Музыка, представленная американским проектом RIAIAIN, при первом рассмотрении весьма напоминает геодезическую разведку с воздуха: плотные угрюмые звуковые пласты земной коры, таинственные загадочные пустыни Гоби и Наска, бесконечные амбиентные синематические ландшафты в русле классического альбома Heresy Брайана Ластморда или Raison d'etre, перегруженные глухим протяжным дыханием drones, гулкими вибрациями и подзвучками, геомагнитными внутренними процессами, зреющими в недрах земной коры. Dark-ambient в его класической "чистой" форме. Но, одновременно, преследуют неотступные ассоциации с какой-то незримой ритуалистической мифологией и историей античных культур, таящимися за этими безымянными пейзажами и символами поклонений древних языческих племен, искавших и находивших в них мистико-оккультный и сакральный смысл - божественную мудрость мира в его исконном предназначении.

Глубинный, ментальный смысл "The Nacrasti", как мне кажется, как раз и кроется не столько в современных астрономических формулах нашего осязания вселенной, сколько в ее изначально исконном смысле, нашей попытке осознания и постижения его из дней нынешних ко временам давно минувшим. Смысле утраченном в современном миропонимании, но продолжающем оставаться его истинным чувством, его equinoxe.

"The Nacrasti" звучит как одна продолжительная поэтическая темная гамма, ода, ожухотворенная самой обширной полифонической канвой. Рожденная из тишины забвения Passage Nacrastan, к середине работы уже на Mirivm спрессованные сгустки кучных облаков расходятся, становятся более очертаемыми в пространстве, ощущаемыми. Общее звучание обретает некую церковную метафизическую хоральность, к атмосферным шумам добавляются отдельные инстинктивно-первобытные механические разряды, реверберирующий в глухое эхо металлический бой, теряющийся и возникающий волнообразно вновь из ниоткуда, чем-то неуловимо напоминающий набат. И уже совсем поразительно слушается внезапно вырастающий из этой оглушительной тишины на Lilin прозрачный и чистый мелодичный звук, сходный с шотландскими волынками, смешанными с колокольным перезвоном - гипнотический, этериальный и чарующий. Наивысшая точка альбома.

Нет нужды углубляться в поиск истины, в суть происхождения определения RIAIAIN, всех его составляющих, символов и значений. Ниже фронтмен проекта Stig по просьбе Achtung Baby! любезно и подробно излагает свои взгляды на background своего проекта. Cтоит лишь еще упомянуть о впечатляющем оригинальном артворке, украсившем звуковую палитру работы - странные структурированные пейзажи с нанесенными на них орбитами. Что вновь роднит альбом с уже упомянутыми выше странными внеземными рисунками пустыни Наска. Добавьте к этому прекрассно срежиссированный алхимиком студии Malignant Филом Истером звук, столь необходимый для впитывания всех оттенков и звуковой свето-тени данной работы, и вы получите еще одно увлекательное открытие мира музыки нынешнего года.

RIAIAIN: in questions and answers:

START: bit of history perhaps; like so many, i think i had my real musical awakening back in the 80's with albums like zoviet-france's assault and mirage, coil's gold is the metal, spk's zamia lehmanni , and the 3 first dead can dance albums. there were others of course, but looking back i think these stand out. for years i played with drony guitar soundscapes, then i became part of the aesthetic meat foundation, and during that i decided to take raan out on my own.

RAAN: raan is one of those names that has stuck with me over a long period of time, i have been attracted to it phonetically and asthetically, as well as the cross definitions that seem to fit and fall into my lab. it might be worthwhile to describe some of the consepts through the 3 dimensions behind the name.

1) RAAN (or RЕN) -> r|aan
Some weird old norse ocean goddess monster thingy. she had a big old net which she used to catch doomed sailors, dragging them onto dangerous rocks with it. she has a golden hall (don't they all?) where she presided over those who died at sea... back in the day. she gave birth to 9 daughters which were thought of as waves... cool idea if you surf like me. growing up in a small dark windblown western coastal town of norway such tales gave rise to interesting images in my young mind. this is the primal black hole which raan came out of... the sea and the wild nature around that town.

2) RAAN - Right Ascension of Ascending Node -> ra|an
the ascending node is the point at which a northbound (ascending) satellite crosses the equator. a node is where the satellite cross the equator. for the sun these nodes are the equinoxes. right ascension is the celestial longitude of the ascending node, which are coordinates on the celestial sphere. Or more officially:

Orbital elements remain a mystery to most people. This is due to the aversion many people have to thinking in three dimensions, and second to the horrible names the ancient astronomers gave these seven simple numbers and a few related concepts. To make matters
worse, sometimes several different names are used to specify the same number. Vocabulary is the hardest part of celestial mechanics!

3. Right Ascension of Ascending Node [aka RAAN or RA of Node or O0 and occasionally called Longitude of Ascending Node]
RAAN wins the prize for most horribly named orbital element. Two numbers orient the orbital plane in space. The first number was Inclination. This is the second. After we've specified inclination, there are still an infinite number of orbital planes possible. The "line of nodes" can poke out anywhere along the equator. If we specify where along the equator the line of nodes pokes out, we will have the orbital plane fully specified. The line of nodes pokes out two places, of course. We only need to specify one of them. One is called the ascending node (where the satellite crosses the equator going from south to north. The other is called the descending node (where the satellite crosses the equa- tor going from north to south). By convention, we specify the location of the ascending node.

