Cyclo (Ryoji Ikeda & Carsten Nicolai)

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5...according to our Ant on Fri 04 Mar, 2011.

What a meeting of minds this project is! Ten years since its inception with only a single CD available but numerous live performances. This is the esteemed duo of Carsten Nicoli (Alva Noto etc.) and Ryoji Ikeda... At ease. The bloke that lives next door to me is a nice chap but he's a copper so I don't want to get on his bad side... So anyway one day the family went out of the house doing some shit I can't even remember and so I thought I'd have a bit of a Raster Noton one man party session. Really fuckin loud so I whammed on Cyclo's first CD from 2001 and it had me grinning like a lunatic, some totally insane frequencies happening and then I get a knock on the back window and a telling off from aforementioned policeman neighbour. "Erm sorry but the music is too loud and I'm on night-shift etc". BOOOOO!!! Can't diss him though cos he helped me take our rotting summerhouse to the tip. He's a good neighbour in many ways but this might upset him a bit so I'll hold back on the volume on this one. It's totally great actually, even without experiencing the audio through an XY phase scope to get the intended visual element. The more rhythmic moments are reminiscent of the Signal stuff on the label. OooooOOooh yeah I'm totally grooving out to this right now... This lot have outdone themselves here yet again. Hat's off!!!! While some folks may debate the audio's merit and the undeniably interesting concepts at work, I'll just keep on throwing shapes and rocking like a bastard... Think I might have said too many swear words in this review... I got a bit excited like. This is one of the few releases I'll be grabbing on both CD and LP formats when the vinyl eventually arrives. I also suggest getting in some doggie snax to feed the local canines when they riot at your doorstep after being attracted by some of the immense high frequencies on display here. Very highly recommended.

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A decade since its inception, Ryoji Ikeda and Carsten Nicolai are relaunching their collaborative project, cyclo., a project that focuses on the visualisation of sound and seeks to create a new hybrid of visual art and music. Both leading electronic composers/artists from Japan and Germany respectively, Ikeda and Nicolai release their second album, that will later be followed by a publication with an extensive presentation of their visuals. Since the beginning of the cyclo. project, the artists have developed a database of sounds composed to produce visual responses when analysed in real time with the help of stereo image monitoring equipment. Phase and amplitude of stereo signals can be illustrated graphically: the audio elements are constructed through the minute editing of frequencies (often beyond the physical range of human hearing) and selected by the artists for their visual characteristics when analysed. Through processes of composition, editing and experiment, cyclo. is amassing an ‘infinity index’ of sound fragments.In building this archive, Ikeda and Nicolai transcend the usual dynamic whereby image acts merely as a functional accompaniment to sound. Instead, the audio element in the process is subservient to the desire and appetite of the image. This record purposefully remains unmastered, in order to retain the waveforms as originally visualized through an XY phase scope.

5...according to Clive.

Excellent album and excellent live. The five stars go to the reviewer... had me in stitches. Brilliant.

Rating: 5 out of 5

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