IO/001

s*

UNEARTHED FROM AIRWAVES

format: CD
full colour print | 4-panel ecosleeve
300 replicants | archival sleeve

* ADD TO CART FOR CD & DIGITAL DOWNLOAD OPTIONS *

reinterpretations of saibotuk*
Tactical Tape Loop Division

 

i8u / ’til death
tomas phillips / flore
richard chartier / EVP.RE
jeff carey / cut_0.3
coingutter / a little night music
scant intone / earos [rmx]

saibotuk* / Kronos:cut1 [Live in MTL 29.06.08
saibotuk* / Kronos:cut2 [Live in MTL 29.06.08

edition 300 | mastered by s*
design fairypunk.ca

// Throughout 2007, and armed with a commission from Turbulence.org, the estranged sound-artist saibotuk* conducted a series of haunting and unsettling experiments in Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP), exploring the remnants of cut-up techniques pioneered by Konstantin Raudive and Brion Gysin with William S. Burroughs. Utilising two reel-to-reel machines, blank tape, and a delay processor to dive into deteriorated time, saibotuk* unearthed the inaudible fragments of the undead in an exploration entitled ’til death do us a part. On UNEARTHED FROM AIRWAVES, saibotuk*’s uncanny experiments as the Tactical Tape Loop Division (TTLD) are reinterpreted by sound-artists i8u, Tomas Phillips, Richard Chartier, Jeff Carey, Coingutter, and Scant Intone. The disc closes with a live recording of the sole performance by saibotuk* in Montréal of the TTLD project at Cagibi on the 29th of June, 2008.

// AIR CURRENTS ARE THE PROVIDENCE OF THE BREATH OF THE DEAD. THE SPIRITS OF THE DECEASED TRAVERSE THE RIVER STYX AS SOULS OF AIR. IN SANSKRIT PRANA, IN GREEK PSCYHE OR THE PNEUMA OF THE AURA; IN LATIN, THE ANIMUS AND SPIRITUS OF BEING. GATHERING THE SPIRITS OF THE DEAD ON ELECTROMAGNETIC TAPE AFTER THE MANNER OF K. RAUDIVE AND W.S. BURROUGHS — THIS BE DEAD MEDIA THAT UNWINDS TIME FROM ITS SPOOLS. TWO REEL-TO-REEL MACHINES CAPTURE THE LOVING CARESS OF ELECTRON-IMPRINTED TAPE. TIME OUT OF JOINT FALLS IN & OUT FO TAPE SYNC; THE RESONANT BEING OF BLANK MEDIA LOOPS THE FREQUENCY. // investigated.

‘tIL DEATH DO US A PART / eAROS

• TTLD 2008 .
• TTLD 2009 .
• TTLD 2010 .
• ALDA TT (EVP) 2011.

// REVIEWS

VITAL WEEKLY (811) (NL)
A new label from Canada with two great releases in the micro-electric world. The artwork is well done by a professional designer and has a high, spacey character. The music is made by the unknown S*. The musician loves to work with with two reel-to-reel machines and plays with the tapes with loops, speed, etcetera. Electromagnetic crackles, droney sounds, noisy-glitches and several layers makes this music something special. Mostly this kind of music is made with a more academic starting-point. I do not know why, but in this music there is a lot of emotion, although the sounds are harsh, subtle and noisy. Maybe it has to do with the ideas of the musician to create a psychedelic atmosphere, so that the listener can fly away into the sky to other planets. The first release consists of reinterpretations of the music of S*. Six musicians including Coingutter, i8u, Tomas Phillips, Richard Chartier, Jeff Carey and Scant Intone worked with S*’s music and created a complete album, sounding as if it is the work of one person. On the second release, S* plays together with Katherine Kline of Montreal’s psychedelic noise and industrial outfit Dreamcatcher. Samples of voices and cut-up technics makes this second release more human and less industrial. The two musicians play carefully with the electronic bleeds and tones. Lovely album. IO Sound has made a good start with these two beautiful releases which are recorded in 2008. I do not know how many more recordings S* has made, but it these are the only one, it is a real pleasure to discover this spacey emotional world. (JKH)

RAVAGE DIGITAAL (NL)
Sometimes I get those pleasant surprises in the mailbox, for which I’m very happy. The label IO Sound from Canada, recently established, has immediately launched two beautiful editions of S*. Who S* is the label does not say. The only thing known is that in 2008 recordings were made and that he creates music with tape recorders, a mixer, feedback and other electronics.

