"Quasar ⇔ Lanterns" in the WIRE
Clive Bell for the WIRE, March 2015 #373
"These are the first releases from Brooklyn's experimental performance centre Issue Project Room, which occupies an extraordinary vaulted theatre space on Boerum Place, originally built as HQ for the Elks Lodge fraternal order.
The recordings are made by IPR artists in residence. Sergei Tcherepnin borrows titles for this three LP sides from Takemitsu's pioneering chunk of 1950s electronics Sky, Horse And Death. "Death (Quasar)" mixes analogue synths with other sources to generate a stressed but immersive environment. Amid the distorted layers a mysterious cry probes but never quite bursts through - it's all the more evocative when you don't know that the cry comes from Adam Linson's double bass. "Sky" is a harsh, shifting tone cluster, like a bright light in the eyes. It lacks forward momentum, and it's hard to shake the feeling of someone fiddling with equipment. "Horse" is more successful, melding Tcherepnin's synths with his recordings of horses on the move in Turkey and Georgia. I was reminded of Yannick Dauby improvising with his Taiwanese frogs, as Tcherepnin works with his herd to create something strange and new."
