Mia Zabelka - M
| Artist: | Mia Zabelka |
| Rating: | |
| Genres: | Free Improvisation, Modern Classical Drone, Electroacoustic, Spoken Word |
| Released: | 2011 |
| Type: | Album |
| Label: | Monotype Records |
| Link: | Bandcamp |
Wonderfully mesmerizing and hypnotic stuff from Austria’s Mia Zabelka…a lady whose music that can take you to a higher consciousness if you choose to let it. If you’re not into the idea of sound as music then M is an album that will probably seem confusing. Zabelka is a young lady who is taking plenty of risks. According to the liner notes her music “…is a continuous exploration of sound and music as physical phenomena, constantly pushing back the boundaries in radical and sometimes provocative performances and compositions.” That is an accurate way of summing up what’s going on here. Mia uses lots of effects to see how far she can go using the electric violin and voice…and the results are rather far out and spectacular. Zabelka’s universe is a curious one in which she seems compelled to push the limits of sound. Some of these pieces are trippy, others spooky, and others downright surreal. These seven compositions are extremely heady and involved…and are only recommended for fans of serious experimental stuff. Cool bizarre cuts include “Korperklangmaschine,” “Opus M,” “Tenebrae,” and “Roter Halbmond.” TOP PICK. - 2012 - babysue magazine -USA...
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Highly inventive work from the Austrian performer Mia Zabelka on her M (MONOTYPE RECORDSMONO 045 CD). She’ s got an electric violin and uses contact mics, live electronics, and her own vocals to supplement her playing – plus I understand there’ s a more physical performance-art component to the act in the way her body moves and also helps with …the playing. (Keiji Haino for one was determined that only through learning avant-garde dance could he train his body to play the guitar in a completely new way). Zabelka’ s full of variations and ideas on this album – the very precise playing of ordered notes on ‘ Korperklangmaschine’ is enhanced by digital delay to transform her into a violinist equivalent of Terry Riley, while the lengthy ‘ Opus M’ is far more drifty and uncertain, a wander around melancholic terrains expressed through a very full and rich (through heavily processed) sound. On ‘ Mind Scratching’ , her unintelligible and half-mad vocal mutterings are layered together in a whispering melange that’ s akin to a Henri Chopin extravaganza. There’ s also more dramatic speech work plus music on ‘ Adil’ Iu’ , and powerful mad-gypsy styled quaverings a-plenty on the complex and shattered tones of ‘ Tenebrae’ . Zabelka’ s unusual techniques are exciting and innovative, it’ s very likely she’ d be pretty unforgettable in a live performance. Endorsed by Pauline Oliveros as a “mighty mistress of the contemporary violin. 2012 - The SoundProjector - Ed Pinsent - UK
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It couldn’t be simpler: one letter, one performer, one instrument, and a battery of effects and electronics. Yet, M is anything but a simple and straightforward record.
Published on the decidedly excellent Monotype Records, M was entirely composed and performed by Zabelka. Using the electric violin as her sole instrument, she builds incredibly intricate sonic landscapes from loops, upon which she adds textures, some sourced from her instrument, others from her body, and occasional vocal components to create a particularly dense and absorbing soundtrack. The treatment applied onto her instrument varies greatly, from moments where the violin is left pretty much untouched to sequences where Zabelka layers distorted or saturated sounds into extremely complex sound structures.
On the opening piece, Koerperklangmaschine, Zabelka loops a series of plucked sounds into delicate melodic structures which, at first, appear extremely stripped down and simple, but as more loops and delays are applied, become more complex and enigmatic, until she swaps plucked for bowed strings toward the end. At the other end of the record, Roter Halbmond forms from repetitive stabs of strummed strings which serve as the basis for textural components and progressive bowed components to develop, until these eventually disintegrate in a clatter of noises.
This layering process is applied in quite a very different way on the rather more sombre Malstrom or Adil’ Iu later on. On the former, Zabelka slowly builds up a dense drone-like formation from bowed strings until its outer appearance becomes less defined. The process is hazier on the latter as fragments of melodies try to pierce the wall of sound which floats in the back as Zabelka places all sorts of vocal scraps in the foreground, some vaguely resembling human language, others sounding much more animal and primal.
Zabelka’s approach to the human voice is at times reminiscent of Sisdel Endresen or Maja Ratkje, as she uses it more as an instrument from which a wide range of weird and wonderful sounds can be extracted, rather than as a simple mean of communication. Mind Scratching is a striking example of this as she abandons the violin entirely to assemble a rather intriguing piece during which her voice is applied in so many tones and functions that it ends up sounding like multiple alien conversations.
Elsewhere, the violin is tortured, distorted and dissected into myriads of sonic components as the intense electro-acoustic exercise on Tenebrae veers off away from melody entirely. Earlier though, it is a completely opposite approach which informs the haunting Opus M as Zabelka dispenses sparse fragments of melody which, whilst incomplete, develop into particularly touching sequences.
