ErstQuake 3

[jkudler]

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?.

-gd

heh! you dislike everything that makes his music his! it's all about all the keyboards, tape machines, etc. i don't think there's a plug-in that will do what those tape machines do, either.

yeah, every time i've seen jason he's moving around and unplugging stuff, which i actually really like. i was thinking about it during his set - his whole style is kinda un-cool and almost performative in how it bucks the normal performance protocols (looking super-focused, not fucking around with cables and jacks, no wandering around the stage). it makes me think about performance in general and the significace of what he does in particular.

i liked their set, but maybe not as much as i might have hoped given the pairing. i agree that niblock's music wasn't as full as i might have liked. and i've been lucky enough to see lescalleet several times, and i didn't think was his best (though still very strong). mike, you might be correct about what they were evoking/symbolising, but i still think the dripping water came off a bit cliched.

-jesse

[jon abbey]

maybe people don't get quite what an immovable boulder phill is. this was the first time he'd ever collaborated in any kind of live improvisational setting, and this was the first time jason used a computer live.

as for phill's music being too soft in the solo part (which I thought at the time also), he was doing something right. yuko said that it was still in her head a few days later, and she sat up front for the whole jazkamer set after that, plus the houndstooth sets the next night.

[gtd]

i understand that tape loops and casio samplers are jason's thing and no doubt he does that really well. and i know thats a big part of his sound and computers cant replicate the analog crunchiness of tape and casios, etc. i guess what im saying is that he couldve achieved the same results with less equipment, be it 1 laptop or a couple of tape machines. all of the gear and moving around and time spent plugging stuff in and getting stuff set up distracted me from the music and made the evolution of the set really slow and drawn out. like he was spending a lot of time setting things up during the set instead of working directly with the music and shaping that. i felt like i was waiting for jason to get everything set up and going for each transition and section of the set. maybe he shouldve left the laptops at home and focused on making music with the tape machines and casios. (according to shiflet, this was the first time jason has ever used laptops live?). maybe had jason's set been 20 minutes long, i wouldve really liked it. i dunno. for me, it didnt balance well with niblock's set at all.

heh! you dislike everything that makes his music his! it's all about all the keyboards, tape machines, etc. i don't think there's a plug-in that will do what those tape machines do, either.

yeah, every time i've seen jason he's moving around and unplugging stuff, which i actually really like. i was thinking about it during his set - his whole style is kinda un-cool and almost performative in how it bucks the normal performance protocols (looking super-focused, not fucking around with cables and jacks, no wandering around the stage). it makes me think about performance in general and the significace of what he does in particular.

[sevenarts]

i understand that tape loops and casio samplers are jason's thing and no doubt he does that really well. and i know thats a big part of his sound and computers cant replicate the analog crunchiness of tape and casios, etc. i guess what im saying is that he couldve achieved the same results with less equipment, be it 1 laptop or a couple of tape machines. all of the gear and moving around and time spent plugging stuff in and getting stuff set up distracted me from the music and made the evolution of the set really slow and drawn out. like he was spending a lot of time setting things up during the set instead of working directly with the music and shaping that. i felt like i was waiting for jason to get everything set up and going for each transition and section of the set. maybe he shouldve left the laptops at home and focused on making music with the tape machines and casios. (according to shiflet, this was the first time jason has ever used laptops live?). maybe had jason's set been 20 minutes long, i wouldve really liked it. i dunno. for me, it didnt balance well with niblock's set at all.

I can understand where you're coming from, but I would say that the "performative" aspect of Lescalleet's music is what really makes it for me. It struck me while watching his set, particularly this time, that he acts very unconventionally for a musician, even one within the spectrum of music we all saw last weekend. I don't think it's fair to say that he doesn't spend time shaping the music, as if all his careful preparation and setting up wasn't an integral part of his music. All he does when he's on stage is geared towards shaping the music. It sounds like you're making the "gear whore" accusation towards him, but I think that couldn't possibly be further from the truth. Lescalleet's huge setup (no laptops usually, but that was probably a nod to Niblock more than anything) is in a sense the raw material from which he assembles his music.

