Touch

Chris Watson - Oceanus Pacificus

Lexus Car Magazine (UK):

failme (UK):

Warp Records (UK):

Amazing sound recordist and ex-Cabaret Voltaire member Chris Watson who's other job is working for the BBC Natural History Unit recording sound for Television and Radio does this very limited 7 inch record with extra lock-grooves for Touch. The two dense and beautiful recordings on this 7 inch are underwater recordings of the Humboldt current around the Galapagos Islands, recorded using a pair of Dolphin Ear Pro Hydrophones onto a NAGRA ARES-PII digital audio recorder. One is recorded at 3 metres the other at 10 metres. Needless to say as with all of Watson's recorded work it's spellbinding stuff and a real pleasure to listen to.

The Wire (UK):

Dusted (USA):

That’s Chris Watson, formerly of Cabaret Voltaire and the Hafler Trio, who’s been doing field recordings with a remarkable ear for subtlety as of the past decade. Here we find two samples of the sounds of the Humboldt current, which surrounds the Galapagos islands, from three meters and ten meters deep, respectively. “3m” is busy, active sloshing of water, powered by a steady attack courtesy of the current’s pull. But “10m” is much darker, and actually sort of terrifying, the voice of the current imbued with a bassier, more claustrophobic presence that may as well be the sound of the weight of water. A remarkable piece of short, affecting natural sound, mercurially presented. Pro-printed cardstock sleeve with spine writing.

The Milk Factory (UK):

DJ (UK):

Record Collector (UK):

Chris Watson ¬ BJNilsen - Storm

Storm has been nominated for a Qwartz Award in the Qwartz Experimental/Research category 2007

London Milk (UK):

Back in 2000, Swedish musician recorded a series of storms over the Baltic sea, and consequently suggested that him and fellow Touch sound artist Chris Watson coolaborate on a project focusing on weather conditions.

Watson, once of pioneering electronic outfit Cabaret Voltaire and, later, of The Hafler Trio, is an established wildlife recordist, who has, beside his three albums for Touch, worked for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and recorded nature for a variety of wildlife programs for the BBC. After a few years away from the music scene, he returned in 1996 with his first solo album for Touch, Stepping Into The Dark, which was built from recordings he had made all around the world during previous years.

Stockholm-based Benny Jonas Nilsen first emerged in the early nineties under the pseudonym of Morthond (later Morthound), with his debut album, The Crying Age, published on Swedish imprint Cold Meat Industry when he was just fifteen. Nilsen reinvented himself as Hazard in the mid nineties and released a handful of ambient records for Malignant, Ash International and Touch, before eventually publishing music under his own name.

Storm features three extended tracks, with Watson claiming No Man’s Land, which opens, and Nilsen Austrveg, which closes the album, the pair collaborating on the middle track, SIGWX. The two solo tracks span just over fifteen minutes each while the middle piece clocks in at just under nineteen minutes. Each piece is based on a series of recordings made on the artists’ respective coastlines and documenting everything from wildlife (especially in Watson’s piece) to sea conditions, wind and storms.

Watson’s recordings were made on the North East coast of England and Scotland, during October and November, between 2000 and 2005 and present a rather active series of soundscapes, with vast colonies of sea birds drowned in an increasing cacophony as they get more agitated, rough seas and animal noises. The latter bring an organic, almost human, dimension to the piece, especially in the second half when Watson introduces recordings made in a cave.

Nilsen’s piece is built from recordings made on Gotland and Öland, two neighbouring islands situated in the South East of Sweden. Here, Nilsen focuses primarily on the evolution of weather patterns and the impact it has on his environment. As sounds of waves breaking on the shores, strong winds and rain appear to constantly battle for supremacy, an underlying rhythmic pattern slowly emerges, with organic loops spreading over several minutes as the elements take it in turn to dominate.

Taking its name from a weather forecast term indicating significant weather, SIGWX sees Watson and Nilsen bring their respective recordings together and confront their findings, from various life forms to evolving weather patterns and environmental noises. Watson’s meticulous formations provide a rich backdrop for Nilsen’s more exposed recordings, resulting in an exceedingly dense and dramatic piece.

Despite the apparent simplicity of this record, Watson and Nilsen present here an incredibly detailed and vibrant document, which not only charts landscapes and weather conditions, but also captures a myriad of particles of wildlife and places them in a very particular context. These three sequences are extremely vivid and realistic, leaving the listener to wonder whether they may be experiencing these for real.

BBCi (UK):

Chris Watson's field recordings of wildlife and natural phenomena pose a lot of questions; is this music? if not, what are we listening to? should this flock of geese be getting royalties? With his more recent work Watson has bucked a few of those questions by mixing, editing and collaging his material into soundscapes that are more akin to music than anything else.

That's very much the case here. Nilsen (aka Hazard and a purveyor of minimal electronics) and Watson have collaborated before, most notably on Hazard's Wind. They share an interest is in the 'rhythms and music' of the elements, and these recordings follow a particular cyclonic system that visits North East England, Scotland and Sweden.

The opening "No Man's Land" is a tour de force; assembled and collaged by Watson from several recordings made over a five year period, it takes the listener on a strange and improbable journey; a coastal walk in worsening weather where seabirds gather in their masses and seals moan spookily to themselves. At one point the mounting roar and hiss of the storm engulfs everything; there's a brief moment when it feels like Watson's microphones are under the water. At the finish I was expecting to open my eyes and find the living room overrun with seaweed, driftwood and maybe a flock of stormy petrels...

'SIGWX' takes a similar approach and achieves similar levels of intensity and abstraction, but in a way the most effective piece is Nilsen's closing "Austrvegr". Recorded in on the islands of Gotland and Oland, it offers the grim monotony of wind and rain, heard from various cottages, sheds, fields and beaches. It's a meditative, strange experience, and comes highly recommended. [Peter Marsh]

The Sound Projector (UK):

Record Collector (UK):

Baltimore City Paper (USA):

As a sound recordist for institutions like the BBC as well as a string of solo releases, former Cabaret Voltaire member Chris Watson has set up his equipment everywhere from British parliament to African veldts. (Sometimes in quick succession: He quipped to The Wire magazine that he once used a mic on a politician that still had dried zebra blood and gunk on it.) Storm, this year's collaboration with fellow microphone fiend BJ Nilsen, moves from the earth into the air, capturing the weather on the coasts of England and Scotland between 2000 and 2005. If the idea of "listening to the weather" sounds like something you could do any time - and for free - Watson and Nilsen's high-tech acoustic phenomenon-capturing devices turn wind and rain and non-silent silences into an abstract-expressionist sonic movie as gripping as any recording you've heard this year. [Jess Harvell]

Boomkat (UK):

It's always an event when a new Chris Watson disc comes into view from the distance. The lauded field recording expert has become widely regarded as the best in his field having recorded three solo discs for Touch since 1996 showing the breadth of his style. He doesn't do anything more than record locations and atmosphere, but if you thought field recording was merely birds tweeting and wind blowing prepare to be astounded, as Watson amplifies sounds you didn't even realise were there, contextualizing nature as experimental music perfectly. This time around Watson appears with his friend and fellow Touch recording artist BJ Nilsen and the story goes that Nilsen called up Watson to express his interest in a series of storms across the North Sea. Nilsen had been recording them and had been quite stunned by the results, and proposed a collaborative cd project with Watson to explore these natural rhythms and music created by storms at sea. And what a collaboration the two have managed, this disc despite its apparently simple means is as detailed and as absorbing as any collection of supposedly textured experimental music you could possibly find this year with waves of noise so detailed and so organic that when you think about it they could only really come from the organic world. The sound of rain gets lost in crashing waves and wind batters both into submission, rocks are avoided or smashed into purposefully and water rises and falls with unmatched aggression. This is a symphony of the skies, and simply must be heard to be believed whether it is Watson's shockingly detailed track recorded on the North East coast of England and Scotland, Nilsen's more stripped down recordings on two Swedish islands or their collaborative track - each takes us on an intense journey into the very nature of sound, and the sound of nature. Essential....

The Wire (UK):

Bad Alchemy (Germany):

Schon die ersten Töne von Storm (Tone 27) lassen einen zusammenzucken vor der schrillen Kakophonie von Tausenden von Seevögeln, den natürlichen Bewohnern einer sturmumbrausten Unwirtlichkeit. CHRIS WATSON hat seine Mikrophone mitten in diesem ’No Man's Land' an der Küste von Northumberland aufgebaut, so dass man nun Teil hat an der Welt der Windsbräute und Sturmvögel, dem Brüllen der Brandung und dem Gefauch der Lüfte. Extrem plastisch lecken die Wasserzungen an den Felsen und verschluckt der Meeresschlund sich selbst. Dann fährt Luftgebraus in dieses Grenzgebiet aus Wasser und Stein, lässt die Brandung donnernd aufrauschen und die Gischt zischen. Kaum flaut der Sturm ab, werden ganz merkwürdige Laute hörbar, ein Stöhnen, Muhen und halb ersticktes Heulen. Weiß der Himmel, ob das nun bloß Seehunde oder Kegelrobben sind oder etwas, das man besser nicht erblickt. Der Wind frischt wieder auf und nimmt den gespenstischen Chor in sich auf. Das st die Wilde Jagd im Original. BJ NILSEN richtete für ’Austrvegr' seine Sennheiser-Mikrophone in Gotland und Öland auf Wind und Wellen. Die Baltische See ist aufgewühlt von einem eisigen Sturm, der einen mit Nadel überschüttet und in die Knie zwingt. Nilsen duckt sich in Scheunen und Schuppen, bis das Schlimmste vorüber ist und der Strand wieder in seiner plätschernden Routine hörbar wird. Aber der Sturm flackert noch, zerrt an den Membranen und gießt ganze Schiffsladungen von Hagelkörnern über die Dächer. Molekulare Schauer, die einen noch im Wohnzimmer unbehaglich stimmen. Für ’SIGWX' mischten die beiden Fieldrecorder dann ihre Aufnahmen. Östlich der Shetlandinseln, in den Nordseegebieten Viking und Forties, braut sich ein Nordoststurm der Windstärke 8 zusammen und zieht dann, abflauend auf 3 - 4, nach Norden ab. Ein kräftiger Gewitterregen überschüttet die Lauscher mit seinem Brausen und Grollen, die sich zu Harsh Noise verdichten. Wem diese Schizophonie mitten ins Hirn bläst, dem kommen Zweifel, ob ’da draußen' die Natur nicht doch macht, was sie will.

VITAL (The Netherlands):

Of these three new releases out of the Touch imperium (although Ash International should be seen as a separate entity, the ties are pretty strong), two of them deal with field recordings. Of all field recordings that are to be made 'out there' that storms and rain are the ones that are most 'easy', since they produce a lot of sound. Not entirely true, this somewhat bold statement, because it takes some to make a good recording of a nice storm, that sounds like a storm and not a bunch of tape hiss. If you leave the microphones to people such as Chris Watson or BJNilsen, you know there are in good hands. They both love a good storm, and have gathered a bunch of interesting recordings in that area. One storm was followed by Watson (in Newcastle) and Nilsen (on Öland and Gotland) and became a collaborate piece of music. Also each of them has a solo piece, composed out of storm sounds. In Watson's solo piece there is a heavy storm, lots of seagulls (probably other birds as well, but I'm not the ornithologist at hand), which goes through various stages, using the different acoustics of the various places which were used to make the recordings. In their collaborative piece things are rather more subdued and calm, strangely enough and only towards the end things get louder and meaner. In BJ Nilsen's solo piece, various recordings from various places are melted together, in order to make a strong piece of storm sounds. All three piece may sound relatively 'easily made', but there are not. They are highly imaginative pieces of natural sounds, and should appeal to fans of Eric LaCasa as well as others who use recordings like this to create powerful music, again like this. [FdeW]

Schlendrian (Germany):

Radio France (France):

C'est dans la même famille, celle de l'artisanat discographique (sur le label Touch) que je vous propose de retrouver une autre ¦uvre en rapport avec les grands espaces désertiques, ceci autour de Benny Nilsen et de Chris Watson. Benny Nilsen a toujours été fasciné par le travail d'enregistrements d'espaces naturels réalisés par Chris Watson. Après avoir lui même enregistré quelques tempêtes en Scandinavie, il lui a proposé d'unir leurs enregistrements réalisés sur les côtes de la mer du nord en Angleterre et en Ecosse par Watson et sur deux îles suédoises par Benny Nielsen. Le résultat est à la hauteur de la réputation, de la compétence et du talent des deux preneurs de sons mais surtout donne à entendre une véritable symphonie musicale naturelle. Le vent en bourrasques, la pluie qui se fond dans le vacarme des vagues et les oiseaux massés sur les rochers, tout semble comme orchestré avec précision dans une complexité et une richesse sonore savamment mise en espace par Watson et Nielsen. Les sonorités lointaines et proches sont mixées dans un parfait équilibre et donnent naissance à un paysage musical d'une saisissante réalité." [Eric Serva]

Other Music (USA):

The holidays are upon us and if for some reason you'd like to make someone on your list exceedingly anxious, then by all means, gift them a copy of Storm. Chris Watson and BJ Nilsen collaborate here by capturing field recordings on either side of their respective seas (Watson along the Eastern coast of England, Nilsen stationed on a beach in Western Sweden) during a particularly powerful storm system that pounded both regions in late 2000, and other ancillary events from the years to follow. Nothing has been processed here, though some editing likely took place, leaving the enormity of nature to descend upon the microphones and recorders. Flocks of geese squawk at one another, panicked, before escaping to a less hostile environment. Sea lions howl dolefully in the duress of the situation. Storm clouds roll in, bringing atmospheric disturbance, heavy rains, high winds, and with no visual markers, this all makes for an extremely unsettling listen. Throw this on your iPod; when faced with some bearded, bespectacled gentleman explaining to you how "sick" Sunn 0))) is, explain to him that you're listening to a fierce storm that someone likely died in as it was being recorded. That'll shut him up. [DM]

Blow Up (Italy):

Svenska Dagbladet (Sweden):

Ur stormar skapar britten Chris Watson (en gång medlem i bandet Cabaret Voltaire och nu en mästare i att spela in natur- och atmosfäriska ljud för både BBC och skivor) och svenske BJ Nilsen praktfulla ljudliga kompositioner. Med stor omsorg lyfter Watson fram såväl detaljer som kraft ut naturens symfoni från kusten längs nordöstra Storbritannien. Nilsens komposition är betydligt kargare med inspelningar från Öland och Gotland. Det är så storslaget äkta att även övriga sinnen, förutom hörseln, luras att delta. [Magnus Olsson]

Triggerfish (Germany):

Ein Tag am Meer

CHRIS WATSON und BJ NILSEN haben beide schon einge Jahre in der Welt der randständigen Klänge verbracht. WATSON als ehemaliges Cabaret Voltaire Mitglied sogar noch einige mehr als NILSEN, der erstmal, gerade der Pubertät entwachsen, Anfang der 90er mit seinem Morthound Projekt von sich reden machte.

