Artist ︎︎︎Asa Tone
Title︎︎︎ Live at New Forms
Label
· Leaving Records
Release · Album
Format · CD / CS
Year · 2021
Originally commissioned by Yu Su as an event-specific work for the New Forms Festival in Vancouver in 2020, Asa Tone worked together virtually during quarantine, embracing new approaches in chance-based composition. The group’s members individually recorded a pool of generative loops and field recordings in lieu of performed “songs,” adhering to general tempo and key parameters, yet each responding to their respective lockdown environments in Mexico City, New York and the Australian rainforest. From this nonlinear web of possibilities, Asa Tone prepared a continuous 30 minute piece via zoom, which was later adapted and spatialized for the 4D sound / 32-channel audio system at Lobe Studios in Vancouver by producer and festival curator Yu Su.
This installation was accompanied by a custom modular video work by artist Nika Milano, and originally aired in August 2, 2020, in conjunction with performances by Helen Michelle Mackenzie and Khotin. This long-form recording is the stereo document of Asa Tone’s remote, digital 32-channel performance at New Forms.
Asa Tone is a multidisciplinary, multinational group formed in New York City comprised of Melati Malay, Tristan Arp and Kaazi.
Produced, Written Kaazi, Tristan Arp & Melati Malay
Mixed ︎︎︎ Kaazi
Mastered ︎︎︎ Tristan Arp
Art Direction ︎︎︎ Kaazi
CD/CS Design / Layout ︎︎︎ Kaazi
Asa Tone Logo Design ︎︎︎ Ciaran Birch
Videos ︎︎︎ Nika Milano
Mixed ︎︎︎ Kaazi
Mastered ︎︎︎ Tristan Arp
Art Direction ︎︎︎ Kaazi
CD/CS Design / Layout ︎︎︎ Kaazi
Asa Tone Logo Design ︎︎︎ Ciaran Birch
Videos ︎︎︎ Nika Milano
“Joyous rhythmelodic gems from outernational trio Asa Tone, meshing feathered gamelan patterns and fractal electronics in a refreshing exploration of new age, 4th world and minimalist styles - RIYL Steve Reich, Beatrice Dillon, Craig Leon, Visible Cloaks
After glistening introductions made on their debut ‘Temporary Music’ at the head of 2020, here Jakarta-Born Melati Malay meets NYC’s Tristan Arp and Kaazi in a live context, commissioned and recorded by Yu Su’s virtual online event for the New Forms Festival in Vancouver later that same year. Variously dialled in from their respective locations in CDMX, NYC, and the Aussie rainforest, the performance crystallises a pool of generative loops, field recordings and hushed vox into a gorgeous 30 minute flow of lilting metallic percussion and colourful 4th world plumage that was presented via Zoom, and later adapted and spatialized by Yu Su for a 4D sound / 32 channel audio system at Vancouver’s Lobe Studios, where it was accompanied by custom video from artist Nika Milano.
It’s a real pleasure for drum disciples; weft in hyperspace, the work unfurls a ribboning sequence of deftly dubbed out, iridescent patterning that lands effervescent on the mind, dancing on the pineal with exquisitely puckered footwork that barely touches the ground and operates according to its own light-headed logic. Although hyper-pointillist in construction the results reel with a sort of sublime tension and elliptical cadence that tempers the heart-quickening flux of extended melody between its quieter passages and strobing peaks in a manner that never feels trying, just effortlessly transportive and mesmerising.” - Boomkat Product Review
After glistening introductions made on their debut ‘Temporary Music’ at the head of 2020, here Jakarta-Born Melati Malay meets NYC’s Tristan Arp and Kaazi in a live context, commissioned and recorded by Yu Su’s virtual online event for the New Forms Festival in Vancouver later that same year. Variously dialled in from their respective locations in CDMX, NYC, and the Aussie rainforest, the performance crystallises a pool of generative loops, field recordings and hushed vox into a gorgeous 30 minute flow of lilting metallic percussion and colourful 4th world plumage that was presented via Zoom, and later adapted and spatialized by Yu Su for a 4D sound / 32 channel audio system at Vancouver’s Lobe Studios, where it was accompanied by custom video from artist Nika Milano.
It’s a real pleasure for drum disciples; weft in hyperspace, the work unfurls a ribboning sequence of deftly dubbed out, iridescent patterning that lands effervescent on the mind, dancing on the pineal with exquisitely puckered footwork that barely touches the ground and operates according to its own light-headed logic. Although hyper-pointillist in construction the results reel with a sort of sublime tension and elliptical cadence that tempers the heart-quickening flux of extended melody between its quieter passages and strobing peaks in a manner that never feels trying, just effortlessly transportive and mesmerising.” - Boomkat Product Review