framework on resonance.fm – 01.30.2011

01.30.2011

This sunday on Framework  resonance.fm : “these are few of my favorite things”  by i8u
/*framework* / – phonography / field recording;
contextual and decontextualized sound activity
presented by patrick mcginley

framework broadcasts:
– sunday, Jan 30.2011 -10pm, london, uk on resonance 104.4fm (http://www.resonancefm.com)
– tuesday, Feb.01.2011 – 2pm, london, uk on resonance 104.4fm (http://www.resonancefm.com)
– wednesday, Feb.02.2011 – 1am, thessaloniki, gr on cooradio (http://www.cooradio.com)
– wednesday, Feb.02.2011 – 3am, lisbon, pt on radio zero (http://www.radiozero.pt)
– thursday, Feb.03.2011 – 7pm, lisbon, pt on radio zero (http://www.radiozero.pt)
– friday, Feb.04.2011 – 1am, brussels, be on radio campus 92.1fm (http://www.radiocampusbruxelles.org)
– saturday, Feb.05.2011 – 7am, new york state, us on wgxc 90.7fm (http://www.wgxc.org)
– saturday, Feb.05.2011 – 5pm, south devon, uk on soundartradio 102.5fm (http://www.soundartradio.org.uk)

~ time zone converter:  http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html ~

Framework – i8u – my favorite things (Installment  #7)

Happy New Year and welcome back to  “these are a few of my favorite things”.

As mentioned in earlier installments, my interpretation of field recording based works, is very broad however, the thread I like to follow is to find  artists who have mastered  their unique identity through the music of sound.

This 7th installment will  focus on the label DER, Dragon’s eye recordings, based in LA and run by sound artist Yann Novak.

Focusing on limited edition releases by emerging and mid-carrier sound artists, composers and producers, Dragon’s Eye’s goal is to foster personal and artistic relationships with its artists and to function as a meeting ground for its artists to further develop relationships with one another. The curation of the imprint by Novak is done primarily through real world relationships, with some virtual exceptions. By focusing on human interactions and talent, rather than style or genre, Dragon’s Eye’s catalogue has slowly become a melting pot of sounds, processes and practices.

Dragon’s Eye values interconnectedness and encourages it by offering its artists a chance to showcase their own visual concepts, commission artists they have worked with, or recruit Dragon’s Eye’s partners to help create the visual representations for their releases. Through these practices, Dragon’s Eye offers a more personal presentation of its artists for their audience and creates a catalogue that is diverse yet bonded through human collaboration.

Dragon’s Eye Recordings was originally founded by Paul Novak, (Yann Novak’s father), in 1989 as the audio/visual arm of Only Connect…Publications. Paul was and still is a bread baker and avid record collector. Only Connect…Publications was his first venture to self-publish his bread recipes. Through his new publishing company, Paul designed his book on a Apple Plus computer, commissioned a friend and artist to create the painting for the cover, and recruited a musician to compose an original work to accompany bread making. Due to his love and passion for both music and record collecting, Paul created Dragon’s Eye Recordings to compliment his publishing company. All of these pursuits had a strong impact on his son who would later relaunch the label in 2005 and try to stay true to these communal values endowed in the label.

DER,

Yann Novak

Artists , Track, Album on DER , Websites

  1. Shinkei , Untitled, Static Forms, www.yugen-art.org
  2. Pierre Gérard , wooden mouldings for the assembly (to Constantin Brancusi),  Static Forms, www.pierregerard.eu
  3. Fourm, Seagram Series, Clean Forms sicomm (for Mark Rothko), www.myspace.com
  4. Turra, Alluminium.Zinc, Clean Forms, www.navenight.com
  5. Tomas Phillips and Jason Bivins, Ohne Titel 2, Blau, www.incursion.org/phillips
  6. Mimoza Moize, Live at unit 3.03, Live at unit 3.03, www.mimosamoize.com
  7. Simon Whetham, 02 Part (Paths, Crossings), prayers unheard, www.simonwhetham.co.uk
  8. Yann Novak, The breeze blowing, Infrequency Editions, www.yannnovak.com
    over us

Additional info about  featured album and tracks

Artist, Track Title, Album

1- Shinkei, Untitled, Static Forms, see #4*

2 – Pierre Gérard , wooden mouldings for the assembly (to Constantin Brancusi), Static Forms

In lieu of a traditional album description, the artists and Dragon’s Eye Recordings offer the following quotations.

