Documentation of a British tour of international electronicists that happened in 2004, spread across two audio discs and a DVD. Heard are Knut Aufermann, Xentos Fray Bentos, Nicolas Collins, Alvin Lucier, Toshimaru Nakamura, Billy Roisz, Sarah Washington and Otomo Yoshihide in various combinations, including a smattering of solos.
Alvin Lucier's sole contribution is a live rendering of his composition "Bird and Person Dyning" (sic), a great recording of a good performance. If you've not heard it, this would be a nice alternative to tracking down the high-priced original LP. It would be hard to pick any standouts from the remaining sets, and listening while not paying attention to the track list (as I did the first time I listened) yields nice long slices of electronic texture, from harsh and loud to very quiet and simple. If you're familiar with any of these artists' works you may recognize a tactic or three.
The DVD, which I thought might contain live footage from the tour, actually consists of five video works with accompanying sound. All these videos have similar elements, a lot of which looks like manipulated TV interference on an old black and white unit. I had strong memories of watching "Video Visionaries" on PBS back in high school. "Block 2", the longest of these videos at 27+ minutes, has a soundtrack from the entire ensemble, though it's hard to know that given the sparseness of the sonics. What seems to be a slit in the screen through which we see a wavering shaft of light eventually becomes a virtual three-dimensional pole with modulating rings rising and subtle colors fading in and out. Blocky, pixilated interference appears in front of and behind the pole, as bright yellow bricks and wall sections blot out large portions of the screen. Fascinating and at the same time difficult to watch. Nakamura and Roisz give us "CNS", which modulates from barely perceptible horizontal bands on white to a full screen of pulsing, wavering grey and black patterns. The title is apt, as it seemed to be doing odd things to my central nervous system as I watched.
Hard to believe these documents are 11 years old!
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