Dimensions Project

Over the last couple of months, I've been working on a sound project titled Dimensions, which saw its first performance today. I was planning on posting pictures, videos, audio and a few items which will be put up for sale in the newly reformed adrian-clement.com store, but unfortunately, I never managed to take photos, and I completely forgot to turn the video camera on during the performance. Nevertheless, it was a complete success, and it got a very favorable reception. I am in talks for giving a second performance of the project, most likely a public one, so I'll keep you posted on how that eventuates. If it does (and I hope it will), I will be doing it in about four weeks or so. During this time I will be uploading decent photographs, better video footage than I would've been able to acquire today, audio, and everything else that I see fit.

Dimensions is my first proper performance in over a year, and the first one that has gone beyond my classical, jazz and contemporary-classical roots (predominately in piano) in that it explores different use of media and styles such as extreme metal and noise. Over the last three or four years, I've been drenched in experimental and avant-garde composition, and excited by the prospect of performing in a vein that challenges and defies genre, confronts responders, and experiments with different media and sound. I see Dimensions as the first proper step in that direction, one which I feel is in line with my artistic aims as a whole. I expect to work with sound a lot more from this point onwards. Hopefully it will culminate in some recordings and performances. Whatever the outcome is, I hope you that you enjoy what is to come.

For now, I hope the following artwork, which was designed for a series of five tapes and one CD (which are in a similar vein to Mixtape Volume 2) is enough to suffice you:



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Excellent Examples of New(ish) Music Part 2.5

[Currently watching Seinfeld - The Complete Series]

16. Blood Stereo: The Magnetic Headache
2008, Bottrop-Boy

The Magnetic Headache is the first proper CD release by Blood Stereo, a noise project by Karen Constance & Dylan Nyoukis. Nyoukis is also in charge of the wonderful mainly DIY/CDR label Chocoloate Monk and is currently curating a Rock-A-Rolla sponsored event, Color Out of Space 3. More info below:

Taking place September 5 - 7th, Colour Out Of Space 3 is the third outing for the Brighton based exploratory sound fest, curated by Dylan Nyoukis.

The event will feature over thirty acts, films and more incuding: Thurston Moore & Chris Corsano + Limpe Fuchs + Aaron Dilloway & Joseph Hammer + Leslie Keffer + Adam Bohman + Ghedalia Tazartes + Skaters + Lionel Marchetti & Yoko Gami + Skullflower + Astral Social Club & Axolotl + Charlie Drahiem + many more acts !!

For more info and updates see www.colouroutofspace.org

Here is the first track off the record:

17. Eightfold Sun Compilation
2008

I've only recently found out about the new Sydney-based zine Eightfold Sun, and I did it completely by chance at Red Eye Records about a week ago. Extremely well-written and well-informed articles and essays on music, this issue with a black-metal/experimental metal slant. Pick a copy, they're only $8, and they come with a 13-track sampler of a lot of cool music, including "Vow of Vengeance" by Sydney-based black-metal outfit Nazxul:

18. The Tango Saloon: Transylvania
2008, Vitamin Records

I saw The Tango Saloon at The Factory a few months ago. Aside from the fact that a Jehovah's Witness attempted to press their propaganda up against me, handing me one of her pamphlets in the process, I had a great night. Featuring Danny Heifetz of Mr Bungle fame on drums, and a whole range of other people playing a wide variety of instruments, it was a night not to have been missed. The Tango Saloon's previous self-titled record was released on Ipecac. During that time they supported Mike Patton's solo project Peeping Tom when they performed in Sydney at the Enmore Theatre. Mike Patton guests on Transylvania on the track "Dracula Cha Cha":

19. Cult of Luna: Eternal Kingdom
2008, Earache Records

I have to say that I disagree with Rock-A-Rolla's scathing review of Cult of Luna's new record Eternal Kingdom. The reviewer, Bobby Bone, states that "Cult of Luna have an air of contrivance about them, the quasi-mythical concepts and overblown songs hiding what is essentially a post-metal boy band at heart, all polished, packaged and pre-fabricated for mass consumption by Neurosis fans' teenage cousins." I think Bone is a new reviewer for Rock-A-Rolla, and he brings with him a strong sense of negativity to everything he reviews. While I agree with him on several of his opinions, I find that his review of the new Cult of Luna to be, perhaps, a bit snobbish. I like the record for what it is, and I respect Earache records' artistic vision. I don't find this record to be out of line with that at all. Here's the title track of the record:

