So here's an odd and pleasant thing. I pulled this CD out to get a flavor of it and have some background music while I wrote a jazz record review. It's not a new CD, but I'd not gotten around to hearing it before. In any case, it's fairly recent, a live recording from May, 2004, part of a festival in Germany related to Erstwhile, the record label. I put it in and just kind of stood in front of the stereo for a few minutes to listen a bit before moving along to the task at hand and I started studying the photograph printed inside. I thought to myself "Peter Rehberg? I've never heard of him, wonder which one he is in the photo. Christian Fennesz, hmm, funny that I've heard a handful of (lovely) CDs with him but I've never seen him in person or even seen a photograph. Sachiko M and Yoshihide Otomo, okay, those two are familiar visages from websites and magazines though I've never seen either of them in person, and I've heard more CDs by them than I could easily recount."
But those are rather boring thoughts. What really took my attention was all the equipment. It's not that I haven't been to countless concerts in which tables spilled over with wires and knobs and gadgets, but there's something about holding a photograph in hand that pushes thought in a different direction. Maybe it's the lack of distractions of a concert situation, which is predominantly a social situation and involves many layers of stimuli. After all, I was just enjoying a quiet evening at my cozy home alone with a little crackle and squeak from the woodstove doing its thing as the cold days of late November began to make themselves known. So I kept looking at all those wires and knobs and thingies, and sparse crackles, clicks, rumbles, and soft bassy tones came out of my speakers. There are four people arranged at 90 degree angles and facing each other, each of them with a table or two of stuff that would've sent the imaginations of science fiction fans into a tizzy a few decades ago. And these four people are intently interacting with their tables. They're like lab techs in some space station. And there's people seated in the dimly lit background (some with rather bad posture—I worry about people's spines—I hope they do yoga). I wonder if they're science fiction fans, Trekkies or whatever. I'm not. Well, I guess I read a few books by Asimov, et al when I was a wee kiddie, but that's about the extent of it. Maybe those guys sitting there really dig the whole wire and knob vibe, like it grooves with their thing or whatever. I wonder if I know any of those people? It's too dark to make out any faces. I bet senior Bagatellen commentator Jon Abbey is in the dark somewhere there. He goes to a lot of gigs by these musicians. Gosh, it was dark in that room, and there's like some kind of lone corny spotlight in the air mix. It's like some ritual on an alien spaceship. But, actually no, it's not. I know perfectly well it's a performance of experimental music. That's my scene. I'm a typical guy who sits in dimly lit rooms like that and observes people interact with tables. How I did I ever wind up this way? Well, nevermind.
Man, there's a lot of wires there. Check out the jumbled mess on the floor. It must be a major pain in the hiney to lug all that stuff around and set it up. These guys go to a lot of trouble to make these sounds. Is all that stuff really necessary just for some crackles, clicks, rumbles, and soft bassy tones? Maybe they should all just stay home and do this in their studios and just publish recordings to make their lives simpler—more walks in the woods, time in the hot tub, etc. No, that's a stupid idea, because they would miss out on the whole angle of spontaneously interacting with other musicians and creating works of art defying the imaginations and technical resources of any single musician. Yes, this wire and knob music is really suited to live group improvisation. The sound vocabularies are so underconstrained by the technology they derive from that the musicians need to test out different sounds in combinations with other musicians to see what works in the high-pressure situation of performance, which presumes they're creating the informational conditions for pleasure for the audience and/or themselves. It's like a method for introducing focus and structural constraints into the system. I'm getting a warm tingly feeling. It's like cutting-edge aesthetic research. I guess I should also state the obvious and say that they are mostly working with unknown musical parameters entirely removed from the familiar ones like pitch and pulse.
But all those gizmos. Yikes. What a different set of physical conditions than instruments using wood, strings, metal tubes, etc, which are so easy to lug around and whip out and play with no electrical labyrinthes. But of course they can't make all these neat sounds I'm hearing right now. Well, but then again they can make so many other neat sounds that we'd hardly feel deprived without the electrical stuff. Then again, possibilities are addictive. I think I've said this before, but I think art is essentially the toilsome approximation of water seeking its own level. These fascinating sounds coming out of my speakers are like the hidden nooks and crannies of recent technology, revealed by chance, design, or trial and error. This is technology-driven experimental music. In fact, maybe we should call it "techno" as a convenient label in everyday discourse? Wait, nevermind, that name is already taken.
