Reviews
07.2009 Loop
Cem Güney is a Turkish-born sound artist who started within the jazz music field playing the trumpet. He studied music in California and he’s a DJ since 1994. “Praxis” is the debut album on Portuguese Cronica Electronica label, furthermore a compilation appearance on “V/A Mus….c”, (Cronica, 2008).
Güney works both synthetic and recorded sound as source material which processed by software. “A Phonetics Theme” opens with a wide range of recorded voices. “Impulse” is built out of tiny digital sounds, while “Undulations (dedicated to Janek Schaefer)” is a loop of a string section that changed into flickering tones penetrating dark moods.“Factitious Phobia” is a combination of electroacoustic sounds, recorded voices and underrated Middle Eastern music. The piano deliver harmonic notes which sound quite strange alongwith such abstract sounds. “Praxis” is composed by digital microsounds, some of them Morse like and unidentifiable snippets.“Behold Now Bhikkus, The Sounds of Nada Yoga” comprised the meditation through sound and there are some vowels with especial characteristics and meanings worked by Güney as processed voices.
Guillermo Escudero
05.2009 Etherreal
Cem Güney est d'origine turque, et c'est influencé par le jazz et en particulier par Miles Davis qu'il s'est mis à la trompette. Puis il est parti faire des études de musique en Californie, revient en temps que DJ tout en continuant la trompette, et connaît sa deuxième révélation musicale avec Janek Schaefer, s'orientant alors vers l'art sonore.
On est habitué chez Cronica à des œuvres pointues, exigeantes, et cet album de Cem Güney se situe dans cette lignée d'albums expérimentaux souvent à la limite du concept, mettant en phase des composantes ambient et concrètes qui semblent communier au grès de manipulations sonores et assemblages abstraits pour des rendus qui pourront surprendre par leur variété. C'est le cas en particulier de A Phonetics Theme qui ouvre l'album avec un travail très particulier, simple collage alternant presque de façon mathématique mots, sonorités concrètes et bruitages électroniques ou traitements sonores.
On est par ailleurs dans un registre ambient expérimentale, bien loin de la facilité des nappes synthétiques puisque les paysages désolés que dessine le Turc se composent de drones sourds et sifflements suraigus (Somewhere Between The Middle), flirtent avec le minimalisme radical et les extrêmes sonores d'un Ryoji Ikeda qui serait habillé d'amas granuleux sur Impulse, ou se rapprochent d'une musique improvisée qui deviendrait mécanique à force de boucler (Factitious Phobia).
Parfois très difficile d'accès avec ses notes stridentes sur Praxis, Cem Güney sait aussi capter l'attention de l'auditeur lorsque ses compositions semblent influencer par le Nada Yoga (une forme de méditation basée sur la musique et qui a servi de point de départ à Behold Now Bhikkus, The Sounds of Nada Yoga), jouant de superpositions, répétitions et ondulations sonore sur le magnifique Adaptations qui devrait ravir tout fan d'ambient. On citera enfin Undulations, une pièce de 10mn débutant par des vinyls de cordes craquelée, logiquement dédicacée à Janek Schaefer, et construite selon une lente progression électronique et synthétique.
Loin d'être le plus facile des albums Cronica, Praxis est le genre d'album qui mérite qu'on lui laisse le temps de s'installer pour dévoiler par endroits sa poésie mystérieuse. 6/8
Fabrice Allard
01.2009 Neural
In foggia di repentini assemblamenti auditivi, elettroacustica ed influenze microsound, il multi-strumentista turco Cem Güney (che vanta anche esperienze in qualità di dj e trombettista) dà vita per la label sperimentale portoghese Cronica ad un'affascinante sequenza di suoni sintetici e field recording . Composizioni che gravitano su un attenzione autorale tutta focalizzata alla percezione di frammenti, nelle forme di riverberi, crackle e dilatate iterazioni, che confluiscono ad arte in partiture anche ambient e acusmatiche. Gentile ma ancora in qualche modo ispida, elaborazione di trame sofisticate concettualmente e vivide, sperimentale nell'articolare sequenze algoritmiche in bilico tra spiritualità e scienza. Meditazione sull'universo udibile che fonda la propria esplorazione sulle stesse suggestioni che specifici automatismi corporei ci suggeriscono: il sangue che pulsa, l'energia elettrica dei nervi, i crepitii delle orecchie. 'Nada Yoga' senza melodie e parole, ritmi e armonie: giusto il suono d'un vibrante respiro.
