salford concerts last event - ryu hankil + thf drenching
Are there any reviews or views on the Knives, Forks and Spoons book launch last night at The Crescent in Salford? I'm interested because my choice for the evening was to see Ryu Hankil, THF Drenching, Matt Wand and Ben Gwilliam at Islington Mill. This was probably the last ever in the Salford Concerts Series organised by Ben Gwilliam, Lee Patterson and Matt Wand, as Salford University have withdrawn funding. Now obviously the university sector is facing savage cuts but I think this is a short-sighted decision that can only be to the detriment of the university, the venues used by the series (I've been to Islington Mill and St Philip's Church), the artists featured, and those who attend the events, many if not most of whom are practicing artists in a variety of media. With the loss of the Startrunning series last year, which to be fair was only ever going to be limited number of events, Salford and Greater Manchester have a pretty big hole for more interesting sound art/contemporary composition/improvisation, only partly filled by the Room Tones events. The only good news to come from all of this is that there will be a CD of performances from the series this year and last released shortly, and there may be a launch event with performances. I'll try to give you news when I have it.
At least the series went out in way that reflected what I think have been the strengths of the recent events. Ryu Hankil was the headline performer and opened the night. His clockwork motors were apparently out of commission, and this may have limited his sonic options, but I'll discuss that later. Although I didn't go up to take a look his set-up appeared to consist of motors vibrating plates which bounced a number of contact mics of varying sizes at different speeds. When the volume of the contact mics was off they made pattering, fluttering noises. When the volume was turned up they banged and roared at differing pitches. A laptop was involved somewhere, although it seemed to have more to do with the rate of vibration than any obvious manipulation of sound. In addition to the rhythmic elements there were occasional high-pitched tones.
As I said, the sonic options seemed a little bit limited. There were high tones and there were varying speeds and volumes of rhythmic patterns. This wasn't a problem in a series of short performances, but I would imagine could become stale over an extended period of time. But as I'm aware Ryu also uses typewriters, clockwork motors and (I believe) telephones his full repetoire of sounds is presumably larger. I should also note that his responsiveness in duet with Ben Gwilliam, and in quartet with the added presence of THF Drenching and Matt Wand was impressive. But I'll come to these in due course.
What was remarkable was that such simple resources should produce a sound like an engine. Passing through earlier in the day to take a friend a delayed birthday present as she worked on editing a film in one of the studios it sounded like someone was running a really huge floor polisher or similar piece of kit. During the gig itself I found I was throwing about the phrases 'ghost in the machine' and 'machine in the ghost'. With 'ghost in the machine' I was thinking both of the kind of warmth that Kraftwerk, Dopplereffekt and many others have been able to draw from apparently machine-made music, and the sounds that can be produced by using electronic instruments in ways that were never intended. I guess I'm thinking of exactly the kind of interface between predictability, chance, and human input represented by those agitated contact-mics. 'The ghost' here is the aesthetic experience that emerges almost accedentally from such procedures. 'Machine in the ghost' is looking at the same thing in another way. If 'the ghost' in this case is human creativity then the 'machine' is whatever tool the artist in pursuit of that ghost, whether it be a pencil, crochet, mixing board or physical theatre. Except I want to qualify and narrow that. It's human creativity that isn't bound by pre-existing shapes and conceptions of what a piece of work should look like. My thought was that in some way each phrase could describe what all the artists on the night were doing. Which may simply make it meaningless.
The second set which closed the first half was a duet between THF Drenching on dictaphones and Matt Wand on hacked handheld games and other electronic bits I couldn't identify. The volume here was generally lower than through Ryu's first set and silence was a much more integral part of the performance. It was at times difficult to distinguish between the sounds produced by the two artists. The sounds used by THF Drenching (Stuart Calton by any other name) appeared to be vocally derived along with what sounded like some domestic kitchen noises, although I may be wrong. Matt's sounds on the other hand were more electronic bloops and squeals. Both appeared unafraid of sometimes sounding ridiculous, THF Drenching making particular use of what were very nearly farting sounds. But the interplay between their squawks, rustles, groans, squelches and creaks was far beyond novelty or jokes.
