September came with gray skies and floods. I was listening to Akira Rabelais‘ 2001 release Eisoptrophobia, specifically his reworkings of Satie’s Gnossiennes when it got really dark and the rain started falling down. A dark but blissful moment.

Eisoptrophobia consists of 20 reworkings from Bartok, Satie and Carte. Rabelais processed the finished works with his own software Argeiphontes Lyre, which does several different morphings & mutations. Takes things even farther than the original versions. Check for comparison.

I love this album and i honestly didnt think we’d ever have it back in stock. When I first heard it back in 2001 I wasn’t sure what to make of it; small subtle compositions constructed with treated piano, covered in dirt, noise and crystalline electronic elements. The more I listened however, the more I became addicted and Rabelais’ moonlit pieces began to soundtrack my evenings. The piano pieces come from very obvious sources, Satie, Bartok and Carte; however it’s Rabelais’ computer aided editing (using his custom made software ‘Argephontes Lyre’) which makes them sound so alien. Skip straight to the cover of Satie’s Gymnopedie no.1 (oddly enough also covered lovingly on Isan’s excellent new 7″ this week) and you’ll realise Rabelais’ intense skill in extracting the most intense emotion from a source familiar to most. Beautiful. Boomkat

Image: Gnossiennes Hommage à Erik Satie (© Milica Polignano)