Terrestre review Peekaboo Music Magazine
von Mathon, Montag, 23. Mai 2011 um 15:29 ·
Ward DE PRINS 23/05/2011
Mathon, the Swiss trio composed of Pete Leuenberger, Roger Thomas Stucki & Augustini, brings a sort of experimental ambient. For this 12 ” vinyl they have worked with guest musicians for every song. It is also accompanied by a DVD.
Musically the whole work drifts quietly and brings us a relaxing sort of trance. The variety of sounds constitutes a whole and works so well. Sounds that remind me of didgeridoo, violin, acoustic guitar, dripping water, rasp on a metal plate, squeezing a balloon, it might (probably) be all just imagination but the variety of accompanying sounds holds my attention.
It is not an innovative sound, but a good sound collage, which I can perfectly enjoy while reading a good book, or when looking at a slow sunset. The heavily ambient tinted piano playing reminds me rather of the easy to find, ten a penny, relaxation CDs, but the additional and more experimental sound layers still can make it interesting.
“Parsec”is the best song, for me at last, a touching song, with the combination of bubbles, bells, transformed women’s voices, bizarre crackling and a quiet rippling but constructive rhythm and a multitude of inexplicable electronic sounds (why do I keep thinking anout some kind of robot-frog?). Great song.
The accompanying DVD can tempt me less. The images do not fit to the music. They are indeed produced and executed beautifully (except the first, boring version of Parsec by Magdesign video), but they give little added value to the music.
A pretty album for those who prefer a semi-experimental relaxing ambient approach!
Mathon – Terrestre review on Synthtopia
von Mathon, Dienstag, 31. Mai 2011 um 19:33 ·
Mathon’s new release, Terrestre, is a unique album, both musically and in terms of the physical format. Switzerland based Mathon is made up of Thomas Augustiny, Roger Stucki und Pete Leuenberger. They create cinematic ambient music. The album comes as a vinyl LP + DVD combination. It’s worth noting that the LP is pretty sexy, as it’s pressed in clear vinyl. A DVD is also included, with digital versions of each of the tracks, remixes and videos for several tracks. It’s clear a lot of thought went into the presentation of this release. The album features 6 tracks, 3 to a side on the LP. The music combines electronic sounds, acoustic instruments & environmental sounds. Mathon says that “they took their mobile recording-studio into the mountains and they chose the earth as their main theme for the compositions. The coexistence of nature and civilization and also the contradictions between the two can be heard on Terrestre.”
The tracks mix fluttering ambient synth pads with: piano, violin and other instruments; subtle glitch effects and processing; and an assortment of unidentifiable creaks, scrapes and drones. At times, it’s a bit like George Winston had to do a gig in one of the slightly eerie landscapes of Brian Eno’s ambient classic, On Land. Other times, it has more of a meditative quality.
Though the music on Terrestre is described as ambient – it’s not necessarily music you’re likely to put on and ignore. This sonic landscape may make you wonder just what’s in the shadows, behind that tree or over the next hill.
Note: In addition to the album tracks, the included DVD features remixes by Kenneth Kirschner (12k/ USA), i8u (Dragonseye Recordings/CAN), Steinbrüchel (Synchron/CH), Digitalis (Thinner/CH), Elektrohandel (D), Tobias Reber (Hyperfunction/CH) und Matu (Everestrecords/CH) and the video works by Maurice De Martin (Zeitkratzer/D) und Marc-André Gasser (Magdesign/CH).
Mathon – Terrestre review on Ambientblog
von Mathon, Mittwoch, 12. Juni 2011 um 13:36 ·
Peter van Cooten (Ambientblog) 12.06.2011
With their new release ‘Terrestre’, Mathon takes a further step in creating their own unique genre. Their music is, as always, consequently linked to geographical locations, describing
“the coexistence of nature and civilization and also the contradictions between the two”.
It is mainly created with acoustical instruments and stylistically closely related to the impressionist music known from the ECM-label.
The basic tracks sound as if this music was improvised, yet completed using (post-) production techniques more familiar in the ambient/electronic soundscape genre.
Mathon (Pete Leuenberger, Roger Stucki andThomas Augustiny from Switzerland) invited at least one guest-musician for each of these six compositions. The resulting pieces were sent to various video artists (including Zeitkratzer’s Maurice de Martin, presented below), and to other musicians to remix them (among them Kenneth Kirschner, Steinbrüchel, I8U) . Terrestre is not only ‘different’ in content, but also in the form it is released in: the physical release contains a vinyl LP album (with the six original tracks) as well as a DVD that additionally also includes seven remixes and four videos. Quite a desirable package, that is! And a real pleasure to listen to, too.
