Wendell Roth – Written & Unsent

Written & Unsent is an exploration into the versatility of the piano; an attempt to play the instrument in a unique way. Roth’s heavy influence in rhythm and percussion is obvious in this album, as it will, at times, embody the emotion of a percussive instrument more so than a melodic one.

W&U was recorded on the same upright piano that was played in his first release, Immersion. You can still hear the same nuances that are so endearing from the first album, but there is a unique quality in this album, which is in part because of recording techniques, but mostly because of Roth’s playing style evolving over time. In W&U the playing swings between extremes of soft and delicate melodies into a bass-drum-thumping rhythm which you will find yourself bobbing your head to. “When I first discovered my love for the piano it was because I realized that I could play it like a drum. I had been playing drum set for 15 years but grew tired of it. One day I started playing ‘drum beats’ on a piano and a little light bulb went off in my head. The subtlety and melody that was lacking was now here.” Says Roth of his playing style.

This album is unique for Roth in a few ways. In “Immersion” Wendell favors a heavy reliance upon violin and cello structure to tie the pieces together; the piano is often simple to leave room for the strings, yet W&U is filled with powerfully driven solo piano which encapsulates the entire spectrum of sound. It was only because of the desire to play live shows, and the difficulty in finding strings players, that drove Roth to write more piano driven pieces.

“And I certainly have to thank my brother, Michael. He told me, after seeing me play solo piano, that he actually preferred the solo piano songs… I don’t think I ever would have recorded this album without his encouragement.” Roth says that he is happy with how the album turned out, but he still sees it as more of an experiment. “The next album, which I’ve been enjoying obsessing over for the past few months, will definitely incorporate more strings and other instrumentation.”

OP3 – Hope

OP3 is a neo-classical & ambient and atmospheric musical journey, borrowing elements from different genres of music such as jazz, electro and folk rhythms all coming together to provide the listener with a unique modern classical audio experience.

Hope by OP3 from Greece is a concept album with a unique story written by Dimitris Mitropapas. A short and symbolic title that seems to be the best choice in order to fully express what the main theme of the album is all about.

While it’s been written and composed mostly by one person, the addition of the live members / band during the making of the album, made the process blossom with new ideas and extra touches from every musician involved.

“Creating art this way is almost a magical experience.”, says Dimitris. “It definitely transformed the album from a solely personal expression into a unique piece of art, being shared and cherished by more people.

”The sound of the album is focused on the atmospheric, ambient elements provided by the minimalistic piano themes, haunting cello lines and heart touching violin melodies. Electronics and the use of a variety of home made sounds, gave the album an even more unique “feel” to it.

Storyline:

A girl named Melanie wakes up inside a strange room, in a futuristic city. She doesn’t seem to know the reason of her appearance there. Melanie tries to find a way to connect all the clues leading to this event as well as an escape out of there.

As a few last words regarding this release, we’d like to strongly advise the audience / reader to experience the album as a whole, so they can fully witness what it actually has to offer. Each and every single one should feel free to interpret the album and the outcome of the story, with their own unique way.

Iván Muela – Unsound

The sonic world created by the young composer in “Unsound” is a swirl of emotions. The melodies and textures captured in its 11 tracks bring the listener into a different dimension in which feelings like desolation and hope walk hand by hand.

This time Iván’s exploratory spirit took him to traverse new musical territories, blending classical-sounding passages with modern electronic elements. Unsound, Ivan’s most ambitious work to date, features several upright and grand pianos, modular synthesizers, guitars, bass, upright bass and even a 9-piece string ensemble recorded in a church.

“I wanted to create some music that would integrate technology as part of the compositional process. I was driven by this desire to make some beautiful compositions that could also be sonically exciting and surprising for the listener. There was a certain romantic feel in the production process; by trying to explore uncommon instruments, tools or techniques, I wanted my music to breathe, to feel like it’s moving.

The music contained in Unsound is full of ironies and contradictions. Sounds that took weeks to achieve are ornamenting spontaneous piano improvisations; thorough studio production alternates with simple field recordings I made while walking home with a worn-out Walkman in my hand”.

While not being necessarily a conceptual album, Unsound is heavily inspired by the composer’s everyday life. Some tracks are little snippets of his thoughts, reflections of personal events and some sound passages are reflections of life in a big metropolis. “Trying to find beauty in a hectic city like London is sometimes tough. Hope, worries, calm, bliss, elation, feeling like exploding inside... There are a lot of emotions put into this music but what each person makes out of them… that is very personal”.