20. Lukas Ligeti: Afrikan Machinery
2008, Tzadik

I've certainly saved the best to last in this post. Lukas Ligeti has crafted an absolute masterpiece of a work with Afrikan Machinery, his second-to-date release for John Zorn's Tzadik label. Combining a large portion of what I like and enjoy about music into one record is a huge feat, but Ligeti pulls it off somehow. Here is a description of the record from Tzadik:

Lukas Ligeti is a young drummer and composer of deep musical lineage who has developed into one of the most interesting compositional voices working today. For his second Tzadik release Lukas focuses on electronics. Using the Marimba Lumina, a new instrument invented by the legendary electronic pioneer Don Buchla, he fuses electronic, acoustic, traditional, avant-garde, European, American and African influences to create a unique post minimal world of spinning polyrhythms and hypnotic textures. Beautiful and endlessly listenable.

Easily record-of-the-year thus far, and slowly becoming one of my favorite records of all time, Afrikan Machinery is a must for everyone interested in classical music, contemporary-classical music, avant-garde/experimental composition, sub-Saharan African music or electronic music, or if you appreciate musicianship an technicality. Here is the opening track "Balafon Dance System":

Links:

Blood Stereo
Bottrop-Boy
Chocolate Monk
Cult of Luna
Earache Records
Eightfold Sun
Ipecac
Lukas Ligeti
Tango Saloon
Tzadik
Vitamin Records

Related entries:
Examples of Excellent New(ish) Music Part 1
Examples of Excellent New(ish) Music Part 2

What I've Been Watching This August

[Currently listening to Bambi's Dilemma by Melt Banana]

FILMS I'VE WATCHED:

Susan Slept Here (1954) directed by Frank Tashlin
L'Age d'Or (1930) directed by Luis Buñuel

Shorts:

Porky Pig's Feat (1943) directed by Frank Tashlin
Entr'acte (1924) directed by René Clair
Zero for Conduct (1933) directed by Jean Vigo
La Jetée (1962) directed by Chris Marker

Films Rented:

Does Humor Belong in Music (1985) directed by Frank Zappa
Andrei Rublev (1969 ) directed by Andrei Tarkovsky

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I really haven't been watching that much this month, especially by last month's standard. Part of the reason for this is that I've been focusing my attention on other things that are more important to me at the moment, such as a few projects I've been working on and absorbed in recently.

I'm somewhat disappointed that I missed out on seeing a great bunch of rare Hollywood films screened as part of the Chauvel Cinematheque. I only managed to catch Frank Tashlin's Susan Slept Here, a troubling film (thematically speaking) in the sense that it glorifies a relationship between a 17 year old girl and a 35 year old man. Screened with Susan Slept Here was Tashlin's Porky Pig's Feat:



I caught a couple of 1920-30s surrealist films at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, including Rene Clair's 1925 Entr'acte. The film premiered at the 1924 Ballet production Relâche , where it screened during the interval. Both the ballet production and the Rene Clair film were scored by composer Erik Saite. You can watch the short film in good quality and sound at Ubu Web.

Entr'acte was screened together with Luis Buñuel's wonderful 1930 surrealist masterpiece L'Age d'Or, written in collaboration with Salvidor Dalí. Senses of Cinema have some great information on L'Age d'Or. I recommend this article on Buñuel as a good introudction and starting point.

The only other films I managed to catch at the Art Gallery of New South Wales were Jean Vigo's humorous and figuratively politically-laced 1933 Zero for Conduct, and Chris Marker's mighty La Jetée, a radical and experimental film of the 1960s made up entirely from still-image photographs.

I also managed to grab a few good DVDs off a friend of mine, namely Frank Zappa's Does Humor Belong in Music? and Andrei Tarkovsky's mammoth of a film that is Andrei Rublev. You can't really go wrong with Zappa, but I particularly enjoyed the tongue-in-cheek camp aesthetic smeared over the entire performance, such as in "Bobby Brown":

And to conclude this post, here are the opening scenes from Tarkovky's brilliant Andrei Rublev:



Links:

• Art Gallery of New South Wales Films
• Chauvel Cinematheque
• Senses of Cinema
• Ubu Web
  

Related entries:
What I've Been Watching This July

Mixtape Volume 2

[Currently listening to Adrian Clement Dot Com Mixtape Volume 2]