He acts more like a builder than an improviser, it's almost like watching the process of composition in motion. He presents a very visual presentation of composing -- moving blocks of sounds around, crafting layers, setting up future movements to bring in later. With him, more than with any other improviser I can think of, his every movement and action is a visible externalization of his thought process. He's also the only improviser I can think of who makes "the future" such a big part of his musical process, rather than just acting in the moment. Well -- I'm sure *every* improviser is thinking and planning for the future to some extent as well, but none make it as explicit as Lescalleet does, and none seem to plan quite as thoroughly. It brings him a few steps closer to being a composer, since in a sense he's always "composing" the next steps in the music by shifting around cables and making all these miniscule changes to his setup. I don't think you could ever separate Lescalleet's music from his working process and retain much of what makes it so unique. You simply didn't enjoy the music, so it makes sense that you wouldn't enjoy the process either. I for one thought Lescalleet's music was a real highlight of the fest.


And I'd just like to point out how great it is that this fest has triggered all this discussion -- that alone is sign of a job well done, as far as I'm concerned, so take a bow Jon & Chris & Tim.

[user_2274]

like he was spending a lot of time setting things up during the set instead of working directly with the music and shaping that.

gtd, I think you're missing something about Jason's live action. The "setting up" you're talking about is actually his live capturing of samples. He runs mics or direct feeds to his various tape decks and sampling keyboards, grabbing sounds live. He's "setting up" by choosing the right sounds for loops etc., then "setting up" by patching those machines to the mixer or amps. (sample/audition/edit/loop/repeat...)
I heard that at EQ2, he was even cutting and splicing tapeloops live.

Also, I definitely appreciate his slow and deliberate pace. Try catching him in a solo performance.

maybe had jason's set been 20 minutes long, i wouldve really liked it.

How long did Lescalleet play solo? I thought they played three equal sets of solo/duo/solo at 10 - 15 minutes each.

[jon abbey]

I think the actual numbers were three roughly equal stretches of 20 minutes, solo/duo/solo, although it's hard to tell just where jason left phill behind (probably right around when he plugged his ears ). it was easily the longest set of the fest, I think nothing else was longer than around 40.

[gtd]

i didnt like his set for most of the reasons you outline below. however i have enjoyed some of lescaleet's records. and id like to see/hear him perform again which might clarify why & what i didnt really like about his EQ3 set. it was also at the end of the festival and i was already getting burnt out on the amount of music and length of all the sets, to have an hour long set right at the end was just too much for me.
-gd

I can understand where you're coming from, but I would say that the "performative" aspect of Lescalleet's music is what really makes it for me. It struck me while watching his set, particularly this time, that he acts very unconventionally for a musician, even one within the spectrum of music we all saw last weekend. I don't think it's fair to say that he doesn't spend time shaping the music, as if all his careful preparation and setting up wasn't an integral part of his music. All he does when he's on stage is geared towards shaping the music. It sounds like you're making the "gear whore" accusation towards him, but I think that couldn't possibly be further from the truth. Lescalleet's huge setup (no laptops usually, but that was probably a nod to Niblock more than anything) is in a sense the raw material from which he assembles his music.

He acts more like a builder than an improviser, it's almost like watching the process of composition in motion. He presents a very visual presentation of composing -- moving blocks of sounds around, crafting layers, setting up future movements to bring in later. With him, more than with any other improviser I can think of, his every movement and action is a visible externalization of his thought process. He's also the only improviser I can think of who makes "the future" such a big part of his musical process, rather than just acting in the moment. Well -- I'm sure *every* improviser is thinking and planning for the future to some extent as well, but none make it as explicit as Lescalleet does, and none seem to plan quite as thoroughly. It brings him a few steps closer to being a composer, since in a sense he's always "composing" the next steps in the music by shifting around cables and making all these miniscule changes to his setup. I don't think you could ever separate Lescalleet's music from his working process and retain much of what makes it so unique. You simply didn't enjoy the music, so it makes sense that you wouldn't enjoy the process either. I for one thought Lescalleet's music was a real highlight of the fest.

[mshiflet]

it seemed to me that there couldn't have been more than 5 minutes when both were playing. i thought it broke down to 20/5/40, but i was on jason's side of the stage so maybe i just couldn't hear the overlap for it's entirety. i guess the recordings will tell.

[free math]

in case anyone missed it, really great photos of almost every set here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/terencialdownpour/

[bobuffs]

some more photos here, as well:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ladd_halsey/

[faster]

wow, nice pictures

[user_2766]

yes, very nice pictures indeed! thank you for them.