Hannes Kretzer – Petrichor

Hannes Kretzer from Germany is a young talented musician whose music travels around modern classical and ambient. Besides his piano based compositions you can hear the music boxes, field recordings, effect/pads and toy instruments.

‘Petrichor’ the greek word for -the scent raindrops arouse falling on dry ground- is a symbol for the diversity contained in Hannes Kretzer’s latest Album.

The variety of modulations he elicits from his antique piano is awesome. The origin of sounds is not reduced to the keys but expands to every single part of the instrument. The lid screeches, the pedals rattle, the felts breathe with the tide. Each acoustic element was squeezed through a magnitude of digital effects to reappear as a homogenic adventure to a never heard acoustic cosmos.

Smooth piano ballads, tiny lo-fi interludes, bewildering noise carpets await the attentive listener. In ‘Petrichor’ Hannes Kretzer combines a colorful mixture of ambient, neo-classical, noise and lo-fi musical styles. The acoustic jewels reveal their beauty by listening closely, laid back with closed eyes withdrawn from the world around.

’Petrichor’ was recorded and processed on various locations. This spatial diversity is the offspring of the emotional and acoustic intenseness attracting the listener throughout the album.

Hannes Kretzer managed to create a very good album by reducing the means to a minimum to get out the most.

Gargle & Bosques De Mi Mente – Absence

Bosques de mi Mente is a Spanish contemporary classical composer, that has been creating minimalist piano pieces over the years. Gargle is a duo from Japan that plays beautiful post-rock ambient with modern classical influences. Absence is their first collaboration from these two artists, a delightful and pleasant record.

It all started when the band contacted the composer, a correspondence that would result in a true friendship. Both shared stage in Madrid, Spain, in 2011.

Absence, the album, was conceived when Gargle asked Bosques de mi Mente to work on a song together for the forthcoming Gargle's album. The experience was so fulfilling for them that they decided to expand on it, and so Absence was born.

From the beginning, the goal was to create a completely collaborative album. The process started by sharing small ideas and song pieces, and soon everything started to gall into place, leading to the three of them working together as a true three-piece band in a gradual and natural way. The result is pure harmony, beauty and a wing for atmosphere, space and time.

Bosques De Mi Mente's pianos are like little paper ships floating over the water. String players from Tokyo College of Music, conducted by Jun gives the album a great symphonic dimension. Gargle's guitars and accordions gets the music over the stratosphere. Hope to see these modern classical pieces turn into modern classics.

Yawning – Noah

Noah is the first release of Jun who records under the moniker "Yawning" on Fluttery Records. His previous release Selected Works, his band Gargle and their contributions to Draff Krimmy project made the label to track this gifted artist. He offers instrumental music especially influenced by ambient, modern classical and post-rock. Enjoy the tranquillity.

Matt Finney (poet / musician)
I received an email from Jun asking me to write a bit about his new EP “Noah” for Fluttery. He's been a dear friend of mine since I met about a year or so ago. He's one of the nicest and gentlest people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. One of my few true heroes. He also happens to be one of my all time favorite musicians. I remember listening to his Heat Death Records album Selected Works and being completely and utterly blown away. It was all I listened to for a year. No fooling. I have so many great and painful memories attached to them and those are just the demos of his! Noah shows Jun moving into more mature territory. More heartbreaking and tender territory while we're at it.

It's been quite a ride watching him craft these songs. The idea came about when I lost someone that was so dear to me and I never even had the chance to see him. I was devastated for so long. All I had left to turn to were my records and Yawning was always there for me. That's about as cliche as it gets but I'll be damned if it isn't the truth. I remember telling Jun about the rough time I was having and he became a confidant in many ways. I hope I was one to him as well. He was going through his own battles at the time. He told me that he was unsure if he'd make another solo album. I begged him to keep recording, even if they were rough sketches that only I could hear. I told him how much his music meant to me and how I needed something to lean on. I can tell you right now that this become a crutch to me.

This is the best ep of 2010. One of the best in general if my opinion is worth anything. I doubt you're gonna find a record that will shake you like this. The moments of hurt and joy are displayed in ways I've never heard before. All of my attachments to it aside, this should be required listening for everyone. You're not gonna find too many composers on Jun level and when he's working with emotions that we've all felt at some point, there's very little to feel alone about. Thank you so much to Jun for making this album. I think I've rambled on long enough. It's time for you to listen and to buy it. I dare you not to be moved.

