Jean-Francois Laporte

[Omon Ra]

Does anyone else like this guy as much as I do? I love his recordings on 23five, the "sax quartet" at the end blows my mind. His live shows are spectacular. There are some good samples on his webpage as well if you are curious.

[Dan Warburton]

.

[Stephen]

Does anyone else like this guy as much as I do?

Yes, me!

ditto

Soundmatters was one of the best things released last year. What does he do live?

[carlos]

the Mantra 3" cd is pretty great- i think that's all i have

[Joda]

I just listened to some samples on his website. Mantra sounds very nice! I'm surprised I've not heard of his work. Too bad I'm not in Montreal, he's playing tonight, tomorrow and the following day at the Darling Foundry.

[Omon Ra]

If you ever get the chance to see him perform, definitely go! It is a very unique powerful experience. He invited me into his sound studio next time I am in Montreal, I hope he remembers!

-Z

[aldo]

Does anyone else like this guy as much as I do?

Yes, me!

ditto

Soundmatters was one of the best things released last year. What does he do live?

I have seen him live several times.
He does sound installation, and play a piece with that... I remember a beautiful concert in the montains near where I live, where he improvised with some local musicians. It was cold, the strong alcooh was helpful, but it was really great.
And he played mantra on 8 speakers, very loud. Wonderful.

[Richard Pinnell]

OK I give in, I'll go get Soundmatters down off the shelf and listen to it again!

[sonoris]

Soundmatters is one of the best records released over the last years. It's a physical and sensual experience that don't need any speech to be appreciated (something like a Rothko painting). And 23five is definitely a great label.

[jcg]

And 23five is definitely a great label.

Word!

[Omon Ra]

Does anyone else like this guy as much as I do?

Yes, me!

ditto

Soundmatters was one of the best things released last year. What does he do live?

When I saw him live it was in a very open staircase, everyone sat on the steps at one floor or another. He had various PVC pipes placed strategically around the stairs. Each pipe had a membrane (balloon?) with compressed air flowing through it. He sat in the middle and had a small air tube going through a balloon, he stretched and pulled the balloon in his hand using it as a resonance filter. Anyways the sound was like 8hz at about 100db, it was loud and hypnotic. My whole body was vibrating to the music. It was a very sensual experience and definitely amazing. Highly recommended!

[tadk]

And 23five is definitely a great label.

Word!

I know only two 23five releases: Commonwealth and The Glass Sponge and I'd be very grateful for any recommendations for other interesting discs released on this label.

[cdeupree]

I'd be very grateful for any recommendations for other interesting discs released on this label.

Michael Gendreau's 55 pas de la ligne au no 3 is an interesting micro-turntable work, and I'd also recommend John Duncan and Carl Michael von Hausswolff's Our Telluric Conversation. The packaging for these two is pretty decent as well, with several turntable photos in the Gendreau and a long conversation transcipt between J.D. and C.M.v.H in a forty-page booklet.

[jcg]

I know only two 23five releases: Commonwealth and The Glass Sponge and I'd be very grateful for any recommendations for other interesting discs released on this label.

Commonwealth is a g-r-e-a-t disc!

23Five is a small label (at least for the moment) with such a few releases that you can probably collect 'em all!
Tarab's Wind Even Keeps Dust Away is quite solid as well, more in a field recording/sound ecology vein.
I was moderately convinced by the Chop Shop record and still don't understand why some people are so fond of this one.

Haven't heard Furudate/Karkowski's World As Will II yet but World As Will III (Sub Rosa) is soooo outstanding that it looks like a must have to me!

[kcorcoran]

these are 23Five essentials:

Duncan/Hausswolff Our Telluric Conversation a pretty gripping disc, and worth it just for the conversation booklet.
Karkowski/Furudate World As Will II great depth.
Francisco Lopez Live in San Francisco one of the more intense Lopez sets and probably one of his best.
Tim Catlin Radio Ghosts beautiful.

Haven't picked up Soundmatters or Commonwealth yet... once I'm working again maybe...

[Richard Pinnell]

I like the 23five label and enjoy a good number of their releases, but if you asked me to name any one that really stands out as an exceptional work I'd probably struggle to name one. Not mentioned here so far are the two double CDR sets of material taken from the Activating the Medium festival. A mixture of field recording related pieces, of which the Olivia Block tracks in particular are very good indeed.

I relistened to Soundmatters the other day, and yeah its pretty good, though the first piece, Electro-Prana, a work made using recordings of stormy winds whistling through doors and windows is very powerful and stands head and shoulders over the rest of the album.

[kcorcoran]

I like the 23five label and enjoy a good number of their releases, but if you asked me to name any one that really stands out as an exceptional work I'd probably struggle to name one. Not mentioned here so far are the two double CDR sets of material taken from the Activating the Medium festival. A mixture of field recording related pieces, of which the Olivia Block tracks in particular are very good indeed.

That Olivia Block set live was one of the worst sets I've sat through. Maybe it had more to do with the shakey home-recordings of fireworks that were playing on the projection behind her? I'd like to listen to the cd-r tracks, maybe I'd come away from it differently now, but I remember feeling absolutely unconvinced by sound selection and progression.

[Richard Pinnell]

That Olivia Block set live was one of the worst sets I've sat through. Maybe it had more to do with the shakey home-recordings of fireworks that were playing on the projection behind her? I'd like to listen to the cd-r tracks, maybe I'd come away from it differently now, but I remember feeling absolutely unconvinced by sound selection and progression.

I think there are two sets on the disc, or one set with a definite break and change of direction halfway through. I must say I have no idea how the recording could have worked as a live show as it just sounds like a constructed field recording collage to me, not something easily done in real time. Interestingly my one experience of Block live wasn't that great either. On that occasion she blended acoustic playing into a pre-recorded piece.

There's an eight minute excerpt of the music about halfway through this audition show anyway: http://www.auditionradio.info/audition% ... Show83.mp3 I'm not suggesting that its earth-shatteringly great but its a nice listen.

[kcorcoran]

ah, thanks for posting that clip, Richard. Olivia's piece there being quite nice to listen to now. I thought I remembered some overlaid clips of loud and raw children's voices and the sound of fireworks correlating with the live image on top of field recording material, which was a juxtaposition I didn't care for. Regardless, I'd rather have this portion as my reference point.

what is your impression of Roden's piece on that cdr set? Opposite the tougher proposition of Block's live collage, real time was the strong point for Roden, going through the audience to queue up several separate tape loops before strumming a lapsteel and singing small melodies for quite a while... does it work as a recorded piece?

also, has anyone got an opinion on the John Bischoff disc on 23Five? I have no idea of the guy's output except I think he teaches computer music at Mills, but it's one I always see from this label in shops.

[Stephen]

The Tim Catlin CD hasn't been mentioned yet, it's a few tracks of motor-played guitar, very nice and much like his playing on his crouton collab. w/ john mueller (plates and wires).