There were a number of tensions drawn out through the performance - between sound and silence, between intention and accident, between playfulness and seriousness, between unity and collapse, between the human and the mechanical. As an example, the clearest human interventions were THF Drenching using a fluttering hand to interfere with the sounds from his dictaphone speakers, and Matt blowing directly on to one of his microphones. Overall their collaboration managed stay on the right side of coherence.
There was then a brief interval before Ryu returned, initially in duet with Ben Gwilliam. Ben on this occasion had a reel to reel tape running between two tape players. I think he also had a CD player and digital recorder with sounds on them. It was extremely hard to pick out Ben's contribution, but there appeared to be tones, particularly bass tones, as well as periodic squiggles that sounded like tape played quickly or thrown into reverse. I think I also detected remnants of what might have been music or environmental sounds (traffic, speech etc.) or room tones. But there's every possibility this was an illusion. Toward the end there was something close to tape hiss with a regular, periodic brief pfft marking perhaps a join in the tape.
Ryu's sounds were more familiar, although it was hard for instance to tell whether a deep roaring tone was being generated by his kit, by Ben's, or by a combination of the two. Compared with his earlier set there were fewer sharp changes between silence and massive noise. Instead with more continuous sounds throughout there was a closer resemblance to what you might conventionally call music, with less jagged dynamics. While the other collaborations struggled to find clearly agreed end-points, this set appeared to wind down and finish by mutual consensus.
Finally there was a quartet of all four performers: Ben on tapes, Ryu with his contact mics and a large disc (or possibly circle with a large hole for a centre) that he shook and sometimes struck, THF Drenching with a single dictaphone running through a small amp, and Matt with his hacked electronics. The resultant mix of rhythms (though they were less in the foreground here), tones, electronic notes and vocal-like sounds was a lot more cohesive, and hard to definitively isolate individual contributions from, and perhaps less adventurous than the previous performances.
That said Ryu especially, with his flappy thing, introduced sounds he hadn't used previously. And I do think that all four performers fitted their sounds around each other very effectively while still leaving sufficient space in the music. There was perhaps less surprise than I might have liked, and no one especially willing to break away and disrupt the piece. Notwithstanding Ryu's new sounds it was THF Drenching who sounded as though he was making the biggest sonic departure, although his techniques and even the sounds on his dictaphone were not that wildly different from his earlier set. There simply seemed to be a greater volume, a greater intent, and a more organic feel to them.
The quartet also crystalised what I feel is one of the great strengths of the programmes I've seen in the series, mentioned right at the beginning, which is the collaborative aspect. Although there is generally a clear 'headline' act, there is also a sense that this is an event that is more collaborative than competitive. I mean competitive in a traditional rock sense, such as bands squabbling over who plays after who at festivals or claiming to have 'blown away' another act. As such the art has felt more important than the personalities. The other strengths for me have been the opportunity to see first hand performers and techniques you might otherwise never hear of, and to help build a sense of community with other people of similar interests.
I'd like to briefly rewind to my opening paragraph's claim that Salford Univerity are being short-sighted in removing funding from the Salford Concerts. The main reason I support series such as this is that I actually enjoy them. A secondary reason which I think is objectively more important than my personal preferences is that Salford, Manchester, Greater Manchester, and any other city have a superfluity of mainstream art. There will generally also be quite healthy specialist scenes - so in terms of music there are quite a few hip-hip, folktronica, dancehall, and noise gigs to pick random examples - although I'm sure they do have funding and organisational poblems. But beyond that the closer you get to the margins the fewer events there are with ever decreasing budgets, and yet ultimately their cultural value far outweighs that of more high-profile events. To take a more familiar example last year The Other Room hosted performances from Richard Barrett, Patricia Farrell, Lucy Harvest Clarke, Tim Atkins, Phil Davenport, Lisa Samuels, me, Alex Davies, Allen Fisher, Tina Darragh, P.Inman, Sean Bonney, Frances Kruk, Craig Dworkin, Michael Haslam, Stuart Calton, James Davies, Tony Trehy, Sophie Robinson and Nick Thurston. I think this line-up represents a more varied, interesting and significant set of performers than the whole of Manchester Literature Festival's line-up for the last couple of years. I should also acknowledge that the programming of the Text Festival similarly makes Manchester Literature Festival look pedestrian and pointless by comparison.
