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September 13th, 2006 by Jonathan Fletcher (Permalink)
Label: 2062 Year: 2006 Add Comments |
Basinski is a New York artist who’s most famous for his startling series of pieces, Disintegration Loops and Pantelleria is another remarkable release that adheres to a continuation of the same ‘working’ practices of the DL series. That methodology is a disarmingly simple one that never fails to produce truly exquisite results. Disintegration Loops arised when Basinski, a classically trained composer and experimental musician attempted to transfer old tape reels of loops he’d made in the 80’s onto digital hardware. Because of their age, the tapes started deteriorating, disintegrating each time they passed through the machine heads but as the pieces decayed, it leant them an incredibly profound poignance and beauty. Basinski then lets the tapes roll until their eventual destruction. That’s not the whole story as regards to that particular work (chuck in 9/11 and various other things- it’s a remarkable tale without the music) but it goes to explain the process.
Pantelleria is a simple piano loop, poignant as all of Basinski’s work is but this particular piece also carries something of a fonder, more blissful atmosphere- the melody carries a warm reminiscence rather than a lost happiness. Basinski notes that the title refers to an idyllic summer spent at an Italian artists retreat from a few years ago and that certainly translates through the warped sound.
And, just what a sound. This time during the recording process, instead of just simple decay, the loop would also randomly slip the play head and run backwards. It’s hard to adequately describe the effect, the strange colour of this music. The age of the tape automatically gives a muted faded feel to the proceedings but other sounds come out of the (heat) haze- an out of sync rapid heartbeat and what sounds like layers and layers of effects and echo. Of course, the piece constantly morphs as the loop spins again, becoming lost in itself, ushering strange repetitions and ghostly feedback. That this is all entirely natural only adds to the extraordinary feel of the piece.
Like the best ambient music, in the Cage or Eno sense of the word, this music can tint your life in the subtlest of ways. Despite the duplication in process, despite the simplicity of the loops themselves, this is another singular piece of music, one of Basinski’s finest and that is saying a hell of a lot.
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