die ablenkung

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American sound artist Mark Bain’s performance at last week’s Tuned City symposium in Berlin gave me faith in the restorative properties of very loud, sub-bass sound. Bain works with acoustics, architecture and infrasonics. He amplifies buildings and other large constructions with seismographic and other specially designed equipment. Before beginning, Bain explained that the sound may become uncomfortable for some people, and that it was his intention to drive us all out of the basement space. It was indeed a bit uncomfortable inside between the big d&b stacks, I felt the sound in my throat more than anything, giving me a choking sensation and making me want to cough. But just outside was not only bearable, but very pleasant. I could feel the sound on my skin, on the hairs, and under my skin — the way a hot bath penetrates the top layers.

The performance was held in the construction site of a building that will incorporate some of his sound works into its very structure. The walls, internal and external, will have jacks in them that residents and passers-by can plug into with headphones and listen. Fantastic.

When talking about Bain’s experiments, people often bring up Tesla and his (mythological?) earthquake machine:

Excerpt from the New York World, July 11, 1935  

Nikola Tesla revealed that an earthquake which drew police and ambulances to the region of his laboratory at 48 E. Houston St., New York, in 1898, was the result of a little machine he was experimenting with at the time which “you could put in your overcoat pocket.” 

“I was experimenting with vibrations. I had one of my machines going and I wanted to see if I could get it in tune with the vibration of the building. I put it up notch after notch. There was a peculiar cracking sound. 

“Suddenly all the heavy machinery in the place was flying around. I grabbed a hammer and broke the machine. The building would have been about our ears in another few minutes. Outside in the street there was pandemonium. 

“The police and ambulances arrived. I told my assistants to say nothing. We told the police it must have been an earthquake. That’s all they ever knew about it.” 

Amazon: Nikola Tesla’s Earthquake Machine: With Tesla’s Original Patents Plus New Blueprints to Build Your Own Working Model (Paperback)

Tags: Earthquakes, Mark Bain, Nikola Tesla, Sound Art, Tuned City, Vibrations.

I saw Thomas Köner perform live for the first time only a few days ago, despite having been a fan for many years. His dark drone-scapes are incredibly rich in tone and texture; the recordings are intoxicating and the music even more so live. That’s what I’d hoped anyway but, sadly, it wasn’t so.

The performance space was a big let down and came close to ruining the whole experience. Maybe I should have expected as much — the concert was part of a short film festival program. A kind of bookend to the films. He played in the bar/cafeteria/patio area of Haus der Kultur der Welt in Berlin, a building which has many beautiful spaces that would have been perfect for this kind of performance –- if only one of them had been used! Instead, we had to put up with crappy lighting that was being constantly adjusted by a guy on a ladder, an audience that drifted around like flotsam through the space between the bar and the outdoor smoking area, and people talking gaily over the top of the performance at alcohol fuelled volumes. It was a pity. 

The concert itself was …nice. Köner incorporated various field recordings of Japanese train station, which I’ve begun to find unbearably kitchy when presented with such solemnity, as well as kids and other stuff. It was nothing like the immersive, space-expanding experiences I’ve had listening to his best recorded works at home.

THE BEST OF KÖNER

Köner is a Chain Reaction alumnus. He worked with Andy Mellwig under name Porter Ricks for a number of years with several releases not only on Chain Reaction, but also Force Inc. and Mille Plateaux. Porter Ricks made staticy, noisy music backed by hissing house beats. Interesting at times, but not essential. 

Köner’s best work was already around before Porter Ricks, and was released on a fairly obscure Dutch label called Barooni in the very early ’90s. The original two albums, Teimo (1992) and Permafrost (1993) were limited and are long out of print. But they were released as a double album, Teimo/Permafrost, by Mille Plateaux in 1997. Both albums are chilling, spaciously minimal soundscapes.

Later releases on Mille Plateaux that are also worth checking are 2002’s Daikan, a live recording of a performance at the 2000 European Media Arts Festival in Osnabrück, and 2003’s Zyklop, the first disc of which is a performance from Radio France in 2002 called “Une Topographie Sonore: Col De Vence” that includes lots of field recordings.

TEIMO/PERMAFROST [Mille Plateaux MP035 1997]

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Buy: Teimo/Permafrost

DAIKAN [Mille Plateaux MP107 2002]

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Buy: Daikan

ZYKLOP [Mille Plateaux MP118 2003]

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Buy: Zyklop

And, just for laughs, here’s a taste of Porter Ricks …

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Tags: drone-scape, Les Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin/Madrid, soundscape, Thomas Köner.

../_ HAUS DER KULTUREN DER WELT FREE ENTRANCE. John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10, 10557 Berlin. S-Bahn : Hauptbahnhof, lines S5, S7, S9, S75 / bus 100 bis HdKdW
TUESDAY, JULY 1ST 22:00 MULTIMEDIA CONCERT Thomas KÖNER : Terrain vague Electronic concert | 0:40:00 Germany | 2008	Thomas KÖNER

Tags: thomas köner concert.