MINÓY - 'In Search Of Tarkovsky'





CSR273CD (13th March 2020)
CD in digipak
Barcode: 0641871745364

Minóy (1951-2010), a major figure in DIY noise music, produced some of the most remarkably engrossing, beautiful and imaginative work-of-art albums released on cassette in the 1980's.

Created in 1986, "In Search Of Tarkovsky" is dedicated to the late Russian Director Andrei Tarkovsky ("Solaris", "Stalker", "Andrei Rublev" etc). A unique world of musical expression, with dense audio abstractions where the origin of any particular sound isn't quite discernible. A form of labyrinthian, droning collage electronics, otherworldly and dreamlike, at times nightmarish, at times sad, but always bold and deeply affecting.

Composed after the director's death, it contains many trademarks of Minóy's style: manipulation of shortwave radio, use of spring reverb to get those strangely echoing, claustrophobic environments, and then the howling vocals, piling-up and distorting. Minóy plainly mourns the director's death but in such a unique way there is nothing to compare it to. Two long-form, elaborate pieces (just under 1 hour), essential to Minóy's aesthetic of "cinema of the ear".

This is the first Minóy material ever to be reissued. Unavailable since the original cassette release, these tracks have been remastered from the original archive files and are presented for the first time on CD in a matt-laminate digipak.

Track listing:

1. In Search Of Tarkovsky (29:45)
2. Memory Undefined (Dream As Truth) (28:34)

Reviews:

"..two near-30 minutes pieces of mesmerising electronic dream-state music of the type so wonderful to listen to they immediately both put so much other similarly-inclined works to shame and force you to wonder why Minoy was not more recognised. And I write this as someone familiar with many such homespun artists who’d equally not heard the name until Cold Spring elevated it several rungs with this CD release. Both pieces pay homage to the late great Russian film director, suitably evoking the same feelings of subtle unease or disquiet as his greatest works in sonic form whilst simultaneously not detracting from Edward Artemiev’s own fantastic scores to several of them. Quite an accomplishment" (Adverse Effect)

"A leading exponent of noise music... Cold Spring offer an excellent insight into his world... Remastered and on CD for the first time, it's a deeply layered, immersive work. A track title like closer 'Memory Undefined (Dream As Truth)', with its xylophone / musicbox tinkles, will leave you wanting to explore further" (Electronic Sound)

"Mit einfachsten musikalischen Mitteln erzeugt Minóy verstörende, düstere Bilder... Unverständliches Gemurmel vermischt sich mit unheilvollen Geruauschen zu einer Explosion an Hörimpressionen. Das könnte doch der düstered Soundtrack zu "Stalker" sein, einem DER Klassiker des Science-Fiction-Genres. Doch das sind nur persönlicht Eindrücke. Die Kunst von "In Search Of Tarkovsky" liegt darin begründet, dass es keine Vorschriften gibt und jeder dazu eingeladen ist, sich selbst auf die Suche nach Tarkowski und seinem Werk zu machen" (Orkus)

“Cold Spring ha decidido rendir un merecido homenaje a este genio de la improvisación distópica sonora, reeditando por primera vez uno de sus incontables trabajos, el inquietante In Search Of Tarkovsky (1986)... Lo primero que resalta en los dos temas que estructuran el disco es esa fantástica atmósfera que genera la manufacturación casera. El sonido se presenta crudo y directo, un detalle que sin duda encandilará a la mayor parte de los amantes de la producción en casete... un disco muy recomendable para descubrir el genio oculto de Minoy... un artista que merece un reconocido encomio dentro de los cimientos del DIY estadounidense” (5/5, No Melody)

“Minoy uses radio sounds, reverb, delay pedals and no doubt some kind of synthesizer and in true 80s fashion it is one piece per C60 cassette, so this CD has two thirty-minute pieces of music. The title piece keeps moving back and forth high-pitched frequencies, dark doodles and some estranged voices.. There is some beautiful desolation here, just like in a Tarkovsky movie. In 'Memory Undefined (Dream As Truth)', Minoy works with some more single-minded approach on a spacious psychedelic piece. Here he has fewer sounds to work with, still radio sounds, loops, and electronics I suppose and goes more or less in a 'live' way through his sound effects and yet keeps the piece neatly afloat… I would think it is a good place to start exploring the music of this sadly missed artist." (Vital Weekly)

“This tape in particular, first released in 1986, is dedicated to the visionary Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky, known for films such as "Solaris", "Stalker" and "Andrei Rublev". Two suites of about half an hour each, one on each side in the original cassette, which here finally benefit from professional mastering and support such as the CD, which in part undermines its primitive spontaneity and improvisation, but which on the other sharpens and enhances the trance state that permeates this drone electronic collage. The two tracks contain some of Minóy's characteristic trademarks, ie manipulation of shortwave radio signals, spring reverbs, claustrophobic atmospheres and distorted howling vocals. The album is a hallucinatory journey, at the experimental and avant-garde era, able to play today, a sure milestone for many artists of yesteryear and today, which fully reflects Bowsza's aesthetics of the "cinema of the ear" (Rosa Selvaggia)

“…une nouvelle fois œuvre d’ "archivisme" et tendant par sa démarche à offrir un prolongement à l’œuvre ambiante et noise de Minóy... deux heures de sculpture sonore ondulatoire, mystérieuse et touchante, qui dans son abstraction fait appel à l’émotion et au souvenir... Minóy entreprend sur la base du deuil sa propre œuvre cinématographique. C’est une projection, et son collage peint au fur et à mesure une toile mêlant reflets chromés, cosmiques, poussière et minéralité. Sculpture exploratrice et aux reflets nostalgiques, elle est emblématique de l’art sonore de Minóy... le dérangement et la sensibilité filmiques” (80/100, Obskure)

"...l'associazione a 'Solaris' per le forti suggestioni spaziali che sin dall'inizio pervadono sciogliendosi in ancor più surrealiscente tensione con una secca virata verso una spettrale oscurità popolata da voci che contribuiscono a recargli orrorifici aromi...  un buon equilibrio nel solco di una drone music tendente alla trance con percettibili variegature psichedeliche" (7/8 Blow-Up)