Mattin & Richard Francis – “Lisa Says” – [Aufabwegen]

abacus   7/9/2013   12-inch, A Library

Transcontinental collaboration between New Zealand sound artist/installationist Richard Francis and Basque miscreant sonic deconstructionist Mattin. One 50 minute piece (split between 2 sides) experimenting with white/pink noise at a VERY minimal level, stripping them down into equally organic/synthetic forms. This is challenging not as harsh (well, mostly not) but as it hovers just within audibility. Sparse, shifting static dissections and coarse, digital vinyl crackle overlap with cracked synth tones, computer error alerts and high-frequency rings of standby electronics. The A side is mostly whirr and buzz that boils into simmering drone and high-temperature sizzle. The B side tests your hearing with silent low end crinkling and migraine inducing high pitch rings that’ll send dogs running. The liner notes are a transcript of a skype conversation they had about the piece 8 weeks later; apparently this is sory of the end of a methodology for Francis and a new jumping off point for Mattin. He says its like “getting inside the computer or into the fridge.”