Space Elements Vol. III, the third album in Rafael Toral’s Space Program series, is simply astounding. The idea behind the series is to perform what would essentially be “jazz” music with electronics, and it has resulted in one of my favorite albums of the year so far. Listen to those electronics growl and squeal like some fierce tenor saxophone! The album’s out on CD courtesy of Staubgold, but Taiga has just released it on 100 opaque olive green and 400 plasma-colored virgin vinyl (with mastering by Khanate’s James Plotkin).
More explanation from Toral:
All these instruments are different but have a few things in common. The first is that they don’t have a conventional interface, which means that for all of them I have to find out what they do and develop technique to play them. The second is that none of them respond accurately to performing action. So there’s always a live tension between an accurate decision and its somewhat unpredictable outcome. I meant to play music technically free from any school and teachings, but beyond that I also wanted the music somehow to escape my own self, playing instruments with a sort of life of their own, never allowing complete control and making any repetition virtually impossible.
Please buy it now. Thanks!
• Rafael Toral: http://rafaeltoral.net
• Taiga: http://www.taigarecords.com
• Staubgold: http://www.staubgold.com
