Noise is full of artistic potential. Glass, Works! is a joyful tribute to modern musique concrète and the whims of experimental sound design. Utilizing one of the most innocuous of materials, the Oakland-based project L&M (Liam Herb and Milo Moyer-Battick) craft a beautiful, meditative noisescape from glass. The duo utilizes a variety of production and compositional techniques with contact mics, digital sampler, and glass and non-glass instrumentation: “tuned wine and beer bottles blown as flutes,” crystal wine glasses struck with mallets, walkie talkies, cellphones, and much more. The full work is split into three parts, each track harboring its own sonic mystery of how its soundscape was achieved.
Experimental music often runs the risk of leaning far too intellectual. But not always: This work is a fantastic achievement of atmosphere, straight from the ether. L&M have not only forged an industrial, totally listenable sound exercise from playful means, but also a piece that is transportive, meaningful, even alchemical in the listening. Glass, Works! is an insightful reminder of the plethora of instruments we have at our disposal to craft sound worlds with absolute, tangible, listening impact.
