ARTICLES
Listening Post: E. Honig
Label Profile: Ad Noiseam

ALBUMS
Leo Abrahams
Ammoncontact
Anka
Lloyd Barrett
Beach House
Bibio
Christina Carter
Davis & Jerman
Ecstatic Sunshine
Ensemble
Fluorescent Grey
Freiband
[guÿôm]
Chris Herbert
Home Video
Larvae
Lullabye Arkestra
Mathieu / Schaefer
MONO & w. end girlfriend
My Robot Friend
Nicolay
Pieter Nooten
Nuccini
Obfusc
Objekt4
Over the Atlantic
Para One
Proem
Red Sparowes
The Remote
Root 70
Florencia Ruiz
Ryuichi Sakamoto
Alan Sparhawk
Andy Stott
Thumbtack Smoothie
Tortoise
Triosk
Vlor

COMPILATIONS/MIXES
Ad Noiseam 2001-2006
Another Generic Sampler
Bip-Hop Generation 8
Diary of a Sweet Day
Idea Hoard Uncut
Innature
Morrow Choral Orchestra
Noise Factory Vol. 3
Squadron 2
Warp Works

3"/7"/10"/12"/EPs
Alias & Tarsier
Audion
Caroline
Home Video
Iz & Diz
Sami Koivikko
Mai
Mathhead
Monomachine
Narcotic Syntax
Quinoline Yellow
Sigur Rós
Samartzis & English
Samartzis & Inada
Andy Vaz
Andy Vaz Remixes
Waterprotection

Lloyd Barrett: Mise en Scene
Room40

Greg Davis & Jeph Jerman: Ku
Room40

Mise en Scene and Ku offer ultra-detailed electro-acoustic explorations of widely contrasting character. Inspired by writers like Michel Chion, Hildegard Westerkamp, and Alan Dorin, Australian sound designer Lloyd Barrett's Mise en Scene draws on concepts of filmic sound for its intense sound sculptures (hence the serpentine film-strips adorning the cover). Though split into eight sections, the work flows without pause from one to the next, enhancing its immersive quality. Certainly a cinematic ambiance haunts the material, often to unsettling and foreboding effect (file the nightmarish “Swarm” under ‘stalker music') with even a peacefully ruminative piano setting like “Exhale” darkened by writhing electronic sounds. The subtle industrial undercurrent and rippling atmospheres of “A Silhouette for Balance” and “The Machine Belly” render them distant cousins to Ingram Marshall's similarly evocative “Fog Tropes.” Almost as compelling are the credits: Andrew Thomson contributes ‘water torture' to “Scenery” and ‘crash initiator' to “The Machine Belly” while Joel Stern adds ‘bee guitar' to “Canopy” (Barrett himself credited with ‘decomposition, concrete, and conception').

Eliciting sounds from a broad spectrum of basic found objects (sticks, stones, prepared instruments, gongs, lo-fi electronics, percussion), American musicians Greg Davis and Jeph Jerman collaborate on three playful musique concréte explorations. The duo edited improvised sessions recorded at Jerman's ranch in Cottonwood, Arizona into the material's final form, shaping it into Ku's heavily textured “strata” settings. Imagine breakfast table sounds created by guests too tired for conversation and you'll have some impression of the drips and scrapes that dominate the first piece. The two relocate to the workshop for the louder second piece, an oft-violent melee where elephantine blasts and whorls compete with rumbling clatter for the listener's attention while barking dogs fend off intruders in the background. Things quieten down to almost microsound levels during the placid closer where bells and percussion dominate, with Davis and Jerman deftly simulating an Art Ensemble of Chicago interlude in the piece's final minutes. To their credit, Davis and Jerman prove themselves to be fearless sonic explorers though I must confess my preferred Davis listening remains Arbor and Curling Pond Woods. Compared to Ku and collaborative releases like Yearlong and Paquet Surprise, the two may be more conventional but they're no less distinctive and accomplished for being so. At the same time, there's little doubt that those comparatively experimental projects nourish Davis's more accessible music-making in significant ways.

October 2006