The Squid's Ear Magazine


Isotope Ensemble: Caesium (Creative Sources)

Recorded live at CreativeFest #18 in Lisbon, the Isotope Ensemble channels the volatile and fluid nature of caesium through spontaneous improvisation, blending strings, brass, woodwinds, piano, electric guitars, modular synthesizer, electronics, and objects into a dynamic sonic reaction that reflects the element's unique liquid properties that make the isotope pivotal role in atomic timekeeping.
 

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Personnel:



Maria do Mar-violin

Ernesto Rodrigues-viola

Guilherme Rodrigues-cello

Miguel Mira-cello

Joao Silva-trumpet

Catarina Silva-french horn

Etienne Brunet-soprano saxophone

Nuno Torres-alto saxophone

Jung-Jae Kim-tenor saxophone

Michel Stawicki-tenor saxophone

Luisa Goncalves-piano

Flak-electric guitar, fx

Ana Albino-electric guitar

Carlos Santos-modular synthesizer

Carla Santana-electronics

Monsieur Trinite-objects


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UPC: 5609063408577

Label: Creative Sources
Catalog ID: cs857
Squidco Product Code: 35773

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2025
Country: Portugal
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded live at Casa do Comum, during CreatiiveFest #18, in Lisbon, Portugal, on November 24th, 2024, by Carlos Santos.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

Isotope Ensemble is a Lisbon-based collective of improvisational musicians known for their experimental performances that delve into the unique characteristics of chemical elements. In their latest album, Caesium, recorded live at Casa do Comum during CreativeFest #18 on November 24, 2024, the ensemble explores the element caesium through spontaneous composition. The lineup features a diverse array of instruments, including strings, brass, woodwinds, piano, electric guitars, modular synthesizer, electronics, and various objects, creating a rich tapestry of sound.

The ensemble's approach mirrors the properties of caesium — a soft, silvery-gold alkali metal known for its high reactivity and low melting point of 28.5°C, making it liquid near room temperature. This parallel between the element's fluidity and the ensemble's dynamic improvisations offers listeners an immersive experience that bridges the realms of chemistry and avant-garde music.


Artist Biographies

"Maria do Mar, violinist born in Lisbon, has a path marked by classical music and teaching, although she has always collaborated with artists from other musical areas. Since 2012, following her participation in the "Atelier de Improvisation et Direction de Ensemble in real-time (Conduction)" directed by Butch Morris, she began to explore free improvisation and other languages ​​in the contemporary music scene, taking part in a violin and Electric bass duo with the musician and composer Ricardo A. Freitas.She has developed improvisational work with various musicians, performing in concerts, cycles and festivals, with names like Carlos "Zingaro",., Joana Guerra, Ricardo Jacinto, Christophe Berthet, Maria Radich. In the context of the Moving Theater she participated in the Suzuki workshop / Viewpoints by Lowri Jenkins and Jane Pupo. She is seeking a broader musical universe and the development of a personal language, where the musical boundaries are fading and new possibilities opens up with no creative limits."

-Zaratan (Translated by Google) (http://www.zaratan.pt/en/event/74)
3/12/2025

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"He has been playing the violin for 30 years and in that time has played all genres of music ranging from contemporary music to free jazz and improvised music, live and in the studio.

His main interest shifted towards contemporary improvised and composed music.

The relationship with his instruments is focused in sonic and textural elements.

Electronic music was an early influence on his approach to violin playing, which challenges traditional romantic concepts of the violin/viola through use of preparations and micro tuning.

Active in different settings on the Portuguese scene for free improvised music, both as a collaborator and in leading his own groups.

Music for Dance, Cinema, Video and Performance.

Has created the record label Creative Sources Recordings in 1999, which mainly concentrates on releasing experimental and electro-acoustic music."

-Creative Sources (http://creativesourcesrec.com/creative_artists.html)
3/12/2025

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"Was born 1988 in Lisboa, Portugal and started playing cello and trumpet at Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa at the age of 7. In 1999 joined Conservatório Nacional de Música de Lisboa to study classical and music theory and in the current year recorded his first album - Multiples - with Ernesto Rodrigues and José Oliveira out on Creative Sources Recordings.

Apart from work in music ensembles ranging for contemporary classical to free improvisation, also works with live music poetry, theatre and film-music. After lengthy residency in Lisboa, (1988-2016) moved to Berlin and has been active as composer and improviser in the scene.

