Eliane Radigue

lappetites record is Ryo Co, Kaffe Matthews & AGF using a handful of Radigue's 60's pieces as source material for a jam. you can hear a bit of 'E = a = b = a + b' at points, other things are transformed. I remember thinking of it as a good document of a decent studio improv session, but I prefer Ryo Co's solo records.

& I ordered / received Naldjorlak last November. didn't have a problem, though lots of people of IHM agree he's really bad with email

keith's got 'em: http://www.mimaroglumusicsales.com/labels/shiiin.html

ah pause, he doesn't have L'Ile re-sonante. & that's the one I'd invest in before Naldjorlak. worth it.

http://vimeo.com/4163955

love this footage.

trying to understand french is giving me a headache

http://die-fremde.blogspot.com/2009/10/in-beginning-there-was-certain-music.html

the two new archival releases on Important, both fantastic -- 'Tryptich' is the one I'm playing over and over, from 1978. Recorded between Adnos I & II, but to me way better than either, it's just got the thing

'Vice Versa Etc.' is a 2 CD set of a single tape of a deep drone, each CD 4 tracks, the original tape played at 3.75 / 7.5 / 15 / 30 ips speed. first CD plays the tape forward, second CD plays the tape backwards, and it really comes to life if you do what you're supposed to and play the two discs on different stereos at the same time, different tracks against each other. great piece if you do that, but takes a bit more participation than 'Tryptich' to really launch

ok last night I did the work and set up 'Vice Versa Etc.' with each disc on its own player on shuffle play, and it must be some kind of masterpiece. completely different overtones come out of the tape at each playback speed, even though they're technically just octaves apart. the simplest things in the world are the hardest things to describe

hmm thanks for the info, i'm going to order these this weekend. like someone else above i've only heard 'adnos,' really excited to hear more. wish i understood french! (assuming the IMA piece is?)

http://www.junkmedia.org/index.php?i=2602

crosstalk from the i hate music thread here, which is filled with great posts
http://ihatemusic.noquam.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3617

just ordered the important discs. excited to finally hear these.

http://boomkat.com/vinyl/370918-eliane-radigue-jouet-electronique-elemental-1

not that this kind of music isn't inherently analog, but listening to those hissy vinyl clicky sound samples, releasing this vinyl-only is just frustrating

the pieces themselves sound fantastic -- other people got around to sounding like this later, but it really does sound like the most lasting works usually come from the people who were first to the field

I typically go for vinyl if the option exists, but yeah, it may not be the best fit with a sound as simple and pure as eliane's. haven't listened yet but I have the same reservations.

those clips sounds excellent though!

heh. they SOUND excellent that is.

listened to jouet electronique yesterday afternoon. wonderful. especially love the subtle, rhythmic feedback modulation during the side a coda.

and I'm not sure if it was just my copy, but it did seem like a bit of a noisy pressing as well. didn't distract me much but ymmv.

well, it appears I'm not the only one with this problem. from a review on the discogs page:

Massive amount of surface noise on brand new LP. Persisting after 2 professional vacuum cleaning...Do record plants ever make test pressings anymore before releasing albums?

a bit annoying for a pricey lp.

http://www.soundandmusic.org/projects/triptych-music-eliane-radigue

Interview with Eliane Radigue (by Paul Schütze) in the new issue of Frieze:

http://www.frieze.com/issue/article/surround-sound/

That picture of her with the seashell.

Must admit I was getting to be wary of whether I was personally going to listen to another early archival release after 'Tryptich' & 'Vice-Versa', but I've been listening to 'Transamorem – Transmortem' a lot the last six weeks. Very intense & piercing even for her, but very very focused. About half an hour in, when the high tone occasionally does that little quiver, it feels like a physical push

Frieze is kicking ass with the electronic music coverage--they have The Wire beat for sure

er, not that I'm biased, or anything

oh yeah? what else have they published lately?

besides that very fine schnitzler article, that is. :-)

listening to 'trilogie de la mort' right now because of this thread ((((d-_-b))))

what else have they published lately?

here's a max mathews interview i did: http://blog.frieze.com/max-mathews/

i've written many other pieces for them, but they're not all available online--you have to buy the magazine. i have three big articles on the way, all dealing with electronic music, but i have a hand injury which is slowing me down a bit

but anyway, back to eliane radigue: my friend keith is hanging out with eliane in paris at this very moment

nice one. thanks for heads up on the article.

and good for Frieze, because i've found the art world to generally have shockingly unsophisticated and horrible taste in music (all those parties with camp-retro-irony djs who play 80s hits and mainstream disco)

yeah, thanks!

just listened to transamorem - transmortem and...

