GIGS:
WHITEHOUSE - Elektrowerkz £5
And so brothers Best and Bennett present London with a farewell show. It's good. Actually it's really fucking good. Elektrowerkz was far more suited to the band then previous venues i had seen them perform (Volksbühn, Berlin, Powerhouse, Brisbane and The Corner Hotel, Melbourne). A grotty bunker-like labyrinth of filth and a regular clientele perfectly suited to the skanky assed environment. The sound system is the antithesis of even the most humble venue in Tokyo and all of this makes for a perfect send off for these gentlemen. The lads themselves seemed dead ON this night, Philip especially doing the sleazy perv schtick with particular venom. The end result was pretty darn emotional, so much so that a pal of mine burst into tears when the show was over (!)
STOCKHAUSEN "Cosmic Pulsars" - Royal Albert Hall £5
A multi channel electronic piece executed in this prestigious venue which i had only seen previously in Hitchcock's "The Man Who Knew Too Much". In this venue with darkened lights and a maelstrom of electronic effects this little piggy was rolling in it. The work itself I later found out was composed in the final year of the composers life, which, despite the human in question I found completely staggering.
When listening to this I was wondering how many channels are they using, there was so many sounds flying around the room. I assume they would have had to present it as it was conceived with the full 24 channels and this wold makes sense with what I listened to. I was right up the top of R.A.H for this one which was great as I had freedom to move about the ring and experience this wonderful sonic event from a variety of perspectives.
At times I thought of the work of Xenakis (Le Legend D'er), Dumitrescu (the 'cosmic' factor - sounds of outer space etc (a co-incidence as I had moved a meteorite earlier this day!) and the work of German/English artists Hecker and Haswell. Certainly the later act and this particular work by Stockhausen share much in common with extreme use of spatialisation, density, abstraction and exploration as a means of evoking a powerful emotional response in the listener. A curious and exciting experience - I even had 'chills' down the spine on occasion. Amazing.Stockhausen said about the work "For the first time, I have tried out superimposing 24 layers of sound, as if I had to compose the orbits of 24 moons or 24 planets (for example, the planet Saturn has 48 moons)".
Now this is the Stockhausen I like, taking an idea in a studio and propelling this into something unquantifiably enormous.
"Cosmic Pulses" floored me!
COLOUR OUT OF SPACE - Brighton £25 for 3 day pass
Holy Guacamole! This is how you do a flippin festival. Killer line up of pretty much 'stellar nobodies' - located outa the big smoke in seaside town where heads are still firmly in the real world, drinks are cheap assed and sound systems to blow ya mother back to HER womb! The best fun i have had in the UK since arriving in the UK, fact. It was a total hoot-fest meet and greet of freaks, the curious, the beheaded and the calm. Musical highlights for me:
REINES D'ANGLETERRE (GHEDELIA TAZARTES / JO TANZ / EL-G) Ghedelia Tazartes!! Who would have thought a) I would ever see this gentleman of obtuse weirdism play live and b) that it would be this freaking good. This performance had the same what the fug zoink of his 70's records with our man flipping and flapping his voice like another species altogether. Shit hot. And having being one of my 3 finest 'schmooze' moments our man Ghedelia was absolute gem also. Gotta gets me A back to Paris pronto!
LIMP FUCHS was off her trolley in a manner that had me crawling mountains in my head and kissing the earth like a landlocked dolphin. A mix of Harry Partch and some recently born kiddie thrust into the playground of weird, Fuch's proved the Krautrock dream has slipped through the continuem only to land in a wedding tent in the garden of some University in Brighton in 2008!
IN CAMERA (CHRISTOPH HEEMAN AND TIMO VAN LUIJK) provided the mystical texture bed I was craving for at this point in proceedings. Having listened to Heeman's records for many moons, it was nice to hear the subtly, depth and restraint being executed in a live context. The air was thick with rapture and the humans will never be the same again.
MARK DURGAN did the kind of live electronics i like. A squillion sounds all coming out at once but enough space in each for each to breathe. Like Tudor's rainforest performed by some mondo post industrial teen with schmicko rat equiptment and a taste for sonic feasting.
LIONEL MARCHETTI / YOKO HIGASHI - what the fuck was this all about? Marchetti looks like an old school fob watch salesman and Higahsi seems most pleasant indeed, that is until they crack up open the speakers with their excorcist meets concrete pop routine. It's all live kids and was a treat beast of damaged head-juicing proportions. You freaky fuckers!
DAVE PHILIPS & G*PARK - Enormous squeaking doors panned hard and right, footsteps, screaming, slaughter. Crisp, huge blocks of sound cut with eerie silence. The timing was the key and the key unlocked a world that had my friend Belle loose her mind which lurks somewhere in a garden 3 blocks from this performance still to this day!
