Stone, Carl / Wat Dong Moon Lek
Album: Wat Dong Moon Lek   Collection:General
Artist:Stone, Carl   Added:Oct 2022
Label:Unseen Worlds  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2023-01-28 Pull Date: 2023-04-01 Charts: Classical/Experimental
Week Ending: Mar 26 Mar 19 Feb 19 Feb 12 Feb 5 Jan 29
Airplays: 1 1 1 1 3 1

Recent Airplay
1. Jul 01, 2024: Virtually Happy
Longo
4. Mar 14, 2023: Sound Wheels
Rikido
2. Apr 04, 2023: Exploring the ul-A file
Longo, Rikido
5. Feb 16, 2023: Run-Away Radio
Korzo
3. Mar 21, 2023: Virtually Happy
Jangara
6. Feb 11, 2023: Music Casserole
Rikido

Album Review
DJ Away
Reviewed 2023-01-22
Carl Stone, who has been composing with electronics since the 70s and performing live computer music since the 80s, has turned his attention in recent years to...hyperpop!? Stone (from LA, now based in Tokyo) was developing sampling techniques in parallel with early hip-hop DJs, and while his early work was mostly connected to New Music and academic circles, his newer pieces are closer to blasted dance workouts than CCRMA recitals. On his use of the pop samples that underlie most of his newer pieces: "I’m taking something, I’m breaking it, I’m shattering it—I’m allowing myself the use of the production values that give the samples a sound, but I’m destroying everything else, in terms of the rhythm and the harmony, the melody, the structure of the song itself" (interview with Tone Glow, 2020). I think this characterization is an overstatement, as it's definitely possible to identify his sources. But it's exciting to see someone rounding seventy and making the most exuberant, mind-bending music of his career. RIYL Sophie, Charli XCX, PC Music, The Books, Negativland. Favorites: 1, 3, 5. No FCCs detected.

1. *(6:37)—Mid-tempo. Starts with chopped-up voice, digital Baroque counterpoint. Gradual build with many key changes. Cruising beat enters around 2 minutes. Gets shoegaze-like at points.
2. (8:28)—Beat that switches between slow dub and agile double-time. High, watery organ. Lots of digital voice modulation.
3. *(4:20)—Medium-fast, light-footed beat. Bright synths, sax soloing. High, jittery voice.
4. (4:35)—Medium-slow. Described by Stone as "acid bop," which is accurate.
5. *(5:35)—Slow, pretty, western-inflected string-band music with lots of transposed pieces. Funhouse mirror effect.
6. (4:18)—Slow. Lots of wobbly sounds and static.
7. (3:30)—Rolling mid-tempo beat. Droning, slightly muffled in feel.

Track Listing
1. Rikido   4. Mozell's
2. Longo   5. Wat Dong Moon Lek
3. Korzo   6. Apsara
  7. Jangara