Press Reviews


https://frieze.com/article/sense-time   - Frieze magazine interview with Phill Niblock
the interviewer:    Geeta Dayal
 
+
 
http://musicguy247.typepad.com/my-blog/2016/09/phill-niblock-an-interview-experimental-intermedia-composer-downtown-music-scene-loft-concerts-.html
an interview by Robert von Bernewitz       www.musicguy247.com


An interview and performance excerpts from the Pompidou Centre in Paris (November 29, 2014), by Gilles Pate, on vimeo (18 minutes)

With Subtitles


Without Subtitles

One from Detroit, the Motor City, music and an interview, from Blogs | Detroit Metro Timesmetrotimes.com/Blogs/archives/2015/02/08/in-case-you-are-totally-stressed-out-like-i-am-right-now-heres-some-lovely-drone-music-by-phill-niblock

The complete Phill Niblock - Arthur Russell collaboration: Terrace of Unintelligibility youtu.be/Tx2GOF_SL3o
 
A book of articles about Phill Niblock titled - Working Title, was published in 2012.
It is in English and French, and is 540 pages. There are 4 DVDs of video included in the work (NTSC).

Un panorama des activités de l'artiste multimédia et compositeur new-yorkais depuis les années 1960, à travers des essais de musicologues, critiques et historiens de l'art, de nombreuses illustrations, des partitions et 4 films sur DVD.
A collection edited by Yvan Etienne www.lespressesdureel.com/
The book can be purchased in the US at www.forcedexposure.com, for $48


"Touch Five", a new double CD on Touch, is published on October 14.
Music by Phill Niblock
CD One:
FeedCorn Ear - Arne Deforce, cello (2012, 29:48)
A Cage of Stars - Rhodri Davies, electric harp (2012, 28:18)
CD Two:
Two Lips - Zwerm Guitar Quartet (2011, 23 minutes)
Two Lips - Dither Guitar Quartet (2011, 23 minutes)
Two Lips - Coh Da Guitar Quartet (2011, 23 minutes)

I am happy to announce the release of a new DVD on the Mode label (Mode 273)
Brazil84, the film, with three pieces for orchestra, as music
A film from the Movement of People Working series, and recently transferred from 16mm film to video

The Music:
Three Orchids,” for three orchestras – Orchestra of the SEM Ensemble, conducted by Petr Kotik, Merkin Hall, NYC, live recording by Paul Geluso, June 3 2004
Tow by Tom,” for two orchestras – Trio Scordatura (Amsterdam) and the Nelly Boyd Ensemble (Hamburg), mixed / multitrack recordings of the two ensembles, one on the left channel, the other on the right. Trio Scordatura (Alfrun Schmid, voice; Elisabeth Smalt, viola, Bob Gilmore, synth); Nelly Boyd (Jens Roehm, synth [single analog oscillator, Dave Smith Evolver]; Jan Feddersen, e-bow guitar; Peter Imig, violin; Robert Engelbrecht, cello)
Trio Scordatura recorded by Johan Vandermaelen at Amplus, Aaigem, Belgium, March 1 2008;
Nelly Boyd recorded by Jens Roehm and Julia Berg in the Christianskirche, Hamburg, March 9 2009
Three Orchids,” – Trio Scordatura plus one, mixed / multitrack recording.
Trio Scordatura (Alfrun Schmid, voice; Elisabeth Smalt, viola; Bob Gilmore, keyboard) with Guy De Bièvre, dobro. played with e-bow; Recorded by Johan Vandermaelen at Amplus, Aaigem, Belgium, August 13-14 2007
Mixing and mastering by Johan Vandermaelen of both the 5.1 surround sound and the stereo tracks. It is available from forcedexposure.com (US) and from metamkine.com (France) and elsewhere

Phill Niblock – Annual Winter Solstice Concert | Roulette | Concert ...
Joseph Pfender reviews Phill Niblock's Solstice Concert at Roulette, with Robert Poss, David Watson, David First, and Marxism.   bachtrack.com/Review-nyc-roulette-phill-niblock-winter-solstice