“The silence that I manufacture, hears only my ears. like these lengthened forms, often.”
– Pierre Gerard

“Le silence, c’est la meilleure production qu’on puisse faire, parce qu’il se propage : on ne le signe pas et tout le monde en profite.”
– Marcel Duchamp

“On peut voir celui qui regarde, mais on ne peut pas entendre celui qui écoute.”
– Marcel Duchamp

“…But now there are silences and the words make help make the silences. I have nothing to say and I am saying it and that is poetry, as i need it. We need not fear the silences, we may love them.”
– John Cage (from Lecture On Nothing)

“Music already enjoys inaudibility.”
– John Cage (from Satie Lecture)

3-Fourm, Seagram Series (for Mark Rothko), Clean Forms, see #4*

4* – Turra, Alluminium.Zinc, Clean Forms

Minimalism, arising from the tide of abstract expressionism of the early 20th century, was one of the signal developments in the art of the 1960’s. Rather than being a defined “movement” as such, minimalism became the fuel for debate that surrounded a new kind of abstraction for the post-war generations. Arguments have prevailed over the precise meaning of the word, and some of the visual artists associated with its original incarnation in the early 60’s firmly rejected it as not being entirely prescriptive of their work – most notably, and ironically one of the movement’s principle exponents, Donald Judd. Overall, the works of the minimalist artists sought out a simplification of format and technique that implied that the work harboured no meaning beyond its material components and the fact of its construction, thereby studiously avoiding the metaphysical claims of the artists of previous generations. Minimalism in the 1960’s became a new, and highly controversial avant garde, producing some of the finest, and most influential artists of the mid 20th century.

The three artists here openly recognise and acknowledge the profound influence of early minimalism on the relatively contemporary field of sound art. The trio of Turra, Shinkei and Fourm have all gained wider recognition for being fundamentally “minimalist”, or “reductionist” in their approach, often producing epically austere pieces that verge on near-silence, a nuanced interaction of minute and discrete elements that actively denigrate them as musical works. Indeed, in the most recent descriptions of their work, the artists themselves often use metaphorical language more readily associated with the visual arts and sculpture. With this in mind, the three artists decided to make recordings alluding to, and partially descriptive of the minimalist artists that they favour most, or have had the most profound influence on their work and imagination. It was decided that each artist would make a sound piece, naming it after a visual work, or an artist (or both) that was highly significant to each of them, translated into sound. We present here the first wave of recordings by each artist, in the hope that it will simultaneously pay homage to a great moment in contemporary art, and also fuel its influence on the next generation of minimalists.

5-Tomas Phillips and Jason Bivins, Ohne Titel , Blau

A marriage of guitar improvisation and through-composition, its immediate reference point beyond lowercase sound art is the work of painter Barnett Newman. His solid color canvases, broken by vertical lines of various shades, reveal an aesthetic preoccupation with minimalist imagery aligned with a reverence for the philosophy of Spinoza. An equally pleasurable matrimony.

6-Mimoza Moize, Live at unit 3.03, Live at unit 3.03

Live at Unit 3.03 is a sequence of sound sketches that were spectrally deconstructed and reconstructed live, with intentions of engaging the listener with the space. Each sound used was mono allowing any stereo effect of movement perceived to be those created from the influence of the space itself.

The nature of performing at Unit 3.03 is generally one of a more domestic gathering than that of a public event. This shared domestic-come-temporary-social situation creates an interesting interaction with the sounds to be heard coming from within and beyond this personal and intimate space. Interestingly, this situation also directs ours attention inwardly to the sounds that we carry with us and outwardly to the ones that people carry with them.

This recording was taken during our very first live performance held at Unit 3.03, where we shared tea, coffee and cake, met old friends and new ones, and shared old stories and made new memories.

