Diafon by Barry Weisblat, Alfredo Costa Monteiro & Ernesto Rodrigues

Recorded on July 12th 2004, at Tcha Tcha Tcha Studio, Lisbon, Portugal.
Recorded by Diogo Tavares. Mixed and mastered by Ernesto Rodrigues, Alfredo Costa Monteiro and Carlos Santos.
Graphic design by Alfredo Costa Monteiro.
Production by Ernesto Rodrigues.

REVIEWS

Fellow violinist Ernesto Rodrigues runs the Creative Sources label, which has been one of the primary documenters of experimental improv in Lisbon. His new release features accordionist Alfredo Costa Monteiro, here playing amplified turntable, with New York electronicist Barry Weisblat. The disc is deeply quiet, with pauses long enough to lead the listener either to introspection or agita. In the spirit of good improvisation, though, they work well together, carrying out each other’s suggestions and finding a single, unique group voice. Kurt Gottschalk (All About Jazz)

Labelboss Ernesto Rodrigues (violin, pick-ups and objects) is less active as a musician compared to the early days of the label, but on 'Diafon' he turns up again with Alfredo Costa Monteiro (pick-ups on turntable) and Barry Weisblat (electronics) - the latter being a new name for me. Their almost thirty-six minute work was recorded in a studio and is a fine work of electro-acoustic music/improvisation. Very tight and intense playing here, not really soft or something that, but the music remains audible throughout. Another highlight. Frans de Waard (Vital)

"Diafon" is played on electronics, pick-ups (on turntable or not), violin and objects, its shredding electric discharges perfectly balanced by sick winds of microsonic currents howling their nasty aridity in the desolation of a desert. A handful of occasional silences subdivides a single trip to environments where everything that could be described as "luscious" is totally banned; Barry, Alfredo and Ernesto look for an imaginary aqueduct with every switch they flick, yet they only keep finding corpses of significance and remains of analytical knowledge. What emerges at the end is a new form of fossil energy, a kind of low-key science thanks to which surviving in the poorest mental condition becomes easier and - in some instance - desirable. The narrow way to the decongestion of the ears this time leads right into a strident contrast of bleached beauty and noisy consciousness. Massimo Ricci (Touching Extremes)

If I Treni Inerti's "Aérea" shows glimpses of Costa Mointeiro's quieter side, "Diafon" plunges us back in the sonic maelstrom that the Portuguese improviser is used to create in his solo turntable performances, with the duo Cremaster or in collective recordings like "Octante" on L'Innomable (search the archive for my review). Here he uses "pick-ups on turntable" in a trio with Barry Weisblat (electronics) and Creative Sources owner Ernesto Rodrigues (violin, pick-ups and objects). The result is honestly closer to harsh noise than to even radical improvisation: frequencies collide and crumble, the violin is brutally ill-treated, everything is loud and distorted. Probably one of the most violent records in the catalogue of the Portuguese label, but also one of the logical extremes of its stylistic identity. Eugenio Maggi (Chain DLK)

“Diafon” is a shortish (35 minute) set from 2004 featuring three players whom I’ve enjoyed quite a bit in different contexts over the last several years (Costa Monteiro, here, is on “pick-ups on turntables” while Rodrigues plays violin, pick-ups and objects; Weisblat presumably is using his standard electronics set-up). It’s pleasantly scratchy, sometimes bracingly harsh, travels through diverse areas but…nothing about it stands out particularly from any dozen such performances one might see at a given festival or on a given night at your favorite local, eai-bar. On the other hand, it’s “good”, in a sense. There are enjoyable passages but, as a whole, it doesn’t congeal for me. I wouldn’t have been disappointed had I witnessed the event; it’s just that I don’t think I would have remembered it a week later. This might be fine, dunno. Brian Olewnick (Bagatellen)

