The Vibrofiles editions of the past few years have become an important marker of reflection on contemporary sound practice. A varied and complimentary selection of sound artists and musicians working at the fringes of composition, sound art, improvisation and other musical forms are again presented here with the fourth installment of this growing boxset edition.
Music No Music seeks to tests for the edge of sound and musical languages. Each of the artists included here were invited to submit a work that summarises and problematises their relationship to sound and music. Clearly some artists have engaged with the idea more thoroughly than others – The Lappetites for instance offer a curious swell of electronics that seems to suggest a passive engagement with the themes of the compilation. By contrast Untitled #190 by Francisco Lopez creates a more devolved vision – a deep powerful surge of sound, restrained, yet all the while promising to become unruly. Equally Robert Hampson’ crunchy “Nebulae’ with it’s harshly filtered interjections creates a vision of sizzled uncomforted audio – pushing the listener to assess their willingness for the more extreme edges of sonic presence and musicality.
The success of the project is as always quite strong – each of the artists do suggest ways of thinking about this issue of audio and musical interpretation – there’ a deep pondering here and one we can all engage with at varying levels.
Lawrence English
