Reviews:
(Vital Weekly) Lastly, on cassette is the trio Dustceawung (or, rather, dustsceawung). They are Miri Karraker (viola), Noah Ophoven-Baldwin (cornet) and Mitch Stahlmann (flute). They started in Minneapolis in 2017 with a shared interest in lowercase music, small sounds, and “questions around instrument proficiency”. They played a few concerts in 2017 and 2018 but drifted apart for various reasons and reconvened in 2022 via Zoom. If I understand this, they used Zoom to create music, play together, listen, adding sounds. On this cassette is a recording of that, found on the B side, while on the A side, there is a recording from 2018. Their love for small sounds is evident, as they keep their volume down and their sounds small. One only sometimes recognises the instruments played by scraping, rubbing, touching and so forth their instruments. In their 2018 piece, they like to keep things together, and small plus small equals something not very big. There is, perhaps, only sometimes a lot of ‘definition’ in their playing, but I assume that’s how they like these things. On their 2022 recording, there is a bit more on the definition side, but at the same time, the fondness to keep things small and very much together is still strong. As such, both sides have little difference, even when the 2018 recording starts with something that uses electronics, which didn’t seem part of the 2022 recording. I slightly preferred the 2018 recording, mainly because of the apparent presence of electronics, expanding their music a bit beyond the sometimes too-intimate part. - Frans de Waard
(Lost In A Sea Of Sound) Pressure relief..... these are the sounds to listen with caution. dustsceawung is a well used pot on the stove with a locking lid. The broken gauge configured with a crack that looks suspiciously like a smile. A worn rubber gasket creating a seal far past it's expected life by the manufacturer. Still this is not enough. There is no measure to how much force lies within. A hiss escapes, a rattle or knocking comes and goes. The process continues with thoughts of the contents within. In this case three conscious beans are cooking at controlled heat. Miri Karraker playing viola, Noah Ophoven-Baldwin wielding the cornet and Mitch Stahlmann engaging the flute. Their sounds are slowly infusing together. Each artist well aware of the applied degree needed to facilitate the congruence with the others. Two twenty minute selections on this composition. "firn" recorded in 2018 and "fold" recorded in 2022. There is a similarity between these two pieces, but "firn" is just a bit more stewed with almost a drone canvas. "fold" has a vividness in clarity and is more acute the entire way through. The instruments on "fold" pierce thoughts with a sharper edge, creating a mysterious world on the peripheral of consciousness. dustsceawung is an Old English word meaning "the acknowledgment of dust as once having been other things, living beings or civilizations past". Not to much information on dustsceawung the trio is out there. Bryan Day included a nice write up by Frans de Waard on the release page. Thank you for this and thanks again for the label eh? in delivering the farthest thresholds for sound. Physical copies are available on cassette from the label here. - Ken Lower
(Raised By Cassettes) This cassette begins with what sounds like a wolf howling but I can also somewhat recognize as someone blowing into a trumpet. Bells are ringing, hypnotically, and there is a distribution of sand. It feels as if an electronic ball is bouncing now as all of these sounds begin to come together and sound both like peak technology and primitive at the same time. When it's one instrument at a time it can feel minimal, but when everything happens all at once it becomes rather chaotic. As the ball bounces there is this slipstream type of sound coming in behind it now, as if we are about to be sucked into the void. Some shuffling of chairs and such furniture. Tiny squeaks like doors opening and closing, a sharp hue inches through. Though it can quiet down, that high pitched frequency still drones through, as if a dog whistle, and then that shuffling of sand is behind it. Sounds made through straws and then the chaos of a string instrument, such as a violin. Bursts of those wolf howls, but also sharpness as if we're hitting the breaks. Some of that "Jaws" treatment now as well. High pitched plucks and what feels like distorted screaming come through with knocking. This feels so light and delicate with some sounds, but yet so heavy and abrasive with others. The strings are so light, as if we're floating around on clouds, but then the screaming and other sounds like distortion make it feel heavier. This all comes together at some point and it makes me think I'm hearing balloons pop, which is a pretty good visual for the sound thus far as well. As we reach the end of the first side this really feels like something that might have been played on the Titanic as it went down. On the flip side we begin with a bit of banging which can almost begin to even sound like knocking. Some scraping comes in and this is quite minimal. This feels like scraping a drumstick along a drum now but it ends with this ding as if a string is being plucked as well. As this continues, some horns begin to eek out sound. The sharpness returns behind this all as well and it feels like we're taken back to the first side only without those wolf howls. Though someone does sound as if they are screaming in pain behind it all. The flute comes through now, taking over the directive of the sound. Some scraping and banging noises, but that flute just keeps persisting over it all. Chains are dragging now and then the wind whistles through. Somewhere between the sound of static and the crackling of a fire comes to join the flute now. I feel like these sounds are horns coming through, but they feel like wild animals crying for help. I would not play this in front of dogs. As this all comes blaring through we're back to that dragging of a stick across the drum type of sound. A mellow tone now, as things break down and fade away. Heavy breathing as it feels like an ice pick is stabbing away at the surface. Those horns like a trumpet come through once again and it feels like we're doing some type of ice sculpture, even if just for fun but possibly to escape and survive. It reaches a level where it can almost sound like whimpering but there is still that string scraping as well. Sharp squeaks and a quick little drum roll. Zippers being zipped and then louder, frequency waves coming through. A dumping of liquids takes us to the end of this adventure. - Joshua Macala
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