"Right ascension of ascending node" is an angle, measured at the center of the earth, from the vernal equinox to the ascending node.

I know this is getting complicated. Here's an example. Draw a line from the center of the earth to the point where our satellite crosses the equa- tor (going from south to north). If this line points directly at the vernal equinox, then RAAN = 0 degrees

By convention, RAAN is a number in the range 0 to 360 degrees.

so this for me means that i take a global view of sound, sampling like a spy satellite... althought i just picking up whatever and redirecting it where i see fit and it doesn't matter where it comes from or what it meant originally. everything has to be viewed without restriction to be able to approach an interesting space. going north (home?) from warmer spheres has an image of darkness, sadness, ending, a journey to me. with views from satellites you see big pictures or what is perceived as such...but it is tiny details that litter
the picture... maps, satelite images are sources of direction. but i think i am
rambling at this point.

3) RAAN - Reductio Ad Absurdum Naturalis -> raa|n

Reductio Ad Absurdum is a consept of struggle for me. Reductio Ad Absurdum means defining something that is complex with a simple all encompasing definition... which is 'absurd' by it's very act. The allure of Reductio Ad Absurdum is a strong one and we are a culture that too often tries to reduce our understanding of the world to simple bite-size chunks and thereby missing the beauty of its complexity... like almost any newshow on tv or arguments you'll encounter with most people. r|a|a|n is no exception. with r|a|a|n I attempt to show something that is natural, or "in the world", or in a space of human experience in a physical world. So one tries to find a source, a tone, or something that in a simple way represents this and can carry it further in some time and space (or free from time and space?), which ultimatly will be decided outside of the music itself, i.e. by the listener and the listening experience in physical space. Reductio Ad Absurdum represents the challenge, and why it fails on its own accord. This can only be reached by encompassing the experience of the listener, either in his/hers head or in the atmoshere of the listening space. So it has a deeper dimension outside of itself... which is its real dimension and its actual life, because it represents it's actual experience. yada yada yada... all this can sound pretty pretensious, but in the act of creating these are ideas and directions which has actual ramifications for the sound and the art concepts.

CREATIVE:.. nacrasti is my first cd as r|a|a|n. the next cd should be out by the end of the year, or beginning next year. it is a special graphic/music presentation done by mystery sea records and it will be focused on oceanic themes (although not really "water" like, more like where the ocean meets the land). the next cd after that (for malignant) will most likely be called Cir Cul or Kall. I also have a new project which is called SECPH. it is rythmic-ish, noisier, more electronic but deep and dark still. it has a more active role for Karen (the
other part of raan) in vocal noizes. next up in a few weeks is a concert with
Deutch Nepal, Der Blutharsch and Anenzephila.

AMF: i am also part of Aasthetic Meat Foundation
http://www.a-m-f.org
(AMF is lead and guided by Louis Fleishauer) still and we have done a few cdr's together, as well as many performances. amf has played internationally both in europe and the US, and at the Burning Man festival in the Black Rock desert, as well as been demonized by christian figure head Pat Robinson on the 700 Club. We just released our first official release, released by State Art in Germany.
http://www.stateart.de/
It is called Plague of Humanity. There are 3 or 4 released coming from AMF during this year or the next... one more on state art called the embalmer tapes and one in conjunction with Pychonaut on Old Europa Cafe. Then there is a cd that will come out on AMF records, but this will be a compilation released in conjunction with the magazine VIAL. I will be on there solo, amf is on there, pychonaut, haters, mz412, skincage, and many more. the cd will be mixed and constructed based on the soucematerial of the contributors by louis of amf.
http://www.vialmagazine.com/
The cd will be called Cadavre Sonique:
http://www.vialmagazine.com/cadavre.html

WORKING METHOD:
For 'nacrasti' i started out by creating a series of images, graphics and such which come to mean something (i typically work with geographic images of the earth, space and planets - "large scale miniaturizm"). these I try to live a sound world into. 'nacrasti' was made mostly over desert images, and satellite images of the sahara, the gobi, and other places in the general location of east or south. the inspiration for doing it this way comes from spending a lot of time over maps planning trips and adventures. the next cd is done over images of ice masses and planets. i haven't yet figured out what the story is about (for me personally). anyway, then i do sound design for a long time, before i put together a piece over some base
loop...it is kind of a surgical process. karen does vocal sounds which i sample and tweak (if you want near perfect renditions of . WWII classics, she can do them all), and i sample from noises around my living space (lo fi noises tend to have a character which i like), i like to go to ethnic music stores to buy the cheapest instruments they have, i also buy toy instruments that i sample from + and sometimes i lift things from a movie here and there. i heavily
process all samples... i tend to try to "destroy" the samples, then i try to clean them up to restore their former glory. i try to achieve a natural kind of distortion ..ie. volatile natural sounds with sharper edges. i layer these endlessly along deep end sound spectrums... i start off with a loop or a drone or a two tone harmony thingy and build from there. through this whole process i chat with my original images to see how they like what has been created. this way the creation process stays purely aesthetic from start to finish. that's pretty much it.

Igor Vaganov vs Stig
August, 2002 - Russia/USA

CONTACT: via Malignant
More info: www.malignantrecords.com/raan/