The Squid's Ear Magazine


Sa, Joana & Luis Jose Martins: Almost a Song (Shhpuma)

A beautiful collaboration between Luis Jose Martins on classical guitar, percussion & electronics, and Joan Sa on piano, toy piano, celestra, idiophones & electronics, gentle music that's nearly a song, but actually sophisticated, textured, and lovely contemporary improvisation.
 

Price: $13.95



Quantity:

In Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 2.00 units

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



Joan Sa-piano, toy piano, celestra, idiophones, electronics

Luis Jose Martins-classical guitar, percussion, electronics


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




UPC: 5609063800043

Label: Shhpuma
Catalog ID: SHH004
Squidco Product Code: 20353

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2013
Country: Portugal
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Escola de Musica do Converaorio Macional de Liboa in August, 2012, by Sergio Milhano.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Nearly. Nearly a song, somewhat familiar. Nearly comfortable, almost fulfilling. The melody stays ever-open, indefinite, and then the song departs, breaks, never arrives. It's not surrender, it's a game, open to the listener. The avant-garde replaced musical statements with this new desire to offer something to the ear: the sustained notes of the "Sarabanda" never lodging in the periphery of memory, the dissolving of pitch into percussion, the repetition of musical cells, the loops, the ever different superimposed patterns, the changing textures and the suspension of climax... but for how long? Almost a Song is still a duo. And not only between guitar and piano. This in spite of the electroacoustic ramifications and of the instruments being - without losing the acoustic strength of their gestures- sometimes nearly swallowed by their own sound.

Joana Sá and Luís José Martins formed a duo in 2000 dedicated to the interpretation of contemporary music. They have developed numerous projects together amongst which the collective POWERTRIO with harpist Eduardo Raón. Luís José Martins is a member of the group Deolinda and Joana Sá has developed mostly solo work, namely Through this Looking Glass.

Artistic pathways converging at this game of pleasure and freedom which is Almost a Song."-Guilherme Proença



This album has been reviewed on our magazine:

The Squid
The Squid's Ear!

Artist Biographies

"Luís José Martins (born March 5 , 1978) is a Portuguese musician.

He is guitarist of the group Deolinda.

He studied at the National Conservatory of Lisbon, in France and in Castelo Branco, at the School of Applied Arts where he graduated in Music. He taught classical guitar at several conservatories in the country.

As a musician, he was a founding member of the group " Bicho de 7 cabezas ", PowerTrio and Deolinda."

-Wikipedia (Translated by Google) (https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lu’s_JosŽ_Martins)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Cantiga De Amor 10:54

2. Rock Em Setembro 4:55

3. Cantiga, Partindo-Se 15:11

4. Die Wahnsinnige Forelle 5:07

5. Presque Sarabande - Quasi Una Fan 7:00

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Electro-Acoustic
Electro-Acoustic Improv
Duo Recordings
Clean Feed
Staff Picks & Recommended Items

