ALTERNATIVE PRESS : VoizNoiz 2

This found-sound amalgam of jazzy trip-hop and artful ambience is a genuine sum of all its parts, as VoizNoiz 2 picks up almost exactly where Michel Banabila's first VoizNoiz album left off. With a David Lynch-meets-Talking Heads-meets- Art of Noise sensibility, Banabila's quirky art-funk is rife with humor and drama supported by an under-current of street sounds and compelling melodies. Recording this disc in his home studio in Rotterdam, Banabila gets assistance from Hannes Vennik and Bobby (cohorts from 2000's Cards on the Table concept album), as well as other Dutch musicians. Heaping electronica upon exotica upon jazz upon techno upon dream-blurred polka, Banabila is creating some of the most satisfyingly unclassifiable music today.

Mark Burbey



INK 19 : VoizNoiz 2

Considering you can give a whole group of people a fancy recording studio, tons of personal attention and pampering and they create audible crap, artists such as Banabila are all the more wonderful. His sophomore release in the Urban Sound Scapes series, Banabila recorded VoizNoiz 2 completely in his home studio. Mainly, sounds are used to create "words" of sound that speak in the language in which we hear. There is a world flavor, a little "trip-hop" label floating around, and one visionary artist behind every moving track. Creepy, loungy, jazzy, sexy, mysterious, fun, and artsy, this is for anyone who's bored with their current musical interests. This album makes you open so many musical doors. A few standout tracks: "Heavy Gravity," the bouncy, tribal "U Beat," sporadic "Speak," and "To The Angels." Learn a new language with Banabila, the language of sound.

Vanessa Bormann



GONZO CIRCUS : VoizNoiz 2 + Spherics

De Nederlander Michel Banabila levert met deze releases alweer twee knappe langspelers af. 'Spherics' herbergt zeven hypnotiserende tracks met een hoog laidbackgehalte ; goed gedoseerde ritmes worden opgesmukt met zinderende ambientklanken en warme bassen. Hoewel de nummers op het eerste gehoor vrij repetitief zijn, is er veel variatie. Deze verkrijgt Banabila door de nummers op verschillende niveaus te evolueren. Qua sfeer balanceert 'Spherics' tussen wereldmuziek en wereldambient, een samenspel van warme analoge klanken en digitaal geknutsel. Elk nummer wordt gekenmerkt door een warme gloed en het resultaat kan zich meten met het betere werk van Brian Eno.

Met 'VoizNoiz 2' begeeft Banabila zich dan weer meer richting wereldmuziek, maar dan wel met overvloedig gebruik van moderne electronica. De klankenbank die hij daarbij gebruikt lijkt onuitputtelijk. De muziek is speels en grappig en de talloze samples zorgen voor een enorme varieteit. De unieke muziek is nog het beste te vergelijken met de gekte die 'tekenfilmmuziek' vaak kenmerkt, misschien iets minder abrupt maar toch sterk verassend. VoizNoiz 2 is Banabila's eigen interpretatie van wereldmuziek en scoort qua orginaliteit erg hoog.

AC



EARPOLLUTION : VoizNoiz 2

Michel Banabila has an ear for sound and a pulse which runs through his fingers. Taking a nearly limitless number of samples, he finds a common pulse that they gravitate towards, and produces groovy - nearly trip-hop style - songs. There are no voices other than the stolen ghosts which become halting, tripping verse-chorus-verse arrangements under his skillful manipulation. "Voiz IX" is a wheezing street orchestra, a tiny marching band made up of two kids banging on trash cans, one over the hill tuba (worked over by a much younger player with a decent set of lungs), a couple of single-stringed guitars, a kid with an old radio sporting exposed wiring, and a drum major with a three-dollar megaphone. Banabila reworks all these elements (and the echoes which their street performance leave rattling down the long alleys) into something else, something a little less than a recognizable tune and more into a musique concrete abstraction. At the other end of the spectrum is the following track, "Speak," which hums along at 144 bpm, hammering and jabbering beneath a cut-up vocal track that speaks in starts and stutters. Like all good pastiches, you find comfort in the recognizable elements and thrill in their unexpected juxtaposition. Banabila's work on VoizNoiz II is a soundtrack to the urban chaos which is the overwhelming reality of city living.

