New Environments & Rhythm Studies [LP]

Andrew Pekler - New Environments & Rhythm Studies [LP]

New Environments & Rhythm Studies finds Andrew Pekler returning to the humid zones he explored on previous albums such as Sounds From Phantom Islands and Tristes Tropiques. Split between longer immersive compositions and shorter glimpse-like sketches, these 12 tracks feature new juxtapositions of Pekler's familiar palette of synthetic field recordings, warm, undulating electronic textures, shifting percussion patterns and serene melodies. As with much of his recent work, Pekler's compositions here are structured around the beguiling effect of synthetic and non-synthetic sounds mirroring, mimicking and modulating one another. The teeming atmospheres within tracks such as "Globestructures," "Cymbals In The Mist," or "Globestructures: Option II" are, despite their seemingly anthropogenic nature, entirely synthetic. Elsewhere, the lopsided grooves of "Cumbia Para Los Grillos" or "Fabulation For K" are derived from recordings of crickets and other insects which Pekler loops and uses to trigger electronic percussion -- producing a pleasantly skewed rhythmic base for the fragments of melody which are layered on top. The six "Rhythm Studies" also follow the same principle -- a playful interweaving of the organic and synthetic. New Environments & Rhythm Studies is a further attempt to re-describe past tropes which laid claims to authentically represent music and sound from beyond the Western world (exotica, ethnomusicology, field recording) as undertakings of the imaginary. Written and produced by Andrew Pekler, mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi, artwork by Morgan Cuinet, graphic design by Dmytro Nikolaienko. 01. Globestructures (4:50)_x000D_ 02. Rhythm Study 1 (1:20)_x000D_ 03. Fabulation For K (3:27)_x000D_ 04. Rhythm Study 2 (1:09)_x000D_ 05. Cumbia Para Los Grillos (3:57)_x000D_ 06. Rhythm Study 3 (1:40)_x000D_ 07. Cymbals In The Mist (5:50)_x000D_ 08. Rhythm Study (4:54)_x000D_ 09. Intermittent Chimes And Organ (3:49)_x000D_ 10. Rhythm Study 5 (1:10)_x000D_ 11. Globestructures: Option II (4:50)_x000D_ 12. Rhythm Study 6 (1:32)