Jasper TX
The Black Sun Transmissions

Format: CD
Released: May 1, 2011

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TRACK LIST:

1. Signals Through Wood & Dust
2. Weight of Days
3. All I Could Never Be
4. Shores
5. White Birds

INFORMATION:

Darker, harder, and even deeper. Frustration. Lack of communication and the feeling that there is no solution at hand.

Or picture this. A huge, black sun that covers your entire field of vision. People out of focus, dressed in black, standing by the shore. Looking out towards nothing. Because there is nothing to see.

These are the starting points for "The Black Sun Transmissions", the first actual album by Jasper TX to be released in over two years. An album where he has chosen a new direction for himself, challenged his very vision, and managed to find even firmer ground.

The album features Mike Weis from Zelienople on drums, the cello of Aaron Martin and the trombone of Henrik Munkeby Nørstebø.

REVIEWS:

The Milk Factory:

If Sweden’s Dag Rosenqvist has often found himself on murky grounds, his horizon has gone considerably darker since his last Jasper TX release two years ago. The title of this new album, his second for Fang Bomb, is as bleak and sobering as the cover it so faintly adorns, and, crucially, as the music it carries. Divided in five sections, this album sees Rosenqvist experiment with increasingly complex and layered compositions. His soundscapes are particularly refined and intricate here, although their overall structure varies considerably, from extremely detailed and quiet moments to beautiful pastoral sequences and heavily processed noise drones, often over the course of a single track.

The album opens with speckles of undefined sound which are so discreet that they barely break the silence, but rapidly, a single blow of electric guitar tears through to reveal a bleak terrain where field recordings are slowly sucked into an oppressive sonic black hole. There is nothing particularly corrosive in this slow decaying process, but the weak flickers of Morse code and cold abrasive radio statics which close Signals Through Wood And Dust instill a sense of discomfort which is carried through the rest of the record. Statics also infiltrate the early part of Weight Of Days, but it rapidly becomes overwhelmed by a recurring melody, served by Aaron Martin on cello. The swelling melancholy which results takes this record in a very different direction, its course barely disrupted by layers of distortions eating it up for a moment just over the half way mark.

All I Could Ever Be opens on a similarly pastoral tone, although here, Rosenqvist initially builds up his piece from delicate folk textures, which he slowly replaces with echoing phrases of soft bell-like sounds. As the piece progresses, these are progressively caught in a cloud of distortion which eventually swallows every remaining sound in its path, leaving a monumental toxic drone where more delicate formations previously stood. However ambitious the piece is, this is nothing compared to the epic twenty-one minute odyssey ofShores. An extremely contrasted composition, which alternates between moments of exquisite calm and much harsher and unsettling passages, this is undoubtedly one of Rosenqvist’s most ambitious compositions to date, and one where the degree of control is quite simply astonishing. Once again, he weaves a rather tight sonic canvas, applying field recordings and electronic textures with great care and nuance, then purposely distressing it all in the latter part with grueling slabs of distortions, feedback and noise, leaving nothing but remaining fragments in their path.

Despite being partly built on distorted radio interferences and processed noises, closing piece White Birds is much more subdued, as it slowly progresses through decaying soundscapes to a beautiful piano melody, over which is soon added layers of trombone, amidst a rising tide of  process field recordings, which eventually retire to leave the piano to conclude.

Dag Rosenqvist hasn’t totally changed his way on here, but The Black Sun Transmissionsdenote a shift toward much more sombre and decaying tones. To realise this, he has considerably refined his soundscapes and approach to allow for his new found ambition.

4.5/5

Foxy Digitalis, Daniel De Los Santos:

First, some disclosures: I am a fan of Jasper TX and I have traded my releases for some of his (though I bought this one from a local shop). No matter, because any bias I might have had was wiped away with this CD — as this is not the Jasper TX I expected and so I heard this with fresh ears.  In a lot of ways this project has re-focused its outlook on music and how it is created. My best guess for this change is a dissatisfaction with the music industry (at least based on some of his recent blog postings). A sentiment I fully understand, I was (am?) part of the same system in which frustration is the rule of the day. Don’t get me wrong, being an appreciated musician (even if its only by 2 people) can be a reward upon itself but sometimes the persistent hammering of the music business can lead to ideas about attending law school.* I believe this hammering became a different kind of muse and helped produce an amazing work that deserves attention. You just can’t keep a good artist down.

