tetsuo furudate / zbigniew karkowski “world as will ii” compact disc

• part i (24:19)
  
• part ii (29:00)

23five incorporated press release...

tetsuo furudate & zbigniew karkowski world as will ii 23five003, compact disc 23five incorporated proudly presents the launch of the 23five series of recorded sound works. founded in 1993, 23five incorporated is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development and increased awareness of sound works in the public arena, and to the support and education of artists working with and discussing the medium of sound. for the past 9 years, 23five incorporated has remained at the forefront in bringing the most adventurous elements of sound art to the san francisco bay area. 23five has served as an important benefactor to artists such as john duncan, francisco lopez, achim wollscheid, matt heckert, atau tanaka, and many more. the first in 23five’s series of recordings comes from tetsuo furudate and zbigniew karkowski, entitled world as will 2. the world as will collaborations between composers tetsuo furudate and zbigniew karkowski reflect their mutual adherence to the principles of the 19th century thinker arthur schopenhauer, who had demonstrated a necessarily pessimistic philosophy within the comprehensive four volume set entitled die welt als wille und vorstellung (world as will). it is the opinion of furudate and karkowski that “will keeps creating the world and history, will creates human tragedies, causes chaos and is the primary source of creation.” schopenhauer purported that scientific explanation can never do more than systematize and classify that which appears to be reality, and instead offered the theory that reality could be understood through the objectification of the individual will, as the capacity for consciousness to bring reality into being. it is a mistake, however, to assume that schopenhauer implied that will equates only as force. nevertheless, if each individual shapes their desires and understandings through the force of will, then social relationships are based upon a network of self-defining acts; thus, human suffering is not symptomatic but inherent to society as a whole. for schopenhauer, morality is the denial of the force of will, and should be eschewed in favor of the will as the primal creative force even at the inevitable price of existential pessimism. almost 200 years later, furudate and karkowski have forged a collaborative sound that builds upon these principles, highlighting that their synchronized wills can unleash an infernal majesty through the cruel manifestation of electronic sound. drawing also from the acknowledgement of schopenhauser’s influence upon richard wagner’s vigorous operas, furudate and karkowski have centered world as will 2 almost exclusively upon samples of karkowski’s little heard orchestral work and wagner’s masterful götterdammerung. augmented through the crucible of digital processing, these electronic samples of vivid polyphony found in the masculine crescendos of orchestral sound take a violent turn towards the realms of militant noise. world as will 2 results in an unrelenting soundtrack of expressive power and will, shaped within arenas of sound. tetsuo furudate is a japanese based composer who has dedicated himself to the dynamics of noise. zbigniew karkowski is a polish-swedish composer presently working in tokyo, japan, having worked extensively within the experimental noise scene during the past 11 years. along with furudate, karkowski has collaborated with francisco lopez, merzbow, pita, helmut schaefer, aube, john duncan, the hafler trio, cm von hausswolff, ulf bilting, and many others. he has performed at countless venues and festivals across the globe, including 23five’s most recent activating the media festival earlier this year. founded in 1993, 23five incorporated is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development and increased awareness of sound works in the public arena, and to the support and education of artists working with and discussing the medium of sound. for the past 14 years, 23five incorporated has remained at the forefront in bringing the most adventurous elements of sound art to the san francisco bay area. 23five has served as an important benefactor to artists such as john duncan, christina kubisch, francisco lopez, achim wollscheid, matt heckert, zbigniew karkowski, atau tanaka, and many more.