Deux ans après un duo au côté de Philippe Foch, l’électronicien Simon Henocq revient cette fois-ci en solo. Solitaire certes, mais habité, il continue son exploration du son à partir d’un matériau brut fait d’une multitude de bruits blancs aux éclats industriels. On est en effet ici dans la matrice de l’électronique où rien n’est foncièrement aimable ni même sensuel, sorte de dérèglement primitif qui agace l’oreille autant qu’il la captive.

Avec un savoir-faire notable, Henocq en effet joue des superpositions de trames. Il les empile, les fait glisser ou se contorsionner les unes sur/sous les autres avec le souci de construire d’une autre manière un narratif dégagé des codes conventionnels. Ici, le débord est la règle, et de cette outrance naît une tension crue qui jaillit dans l’instabilité du moment où l’oreille cherche à trouver des repères qui s’effondrent irrémédiablement.

L’acceptation de cet univers âpre et en mouvement permanent est la condition première pour apprécier cette musique qui se livre. Nous plongeant dans un monde froid mais généreux dans ses excès, elle donne à entendre une proposition inouïe (dans le sens premier du terme, même s’il est vrai qu’on pense à la musique de Merzbow), en tous les cas personnelle et, par bien des côtés, captivante.

chronicles of womex 2025

As has long been the case, the Mundofonías team attended the annual meeting of WOMEX, one of the largest events related to root musics on the planet that is held each year in a different city. In 2025 it took place in Tampere, Finland, and from there we bring impressions of some memorable concerts which we recall and which make us travel through Mali, Tanzania, Madagascar, Serbia, Taiwan and Mauritania among other destinations. We also share the conversations we had with Maxime Bobo, co-promoter of the Franco-Malagasy project Bobo & Behaja, and with the Taiwanese musicians of 3Peoplemusic. We listen to the winner of the Artist Award, the Mauritanian Noura Mint Seymali, and we also comment on the refusal of the Professional Excellence Award by the creators of the Syrian Cassettes Archives, listening to some of the music recovered and compiled in this initiative.

– Kankou Kouyate – Nganou balla – N’Darila
– The Zawose – Kusekala kwanyungu (live) – [sin álbum especificado]
– Bobo & Behaja – Karioke menamaso – Aia haja?
– Gordan – Šara – Gordan
– 3Peoplemusic – LaSoRe – Him, her, it, and three
– Noura Mint Seymali – Tassirit – Yenbett
– Syrian Cassette Archives – Side B [frag.] – SCA mixtape vol.1

Voces invitadas:
Guest voices:

– Maxime Bobo (Bobo & Behaja)
– 3Peoplemusic

di Peppe Trotta

Un ulteriore grado di libertà, di ‘accidente’ voluto, entra a fare parte dell’immaginario sonico di Tatiana Paris per dare forma al suo secondo lavoro solista. Thalle riparte dalle intuizioni dell’esordio del 2022 – sempre per Carton Records – espandendole nel lessico e nella sovrastruttura concettuale, sconfinando in un susseguirsi cangiante di singole entità risonanti incastrate in un flusso privo di soluzioni di continuità.

La sperimentazione pura sulle potenzialità delle corde della chitarra sottoposte all’azione di tecniche estese rimane presente senza più essere centro delle composizioni. Il contributo degli agenti esterni – nastri, echi ambientali, inserti elettronici – si fa più corposo, ma è soprattutto la presenza dell’organo a caratterizzare l’insieme. I suoi suoni sostenuti permeano ciascun paesaggio, pensato e sviluppato come compresenza di elementi eterogenei da organizzare per funzionare.

Al ribollire tattile dell’elettroacustica inaugurale corrisponde la diluizione drone ambient della prima sezione della title track, così come allo stridore avant della frastagliata Pagaille fa eco la forma canzone elegante di Canine. Ogni tassello, isolato, risuona a se stante, scollegato dal tutto per forma e atmosfera. Eppure l’autrice sa ricavarne una trama coerente in cui leggerezza melodica (Avril), rigore esecutivo (Thalle), decostruzione (Grand duc) e sperimentazione (Salluit) convivono generando un caleidoscopio abbagliante.

August 1985 - August 2025: La Nuit des Sauriens has now been running for over 40 years!

Every Wednesday from 9:30 p.m. 

Hundreds of programs offering an eclectic selection of ambient, industrial, noise, improvised, unusual, electroacoustic, and independent music...

Con ''Thalle'', uscito per Carton records, Tatiana Paris firma un’opera che sfugge alle classificazioni semplici.

