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$21.00
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ARTIST
TITLE
Theremonial
FORMAT
LP

LABEL
CATALOG #
BEAT 067LP BEAT 067LP
GENRE
RELEASE DATE
5/19/2017

Magnetic field, two antennas, twisted hands searching those hidden notes in the ether. Javier Diez Ena's Theremonial is a record with only theremin sounds, but it is not a theremin solo album. It's not a soloist piece, it's a kaleidoscopic range of sounds. Once you listen, you will discover rhythms, melodies, basslines, textures, harmonies, noises -- Yes, believe it or not, all that sonic magma comes exclusively from a theremin. No sampler was used in this record, every sound has been played with the instrument, sometimes in its natural spooky way, sometimes filtered through a weird variety of effect pedals. There are theremins playing the role of the bass drum, or snare, or bass, even theremins turning into guitar chords, shakers -- maybe this could be the first record where the theremin assumes all the musical roles usually related to a band. The theremin and its truly hard tuning sounds just as it was formerly recorded. Two strong flavors stand out in the potion: darkness and exotism. On the dark side you'll find songs like "Luna Hiena", run by an ultra-bass trembling sound, like the siren of a ghost cruise ship crossing the sea through a foggy night, an up-tempo version "Luna De Hiel", the klezmer noir feeling of "Cracovia Afterdark" or "Berlin Ghost Opera", the collision of two Berliner spheres apparently opposed like opera and industrial music, Neubauten style. "Ruidos De Ultramar-Ultramarumori" could be the sound of a theremin combo formed by Kurt Weill, Tom Waits, and The Young Gods. On the sunny side, the influence of exotica music can be detected: the sound of "Hanalei Dawn" moves the listener to a gorgeous dawn at Hanalei beach (Kauai-Hawaii). "Sunny García" pays tribute to that great Hawaiian surf champion, whose not so sunny temperament took him to fight other surfers in the sea for the perfect wave. "Waikiki Spleen" recreates the strange melancholy of a tiki addict in his first trip to Honolulu. "Roll Li Ning Roll", built from some harmonized loops and an eastern flavored melody, is a tribute to popular '80s Chinese gymnast Li Ning, with loops and loops without risk of dizziness. "Noche De Fiesta En Urano" is a bizarre cosmic trip, the background was recorded in one take, the odd impression is the result of divide and pass the theremin sound through an old Moog Taurus II synthesizer and some parallel delays.