REVIEWS

Caleidoscoop / Jan Willem Broek

While the reviewing season slowly proceeds towards the winter break, sometimes suddenly a big surprise is delivered by the mailman. I received, for example. the mini 'Noah' by the Japanese project 'Yawning'. It is a project by Jun Minowa, who also is half of the ambient duo 'Gargle'. Aside from that, he also participates in the fantastic international project 'Draff Krimmy'. His first CDr release as Yawning, 'Selected Works', has been sold out already. Now he releases his new work on the increasingly interesting label Fluttery Records. Despite the project name, this is absolutely not music that makes you yawn, it is more awe inspiring instead. He delivers 4 tracks that are together just above 21 minutes, and that are influences by genres such as post-rock, neoclassical, and ambient. One gets deliciously soft piano sounds, which form a breath-taking whole with (electronic) neoclassical and symphonic elements, dark ambient, and soft post-rock guitars. By its overwhelming beauty, the music absorbs one completely. It is music about loss, mourning, longing, and thoughts of unattainable love. The feelings affected by this are really intense, very melancholic, and very moving. He plays in a well-balanced way with different styles, and because of that sometimes one is more dominant than the other. In fact, the music became a sum total of the calmer parts of Mono wirh Richard Skelton, Deaf Center, Dakota Suite, Celer, Nils Frahm and Ólafur Arnalds. A very special jewel, never to let go again. 'Yawning' is a great new name at the melancholic firmament.

Cyclic Defrost

Succinct EP from Japanese post-classical musician Jun, guitarist from Gargle who also records under the name Yawning- Noah his solo project on Fluttery Records. Whereas polish was the missing factor in terms of some clumsiness affecting his earlier Selected Works, Jun’s exploration of sentiment driven by the bittersweet and reflective is continued on the Noah EP. Support from new label Fluttery has resulted in more realised complexity and less forced composition, the added production values allowing highly emotional pieces timing improvements not executed as capably on Selected Works.

That immense yet delicate juxtaposition Japanese artists have honed through the ages is certainly evident on Noah. The arrangements suggest soaring through vivid landscape, armies descending from the clouds or a single flower petal the only colour in a snowstorm. This is a decidedly measured work; every piano note every string every pause. Impressively this is managed without sounding overly calculated. The music still flows.

But it can’t be said that Jun is truly extending the edgier listener’s appetite, however those new age aficionados who like a cup of tea and some mental veg-out will probably not be hankering for anything more than the melancholy bliss delivered. Personally I couldn’t help but think Kitaro upon hearing Yawning’s Noah and for me that entails memories of shattered car journeys as a child with Silk Road winding terminally in the cassette player. / Yukkoff

Stereoworld.gr

Yawning is the solo project of Japanese musician Jun Minowa, who recently released an EP called Noah. This is his second release (following his Selected Works in 2009). The music of the Minowa is hardly in a class; he creates an ambient atmosphere without being restricted there. His orchestrations reveal influences from classical music, while communicating with the post rock ( the influence of his countrymen Mono).The EP contains four tracks, starting with Noah, which is also the title of the EP, is a wonderful composition built on a repeating melody. The Mourning is a melancholic piano dominant song, as opposed to The One I Cherish, a brilliant synthesis of the first cello and electric guitar while the Blessed Moment’s melody evolves over a layer noise. The downtempo rhythms of the Yawning EP creates a movie soundtrack atmosphere that draws images and landscapes for listeners as the artwork on the cover. The EP is 21 minutes and it can serve as an album length. It captures the listener interest and not fails to be predictable or repetitive.

Heinali – Air

Heinali airs his ambient mood classics. Oleg Shpudeiko (the man behind Heinali) creates a gloomy atmospheric environment with the piano, strings, ambient / glitch structures. "Air" is his 6 song album.

Heinali from Kiev, Ukraine started composing music in 2003. His sound is generally eclectic, though often described as atmospheric and emotional. In 2009 he joined the Soloma art group and composed music for media art performances “Traces on the Snow”, premiered at “I Love Kiev” contemporary art festival (Kiev, Ukraine, 2009) and “Aero”, premiered at “Gogol Fest” contemporary art festival (Kiev, Ukraine, 2010). His music was featured in ‘Ni Ogros Ni Princesas’ Provizional Danza choreography directed by Carmen Werner (Madrid, Spain, 2011). Collaborated with Maria Navrotskaya, Pleq, Merzbow, Aiode, Anton Baibakov, Orchestra Eclettica e Sincretista, Matt Finney. Collaboration with American poet Matt Finney became a separate heavier and darker sounding project. In 2011 they wrote music for the opening of Olya Pischanskaya’s photo exhibition, which took place at Korobchinsky Art Centre (Odessa, Ukraine, 2011).

