two cd's: one american, one nordic
Nordic:
Electric Leak - The North of it
Taking a wide open and non-pensive approach to sound, the artists on this CD cut a wide swath through historical electronic music techniques and current trends. They don't seem to get caught up in the faux-conceptualism that clogs up so much American sound art these days, instead making sounds that are playful and totally creative. I'm into this.
American:
Rock's Role (After Ryoanji)
Minimal and minimal, this was an installation held at Art In General in NYC a few months ago. With the only hint at a formal structure being the sound of someone making a shot on a billiard table at random intervals, this CD is straight from the John Cage playbook; it's knowingly indebted to him but is not a carbon copy, which is refreshing. It includes some people I admire as well: Ron Kuivila, Bernhard Gal, Maggi Payne, etc. Even with these disparate sound artists, it totally works, held together by freaky SuperCollider patches and old-school MIDI synthesizers. Very nice, and totally at the other end of the spectrum than Electric Leak.