Für “Storm" haben die beiden je einen Solotrack sowie eine Kollaboration abgeliefert, welche sich allesamt mit den Themen Meer und Sturm auseinandersetzen. Ganz semi-akademischen Arbeitsmethoden verpflichtet listen WATSON & NILSEN akribisch Mikrophon- und Rekordertypen auf, ohne diesen akustischen Ausflug an die stürmische See zu einer rein technischen Übung werden zu lassen. Die sehr dezent editieren Aufnahmen leben nicht vom schnellen Schnitt oder gewagten Effekten, sondern einzig und alleine von der puren Schönheit der Natur und seinen Gewalten. Man hört das Meer, Möven krähen, Sturm zieht auf - und irgendwo am Strand stehen die Herren Klangforscher mit ihren Aufnahmegeräten. Unbewertbar schön. [Sascha Bertoncin]

Octopus (France):

Chris Watson et BJ Nilsen ont deux point communs. Le premier est qu'ils développent tous deux des travaux sonores environnementaux où les éléments naturels occupent le plus souvent une place de premier plan. Le deuxième est qu'ils vivent aussi tous deux sur le front de mer, sur des côtes déchiquetées, balayés par les tempêtes d'équinoxe et de solstice. De la mer du Nord à la côte balte, Storm réunit donc trois pièces dantesques où les différents éléments (la mer, les oiseaux, le vent) se relayent pour entretenir vivace une agitation débordante et les fils d'un étonnant dialogue. Les brefs moments d'accalmie offrent d'étranges échanges ornithologiques. Sur "No Man's Land", on est convié avec une proximité sidérante, à des conversations de volatiles que l'on imagine balancés par le ressac sur les vagues à flanc de falaises, profitant du passage de l'¦il du cyclone pour rassembler les membres dispersés de la colonie. Sur l'intro de "SIGWX", des sonorités rauques ressemblant à celles de phoques se font sourdement entendre tandis qu'à l'horizon le bruit de l'orage se rapproche, offrant un contraste saisissant entre la précarité d'un instant de plénitude déclinant face à l'inexorabilité du danger. Dans "Austrvegr", la tempête s'installe, mais là c'est avec différents abris utilisés par les deux preneurs de sons que le dialogue se noue. Derrière les murs d'un cottage, sous la frondaison d'abris de fortune, la force de la pluie qui s'abat, du vent qui tournoie offrent de nouvelles échappées tumultueuses à cette odyssée sonore à la brutalité tactile. [Laurent Catala]

De:bug (Germany):

Sound of Music (Sweden):

Att spela in ljud är en av mina äldsta drömmar. Samla på naturens musik, stadsbuller och allt däremellan. Någon gång ska det projektet ta fart. Och med ett ökat intresse de senaste åren för skivor med fältinspelningar kan man sitta hemma i fåtöljen och lyssna på ljud från vitt skilda miljöer. Ibland blir det lättköpt när musiker som knep för att skapa en speciell stämning bakar in fågelkvitter, avlägsna röster och andra ickemusikaliska inslag. Men ofta tycker jag att det tillför någonting, det finns så många intressanta ljud, så mycket musik i tingen.

I en Invisible Jukebox-intervju i The Wire för något år sedan uttryckte Chris Watson (en gång i tiden medlem i Cabaret Voltaire) stark skepsis mot musiker och artister som jobbar på det här sättet. Han är bara intresserad av rena naturljud. Hårda ord kan tyckas, men om man lyssnar på Chris Watsons album med fältinspelningar på Touch är det lätt att förstå åsikten. Det är fantastiska skivor. Nedslag på olika platser, många i samband med BBC-produktioner, med en strävan att verkligen fånga en plats, en händelse, från naturens mångskiftande värld.

De rena, naturliga, ljuden rymmer myriader av färger, stämningar. I de tre långa spåren på Chris Watsons förra skiva, ”Weather Report”, kommer ett begrepp som kompositioner in i bilden. Parallellerna med skapade musikstycken är tydlig. Samma känsla får jag av ”No Man´s Land” som inleder Chris Watson och BJ Nilsens skiva ”Storm”. Inspelningar från Storbritanniens nordöstra kust höstmånaderna oktober och november 2000 –2005 som klippts ihop. Detsamma gäller Nilsens bidrag ”Austrvegr” (inspelningar från Gotland och Öland) och ett tredje gemensamt stycke. Arbetet startade med att Nilsen spelade in stormar och föreslog ett gemensamt cd-projekt ”based around our mutual interests in the rhythms and music created when the elements combine over land and out to sea”, som Watson skriver på konvolutet.

Ingenmansland. Sjöfåglarnas rike. Vinden stegrar. Vattnet attackerar klipporna. Mikrofonerna närmar sig skummet, rytmerna i vattnets möte med det annalkande ovädret är i ständig förändring. Uppstigande och nedstigande, det är en fysisk upplevelse att lyssna. Efter nio minuter ungefär är det en annan akustik, ett kort tag låter det som man har hamnat i en undervattensgrotta. Fnys-, pip- och knorrljud tar vid. Frustande sälar? Valross? Eller stora fåglar. En albatrossfamilj? Det blåser mer och mer. Sjöfåglarna återkommer, cirkelrörelser, jag kan knappt simma, rädslan, respekten för havet. Strandområden. Klipporna. Människans frånvaro. Chris Watsons mikrofoner registrerar, dokumenterar, berättar. Ickemusik som är musik.

BJ Nilsens stormkomposition förflyttar oss till Östersjön. Jag fryser när jag skriver. Jag fryser när jag lyssnar. Mycket avlägsna fåglar vid något tillfälle. Vinden och vattnet i ett mäktigt samspel. Samtidigt vill jag vara där, stå i varma kläder och lyssna på rytmerna. Är det natt? Det känns så. Åtminstone när det blåser hårt och skoningslöst. Vattenskvalpet en bit efter mitten har en mer melodisk klang. En lugnande effekt. Senare ljud studsar mot föremål. Trädgrenar kanske, något fladdrar, inspelat i ett tält? Rinnande vatten nära mikrofonerna. Små och stora element.

Det gemensamma stycket startar med djur(?)läten. Långsamma, fuktiga yl. Vattnet närmar sig och är i centrum.Inte lika mycket vindljud. Steg mot sanden, mellanrummet. Zonen innan och efter havet. Det regnar igen. Spikar. Kalla nålar. Tjocka partiklar. Det ökar och ökar och ökar. Flera nivåer av ljud. Många detaljer. En tyst rytm, komprimerat, fåglar.

Chris Watson och BJ Nilsen använder mikrofoner som sina instrument. Det är en överväldigande ljudupplevelse. Naturens enorma krafter i en renande symfoni.

Earlabs (The Netherlands):

The text on the cd cover explains that both recordists have worked over a period of a couple of year: "During December 2000 several significant storm fronts developed across the North Sea and Scandinavia. Benny remarked to me that he had recorded some of these on the Baltic coast and proposed a collaborative cd project based around our mutual interests in the rhythms and music created when the elements combine over land and out to sea. We spent the next few years gathering recordings on our respective coastlines and islands during the very active weather windows during the autumnal equinox and winter solstice. This was focused around our following one particular cyclonic system, which veers over Snipe Point on Lindisfarne to the Isle of May in the Firth of Forth, and finally descends upon Öland and Gotland where Benny listened in with a favourite pair of Sennheiser omnidirectional microphones.”

Nilsen and Watson are a good match to each other. The recordings are clear, open and well edited leading to an interesting spectacle (sic) for the listener. A storm is of course one of the most dramatic features / presentations of nature and in these recordings is treated as such. I am not so familiar with Nilsen’s work but Watson is sort of a legend. I know his work since the late 70’s when he was the odd guy in Cabaret Voltaire, who did the strange tape loops. Later he was part of Hafler Trio, which to me certainly broke new ground. Actually I think that from the moment on Watson left the H3 musically it was a lost case. I have been searching for the whereabouts of Watson for some years and then found out that he joined the BBC to serve as a sound recordist for nature documentaries. I have indeed seen his name pass by in several BBC programs. I was pleased to see that some of the recordings that he made in the past years made it to a cd production, although his factual approach was somewhat disappointing. I guess Watson’s primary objective is to produce state of the art field recordings and is less focused on creating a compositional structure. But I can be mistaken. After all, just like a nature documentary is quite rarely only a factual sequence of scenes but a composition aimed at subduely capturing the attention of the viewer, Watson’s audio works might have been worked with the same approach. On this disc I hear clearly a more compositorial approach.

The first composition of field recordings is a solo work by Chris Watson. He recorded over a period of five years every November and December. The sea is present, lots of birds (their behavior to fishermen bring messages about the change of weather). Then there is a silent part, where mostly the sloshing of water on the rocks is heard. This sloshing becomes more and more violent, at first in the low tones (without the high pitched foam) after which we can hear the higher pitched flogging of the wind on the waves can be heard approaching. And then again a pause. Watson masterfully builds up and some young sea lions (I believe) howling in the wind. After this pause we can hear sea lions lying on the rocks (inside a cave even?). These are the new protagonists of Watson’s play. Their howling and wailing is taken over by the storm that rapidly approaches. The end of this composition is an intriguing soundsculpture.

The second composition is a coop between Watson and Nilsen. I don’t know the nature of their cooperation but I guess basic recordings have been exchanged and several edits have flown over the North Sea. The intention is clearly not to set up a coherent scenery but much more a construct of recordings that deal with sea / water / shore / sea birds / sea lions / wind / thunderstorm / footsteps on a pebble beach. Some of the sounds are quite obviously mixed into the basis. There is nothing wrong with this approach but now and again left and right channel are filled with different sound sources and at other places I suspect that the sounds are too much out of phase. This could have been better.

The final work is by BJ Nilsen. He immediately starts with an intimidating storm, very impressive. There is some high frequency hiss in the recording but that actually adds to the sound because it can be associated to the foaming of the water that you can see in a storm. The composition progresses in a few big moves from open (with lots of low and high frequencies) to a closed sound and then opens up again. Thus the sound is colored which is exactly how a storm proceeds. I think that Nilsen has enhanced this effect a little but it is quite skillfully done. After 10 minutes a hailstorm adds high pitched spikes to the ever continuing wind force.

There are similarities and differences between the two composers. Both keep close their original material, without any additives. Watson is a skilfull constructor who builds up his material in a quiet pace. Nilsen seems to like to enhance the recorded material, making the colors deeper and so reach a more dramatic result. Nevertheless, they both deliver a very interesting composition. [Jos Smolders]

Dusted (USA):

Environmental recordings are often used to sooth, but as anyone who’s stepped outside their door without a coat on a typical Chicago (or Moscow, or Breckenridge, or Beijing) January night knows, Mother Nature isn’t always up for coddling her babies. Chris Watson (ex-Cabaret Voltaire) and BJ Nilsen (a.k.a. Hazard) bring a keen consciousness of the power of natural forces to their outdoor recordings; the way they let wind, rain and waves blast out of your speakers might make you reach for your best boots and slicker and look for high ground.

Each man contributed one track to Storm, and they collaborated on a third. Watson’s “No Man’s Land” takes its title literally; the only voices you hear come from sea birds and seals, although the latter’s vocal range overlaps quite disturbingly with that of human victims of torture. No man in his right mind would want to spend too much time in the surf that dominates the piece, which was collected during five years of autumnal recording along the North Sea coastline but stitched seamlessly together by Watson to evoke a relentless storm surge.

Nilsen’s “Austrvegr” stands on the opposite shore, Sweden’s to be exact, and forgoes animal sounds to focus on wind, water and whatever they happen to strike. Not many things are harder to record faithfully than a stiff breeze, and there are points where you are conscious that you’re hearing sounds conducted (and limited) by a microphone. He also uses sounds the sounds of rain upon roofs, further acknowledging the presence of humanity even as he excludes its sounds. But it’s a humanity dwarfed by the powers on display.

In between the solo pieces lies “SIGWX,” which lasts over half an hour. It weaves the sounds of one gale, taken from both England and Scandinavia, into a dynamic auditory adventure. Rain, waves and wind rise and subside; a vast range of possible water sounds unfolds without hurry. Both recordists leave more evidence of their handiwork, processing some of the sounds, juxtaposing others in a trans-oceanic dialogue, and at one point bringing things down to silence, the better to manage the tension that arises from extended exposure to the sounds of storm.

This CD is not the place to turn if you’re looking for a sleep aid or an adjunct to your court-ordered anger management class, but as an emotionally evocative experience of sound or a reminder that nature still has the upper hand, it’s impressive. [Bill Meyer]

Rumore (Itay):

MCD (France):

Gonzo Circus (Belgium):

In de zomer van 2000 werden er grote stormen waargenomen aan de kust van Scandinavië en de Noordzee. Het inspireerde Chris Watson en Bj Nilsen om over een periode van vijf jaar op regelmatige tijdstippen opnames te maken aan de kust. Het resultaat van hun monnikenwerk krijgt met de release van 'Storm' nu een slotstuk. Voor Chris Watson, ooit actief bij Cabaret Voltaire en nu voltijds medewerker bij de BBC waar hij het geluid bij natuurdocumentaires verzorgd, is het geen nieuw gegeven. Op zijn vroeger plaatwerk horen we een bezielende Watson die geluiden documenteert en die op de eerste plaats vooral een ‘goed luisteraar’ bleek te zijn. Ook voor Bj Nilsen was het geen ongekend terrein. De Zweed maakte in zijn platen en installaties ook al gebruik van field recordings. Watson opent de plaat met een nummer dat hij opbouwde uit verschillende opname die hij maakte op de stranden van Bodly Bay. Het tweede luik ‘SIGWX’ werd door beiden opgenomen in Viking. Nilsen is verantwoordelijke voor het slotnummer dat hij opname op de kust van Gotland en Ötland in Zweden. Watson en Nilsen slagen met ‘Storm’ in hun opzet om een plaat te maken die verder grijpt dan de ‘pure opname’. Verschillende stukken werden minutieus in elkaar gevlochten tot een coherent muziekstuk, waarin wind, regen en water de muziekinstrumenten vormen. ‘Storm’ is een uitgediept stukje natuur, samengesteld door twee fanaten, luisteraars met een uitzonderlijk goed gehoor. Watson en Bj Nilsen weten hoe de wind klinkt. Denk daar maar even over na. Fascinerende neerslag van een stuk natuur. [Peter Deschamps]

Neural (Italy):

Stridulo, inquieto vociare dei gabbiani prima della tempesta, naturali ma allo stesso tempo aliene sequenze sonore, segnali d'un cambiamento climatico significativo, amplificato nella fedele registrazione degli eventi. In ascolto del frangersi delle maree, della pioggia e del vento, c'è Chris Watson, membro dei Cabaret Voltaire e degli Hafler Trio, insieme allo sperimentatore elettronico svedese Bj Nilsen (a sua volta attivo come Hazard e membro degli Janitor). Una coppia di ricercatori che già ricordiamo assieme in 'Wind' e poi in 'Land', rispettivamente per Ash International e Touch, sempre nel 2001. Anche queste registrazioni risalgono all'incirca a quello stesso periodo e sono state realizzate seguendo diversi fronti tempestosi, sviluppatisi fra il Mare del Nord e la Scandinavia, operando ciascuno su coste differenti, principalmente usando buoni microfoni omnidirezionali. Un opera interessante proprio per le sue qualità 'immersive' in ambiti che non è facilmente dato esperire, editata e mixata con tutta la sapienza possibile in studio a Stoccolma cinque anni dopo.

[trans: The shrill, worried seagulls' clamor before the storm, a natural but at the same time alien sound sequence, a signal of an important climatic change, amplified by the faithful recording of the events. Chris Watson, member of Cabaret Voltaire and Hafler Trio, is listening the tides breaking over the cliffs, the rain and the wind together with Bj Nilsen (aka Hazard and member of Janitor). A couple of researchers that composed also 'Wind' and 'Land', released by Ash International and Touch in 2001. This is the same period, more or less, of the 'Storm' recordings. These were made following different stormy fronts, breaking out in the North Sea and Scandinavia. Each of the two members recorded on different coasts, mainly using good omnidirectional microphones. An interesting work for its own 'immersive' quality, related to events that it's not banal to see live, then edited and mixed in Stockholm, five years after, with the best conceivable mastery.] [Aurelio Cianciotta]

(Denmark):

Det er ofte i samarbejdet med andre, at det mest kunstneriske interessante resultat kan finde sted. Hvor det er beundringsværdigt at udvikle en individuel æstetik, så er det måske endnu mere vanskeligt at lade en individuel vision udfordre af andre og skabe en syntese, der kan bære et værk.

Den svenske lydkunstner B(enny) J(onas) Nilsen synes at have en gave for at involvere sig med andre og skabe æstetiske rum, der er resultatet af mødet med forskellige kunstneriske stemmer, men stadig har det organiske værks aura. På nye samarbejder med henholdsvis islandske Stilluppsteypa og Chris Watson får Nilsen endnu engang skubbet grænserne for hvad man kunne kalde posthuman musik.

Drykkjuvísur Óhljódanna tager udgangspunkt i en arketypisk fristelse: drikfældighedens velsignelser og forbandelser. Sammen med islandske Stilluppsteypa, der består af Sigtrygggur Berg Sigmarsson og Helgi Thorsson, har BJ Nilsen sat sig for at lave et værk, der forvandler det alkoholiske delirium til kolde landskaber af lyd. Dette er på ingen måder drikkeviser i traditionel forstand. Her er ingen ord, ingen løsagtighed eller frivolitet, ingen primitiv manifestering af brovtende maskulinitet eller rå seksualdrift. Drikkeviserne er snarere et filosofisk anliggende, der udspringer af alkoholens paradoks: at den på ene side er en vej ind i forglemmelsen, en flugt fra verden, men at den på den anden side også er en skærpelse af opfattelsen i en slags tåget klarsyn: rusen som et sandhedsserum, der åbner for nye verdener. Drykkjuvísur Óhljódanna er i den forstand ikke et socialt ansvarligt værk, der forsøger at advare om alkoholens alvorlige konsekvenser, men snarere en rapport om en ændring af bevidstheden efter den som en svamp har suget til sig af spiritus (bemærk den etymologiske forbindelse til ordet "ånd").