Oh and the other highlight of the weekend was one of those Avarus guys 'Amon Dude' bashing the shit out of the smoke alarm in my room in the hostel with his shoe at 4am. Result? your not so humble narrator waking to an angry fireman's torch in my face kicking me outa bed and yelling at me down the stairs. I spotted this ass monkey a mere 20 mins later getting the 'digits' of various members of the young hens night crew laden in 'night ware' that were strewn throughout the establishment. What a schmutz!
Nyoukis, you know how to curate and present. A golden spine shall be presented to you on behalf of the human race soon.
TRAVEL HIGHLIGHTS:
Right now, i demand all top hat's off to Mr James (don't call it Fort Knox) Knox. Reason? follow: for a sojourn around the former Eastern ports of Czech and Poland. Being the ultimate travel companion for me (our cultural tastes, although different, often collide - especially with regards to these territories) this was one hell of a ride with the 2 stooges bluffing their way through unknown streets, unspeakable languages and obtuse scenarios. It was a shit hot time with many bumbling 'villager' moments highlighting more than anything that we are simply one boy from the Eastern suburbs in Melbourne and the other a lad from Rural Dolby in Qld. Dreamers rule.
Of exceptional note:
CZECH REPUBLIQUE - especially meeting Vera Chytilova in Prague. She being the director of such essentials as Sedmikrásky (1966) and Ovoce stromů rajských jíme
(1969). A total hero of mine and like Dumitrescu and Tazartes this was an impossible moment that occurred in real time in real space on real planet earth. Humbled to be sure.
POLAND - especially meeting Dorota Ordon in Warsaw - a total human if there ever was one. I can say no more except enormous gratitude and plentitude respect rolling your way for 4000 years future. Thank you!
Other travel worthy of mention was the mushrooms taken with Costas at my ex ladies b'day bash (what a schmucky ex to pull this stunt at HER party !!). The satisfaction was complimented by Diego's impersonations of my boss which made me laugh so much 1 week later i recalled said scenario, lost 'it' and scratched my forehead on an overhanging tree branch!
ART
CHAPMAN BROTHERS - Fucking Hell - White Cube
Gimmick laden boys burn all stops for this air stealing, labour intensive show based around the theme of 'where's hitler' !
TOM FRIEDMAN - Monsters and Stuff - Gagosian Gallery
Good egg Friedman has the kind of mind you are not sure whether to marvel at, remove and bottle or run from at 200,000,000 miles and hour. Witty shit.
FILM:
PIA BORG - Palimpsest short film. Working on this (some set construction, sound design) took up a chunk of the initial part of the year and although hair scraping at times was a most enjoyable project of which the results I admire significantly. The Borg is like no other artist i know - determined and individualistic, this cats on a mission and this being the case, let it be said, the statement begins right here.
GUY DEBORD - 'In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni' - The film festival was a bit of a travesty for me, as I was unable to secure tickets to most sessions i desired and the ones i witnessed for the most part dwelled in mediocrity city (Raul Ruiz, love ya, but buddy - STOP!). However seeing this Debord sucker blew my cynical socks into the popping corn vending machine and it took 3 workers 4 days to remove these from the inner workings of this wonder of modern machinery. I am now primed with sturdy footwear and rope on foot cloth scenario for the complete Debord film retrospective in the first half of 2009.
KILL YOUR TIMID NOTION - IMAX / ICA £8
Upmost respect for the characters touring this solid circus. Super fine performances from both Ken Jacobs (at Imax no less) and La Cellule d'Intervention Metamkine were enough to keep this punter bounced for weeks but the added bonus of Greg Pope's Light Trap was a thrill beyond. Long live organic film practise!!
Re-watching INLAND EMPIRE again and being convinced it is not only by far HIS best but one of THE best films for many moons.
CLOVERFIELD - Yes, Cloverfield - Ultimate Malevolence!
MUSIC (OLD):
Paul MacCartney - 'MacCartney II'Nina Simone 'Pastal Blues' and 'In Concert'
Ennio Morricone 'Una Breve Stagione'
Bernard Parmegiani 'Enfer, La Divine Comédie d'apres Dante'
MUSIC (RE-ISSUES):
Michel Chion 'Requiem'
Various 'Waking Up Scheherazade' LP
Various 'Obsession' LP
Various '1970's Algerian Proto-Rai Underground' LP
Jean Pierre-Massiera 'Psychoses Discoid/Freakoid' LP's
Serge Gainsbourgh 'Les Annees Psychedeliques 1966 to 1971' LP
MUSIC (NEW):
Billy Bao 'Dialectics of Shit' LP
Melissa St Pierre 'Specimens' CD
Hospitals 'Hairdryer Peace' LP
Graham Lambkin and Jason Lescalleet 'The Breadwinner' CD
MUSIC (2009 ! ):
Billy Bao - May08
Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion CD
Enough!
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