This series of compilation albums is based on architect Frank Lloyd Wright's "floating foundation" principle used to build the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. How the concept is applied by the artists to the music heard in this volume remains very much a mystery. Vol. 1 featured ethereal experimental electronics, from glitch to minimal, but this time around things are more varied and puzzling. The set opens with a guitar piece by
Disjecta (aka Mark Clifford). Sparse but full-bodied, it features long resonating notes in a construction that could be described as architectural but sure takes listeners places the previous disc ignored.
David Toop's "Tricyrtis Latifolia" also features guitar, this time embedded in a complex and captivating electro-acoustic piece. Concrète sounds, electronics, conversation, and guitar come together to form not a narrative (the usual "cinema for the ear"), but something closer to the act of remembering.
Scanner's "Weightless" and
Carl Michael von Hausswolff's "With the Flow Against the Current" both bring listeners back to the first disc in this series: electronic works that seem to float. The latter's piece seems to be based on the humming of electrical current, making it an extension of the 2001 work and CD Ström. Hard Sleeper's (aka Peter Maybury) "Ends > Circle Walks" walks in circles indeed, adding loop upon loop of glitchy electronics to little avail -- the only weak cut. All five pieces were created in 2001-2002. ~ François Couture