INSTAL 09 line up so far

d.at · Post by **d.at** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:36 am

I only went last night, and it was all very...ok. Otomo and Sachiko together were fun, and his solo set was excellent, with two up right pianos and a whole lotta feedback. Sachiko's solo set was her messing about with two contact mics and it was a serious dull-a-rama. Maybe I just don't get it. Probably.

Rolf Julius was interesting for 15 minutes and then it got boring. He had all these things laid out in front of him buzzing away, and maybe he was processing these live sounds, but he also had a bunch of ipods with his mixing desk and the sounds seemed awfully repetitive to be created by chance. If I am wrong, please feel free to correct me.

Sean Meehan and Taku Unami was also pretty dull. I have seen Meehan before and been wowed by his technique and sounds but today it felt like he was trying to fit in with Unami who was randomly (and weakly) clapping - for what reason I am not sure, but it sounded ridiculous. Occasionally he pressed his space bar on his laptop and a motor whirred into life and then stopped. Sometimes he dropped rice on a metal sheet. Again, it's probably just me.

Unami and Jean-Luc Guionnet was interesting enough, big wholesome drones working with the resonant frequency of the space. Essen compared it to Maryanne Amacher in the programme and his little spiel beforehand, and as someone who was at (and wowed) by Amacher at Instal a couple of years back, this didn't come 1/1000th of a fraction close. Forceful, physical and cleansing, sure. But as good as Maryanne? Na-ah. Perhaps it was because it was so low and bassy that some of the dynamics of the shifting sound were lost - I'm not sure, but it was lulling me to sleep towards to end so I beat a hasty retreat to locate a bus.

Highlight? Seymour Wright, by a long shot. Where Unami (with Meehan) missed the spot with rice and clapping, Wright fucking slayed with all manner of fans and other vibrating devices (although not a vibrator, i don't think), that turned his s'phone into something else entirely. Every sound seemed considered and thought out and, for me at least, it was thought provoking, funny, intense and inventive. I loved it.

Please feel free to disregard my thoughts, of course. Just one man's (most likely to be ripped apart) opinion.

oh and forget the sound of trains - wtf was up with it not being possible to somehow cancel the weekend showings of that ridiculous alien wars POS? Every performance interupted with the sound of gunfire!

simon reynell · Post by **simon reynell** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:49 am

You certainly shouldn't be ripped apart for a very honest post, d.at. You've not been abusive in any way, and no-one can claim that your personal response is 'wrong'.
I wasn't there so obviously can't comment on specifics. I certainly have attended performances by prominent musicians that have left me bored and dissatisfied in the ways you describe, but on the other hand I might have really enjoyed it. It'll be interesting to read Richard P's reports of the same event.
On his blog, apart from the Friday night, Richard has so far just commented on the organisational aspects of the event, and on the remarkably high turnouts for such 'difficult' music. Was your impression that most people attending were also less than wowed by what they heard, or do you feel it was just you?
And was it just the more minimalist stuff you found dull?
I'm glad you liked Otomo's and Seymour Wright's sets, though, so it wasn't a complete waste of time for you.

jon abbey · Post by **jon abbey** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:52 am

one aspect that I'd like to see discussed is how the size of the audience impacted the music. it's been my experience that more than a hundred or so people in a room make it a lot harder for ultraminimalist improv (like Unami/Meehan. Malfatti/Filip, presumably Otomo/Sachiko) to be successful, especially if you're not one of the handful lucky enough to be extremely close (as I have no doubt Richard was

).

d.at · Post by **d.at** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:08 am

simon reynell wrote:You certainly shouldn't be ripped apart for a very honest post, d.at. You've not been abusive in any way, and no-one can claim that your personal response is 'wrong'.
I wasn't there so obviously can't comment on specifics. I certainly have attended performances by prominent musicians that have left me bored and dissatisfied in the ways you describe, but on the other hand I might have really enjoyed it. It'll be interesting to read Richard P's reports of the same event.
On his blog, apart from the Friday night, Richard has so far just commented on the organisational aspects of the event, and on the remarkably high turnouts for such 'difficult' music. Was your impression that most people attending were also less than wowed by what they heard, or do you feel it was just you?
And was it just the more minimalist stuff you found dull?
I'm glad you liked Otomo's and Seymour Wright's sets, though, so it wasn't a complete waste of time for you.

