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RHYS CHATHAM - Two Gongs (1971)

RHYS CHATHAM - Two Gongs (1971)
Table of the elements
CD // £12.99
EXTREME / NOISE
Released: Oct 2006
Catalogue Number: TOECD73

RHYS CHATHAM - Two Gongs (1971), Table of the elements

NY CITY has always thrived on its ability to merge glitz with grime, creating products that incorporate both high-brow idealism and raw, gritty experimentation. The proliferation of trends that spew from the 5 boroughs each offer forth different takes on the City’s life. From punk to no-wave, art-rock to folk and all other jumbles of creativity, NY births more inspired art than any other modern city. Composer Rhys Chatham’s powerful, uncompromising body of work, his exploration of noise, chaos, composition and calm is in many ways the most direct, passionate musical manifestation of this postmodern way. Chatham exhibits an exceptional ability to bridge together the intricacies of classical composition with the kick-in-the-gut whallop of rock ‘n’ roll. The hour-long Two Gongs fills the entirety of [this] disc with its ethereal, droning psychedelia. While written in 1971, the ’89 recording documented here features Chatham, along with fellow composer Yoshimasa Wada coaxing heavy, overlapping tones out of a pair of Chinese gongs. The instruments buzz and hum, moving in waves from deafening rattles to soft, muted drones. The monstrous noise that Chatham concocts is far more akin to the seismic crashes of monstrously distorted guitar feedback than that of two unprocessed slabs of metal, and it proves the composer’s interest in creating a similar world of sound out of whatever instrument currently proved his muse. On disc, the performance is jaw-droppingly powerful, a monumental chunk of glorious noise. “The resulting investigation of these gongs sounds not so much like an idealized Music of the Spheres as it is a ‘Music of Two Enormous Fucking Ball Bearings the Size of Jupiter Grinding Together like Electric Teenagers’. Heavenly, yes, but with enough sharp metal shavings and distorted sparks as to spray in your eyes over its 60 minute duration.

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