Mark Fell – Ten Types of Elsewhere 7.7

Mark Fell is a pretty accomplished interdisciplinary artist. Besides being one half of “SND” he also does live performances of both sound and vision. This particular release “Ten Types of Elsewhere” deals with his installation work. Despite the disparate nature of the works, it does have its own unifying theme.

44 tracks might seem like a lot to wade through, but really it is more like 9 tracks, since some of these come together like suites. Rhythm is important on here, though there’s none of trademark SND beats. Beats do pop up occasionally, most notably in the “Storage” and “Ideation” groupings. In fact, each one of those suites seems to have heavily influenced parts of SND’s more recent output.

A lot of the track offer glitch treatments and various scraped guitar sounds. Since so much of it feels cyclical, there’s a certain Zen feeling that is achieved, particularly in the more ambient works. L-NE definitely changed its rules around for a bit for this releases, since a lot of the sounds on here are quite loud, so mind your volume controls, as the bursts are almost at random.

Experimentation is in full force throughout the disc. Towards the end though, that experimental edge is given a soul. Using panning to full effect, the music begins a gentle playfulness, removing all previous harsher edges. “Remote Systems” begins this process, popping from right to left, left to right. 

“Commuting” ends things on a high note. This is one of Mark’s most tender tracks. A soothing ebb and flow of a track drifts along as you float with it. Listen to this one on very, very good headphones. Going on in the background of the ebbs are additional echoes of what you’re hearing. Usually such large scale acoustic experiments are purely academic, but this one feels pure, feels genuine.

I really liked this.

Sachiko M – Salon de Sachiko 7.6

Sachiko works in an extremely small field of electronic improvisation called ONYKO. Originally it started out as a very “DIY” kind of music, using only empty samplers and torturing them into creating sound. Think of the exact opposite of noise, leaving only the absolute silences of space.

This is perhaps her quietest, most patient work. Rather than have the sound paint the silence, the silence paints the sound. What I mean is that the huge amount of negative space within the recording gives it a very meditative quality. Plus, the almost by chance randomness of the sounds tends to startle the listener a bit more than a constant drone or bass would have.

L-NE has nothing on this really. Even the most extreme practitioners of microsound/minimalism usually have a constant drone or bass in the background, in order to anchor things. Richard Chartier does this, so does Taylor Deupree, Steve Roden, Bernhard Gunter, and a slew of other similarly minded artists. Simply put, there is nobody who devotes themselves to the extreme silence the way Sachiko does.

Basically, it might be nearly impossible to find the absolute perfect listening conditions for this lowercase music. Your best option might be in some sort of sound-proof booth. Even nature, even the night creates far too much sound and hyper-activity for you to get easily distracted. Not something you’d listen to every day, but it definitely is an experience that will not be easily forgotten.