Xopher Davidson: Antimatter.(Review)

Compact disc, 1998, Artifact 1020; available from Artifact Recordings, 1374 Francisco Street, Berkeley, California 94702, USA; electronic mail info@artifact.com; World Wide Web www.artifact.com

In this offering by Xopher Davidson from Artifact Recordings, the tracks, seven in all, are not separated by silence, so I consider the disc to be a single self-contained work.

The music starts with a drone, which grows bigger and more spacious, with circulating high tones. The sound basically covers the whole spectrum. Other horn-like sounds swell in. A crashing buzz breaks through, heavy with bass rumbling, gradually quieting away to reveal the original drone continuing. A shuddering, higher-toned pad swells up, electronic, yet like some sort of wind instrument. There are no notes and only a hint of pitch. It may be a didgeridu, and there may be a bit of clarinet. Then, the bass element of the pad gradually shifts in tonality, and water-dripping sounds enter in the mid-to-high range. Now processing, which had obviously been present but not obvious as to technique, shows clear marks of reverberation. Comb filtering in the midrange produces wisps of shifting tonality over deep wind rumbling. There are hints that drumming is the original source of this rumbling sound. The bass fades out as midrange sine waves or pulse waves beat against each other in pitch. A wet buzzing sound also fades in. I imagine the composer sitting at a console mixing various sources and feedback cycles of those sounds slowly into and out of the mix.

The windy buzzing sound rises to a crescendo. A new tonal center emerges then fades as a slightly higher band of whispering, rushing sounds pours in. The music works well because the sound is interesting at any given moment, the changes are not too radical or too boring, and the very slight changes of bass and filter resonance provide a satisfying sense of "found tonality."

Next, an electric guitar loop--it is obviously a loop--becomes apparent. Was the whole piece pulled out of this loop? The CD player shows I'm on Track 4, but no obvious segues have occurred.

An obvious bass guitar comes in with a slowly repeated beat and the guitar sample whirling above it. Pitched clicks and taps--square waves, artifacts of processing--become apparent. Perhaps the music ...