The phrase "flirting with the noise floor" has been floating around my head since the mid 1990s. I've even said the phrase out loud a few times. Mostly in reference to silence, incidental sounds and space used in improvisation and composition. I spent a good part of the early 2000s focusing on variations of this idea in both what I was making and listening to. Years later, I became aware of a renewed interest in what had by then become known as 'lowercase sound' coming from people in the Harsh Noise Wall community. The overlap made sense to me considering HNW's approach to the other pole of extreme minimalism. It was only a matter of time before the extremes would cross over to one another. This is a collection of artists who are doing just that; coming from a harsh noise background exploring nuance and texture with extreme focus and intensity but not necessarily the relentlessness normally associated with HNW.
-patrick (modern tapes / v.h.)
released April 15, 2021
Sergey Pakhomov - 'Emptiness Reflector'
sergeypakhomov.bandcamp.com
James Shearman - 'Thorn Fingers'
Recorded on the morning of Thursday 7th May, 2020. Some silence has been cut out of original recording - some enveloping has amplified quieter sounds. No other edits.
For more work:
jamesshearman.bandcamp.com
jshears.org
E.F. Stoermer - 'Selective Segregators in Global Ocean Planktonic Communities'
Through the ecological interpretation of both inferred microbial association networks
and available knowledge on diatom interactions compiled in an open-access database,
an ecosystemic approach is proposed for exploring diatom interactions in the ocean.
sonic biotic interactions recorded in Seattle May, 2020
efstoermer.bandcamp.com
Dosis Letalis - 'Clock Hypnosis'
Soothing sounds of house clock, home apparatus and papir folding all together in one hypnotic track.
Crafted by Nemanja Nikolić
May 7-8, 2020, in France
dosisletalis.bandcamp.com
PTRKLLR - 'A Package Of Words Wrapped Around A Thought In It Disappears When Read'
Inward acoustic improvisation recorded May 2020, in Seattle,
using a single source of a mailing package,
with no editing, overdubbing, or layering
ptrkllr.bandcamp.com
v.h. - 'Peeling Backward'
recorded in late april 2020 in brooklyn, new york. movement + transducer + amplifiers + time.
moderntapes.com