New York-based sound artist So Takahashi composed 30/30 to accompany a photography exhibit by Fumiko Nozawa. The installation displayed 30 photographs of empty rooms, which are reproduced in 30/30′s CD booklet. The soundtrack consists of 30 one-minute pieces (here edited into a single flowing track) inspired by the visual art. Takahashi’s extreme sonic minimalism at times invokes Ryoji Ikeda, with the bulk of the music coming in the form of sine waves, noise, and static. The 30-minute piece contains little more than naked sine tone beeps in the first several minutes, goes on to introduce organ chords and eerie samples of crowd noise near the halfway mark, and transforms into comparatively dense, beat-driven techno in its closing section. Though Takahashi’s use of space and dynamics are commendable, it is difficult to focus on the track over its entire length, as the piece seems to straddle the fence between foreground and background music. 30/30 probably worked brilliantly in combination with the photography installation, but removed from the gallery it makes for a difficult listen. – Mark Richardson
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