Marian Murray, Alexander Hawkins, Paul Dowling and Tony O’Connor (photo: © 2010 Julia Healy)

Big, big thanks to guest artist Alexander Hawkins for taking time out of his busy schedule to join the Lab; for his generosity and his musicality. I can’t think of a better improviser with whom to close the season.

Thanks also to the double basses of The Real-Time Company (for the Ad-Hoc Association) Of… (Paul Dowling and Tony O’Connor), and to all who performed (Andrea Bonino, Juniper Hill, Marian Murray, Han-earl Park and Kevin Terry). We gratefully acknowledges the support of the UCC School of Music and the Basement Project Space in making the June 2010 event possible. Thank again to Veronica Tadman for work behind the scenes, and to photographer Julia Healy [see the photographs (new window)…].

And as always, thanks to all who came to listen, and to all who supported the Lab during the 2009–2010 season. 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…]

And as if that’s not enough, we’ve got one of the most unusual manifestations of The Real-Time Company (for the Ad-Hoc Association) Of… with Paul Dowling (bass guitar) and Tony O’Connor (bass guitar).

Come along, witness the compelling real-time collisions, and help make the 2009-2010 season go out with a bang, fizz, clang, buzz, bloop and bleep!

…And, in the meantime, here’s a clip of Alex Hawkins with Tony Marsh:

Stet Lab gratefully acknowledges the support of the UCC School of Music and the Basement Project Space for this month’s event.

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).

Neil O’Loghlen, Han-earl Park, Justin Yang and Paul Dowling (photo: © 2009 Julia Healy)

A big thanks to our guest artist Justin Yang for making the journey down to Cork to perform with us.

Kudos to the Stet Lab (ir)regulars who performed on the night (Paul Dowling, Susan Geaney, Marian Murray, Neil O’Loghlen, Han-earl Park, Kevin Terry and Veronica Tadman) and to newcomer Scott Wade, and thanks again to Julia Healy (assisted by Cian Ó Beacháin) for the photography  [see the photographs (new window)…].

Last but not least, thanks to all who came to support this event. We hope to see you again next year!

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…]

Snippets from a conversation between three musicians:

“Man, I should play more free jazz.”

“It’s not an idiom at all…”

“…a tradition? …a practice?”

“Just play all over the keyboard.”

“It is so much fun.”

“Why don’t I do this all the time?”

“There’s nothing better.”

“There really isn’t.”

“And it’s the simplest algorithm: play all the time, and keep out of each others’ way.”

“That’s right; that’s the algorithm.”

Stet Lab, Cork, May 11, 2009

Bruce Coates, Jonny Marks and myself:

‘is that it? (because I’m going crazy)’

this is getting familiar…

I’ve played with Bruce on and off for a few years now. After the first few not-exactly-problem-free performances (getting to know each other—Fizzle, Birmingham, November 7, 2006; interesting navigations—FrImp, Birmingham, November 1, 2007; competent but polite—Stet Lab, Cork, November 8; first crash and burn—Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork, November 9), we’ve found our vibe.

We have, all things considered, relatively quickly learned that we can’t easily break each other, and we can throw in the kitchen sink without (too much) fear—without worrying about whether we can handle the result.

…But the results, well… I’ve wondered about this before, but I’ll ask again: am I getting too comfortable (complacent)? I want to give that question a slightly different spin this time: if, as I’ve stated elsewhere, difference is both sustainable and necessary (or at least desirable) in group improvisation, then should the mode, or context, of expressing difference (a kind of on-stage political protocol) also be variable?

…Does that make any sense?

taking the back seat

With Jonny delivering so much of the drama (and comedy), I feel I can take a back seat—a position that I’m happy to occupy (to own). I can coax certain elements from back here—highlighting this, discouraging that—all the while safe in the knowledge that all ears are on the two standing in from of me. This reminds me (tactically, not musically) of my days in the rhythm section of the (truly mediocre) university big band….)

Since I heard, a few weeks prior to the gig, that Jonny was a throat singer, I’ve wondered how much of my playing would (should?) evoke a kind of compatibility… no, better, affinity. There is, for example, a quasi-jaw harp effect that I do (used to be a (near-)cliché with the Church of Sonology performances) that somewhat resembles (to my uncultured ears) certain forms of overtone singing. Fast forward towards the end of ‘is that it? (because I’m going crazy) part 1’ (about the 10:50 mark). I arrive at at this quasi-jaw harp effect, trying to tempt Jonny to do that thing. When I feel he has caught on, I gradually pull back, making the result a little more oblique.

