uncertain symmetry

david lee myers/thomas dimuzio

korm plastics

2002 CD

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reviews

“A very varied CD, both in style and in atmosphere. Recommended.” — Vital Weekly

“...the result is not harsh material but has rather got a certain 'cosmic' feel to it which is kinda pleasant and relaxing.” — Chaindlk

“At peak intensity, their jagged music threatens to pierce the skin.” — The Wire

“...a bi-coastal ping-ponging which is an even balance between the two artists--symmetrical-- but which the specific contributions from each can no longer be determined.” — Downtown Music Gallery

Vital Weekly

Now this sounds like a very interesting collaboration: knowing Myers' work as Arcane Device and Dimuzio's more 'composed' work I was pretty curious as to how these two would work out things. As far as I can undertand from the liner notes, the original material was recorded by Myers, who then handed it over to Dimuzio for (re)sampling, (re)processing and (re)contextualization. Dimuzio also added feedback sine waves. My first impression was one of surprise really: gentle feedback sounds, layered and with strange beeps here and there, even sound sounding like basslines. Not quite what I had expected, knowing some of these men's work. But the surprise is certainly one of a positive kind: there is actually something light and funny in this music, it's far less serious or gloomy than I had anticipated. Matter of fact is: this could well be sold in the more experimental techno shops. I am sure that some DJ's would have great fun with it. This doesn't imply that this is merely another techno record, far from it. It is too accomplished for your average 4/4 stuff, and way too weird. But still, the more adventurous ones will like it. So, back to the disc: it contains twelve tracks of varying lengths and sound palette. From more drone/ambient works to beepy pieces with pretty high-strung energy. And even melodic ones (although very odd), that somehow seem to hold my favour most. Who would have thought? A very varied CD, both in style and in atmosphere. Recommended. —Meelkop Roel

Chaindlk

San Fran's vintage experimental musician Thomas Dimuzio (read review of his "Mono::Poly" double CD on Asphodel records elsewhere on these pages) and NYC's Arcane Device member and audio/video artist David Lee Myers, have engaged into the coast-to-coast mail collaboration, which eventually lead to "Uncertain Symmetry", after the two played together at the renowned Tonic club in NYC's Lower East Side. They actually started working together in 1991 for the Generations Unlimited record outlet and eleven years later they picked up the pieces of that collaboration and started all over again. They have been shipping each other CDs with feedbacks and both have been editing and re-arranging all of that into a blend of astral feedback-based music. Myers is actually the inventor of a portable device he calls the "feeback machine", which he has been playing with since 1987. Obviously to recognize the differences in style between the contributions of one and the other, you'd have to have a throughout knowledge of their music, but even if you do, in this record it is almost impossible, considering the bicoastal ping-ponging has been going on for a long time. Considering the source of the material expect sonics that develop mostly in the mid to hi-range frequency spectrum. What I found interesting is that the result is not harsh material but has rather got a certain "cosmic" feel to it which is kinda pleasant and relaxing. Besides the two URLs provided for your convenience in the header of this review, you may also visit Dimuzio's Gench (www.gench.com) and Dimuzio's personal website (www.thomasdimuzio.com) as well as Myers' website (www.pulsewidth.com). —Marc Urselli-Schärer

The Wire

Some 12 years ago, West Coast electroacoustic composer Thomas Dimuzio and feedback sculptor David Lee Myers were working on a collaboration, when Myers abruptly dismantled all the feedback machines, which he had used on the stunningly bleak albums Also Sprach Zarathustra and Trout he made under the name Arcane Device, and ceased producing his brand of metal machine music. Happily, he is now back in business, and here he rekindles his long stalled collaboration with accomplished sound manipulator Dimuzio. His feedback machines might be ancient history, but Myers retains his lust for their tonal fibrillations. For their pointillist exercise in the use of feedback, Dimuzio and Myers filter, slice and twist their sonic waste into icy, cascading slivers. At peak intensity, their jagged music threatens to pierce the skin. —Jim Haynes

Downtown Music Gallery

New York's David Lee Myers and San Francisco's Thomas Dimuzio shared a stage at Tonic in New York City in March 2001. It was Myers' first publicperformance in ten years, since he was known as Arcane Device and invented a feedback machine. This collaboration immediately sparked a year long regenerative process. The ensuing year-long project actually picks up where a paused 1991 collaboration for the Generations Unlimited label left off. Myers' first round of source material represented a veritable sound library of feedback tones, texture and contours for Dimuzio to compose from. The structures Dimuzio created, along with several tracks of feedback-induced source sound (recorded for their project ten years prior) were sent back to Myers for additional manipulation and arangement; the result of this phase became the first section of their new effort. A second stage involved Myers sending material (from a rehearsal for an upcoming performance) to Dimuzio, who sliced, diced and reworked the sounds into a series of in-depth sonic beds, eventually returning the mixes, along with a new disc of live-sampled feedback, to Myers who reworked and honed them into the second half of the album. The product of these manipulations is titled Uncertain Symmetry, the result of a bi-coastal ping-ponging which is an even balance between the two artists--symmetrical-- but which the specific contributions from each can no longer be determined. —Bruce Gallanter