BBC Music Online (UK)

60 minutes of glimmering quicksilver falling through the fingers of a cupped hand. An hour's worth of extra-terrestrial speech. The sound of distant starlight. A Mark Rothko painting seen through a shimmering heat-haze The urge to create metaphors is difficult to resist. The title of John Hudak's latest work also conjures memories of sitting in one of James TurrellŐs skyspaces (the artist has created a series of rooms in various locations around the world, each with a single opening in its ceiling and seating around the edge that allows visitors to gaze up undistracted at a patch of sky). The inside flap of the cd binder lists a number of indistinctly rendered words that might conjure a more prosaic image than the foregoing impressions:

"branches, sky, armore, comforter, books, door, cat, wood, clothes..."(and so on)

Further investigation reveals that the sound originates in a recording of Hudak's stream-of-consciousness speech. It isn't specified whether the words are a part of the recorded monologue, but the impulse certainly forms the basis of a work that, through the alchemy of digital filtering, is transfigured into something magically penumbral. Room With Sky initially appears to be a twinkling near-constant, but every so often the key of its sound takes a downward step or pauses for less than an instant. Consequently it fascinates both in the exact expanse of its 60 minutes (as though Hudak were merely cutting a slice from the day) and in a level of change akin to the bubbling of a stream, whose edges are generally defined by the wash of its flow, but whose precise form is momentary and impossible to remark unaided.

Room With Sky is the third release on Spekk, a label established slightly under a year ago by Nao Sugimoto. It continues the focus upon a delicate form of electronic minimalism (important to note the small "m") explored previously by Taylor Deupree and William Basinski. Spekk joins the small number of labels (such as Rune Grammofon, Touch and Hat Hut) which pay rewardingly close attention to the presentation of their music as well as the music itself. As a result the labelŐs delicate, vertically-formatted card binder provides an attractively subtle counterpart to Hudak's work. (Colin Buttimer)



Etherreal (FRANCE)

Cet album de John Hudak est une oeuvre a part. Troisieme sortie du label japonais Spekk, cree par Nao Sugimoto, deja fondateur du celebre label Plop, Room with Sky est dans la lignee des precedentes sorties du label, sorte de pendant japonais a un label comme 12k ou sa division plus experimentale Line. Ce n'est d'ailleurs pas un hasard si les deux premieres sorties de Spekk nous permettaient de retrouver Taylor Deupree et Richard Chartier.

On ne connaissait pas John Hudak avant cet album, mais un travail commun avec Jason Khan nous permet d'avoir une petite idee sur la demarche artistique de cet Americain. Room with Sky est donc une oeuvre a part dans la facon dont elle a ete composee. Cet album deja publie sous forme de CDR limite a 50 exemplaires contient juste une piece d'une heure. Jusque la rien de tres extraordinaire. La surprise vient lorsque l'on apprend comment cette oeuvre a ete composee : John Hudak est chez lui, dans sa chambre ensoleillee, et parle, se lance dans un flux continu de mots, tout ce qui lui vient a l'esprit est enregistre tel quel. Pourtant sur ce disque l'auditeur n'entend pas le moindre mot : l'enregistrement a ete traite a plusieurs reprises afin de deformer, detruire, transformer la matiere sonore, afin de faire en sorte que ce qui transparaissait dans les mots s'exprime maintenant de maniere musicale.

Le resultat est assez etonnant : a la place des mots, ce sont de delicates notes de piano que l'on a l'impression d'entendre, des petits tintements formant une composition fragile, abstraite, et qui pourrait tourner en boucle, une musique environnementale qui nous donne l'impression de voir les rayons du soleil entrer dans la chambre de l'artiste et subir des effets de diffractions et reflexions a la rencontre d'un verre pose sur une table, ou d'un miroir accroche au mur.

Pour amateurs de musiques ambient, minimalistes ou repetitives, de solos de piano ou de Brian Eno, cet album est veritablement indispensable. (Fabrice Allard)



Vital Weekly (NETHERLANDS)

John Hudak slowly builts a very consistent body of work together, that by now dates back to the mid 80s and spans many cassette only releases (and most of them worth a re-issue on CDR, mind you), CDs and CDrs and some on vinyl - although that is something not happening a lot. 'Room With Sky' is his latest work, I think self-released on his Chaba Recordings label, a CDR in a small edition. The piece lasts about one hour, like so many other Hudak pieces. It's the perfect length for a Hudak release. Not that there is much development going on here, but it's the right length for the listener to forget time and place and simply to enjoy the sounds. Here it's unclear what kind of sounds Hudak has put into his machines (laptop with max/msp patches, I believe), maybe it's some natural sound, maybe it's a piano? With somebody like Hudak this is never really important - it's the result that matters. These simple sound processings move forward slowly, peacefully - like a mass of ice moving over the course of thousands years - slowly, without much change on the surface, but underneath is where the action takes place. To some it might seem that John Hudak produces ambient music on the fringe of new age, but this is not so at all. His sounds are too edgy for that. Hudak has crafted another fine work - another stone in his slow expanding universe.

