Mem1 | Press

+1 (Neural)
The dreamily ambient sequences of "+1", a project by Laura and Mark Cetilia, constitute a fruitful and challenging colloborative work. The precision with which the duo compose has never been greater. Laptops and cello combine to produce a painstakingly thorough acoustic and digital confluence of emotions. Each of the nine songs - in fact - is the result of a collaboration with a different composer, among whom are various celebrities of the experimental audio art scene, such as : Jan Jelinek, Frank Bretschneider, Jen Boyd and Steve Roden, to name a few. Even given the exclusivity of each contribution there still remains a certain homogeniety of inspiration, a seemingly deliberate contiuum of ethereal atmospheres, space-like and imaginitive -- never redundant. Among liquid digressions, seething frequencies, drones and machinic reverbs, the contribution of Ido Govrin, Aera C, Kadet Kuhne and Jeremy Drake stand out, as well as RS-232, a Californian artist who delivers a very meaningful interpretation. -Aurelio Cianciotta
http://www.neural.it

+1 (Junk Media)
Mem1 is the duo of Mark and Laura Cetilla. Each track on this album is a collaboration with a different artist-- the plus-ones to whom the title refers. It's a collection of abstract, unnatural sounds, but the feeling is markedly soft and intimate. There's a palpable interplay between the musicians, each collaborator bringing his own style to the fold, and it shows beautifully, or even romantically. The collaboration with Area C is the most effective, as the odd embrace of the rest of the song slowly envelops his furtively plucked guitar. Subtle touches are the album's greatest strength, showcasing a sensitivity that allows for surprises like the slight melody on the track with Kadet Kuhne, which is revealed tentatively, like a secret admission. The less successful songs are those that feature prominent beats, the bothersome insistence of the rhythm wedges distance into the collaborations. It can at times produce something more trance-like, but overall it prevents closer listening and blocks the gentle touches evident on other tracks. Yet despite all the different approaches the album feels consistent due to the duo's warm haze, the rustling rhythmic ambivalence that they wrap around each song. Their contributions are often more atmospheric than those of their guests, but it is clearly their house they live in when it comes to collaborations. They contribute the setting in which the entire album operates and, in the end, evokes a very welcoming feeling. -Pat Dahn
http://www.junkmedia.org

+1 (The Wire)
You tend to assume that you're venturing into the outer reaches of abstract experimentalism when artist names and album titles start to resemble lines of machine code. But while you wouldn't exactly describe Mem1's third CD as populist, it does demonstrate that rigorous methodology needn't always produce militant austerity. Mem1's recorded works can be characterised as a series of dialogues between the cello explorations of Laura Cetilia and the electronic manipulations of her husband Mark, and +1 opens up their conversation to a series of third parties. The music is unquestionably enriched as a result. Collaborators include Jan Jelinek and Erik Carlson (aka Area C), whose guitar creeps and probes with tremulous delicacy. But although the mood is largely meditative, there's no shortage of variety — Jeremy Drake's massed, layered scrapings and Frank Bretschneider's splintered pulse both add welcome measures of astringency. -Chris Sharp
http://www.thewire.co.uk

Stationary Drift (Touching Extremes)
Mark and Laura Cetilia, from Los Angeles, are Mem1. They have been working in the field of sound installation and electronica in recent years, but this 27-minute chapter of their career � which is downloadable for free at the label�s website � has enough merits to stand alone as an outstanding release, full as it is of delicate poetry, dejected desolation and frail tones that repeatedly touch our heart. Starting from a single source - a cello - the duo builds an amassment of layered uncertainties through the use of electronics, which complement and enhance the acoustic qualities of the instruments while generating a string of rather uncommon soundscapes, whose peculiar beauty is especially exalted by its pallid colours.

The sounds tremble, attempt to learn to fly without success, then lay tired on a stratum of digital oxidation and slight distortion, only to be finally captured in a processing network which steals their essence and retransmits it across the room, altered yet still poignant. The hypnotic allure of certain segments is what attributes humanity to this music, the sudden turns towards unfriendly zones is what renders it less predictable. The magnificent blending of these intense feelings and the not excessive duration of the sequence seal Stationary Drift with a stamp of near perfection, placing it among the best episodes heard in 2009 relatively to this artistic area. One looks forward to hear more from such extra sensitive, deeply insightful musicians. -Massimo Ricci
http://touchingextremes.blogspot.com

+1 (The Sound Projector)
Mem1 is the duo of Mark and Laura Cetilia from Los Angeles, working with processed cello and electroacoustic methods; and on the full-length album +1 (INTERVAL RECORDINGS IL03), we hear nine collaborations with various sound artists including Area C and Steve Roden. This album struck me as extremely minimal at first, but in fact I have the impression there�s a lot of very subtle activity taking place in the fuzzy slow-moving clouds of gentle ambient driftery, and never once do I have the impression that either Mem1 or their collaborators were working on auto-pilot. In other words, the whole project seems genuinely performed and taking place in real time, and studio processing effects are kept to a minimum. The vague cover images create suggestions of extra-terrestrial phenomena and strange lights in the sky, yet appear to have been created from normal suburban scenes of homes and garages illuminated by strip lighting.
http://www.thesoundprojector.com