Aurelio Cianciotta
11.2008 aufabwegen
Es ist schon erstaunlich, woher ein knapp über 30-jähriger eine solche kompositorische Reife hernimmt. Praxis geht von etwas verschwurbelten Yoga-Fragestellungen aus und verfolgt die Suche nach der ultimativen Herkunft von Sound. Verschiedene Orte werden imaginär aufgesucht, als Möglichkeiten beleuchtet und dann doch zumeist wieder verworfen. Praxis sucht diese Orte auf mit knisternder Brillanz, mit knacksenden Digitalrülpsern und einer dem Jazz verwandten Experessivität. Tolles Album!
Zipo
11.2008 The Wire
This debut album by a producer and multi-instrumentalist from Izmir comes replete with an impressively elaborate self-description. It talks of "Phonetics themes", using phonemes rather than words to tell stories, with digressions into "Nada Yoga" and the claim that the producer is "beholden to the harmoniousness of two essential properties that maintains the forcefulness of a cognition space." Even after several readings, soundtracked by the aural results, it remains opaque what the actual links are between the theory and Praxis.
What we have here is a record that is consistently sophisticated, sometimes almost beautiful, but remarkably standard. The palette here — a collage of field recordings, laptop distortion, minimal instrumentation and subterranean hums — is remarkably familiar from any number of iBook creations released in the last decade or so. Praxis is a particular serene version of this idiom. The ideas seem to be confined to the jerky cut-ups of the opening "A Phonetics These", whose spliced syllables evoke something between Stockhausen's Stimmung and Goodiepal. After this, tracks are left to drift along prettily, in a by now predictable international laptop style.
The rather misnamed "Visceral (In A Figurative Sense)" for instance, elegantly features doleful organ chords, a punctuating synth, and some background clutter and scrape, as if to give the impression that the piece is far less structured than it is. "Behold Now Bikkus, The Sounds of Nada Yoga" promises something slightly more outré, with its chants hovering in the background — but there are no major departures.
Owen Hatherley
10.2008 Freistil
Eine wissenschaftliche Arbeit mit viel Poesie: Das schafft Cem Güney, wenn er das Phänomen der Phonetik als algorithmische Komposition verstanden wissen will. Elektronik, die sich vor allem den Vokalen widmet und auf ein so genanntes, mir gänzlich unbekanntes "Nada Yoga" rückgreift. Ist hier das Nichts alles? Ich nehme jedenfalls stark an, es handelt sich um ein antimodernes Instrumentarium, das sich "für Menschen jeder Religion", wie Güney schreibt, aber nicht für ihre Gegnerschafft eignet. Bei aller ideologischer Problematik generiert Güney Sounds, für die er sich nicht ganz zufällig bei jenem Janek Schaefer bedankt, der seit Jahren verlässlich die Speerspitze experimenteller Elektronik verkörpert. Güney leitet leider daraus eine Persönlichkeitsesoterik ab, die freiwillig hinter das Stadium der Aufklärung tritt. Skurrilerweise gelingt gerade ihm, bezeichnenderweise in "Undulations", die er Schaefer zuschreibt - ein großer Schritt vorwärts. Widersprüche gibt's, frage nicht.
