CD - Kranky
Drones and subdued frequencies, structured in a kind of meditative psychedelia. Gregg Kowalsky is not new to sounds with such characteristics, using analog recordings, manipulating oscillators and managing purposefully created feedback. In "Tape Chants", however, his explorations reach a new level of "ambient", with a specific focus on the positioning of a cassette recorder in space, which is used as the only source of amplification. During the execution of the composition Kowalsky reminds us a little of Tarkovsky's 'stalker', with careful moves and meticulous modulations of the volume of his essential equipment, here handled in the same way as a mixer. The effect is that of a continuous resonant incidental music, in which multiple waveforms and refined auditory models are conveyed, with the addition of gongs, contact microphones, synthetic developments and traditional percussion. The result is a highly spiritual and avant-garde attitude, forged in the most simple but effectively evocative harmonics.
Aurelio Cianciotta