+1 (Textura)
+1, the third full-length album by Los Angeles-based electro-acoustic outfit Mem1 (Mark Cetilia on electronics and Laura Cetilia on electronics and cello) , presents nine collaborations involving the duo and Jan Jelinek, Ido Govrin, AREA C, RS-232, Frank Bretschneider, Kadet Kuhne, Jen Boyd, Jeremy Drake, and Steve Roden. Regardless of the collaborator involved, what distinguishes Mem1's approach is its concentration on the textural mass. In others' hands, the cello might be exploited as a lead melodic voice, something to be separated out from its context; in the case of Mem1, Laura's cello functions as an element within the whole�an integral and prominent element, certainly, yet still one purposefully integrated to operate as part of the textural mass. Suggesting a parallel (as the accompanying press notes do) between Mem1's approach and the rhizome concept (as characterized in Deleuze & Guattari's A Thousand Plateaus) isn't misguided, as the group's sound is founded upon the idea of multi-linked tendrils and connecting threads. Organic and improvisation-based, the typical Mem1 piece unfolds patiently, mutating through various episodes in a way that disregards conventional notions of compositional structure and melody; bar-based rhythms also are rejected in favour of natural flow and meander. Jan Jelinek helps the duo generate a uniform, slow-motion textural mass of insect chirps, cello plucks, and vaporous textures, while, in the Ido Govrin setting, natural sounds such as crashing waves inhabit the periphery of a low-level and skeletal meditation largely devoted to layered of creaking and sawing sounds. Elsewhere, a pulsating percussive pattern lends Frank Bretschneider's piece a rhythmic thrust largely absent elsewhere, and Jeremy Drake's haunted industrial setting impresses as one of the album's most powerfully evocative pieces. Even with the contributions of the collaborators factored in, the bold chamber music pieces documented on +1 strongly retain the Mem1 imprint and end up sounding like variations on shared conceptual and production schemes.
http://www.textura.org

+1 (Exclaim / Destination Out)
Harmony is what makes a relationship tick. This is especially true when the couple ? here, Mark and Laura Cetilia ? are an electronics and cello duo that stretch translucent strands across their improvisations. For their third full-length, they've spiced things up with nine invitees for some inspired threesomes. For starters, Jan Jelinek underscores Laura's plangent picking and scraping with a muted, oblate wave that cycles until collapsing. Controlled feedback drones and either digital or field recorded birds punctuate a wide-open space created by Mark and Area C (Erik Carlson), simulating the plains at dusk. Frank Bretschneider is one of the few invited artists that truly take over a track, inserting a minimal but dense circuitry of pulses and echoes into the mix. The loveliest moments come from Kadet Kuhne's haunted digital hooting and the responses of trembling strings and upper-frequency tones. Like its ghost world cover art by Erik Skodvin, +1 opens a door into a world of half-light and mirage.
http://www.exclaim.ca

+1 (Foxy Digitalis)
Mem1 is Los Angeles based duo Mark & Laura Cetilia. They utilize custom hardware and software, electronics and cello in an electroacoustic improvisation environment. What I find always draws me to the electroacoustic stuff when it�s done well is the joining of dissonance between the acoustic instruments, in this case, the scraping of cello, with the warmth and bed of sounds you get in synthesizers.

On "+1", we get that rich sound from Mem1, but with an additional guest on each track, some collaborations done live, others produced through the magic of the internet. Opening track "+ Jan Jelinek" was an instant grabber, playing off the cello with the electronics in a highly enjoyable manner. Following that "+Ido Govrin" goes for straight Cluster sustain that leaves you dizzy waiting for the note to stop, but that good kind of feeling at the top of your head when you let the cosmic take over.

There are other trips with other collaborators, featuring field recordings, some that stick more to acoustic instruments than synths, but mostly there is a very solid balance. There is hardly any trace of "Oh, here�s where that guy came in." Although you can tell where some people are stronger in their approach to a song than others, this seems to rely on the group. -Andrew Murdock Livingston
http://www.foxydigitalis.com

+1 (Dark Entries)
Na het aanhoren van talloze CD's in het experimentele genre moeten ze al eens met goede argumenten afkomen om ondertekende �cht te boeien. Daar is Mem1 met zijn electro-akoestische kamermuziek duidelijk in geslaagd. Met hun muziek weten ze ook de basisvisie van het israelische Interval Recordings samen te vatten: de ruimte opzoeken tussen twee verschillende uitgangspunten. De interval proberen te defini�ren. Aan de ene zijde van de ring electronica; een cello aan de andere kant. Wat ze samen doen is uniek. Het duo Mark en Laura Cetilia nodigde 9 verschillende muzikanten en componisten uit om met hen in muzikale dialoog te gaan. Van de subtiliteit van Jan Jelinek tot de spanning van RS-232 en van de spookcornet (denk Carter&Tutti) van Jeremy Drake tot de tribal loops van Steve Roden; allen weten ze perfect te versmelten met de cello en manipulaties van Mem1. Onvervalste klasse!
http://www.darkentries.be

