Samuel Rodgers and Jack Harris
Samuel Rodgers (co-curator of Consumer Waste) pairs up with sound artist Jack Harris on two explorations of minimal performance and sound creation. Working in a semi-urban ambience—open windows, barking dogs, distant sirens—the duo suggest both a specific location and a generic one. Their previous work has explored tensions between analogue and digital processes; here, sounds remain mainly non-instrumental in source: amplified object manipulation, cable hum, and different types of feedback intrude upon room tone at various intervals, like heavy clusters of dry floating leaves settling on transparent pillows. These pieces blur definitions of action and performance, and call into contemplation the intention of sound-making and what defines its “success,” while repeatedly upending expectations about pace and content. – Professionally duplicated edition of 100 on Chrome plus tape stock – Artwork by E. Lindorff-Ellery – Pro-printed in Portland, OR
Chik White
Two sets of music by Chik White, an alias of Darcy Spidle, whose Nova Scotia-based Divorce Records has been slinging LPs of sonic bemusement since 1999. Jaw Works is made up of solo jaw harp performances, wringing mesmerizing detail from variations in rhythm and tempo, while achieving a wide variety of barely believable, almost synthesized-sounding timbres. Behind A Dead Tree On The Shore also features the jaw harp, albeit in concert with the North Atlantic Ocean, which inspired the more minimal, rhythmic pieces performed on the shore. Organic and personal, this is folk music created by a single person in his environment, using the most basic of musical tools. – Professionally duplicated edition of 100 on Chrome tape stock – Artwork by E. Lindorff-Ellery – Pro-printed in Portland, OR
Ben Owen
The third entry in Ben Owen’s Birds and Water series of recordings. As with Birds and Water, 1 (NTR018), these two sidelong electronic drones reflect Owen’s typically rigorous compositional choices. They display remarkably disparate, rich textures and are extremely immersive, especially when played loud and/or on headphones. Owen once again displays an ability to invite multiple levels of reaction to deceptively complex timbres, ranging from meditative to oppressive. “The third release of recordings made on residency with The Experimental Television Center in Owego, NY during May 2010. The Birds and Water series is my main body of work created at ETC. The work and title is influenced from the birds that hovered as dusk approaches over the Susquehanna River, which borders the residency building, seen from the third floor windows. The recordings are both sound and sound and image based pieces using David Jones’ image processing system. ETC expanded operations in 1974 with the first Jones Colorizer, and in 1975 with a set of keyers, a multi-input sync-able sequencer and a bank of oscillators, all designed and constructed by David Jones. Numerous patches and variations of each were recorded in extended durations. Both recordings are presented with edits only to their original duration. Continued thanks to Hank Rudolph, Sherry and Ralph Hocking, Justin Lincoln, Giuseppe Ielasi, Denis Shapovalov, Evan Lindorff-Ellery and Travis Bird.” – Ben Owen, November 2014 – Professionally duplicated edition of 100 on Chrome plus tape stock – Artwork by E. Lindorff-Ellery – Letterpress printed by John Fitzgerald at Fitzgerald Letterpress, New Orleans, LA
Haptic
Since the mid-aughts, Chicago trio Haptic (Adam Sonderberg, Joseph Clayton Mills, and Steven Hess—this time around featuring Salvatore Dellaria and The Necks’ Tony Buck) has delivered riveting, meticulously controlled live sets, as well as a handful of releases mainly on the Entr’acte label, all of which reflect the group’s unique attitudes toward collaboration and structure. This release features material sourced from a variety of past recordings; they are without form and yet architectural, and just as uniquely engaging as the group’s previous work. From the perspective of Notice, Haptic’s mixture of the organic and the industrial has been profoundly influential, and could even be said to define a quintessential Chicago ethos channeled through dark ambience: roiling waves of density, structure, work, beauty, and oppression constantly overtaking each other. However, the final silence will always be present—and is expected—just like the spare, steady late-night call of a single circling black bird. – Professionally duplicated edition of 100 on Cobalt tape stock. – Artwork by E. Lindorff-Ellery – Letterpress printed on pearlescent stock by John Fitzgerald at Fitzgerald Letterpress, New Orleans, LA.