Over seks "numre" eller "spor" får vi en stadig mere dyster rejse ind i mørkets hjerte gennem lavmælt susende, knitrende støj og vindblæste landskaber. Der er noget sugende mørkt, men samtidig også eminent sublimt ved disse lyde, der synes renset for menneskelig involvering. Det er som være vidne til en gigantisk åndende organisme. Mest af alt minder det om Islands uendelige udstrakte "levende" landskaber. Den hvide sne er blot erstattet med hvid støj. Der er vanskeligt at tale om en egentlig udvikling af musikken. Netop fordi musikken fremstår uden egentlig begyndelse eller ende, men "blot" er sat i tid, er en fortolkning af musikken fuldstændig åben. Dette svarer godt til kunstnernes intention, som den er beskrevet i pressematerialet: "BJ Nilsen and Stilluppsteypa intend this recording as an open ended experience, wandering through their sound without the burden of any exigetical text that might get in the way."

Som lytter bliver man befriet for fortolkningens byrde, men det betyder også, at man må nulstille sine forventninger, når det kommer til at finde mening med musikken. Det er høj grad musik, der byder sig til ved sin blotte eksistens, akkurat som et fornemt designermøbel, det er umuligt at sidde i, men som kan beundres på afstand. Sådan er det med BJ Nilsen & Stilluppsteypa sonder af lyd. En stille beruselse uden mål eller mening. Beruselse for beruselsens skyld.

Et lige så fascinerende samarbejde som Drykkjuvísur Óhljódanna er BJ Nilsen kollaboration med Chris Watson på albummet Storm. Filosoffen Immanuel Kant forbandt altid det sublime med ekstraordinære naturfænomener som bjerge og havet, og hertil kunne man også tilføje storme.

Storm starter med en symfoni af fugle, inden regnen og stormen sætter ind. Optagelsen af naturen i dens mest magtfulde vælde er overvældende i sin klarhed. Vi hører havet, som befandt vi os under vandet, stormen suser og fuglene basker lige forbi øret. Kunstnerne siger selv følgende om processen med at optage albummet:

"We spent the next few years gathering recordings on our respective coastlines and islands during the very active weather windows during the autumnal equinox and winter solstice. This was focused around our following one particular cyclonic system, which weers over Snipe Point on Lindisfarne to the Isle of May in the Firth of Forth, and finally descends upon Öland and Gotland where Benny listened in with a favourite pair of Sennheiser omnidirectional microphones."

Resultat af disse field recordings er intet mindre end fortryllende. Sære lyde af dyr, skvulpende bølger og blæst danner et overdådigt maleri, der er overvældende i sin taktile sensualitet. Som med Drykkjuvísur Óhljódanna er det vanskeligt at finde ud, hvad man skal stille op med sådan et værk andet end blot træde undrende ind i det.

Hvor Drykkjuvísur Óhljódanna nærmer sig det sublime gennem monotoniens glaciale forskydninger af fine lag af støj, blæser Storm bogstaveligt lytteren ind i en anden verden. I begge "værker" er der tale om, at kunstnerne træder tilbage og i stedet lader lyden tale uden om genkendelige musikalske koncepter som melodi, harmoni og rytme. Det er posthuman musik, der er fremragende iscenesat. Det er bestemt ikke for alle og enhver, men har man først fundet ind i disse værker er det særdeles fascinerende lytning.

Som et appendiks bør det det nævnes, at Drykkjuvísur Óhljódanna kun udkommer i et oplag af tusind eksemplarer. Lyttere med interesse for denne udgivelse må derfor nok hellere sikre sig den før end senere. [Jakob Bækgaard]

Touching Extremes (Italy):

This CD is the result of six years of recordings that Watson and Nilsen made on the coastlines of North Sea and Scandinavia in order to satisfy their "mutual interests in the rhythms and music created when the elements combine over land and out to sea". The wind's strength, the heavy rain, the impressive roar of the billows (which becomes even scarier when one reads Nilsen's notes about his "Austrvegr" track) are obviously the most striking elements of the disc, being alternated with different environmental situations such as a sea cave where Watson recorded a segment of "No man's land", a place where what he calls
"siren songs" often sounds like a walrus in heat. I must admit that I'm partial to this kind of audio documentary, as both sea and wind have been an important part of my development and I perceive their voices as utterly familiar. But the high-quality recording standards which these artists have grown us accustomed to make sure that "Storm" is a compelling album for just anyone who owns the "inner ear" that renders the shrieks of a seagull, the gurgling of water and the rumble of a thunder all symbols of that undeterred resolution allowing us to resist
in the worst moments of our existence. A storm can make you feel like counting for nothing, but its astonishing effects on the psyche remain wonderful. [Massimo Ricci]

dziennik polski (Poland):

Buzz (UK):

GoMag (Spain):

Earplug (UK):

Nature is not your mother. Nature will swallow you and spit you out in meaty chunks, because that's the nature of Nature. Inspired by a shared fascination with the violent storms that raged in December 2000, phonographers Watson (Cabaret Voltaire) and Nilsen (Hazard) spent five years using their impressive arsenal of recording equipment to capture moments of climactic tension that approach the cinematic. Birds mass in anticipation of storms, cries fading gently into lapping ocean noise and back again; stark sounds float amid the waves that precede the calm-crushing tempest. The sounds on Storm may seem otherworldly, but that's because they're presented with such unusual immediacy. (DMC)

Gonzo Circus (Belgium):

XLR8R (USA):

Nordische Musik (Germany):

Sehr passend zu den heftigen Januarstürmen, die wir hier in Deutschland erlebt haben: »STORM«. Die Idee zu diesem Album entstand, als Benny Nilsen im Dezember 2000 einige Tonaufnahmen gemacht hatte von heftigen Stürmen, die über die Nordsee und Skandinavien hinweggefegt waren. Er und Chris Watson sammelten in der Folgezeit weiteres Material, zum Beispiel im Nordosten von
England und Schottland oder an den Südostküsten von Gotland und Öland.

Daraus mischten sie drei jeweils viertelstündige »Hörspiele«, die zugegebenermaßen Geduld erfordern. Bringt man sie auf, so kann man tief
eintauchen in diese akustischen Naturtapeten, die doch so überhaupt nicht taugen als klingendes Möbel. Vielmehr ergeht es einem so wie Blinden, die mehr zu hören in der Lage sind als das offensichtlich Hörbare. Man erkennt plötzlich
fein abgestufte Nuancen und nimmt das Spektakel als komponierte Aufführung war (die sie im Grunde durch die Nachbearbeitung ja auch ist). Kopfhörer
erleichtern den Ausflug in das Auge des Sturms, und dann fehlt nicht mehr viel, um das zu empfinden, was BJ Nilsen zu den Aufnahmebedingungen des Stücks »Austrvegr« schreibt: »A black ruthless sea. Heavy winds making it impossible to stand up straight, icy rain hitting your face like needles«. (peb)

Cyclic Defrost (USA):

Promulgating that figs don’t grow on thistles, one may look upon nature as something of a primordial mother, as something we grew out of rather than were born into. If it tickles one’s fancy, one might see the oceans as God’s tears - hence our desire to drown in them, as a short-cut to God through his tears. With Storm, sound archivist Chris Watson and experimental electronica musician BJ Nilsen forge a certain perspective and approach to nature, recording a series of large storms as they developed across the North Sea and Scandinavia during December of 2000.

These pieces offer a depiction of nature which is neither as mystical nor as motherly as the two aforementioned stories. Rather, the raw carnal force of nature and its ability to rupture the course of events with consummate indifference is paid close, careful attention. On ‘No Man’s Land’, in particular, this frenetic element in nature is not only manifested, but it is pushed into overdrive, volatized, and perfected by Watson’s editing and mixing prowess. Stitched together from a smattering of recordings captured along the North Sea over the course of five years, the thin, high-pitched and often tortured voices of an assortment of sea animals bristle with electricity and unease. Each new tidal surge of waves, scouring winds and squawking seagulls breaks the continuity of things and seems unreal, yet they make their entrance with stupefying ease. Nilsen’s piece, meanwhile, stands on the opposite side of the spectrum, sounding almost archaic as it opts for a trajectory which gives the work a very real sense of time and place.

At an hours length, the final track is a collage of sounds gathered from each of the artists respective geographical locations. As a result of the processing involved, the track dithers between the real and the imaginary - oscillating between representing particular events in stark clarity to tweaking and shrouding the details. The effect has something of the uncanny about it - all of the elements are familiar enough and can be traced back to tangible origins, yet arranged as they are, the whole appears foreign, peculiar; too theatrical to be real, yet plainly there. [Max Schaefer]

Signal to Noise (USA):

His Voice (Czechia):

Sound of Music (Sweden):

Chris Watson och BJ Nilsen använder mikrofoner som sina instrument. Det är en överväldigande ljudupplevelse. Naturens enorma krafter i en renande symfoni. [Magnus Olsson]

Neural (Italy):

The shrill, worried seagulls' clamor before the storm, a natural but at the same time alien sound sequence, a signal of an important climatic change, amplified by the faithful recording of the events. Chris Watson, member of Cabaret Voltaire and Hafler Trio, is listening the tides breaking over the cliffs, the rain and the wind together with BJNilsen (aka Hazard and member of Janitor). A couple of researchers that composed also 'Wind' and 'Land', released by Ash International and Touch in 2001. This is the same period, more or less, of the 'Storm' recordings. These were made following different stormy fronts, breaking out in the North Sea and Scandinavia. Each of the two members recorded on different coasts, mainly using good omnidirectional microphones. An interesting work for its own 'immersive' quality, related to events that it's not banal to see live, then edited and mixed in Stockholm, five years after, with the best conceivable mastery. [Aurelio Cianciotta]

S&V (Russia):

Bant (Turkey):

ideabiografica (Italy):

Decisamente è – ormai - da qualche anno che ascolto musica e scrivo di essa, ma – fino ad ora - non mi era mai capitato di “sentire” ciò che ora vi descriverò. Ghiaccio, diamante freddo allo stato puro… La label imputata alla pubblicazione di questi cd “bianchi” si chiama Touch e ha sede in quel di Londra. Ma con la pop music, la dance ed il rock non c'entra proprio nulla. La Touch impone una sua personale interpretazione (e naturale visione) dell’arte. Questa “personalissima” (e cruda) “interpretazione” si sviluppa in lavori veramente stranianti. Ad esempio Chris Watson (britannico di Sheffield, e nessuna parentela con la scena elettronica dei Cabaret Voltaire ect.) e Bj Nilsen (svedese) hanno letteralmente creato dal nulla “Storm”. “Tempesta” nella traduzione in italiano, cioè hanno registrato gli sconvolgimenti della natura nel mare del Nord. Tutto in stereofonia, così si potranno ascoltare il debordare delle acque e le “grida” degli uccelli. Opera totalmente avulsa da qualsiasi concetto commerciale. Come “Jessamine” a firma della neo zelandese Rosy Parlane, in cui rumori o “drones” urticanti scavano nel profondo della mente. Melodia ovviamente zero, tabula rasa desertificata. Rosy spezzetta vorticosamente tutto quello che si potrebbe definire suono, e castra ogni possibilità dell’arrivo di semplici note. Sarà che sto vertiginosamente invecchiando, però questi lapilli di “cultura” mi hanno catturato il cervello. Tutto molto bello come il capodanno dell’anno 2007, solitario, in preda alle onde marine e a scricchiolii circospetti… [Claudio Baroni]

Chris Watson - Weather Report

This CD was one of the albums of the year in The Wire (UK), 2003

Brainwashed (USA):

Chris Watson's third release for Touch sees him plunge into the depths of human subconciousness. Minute sounds are sometimes amplified and extended, forging a life of their own. The three tracks are audio documentaries which serve well to show what beauty our surroundings can create. Under a hazy, humid, insect-infested environment, "Ol-Olool-O" floats through lion grunts, boar squeals, and the sharp chattering of natives in the distance. Derived from a massive 14 hour recording session in Kenya, this opener made me sticky, hot, and uncomfortable. The persistent buzzing of mosquitoes pan from left to right, giving the feeling of sitting (and sizzling) in the middle of an exotic wildland. Ruffles from bird feathers, and bellowing of animals characterize much of the first piece. After getting all sweaty, Watson cools things off with "The Lapaich," collected from sounds taken over four months spent on the Scottish highland. Here, soft droplets of river water soon morph into a raging torrent. The collage of running water and chirping birds makes for a tranquil listen, although it's not as interesting as the first track. "The Lapaich" carries a damp and cold mood, possessing a kind of hidden intensity within. Unlike many other environmental artists, Watson feels no need to process or drastically change the original sounds of the recordings. He instead relies on the natural interactions between the weather and its inhabitants. There is an intimate prettiness to the pieces, each evolving over long stretches of time (eighteen minutes), allowing room for change and development to occur. It almost seems as if Watson deliberatly allows for events to unfold, gradually fleshing out the layers and textures to form a carefully sculpted audio journey. Despite the strengths of the first two pieces, the strongest track on Weather Report comes at the end. "Vatnajokull," a slow but constantly changing affair, provides the perfect soundtrack for time. Low rumbles are heard, delicately laced over icy drones and echoes. Recorded in Iceland, Watson managed to perfectly capture the sounds of colossal glaciers shifting and gliding, creating deep and hollow reverberations. With Weather Report, Chris Watson has successfully presented an engaging sonic experience, combining numerous contrasting elements interplaying together to produce a tranquil tapestry of sound. While minimalistic at parts, most sections consist of massive layering of drones. Those expecting "music" in the traditional sense may be caught off guard, but I was completely blown away by this pensive, and, at times, unsettling recording. Clocking at just under an hour, Weather Report provides a perfect escape from the noise and clatter of everyday city life. [Kevin Chong]

The Sound Projector (UK):

On his most ambitious work to date, Chris Watson takes the raw materials of his documentary recordings and goes one step further, by assembling and layering related recordings together in these three, powerful, 18-minute suites. This CD creates a profound, almost-panoramic experience thereby, surveying in sound the geophysical state of the globe today. First comes ‘Ol-Olool-O’, a collection of recordings brought back from Africa. We have the usual vivid recordings of animals, people, weather, and the sundry activity of scattered places, but sequenced together in ways that we couldn’t normally hear. Things are up close, then suddenly distant; several related sound events happen simultaneously, and do it in full stereo too. As though we were a ‘privileged’ ear moving freely through the wonders of the world and gathering in sensory information in abundance. Dans la nuit Africaine, la vie bouillonne et palpite. Here we enter the cauldron of primordial soup, communing with life in all its diverse and wondrous forms. Everything is bound in by the dramatic weather conditions, most noticeably the gathering storms whose darkening skies are all but visible, so utterly present are the sound recordings of it. Around index point 6:00, the lion’s roar ushers in the thunderstorm; it’s but one of many underplayed juxtapositions, coincidences and confluences of sound events that make this work all the stronger. 14 hours of life in the Masai Mara condensed into 18 minutes; without a doubt this track alone qualifies as the aural equivalent to Peter Kubelka’s famous micro-structured single-frame based film, Unsere Afrikareise (Our Trip to Africa).

‘The Laipach’ is a hymn to wind and water, gathered from the ‘music of a Scottish highland glen’ over a four-month period. The layered sounds are all totally in sympathy with each other, and with nature, bringing home the roaring energy of these waters. Clean air and clean waters are the abiding impression in this corner of an environmental paradise. The ‘mixage’ and editing technique again brings impossible, miraculous events to life...birdsong audible over the top of roaring waters. The drama of this work is, at times, almost terrifying; the implacable and awesome powers of nature are uncovered, and with great clarity.

