I grabbed my very old, slightly damp-damaged guitar strap off the wall and headed out the door.

It may be as much as fifteen years since I performed standing up with the guitar (and the last time may have been for a game piece by Pedro Rebelo that required a degree of physical and theatrical mobility).

I expected the experience to be physically and psychologically… odd, but I wasn’t prepared for the oddness of keeping my boots on.

And, hey, I never realized how (socio-musically) useful it is to be able to move fro and back as you signal the move from foreground to background.

I figured if I couldn’t carry the 15–20 minutes I’d be playing in the relatively safe space of the Lab without the usual resources (of variable volume envelopes, of the familiar posture), I’d be in trouble playing with the old-timers at OTO. I needed to know….

So I’m up there with John Godfrey: I’ve heard him play over the years, of course, but this was our first on-stage meetings, and I wanted this to be different—to provoke a different kind of music.

And without my usual resources, the volume pedal in particular, I’d figured it would be relatively easy to contrast with John’s highly technically mediated sound (‘sound,’ again, in the afrological sense).

I wanted the performers (myself and John) to work. In a similar maneuver to the encounter with Evan Dorrian, I wanted to create a context in which we’d have to exert effort, to labor; to push him, and, hopefully, to be pushed and pulled in return.

From a curatorial standpoint, however, a problem with this approach is that, as the Lab progresses though the evening, and as many more people engage on-stage (which is a good thing), there’s often gradual downward slope in terms of densities, complexities and energy levels. The format in which the relatively experienced improvisers do their shtick early on during the evening was a created in response to comments from audience members that they desired to witness “how it should (or could) be done” before the relative rookies took to the stage.

But that energy dip….

As curator and club-runner, how might I solve this problem without wrecking the Stet Lab mission? Is it a problem?

Talking to Owen Sutton (drummer) and Tony O’Connor (bass player) after the five (count ’em) guitar ensemble that closed the Lab, I remarked that one of the complications (and one that I worried about prior to the guitar quintet’s performance ten minutes to venue close) stemmed from guitarists generally have bad braking times.

We’re not like our true rhythm section brethren (drummers, bass players, etc.) or our frontline counterparts (horn players, fiddler, vocalists). A braking latency is a trait we share with other idiomatically polyphonic instrumentalists (keyboard players, pianists). Many of us came from the bedroom and can too easily get lost in our little worlds; solipsistic and oblivious to anything but the neat stuff flowing from under our fingers. [Seriously, listen to the track and count how many times you think this happens.]

During the quintet Kevin Terry deploys a moment of near-verbatim quotation. It’s funny and it’s effective.

Sometime later (for me significantly later in the context of this ditty), Enda Buckley also throws one in.

I’m reminded of one student who would, with impeccable timing, while the rest of the ensemble were doing the Make-A-New-Music-Noise-Here routine, would throw in a beautiful open DΔ chord on his guitar at exactly the wrong (thus entirely right) time. It would send the self-fashioned New Music Ensemble reeling from the comfort of its plink-plonks, bloop-bleeps and scratch-crashes.

Fantastic!

This is what Cage never understood. For the Cagian doctrine, all sounds can be sounds as long as it had (ostensibly, and according to culturally and ideologically (and racially) specific criteria) was ‘free’ of history and context. What Cage (and his followers) were barricading themselves from was not convention, but power—the power to disrupt their cozy, easy liberalism.

But that’s a story for some other time….

The pleasure / utility / power of a quote is to throw a big fat spanner into the working of group improvisation.

The drawback / hazard / weakness of a quote can be summed up by the question: now what?

A single quote (as opposed to an explicitly and contiguously idiomatic performance, or a scatter-brained collage of channel-hopping) can have interesting and problematic consequences for interaction. The effectiveness of the quote—to be able to collapse and redirect and improvisation—is also what makes them hard to deal with. Now what? Given that this quote redefined and reconstructed the performance up to this point, now what? I wonder what consequences Kevin and, in particular, Enda were expecting?

