VARIOUS
ARTISTS "BETWEEN TWO POINTS" (12K1012)
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AMBIENTRANCE
(US)
A
unique Various Artists comp profiles both the 12k label and
its even-more-micro node, LINE...
In
this case, the line Between Two Points is thin indeed... microscopic,
even; these tiny audioworlds often seem to exist in a zone of
digitized ambience or even further hidden away on an intriguingly
submolecular level...
The
first disc (11 tracks @ 72:11) focuses on 12k, adding a few
new names to its usual roster... for instance, Sogar, whose
effervescent buzzes and clicks of "L1" are stirred into soft
mechanical drones. Taylor Deupree's own "Bare (Bare)" emits
a strand of self-replicating chimes amid a lightly glaring sheen.
Long-runner "Aftersnd_birth (in 4 parts)" (12:21) sputters,
blips and resonates, arranged by Mark Fell into semi-rhythmic
patterns, or just allowed to drift very quietly.
Faint
tempo-matching pips exist behind lovely "Grammar"'s humming
fluctuations, then set afloat a steady-state tonal plane courtesy
of Dan Abrams. From some silicon rift, shifting multiplanar
forms interact almost-organically, as envisioned by Kim Cascone
in "Dust Theories (Sferic 1 Mix)". Like some insectoid communication,
Vend counts "1.2.3." in wet little clicks.
The
second disc (8 tracks @ 56:19) enters on Roel Meelkop's generally
quiet "Liner", which veers once from its course, into more active
micronoise. "Vibra" (3:29) from our favorite female micro-artist
Miki Yui, offers a short emission of machine-like essences and
wispy highs. Long strands of droning resonance are underscored
by steady mechanized rumblings in "Kernel Panic"(10:28) from
Bernhard Günter.
Beneath
the faint electronic warbles etched into Steve Roden's "Mobile
Stabile" a throbbing space-engine seems to thrum. Quavery blipping/ringing
tones from *0 are seperated by periods of virtual silence when
"2.001K" close the comp.
Other
artists include: Noto, Mikael Stavöstrand, Komet, 0/R,
GOEM, Richard Chartier, Immedia and DUUL_DRV.
Whether
you find these 19 miniaturized audioscapes to be tantalizing
or frustrating, Between Two Points represents the talents of
this subgenre's finest sound-sculptors. Perfect for at-the-computer
headphone-listening because it makes you feel somehow more in
tune with the inner workings of your machine... well, it does
me, anyway. An overall 8.7.
BLOWUP
(IT)
(translated
from italian)
In
the crowded mare magnum of compilations aiming at documenting,
until it's continuing to shine, the trail of light of the microwave
comet (think of the series "Clicks & Cuts" on Mille Plateaux
and "Bip-Hop Generation" on Bip-Hop), an important role is certainly
due to "Between Two Points", at least for the knowledge and
perspective of organic systematics with which the matter is
being faced by the twin labels 12k and Line.
The
two points, which the title refers to, are exactly those on
which the sound aesthetics, contiguous but carefully divergent,
of the two bodies lead by Taylor Deupree and Richard Chartier
take up position: granules of ultra-synthetic sound, rhythmic
pointillism and faint hues of melody on one side, digital and
terminally reductionist minimalism (the essence of absence?)
on the other. So it's inevitable that, among various post-digital
soot, viscous chatterings, bouncings of tiny rhythmic cells
and so on, you find here the general staff of microwave nomenclature
in its full glory. Headed on the opposite edges by the two home-owners,
there are Noto and Steve Roden, Kim Cascone and *0, Komet and
Roel Meelkop, Goem and Immedia, Mikael Stavöstrand and
Miki Yui beating again creaking on creaking and silence on silence,
with some new names (Sogar, Duul_Drv, Vend) and a formidable
autumn raga of a para-religious kind by the eldest brother Bernhard
Günter to seal the whole project. (8)
ELECTRONIC
MUSIC REVIEWS.COM (US)
A
few reviews ago, I bemoaned about a lack of interesting music
coming out of the "clicks & cuts" universe. I felt that
this style was getting a bit too repetitive, a bit tiring, and
a bit old. Well, it still is--most of it, anyways. But since
writing that review I've started to rethink the reasons why
this style of music is getting tiring. It's not that "clicks"
and "cuts" all sound the same, thereby limiting what can be
made out of those sounds; rather, I think it's because artists
are using the same formula for these micro sounds that they
use with other, "macro" sounds: focusing these sounds around
predictable and predictably mediocre rhythms. One of the things
I like about the idea of glitch music is that glitches are the
errors, the throwaway remnants of most electronic music. By
foregrounding those sounds, an artist is foregrounding the artificiality
of music creation and recreation. That's interesting. But placing
these sounds within a typical rhythm-centered musical context
seems to defeat the purpose, rendering interesting sounds mundane.
