EP (2010), Psi
Track listing:
ep 1 - dj sniff plays Evan Parker: 1. One 2. Two 3. Three 4. Four 5. Interlude 1 6. Interlude 2 7. Five 8. Six 9. Seven
ep 2 - dj sniff plays Evan Parker and Others: 1. Moers 2. Itchy Throat 3. Or Beats
Liner notes of the album:
In 1878, Thomas Edison proposed two applications for his newly patented invention, the Edison Phonograph: 1) Dictation for letters, memoirs and speeches. 2) Education for elocution, pronunciation and grammar.
Evan Parker's 1978 solo record Monoceros was recorded directly to vinyl to achieve better fidelity towards sound quality and a moment of playing. Not only did this record resurrect the phonograph's original functionality as a recording and playback device, but more importantly, it was a scribing of a personal voice, in this case an instrumental voice. Parker's highly personal dictation calls for an acute focus from the ear, like trying to follow a continuous line that is drawn out but immediately disappearing. For many, this record helped define a language of free improvised music, and served as a guide for young improvisers around the world. After listening to this record, it suddenly makes sense that the British term for the phonograph was the gramophone.
But even with this record or countless "live" records that have been produced, we do not actually hear (or here) the past. Instead we experience a constructed notion of the past. The vinyl record is a unique sonic reality in itself, one that unravels through every rotation of the platter once the needle is placed. Every playback of a record is essentially a performance of a performance. Edison's hand-cranked phonograph predicted a future where the playback of music becomes the act of playing music.
DJs were the earliest playback performers, always one step ahead and laying down a smooth path to groove to. Then came Grandmaster Flash with his juggling, cuts and scratches. These were techniques of rupture on our listening consciousness that zapped us through auditory time and space, right back to where the performance of the performance is happening. With every scratch, our memory of a past is suspended and we hear and here the now. Flash was fast and Flash was cool because he analyzed the art of DJing, reengineered his tools and then practiced for hours in his kitchen. He seeded the most physical style of electro-acoustic music to come.
George Lewis was fast and cool too. In 1985, together with Joel Ryan he brought the computer knowledge of IRCAM to the electronic performance center of STEIM. Here Lewis imagined a computer that embodied the body-knowledge of the improvisor and created his groundbreaking interactive software Voyager. This opened doors to a new collective form of music, the possibility to play with computes as dynamic and fluent as Lewis's 1978 release on Black Saint, Monads. Sadly, what succeeded in computer-based music was an even stronger shift towards a disembodiment of the body, bringing office work onto the stage.
Also in 1978, Michel Waisvisz recorded his first solo record, Crackle, with his own invention the Cracklesynth. His Crackle instruments were played by connecting the body directly to the electric circuit - he wanted to touch sound. The Cracklesynth was a version that had enough power and versatility to compete with the volume of Peter Brötzmann and the lyricism of Steve Lacy. Later in the early 80's he invented another instrument called The Hands. Combined with the custom live sampling software LiSa, this gestural controller enabled him to record and play samples as fast as any traditional instrument. His performances were like watching a boxing match. On stage he was able to play the moment that Parker tried to capture in Monoceros, instantly creating a Moebius strip of time. Computer music heads like to call this real-time performance but he preferred to call it Composing The Now.
My own quest has been to figure out how I can play the playback as a turntable musician. I can sound like Albert Ayler or Han Bennink if I play their records. But how can I play the non-sounds of the record; the language, the spirit and the intuition of the improvising musician. How can I trace the line that Parker drew with the line itself? For the last six years I have focused on developing my turntable skills in tandem to designing new computer-based tools, in order to achieve a distinct instrumental voice. Instead of using the "ahh" sound from Fab 5 Freddy's Change The Beat, I used Anthony Braxton and Max Roach's duo record Birth and Rebirth to practice my setup, another release from 1978.
This recording is my attempt to play Evan Parker. Seven tracks were recorded in STEIM's Studio 3, trying to reflect the liveness of Parker's solo recordings. All of these are single takes with minor edits at the beginnings or ends. Two interlude tracks are short experiments looking at timbral characteristics when the rotation of the turntable is extremely slowed down. The last three tracks are compositions made from both Parker's and other improvisors' records.
I first met Evan at a festival in Warsaw. He heard me play Alex von Schlippenbach and Charles "Bobo" Shaw records during my soundcheck and asked me if I wanted to work with his. My answer was obvious, and several weeks later a package full of records arrived, it felt like Christmas. I spent the next several weeks listening and scratching my way through his recordings. As I wrote this text after finishing the project, I searched online and discovered how incredibly expensive those records are. I wonder if this knowledge would have affected the musical outcome if I had known before.
dj sniff
October, 2010
Total time: 53.6 minutes
All tracks played and produced by dj sniff
Recorded at STEIM, Studio for Electro-Instrumental Music Amsterdam
Mixed and mastered by Kato Hideki
Design concept dj sniff
Photographs Caroline Forbes (after Roberto Masotti)
CD layout & production Evan Parker & Martin Davidson