Kevin Terry, Evan Dorrian and Marian Murray (photo: © 2010 Julia Healy)

A warm thanks to Evan Dorrian for playing and his generosity on stage, and to all who performed, Stet Lab (ir)regulars (Paul Dowling, Susan Geaney, Juniper Hill, Marian Murray, Han-earl Park, Owen Sutton, Veronica Tadman and Kevin Terry) and newcomers (Philip Guiton and Claudia Schwab). Kudos again to Kevin for refereeing on the night, Veronica for MCing, and to photographer Julia Healy [see the photographs (new window)…].

As always, special thanks to all who came to support this event!

As with all the recordings since December 2008, this month’s recordings are covered under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. [More info…]

Also performing will be Stet Lab (ir)regulars including Marian Murray (violin), Paul Dowling (bass guitar) and Owen Sutton (drums).

It’ll be an exciting event; one of new on-stage negotiations and alliances. We hope to see y’all there, and thank you for your continued support.

Stet Lab featuring Evan Dorrian

Monday, 8 February 2010

9:00 pm (doors: 8:45 pm)

Upstairs @ The Roundy [map…]
Castle Street
Cork, Ireland

€10 (€5)

This month’s Stet Lab takes place upstairs at The Roundy, Castle Street, Cork, Ireland, on Monday, 8th February. 2010. Following the success of January’s real-time fusion of Turkish, Irish and American improvisative practices, this month Stet Lab is set to travel farther and presents, from Canberra Australia, the exciting percussionist and sound artist: Evan Dorrian.

Evan Dorrian is currently based in London and has two main projects: Spartak and Pollen Trio. They are contrasting in style, Spartak creates an ambience through 60’s fire music and post-punk drift, whilst Polen Trio is an exploratory outfit that is founded on melodic song-form and textural improvisation. According to Dorrian, he likes to pull apart the traditional notions of his acoustic instruments and reconstruct them as “pure sound matter and busted anti-rhythms”. According to Ron Schepper (textura.org):

Dorrian’s an explosive player whose inventive fills and cymbal colourations hold one’s interest whether the setting’s free jazz, electronic exploration, or guitar-heavy raver….

Dorrian’s approach has attracted international interest, and his ever-expanding list of collaborators include the jazz musicians Adam Simmons, Abel Cross, electronic sound sculptors Seaworthy and Adrian Klumpes, and improvisers Dave Brown and Mike Cooper.

Also performing on the night will be Stet Lab’s resident band: The Real-Time Company (for the Ad-Hoc Association) Of…. This month’s lineup is the Cork-based trio of Marian Murray (violin), Paul Dowling (bass guitar) and Owen Sutton (drums).

The event will begin at 9:00 pm (doors open at 8:45 pm) and entry is €10 (€5).

Stet Lab will return on Monday, 8th March with an event featuring the Belfast-based sound sculptor Paul Stapleton and the Newcastle-based electronic musician Nick Williams.

the performers

Evan Dorrian is an Australian improvising musician and sound artist, currently based in London. Using the drum kit, percussion and field recordings as sound sources, he pulls apart the traditional notions of his acoustic instruments and reconstructs them as pure sound matter and busted anti-rhythm.

His main projects are Spartak, an electro-acoustic duo that sees 60’s fire music and post-punk drift in dub ambience while Pollen Trio is an exploratory outfit that is founded on melodic song-form and textural improvisation. Pollen Trio recently released ‘230509’, a loose collection of post-processed jazz works on hellosQuare recordings while Spartak will be releasing their album ‘Verona’ in February 2010 on the English label Low Point. In October 2009, Evan released a self-titled suite of solo improvisations, also on hellosQuare.

Alongside this work, Evan has also collaborated with Australian jazz figures such as Adam Simmons, Cameron Deyell and Abel Cross, tireless improvisers like Dave Brown (Pateras/Baxter/Brown) and Mike Cooper as well as electronic sound sculptors including Seaworthy (12k), Andrew Pekler (Kranky, Staubgold) and Adrian Klumpes (Leaf Label).

To be informed of future events, please join the Stet Lab – announce, or subscribe to the web feed (news only or all blog posts). [More info…]

Stet Lab featuring Korhan Erel

Monday, 11 January 2010

9:00 pm (doors: 8:45 pm)

Upstairs @ The Roundy [map…]
Castle Street
Cork, Ireland

€10 (€5)

Stet Lab kicks off the new year upstairs at The Roundy, Castle Street, Cork, Ireland on Monday, 11 January 2010. This month’s Stet Lab introduces to Ireland, the Istanbul-based electronic musician, computer artist and improviser Korhan Erel.

