Samuel Rohrer's arjunamusic label is rapidly becoming a distinctive voice in an ever-expanding wilderness of musical experimentation, effortlessly finding the common ground between the improvisational impulse and the rhythmic architecture of electronic dance music. The emerging sound of this label is one that seems to be all at once biological, technological, and theoretical, and so the collaborative choice for this new release is a very appropriate one to continue down this path. Tyler Friedman, a multi-faceted creator whose experiments have included the stimulation of natural bioluminescence via an automated piano, brings a sense of hyper-realism to the table which meshes in very interesting ways with Rohrer's conversational percussive instincts.
Tyler Friedman's original mix of YYY' is led by a bouncing and playful set of melodic figures, featuring an intimate timbral quality like a hybrid kalimba and vibraphone. Various other tonal curiosities fly around the central figures like luminous insects, and this already intriguing tapestry of sound becomes more colorful via the gradual introduction of cleverly deployed de-tuning, sharp portamento shifts and stuttering delay effects. By the time the piece comes to a close, the effect is of
standing beneath a cascade of steadily falling sound objects, of being literally showered in sound.
The drum and vocal dub by Tyler Friedman and Samuel Rohrer, bringing the voice of Tora Augestad into the picture, captures the same cascading feel of the original with a very different, and occasionally 'grittier', instrumental vocabulary. Rohrer's nimble work on his kit helps the listener to navigate through an unfamiliar but intoxicating terrain of sensory impressions, as electronic treatments on Augestad's voice steadily transmogrify it into something silvery and synthetic before returning it back to its original form. Weaving dramatic melodicism and intense abstraction together like the double strands of a DNA molecule, this highly innovative mix should find ways enhance and expand just about any listening environment. YYY' is a record for those who enjoy the sound of artists challenging themselves to step outside of proscribed boundaries, and succeeding.
Tyler Friedman is a sound artist, composer and producer. His approach utilizes a blend of music theory, synthesis, sound design, analog/digital studio techniques and conceptual imagination. In addition to his own projects, he has collaborated on the sound and composition of multiple art projects, notably with Turner Prize nominees The Otolith Group, whose films have been commissioned by Documenta 13 and Haus der Kunst in Munich, and Andreas Greiner on his installation Multitudes for bio-luminescent algae and player piano. Recently he has had two releases of lysergic- experimental club music on the Swedish label Kontra Musik: a double EP titled CCC:BB:BBB:JJ and the 12" Vulkalaunai. Altogether, his practice is situated between art, creative engineering, musicology, club and theory.
Samuel Rohrer is one of the influential improvisational musicians of his generation in the field of experimental and improvised music and is touring worldwide performing on major festivals like Punkt Festivalen, NorthSea Festival, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Nuits Sonores Lyon, Montréal International Festival or CTM Berlin and working with numerous projects and artists including
Laurie Anderson, Sidsel Endresen, Max Loderbauer, Nan Goldin, Jan Bang, Mark Feldman, Charles Gayle, Skuli Sverrisson, Eivind Aarset, Trygve Seim or Vincent Courtois. His work is since 2012 mainly released on his label arjunamusic records, besides a partly documentation on numerous ECM albums.
