this is the voice of re:mote induction.Wednesday, February 18, 2004
Subcurrents is billed as a new annual event in Glasgow, which is designed as a focus on the interface between old school experimental music, with the ideas provided by the new school of electronics. Curated by the gushingly enthusiastic and pretentious David Keenan, who writes for The Wire, reviews Jazz for the Sunday Herald, and is the author of the recent book covering the history of Coil/NWW/C93. With mixed results, which are made perhaps particularly bemusing by the fact that the curator isn’t even in the country at the time.
The first night of the event is a focus on the Japanese artist Nobukazu Takemura, taking in the last night of a full UK tour. Apparently the only night of the three night festival to be sold out – as a result CCA:5, which is seated for the event, is rather busy – so that the group of 7 of us who have turned up for this struggle to get seats close together. Nobukazu Takemura is billed as doing an improvised lap top set first, so he takes to the stage, joined by another Japanese guy and girl – the girl seems to be in charge of the visuals, using a computer set up on the same table as Nobukazu Takemura’s laptop, the guy providing live drumming. This set probably could have been good, certainly I’ve heard a couple of Nobukazu Takemura’s albums and they have been decent. However much of this lap top set is overloaded by the drums. The live improvised drums dominate the set and become quite annoying, at least for me. The electronics of the lap top are quite lower case at times, and even when they become more audible they are abstract sounding – crackles, pops, buzzes, and the like. The two sounds just don’t mix, so that much of the audience becomes restless, increasingly chatty as the set progresses. For me I was wishing the drummer would go away, ruining what chance there was of this set working at all.
After a brief interval Nobukazu Takemura’s band took to the stage as Child’s View. I’ve heard one album by this project, which was quite a nice mix of electronics and vocals, quirky and childish, light hearted and fun. In this live setting we have Matt Lux of Isotope 217, playing double bass, and bass guitar, along with Michael Jorgenson of Wilco, playing keyboard and guitar. The drummer from the previous set, Jun Nagami, returns to play drums again, while also periodically helping out Anna Mizoguchi who plays the marimba and similar, while also providing some vocals along with main vocalist Aki Tsyuoko, who seems to also have a keyboard unit set up in front of her. Nobukazu Takemura himself has lap tops set up still, though he seems to make little use of them, instead playing guitar, and periodically joining Nagami and Mizoguchi on the marimba. Initially Child’s View suffer from the same problem as the lap top set, the drums are too high in the mix, so that for the first couple of tracks all we are really getting is the drums and vocals, with the instruments of the rest of the band disappearing somewhat into the background. as the set went on though, this became less of a problem, especially with Nagami switching to the marimba. This allowed more of the delicate and beguiling melodies to filter through. For the most part the set tended towards the playful, with at least one track from the album I am familiar with being played. However at times the set degenerated into a more abstract and random territory. Though it was clear throughout from the way that each member of the band made sure they kept track of their sheet music that the entire set was particularly scripted. Personally, while I found that Child’s View had their moments, they were on the whole a little disappointing, leaving me a little dissatisfied with the night as a whole.
On the Friday the performances where more noise orientated. Unlike the night before I met the folk that I knew who were going at the venue, timing it so that we were there for the doors opening. The staff were quite keen to make sure folk were aware of just how loud this event was going to be, by handing out ear plugs to everyone as they went in – in some countries ear plugs are readily available, here it is something of a rarity to be presented with them. Along with this we could hear staff talking about the sound checks in hushed tones. This all lead to some serious expectations. Masonna, a notorious Japanese noise performer, was given smaller billing on the ticket, so we expected him to perform first. Especially with warnings of the extremity of his set, and how as a result it would be particularly short. However Norbert Moslang, ex-Voice Crack, and Jim Sauter, ex- Borbetomagus, took to the stage first. Moslang and Sauter played quite a noisy set, and on reflection this is perhaps what the staff were talking about. Bass heavy, and filled with rumbling and distorted details, their set was enjoyable for the textures they created. Moslang playing with a table top of toys and electronic items, and magnetic fields. By contrast Sauter was playing saxophone, with a variety of mouth pieces, and a mic down the mouth of the instrument feeding into an array of distortion pedals. Their set probably went on a little too long, but I seemed to be in the minority of the people I knew by thinking it wasn’t bad.
There was then a short interval, short enough that people were not going to be let out. It had been about 8.10 when Moslang and Sauter went on stage, by the time Masonna had finished, and we had got into the bar, it was 9.10. Masonna has a reputation, and that to be honest is about all I could tell you. He is always listed up there with the likes of Merzbow, but at least with Merzbow I had heard some of his stuff before seeing him live. With Masonna I wasn’t sure what to expect, though from the festival promotion I was reading “psychedelic noise rocker”, “an explosive combination of punk performance art and electronics”, “physically demanding nature of his performances”, and “ferociously inventive”. Which is to say pure hype, the kind of hype that also surrounded the likes of Merzbow and Whitehouse when they played Instal in December. Like then it turned out Masonna was nothing more than hype, with a half dozen Marshall amps at the back of the stage, a couple of distortion pedals and a mic Masonna created noise. Clutching some kind of mic/black box thing in his hand, he waved his arms about, threw himself about the stage, and occasionally shouted “mother fuckers” into the mic in a style entirely reminiscent of Whitehouse. Like the Whitehouse gig, the people I was with seemed to think Masonna was incredibly funny, and taken on that level, he certainly did make for a bemusing performance. But when taken into context of hype, reputation, and the fact that he can only manage to play for about 5 minutes, if you were take Masonna seriously you would probably think he was pretty pathetic – I certainly came away with that conclusion.
