0/R
"0/R" (12K1006)
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AMBIENTRANCE
(US)
When
nosei sakata and richard chartier collaborated by mailing minidiscs
of sound material back and forth, altering and re-altering the
material, 0/r was generated. Talk about electronic music...
Imagine
putting a stethoscope to the heart of digital technology and
instead of finding cold inanimate circuits, discovering warmly
buzzing currents of life...
nosei
sakata of Tokyo is 0, and richard chartier of Washington D.C.
is r; track titles (like r/0) indicate the order in which each
artist worked on each track. From computerized sound fragments,
the artists weave a minimalistic, 64.5-minute soundweb featuring
13 tracks of digital intricacy.
Following
the barely audible frequencies of brief intro 0r, the second
track, 0/r, grumbles into existence, laced with blips and pops.
One of the more "musical" moments occurs when the ringing tones
of 0/r/0 echo and loop amongst themselves, replicating and chiming
in a double-helix of sound.
Particularly
buzzy, 0/r. pulses and surges with a quiet forcefulness, brooding
with a latent power which is joined by higher pitches and subatomic
ruffles. Between the resonating warbles of 0/r/0.., you can
hear the crunchy rhythm of 1s and 0s being ground into digital
dust. Droning like a distant generator, Sakata's "solo" piece
0 is a dense, low thrum of warmth decorated by fluttering ripples
and faint clicks.
A
stop-and-start assemblage of static hisses, mechanical whirrs,
high frequency rings, spacey soundwaves, electromagnetic rumbles
and intermittent pops , 0/r/0... (12:07) seems to be a collection
of random snapshots from the core of the machine. Chartier's
r reveals the ephemeral microcosm of free-floating electrons
which flit about like tiny, glowing particles living within
a larger mechanism. The disc closes with the short rumble which
is 0/r/0/r (:39).
To
be sure, some listeners will hear only strange electric "noise",
but for those whose ears are attuned to the musicwithin these
alternating currents, sakata and chartier have produced some
powerfully interesting sound design. (Fans of Pan Sonic and
Oval, listen here!) The AmbiEntrance says an 8.5 for emphasis
on the microscopic details in this high-tech exploration.
And
like all 12k releases, 0/r is limited to 500 copies. Visit the
website to hear more from the microscopic side of the sound
spectrum.
URBAN
SOUNDS (UIS)
Spinoza
once observed, and Deleuze famously recalled, that "we do not
yet know what a body can do." Growing up listening to Minor
Threat and Metallica, I learned quickly some of the possibilities.
This was music designed for volume, where a body's response
seemed dictated not so much by the metaphorical demands of speed
and pause as by the sculptural nuances of density and girth.
(Hip-hop and heavy metal's first point of contact was in the
importance of a good car stereo.) Volume, though my parents
never understood it, was a means to observation, with detail
a function of resolution accessible only at the level (literally)
of decibels. 0/r begins with a similar premise, though its specifics
lie closer to the 0 than the 10 (or, as it were, the 11) on
the volume knob. This isn't the cathartic masachismo of Merzbow
or the power electronics set; Nosei Sakata's (a.k.a. *0) and
Richard Chartier's pushings are achieved primarily upon the
space of mentation -- the tympanum, the cochlear curl, the tension
and release of the cranial cavity -- and work only at low volumes,
where needle-like frequencies and constellations of elutriated
noise agitate perception in the absence of the forced distraction
of pain. The effect is related, however, and sound becomes a
rarefied stimulus of corporeal affects the demands of which
take precedence over any attempts to explain why or how this
music might be "good." Music put to such uses no longer offers
itself up to the arbitrary schemata of aesthetic or even conceptual
value; it realigns sound with a process such that the body is
made strange again. Taylor Deupree dutifully christened this
approach "microscopic," and the music to appear recently on
his 12k label (including 0/r and Shuttle358's Optimal.lp) seems
committed to putting down a kind of definition. The sounds are
indeed "small," sometimes imperceptibly so, but the term is
more concerned with the scientific level of precision necessary,
for example, in the optimal placement of the speakers during
playback, or the orientation of the head in acoustical space.
(Headphones are not advised.) 0/r is the result of a mail-based
collaboration between Sakata, based in Tokyo, and Chartier,
based in Washington, D.C., and comes packaged in a beautifully
simple die-cut tear-away sleeve.
VITAL
WEEKLY (NL)
It
may not come as a surprise that these two composers decided
to do a collaboration. This CD contains 13 tracks, but can be
considered as one work. There are breaks, but not necessarily
on (or should I say before) the start codes. It is impossible
to tell who's done what on this disc; we hear all the sounds
we know from both musicians, but blended together so well, that
it could have been one person. From this point of view the project
seems to have been very successful. The minimalism of Chartier
is complemented wonderfully by the rawer appraoch of Sakata
(and vice versa, of course). Sound sources are pulses, sine
waves and noises and once again, this stuff works best on headphones,
because of the stereo spectrum involved. On speakers some of
the (very important) stereophonic qualities of the music get
lost. In general this is a quiet work, but not really of a relaxing
nature, which is a nice paradox of course. Some of the stuff
really gets into the head, which can be pretty unnerving, but
also very satisfying (yet another paradox!). This is microwave
at its best. And a note about the cover: excellent artwork!
(MR)
THE
WIRE
(UK)
the minimally packaged 0/r offers up no information other than
its very similar track titles - derived from various combinations
of the album's title letters which are then further differentiated
by the tiniest shifts in punctuation - and timings. however,
its contents reward disciplined deep listening, which reveals
a stereo-forest of amplified insectile noises: occasional blips
and bleeps, flickering, electronic crackles, click rhythms and
pulses, controlled blasts of fuzz, glassy explosions and warbling
tones. the dense crackle-rhythm or "r/0" is sliced through with
serial sections of silence. "r/0." works a similar stop-start
ploy. moving slowly, every sound is deliberately placed with
the intense precision of a fetishist. - dave howell
