AMPLIFY 2011: stones

[Jason Brogan]

One thing I take from all of this stellar reportage (thanks dudes) is that Taku Unami likes both Deathspell Omega and Dawn of The Dead. And that makes me oddly happy.

he promised me a list of black metal bands he's into, I will bug him for that soon.

I am the only one getting weary of this? It seems to be a matter of course these days. Of course, I work a lot with Weasel Walter, who, along with Kevin Drumm (actually, insipiered by KD) was one of the earliest to cite black metal as an inlfunce for improv.
I guess I am just tired of every other "Brooklyn based" "band" citing Black Metal and Gregorian chant as sources. Both have some good informaiton but neither are as naughty or radical as people seem to want them to be. End of grumpy rant.

What Brooklyn-based bands, aside from Krallice and Liturgy, are citing those sources?

There is a lot of interesting theoretical work around black metal being done right now, and I'm certainly able to make connections between Unami's work and this theoretical work:

http://blackmetaltheory.blogspot.com/
http://helvetejournal.org/

[jon abbey]

not sure what there is to be "weary of", dude likes black metal, just like Kevin Drumm. I don't think for either Unami or Drumm, it especially informs their improvising, or most of it anyway. I love DJ Screw and UGK, but not sure there's a glimmer of that in the Erst catalog, outside of the title of the Toshi/English record.

on a side note, Radu was very impressed with Drumm's contributions to the recent European trio shows they did with Lucio Capece, so I doubt there was any black metal influence evident there.

edit: crosspost with Jason B, who disagrees with me on Unami. I might be wrong, dunno.

[Damon_Smith]

I love DJ Screw and UGK, but not sure there's a glimmer of that in the Erst catalog, outside of the title of the Toshi/English record.

Well, thanks to David Dove I have heard plenty of Screw! I don't know which direction it goes (meaning Iam not sure at what point you heard DJ Screw), but it makes perfect sense with your work as producer, the scale, the sonic concept, etc. Obviously, it is another kind of music with different social concepts, but I'd say DJ Screw's music isn't really out of step with your catalog.

[jon abbey]

yeah, I didn't hear any Houston hiphop until maybe 2005, when Erst was already pretty established, so it might make sense (and I take that as a compliment, thanks), but I don't think it's really an influence.

[William Hutson]

The first interview I ever read with Unami— perhaps the earliest written in English— was in one of those IMJ magazines. On two occasions he described his music in terms of horror films, once referring to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and later to Eaten Alive. During his set with Malfatti at Amplify, he balanced a paperback book on its end to support a tape measure— that book was a first edition paperback of Thomas Ligotti's collection Grimscribe (which is waaaay out of print and fetches $100 on ebay). When I commented on the book, Unami also mentioned that during the festival, he took the time to visit H.P. Lovecraft's grave in Rhode Island. Which is all to say that I don't think Unami's interest in horror film/fiction, or horror-inspired metal music is new, or dilettantish, or inspired by any perceived trends. His fandom appears genuine (if that's something fandom can ever be/not be...?). As to whether or not it informs his improvising: well, there's some hilarious/awesome tremolo picking in the middle of Teatro Assente (an album which is itself named for a different Ligotti story...).

[billygomberg]

Unami also mentioned that during the festival, he took the time to visit H.P. Lovecraft's grave in Rhode Island.

this in particular now makes me sad that I didn't try and wrangle a conversation out of him.

[leroysghost]

visiting Lovecraft's grave in '07 is part of Hose's brief english bio on their website (not to mention 47°9'S, 126°43'W)

the Unami/Mattin zombie album thanks Herbert West (terrible Lovecraft story but great movie)

[faster]

Yeah, Taku's genuinely into horror/zombie stuff and has been forever.

[free math]

Wednesday, 9/7, first set

I arrived just after performance start time, to enter a very dark, very full and very hot and humid room for Keith Rowe and Taku Unami's duo performance. I found a seat next to a dark stranger in the back of the house, which would turn out to be an alright place to be. Again, others have described the performance. Taku was seen assembling his cardboard villages again, more or less similar to his solo set the night before. And Keith's familiar buzzing and scraping sounds were somewhat present, but running through it all, a strangely robotic voice was heard dryly reciting a text. After a few minutes it became apparent that it was a text-to-speech converter "voice." The text itself was pretty interesting. A fair amount of it was stuff I'd learned before, but it was well written and proceeded through basic acoustical science in order to tie that in with social and psychological factors, with a seeming intent to dispel commonly held assumptions and artifacts of ethnocentrism. One interesting assertion was that anyone who claims to be musically talentless, or "have no ear for music," is doing themselves a disservice by not recognizing the complex thought processes that are necessary to interpret the most commonplace of musics. This was interesting alongside a performance that could probably be equally well interpreted through a lens of musical history and theory by someone who is familiar with the work of Keith Rowe et al, as it could by a neophyte, a tourist, or whoever came in off the street. That is to say, the performance was just what it seemed to be, and I don't think anyone's knowledge of Fluxus, or of who the text's author was, or what Keith and Taku have done leading up to this, would lead them to understand it better.

