Spectral Evolution Rafael Toral SKU: M14 Barcode: 0781484901419 22.00 £22.00 Genre: Leftfield / Experimental Label: Moikai Released Date: 23rd February 2024 Buying Format: 1LP Out of stock Back Order Add to your Wishlist Description Product Info After a two-decade interlude, Jim O’Rourke’s Moikai returns with Spectral Evolution, a major new work by Rafael Toral. Making his name in the mid-1990s with influential guitar drone platters like ‘Sound Mind Sound Body’ and ‘Wave Field’ (both reissued by Drag City in recent years), Toral has never been one to rest on his laurels repeating his past glories. In the early years of the 21st century, Toral laid the guitar aside, along with the focus on extended tones that had defined much of his music until that point. He began his ‘Space Program’, a thirteen-year investigation of the performance possibilities of an ever-expanding set of custom electronic instruments, played with a fluid phrasing and rhythmic flexibility inspired by jazz. Dedicated to honing his skills on these idiosyncratic instruments, Toral has performed with them extensively both solo and in many collaborations, including in his Space Quartet, where his mini-amplifier feedback integrates seamlessly into the frontline of a classic post-free jazz quartet rounded out with saxophone, double bass, and drums. Since 2017, Toral’s work has been entering a new phase, often still centred around the arsenal of self-built instruments developed in the Space Program, but with a renewed interest in the long tones and almost static textures of his earlier work; he has also, after more than a decade, returned to the electric guitar. ‘Spectral Evolution’ is undoubtedly Toral’s most sophisticated work to date, bringing together seemingly incompatible threads from his entire career into a powerful new synthesis, both wildly experimental and emotionally affecting. The record begins with a brief ‘Intro’ that sets the stage for the unique sound world explored throughout the remainder of its duration: over sparkling clean guitar figures, Toral stages a duet between two streams of modulated feedback, seeming less electronic than like mutant takes on a muted trumpet and an ocarina. This segues seamlessly into the stunning ‘Changes’, where a dense array of Space instruments solo with wild abandon over a thick carpet of slowly moving chords, growing increasingly chaotic over the course of eight minutes yet always fastened to the lush harmonic foundation. On these and many other moments on the record, Toral manages the almost miraculous feat of having his self-built electronic instruments (which in the past he had seen as ‘inadequate to play any music based on the Western system’) play in tune. In an unexpected sidestep away from any of his previous work, the chord changes that underpin many of the episodes on ‘Spectral Evolution’ are derived from classic jazz harmony, including takes on the archetypal Gershwin ‘Rhythm Changes’ and Ellington-Strayhorn’s ‘Take the ‘A’ Train’, albeit slowed to such an extent that each chord becomes a kind of environment in its own right. Threading together twelve distinct episodes into a flowing whole, ‘Spectral Evolution’ alternates moments of airy instrumental interplay with dense sonic mass, breaking up the pieces based on chord changes with ambient ‘Spaces’. At points reduced to almost a whisper, at other moments Toral’s electronics wail, squelch, and squeak like David Tudor’s live-electronic rainforest. Similarly, his use of the guitar encompasses an enormous dynamic and textural range, from chiming chords to expansive drones, from crystal clarity to fuzzy grit: on the beautiful ‘Your Goodbye’, his filtered, distorted soloing recalls Loren Connors in its emotive depth and wandering melodic sensibility. The product of three years of experimentation and recording and synthesizing the insights of more than thirty years of musical research, ‘Spectral Evolution’ is the quintessential album of guitar music from Rafael Toral. Artist Rafael Toral Genre Leftfield / Experimental Label Moikai Buying Options 1LP Format 1LP Condition New Country UK Track Listings Intro Changes Descending First Short Space Take the Train First Long Space Fifths Twice Second Long Space Your Goodbye Second Short Space Ascending Changes Reprise Share this On Facebook On Twitter Via Email More from Leftfield / Experimental View Product Quick View David Brewis The Soft Struggles Leftfield / Experimental | Daylight Saving Records | 1LP Released 24th February 2023 £22.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders David Brewis The Soft Struggles £22.00 Genre: Leftfield / Experimental Label: Daylight Saving Records SKU: ADD1-005LP Formats: 1LP Released Date: 24th February 2023 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Nearly New View Product Quick View Marcus Fjellström Gebrauchsmusik Electronica | Miasmah | 1LP, Includes Insert Released 26th March 2021 £20.00 Add to basket Reserve View Reservations Marcus Fjellström Gebrauchsmusik £20.00 Genre: Electronica Label: Miasmah SKU: nn220819 Formats: 1LP, Includes Insert Released Date: 26th March 2021 Reserve View Reservations Read More Add to basket View Product Quick View Glenn Branca Lesson No. 1 Leftfield / Experimental | Superior Viaduct | 2LP Released 6th March 2014 £23.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Glenn Branca Lesson No. 1 £23.00 Genre: Leftfield / Experimental Label: Superior Viaduct SKU: SV039 Formats: 2LP Released Date: 6th March 2014 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Body/Head Coming Apart Leftfield / Experimental | Matador | 2LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released 16th September 2013 £23.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Body/Head Coming Apart £23.00 Genre: Leftfield / Experimental Label: Matador SKU: OLE10421 Formats: 2LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released Date: 16th September 2013 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Roberto Cacciapaglia Sonanze Leftfield / Experimental | Mirumir | 180g, 2LP, Includes CD Released 5th November 2012 £20.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Roberto Cacciapaglia Sonanze £20.00 Genre: Leftfield / Experimental Label: Mirumir SKU: MIR100702LP Formats: 180g, 2LP, Includes CD Released Date: 5th November 2012 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Pelican Australasia Leftfield / Experimental | Thrill Jockey | 2LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 19th August 2022 £34.00 - £37.00 Select options Reserve View Reservations Pelican Australasia £34.00 - £37.00 Genre: Leftfield / Experimental Label: Thrill Jockey Formats: 2LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 19th August 2022 Reserve View Reservations Read More Select options View Product Quick View Brunhild Ferrari Extérieur-jour Leftfield / Experimental | Streamline | 1LP Released 26th January 2024 £26.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Brunhild Ferrari Extérieur-jour £26.00 Genre: Leftfield / Experimental Label: Streamline SKU: ST1042 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 26th January 2024 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View James Heather Invisible Forces Leftfield / Experimental | Ahead Of Our Time | 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 22nd April 2022 £21.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders James Heather Invisible Forces £21.00 Genre: Leftfield / Experimental Label: Ahead Of Our Time SKU: AHED034 Formats: 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 22nd April 2022 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Various Artists Hexadic III Electronica | Drag City | 1LP Released 23rd February 2018 £18.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Various Artists Hexadic III £18.00 Genre: Electronica Label: Drag City SKU: DC695 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 23rd February 2018 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Duster Stratosphere – 25th Anniversary Edition Leftfield / Experimental | Numero Group | 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 29th September 2023 £24.00 - £26.00 Select options Reserve View Reservations Duster Stratosphere – 25th Anniversary Edition £24.00 - £26.00 Genre: Leftfield / Experimental Label: Numero Group Formats: 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 29th September 2023 Reserve View Reservations Read More Select options See more in Leftfield / Experimental Start again
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