This is why I try to highlight these events beforehand and review them afterwards if I attend. This is why I get annoyed if there's no one there. If you want a culturally diverse and healthy city then it's no good just complaining that the mainstream's shit through your five quid beer while another laddish indie band drizzles on in front of you, you have to get involved. Make your own art, track down the interesting people and buy their work if you can, go to the events, organise your own events. For instance, despite lack of internet at home throwing off my plans for this year (I'd intended to get sonic obnoxion machine records underway first) I'm beginning to formulate plans for a sound poetry event later in the year. News etc. when I have it. In the meantime if you'd like to participate or help in some way contact me either on mattdalby@hotmail.com or through the comments please - or by phone if you have the details.
At least the series went out in way that reflected what I think have been the strengths of the recent events. Ryu Hankil was the headline performer and opened the night. His clockwork motors were apparently out of commission, and this may have limited his sonic options, but I'll discuss that later. Although I didn't go up to take a look his set-up appeared to consist of motors vibrating plates which bounced a number of contact mics of varying sizes at different speeds. When the volume of the contact mics was off they made pattering, fluttering noises. When the volume was turned up they banged and roared at differing pitches. A laptop was involved somewhere, although it seemed to have more to do with the rate of vibration than any obvious manipulation of sound. In addition to the rhythmic elements there were occasional high-pitched tones.
As I said, the sonic options seemed a little bit limited. There were high tones and there were varying speeds and volumes of rhythmic patterns. This wasn't a problem in a series of short performances, but I would imagine could become stale over an extended period of time. But as I'm aware Ryu also uses typewriters, clockwork motors and (I believe) telephones his full repetoire of sounds is presumably larger. I should also note that his responsiveness in duet with Ben Gwilliam, and in quartet with the added presence of THF Drenching and Matt Wand was impressive. But I'll come to these in due course.
What was remarkable was that such simple resources should produce a sound like an engine. Passing through earlier in the day to take a friend a delayed birthday present as she worked on editing a film in one of the studios it sounded like someone was running a really huge floor polisher or similar piece of kit. During the gig itself I found I was throwing about the phrases 'ghost in the machine' and 'machine in the ghost'. With 'ghost in the machine' I was thinking both of the kind of warmth that Kraftwerk, Dopplereffekt and many others have been able to draw from apparently machine-made music, and the sounds that can be produced by using electronic instruments in ways that were never intended. I guess I'm thinking of exactly the kind of interface between predictability, chance, and human input represented by those agitated contact-mics. 'The ghost' here is the aesthetic experience that emerges almost accedentally from such procedures. 'Machine in the ghost' is looking at the same thing in another way. If 'the ghost' in this case is human creativity then the 'machine' is whatever tool the artist in pursuit of that ghost, whether it be a pencil, crochet, mixing board or physical theatre. Except I want to qualify and narrow that. It's human creativity that isn't bound by pre-existing shapes and conceptions of what a piece of work should look like. My thought was that in some way each phrase could describe what all the artists on the night were doing. Which may simply make it meaningless.
The second set which closed the first half was a duet between THF Drenching on dictaphones and Matt Wand on hacked handheld games and other electronic bits I couldn't identify. The volume here was generally lower than through Ryu's first set and silence was a much more integral part of the performance. It was at times difficult to distinguish between the sounds produced by the two artists. The sounds used by THF Drenching (Stuart Calton by any other name) appeared to be vocally derived along with what sounded like some domestic kitchen noises, although I may be wrong. Matt's sounds on the other hand were more electronic bloops and squeals. Both appeared unafraid of sometimes sounding ridiculous, THF Drenching making particular use of what were very nearly farting sounds. But the interplay between their squawks, rustles, groans, squelches and creaks was far beyond novelty or jokes.
There were a number of tensions drawn out through the performance - between sound and silence, between intention and accident, between playfulness and seriousness, between unity and collapse, between the human and the mechanical. As an example, the clearest human interventions were THF Drenching using a fluttering hand to interfere with the sounds from his dictaphone speakers, and Matt blowing directly on to one of his microphones. Overall their collaboration managed stay on the right side of coherence.
There was then a brief interval before Ryu returned, initially in duet with Ben Gwilliam. Ben on this occasion had a reel to reel tape running between two tape players. I think he also had a CD player and digital recorder with sounds on them. It was extremely hard to pick out Ben's contribution, but there appeared to be tones, particularly bass tones, as well as periodic squiggles that sounded like tape played quickly or thrown into reverse. I think I also detected remnants of what might have been music or environmental sounds (traffic, speech etc.) or room tones. But there's every possibility this was an illusion. Toward the end there was something close to tape hiss with a regular, periodic brief pfft marking perhaps a join in the tape.
