Belgium's Sub Rosa label presents the first in a threatened 10-partseries of double-disc anthologies documenting more than 80 years ofdevelopments in electronically derived music. The hopelessly pedanticliner notes try to justify the inclusions and omissions, and attemptboth to delimit and enlarge the definitions of "noise," but these justseem like a complex series of overwritten excuses for what is basicallyan unstructured assortment of tracks — mostly rare or previouslyunreleased — that are not truly unified by an inclusive theme. Thecompilers have cleverly dubbed this an "a-chronology" to rationalizethe illogical continuity of the sequencing — an Einsturzende Neubautenagro-industrial track from 1998 rubs shoulders with Konrad Boehmer'scompositional avant-garde piece dating from 1966. There is no rhyme orreason to the songs chosen for this compilation, or their sequencing,which is actually somewhat refreshing in the wake of so manycompilations professing to be authoritative history lessons on a genreor time period. Sub Rosa's absurd decade-jumping and too-widedefinitions allow a lot of room for some fascinating pieces toco-exist, whether or not they all make sense together. Listening tothis double-disc anthology, I am reminded of a cerebral late-nightcollege radio DJ programming a fantasy set of his favorite abstractelectronic pieces. The compiler's choices run the gamut from earlycompositions for electronic instruments, to modern laptop-basedexperiments, but with an ear towards largely rhythmless,non-traditionally structured music. I guess that's where the "noise"bit comes in. A listener who is not familiar with the originators andrevolutionaries of electronic music and theory might find this anexcellent starting point for study. The long, academic liner notesshould have been researched more meticulously as there are severaloversights and mistakes, and plenty of typos, but nothing so bad thatit negates the value of the anthology itself. Musique concrete' is hererepresented by future Nazi propagandist Walter Ruttman's cinematictape-collage "Wochende" (1930), a truly impressive, picaresque audionarrative that presages the later classics of the form such as JohnCage's Fontana Mix and the more recent post-industrial dream narratives of Roger Doyle's Rapid Eye Movements.The atonal, sculptured minimalism of Gordon Mumma's "The DresdenInterleaf 13 February 1945" (1965) sounds strikingly modern, and shouldappeal to fans of Soliloquy for Lilith-era Nurse With Wound.Three giants of the scene come together spectacularly in Angus MacLise,Tony Conrad and John Cale's "Trance #2" (1965), a haunted, devotionaldrone piece that transcends its low-fidelity recording. The oftenfascinating Phillip Jeck collaborates with Otomo Yoshihide and MartinTetreault on an untitled live excerpt that is richly detailed andendlessly compelling. The more provocative, political agitants of noisemusic are here represented by a pair of tracks from Survival ResearchLaboratories and Einsturzende Neubauten, both previously unreleased,and both stirring exorcisms of jarring brutality. As one might expect,the contributions from classic innovators Iannis Xenakis and EdgarVarese are typically outstanding. John Cage's incredible cut-and-splicepiece "Rozart Mix" contains some of the same microcosmic drama of TheBeatles "Revolution #9," as well as one of the earliest recordedinstances of record scratching. Sonic Youth's "Audience" (1983) is aninteresting experiment in the live manipulation of sounds: in this casethe applause the band received after a performance is slowed down andstretched to sound like a room full of monstrous demons rhythmicallybanging their heads against the floor. The only really bad inclusioncomes in the form of a pointless ambient space excursion by DJ SpookyThat Submental Prick. Japanese composer Ryoji Ikeda ends thecompilation with the brief but exciting mental tones of "One Minute"(1997). Considered as a whole, or considered in part, Sub Rosa's firstvolume of Anthology of Noise and Electronic Music is a noteworthy assemblage of easily digestible bites of ear-opening sonic explorations. samples:
- Walter Ruttman - Wochende
- Sonic Youth - Audience
- Ryoji Ikeda - One Minute
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