Now for the music…

This is one of the best albums I have heard this year (the number one spot still belongs to Colin Stetson). Lets examine why** “Black Sun Transmissions” stands out and why I think it feels like a re-focus (a re-launch if your DC comics***):

1. The cohesive quality of the album — its more of a suite than individual tracks. Maybe that was not the intention but the whole thing seems like one idea/feeling being focused through a prism (and a dirty one at that). All of which creates something that feels personal even though there is no direct communication (aka lyrical content) from the artist.
2. The before mentioned dirty prism is another change — the artist isn’t afraid to get dirty or dive into murkiness. There isn’t a need for a pristine digital edge when hiss provides atmosphere and emotion. Sure, this is ambient and full of drones but its also feels earthy/grimy. Its a musical work made in the mud and muck of life. If anything, I am reminded of (so called) ambient black metal. Not in the sense of guitars and cookie monster vocals but in tone/approach.
3. Additionally, what further elevates this from just another ambient CD is the detail and composition. Every crack, bell, snap or hiss is there for a reason. The sound is seemingly guided, sculpted and shaped at every instance.
4. I know this sounds like a  dark listen and in some ways it is one.  However, I see it as the beauty that is found in the scorched earth or the wonder that is discovered when you dig in the dirt (both literally and figuratively).
5. All of these elements have been on past releases but none of the previous albums have felt this intentional or with this level of detail (though some have come close). It is almost as if the project looked at itself and distilled its best qualities into another version of Jasper TX.

My advice? Buy immediately — Black Sun Transmissions is stunning and essential.

NOTE:  I did not cover it but the term “Black Sun” has its own talking points.  Anywhere from Aleister Crowley to Coil. Very curious…

10/10

*Lawyer Jokes are cheap. Then again, I can get away with it — my wife is a lawyer.
**I am going to try a new format for my review — less standard paragraph by paragraph approach and more spotlighting an idea/concept (and probably more of me breaking the fourth wall/footnotes)
***Sorry the geek in me could not resist mentioning one of worst comic book ideas since brand new day. I predict an epic fail for DC.

Electroacoustic Tales:

Finally Jasper TX returns with an almost epic full-length release. ‘The Black Sun Transmissions’ is his latest album and was just released through Fang Bomb. The label information about this work totally hits the spot so instead of stirring the words and put them together again I just want to quote this short abstract:

“Darker, harder, and even deeper. Frustration. Lack of communication and the feeling that there is no solution at hand. [...] These are the starting points for ‘The Black Sun Transmissions’, the first actual album by Jasper TX to be released in over two years. An album where he has chosen a new direction for himself, challenged his very vision, and managed to find even firmer ground. The album features Mike Weis from Zelienople on drums, the cello of Aaron Martin and the trombone of Henrik Munkeby Nørstebø.”

The opening piece ‘Signals Through Wood & Dust’ comes with rich textures accompanying the deep and sombre drones. Slowly radar signals are emerging from the dark and dense fog of sounds. Truly, there doesn’t seem to be any brightness in that dense and dusty wood. Massive! Featuring Aaron Martin on the following ‘Weight of Days’ introduces some (even a bit brightening) cello arrangement to the album. With a plain and repetetive harmonic fundament just the static and the swelling sound processing brings a certain unsettling development to the piece before it leads to a more and more becalming coda. ‘All I Could Never Be’ is a piece built with layered drones that are heavily processed over more than 9 minutes until they are completely distorted and fade out suddenly. The following minute you don’t hear much more than nothing. The main piece of the album – ‘Shores’ – slowly begins. This thrilling atmosphere is so very well-placed that one wants to claw for the headphones just to make sure that no single tone gets lost on its way to the ears. It’s pure auditory fiction. More than 20 minutes of carefully textured darkness. Zelienople’s Mike Weis on the drums gives this highly experimental composition an even more progressive direction, reminding me of some progressive Krautrock experiments from the early 1970s. In my opinion this is Dag Rosenqvist’s masterpiece so far! The following ‘White Birds’ gives the listeners ca. two minutes to deal with the previous composition. Then carefully a piano fades in and the album ends with a very melancholic trombone feature. No drones are left here, just some textures and field recordings accompany this sad final movement. What an album!

