Martes

 

 

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Murcof's "Martes" is one of those very rare electronic music albums that immediately arrests your forward movement and makes you focus in on it with almost suspenseful concentration. You really want to hear where this remarkably unique artist is going to take this. As each track opens up and unfolds you are struck with the extreme taste and skill of Murcof's compositions and his remarkable use of instrumentation. Primarily, he works in the electronic medium but his stylish incorporation of acoustic orchestral instruments, mostly strings, shows a concern and a talent for more than simple BPM's and trancey beats. There aren't a lot of effects, studio acrobatics or even the slightest grandiosity here. This is very subdued, inward looking 'chamber music' for strings, piano, voice and electronics. But for all it's lack of bombastics and trippy moods "Martes" is an album that will pull you into its incredible intimacy and careful detailing like very little else in the field. This is one hell of a start of a recording career. His subsequent albums are all WELL WORTH the effort to acquire.

Murcof's (one Fernando Corona of Mexico) electronics are very clipped and spartan and his use of effects are very restrained. But in that restraint there is a compelling setting of introspection and mood that is quite unlike almost everything out there in the idiom. It is almost as if you are observing a whole new universe at a microscopic level - watching minutia through a macro lens. And for all the restraint and taste there is still a lot of mood and feeling, but it is more implicit than ex. There are elements of 'torchy' jazz and classical, motifs and textures that recall Morton Feldman, Harold Budd and sympathetic hints of the electronica work of Scandinavian artists like Trentemoller. This sort of electro-acoustic blend has its precedents but that takes nothing away from Murcof's fabulous achievement. I am thinking of Brian Eno and Peter Schwalm's 2000 album "Drawn from Life" with its beautiful blending of electronic and acoustic instruments and some of the much earlier work of Tangerine Dream man, Peter Baumann -"Meadow of Infinity" - as examples. Indeed, for the sake of some indication, one could almost imagine "Martes" being the collaborative work of Miles Davis, Morton Feldman, Trentemoller, the Kronos Quartet and Brian Eno. But imagine it all as one musical quantum entanglement. And Murcof's abilities and execution are hardly anything close to derivative. His music stands up quite independently of anyone else in the final assessment.

One of Murcof's tell-tale touches is his digital editing of phrases and textures. Choirs or washes of strings will sustain, then will be clipped and re-started with a softly startling interruption, purposeful 'glitches' if you will, using silence itself as a form of percussion. That silence starts and ends with a quick 'attack' and 'release' which is highly unusual. It perks up the attention and creates a very alert and expecting psychological state quite unlike anything else. His percussion is tight and soft, almost 'clicking' away at points like a Geiger counter, or a small cluster of insects, with soft quick 'pads' at the bottom. Tiny, little, almost inaudible rings, way at the top range of hearing ping in and out while string quartets and female voices or choirs sing muted and attenuated lines. This is all beautifully done and one comes to appreciate Murcof's great skill at composition and orchestration. And hey, if you're not particularly into appreciating the intricate and refined skill of the composition and execution of "Martes", this album is one hell of a wonderful chill-out CD. Try listening to this between the hours of 2 and 6 in the morning ... wonderful! It works perfectly on many levels or styles of listening. It masterfully finds the balance that Brian Eno spoke of decades ago - of finding a musical form that rewards close attentive listening AND can also function ambiently to enrich or enhance the room while one is focusing on other activities.

Murcof's "Martes" has been hailed in several journals, like the UK's "Wire" as a masterpiece. Called "exquisite" and "compelling", it is music for the connoisseur, whether that be an educated, discerning listener or a greatly appreciative devotee of music that takes you somewhere very special indeed. A masterpiece no matter how you approach it.

Related:

Morton Feldman/Kronos Quartet - "Piano and String Quartet"
Morton Feldman - " The Rothko Chapel".
Brian Eno & J. Peter Schwalm - "Drawn from Life".
Jon Hassell - "Last Night the Moon Came Dropping its Clothes in the Street".
Trentemoller - "The Last Resort".

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