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Z'EV, "HEADPHONE MUSICS 1 TO 6 / AS IS AS"
Touch
For this latest release, Z'ev entirely forgoes his familiar percussiveexperimentation in favor of a six-part cycle of tape music. It'sentitled Headphone Musics,and Z'ev seems pretty serious about the title, as he includes a ratherpetulant warning for reviewers: "If you can't be bothered to listen tothis music using headphones, please don't bother to write about it."Okay, point taken. I'm not one to disobey a direct order, so I madesure to listen on my most expensive pair of headphones. The six piecesare all between seven and nine minutes long, each one a densearchitecture of multilayered sound drawn from Z'ev's vast archive oftapes amassed over the last 30 years. Z'ev's website(http://www.rhythmajik.com/) gives extensive details on the sourcerecordings and other elements that went into the making of each track,and while it's all very interesting, I'm not sure it changes thelistening experience in any profound way. Many of these sounds havebeen slowed-down and sped-up, rendering them unrecognizable in thedensely populated mixdown of each track. What comes through on each ofthese pieces is Z'ev's unique ear for harmonics and atmosphere, deftlycombining disparate elements into walls of amorphously beautiful sound.For those who can stand this sort of thing, Headphone Musics isone of the better albums of tape manipulation to see release in recentyears, from the standpoint of the average, non-academically mindedlistener. Though most musique concrête composers have begun toincorporate digital production techniques into their repertoire, Z'evchooses to retain the purity of classic tape editing techniques, whichgives the music a warmer analog feel, with plenty of hiss anddistortion. Track one utilizes various recordings of dripping andrunning water to create a dark, immersive environment that envelops thelistener. The time-stretched croaks of Balinese tree frogs are layeredto hypnotic effect on the second track, which plays like a fieldrecording from an as-yet-undiscovered subterranean jungle. Track fourwas my favorite, drawn from various obscure sources, most notably thesinging of a shaman from a now-extinct tribe of Malaccan Indians. Z'evuses layers of distortion and complex phase shifts to transform thetrack into a regressive mind-trip back through the genetic memory ofprevious evolutionary phases. Tacked onto the end of the album is aseven-minute recording from 1976 entitled "As Is As," a tape-heavyfragment from a live sound poetry performance. The performance involvedthe simultaneous live manipulation of several vintage reel-to-reel tapeplayers playing indecipherable vocal loops. It's a fascinating piece ofvintage Z'ev arcana, and underscores just how long he's been doing thiskind of thing; a true veteran of mind-blowing Industrial-strengthexperimentalism.
For this latest release, Z'ev entirely forgoes his familiar percussiveexperimentation in favor of a six-part cycle of tape music. It'sentitled Headphone Musics,and Z'ev seems pretty serious about the title, as he includes a ratherpetulant warning for reviewers: "If you can't be bothered to listen tothis music using headphones, please don't bother to write about it."Okay, point taken. I'm not one to disobey a direct order, so I madesure to listen on my most expensive pair of headphones. The six piecesare all between seven and nine minutes long, each one a densearchitecture of multilayered sound drawn from Z'ev's vast archive oftapes amassed over the last 30 years. Z'ev's website(http://www.rhythmajik.com/) gives extensive details on the sourcerecordings and other elements that went into the making of each track,and while it's all very interesting, I'm not sure it changes thelistening experience in any profound way. Many of these sounds havebeen slowed-down and sped-up, rendering them unrecognizable in thedensely populated mixdown of each track. What comes through on each ofthese pieces is Z'ev's unique ear for harmonics and atmosphere, deftlycombining disparate elements into walls of amorphously beautiful sound.For those who can stand this sort of thing, Headphone Musics isone of the better albums of tape manipulation to see release in recentyears, from the standpoint of the average, non-academically mindedlistener. Though most musique concrête composers have begun toincorporate digital production techniques into their repertoire, Z'evchooses to retain the purity of classic tape editing techniques, whichgives the music a warmer analog feel, with plenty of hiss anddistortion. Track one utilizes various recordings of dripping andrunning water to create a dark, immersive environment that envelops thelistener. The time-stretched croaks of Balinese tree frogs are layeredto hypnotic effect on the second track, which plays like a fieldrecording from an as-yet-undiscovered subterranean jungle. Track fourwas my favorite, drawn from various obscure sources, most notably thesinging of a shaman from a now-extinct tribe of Malaccan Indians. Z'evuses layers of distortion and complex phase shifts to transform thetrack into a regressive mind-trip back through the genetic memory ofprevious evolutionary phases. Tacked onto the end of the album is aseven-minute recording from 1976 entitled "As Is As," a tape-heavyfragment from a live sound poetry performance. The performance involvedthe simultaneous live manipulation of several vintage reel-to-reel tapeplayers playing indecipherable vocal loops. It's a fascinating piece ofvintage Z'ev arcana, and underscores just how long he's been doing thiskind of thing; a true veteran of mind-blowing Industrial-strengthexperimentalism.
