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Having Never Been To Beirut

by Johnny Chang | Lee Noyes

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Untitled 2 12:17
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about

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Johnny Chang: viola, violin & field recordings
Lee Noyes: InputLoop Sampler

Rec. Berlin, Germany & Alingsås, Sweden
August-November 2012

Track 4 rec. live @ Labor Sonor
Berlin, 05 May 2013

Mastered by Lee Noyes
February 2014

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credits

released March 5, 2014

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"Chang on violin, viola, field recordings and Noyes handling feedback electronics. Four quiet but tough and gnarly tracks, Noyes' low-level electronics against/with Chang's minimal but sometimes antagonistic strings. "Antagonistic" in the sense that he often occupies that territory which, stereotypically, drives people nuts: for lack of a better term, "the squeaky violin", admittedly, not my favorite zone either, though it shouldn't be the case, just a matter of not being able to jettison all the baggage one builds up.

So it's kind of tough sledding for a while, to these ears but also a very welcome experience, forcing one (me, at least) to readjust my preconceptions or try to do so. The first piece, "First day in Beirut - composite state - initial encounter" sort of traverses many conditions, from Wandelweiser-ly soft to uncomfortably itchy to a kind of resolution, Chang's violin (I think) settling into a brief and lovely area, almost romantic, toward the end. "Untitled 2" takes a fairly simply structure and works it out very strongly, Chang concentrating on a single bowed tone on viola (if I'm not mistaken) and putting it through all sorts of permutations, Noyes beginning alongside with high sine tones and allowing them to branch into regions tangentially related but generally with a sense of continuity. The five-minute third piece seems a bit throwaway but the final one pushes all the right buttons. It's very wide-open and manages to attain something of an epic quality over its 22 minutes, full of air and undulations. Huge variety of sounds here but somehow they remain almost backgrounded, very much part of the fabric. Strong piece, beautifully realized." Brian Olewnick

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