Those who have attended Stet Lab events will have seen many electronic performers on stage, but Korhan Erel is one of a kind. Erel’s work is well known within the experimental and electronic music scenes and with the international improvised music community. Approaching his computer-based performances as a musician, performer and instrumentalist, he avoids the easy trap of over-clouding the sound field with layers and overpopulating the frequency spectra, allowing space for other performers. Radically rethinking the laptop, in his hands it becomes, according to Erel, the “sound body and resonator,” whilst the controller is “the exciter.”

Erel is a pioneer of the free improvisation scene in Istanbul, founding the ensemble Islak Köpek, and releasing the first Turkish free improvisation recording in December 2008. His work  has been released on the re:konstruKt label; he has performed at STEIM (Amsterdam), and has performed with Le Quan Ninh, Kirstie Simpson, Karlheinz Essl, Nora Volkova Ensemble, Markus Wenninger, Attila Dora, Artur Vidal, Sebastien Branche, Ecotone Experimental Theater, Mary Margaret Moore, Richard Nunns, Christian Asplund, Oguz Büyükberber, Umut Caglar, Robert Reigle, Sevket Akinci, Kevin William Davis, Dilek Acay, Dirk Stromberg, Volkan Terzioglu, Erdem Helvacioglu, Elektronik Kumpanya and Tolga Tüzün.

This month also sees the return of the trio of Cork-based improvisers, Han-earl Park (guitar), Jesse Ronneau (double bass) and Veronica Tadman (voice), adding an analogue contrast to the digital main act.

The event will begin at 9:00 pm (doors open at 8:45 pm) and entry is €10 (€5).

Stet Lab will return on Monday, 8 February 2010 featuring drummer Evan Dorrian from Canberra, Australia.

the performers

Korhan Erel: computer and electronics musician, performer, improviser, composer.

Turkish composer / improvisor based in Istanbul. He is a founding member of Islak Kopek, Turkey’s pioneer free improvisation group. He performed and had compositions played in radios, festivals in Turkey, Austria, Australia, Holland and Germany.

Korhan approaches computer performances from a conventional instrument approach. He refrains from using many sound layers and frequency ranges in order to leave space for acoustic and electric instruments he plays with. He also plays melodica and Cracklebox in ensemble performances. For his solo performances, he augments the computer with other sound sources, such as analog electronics (modular synths, guitar effects, oscillators, digital effects). He plays his computer instruments similar to a conventional instrument player—the laptop is the “sound body” and the “resonators,” the controllers are the “exciters”. The screen is occasionally used for monitoring software status and is not used as a part of the performance, thus avoiding the typical look of the laptop musician, staring at the screen all throughout a performance. He uses Wiimotes, and a Kaosspad 2 as the “fretboards” for his instrument.

Korhan’s compositions blend industrial sounds, found sounds, abstract sound textures and acoustic instruments into sound collages. He is currently working on new instrument designs on Audiomulch that will enable him to create instant compositions and sound collages for solo and group performances as well as playing with dancers, video artists. One such project is called Ses Duvari, a collaboration with video artist Ilknur Büyükberber.

Korhan has been recording with Islak Köpek and other improvisers since 2006 and plays on the following releases:

Islak Köpek / Islak Köpek – A.K. Müzik (www.akmuzik.com.tr)

Umut Caglar & Korhan Erel – Music for Walkie-Talkies #2 (www.rekonstrukt.com)

Oğuz Büyükberber, Umut Çağlar, Korhan Erel, Florent Merlet – twentyeight-twelve-twothousandandeight (www.rekonstrukt.com)

Korhan has played with the following artists:

Le Quan Ninh, Kirstie Simpson, Karlheinz Essl, Nora Volkova Ensemble, Markus Wenninger, Attila Dora, Artur Vidal, Sebastien Branche, Ecotone Experimental Theater, Mary Margaret Moore, Richard Nunns, Christian Asplund, Oguz Büyükberber, Umut Caglar, Robert Reigle, Sevket Akinci, Kevin William Davis, Dilek Acay, Dirk Stromberg, Volkan Terzioglu, Erdem Helvacioglu, Elektronik Kumpanya, Tolga Tüzün.

