A New Zealand electroacoustic artist, who currently resides here in Leicester, he surprised me when he came into the UT shop, as I had no idea that Leicester’s De Montfort University had an electronic music studio. Of course, I asked him if he knew Denis Smalley (another New Zealander resident in the UK) which - of course - he did. Naturally we also discussed how bizarre it is that the only label around willing to issue his CD hails from Canada!
Anyway, on to the review: “The Edge of Noise” is an apt title for something that starts off sounding like the sounds of someone decorating or building, as we have clanks and scrapes, things being scoured and ripped, and all manner of what the French call “bruitism” the art of “sound as art”. How it goes on, becoming ever more extreme when more processing is added. Compression, distortion, granular chopping up and reconstruction, all make for an uncompromising and highly creative mixture. However, the absence of musical references make it a diffcult listen, it tends to all get a bit overwhelming.