ALLMUSIC
Second compilation from Paradigm exhibiting nine works by lesser-know avant-garde composers from in and around the City of London. Features wonderful electro-acoustic work from Akemi Ishijima, minimalism performed on a traditional Mongolian string instrument- the morin khuur- by Michael Ormiston and high-energy avant-garde electronics from Tom Wallace . An obscure composition by Hugh Davies is a highlight, offering a piece for tape machine and Aeolian Harp which stands out on the compilation as it does in his own catalog of electronic improvisation. Saxophonist John Grieve also plunges into electronic transformations of his tenor saxophone. Obscure elders of sonic poetry Bob Cobbing & Lawrence Upton exercise the larynx on a sputtering piece of vocal work while label curator and Morphogenesis member Clive Graham presents his solo debut in the form of an electronic collage. The final piece is a stunning work by one-time Stockhausen technician Rolf Gehlhaar who's electronic work is an expansive and sophisticated sound processing exercise that has to be hear to be believed. (Skip Jansen)

COMPUTERMUSIC
Paradigm Discs has a new release entitled "Variations 2: A London Compilation". The attractive CD insert contains relatively little text information about the artists and pieces, choosing instead to communicate through pictures. Common curiosity breeds unanswered questions, making this a bit irritating at first. It is refreshing, however, to encounter a presentation wherein the listener is freed to intuit the significance of the materials. Perhaps the producer, Clive Graham, offers this format in opposition to recordings presented in a more academic style, where each process is painstakingly detailed and each decision is self-consciously justified in jacket prose. The recording opens with Akemi Ishijima's "Catalysis", an installation from ISEA 97. In the jacket photo, sleek silver spheres hang suspended, casting shadows with no mention made of how the sound orbits with them. The piece contrasts austere, hollow, wooden sounds with shimmering sinusoids. Several sounds evoke images of shuffling, rustling paper and little rolling, dropping beads causing the piece to enter my apartment (which contains similar sounds as I work) in a natural and unpretentious way, as if someone is working alongside me. "Catalysis" sets the introspective tone for this disc with its meditative pacing, which is continued in Michael Ormiston's "Hym", subtitled "for morin khuur" which must be the large stringed instrument pictured in the insert. This piece inherits much of its sound from pre-existing Eastern drone musics while distinguishing itself through the inclusion of shrieking and sparkling harmonics. In addition to the warm familiarity of bowed strings, the directness and simplicity of the material provides a welcome counterbalance to other pieces in this collection. The opening of Tom Wallace's "BrixtonQuatrain" created a serendipitous counterpoint between sounds from my street (through the open window) and his own (field recordings). As he probably planned, I turned up the volume during the quiet beginning, completing the setup for me to be assaulted by the loud entrance of the hip, disintegrating groove that comes in later. Fun. "Strata" is the title of Hugh Davies' offering for Aeolian harp and tape. The live component of the piece is performed on a tree of amplified metal rods, excited through various means. The taped tapestry of colored noise is juxtaposed against instrumental plunks, tinks, scrapes and thin bell-like tones. From "Domestic Ambient Noise" by Bob Cobbing and Lawrence Upton is a vocal realization of a graphic score in grunts, guffaws and barks that supplied ample programme for my mental cartoon. The churning sea of process residue in John Grieve's "251.3.04.222" (which I tried as a URL and found down. Is it ftp or am I just gullible?) is presented with a humorous photo of an elderly Christmas party whose guests pose, resplendent in ribbons and paper hats. Is the sound of their revelry the source? Clive Graham's own "In Tension" is a dissonant noise-drone piece with a bumpy, grainy surface and nervous rhythms. Its jacket counterpart is a work made from maps showing intertwined curves of terrain coiling and pulling. A London map segment features prominently in the cover art as well, and the composers' respective turf appears beneath each of their names on the back cover. Maybe the tension in Graham's piece is an effort to capture and transmit a sense of his hometown vibe beyond its borders. The procedures of Rolf Gehlhaar's "Cusps" are concisely encapsulated in a jacket diagram showing a performer's gestures being translated into sounds via an ultrasonic sensor array. While interesting both sonically and technically, the piece suffers somewhat from the constraints of the CD format. It is a 4-channel piece presented here in stereo, and one cannot see the performer who must greatly enhance the live experience. "Variations 2" offers a unique and worthwhile listening experience. By being carefully ordered and studiously vague, the disc engages the listener in a search for meaning through which s/he becomes an active participant in the work. (Michael Barnhart)

DIFFUSION (Dec. 98 - Jan 99)
I found listening to this cross section of contemporary electronic music from some of the lesser known composers living and working in London, had much in common with my experiences of visiting the city itself. Things started out well enough but I have to admit that I soon found myself somewhat lost and confused, before eventually becoming flustered and even angry, and at times wondering why I'd bothered to make the trip at all! Not that the trip is without its highlights. Akemi Ishijima's acousmatic tape work 'Catalysis', (1996, 13:30) which opens the disc, is the concert version of a work for sound installation and provides a promising start to the journey. Even in its concert guise, the work remains unmistakably an installation piece, making no long term demands on the listener, but providing much to draw the mind back from wherever it may otherwise be wandering. The music is mostly gentle and contemplative but never boring. And the journey ends well: Clive Graham's 'In Tension' (1998 11:09) and Rolf Gehlhaaar's 'Cusps' (1992, 16:45) provide a pair of powerful and dramatic works of substance that finally make the whole thing worthwhile - probably even more so if you can take full advantage of 'Cusps' UHJ encoded ambisonics. Unfortunately, the handful of shorter works between the beginning and end of the disc present a somewhat uninspiring array of tawdry backstreet wares which by and large provide little of lasting interest (and in places, nothing that Pink Floyd weren't doing rather better in 1968!). One's sense of orientation is not improved either by the complete absence of any sleeve-notes (Paradigm preferring instead to give each work a single page graphic). All in all then, a disappointing release (Steve Benner)