Han-earl Park works from/within/around the traditions of idiom-agnostic, experimental improvised musics, sometimes engineering theater, sometimes inventing ritual. He prefers collaborative, multi-authored contexts, and has worked with animators, film makers, poets, theater and mime performers, dancers and installation artists. As a musician (guitar, banjo, bass guitar, piano, electronics and software) he has performed in clubs, theaters, art galleries, concert halls, and (ad-hoc) alternative spaces in Denmark, England, Ireland, The Netherlands, Scotland and the USA.

He is involved in ongoing collaborations with Bruce Coates, and with Franziska Schroeder, fifteen year long associations with Alex Fiennes and Murray Campbell, and has performed with Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith, George E. Lewis, J. D. Parran, Paul Dunmall, Pauline Oliveros, Kato Hideki, Mark Sanders, Chick Lyall, Jan Langedijk, Stu Ritchie, Koen Nutters, Pedro Rebelo, Elspeth Murray, Mark Trayle and Hannes Raffaseder. He is also the constructor of io 0.0.1 beta, an interactive musical artifact, and cofounder of the Church of Sonology.

Park is a recipient of grants from the Arts Council of Ireland, and a recipient of the Ahmanson Foundation Scholarship and the Calarts Scholarship. He has appeared at festivals including Sonic Acts (Amsterdam), the Center for Experiments in Art, Information and Technology Festival (California), dialogues festival (Edinburgh), Sonorities (Belfast) and VAIN Live Art (Oxford). In addition to numerous self-released CDs, his work has been released by Owlhouse Recordings, frimp.co.uk and Frog Peak Music. He has performed live on Resonance FM (London) and on Drift Radio (at mediascot.org), and his recordings have been featured on Kalvos and Damian’s New Music Bazaar (Vermont), and You Are Hear (at www.youarehear.co.uk) which was selected as Critics’ Choice by The Independent (UK).

Additionally, Park founded and curates Stet Lab, a monthly improvised music space in Cork, Ireland, and teaches improvisation at the UCC Department of Music.

Jesse Ronneau is an award winning composer and improviser specializing in experimental acoustic and electro-acoustic music, specifically music using explorative instrumental techniques and live-processing. Jesse received degrees in Composition from the University of Cincinnati, Roosevelt University, and Northwestern University. His works have been performed (and continue to be performed) extensively throughout Continental Europe, the UK, Ireland and the US. He is currently a lecturer of composition at University College Cork.

In addition, The Real-Time Company (for the Ad-Hoc Association) of… guitarists Han-earl Park and Kevin Terry will open the event.

It’ll be an exciting evening of real-time mutations and hybrids. Stet Lab would like to thank all who participated (performers, audience and behind-the-scenes helpers) over the last two years. Hope to see you over the next coming months!

about Stet Lab Year Three

Stet Lab (Cork’s monthly improvised music event) enters its third year (details below)!

To be informed of future events, please join Stet Lab – announce, or subscribe to the web feed (news only or all blog posts). [More info…]

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Upstairs @ The Roundy, Castle Street, Cork, Ireland
9:00 pm (doors: 8:45 pm)
Admission: €10/5.

Stet Lab’s third birthday! Featuring Filario Farinoppo: Dario Fariello (saxophones, viola, electronics and little instruments), Filippo Giuffrè (guitar and electronics) and Antonio D’Intino (bass, electronics and little instruments), plus The Real-Time Company (for the Ad-Hoc Association) of… Han-earl Park and Kevin Terry (guitars).

Monday, December 7, 2009

Upstairs @ The Roundy
9:00 pm (doors: 8:45 pm)
Admission: €10/5.

Me, Bailey; You, Parker: Justin Yang (saxophones) with Han-earl Park (guitar), plus The Real-Time Company (for the Ad-Hoc Association) of… Susan Geaney (flute), Marian Murray (violin) and Veronica Tadman (voice).

Monday, January 11, 2010

Upstairs @ The Roundy (TBC)
9:00 pm

Featuring Korhan Erel (electronics). Details to follow….

