The One True Dead Angel's review of Conure's "Strings, Locations" CD

[conure_ifau]

"Mark Wilson's latest venture into the exploration of pure sound is a series of location recordings featuring guitars, field recordings, efx pedals, found sound, and keyboards. Across four lengthy tracks ranging from eight to twenty minutes each, he pits processed sound against different architectural spaces with varying results. 'Amsterdam and 81st: A Reverie' is a dark, droning soundscape dominated by a baritone amp hum; over that basic sound, a dynamic range of noises, processed sounds, and field recordings are combined in deliberately uneven layers of density and sonic violence. 'Feedback Location String' is very much what its name implies: lots of stuttering, high-frequency feedback interspersed with enigmatic beeps like a satellite transmission against a background of increasingly chaotic white noise. 'Ribbon Implementation' is more spacious, using sounds that are more rhythmically oriented and subjected to heavy processing; sheets of white noise come and go, along with a wide variety of textural sounds, but the circular rhythms, like the sound of a slow-moving centrifuge, remain the predominant musical theme. The final track, 'Steel, Nylon and Foil: Oxidation Paintings' is the culmination of the album's progressively harsh tone, sounding like cement blocks being crushed into powder in a tunnel filled with gusting wind. It would be interesting to know more details about the locations for each recording, but that knowledge is not necessary to appreciate the many layers of sound and texture encrusted in each of these soundscapes."
-The One True Dead Angel,
http://theonetruedeadangel.blogspot.com/