+1 (Cyclic Defrost)
Los Angeles' Mem1 are Laura and Mark Cetilia, cellist and media artist respectively, who produce improv-based electroacoustic music of the itchy Max/MSP variety. As the album and track titles suggest, '+1' finds them collaborating with nine individual artists over as many tracks, an impressive roster from the vanguard of minimalist digitalia. Mem1 are at their finest when their collaborations foster a chameleon-like metamorphosis in both their own sound and approach. Of course, with a team such as this the variants are slight, but the Cetilias digest their partners' influences, attitudes and styles with considerable appetite, and this works both ways. Jan Jelinek's work is unrecognisable to those who grew up on his springy microhouse, and just as difficult to categorise, and the treated scrapes, tics and low-end rumbles that comprise his contribution here are as pleasingly elusive as Machinefabriek. '+Ido Govrin' pairs aquatic drips with snails-pace cello bows, splitting these into multiple dialogues; '+RS-232' gets lost in the woods, cicadas competing with a heavy bass thud, while '+Jeremy Drake' brings birdcalls into a lower-case improv session, creaking along like Polwechsel. Frank Bretschneider's piece is a highlight, which centres on a rich, flickering drone which evokes both live field recording and internal machine noise, a muffled bassline like the undersea dub of Raster Noton labelmate Senking; as is Steve Roden's: minute activity so close as to cause claustrophobia, slowly building into an almost frantic level of activity, complete with surprise bass loop. -Joshua Meggitt
http://www.cyclicdefrost.com

+1 (Le Son du Grisli)
Alter ego de la doublette Mark et Laura Cetilia, le premier � l��lectronique, la seconde au violoncelle, Mem1 invite neuf amis � un(e) par track � sur ce +1, des plus familiers (Jan Jelinek, Frank Bretschneider) aux moins fr�quent�s (Kadet Kuhne, anyone ?). Trait�es au travers d�un prisme digitalis�, les sonorit�s du violoncelle �pousent, malgr� les apparentes similitudes, des contours tr�s diff�rents de ceux imagin�s par Machinefabriek et Aaron Martin. L� o� nous avions laiss� l��lectronicien n�erlandais splendidement manipuler une vision n�o-classique de l�instrument, le duo am�ricain s�inscrit davantage dans une lign�e ambient, heureusement toute personnelle. Tel un Wolfgang Voigt grin�ant exp�rimentant le minimalisme, Jan Jelinek attire l�attention par une discr�te pr�sence qui, paradoxalement, donne tout son sel au morceau qui porte son nom (comme celui de chaque collaborateur, du reste). Ailleurs, quelques sons �pars d�tal�s de chez Colleen inspirent un glissando stridant sur un Ido Govrin qui prend une belle ampleur lento, seconde apr�s seconde, tandis que les atmosph�res quasi-mystiques du trio Area C s�int�grent tout naturellement au projet. Moins convaincante, voire franchement ennuyeuse (tout comme Jen Boyd) est le mariage Mem1 - RS-232, encore que sa conclusion dark ambient finit par embaumer le cadavre de Svarte Greiner (par ailleurs, auteur de la pochette). Toujours classe et impeccable, la techno minimale, beats ultra-discrets included, de Frank Bretschneider s�imp�gne d�une humeur � la crois�e de l�a�ronautique et du cardiaque, elle est subtilement en contraste avec les chiffonnages num�ris�s de Kadet Kuhne dont �merge un violoncelle davantage pr�sent. Pleinement dans l�envie d�une lenteur captivante au fil du temps et des �coutes, l�album se conclut sur deux titres (Jeremy Drake et Steve Roden) en plein dans le ton du projet, m�lange d�instincts o� l�harmonie remporte une victoire nette et sans bavures sur le chaos et la soumission. -Fabrice Vanoverberg
http://grisli.canalblog.com/

+1 (Earlabs)
In 2007 the debut album Alexipharmaca by Los Angeles (US) based electro-acoustic duo Mem1 was released on the label Interval Recordings. On this album the duo searches for a modern combination of electronic and classical music. Now with their second album +1 they explore this sometimes thin line further with the help from befriended guest musicians.

Collaborations with musicians like Jan Jelinek, Frank Bretschneider and Steven Roden (to name the more well known musicians) recorded on several places like a painter's studio, near a lake or through the internet. The influences from the several guest musicians do ring through in some of the pieces, while others clearly show Mem1 as being the main ingredient.