About half an hour in, when the
high tone occasionally does that little quiver, it feels like a physical push

...yes!

loved this bit from that interview:

I ’ve been working alone
for so much of my life. My only assistant
has been my cat .
I would always know something was wrong
when she made a face , but when she was
very quiet I’d just carry on .

my cats approved of transamorem btw

reissue of geelriandre / arthesis on senufo editions is out.

'arthesis' sounding particularly lovely to me right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwNIJa6Dexs

http://boomkat.com/vinyl/565809-eliane-radigue-feedback-works-1969-1970

frustrating to have this be another vinyl-only release when even the boomkat samples have crinkly vinyl noise, even though the music still sounds great under the pops. they've got to put out a CD of this + jouet electronique.

http://www.electrocd.com/en/cat/oral_57/
https://soundcloud.com/experimedia/eliane-radigue-psi-847-album?in=experimedia/sets/exp-new-march-14-2013

“The performance of Ψ 847 is about to begin. Once again, Radigue has employed one of her favoured sound dissemination tricks: directing the banks of loudspeakers not toward the audience, but toward the building… The soundboard is at the rear of the house, and Marchetti will be playing the tapes from there. Radigue is in a seat, like any other audience member. There will be nothing to see, no one on stage, no visual distractions. But what happens when you listen to this music? What sensations, feelings or thoughts emerge? Obviously, any drone-based music generates, first of all, a physical experience… You must give in, abandon yourself, forget about trying to figure out whether three minutes or an hour have elapsed. This is… truly an experience of slowness. A rare moment for which you must prepare, and be in the right condition (no need to meditate, or try to achieve a trance state, either: a little concentration will suffice!)… Once you’ve accepted the loss of physical bearings, you can then attempt to grasp Radigue’s compositional talent: locating motifs that modulate and transform at varying intervals; appreciating the evolution, the appearance of a new movement, or, as in the case of Ψ 847, the insensible dissolution of the music.” —Thibaut De Ruyter, Berlin (Germany), 2012

The Wire, Issue 180, February 1999
Eliane Radigue: Death Becomes Her (extracts) By Julian Cowley

During the 1950s, Radigue drew her first substantial nourishment as a composer from the innovations of musique concrete. Previously, she had played the twelve tone game, but found it unfulfilling. Then, while working as Pierre Henry's assistant, she chanced upon electronic feedback effects. "I was absolutely fascinated," Radigue remarks in a telephone interview, "not only by the sounds but by their behavior. With the tape recorders of that period, a little defect could bring interesting results. I found this garbage of sounds very expressive."

... Radigue embarked on her own course, turning her attention to synthesizers which allowed easier building of the sounds she required. An ARP analog synthesizer has remained her chosen means to make music, although for 25 years her style has been Minimalist. PSI 847 was her breakthrough piece - for the first time her musical conception was closely matched in execution over 80 minutes of sustained, gentle sound.
"The duration was just a matter of the necessary time I had to go through in order to reach what was my real goal," she explains, "which is still my goal, a very slow changing process within the sound itself. Something which is not external to the sound." She feels that the nature of her chosen synthesizer's modular system grants her "access within the flesh of the sounds".

played each disc once, right out of the mailer about three weeks ago. the first disc, the concert recording, is remarkable. incredibly high fidelity for a room recording. it's only at the first cough, about 20 minutes in, that you get a sense of the room's huge dimensions, and that it dawns on you that there are hundreds of people in that room silently listening to the piece.

the second disc is the direct transfer of the tape; the first disc was so intense that I don't think I gave it as much of a chance. sometime soon.

ordered this today - can't wait to listen!

have only had a chance to listen to the first disc so far but I'm already thinking that this is going to end up as one of my favorites in her catalog. "intense" is definitely a good way to put it - the piece really becomes very immersive as it pares down, sounds begin to overlap, and everything sssssssstretches out.

anyone ever hear feedback works 1969 - 1970 btw? too rich for my blood.

This thread is making me wish I had an extra $300

>feedback works 1969 - 1970

it's good, it's tape-saturated & noisy. not meditative, very full on. it's got a mixed version of 'Vice Versa' (as much as I enjoy the archival CD presentations that simply give you separate tracks of each ingredient on different discs so you can mix them yourselves, I also enjoy hearing examples of realized performances)

I've read a review or two online complaining of Radigue fatigue after the last few years of never-before-released early pieces, but yes I do get the impression everything was sort of building towards a good edition of 'Psi 847' coming out. The later pieces have soothing moments, this one is just intense raw consciousness

personally I can't really complain about the deluge since I haven't heard anything I'd consider a dud yet. but 847 seems special.

and thanks for the info on feedback works. you've definitely piqued my curiosity.

Naldjorlak I, II, III, anyone?

It's fantastic. Radigue really knows how to write in her own voice for acoustic instruments now.

