artist: ANDREW DEUTSCH
title: The Sun
catalog number: and/21
release year: 2005
format: CD
status: sold out
title: The Sun
catalog number: and/21
release year: 2005
format: CD
status: sold out
and/OAR is extremely happy to present this powerfully mesmerizing work;
carefully remastered and reissued for the first time on CD format. Under the
original title of "Der Sonne", this work was originally issued as a limited
quantity CDR release on Andrew Deutsch's Magic If label several years ago.
"The Sun was constructed by passing ocean waves (recorded at Rye Beach,
New Hampshire), through various digital processing devices. The most
articulate of these processors was a tone generator able to isolate and
respond to specific frequencies present in the ocean waves. The concept
behind The Sun was to make a static music or a kind of music that just
shimmered in place. This concept can be traced back to the works of Anthony
Braxton in his Tri Axiom Writings, and to Stockhausen in his early serial
pieces. As Stockhausen says, "there is a difference between starting and
stopping and beginning and ending". The pieces presented here do not begin
and end but simply start and stop. The Sun is also a work, in a series of works,
I have created to aid in the process of drawing. I call these works 'image
drones/sounds for drawing'. The sounds were all inspired by the 'power field
theories' of Joseph Beuys and are dedicated to him and his family." (Andrew
Deutsch)
This release will present the first of a new line of packaging for and/OAR.
Nicely printed oversized cardstock inserts inside a sturdy clear plastic sleeve
with a flap. The CDs will be protected by cloth safety sleeves made in Japan.
Special thanks to Kiyoshi Mizutani and Kiyoharu Kuwayama for their help in
obtaining the sleeves.
carefully remastered and reissued for the first time on CD format. Under the
original title of "Der Sonne", this work was originally issued as a limited
quantity CDR release on Andrew Deutsch's Magic If label several years ago.
"The Sun was constructed by passing ocean waves (recorded at Rye Beach,
New Hampshire), through various digital processing devices. The most
articulate of these processors was a tone generator able to isolate and
respond to specific frequencies present in the ocean waves. The concept
behind The Sun was to make a static music or a kind of music that just
shimmered in place. This concept can be traced back to the works of Anthony
Braxton in his Tri Axiom Writings, and to Stockhausen in his early serial
pieces. As Stockhausen says, "there is a difference between starting and
stopping and beginning and ending". The pieces presented here do not begin
and end but simply start and stop. The Sun is also a work, in a series of works,
I have created to aid in the process of drawing. I call these works 'image
drones/sounds for drawing'. The sounds were all inspired by the 'power field
theories' of Joseph Beuys and are dedicated to him and his family." (Andrew
Deutsch)
This release will present the first of a new line of packaging for and/OAR.
Nicely printed oversized cardstock inserts inside a sturdy clear plastic sleeve
with a flap. The CDs will be protected by cloth safety sleeves made in Japan.
Special thanks to Kiyoshi Mizutani and Kiyoharu Kuwayama for their help in
obtaining the sleeves.
REVIEWS
ARTFORUM (DECEMBER 2005)
BEST OF 2005: MUSIC
1. Steve Roden (On The Boards, Seattle, WA)
2. Andrew Deutsch: The Sun (and/OAR)*
3. A Trove Of Archival Performances By Charlotte Moorman (Ubu Web)
4. Chris Watson: North By North West (BBC Radio 4)
5. Alarm Will Sound: Acoustica - Alarm Will Sound Performs Aphex Twin (Cantaloupe Music)
6. Tony Conrad: Bryant Park Moratorium Rally - 1969 (Table Of The Elements)
7. Githead: Profile (Swim)
8. Boards Of Canada: The Campfire Headphase (Warp Records)
9. Climax Golden Twins: Highly Bred And Sweetly Tempered (North East Indie)
10. Richard Thompson: Grizzly Man Original Soundtrack (Cooking Vinyl)
* A CD consisting of five long tracks in which the sounds of ocean waves were filtered
through digital processors. There's an ambient quality to Deutsch's richly textured work (he
describes each piece as having no beginning or end) but not one that easily settles into the
backdrop. (Stephen Vitiello)
BEST OF 2005: MUSIC
1. Steve Roden (On The Boards, Seattle, WA)
2. Andrew Deutsch: The Sun (and/OAR)*
3. A Trove Of Archival Performances By Charlotte Moorman (Ubu Web)
4. Chris Watson: North By North West (BBC Radio 4)
5. Alarm Will Sound: Acoustica - Alarm Will Sound Performs Aphex Twin (Cantaloupe Music)
6. Tony Conrad: Bryant Park Moratorium Rally - 1969 (Table Of The Elements)
7. Githead: Profile (Swim)
8. Boards Of Canada: The Campfire Headphase (Warp Records)
9. Climax Golden Twins: Highly Bred And Sweetly Tempered (North East Indie)
10. Richard Thompson: Grizzly Man Original Soundtrack (Cooking Vinyl)
* A CD consisting of five long tracks in which the sounds of ocean waves were filtered
through digital processors. There's an ambient quality to Deutsch's richly textured work (he
describes each piece as having no beginning or end) but not one that easily settles into the
backdrop. (Stephen Vitiello)
VITAL WEEKLY (MAY 2006)
In the releases of the and/OAR label field recordings are always important,
but the label doesn't exclusively work with that. They have two new
releases out, one of them being a pure field recording work and one with
electronically processed field recordings. The latter is the responsibility of
Andrew Deutsch, a composer who has been using max/msp extensively
over the last decade. This new work contains of the sound of passing
ocean waves through various digital processing devices. 'The most
articulate of these processors was a tone generator able to isolate and
respond to specific frequencies present in the ocean waves', it reads on the
cover. It also that the concept behind 'The Sun' was to make 'static music or
a kind of music that just shimmered in place'. It surely does that, just that.