[faster]

Okay, have a little time now:

As I said I was totally floored, as so many were, by Kai Fagaschinski. Lived up to my (high) expectations and then some. I was also totally smoked by Sean Meehan and Jeph Jerman, as players and as people. Really amazed by every choice Sean made as well as his palette. More into Jerman's palette than his choices, but the palette was enough for me I guess.

I thought the Radu/Mattin set was didactic and hackneyed, and wished I could have gotten up and snuck out to smoke grass without bothering anyone. I sorta think if you're going to sit and not play then people should be able to talk and do what they want to do, but given the circumstances, that would have been pretty unappreciated I'm sure. Man is Radu a slick-looking motherfucker though, eh?

I was impressed by how Kurzmann handled the duo with Ami - he didn't do the "easy" stuff, and some of it really didn't work for me, but some of it really did.

I was also totally blown away by how good Stangl is. I don't love what he does, but damn if he isn't a total fucking pro and a masterful guitarist. Also super dapper and quite the raconteur, even in English.

I was a little surprised by the controversy about the GOD set, which I liked a lot. Their second best set of the tour, after a HUGE set at AS220 in Providence in which they really activated every particle of air in the room (2 subs makes Leif a happy boy). Their thing has totally narrowed into that approach, but when it works, it works I think. I wasn't bothered at all by the recurrence of the rising tones. Bryan was an insufferable headphone geek for 2 days before that, getting that rising tone thing all set up in an effort to wash the taste of his duo with Barry out of his ears. He wasn't happy with that one, I guess.

I thought the Marhaug/Dilloway was more exciting than Dilloway solo or Jazkamer. I was a little disappointed by Dilloway, probably because I'd half expected to be super into what he did. He was good though; I think my reaction is on me in a sense. It felt like he tailored his approach to the festival a bit, which might have also been a factor.

I was disappointed by the Niblock/Lescalleet set. Also, maybe, on me rather than on them. I have my biases for sure.

Not at all into the Shiflet/Bernstein, skipped most of the Scenic Railroads. Not totally sure why, could have been ear fatigue, but I was just bored by both of them. Felt rote.

Cosmos also felt safe, but even a safe set from them has enough to interest me. In the last year I've really come around to what Sachiko does. She's a lot better than I'd given her credit for in the past, and is capable of some stunning choices. Ami, though, was WAY better with Christof.

Stangl made very interesting and often unexpected choices with Kai. I was pretty rapt for that set. Maybe not something I'd put on repeatedly at home, but in context it was powerful. The super flexible Stangl with the unswerving Fagaschinski = a very compelling performance of tugs and pulls, and I love how they both use a sort of ur-melody.

I was happy with our English set. I expected people to think it was safe, but it was really different from any night on the tour (actually, the tour shows varied so widely, weird). Bonnie Jones is for real. Second tour in a row in which she's kept me interested night-in, night-out.

Our trio with Sachiko was super tough for me, as I'm sure people noticed. I don't at all regret the decision to play acoustic. In the end, I let myself down a bit by underestimating Bonnie - in a way, those two played the set I'd hoped we'd play, but I didn't expect they'd pull it off so I didn't rise fully to the challenge. I got weird vibes from Sachiko, especially at the end, but the choices those two made were phenomenal and pushed the hell out of me. I think it was a good, tense, engaging set, but I'm a little let down because I know it could have been what I consider a great one, and I was the reason it didn't quite get there. As Sean said after, "Problem solving, problem solving..."

Amazing to meet and be complimented by Anthony Braxton and George Lewis in the space of a few days. Two real living titans who are just out of touch enough to be into what I do, hehe. They both bought all my shit, even when I offered to give it to them gratis. Gentlemen indeed. I've corresponded with George a bit as a result, and hope to continue.

I mentioned it before but it bears repeating: I was really pleased to meet and like so many of you guys! Had a chance to talk a bit with Tim Albro (great tour host in Philly too!), Grisha, Dave Quam, Kirby, Graham, Robert, Letcher, Steven Snailed, Richard K., Richard P., Olewnick (with whom I've really clashed in the past), Chris Wolf (what a fucking champ), Ernst Karel, Kudler, Panzner (y esposa), Nirav (who cooked us a seriously amazing lunch in Queens), Howie Stelzer, Greg Kelley, Jonathan Zorn & Rachel Thompsen, Andy Hayleck and probably more. Pretty good people, all of you, and almost wish I'd just been an audient so I'd have had more headspace to just chill, puff, and shoot the shit. Big props to those of you who came to my pre- and post- Quake shows in NYC (and Snailed who made it to the Wesleyan show, even!).

