Billy Gomberg - Quiet Barrier

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4...according to our Phil on Wed 28 Sep, 2011.

We've had some bits in before by Mr. Gomberg on the Experimedia and The Land Of. Here's a new one on Rest & Noise and apparently this was constructed in real time (kinda like the telly programme 24) so it has a very motorik feel which is weird for something with no beats. Instead of the beats there are drones, tones and strange electronic noises courtesy of digital processing. Ooh and there's lots of synths here so this fits nicely into the more cosmic bracket that's been popular of late. But ruining the chi of the cosmic-ness are the strange little micro noises which create a whole new un-cosmic vibe and add a fresh dimension to this crazy beast. It's an interesting listen and I'm thoroughly enjoying the many layers and textures on offer here!

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The formation of a different language takes place on ‘Quiet Barrier’: flickering rhythms, receding walls of electronic sound, and warped melodic figures occupy the space where words and terminology once stood. It’s a process that Brooklyn-based Billy Gomberg has inhabited before with releases on such labels as Experimedia, and/OAR, and The Land Of. Here, with synthesizers and custom digital processing, Gomberg arrives at a complex album of shifting tones, kaleidoscopic hues, and crackling debris that flows with a clear, exacting vision.

Though wholly electronic in execution, ‘Quiet Barrier’ is not designed, sequenced, or digitally overwrought. It is music that is played and constructed in real-time, relying on a moment to moment interaction between musician and instrument. Such an approach explains in part why ‘Quiet Barrier’ unfolds with an unmitigated motion, propelling itself forward in a linear manner. The outcome, like any good narrative, is a sound that can’t be rushed or interrupted, only followed and absorbed. ‘Quiet Barrier’ follows the 2009 collaboration with Offthesky, ‘Flyover Sound,’ which was nominated for the Paris-based Qwartz electronic music award in experimentation and research.

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