tag:,2008:/8 2008-04-08T08:32:59Z Phill Niblock is a New York-based minimalist composer and multi-media musician and director of Experimental Intermedia, a foundation born in the flames of 1968's barricade hopping. He has been a maverick presence on the fringes of the avant garde ever since. In the history books Niblock is the forgotten Minimalist... Movable Type 3.35 tag:www.phillniblock.com,2008://8.1420 2008-04-08T08:30:46Z 2008-04-08T08:32:59Z

The Music of Phill Niblock Crash Ensemble of Dublin, will be hosting a concert celebrating the music of Phill Niblock this April 23rd at 7pm in Temple Bar Galleries, Dublin 2. The concert will feature guest appearances by Niblock specialists...

Field www.field.nu The Music of Phill Niblock Crash Ensemble of Dublin, will be hosting a concert celebrating the music of Phill Niblock this April 23rd at 7pm in Temple Bar Galleries, Dublin 2. The concert will feature guest appearances by Niblock specialists Susan Stenger and Amsterdam based Trio Scordatura. The evening will be held in the presence of the composer himself, featuring an interview by Bob Gilmore at the start of the evening and live visuals and electronics by the composer during the concert. The concert program consists of: Hurdy Hurry (for hurdy gurdy); Sweet Potato (for clarinets); G2-4,4 (for guitars); Tow by Tom (for two orchestras, both recorded parts and live parts by two ensembles); PK&SLS (for flute); Disseminate (for orchestra, recorded and two ensembles live) IGNM - Internationale Gesellschaft fuer Neue Musik - Basel "Dust" - Konzert der IGNM Basel "Drone"-Konzert mit Phill Niblock und Kasper Toeplitz Samstag, 26. April 2008, 19.00; www.ignm_basel.ch Offene Kirche Elisabethen, Basel Mitglieder des "Ensemble Phoenix Basel": Christoph Boesch, Floeten; Daniel Buess, Schlagzeug; Daniel Stalder, Schlagzeug; Maurizio Grandinetti, E-Gitarre; Juerg Henneberger, Orgel; Thomas Peter: Ton/Klangregie Program Phill Niblock: STOSSPENG (2007) fuer zwei Gitarren in Stereo Kasper Toeplitz: DUST RECONSTRUCTION (2007) fuer flexible Besetzung - Fassung fuer Orgel, Floete, Schlagzeug, E-Gitarre, E-Bass und Elektronik Kasper Toeplitz: UNFINISHED METAL WAVES (2006) fuer grosses Tam Tam mit 2 Spielern und Elektronik Phill Niblock: a set of music and images - "Early . . . May" http://www.ensemble-phoenix.ch/saison.html# ------------------ April 29, 20:30 (8:30pm) - Les Trinitaires - Trintaires Street - Metz [France] Organized by FRAGMENT : info@fragment-asso.com / www.fragment-asso.com with the festival Musique Action Phill Niblock / Thomas Ankersmit [USA / Nederland] Marc Baron / Bertrand Denzler / Jean-Luc Guionnet / Stephane Rives [France / Switzerland] Wednesday, 30 April 2008 Sets by Both: Phill Niblock und Thomas Ankersmit Konzert im ZKM_Kubus, Karlsruhe, Germany, 20 Uhr Music, Video: Phill Niblock Electronics, Saxophon: Thomas Ankersmit Eine Kooperation mit der Hochschule fur Musik Karlsruhe A n g e l i c A 1 8 - festival in Bologna Italy, May 8 - 13, 16 - 17 on May 9, Friday, at Teatro Duse, Bologna, 9:30pm Phill Niblock + Thomas Ankersmit (Stati Uniti, Olanda) Incontri & Ascolti (a lecture/demo?): sabato 10 maggio - ore 12 - Museo della Musica - Bologna Phill Niblock Plus - Alessandra Celletti + Hans-Joachim Roedelius / The Magic ID (Germania) -Kai Fagaschinski clarinetto; Margareth Kammerer voce, chitarra; Christof Kurzmann elettronica, voce; Michael Thieke clarinetto / La Monte Young & Marian Zazeela (Stati Uniti), played by Charles Curtis violoncello, elettronica / Perlonex & Charlemagne Palestine (Germania, Stati Uniti) - Charlemagne Palestine pianoforte; Ignaz Schick elettronica, oggetti, giradischi; Joerg Maria Zeger chitarra, elettronica; Burkhard Beins batteria, percussioni, ogge / Pierre Henry / Lawrence D. "Butch" Morris / and others, and at other locations and other days]]> tag:www.phillniblock.com,2008://8.177 2008-02-23T08:25:09Z 2008-02-23T08:26:47Z

You can find the March diary here...

Field www.field.nu here]]> tag:www.phillniblock.com,2008://8.168 2008-02-10T08:22:49Z 2008-02-17T10:14:50Z

Field www.field.nu tag:www.phillniblock.com,2007:/new//8.35 2007-08-14T16:09:09Z 2008-03-02T12:46:37Z

Phill Niblock is exclusively published by Touch Music [MCPS]. His work is also released on Touch, one of the most influential independent labels based in the UK [founded 1981/2]....

