humor in EAI

[J.F.]

I'm interested if humor, at least occasionally, plays any role in the way (some of you) people engage in EAI, be it as listener or player.

[RFKorp]

Well, sure it does. But it's a little harder to quantify than in other contexts.

I mean, nobody I know is gonna make a Han Bennink style "oh look, this is supposed to be funny" musical gesture in an EAI setting.

But there are definitely clever little moments of humor. Certain responsive actions that get a bit of a subvocalized giggle out of me.

[Chromosome]

As a listener I would say I pick up some humor in
Nmperign & Jason Lescalleet - Love Me Two Times [Intransitive]
The yelling in "Epenthis" might be one example. This album might not be considered EAI, though.

Jérôme Noetinger / ErikM - What a Wonderful World [Erstwhile]
I would say "Skies of Blue" makes me think of humor the most. Actually this album was one of the first albums of EAI that I had heard and I think it was the perceived humor that gave me the most trouble getting into it because in general, when I thought of music, I didn't usually think of humor. It definitely sounds like it was a fun recording session. I enjoy it much more having listened to EAI for a while now.

[yonhosago]

Jérôme Noetinger / ErikM - What a Wonderful World [Erstwhile]
I would say "Skies of Blue" makes me think of humor the most. Actually this album was one of the first albums of EAI that I had heard and I think it was the perceived humor that gave me the most trouble getting into it because in general, when I thought of music, I didn't usually think of humor. It definitely sounds like it was a fun recording session. I enjoy it much more having listened to EAI for a while now.[/quote]

the sampled kids at the piano?

the romantic french vocals ripped and pulverized by the most killer synth whine ever heard courtesy of Noetinger?

Also one of my first EAI album, along Caravaggio and Rabbit run.

If What a wonderful world has bit of humor, also Les 120 jour. But it isn't EAI.

Is difficult to think of humor in records, cause humor is very much verbal or visual. Thinking in live acts, it definitely much more easy to hear humor.

[jon abbey]

I'd have to listen again for specifics, but I'm sure there's some of this on Love Me Two Times, I recall a Julia Child cooking interlude.

also, TV Pow live can be hysterical. three different NYC performances, chronologically:

1) Thomas Ankersmit curated a series in a classroom of his school when he studied here, in the late nineties. all sorts of people, Borbetomagus, Jim O'Rourke, etc, etc. the TV Pow set involved the three of them calmly sitting at their laptops, playing very tasteful, glacially progressing, minimal electronics. while this was going on, behind them was a projection of footage of another live set of theirs in which they were yes, calmly sitting at their laptops, playing very tasteful, glacially progressing, minimal electronics.

this was pretty funny in and of itself, but as the set went on, the muted TV Pow on the screen started slowly getting increasingly agitated, eventually jumping around and culminating in one of them snapping a laptop over their knee. all the while, the live band was calmly sitting at their laptops, playing very tasteful, glacially progressing, minimal electronics. really memorable.

2) for some reason, they showed up for a Tonic show all with long hair wigs on, and just wore them all night. having not seen them for years before that, it took me a while to figure out, they never said anything.

3) maybe not really humor, but the last time I saw them in NYC, they were a quartet with Boris Hauf and began their set with a free jazz blowout on sax/piano/bass/drums that wouldn't have been out of place in the heart of the Vision Fest. over the course of the set, they all transitioned to laptops, pretty successfully done.

[SOZ]

I recall a performance in which Keith Rowe played a snippet of the theme to 'Mr. Ed'. I thought that was really funny.

[J.F.]

Thinking about it, I myself come up with a few electronics players in whose playing or stage presence I sense something funny or somewhat amusingly grotesque (be it entirely unintended, accepted as one side-aspect of the act, or even calculated); though I'm not sure if the stuff they play really qualifies as electro acoustic improvisation in the sense it's used here (Uli Böttcher, Joker Nies, also Michel Waisfisz).

