XXXX Goh Lee Kwang:::: Punk Guitar

Selection of guitar works between 1998 to 2002, computer processing editing 2001 to 2002.
RE-mastering 2004~2005

Credits:
All compositions by Goh Lee Kwang
Produced by Goh Lee Kwang
Recorded and processed at Electronic Experimental Studio 427, 17, 247 in between 1998 to 2002.
Bonus Track recorded at Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany 2004.
Tracks 7 & 12 were recorded by Tham Kah Mun at Monkey Studio.

Cover art by Goh Lee Kwang

(excerpt, vbr mp3)

Audio CD, A4 paper folding
60min++
Release date: November 2005
12 Euros + shipping

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"I have radically remastered this music with exacting and loving attention to every detail. Balances adjusted and thanks to the latest in digital technology the music is louder, clearer, more in your face and exploding with more energy than ever before. Even if you already own all of the cdr release, I strongly urge you to pick this up and experience it."
-- Goh Lee Kwang

PUNK GUITAR first release in 2002 as cdr with the edition of 50++copies, sold out in late 2003. Since then 30++copies were produced by required.

BONUS TRACK CREATED EXCLUSIVELY FOR THIS CD: A spectacular new track recorded in Stuttgart, Germany, 18mins of harsh and silence as how PUNK should be.

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Review(s)
Music Emissions.com / Idio Mag.com
Goh Lee Kwang is a solo guitar improviser whose work runs the arc of shades from noise to ambient uses of bare-minimum chords and a lot of silence. Punk Guitar is a collection of tracks released on cd-r in 2002 in an ultra-rare edition of 50 or so copies. This version is cleaned up considerably giving more force and warm to the colors created by Kwang and his axe.

An 18 minute track was recorded exclusively for this release, and it is a beast of silence and noise, drawing on all his mastery of pet themes and visions. Truly a mouth-gaping blast of genius.

Goh Lee Kwang has recorded a good portion of his music to accompany experimental dance in a live setting, mostly the Japanese style known as Butoh. That attention to movement, understanding of chance and acoustic enhancement, drives these meditations. “Punk Guitar” is an apt title, despite the more quiet moments; Punk was about freedom and inhibition, a celebration of mistakes and moments that are pointless a minute after noticing them. Kwang’s music may drift away, but while it was here, it was a shock to the system. (4 and a half stars out of 5)
- Mike Wood


Bixobal 2
Lo-fi solo guitar from Malaysia. Most of the tracks exhibit a punk guitar attitude of just going for it despite lack of technique. The playing is primitive and sometimes noisy, while at other times Kwang just loosely strum along. Some tracks like the 18 minute bonus track recorded in Germany (this is a reissue of CDR release) are exploration of feedback, drones and textures. The whole thing has a rough DIY feel to it. The tracks featuring a more normal approach to playing the string sounds like they could be recording made anyway in the last few decades, whereas the noise pieces sound rather contemporary. As music from Malaysia of this type seems to be new thing, the inspirations from both old and new Western music (no denying the influence given the title and instrumentation) are reaching young musician simultaneously. So the spirit of punk rock, the freedom of free improvisation and the exploration of new sounds from experimental music with their decades of recording can all be assimilated at once as examples. In Kwang's case this result in trying out many different techniques, not only within the album, but from release to release as he has already tried his hand at many different things in his short career. in this way, Kwang seems unsettled - like he has not completely found his own voice yet. There are flashes that show he is developing however.
- Eric Lanzillotta


VITAL WEEKLY number 499 week 44
It's of course no problem to call your CD 'Punk Guitar' but why pack it so poorly? Goh Lee Kwang (which we western people would probably identify as Lee Kwang Goh) just folded a badly designed xeroxed paper around it, probably to make a punk statement. This CD contains tracks of Goh playing the guitar, in the formative years 1998-2002. All of these tracks were processed by computer means in 2001-2002. Sometimes these processing's aren't very clear and the guitar still sounds like the guitar, but at other times the noise and distortion totally removes any idea to the guitar (especially in the last piece of the CD). It's not exactly punk playing that Goh does here, but rather a free playing of sounds on the six strings. I found it quite hard to like the material in here, and I must admit it didn't do much for me. Sometimes it was ok, but sometimes also too much of a drag of uninspired playing. Not my tea, indeed.
- Frans De Waard