ben owen radio>in

Here's another wmr thing. Wasn't Owen listed as a member of ea? This is an art-radio set for radio transmitter, FM radio, and mixing desk; a very testing, ultra minimal collection which is either nigh-impossible to hear, or very difficult to listen to. For an audience of very tolerant conceptualists only. We've got one long track which for ten minutes appears to be nothing happening at all, except for a very low minimal high-pitched hum, which becomes a lower hum for a few minutes, then goes back to the inaudible high-pitched squeal again. Second track is about five minutes of sustained crackle and deep hum and is a lot richer, exploring at least two or three variations in the allowable tone ranges. Third track - well, it's a positive feast after those two explorations of the void, offering and incredible diet of buzzes, hums, whines, and feedback, occasionally reaching into near-Merzbow noise territory, but still remaining constant in its droney exploration of a single radio-generated note.

This CD is pretty tough going, but it's worth persevering; clearly there are some ideas at play here, and the process (although not described anywhere) has imposed some form of structure and resulted in this tightly-disciplined work. May appeal to fans of CMVH, Pan Sonic, or even some of the more extreme releases from Mille Plateaux. Like all on WMR, postcard-landscape sleeve, hand-made, letterpress, this one embossed with a small grid of dots on the front.

Ed Pinset 29/07/20070
the sound projector 16th issue 2008