Field www.field.nu Touch Music [MCPS]. His work is also released on Touch, one of the most influential independent labels based in the UK [founded 1981/2].]]> tag:www.phillniblock.com,2007:/new//8.33 2007-07-14T15:50:52Z 2007-09-24T13:12:19Z

Here are Phill Niblock's releases with the titles linked to the relevent page in the TouchShop. Reviews of all of Phill Niblock's releases can be read here. Other Phill Niblock releases may be found at Forced Exposure [USA]...

Field www.field.nu TouchShop. Reviews of all of Phill Niblock's releases can be read here. Other Phill Niblock releases may be found at Forced Exposure [USA]]]> Touch Three [Touch # TO:69, 2006] 3CD - 9 tracks These nine pieces were made from March 2003 to January 2005. They were all made (except "Sax Mix") by recording a single instrument with a single microphone. The recordings were direct to the computer/hard disk, most of them using my Powerbook G4, Protools, an M-box and an external firewire drive. The resulting mono sound files were edited to remove breathing spaces, leaving the natural decay of the tone, and the attack of the subsequent iteration of the same tone. Each note was represented by several repetitions, perhaps ten for each tone, of about 15 seconds duration each. Each piece uses a few tones. A simple chord, perhaps. Additional microtonal intervals were produced in Protools using pitch shift. The pieces were assembled in multitracks, usually either 24 or 32 tracks. The recording environment varied from a simple apartment in Berlin (Ulrich Krieger's) to a very large hall used for symphony orchestra performances and recordings, with a sizable audience space (Deutschland Radio, Cologne). The recordings were generally done quite closely miked. One hears only the sound of the instrument. There is no electronic manipulation in the recording, the editing of the tones, or in the mix. The only changes to the recorded tones are the pitch shifts to create microtones. The microtones are doing the work. "Harm" (24:43, March 18, 2003) Arne Deforce, cello . The recording of the tones was done by Johan Vandermaelen (Amplus) in the Orpheus Institute in Gent, Belgium, direct to the hard drive. The piece was finished in Berlin and premiered at Maerz Musik Festival (the day after finishing). It was commissioned by Maerz Musik. "Sethwork" (21:48, 2003) Seth Josel, acoustic, unamplified guitars played with e-bow, June 21 2003 "Lucid Sea" (20:24, August 8, 2003) Lucia Mense, recorders These two pieces were commisioned by Deutschland Radio in Cologne, Germany. Frank Kaempfer, producer; Michael Peschko, recording engineer for the recording of the guitar samples and the recorder samples at the Deutschlandradio Studios in Cologne. The piece was constructed in the Experimental Intermedia studios in New York (Sethwork) and in Gent (Lucid Sea), in Protools. The broadcast was on Saturday October 4, 2003 at 2205 on Deutschland Radio in Cologne, "ATELIER NEUER MUSIK". There was a commentary and an interview by the critic and author Egbert Hiller. It was for the 70th birthday of Phill Niblock, which was October 2. "Parker's Altered Mood, aka, Owed to Bird" (16:27, 2004) Ulrich Krieger, alto saxophone. The tones for this piece and for "Alto Tune" were recorded in Berlin in Ulrich Krieger's apartment (very nice sound; high, peaked ceiling) with Thomas Ankersmit recording, using his Neumann microphone, direct to HD through Mac Powerbook/Protools/Mbox. For 'Mood", I asked Ulrich to pick a Parker tune for the theme. We decided on "Mood", a slow blues, a thirteen note theme. We recorded Ulrich playing each note for about 15 seconds, the thirteen notes in succession, and for six repetitions of the theme. Ulrich did not listen to the previous takes, so the notes are slightly out of tune with each other, creating the microtones I would have made in Protools. The piece starts with all six playings of the theme, superimposed. "Zrost" (23:32, 2004) Martin Zrost, soprano saxophone. Martin had just bought a new soprano, which sounded great, so we recorded in his work room in Vienna. "Not Yet Titled" (22:20, 2003) Franz Hautzinger, trumpet. The tones were recorded in Volker Straebel's apartment in Steglitz, Berlin, on a summer afternoon, with the balcony door open, the sounds of birds and planes coming through. Melvyn Poore was the engineer, using Franz's Neumann microphone, mostly in the bell of the trumpet. Franz produced the low bass sounds with the horn. We premiered the piece in a Musikprotokoll concert in the Steirischen Herbst Festival, Graz, Austria. It was commissioned by them as well. "Valence" (2005, 23:02) Julia Eckhardt, viola. "Valence" was commissioned by the Q O2 Ensemble, Brussels, and the tones were recorded by Johan Vandermaelen in his studio in the Belgian countryside. "Alto Tune" (25:08, 2004) Ulrich Krieger, alto saxophone. Recording info noted above. "Sax Mix" (25:08, 2004) Ulrich Krieger, alto, tenor and baritone saxophones. Touch Food [Touch # TO:59, 2006] 2CD - 4 tracks This CD was one of the albums of the year in The Wire (UK), 2003 Phill says "The pieces on this CD were made for and with the musicians Reinhold Friedl (piano), Ulrich Krieger (baritone saxophone), Carol Robinson (clarinets) and Kasper T. Toeplitz (electric bass). We recorded the instrument samples at CCMIX in Paris in April 2001. Two of the pieces were completed by the end of the residency of one month, and we recorded some passes of the musicians playing with the multitrack (in Protools) recording. Those were the clarinet and electric bass pieces. I made a few versions of the piano piece at CCMIX, and a test for the saxophone piece. That piece was completed in my studio in New York in March 2002, using 24 tracks in Protools. I had created an awkward situation, four pieces of 25 minutes, but a CD would only hold three. So I decided to make a 75 minute version of the piano piece. I became a little tired at 70 minutes, and since I am 70 this year, I stopped at that. I changed the structure of that piece every 15 minutes, so we have made a new program number at each 15 minutes." From Gerard Pape, of CCMIX, Paris: Phill Niblock: Timbre as Space in Suspended Time In the music of Phill Niblock, we are confronted with the aural equivalent of trompe-l'oeil. Apparently static clouds of harmonically dense material turn out to be not so static as they appear. What's more, one has the distinct impression that the music is changing spatially over time . How is all of this possible ? The key is in Niblock's use of time. In his music, the experience of time is as very slow and continuous. There are no disruptive, discontinuous musical events to disrupt the flow of time. Time is suspended. Niblock's music gives the impression of having always been and continuing to be. Yet, this is not the idea of Being as stasis. Each time one feels tha Niblock's music isn't changing, one realizes that it is never the same, an yet, always the same. Being and Becoming as one. Moving Immobility. This is a music that breathes slowly and deeply. It changes its spatial form slowly, as a person who is in deep meditation changes the form of his body ever so slowly as he peacefully expands and contracts the walls of his chest cavity with each new cycle of inspiration/expiration. Touch Works, For Hurdy Gurdy and Voice [Touch # TO:49, 2000] CD - 3 tracks This is the first CD by Phill Niblock for Touch. Thomas Buckner, baritone voice (samples and live) All were completed with Protools software in a Macintosh computer, and are 24 tracks mixed to stereo. There are two versions of the voice piece, one the original tape piece, the other a version with three added voices, live, plus four tracks of pitch shift on each, done in Robert Poss's (Trace Elements) studio. Samples and live elements were recorded by Robert Poss at Trace Elements Studios in New York. The pieces were constructed and mixed in ProTools by Phill Niblock at Experimental Intermedia in New York. [AYU was commissioned by Thomas Buckner]]]> tag:www.phillniblock.com,2007://8.32 2007-06-14T15:50:18Z 2007-09-24T12:44:47Z

