It’s pretty staggering to think about how much collage based music is directly a result of digital technology. The use of the laptop has allowed for this genre to develop in unprecedented and varied ways that range from the fractured pop of folks like Jib Kidder and Dean Blunt to the dance oriented deconstructions of Arca and Giant Claw and the harsh musique concrète of Jason Lescalleet and John Wiese. While most of these artists typically combine various sound sources to create their works, digital technology has also allowed for composers to create their own types of synthesis programs that effectively produce and collage single sound sources into dizzying arrays of texture.
Los Angeles based sound artist/composer Liew Pichanan Niyomkarn excels at creating these sort of works. Her compositions often involve custom made synthesis patches that evolve and develop until the original sources create a multitude of new sounds. This is extremely apparent on “WHOLE_001” off of her forthcoming album of the same name. On this track, clicking rhythms, drones, and gurgles intertwine and shift in counterpoint. It’s fascinating to hear such clearly digital sounds arranged in a manner similar to classic musique concrète music especially since all of the timbres here seem generated from a singular source. Niyomkarn is using her gifts for coding and digital synthesis to create exciting new works that continue to explore what a sound collage truly is.
• Liew Pichanan Niyomkarn: http://www.liewniyomkarn.com
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