Topos, the danish forefront of interesting musings and beyond, is releasing “Madrigal” today. A piece of music by Tobias Kirstein and Christian Rønn recorded live in 2017. Two organs, 8 oscillators, wooden floor and ceiling, stonewalls, some people and a good amount of time and patience.
Christian Rønn works with improvisation, electroacoustics, fixed composition, soundart and film-music, performing and writing in a variety of combinations and constellations. F.ex. with Ikue Mori, Peter Peter, Aram Shelton and P.O. Jørgens. Points of interest: unrecognizable states of being, transcendence, journey beyond language. His energetic and out-of-body-playing-style has been likened to Cecil Taylor and Sun Ra. As an organ-and piano-player, he creates solo- and collaborative works for organ, piano and multi-channel electronics as well as installation-works. Writes and produces “Panser” with Peter Peter as well as the popular electronica-act “Ganga” and has been scoring film-classics as “Battleship Potemkin”, “Metropolis” and “Man with a Moving Camera”.
Lars Lundehave Hansen has been working with ephemeral drones and physical music for the past 20 years – as a soundartist, enthusiastic promotor of and dedicated performer in these fields. He co-founded legendary organization Noisejihad and was the catalyst behind danish renowned drone-act Wäldchengarten. Follow his endeavours into sound beyond music on his website or through Tonometer Music www.larslundehavehansen.dk tonometer.dk
Here we have a three-way split with three distinct artistic practices by Jesper Elving, Tobias Kirstein and Claus Haxholm.
Jesper Elving produces extra-lingual poems, with self-composed words put into strict gridlike structures that give the sense of musicality and enhance the more meditational effect of Elvings poetic constructions. Tobias Kirstein has worked with the hidden values of sound and being, not necessarily as an occult practice but rather in the vein of of LeWitts iconic Sentences ; “the conceptual artist is rather a Mystic than a rationalist” and through this lens Kirstein works with History and a sort of Introvert activism often via Drone and field recording. Claus Haxholm is an Artist and Musician working with tropes of Black Metal, analysing and dissecting the vocal expression of this genre. Solely focusing on the vocal, Haxholm shifts the perspective from the emotional and narrative to the more analytical bodily manifestations of screaming out your guts and lungs.
The release works as a human-designed prism, dealing with the prime elements of Language: Letter, Context and Emotion; all connected in “Expression” (voicing/communication) – something that Language somehow often seems to have a hard time splitting itself from. That split is not constructed here, but at least it opens bit up and all of the Expressions on this release expands on what (mind/throat-based) Language can take the form of. Personal and Collectively.
Released November 2019 by Spricht Editions.
credits
released November 11, 2019
(For optimal sonic pleasure, please use headphones)
Disformation is an experimental music label conceived by Casper Gottlieb and Jesper Bagger Hviid.
“A common element of the musical pieces on these releases is that they are claiming space like an uninvited guest: They occupy your room, leaving no other option but to give in. They demand your attention without ever asking for it, and they don’t complement anything but themselves. An example of this is TR Kirstein’s forthcoming release, “Daimon Fortis”.
“Daimon Fortis” unfolds as a drone piece that is meandering slowly around itself. Time is vanishing and is blurred out completely. Listening through this release is a highly rewarding experience. Deep square waves are being modulated almost unperceivably into the sonic product of a machine meditating. This confronts us with how passive and relentless machines are. They enforce their own rhythms on us, simply because they are not as flexible as we are. And it is our flexibility which allows us to be overtaken. We cannot communicate with a machine: They do not provide any response or reaction. Consequently, this requires us to adapt, in an act of reverse ergonomics. Machines have become the circumstances under which we change.”
Read an intelligent and interesting text about the project here:
Duoshow with Carl Michael von Hausswolff and Tobias Kirstein and a projection of his danish translation of William S. Burroughs’s novel ‘Cities of the Red Night’ for the audience to read aloud during the concert, at Mayhem, Copenhagen, november 2018.
Electronic drone for 7 speakers at David Risley Gallery.
Dracula Never Ends.
Tobias R Kirstein live drone performance celebrating the cassette release of Tony Conrad / Tobias R. Kirstein ‘Live at Mayhem March 1. 2012’ on Insula Music
5 years ago and so many things have happened.
5 years ago I played a duo concert with Tony Conrad at Mayhem. We spent the afternoon together, talking and trying out stuff. Mostly just talking. He had a sore shoulder which meant we should take it slow from the beginning.
The recording of the concert was on the shelf for some years until Johs Lund made a mix and convinced me to release it. The tape was ready for a while. Andreas Korsgaard made a great cover. Insula Records was happy to put it out. Thank you!
Life and death happened.
Red and golden colors.
Such a little box of plastic and magnetic tape means so much.
All things considered, I think it is appropriate to celebrate the release instead of hanging around and getting all sentimental.
No talking.
A big celebratory drone in an art space suits the participants and the sound well.
David Risley Gallery, the best gallery in town, was kind enough to open their doors.
So here we are.
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