Upon seeing Ryan Jewell’s patient, rigorous and riveting performance at Chicago’s very first Neon Marshmallow festival, we were fascinated by his meticulous sonic explorations falling somewhere in-between percussion, minimalism and electronic composition. Several years on, Jewell, still based in Columbus, OH, has continued to build an impressive resume as a co-conspirator with all sorts of people. Populated by acoustic textures, percussion-based sonic events, and unconventionally performed sounds, the assuredly paced solo pieces in Radio: Vol. 2 reveal Jewell as the yin to the noisier side of the Ohio scene.
"On the first track, "O-O" (recorded in 2010), the world is one of acid sizzles and a rough, rubbed sound that occasionally grows into quasi-vocal moans that remind me very much of the nocturnal, unconscious murmurings of Robert Ashley in his "Automatic Writing" and is similarly disturbing. It's not that shifts of focus don't occur; they do, but feel absolutely appropriate, like moving smoothly to an adjacent, related space, here one where the rubbing becomes more vivid and stone-like, achieving a fine, near-chaotic state, ending with a couple minutes of soft, brushy sound and a punctuative clunk. The second side of the cassette, "OO" (2009), sounds more purely percussive to me and is even more concentrated, Jewell producing, through rubbing both smooth and rough, wonderful nests of sounds existing somewhere between tones and rapid rhythms, rising periodically to a frightening wail. He spends the entire cut right in almost the same spot, not generating anything new or spectacular but, better, letting the richness of what he's initially discovered sink in. That's something I greatly appreciate, wish it happened more often. Excellent work, highly recommended." - Brian Olewnick
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Performed by Ryan Jewell. Mastered by Joe Panzner. Cover drawing by Virginia Lawrence, additional artwork and layout by E. Lindorff-Ellery.
