The Squid's Ear
Writing about improvised, contemporary, experimental and unusual music,
following the activities of Squidco...
  •  •  •     Join Our Mailing List!



The Squid's Ear




Heard In

Reviews of artist releases:
cd's, books, magazines, &c.


  Rasmus Persson & Lee Noyes 
  Ratios
  (Idealstate Recordings) 


  
   review by Jeph Jerman
  2025-03-13
Rasmus Persson & Lee Noyes: Ratios (Idealstate Recordings)

Persson on modular synth and Noyes with inputloop sampler set up a clean-even-when-it's-dirty-sounding assemblage of tone and texture. Using unpredictable feedback systems and trying to wrangle them into cohesion, these two improvisors construct an intriguing sonic map full of unexpected inclusions and seemingly vast stretches of calm. The sounds themselves are fascinating: radionic hisses, full throated sub-bass bombs, organ chords and squiggly somethings approach from afar or suddenly pop in to say howdy. Change is fairly constant, even during apparent stasis, and old timey timbres sidle up to gearhead futuro flux.

The occasional almost piercing high-end tones make for a reset and clear sout the space, like a palm-sweep over a palimpsest. Is that a bendy straw, or a Geiger counter supplanted by distortion and electronic wind? Gunshots from a mangled tape? A tone-sifter employed judiciously, yes. Ours is not to ponder what, but to dog-paddle and keep our head up, the better to hear. Making live music with an inherently unstable system seems like a ton of fun, and though one might affix the term "clinical" to these flights, to me they feel like an exercise in glee. I can almost see them smiling as they wrangle their disobedient machines.

As an aside, I'd like to mention that I've played in the studio where this music was recorded, Elementstudion in Gothenburg Sweden, and so I have a nagging mental picture of the space. I'm not sure exactly how this colors the experience of listening for me, but I'm sure it does.







Comments and Feedback:



More Recent Reviews, Articles, and Interviews @ The Squid's Ear...


The Squid's Ear presents
reviews about releases
sold at Squidco.com
written by
independent writers.

Squidco

Recent Selections @ Squidco:


Doyeon Kim (
w/
Sorey/
Maneri/
Fraser):
Wellspring
(Tao Forms)



Jurg Frey/
Apartment House:
Clarinet Quintet
(Another Timbre)



Tom Challenger/
Evan Parker:
May Spring
Last a Lifetime
(False Walls)



Bobby Bradford/
Mark Dresser/
Hafez Modirzadeh:
Sonic House Reunion
(NoBusiness)



John Zorn (
w/ Julian Lage/
Gavin Riley):
Seven Sonnets
(Tzadik)



[ahmed] (
Thomas/
Grip/
Gerbal/
Wright):
Play Monk
[2 CDs]
(Otoroku)



Michael Formanek (
w/ Hawkins/
Halvorson/
Fujiwara/
O'Gallagher/
Doxas/
Almeida):
New Digs
(Intakt)



Sylvia Lim:
Flare
(Another Timbre)



Ava Mendoza:
Alive Alone,
Alive Together
(Burning Ambulance Music)



John Cage (
Wegmann/
Debacker):
Two2 (
1989) for 2 Pianos
(ezz-thetics by
Hat Hut Records
Ltd)



Myra Melford/
Satoko Fujii:
Katarahi
(RogueArt)



Matthias Muche
Bonecrusher:
Densities -
for 12 trombones
& percussion
(ezz-thetics by
Hat Hut Records
Ltd)



Columbia Icefield (
Wooley/
Alcorn/
Mendoza/
Sawyer):
A Silence Opens
(Out Of Your Head Records)



Marta Warelis (
w/ LaMar Gay/
Baars/
Ng/
Haker Flaten/
Rosaly):
Still Life
With Lemons
(Relative Pitch)



Klaus Lang/
Apartment House:
Geschrieben In Wasser
(Another Timbre)



Machinefabriek:
Samen
(Machinefabriek)



Ivo Perelman/
Damon Smith:
Duologue:
Core of Existence
(Squid Note Records)



Marty Ehrlich:
Cartographies of Flight:
Lines Set Afloat
Towards Hope
(Corbett vs. Dempsey)



Mike Westbrook Orchestra:
The Cortege
Live At The BBC
1980
[2CDs]
(Cadillac Records)



JOSILEMI (
featuring Joe Fonda/
Silke Eberhard/
Emil Gross):
Hear This
(Listen! Foundation (
Fundacja Sluchaj!))







Squidco
Click here to
advertise with
The Squid's Ear






The Squid's Ear pays its writers.
Interested in becoming a reviewer?




The Squid's Ear is the companion magazine to the online music shop Squidco !


  Copyright © Squidco. All rights reserved. Trademarks. (39260)