Barry Weisblat urodzil sie trzydziesci lat temu w Nowym Jorku. Ten specjalista od elektroniki i konstruktor instrumentów (m.in. dla P. Kowalda, M. Moty, S. Lubelski), w przeszlosci zajmujacy sie glównie realizacja nagran (m.in.: dla wytwórni Erstwhile oraz Drag City) oraz fotografia, od kilku lat z powodzeniem odnajduje sie w roli muzyka. Tworzy nie tylko instalacje dzwiekowe, ale jest równiez aktywnym improwizatorem, majacym na koncie wspólprace m.in. z E. Prevostem, Mattinem, J. Wrightem, P. Kowaldem, S. Meehanem, T. Barnesem i M. Garcia. Grajac na zywo, Weisblat najczesciej posluguje sie odbiornikami radiowymi, rozmaitymi urzadzeniami elektromagnetycznymi, zmodyfikowanymi elektrycznymi zabawkami oraz konstruowanymi specjalnie w tym celu ukladami.
Trwajaca okolo 35 minut plyta "Diafon", nagrana wespól z E. Rodriguesem i A. Costa Monteiro (skrzypce, przetworniki, obiekty, gramofon) zawiera jedno tylko nagranie. To kapitalny, byc moze nieco kostropaty, lecz jakze w swej szorstkosci wdzieczny, a przez swa intymnosc i cieplo (nie)oczywiscie piekny, poemat elektroakustyczny. Chropowatosc materii przywodzi na mysl czasy poczatków "live electronics", a telepatyczne wrecz porozumienie I uzupelnianie sie muzyków oraz niezwykla intensywnosc ich grania, sluzaca odnalezieniu oryginalnego glosu tej efemerycznej przeciez formacji, sprawia, ze znów czujemy podmuch nieklamanych emocji i pewnej swiezosci, który kiedys towarzyszyl nam podczas odkrywania muzyki improwizowanej. "Diafon" nie jest arcydzielem, ani poszukiwaniem nowych obszarów - to raczej twórcze nawiazanie do tradycji, które pozwala odwiedzic rzadziej uczeszczane rejony, niz pogon za "wciaz nieodkrytym". Na pewno jednak na dluzej pozostanie we wdziecznej pamieci sluchaczy, bo jest to muzyka niezwykle interesujaca, pelna niuansów i detali, zgrabnie balansujaca miedzy cisza i halasem. Tadeusz Kosiek (Gaz-Eta)

[…] Com um registo “noise” também, embora convidando à introspecção e não à descarga de adrenalina, “Diafon”, dos portugueses Alfredo Costa Monteiro e Ernesto Rodrigues com Barry Weisblat, é um trabalho de resíduos e sedimentos. O que ouvimos são os “pick-ups” ligados ao violino de Rodrigues e ao gira-discos de Monteiro, mais até do que o próprio violino e o gira-discos, com os “devices” electrónicos de Weisblat a cimentarem as erupções sonoras numa parede que, de qualquer modo, ameaça ruína. Rui Eduardo Paes (JL)

Diafon, comme si l’on voulait diviser le son jusqu’à l’aphonie : ne pas imposer un silence, mais un son ténu qui serait comme une scission de l’espace sonore, son démembrement, sa torsion. Pas scinder ou démembrer le son, vraiment : l’espace sonore, les conditions de possibilités de la musique. Projet à situer entre une pratique de la déconstruction telle que l’a voulue Funkstörung et le sado(-masochisme) sonore de Merzbow avec, au milieu, les expériences de démolisseurs du crew Ground Zero, tentative de tout abattre pour réinventer un art moins-que-pauvre, un art en guenilles, qui se tient à peine debout tant ses couches superposées de sons s’écroulent les unes après les autres vers un point zéro jamais atteint.
La filiation de ce trio composé d' Ernesto Rodrigues (le boss du label, au violon et aux platines amplifiées), du new-yorkais Barry Weisblat aux machines et de l’accordéoniste Alfredo Costa Monteiro (ici aux platines amplifiées également) avec Ground Zero est pour le moins explicite, puisqu’on a droit aux traditionnelles platines sans disque (ou plus précisément, une platine et un bras sans sa platine) et que le son produit pas les saphirs ne cessent de produire un bouillonnement de fond, sorte de parasite d’abord gênant, confortable ensuite, sur lequel viennent tantôt se lover, tantôt se greffer les micro-phrases d’un violon, les sons de synthèse des machines ou divers objets qui grincent, s’étirent, se tordent, se compressent : ici, le mouvement des choses les plus concrètes est devenu son, le son est devenu mouvement. Des dynamiques élémentaires sont ainsi mises en œuvre, quelques fusées lancées en l’air, quelques flammèches qui se crispent en se consumant.
Un terrain zéro, donc, pour ce disque large et plat comme un désert, sorte d’enregistrement sismographique à la platine de paysages fossilisés dont la surface toujours changeante et pourtant d’une aridité sans pareille se craquelle ici et là de micro-sons, de bruits parasites d’objets divers, de stridences arrachées à un violon aigu et analphabète. D’une certaine façon, les étendues sonores dont accouche ici le trio rappellent celles de Murcof, pour l’aridité, avec pourtant des moyens radicalement divergents. Quand Murcof dirige son travail vers la mémoire, l’anamnèse, dans une sorte de nostalgie sans fin, à la recherche de bribes de vies passées, Weisblat, Monteiro et Rodrigues aboutissent à un décentrement de la musicalité vers le toucher, la tactilité (sentez comme certaines des sonorités viennent gratter à l’intérieur de votre corps) et par conséquent, à l’impossibilité de savoir quoi que ce soit en matière de musique : comment en jouer, comment en écrire, où se diriger à l’intérieur de celle-ci. D’où probablement, ces torsions permanentes de l’espace sonore, manière vaine de s’emparer d’un objet toujours en fuite.
Alors si quelque chose demeure quand tout est consommé, consumé, c’est peut-être la possibilité d’unir ses efforts désespérés en une seule voix, celle d’un trio qui, manifestement, joue à l’unison pour faire de la diversité des sources sonores convoquées ici un seul et même timbre, dirai-je, faute de mieux. Johnny One Shot (Infratunes)

