KK Null : Cryptozoon (01-05)
KK NULL / CRYPTOZOON 01 (first 03:15 excerpt) by KK NULL / NUX ORG KK NULL / CRYPTOZOON 02 (excerpt 21:01 – 24:31) by KK NULL / NUX ORG KK NULL / CRYPTOZOON 03 (excerpt 20:30 – 25:35) by KK NULL / NUX ORG KK NULL / CRYPTOZOON 04 (excerpt 00:00-05:30) by KK NULL / NUX ORG
KK NULL / CRYPTOZOON 05 (00:00 – 05:55) by KK NULL / NUX ORG
KK Null sums up the basics of these singles/EPs rather succinctly on his website: “Collaborating with Chris Watson on the album “Number One” (TONE-24, Touch, UK) in 2005 caused me deep interest in “field recording” and made me to explore the sound of nature for the following years and until now. The field recordings used on “CRYPTOZOON” were recorded at various locations in Australia, Canada, Europe and Japan between 2006 and 2010 recorded by myself with a handy wav recorder.”
“However, don’t get this wrong : “CRYPTOZOON” is NOT a simple field recording album at all. I used the sound of nature as one of the materials and processed them and synthesized with electronic sound to create this unique electro-acoustic compositions.”
““CRYPTOZOON” is brutal, cosmic and intense as well as my previous works, but maybe a bit more organic and earthy. Several years experience in the bush and forest inspired my creativity and gave new color and timbre on my music.”
This collection of recordings is most likely one of the most diverse you will find in the noise genre. Only it really is not very accurate to call the Cryptozoon albums strictly ‘noise albums’, given the wide range of genres he presents, often within a very short time period. Granted, many segments are often quite noisy, but, in a similar manner to Guilty Connector’s “Beats, Noise, And Life” record, percussive elements, moments of near-silence, and what could possibly be termed ‘pseudo-techno’ (if the phrase does not exist yet, then I am creating it for the purposes of this review) often make their presence known.
As he mentioned, field recordings are one of the main focal points of the album, and while they appear on a very frequent basis, they never feel omnipresent or intrusive in terms of the overall composition of the song/segments (in many instances, they have been extremely manipulated, so that it is sometimes difficult to determine what is a skewered field recording and what is a purely digital construction). Instead (as the macro photography of the albums seems to suggest) the recordings offer the listener a glimpse into the inner mechanics and processes of nature.
While this might not be the best introduction to KK Null’s solo work and is almost certainly not the best record in his extensive discography, it is nevertheless a very compelling study of cosmic experimental avant-garde noise electronica, one which easily elevates it above the mundane (and often sonically boring) reaches of his contemporaries. You can order these albums through the KK Null website, which will re-direct you to the distributor of your choice: Boomkat, Amazon.com, and iTunes in the future (also note that iTunes has several other KK Null albums available).
John Lithium 