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Luc Ferrari, "Archives Génétiquement Modifiées/Société II"
This album combines two pieces from either end of Ferrari’s catalogue. A piece from his classic late 1960s period is paired with a more modern composition from 2000. Both pieces show how there is no distinct sound to be associated with the composer and how he did his best to innovate consistently during his career. The album has been lovingly put together and is one of the better posthumous releases that have seen the light of day.
“Archives Génétiquement Modifiées (Exploitation des Concepts No. 3)” is a work from Ferrari’s later period where he began re-evaluating his sound recordings by re-using them as source material for new works. For two DJs (one using CDs and the other vinyl), this piece is an amorphous mix of unidentifiable sounds, dialogue, snippets of music and atmospheres. Hearing Ferrari being influenced by his earlier self sounds remarkably like other artists who were influenced by the same early Ferrari works. The style of turntablism and the types of sounds being used find parallels in Autechre’s most recent work and with a large chunk of the Nurse With Wound back catalogue.
The second of the compositions is a much older piece, “Société II (Et si le piano était un corps de femme)” is a piece from 1967 which originally appeared on side B of the Presque Rien LP (not to be confused with the documentary of the same name also reviewed this week). I find it a bit strange that this is included and “Presque Rien No. 1” is not, especially as the piece does not fit with “Archives Génétiquement Modifiées” particularly well. Reissuing the LP as it was and releasing the newer material separately would have made more sense.
However, this does not diminish the power of the music. “Société II” was composed for an ensemble and piece traverses multiple genres, taking in jazz and most flavours of classical and modern composition. The soloists take the form of suitors vying for the attention of the woman (the piano), each trying to out-do the other and be as flamboyant as possible. This makes for a thunderous, frenetic and ultimately violent piece, its brazen machismo completely at odds with the previous piece on this disc.
In addition to great music, there are comprehensive sleeve notes containing commentaries by Jim O'Rourke and Jay Sanders (actually an instant messenger conversation between the two as they listen to the CD), short notes from Ferrari himself and a scan of the original score for “Société II.” Altogether, this attention to detail in terms of background information and the overall quality of the music makes for a particularly satisfying album, despite my qualms with the choice of material for inclusion.
samples:
- Archives Génétiquement Modifiées (Part 2)
- Archives Génétiquement Modifiées (Part 4)
- Société II (Part 1)
