[ reviews ]
32.
turnoff [ • rec. 2002 ][w/ Zbigniew Karkowski]
> rel. 2003 - miniCD Noise Asia, China ()
Francisco López "turnoff" (CD - Noise Asia, 2003)
Within the condensed format of this 3" CD, Zbigniew Karkowski and Francisco López get to the point very quickly. Eschewing his typical approach of incredibly slow building compositions, López allows himself to be relatively active in his sound-collage. At a brief 10 minutes, "Untitled #132" ramps up through variable passages of processed white noise, some of which appear to be his cricket / locust field recordings while others might be the amplified electrical hum of a computer hard drive. Regardless of the source material, López steadily brings the volume up on his bristling sounds, then cuts the power. He has set up multiple tracks of these ramp-up-to-drop-outs to fill the entire sonic spectrum. The final terminal snap is all the more unsettling only because Karkowski's power-violence is lurking around the corner. It's possible that both artists are applying the same source material to their signature sounds. While López is a little bit more dynamic than usual, Karkowski follows his brash noise approach. Every sound is as loud as possible, as distorted as possible, as misanthropic as possible, and as ugly as possible. Aquarius Records (USA, 2004)
Within the condensed format of this 3" CD, Zbigniew Karkowski and Francisco López get to the point very quickly. Eschewing his typical approach of incredibly slow building compositions, López allows himself to be relatively active in his sound-collage. At a brief 10 minutes, "Untitled #132" ramps up through variable passages of processed white noise, some of which appear to be his cricket / locust field recordings while others might be the amplified electrical hum of a computer hard drive. Regardless of the source material, López steadily brings the volume up on his bristling sounds, then cuts the power. He has set up multiple tracks of these ramp-up-to-drop-outs to fill the entire sonic spectrum. The final terminal snap is all the more unsettling only because Karkowski's power-violence is lurking around the corner. It's possible that both artists are applying the same source material to their signature sounds. While López is a little bit more dynamic than usual, Karkowski follows his brash noise approach. Every sound is as loud as possible, as distorted as possible, as misanthropic as possible, and as ugly as possible. Aquarius Records (USA, 2004)