Worked with some international and renewed artists like Ernesto Rodrigues, Jean-luc Guionnet, Margarida Garcia, Manuel Mota, Alfredo Costa Monteiro, Sei Miguel, Tim Goldie, Jeffrey Morgan, Oren Marshall, Gerhard Uebele, Klaus Kurvers, Gabriel Paiuk, Nicolas Field, Jaime Fennelly, Blaise Siwula, Will Guthrie, Pawel Grabowski, Michael Thieke, Wade Matthews, Leonel Kaplan, Diego Chamy, Gabriel Paiuk, Barry Weisblat, Joe Giardullo, Jassem Hindi, Tisha Mukarji, Masahiko Okura, Taku Unami, Toshihiro Koike, Sharif Sehnaoui, Christine Abdelnour, Alexandre Bellenger, Carlos Zingaro, Romaric Sobac, Nuno Rebelo, Nuno Torres, Naoto Yamagashi, Heddy Boubaker, Gerhard Uebele, Guillermo Torres, Tomas Gris, Carlos Santos, Bruno Parrinha, Miguel Leiria Pereira, Miguel Ivo Cruz, Alberto Cirera, Nuno Morão, Mark Sanders, Dennis Gonzaléz, Alípio Carvalho Neto, Raymond Macdonald, Neil Davidson, David Stachenas, Lisa Ullén, D'incise, Cyril Bondy, Miguel Mira, Rodrigo Amado, Abdul Moimême, Monsieur Trinité, João Madeira, Álvaro Rosso, Gil Gonçalves, Marian Yanchyk, Filipe Passos, Rodrigo Pinheiro, Christian Wolfarth, Thanos Chrysakis, Bechir Saade, Kurt Liedwart, Miguel A. Garcia, Ilia Belorukov, Andrew Lafkas, Gao Jiafeng, Eric Wong, Johan Moir, Casey Moir, Magda Mayas, Matthias Muller, Alexander Frangenheim ...

Has performed and toured in all Europe. Released more than 30 albums of his own projects."

-Creative Sources (http://creativesourcesrec.com/creative_artists.html)
3/12/2025

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"Born in 1958, studying guitar at the Academy of Music Amateurs, in the 70s, with Prof. Nagy. In the late 70 studying bass at the Hot Club, in the early '80s, with Prof. Zé Eduardo.

"Intrigue and permanent and persistent unease with stringed instruments, jazz and improvisation itself. During the last forty years, in concert, in private or in the studio, I had the honor of having played and learned (chronologically) Nuno Grande, Armindo Neves, Emilio Robalo, Celso Carvalho, António Ferro, Arthur Costa, Ze Bitch John Vinegar, John Lucas, Francisco Medina, Abdul moimeme, Rashiim Ausar Sahu, Patrick Brennan, Rodrigo Amado, Scott Fields, Francisco Trindade, Ernesto Rodrigues, Harvey Sorgen and Joe Giardullo.

Today, honor me play (and perpetuate my restlessness) with Rodrigo Amado, Abdul moimeme, John Lucas, Joseph Bruno Parrinha, John Parrinha, João Pedro Viegas, Alipio Carvalho Neto, Gabriel Ferrandini, Ernesto Rodrigues, Armando Gonçalves Pereira, Hernani Faustino, Rodrigo Pinheiro, Zé Lencastre, Louis Desirat, Peter Castello Lopes, Luís Lopes, Luís Vicente, Philip Sousa, Pedro Roxo, Johannes Krieger, George Lamprey, Marcello Maggi, Paulo Curado, Diogo Leal, D' Incise, Virginia and Eduardo Chagas. With some of my friends. I share my musical day in broader bands or ensembles, with other I highlight specific musical encounters and they are my entire curriculum." "

-JACC Records (http://www.jacc-records.com/en/musicians/miguel-mira)
3/12/2025

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João Silva is a Portuguese musician who performs on tibetan bell, seng gong, shruti box, &c.

-Squidco, Creative Sources 3/12/2025

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"I started studying music when I was 8 years old. Until I was 17 I studied at a local conservatory. After that I enrolled in a professional music school, where I completed the three year course. Last July I obtained my superior degree in music, taking lessons from Professor Paulo Guerreiro, principal horn of Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa (Portuguese Symphony Orchestra). At the moment I'm pursuing master's degree, still under his guidance and the guidance from the assistant Professor Luís Vieira (also a member of OSP).