HUGE thanks to Jon, Tim, and Chris, who did a lot of work and took a financial hit to make this happen and who were nothing but gracious the entire time. This festival is so broad and ambitious. I doubt any other 3 people in the world could envisage, plan, and enact such an event. It's important, and it means a lot to the musicians. Thank you.

Also big thanks to Bryan Eubanks and especially Eleanor Eichenbaum for putting Leif and I up for so long in their very cramped apartment. Also thanks to Maria Chavez for hosting two shows of mine, one at her shop, one at her home. I was stoked to see some Portlanders made it out: Jonathan Sielaff ( a fine clarinetist, too) and David Hirvonen (guitarist, I don't know him or his music well), JP Jenkins (I think people know how I feel about him, if not, see homophoni 13).

More plenty thanks to other hosts on tour. People's gracious hospitality when I'm on tour never fails to bolster my sometimes-dwindling faith in humanity. The quality of music and listening I encountered for 3 weeks was humbling and inspiring.


I came home with bigger ears than I left with.


Thanks everybody.

[MRS]

Is Sachiko normally that "quiet" live? I broke my cherry at EQ and was just curious, a question doubtless informed that I always blare her on record.

[jon abbey]

Is Sachiko normally that "quiet" live? I broke my cherry at EQ and was just curious, a question doubtless informed that I always blare her on record.

she does generally prefer to be quiet, yes, although it depends somewhat on the context.

with sean, it made sense for her to just come out of her headphones on the table. cosmos she was through the PA, but they also prefer to play quietly (I turned up the master of 'tears' a fair amount which she had no issue with at the time, but argued with me about later a fair amount, I stand by that decision), and with english I thought she was pretty prominent, although I felt that set was pretty well intertwined until the end.

[jkudler]

re: lescalleet, just came across this, from an interview with jason kahn. also, i nominate jason kahn for next year's fest.

http://www.paristransatlantic.com/magaz ... /kahn.html" onclick= "window.open(this.href);return false;

"When I moved to Zürich there was so little going on musically that I decided to organise a series of concerts, "The Sonique Serie," which I held in various locations in the city for two years. Through those concerts I came in contact with many musicians, one of whom was Jason Lescalleet. He was scheduled to play in the Fall of 2001, but after 9/11 for various reasons the tour got cancelled. We stayed in contact, though, and I asked him to make a recording for Cut. Mattresslessness (Cut 008) was Jason's first solo release and it's one of my favourite Cut CDs. I really admire what Jason does because he works with sound from the inside out. He seems to go at sound like a sculptor goes at a piece of stone or clay, getting his hands dirty, taking the sound apart and looking at it three dimensionally, really paying attention to how the sound is working in an acoustic space. He doesn't seem to start with any preconceptions about what he wants to do - it's more like he sets up a system to work with the sound (old reel-to-reel decks, ancient effects boxes, etc.) and lets the system generate itself. He works with the outcome and builds with it. His work affects me on a very emotional level; it moves me. He's great to watch too: he's always moving around, from one machine to another, crawling around on the floor. We played together in Baltimore (that'll be released on Chloë this summer) and I really enjoyed it because there was no roadmap. I really had the feeling that the sound was unfolding around us, but that we weren't the central catalyst. It sounds more like a field recording than a concert. The sound is incidental, not directed, not performative; it's just there in the room and then at some point it's over. The idea of a "start" and a "stop" didn't seem applicable to me when we played together."

[jon abbey]

i nominate jason kahn for next year's fest.

there's not going to be an erstquake in 2007, too much time and money, and too little interest from NYC venues, crowds (the attendance overall was OK, but at least half was from out of town), and media.

I am hoping to do an AMPLIFY in vienna in either late 2007 or early 2008, and we may resume the erstquake series in 2008, we'll see.

[SOZ]

i nominate jason kahn for next year's fest.

there's not going to be an erstquake in 2007, too much time and money, and too little interest from NYC venues, crowds (the attendance overall was OK, but at least half was from out of town), and media.

Bummer.

[William Hutson]

sad.

in that case, i hope there will be lots of erstwhile, quakebasket and little enjoyer cds coming out next year to fill the void left in our hearts. sniff.

[jon abbey]

sergio, maybe you can make it to vienna, it'll be worth the trip. and like I said, we may resume the erstquake series in 2008, we'll see. someone was telling me about what sounded like a great potential venue this weekend, so who knows?