William Basinski - On Time Out Of Time

William Basinski, the composer and sound sculptor, has found himself in some rum situations over the years. Now he's jamming with black holes. On Time Out of Time is a suite of works originally commissioned for the 2017 exhibition, Limits of Knowin, at Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin. These works use source recordings from the interferometers of LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory), capturing the sounds of the merging of two distant massive black holes, 1.3 billion years ago. William Basinski, the composer and sound sculptor, has found himself in some rum situations over the years. Now he's jamming with black holes. On Time Out of Time is a suite of works originally commissioned for the 2017 exhibition, Limits of Knowin, at Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin. These works use source recordings from the interferometers of LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory), capturing the sounds of the merging of two distant massive black holes, 1.3 billion years ago. The 40-minute long title track uses ambient drones, crackles, and far-off explosions to bring us the sounds and feelings of something awe-inspiring happening in a lonely corner of space and time. It is yet another wonderful example of what Basinski does - transformative and transcendental ambient music.

The second half, in particular, is really quite lovely, like Tangerine Dream at their most peaceful. On Time Out of Time is followed by the much shorter punky thrash (kidding!) of 4(E+D)4(ER+EPR) (recorded live at the installation). Some of the sounds are a little harsher but Basinski lays them on a bed of warm drones and loops. It's a classic Basinski piece - a two-chord loop that is enhanced and added to. On paper, what William Basinski does sounds easy. But no one else does it as well. On Time Out of Time is another fine set that Basinski fans will love. For newcomers, there is nothing difficult or excluding here, just welcoming layers of calming sound. Somehow there is always something going on in his pieces that don't allow them to just be background noise.