12 Feb 2020: Screening: Reynols "Sinti Botuva Tapes" (+ Q&A)

@ Kaffee-Ine Mechelen, Onze lieve vrouwestraat 6, Mechelen

LUDO MICH

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

POSTPONED TO MARCH 15th 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MAANDAG 9/12/2019: Art & Film: Ludo Mich: LYSISTRATA + ARTHUR IS FANTASTIC (http://www.filmhuismechelen.be/tag/ludo-mich/)

ZONDAG 26/1/2019: LUDO IS FANTASTIC: screening + performance (MICH/GOUDBEEK) + expo @ grambacht, keizerstraat 42, mechelen

K-Group: Abstract experimental music in a pop format

Paul Toohey, the man who went out shopping and came back 16 years later. 

You recorded a 7" for I Dichi Del Barone. Why are there 16 years between the last K-Group release from 2003 and this new 7"? 

Paul Toohey: I don't know. I could say family life, work, going to the shops. A lot of spare time got used up on house renovations, playing football, that sort of thing. But I kept recording all through that period, and I was trying out some new ways to make sounds and record with a computer. It was only moderately successfully and even when I made something I liked, I was in no hurry to release it, because I was out of touch with the music world. But I knew the time would come again so I never really went away. I definitely missed playing with Surface of the Earth. When I moved to Auckland Rosy Parlane and Torben Tilly encouraged me to resurrect K-Group for some live shows so the last two years have been quite productive. A few shows, lots of recording.

Can you tell me, in your own words, what am I listening to when I listen to this 7"? 

Side A - processed guitar. The flip side came about after applying a computer effect to a sound that I can't quite remember the source of. Possibly some synthesiser that has been pitch shifted and had its tempo dramatically altered.

Do you think the 7" format fits your kind of drone music? Because one of the things I like about your drones is that they don't go on forever. 

When we had our label World Resources one of the ideas that appealed to me was making abstract, experimental music and presenting in a 'pop' format - the 7". I'm still interested in that idea. Same thing with albums really, 8-10 tracks around a 4-6 minute mark. Trying to work with the format of music I grew up listening to in the late 70s and 80s. Sometimes it's possible to do longer tracks but in general I prefer short ones. Live I think it can be a bit challenging for the audience because the music sometimes ends just when people seem to be drifting off with the sound and getting comfortable.

How did you get into ths kind of music? Was it a record? Or an artist? Or an instrument? 

Most of the stuff I really liked when I was kid had some kind of drone element. I was listening to the obvious stuff so guitar players like Bernard Sumner, Bruce Gilbert and Johnny Ramone made their mark on me when I was in high school, particularly the sound of their guitars and the economy of it all. I liked the synthesiser too and remember 'Autobahn' on the radio. I loved it, and of course much later discovered all the German music like La Dusseldorf. Back in the mid 80s I was making recordings with Tony from Surface of the Earth and also on my own. Some of the drone elements were already there, and largely because of my limitations as a guitar player. Some of the classic New Zealand Flying Nun 80s bands always had some kind of drone going on. I'm going to see Michael Rother in Berlin in three weeks in Berlin, I can hardly believe it. 

What is it that attracts you in drone music? 

I don't think I can say I listen to a lot of drone music, but I like hearing people using drones in rock or pop music. Someone like Dean Wareham has been doing it for years and he's very skilful and I already mentioned the German stars. I suppose the idea of getting lost in sound appeals to most people who love music. As for playing it, I think it's all I can do really, as I am limited as a guitar player.

Which gear do you use, for making your music and for recording? 

The K-Group CD on Corpus Hermeticum was a guitar album, recorded to cassettes, like Surface of the Earth. It took me ages. In the last few years I've been using the computer a lot, but not really in a high tech way. So now I generally I record guitar drones - using the overdrive pedal I've had since the 80s, a basic practice amp and a little reverb - onto a little handheld recorder. I transfer the sounds to computer and process them. I sometimes layer a couple of tracks, but because the recordings are quite low fidelity, there's already a bit of texture and there's a lot detail missing. This is generally a good thing, as it gives me something to work with. I don't like too many layers - overdubs stress me - so I try to keep it as sparse as possible. 

Did the music of Surface Of The Earth influence your solo work? 

Well I play a similar role in K-Group to the one I have in Surface. I've really only got a couple of moves on the guitar so it's difficult for me to come up with something different, but I still try. Some recent K-Group recordings are probably not drone music so  I'm finally branching out a bit.  One of the enjoyable things about Surface of the Earth is we don't talk about anything, we just record. Because of the guitars of Donald and Tony, Surface recordings are more detailed. In K-Group I spend hours and hours over things and often end up nowhere anyway. K-Group is more 'controlled' and 'constructed' I suppose but it definitely contains less elements.

Why did you want to do K-group as a solo thing? 

Mainly because I moved from Wellington in the mid 90s, and because I've always recorded on my own anyway.

