Chocolate Monk continues it’s slow ascent into credibility with our third “proper” compact disk release. This time from french Revox maestro Jérôme Noetinger.
“In 2019, I was invited by Dylan Nyoukis and Karen Constance to play at the Colour out of Space festival in Brighton. A unique moment of incongruous music in a friendly international gathering of freaks of all kinds. Unforgettable. I played a solo on Revox B77 and then Dylan asked me to do a CD for his Chocolate Monk label. After some thought, I decided to offer three compositions rather than try to reproduce the past moment of an improvised concert. I’m talking here about the composition of fixed sounds (to quote Michel Chion) or musique concrète to use Pierre Schaeffer’s original terminology. I think I’ve spent more time in my life improvising than composing, and no one has ever reproached me for it.
The Latin title refers to the equivalence between the tension of a string and the elevation of the sound, but also to the link between the intensity of the lived and of the musical. Will the intensity of the former influence that of the latter? But it’s also the tension on the trigger and the intensity of the reaction to it. The tension-release form is one of the most classic in musique concrète, and even more so since the advent of computer-assisted music. In Les objets inaudibles [2018], I decided to politicise this form, to create a struggle between these elements. In Erase my head [2019], it is the accumulation, erasure and diversion of random fragments that is at play. Then in Eloge des ruines [2020], it’s a return to the founding gesture of musique concrète, that of sampling existing material, in this case records from my personal record library.
This CD is dedicated to the memory of Kiko C. Esseiva.”
– Jérôme Noetinger
“Les objets inaudibles”
Commissioned by INA-GRM, first played on 19th January 2019. Musique concrète in four parts composed in 2018 in the composer’s studio.
Starting with, a GRM commission received on 25th June 2018, and the urgent need to find a title. Ending with, a discursive journey through the art of concealment, with the discovery of unexpected voices in some of Pierre Schaeffer’s Études aux Objets read at reduced speed, the use of Matthieu Saladin’s application La Capture de l’Inaudible, an app which keeps only the frequencies removed by MP3 encoding (i.e. the inaudible, according to the ideology that governs this technology), the increase in police violence, the impact of a 357 Magnum, and not to mention the intense pleasure of destroying a piano.
“Erase my head”
A live-to-air performance originally commissioned for Radiophrenia, created in Glasgow on 19th May 2019.
30 minutes = 1 800 seconds and at the speed of 38 centimeters per second = 684 meters.
A loop of 570 cm, so that’s 15 seconds at the speed of 38 centimeters per second, i.e. a length of 2.85 meters. A mixing desk with several inputs like CD players, cassette players, radio… each played randomly. And then recording, processing, layering, erasing, hiss and tape delay on the live loop.
“Eloge des ruines”
Commissioned by Radio-France for Alla Breve by Anne Montaron. First broadcast on 30th August 2020. Musique concrète composed in the composer’s studio between January and May 2020. Dedicated to Sean Baxter (1970 – 2020).
A suite of five miniatures, each two minutes long, based on the idea of slowing down and collapsing, using sound samples taken from vinyl records, with the playback speed changed from 78 to 0 rpm, as well as accelerated playback of old magnetic tapes. The work on this material is the result of the accumulation, editing, mixing and filtering of all these materials.
Edition of 150
“Jérôme Noetinger delivers a haunting and immersive listening experience with this album, showcasing his expressive prowess with the humble Revox B77 reel-to-reel tape recorder. The album’s Latin title, which roughly translates to the sound of the heart becomes more intense, foregrounds the tensions and intensities contained on the three compositions featured on this release, blending musique concrète composition and improvisation via live tape manipulation.
It begins with “Les Objets Inaudibles”, a four-part suite that feels like a descent into a sonic abyss. Drawing from Pierre Schaeffer’s Études Aux Objets, Noetinger collages tape effects, gunshots and the violent destruction of a piano into a disquieting assemblage. Ghostly voices, filtered through an app that isolates the frequencies lost during MP3 encoding, mingle with slack piano wires and animalistic cries. Each movement ends with jarring gunshots, punctuating the chaos with a sense of finality. “Erase My Head” is a live performance from 2019, where Noetinger manipulates a tape loop in real time. Over 30 minutes, layers of sound accumulate, transform and are erased, creating a dynamic interplay of repetition and mutation. The piece shifts from violent, saturated noise to more spacious, delay-heavy textures, demonstrating Noetinger’s ability to craft effective structure from seeming randomness.
The album closes with “Eloge Des Ruines”, a suite of five two minute miniatures crafted from samples taken from vinyl records in Noetinger’s collection, often with the playback speed altered. Combined with the variable speed of the magnetic tape, these pieces revel in cacophonous jumble and temporal chaos. Across all three works, Noetinger creates evocative worlds as thought-provoking as they are sonically rich. “Les Objets Inaudibles” in particular, is a potent example of musique concrète at its most poetic and visceral.”
– Leah Kardos, The Wire Magazine
