It is time to rethink our perception of the term microsound. On this Double-3’’ CD-R release, two artists not only offer two completely different visions on the genre, but also lead the term as such ad absurdum. Not bad for the debut release on Koyuki Sound, a new label focussed on what might well be the most extreme niche of the experimental music scene.
Not that either of the two presents us with anything one hasn’t heard before. Isolated blips and crackles and the stark contrast between ultrahigh frequencies and immensely powerful bass resonances are at the heart of Shinkei’s “Binaural Beats”, a work in four parts realised using brainwave synchronisation software. Comforting hiss and crisp smacking-sounds are added to the spectrum, as individual elements are gradually allowed to overlap and intersect, slowly increasing cohesion, while simultaneously going from concretion to abstraction and back again. As the subsonic waves ripple through your room, “Binaural Beats” turns into a down-scaled version of SUNN O))), which disturbs less on a metaphysical than on a perceptional level: How can these discreet sounds make your entire room vibrate?
Quiet scraping noises and drones are at the core of “Binaural Beats Reprocess”, for which Philip Lemieux has taken Shinkei’s miniatures and regrouped them into a coherent twenty-minute track. Of the originals, not much has survived, at least not in an immediately recognisable way. Lemieux concentrates on each sound with the meticulous dedication of a butterfly collector, forgetting about anything else in the process. Even though it might seem that “Reprocess”, with its epic narration style and seperated episodes was conceived as a grand design, it is a modest effort, which prefers balance above ambition. Still, the Hafler Trio’s meeting with Autechre on German label “Die Stadt” is never all that far away.
In both works, the subtle proportions, musical use of silence and the overall quiet level typical of microsound are essential ingredients. And yet, neither Shinkei nor Philip Lemieux are obviously interested in an analytical breakdown of our world into its atoms. Rather than pointing their microscope to ants and objects beyond eyesight, their method is less one of dissecting than of cleansing. “Binaural Beats” and “Binaural Beats Reprocess” present pure environments, in which the mind is presented with a reduced degree of complexity, instead of having to navigate through alien territory.
This lends both CDs a comforting air, void of any neurotic academic tendencies. I enjoyed this music while playing a deck of cards with my girlfriend and instead of violating our living room, it set up a space of focus and warmth. None of this sits well with the traditional view of the genre as overly rational. But there is nothing wrong with the Koyuki label confounding these expectations.
By Tobias Fischer
TOKAFI [A]
This work consist in two 3” CD/CD-R released by Koyuki in a limited running of 100 copies. There is a black CD by Shinkei that explores almost inaudible frequencies that have a special effect on the brain that takes the listener to a relax state of mind and micro sounds that get deep into silence.
The red CD by Philip Lemieux is re-processed version with detailed combination of tiny sounds, drones and moreover vast atmospheres in the likes of Richard Chartier.
LOOP [CL]
Anno nuovo, vita nuova e nuove etichette, diciamo pure che questa copre un campo stranamente poco calcato nel Bel Paese. La Koyuki infatti a quanto pare è completamente focalizzata su di un'estetica di tipo minimalista e per quanto possa essere pedante scriverlo: minimalista non significa tre suoni buttati a caso e cose fatte in fretta e furia (dato che ormai l'importante è sempre più darsi una ragione sociale da artista). In questo caso non si tratta di minimalismo alla Young, Reich, Riley, Glass ma di “minimal electronics” quindi roba che ha referenze in etichette come la Raster Noton, con gente come Günter Müller, Jason Kahan, Tetutzi Akyiama, Toshimaru Nakamura e in casa nostra un nome su tutti: Luca Bergero, al secolo noto come Fhievel. Se non siete pratici del genere, sappiate che un concerto torinese di Müller rimarrà nella storia perché mentre suonava, la gente parlando copriva quei suoni sporadici che a tutti gli effetti erano il concerto. Ora senza discutere sul fatto se si tratti di un genere da ascolto casalingo o da live in un luogo adeguato, avrete capito che si tratta di qualcosa che duella spossatamente con il silenzio, credete quindi che sia un caso che alcuni dei nomi storici del genere siano nipponici o crucchi? Ebbene no, da una parte un formalismo tutto teutonico, dall’altra una mentalità tutta zen non possono che andare a nozze con un rigore in cui il discorso è la punteggiatura. Pochi suoni per di più catalogabili in frequenze ultracute e frequenze basse, a quanto pare entrambe dovrebbero essere ottenuti da un software disegnato per correggere le onde cerebrali (che in sé è già tutto un programma), il tutto viene distribuito nello spazio con una parsimonia degna del compianto Stockhausen (compianto da chi poi? visto che sui tg italiani nei necrologi illustri di fine anno non ne hanno neppure fatto menzione), la pulizia e la qualità del suono con me ben potete intendere è curata in modo quasi ossessivo anche perché se il foglio è bianco e si vuole usare solo la tempera è ovvio che se ne cerca una di qualità e si considera dove posarla in modo quasi maniacale. Vista la difficoltà del genere ed il fatto che non sia una proposta così consueta (se parliamo di minimal electronics nel vero senso della parola) azzarderei quasi che il 3” sia il suo formato ideale. Shinkei in quest’occasione distribuisce brillantemente le carte sul tavolo da gioco facendo sì che il grosso del corpo di Binaural Beats emerga giusto nella seconda metà, i suoni sono gelidi e sintetici come un rituale di accoppiamento fra intelligenze artificiali, come da copione, la materia è e rimane quella per tutti, il punto è un po' nel dove e come posizionarli e a quanto pare Shinkei lo sa bene. Sul secondo mini cd 3” Philip Lemieux riprocessa il lavoro di Shinkei e rimaneggia ulteriormente il lavoro originale tanto che per buona parte dell’inizio se non si ascoltasse il cd con religioso silenzio sarebbe quasi difficile distinguere i fruisci da rumori di fondo e da eventuali disturbi esterni. La parte più interessante del suo lavoro di reinterpretazione arriva sul finale ma resta comunque meno interessante del lavoro originale. La fattura del 3” è ottima e a quanto pare inaugura una collana a la Koyuki intende dare il via; vista la qualità del materiale e la radicalità e la qualità della prima proposta auguro altre cento di queste uscite.
