Baumgartner, Martin

Shoot's Huft

Label: For4Ears Country: Switzerland

Three large works from Viennese sound artist Baumgartner, who recorded these three pieces in Australia, NYC and Lucerne. Each work takes the listener through an obsessive journey that transitions a specific tonal world through a meticulous treatment. The sound elements interact with active and detailed changes, letting the sound express themselves in their time, but never letting the attentive listener drift. The pieces are in turn quirky, gentle, and brutal, and all are articulate and extremely well conceived.

" "0.0.0" begins in a kind of electronically faunal stage, the multitude of tiny bleeps and blips suggesting insect life of a metallic nature, beneath which a gradually surging hum appears, acting as a bed for the eventual dissolution of any "natural" reference, the insectile sounds replaced by some that are decidedly less cuddly. As is often the case throughout this recording, one tends to summon up science fiction imagery, not just re: artificial fauna but, as here, via violent episodes that resemble nothing so much as futuristic battle scenes replete with laser cannons and death rays. Whether that proves to hold one's interest over the long haul or whether you'll toss it aside like a momentarily satisfying snack or last month's comic book will be up to each listener. Baumgartner certainly varies the textures and attacks enough to keep things moving apace though one gets something of the sense of an appealing veneer rather than any lasting substance.

"0.1.0" starts in a similar area but remains quiet, softly burbling in a semi-aqueous area and its consistency renders it all the more effective for concentrating on one thing. It recalls a drastically pared down take on Eno circa "On Land", very nice. Baumgartner pulls out the stops once again on the final track, "0.0.1", though it ventures back into much the same territory as the disc's opener; if you enjoyed that one, here's a slightly rougher excursion. As in the other tracks, various pulses appear along with the wind, whistling and general mayhem, all of which serve to create the image of some massive generator, wheezing and straining, on the verge of eruption. It oddly peters out with a cartoon-y bloop and burp."-Brian Olewnick, The Squid's Ear

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At The Squid's Ear!