Klenkes Stadtmag (DE)
"I've heard that Ridley Scott is planning a sequel to his legendary science-fiction thriller 'Blade Runner'. Here is the soundtrack of it !… While electronic bands such as Autechre or Aphex Twin make profit from the superficiality of the machinery, Bérangère Maximin gives the impression she deeply understands and implements poetry and moods into the process…. Addictive."
" 'OOP' is "a whirring quartz rainbow that happily slips its own confines, seeded in the slow-mo of ceremonial rattles. A steady increase in density thread-wormed into the more mechanical: shunted locomotives be-speckled in chordic sustains and weird dissidents pulling at the framework."
Entrez dans la transe / Marie-Pier Frappier / Quebec Daily Newspaper Le Devoir (Canada) / 05-22-2016
Elle en a dedans, la Bérangère Maximin. On nous promettait « objets sonores, artéfacts microphoniques, chimères numériques », et on a eu plus que ça avec son Siklon. Toute menue derrière son ordinateur, elle nous prend vigoureusement par la main et nous amène sous l’eau. Le voyage commence, d’une traite jusqu’à la respiration, où l’orage gronde et éclate. Architecte d’un monde riche et tout sauf tétanisé, la Française égrène son « chapelet de l’heure dans l’horizon ». On aurait parfois voulu plus intense, on aura eu plus beau, c’est tout, et c’est bien ainsi.
http://www.ledevoir.com/culture/musique/471559/fimav-tagaq-of-the-art
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George Lewis Leads Parade of Experimental Artists at FIMAV / Josef Woodard/ DownBeat Magazine (USA) / 05-23-2016
"Other memorable moments along the four-night/three-day roster of 20 concerts included the deliciously bizarre midnight show from Quebec fusion act FET.NAT, with the wild man singer-poet known as JFNO vaguely recalling Pere Ubu’s charismatic leader David Thomas, and the laptop-and-mixer elegance of French artist Bérangère Maximin, who led an hour-long trip into a captivating sound world of her own deft devising."
http://www.downbeat.com/default.asp?sect=news&subsect=news_detail&nid=3248
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Zorn Recruits Star Collaborators for Eclectic FIMAV Showcase / Josef Woodard / DownBeat Magazine (USA) / 05-31-2016
"Also a highlight among this year’s 20-show roster were the Swiss duo of wizardly vocalist Andreas Schaerer and sinewy drummer Lucas Niggli, as well as the French electronic musician Bérangère Maximin, who crafted satisfying, painterly soundscapes, armed with the by-now “traditionalist” setup of laptop and mixer."
http://www.downbeat.com/default.asp?sect=news&subsect=news_detail&nid=3268
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Montreal Gazette
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Festival International Musique Actuelle Victoriaville / L'équilibre des dualités / Impro Jazz, Magazine d'information musicale
# 228, September 2016
(…) L'électroacousticienne Bérangère Maximin mêle trames et boucles de sons fixés à d'autres, produits dans l'instant, avec une part d'improvisation. Sa musique est un pont entre l'école acousmatique française qui se souvient de l'héritage de Pierre Schaeffer, et les récents développements des musiques électrons, qui ne disent pas non à la pulsation. Elle navigue entre les deux mondes sans arrêt et avec une grande aisance, nous entraînant à sa suite dans des paysages inconnus. Michel Chion demandait un jour "la musique du futur a-t-elle un avenir ?". Certainement répondra-t-on, et il est quelque-part par là.
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Festival International Musique Actuelle Victoriaville / Bruce Lee Gallanter / 06-14-2016
NYC Downtown Music Gallery's Bruce Gallanter's review of my solo concert at Fimav last month ! touched :::
The second set that day was a solo set by Bérangère Maximin, a French electronic music composer with discs out on Tzadik, Sub Rosa and Crammed Discs. I had heard and enjoyed Ms. Maximin’s discs on Tzadik and Sub Rosa and knew that she once toured with Chuck Bettis, the former DMG manager. Starting with very subtle static and thumps and what sounds like distant thunder, each sound was slowly manipulated with the tempo slowly increasing as the piece evolved. For most of the sets at Colloseum A or B, there is a smoke machine that is used too often. It doesn’t work for each set and should be switched off at times.
For this set, the smoke actually added to the foggy aura with appropriate lights also used to great effect. You could tell that Ms. Maximin had worked long and hard on her set since each piece was carefully crafted. On the second piece, it sounded like a sped up washing machine, throbbing, pulsating and slowly being twisted. The sounds of water flowing or chains being shaken pervaded and it felt like we were submerged under the ocean, perhaps in a submarine. The third piece started with what sounded like panpipes but was soon expanded, one layer at a time. You could hear that each layer was carefully bent into different shapes, each layer evokes a different vibe or scene. Eventually the flow of events turned into space/rock groove similar in sound to Hatfield & the North or Gong. Each piece became more complex and/or added another layer to the flow. The intensity increased, certain patterns were enhanced and the repeating refrain of a selective birdcall became a hook to hold onto. This set was electronic music at its best since there was some sort of narrative or story unfolding which was not that hard to comprehend. Sometimes electronic music is too difficult to deal with, too cold or inhuman sounding. But not this set, it worked well and took us on a strong inner journey.
http://www.downtownmusicgallery.com
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Festival International De Musique Actuelle De Victoriaville 2016, Part 1/ Mike Chamberlain / All About Jazz (USA)/ 05-24-20
"French electroacoustic composer Berangere Maximin was focussed, controlled and succinct in her set of four real-time compositions with laptop and electronics that employed the use of natural sounds and pulsating drones that had life and breath of their own."
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/festival-international-de-musique-actuelle-de-victoriaville-2016-by-mike-chamberlain.php?width=1600
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AMN Reviews: Festival de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville, May 19 and 20 / Irwin Block / Avant Music News (USA) / 05-22-2016
"From tones, to drones – the next concert featured the electro-acoustic creations of French composer Bérangère Maximin. The soundscapes and varied textures from her laptop and table of electronic devices were varied, accessible, well structured, and entertaining."
https://avantmusicnews.com/2016/05/22/amn-reviews-festival-de-musique-actuelle-de-victoriaville-may-19-and-20/