Browse by Artist: CHAUVEAU, SYLVAIN

Artist:	CHAUVEAU, SYLVAIN
Title:	The Black Book Of Capitalism
Label:	TYPE (UK)
Format:	LP
Price:	$18.00
Catalog #:	TYPE 025LP

LP version (CD is released in Feb. 09). Originally released in 2000, Le Livre Noir Du Capitalisme was the first album from French composer Sylvain Chauveau. Now in 2008, it has been remastered and repackaged for Type Records, translated into the English The Black Book of Capitalism. This record was the first the world had heard from Sylvain, a musician who had been rooted in post-rock before realizing that he could do a lot more with the instruments around him. On The Black Book of Capitalism, we hear a rare playful side to the composer as he flirts with Gallic classical music, electronica, jazz, and even indie rock. The variety splintered into various side-projects as Sylvain moved on in the music scene, but here we get a sense of confident experimentation without a hint of cliché. Sylvain's sound would go on to influence a host of other artists and kick off an entire sub-genre of modern classical music, but strangely enough, this debut album has been out of press for some time. Now remastered by Dubplates and Mastering in Berlin and on vinyl for the first time ever, it sounds more relevant and timeless than it ever has. Beginning with a cloud of smoky ambience, piano, strings and the atmospheric field recordings that frame the record, we are dragged into Sylvain's noir-esque world. This sets the scene for the entire album which drifts through the kind of piano-led classical vignettes popularized by Max Richter and more recently Goldmund, yet punctuates these with doomy jazz and lighter pieces such as the guitar-led "Dialogues Avec Le Vent." The result is a beguiling collection of pieces which show an incredibly inventive mind at work, a mind refusing to be held to one specific style, or even time.

Artist:	CHAUVEAU, SYLVAIN
Title:	S.
Label:	TYPE (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$12.50
Catalog #:	TYPE 030CD

This is the long-awaited sixth release for French composer and electro-acoustic producer, Sylvain Chauveau, and his first release for the Type label. Since his 2000 debut Le Livre Noir Du Capitalisme, Chauveau has been a pioneering figure in the world of modern classical/electronic music. This status has seen him inhabit the same creative space as Max Richter, Jóhann Jóhannsson and Ryan Teague, and Type welcomes him to their label and community, beginning with the issue of this brand new mini-album. S. sees Chauveau taking a daring new direction since his last record, moving away from the haunting strings and piano work of his best known works and temporarily stepping into the world of minimal electroacoustics, using the guitar as a focal point. The first track, "Composition 8," probably best illustrates this move with its expertly processed prepared guitar drones, layered together to create a menacing piece of bass-heavy ambience and growling doom, perhaps even comparable to experimental metal pioneers, Earth at their most esoteric. This piece is expertly balanced, however, against the second track, simply titled "P.," in which Chauveau returns momentarily to caressing the ivories, but using the notes (and the space between the notes) to dictate something far more minimal and far more related to the brooding drone of the opening piece. Elsewhere we hear Chauveau's take on glacial digital minimalism with the epic electronic piece "E/R" and more delicate piano experimentations before we are brought to a satisfying and subtle close with the gritty, slow-burning ambience of "A_." All in all, this is possibly the most thoughtful and unusual selection of tracks Chauveau has ever set his name to: give them time and they are sure to reveal their immense depths.

Artist:	CHAUVEAU, SYLVAIN
Title:	S.
Label:	TYPE (UK)
Format:	10"
Price:	$10.00
Catalog #:	TYPE 030EP

10" vinyl version to accompany the long-awaited sixth release for French composer and electro-acoustic producer, Sylvain Chauveau. Since his 2000 debut Le Livre Noir Du Capitalisme, Chauveau has been a pioneering figure in the world of modern classical/electronic music. This status has seen him inhabit the same creative space as Max Richter, Jóhann Jóhannsson and Ryan Teague, and Type welcomes him to their label and community, beginning with the issue of this brand new mini-album. S. sees Chauveau taking a daring new direction since his last record, moving away from the haunting strings and piano work of his best known works and temporarily stepping into the world of minimal electroacoustics, using the guitar as a focal point.

Artist:	CHAUVEAU, SYLVAIN
Title:	Nuage
Label:	TYPE (UK)
Format:	CD
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	TYPE 034CD

Nuage is the seventh release from French composer Sylvain Chauveau -- his second for the Type label. He last surfaced with S., a short-form record exploring his more electro-acoustic leanings, but this record, which collects his recent scores for two films by Sébastian Betbeder, sees the composer returning to the sound he explored so successfully on FatCat's Un Autre Décembre. With a hand-picked group of players on piano, viola, violin and with Sylvain himself on electric guitar, the music roots itself in the traditions of great film scoring. There are definite nods to Krzysztof Kieslowski's composer Zbigniew Preisner in the deep sense of emotion and melancholy, and Chauveau strips his pieces down to the bare minimum of what might be needed, ridding himself of orchestral excess or meaningless sentimentality. Short motifs rise and fall, tangling their way through the album, appearing and re-appearing subtly and beautifully. Even without the visual accompaniment, you begin to imagine just what the films may have held, what may or may not have happened; love, loss, deceit and nostalgia. There are clear stylistic links to the work of fellow contemporary composer Max Richter, not least with the scope and quality of the recordings and Nuage should delight those who enjoy Chauveau's romantic side. The album has eschewed any academic experimentation and revels in a haunting simplicity, and for those of us hanging on Chauveau's every movement, the decision couldn't be more welcome. Maybe the track which sums up the album most is the centerpiece and longest track, "Fly Like A Horse," which, interestingly, is the only track not to utilize the classical players. With electric guitar and light electronics, Chauveau creates a mood and a texture while sounding completely different from the rest of the album, summing it up completely -- deeply moving and incredibly memorable.

Artist:	CHAUVEAU, SYLVAIN
Title:	Nuage
Label:	TYPE (UK)
Format:	LP
Price:	$14.50
Catalog #:	TYPE 034LP

LP version, strictly limited to 500 copies. Nuage is the seventh release from French composer Sylvain Chauveau -- his second for the Type label. He last surfaced with S., a short-form record exploring his more electro-acoustic leanings, but this record, which collects his recent scores for two films by Sébastian Betbeder, sees the composer returning to the sound he explored so successfully on FatCat's Un Autre Décembre. With a hand-picked group of players on piano, viola, violin and with Sylvain himself on electric guitar, the music roots itself in the traditions of great film scoring. There are definite nods to Krzysztof Kieslowski's composer Zbigniew Preisner in the deep sense of emotion and melancholy, and Chauveau strips his pieces down to the bare minimum of what might be needed, ridding himself of orchestral excess or meaningless sentimentality. Short motifs rise and fall, tangling their way through the album, appearing and re-appearing subtly and beautifully. Even without the visual accompaniment, you begin to imagine just what the films may have held, what may or may not have happened; love, loss, deceit and nostalgia. There are clear stylistic links to the work of fellow contemporary composer Max Richter, not least with the scope and quality of the recordings and Nuage should delight those who enjoy Chauveau's romantic side. The album has eschewed any academic experimentation and revels in a haunting simplicity, and for those of us hanging on Chauveau's every movement, the decision couldn't be more welcome. Maybe the track which sums up the album most is the centerpiece and longest track, "Fly Like A Horse," which, interestingly, is the only track not to utilize the classical players. With electric guitar and light electronics, Chauveau creates a mood and a texture while sounding completely different from the rest of the album, summing it up completely -- deeply moving and incredibly memorable.

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