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)