Chroniques lieutenant Caramel
http://www.heathenharvest.com/
Title: The Pandora’s BoxLabel: Old Europa Cafe
Genre: Musique Concrète / Experimental
Tracklist:
The Pandora’s Box
01 Presentation of the World
02 The Hunting of Aceton
03 The Bath of Diane
04 Expectation
05 Death of the Deer
I no Longer Want to See the Sky
06 Gold Heart of a Rat
07 Angel Concert
08 And Ring the <<Couscous>>
09 Were it Hurt to You
Musique concrete albums are strange beasts at the best of times, and
this one is no exception. I have to say that my experience with them is
fairly limited, my first one ever being G*Park’s “Seismogramm” which I
reviewed for this very webzine earlier this year. I was pleasantly
surprised by that one, simply because to my delight the bizarre
collection of beeps, scrapes, boings, blips and other treated sounds
turned out to be an effective medium in which to tell a story. Having
said that though it would be fair to point out that unlike an ambient
album, for instance, it’s hard to engage directly with what the artist
is trying to convey, and it’s much more of an intellectual game.
Nevertheless, though, the ‘hunt’ is all part of the game and can be an
enjoyable exercise in itself.
This album collates a series of recordings made by Pierre Blanchard
over a period of fourteen years, starting way back in 1986 and with the
most recent being in 2000. Over that span, one is aware of a definite
musical progression in terms of style and execution. The first part,
entitled ‘The Pandora’s Box’, is much more chaotic, in keeping perhaps
with its erstwhile subject matter. And maybe there’s a clue at the very
start of track one, where a female voice says (in French) “Enter
gentlemen, enter ladies, into the menagerie” (loose translation I have
to add), and what follows plunges us into an exotically mad world of
twitters, chirps, honkings, howls, squeaks and assorted strange calls,
with feathers and fur flying everywhere. It’s that hint of something
exotic that holds the awed attention, descriptors of a world of
marvellous invention, of devilish devices that wouldn’t necessarily
exist in any world, of impossible Heath Robinsonesque contraptions held
together with string and tape, and of the bemused denizens of that
world, unsure as to whether such machines were a help or a hindrance.
Arcane twangings and bizarre plucking, distorted gremlin voices going
about their slightly suspect business, arthritic creakings and
rheumatic wheezings add further colour to an already dayglo dimension,
possibly even turning up the contrast to eye watering levels.
The second part, “I no Longer Want to See the Sky”, while only recorded
a matter of two years later, already takes us in a completely different
direction, while at the same time retaining some essential Lt. Caramel
elements. For one thing, here we have synthesisers and a much more
‘tuneful’, less chaotic, incarnation of this beast. There is even, dare
I say it, more of a sense of structure in addition. Apart from anything
else, it wraps everything up in a distinctly different mood and
atmosphere. As an example, track six, “Gold Heart of a Rat”, feels
itchy, skittish, secretive and unwilling to expose itself too much,
ultimately shying away from the light and wanting to hide in
inaccessible nooks and crannies. Scratchy, urgent, querulous and
nervous sketches in sound set paint a shyly scurrying, hurrying and
quicksilver picture, refusing to stay in any one place for long while
nervously scanning its surroundings. Although there are firmer
‘musical’ underpinnings it still defines itself through a carefully
choreographed set of superficially random sounds.
Surprisingly, the album rounds itself off in a much more structured
manner, with two longer visually narrative pieces, These two in fact
most closely approach what could be considered music, although they
don’t completely abandon the musique concrete elements. They still burp
and splutter, hop and jump in unexpected and surprising directions, but
they’re underpinned by a canvas of drones and keyboards, adding
considerable depth and density. These are indeed the most accessible of
all the pieces on here, but accessibility is a relative term here it
has to be pointed out. Allied to visual elements, as the last track,
“Were it Hurt to You”, was meant to be (a composition intended for a
theatre production), then it would an even greater level of
accessibility.
