Curtis Roads

Curtis Roads has written extensively on computer music, especially the technique of granular synthesis. Each piece here revels in the microscopic level of sound that Roads discusses in his book Microsound. He devises rich textures by exploring relationships between tiny sonic shards, juxtaposed, layered and manipulated on the minutest of timescales. If this all sounds terse and scientific, you're right, and wrong, as Roads is equally competent in the theoretical and artistic domains. Often cited by Autechre as an influence on their work, his music doesn't share the grid-oriented rhythmic approach of his more widely known admirers. It does, however, have a level of sophisticated immediacy and dynamism seldom heard in the realm of abstract electronic music. Each track breathes with the vitality of the most assured improvising percussionist. While bound to esoteric processes, "Point Line Cloud" is amongst the most vibrant and sensuous accomplishments of the post-musique concrète canon.