Heinali joined Fluttery Records family in 2012. "We signed international music project Draff Krimmy" says Taner Torun, the label owner. "Jan Hammer recommended us Jun Minowa and his projects Gargle and Yawning. Heinali was introduced to us by Jun Minowa. It seems that artist we work with are so happy that they are recommending us to their friends and our family is growing that way."

When we return to Heinali's latest "Air" we find cinematic sad music, strings moving around the central piano motifs which are minimalistic. Power of light touches, the ambience, the echo and the sense.

REVIEWS

Altsounds / Jeremy Daniel

The build up of emotion can be subtle enough you nearly miss it but it's there; lurking just behind the ominous clouds overhead, and off in the distance, a cello calls out like a beacon through the fog. Four minutes into the song and another crescendo, from behind the foggy bank of emotion that's slowly rolling in are the clear chimes of a xylophone, weathering the heavy storm. Not an unusual instrument to be placing in such a composition but what's particularly striking is the almost child-like innocence it exudes. It bravely soldiers on, like a tiny beam of sun breaking through the clouds, determined to shed a fragment of hope on an otherwise emotionally crippling situation. Shpudeiko's notes become darker and deeper until they gradually fade off as the song comes to a close.

There's a near two minute gap where just the gentle sobbing of the strings and the naive, good natured xylophone are all that's hanging in the air until Shpudeiko completely kills it off in the most cruel fashions: hitting that bellowing low note on the piano that in an instant, snuffs any of the glimmer of hope or good nature out. Musically, it's a reminder that, unlike in flashy Hollywood movies, life doesn't always yeild a happy ending to an unpleasant situation and sometimes, all you're left with is grief, broken dreams and unanswered questions. And even at that, he still manages to slide a feint hint of beauty into that ending, so maybe if this were a soundtrack, the film it accompanies may be more ambigious than what the silver screen has to offer.

Mescaline Injection

Oh my; to mention all the musical influences heard on this new release by Shpudeiko Oleg of Kiev is impossible. Perhaps you could describe his music with a formula for 'excellent taste in music:' he is evidently open to many things, especially many good things. Hip-hop, rock, jazz, classical, post-punk, and everything else that comes with power - nothing seems strange to him. He presents his latest works under the banner, 'HEINALI,' demonstrating a definite flair for writing emotional music.

'Air' features a series of attractive elements, and is easily accessible. On the other hand, by its depth, you can slide down into the shallow (water), as a listener. A beautiful album for this time of year when the view out the window is either lonely clouds on blue sky, or raindrops on the windshield.

Beach Sloth

Heinali is calm, calculated modern classical music. Max Richter would be one comparison. Rachel’s, that rock turned classical band from Louisville KY, would be yet another. ‘Air’ builds up its pieces gradually. Electronic touches are present throughout the album. These are used sparingly. Generally the flourishes are related to the low end, to emphasize and elongate the size and scope of the sound. It is patient. And Heinali seems to succeed best with the longer pieces, which allow a great ability to stretch out the sound.

‘Leaves’ sets the mood. This is one of the more active pieces. Max Richter’s influence is heavily felt on this piece, which consists of repetition and slow builds. Other pieces take a near-silent approach. ‘Seagull’ with its blending of the composed and field recordings, is a particularly memorable piece. Near silence from the field recording gives it a greater impact. Heinali almost appears to melt away in this track, allowing the field recording quite a bit of room in creating this wistful feeling. ‘Air’ the title track has quite a bit of electronic effects to create a constantly following sky of sound. ‘Bells’ the epic closer (which at ten minutes takes up a third of the whole album) is gorgeous. The drone sounds beautiful as crystal clear piano and bells are heard rising above, out of the constant low end. Here is where Heinali best succeeds with its mixture of classical and electronic.

This is a muted disc. At no point do things get particularly loud. Heinali does work in a rather crowded field as modern classical music becomes more and more popular. Yet Heinali is able to rise above.

