Gintas K

Sound & Spaces

A side
1. Sound & Spaces#1 13:36
2. Per aspera ad astra 0:56
3. Sound & Spaces#3 2.:14
4. Sound & Spaces#4 6:15

B side
5. Sound & Spaces#5 7:39
6. Sound & Spaces#6 6:27
7. Prolonged 3:26

All music played, recorded live, at once without any overdub; using computer, midi keyboard & controller.
Gintas K / computer / 2020
gintask.puslapiai.lt

Released by Powdered Hearts 2020
PH # 36 powderedheartsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/gintas-k-sounds-and-spaces

Reviews:

Can you have harsh bubbles? That was my first impression upon hearing 'Sound and Spaces (Powdered Hearts), a new release from Gintas K. Tough, ornery electronics, bubbling harshly. Check it out. - Brian Olewnick
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370.diena.lt/2020/12/30/klausykla-nr-97/
GINTAS K „Sounds & Scapes“
Eksperimentinės muzikos veterano Ginto K jau ketvirtas šiemet albumas tinka… gal geriau pasakysiu, kam jis netinka. Netinka romantiškam vakarui su dama, kalėdiniam pasisėdėjimui su vaikais, o jeigu jūs šio albumo klausysitės mašinoje, jus koks nors dėmesingas kito automobilio vairuotojas gali sustabdyti tikindamas, kad jūsų mašinos kompiuterinė sistema eina šaibom. Klausiate, kodėl? Nes iš pirmo žvilgsnio visa tai skamba lyg „Žvaigždžių karų“ droido 3PO veblenimas, padauginus kokaino. Tačiau su visa šia kakofonine keistuma, šia elektroakustine ataka, šia postapokaliptine sprogstančių burbulų vonia ateina ir suvokimas, kad netgi ir ši su melodija, ritmu ar gero elgesio taisyklėmis nieko bendro neturinti garsų mozaika yra muzika, kurios verta klausyti ir prisiversti išgirsti. Taip, iš pradžių tikrai raižys ausis, o gal net ir skrandį, bet kaip ir viskas gyvenime tikrai gera ateina su laiku. „Sounds & Scapes“ yra būtent toks įrašas, kuriame net sunku pasakyti, ko yra pilna: chaoso, agresijos, meditacijos? Nežinau, nes ir pačiam reikės prie jo augti – Gintas K tikrai nesirenka lengviausių būdų patraukti klausytojo dėmesį. Iš kitos pusės, nepaisant albumo antikomformizmo (lengvai tariant), šis darbo klausyti santykinai nesunku: priėmęs žaidimo taisykles, imi pastebėti pagrindinius motyvus, esminius akcentus ir pasineri į abstrakciją, kuri galbūt ir nėra iki galo aiški klausytojui, tačiau jos struktūra neišeina iš krašto ir turi bent kažkiek aiškią formą. Taip, žinau, kad „Sounds & Scapes“ gali virsti valios išbandymu. Bet juk žinote posakį „Per aspera ad astra“, todėl nesiginčijate ir klausote. Rašė Jonas Braškys
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Gintas K – Amnesia / Sound & Spaces (CD / Cassette Recensie) Geplaatst op 24 november 2020 door Ben Taffijn
www.nieuwenoten.nl?p=10054
Dit voorjaar besteedde ik hier aandacht aan het bij Esc.rec. verschenen ‘Variations in a​-​moll for a granular synthesis’ van Gintas K, ofwel de uit Litouwen afkomstige Gintas Kraptavičius. Inmiddels ligt er weer nieuw werk van deze musicus die zich specialiseerde in elektronische muziek. In eigen beheer verscheen de Cd‘Amnesia’, terwijl Powdered Hearts Records de cassette ‘Sound & Spaces’ uitbracht.
‘Amnesia’, opgenomen in 2017, bestaat uit één lang stuk van drie kwartier, waarin Gintas K een bizar klanklandschap ontvouwt vol botsende interacties. Het is duidelijk dat de meester hier een groot aantal verschillende bronnen op zeer creatieve wijze door de mangel heeft gehaald. We horen flarden van melodieën en ritmes, stemmen, noise en synthesizer geluiden, maar dusdanig versneden dat iedere vorm van structuur volledig teniet is gedaan. Op ongeveer een kwart van het stuk lijkt er iets meer vorm te ontstaan, een vaag ritme en een vreemd melodisch kraakgeluid zetten hier letterlijk de toon. Het blijkt de opmaat tot een veelkleurig ritmische passage, met op de achtergrond een hoge pulserende noot, een ritme overigens dat langzaam maar zeker weer tot chaos uiteen valt. Bizarre klanken volgen, soms kunnen die zo als soundtrack bij een schietspelletje dienen, op andere momenten heeft de muziek veel weg van een soort van noise ambient. Wat echter blijft zijn de tegendraadse structuur, het toevallige element en de gelukkige vondsten.
Het uit zes naamloze delen bestaande ‘Sound & Spaces’ – alsmede een fragment met glasgerinkel tussen deel 1 en 2 en een ‘Prolonged’ aan het eind – waar Gintas K dit jaar de opnames voor maakte, kent een al even creatieve, kleurrijke klankwereld. Te midden van een eindeloze serie plopjes en bliepjes, vermengd met ongecompliceerde ruis en veldopnames, valt deel vijf nog het meest op vanwege de doordachte wijze waarop Gintas K het melodietje van een speeldoosje monteerde te midden van een noise stortbui. Het is één van de spaarzame momenten, de uitzondering die de regel bevestigt, van enige vorm structuur. Ook op deze cassette ontbreekt die verder nagenoeg. Van ritme is geen sprake, van melodie al helemaal niet. Integendeel, deze muziek – en velen zullen dit begrip voor deze composities zelfs in twijfel trekken – heeft nog het meest weg van een abstract schilderij waarin het toeval een allesbepalende rol speelt.