Monday, February 8, 2010

Upstairs @ The Roundy (TBC)
9:00 pm

Featuring Evan Dorrian (drums). Details to follow….

Monday, March 8, 2010

Upstairs @ The Roundy (TBC)
9:00 pm

Featuring Paul Stapleton (new musical instruments / sound sculptures). Details to follow….

about Stet Lab

Since November 2007, Stet Lab has successfully brought together improvising musicians with varied experiences and from far afield. Cork, Ireland’s monthly improvised music event, Stet Lab is a space in which improvisers (novice, veteran; student, teacher; part- or full-time; amateur, professional; local or visitor) can meet, play and learn from one another.

about Stet Lab: Year Two

Looking back at the 2008/9 season, Stet Lab founder and curator, Han-earl Park says, “Stet Lab’s second year has been a triumph. We’ve been privileged to have hosted such a variety of improvising musicians: veteran of the international improvisation scene, Paul Dunmall, heavy-hitters such as Mark Sanders, the extraordinary Franziska Schroeder, the dramatic Katie O’Looney, the virtuoso Jamie Smith, and the… indescribable Jonny Marks. It’s also been a time to renew musical relationships with the mutant fiddle-playing of Murray Campbell, and the Cornelius-Cardew-meets-Joe-Harriott sound world of Bruce Coates.

“And we’ve witnessed the real burgeoning of young, local improvisers. The year has been a success beyond what we could have hoped for when we entered year two back in November [2008], and I look forward to musical interactions above-and-beyond.”

what to expect: Stet Lab Year Three

The 2009/2010 season promises to expand and diversify the improvisative geo-politics of Stet Lab. November will see the Lab welcome Filario Farinoppo—a trio of improvisers from Bologna, Italy—and the December event features the Californian composer-performer Justin Yang. Through 2010, the Lab will host visits by improvisers including Paul Stapleton (N. Ireland), Alexander Hawkins (England), Korhan Erel (Turkey) and Evan Dorrian (Australia).

two years of Cork’s premier improvised music club

Tuesday, November 10th 2009

9:00 pm (doors: 8:45 pm)

Upstairs @ The Roundy [map…]
Castle Street
Cork, Ireland

€10 (€5)

Tuesday, 10th November 2009, the two year anniversary of the first Stet Lab, Cork’s premiere improvised music club, will be celebrated at the venue that saw its debut, The Roundy, Castle Street, Cork, Ireland.

Stet Lab will—in its two year old mould—feature both regular performers and newcomers. To mark the experimental extravaganza’s second birthday, the innovative trio from Bologna, Italy, Filario Farinoppo, will be improvising up a storm. Composed of radical multi-instrumentalists Dario Fariello (saxophones, viola, electronics and little instruments), Filippo Giuffrè (guitar and electronics) and Antonio D’Intino (bass, electronics and little instruments), the visiting trio are sure make the occasion with their distinctive Italian avant-gardisms.

In addition, Cork-based improvisers and Stet Lab (ir)regulars, Han-earl Park and Kevin Terry (guitars), will be performing as The Real-Time Company (for the Ad-Hoc Association) of…. Park is a constructor and performer of fuzzily idiomatic, on occasion experimental, mostly open, always traditional improvisations. He has worked with animators, film makers, poets, theater and mime performers, dancers and installation artists, and has performed in Denmark, England, Ireland, The Netherlands, Scotland and the USA. Terry is a guitarist and founding member the improv quartet OPKA. He performs in both fully and partially improvised contexts.

The event will begin at 9:00 pm (doors open at 8:45 pm) and entry is €10 (€5).

Stet Lab will continue on 7th December with Belfast-based improviser-composer-saxophonist Justin Yang.

what to expect: Stet Lab Year Three

The 2009/2010 season promises to expand and diversify the improvisitive geo-politics of Stet Lab. November will see the Lab welcome Filario Farinoppo—a trio of improvisers from Bologna, Italy—and the December event features the Californian composer-performer Justin Yang. Through 2010, the Lab will host visits by improvisers including Paul Stapleton (N. Ireland), Alexander Hawkins (England), Korhan Erel (Turkey) and Evan Dorrian (Australia).