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CLUB TRANSMEDIALE.05 [BASICS]
festival for electronic music and related visual arts
04. Feb. - 12. Feb. 2005 | Maria am Ostbahnhof | Berlin
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[1] SPLENDID ISOLATION CTM.05 Special Focus
[2] Weekday concert programme
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[1] SPLENDID ISOLATION
// CTM.05 Special Focus
This year¹s special theme Splendid Isolation runs through the whole
festival
and takes a closer look at music production outside the world-famous
heavyweight creative hotbeds, London, New York and Berlin. What¹s been
going
on beyond the city limits? More than a decade of Internet has fostered
a new
generation of young musicians, well-equipped cybernauts who regard their
seclusion not as a drawback, but as a source of creative potential; and,
indeed, they have frequently come up with a fresher, more interesting
and
uncompromising sound. Seen from this angle, one can begin to appreciate
the
extent to which the rich experience of wide-open spaces and quiet
retreat
and of tranquillity in the heart of nature manifests itself in
idiosyncratic
aesthetic forms. Current music, from northern Europe in particular,
evinces
a wealth of sounds and a keen sense of atmosphere that one would search
for
in vain amongst the more decidedly urban music genres. One is almost
tempted
to conclude that music¹s function in the city is that of a designer
drug,
customised for particular social occasions, whereas 'out there', it¹s
about
the search for contemplativeness and the individual¹s 'inner' journey.
It
stands to reason, does it not, to ascribe this development to those
regional
peculiarities? Nowhere in Europe is so sparsely populated, nor so
invested
with a primordial natural presence. And, one might suggest, nowhere
else is
currently producing such interesting music. CTM this year explores this
link.
Seclusion and contemplation furthermore play a central conceptual role
regarding the musical aesthetics of this year¹s festival:
'Listening-in-and-of-itself', music as film for one¹s inner eye, Drone
and
minimalist repetition, boredom as a path to inspiration, the 'Headphone
Experience' and experiments in spatial sound which demand that listeners
redefine their sense of what it means to be present are the themes that
weave through the programme. Splendid Isolation presents current music
from
northern Europe. In addition the Breakcore-Special Wasted and Le Placard
give centre-stage to strategies for interweaving internationally
dispersed
and isolated artistic cells into loosely affiliated local networks.
In the newsletters coming up next, we will inform seperately about
Wasted,
Ambiunix and Le Placard. Further down you find descriptions of the
weekday
concerts.
Participants:
** WEEKDAY CONCERTS (6.2.-10.2.):
Angel & Hildur Gudnadottir (FI/IS/DE) | Benzo & Oleg Kornev (LT/RU) |
Biosphere (NO) | Joe Colley (US) | Golden Serenades (NO) | Johann
Johannsson
& Ethos Quartett & Matthias M.D. Hemstock (IS) | Kill (NO) | Nils Petter
Molvaer (NO) | m.takara (BR) | Maja Ratkje & HC Gilje (NO) | Single Unit
(NO) | Supersilent (NO) | Zavoloka (UA)
** LE PLACARD 8 - PROLOGUE (9.2.-10.2.):
Augsburger Tafelconfect (DE) | Ilios (GR) |
Intertecsupabrainbeatzroomboyz
(FR/UK) | Rob Curvengen (AU) | [sic] (CA/QC) | triPhaze (DE) | Xabier
Erkizia (ES)
** AMBIUNIX (11.2-12.2.):
--bB (DK) | Ulf Eriksson (SE) | Gegen Hz (DK) | Jacob Kirkegaard & Thor
Magnusson (DK/IS) | Hansen & Dj Daniel (DK) | Heidi Mortenson (DK) |
Pixel
(DK) | Son of Clay (SE) | The Renegades Of The Game Boxen (SE/AT) |
Harald
Viuff (DK) | VJ Kontroll.er (DK)
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[2] Weekday concert programme
The concerts during the week from 6.2.-10.2. start relatively early at
22:00
and mainly present artists, who are part of this years special focus
Splendid Isloation. An adaptive landscape of seating modules created by
the
artist group interplay will provide the right setup for concentration
and
deep listening.
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MUTATION OF SILENCE
SUN 6.2. 22:00
Joe Colley (Antifrost, Povertech, US)
Supersilent (Rune Grammofon, NO)
Biosphere (Touch, Biosphon, NO) & Video: Egbert Mittelstadt (DE)
Silence as a form of expression is the common denominator this evening.
The
American sonic artist, Joe Colley breathes life into supposedly
inanimate
equipment and materials, moulding an acoustic microcosm that succeeds in
making the inaudible audible. Another kind of silence is demonstrated
by the
Norwegian improvisation quartet, Supersilent. Here with the aim of
attaining the most democratic means of playing together silence is
used as
a means of communication, as a musicians¹ round of Q & A. Biosphere has
you
anticipating silence even before it happens. Contemplating nature and
introspective retreat inspire his infinite, slowly meandering tonal
tales
that induce in the listener a state of timelessness of almost religious
dimensions.
