The Resting Bell netlabel steadily releases music that fits into a grey zone between field-recording ambience and drone-for-drone’s-sakeness. That’s a distinction that can seem like hairsplitting on first listen, but in time a whole world of variety can be heard in between. And speaking of time, Resting Bell is celebrating a milestone: its 100th release. It’s doing so with a four-part series, the first of which is by Japanese sound artist Shinobu Nemoto. Titled Tetsuo, it’s a three-part EP that explores a high-pitched approach to drone, more dawn break than storm cloud, more scintillate than rumble. Track two, for example, lets a rising and falling wisp slither through a bright thicket of glistening static. The contrast is striking, especially how the various levels of pitch of that main thread highlight different aspects of the unwavering sonic field (MP3).
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Get all three tracks of Tetsuo at restingbell.net.
Two earlier works by Nemoto have been highlighted here: a series of 16 “trips” back in December of last year and heavily processed melodies back in 2009.