I could have thought of Noetinger myself. I haven't heard him in a longer time, but several years ago, I had a chance to "study" quite closely what he does (did then). I had the impression he generally seemed to have a lively and full-of-humor aura, and I'd say that translated well into the way he approached his instruments and objects.
(similar impression actually about Annette Krebs back when she played her amplified Wandergitarre)

The first time I saw Thomas Lehn in concert, maybe 8-10 years ago, his stage presence had quite theatrical qualities (I believe he calmed a little over the years); that en passant sure added a humorous aspect to the scenery.

[jon abbey]

The first time I saw Thomas Lehn in concert, maybe 8-10 years ago, his stage presence had quite theatrical qualities (I believe he calmed a little over the years); that en passant sure added a humorous aspect to the scenery.

yes, he generally looks like a mad professor playing Battleship.

[jpeatt]

I don't know if you'd call him 'eai', but the contrast between Michael Vorfeld's stage demeanor (totally into it, gurning, etc) and the focus & delicacy of the sounds he's producing pretty funny.

[Uroboros]

The first time I saw Thomas Lehn in concert, maybe 8-10 years ago, his stage presence had quite theatrical qualities (I believe he calmed a little over the years); that en passant sure added a humorous aspect to the scenery.

yes, he generally looks like a mad professor playing Battleship.

I saw him playing with Konk Pack two days ago and yes, he was definitely the most agitated of the three. Somehow appropriate, considering that his input to the music was overall the noisiest/most aggressive (not at all times though, the dynamic range of the set was pretty wide). But they were all smiling and making faces at each other occasionally, which contributed to the relaxed atmosphere of the show. They were never particularly sober, rather seemed to be having some good fun playing.

Then, after the show ended and the instruments were being packed, a bunch of kids (probably around 4-8 years old) appeared out of the blue and started attacking the drum set with the various objects that Roger Turner had previously used for the show (sticks, chains, paper, tin cans etc.). One of the kids grabbed some kind of accordion, at one point Tim Hodgkinson joined on the piano, and this all resulted in a free improv session that went on for about fifteen minutes as people were leaving the room, strangely echoing the band's actual performance. Funny moment and nice way to end the evening.

[RFKorp]

But I wouldn't exactly call Konk Pack EAI...

[Uroboros]

But I wouldn't exactly call Konk Pack EAI...

Hmm, that might explain the sense of humour then.

[free math]

we've talked about taku unami's sense of humor here before, his extreme thwarting of expectations and what most would consider meaningful interaction.
kevin drumm (of comedy fame)... the way his solo recordings develop (or don't) sometimes has what may be considered humorous implications, and in performance he usually seems irked or uninterested in the havoc he wreaks, which i always get a kick out of.
mattin is obviously going for humor at times, in somewhat similar ways to the above, with the added pretense of his overly serious demeanor. that cranberries "zombie" video thing cracks me up just thinking about it, though i don't actually enjoy watching or listening to it.
nmperign's salt peanuts, anyone?

[jon abbey]

that reminds me of my single favorite youtube clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A40zUK5QfxA

[Dohol]

that reminds me of my single favorite youtube clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A40zUK5QfxA

[jpeatt]

that reminds me of my single favorite youtube clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A40zUK5QfxA

That clip rules. Don't normally 'do' smileys, but the one where the little guy hits the button that flashes the 'awesome' sign would be pretty appropriate there.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=A1CYvbcWFhQ

This one's from a house show at my old house, and I've posted it before, but this is my ex-flatmate making a racket with a squeaky toy hotdog and some tennisballs. Perhaps more goofy than anything else.

[Dan Warburton]

.

[jon abbey]

did you actually look at the clip I linked to? not only is it Greg Kelley, but he posted it himself, not sure why that's any less relevant than something on a CD.

[Chromosome]

did you actually look at the clip I linked to? not only is it Greg Kelley, but he posted it himself, not sure why that's any less relevant than something on a CD.

I think Dan's just joking around. Kelley's dancing has lightened our moods.

Where's the Lescalleet Christmas video?

I think in the Kevin Drumm thread, someone mentioned that Drumm enjoys humor in his own music.

[Dan Warburton]

.