While on Alexipharmaca the electro-acoustic compositions had a major melodic and rhythmic element, here most pieces find their way into minimalism and drones. The warm tones of the cello find their way into computers and effects to develop long sustaining tones, while in the background soft digital glitches crackle and plop along. Only in the pieces with Frank Bretschneider and Steve Roden a twist is brought to the sound. Bretschneider pushes his pulsating beats in, exactly those as we know from his own work. And Steve Roden surprises us with some unexpected broken beats, turning the whole piece upside down... -Sietse van Erve
http://www.earlabs.org

+1 (Nonpop.de)
The cover looks like a scene from "The X-Files: A house can be seen only dimly, it is not submerged by a light source to be defined in a warm, almost garish colors. The other motive of this well-designed Digipaks enhance the first impression: It's about something elusive, Transgression. What is real, what an illusion? Or transfer your music: Create What in the living organism, the MEM1 is acoustically and 'real', which synthetic? INTERVAL RECORDINGS is a small Israeli label and artist collective, which deals exactly with this mixture, with electro-acoustics. The main task is indeed to be the implementation of "Laptopia", an Israeli festival of experimental art, with varying venue, which is now already in the sixth edition. Nevertheless, it seems, since 2005, one CD per year. With MEM1 INTERVAL has worked together from the start, and the latest CD "+1" in the U.S. is now the former couple's audio output of the current year.

Detailed biographies of Laura and MARK CETILIA are on the homepage MEM1 or be read their own respective sides of the partner, but actually it is quite simple: LAURA plays cello, and MARK unfamiliar sounds using software and hardware. This time, the outcome per track still involved another, friendly sound tinkerer, whose name is also the titling. From the USA, for example, alias JOE CANTRELL RS-232 and see the multimedia artist KADET Kuhne, out of Germany JAN JELINEK and the currently ubiquitous Frank Bretschneider, a former member of the VIOLIN AG and co-founder of the Chemnitz label RASTER NOTON.

It is striking that during the 56 minutes it actually moves the ear, almost nothing. There are mainly stretched Drones - yes what? Sometimes emerges a cello, which may be gone, but over long distances again. The sharp, organic and lively sound that is constantly in the room is oddly touching, in the truest sense of the word. It feels as if he tentatively stroking the skin, while in the background crackling and crunching sounds. Within a song - the do not really call it that, is it normal structures such as melody or chorus are almost completely - often changes the mood. By threatening to An-soothing relaxation and vice versa. Similarly, an expectant, slightly nervous mood is - with traces of minimal percussion - about a peaceful, liberated atmosphere. Often these changes will be through more acoustic - warm and friendly - or synthetic - fearful and dark - produced items. Emerge as a surprise just before the end sounds of real animals, an idea of birdsong, also crystallizes a rhythm. The ratios for MEM1 almost ecstatic, though quiet percussion loop could mean many things: the transition to another dimension, the final of this strange trance, bans on CD creation.

For words, there is the concept of 'tag cloud', a cloud of keywords. For notes a similar concept would be introduced, for MEM1 have created aesthetic clouds of various hues. Contemporary chamber music in slow motion, with minimal resources covering a wide range of emotions. Recommendation for those who are able to slow and enter a few, and to hear concentrated. –Michael We.
http://www.nonpop.de

+1 (Sentire Ascoltare)
Due le anime dietro al progetto dei Mem1, Laura e Mark Cetilia e una miscela tutt'altro che accademica di manipolazine digitali e d'improvvisazione intelligente. La loro � un'elettroacustica sinfonica e introversa per laptop e violoncello, quella raccontata gi� ai tempi di Alexipharmaca (Interval,2007) ed ora pronta a rimettersi in gioco per questa seconda occasione con l'Interval Recordings.

Un cast d'eccezzione per 1, nove luminari nell'ambito dei microsuoni chiamati dai Mem1 a contribuire alle loro fonti e ad esplorare le inflessioni pi� austere dello strumento. Nessuna rigida impostazione di stile ma semplici intuizioni, capaci prima di captare e di identificarsi nei differenti stimoli creativi, contribuendo poi al suono con mutevoli dialettiche in riverberi, campionamenti, loop e droni. Il benvenuto quindi: all'ambient plumbea per abrasioni ed occasionali field recordings di Jan Jelinek, alle architetture liquide per Ido Govrin od abissali per RS-232, al culto dub di Frank Bretschneid, all'elettronica fluttuante e di segnale di Kadet Kuhne ed infine alle frenetiche dinamiche di collage del maestro Steve Roden.