05.2008 Boomkat
Cem Guney is a Turkish-born sound artist who came into the microsound genre via a background in DJing and trumpet playing. I'd like to think Guney performed those activities simultaneously, but those sorts of one-man-band strategies tend not to go down especially well in the more serious corners of the electroacoustic universe - and Portugese label Cronica must surely be branded as such: some of the very finest musicians within contemporary digital acousmatics gravitate towards the label, but Guney doesn't disappoint. These compositions draw on both synthetic and recorded sound as source material (as tends to be the case with this genre) but Guney focuses more on the processes and side effects of these methods of composition, fabricating pieces of music out of pieces of echo or fragments of crackle on 'Factitious Phobia' and 'Impulse'. Elsewhere Guney is content to step into the domain of an influential contemporary, 'Undulations (dedicated to Janek Scaefer)' using samples and looped ambient structures in a fashion not dissimilar from certain works by the artist referenced in the title. While Praxis could hardly be accused of gping out of its way to expand the vocabulary of modern electroacoustics, you'd certainly have a job levelling any other complaint at this engrossing body of work.
Cem Güney
05.2009 Bodyspace
Não é criminoso passar ao lado das relações que Cem Güney estabelece entre conceitos diversos e as composições que acabaram por figurar em Praxis, depois de dois anos de gestação. A explanação das relações ocupa toda a porção do press-release, que acompanha o disco lançado há algum tempo pela Crónica (que aposta frequentemente em aventureiros como o turco Cem Güney).
Ficamos então a saber que os fonemas Africanos e o som da vibração respiratória traduzem-se numa salada turca de retalhos e num mantra tingindo de negro, não necessariamente por essa ordem. Mistério… Com tempo, lá chegaríamos (na manhã de um dia iluminado). É contudo inútil perseguir as pistas que possam decifrar Praxis, antes de resolvermos os enigmas propostos por anteriores discos da Crónica ou pelos Excepter, em Debt Dept. (livremente inspirado num esquema de pirâmide que comporta respostas para tudo excepto para si).
Em pouco tempo, torna-se óbvia a malvadez no pacto desigual que deixa Cem Güney de chave na mão e a outra parte à nora. Na prática, Praxis é uma masmorra dividida em vários cativeiros de ruído (ora rotativo, ora torrencial) com uma janela aberta para a entrada da luz gerada por alguns loops. É de luz que se faz o ponto de partida da romântica e progressiva “Undulations”, dedicada e conduzida à grande escala de Janek Schaefer, que, no campeonato dos estetas inquietos, deixa Cem Güney na obrigação de ainda comer muita papinha. Onde “Undulations” é intrigante, outras peças chegam a ser bem mais chatas: “Adaptations” virtualiza um cenário de uma cirurgia que chega ao seu ponto crítico, mas não oferece nada de novo no horizonte dos delírios laptop.
Quem já viu Hannibal, sabe como é patética a cena em que o canibal interpretado por Anthony Hopkins cozinha o cérebro de Paul Krendler (Ray Liotta) como se fosse carne para fondue. Também Praxis obriga quem escuta a confiar o seu cérebro a um arquivista ligeiramente psicótico, alguém que estimula a faceta mais obsessiva do som tantas vezes enciumado com o espaço ocupado pelo outro. Recomenda-se alguma moderação. Praxis não é prato para todos os dias.
Miguel Arsénio
02.2009 Paris Transatlantic
Previously unknown to yours truly, Cem Güney tackles several aspects of computer music with the right amount of profundity, the fragmentary nature of Praxis revealing itself as a value rather than a defect. In the press release the Turkish composer tries to focus our attention on the meditative qualities of certain kinds of sound by relating these features to the teachings of Nada Yoga, which enhances humans' awareness and response to predetermined acoustic phenomena - but this is neither a series of never ending "Om" nor something even remotely philosophica. Seriously enthralling moments exist, one of them being the evocative "Undulations" - appropriately dedicated to Janek Schaefer - which flows from damaged vinyl into a balance-altering decentralization of personal certainties. Güney is also eager to experiment with quick cut'n'paste ("A Phonetics Theme"), but what he does best is sowing the seed of his interest in a well demarcated range of frequencies and developing the whole investigation from there, the essential nucleus of the piece discernible from beginning to end. This is an album that discloses new meanings with each listen, definitely worth of attentive consideration. Loudspeaker listening is recommended for better interaction with the surrounding environment.