Mark Teppo



ALL MUSIC GUIDE : VoizNoiz 2

The second volume in Banabila's series of Urban Soundscapes is much like the first, a kaleidoscopically funky collage of found sound, aural experimentation, trip-hop beats, and promiscuous sampling. As on his first effort, a willfully bizarre sonic design sense is constantly counterbalanced by a thoroughly populist approach to the groove ‹ there is nothing on this disc listeners won't be proud to dance to and nothing that won't catch them by surprise if they listen hard enough. A few examples: the creaking door, splashing water, and severely altered voices on "Voiz VIII" that rub sensuously up against metallic guitars and a thick, slow groove ; the lurching, Tom Waits-ish "One for the Road," with its turntable-scratching and locomotive sample; and the slow-building "Dinoh Dinoh," which starts off with layers of deeply tweaked voice samples and slides into an irresistible mid-tempo breakbeat with horn section and Hammond organ. The avant-garde is at its best when it's funky, and funk is at its best when it's avant-garde.

Rick Anderson.



Muziekkrant OOR : VoizNoiz 2

...lekker funky grooves, trippy beats en een Residents-achtige invulling van het 'zangmateriaal'. Banabila zoekt, zoals 't hem betaamt, de diepte op. Dat maakt deze plaat in aanvang wat abstract. Saneer hem na 1 luisterbeurt daarom niet direct weg. Hij kan je namelijk paars van opwinding laten zien.

Roger Teeling



ALOHA : Spherics

Ambient is omgevingsmuziek, waar je idealiter ook geboeid naar moet kunnen luisteren. Dat klinkt misschien makkelijker dan het is. Het gevaar van dwalingen is groot. Muzak, new age, en avant-garde liggen voortdurend op de loer, en ook de verlokkingen van relaxte danshoekjes als lounge en nu-jazz zijn menig ambientmaker te machtig. Gelukkig is er 'rots in de branding' Michel Banabila, Rotterdams eigen Brian Eno. Op Spherics verlaat hij de wereldroute van de laatste jaren en keert hij terug naar de basis, waar hij behendig tussen alle valkuilen door laveert tijdens een zevental deinende soundscapes die de luisteraar midden in het nachtelijk havengebied droppen. Golvende loops en klotsende beats creeren in eindeloze cadans een filmische spanning, verhoogd door een niet aflatende stroom van geritsel,geprutsel,gekraak en geknetter, geluiden die langzaam aan de overhand krijgen zonder in aantal toe te nemen. Totdat nog slechts de eigen ademhaling rest en zelfs je neusharen als antennes overeind staan.

Swie Tio



BARCODE ONLINE MAGAZINE : VoizNoiz 2

'VoizNoiz II' is Michel Banabila's second CD in his 'Urban Sound Scapes' series. His previous release was a wholly more ambient affair, taking samples from the streets and buildings of Rotterdam and integrating them into his own diverse musical soundscapes. This time around Banabila delivers a more trippy experimental sound, based on spliced, looped vocal samples. Throughout the mass of samples and hi-tech noise particles, we find some decent laid back ambient-electro, the upbeat 'Speak' is a fast paced, beat driven track, with ethereal undertones, whilst 'The Birth Of An Alien' provides some fascinating alienesque exotica. The jazzy, 'Dinoh Dinoh' changes the albums route dramatically, with it's sophisticated urban feel acting as a catalyst toward delivering the realisation that Banabila is really quite a talent. This highly experimental and creative cross breed of styles and soundscapes, all under the electronica umbrella, is a unique piece of work, with Banabila ensuring that the listener never quite knows what is about to come next. Occasionally it appears that Banabila is wholly improvising with his machines, therefore occasionally the album loses it's thread and becomes rather broken and fragmented. It also lacks melody at times, but overall, Banabila just about manages to pull it all together to create something with more than a little substance.



