#elena setién

[dustedmagazine]

Elena Setién — Moonlit Reveries (Thrill Jockey)

Photo by Pablo Axpe

Elena Setién’s soft, eerie songs blend folk and jazz, pop and torch music in shivering nocturnal trance-states that haunt the space they live in. She has not, up to now, been much concerned with rhythm or propulsion — hers are not generally songs that make you want to move — but that all changed when she decided to collaborate with Wilco percussionist Glenn Kotche.

The two met when Kotche toured Spain with Wilco in 2022 and soon began conspiring to splice Kotche’s beats to Setién’s witchy melodies. Kotche’s A Beat a Week drum instruction manual served as a jumping off point. Setién constructed “Surfacing” and “Arrival” atop percussive patterns from the book. The process turned collaborative with Setién sending her ideas off to Kotche, him altering or embellishing them and sending them back. The idea of beats filtered into the other instrumentation as well. Setién’s guitar playing, while quiet, has a sharp rhythmic edge. One track, “Pintado II” grew out of Kotche’s On Fillmore project; it emerges as an intricate mesh of tonal percussion and Setién’s narcotic voice.

These are two very different artists who converge without compromising. The music exists in a neutral area that is distinct from either player’s comfort zone. “Asking” for instance, lets fly a rambunctious spray of percussion, a bit that rattles and clatters and intermittently explodes, rampaging all over the kit in a repeating pattern. It runs under the whole song, an ongoing undercurrent of punch and aggression that transforms Setién’s fluid melody, giving it urgency and fire. A cacophony of mallet play — xylophone, vibraphone, marimba, something like that — cascades in like splinters of multi-colored glass. The tune is sharper, more insistent than it might otherwise have been.

The title track is subtler in the way it employs rhythm, framing a baroque folk fairy tale narrative in ghostly motifs of harpsicord, guitar and glockenspiel. “When all our queens/Left wandering/They walked through fields/Through valleys deep,” croons Setién, in a fay, wondering way, amid glittering sonic architectures. Yet even the tracks where Kotche didn’t participate, especially “Coloured Lizards” have a syncopated swagger, a stop start guitar pattern anchoring Setién’s folk romantic delivery. She sounds a little like Josephine Foster on this one.

The idea of collaboration is to take you out of your own head, to prompt new ideas and approaches, and Moonlight Reveries clearly accomplishes that. This album won’t shock or alienate longtime fans of Setién—it’s not that far from what she was doing in Unfamiliar Minds—but it does extend the idea of what this songwriter is capable of. Bravo for that and for the risk worth taking.

Jennifer Kelly

[snackpointcharlie]

Bask in the warm incandescent glow of Snackpoint Charlie and our patented blend of musics from elsewhere and beyond, every first and third Wednesday from 10pm to midnight Eastern Time on WGXC, 90.7 FM in New York’s grand and glorious Catskill mountains. Now equally as reliable as the US post (if not more), the portable podcast version is downloadable at the link below

Snackpoint Charlie - Transmission 132 - 2024.02.07 https://wavefarm.org/wf/archive/5haxfd [ ^ click for download ^ ]

PLAYLIST

1) Lata Mangeshkar & Mukesh – “Kabhi Kabhi Mere Dil Mein Khayal Aata Hai” from KABHI KABHIE https://www.discogs.com/release/4932264-Khaiyyaam-Sahir-Kabhi-Kabhie

2) Neval - “Yara” https://www.microscopi.cat/neval

3) Elena Setién - “Surfacing” from MOONLIT REVERIES https://thrilljockey.com/artists/elena-setien

(underbed throughout:) Pinchas Gurevich - “Boinklander”

4) Abdoulaye & Ahmoudou - “Tchihoussey” from AKALINE https://purplishrecords.bandcamp.com/album/batch-1-family-pr-001-pr-002

5) Motyaba and Nada - “No Black No White” https://www.discogs.com/release/5746632-Motyaba-And-Nada-No-Black-No-White