The sound is vaguely like an organ that washes ashore, just like an ocean
wave would do. It is working without many dramatic developments (it has
small and subtle changes, rather than developments, so I guess it's not that
static), but rather a sound environment that works rather nicely when
played softly and perhaps put on repeat for a day or two. There are five
variations on this CD however, which might make a repeated playing
somewhat more difficult: the flow will be interrupted. (Frans De Waard)
In the releases of the and/OAR label field recordings are always important,
but the label doesn't exclusively work with that. They have two new
releases out, one of them being a pure field recording work and one with
electronically processed field recordings. The latter is the responsibility of
Andrew Deutsch, a composer who has been using max/msp extensively
over the last decade. This new work contains of the sound of passing
ocean waves through various digital processing devices. 'The most
articulate of these processors was a tone generator able to isolate and
respond to specific frequencies present in the ocean waves', it reads on the
cover. It also that the concept behind 'The Sun' was to make 'static music or
a kind of music that just shimmered in place'. It surely does that, just that.
The sound is vaguely like an organ that washes ashore, just like an ocean
wave would do. It is working without many dramatic developments (it has
small and subtle changes, rather than developments, so I guess it's not that
static), but rather a sound environment that works rather nicely when
played softly and perhaps put on repeat for a day or two. There are five
variations on this CD however, which might make a repeated playing
somewhat more difficult: the flow will be interrupted. (Frans De Waard)
TOUCHING EXTREMES (JUNE 2006)
Recording in natural settings has recently become a sort of "can't miss"
experience for many multi-talented composers, yet I can't seem to
remember anyone - other than Andrew Deutsch - having the idea of
recording ocean waves (in this occasion, New Hampshire's) and put them
through a processing apparatus in order to let us discover "the voice of the
sea". This happens courtesy of a tone generator which recognizes certain
frequencies in the waves and responds accordingly; the sublime result is a
collection of six deeply touching static pieces that Deutsch defines "image
drones/sounds for drawing" as they should facilitate this kind of application.
What was directly experienced by yours truly is being conducted into a
suspended state of torpor, where the resonance game of the shimmering
pseudo choirs emitted by the ocean dissolves any kind of tension,
delivering our system both from expectation and fear, finally wrapping us in
a womb-like atmosphere of security which could be sustained forever.
(Massimo Ricci)
Recording in natural settings has recently become a sort of "can't miss"
experience for many multi-talented composers, yet I can't seem to
remember anyone - other than Andrew Deutsch - having the idea of
recording ocean waves (in this occasion, New Hampshire's) and put them
through a processing apparatus in order to let us discover "the voice of the
sea". This happens courtesy of a tone generator which recognizes certain
frequencies in the waves and responds accordingly; the sublime result is a
collection of six deeply touching static pieces that Deutsch defines "image
drones/sounds for drawing" as they should facilitate this kind of application.
What was directly experienced by yours truly is being conducted into a
suspended state of torpor, where the resonance game of the shimmering
pseudo choirs emitted by the ocean dissolves any kind of tension,
delivering our system both from expectation and fear, finally wrapping us in
a womb-like atmosphere of security which could be sustained forever.
(Massimo Ricci)
SONOMU (JULY 2006)
Molded out of the swelling ocean waves off Rye Beach, New Hampshire,
Andrew Deutsch claims that The Sun is a work of sound art constructed in
accordance with the "power field theories" of late German artist Joseph
Beuys, to whom this recording is dedicated.
Deutsch has more than merely achieved his goal of creating "static
music...that just shimmered in place"; he proves once again that he is a
master of the genre. As he did several years before with Loops Over Land,
where Deutsch took the quietest of moment out of their contexts (as integral
parts of Gustav Mahler´s compositions) and wove together a pastoral of
excruciating beauty, The Sun amazes by how much one can do to a single
sound source with a little electronic processing. Or rather, while everybody
and his brother can process any kind of sound and make it sound
completely different, Deutsch is that rare artist at whose hands entirely
brand new worlds emerge.