Search for other titles on the label:
Shhpuma.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Alves, Pedro Melo Omniae Large Ensemble
Lumina
(Clean Feed)
Three expansive and stunning performances at Centro Cultural de Vila Flor as part of the Guimaraes Jazz 2020 festival by drummer and percussionist Pedro Melo Alves' expanded 23-piece Omniae Ensemble directed by Pedro Carneiro, adding electronics, voice and a diverse orchestration that gives his band both power but also flexibility to express an astonishing array of moods.
Other Recommended Releases:
Liyou, Lucy / YSKA
A Need/A Want [CASSETTE + DOWNLOAD]
(Notice Recordings)
Narrated by text-to-speech vocalization, Korean-American pianist and composer Lucy Liyou collaborates with Bulgarian-born guitarist Ivana Kafedjiyska (YSKA) in an album of languorously floating and understatedly abrasive music complemented by subtle field recordings, two works of curiously philosophical, baffling and observational verse; unique and compelling.
Padang Food Tigers (Stephen Lewis / Spencer Grady)
God's Plenty
(Shhpuma)
Blurring abstract electronics with folk improvisation in gently evolving music with an experimental edge, the London Panang Food Tigers duo of Stephen Lewis and Spencer Grady use keyboards, guitars, dobro, charango, field recordings and electronic sources to create contemplative atmospheres, a sort of ambient-folk music drawing out forgotten daydreams and moods; beautiful.
Dick, Robert / Nicola L. Hein
Structures of Unreason
(Shhpuma)
Taking guitar and flute into very strange territory informed by vast experience and technical skill, NY flutist Robert Dick and electric guitarist Nicola L. Hein create truly unique and dramatic sound worlds, sometimes tense, sometimes beautiful, but always fascinating in momentum and expression; unique musical structures that refuse to be easily categorized: extraordinary!
Meyer, Bedrnhard / John Hollenbeck
Grids
(Shhpuma)
Bringing together NY drummer/percussionist John Hollenbeck, also on prepared piano, with Berlin bassist Bernhard Meyer for an album that blends textural rock, electronic and jazz approaches in 9 elusively calm yet structurally turbulent pieces, using complex systems of cross rhythms against atmospheric immersion, occasionally disruptive but generally eccentrically controlled and exploratory.
Oddly Imploded (Gregoretti / Argenziano)
They Just Sit About
(Shhpuma)
Italian sonic explorer Francesco Gregoretti uses his drumkit like a lead instrument, amplifying and modifying its sound through effects, as he pursues his varied "Imploded" bands (Strongly Imploded, Grizzly Imploded) fueled by the mathematics of Chaos Theory, here with guitarist Maurizio Argenziano in an album of dense sound, from near-minimal to highly interactive.
Timespine (Sa / Kilma / Trips)
Urban Season
(Shhpuma)
Resonant and upbeat exploratory free improvisation in the 2nd album from the Portuguese trio of Dead Combo guitarist To Trips, and String Theory members, Adrian Sa on zither, field recordings & reactive software and John Klima on electric fretless bass, in beautifully rambling melodic work with unusual sonic environments and asides, an appealing and absorbing album.
Holy Mountain, The
Toad Of Light [VINYL]
(Shhpuma)
Cinematic aesthetics and themes from the Norwegian Holy Mountain duo, performing on the uncommon pairing of two instruments--accordion played by Andreas Angell, and drums with acoustic and electronic parts and vintage synthesizer played by Aleksander Tidemann--in their 3rd release inspired by the dystopian sci-fi visions of John Carpenter, Philip Glass and Daft Punk.
Fake Humans (Fisher / Didur)
Exegesis [VINYL]
(Shhpuma)
The Toronto-based duo of Colin Fisher on woodwinds and percussion and Carl Didur on keyboards and bass bridge acoustic and electronic improv with science fiction sensibilities in their two part "Exegesis", a critical exposition of un-genred music that borrows from global sources in service to their unusual and exotic tale; a wonderfully perplexing album.
Turbamulta (Raon / Sa / Ferreira / Martins / Aroso)
Turbamulta
(Clean Feed)
With orchestration of harp, daxophone, idiophones, piano, cello, guitar, percussion, sampling & electronics, the Portuguese quintet Turbamulta (roughly translates to "rowdy mob", though clearly a very sophisticated mob) was born from the band Powertrio of Eduardo Raon, Joana Sa and Luis Martins, expanded to blend compositional, EA and improv approaches into something unique and beautiful.
Martins, Luis Jose
Tentos - Invencoes E Encantamentos
(Shhpuma)
Luis Jose Martins uses classical guitar, prepared guitar, electronics, and percussion in a solo album of incredible detail and lyrical, beautiful playing of original compositions that blend his playing with modern techniques and electronics into melodic masterpieces, performed in the natural resonance of the church of the convent of S. Bento in Avis.
Vanoli, Raphael
Bibrax
(Shhpuma)