Aren't
there other ways to create experimental electronic music without
relying on unexperimental structures? Of course there are. Some
examples include moving these glitches to the corners of music,
so they function as melodic accompaniment; foregrounding the
glitches without forcing them into a discernible rhythmic structure;
or creating tapestries of sound, glitches either occupying the
foreground or background of a track. When an artists shifts
the focus of the music away from repetition and rhythm and toward
the overall sound experience, then these glitch sounds suddenly
take on new and more interesting dimensions. It is a combination
of these different approaches that I hear on Between Two Points,
a two-disk set which brings together artists and music from
Taylor Deupree's two labels, 12k and Line. 12k is the more familiar
label, the one which spawned Deupree's own music and the music
of Shuttle358 (aka Dan Abrams). Since its inception in 1997,
this label has been at the forefront of the "clicks and cuts"
or "lowercase" musical movement. Line is Deupree's and Richard
Chartier's more avant-garde label, which specializes in the
micro-micro-micro relationship between sound and silence (with
an emphasis on the latter).
So,
what makes the music on these disks--and, by extension, these
labels--different from other "glitch" musics? To start, I think
the artists on these labels, the artists featured on Between
Two Points, share a profound disinterest in rhythm. They will
use rhythm, but only to further other, more interesting musical
ideas. And thank god for that! In my mind, this is what electronic
music should be all about--exploring the fascinating new sounds
that electronic and computer instruments can create, without
all the baggage that accompanies most mainstream music. The
songs on this disk are centered around ideas, music and otherwise,
that can go in virtually any direction at all--and do. These
are songs that range from bouncing glitch numbers like Mikael
Stavostrand's "+" (which has a quasi-techno rhythm composed
of some clicks, some cuts, some synth stabs and other digital
FX, but doesn't really have a beat, as the sounds speed up and
slow down in various, unrhythmical ways) to warbling experiments
like Komet's "Lag" (which puts glitches and other synth and
FX sounds in the background and foregrounds a repetitive dub
hiccup) to ultra-minimal epics like Richard Chartier's "010101"
(which is about 10 minutes of silence, with only the hidden
trace of sound floating in the nether-background of the track
at various intervals). The latter song is actually an amazing
work, despite its heavy-duty minimalism. Yes, most of the song
is silent, but the sounds that show up are so faint that you're
not even sure they are coming from the song or from the incidental
sounds around you. You start to focus on hearing--something?
Nothing? It's not clear. But no, the sound is there; it's just
so faint it magnifies the silence itself, forcing you to hear
that silence differently (in the very best John Cage tradition).
The
music here is challenging, to be sure. But it's also an example
of the best kind of electronic music out there today--music
that is unwilling to be anything other than itself, artists
who recognize music as a process, not an end result, and labels
willing and eager to give these artists and this music a larger
forum. There's actually not a bad track among the 19 tracks
that span these two disks--and that's something rare, especially
with compilations. If you have never heard a 12k release, then
pick this disk up, as it compiles some of the best work released
on the label, including work by such stalwarths as Kim Cascone,
Deupree, Abrams, Komet, and others. If you have all the 12k
music already, pick this up because it is a great introduction
to the Line label and its heavy-duty experimentation from artists
like Chartier, Bernhard Gunter, and Miki Yui. Despite what others
might say about minimalism in general, this is listenable music;
it is simple and certainly abstract, but those are *good* qualities--qualities
that separate this music from everything else out there. It
might not be music to dance to or jog to, but it's ideal music
to study to, to read to, to think to, to sleep to, and to dream
to. - Michael Heumann
FREE
WILLISMABURG (US)
The
second cd, highlighting the L-NE label, borders on the inaudible
and unlistenable - some of the tones and sounds divined by artists
like ROEL MEELKOP, IMMEDIA, NOSEI SAKATA, and label-owner RICHARD
CHARTIER, are so ear-piercing and high-pitched, it just seems
unfathomable that anyone could sit through them long enough
to get the general idea of each piece. CHARTIER's "010101" is
one of the more effective pieces, with a resonating frequency
so high, that when you do hear it, it buzzes somewhere in the
center of your skull. But as painful as it is to listen to,
