Japan Times reviews Ellipsis, by Skist
The following review appeared in the Japanese English-language daily The Japan Times. We include it here partly to remind ourselves and others that there are folks out there quite flummoxed by music like that that appeared on Ellipsis: music doesn't exactly adhere to the familiar stylistic parameters within which most current popular music operates. We found it interesting that someone whose job category includes music critique could be so mystified as to our intent, but especially surprising to hear the author question whether music like ours can be considered *music*, period. We thought John Cage et al. had already pretty much put that matter to rest, but...
HIGH NOTES
The Japan Times: July 10, 2002
Skist: 'Ellipsis'
By PHILIP BRASOR
If the purpose of abstraction is to get as far away from representative forms as possible, then the ultimate abstraction is something that's totally unrecognizable as anything. In the 1950s, Abstract Impressionists* went to such lengths to avoid even suggesting the use of paint that judgment of their work was based on how many millimeters the dried pigment rose above the canvas.
Such a radical interpretation implies the existence of a "norm," which, in the case of music, takes in everything from scales to instruments themselves. If so-called electronica has done anything other than allow dance music artists to tour out of their Powerbooks, it is that it has pushed abstraction to its limits.
Beyond a certain point, however, can you still call it music? Some schools of digital thought in Europe -- the Sonig crew in Germany and a few artists signed to England's Warp label -- seem to exist for the purpose of challenging people's ideas of where music ends and noise begins. Skist sort of subscribes to the same idea, but with one difference: vocals. Even when it avoids conventional melodies, the human voice is itself recognized, at least subliminally, as the source of all music.
Devoid of found-sound samples and utilizing live percussion, Skist's music is more literal than what the Sonig and Warp folks put out. And since the vocals actually use words, the "songs" (for want of a better term) convey objective meaning. Nevertheless, calling Skist's music accessible is like saying William S. Burroughs' novels are funny: It's true, but a lot of people will be misled.
What mainly distinguishes Skist's music is its sense of action. The titles of five of the nine cuts on their first full-length album, "Ellipsis," contain verbs, and there's as much syncopation as there is stasis. The duo -- Haruna Ito on samples and vocals, Samm Bennett on programming and percussion -- say they prefer listeners to derive their own meanings, and I bet most people will say their song "Prediction" contains South Asian elements and that many of the noises they artificially produce sound like things you hear around the house. Abstraction will do that to you.
* Abstract Impressionists: Actually, there were no Abstract Impressionists. Brasor is referring here to Abstract Expressionists.