Eskilstuna - Picturebook Soundroom Days in May 2007

These days I am reflecting on silence. I try to listen through all the noises I hear when walking around. Light and landscape help me, and so does my skin, because there is a feel to every place on earth; it is not caused by global warming which immediate result made me shiver so much a few days ago. This silence doesn't mean the abscence of sounds. It is the moment that all those sounds compose calm, or peace. At that point the setting for a story is perfect. I like the silence of a kitchen or the silence between lovers. It is silence that makes images and memories come alive: it is silence that turns the youngest moment into a memory.

But there is no silence if there is not a place where it can be heard or experienced. In the old days, before merchandising turned the expressions into a slogan, one could talk about peace and love. But these words are so big, that they crumble down to nothingness if they are used in a superficial way. Just keep on listening, then hear, and then realise where you are. And then take care of that moment. And start again. And please forget about John Cage.

picture one

Anders Ostberg on the left, me on the right, picture by Bjorn Eriksson on the day I left Eskilstuna. Anders I knew through the chain-tape-collective, an online group of recorders/composers who produce cdr-'s on different themes. Anders was also a contributor to my festival-to-go version of das kleine field recordings festival. When I asked him for some addresses to perform in Sweden, he proposed me to Jennie Andersson. She invited me to set up a soundroom. I do not like sound installations. So this was a good chance to find out why.

While in Eskilstuna I was hosted by Anders and taken care of in the best way one can imagine.

Mälardalens Högskola was the name of the university that hosted me. Mälardalen is the name of the lake that is to be found on a good fifty minutes walk from Eskilstuna's centre. But during my stay I saw the light of the setting sun on the vanilla coloured houses along the water when walking back to Anders apartment with the selection of Cronenbergs movies, and I saw the same houses again, and some others in the morning light and the old church on my way to the school in the morning. I never made it to the lake; and when I walked out one afternoon, it started to rain...

picture by jennie andersson

This is not a scene from one of Cronenbergs movies. It is Malena Larsson. One of the two helpers that volunteered months ago. The other girl is in the picture below.

picture by jennie andersson

Before I came to Eskilstuna I tried to ban thoughts on what kind of sound to install as much as possible. I was amused by the fact that two 'helpers' were appointed to me: Why should I need helpers? What for? Of course I was trapped by my fantasy and couldn't help reflecting on what to do. It proved so very wrong when I arived. In my imagination also the room itself was included: I had in view a nice wooden house with some green around it, windows, a place where I could live when in Sweden. I never had been to Sweden before.

The first sight of the rooms destroyed every plan I had. But the first encounter with Jennie, Anders, Malena and Camilla made me realise how lucky I had been. In the days following luck changed into happyness. As Anders said:"you made the girls work like slaves." Not completely true, but they did work as much as I did.

On Anders Ostbergs blop there is some pictures of my soundroom in action. Also on the pictures here of Malena and me, and Camilla Lännström and her mobile phone (in fact she was texting in shorthand writing the essential words of my lecture) you can see little shiny things pending. The one in Camilla's ear was not included. All those little shiny things were made and hung against a black curtain by the girls. The whole setting was by their hands. When I saw the result for the first time in the minimal red light, I was totally taken away: Everything was just like I had imagined it.

Well, not eveything. I never could have imagined how fullfilling working with Camilla and Malena could be. Jennie came to see us as much as possible, (also because she had 'more important' business to attend to). Malena could only help during the preparations; she had to go on wednesday. So I decided to have the premiere just before she would leave.

The premiere of what? The premiere of what I thought would be the perfect listening environment on that particular place during those days.

Once everything was set up, I decided that my soundroom contribution would be a bit like the old circus days. Three shows a day. Anders archived every minute of it for this and coming generations. On the last day we had a lunchtalk without lunch. I don't recall what I said, but Björn Eriksson has everything recorded, and maybe it will become available some day. For this occasion Ms. Judith Moldenhauer (on the right on picture two) was invited, and she had some interesting words on composing one's own reality; an appoach very close to my way of working.

picture two

On Saturday Jennie had promised me that the school would be dead. A good opportunity to turn to Second Life. Björn came over from his house on the north pole. We installed a surround speaker system in one of the computer rooms, put up two beamers, and entered into the virtual Haidplatz in Regensburg.Much fun to look at. I will certainly try to make a field recordings festival in Second Life one of the features of the coming das kleine field recordings festival in Berlin, next august. I have to put up a link to the pomodoros from bolzano who helped us with realising this concert.

And ah. The three old men spent a good evening of psychedelic sounds, when Anders went through his record selection of very odd psychedelic music and d.jayed for more then four hours. He also made us listen to the record that changed his view on music completely, and made him decide to turn to phonography etcetera. Also these hours got recorded and might be heard one day on adrian shephards and my Radio On.

On the last day of the Soundroom days I was in Stockholm. There I walked around the Royal Island and recorded some boats and birds on a very grey and chilly day. Meanwhile in Eskilstuna: the recordings of Anders were played. And I hope the room was left on its own, unattended, in complete darkness, only visited by us, I mean by our memories. Camilla mailed me some days later that the room got dismantled. But that happened in some other life, of course.