I'm already a good two or three minutes into the disc and it's just too good for me to listen to as background music, so I'll keep lingering in front of my stereo in attentive mode. I'm really engaged by this mix of sounds, especially because some of them have that technological-failure aesthetic I really enjoy. There are the analog failures of Otomo's turntable and/or M's "contact microphones on objects", with the grainy scratchy electromagnetically-based sounds I somehow find intoxicating in their complex internal structure and largely account for my tremendous enthusiasm for Howard Stelzer's cassette-abuse music. And there are the digital failures of Fennesz and/or Rehberg's irregular clipped fragments. At the same time, there is the skeleton of a somewhat traditional textural electronic layer low in the mix. I'm finding the balance of the irregularities (my usual preference) and the regularities (ambient music is often fine with me but doesn't rouse my passions) to be very enjoyable. But there are some sounds in the mix that are bothering me a little, the occasional crude and generic electronic tone inserted for no reason I can appreciate. I'm starting to worry that this sparse beginning passage I find very satisfying might give way to the ubiquitous bleep and boop muckery I struggle to abide yet so many of my peers relish. (I'm in a charitable mood, so I'm not using my preferred term, "laptop wank".) I like my music soft and delicate. I like isolated irregular gestures and rhythmic conundrums.
Now it's a good five minutes into the piece and the density and volume has increased a bit, but my attention is still strongly engaged. I'm hearing a fine balance between the musicians and also a good helping of the sounds I like. I'm also hearing gratuitous laptop cliches like cold bass notes bereft of their rhythmic usefulness in IDM contexts. As it continues the primary virtue of the music seems to be a sense of sounds moving together at a consistent relaxed pace despite considerable phrasal modulation and timbral diversity. If that's taken as an aesthetic criterion then I'm hearing a lot of mistakes, but not enough to ruin the overall effect. At some point gesturalism has given way to texturalism and it seems there are ominous sustained low frequencies serving as structural fulcrum to mitigate the gratuitous busyness of most of the sound sources. In a word, the music is cohesive. In six words, the music lingers at the edge of cohesion.
After about fiften minutes or so I started to feel ready to shift into the planned background listening mode, but I had found so much of interest up to then that I decided to launch a new screen on my word processor (Jarte—it's very elegant freeware I highly recommend) and record some of my thoughts. Heck, why not just make it a record review and share it with the fine folks who read Bagatellen, since many of them take an interest in these musicians. It will be a quick one or two paragraph note about how I found a lot to enjoy in this disc (though mainly in the sparse first few minutes) while also finding a lot of elements I'd prefer to be different. My grand conclusion will likely be that my overall experience was pleasant; I enjoyed looking at the photo; and it's a rewarding document that reveals the exciting potential of technology-driven experimental music when conducted as group improvisation using a balance of analog and digital sound sources. I could even throw in a cheerful send-off like "recommended to fans of moderately restrained laptop improv".
By the time I shifted into text mode, the music felt ordinary and my attention faded. Lost in some rumination or another, I suddenly heard the loud texture fall off a cliff and I couldn't readily make out any sounds coming from my speakers. I thought "Yes! Here comes another good part!" and I excitedly returned total attention to listening. It's always a good sign when it's hard to tell if any sounds are happening. But then I went over to the CD player and discovered the piece had ended and the whole CD is just 24 minutes long. I can definitely see the logic in releasing a single relatively short piece of music by itself like this, and it would appear that the driving concept was to document a live set.
Well, now that I'm done with my accidental record review of ErstLive004 I think I'll treat myself to a second listen to this piece, especially with its sensible and non-excessive length. I could also put it on repeat for background music, which nearly all of the Erstwhile discs I've heard (I've heard about half the catalogue) serve splendidly well as in equal or greater measure to foreground music.
~Michael Anton Parker
Posted by maparker on November 19, 2005 11:00 AM"Yes, this wire and knob music is really suited to live group improvisation. The sound vocabularies are so underconstrained by the technology they derive from that the musicians need to test out different sounds in combinations with other musicians to see what works in the high-pressure situation of performance, which presumes they're creating the informational conditions for pleasure for the audience and/or themselves. It's like a method for introducing focus and structural constraints into the system." -MAP
Totally agreed.
Posted by: David Kirby at November 20, 2005 10:44 AMMAP: "I think I've said this before, but I think art is essentially the toilsome approximation of water seeking its own level."
Could you expand on this? (or point me to where you've gone into it before?)
Posted by: unwrinkled at November 22, 2005 1:14 PM
You bet!
Posted by: ND at November 22, 2005 8:03 PM"art is essentially the toilsome approximation of water seeking its own level" - MAP
That's fantastic
Posted by: Nick at November 22, 2005 9:55 PMIt might be if Michael could explain what it means?