‘Vatnajökull’ is the recording of ice floes from an Icelandic glacier, as it flows into the Norwegian sea. Here’s the most ‘alien’ sounds on the entire disc, mainly because they’re so unfamiliar; once again our privileged ear is witness to things we don’t normally encounter. A rare event; strange groaning, cracking and heaving over a constant hissing sound. It’s not overstating the case to say you can feel the physical properties of this huge mass of icy matter, its considerable volume amply conveyed and expressed by the in-depth, precise sound recording. A deep and mysterious experience will be thine, just through listening. The most eerie aspect of it is the strange ‘singing’ events which occur throughout, especially by the end of the piece when we’re tossing about on the ocean and an unidentifiable spectral singing hovers over the surface of the sea, causing you to believe in sirens.

With this exceptionally important release, Chris Watson confirms his unassailable position as one of the greatest sound artists alive in the world today. Clearly a man who so deeply loves our home planet that, like a latter-day 19th century explorer, he will go to tremendous lengths to seek out and bear witness to its most outlandish beauties, and bring back the materials necessary to assemble this - a detailed, living portrait of our planet’s weather, its life and eco-systems, its geography. The music he makes is always the result of a lengthy, painstaking process, one that involves travelling, listening, looking and learning, and a deep sensitivity to the mysteries of terra firma. His work benefits one hundredfold from this new compressed and layered, impressionistic story-telling approach; never has it sounded so utterly compelling, bringing the magic to life in your living room. A truly essential purchase. [Ed Pinsent]

The Guardian (UK):

Chris Watson's Weather Report (Touch) comprises three 18-minute collages assembled from recordings of the natural world. Watson, once a member of Cabaret Voltaire, is highly regarded as a sound recording specialist, with a track record that includes many of David Attenborough's TV series and several documentaries for BBC Radio 4. The recordings on this disc were made in Kenya, Scotland and on an Iceland glacier. There are low creaking sounds, atmospherics, wind, and sections that sound a little like barely vibrating wires. Birdsong and other animal noises are heard through the general ambience, but rarely in the foreground. Watson's disc is less like "music" that Rose's [the previously reviewed CD - ed.], but has a calmness and improvised pace that makes it more repeatable that the latter's scraping and clanging... [John L. Walters]

bigchill.net (UK):

Killer ambient album from the third of Cabaret Voltaire who became a specialist in field recordings. That’s lions, rivers and Icelandic glaciers to you and me, recorded with immaculate clarity for hours and hours on end and then edited into 18-minute minute sonic odysseys. Slowly, steadily, they reveal the beatless music of the natural world, wrapping the listener in the a profound sense of austere beauty. Light years away from ‘sounds of the rainforest’ bollocks, this is truly amazing stuff for those who have the late night listening habits necessary to absorb it. [Freddie Baveystock]

allmusic.com (web):

It took five years for sound recordist extraordinaire Chris Watson to come up with a follow-up to the 1998 CD Outside the Circle of Fire. Weather Report was worth the wait. Again, Watson delivers a platter of amazing sounds. He is not a field recording purist, but he doesn’t turn his prime materials into abstract sound art either. His nature recordings are left untouched, but he selects, blends and edits the sounds together to form aural storylines of great beauty and immediacy. Plus, his recording skills put you right where he wants you to be. In Ol-Olool-O that would be in the Kenyan savannah. A lion’s roar opens this 18-minute reduction of a 14-hour recording of nature playing by its own rules. The Lapaich takes place from September to December in a Scottish highland glen (again seamlessly reduced to 18 minutes). Rain is the predominant sound, but there is a lot more going on, including a number of cows [red deer - ed.] saluting the recordist. Vatnajökull the third and last piece, proposes another very different setting: an Icelandic glacier in the middle of the Norwegian Sea. The crackling of the natural ship (it really sounds like a huge boat made of wood planks), wind and the songs of seagulls form the core of the soundscape. Each different sound becomes a new character in these three stories, a character you may grow attached to. Index points mark out chapters, moments where the action is interrupted and resumes at a later point, from another perspective. In certain moments, you wonder if Watson is not playing God -- come on, he did make rain fall at this precise moment, right? Weather Report is totally absorbing and one of the best listening experiences to be had in the art of field recording. [François Couture]

in-press(Australia):

Once a member of English punk funk outfit Cabaret Voltaire and the equally different Hafler Trio, Chris Watson has more recently carved out a career as a freelance field recordist, with his work appearing on television, film and radio. Apparently he even boasts a couple of David Attenborough docos. Weather Report is his third release for the Touch label, a label renowned for the work of the likes of Fennesz, Oren Ambarchi and Phillip Jeck. Unlike these artists however, Watson’s palette is the natural world and unlike the work of Francisco Lopez and co, Watson indulges in no electronic manipulation and makes no attempts to remove the sounds from their context. Whilst he has previously quite neatly recorded everything from the sounds of a lion to a whale in quiet isolation, on Weather Report Watson has set his sights a little wider. Using a system of time compression he has reduced 14 hours to 18 minutes, on the first track recorded in Kenya’s Masi Mara in October 2002. Wild game, birds, humans, bugs, hungry sounding carnivores and a rainstorm all make an appearance, and the sounds are immediate and awe inspiring, telling an audio story about this specific place at this particular time. The second piece, also 18 minutes, features the sounds of a Scottish Highland Glen from September to December, beginning with the sound of rain, footsteps seemingly stepping through a creek and a dull roar, later incorporating chattering of birds and a pounding gale. This piece is so vivid that you almost want to rug up in front of an open fire to listen. The third piece again comes from a cold environment, the creaks, groans and deep low rumbling of an Icelandic glacier. The sounds here, an enduring bass heavy groan, coupled with a strange cracking are unbelievably eerie, though also perhaps also the most likely to be mistaken for processed avant garde electronics, in much the same way Alan Lamb’s wind on decommissioned powerlines apes a frosty night of sound manipulation at the Punters Club. This is no babbling brook and though the experience is no less vivid, how you respond is much less defined. [Bob Baker Fish]

Phosphor (The Netherlands):

After Chris Watson's involvement in Cabaret Voltaire and his involvement in Hafler Trio with Andrew McKenzie, both quite a long time ago he started to make sound recordings for David Attenborough's TV series and several documentaries for BBC Radio 4 and got a reputation as being a specialist in field recordings. Both his previous albums for Touch, Outside the circle of Fire (1998) and Stepping into the Dark (1996) confirmed his excellent skills as an intrepid documenter of wildlife. With Weather Report he focuses on the bigger picture, not just animals but the places in which they reside, which means a lot of weather phenomena have been included. Another aspect is that he now constructs collages of sounds and natural changes over time, though always based upon the specific location. Weather Report is 54 minuts long and devided in three equal parts. The first part entitled Ol-Olool-O treats Kenya's Masai Mara exotic environment. In this cinematic sound setting one notices that a tropical shower of rain starts to dominate the landscape. Insects chirp and large mammals bellow in the arid heat as the thunder and promise of rain causes their frantic excitement to grow. In the middle of this heavy weather a pour animal starts to whine, as if being killed. The clarity of the recording is so fine that feels pity for it. The weather improves and the atmosphere changes with it, slowly returning to the original situation. The second track called The Lapaich shows us what the Scottish highland can sound like in the autumn and winter. Of course there is a heavy wind and the geese that have something to say about it. One can hear some water splashing, more water sounds and the complaining cows [red deer - ed.] . Unfortunately it's not a fluid story, like during the first track. Vatnajökull, sounding like a drone piece is the darkest track on this album. The wind blowing in a microphone gives this recording a mysterious aspect. The majestic dark craking is ominous and omnipresent. This 10,000 year climatic journey of ice formed deep within this Icelandic glacier and its lingering flow into the Norwegian Sea has been translated in deep organic bassscapes and a magical deep, low, muffled roar-like the sound. At the end of the track there is also the complaining of the seagulls and the squeaks of some other birds plus the wind noises and the heavy sounds of water. This wonderful album encourages us to really listen and makes us realize that there are so many beautiful sounds out there. Chris Watson discovered and recorded this world we should be aware of ourselves. [Paul Bijlsma]

Aquarius Records (USA):

Oooh. We're super pleased to get this new Chris Watson field recordings album (see note below). He's one of our favorites in the realm of just going out in the world, shutting up, and listening. With really good equipment and recording skills, that is. In the past he's brought us up close and personal with a variety of African wildlife, as well as the fauna of his native England. Now with the perhaps too-obviously titled "Weather Report" he focuses on the bigger picture, not just animals but the places in which they reside, which means a lot of weather phenomena in the mix. There's three long tracks, each providing an aural portrait of a location over time. Kinda like time-lapse film, but the action is not sped up here, just carefully edited together. They're all natural environments, not urban, the first ("Ol-Oloool-O") taking you on a virtual expedition into the wilds of Kenya's Masai Mara, one day in October 2002. The next, "The Lapaich" compresses four months of sound from a Scottish highland glen in the fall and winter. Lastly, "Vatnajokull" closely examines the slow flow of a glacier in Iceland, which sounds like a drone piece from our experimental section. From animals, birds and insects to washes of wind and rain to quiet, creaking ice, this is all pretty darn magical. Newcomers to Watson's work should note that there's no processing of the sound to make it "experimental music", it's a straight-up documentary with no additions or interference (aside from the neccessary edits). Then again, I suppose it is "music" in the John Cage 4'33'' sense. And it's wonderful sound. Amazing, vibrantly real stuff that'll fire your imagination. If you've seen that amazing new documentary movie "Winged Migration" you've got a filmic analogy to the kind of thing Watson captures here. NB. You know, it's a bit embarrassing, but we've never listed this man's releases in our database before, aside from the "Star Switch On" disc of remixes and his contribution to Hazard's "Wind". Whoops! Dunno how that happened, 'cause we're all really big fans of his work. So, at least we can offer a timely review of this, his third proper release on Touch, and perhaps retroactively review his previous efforts "Outside The Circle Of Fire" and "Stepping Into The Dark" on a future list.

BBC (UK):

Those of us with long memories may remember Chris Watson as the third member of the original line-up of Sheffield electronic punk funkers Cabaret Voltaire and later with 'industrial' noise scientists The Hafler Trio. Since then he's got a proper job as a TV and radio sound recordist. Two CDs have presented his wildlife recordings, made in locations that range from the Scottish highlands to the Serengeti and documenting the activities of creatures from whales to deathwatch beetles. Weather Report is slightly different (and in case you were wondering, has nothing to do with Joe Zawinul). Here, Watson documents meterological phenomena, and has for the first time opted to edit his recorded material (or 'time compress' it), ending up with three 18 minute pieces sourced from hours of material. This seems like a big step; though Watson hasn't treated his recordings in any way, this collage process hints at an artistic or editorial intent that wasn't apparent on the earlier records. This is cinema for the ears. Episodes of rain, thunder and wind are rendered in stunning fidelity; headphones and closed eyes are essential. Watson's way with a microphone is nothing short of awe inspiring. Animals, birds and for a brief moment, human sounds flit in and out, seemingly at the mercy of the elements and without an umbrella in sight. A strong sense of narrative, coupled with the extended lengths of these pieces makes for a much more engaging listen than Watson's previous CDs, which despite their extraordinary contents seemed more like BBC sound effects discs than anything else. The third piece presents the sound of Icelandic ice floes cracking and melting. It's hard to imagine that these muted scrapes, cracks, whooshes and soft, ghostly moans are the result of natural processes (there's a very nice kickdrum sound in there that Richard D. James would be proud of), but maybe that's only to be expected in our primarily visual culture. Watson's work argues for the equality of the ear with the eye, and maybe even its supremacy. Listen. [Pete Marsh]

Wreck This Mess (France):

Chris Watson est un chasseur de sons. Un véritable aventurier qui parcourt, tel un ethnologue, les régions reculées de notre planète à la recherche de trésors acoustiques. Cet album est fruit de sa dernière collecte qui l'a mené sur les terres des Massaïs, au Kenya, au fin fond des Highlands, en Écosse, ainsi qu'à Vatnajökull, un glacier perdu à l'extrême nord de la Island. Trois paysages différents qu'il nous restitue, dans leur plénitude respective. Trois ambiances sonores prises sur le vif. Sans fioritures, ni effets. Chris Watson nous fait redécouvrir le pouvoir évocateur du bruit, des bruits naturels. De la savane africaine, nous percevons la chaleur étouffante, le pas mat des bergers sur le sol, les plaintes de leurs bêtes, le grondement des bêtes sauvages qui rodent, le bourdonnement des insectes… Du pays des hautes terres, nous parvient la rumeur de l'automne, puis nous ressentons la rudesse de l'hiver et ses habitants… Enfin, nous éprouvons l'immensité, le vide et le danger du désert glacé qui se traduit par du souffle, des crissements et des explosions sourdes. Issu de la scène industrielle dont il fut l'un des pionniers au sein de Cabaret Voltaire, Chris Watson s'est vu notamment décerné un prix pour ses travaux naturalistes en 2000, lors de l'ARS Electronica Festival à Linz, en Autriche. Outre ses prestations en tant qu'ingénieur du son pour la BBC et des films documentaires, il a également apporté son soutien technique à AER, Biosphere, Fennesz, Hazard, Philip Jeck et Mika Vainio ! Laurent Diouf]

VITAL (The Netherlands):

This is, at long last Chris Watson's third solo CD. Chris, at one point a member of Cabaret Voltaire and then of The Hafler Trio, is these days for his field recording work. His first two solo CDs were straight recordings, with no altering of sounds afterwards. The liner notes documented what was heard and how it was recorded. Very much like his work for Sir David Attenborough and his BBC TV programm 'Life Of...'. Now Chris marks his second step: he composes music using his field recordings. These recordings are from one place, but recorded over varying periods of time and put back in the form of a collage. Each of the three tracks lasts 18 minutes, the conceptualism which eludes me. One piece is with sounds from Africa, one with sounds from Scotland and one from Iceland. This new work is a big step forward for Chris Watson. From the sheer documentation to composing using environmental sound. It's hard to believe, but probably very much true, that no electronics were used in these recordings. Especially in the last piece, 'Vatnajokull', the wind blowing in a microphone and the closely miked sounds have an electronic character, but maybe just has to do with placement of the microphones. This is captivating stuff, which hardly sounds like a collage, ie there is no cut up technique going on, just gradual changes. Maybe his best album so far. (FdW

Stylus Magazine (USA):

Chris Watson is a former member of Cabaret Voltaire and the Hafler Trio and a current field recorder for nature programs (including David Attenborough's "Life of..." BBC series). Oh, and he also releases electronic music. Weather Report is his third full-length work. It consists of three eighteen-minute tracks recorded on location in Kenya, Scotland, and Iceland. The tracks consist entirely field recordings of natural sounds-animals, wind, grass, rain, ice, and water. Importantly, each track was pared down from however many hours of recordings, and the various natural sounds were selected, organized, and compiled to tell a particular story about the places Chris Watson visited. I would be lying if I didn't give away one key point here: the first two tracks, while interesting in their own right, did not hold my attention. The Kenya track had-what else?-animal noises. The Scottish track? Perhaps rain, storms, wind? You got it. Ah, but the Iceland track-that's the one. It was recorded in and around the massive glacier Vatnajökull, which covers 8% of the surface of Iceland. To me, this track is mesmerizing. Then again, I'm a little biased. You see, I've been there. In the summer of 1984, I spent two months living with a family in Akureyri, Iceland. Akureyri is located in the north of the island, at the mouth of a massive fjord. During the summer, however, I went with my "family" to the south of the island, to stay with another family at their farm near Vatnajökull. This area is on the south edge of the island. There's a huge inlet pool that is made up in part of the Atlantic Ocean and in part from the runoff from the glacier itself. This runoff, in fact, has created the signature image of the glacier-towering cliffs of ice all clumped together as if it were created to be an ideal photo-op. If you've ever seen the beginning of the James Bond film, A View to a Kill, you'll recognize these ice formations as the one Bond skis over while being pursued by Russians (or whoever the villains are in that damn film). It's an amazing place in a country full of amazing places. So I had this image of Vatnajökull in my mind as I started listening to this album. I was expecting to hear waves, wind, drops of water, a few puffins chirping away, perhaps even some crashing sounds as ice falls into the sea. However, that wasn't anywhere close to what I actually heard. More than anything else, Watson's "Vatnajökull" is dominated by a deep, low, muffled roar-like the sound of an underground river that is close enough to the surface that it is audible but not visible. Amidst this roar are a variety of sounds whose origins can only be imagined: creaking, whooshing, dripping, roaring, gurgling, huffing, and crashing noises that seem to gurgle into life and sputter away, retaining an ever-present mystery. There were even some whistling sounds that seemed to be straight out of one of the worlds in Myst. And, while, there do appear a swarm of bird chirps towards the end of the track, along with a smattering of wind noises and even what I think were seal wails, I have to admit that my first impression was of wonder. It's truly an eerie track, if only because the sounds-all natural, unedited sounds-seem so, well, so unnatural. And so the track fascinates me, if only because Watson managed to turn one of the more memorable experiences in my life into something that I not only struggle to recognize but something that is so fundamentally alien sounding that it seems to emerge from some alternate universe, a universe of enclosed spaces and impending doom. I know my impression of this album is shaped by my own personal experience, experiences no one else can possibly understand. Hence, my attempts to be objective about this album are destined to fail. But what I can take away from this work-and what I hope you, too, can appreciate-is simply the realization that the world sounds a hell of a lot different than it looks, and when an artist takes away all visual signals and forces audiences to listen and only to listen to a particular place, then we can hear things we'd never see in a thousand visits to the same location. I've been to Vatnajökull, but I never really heard it until I heard this album. [Michael Heumann]

Dusted (USA):

Keeping an Ear to the Ground
One can't glance at Chris Watson's discography cursorily - at least not without avoiding a perplexed double take. As the founding member of the late-70s Sheffield trio Cabaret Voltaire, Watson experimented with a very modern, very vanguard, and - by extension - very urban palette of proto-punk/industrial noise. CV's mix of guitar, electronics, and tape loop splicing was nothing if not rigorously structured and texturally dense. Then, following his stint in Cabaret Voltaire (and later the Hafler Trio), Watson abandoned the music industry entirely to work as a field recordist for wildlife documentaries, creating soundtracks and solo releases from unadulterated recordings that he'd captured at remote locations around the world. Although these projects are, in obvious ways, radically different from his Sheffield experiments, Watson's close attention to the texture and sonority of sound has never wavered, whether dealing with treated electronics or the flapping of feathered wings. Weather Report, Watson's third full-length effort on Touch, extends his evolving fascination with environmental sounds by way of three eighteen-minute pieces recorded in Kenya, Scotland, and Iceland.

