Tuesday, August 15, 2006
zhong minjie
for those times without sound
[2005, stumble]
zhong minjie, aka justin zhong minjie, aka justin zhong (but never justin minjie. NEVER.), has been kicking around the fledgling chinese sound art scene since at least 2002, before he landed himself a spot on the china:sonic avant-garde showcase. priceless exposure, but i'll hold off on declaring his super-stardom for now (something fellow contributors fm3 managed to pull off through a combination of gimmickry and collectability). since then he's been releasing a clutch of works on stumble, his own label; a label that's becoming more and more interesting as it seems to be the distributor for the new 21floor visual/sound collective that minjie is a member of.
for those times without sound marks a transitional period for minjie, which sees him move away from the harsher tonal noise works which found their way onto the showcase, into a more layered field closer to musique concrete. the combinations of
field recording and electronic manipulations draw out a bleak inner-city industrialised counterpart to the humanity of fellow chinese concreteist daijun yao's excellent cinnabar red drizzle. minjie's explicit contribution is dominated by a low-end which runs the gamut from viscous rumbles to aquatic resonance, without interfering too heavy-handedly in the use of found sound layered on top. more subtle is the splicing together of the pre-recorded materials, which prevents the record sliding into the same basket as any number of homemade basement cdrs the world over. while none of the taped sound sources are particularly spectacular (even fairly mundane to experienced ears), given half a chance a fairly elaborate structure emerges; one which seems just as happy to adopt a bastardised cage-ian philosophy where sounds are liberally assembled into what feels right as opposed to revelling in the particular properties of any one source.
not immediately inviting, but given a little time it's extended passages of tightly-packed metropolitan space are as compelling as any of his emerging countrymen. anyone put off by the well-beaten path he's treading or the relatively muddy diy production values is missing out on a promising new talent. cleaner sound and a more extensive effort to build a distinct and localised statement in future (rather than just sound constructions) could produce a total killer. the potential for the new 21floor collective is mouthwatering.
For Those Times Without Sound 08
[2005, stumble]
zhong minjie, aka justin zhong minjie, aka justin zhong (but never justin minjie. NEVER.), has been kicking around the fledgling chinese sound art scene since at least 2002, before he landed himself a spot on the china:sonic avant-garde showcase. priceless exposure, but i'll hold off on declaring his super-stardom for now (something fellow contributors fm3 managed to pull off through a combination of gimmickry and collectability). since then he's been releasing a clutch of works on stumble, his own label; a label that's becoming more and more interesting as it seems to be the distributor for the new 21floor visual/sound collective that minjie is a member of.
for those times without sound marks a transitional period for minjie, which sees him move away from the harsher tonal noise works which found their way onto the showcase, into a more layered field closer to musique concrete. the combinations of
field recording and electronic manipulations draw out a bleak inner-city industrialised counterpart to the humanity of fellow chinese concreteist daijun yao's excellent cinnabar red drizzle. minjie's explicit contribution is dominated by a low-end which runs the gamut from viscous rumbles to aquatic resonance, without interfering too heavy-handedly in the use of found sound layered on top. more subtle is the splicing together of the pre-recorded materials, which prevents the record sliding into the same basket as any number of homemade basement cdrs the world over. while none of the taped sound sources are particularly spectacular (even fairly mundane to experienced ears), given half a chance a fairly elaborate structure emerges; one which seems just as happy to adopt a bastardised cage-ian philosophy where sounds are liberally assembled into what feels right as opposed to revelling in the particular properties of any one source.not immediately inviting, but given a little time it's extended passages of tightly-packed metropolitan space are as compelling as any of his emerging countrymen. anyone put off by the well-beaten path he's treading or the relatively muddy diy production values is missing out on a promising new talent. cleaner sound and a more extensive effort to build a distinct and localised statement in future (rather than just sound constructions) could produce a total killer. the potential for the new 21floor collective is mouthwatering.
For Those Times Without Sound 08
:: posted by blackandgold, 3:16 AM