With M, Mia Zabelka not only pushes into particularly exquisite sonic experimentation with her violin, but her use of her body, her instrument as an object, and her voice give this record a totally different dimension. At times dreamy, at others disturbing, M is above all a particularly vibrant masterpiece of experimental music. 2011- Themilkman – UK
released October 30, 2011
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Highly inventive work from the Austrian performer Mia Zabelka on her M (MONOTYPE RECORDSMONO 045 CD). She’ s got an electric violin and uses contact mics, live electronics, and her own vocals to supplement her playing – plus I understand there’ s a more physical performance-art component to the act in the way her body moves and also helps with …the playing. (Keiji Haino for one was determined that only through learning avant-garde dance could he train his body to play the guitar in a completely new way). Zabelka’ s full of variations and ideas on this album – the very precise playing of ordered notes on ‘ Korperklangmaschine’ is enhanced by digital delay to transform her into a violinist equivalent of Terry Riley, while the lengthy ‘ Opus M’ is far more drifty and uncertain, a wander around melancholic terrains expressed through a very full and rich (through heavily processed) sound. On ‘ Mind Scratching’ , her unintelligible and half-mad vocal mutterings are layered together in a whispering melange that’ s akin to a Henri Chopin extravaganza. There’ s also more dramatic speech work plus music on ‘ Adil’ Iu’ , and powerful mad-gypsy styled quaverings a-plenty on the complex and shattered tones of ‘ Tenebrae’ . Zabelka’ s unusual techniques are exciting and innovative, it’ s very likely she’ d be pretty unforgettable in a live performance. Endorsed by Pauline Oliveros as a “mighty mistress of the contemporary violin. 2012 - The SoundProjector - Ed Pinsent - UK
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It couldn’t be simpler: one letter, one performer, one instrument, and a battery of effects and electronics. Yet, M is anything but a simple and straightforward record.
Published on the decidedly excellent Monotype Records, M was entirely composed and performed by Zabelka. Using the electric violin as her sole instrument, she builds incredibly intricate sonic landscapes from loops, upon which she adds textures, some sourced from her instrument, others from her body, and occasional vocal components to create a particularly dense and absorbing soundtrack. The treatment applied onto her instrument varies greatly, from moments where the violin is left pretty much untouched to sequences where Zabelka layers distorted or saturated sounds into extremely complex sound structures.
On the opening piece, Koerperklangmaschine, Zabelka loops a series of plucked sounds into delicate melodic structures which, at first, appear extremely stripped down and simple, but as more loops and delays are applied, become more complex and enigmatic, until she swaps plucked for bowed strings toward the end. At the other end of the record, Roter Halbmond forms from repetitive stabs of strummed strings which serve as the basis for textural components and progressive bowed components to develop, until these eventually disintegrate in a clatter of noises.
This layering process is applied in quite a very different way on the rather more sombre Malstrom or Adil’ Iu later on. On the former, Zabelka slowly builds up a dense drone-like formation from bowed strings until its outer appearance becomes less defined. The process is hazier on the latter as fragments of melodies try to pierce the wall of sound which floats in the back as Zabelka places all sorts of vocal scraps in the foreground, some vaguely resembling human language, others sounding much more animal and primal.
Zabelka’s approach to the human voice is at times reminiscent of Sisdel Endresen or Maja Ratkje, as she uses it more as an instrument from which a wide range of weird and wonderful sounds can be extracted, rather than as a simple mean of communication. Mind Scratching is a striking example of this as she abandons the violin entirely to assemble a rather intriguing piece during which her voice is applied in so many tones and functions that it ends up sounding like multiple alien conversations.
Elsewhere, the violin is tortured, distorted and dissected into myriads of sonic components as the intense electro-acoustic exercise on Tenebrae veers off away from melody entirely. Earlier though, it is a completely opposite approach which informs the haunting Opus M as Zabelka dispenses sparse fragments of melody which, whilst incomplete, develop into particularly touching sequences.
With M, Mia Zabelka not only pushes into particularly exquisite sonic experimentation with her violin, but her use of her body, her instrument as an object, and her voice give this record a totally different dimension. At times dreamy, at others disturbing, M is above all a particularly vibrant masterpiece of experimental music. 2011- Themilkman – UK
released October 30, 2011
Editions:
2011
Original Release
Monotype Records
| mono045
| CD
| 01. | Körperklangmaschine | (6:47) | |
| 02. | Opus M | (16:36) | |
| 03. | Mind Scratching | (4:43) | |
| 04. | Malstrom | (9:18) | |
| 05. | Adil'iu | (5:57) | |
| 06. | Tenebrae | (6:22) | |
| 07. | Roter Halbmond | (10:33) |