Tag: Christopher Willits

tmymtur – “呼応 – kooh” (ENSL AMDC / Bandcamp)

Christopher Olson for Liminal Minimals – April 2013

Drone is a utilitarian thing: when it works, it works. Being critical of it beyond pointing out the obvious in terms of form can be a challenge. In terms of articulating your position- it’s like arguing about different hues of grey (let’s hash out 919191 vs 999999, you hex/RGB nerds). Also, I don’t spend that much time thinking about it because it’s one form where it’s better to listen. Despite all misgivings about genre overcrowding, how there’s been too much drone released into in the world: maybe it’s simply like gas. Maybe pollen. Maybe there’s always just the right amount. I’ll let others discuss it on #dronelife. Anyways, as the onesheet goes: “湧声 is a sound creation made of layering over 5000 peculiar voices by tmymtur which includes ultrasonic waves…developing sounds from frequencies, marking over 20kHz – that human ears are incapable of catching. These ultrasonic waves are often included in sounds of nature such as the flow of the river, and sound of the wind blowing through the trees. It is said that these elements have the effect to make the human brain relaxed.” Despite the conceptual anchor of rendering the barely audible audible, it’s hard to figure out the difference between source and process. Little in the way of visuals demonstrate or allows for me to understand the science, and perhaps it was the raft of celebrity remixers who helped tease out the sounds, with interpretations by Christopher Willits, i8u, Sogar, Stephan Mathieu and Taylor Deupree. Each track is variation on a theme, exercises in shape and/or texture: one a tone louder, another quieter, the others more textured, sanded down, high sheen, chrome blue, cavernous, skinny, bright. Imagine this release as a tour through a gradient and proper attention will yield rewards. [CO]

Christopher Olson

Guillermo Escudero for LOOP (english below)

‘Yusei’ es parte de una actuación en la que Tmymtur graba miles de capas de su voz que se transforman en ondas ultrasónicas que son imperceptibles al oído humano. Son sonidos naturales como el fluir del agua de un río o el soplido del viento sobre los árboles y son procesados electrónicamente.
La música es minimalista y ambient en la que remezclan artistas importantes del mundo de la electrónica minimalista como Taylor Deupree, Yui Onodera, Celer, i8u, Christopher Willits, Sogar y Stephen Mathieu, entre otros.
La atmósfera que crean estos músicos es melódica y por tanto bella y al mismo tiempo relajada, evocadora de ambientes sosegados.

‘Yusei’ is part of a performance in which thousands of layers of Tmymtur’s voice were recorded and transformed into ultrasonic waves that are imperceptible to the human ear. They are natural sounds like the flow of water from a river or the wind blowing over the trees and electronically processed.
The music is minimalist and ambient which is remixed by worlwide renowned artists of the minimal electronics field such as Taylor Deupree, Yui Onodera, Celer, i8u, Christopher Willits, Sogar and Stephen Mathieu, among others.
 The atmosphere created by these musicians is melodic and beautiful that conjure up quiet ambience.


tmymtur 


Review by Nathan Thomas  for Fluid Radio

TMYMTUR – 呼応
Label: ENSL AMDC
Tmymtur, Tomoya Matsuuran

Tmymtur’s new record which I believe can be transcribed as “Yusei” is an intriguing proposition: a sound piece made from over 5,000 recordings of the human voice, manipulated and interpreted by nine different artists from the field of ambient experimental music. The voice recordings were captured using a special microphone with a frequency response wider than that of the human ear, reaching into the range of ultrasound. The ultrasonic frequencies, though perhaps present in the audio file, cannot be reproduced by most consumer speakers; however, it is possible that they made their presence felt as the file was processed by the interpreting artists, influencing the resonances and subharmonics produced.

On initial, casual listening many of the album tracks seem very similar, but upon closer attention the differences in the artists’ approach to the provided material become apparent. Contrasts emerge, for example between i8u’s use of dynamic range and Celer’s gentle stasis, or between Christopher Willits’ turbulence and Taylor Deupree’s airiness. Given that over 5,000 individual recordings went into the creation of the original sound piece, it could be argued that the album represents only the tip of the iceberg in terms of what can be drawn out from the resulting cloud of tones. Personally, I would have liked to have heard a couple of more invasive interpretations included, where the source material is manipulated a bit more radically — the contribution by Stephan Mathieu points in this direction, towards a second album maybe. Yet it is perhaps because of general similarities in the artists’ styles that this collection of remixes makes an excellent manual for those who wish to study ambient composition techniques, either to improve their own compositions or simply to understand why they prefer the work of one artist over another — being able to hear clear differences between one approach to structure or harmonics and another is a valuable learning tool.

It is often argued that ultrasonic frequencies, though technically inaudible, are actually perceived by the senses and possess the capacity to relax the brain, contributing to the soothing effect of sounds such as the flow of a river or wind rustling the trees. I’d love to compare brain scans taken when listening to such sounds with others taken with the music collected as the stimulus: it wouldn’t surprise me if the results were very similar, even without the presence of ultrasonic frequencies. To get the full effect, however, one would have to attend one of Tmymtur’s live performances, such as the one at the Asahi Art Square in Tokyo on 24th March, for which he will construct a sound system capable of reproducing ultrasound; if his material can draw such powerful responses from the range of talented artists represented, then to ‘hear’ this vocal symphony in its full glory should indeed be something special. Tmymtur has managed to create/curate a project in which curiosity about the perception and cognition of sound and ultrasound becomes part and parcel of the aesthetic value of the music, and vice versa; the fact that each of the contributing artists has responded to the source material with sensitivity and imagination makes the album all the stronger.

– Nathan Thomas for Fluid Radio