ELECTROAGE : VoizNoiz 2

Rotterdam-based Banabila returns with another audio journal of big-city excursions. VoizNoiz II doesn¹t differ all that much from it¹s predecessor, in that the music is a winding assembly of cut-up samples, breakbeats and downtempo avante-garde jazz rhythms, touched by hip-hop and myriad urban music styles. Banabila and his collective of musicians are incredibly adept at re-creating these musical forms, and at assembling the pieces into a fluid and groove-laden whole. Voiz VIII is particularly good, sounding a lot like Morphine with a low-key after-hours lounge feel. One For The Road is excellent for the staggering and blurred rhythms and samples, sounding something like The Residents trying to impersonate a jazz trio. Moving in somewhat different territory, To The Angels was written for a production of "Dante's Divina Commedia", and as such adopts a spacey choral atmosphere, though retains a chilled percussion and bass arrangement. One can envision Virgil leading Dante not through Hell, but the underside of the city. Likewise theatrical is Voiz IX, carrying a slightly vaudeville character with the bouncy sound effects and stumbling percussion. VoizNoiz II is, if anything, more focussed and compressed than the first installment, and affects greater discretion in what pieces are used, and which are not, resulting in a tighter album. With a world of music to explore, it¹s pretty certain that Banabila will continue to play tour-guide and provide more audio reports of city life.

Phosphor.



THE ELECTRONIC ART NETWORK : VoizNoiz 2.

Irgendwie hort man es immer schnell heraus, wenn jemand aus einer anderen generation elektronischer musiker stammt als die meisten der heute populairen producer, so auch bei "Banabila" und dessen neuem album "VoizNoiz 2". Seit 1983 veroffentlicht der mann schon platten, seine klangasthetische sozialisierung liegt daher wahrscheinlich auch eher in den 70'ern und 80'ern. Auffallig wird dies gar nicht mal am eigentlich modernen konzept der cd; namlich mit stimmen, gerauschen und trippelnden beats eine groovige soundcollage zu kreiren, sondern wohl eher an der auswahl der sounds. Hier finden manche synthie und drum-sounds verwendung die vielleicht nicht gerade tabu sind, in der heutigen elektronikszene zumindest aber nicht mehr zeitgemaß wirken. Musikalisch interessant, soundtechnisch etwas verstaubt, erinnern "Banabila's" tracks eher an musique concrete und ambient, denn an elektronika und trip hop, was auch gleich die mogliche fangemeinde dieser cd deutlich macht.

Slacker.



LOLLIPOP MAGAZINE , Issue #55 : VoizNoiz 1

One interesting thing about the ever-changing world of electronica is that the need for hooks and schtick is omnipresent. Case in point is Banabila, who's decided to take a page from Byrne/Eno - 'My Life In the Bush of Ghosts' album and use only "found" vocal samples from around Rotterdam and Yemen. He then tweaks and inserts them into a blend of trip-hop and ambient music. Very pretty, and very human. One of the best stoner albums to come along in years.

Lex Marburger



PLATOMANIA 155 : Spherics :

Michel Banabila is in eerdere recensies in de Platomania wel eens 'de Nederlandse Brian Eno' genoemd. Inmiddels zou die vergelijking Banabila wat tekort doen, gezien zijn veelzijdige projecten met Chi (ambientgroove) , Saka en East Meets West (sfeervolle ethno-ambient) , Byzantium (citygrooves) , naast zijn wat obscuurdere solo-projecten. Het project Spherics bied precies wat de naam doet vermoeden : muziek als een sfeervolle soundtrack. Het lijkt nog het meest op de muziek van Chi , maar dan meer hedendaags : de invloed van Pole is duidelijk herkenbaar !