MR
11.2008 Bad Alchemy
Es wäre einer Resonanz auf diese mikroelektronischen Klangorganisationen eines türkischen Laptoppers sicher dienlich, wenn ich feinsinniger wäre als ich es bin. "A Phonetics Theme" und "Behold Now Bhikkus, The Sounds of Nada Yoga" nutzen afrikanische Phoneme bzw. gleichzeitig extrem verkürzte Vokale und einen langgezogenes A als konkreten Stoff für die soundartistische Vermittlung von synästhetischer Wahrnehmung im Raum-Zeit-Kontinuum. Persönlich ansprechend finde ich die melodiösen, sonoren, sanft geschwungenen Drones von "Undulations (dedicated to Janek Schaefer)". "Visceral (In A Figurative Sense)" durchmischt ähnlich angenehmes Wellness-Gedröhn mit metalloidperkussiven Interpunktionen und kleinen "Störungen", "Factitious Phobia" mischt einen schleifenden Loop aus Clicks + Plops zeitweise mit einer türkischen Sängerin aus dem Radio in der Nachbarwohnung und mit Pianotrillern. Es folgen das feine Knarzen, Brummen und Zwitschern von "Adaptionismus", in das Funkstimmen sich einmischen, und das fein durchgepiepste und durchflatterte Titelstück, das in einem knackenden Locked Groove aufläuft. Bleibt noch "Somewhere Between The Middle" als tickendes Etwas, aus dem uhrwerkartige Rhythmik und weitere Automatenaktivitäten in Gang kommen. Nada MacBrahma.
10.2008 France Musique - Tapage nocturne
Autre nouveauté discographique qui utilise l'art du son mais cette fois ci non pas en Angleterre ou aux Etats Unis mais au Portugal avec Cem Güney, un compositeur d'origine turque, né en 1973. Après de sérieuses études musicales en Californie Cem Güney s'est intéressé de très près à l'art du son, aux rapports entre phonétique, langage et forme musicale. Le label portugais Crónica vient de publier sur un album intitulé Praxis quelques unes de ses plus récentes compositions.
Eric Serva
08.2008 Tokafi
After years as a DJ and experimental Trumpet player, Cem Güney is entering a new phase of his colourful career by releasing his debut album on Portuguese label Cronica Electronica. Essentially a compendium of his sound work over the past two years, „Praxis“ collects nine pieces of delicate, otherwordly musique concrete within a web of astute impressions and imaginative associations. Güney has certainly injected a hearty dose of thought and conceptual brilliance into the album – a combination which has already led some to refer to him as one of the most interesting artists in his line of business. „I am beholden to the harmoniousness of two essential properties that maintains the forcefullness of a cognition space“, Cem summed up his aims for „Praxis“ in a concise and intellectually demanding ascription, „One, is a time-space continuum, stable in manner, having control over the undesired effects of duality and two, the synesthetic response, enrichining the transmutations from the abstract to the concrete. Synesthetic responses, via the many influences of sound contributes much as a motivational factor, and without the negative effects of duality-distractions so to speak-fluid impromtu motions (the essence of creation) can build up to constitute a language that becomes the basis of form. Praxis, is the experimentations of the various emergent forms, and its application into the concrete.“
Cronica Electronica have made available three complete tracks from „Praxis“ as a first appetizer. These show Cem Güney to be a man of subtle shadings and heartwarming quietude: If an undaunting degree of discretion and a high crackle factor sound like your thing, then this could just be your album. Headphones are certainly recommended to fully appreciate the still bazaar of „Factitious Phobia“, with its oriental chants, breaths of hiss and playful clicks, of the whispering psychedelic Raga of „Somewhere between the Middle“.
