
Denis Kolokol is a Ukrainian sound artist, composer and performer currently residing in Krakow, Poland. He used to be a key figure in the underground scene of Almaty, Kazakhstan, also ran some really good zines. I have never heard of the guy and just stumbled upon this new Audiotong release. Audiotong presents online quality music since 2005. This is no exception.
Kolokol composed a series of three strong works. The first track, Ily, starts with a harsh layer of electronic sounds which arise from a reverberated background. Suddenly there is a movement after which the reverberation subsides and cold, hard electronics take over. Then gradually those electronic tones are broken down. Etcetera. What I like most about this music is that it has a strong helmsman. Kolokol is a composer who is definitely in charge of the music and directs with a firm hand.
The second track is quite different. It's droney in a quite simplistic way. Flanged electronic organ like sounds interfere with each other and by gradually raising the volume tension is built up. Shortly a more prominent sound is added, subsides and the volume is lowered for a moment. Brilliant. It's based on drones but here again things are not being played by themselves but following the directions of the composer again.
At the center of the final piece is a guitar. Which presents again a new appproach of the music. While the other two tracks were abstract, here the guitar playing is clearly audible. Kolokol first recorded a simple guitar session with a rhythm section. Then he starts breaking down the recording and uses the pieces as material for his compositorial process. He does so again with great skill. Denis, in an e-mail adds: ""chasing 43" is a pure improvisation with no overdubs, the recording was only slightly mastered to fit the sounding of the rest. in fact it's a part of the recording of much longer improvisation, which lasted 43minutes, hence the title. the impression of the approach of making this piece, that you described (cut-up of the previously recorded material), can appear because the majority of the electronics here represented by SC granular algorithms that take the input signal and distribute it's particles in time according to intensity, length, freq scopes, etc."
The East again brings us something surprisingly good. My favourite for this year, sofar.
(Jos Smolders, Earlabs)