Disingenuity b/w Disingenuousness (2010)

Both tape-collage pieces which derived from an hour-long improvisation based around a setup involving a tape of chance field-recordings (a helicopter, walking on snow, children) bounced to a mono nagra tape machine, which is covered in contact mic's that translate not just the sound coming from the speakers, but the actual mechanical "interface" of the unit into control voltage & triggers that drive a modular synth that's processing said audio using the classic electronic music toolkit (i.e. ring modulation, panning VCA's, filters, etc).

Risk, chaos, chance, improvisation and all, the second piece (in particular) is gripping, aesthetic, and touching in a way that only risk, chaos, chance, and improvisation can be. At the same time it transcends the brainy notions attached to, and actually restricting, chaos and chance, and so the effect, like the cause, is intuitive, dazzling, and mind-freeing.

A-

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Material - Improvised Music New York 1981

HOW WAS THIS EVEN THE SAME YEAR AS MEMORY SERVES?!

A freeform mess with an emphasis on silences, unsettling rattlings, and then assaults, rather than just that last step. Hellish and disturbing, particularly in the silences. When they give it all they’ve got assault-wise, their musicianship is actually pretty awesome. The tones in Untitled 3 sound like they just killed jazz! The pig/ape noises in Untitled 4 sound like they just stopped being human! Visceral enough to be unpretentious: I’m pretty sure what they’re going for is however the listener reacts, whether that be stimulated, disgusted, or both.

A-