"EAI" originated as shorthand for electroacoustic improvisation, but I don't really connect it to that anymore. it just demarcates a general area, which doesn't have to have electronics, doesn't have to have acoustic instruments, and doesn't have to be improvised.
given my taste and Chris' taste and Tim's gradual move towards electronics in many of his projects, it's almost surprising there were as many acoustic musicians as there were as opposed to the opposite. I count at least one acoustic musician in 10 of the 20 sets. besides Jesse's list, there were also Radu and Joe in his trio set.
ErstQuake 3
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user_2759
Hey Jon,
Different strokes for whatever, you know? It was 24 to get in and you get a free drink. I don't drink, so I paid $6 for a coke. I can't bitch if the musicians saw a good chunk of it. I know what goes into doing shit like this, and I think people should be prepared to pay whether they like the resuulting music or not. So, thanks...
As for the assertions that I might have gotten a seat if I'd tried harder, I guess I'm too old or too shy to push very hard.
Thank you for presenting this music.
Different strokes for whatever, you know? It was 24 to get in and you get a free drink. I don't drink, so I paid $6 for a coke. I can't bitch if the musicians saw a good chunk of it. I know what goes into doing shit like this, and I think people should be prepared to pay whether they like the resuulting music or not. So, thanks...
As for the assertions that I might have gotten a seat if I'd tried harder, I guess I'm too old or too shy to push very hard.
Thank you for presenting this music.
i have to agree with reuben. thursday night was no problem getting a seat, but saturday night i waited well over an hour outside and still didnt get a seat. stood thru the first set then remembered my lawn chairs in the trunk of my car. age has nothing to do with it - no way would i stand thru 4 hours of eai after waiting an hour and a half on line. i really enjoyed the electro-acoustic sets, not so much the noise, tonic - not a great place for this, but i understand jon's position and he did a great job. tonic, however should spring for some more fucking chairs.
barrychabala.com
I found myself really liking the acoustic contributions, against what I would've assumed.. because I'm into electronic sounds but realized that analog electronics often yield a limited palette (keeping in mind musicians are limiting themselves on purpose).jon abbey wrote:given my taste and Chris' taste and Tim's gradual move towards electronics in many of his projects, it's almost surprising there were as many acoustic musicians as there were as opposed to the opposite. I count at least one acoustic musician in 10 of the 20 sets. besides Jesse's list, there were also Radu and Joe in his trio set.
acoustics - that barnes/jerman/meehan set really floored me... and kai on clarinet, and so on.
One thing that surprised me: no prepared guitars.. or other stringed instruments for that matter. Sure there was Stangl, but he plays (well, mind you) in a more typical way.
but hey - Jon - I wouldn't have changed a thing!
Most excellent!jon abbey wrote:in a real shocker, I do actually have a guitarist in mind for next year, top of my list.SeventhHarmonic wrote:One thing that surprised me: no prepared guitars.. or other stringed instruments for that matter.
I've been wanting to catch Yngwie Malmsteen live. I hear he can bend a power chord into a rainbow of colours.
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user_997
correct term is "rainbow wailing," i believeSeventhHarmonic wrote:Most excellent!jon abbey wrote:in a real shocker, I do actually have a guitarist in mind for next year, top of my list.SeventhHarmonic wrote:One thing that surprised me: no prepared guitars.. or other stringed instruments for that matter.
I've been wanting to catch Yngwie Malmsteen live. I hear he can bend a power chord into a rainbow of colours.
The dramatic return of Lampo Man!
My favorite combination in "eai" is acoustic insturments surrounded by electric. There are of course plenty of all electronic or all acoustic groupings that I love, but that is the combo that appeals so much to me.
My favorite combination in "eai" is acoustic insturments surrounded by electric. There are of course plenty of all electronic or all acoustic groupings that I love, but that is the combo that appeals so much to me.
"Please everybody, if we haven't done what we could have done, we've tried"
Jon, you obviously have to pair him with Mattin.SeventhHarmonic wrote:Most excellent!jon abbey wrote:in a real shocker, I do actually have a guitarist in mind for next year, top of my list.SeventhHarmonic wrote:One thing that surprised me: no prepared guitars.. or other stringed instruments for that matter.
I've been wanting to catch Yngwie Malmsteen live. I hear he can bend a power chord into a rainbow of colours.
WHY I LOVED PHIL & JASON'S SET SO MUCH:
I think too many people were immediately put off by the fact that this wasn't a "true" duo (in the improv sense, at least) to get themselves in the right mindset for this performance. But in actuality, this was very much a duo. It was obvious the two had clearly communicated and composed this together in advance.
The thing i loved most about this was the symbolism throughout, one of the few sets with some weight to it other than just improvising. (Schnee and Mattin's sets are the only others I can think of off the top of my head right now.) First and foremost there was the generational passing of the torch: the older gentleman first, younger gentleman picking up where he left off. Phil's portion being quite mellow by his standards had to be a set-up so that the contrast between the two would be all the more apparent. And of course it makes me happy that Phil sees noise - or composed noise, 'thinking noise' - as a worthy heir to his works.
Under that though, there was the elemental and existensial symbolism. Jason putting on the Aube t-shirt (who changes shirts on stage?) definitely got me thinking about that. Nice visual clue there.The water drops ran throughout the performance were the perfect "Does any of this matter?" symbol. Time marches on, the earth will be around when we (and all these sounds) are long gone. Maybe not the deepest thought in the world, but definitely something that a fest of this nature could use. I hope Jasone doesn't mind my quoting a personal email here: "you are not reading too much. i died upon my tapes as i held the loop still. laying motionless and quiet while the water still poured from the p.a."
