electro-acoustic improvisation

[frankpop1]

Matthew Burtner - Portals of Distortion Music for Saxophones, Computers, & Stones

Here's an interesting eai recording by an alaskan that i recently legally downloaded. this may even lack improvisation, that i do not know, but i can tell u this, he captures the frozen tundra on music. this is a great landscape piece as chopin sonatas may be. anyway, some may not comprehend his message that are from more temperate climates. However i do.

[Sergio Zamora]

I'm sure Uli's been twiddling his thumbs in anticipation of this thread.

I'll start with a brief review:

Sachiko M/Sean Meehan - Eagle

Fan-fuckin-tastic. One of my favorite things to come out in a while.

The purity of the Sachiko's sound is contrasted and challenged by the Meehan's discreet but violent percussive blasts and other "sounds" (not sure if they're electronic or acoustic). The fact that the music stays consistently interesting has as much to do with the musicians' explorations as the listeners' willingness to deal with these conflicts. The thing I like about Sachiko is that her sounds serve the same purpose as silence - they give us a chance to think (as Malfatti says), and the variations on her sound are to me just different tones of silence. Yes, I'm aware that Sachiko's music is far from silent, but somehow it strikes me as having the same effect.

In a way, this reverses the role of sound and silence, because Meehan is in fact the one filling in the gaps. And as much as I would enjoy listening to Sachiko's uninterrupted sine wave whispers for long periods of time, Meehan's interruptions are quite welcome.

The recording shouldn't be judged by individual contributions though, but rather by the net result, and the collaboration between these two has produced some really great music.

[Gary Sisco]

Here's one for Reid (referring back to the conversation on the old board re eai with melody, rhythm (implied at least), harmonies, etc), and of course for anyone else. This one's already a certified classic:

Fennesz: Endless Summer (Mego)

Just buy it. Probably the "brightest" eai recording I've heard (in terms of mood). Very well done.

[Brian Olewnick]

Serg--although I think Chris from Erst was calling it "eagle", I don't think the disc in question has any title aside from the names of the participants (no label either). Apparently, Meehan, when the disc showed up, said something on the order of, "The eagle has landed", hence.....It is an excellent recording, however.

[michaelr]

Any idea on how to get a hold of this? It doesn't seem to be distributed by the usual suspects. I'm hoping that this will unleash more releases by Meehan. I've really been blown away by him when I've had the chance to hear him live. But he seems to have hardly recorded at all.

[Brian Olewnick]

Erst *was* carrying it . Maybe they ran out.

[Salvador Dali Lama]

well I really dont know anything about this stuff, but I picked up a copy of Evan Parker's "Drawn Inward" the other day, and that peice is great. I'd like to hear some of Gerry Hemmingway's eai material.

[Sergio Zamora]

Originally posted by Brian Olewnick
I don't think the disc in question has any title aside from the names of the participants (no label either). Apparently, Meehan, when the disc showed up, said something on the order of, "The eagle has landed", hence.....I

I did not know that.

Btw, does your copy have what looks like an intentional tear in the box? I wasn't sure if that was an accident or not, but I thought it went very well with the music.

[Brian Olewnick]

Yep, all copies have the tear in more or less the same spot. Does look pretty cool, no?

yeah, Endless Summer. I mentioned that on the other thread as an example of what I think of as really good eai.

not sure if the old threads have been brought over, but a mentioned a few other recordings of similar beauty.

[Sergio Zamora]

'Endless Summer' is great, but I believe it's not improvised.

what makes you say that, Sergio?
I know Fennesz does a lot of improv in his work--
is it the degree of improv?
and is that how one determines if something is
eai?

[Sergio Zamora]

Originally posted by achilles
what makes you say that, Sergio?

Somebody told me - coulda been Jon A. I might be confusing it with the first Fenn'O Berg (Fennesz, O'Rourke, Pita) which I know is not improvised. I know that Mego doesn't really push improvisation a whole lot (though their tastes are very catholic - if you read their interview on STN, they seem like techno-heads - even Pita). .

In any case, it doesn't really sound too improvised to me. At least not freely improvised. It's still great, though, regardless of what one calls it or how it was made.

[Gary Sisco]

Well, it's a solo recording, so it wouldn't be surprising to have some overdubbing going on, with that much sound happening. Whatever, a great record, regardless.

[Reid]

Gary,

I have Fennesz Hotel Para.lel, and I didn't really care for it. Is Endless Summer very different from that one.

[Sergio Zamora]

Originally posted by Reid
I have Fennesz Hotel Para.lel, and I didn't really care for it. Is Endless Summer very different from that one.

Yes, quite. 'Endless Summer' is actually very, um, melodic. It's one of the most accessible e-a (maybe not i) recordings I've heard.

[hearsay]

I think Fennesz is more of a studio composer than an improvisor based on most of his output.

I believe "Endless Summer" is more of a studio work with a lot of cutting, mixing and DSP tweaking, created over a period of months according to an article I read in Grooves magazine. I think it's a fantastic record though, they way they described it in the article was as hearing classic rock or something through a corroded memory, which I thought was fitting.

Reid it's a lot different thatn Hotel para.lel, but I still don't think you'd really be into it, from what I know of your interests.

[Reid]

Thanks for your help, hearsay.

Omar,

The accessibility comment doesn't necessarily get me excited.

Anyway, Gary loves it, so I'll keep an eye out for it.

-------

Hey has anyone heard Watazumi Doso? Both Steve Lacy and David Toop had really high praise for this guy in the recent Wire magazines.

[Sergio Zamora]

Originally posted by Reid
The accessibility comment doesn't necessarily get me excited.

