Lignes d’erre & randons. KASSEL JAEGER
(Unfathomless 2010)
I had never listened to any of Kassel Jaeger’s works before approaching to “Lignes d’erre & randons” and after just a couple of listenings I was completely blown away.
Working with natural sound sources has always been for me a way to explore the limitless potential of the digital world. How can we manage technology and computers without loosing touch with natural and organic sounds? Is it possible to use digital signal processing without ruin the prominent characteristics of natural sounds? Is it possible to create an alternative sound dimension between the boundaries?
If you are into field recordings and sound art, and I know you are, please grab a copy of this fine album and listen. Listen and think of what you are listening.
“Windshore” is lugubrious and dark, is like a nervous animal, restless and always in movement. Snaps and crackles are entwined with drones and low rumbles while distorted wheezings and chains-like sounds sweep the high part of the spectrum.
In “Zwishenstadt” the listener is shifted into a sound composition made of hisses and loose frequencies, the overall atmosphere is gloomy especially due to the short noisy interferences and the subtle digital artifacts that constantly accompany the progress of the piece.
“Nocturne” is an aural assault. The collision between organic environmental sounds and the digital world of zeros and ones is now more than ever evident. Static electricity pervades the air.
“Vultighjime” birds and airplanes. A symphony of the flight. Wings and motors sound together.
“Blank Pyramid”, “Dispersion des limbes”, “Pneuma”: contact microphones, hydrophones and field recordings. Subtle distortions. “Music concrète” attitude applied to an ever changing soundscape.
Again, please listen and keep asking questions. This record provide infinite answers.
-Elliot Loe
