Gregg Kowalsky - Eso Es '2023

Tracks list

For years now, the Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist Gregg Kowalsky has
been forging his own path in drone-based and experimental sound. Where his prior
releases on Root Strata and Kranky were more experimental, Kowlasky’s
sounds have swung a bit more to the center, as with his pulsing and hypnotic duo
Date Palms. He’s also composed compelling music for orchestras, created
works for dance companies, and scored films; Kowalsky doesn’t take any
weekends off. With Eso Es ("This Is" in Spanish), Kowalsky arrives at often
gorgeous chill-out music which fixates on the meeting points of minimalist and
new age sounds. This is where much of the electronic underground has been
hanging out in the last few decades, thanks in part to a series of rediscoveries
taken by labels like RVNG and Yoga Records. But it’s distinctive, and
decidedly his own take on this mode. Synthesizers shimmer and shimmy. Percussive
elements gurgle, and surprises abound, notably on "Fragile Water," with its
Everglades field recordings and restorative balm. Natural themes and sounds are
a constant here, though they’re used with surprising variety and subtle
complexities. These days everyone thinks they can master this kind of music
simply by buying the right gear and copying from the right reissues of private
label outsider synth jams or academically-funded GRM type institutional noise
makers. The poseurs never quite lock into the work element, though. To create
sounds this blissed-out, this hypnotic, this original, it takes years of work,
devotion, getting lost in the patches, and waking up soaked in delay. Kowalsky
is a true head, and this is his finest work.

Tracklist:
1.01 - Gregg Kowalsky - Fragile Water (7:43)
1.02 - Gregg Kowalsky - Fontainebleau (5:05)
1.03 - Gregg Kowalsky - A Chorus of Trees (3:50)
1.04 - Gregg Kowalsky - Cold Open Cascade (2:10)
1.05 - Gregg Kowalsky - Nights Move (4:45)
1.06 - Gregg Kowalsky - Throwing Shapes (9:55)
1.07 - Gregg Kowalsky - Brass Dolphins (5:15)

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