/////////
Welcome to the Real World
Massimo Magee - clarinet, virtual piano
Recorded at home in London 15th August 2020
I've called the piece 'Welcome to the Real World' because it progressively strips back the layers of the constructed fantasy playing environment I've made for myself during this locked down year until it gets to just the raw zoom-recorded sounds of my clarinet in the studio with the noise of cars going by and people walking past etc, before putting back on the layers of make-believe for a finale. The clarinet part is a solo improvisation, recorded in my studio in one take and with no edits but with concert hall reverb later applied to most of it, and then there are also virtual piano intro and outro parts derived from the clarinet playing and interacting with it. My clarinet's a 1953 Selmer centered tone, so I like to imagine this constructed piano-clarinet duo in a non-existent hall is more what it might have been used to during its heyday in the 50s or 60s, with a gradual waking up to the realities of a musician alone in a locked-down 2020, competing with the noises of a world outside that probably doesn't care much for it in the main.
Thom Nguyên's textural drones don't sit static and heavy—instead, they unfurl and come alive over the course of this energizing new LP. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 27, 2023
Inspired by late-night paranormal radio shows in Hong Kong, Cornwall producer UNK creates surreal soundscapes that tell an eerie story. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 11, 2022