The first disc is still Charles Curtis, doing a new performance of Naldjorlak I, which came out on the same label a few years ago; still the same structure but a very different piece now that he's been touring with it for a few years. I saw him play it in SF about two years ago at The Lab; he played it unamplified in a mid-sized room, and encouraged everyone to huddle around him as closely as they could sit. Most of the piece is extremely quiet, and everyone in the room had to keep quiet to listen.

The piece is basically Curtis bowing various points across the entire length of his cello, largely the strings but not always the strings; he works his way up, then all the way down. The piece climaxes when moves to playing the metal peg stand, which surprisingly makes an incredible high pitched pulsating sound. It actually sounds a lot like 7.5 ips reel to reel tape delay feedback, once the original signal has disintegrated entirely into oscillating white noise; in other words, it sounds a lot like her earliest feedback works. Which is really something.

hah, MP beat me to it. here's what I was about to post:

I have to spend some more time with them (it's a lot of music!) but my impression is definitely favorable. I'd been avoiding the naldjorlak material because I thought I wouldn't be as interested in radigue working outside an 'electronic' context... but I felt a little silly about that after hearing this set. different instrumentation but working towards similar goals. I don't think you'll be disappointed if you're already a fan.

Thought it would be great just through Curtis' involvement in it.

Feels like the first record of the year I need to get hold of.

You can hear Charles Curtis, Rhodri Davies, Robin Hayward and Dafne Vicente-Sandoval performing some recent Radigue pieces in this selection (the first of four) from the recent Tectonics Festival in Glasgow. Worth a listen, imho.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05vgxvt

Sorry, I should say, you WILL be able to hear... after Saturday the 16th.

The Radigue pieces were extremely quiet and the audience was not, so it will be interesting to hear if some of the egregious coughs have been edited out.

http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/specials/2015-eliane-radigue-feature/

great article -- wasn't aware that schaeffer and henry were chauvinists but it is not surprising.

Thanks for posting!

This Sunday:

https://www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/contemporary/eliane-radigue-exploring-occam-rhodri-davies-friends/

Preceded by:

https://www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/contemporary/gavin-bryars-at-80/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQH6U6yPQ3Q

Soon you'll be able to cosplay as Eliane for what I can guess is going to be $10k.

oh, no only $7500ish

lol just re-read and that's the deposit

Those paying the deposit now get this synth at the early bird discounted price of 22,000GBP (exc. tax and shipping). After first batch gone final price will be 25,000GBP

https://lcmf.co.uk/17-Jan-2025-Eliane-Radigue

Éliane Radigue / Carol Robinson
OCCAM DELTA XXIII (2024)
(world premiere)

adnos me until i break up into tiny organic compounds

RIP

oh no

Oh damn. I'd hoped the thread had been bumped for other reasons. RIP Elaine ;_;

damn

Eliane... friggin' phone,!

Damn it

RIP

oh shit, the bad kind of thread revive

I have experienced some incredible moments with her music, truly a pathbreaker.

Reminds me of the massive battle, which dragged on for weeks, I had with my local post office when they claimed they'd never received the copy of her INA-GRM boxset I'd bought online. Then one day I came home from work and it had mysteriously been posted through my letterbox. Needless to say I've never used that post office since. Still now I can listen to that boxset tonight.

Been afraid of opening to this news for years now to be honest

very formative for me. a huge loss. rip ;_;

RIP queen of arps, could listen to the alien drift of Adnos all day

RIP nobody ever did it better, grateful to have found her work, listening to her music I have learned so much about music/listening/everything

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/feb/24/eliane-radigue-french-composer-dies-aged-94

RIP. She taught us how to listen.

rip

I first heard her on WFMU, Stan’s show I think around 2010. A track from Songs of Milarepa. What beautiful music. RIP

:-(

listening to Adnos rn, RIP

RIP. In case you haven't seen it, the doc "Sisters With Transistors" features Radigue: https://tubitv.com/movies/100043850/sisters-with-transistors
I'll be listening to "Occam Ocean 2" tonight. And now that I have the equipment, I should also listen to the 2 discs of "Vice Versa" simultaneously.

Listened to "Jetsun Mila" earlier today (on Qobuz because I forgot I bought it from Bandcamp a while ago).

at risk of seeming uncouth the eliane radigue story that sticks with me is as follows (kinda risque):

i bought the important records triptych cd when it came out in 2009. i brought it on a road trip i took with my boyfriend to city of rocks national reserve in se idaho. we played it on the way in from the wasatch front, big open sagebrush landscapes. the drones were so warm, natural and relaxing. i got turned on and we got a little frisky in the car. we pulled over and finished while the music was playing.

i always felt like her music was generous and life-affirming. the obvious religious references seemed to fully characterize the music. now that i meditate regularly the stillness and aliveness seem even more apparent. it really feels like meditations in sonic form.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uT33mdd3MY

was listening to the early feedback recordings last night. Very soothing!

adnos is so so so great