s o f t   a n d   l o u d Originally conceived for eight-channel surround sound playback, Soft and Loud is comprised of field recordings made in japan between 1999 and 2001 that were later arranged and mixed in melbourne over a three year period. The objective of the field recordings was to document a variety of common environments in order to investigate the behaviour of singular events and their relationships to other sounds occupying the Japanese soundscape. Of particular interest is the cohesion with which artificially generated sounds are incorporated within the generally subdued natural acoustic environment. However intriguing the artificial is, the strangely muted quality of Japan is also a source of fascination. a massive city like Tokyo can be thunderously noisy, however it has a calmness to it that can be quite unsettling. It is the intersections where the distinctions between the artificial and the natural, noise and silence are blurred that drew Samartzis' interest when constructing this work. Soft and Loud is the first release to be published on Samartzis' Microphonics label, and is the first in a series of works based on his investigations into surround sound spatialisation for installation art. order this item
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		The first release on the label Microphonics is its owner's Soft and Loud. One of Philip Samartzis' most accomplished works, it takes the listener on a meticulously planned journey through a phantasmagorized conception of Japan. In his liner notes, the composer explains how, in field recording, one can either capture an overall sound picture of a location from a single (or moving) point, or record up close each element of its sound world and later re-create the location in a process of composition. This recomposition of space would present a higher fidelity than the original location. But when Samartzis edits, manipulates, combines, and structures -- when he composes -- he steps right out of field recording as a sound art genre and straight into musique concréte. His polished transformations, careful arrangements, and clever structures (bringing back certain sounds, structuring the listening experience in terms of contrasting soft and loud passages and subtler micro-relationships) are all features of a highly skilled acousmatician. And in fact, Soft and Loud seems to owe more to Luc Ferrari, Francis Dhomont, and Pierre Henry than to the electronica or field recording community -- or to Sarah Peebles' 108: Walking Through Tokyo, for that matter. Occasionally, a sound will evoke Japan: a bell, a voice, a few seconds from a market or a subway station. But these sounds are recontextualized to such an extent that their origins become meaningless; the only thing counting is their place in this new, virtual journey. The first of these six untitled tracks is strongly reminiscent of Gilles Gobeil's works (slamming doors). Tracks two and six use heavily processed music to lure the listener into slightly more comfortable zones. Track three is the clear standout: busy and varied, it presents a large number of well-articulated sound ideas and makes for an eventful and ultimately fun listen. A flute melody introduced here comes back in track four, before re-created birdsongs take over. The last track revisits some of the previous elements and takes listeners back to the starting point through the subways of Tokyo. Highly recommended, even if you tend to dislike academic electro-acoustics. François Couture - All Music Guide	>