FAKTURA "Faktura"
Absurd | #34 | CD-R | 2004

A headphones music. Actually, the name of the person the cover photo is credited to, Bernhard Günter, may say a lot to those familiar with current genres of experimental music.Faktura is Mark Wastell - amplified textures (known also of participation in Chris Burn's Ensamble, Derek Bailey's Company, Even Parker's string project to name but a few, and his solo recordings / concerts), and Graham Halliwell - feedback saxophone (a well known persona in the improv scene too - collabs. with VHF, or Adam Bohman, and a few solo releases)... Describing lowercase music has more cons than pros, I think - you're bound to point out the same features, common for almost all records of the genre. The real differences could be caught properly by a listener's ear, not by a reviewer's pen. The difficulty lies in the subjective point of view (sure, it applies to any review, but in this case it is particularly more visible/audible than usual). And last but not least, the 'silent' music requires some time to work out!... So, the volume's up!!! The 1 st track is balancing between sound, and silence; it seems the entire piece is by Graham Halliwell - his saxophone feedbacks reverb alone in empty silent space. Mark Wastell joins Graham in the 2 nd track by giving some scratching, harsh background to the solemn, minimal sounds. Such relations between sax feedbacks, and amplified texture are also presented in the 3rd piece; differences seem to be in the volume. The final cut is the richest of all with sound textures, electro acoustic effects (it sounds like touching a membrane with fingers), forming a band of almost static sounds. Quite nice!!!

[krzysztof sadza]