PvC



POPUNIE SPEAKER : Spherics

Met dit nieuwe album betreedt de Rotterdamse geluidskunstenaar Banabila een pad waarop Duitse Krautrockers en illustere acts als Brian Eno, Cabaret Voltaire, Coil, Pete Namlook en Autechre hem voorgingen. Sommigen verdwaalden hier zelfs, maar dit terzijde. In vergelijking met zijn VoizNoiz albums heeft Banabila op Spherics de etnische invloeden laten vallen en zijn het vooral de melodieen en drumpatronen die opvallen. Subtiele beats bepalen het langzame tempo en hypnotiserende geluidslagen van gemanipuleerde stem, gitaar, viool en percussie worden op elkaar gestapeld. Wonderlijk is dat Banabila erin slaagt deze electronische grotestadsmuziek organisch te laten klinken en niet vervalt in de zoveelste, vaak nietszeggende, geluidsbrij. Als geen ander beheerst Banabila op dit album de kunst van het weglaten. De muziek wordt echter nergens leeg, kaal of anoniem maar bevat doorlopend een zekere spanning zonder langdradig of vermoeiend te worden. Deze constante strijd tussen spanning en luchtigheid onderscheidt dit album in positieve zin van vele anderen. Het resulteert in een album vol elektronische-muziek-van-nu, dat niets te maken heeft met gestresste 30ers en witte bankstellen of een Krautrock-revival, maar alles met klankrijkdom en verbeelding. De titel Spherics had niet beter gekozen kunnen worden en opnieuw heeft Banabila een klein meesterwerkje afgeleverd.

Tom vd Vat



DIGITAL ARTIFACT ORG : VoizNoiz 1

Tone Casualties is a company dedicated to "unconventional sound adventures and daring endeavors in new electronic music." VoizNoiz-Urban Sound Scapes supports this claim. Twenty wonderful tracks with a modern feel and surprisingly organic feel. The first half of the CD made me feel like I was in one of those old 50's beatnik surrealist movies that usually didn't have soundtracks. The flowing narrative, workings of Banabilla make for a great score to such silent surrealist flicks. It's also very danceable. Not to say you'd expect to find this in a dance club but dance in the performance arts meaning pairs nicely to the composition. The second half slowly started more and more like the present until it seemed to be a musical commentary on life in the urban setting. This release is quite refreshing not only because of its mature, precise stylings and fine production value but also because of its extremelyexpressive feel. A wonderful and most recommended listen . 

Kae



UTRECHTS NIEUWSBLAD : Spherics

Alleen al de beats uit het openingsnummer A strong sence of Urgency , maken dat Spherics , (Boudisque Recordings) in eerste instantie meer als een popplaat dan als een avantgarde-album klinkt. Rotterdammer Banabila, die op eerdere albums - zoals het ook in Engeland en Amerika succesvolle VoizNoiz, - graag met allerhande exotische samples strooide, pakt de zaken hier strakker aan dan in het verleden. Dat is in eerste instantie een beetje jammer, want daardoor klinkt Spherics , het eerste kwartier als een techno-danceplaat, terwijl pas daarna de aap uit de mouw komt middels steeds subtielere en breekbaarder wordende muziek waarin ieder tikje en flardje ruis een eigen plaats heeft. Het elf minuten durende slotstuk Primitive Lab , eindigt dan ook in het ultieme ambient-geluid: stilte. Een album dat je op het verkeerde been zet..

Peter Bruyn



CUSSTOMER REVIEWS : VoizNoiz 1

Urban psyco-topography by bootthesystm :

A daring yet extreemly eloquent blend of sounds that really does justice to the title 'urban sound scapes'. You don't hear music like this very often - combining innovative timberal applications with a smooth aesthetic unification. If you listen closely enough you might go stark-raving mad in the most beatiful possible way. I'd recommend this textural masterpeice to any open-minded music connoisseur.

Genius ! by a music fan from Rochester, NY USA :

This album is an absolute pleasure to listen to. VoizNoiz has got to be some of the most impressive downtempo I've ever had the pleasure to listen to. Taking samples from various voices recorded at random places, Banabila stretches, morphs and distorts them into wonderful samples and textures. Add some great bass lines and cymbals, and you've got the formula. I would not be surprised at all if Banabila ends up at Ninja Tune someday. If you like Clifford Gilberto, Cinematic Orchestra, Scruff or any other amazing Ninja Tuners, stop reading this and hit the 1-Click Purchase button!!