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Here is the second volume of the Adrian Clement Dot Com Mixtapes. This collection of songs exemplify the interrelationship between heavy metal, noise, folk music and rap, especially in today's music scene. Artists like Madlib, Pocahaunted, Tomahawk and Lukas Ligeti are postmodern in their attempt to recontextualise elements of traditional, sacred and folk music into contemporary sounding compositions. Mike Patton's solo project Peeping Tom and Dälek's Abandoned Language were released on Ipecac and show the debt both rap and experimental rock and metal owe to each other; blurring generic distinctions as a whole. The opening track for this mixtape "Isolated Stare" represents Dälek's homage to My Bloody Valentine and other mighty artists who have experimented with a wide palette of sonically dense textures. Rock-A-Rolla states that "[h]aving already created an entirely new sub-genre for themselves, Dälek rip it to shreds and mark a massive leap forward for both hip-hop and music in general." The obvious connection between rap and heavy metal is closer "Bring Tha Noize", a retake of the classic Public Enemy track "Bring The Noise" from It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back, done in collaboration with quintessential thrash-metal outfit Anthrax. It is needless to say that Public Enemy's influence has been huge, but it is particularly evident on the tracks "Sunday Bloody Sunday" by Saul Williams (a U2 cover) and "My Violent Heart" by Nine Inch Nails, which are rooted in the sound-collage work of Hank Shocklee's Bomb Squad's fine production. The influence of jazz and funk spans a long period of time, and has entered the consciousness of the pop music scene (David Bowie's "Fascination" is an obvious pick) and improvisational rock (Lightning Bolt cite Sun Ra as one of their major influences). John Zorn's involvement in various sub-genres and music scenes over the course of his career particularly displays this.

Perhaps it is a sign of the increasing irrelevance and artistic decline of once-influential old media such as music magazines (Rolling Stones, I'm looking at you) and the ridiculous genre terms associated with certain groups of bands (read this blog entry by The Dillinger Escape Plan's to hear Greg Puciato's opinion on the everlasting "mathcore" label his band has acquired or look to Portishead's dismissal of the "trip hop" label their music has been associated with) that artists and musicians are becoming more and more aware of the versatility and excitement of non-generic restriction and that listener's appreciation of all sounds and styles of music as equally important is further developing. I believe this mixtape represents the ways in which artists have freely explored styles and genres. At times they disregard them. At other times they subvert or playfully conform to certain conventions. And at others they care solely on the sounds they create, unaware of the genres they take part in, or completely disregarding genre as a whole.

Download it HERE.

(all feedback appreciated)

Mixtape Volume 1

[Currently reading selected poetry by John Wilmot]

From now on, I'll be posting an Adrian Clement Dot Com Mixtape every three or four weeks comprising of a selection of tracks I think are cool and occasionally a mixtape pertaining to a set theme or concept. All of the artwork/layout for the Mixtapes will be done by me.

Here is Volume 1. It's mainly just a collection of a lot of music I've been listening to lately but it also reflects the large amounts of time I spend every day listening to music while traveling. A few of the songs, such as Atlas Sound's "My Car" and Elliot Smith's "Drive All Over Town" refer to this specifically. I hope you enjoy it:

Download it HERE

Examples of Excellent New Music: Part 2

[Currently reading The Fold by Gilles Deleuze]

Preface: This is (the first half of the) second part of the 'Examples of Excellent New(ish) Music' feature, and will focus solely on five records from 2008 thus making the prefix '(ish)' is rather unnecessary.

11. Thurston Moore: Sensitive/Lethal
2008, No Fun Productions

The fact that Thurston Moore's new record stands in stark contrast to his previous one, Trees Outside the Academy, which was a fun and fresh slab of pop and alternative rock, makes Thurston Moore all the more exciting. Moore's new record, Sensitive/Lethal, which was released on No Fun Productions, is an exquisite, 3-track piece of work (consisting of 20-something minute tracks "Sensitive" and "Lethal" with a 4-minute filler called "Lonesome") that explores the acoustic guitar as a noise instrument. Donning a Merzbow t-shirt for a photo-shoot for Sonic Youth's most recent studio-album, Rather Ripped, it's no surprise to hear bits of pieces influenced by the king of noise, but it's also evident that it's influenced by contemporary underground noise scenes (which became apparent to me after reading Thurston Moore and Bryan Coley's monthly column on underground music called "Bull Tongue" in Arthur Magazine, which is extremely comprehensive).

Here's the first part of the record, "Sensitive":

You can pick up the record from No Fun Productions for twelve or fifteen dollars (depending on where you live), which includes postage, so step on it!

