| Artist: Beta Two Agonist Album: Autumn Perdue Released: 17 June 2008 |  |
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In the digital world distortion must be sought after. Having had all their interesting overloads and circuitry stresses engineered out, the newer digital instruments seem cold and boring compared to their analogue predecessors. On Autumn Perdue (52'53"), Beta Two Agonist creates a lovely tension between glitches, squeaks and weird artifacts (possibly culled from various forms of overdriven audio) and pristine synthesized tones and pads. Vividly atmospheric this album rises above the ordinary. Taming distortion into frozen sampled moments out of time this artist transforms sounds that are usually discarded or covered up into the prime elements of eight unique compositions. It is tough to locate this music's obvious beat or pulse as sounds and forms seem to happen periodically rather than in a discernable rhythm. Yet the music is engaging and does achieve focus. It is something more than free-form sound collage, as each track seems to have been composed in a purposeful manner. Autumn Perdue maintains a unique vaporous mood through the manipulation of timbre, the essential character of sound. Both minimalistic and ambient, the listener's mind will be elsewhere once this CD concludes. Interestingly, the point at which this music becomes most noticeable is after it has ended.
- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 12 August 2009 | |
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