CONFUSION

CD Shiver Sounds Rec. (CH) 2004, commisson of Pro-Helevetia, Swiss art councils, artwork by Happy Pets

what happens inside a beer can ?

what happens when i squeeze a contact microphones in my fist ?

what happens when i plug a no-input mixdesk into my macintosh ?

From were comes these infra-bass ?

Why do I feel like if i can’t control my system ?

Do I really need to control everything ?

Or a total sound confusion is it enough ?

For this album, Francisco Meirino/phroq works on a new side a new way of his music, more quiet, more technic, a release very dense, a beautiful but difficult disc.

Precise soundscapes, sheer intense noise attacks, a meticulous work on intensity and dynamic. Using a strange technic of contact microphones, metal wires and beer cans, phroq explores a new sound universe, a serious work (by the form and will) but also a funny way (by technic) of the experimental electro-acoustic and noise music.

REVIEWS

Le Temps

L'auteur d'une myriade de parutions confidentielles, la Lausannois Phroq développe depuis dix ans une recherche opiniâtre sur le bruit et les accidents sonores. Démarche radicale qui lui vaut de se produire aux quatre coins du globe, empruntant les réseaux souterrains de la nébuleuse noise. Synthèse un rien plus accessible de ses travaux bruitistes, Confusion, commande de Pro-Helvetia, orchestre une plongée passionnante au coeur du vide, nourrissant ses nappes sourdes et suraiguës de sons piégés par de tout petits micros baladeurs.

(N.Julliard)

Vital Weekly

In Vital Weekly 408 I discussed a previous release by Phroq, the monniker of Francisco Meirino. That concerned a live concert in Japan, but here, I believe we are dealing with a studio work with the total of nine tracks over some forty five minutes. Still Phroq is in noise territories here, but I must admit it's noise of a much higher interest for me. He plays around with contact microphones on object sand surfaces and processes the resultant sound into quite an interesting body of work in which dynamics play an important role.Sometimes things are on the silent edge, such as in the nineth piece but sometimes they burst out in full noise blast. It's quite a step forward from the previous work I heard from him. If he would succeed in transforming his studio sound into a live concert, I'd be interested in hearing that concert.

(Frans De Waard)

Fear Drop

Paru sur Shiver Sound (dist. Namskeio), Confusion de Phroq (Francisco Meirino) arpente des reliefs voisins, même s'ils sont moins accidentés. En se détachant un temps de ses excellentes compositions noise pour des constructions plus apaisées, il réussit même à trouver dans la rigueur glaciale qui caractérise ses sons une délicatesse qui confine à une sorte de poétique de l'objet (celui de la pochette dont le corps principal est une canette). Si les abrasions sont toujours présentes, elles affleurent uniquement et se fondent dans des contextes évolutifs et particulièrement méticuleux, pour n'être plus que les courts moments de narrations plus subtiles et sensibles.

Zinezie

In this new release, he explores the frontier between order and chaos, he works on the tension between programmed and accidental results. The Lausanne-based composer uses a contact microphone that he introduces into an empty beercan, recording the unsuspected noises it contains. He also wires a tinfoil that he clenches according to his desires for sound. He mixes this with the inevitable breath of a no-input mixdesk directly connected to the computer, in order to arrange the chaos, to seduce the tension. As a result, the listener will be shocked and charmed by the depths contained in a can, by the abundance of an aluminium foil, and by the distressing suspense contained in the air.

Cipher

Excellently sculpted sounds from Switzerland combining extreme noise elements with field recordings, electroacoustic touches and a host of other ideas.