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.


  Byetone 
  Death Of A Typographer
  (Raster-Noton) 


  
   review by Max Schaefer
  2008-08-14
Byetone: Death Of A Typographer (Raster-Noton)

Death of a Typographer comes up with an intense reconfiguration of life support-like blips into a lumbering rhythmic beast. It expels energy through a succession of cloned metallic snare samples that act like a prosthesis working its way into and ultimately overtaking a thick network of cistern rumbles, pressure cooked noise, and unspecified electronic squawks.

In this stage, characterized by miniscule particles and their attraction to one another, forming algorithmically complex patterns, with tones fading into each other or folding back on themselves before being resuscitated by careful jolts, the focus is on the peculiar clarity of the individual segments. No one piece makes a definitive statement, but then neither do they venture elsewhere. Rather, Bender repeats variations upon the same basic formula and allows the differing results to accumulate. As this is happening, a circular process marked by breakneck appearance and rapid dis-investment, one is scarcely able to discern what is left in the compositions and what is left out � signs of certain techniques oftentimes appear in absence of the techniques themselves � and whether they are engaging in self or external reference.

Before reaching its end, however, this confusion from clarity is replaced by an impending emptiness, an attraction between the sound particles is usurped by an attraction to the void, and transcription gains favor over interpretation. Pieces periodically come to a juddering halt; sounds begin to hover more and stretch out over lengthy passages, with bass rumbles and high electronic notes gathering all at once and finally tapering away almost infinitesimally to nothingness. The transition is a significant one, but it is carried out with an ease that makes it appear almost non-existent, just as a snapshot suddenly isolates a neat slice of time and makes it seem unreal. The collected stills on display ultimately speak less to the Berlin winter in which they were made, and more to the dubious process through which it is eroded and reshaped in memory.





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:


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



Marion Brown (
Brown/
Hampel/
Phillips/
McCall):
Live in Europe
1968 & 1972
(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!))



Centrifugal Quartet (
feat Mia Dyberg/
Antonio Borgini/
Michael Griener/
Antonio Borghini):
Industry
(Listen! Foundation (
Fundacja Sluchaj!))



Lazro/
Leandre/
Lovens:
For Baritone Sax, Double Bass and Drumset
(Relative Pitch)







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. (10033)