Eric La Casa - The Stones of the Threshold (Ground Fault, 1999)

One of many great recordings from Parisian Eric La Casa, an often claustrophobic look at the relationship between the sounds of the world and the microphone. The album is bookended by pieces comprised solely of field recordings--of water and fire, urban sounds, gusts of wind, and human utterings--and these represent La Casa at his most striking. His recordings have a knack for capturing every sonic artifact of an encounter, down to the interwoven sounds of wind that fill the otherwise lack of sounds, and bringing them viscerally into the forefront. Any faint murmur, barely audible, can be counted on at any moment to emerge as a great rumble, and this is part of the excitement to his recordings.

The Stones of the Threshold

Syllyk - O Comme Icare (Musica Maxima Magnetica, 1992)

Syllyk is an early entry in the Eric La Casa catalog, a duo with Sylvie Laroche that, like his works under his own name, implore field recordings as the base for sonic sculpting. O Comme Icare is the first in a trilogy concerned with the musicality of nature. Unlike later releases, there is less of an emphasis on magnifying the sonic artifacts of the recording, instead opting to interweave the recorded events into a broader narrative. Fragments are looped and manipulated via filters, delays, and reverbs. As well there is prominent use of voice, whether it be La Casa's or Laroche's, that adds a nice human counterpoint to the abstracted material.

O Comme Icare