DANIEL RYAN / MATTHEW CROWE “split” C27 (Personal Archives)


It’s splitsville for Personal Archives: Daniel Ryan and Matthew Crowe drop some improv upon us, experimenting with the sonic limits of their …

Wait. I think I wrote that already somewhere. That’s really weird.

Know what else is really weird? This split tape from Daniel Ryan and Matthew Crowe! I was sold right away with Ryan’s side (and not merely because he has a, ahem, STELLAR last name), as he’s whipped up ten short tracks that do their thing and quickly move on to the next. Whether he’s exploring drones or intricate rhythms or scratched noise, Ryan obviously is having fun with his experimentation. It’s nice to see a little brevity in the experimental tape game at times.

And then there’s Matthew Crowe, Sex Funeralist and drum dude who plays here with similarly disparate elements in an ADD manner, only over the course of three tracks instead of ten. On his first composition, which lasts six minutes and is by far the longest track on the tape, he shifts between electronics and rhythm, using the former to disrupt and the latter to form a trancelike pattern. Frustrating our expectations, he both hypnotizes us and shakes us from our stupor. He continues this throughout the other two shorter tracks on his side, and the combined whole is a fascinating event.



--Ryan