What's Happening?

one downhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif, but most to go:

April 6
Phill Niblock and Thomas Ankersmit
Haarlem, the Netherlands
)toon) Festival
De Lichtfabriek, 21:00
http://www.toonfestival.nl/

April 20
Phill Niblock and Thomas Ankersmit
Ghent, Belgium
Courtisane Festival
Vooruit
http://www.courtisane.be/
http://www.kraak.net/

April 23
Phill Niblock and Thomas Ankersmit
St. Petersburg, Russia
SKIF Festival
http://www.kuryokhin.ru/skif/

April 24
Kanten Presents Multispeaker Concert #1:
Phill Niblock (US)
Thomas Ankersmit (NL)
Lights People Feat. Jorgen Teller (Dk)
At Gallery Ax12
Axeltorv 12, 1609 Kobenhavn v, Denmark
Monday 24.04.06. 20.00

April 27
Phill Niblock and Thomas Ankersmit
Stavanger, Norway
Tou Scene
http://www.touscene.com/

April 29
Phill Niblock and Thomas Ankersmit
Oslo, Norway
Random Cube
Black Box
http://www.randomsystem.org/


-----------

Review in VITAL WEEKLY, number 521

PHILL NIBLOCK - TOUCH THREE (3CD by Touch) TO 69

Perhaps I said it before, but I am never too tired to repeat myself: I love
minimal music.
The classical minimal music. Ever since I was fifteen and first got hold of
a 3LP set by Steve Reich, 'Drumming'. Around the same time I heard bits of
Phill Niblock's music and was attracted to his even more minimal approach.
'Four Full Flutes', where he creates pieces of music played on flutes, by
chopping out the breathing, and creates a vast, sustaining sound, was a
highly influential work for me. Ever since, I am a keen follower of his
work, and this new 3CD set is just an overwhelming release. The idea is
very simple, for each of the pieces on this CD. Recorded a few tones of one
instrument, remove the breathing, leaving the decay and then change the
pitch on some of the sounds. Then Niblock starts to layer these tracks,
usually somewhere between 24 and 32 tracks. No other electronic processing
was done to these recordings. Among the instruments used here we find
cello, acoustic guitar with e-bow, recorders, alto/soprano/baritone
saxophones, trumpet and viola. A typical Niblock piece lasts between 20 and
22 minutes. All clear, neat and simple? Then why release three CDs, nine
tracks in total? They probably all sound the same anyway? Well, of course
it's less simple and of course it sounds different. The CD opens with
'Sethwork' (check out Phill's website for the correct order of the tracks
on CD one!), which is almost classical Phill Niblock: sustained tones, with
hardly a pause and apparently played on 'acoustic, unamplified
guitars with e-bow'. A continuos deep hissing (for the lack of a better
word) sound. This is how Niblock sounded when I first heard his music,
almost twenty-five years ago. Compare that with 'Harm', also on the first
CD, which is a work for cello (which is one of Niblock's beloved
instruments). Now here the sounds are highly sustained too, but instead of
one mighty block of sound, it almost sounds orchestral, with the sounds
coming in and out of the mix. Two totally different approaches to the same
technique. With a slight adjustment, leaving some space at the beginning
and end of each sound, Niblock adds on 'Parker's Altered Mood, aka, Owed To
Bird', the sound of inhaling breath (in order to play the alto saxophone),
which add yet another dimension to this music. Maybe playing all three CDs
in this set is a bit much, but I did it, and I must say time disappeared as
this overwhelming (set) unfolded little by little. Simply the best Niblock
statement thus far, the most complete one. (Frans de Waard)
Address: http://www.touchmusic.org.uk

the complete archive of Vital Weekly (1-494) can be found at:
http://staalplaat.com/vital/
Vital Weekly is published by Frans de Waard and submitted for free to
anybody with an e-mail
address. If you don't wish to receive this, then let us know. Any feedback
is welcome: vital@vitalweekly.net
Forward to your allies. Snail mail: Vital Weekly/Frans de Waard -
Acaciastraat 11 - 6521 NE Nijmegen - The Netherlands. All written by Frans
de Waard (FdW)