Robert Turman - Flux (first released 1981)

Multi-instrumentalist Robert Turman, originally from San Diego, began his recording career in a very different vein to this, his solo debut.  He'd been responsible, along with Boyd Rice, for the initial NON release Knife Ladder/Mode Of Infection, one of the first and most fearsome industrial artifacts to come out of the US.  This privately-released cassette appeared two years later, and couldn't have occupied a more strikingly different place on the sonic spectrum, consisting of barely-there, minimal ambient pieces based around kalimba (thumb piano) in its first half, regular piano thereafter.

Early listens to Flux left me a bit underwhelmed by how little was going on for long periods of time, and how uber-lo fi the recording was, but if you get into the right headspace for this it's utterly hypnotic.  Opening with a clunk and a clatter as the tape machines get going, the percussive tappings of the first 15 minutes create a nice, formless zen ambience, with the following track more minimal still, like a homebrew Brian Eno fan of not insignificant talent for melancholy atmosphere.

By the third piece (called Miao on the initial release; most subsequent editions gave no titles), a more rhythmic backdrop has been introduced, and a slow, stately Eastern-sounding melody rises from the massive fog of tape hiss.  The fourth, aka Slow Burning, gives the switch to regular piano, and plinks away for nearly 17 minutes with a knackered-sounding drum machine barely functioning in support.  If this feels a bit too enervating, the final two pieces are significantly shorter.  One to get lost in for sure.  Kudos to the Austrian label Spectrum Spools for this reissue (on CD and vinyl) in 2012.

link

William Basinski - The Disintegration Loops II (2003)

As explained in the previous post, I decided against posting all four volumes of The Disintegration Loops in favour of just my personal favourites.

Volume II contains two substantive loop pieces, both with a distinct character.  Dlp 2.2 (2.1 was a brief taster on Volume I) lets the tape loop, possibly the most aged and decaying of the set, flake away into staccato, echoing nothingness over 32 minutes.  The fact that it's also one of the most musically spartan of the loops puts the emphasis squarely on the effects of the tape disintegration - no bad thing, as it demonstrates the project's raison d'etre more effectively than any other.  By contrast, Dlp 3 has a much more lush, stately and mournful sound, washing over the listener in wave after wave of melancholy, then inevitably losing its identity a little bit at a time.  An achingly beautiful sound-world to get lost in, and my favourite Disintegration Loop after Dlp 6.

Volumes I & III are definitely worth seeking out - I've no plans to post them here, but all four volumes were remastered a couple of years ago; I've read that they all sound great in those new reissues.

link

William Basinski - The Disintegration Loops IV (2003)

One of the most wonderful, serendipitous events in loop music and ambient music, William Basinski's Disintegration Loops came about by accident while the New York-based artist was archiving some 20 year old tape loops.  As the ageing tape oxide started flaking to pieces, Basinski seized on the genius idea of making each tape into a long-form piece where the loop would repeat over and over until its ultimate self-destruction.  The six pieces were then given subtle production touches such as highly effective reverb, and were poignantly finished on the morning of 9/11, from which Basinski filmed an hour of video from his balcony to put against the first piece, and stills of which provided the album covers for the eventual four CDs (released 2002-3).

I was originally going to post all four volumes, but decided just to focus on my absolute favourite pieces from the series in this post and the next one. Dlp 6, the track that dominates this CD, was the first Basinski piece I discovered one melancholy night on YouTube searching for ambient solace - it's remained my favourite.  This final loop in the series actually disintegrates the least out of all of them over its 40 minutes, and also sounds the most (relatively!) upbeat and somewhat hopeful and redemptive as it washes over you again and again.  The Disintegration Loops Vol. IV CD is filled out with a couple of shorter verisons of the first (and on Vol I, longest) of the loops.

Speaking of YouTube, I couldn't post this album without giving credit to the video in question where I first discovered Basinski - and it's an essential watch; I seriously consider this one of the most genius YouTube videos of all time, and possibly the greatest ever, most perfectly apt fan-created music video.  Link is below - and yep, it is just 40 minutes of dawn breaking over Guadalajara, Mexico.  Enjoy!

link