Other pieces deal with algorithmic composition, african phonemes, „the ancient spiritual art and science of inner transformation through sound and tone“ as well as the use of „vowel sounds in the human language“. Added together and stirred with an unshaking hand, these diverse stylistic elements create a dense carpet of wondrous warmth, which is as unspectacular on a first listen as it is profound and moving on closer inspection.
Tobias Fischer
Crónica 034~2008
12.2009 Kwadratuur
Voor de Turkse geluidsartiest Cem Guney zich ging toeleggen op experimentele elektronica kwam hij vooral aan de bak als dj en trompettist. Via zijn liefde voor jazz belandde hij bij pure improvisatiemuziek en abstracte geluidskunsten, een reis die zijn voorlopig eindpunt kent in 'Praxis', zijn eerste plaat op Crónica.
Op 'Praxis' brengt Guney een negental composities die hij van 2006 tot 2008 bijeen experimenteerde in zijn huisstudio. Met opener 'A Phonetics Theme' praktiseert hij een soort rudimentaire, geïmproviseerde knip- en plaktechniek met allerlei huis-, tuin- en keukengeluiden, afgewisseld met bizarre lettergrepen en fonemen. 'Impulse' is een veel subtieler, microscopisch spel van sinustonen, abstract geknisper en onherkenbaar vervormde omgevingsgeluiden die in loops van verschillende lengte over elkaar gelegd worden. 'Undulations', opgedragen aan de bekende geluidsartiest Janek Scaefer, opent met een galmende passage van Edward Elgar's 'Variations on an Original Theme for orchestra, Op. 36 ("Enigma")' en meandert vervolgens 10 minuten lang langs abstracte fluittonen en traag evoluerende soundscapes. Ook de overige tracks illustreren dat Nada Yoga - het oosterse principe dat alles in de cosmos (ook mensen) bestaan uit vibraties (nāda) – al jaren Cem Güney's belangrijkste bron van inspiratie is . Telkens weer worden langgerekte mono-tonen afgewisseld met korte impulsen van elektro-akoestische opnames om tot meditatieve, haast spirituele composities te komen.
Als concrete uitwerking van een theoretisch concept is 'Praxis' een interessant geluidsdocument, maar in praktijk zal deze cd waarschijnlijk zelden in huiskamers te beluisteren zijn. Daarvoor is Güney's muziek veel te abstract en te koud. Voor een ongeoefend oor zijn bovendien haast alle composities (zeker naar het einde van de cd toe) onderling verwisselbaar. Tenzij als alternatieve soundtrack bij '2001: A Space Odyssey' zal deze 'Praxis' dan ook weinig luisterplezier bieden aan niet-ingewijden.
Filip Martens
05.2009 Comunicazione Interna
Per il turco Cem Güney un passato come dj e trombettista e un presente come sound-artist dedito a collages elettro-acustici. I due padiglioni auricolari sulla copertina di “Praxis”, trafitti da rametti appuntiti e foglie di un verde cupo, illustrano gli stimoli uditivi indotti da queste nove composizioni, persino scontrose ad un primo approccio, ma in realtà ricche di micro-variazioni e dettagli finemente cesellati se l’ascoltatore è disposto a concedere la propria attenzione.
La materia elettronica viene manipolata da Cem Güney attraverso continui sfaldamenti (“Impulse”), singhiozzi cadenzati su echi vocali (“Factitious phobia”) e particelle febbricitanti (“Adaptations”), a costruire trame particolarmente fitte anche coagulate intorno ad elementi narrativi, siano essi le gocce al silicio che lubrificano gli ingranaggi arrugginiti di “Visceral (in a figurative sense)”, il paesaggio classicheggiante alla Murcof di “Undulations” (pezzo dedicato a Janek Schaefer”), le trasmissioni radio di “A phonetics theme” o il cicaleccio rimbombante in “Somewhere between the middle”.