The previous lines are what I wrote in Vital Weekly 401, and oh joy, how nice it is to see re-issue on a real CD by Spekk, in a beautiful cover and lovingely remastered (going from digital to analogue and than back to digital for this much needed extra warmth) by Stephan Mathieu. Great re-release! (FdW)



Gonzo Circus (BELGIUM)

Op zomerdagen is de lichtinval in de slaapkamer van Hudak goed genoeg om er een conceptcd aan te wijden. Nu houdt deze gereputeerde minimalist wel van halve stiltes en gemanipuleerde natuurgeluiden, maar klankentappen uit zonnestralen zit er voorlopig niet in. Daarom registreert hij zijn eigen stem in de zonovergoten kamer via een systeem van vrije woordassociatie. Klinkt goed? Vergeet het! Het verschil tussen concepttheorie en praktijk wordt pijnlijk aangetoond door één eindeloos (lees: zestig minuten) durende track van minimaal zoemende en onherkenbaar gefilterde microgeluiden. De vervorming is zodanig extreem dat het geen barst meer uitmaakt of de bron een stem, een autobatterij of een trillende hoogspanningskabel is. Ons advies: uit de zon blijven en wachten op sneeuwval. (pv)



Liability (FRANCE)

Pendant plus de vingt ans John Hudak sŐest fait connaitre du public avec ses pieces musicales minimales et repetitives qui etaient basees sur des sons naturels. Cette nouvelle livraison ne derogera pas a la regle qu'il s'est fixe "Room With Sky" est uniquement compose par un long morceau de pres d'une heure qui fait largement appel a des criteres ambiant. Originellement issu d'une edition CDR edite a 50 exemplaires (2003), "Room With Sky" reparait aujourd'hui sous une forme plus officielle avec un remastering de Stephan Mathieu. Cette composition qui semble interminable ne s'ecoute qu'avec un volume eleve ne serait-ce que pour profiter pleinement de la sonorite cristalline de l'ensemble. La marge de manouvre est ici tres mince, John Hudak preferant se refugier dans une musique introspective et pour le moins autiste. Hudak ne cherche donc pas la variation, il reste bloque sur une meme ligne sonore qu'il module sensiblement au gre de son humeur. Le caractere monolithe de la chose peut se reveler assez fatiguant si on n'y prend garde. La moindre faiblesse, la moindre deconcentration peut vous etre fatale. "Room With Sky" est comme un fil d'Ariane qui peut se rompre a tout moment du fait de sa fragilite

Selon ses propres dire le concept du disque etait de donner a l'auditeur un sentiment de bien etre tout en etant dans une piece au decor agreable et evocateur qui serait elaire par un soleil eclatant et empli de chaleur. On peut sans doute facilement imaginer la situation en ecoutant ce disque a tete reposee et en se laissant porter par cette idee. Le plus curieux finalement est de savoir comment a ete concut ce disque. "Room With Sky" est le resultat d'experimentations sur les enregistrements de la voix de J.Hudak. Pour arriver a ce que nous avons sous les mains il a fallu plus d'une vingtaine de traitements differents. Finalement "Room With Sky" est un disque assez curieux dont la musique parvient a vos oreilles comme un doux chuchotement et vous rendrait presque amorphe. C'est beau, certes, mais a petite dose.



Timeoff (AUSTRALIA)

With the gentlest of beginnings, John Hudak's most recent disc for the incredible Japanese imprint Spekk, is a transformative listening situation. Taking shimmering melodic sections, processing them to reveal only a few frequencies and layering them together, Hudak creates a linear journey through the edges of human hearing - even at its most bombastic, this record is refined and restrained with a crisp beauty thatŐs truly rare to find.

As the CD progresses through these glistening soundscapes, your mind drifts, visual images come to the fore - lights across a lake glowing and shaking ever so slightly as a fog passes in front of them - the formation of ice in the northern winter - the falling of leaves in autumn winds. Abstract music has the ability to suggest great things and Hudak plays on this notion - everyone who listens no doubt enjoys a different journey, one informed by their experiences and the world that surrounds them.
HHHH (Lawrence English)



autres directions (FRANCE)

"Hudak's current sound work focuses on the minimalism and repetition of sounds below the usual threshold of hearing, sounds that are filtered out or considered non-musical. These sounds are recorded, deconstructed and processed, their rhythms and textures being the basis for aural manipulations."

Ce paragraphe extrait du curriculum vitae de John Hudak, glane sur son site, en dit assez sur ce que peut etre Room With Sky. Manupulateur du son, ce sound-designer americain a deja un passe lourd de travaux. Precedemment publie a 50 exemplaires sur son propre label cdr, reedite par Spekk apres un nouveau mastering de Stephan Mathieu, Room With Sky a ete concu pour simuler l'atmosphere d'une piece ensoleillee un dimanche. Chaque nappe y est un nuage de coton qui defile au-dessus de nos tetes, chaque son une poussiere dansant en apesanteur avec les rayons du soleil qui traversent la vitre. Pendant cinquante neuf minutes et cinquante neuf secondes, notre attention est captee par cette longue introspection ambiante, pas toujours rassurante, qu'est Room With Sky.