The CD is in form and space named Glyphs of Erebus Sublime, with many references to other planets. Glyphs or Erebus Sublime is made with KK, or Katherine Kline, a member of Dreamcatcher, a psychedelic noise band from Montreal. Oddly enough the album contains a lot of emotion. Often electronic music in this part of the musical field utilises a clinical approach to sound. This CD knows to build tension and takes the listener into a psychedelic world. The minimal use of noisy sounds, creaking and waves, emerging bleeps and appearances creates a tension that will not let go. Unearthed from Airwaves is more noisy in nature and consists of reinterpretations of music performed by S* by various musicians, such as Coingutter. The musicians work with two tape recorders, working with loops and the tempo of the composed music. Although a compilation CD, it is good that it is consistent with palette, as if only a single musician was at work.

Who S* is remains a mystery. According to the label, the origin is unknown. Anyway, names really do not matter. S* creates a tense, crackling, rich world. I await with expectation the follow-up to S*’s journeys to other planets, taking us by storm with the electronic processing of reality. (Jan Kees Helms)

!EARSHOT (CA)
The remix album is a Creative Commons of saibotuk’s Tactical Tape Loop Division (2008). There are six contributing artists: I8U, T. Phillips, R. Chartier, J. Carey, Coingutter and Scant Intone. They have created an album that sounds intimately undecipherable one track from another. There are glitch, pop, hiss and echoing noises that are experimental, electronic micro-noisescapes of drone and dub, that at times feature melody and even electronic mimicry of natural ambient sounds like thunder and lightning. The compact disc artwork is beautiful and astronomically oriented. When probed further it is the work of fairypunk.ca. Is it math music, an esotericism of meanings, do the samples have underlying movements when explored further? Are there secrets in this music? A description paragraph on the album proper reveals: “[…] gathering the spirits of the dead on electromagnetic tape […] this be dead media that unwinds time from its spools”. Albeit, a listen is an enjoyable experience and the light exploratory frequencies are musically inclined, and not altogether inconsumable. (Tristin Norenberg-Goodmanson)

OFFERINGS (CA)
I’m thinking of a refrigerator hum. Some days when you are lucky enough to find yourself at home mid-afternoon and the couch has a blanket draped across the back, you feel yourself getting heavy. You lie down to the exclusion of the work you have to do or the friend you were supposed to call and you begin to nod off. Some days you don’t even notice the buzzing noise emanating from the kitchen. Other days it’s soothing – the sound of a home when it’s quiet. Then there are days when the sound seems to amplify inside of you head and eat up all your good feeling and turn it into some kind of Robert Crumb animated madness and it gets louder and louder and you hate it and you start to think of all the things in your life over which you have no control and your teeth start to grind and your fists clench and hold till your knuckles turn white. Abandon nap! (Deirdre O’Sullivan)

CYCLIC DEFROST (AU)
Unearthed from Airwaves is a remix compilation album based on sounds sourced from Saibotuk’s Tactical Tape Loop Division (2008). A range of artists including, i8u, Tomas Phillips, Richard Chartier, Jeff Carey, Coingutter and Scant intone contribute to the release. Saibotuk himself also features with two live pieces at the tail end of the album.

All of the tracks on this compilation reside in a similar sonic terrain, one that is filled with low resonant bass drones, radio static and tuning, and an assortment hums, glitches and distorted noise. Consequently, the tracks on Unearthed from Airwaves fall into dark ambient/noisescape territory, and whilst the aforementioned timbral elements are consistent throughout the compilation, each artist shapes them in their own distinct manner. This is most evident on Coingutter’s industrial beat driven ‘A little night music’ and Jeff Carey’s rapid fire assortment of abrasive, yet audibly digestible, noise bursts as heard on ‘Cut 0.3’. Elsewhere, Scant Intone’s meditative ‘Earos (RMX)’ offers a sense of respite with its warm, elongated bass drones.

Unearthed from Airwaves is an engaging listen; a well organised compilation that finds the featured artists thoughtfully reimaging and reinterpreting Saibotuk’s original source material. — Luke Bozzetto