Mort aux Vaches -Illusion of Safety. All music improvised by Dan Burke & Kurt Griesch 1995.
illusionofsafety.bandcamp.com...
Commissioned by VPRO's Nachtleven 'Grand Disco Classique', Radio broadcast Amsterdam May 20th 1995. The subsequent CD was released by Staalplaat on their Mort aux Vaches series. This video is a remake/altered version of an early video to this music, the first section of the recording all improvised in the studio for the radio broadcast. Kurt and I had just completed a tour of the southwest and California before heading to Europe. The U.S. tour was live performances of what would become Fin De Siecle, our record for Korm PLastics. Based around samples, very thought out, minimal, and introspective. The Euro tour was different in that we could not bring our samplers so it was more electro-acoustic improvisation, but still with plan to keep it minimal, subtle, & quiet. Kurt was the driving force behind this push which was a welcome thing for me (and necessary for him:) coming out of the heavy noise & industrial mode of Inside Agitator and the like. (Around this period 1991-97 I was primarily working with only one other member of the project at a time on a specific focus, recording, or performance. Thymme Jones: From Nothing to Less, Jim O'Rourke: Probe, Mark Klein: Of & The.) On the tours I took to asking people not to talk or make noise during the performances and it largely worked, sometimes amazingly well. Like at the Electric Lounge in Austin TX, even the bartenders respectfully kept the clinking down to a minimum. Amsterdam was not so good. Opening for us was Kapotte Muziek, and the audience was very very loudly talking over the entire set. pretty annoying if your trying to lose yourself in some creative audio magic. For our set I asked for silence and they gave it for about 3 minutes untill we got just a tad too minimal and the loud talking commenced. everyday cant be sunshine.
ILLUSION OF SAFETY: Mort Aux Vaches Staalplaat No Number CD
The latest CD by Illusion of Safety (aka Dan Burke and Kurt Griesch)
is a provocative blend of Improv and Ambient. Two tracks at
approximately 25 and 30 minutes respectively; both are entirely
improvised and make extremely sensitive use of field recordings and
electronic sound processing. The first opens with fragmentary avant-
piano set against gravel-metallic noises--tiny sounds amplified until
they become all-encompassing and disturbing. Thereafter, the dynamic
range is mostly reduced to subdued, expansive drones and murmurs,
punctuated by distorted chimes and cymbals. Sometimes there's just a
hair's breath between sound and 'silence'. Like the work of AMM,
Morphogenesis and Organium, Mort Auz Vaches takes on environmental
proportions as it seeps imperceptibly into your urban landscape:
passing cars, even those multiphoning starlings on my roof, with
their Evan Parker impersonations, were determined to be part of the
overall sound design. Listened to on headphones, you become more
aware of Burke and Griesch's marvelous timing and pacing as you hear
the even tinier, submerged sounds - pops and crackles, tremulous
metallic resonances, half-heard voices, a finger rubbed across a
stylus as Pere Ubu's David Thomas once sang: The smallest details,
the finest points, they all add up." One of the most quietly riveting
albums I've heard. Chris Blackford, The Wire.
#experimentalmusic #electroacoustic #musicconcrète #improvisation #illusionofsafety #postindustrialmusic
30 июн 2024