In all honesty, my impression of Instal, over the past 5 or 6 years i've been is that everyone seems very enthusiastic about everything. Where in some cases it was deserved (The Loren Connors and Alan Licht set from a few years back, the Ellen Fullman/Meehan set a couple back) other times it is mindblowing that it is all just lapped up. I cannot recall his name off the top of my head, but the guy back in 2005 (i think) that basically did what The Wire quite funnily called a 'drum lab'. It was terrible, just some guy rattling out tedious drum fills for 45 mins. Yet the audience was going nuts. And to be honest, I'm yet to see a performance when people didn't go nuts (it may all be relative and I may just be hyper-reserved). Of course, I applaud, for I appreciate the musicans playing, and showing me their art. I'm not going to whoop and holla for something that left me cold, though.

I have appreciated much stuff that could be classed as minimal in the past, and I don't think it was a minimalist thing that was bothering me, just, in Unami's case, what seemed to be a severe lack of effort. I was position just to his right hand side, as well, and could see (and hear) all he was doing and I just didn't feel excited or enthralled by any of it.

On a side note - Simon, you're not in Bristol, are you?

d.at · Post by **d.at** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:13 am

jon abbey wrote:one aspect that I'd like to see discussed is how the size of the audience impacted the music. it's been my experience that more than a hundred or so people in a room make it a lot harder for ultraminimalist improv (like Unami/Meehan. Malfatti/Filip, presumably Otomo/Sachiko) to be successful, especially if you're not one of the handful lucky enough to be extremely close (as I have no doubt Richard was ).

The rooms at the Arches are certainly large (and cavenous) and perhaps don't lend themselves to quiet, ultraminimalist stuff as they do louder things (which even then can suffer from some terrible echo off the walls) but one thing I will say is the audience is always very quiet, aside from the creaking of chairs (or is it limbs - in my case, both probably). The layout is quite good, with seats along two sides, and cushions for seating down the front, but when you look past the back rows and see this huge empty space stretching away, you do sometimes wonder if it's not the most suitable venue.

Otomo and Sachiko was actually pretty busy (musically) as well as fairly loud. As already stated though, I really enjoyed it (Sachiko's solo set aside) and as the first time I had managed to catch them both, I was very impressed.

simon reynell · Post by **simon reynell** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:40 am

d.at wrote:On a side note - Simon, you're not in Bristol, are you?

No, Sheffield, though I've a brother in Bristol who sometimes goes to new music events.

Richard Pinnell · Post by **Richard Pinnell** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:44 am

I'm trying to post this from a windy platform on Wolverhampton railway station halfway through my journey home, so please excuse if I am too overwhelmed by the beauty of my surroundings to post coherently...

I'm with you on the Julius performance d.at. I found his sounds quite interesting for a few moments but lost all interest when he did nothing with them. I suspect his work is better suited to an installation type situation but I may be doing him an injustice on the strength of one performance. Very strangely though Mr Malfatti really liked it. Odd.

Jon the quieter sets were indeed affected by the size of the audience/room, but not to a degree that I think anything should have been changed, other than banning people that can't turn their phones off from all gigs forever and making people leave noisy cameras at the door. Sachiko and Otomo played through a hefty P.A. though I guess they found their way abound it.

The Unami/Meehan performance was, for me just wonderful. You were certainly not alone in how you felt though d.at, that was the worst set for people walking out by far and I saw a lot of bemused faces. Not got my head around my thoughts on it yet but one thing is for sure Sean was not just following or fitting in with Taku. He has performed in that manner before.

d.at · Post by **d.at** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:47 am

Richard Pinnell wrote:I'm trying to post this from a windy platform on Wolverhampton railway station halfway through my journey home, so please excuse if I am too overwhelmed by the beauty if my surroundings to post coherently...

I'm with you on the Julius performance d.at. I found his sounds quite interesting for a few moments but lost all interest when he did nothing with them. I suspect his work is better suited to an installation type situation but I may be doing him an injustice on the strength of one performance. Very strangely though Mr Malfatti really liked it. Odd.

