Magnetic tape, as a sound-producing material, is often something to be wrangled or wrestled with. Though it can be elegant in its humble warble, its insubstantial and unpredictable nature is usually the selling point. Concrète and/or collage conjurers can achieve greater precision and more complexity with digital tools, but analog remains many artists’ first choice for a reason. On Postures, a new C23 from Minnesota’s Marsha Fisher, small-scale percussion performances serve as the basis for a concise quartet of sketches, each one a great example of how the classic approach can give new life to already active sound events. Fisher’s technique here is straightforward yet quite gestural: the source material is unprocessed, only recontextualized in a solely kinetic manner. Knocks and scrapes, rattle and rustle stretch across the stereo field, every individual texture agitated into a lurching waltz. Despite their rough tactility, the samples weave together with grace and purpose; it’s like Fisher is tying a system of boating knots, the nodes and tension choreographed quickly yet precisely, braids braided (needless to say, the track titles are apt). For fans of Translucent Envelope, Dressing, and things that go bump in the day.
Noise Not Music 