GREGG KOWALSKY - Tape Chants

In the time between "Through The Cardial Window" and "Tape Chants", Kowalsky has carried on his research undeterred. He's collaborated with kindred artists and kept performing at avant-garde festivals. Above all, he's continued his investigations by recording a series of "tape chants" that capture the environmental impact of pure sounds, using nothing but ordinary cassette players. Kowalsky carefully arranged them in space to observe their reactions and the acoustic-shaping possibilities of drones and bands of sound: this new release on Kranky gathers eleven of these "chants" in sequence.

The most imposing sequence (clocking in at 20 minutes), "I-IV", layers three rising-pitch frequencies in a kind of baroque fugue, through which one gradually hears distant bagpipe melodies, measured rumbles and tolling bursts of distortion (not unlike the approach that labelmates Charalambides have applied to psychedelic folk).

Second in importance and length is "VI-VII", an airy distortion concealing a shy chord progression and sampled layers; the track "VII" in particular raises the stakes by paraphrasing the timbre of a pipe organ. Then there's "XI", the most placid of the set, accompanying an ambient piano with shrill gurgles, and the closing sequence "X-XI" is built on the trail of a cavernous "gong"; another distortion flares up and then unfolds into undefined vortices.

A revised and politically incorrect take on live electronics, which - in the midst of the digital evolution - comes across as an antiquarian form, almost a caricature of Darmstadt's research. There's something pedagogical about it. An embryonic project: "Tape Chants A Million", already released on Robostrata back in 2007.

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25/05/2009