Jon the quieter sets were indeed affected by the size of the audience/room, but not to a degree that I think anything should have been changed, other than banning people that can't turn their phones off from all gigs forever and making people leave noisy cameras at the door. Sachiko and Otomo played through a hefty P.A. though I guess they found their way abound it.

The Unami/Meehan performance was, for me just wonderful. You were certainly not alone in how you felt though d.at, that was the worst set for people walking out by far and I saw a lot of bemused faces. Not got my head around my thoughts on it yet but one thing is for sure Sean was not just following or fitting in with Taku. He has performed in that manner before.

I do not know enough about him, bar seeing him a couple of times, to say, so I should take that comment back. I just felt that something wasn't right about the whole thing. The beauty of opinions, I suppose. I would like to add that I didn't walk out though, and remained quiet (aside from creaking limbs) throughout!

I wish I could put my finger on what it was that left me so unfullfilled, but I doubt I will be able to. Perhaps listening back to it when it's put up on the website might change my opinion of it.

Joda · Post by **Joda** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 11:56 am

Richard Pinnell wrote:I'm with you on the Julius performance d.at. I found his sounds quite interesting for a few moments but lost all interest when he did nothing with them. I suspect his work is better suited to an installation type situation but I may be doing him an injustice on the strength of one performance. Very strangely though Mr Malfatti really liked it. Odd.

I'm only familiar with Rolf Julius on disc, but your description of his performance seems accurate to the characteristics his pieces have as documented on CD, (some originating from installations).

Personally, I find his sound work utterly fascinating. Something about his choice of sounds and the awkward repetition really works for me, from what I've heard.

Thanks for the reports, very glad to read about these shows.

3um · Post by **3um** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 12:46 pm

Richard Pinnell wrote: I'm with you on the Julius performance d.at. I found his sounds quite interesting for a few moments but lost all interest when he did nothing with them. I suspect his work is better suited to an installation type situation but I may be doing him an injustice on the strength of one performance. Very strangely though Mr Malfatti really liked it. Odd.

I would say that at the end I was a little bit surprised that I liked it. Maybe I had managed to treat it like an installation (which happened only after this ambitious mother decided to take her talking/walking baby outside), i was sitting there and just drifting with sounds. It's hard for me to express it in english but there was something in his music, because of its quietness perhaps, like there is something deeper, something which is hidden inside, and I was trying to "listen into" it, but knowing that I will fail to get this, that it will remain a secret.

cheapmachines · Post by **cheapmachines** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:48 pm

Just got back into London from the event and thought I'd chime in... nothing much not already posted.

It was a seriously excellent three days with only two or three slightly disapointing sets. I had high hopes for the Herman Nitsch organ performance which sadly seemed to lack any coherence considering it was composed rather than improvised (or did I miss the point somewhere?) The Rolf Julius piece left me cold... nice sounds but not really going anywhere not helped by an overactive child in the audience burbling over some of it. The Joan la Barbara set wasn't really my thing. It was the only set where I had a slightly pre-conceived idea that I wouldn't be into it and was right - my problem no doubt, as plenty of people in the audience seemed to enjoy it a great deal.

I'd like to hear the Filament set back as it didn't seem to be as enthralling as when they played in London recently... there were some spatcial effects going on with the speakers and I was sitting very much to one side so possibly missed the full effect of the set. Plus, I had someone snoring behind me which given the volume of the preceeding piano-feedback set was impressive in it's own way.

On the plus side; pretty much everything else. The extra Friday session with Malfatti/Mehan/Unami/Filip was superb and the chapel setting seemed to work very well for them. The Mehan/Unami session was fascinating but evidently difficult for the audience to get into as was evident from the high walk-out factor ("well, it's just a Japanese fella clapping isn't it?" was the critique at the bar...) This of all the ultra-minimal sets faired the worse in the Arches. The space really was just a bit too big for what they were doing.

So, excellent stuff all in all. Particularly liked the booklet/guide which gave a very nice overview of the artists works and background in a very un-lofty, user friendly way (imagine a festival guide written by a mate whose record collecton is better than yours... you get the idea).

Thanks to Barry and the Instal crew for putting it together.

Richard Pinnell · Post by **Richard Pinnell** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 2:13 pm

You only just beat me home Phil, I doubt you had to spend any time in Wolverhampton either...