Il titolo, che richiama il “tallo” – organismo privo di radici e foglie, come licheni e alghe – è già una dichiarazione poetica: una musica che cresce senza appoggiarsi a strutture convenzionali, ma che si sviluppa in modo organico e coerente.

L’album si apre con ''Intro'', un invito sommesso che prepara il terreno a un viaggio sonoro fatto di contrasti e delicatezze. Le due tracce omonime, ''t h a l l e l'' e ''t h a l l e ll'', sono lunghe distese di drone agli organi, suonate da Rachel Langlais, che instaurano un tempo dilatato, quasi liturgico.

Tra queste isole sonore si insinuano miniature intime: ''Pagaille'' tintinna e si frantuma, ''Canine'' brilla di purezza cristallina, mentre ''Grand Duc'' si muove come un metronomo scomposto, sospeso tra chitarra preparata e timbri ibridi.

Tatiana Paris lavora con un arsenale eterogeneo – chitarra preparata, voce, piezo, radio, synth modulare, oggetti – ma il risultato non è mai gratuito. Ogni suono sembra cercare la sua collocazione in un ecosistema fragile, dove il caos trova ordine attraverso micro-correlazioni.

È insomma, la sua, una musica che non punta all’originalità forzata, ma alla sincerità: un minimalismo caldo, epidermico, che trasmette prossimità e ascolto profondo.

Se il precedente ''Gibbon'' (2022) mostrava già la sua inclinazione sperimentale, ''Thalle'' la conferma e la amplifica: un disco esigente, ma capace di regalare momenti di pura contemplazione.

Non è solo un album, è un organismo vivo, che respira lentamente e invita a rallentare il proprio ritmo per percepire altre temporalità.

In sintesi: ''Thalle'' è un’opera che intreccia drone, improvvisazione e poesia sonora in un continuum meditativo. Un disco che non cerca di piacere a tutti, ma che conquista chi è disposto a lasciarsi avvolgere dalla sua discreta radicalità. (Andrea Rossi)

by Patrick Bruneel

Het woord Thalle (Frans) kan in het Nederlands (en Engels) worden vertaald als Thallus, en dat betekent dan zoiets als een aanduiding voor de bouw van organismen die er plantaardig uitzien, maar niet én wortels en stengels en bladeren bezitten. Algen, schimmels en korstmossen zijn onder meer lid van deze familie. Voor Tatiana Paris gaat thalle over willekeur en samenhang (correlatie) of hoe komen dingen die niet synchroon met elkaar zijn toch tot een harmonieus geheel. Het zijn vormen die zich discreet ontwikkelen en toch een grote invloed hebben, op de zee (algen) of op het oppervlak van een boom.

Tatiana Paris houdt ervan om het chaotische, het ongeordende, te organiseren, te synchroniseren, tot het zin krijgt en dat doet ze niet alleen door waarnemingen in de natuur maar ook met haar muziek.

In 2022 debuteerde ze met het album Gibbon en na een hele rist concerten besloot ze om Thalle maken. Geprepareerde gitaar, stem modulaire synthesizers, cassetterecorder, radio’s, objecten en op het in tweeën gedeelde titelnummer ook orgel, dat wordt bespeeld door Rachel Langlais.

Net als de willekeur van de thalle, waarover Paris het heeft, en de onvoorspelbaarheid van het uiteindelijke resultaat, is het album – negen stukken staan erop – geworden.

Drones, stukken met poëtische teksten (van de hand van Pierrick Pagé, Joséphine Bacon en Marie Andrée Gill), gitaargefriemel dat zo op een plaat van Fred Frith zou kunnen staan, jazzy melancholisch aandoende fragmenten, het is een beetje van alles wat en toch klinkt het als een samenhangend geheel.

Het album is dan wel nogal experimenteel, toch straalt het een bepaalde warmte uit, een soort liefde voor het kleine, het verrassende, het moeilijk te vatten bestaan van nietige zaken die toch een grote impact kunnen hebben. De Française weet ons daardoor prima te boeien, ook omdat ze veel facetten van haar inzichten tegelijk aan bod laat komen. De muziek is al even ongrijpbaar als het onderwerp en dat is best wel fijn.

