The Mailbox Giveth: Haptic
Haptic
Scilens
Flingco Sound Systems
Released: 10.11
Over the last couple years, I have been treated to various interpretations regarding ambience and noise and how the two can coexist committed to a recorded format. Some are more basic than others, loose translations either limited to or aided by the extent of vision and tools, obviously. Haptic, their new cassette release, Scilens, is different from many of these noise compositions/experiments I've heard because it owes much less to the creation of expanse and noise than it does the improvisation dynamic of free jazz or composed weirdness via John Cage or Philip Glass. I say this because, despite the array of devices used to create Scilens, (and what a list: "air conditioner... paper (various weights)... sand... tuning forks... wooden clothespin"), you can almost imagine a conductor's wand flowing through the air this recording breathes, working to cue the slow builds of quiet rumble or the odd, Zappa-esque clinking of chimes and glass. There seems to be some thought at work here, an attention to detail that comes with the usual following of notes and scales. You can almost imagine pages of written music being turned, a book of noisemakers reading as notes and informing Haptic's every movement.
Performed by Steven Hess (Locrian), Joseph Clayton Mills and Adam Sonderberg, Haptic's third full-length release also benefits heavily from the cassette format, that inherent, though light, persistent hiss adding to their collage.
Scilens is what mixed media sounds like: art school on cassette, a slathering of kraft paper and wheat glue wearing the ephemera of daily life or the ink spatter of a darkly-tinged series of thoughts. No tangible meaning may exist, nor may there be an obvious conclusion to be drawn, but the experience cancels all of that out.
haptic - scilens (album preview) by experimedia
Sincerely,
Letters From A Tapehead
Scilens
Flingco Sound Systems
Released: 10.11
Over the last couple years, I have been treated to various interpretations regarding ambience and noise and how the two can coexist committed to a recorded format. Some are more basic than others, loose translations either limited to or aided by the extent of vision and tools, obviously. Haptic, their new cassette release, Scilens, is different from many of these noise compositions/experiments I've heard because it owes much less to the creation of expanse and noise than it does the improvisation dynamic of free jazz or composed weirdness via John Cage or Philip Glass. I say this because, despite the array of devices used to create Scilens, (and what a list: "air conditioner... paper (various weights)... sand... tuning forks... wooden clothespin"), you can almost imagine a conductor's wand flowing through the air this recording breathes, working to cue the slow builds of quiet rumble or the odd, Zappa-esque clinking of chimes and glass. There seems to be some thought at work here, an attention to detail that comes with the usual following of notes and scales. You can almost imagine pages of written music being turned, a book of noisemakers reading as notes and informing Haptic's every movement.Performed by Steven Hess (Locrian), Joseph Clayton Mills and Adam Sonderberg, Haptic's third full-length release also benefits heavily from the cassette format, that inherent, though light, persistent hiss adding to their collage.
haptic - scilens (album preview) by experimedia
Sincerely,
Letters From A Tapehead
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