6) El Rass & Munma - “Tkhayal / Conceive” from KACHF EL MAHJOUB / UNVEILING THE HIDDEN [10TH ANNIVERSARY REISSUE] https://rupturedthelabel.bandcamp.com/album/kachf-el-mahjoub-unveiling-the-hidden-10th-anniversary-reissue

7) Zaiko Langa Langa - “Femme Ne Pleure Pas” from CONGO FUNK! - SOUND MADNESS FROM THE SHORES OF THE MIGHTY CONGO RIVER (KINSHASA/BRAZZAVILLE 1969-1982) https://analogafrica.bandcamp.com/album/congo-funk-sound-madness-from-the-shores-of-the-mighty-congo-river-kinshasa-brazzaville-1969-1982-analog-africa-no-38

8) Koltun - “Nign #2” from SOL https://purplishrecords.bandcamp.com/album/batch-1-family-pr-001-pr-002

9) Cheikha Rimitti - “Hak Hak” from NOUAR https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUptG5e3ucs https://www.discogs.com/release/2435093-Cheikha-Rimitti-Nouar

10) Lata J. Ramasar, Kissoon Ramasar Jr. - “Hiway Xpress” from THE GREATEST NAME THAT LIVES / HIWAY XPRESS https://www.discogs.com/release/4908530-Lata-Ramasar-The-Greatest-Name-That-Lives

11) The Tigers / ザ・タイガース - “Red Jacket / 真赤なジャケット” https://www.discogs.com/release/7767180-%E3%82%B6%E3%82%BF%E3%82%A4%E3%82%AC%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B9-The-Tigers-%E3%83%A2%E3%83%8A%E3%83%AA%E3%82%B6%E3%81%AE%E5%BE%AE%E7%AC%91-Mona-Lizas-Smile

12) Sublime Frequencies - “Oddities in Humidity” from RADIO THAILAND: TRANSMISSIONS FROM THE TROPICAL KINGDOM https://sublime-frequencies.bandcamp.com/album/radio-thailand-transmissions-from-the-tropical-kingdom

13) Həsənağa Sadiqov - “(title unknown)” from RADIO IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY 17 - AZERI ELECTRIC GUITAR https://www.radioisaforeigncountry.org

14) Hans Reichel - “Could Be Nice Too” from EUROPEAN PRIMITIVE GUITAR (1974-1987) https://n-t-s.bandcamp.com/album/european-primitive-guitar-1974-1987

15) Allen Ravenstine - “Wreck of the Sandoz” from MODULISME SESSION 100 https://modular-station.com/modulisme/session/100/ https://modulisme.bandcamp.com/album/modulisme-session-100

16) The Residents - “Rest Aria (featuring Sarah Cahill)” from THE RESIDENTS SECRET SHOW - LIVE IN SAN FRANCISCO https://www.residents.com/

17) Penny Carson Nichols with Sue Boettger - “Alameda Baby” from TRINIDAD SEED http://www.elkbugles.com/2021/01/only-on-cassette-penny-carson-nichols.html https://yogarecords.bandcamp.com/album/trinidad-seed

18) R.M.Ng. Rana Suripta & Langen Praja - “Dhenggung Turulare (excerpt)” from WORLD MUSIC LIBRARY: MUSIC OF MANGKUNÊGARAN SOLO I https://www.discogs.com/release/2429188-Langen-Praja-Music-Of-Mangkun%C3%AAgaran-Solo-1

[nofatclips-home]

She Was So Fair by Elena Setién from the album Another Kind of Revolution - Direction: Ignacio Bilbao

[bradaplay-blog]

Vol.1 | #1 - Gig Club

A playlist to revisit what Gig Club has already brought us and to visit what has yet to bring until the final of the year. 

Be sure to subscribe to the Playlist.

