HR087 - Hands To - Scrine - C60 — 1988
|
Side A:
Whag Milpic Sethube Tind Thraal Plathers Firad |
Side B:
Sinc Scrine Mastic Biasis 2 |
REVIEW by Jerry Kranitz
Hands To is one of many projects from the prolific American sound artist, Jeph Jerman. Scrine is a banquet of abstract, textural, environmental and tape slice ‘n’ dice constructions. Experimental audio sculptures of this nature are always fun, as I can let my imagination and the imagery run wild. There are 11 tracks on this 60-minute set.
The set opens with textural rumbling, scratching and dragging, like a mouse trapped on a wheel and screeching in fear as a storm blows through, abetted by radio static morphed with Geiger counter crackle. Later we hear what struck me as sounding like Derek Bailey on a choppity-chop tape spliced guitar run, followed by manically over-the-top garbled tape fun, like a chipmunk invasion at an aviary and the buzz of their bodies as they hit an electric defense barrier.
I suspect environmental sounds were used prominently throughout the set, but they are more overt on ‘Tind’. It’s like being in a train yard, with the screech and grind of the wheels and the cars bumping as the train gradually gains momentum. It also sounds like a drunken horn ensemble jamming along with the train. ‘Plathers’ is like gliding bumpily across a wave-sweeping lake of sandpaper. ‘Firad’ is the quietest, most stripped-down minimal track yet, consisting of a distorted, lightly pulsating ambient wave. Eventually the volume amps up a bit and it starts to sound like we may be back in the train yard, only meditating on its sounds from a distance.
Side B opens with a parade of stilted carnival jingle, B-movie jungle music, and machine shop clatter, followed by frantic layers of scraping, like a washboard duo amidst an Industrial farm vibe. The last two tracks of the set are the most aggressively noisy. ‘Mastic’ is a steamroller assault of textured rumbling, scraping, screwball tape screeches, and voices. And, finally, ‘Biasis 2’ is equally intense, being 16-minutes of feeling like I was on a boat caught in a storm, fighting to keep the wildly flapping sails from being torn off their masts. Overall, I like the way Jerman balances noise, ambience, and tape manipulated effects to create coarse yet flowing sonic assemblages.
Hands To is one of many projects from the prolific American sound artist, Jeph Jerman. Scrine is a banquet of abstract, textural, environmental and tape slice ‘n’ dice constructions. Experimental audio sculptures of this nature are always fun, as I can let my imagination and the imagery run wild. There are 11 tracks on this 60-minute set.
The set opens with textural rumbling, scratching and dragging, like a mouse trapped on a wheel and screeching in fear as a storm blows through, abetted by radio static morphed with Geiger counter crackle. Later we hear what struck me as sounding like Derek Bailey on a choppity-chop tape spliced guitar run, followed by manically over-the-top garbled tape fun, like a chipmunk invasion at an aviary and the buzz of their bodies as they hit an electric defense barrier.
I suspect environmental sounds were used prominently throughout the set, but they are more overt on ‘Tind’. It’s like being in a train yard, with the screech and grind of the wheels and the cars bumping as the train gradually gains momentum. It also sounds like a drunken horn ensemble jamming along with the train. ‘Plathers’ is like gliding bumpily across a wave-sweeping lake of sandpaper. ‘Firad’ is the quietest, most stripped-down minimal track yet, consisting of a distorted, lightly pulsating ambient wave. Eventually the volume amps up a bit and it starts to sound like we may be back in the train yard, only meditating on its sounds from a distance.
Side B opens with a parade of stilted carnival jingle, B-movie jungle music, and machine shop clatter, followed by frantic layers of scraping, like a washboard duo amidst an Industrial farm vibe. The last two tracks of the set are the most aggressively noisy. ‘Mastic’ is a steamroller assault of textured rumbling, scraping, screwball tape screeches, and voices. And, finally, ‘Biasis 2’ is equally intense, being 16-minutes of feeling like I was on a boat caught in a storm, fighting to keep the wildly flapping sails from being torn off their masts. Overall, I like the way Jerman balances noise, ambience, and tape manipulated effects to create coarse yet flowing sonic assemblages.