Kiefer again, but also Giacometti

Was in Germany again, this weekend. We visited Bonn, the former capital of Western Germany and went to the Stadtmuseum. There were a few thoughts that kept spinning inside my mind for some time. First, it occurred to me that the Dutch museums are so tiny. The museums in other countries that I have visited are of fantastic architecture and they're big and feature large exhibition space. That allows for of course for large objects, like the Penck and Kiefer pieces, but it also offers the possibility of distance from the objects. The exhibition spaces in most of the Dutch museums are more of a living room size. What does that do to our Dutch audiences? What's cause and effect here? Let's mull this over some more.

On Sunday we left Bonn (a little disappointed about the quality of the exhibited art) and returned to Duisburg again to visit the [ Lehmbruck ] museum. This was the second pleasant surprise that Duisburg had on offer, after our previous enthousiasm for the [ Kueppersmuehle ] museum earlier this year. I sat down before Kiefer's "Die goldene Bulle", a work from 1995. Just like other works from this master painter this one is massive and awe inspiring.

So what about Giacometti? There was an exhibition at the Lehmbruck. Was it any good? Well, as far as Giacometti himself is concerned, yes. He was a great artist with a very specific goal, produce the ultimate sculpture. But the exhibition was a disappointment. It was not entertaining at all. Different pieces were placed quasi randomly in one big space. Visitors had to be warned (by security guards) not to trip over a platform that contained four statues. There were some letters of Giacometti to his family. There were just a few statues from each period. A documentary video about his life was placed in a different part of the building. Lehm bruck specializes in sculpture and other 3D work and so we didn't get to see his paintorial works except for one piece. In other words: you don't have to go if it is only for this Giacometti exhibit. Otherwise, it is quite nice and it features some very good works by Merz, Richard Long, to name just a few.

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Recording the Port of Rotterdam

Yesterday I drove to Rotterdam to do a field recording there. It was a first in a long time that I really went out to do outdoor recordings. Paul Baran asked me to do some recordings in a harbour a while ago and I thought it would be a good idea to go out and do this. I also used a more extensive setup. Normally I go out with my Edirol R-09 and OKM mics but this time I used a condenser mic as well to add more detail.

I went as deep into the docks as possible and found a spot that was quiet and gave a good overview of the sound environment. I recorded at two spots (A and B, the arrows show the direction). Another picture shows the google maps location.

Recording with the condenser mic was more difficult than just jump out of the car and press the record button. The condenser needs the 48volt pre amp. I got this from the cigarette lighter in the car. So I had my laptop running Reaper, hooked to that my Echo Audiofire (with cig lighter voltage) and then the condenser mic. Of course it took me 15 minutes to get this done properly since it was the first time and it was dark (between 8 and 9 PM) and connections kept breaking requiring several reboots. Other cursings weren't necessary The weather conditions were perfect (dry and very little wind).

I used both the OKM (binaurals) and the Rode NT2a and mixed them together this morning. The combination of the richly detailed condenser with the binaurals yields (in my opinion) a great result. I think I'll go back there later this year to record at other places.




Grotere kaart weergeven

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Drone Gnome Review

Finally a review of The Drone Gnome by someone who actually thought about it. There was a review on Foxy Digitalis but that one couldn't be taken seriously as the writer had not bothered to do so in the first place. This one was in a Dutch magazine called Gonzo Cirucs. The reviewer actually listened to the music and thought about the things that I wrote in the press text.

His comment is intelligent and boils down to this: "This disc doesn't make a smashing impression but it may serve very well as an introduction to drone music." I agree on both counts. The disc as a whole is somewhat off balance, although I think that both compositions in themselves are good. Otherwise I have been fighting with the 'genre' of drone. My goal was to 'do a drone piece' and this is as far as I got. But the final conclusion is that I will never be a 'droner'. Ever. In a peculiar way that's a relief.

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Intro In Situ

Performed at the Intro In Situ in Maastricht last weekend. I didn't make it to the end, but the first 30 minutes were quite alright. The sum total was positive. The more because the audience and the venue were good. A really attentive audience is a blessing for a performer. And afterwards several of them came to ask about the setup. And I sold a few of my releases. What else would I need? Oh, yeah. Afterwards a real nice guy came up to me asking if I would be interested in participating in a performance evening with Kapotte Muziek in October. 

Next gig will be in Cologne, early June. I'll update you beforehand.

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Intermittent activities

There were quite a few things taking place at the same time last week. I have been working on an electronics and guitar works that was challenging but yielded "hurrays" from the original artist. I pulled an interesting trick by sidechaining the reverb on the guitar which worked out quite well. This is of course only possible when the original work is good. Unfortunately I have also encountered commissions where the original material was 'difficult' to say the least....

Next there was some final text work for my release in Kaon's [ Taurion series ]. I haven't heard the piece in more than a year so I am curious. Kaon (Cedric Peyronnet aka Toy Bizarre) is doing a wonderful series about this river and releases the works on a bi-monthly basis.

Please order the complete series!!

Then I received news about my work for [ Brombron ]. After more than three months I got an answer to a series of questions. Unfortunately I now have to dig deep into my memory to understand my own questions :)) So I will have to give this some more time.

There was a request for the mastering of a complete CD. This is quite a challenge as it consists of 10 songs (catchy tunes) which are quite different in sound quality as they have been recorded over a period of more than 3 years..... How am I going to bring it down to something coherent? Or should simple NOT make it into something coherent? Sometimes the answer is to do the opposite of what one aimed at first.

I have been preparing a new concert. Next Saturday I will be in [ Maastricht ] and on June 8 I will perform in Cologne (Koeln), Germany. These sets will be different from the earlier Extrapool concert. They will be twice as long and thus have more room for depth and detail.

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Alive on stage

Well, the crowd went wild as the artist turned the knobs, spun the reels and blasted his insane beats out of the speakers after a (quoth Radboud Mens) "almost Gothic" intro. Seriously, it was fun! I was the headliner (meaning I was the last in the line up, because the others wanted to get drunk asap and I don't drink (much)) and got a lot of shoulder bashing afterwards. So I guess I must have been doing something right.

The set (20 minutes) went well enough for the audience not to notice that in both occasions my connection of Audiomulch with the midi controller Behringer BCR2000 was broken and I had to resort to mouse scratching. What can you do? The show must go on, right? Anyway, the use of a real reel to reel deck was a huge success. The younger guests stared at a dinosaur, whereas the old geezers stood there mesmerized and thinking about the olden days.

Other performers were: Kapotte Muziek, Radboud Mens (really nice setup!), Asmus Tietchens, Howard Stelzer. I'm sure some photo's will pop up in the next few weeks. And: everything has been taped and will be released somehow (edited) in the near future by Korm Plastics.

EDIT: [ here's ] an mp3 of the Extrapool concert

Today it was also made official that I will do a performance in Maastricht at March 20. I will give more info when it arrives.

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