Caleidoscoop / Jan Willem Broek

Fluttery is one of the most exciting international labels. From the world they pick up the cherry in terms of experimental music, post-rock and neoclassical music. They now add Ukraine to their long list where their artist come from with self-taught musician and multi-instrumentalist Oleg Shpudeiko. Very apposite in view of the European Football Championship currently being played there and in Poland. But let me, before I get cranky, just limit myself to the music. Under his alias Heinali, the man from Kiev makes usually minimal work full pianoriedels, strings and electronics, which he crossed several genres. After many digital releases, EPs and CD-Rs he finally came with the debut CD 67 Breaths. He brings a thrilling beautiful mix of neoclassical, post-rock, jazz, ambient and film music. In addition, he has two more obscure works with the American poet Matt Finney and he worked with Mary Navrotskaya, Pleq, Merzbow, Aiode, Anton Baibakov and Orchestra E Eclettica Sincretista. He continues his idiosyncratic musical path now with his second solo CD Air, 6 pieces in which he presents them together half an hour. The music here is well in line with its aforementioned debut, although it is classical and more melancholic. You get in constantly changing formations delicious melancholy string music, field recordings gritty, desolate piano parts and all kinds of electronics. It's more music for the fall, take a track like "October" alone, but no complaints from my side. The music is somewhere between neoclassical, (dark) ambient, post-rock and film music. It evokes the music of Deaf Center, Worry Train, Bersarin Quartett, Dustin O'Halloran, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Max Richter and Goldmund. Superb outlined darkness and desolation in a breathtaking setting. An intimate, melancholy and above all, a great gem.

A Journey Down The Well – How Little Can Be The Orchestra

A Journey Down The Well, the band known for creating extraordinary classical music pieces, releases a new EP, “How Little Can Be The Orchestra” on Fluttery Records.

A Journey Down The Well releases a new four song EP revealing their impulsive, unusual, minimalist approach to classical music. This is their first entirely instrumental release, as well as the first release of A Journey Down The Well as a duo.

A Journey Down The Well was founded in 2006 by musicians from Turkey (Taner) and Sweden (Anna and Martin). In 2010, after releasing two albums (The Funeral Album - 2007 and Sorry Monsters, I Have To Grow – 2009) the Swedish wing left the band citing the difficulty in traveling between the two countries. Taner Torun (the only founding member remaining in the band as well as the owner of Fluttery Records) has moved the project to his hometown and partnered with Ipek Zeynep Kadioglu (cellist, Mimar Sinan Conservatory & Manchester University School of Music and Drama graduate).

The new compositions contains rich string pieces (“How”), beautiful piano-violin-cello arrangements (“Little”), ambient structures created through delay manipulations (“Can Be”) and processed cellos made to sound like a ship's foghorn ( “The Orchestra”).

Taner Torun says “The EP is called How Little Can Be The Orchestra and there are several reasons for this. First of all, we recorded it as just two people and it reflects the minimalist nature of our music. Also, there is still sadness but also a gleam of hope. All four songs are about how little things have importance and make people happy with their existence like birds, kittens, children and toy instruments.”

How Little Can Be Orchestra also contains various field recordings alongside the music. Cars pass by on the street and a little girl yells at them from the window (02), fans celebrate their victory (03), newborn kittens sing along with other animals and it becomes a choir (04). Taner Torun says “They are not spices to make the compositions colorful. They are the core elements of the compositions just like piano, violin and cello.”

The EP has received good reviews from other modern classical, post-rock and ambient musicians:

Gonçalo Pereira / Diamond Gloss, How Constellations Shine

"Just a few words about this recording. How Little Can Be The Orchestra is just a wonderful piece of music. Simple pleasures are the best pleasures, and this music is a simple pleasure. It´s hard to write about good music. It´s hard to write about such a good music like this. How beautiful can be a orchestra? So, just put your ears over this four songs and here is your answer. Excellent work, simply made. "

Pavel Smirnov / Mooncake

"Sweet music for sitting in a chair and drinking wine during cold winter evenings."

Aviv Cohn / The Widest Smiling Faces

"How Little Can Be The Orchestra, the new EP from A Journey Down the Well combines provocative melodies and textures with a natural and minimal sound palette. The first track, "How" brimming with lovely tones and compelling harmonies, is a particular standout. Later pieces contrast captured field recordings with melodic compositions, a wonderful example being "Little" which begins by relaying sounds of a port or perhaps a commercial dock (or something similar). As the track progresses, string swells create the imagery of deep ocean waves, presenting a fascinating juxtaposition of captured sounds with composed imagery. "How Little Can Be the Orchestra" is full of imaginative little ideas like this, and is a fantastic EP for anyone who enjoys creativity and imagery in their music."

Ludovico Lamarra / En Plein Air

“A Journey Down The Well produce a small and precious EP, abandoning electronic experiments of the first work, with the will to embrace the essence of the music, in four stylish and minimal tracks.”