Octopus (FRANCE)

Le travail sonore de John Hudak se concentre sur un extreme minimalisme et la repetition de sons du quotidien, des sons filtres et reconsideres a partir de leur substance non-musicale. Ces sons sont captes, deconstruits et retravailles, leurs rythmes et les textures servant de base a des manipulations orales. John Hudak a enregistre trois disques solo : Pond (1998); base sur des sons des insectes d'eau et enregistre avec des hydrophones ; Brooklyn bridge (1998), quatre pieces generiques a partir des vibrations des sons statiques du pont ; And don't worry about anything, i'll talk to you tomorrow (1999), dans lequel un message de sa mere laisse sur son repondeur telephonique est transforme en textures repetitives. Outre de nombreuses apparitions sur des compilations, A fault in the nothing (1996); Scatter (1997); Effe/sukora 001 (2000); And various (2000), ce quatrieme opus nous plonge au ceur d'une chambre, fenetre ouverte sur une journee ensoleillee. 61 minutes de serenite silencieuse lovee en une seule plage, faite d'infimes bruissements et variations meditatives : un eloge de la paresse, un moment de pure poesie sonore.



sand-zine (ITALY)

Questo disco inizia laddove terminava "I Am Sitting In A Room" di Alvin Lucier, cosi e per l'ambientazione affatto simile, cosi e per la tecnica utilizzata e cosi e per quello che e l'esito finale fissato su supporto. La tecnica: laddove il brano di Lucier era una creazione per voce e nastro magnetico, quello di Hudak scorre di un passo in avanti ed e plasmato per voce e computer. Ad essere pignoli nulla e mutato da quando, l'avrete fatto anche voi da bambini, l'uomo riversava la sua voce all'interno di qualche cavita per udirla uscire mutata. Ovvero: sono cambiati i mezzi ma non le intenzioni.

L'esito: Lucier partiva dalla voce, e dalla parola, per giungere, attraverso una serie di permutazioni, al suono puro, Hudak si muove fin dallŐinizio in una contesto di suono puro. Il suo brano non e un processo che segue, passo dopo passo, la mutazione, ma e un elemento ex novo che, nella sua essenza, prende atto di un cambiamento gia avvenuto.

L'ambientazione: i pochi metri cubi di una stanza, uno spazio chiuso dal quale lo sguardo, almeno nel caso di Hudak, corre verso ampi spazi. La scena si svolge in un giorno di luminosita particolarmente accesa, le parole sgorgano come fiocchi di neve dalla bocca e la mano e pronta ad azionare i meccanismi idonei a fissarle, prima che esse si sciolgano in inutili macchie di molecole.

John Hudak, dalla sua stanza, commenta la vista del cielo e la sua voce, registrata, e poi assoggettata ad un lavoro di permutazione che si rinnova, nel suo computer, per oltre venti passaggi, fino al raggiungimento di questa tessitura afona.

E una trama dalle linee sottili che fa pensare al fischio del vento, quando entra nei vicoli, nelle grotte, dentro ai camini, nelle strutture metalliche, nel legno, nei relitti dellŐanima, e si rinnova in sibili sempre piu gracili, o nel pianto stesso delle superfici che schiaffeggia.

Inizialmente, nel 2003, "Room With Sky" venne pubblicato nell'etichetta personale di Hudak, la Chaba Recordings, come CD-R limitato a 50 copie. Ad un anno di distanza, forte dellŐopera di rimasterizzazione effettuata da Stephan Mathieu, esce questa nuova edizione per l'etichetta giapponese Speek.E il John Hudak che piu affascina, quello lontano dai suoni chiassosi, quello delle linee soffuse, delle trame ridotte all'osso, quello che plasma i timbri come fossero velluto, quello che sa portare il suono alla sua dissoluzione per poi rigenerarlo, in una successione che volge all'infinito.

Sempre caro mi fu quest'ermo colle..



Terz (GERMANY)

Hudaks Musik ist fast nicht da. Er spricht uber das Licht, das der Himmel in seinen sehr sonnigen Raum schickt. Verstehen kann man das nicht, denn die Stimme ist uber 20 mal bearbeitet worden, aber horen. Remastered von Stephan Mathieu, ist so eine vergriffene Conscience-Ambient-Platte wieder erhaltlich.



THE WIRE (UK)

John Hudak's interest in manipulating sound on the threshold of audibility reaches its fullest expression on this new hour-long piece of ultra-minimalist ambience. At normal listening levels it almost fails to register. Turn it up and it reveals itself to be a fine shifting mist of bell-like overtones and what sounds like the soft tooting of baby owls. As a piece of music it's pleasant enough, but its power lies in the way that it subtly frames and colours other environmental sounds - the golden principle of all Ambient music. The downside is that the listener may end up feeling irked by outside noises drowning out the meditative atmospherics and consider moving to the country, or at least getting double glazing.