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KAMRAN SADEGHI

Disappearing Music (for Nam June Paik)

RELEASE DATE: OCT 13, 2023 on all digital platforms

Kamran Sadeghi returns to LINE with a work utilizing the Wobbulator, a 1970s video synthesizer of the founder of video art, Nam June Paik. Sadeghi’s previous LINE release was 2020’s Loss Less (LINE_110).

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Soon after screening audiovisual works in the Seoul International Computer Music Festival in 2009, Kamran began his first artist residency at the Experimental Television Center (E.T.C.) in New York using the Nam June Paik’s Wobbulator—a video synthesizer made out of a modified black and white television monitor. A kind of prepared TV with its coils and tubes exposed. 

In order to generate patterns you need to send it control voltage and the only way to record the image displayed is by rescanning the screen with a video camera. Inspired by the Wobbulator’s minimalistic design and Paik’s own work with the physicality of sound, Kamran decided to forego traditional musical notation and create pulses, clicks and pops using the E.T.C. studios Doepfer A-100 system and Korg MS-20 synthesizer. 

These sounds were used to activate the the Wobbulator and generate electromagnetic patterns. For 5 days Sadeghi lived inside of the E.T.C. studio full of cultural history, 50 years of artistic legacy and inventive electricity. This release contains selected parts recorded live in 2009, mixed in 2022 and shared for the first time. 

“I think sound is time sequence. And then if it contains content, like narratives, then it becomes movie, theater… if music has no power to let you enjoy it without seeing, then it’s not great music.” 
—Nam June Paik, 1983

Bandcamp Apple Music TIDAL Reviews
Catalog:
LINE_145
Format:
digital
Edition:
open edition
Release:
October 2023
Tracklist:

1. Day One (06:54)
2. Day One Part Two (03:08)
3. Day Three (06:08)
4. Day Three Part Two (03:06)
5. Day Four (10:03)
6. Day Five (04:19)
7. Day Five Part Two (07:42)
8. Day Five Part Three (01:36)

Performed, Mixed, Mastered: Kamran Sadeghi
Made possible by the Experimental Television Center

Cover image: Wobbulator video stills

Kamran Sadeghi creates at the confluence of music and art. His compositions are distinguished by their penchant for intense focus, moments of profound elevation, unexpected transitions, and precise punctuations, all of which evoke the notion of crafting auditory pathways in the spatial realm. Kamran employs unconventional methodologies, including multi-channel composition, improvisation and moving image, in conjunction with custom-designed instruments, field recordings, and acoustic techniques. These multifaceted approaches converge to create visceral narratives within his work.

Sadeghi’s album “Loss Less” was recorded live inside a defunct nuclear cooling tower. The audiovisual installation premiered at the Louvre Museum (Paris) and HKW (Berlin). Kamran’s soundtrack “Approximation” was in the group show ‘Broken Music Vol.2’ at Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin. His collaborative album, “42.41” is with installation artist Zimoun. He contributed to the sound design with Matthew Herbert on the UK series TEMPLE. Other distinguished collaborations include Patti Smith, Jean-Luc Godard, Nan Goldin and Sasha Waltz.

Recordings and productions are published on Sternberg Press, LINE, Vinyl Factory, SUPERPANG, Sacred Bones, Opal Tapes and Apollo Records. As a music curator for Fridman Gallery, Public Records and e-flux/Bar Laika Kamran has worked with Marina Rosenfeld, Aho Ssan, DeForrest Brown Jr., Unsound Festival, Gábor Lázár, Qasim Naqvi, Afrikan Sciences among others. As a solo performer he has shared the bill with Vladislov Delay, Tim Hecker, Moritz von Oswald and Richard Devine.

kamransadeghi.com

REVIEWS OF
Disappearing Music (for Nam June Paik)

  • Mit der “Disappearing Music (for Nam June Paik)” (Line) von KAMRAN SADEGHI bleiben wir handwerklich auf höchstem Niveau, werden aber vielleicht (noch) ein wenig abstrakter. Der New Yorker benutzte für seine Schichtungen den “Wobbulator, a 1970s video synthesizer of the founder of video art, Nam June Paik.”, welcher von einem Korg MS20 und einem Doepfer A-100 ModularSystem gespeist wurde. Perkussive Sounds werden zu einem Zirkaden-haften Summen vielfach gewendet und in einer fabelhaften Balance aus scheinbarem Zufall und ebenso scheinbarer Gesetzmäßigkeit sortiert. Auch das früher so gefürchtete Bandrauschen gerät in den durchweg hochwertigen Konstruktionen aus strukturierenden “beat”-samples und einer knister-knaster-Grundatmosphäre immer mal wieder zum KunstObjekt. 5/5
    —westzeit.de