it successfully pushes the boundaries of silence and sound within
the digital context. His label-mate MIKI YUI wields a nice sound
that slowly creeps in and out of audibility and BERNHARD GUNTER
has an orchestral sounding number that is as enjoyable as it
is mysterious. Perhaps the L-NE cd is more focused in its minimal,
mono-tone approach, but in conjunction with the 12K cd, it lacks
flavor and seems pigeonholed stylistically. As a whole however,
this 2cd set is a successfull exploration into a new form of
communication through digital sound design, that only accepts
sound in relation to no-sound. Its transparent foundation and
minimal approach suggests that perhaps this is the clean slate
in which the future of music is founded on. - SK
HAUNTED
INK (US)
Between
Two Points is a two-disk set which brings together artists
and music from Taylor Deupree's two labels, 12k and Line. 12k
is the more familiar label, the one which spawned Deupree's
own music and the music of Shuttle358 (aka Dan Abrams). This
label almost single-handedly spawned the "clicks and cuts" musical
style (at least, that's what their web site says). This is,
in other words, where the more "popular" glitch music can be
found. Line is Deupree's and Richard Chartier's more avant-garde
label, which specializes in the micro-micro-micro relationship
between sound and silence. Above everything else, Between Two
Points is, to me, what electronic music should be all about--exploring
the fascinating new sounds that electronic and computer instruments
can create, without all the baggage that accompanies most mainstream
music. The songs on this disk are centered around ideas, music
and otherwise, that can go in virtually any direction at all.
These are songs that range from bouncing glitch numbers like
Mikael Stav‰strand's "+" (which has a rhythm composed of
some clicks, some cuts, some synth stabs and other digital FX,
but doesn't really have a beat, as the various sounds speed
up and slow down in various, unrhythmical ways) to warbling
experiments like Komet's "Lag" (which puts glitches and other
synth and FX sounds in the background and foregrounds a repetitive
synth hiccup) to ultra-minimal epics like Richard Chartier's
"010101" (which is about 10 minutes of silence, with only the
hidden trace of sound floating in the nether-background of the
track at various intervals). The latter song is actually an
amazing work, despite its heavy-duty minimalism. Yes, most of
the song is silent, but the sounds that show up are so faint
that you're not even sure they are coming from the song or from
the incidental sounds around you. You start to focus on hearing--something?
Nothing? It's not clear. But no, the sound is there; it's just
so faint it magnifies the silence itself, forcing you to hear
that silence differently (in the very best John Cage tradition).
The music here is challenging, to be sure. But it's also an
example of the best kind of electronic music out there today--music
that is unwilling to be anything other than itself, performed
by artists who simply create music because they find it interesting,
challenging, rewarding, and inspiring. There's actually not
a bad track among the 19 tracks that span these two disks--and
that's something rare, especially with compilations. If you
have never heard a 12k release, then pick this disk up, as it
compiles some of the best work released on the label, including
work by such stalwarths as Kim Cascone, Deupree, Abrams, Komet,
and others. If you have all the 12k music already, pick this
up because it is a great introduction to the Line label and
its heavy-duty experimentation from artists like Chartier, Immedia,
and *0. Despite what others might say about minimalism in general,
this is listenable music; it is simple and certainly abstract,
but those are *good* qualities--qualities that separate this
music from everything else out there. It might not be music
to dance to or jog to, but it's ideal music to study to, to
read to, to think to, to daydream to, and to sleep to.
INSIDER
ONE (US)
Over
the past four years, Brooklyn's 12K has paralleled the development
of the quasi-genre called "microsound," moving from post-techno
bleep and pulse to a quieter, more contemplative take on digital
sound design. Disc One, featuring lowercase luminaries like
Komet, Dan Abrams (Shuttle358) and Kim Cascone, showcases 12K's
rhythmic side, coaxing supple grooves out of static and hiss,
and finding subtle rhythms in data errors and broken bits. Noto's
hermetic tones, born from the confines of the computer, and
label head Taylor Deupree's piercing frequencies indicate new
levels of austerity, even for this label. But Mikael Stavöstrand's
"+" proves just how lush a handful of pixels can be, while Mark
Fell, of Mille Plateaux's snd, almost hints at the lithe cadences
of UK garage in his brutal atomizations. Disc Two is dedicated
to Line, the 12K sound-art imprint curated by Richard Chartier.
