From the Mana Website:
Mana is a record label established in 2017 by Andrea Zarza, curator at the British Library Sound Archive, and Blowing Up The Workshop founder Matthew Kent.
Publishing works at the intersection of contemporary and archival sound, Mana is a platform redrawing narrative boundaries and perspectives through a playful, radical and unexpected approach.
- Pretty Sneaky LP by Pretty Sneaky (2020); Going by the title and artist name, there is absolutely no information available about the producers of this project. Cloaked in secrecy this artist, duo or group have produced an LP that investigates the property of water and the sonic interpretations we can draw from it. Clever field recordings of river ambience are amplified by the repetitive splashes of water, replacing a standard kick drum or snare. Bright, dubby, warbling synth lines bring to mind the frothing and foaming of water in rock pools. In the high end the skipping of off-beat hi hats could be light rainfall whereas the low toms resemble the plop of bank-side branches. Split into four 15-18minute sides A, B, C, D. Listening consecutively comes very close to being a somewhat audio visual experience , it’ as if we the listener have taken a leisurely row down a countryside river.
NOTE: Experiment with water sounds, splashing, running water, attempt to extract high and low tones from movement with water.