Monteiro is back on board for Diafon (CS 041), a marvelous trio with Ernesto Rodrigues (violin, pick-ups and objects) and Barry Weisblat (electronics). A single 35-minute track, recorded in Lisbon in July 2004, this is music of single-minded purpose, variety, and great invention. Cycling between skull-wrecking density (with insane jabbing from pickups and electronics) and eerie calm, this is pretty captivating stuff. The range of contrasts is often striking, with some of the best moments occurring when Monteiro’s closed miked crackle merges with Weisblat’s subterranean noise as Rodrigues’ bow and bridge manipulation stand out in relief. Another good one. Jason Bivins (One Final Note)

One track, over 35 minutes. This is a somewhat minimalist improvisation experiment using "electronics, pick-ups on turntable, violin, and objects." From that description, it sounds much like what I would expect. There is a lot of emptiness punctuated by blips, scratches, fuzziness, and screeches from an instrument that is not often played in this fashion. There will probably be some difficulty even trying to figure out what is making these noises. The general feel of this CD is spacey and otherworldly. This is slow quiet noise, but it paints a fairly vivid picture. The picture is very cold and inorganic. This CD is much better in the inspiration department than in the entertainment department. To really suck the enjoyment out of this is going to take patience. I took the time and I found an entire kaleidoscope of color in a small pool of sounds. It was very exhilarating. (Neo-Zine)

Et utvalg på fire utgivelser av en bolk på tolv nye fra Creative Sources. Den portugisiske labelen stadfester sin posisjon som den suverent mest kreative på sitt felt. Kvaliteten derimot er denne gangen mer varierende enn hva man er blitt vant til fra Ernesto Rodrigues’ hold.
Det er en stund siden Ernesto Rodrigues deltok på en innspilling for sin egen label. På ”Diafon”, et intenst og kompakt sett på 35 minutter, spiller han fiolin, pick-ups og diverse objekter. Med seg har han Alfredo Costa Monteiro, som for anledningen har skiftet ut trekkspillet sitt med ”pick-ups on turntable”. New Yorkeren Barry Weisblat, lydkunstner og musiker, men også instrumentbygger, står oppført med ”elektronikk”, noe som sannsynligvis innebærer et eller annet hjemmelaget. I likhet med flere andre innspillinger fra Portugal (av portugisere) de par-tre årene, er også ”Diafon” røff og ruglete, støvete og skitten. Men sammenlignet med for eksempel ”Ura” (CS, 2003) og ”Atolon” (Rossbin, 2004), virker ”Diafon” tillukket og uforløst. Det at ”Diafon” mangler disse platenes aggressivitet og frenetiske innstilling – som nærmest ga dem klassikerstatus – kunne tenkes å være et uttrykk for en annen intensjon og vilje, en slags utvikling. Men jeg tviler. For meg fremstår ”Diafon” mest av alt som en litt blek repetisjon av en velprøvd form. Frank Messel (Disquieting Duck)

La tête plongée dans la matière, une explosion de textures amplifiées par le micro. 100% abrasif. Jerôme Noetinger (Metamkine)

