Logos was founded and is directed by Godfried-Willem Raes and Moniek Darge. Not just content with having a large room in which concerts can be held like a lot of performance galleries, they recently realized an old dream and constructed an unique space which has been in operation since about 1990: the Logos Tetrahedron Hall. Designed by Raes, the structure fits in the site of an old furniture store that was once in back of the original Logos concert hall. It was made by welding together hundreds of hand- cut steel rods and beams, corrugated steel plates and wire mesh. Logos did all the cementing, plumbing, electrical work, and painting as well. The outside of the structure is coated with thick layers of insulating and sound dampening polyurethane. Not just the product of some do-it-yourself expediency, the structure is ascetically appealing in its angularities and is visually transcendental, appearing to be a much larger space than it actually is. The hall seats one hundred and fifty, and also contains a bar and a sound and lighting control room. Shortly after the hall open (complete with an inauguration by the Governor of Flanders), it won the Tech-Art Prize for its design. The Tetrahedron Hall is, as Logos is quick to point out, one of the few performing spaces which has been designed and built by the musicians themselves. As such, the unique design allows no acoustically resonant nodes or standing waves to be formed. The hall is not acoustically dead but rather has a sound which is very linear in its frequency response, very efficient in its dynamic resolution, and has a lively, clear presence to it. It is perfect for both the presentation of amplified electro-acoustic material as well as the works by those musicians not using any amplification at all. For those who have performed in "performance halls" which have the acoustic properties of something that is somewhat less than that of a restroom in a downtown bus station, Tetrahedron Hall can be a real treat. One does not have to worry about their work being buried by outside noises, errant ventilation systems, or phase cancellation muddles. One can be assured that at Logos, their work will be heard as clearly as they intend it to be.

If the directors of Logos were just content upon running their performance space, that would probably be enough for most anyone as a full-time occupation. However, Moniek and Godfried are also very active composers and performers in their own right making up the group known as the Logos Duo. They have performed all over world, often in places not known for their support of experimental music, such as small towns in China, in the isolated outback of Australia, in many of the Eastern European countries (both before and after the changes), and even in such places as the state of Louisiana. Their live performances often make use of musical instruments designed and built by Raes, who is a very inventive and prolific instrument builder. His designs range from all kinds of acoustic and digital/electro-mechanical sound sculptures to the most sublime controlling and sound generating devices. The Logos approach to music is one in which every aspect of the musical experience is ultimately controlled by the composer. The necessary tools to realize a particular piece are developed on the spot.

This brings us to the present Logos collection of pieces for recorded media. It samples the duo's recent interests in compositions which exemplify form rather than some of their more concrete or "visible" interests. These are works which can be (and often are) performed by others on a variety of instruments ranging from traditional and indigenous to contemporary commercial samplers and synthesizers. The present collection is not primarily focused upon the kinds of venues which the Logos Duo normally performs in but rather a more general kind of environment common to more traditional music listening. However, the same kinds of features and principles of their other works are also at work here. This work is an aggregate of cultural styles and techniques which contrast ancient and modern forms which are buttressed together within an angular and complex architecture. In the case of Raes' compositions, most of the works are algorithmic in nature, in that many of the more salient features of the compositional process are explicitly identified and eternalized.

Raes' approach to such a technique is one in which the composer builds an algorithm for a specific piece, rather than having the algorithm dictate what the composition is as a purely mechanical process. In this way, compositional tools are built for the specific job at hand, freeing the composer from redundant habits which impede upon the free flow of ideas. In particular here, are two works selected from a larger cycle of compositions which Raes calls The Fugue Books. These are a collection of pieces composed with the aid of a rather large and multi-modular, expert system program which Raes wrote that treats classical problems in the composition of fugues (and in particular, Flemish approaches to polyphony). Much of the tedious aspects of composing this traditional form are performed by the program while many of the more mundane aesthetic choices learned from the composer's previous examples are implemented. The program is also completely interactive, allowing the composer to make adjustments with every step of the compositional process. Such an approach to composition enhances the resolution of structural details within the work and breaths a new breath into a somewhat traditionally assumed form.

Darge's work with soundscapes on the other hand, are the intuitive compliment of Raes' algorithmic approach. Acoustical snapshots taken from various far-flung sites are mixed together to often provide counterpoint to the playing of indigenous musical instruments. Former sound ecologies are dismantled and rebuilt along a different guideline. Their former reality is twisted and shaped into a new mold. A new spatial and temporal architecture permeates the compositional organization, and the pieces exists as acoustical entities with their own particular life and property. This collection as a whole exhibits a diversity of approaches in dealing with traditional and contemporary compositional situations. Instead of breaking completely with the past, the salvage of age-old methods of musical resolution in world cultures is sifted and picked through. Nothing is assumed or taken for granted. What has been kept has often been modified, cleaned-up, and welded onto some other compositional salvage to produce a framework for a new music: a music that harks back to the culture and the city from which it sprang. It is a music which reveals the true face of Ghent.

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