Tatiana Paris, som er vokst opp i en nomadisk barndom, og er gitarist og bassist. Hun komponerer, improviserer og fremfører musikk som «taler til hjertet, rytmen og spekteret med intensitet og appetitt», som det står om henne på internettet. Hennes senere karriere, som har vært fylt opp av «institusjonelle erfaringer», har sett henne møte og eksperimentere med et bredt spekter av estetikk: improvisert musikk, argentinsk tango, pop, jazz, afrikansk musikk med mere. Denne rikdommen har gitt opphavet til hennes rå, poetiske stil, slik man hører på debutalbumet Gibon, hvor hun opptrer solo med preparerte gitarer, objekter og kassetter, og som ble utgitt på Carton Records i desember 2022.

Hennes nylige samarbeid har inkludert band og prosjekter som blant annet The Bridge, Seb Martel, Christine Salem, Eve Risser’s Red Desert Orchestra, Thomas de Pourquery, Théo Ceccaldi, Simone, Sandra Nkaké og mange flere.

På sin nye utgivelse, thalle, samarbeider hun med organisten Rachel Langlais på to låter, mens hun selv trakterer gitar, vokal, radioer, kassettspillere, modular synthesizere og objekter, og vi får ni «strekk», hvor hun, i presseskrivet, sammenliignes med blant andre gitaristen Fred Frith.

Det er relativt eksperimentell musikk vii får møte på platen, hvor åpningen «intro», nesten kan spores til noe trompeteren Arve Henriksen kunne vært involvert i. For det kan nesten høres ut som det er en trompet som åpner i et lyrisk landskap, før vi får «t h a l l e I» hvor orgelet kommer inn og styrer med lange toner. Og herfra og ut er det behagelig, drone-lignende affære vi får være med på.

Hele vegen vokser musikken på en fin måte. Hun kommer inn med litt «manipulert» vokal, som sammen med de andre instrumentene skaper en spennende reise i et musikalsk landskap som (nesten) kan sammenlignes med noe Jon Hassell, eller flere av hans «arvtagere» kunne ha gjort.

Det er spennende musikk hun bringer til torgs. Det er eksperimentelt, interessant og jeg har en formening om at hun har brukt god tid i studio for å sette sammen disse solostykkene. Tekstene er hentet fra forfattere som Pierrick Pagé, Joséphine Bacon og Marie Andrée Gill, og i de sekvensene hvor vokalen står i forgrunnen, minner hun om noe av det vi fikk av musikk på slutten av 1980 og begynnelsen på 1990-tallet på det belgiske selskapet Les Disques du Crépuscule.

En variert, spennende og interessant utgivelse fra ei dame som har mye nytt å melde på sin andre soloutgivelse.

Jan Granlie

Tatiana Paris Shares her Creative Process

The French multi hyphenate wanted music that “could be listened to while cooking with children in the same room.” Her idea of this goal may differ from yours, though: “Thalle” is a journey into nocturnal psychedelia, using poetry as a form of non-violent resistance.

Name: Tatiana Paris
Nationality: French
Occupation: Composer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, sound artist
Current release: Tatiana Paris's new album t h a l l e is out via carton.
Recommendations for France: I'm lucky enough to live near the Loire River, just a few minutes' walk away. And right in my garden, a ten-meter-high tufa hillside drops away. The region is full of troglodyte dwellings and vineyards. I feel like I'm finally putting down roots in this space of rock and terroir, me, the nomadic child. And the fact that this rock is made up of the remains of coccolithophores (literally shells) drives me crazy, brings me back to my unbearable lightness. The whole thing is sublime.
Topic I am passionate about but rarely get to talk about: Actually, I'm completely obsessed with geology, watersheds, and the water cycle. I love maps, exploring space, and understanding the different representations of the Earth's layers and how water shapes the landscape.

read more here.

Belgian composer Ben Bertrand uses the bass clarinet and a plethora of machines to create hypnotic pools of sound that dilate time and space. His last two albums ‘Ngc 1999’ and ‘Manes’ were released on Les Albums Claus and Stroom, and Bertrand just released a new LP, ‘Dokkaebi’, on Les Albums Claus in October 2021. The music reflects the versatility and character of the clarinet, an instrument that can refract a spectrum of colors in just a single note. Bertrand funnels the sound through his selection of effects to create unusual soundscapes that dance in and out of our perception, sounding both electronic and acoustic at once.

Bertrand will be a part of our MADEIRADiG Festival, where the paradise-on-earth Portuguese island transforms into a hotbed of digital art and culture for a week in December (02.12 – 07.21).

FACTS

1. In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid.

2. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the reception of such waves and their perception by the brain.