After having listened through ‘The Black Sun Transmissions’ in its entirety again and again I today read the label information. And I decided that this review will have to end with this Fang Bomb quote (as it completely and perfectly captures the atmosphere of the album): “People out of focus, dressed in black, standing by the shore. Looking out towards nothing. Because there is nothing to see.”

[ 4,8 / 5 ]

Fluid Radio, Adam Williams:

It has been two years since we were last treated to a full-length release from Jasper TX and Sweden’s Dag Rosenqvist’s return is marked by a sound evolved and matured into something yet more complex and challenging than before…

‘The Black Sun Transmissions’ opens with Signals Through Wood & Dust and the piece features a collection of sounds which are sculpted into feedback-laden ambience. The result is menacing and imbued with a sense of foreboding, serving to set the scene before ultimately closing with morse code and radio static, conjuring images of a post-apocalyptic survivor searching for hope in a world ruined. This apocalyptic aesthetic carries on into following track Weight of Days, which sees Rosenqvist ratchet the songwriting up a notch to deliver a stunning composed number defined by beautifully measured strings and refrains.

All I Could Never Be begins slowly and Rosenqvist chooses to highlight a melancholic aspect to his art. A fascinating counterpoint to his searing noise, it shows the artists’ varied tonal palette. The album’s finest moment however comes with the closing number White Birds. After the powerful melancholia and despair experienced on The Black Sun Transmissions thus far, the beauty of the piece seems accentuated and the listener drinks in the plaintive frailty as a thirsty traveller falls upon an oasis, a fine ending to this accomplished work and leaving the listener wanting more.

Rosenqvist has previously expressed frustration with the state of the current music business and the length of time taken for this album to come out, but perhaps he will garner some small comfort with offering a work as strong as ‘The Black Sun Transmissions’ into the world. Though in no way meant to belittle Rosenqvist’s already impressive and varied back catalogue, this release seems to suggest that the artist has grown even more accomplished and inspired as of late and, rather than finding a niche to fit into, has created his own.

Bleep43, Toby Bennett:

The Black Sun is, in Julia Kristeva’s words, ‘the blinding force of the despondent mood’. The insidious pervasiveness of melancholia ultimately leads to a collapse of communication where meaning is inexpressible: all thought becomes noise. Swedish sonic technician Jasper TX broadcasts his newest creation from within dark clouds that gather above the scorched earth and boiling waters that lie beneath this apocalyptic star.

Google the artist’s obscure moniker and the first reference that appears is to the insular Texas town that gained brief notoriety in the late 1990s as the setting for a brutal, racially-motivated lynching.  On this album though, the allusion could equally be to Rx/Tx, the radio operator’s shorthand for Reception and Transmission. Accordingly, inimitable blips of morse code swiftly come to the fore on the opening track of Black Sun Transmissions spelling out to those who speak the mechanical language that there is ‘nothing left to say’, only ‘a quiet gloom’. Just as quickly, the signal disappears leaving electrical hum in its place (presumably the “Woodand Dust” of the track title), in a gesture that comes to characterise the overarching flow of the album. When bathed in the long shadow cast by a black sun, moments of luminescence flicker only briefly.

Multiple tiers of harmonic coherence negotiate each others’ presence, mutating slowly and often imperceptibly, like tectonic plates receding into lava. Second track “The Weight of Days” starts, as the previous left off, with a backdrop of fizzing static, out of which emerges looping passages of descending cello. It’s a series of simple descending cadences that resemble the transcendent purity of Arvo Pärt’s holy minimalism, a formula that is deployed once more on closing track “White Birds”, delicately balancing an arpeggiated piano figure against degraded avian murmurs.

