William Basinski + Richard Chartier — Untitled 1-3

The rather unimaginative entitled Untitled 1-3 offers up some of the best work either of these two sounds/ ambient artist have ever produced. It mixers together elements of each others work to come up with something very distinctive, earthy and nocturnal- really keeping you well and truly lost-in, and focused on it’s unfolding dank harmonic and mysterious trail for the whole of it’s just over 70 minutes playing time.

This was original issued under the title of untitled 1 –2 in 2004 on the noted Japanese label Spekk. The original edition of 1300 sold out within 2 months, and it easy to see why as this is drone ambience at its highest calber. It’s all been giving a remix and had added on the two new tracks untitled three & Untitled three (reprise)

Untitled one throbs, drones and slides into slow existence like a slowly developing picture. Uncurling deep tones stretch on and on, like trying to focusing on dusk horizons, as the track lengthens a sound akin to crawling and Pickering birds drifts in and out of earshot over the drone textures, along with echoed shadowy and slightly subterranean giving such a bleak, ominous and organic feeling- it brings to mind been lost in a leafed striped decay heavy forest as darkness approaches fast. The slips back out of focus like a fading nightmare 20 minutes later.

Untitled two once more slowly drifts into beign like a slowly dragging and to begin with blurred figure appearing out a grey desert lands. As the track firms up its drone trails, it paints an enchanted darkly beautiful harmonic pattern that circles and weaves round and round you hypnotizing you into a sombre awe inspired state. Again it has a very distinct nocturnal and organic feel drifting through its sound air like fugal spores- this is the longest piece here at just short of 40 minutes.

Untitled three returns more to the stretched and decayed organic field recordings of the first track, this time what could have once been rain or the sound of underground rivers weaved and carved into the drone textures. Opening in a fairly urgent & deep state with a shrill bell like tone but soon opening like a stretching abyss of sound that emits all manner and mixture of tone. It’s almost as if your falling in slow monition down and down into an organic and sinew lined tunnel that opens wider to let you pass. Untitled three (reprise) re-lites the drone and stretching tunel tones of untitled three once more in a slightly brighter and faster moving form

A drone/ ambient masterpiece from these two master of the form, sounding very much in its own distinctive sonic space. I can see this disappearing very fast as it’s once more ltd, to this time to 1000 copies