Methieu Massilotte / Kimika

The new EP "How Little Can Be The Orchestra" released by A Journey Down The Well from Fluttery Records is a perfect continuum of four musical movements. Quiet, subtle and intense, the perfect composition of strings accompanied by punctuated sounds reminds images portrayed by Godspeed You! Black Emperor as well as some delicate atmospheres of Brian Eno. A balance of hope and serenity.

Jun Minowa / Yawning, Gargle

“As if every single note carries a meaning, as if trying to read between the silence, I swim deep in the sea of their music. "How Little Can Be The Orchestra" is a great EP with fantastic composition and emotional sound. Ever since I knew Fluttery Records, I could have found some real music that touch my heart and they are surely one of them. Now it's time for you to discover A Journey Down The Well.”

Jan Hammer / Draff Krimmy

“I hear the first sounds of the new A Journey Down The Well. A feeling of joy is flowing through me. That joy carries with it a feeling of sadness, no destructive sorrow but a self-sufficient melancholy. This feeling is good, freedom and fear, pleasure and pain. The music makes me enjoy the moment, authentic and pure. I re-discover the feeling I had when listening to the first A Silver Mt Zion albums. It is only the moment and my experience of it. I am right here now. The orchestra is little, but the mood it leaves behind is enormous. And it grows every time I listen to it.”

Cookie Scene / Yuriko Kikkawa

This band has created Modern Classical music without focusing only on experimentalism of Contemporary Music, and in a sense, I feel their music sounds innovative and fresh.

They create music based on the sounds of strings (violin and cello) mixed with the sound of piano and samples such as wind, and they are all blended beautifully to create a melancholy sound similar to that of Silver Mt. Zion. The accomplished melodies express diverse sentiments which are absolutely necessary for instrumental music, and at the same time their excellent musical performance as classical musicians makes its expression possible. It may be a high praise, but I think they represent what classical music in modern times is supposed to be.

Roughly speaking, in the music scenes post Sergei Rachmaninov (Russian pianist and composer), musicians haven’t created music based on themes such as the sceneries of old medieval towns or nature. Moreover, a lot of composers play instruments on their songs. What this band’s music brings to my mind is people today and, literally, a challenge what a minimal group can be an orchestra. With some experimental trials (like Pet sounds of The Beach Boys) and the attitude of “Anti Text for School”, their music has a sense of darkness that appeal to people’s emotion and it is something in common with what GY!BE and Rachel’s of 1/4 stick have. What this band has expressed is present. At the same time, while I think wordless music is effective in non-English speaking countries, I would have to say Modern Classical is quite a niche genre in the pop music industry.

However, if you are interested in classical music that doesn’t appear in a school book, this EP will be an ideal introduction. Only four songs, but the diverse elements are packed in. I really hope more people listen to this maverick piece delivered into the 21stcentury. Personally, I let my imagination run how it will be like if their music is the soundtrack of Yuri Norshtein’s films that describe deserted society and small happiness – such as “Seasons” (In this film Tchaikovsky’s song is featured) or others. Music these days from the areas with medieval atmosphere like Czech Republic is steadily modernizing. I’d like to encourage you to take this occasion to listen to Modern Classical music. I’m sure you will make new discoveries.

Absolute Zero Media / Clint Listing

Wow this takes me back to a time in the late 90's early 21st century when my world was dominated by Neoclassic, Dark Ambient, Dark Industrial and Post Rock elements of bands on labels like Cold Meat Industries, Dark Vinyl, Constellation, Fluttering Dragon, Matador , Kranky, Manifold and Holy records etc. This is a mix up of all that and more. Think of Sanctum, Ranja, Dead Can Dance, Elend, Rachels and Arcana all mixed up into something so simple yet wonderful to make you see the humanity and delicate emotions we all have to work and struggle to maintain each and every day of this existence. The strings and Piano are just breathe taking with the loops and soundscapes that work with it all in the background. It reminds me a lot of a band called Mandible Chatter if you have not heard of them its a much check them out too. Fluttery makes some of the best Post .... Music in the world right now do not miss out on this as well.

Against The Odds / Chris Antonoff

Well, I was at the VICE office working when I received an email from the small yet peculiar and interesting label Fluttery Records. It turns out that one of their bands, A Journey Down The Well, is releasing a brand new EP called How Little Can Be The Orchestra. A Journey Down The Well is actually a duo consisting of Taner Torun and Ipek Zeynep Kadioglu. Hey, what do you know, we're neighbors. After all Sofia is not that far from Istanbul. Anyway the four-song How Little Can Be The Orchestra EP is an interesting piece of music and it sounds like nothing I've heard before. Upon first hearing I thought that it's going to be ordinary classical music yet I was wrong. Yes, it bears strong resemblance to classical music but apart from that it's way more ambient, experimental if you like. At times the music of Torun and Kadioglu sounds really melancholic, even gloomy with one violin that stands out and it feels like weeping and a more subtle piano that adorn the overall composition with even more sadness. A Journey Down The Well's classical take on modern music is an effort that deserves admiration for its beautiful, elegant and highly skilled performance.

