audio clip: Mark Hanslip, Dominic Lash, Phillip Marks and Han-earl Park at The Oxford, London

The Oxford (London) 05-07-12: “LIVE JAZZ This Way”
Mark Hanslip has posted up an audio excerpt from the May 7, 2012 performance by Mark Hanslip (saxophone), Dominic Lash (double bass), Phillip Marks (drums) and Han-earl Park (guitar) which took place at The Oxford, London, presented by Jazz @ The Oxford.

[SoundCloud page…]
[Performance diary entry…] [About this performance…] [Jazz @ Oxford page…]

in preparation: Han-earl Park plus Marian Murray (Cork, 07–29–10)

artwork for Han-earl Park plus Marian Murray: Park+Murray (Cork, 07-29-10)
Next download release will be the recording of the July 29, 2010 (two years ago!) performance by Han-earl Park (guitar) plus Marian Murray (violin) at the the Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork. A rerelease of a recording originally put out in December 2010, this new version will be available in a variety of formats (including lossless), and available as a ‘name your price’ album.

More info to follow…

Also available for download…

Jin Sangtae, Han-earl Park and Jeffrey Weeter (Cork, 01–24–11)
Han-earl Park and Franziska Schroeder (Cork, 03–26–09)
Catherine Sikora, Ian Smith and Han-earl Park (Cork, 04–04–11)
Paul Dunmall, Han-earl Park and Mark Sanders (Birmingham, 02–15–11)
Han-earl Park and Richard Scott (Berlin, 10–23–10)

thanks: Eris 136199 (Nick Didkovsky, Han-earl Park and Catherine Sikora) at On The Way Out, Brooklyn

Videography: Don Mount.

Thanks to our hosts Freddy’s and, in particular, Michael Evans of On The Way Out for their generosity in offering us the stage to perform last night (July 24, 2012). Thanks also to Jesse Stacken and Don Mount for the recording and documentation, to Christine Bard’s cast of thousands for sharing the stage, and to all who came to listen.

And of course my thanks to the always creative Nick Didkovsky and endlessly imaginative Catherine Sikora. After the swift, seemingly effortlessness of the first performance by Eris 136199, this was much more of a struggle for me (in the best possible sense), ranging as it did from the loud, heavy machinery noises to the quiet, delicate sounds. Thanks, Nick, Catherine, for pushing and pulling the music into ever more interesting spaces. Really looking forward to the next time we get to play!

Side effects of Eris 136199 may include temporary deafness, involuntary teleportation, spontaneous combustion, and molecular implosion. In addition, lab animals have been shown to dance without skill to the sound of double guitars and saxophone. …But you’ll love what it does to your brain! 😉

updates

02–13–13: updated video: complete performance now available to view.

CD reviews: Numbers: Richard Barrett + Han-earl Park

CD cover of ‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd) with Richard Barrett and Han-earl Park (copyright 2012, Creative Sources Recordings)
‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd) © 2012 Creative Sources

How’s your Portuguese? Rui Eduardo Paes reviews Richard Barrett and Han-earl Park’s ‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd):

Quem partir para a audição de “Numbers” com uma ideia feita do que esperar de Richard Barrett e Han-Earl Park ficará, com certeza, surpreendido. Se o Barrett compositor de música contemporânea e o Barrett improvisador de electrónica no duo Furt e no Electro-Acoustic Ensemble de Evan Parker são, já à partida, bastante diferentes (apesar da sua convicção de que improvisar é apenas outra forma de compor), o que deste ouvimos agora distancia-se do “sampling” esquizóide a que nos habituou – os seus “outputs” neste disco identificam-se mais com as sonoridades sintetizadas dos antigos jogos de computador e videojogos. Por sua vez, o Park que aqui está não é o inventor e construtor de robôs e próteses musicais, mas o guitarrista. Percorrer outros caminhos implica neste disco aspectos positivos e negativos, mas verdade seja dita que a energia, o “drive” e o labor de sedimentação do ruído que vão desenvolvendo depressa nos conquistam. [Original article…]

Rui Eduardo Paes

Meanwhile, Massimo Ricci at Touching Extremes suggests the recording might be a way to have your “brain zapped and scrambled by the rivalry between transonic beauty and extreme structural atomization”:

