: foundry indices : reviews : sounds : : : news : pictures : words : : : the foundry : hypnos REVIEWS from Ampersand Etcetera 2003-h (7.1.2003) written by Jeremy Keens http://ampersandetc.virtualave.net/ampersand.html & jeremy@pretentious.net Various Artists sub.terra The Foundry/Hypnos Fou.019 http://www.foundrysite.com The Foundry returns with an intriguing concept. John Koch-Northrup (Interstitial) has created an experimental/jazz soundwork, the eponymous 'sub.terra', solely on trumpet. Then components have been given to four artists to work with and from, and their pieces complete the album. The title track opens the album with atmospheric trumpet-drones, short twinkles and extended notes in a slow fanfare. A touch of cymbals, rumbles under and fragmented horn calls, we get a sense of floating through space, or a great underground cavern, as echoes create a sense of distance and soft machines ply. At this stage, you wonder, why? Why take one instrument and create a panoply of sounds which could have been created more easily on a computer. But then you sense the clarity of the brass sound, the integration of tonalities and you can hear why. The rumble builds and there are more melody layers playing motifs, deeply resonating. A long call runs through, resonating at the end, and perhaps the space you are in is the Minotaur's lair. A highly evocative piece. Vir Unis takes a densish part of trumpet and adds a vinyl click-loop to it on 'Burning champa' with a muttering loop that builds and is then joined by a variety of rhythm loops. These are foregrounded and the trumpet becomes an atmospheric backdrop for melody and click loops that bubble along with computer burbles and the occasional move forward from the trumpet. I had written 'invocation' in my notes on vidnaObmana's piece before noting it's title ­ 'Ceremonial'. Taking some long rising and falling tones stretched from the original, he layers light tones, bamboo flute, and voice-sounds pulsating around it, building to create the mood reflected in the title. There are more trumpet calls deep within, but they are distant highlights as it falls into a long fade. In the first part of 'Lisboa' Saul Stokes modulates a pulsing fizzy drone with fast tapping and long horns samples that have computer flitters around them. Squidgy chunky rhythms drop in, and the horn falls from being an equal player to a more support role. Finally the rhythm gets fast chopped, the horn rises up and then drops back again as a bloopy fast salsa mood takes the ending. M Bentley probably places the most emphasis on the source with drone pulses, eerie long calls, parts that sound like voices and little calls building and flowing dramatically using the pure tones of 'From there Š'. Then swaps in the second part to a puttering swirl that is less dense with high tones ringing through and direct trumpets. Finally the circle is completed as Interstitial takes what the others have done and creates 'Solitude'. This doubles the length of the original and takes it through more changes ­ in the early stages there is some tick-tick rhythms, more swirling synths, bass and flute; then a rhythm enters and it builds to a climax before droney rolling shimmers building again; then the trumpet re-emerges and plays gently as lighter tones swell and then a slow wind down. The format of this collaboration places a distinct limit on its moods and structures ­ the atmospheric nature of the title track underscores all the subsequent pieces even when rhythms are introduced. That constraint, though, determines that the result is more coherent and plays subtle and ingenious games with the mood. Dark and contemplative, this is a satisfying whole.