REVIEWS reviews...... sounds...... pictures...... words...... links...... info from Hans Stoeve, Power Spot (a weekly program on Eastside Radio (89.7) in Sydney, Australia) Visit the Power Spot website for playlists and reviews. eM - greater than zero,less than one Michael Bentley, founder of The Foundry (http://www.foundrysite.com) also trades under several names depending on what style of music he feels like exploring at the time. This is (I think) his second release under the pseudonym eM, and on this particular release he seems to have processed data from a Macintosh computer, translated it into binary code which is a mix of 1 and 0, and then processed it till you question not only your own sanity, but also makes you question what constitutes music. This brings me to an interesting and important question which I am faced with time and time again. To say something is bad or good is really to admit, on a basic level, that you either understand how something has been constructed and the various thought processes behind that construction. On the other hand with a recording like this, it can also throw you into a state of utter chaos and panic because it challenges the way we listen. The easiest way to deal with this is to say that this is crap. We all do it in various ways when ever we listen to music. What is really happening is that we are saying that this fits into my comfort / acceptance zone, and therefore I will have the patience to listen to this, or my parameters have been stretched beyond what they normally deal with, so let's just reject what is happening. There are no rights or wrong. eM says we live in a digital age, surrounded by an ocean of zeros and ones, and he wants us to take a walk along the edges of this ocean and pick up the silicon sea shells and listen. My partner came home while this was playing and said "What's this shit?" I replied just the sound of raw data being processed and reassembled in something called a Digital Performer. "It's still shit." My cats got all nervous and uppity and attempted to jump through the windows, which in itself was scary as they were closed at the time. What this album reinforces to me is that sound exists everywhere, and on all levels, even on a computer hard drive. You just need to know how to reinterpret what is there, and once you've done this you need to forget everything you have ever learned in terms of listening, and start again. Morton Feldman discovered music in telegraph pole wires at an early age. Alan Lamb these days continues to amaze / confront with his sonic explorations. Hildegard Westerkamp sticks her microphones into the mulch and decay of the forests and records the underground organics and decay that exist there, and then processes this in the studio. John Cage with 4.33 of silence forced people to listen to themselves till it became uncomfortable for them. So I ask myself is this construction of sound / noise / binary data any more / less important than say a Mozart symphony. Not in the least, because it's in the way we listen, also more importantly in the way we have been conditioned to listen over the years. eM says there are no keyboards involved here, just the sound of binary data being processed. Even for me this is difficult, lots of tones and signals and occasionally a pattern of sound that involves rhythm, short stabs of sound that attack your senses. Some of this reminds me of those awful Christmas cards my mother sends me from time to time, you know the ones with the silicon chips? I received one in the mail years back which was faulty and could not be turned off. Everyone was going mad from listening to the sound it generated so I made a decision to bury it in the backyard. Well I get the feeling these things don't die in a hurry, because many a night has been spent sitting in solitude having a glass of Chateau Romper Stomper Rouge '88, when all of a sudden a faint whisper of Santa Clause Is Coming To Town emanates out of the earth. This by the way, is a true story which I was reminded of while listening to this album. I'm not saying this is for everybody, for it's taken me sometime to sit and listen to it with open ears. But there are rewards to be gained, and it will make demands of the listener rest assured. Check out the sound files at The Foundry site and discover for yourself what eM has to offer.