Description

Ross Manning is a contemporary new media artist based in Brisbane, in Australia, working with optics, projection, light and sound. From a youth, Ross Manning was focused on music, making his own shelf-played instruments and custom electronics, giving him the opportunity to improvise with them in a live context. His interest in technology led him to work with light, making sculptures and installations, inspired from the principal ideas of sound and movement. His music is already released by respectful music labels as Vitrine, Greedy Ventilator and Room40.

“Deforming A Virtual Ribbon” is the outcome of Ross Manning long experimentation with sound and interactive music systems, starting with technology behind them, produced by his automated instruments.

In “Polaris” and “Gold Spray In The Kinetic Upheaval”, Ross Manning is using DIY electronics and his shelf-made string pannel, producing rhythmical patterns, which come from the wave motion of the string and beating of the metal bars. Sonically, these two tracks have a sense of gamelan music, especially in their most low moments, but sound also get more busy, constructing an extremely dense amalgamation of sounds.

“Drnk Poets” is a collage composition, mixing radio voice, chaotic noisy percussion and drone resonancial frequencies. In “Deep Learning”, Ross Manning experiments with electronic sources, constructing layers of hypnotic drone sounds. In both of these tracks, Ross Manning approaches music more as a source of images, presenting us a more deep understanding of music at many levels.

“Deforming A Virtual Ribbon” cassette released in a limited edition of 100 Copies.
Artwork by Ross Manning, representing musical instruments that it was used for the recordings.

Swill radio
Ross Manning is no stranger to these pages. He has had a number of fine, low profile releases and Deforming A Virtual Ribbon continues that trend. Two tracks per side. The first side is collaged together. It starts out with a sort of Gamelan/ Apocalypse Now!/ Free percussion piece, followed by a quick edit- voice cutup, and then some unidentifiable field recordings with a brief, but excellent ominous synth. The second side starts with a very Maximalist percussion, organ and who-knows track, followed by a very minimal percussion and field recording piece. The Maximalist track might be a bit much for me, but the rest of the tape is superb. Ross has a great ear for combinations of sounds and his music sounds more played than a lot of solo music these days. Another winner. (Scott Foust)

tileskopio.tumblr 
αυτή η κασσέτα που κυκλοφόρησε πρόσφατα στη more mars ήταν η πρώτη μου επαφή με το έργο του ross manning. και με άφησε άφωνο. δουλεύοντας με ήχο, φως, kinetikc, αυτοσχέδια ηλεκτρονικά στήνει ένα σύμπαν που θυμίζει ως ένα βαθμό τους ήχους των αυτοσχέδιων κατασκευών του joe jones (που δούλευαν με φωτοβολταϊκά πάνελ και όχι μόνο) φτιάχνοντας ηχοτοπία που απο τη μία λές είναι οικεία απο την άλλη όμως έχουν μια αμεσότητα με τον ήχο τους που σε καθηλώνουν. γιατί εκεί που λές ακούω kinetic ήχους απο μηχανικά αντικείμενα γυρνάει ο ήχος σε ηλεκτροακουστικά μονοπάτια. και γίνεται περιπετειώδης όπως σε μεγάλο βαθμό είθισται να είναι αυτό που λέμε πειραματική μουσική. είναι απο τις περιπτώσεις (τουλάχιστον έτσι λειτούργησε σε εμένα) που παίρνεις μια κασσέτα χωρίς να ξέρεις τι να περιμένεις και ξαφνικά σου σκάσει στη θυρίδα σου πας να την ακούσεις και μένεις άφωνος ενώ πιάνεις τον εαυτό σου να την ακούει και να την ξανακούει και να την ξαναακούει.. ίσως και η πιο αγαπημένη μου κυκλοφορία σε ελληνική εταιρεία για το 2016! εύγε!

Vital Weekly
Previously music by Ross Manning has been released by labels such as Vitrine, Greedy Ventilator and Room40, but somehow, I think, never made to these pages. He is from Brisbane, Australia and he works ‘with optics, projection, light and sound’, as More Mars tells us. Manning creates his own instruments since a very early age and on this cassette we find four of his pieces using these DIY electronics and “shelf-made string pannel” [sic]. The pieces are slightly chaotic in approach, with many sounds overlapping each other, thus creating nervous patterns. On ‘Gold Spray In The Kinetic Upheaval’ it sounded like he has recorded three gamelan orchestras at the same time, but it works rather well, I think. The longer you listen, the more patterns can be discovered. Also rhythmical is the first piece, ‘Polaris’ but here it is a little less chaotic, and maybe it is because this seems to me a very direct, improvised recording. ‘Deep Learning’ is a drone piece of sustaining electric distortion and what seems to be street sounds, whereas ‘Drnk Poets’ is something completely different; here Manning uses radio sounds in a collage form, which may or may not sound like a bunch of drunken poets. All of these pieces served for me as a fine introduction into the sound world of Manning. (FdW)