Only once is the blend anything less than entirely convincing: “All I Could Never Be” layers drones, pulses and plangent piano to build a complex microtonal rumble underneath a sheet of pink noise that grows in intensity but remains detached, never quite coalescing into a persuasive union. Nonetheless, as you approach the full spectrum dominance of its final minutes, the sheer weight of the piece is not to be denied.

Comprising nearly half the entire album at twenty one minutes in length, penultimate track “Shores” is the richest of the set and the most keenly structured. After the swelling blanket of sound in previous tracks, the opening minutes are decorated by the sonic equivalent of pointillism as shards of humanity manage to pierce the amorphous fug. Tiny gasps and tics of saliva decorate a low frequency tidal pulse, echoing the sound of bodily introspection, before becoming cloaked in metallic tones and sighs. These are followed by the scraping of piano strings and soft billowing cymbals, which then recede once more in exhalation. Its ebb and flow is watery and intricate; a welcome relief, but an unnerving one nonetheless, which barely hints at what is to follow. As the track builds, shedding percussive droplets and whining feedback you finally get a glimpse of the ‘blinding force’ of Kristeva’s black sun.

It is possible to criticise an album such as this for its over-reliance on a limited sonic palette but Black Sun Transmissions is utterly engaging throughout, exhibiting multiple shades of an extraordinarily nuanced textural unity.

Goûte Mes Disques, Simon:

En raison d'une promotion plus que discrète, on ne s’attendait pas à un retour de Jasper TX. Pourtant, son label Fang Bomb demeure l'une des structures émergentes de la scène ambient/drone/modern classical, et il suffit de se pencher sur la très bonne collaboration entre Machinefabriek et Peter Broderick pour s’en convaincre. On ne s’y attendait pas donc, mais peu importe car ce neuvième album de Dag Rosenqvist est une nouvelle démonstration de force. The Black Sun Transmissions est un disque réellement à part, autant pour son auteur que pour l’auditeur. Cet album est une plaque troublante de maturité, qui possède une extrême conscience de l’itinéraire qu’il emprunte.

The Black Sun Transmissions est un mélange absolument délicieux (si cette expression collait seulement aux humeurs de ce disque) entre une orchestration néo-classique, des miasmes d’ambient relativement sombres et quelques articulations électro-acoustiques. Peu importe les genres, The Black Sun Transmissions est avant tout une question de tonalités et de couleurs données aux choses, un travail attentif pour naviguer entre les lignes, s’approcher du vortex sans jamais y tomber. Ce énième LP est immensément triste. Pas d’une tristesse niaise mais plutôt d’un traumatisme profond : les cordes déchirantes sont toujours placées en retrait pour plus de sobriété (quoique leur présence rend un effet magnifique sur les émotions), l’essentiel de l’espace étant occupé par une musique ambient au grain clair et tendant vers la lumière. C’est sans compter sur la quantité de bruit blanc qui vient ci et là plonger l’ensemble dans un brouillard légèrement noisy – bien que le mur du son dans « All I Could Never Be » finira par vous décoller le diaphragme. Il y a de l’incertitude c’est clair, du spleen même, mais c’est véritablement le voyage entre toutes ces nuances de gris qui rend The Black Sun Transmissions aussi bon.

Ce disque est un polar qui se termine mal, une love story qui gicle sur plan large. On sent l’auteur en pleine catharsis, il souffre pas mal et ça se ressent sur disque. Impossible d’y échapper une fois dedans, tout simplement parce que ce disque est total à sa manière, dans sa capacité à dérouler son drame en prenant soin de varier les hauteurs, les tons, les couleurs. Bref on ne s’y attendait peut-être pas, mais The Black Sun Transmissions est bien l’une des plus belles expériences sonores de cette année.

