Re: [microsound] Props (was: critical)

[Andrei <andrei@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, 26 Sep 2001, stephan mathieu wrote:

> hi andrej 
> i agree with richard and your mail proofs it.
> i'd be interessted if you have a hint for what was fesh music for you 
> recently.
>  - stephan


(I started writing this the night before the WTC attacks and abandoned it
'til tonight.)

Last night was so full of unexpected lovely microsound listening that I 
thought it was worth giving props to some recent acquisitions, though not 
necessarily recent releases.

First off Oren Ambarchi's new cd "Suspension" on Touch. Lovely, lovely, 
lovely. Explores a different direction than Ambarchi's previous cd on
Touch, which I think was a bit of a landmark as far as solo prepared
guitar efforts go. This one definitely seems to aim at making some kind of
emotional impact, whereas "Insulation" didn't seem very concerned with 
emotion. The album title is (no doubt intentionally) very apt as the music
sounds as if it's captured in slow motion while passing through varying
degrees of melancholy, ennui, stasis, etc. and brief moments are expanded
into several minutes.  Morton Feldman seems like be a good point of
reference here. Perfect late night, end of the day music.

Next came M. Behrens' "Four Installations" cd on Trente Oiseaux.
God, what a nice listen.  As the title indicates it's a collection of
"music" featured in or generated by various installations.
1- Little sparkly, crackling sounds mixed with hums and muted
rumblings. Like being in the dark basement of some factory 
with water dripping everywhere. 
2/3 - Buzzing, insect drones.
The second half of the cd I find less interesting:
4 - Bits of white noise played back at various sample rates. I guess more
of a "conceptual" piece featuring text files 
"transformed" into sound. Will sound familiar to those who have played
around with apps like SoundHack or DatSnd.
5/6 - Two drone pieces, the first consisting of muted, heterodyning, low
tones and the second of what could be muted white noise.
I keep thinking this cd would make a nice coupling with the recording of
Christian Wolff's "Stones" on Edition Wandelweiser.

And last came Hazard's "Wood" on Touch, which is a mix  of all sorts of 
drones, upclose/no wind guard type field recordings and 
breathy/scratchy/klangy/crackling but "organic" sounds which sometimes
create intertwining, independent rhythms. A bit difficult to 
describe. Bought this used and didn't get the accompanying
"Bridge/Field" LP.

Besides those I think Ekkehard Ehlers' contribution to the invalidObject
Series has some nice moments, though not particularly effort oriented. And
like every other IDM nerd I've been enjoying the Telefon Tel Aviv cd on
Hefty the last couple of days. 

Good night,
Andrei



 
> from andrei -
> 
> > Yeah, I feel that way too, so I'm gonna just gonna deviate momentarily and
> > say that personally I don't care for Mr. Cascone's work, at least not
> > the couple of albums I've heard. I was listening to "Cathode Flower" the
> > other day and despite all the philosophical pretensions and use of
> > "advanced" software it just sounds like a static ambient album to me. 
>  
> > There are other artists on this list whose work I find overrated.
> > In fact I find there's so much pretension in this "microsound" scene. This
> > whole austere, minimal thing is so formulaic and worn out at this point. I
> > mean I don't even buy Raster-Noton cds anymore cuz I don't really expect
> > to hear anything new. I get the impression that a lot of artists think
> > there is something intrinsicly artistic about making that kind of music
> > and backing it up with pseudo-intellectual theories. There's a lot of 
> > pseudo academia around. Like people who are familiar with the work of
> > Stockhausen, Xenakis, etc. think that because they've discovered those
> > composers' works somehow they've become "serious" artists after having
> > spent the last 10 years or whatever making techno or ambient or
> > whatever. I just wanna see some real effort and intellect put into 
> > people's work. That's what I think made the music of people like
> > Stockhausen or Xenakis so impressive. I sound negative, but all I really
> > want is to hear some fresh music.