Didn't say it would. It just so happens to be accessible, is all.

[Brian Olewnick]

I think, as of last fall, 'Endless Summer' had sold over 10,000 copies. Pretty amazing for something in this field.

[hearsay]

That's cool Brian, I think this one went over well with electronica and experimental fans. Reid if you are (or anyone else is) interested you can listen to the whole album at the mego site-

http://www.mego.at/mego035.html

I wonder why that do that, it's pretty cool. I particularly like the track "Caecilia"

[Gary Sisco]

Reid -- I was bringing it to your attention because on the old board you'd commented about wondering if there were electroacoustic recordings with melody, harmony etc. "Endless Summer" I offered as an example. I don't know if you'll dig it or not, but it's definitely an example.

I'm not surprised it's sold that copies, really, as it's definitely "accessible" to large numbers of people who are into the various fringe dance and ambient musics out there -- as would Erst's "Wrapped Islands" from last year, if they ever got to hear it -- which is a crowd I think more likely to bleed over into eai territory than jazz fans, on the whole.

Still, ten grand is very good sales. Sales like that in the jazz world would be considered a very successful outing.

I agree with Gary. I started that thread on the old board and one of my points was that artists like Fennesz, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Stars as Eyes, Silver Mt. Zion, Hanged Up and others are a lot closer to what is called eai than anything happening in Jazz. And for me, I like the above mentioned groups a lot more than most of the incredibly quiet, minimal, ponderous stuff I've heard of eai so far. so far....
for my money, I'll take Supersilent over the Erstwhile releases.

[Sergio Zamora]

Originally posted by achilles
I And for me, I like the above mentioned groups a lot more than most of the incredibly quiet, minimal, ponderous stuff I've heard of eai so far. so far....

Ah, so quiet is the issue, eh? Gert Jans Prins 'Prins Live' on Grob

Really, the thing is we're talking about two different aesthetics here. Out of convention, we've chosen to call this music 'electro-acoustic improvisation', though it seems that's mostly the jc crowd. The problem with the term is that it doesn't quite describe the music and that there are other musics that could also be described with it.

So, when you mention groups like GSYBE!, I just kinda get confused because we're talking about different things.

One other thing is that while a lot of these musicians are exploring the 'quiet, minimal, ponderous stuff' (hipster terms: reductionism, reductivism, german reductionism, post-minimalism, lowercase), there are quite a few that are not.

Btw, to anyone who dug 'Endless Summer',. you might also dig Jim O'Rourke's "I am Happy and I am Singing, and a 1,2,3,4"

maybe we're talking about different things, but maybe not. the groups I mentioned mix acoustic and electric, and if you've ever seen any of them live, you'd know they improvise. how do you see it being different?

i'm not saying quiet is the issue, but so many of these eai discs just don't keep me interested, there's nothing emotional in them, and the use of "silence" seems to me either a ruse, an excuse, or just some po-mo chic thing to do. so recommend some that don't require me to keep fiddling with the volume on my stereo....

(german reductivism! i like that! is it referring to cooking? and isn't there a word in german already to describe this music, some really long, vaguely threatening word?)

[Sergio Zamora]

Originally posted by achilles
maybe we're talking about different things, but maybe not. the groups I mentioned mix acoustic and electric, and if you've ever seen any of them live, you'd know they improvise. how do you see it being different?

My point is precisely that if you define it as mixing acoustic and electric, then yes they are - but it's obvious they're taking very different approaches to music way beyond instrumentation. Furthermore, some music that falls into (per my defintion) e-ai aesthetic is purely electronic (eg, some of Kaffe Matthews' work) and some is purely acoustic (nmperign, Le Quan Ninh).

[Sergio Zamora]

Originally posted by achilles
i'm not saying quiet is the issue, but so many of these eai discs just don't keep me interested, there's nothing emotional in them, and the use of "silence" seems to me either a ruse, an excuse, or just some po-mo chic thing to do. so recommend some that don't require me to keep fiddling with the volume on my stereo....

Again 'Prins Live'. Toshi Nakamura's solo work is almost 'musical', if you know what I mean - very different from his collaborations.

I could mention more, but I don't think I'd get it right. The thing you don't seem to like about it is one of the aspects that is currently drawing more into it. Some of the stuff is I've been digging lately (the Unami/Ezaki cd-r, for example) are waaaaay quiet, and yet there's something there that keeps me fascinated. Sure, there are plenty of folks who are or will be jumping into the quiet bandwagon and much crap will be produced. But some of this stuff is just amazing to me.

[Brian Olewnick]

That "lack of emotion" criticism is one that often gets levelled at much eai. It's impossible to argue, of course. I hear a deep well of emotion (among other things) in a piece; you don't. But one can't help but have a nagging suspicion that "emotion" is being construed on a fairly narrow basis, as though emotion can only be achieved by virtue of surging crescendi or minor scales. I might find as much emotion in a sumi ink drawing of a mountain as in a Goya painting of a military execution, simply different kinds. Silence, used with subtlety and sensitivity, can be a very effective emotional purveyor.

[Uli]

fweiw, lowercase is now my preferred term.

[Sergio Zamora]

Originally posted by Brian Olewnick
I might find as much emotion in a sumi ink drawing of a mountain as in a Goya painting of a military execution, simply different kinds. Silence, used with subtlety and sensitivity, can be a very effective emotional purveyor.

I think it was you that compared e-a improv to a certain scene from Tarkovsky's "Stalker". You know the scene I'm talking about - it's an apparently static room filled with water, but if you look closely at the water, there's so much shit going on (you described it better than I did, but you know what I mean).

Not only that, but that scene was powerfully emotive and very tense. And yet not much was going on.