Released to coincide with a Die Stadt label night presented by owner Jochen Schwarz in Brussels last year, this triad of artists share some commonality in approach and execution, in addition to all having recorded for the label. Otherwise, three distinct sound artists, three distinct works, all performed live at various venues the world over - call it a label primer, of sorts, highlighting the fast and the furious (well, maybe just the furious).
John Duncan's no stranger to the noisier end of the spectrum, although he has on occasion curbed his surfeit of blisterpack bluster when the mood's been appropriate; a good chunk of time, his assaultive sensoriums are not to be trifled with, every bit as virulent and unforgiving as Merzbow in the moment. "Live at the Compound" is a 24-minute work performed at San Francisco's The Compound, the "clandestine" airtight amphitheater hosted by SF's inimitable composer and musician Naut Humon. Duncan doesn't disappoint, but he also shirks predictability - although he oscillates between tense passages of calm and hurricane noise, it's apparent that he's not so much interested in pummeling the audience as sculpting mood stabilizers with sound. During the course of the track, Duncan teasingly throws out a bone or two, lulling his onlookers temporarily with discretely parsed phrases before unleashing torrential downpours of carefully treated distortion. Rising and subsiding like a primordial tide, the entire affair comes crashing to earth at the last moment, achieving a surprisingly satisfying (and mortal) conclusion. Bravo.
Kontakt der Jünglinge, the duo of Thomas Koner and Asmus Tietchens, aren't afraid of concussive force, either - they're just more apt to explore the equally penetrating complexities of silence as well. "Montreal Solution 1," recorded in that particular Canadian metropolis, begins ominously enough, with Duncan-sounding blasts of synth, but only a few minutes pass before din turns to dust. Koner's a master of reductionist ambience, but when partnered up, he tends to exhibit more adaptive tendencies. As the mighty Tietchens chops and carves massive, quaking boulders of flotsam, Koner appears to concentrate on fluxing with the surrounding resonances and decays; the rugged deteriorations of his precious gongs seems well in evidence descending about Tietchens' coarse shadows. Theirs is a potent combination, trading wisps with waterfalls, managing sweeping sonic waves of nuanced tics, synthetic gusts, and corroding metals. More power to 'em.
Von Hausswolff is the most unclassifiable of the three; like the Hafler Trio's Andrew Mackenzie, he's a clinical sound scientist-cum-Caged artist operating at the nexus between installation, performance, and aural art. "Circulating Over Square Waters (Framed Nature)," performed in London, does literally posit abandoning three-dimensional architectures for more algorithmic shapes. Opening with Alvin Lucier's narration about such geometric changes, Hausswolff loops what appears to be a screeching birdcall with background audience noise and whoosh, the caterwaul finally morphing into a nominally distinctive rhythm. While the mind acknowledges the chirp's metronomic gait, the subtly engulfing noises in the background unsettle your equilibrium as said chirp burrows into your brain. Ornithologically correct, as piercing as a frontal lobotomy - wear hardhat, proceed with caution.
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