Inherent in Weather Report's unique documentation of an exotic "reality" is a key paradox: the majesty of nature is all around - capturing it in a snapshot (or field recording) on the one hand seems deceptively simple, requiring merely the snap of a shutter or the click of a recording device. In truth, however, this type of documentation requires some form of fixed subjectivity, some compression of nature's scope into a palatable essence, some authorial emphasis on a sound or image we might otherwise miss. The more effortless and self-effacing this subjective presence is made to seem, the more difficult it is to render. Which is why, for example, in Jacques Perrin's new film "Winged Migration," an 85-minute documentary about the migration of birds, 250 miles of film had to be shot, using motorized aircraft, gliders, hot air balloons, and helicopter-lifted cameras that were operated by 14 cinematographers in 42 countries over a duration of four years. Or why, in the 1970s, Robert Smithson required numerous cranes, bulldozers, and helicopters to create and document Earth Art pieces like Spiral Jetty (1970) and Amirillo Ramp (1973). This paradox of natural, or "real" art is the paradox of nature itself - its materials are inescapable and at the same time inaccessible, both too large and too small to ever get our eyes, ears, hands, or minds around.

On each of his solo records, Watson combats this paradox in a similar manner as Perrin and Smithson: with technological prowess and human persistence. 1996's Stepping Into the Dark, for example, cabled tiny, ultrasensitive microphones over great distances to capture the chirps and croaks of insects, frogs, and bats. 1998's Outside the Circle of Fire used omnidirectional microphones buried deep inside a zebra carcass to capture the otherwise inaccessible sounds of vultures feeding on raw flesh. With Weather Report, Watson has this time opted not to share the intricate and highly technical details of his recording set-up, but the results attest to its complexity. In fact, Weather Report presents new challenges, because with it Watson sets out to capture the essence of his three locations as they shift over time in response to natural changes. Thus in order to communicate the gradual crescendo of animal and insect excitement as a storm rolls across Kenya's Masai Mara, or the shifting rumble of water in a Scottish highland glen through autumn and into winter, Watson uses his authorial hand more forcefully, editing his material for purposes of dynamics and compression. For this reason the results are less "objective," but the increased focus on temporal changes makes for what are often even richer compositions.

"Ol-Olool-O" compresses the fourteen-hour drama of a thunderstorm into a tightly packed eighteen minutes. Insects chirp and large mammals bellow in the arid heat as the rumble of wind and promise of rain causes their frantic excitement to grow. As the rain starts to trickle and pour amidst the panting and whining of some large, unknown beast, the clarity of the recording is so fine that, at the storm's climax, one can discern the luxurious detail of droplets splattering onto the hard clay, and then slowly seeping into the dampening, spongy earth. Throughout, Watson is highly skilled at enabling the mind to move effortlessly between place and abstraction - at any moment one can click into the imagined specifics of an African rainstorm, or out again, to a wholly abstract collage of textured sounds.

"The Lapaich" mingles the cool, rushing sounds of a highland stream with an increasingly hostile wind and the chatter of birds. Unlike "Ol-Olool-O," Watson seems to move all across the highland glen, so that the changes in composition are more punctuated and less fluid - the rush of water decrescendos into a whisper, a polar wind arises out of silence. The index points left scattered throughout "The Lapaich" are much too abrupt, and while the piece is compelling in small segments, it neglects to offer any kind of consistency that might allow one to get his (imagined) bearings. In this way, it's the weakest of the selections - too forcibly abstract.

The final track, "Vatnajökull," is, however, absolutely awe-inspiring. Described as "the 10,000 year climatic journey of ice formed deep within this Icelandic glacier and its lingering flow into the Norwegian Sea," the deep, bass-rich throbs and creaks of the crumbling ice mass prove breathtaking. I've experienced the sounds of glaciers calving in the flesh, and though the effect is undoubtedly magical - a slow, majestic creaking that seems to possess no set source-point until chunks the size of football fields crash into the sea - the breaks are few and far between, muffled somewhat by one's proximity to the fissure. Watson, on the other hand, seems to record from the very heart of the crevasse, and he captures the singing drone of the wind and the rumbling quake of the ice mass atop a lulling bed of flowing, polar water. "Vatnajökull" possesses a similar delicacy to that which John Luther Adams realized more figuratively in his The Light That Fills the World, only Watson's document is simultaneously massive - a fragile crumble occurring on a giant scale. Eventually the mournful song of birds rises in prominence, and its high pitch contrasts nicely with the deep, enormous creaking occurring beneath the impatient squawks. Here again the punctuation of the index points is distracting, but the glorious might of the sound renders them little more than pesky and easily overlooked annoyances. That Watson has channeled the essence of 10,000 years of climatic processes and countless square miles of melting ice onto a single shiny disc is impressive enough - that, shorn of any tangible bearings these sounds defy description, is sublime.[Nathan Hogan]

de:bug (Germany):

Das Time Out Magazine schrieb vor vier Jahren zu Watsons früherem Album, dass wir unserer Umgebung zuhören sollen, da es interessanter sein könnte als all die Sachen, die wir konsumieren, um ihr zu entkommen. Das scheint auf den ersten Blick zu stimmen, ist natürlich aber blödsinning so was in einer Review zu einem in sich zum Konsum gezwungenen Produkt zu schreiben. Und was anderes liegt uns in Form einer CD nunmal nicht vor. Also flüchten wir doch mit Play vor dem urbanen Chaos vor der Tür. Es startet dreimal 18 Minuten lang, zuerst in Richtung Kenia. 14 zusammenhängende Stunden Originalaufnahmen drängen sich einander, erzählen fleißig und beleuchten die saftigen Tagesgewohnheiten zirpsender Käfer und knurrender Löwen. Auf Track zwei spannen sich sogar vier Monate im Dasein des schottischen Sees Lapaich über den Track. Das soziale Leben spielt sich hier schon wesentlich ruhiger ab, wird aber erst im letzten Teil, Aufnahmen des isländischen Gletschers Vatnajökull, vollends unter Wasser geortet. Das komische Phänomen Wetter (komisch, weil's ja omnipräsent ist), um das es hier geht, ist selbst in purem Audio ständig zur Stelle. Löwen knurren nicht in Nordeuropa und Eis schabt nicht in Afrika. Das wußten wir schon vorher, aber so eindringlich gehört hat das noch keiner von uns. www.touchmusic.org.uk [ed *****]

www.ambientrance.com:

An international sonic journalist rather than a local temperature predictor, Chris Watson imbues his Weather Report with ear-travelogues from afar. A trio of lengthy audio- documentaries reveals the otherworldliness of our own planet

The three 18-minute pieces play like a free-flowing sound-effects record, though the liner notes propose two or three "track breaks" per segment. Under a continual heat-evoking insect haze, Ol-Olool-O (boiled-down from a 14 hour recording in Kenya) hovers across a truly wild soundscape of bellowing animals, chattering natives, broiling weather and more... the leisurely (though always edgy) panoramic sprawl is occasionally interrupted by the growls of threatening lions, crazy jackasses(?), or something being mauled?!?. Birds of various feathers also make guest appearances, from lilting chirps to mournful cries. A low grumble swiftly enlarges to a raging torrent to announce the global jump to The Laibach, where four months (September through December) were spent gathering the auditory essences of a Scottish highland glen. Watery flows abound as do a multitude of avian and insect cheepers... until whipsnaking winter winds unleash with awesome force, gradually softening into a drizzling, still-quite-inhabited expanse (as evidenced by animalistic yowls and scurries). A final shift lands in even colder (in degrees and mood!) climes... from Iceland, hauntingly beautiful Vatnajökull immerses into a vastly groaning ice cavern where phantasmal currents linger, warbling like ghostly flutes. Even the wildlife is a bit creepy here, emitting unknowable communications into the rumbling atmospheres. Agitated gull squawks and a splashing ocean bring the 54:13 disc to its conclusion. Nature's own "world music" is injected with enough surprises to keep it from being very "ambient"! So expertly-captured, Weather Report seems almost academic, like a listen-only National Geographic. If nothing else, Chris Watson's work will remind you of the omnipresence of birdlife! Especially organic!

Bad Alchemy (Germany):

Der Field- und BBC-Soundrecorder Watson gibt hier erstmals seinen Dokupurismus auf und collagiert aus O-Tönen drei je 18-minütige Alltags-'Dramen', die das jeweils spezifische Klangprofil eines Ortes und seiner Bewohner einfangen. Bei 'Ol-Olool-O' konstruiert der einstige Cabaret Voltaire-Mann aus den Lauten von Menschen, Tieren und Wetterphänomenen im Zeitraffer einen typischen Tagesablauf im kenianischen Masai Mara so plastisch, dass einem der stinkende Löwenbrodem noch bluttriefend ins Gesicht dampft, ein Gewitterguss den Wohnzimmerboden überschwemmt und die Vögel aufs Sofa scheißen. 'The Lapaich' ist ein die Zeit von September bis Dezember bündelnder herbst-winterlicher Streifzug durchs schottische Hochland, gleichzeitig Travelogue und Stimmungsbild. Mit 'Vatnajökull' schließlich versucht Watson die knarrende Langsamkeit zu suggerieren, mit der sich Gletscher über 10000 Jahre über die norwegische Küste schieben. In minuziöser Prägnanz macht er dabei die 'Vielstimmigkeit' der Natur hörbar als ein Cinema pour l'oreille, das mit subjektiver 'Kamera' das Bewusstsein durch konkrete environmentale Szenerien und gleichzeitig durch einen fiktiven Zeitraum streifen lässt. Wie hat Watsons Kollege Frere-Jones so schön gesagt: Der Welt zuzuhören kann spannender sein als das Zeug, das man kauft, um aus ihr zu fliehen.

Blow Up (Italy):
Al suo terzo album su Touch dopo "Stepping into the Dark" e "Outside the Circle of Fire", Watson esplora eventi atmosferici, sensazioni tattili e sonore di tre destine locations, che insieme pero danno vita ad un unico flusso sonoro di certo fascino. Dal Kenya dei Masai di Ol-Olool-O, agli altopiani scozzesi nel passaggio dell'autunno all'inverno di The Laipach, per finire tra i ghiacciai Islandesi di Vatnajokull. Watson da autentico antroplogo del suono, lascia che il suono sia, che penetri con la forza degli elemnti naturali ovunque presenti. [Gino Dal Soler]

Matiere Brut (France):

Après avoir sévi dans Cabaret Voltaire et The Hafler Trio, Chris Watson s'est peu à peu détaché de la scène industrielle pour évoluer comme ingénieur du son et travailler télévision et la radio anglaise. Weather Report est son troisième album sous son propre nom, après Stepping into the Dark (1996) et Outside the circle of fire (1998), tous sortis chez Touch. Si dans ses précédents disques, Chris Watson nous livrait ses enregistrements de terrains de façon brute, son approche a été bien différente pour Weather Report puisqu'il s'est attaché à composer trois pièces à partir de sons qu'il a enregistré dans des endroits précis à diverses périodes. Ainsi, il nous transporte sucessivement au Kenya, dans les highlands écossais et au coeur d'un glacier islandais. Le tout est superbement mis en valeur par des évolutions minutieuses, les prises de son révèlent une beauté captivante proche de la perfection, nous faisant plonger dans des mondes inconnus pourtant si réels. Magnifique. [Yann Hascoet]

Chris Watson, once part of Caberet Voltaire and The Halfer Trio, has taken his microphones and recorders and vanished into the wilderness. Since parting ways with experimental electronic music, Watson has been capturing the sonics of the natural world as a sound recorder for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. His records and contributions to compilations have been slices of elemental life, usually involving patterns of wind and animal sounds. His work teeters on the edge of the eternal dicusssion: what, exactly, qualifies as music? If you bring in Brian Eno's moment of clarity when he realized exactly what "ambient music" was (music intended to be present but ignored), the definition gets even harder to pin down.

One can argue that the presence of a composer is necessary for a work to be considered music. Unlike other field recordings that he has done, Watson actually compresses the time duration of the recordings in Weather Report down to eighteen minutes. These three pieces aren't accurate renderings of spacial environments; they have become artistic interpretations -- encapsulated snapshots of time and space. Is it pop music? Certainly not. Is it an ambient soundtrack which colors and transforms your local space into something else? Definitely.

For eighteen minutes, I'm lost on the African plain of Masai Mara. There are lions coughing in the foreground, a group of Masai pass before the rainfall and even the deluge which spatters the ground with fat drops can't hide the natural course of prey and predator which passes across the face of Watson's mikes. "Ol-Olool-O" moves from hot summer day to late afternoon thundershower to the muggy cicada chorus of the humid evening. I'm a city dweller, locked into passages of concrete, rebar and chrome. I yearn for the jungles and the veldts. For eighteen minutes, I get to spend a day in Africa. This isn't ambient music; this is active participation in some other place.

The liner notes of Weather Report are a succint mission statement: "The weather has created and shaped all our habitats. Clearly it has also had a profound and dynamic effect upon our lives and that of other animals. The three locations featured here all have moods and characters which are made tangible by these elements, and these periodic events are represented within by a form of time compression."

While "Ol-Olool-O" compressed fourteen hours, "The Lapaich" summarizes four months of the shifting environments of a Scottish glen as the year moves from autumn into winter. Water rushes over dark rocks, a cascading river which has filled and jumped the narrow spring bed. Several varities of bird make noise from the overhanging branches. Time shifts and the ruddy banks of the river become dry and the winds begin to howl across the empty stones. The bird noises change as the summer dwellers vanish into the south and all that remains are the hardier birds, the artic avians who ride the cold drafts. As winter progresses, the sounds die away: the winds vanish and the birds roost elsewhere. Eventually, all that you are left with is the subtle sound of seasonal creep.

