Pascal Battus

Tip! *2025 stock. 300 copies limited edition* "When I was in Paris 2013 - 2015, the second apartment in which I stayed was on Rue Adolphe Mille, which more or less ran along the western border of the Parc de la Villette in the 19th Arrondissement. On the opposite side of the park, the new Philharmonie de Paris, designed by Jean Nouvel, was nearing its long-delayed completion. Eric La Casa, a master of in situ field recording/performance, lived just up the street as well and, in 2013, ventured in…

Akousis Records is pride to announce the out of the new solo realise by French musician Pascal Battus: Cymbale Ouverte. Pascal Battus plays an self-invented instrument : the rotating surfaces inspired by the hurdy- gurdy principle are driven by an electric motor. By this way, Pascal Battus uses many material to rub, to hit, to play with the pitches, timbres and produced sounds. With Cymbale Ouverte, the musician has decided this time to use only cymbals to drive different kind of resonances. Fou…

Dovetailing and combining the rich harmonics of Michel Doneda's soprano and sopranino saxophone with Pascal Battus' rotating surfaces--mechanisms from small consumer electronics and their like put in motion and in contact with resonators and vibrators--this French improvising duo create fascinatingly shifting, unusual textures and sonic environments.

Chantier 1 documents the first in a series of radical sound investigations by Pascal Battus(rotating surfaces, found objects), Bertrand Gauguet (amplified and acoustic saxophones), and Eric LaCasa (microphones), set directly within buildings under construction. More than conventional performance, their method is intervention: improvising amidst the ongoing labor of construction workers, letting the site dictate form, rhythm, and interruption. Sounds of drilling, hammering, and machinery aren’t f…

Musical expression comes in many forms and shapes, something that also applies to what we refer to as “experimental” music. That particular music receives its name usually because of its exploration of unusual shapes, colours, structures, etc, but sometimes it ends up even surrendering itself to entirely new languages and the possibilities those bring with them. It’s a taste of the latter that we find in this particular recording by the American Michael Johnsen, and Frenchman Pascal Battu…