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This long awaited full length field recording release by Aaron Ximm (aka:
Quiet American) explores the fascinating sound world of South Asia's
water systems, from gurgling cisterns and water-powered grain grinders
to water pumps and various plumbing resonances. Recordings were
made in Burma, Nepal, Vietnam, India, Laos, Bangladesh, and China.
Packaged in a dvd case and comes with track note narratives by Aaron
Ximm and an essay by Claude Willey. Packaged in a DVD case.

EAR / RATIONAL (APRIL 2004)
Now, this is a great use of field recordings. A hollow sound, a very long
pipe makes for excellent reverberations and a very complicated sound,
eternally fascinating. Another track has water dripping on a thin piece of
metal stretched tight. Wonderful pings and echoes down the metal. Kids
are playing in the background. An exotic bird track grows even more
intense, an engine, or is it a full bore rain storm? You can't tell by the
variances. The rolling piece of wood is the give-away. Other pieces are
just as engaging - a large machine that ends up sounding like the
biggest coffee pot brewing, or a side of the road water diverter with trucks
driving by from far in the distance... feel the Doppler effect! (Don Poe)

ABSURD - absurdities #9 (DECEMBER 2003)
Aaron Ximm (aka Quiet American) is a "phonographer" (let's use this
term) who's been a lot into the field recordings thing. Unfortunately, I
haven't downloaded from his great site the various mp3s he has around,
so my first encounter was the Stelzer/Talbot - Quiet American split 3" cdr
which I truly enjoyed. Thanks to Dale, I had the chance to get a better
idea of his work as dale recently issed his (first, if I am not mistaken) full
cdr "Plumbing And Irrigation Of South Asia" featuring 22 pieces recorded
between 98-01 all over Asia (China, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam,
etc. Gotta admit that by the time I heard the aforementioned split 3" cdr,
accidently it was the time that "The Quiet American" movie was playing,
so I went to see it, and frankly I liked it, needless to say, that upon seeing
the film, there striked in my mind a flash that I had Graham Greene's s/t
book lying somewhere in the house, purchased some 15 more or less
years ago for practice reasons and thanks to Aaron (I guess), I found it
rotting somewhere in my basements library (though I still haven't found
the proper time to start re-reading it). But I am beating a lot about the
bush, well, over here I don't know if Aaron's on Pyle's role or the
"narrator's" but certainly it is a pleasant surprise to see that still there are
phonographers (uh, say "artists" or whatever) who evoke questions out
of their soundscapes. Aaron has included a very interesting text around
the use of water and the future of water supplies in Asia, including, of
course, references to the West and East, and the way the two deal w/ the
problem. The vast majority of the recordings themselves too deal with
this certain problem. Frankly, being in a country that this problem is also
discussed (but our state sleeps in its beauty sleep and gives no f**k
'bout that), I found it a really exciting moment both listening and reading. I
assume that for being his first full cdr release, Aaron crafted a truly
stunning experience, providing food for both the mind & ear/soul.
Besides, I always considered as essentials, releases which work as
"audio books", how about you? (Nicolas Malevitsis)

THE WIRE (OCTOBER 2003)
While traveling in Vietnam some years ago, California field recordist
Aaron Ximm, had Graham Greene's novel thrust upon him by a street
vendor. Ximm bought the book and was so taken by its complex
investigation of the follies of American foreign policy in 1950s Vietnam,
that he subsequently took Greene's title as a moniker for Plumbing And
Irrigation Of South Asia. His extraordinarily detailed Vietnamese sound
pictures are positively charming, even as his political intentions are not
so immediately obvious. Deep cisterns rumble beneath a crude steel
covering; a leaky pipe spits with a serpentine hiss; Vietnamese voices
carry on their daily conversations at the village water pump; you even get
to hear Ximm splashing in the sink of a Vietnamese hotel. But all these
watery details are worked into a narrative of the environmental problems
arising from Vietnam's regional water use policy. (Jim Haynes)