Kamasi Washington - «Street Fighter Mas»  Kamasi Washington - «Desire» Jessy Lanza - «VV Violence» Jessy Lanza - «Strange Emotion» Low Roar - «I'll Keep Coming» Low Roar - «Waiting (10 Years)» Toro y Moi - «So Many Details» Toro y Moi - «Ordinary Pleasure» Bill Ryder-Jones - «Don't Be Scared, I Love You» Bill Ryder-Jones - «You Can't Hide a Light in the Dark» Molly Burch - «Without You» Molly Burch - «To the Boys» Hania Rani - «Eden» Hania Rani - «Hawaii Oslo» Elena Setién - «The Wheel That Drives You» Elena Setién - «Another Kind of Revolution» The Comet Is Coming - «Blood of the Past (ft. Kate Tempest)» The Comet Is Coming - «Summon the Fire» Efterklang - «Modern Drift» Efterklang - «Vi er uendelig» Robert Forster - «Inferno (Brisbane in Summer)» Robert Forster - «Demon Days» 

[maquina-semiotica]

Elena Setién, "Situation"

[zaphmann]

In Memory of John Peel Show 211008 Podcast & Playlist

In Memory of John Peel Show 211008 Podcast & Playlist

Catherine Graindorge Broadcast in your galaxy now! https://radiopublic.com/in-memory-of-john-peel-show-6nVPd6/ >> the best new music, independent of the industry system – back this show on patreon Paypal to zaph@zaphmann.com heard in over 90 countries via independent stations (RSS)Pod-Subscribe for free here or embed/listen at podomatic – itunes here’s the latest…

[dustedandsocial]

DUSTED+SOCIAL January Rundown

Pictured: Spröde Lippen

(Part 1) 01. Gary Wilkinson - Q4non 02. Sir EU - STAND NAME : NationWidu (全国) 03. Nicfit - Human Inane 04. Cama Rosa - Contrário do Medo 05. PLF - Pop(e) Lost Faith 06. Kofi - EBB 07. Some Exercise - Borscht 08. Ghédalia Tazartès - Prédiction 09. Otis Sandsjö & Niklas Wandt - Furnacella 10. Jihem Rita - Cazolino Blues 11. Slimesito & Yung Maaly - Get Wicked 12. Sana Shenai - Sana Vera 13. Maya Shenfeld - Voyager 14. Spröde Lippen - P.I.F.S. 15. Roberto Musci & Lion's Drums - Alap On Benares 16. Regno Maggiore - Organo Tigre 17. Sickboyrari - BOW BOW 18. Burial - Strange Neighbourhood (Excerpt) 19. The Island - Uncondition 20. Ebaugh - Miss Glass (Live) 21. Comunione - Salvati 22. Slimex - Visitor 23. Nail Club - Patience 24. Schni Schna Schnuffel - Schönes Bild Maus 25. STRAPPED! feat. IceBirds - Nada 26. Enzo Minarelli - Ether Existence 27. Ghostbusters - Liever Niet 28. Dreissk - turbulence 29. Nights Templar - Thief with No Hands 30. Ann Eysermans - Chorale 31. Psyche Nah (NAPPYNAPPA & Psychedelic Ensemble.) - BROKEN RECORD 32. Niklas Adam - ╠═══╬═══╩╣ 33. FUC - Wintercore B 34. Tacita Trjj - South Border Sax (Breisgau) 35. Nein Rodere - Catch up with Social 36. Claptrap - Public Eye 37. V.Vale & La Mére - Impending Happiness 38. Cruddy Murda - Super 

(Part 2) 01. LustSickPuppy - EGO BRUISER 02. Schwund - Gespenst 03. Chimers - Cracks 04. Urban:Dentist - Abyss Walkers 05. Bzdet - Ziemia 06. Börn - Þú Skuldar Mér Að Vera Sexý 07. Not In Da Club - Out Of Bread 08. Tony Shhnow - Business In Miami 09. Kush Arora x Orogen x Titus 12 - Caldera Lift 11. Elena Setién - This Too Will Pass 12. Reece Thomas - My body brings me to tears 13. Babyface Ray - Sincerely Face 14. AIR LQD - Hate will only hurt you 15. Winged Wheel - Monsella 16. Lili Putana - Disambiguation Detector 17. Mike Cooper - Under Vertical Sunlight 18. Levande Död - Labrador Retriever 19. A.R. Wilson - Sparkler 20. Dali Muru & The Polyphonic Swarm - Witch Wisent 21. Ty Lumnus - Stubborn To The Sun 22. alobhe - ARSENIC 23. The Web of Lies - Receiver 24. Malvern Brume - The Burgess Cross 25. Panoram - Pseudolove 26. Tony Bontana - Slide 27. Roller - Au 28. Tau Ceti IV - Wandering the Unlit Path 29. Stefan Christensen - East Travel On 30. Group Listening - Take Care 31. Timothy K Brown - Solar Pill 32. Beast Nest - Frog 33. GAWD - JOHN WALL

