My dear friend and Dåbermann-mate @sundur is a classic example for having waaay too much potential, but holding back his arts somehow. I just found myself listening to a very short snippet of him again and again. Simply because I couldn’t explain what was going on there.
He’s a true sound-wizard and listening to these snippets, I honestly hope that his craft will continue to take shape!
I did an Interrail-Trip in March/April 2010. Travelling from Aachen through Belgium, France, Switzerland and Italy to Greece. By train. In Greece i travelled a bit around (Peloponnes, Athens and Tessaloniki) and then went to Istanbul. The way home was through Bukarest, Budapest, Vienna and Innsbruck. Really a great trip for me, it finally gave me the last kick to liberate my head from this internet-thing here. I saw lots of great places and met many great people. And i collected sounds. And since three months i always wanted to put a cut together, that represents my journey in sound. Like watching a photo-album with the ears. Or listening to a documentary without the picture.
I don’t know if this is of any value to anyone out there. I can remember these moments where some relative took out a video-camera and showed videos from last holiday in southern france or such. For them it was very exciting, i mean the shaky camera, the non-action going on there. But obviously holiday-movies are only pleasure to those who actually participated. So please let me know if it is boring
But one part of travelling for me was always to be at some place, sit and listen. It is the sound.
Though you could listen through the widget above, i recommend going to the Soundcloud-page, where you can see all timed comments, guiding you through my journey. Have fun (or not)!
Ps. if you nevertheless want to see some pictures, try this link..
There is a small town in Belgium, called Neerpelt, where they have this wonderful place: Klankenbos, which translates to “Soundforest”. Initiated by musica.be, they invite sound-artists to contribute installations to the forest. So visitors can go around and experience sound in new ways.
Just to give an example: there is a glass-cube in the forest, which you can only access through an underground tunnel. Being there, it isolates you from the environmental forest-sounds to bring awareness to what you normally don’t take attention to. The concept is inspired by John Cage’s famous piece 4:33, which is basically 4 minutes and 33 seconds of musical silence.
Another one: A giant flute. In fact so big, that you can go into it. You close the big steel-door behind you and a huge fan starts “blowing” air on the opening of the flute. The created sound is of such a low frequency (maybe around 20-30Hz) that you literally stand inside of the wave and physically feel how the sound goes through your body. Impressive.
There are many more installations, so if you happen to be around that area, it is definetely worth a visit! Check their website: musica.be or flip through the Klankenbos Info-PDF.
There is a small wooden cottage called RadioForest, which was initially created to broadcast the moods of the wood. Now it is a place for workshops and several installations. For example, they have soundscapes being played within the wooden walls of the building. You have to approach with your ear to listen to soundscapes evolving around the topic of “forest”.
This is where Dåbermann comes into place: we were invited to contribute such a soundscape to the collection. Instead of just delivering it, we went to Klankenbos to have an improvised session right in that setting. Besides of some instruments, we used just sounds we collected earlier in the forest.
It was a very nice experience, these are the kinds of places we Dåbermen like. So if you happen to be in Klankenbos next time, you will probably listen to our Radioforest Soundscape there. Enjoy!
(If you don’t want to take on the travel cost, download the file and listen at home
Actually this is a repost taken from our Dåberlog. Feel free to subscribe/follow over there.
Now I want everybody to take out their mobile phones and take a picture of me.
Now I want everybody to take the person next to you and send him a text message.
Now I want everybody to take the person next to you and kiss.
1… 2… 3… kiss!
Now make a bass sound!
Yesterday I attended Frankfurt’s Club “Robert Johnson” to be part of Matthew Herbert’s next record. Working title “One Club”. It will be made entirely of sounds collected yesterday evening. Everyone attended will be in the booklet and receive a copy of the album. I’m really excited and looking forward to the result.
Oh, did I mention that Herbert has always been a big inspiration for me? This guy somehow opened my ears to the music and rhythms surrounding us everyday. He has always been innovating and keeps on doing so.
Another next album of his will be made entirely from sounds of a pig. It was born a month ago and he will record-follow it through its life. Crazy person! In a good way !
Okay. I’ll start off with no stranger. Actually I already made music with this guy. I don’t know exactly, if Sundur is to be his Artist-name… for now it is. (He is also spinning minimal records. Check his MySpace)
The deal: Considering his level of skill, it’s absolutely inappropriate, that this track is his only audible fragment available anywhere. The first time we met to mess around with Ableton, I was totally surprised both by his sound and his way of working in Ableton. In a very positive way. His approach to Ableton looked like an ever ongoing flow. He constantly builds up his loops, drags sounds around, sends them through effects, adds new ones. All of that in a speed, you won’t recognize this beat was never around before / done on the fly.
“The Detroit Sun” completely represents his sound, as I experienced it. The whole beat feels like a big wheel, that just rolls really slowly on uneven ground. The sometimes odd clicks really add to an overall warm feeling.
He put the phrase Trip-Hop in the genre-tag. In my head, the term TripHop usually triggers really different sounds. But still, this track feels like the succesful translation of Massive Attack-influenced Triphop into todays’ sound. More Flying Lotus than Kruder&Dorfmeister.
I can’t wait for him to put out more stuff. He should. And (as I remember it correctly), he will.
Disclaimer:
the idea of this series is to have a conversation. On single pieces of music and through them on musical aspects in general. Imagine the time you were putting up vinyl, drinking red wine, discussing with your friend about things you hear at this very moment. When was the last time you listened to music and did nothing else? Really concentrated?
So if the track above triggers anything, just share it. A picture, a small thought, a general impression you have, please share it in the comments. If not, maybe next time. It’s an experiment, I know. Thanks!
