1. h r
2. u a [sample]
3. m t [sample]
4. a t
5. n l
6. d e

running time: 73:53

released date

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2007.9.28

cd

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12 USD

This album is a duo recording of Choi Joonyong and Hong Chulki who have been playing together for 10 years, starting their loud noise duo, 'Astronoise'(probably the first noise project in Korea). Apart from Astronoise, they also have been collaborating with other musicians like Ryu Hankil, Jin Sangtae, Park Seungjun, Joe Foster, Sato Yukie, Otomo Yoshihide, Sachiko M, and with each other releasing an album on Rasbliutto Recordings in 2005. This album is the output of their ongoing focuses: playing cdplayer and turntable. Choi Joonyong plays cdplayer with errors and picking up internal/external sounds of cdplayer. He has put out 3 solo albums(including one web release) done with only his prepared and exposed cdplayers. Hong Chulki plays turntable with prepared cartridges and speakers to pick up and amplify the random, outdoor sound or various vibrations of the turntable body itself, making unique but unstable feedback. Recordings are done on 3 days including one live recording from Relay13.

[review on Startling Moniker by dave x]
From the Seoul-based Balloon & Needle label, “Hum and Rattle” features some of label head Hong Chulki and Choi Joonyong’s phenomenal turntable and opened CD player compositions. Advantageous use of noise bursts that could make Merzbow flinch, contrasted with periods of near (or total) silence make this an ideal album for headphone listening– especially in regards to the delicacy of Choi’s contributions, which comprise everything from the the faintest digital seek-sound, to full-blown read error exploding into unlikely patterns of bitrate-lacework.
For his end; Hong’s turntable tends toward the lower frequency (and possibly sans vinyl) approach to noisemaking. It’s DJ Q-Bert’s nightmare– needle drops, empty platters spinning against the tonearm, skipping one groove and proceeding to practically lathe-cut the next.
Fortunately, both Hong and Choi evidence a strong ability to not only play off one another’s sounds, but an enthusiasm for allowing both sounds and each other room to breathe. Openness is what sets “Hum and Rattle” apart from many other discs splashing about in similar waters. This approach is most easily heard on the second track, “u a”, something like an 11-minute act of digital call-and-response where one player is a void.
The album closes with a live recording made during a Relay free improvisation meeting. Although it naturally lacks the stereo dynamic that helps make the previous tracks as compelling, it’s nice to hear evidence that Hong and Choi do not rely on studio tricks for the generation of their sound. Rather, the turntables and CD players are treated as instruments in their own right, a much-mouthed but rarely-heard acclamation.
“Hum and Rattle” is attractively packaged in a simple folded-card sleeve, and is available from Balloon & Needle.

[review on TEMPORARY FAULT by Massimo Ricci]
Apart from the nice U2 pun of the title, this record – entirely realized with a CD player and a turntable – brings an unrepentant, if somewhat moderate assault on the listener’s ears, subjected to an alternance of remorseless frequencies and episodes of extra-charged “tranquillity” for over 73 minutes. The protagonists manipulate their sources with expertise, obtaining uncommonly surprising sounds whose scope goes from ultrasonically acute stabs and extremely sharp interlocutions to quasi-silent segments where only through headphones we’re able to identify some sort of subterranean activity, often based on the exploration of audibility ranges that are better suited to dogs, cats and bats than humans (one can always improve, though). There’s a method to this music, which is why I particularly appreciate it: the performers are listening attentively even before releasing substances, which gives the idea of partially predetermined materials, although that’s probably not the case. There are abundant doses of pleasantly musical noise that, for once, implies a cleverly planned structure instead of exclusively introducing pain and tediousness, Chulki and Joonyong the representatives of an open-minded aural diplomacy that tends to leave exasperation aside in favour of an almost total sonic acceptability, disintegrated constituents notwithstanding. This release could be seriously cherished by those who welcome the products of Ferran Fages’ acoustic turntables. A well conceived, stimulating work.