I actually didn't discuss the music at the festival much with with Phil over the weekend, but his opinions there are just about identical to mine. I feel I don't need to post any more now!

P.S. That wasn't you snoring then?

jkudler · Post by **jkudler** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 2:40 pm

d.at wrote:And to be honest, I'm yet to see a performance when people didn't go nuts (it may all be relative and I may just be hyper-reserved). Of course, I applaud, for I appreciate the musicans playing, and showing me their art. I'm not going to whoop and holla for something that left me cold, though.

i was just telling someone the other day how i increasingly feel like most of the time, the audience is clapping for their own good taste, especially for a lot of classical performance, or, in this case, if they are new to something perceived as important or avant-garde.

in any case, thanks much for all the reports, folks. i'm sad i couldn't make it in the end, but then again, i've been fortunate enough to have seen almost all the performers before that i'm really interested in, save seymour wright and particularly the big organ works. oh well.

let me also add one more voice to the chorus saying how appealingly this was presented. i love the tone of the website and all the media and the general "this is interesting stuff - here's why!" feel.

-jesse

d.at · Post by **d.at** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 2:54 pm

cheapmachines wrote:"well, it's just a Japanese fella clapping isn't it?"

I appreciate it was more than that, but something about the weak clapping just didn't do it for me. It's almost as if I'd rather it was more minimal and did away with the handclaps, which had all the sonic properties and interest of an armpit fart.

apologies to masters of the armpit fart. I mean you no disrespect.

Richard Pinnell · Post by **Richard Pinnell** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 3:05 pm

d.at wrote: the handclaps, which had all the sonic properties and interest of an armpit fart.

Yes I suspect this was exactly the point though....

Sean at one point rubber stamped some words into the surface of his snare drum. This act made no sound at all.

cheapmachines · Post by **cheapmachines** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 3:32 pm

Richard Pinnell wrote:P.S. That wasn't you snoring then?

Ha! No, as knackered as I was I managed to hold it together pretty well

d.at wrote:I appreciate it was more than that, but something about the weak clapping just didn't do it for me.

I must admit that like Richard, I assumed this was deliberate on Taku's part. He used a similar, less repetitive technique during the Friday night session where it seemed much more strident and positive sonically. Having said all that, I get the impression he has a pretty dry sense of humour, so maybe the idea of us sitting here discussing the various sonic properties of handclaps would be pretty funny to him.

I saw Sean doing the stamping on the snare skin but wasn't sure from were I was sitting quite what he was doing... it'd be interesting to get Sean and Taku's take on what was discussed before they played.

Richard Pinnell · Post by **Richard Pinnell** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 3:36 pm

cheapmachines wrote: it'd be interesting to get Sean and Taku's take on what was discussed before they played.

Immediately before they played they had a wrestling match

I'm completely guessing here but I'd say that beyond mentioning what instrumentation they would be using and how loud they might play that they may well not have discussed anything.

RFKorp · Post by **RFKorp** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 3:46 pm

Richard Pinnell wrote: Sean at one point rubber stamped some words into the surface of his snare drum. This act made no sound at all.

this sounds like such an elegant (and quintessentially Sean) action. I have no problem at all imagining how this fit as a musical gesture. But I'd also love to know what the stamp text was, it was probably as careful a choice as when to use the stamp during the set!

simon reynell · Post by **simon reynell** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 3:46 pm

Phil & Richard (and anyone else who was there), what was your feeling about listening to this music with such large audiences? People have already mentioned a couple of downsides (people walking out, people snoring, whiney kids) & I imagine that in many ways I'd rather listen to it as part of a smaller, more concentrated group. But then 300/400 is pretty impressive and I imagine it could be exciting in a way. Any thoughts?

Richard Pinnell · Post by **Richard Pinnell** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 3:49 pm

RFKorp wrote:
Richard Pinnell wrote: Sean at one point rubber stamped some words into the surface of his snare drum. This act made no sound at all.
this sounds like such an elegant (and quintessentially Sean) action. I have no problem at all imagining how this fit as a musical gesture. But I'd also love to know what the stamp text was, it was probably as careful a choice as when to use the stamp during the set!

It said....

buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing buzzing

CLOSER

and yes, very very elegant.

ihatemusic

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