artist: JIN SANGTAE
title: Extensity Of Hard Disk Drive
label: Balloon & Needle
country: South Korea
format: CD
title: Extensity Of Hard Disk Drive
label: Balloon & Needle
country: South Korea
format: CD
"Jin Sangtae has been active in experimental music scene in Seoul, South Korea since
2004. He appeared on 5 modules series (www.themanual.co.kr) with Ryu Hankil, Taku Unami,
Mattin, Choi Joonyong, and Park Seungjun. He runs a small live space called 'dotolim' that
organizes concerts. From his experience as a part-time worker in Yong-san electronic market,
he has developed his way of playing electronic goods such as radio,
laptop, computer power, and hard disk drive. On this album, he used two hard disk drives as
speakers. When feedback sound goes into the hard disk drives they vibrate and emit sound.
Jin Sangtae picked up those sounds in his studio. The result is a mixture of sound from
electronic signal and physical sound from hard disk drive ticking, creating a broken groove
with the ambience of the studio." (Balloon & Needle)
"Jin Sangtae worked as a part-timer on the Yong-san electronic market in 1994, and its
there where he found his interest using hard disk drives and radio's as the source for his
improvised music. On this CD he limits himself to using just two hard disk drives, disassembled
and 'manipulating the vibration that occurs when they emit sound', all captured with a
microphone, so that the space has a say too in the whole. Its not easy to imagine what
Sangtae does when he plays these, but the music makes a great impression. Surely we can
say that this is noise. The sound is loud but utterly 'dry', almost like acoustic noise. Rhythmic,
buzzing, feedback like (but never forming a real wall of sound) and it makes the drives almost
singing. Not easy noise to sink into - highly demanding music. At the length in which it now
arrives - three tracks, over fifty-five minutes - is however a bit long - almost like an endurance
test. Perhaps a bit shorter would have increased the intensity a bit more."
(Frans de Waard - Vital Weekly)
2004. He appeared on 5 modules series (www.themanual.co.kr) with Ryu Hankil, Taku Unami,
Mattin, Choi Joonyong, and Park Seungjun. He runs a small live space called 'dotolim' that
organizes concerts. From his experience as a part-time worker in Yong-san electronic market,
he has developed his way of playing electronic goods such as radio,
laptop, computer power, and hard disk drive. On this album, he used two hard disk drives as
speakers. When feedback sound goes into the hard disk drives they vibrate and emit sound.
Jin Sangtae picked up those sounds in his studio. The result is a mixture of sound from
electronic signal and physical sound from hard disk drive ticking, creating a broken groove
with the ambience of the studio." (Balloon & Needle)
"Jin Sangtae worked as a part-timer on the Yong-san electronic market in 1994, and its
there where he found his interest using hard disk drives and radio's as the source for his
improvised music. On this CD he limits himself to using just two hard disk drives, disassembled
and 'manipulating the vibration that occurs when they emit sound', all captured with a
microphone, so that the space has a say too in the whole. Its not easy to imagine what
Sangtae does when he plays these, but the music makes a great impression. Surely we can
say that this is noise. The sound is loud but utterly 'dry', almost like acoustic noise. Rhythmic,
buzzing, feedback like (but never forming a real wall of sound) and it makes the drives almost
singing. Not easy noise to sink into - highly demanding music. At the length in which it now
arrives - three tracks, over fifty-five minutes - is however a bit long - almost like an endurance
test. Perhaps a bit shorter would have increased the intensity a bit more."
(Frans de Waard - Vital Weekly)
