| Ricardo Donoso |
Quintesence EP |
Ricardo Donoso — Quintesence EP (Jul 22, 2016)
★↔★ Brazil~born composer and musician whose work ranges from spacy ambient techno to experimental noise.
★↔★ MINUS THE VISUAL COMPONENT FOR WHICH IT WAS COMMISSIONED, DONOSO’S QUINTESENCE EP COULD BE ONE OF THE MOST STIMULATINGLY SPOOKY THINGS YOU’LL HEAR ALL YEAR.
★↔★ Although an entirely high level digital production, the duality of QUINTESENCE that is played out is that the subject matter is really about the natural world and our relationship to it. It is about existing on a plane void of technology while discovering your identity within the context of a purely natural world, uninterrupted by contemporary hurdles.
Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil ~ Boston, Massachusetts
Genre: Ambient | Drone | Experimental | Electronic | Techno
Album release: Jul 22, 2016
Record Label: Denovali Records
Duration: 20:27
Tracks:
1 Interphase 5:00
2 Prophase 2:14
3 Metaphase 2:02
4 Anaphase 5:46
5 Telophase 5:25
℗ 2016 Denovali Records
Review
BY JOHN GARRATT, 11 August 2016
★↔★ Taken on its own as a recording, Ricardo Donoso’s EP Quintesence is a remarkably striking 20~minute chunk of highly-manipulated musical noises.
★↔★ Quintesence was commissioned by the Society for Arts and Technoloogy in Montreal to be presented in their Satosphere dome. Brazilian sound architect Ricardo Donoso and British installation artist Florence To co~created the multi~media experience after they discovered that they “shared a mutual interest in the psychological research in their work and wanted to further develop this as a thematic process in a live audio visual performance”. Quintesence’s online description gives the specifications of the dome in meters and the number of sound channels in use, as well as how the music and images tell “a story of how memory may be disorientated, distorted, and dysfunctional yet [act] as a linear process to individuation”.
★↔★ Five tracks, all ending with the “phase” suffix, hang in a perfect balance so as to wipe your mind clean through each listen. The short length initially comes across as a letdown since 20 minutes isn’t nearly long enough to lure you into a drooling stupor as you sit on the couch watching The Wizard of Oz, but it’s certainly better than so much of the mediocre electronic music out there (which also lasts three times as long).
★↔★ Donoso pulls the same trick on the first track that he does on the last track: he builds up an industrial rush by way of swarming fast~forwards and caps the resulting explosion with those same sounds grinding to a metallic halt. As “Interphase” glides along in all of its glorious unease, you know that Quintesence isn’t going to be just any ordinary ambient EP. Likewise, “Prophase” is the sound of things falling apart on one front, like scratches and clicks, while coalescing even further on another front, as with angelic pads and isolationist chord transitions. By the time “Metaphase” hits, nearly all the limbs and wheels are coming off in some beautifully orchestrated and twisted fashion. This is the moment in which you’ll catch one of your less~tolerant friends grousing that “this isn’t music!” But if throwing things at a canvas can be considered art, then “Metaphase” is certainly musical in its own strangely compelling way. Besides, the moment passes quickly, letting “Anaphase” lure you into the dungeon by way of dark ambience; it’s the EP’s lengthiest and most frightening track. Afterward, “Telophase”, after a while, gently returns us to our starting point. With all due respect to Florence To, screw the art installation. I don’t need it. Through sound alone, Ricardo Donoso creates a mad world of foggy atmospheres, clanging metal, and wildly vivid colors all by himself. If Quintesence is better as an overall package deal, then superlatives just won’t do. ★↔★ http://www.popmatters.com/
Website: http://www.ricardodonoso.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ricardodonosomusic
Label: https://www.denovali.com/
About:
★↔★ Ricardo Donoso is a composer, percussionist and electronic musician from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil who currently resides in Boston. After having studied composition at Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory he has participated in a slew of projects over the years, from holding down the drum chair in new music/avant~metal visionaries Ehnahre to scoring for recent documentary features such as Greg Barker’s “Homegrown: The Counter Terror Dilemma” (HBO pictures 2016) and the Grand Prize short film winner in Brazilian cinema “Casimiro Effect”. Donoso has since collaborated with film makers & video artists on commissions worldwide creating immersive environments & performances.
★↔★ As a solo recording artist, Donoso has released music on esteemed labels such as Denovali, Digitalis, Further Records and Hospital Productions, and continues to tour throughout Europe, Asia and Latin America. He is most concerned with building and manipulating an immersive sound world that blurs the line between light and dark, hope and despair, past and future. Under a chain of progressive rhythms, cinematic textures and elegant melodicism, Donoso’s work pushes through with piercing strength, manipulating a sonic wave through space with nothing but pulse and mind blowing intensity.
