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
'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/
Extreme/Microcinema, USA,
2009, English