What does the name K-Group refer to? 

I can't remember, exactly - probably obfuscation. I'm stuck with it now.

You tour Europe in this autumn. Is this your first European tour? 

It's my first tour anywhere.

(interview by joeri bruyninckx)

10-11 → 16-11

ROXANE MÉTAYER

(etchings and bas-reliefs)

visits: 10nov & 16nov (see below) or on appointment

TORBA (it)
sound collage, musique (in)concrète, field recordings and electronics.

"Torba is a solo project by Mauro Diciocia, a crude sonic collage that combines sounds and techniques hijacked from the musique concrète/tape music tradition with a modern and acousmatic approach to noise music and post-industrial soundscapes. Active since 2009, torba is an object in perpetual motion where the only constant element is represented by the organic use of field recordings/found footage and their manipulation through magnetic tapes and digital processors.
He released material on labels such as Angoisse, Total Black, a dear girl called Wendy, Mazurka Editions, Fragment Factory, Monorail Trespassing, Cønjuntø Vacíø among others.
He shared the stage with Sewer Election, Damien Dubrovnik, Puce Mary, Croatian Amor, Ketev, Dave Phillips, Gordon Ashworth, Pedestrian Deposit, Neutral, Arv & Miljo, Tommi Keränen, Fejhed, Umpio, Rashad Becker, Händer Som Vårdar, MAAAA, Broken Lights, Daniel Löwenbrück, Marcellvs L and more."

http://www.aaltra.it/torba/
https://torba.bandcamp.com
https://soundcloud.com/torba
http://www.fragmentfactory.com/

ROXANE MÉTAYER (fr)
"strates de violon hydrophone et de matière sonore sylvestre"

Fragile violin and field recordings from 1/2 of Sage Alyte who played a great set at the Meakusma festival.

https://soundcloud.com/roxanem-tayer
https://soundcloud.com/sage-alyte
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVJKuIDCdKw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB4vElWB3Ow
https://metayerroxane.wixsite.com/roxane/

5 EUR

DOORS: 16:00
SHOWS 17:00

Knotwilg & gr'ambacht present:
K-Group (nzl) + Taku Sugimoto / Minami Saeki (jap)

K-Group is Paul Toohey's solo drone project. In mid/late nineties he was member of arguably one of the most influential drone outfits ever Surface Of The Earth. A band whom have set a bookmark in feedbacking drones worldwide. K-Group just followed this road with a cd on Corpus H. while the Fusetron/Fisheye outputs teamed him up with the electronics from Omit. The biggest difference with other drone outfits being they are going deeper, and know how to stop a good track and not dragging it endlessly.

This resulted in legendary releases from both projects on Fusetronsound and Corpus Hermeticum. Some of these are reissued on Keith Utech or will be on Thin Wrist Recordings. A K-Group 7" is also scheduled on the notorious @I Dischi Del Barone for this year.

NZ fans shouldn't be convinced by this news (and i do know every single fan of you within Belgium haha) but how to convince musicfans whom are totally unaware of this? Obviously for people whom love Tony Conrad and other minmalists. But also for Pita/KTL fans for instance. And i am pretty sure Sunn O))) fans might dig this. Stephen O' Malley probably listened even very closely.

But have a listen and Judge for yourselves
https://kgroup.bandcamp.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5dumuMTLjs
https://utechrecords.bandcamp.com/album/surface-of-the-earth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zH1mkH1oLg

Taku Sugimoto
"composer / guitarist / improviser

Currently he is more active in composing, while maintaining an interest in improvisation.

These past few years he has performed, worked, and collaborated closely with Radu Malfatti, Manfred Werder, Stefan Thut, Cristian Alvear, Christian Kobi, Simon Roy Christensen, Johnny Chang, Takeshi Masubuchi, Denis Sorokin, Fredrick Rasten, and Minami Saeki.

He is a member of Suidobashi Chamber Ensemble, an ensemble focusing on performing compositions of contemporary or experimental music."

http://www.japanimprov.com/tsugimoto/index.html
http://soundamerican.org/sa_archive/sa17/idobata-kaigi.html
https://takusugimoto.bandcamp.com/

Minami Saeki
"film actress, singer, and dancer

born in Nagasaki on the 18 February 1990.

she studied classical ballet, contemporary dance, classical singing, etc. she has acted in films, e.g., “Village on the Village” (Yukihiro Kurokawa) or “Natsu no Musumetachi-Himegoto” (Teiichi Hori) among others.

she is active as a singer and has performed with Taku Sugimoto, Junichiro Tanaka, Wakana Ikeda, Masafumi Ezaki, Takashi Masubuchi, Manfred Werder, Stefanut, Vincent Laju, among others in the fields of both pop and experimental music. “Songs” is a collaborative work with Taku Sugimoto."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrgCVM3gtiA
 
6 EUR

10 NOVEMBER 16u

SUGIMOTO SAEKI K-GROUP