Boomkat:

Looming, murky, misanthropic new material from Jasper TX aka Dag Rosenqvist. After a prolific run of releases over the last half decade, it would seem Dag has chosen to take a little longer over 'The Black Sun Transmissions' for Fang Bomb (home to music from Wolf Eyes and Machinefabriek, among others) making for one of his most immersive and viscerally affective albums among an already rated catalogue. His uncanny melding of acousmatic field recordings, electro-acoustic processing and layered instrumentation inhabits barely detectable shapes and shadowy forms in five parts, threaded with an esoteric but tangibly doom-laced narrative.

We enter scene one, 'Signals Through Wood & Dirt' to muffled scrapes, creaking movements and drones, something like Giuseppe Ielasi's tactile Bellows sound embellished with a more Gothic drone aesthetic. This subsides to radar bleeps before 'Weight Of Days' conjures more symphonic scenery with a harmonised heart swell of rustic folk strings, and the melancholy is sustained through richly layered drones rising to a majestic post-rock style peak on 'All I Could Ever Be'.

Ultimately, this is all setting the mood for the masterful arrangement of 'Shores', scanning 20 minutes of ear-craning acousmatic textures, tingling bells, and pitch black, blooming noises enveloped by the most æthereal, blood-draining atmospheres.

Norman Records, Brian:

I really loved his last album on Fang Bomb. It was probably the best thing we’d heard him do back then but that’s probably all a load of cobblers because we’re so fickle, idiotic & changeable here that we’re now comically pretending we don’t even know who Jasper TX are. Are they actually from Texas? Do they wear stetsons and eat giant mutant cow-pies & sport faded “Vote Bush!!” stickers on their faded petrol guzzling shotgun-carriers?

Joking and hilarity aside, this is Danish Dag’s Deep Dark opus for 2011. As he’s largely a practitioner of sublime sound art & experimental drone I’ll probably be completely incapable of doing this first album in two+ years any real justice but what I can say is that the track ‘Weight of Days’ is an apocalyptic beauty with the intensity of Godspeed & it also features some wonderful tragic cello from Aaron Martin. ‘All I Could Never Be’ gradually builds over nine minutes into a right enveloping shitstorm of malevolent fuzz & doomy meditative drone.

The 21 minute ‘Shores’ apparently features Mike Weis from Zelienople on drums. It’s 21 minutes though. I haven’t time to properly listen to a 21 minute drone number to be able tell you where the drums come in, how good they are or if they’re hard, soft, tumbling or restrained. There’s some pretty, somber piano and rumbling field recordings on the delightful ‘White Birds’ as well as some trombone, my fave brass instrument. Well I quite like tubas too but there’s none on here. Next time Dag, give us a tuba solo will ya? Aw…go on!!

Dwars/Radio6:

Vrolijk of licht van toon zijn de klanken zeker niet die de Zweedse muzikant Dag Rosenqvist sinds 2005 als Jasper TX op ons loslaat. Zijn langgerekte ambient is donker, vaak zelfs zeer donker. Dit is ook weer geval op ‘The Black Sun Transmissions’, het elfde volwaardige album van Jasper TX dat verscheen bij Fang Bomb. Melancholiek en tegen het duistere aan, zo dringen de vaak onontkoombare klanken van ‘The Black Sun Transmissions’ zich op. Dit geeft misschien het idee dat de instrumentale stukken op ‘The Black Sun Transmissions’ ondraaglijk zullen zijn, niets is minder waar, want juist door de bijdragen van drummer Mike Weis, Aaron Martin op cello en Henrik Munkeby Nørstebøo op trombone wordt de muziek naar een ander niveau getild. Op ‘The Black Sun Transmissions’ werkt Jasper TX met een concept. Na een verontrustend begin met morse signalen ontwikkelen de composities zich traag vanuit subtiliteit richting massieve en met feedback en doordrenkte drones. Tot in het slotnummer ‘White Birds’ berusting gevonden is.