Overal A Journey Down The Well's music is really beautiful and unique and deserves a far greater attention. The EP is definitely worth listening to and of course buying.

Migrate Music News / Matthew Dickson

A Journey Down The Well is a rare breed these days. When most everyone is running hard towards programmed music, this group resurrects the raw element of music in the most beautiful form. Their E.P. “How Little Can Be The Orchestra” is a great listen, and we really recommend you taking a listen. You won’t regret it.

Guilty Forest / Akasaka Takahiro

This is a good Modern Classical EP consisting of 4 songs that will embrace us with its tender sound.

Ambient electronic sound appears throughout the EP but it is as a whole composed of classical strings of melodies. The natural and soft sound brings us a sense of excitement and also offers us comfort. However, at the same time its sharpness mixed with the warmth makes this EP more attractive. The splendid atmosphere created by repeating strings of melodies is natural and strong. The shimmering sound reminds us of beautiful sceneries.

We can fully experience their good Modern Classical music on the first track “How” and the second track “Little”. The third track “Can Be” is an impressive ambient drone song with the stateliness of classical music in it. The fourth track “The Orchestra” is an ambient song which is creating a scenery of which as if we get lost in deep woods with repeating serene and turbulent melodies. The sampled animal calls create the atmosphere of the song in a good way, and the violin coming from the middle gives us an impression that talks diverse feelings. The particles of the shimmering sound which is like a scenery of quietly flowing water and falling drizzle really move us. The four-song EP is drawing a calm and stately story

This fantastic piece draws not only the gentleness and the softness but also the stateliness and the turbulence by adding ambient arrangement based on the lush colors of strings which represent diverse sceneries. This is a 4-song EP, but I’m totally enraptured by the classical and flowing wave of sound. If you are interested, take a touch to this fantastic sound.

Caleidoscoop / Jan Willem Broek

The flourishing, interesting American label Fluttery continues releasing strong music from all over the world. After many and very diverse post-rock releases, now it releases a very extraordinary and multi-cultural album. It is by the band A Journey Down the Well, which is the band of label owner Taner Torun, who himself is Turkish. He started this project in 2006 together with two Swedes and released the beautiful CDs The Funeral Album (2007) and Sorry Monsters, I Have To Grow (2009). After this, the Swedish branch left the band.

The music cannot be easily classified, which Taner does not find interesting anyway, because it is more like a coincidental combination of styles. Added together, it could be roughly classified as post-rock, albeit of an experimental, minimalist, and most of all melancholic variety. However, continuously things are happening. That is also the case with the new mini How Little Can Be The Orchestra, on which the band consists of Taner and cello player Ipek Zeynep Kadioglu. The duo approaches the music in a minimal way, only indicates fragments of genres, and in that way creates its own genre. In fact, this minimalist approach reminds of Talk Talk.

In a minimal way, you can hear elements from classical music, strings and piano especially, supplemented with parts post-rock, avant-garde, musique concrète and ambient. The music is often adorned with street and traffic sounds, and sounds of animals and other recordings from nature and daily life. Perhaps the title also refers to the fact that you can hear music in many things, from a couple of birds to a complete orchestra. By all those samples, the music gets a very cinematic character, and stirs the imagination. At times when the cello kicks in together with experimental sounds, the melancholic whole reminds of the beautiful calmer parts of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, while when the experimental aspect gets stronger it is more like side project Set Fire To Flames. The minimalist classical parts, on the other hand, evoke associations with Arvo Pärt. All of that is often placed within a dark and mysterious David Lynch-like setting. But they never linger long, except in that pleasantly sad atmosphere. It is very beautiful what A Journey Down The Well lets us hear here. Only 20 minutes, but still grand and overwhelming.

In Forty / Matt

The clue is in the title for A Journey Down The Well’s latest EP, which is a suitably minimilistic take on the orchestral. Every part was recorded by the Turkish duo that nowadays make up the band, with the strings often taking the lead role on the four tracks, although they’re accompanied by atmospheric piano plonks and plenty of ambient noise: the rush of the city, children’s shouts, even newborn kittens. It’s an austere and sparse affair yet there’s no lack of emotional intensity, supporting the band’s ethos of less is more.

