TOUCHING EXTREMES, May 2008
The subtitle of the album is “solo improvisations with stereo DJ mixer”. That says it all, more or less. The 70-minute duration is not a joke, either, for this is not your typical Toshi Nakamura or Sachiko M. No, Kwang privileges micro-drills, crackles, purrs, hums, buzzes, quirks and bleeps, handfuls of them copiously reproduced for the total length of the CD. Which brings me to a cold-blooded conclusion: this music is neither beautiful, nor ear-pleasing. It is what it is – anarchic experimental noise that can or cannot be appreciated. And that’s how it should be: aesthetic implications must be left out of the door, and the fame of the recording facility (STEIM) indicates that the work was conceived in a serious frame of mind. What I usually prefer in similar occasions is putting headphones on and leaving the mass of impulses do their job almost subliminally, at not excessive volume while I’m doing something else. The pairing of “Good vibrations” and my blank stare at the TV screen at about 10 PM produced some nice moment of unconscious stimulation (and a little bit of tinnitus at the end). Having been realized with measurable honesty, this is an interesting disc, in spurts. Maybe cutting the program at half the time would have increased the incisiveness of the whole.
- Massimo Ricci
