Press Release:

A collection of commissioned compositions exploring the relations between acoustic instruments and digital process.

Track listing

1. composed by werner dafeldecker & martin siewert
double & electric bass performed by dafeldecker electronics & synthetizers

2. composed by janek schaefer
method : record player for the blind, mixer, pedals and on screen collage

3. composed by ralph steinbrüchel
computer performed by steinbrüchel guitar as a source composed and
performed by hervé boghossian

4. composed by andrea gabriele
piano, double & electric bass, percussions by gabriele
trumpet by jara queeto

5. composed by sébastien roux
electric guitar and computer performed by roux

6. composed by matthieu saladin & ivan solano
bass clarinet duo performed, edited, mixed and mastered by saladin & solano

7. composed by hervé boghossian
electric guitar and computer performed by boghossian

8. composed by günter müller
cymballs with bow, hands, a headphone & computer performed by müller

9. composed by mitchell akiyama
piano, acoustic guitar, viola, melodica & computer performed by akiyama

10. composed by julien tardieu & benoît courribet
cymbal performed by tardieu & computer as signal processing by courribet

11. composed by cécile schott
cello performed, mixed and produced by schott

Running Time: 70mins

Reviews:

Vital list, (The Netherlands) [FdW]
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The small French label List maybe be small but their releases so far fill me with you. Their second compilation explores 'the relations between acoustic instruments and digital process'. It features a wide range of musicians and composers, with different backgrounds. Janek Schaefer for instance uses a 'record player for the blind, mixer, pedals and on screen collage', so that hardly sounds like an instrument. At the other end we find Matthieu Saladin and Ivan Soland who do a blass clarinet duo. However most others play instruments (or have them played) and process them digitally. Steinbruchel for instance process guitar playing by Herve Boghossian (label head honcho). In many of the eleven pieces here there is some careful playing and processing going on. Each piece takes a fair amount of time and the acoustic element is never lost whilst the digital element is always present somewhere. Take Andrea Gabriele's piano, double and electric bass and percussion piece: sounding glitchy and ambient, the real instrumental touch is not lost. Lastly the combination of somewhat more known and unknown players make this into a fine introduction aswell something to recognize and be surprised of. Mitchell Akiyama (nice violin piece!), Gunter Muller, Werner Dafeldecker, martin Siewert and Sebastian Roux may sell the CD but Julien Tardieu, Colleen or Herve Boghossian are certainly names to watch out. A very nice compilation.

Phosphor Magazine (Berlin)
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The fifth release by the label List is an excellent compilation featuring a diversity of artists from the electronic/improvisation scene, like for instance Sébastien Roux, Mitchell Akiyama, Hervé Boghossian and Günter Müller. The first thing one notices is the homogenity of the tracks presented on this sampler. What the compositions have in common is that refinement and delicateness of the sounds used. Warm ambient layers and soft guitar accords have been combined with fine tickling, minimal hiss and static clicks. Werner Dafeldecker & Martin Siewert created the opening track. Their beautiful combination of acoustic instruments (double & electric bass) and fine-tuned electronics, slowly building tension and moving in several musical directions, is typical for this album. Another example of this combination comes from Sébastian Roux, who uses guitar and computer to create a sound reminding of the work by Nitrada or Andrey Kiritchenko. Ralph Steinbrüchel co-operates with Hervé Boghossian to come up with lovely guitar strings and warm, sensible computer generated tunes. Mitchell Akiyama uses even a few extra instruments, such as piano and viola to blend a sultry track with a slight Middle-Eastern feeling to it and subtle noise fragments. Excellent though hard to categorize. This compilation offers several other calm tracks, like Günter Müller's dark dreamscape or Matthieu Saladin & Ivan Solano's ambient approach in the vein of Vidna Obmana. Slow mesmerizing electronic waves and crystal-clear synth tunes go hand in hand to form dreamy soundscapes of lost souls (Andrea Gabriele). Janek Schaefer's contribution has been created by means of record player, mixer and pedals. It reminds of a marble rolling on a metal plate and a deep buzz and ends with radio static and soft electronic crisps. INstruments is a beautiful compilation, without a weak moment.

