Originally Published: 2003-06-08

The 20th century European avant garde form of "musique concrete" is alive and well in the hands of this West Coast duo (Emma Hendrix & Graeme Scott) who just took part in the No Type label's showcase at the prestigious Mutek festival in Montreal. Since recording tape allowed composers to bring natural sounds to the concert stage, experimenters have explored a brave new world of texture and form. Today samplers make things easier to mix and manipulate, so the art is in arranging unique sounds into potent impressionistic pieces. On their debut Coin Gutter launch themselves with an ambitious 36-minute piece "Lift With The Knees" that is like a meeting of Merzbow style power electronics and Hafler Trio-type subtleties. Human voices are also part of their sound, as spoken word and female operatic singing find places in their accomplished sequence of pieces. Experience Coin Gutter's audio sampling at www.electrocd.com.

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