ting ting jahe 18 (16)

One source says that ting ting jahe is a collective of artists composed of Ben Scott, Tommy Birchett, and Ben Owen and that their sound is based on reusing live audio from other performances, found sounds, turn tables and needles, and improvising with laptops. It’s not revealed within the short notes that accompany the release or at the website whether or not the same group of artists is responsible for 18 (16).

Another reviewer of 18 (16) remarked on his difficulty in appreciating the use of silence in this release. If you listen to the first track “22-3” on your audio player, without head phones at normal volume, you will probably mistake the 2 m 34 s of this barely audible, low volume recording for mostly silence as the sounds will be covered up by natural environmental noises. Concerted listen with headphones on the other hand (and with the volume turned high) reveals a very steady and subtle humming drone interrupted by short periods of fleeting tones - sometimes transparent, other times coarse. Track 2, “39-13”, on the other hand is antithesis of it’s predecessor as there’s nothing restrained about this abrasive amalgam of scratchy digital noise, mechanical chaos, and bowed acoustic sounds.

Track 3, “311-14”, temporarily takes the listener back to the barely audible realm before becoming a quietly sizzling stream of liquid noises that just might be the closest track on the album that could be described as ambient noise. The rather gentle ambience of “311-14“ is abruptly terminated with the arrival of the searing “313-16-1” whose agressive factory-like sounds, feedback, and snippets of voices make it very reminiscent of those earliest experiments in what came to be called industrial music.

The trio “313-16-2“, “313-16-3”, and “313-16-4” still maintain that digitally cold, mechanized, industrial ambiance with a rather odd assortment of recycled, abstract sounds - but in sparser, less aggressive way. The sounds heard here don’t force themselves upon you, but seem to hover in space - just waiting for the right moment to be absorbed.

18 (16) concludes by returning to the low volume approach of “22-3". Headphones are again required to fully appreciate the variety of percussive and acoustic sounds, digital noises, and delicate tones that dart in and out amongst the more silent moments of "313-16-5".

So it is only the sounds that matter here. Listen to them, absorb them, feel them, and interpret them according to your dispostion at the immediate moment. You might hear what I hear or you might not - but it doesn’t matter.

Larry Johnson 2/5/2007
earlabs.org