Ne rimarrete stregati e coinvolti da capo a coda, per il numero infinto di forme che ogni traccia assume, per la malleabilit� ed infine per il continuo. -Sara Bracco
http://www.sentireascoltare.com

+1 (Aquarius Records)
The L.A. sound art duo Mem1 gathered together a great line-up of collaborators for this, their second album released earlier in 2009. Steve Roden, Jan Jelinek, Frank Bretschneider, and Area C are the heavy-hitters from our perspective, although those contributions from the those we've not heard of - Jen Boyd, Ido Govrin, RS-232 - seem to more than pull their weight. Mem1 works from an electro-acoustic context reworking cello through an interconnected series of electronics, most of which are probably driven through Max/MSP patches. The results typically settle into a slumbering drone sensibility, as noted in the Jan Jelinek collaboration which interweaves dark plucks from the cello with fizzing Tim Hecker-esque digital washes. The RS-232 pairing is a creepy, nocturnal track of sci-fi sound design for deep industrial hummings scorched with slow burning arcs. Frank Bretschneider offers an exception to this rule through his pulsing post-techno rhythms which gyrate in pools of reverb beneath looping sustained patterns of resampled cello. Beautiful stuff!
http://www.aquariusrecords.org

+1 (Boomkat)
All dressed up with artwork from Svarte Greiner's Erik Skodvin, this album from Mem1 and friends looks as good as it sounds. The central Mem1 duo (Mark and Laura Cetilia) team up with a roster of microsound luminaroes for this release, working with Steve Roden, Frank Bretschneider and Jan Jelinek among others. Jelinek is up first, helping cast Mem1's electronics and cello in an understatedly abstract gloss. The piece flows across the stereo field with a warmth and major-key serenity that brings together artificial timbres, filtered bowed strings and what sounds like a variety of nocturnal environmental recordings. Next, Ido Govrin assists with some gorgeous slowcore drones, while Area C limbers up for five minutes of immersive, dusky field recording and submerged electronic sustain. Taking a different angle, Rs-232 conspires on a bass assault, humming ominously into Frank Bretschneider's typically rhythmic contribution, imposing a welcome rigidity to Mem1's weightless sonic environments. Particularly given that this is a compilation of sorts, there's an uncommonly high standard sustained right to the death, and arguably the most dynamic track of the bunch (with assistance from Steve Roden) closes the album in fine style. Highly recommended.
http://www.boomkat.com

+1 (Sound Proector)
Very interesting project Mem1 consists of Laura Cetilia (cello) and Mark Cetilia (electronics). They make experiments with cello and various electronical devices and software getting in the result dark, gloomy, abstract sound design with accurate vector to the side of clever improvisation. Their first album Alexipharmaca released in 2007 made good impressions on me. Among all electroacoustics I had listened to Mem1 is notable thanks to the characteristic for their creativity "organic" sounding. As if their musical compositions are lively organisms, slowly and slightly noticeably developing on cellular level. This spring label Interval Recordings released the second full-value album of the duet, which extremely gracefully develop the theme started earlier in Alexipharmaca. +1 is the collection of their collaborations with other musicians, among them are Jan Jelinek, Ido Govrin, Area C, RS-232, Frank Bretschneider, Kadet Kuhne, Jen Boyd, Jeremy Drake and Steve Roden. Each track is a performance with a character from this list which shows that very interesting people worked at this music. Each of them made his own contribution into Mem1's creative work � and the album is at the same time very integral, here one can find experiments with field records and striking microsound, and even some hint at rhythm (of course played by Frank Bretschneider). Design of +1's cover tells for itself � it's the entrance into the world of low frequencies, drone and slowly developing sound carpets, to the dark side of the planet.
http://www.soundproector.com

+1 (Smallfish)
Featuring, as it does, the likes of Jan Jelinek, Frank Bretschneider, Ido Govrin and Steve Roden, you'd be forgiven for thinking this album selves hugely into the world of minimalism. And to a degree it does. But it's a collaborative work of incredible substance and each track has its own style and feel. Stripped back, processed textures and tones form the main meat of the works and there's an experimental lilt to some of the pieces. But, it's cohesive, deep, crammed full of imaginative soundscapes and, best of all, just a damn fine album all round. Whether you're digging Govrin's almost choral drift of chords, Area C's delicious 12k-esque pastoral lushness, Bretschneider's rhythmic, puslating pseudo-techno or Steve Roden's dramatic and eerie composition, there's a little something here for any fans of contemporary electronic music. Beautiful, dramatic, dark and mood-driven - this is an album that works on many levels. Quite superb.
http://www.smallfish.co.uk

Mem1 at Borealis 2009 (STEIMBLOG)
Mem1 (Laura & Mark Cetilia) created a beautiful soundworld of subtly processed cello and an analog synth, building up from barely audible via high pitched screetching to waves of noise, moving between the 4 speakers with grand gestures. At the end, after 40 minutes, I wasn't sure if the chill on my back was from the music or someone opening the outside door to let the Bergen air come in.
http://www.steim.org/STEIMBLOG/?p=179

Live at OCMA (Synesthetech)
The second release on Glenn Bach�s new netlabel MPRNTBL has just been announced: Live at OCMA by Mem1, the husband-and-wife duo of Mark + Laura Cetilia. This 22-minute live set of (as the liner notes describe it) structured improvisation features a blend of Laura�s cello and Mark�s electronics, as the pair follow their own predetermined instructions to create a bold sonic morass seemingly from nothing; the piece begins on the far frontiers of silence, gradually developing into a gurgling slather of textures which eventually break off into a glisteningly quiet denouement. Gorgeous stuff, definitely check it out!
http://www.synesthetech.com

