MEELKOP, ROEL - (onkyo ok)

Launching CMRs new line of hand-numbered 78rpm dust jacket CD packaging\r\nis Dutch sound artist Roel Meelkop. Roel was a founding member of audio art\r\ngroup THU20 in the early eighties who continue to perform and record, is\r\ncurrently a member of electro-acoustic live project Kapotte Muziek, and the\r\nelectronic rhythm group GOEM (both along with Frans De Waard and Peter\r\nDuimelinks). Roel has a long history of visual art, sound installation,\r\ncuration and organization of various live music events in Rotterdam, his\r\ncity of residence, and abroad. His well-received solo work has been released\r\non numerous labels including trente oiseaux (Ger), V2_Archief (Neth), line\r\n(US), Intransitive Recordings (US), Korm Plastics (Neth) and most recently\r\nTariff Records (US) and Klingfilm (Bel).\r\nonkyo ok is composed of recordings made during Roels tour to Japan in\r\nsummer 2001 (along with Frans De Waard and Peter Duimelinks). Where Kiyoshi\r\nMizutanis Yokosawa-iri CD (cmr1) uses primarily rural sound sources from\r\na selected area, onkyo ok may strike a special chord and familiarity with\r\nanyone who has visited Japans urban areas, cities and outlying regions.\r\nVarious components of the rich Japanese soundscape (to name a few: pachinko\r\nparlours, train crossings, crows, electrical machines, people) have been\r\ncaptured, abstracted (or not), blended and re-composed creating unique sonic\r\nsnapshots of this beautiful and at times bewildering country. The sound\r\npieces are relatively constant over time (Roels characteristic silences are\r\nat a minimum) containing numerous complimentary sources simultaneously\r\nbuilding together into broadband structures, then falling away to focus on\r\nvarious seperate objects and events. This album serves as a beautiful\r\ndocument and expression of the ever-changing Japanese acoustic environment\r\nas it was at the beginning of the twenty first century. - CMR.