Amsterdam guitarist Raphael Vanoli in a solo record of discovery, hiper-amplifying his guitar so that slight motions create forceful statements, where gently blowing on the strings creates dynamics and harmonics rarely explored, effected to create complex sonic compositions with unique, unusual and fascinating properties.
Humcrush (Storlokken / Stronen)
Enter Humcrush
(Shhpuma)
After a six year break the Humcrush duo of Stale Storlokken on keys and Thomas Stronen on drums & electronics return with this studio album of rhythmic angularities and experimental sound worlds, drawing on their experiences with bands including Supersilent, Food, Elephant9, Time is a blind guide, Meadow and Motorpsycho.
Alforjs (Mestre Andree / Bernardo Alvares / Raphael Soares)
Demons 1
(Shhpuma)
A darkly ritualistic, scrabbly album of darkly ritualistic improvisation from the Portuguese trio of saxophonist Mestre Andre, also on electronics, percussion, mbira and voice, double bassist Bernardo Alvares and drummer/percussionist Raphael Soares.
Gama, Joana / Luis Fernandes / Ricardo Jacinto
Harmonies
(Shhpuma)
The duo of Joana Gama on piano and Luis Fernandes on electronics is expanded with Ricardo Jacinto on cello to create rich, mysterious works inspired by Erik Satie's score for the ballet "Relache", graced with the image of the double cross he used when he founded his 1-member church in 1892.
Millevoi, Nick
Disertion
(Shhpuma)
Guitarist Nick Millevoi leads an ensemble that includes Jamie Saft on Hammond Organ, Ches Smith on drums, Johnny Deblase on bass, Dan Blacksberg on trombone and June Bender on violin, for an album equally embracing and subverting a wealth of rock and jazz forms.
Camoes, Joao / Jean-Marc Foussat
A La Face du Ciel
(Shhpuma)
Portugese violist Joao Camoes, living in Paris, in a duo with Jean-Marc Foussat on electronics and voice, which he approaches like those of the acoustic improvised music and free jazz; the two present two long works where Foussat processes and extends Camoes' sound.
Goncalves, Andre
Currents and Riptides
(Shhpuma)
Andre Gonvalves, known for the ADDAC System brand of modular synthesizers and several devices for electronic music, in a solo album combining analog and digital sounds and tools, processing of field recordings and ready-made materials, a rich and beautiful work.
Power Trio (Raon / Sa / Martins)
Di Lontan
(Clean Feed)
Guitarist Luis Jose Martins and pianist Joana Sa, known from their Shhpuma release "Almost a Song" and a release on Creative Sources, join again with harpist Eduardo Raon, with two Shhpuma releases, for a delicately complex, effervescent, and sometimes turbulent release.
Albatre
Nagual [VINYL]
(Shhpuma)
Hailing from Rotterdam's rich underground scene, the trio of Hugo Costa on alto sax, Goncalo Aleida on bass, and Philipp Ernsting on drums, with all 3 doubling on electronics, in a dramatic and energetic album blending free jazz, improv, metal, and punk music.
Sa, Adriana / To Trips / John Klima
Timespine
(Shhpuma)
Rich string work from Adriana Sa on zither & electronics, To Trips on resonator guitar, and John Klima on electric bass, following graphical scores and using electronics sparingly, in an album that is extremely focused while seeming to ramble in gorgeous ways.
Raon, Eduardo
On the Drive For Impulsive Actions
(Shhpuma)
Portugese harpist Eduardo Raon uses harp, daxophone, electronics, voice & percussion to create dramatic music that applies his classical training to improvisational methods, using real-time electronic processing to create encompassing yet intricate and unusual sonic environments.
Sa, Joana
Elogio Da Desordem (In Praise of Disorder)
(Shhpuma)
Composer, pianist and multi-instrumentals Joana Sa gives voice to texts by Goncalo M. Tavares as read by Rosinda Costa, where the text organizes the thoughts that filter the multiple, disorderly, eccentric, voluble mind described in Tavares' work.
Coclea
Coclea
(Shhpuma)
Clean Feed's side label Shhpuma presents a solo release from multi-instrumentalist Guilherme Goncalves (Gala Drop), dreamy and informed guitar-driven music borrowing from kosmische musik, Edgar Froese, or Loren Connors, in gorgeously paced lush instrumental music.
Mirra, Helen / Ernst Karel
A Map Of Parallels 41-N And 49-N At A Scale Of Ten Seconds To One Degree
(Shhpuma)
A map of the latitudes delineating the geographical area where the European - North American history of deforestation and resforestation has played out, in a work of guitar and field effects from Portugese artist Helen Mirra and sound artist Ernst Karel.
Gama, Joana / Luis Fernandez
Quest
(Shhpuma)
Classical pianist Joana Gama and live electronic processing artist Luis Fernandes bridge compositional and experimental forms in this lyrical work, where Fernandes transforms, dissects, loops and otherwise mutates the Gama's playing in unexpected and elegant ways.



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC