Five tracks, all labelled “Untitled.” Makes it easy to listen to this as one piece—in five movements. Certainly the overall sound of the thing changes very little from “movement” to “movement.” Nor does the basic aesthetic change much either. In other words, it’s a consistent piece from start to finish fifty-two minutes […]

Fragments and articulations no. 1 opens with some very soft, distant sounds that make almost a complicated little tune of sorts. Almost. Then in the foreground, some staticky noises appear, making the same complicated little pattern. After the background has become louder, and come to the front, everything falls away and some […]

In the world of electroacoustic music, source sounds are often just that, sources. Their original “meanings” have been transmuted into something rich and strange (and playing “guess the source” just distracts from the music). Other times, as in Eric La Casa’s Stones of the Threshold, the sources are obvious. And if that’s […]

If you like classical music of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this cd possibly piss you off. It’s so much fun, though, that you’ll probably be vastly entertained. I see from my notes on this piece that I went from annoyed to amused to irritated to entertained. I’m not sure why. I […]

The relatively calm and soothing world of dark low frequencies soon gives way to harsh, abrasive noise. There’s even some screaming à la metal, which is good fun for the kids. Doesn’t last; the bulk of the disc (“Beneath Ice Skin,” “Lunar Nest Guard,” and “Space Coffin”) is just the wild and […]

Who says Sacramento isn’t cool? Sacramento is cool. Crawl Unit is from Sacramento. These recordings were all made in Sacramento. ‘Nuff said.
There are five “sound events” on this disc. I don’t know whether that’s J. Colley’s term or Erik Hoffman’s, but I like it. (I may even start calling Mahler’s symphonies and […]

There is something inherently wrong in sound recordings of opera or ballet. As there is in reproductions of paintings and sculpures. As there is in erotic movies. But who, honestly, would be without any of these? So with recordings of indeterminacy or of improvisation or of sound installations. They’re all false, but […]

Of the three pieces on this disc, the one entitled axène is by far the shortest. (Far meaning “more than ten minutes.”) Perhaps neither ivraie/baragnes nor ressac/ressac make such a good album name. Perhaps the notes are correct, and the principle of “axène” informs all three pieces. The piece so named has […]

You may be forgiven for expecting a piece that places you so precisely to give you the sonic equivalent of being at 2173 meters in the Alps (French Alps, of course). Maybe. After all, the first musique concrète piece, Étude aux chemins de fer is full of train sounds. And while many […]