John Duncan and Carl Michael von Hausswolff
Our Telluric Conversation
23five008

REVIEWS:

Paris Transatlantic
July, 2006

This exquisitely produced offering on the ever classy 23five label consists of a CD containing three extended tracks, "...Like a Lizard", "Entry (Enhanced)" and "Yet another (very) abridged and linear interpretation of the history of our planet as we know it" and a 40-page booklet containing a transcription of an extended conversation between Messrs Duncan and Hausswolf, with occasional prompts from Jim Haynes. In the domain of sound art, a description of the concepts behind the works is often more interesting to read than the works themselves are to listen to – perhaps the fact that one can admire something without necessarily enjoying it is what the artists are setting out to explore – but that doesn't apply here: this is some of the most satisfying and, dare I say it, musical work the two men have produced for some time. That said, the book doesn't provide any information about the works on the disc, not even the origins of the Burroughs-like story Hausswolf tells on track one of a man who travelled to Egypt to acquire sacred knowledge of cobra venom (plus a trip to Thailand to learn how to speak the language of the gecko..). Instead there's a wealth of detailed discussion of the pair's more celebrated projects, including Duncan's legendary Scare, TVC 1 and Radio Code, and Hausswolf's experiments with NATO-monitored pirate radio in Iceland and his The Will of Tupi-Tupi, the Rooster, and GK, the Dove (if you're a paid-up member of the RSPB, you'd better give this last one a wide berth). All in all, a fascinating and thought-provoking read and a damn good listen to boot. -- Dan Warburton


Vital Weekly
Number 528, Week 22

More bigshots working together, even when these two big shots don't appear in Vital Weekly that often. CM von Hauswolff just doesn't release that much I guess [actually, Hausswolff has been quite busy with releases on Lampo, Raster, Sub Rosa, etc.], and Duncan's work just never gets here. Am I rambling? You don't know these two bigshots of experimental music? That should not turn out to be a problem, since these release comes with an extensive, forty page booklet of a conversation between Duncan and Hauswolff, in which they explain their own history to eachother, their working methods and other ideas. I can imagine that this is not only a good introduction in case you don't know them, but perhaps also may contain news for those who already know them. I didn't hear the previous collaboration between Duncan & Hauswolff, Stun Shelter, but perhaps I should try and find out, because Our Telluric Conversation is in fact quite a fine release, albeit perhaps, also something we should expect from these two. In the final piece "Yet Another (Very) Abridged And Linear Interpretation Of The History Of Our Planet As We Know It," both of the artists own interests are well heard: Duncan's love of highly processed shortwave tracks and Hauswolff's ongoing investigation into the world electrical charges. Starting out quite soft and with a growing intensity this piece becomes an explosion of electricity. Somewhat of a trademark for both. The opening piece "... Like A Lizard" opens with a pulse (not a uncommon thing in the work of Hauswolff), with the addition of subtle noise layers that built a crescendo, which, after it's abrupt halt, moves over into a story told by Hauswolff, about a maggot invested man, which I surely don't understand. In the middle (needless to say that we are dealing here with long pieces) there is a highly subtle but energetic at the same time piece of drone music, via the use of a highly processed sine waves. As said, it's been a while since I last heard something both either of these composers, but upon hearing this again, I think it's time to spend a sunday afternoon playing some of their older works again. So far they haven't lost any of their power, and this new one still proofs their importance today. -- Frans de Waard