CNV15
release date: 13.Abr.2005

ARTURAS BUMSTEINAS - This Uniform ep

Igloo Magazine 13.05.2005

A twenty-six minute single track EP, Artuas Bumsteinas' This Uniform winds up very slowly. A organ wheezes enough of a melody to make a loop and thin electronics sigh in the background. The processed notes of violin, clarinet and trumpet glide through open water like fat jellyfish and they trail sparklers of electrical fire in their long translucent tentacles. I'm waiting for something to happen and maybe it never does (or maybe it did -- I took a bit of a nap through the middle). Glitch dust rides the echoes of the organ notes and, as the track winds on, the glitch attempts to stage a coup but is driven back by a more aggressive outpouring of long tones. As an experience in ambience, this singular track is definitely ready for the meditation rooms. Get your "OHM!"s on with this one.

[ Mark Teppo ]

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Vital Weekly 473

For me the name Arturas Bumsteinas is a new one, despite his previous releases 'Retorta' (on Nexsound, 2004) and Placido (Zeromoon, 2005). In this twenty-five minute piece, 'This Uniform' quite succesfully combines glitch and drone music. Apperentely he uses the real-time recordings of the ru-be, a reed instrument from the south-east Asain Ma-peoples, in combination with the same sound being processed through a bunch of plug ins. The real-time recordings form phase-shifting loops, that go in and out of phase, pretty much like an old Terry Riley piece, and the glitch sounds form particles, or rather a residue, the edges of the sound. Nervous sounds set nicely against a wall of relaxing sounds. Maybe one of the few succesfull combinations of its kind. A long download, this twenty six minute piece, but a much rewarding one. Curious to hear his other releases.

[ Frans de Waard ]

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