"An arbitrary succession of more or less irritating sounds"

Wednesday 6 October 2010

Time-lag accumulator



More bees, more Koen Holtkamp: at the risk of turning this site into an apiological hall (hive?) of mirrors by supplementing every last new piece with a completist addendum & keeping up an alarming proportion of bee-related content, here's a further chunk of the lovely, honeyed Gravity/Bees that has to be heard.

You can put the keeper's mask & smoke-gun down, though. Leaving aside the preview's running order seemingly the wrong way round (probably not a concern except to anorak-y types, ahem), this gives a first taste of the bee-free A side In the Absence of Gravity Please Note the Position of the Sun - as well as revisiting the Loosely Based on Bees extract featured here last week.

According to Thrill Jockey's blurb, Gravity "is a side-long piece based around a 2008 solo performance in Brighton. The technical set up was somewhat inspired by Terry Riley's 'time-lag accumulator' pieces using a delay system where Holtkamp was constantly recording over himself in order to create a continuous and fluid overall sound. A friend sent him a recording of the performance and it encouraged Holtkamp to take a non-purist approach and combine the live recording with some of his more recent studio experimentations from the summer of 2010. The work is built mainly around processed acoustic guitar, analog synthesizers, and electronics but also incorporates recordings of harmonica, electric organ, small percussion objects, and an unlikely glass of ginger ale."

LMYE is on record with a preference for Holtkamp/Mountains to dispense with the acoustic guitars (& has been guided away from this stance, helpfully). Gravity has no lack of twang, but (or because, or whatever) is as refreshingly effervescent as that glass of ginger ale...

Bonus: below also stream a previous piece of Holtkamp apiology - the beautifully paced & textured Bee Change from his masterpiece for Type, Field Rituals.





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