Andrea Neumann & Bonnie Jones — Green Just as I could See (2012, Erstwhile)
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Signal glitches, white noise, blips, squeaks, snippets of tape recordings, and granules of radio broadcasts all combine to create a challenging, yet wholly enthralling engagement on this 2012 release by two giants of improvised music(s)/sound art, Bonnie Jones and Andrea Neumann. Continuing in the tradition of Annea Lockwood, the tape music icon whose ability to interweave aural fragments never ceases to amaze, this duo truly emit their work as a collective, cohesive whole. This collaborative album treats the listener to an experience that is one-part sonic kaleidoscope, one part dialogue.With the former, one experiences a host of varying sonic phenomena: scraping sounds that demand attention, stringed instruments, placating bits of old folk songs, digital chirps, white noise, and disorienting manipulations of stereo panning. With the latter, as always, it’s up to the listener to contextual and “read” what the phenomena mean (and so too, where they originate from — in both an aesthetic and literal sense). In both instances, as aforementioned, the collectiveness of the release is palpable and engrossing in a way many music(s) are not. One is unable to both de- and re-construct the works (“Ah yes, there is Joe Strummer voice, oh and yes, there is Paul Simonon’s bass, etc.) and in doing so, subjectivity is decentered. The individuals are omnipresent and ever-active, but the resulting work is something that is neither Jones nor Neumann (nor the listener in a vacuum). In all, a fantastic listen.
Marginal Brevity 