Monsieurdelire Blog – Journal d’écoute / Listening Diary
von Mathon, Donnerstag, 19. Mai 2011 um 18:09 ·
MATHON / Terrestre (Everest Records)
A very fine record of ambient electronica, the fourth opus from Mathon (Pete Leuenberger, Roger Stucki, Thomas Augustiny). This is album is an LP + DVD. On the vinyl are six delicate tracks, assemblages of electronics, piano, light percussion, a cello – guests vary from track to track. Calm, peaceful, sophisticated music. A cross between the minimal ambient stylings of Lawrence English or Steinbrüchel and the soul of Popol Vuh. On the DVD, the same six tracks as digital files, four videos (three by Maurice de Martin, one by Marc-André Gasser), and seven remixes from I8U, Steinbrüchel, Kenneth Kirschner, Digitalis, Electrohandel, Tobias Reber, and Matu. All stick to the original moods, reinterpreting them their own way. I8U (Montréal’s France Jobin) fares best in inserting her own universe into Mathon’s. Heartily recommended.
Fluid Radio (UK)
von Mathon, Dienstag, 19. April 2011 um 11:03 ·
Review by Adam Williams for Fluid Radio
Mathon – Terrestre
Taking their name from a small village in the rugged and beautiful Swiss Alps, Mathon consists of experimental musicians Thomas Augustiny, Roger Stucki and Pete Leuenberger.
Following Mathon’s creation in 2003, Augustiny, Stucki and Leuenberg have gathered in the rural Swiss village which shares their bands name, inviting a varying selection of musicians to assist in their goal of creating music which is in harmony with their surroundings. Thus far, five albums have been created in this way and for their most recent, the trio have been joined by Maria Capelli, Ronny Spiegel, Maurice De Martin and Nicolas Kellne, a guest artist featuring on every album track. Recorded within one week in a mobile sound studio, the album is imbued with a sense of timeless landscape.
Switzerland has a wealth of experimental music talent and throughout Terrestre, the ensemble of musicians and remixers add their own flavour while showing a restraint which prevents the release from falling into a trap of chin-stroking self indulgence. The album opens with Sublim, a piece which at times echos Alva Noto & Ryuichi Sakamoto’s collaborative effort Insen but the glitches and electronica are more pronounced here, the piano yet more minimal and an interesting contrast between the natural and the binary provides fertile ground for the musicians to work with.
Augustiny, Stucki and Leuenberg chose Earth as the theme for Terrestre and this is most apparent on Curse, featuring a spoken-word section which could have easily fallen flat were it not so well executed. Rather than jarring the listener, the monologue suits the mood of the piece well and conjures vivid images of ancient Pagan Earthiness along with a wry humour. To pick a standout track from Terrestre is difficult, but this does not highlight any lack of outstanding work, rather it reflects a cohesive whole which keeps a constant in quality throughout.
The remix CD warrants mentioning here too. Again choosing to collaborate, artists such as Tobias Reber, Kenneth Kirschner, Digitalis and Steinbrüchel have lent their time to remixing the material and their efforts have produced seven pieces in all, varying quite widely in style and scope. Clocking in at some forty minutes long, the CD is actually slightly longer than the album itself and offers another perspective on the music.
Though Terrestre is an abstract work, the album is more accessible than may be expected, perhaps because it is such a treat for the ears that even when one loses the thread of melody or rhythm, one can simply get lost within the many layers of sound. It is inspiring indeed to hear a band who have been together for eight years produce such fresh and original music.
Mathon – Terrestre / Vital Weekly 777
von Mathon, Dienstag, 19. April 2011 um 10:59 ·
(by Frans de Waard)
MATHON – TERRESTRE (LP/DVD by Everestrecords)
These days its common to get a free download code with a piece of vinyl, but Everest had a better idea: give the listener a DVD with mp3s of the LP, along with all the tracks remixed by friends and a bunch of videos. The total entertainment package. Mathon is a trio of Pete Leuenberger, Roger Stucki and Thomas Augustiny and each of the six track they have an additional player. ‘Earth’ is the main theme of their fourth album (I don’t think heard their music before), recorded on a mobile studio in the Swiss mountains. There are no instruments mentioned for the players of Mathon, just for the guests. They add piano, violin, voice, and electronics. In a piece like ‘Sublim’, the piano plays an all important role, along with percussion sounds, field recordings and perhaps some synthesizer; I assume that’s what the band does. Together they create some atmospheric, (electro-) acoustic music. Its the guiding theme for the record: acoustic instruments by guestplayers are embedded in a warm bath of improvised electronics and percussion. Sometimes, such as in ‘Curse’, the album leaps into jazz, which wasn’t my cup of tea. Sometimes its a bit too slick also, but not bad at all. Various tracks get remixes, by i8u, Steinbruchel, Kenneth Kirschner, Digitalis, Tobias Reber, Matu and Elektrohandel. Sometimes it stays close to the original, like i8u and Elektrohandel (although they remove the jazz reference in ‘Curse’), but the best are those who go out all the way, such as Steinbruchel’s crackling, the reducing approaches of Kirschner, the full out rhythms of Digitalis and Matu and cut ups by Reber. Actually the remixes did more for this electronic head than the originals. (FdW)
