Just received this from Arthur Nalis AT Dutch East:
X-Sender: arthurAT64.225.25.44
Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 12:04:18 -0500
To: (Recipient list suppressed)
From: arthur <arthurATdutch-east.com>
Subject: < new release update - in stock now > / [ utterpsalm ]
JOHN WALL
Constructions V-VI
UPCD5
UPC: (0) 1753- 33604-2 (6)
All three pieces were put together between 1999 and Sept 2000.
Title tracks: Construction V "Hylo ", Construction VI "Stem ", Constuction
VII " Luxi var "
The opening track ( Hylo ) breeds characteristic active attention as the
evolving electronic particles achieve form through carefully built relation.
The precision focus into momentary morse code adds potential figural shape
to the intrusive sound bass plunges and the act of listening is drawn into
one of visualisation: barren post-apocalyptic vistas, screens blinking to
the pulse of the military/industrial complex. These are already
overdetermined, but certainly, as has been said before, the cinematic feel
of this sound is unavoidable, bringing with it a further investment in
tension as the minimal tones sit lying-to-attack the attention induced by
the underlying drone.
An organicism intrudes massively from the beginning of the second track: (
Stem ) achieved from a synth-generated pulse, left as it were to find its
own way blind. Again, such figuration is encouraged, and added to by breath-
like modulations, unsurprising given this CD's initial conception as opera.
There is nothing restfully ambient in this focus however, for this is a
heavily bruised sound, morphing by contortion. Working in opposition to it
remains the fiercely imposed minimalism of sharp, incisive tones already
apparent in the first track to which it eventually succumbs, creating a
sound field of increasingly chilling sparcity.
Given the over-arching minimalism of the first two tracks, the cymbals that
crash open the final track ( Luxi var ) generate a great richness of
impact, one that is strongly maintained as its ripplings are meticulously
charted out in a manner reminiscent of the earlier 'Factuur ' CD. Carrying
these is a shining, airy drone that gives a further indication of operatic
context. The drone works to particularise a huge range of metallic timbres
into active-listening play, with the later introduction of stone and
crystalline textures. Voice is materialized in the gestural physicality of
improv sax breathnotes that in turn morph into a signature fragment from
Constructions II, to confirm these pieces' extension of that particular
exploration. This signature fragment is, as it were, the sonic form of that
most difficult of existential pivots, Beckett's 'I can't go on, I'll go on',
and provides the core of the minimalism that rules these three pieces. This
is the ground that the fragments and the relations built between them have
been allowed to work their extension from, and at times it makes for
difficult listening. Given the work's constructive process, the minute
piecing together of sampled fragments, the kind of sonic reductiveness often
apparent here is risky, raising as it does the spectre of that process
becoming victorious over the products it is achieving. What saves them from
this fate ultimately is the trained attention of this composer's ear, that
continues to promote the differentiation of a wide array of sonic
occurrences, which however minituristic, signal necessary innovations in a
field increasingly occupied by legions of Powerbook soundalikes.
> From: Michael Howes <mhowesATbest.com>
> Reply-To: rumoriATdetritus.net
> Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 13:36:25 -0800
> To: rumoriATdetritus.net
> Subject: [rumori] John Wall and Constructions?
>
>
> just read the short interview with John Wall in the new Wire.....
>
> they say a new albums will be out this month, "Constructions V-VII"
> doing a couple quick searches it looks like it is out....
>
> anyone heard it?
>
> I have "Fractuur", "Alterstill" and "Fear of Gravity"
> but I've also found myself liking each new release a little bit
> less.....(hey I liked all the classical and death metal craziness of the
> early work)....
>
> So there was/is a "Constructions I-IV"??
>
> and I'll be damned I just found a review of I-IV on motion....
>
> mike
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> Rumori, the Detritus.net Discussion List
> to unsubscribe, send mail to majordomoATdetritus.net
> with "unsubscribe rumori" in the message body.
> ----------------------------------------------------
> Rumori list archives & other information are at
> http://detritus.net/contact/rumori
> ----------------------------------------------------
>
----------------------------------------------------
Rumori, the Detritus.net Discussion List
to unsubscribe, send mail to majordomoATdetritus.net
with "unsubscribe rumori" in the message body.
----------------------------------------------------
Rumori list archives & other information are at
http://detritus.net/contact/rumori
----------------------------------------------------
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
N© Detritus.net. Sharerights extended to all.