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The Wire magazine Issue 442 December 2020
Gintas K
Sound And Spaces
Powdered Hearts DL/MC
Five of the seven tracks on this tape from Lithuanian sound artist Gintas Kraptavicius are called “Sound And Spaces”, a useful catchall term fro what he’s doing here. There are nice squalls of tape hiss that rub up against gently bubbling electronics, or long dribbles of dripping water and bleeps. Then a meteorite storm of bells and more bleeps hits. It becomes very easy to get lost in this music; indeed, it feels strangely uplifting in parts, as if you’re listening to circuits perky and benign robots being born again after an unexpected surge of electricity. By Claire Sawers
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bamnetwork.org/blog/baltic-selections-10
by Justinas Mikulskis
Gintas K - Sound & Spaces Gintas Kraptavicius has been a part of Lithuanian experimental music scene since 1994. This new tape release of him feels that are based on explorations of static, micro and tonal sounds, various accurate experimentation’s with sine waves and accidental digital modulations, also overloaded, yet lightly noisy sound structures, acoustic vibrations. It's a really good pieace of sound design.
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vitalweekly.net/1258.html
GINTAS K – SOUND AND SPACES (cassette by Powder Hearts)
Following quite some massive, deeply impressive and intense releases this year (a.o. Amnesia and the sure Year's Best List highlight variations in a-moll for a granular synthesis) composer and sound artist Gintas K is back with the equally captivating new work for cassette: Sound and Spaces. All material on this tape was recorded, live, on the fly, on the go, at once. No overdubs. Only using the computer, MIDI keyboard and controller. But one would be forgiven to think there'd be more than a passing element of veritable musique concrète-ishness in the mix here; brutalist recordings from the fields of everyday or production line assembly factories. On Sound and Spaces Gintas K – again, but also more so than ever before – dives into the aural intensity of his works to arrive at a sound stage of composition (in the sense of Kandinsky) that is both deeply active and all-over energetic like for example Jackson Pollock and also, very much so at the same time, saturated beyond known factors of colour depth and frequencies resonance – think Klein's IKB, the brownish-blacks from Soulages, the deepest blue-blach by Reinhardt or the sfumato washes of layered intensities Mark Rothko deployed. Sound and Spaces sucks you in, like more than a fleeting instant spent with Cathedra by Barnett Newman for example. Your ears scurry around the sonic canvas, trying to make sense, find a common or red thread, grasp something to call 'home'. But all too often – in the best of senses – you find yourself all alone, in the midst of the deepest of your isolation dealing with the barrage of impressions. Standing at the bottom of the staircase in Berghain also comes to mind, hearing pounding basses, fragmented squeaks and spikes, jarring clashing glitches coming from above – as if you're preparing yourself to face the strange of a KTL-meets-Yasunao Tone-gig gone madly off the rails, to jubilous jeers from a packed audience, hugging the massive quadraphonic PA in glee and transporting abandon. Play loud this formidable work of cassette tape madness.
Sven Schlijper-Karssenberg
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Gintas K: Sound & Spaces
By Stuart Bruce(@) - Nov 09 2020
www.chaindlk.com/reviews/11529
There’s something consciously small about the tone of established Lithuanian sound artist Gintas K’s work in “Sound & Spaces”, which was recorded in one take with no overdubbing, using just “a computer”, MIDI keyboard and controller. Obviously “a computer” can mean almost anything nowadays and almost any genre can be created using one, but the sounds created here are largely throwbacks to what people would think of as computer sounds in the 1970’s- lots of dot-matrix-printer-esque whirring, curt bleeps and beeps. This is layered up live predominantly driven by contrasts, such as in the first numbered piece where a steady rhythmic motor sound is pulled against sporadic and impulsive heavy glitching. The fourth part broadens the contrast further, with high watery bubbly notes in opposition to deep, toothy synthetic bass impulses that sometimes sound (and not in a bad way) like a broken hedge trimmer. The contrast between chaos and calm is also present in reasonable abundance- part five is frantic and disorientating, others less so. Piece 6 manages to contain both. It’s a 41-minute audio bath with a certain amount of abrasion, and at times, a feeling of randomness rather than improvisation. But it’s a rich abstraction of sound that enjoyers of a difficult listen will emerge from smiling at the end.