7-.Simon Whetham , 02 Part (Paths, Crossings) , prayers Unheard

In February 2010, Simon Whetham was invited to perform at Audio Art in Krakow by Marek Choloniewsky, for which he proposed visiting the city for three or four days prior to the performance in order to record the sounds of the place, to compose a site specific piece for the event.

Whetham stayed in the Kazimierz area of Krakow, the old Jewish area that during the Second World War became a ghetto through Nazi persecution. Walking the streets, he felt a certain sadness and longing that was almost tangible. The buildings, the very fabric of the city there, had to bear witness to the atrocities of that time. The walls still stand, unable to impart their testament to the horrors committed – the roads that bore tanks and trucks that took hordes of innocents to nearby Auschwitz unable to show us the despair of families torn apart…

The Jewish people of Krakow believed their God would save them, and yet they still suffered terribly at the hands of the Nazis. Their prayers, along with the sounds of pain and suffering, have long since died away, unheard. But perhaps the stone and metal of the city retains some echo, some imprint from that time…

9- Yann Novak, The breeze blowing over us,  Infrequency Editions

Recorded on one of the hottest days Seattle experienced in 2008, as well as the first weekend Novak spent with his partner, The Breeze Blowing Over Us is based upon a simple recording of a fan beside their bed.

This is Novak’s first solo release on Infrequency and an extremely fine example of his technique for transforming a simple environmental recording into a richly layered, and emotionally tense composition.a box fan is the only sound source)

review – immersound at The Others August 6.2010 by Baz Nichols – WHITE_LINE / FOURM