To be quite honest, I find it difficult to properly evaluate this
album. I thoroughly enjoyed everything on here – despite the fact that
ultimately I prefer music that develops themes over long periods the
very mercurial and ephemeral nature of the pieces on here captivated
me. The staccato rapidity with which these compositions fired
themselves at me ensured a constant revelatory unravelling, as if, for
instance, they were threads in some complex multi-patterned carpet,
fundamentally simple as individual threads but nevertheless beautifully
and aesthetically complex as a co-operative conglomerate. This is
exactly how this album works – each sound represents a thread that in
isolation means nothing, but added to other threads in concert creates
a wondrous web of narratives and intricate stories. If you have similar
tastes to me, or even if musique concrete is your particular favourite
musical tipple, then this will definitely fire off every synapse in
your brain’s pleasure centres.
____________________________________________________
http://sonhors.free.fr/kronik/Lt_Caramel.htm
Lt.Caramel
:: Early Tape Works :: Monochrome Vision :: 2006
En
1986, Philippe Blanchard crée le personnage du "Lt
Caramel", marquisat du plateau des Glières.
Digne héritier d'un Luigi Russolo qui déclarait
en 1913 que "les bruits de tramways ou des masses dans
la rue a plus de valeur que la symphonie pastorale",
notre lieutenant aime, le bruit de la neige qui tombe, le
ballet des sifflets, les klaxons et les bruits de la ville...
En véritable chasseur de sons, il capte avec son
DAT portable, toutes formes de matières sonores.
Fixés, organisés et assemblés avec
des bruits d'instruments acoustiques et électroniques,
ces objets sonores se métamorphosent en une musique
acousmatique comme nulle autre pareille, un magnifique répertoire
où se conjuguent, collages, manipulations de bande,
et autres subtilités capables d'interpeler les auditoires
les plus réticents !
Actif
depuis plus de 25 ans, ce bricoleur sonore dadaiste multiplie
les projets et les rencontres, Philippe Blanchard doit autant
à André Breton et Tristan Tzara qu'aux Varèse,
Schaeffer et Russolo. Né en 1961, il réalise
ses musiques au Studio Forum à Annecy avec lequel
il fonde le Festival annuel "Le bruit de la neige"
(http://www.studioforum.net/festival/2007/index2007.html).
Il est également lauréat de plusieurs concours
internationaux (GMEB à Bourges, Luigi Russolo (Italie),
Radio France, La Muse en Circuit (Mauricio Kagel), CIMES-FICS
(Prague). Il a reçu le prix "Chasseurs de sons"
Radio France International 2000 pour sa musique "Captain
Cook".
Ce
double CD sorti sur le label moscovite Monochrome Vision,
réunit ses tout premiers travaux de musique pour
bande, 10 années d'une mozaïque de musique concrète
surréaliste, à base de dérision et
de poésie primitive.
De
la notion de "son fixé" si chère
à Michel Chion, Felipe Caramelos a fait sienne !
____________________________________________________________________________
http://www.thesoundprojector.com/2007/02/
By Ed Pinsent
Four pieces of heavy-duty tape music and ‘industrial’ noise arrived today from Monochrome Vision, a Russian label in the hands of Dmitry Vasilev.
Must admit I was very taken with the black-and-white packaging (in
keeping with his label’s name) and the very clear and straightforward
layouts for the artworks, even down to the use of Times New Roman. The
artworks were wrapped in a piece of Russian newspaper and the CDs were
taped up in bubble wrap. Just starting to unpeel ‘em now…
Stroma-Konkret (mv07) is by Maurizio Bianchi and Siegmar Fricke.
I never yet heard a single record by this famous ‘MB’ fellow. I
understand he used to be pretty noisy. These are not recordings from
his well-known 1980 period, but from last year. According to Sigmar,
the German electronicist, “These compositions ‘cellular-organelles’
took place inside the spheroid surroundings of hydrophilic microfloras
in the course of the radiometric age 2006″. Well, not many people can
say that.
Lieutenant Caramel has a double CD compilation called Early Tape Works (mv08).
Music hereon mostly dates from 1984-1988, some from a bit later. It’s
got a photograph of a big foot on the front cover, and a nice skeleton
on the back cover playing a Spanish guitar. This is French artist Philippe Blanchard who
is also a film-maker. He says in his notes: “For 20 years, I have
produced in my barrrels some tape music representing a suicidal
psychodrama for any ‘good’ thinker of current music”. I can’t wait to
dredge these barrels, lemme tell ya….apparently this stuff
has some sonic commonality with Nurse With Wound and Brume. Juding by
his portrait photo, Lieutenant Caramel looks a serious sort.
