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John Hudak + Jason Lescalleet, "Figure 2"
Part of the Intransitive Recordings series of limited edition discs andvinyl, this CD documents a live collaboration between sound artistsHudak and Lescalleet in a chapel in Cambridge, Mass, while a blizzardtook place outside.
The liner notes make it a point to note that thesounds have not been altered or processed after recording: "What youhear is exactly what the audience heard." That's only partially true,as listening to this disc in your bedroom is going to have a muchdifferent effect than it probably had on the audience in the chapel.That being said, the pieces on the disc are all texturally rich, warmthough electronic, and each evolves slowly and resolutely over time outof drones, noise, tape hiss, and the reverberations of the chapel. Ofthe five pieces, the first, "Figure 2.01," is the most hauntinglybeautiful. A low drone builds slowly over the 17 minute piece (mostlikely from Hudak), underneath wind-like washes of sounds that echo thestorm outside. Eventually the washes give way to static and the popsand clicks of Lescalleet's tape machine. "Figure 2.04" is anotherhighlight: a low moan permeates underneath bell-like tape loops untilboth are buried under escalating noise and hiss. Lescalleet workswithin an analog medium, manipulating and amplifying tape noise and thesounds of the chapel itself in real time on reel-to-reel tape. It'snice to see someone utilizing the reel-to-reel; even though it might bea clumsy and awkward tool by today's standards, it's a uniqueinstrument with a long historical track record and in live performanceis much more interesting to watch than the glow of the apple from apowerbook. Though the static and noise that Lescalleet creates wouldn'tbe very interesting without the backing of Hudak's tones and drones,the fact that you can hear Lescalleet working his instrument on the CDmakes this disc a step above most live recordings. Still, it's apparentthat no listen to this disc can duplicate hearing it live in thechapel.
The liner notes make it a point to note that thesounds have not been altered or processed after recording: "What youhear is exactly what the audience heard." That's only partially true,as listening to this disc in your bedroom is going to have a muchdifferent effect than it probably had on the audience in the chapel.That being said, the pieces on the disc are all texturally rich, warmthough electronic, and each evolves slowly and resolutely over time outof drones, noise, tape hiss, and the reverberations of the chapel. Ofthe five pieces, the first, "Figure 2.01," is the most hauntinglybeautiful. A low drone builds slowly over the 17 minute piece (mostlikely from Hudak), underneath wind-like washes of sounds that echo thestorm outside. Eventually the washes give way to static and the popsand clicks of Lescalleet's tape machine. "Figure 2.04" is anotherhighlight: a low moan permeates underneath bell-like tape loops untilboth are buried under escalating noise and hiss. Lescalleet workswithin an analog medium, manipulating and amplifying tape noise and thesounds of the chapel itself in real time on reel-to-reel tape. It'snice to see someone utilizing the reel-to-reel; even though it might bea clumsy and awkward tool by today's standards, it's a uniqueinstrument with a long historical track record and in live performanceis much more interesting to watch than the glow of the apple from apowerbook. Though the static and noise that Lescalleet creates wouldn'tbe very interesting without the backing of Hudak's tones and drones,the fact that you can hear Lescalleet working his instrument on the CDmakes this disc a step above most live recordings. Still, it's apparentthat no listen to this disc can duplicate hearing it live in thechapel.
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