26th of May, Backstage in Vincennes, near Paris

pictures from stills of a video by flexrex

As a guest to TG and Enrique and the girlfriend( krypton?),I performed in an old factory in Vincennes. It was a last minute location due to an internal war at La Générale where the evening was planned. More groups were playing in what was a practice room when we entered it, and a kind of sauna when we left it for the last time. In fact, during one of the acts, when I was engaged in some talking and beerdrinking in the bar together with Flexrex, a girl in a lovely summers dress stormed in, bare feeted, leaned against the wall, and pushed her black underwear down her legs. It was soaked for more then one reason, judging from the smile on the boyfriend's face.

We never got back to the steaming room after we saw the grandson of Eric Satie conducting an orchestra of drums and guitars and one keyboard. He had a gesturist language of his own. The first minutes it looked like he was building up to something, like some ecstatic vulcanic dance. But he kept conducting right to the end. I thought smearing make up on his face with every gesture (nobody could see it, because he was with his back to the audience), then choose a moment where the orchestra would play for their own sake, like some mechanical puppets, to start an uncontrolled springfever dance, would be the perfect act, but no.

The real circus act came back stage where a little girl dressed in black did some acrobaticisms with two hoolahoops. Flexrex put them on video, one, two After it she turned our place next to the sauna door into a real backstage place. We talked about sinking ships and melting ice; we discussed geographical and scientific problems. We had some thougts on vertical hoolahooping, which she found enchanting, because she thought of hanging down from ropes by hand and feet, to be held by strong men. And of course we talked about linguistic problems caused by demographical determinism. We also recited some poems. And to keep it all nice and anonymous we never introduced ourselves to each other: alors fille au cercau, a la prochain fois, avec plus d'espace!

Lilac - a short story of springtime surprises

picture by Giulia Spanghero, Tarcento

These weeks I have done some travelling. It is not playing only that breaks the time ; I also do some walking, being a tourist with a cause. In springtime there is flowers everywhere. But the lilac and its sweet smell I encountered from Ljubljana way up to Malmö.

My father worked in the coalmines. He worked at the frontline deep down in the earth. No wonder that once back in the sun he went out for long walks. When I was still young enough to believe in miracles, but old enough to figure out that I was witnessing some ritual, I was enchanted one day by the vision of a bunch of Lilac in a vase on the table.

This triggered my memorie. And I suddenly realised, that my father brought lilac to my mother, every year at springtime. He never told where he found it. But the lilac was a yearly announcement that spring had arived.

On the picture you can recognize two colors, the orange of the orange, and the lilac of the lilac.

Tapemosphere # 9 and # 12 ; April 4th in Cologne, and May 22nd in Hamburg

flyerdesign by Balz Isler


Last tuesday, late May, 2007 in Hamburg saw the birth of a new release - six c10 cassettes each with a part of the performances by Balz Isler and me, and a DVD of it all to cream off your birthday party. The performances itself offered an intriguing use of found words by Balz that resulted in a radiophonic production, worth of red ears glued to the good old lampenradio. My performance was a cruel contrast to his, due to the fysical approach to sound by yours sincerely. It made the audience suffer in some moments, because of the anti-concert like initial composition and its very loud peaks. My sincere apologies go out to the one victim who had to see the docter the day after, because of a knall-trauma.

A more friendly image of me you can find in this short movie shot in Cologne, where I brought a sound that can be regarded as a little homage to the early years of Kraftwerk. (Who are from nearby rival city Düsseldorf).

Both performances were part of the tapemosphere series. More to come!

Popular Culture : Soundroom Days in Eskilstuna, May 2007

picture by anders östberg

Preparing

picture by anders östberg


Testing the Britney Spears Bed



picture by anders östberg

Listening

Paris Retouched Some More - April 2007

picture by harold schellinx

I travelled with Pati from her hometown to Montreuil near Paris. I arived together with the pope in Vigevano. But I never got to see him. You had to pay 70 Euro to see him in concert. He didnot sell all the tickets. Spring was blasting like summer. It was pleasure to cycle around town through empty streets.

Streets were full of cars when we started hitchhiking and arived in Marseille just in time to do our concert in front of five people. Luckily I could put them all to sleep. Then we crossed the Central Massive the next day. Pati saw her hospital and I recorded the first view of the Eifel tower. We arived at Pigalle before all the others.

Saturday without a gig, we went to have a rest at Père Lachaise to spend the day with the death and the tourists. I recorded two east european girls taking gothic pictures of each other. There is a pair of them on every graveyard. Pati found Eric Piaff and Max Ernst, and I spend half an hour to find the grave of Stendhal, only to run into Prousts grave.

The picture shows Madame P. at La Générale. The background projection stems from a collection of recycled traffic instruction diagrammes, heavenly consumed by wheather and is the property of Mr. Houzier. These and other treasures he safeguards in a heavy barricaded room in his house.

Pati and I left eachother on a sunny day.

Paris Retouched - April 2007

video by Rébus

Once again in Paris, in the Pigalle neighbourhood. Walking those streets is always a pleasure. There is so much to see, so many pretty girls, flowers, café's, people drinking their coffee, the walkings and the longings, and always the distant echoos of springtime that are so near.

We played in a cave as you should do when you are in Paris. And the next sunday we were on one of the floors of the La Générale in around the corner from little Chinatown in Belleville. It was all about recycling. There were lots of friends playing or catching sounds that haven't been heard for quite a while. Here I saw Pati doing her concert in Paris; I played with Jean Bordé; Diktat translated into sound what a quiet peacefull day feels like, and kept the doors to the backyard wide open, because that is were the real mystery starts, and poems don't need to be written.