CW Place / C.W. Ross

A Journey Down The Well got their start in 2006 releasing two albums (‘The Funeral Album’ -2007 and ‘Sorry Monsters, I Have To Grow’- 2009) under its original line up. Taner Torun, one of the group’s founding members, joined forces with cellist Ipek Zeynep Kadioglu and recorded their first release, ‘How Little Can Be the Orchestra’ EP with the new duo lineup.

The concept of the release is to create a full orchestra style while using a minimalist approach to the music. It’s hard to believe that the only instrumentation used on the release is piano, cello and violin that are manipulated at times in ways that make them sound unrecognizable. You also find recorded sounds including, cars, children, people celebrating and animal noises used in the songs to achieve their full sound.

Out of the 4-tracks that make up the EP my favorite happens to also be the shortest with a running time of only 2:36, while the other 3- tracks range from, “How” (3:10), to “Little”(7:06) and “The Orchestra” (7:11) being the longest in length. Although the track, “Can Be,” may be the shortest in length it manages to give off a really exuberant energy. I also have to give a mention to the closing track, “The Orchestra,” that is overflowing with those previously mentioned recorded sounds. I also like the duos clever use of when the 4-song titles are put together they form the releases title.

Review Takeaway: With their new release A Journey Down the Well manages to answer the questioning title of their, ‘How Little Can Be the Orchestra’ EP as being two with the rich orchestral sound that the duo manages to achieve on it.

Cumhuriyet / Murat Beşer

A Journey Down the Well has come out with their new EP “How Little Can be the Orchestra” recently in which modern music meets electronics in a modern expression that they have cultivated. This 20 minutes EP is a following work after the band’s “The Funeral Album” and “Sorry Monsters, I have to Grow” . A Journey Down the Well has been formated by Taner Torun in 2006 with his swedish friends Anna and Martin which continued as a band until the release of their first album. Unfortunatelly they have broke up as a reason of physically being in different countries. Now the new band member is the cellist İpek Zeynep Kadioglu. Although there is a pessimistic possession on the songs, still there is a great pastel tones one can hear that imitates all the goodness of life itself. Apart from the sounds of classical music instruments there are musical scenery that created by automobile voices, fans slogans and kitten voices mixed with sonic touch. This EP is a gathering of classical music’s deepness and punk music’s destructiveness. This logbook of music has been created by short expressive sentences in a mysterious, minimal and instrumental style.

Taner and İpek; they are the sympathetic version of grotesque fiction characters Gargantua and Pantagruel. They are contrast and also compatible as like poping out of a Goya’s painting or Poe’s writings. Peculiar and surprising in their musical forms, combination of contrasts in dialectics. Their music is emotional and bleak formed by neo-classic and dark ambient which hooks up Rachmaninov and Brian Eno. Silent screams and elegant denials. This EP can only be identified by winter season and a warm red wine...

News

Seasons with OP3 & Runes

‘AWSS’ (Autumn.Winter.Spring.Summer) is a collaboration between OP3 & Runes(Manchester, UK) that features vocals for the very first time. Minimalistic piano themes, a beautifully haunting string quartet and some well structured electronics became the perfect basis for some deep, heartfelt and ethereal at times vocals by the amazing Runes. AWSS by OP3 & RUNES With OP3 […]

News

Mathew Roth: The Vulture & The Sparrow

Our first September release has been prepared by someone very well-known to all members of Fluttery Records family. His name is Mathew Roth and after his successful albums “Immersion” and “Written & Unsent”, he is coming with his third piece “The Vulture & The Sparrow”. Let us remind you something of Mathew’s background. Mathew began […]

Tag: modern classical

Wendell Roth – Written & Unsent

Track List

Wendell Roth - Written & Unsent

Also available on:

OP3 – Hope

Track List

OP3 - Hope

Also available on:

Iván Muela – Unsound

Track List

Iván Muela - Unsound

Also available on:

Hannes Kretzer – Petrichor

Track List

Hannes Kretzer - Petrichor

Also available on:

Gargle & Bosques De Mi Mente – Absence

Track List

Gargle & Bosques De Mi Mente - Absence

Also available on:

Yawning – Noah

Track List

Yawning - Noah

Also available on:

Heinali – Air

Track List

Heinali - Air

Also available on:

A Journey Down The Well – How Little Can Be The Orchestra

Track List

A Journey Down The Well - How Little Can Be The Orchestra

Also available on:

Seasons with OP3 & Runes

Mathew Roth: The Vulture & The Sparrow