Larry Polansky's four voice canons are the inspiration behind this 2-CD set where composers from the most different areas apply their own discoveries to the concept of "mensuration canon", meaning that successive voices move according to a tempo that's proportional to their start time. All the selections herein represent a response to Polansky's request for the submission of personal versions of such canons, hence the "DIY" title. In such an articulated ramification there are obvious discrepancies among the pieces, ranging from the perplexing joke to the pure sublime; yet there is a sense of total commitment to the project which transforms it in an important document by a group of inquisitive minds working in a suspended sector between sound and mathematics. To summarize the highs, Steven M.Miller's "Twin canon" and "Pulse canon" show the perfect timbral opposition between similar principles, resulting in the hypnotic synthetic flows of "Twin" and a hell of FM drum beats springing out of a few initial hits in "Pulse". "Canoni pitagorici" by Giuliano Lombardo sounds like Partch and Chowning entwined in a peculiar specimen, while "Freeze dried canon" by Mike Swinchoski somehow reminded me of Carl Stone's most accessible fragments. A couple of really touching moments are Drew Krause's piano in "Canon for LP" and George Zelenz's "Thermohaline", where John Whooley's bass clarinet is finely superimposed in a stirring cycle of phrases. My own winner in the DIY canon contest is Mike Winter: although I'm left none the wiser - but seriously fascinated - after reading about his spectral filters, pixel axes and Gaussian functions, his three magnificent tracks (two with Philip Corner) conjure entities whose complexion, skeleton and life duration seem to depend exclusively by the uncommon light of the seemingly unreal harmonic relationships to which they obey. - Massimo Ricci

"There’s something for everyone in this two-disc set. Larry Polansky’s canonic work led to a “magic box” algorithm which he described and named “DIY Canon,” a four-voice mensuration canon where each line has the same melody but flows at a different speed so that all voices end together. Each melody may also permutate according to a set of rules. (Instructions and score are here.) Simon Wickham-Smith has collected several composers’ attempts at Polansky’s recipe.

The success of these pieces comes down to the raw materials and their capacity to interest the listener. The ones derived from real, non-musical sounds best strike my fancy: Kyoko Kobayashi’s Cat Canon, Bruno Ruviaro’s Entrei Pelo Canon 1a with its screaming men, Stefan Tomic’s Ringtone Canon, Bo Bell’s Metrocard Canon, and Ross Craig’s thankfully brisk Barbie’s Phone Canon which draws its substance from a toy.

Several canons trudge through pure computer sounds. Once the pattern’s repetition makes itself understood, I’m itchy to move on. The only exception is the longest offering, Wickham-Smith’s 11-minute Kullankeltaiset Päivät (Larry-lle), the abrasive filtering of which unhurriedly steamrolls." - La Folia