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GRENZGÄNGER
MON 7.2. 22:00
Nils Petter Molvaer (ECM, NO)
Bernd Friedmann & Jaki Liebezeit feat. Hayden Chisholm and Robert Nacken
(Nonplace, DE)
m.takara (Submarine Records, BR)
Bernd Friedmann and former Can drummer, Jaki Liebezeit have been
working for
several years already on blurring the borders between acoustic and
electronic music. With a drum set that sounds as if it was
computer-programmed and computer-generated sounds reminiscent of
traditional
instruments they conduct a playful investigation of habitual ways of
hearing
and audience expectations. Nils Peter Molvaer was one of the first
internationally renowned Jazz musicians to mix Electronica with Jazz
elements and to establish himself in the club sector by commissioning
remixes from acknowledged producers. His performance at CTM will be the
German premiere of his new solo programme, an atmospheric amalgamation
of
trumpet, video, computer and light. An absolute must for friends of
trend-setting works of ambient such as Brian Eno / John Hassell -
'Possible
Musics / Fourth World Vol.1'! The Brazilian group, m.takara draws on
their
musical Art-Rock background: Live improvisation, computers, trumpets,
guitar
and drums melt down into a most singular mixture of abstract textures
and
Minimal Rock.
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NOISE:VOICE
TUE 8.2. 22:00
Maja Ratkje & HC Gilje (Rune Grammofon, NO)
Golden Serenades (John Hegre / Jazzkammer & Jorgen Traen/ Sir
Dupperman, NO)
Angel & Hildur Gudnadottir (FI/IS/DE)
Single Unit (Jester Records, NO)
Electro Opera e- Byungjun Kwon & Ge-Suk Yeo (KR)
This evening¹s theme is improvisation. Whilst solo artist, Single Unit,
blasts off into his own musical universe somewhere between a
rasping-rumbling cacaphony and precise abrupt breaks and Angel,
supported on
cello by Hildur Gudnadottir, get in sync for a single unbroken
escalation of
Noise-Drone kink, in the other three acts it¹s dialogue that takes
centre
stage. John Hegre is one half of Jazzkammer, whose studio releases
Jorgen
Traen frequently had a finger in producing. Tonight they collide as
Golden
Serenades, throwing themselves with racket and verve into rambunctious
conversation. Electro Opera e- is a further encounter of disparate
styles:
Classically trained soprano, Ge-Suk Yeo sings in electronic soundscapes
created by Byungjun Kwon, who draws on traditional Korean music and
Jazz.
Maja Ratkje subjects her voice to electronic effect machines to create
tonal
forms ranging from the sharp saw-toothed to the rich and organic. Her
voice-and-electronica dialogue is richly underscored and extended by
interaction with video images from media artist HC Gilje.
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EXPRESSIVE ABSTRACTION
WED 9.2. 22:00
Zavoloka (Nexsound, UA)
Apparat feat. ComplexÀCord & Band (Shitkatapult, DE)
Benzo & Oleg Kornev (Laton, LT/RU)
Kill (NO)
Perceptive music that moves and stirs up the audience, its primary
concern
is to explore unusual musical structures. Zavoloka offers stumbling,
unpredictable poly-rhythmics coupled with warped sonic objects,
somewhere
between Noise and Melodic: an unstable and unwieldy sound in permanent
transition. Complex rhythmics also from Apparat, whose clicking,
crackling
beats fuse with the overwhelming melancholy of their background
melodies to
create fantastic Pop arrangements. Benzo combines constant electronic
beats
and noises with elements drawn from the Russian folklore that haunts his
minimal compositions, making them a seismograph of Russian
sensibilities.
Dark audio miniatures conjure up a train-ride through the wastes of
Siberia,
Moscow¹s choking petrol fumes or a lonely travelling salesman, drowning
his
sorrows in Vodka. Finally, the outbreak and the taming of chaos with
Kill¹s
Abstract Death Metal: the four soloists¹ passion for raising anarchistic
hell combines with their seriously concerted musical precision. Expect
high
velocity sparks! Deathly outbreaks of energy that are then roped back
in
Anger Management.
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SCORE
THU 10.2. 22:00
Johann Johannsson & Ethos Quartet & Matthias M.D. Hemstock (Touch, IS)
Swod (Dictaphone, City Centre Offices, DE)
Andrew Pekler (Scape, US)
'Sealed time', the term with which the Russian filmmaker Andrej
Tarkovskij
described his basic cinematic intent, also applies perfectly to this
evening¹s programme. Submerse yourself in exalted and timeless
miniatures by
Johann Johannsson, in self-possessed Pointilist melodies from the
piano/electronic duo Swod, and in the smoke-swirled ambience of
nocturnal
journeys in Andrew Peckler¹s OElevator to the Scaffold¹: in all these
projects the associative, the cinematic, the essayistic is inscribed in
the
music. This is cinema for the grey matter that demands concentration,
yet
doesn¹t ask too much. Stimulates without undue agitation. Sublime!
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