O/R
"VARIED" (12K1018)
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AMBIENTRANCE
(US)
Like
an audio-Rorschach of sonic molecules (or perhaps the emissions
of a stuttering Morse Coder), the staccato microblits and increasingly
chirpy humcycles of VARIED_03:43 are open to interpretation.
Within a deep droning expanse, sizzlier VARIED_04:06 seems to
brood in a scattering of firecracker fuses that never bang;
eventually almost-music seeps in on brief swirls. Mesmerizing!
In VARIED_06:48, periods of stillness are separated by recurring
thumps, then ripples, sputters and occasionally, metallic little
notelets.
Between
strands of popping particles and distant insectile thrumming,
VARIED_05:00 also manages to let out a few muted chimes of near-tonality.
Semirhythmic thumps are encircled by high tonal specks which
chime in split-second intervals as VARIED_09:07 does whatever
it's doing longer than the others.
With
all relevant cues stripped away, it's hard to tell... but VARIED_03:26
exists in a kind of eerie droneworld of writhing electron mists.
Low energies pulse from the heart of eighth-and-final VARIED_07:00
accompanied by indistinct murmurs... undeniably intriguing.
Not-so-much
virtual silence is semi-regularly interrupted by nanomechanical
entities which chitter, pip and click through VARIED teeny-tiny
circumstances conceived and executed by the 0/R equation. I
may not always know what's going on exactly, but this time around
I'm not frustratingly deaf to the enigmatic occurrences, so
can enjoy their obtuse anti-musical goings-on at least on that
level. Dazzlingly indefinable and expertly accomplished despite
my sometimes-sassy demeanor... A-
12k
is the source for such finely-wrought things.
BLOW
UP (IT)
"Varied", the second collaboration with Japanese Nosei Sakata
(*0) published with the nickname 0/R, a small labyrinth of microexplosions,
almost unnoticed pyrotechnics, pops and creaking grains strategically
placed in the space-time shoal which seem to have the precise
destination to converge towards some alien melodic form.
HAUNTED
INK (US)
0/R
is *0 (Nosei Sakata) and Richard Chartier, two artists on the
outer fringes of audibility. If you took their combined output
(a dozen or so releases) and added all the sounds up, the results
would still barely register on most stereo systems. In fact,
Sakata's 0.000 consists entirely of sound that can't
be heard by human ears, and Chartier's Of Surfaces is
almost equally inaudible. These guys, in short, have made careers
out of creating music no one can hear.
So,
what about Varied? Well, it's a lot more musical than
earlier *0 and Chartier efforts, but that's not saying much.
Actually, it's probably one of the most esoteric works released
on the 12k label, a work that's subsumed in the minutiae of
grain synthesis, the crackly sand pebbles of sound that burp
and chirp their way through so much electronic music today.
That's not to say that the work is too elitist to appreciate;
far from it. Although the sounds on this release are nowhere
near as engrossing as those on Shuttle358's Frame Mokira's
Clickhop, there is a subtlety on this work, a graceful
blend of fluttering ambience and burbling static.
Of
Varied's eight tracks, one stands above all the rest:
"Varied_06.48," an amazing work and one of the most memorable
songs in the 12k catalogue. The random clinks of what sound
like window chimes float above and around vague hints of snaps,
thumps, hisses, and bleeps. This is an ambient paradise that
reminds me of an electrified Zen landscape of sound, only occasionally
interrupted by showers of noise. It is, without question, a
beautiful composition; sparse yet soothing, erratic yet coherent,
reserved yet unique.
The
other tracks, while nowhere near as beautiful as "Varied_06.48,"
are replete with interesting and memorable moments. Some borrow
elements of "6.48" but use these toward different (less interesting)
ends. Some focus more on stretching and twisting particular
noises until there's little actual "noise" left. And some are
simply interested in fiddling with sounds. "Varied_09.07" falls
into the latter category. It has a minimal rhythm structure
that sounds like a more melodious version of a telegraph. It's
a long song (as the "9.07" suggests), but it holds the listener's
attention (well, my attention) fairly well because the rhythm
bends and weaves around a series of almost imperceptible low-frequency
toms that shift and dart around your ears. It's an interesting
song because it seems so simple, so repetitive, and yet it is
anything but simple and repetitive. It is, in short, a maze
that you must follow to the end to fully appreciate.
This
is, without question, a subtle work, and a work that demands
a great deal out of the listener. If you are willing to meet
this work half-way, that is, if you are willing to sit and listen
to each song, to follow the maze of sounds to their end, then
you will be rewarded, as I was, with a great experience. If
not, then you'll be bored.
VITAL
WEEKLY (NL)
This is the second installment of their collaboration: america's
Richard Chartier and *0, aka Nosei Sakata. They are both, each
in their own way, radical composers. Chartier's work is usually
very low in volume and long in duration, Nosei is usually loud
and rhythmic. Together they offer eight tracks, which is the
best of both their worlds. From low end drones, to high pitched
beeps and the looped samples of concrete sounds (like the musicbox
in "Varied_06:48'), it's not easy to access music. The dynamics
are great, from the soft to loud, and the ideas per track minimal,
but with enough action to keep you alert. A release that works
best, I think, when played so loud that the softest volume is
heard. The smallest details are revealed in there, and the tiny
movements become apperent. The more rhythmic pieces, like the
first and the fifth, hark back to the best of Pan Sonic or Goem,
with a continous rhythm being played and the processing that
takes place on top. One could easily conclude that this is indeed
a varied CD of various approaches of microsound. (FdW)
THE
WIRE (UK)
stereophonically distributed rhythmic clicks are a familiar
sound in the world of glitch. once they provided an ironic commentary
on analogue recordings: digital perfection reproducing the crackle
content of dodgy vinyl and employing it as a rhythmic resource.
elevating the status of the flaws of music reproduction over
music itself was tongue-in-cheek iconoclasm, and that, coupled
with a return to musical fundamentals, made for a stripped down
soundworld that was strangely familiar but fundamentally strange.
nowadays such methods can come over as cliched tiresome. but
0/r - nosei sakata (trading under the moniker *0, which means
'multiplied by zero,' ie: nothing) and richard chartier - create
a largely abstract music which avoids traps set by familiarity.
chartier's lowercase electronic compositions have been heard
on a number of labels including trente oiseaux, meme and fallt.
he's the co-founder, with taylor deupree, of LINE (sister label
to deupree's 12k), whose products are described as "digital,
conceptual, minimalist sound art." not just music, then. should
we listen to varied with an altered mindset because it's
sound art? are the aesthetics different, or just the terms of
reference? here, with sakata, chartier uses rhythm to a greater
degree than on his solo recordings, although the results are
far from motoric. and despite sakata's solo work being described
as "compterised anti-music" exploring "the conceptual aspect
of implied silence," this collaborative effort is extremly musical.
it makes telling use of space rather than silence - implied
or otherwise.
the cd's nine pieces, all entitled varied, might constitute
a suite, but it's not a cohesive one, like the title suggests.
yet it works particularly well on shuffle play, in which the
spaces around sound events are fractionally reconfigured. as
the narrative possibilities increase, they become ever more
elusive. - brian marley
