An electronic thrumming wave trapped in a small aluiminum box – floating in space – tied to a shelf – on Mir.

This is not in any sense, then, “easy” but it is seductive in the extreme, and, I’d venture, Toral’s best work to date. That said, I harbour a strong suspicion that there’s a lot more to come.

I am reminded of a roman catholic ritual were they make two steps forward and then one back: this music is kinda like that. Whenever it goes forward, it seems to be going backward at the same time.

The record stands as one of few releases in history to have no source of sound — all of the tones used to create its two long compositions were drawn from a feedback loop consisting of two delays and an equalizer, with no actual input.

A collection of solo performances and duets that the Portuguese guitarist Toral recorded from 1994 to 1996. Chasing Sonic Booms highlights both the strengths and weaknesses Toral works with. I…

Another great offering from Ecstatic Peace (thanks, Thurston!), and one we could all do with exploring in depth. Truly, Rafael Toral has the Right Stuff.

There are sounds, not notes, or rather singular waves of sounds, oscillating slightly and changing their timbral coloring. Toral is quite consistent in this minimal approach.

Talk about making something out of nothing! Rafael Toral is most strongly associated with the electric guitar, but on this one track CD single he bypasses instruments altogether.

Like an aural translation of the Aurora Borealis, tones morph and waft skyward, luminous and chameleon-skinned. Too fluid to be called austere, this is minimalism liquified, like the digital precision of Toral’s contemporaries melted down into mercurial ebb.

True to Toral’s desire to show us “the ghost in the machine” his music conveys real [human] emotion and soul.