sonicism

thomas dimuzio

rrrecords

1997 CDx2

play | buy

REVIEWS

“...there is more "meat" on this industrial bone than on any six of the typical releases in the genre.” — Option

“...this release showcases a true sonic wizard at work.” (4.5 stars) —All Music Guide

“...If ever 'ambient' was something, this is it.” — Vital Weekly

“Dimuzio meshes his sources into blissful dreamscape washes at once pleasurably familiar and challengingly alien.” — Opprobrium

“Chaos has never been so enticing. Buy this now!” — Feverpitch

Option

Dimuzio is something of a find. His double CD provides a wealth of diverse, thoughtful, industrial ambience. It would take practically the length of a review just to list Dimuzio's instruments, sampled sound sources and field recordings; the list would include not only guitars and synthesizers, but also clarinet, water spigot (!), short-wave radio, shrink-wrap machine, conveyor belt, thunderstorm, bees, fire and freight trains. Dimuzio's methodology is generally consistent throughout the two discs, without becoming overly predictable. He favors slow disclosures rather than sudden revelations, and most of his pieces unfold at leisure, sometimes beginning at a subliminal level. (This is a minor irritation on several tracks, as it results in over a minute of apparently dead air while the piece struggles toward audibility.) Characteristically, Dimuzio uses thick, harmonically rich drones, with little percussion as such, but sometimes with regular pulses and patterns. Ocassionally, as in "AutoNation", a relentless rhythmic intensity emerges; on "Clearcut" or "Atonement," the mood turns harsh and abrasive. More often, though, Dimuzio's pieces have a kind of quiet mystery to them, but whatever the emotional quality of the piece, close listening reveals a great deal of subtle, subterranean movement and evidence of an impressive talent. Even allowing for the double CD format, there is more "meat" on this industrial bone than on any six of the typical releases in the genre. —William Tilland

All Music Guide

This double CD is not necessarily more impressive than Dimuzio's earlier and stellar Headlock (which was reissued in 1997), but in spite of its increased length, it is probably the more focused and coherent work of the two. Headlock had a bit of a kid-in-a-candy-store quality to it ("so many sonic possibilities, so little time"), while Sonicism is quite clearly in the ambient/industrial camp almost from start to finish, with a preponderance of long, muted drones -- some quite ethereal ("lift and spier," "happenstance," "resound") and others more abrasive ("contrition") and even occasionally confrontational ("vent"). What is remarkable about this overall body of work, though, is the attention to detail, and the fact that Dimuzio manages to get so much mileage out of superficially static sonic environments. Very little on either Sonicism disc is going to pick you up by the scruff of the neck and shake you, but Dimuzio's soundscapes invariably have a strongly organic, elemental quality to them, and they can be very compelling in their own fashion. Among other things, Dimuzio is a master at creating and sustaining tension, with several long tracks suggesting the agonizingly slow arrival of some inscrutable alien force, and another track whose uncharacteristically pure, ringing tones seem to trace the slow and momentous approach of a celestial host (without ever getting even remotely new-agey about it). Occasionally, Dimuzio gets a little cute; a few of the tracks on the second disc start at such a low level that it takes over a minute to confirm that your stereo system is still functioning. But for the most part, this release showcases a true sonic wizard at work. (4.5 stars) —William Tilland

Vital Weekly

The name of Thomas Dimuzio may not be unfamiliar to anyone with an eye open for the more serious composing underground artists. I particular liked his LP 'Headlock' which came out years ago. Dimuzio plays around with a wide variety of sound sources, including things we would recognize as instruments, like acoustic guitar and clarinet but also a wide variety of field recordings. It blows me away totally. Great walls of sounds, slowly building to a high point, to be cut off extremely, only to be followed by soft, environmental recordings (like on disc 2, with the fourth track being rain, thunder and bees). If ever 'ambient' was something, this is it. This plays around with droning sounds and ambient alike. —Frans de Waard

Opprobrium

Can't say I've bumped into any youthful contemporary hipsters clad in Dimuzio t-shirts buying a pint of milk down the local dairy, but you can safely extrapolate that if your CD cabinet houses recordings by John Duncan, Christoph Heemann, Michael Prime, or Jim O'Rourke, plastic can easily be rearranged to make room for a bit of Dimuzio product. Dimuzio's m.o. isn't especially radical or new and in the hands of a lesser might even be boring - he takes sounds made on a range of instruments (too many to list here), sounds sampled from a range of sources (again, too many to list here) and sounds taken from field recordings of various locations (really, too many to list here), and mixes them all up, refining the result into something that doesn't sound anything like the original form, or anything else at all, for that matter. Drone being the key concept: whether it be the thin-air-fading patent of the aforementioned, old-school post-industrial style, or present day uh-mbient soundscape, Dimuzio meshes his sources into blissful dreamscape washes at once pleasurably familiar and challengingly alien. The full stretch of the sonic spectrum is adequately covered, the two discs segmented into several shortish pieces (linked by some tenuous 'concept' with which I grapple still) which adroitly position ear-full surround-headphone-flood next to passages best not listened to in a room containing an open fire, with volume and texture masterfully controlled throughout. Sure there's a bit of it going around at the moment, but this is as fine an example of the genre as recently springs to mind, and if you're remotely interested in getting acquainted with Dimuzio, Sonicism (pronounced with a soft 'c', please), followed by his Odd Size releases and previous RRR CD Markoff Process, is the ideal way to shake his hand. —Nick Cain

Feverpitch

Every once in a while I hear something that makes me want to give up making my own version of the ever-changing reality. This is one of those discs. The music is separated into two major titles, one on each disc: (a) Internment, and (b) Intermersion, with the second disc more powerfully expressing its theme. How can I describe this? Deep sonic booming juxtaposed with the subtle whisperings of the cosmos seducing us into the rolling energy that is reality at its most elemental levels. We're talking intense! This is the sound of the spinning globe of a single atom a few iinches from your face with electrons buzzing past your ears at the speed of light, the quiet hum of reality supporting our very exisitence. The potential energy of the atom teasingly licking your ears. We're talking quantum mechanics here folks, but you don't need a degree in nuclear physics to enjoy it. Chaos has never been so enticing. Buy this now!. —John Gore