Mike Hansen
Tomasz Krakowiak
Relay
 
 
 
 

Mike Hansen, record players, electronics, Mike Hansen's myspace
Tomasz Krakowiak, amplified drum table, electronics, minidisc live sampling
 

Hansen/Krakowiak attack and disseminate both the turntable and the drum. Their improvisations are built through layers of sound where the instrumentation interpolates becoming musical coitus. Hansen/Krakowiak constuct new waves of contemporary sound, influenced by experimental and electroacoustic practices. This duo walk roads yet travelled. Creating sound art for our times.
 
 
 

What the critics are saying;

Both electronic and acoustic instruments get a workout here as steady thunder from a kettle or upright bass drum first complement intonations that could be made by a fan belt slipping off a motor, then are amplified through a piano's internal speaking length. Minidisks and live sampling provide the subsequent rumble and buzz, as if overloaded circuits have been surmounted by unidentified items rotating on a turntable."

Does Canadian politeness reside even in the worlds of sound art? Relay would seem to indicate so. Following last year’s collaborative release with saxophonist John Butcher, the Toronto duo of Hansen and Krakowiak offer up four long tracks of turntables, amplified percussion, mini-disc and miscellaneous electronics. Immediately evident is the impression of an outer space surrounding the generated noises. The sounds are initially familiar enough to mistake for room ambience, eventually they are overtaken by more obviously manipulated segments of quiet feedback and looped metal tapping. The pieces undulate, at times gaining more kinetic energy and volume, then dropping back into a trough of near-silence. The duo play well together, not excessively fussy about overcrowding the sound space, but mindful of maintaining an engaging rate of dynamic change. By employing a more physical relationship with their instruments, they also manage to charge their quiet (polite) works with an energy that similar laptop improvisation often lacks.