Download: https://mega.nz/file/mJsCxTbI#ZpzSyREQCj8JVnuG6paEsbkA6J0lE2_sLjoRKREeTjo (copy and paste direct link if for some reason the redirect asks you for an encryption code. Tumblr’s redirect service is a little janky.)

Stream the condensed two hour version HERE

[bandcampsnoop]

2/14/20.

This record appeared on bandcamp a year ago tomorrow. But I keep coming back to this track, the last one on the album. Elena Setien sings of the bottom of the sea, and the arrangement and her voice take you there.

Another Kind of Revolution came out on Thrill Jockey. From their notes:

Setién grew up during a period of political upheaval in Spain, in the Basque region. The turmoil of the post-dictatorship period of the 1980s and the intensive civic actions left her with a sense of duty to fight for progress. A brief encounter with Laurie Anderson more recently also profoundly affected Setién. Specifically, Anderson’s parting thoughts on being an artist today: “You just have to make something beautiful and free.”

[thatsagreatpainting]

[grafikoa]

[dustedmagazine]

Elena Setién — Unfamiliar Minds (Thrill Jockey)

Photo by Pablo Axpe

Unfamiliar Minds by Elena Setien

“There is a solitude of space,” wrote Emily Dickinson, a poet who would have had very little difficulty with the idea of social distancing. It’s no wonder, really, that the Basque songwriter Elena Setién found in Dickinson a kindred spirit when she found herself locked down during the pandemic. Here was a poet able to find epiphany in very confined circumstances, to transmute short, unadorned words into striking spiritual images, to channel simplicity into the oddest directions. How could that not appeal to an idiosyncratic artist like Setién, prone to ethereal melodies and cryptic musings, now alone with her thoughts and her instruments? And so, Dickinson became a kind of muse for Unfamiliar Minds, a hovering presence over the whole of this fragile, lovely interior monologue set to music.

Two songs explicitly reference Dickinson, framing her poems in airy electronic arrangements not entirely devoid of tension. “I Dwell in Possibility,” for instance, is paced by an abrupt percussive clangor, a harshness at odds with the flowery softness of the melody. “I dwell in possibility,” confides Setién in a soft murmur as synth motifs bubble up under her, but harsher blots of sound crash through at intervals. It’s like a meditation where you keep flashing on the void, serenity pierced intermittently with dread. The other Dickinson track surrounds the verse, “In this short life/That only lasts an hour/How much, how little/Is within our power,” a pensive swell of organ, little flutters of synth notes nestling in the crevices. The verse, like the life it commemorates, is perishingly short, yet it glows with meaning. The music is similarly transparent and haunting. Setién improvises a wordless run of notes near the end that is particularly beautiful.  

Some of the originals share a cryptic brevity with Dickinson’s poems. For example, “2020” sums up the year that was in a steady pulse of piano, some sighing counterparts and four lines of lyrics: “I’ve fallen from a place of illusions/I’ve broken all last year's resolutions/I meant to find some conclusions/But how slowly days move.” The piano hammering, “Situation” is somewhat more extended but just as inscrutable (why would anyone take her car keys?). It blossoms transcendentally in synth arpeggios and a chorus of “Where would you have gone?” 

Yet the most striking tracks may be the ones that stray furthest from similarities with the Belle of Amherst. The title track, for instance, sets forth with a jangle of guitars and a wild howl and drone of synthesized sounds (here and elsewhere Setién’s Basque compatriot Xabier Erkizia supplements with electronics). It feels like a folk song veering into an existential void, its slippery, tipsy string sound canting off in manic accents. The track speaks of “Thunder in our unfamiliar minds,” a tip to the thoughts that by lockdown’s end seemed loud enough to shake the walls. It’s a line that rattled in my head for a while.  

