a r t i s t : Alan Licht and Aki Onda
t i t l e : Everydays
d a t e : 2008
l a b e l : Headz (vector 10 / HEADZ 114)
g e n r e : Avantgarde
r l s. d a t e : May/2008
t r a c k s : 05
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 66,2 MB
_______________________________________________________________________
*Ripper's note: This is the Japanese version, released by
Headz.
Debut collaboration of New York artists and long-time duo
partners Alan Licht and Aki Onda, whose combined history
connects artists straddling the pop and experimental worlds,
including Fennesz, Loren Connors, Takemura Nobukazu, Lee
Ranaldo, and Toriko Nujiko. In the past decade their montage-
inspired solo work -- Licht's permutational guitar and tape
pieces on Rabbi Sky and A New York Minute, Onda's field
recording recontextualizations on Bon Voyage! and Ancient &
Modern -- has co-existed with their experimental sound/visual
projects Text of Light (Licht) and Cinemage (Onda).
Everydays is five grandly formed soundscapes that mix Onda's
poetic/textural cassette sounds and the rhythmic/lyrical pull
of Licht's guitar. Morphing from recognizable structures to
dissonant hammered chunks and rapid cut-ups, the album
perfectly weaves their signature applications of sound
diaries, minimalism, grainy fidelity, looping and free blues
into a dynamic and ambitious statement.
http://www.family-vineyard.com/catalog/fv58.php
Exploring the limitations of an instrument can be more
enlightening than obsessing about perfect tone or versatility.
On Everydays, Onda and Licht use the button noise and trashcan
fidelity of cassettes as a tool rather than a handicap. The
results range from bucolic chatter to full on noise assault.
Some music doesn't benefit from quality recording. I doubt
the crashing piano on the opener Tick Tock would be as abrupt
and nauseating had it been pristinely sampled. The overdriven
roar and whir of the tape spools is what really puts the ears
off-ease. Not all the tracks are that spastic. The squeals and
chirps on Tip Toe seem lifted straight from some interstellar
aviary. Oscilators join the birdsong, undualting like a North
Sea swell.
I could have listened to Tip Toe for the duration of the
album, but Onda and Licht had different ideas. Everydays has a
unity of approach, not mood. The closer, Be Bop, tears the
mellow vibes asunder, cassettes all spewing raw static and
hissing shrieks. Squalls of feedback rear up and then
disintegrate in coughing spasms. This CD does not die gently.
The main appeal of Everydays is the diversity. Onda and Licht
tease out every disposition they can from their instruments.
No small feat. When using tapes, noiseniks often shovel out an
undifferentiated muck, without peaks or valleys to challenge
the listener. Onda and Licht opt for a more surprising,
anarchic experience. Everydays is definitely not for the
fastidious, but there's something in there for just about
every other taste.
http://brainwashed.com/index.php?
option=com_content&task=view&id=6803&Itemid=64
_______________________________________________________________________
01-Tick Tock [06:41]
02-Ship Shape [07:10]
03-Tiptoe [13:47]
04-Chitchat [07:27]
05-Be Bop [14:28]
-------
49:33 min