Amalgam

Cellist Okkyung Lee and visual artist/turntablist Christian Marclay are longtime collaborators who have officially released one of their rare performances under the name Amalgam. It was recorded live at Café Oto in London on April 25, 2014. Both performers - one a classically trained musician and the other a multidisciplinary artist who early in the 1980s begin experimenting with sound collage thru turntablism - inundated the space of this recording with layers and layers of sonic textures created by physically scratching the hell out of their instruments. The result is a piercing wave of constant outbreaks and calmness delivered via record scratching of pre-existing found sounds and noises produced by instinctive, unstructured cello playing.

RIYL: Bill Orcutt, John Zorn, Glenn Branca, Hemophiliac and Text Of Light.

NO WORDS, NO FCC’s.
Recommended Tracks: 1

1. (36:20) **Amalgam – One long and continuous track permeated with low and high noises produced by violent and gentle physical interactions on a cello instrument and a set of turntables. Christian Marclay’s scratched sounds are characterized by distortion and speed. Okkyung Lee’s cello noises are more reactionary and toward the end, carry the weight of the piece. Quiet moments in the performance from 4:54 to 5:54, 12:26 to 12:46, 15:59 to 16:17, 25:27 to 26: 41, and 28:28 to 31:19.