John Hudak - Experimental_Intermedia (self release, 2011)

1 EI_1 11:49
2 EI_2 08:52
3 EI_3 07:45

On a cool Wednesday evening in December, pasta e fagioli...

credits
released 02 March 2011
Video imaging during the performace was done by Bruce Tovsky (album image taken from video for the first piece)

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Bernhard Günter - Univers Temporel Espoir (Trente Oiseaux, 1999)

1 Un Lieu Pareil À Point Effacé, 1ere Partie 15:00
2 Un Lieu Pareil À Point Effacé, 2eme Partie 15:17
3 The Ant Moves / The Black And Yellow Carcass / A Little Closer 28:14
4 Vertige Hasard 12:01

by request

This album collects two pieces which had previously appeared on anthologies, as well as two new pieces. "Lieu Pareil, Pt. 1" was originally published on a CD distributed with the magazine Halana, and "The Ant Moves..." was released in an earlier version on the Ash International anthology. The last piece is the newest, and is one of Günter's few pieces with anything recognizable as a beat, although at the intended low volume the sound is more like a heartbeat than anything one might hear in a dance hall. There are in fact several layers of beats at different speeds, superimposed, fading in and out at different times. With a sudden loud woodblock event signaling the last section of the piece, the sounds alternate between the woodblocks and quiet static, reminiscent of the Japanese temple blocks in Stockhausen's "Telemusik." The other pieces deal with more naturalistic sounds -- wind, water, and thunder. One of the fascinations in Günter's music is his ability to recall natural phenomena without necessarily using natural sounds (although almost every sound he uses is sampled). "Lieu Pareil 2" and "The Ant Moves..." both share sectional division sounds with the last piece, but the overall sound world is quiet, non-developmental, persistent and rewarding for listeners who clear their mind and focus on the small sounds that Günter exposes.
All Music Guide

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John Hudak - Natura (Apraxia, 1995)

A Drosophilia Melanogaster
B Ice On Snow

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John Hudak - The Wood Bells (Chaba Recordings, 2004)

1 The Wood Bells 60:12

wood bells...

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John Hudak - Brooklyn Bridge (Shirocoal Recordings, 1998)

1 Untitled (17:03)
2 Untitled (15:17)
3 Untitled (11:00)
4 Untitled (16:33)

John Hudak inspiré par le trfic sur le pont de Brooklyn...

John Hudak inspired by the traffic crossing Brooklyn Bridge....

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John Hudak - Pond (Meme, 1998)

1 Pond (61:19)

John Hudak joue avec des insectes aquatiques et des drones...

John Hudak playing with aquatic insects and drones....

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John Hudak - Room With Sky (Spekk, 2003 (2004 reissue))

1 Room With Sky (60:00)

Le son progresse lentement, sur une heure, tandis que la lumière envahit la pièce....

When listening to this sixty minute piece from veteran experimental sound-artist John Hudak it's hard to believe the way it was created. 'Room With Sky' was forged one day in New York, the room it was recorded in was flooded with sunlight thanks to two large windows and Hudak proceeded to record himself speaking in a stream of consciousness style. He took this recording and went on to process it until the words themselves were gone entirely, leaving only the skeleton of speech, leaving what can only be recognised as haunting, dripping tones. You could say this 'repeats' throughout the duration of the track, but there is little room for repetition in Hudak's work, he references the sound of crickets for instance in the way it sounds similar, but it's not the same and the more you listen the more you realise just how varied the sound is. Like all good minimal music too, 'Room With Sky' is only minimal because of people's pre-conceptions of what 'music' should do, and this is a rich, beautiful and involving a recording as you could hope for. It's another great addition to a superb catalogue from Plop, sitting very comfortably next to Taylor Deupree's 'January' and Richard Chartier & William Basinski's untitled collaborative album. Gorgeous and understated bliss.
Boomkat

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John Hudak and Stephan Mathieu - Pieces Of Winter (Sirr, 2004)

1 01 (6:00)
2 Winter Garden (10:00)
3 ¶ (0:10)
4 04 (5:30)
5 05 (16:00)
6 06 (6:00)
7 ¶ (0:10)
8 08 (10:00)
9 ¶ (0:08)
10 Nuit Blanche (10:30)
11 11 (5:30)

C’est Varèse qui avait évoqué l’idée d’écouter le bruit de la neige qui tombe. Ce beau split album de John Hudak et Stephan Mathieu arrive au bon moment, comme pour asseoir la quiétude qu’impose l’hiver malgré sa rigueur. Pour ce disque, Hudak a enfoui ses micros dans la neige qui est devenue glace, puis s’est recouverte à nouveau de neige. La famille Mathieu a joué de l’orgue et de l’ocarina un soir de Noël. Stephan Mathieu a utilisé cette source et obtient au final un beau mélange de quiétude et d’apaisement, une immobilité saisissante. On ressent la même émotion qu’à l’écoute des phonographies polaires de Chris Watson, ou des murmures micro-tonals de Steve Roden. Comme assis au centre du cercle amical qui est à l’origine de ces enregistrements, on est saisi par le chaud-froid qui anime cette musique minimale. La froideur hostile de l’hiver se niche dans les scintillements, les craquements, les frottements ; la tiédeur du foyer exhale des drones de Stephan Mathieu, spécialiste du genre. On oublie qu’on est au cœur d’une musique expérimentale, tant ce paysage sonore sait se transformer en caresse ultra-légère. La technologie au service de la sensibilité.
Octopus

What's the sound of snow falling? On a nice, relatively warm autumn day like today, maybe not a question to think about. But two more zen-like characters like Stephan Mathieu and John Hudak think about such subtle things all the time, I imagine. Two source recordings were made for this release: John Hudak buried a "contact microphone buried overnight in snow that turned into ice, then he recorded snow falling on this enveloping ice". Mathieu's source is of him playing a pump organ and Eva-Lucy Mathieu playing ocarina. Not of course that one would recognize any as such, since both Hudak and Mathieu are skillfull operates of their computer. They can, if they want, transform the sound of an earthquack into say a beautiful interplay of small, microscopic and minimally changing set of sounds. On 'Pieces Of Winter' they don't do anything different: all of the generated sound is transformed into eleven of the sketch like pencil drawings of sound. Glacier like music is of course an all too easy made reference, but perhaps the only possible thing to say. It's like watching snow that is fresh, without traces of man or animal, being covered with more snow. Small holes are made in an irregular pattern. For both Hudak and Mathieu it's not something we haven't heard before, but they both maintain their very high quality. Great CD!
Vital Weekly

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