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REVIEWS
The large part of the sounds contained in these tracks wanders around the area of "consumption minimalism", a place where many people are not usually welcome; yet, they keep going in that direction, hoping to determine the reason of a perennial anxiousness. Coats of digital dirt and hiss complemented by breathtaking subsonics and deep pulses, similar to the heartbeat of a giant entity after many days of decomposition under a thick stratus of soil, create the basis of an unfathomable introversion. Worn out by days upon days of walking around the same circular path, the virtual guide that leads to an unlikely redemption from the commonplaces of electronica still can't define the source of this deeply meaningful inner desolation; the incessant icy wind that accompanies these fundamental grey/white radiations slaps the cheeks of the braves who want to try again, their weakening bodies completely invaded by humming calls and low-frequency swells that keep illusions alive while slowly conducting to the end of material life.
massimo ricci - www.touchingextremes.org, 1-5-2006
Asher composes music that's a kind of sonic equivalent to our colloquial understanding of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principal, in that the more attention you pay to it, the more it changes. Whereas with most music, the louder you play it, the more it fills the room you're in, with Asher's music, as evidenced on two recent netlabel releases (at earlabs.org and con-v.org), the higher you turn the volume knob, the more the music seems to dissipate, as if by increasing the loudness you're tearing the music's fragile fabric to shreds.
Both releases consist of a trio of tracks, none shorter than 11 minutes, one closing in on 20. It's immersive music, but of the shallow-pool variety. Still, as our moms warned us, you can drown in an inch of water. [...]
Only as a matter of contrast do the three untitled compositions on Asher's Earlabs release come across as organic and varied, with more diversity packed into the 17-minute third track ("1/6/04") than into the nearly 40 minutes of And Invariably the Blue. Asher describes his process in an email to Jos Smolders, head of Earlabs, that serves as that release's liner notes: "there is a constant textured sound and then other sounds which come in and sort of rise out of the texture." Of course, the extent of these variations is purely relative. The sounds are of the sort (twitchy little noises, halos of synthesis, distant rumbling) that could easily be drowned out by a microwaving burrito or a neighbor's viewing of a sports event.
Marc Weidenbaum, 12-3-2006
In a short time span already the third release by New York's Asher. No conceptual theme as on '...And Invariably The Blue' or exploring an instrument in a world of decay as on 'Graceful Degradation'. No such thing here. In a fine Lopezian tradition, Asher calls his three pieces 'Untitled', two with a date and one 'for f', but nothing else. Three lengthy pieces also which take the listener into the world of ambient glitch, the world of dark rumble and the world of silence. The volume needs to go up quite a bit, to hear what is going on. Utter mood music, which sounds nice, maybe a bit uniform throughout, maybe a bit long, but, in my case, excellent music to wake up by on a grey day. Sometimes things doesn't have to be cutting edge. Being nice is sometimes also good enough. (FdW)
Frans de Waard - Vital Weekly 513, 15-2-2006
It's really interesting to hear the evolution of this artist from his previous releases on TERM and Con-v. Asher has managed to establish a very distinctive signature to the soundworks he creates, whereby the pulsating nanoscapes that comprise his works reveal a grand sense of detail. Make no mistake about it, this is a remarkable release.
Christopher McFall, 8-1-2006
LM033 for F What it's like in an ambient envelope. Imagine being "lost" within the magnified terrain of an electron microscope. What's revealed is an amplification of what you're seeing and hearing and very suggestively melds among all that's being perceived. Unbelievable undulations (transitions/connections) between here and there. for F appeared to my ears as ripples, murmers and was rife with sounds I switched on and of, substituting yours and mine and mine and yours. I enjoyed your cycles and these suggested sonifications to me as a means for mirroring/zeroing-in on thoughts. Loud made soft, and the reverse has been one process of indicating whether I'm where I wish to be. Volumes were decreased approx.150% However, near quiets are great spaces. My substitutes in the same level, scale and proportion were: 33/1/3 record surfaces, static buildup from a head during tape playback, traffic over small concrete cracks, rain on covered mic. great going with your 8track
leif BRUSH, 6-1-2006
Leif Brush, 8-1-2006
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