Previously released on the obscure Viral Communications,
Steev Hise's Original represents four years of digital audio manipulation. Though
it is built almost exclusively from the recorded works of others (everyone from
the Beatles to Martin Denny to Kurt Cobain), Original bears the distinctive mark
of its creator. From the gentle whirring drone of 'Softly Ultra' to breakneck
cutup songs like 'Frustr8ed' and 'Tentacle of the Cannibal', Hise deftly razors
his digital cursor across the throat of mass culture. The opening track 'Ferrante,
Zeppelin & Teicher' is a good introduction to Hise's artistic methods. Juxtaposing
easily spotted Led Zeppelin samples against the lounge orchestrations of piano
duo Ferrante & Teicher, a bit of role reversal happens as Zeppelin later reverberates
into its own ambient soundscape. Recontextualizing cultural artifacts with cut-and-paste,
abstract sound processing, and social commentary, Hise is one of the finest practitioners
of what is often referred to as recombinant sound art or plunderphonics.