3. Music is the art of arranging sounds in time through the elements of melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre. It is one of the universal cultural aspects of all human societies.

QUESTIONS

1. What is the biggest inspiration for your music?
Trying to show that our passage on earth is more that our daily matters.

2. How and when did you get into making music?
My parents listened a lot of music at home and I began to make music during my childhood.

3. What are 5 of your favourite albums of all time?
Gavin Bryars – The Sinking of the Titanic
John Surman – Upon Reflection
Terry Riley – A Rainbow in Curved Air
Jon Hassel – Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics
Pan American – Quiet City

4. What do you associate with Berlin?
The hooded crows and the reverb of the radar dome of the former Teufelsberg listening station.

5. What’s your favourite place in your town?
Les ateliers claus, a concert place in Brussels.

6. If there was no music in the world, what would you do instead?
Fortunately, the music exists.

7. What was the last record/music you bought?
Ana Roxanne – Because of a Flower

8. Who would you most like to collaborate with?
Terry Riley, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Midori Takada.

9. What was your best gig (as performer or spectator)?
A Jan Garbarek concert that I saw when I was 10 years old.

10. How important is technology to your creative process?
As I mainly use a bass clarinet and electronics to compose music, technology is as important to me as a tool is important to a worker.

11. Do you have siblings and how do they feel about your career/art?
I have a brother. He is a real music lover. He makes me discover a lot of music and he supports me.

full article here

🎶🇲🇬 Bobo & Behaja est un groupe franco-malgache né de la rencontre entre le saxophoniste Maxime Bobo et le guitariste Behaja, figure du tsapiky de Madagascar. Leur musique fusionne les rythmes festifs et hypnotiques des «bals-poussière» malgaches avec le souffle du jazz et des sonorités rock contemporaines. Ensemble, ils créent une expérience à la fois enracinée dans la tradition et résolument moderne, portée par une énergie de transe et d’improvisation.

watch the video here

In a candid conversation, British experimental artist Aja Ireland reveals the behind-the-scenes story of her album Cryptid. Released at the end of January 2025, the album is a deeply personal project born out of her struggles with grief, burnout, and the pressures of independent artistry. Ireland draws on sonic extremes—noise, experimental bass—to capture the emotional tension between numbness and catharsis. A key inspiration was Joey Holder’s Cryptid exhibition, whose themes of mutation and adaptation translated into a musical exploration of form.

The artist highlights the importance of interdisciplinarity: her collaborations with designer LU LA LOOP and poet Leomi Sadler resulted in a fusion of fashion, performance, and hyperpop production. The conversation also touches on her social engagement—creating a sanctuary for the queer community and advocating for women’s and LGBTQIA+ rights. Cryptid is not just an album but a manifesto of vulnerability, hinting at future projects: a tour and an EP that continue her raw, transgressive artistic language.

Artur Mieczkowski: First of all, congratulations on your wonderful album, Cryptid, released at the end of January 2025. I’m truly impressed by it. What were the main inspirations behind this project?

Aja Ireland: At its core, Cryptid is an album about survival—both in a personal and creative sense. It came together during a time when I was processing grief, burnout, and the relentless grind of being an independent artist. I wasn’t making music with the intention of sharing it; I was making the sounds I wanted to hear, the ones that would pull me out of a deep fog. That gave me the freedom to push further into noise, distortion, and textured bass, letting the rawness of those elements reflect the intensity of what I was experiencing.

A huge turning point for the album was Joey Holder’s Cryptid exhibition. Her work explores ideas of mutation, resilience, and the unknown—things I was feeling deeply at the time. The themes in her art made me think about how we adapt to our environments, how we shapeshift to survive. That translated directly into the music, where I was experimenting with form, genre, and sound design in a way that felt instinctive rather than calculated.

I’ve always been drawn to the extremes of sound—noise, experimental bass, and future trap—and artists like Arca, SOPHIE, and Ice Spice are major influences. When I’m producing, I tend to latch onto certain tracks as “anchors” that I return to, almost like a sonic reference point, but my actual process is completely subconscious. I enter a kind of flow state where I forget to eat, I don’t need much sleep, and I feel like I’m living inside the tracks. Then, when I step away, I can’t always recall exactly how I made them. It’s like the music is pulling itself together through me rather than me consciously controlling it.