Mem1 at Sound of Mu, Oslo (Soundscaping)
Mem1 is Mark and Laura Cetilia, is a duo in musical terms as well as in life, and their live performance this Sunday evening at Sound of Mu was one of great interplay; Mark�s electronic, glitchy sound palettes laying out the backing sounds � like a sonic scenography � in which Laura�s carefully deliberated cello-playing provided the protagonist of the scene � conjuring up light, airy strings with the hoarse cello qualities sounding both noisy and harmonious. The whole performance proceeded in a slow and steady pace, nice and soothing rhythms flowing out with lulling qualities and the coordination between the two musicians coming off well concerted. Due to the use of strings, associations were immediately drawn to works of their peers like Richard Skelton, Julien Neto, Deaf Center and Svarte Greiner, and like a more modern classically-sounding Celer.
http://www.soundscaping.net

Alexipharmaca (Forced Exposure)
With their sophomore release, Israel's Interval Recordings redefine the term 'post-classical' with Mem1, mixing micro-processing and digital manipulation with the haunting wistfulness of the age-old cello. Mem1 are an electroacoustic hybrid that seamlessly blend the sounds of cello and electronics to create an original and cohesive performance, focusing on a constant yet subtle evolution of textures ranging from sparse to dense, ambient to rhythmic, tranquil to volatile. Rather than a duet between two individuals, listeners experience a single voice, exploring a limitless palette of sonic possibilities, submerging the listener in layers of distinctive and complex patterns, creating an aural experience which moves beyond melody, lyricism, and traditional structural confines to arrive at a new sense of organically-revealed narrative. Alexipharmaca, Mem1's second full-length album, is a collection of improvised works that capture the allure of the unknown and unexpected. Curious to explore the modern fascination with all things ancient and shrouded in mystery, the album's title is taken from a set of poems written by Nicander of Colophon, a Greek pharmacologist whose texts deal with plant and animal poisons and their antidotes. Comparisons can be drawn between Alexipharmaca and Nicander's writings; their diverse hordes of sounds intoxicating the listener with lavish beauty, but like a beautiful yet deadly flower, something ominous inevitably lurks beneath the surface. A perfect blend of harmony and cacophony, Mem1 show a level of intuitiveness that can only come from years of experience improvising -- experiences that include collaborating with the esteemed Penderecki Quartet (one of the most established string quartets in the world) and curating quarterly nights of contemporary classical and experimental music in Rhode Island, USA, where half of Mem1 resides and studies. Comparable to the criminally overlooked collaboration between Eavesdropper and Waterman on Belgium's Knob Sounds label, or artists as diverse as Murcof, John Cage or Alva Noto, Alexipharmaca is bound to appeal to all those interested in the recent renewed interest in modern, forward-thinking classical music and is bound to have a profound effect on anyone who enjoys their lucid soundscapes with equal shades of darkness and light. Interval Recordings established themselves as fine purveyors of home listening treats with their first release by Israeli sound designer, Amnon Wolman, but with Mem1 they truly take their output to the next level of timely importance. Turn off the lights, put on some comfortable headphones, and after careful listening, Alexipharmaca is bound to never move far from your heart and mind.
http://www.forcedexposure.com

Alexipharmaca (Boomkat)
Israel's Interval Recordings is a label you may not have heard from before, but it's one that certainly looks the part, with absolutely stunning artwork coming from none other than Deaf Center/Svarte Greiner/Miasmah man Erik Skodvin. The connections don't stop there either as this album (the second release on the label) is very much in line with Skodvin's well championed 'acoustic doom' sound, albiet with a slight leaning towards 12k or Ritornell levels of engrossing digital minimalism. Mem1 is a collaboration between laptop sound-designer M. Cera and cellist Laura Thomas-Merino, so as you can imagine the collision of digital manipulation and expertly played cello is incredibly haunting and at times devastatingly beautiful. To my mind the mixture of sounds reminds me almost of Kim Cascone's shockingly good Bluecube trilogy (if you haven't heard these records before you should really seek them out by the way!) crossed with Greg Haines' cello-driven 'Slumber Tides' - there is an ear towards minimalism and sound-design at all times, but the cello parts lift it out of the grey academic world into something far more accessible and definitely more enjoyable. In this it feels like the perfect step forward from the minimal sounds we all fell in love with a few years ago (and for the most part lost interest in), like Alva.Noto's recent 'Xerrox Vol.1' 'Alexipharmaca' brings in sounds that we can really relate to, really sink in to and sets them against the glitches, scratches and bleeps to create music that really is the sum of it's parts. This album is a soundtrack to a midnight forest expedition, something scientific yet moonlit and deeply mysterious - hardly surprising that the album is balancing on a scientific theme then. A concept of sorts, the title and ideas on the record come from the Greek pharmacologist Nicander of Colophon and the album's title is taken from a set of poems which deal in depth with animal and plant poisons and their antidotes. Pretty heavy subject matter - but it is without a doubt in line with the incredibly detailed and at times magnified scientific sounds on offer throughout the record. If you're in search of an album to sit snug in your growing collection of acoustic doom (maybe next to this week's similarly spooky album from Elegi...) then look no further, Mem1 will take you where you need to go - deep, deep into the dark woods. Huge recommendation....
http://www.boomkat.com