I have partaken in numerous workshops, both horn dedicated and orchestral ones. Some of the teachers I have worked with include Hermann Baumann, Ab Koster, Hermann Jeurissen, Abel Pereira, Laurent Rossi, Bruno Hiron, and Ricardo Matosinhos.

I enjoy playing several kinds of repertoire, ranging from solo and orchestral standards to early music and even experimental/avant-garde/ electronic."-Catarina Silva

-Encore Musicians (https://encoremusicians.com/Catarina-Silva)
3/12/2025

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"Étienne Brunet is a musician, composer and improviser, born in Paris on January 2, 1954. He plays saxophone alto and soprano, bass clarinet , bagpipes, harmonicas and electronic instruments.

He took part in children's choir at the Opéra de Nice at the age of seven, then re-learned music as a self-taught musician as a teenager and took classes with Steve Lacy whose originality of musical thought will influence his entire career. He will do many jobs in addition to music (press modelist, book worker, saxophone tuner, operator on synthesizer writing for television channels). In 1979, he founded the trio Axolotl (not to be confused with other homonymous groups that came one or two decades later) with Marc Dufourd and Jacques Oger. In 1984 he founded the group Aller Simple Paris, with the accordionist Odile Lavault known as Gina Sbu, devoted to folk music arrangements from Eastern Europe. From 1987 he collaborated with the poet Julien Blaine . He performed with musicians such as Jac Berrocal , Anthony Coleman , Wayne Dockery , Jean-Jacques Birge , Jean-François Pauvros , Guillaume Loizillon, Erik Minkkinen, Jean-Jacques Avenel , Yasuaki Shimizu , Emiko Ota, and the Romanian drummer Cornelius Stroe; he writes various music and rides the Zig Rag Orchestra, then 3D Jazz and Ring Sax Modulator with Thierry Negro (bass) and Erick Borelva (drums). In 1995, he inaugurated a contract for several discs with the Saravah label of Pierre Barouh with a disc dedicated to Louis Jordan composed of exploded songs, La Légende du Franc Rock And Roll . In 1997 he recorded duets with Daunik Lazro , Daniel Mille , Thierry Madiot , Hubert Dupont , Camel Zekri and Fred van Hove, which were transformed into samples and mixed in the album B / Free / Bifteck . In 2007, he plays in duo with Diemo Schwarz (electronics). In recent years, it happens a little less, mainly solo, sometimes within the group of Senegalese grilet Djeour Cissokho.

He wrote numerous columns: Journal Web Intime from 1998 to 2001 (before fashion blogs ), then, from 2003 to 2007, Petite Fleur Electronique for Jazz Magazine devoted to the tune of time in music. His musical career is atypical. Initially impassioned by improvisation , he studied Indian music and electronic music which he mixes in a ferociously post - modern , jazz , funk , folk and free approach in the same composition."

-Wikipedia (Translated by Google) (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/ƒtienne_Brunet_(musicien))
3/12/2025

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"Studied alto saxophone within a jazz tradition spectrum. His continuous solo experimental research explores a wide scope of sound material through the use of the extended technics. Participates in several ensembles of improvisational music, electro acoustics and reductionism. Collaborates with musicians such as, Ernesto Rodrigues, Ricardo Jacinto, Sei Miguel, Fala Mariam, João Castro Pinto, Rafael Toral, Manuel Mota, David Stackenäs, Travassos, Paulo Raposo, Carlos Santos, Shiori Usui, C. Spencer Yeh, Cyril Bondi and d'incise, and developed projects as CACTO and PinkDraft, In the recent years has been also collaborating in several different projects at the intersection of the performative areas of dance, theatre and the visual arts (PARQUE, Les Voisins, Eye Height, Adriana Sá, Beatriz Cantinho). Participates and curates experimental and community radio initiatives."

-Creative Sources (http://creativesourcesrec.com/artists/n_torres.html)
3/12/2025

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Jung-Jae Kim is a South Korean saxophonist, the leader of the band The JJ Motion.

