Night Before Death of Sampling Virus

AMG Review of Night Before Death of Sampling Virus

Martin Walters
All Music Guide

This conceptual recording by the Tokyo avant-garde composer was a groundbreaking experiment in deconstruction released in 1993. The piece is based on a system that exploits the malfunction of the CD player, whereby the listener is instructed to play the CD in shuffle mode to achieve a random replay of very small fragments of sound and thus hear an entirely different piece of music with repeated listens. Much in the way that Oval worked with the destabilization of the CD medium, Otomo Yoshahide applies a similar rhetorical approach to this complex /p>

oise work. Listeners should be warned -- according to the liner notes, the CD can actually cause damage to the CD player before destroying nerves, one's concept of music, and ear drums all in one go, which, to say the least, is quite an achievement. A milestone work in abstract electronica and avant-garde that is essential to collectors of audio terrorism.