© Mutek Mexico 2015. PHOTO CREDIT: MARIA LEY
★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★
| Ricardo Donoso |
Quintesence EP |
★↔★ Brazil~born composer and musician whose work ranges from spacy ambient techno to experimental noise.
★↔★ MINUS THE VISUAL COMPONENT FOR WHICH IT WAS COMMISSIONED, DONOSO’S QUINTESENCE EP COULD BE ONE OF THE MOST STIMULATINGLY SPOOKY THINGS YOU’LL HEAR ALL YEAR.
★↔★ Although an entirely high level digital production, the duality of QUINTESENCE that is played out is that the subject matter is really about the natural world and our relationship to it. It is about existing on a plane void of technology while discovering your identity within the context of a purely natural world, uninterrupted by contemporary hurdles.
Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil ~ Boston, Massachusetts
Genre: Ambient | Drone | Experimental | Electronic | Techno
Album release: Jul 22, 2016
Record Label: Denovali Records
Duration: 20:27
Tracks:
1 Interphase 5:00
2 Prophase 2:14
3 Metaphase 2:02
4 Anaphase 5:46
5 Telophase 5:25
℗ 2016 Denovali Records
Review
BY JOHN GARRATT, 11 August 2016
★↔★ Taken on its own as a recording, Ricardo Donoso’s EP Quintesence is a remarkably striking 20~minute chunk of highly-manipulated musical noises.
★↔★ Quintesence was commissioned by the Society for Arts and Technoloogy in Montreal to be presented in their Satosphere dome. Brazilian sound architect Ricardo Donoso and British installation artist Florence To co~created the multi~media experience after they discovered that they “shared a mutual interest in the psychological research in their work and wanted to further develop this as a thematic process in a live audio visual performance”. Quintesence’s online description gives the specifications of the dome in meters and the number of sound channels in use, as well as how the music and images tell “a story of how memory may be disorientated, distorted, and dysfunctional yet [act] as a linear process to individuation”.
★↔★ Five tracks, all ending with the “phase” suffix, hang in a perfect balance so as to wipe your mind clean through each listen. The short length initially comes across as a letdown since 20 minutes isn’t nearly long enough to lure you into a drooling stupor as you sit on the couch watching The Wizard of Oz, but it’s certainly better than so much of the mediocre electronic music out there (which also lasts three times as long).
★↔★ Donoso pulls the same trick on the first track that he does on the last track: he builds up an industrial rush by way of swarming fast~forwards and caps the resulting explosion with those same sounds grinding to a metallic halt. As “Interphase” glides along in all of its glorious unease, you know that Quintesence isn’t going to be just any ordinary ambient EP. Likewise, “Prophase” is the sound of things falling apart on one front, like scratches and clicks, while coalescing even further on another front, as with angelic pads and isolationist chord transitions. By the time “Metaphase” hits, nearly all the limbs and wheels are coming off in some beautifully orchestrated and twisted fashion. This is the moment in which you’ll catch one of your less~tolerant friends grousing that “this isn’t music!” But if throwing things at a canvas can be considered art, then “Metaphase” is certainly musical in its own strangely compelling way. Besides, the moment passes quickly, letting “Anaphase” lure you into the dungeon by way of dark ambience; it’s the EP’s lengthiest and most frightening track. Afterward, “Telophase”, after a while, gently returns us to our starting point. With all due respect to Florence To, screw the art installation. I don’t need it. Through sound alone, Ricardo Donoso creates a mad world of foggy atmospheres, clanging metal, and wildly vivid colors all by himself. If Quintesence is better as an overall package deal, then superlatives just won’t do. ★↔★ http://www.popmatters.com/
Website: http://www.ricardodonoso.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ricardodonosomusic
Label: https://www.denovali.com/
★↔★ Ricardo Donoso is a composer, percussionist and electronic musician from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil who currently resides in Boston. After having studied composition at Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory he has participated in a slew of projects over the years, from holding down the drum chair in new music/avant~metal visionaries Ehnahre to scoring for recent documentary features such as Greg Barker’s “Homegrown: The Counter Terror Dilemma” (HBO pictures 2016) and the Grand Prize short film winner in Brazilian cinema “Casimiro Effect”. Donoso has since collaborated with film makers & video artists on commissions worldwide creating immersive environments & performances.
★↔★ As a solo recording artist, Donoso has released music on esteemed labels such as Denovali, Digitalis, Further Records and Hospital Productions, and continues to tour throughout Europe, Asia and Latin America. He is most concerned with building and manipulating an immersive sound world that blurs the line between light and dark, hope and despair, past and future. Under a chain of progressive rhythms, cinematic textures and elegant melodicism, Donoso’s work pushes through with piercing strength, manipulating a sonic wave through space with nothing but pulse and mind blowing intensity.
★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★↔★★