It's a nice disc, but hardly the best thing XC's done with the upturned speakers, in my opinion. (I would say the same of the recent Sachiko M outing on ABS too - not the most exciting thing of hers I've ever heard). His duo with Martin Tétreault (Vandoeuvre VDO 0121) is worth checking out.

"I would say the same of the recent Sachiko M outing on ABS too - not the most exciting thing of hers I've ever heard"

man, there's an understatement. I haven't heard the Charles one yet, but I like MXCT.

Taku Unami works with a similar setup now sometimes (Taku does a lot of different things), the setup I saw him play in duo in London in September was similar to the one I saw Charles use at Musique Action in 2002.

"His duo with Martin Tétreault (Vandoeuvre VDO 0121) is worth checking out."

Sounds good, I'm anxious to hear more of the man after such a nice surprise. I'd asked him a few questions about his technique before publishing the review. His answers came late last night, after I'd already hit the submit button. Turns out my ears were right and the above is an accurate description of his set-up and method (the frequencies he uses are between 2 and 20 Hz for maximum vibes). Charles says some of the objects he uses range anywhere from marbles to Legos (!). He also emailed a photo or two of his gear that I'll post later if anyone's interested.

Agreed 100% about the duo with Tetreault.

It's worthwhile to note that Joe Colley (formerly going under the name Crawl Unit) and Damion Romero (AKA Speculum Fight) do similar work, here's a description of a recent 7"

Joe Colley "6 Feedback Channels" one-sided 7" "An installation document: six piezo transducers hang above, and barely touch, six speakers of different sizes, each speaker emits the signal of it's piezo input creatingfeedback. Three oscillating fans move the air, randomly affecting the resultant sound. (Edition)

There's lots of speaker abuse in the sound art world.

Yes, come to think of it, Jon, Taku U does use a similar setup, though when I saw him in action at les Voutes in Paris he hadn't quite got it under control and his little polystyrene balls (that's styrofoam to you) went all over the place. It was quite funny. Any plans to issue Unami's stuff on Erstwhile in the foreseeable future? Oh, and any sign of your Erstbox review Nirav? (yeah sorry Al to hijack the XC thread towards Jon's label, just curious that's all)
Nice Texturizer review oops wrong thread i'm outtahere

I like most of Unami's stuff quite a bit, but I'm not sure he's found his voice yet. he's definitely one of the Tokyo musicians who I haven't worked with who I'm keeping a very close eye on, he's still very young. he's also pretty prolific in terms of releases, he has a new solo disc on Mattin's label which I haven't heard yet. Mattin and Unami are doing a duo show in a couple of weeks in Tokyo that I thought I'd be there to see, but my plans changed. that's a duo I'm somewhat interested in, but seeing Mattin a couple of times recently in NYC and talking to him for a while afterwards kind of put me off of his work, I'm not sure his taste and mine overlap much.

anyway, my 2004 schedule's already full, and I'm currently thinking that the German festival will leave me close to bankrupt anyway, so there's no need to make any more commitments for a whil...

hey, congrats, Dan! I just heard you have a Meniscus discus on the way. want to tell us more about that (to hijack the thread even more)?

There is a Xavier Charles connection in fact, as the forthcoming Meniscus is a recording (which I believe I played you, Jon, aeons ago) made with Martine Altenburger (cello) and Frédéric Blondy (piano). Recorded in 2000! Pre-Hubbub, pre-Ninh duo. Currently being mastered by a master masterer. The XC connection is that Fred and Xavier (on clarinet) also play in a trio called Ethos (with bassist David Chiesa). One album only so far, a subscription CDR on La Belle Du Quai (now defunct French home-grown label from Bordeaux. If anyone is interested let me know & I'll put you in touch with Fred.
Back to Xavier Charles - if you're interested in something more offbeat & Coxhill-esque, try to get hold of his "dernier disque du jazz du 20e siècle" ["the last jazz record of the 20th century"], also with Tétreault and Tanguay. Just released on Textile (LP).

My buddy Romuald Wadych (Polish, lives in London), also uses a similar set-up as part of a larger lo-grade electronics set up. Not seen any of these other guys play, but recently he had a speaker cone connected (I think) to the output of his amplifier, placed in front with ball bearings inside. It's a mesmerizing thing to watch.

I just saw that Victo released a CD of the set that Charles did with Diane Labrosse, Kristoff K. Roll, and Martin Tetreault at last year's festival. I'll be curious to hear how this sounds on CD. The performance was quite good, but the setting was a bit distracting as the audience wandered around the the musicians (who were seated in the middle of the hall) to check out what they were doing.

FWIW, I've heard the Warburton trio that's coming out and it's absolutely beautiful. I've been hoping someone would put out a recording of that material for some time.

Can we make pre-release picks for 2004?

I was also at that victo performance, and had a similar if more positive experience. while the wandering audience did make it harder to focus on the music itself, it was a rare opportunity (for me, anyway) to have a look at what the musicians were using to create the sounds that were really quite far from any familiar instrumental sounds.

charles was using the same apparatus two years earlier at victo, as well. i can't remember the name of the ensemble he was working with at the time.

m

one of the cool things about MIMEO is that under ideal circumstances, they sit on the outside of four tables and play in quad, so you can walk around during the show and hear different mixes from the speakers, but also if you want, you can stand behind the musicians to see more specifically what they're up to. I'd like to set up the Cologne half of the May festival this way, hopefully it will be possible.