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Comparisons between the sand of the earth with the stars above are
many, but comparisons of this release by American composer
John Hudak with his previous work are far less to be found.

The first piece of this CD mastered by John's friend and collaborator
Stephan Mathieu (Sirr.ecords, Lucky Kitchen, Hapna, etc),
is unlike much of John's previous work in that it features sharp
staccato percussive sounds suddenly dodging in and out, but
nevertheless it still has John's "endless" compositional sense
written into it. A subtle sense of humor seems to be inherent in the
piece as well, as if some of the sounds hesitate with indecision as
to whether or not they should make their presence known or
perhaps they are trying to avoid colliding with some of the other
sounds. And upon listening to this piece, be careful with volume
settings at first listen, because the listener will quickly discover
another aspect of this piece that is unlike much of John's previous
work: sudden volume shifts. This seems to suggest that the sounds
are also changeable in temperament as well!

The second piece on this CD is perhaps the most meditative
of the collection with its muted midrange buzzing that jumps around
within the stereo spectrum, perhaps being reminiscent of musical
radar signals or sonifications of normally inaudible activity occurring
in a planet's magnetosphere, all the while maintaining a benevolent
warmth throughout.

And what could possibly be described as the amplification of rolling
ion particle blasts being broadcast via shortwave radio, tells us that
we have reached the third and final piece of this collection of
what could be considered as being among John Hudak's finest
works.

PARIS TRANSATLANTIC (OCTOBER 2005)
Given today's irrepressible tendency to make classification prevail
over actual substance, a work like Sand or Stars is difficult to
describe. You could say it sounds wholly unadulterated; Hudak is
well known for his personal take on reductionism (not in the
lowercase improv sense of the word), usually starting from
environmental recordings that capture the essence of a single
sound source (he once put contact microphones on the Brooklyn
Bridge), transforming it into small molecules and granular
self-cloning clusters of indecipherable activity. What appeals to the
ear is the barely regular sonic shape and peculiar logic as these
bionic manifestations flutter around the listening space, peeking
from various angles of a structure with no apparent architecture,
moving from a percussive/metallic bouncing via a delicate brain
massage of hypnotic buzzing frequencies to a reverb-drenched
passage whose nature seems to be aquatic - but I wouldn't bet on
it. (Massimo Ricci)

VITAL WEEKLY number 494 week 39
(SEPTEMBER 2005)
It has been quite a while since I last heard a work by Hudak, so this
disc comes as a very nice re-introduction to his work. The CD
contains three tracks, all of which clock between 17 and 20 minutes.
The compositions are the same: a long stretch of stretched sounds,
edited and put together almost at random. Of course this has a
purpose: it pulls the listener to focus on the sound itself, instead of
on development in time. This character of the music is enhanced by
the duration of the tracks: after 5 to 7 minutes time becomes quite
irrelevant and the quality of the sounds is all important. And here
lies Hudak's great strength: the original material is treated so very
well, that one keeps listening to the sounds, intent on grabbing
them in some way, while they themselves elude captivity all the
time. This is a pretty miraculous feat and one that Hudak maintains
throughout the whole disc. Excellent listening experience! (Roel
Meelkop)

COOKIE SCENE volume 44 (AUGUST 2005)
The latest work by haiku poet of sound John Hudak. He has
recorded 3 long tracks with the sound of tapping on a tin can as
source material processed until it sounds like sand or stars (and I
understand that the conclusion of whether it is sand or stars is then
left to the listener). His alchemic craft, applied to full effect here,
encourages the structuring of a storyline in the listener's brain
through sound-processing accompanied by a superb sense of
concept and aesthetics. With mastering by close friend Stephan
Mathieu. (Kazumichi Sato - English translation by Jonathan Way)

E / I MAGAZINE (WINTER / SPRING 2006)
Hudak's Sand Or Stars offers three long compositions, each a
meditation on incomprehensibility and enormity. Like most of
Hudak's recent digital recordings, Sand explores small
"non-referential" sound events and strategies of restatement,
variation. In contrast to the thematic conceit, each of these feels
relatively stable, confident, and seems to inhabit small, womb like
spaces rather than the quantum topographies of an unquantifiable
expanse. Resistant to language more than to counting, these are
less remarkable only against the backdrop of Hudak's consistently
strong work. (William S. Fields)

SMALLFISH (JULY 2006)
John Hudak has this uncanny knack of being able to entrance and
hypnotize you with the most reduced and seemingly simplistic
manipulations. However there's an awful lot more going on than it
initially seems. This is constructed out of three very distinct works
that range from micro-fractured electronics - which have been
processed from an unknown sound source - to a more friendly and
deep drone-based style. There are links with his work on Con-V and
Spekk, although these pieces are actually more varied in style.
Stephan Mathieu has mastered the CD to the highest possible
standard and, once again, and/OAR have delivered a superb album.
Recommended. (Mike Oliver)