DiN Records's CD shelf-filling effort continues with Tone Science Module No. 9: Theories and Conjectures (62:28). The adventurous listener will find that the nine custom-made realizations, each marked by creative beauty and meritorious aural exploration, taken together are strong enough to hold our attention across the plus one hour listening time, as well as prompt us to seek out of further works by all the innovative artists included in this wonderful collection.
The first and second submissions on Theories and Conjectures get our journey underway in two tightly dramatic, then free flowing sequencer examinations by Loula Yorke and State Azure (Patrick Unsworth). Once their contributions have fully glimmered in the air the energy level next winds its way languidly through the resonant and subtly shaded Ambient moods provided by Theda Electronic Music (Norman Fay) and Swansither (Tom Kennedy). Their sounds are cool and confident - shimmering delightfully in arrangements of striking sonic drama. Adding some contrast Sulk Rooms (Thomas Ragsdale) moves us further along into a remarkable sci-fi realm of eerie desert planet allure - while thereafter Tomorrow The Cure (Wayne Taylor) offers something drawn from the more portentous colors of the synthetic palette. Both JacqNoise and Alex Ball introduce kinetic zones built on pulsating beats and deviceful rises, falls, twists and turns. Michael J York then concludes our trek into electrical discovery, ascending in textures of slowly purling thought tendrils and such delicate desolation.
Over the course of its years-long existence the integrity and appeal of the Tone Science anthology series has never faltered. Each piece on each volume works off the energy of the one before it, and draws us forward towards the next, showing connections and adding value to the surrounding works - to an extent that the collection as a whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. From tuneful fairytale entertainment to the enigmatic and uncategorizable, Theories and Conjectures somehow absorbs then plays the world around us in nine tracks - to sharpen our understanding of the field of Electronic Music and the impressive range of innovative artists advancing this mystifyingly vast form of expression.
- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 30 May 2024
