Christophe Charles - Biography
Although Christophe Charles is a Frenchman living in Japan, his work in sound is often associated with the German abstract electronic music that reached its apex in the late 1990s via artists like Oval, Mouse on Mars, C-Schulz and FX Randomiz. In the states much of this organic, ambient process music was represented by Chicago’s Thrill Jockey label and the warm, hypnotic sound created by these innovative artists found favor with indie and post-rock audiences. Lacking the melodic propulsion explored by Mouse on Mars and Oval, Charles’ music is less known by no less beguiling.
Christophe Charles, son of French author Daniel Charles, was born in Marseille in 1964. An academic artist in every way, Charles holds two PhDs and is currently an Associate Professor of Media Arts at Musashin Art University in Tokyo. In addition to his audio releases, he has created installations working with sound and light and continues to publish theoretic texts on many facets of systems music, digital art and contemporary Japanese art and music. He also performs and collaborates with many artists including Henning Christiansen, Oval’s Markus Popp and Yamaguchi Katsuhiro. Charles’ sound design is based on computer programs that utilize randomization and chance systems, inspired by the work of John Cage and Brian Eno, to produce self-evolving ambient music that eschews any “hierarchical structure.”
Charles has been working in audio since the mid ‘80s, contributing tracks to various compilations as early as ’86. His first proper and widely available CD release is ‘93’s Let It Hold Itself Up. Comprised of two long tracks the record is based on a month long residency Charles held at the Gallery HAM in Nagoya. Using a Macintosh computer, AKAI sampler and various objects such as pipe speakers and microphones, Charles performed long concerts and performed “sound-space experiments,” recording the results. The music is an ever-shifting tapestry of gorgeous ambient sound made up of processed field recordings, ringing metal percussion, fragments of chanted vocals and glimmering electronics.
In ’94 the composer self-released, in conjunction with the Yokohama Art Museum, a CD titled Deposition Yokohama. Featuring a 52-minute long piece taken from an installation at the museum that involved six speakers control by motion sensitive infrared sensors. This allowed the museum visitors to actually control the sound, in effect creating a unique piece with each series of movements around the space. Charles had essentially translated the actions of his computer programs into a physical environment. On the CD release, the 52-minute recording is given 23 discreet time markers, allowing the home listener to employ the random function on the CD player to recreate the piece during playback.
Charles’ ideas about randomized systems and computer software linked him to likeminded artists such as Markus Popp. As Oval was gaining some recognition outside academic and art-music circles, the two struck up a collaborative relationship. In ’95 Mille Plateaux, one of the premier experimental electronic music labels of the time, included Charles’ “Undirected/Continuum” track on its now legendary In Memoriam Gilles Deleuze compilation. The collection included many of the era’s most progressive musicians like Atom Heart, Oval, Gas, Jim O’Rourke, Zoviet-France and Scanner.
As Mouse on Mars and Oval were gaining interest in America, Oval’s Popp and Jan St Werner from Mouse on Mars started Microstoria. The duo’s records were released by Thrill Jockey and culminated in a remix album in ’96 called Microstoria_Reprovisers. Charles contributed a standout remix titled “feld_c,” an elegantly stuttering track of glowing ambience. That same year Charles released perhaps his seminal solo album, Undirected 1986-1996 on Mille Plateaux. Twenty tracks of the deepest, most finely detailed ambient music ever recorded, this record is an all out classic of mid 90s post-ambient electronica. Similar in atmosphere to classic Oval records like Systemisch, but less repetitious, Charles weaves clicking glitches, queasy drones, ghostly field recordings and washed out static into an ever-evolving sonic environment. Layers upon layers morph and grow as endless mutations of processed instruments take shape. At times beautifully cinematic, at times mesmerizingly abstract, this music is some of the most singular in all of modern electronic sound.
The following year brought Oval’s classic dok album. While Popp had the final say on the compositions he and Charles originated source material and traded sound files, each processing elements to be used on the record. It’s an album of subtle beauty, with tracks of shimmering, gliding electronics based on Charles’ recordings of bells. One of the most haunting albums in all of ambient music, dok remains a mysterious listen.
Between ’96 and 2000, Charles released many tracks on a seemingly endless stream of compilations on labels like CCI, Fuji Rekodsu, Computer Music Journal and Ritornell. In 2000, the second collaborative album from Charles and Popp emerged as Undirected/Dok. This time Charles had the final say on each track, and the music is more chaotic and random as the composer employs his chance-based software to the sounds. Still extremely organic and beautiful, the music eschews the repeating parts of Oval’s version in favor of a looser flow.
2003 saw the next great collection of recordings from Charles. Undirected 1992-2002 features two long tracks of elegant electronic ambience based most on field recordings, bells, voice and piano. “Next Point” is taken from a performance at the MANCA festival from ’92 and is followed by the ten-part suite “Deposition.”
The following years brought tracks on compilations from respected labels like Atak, Raster-Noton, Erratum and Room40. Charles continues installation work as well as performance of his music. His latest release is a 30-minute piece titled “Unter Den Linden” released as on a split CD with i8u on the Non Visual Objects label.
