Crónica is proud to present the fifth installment in the Product series with works by Freiband and Boca Raton. Freiband's "Replay" and Boca Raton's "Crop." are a pair of superb live-recordings made on March 25th 2004 at the Muziekcentrum as part of the Earational 2004 festival for electronic music and audio-art, 's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands.
Early 2004 Freiband was invited by the Earational festival to play a new piece based on the first CD 'Microbes'. When that was released everybody thought this to be the 'first laptop album' by Frans de Waard, but in fact it's the last 'non laptop album'. In the early days of Freiband, concerts were loosely based on sounds from the 'Microbes' album, played from mini discs and CDRs. To take the album onto the laptop was indeed a challenge, but in hindsight it proved to be the best concert by Freiband ever. Taking the small detailed micro-sounds, placing them in a new context add a lot of tension and new depths to the original material.
Boca Raton's piece performed at Earational 2004 is the result of a series of experiments on Quadraphony and composing along it's six axes. On micro, meso and macro-level, the composition contains circulating or propelling sound, both in it's wave-shape as in it's structure over time.

I once saw o.blaat perform seated with her laptop in the back of a club, connected to the stage by a string of lights, like an umbilical cord she was holding on to while at the same time eager to break. The confused audience was looking at an empty stage oblivious to the performer in the back. With our experience of music being more and more mediated it seems normal that the live physical presence of the performer is being questioned by musicians like o.blaat. How can one reconcile the live presence of musicians with acousmatic music, now so easily downloadable whenever and wherever you are? For this CD o.blaat interfaces with some of her regular collaborators such as Kaffe Matthews, Toshio Kajiwara, dj Olive, Eyvind Kang, Ikue Mori, Aki Onda & Akio Mokuno.
The second half of the CD is designed for headphones listening, like a scientist looking through a microscope. It reveals soundscapes full of minutiae and electric movements. o.blaat's shoe tapping has now morphed into light keyboard clicks, subtle and precise.
This is o.blaat's first release and introduces her as one of the players of the new downtown electronic music scene. This recording finally makes o.blaat audible for a wider audience, while at the same time remaining invisible -- a fact she must enjoy. (excerpt from Christian Marclay's liner notes)