Immersound at The Others, London August 6th

by fourm on August 8, 2010

Nestled amongst the hurly burly of the hinterlands of Hackney and Stamford Hill is the alternative arts/music space known as The Others, situated in a former industrial site on Manor Road. This is to be the location of the inaugural event promoted by the newly formed Soundfjord organisation, based in London, UK, featuring renowned sound artists from around the globe. Curators Helen Frosi and Andrew Riley have here assembled a representative cross section of the current sonic arts community, featuring established artists, and introducing burgeoning talent. Within the framework of the increasingly maligned and marginalised genre of sound art, this is no mean feat, however Frosi and Riley wisely manage to enroll the talents of Yann Novak and Robert Curgenven to bolster the event’s status, both being recent additions to the USA’s prestigious LINE imprint curated by Richard Chartier, and NVO recent additions, i8u and FOURM, alongside Dragon’s Eye (Novak’s own imprint) stalwart Ian Hawgood, and relative newcomers, Mimosa Moize Mimosa Moize open the evening with rapturous swathes of tonal and textural elegance, taking a highly restrained approach that is to be the essential theme of the evening. The duo of Lucia Chung and Martin J Thompson set their stall early, intently crouched over laptops, their work envelops and swirls with graceful, understated activity. Sadly, the set is curtailed by what appears to be an ailing mixing desk, and the duo exit the stage, discontent, but doubtless having learned some of the lessons that live performance brings to bear. The new set by yours truly (FOURM), showcases a work called “interval.impuls”, loosely based on the Method and Area series of recordings, informed by and through architecture, and using the resonance and harmonics of the performance space to evoke curious and engaging sonic patterns. Performed in near total darkness, the overall effect was (hopefully) intense, with cyclic patterns and tonal bursts revolving around a continuously (r)evolving resonant bass-scape. Not being a fan of live presentations on the laptop, I am an unwilling spectator of my own works, and the success (or not) of the piece depends on others more qualified than I to comment upon. Ian Hawgood took to the performance space with a burst of endearing good cheer and a brief explanation of his recent work with gamelan music and instruments recently purchased from the far east. The husband and wife duo are crouched on the floor for the duration of the set, with wife striking copper bells, and Hawgood himself crash editing and sampling them, fusing them into his now trademark soundscapes, best exemplified by his recent Snow Roads release on Dragon’s Eye. The overall effect is a slightly dreamy, murky gamelan, that to these ears at least would have benefitted from more volume in order to impose itself on the space. That said, the net result was interesting, but once again suffering from interference and unwanted crackle from deficient P.A. wiring. Yann Novak, to those sadly uninitiated souls, hails from the seething metropolis that is Los Angeles, and his more recent works are a harsh counterpoint to what one imagines is a city brimming with activity. Novak’s works are elegantly rendered affairs, taking tones and textures and overlaying and interlacing them with a poise and grace that resembles Richard Chartier’s early forays, however, this is no pallid derivative of Chartier’s work. Naturally, the two have met and performed in the same spaces, yet Novak has carved his own identity into his work, and is here presenting works simultaneously with an installation “Stillness”, also curated by Soundfjord. The entire performance, once again takes place in near darkness, an eerie silence befalls the audience who are doubtless enraptured by Novak’s exquisite tonal renderings. The diminutive figure of France Jobin, aka i8u, takes to the performance space almost unnoticed, closely followed by a series of muscular, energetic sounds the like of which it is hard to imagine her crafting. “Crafting” here is the key word, and as the piece unfolds, it reveals multiple layers and textural shifts, alongside subtle interplays of dynamics and the building of tension, this for me is one of the high points of the evening, and in uncharacteristic unrestrained manner, I let out a loud whoop as Jobin’s set ends, such is the joy that I felt at such an elegantly crafted work. Having never encountered the work of Robert Curgenven, who only recently burst onto my radar, through having his sublime “Oltre” work just released on LINE, I was intrigued as the man strode in predatory manner, barefoot towards a triptych of record decks, with all manner of bowls and wine glasses strewn around him. The intensity of Curgenven’s work is mirrored by the man himself, whose mild manner and effortless sense of humour dissipate once he enters his space. At soundcheck, Curgenven is scrupulously principled, instantly winning my admiration as he verbally emits a series of clicks and clucks to test the natural acoustics of the space, and then sets about pushing the equipment and the technician to their absolute limits. Curgenven is obviously a man who resists any form of compromise, and his performance is as engaging visually as it is acoustically. Once again marred by the ailing P.A. Curgenven halts his activities to adjust the speaker’s crackling wiring system, only to once again ignite the space with sensuous feedback, and swirling harmonics. It’s a warm, soupy blend that really should be rich and multi –tonal, vivified with sparkling harmonics, and a decidedly bottom heavy affair, but we have to settle for what the ailing rock P.A, ( and presumably slightly bemused soundman) are able to offer. Technical difficulties aside, this was an encouraging first outing for the Soundfjord organisation, and doubtless, after the initial licking of wounds, promises to carve out a unique path for the UK’s woefully under-represented sonic arts community, as well as visitors with the clout and kudos of Novak. Th event billed itself as “An evening of momentous sonic environments,absorbing, contemplative sound sculpture + sublime, immersive sound art”, and to most of the folks that I spoke with, that remit was admirably filled. The necessary limitations with regard to a specialised space, top quality sound equipment and adequate funding will always rear their ugly head, particularly in marginalised art forms that deserve better, but as events go, and if lessons are learned, the venture has the potential to fill a gap in the sonic arts that is long overdue, and my respect and admiration for the artists and promoters alike is unbounded. Baz Nichols – WHITE_LINE / FOURM/ Level August 2010

immersound

SoundFjord | London
Sound Art Gallery & Research Unit
02088003024 – info@soundfjord.org.uk – www.soundfjord.org
Unit 3b – Studio 28 – 28 Lawrence Road – London – N15 4ER


Press Release
immersound

An evening of momentous sonic environments; absorbing, contemplative sound
sculpture; sublime, immersive sound art and experimental music.

Featuring
Robert Curgenven | i8u | Yann Novak
Ian Hawgood | FOURM | mimosa|moize

Date: Friday 06 August 2010
Time: 7pm doors – late
Venue: The Others | 6 and 8 Manor Road | Hackney | N16 5SA

Entry: £5 adv. / £7 door
Tickets: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/85321
Information: info@soundfjord.org.uk
Directions: Tube: Finsbury Park then 106 bus
Overland: Stoke Newington from Liverpool Street
Buses: 67, 73, 76, 106, 149, 243, 476,to Stoke Newington Overland

immersound is an event featuring numerous international sound artists/performers in a variety of
guises, brought together to highlight shining examples of creative contribution to experimental music and the sound arts with diversity of performance. All are sensuous pieces that must be felt as well as heard! Here, the live immersive environment is a chance for both artist and audience to be consumed by the same visceral experience; to be drawn into and among the same heights and depths of the sonic and emotional spectrum.

immersound has been curated to define the notion of ‘immersion’: the saturated sound and visual landscape – the ‘subsuming experience’. Within the works presented, the notion of the ‘Sound Event’ is pushed to its limits: beginning and end are non-existent – cohesion between expert craftsmanship andà innovative transfiguration meld into dense, subsuming soundscapes.