Glacial creep is the time frame for the final aural journey. "Vatnajökull" is the 10,000 year journey of ice formed within the dark interior of an Icelandic glacier as it slowly -- oh so slowly -- crawls into the Norwegian Sea. You are submerged into the groaning, creaking subterranean pit of blue-black darkness and the endless pressure of ice against ice sounds like nothing more than the creaking of ancient wood. At some point, all this compression starts a hallucination in your brain, an imagined moaning of a spectral wind as if there was breath being forced between the ice crystals of this immense glacier. Something moves in the water beside you and you can't stop the thought racing in your head: how can there be free-standing water inside a block of frozen ice? By the time a mammoth piece calves off into the ocean and the echo of its impact reaches you, your hallucinations and mental perambulations have formed music -- woodwinds blown by errant creatures who exist as barely more than a breath of cold air. The ice spits you out finally, your oubliette of impacted snow suddenly rupturing and spilling you out onto the tempestuous seas. There, lying sprawled on a flat iceberg slowly turning away from the thundering edge of the fragmenting glacier, you are discovered by the wildlife which thrives at the edge of the white cliff. The terns and the eider ducks wheel and plume over you, squawking and shouting at your sudden appearance. Seals surface nearby in surprise, blowing water and air across you in a fine spray of seal mucus and expelled water. The sun is hot above you; the ice cold beneath you. You have been born from icy darkness.

As much as I love seeing the weather, I enjoy hearing it more which isn't terribly surprising for an aurally oriented child such as myself. Eno's ephiphany on the nature of musical environments is the only hard and fast rule by which I listen: what you hear has an impact on your environment and on you. I can change everything by changing the music. Chris Watson's Weather Report is my cheap getaway vacation: I can change my location without moving from my seat. This is a virtual travelogue to exotic places untouched by the din of the urban landscape. [Mark Teppo]

e|i (USA):

“The weather has created and shaped all of our habitats. The three locations featured here all have moods and characters which are made tangible by the
elements, and these periodic events are represented within a form of time compression.” And thus we join Chris Watson on his continuing quest for reinvention, much as Bowie, Blowfly or Gleaming Spires’ Leslie Bohem have done before him—leaping from Cabaret Voltaire to The Hafler Trio to the Audubon Society is rather a life-affirming stretch, really. The locations: Kenyan veldt, Scottish highland and Icelandic glacier, from which you get rain and buzzing insects across a panoply of unintelligible animal sounds; birdsong and
the crushing flood of water through the autumn months in the highland glen amid crushed reeds and lowing beasts; the crackling groan and flow of ice against ice
reminiscent slightly of Styrofoam rubbings. Between “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom,” National Geographic, and audio documents like these, wildlife
preservation wouldn’t have been held nearly so dear all these years. Unnerving due to its incessant tumult, the sounds on Watson’s records have been used to
educate and terrify, much as humans learnt about the wild the hard way many thousands of years ago, Creationism notwithstanding. It’s all recorded with
consummate skill and transparency, qualities that deftly transcend the admitted compression of time for the benefit of such a limited and artificial medium as the lowly compact disc. [David Cotner]

signaltonoise (USA):

Chris Watson/AER/Biosphere/Fennesz/Hazard/Philip Jeck/Mika Vainio - Star Switch On

freq.org (UK):

Star Switch On - sleeve detail taking Chris Watson's field recordings of wildlife on Outside The Circle Of Fire and Stepping Into The Dark as their starting point, six artists were ask to do what they willed with the source material, partly as a resonse to the observation that Watson's recordings of animals bore a certain relationship to the glitchery emanating from musicians' and sound artists' laptops. Mika Vainio's crackling minimalism is a sparse abstraction of Outside The Circle Of Fire into a hollow-filtered rise into dense arrival at a point of Zen fulfilment. Philip Jeck brings two of the avian subjects of the same disc together as foregrounded loops and dubs as electrical background noise crepitates in asynchronous reverbed parallel to a fragmentary melody to rumbling, hallucinatory effect. "Pannonique" is Fennesz' channelling of "Mozambique Nightjar" by way of valves into a piece which is unnervingly similar to the modulation and resonance adjustment of an analogue synth, a placid pastorale which peaks into a short sharp dissonance. "Goat Behaviour" provides AER with a rhythmic source of clattering bells and the deep, rumbling wingbeats of owls to create a suitably Pannish piece of caprice, the hoots resonating eerily into the jangle. Hazard uses hyenas and deathwatch beetles for his measured "Debugged", where warm plateaux of low-end wash to the swarming irritant of electronically-treated insect life and the arpeggiating laughs of the scavengers; likewise Biosphere's cicada and bird choral arrangements flicker into life as a multi-layered evocation of circadian rhythms on "Night & Dawn", charging the result with a celebratory joie de vive. To compare and contrast, Watson also contributes two new recordings: timber wolves howling hungrily in the forest as they hear a human hunter's rifle signal a new source of meat, and the voices of animal herders in Rajasthan carried and Dopplered on gusts of warmed air as dusk approaches, and the interplay of environment with inhabitants both human and avian again reveals the music of the ecosphere in all its glory - perhaps even to the comparative detriment of the human rearrangements on Star Switch On themselves. [Richard Fontenoy]

The Wire (UK):

The Compiler -

A vast secret world of natural sounds was revealed on Chris Watson's last two releases for Touch, Stepping into the Dark (1996) and Outside the Circle of Fire (1998). The fruits of his travels across the globe in search of untainted audio footage of wildlife and unique atmospheres, those discs documented everything from vultures feasting on a zebra carcass to East African Hippos at dusk, all captured in disturbingly close focus. Watson's productions were kept as 'factual' as possible, consciously avoiding human interference. For Star Switch On (Touch Tone 18 CD), however, Touch invited various artists to rework this remarkable source material however they wanted. The eight short pieces here (including two new recordings by Watson) may no longer carry the authority of being untouched natural documents, but the most effective contributions stay true to their sources, increasing rather than distorting their impact. Fennesz takes the call of the Mozambique Nightjar, plugs its elastic tempo-stretching oscillations through a homemade valve amplifier, and comes out with a heavily compressed, mindbending aural strobe effect. Philip Jeck morphs Capercaillie and tinkerbird sounds into brutal rotating industrial loops, cannon blasts and fuzz storms of grainy ambience. Chris Watson's contributions are equally haunting. In "Cassarina", voices echo at each other across a chasm blessed with the strangest acoustics, while the closing "Wolves" is like visiting Hades, with its hollow tapestry of lost souls howling for their next meal. It works out of context on a purely 'musical' level, as well as being a brilliant reflection of a reality that few get to hear. 'Jerome Maunsell]

Boomkat (Web):

New project from Touch artists (Mika Vainio, Fennesz, Philip Jeck, Hazard, AER, Biosphere and Chris Watson) joining the dots between Chris Watson's close up wildlife recordings (in this case from the amazing 'Outside The Circle Of Fire' and 'Stepping Out Of The Dark') and baring out the similarities to modern laptop composition. Mika Vainio explores micro processing - haunted intent, Phillip Jeck amazes, transforming the sounds of 'Red Rumped Tinkerbird' into a shooting range at a backward touring funfair. Hazard adds warmth into the late night undergrowth exploration. Chris Watson splices together his own recordings and adds a new recording >> “Timber wolves respond quickly to changes in their environment. This pack has learned to associate the sound of a rifle shot in the forest with the opportunity of a forthcoming meal. They gather in the creeping darkness using scent and their awesome voices.” The Fennesz re-recording of 'Mozambique Nightjar', adds eerie background noise and sonic tweaking. Lastly AER conjures up deep sleep dreams of goat herding and Biosphere coats the transformation from night to dawn in his usual brand of sleepy ambience, lush. An incredible document. Highly recommended.

Phosphor (The Netherlands):

Chris Watson, who was involved in Cabaret Voltaire (1972 - 1981) and Hafler Trio (1981 to 1984), is a sound recordist with a particular and passionate interest in recording the wildlife sounds of animals, habitats and atmospheres from around the world. When his second album "Outside the Circle of Fire" (TO:27) was released, Touch thought it a good idea to give musicians carte-blanche to do what they liked with recordings that had a definite and undeniable subject, location and atmosphere - the wildlife sound recordings of Chris Watson. Every artist featured on this album has a different approach. Mika Vainio, who was the first to respond, contributes a very minimalistic piece with fine-tuned digital sequences adding a pulsing sound as if a submarine is slowly approaching. Philip Jeck, who used two recordings as source material, delivers a much noisier track with lots of scraping sounds and heavy irregular beats. Benny J. Nilsen (aka Hazard) chose "Deathwatch beetles" and "Spotted hyena" for his piece, in which a dark drone interchanges with gentle clicks and a sample of a howling hyena. "Cassarina", by Chris Watson himself, is dedicated to the moment that the herders drive their animals to the domestic circles, which must be done before dark, when the hillside is left to the leopard. Fennesz keeps close to the original, by transforming the "Mozambique Nightjar", feeding its call through a home-made valve amplifier. This track reminds of Francisco López's album "La selva", transforming the jungle nightlife into digital bits. AER also keeps the typical atmosphere which Chris Watson records intact. AER's track puts the listener in the middle of a grazing herd. And Biosphere combines his typical soft pulse with the sound of animal life. With the help of S.E.T.I., People Like Us, and Oren Ambarchi, the artists featured deliver a marvellous compilation that proves that Touch releases excellent music.

Other Music (USA):

From what I understand these are the field recordings (from two previous releases) of former Cabaret Voltaire member Chris Watson, ground back into aural paste and freshly re-canvassed by the all-star Team Touch (Biospere, Fennesz, Hazard, et al). One of those recordings of Watson's, just to apocryphally point out, was of a dead zebra or some such carrion being feasted upon... recorded from the inside! The quizzical beauty and banality involved in wild, natural things going on all the time seems to be a starting point here. Now on this release we see a combination of random processes both axiomatic of the Serengeti AND the G4. Alternately wondrous and serene. [DHo]

Incursion [USA]:

A loosely gravitated compilation of sorts for the Touch label, it gives former Cabaret Voltaire/Hafler Trio member Chris Watson's luminous field recordings over to their current roster of stars in order to rework them as they will. Mika Vainio takes some fizzing dabs of flies and transmits them into a cold dark outer space, emitting low levels of reverb-radiation. Philip Jeck is a bit more ballistic, with his tracers streaking across the night sky in slowly revolving motions. Hazard moves in the spaces between the cold crinkling spacesuit and human skin heat, mixing the temperatures to a fine stasis. Taking frogs far away from the their boggy terra firma, Fennesz's "Pannonique" chirps and floats exotically above the pond, albeit too pithy for proper personal spacing. Always an alien-sounding music form, the Balinese metallic clouds that AER observes hover exquisitely, if not too precisely, in the far distance. The looping and cycling that Biosphere is so intimate with shows in the graceful ripples of "Night & Dawn," which is neither dichotomy nor dichotic, but a continuously blissful blurring of the two extremes of day. Watson's most recent globetrotting excursions, "Cassarina" and "Wolves," both bisect and end the all too brief proceedings. [andy beta]

stylus (USA):

(9.5)

sifted through by tobias c. van veen

Rare indeed is the compilation that exceeds its remix possibility and exercises the limits of its potential. Yet even more rare is the gem in the rough, diamond in Africa, an assembly of acutely talented sound.artists, sculptors of the sonic, that are gathered here to give reverence and homage to the field recordings of Chris Watson. This album is composed of treatments by AER, Biosphere, Fennesz, Hazard, Philip Jeck, Mike Vainio, and Watson himself. Drawn from wildlife recordings whose 'originals' can be found on Stepping into the Dark (Touch 27) and Outside the Circle of Fire (Touch 37), Star Switch On is a spherical molding of the sonic, a cupping of the hands in the gesture to hold water. I wish to say that it is "careful" in the sense we receive from Heidegger: that our nature is to care. For this is an album of wildlife recordings. Nature recordings. Not city drones and traffic interruptions, although the treatments—treatments not in the sense of the medical establishment's abuse of the word, but treatments in the way that a painter treats a canvas—open themselves up to their fractured technologies and the realities of the digital remix, the particle-ular of sound.

Each in his own way, each sound sculpture holds up the 'sounds themselves' for contemplation in the way that John Cage spoke of. Sounds be themselves and become themselves. That the sounds often become other from what one expected them to be, or become, is testament to the sound sculptor's witnessing of something-other than their technological mastery. Deleuze thought of this as en-devenir. Here, I can enter my ears, where the rest of my body follows, into something-other that molds me as I mold it. Each sound sculptor softly shapes their particular instinctual imprint into aural actuality... Watson echoes voices across a desert beach, I imagine from L'Etranger; Fennesz opens crickets and hums and trilling night-bugs in what is one of his quietist and most understated works to date; AER submerses the night to a chamber of tonalities and sonorality that twinkles and sparkles just beyond the range of vision; Biosphere beckons us in so slowly that we speak Russian words of Nostalghia, like it was Patashnik filmed by Tarkosvky; and we should not forget that to begin with, Mike Vainio drops us gently with a bee-bomb into a silent hint of living underground, of becoming-bug through the sonar-pings of the wolfseeker; that Philip Jeck destroys this myth with blasts from the shotgun while licking bloody wounds of beauty; and that Hazard lets loose the lonely cry of the indeterminate animal that has remained, la bête.

I dislike encouraging any reader to buy anything; I dislike even more acting as traditional reviewer and passing judgement on sound. I can only witness great moments of affect, of body-kissing, of muscle massaging. Your own personal La Monte Young, sometimes here, mixed with a restraint particular to Cage. Dig, deeper, soil, and hands: live these sonic becomings.

VITAL (The Netherlands):

Was it last week, when I wrote: remix CDs, who needs them? Much else I said last week, might apply to this compilation. Seven people remix Chris Watson's wildlife recordings (one of them is Chris Watson), but I must assume none of these artists come as big surprises, nor do I think that say the Fennesz fans never heard of Chris Watson or his releases on Touch. So it's all a bit incestious, humbly me thinks. Also the website info reads that many more tracks were received but not used (by People Like Us, Ambarchi and SETI among others), which is a pity since it's a relatively short CD. So apart from all sour grapes, the music is of course that what counts. Chris Watson (ex-Cabaret Voltaire and ex-Hafler Trio) spends much of time going out with a mini disc, doing recordings of animals in exotic places. Here these recordings are used as source material. Mika Vianio has a rather dark creepy piece of really low end beeps, Philip Jeck is both rhythmical aswell as rather noisy for his doings. Hazard is here also not in his usual ambient territory, but rather tries to sound like Fennesz, with a cracky, laptop like sound. Fennesz has a short fuzzy piece that is among the best of the CD, just like AER (Jon Wozencraft's sound project), who processes the sound of goats in a very nice piece. Also Biosphere's pieces hoovers around short samples and is lesser ambient then we are used by him. This collection also includes two unreleased recordings by Chris Watson, of which especially the last (cramned inside Biosphere's piece) is a haunting pack of wolves - open for further process? (FdW)

(Belgium):

Op een korte termijn brak het laptop en -gitaarwerk van de Oostenrijker Christian Fennesz bij een groter publiek door. Zijn output centert zich rond de labels Mego en Touch. Het Britse Touch heeft de naam reflectief en 'serieus' met hun artiesten en uitgaven om te gaan en het bundelen van Fennesz' moeilijker te vinden materiaal ligt dan ook in die lijn.
'Field Recordings 1995-2002' is geen verzameling van veldopnames die Fennesz nog in de kast had liggen, maar een compilatie van werk dat eerder op andere bloemlezingen verscheen, remixes (voor ondermeer Stephan Mathieu en Ekkehard Ehlers) en composities voor (kort)films. Het werk steekt van wal met de eerste uitgave die de dertiger bij Mego in 1995 bracht: de uitverkochte single 'Instrument'. De vier versies werden aangelengd met 'Good Man', een werk dat Fennesz recentelijk met de geluidsbronnen van 'Instrument' componeerde. Hoewel de Oostenrijker over de laatste zeven jaar voornamelijk in de diepte evolueerde, valt het op dat hij vroeger meer naar ritme en repetitie zocht: 'Instrument 1 & 3' bevatten een uitgevaagde breakbeat en verwijzen naar de destijds boomende drum 'n' bassesthetiek. De overige tracks gaan volledig horizontaal en schilderen - zoals gebruikelijk - traag evoluerende kleurlandschappen waar bijtijds een melancholische kilte doorwaait. In januari 2003 verschijnt bij Touch een nieuwe soloplaat van Fennesz, ondertussen is hij ook vertegenwoordigd op de compilatie 'Star Switch On'. Daarop zijn veldopnames van de Britse geluidsman Chris Watson door een keur van populaire geluidskunstenaars onder wie Mika Vainio, Philip Jeck, Hazard en Biosphere onder handen genomen (de originelen werder eerder bij Touch als de albums 'Stepping into the Dark' en 'Outside the Circle of Fire' uitgebracht). Fennesz levert een nogal statische bijdrage: op enkele loops na lijken Watsons registraties van dierengeluiden nauwelijks behandelt. Wel erg intens is het werk van Vainio en dat van Jeck: met respectievelijk elektronica en vinylmanipulatie tillen ze het griezelige basismateriaal naar het niveau van driedimensionale, beklemmende en fascinerende luistertrip. [Ive Stevenheydens]

