Date Released: June 28, 2004
Origin: MexicoGenre: Click & Cut, GlitchLabel: Leaf RecordsSite: http://myspace.com/murcofTracklist:1. Ulysses2. Maíz (Der Abschied von Dawson City mix)3. Memoria (Sutekh's Trisagion mix94. Urano5. Maíz (Icarus mix)6. Ulysses (Fax mix)7. MO (a.mo.re - aeroc mix)8. Una9. Muim (Colleen mix)10. Ultimatum__________________________________________________
Fernando Corona is a producer from Tijuana who is one of the central figures in Baja, California's Nortec Collective. He started by releasing Matmos-ian traditional Mexican cut-ups as Terrestre, and in 2002, he debuted with the album Martes under the name Murcof. Along the way he's remixed, cut vinyl as the mastering engineer for the Static Discos label, and scored the independent film Nicotina. He's a busy guy with a lot of talent, this Fernando Corona. Remember the name.
With Martes, Corona took fragments of 20th Century classical by composers like Morton Feldman and Arvo Pärt and combined the tense arrangements with micro beats. It was an interesting record with an unusual sound, but it wasn't ultimately great; something about the loops and repetition of Martes didn't seem to gel. Corona's conception called for freedom and openness, music unconstrained by the snap-to grid. For that we would have to wait another 18 months.
The 12-inch single "Ulysses", released earlier this year, delivered completely on Martes' promise and immediately built anticipation for the next Murcof full-length, due by the end of 2004. On both "Ulysses" and the B-side "Urano", Corona ditched samples to write and record his own charts, melding percolating minimalist beats with his subtly dissonant and open-ended phrases for strings. On this CD, Leaf has rewarded those without turntables by compiling the two tracks from the "Ulysses" 12-inch, two previously unreleased tracks, and seven remixes of material from Martes.
Beyond the exceptional "Ulysses" 12-inch, both unheard tracks here are good but sound like holdovers from the Martes sessions. "Una" loops and chops a short section for strings and sets the melody against an undercurrent of catgut groans and plucks. It's like a duet between two instruments from the violin family-- one set to play "music" and the other focusing on "sounds." "Ultimatum", which foregrounds the drum programming and uses bits of piano and violin more as seasoning, is probably the funkiest track Corona has released as Murcof.
The remixes are mostly strong, with the two best coming from familiar names. Jan Jelinek's "Der Abschied von Dawson City Mix" of "Maiz" is an excellent meeting of the minds that finds Jelinek using clipped fragments of plucked violin and double-bass slides for his own jazzed-up rhythmic ends. Deathprod's take on "Ulysses" leaves little of the original identifiably intact, but creates the kind of vast, doom-laden half-speed drift that will be instantly familiar to those familiar with his excellent Morals and Dogma.
Colleen's mix of "Muium" is inspired and imaginative, as Cécile Schott burrows deep inside the original track, emerging with handfuls of individual notes that are stretched into drones and reassembled into weird melodies. On the beat-friendly tip, Sutekh's "Triasgion mix" of "Memoria" is highly danceable and driving techno infested with squirming samples pushing in several directions simultaneously, while fellow Nortec Collective member Fax (Ruben Tamayo, not Pete Namlook) offers a dubby and comparatively warm take on "Maiz".
Fernando Corona's distinctive stamp is clearly affixed to every note of his originals, so his music lends itself to the remix treatment. But most exciting on Ulysses are the two new tracks that (hopefully) point the way toward the next Murcof album. What Corona brings to the table is something depressingly rare in electronic music: a fresh ear. Like Ekkehard Ehlers, Corona seems to hear music differently, allowing him to compose tracks that sound like no one else.
Review taken from: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/20198-utopiaDownload link: http://rapidshare.com/files/148160800/Murcof_-_Utop_a.rar.html
Date Released: January 1, 2003
