TORAL, RAFAEL — Space Elements Vol. 2
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"Space Elements Vol. II is the fourth release in Rafael Toral's ongoing project, the Space Program. Following the first Elements release, this volume features a new set of collaborators: Evan Parker (soprano sax), Manuel Mota (guitar), Afonso Simões (drums), Stefano Tedesco (vibraphone), João Paulo Feliciano (rhodes piano), and Ruben Costa (digital synthesizer), as well as returning guests Sei Miguel (trumpet), César Burago (percussion), Fala Mariam (trombone), and Rute Praça (cello). Space Elements Vol. II displays a melodic quality that, along with a refined management of silence, marks a new area and consolidates the Space Program's complex network. Its spaciousness is explained in Toral's liner notes: 'While finding ways to make decisions on sound emission, it became evident to me that such sounds should have a reason to exist, they should be essential and necessary.' Dan Warburton's writing in the Wire about Space fits Space Elements Vol. II perfectly: The melodic logic that drives certain instruments within Space also recalls birdsong, with dense, convoluted runs of twittering melody ending in single piping notes, as spontaneous as Messiaen's birdsong transcriptions were painstaking and meticulous. Toral's music is a jazz-inspired reevaluation of live electronics: Despite working in a sound world that is cosmetically closer to R2D2's vocabulary than Louis Armstrong's or John Coltrane's, Toral has claimed a kinship to jazz because it models instant music making within a disciplined framework (Bill Meyer, Dusted); Toral is looking for nothing less than a totally fresh language to work in (The Wire). Space Elements Vol. II was mastered direct to metal from 24-bit files and pressed on clear 200 gram virgin-vinyl. With design by Helder Luis at NOTYPE, the LP features a collage by João Paulo Feliciano. Presented in a limited edition of 500. CD Version available on Staubgold." [label info]
www.taigarecords.com
"A new step in the Space Program of Rafael Toral. This program was launched in 2004, "questioning how to perform music in a post-free jazz mind-set, using strange sounds from electronic instruments." In small line ups, ten musicians - one of them being Evan Parker - contribute by playing a diversity of acoustic instruments. Toral plays modified MS-2 portable amplifier feedback, modified MT-10 portable amplifier and delayed feedback resonance empty circuit and electrode oscillator with modular filters. The electronic sounds are very close in a way to the ones of acoustic origin. They make one fluid continuum. In most pieces acoustic sounds dominate. Track "II.VII" is an exception to this rule, this one seems of pure electronic origin. In eight very different pieces Toral and his collaborators explore their research on the borders of free jazz and ambient-like music. Resulting in a music that is very original and not to be reduced to free jazz, or any other known idiom. Because of the
use of many instruments, a first thing that can be said is that it s is a very multicolored whole. The music is more about creating space then a lapse of time. It feels like being at strange, exotic places instead of being engaged in a dynamic process. For this reason the music lacks drama, pulse, groove, extraverted power. Which does not mean however that nothing is happening here. On the contrary. The pieces have clear musical structures full of subtleties. Toral shows a very personal style and power, and paints beautiful and unusual panoramas." [DM / Vital Weekly]
www.taigarecords.com
"A new step in the Space Program of Rafael Toral. This program was launched in 2004, "questioning how to perform music in a post-free jazz mind-set, using strange sounds from electronic instruments." In small line ups, ten musicians - one of them being Evan Parker - contribute by playing a diversity of acoustic instruments. Toral plays modified MS-2 portable amplifier feedback, modified MT-10 portable amplifier and delayed feedback resonance empty circuit and electrode oscillator with modular filters. The electronic sounds are very close in a way to the ones of acoustic origin. They make one fluid continuum. In most pieces acoustic sounds dominate. Track "II.VII" is an exception to this rule, this one seems of pure electronic origin. In eight very different pieces Toral and his collaborators explore their research on the borders of free jazz and ambient-like music. Resulting in a music that is very original and not to be reduced to free jazz, or any other known idiom. Because of the
use of many instruments, a first thing that can be said is that it s is a very multicolored whole. The music is more about creating space then a lapse of time. It feels like being at strange, exotic places instead of being engaged in a dynamic process. For this reason the music lacks drama, pulse, groove, extraverted power. Which does not mean however that nothing is happening here. On the contrary. The pieces have clear musical structures full of subtleties. Toral shows a very personal style and power, and paints beautiful and unusual panoramas." [DM / Vital Weekly]