MOTION
"DUST" (12K1019)
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AMBIENTRANCE
(US)
While
the track titles of Dust sometimes point toward (more-or-less)
obvious concepts, the associated sounds rarely do... and this
is a good thing. Motion is a new microsound "voice" from the
12k label.
Barely
perceptible radiance is ruffled by semi-rhythmic blurts in the
completely abstract circus of "carousel." Strangely enough,
the smears of "Postmark Edi"t remind me of Aerosmith's "Sweet
Emotion", without all the actual rock parts... you know that
vocoded hovering part of the beginning of the song... sort of.
Low
tones pulse continually (and dominantly in their own subdued
way) through "LNR6" (5:29) as the lightest scritchiness sometimes
etches the airwaves. Then, "London Thing" (2:30) loops in muted
tonal patterns and flickering accompaniment.
"Coaster"
presents a (very!) vaguely loungey atmosphere, or at least that's
what I think I hear. Tiny twinkles flicker beneath the translucent
pulsations which quietly surge into Lighter. "Rose Coloured"
winds things up with a final flourish of glowing tonal miasma.
Totally
enigmatic yet utterly intriguing, the teasingly light sounds
of Motion's Dust just color your surroundings with slips
of almost-musicality and a few crispy accents. Enjoyable abstractions!
A-
BLOW
UP (IT)
Dopo un lusinghiero esordio autoprodotto (cfr. "Pictures", recensito
qualche numero fa), il britannico Chis Coode in arte Motion
approda alla 12k e conferma le ottime impressioni suscitate
dal disco di debutto.
Come
suggerisce il titolo, "Dust" è lavoro di piccoli suoni
polverosi, incrostazioni di melodie digitali, organismi ritmici
appena abbozzati, minime risonanze disseminate come ghiaia,
granuli di stilizzata impurità fonica. Pallido più
che livido, questo secondo album di Motion piacerà tanto
a chi subisce l'incanto del lento sfaldarsi delle nuvole quando
il cielo è terso. (8)
DE:BUG
(DE)
Everyone should know and listen to the output of the Label 12k,
seeing as they are one of the biggest proponents of multifaceted
laptop mini-sounds. In contrast to mego (the other big label
in this field) the focus of every release here is on discovered
and imaginary melodies and colourful harmonic fragments. Chris
Coode aka. Motion already demonstrated these qualities both
with his split EP on Fat cat and his longplayer "Pictures".
On "Dust" he ups the stakes and delves deeply into the entrails
of his box of tricks, smooths edges and appears at times to
be emulating early Pole on prozac, then again perhaps Sachiko
M without Input on speed. The warhead of "LNR6" destroys all
past concepts and experiences: The paralysing rhythm gets under
the skin and coagulates the knees. Buy it.
GROOVES
(US)
The
thing about most 12k and sister label Line releases is that,
by and large, they work their way into your room, your listening
space, even your headphones with a degree of innocuousness that's
at times baffling. Seemingly that's what founder Taylor Deupree
wants - for listeners to embrace musical recordings as complimentary
elements of whatever environment we're in at that time. Even
on 12k's more melody-centric releases like Shuttle358's wonderful
frame, there's never a point at which the precision-placed
microsound clicks, pops, and tones confront listeners directly,
demanding attention like a Kid606, Monolake, or even Vladislav
Delay release.
It's because of this tendency that the UK's Chris Coode, recording
for the first time on 12k as Motion, could be a sign of change,
as Dust comes perilously close to demanding focused listening
energy. There's a randomness in the quiet pops punctuating the
white-noise fabric of "Lo.Jack" that refues to be kept at low
volumes, as if blending in with your computer keystrokes or
the clanking of your spoon against your cereal bown late at
night. "Lo.Jack" instead ebbs and flows erratically, mimicking
the dart of birds flocking haphazardly on a windy fall day.
Where one finds a kind of repetition in the powerful, unforgiving
sub-bass of "LNR6," attention invariably falls on the minute
timing glitches that push the sub-bass out of the sequence,
as well as on the complex yet lilting glints that fracture the
highest harmonics. While Dust may not be the most accessible
12k release to date, it's certainly an engaging one for those
who follow the label.
