Review

[The Raging Consciousness Desk <ragcondesk@xxxxxxxxx>]

Ryoji Ikeda; ?Matrix?
Touch  - to:44 (Double CD)
 
Matrix is artist Ryoji Ikeda?s third in a trilogy of CDs
that began with ?+/-? in 1996. This two CD set, a hour and
a half total, serves two purposes, as an environmental art
work and hypnotic, trance-inducing meditative exercise. 
Since ?+/-? release, Ikeda has increasingly advanced his
work creating microsonic sound sculptures that fall outside
of labelling, while thrusting his musical ideas in to
audacious new horizons. Here, what sounds as a single note
of droning lab-setting sterility are, in fact, layers of
analogous waves that fluctuate slowly, gently, often
without the listener?s awareness. While most music seems to
lose its gestalt when the listener distances himself or
herself, here the sounds morph, changing pitch and
frequency, becoming even more complex and interesting. Each
subsequent room with its independent acoustics provide yet
another set of sounds. One is able to change the sound by
walking through the listening area as well as simply
shifting the listening position. This amazing
characteristic puts ?Matrix? in a class of it?s own and
gives cause for the listener to rethink our ideas of
space/music relationships. With a steadied listening
position, eyes shut, the ?Matrix? may give rise to visions
and lucid thought process as if clearing the mind?s palette
to allow for deep meditation ? a dreaming while conscious
state. This sonic building  - a virtual auto-interactive
sound world of complex micro-rhythms ? is necessary for
anyone looking towards the use of the drone as sculpture.


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