Saturday started during the day with a panel conversation about the themes of the Subcurrent festival. With Keenan’s absence, it fell to one of his colleagues from The Wire to chair the discussion, while he had been pencilled in as a guest. The list of guests had been left open, so it was uncertain who would be on hand for the discussion. The result was that the conversation was pretty limited, being represented by Moslang and Sauter and two members of Double Leopards. So that effectively only two of the weekends acts were represented. The conversation also tended to dwell a little too heavily on improv, and perhaps unsurprisingly had a large proportion of pretension. However, given how bad this part of the weekend could have been, the results were actually not too bad.
A couple of hours later, though with three acts tonight, an hour earlier than the previous evenings, the first performance was by Space Machines. Against a kaleidoscopic back drop Maso Yamazaki (=Masonna) took to the stage with his girlfriend. With limited electronics and theremin the pair produced limited sounds. Pulsing oscillations, filtering up and down, in a particularly repetitive and unimaginative fashion. Space Machines quickly became tedious, especially knowing that with the sound palette on hand, they could have done considerably more with it. having seem Yamazaki perform under two incarnations, the question really does come up – how is this man taken seriously?
With comparisons to The Sun-Burned Hand of Man, and some of the more pretentious statements from the discussion, I was a little wary of Double Leopards. And the suggestion that the only reason they were on the bill was because one of the members played with Current 93, probably didn’t help. In the end though, the Double Leopards played quite a decent and atmospheric set. Two guys and two girls on stage, with a couple of guitars, mics, pedals, and a box of tricks, they layered together a textured and improvised sequence of sound. At times perhaps going on a little too much, but on the whole reasonably pleasing.
The festival was then concluded by Kontakt der Jünlinge, a collaboration between veteran experimental musician Asmus Tietchens and the younger Thomas Koner. Sat behind a couple of tables filled with gear, Tietchens in particular just about disappearing, the duo played big, bass heavy ambient. Their set was started by a water logged piece, a trickling atmosphere which encompassed the entire room. This was a long piece, the longest of their set, and with that and the little variation overall, it perhaps went on over long. But with the other pieces and the build towards the climax of their set Kontakt der Jünlinge were likely to have pleased most fans of dark ambient/atmospheric sound track work.
The first night of the event is a focus on the Japanese artist Nobukazu Takemura, taking in the last night of a full UK tour. Apparently the only night of the three night festival to be sold out – as a result CCA:5, which is seated for the event, is rather busy – so that the group of 7 of us who have turned up for this struggle to get seats close together. Nobukazu Takemura is billed as doing an improvised lap top set first, so he takes to the stage, joined by another Japanese guy and girl – the girl seems to be in charge of the visuals, using a computer set up on the same table as Nobukazu Takemura’s laptop, the guy providing live drumming. This set probably could have been good, certainly I’ve heard a couple of Nobukazu Takemura’s albums and they have been decent. However much of this lap top set is overloaded by the drums. The live improvised drums dominate the set and become quite annoying, at least for me. The electronics of the lap top are quite lower case at times, and even when they become more audible they are abstract sounding – crackles, pops, buzzes, and the like. The two sounds just don’t mix, so that much of the audience becomes restless, increasingly chatty as the set progresses. For me I was wishing the drummer would go away, ruining what chance there was of this set working at all.
After a brief interval Nobukazu Takemura’s band took to the stage as Child’s View. I’ve heard one album by this project, which was quite a nice mix of electronics and vocals, quirky and childish, light hearted and fun. In this live setting we have Matt Lux of Isotope 217, playing double bass, and bass guitar, along with Michael Jorgenson of Wilco, playing keyboard and guitar. The drummer from the previous set, Jun Nagami, returns to play drums again, while also periodically helping out Anna Mizoguchi who plays the marimba and similar, while also providing some vocals along with main vocalist Aki Tsyuoko, who seems to also have a keyboard unit set up in front of her. Nobukazu Takemura himself has lap tops set up still, though he seems to make little use of them, instead playing guitar, and periodically joining Nagami and Mizoguchi on the marimba. Initially Child’s View suffer from the same problem as the lap top set, the drums are too high in the mix, so that for the first couple of tracks all we are really getting is the drums and vocals, with the instruments of the rest of the band disappearing somewhat into the background. as the set went on though, this became less of a problem, especially with Nagami switching to the marimba. This allowed more of the delicate and beguiling melodies to filter through. For the most part the set tended towards the playful, with at least one track from the album I am familiar with being played. However at times the set degenerated into a more abstract and random territory. Though it was clear throughout from the way that each member of the band made sure they kept track of their sheet music that the entire set was particularly scripted. Personally, while I found that Child’s View had their moments, they were on the whole a little disappointing, leaving me a little dissatisfied with the night as a whole.