Alexipharmaca (Cyclic Defrost Magazine)
Mem1 is an intriguing electroacoustic duo who blend cello and electronics in strange low key seemingly improvised compositions. Whilst the cello alternates between scraping out its thin scratchy dissonance, and more traditionally musical gestures such as gentle little plucked flecks, the electronics are much more subtle and lo fi. Unlike the work of say Robin Fox who processes live instrumentation, though very much announces his digital intervention, initially the electronics tend to hide more in the shadow of the cello. Often the electronics appear to consist of a low hum or meld with the cello to construct a some kind of strange field recording from an alternate universe. Then of course the duo go and do the exact opposite, creating a highly electronic, highly processed sound with the cello squealing away in the background. And this is the joy of Mem1, they reinvent their process with each piece, so you never really know what's around the next corner. It's quite non musical, yet it seems to be existing on the fringes, with some of the sound combinations absolutely inspired. –Bob Baker Fish
http://www.cyclicdefrost.com

Alexipharmaca (Touching Extremes)
Described as "an electroacoustic hybrid" by the press release, Mem1 are Laura Thomas-Merino (cello, electronics) and M.Cera (electronics), "Alexipharmaca" being their second full-length release, inspired by poems written by Nicander of Colophon (a Greek pharmacologist) about "plant and animal poisons and their antidotes". Not that one could guess this influence from the music, a fascinating mixture of cello loops and real-time manipulation that possesses dissonant angularity and beguiling ambient charm in equal doses, and which I haven't been able to compare to anything else - a major plus for my judgement's criteria. Twelve improvised tracks show the full extent of this duo's capabilities, mostly based on a gentle materialism in which modified sources and virtual environments constitute a sort of parallel world that, when listened at "slightly-more-than-a-whisper" volume in a quiet setting, appears populated of microscopic creatures and alimented by faintly warming energies that establish a direct connection with our nervous system, helping it to discard extraneous disturbances. An elusive, instantly captivating album that I strongly recommend to be enjoyed without headphones, "Alexipharmaca" is a positive surprise on all accounts and the demonstration that, no matter how many records we listen to, an everlasting curiosity is the key to welcome discoveries. –Massimo Ricci
http://www.touchingextremes.org

Alexipharmaca (Neural)
Cello and electronica, a very delicate electroacoustic hybrid by Mem1, a duo composed of M. Cera, a media artist and sound manipulator, and Laura Thomas-Merino, a cello player from Los Angeles. This is their second extended release (their first one, 'Improvisations + Edits', released in 2004, isn't sold anymore), with tenuous dissonances and measured clicks and glitches, peeking out of the grooves and dilated with alien gentleness in rarefied sequences, hinting at abstract landscapes from another galaxy. Embracing monotony full of narcotic appeal, that unravels through elaborations such as 'Sonniferum', 'Atropa' and 'Ipomea', names reminiscent of the plant realm and of alchemy, where the combination of minimal elements can have lethal or healing effects. –Aurelio Cianciotti
http://www.neural.it

Alexipharmaca (Aquarius Records)
With artwork by the man behind Svarte Greiner and a conceptual framework dealing with "plant and animal poisons and their antidotes," Alexipharmaca is an album that wouldn't be out of place on Type. The Los Angeles based Mem1 is a duo comprised of Mark & Laura Cetilia, employing plenty of high-tech gadgets to abstract, obfuscate, and accompany the languid sounds from Laura's cello. Softened drones and delicate atmospheres are the dominant structures for Alexipharmaca, certainly casting a long gaze back to Erik Satie's idea of wallpaper music through the lens of Brian Eno's ambient and Akira Rabelais' esoteric digital abstractions. The movements of the bow across the strings of the cello are sometimes all that remains, as the rest of the sounds have been rarified, pitch-shifted, softly mulched, and recast as a ghostly undulation of sound crosshatched with digital ephemera and microsonic pin-pricks of glitchiness. While many of the quietly rendered sounds enjoy a jewel-like preciousness, Mem1 infuse these passages with a ghostly bleakness that occasionally grows ominous.
http://www.aquariusrecords.org

