Listen: https://on.soundcloud.com/B4a7F


Presenting the second thematic volume on the "Aquapelagos" series - a collection of split LPs where selected artists offer their own take into water surrounded cultures and communities. After the initial release of the Anthology compila-tion Aquapelago in 2022 (Discrepant ,CREP91) and the split LP Atlantico by Lagoss & Banha da Cobra (Keroxen, KRXN027) we proudly introduce an unique collaboration in the series in the shape of no other than two improvising giants, Mike Cooper and Pierre Bastien.
This second volume blows the lid wide open with a sound journey inspired by the equally majestic and mysterious Indian Ocean, a wide space of open ocean bounded by Africa, to the west, Asia to the north and north-west and Aus-tralia, to the south west.
From Philip Hayward and Matt Hill's liner notes:
''The album opens with Return To Chagos by emphasising human presence in the oceanic space, opening with gen-tle percussive taps and distant looped male vocalisation that gradually come into sharper focus, layered and thick-ened, accompanied by thicker percussion and mouth harp. The sense of departure is taken up in Trincomalee, which lifts over the oceanic textures, opening with slow, struck and scraped metallic sounds before thick low pitched wind instrument sounds enter, oscillating around shifting microtonal frequencies. The shore returns on Side 2, with the min-iature epic of Nicobar elaborated over looped 'atmos' sounds of birds and insects over which tonal, slightly distorted electric guitar lines enter before looped high pitched feedback squeals join the texture. Summoning tropical storms and the disruption to the region caused by western intrusion, strong and startling brass accents appear, melding with the looping guitar feedback, creating eeriness and a sense of alarm. Tuangku is permeated by restrained dynamics and an expressive, breathy, low pitched, animalistic melodic voice that offers intermittent and ambiguous utterances, Cobra (Keroxen, KRXN027) we proudly introduce an unique collaboration in the series in the shape of no other than two improvising giants, Mike Cooper and Pierre Bastien.
This second volume blows the lid wide open with a sound journey inspired by the equally majestic and mysterious Indian Ocean, a wide space of open ocean bounded by Africa, to the west, Asia to the north and north-west and Aus-tralia, to the south west.
All songs by Mike Cooper & Pierre Bastien
Mike Cooper: Guitar, electronics
Pierre Bastien: Musical Robots, Trumpet

Artwork by Evan Crankshaw
Aquapelago concept by Phillip Wayward
Produced and Curated by Gonçalo F. Cardoso

Recorded at Espacio Cultural El Tanque, Santa Cruz de Tenerife by Jorge Lozano R.
Mastered & Cut by Kassian Troyer at D&M, Berlin

Part of the Aquapelago Residency Series for Keroxen 2022

Keroxen / Discrepant 2023
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