THE latest series of Sound Lab concerts offers a weekly platform for experimental music, much of it emanating from Glasgow's fertile electronica scene, until the end of October.
It's been said before of watching laptop operators that it's a bit like wondering how someone can concentrate on checking their emails with those noises going off around them, and Michigan-born, Glasgow-based Seth Rozanoff's opening slot certainly called this to mind.
Feeding in-the-moment samplings of various objects he had to hand and occasional recitations into his computer, Rozanoff made an apparently random series of sounds that struggled to sustain much interest. For a millisecond it seemed like he might break into the Dr Who theme and the introduction of some tribal rhythms did occasion a slight feeling of momentum but on the whole this wouldn't, I imagine, be the ideal soundtrack to a first date.
Matthew Collings, on the other hand, introduced a semblance of presentation and physical involvement with his guitar-driven digital soundscapes. His creations use such tools of conventional music-making as tension and release, rhythm, harmony and even suggested melodies and there were passages of genuine beauty, including something close to a horn chorale, as well as hard-edged sonically altered kerranging that carried a certain excitement.
Collaborating might not be in his plans but Collings' ability to develop an idea, while not quite reaching a satisfying level here, suggested possibilities for fruitful experimentation along the lines of laptop wiz Leafcutter John's work with Polar Bear or the kind of intriguing mix of sound and groove the late Hugh Hopper conjured with his transatlantic band, Hughscore.
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