That, incidentally, is a gross simplification: there was a lot more going on—hedging of bets, tactical anticipations and adaptations—but I want to tell a simpler story today.

I do this, not with any particular mission to interrupt, but because I want the listening experience to be rich and interesting. If you’re sharp, you’d have caught it, made connections, and patted yourself on the back for being a clever listener; if not, well, no biggie, hopefully there’s enough complexity to provide ear-candy and (unintended) connections.

Somewhere in Belfast, May 16, 2009

Snippets from a conversation between three teachers of improvised music:

“I don’t know why students feel the need to park their idiom at the door.”

“Who play ‘real’ music….”

“There’s this fantastic musician who’s a fantastic… they can do bossa, they can….”

“…they can play….”

“Yeah, they can actually play, but when it comes to improvised music, it’s all bloop-bleep….”

“What’s with that?”

Stet Lab, Cork, May 11, 2009

Bruce, Jonny, Paul Dowling, Owen Sutton and myself:

‘loosened up a whole bunch of stuff’

questions for loopers

Based on a conversation between Paul, Owen and myself after ‘loosened up a whole bunch of stuff’, here’s three questions for all you delay-heads and loopers out there:

Why is it that when many of you deploy these devices, the loops are in beautifully crafted, well defined simple meters? I’ve got no problem with simple meters, but many of these electronic devices will happily loop 79/16 or √2/2 until it is blue in the face (except, to make a Zappa-esque observation, it’d never get blue in the face).

Why do so many of you never abruptly stop (or mute) a loop? Surely that effect could be stark, unexpected and, potentially, dramatic.

Why are the majority of loops in the medium scale (in the region of one to six seconds)? Why don’t you loop in units of the very short, or, with modern devices, the very long?

A very warm thanks to our guest artists, Bruce Coates and Jonny Marks, for unforgettable moments of complexity, chaos and comedy. Thanks also to everyone else who took to the stage—Andrea Bonino, Paul Dowling, Vicky Langan, James O’Gorman, Han-earl Park, Owen Sutton and Kevin Terry.

Finally, as always, thanks to all who came to listen. We couldn’t do this without you!

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 Han-earl Park (guitar) and Owen Sutton (drums), and the event will open with a performance by Paul Dowling (bass guitar), Vicky Langan (electronics), and James O’Gorman (guitar).

It’ll be a performance of compelling and dramatic musical interactions. Thanks for your continued support—we hope to see y’all there!

…And, as a sampler, here’s a clip of Coates and Marks with Mark Sanders:

Stet Lab featuring Bruce Coates and Jonny Marks

Monday, May 11th 2009

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

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

€10 (€5)

This month’s Stet Lab, Cork’s improvised music event, will take place at 9:00 pm on Monday, May 11th 2009, upstairs at The Roundy, Castle Street, Cork, Ireland. The event will feature saxophonist Bruce Coates (UK) and vocalist Jonny Marks (UK/New Zealand via China), plus Cork-based improvisers, Han-earl Park (guitar), Owen Sutton (drums), Paul Dowling (bass), Vicky Langan (electronics) and James O’Gorman (guitar).

May’s Stet Lab will see a bold mix of familiar and unfamiliar faces. Returning will be Birmingham-based Bruce Coates, founder of FrImp and the Birmingham Improvisers’ Orchestra, and a saxophonist with a sound both daring and inviting. Having worked with musicians as diverse as Christian Wolff, Lol Coxhill, Tony Oxley, John Edwards, Chris Hobbs, and previous Stet Lab guests Paul Dunmall, Mark Sanders and Mike Hurley, Coates regularly negotiates the intersection between avant jazz, free improvisation and post-Cardew experimentalism. A Stet Lab veteran, he performed twice before at the Lab—in November 2007 and December 2008.

Making his Irish debut at this event will be Jonny Marks from New Zealand via Mongolia and the UK. Marks is an experimental vocalist and throat singer who has worked with Damo Suzuki, Thomas Lehn and Takashi Harada, and with bands such as The Verlaines and Thrashing Marlin. He has appeared at the Wellington International Jazz Festival and the Melbourne International Jazz Festival.

Joining Coates and Marks will be Cork-based improvisers, guitarist Han-earl Park, and the young, up-and-coming drummer Owen Sutton.

The evening will be opened by a trio comprising bassist Paul Dowling, Vicky Langan on electronics, and newcomer to the Stet Lab stage, guitarist James O’Gorman. This eclectic ensemble will showcase three radically divergent approaches to improvisation.

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

Stet Lab will return in June with more real-time, musical mutations and hybrids.