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Remote Induction Review: End ID

End ID is a 2 CD compilation from the Japanese Digital Narcis label which is intended to reflect the technological innovations of the last century, particularly in reference to their bearing on sound art. To reflect this the 2 CDs gather a number of sound artists from around the world and they present their contributions - material ranging from minimalist through field recordings to noisescapes. The artists assembled include the likes of Andrew Lagowski, Eric La Casa, Koji Marutani, Ryoji Ikeda, Zbigniew Karkowski, Aube, Thomas Dimuzio, Atau Tanaka and Kasper T. Toeplotz. the material I suspect is more about art and documentation of experiments rather than entertainment - with which it isn't really a release where I sit and think about which tracks sound good, its more a case of finding interesting elements, effects and techniques. Some of the tracks have notes which give a particular insight to what is going on - a particular example of that is the piece by Tanaka which makes comment on was and how it is dealt with by modern media, which is reflected by him taking a particularly significant picture and using it with a couple of programmes to create the sound of the piece. Of the material by artists I know well enough to comment on the Aube is strong and the Ikeda piece is surprising with its combination of his typical pulses and cut up dialogue, something which is particularly effective. —PTR