AUTISTICI: Complex Tone Test (Keshhhhhh Recordings)

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Posted on Oct 9th 2009 12:28 am

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Autistici: Complex Tone Test

AUTISTICI
Complex Tone Test
KESH12
Keshhhhhh Recordings 2009
09 Tracks. 48mins37secs

Icon: arrow Boomkat: CD

Autistici is the solo project of Sheffield-based David Newman, who also runs the excellent Audiobulb imprint. His first major release, Volume Objects, appeared on Taylor Deupree’s 12K last year, but, prior to this, Newman had released a handful of EPs on small labels, and his music had also been featured on a number of compilations. On his debut album, Newman crafted his soundscapes, built from both treated acoustic sound sources and purely electronic components, with delicate impressionist touches, weaving them into beautiful evocative pieces.

With Complex Tone Test, released on Cambridge-based Keshhhhhh Recordings, Newman manipulates electro-acoustic textures once again, weaving them into vast ethereal formations which often appear pretty static and monolithic, yet constantly morph and evolve, their course altered ever so slightly over their lifespan. This is very much the case with the more minimal pieces found here. The fluid drone structures of Refractory or Meadow Bed are extremely bare and gossamer, but are animated by a momentum deep within their respective sonic fabric which gives them a particular sheen, while the ampler La Spaziale S1 Vivaldi at times seems to echo in all sorts of directions at once.

This time round though, Newman pushes purely electronic components much more forward and deploys an arsenal of clicks and glitches to give tracks such as Meticule, Resonating Wire, Closing or Annualized Light (2.2) a totally different outline. The result is particularly impressive on Resonating Wire and Annualized Light (2.2), which, despite pretty desolate backdrops, are given strong relief with just a few additional noises, while the glitches heard toward the beginning of Meticule progressively gather into a fully-formed rhythmic pulse later on. Elsewhere, Newman brings richer patterns to his electro-acoustic formations. The mellotron-fuelled Key For A Lockable Cabinet is a particularly vibrant and pastoral piece, while later, the more complex layering of real instruments and electronics on Disintegrated Interest pushes the record in a much more challenging direction for a moment.

Stepping in the limelight once again as Autistici, David Newman has created with Complex Tone Test, a record that takes the space defined by its predecessor and expands it greatly, without altering its very essence in the slightest. The result is particularly convincing, ensuring Autistici’s place amongst the more imaginative musicians of his generation.

4.6/5

Icon: arrow Autistici | Autistici (MySpace) | Keshhhhhh Recordings
Icon: arrow Boomkat: CD

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2 Responses to “AUTISTICI: Complex Tone Test (Keshhhhhh Recordings)”

  1. […] barely been a few months since Autistici’s second album, Complex Tone Test, was released, yet here comes another collection of fine electronic music from David Newman, […]

  2. […] 2001 and 2005 and previously unreleased, the other two part of a same project, the original, Complex Tone Test, being Autistici’s second album, the follow up to his 2008 12K debut Volume Object, and […]