Review Summary: It refuses to provide a medicine, within it, to put the listener at ease after the catastrophic pain.
Iannis Xenakis, for those of you that do not know of this man, is one of the lead figures of electronic music in the sectors of experimental music and the creation of such diverse sounds. Having collaborated with other lead experimenters such as Varese with the construction of the Poème Electronique in Belgium in 1956, he has made a huge influence on the poetic and artistic methods of creating, what he would call – music, and what I would call, reflecting on this album – a huge mess. “Musique Electro-Acoustique” is based around, taking the listener through various sounds in “Pour La Paix” in 1981, and an “adventure” of electronic muses from the year 1989, in “Voyage absolu des Unari vers Andromede”.
Born in 1922, there was really no excuse for making such a distasteful piece like “Pour La Paix”. At the electronic era of 1981, we had more exciting and vicious experimental and electronic music even before then by himself and others, such as Wendy Carlos’ “Sonic Seasonings” (1972). Xenakis takes the listener through various sounds that are effortless, pointless and simple – too simple. These sounds are not structured, unlike most experimental artists whose sounds can get on the annoying side but overall, very aesthetically pleasing, such as Autechre’s “Untilted” and Alva Noto’s “Transspray”. “Pour La Paix” offers intriguing noises that ring through the ears that abruptly hinder by the speeches of a man and a woman. The twenty-six minute track also offers a top notch, monotonous headache!
“Voyage absolu des Unari vers Andromede“ is a fifteen minute composition from the year 1989 that is more redeeming than the previous piece with its comprehensive structure of lazer-like sounds. The addition of a tenor screw-drive zapping in the background is thoroughly accompanied well by the soft white noise that bursts out like an electronic explosion subtly. But there’s no only one problem – that is all! If you compare Xenakis’ 1950’s productions and you compare them to this, you will see no difference. Xenakis has been locked up in time and even after forty years, his music hasn’t developed or excelled.
“Musique Electro-Acoustique” doesn’t achieve half marks for the beauty of music, as it refuses to provide a medicine, within it, to put the listener at ease after the catastrophic pain.