Andrea Ferraris
SODAPOP [ITA]
This delightful little mini CD release dropped through my letterbox whilst on holiday. The medium of the 3? CD /CDR is giving an opportunity for artists and labels to present short and exploratory works in a convenient and cost effective format. Here we find two CD’s in elegantly designed translucent packaging, the black CD being source material by Shinkei, and the red CD , a re-processed version by Philip Lemieux, in a small edition of 100.
Binaural beats have been used both as a technique for “brain training” (by the likes of the Monroe Foundation), and also by a host of creative artists, most notably The Hafler Trio, and The Anti Group, way back in their early, exploratory stages. It remains a source of great fascination for creators, due to its efficacy as sonic balm, and a method of stimulating and evoking certain mood states with a phenomenon known as the “frequency following response”, whereby both hemispheres of the brain are entrained to certain frequency ranges, inducing states of relaxation, creativity, excitement, etc.Shinkei (black CD) operate in the deep relaxation spectrum using binaurals to evoke beta-alpha states, that putatively stimulate alertness, concentration and “superlearning”. The substance of the black CD consists of graduations of tones that slide in and out of focus, and speed. The overall sound is a highly reduced atmospehric exploration. Listened to under a capable set of headphones, and in a suitably calm environment would be an ideal condition for engaging with this work in order to achieve the desired effect.
Lemieux (red CD), takes the binaural and uses it as a site for compositional focus, utilising minute shavings of the original material, eviscerating it to create something more akin to one of Richard Chartier’s early “near silent” works, a subtle and evocative series of shifting tones, blips, and condensed atmospheres. Being the first release for a new label, I can only highly recommend that you give this a listen..a highly encouraging debut.
BGN
WHITE_LINE [UK]
A release mastered in just 100 copies of a double mini CD, an acute and conceptual excursion in the most abstract and silent paths of minimalist aesthetic. It is an extremely 'stimulating' project thanks to the nature of the sound files, built with the help of a 'brainwave software', which can synchronize the human brain waves with certain frequencies. An auditive and visual (thanks to Dreamachines) stimulation in a union of 'Binaural Beats', subdivided in four tracks in the black CD, then reprocessed in the other one (red) by Philippe Lemieux. The tone gradients, the drones and micro-textures obtained using the well-known technique of 'frequency following response', aside from the indisputable 'aesthetic' value, once again bring us back (following the path traced by the historical avant-gardes) to an idea of musical production pervaded by the experimentation of unusual practices. It is an analytical approach that explores 'aleatory' zones, which are now the domain of audio-art as well.
Aurelio Cianciotta
NEURAL [ITA]
This music needs complete silence, otherwise there’s no way of enjoying the eventual benefits that it should bring. We’re talking about sounds that, appearing under the guise of subsonic frequencies and extremely high, piercing tones, stimulate the hemispheres of the brain according to the phenomenon known as “frequency following response”, which enhances determinate activities of our mind or, alternatively, causes a state of relaxation. The whole works well if one listens to it - at a pretty consistent volume - in a large room which responds, together with the nerves, to the excitement generated by the strength and depth of the emissions. For sheer depiction purpose: lows that might shake the ground and highs almost on a par with the ones that only animals hear (make no mistake, animals are far superior - in this and many other kinds of sensitiveness - to men. But we can always try and better ourselves). For my personal taste, the “collaboration” of the environment is preferred, although the most direct effect on the cerebrum is probably obtained via headphone listening. Regarding the titles: the first is a double 3-inch CD, the “reprocessing” handled by Philip Lemieux who renders the original Shinkei sources more similar to an installation soundscape than a bombardment of waves. “Binaural frequency” is a 9-minute track downloadable from the label’s website. Both releases deserve serious consideration, though if you live in a noisy setting their presence will be awfully difficult to detect.
Massimo Ricci - Touching Extremes
Evidentemente modellata sull'esempio riduzionista dell'americana Line, la neonata Koyuki, etichetta fondata da David Sani e Luigi Turra, evidenzia in maniera lampante la passione - sia nelle grafiche curatissime che nei suoni estremamente stilizzati - per l'asciutto design ultra-minimalista e la cultura orientale. [...]
Recuperiamo infine il doppio mini che qualche mese fa ha inaugurato il catalogo della Koyuki. Siglato da Sani col nickname Shinkei, più rielaborazioni del sound artist canadese Philip Lemieux (esisterà davvero?), "Binaural Beats" distilla eventi fonici col contagocce, una garbata ipnosi che stagna in un frusciare di piccoli grumi e addensamenti silenziosi. Ecologia del suono a un passo da Chartier e Steinbrüchel. (7)
Nicola Catalano - BLOW-UP