-Squidco 3/12/2025

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Michel Stawicki, Lille, France: "Autodidact, I start to play tenor saxophone in the 90's with a predilection for free-jazz, improvisation and abstract form. I played for dance, theater, movie and multimédia performance. I played in different format, solo to big-band I made a lot of performance around Poetry. I played in Europe and in different festivals."

-Michel Stawicki Website (https://michelstawicki.bandcamp.com/)
3/12/2025

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Luísa Gonçalves Lisbon, Portugal is a musician, pianist, & composer. She holds a superior degree in classical piano performance ESMAE, and works frequently with other musicians and performing arts.

3/12/2025

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Flak is an improvising and rock guitarist, best known for the Portuguese rock band Rádio Macau.-Squidco 3/12/2025

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"Born in Algarve, in the south of Portugal Ana started her musical studies at the age of fifteen. Throughout her career, she contacted with various musical styles, such as jazz, fusion, fado, bossa nova, rock, pop, and others and had a lot of stage experience. She graduated in classical guitar by Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa in the class of professor António Gonçalves and did a year of Erasmus in Spain in the class of professor Margarita Escarpa. After her degree she started to manage her own projects with classical guitar, electric guitar, and with other musicians and she had a lot of concerts in Portugal and abroad.

She received a prize in the International Guitar Competition of Golegã and presented herself as soloist in several recitals as well as in the Guitar International Festival of Lagoa. Currently she is studying jazz, she teaches in Academia de Música de Telheiras and keeps a very active musical live through her projects and temporary collaborations with various musicians."

-Encore Musicians (https://encoremusicians.com/Ana-Albino)
3/13/2025

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"Studied painting with António Sena (Ar.Co, 1988 -1992), worked in advertising for a period of time, but nowadays works as graphic designer in corporate identity, packaging, web and audio-video production.

Started sound/music activities in 1989 when formed the VITRIOL project with Paulo Raposo, a laboratory for experimental sound actions, in a first stage with studio work followed in 1994 by live output, mainly live electronics, concrete music with a improvised or graphic score oriented approach. Uses the laptop with software written in MaxMsp, small resonant objects, microphones and piezo elements to produce a music that deals with space and its sound characteristics. Interests in "soundscape" and field recordings are a huge part of his work, for piece preparation or just for archival purposes, Always recording, events, spaces or music. Multi-channel acusmatic music and radio pieces.

Presents himself solo in site-specific audio-video works, or in duos with João Silva (video, sound, photography), "Inhabitaded Spaces" with Ricardo Guerreiro (computer, mics), "Venús Pistolletto" with Emídio Buchinho (elec. guitar, mics, objects) and trios with Ernesto Rodrigues (violin) and Guilherme Rodrigues (cello) or ZNGR electroacustic trio with Carlos "Zíngaro and Emídio Buchinho. Member of several formations, "(Des)Integração" laptop ensemble (2001-2003) or in more electroacoustic sets, uses live-electronics and sampling which is the case of "Suspensão" septep, VGO, variable geometry orchestra and specially a trio close related to the "near silence" aesthetics, with Ernesto Rodrigues (violin, harp) and Guilherme Rodrigues (cello) with already several CD releases, always with at least one international improviser guest. Presented his work in Portugal, Spain, France, UK and Germany. Worked with artists from several media: dance, performance and video. Music and sound design for video and animation. Video and sound editing for comercial projects. Played live or in recording projects throughout the years with a lot of musician and sound artists. His sound work is documented in several CD releases. Belongs to the Granular board of directors, a portuguese association for experimental art and does the image of Creative Sources label. Broadcasts "Boca Doce" show at Rádio Zero (web) and other special shows. Workshops and seminars in digital audio manipulation, Maxmsp programming and sound art practise."

-Creative Sources (http://creativesourcesrec.com/creative_artists.html)
3/12/2025

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Carla Santana is a Portuguese electronic artist known for the bands Quarto com Luz, quatroconnection, Isotope Ensemble and Variable Geometry Orchestra.

-Squidco 3/12/2025

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Monsieur Trinité is based in Lisboa, Portugal, and is a member of Equinox Quartet, IKB, Potlatch, and Variable Geometry Orchestra.

-Squidco 3/12/2025

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Track Listing:



01. Caesium 55Cs 24:13

Related Categories of Interest:

Creative Sources

Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Jazz
Electro-Acoustic
Electro-Acoustic Improv
Large Ensembles
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New in Improvised Music
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