This will sound a bit funny coming from a music blogger, but I long ago gave up on the idea that I can turn people onto alternative styles of music. The best I can hope for is to draw listeners’ attention to great examples of musical forms they already appreciate.
It’s a bit of a running joke at home. My 11-year-old son once volunteered that avant-garde – his dad’s preferred term for experimental music – is French for “sounds terrible.”
That line is a big hit whenever we entertain. I try to explain to our guests what BADD PRESS and The Moderns are about, what a noise artist is and why found sound is an important cultural statement. This is typically treated with half-smiles and polite nods.
Every now and then though, a recording comes along that strikes me as so plainly beautiful that I want to play it for the biggest audience possible. Oleksandr Demianenko’s Tapes Recorded For Watercolors is one of those recordings.
This debut from the Ukranian multimedia artist is a stunner. Demianenko painted the album’s artwork. He’s also active in film and photography.
His Instagram feed offers up gorgeously shot minimalist scenes and patterns. There’s a sense of wistfulness and even melancholy that permeates his music with a similarly expert touch.
It is fair to describe this first release as an ambient album. But there is so much going on beneath the surface that it deserves more detailed consideration.
It is the connections between the gentle drones he’s produced, his often distorted beats and the various other sounds woven into this lovely sound tapestry that makes Tapes Recorded For Watercolors such an impressive introduction.
Don’t miss this one.