this is the voice of re:mote induction.Monday, October 20, 2003
KYTN - Sunday - the last day of the three day festival in dundee, and i'm supposed to be meeting someone to travel up with. but they pull out at the last minute, so it is just me again. of the three days this is the one with the bands i know the least about, the only people i have heard anything by at all are fennesz and siewert.
ira cohen is a name i have heard, but not someone i was particularly familiar with. having seen him wondering about on the saturday, and some of his stuff was on sale at the merchandise stall, so i looked him up when i got home and was a little curious. so i timed my arrival for the part of the film program which covered his film "the invasion of thunderbolt pagoda". ira is described as an electronic multimedia shamen, a man who has been involved in all sorts of experimental media since the 60s. this was a curious set up, there had been an arrangement to provide live accompaniment - a collaboration between members of acid mother temple and ruins - which went on with footage from a religious festival in india filmed in 1986. while all this happened ira talked, rambling through his anecdotes and poetry readings. for the sake of timing he was hurried along a little so that the showing of the film "the invasion of thunderbolt pagoda" could start. which in some ways is a pity, listening to him talk with the improvised score was more interesting than the film. which was an experimental piece, 30 years old, using mirrors to provide psychedlic effects - the story apparently revolving around a snail woman smoking opium and then taking part in a ritualistic excorcism. unfortunately i was feeling quite tired, so kept feeling like i was about to fall asleep - shutting my eyes to listen to parts of the tony conrad sound track.
there was then a period between the end of the film and the scheduled first band starting. unforunately, despite the fact the mostly smooth running of the festival things finally went wrong. most events will experience a hick up of some kind - cancellations, technical difficulties and the like. while this is understood, it remains frustrating when things start to become delayed, in this case, with a couple of hours to drive home at the end of the night i was particularly conscious of how this could be a problem. the 6.30 start slips past 7.30 before we finally get in, and apologies are delivered for flight problems and injury.
ruins are supposed to be playing, with a half hour collaboration with members of acid mother temple. apparently various projects have occured between members of the two bands, though this is one of the first chances they have had to perform live together. so regardless of the fact that ruins are without their bass player, we get examples from three side projects followed by a solo ruins set. the three projects range from harmonic vocal performance through a discordant and chaotic outburst. without a bassist ruins is comprised of the drummer, pounding out heavy rhythms against a recorded backing track with occasional vocal contributions. this is a heavy and dense performance, the rhythms shaking the room at times. none of which is really my thing.
the same can be said of acid mother temple really, a three piece rock band rocking out heavy and hard. this performance is done with sections of ira cohen's film projected on to the four walls. rather than whole film we seem to have a couple of looped extracts. strangely the film quality and imagery looks better on this scale. the combination of the whole thing has a certain dynamic, which i can appreciate to a degree. some describe AMT as being droney, which they aren't for me, the drums are too heavy and prominent for that to be the case. rather it is more rawkus and aggressive, building in squalling manner.
the last performance of the weekend comes from phonographics, a collaboration between christian fennesz, werner dafeldecker, martin siewert and burkhard stangl. the performance is part of an installation, 4 screens showing looped and edited sections from the film "film ist" by gustav deutsch. a film intended as a history of cinematography, taking silent film clips and reassembling into something new - something which provides a view on the development of film and common themes. the 4 musicians have done a sound track for the film itself, so are doing a variation on that piece for the installation version presented here. the set is strong on fractured atmospheres and drones, filled with clicks and pops as well as the sighing drones of the various live guitars, leading at times to a strong noise front as the set goes on. for the most part the sound is understated, working to back the film, which at times can become distracting as there is so much going on between the four screens.
as this brings the "kill your timid notion" festival to an end it is possible to reflect on how it seemed to be something of two halves. while there is certainly a cross over, which i am conscious of from other people, it is quite a seperate thing for me. on the one hand there was a lot of experimental electronic music, on the other what struck me as being somewhat retro rock, with elements of jazz and psychedelia thrown in. the more "traditional" material didn't really interest me, and while i appreciated parts of what i saw, it was the electronic stuff i was there for. so it is not surprising that it is the electronic material which i enjoyed the most. my highlights for each day being:
friday - cyclo, alva noto
saturday - philip jeck, [the user]
sunday - phonographics
as a festival i was struck by the enthusiasm with which the organisers had produced the event, with the staff of the DCA being quite friendly and helpful. hopefully this will lead to further events of this nature in dundee.
