Michel Banabila biography (photo0
Michel Banabila biography - photo credit : Jacky van Dijk Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)
"Artificial voices, singing and speaking in an invented language.
'Little Star' seems like it can only be described as an Alien Lullaby."
“It's wonderfully reassuring to see mature artists not just continuing, but releasing music of quality and creativity that exceeds their previously excellent work. Bravo! for 'Float'. ”
“De abstractie en de menselijke expressie tillen elkaar naar een hoger niveau. Een geslaagde combinatie van evocatieve soundscapes en sterke improvisatie is vrij zeldzaam. De Rotterdamse geluidskunstenaar Banabila en Turks-Nederlandse rietblazer Erker komen op 'Route Planner' soms dicht in de buurt.”
"Już nie po raz pierwszy Michel udowadnia nam majstersztyk w tworzeniu pierwotnych pasaży łączących egzotykę / alchemię dźwięku z dalekich regionów naszego globu z przeszłością. "
"Michel Banabila ist ein Zeitenwanderer. Er braucht Musik, Musik braucht ihn."
Andreas Cevatli - GROOVE.DE
"Banabila crée ici quelque chose de véritablement étrange et onirique, immédiatement attrayant et profondément relaxant. Il ne cesse de nous surprendre, à la fois par la fréquence de ses parutions et par la diversité des champs musicaux qu'il propose."
"Lumière de l'obscur, beauté des chocs et des convergences, Michel Banabila conduit un fascinant orchestre subliminal."
Dionys Della Luce - INACTUELLES, MUSIQUES SINGULIÈRES
“Banabila cycles through formless electronic bliss, lengthy passages of radio-transmission static or dusty piano loops and upbeat electro-folk-song grooves”
Matt Korvette - YELLOW GREEN RED
"'Echo Transformations' proves again how Banabila is at his best creating his characteristic fourth world atmospheres infused by warped electro-acoustic manipulation."
Mariette Groot - UNDERBELLY SOUNDARTMEDIA
“There's a deeply meditative feel to much of the music here, making 'Travelog' one of the most cohesive yet hard to categorise headphone soundtracks I've heard for a while.”
“Banabila is a musician working across a range of genres. 'Music for viola and electronics II' with Oene van Geel is an expansive, stylistically omnivorous affair, while 'Error Log' with Machinefabriek is altogether more focused. The influence of acousmatic approaches to composition makes its presence felt on both albums.”
"Music like skits linked by language and the musicians’ joy in ethno-absurdity, wherein breakbeats swept up from the rubble of a bustling Babel sprout from the global glossolalia like freaky minarets"
Echoinggrove - RATE YOUR MUSIC
"The sounds he makes are spectacularly gorgeous and immaculately crafted"
Jamie - NORMAN RECORDS
'Travelog' by Banabila & Machinefabriek:
"a Glitchdroneworldbeat collaboration to die for"
"Michel Banabila blinkt uit in het compileren van geluidsdecors / stadsgeluiden, ondefinieerbare radiostatische kraakjes, gespreksflarden, gebubbel en geratel vormen de ingredienten voor een stijlvol, bijna filmisch klankuniversum."
Edo Dijksterhuis - NRC
“He assembles humorously upbeat, almost poppy structures that seem all the more accessible for the sampled blurts. Even his slower tunes are punctuated by smile-inducing processed vocals.”
EXCLAIM.CA
"One thing I like about Michel’s work is that it’s not afraid to be emotional at times… very warm. There’s impressive instrumentation and very good mixing"
Dr. Chris Dooks - IRREGULAR CRATES.
"Nuits Sans Nuit: les bruits de la nuit s’en retrouvent amplifiés et les échos du monde environnant résonnent jusqu’à nous."
Vincent Arquillière - POP NEWS
“Banabila has created a backing track for everyday life. It is moody and low and it hardly ever fails to satisfy.”
Michael J. Ryan - BOSTON HERALD
"His work bridges experimental and contemporary forms with a modern sound bordering on electronica but infused with a seriousness of intent and purpose less frequently heard in that style."
Phil Zampino - THE SQUID'S EAR
"The Pork folks discovered Banabila with 'Mono/Metro,' a holler-sampling-and-contorting fragment of genius that Moby would stomp Fairfield County, Connecticut into the subsoil for."
Paul Cooper - PITCHFORK
“He uses sounds to create 'words' of sound that speak in the language in which we hear. Creepy, loungy, jazzy, sexy, mysterious, fun, and artsy - learn a new language with Banabila, the language of sound”
“The man has a consistent, high-quality music catalogue, and if the name Banabila is new to you; well worth investigating”
“The humility of Michel Banabila & Oene van Geel is apparent, as composition, improvisation, and shaping duties shift from song to song, man to man: a fluid trade that yields far greater dividends.”
"On VoizNoiz tender beats, oddball samples, live instrumentation and vocal snippets weave together to make a warming abstract picture, one of those ones that looks good whichever way you hang it."
WAX MAGAZINE
" 'VoizNoiz’ is eigenzinnig, slim en groovy. Als een wandeling door een stad op de eerste mooie dag van de lente, als iedereen vrolijk en een beetje gek is."
msch - GONZO
"A wide orchestral palette and some absolutely top-notch production, with a beautiful sense of space and an ability to shift subtly between warm and cold atmospheres"
Stuart Bruce - CHAIN D.L.K
“He is a man of many genres, or perhaps more correctly, he is trans-genre, for there seems to be no particular base from which he prefers to work. He just composes. And collaborates eagerly, to the listener´s delight.”
Stephen Fruitman - SONOMU.NET
"Banabila's music is submerged in layers of psychedelic waveform wobble and stuttering a-rhythmic percussion. 'Zoosemiotics' is a particular zoner, and plays rubbery wind tones through mouthy electrical processes, letting an inebriated electronic rhythm and dank vibraphone hits create a Badalamenti-esque backdrop."
“It’s quite hard to find the right stage for his work, because it often simply “does not fit the format”. But – as he has always done – Banabila chooses to do what he feels that must be done. Not just simply what might be expected. No compromise!”
“Banabila merges aspects of sound design and collaged samples with Bastien's Don Cherry-esque improvisations into a true fusion of the ambient and glitchy.”
“Banabila creates something genuinely strange and dreamlike. But it's also immediately appealing and deeply chill. Frankly, an excessive abundance of unearthly wonders.”
"Pieces like 'Little Star' showcase an incredibly cinematic and homely essence. It's somewhere between ambient folk and a dazzling Balearic beach soundtrack, as slow textures wash over you like a tide."
Tom Babbington-Fowles - RECORD REPORT
“Banabila seems to have tuned a radio station to the global frequency of the Earth.”
“A melange of lush harmonics and soft but heavy broken beats, tropical synth work and warped electro-acoustic sounds that manage to feel hugely organic, ancient and tribal and synthetic and futuristic all at once.”
"Banabila da oltre trent’anni pubblica con regolarità lavori molto interessanti, eclettici e liberi da qualsiasi classificazione da solista o con l’aiuto di collaboratori."
Marco Calloni - BLOGFOOLK
"The music of Banabila is a microcosm of itself, a complex interplay between acoustic and electronic, found objects, field recordings, and unnamed unheard of textures."
Mike Lazarev - HEADPHONE COMMUTE
