"Timescales"8pm; £8 |
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rating/5 | |
Timescales | ***** |
Encore | **** |
Chris Cutler: drum kit, assorted objects, electronics
Fred Frith: guitar
John Tilbury: piano
Frank Schulte: turntables, sampler, synthesizer, effects
It would be arrogant to pretend I understood "Timescales", but I certainly enjoyed it! The last in the Zwischenspiel [Interplay] series of new music concerts at the ICA, bringing together English and German musicians, "Timescales" was led by Chris Cutler, a regular Anglo-German collaborator. Cutler was a central part of the band Henry Cow—another Henry Cow member, Tim Hodgkinson, led "Braille", an earlier concert in the same series—and it is from what may have been the inspiration for that band's name, avant garde composer Henry Cowell, that the idea for "Timescales" came. To quote Cutler in the programme:
Each performer wore an earpiece, presumably supplying Cutler's "private aural cues", and the quartet played strongly throughout, also returning for a short encore (sans earpieces). Cutler largely played his acoustic set during the rhythmic parts, but made more use of his usual Cutler-y elsewhen, bowing small pieces of polystyrene or rattling chains. He played the finale using rolled-up newspapers as drum sticks. These disintegrated in the process and he switched to just rustling the paper at the end. Using just one guitar throughout, but with numerous effects, Frith mostly played his instrument flat on his lap; a favoured technique was to rest a small tin—like those for boiled sweets—on the strings and then bowing the tin. He also made use of brushes to play the guitar, playing fast leads with a shoe brush or creating an ambient texture with a paint brush. Schulte used a variety of samples, from rhythms to spoken word, both coming to the fore and adding textures to the others' leads. He also added some keyboard parts. Tilbury was usually unintrusive on piano, adding notes very effectively without ever dominating.
Henry Potts, 25 Jan 98
Originally posted to rec.music.progressive
and rec.music.classical.contemporary.
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