cd-r review

I said a short while back that I'd review Gary Fisher's CD-Rs which are now available from his Found in a Skip Records. So here we are.

Much of this I was familiar with already having seen him perform at Womb and startrunning and listened to tracks on his MySpace and elsewhere. There are three CD-Rs in the 'Key' box set - Live at Womb, Broken Cymbal Music and Nervous System.

Live at Womb

Curiously this is in some ways the most disembodied and abstract of the CD-Rs although recorded live. This may in fact be because it was live, the first time Gary had performed in public. Consequently rather than exploring a single theme he tries out a variety of approaches and every so often switches focus to something else. For a first time performance it also sounds confident. Rather than attempting to overwhelm with volume or tempo or heavy layering it's kept pretty sparse, sometimes even fragile.

If it's not immediately apparent how particular sounds are being made then be assured that even in the same room at the Briton's Protection on the night it wasn't always apparent.

Broken Cymbal Music

This CD-R uses a more limited palette as the title suggests but manages to achieve a diverse range of effects. In part this is down to the variety of methods used to extract sounds from the broken cymbal of the title (I believe donated by Blood Moon). The title of each track is simply what was used to create the sound, be it Rice or Beater, skewer, hands. Beyond that I'm not sure how it was recorded - I think both microphone and contact mic were used, and it's entirely possible that effects pedals were also applied. There are some really satisfying sonics here and it's well worth listening to several times but it is probably less compelling than the other two CD-Rs.

Nervous System

Yet another side of Gary's work, in some ways this is a halfway point between the other two CD-Rs. It has the same diversity and in places delicacy of Live at Womb along with the single thematic basis of Broken Cymbal Music. Here the theme is not a single sound-source but rather a state of mind. To be precise a sense of unease - of noise as an unsettling physical presence. Like Broken Cymbal Music you can feel the sounds - they have real physical heft.

Like Live at Womb it is often not apparent how a particular sound has been achieved. I'm not sure yet which of the two I'm likely to return to most often. I suspect that if I'm in the mood for something close to music I will reach for Live at Womb and if I want something closer to sound art then it will be Nervous System.

But don't trust me - head over to his MySpace using the link I gave, listen to what's there and make up your own mind. For what it's worth I recommend that you buy the box and listen to the lot. You won't regret it.