OVERLAND -NS3002
Toshiya Tsunoda
- Reclaimed
Land
Joel Stern - Saltwort
Tarab - Of
hollow traces
Lawrence English - A
Summer Crush
In late 2003 Naturestrip invited four artists to submit pieces that
would represent their recent work using field recordings. The ‘Overland’
compilation collects these results and demonstrates the wide range of
approaches and techniques used by each artist.
Toshiya Tsunoda’s work is internationally recognized for its unique
and conceptually rigorous take on field recording. His releases on labels
including sirr, hapna, intransitive, lucky kitchen and wrk, have established
Tsunoda as a key reference for any work done in this field. Reclaimed
Land is an acoustic snapshot, recorded in Heisei Cho, Yokosuka City
in August 1998. The piece captures an immersive and rich environment,
momentarily framed. The listener can become involved on a variety of
levels, visualizing an imaginary context, or entering a pure sound world.
Joel Stern is a Melbourne based sound artist and improviser, working
with environmental recordings, electrical interference, modified microphones,
amplified objects and simple feedback systems. His work moves freely
between richly textural surface noise, investigations of acoustic space,
and minute gestural detail. Joel has released music on labels including
Groundfault, Touch, Impermanent, and TwoThousandAnd. His contribution
to 'Overland', was produced using binaural microphones, two bottles
of soda water, damaged cables and speakers. Listening with headphones
is recommended.
Tarab ( Eamon Sprod) has been working on the fringes of the Melbourne
sound world for the past 6 years,exploring the interplay of field recordings
and improvisation with found objects. Tarab’s - Of Hollow Traces,
was constructed from a series of improvisations, in late 2003-early
2004. Using a mixture of found objects, microphones, simple electronics
and field recordings, to create a cyclic mixture of breathing resonate
drones, static rustlings and scrapings.
Lawrence English is writer, composer and artist based in Brisbane, Australia.
Working across a broad range of media art forms, English’s work
is eclectic and characterises a long-term exploration of collage, audio/visual
environments and found sound. His work on Overland collects together
a series of field recordings captured in Tokyo and New York during June/July
2003, the resulting composition acting as an audio diary of sorts –
a series of abstract reflections on the sound textures, people and spaces
visited while on tour.
“……perhaps it has to do with the enjoyment derived from witnessing another human’s appreciation of the sounds he was hearing that evening and the affinity felt by a different person, several years and many miles away. “ Bagatellan – Brian Olewnick
”Four artists involved in working with field recordings were asked to submit pieces for this compilation. Toshiya Tsunoda opens the disc with a gorgeous urban landscape where motors, radio, natural elements and a light touch of electronic hiss fuse beautifully in a relaxing, caressing track, the highlight being a jet flying upon a background of crickets. Joel Stern makes great work of soda bottles, binaural mikes and damaged reproduction means in an electroacoustic small gem that would make many academists pretty envious; all is based on watery sounds and their altering process. Tarab (Eamon Sprod) is maybe the author of the most "mysterious" product, an almost menacing mixture of rumble, buzz, interferences, electrostatics and air-in-a-tube sounds: the assembling quality and the perfect placing of the single elements in the listening panorama is nothing short of masterful. Lawrence English is the last featured soundscaper and he brings us back to the field recording area with a work that's nearer to concrete music than the others; voices, traffic, TV sets, maybe trains?, all slightly treated with effects to yield a satisfying aural document of various realities in their very essence. Overall, a beautiful presentation from a label truly worthy of being followed with maximum attention” Touching Extremes – Massimo Ricci
“The pieces on Overland initially bear similarities to the monastic aspects of free improv, however the subtle decisions made by these sound artists create whole worlds of drama and perspective.”BBC Experimental Review – Colin Buttimer
"Overland is a kind of Naturestrip sampler, featuring more work by Tarab, along with one track each by Toshiya Tsunoda, Joel Stern, who's recently returned to his native Australia after an eventful time in London, and Brisbane-based Lawrence English. Tsunoda's "Reclaimed Land" is a (seemingly) unadorned field recording of an August evening in Heisei Cho, Yokosuka City. The title is significant, perhaps, in that it also refers to the listening experience, which reclaims sounds that almost everyone on the planet can recognise - the roar of distant passing traffic, the fizz of nocturnal insect life - and allows us to appreciate them as musical events in their own right. In stark contrast, Stern's "Saltwort" uses soda water, assorted bottles and electronic feedback systems to create a vivid, glistening world (welcome back inside the bottle). Things very nearly go down the plughole at 5'22" but Stern manages to restart the magical machine. Tarab's "Of hollow traces" is another slow burner, taking its time to move from draughty upper registers to a low rumbling underground stream. It's a good résumé of Sprod's modus operandi, and perhaps worth getting hold of before you take the plunge and invest in Surfacedrift. English's "A Summer Crush" was sourced in recordings made in Tokyo and New York, and cunningly juxtaposes "raw" field recordings with material that sounds like it's been squeezed through some pretty sophisticated software. Tweets and caws of garden birdsong coexist with clattering subway trains; interior and exterior, oriental and occidental, old and new, private and public, "real" and "recorded" (i.e. sourced from TV or radio) sounds are skilfully mixed together into a veritable piece of cinema for the ear, to coin a phrase." Paris Transatlantic - Dan Warbuton