Posted by: Dan Warburton at November 22, 2005 9:59 PMWhere did that question mark come from at the end of the last post. I'm sure I typed a full stop (period to you)?
Posted by: Dan Warburton at November 22, 2005 10:01 PMIs nobody reviewing the Four Gentlemen disc for Bags? If not, I will (it's on the list of things to do for the other site anyway).
End of the year again, which means it's time to get bombarded by annoying requests from people I've never met (Fred Jung for one) for Best Ofs for 2005. Already sent the Top Ten off to the Wire, but as usual some of the best discs that come out each year appear in November and December. Case in point being Rick Reed's Dark Skies At Noon on Elevator Bath which is definitely one of this year's choice platters. Dunno if any you scribblers are willing to share your Best Ofs here (it's something I studiously avoid doing over at PT), but for the record here's what I sent the good people at The Wire (in order, more or less):
Orchestrova: Electric Ascension (Atavistic)
James Finn: Plaza de Toros (Clean Feed)
Lol Coxhill /Borah Bergman / Paul Hession: Acts Of Love (Mutable)
Eliane Radigue: L'île re-sonante (Shiiin)
Iannis Xenakis: La Légende d'Eer (Mode)
Tetuzi Akiyama: Route 13 to the Gates of Hell (Headz)
The Cortet: HHHH (Unsounds)
Frank Denyer: Faint Traces (Mode)
Nels Cline / Chris Corsano / Wally Shoup: Immolation Immersion (Strange Attractors Audio House)
Stephan Mathieu: The Sad Mac (Headz)
Over to you, kids.
Posted by: Dan Warburton at December 16, 2005 8:23 AMHey Dan, let's just create a new entry for the year-end stuff! Please! You should know better than to trigger a huge dump inside an unrelated piece! :-)
I was wondering who would do the honors this time around, but as far as I'm concerned there's still a lot of listening left in 2005 and I definitely expect to have my list change in the next two weeks... Already changed yesterday when I spent a few hours drooling and giggling over a certain ridiculously great brand new disc I'll be sure to mention somewhere else on Bags in due time...
Hey Dan (& Mike), I’m actually planning a Year End round-up piece for Bags, similar to what we did back in ’03, to run in early January (that way the late-blooming Nov. & Dec. releases of merit can make the cut). I’ll be sending out one of those *annoying* requests to the bullpen around the 1st of the New Year.
Posted by: derek at December 16, 2005 8:58 AM"You should know better than to trigger a huge dump inside an unrelated piece! :-)"
Oh you know me, I'll have a dump just about anywhere :) Maybe Derek or Al or some of the admin cats can transplant the post above and stick it somewhere else.. Meanwhile, read your enthusiastic write up of Susan Alcorn's disc over at DMG, Mike. Great CD - Susan gave me a copy when I met her in Geneva three weeks ago. How about a full Bags write up?
Yup, full Bags write-up on the way! Actually, a full write-up on three Alcorn solo discs has been high on my "to do" list for several months now I regret to report... I'm lame... But anyway, every morsel from Alcorn so far on disc (and in a bunch of live sets I've seen) has been superb!
Posted by: Michael Anton Parker at December 16, 2005 9:55 AMyes, the last thing anyone needs is to have this pile of steaming feces pulled up again.
Posted by: jon abbey at December 16, 2005 10:02 AM"but as usual some of the best discs that come out each year appear in November and December" - You are right, Dan. For example: only today I was lucky to hear Alessandra Rombolá's "Uruena" and Otomo Yoshihide/Yuki Saga's "See You in a Dream" and I'm still waiting for the new 3/4HadBeenEliminated and Tsunoda's discs (being sure that they should be on the list).
Whose idea is to make best of lists in November or December ? Even next April is not the right time.
"the last thing anyone needs is to have this pile of steaming feces pulled up again."
Now, I can't decide if you're referring to Susan Alcorn's album, my Top Ten or your ErstLive, Jon :) Care to clarify?
"Meanwhile, read your enthusiastic write up of Susan Alcorn's disc over at DMG, Mike. Great CD"
Le Quan Ninh is enthusiastic about her also.
He has a trio with her and Sean Meehan.
Jon, I assume you're referring to my review. I'm thoroughly surprised to hear a negative response from you and welcome any elaboration. Needless to say, if I agreed with that characterization in the slightest I wouldn't've published it!
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Tadk, wow, didn't know about the Otomo/Saga disc! I've been a huge fan of Saga's Fairy's Fable for years, but by chance I recently just listened to an old duo disc of her and pianist Yumiko Murakami that was a real stinker, dry and boring. I trust Otomo to bring out her best and will seek that one out asap!