If they'd been last, it would have been a perfect end to the festival. As it stands, it was still one of the only sets that got me really thinking and made me feel intimately involved. I can't express enough how much I enjoyed it.
I think too many people were immediately put off by the fact that this wasn't a "true" duo (in the improv sense, at least) to get themselves in the right mindset for this performance. But in actuality, this was very much a duo. It was obvious the two had clearly communicated and composed this together in advance.
The thing i loved most about this was the symbolism throughout, one of the few sets with some weight to it other than just improvising. (Schnee and Mattin's sets are the only others I can think of off the top of my head right now.) First and foremost there was the generational passing of the torch: the older gentleman first, younger gentleman picking up where he left off. Phil's portion being quite mellow by his standards had to be a set-up so that the contrast between the two would be all the more apparent. And of course it makes me happy that Phil sees noise - or composed noise, 'thinking noise' - as a worthy heir to his works.
Under that though, there was the elemental and existensial symbolism. Jason putting on the Aube t-shirt (who changes shirts on stage?) definitely got me thinking about that. Nice visual clue there.The water drops ran throughout the performance were the perfect "Does any of this matter?" symbol. Time marches on, the earth will be around when we (and all these sounds) are long gone. Maybe not the deepest thought in the world, but definitely something that a fest of this nature could use. I hope Jasone doesn't mind my quoting a personal email here: "you are not reading too much. i died upon my tapes as i held the loop still. laying motionless and quiet while the water still poured from the p.a."
If they'd been last, it would have been a perfect end to the festival. As it stands, it was still one of the only sets that got me really thinking and made me feel intimately involved. I can't express enough how much I enjoyed it.
Nice post, Mike, definitely a good analysis of what was going on in that set. I admit to being a bit jittery and bored during Niblock's portion, but it clearly was necessary as the buildup for Lescalleet's (exceptional) half.shiflet wrote: Under that though, there was the elemental and existensial symbolism. Jason putting on the Aube t-shirt (who changes shirts on stage?) definitely got me thinking about that. Nice visual clue there.The water drops ran throughout the performance were the perfect "Does any of this matter?" symbol. Time marches on, the earth will be around when we (and all these sounds) are long gone. Maybe not the deepest thought in the world, but definitely something that a fest of this nature could use. I hope Jasone doesn't mind my quoting a personal email here: "you are not reading too much. i died upon my tapes as i held the loop still. laying motionless and quiet while the water still poured from the p.a."
I wonder if Lescalleet had the Aube/water connection in mind, that certainly ran through my head when all those processed water sounds started burbling. Also, Lescalleet was in a sense "using" Niblock's sounds in much the same way as Aube uses natural sound sources. So I think you're right that the t-shirt changing was a very deliberate visual c(l)ue, though a pretty esoteric one since you'd pretty much have to own that box set to even know that was an Aube shirt.
i loved niblock's set. my only problem with it was that it wasnt loud enough and there was no bass (thanks to the wimpy tonic sub). and the mix was a little uneven. i was surprised to hear phill mixing in those field recordings into his usual drone material. to me he seems to be a real purist about his drone music and thats why he does it so well. i talked to phill afterwards and he said it was a live mix of a few different older pieces of his. somebody shouldve gotten a picture of phil checking his decibel meter during his own set.
i didnt really enjoy lescaleet's set all that much. ive never heard him perform live but my main problem was that his portion was way too long (in general, i felt almost all the sets at eq3 were too long) and developed way too slowly for the sounds that he was using. also it seemed he was feeling his way through the set and wasnt totally prepared ahead of time (switching cables, moving stuff around, etc). you could see his musical thought process in action which was something i didnt like in this case. but i was told that this is what he normally does. i also think he had too much gear for the amount of sound / complexity / development of the set that he was doing. the set he did couldve easily been achieved using 1 laptop probably. i dont like lots of gear for gear's sake even though i know that tape loops and casio samplers are jason's thing, maybe he didnt need the 2 laptops?. i think he knocked the wind out of jazkamer by doing that intensely loud wall of noise for the last part of his set. im sure lasse and john were wondering how to follow that up. maybe the niblock / lescaleet shouldve been last on the fest afterall (wasnt it originally planned that way?)
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i didnt really enjoy lescaleet's set all that much. ive never heard him perform live but my main problem was that his portion was way too long (in general, i felt almost all the sets at eq3 were too long) and developed way too slowly for the sounds that he was using. also it seemed he was feeling his way through the set and wasnt totally prepared ahead of time (switching cables, moving stuff around, etc). you could see his musical thought process in action which was something i didnt like in this case. but i was told that this is what he normally does. i also think he had too much gear for the amount of sound / complexity / development of the set that he was doing. the set he did couldve easily been achieved using 1 laptop probably. i dont like lots of gear for gear's sake even though i know that tape loops and casio samplers are jason's thing, maybe he didnt need the 2 laptops?. i think he knocked the wind out of jazkamer by doing that intensely loud wall of noise for the last part of his set. im sure lasse and john were wondering how to follow that up. maybe the niblock / lescaleet shouldve been last on the fest afterall (wasnt it originally planned that way?)
-gd
since this has become a kind of public record for the fest, and since no one has mentioned it yet (understandably, quite a bit to take in this weekend), I wanted to note that before the first set of the first night, I dedicated this year's edition to Derek Bailey, for whom Tonic became a second home towards the end of his life. RIP, sir.
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user_2274
This is easily the most ignorant comment i've read in this thread.gtd wrote: the set he did couldve easily been achieved using 1 laptop
I'm surprised to read that Lescalleet used a laptop at all. Usually, he brings an entire garage sale of equipment. Shame on him for paring down for the festival! What a sellout.