Weekly Dig (USA):

In recent months, the UK experimental music label Touch has been on a tear, releasing a slew of impressive records ranging from turntablist Philip Jeck's Stoke to guitarist/electronician Fennesz's Field Recordings. Their latest release Star Switch On collects pieces by Touch workhorses like Mika Vainio of Pan Sonic, Jeck, Fennesz, Biosphere and field recording specialist, Chris Watson (formerly of Cabaret Voltaire). The unifying element is that all of the the tracks were composed using Watson's field recordings as source material. Perhaps because of this, though many of the contributions vary in tone - from the piledriving thump and howl of Jeck's "Capriole" to the soothing hum and buzz of Biosphere's "Night and Dawn" - they still flow quite seamlessly into one another. Like Watson's original recordings themselves (available on Touch as well), it's an engrossing, rather meditative listen. [Susanna Bolle]

Blitz (Portugal):

Also featuring Fennesz, also on Touch and also with field recordings as a starting point, we have "Star Switch On". The difference is that, this time, the field recordings are a real, rather than semantic, starting point. It is the result of an invitation made to several authors to process the sounds of two prior touch editions: "Stepping Into The Dark" and "Outside The Circle Of Fire". these are albums signed by Chris Watson, from Cabaret Voltaire, and they comprise a selection of his archive of field recordings. Watson travelled through Scotland, Venezuela, England, Costa Rica, Germany, Kenya and other countries, collecting sounds that captured the vital matter of those locations. the objects, in themselves, are extraordinary, but they also reveal the quiet side of someone who has one day pursued the same through opposite means. Fennesz, AER, Biosphere, Hazard, Philip Jeck and Mika Vainio were invited for "Star Switch On", Chris Watson himself joining this list. Having "Star Switch On" [sic] and "Outside The Circle Of Fire" as sound sources, the authors were given free realm to follow the paths that their sensitivities determined. And it is precisely out of the 'stamp' each one of them applies to the original material, out of that ability to respect the essence of the sounds, that the discreet fascination of this release is born. As with the originals, we are far from new age territories, at the opposite end from meditative spirituality. "Star Switch On" affirms itself as a concrete reality, it dives into that reality for an intensification of the stimuli. The digital interventions add borders of unease to a bright path, they bar its progress with manipulative knowledge - there are residues of life surrounded by darkness, prayers rescued out of a pulsating enclosure. It comes as no surprise, then, that Chris Watson closes the album with the nocturnal howling of the wolves. (8/10) [Trans. Heitor Alvelos]

The Sound Projector (UK):

A clutch of Touch 'regulars' were commissioned to make a piece of music using tracks from Chris Watson's releases Stepping into the Dark and Outside the Circle of Fire. If this information hadn't been imparted to me, I might have enjoyed Star Switch On more - as a set of varied and strange soundworkings. To me, it's slightly marred because I value Watson's work so highly - and I'm a goddamn purist. His two CDs of natural wildlife and field recordings have set a benchmark of quality in this area which nobody has yet bettered. His high standards are shown in the sharpness and clarity of his sound recordings, and in the contextual documentation he provides for each published work (time, place, weather conditions, and equipment used are always scrupulously logged); but also in his unique sensitivity to the environment, his near-spiritual receptiveness to the elements, both known and unknown, that contribute to our sense of 'place'. Chris Watson agreed to this present project of course, and indeed he appears on it with two new works - but many of the above qualities that I prize have been swept away in this remix project. That off my chest, let's enjoy the music for what it is. Biosphere and Hazard turn in their usual melodic-sounding, Ambient-washed styled 'soundscapes', and both simply use
Chris Watson samples as additional elements in something they would normally do anyway. They're the least useful of the tracks. Philip Jeck's turntables are reminiscent of the battle of the Somme with soldiers singing in the trenches - an enjoyable escapade, but where CW is in the midst of it all I couldn't really say. AER makes a clever and satisfying assemblage by collaging together several loops of sound until they become resonating bells. Fennesz appears to be playing tapes of CW recordings in his front room and overlaying them in simple patterns - and his work involves the least effacement of the original recordings. Mika Vanio goes to the opposite extreme, abstracting CW's work so much that only a few minimal blips remain, swimming in a deep pool of compressed noise - a real 'trip in a submarine' piece of music. In addition, there are two 'straight' works by Chris Watson - 'Cassarina' is the most eerie, with echoing voices shouting by the seaside and resonating against a cliff face. The voices run backwards and create a disconcerting time-travel feeling. And there's a 'hidden' track at the end of a wolfpack howling and baying. The uncanniness of the latter reminds one of the main 'selling point' of the original CDs - that CW had discerned a strange music in nature and was framing and presenting it AS music, instead of a straight documentary recording. I seem to recall that many writers were delighted to have mistaken the cries of seals for an undiscovered minimal-electro track, a phenomenon on which I make no comment. The point of this record continues to elude me. [Ed Pinsent]

Chris Watson - Outside The Circle Of Fire

Time Out, New York, Jan 14-21 1999

Sasha Frere-Jones writes:

Here's a riddle: How was one of the best electro-acoustic albums of the year not made? Chris Watson's Outside the Circle of Fire is credited to one author, but the sounds within were made by animals and natural phenomena (wind, water, etc.). As the liner notes state, these sounds exist whether we hear them or not. This idea is a powerful tonic in a time of instant access, when lots of people spend their lives making and selling products that exist only because someone might buy them. And, certainly, Watson's CD was made (and made to be bought), but the incredible sounds on it are doubled in significance when we, the Mighty Consumers, remember that an entire world lives noisily on, whether or not we hear, see or buy it.

What does it all sound like? Remarkably, like the most up-to-date electronic music. The lead-off 'track', a recording of an adult cheetah resting by a baobab tree, sounds like a fudgy old analog synth rumbling away, something you might pay to hear Add N to X approximate with apprehended modern drumbeats. (Note to up-and-coming gear fetishists: Look into cheetahs to improve lacklustre stage show.) Track six, a recording of a 'massed knot roost', is an explosion of bird wings and cries that equals Merzbow for sheer assault value. Mellifluous minimalist techno? Please check the unidentified pair of birds and their two-note song on track 14: You'll swear it was - hold on - music. Much of this is is as captivating, deliberate and textured as any music. Just something else to think about while the death-watch beetles do their thing inside an 'advertising display within oak beam'.

Watson, long ago a member of Cabaret Voltaire, has gone to incredible lengths to record these sounds with an array of complicated microphones and tape machines, but his message is simple: Listen to your world. It may be more interesting than all the things you buy to escape from it.

Feature in The Wire, October 1998:

Chris Watson

Recording angel

To those with an interest in the recondite backwaters of contemporary experimental music, Chris Watson is a crucial, yet shadowy figure. His work with the earliest incarnation of Cabaret Voltaire provides ample justification for his inclusion among a small number of luminaries who have worked to expand the horizons of what is possible in music. Watson's post-Cabs work might be less celebrated, but its importance and radical nature should not be underestimated. With The Hafler Trio, especially on recordings such as Bang: An Open Letter, Watson revealed himself as an inspired documentarist of the sounds of the natural world, in addition to maintaining his earlier obsession with analysing the electronic media landscape.

After a lengthy hiatus from the recording industry, during which he worked for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and as a sound recordist on nature documentaries (including Sir David Attenborough's forthcoming BBC opus, Life Of Birds), Watson returned with a magnificent CD: Stepping Into The Dark (Touch, 1996). His stated aim was to record the "remarkable and particular characteristics" of specific locations. Watson drew inspiration from the imaginative and unorthodox Cambridge archaeologist, TC Lethbridge, whose concern with the occult in relation to topography is echoed in Watson's work. The same sense of attempting to capture the genius loci is evident. Watson warms to the subject: "I wanted to capture the atmosphere of some 'special places' in sound, and then try to recreate that sense of place when listening back. I have experienced the individual character of places as I believe many people have, whether that is of a house, trail, mountain or forest. Some of these places appear to have a spirit, and the sound of that place is a way to connect. Over recent years, when travelling, I realised that many people have made that association and it can have a powerful effect."

His most recent release, Outside The Circle Of Fire, while still evincing this interest in topographical sound mapping, focuses primarily on animals in their natural habitat. Watson is an assiduous and intrepid documenter of wildlife: a cheetah resting, a whale surfacing, the song of a starling are all presented here among a plethora of other fascinating sounds. His work, however, is completely free of New Age flakiness. These recordings are by turns powerful, disturbing, illuminating; but never twee. Watson attempts to record in "noise-free" situations; locations free from the turmoil that constantly assaults our senses. "I am fascinated by the sounds within different environments," he says. "Many of the 'noise-free' locations I work in have a musicality which is enhanced by the selective process of producing them on a CD. My definition of noise does not vary between locations; it is basically unwanted sound."

Recalling an early Cabaret Voltaire interview in which Watson mentioned his predilection for Gilbert White's zoological treatise The Natural History Of Selborne, I wondered if he saw specific parallels between his work and that of White. "I always enjoy reading Gilbert White's letters," he replies, "and I am inspired by his enthusiasm and curiosity. However, my close-up recordings of animal sounds are a brief exploration of that animal without trying to explain animal language. It is only in the detail that we can hear and enjoy some of these sounds. Elements are revealed that display a beauty and eloquence in communicating that are well described in White's work."

Given that Watson's recordings are not interfered with or processed in any musical sense, his creativity must reside in his selection of sound sources. The notion of discovering and delineating the numinous in the commonplace, of encouraging people to listen to the music within their environment in a Cagean sense, seems to be Watson's primary goal. Artists such as Max Eastley and Michael Prime seem apposite reference points in terms of shared ambition, although their working methods are very different. All three seek to use natural sounds to expand definitions of what is musically acceptable, while also demonstrating a salutary concern with environmental issues.

Chris Watson seems to be fundamentally concerned with enriching our auditory sense, by making us aware of the sounds which we ignore to our own detriment. His dislike of noise pollution makes this clear: "Noise pollution concerns me. All my work on the two CDs avoids man-made sounds. However, there are very few places in Britain where it is possible to make sound recordings without traffic or aircraft noise. There are very few places where we can really listen."

This is the true value of Watson's work: it encourages us to really listen. His fascination with the sounds he records is infectious in the best possible way. His enthusiasm is transmitted to the listener in such a manner that quotidian sounds take on a new and special quality.

JOHN EVERALL Outside The Circle Of Fire is out now on Touch

The Wire, November 1998:

Play a few seconds of nearly any track on Outside the Circle of Fire and it sounds like the freakiest techno disc ever. Take the third one: against a backdrop of near silence, it alternates a semi-regular bouncing ball click, a little scraping alien chirrup and an occasional flurry of rapidfire low end rushes. It's got the kind of rhythmic invention Squarepusher or Aphex Twin would be proud to lay claim to.

But when you look at the title - "Male Capercaillie Display" - you realise that this is, in fact, as unplugged a disc as they come. Watson has recorded 22 breeds of animals and insects in the wild. Brought into attack range by Watson's close mic technique, hearing them is a startling experience.

Watson's last disc, Stepping into the Dark, was all about sound environments and dense textures, this one zeros in on specific creatures for their astounding timbre and rhythm. What's surprising is that track after track is a killer by musical standards. Check out the incredible tone of hippos wading out of the river. Those two birds in the Costa Rican rain forest are natural born duet partners. What amp does the cheetah resting by the baobab tree use? Are those male corncrakes signed to Warp or Säkho? Watson's gone to some serious lengths to capture this stuff on tape, and he's come up with sounds that most humans never get to hear. Endlessly fascinating and often alarming, Circle of Fire reveals new directions for man-made music. (Douglas Wolk)
VITAL, The Netherlands:

Well, prepare yourself for a series of very intimate aural encounters which can only have been recorded by someone with the patience of a Zennist. A couple of representative tracks appeared on the last Touch sampler, and compared to these recordings were just scant clues as to what was to follow. I was completely absorbed by the quality and closeness of the sounds documented here - I suspect that it is impossible for humans to hear many of these sounds without first having shapeshifted. When I was a younger child, I had the opportunity of getting very close to a group of semi-domesticated cheetahs on the estate of the Hulett family, sugar-magnates who lived amongst their cane in Natal, South Africa. I'll never forget the sign on the gate which must have kept any potential burglars well and truly at bay: 'Warning ! Cheetahs!' Simple. but highly effective. Even the baboons, not known for their literary skills, dared to trespass here. Something else that made an indelible impression beside this sign and the smell of these magnificent creatures, was the sounds they made. The first track on this CD throbs out of the loudspeakers - it's a satisfied cheetah purring in the noon sun - and it sounds as if it is laying on top of you, secure in the knowledge that dinner can be served anytime it chooses. One of the longer tracks on this CD is of a male capercallie display in a Caledonian pine forest. The liner notes draw attention to the infrasonic content of the bird's wing flutters. In yer face. There are chortling hippopotami, swarming knot conferring before winging off on migration, chattering spider monkeys and the rhythmic scrapes of male corncrakes advertising their availability - complex arrangements are produced by their desire to outshout each other. Then there's the 'macro' recording made from within the carcass of a zebra (no, hand-held mics were not used !) which is a document of the thoughts of errant flies, the faint and fleeting memories of rotting meat and the antagonistic, possessive skirl of descending vultures. Watson takes natural surveillance to obsessive extremes, using microphone triangulation to localise a nightjar in the darkness and record it. Kittiwakes scold and chastise each other from their nests on a cliff face. The wings of a wood-pigeon chop the air into fat waves. Sleeping elephants, their heavy breathing reassuring in the squeaking moonlight. Deathwatch beetles run up and down the rafters in an English cottage bedroom. An owl calls outside, this lonely sound hovers in an otherwise almost silent night. Similarly the isolated sound of a hyena calling out co-ordinates to it's hunting companions invokes similar feeling of loneliness, and perhaps, genetic memories within us all. (MP)

Top Magazine (Tower Records UK):

In a previous life, field recordist Chris Watson was an important part of Sheffield combo Cabaret Voltaire, where his electronic and tape manipulations played a vital role in their seminal urban back beat. Seventeen years later Watson is out in the African bush, shoving his microphone into the rib cage of a zebra carcass to record the sound of vultures pulling it apart. 'Dry Viscera' is only one of the many aural delights to be enjoyed on Outside the Circle of Fire (Touch) *****. Hyenas howl, hippos laugh, a cheetah purrs and kittiwakes transform into the souls of dead children on Watson's remarkable safari of sounds.

Calmant, Lithuania:

The purr of a leopard close up against a baobab tree, waiting. Whales surfacing, breathing in cold air. Coll starling imitate the noise of farm machinery from the hollow ring of a ruined bothy. The rattle of wood over a black stream.

CHRIS WATSON is trying to penetrate into human-free and primeval world where animals, birds and insects are the only substance able to identify itself with own sound. This compact disc is a collection of 22 sonic documents where the most part of them was recorded using various equipment and technologies in rain forests of Secretum finis Africae. The world of intimate fauna beautiful to listen to and stare at, all but Terra Incognita for western destructive civilization. Handle with care this brilliant documentary from Touch. (sic) 10/10

Peter, Asphodel (USA):

"It is very rare that I get off my duff and post a review.

Chris Watson: Outside the circle of Fire ( Touch TO:37 )

I am completely enthralled by this new Touch release, though given the absolutely top top notch quality of their catalog, I am certainly not suprised.

Watson ( Hafler Trio collaborator and for those of you with a memory that predates 1990, Cabaret Voltaire collaborator ) brings us more than an earful of field recordings. These are not your typical field recordings, though, but more of a field recording meets electroacoustic adventure. The CD contains some 22 recordings done all over the world but mainly in Africa and the UK. What makes this CD stand universes above your typical field recording work is the precise, almost clinical recording devices and methods employed to make this work. Recording credits and a gear list accompany the CD. Sounds you may know from the animal kingdom are represented back to us, as if in another sonic dimension. You should understand this when you hear it.

liners:

"These are the sounds of secret languages, particular events that have been recorded as close up as possible to try and reveal something of their individual beauty, rythmn, eleoquence and sheer power. Several of the sounds would be inaudible or radically degraded more than a few metres from the animal. Yet others collectively use the acoustics of their habitat to modulate the message. They exist, however, whether we hear them or not-close up details of signals that are beyond our reach outside the circle of fire."

