The Squid's Ear Magazine


Panzner, Joe / Greg Stuart: Dystonia Duos (ErstAEU)

Joe Panzner (Clearing, Polluted) and Greg Stuart (Pisaro) in a building electroacoustic improvisation work, mutating sound into a symphonic work of darkly blissful noise abstraction.
 

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Personnel:



Joe Panzner-electricity

Greg Stuart-friction, electricity, gravity


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Label: ErstAEU
Catalog ID: EA001
Squidco Product Code: 17513

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2013
Country: USA
Packaging: Digipack
Recorded in 2012 in Columbia, South Carolina; Columbus, Ohio; Goiania, Brazil; and Pirenopolis, Brazil.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Since the late '90s, Erstwhile Records has been opening eyes and turning heads with an experimental catalogue that is wholly unique. Though notable for incorporation of a wide range of genres, Erstwhile specializes in EAI, or Electroacoustic Improvisation, which is characterized by improvisation through the use of unconventional instruments (prepared guitars, turntables, laptops, etc) that are generally played to expose a more physical and textured aesthetic to sound. Erstwhile recordings typically feature collaborative efforts, usually in pairs (though sometimes more), and are allowed an extreme degree of freedom in recording; be it reinventing the way an instrument can be played, to deconstructing how we perceive the instrument, to taking sound and diminishing its volume to an extreme low or amplifying it to an extreme high. This level of freedom conducts some of the most unique, thrilling, and utterly alien music ever recorded. If the vast cosmic tapestry of music was framed into a universe, the music found on Erstwhile would be the impossible momentum, the invisible forces sucking life and matter into its sunken vortex of darkness and mystery, known here on Earth as the void of a black hole.

Ideally, looming at the center of this black hole would be Dystonia Duos, the first Erstwhile collaboration between Joe Panzner and Greg Stuart. Both artists come from established backgrounds; Joe Panzner fresh off his blistering noise onslaught Clearing, Polluted, and Greg Stuart fresh off the decks of his four album collaborative run with fellow electroacoustic wizard Michael Pisaro, documenting mysterious improvisations by way of droning sine waves and ominous field recordings. Kicking off this collaboration is "Organ b/w Timpani Solo", opening with a gentle breeze of static and background rustling, indicating a live performance. Slowly a slight whirling sound is thrown into the mix, built up by increased rustling and various carving noises gently moving from ear to ear. Tension is built for the next ten minutes by ultra-thin sine waves slicing make-shift laboratory bleeps, ever so slightly multiplied and increased in volume. This results in a cold, dead air that's left swaying a mournful choir of distorted electronics and static around an ever-growing drone, slowly pulsating a lifeless, machine-orchestrated death hum.

Guiding the casket is an aching, high-pitched squeal building an extreme sense of tension as barrels of forlorn static and noise fall into the rising pit. From here until its closing moments, every sound is slowly crushed between two walls of rusted, molten hot steel; deconstructing the mix to an unforgiving, hellish end. It's important to note that, despite the title, a distinguishable "organ" or "timpani" is going to be difficult to decipher. This "organ" (of sorts) is likely processed through a laptop and distorted to levels that would only suggest noise. The "timpani" is likely the same, or tuned so depressingly low that it becomes inaudible. Following this opening funeral procession is "Dissection Puzzle", gathered by a low static hum and glitched computer noise, before falling to the knees of an omnipresent demon and transforming to the will of his atrocious sonic agenda; a hideous, twisted, and gnarled protrusion of noise. Deafening vacuums of this harsh noise come shooting out of the wicked void throughout the duration of the song. This isn't just a wall of random, insert-here aggression; this is highly prolific, layered, and dynamic noise that is cascaded by creaky field recordings and glitchy 404_error granting the mix with a sense of purpose and cohesion.