…It is… impractical to verbally interpret the bazillions of events that this CD warrants, for the joy of individuals who take pleasure in getting their brain zapped and scrambled by the rivalry between transonic beauty and extreme structural atomization. This is in fact a full hour of frantically jagged live improvisation that will definitely expose, in a good number of subjects, the inability of receiving and synthesizing a large quantity of data, given the inborn impossibility of switching to multi-channel mode in their neural constitution. These persons will end describing this barely imaginable tit-for-tat as unendurably non-brooding, or just “out of fashion”. Indeed the methods through which the (mostly) clean sounds of the electric guitar get stretched, warped, mangled and thrown back at the source demolish any propensity to rumination. As if a premix of Fred Frith, Hans Reichel and – why not – Christopher Willits had been subjected to a journey inside the circuits of a billboard. Mere seconds before its explosion, that is. [Read the rest…]

— Massimo Ricci (Touching Extremes)

I wonder if Ricci had anyone particular in mind when he wrote of those with an “inability of receiving and synthesizing a large quantity of data, given the inborn impossibility of switching to multi-channel mode in their neural constitution” 😉

‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd) is available from Creative Sources Recordings. [More info…] [All reviews…] [Get the CD…]

reminder: Eris 136199 (Nick Didkovsky, Han-earl Park and Catherine Sikora) at On The Way Out, Brooklyn

Nick Didkovsky, Catherine Sikora and Han-earl Park
This coming Tuesday (July 24, 2012), 8:30pm: a performance by Eris 136199: The Ultimate Nick Didkovsky (guitar), The Uncanny Han-earl Park (guitar), and The Astonishing Catherine Sikora (saxophones). The event is presented by On The Way Out takes place at The Backroom @ Freddy’s Bar (627 5th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11215) [map/directions…].

This is one hell of a trio. Don’t believe me? Well, this is what we sounded like last time we played:

Monsieur Délire: Numbers: Richard Barrett + Han-earl Park

CD cover of ‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd) with Richard Barrett and Han-earl Park (copyright 2012, Creative Sources Recordings)
‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd) © 2012 Creative Sources

Catch me if you can! François Couture at Monsieur Délire describes a complex music that moves in multiple directions in his review of Richard Barrett and Han-earl Park’s ‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd):

Electronician Richard Barrett (of Furt) and guitarist Han-earl Park are working together to create music both spontaneous and premeditated, music that launches into several directions at a time (that’s Furt’s trademark). The guitar is wildly spatialized, and the electronics intermingle with it, manipulating in real-time, adding pointillistic fluries of sounds that make it impossible de isolate a single contribution. The result is lively, relevant, dizzying electroacoustic music; music that seems to be daring us to try and catch it.

[Read the rest…]

‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd) is available from Creative Sources Recordings. [More info…] [All reviews…] [Get the CD…]

audio recordings: Jin Sangtae, Han-earl Park and Jeffrey Weeter (Cork, 01–24–11)

artwork for Jin Sangtae, Han-earl Park and Jeffrey Weeter: Jin-Park-Weeter (Cork, 01–24–11)
The complete recording of the January 24, 2011 performance by Jin Sangtae (electronics), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Jeffrey Weeter (drums and electronics) is now available for download. [Bandcamp page……] [Download now…]

Note: there is also a 24-bit edition of this recording. See below for details…

Recommended price: €8+

Unlike some of the past download releases from busterandfriends.com, this one, like Park-Schroeder (Cork, 03-26-09) and Sikora-Smith-Park (Cork, 04–04–11), is hosted at Bandcamp, and available as a ‘name your price’ album. Although you can download the recording for free (name €0 as your price) with certain restrictions, please consider paying at least the recommended price. Your generosity will help support the performers and their work.

24-bit edition

In addition to the 16-bit version above, this albums is also available in a 24-bit edition. [Bandcamp page: 24-bit edition…] [Download: 24-bit edition…]

If in doubt, monomaniac audiophile nerds aside, you probably want the 16-bit edition. (Many thanks to Alex Fiennes for advice on this double release.)

description

This particular trio setting provides minimal tonal or harmonic sticking points to derail the listening experience—an experience not to be missed by [Han-earl] Park agnostics and believers alike. Jeffrey Weeter on percussion and Jin Sangtae on what are most likely hard drives in varying states of repair… could very well be the perfect counterpoint to Park’s active, strident departure from the last 100 years of the prevailing guitar morality….