Taku's building process (although my memory fails) was similar up to the point when he took the rope outside of the venue door and presumably walked down the sidewalk or across the street. He toppled his structure by remote control, somehow sparing Keith's table and the mic stands of any damage. Then he came back and opened and closed the door to the venue several times. This is when I felt lucky to be sitting in back, as the slivers surrounding the opaque covering on the door's glass pane let white and red light through from the street, projected onto the wall. The moving slivers of light on the wall became a little private (and probably improvised) show at the back of the venue, and the visual of it was genuinely striking. I forget how the duo performance ended exactly.

The various components added up to be more than sufficient in holding my interest in a hot, dark room. The content of the text itself contributed a fair amount to that, since Keith's musical contributions around it weren't necessarily gripping (from where I was, a long ways from his amp and with not much line of sight). And it was nice that both members of the duo gave contributions that were subtly playing with what was expected of them.

[Jacques Oger]

...
on a side note, Radu was very impressed with Drumm's contributions to the recent European trio shows they did with Lucio Capece, so I doubt there was any black metal influence evident there.
....

I attended one of their gigs, I can confirm

[Jacques Oger]

The first interview I ever read with Unami— perhaps the earliest written in English— was in one of those IMJ magazines. On two occasions he described his music in terms of horror films, once referring to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and later to Eaten Alive.....

The Malignitat CD has this strong oppression feeling

[Keith Rowe]

Hello again
Jon quite correctly questioned my last contribution. as to its usefulness.
I guess any comments significance is in part in the eye of the beholder, what I was hoping to say (clumsily) refers to the notion that the present is to be judged by placing it within the past, that the whole of the past is contained within the present, and the past is continually altered by the present. therefore to asses the present we need a longer and more measured view.
Jon asks do I include my own work in my statement? I do, I’m totally prepared to face the reality that everything I’ve done is in that dustbin, along with almost everyone else’s.

To work (for many of us) is a compulsive disorder, for me to perform is extremely painful, akin to visiting the abyss, for example after the Stone 9/11 performance I felt as if I had committed these murders myself, deep down I felt depressed, alone, abandoned, it took me days to recover, before a performance I need to negotiate and circumnavigate the conflicted contributions offered up by my emotions. I can not describe how uneasy
I feel, its horrible.

That distorting mirror effect is to be found all over the place, and perhaps I should have made it clear I was not shining the spotlight and isolating Amplify 2011 in this regard.
it’s a part of my own distorting mirror that I view everything like this. We all have them.

all the best
Keith

[Jesse]

jesus, not sure i'd do anything, if i approached it with that sort of existential freight.

[jkudler]

jesus, not sure i'd do anything, if i approached it with that sort of existential freight.

i think i've asked brian o about this, but i keep forgetting to ask keith when i see him, but didn't he quit music for a time?

in any case, i think what keith is describing seems fairly common, maybe differing in degree if not kind.

To work (for many of us) is a compulsive disorder

-j.

[Jesse]

in any case, i think what keith is describing seems fairly common, maybe differing in degree if not kind.

-j.

to be clear, i understand musicians who have said to me [as my dad did, i was raised by two working musicians] at times performing is painful, i have some serious doubts about my work, internal quandries and ambivalence on that order - those issues are, of course, not the domain solely of the music vocation.

but,
to perform is extremely painful, akin to visiting the abyss...
I felt as if I had committed these murders myself...
deep down I felt depressed, alone, abandoned...
it took me days to recover...
I can not describe how uneasy
I feel, its horrible.

is pretty tortured, and paired with keith's dust-bin assessment, i think the question why play? is valid.
if it is reduced to a clinical malady like *compulsive disorder*, yeah, i'd lay it down and seek a less tortured way.
\my hope is rowe actually enjoys himself more than his dire report would indicate.
what i don't buy is anyone makes art that tortured because it must be made. so i am speculating here.

[jkudler]

well, i think a 9/11 10-yr anniversary performance is a bit of a special case too. . .

[Jesse]

i have re-read keith's post, not sure he is limiting his remarks about his feelings on performing to the 9/11 concert. he says performance is extremely painful and akin to visiting the abyss before he gets to the 9/11 gig. of course the 9/11 event was heavy, i get that, short of understanding a musician stating i felt like i had committed those murders myself.

[jon abbey]

I think even before the specifics of a 9/11/11 set in Manhattan, AMPLIFY fests tend to amplify a performer's emotions, especially for solo sets. anyone who attended the Lescalleet solo the week before saw how emotional he was at the start of his set during his spoken introduction (largely because of personal circumstances, but still), and Toshi also was more on edge than I think I've ever seen him going into his solo set.

[Wombatz]

(Dustbin of history made from 18-karat gold by James Rosenquist.)

[Damon_Smith]

Houston has to send a big thank you for the spill-over from the fest. There was a wonderful workshop, concert & some amazing conversations with Keith this last week, and Annette is here next week!