Ultimately, Cryptid is an album that sits in the space between emotional detachment and deep, raw feeling. It captures the numbness of burnout but also the moments of joy that remind you why you keep going. It’s about survival, but also about connection and transformation—about letting yourself change, and evolve into something new.

read more here

Dazu passen bestens die elektroakustischen Schichten, durch die sich die Französin TATIANA PARIS auf "t h a l l e"(Carton) gräbt, denn auch hier spielen die Möglichkeiten der (bearbeiteten) menschlichen Stimme im Verhältnis zu elektronisch oder mit einer präparierten Gitarre erzeugten Klängen die Hauptrolle. Minimalistisch, bei "t h a l l e I" meditativ drone-nd, manchmal auch lärmend, immer aber hoch konzentriert.

C’est après un premier album solo, paru sur Carton Records en décembre 2022 et suivi de plus de 40 concerts, que Tatiana Paris l’expérimentatrice, plurielle (résumer son parcours exigerait un second article), offre, le mot est choisi, ce thalle dont le nom évoque un végétal sans racines, ni feuilles : des lichens, des algues. L’ enfance nomade de Tatiana influence de manière sûre le rendu, minimal, bruitiste comme intime, prenant dès ce intro aquatique, exotique ou pas loin, fragilement cuivré et donc les voix flottent. Superbe. t h a l l e l, ensuite, développe un drone de clarté diaphane. Serein, proche de l’immuable. hibbon, éthéré, étend une chape grisée aux excès tout en bruits inédits. Le climat, la variabilité de l’effort le subliment. pagaille, où l’inventivité sonore se met à nouveau en exergue, tintinnabule et se craquèle. canine, à la pureté d’eau de roche, cristallin, greffe voix douce et jeu subtil.

avril, en ce mois de novembre, sème un ombrage automnal. Et là aussi, une fois de plus, immersif si l’on s’y penche. Les ruptures, à peine décelables, donnent du relief. t h a l l e ll, obscur, s’étire sans mue réelle. De ce fait l’atmosphère s’implante, capturant l’auditoire. grand duc, de ses belles sonorités un tantinet fissurées, libres et voyageuses, maintient celui-ci dans une écoute quasiment méditative, livré à l’errance porteuse de ce t h a l l e. salluit, ultime phase aux tons narratifs saisissants, émaillée de notes en fatras grinçant, venant clore un disque exigeant et passionnant.

Issu du numéro de novembre 2025. Par Guillaume Malvoisin.

Tatiana Paris sort un très beau disque de sérénité contrariée, intitulé t h a l l e.
L’ouverture et la déraison jalonnent le successeur de Gibbon, paru en 2022, déjà sur le label lyonnais Carton Records.
Il s’agit, une fois encore, de forer le silence. [...]
Des airs de fête bancale de Pagaille à la syncope faussement inquiète de Canine, de l'orgue-guitare métronome, métisse et délayé de Grand Duc aux textes impeccables et sibyllins, tout se répond à la discrétion. [...]
Souvent sans paroles, jamais sans récit.

L’artista francese, dopo il debutto dal titolo Gibbon del 2022, sempre su carton records, torna con un lavoro delicato e minimale, in cui la chitarra effettata, l’organo, gli innesti sintetici spesso in odore di ambient & gli inserimenti vocali suggestivi e discreti, disegnano paesaggi interiori pieni di sfumature, come cieli crepuscolari densi di nuvole. Le influenze dichiarate sono Fred Frith, Ellen Arkbro e Jules Reidy, dunque folk, avant-prog, ma anche drone-music. In apertura sembra di sentire echi à la Brian Eno, dopo un po’ fa capolino anche Cage: thalle è un disco ambizioso e suadente ALLA RICERCA DELL’INSIEME ARMONICO.

Questo potrebbe essere il disco più "difficile" di questa rassegna; di sicuro è quello più coraggioso e meno allineato, e in verità un ascolto obbligato per chiunque ami sonorità originali e di ricerca. Il terzetto romano dei She’s Analog, che debuttarono nel 2020, spinge la propria ricerca su territori che superano nettamente i confini di una formazione con chitarra, tastiere e batteria; qui si usano field recordings, elettronica glitch e altre sonorità inusuali.

L’esito è un amalgama di post rock, ambient jazz e dubstep futurista che fa pensare a un incrocio impossibile tra Necks, Burial e Global Communication, e che si esprime al meglio su pezzi dilatati a oltranza come “blu”, 18 minuti a occupare un’intera faccia del vinile, come accadeva nei dischi di prog anni Settanta; ma qui non c’è traccia di ridondanze o virtuosismi fini a se stessi, solo musica totalmente libera e fuori da ogni categoria.