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Germ Studies
Clare Cooper - guzheng
Chris Abrahams - dx7
Reviews for the double-album GERM STUDIES FOR GUZHENG AND DX7
"a madly generous double album: 198 duets for Clare Cooper’s traditional Chinese zither (guzheng) and Chris Abrahams’s ancient (1980’s) Japanese DX7 synth. ...Abrahams’s heartbeat pulses, digital gargling and mutoid disco sci-fakery are a fierce proposition countered at every turn by Cooper’s non-oriental bowing and scraping...great improvising." THE WIRE
"Germ Studies’ music is a conversation in time ...Their eyes rarely meeting, they set to work extracting the most delicate noises as possible from their respective instruments. The result? Partly soundtrack to a digital planet, partly a study on the permanence of music. While Abrahams’ programmed synth carries the audience from thudding depths to painful and instantaneous highs, Cooper’s guzheng morphs from ancient acoustic to space-age and back, played masterfully with fingers, palms, and drum sticks." VISITATION RITES (live review)
"fascinating ... pieces flit to life like mating cells, making skewed, suprise lurches and appearing generally feverish throughout. The interplay between artists is never less than enthralling, their actions raw, revealing, and lovingly recorded, a ceaseless procession of sounds veering off in all directions." CYCLIC DEFROST