KTRU Pick of the Week: One Day
The album One Day features several great talents in the world of electroacoustic improvised music. On one side of the collaboration is Toshimaru Nakamura, one of the originators in the genre of electroacoustic music, and on the other side is English, the duo of Joe Foster and Bonnie Jones.Nakamura performs on no-input mixing boards, while English features Jones performing on a group of circuit boards and delay pedals as Foster plays the trumpet with various effects utilized at will.
This particular album was made possible when Jones and Foster met with Nakamura for a day of recording. Jones had been visiting Foster in South Korea while the duo toured throughout the country as English, eventually moving onward to Japan.
The album contains three extended performances from this meeting, consisting of a mixture of fine white noise percolating through an old AM radio and a lot of minimal noise and electric humming with some sparse activity rising to the top. There are plenty of surprises hidden throughout the quiet recesses, however. The tracks are long, but pick a different starting point other than the beginning and fade out at will or as your tolerance dictates.
The first track, "ong time," begins with a thin layer of flickering ticks buzzing low to the floor. Persistent elements like a low tone ring, sharp piercing pings and avian chatter phase in and out at will while the sonic threshold is constantly tested at random intervals.
In "plant signs," the artists use quick transitions between serene field recordings and twitchy console buzz patterns. The track slowly builds up the inherent tension that results from the inevitable cacophony of white noise that collides with docile sonic streams.
The final track, "the color of," has more of a terrestrial focus with quiet sound forms gathering at the ground level, ranging from quick animal calls to slight shudders of motion buzzing in the distance. Everything moves at a quieter level of detection, opting both for rapid bursts of minute pulses and static instead of drawn-out waves.
One Day manages to bind together the art forms of Nakamura and English for a weird yet pleasing collection that is sure to leave the ears stunned. The versatility evident throughout the album and its great quality make it a worthy addition to the KTRU stacks.
To check out more of Toshimaru Nakamura's music, visit www.japanimprov.com/tnakamura.
To learn more about the duo English, visit bonniejones.wordpress.com/bio/english-joe-foster-bonnie-jones.
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