770
Audio patterns for sound-aided introspective practice.
PS002 (2001) | download
Industrial.org
"770" is like waiting for the other shoe to drop in zero-G or trying to string a shortwave antenna from your 10th story balcony to an orbitting spy satellite - i.e. seemingly insurmountable time and distance.
The disc itself contains just over 45 and a half minutes of terse tones and slight rhythmic incidents spread over 7 incrementally entitled tracks. The seven peices definitley were sourced from the same supplier but the exact route through the system does vary quite a lot. The first track uses a small section of repeating decimated white noise, quantized delay fading out on the 1 - 2 - 3 plus sharp bursts of high frequency and touch tone dub sine waves to build up a very slowly but constantly tightening perimiter of silicon chill. "771" inverts the positions of the sines, using them as a steadily wavering but ineffective shield against the watery ricochets and lumbering low frequency forms that puncture its skin periodically. The next track again makes the focus more overt rhythmics, MIDI delay here converting sparse cyclical hum, momentary cosine and click incidents into a building sense of motion. "774" lowers the octave range, a just slightly angular note progression forming condensation droplets much like brittle D+B but with a less vulgar and far more distant focus. The fifth track sweeps the Q over an obese, grumbling rapid fire bass line, to the point where it seems like the filter edge is alternatively slashing open and being devoured by a faceless maw. The second last track is particularly staid, parallel feedback and ground hum being abolished by a strangulated Nerve Net Noise alarm circuit. The distorted bleating and accompanying low end warbles make one of the most intriguing contructions here as the glacial tempo is just fast enough to foster expectation but when the third or fourth beat arrives very late you have to exhale to relieve the built up stress. It's really quite involving, the whole disc is in fact but unlike the rest which offers a sodium pentathol like soothing, this track makes it impossible to lose conciousness for me no matter how late the hour. The final track is rather Sputnik (the satellite not the band) but seems to be based around a similar grid as the previous track, woolly wow and flutter brushing up against sections of passing communications equipment until the board finally burns out in a bright flash.
I could see a lot of folks stacking this carelessly with the clicks and cuts scene but here Mugen does not suffer the tricky indulgence of other such material I have come across. The structural integrity is such that its two dimensional rythmic spires can support a vast canopy of shimmering tone and undulating noises. The only thing that I have heard recently that I can compare it to really is the extremely satisfying Alphonse de Montfroyd EP "Silence" though here you will find more exceptions and less frequency constants. "770" is a notable achievement and most definitely worth the download from mp3.com or better yet as a trade direct from Pachinkostudio. Quite high up on the repeat play stack for me these days.
Microsound Mailing List
These tracks are really great.soothing pulses of sound grounded in rhythmic washes. I spent a very pleasant morning listening to the tracks and they fit in nicely as I read and responded to e-mail. At times, the tracks reminded me of a more minimal Zoviet France. Like Zoviet France at their best moments, these tracks use sounds that could easily become harsh and annoying and chills them nicely into pleasant patterns.
Sinewaves.it
Il progetto "770" dell'italiano Mugen si sviluppa su una pulsante architettura di onde sinusoidali e frammenti glitch. L'atmosfera granulare e sospesa di questo lavoro, riecheggia le sonorità del giapponese Ikeda, del finlandese Philus, innestate su una [micro]struttura alla Bernhard Günter o alla Richard Chartier. Sospesi tra vaporosi silenzi e vibranti basse frequenze, aleggiano riverberi di blips e drones contrapposti a taglienti lampi di rumori sintetici in uno sviluppo attento e preciso che si snocciola attraverso le sette tracce della composizione.
Microsuoni.com
Oscillazioni sinusoidali frapposte a graffi di rumore in eco, scie di glitches ripetute, a creare una dimensione meditativa digitale, un ambiente di contemplazione del suono dove la raffinata riflessione sulle frequenze si esprime con lucida sospensione. Trasparenze e pensieri di suono.