Not only are Crammed Discs intent on a reissue series for their Made To Measure imprint, but there are still artists recording and releasing material in the series which they feel fits the criteria of artistic adventure.
Although releases have been few and far between this millennium with the likes of Tuxedomoon (and various offshoots) plus Jozef van Wissem, Crammed are still searching for and securing interested parties. Latest on that list are Chilean sound artists Nova Materia, and their inspiration for this forty-minute piece was a walking holiday through the Mexican jungle heading for the ancient ruins of Xpujil; sounds captured on this jaunt form the basis of the album of the same name.
Animal and possibly human voices combine with bells, the deep resonance of which summon a kind of awakening around the listener. The whistle and flutter of unseen things move around you as the tones stretch and deepen, voices becoming frail and weakening as you enter the heart of the experience. The bells welcome but also warn and you can feel the tension; a feeling of the forest enveloping you and the entrance gradually falling further from sight behind the ever-present fronds. The constancy of the sounds feels as though you are moving in circles, losing yourself in what seemed familiar, but is now well out of context. Things become quieter but more insinuating and hypnotic. By now, the temple truly has you in its power and as you pass through the portal, you find yourself somewhere else, somewhere lighter, everything more vivid, sounds stretch around you and the resonance of the bells grows ever deeper as they merge with your thoughts. Extricating yourself from this will be difficult; but perhaps you don’t really want to. Why not stay here and revel in its comforting strangeness?-Mr Olivetti-