ira cohen is a name i have heard, but not someone i was particularly familiar with. having seen him wondering about on the saturday, and some of his stuff was on sale at the merchandise stall, so i looked him up when i got home and was a little curious. so i timed my arrival for the part of the film program which covered his film "the invasion of thunderbolt pagoda". ira is described as an electronic multimedia shamen, a man who has been involved in all sorts of experimental media since the 60s. this was a curious set up, there had been an arrangement to provide live accompaniment - a collaboration between members of acid mother temple and ruins - which went on with footage from a religious festival in india filmed in 1986. while all this happened ira talked, rambling through his anecdotes and poetry readings. for the sake of timing he was hurried along a little so that the showing of the film "the invasion of thunderbolt pagoda" could start. which in some ways is a pity, listening to him talk with the improvised score was more interesting than the film. which was an experimental piece, 30 years old, using mirrors to provide psychedlic effects - the story apparently revolving around a snail woman smoking opium and then taking part in a ritualistic excorcism. unfortunately i was feeling quite tired, so kept feeling like i was about to fall asleep - shutting my eyes to listen to parts of the tony conrad sound track.
there was then a period between the end of the film and the scheduled first band starting. unforunately, despite the fact the mostly smooth running of the festival things finally went wrong. most events will experience a hick up of some kind - cancellations, technical difficulties and the like. while this is understood, it remains frustrating when things start to become delayed, in this case, with a couple of hours to drive home at the end of the night i was particularly conscious of how this could be a problem. the 6.30 start slips past 7.30 before we finally get in, and apologies are delivered for flight problems and injury.
ruins are supposed to be playing, with a half hour collaboration with members of acid mother temple. apparently various projects have occured between members of the two bands, though this is one of the first chances they have had to perform live together. so regardless of the fact that ruins are without their bass player, we get examples from three side projects followed by a solo ruins set. the three projects range from harmonic vocal performance through a discordant and chaotic outburst. without a bassist ruins is comprised of the drummer, pounding out heavy rhythms against a recorded backing track with occasional vocal contributions. this is a heavy and dense performance, the rhythms shaking the room at times. none of which is really my thing.
the same can be said of acid mother temple really, a three piece rock band rocking out heavy and hard. this performance is done with sections of ira cohen's film projected on to the four walls. rather than whole film we seem to have a couple of looped extracts. strangely the film quality and imagery looks better on this scale. the combination of the whole thing has a certain dynamic, which i can appreciate to a degree. some describe AMT as being droney, which they aren't for me, the drums are too heavy and prominent for that to be the case. rather it is more rawkus and aggressive, building in squalling manner.
the last performance of the weekend comes from phonographics, a collaboration between christian fennesz, werner dafeldecker, martin siewert and burkhard stangl. the performance is part of an installation, 4 screens showing looped and edited sections from the film "film ist" by gustav deutsch. a film intended as a history of cinematography, taking silent film clips and reassembling into something new - something which provides a view on the development of film and common themes. the 4 musicians have done a sound track for the film itself, so are doing a variation on that piece for the installation version presented here. the set is strong on fractured atmospheres and drones, filled with clicks and pops as well as the sighing drones of the various live guitars, leading at times to a strong noise front as the set goes on. for the most part the sound is understated, working to back the film, which at times can become distracting as there is so much going on between the four screens.
as this brings the "kill your timid notion" festival to an end it is possible to reflect on how it seemed to be something of two halves. while there is certainly a cross over, which i am conscious of from other people, it is quite a seperate thing for me. on the one hand there was a lot of experimental electronic music, on the other what struck me as being somewhat retro rock, with elements of jazz and psychedelia thrown in. the more "traditional" material didn't really interest me, and while i appreciated parts of what i saw, it was the electronic stuff i was there for. so it is not surprising that it is the electronic material which i enjoyed the most. my highlights for each day being:
friday - cyclo, alva noto
saturday - philip jeck, [the user]
sunday - phonographics
as a festival i was struck by the enthusiasm with which the organisers had produced the event, with the staff of the DCA being quite friendly and helpful. hopefully this will lead to further events of this nature in dundee.
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