Francisco Lopez
(Copyright © 2003 Piero Scaruffi | Terms of use )

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Spanish composer Francisco Lopez, one of most prolific composers in the world (not a compliment), focuses on collages of field recordings and sound-manipulation of natural phenomena. The resulting music is often subsonic ambient music rather than traditional (noisy) concrete music. There is movement, but it is hard to detect. Silence is frequently employed.

The list of recordings is virtually infinite: Warszawa Restaurant (Trente Oiseaux, 1995), Belle Confusion 966 (Trente Oiseaux, 1996), Addy En El Pais de Las Frutas y Los Chunches (ND, 1997), his favorite composition, Untitled #74 (Table of the Elements, 1997), a massive crescendo from silence to apocalyptic noise, Untitled Music For Geography (Sedimental, 1997), that cycles from silence to extreme loudness and back, double-disc anthology Temizlemek (Linea Alternativa, 1998), La Selva (V2_Archief, 1998), a collage of sounds from the tropical forest, Belle Confusion 969 (Sonoris, 1998), that again uses sounds found in the tropical forest but more processed, Untitled (1981-83) (Staalplaat, 1999), Untitled (1993) (1981-83) (Staalplaat, 1999), Untitled #89 (Or, 1999) Untitled (1999) (Subsound, 2001) Untitled #90 (Pre-Feed, 1999), Untitled #91 (Edition, 1999), Untitled (1998) (Generator, 2000), Untitled #104 (Alien8, 2000), which finally displays a lot of variation in intensity and "rhythm" (Lopez samples heavy-metal music), Belle Confusion 0247 (Absolute, 2000), Belle Confusion 0247 (Absolute, 2000), with Amy Denio, Untitled #92 (Mego, 2000), Untitled #107 (EarthEar, 2001), the over-indulgent double-disc Whint (Absolute, 2001) with Zbigniew Karkowski, the double-disc NAV (Absolute, 2001) with John Duncan, Untitled (1999) (Subsound, 2001), Untitled (2000) (Ignis, 2001), Knowing When To Not Know (Antifrost, 2001), Klr (Arms, 2001) with Peter Rehberg and Zbigniew Karkowski, Untitled #123 (Alien8, 2002), Le Chemin du Paradis (Fario, 2002), Wasps (Longbox, 2003), etc.

Buildings (New York) (V2_Archief, 2001) is only a collage of found sounds. Live In 's-Hertogenbosch (Bottrop-boy, 2003) documents a 1999 concert. Untitled #164 (2006) is another collage of field recordings.

Unfortunately, most of these recordings are repetitive and trivial. They mainly prove that making CDs has become very cheap.

The EP Turnoff (Noise Asia, 2003), a collaboration with ZbignieW Karkowski, contains Untitled #132, one of his most abrasive compositions.

A Szellem Alma (Absolute, 2004) is a collaboration with Marc Behrens.

Live In San Francisco (23five, 2005) documents two performances of 2000 and 2001.

The double-CD Solid State Flesh / Solid State Sex (Low Impedence, 2005) is a split album with Scott Arford. Both CDs were recorded in 2002 and contain lengthy droning white-noise pieces.

Untitled #180 (Alien 8, 2006) uses as sources the soundtracks of some Hollywood movies.

Lopez Island (Elevator Bath, 2007) collects field recordings of 1999-2000 and the manipulations that Lopez practiced on them.

Wind (Patagonia) (And/OAR, 2007), a repertory of wind sounds, completed the trilogy of field recordings begun with La Selva (1998) and continued with Buildings (2001).

Quartet for the End of Space (Pogus, 2011) contains Francisco Lopez's Untitled #270 (11:28), a shapeless lugubrious stream of ghostly noises, and Untitled #273 (9:17), an almost comic conversation among petulant instruments that blends into a blurred soundscape of dissonance and drones, performed by the trio of Pauline Oliveros, Doug Van Nort and soprano saxophonist Jonas Braasch, then manipulated by Lopez.

Elektra Bidasoa (Ferns, 2011) was a collaboration between Xabier Erkizia of Billy Bao and Francisco Lopez that used the sound of hydroelectric plants as source material.

Concert For 300 Magnetic Tapes (The Tapeworm) documents a live 1994 performance with Zan Hoffmann.

The double-disc Untitled (2006-2007) (Monochrome Vision) collects old compositions.

The 64-minute piece of Amarok (Glacial Movements, 2010) was prime Lopez subsonic ambient music.

Taking a break from his exploration of natural sounds, Lopez created out of his most intriguing "concrete" collages on the double-disc Machines (Elevator Bath, 2010): music for clocks, elevators, factories, etc.

The project Novi_Sad, namely BJ Nilsen, Daniel Menche, Francisco Lopez and Pan Sonic's Mika Vainio, debuted with the neurosciences-inspired Neuroplanets (2013).

(Copyright © 2003 Piero Scaruffi | Terms of use )
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