12. Fuck Buttons: Street Horrrsing
2008, ATP Recordings

In an interview with Rock-A-Rolla, reading Andrew Hung speak about his creative intentions for the duo that also includes Benjamin John Power made me forget about their completely ridiculous name that is Fuck Buttons. The extremely warm reception their debut record, Street Horrrsings, has received in addition to their appearance at Portishead-curated ATP Festival and Pitchfork Festival have boosted them up in the eyes of the public, making them one of the most popular noise, drone, experimental duos of the 'underground'. In addition to rave reviews from Pitchfork and Rock-A-Rolla, Fuck Buttons' Street Horrrsing has also received a bit of negative light from people who claim that it's an accessible, watered down version of some of the more heavy weights of noise and drone. While I can certainly see where this argument comes from, I think it's misleading because Street Horrrsing, while definitely revealing throughout the course of the album that it takes keys and points here and there from different artists, it is rather an exciting and fresh take on these influences, which have been mashed together to form something great. It's not strong all around (I'd point to "Bright Tomorrow", a pseudo-trance meets drone cut as being the weakest cut off the album), but when it hits, it hits strongly. Also of note is the fact that this record was recorded by John Cummings of Mogwai and mastered by Bob Western of Shellac. Check out the opening track, "Sweet Love For Planet Earth" below:

13. Pocahaunted: Island Diamond
2008, Not Not Fun Records

As you can see in one of my previous posts on this blog, Thurston Moore gave the Christine Carter/Pocahaunted split on No Not Fun his number one spot on his top 40 from 2007. If that, in addition to the fact that Pocahaunted have opened for Thuston Moore and Sonic Youth on a number occasions doesn't tickle your fancy, then I don't know what will. Island Diamonds is the first proper full-length released by Pocahaunted, the noise, ambient, drone and psychedelic duo of Bethany and Amanda. And it's a fantastic one at that, but the fact that it only consists of four tracks makes you water at the mouth for more. In that case, I'd recommend tracking down their lengthy catalogue of self-released material and splits. Here's "Ashes Is White", the first track off Island Diamonds (notice how you can hear hissing at the beginning of the track, it's because Pocahaunted are at large an analogue band who like to release on cassette, perhaps because of its primitive qualities):

14. Steve Reich: Daniel Variations
2008, Nonesuch Records

Steve Reich's latest work, Daniel Variations, which was released on Nonesuch Records earlier this year is a momentous piece of work. Inspired by the murder of American journalist and violinist Daniel Pearl, it is also perhaps Reich's most political work. Consisting of a series of pieces featuring the London Sinfonietta, which sometimes involve some chorale work, Reich continues to explore the deeper workings of minimalism. Steve Reich says of Daniel Variations:

Daniel Variations is a homage to someone who stands beautifully and grotesquely at the same time as a symbol of thousands of innocent victims who was murdered, while trying to really give a fair shake to all concerned. In that sense I am very proud of that. So win, lose or draw in terms of the reaction to the piece, I'm glad I did it. And I hope that the family likes it. And I hope Danny likes it. And I sure hope Gabriel likes my music.

Here is the track "My Name is Daniel Pearl":

15. Nadja: Desire in Uneasiness
2008, Crucial Blast

Nadja's Desire in Uneasiness is perhaps one of my favorite records that have been released this year. If you look around this blog you can see that I have an affinity for drone-based music, especially when it is done in a way that is new and refreshing. Desire in Uneasiness is exactly that, a totally captivating piece of work that borders on the generic conventions of sludge, drone-doom metal, post-rock and shoegaze (or "metalgaze", if you will) featuring long drawn out layers and textures of sound supported by minimalist drumming in the vein of Melvins or Earth. Nadja and Aidan Baker have been prolifically releasing a substantial amount of material this year. Following on from Desire in Uneasiness, Nadja released a strictly limited full-length titled The Bungled and the Botched on ConSouling Sounds.

Here is the track "Affective Fields":

Note: Part 2.5 of 'Examples of Excellent New Music' will come in the next couple of weeks (i.e. ca. late August) and will continue to focus on material that has been released in 2008.

New Brian Eno and David Byrne Collaboration

[Currently listening to Hold Your Horse Is by Hella]


Brian Eno and David Bryne have collaborated together on a new album titled Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. According to Byrne, "For the most part, Brian did the music and I wrote some tunes, words and sang. It's familiar but completely new as well. We're pretty excited."

The record has been self-released with the assistance of Topspin (who you want to keep an eye on) in a variety of digital and physical formats, including a limited edition Deluxe Package designed by Sagmeister Inc. All formats can be downloaded immediately and physical CDs will be shipped in the Fall. It's a pretty cool record, so definitely give it a spin.



Also of note, in case anyone here hadn't heard about it, is David Byrne's installation Playing the Building, which reportedly took two years to create. You can learn more info about the installation at this location.

And lastly, as a side note to this post, you may have noticed that I've added Twitter updates to the sidebar. I'll be using it as a mini blog of sorts, and will post about anything that tickles my fancy