Herbal - NECD1 Goh Lee Kwang: New Ear

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Herbal - NECD1 Goh Lee Kwang: New Ear

出版“推敲琢磨”的时候我想要说，创作就是这样推敲琢磨出来的，不论是任何形式的艺术；接着“反之亦然”则没有什么好说的，因为怎么说，结果还是反之亦然。艺术是双向的；而“逆耳”，还是应该听的。

与其称之为音乐，我更愿意把它当作是一个思考。

Back in "Hands", I was tried to explain how the works been created, make no different then other arts form, it's by hands; Then I got nothing to say about "Vice Versa", because whatever it is, it can be vice versa; And "New Ear" is for ears.

Instead of music, I'd call this a thought.

CD1
1, VURNMMKIED

CD2
1, VURNMMKIED II
2, 3753

2 x Audio CD
130 minutes+
Release date: August 2013
18 Euros + shipping order

Also by Goh Lee Kwang
2011 反之亦然 _, and Vice Versa
2011 The Lost Testimony of Rashomon
2009 推敲琢磨Hands
2008 Draw Sound (book & 3"CD)
2007 Good Vibrations
2005 Punk Guitar... with bonus track!!
2004 Internal Pleasures

[gohleekwang]

[gohleekwang]

Available on bandcamp: 24bit master (slightly different to the 16bit CD master)
http://gohleekwang.bandcamp.com/album/new-ear

[gohleekwang]

Vital Weekly #900

I have some more 'trouble' with the double CD by Goh Lee Kwang, the owner of Herbal International. For instance, why are these two discs released together? I read on the website: "Back in "Hands", I was tried to explain how the works been created, make no different then other arts form, it's by hands; Then I got nothing to say about "Vice Versa", because whatever it is, it can be vice versa; And "New Ear" is for ears. Instead of music, I'd call this a thought." That doesn't shed much light on it. CD one has a piece called 'Vurnmmkied', CD two has a piece called 'Vurnmmkied II' and '3735'. The two pieces with that odd title might be linked together. CD one lasts almost seventy minutes and at one point only has music on one channel for quite a long part. This whole piece and it's thirty minute 2nd part seems to be build from field recordings, which gradually seem to be alienated into something that sounds more like sine waves, and in the 2nd part has a cracked rhythm towards the end. Kwang takes his time to create this and I would think perhaps its a bit too much time here and there with not always an interesting variation of information. Unless of course there is some element of Zen involved here, which I fail to get. My favorite is the thirty minutes of '3735', which is also a sine wave like experiment, but then in the lower region of the sound spectrum. You could think this piece is something that Eliane Radigue could also have produced, but then perhaps Kwang does it a bit more single minded. I didn't think this was his masterpiece, and it could have been shorter, even perhaps with the two pieces 'Vurnmmkied' trimmed to forty minutes and the complete '3735' to be fitted on one CD.
- Frans De Waard

[gohleekwang]

Just Outside
An obscure, hermetic release, this. Two discs, some 130 minutes with two version of something called "Vurnmmkied" (google returns only hits related to his recording) and a thirty-minute track called "3753", with the following commentary on the label site: "Then I got nothing to say about "Vice Versa", because whatever it is, it can be vice versa; And "New Ear" is for ears." Does "Vice Versa" = Vurnmmkied? No idea. There is an ear on the back cover.

The first disc is largely given over to a very rough static sound, more broken electronics than static as such, I think, though on occasion you can just make out what seems to be snatches of field recordings and light metallic jangling. Once in a while the sound completely drops from one or another speaker. Upping the volume increases the level of interest; my visual analogy became peering through a Brillo pad with a high-powered microscope. About 25 minutes in, it enters a looped phase, a dull, thin clang marking each iteration, fuzz gradually becoming more predominant. At times, you almost get an effect similar to early Riley or Reich tape experiments. It does on a long time though, a really long time. I'm not sure if there's actual change or if one's brain begins picking out different sounds and patterns--I think the change is there, you simply have to make the investment in concentration. Moving one's head (ears) also matters. I admit almost dying when, in the last 15 or so seconds, one speaker leaps to sudden, extremely loud, life. After all is said and done, I was glad to have heard the work--it's a tough go but worth it.

Despite the similarity of title, "Vurnmmkied II" is a different beast altogether, beginning with wavering, midrange sines and progressing to subtle, quiet vibrating patterns, almost sounding like slowed down insect life, but just as likely to be motors of some sort. The sines take off into the ether, leaving behind the faintest of taps, only to plummet back in more complex weaves, deeper and smoother, with a Radigue-ish aspect. This, in turn, fractures into ever more brief buzzes soon offset by bell-like tones, the buzzes looping into a static, simple pattern. As before, this is more or less maintained for a good while, in this case about ten minutes out of thirty. Perhaps more difficult to even possibly get into than Disc One but still strangely attractive, decidedly at variance with much you're likely to encounter elsewhere. Another drastic shift occurs in "3753", all woolly, amorphous electronics, like billows of soft e-bow feedback, finding a low branch and just languishing there. Easily the most approachable of the tracks, it may also be the least satisfying as, while pleasant, it doesn't quite provide the gristle of the first two, feeling more like a sweet proffered as a reward.
- Brian Olewnick -

[gohleekwang]

Neural
The new 2-CD release by Goh Lee Kwang for Herbal International includes more than 130 minutes of abstract minimal sounds: drones, hums, acute whistles and glitches – highly synthetic elaborations that the author calls “Vurnmmkied”. The sounds seem to be balanced in a steady way, combining static digitalisms, whose interpretation is difficult, with loops and iterations that are reminiscent of avant-garde minimalist music from the sixties. According to the release notes the author had no intention of creating an easy listening experience. Listeners are forced into enlarging their perceptual range, paying attention to multiple elements simultaneously. We are presented with volumes changes, alternations between empty and full spaces, breaks and twists. In the second CD the field recordings and the buzzing noises (dark beats on the edge of the sound spectrum) become even more difficult to deal with. The Malaysian sound-artist usually makes installations featuring these types of sounds, often in conjunction with visuals. He focuses on the edges between natural sound and recorded sound, digital and analogue, electronic and acoustic, moving in an area of thought where languages are deadlocked and the audience must use personal taste and experience to fill the gap left by the author. The project is not made for everybody, but those you who have the courage to take a listen will find some interesting passages.
- Aurelio Cianciotta -

[gohleekwang]

Squidco
Two extended works from Herbal International label leader Goh Lee Kwang: the two part "Vurnmmkied" the first of static sonic environments that slowly morph, while the second varies with a mix of subtle and harsh sound; "3753" contrasts with gentler, slower territory.

http://herbalinternational.blogspot.com ... w-ear.html