Traccia fondamentale per capire l’estetica dell’artista turco è l’ottava, che trae ispirazione dal nada yoga, lo yoga del suono (in sanscrito “nad” significa “flusso”), disciplina induista il cui principio base consiste nel riconoscere in ogni elemento materiale (uomini, animali, vegetali, minerali…) una vibrazione frutto del suono primordiale OM, il cui disvelamento consente di ricongiungersi con il divino, e qui “Behold now Bhikkus, the sounds of nada yoga” è costruita appunto come un organismo vibrante che ingloba al suo interno suoni di diversa provenienza.
Guido Gambacorta
04.2009 Basebog
Cem Güney è turco e ha cominciato imparando a suonare la tromba da solo. Poi è andato a studiare musica all’università della California San Mateo. Da allora ha cominciato a percorrere tutte le strade espressive che gli si paravano davanti. La portoghese Cronica Electronica, portavoce di un gusto speciale per l’elettronica contemporanea, spesso ma non sempre con lo sguardo rivolto ai paesi del Mediterraneo, ne cura ora una raccolta di tracce realizzate tra il 2006 e il 2008.
Sono registrazioni live, elaborazioni digitali di suoni ambientali o radiofonici. Tra queste spicca ‘Behold now Bhikkus’, un pezzo ispirato al cosiddetto Nada Yoga, lo yoga dei suoni, un campo assai vasto di pratica e ricerca all’interno dello yoga indiano di matrice vedica. Cem definisce ‘toning’ il suo lavoro, ovvero la creazione di vocalizzi estesi nel tempo sulla base dei quali riconoscere gli effetti dopo un riverbero interno al corpo. Roba tosta e apparentemente complicata su cui Cem ha lavorato in questo modo: ha raccolto un numero di vocalizzi da cui partire e li ha rielaborati sinteticamente con strumenti sviluppati appositamente. Sono i tempi dell’estensione e la combinazione tra le tracce vocali a fare la differenza.
Per chi come la sottoscritta si dedica al suono tramite lo yoga da anni è un curioso esperimento, che sembra portare sott’acqua vibrazioni racchiuse in un’unica voce, che diviene quasi impercettibile all’orecchio, come accade alla grandissima parte dei suoni che ci sono in giro.
Cum si costruisce i suoi strumenti al computer, lavorando più sulla struttura che sulla forma, e producendo un output sonoro a partire di una struttura e di un processo consoni e graditi. I suoni di Praxis sono raffinati anche se ‘parlano come mangiano’. Registrati a Smirne, provengono anche dall’interazione con oggetti speciali scelti dall’autore. Splendida la traccia ‘a phonetics theme’, un taglia e incolla dei tempi nuovi dove si riconoscono anche le registrazioni con la radiolina ad onde corte. ‘Undulations (dedicated to Janek Schaefer)’ si ispira al lavoro di Schaefer e qua e la’ si sente l’influsso di certa elettronica sperimentale contemporanea che da un po’ cominciano a definire sound art. A Cem Güney va di certo il merito di aver contribuito alla definizione di un nuovo linguaggio, se di questo si tratta.
Per chi come la sottoscritta si dedica al suono tramite lo yoga da anni è un curioso esperimento vibrazionale, che sembra portare sott’acqua le voci racchiuse in un’unica voce, che diviene quasi impercettibile all’orecchio, come accade alla grandissima parte dei suoni che ci sono in giro.
Cum si costruisce i suoi strumenti al computer, lavorando più sulla struttura che sulla forma, e producendo un output sonoro a partire di una struttura consona e gradita. I suoni di Praxis sono raffinati anche se ‘parlano come mangiano’. Registrati a Smirne, provengono anche dall’interazione con oggetti speciali scelti dall’autore. Splendida la traccia ‘a phonetics theme’, un taglia e incolla dei tempi nuovi dove si riconoscono anche le registrazioni con la radiolina ad onde corte che si sente parlare ogni tanto lungo l’album. ‘Undulations (dedicated to Janek Schaefer)’ si ispira al lavoro di Schaefer e qua e la’ si sente l’influsso di certa elettronica sperimentale contemporanea che da un po’ cominciano a definire sound art. A Cem Güney va di certo il merito di aver contribuito alla definizione di un nuovo linguaggio, se di questo si tratta.
