For those of you who have dismissed the genre of noise music as, well, nothing more than a bunch of noise, Korean sound artist Han-Kil Ryu turns our preconception on its ear with his contributions to electroacoustic music. Distinctly a byproduct of Pierre Henry and Pierre Schaeffer's musique concrète, and incorporating substantial influence from the early works of experimental composer John Cage, electroacoustic music is an avant-garde technique that manipulates recorded or generated sound.But this obscure music genre wasn't the first rhythm Ryu tapped his fingers to. First prominent in Hongdae, Korea's chief locale for underground subculture, Ryu made a name for himself in the local indie music scene as keyboardist for Sister's Barbershop. Ryu then moved on to the atypical domain of sound art as Daytripper, his own solo electro project. From this, his second album, Brownpaper (2004) featured collaborations with Korea's first noise improvisation ensemble, Astronoise.Inspired and intrigued by the vibrations of unconventional objects, Ryu organized 'RELAY,' a free improvisational meeting held monthly from 2005-2008 designed to highlight and flaunt incredible collaborations within the small electroacoustic community. Just to name a few: Joonyong Choi, Chulki Hong, Joe Foster, Noid, Klaus Fliip, Dieb13, Mats Gustafsson, Taku Sugimoto, and Taku Unami.As an active member of FEN (Far East Network), founded by renowned improvisational musician Otomo Yoshihide, Ryu tours with this multi-national quartet, aiding them in their objective to achieve aesthetic outcomes through an attitude that embraces local and individual sounds rather than the institutionalized conventions of music pedagogy. FEN pursues improvised performance in order to co-create cacophonies of infinite outcome.Just recently Ryu, along with Astronoise duo Joonyong Choi and Chulki Hong, participated in a residency at Amsterdam's STEIM, the only independent center in the world for the research and development of electroacoustic music and performance. Tinkering with clock parts, old telephones and typewriters, and piezo vibrations, the music that Ryu fervently pursues substantiates Korea as a solid player in the global electroacoustic music community. Since starting his independent publishing company, manual, in 2006, he stands at the forefront in establishing a platform for music production, publication, installation, and other projects of experimental incentives.
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