Asher - Untitled Composition For B - 4.1 DVD-R - Leerraum [ ] BGN, WHITE_LINE, 2007. This latest offering from the small, (but perfectly formed) Swiss based leerraum [ ] imprint is a showcase for sound artist, Asher. Housed in leerraum’s [ ] stark white cover with logotype debossing on the exterior, and the elegantly diffuse landscape photography of Rolf Siegenthaler contained like a precious artefact within, a highly refined and reduced aesthetic permeates this and every other leerraum [ ] release. «Untitled composition for b» is a 24 minute composition rendered in 4.1 surround sound, this, and the whole «5.1» series is an examination of sound installation, investigating and working with spaciality. Asher’s work here is liberally dusted with waves of prickly static that gently ebb and flow, scattering shards of frequency that shimmer and burst amidst drifting and ethereal instrumentation. Crippled as I am with a lack of surround sound hi-fi equipment, I can only surmise the cumulative effect of these waves of frequency upon a suitably receptive listener, but as a former isolationist, I can recommend darkness, silence and enhanced attention to this exquisite work. For the full benefit of course, a 5.1 system would be the requisite listening mode, and for those like myself who are not so technologically well endowed, a good quality hi-fi system is a poor cousin, and will reduce the overall spatial effects considerably.At once ultra minimal, yet replete with pin-prick detail, this work will doubtless invite comparisons to Chartier or early Bernhard Gunther, yet Asher’s material maintains itself in the higher frequency register, rarely moving into Chartier’s often used sub-bass territory, or Gunther’s near-silent early works. This could be the hiss and swell of a de-tuned shortwave radio, or a finely sculpted soundscape, alive with sparkling and crackling static blooms, and a hypnotic, vaporous tonescape nagging at it’s periphery. At 24 minutes, an extremely short, but essential introduction to the work of Asher. CD Feature/ Asher: "Untitled Composition (For B)" A meticulously realised vision again: Less of an aural place and more of a movement of nature. Tobias Fischer, Tokafi.com, 2007. As the necessary technologies are becoming affordable, we are sure to witness a slew of 5.1. and 4.1 Audio-releases over the next couple of years. While some of them are bound to remain gadgets, surround sound really makes sense in the case of Asher. Even though it is by now almost impossible to make any general claims about his work, which has grown steadily and in different directions at the same time, a continuing theme seems to be the search for tangents between our physical surroundings and the world of music. While releases such as “In Camera” (on homophoni) and “The Depths, the Colours, the Objects and the Silence” (on Mystery Sea) have taken a similar approach, “Untitled Composition (For B)” must therefore be considered as a sort of temporary acme simply for conceptual reasons. Whether or not it is one in musical terms as well depends on your point of view. Those who expect this DVD to reveal new mysteries from the medially enigmatic musician from Somerville, Massachusetts or to make use of the visual capacities of the medium will most likely be disappoinzed: For the entire duration of the piece, 24-minutes overall, the screen remains a granular black. The arrangement furthermore suggests that the compositional method and the source material of “For B” are within arms-length of the records mentioned in the second paragraph: Noises culled from the street form a dynamic, familar and delicately raw surface, while slowly attacking tone pulsations come bubbling up from deep below. The effect is one of gradual errosion: Differences between field recordings and studio sounds are washed away, the timbres of rain and cars driving by merge into a single, dense layer and the concrete emmissions take on a sensual and mystic quality. Interestingly enough, the album strongly suggests that Asher achieves these unique results by essentially treating both elements – self-recorded samples and pitched notes – in the same way: Both heave and breathe, creating an organic flow. His field recordings appear to be cyclical, repeating themselves in certain intervals with nothing but slight adjustments in parameters such as volume or distortion. “For B” is consequently less of an aural place and more of a movement of nature – a storm rising and calming down again, drizzle setting in and making way for a blue sky, an uncomforting semblance rising and returning to its den. While Asher may not have reinvented himself here, the again meticulously realised vision is nonetheless enough of a reason in itself to cherish this short work. As with many of his previous releases, the similarities disappear with each listen, giving way for ever new nuances and surprises. There is also a strong sense that the inevitable comparisons between his albums will increase one’s understanding of each of them. Even the „visuals“ seem to fit in, which is the most remarkable part of it all. Music, as literature and probably all other forms of art, does not live from spelling everything out, but rather from the power of allusion. If you can make a black screen seem alluring and meaningful, then you must be doing something right. Asher - Untitled Composition For B - Leerraum [ ] Massimo Ricci, Touching Extremes, 2007. In the 24 minutes of this audio DVD, Asher presents an absorbing piece that confirms a strong imprint while showing another facet of his sonic experimentation at one and the same time. The grey-tinged electroacoustic swamp that is typical of Mr.Thal-Nir’s most beautiful tracks is still with us since the very beginning; shortwave, hiss and barely emerging background voices create that sense of «comfortable displacement» that slowly takes command in our systems, facilitating the release of tension from our body while liberating a copious dose of pulverized steam that invades every available niche. The new «presence» is a subterranean, yet perfectly detectable harmonic wash, a come-and-go rarefied pulse somehow reminiscent of Nurse With Wound’s «Salt Marie Celeste», which stabilizes the music into a fine-tuned elemental symmetry. Over the recent years, Asher has been recognized as an important voice in that area of the «minimalism of collapse» which many have tried to access without the necessary requisites. His sensitive ear, the acknowledged ability in utilizing few means to achieve something that succeeds in affecting the psyche quite deeply, are only a couple of the resources that make each of these episodes highly anticipated and always worthwhile. Asher - Untitled Composition For B - Leerraum [ ] Brina Olewnick, Bagatellen, 2007. Ever prolific and consistently engaging, Asher paints yet one more evocative, peaceful-yet-prickly soundscape with “untitled composition (for b)”. Multilayered though with some degree of transparency and lightness, washes of static mix with a chilly tonal iteration that sounds like an old scrap salvaged from Fripp. The strata advance and recede, acquiring varying degrees of depth and translucence. It’s something of a stasis work, shifting within itself but occupying much the same space throughout, though by doing so it allows the listener to pick up elements that have been there all along but possibly escaped notice. A vague industrial undertow, for instance, seems clearer toward the end, a slightly bitter hum, almost like a vacuum sucking away the preceding 25 minutes. A good piece; those who have enjoyed his prior work will certainly like this one.