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Jacques, here's the thing: Ninh is actually on the new Alcorn collection! And it's that one 23-minute piece that blows away 99.99% of the music I've ever heard! I remember talking to him at the time of this recording and he was indeed very enthusiastic about Alcorn and that set! As was every sentient being in the vicinity.
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[Mike] I think I've said this before, but I think art is essentially the toilsome approximation of water seeking its own level.
[Andrew] Could you expand on this? (or point me to where you've gone into it before?)
[Mike] (Many apologies for not replying sooner to you guys on the clarification of that bit, Andrew and Dan (thanks for the punctuation-related entertainment). I was out of the Bags groove for a bit, catching up now.)
Fair enough request, Andrew, though I'll admit it's disheartening to find out one's putative compact crystallization isn't clear to others! :-) Especially with the immediately preceding and following sentences I thought it was very straightforward, but I'm always up for an unpacking session! I'm as anti-cryptic as they come.
I don't think it's anything I've ever gone into before, just a pet line I like to toss around, one of the little conceptual demons that haunt me.
If you poke a hole in a vessel of water, it'll be filled as much as gravity allows. Any new region water can flow into will be occupied in due course. The way I see the analogy to art, any expansion of the informational conditions of human cognition creates new possibilities for aesthetic experience, technology being one of many mechanisms for such expansion. I assume that aesthetic experience is independent of informational modality. As such, the entirety of cognition is a potential substrate, frequently partitioned into what I call "micro-media" (extrapolating Deleuze/Guattari's "minor literature") and "ad hoc aesthetic domains" defying any criterion of syntactic complexity.
When we look at historical developments in any area of art from the comfort of retrospection, the repartitioning or augmentation of aesthetic domains seems to trivially follow the implementation of their informational substrates, whereas for the historical agents at the time these changes frequently involve uncertainty, deliberation, upheaval, or controversy. "toilsome" is simply meant to capture this human pathos of obliviousness to one's meta-process, the viscosity.
"Music like dirt"...
Okay, to be more clear, I should've said "the potential for aesthetic experience is independent of informational modality", because it could easily be misread as I had it.
Posted by: Michael Anton Parker at December 16, 2005 1:07 PMno, no - "this pile of steaming feces" is a new grindcore band that has been all over the place lately. brutal.
Posted by: tomas at December 16, 2005 1:09 PM"Now, I can't decide if you're referring to Susan Alcorn's album, my Top Ten or your ErstLive, Jon :) Care to clarify?"
I thought it was pretty clear that I was referring to Michael's stream-of-consciousness silliness to start the thread.
your top ten is pretty inexplicable to me also, but to each their own, I wasn't commenting on that at all.
Posted by: jon abbey at December 16, 2005 1:34 PM"Your top ten is pretty inexplicable to me also"
Well of course it is, Jon. It's full of saxophones.
Meanwhile, I must be thick or half-awake, but I don't understand what MAP's rapping on about above either. Scuse me while I make a pot of coffee.
the Otomo/Yuki Saga double cd 'meet you in a dream' is a joy. IMJ has it for sale & anyone interested in the way popular Japanese song craft & creative contemporary music can be combined to maximum effect should check it out. The band included several players from Otomo's new jazz orchestra. For me. the way players such as Otomo embrace non-experimental musics is one of the main reasons I find thier other work so enjoyable - it makes you realise they do this for the pleasure of music not for other reasons (which are all to evident in certain quarters).
Posted by: jez at January 6, 2006 5:11 AMSince folks seem to be reviving a lot of older reviews I thought I'd take a look in the archives and found this one.
I think this is a pretty special disc. Like many of my favorite discs I was ready to write it off after the first listen. I thought it was mediocre and plus it was only twenty or so minutes long.
But after a few listens I was hooked. This CD has a real raw feeling to it that you often don't getting with all-electronic ensembles. It's rough (in a good way). Maybe that is might Michael is referring to by "failures".
Also I realized it was perfect to just release the one track. It is a really gem and should be heared on its own. It has a definite contour, build up, even dare I say emotional climax.
Very interesting piece of work.
Posted by: Jacob Lindsay at September 1, 2006 12:54 PMthanks, Jacob. I only have a handful of these left, so anyone interested shouldn't dawdle.
Posted by: jon abbey at September 1, 2006 2:27 PMI'm glad these reviews/topics are being revived. They've pushed me to break out some stuff I haven't heard in a while. Forgot how great that Butcher/Edwards disc is. Cueing ErstLive004 now.
Posted by: al at September 1, 2006 6:04 PM.................................................. © 2003 - 2006 bagatellen ..................................................