The Squid's Ear Magazine


La Casa, Eric / Jean-Luc Guionne: Soundtracks (Herbal International)

Three soundtracks to movies from sound artist Eric La Casa, developed for directors Luke Fowler, Christian Jaccard and Marie-Christine Navarro, organizing sounds from field recordings, with Navarro's soundtrack complemented by organ recordings from Jean-Luc Guionnet.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Eric La Casa-recordings

Jean-Luc Guionnet-organ


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Label: Herbal International
Catalog ID: 1502
Squidco Product Code: 21910

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2015
Country: Malaysia
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold 3 Panels
Tracks 1-4 recorded in Paris, and Glasgow

Track 5 recorded in the Foundery Susse, Ivry

Tracks 6 Ð 8 with organ recordings by Jean-Luc Guionnet

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"By now it seems that Eric La Casa is someone who is a fixed artist for the Herbal International label. Soundtracks might be his fourth release on this label and as the title suggests these are soundtracks to movies. Three soundtracks to be precise. A film by the ever obscure Luke Fowler, a video by Christian Jaccard and a 'drama' by Marie-Christine Navarro. Apart from three stills, there is nothing to see on this disc. Maybe these films/drama exist somewhere in the digital domain, but I decided to stick to the music and think about that.

Of course we know LaCasa from his many works that involve field recordings, and in "A Hemero Phaestos 2" these might be made in a foundry. In the other pieces it is less obvious, and sometimes I am thinking this has more to do with electronic music than with field recordings. Most likely however it is Eric LaCasa sticking his microphones in very unusual places and taping sounds as they come through odd routes into the heads of his recorders.

Sometimes it sounds far away, like a motorway (the first part of 'Polymeres 2' for instance), or (very softy) the sound of fire in the same piece. Jean-Luc Guionnet plays organ in the second part of that piece, but here too La Casa adds a lot of other sounds and (perhaps) processes. The Luke Fowler film soundtrack might be more to do with street sounds - I have no idea why I assume this, whereas 'A Hemero Phaestos 2' has the most electronic feel to it. There are some interesting combinations at work, quite some mystery as well. One never seems to be fully sure what one is hearing, which I guess works always best for this kind of music; no doubt these are soundtracks to more abstract visual material, and as such these work fine."-Frans De Waard, Vital Weekly


Artist Biographies

"968: Born in Tours, France.
1987-91: Studied history of art (University of La Sorbonne, Paris).
1988: Starting sound experiments.

Since 1991: Sound artist.

(award: Festival "Soundscape before 2000")

- tape music composer
A research based on the landscape, its sound substances, its inner language, within a sensitive listening of the world.
[7 solo CDs, many CDs compilations : Japan, Germany, Taiwan, usa...]
+ Previous releases CD:
L'empreinte de l'ivresse (Digital Narcis Ltd, Japan), The Stone of the Threshold (The Ground Fault, Usa).
+ New CD (October 2000): Les Pierres du seuil part 4-7.

- "sound plastician"
(sound environments and installations: Clepsydre, Chute, mi-lieu...)
A research dedicated to the concept: the place - the sound/one place - one work.

- radio producer

(sound essays for the national radio program ACR-France Culture)
New work: Vent sur Ecoute (dedicated to the wind).
Work in progress: Ward Weis (a portrait of this sound artist).

Since 1996: Journalist for the french magazine of new musics: Revue et Corrigée.

Interviews with Pierre Marietan, Claude Schryer, Eric Cordier, Yann Paranthoën, Cédric Peyronnet, René Farabet, Slavek Kwi, Jocelyn Robert, Jean-Luc Guionnet,...
1989-1998: Director of La Légende des voix (label of experimental music).

10 releases (Arsenije Jovanovic, Jim O'Rourke, Syllyk, ...)"

-Kunstradio (http://kunstradio.at/BIOS/lacasabio.html)
4/9/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Jean-Luc Guionnet is an elusive figure. A Parisian artist active in many fields (music, visual arts, cinema), he has mostly worked in electro-acoustics but also has a career in free improvisation, playing alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, church organ, and piano. He has collaborated with Éric La Casa, Éric Cordier, and André Almuro on tape music. His main free improv and jazz projects include Hubbub, Schams, Return of the New Thing, and the Joe Rosenberg quintet.

Guionnet made scientific studies before shifting to fine arts. He studied musique concrete under Iannis Xenakis and Michel Zbar, but also pursued studies in philosophy (esthetics) with Geneviève Clancy. His first works date from the late '80s and are mostly collaborations with filmmaker André Almuro (some have been issued by Ground Fault). Then came a lasting partnership with electro-acousticians Éric Cordier and Éric La Casa. Together they wrote the series "Afflux." Guionnet also produces the Ateliers de Création Radiophoniques ("creative radio workshops") for France Culture. His eclecticism has kept him at bay of recognition -- because to the eye of the press it strips him from some credibility and because running careers in philosophy (he was co-director for the review Terre des Signes from 1993 to 1996), painting (he exhibited from 1992 to 1997), and music simultaneously tends to be time-consuming.

The release of an eponymous CD by Dan Warburton's free jazz quartet Return of the New Thing in 1999 on the respected label Leo Records introduced Guionnet to a wider audience. Since then his activities as an improviser have constantly stretched toward the fringes of experimentalism. His participation in the French-Swiss group Hubbub and his duo with guitarist Olivier Benoit (&Un, 2002) follow the school of Berlin reductionism."

-All Music, François Couture (http://www.allmusic.com/artist/jean-luc-guionnet-mn0000231714)
4/9/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. A Grammar For Listening 2 - 1 4:13

2. A Grammar For Listening 2 - 2 3:55

3. A Grammar For Listening 2 - 3 4:22

4. A Grammar For Listening 2 - 4 3:51

5. A Hemero Phaestos 2 11:00

6. Polymeres 2 - 1 3:51

7. Polymeres 2 - 2 7:21

8. Polymeres 2 - 3 4:52

Related Categories of Interest:


Electro-Acoustic
Organized Sound and Sample Based Music
Sound, Noise, &c.
Field Recordings
Soundtracks, Movie Scores, &c.
Solo Artist Recordings
New in Experimental & Electronic Music

Search for other titles on the label:
Herbal International.


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