Once the first crackles emit from this single, 35-minute exhalation, you'd be forgiven if thinking it was déjà vu all over again. In other words, another howling-at-the-moon date by a trio of improvisers working the now-tattered seams binding electronic manipulation and live acoustic (re)processing. Certainly the forensic evidence calls such assumptions into immediate question: Weisblat manning ambiguous electronics (what a wide margin of trial and error that connotes), Monteiro strip-mining his "pick-ups on turntable", and Creative Sources honcho Rodrigues doubling on pick-ups, violin and "objects", mystery intact. Recorded in a Lisbon studio in 2004, this one-off meeting doesn't well stain improv's multi-textured complexion as much as reinforce seasoned templates etched ever so cleverly by burgeoning technology.
Weisblat's shortwave short-circuits curl outwards as soon as the disc opens, but it's Monteiro and Rodrigues who draw first blood. Whatever picks-up they close-mic to molest their turntables and their incumbent records with is unknown, but the harsh squawks and waves of static shear make it clear they aim to unleash less comfortable sounds from their set-up. Rodrigues' violin makes its presence known in small fits and starts, and Weisblat expounds what appears at first to be a limited vocabulary as he surges and feints his way about the meleé using coarse microtones and pieces of electrical shrapnel spat out onto the studio's smoldering floor. Establishing a central focus, a grasped direction, doesn't seem to be the trio's priority; rather, they gradually autopsy their instruments to see what lies within. This is sonic sculpture erected through the auspices of impromptu improv, wrenching forthright sounds from the guts of the universe.
All of which begs the question: is any kind of uniformity achieved, or does this ultimately become mere formless dabbling, dust in the wind? Silence intrudes upon the trio's brash noise at irregular intervals, signifying both calm before the storm to come, and perhaps a shoring up of connections, ideas, subsequent momentum. The jury's out on whether these three noisemakers do just that: make some occasionally stimulating noise or merely trample underfoot during the disc's short lifespan. Any conclusions become wholly subjective - successful or not, these capricious sounds exemplify the means justifying the ends; on that score, Diafon's ominous crackle is all the rage. Darren Bergstein (The Squid's Ear)

Este Diafon é um raro documento em que Ernesto Rodrigues surge sem a companhia do filho Guillherme - nesta gravação Ernesto utiliza, para além do habitual violino, pick-ups e objectos. A acompanhá-lo estão o americano Barry Weisblat (electrónica) e Alfredo Costa Monteiro, improvisador português radicado em Barcelona, em gira-discos. Nestes cerca de trinta e cinco minutos (faixa única) de improvisação o trio esboça uma sonoridade visceralmente rugosa, por vezes quase como que aparentada a formas de noise, com uma intensidade pouco comum. A predominância das electrónicas é bem patente e este álbum afasta-se completamente da profundidade acústica da maioria dos registos anteriores e das marcas sonoras que habitualmente associamos à música de Ernesto Rodrigues. Nuno Catarino (Bodyspace)

C'était il y a sept ans quand même. Depuis, on n'a pas trop entendu parler de Weisblat (ici à l'électronique), mais Alfredo (platines) et Ernesto (violon alto, micro-contacts et objets) ne se sont pas arrêtés. Au contraire. Sur Diafon, ils nous emmenaient tous les trois le long d'une courte piste de 35 minutes. Une piste aride, abrasive, et onirique. Monteiro et Rodrigues jouent beaucoup avec les micro-contacts, le son est avant tout d'origine physique, ça gratte, ça frotte, ça crépite, le son est matière. L'alto est traité de la même manière, ses brèves incursions ne sont jamais des notes, mais la sonorisation et l'amplification de sa matière, la percussion du bois ou le frottement dur et sec des cordes. Une musique rendue encore plus abstraite et aride par l'accompagnement de Barry Weisblat, lequel surenchère avec des bruits blancs légers, harsh subtil qui se fond dans la matière sonore. L'utilisation systématique et abondante de platines sans disque relève également de cette volonté de créer du son avec la matière seule. De confondre le son et la matière. Que le bruit devienne véritablement physique, et qu'il le devienne avec sa source. Le trio sculpte le son et l'espace sonore avant tout. Les notions de rythme, de pulsation, d'harmonie, de dynamique, etc. n'ont pas cours ici. Il ne s'agit que de son, de timbre et de texture. Des textures agencées avec sensibilité et délicatesse, avec virtuosité et créativité. Un exercice de réduction de la musique à sa plus pure dimension sonore? Pas tout à fait, car le temps, et son étirement en une longue nappe sans fin ni début, est toujours là. Dimension incontournable de l'art sonore, la temporalité est ici lisse et sous-jacente, subtile et discrète, un long fil ténu qui s'étire durant 35 minutes avant de craquer imperceptiblement et brutalement. Fin? Pas tout à fait non plus, car Diafondemande à être réécouté, à être rejoué pour en saisir à chaque de nouvelles subtilités, et surtout, pour maintenir le plaisir de s'immerger dans cet univers sonore. Recommandé. Julien Héraud (ImprovSphere)

Tracklist

1.	Diafon	35:36

Credits

released March 3, 2005

Barry Weisblat - electronics
Alfredo Costa Monteiro - pick-ups on turntable
Ernesto Rodrigues - violin, pick-ups, objects

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