John Hudak

[urall]

I actually got to know John Hudak by accident as i was ordering a bunch of stuff at Sirr records and they had a special package deal or something.
So got the collab cd with Stephan Mathieu 'pieces of winter'. It's very minimal, post processed, etc... but still good imo.

Now, going back into his discography there's more tape based material, which is darker, cruder, loop based and imo way underrated.
'momentumless identity', 'mover head' among others are def. worth checking out.

Interested to see any opinions here.

Not a lot of stuff can be found on YT - but here's a good one of the collab with 1348
http://youtu.be/rXG0zyoWEvY

[Zeno Marx]

I feel he is underappreciated, but I also don't swim in waters where he is likely to be more appreciated.  It doesn't help that he has a sizable discography, and some of it is on the weak side.  I like his minimalist nature, and I admire how personal his recordings tend to be.

I'd recommend both Alluvial releases (Helene Marie: Reinterpretations, Don't Worry), Pond, Highway, Sand or Stars, and I think I remember the Chain Mail collaboration being good.  There are several I'd like to hear.

[Andrew McIntosh]

Not a lot of stuff can be found on YT -

Has good coverage on Bandcamp and Soundcloud, though.

Had never heard of this artist until this thread. Am listening to "Wait" right now and am enjoying it - sparse, minimally melodic plucked strings, reminding me a bit of Eno or Budd.

[tinnitustimulus]

This is the favorite I have heard from him
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jEBb3JJA1k

I play his stuff to go to sleep, and that is not a bad thing for me.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

New tape out on Banned Production.  Title is "Listening To The Wind" and that's what is basically is. Cover lists instruments being:
Wind chimes, which may be turn off to some. my half of phone conversation and digital manipulations. So, lets see... someone talking on the phone, while wind chimes are clinging on background, and digitally manipulated? Based on such sale pitch, I'd say no thanks. When I listen the material, I say: Yes thanks!

It has tonality caused by processed chimes, it has decayed sound, which has hints of digital remains, but if you're afraid of teflon smooth surfaces and hi-tech clarity, there's none of that here. Perhaps opposite of that. Even if it sometimes sounds like mp3 files or sort of bad phone call, somehow it fits the overall feel of the tape.

[Apes Clog Snag]

I was reading that best Merzbow collaborations topic on the board and thought that one of the best would have to be the tape with John Hudak, but perhaps Hudak is way more interesting topic to discuss than Merzbow collaborations. "The Time Stream" from '89 is a good one. Credits lists Hudak for tape and Masami for transforming, which makes sense for it's time of course. Source material from Hudak could very well be random stuff from his 80's cassettes or it could be recorded for the occasion, who knows. There is a water sound that gets more than one cameo on the tape, but otherwise Merzbow doesn't stick to one sound source a cassette side as religiously as Hudak maybe would, so there is plenty of stuff happening. Good amount of late eighties Merz blasting which for my ears works especially good with the more textural sound sources than what Masami would maybe use. When it's not blasting, it's more of just enjoyable experimental noise, two artists getting into what they do at their best.

One later release I have enjoyed is "My Eye My Son's Eye" from 2000. Referring to the message above this could very well be made of digital manipulations of a phone conversation and some chimes. Atleast the studio version. Interestingly this release also includes a live version of the piece, that actually sounds like he's playing live version of the track by not using the same sources or technique completely. It could be the studio version has exactly the same sources but it feels like playing a noise track live a little differently, I like it. Anyway it's a pretty interesting release.

By the way, anyone interested should go to archive.org and type John Hudak into the search and enjoy plenty of early tapes of his uploaded there, including "My Eye My Son's Eye".