Sounds and Silences
Martin Rodriguez
Scales
(2024)
An attitude, in general terms, can be defined as a predisposition to respond positively or negatively to certain objects, people or situations. This work focuses on the behavioral aspect of children, as you will see, they perform actions in relation to the object or situation.
How socioeconomic characteristics, where one can afford to live, can affect behavior, development, integration, the way of speaking, how we are seen and judged, being secure, happy, accepted, childhood should be the same for everyone.
—Martin Rodriguez
Sound, I mean pure sound, the sound that doesn’t reveal its source, its origins (which can only act as a distraction) … when transmuted through the crucible of the sense organ of active imagination, reveals symbol. A direct path to understanding. The first glimpse, the archetypal image comes into view and the soul perceives its provenance, then the unveiling begins.
How ironic that an enigmatic sound that holds all its secrets close to the vest—in the end lays itself bare. The strange alchemy that occurs with the sound and active imagination is surely the culprit, the instigator that pries open the vault of symbol making. The sound becomes dematerialized into subtle forms that hold much meaning. When that happens, a wonderful poiesis occurs.
In Martin Rodriguez’s piece Scales, the sounds as symbols are as deeply resonant as a child’s right to grow into a world with level playing fields, carrying an undeniable sense of urgency and significance. Interpretations, of course, may vary, but the raw materials are provided. Step into the imaginal and perceive.
—Michael Eisenberg
Argentinean-born Martin Rodriguez composer, Paris based, composes with samples, field recordings, electronics, in acousmatic, experimental, concrète music style.
New approaches to composition, new ways of regarding form, a blossoming of aesthetics.
Musical studies at the Pantin / Paris Conservatory.
To hear more of Martin’s work, check out his soundcloud page.
Leonie Roessler
Hi, my name was… or the silence when the children are gone
(2025)
A sound work as social commentary. In a world in which children’s voices are disappearing.
The title speaks for itself. Field recordings of school kids in Iran and India. Released on Post Orientalism’s NO TO WAR Anthology on January 1st, 2025.
—Leonie Roessler
Silence can be beautiful. We live in a world overwhelmed by a cacophonous maelstrom of sound, hijacked by corporate interests intent on eroding individual free will. The person is no longer seen as a unique being, but as a consumption machine—reduced to a product, existing only to consume within a carefully manufactured illusion.
Silences can indeed be beautiful. But they can also be chilling. Leonie Roessler reveals silence not just as beautiful, but as an instrument of negation—stark, cold, and absolute. As a mirror, the silence reflects a piercing, unsympathetic coldness back onto us, it strips all ambiguity from the ugliness of a situation. Mirrors don’t lie. Like a pale, creeping disease, silence takes shape—but its telos is that of a berserker, a force with a singular purpose: to negate.
Negation slithers through this piece, emerging again and again like an oil spill crawling through the sonic tableau, leaving only blackness in its wake. These seven minutes are not easy—but they are necessary. Listen closely, hear the silence.
—Michael Eisenberg
Leonie Roessler – Composer and Performer based in The Hague, Netherlands.
Leonie captures her environment with field recordings, which she uses for radio pieces, sound installations, and instrumental compositions. Part of her work is purely sound-based, however the theme of marginalization has become increasingly present in her radio works.
She curates On Air – On Site Festival with Margherita Brillada and co-manages Iranian record label Noise à Noise with Soheil Soheili. She is an artist in residence and her works have been released through Musica Dispersa (ES/UK), Noise á Noise (IR), Biodiversitàs, Syrphe(DE), Antilounge(NL), and have been physically archived in the British Library. To purchase the piece in various high quality formats please visit the bandcamp page.
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