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)