Dig Boston

Boston Gig


Review and pictures of Phill Niblock and Thomas Ankersmit at St Leonards Church Shoreditch London
mapsadaisical.wordpress.com/2010/11/22/phil-niblock-and-thomas-ankersmit-st-leonards-church-191110/ flickr.com/photos/mapsadaisical/sets/72157625430283424/

New Music at the Green Mill Concert Review
newmusicgm.blogspot.com/2010/03/jeff-kowalkowskis-review-of-concert-68.html


Phill Niblock - Touch Strings


'Touch Strings' is Phill Niblock's fourth release for the Touch label and even considering the vastness of his body of work, this is one of the most comprehensive documents of his extreme approach to reductive composition to have been realized. Sufficient to warrant a double-cd release format, this engrossing album features 3 works focussed on vast harmonic tapestries produced with electric guitars, basses and cellos. As always with Niblock the focus remains on the beating of the interference tones that sprawl across the frequency ranges, recalling works by artists such as Alvin Lucier or the Romanian spectral composers like Radulescu or Dumitrescu. The pieces are far from easy, and to fully appreciate and digest the incomparable stasis of the work, it demands a full and uninterrupted listening mode. For those of you with more challenged attention spans, the 46-minute 'One Large Rose' offers a much denser arrangement yielding a powerfully direct orchestral drone that (excuse the painfully obvious metaphor) ebbs and flows on a tectonic scale. The piece took the Nelly Boyd Ensemble four takes to achieve the final version, further testament to the focussed and intense concentration at work beneath the lethargic, quivering exterior of the sound masses. With the drone scene churning out endless releases of feeble pitched-down orchestral loopage, its something of a master-class to listen to one of the defining works of one of the genres wise old heads. No cheap tricks, no lazy processing, just beautifully recorded, texturally vibrant drones. Genius. - Simon Harris, Hair E
hairentertainment.com/phillniblock

Ostrava Days New Music Festival August 2009, Ostrava CZ:
facsimilemagazine.com/2009/11/index.html


A Touch announcement and some reviews: 
touchmusic.org.uk/catalogue/to79_phill_niblock_touch_strin_1.html


A review of Touch Strings by Massimo Ricci on the Touching Extremes website:   bagatellen.com/?p=2451
and another review on Dusted: dustedmagazine.com/reviews/5340
also on brainwashed.com

Phill Niblock - The Movement of People Working
Extreme/Microcinema, USA, 2009, English
This is a new reprint (the first release was in 2003) of an important dvd which gathers a series of audio/visual artworks made by Phill Niblock from the early 70s to middle 80s. Niblock is a historical intermedia artist, who has been mixing film and music since the late 60s, and is an acknowledged pioneer in sound and visual experimentation. In this series he focussed on the motions involved in manual labour, using footage shot in different rural or coastal places around the world and a minimalist score he composed for the project. The contrast between the music and the movies is still able to create tension: the vivid colours and the focus on the hands, their elegant and precise gestures irresistibly attracting attention. The gestures are repetitive but with a loosely intrinsic rhythm that makes their sequences harmonic while the soundtrack is fighting for the viewer’s attention on the aural level. The gestures are never abstract, but instead very rich in textures, and their poetic is cultivated in the choice of light and colour. Soundtracking is a sophisticated art, as Niblock proved a long time ago, and his approach has been mimicked countless times by younger video artists. Watching the hands in such a variety of tasks takes us back to another era. Now our fingers mostly find their way around keyboards and all kinds of touch screens. We have probably forgotten some of the abilities cultivated over time in order to manipulate objects for specific purposes - something that this challenging video/audio combination reminds us of. - Neural



Second International Conference on Minimalist Music in Kansas City,
September 2 - 6 (2ndminimalism.org): Held at University of Missouri.

More details at Kyle Gann's blog artsjournal.com/postclassic

A radio program broadcast and on the web, prepared by Isaac Diego Garcia, in Madrid, Spain, and in the Spanish language. The broadcast and webcast were on March 19 2010.
A radio feature on Phill Niblock, with two pieces of music, and commentary (Poure and Hurdy Hurry).
Radio Clasica - rtve.es/radio/radioclasica/
It is archived here - arssonora.es/
 
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