Etherreal.org (France) [Fabrice Allard]
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Instruments est la deuxième compilation du label d'Hervé Boghossian après Minima~List qui était la première référence de celui-ci. Premier bon point, les artistes ne sont pas les mêmes, mais on n'est pas pour autant en terrain inconnu puisqu'on y retrouve les exigences artistiques de Günter Müller ou Steinbrüchel, et le fruit de rencontres plus ou moins anciennes avec Sébastien Roux, Matthieu Saladin & Ivan Solano, ou Colleen.
Ça commence très très fort avec Werner Dafeldecker et Martin Siewert qui n'en sont pas à leur première collaboration. On les retrouve régulièrement autour de la scène avant-gardiste viennoise avec Efzeg ou Dieb13. Ils commencent ici par un doux échafaudage de nappes et originale rythmique de batterie, avant que clicks et textures ne viennent apporter une tension parfaitement dosée. Difficile de faire un rapprochement avec quelque chose de connu, mais on peut y voir là un croisement entre Radian et Fennesz. Continuons avec les autres belles surprises du disque, et Mou,Lips! qui nous surprend et nous séduit à la fois avec un titre peut-être plus grave que ce à quoi ils nous ont habitué, construisant ici une ambiance douce et rêveuse à base de notes espacées et cristallines, et de nappes chaleureuses. Juste après, Sébastien Roux distille avec finesse ses douces notes et nappes de guitare au sein de denses grésillements. La recette est un peu la même pour Mitchell Akiyama avec un petit quelque chose en plus. Une énergie brute, une sensibilité à fleur de peau, une réussite qui nous réconcilie avec son concert en demie-teinte à Confluences récemment.
S'il s'agit là de nos gros coups de coeur, le reste n'est pas mauvais pour autant, loin de là. Juste fidèle à nos attentes, ni plus, ni moins. On y trouve ainsi Janek Schaefer et ses savants jeux de platines vinyles, le minimalisme répétitif de Steinbrüchel et Hervé Boghossian aux subtiles évolutions, l'ambient lunaire de Günter Müller d'une part, et du duo atypique formé par Matthieu Saladin et Ivan Solano à base de clarinettes !!
Pour finir, Julien Tardieu et Cylens (Benoît Courribet, fondateur du label N-Rec) inventent le free jazz édité en commençant par quelques grincements de cymbale petit à petit écrasés par une séquence rythmique envahissante et limite bruitiste, puis Colleen seule au violoncelle, magnifique d'épure et de mélancolie au début, mais qui perd de sa force au fur et à mesure que les couches se superposent.
S'il est difficile de compiler sans se perdre un peu dans le manque de cohérence, ou l'inégalité des pièces, cette Instruments apparaît comme particulièrement réussie avec beaucoup de moments forts tout en gardant l'exigence artistique du label.

ParisTransAtlantic (France) [Dan Warburton]
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List is a label run out of Paris by guitarist / laptopper Hervé Boghossian. The first release on the label in 2001 was itself a compilation, Minima-list featuring (here comes the list) Sogar, Charles Curtis, Komet, Otomo Yoshihide, Fabriquedecouleurs, Taylor Deupree, *0, Sol, Speakerine, Richard Chartier, Matthieu Saladin, O/r and Alan Licht. After albums by Mou,lips! and Boghossian himself, INstruments features contributions from Werner Dafeldecker and Martin Siewert, Janek Schaefer, Steinbrüchel, Mou,lips!, Sébastien Roux, Matthieu Saladin and Ivan Solano, Boghossian, Günter Müller, Mitchell Akiyama, Julien Tardieu and Cylens and Colleen. The shift from austere to pretty is immediately evident: out go Curtis and Licht, in come Roux and Akiyama. Trapist fans will know what to expect from Siewert by now, but the opening "Stendec" must be the most accessible thing Werner Dafeldecker has ever produced (more or less E flat major, and nearly even grooves). Janek Schaefer's "Sans La Vue" and Ralph Steinbrüchel's "Tint/e" are beautiful without being cloying, but the glucose level skyrockets with Mou,lips!' "Che ti amerà per sempre" and Roux's "Farnsworth House". After that, things begin to unravel. The Saladin and Tardieu offerings are featureless rambles, as is, unfortunately, Boghossian's own offering "Points d'Orgue" ("Pedal Points") - his own solo on List is more rewarding. As for Günter Müller, who has graced the world with some of the best eai albums of the past three years, well, he should have left "Momentary Cymbalized" in a dusty corner of his hard drive. By the time we've got through Mitch Akiyama's swoony, stringy drones and the cod medieval dirge of Colleen's "Slow Flower" (did all these kids grow up listening to Music for Airports or Sinking of the Titanic, or something?), even a blast of dull, grainy, rainy Keith Rowe would come as a welcome surprise. Paradoxically, the compilation compounds the sense of frustration - give Sébastien Roux and Mou,lips! a whole album to stretch out in, and the results are quite enjoyable.