Revue et Corrigé (France):

"Enregistrer un son, c'est en faire le détournement. C'est donner à entendre un objet qui est tel qu'il semble faire référence à autre que lui." (Lionel Marchetti, "La musique concrète de Michel Chion") Ancien partenaire de Cabaret Voltaire et d'Hafler Trio, Chris WATSON nous offre avec "Outside the circle of fire" un disque de sons magnifique. Ses sources, listées en détail, sont clairement présentées et aucune dissimulées. Toutes proviennent du monde animal : du guépard au Zimbabwe aux oiseaux d'Ecosse en passant par les singes du Costa Rica ou les vautours du Kenya. Mais bien loin d'une anthologie du monde sonore animal façon chasseurs de sons ou 30 millions d'amis, Chris WATSON nous donne à entendre un monde inconnu, une autre réalité permise par la machine à enregistrer (micro + bande, dat ou minidisc). Le micro est au plus proche de l'animal, dans sa plus stricte intimité, violant presque son espace privé et livre à nos oreilles un agrandissement d'une réalité sonore présupposée. Ainsi avons-nous au final 22 séquences de durées et d'origines variables, d'une plastique et d'une poétique fortes aux images-poids (Michel Chion, "Le son") marquées, et dont l'équivalent visuel serait un gros-plan fixe. Comme le label Touch l'a déjà fait dans la compilation "Touch Sampler 3", il est bon de juxtaposer ses séquences à des musiques électroniques actuelles. Les confrontations sont surprenantes. "On peut se demander qui de l'homme ou de la nature est musicien ?" (Pierre Schaeffer, conférence, 1960). Jérôme NOETINGER

Last Sigh (.net):

" Chris Watson was a founding member of Cabaret Voltaire and The Hafler Trio -- two projects whose influence on the experimental/electronic music scene can hardly be overestimated. Both projects were -- at least early on -- intensely concerned with the nature and possibilities of sound, and strove to create music that utilized, and focussed on these possibilities rather than on melody, rhythm or any other traditional compositional conventions. At first listen, Watson's new CD of wildlife recordings would thus seem to be quite a dramatical departure from his past sound/music projects. Yet, as in the past, the obsession here is with sound -- attaining the perfect recording of the various animals.

Each of the 22 tracks/recordings on Outside The Circle Of Fire are accompanied by notes and anecdotes outlining the equipment utilized, and the approach taken, in each separate recording situation. These notes complete each of the tracks, and at the same time paint a nice portrait of Watson at his work. There is something very moving about this English gentleman moving his infant twin sons out of his bedroom in the middle of the night, and setting up his equipment to record the ruminations of Deathwatch beetles inside a roof beam; or, rigging a series of microphones inside the rib cage of a dead Zebra, and waiting for the vultures to descend upon it; or, floating in an small open boat for hours on end, with his microphone attached at the end of a pole, patiently waiting for a Southern Right Whale to surface for air. In listening to the CD while reading these notes, the recordings cease to be merely masterful sound observations of animals, and Chris Watson the artist emerges.

The results of Watson's meticulous efforts are nothing short of amazing. Each recording has a genuineness and immediacy that on several occasions made our two yorkshire terriers start from their sleep and let loose at full throat. In fact, to appreciate these recordings, all one need to really do is turn to the Discovery channel on TV, and compare them to the rather artificial and post-synchronized soundtracks of most nature documentaries.

This CD is certainly not the answer to the cravings of those wishing to hear some new and exciting unconventional music a la Cabaret Voltaire or The Hafler Trio. However, for those who hold that a musician is no less an artist than an author or a painter, this CD by Watson is a highly interesting glance at the artist's sketchbook, an essay on sound, or perhaps, something like an autobiography. " (Michael Lund)

Resonance (UK):

...unusual things done with microphones...Watson's record is a kind of anti-new-age field recording which, instead of using natural sounds to create an audio Radox bath (full of natural essences), hurls you into the centre of nature at its most enigmatic and terrifying. Kicking off with the sound of a cheetah purring (a lovely deep rumble) he presents us with monkeys, birds, whales (don't groan) and at one point the horrifying sound of nine vultures feeding off a zebra carcass (recorded from within the carcass). Recorded with astounding precision (recording is his day job after all) and packaged with the kind of care and attention to detail we've come to expect from Touch, this is an indispensable document from a leading experimental label. (Richard Sanderson)

Art Zero (France):

N'avez-vous jamais voulu être à l'intérieur de la carcasse d'un zèbre alors qu'une douzaine de vautours la dévorent ? Approcher un guépard endormi et mettre votre oreille à quelques centimètres de son ronflement? Vous allonger par terre dans une forêt tropicale pour écouter les insectes mystérieux sous les feuilles ? Avec "Outside the Circle of Fire" de Chris Watson vos vÏux seront exaucés. Album extraordinaire d'enregistrements faits partout dans le monde, il faut souligner ˜ contrairement à ce que disait The Wire que ceci n'est nullement à écouter comme de la techno expérimentale (même si Watson faisait partie du groupe Cabaret Voltaire à une époque) mais un voyage sonore merveilleux, fortement conseillé.

Your Flesh (USA):

Chris Watson has presented 22 tracks of meticulously recorded animal sounds. From the low, rumbling purr of a resting adult cheetah, to the rhythmic pulsing song of the corncrake (a bird nesting on the western isles of Scotland) to the belches of hippos, Watson has assembled a series of sounds that offer not only a new listening experience, but also a bit of insight into a world which most people aren't exposed to. His liner notes mention a "secret language" which may or may not be scientifically accurate. This CD provides the listener with an aural glimpse of an entire sound world that is not only beyond our experience but even our cognizance. It's not some kind of feel good, commune with the animals vibe either, just a gateway into the world of sound few of us would experience otherwise. As a collection of pure sounds or biological insight, thisis worth listening to. (Bruce Adams)

Side-Line (Belgium):

Chris Watson was previously member of Cabaret Voltaire and this release is his second cd on the UK label Touch that follows Stepping into the Dark. With this release it seems obvious that he hasn't stopped with research and innovation. Using high quality equipment he recorded life sounds of animals, insects or birds. This results in a very surprising series of sequences that will set you right at the centre of what is happening. You are given the possibility to listen to the sounds produced by cheetahs, whales, hippos, lions, vultures, elephants, all these are very evocative and some imagination is also needed to really 'live' this release. A very interesting release that I recommend to specialists of that kind or works (sic). DS:7/10)

City Newspaper (USA):

A collection of field recordings from around the world focussing explicity on assorted animals and insects. Between the clinical, rasping phrases of territorial male corncrakes or 'laughing' hippopotami at dusk, Outside the Circle could almost be the freakiest all-natural techno disc ever. The sounds of secret languages masterfully recorded with full documentation in the liner notes.

gg (USA):

Tape-splicing avant-gardist-turned-sound collector Chris Watson has spent his post-Cabaret Voltaire/post-Hafler Trio years circling the globe˜high-output microphones at the ready˜on a very private quest for the secret languages of the natural kingdom. Using the audio equivalent of a telephoto zoom lens, Watson gets so close to his subjects that you can feel the stiff white hairs on the cheetah's chest rising and falling with each reposeful breath and taste the salty spume of surfacing whales. The confusion of flocking masses of birds and the nervous urgency of hungry spider monkeys is so in-focus that it becomes your own. As vultures crowd at the carcass of a zebra, cawing gluttonously between beakfuls of flyblown flesh, the sweet-sick stench of decay seems to flood the room, out of place and time, intensifying in queasy waves as bluebottles buzz faintly in the distance. A red deer stag steps to the forest's edge in Scotland, and his virile bellow is suffused with the animal tang of musk. While some may experience a sense of kinship with the 'circle of life' and the brotherhood of the living and breathing, I'm struck instead by the utter non-humanness of these sounds. Our distant Darwinian brothers and sisters these animals may be, but the hippopotamus' comical grunts, the songs of starlings, tinkerbirds, corncrakes, and other rara avis, and the defiant growl of a domineering lioness are formed by throats so unlike ours that they may as well be alien. If the titular Circle of Fire represents the cramped world of tool-using, opposable-thumbed, Prometheus-favored Homo sapiens sapiens, then the array of natural sounds here (presented, as ever, as "unsweetened" and unadulterated documentary events) serves to remind us of the vast wildness that contains it. Which only makes the colicky-infant cries of cliff-dwelling kittiwakes, the contented snores of a sleeping elephant family, and the chitinous, finger-tapping fumbles of deathwatch beetles˜sounds so far removed from our world, yet uncannily suggestive of its familiar trappings˜all the more provocative. Outside The Circle Of Fire is as much about the natural environments in which Watson first encountered these creatures as it is about their fascinating noises. Elemental echoes pervade every track, and Watson's microphones are just as sensitive to the windy gusts, parched earth, leaf-littered forest floors, and peninsular waters that define the mis-en-scène and provide the subconscious cues for these captured voices.

Chris Watson - Stepping Into The Dark

Warp Records (UK):

Ex Cabaret Voltaire man and BBC wildlife audio recorder with amazing field recordings from all over the world that brilliantly capture the atmosphere, warmth plus the characteristics of the Flora and Fauna of the places, times of the year and even day they were captured. The compact disc comes with a fully annotated booklet with notes on every recording and some beautiful images of the places they were recorded too.

NoiseGate (UK):

"Watson's lead instrument is the tape recorder. After working with Cabaret Voltaire and The Hafler Trio, he became sound recordist for The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, he has since joined a film and video production company, working for BBC wildlife documentaries. The 13 recordings on Stepping into the Dark contrast a windswept forest in Glen Cannich with the gathering conversations of rooks roosting in a churchyard in Northumberland. Other atmospheres include the heat and wall of sound found on the river Mara in Kenya, fishing bats on a mangrove pool in Venezuela, the ritual dance of snipe at dusk in the North Hebrides, a hydrophone at 5m depth in the Moray Firth captures the signature whistles and clicks of bottlenose dolphins. Very good."

CMJ (USA):

"Chris Watson made these extraordinary recordings by concealing microphones (so they wouldn/t be noticed by local fauna) in various outdoor locations around the world, from Scotland to Venezuela to Germany, then rolling the tape and capturing the sound of the particular place and time. That's 'sound' not 'ambiance' - rather than being "soothing sounds of the surf"-type stuff, they're dense with noises (swarms of flies, croaking birds, bowl-you-over winds). You have to listen to them actively. As an aid to that, they average about four minutes apiece, or roughly the length of a pop song. In fact, listening to them a few times, you start to hear each track that way: as a collection of textures (incessantly croaking frogs) and "riffs" (an evening chorus of snipe), of unique events (the deep hum of insects buzzing by the microphone) and thematic development (the slow, symphonic crescendo of a Costa Rican forest as it awakens at daybreak). The highlight is a pair of recordings of the Maasai Mara river in Kenya: one slow and fluttery at 6:15 am, one hot and thick with noise at 9:30 pm, when Watson feared a hippo attack." (Douglas Wolk)

Wired (UK):

"Taking ambient to its logical conclusion is Chris Watson, whose Stepping into the Dark (Touch) is a collection of recordings of places. Hear birdsong, cicadas, sea and wind. Absolutely no fill-in synth washes or new-age cheesery whatsoever. Music with the music taken out - radical!"

The Wire (UK):

"Chris Watson's Stepping into the Dark makes a collection of environmental recordings positively eventful by comparison (ed.: to Dark Continent). This is a kind of National Geographic supersession: the siskins and song thrushes of the Kielder Forest trade licks with the fishing boats of Venezuela, while the dolphins of the Moray Firth seem like they're auditioning for back-up roles on the next Björk album. It's easy to scoff like this, but the purple prosody of the liner notes does give rise to the feeling that Mother Nature is just another musical virtuoso, all ready to tune up and howl "Let's rock" for the likes of Watson and those who buy his records (and there must be buyers). But fair's fair: Watson's recordings of the River Mara in Kenya by night are of a sonic intensity that beggar's belief, and his tape of the change in environment with the sunrise in a Costa Rican rainforest is little short of poetic. Of its kind, then, this is a decent (if a tad overlong) disc, comparable with Alan Lamb's telegraph-wire recordings on Dorobo. But next time, Chris - give those rhesus monkeys some solo space in the mix." (Paul Stump)

On (UK):

"Armed with a tape recorder and a history that includes a stint as sound recordist for the Royal Society for Protection of Birds, Watson delivers eleven scapes from around the world - from Kielderside to Kenya - in a triumph of recording techniques that veers sharply away from any kind of new age relaxation agenda. The rooks roosting in the churchyard at Embleton, Northumberland are as in-yer-face as any hardstep and the heat and wall of sound in Kenya is startling in its own way too. If you're too busy to escape Islington or canna afford to quit Balham, book a sonic away-day with Chris Watson. Vibin!" (Wild Weazel)

Magic Feet (UK):

"As Jello Biafra of the Dead Kennedys once said, "Relax, everything is done for you." How seriously you take all this Virtual Reality Cyber Culture stuff is largely down to how much you've allowed yourself to be duped by it. Meshing neatly with the Western preference for stored over immediate experience, Chris Watson has delivered an album of field recordings from Europe, Africa and South America. So you get a cacophony of rooks from a remote Northumberland graveyard, dolphins communicating under the Moray Firth and the rising hum of a Costa Rican jungle at dawn. Sure enough, there are patterns and cyclical loops to be followed just like any music. It's all very tastefully done, from the packaging to the genuinely enthusiastic sleeve notes emphasising that this is a truly candid aural view of nature which manages to "avoid background noise, human disturbance and editing". But surely the whole point about nature is that it just is, and is there for the dwindling numbers of humans not tied to a VDU screen to just go out and drink in first hand. Maybe its a touch paranoid, but its not too difficult to imagine families of the future sat around sound machines in air-conditioned rooms using recordings such as this to learn about nature. Maybe Chris Watson could enjoy no greater punch line for his work than such a scenario. Or maybe we should all literally get out more." (Andy McCall-Smith)

ECLECTRICITY (UK):

"A BBC sound recordist and previously a collaborator with Andrew M. McKenzie in the Hafler Trio, Watson has assembled some favourite fragments of international environment recordings on this CD. Not only do they convey a sense of place, hinting at the physicality of different terrain, but contain emotional echoes of shared experiences. The electrical hum of insects, bird calls awakening the forest of Bosque Seco in Costa Rico, reminded me of dragonflies low over the water of a quiet lake one Scandinavian summer, an experience I'd long forgotten. Seasonal dates and times are included with beautiful photographs in a booklet, together with precise latitude and longitude measurements for those eager to take the adventure themselves." (DKH)

EST (UK):

"After leaving Cabaret Voltaire and the Hafler Trio, Chris Watson found work as a sound-recordist, working for example for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. I'm pleased to see that his belated return to the "music" industry isn't with a music album, but with a collection of location recordings, covering the wilds of Britain (Cumbria, Scotland, Northumberland) and overseas (Germany, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Kenya). Watson suggests that these recordings are not simply documentary, but concerned with capturing the intangible spirit of each location. Clear recording and a total absence of human sounds invite meditation, but it's also interesting to try and divine any musical qualities in the birdsong or dolphin clicks that occur. There's an integrity to Watson's straightforward approach that just about sets Stepping into the Dark apart from "Forest Moods" type location- sound recordings, and which ensures I'll be listening to it again." BD

Alternative Press (US):

"French conceptual artist Marcel Duchamp once predicted that the artist of the future would point at what already exists and it would become art. Many sound artists have taken a philosophically similar outlook, using found sound, plagiarism and media manipulation. Former Hafler Trio and Cabaret Voltaire collaborator Chris Watson takes a different approach to this aesthetic, preferring to let the world around us do its own talking.

Stepping is an engaging collection of field recordings made at exotic locales while Watson was doing location sound for various documentaries. He presents a rich variety of environments ranging from flies near the Mara River in Kenya, to nesting rooks in an old churchyard, to fishing bats in Venezuela.

Animals and the elements take center stage throughout the disc. It seems strange to have any human's name on the sleeve at all. Watson has wisely chosen to leave these sounds raw and realistic, making this about as close as most of us will get to a world tour. Use your ears and drift. - Joseph Cross"