Here selections from Roel Meekop, Steve Roden and others raise
minimalism to a higher level. But as quiet as these works are,
they remain busy, with the buzzing of sine waves and the vibrations
of cellular sound. Miki Yui fills "Vibra" with a swelling mass
of charged particles, while Bernhard Günter's "Kernel Panic"
wraps the listening space in layer after layer of uneasy drones.
Their subtlety raises the question of whether they're "pieces"
at all, or simply the unheard hum of the inner ear, magnified
and laid bare. &emdash; Philip Sherburne
ON
RUMORE (IT)
"(...)
Another compilation, a double one published in the States, is
coming from the twin labels 12k and Line. "Between Two Points"
sets itself exactly the target to define the different grounds
of influence and sound aesthetics of the two associates, a catalogue
of stylized microrhythmic textures for the releases of the former,
digital reductionism in its terminal state for those of the
latter. So the "microwave nomenclature" is extremely well represented,
from the regular holders of the project Taylor Deupree and Richard
Chartier to Noto, Roel Meelkop, *0, Steve Roden, Komet, Goem,
to end with a superlative Bernhard Günter whose "Kernel
Panic" gives evidence of a para-religious cultured ripeness.
- nicola catalano
VITAL
WEEKLY (NL)
Almost
at the same time [as Clicks & Cuts 2] Taylor Deupree
offers another compilation on his 12K label. Or is it the Line
label? In fact it's both. Whereas 12K stands for more rhythmic
music, its subsidairy Line stands for indepth, more avant-garde
electronic music. So one CD of 'Between Two Points' is by 12K
artists and one is by Line artists (many of the featured artists
will have their full length release on either label). On the
12K CDwe get some of the same names as on 'Clicks & Cuts
2', like Mark Fell (= SND), Komet (= Frank Bretschneider), Noto
(= Alva.Noto), Dan Abrams, Kim Cascone, Taylor Deupree. Some
of these operate in the dance-like, clickhouse style, such as
Mikeal Stavostrand and Komet. However in general there is more
experimentalism, such as in the lengthy piece by Mark Fell,
Dan Abrams, Kim Cascone or Goem. The Line CD goes way further
on the experimental side. Music that you need to turn up your
volume to. The Guenter/Lopez heirs. Richard Chartier offers
a well balanced cut with just high end piercing tones. Miki
Yui an environmental piece of vibrations. Much to my surprise
we find a track by Bernard Guenter, which is a beautiful drone
piece of what sounds like processed wind instruments. Others
featured here are Roel Meelkop, Steve Roden, Immedia, Duul DRV,
*0 and Immedia. This compilation is much more varied then the
Clicks & Cuts one, and opens not just new ways to dance
music, but also to the "serious" side of things.
THE
WIRE (UK)
while intermission and mille plateaux's clicks and
cuts 2 tend towaqrds the dubbier, post-profan side of microsound's
ploink n' click aesthetic, between two points highlights abraded
ambience and sandpapery sustain. the first disc showcases the
label's more rhythmic aspects in pulse bleep contributions from
noto, taylor deupree and komet, but goem's austere hiss and
mark fell's collapsing atomic models open up pockets of chaos.
the second disc suggests an intruiging new direction, however,
venturing into the glimmering silences previously charted by
trent oiseaux. contributions from roel meelkop, richard chartier,
miki yui et al are sequenced into a pointillist arc rendered
in barely visible ink: a testament to patience, attentiveness
and the discipline that is listneing. - phillip sherburne
XLR8R
(US)
representing forthcoming works in the minimal microsound genre,
this compilation assembles current and future label artists
on taylor deupree's 12k label on a release that brings to the
forefront an aesthetic of miniature blips and beeps, scratches
and other background noise. the first cd features tracks from
deupree, kim cascone, noto, dan abrams, and others. certain
tracks have hints of more traditional song structures; mikael
stavostrand's "+" toys with techno elements and komet's "lag"
has a dubby feel only vaguely reminiscent of pole. others, like
goem's "comp tien," further deconstruct apparent rhyhms and
make no pretense about their experimental nature. the second
cd highlights 12k subsidiary LINE records, which focuses on
"new, digital, conceptual, ultra-minimalist sound and the relationship
between sound, silence and the art of listening." with selections
from roel meelkop, bernhard günter, immedia, *0 and others,
this modern updating of the industrial genre prods for responses
to small audio stimuli, a bit like listening to test tones as
if they were music. still, wonder can be found in themost mundane,
minute spaces, can't it? - de nada