Motility of gesture and dynamics of phrase are celebrated with sound, neither antiquated harmonic stricture nor pre-Civil-Rights-era tropes. There is a directness, a paucity of fluff, which, more than any other quality or attribute, is what separates jazz from music that emerged from and ultimately supplanted it as the ‘art music’ of our day. Sangtae deserves special mention for his vision…. While likely not the first to use the staccato grrrr of a hard drive for musical gesture, none have used it with as much imagination or in a setting as sympathetic as Cork 1-24-11. Sangtae’s contribution underscores the collective nature of improvisation and creates a feeling of want, where and when he is not present. Without question, Cork 1-24-11 is a conceptual and aural high-water mark few will ever reach.

Stanley Zappa (The New York City Jazz Record)

A stark, real-time evolution of on-stage relations. The performance took place during Seoul-based experimental electronic musician Jin Sangtae’s European tour. Featuring clanking hard drives, buzzing electronics, noisy guitars and machine gun percussion, this recording captures Jin’s meeting with guitarist-improviser Han-earl Park, and composer, drummer and intermedia artist Jeffrey Weeter.

personnel

Jin Sangtae (electronics), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Jeffrey Weeter (drums and electronics).

track listing

Hash Collision (13:56), Seek (10:17), Significant Bit (12:17), Discontiguous (9:37), Walking Drives (5:30). Total duration: 51:37.

recording details

All music by Jin Sangtae, Han-earl Park and Jeffrey Weeter.

Recorded live January 24, 2011 at The Phoenix Bar, Cork.
Recorded and mastered by Han-earl Park.
Artwork by Han-earl Park.

The recordings (Hash Collision, Seek, Significant Bit, Discontiguous, and Walking Drives) and artwork released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. Please attribute the recordings to Jin Sangtae, Han-earl Park and Jeffrey Weeter, and attribute the artwork to Han-earl Park.

about the performers

Jin Sangtae (진상태) was born in 1975 in Seoul. Korea. He started music with electronica project ‘popmusic25’ in 1999 and had several live concerts. When he came to know improvised music in 2004, he changed his musical direction. He developed his instrument with Radio, Laptop, Car horn and hard disk drive and concentrated upon improvised music, field recording and related sound works. Jin Sangtae has regularly participated in concert series ‘RELAY’ and ‘Table Setting.’ In 2008, he commenced ‘Dotolim’—a name of small space, first venue in Korea specialized for electro-acoustic improvisation. He has organized ‘Dotolim concert series’ every second month.

Jin is a prominent member of Korea’s growing electro-acoustic improvisation scene, and according to The Wire, Jin’s “speciality is extracting harsh noise and glitches from exposed computer hard drives. These circuit-bending investigations run the gamut from carefully mediated feedback blasts to jerky mechanical clatter to sparse buzzes and hisses. Hovering intently over his electronics, he probes and dissects the chaotic din with scientific precision.”

Improviser, guitarist and constructor Han-earl Park (박한얼) works within/from/around traditions of fuzzily idiomatic, on occasion experimental, mostly open improvised musics, sometimes engineering theater, sometimes inventing ritual. He feels the gravitational pull of collaborative, multi-authored contexts, and has performed in clubs, theaters, art galleries and concert halls in Austria, Denmark, Germany, England, Ireland, The Netherlands, Scotland and the USA.

He is part of Mathilde 253 with Charles Hayward and Ian Smith, and is involved in ongoing collaborations with Bruce Coates, Franziska Schroeder, Alex Fiennes and Murray Campbell. He has recently performed with Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith, Lol Coxhill, Pat Thomas, Paul Dunmall, Mark Sanders, Matana Roberts, Richard Barrett, Pauline Oliveros, Thomas Buckner and Kato Hideki. Festival appearances include Sonorities (Belfast), Sonic Acts (Amsterdam), dialogues festival (Edinburgh), and CEAIT Festival (California). His recordings have been released by labels including Slam Productions and DUNS Limited Edition.