Field www.field.nu ]]> Phill Niblock is a New York-based minimalist composer and multi-media musician and director of Experimental Intermedia, a foundation born in the flames of 1968's barricade-hopping. He has been a maverick presence on the fringes of the avant garde ever since. In the history books Niblock is the forgotten Minimalist. That's as maybe: no one ever said the history books were infallible anyway. His influence has had more impact on younger composers such as Susan Stenger, Lois V Vierk, David First, and Glenn Branca. He's even worked with Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and Lee Renaldo on "Guitar two, for four" which is actually for five guitarists. This is Minimalism in the classic sense of the word, if that makes sense. Niblock constructs big 24-track digitally-processed monolithic microtonal drones. The result is sound without melody or rhythm. Movement is slow, geologically slow. Changes are almost imperceptible, and his music has a tendency of creeping up on you. The vocal pieces are like some of Ligeti's choral works, but a little more phased. And this isn't choral work. "A Y U (as yet untitled)" is sampled from just one voice, the baritone Thomas Buckner. The results are pitch shifted and processed intense drones, one live and one studio edited. Unlike Ligeti, this isn't just for voice or hurdy gurdy. Like Stockhausen's electronic pieces, Musique Concrete, or even Fripp and Eno's No Pussyfooting, the role of the producer/composer in "Hurdy Hurry" and "A Y U" is just as important as the role of the performer. He says: "What I am doing with my music is to produce something without rhythm or melody, by using many microtones that cause movements very, very slowly." The stills in the booklet are from slides taken in China, while Niblock was making films which are painstaking studies of manual labour, giving a poetic dignity to sheer gruelling slog of fishermen at work, rice-planters, log-splitters, water-hole dredgers and other back-breaking toilers. Since 1968 Phill has also put on over 1000 concerts in his loft space, including Ryoji Ikeda, Zbigniew Karkowski, Jim O'Rourke. Phill Niblock At 70 by Rob Forman Phill Niblock Says... and an interview with Bob Gilmore can be read here His wikipedia entry can be read here]]> tag:www.phillniblock.com,2007:/new//8.34 2007-05-14T15:51:13Z 2007-09-24T13:12:50Z

Field www.field.nu Reviews Reviews of CDs and other releases can be found in the main Touch review section, which can be found hereFeatures Here is a pdf file of a feature on Phill Niblock in Perfect Sound Forever Phill Niblock At 70 by Rob Forman Phill Niblock Says... and an interview with Bob Gilmore can be read here]]>