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LETHE - Dry Ice on Steel Tables

Format: CD Label & Cat.Number: and/OAR either/live2 Release Year: 2011 Note: recordings of an obscure performance made in a warehouse in Japan (with lots of natural reverb) where LETHE (aka KIYOHARU KUWAYAMA) used 'dry ice' on four steel tables which were heated by candles, resulting in ORGANUM-like scraping and squeaking metal sounds, almost like "metalized whalesongs"; a 43 min. improvisation with no electronic effects or processing !! Price (incl. 19% VAT): €12.00 Warning: Currently we do not have this album in stock! More Info “Kiyoharu Kuwayama: dry ice, steel tables & candles. A remarkable document of a live performance recorded on September 11th, 2003 at No, 20 warehouse, Nagoya Port, Japan. The sounds heard in this recording were created by Kiyoharu's application of dry ice to four steel tables which were heated by candles. No electronic processing or post-production editing of the performance was done. Lethe / Kiyoharu Kuwayama is known for creating and recording work in highly resonant spaces or charged atmospheres (abandoned warehouses, Shinto temples, etc). Kiyoharu is also known for his involvement with the duo Kuwayama - Kijima (Kiyoharu Kuwayama: cello, and Rina Kijima: violin) who are formidable players, so well attuned to each other that their improvisations cannot be distinguished from highly complex compositions. With a particular interest in ambient sound and locations that inspire improvisation, they take advantage of the natural reverb of each location under a bridge at night, an abandoned warehouse), and even change their position while playing to create beautiful and charged performances. Kiyoharu has had his various work published by a number of respected recording labels such as Trente Oiseaux, Intransitive, Locust, ICR, Alluvial Recordings, Monochrome Vision, Invisible Birds, 20City, among others." [label info] www.and-oar.org "Its interesting to note that whenever some music by Lethe, nom de plume for Japanese Kuwayama Kiyoharu, is released it is always years old, or so it seems. I have no idea why that is, but surely its like whiskey: it gets better when its older. This particular recording is made at the No. 20 warehouse, Nagoya Port, Japan on September 11th 2003. The cover tells us that the sound materials are steel tables, dry ice and candles. I saw Lethe doing this, not this concert, but at a visit at his studio, but that was before 2003, so I am no longer able to tell you how that works, soundwise. The backside of the cover shows us also sixteen small photographs of the concert: a small table in the middle, surrounded by three other small tables with the candles. It looks like a ritual being performed. No doubt the warehouse space was empty and the large hall is used to reverb the music. Its like scraping metal sheets, like Organum did in his early days, but then much, much more slower, with more time between each attack of the sheets, making the piece more 'silent', although each scrape of metal is quite intense. Both as an attack and intensified. Probably a DVD of the concert would have been more appropriate, so you could see the action, and judge for yourself if this a performed ritual, but instead, by putting it on CD, one is forced to consider this in pure musical terms, which I guess is the whole notion of it. It has an odd orchestral feel to it, like a Xenakis piece, scraping, reverberating and intense. An excellent piece of music." [FdW/Vital Weekly] "Kuwayama Kiyoharu, also known as Lethe, has an impressive discography of non-music dating back to the late 90's, although this new release, "Dry Ice on Steel Tables", is my first time listening to his material. The release is a single track (actually recorded in 2003), which portrays the title of the album quite directly: it's an unedited and unhurried 43 minute improvisation, in which Kiyoharu coaxes as many different contact sounds as possible from the two materials, resulting in what often sounds like a sort of metalized whalesong. Upon pressing play, we are dropped into the dusty, tranquil openness of "no. 20 warehouse", sonically illuminated by the diffusion of the unintrusive sounds of distant ventilation systems. The sound of the room in this hushed baseline state ultimately accounts for most of this recording, as oftentimes pauses between the harmonic moans of the tables stretch on for several seconds. The space was well chosen, and it is the desire to return to it that keeps me listening to this recording. The shrill, razor-sharp groans of protest dragged from the steel tables are embalmed in a cocoon of dream-like natural reverb, and the result is significantly more pleasant on the ear than it could've been, as well as deeply ethereal and even quasi-melodic. The shifting and twisting sounds created have occasional similarities to the squeaking of a mistreated saxophone or clarinet, or the warm tones of a conch shell, and at times the tables even resonate with a sonority nearly comparable to those instruments. Listening to this album is peaceful, yet uneventful and lonely. The experience of meditative solitude is primarily what is expressed here, through the mournful, unfeeling voices of mass-manufactured objects. In order to enjoy this album, patience and the ability to enjoy loosely structured sound for its own sake are required. Though a consistent tone and acoustic space are present throughout the recording, no attempts at rhythmic patterns or compositional development are made. Ultimately, "Dry Ice on Steel Tables" is quite the rewarding release, full of unique, complex sounds, thick reverbs and a sort of performative whimsicality. It's the rare album of field recordings that already feels like a complete soundspace without the addition of any editing. Those not used to intensely sparse, formless ambience will likely be confounded and bored by this recording, but fans of slow moving 'dream ambient' music like Troum or Nurse With Wound's "Soliloquy for Lilith" should eat this up." [Josh Landry / MUSIQUEMACHINE]