Double Automatism

Personnel: Sam Kulik (trombone).
Fluxus-associated Japanese composer Yasunao Tone is one of the earliest pioneers of glitch art, having created music incorporating the sounds of damaged, skipping compact discs since the mid-'80s. Naturally, these experiments have found a home on a variety of high-profile avant-garde labels such as Tzadik, Lovely Music, Asphodel, and Mego, and Tone has collaborated with fellow glitch-meisters such as Hecker and Russell Haswell, as well as turntable deconstructionists Christian Marclay and Otomo Yoshihide. Double Automatism finds Tone working with New York City's improv prankster duo Talibam!, as well as trombonist Sam Kulik, for an unrelenting squall of noise which actually has more of a human element than much of Tone's work. Tone's squiggly, shredded electronics emanate from his laptop, while Matt Mottel contributes Roland Alpha Juno 1 analog synthesizer, and Kevin Shea (also of Mostly Other People Do the Killing) plays electronic MIDI percussion, which is largely buried underneath the rest of the remix. Sam Kulik's trombone is the only acoustic instrument present, but it's still enough to provide enough of a human contrast to the clinical feel of Tone's previous glitch recordings. More than anything, the two side-long improvisations on this LP are a blast to listen to, resulting in an album of nerdy fun which pushes the limits of technology and musical collaboration. ~ Paul Simpson