A re-release of Wolfarth's percussion solos, which originally appeared as four 7" records, with a disc of remixes made by Gunter Muller, Joke Lantz, Hans Joachim Irmler and Rashid Becker. Each piece here sticks mostly to one idea or area of interest: "Skyscraping" sounds like bowed cymbal, with rich bass undertones of almost growling metal. "Zirr" has several voices together — a popping snare sound with splashy circulating brass, and sounds sort of spastically mechanical, a lop-sided motor. "Viril Vortex" is fingers on dampened drumhead, floppy dance and scrape which turns into a massed scurrying, or friction with manual loops. Every piece contains much to listen to, and much to listen for, not so much displays of virtuosity (masterful though they are) but as short meditations on sound. As the literature of "extended technique" percussion grows, we can add these recordings as some of the finer examples.
The second disc is given over to the remixes, which are every bit as thoughtful and varied. Each mixer utilizes one record, or two pieces. Gunter Muller adds processing and/or electronics to enhance the edges of Wolfarth's playing, bringing out acoustical beating and seemingly multiplying the tones. His second piece sounds uncannily appliance-like, a vacuum cleaner in the next room. Joke Lantz uses loops, editing and fairly severe processing to create something very different: things have been altered almost beyond recognition and re-arranged into something resembling somewhat more conventional music, rhythm and noise (with humor). With Hans Joachim Irmler we are back in the realm of machinery amid pulsing throbs and banging metal, putting me very much in mind of a factory, press and punch and electrical currents. Rashad Becker piles on the reverb to his first offering, bringing out more overtones, and a metal song materializes. His second bit adds other instruments and players to create bursts of discord, which linger and then float, combining with Wolfarth's metallic ringing into a swaying mass.
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