SINGLES ONLY : Cards on the table

Each of the three contributors (DJs, architects, poets, musicians - not necessarily exclusively) to the Cards On The Table EP brough along sound sources to their studio sessions - the results were cut and pasted on a hard disc, and now presented as a nicely-packaged CD. A word on the presentation, which is pleasingly related to the title - the inner jewel case is cut from a table cloth, with a playing card enclosed, while, as with Staalplaat's Material series, the artist details, barcode etc. are printed on the case itself. There's a handy icon showing a finger pressing a shuffle button too, so that and the instructions on the case point to the preferred method of listening. The results are pleasingly scattershot, as thuds of various sorts collide with avant scrape and digital glitchery; wafts of identifiable sound mix with the attenuated ooze of hard-disc twists, wheezing sound sources merge with what might be voices, and the overall effect is half-stimulating, half mushed-up wallpaper (or tablecloth) music. Chunky fragments of drum rhythms make for disjointed non-grooves, but not for long as the next switchback is as likely to result in some plundered noise or stuttering/gurgling environmental sounds overlaid with clicks and pops. Cards On The Table makes for a disorienting listen, proposing the sound of random acts of passing aetherial voices and music as a form of meta-Jazz perhaps.

Antron S. Meister



VITAL WEEKLY - 300 : Spherics

A new solo cd by Michel Banabila. Since his first solo album 'Marilli' from 1983 Banabila settled himself as a musician with a clear mission. In general all his projects and all the groups he participated in have everything to do with electronic ambient music with or without influences of world music, with or without a groove. 'Spherics' is no exception to this. The cd contains seven tracks with hypnotising rhytms and warm layers of ambient sounds and manipulated voices. Not many explicit influences of world music this time. Three other musicians are involved in this one : Piet Lichtveld (guitar), Jorien Muste (Violin) and Bobby (cymbal-drone). Most tracks are built up around a beat or repetitive structure that gives the music a sense of direction. There is so many electronic music around that moves from nowhere to nowhere and where it is impossible to find any sense of 'necessity' in it. Crackling and rustling sounds are always on the background as if you are listening to a bad vinyl pressing of the record. This (unintential?) debut to vinyl prevents the music from sounding very clean. Clean and unpersonal his music never is. On the contrary, his music sounds very organic. It is made with care. He has the capacity of painting with the colors of sound without using to many of them. Yes, I admit I have have always been a fan of his music. From this perspective I have to say that this cd did not contain completely unexpected moves. It's just another good album of mister Banabila

(DM).



Muziekkrant OOR : Spherics

Michel Banabila kennen we van zijn werkzaamheden met East Meets West en Bahia El Idrissi. Maar voordat hij met global beats aan de slag ging, produceerde hij enkele electronica-plaatjes, die je als ambient zou kunnen bestempelen. Dat genre pikt hij met Spherics weer op. Vakkundig maar smoelloos. Het openingsnummer had bijvoorbeeld zo op Re-entry van Techno Animal kunnen staan. En ook het overige materiaal valt elders onder te brengen: On Land van Brian Eno ; Will You Speak This Word van Dome, Patashnik van Biosphere ; Amber van Autechre. Probleem is dat het dan wel de zwakste tracks zouden zijn geweest. Want hoe veelbelovend Banabila iedere maal ook aanvangt, halverwege raakt de rek steevast uit de spanningsboog. Ten goede? Ten kwade ? Wie zal het zeggen. Bij ambient is zoiets altijd erg persoonlijk. Dus wie genoemde platen met veel plezier in huis heeft, moest Spherics maar eens gaan beluisteren.

Roger Teeling



SILICON SPIN : VoizNoiz 1

Pork 073 is 20 tracks of crosscultural Michel Banabila sample construction. Passing voices captured in Rotterdam and Yemen are snipped up and tossed around, tiled groovily together over live-percussion and even an oud-sample. A host of Dutch musicians assist Banabila in this project, singer Ali Idrissi among them. The result is a beautiful constellation of modal arabic lines and colorings, both vocal and instrumental, in Banabila's cosmopolitan city soundsetting. The tenor is suave throughout ã we¼re taking a mixed look at the contemporary Dutch and Arab worlds, after all ã but Banabila explores diverse beats and beat-abstractions with the same multilingual facility that pervades the voicenet textures throughout. And from this, a large number of hypnotic, jazzy aural sidestreets result. VoizNoiz is both carefully constructed and accessible. maybe this is what happens when the promise of postmodern collage holds up.

