earzumba

welcome to "simulando en refugio" (simulation of refuge), the first american release by C.D., (aka christian dergarabedian, aka EARZUMBA - an "englillano" sniglet meaning "ear tickle"). we're glad you could be here for this amazing, furious plunge into the nether vortex of impossible sound, where you will find a mysterious forest of bizarre and musical creatures, as hard to describe as the hissing steam of inferno, or the squeaky gates of heaven.

but what we know of c.d. may tell us a bit about "simulando en refugio." now living in barcelona, spain, he may have made this document in praise of his new quarters; it certainly seems washed in gladness and relief, although there are still icy moments of spectacular suspense. churchy overtones suggest a weird, dreamy serenity evoking rare and even tender moments of peace, so this could also be a mental state rather than a location he is considering.

from buenos aries, argentina, christian was a founding member of burt reynolds ensemble (later shortened to REYNOLS at his suggestion that they may be sued, which, given burt's boobish behavior lately, was probably not unfounded). when they parted ways, he embarked as C.D. on a series of atmospheric collages and collaborations (with ernesto diaz-infante, lens cleaner trio, audiodelica, and bob marsh, among others) blending home, field, found and live recordings into utterly unique and extraordinary sonic tapestries (for a complete discography, click the link to C.D.'s website below).

in barcelona, where this album and EARZUMBA were created, C.D. has found success performing in festivals and venues like tapies foundation, and releasing albums on dialsinfin, drone, audiobot and locus of assemblage. each new recording takes giant steps into the future of listening and composition, and 'simulando un refugio' - recorded deliberately for old gold, after years of correspondence, and released in an edition of 500 - pushes the wave ever higher: over the top and out of the mind.

Like my Bat Mitzvah (and Seth Cohen’s), Simulando un Refugio ends with “That’s What Friends Are For.” Burt Bacharach is about as unexpected on an album by a founding member of Reynols as he is natural at B’nai Mitzvot. Beyond Reynols being shorthand for another Burt (Reynolds), how did Bacharach get here?
Before Burt arrives, Earzumba (Christian Dergarabedian) indeed spends most of this project simulating a refuge. In the grainy cover photo, a woman (post-Soviet Russian, perhaps?) in incongruous, blindingly-white high heels stands with her back to us in a birch forest. It reflects the tone of the album, a tale of apparent peace told by an unreliable narrator. Constructed as a continuous mix, Simulando un Refugio tells the type of horrifying story that is certain to resolve in a happy ending for its protagonists. The song titles suggest what may be happening at each juncture, the characters lost, enslaved, working, building, free, celebrating.
Dergarabedian uses a wide palette of sounds in assembling his sonic pictures. Shimmering, minor-key theremin effects form the basis of the album and create a panoramic effect, like the pieces are seen through a zoom lens. Over this canvas, animals continually growl and caw, and prisoners rattle chains that morph into bells. The first half sounds generally sinister, but the mood begins to lighten on “Words in the Book,” a catchy guitar melody. The penultimate track, “Simulating a Refuge,” seems to contain the voices of aliens offering redemption.
The alien voices escalate, and then the party really gets started, for “Celebrating Together,” Simulando un Refugio’s last track, is a screamingly scary, nightmare-carnivalesque mashup of dozens of songs played over top of one another. The particular combination of songs must contribute to the shade produced, but one can imagine a genre of double-digit mashups, a paint set all in different hues of brown. Here, the songs weave in and out of each other so that the piece pulsates and trembles. Snippets of unintelligible voices are reversed, like the characters in the Red Room in Twin Peaks. At times they are simultaneously present, a choir. The differences in length provide a natural structure, a crescendo and decrescendo. The threshold for recognition occurs when about four tracks remain; showtunes disassociate themselves from the mix, then the sounds of guitar and disco, then just Burt and his fake oboe remain.
In the end, the cheese stands alone.

By Josie Clowney, Dusted Magazine

"Finding a definition or a niche for Earzumba's abstractions is not easy: "Simulando un refugio" is yet another collection of improvisations and juxtapositions sounding at the same time celestially absurd and totally unironical. The often surprising chains of events set in motion by Barcelona-based Argentine Christian Dergarabedian create instant apprehension, curiosity for future underground activities, resurrection of dead sensitiveness; in a few words, Earzumba discards the easy ways through the confused mind of a superficial listener, forcing the attention on those details which seem futile but constitute instead the missing link to coherence. Looking into the trashcans of audio rejections Dergarabedian, with effortless acumen, knits and seams engrossing parallel worlds of sonic mayhem and delicious instability of our auditive mechanics."

Apparently this is already Earzumba's tenth release, so I am sure I missed some here and there, which is a pity, as so far, 'Simulando Un Refugio' included, I liked what I heard. Earzumba is Christian Dergarabedian, once a founding member of Reynols, a member of CD Lens Cleaner Trio and since time a solo artist. The eleven tracks on this new album can be seen as one long track. Earzumba plays synthesizers, percussion, guitars and piano, but he knows how to process these with the use of a computer beyond the point of recognition. In one long mix, the eleven parts drift by, moving from hectic and furious sound collages to more ambient like passages, such as 'Con Sus Heroes Famosas'. As ever an eye for detail in the production, there isn't a single moment of weakness here. I never realized before, but there is a strong resemblance between the work of Earzumba and the old Brume work: the strong collage approach, with hectic and nervous changes, the percussive element and 'the never a moment of silence' approach. You can get lesser things to be compared with. Another great CD. (FdW) Vital Weekly

"resides in a dimension all his own, where thick waves of punishing drones coalesce with a meditative layer of sound maniupation... he scrapes together unusual sound sources, cuts them from their 'common' environment and lets them re-emerge from nowhere in order to carve a rich deep cavernous sound entity. yet strangely, always balancing on the outer limits of imagination, allow the archangels to enter the auric field to work with you. indeed his way is elsewhere..." - the unbroken circle

1- fans of themselves

2- hi-fi devouts

3- waiting on a tear

4- with their great heroes

5- they say what they had said

6- demolished by abundance

7- words in the book

8- without body now

9- doing all the donkey work

10- simulating a shelter

11- celebrating together


				o l d g o l d earzumba



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