Robert Lippok (raster media) prepared a beautiful mix as a companion to this year’s Glacier Music II release. It’s now available to hear on-demand on SoundCloud from Iranian radio project Beshknow, so definitely don’t miss it.
It’s a truly stunning hour-plus of sound and music with a throughline of dramaturgy, and that really speaks to the sensitivity of Robert’s hearing and imagination in compositional mixing. I mean that especially, as I’ve of course heard the cuts from Glacier Music many times after over a year working on the release – but he puts them in new contexts and light, which is the beauty and joy of mixing.
The mix also reflects what I wrote about on Friday – the opportunity, faced with such dire crises, to drive collaborative projects, even where they might seem unlikely. So the mix represents the ongoing collaborative work of the Goethe-Institut Georgien, sound and nature both in composition and field recordings, poetic music together with science, art and music, and now also radio projects in San Marino and Tehran (plus those of us here in Berlin). In case you missed that, lots to consider including some extensive notes from a geologist!
But let’s let Robert describe the mix, as he has a typically multi-layered approach:
phase transition mix – Robert Lippok
I am very happy about the collaboration with Iranian internet radio Beshknow. I got to know them because they played a number of releases that were put out on raster media, including my last LP, Applied Autonomy. I asked them if they would be interested in broadcasting a mix of nature, water, and glaciers as reference points. And I also asked if there are glaciers in Iran and if it would be possible to get sound from them.
I am overjoyed that the members of Beshknow Radio took on the adventure of a five-hour journey to Kholeno Mountain despite the tense pandemic situation in Iran. The photos they sent me illustrate the dramatic situation of the local glaciers. I am also very grateful that an artist I admire very much, Teho Teardo, has contributed an exclusive piece to the mix.
While searching for suitable pieces, I came across an unreleased piece in my archives that my former band to rococo red composed for the exhibition New Ocean by American artist Doug Aitken at the Serpentine Gallery in London. Three pieces of the mix are of course from the book / CD release Glacier Music II, a collaboration of the Goethe Institute Georgia and the label Establishment. “Towards the Glacier” is from the first Glacier Music CD; it is a collaboration with Kyrgyz master Askat Jetigen. For the first time, Beshknow Radio will collaborate with USMARADIO Interdepartmental Research Centre for Radiophonic Studies / San Marino for this broadcast.
01 field recordings from the Kholeno mountain – Dariush Sardari
02 Glacier – Ryūichi Sakamoto
03 Sea Changes Pt 1 -Teho Teardo
04 Light Breaking – Anushka Chkheidze, Hayk Karoyi, Robert Lippok
05 Waves for Flutes – R.I.P. Hayman
06 field recordings from the Kholeno mountain – Dariush Sardari
07 In a Landscape – Gabriele Emde
08 Air Modulation – Mapstation / Paul Wirkus
09 Winter Into Spring – Robert Lippok
10 Galena – to rococo rot
11 Infinite – Hayk Karoyi, Robert Lippok
12 Become Ocean – John Luther Adams
13 Numbers Drop – Anushka Chkheidze, Eto Gelashvili, Hayk Karoyi, Robert Lippok
14 Towards the Glacier – Askat Jetigen & Robert Lippok
15 field recordings from the Kholeno mountain – Dariush Sardari / Seascapes – R.I.P. Hayman / Juta loop – Anushka Chkheidzephase transition refers to the physical process of transition from ice to water, from water to water vapour and vice versa.
Now in the midst of all this poetic beauty, let’s continue to demand action from our governments. The life of musicians and creative technology is especially fragile – as the pandemic has brutally demonstrated, from large-scale health effects and disruption of events down to unexpected problems like breaking supply chains for small electronic musical instrument makers. Our communities have a particularly strong interest in this – those near the sea, certainly, but also all of us on the Blue Marble.
And I find myself returning repeatedly to Beshknow Radio, too. They have a new website planned shortly; looking forward to that!