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"HiGH ▀ iNTELLiGeNCE tRoLLS"
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a r t i s t : Nicholas Hennies
t i t l e : Ashes (2)
d a t e : 2004
l a b e l : Manifold Records
g e n r e : Avantgarde
r l s. d a t e : January/2005
t r a c k s : 05
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 61,3 MB
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Solo drum set recordings made june 2004
No effort was made to avoid the inclusion of environmental
sounds.
http://www.editionmanifold.com/
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"One of the silliest cliches around is that silence is
deafening. I mean really, it's not. But that doesn't mean
silence can't be powerful in the context of music. There are
multiple examples of this in recent memory, but none have used
it as effectively as "Ashes (2)." This is the quietest album
I've heard in 2004, and that itself is an accomplishment.
However, if that were the only highlight here, that'd hardly be
a selling point ("Buy this! You can barely hear it!"). The
contrasts between the quiet moments and the more abrasive ones
are the reason to buy this record. The sharp difference between
the two makes each element even more striking than it would be
on its own. It's not easy to meld these two ideas, but Hennies
succeeds.
There's something else about "Ashes (2)" which is more
impressive. Every sound you hear, outside of the obvious
(crickets, for example), is made with Hennies' three-piece drum
kit. A bass drum, snare, and ride cymbal are all he uses. From
the outside looking in, one might think this to be boring and
monotonous. How many sounds can be made with three pieces of a
drum kit? A lot more than you'd ever think. For an improvised
album that focuses on sound, it succeeds with flying colors.
The variety of sounds Hennies creates is mesmerizing. With each
subsequent listen, I start convincing myself that there must be
something else being played here. But that's just it; there's
not. A drum kit and an array of sticks, bows, etc. are the only
weapons used. Trust me when I say you'll be floored by the
results.
Most notable on "Ashes (2)" is the almost-nine minute "The
Pigeons of Pazin." As the longest song on the album, it also
has the most to offer. From the beginning, you are unsure what
you're hearing. Is that an airplane flying overhead, or is that
Hennies using a wire coat hanger on the snare? In fact, it's
both. Delicate scrapes and scratches are prevalent throughout
this record, but it's the placement of each tone that keeps you
guessing. Interspersed clattering amongst seas of silence acts
like a lighthouse in the midst of heavy fog. You'll feel like
you're being swallowed in the quietness of these pieces, but
each archaic sound will continue pulling you along. It keeps
you from feeling lost. It keeps you from drowning. The silence
is like the blackest ocean you've ever seen; you can't see the
horizon because the night blends with the waves. It's daunting,
but every so often, you see a light off in the distance,
shimmering like the brightest star. As you get closer, you can
hear it sing. It offers safety in spades.
"Ashes (2)" is admittedly not for everyone. It's far from an
easy listen, but the textures and sounds contained therein are
worth the effort. Hennies proves to be a masterful drummer.
Anyone who would think to use a bow on the lugs on their bass
drum knows what they're doing. The most impressive thing about
this record to me is the amount of sustained tones that he
pulls out of his drum set. Drums aren't supposed to produced
sustained tones. But Hennies has little trouble making his kit
sound like a novice trumpeter blowing his beaten and broken
horn. It's hard to imagine these sounds coming from a 3-piece
drum set, but they do. And that is a real testament to Hennies
ability. These five tracks are like a miniature opus.
Improvisations that focus on sound aren't that rare these days,
but recordings of this quality most definitely are." - Brad
Rose (www.digitalisindustries.com)
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"The drum kit is released. Previously it had been slave to its
skin, to rhythm of heart and machine. Like the cotton gin
before it, not only was it a slave but it was fed by slaves.
Metropolis residents past and future stuffed 4/4 and its
various permutations of fifths, sevenths, waltzes, and fox
trots through clenched teeth of the kit. Pushed and pulled
were all variations of patterns, mathematics, and formal
dances. Sticks of dynamite were cruelly adhered to the bellies
of snares and toms triggering binary explosions for armies and
birth-marriage-death rites. What was left over was drawn and
quartered to the point of dismemberment for football halftimes
and parades. The conclusion is a kit that stands
frankensteined, continually rebuilt by prosthetics and
corrective surgery. Now it is supersized but with a fragile
soul. It is cringing beneath a maelstrom of crimped perm that
rumbles with twirled drumsticks and threatens to strike and
batter with the double kick.
The drums sought help. They divined themselves through the
scatter speak of shamans, the free-jazzers and outsider
visionaries. Through these mouthpieces the drums spoke anger
and violence, passion and dreams for crystalline structures.
Sometimes they allowed others to discover them, cracked in the
labs by fluid mathematicians breaking them free of their
mathematics.
But now they settle in. The drums save their breath; partially
exhausted, partially resigned. If you listen closely you hear
them moan hushed melodies like an erased DeKooning.
This is the drum kit that Hennies sits himself behind. Hennies
could try to squeeze more out. He could provoke them into old
fury through hypnotism and branded nostalgia. He could cut them
in half and display the rings of their history. But mostly
Hennies is content to let the drums speak for themselves.
Occasionally Hennies will offer a translation, or speak back in
a soft and sympathetic voice. He works as a psychologist or a
counselor, mostly listening and asking good questions.
If I recommend this record to you, most of you will think I am
a pretentious jerk. You will say Is this some sort of put on?
Is this some sort of art prank nonsense? Is this just quiet for
quiet's sake? Well, it is quiet. It is very quiet. It is quiet
in the same way Merzbow is loud. But silence isn't the focus
here. The record is spacious. The record moves, the sounds
move, everything about this moves by means of a choreography
that is deeper than the dance. What I mean by this is that the
moves are not parts that look strung together, but rather it is
the motion of an object passing through the span of a
recording.
You can criticize this record for lack of accessibility. You
can criticize it for lack of conversation. You can criticize it
for lack of jeep beats and manifesto. But you cannot criticize
it for lack of structure or content. This is architecture of
translucent buttresses and glass tundras. Materials speak with
integrity, forms with continuity. This is drum kit as medium."
- Michael Kaufmann (www.bandoppler.com)
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Nichloas Hennie's 'ASHES' from 2002 is freely available for dl
@ http://puzzle.suchfun.net/nicholas_hennies
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01-For Thucydides [05:49]
02-The Pigeons Of Pazin [08:48]
03-Two Days Facing The Cloud-Kitchen Mountain [07:40]
04-The Hour Between Swallows And Bats [07:38]
05-Disappearing Paths [08:31]
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38:26 min
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