However, listening back to our set, the alarm seems happy out sitting there in the background like a ground bass; for those that maybe had headphones in as they arrived and didn’t hear the alarm could be mistaken for thinking that maybe Piaras or Francis was sampling an alarm as an under-pinning part of our improvisation: It just fits in.

So, why was it annoying me? I think it’s because I love control. (Why then am I interested in performing improvisation?) I wasn’t in control of the alarm: one could argue that I wasn’t in control of my fellow improvisers, but my argument to that is, if I wanted to I could have pulled the plug and prevented power. Also as we were an ensemble my input had a consequence on what happened (especially with what Piaras was doing because i was linked to his computer). Likewise he was in control of what happened with my input so it was almost like equilibrium.

However, the alarm just butted in and gatecrashed the party, and diva here couldn’t tell it to go away.

All in all I was happy with the outcome of our 30 minutes, we seemed very together and sympathetic to each other. Leading up to the night, I was aprehensive, when we had gotten together to ‘jam’, I just wasn’t feeling it and was anxious as to what would happen on the night. However, I just went with it, asked the lads what I could do and what I couldn’t do and took their advice—after all the outcome was in their hands.

Thanks to everyone who, despite the conspiracy of noise (sirens from across the road, electrical hums and buzzes, thumping bass from downstairs, and the fire department), played on: Síofra Fitzgerald, Francis Heery, Juniper Hill, Piaras Hoban, Áine Mangaoang, Neil O’Loghlen, Han-earl Park, Veronica Tadman and Kevin Terry.

As always, special thanks to all who came to listen on the night, and a very special thanks to all who supported us through the year. See you in October!

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…]

Stet Lab’s final event of the 2008/9 season

Monday, June 8th 2009

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

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

€10 (€5)

Stet Lab’s final event of the 2008/9 season takes place on the 8th June 2009 at 9:00 pm, upstairs at The Roundy, Castle Street, Cork. Stet Lab again welcomes both regular and newcomers to the stage, bringing the familiar and unfamiliar together in a special season finale.

Curator and founder of Stet Lab, Han-earl Park (guitar) will perform with the exciting navigator of multiple improvisative traditions, Juniper Hill (voice and small instruments). Park has been described by the Computer Music Journal as “innovative” and by BBC – Collective as an “electro weirdo”, and has performed in Denmark, England, Ireland, The Netherlands, Scotland and the USA. Juniper Hill is a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist from Los Angeles and currently based in Cork. An ethnomusicologist who studies contemporary folk music, and the creativity and pedagogy of improvisation, Hill has been involved in free jazz and experimental music for many years and is especially interested in the use of voice in these mediums.

Newcomer to the Lab, Síofra Fitzgerald (flute) and Stet Lab regular, Kevin Terry (guitar) make up the other duo of the evening. With pre-composed parts written by Terry (with nods to sources as diverse as Anthony Braxton and Takemitsu Tōru), the performance will entail a clash of musical approaches—that of the classical-interpreter and that of the improviser—which does not resolve to a single whole but further shatters, fragments and divides.

Veronica Tadman (voice), another vocalist based in Cork, has been privileged to have performed alongside artists such as Paul Dunmall and Don Malone. She has guest curated Stet Lab, and this has given her the opportunity to perform with innovative new talent from Cork. This month, Veronica is collaborating with composer and member of the R.E.A.L. Ensemble, Piaras Hoban (laptop) who recently premiered his piece for soprano and electronics at the Sonic Arts Research Centre in Belfast. Hoban and Tadman will be joined by composer and the R.E.A.L. Ensemble founder, Francis Heery (electronics), and performer-theorist Áine Mangaoang (violin).

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

Stet Lab will return in October for more real-time, musical mutations and hybrids.

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, and I look forward to musical interactions above-and-beyond when we return in October.”

A big thanks to the R.E.A.L. ensemble (Francis Heery, Piaras Hoban, James Fortune, Nora Salmon and Jesse Ronneau) for performing, and, hey, if I’m allowed to thank myself on behalf of the Lab, to Han-earl Park for opening the event. Major kudos to everyone who took to the stage, both Stet Lab (ir)regulars (Owen Sutton, Veronica Tadman and Kevin Terry) and newcomers (Méadhbh Boyd, Áine Mangaoang and Ros Steer). Special thanks to Kevin for refereeing on the night, and to photographer, John Hough.

Finally, as always, 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 guitarist Han-earl Park who last performed solo in Cork almost exactly a year ago. [Listen…]

It should be an evening of compelling performances. Hope to see y’all there, and many thanks for your continued support.

Stet Lab with the R.E.A.L. Ensemble plus Han-earl Park

Tuesday, March 10th 2009

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

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

€10 (€5)

Stet Lab presents the debut of a live electro-acoustic group, the R.E.A.L. Ensemble, upstairs at The Roundy, Castle Street, on the Tuesday, 10th March 2009 at 9 pm.

The R.E.A.L. Ensemble is composed of an award winning composer and improviser, Jesse Ronneau (double bass), plus four of Cork’s most exciting emerging artists, Francis Heery (laptop), Piaras Hoban (laptop and iPhone), James Fortune (electric guitar and effects) and Nora Salmon (laptop).

“We focus on spontaneous creation of immersive sonic landscapes produced by merging digital technologies with amplified acoustic instrument,” explains Francis Heery, one of the founders of the ensemble. Plundering techniques and technologies from contemporary composition, rock music, algorithmic music-making, drone music, minimalist electronica, musique concrète and noise, “sounds are played, processed, synthesized, reorganized, digested and regurgitated, creating a self-generating interactive entity, unpredictable, uncompromising and constantly engaging.”

One of Stet Lab’s regular performers, Veronica Tadman, adds, “Stet Lab has not hosted anything like the R.E.A.L. Ensemble before; it is going to be an exciting fresh venture. I personally am intrigued by what an iPhone can do musically, so will be looking out for its appearance on the night. A performance not to be missed!”

Opening the event will be guitarist Han-earl Park. In contrast to the cutting-edge technological resources of the R.E.A.L. Ensemble, Park will be demonstrating what new musics might be made with an amplified guitar, with some imagination, skill, and a little luck.

With the opportunity for the adventurous to sit-in and perform with the programmed acts, this month’s event will be a leap into the exciting outer-reaches improvised music.

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

Stet Lab will be back in April with more left-field, real-time musical interactions.