The Squid's Ear Magazine


Pollak, Andreas / Johan Graden: Terror Of Positivity (Creative Sources)

The Swedish duo of percussionist Andreas Pollak and prepared pianist Johan Graden (Adam & Alma) in an album of references and innuendo, clandestine and furtive sounds that evoke great mystery and drama in beautifully shaped sound; evocative music that deceives to emerge from the electronic realm while in actuality coming from all acoustic sources.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Andreas Pollak-percussion

Johan Graden-prepared piano


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UPC: 5609063493030

Label: Creative Sources
Catalog ID: cs303
Squidco Product Code: 21628

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2015
Country: Portugal
Packaging: Jewel Case
Recorded on November 24th, 2014 by Mats Aleklint.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"The cover artwork chosen for the bicephalous project (so unknown that even the notorious database/marketplace Discogs mispelled the name of their output!) by improvisers Andreas Pollak (playing percussions and a set of object) and Johan Graden (on a prepared piano) has been guessed for the sound they forged on this first appearance on Portuguese label Creative Sources. The portrayed image looks like an elevator shaft, where its straight lines converge on a highlighted vanishing point, which seems more a metaphor of the emotional settings and some tortuous convolutions of the thought that their installation could evoke. There are many references and quotes that cannot be immediately understood, such as the name of the album itself: it seems to be a reference to the interesting analysis/diagnosis by the South-Korean philosopher Byung Chul-Han, who referred to contemporary society as a tired society, as a consequence of an excess of "positivity", and the title of the two parts of the longest piece on this album - a sinister condensate of somehow scary aural entities, a carnival of isolated tones in between often frightful stridors, that could push your mind towards reasonably unpitiful and likewise afraid contemplations of some lumpy pustules of contemporary world -, "Hyperculture" seems to be a reference to one of the most interesting essay of this philosopher. Similarly all the fans of Antonin Artaud should recognize the quotation of his "Artaud le Momo" in the title of "O Kaya Pontoura", a disquieting confluence of creepy chord-driven melodies suffocated by tonal thuds on piano, a viscous web of percussions hits and sudden piercing dissonances, which correctly renders the mood of that poetic incomplete self-portrait. The final stage of this sonic journey, "Quad", reasonably ends on the senseless flapping of all the instrumental and noisy elements, where a sort of spell seems to involve them in a feverish ballet, whose lack of a particular direction appears to awake the dormant catalyst of the almost logical self-annihilation."-Vito Camarretta, Chain DLK


Get additional information at Chain D.L.K.

Artist Biographies

Track Listing:



1. Hyperculture I 14:25

2. Wijdunder 5:05

3. O Kaya Pontoura 7:27

4. Facsimile 3:18

5. Hyperculture II 11:32

6. Quad 6:45

Related Categories of Interest:


Creative Sources
Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Duo Recordings
Piano & Keyboards
Percussion & Drums
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
Instruments with Preparations

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Creative Sources.


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