Hutson, William – “- Six Or Seven Steps to The Door: Solo Improvisations” – [A Wave Press]

Naysayer   7/1/2018   A Library, CD

“Six Or Seven Steps…” by William Hutson is the stuff some of us at this station dream about, at least I do. Solo improvisations for reel-to-reel tape recorder, mixer, test tone generator, dictaphones, microphones and radios offers up some really exciting scratchy electronic static, pulses, hisses, etc. All so good and soothing. I find it soothing. The dictaphones make cool metallic echoey static. Each piece has intentional moments of silence, some up to 30 seconds, which are necessary to take in the variety of squelch. It is surprising to hear the variety of sounds coming from this mixture of devices. It’s also fun watching him manipulate these things live. Each piece is named after the day he recorded his improvisations and is dedicated to an author he had been reading prior to the recording. You really need to sit with it and appreciate the diversity. Art is work, folks. Also, Hutson is part of LA experimental hip hop group, Clippings, whose CD we have and which got lots of attention from the staff. More reason to give this current CD a listen.