____________________________________________________
"ET SONNER LES COUCOUS"
http://www.softwatch.freeserve.co.uk/gurgrunz.htm
Label S.F.C.R. Cat. No. CD002 Format CD
Flatulant, metamorphic, full of ideas, this short recording (18'30") makes for
interesting listening. Like many recordings which use electronic processing (including,
I assume, a sequenced pitch shifter) this has a cardy, material feel to the actual
sonics, an unclear, opaque feel which fills the air with primary sounds without sounding
in the least bit preset. Vocal treatments (loops, backmasking, processes) bring to
mind the chilling backwards sequence from "Twin Peaks". There's also a
Dadaist accent, with phonetic dabblings of the 'Zub Zam Zimb' variety. Take RUNZELSTIRN
& GURGELSTØCK, fill out their sound to almost deafening proportions and
you have yer L.C. Lots of electronic noise as machines and instruments revolt against
being taken to such sonic extremes. Tunes of a sort form themselves within this tonal
madhouse. Anyone looking to sample weird and unusual noises should find this a worthwhile
investment. Let a young RUSSOLO, DALI and VARESE loose in a modern recording studio
and lock them in for a week. Whichever survived would create something like this.
Take your brain out and let hooligans play football with it for an hour before listening
to this - you might detect normality in the composition if you have self-inflicted
brain death. Weird, crazy, humerous. As damaged as the contents of the box from the
beginning of "Ace Ventura Pet Detective". Reviewer ANTONY BURNHAM for
METAMORPHIC JOURNEYMAN
Musique concret — delicious journey —snowscape paint the moon —bicycle handlebar
bells - in a darkened room, the light from the hallway leaking in, friendly — childhood
tunnels of sweet dreams — this music I like, the orchestral greeting, the way it
says hello, you know it's friendly and benign and it will do you no harm; bless it,
it might even do you good — voices are a key element / lovely loops ; ah, it makes
me smile, and I need to SO bad just now — yes, I'm happy; thank you lieutenant caramel
!
Reviewer MARTYN BATES for METAMORPHIC JOURNEYMAN
Another fab and fun recording of wacky electro-acoustic mayhem from The Lt. This
is hyperactive mangling of female vocal bits that are flying in all directions combining
with other blips and sonic kernels and fragments. This really does sound like the
way couscous looks and feels.
Reviewer : Reprinted
from ND #17 (RF)
Noisegate no9
Sender: brownsierra@hotmail.com
LT Caramel
J'ai 10 Doigts
Format CD
Musique concrete, collage of hundreds of sounds, cut -ups sounds like tape manipulations
cut and spliced, but who can tell these days. A lot of French spoken word ( he is
French), which has a Futurist, Dada poetry feel which chops and jumps in and out
of the other recordings these are also mixed with occasional strings, rubbed and
hit. Very bold and not afraid to get noisy.
LT Caramel
Methods Of Speech
Format 3"CD
French spoken word, broken down, reconstructed, reversed, layered and effected. Mixed
with strings, scratched, rubbed and hit, bits of electronic keyboard really nice
electronic sounds. Noises come and go, in places sounds like its been recorded in
a canteen, random and segmented. His methods of mixing work really well.
INTERVIEWS
- 1991 - Revue et corrigée - N°4
par jérôme Noetinger
- 1992 - Vital (Hollande)
- 1997 - L'essor Savoyard du 23/01/1997 -
Interview par François Delhuitre
- 1999 - Art TV - Interview par Frédéric Acquaviva - carte blanche
- 2000 - IEM - Moscou - Russie by Dmitry Vasilyev
http://www.chat.ru/~svalemor/ltcaramel.htm
ou direct Iem
- 2001 -
par Loco Nordin (Suede)
http://home.swipnet.se/sonoloco
- Pandore
- Hopscotch
par Klimperei (Lyon) : LE ROSTRE
http://klimperei.free.fr
interview direct
Une compagnie du 1er bataillon (lieutenant CARAMEL) gagna cent mètres en avant du carrefour de Broonseinde. Malheureusement , faute de renforts, ...
