a r t i s t : Phill Niblock
t i t l e : Touch Three
d a t e : 2006
l a b e l : Touch Records (TO69CD)
g e n r e : Ambient
r l s. d a t e : Apr/2006
t r a c k s : 09
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 290,6 MB
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Phill Niblock is a New York-based minimalist composer and
multi-media musician and director of Experimental Intermedia,
a foundation born in the flames of 1968's barricade hopping.
He has been a maverick presence on the fringes of the avant
garde ever since. In the history books Niblock is the
forgotten Minimalist. That's as maybe: no one
ever said the history books were infallible anyway. His
influence has had more impact on younger composers such as
Susan Stenger, Lois V Vierk, David First, and Glenn Branca.
He's also worked with Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and Lee
Renaldo on "Guitar two, for four" which is actually for five
guitarists. This is Minimalism in the classic sense of the
word, if that makes sense. Niblock constructs big 24-track
digitally-processed monolithic microtonal drones. The result
is sound without melody or rhythm. Movement is slow,
geologically slow. Changes are almost imperceptible, and his
music has a tendency of creeping up on you.
The vocal pieces are like some of Ligeti's choral works, but a
little more phased. And this isn't choral work. For example,
"A Y U (as yet untitled)" from "Touch Works" (2000) is sampled
from just one voice, the baritone Thomas Buckner. The results
are pitch shifted and processed intense drones, one live and
one studio edited. Unlike Ligeti, this isn't just for voice or
hurdy gurdy. Like Stockhausen's electronic pieces, Musique
Concrete, or even Fripp and Eno's No Pussyfooting, the role of
the producer/composer in "Hurdy Hurry" and "A Y U" is just as
important as the role of the performer. He says: "What I am
doing with my music is to produce something without rhythm or
melody, by using many microtones that cause movements very,
very slowly."
Since 1968 Phill has also put on over 1000 concerts in his
loft
space, including Ryoji Ikeda, Zbigniew Karkowski, Jim O'Rourke
and BJNilsen.
These nine "Touch Three" pieces were made from March 2003 to
January 2005. They were all made (except "Sax Mix") by
recording a single instrument with a single microphone. The
recordings were direct to the hard disk, most of them using my
Powerbook G4, Protools, an M-box and an external firewire
drive. The resulting mono sound files were edited to remove
breathing spaces, leaving the natural decay of the tone, and
the attack of the subsequent iteration of the same tone.
Each note was represented by several repetitions, perhaps ten
for each tone, of about 15 seconds duration each. Each piece
uses a few tones. A simple chord, perhaps. Additional
microtonal intervals were produced in Protools using pitch
shift. The pieces were assembled in multitracks, usually
either 24 or 32 tracks. The recording environment varied from
a simple apartment in Berlin (Ulrich Krieger's) to a very
large hall used for symphony orchestra performances and
recordings, with a sizable audience space (Deutschland Radio,
Cologne). The recordings were generally done quite closely
miked.
One hears only the sound of the instrument. There is no
electronic manipulation in the recording, the editing of the
tones, or in the mix. The only changes to the recorded tones
are the pitch shifts to create microtones. The microtones are
doing the work.
"Harm" (24:43, March 18, 2003) Arne Deforce, cello . The
recording of the tones was done by Johan Vandermaelen (Amplus)
in the Orpheus Institute in Gent, Belgium, direct to the hard
drive. The piece was finished in Berlin and premiered at Maerz
Musik Festival (the day after finishing). It was commissioned
by Maerz Musik.
"Sethwork" (21:48, 2003) Seth Josel, acoustic, unamplified
guitars played with e-bow, June 21 2003
"Lucid Sea" (20:24, August 8, 2003) Lucia Mense, recorders
These two pieces were commisioned by Deutschland Radio in
Cologne, Germany. Frank Kaempfer, producer; Michael Peschko,
recording engineer for the recording of the guitar samples and
the recorder samples at the Deutschlandradio Studios in
Cologne.
The piece was constructed in the Experimental Intermedia
studios in New York (Sethwork) and in Gent (Lucid Sea), in
Protools. The broadcast was on Saturday October 4, 2003 at
2205 on Deutschland Radio in Cologne, "ATELIER NEUER MUSIK".
There was a commentary and an interview by the critic and
author Egbert Hiller.
"Parker's Altered Mood, aka, Owed to Bird" (16:27, 2004)
Ulrich Krieger, alto saxophone. The tones for this piece and
for "Alto Tune" were recorded in Berlin in Ulrich Krieger's
apartment (very nice sound; high, peaked ceiling) with Thomas
Ankersmit recording, using his Neumann microphone, direct to
HD through Mac Powerbook/Protools/
Mbox. For 'Mood", I asked Ulrich to pick a Parker tune for the
theme. We decided on "Mood", a slow blues, a thirteen note
theme. We recorded Ulrich playing each note for about 15
seconds, the thirteen notes in succession, and for six
repetitions of the theme. Ulrich did not listen to the
previous takes, so the notes are slightly out of tune with
each other, creating the microtones I would have made in
Protools. The piece starts with all six playings of the theme,
superimposed.
"Zrost" (23:32, 2004) Martin Zrost, soprano saxophone. Martin
had just bought a new soprano, which sounded great, so we
recorded in his work room in Vienna.
"Not Yet Titled" (22:20, 2003) Franz Hautzinger, trumpet. The
tones were recorded in Volker Straebel's apartment in
Steglitz, Berlin, on a summer afternoon, with the balcony door
open, the sounds of birds and planes coming through. Melvyn
Poore was the engineer, using Franz's Neumann microphone,
mostly in the bell of the trumpet. Franz produced the low bass
sounds with the horn. We premiered the piece in a
Musikprotokoll concert in the Steirischen Herbst Festival,
Graz, Austria. It was commissioned by them as well.
"Valence" (2005, 23:02) Julia Eckhardt, viola. "Valence" was
commissioned by the Q O2 Ensemble, Brussels, and the tones
were recorded by Johan Vandermaelen in his studio in the
Belgian countryside.
"Alto Tune" (25:08, 2004) Ulrich Krieger, alto saxophone.
Recording info noted above.
"Sax Mix" (25:08, 2004) Ulrich Krieger, alto, tenor and
baritone saxophones.
http://www.touchmusic.org.uk/
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cd1
01-Sethwork [21:50]
02-Lucid Sea [20:26]
03-Harm [24:44]
cd2
01-Parker's Altered Mood, aka, Owed to Bird [16:29]
02-Zrost [23:35]
03-Not Yet Titled [22:20]
cd3
01-Valence [23:05]
02-Alto Tune [25:10]
03-Sax Mix [25:08]
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