Re: [microsound] hecker

[david turgeon <david.t@xxxxxxxx>]

> I have this cd [_[OT] xackpy breakpoint_] as well and am curious as to what
> aspects of this work
> people find interesting.

i may as well respond as i have a special fondness for this particular
album which very little else in the way of microsound quite matches in
many aspects.  i discovered it from a review (by our friend frans de
waard) in vital weekly, which praised its organicness &
unpredictability, lauding it as "a very poetic piece of work" (try
coining that with anything that came out this year?)  it was a very
expensive cd-r ($28 CDN, as much as the live lexaunculpt 5-track ep that
circulated around the same period) & a short one at that, very little
over 30 minutes.  the cover offers no information but includes a scheme
related to ANSI standards which has nothing to do with the album other
than it's included with it.  furthermore the sound level on the cd-r is
very low; listening to it on the bus is nearly impossible.  all this to
say that on the outside, it's a rather inconvenient object.  & in a
sense, it's sort of inconvenient on the inside as well.

the first three pieces are rather short, no longer than 4 minutes each,
& constitute the wildest minutes of the album.  sounds litterally
skitter & jump.  they grow & evolve.  as a rendition of natural
organicness & botany (a field so often metaphorically associated with
electronic composition), it's absolutely convincing & beautiful.  you
can imagine this album to be a sound documentary of some minuscule
lifeform living a level of adventures that would give a normally
constituted human an instant stroke.  the middle (4th) piece is a 20+
minute piece which is a lot more minimal, but still very organic, as if
things were happening at a slowed down pace somehow.  my favorite are
the last 3 pieces, coming back to the aesthetic of the first 3, except
louder & even more dynamic.

i can't speak highly enough about this particular album; like that one
beautiful abstract painting you have no reason to find bad things about.
 it has influenced my work substantially, perhaps in much the same way
RLW has.  on the other hand, i was always turned down by the
repetitiveness found on his mego album.  it seems to me like a bit of a
waste.  oh well.

~ david