Each of the five extended tracks are unique moments in time, each creating
a mood all its own while remaining subtle and coherent throughout.
A music that will catch your eye like the sun dappling off the heaving
waves.... (Stephen Fruitman)
Molded out of the swelling ocean waves off Rye Beach, New Hampshire,
Andrew Deutsch claims that The Sun is a work of sound art constructed in
accordance with the "power field theories" of late German artist Joseph
Beuys, to whom this recording is dedicated.
Deutsch has more than merely achieved his goal of creating "static
music...that just shimmered in place"; he proves once again that he is a
master of the genre. As he did several years before with Loops Over Land,
where Deutsch took the quietest of moment out of their contexts (as integral
parts of Gustav Mahler´s compositions) and wove together a pastoral of
excruciating beauty, The Sun amazes by how much one can do to a single
sound source with a little electronic processing. Or rather, while everybody
and his brother can process any kind of sound and make it sound
completely different, Deutsch is that rare artist at whose hands entirely
brand new worlds emerge.
Each of the five extended tracks are unique moments in time, each creating
a mood all its own while remaining subtle and coherent throughout.
A music that will catch your eye like the sun dappling off the heaving
waves.... (Stephen Fruitman)
SMALLFISH (JULY 2006)
The Sun, ironically, was actually created using the sound of waves from
Rye Beach in New Hampshire. The sounds were then processed and
reconstructed to form a 'static' work that sits in place and shimmers - like
the sea, I guess. Concepts aside the work is incredibly beautiful - a really
soothing mixture of Kirschner / Basinski-style filtering and manipulation
coupled with a deep and warming drone texture. This is one to put on and
chill to or, in my case, watch the world go by on a train. I'd love to hear it at
the beach though and feel that it may well make even more sense in that
environment. A delicious album. Recommended. (Mike Oliver)
The Sun, ironically, was actually created using the sound of waves from
Rye Beach in New Hampshire. The sounds were then processed and
reconstructed to form a 'static' work that sits in place and shimmers - like
the sea, I guess. Concepts aside the work is incredibly beautiful - a really
soothing mixture of Kirschner / Basinski-style filtering and manipulation
coupled with a deep and warming drone texture. This is one to put on and
chill to or, in my case, watch the world go by on a train. I'd love to hear it at
the beach though and feel that it may well make even more sense in that
environment. A delicious album. Recommended. (Mike Oliver)
E / I (SEPTEMBER 2007)
With The Sun, Andrew Deutsch aims to construct a sound event that is
static, or which, at any rate, shimmers in its fixed place. Towards this end,
an ocean’s wave is adopted as the sound source which becomes the
object of an excessive fixation on the part of Deutsch. Over the course of
the work, however, the recording moves from its largely immobile, frozen
state, and comes alive as a spectral apparition. What remains fixed, that is,
what one experiences as stationary, is the gaze of Deutsch itself. Through
various digital processing devices, then, Deutsch not only makes the ebb
and flow of the waves chime, rattle and clang along an expanded dynamic
range, he stands himself in as the frozen point of immobility, creating a fine
catch and retreat game between him and his source sounds. Hovering
clusters of organ-like notes and panoramic spaces are thereby seen from a
fascinating perspective, one that participates in rather than frames the
proceedings. Deutsch himself makes efforts to point out that this is music
specifically intended to aid in the process of painting. While this work is no
doubt successful on that front, intentions be what they may, the simple
appearance of this work, with its sonorous humming and eloquent, effulgent
tones, is becoming in and of itself. (Max Schaefer)
With The Sun, Andrew Deutsch aims to construct a sound event that is
static, or which, at any rate, shimmers in its fixed place. Towards this end,
an ocean’s wave is adopted as the sound source which becomes the
object of an excessive fixation on the part of Deutsch. Over the course of
the work, however, the recording moves from its largely immobile, frozen
state, and comes alive as a spectral apparition. What remains fixed, that is,
what one experiences as stationary, is the gaze of Deutsch itself. Through
various digital processing devices, then, Deutsch not only makes the ebb
and flow of the waves chime, rattle and clang along an expanded dynamic
range, he stands himself in as the frozen point of immobility, creating a fine
catch and retreat game between him and his source sounds. Hovering
clusters of organ-like notes and panoramic spaces are thereby seen from a
fascinating perspective, one that participates in rather than frames the
proceedings. Deutsch himself makes efforts to point out that this is music
specifically intended to aid in the process of painting. While this work is no
doubt successful on that front, intentions be what they may, the simple
appearance of this work, with its sonorous humming and eloquent, effulgent
tones, is becoming in and of itself. (Max Schaefer)