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www.nitestylez.de/2020/10/gintas-k-sound-spaces-powdered-hearts.html October 31, 2020
Gintas K - Sound & Spaces [Powdered Hearts Records 036]
Coming in via mail all the way from Lithuania recently was "Sound & Spaces", the latest album outing created by Gintas Kraptavicius a.k.a. Gintas K for the US-based label Powdered Hearts Records. Released as a highly limited glitter cassette tape edition of 40 copies worldwide the seven tracks provided by the long-standing composer who has been on the experimental electronic music circuit since 1994 once again dive deep into the realm of hyper-abstract sound explorations, fusing a foundation of crisp, highly digital crackles, scrapes, crunches and feedback noises which make up the forefront foundation of basically all compositions on this album whilst the oftentimes intricate, in part slightly more harmonic, details and atmospheres are oftentimes hidden deep in the background of the mix, only revealing themselves to the most observant and attentive listener throughout the first listening session whilst others might need several takes to truly embrace every deep layer provided by Gintas K over the course of "Sounds & Spaces". A demanding longplay outing for true avantgarde connaisseurs.
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auralaggravation.com/2020/10/18/gintas-k-sound-spaces/
Gintas K – Sound & Spaces
Posted: 18 October 2020 in Albums
Tags: Album Review, analogue, electronic, Experimental, Gintas K, Microtonal, Random, Sound & Spaces
Powdered Hearts – 15th October 2020
Christopher Nosnibor
Gintas K releases albums more often than I change my clothes. That’s of course intended as a comment on the prolific nature of his output, rather than a confession about my personal hygiene post-lockdown, although not going into the office or being around people – or ever within two metres of them – has meant I’ve maybe made slightly less effort of late.
The same clearly can’t be said of Gintas K, at least in terms of his work, since I don’t know if he’s been tweaking away at his circuitry in his pyjamas or the same jeans for a week and a half or if he’s been bothering to shave or deodorise daily. I don’t need to, either, of course.
Anyway: Sound & Spaces explores what’s become established as familiar territory for Gintas K, with gloops and bibbles, froth and foam, squelchy bubbles of sound rising up randomly against the crackling burrs of electronic distortion. Sound & Spaces is less attacking and less abrasive than some previous outings, and is les intense and intensive in its interrogation of microcosmic space than some of his previous microscopic, microtonal explorations.
The first track – the thirteen-minute ‘Sounds & Spaces #1’ is a challenging mess of stammers and jolts, fizzing and crackling in a swampy slosh of analogue synth soup. It very much sets the tone, but in context, it’s a comparatively gentle start to what ultimately unravels to be quite a brain-shredder of a set.
‘Per aspera ad astra’ is a brief interlude of tingling, jangling dissonance before ‘Sounds & Spaces #3’ brings a bit of low-end grumbling, whining, and distortion, yawning undulations whizzing and popping all over.
By ‘Sounds & Spaces #4’, it’s almost impossible to differentiate distortion from percussion, and what originates where, although there are distinctly snare-like cracks in the feverish melting-pot of contrasting textures and tones, which become increasingly fragmented, fractured, and overloading as the album progresses. As an album it’s a frothy foment, and while some may find it simply uninteresting or a wash of so much noise they can ignore, I’m unlikely to be alone in finding the experience quite tense and uncomfortable – and nothing more so than the twenty seconds of silence at the end of the overwhelming chaos of ‘Sounds & Spaces #5’
If disorder offends your sensibilities, avoid this recording: once again, Gintas K has captured metal turbulence in aural form. It’s hard to process, but well worth enduring the turmoil for.