In the end, it seems that Setién is only a little like Emily Dickinson, a maker of startling, piercing imagery, temporarily holed up in solitude. You can see the commonality, but by the end of the album, also the difference, as Setién’s art takes wilder, less ladylike stabs at bringing the chaos to order. Renunciation is a piercing virtue, perhaps, but Setién isn’t renouncing anything.  

Jennifer Kelly

[ilkvideo]

The Black Nothing - Solution

more info

[affairesasuivre]

Wreckage of The Hunt / Elena Setién featuring Mary Lattimore (Thrill Jockey, 2019)

Elena Setién is an artist defined by her vivid songwriting and nuanced compositions. The multi-instrumentalist’s music exudes the bold individualism and sense of empathy associated with her homeland of Spain’s Basque region. Setién’s declarative gestures both musically and lyrically breathe life into her expressive allegories. Her careful arrangements are direct and affecting and give her room for forays into experimentation. While Elena’s recordings are decidedly pop, she has considerable experience as an improviser. Another Kind Of Revolution, Elena Setién’s Thrill Jockey debut, is a work of entrancing, effortless beauty.

Setién grew up during a period of political upheaval in Spain, in the Basque region. The turmoil of the post-dictatorship period of the 1980s and the intensive civic actions left her with a sense of duty to fight for progress. A brief encounter with Laurie Anderson more recently also profoundly affected Setién. Specifically, Anderson’s parting thoughts on being an artist today: “You just have to make something beautiful and free.” Revolution is, for Setién, going back to simple truths and manifesting the beautiful in people. Her lyrics throughout Another Kind Of Revolution describe the beauty of everyday life, nature, and promote the forces of change not as a burden, but as the very source of hope to draw from. From the moment a young Setién moved from the piano to violin, her independent spirit as a musician began to flourish – an independence which is central to Another Kind Of Revolution. Not only did the instrument allow Setién far more mobility in where she could play, but she was able to re-imagine the way which she could create her own music, even at a young age. The majority of the instruments throughout the album were performed by Setién herself, with the exception of a single synth track, which was performed by fellow Basque musician Mikel Azpiroz, and some guitar tracks by Danish collaborator Andreas Fuglebæk. The addition of guitarist Steve Gunn, whose wispy melodies swirl circles around title track “Another Kind Of Revolution” and sail atop “She Was So Fair” arose out of musical kinship discovered when performing together as they each had musical foundations in improvisation, but found their way to solo performing and songwriting. “Far From The Madding Crowd” itself is an ode to people, especially women, who must break through the boundaries of convention on their own in order to think differently. Another Kind Of Revolution tells its stories through an expansive sonic palette. Pianos and Wurlitzer take on various timbres for each song, trickling in and out of the foreground with Setién’s distinguished voice gently gliding overtop. Stately, driving percussion throughout the album takes inspiration from early The Velvet Underground percussionist Angus MacLise and the natural elements he would emanate with his playing. Careful attention to specific recording techniques and allowing for the slight imperfections in the instruments and amplifiers by Setién and Azpiroz (who also engineered and mixed the album) brings a depth to the recordings that is both direct and organic. Working in Azpiroz’s studio in their home city of San Sebastián allowed for the arrangements to blossom through experimentation and deliberate consideration of small details. Elena Setién’s work is elemental and bold. Her music bends simple, familiar sounds and compositional forms into thoroughly unique songs. With Another Kind Of Revolution, Elena Setién continues to defy convention with songs as gorgeous as they are auspicious.

[musicaemdx]

As estreias, os regressos, os novos discos e as celebrações na rentrée do Musicbox Ainda no rescaldo do ano que passou, o Musicbox prepara-se para o arranque de mais uma temporada de concertos e…

[losangeleslovesyou]

ELENA SETIÉN : SHE WAS SO FAIR

[rasmusriiskjaer]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R994j03-0Yw)

Looking forward to see her performing in a basement in Copenhagen tonight