artist: TOBIAS C. VAN VEEN & TOMAS PHILLIPS
title: If Not, Winter
catalog number: and/live 2
release year: 2005
format: CDR
status: sold out
title: If Not, Winter
catalog number: and/live 2
release year: 2005
format: CDR
status: sold out
The second release in the "and / live" series features 3 short solo performances by
Tobias C. Van Veen and 1 long collaborative performance between Van Veen and
Tomas Phillips.
The solo tracks by Van Veen often display slow brooding shifts of indistinct shadings and
lower register drones, while the collaboration between Van Veen and Phillips is more
varied; effortlessly traversing from one hue of soundscape to another, although not
veering too far away from the seemingly established foundations of mood set forth by
the first two solo tracks of Van Veen.
[suggested reading]: "it's the sound of..." by Heather Pokotylo
Van Veen is mostly known as a D.J. and writer / journalist for various publications such
as e/i Magazine, Grooves, and Wire.
Tomas Phillips is mostly known for his solo CD "On Dit" which was released by the well
known German label Trente Oiseaux.
Tobias C. Van Veen and 1 long collaborative performance between Van Veen and
Tomas Phillips.
The solo tracks by Van Veen often display slow brooding shifts of indistinct shadings and
lower register drones, while the collaboration between Van Veen and Phillips is more
varied; effortlessly traversing from one hue of soundscape to another, although not
veering too far away from the seemingly established foundations of mood set forth by
the first two solo tracks of Van Veen.
[suggested reading]: "it's the sound of..." by Heather Pokotylo
Van Veen is mostly known as a D.J. and writer / journalist for various publications such
as e/i Magazine, Grooves, and Wire.
Tomas Phillips is mostly known for his solo CD "On Dit" which was released by the well
known German label Trente Oiseaux.
TOUCHING EXTREMES (OCTOBER 2005)
and/OAR keeps releasing what's among the best electroacoustic music today, this CD
being a classic case in point. If Not, Winter is rather cryptic, even starting from the
pretty hermetic - almost Hafler Trio style - liner notes; its initial parts move around an
underground vital pulse of which we can somehow feel the distant power - like hearing
the muffled sound of highway traffic while being silent in a room with the windows shut -
while additional beautiful segments of cloudy moods become at times intimidating,
effortlessly assertive in all their spreading energy. The long title track explores
low-frequency areas, provoking a physical reaction when our auricular membranes are
on the receiving end of an impressive mass of barely contained aggregates of huge
vibrations. The tendency to staticity which constitutes this magnificent record's
complexion does not preclude us from being emotionally involved; these soundscapes
are a perfect soundtrack for loners, imbued as they are of immaterial drones and
undefined suspensions - substantially ethereal, so to speak. (Massimo Ricci)
and/OAR keeps releasing what's among the best electroacoustic music today, this CD
being a classic case in point. If Not, Winter is rather cryptic, even starting from the
pretty hermetic - almost Hafler Trio style - liner notes; its initial parts move around an
underground vital pulse of which we can somehow feel the distant power - like hearing
the muffled sound of highway traffic while being silent in a room with the windows shut -
while additional beautiful segments of cloudy moods become at times intimidating,
effortlessly assertive in all their spreading energy. The long title track explores
low-frequency areas, provoking a physical reaction when our auricular membranes are
on the receiving end of an impressive mass of barely contained aggregates of huge
vibrations. The tendency to staticity which constitutes this magnificent record's
complexion does not preclude us from being emotionally involved; these soundscapes
are a perfect soundtrack for loners, imbued as they are of immaterial drones and
undefined suspensions - substantially ethereal, so to speak. (Massimo Ricci)
VITAL WEEKLY (NOVEMBER 2005)
It has been a while since the last live CDR on and/OAR but here is the second one, by
the for me unknown Tobias C. Van Veen (who despite his Dutch name is from Canada)
and Tomas Philips. Van Veen has three solo tracks, which he recorded at Steim in
Amsterdam, but the main portion of this CD is a thirty-five minute collaborative live track
which they recorded together. This piece is a fine combination of deep sonic rumbling
and high pitched frequencies. They shift through their materials with great care, but
