While online culture increasingly favors a posture of transparent, even mundane personhood, Igor Ballereau and Jody Pou buck this trend with the enigmatic netlabel SHSK’H.
The name, the presentation, and the music all project a common esthetic: hushed, cryptic, reverential and sensual. This singularity of vision makes the experience compelling. Both the performances and recording quality are awesomely good.
There are currently three releases, presenting works by Ballereau, Kenneth Kirschner, Aaron Siegel, Giuliano D’Angiolini, and Etsuko Chida performing traditional Japanese koto kumiuta. Recordings of Webern by Jody Pou and Emily Manzo are planned for this summer, and something for Garth Knox will go up this winter.
The recordings are made available free under a Creative Commons license, but donations are invited.
I’m inspired by both the music and the model; SHSK’H makes a persuasive case for the website as performance space.
Agreed. Very impressive.