Rebooting the system is "Casa de Pedras", which (unlike its predecessors) wastes no time in creating tension, evident by the wide histrionic grin on the face of a harsh wall of static that eagerly greets you. Artificial intelligence cries in the background of these walls, as if being cattle-prodded and shipped for mass consumption. The walls of static eventually crumble as a symphony of eerie, cicada-waves chirp inside a metallic barracks. Finally, a beeping, terminally-ill respirator guides Dystonia Duos to a light at the end of a tunnel; casting a series of lucid sine-drones to where life ceases to exit. Dystonia Duos may be utterly cold, harsh, and alien, but it rarely ceases to engage. This is an incredibly mastered approach to noise music, taking the usual doldrums of the genre and injecting it with infinitely layered, dynamic, and prolific production. Dystonia Duos deserves to go down as a definitive noise record; taking music that is generally tedious, laborious, uneventful, and (in some cases) unlistenable, to a void that's entertaining, provocative, and genuinely overwhelming; thanks to Joe Panzner's crippling noise background and Greg Stuart's meticulous sonic abstractions. Black holes are rumored to act as gateways between time and space, and when you find yourself sucked into this one; chances are you won't come out the same."-MisterTornado, Sputnik Music


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Artist Biographies

"Greg Stuart is a percussionist whose work draws upon a mixture of music from the experimental tradition, Wandelweiser, improvisation, and electronics. His performances have been described as "a ghostly, gorgeous lesson in how close, concentrated listening can alter and enhance perception" (The New York Times). Since 2006, he has collaborated extensively with the composer Michael Pisaro, producing a large body of music comprised of pieces that focus on the magnification of small sounds through recording and layering, often in combination with field recordings and/or electronic sound. His role as an interpreter of Pisaro's compositions has been called "a David Tudor to Pisaro's Cage" (The Boston Globe). Stuart's most recent collaboration with the composer, Continuum Unbound, a three-disc box set on Gravity Wave, grew out of the pair's field recording work in Congaree National Park and was selected by The Wire as one of the best albums of 2014.

Stuart currently performs with fellow percussionists Tim Feeney and Sarah Hennies in the percussion trio, Meridian, and with computer musician Joe Panzner. Other recent collaborations include projects with Ryoko Akama, Erik Carlson, Antoine Beuger, Jürg Frey, Manfred Werder, Kunsu Shim, Phillip Bush, Nomi Epstein, and Speak Percussion. He has appeared as a featured performer at numerous festivals and notable venues presenting experimental music including MaerzMusik (Berlin), the Melbourne Festival, Café Oto (London), Arnolfini Centre for Contemporary Arts (Bristol), Gallery Kapelica (Ljubljana), Cha'ak'ab Paaxil (Mérida), Issue Project Room (New York), REDCAT (Los Angeles), Dreamland (Louisville), Elastic Arts Foundation (Chicago), New Music Co-Op (Austin), Philadelphia Sound Forum, and Non-Event (Boston) among others. He has recorded for numerous labels, including Edition Wandelweiser, Gravity Wave, Erstwhile, Cathnor, New World Records, Accidie, L'innomable, caduc, Lengua de Lava, Crisis, and Senufo Editions.

An enthusiastic educator, Stuart has given lectures, workshops, and performances at the University of Huddersfield, Universidade Federal de Goiás, Victorian College of Arts, Oberlin Conservatory, the University of Louisville, the New England Conservatory of Music, Harvard University, Florida State University, Georgia State University, and Tulane University. Stuart holds a D.M.A. and M.A. from the University of California, San Diego, and a BMus from Northwestern University. He is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of South Carolina School of Music in Columbia, SC where he teaches experimental music, music history, and runs the Experimental Music Workshop."

-University of South Carolina, School of Music (https://www.sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/music/faculty-staff/Stuart.php)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Organ B/W Timpani Solo 17:40

2. Dissection Puzzle 12:42

3. Casa De Pedras 20:54

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Electro-Acoustic
Electro-Acoustic Improv
erstwhile
Duo Recordings

Search for other titles on the label:
ErstAEU.


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