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Los Angeles-based composer John Duncan who specializes in
apocalyptic and often abrasive electronic music.
While there are interesting ideas in his recordings, he tends to release
too many albums and thus dilute those ideas in chaotic and naive works.
He began in the 1980s with cassettes such as
Riot (AQM, 1984 - Dark Vinyl, 1990), a pioneering white-noise work made in Japan,
Gain (AQM, 1985),
Dark Market Broadcast (Cause & Effect, 1985 - Staalplaat, 1990),
another wall of noise,
Contact (Touch, 1990).
The double-CD River in Flames/ Klaar (Staalplaat, 1994) was the first
major work (and still one of the most powerful),
followed by Send (Touch, 1994),
Incoming (Streamline, 1995) and The Crackling (Trente oiseaux, 1996), possibly his masterpiece.
Home Unspeakable (Trente oiseaux, 1996), a collaboration with Bernhard Guenter,
The John See Soundtracks (RRRecords, 1997),
films that he assembled in Japan and focused on sexuality (e.g., female orgasms and male breathing),
Seek (Staalplaat, 1998)
were typical of the excessive work load of the composer.
Tap Internal (Touch, 2000),
and
Palace Of Mind (Allquestions, 2001), a collaboration with mathematician Giuliana Stefani,
were more thoughtful and complex.
The double CD Nav (Allquestions, 2001), a split with Francisco Lopez,
and Fresh (Allquestions, 2002), containing Nav-Flex and Trinity performed by a Swiss ensemble,
revisited old concepts.
Phantom Broadcast (Allquestions, 2002), yet another work for shortwave
radio, and one of his best,
and Infrasound - Tidal (Allquestions, 2003), which harks back to
musique concrete of the 1950s, are not particularly original.
The Scattering (Edition, 2004) is a collaboration with Peter Fleur.
Stun Shelter (All Questions, 2004) mixes two apocalyptic installations,
one by Duncan and one by C.M. Von Hausswolff.
Tongue (All Questions, 2004), a collaboration between John Duncan and
Elliott Sharp, is musique concrete with a soul, as the two manipulate and
reprocess sounds produced by their mouths (hard to describe them as merely
"human voice").
Presence (Allquestions, 2004), a collaboration between John Duncan and
vocalist Edward Lewis
(former bassist of Wire)
is another work that focuses on manipulation of
the human voice, this time bordering on gothic effects.
John See Soundtracks (RRR, 2004) uses as source material the soundtracks
to some pornographic films that he made in Japan in the early 1980s.
Conservatory (San Sebastiano, 2005) was a collaboration with
Italian multimedia artist Paolo Parisi.
Nine Suggestions (All Questions, 2006) was a collaboration with
Nordic glitch musicians Mika Vainio and Ilpo Vaisanen of Pan Sonic,
a slow-burning furnace of of brutal, vital electronic noise.
Our Telluric Conversation (23five, 2006) is the second collaboration with
Carl-Michael von Hausswolff, devoted to abstract soundsculpting and vocal
manipulation.
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