Alexipharmaca (Textura)
Alexipharmaca presents a dozen electro-acoustic settings by Mem1, a collaborative venture that combines the explorative cello playing of Laura Thomas-Merino with the electronic microsound atmospheres of laptop artist M. Cera. true to its improvised form, the pieces unfold in a perpetual, restless state of evolution, with the instruments advancing in tandem through multi-layered textures. The duo eschews ostentation for understated development in meditative and mysterious soundscapes that teem with M. Cera's simmering pulses, windswept creaks, and gravelly textures and Thomas-Merino's plucks, shudders, and guttural tones; the two similarly bypass conventional melody-based structures for mutating, organically-driven forms. Though unified in spirit, individual pieces exude differences in character, such as the remarkable insectoid setting "Lamarcai" and the ghostly "Aristolochia." the title of Mem1's second full-length comes from a collection of poems about plant and animal poisons and their antidotes that was composed by ancient Greek pharmacologist Nicander of Colophon — a fitting choice, given the tension between surface beauty and underlying toxicity that often characterizes the material.
http://www.textura.org

Alexipharmaca (Smallfish)
The second release from Israel's Interval Recordings is a sublime piece of work that will haunt you and stay with you long after it's finished playing. The Duo of M. Cera and Laura Thomas-Merino have combined their talents (Cera on electronics and Thomas-Merino on cello) to produce a simply beautiful set of tracks that really take you on a journey. Dark, cinematic strings and wonderfully realised processing give it such a filmic quality it's hard to believe you're not listening to a soundtrack. Bordering on modern classical at times, it melds experimental composition with freeform manipulation and processing to such a fine degree that they seem to form a natural partnership. Fans of the work of Svarte Greiner and other such soundtrack-inspired music should do themselves a favour and check this stunning CD out immediately. Highly recommended indeed.
http://www.smallfish.co.uk

Alexipharmaca (Metamkine)
Deuxième référence pour ce label, la première étant un superbe disque d'Amnon Wolman (voir catalogue). Enregistrés à Los Angeles, Laura Thomas-Merino (violoncelle, électronique) et M. Cera (électronique) proposent là douze plages, une toute jolie suite, genre poésie, d'improvisations évanescentes ouatées perlées fa�on électro-bio pour dimanche pluvieux. Spleen et posthumanité. L'équivalent pharmaceutique serait le subutex. Objet soigné.
http://www.metamkine.com

Alexipharmaca (Vital Weekly)
The title of this, their second CD, comes from a set of poems written by Nicander of Colophon from Greece, who wrote about plants and animal poisons and their antidotes. For Mem1 the relationship is clear: they want their music to be richly textured but with a certain menace. As such I may say they succeeded quite nicely. The cello is bowed, plucked and strummed, while the laptop gently weeps and sweeps the sound. Indeed richly textured... –Frans de Waard
http://www.vitalweekly.net

Improvisations + Edits (Tokafi)
You can't return a fried egg into its shell.

We often think of improvisational music as a dialogue: One instruments offers a statement, a second receives and transforms it, only to ask new questions waiting to be answered. As if decades of technological development had gone by unnoticed, this model has almost exclusively been the domain of Jazz — bringing with it a multitude of exciting possibilities and breathtaking surprises. And some indisputable limitations as well. So let's, just for the sake of covering new ground, forget about Jazz for a second and leave the realms of this basic model. What would happen, for instance, if it would allow for feedback loops, for game-theoretical extensions, for a continous mutual stream of ideas? Quite possbily, we would end up with an album like "Improvisations + Edits."

For sure, we would end up with an album as far away from any given genre as possible. Despite its improvisational nature, this record has absolutely nothing to do with Coltraine and Miles and doesn't even come close to comparing to some more contemporary colleagues such as Nils Petter Molvaer. It's no friend of l'art pour l'art either. And even though a Cello is involved, Classical and New Music are not waiting around the bend. Best if� you try to forget about all references and just listen to the music for one second: There's translucent structures, vitreous and almost see-through ramifications, minuscule movement in the most unlikely places and a lot of empty space, waiting to be filled by your own imagination � this album is white and spaceous. Mem1 are a duo consisting of cellist Laura Thomas-Merino� and media artist m cera, operating with self-made hardware, and their intent lies not in carefully combining the sounds of their respective instruments, but rather in creating a new entity. Sounds from the cello are trreated in real-time and fused with electronic noise, which yields a new basis for cello-improvisation. What emerges from this neverending interaction has nothing to do with what went in and can not be recycled into its original state � just like you can't return a fried egg into its shell. As you would expect, there's a high degree of processing, but strangely the result is neither rigid nor formulaic, but organic and open. Tiny themes take on a life of their own, seemlessly detached from preimposed meaning, motives flow like babbling brooks, delicate drones come up like the morning sun on a muted horizon and there's always a twinkle in the air.

There's not a single traditional melody on "Improvisations + Edits" and merely hints at harmony. And still, there's an overwhelming sense of familiarity and intimacy. As foreign as these pieces may be, they behave and evolve in a very natural way � and our mind, looking for ledgers and references, will always associate them with our every-day existence. Maybe this comes pretty close to a sundown on Mars, to what the jungle on Pluto sounds like, to the workings of an alien botanic garden. Whatever it is, it is never just a dialogue, it's the formulation of something new. And, just for a second, all limitations have gone. –Tobias Fischer
http://www.tokafi.com