Trevor Baca



L'AME ELECTRIQUE : VoizNoiz 1

Un regard inquiet et interrogatif se pose sur vous à l'ouverture du boîtier cristal qui renferme cette perle. La première plage, faite de craquements et d'un rythme "brush hit" que l'on admettraient volontiers issus d'un disque jazz des années 50 (78 tours de préférences). Une voix vocodée et discrète vient se glisser sur cet univers qui sent bon le St Germain, nous signifiant bien à propos qu'il s'agit d'un album appartenant à notre nouveau siècle digital. VoizNoiz est bien cela, un disque qui regarde vers l'avant, mêlant avec audace, humour et précision, mille et unes sonorités issues des quatre coins du monde sans que ça ne ressemble jamais (et heureusement) à de la World-Music (atchoum!) ou à du Deep Forest ( re-atchoum ! ). C'est étrange, exotique mais aussi urbain et contemporain. Notons que Michel Banabila n'est pas seul aux commandes de ce très bon disque-projet. On peut même dire que ça fait du monde. 8 membres du collectif Néerlandais Voiznoiz (dont le Flying Dutchman dont nous reparlerons ici) l'accompagnent dans le rassemblement de samples ou pour ajouter basse, rythmeŠ qui font de cet album quelque chose de complexe, précieux et jouissif. Notons aussi le très bel Artwork de ce CD.

J.C.



PLASTICS : Spherics

Dutch Michel Banabila has been active in the music business since the early eighties, both solo as well as co-operating with Genetic Factor and Chi, a band whose lovely 'The original recordings' was re-released only months ago. He contributed to some of the finest works in ambient that The Netherlands has produced ever ! After some experiments with world-music, he returns with a new ambient-work, called 'Spherics'. The bio names it a virtual co-operation of Brian Eno and, for instance, Pole as in 'Clicks & Cuts'. Okay......fact is, that with Spherics , of which some tracks are being used as the soundtrack for an open-air theatre production called 'Dante, la divina commedia', Banabila has produced an album that all electronica-loving Dutchmen can be proud of !

(Per)



SOFT SECRETS : Spherics

Michel Banabila is een in Rotterdam woonachtige en al sinds begin jaren tachtig werkzame producer, die vooral in de ambient en wereldmuziek zijn geluid heeft laten gelden. Echt bekend is hij daar niet mee geworden, maar het oplettende luisteraartje koopt ongehoord de platen waarop zijn naam voorkomt. Banabila staat immers garant voor kwaliteit, en dat is met deze uitermate sferische plaat wederom het geval. Het uit sampler / edits, gitaar, viool en bekken-drones opgetrokken totaalgeluid glijdt zacht en bedwelmend het derde oor in, om subsonisch ergens een hersenkwabje zodanig te bewerken, dat elke notie van tijd of ruimte vervaagt in een warm bad / moeras van etherische klanken. Top-ambient die alle tijd neemt om door middel van de laagste en langzaamste regionen de hogere sferen te laten weerklinken. De bas in het 1e nummer waarschuwt al: dit gaat heeel diep ..

Arjan van Sorge



LE FANTASTIQUE : VoizNoiz 2

Second album solo de l'architecte sonore Michel Banabila en provenance du label Californien dont nous ne cessons de vanter les talents de découvreurs tant nous voguons, dans leur catalogue, de surprises en surprises (récemment, le dernier Flying Dutchman, Kuroï MoriŠ) Appelé tout simplement Voiz Noiz 2, Banabila annonce donc d'emblée la couleur et la voie qu'il compte suivre: celle de la continuité par rapport à un Voiz Noiz tout en inventivité sonore, l'idée essentielle résidant dans le sampling de voix enregistrées au hasard des rues, des gares et des bâtiments de Rotterdam (en Hollande) et de Sana'a (Yemen). Loin du travail bruitiste auquel on pouvait s'attendre avec une telle annonce et le nom même du concept, Michel Banabila propose des mélodies étranges mais terriblement envoûtantes faisant d'une voix d'enfant une note de jazz posée dans un univers drum'n bass. Tout simplement un excellent album d'ambient expérimentale sorti sur un excellent label.

J.C.


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