The musical research that I have undertaken goes beyond man's "point of listening" (instead of "point of view") to experiment what could be defined as the machine's "point of listening" (the aesthetic of the machine). Therefore it is an aesthetic that privileges a "beyond-feeling", the meeting with the "outerness", with the "totally-out".
The audio frequency field of this work is beyond the possibilities of our "perceptions"; it is in fact in the range of the "ultrasounds" (up to 20kHz) and the infrasounds (down to 16Hz). Throughout this work the sounds were generated at the maximum volume available for digital systems (0dB).
Therefore this composition is totally full, saturated, without dynamics, with a volume level consistently turned up to "fortissimo" (classical notation), just outside the range of human perception. What remains for our hearing? Only silence? However all that we perceive in this work is entirely the result of what has been discarded, the driftage, the limits of technology and our auditory apparatus; anything that springs out of those interferences, from those collisions, the clashes of those hyper-frequencies, their results, the difficulties and the noises of the sound-reproduction system (amplifiers, loudspeakers, filters, etc.) actually produced by the surrounding space (those objects that vibrate), our very own auditory apparatus and body (often it is not our ear but our whole body that feels and vibrates).
This work could be defined as the "place of paradoxes", the place in which "limits" transit and collide.
Inversion: in this composition, emptiness and silence are the consequence of the total fullness, of the "totally sonorous" (even if beyond our hearing possibilities); in contrast sounds, signs, traces of those, are entirely the result of the instability of the "totally-full", from its collapse, from those results, from the marginal effect of these "depressions", from what is discarded, from the turbulences. Finally we can confirm that here we are listening to the results of "absence", of the "emptying" of the "sonorous", of its "non-result".
Interactivity and invariableness: this work, which seems to be an "Art des sons fixes", an art of the medium therefore always equal to itself, here it becomes "event", "open work", interactive, "aleatory"; it is in fact totally variable, depending on what the listener chooses as even turning the head slightly is often enough to experience changes in what we hear; it depends on the place, the objects in the room, the environmental characteristics (the impact and reflection of these unheard frequencies create totally different effects), from the system of reproduction and how it is regulated (deliberatedly controlled or unconsciously affected by the listeners) and also from the anatomical-physiological characteristics of the listener (the extreme characteristic of these frequencies allows a subject to listen to a hiss or a loud sound and for another subject to listen to total silence).
Concrete-electronic: in this work it is possible to listen to concrete waste, to the left overs of audio material of a totally synthetic nature. Therefore, this work sits on that border, within an enigmatic trace, on the border between two paradigms; in effect at the same time it answers to a radical "concrete" logic and one of "electronic purism".
Therefore, a pure "objective" sound (a simple "sinusoidal wave"), purely inorganic, inexpressive, beyond-human, a sharp, metallic object, that can also hurt, a totally "extraneous" sound (an extreme-experience, sometimes toxic, harmful, but not only for man, but also for the machine).
Well, what we actually listen to in this work is the meeting (clash, collision) point between man and his technological extension (amputation); this leads us into that listening zone, shady and disturbing which, ultimately is not only within both the mind and thinking, but also a product.
Even the resulting audio wave images in this work are very anomalous. The normal audio waves visual system of reproduction... collapses... breaks down. The coordinates logic systems are not longer valid...the readouts are no longer legible. The algorithms are completely unreliable... unfounded... they only tell us of an other world...beyond our mind. Elio Martusciello
ReViews: Lest you be in any doubt about the label's radical credentials, Elio Martusciello's Aesthetics Of The Machine comes with the following warning: "These recordings are very, very loud. They are dangerous to the ears and for hi-fi systems. Listen with caution. Moderate the volume control." All right! The last album that came with a health warning was Zorn's Kristallnacht, and this one's even more fun. Working with ultrasounds (up to 20,000Hz) and infrasounds (down to 16Hz), all that we perceive, writes Martusciello, is "the result of what has been discarded, the driftage, the limits of technology and our auditory apparatus." Accordingly, the opening "Out of our mind" starts with a god almighty crack (the music, or the loudspeakers already registering disapproval?), and within less than a minute the sub-basses set the entire room shaking. I have a friend with a $30,000 hifi system and electrostatic speakers as tall as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but I'm somehow reluctant to ask him to try this album out, not wishing to be held legally responsible for any structural damage to his property that might result. Remember, as Stockhausen once said, "sounds can kill". Despite the rather scientific nature of the composer's accompanying notes, this is as much music for the body (literally) as it is for the mind; it might not be something one can be said to enjoy, but there is certainly a hell of a lot to feel. (Dan Warburton, Paris Transatlantic, January 2004) [...] The first album is a hard one to start with. There is a mini-essay in the cover, suggesting musical research, audio frequencies beyond hearing, an art of the medium and that 'even the resulting audio wave images in this work are very anomalous'. When we listen to it we hear a seemingly random array of sine and related noises – there are pure ones at various frequencies, clicks as they come and go, some harsh crackling distorted components, lovely deep thrumbles, piercing high ones, a couple of passes through the frequencies. The sounds are short or long, can come on their own or overlap, move through the sound field, vary in volume. There is also some variation across the tracks – some are more active, some harsher. Listening in different environments supposedly reveals varied aspects.
Which makes for intense and somewhat difficult listening. It can't be left as background as there are some loud eruptions, and grates at times, and its unpredictable nature keeps dragging you back in, with few soothing passages, but often engaging. I feel it needs more structure, but enjoyed it more on later listenings where I definitely kept it out of the front space. (Jeremy Keens, Ampersand Etc.,October 2003) |
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