Curated by Helen Frosi, France Jobin and Yann Novak, immersound is brought to you courtesy of
SoundFjord.Dynamic – the division of SoundFjord | London focusing on the promotion of
myriad aspects of live sound art performance in all its great diversity, at unusual venues, and by
creative means.

SoundFjord.Dynamic curates a platform for excellence, artistic rigour and diversity within creative output. Guest curators and visionaries with passion and intent are also invited to curate themed and eclectic events, encouraging the vanguard of the genre, bringing together highly talented artists from around the world to perform their works to an audience from diverse backgrounds and interests.

SoundFjord | London for contemporary sonic art and its research, is a new gallery with research facilities, exhibition and intimate event space. SoundFjord’s core activities are to act as a hub for practitioners and researchers, to provide a research and collaboration network for practitioners, and to deliver an exhibition and event programme rich in research-based, investigative and experimental sonic art from UK-based and international artists.

Using private initiative and funding, SoundFjord was primarily instigated to address the lack of exhibiting space exclusively for works of Sound Art. Now the gallery not only organises exhibitions, but also documents all works for its Contemporary Sonic Art Archive (CSAA), assists with the development of artists within their practice, and ultimately, promotes and disseminates awareness of its innovative and thought provoking exhibitions and events to art lovers, practitioners, researchers, and to the general public at large. SoundFjord actively invites participation between artists and encourages combined activity through its events and collaborative projects.

i8u wishes to thank the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec for its financial support.

und transit on NVO 022 (2010)

NVO 022 christophe charles / i8u
unter den linden / und transit
on nonvisuelobjects

unter den linden

The “Grundton” of this 30-minute composition is the recording of the concert given at SND STUDIOS SHEFFIELD (UK) in March 2009, entitled “Why is there something rather than nothing?” by Mark Fell and powered with d&b speakers by Tony Myatt (MRC, University of York). The sounds of planes have been recorded in Mallorca (Spain) in 1987, and in Pilat (France) in 2009. This music comes after HCDC, composed in November 2008 after the death of Daniel Charles – his last days were darkened by breathing difficulties, hence the overall presence of the “wind”. The last five minutes were composed in 1987 with telephone bells, a silo and a Spanish garbage truck, under the name “unter den linden”. The piece is not related with Berlin, but with Jules Massenet’s “Sous les tilleuls” (from “Scenes alsaciennes” where bells are heard in a distance and thus modified by the wind), and evokes a peaceful atmosphere just before the bombs begin to fall.

Christophe Charles, September 2009


This world of ours is one relative world. Any number of other possible or actual worlds are conceivable. Each such world is able to reflect all the others without ceasing
to be the real world that it is of itself.

Nishitani Keiji

und transit

The conceptual framework of “und transit” was conceived while taking part in a 3 months artist residency in Krems, Austria (2008/09). While in transit (daily walks) to my studio, I was inspired by a particular passageway in Minoritenplatz.
Like most passageways, which are a means to an end – and are rarely treated as an end in itself – I was immediately struck by the loneliness and practicality of this space as well as the capacity of the users to ignore it on a daily basis. During the course of my residency I collected a number of field recordings in and around Krems, in order to create a series of soundscapes based on Minoritenplatz’s sound of emptiness through the means of a quadraphonic installation.
These compositions represent some of the pieces composed for “und transit”.

i8u (France Jobin)


Follow your bliss.

Joseph Campell

+

NVO 021
Tim Blechmann / Seijiro Murayama
347
NVO 023
asher / fourm
selected passages / set.grey