also with great variation. Sometimes sounds are played for a while with little variation,
but just as you start think that something lasts for too long, things start to move forward
again. A very fine piece. Van Veen's solo pieces are even more sparser orchestrated,
consisting of slowly developing hums, rumbling at the earth's surface. It tops off an
interesting excursion in microsound. (Frans de Waard)
It has been a while since the last live CDR on and/OAR but here is the second one, by
the for me unknown Tobias C. Van Veen (who despite his Dutch name is from Canada)
and Tomas Philips. Van Veen has three solo tracks, which he recorded at Steim in
Amsterdam, but the main portion of this CD is a thirty-five minute collaborative live track
which they recorded together. This piece is a fine combination of deep sonic rumbling
and high pitched frequencies. They shift through their materials with great care, but
also with great variation. Sometimes sounds are played for a while with little variation,
but just as you start think that something lasts for too long, things start to move forward
again. A very fine piece. Van Veen's solo pieces are even more sparser orchestrated,
consisting of slowly developing hums, rumbling at the earth's surface. It tops off an
interesting excursion in microsound. (Frans de Waard)
GROOVES (February 2006)
A work of glacial proportions, If Not, Winter moves at an infinitesimal pace towards an
unknown destination. The compositions are a container for narrative, lacking
distinguishing marks of their own but open to the projections of the listener. “exposure.to.
ATTK” begins the disc with the sound of a windswept ice field, beneath which an
ominous drone slowly accretes. The elements uncover a corpse on “flesh.ode.to.EM,” as
the drone becomes dominant, dwarfing the environmental sounds.
If the first two tracks are the story of a death, then the third track (the only collaborative
piece between van Veen and Phillips) is a flashback to the deceased’s former life, the
only thing with color on the entire disc. At over 35 minutes in length, it explores a
variety of textures, noticeably processed by the hands of man: The drones continue, but
human voices, birdsong, and various rattlings dip in and out of the mix, suggestions of
deeds and actions. The total effect brings to mind the final scene of horror maestro
Lucio Fulci’s The Beyond, in which the protagonists unwittingly stumble into hell, a
grey, foggy plain occupied by paralyzed bodies and itinerant whispers. A short fourth
track, “koan.for.CP,” is an untied knot, using chime-like sounds to suggest the
reclamation of the human remains by nature, flecks of snow muffling the spectral moan
of mummified flesh.
Indeed, a sense of abandonment shrouds the entire disc. This isn’t ambient to relax to; it’
s a prelude to tragedy, filtering primal forces through the most man made of devices.
Haiku-like in its evocative simplicity, If Not, Winter’s strength and weakness are one:
having little to offer. (John H. DeGroot)
A work of glacial proportions, If Not, Winter moves at an infinitesimal pace towards an
unknown destination. The compositions are a container for narrative, lacking
distinguishing marks of their own but open to the projections of the listener. “exposure.to.
ATTK” begins the disc with the sound of a windswept ice field, beneath which an
ominous drone slowly accretes. The elements uncover a corpse on “flesh.ode.to.EM,” as
the drone becomes dominant, dwarfing the environmental sounds.
If the first two tracks are the story of a death, then the third track (the only collaborative
piece between van Veen and Phillips) is a flashback to the deceased’s former life, the
only thing with color on the entire disc. At over 35 minutes in length, it explores a
variety of textures, noticeably processed by the hands of man: The drones continue, but
human voices, birdsong, and various rattlings dip in and out of the mix, suggestions of
deeds and actions. The total effect brings to mind the final scene of horror maestro
Lucio Fulci’s The Beyond, in which the protagonists unwittingly stumble into hell, a
grey, foggy plain occupied by paralyzed bodies and itinerant whispers. A short fourth
track, “koan.for.CP,” is an untied knot, using chime-like sounds to suggest the
reclamation of the human remains by nature, flecks of snow muffling the spectral moan
of mummified flesh.
Indeed, a sense of abandonment shrouds the entire disc. This isn’t ambient to relax to; it’
s a prelude to tragedy, filtering primal forces through the most man made of devices.
Haiku-like in its evocative simplicity, If Not, Winter’s strength and weakness are one:
having little to offer. (John H. DeGroot)