Jeffrey Weeter is a composer, intermedia artist and audio engineer. The collaboration with electronic musician Kate Simko produced the live cinema project Lustre which has toured Europe, Japan, South America and the United States during 2011–2012. From 2005–2008 he designed real-time video instruments and performed as the resident VJ for the monthly Wake Up! series at Sonotheque, Chicago. He has presented on intermedia at FIMaC, ATMI, ICMC and SEAMUS conferences, and has work published by Organised Sound, Select Media and meakusma. Weeter completed his Doctorate in Music Composition from Northwestern University, served five years as an audio engineer for The Oprah Winfrey Show, Harpo Studios, Chicago and currently is Lecturer in Music Composition at University College Cork, Ireland.

His work explores the relationships between media via performance which often utilize electronic and acoustic instruments linked in a sphere of influence with video projection, expanding the dynamics of performance and forging a new live cinema. Weeter’s work often negotiates a shared agency between live performer and random or deterministic processes.

Also available for download [more…]

‘A Little Brittle Music’ with Han-earl Park, Dominc Lash and Corey Mwamba (artwork copyright 2015, Han-earl Park)

A Little Brittle Music [details…]

Performers: Han-earl Park (guitar), Dominic Lash (double bass) and Corey Mwamba (vibraphone and flute).

© 2015 Han-earl Park. ℗ 2015 Park/Lash/Mwamba.

Paul Dunmall, Han-earl Park and Mark Sanders: Dunmall-Park-Sanders (Birmingham, 02-15-11)

Dunmall-Park-Sanders (Birmingham, 02-15-11) [details…]

Performers: Paul Dunmall (saxophones and bagpipes), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Mark Sanders (drums).

(cc) 2013 Paul Dunmall/Han-earl Park/Mark Sanders.

Murray Campbell, Randy McKean with Han-earl Park, plus Gino Robair and Scott R. Looney: Gargantius Effect +1 +2 +3 (Nor Cal, 08-2011)

Gargantius Effect +1 +2 +3 (Nor Cal, 08-2011) [details…]

Performers: Murray Campbell (violins, oboe and cor anglais), Randy McKean (saxophone, clarinets and flutes) with Han-earl Park (guitar), plus Gino Robair (energized surfaces, voltage made audible) and Scott R. Looney (hyperpiano).

(cc) 2012 Murray Campbell/Randy McKean/Han-earl Park/Gino Robair/Scott R. Looney.

Han-earl Park plus Marian Murray: Park+Murray (Cork, 07-29-10)

Park+Murray (Cork, 07-29-10) [details…]

Performers: Han-earl Park (guitar) plus Marian Murray (violin).

(cc) 2012 Han-earl Park/Marian Murray.

Han-earl Park and Franziska Schroeder: Park-Schroeder (Cork, 03-26-09)

Park-Schroeder (Cork, 03-26-09) [details…]

Performers: Han-earl Park (guitar) and Franziska Schroeder (saxophone).

(cc) 2012 Han-earl Park/Franziska Schroeder.

Catherine Sikora, Ian Smith and Han-earl Park: Sikora-Smith-Park (Cork, 04-04-11)

Sikora-Smith-Park (Cork, 04-04-11) [details…]

Performers: Catherine Sikora (saxophone), Ian Smith (trumpet) and Han-earl Park (guitar).

(cc) 2012 Catherine Sikora/Ian Smith/Han-earl Park.

updates

10-24-12: add recommended price.
05-20-13: updated the ‘also available for download’ list.
07-02-13: updated review.
11-01-15: add A Little Brittle Music to downloads list, and change currency from USD to EUR.

site update: Eris 136199

Nick Didkovsky, Catherine Sikora and Han-earl Park
The (provisional) project page for Eris 136199 (Nick Didkovsky: guitar; Han-earl Park: guitar; and Catherine Sikora: saxophones) is now live:

Eris 136199 is the noisy, unruly complexity of composer, computer artist and guitarist Nick Didkovsky, the corporeal, cyborg virtuosity of constructor and guitarist Han-earl Park, and the no-nonsense melodic logic of composer and saxophonist Catherine Sikora. Eris 136199 plays on the crossroads of noise, melody, rhythm, space, density, contrast, synchronicity, asymmetry, serendipity and contradiction.

A composer who enjoys blurry boundaries, Nick Didkovsky founded the avant-rock big band Doctor Nerve, and is a member of Swim This with Gerry Hemingway and Michael Lytle. He is a pioneer of small-systems computer music, and has composed music for ensemble including Bang On A Can All-Stars and the California EAR Unit.