Brendax
11.2008 Musique Machine
Praxis sits in a strange place between surreal and often slurred electroinca, slow moving musique concrete, bent ‘n’ bizarre ambient soundscaping and touches of improv.
Through things start off fairly manic with the track A Phoetics Theme and its rapid fire sampling and comic cut up elements, don’t be deceived by this happy go luck opening shot. You see most of Praxis settles into a strange, surreal wonder or near slumber with Güney utilizing electronic drifts, sampled film music loops, eerier & spacey drone scaping, cut-up instrumental hit’s and texturing & all manner of odd, bizarre and effective cut-up field recordings. The tracks wondering and drifting between uneasy, strange, comic and atmospheric with Güney aways keeping alive the elements of surprise and invention through out the nine tracks on offer here.
With Praxis Güney has created a series of strange and atmospheric sound places, which through for the most part remain fairly unintrusive and subtle manage to worm their way under your skin to create uneasy and surreal thought patterns and emotions.
Roger Batty 4/5
11.2008 Terz Dusseldorf
Ich liebe Musique Concrete, aber wenn ich bei einer Platte 5 x zum Volumeknopf laufen muss, um zu checken, ob sie noch läuft, geht's noch? Gemach: das Konzept des türkischen Komponisten und Klangkünstlers kreist um die Frage, wie sich das Prinzip des Nada Yoga (?) in Verbindung mit Phonetic hörbar machen lässt - am Besten mittels des "vibrierenden Atems", den die Vokale der menschlichen Sprache bieten. Also unterm Strich schon ok - nur muss ich euch das leider erzählen, denn ich habe den Waschzettel, die Albumkäufer aber noch nicht mal ein Booklet. Das steht leider für Hausaufgaben nicht gemacht, Herr Güney. Bitte mehr Vermittlung!
10.2008 Rockerilla
A meta strada tra il collage dada, I'esercizio di musique concrete e I'opera acusmatica, le 9 composizioni di "Praxis" possono spaventare I'avventore impreparato. La messe di suoni raccolti e prodotti con laptop, live electronics e radio é cosi ingente e variegata che la prima reazione non puo che essere di stordimento. Se poi Güney, sound-artist, trombettista autodidatta e dj turco, evidentemente calatosi troppo seriamente nel ruolo del compositore extracolto, vuole spiegare come dietro a "Praxis" si celi un rigoroso lavoro di rireca su composizioni algoritmiche, continuum spazio-tempo e tecniche nada-yoga, ecco che altri potenziali ascoltatori vedono bene di tenersi alla larga da un disco che invece ha nei saliscendi emotivi che sa provocare la propria unica forza. (7/10)
Vincenzo Santarcangelo
09.2008 Vital
The name Cem Güney sounds like a name I heard before, but I have no idea when and where. He hails from Turkey, where he taught himself how to play the trumpet and he studied in California. There he got interested in sound art and started to play electronic music. That's the basic stuff I do understand of the press text. The rest is too hard for me to comprehend. Lots about language, voices, talk, spiritual learning and more such things, but I must admit I have great difficulty in finding out what this has to do with the music he created using laptop, field recordings and radio. It sounds all pretty decent in terms of microsound, glitch and processed field recordings, but I fail to see the relation with language as such. What Güney does here is alright, but there is nothing here that we haven't heard before. The glitches, hiss, loops, twitter and tweak, it is very common ground. I must say that Güney does a fine job in terms of production and execution but doesn't get the price for the most original thing of the year.