Ryu's sounds were more familiar, although it was hard for instance to tell whether a deep roaring tone was being generated by his kit, by Ben's, or by a combination of the two. Compared with his earlier set there were fewer sharp changes between silence and massive noise. Instead with more continuous sounds throughout there was a closer resemblance to what you might conventionally call music, with less jagged dynamics. While the other collaborations struggled to find clearly agreed end-points, this set appeared to wind down and finish by mutual consensus.
Finally there was a quartet of all four performers: Ben on tapes, Ryu with his contact mics and a large disc (or possibly circle with a large hole for a centre) that he shook and sometimes struck, THF Drenching with a single dictaphone running through a small amp, and Matt with his hacked electronics. The resultant mix of rhythms (though they were less in the foreground here), tones, electronic notes and vocal-like sounds was a lot more cohesive, and hard to definitively isolate individual contributions from, and perhaps less adventurous than the previous performances.
That said Ryu especially, with his flappy thing, introduced sounds he hadn't used previously. And I do think that all four performers fitted their sounds around each other very effectively while still leaving sufficient space in the music. There was perhaps less surprise than I might have liked, and no one especially willing to break away and disrupt the piece. Notwithstanding Ryu's new sounds it was THF Drenching who sounded as though he was making the biggest sonic departure, although his techniques and even the sounds on his dictaphone were not that wildly different from his earlier set. There simply seemed to be a greater volume, a greater intent, and a more organic feel to them.
The quartet also crystalised what I feel is one of the great strengths of the programmes I've seen in the series, mentioned right at the beginning, which is the collaborative aspect. Although there is generally a clear 'headline' act, there is also a sense that this is an event that is more collaborative than competitive. I mean competitive in a traditional rock sense, such as bands squabbling over who plays after who at festivals or claiming to have 'blown away' another act. As such the art has felt more important than the personalities. The other strengths for me have been the opportunity to see first hand performers and techniques you might otherwise never hear of, and to help build a sense of community with other people of similar interests.
I'd like to briefly rewind to my opening paragraph's claim that Salford Univerity are being short-sighted in removing funding from the Salford Concerts. The main reason I support series such as this is that I actually enjoy them. A secondary reason which I think is objectively more important than my personal preferences is that Salford, Manchester, Greater Manchester, and any other city have a superfluity of mainstream art. There will generally also be quite healthy specialist scenes - so in terms of music there are quite a few hip-hip, folktronica, dancehall, and noise gigs to pick random examples - although I'm sure they do have funding and organisational poblems. But beyond that the closer you get to the margins the fewer events there are with ever decreasing budgets, and yet ultimately their cultural value far outweighs that of more high-profile events. To take a more familiar example last year The Other Room hosted performances from Richard Barrett, Patricia Farrell, Lucy Harvest Clarke, Tim Atkins, Phil Davenport, Lisa Samuels, me, Alex Davies, Allen Fisher, Tina Darragh, P.Inman, Sean Bonney, Frances Kruk, Craig Dworkin, Michael Haslam, Stuart Calton, James Davies, Tony Trehy, Sophie Robinson and Nick Thurston. I think this line-up represents a more varied, interesting and significant set of performers than the whole of Manchester Literature Festival's line-up for the last couple of years. I should also acknowledge that the programming of the Text Festival similarly makes Manchester Literature Festival look pedestrian and pointless by comparison.
This is why I try to highlight these events beforehand and review them afterwards if I attend. This is why I get annoyed if there's no one there. If you want a culturally diverse and healthy city then it's no good just complaining that the mainstream's shit through your five quid beer while another laddish indie band drizzles on in front of you, you have to get involved. Make your own art, track down the interesting people and buy their work if you can, go to the events, organise your own events. For instance, despite lack of internet at home throwing off my plans for this year (I'd intended to get sonic obnoxion machine records underway first) I'm beginning to formulate plans for a sound poetry event later in the year. News etc. when I have it. In the meantime if you'd like to participate or help in some way contact me either on mattdalby@hotmail.com or through the comments please - or by phone if you have the details.
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