Ondarock, Francesco Nunziata:

Ad appena un anno dal monumentale "A Voice From Dead Radio", torna alla ribalta lo svedese Jasper TX, al secolo Dag Rosenqvist. 
“The Black Sun Transmissions” è una nuova immersione tra plumbee texture nelle quali ambient, noise e glitch convivono in maniera più o meno equilibrata, definendosounsdscape astratti (“Signals Through Wood & Dust”) ma anche squarci di dolorosa mimesi classicheggiante, che amplificano l’essenza malinconica delle sue partiture più informali (“Weight Of Days”, “All I Could Never Be” e "White Birds"). I ventuno minuti di “Shores”, invece, precipitano in un lugubre abisso di indizi sinistri e terribili. Il continuo rimescolarsi di suoni e di silenzi culmina in uno sciame rumorista fluttuante. 

Göteborgs-Posten, PM Jönsson:

När jag börjar lyssna på nya albumet med Jasper TX (Dag Rosenqvist, bosatt i Göteborg) är förra veckans releasespelning färsk i minnet. Urstarkt, med mycket elgitarr och trummor. Det är mer subtilt på skiva, musik med många ingångar, från det andlöst vackra med piano och cello till tassande, komplexa rörelser, och dronemoln som kryper fram, exploderar, och sväljer omgivningen. Den långa Shores är skivans centrum, 21 minuter, någon andas, en berättelse startar, tystnaden samtalar med slagverk och vågor av elektroniska signaler. En rymd där detaljer sugs ihop i en kompakt helhet.

Soundofmusic, Sven Rånlund:

Dag Rosenqvist, som kallar sig Jasper TX, lär inte glömma releasekonserten av The Black Sun Transmissions. I Kulturhamnen, en skum konsertlokal i Fiskehamnen långt från Göteborgs kaningröna evenemangsstråk, var han häromveckan förband till Hype Williams. Elgitarr och massor av elektronik, det blev teknikstrul från start. Dag blev frustrerad och drämde knogen i bordet framför sig. Det såg rätt tufft ut, stämningen blev lite laddad. Dessvärre bröt han handen. Konserten kunde ändå genomföras, bara det värt ett rock’n’roll-omnämnande.

Jämfört med konserten, där Rosenqvist spelade med den fritt drivande trummisen Anders Lilja, är musiken på The Black Sun Transmissions mer lågmäld och förtätad. Gitarren är den centrala ljudkällan, strängarna vibrerar långsamt och dröjande, drånande, svirvlande, gnisslande. Gitarrplock badas i delay, strömsprak rinner genom sirligt högpassfilter. Det är musik som växer och sväller, dynamiska, mörka ljudsjok och ibland melodier som maler och skaver. Aaron Martin spelar cello på en låt, ”Weight of Days”, molande vackert, inte olikt romantiken hos God Speed You Black Emperor eller föralldel Wiliam Basinski.

Fem tålmodigt sökande spår med den drygt 20 minuter långa ”Shores” i centrum. Mike Weiss trummor fyller akustiskt ut den digitala ljudbilden, svaga ekon av röster, stråkar över cymbaler och gitarrsträngar. Mäktigt och mörkt, inte utan ljusa skiftningar att förlora sig i. Det här är stort sökande musik.

Vital Weekly:

Three new releases on Fang Bomb and on three different formats. First, on CD, we have a the first release by Jasper TX in two years, following ‘Singing Stones’ on the same label. Jasper TX is Dag Rosenqvist, to me best known as collaborator with Machinefabriek. Like that fabriek, Jasper TX is man to play guitars, lots of effects and who receive help here from Mike Weis on drums, Aaron Martin on cello and Henrik Munkeby Norstebo on trombone.

The previous work I heard from him was what I described as micro-tonal ambient music along the lines of Machinefabriek but on ‘The Black Sun Transmissions’ things have changed. Its probably still microtonal, and still ambient to some extent, its also much, much darker than it was before. I have no idea what happened in the life of Rosenqvist, but it certainly has become darker over there. It seems as if everything is pitched down, with air sucked out of it, a closed room, or something like that. Howling in feedback and overtones – although never in a really loud and nasty way, but still uptight, rubbing against your hair. Also quite a dynamic work, with loud passages, also those that almost seem to be disappearing, and for quite a while.

Throughout I thought this was quite a fine album, a fine step forward. A more matured sound, and possibly also something that is more of himself. The addition of the improvised parts by others top things off in a great way.