On the Friday the performances where more noise orientated. Unlike the night before I met the folk that I knew who were going at the venue, timing it so that we were there for the doors opening. The staff were quite keen to make sure folk were aware of just how loud this event was going to be, by handing out ear plugs to everyone as they went in – in some countries ear plugs are readily available, here it is something of a rarity to be presented with them. Along with this we could hear staff talking about the sound checks in hushed tones. This all lead to some serious expectations. Masonna, a notorious Japanese noise performer, was given smaller billing on the ticket, so we expected him to perform first. Especially with warnings of the extremity of his set, and how as a result it would be particularly short. However Norbert Moslang, ex-Voice Crack, and Jim Sauter, ex- Borbetomagus, took to the stage first. Moslang and Sauter played quite a noisy set, and on reflection this is perhaps what the staff were talking about. Bass heavy, and filled with rumbling and distorted details, their set was enjoyable for the textures they created. Moslang playing with a table top of toys and electronic items, and magnetic fields. By contrast Sauter was playing saxophone, with a variety of mouth pieces, and a mic down the mouth of the instrument feeding into an array of distortion pedals. Their set probably went on a little too long, but I seemed to be in the minority of the people I knew by thinking it wasn’t bad.
There was then a short interval, short enough that people were not going to be let out. It had been about 8.10 when Moslang and Sauter went on stage, by the time Masonna had finished, and we had got into the bar, it was 9.10. Masonna has a reputation, and that to be honest is about all I could tell you. He is always listed up there with the likes of Merzbow, but at least with Merzbow I had heard some of his stuff before seeing him live. With Masonna I wasn’t sure what to expect, though from the festival promotion I was reading “psychedelic noise rocker”, “an explosive combination of punk performance art and electronics”, “physically demanding nature of his performances”, and “ferociously inventive”. Which is to say pure hype, the kind of hype that also surrounded the likes of Merzbow and Whitehouse when they played Instal in December. Like then it turned out Masonna was nothing more than hype, with a half dozen Marshall amps at the back of the stage, a couple of distortion pedals and a mic Masonna created noise. Clutching some kind of mic/black box thing in his hand, he waved his arms about, threw himself about the stage, and occasionally shouted “mother fuckers” into the mic in a style entirely reminiscent of Whitehouse. Like the Whitehouse gig, the people I was with seemed to think Masonna was incredibly funny, and taken on that level, he certainly did make for a bemusing performance. But when taken into context of hype, reputation, and the fact that he can only manage to play for about 5 minutes, if you were take Masonna seriously you would probably think he was pretty pathetic – I certainly came away with that conclusion.
Saturday started during the day with a panel conversation about the themes of the Subcurrent festival. With Keenan’s absence, it fell to one of his colleagues from The Wire to chair the discussion, while he had been pencilled in as a guest. The list of guests had been left open, so it was uncertain who would be on hand for the discussion. The result was that the conversation was pretty limited, being represented by Moslang and Sauter and two members of Double Leopards. So that effectively only two of the weekends acts were represented. The conversation also tended to dwell a little too heavily on improv, and perhaps unsurprisingly had a large proportion of pretension. However, given how bad this part of the weekend could have been, the results were actually not too bad.
A couple of hours later, though with three acts tonight, an hour earlier than the previous evenings, the first performance was by Space Machines. Against a kaleidoscopic back drop Maso Yamazaki (=Masonna) took to the stage with his girlfriend. With limited electronics and theremin the pair produced limited sounds. Pulsing oscillations, filtering up and down, in a particularly repetitive and unimaginative fashion. Space Machines quickly became tedious, especially knowing that with the sound palette on hand, they could have done considerably more with it. having seem Yamazaki perform under two incarnations, the question really does come up – how is this man taken seriously?
With comparisons to The Sun-Burned Hand of Man, and some of the more pretentious statements from the discussion, I was a little wary of Double Leopards. And the suggestion that the only reason they were on the bill was because one of the members played with Current 93, probably didn’t help. In the end though, the Double Leopards played quite a decent and atmospheric set. Two guys and two girls on stage, with a couple of guitars, mics, pedals, and a box of tricks, they layered together a textured and improvised sequence of sound. At times perhaps going on a little too much, but on the whole reasonably pleasing.
The festival was then concluded by Kontakt der Jünlinge, a collaboration between veteran experimental musician Asmus Tietchens and the younger Thomas Koner. Sat behind a couple of tables filled with gear, Tietchens in particular just about disappearing, the duo played big, bass heavy ambient. Their set was started by a water logged piece, a trickling atmosphere which encompassed the entire room. This was a long piece, the longest of their set, and with that and the little variation overall, it perhaps went on over long. But with the other pieces and the build towards the climax of their set Kontakt der Jünlinge were likely to have pleased most fans of dark ambient/atmospheric sound track work.
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