- Heath K. Hignight
HAUNTED
INK (US)
Dust
is the second full-length release by Motion (UK artist Chris
Coode). Like most 12k releases, it is a work of intricate, delicate
murmurs. And, like most 12k releases, the music here blurs the
lines between digital noise and organic tones, as though the
artists working through this label are seeking a way to de-digitalize
digital signal processing, to create something that resembles
the sounds of everyday life without actually being everyday
life. This is true with artists such as Taylor Deupree, Sogar,
and Shuttle358, and it is also true with Coode. The difference
between Coode and other 12k artists is that, rather than examining
the sounds of cities or other human habitations, Dust
focuses almost exclusively on creating a natural world out of
digital scraps.
Take
"Lo.Jack," one of the earliest tracks on the album. Although
brief (3+ minutes) and sparse (consisting solely of random grains
of noise), the track manages to create a rich soundscape of
insects swarming over a steamy swamp on a misty, humid morning,
as they buzz around, flutter, avoid frogs and other predators,
and otherwise get ready for the day ahead. Or take "Plan B,"
which seems to take the digital-natural fusion to its logical
conclusion by imitating an evening's worth of natural sounds,
including digital crickets, bull frogs, and mosquitoes.
There
is, certainly, a real insect-vibe throughout this release. This
makes sense, as the tiny grains of sound that the artist is
working with resemble the buzzing and hissing and chirping sounds
we associate with flies, mosquitoes, and other tiny creatures.
But this is no field recording. Each track carefully composed
and arranged, as if the artist hand-trained a field of musical
insects to respond to his digital baton. Moreover, the work
as a whole is not intent upon examining the microscopic world
of insects but the microscopic world of sounds and how these
sounds create specific emotional responses in us, the listeners.
The
emotional power of this work comes through on two fascinating
tracks. The first is "Postmark Edit," a work that blends Fennesz-like
guitar echoes with a series of screeching, burning tones. The
result is similar in feel to the distorted melancholy epics
of Shuttle358 (Dan Abrams), though where Abrams creates melancholy
by fusing a disparate variety of sounds together, Coode manages
to create this feeling using only a handful of droning, barely-changing
tones. The other track is "Lnr6," a work that examines the emotional
impact of a single, repeating motif (a beat consisting of a
deep tone and a few clicks). This track, which simply restates
this motif over and over with only the intercession of a tiny
vocal fragment to break up the monotony, manages to create a
haunting, unsettling atmosphere that is as gripping in the beginning
as it is in the end.
This
is a work of nature--not the nature of bugs and frogs but the
nature of sound and the ways that sound shapes our emotional
and intellectual response to the world around us. It is, in
short, music that examines the effects that music itself has
on our lives. It is also a pleasure to listen to, if you're
willing to listen--really listen--to those little bug-like sounds.
VITAL
WEEKLY (NL)
Motion may not be a very well known name, even despite his self-released
which was reviewed in Vital Weekly 269 and an unreviewed split
12" with Matmos for Fat Cat, but luckily it caught the attention
of Taylor Deupree, head honcho of 12K, who invited him for a
next CD for his label. Now it's released, and it's a true beauty
again. Eleven pieces in about 40 minutes means that Motion is
a man of small wonders. His pieces consist usually of a few
sounds, one or two movements and that's it. You can hear the
many different influences he soaked in: Oval of course, but
also ambient music of the last thirty years and minimalism of
the last fourty. He plays with his small pieces around, seemingely
with great ease. Overall Motion is very quiet, almost in a Lopezian
way, but using altogether a entirely different soundinput. Small
sounds, great music. (FdW)
XLR8R
(US)
(combined review with LINE010 ROEL MEELKOP:
...Motion comes in, signaling his presence with a few serialist
rustles of the growth before calmly launching into flight. Motion's
leaps encircle pleasant appliances, humming ambient tunes far
from Roel's radical composition. Both are linked in the noises
they deploy, yet Motion's work is more avant-pop while Roel's
is informed by theory. Hopefully, these two can influence each
other and find a middle ground in the vast thickets of their
sound. - Andrew Jones
