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Tracks one through ten (all between 3:01 and 3:09) comprise virtual recordings of imagined spaces; compare them to the faint electric hum of some faraway (idle, but plugged-in) appliance, the invisible flow of air through darkened ductwork or the practically-inaudible galaxies between seconds... each track is extremely quiet. As the liner notes suggest, "Appreciation of the essential qualities of this sound matter requires pure, unbiased listening, and a shift in focus of our attention and understanding from representation to being"... I'd add to that, "Appreciation requires a very noiseless listening environment"... the hum of the heater in my basement and passing cars override these delicate audiosystems despite my (admittedly consumer-level) headphones and full-volume listening...
Tracks 11 through 16 (all 7:00 or 7:01 in length) are
in audio, "soundworks that exploit the limitations of basic digital equipment." Buzzy clicks of quietly deformed data innocuously expand into frizzly little carpets of microfibers. The crispy noises are never loud enough to be truly "noisy" and certainly qualify for being ambient by virtue of their ignorability (whether you want to or not).
Of course, if this style catches on with the kids... their parents can't be yelling "Turn that crap down!"
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