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25 November 2010

Scott Cortez: Twin Radiant Flux (Line)

12k’s more severe offshoot Line brings us this beautifully minimal affair from Scott Cortez. Cortez is a guitarist who got started creating raw shoegaze noise as one half of lovesliescrushing in the 90s, and he distills his art here into the most bare essence of the instrument. Twin Radiant Flux resonates in my ears the way Cortez’s cover art does in my eyes, or even in a way that minimalist classics like Ad Reinhardt or Barnett Newman do. There’s something magical in how stripped down and abstract this music is, but to imply that Cortez’s music herein shares any of the austerity of überminimalists like Bernhard Günter would be misleading, because this is quite a warm listening experience. The human touch is indeniable and lends it an organic quality that puts it more in line with the more ambient output of Fennesz, Oren Ambarchi or even Brian Eno, but never sounding like it owes too much to anyone in particular; Cortez’s creative voice is not lost in the process. On a side note, it’s interesting to hear Line’s output paralleling that of its sister label 12k, aiming more for handmade, less computerized music. It’s a pretty radical departure from the severe signal sounds of Richard Chartier and the roster who ushered in the imprint’s earliest releases. Twin Radiant Flux seems to do double duty quite well, serving up an extended organic listening experience without sacrificing the more ambient, minimal aesthetic that’s defined Line for years now.

More info/listen to a sample: LINE

Buy it: iTunes | Amazon | Boomkat

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