John Hudak

don't worry about anything, i'll talk to you tomorrow

1998-11-30T05:00:00Z

CD | 1999 | Alluvial Recordings

Completed in 1998, this is only the third full length composition from NY composer John Hudak to appear on CD. His work is primarily built on repetition and alteration, usually from single sound sources. With this composition, he has manipulated an answering machine recording of his mother's voice. The piece is shifting and complex. It is smooth and relaxed with the contradiction of extremely high, piercing frequencies. It is undoubtedly one of his most complex works to date. In an edition of 1,000. [Alluvial Press Release]

room with sky

John Hudak — 2003-11-30T05:00:00Z

CD | 2004 | spekk recordings

...the sound originates in a recording of Hudak's stream-of-consciousness speech. It isn't specified whether the words are a part of the recorded monologue, but the impulse certainly forms the basis of a work that, through the alchemy of digital filtering, is transfigured into something magically penumbral. Room With Sky initially appears to be a twinkling near-constant, but every so often the key of its sound takes a downward step or pauses for less than an instant. Consequently it fascinates both in the exact expanse of its 60 minutes (as though Hudak were merely cutting a slice from the day) and in a level of change akin to the bubbling of a stream, whose edges are generally defined by the wash of its flow, but whose precise form is momentary and impossible to remark unaided. by Colin Buttimer BBC/music

On and On

John Hudak — 2008-08-01T21:00:00Z

CD | 2008 | Presto !? Recordings

“Inspired by the black-capped chickadee, which is a bird in case you wonder, which sang four notes, A to G, G to F, and the next day it only sang A and G which inspired Hudak to strum his guitar for a long time and then transferring it to midi information, in which the computer simplified the strumming. The resulting melody was then used to trigger the pitches of an instrument much like a dulcimer. A seventy minute piece is the result, which breathes the minimalism Hudak is best known for. Notes are repeated in a simple, relaxing, minimal way, yet one has no sense of listening to long loops of the material. It's not going from a to b and back, but its a strict linear composition. I was playing this while I had a visitor and meanwhile I was transferring a cassette to another computer - the cassette was old so the mechanism was chirping, a bit like a bird. The doors were open, and outside sounds - cars, more birds - sweetly drifted in and out of the Hudak piece. It added to the already highly ambient piece of music. Also by itself, with headphones, this is a rather beautiful piece of music. I sometimes complain things are too long, which they usually are, but these seventy minutes could easily last an entire evening, sitting on the balcony and create a new mix of taped and environmental sounds. Excellent ambient music.” Frans De Waard - Vital Weekly

miss. dove, mr. dove

John Hudak — 2009-03-05T21:14:37Z

CD | 2008 | afe recordings

“Amongst the collection of CD's currently inhabiting my players, is the now more familiar presence of John Hudak, whose work I last encountered on Japan's Spekk label, and later in NVO's EXTRACT book. Hudak turns in a classic and delightful series of recordings of doves on the aptly named Miss Dove, Mr Dove. Hudak's keen artistic ear picked up the sound of cooing doves whilst on a break in the Czech Republic, and realizing the auditory potential of the birdsong, combined with a natural echo between two buildings, took recordings and then subjected them to various treatments back at his studio. The overall sound is at once slightly haunting and spiritually uplifting, as the birdsong undergoes all manner of transformations, and quietly subtle transitions.” Baz Nichols - White_Line