Four from Balloon & Needle

Noise, noise, noise. When does it work, when doesn’t it? It can be very frustrating trying to quantify it, a thankless task really, and these four releases from the ever more intriguing Korean label, Balloon & Needle, don’t make the task any easier.

“with cartridge/without cartridge” by turntablist Hong Chulki neatly encapsulates the dilemma. Presented on a pair of 3” discs, you have two somewhat different attacks by the same artist, done around the same time and, for this listener, one works very well, the other not so much. It’s the more raucous “with cartridge” portion that leaves me a little cold. Two pieces about ten minutes each, both with a “no spaces allowed” assaultive nature that doesn’t add up to more than its elements; there’s little implied form that I can discern and, consequently, not much to distinguish it from any dozen quasi-similar releases. The disc created without benefit of cartridge is no less intense—arguably its abrasive screeching is even more likely to cause spontaneous divorces—but something about the pacing and layering of sound just feels more substantial, more dense with ideas. It whines with a reason. Thrilling noise, tiresome noise, take your pick. I have few doubts about half of listeners would have the opposite reaction to mine.

Hong Chulki teams up with Choi Joonyong (CD player) on “hum and rattle”, a 6-track, 73 minute excursion. Though somewhat noisy (the title is reasonably descriptive of the contents) it’s not especially loud or strident and does come across as conversational though maybe a little too chatty. And it’s a long, not terribly fascinating conversation, like eavesdropping on a couple’s dinner conversation about what went on at the office that day. It’s a bit too middle ground, an odd assertion to make with this music, but it lacks a real incisiveness, a “need for being”. The inherent, unvarying rhythm of the CD player begins to pall toward the end. Aside from the relative unusualness of the noise generators employed, it’s essentially no different from your average improv session—not bad, not that special. The sleeve packaging’s pretty cool though.

The two solo discs from Joonyong are also rather different from each other. “CDPS 01/02” contains eight tracks (though apparently a continuous performance) of prickly but focused noise, presumably generated via CD player, though no such specific information is given. Rhythmic clicking sequences surface now and then through the gritty haze lending slight patterns to the bands of bitter noise. It’s consistent and fairly engaging though perhaps overstaying its welcome a tad. His “White Disc Ver. 2” is far sparser and that works to its advantage. A brawny cousin (relatively speaking) to Sachiko M’s recent disc, Joonyong arrays brief bursts of static, mild hisses and random pops in a somewhat similar manner, though the stronger noises occasionally appear with a rough regularity, implying a (very) slow tempo. The contrast in sounds and textures is impressive given the supposedly small palette—quite a large set of grays. If I find myself greatly preferring this latter disc, one created by the same artist at approximately the same time, it mostly has to do with the thoughtful consideration that seems to be a bit more in play. “CDPS 01/02” is competent and workmanlike. “White Disc Ver. 2” has something inspired in it, as though Joonyong is discovering something very valuable along the way. When those semi-regular plosives occur late in the pieces, providing a bit of a foothold, they feel earned. Nice work.

balloon & needle