Described by Brian Morton as “a musical philosopher… a delightful shape-shifter”, Han-earl Park is drawn to real-time cyborg configurations in which artifacts and bodies collide. He has performed with some of the finest practitioners of improvised music, is part of Mathilde 253 with Charles Hayward and Ian Smith, and Numbers with Richard Barrett.

Catherine Sikora is “a free-blowing player’s player with a spectacular harmonic imagination and an evolved understanding of the tonal palette of the saxophone” (Chris Elliot, Seacoast Online). She has long-standing duo projects with Eric Mingus and with Ziv Ravitz, and performs as part of ensembles led by Elliott Sharp, François Grillot and Matt Lavelle.

Together, Didkovsky, Park and Sikora forges an improvisative space where melody can be melody, noise can be noise, meter can be meter, metal becomes metal, bluegrass turns to bluegrass, jazz transforms into jazz, all there, all necessary without imploding under idiomatic pressures.

[Eris 136199 page…]

Eris 136199 is performing later this month (July 24, 2012) at Freddy’s Bar (Brooklyn). See the performance diary for up-to-date info.

in preparation: Jin Sangtae, Han-earl Park and Jeffrey Weeter (Cork, 01–24–11)

artwork for Jin Sangtae, Han-earl Park and Jeffrey Weeter: Jin-Park-Weeter (Cork, 01–24–11)
Next download release will be the recording of the January 24, 2011 performance by Jin Sangtae (electronics), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Jeffrey Weeter (drums and electronics). In addition to being available in a variety of formats (including lossless), this recording will also be available in a 24-bit edition that preserves the wide dynamic range of the original performance.

More info to follow…

Also available for download…

rerelease: Han-earl Park and Franziska Schroeder (Cork, 03–26–09)
audio recordings: Catherine Sikora, Ian Smith and Han-earl Park (Cork, 04–04–11)
audio recordings: Paul Dunmall, Han-earl Park and Mark Sanders (Birmingham, 02–15–11)
audio recordings: Han-earl Park and Richard Scott (Berlin, 10–23–10)
audio recordings: Han-earl Park plus Marian Murray (Cork, 07–29–10)

performance diary 07-01-12 (Brooklyn, New York)

upcoming performances
date venue time details
July 24, 2012 The Backroom @ Freddy’s Bar
627 5th Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11215
8:30pm Performance by Eris 136199 (Nick Didkovsky: guitar; Han-earl Park: guitar; and Catherine Sikora: saxophones), plus Christine Bard (drums, percussion and electronics), Bill McCrossen (bass) and Mercedes Figueras (saxophones), presented by On The Way Out.
Recommended donation: $10.
[Details…]
[Freddy’s page…]
[facebook event…]
September 7, 2012 The Stone
16 Avenue C
New York, NY 10009
8:00pm Performance by Tim Perkis (electronics), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Harris Eisenstadt (percussion).
Admission: $10 (students 13–19: $5; children <12: free).
[Details…]
[The Stone calendar…]
[facebook event…]
September 8, 2012 Douglass Street Music Collective
295 Douglass Street
Gowanus
Brooklyn, NY 11217
8:00pm Performance by Michael Evans (drums), Louise Dam Eckardt Jensen (saxophone) and Han-earl Park (guitar), plus Brad Henkel (trumpet), and Angelika Niescer Quartet (Angelika Niescer: alto sax; Florian Weber: piano; Chris Tordini: bass; and Tommy Crane: drums) presented as part of Save The Date #8.
Recommended donation: $10.
[Details…]
[DSMC page…]
late 2012 North America Numbers (Richard Barrett: electronics; and Han-earl Park: guitar) is seeking performance opportunities in North America, late 2012.
Interested promoters, venues and sponsors, please get in touch!
2013 Europe Seeking performances in Europe, 2013 for the cyborg ensemble of interactive, semi-autonomous, technological artifact and machine musician io 0.0.1 beta++ (itself) with human musicians Han-earl Park (guitar), Bruce Coates (saxophones) and Franziska Schroeder (saxophones). Interested promoters, venues and sponsors, please get in touch! [Detailed proposal…]

Continue reading “performance diary 07-01-12 (Brooklyn, New York)”

Free Jazz: Catherine Sikora, Ian Smith and Han-earl Park (Cork, 04–04–11)

artwork for Catherine Sikora, Ian Smith and Han-earl Park: Sikora-Smith-Park (Cork, 04-04-11)
Free Jazz Blog publishes a rare double review of the download release by Catherine Sikora, Ian Smith and Han-earl Park. In one review, Philip Coombs describes a “wonderful gem of a recording,” focussing, in particular, on Catherine Sikora’s sound:

These rare folk have the ability to spin a tale you have possibly heard before but can retell it with such clarity that you are captivated or better yet hypnotized. They can give you a new understanding of something you thought you already knew. This is a beautiful power and an ability that is rare to possess.

Catherine Sikora is such a person/player. She has a clean and colorful voice that could read me my autobiography and still have me in suspense….

The main story on the recording is track three. Clocking in at almost 25 minutes, Red Line Speed, is, to continue a theme here, the Shakespearian tragedy of the album. It starts with the chatter of a couple sitting at a table close to one of the microphones. The guitar comes in but the conversation continues in the background. Park changes up his percussive touch and somehow gets his guitar to sound like a tuba of sorts. The trumpet is next, adding to the subplot. By the time Sikora joins in, the stage has been set for quite the journey….

A wonderful gem of a recording. [Read the rest…]

Philip Coombs

Tom Burrisreview also puts the spotlight on ‘Red Line Speed’ while imaging hearing a lost “Sonny Rollins and Derek Bailey duet”:

…‘Red Line Speed,’ best represents the trio’s interplay and dynamics. There is a moment where you’d swear you were listening to a Sonny Rollins and Derek Bailey duet. Smith plays spastic trumpet figures with a mute, while Sikora plays fluid lines and Park darts in between them. Smith plays a short solo of hissing sounds. My favorite moment occurs when Smith sounds like a drunken bumblebee & Sikora plays spiral figures as if she’s waving her arms, shooing him away. Then Park appears with sonic smacks, clumsily chasing the bee with an oar. When the piece comes to an abrupt end, amid trilling saxophone, muted trumped, and guitar smears, it sounds like they ripped a peanut butter sandwich apart and smashed it back together with the captured bee inside.

Park is especially adept at steering the group down side streets they might have otherwise ignored and utilizes simple techniques to arrive at unique sounds, such as sticking a piece of metal between the guitar strings & then finger-picking to approximate an alien banjo. Sikora is often the anchor of the trio, grounding them in traditional sonic terrain while playing every bit as imaginatively as the more unconventional Smith and Park. Smith frequently surprises with blurts and burps in one second, and full open tones in the next. [Read the rest…]

Tom Burris

[More about this recording…] [All reviews…]

Also available for download…

rerelease: Han-earl Park and Franziska Schroeder (Cork, 03–26–09)
audio recordings: Paul Dunmall, Han-earl Park and Mark Sanders (Birmingham, 02–15–11)
audio recordings: Han-earl Park and Richard Scott (Berlin, 10–23–10)
audio recordings: Han-earl Park plus Marian Murray (Cork, 07–29–10)

Chain D.L.K.: Numbers: Richard Barrett + Han-earl Park

CD cover of ‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd) with Richard Barrett and Han-earl Park (copyright 2012, Creative Sources Recordings)
‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd) © 2012 Creative Sources

Death of an Accountant? In his review at Chain D.L.K. of Richard Barrett and Han-earl Park’s ‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd), Vito Camarretta imagines an unfortunate scenario for an “accountant, a computer expert or an operational researcher”, and describes an “acoustic lucid computational delirium, whose trajectory is impossible to outguess”:

You can easily imagine an accountant, a computer expert or an operational researcher in the act of falling prey of frightening hallucinations after a session of intensive work on numerical models, impressive balance sheets or other number-covered screed and their colossal equations or string while getting turned into ominous entities which paralyze their own maker in order to obsess, harass and torture him till death while listening to this amazing and fuzzy release by Welsh electronic musician and performer Richard Barrett (some well-trained listeners could know his collaborative project FURT with Paul Obermayer as well as his work within the Elision Ensemble) and guitarist, improviser and very talented performer Han-Earl Park. By means of an intricate web of sonic hiccups, scrapes, scouring, gluts, gargles and cuts, they build an acoustic lucid computational delirium, whose trajectory is impossible to outguess.

[Read the rest…]

‘Numbers’ (CS 201 cd) is available from Creative Sources Recordings. [More info…] [All reviews…] [Get the CD…]